highland clearances

TH E H ISTORY

OF TH E

H G H LAN D

C L E A R A N C E S

ALE ! ANDE R MACKENZIE;Fi s’

A , S’

cob

WITH A N EW INTRODUCTION

I A N M A C P H E R S O N ,M . P.

Truth i s stranger than fi cti on.

P . J . O’CA L L A GH A N ,

132— 134 W E S T N I L E S TR E E T, GL A S GOW.

CON TE N TS .

E DITOR’

S PR EFACE ,

INTRODUCTION,

SUTHE R LANDAlexander Mackenz ie on the Clearances ,The R ev . Donald Sage on the Sutherland Clearances ,General Stewart of Garth on the Sutherland Clearances ,H ugh Miller on the Sutherland Clearances ,Mr. James Loch on Sutherland Improvements ,

Mrs . H arri et Beecher Stowe on the Sutherland Clearances ,R eply to Mrs . H arri et Beecher Stowe by Donald Macleod ,

TRIAL OF PATR ICK SE LLAR ,

R OSS-SHIRE

Glencalvi e , 1 2 8

The E vi ction of the R oss es , 1 34

Kintai l, 1 43

Coigeach , 1 44

S trathconon, 1 44

The Black Isle , 1 46

The Island of Lewi s , 1 47

Mr . Alexander Mackenz ie on the Leckmelm E victi ons , 1 49

Lochcarron , 1 6 1

The 78th H ighlanders , 1 67

The R ev. D r . j ohn Kennedy on the R oss - shi re Clearances , 1 69

INVE RN E s s - SHIRE

Glengarry,

S trathglas s ,

Gui sachan ,

Glenelg ,Glendesseray Locharkaig ,

0

VI , CONTE NTS .

THE H EBRIDE S

North Ui st,Boreraig and Sui s ini sh,

A Contrast,South Ui st and Barra ,

The Island of R um ,

ARGYLLSHIREThe Island of Mull ,Ardnamurchan ,

Morven ,

Glenorchy ,

BUTESHIRE

Arran,

PE RTHSHIRE

NOTABLE D ICTAThe R ev . D r . Maclachlan ,

A H ighland Sheri ff,The Wi z ard of the North ,

A Continental H i s tori an ,

Mr . Alfred R us s elWallace ,

A French E conomi st,Mr . Joseph Chamberlain ,

H ardships E ndured by Fi rs t Emigrants ,

An E vi cting Agent,An Octogenari an Gael ,

STATISTICAL STATEMENTShowing the Population in 1 83 1 , 1 84 1 ,

1 85 1 ,1 88 1

, and

I 9 1 1 , of all Pari shes in whole or in part in the Counti es o i Perth

,Argyll , Invem es s , R os s and

Cromarty,Cai thness , and Sutherland , 2 78-2 82

APPENDICE S ,

E D ITOR’

S PRE FACE

TO SE COND E DITION.

ACKE NZIE’

S H i s tory of t! ze H igfilana’Clearances ,

with its thrilling and almost incredible narratives

of Oppression and eviction,has been for a long time

out of print. In view of the current movement,described by M r. A squith as an !

organised campaign

against the present system of land tenure ,” it has

occurred to the ho lder of the Copyright, Mr. E neas

Mackay, publisher, S tirling ,that, at the present

juncture, a re- issue might be expediently prepared.

H e recognised that the story o f the great upheaval

which,early in the nineteenth century, took place

among the H ighland crofters would be of undoubted

interest and utility to those who follow the efforts now

put forth to settle the land question in S cotland. A t

his request I readily undertook the task o f re- editing.

The circumstances , or points ofview,having changed

in no slight measure since the first appearance of the

work,I decided to subject it to a pretty thorough

revision— to excise a large mass of irrelevant matter

and to introduce several fresh articles . D onald

Macleod ’s ! Gloomy Memories are omitted out of

considerations for space,and because it is proposed to

reprint them shortly in a separate form . There is

included, for the first time,a vindication of the

S utherland Clearances by Mrs . H arriet Beecher

S towe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin ,

” and another

by Mr. James L och, principal factor on the Sutherland

viii . E DITOR ’S PREFACE .

E states during the time the removals were carried

out. There are also given graphic and realistic word

pictures of these evictions by the R ev. D onald S age .

The general arrangement of the book has be en

altered to the extent ofgrouping together the accounts

relating to each particular county, and descriptions

are added of a number of Clearances which were not

dealt with in the first edition .

I have pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness

to Mr. Ian Macpherson,M .P and D r. J : H .

Fullarton, L ondon, for kindly lookingover the proofs .S pecial and very sincere thanks are due to Mr.

John H enderson, secretary of the N ational L ibraryClub, L ondon

,who manifested the kindest and

liveliest interest in the undertaking . N ot only did

he read the proofs with scrupulous care,but he was

ever ready to give advice and offer suggestions when

cases of doubt arose. To me,one of the most

pleasant memories connected with the labour of

editing is the valuable assistance always so promptlyand

i

cheerfully given by M r. H enderson.

I greatly appreciate the courtesy shown by Messrs .D aniel R oss Co .

, L td., publishers , Wick, in per

mitting extracts to be taken from Mr. S age’s

M emorabi lia D omes ti ca .

Regarding the Publisher, I may be permitted to

mention that he rendered my task very easy byproviding, sometimes at considerable trouble and

expense, all works of reference which I considered

would be of service in endeavouring to make this

H istory thoroughly accurate and reliable.

IN TROD UCTION .

IT is with great pleasure that I accede to the requestthat I should write a short introduction to welcome thisreprint of so interesting and valuable a book as Mackenzie

’

s H ighland Clearances . It has long been out of

print , which anyone who recalls its first appearance willeasily understand . It was written by a Highlander whocommanded in a great measure the esteem ofHighlanders ,and it collected for the first time the sane andauthenticated accounts of the experience of theHighlanders in the great agrarian crisis of theirhistory . It appealedto the race as no book within recentyears has done . The Highlander loves his past and hisnative land with a passionate attachment , and the storyof the great wrongs of the days of the clearances is stilldeeply embedded in his mind . Within the last year ortwo many accounts , more or less imaginary , have ap

peared purporting to be true stories of those terrible daysin the north , and it is peculiarly appropriate that , whenonce again men

’

s minds are centred on the great problemof the land in this country as a whole , and specific attention has been directed towards the Highlands , tl .s

reprint should now appear . We are all , therefore , underdeep obligations to the public spirit and enterprize of thepublishers and others who have been good enough tosecure in an accessible

,form a reliable account of the

conditions and events which at once ! intensified theacuteness of the land - hunger in the Highlands and constituted the blackest page in Highland history .

Many evil deeds have been associated with the abuseof the monopoly power of land ownership in this andother countries , but it is safe to say that nowhere withinthe limits of those islands , or , indeed , anywhere else at

! INTRODUCTION .

any time have blacker or more foul deeds been com!

mitted in the sacred name of property than in theHighlands of Scotland in those days . It has always beena matter of astonishment that a brave race should everhave submitted to them . This becomes all the moreremarkable , too , when one remembers that during thosevery years regiments raised in these very districts of thefinest soldiers who ever marched to the stirring strains ofthe bagpipes , were gaining for the empire and for Britisharms the most noted achievements ever won in theNapoleonic wars and in the colonies . It is true , of course ,and it is an eternal discredit , that many of these bravefellows came back wounded and war- scarred to find , notthat a grateful country had taken care that the homesand the helpless ones they had left behind were keptsacred and immune from

‘

the greed and ruthles ssavagery of the landlord or his hirelings , but that theirhearths and homes were desecrated and destroyed , andevery moral law of patriotism and honour had beenviolated . Their humble dwellings ,

” says Hugh Miller,were of their own rearing it was they themselves whohad broken in their little fields from the waste from timeimmemorial , far beyond the reach of history, they hadposs essed their mountain holdings , —they had defendedthem so well of old that the soil was still virgin ground ,in which the invader had found only a grave and theiryoung men were now in foreign lands fighting at the command of their chieftainess the battles of their country ,not in the character of hired soldiers , but of men whoregarded these very holdings as their stake in thequarrel Well has my friend Mackenzie MacBride

expressed it

Ye remnant of the brave lWho charge when the p ipes are heardDon

’

t think, my lads , that you fight for your own,

’

Tis but for the good of the land.

And when the fight i s doneAnd you come back over the foam,

Well done ,

’

they s ay , you are good and true,But we cannot give you a home.

INTRODUCTION . xi .

For the hi ll we want for the deer,And the glen the birds enjoy ,

And bad for the game i s the smoke of the cot,

And the song of the crofter’s boy.

’

The silence with whi ch men of that calibre met thesehardships and cruelty might well remain an enigma toone who does not know the Highlands . They knew thatfor centuries their ances tors had tilled those lands andlived free and untrammelled . By every moral law, ifnot by the law of the land , they had a right to the soilwhich had been defended with their own right arm andthat of their ancestors . These were the days when theywere useful to the chi ef , who assumed some indefinableright to the land . But the day came after the FortyFive when men were no longer assets to the chief .His territorial j urisdiction was broken . He wantedmoney , not men , and the lonely silences of the hillsinstead of merry laughter and prattle of children singinggraces by the wayside . And these men bore the changewhich meant so much to them with patience . Why ?The Highlands were permeated then as now with a deepreligious sense . They lent a willing ear to the teachingsof the ministers of the Gospel , who wielded the power ofthe iron hand which left its deep impress on the social li feand even the literature of the Highlands . They re

garded the minister as the stern oracle of truth , and thestrict interpreter of the meaning of the ways of God toman . What happened was right . And a perusal of thepages that are to follow will show what a mean use manyof these ministers made of the power whi ch their faithfulflock believed was vested in them . These men werewith a noble exception or two— in reality the servile toolsof the estate whose powers they feared , and whosesupport they received . In their own interests and inthose of their earthly lord and master , they assured thepeople that all their troubles were but part of the punishment inflicted on them by Provi dence in the course ofworking out their redemption Thi s attitude of the ministers had another significance . In many parishes they

xii . INTRODUCTION .

were the only persons who were educated enough to write ,and so able to express the wrongs which their peoplewere called upon to endure . But their voices were si lentand their pens were idle , except , indeed , when they wereused to ennoble the character, the prestige , and thebenevolence of the evicting tyrantIf they were thus comparatively passive in theirwhite -washing , there were others openly active . InHugh Miller’s words . Ever since the planning of thefatal experience which ruined Sutherland , the noblefamily through which it was originated and carried on,

had betrayed the utmost j ealousy in having its real resultmade public . Volumes of special pleading have beenwritten on the subj ect . Pamphlets have been published ,laboured articles have been inserted in widely- spreadreviews— statistical accounts have been watched overwith the utmost surveillance . If the misrepresentationsof the press could have altered the matter of fact , faminewould not now be gnawing the Vitals of Sutherland in ayear a little less abundant than its predecessors , norwouldthe dejected and oppressed people be feeding their discontent amid present misery, with the recollections oi ahappier past . If a singularly well- conditioned andwholesome district of country has been converted into onewide ulcer ofwretchedness and woe , it must be confessedthat the sore has been carefully bandaged up from thepublic eye that if there has been little done for its cure ,there has at least been much done for its concealment .

”

And then he goes on to s ay , It has been said that theGaelic language removed a district more effectually fromthe influence of English opinion than an ocean of threethousand miles , and that the British public know betterwhat is doing in New York than what is doing in Lewisor Skye .

” And so the House of Sutherland inveiglesMrs . Harriet Beecher Stowe , fresh from her literarytriumphs in the American envi ronment of Uncle Tom’sCabin ,

” with no knowledge of the Gaelic language whichseparated so effectually the district in whi ch it wasspoken from Engli sh public opinion , but in whi ch lauv

guage alone grievances were likely to be expressed , to

INTRODUCTION . xiii .

write a grovelling apology . This she does , forsooth , inSunny Memories , when the hearts and the spirits ofthe people outside the circle in which she was receivingwell-merited , if short , hospitality were broken Readersof the Clearances wi ll notice how completely DonaldM

‘

Leod, whose name every lover of nobility of character,courage , and justice will ever honour, demolishes herinsipid table- talk . An even worse type of white-washerwas J ames Loch , who is now put forward as an unbiassedand disinterested observer of the gracious benevolenceand marvellous generosity of the House of Sutherland .

It was not mentioned that he was the factor for the thenDukeThe most notorious of all the evi ctions were the Suther

landshire ones , and though there are many accountsof them in thi s volume , the gruesomeness of which hasbecome a bye -word, they do not tell the whole tale .

Since this question was revived during these last fewmonths , I have had letters from descendants of theevi cted from all over the colonies wi th new and conclusiveproofs of the recklessness and severity whi ch characterisedthem . A factor visited a township in western Sutherland , and went towards the house of the great grandmother of one correspondent . He met her as she wasreturning from milking the cows carrying a woodenvessel of milk . Brutally he snatched it from her, and touse his words , drowned for ever the fire of her hearthwith it , and then drove her and her children to searchthrough great privation for some foothold on ruggedground beside the western sea . When thi s factor died ,hi s body was carried through another township . Thesympathy of the people was but slight , for they remembered his cruelty . An old woman expressed the general,but hitherto suppressed , feeling of the community whenshe said , Cha deach am maor riamh troimh na bhailecho sambach sa chaidh e an da igh The factor neverwent through this township so peacefully as he wentto - dayIf , as Hugh Miller says , there has been no lack of pro

ess ional white-washers , there has equally been no lack

xiv. INTRODUCTION .

of testimony , straight and true , from the hearts of thepeople , in bitter lamentation over the cruelty that befelthe race at the hands of mercenary landlords . Thi s testimony does not come from one class nor from one county .

I have shown in another place how even Dr . Johnson , who loved neither the Scots nor their tradi tions ,found himself full of the old Highland spirit , and wasdissatisfied at hearing of rack rents and emigration , andwas compelled to remark , A rapacious chief would makea wilderness of his estate how unprejudiced writerslike Mrs . Grant of Laggan bemoaned the rapacity of thosewho drove away the descendants of men whom theirfathers led and how bitterly a scholar like ProfessorBlackie vi ewed the depopulated glens where once heroeslived and fought . The bitterest note of all, as well as thetruest , is sung by the Gaelic bards . They were of thepeople , and lived among them . They knew their feelings ,none better , and it was their right to express that feelingwith truth and with fearlessness in the language of thepeople . And I know of no bard in any county in theHighlands who has not vigorously denounced in some waythe cruelty to whi ch hi s people were arbitrarily subj ected .

It was a blow to them to find that chiefs of the old schoolhad departed , that a change— ih Gaelic , change i s the bestword for death— had taken place from the spirit of thechief who said , I would rather drink punch in thehouse of my people than be enabled by their hardships todrink claret in my own . Well might a good Celt of alater day have written of the new type of so-called chief

S ee that you kindly us e them, 0 man

To whom God givethStewardship over them in thy short span,

N ot for thy pleasureWoe be to them who choose for a clanFour-footed people.

Take the Islay bard . H e seeks to arouse our ihdignation because of glens and hillsides reft of men towork and fight and of children who might sing to Natureand her God . Clearly his patriotic soul i s sorely bur

INTRODUCTION . ! V.

dened the cold iron that has entered into it has made hissoul terribly bitter . Facit indignatio versus .” Whenhe looks around and thinks of the days that were , hi sspirit is that of blood and carnage . He describes thehills that he loves with wonderful grace of diction hehears a song or two— shieling songs— o i marvellousbeauty

,and shieling songs contain many soft , siren

strains , whi ch were believed to have their source in fairyland

,

” for their airs came from the good folk of the hills .But these things do not tempt him long he i s soon backagain to the point that was sorest of all to him— thedesolate glens and the hi llsides left to be garrisoned bythe lonely shepherd .

” Some of the poets were sportsmenlike Duncan M ‘

Intyre . Their grievance was alwaysagainst the sheep , and the lowland shepherds , whodesecrated for filthy lucre the hills which were theirbirthright and who spoke an alien tongue which frightened even the echoes !Deer and sporting rights (after game laws were enacted)

soon became more profitable than sheep , and it is amusingto find controversialists of today attempting to show thatevictions never took place on account of deer forests . Itwas not the fault of the landlords that they did not .E victions took place for the obj ect that was at themoment most profitable . The Napoleonic wars madesheep runs temporarily more profitable but the momentthere was more profit to be obtained from sport and deerforests , then deer forests were to a large extent substituted for sheep runs . To - day there are over three millionacres in Northern Scotland alone devoted to these preserves ;and in 1 892 the Deer Forest Commission scheduledover one million seven hundred thousand acres as beingfit for small-holding purposes . The casual reader mustbeware , and must notice that this vast number of acresincludes grazing lands also , otherwise critics who avowedly represent the landlord interests

” may feel aggrieved .

But it will also be remembered that evictions primarilytook place for grazing purposes and further , that asmall holding in Scotland is not quite the same as a smallholding in England . In England it consists of a number

xvi . INTRODUCTION .

of acres whi ch are under cultivation in Scotland , I amreferring

, of course , to the deer forest country , it consistsof some acres of cultivated land with very often a verylarge common outrun in moorland and hills for the township . So that when the uninitiated s ee pictures of deerforests that are said to be fit for smallholding purposes ,they will now understand and suppress a smile . If onlymen could realise what can be produced out ofwhat mightappear to be the most impossible places ! It has beensaid that if you give a man the secure possession of arock , he will turn it into a garden , and one has only gotto visit the Highlands to see how a hard-working andindustrious peasantry have sought in this way with suc

cess to fight against the ills with whi ch they were confronted by an ungrateful landlordism . One of the worstfeatures of the Clearances was the method in whichthey were perpetrated . Examples will be found in thesepages of sick people being carried out of their houses , andleft on the wayside when their houses were in flames , andthe present locations of some of the crofters are grim re

minders of the extreme privations suffered by the peoplewho settled in them . Perched on the rocks and moorlands , these people were driven from the inland valleys ,and had to build themselves shelters from the turf andstones of the hillside , and carve out of barren land withenormous industry, and under the constant menace of

famine , the miserable patches of land which remain today as evidence of their labours . The others were forcedto emigrate , and the sufferings of those who survivedwell-nigh baffle description . The horrors of the smallemigrant sailing ships of these days , and particularly on

these occasions when people were packed together regardless of comfort and the decencies of life , and withoutsufli cient food , were equalled only by the terrible privations and struggle for existence that awaited those wholanded on the frozen lands of the north of Canada , tobe assailed by hostile Indians , the rigours of the weather ,and the desolation of an unfriendly country . It is altogether a tale of barbarous action unequalled in theannals of agrarian crime .

INTRODUCTION . xvii .

And need I do more than add what one who willnever be regarded other than as a typical Tory

, has

written : In too many instances the Highlands have beendrained , not of their superfluity of population , but of thewhole mass of the inhabitants , dispossessed by an unrelenting avarice , whi ch will one day be found to have beenas shortsighted as it is selfish and unjust . Meantime , theHighlands may become the fairy ground for romance andpoetry , or the subject of experiment for the professors ofspeculation , historical and economical . But , if the hourof need should come , the pibroch may sound through thedeserted region , but the summons will remain unanswered. These are the words of Sir Walter Scott .

J . I . MACPH ERSON .

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20 HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

pressed , andbanished without compensation by greedyand cold blooded proprietors , who owed their positionlilthei i lands to the ancestors of the very men they were

now‘

treatin‘

g so cfuelly .

The motives of the landlords , generally led by southernfactors worse than themselves , were , in most cases , pureself- interest , and they pursued their policy of extermination with a recklessness and remorselessness unparalleledanywhere else where the Gospel of peace and charity waspreached— except , perhaps , unhappy Ireland . Generally

,

law and justice , religion and humanity , were eithertotally disregarded , or , what was worse , in many casesconverted into and applied as instruments of oppression .

Every conceivable means , short of the musket and thesword , were used to drive the natives from the land theyloved , and to force them to exchange their crofts andhomes — brought originally into cultivation and builtby themselves , or by their forefathers— for wretchedpatches among the barren rocks on the sea shore , and todepend , after losing their cattle and their sheep , and afterhaving their houses burnt about their ears or razed to theground , on the uncertain produce of the sea for subsistence , and that in the case of a people , who , in manyinstances , and especially in Sutherlandshire , were totallyunacquainted with a seafaring life , and quite unfittedto contend with its perils .What was true generally of the Highlands , was in

the county of Sutherland carried to the greatest extreme . That unfortunate county , according to aneye-witness , was made another Moscow . The inhabitants were literally burnt out , and every contrivanceand ingenious and unrelenting cruelty was eagerlyadopted for extirpating the race . Many lives weresacrificed by famine and other hardships and privations hundreds , stripped of their all , emigrated to

the Canadas and other parts of America great numbers,

especially of the young and athletic , sought employmentin the Lowlands and in England , where , few of thembeing skilled workmen , they were obliged— even farmerswho had lived in comparative affluence in their own

SUTHERLAND . 2 1

country— to compete with common labourers,in com

munities where their language and simple mannersrendered them objects of derision and ridicule . The agedand infirm , the widows and orphans , with those of theirfamilies who could not think of leaving them alone intheir helplessness , and a number , whose attachmentto the soil which contained the ashes of their ancestors ,were induced to accept of the wretched allotmentsoffered them on the wild moors and barren rocks . Themild nature and religious training of the Highlandersprevented a resort to that determined resistance andrevenge which has repeatedly s et bounds to the rapacityof landlords in Ireland . Their ignorance of the Englishlanguage , and the want of natural leaders , made it impossible for them to make their grievances known tothe outside world . They were , therefore , maltreatedwith impunity . The ministers generally sided with theoppressing lairds , who had the Church patronage at theirdisposal for themselves and for their sons . The professedministers of religion sanctioned the iniquity , the foulestdeeds were glossed over , and all the evil which could notbe attributed to the natives themselves , such as severeseasons , famines , and consequent disease , was by thesepious gentlemen ascribed to -Providence , as a punishmentfor s in .

The system of turning out the ancient inhabitantsfrom their native soil throughout the Highlands duringthe first half of the nineteenth century has been carriedinto effect in the county of Sutherland with greaterseverity and revolting cruelty than in any other part ofthe Highlands , and that though the Countess-Marchionessand her husband , the Marquis of Stafford , were by nomeans devoid of humanity , however atrocious and devoidof human feeling were the acts carried out in their nameby heartless underlings , who represented the ancienttenantry to their superiors as lazy and rebellious , though ,they maintained , everything was being done for theiradvantage and improvement . How this was done willbe seen in the sequel . South countrymen were introduced and the land given to them for sheep farms over

2 2 H IGHLAND CLEARANCES .

the heads of the native tenantry . These strangers weremade justices of the peace and armed with all sorts ofauthority in the county, and thus enabled to act in themost harsh and tyrannical fashi on , none making themafraid while the oppressed natives were placed completely at their mercy . They dare not even complain ,for were not their oppressors also the administrators ofthe law? The seventeen parish ministers , with the singleexception ofthe Rev . Mr . Sage , took the side of the powersthat were , exhorting the people to submit and to stifletheir cries of distress , telling them that all their sufferingscame from the hand of their Heavenly Father as a puni shment for their past transgressions . Most of theseministers have since rendered their account , and let ushope they have been forgiven for such cruel and blas

phemous conduct . But one cannot help noting , to whathorrid uses these men in Sutherlandshire and elsewhereprostituted their sacred office and high calling .

The Sutherland clearances were commenced in a com

paratively mild way in 1 807, by the ej ection of ninetyfamilies from Farr and Lairg . These were provided forsome fifteen or seventeen miles dis tant with smaller lots ,to which they were permitted to remove their cattle andplenishing , leaving their crops unprotected , however ,in the ground from which they were evicted . They hadto pull down their old houses , remove the timber , andbui ld new ones , during whi ch period they had in manycases to sleep under the open canopy of heaven . In theautumn they carried away , with great difli culty, whatremained of their crops , but the fatigue incurred cost afew of them their lives , while others contracted diseaseswhich stuck to them during the remainder of their lives ,and shortened their days .In 1 809 several hundred were evicted from the parishes

of Dornoch , Rogart , Loth , Clyne , and Golspie , underCircumstances of much greater severity than those alreadydescribed . Several were driven by various means toleave the country altogether , and to those who could notbe induced to do so , patches of moor and bog were offeredon Dornoch Moor and Brora Links— quite unfit for cul

SUTHERLAND . 23

tivation. This process was carried on annually until ,in 1 81 1 , the land from which the people were ej ectedwas divided into large farms , and advertised as huge sheepruns . The country was overrun with strangers who cameto look at these extensive tracts . Some of these gentlemen got up a cry that they were afraid of their livesamong the evicted tenantry . A trumped-up story wasmanufactured that one of the interlopers was pursuedby some of the natives of Kildonan , and put in bodilyfear . The military were sent for from Fort George .

The 2 1 51: Regiment was marched to Dunrobin Castle ,with artillery and cartloads of ammunition . A greatfarce was performed the people were sent for by thefactors to the Castle at

' a certain hour . They camepeaceably , but the farce must be gone through , the RiotAct was read ; a few sheepish , innocent Highlanderswere made prisoners , but nothing could be laid to theircharge , and they were almost immediately set at liberty ,

while the soldiers were ordered back to Fort George .

The demonstration , however , had the desired effect incow1ng and frightening the people into the most absolutesubmission . They became dismayed and brokenhearted , and quietly submitted to their fate . The clergyall this time were assiduous in preaching that all themisfortunes of the people were fore- ordained of God ,and denouncing the vengeance of Heaven and eternaldamnation on all those who would presume to make theslightest resistance .

” At the May term of 1 81 2 largedistricts of these parishes were cleared in the most peaceable manner , the poor creatures foolishly believing thefalse teaching of their selfish and dishonest spiritualguides— save the mark The Earl of Selkirk , who wentpersonally to the district , allured many of the evictedpeople to emigrate to his estates on the Red River inBritish North America

,whither a whole shi p - cargo of

them went . After a long and otherwise disastrouspassage they found themselves deceived and desertedby the Earl , left to their unhappy fate in an inclementwilderness , without any protection from the hordes ofRed Indian savages by whom the district was infested ,

24 H IGHLAND CLEARANCES.

and who plundered them of their all on their arrivaland finally massacred them , save a small remnant whomanaged to escape , and travelled, through immensediffi culties , across trackless forests to Upper Canada .

The notorious Mr . Sellar was at thi s time sub- factor,

and in the spring of 1 81 4 he took a large portion of theparishes of Farr and Kildonan into his own bands . Inthe month of March the old tenantry received noticesto quit at the ensuing May term , and a few days after thesummonses were served the greater portion of the heathpasture was , by his orders , s et on fire . By thi s cruelproceeding the cattle belonging to the old tenantry wereleft without food during the spring , and it was impossibleto dispose of them at a fair price , the price having fallenafter the war for Napoleon was now a prisoner in Elba ,and the demand for cattle became temporarily dull, andprices very much reduced . To make matters worse ,fodder was unusually scarce this spring , and the poorpeople

’

s cattle depended for subsistence solely on thespring grass which sprouts out among the heather , butwhich thi s year had been burnt by the factor who wouldhimself reap the benefit when he came into poss essionlater on .

In May the work of ej ectment was again commenced ,accompanied by cruelties hi therto unknown even in theHighlands . Atrocities were perpetrated which I cannottrust myself to describe in my own words . I shall givewhat is much more valuable— a description by an eyewitness in his own language . He says —In formerremovals the tenants had been allowed to carry away thetimber of their old dwellings to erect houses on their newallotments , but now a more summary mode was adoptedby setting fire to them . The able -bodied men were bythis time away after their cattle or otherwise engagedat a distance , so that the immediate sufferers by thegeneral house-burning that now commenced were theaged and infirm , the women and children . As the landswere now in the hands of the factor himself , and were tobe occupied as sheep farms , and as the people made noresistance , they expected , at least , some indulgence in

SUTHE RLAND . 25

the way of permission to occupy their houses and otherbuildings till they could gradually remove , and meanwhile look after their growing crops . Their consternation was therefore greater , when immediately after theMay term - day, a commencement was made to pull downand set fire to the hous es over their heads . The oldpeople , women and others , then began to preserve thetimber which was their own but the devastators proceeded with the greatest celerity, demolishing all beforethem , and when they had overthrown all the houses in alarge tract of country they set fire to the wreck . Timber , furniture , and every other article that could not beinstantly removed was consumed by fire or otherwiseutterly destroyed . The proceedings were carried on withthe greatest rapidity and the most reckless cruelty . Thecries of the victims , the confusion , the despair and horrorpainted on the countenances of the one party , and theexulting ferocity of the other , beggar all description .

At these scenes Mr . Sellar was present , and apparently ,as sworn by several witnesses at his subsequent , trial ,ordering and directing the whole . Many deaths ensuedfrom alarm , from fatigue , and cold , the people havingbeen instantly deprived of shelter , and left to the merciesof the elements . Some old men took to the woods andto the rocks , wandering about in a state approachingto , or of absolute , insanity and several of them in thi ssituation lived only a few days . Pregnant women weretaken in premature labour

,and several children did not

long survive their sufferings .p

! To these scenes ,”says

Donald Macleod*,! I was an eye-witness , and am ready to

substantiate the truth of my statements , not only by myown testimony , but by that of many others who werepresent at the time . In such a scene of general devastation , it is almost useless to particularise the cases ofindividuals the suffering was great and universal .I shall , however , notice a very few of the extreme casesof which I was myself an eye-witness . John Mackay ’swife , R avigill, in attempting to pull down her house , in

Author of ! Gloomy Memories,

26 HIGHLAND CLEARANCE S .

the absence of her husband,to preserve the timber , fell

through the roof . She was in consequence taken inpremature labour , and in that state was exposed to theopen air and to the view of all the by- standers . DonaldMunro , Garvott, lying in a fever, was turned out of hi shouse and exposed to the elements . Donald Macbeath,

an infirm and bed- ridden old man,had the house unroofed

over him , and was in that state exposed to the wind andrain until death put a period to his sufferings . I waspresent at the pulling down and burning of the house of

William Chisholm, Badinloskin ,

in whi ch was lying hi swife

’

s mother , an old bed- ridden woman of nearly 1 00

years of age , none of the family being present . I ihformed the persons about to set fire to the house of thiscircumstance , and prevailed on them to wait until Mr .Sellar came . On his arrival

,I told him of the poor old

woman being in a condition unfit for removal , when hereplied , Damn her , the old witch , she has lived toolong— let her burn .

’ Fire was immediately set to thehouse , and the blankets in which she was carried out werein flames before she could be got out. She was placed in alittle shed , and it was with great diffi culty they were prevented from firing it also . The old woman

’s daughterarrived while the house was on fire , and assisted the neighbours in removing her mother out of the flames andsmoke , presenting a picture of horror which I shall neverforget , but cannot attempt to describe .

” Within fivedays she was a corpse .

In 1 81 6 Sellar was charged at Inverness , before theCourt of Justiciary

,with culpable homicide and fire

raising in connection with these proceedings , and , cons i dering all the circumstances , it is not at all surprisingthat he was honourably acquitted of the grave chargesmade against him . Almost immediately after , however ,he ceased to be factor on the Sutherland estates , and Mr .Loch came into power . Evictions were carried out from1 81 4 down to 1 81 9 and 1 820,

pretty much of the samecharacter as those already described , but the removal ofMr . Young , the chief factor , and Mr . Sellar from powerwas hailed with delight by the whole remaining popula


and other combustible material were set to work threehundred houses were given ruthlessly to the flames

,and

their occupants pushed out in the Open air without foodor shelter . Macleod , who was present , describes thehorrible scene as follows 2The consternation and confusion were extreme ;

little or no time was given for the removal of personsor property the people striving to remove the sick andthe helpless before the fire should reach them next

,

struggling to save the most valuable of their effects . Thecries of the women and children , the roaring of theaffrighted cattle , hunted at the same time by the yellingdogs of the shepherds amid the smoke and fire , altogetherpresented a scene that completely baffles description— itrequired to be seen to be believed . A dense cloud of

smoke enveloped the whole country by day,and even

extended far out to sea at night an awfully grand butterrific scene presented itself— all the houses in an extensive district in flames at once . I myself ascended aheight about eleven o

’

clock in the evening , and countedtwo hundred and fifty blazing houses , many of theowners of which were my relations, and all of whom Ipersonally knew , but whose present condition— whetherin or out of the flames— I could not tell . The conflagration lasted s ix days , till the whole of the dwellings werereduced to ashes or smoking ruins . During one of thesedays a boat actually lost her way in the dense smoke asshe approached the shore , but at night was enabledto reach a landing-place by the luri d light of theflames .The whole of the inhabitants of Kildonan , numbering

nearly 2000 souls , except three families , were utter lyrooted and burnt out , and the whole parish convertedinto a solitary wilderness . The suffering was intense .

Some lost their reason . Over a hundred souls tookpassage to Caithness in a small sloop , the masterhumanely agreeing to take them in the hold , from whi chhe had just unloaded a cargo of quicklime . A headstorm came on , and they were nine days at sea in the mostmiserable condition— men , women , and helpless chil

SUTHERLAND . 29

dren huddled up together , with barely any provisions .Several died in consequence , and others became invalidsfor the rest of their days . One man , Donald Mackay ,whose family was suffering from a severe fever , carriedtwo of his children a distance of twenty-five miles to thisvessel . Another old man took shelter in a meal mill ,where he was kept from starvation by licking the mealrefuse scattered among the dust on the floor , and protected from the rats and other vermin by his faithfulcollie . George Munro , the miller at Farr , who had s ix

of his family down with fever , had to remove them inthat state to a damp kiln , whi le his home was given to theflames . And all this was done in the name of proprietorswho could not be considered tyrants in the ordinarysense of the term .

General Stewart of Garth , about a year after thecruelties perpetrated in Sutherland , writes with regretof the unnatural proceedings as the delusions practised

(by his subordinates) on a generous and public - spiritedproprietor , which have been so perseveringly applied ,that it would appear as if all feeling of former kindnesstowards the native tenantry had ceased to exist . Tothem any uncultivated spot of moorland , however small ,was considered sufficient for the support of a familywhile the most lavish encouragement has been given toall the new tenants , on whom , with the erection of buildings , the improvement of lands , roads , bridges , &C . ,

upwards of had been expended since 1 808

(in fourteen years) . With this proof of unprecedentedliberality , it cannot be sufficiently lamented that an estimate o i the character of these poor people was takenfrom the misrepresentation of interested persons

,instead

of j udging from the conduct of the same men whenbrought into the world , where they obtained a name andcharacter which have secured the esteem and approbationofmen high in honour and rank , and , from their talentsand experience , perfectly capable of judging wi th correctness . With such proofs of capability

,and wi th such

materials for carrying on the improvements and maintaining the permanent prosperity of the county

,when


occupied by a hardy, abstemious race , easily led on to afull exertion of their faculties by a proper management ,there cannot be a question but that if , instead of placingthem , as has been done , in situations bearing too near aresemblance to the potato -gardens of Ireland , they hadbeen permitted to remain as cultivators o f the soil ,receiving a moderate share of the vast sums lavished ontheir richer successors , such a humane and considerateregard to the prosperity of a whole people would nu

doubtedly have answered every good purpose .

”He

then goes on to show that when the valleys and hi ghergrounds were let to the sheep- farmers , the whole nativepopulation was driven to the sea shore , where theywere crowded on small lots of land to earn subsistence bylabour and sea-fishing, the latter so little congenial totheir former habits and experience . And these one

or two acre lots are represented as improvements Hethen asks how in a country , without regular employmentor manufactories , a family is to be supported on one ortwo acres ? The thing was impossible , and the couse

quence is that over the whole of this district , where thesea - shore is accessible , the coast is thi ckly studded withthatched cottages , crowded with starving inhabitants ,while strangers , with capital , usurp the land anddispossess the swain . Ancient respectable tenants , whopassed the greater part of their lives in the enj oymentof abundance , and in the exercise of hospitality andcharity , possessing stocks of ten , twenty , and thi rtybreeding cows , with the usual proportion of other stock ,are now pining on one or two acres of bad land , with oneor two starved cows ; and for this accommodation acalculation is made , that they must support their families ,and pay the rents of their lots , not from the produce ,but from the sea . When the herring fishery succeeds

,

they generally satisfy the landlords , whatever privationstheymay suffer but when the fishing fails , they fall inarrears and are sequestrated and their stocks sold to paythe rents , their lots given to others , and they and theirfamilies turned adrift on the world but in these tryingcircumstances , he concludes , we cannot suffi ciently

SUTHERLAND . 3 1

admire their meek and patient spirit , supported by thepowerful influence of moral and religious principle .

”

The beautiful Strathnaver , containing a populationequal to Kildonan , had been cleared in the same heartlessmanner .In 1 828, Donald Macleod , after a considerable absence ,

returned to hi s native Kildonan , where he attended divineservice in the parish church , which he found attended by acongregation consisting of eight shepherds and their dogs—numbering between twenty and thirty— the minister ,and three members of his family . Macleod came in toolate for the first psalm , but at the conclusion of the servicethe fine old tune Bangor was given out , when the fourfooted hearers became excited , got up on the seats , andraised a most infernal chorus of howling . Their mastersattacked them with their crooks , which only madematters worse the yelping and howling continued tothe end of the service .

”And Donald Macleod retired

to contemplate the painful and shameful scene , and contrast it with what he had previously experienced as amember, for many years , of the large and devout congre

gation that worshipped formerly in the parish church ofhi s native valley .

The Parish Church of Fa rr was no longer in existencethe fine population of Strathnaver was rooted and burntout during the general conflagration, and presented asimilar aspect to his own native parish . The church , nolonger found necessary , was razed to the ground , and itstimbers conveyed to construct one of the Sutherlandimprovements — the Inn at Altnaharra , while theminister

’

s house was converted into a dwelling for a foxhunter . A woman , well -known in the parish , travelli ngthrough the desolated Strath next year after the evictions ,was asked on her return home for her news , when she

replied O Chan eil ach sgiala bronach sgiala

bronach Oh , only sad news , sad news I haveseen the timber of our well attended kirk covering theinn at Altnaharra I have seen the kirk-yard where ourfriends are mouldering filled with tarry sheep , and Mr .

Sage’

s study turned into a kennel for Robert Gunn’

s dogs ,

32 HIGHLAND CLEARANCBS .

and I have seen a crow’

s nest in J ames Gordon’

s chimneyhead after which she fell into a paroxysm of grief .

THE REV. DONALD SAGE ON THE

SUTHERLAND CLEARANCES .

I remained for about a year in the capacity of tutor inthe family of Mr . Robert MacKid, Sheriff- Substitute of

Sutherland , who lived at Kirkton , in the parish of Golspie .

I shall briefly sum up what I remember of this period .

It was a very short time previ ous to my residence inMr . MacK id

’

s family that the first Sutherland Clearance took place . This consisted in the ejection fromtheir minutely-divi ded farms of several hundreds of theSutherlandshire aborigines , who had from time immemorial been in possession of their mountain tenements .

This sweeping desolation extended over many parishes ,but it fell most heavily on the parish of Kildonan . Itwas the device of one William Young , a successfulcorndealer and land- improver . He rose from indigence , butwas naturally a man of taste , of an ingenious turn ofmind , and a shrewd calculator . After realising somehundreds of pounds by corn-dealing , he purchased fromSir Archibald Dunbar ofThundertown a small and valueless property in Morayshire called Inverugie . It layupon the sea- shore , and , like many properties of mOreancient date , it had been completely covered with seasand whi ch had drifted upon its surface . For this smalland worthless spot he paid a correspondingly smallprice - about £700— but , tasking his native and vigorousgenius for improvement , he set himself at

' once to betterhis bargain . Making use of a plough of peculiar construction , he turned the sand down and the rich old soilup , and thus made it one of the most productive pro

perties in the county . This , with other necessary im

provements , however, involved him in debt but , j ust asit became a question with him how to pay it , his praisein the north as a scientific improver of land reachedthe ears of the Stafford family

,who , in connection with

their immense wealth , were racked with the anxiety

SUTHERLAND . 33

to improve their Highland estate . As William Younghad been so successful on the estate of Inverugie theythought he could not but be equally so on the Sutherlandestate . Young introduced the depopulating system intoSutherland .

* This system, during ,his tenure of office as

commi ss i oner on the Sutherland property , was just at itscommencement . It was first brought to bear on theparish of Kildonan . The whole north and south sidesof the Strath , from Kildonan to Caen on the left bank ofthe river , and from D alcharn to Marrel on the rightbank

,were , at one fell sweep , cleared of their inhabitants .

The measures for their ej ectment had been taken withsuch promptness , and were so suddenly and brutallycarried out , as to excite a tumult among the people .

Young had as his associate in the factorshi p a man ofthe name of Sellar , who acted in the subordinate capacityof legal agent and accountant on the estate , and who ,by his unprincipled recklessness in conducting the processof ej ectment , added fuel to the flame . It was said thatthe people rose almost en mas se, that the constablesand officials were resisted and their lives threatened , andthe combination among the peasantry was representedas assuming at last so alarming an aspect that the SheriffDepute of the county was under the necessity of callingin the military to quell the riot . A detachment of soldierswas accordingly sent from Fort -George , a powder magazine was erected atDornoch , and every preparation madeas for the commencement of a civil war . But the chiefmagistrate of the county , shrewdly suspecting the originof these reports , ordered back the military ,

came himselfalone among the people , and instituted a cool and impartial enquiry into their proceedings . The result wasthat the formidable riot , which was reported to have '

for

its obj ects the murder of Young and Sellar,the expulsion

of the store- farmers , and the burning ofDunrobin Castle ,! Clearances had

, however , been effected i n s ome parts ofSutherland previous to thi s peri od

,although to a smaller

extent. From along the banks of the river Oykell, forIns tance

,many families were evicted , in the year 1 780 .

(Statement by the R ev . Dr. Aird,of Creich) .

C


amounted after all only to thi s , that a certain number ofthe people had congregated in different places and hadgiven vent to their outraged feelings and sense of oppression in rash and unguarded terms . It could not beproved that a single act ofviolence was committed . S ellarlaboured hard to involve my father and mother in thecriminality of these proceedings , but he utterly failed .

The peasantry , as fine as any in the world , were treatedby the owners of the soil as good for nothing but to becast out and trodden under feet ofmen ,

” while the tractof country thus depopulated was divided into two largesheep farms , one of whi ch was given in lease to WilliamClunes s of Cracaig, and the other to a Mr . Reid fromNorthumberland.

The reckles s lordly proprietors had resolved uponthe expulsion of their long- standing and much- attachedtenantry from their widely- extended estates , and theSutherland Clearance of 1 81 9 was not only the climaxof their system of oppression for many years before , butthe extinction of the last remnant of the ancient H ighlandpeasantry in the north . As violent tempests send out

before them many a deep and sullen roar , so did the advanc ing storm give notice of its approach by varioussingle acts of oppression . I can yet recall to memorythe deep and thrilling sensation whi ch I experienced,as I sat at the fireside in my rude , little parlour atAchness , when the tidings of the meditated removal ofmy. poor flock first reached me from headquarters . Itmight be about the beginning of October , 1 81 8. Atenant from the middle of the Strath had been to Rhives ,the residence of Mr . Young , the commissioner , paying hisrent .

-H e was informed , and authorised'

to tell hi sneighbours , that the rent for the half-year , ending in May ,1 81 9, would not be demanded , as it was determined tolay the distri cts of Strathnaver and Upper Kildonanunder sheep . This intelligence when first announcedwas indi gnantly discredited by the people . N otwi th

standing their knowledge Of former clearances theyclung to the hope that the Ban-mhorair Chataibh

(the Duchess of Sutherland) would not give her con

36 H IGHLAND CLEARANCES .

the middle of November , 1 81 8, sold my cow at the Ardgaymarket , and got my furniture conveyed to Kildonanby my father

’

s horses and my own. The people receivedthe legal warning to leave for ever the homes of theirfathers with a sort of stupor— that apparent indifferencewhi ch is often the external aspect of intense feeling . As

they began , however, to awaken from the stunningeffects of this first intimation

,their feelings found vent ,

and I was much struck with the different ways in whichthey expressed their sentiments . The truly piousacknowledged the mighty hand of God in the matter .In their prayers and religious conferences not a solitaryexpression could be heard indicative of anger or vin

dictivenes s , but in the sight of God they humbled themselves , and received the chastisement at His hand .

Those , however , who were strangers to such exalted andennobling impressions of the Gospel breathed deep andmuttered curses on the heads of the persons who sub

jected them to such treatment . The more reckless portion of them fully realised the character of theimpenitent in all ages

,and indulged in the most culpable

excesses , even while this divine punishment was stillsuspended over them . These last , however , were veryfew in number— not more than a dozen . To my poorand defenceless flock the dark hour of trial came at lastin right earnest . It was in the month of April , and aboutthe middle of it , that they were all— man , woman , andchild - from the heights of Farr to the mouth of the Naver ,on one day

,to quit their tenements and go— many of

them knew not whither . For a few , some miserablepatches of ground along the shores were doled out aslots , without aught in the shape of the poorest hut toshelter them . Upon these lots it was intended that theyshould build houses at their own expense , and cultivatethe ground

,at the same time occupying themselves as

fishermen,although the great maj ority of them had never

set foot on a boat in their lives . Thither , therefore , theywere driven at a week’s warning . As for the rest mostof them knew not whither to go , unless their neighbourson the shore provided them with a temporary shelter

SUTHERLAND . 37

for,on the day of their removal , they would not be al

lowed to remain , even on the bleakest moor, and in theopen air, for a distance of twenty miles around .

On the Sabbath , a fortnight previous to the fated day,I preached my valedictory sermon in Achness , and theSabbath thereafter at Ach-na-h-uaigh . Both occasionswere feltbymyself and by the people from the oldest to theyoungest , to be among the bitterest and most overwhelming experiences of our lives . In Strathnaver we assembled , for the last time , at the place of Langdale , where Ihad frequently preached before , on a beautiful greensward overhung by Robert Gordon’s antique , romanticlittle cottage on an eminence close beside us . The stillflowing waters of the Naver swept past us a few yards tothe eastward . The Sabbath morning was unusuallyfine , and mountain , hill , and dale , water and woodland ,among which we had so long dwelt and with which allour associations of home and native land wereso fondly linked , appeared to unite their attractionsto bid us farewell . My preparations for the pulpit hadalways cost me much anxiety , but in view of this sorescene of parting , they caused me pain almost beyondendurance . I selected a text whi ch had a pointedreference to the peculiarity of our circumstances , but mydifficulty was how to restrain my feelings till I shouldillustrate and enforce the great truths whi ch it involvedwith reference to eternity . The service began . Thevery aspect of the congregation was of itself a sermon

,

and a most impressive one . Old Achoul sat right oppos ite to me . As my eye fell upon his venerable counte n

nance , bearing the impress of eighty- seven winters , I wasdeeply affected , and could scarcely articulate the psalm .

I preached and the people listened , but every sentenceuttered and heard was in opposition to the tide of ournatural feelings , which , setting in against us , mountedat every step of our progress higher and higher . At lastall restraints were compelled to give way . The preacherceased to speak , the people to listen . All lifted up theirvoices , and wept , mingling their tears together . It wasindeed the place of parting , and the hour . The greater


number parted never again to behold each other in theland of the living . My adieu to the people of Ach-nah-uaighe was scarcely less affecting , although somewhatalleviated by the consideration that I had the prospectof ministering still to those among them who had leasesof their farms , and whom Mr . Sellar , the factor and lawagent , had no power to remove .

The middle of the week brought on the day of theStrathnaver Clearance It was a Tuesday . Atan early hour of that day Mr . Sellar , accompanied by theFiscal , and escorted by a strong body of constables ,sheriff- ofl‘i cers and others , commenced work at Grummore , the first inhabited township to the west of theAchness district . Their plan of operations was to clearthe cottages

‘

of their inmates , giving them about half- anhour to pack up and carry off their furniture , and thenset the cottages on fire . To thi s plan they ruthlesslyadhered , without the slightest regard to any obstaclethat might arise while carrying it into execution .

” At Grumbeg lived a soldier’

s widow,Henny Munro .

She had followed her husband in all hi s campaigns ,marches , and battles , in Sicily and in Spain . Whetherhis death was on the field of battle , or the result of feveror fatigue , I forget but his faithful helpmeet attendedhim to hi s last hour , and , when hi s spirit fled , closed hi seyes , and followed hi s remains to their last restingplace .

After hi s death she returned to Grumbeg , the place ofher nativity, and , as she was utterly destitute of anymeans of support , she was affectionately received by herfriends , who built her a small cottage and gave her a cowand grass for it . The din of arms , orders , and counterorders from headquarters , marchings and countermarchings and pitched battles , retreats and advances ,were the leading and nearly unceasing subjects of herwinter evening conversations . She was a j oyous , cheeryold creature so inoffensive , moreover , and so contented ,and brimful of good-will that all who got acquainted withold Henny Munro could only desire to do her a good turn ,were it merely for the warm and hearty expressions ofgratitude with which it was received . Surely the factor

SUTHERLAND . 39

and his followers did not personally know old Henny,or

they could not have treated her as they did . After thecottages at Grummore were emptied of their inmates , androofs and rafters had been lighted up into one red blaze

,

Mr . Sellar and hi s iron-hearted attendants approachedthe residence of the soldier’s widow . Henny stood upto plead for her furniture— the coarsest and most valuelessthat well could be , but still her earthly all . She firstasked that , as her neighbours were so occupied with theirown furniture , hers might ' be allowed to remain tillthey should be free to remove it for her . This requestwas curtly refused . She then besought them to allow ashepherd who was present and Offered his services forthat purpose , to remove the furniture to hi s own residence on the Opposite shore of the loch , to remain theretill she could carry it away . Thi s also was refused , andshe was told , with an oath , that if she did not take hertru

’

mpery ofl withi n half - eu-hour it would be burned .

The poor widow had only to task the remains of her bodilystrength , and address herself to the work of draggingher chests , beds , presses , and stools out at the door , andplacing them at the gable of her cottage . No sooner washer task accomplished than the torch was applied , thewidow’s hut , built of very combustible material , speedilyignited , and there rose up rapidly, first a dense cloud ofsmoke , and soon thereafter a bright red flame . Thewind unfortunately blew 1n the direction of the furniture

,

and the flame , lighting upon it , speedily reduced it to

In their progress down the Strath , Ceann - na- coillewas the next townshi p reached by the fire- raising evictors .

An aged widow lived there who , by infirmity , had beenreduced to such a state of bodily weakness that she couldneither walk nor lie in bed . She could only , night andday , sit in her chair and having been confi ned for manyyears in that posture , her limbs had become so stiff thatany attempt to move her was attended with acute pa in .

She was the mother- in- law of Samuel Matheson , and had ,with her family , been removed by Mr . Sellar fromRhimi sdale some time before . His treatment of her


and others on that occasion had brought Mr . Sellarinto trouble , but now , in the Providence of God , shewas once more in his power . Bean Raomasdail, orthe good wife of Rhimisdale , as she was called , wasmuch revered . In her house I have held diets of catechi s ing and meetings for prayer , and been signally re

freshed by her Christian converse . When the evictingparty commenced their operations in her township , theaged widow

’

s house was among the very first that wasto be consigned to the flames . Her family and neighboursrepresented the widow

’

s strong claims on their compassion , and the imminent danger to her life of removingher to such a distance as the lower end of the Strath , atleast ten miles Off, without suitable means of conveyance .

They implored that she might be allowed to remain foronly two days till a conveyance could be provided forher . They were told that they should have thought onthat before , and that she must immediately be removedby her friends , or the constables would be ordered to doit . The good wife of Rhimi sdale was , therefore , raisedby her weeping family , from her chair and laid on a blanket , the corners of which were held up by four of thestrongest youths in the place . All this she bore withmeekness , and while the eyes of her attendants werestreaming with tears , her pale and gentle countenancewas suffused with a smile . The change of posture and therapid motion of the bearers , however , awakened the mostintense pain , and her cries never ceased till within afew miles ofher destination , when she fell asleep . A burning fever supervened , of which she died a few monthslater .Duri ng these proceedings , I was resident at my father

’shouse

,but I had occasion on the week immediately

ensuing to visit the manse of Tongue . On my waythither , I passed through the scene of the campaign ofburning . The spectacle presented was hideous andghastly The bank s of the lake and the river, formerlystudded with cottages , no_

w met the eye as a scene of

desolation . Of all the houses , the thatched roofs weregone , but the walls , built of alternate layers of turf and

SUTHERLAND . 41

stone , remained . The flames of the preceding weekstill slumbered in their ruins , and sent up into the airspiral columns of smoke whilst here a gable, and there along side-wall , undermined by the fire burning withinthem

,might be seen tumbling to the ground , from whi ch a

cloud of smoke , and then a dusky flame , slowly sprangup. The sooty rafters of the cottages , as they were beingconsumed , filled the air with a heavy and most offensiveodour . In short , nothing could more vividly representthe horrors of grinding oppression , and the extent towhich one man , dressed up in a little brief authority ,

”

will exercise that power , without feeling or restraint , tothe injury of his fellow - creatures .

GENERAL STEWART OF GARTH ON THE


*

On the part of those who instituted similar improvements , in which so few of the people were to have a share ,conciliatory measures , and a degree of tenderness , beyondwhat would have been shown to strangers , were to havebeen expected towards the hereditary supporters of theirfamilies . It was , however , unfortunately the naturalconsequences of the measures whi ch were adopted

,that

few men of liberal feelings could be induced to undertaketheir execution . The respectable gentlemen , who , inso many cases , had formerly been entrusted with themanagement of Highland property , resigned , and theirplaces were supplied by persons cast in a coarser mould

,

and,generally , strangers to the country , who , detesting

the people , and ignorant of their character , capabili ty ,

and language , quickly surmounted every obstacle , andhurried on the change , without reflecting on the distressofwhich it might be productive , or allowing the kindlierfeelings of landlords to operate in favour of their ancienttenantry . To attempt a new system , and becomeacceptable tenants , required a little time and a little

! Sketches of the H ighlanders . First e d i tion .


indulgence , two things which it was resolved should notbe conceded them they were immediately removed fromthe fertile and cultivated farms some left the country ,and others were offered limited portions of land on uncultivated moors , on which they were to form a settlement and thus , while particular districts have beendesolated , the gross numerical population has , in somemanner , been preserved . Many judicious men , however ,doubt the policy of these measures , and dread their consequences on the condition and habits of the people .

The following account of their situation is from the respectable and intelligent clergyman of an extensiveparish in the county zWhen the valleys and higher grounds were let to the

shepherds , the whole population was drawn down tothe sea- shore , where they were crowded on small lots ofland , to earn their subsistence by labour (where all arelabourers and few employers) and by sea -fishing, the latterso little congenial to their former habits . This cuttingdown farms into lots was found so profitable , that overthe whole of this district , the sea- coast , where the shoreis accessible , is thickly studded with wretched cottages ,crowded with starving inhabitants . Ancient respectabletenants , who passed the greater part of life in the enj oyment of abundance , and in the exercise of hospitalityand charity , possessing stock s of ten, twenty , and thirtybreeding cows , with the usual proportion of other stock ,

are now pining on one or two acres of bad land , with one

or two starved cows , and , for this accommodation acalculation i s made , that they must support their familiesand pay the rent of their lots , which the land cannotafford . When the herring fishery (the only fisheryprosecuted on this coast) succeeds , they generally satisfythe landlords , whatever privations they may suffer ,but when the fishing fails , they fall in arrears , and aresequestrated , and their stock sold to pay the rents , theirlots given to others , and they and their families turnedadrift on the world . The herring fishery , always precarious

,has

,for a succession of years , been very defec

tive , and this class of people are reduced to extreme


imagined how proudly a man feels , however small hisproperty may be

,when he has a spot of arable land and

pasture,stocked with corn , horses , and cows , a species

of property which , more than any other , binds him , byties of interest and attachment , to the spot with which heis connected . He considers himself an independent pers on,

placed in a station in society far above the daylabourer , who has no stake in the permanency of existingcircumstances , beyond the prospect of daily employmenthis independence being founded on permanent property ,

he has an interest in the welfare of the state , by supporting which he renders his own property more secure , and ,although the value of the property may not be great , itis every day in his View his cattle and horses feed aroundhim his grass and corn he sees growing and ripeninghis property is visible to all observers , which is calculatedto raise the owner in general consideration and when apassing friend or neighbour praises his thriving cropsand his cattle , his heart swells with pleasure , and heexerts himself to support and to preserve that government and those laws which render , it secure . Such isthe case in many parts of the world; such was formerlythe case in Scotland , and is still in many parts of theHighlands . Those who wish to see only the two castesof capitalists and daylabourers , may smile at this unionof independence and poverty . But , that the Oppositesystem is daily quenching the independent spirit of theHighlanders , is an undoubted fact , and gives additionalstrength to the arguments of those who obj ect to the reduction of the agricultural population

,and regret their

removal to the great towns , and to the villages in pre

paration in some parts of the country .

It is painful to dwell on thi s subject , but as informationcommunicated by men of honour , judgment , and perfectveracity , descriptive of what they daily witness , affordsthe best means of forming a correct judgment , and asthese gentlemen , from their situations in life , have noimmediate interest in the determination of the question ,beyond what is dictated by humanity and a love of truth ,their authority may be considered as undoubted .

SUTHERLAND . 45

The following extract of a letter from a friend , as well asthe extract already quoted , is of this description . Speaking of the settlers on the new allotments , he saysI scarcely need tell you that these wretched people

exhibit every symptom of the most abj ect poverty,and

the most helpless distress . Their miserable lots in themoors , notwithstanding their utmost labour and strictesteconomy , have not yielded them a suffi cient crop for thesupport of their families for three months . The littlemoney they were able to derive from the sale of theirstock has , therefore , been expended in the purchase ofnecessaries , and i s now wholly exhausted . Though theyhave now , therefore , overcome all their scruples aboutleaving their native land , and possess the most ardentdesire to emigrate , in order to avoid more intolerable evilsof starvation , and have been much encouraged by thefavourable accounts they have received from theircountrymen already in America , they cannot possiblypay the expense of transporting themselves and theirfamilies thither .It has been said that an old Highlander warned his

countrymen to take care of themselves , for the lawhad reached Ross - shire . When hi s fears were excitedby vague apprehensions of change , he could not wellanticipate that the introduction of civil order , and theextension of legal authority , which in an enlightenedage tend to advance the prosperity as well as promote thesecurity of a nation , should have been to his countrymeneither the signals of banishment from their native country

, or the means of lowering the condition of those whowere permitted to remain .

.With more reason it mighthave been expected that the principles of an enlightenedage would have gradually introduced beneficial changesamong the ancient race that they would have softeneddown the harsher features of their character , and prepared them for habits better suited to the cultivationof the soil , than the indolent freedom of a pastoral life .

Instead of this , the new system ,whatever may be its

intrinsic merits or defects , has , in too many cases , beencarried into execution in a manner which has excited


the strongest and most indignant sensations in thebreasts of those who do not overlook the present inconvenience and distress of the many, in the eager pursuitof a prospective advantage to the few . The couse

quences which have resulted , and the contrast‘between

the present and past condition of the people , and betweentheir present and past disposition and feelings towardstheir superiors , show , in the most striking light , theimpolicy of attempting , with such unnatural rapidity ,innovations which it would require an age , instead of afew years , to accomplish in a salutary manner , and theimpossibility of effecting them without inflicting greatmisery

,endangering morals

,and undermining loyalty

to the king , and respect for constituted authority .

A love of change , proceeding from the actual possessionof wealth , or from the desire of acquiring it , disturbs , byan ill- directed influence , the gradual and effectual progress of those improvements which , instead of benefitingthe man of capital alone , should equally distribute theiradvantages to all . In the prosecution of recent changesin the north , it would appear that the original inhabitants were never thought of, nor included in the systemwhich was to be productive of such wealth to the landlord ,the man of capital , and the country at large , -and thatno native could be intrusted with , or , perhaps , none wasfound hardy enough to act a part in the execution of

plans which commenced with the ejectment of theirunfortunate friends and neighbours . Strangers were ,therefore , called in , and whole glens cleared of theirinhabitants , who , in some instances , resisted thesemandates (although legally executed) , in the hope of

preserving to their families their ancient homes , to whichallwere enthusiastically attached . These people , blameles s in every respect , save their poverty and ignoranceof modern agriculture , could not believe that such harshmeasures proceeded from their honoured superiors , whohad hitherto been kind , and to whom they themselveshad ever been attached and faithful . The whole wasattributed to the acting agents , and to them , therefore ,their indignation was principally directed and , in some

SUTHE RLAND . 47

instances , their resistance was so obstinate , that it becamenecessary to enforce the orders vi et armis ,

” and to haverecourse to a mode of ej ectment , happily long obsolete ,by setting their houses on fire . This last species of legalproceeding was so peculiarly conclusive and forcible thateven the stubborn Highlanders , with all their attachment to the homes of their fathers , were compelled toyield .

In the first instances of this mode of removing re s

fractory tenants , a small compensation (six shi llings) ,in two separate sums , was allowed for the houses destroyed . Some of the ej ected tenants were also allowedsmall allotments of. land, on which they were to buildhouses at their own expense , no assistance being givenfor that purpose . Perhaps it was owing to this that theywere the more reluctant to remove till they had builthouses on their new stations . The compensations al

lowed in the more recent removals are stated to have beenmore liberal and the improvements which havesucceeded those summary ejectments of the ancientinhabitants are highly eulogised both in pamphlets andnewspapers .Some people may , however , be inclined to doubt the

advantages of improvements which called for suchfrequent apologies for, if more lenient measures hadbeen pursued , vindication would have , perhaps , beenunnecessary , and the trial of one of the acting agentsmight have been avoided .

This trial was brought forward at the instance of theLord Advocate , in consequence of the loud cry of ih

dignation raised in the country against proceedingscharacterised by the sheriff of the county as !

conductwhich has seldom disgraced any country .

” But thetrial ended (as was expected by every person who understood the circumstances) in the acquittal of the actingagent , the verdict of the jury proceeding on the principlethat he acted under legal authority . This acquittal ,however , did by no means diminish the general feeling ofculpability it only transferred the offence from the agentto a quarter too high and too distant to be directly


affected by publi c indignation , if , indeed , there be anystation so elevated , or so distant , that public indignation ,justly excited , will not , sooner or later , reach , so as totouch the feelings , however obtuse , of the transgressorof that law of humanity written on every upright mind ,and deeply engraved on every kind and generous heart .

It must , however , be a matter of deep regret , that sucha line of proceeding was pursued with regard to thesebrave , unfortunate , and well- principled people , as exciteda sensation of horror , and a conviction of culpability ,s o powerful as only to be removed by an appeal to acriminal court . It i s no less to be deplored that anyconduct sanctioned by authority , even although productive of ultimate advantage (and how it can produceany advantage beyond what might have been obtainedby pursuing a scheme of conciliation and encouragementis a very questionable point) , should have , in the firstinstance , inflicted such general misery . More humanemeasures would undoubtedly have answered everygood purpose ; and had such a course been pursued ,as an enlightened humanity would have suggested , instead of depopulated glens and starving peasantry ,

alienated from their superiors , and , in the exacerbationof their feelings , too ready to imbibe opinions hostile tothe best interests of their country , we should still haveseen a high - spirited and loyal people , ready , at the nod oftheir respected chiefs , to embody themselves into regiments , with the same zeal as in former times and whenenrolled among the defenders of their country , to exhibita conduct honourable to that country and to theirprofession . Such is the acknowledged character of themen of these districts as soldiers , when called forth in theservice of their country , although they be now describedas irregular in their habits , and a burthen on the landswhich gave them birth , and on whi ch their forefathersmaintained the honour , and promoted the wealth andprosperity of the ancestors of those who now reject them .

But i s it conceivable that the people at home should beso degraded , while their brothers and sons who becomesoldiers maintain an honourable character The people

SUTHERLAND . 49

ought not to be reproached with incapacity or immoralitywithout better evidence than that of their prejudicedand unfeeling calumniators . If it be so , however , andif this virtuous and honourable race , which has contributed to raise and uphold the character of the Britishpeasantry in the eyes of allEurope , are thus fallen , and s osuddenly fallen , how great and powerful must be thecause , and how heavy the responsibility of its authorsBut if at home they are thus low in character , how un

paralleled must be the improvement which is produced byd ifference of profession , as for example , when theybecome soldiers , and associate in barracks with troopsof all characters , or in quarters , or bi llets , with the lowestof the people, instead of mingling with such society asthey left in their native homes ? Why should theseHighlanders be at home so degenerate as they are represented , and as in recent instances they would actuallyappear to be And why , when they mount the cockade ,are they found to be SO '

virtuous and regular , that onethousand men of Sutherland have been embodied fourand five years together, at different and distant periods ,from 1 759 to 1 763 , from 1 779 to 1 783 , and from 1 793 to1 798, without an instance of military punishmentThese men performed all the duties of soldiers to theperfect satisfaction of their commanders , and continuedso unexceptionable in their conduct down to the latestperiod , when embodied into the g3rd regiment , that ,according to the words of a distinguished general offi cer ,!

Although the youngest regiment in the service , theymight form an example to all and on general paradesfor punishment , the Sutherland Highlanders have beenordered to their quarters , as examples of this kind werenot necessary for such honourable soldiers .General Stewart adds the following in the third editionof his Sketches , published in 1 825 2The great changes whi ch have taken place in the aboveparishes of Sutherland , and some others , have exciteda warm and general interest . While the liberal expenditure of capital was applauded by all, many intelligentpersons lamented that its application was so much in one

D


direction that the ancient tenantry were to have noshare in this expenditure and that so small a portionwas allotted for the future settlement of the numerouspopulation who had been removed from their farms , andwere placed in situations so new , and in many respectsso unsuitable , —certain that , in the first instance , greatdistress , disaffection , and hostility towards the landlords and government , with a d minution of that spiritof independence , and those proper principles whi ch hadhitherto distinguished them , would be the inevitableresult . So sudden and universal a change Of station ,

habits , and circumstances , and their being reduced fromthe state of independent tenants to that of cottagers andday - labourers , could not fail of arresting the notice of thepublic .

Anxious to Obtain the best information on this interesting subj ect , I early made the most minute enquiry , careful , at the same time , to form no om On on intelligenceCommunicated by the people Of the district , or by personsconnected with them , and who would naturally be interested in , and prejudiced against , or in favour of thosechanges . I was the more desirous for the best information as the statements published with regard to theCharacter , capability , and principles of the people , exhibited a perfect contrast to my own personal experienceand knowledge of the admirable character and exemplaryconduct of that portion of them that had left their nativecountry and I believe it improbable , nay impossible ,that the sons of worthless parents , without religious ormoral principle— as they have been described— couldconduct themselves in such an honourable manner as tobe held up as an example to the British army . But ,indeed , as to information , so much publicity had beengiven by various statements explanatory of, and in vindication oi these proceedings , that little more was necessary , beyond what these publications afforded , to showthe nature of the plans , and the manner in which theywere carried into execution .

Forming my opinions , therefore , from those statements ,and from information communicated by persons not im


rents , the tenants have sufficiently proved the unstableand fallacious nature of the system which they , with s o

much plausibility and perseverance , got established bydelusions , practised on a high-minded , honourableindividual , not aware of the evils produced by so universala movement of a whole people . Every friend to a braveand valuable race must rej oice that these evils are inprogress of alleviation by a return of that kindness andprotection whi ch had formerly been so conspicuoustowards that race of tenantry

,and whi ch could never

have been interrupted had it not been for those delusionsto which I have more than once alluded , and whichhave been prosecuted , within the last twenty years , inmany parts of the Highlands , with a degree of assiduityand antipathy to the unfortunate inhabitants altogetherremarkable .

HUGH MILLER ON THE SUTHERLANDCLEARANCES .

*

SO much has been already said about these disastrousSutherland evictions that we greatly fear the readeris sickened with the horrid narrative , but as it i sintended to make the present record of these atrociousproceedings , not only in Sutherland but throughout thewhole Highlands , as complete as it is now possible tomake it , we shall yet place before the reader at considerable length Hugh Miller

’

s observations on thi s NationalCrime — especially as hi s remarks largely embody thephi losophi cal views and conclusions of the able and farseeing French writer Sismondi , who in his great workdeclares It is by a cruel use of legal power— it is by anunjust usurpation— that the tacksman and the tenant ofSutherland are considered as having no right to the landwhich they have occupied for s o many ages . Acount or earl has no more right to expel from theirhomes the inhabitants of his county , than a king to

Lead ing articles on S utherland as i twas and i s .

SUTHERLAND . 53

expel from his country the inhabitants of his kingdom .

Hugh Miller introduces his remarks on Sutherland by areference to the celebrated Frenchman

’

s work, and hisopini on of the Sutherland Clearances , thusThere appeared at Paris , about five years ago , a

singularly ingenious work on political economy , fromthe pen of the late M . de Sismondi, a writer ofEuropean reputation . The greater part of the firstvolume is taken up with discussions on territorialwealth , and the condition of the cultivators of the soi land in thi s portion of the work there is a prominent placeassigned to a subj ect which perhaps few Scotch readerswould expect to s ee introduced through the medium of aforeign tongue to the people of a great continental state .

We find thi s phi losophic writer , whose works are knownfar beyond the limits of his language , devoting an entireessay to the case of the Duchess of Sutherland and hertenants , and forming a judgment on it very unlike thedecision of political economists in our own country , whohave not hesitated to characterise her great and singularlyharsh experiment , whose worst effects we are but beginning to see, as at once justifiable in itself and happy inits results . It is curious to observe how deeds done as ifin darkness and in a corner , are beginning , after the lapseof nearly thi rty years , to be proclaimed on the house- tops .The experiment of the late Duchess was not intended tobe made in the eye of Europe . Its details would ill bearthe exposure . When Cobbett simply referred to it ,only ten years ago , the noble proprietrix was startled ,as if a rather delicate family secret was on the eve ofbeing divulged and yet nothing seems more evi dentnow than that civilised man all over the world is to bemade aware of how the experiment was accomplished ,and what it is ultimately to produce .

In a time of quiet and good order , when law , whether inthe right or the wrong , is all-potent in enforcing its findings , the argument which the philosophic Frenchmanemploys in behalf of the ej ected tenantry of Sutherlandis an argument at which proprietors may afford to smile .

In a time of revolution , however , when lands change


their owners , and old families give place to new ones ,it might be found somewhat formidable— suffi c ientlyso , at least , to lead a wise proprietor in an unsettled agerather to conciliate than oppress and irritate the classwho would be able in such Circumstances to urge it withmost effect . It is not easy doing justice in a few sentencesto the facts and reasoni ngs of an elaborate essay butthe line of argument runs thusUnder the old Celtic tenures— the only tenures , be it

remembered through which the Lords of Sutherlandderive their rights to their lands , —the Klaan, or childrenof the soil , were the proprietors of the soil the wholeof Sutherland , says Sismondi

,belonged to the men

of Sutherland . Their chief was their monarch , and avery absolute monarch he was . He gave the differenttacks of land to his offi cers , or took them away from them ,

according as they showed themselves more or less usefulin war . But though he could thus , in a military sense ,reward or punish the clan

,he could not diminish in the

least the property of the clan itself —he was a chief ,not a proprietor , and had no more right to expel fromtheir homes the inhabitants of his county , than a king toexpel from his country the inhabitants of his kingdom .

”

Now , the Gaelic tenant , continues the Frenchman ,has never been conquered nor did he forfeit , on anyafter occasion

,the rights which he originally possessed

in point of right , he is still a co - proprietor with his captain .

To a Scotchman acquainted with the law of property asit has existed among us , in even the Highlands , for thelast

,

century,and everywhere else for at least two centuries

more , the view may seem extreme ; not so , however ,to a native of the Continent , in many parts of whi chprescription and custom are found ranged , not on theside of the chief

,but on that of the vassal . Switzer

land,

” says Sismondi ,! which in so many respects re

sembles Scotland,— in its lakes , its mountains , its

climate,and the character , manners , and habits of its

children,

—was likewise at the same period parcelled out

among a small number of lords . If the Counts of Kyburgh

,of Lentz burg, of Hapsburg , and of Gruyeres ,

SUTHERLAND . 55

had been protected by the English laws , they wouldfind themselves at the present day precisely in the condition in which the Earls of Sutherland were twentyyears ago . Some of them would perhaps have had thesame taste for improvements , and several republics wouldhave been expelled from the Alps , to make room forflocks of sheep . But while the law has given to theSwiss peasant a guarantee of perpetuity , it is to the Scottish laird that it has extended this guarantee in theBritish empire , leaving the peasant in a precarioussituation . The clan , —recognised at first by the captain ,whom they followed in war , and obeyed for their commonadvantage , as his friends and relations ,then as hi s soldiers ,then as his vassals , then as his farmers , —he has comefinally to regard as hired labourers , whom he may perchanc e allow to remain on the soil of their commoncountry for his own advantage , but whom he has thepower to expel so soon as he no longer finds it for hisinterest to keep them .

”

Arguments like those of Sismondi , however much theirforce may be felt on the Continent , would be formidableat home , as we have said , in only a time of revolution ,when the very foundations of society would be unfixed,

and opinions set loose , to pull down or re- construct atpleasure . But it is surely not uninteresting to markhow , in the course of events , that very law of Englandwhich , in the View of the Frenchman , has done the Highland peasant so much less , and the H ighland chi ef somuch more than justice , i s bidding fair, in the case ofSutherland at least , to carry its rude equalising remedyalong with it . Between the years 1 81 1 and 1 820, fifteenthousand inhabitants of this northern district were ej ectedfrom their snug inland farms , by means for which weWould in vain seek a precedent , except , perchance , in thehistory of the Irish massacre .

But though the interior of the county was thus improved into a desert , in which there are many thousandsof sheep , but few human habitations , let it not be supposed by the reader that its general population was inany degree lessened . So far was this from being the case ,


that the census of 1 82 1 showed an increase over the censusof 1 81 1 of more than two hundred and the presentpopulation of Sutherland exceeds , by a thousand , itspopulation before the change . The county has notbeen depopulated— its population has been merelyarranged after a new fashion . The late Duchess found itspread equally over the interior and the sea- coast , and Invery comfortable circumstances - she left it compressedinto a wretched selvage of poverty and suffering thatfringes the county on its eastern and western shores ,and the law which enabled her to make such an arrangement , maugre the ancient rights of the poor Highlander,is now on the eve of stepping in , in its own clumsy way,to make her family pay the penalty . The southernkingdom must and will give us a poor- law and thenshall the selvage of deep poverty which fringes the seacoasts of Sutherland avenge on the titled proprietor ofthe county both his mother

’

s error and hi s own . If ourBritish laws , unlike those of Switzerland , failed miserablyin her day in protecting the vassal

,they will more than

fail , in those of her successor, in protecting the lord .

Our political economists shall have an opportunity ofreducing their arguments regarding the improvementsin Sutherland , into a few arithmetical terms ,whi ch themerest tyro will be able to grapple with .

There is but poor comfort , however , to know, whenone sees a country ruined , that the perpetrators of themischief have not ruined it to their own advantage .

We purpose showing how signal in the case of Sutherlandthis ruin has been , and how very extreme the infatuation which continues to possess its hereditary lord . Weare old enough to remember the county in its or1ginalstate , when it was at once the happiest and one of themost exemplary districts in Scotland , and passed , at

'

two

several periods , a considerable time among its hills ;weare not unacquainted with it now, nor wi th its melancholyand dejected people , that wear out life in their comfortless cottages on the s ea- shore . The problem solved inthi s remote district of the kingdom is not at all unworthythe attention which it seems but beginning to draw, but

SUTHE RLAND . 57

which is already not restricted to one kingdom , or evenone continent .But what , asks the reader , was the economic condition

- the condition with regard to circumstances and meansof living— of these Sutherland Highlanders ? How didthey fare The question has been variously answeredmuch must depend on the class selected from among themas specimens of the whole , —much , too , taking for grantedthe honesty of the party who replies , on his own conditionin life , and hi s acquaintance with the circumstancesof the poorer people of Scotland generally . The countyhad its less genial localities , in which, for a month or twoin the summer season , when the stock of grain from theprevious year was fast running out , and the crops on theground not yet ripened for use, the people experienceda considerable degree of scarcity— such scarcity as amechanic in the South feels when he has been a fortnightout of employment . But the H ighlander had resourcesin these seasons whi ch the mechanic has not . He hadhis cattle and hi s wild potherbs , such as the mug-wort andthe nettle . It has been adduced by the advocates of thechange whi ch has ruined Sutherland , as a proof of theextreme hardship of the Highlander

’

s condition , that atsuch times he could have eaten as food broth made of

nettles , mixed up with a little oatmeal , or have hadrecourse to the expedient of bleeding hi s cattle , and making the blood into a sort of pudding . And it is quite truethat the Sutherlandshi re Highlander was in the habitat such times , of havi ng recourse to such food . It isnot less true , however , that the statement i s j ust as littleconclusive regarding hi s condition , as if it were allegedthat there must always be famine in France when the

,

people eat the hi nd legs of frogs , or in Italy when theymake dishes of snails . With regard to the general comfort of the people in their old condition , there are bettertests than can be drawn from the kind of food theyoccasionally ate . The country hears often of dearth inSutherland now . Every year in which the crop falls alittle below average in other districts , is a year of faminethere , but the country never heard of dearth in Suther


land then . There were very few among the holders ofits small inland farms who had not saved a little money .

Their circumstances were such , that their moral naturefound full room to develop itself, and in a way the worldhas rarely witnessed . Never were there a happier or

more contented people , or a people more strongly attachedto the soil and not one of them now lives in the alteredcircumstances on which they were so rudely precipitatedby the landlord , who does not look back on this periodof comfort and enj oyment with s ad and hopeless regret .But we have not yet said how this ruinous revolution

was effected in Sutherland,

—how the aggravations of themode

, if we may so speak , still fester in the recollectionsof the people ,— or how thoroughly that policy of the lordof the soil , through which he now seems determined tocomplete the work of ruin whi ch hi s predecessor began ,harmonizes with its worst details . We must first relate ,however , a disastrous change which took place , in theprovidence of God, in the noble family of Sutherland ,and which , though it dates fully eighty years back, maybe regarded as pregnant with the disasters which afterwards befell the county .

The marriage of the young countess into a nobleEnglish family was fraught with further disaster to thecounty . There are many Englishmen quite intelligentenough to perceive the difference between a smokycottage of turf , and a whitewashed cottage of stone ,whose judgments on their respective inhabitants wouldbe of but little value . Sutherland , as a county of men ,stood higher at this period than perhaps any other district in the British Empire but , as our descriptionshave shown

,it by no means stood high as a county of

farms and cottages . The marriage of the countessbrought a new set of eyes upon it, —eyes accustomed toquite a different face of things . It seemed a wild , rudecounty

,where all was wrong , and all had to be set right ,

a sort of Russia on a small scale , that had just got anotherPeter the Great to civilize it, - or a sort of barbarousEgypt , with an energetic Ali Pasha at its head . Eventhe vast wealth and great liberality of the Stafford family


far beyond the reach of history, had they possessed theirmountain holdings , — they had defended them s o wellof old that the soil was still virgin ground , in whi ch theinvader had found only a grave and their young menwere now in foreign lands fighting at the command oftheir chieftainess the battles of their country, not in thecharacter of hired soldi ers , but of men who regardedthese very holdings as their stake in the quarrel . Tothem , then , the scheme seemed fraught with the mostflagrant , the most monstrous injustice . Were it to besuggested by some Chartist convention in a time ofrevolution that Sutherland might be still further improved— that it was really a piece of great waste tosuffer the revenues of so extensive a district to be squandered by one individual— that it would be better toappropriate them to the use of the community in general— that the community in general might be still furtherbenefited by the removal of the said individual fromDunrobin to a roadside

,where he might be profitably

employed in breaking stones— and that this new arrangement could not be entered on too soon— the noble Dukewould not be a whit more astonished , or rendered a whitmore indignant by the scheme than were the Highlanders of Sutherland by the scheme of hi s predecessor .The reader must keep in vi ew, therefore , that if

atrocities unexampled in Britain for at least a centurywere perpetrated in the clear ing of Sutherland , there wasa species of at least passive resistance on the part of thepeople (for active resistance there was none) , whi ch insome degree provoked them . Had the Highlanders , onreceiving orders , marched down to the sea- coast andbecome fishermen with the readiness with which aregiment deploys on review day , the atrocities would ,we doubt not , have been much fewer . But though theorders were very distinct , the Highlanders were veryunwilling to obey and the severities formed merelya part of the means through which the necessary obedience was ultimately secured . We shall instance a singlecase as illustrative of the process .In the month of March , 1 81 4, a large proportion of the

SUTHERLAND . 61

Highlanders of Farr and Kildonan,two parishes in Sutherland , were summoned to quit their farms in the followingMay . In a few days after , the surrounding heath onwhich they pastured their cattle and from whi ch , at thatseason , the sole supply of herbage i s derived (for in thosenorthern districts the grass springs late , and the cattlefeeder in the spring months depends chiefly on theheather) , were set on fire and burnt up . There was thatsort of policy in the stroke which men deem allowablein a state of war . The starving cattle went roaming overthe burnt pastures , and found nothing to eat . Many ofthem perished , and the greater part of what remained ,though in miserable condition , the Highlanders had tosell perforce . Most of the able -bodied men were engagedin this latter business at a distance from home , when thedreaded term - day came on . The pasturage had beendestroyed before the legal term , and while in even the eyeof the law it was still the property of the poor Highlanders ; but ere disturbing them in their dwellings ,term - day was suffered to pass . The work of demolitionthen began . A numerous party of men , with a factorat their head , entered the district , and commencedpulling down the houses over the heads of the inhabi é

tants . In an extensive tract of country not a humandwelling

'

was left standing , and then , the more effectuallyto prevent their temporary re- erection , the destroyers setfire to the wreck . In one day were the people deprivedof home and shelter , and left exposed to the elements .

Many deaths are said to have ensued from alarm , fatigue ,and cold .

Our author then corroborates in detail the atrocities ,cruelties , and personal hardships described by DonaldMacLeod and proceeds — But to employ the language ofSouthey,

Thi ngs such as these,we know

,must be

At every famous vi ctory .

And in thi s instance the victory of the lord of the soil overthe children of the soil was signal and complete . In littlemore than nine years a population of fifteen thousand


individuals were removed from the interior of Sutherlandto its s ea- coasts or had emigrated to America . Theinland districts were converted into deserts throughwhi ch the traveller may take a long day

’s j ourney , amidruins that still bear the scathe of fire , and grassy patchesbetraying , when the evening sun casts aslant its long deepshadows , the half - effaced lines of the plough .

After pointing out how at the Disruption sites forchurches were refused , Hugh Miller proceeds —: We

have exhibited to our readers , in the clearing of Sutherland a process of ruin so thoroughly disastrous , that itmight be deemed scarcely possible to render it morecomplete . And yet with all its apparent completeness ,it admitted of a supplementary process . To employ one

of the striking figures of Scripture , it was possible togrind into powder what had been previously brokeninto fragments ,— to degrade the poor inhabitants to astill lower level than that on whi ch they had been so

cruelly precipitated , though persons of a not veryoriginal cast of mind mi ght have found it diffi cult to s ayhow the Duke of Sutherland has been ingenious enoughto fall on exactly the one proper expedient for supplementing their ruin . All in mere circumstance andsituation that could lower and deteriorate had beenpresent as ingredients in the first process but therestill remained for the people, however reduced to povertyor broken in spirit , all in religion that consoles andennobles . Sabbath- days came round with their humanising influences and , under the teachings of the gospel ,the poor and the oppressed looked longingly forwardto a future scene of being , in whi ch there is no poverty oroppression . They still possessed , amid their misery ,

something positively good , of which it was impossibleto deprive them and hence the ability derived to thepresent lord of Sutherland of deepening and renderingmore signal the ruin accomplished by his predecessor .These harmonise but too well with the mode in which

the interior of Sutherland was Cleared , and the improvedcottages of its sea-coasts erected . The plan has its twoitems . No sites are to be granted in the district for Free

SUTHERLAND . 63

Churches , and no dwelling-houses for Free Church mini sters . The climate is severe , — the winters prolongedand stormy ,— the roads which connect the Chi ef seatsof population with the neighbouring counties , drearyand long . May not ministers and people be eventuallyworn out in this way Such is the portion of the planwhich hi s Grace and his Grace

’

s creatures can affordto present to the light . But there are supplementaryitems of a somewhat darker kind . The poor cotters are ,in the great maj ority of cases , tenants - at-will and therehas been much pains taken to inform them that , to thecrime of entertaining and sheltering a Protesting minister ,the penalty of ej ection from their holdings must ineviably attach . The laws of Charles have again returnedin this unhappy district , and free and tolerating Scotlandhas got , in the nineteenth century , as in the seventeenth ,its intercommuned ministers . We shall not say that theintimation has emanated from the Duke . It is the misfortune o i such men

,

that there creep around themcreatures whose business it is to anticipate their wishesbut who , at times , doubtless , instead of anticipatingmisinterpret them and who , even when not very muchmistaken , impart to whatever they do the impress oftheir own low and menial natures , and thus exaggeratein the act the intention of their masters . We do not say ,

therefore , that the intimation has emanated from theDuke but this we say, that an exemplary Sutherlandshire minister of the Protesting Church, who resignedhis worldly all for the sake of his principles , had latelyto travel , that he might preach to his attached people ,a long journey of forty- four miles outwards , and as muchin return , and all this without taking shelter under coverof a roof , or without partaking of any other refreshmentthan that furnished by the slender store of provisionswhich he had carried with him from his new home .

Willingly would the poor Highlanders have received himat any risk but knowing from experience what a Sutherlandshire removal means he preferred enduring anyamount of hardshi p rather than that the hospitality of

his people should be made the occasion of their ruin .


We have already adverted to the case of a lady of Sutherland threatened with ejection from her home becauseshe had extended the shelter of her roof to one of theProtesting clergy ,

— an aged and venerable man , who hadquitted the neighbouring manse , his home for manyyears , because he could no longer enjoy it in consistencywith his principles ; and we have shown that that agedand venerable man was the lady

’

s own father . Whatamount of oppression of a smaller and more petty character may not be expected in the circumstances , whencases such as these are found to stand but a very littleover the ordinary levelThe meannesses to whi ch ducal hostility can stoop in

thi s hapless district , impress with a feeling of surprise .

In the parish of Dornoch for instance , where his Graceis fortunately not the sole landowner , there has been asite procured on the most generous terms from Sir GeorgeGunn Munro of Pontyz field and this gentleman , believing himself possessed of a hereditary right to a quarry ,whi ch , though on the Duke

’

s ground , had been longresorted to by the proprietors of the district generally,instructed the builder to take from it the stones whichhe needed . Never had the quarry been prohibitedbefore , but on this occasion a stringent interdict arrestedits use . If his Grace could not prevent a hated FreeChurch from arising in the district , he could at least addto the

‘

expense of its erection . We have even heardthat the portion of the bui lding previously erected hadto be pulled down and the stones returned .

H ow are we to account for a hostility so determined ,and that can stoop so low In two different ways , weare of opinion , and in both have the people of Scotlanda direct interest . Did his Grace entertain a very intenseregard for Established Presbytery , it is probably that hehimself would be a Presbyterian of the Establishment .But such is not the case . The church into which he woulds o fain force the people has been long since deserted byhimself . The secret of the course which he pursuescan have no connection therefore with religious motiveor belief . It can be no proselytising spirit that misleads

SUTHERLAND . 63

his Grace . Let us remark , in the first place , ratherhowever in the way of embodying a fact than imputinga motive , that with his present views , and in his presentcircumstances , it may not seem particularly his Grace

’

sinterest to make the county of Sutherland a happy ordesirable home to the people of Scotland . It may notbe his Grace

’

s interest that the population of the districtshould increase . The clearing of the sea- coast may seemas little prejudicial to his Grace

’s welfare now as theclearing of the interior seemed adverse to the interestsof hi s predecessor thirty years ago ; nay , it is quitepossible that his Grace may be led to regard the clearingof the coast as the better and more important Clearingof the two . Let it not be forgotten that a poor- lawhangs over Scotland , - that the shores of Sutherland arecovered with what seems one vast straggling village ,inhabited by an impoverished and ruined people , —andthat the coming assessment may yet fall so weighty thatthe extra profits accrui ng to hi s

!Grace from hi s largesheep- farms may go but a small way in supporting hisextra paupers . It is not in the least improbable that hemay live to find the revolution effected by hi s predecessortaking to itself the form , not of a crime , — for that wouldbe nothi ng , —but of a disastrous and very terribleblunder .There is another remark whi ch may prove not un

worthy the consideration oi the reader . Ever since thecompletion of the fatal experiment whi ch ruined Sutherland , the noble family through which it was originatedand carried on have betrayed the utmost j ealousy of

having its real results made public . Volumes of specialpleading have been written on the subject , —pamphletshave been published , laboured articles have been insertedin widely- spread reviews , —statistical accounts have beenwatched over with the most careful surveillance . Ifthe misrepresentations of the press could have alteredthe matter of fact , famine would not be gnawing theVitals of Sutherland in a year a little less abundant thanits predecessors , nor Would the dej ected and oppressedpeople be feeding their discontent , amid present misery ,with the recollections of a happier past . If a singularly

E


well- conditioned and wholesome district of country hasbeen converted into one wide ulcer of wretchedness andwoe, it must be confessed that the sore has been carefully bandaged up from the public eye , - that if there hasbeen little done for its cure , there has at least been muchdone for its concealment . Now , be it rememberedthat a Free Church threatened to insert a tent into thiswound and so keep it open . It has been said that theGaelic language removes a district more effectually fromthe influence of English opinion than an ocean of threethousand miles , and that the British public know betterwhat is doing in New York than what is doing in Lewisor Skye . And hence one cause , at least , of the thi ckObscurity that has so long enveloped the miseries whichthe poor Highlander has had to endure , and the oppressions to whi ch he has been subj ected . The Free Churchthreatens to translate her wrongs into English , and togive them currency in the general mart of opinion . Shemi ght possibly enough be no silent spectator of confla

grations such as those which characterised the firstgeneral improvement of Sutherland

,— nor yet of such

Egyptian schemes of house-bui lding as that whi ch formedpart of the improvements of a later plan . She might besomewhat apt to betray the real state of the districtand thus render laborious misrepresentation of littleavail . She might effect a di version in the cause of thepeople , and shake the foundations of the hi therto despoticpower which has so long weighed them down . She mightdo for Sutherland what Cobbett promised to do , but whatCobbett had not character enough to accomplish , andwhat did he not live even to attempt . A combinationof circumstances have conspired to vest in a Scottishproprietor , in this northern district , a more despoticpower than even the most absolute monarchs of theContinent possess ; and it i s , perhaps , no great wonderthat that propri etor should be j ealous of the introductionof an element which threatens , it may seem , materiallyto lessen it . And so he struggled hard to exclude theFree Church , and , though no member of the Establishment himself , declares warmly in its behalf . Certain it


troops of a ruthless invader , we see with how much of theterrible the imagination of a poet could invest the evils ofwar, when aggravated by pitiless barbarity . Fertile asthat imagination was , however , there might be foundnew circumstances to heighten the horrors of the scenecircumstances beyond the reach of invention— in theretreat of the Sutherland Highlanders from the smokingruins of their cottages to their allotments on the coast .We have heard of one man , named Mackay , whose familyat the time of the greater conflagration referred to byMacleod , were all lying ill of fever , who had to carry twoof his sick children on his back a distance of twenty- five

miles . We have heard of the famished people blackeningthe shores , like the crew of some vessel wrecked on aninhospitable coast

,that they might sustain life by the

shell-fish and sea-weed laid bare by the ebb . Many oftheir allotments , especially on the western coast , werebarren in the extreme— unsheltered by bush or tree ,and exposed to the sweeping sea-winds , and in time oftempest , to the blighting spray ; and it was found amatter of the extremest difli culty to keep the few cattlewhi ch they had retained , from wandering , especiallyin the ni ght - time . into the better sheltered and morefertile interior . The poor animals were intelligent enoughto read a practical comment on the nature of the changeeffected and , from the harshness of the shepherds towhom the care of the interior had been entrusted , theyserved materially to add to the distress of their unhappymasters . They were getting continually impoundedand vexatious fines , in the form of trespass -money , camethus to be wrung f from the already impoverished Highlanders . Many who had no money to give were obligedto relieve them by depositing some of their few portablearticles of value , such as bed or bodyclothes , or , moredistressing still , watches , and rings , and pins— the onlyrelics , in not a few instances , of brave men whose boneswere mouldering under the fatal rampart at New Orleans ,or in the arid sands of Egypt— on that spot of proudrecollection , where the invincibles of Napoleon went downbefore the Highland bayonet . Their first efforts as

SUTHERLAND . 69

fishermen were what might be expected from a ruralpeople unaccustomed to the sea . The shores of Sutherland

,for immense tracts together , are iron-bound , and

much exposed— open on the Eastern coast to the wavesof the German Ocean , and on the North and West to thelong roll of the Atlantic . There could not be moreperilous seas for the unpractised boatman to take hisfirst lessons on but though the casualties were numerous and the loss of life great , many of the younger Highlanders became expert fishermen . The experiment washarsh in the extreme , but so far , at least , it succeeded .

It lies open , however , to other objections than those whi chhave been urged against it on the score of its inhu

manity

MR JAMES LOCH ON SUTHERLANDIMPROVEMENTS .

*

N0 country of Europe at any period of its history everpresented more formidable obstacles to the improvementof a people arising out of the prejudices and feelings of thepeople themselves . To the tacksman , it is clear , fromwhat has already been stated , such a change could not beagreeable . Its effect being to alter his condition , andremove him from a state of idle independence , in habitsalmost of equality with his chi ef , to a situation , althoughfully , if not more respectable , yet one in which hi s livelihood was to be obtained by his exertions and industry ,

and in many instances by an application to pursuits ,which were by him considered as beneath the occupationof a gentleman , although leading to real independenceand wealth , to a degree he never could arrive at in hi soriginal condition . Nor could it be agreeable to him tolose that command and influence , which he had hi thertoexercised without control , over his sub- tenants and de

*An Account of the Improvements on the E s tates of the Marqui sof Stafford

,by J ames Kinloch

,General Agent of the

Sutherland E states . London : Printed for Longman,H urst

,

R ees, Orme Brown

,

70 H IGHLAND CLEARANCE S .

pendants ; while it was at variance with every feelingand prejudice In which he had been brought up and educated. It required minds of no ordinary cast to risesuperior to these feelings . and men of no commonunderstanding and vigour of intellect were required , toshake off habits so opposed to active industry and exertion . From a certain set of thi s class , therefore , a realand determined opposition to any change was to belooked for . This expectation has not been disappointedand it is from individuals of this class , and persons connected with them , that those false and malignant re

presentations have proceeded , which have been so loudlyand extensively circulated . Actuated by motives of amere personal nature , regardless of the happiness of thepeople , whose improvement it was the great object of thelandlord to effect , they attempted to make an appeal infavour of a set of people who were never before theobjects of their commiseration , in order that they might ,if possible , reduce them , for their own selfish purpo ses ,to that state of degradation from which they had been

just'

emancipated. This was , however , by no means trueof the whole , or of the greater part of this class of gentlemen for the bulk of the most active improvers of Sutherland are natives , who , both as sheep farmers , and as skilful and enterprising agriculturists , are equal to any to bemet with in the kingdom . They have , with an intelligence and liberality of feeling which reflects upon themthe highest honour , embraced with alacrity the new sceneof active exertion presented for their adoption seconding the views of the landlords with the utmost zeal ,marked with much foresight and prudence . Out of thetwenty-nine principal tacksmen on the estate , seventeenare natives of Sutherland , four are Northumbrians , twoare from the county ofMoray , two from Roxburghshi re ,two from Caithness , one from Midlothian , and one fromthe Merse .

So strong , however , were the prejudi ces of the people ,that , even to those who were subjected to the powerand control of the tacksmen , thi s mode of life had charmswhich attached them strongly to it . He extended , in

SUTHE RLAND . 71

some degree , to the more respectable of those who wereplaced under him , the same fami liarity which he receivedfrom the chief . The burden of the outdoor work wascast upon the females . The men deemed such an occu

patiou unworthy of them , continued labour of any sortbeing most adverse to their habits . They were contentedwith the most simple and the poorest fare . Like all mountaineers , accustomed to a life of irregular exertion , withintervals of sloth , they were attached with a degree ofenthusiasm , only felt by the natives of a poor country ,to their own glen and mountainsi de , adhering in thestrongest manner to the habits and homes of their fathers .They deemed no comfort worth the possessing , whi ch wasto be purchased at the price of regular industry noimprovement worthy of adoption , if i t was to be obtai nedat the expense of sacrificing the customs , or leaving thehomes of their ancestors . SO strongly did these feelingsoperate , that it cost them nearly the same effort to removefrom the spot in whi ch they were born and brought up ,though the place of their new dwelling was situated on

the sea- shore at the mouth of their nativestrath, or evenin a neighbouring glen , as it cost themto make an exertion equal to transporting themselves across the Atlantic .

The cattle whi ch they reared on the mountains , and! from the sale of whi ch they depended for th

‘

e'

payment of

their rents , were of the poorest description . Duringsummer they procured a scanty sustenance , withmuchtoil and labour , by roaming over the mountains ; whilein winter they died Innumbers for the want of supportnotwithstanding a practice

"

, which they universallyadopted , of killing every second calf , on account of thewant of winter keep . To such an extent did this calamityat times amount , that , in the spring of 1 807, there diedin the parish of Kildonan alone , two hundred cows , fivehundred head of cattle , and more than two hundred smallhorses .As soon as the works , undertaken under the directionof the Parliamentary Commissioners , opened a prospectof removing successfully the obstacles which stood in theway of the improvements of the people , steps weretaken

"


to new model and arrange these extensive possessions .The utmost caution and deliberation was used in doing so ,

and plans were never more maturely weighed , nor executed with more anxiety and tenderness . To aid thefurther arrangement of these matters , application wasmade to William Young , E sq ,

of Inverugie , in thecounty of Elgin , whose active mind and indefatigableindustry had been exhi bited in what he had done uponhi s own estate . This gentleman superintended the commencement of those vast improvements which wereundertaken on the estate of Sutherland . The successof the measures carried into effect under hi s direction ,combined with the diffi culties he had to contend with ,must always be the best proof of the abili ty and indefatigable zeal with which he executed the charge of

which he had taken the direction , and which he performedso much to his own credit and the advantage of thecountry. It is onlyd o ing justice to hi s merits to say , thatthe rapidity of the earlier improvements was owing in aprincipal degree to the impulse and action inspired by hi sintelligent and enterprisi ng mind . Mr . Young resignedhis superintendence In 1 81 6, when the local managementof the estate of Sutherland was entrusted to the presentfactor , Mr . Francis Suther , whose good temper andjudicious conduct in the immediate management at Trentham , recommended him to the situation he now holds .These expectations have been fully justified by themanner he has executed the details of the late arrangements , in which he received the most cordi al and ableassistance from Captain John Mackay , late of the 26thFoot , the factor of Strathnaver , and from LieutenantGeorge Gunn , of the Royal Marines , Chief of the clanGunn , factor of As synt.

These gentlemen deserve equal credit for the mannerin which they have enforced and promoted the planswhich were laid down for the extension of the fisheriesand the cultivation of the coast side , as for their kind andcareful conduct towards the people . Mr . Suther’sexertions in promoting and carrying into effect everyarrangement which was made for the encouragement

SUTHERLAND 73

and the success of the fishing station and village ofHelmsdale , requires particular commendation .

It is well known that the borders of the two kingdomswere inhabited by a numerous population , who , in theirpursuits

,manners

,and general structure of society, bore a

considerable resemblance to that whi ch existed in theHighlands of Scotland . When the union of the crowns ,and those subsequent transactions whi ch arose out of

that event,rendered the maintenance of that irregular

population not only unnecessary, but a burden to theproprietor to whom the land belonged , the people wereremoved, and the mountains were covered with sheep .

So that it had been for a length of time proved by theexperience of the stock farmers of those mountain tracts ,which comprise the northern districts of England , and thesouthern parts of Scotland , that such situations werepeculiarly suited for the maintenance of this species ofstock . Taking this example as their guide , experiencehad still further proved , that the central and westernHighlands of Scotland were equally well calculated forthe same end .

Reasoning from this success , and observing that theclimate of Sutherland , owing to its vicinity to the ocean ,and to its being considerably intersected by arms of thesea , was much more moderate than this latter district ,it was fairly concluded that this county was even betterfitted for this system of management , than the heightsof Perthshire and Inverness shi re . The inferior elevation of its mountains contributed still further to thiseffect , and held out every encouragement to adopt thesame course which had been pursued with such successin both parts of the kingdom .

The succession of those Alpine plants , which are common to the Cheviot Hills , when they are put under sheep ,being also the natural herbage of the mountains of Sutherland , renders them still more suitable to this mode of

occupation .

On the first melting of the snow , the cotton grass isfound to have been growing rapidly it forms a healthyand an abundant food for sheep , unti l about the begin


ning of May , at which time it is in seed when,after a

short interval , the deer hair takes its place , starting upalmost instantaneously , and forming , in the course of

one week (if the ground has been recently burnt ,and the weather be favourable) , a green coverto the

'

mountains . This plant grows with severalvarieties of bents , until the end of July, when the cottongrass again begins to spring

,and with the pry moss ,

comes a second time into flower, in September , afterwhich the heather and more heating plants continueuntil the frosts ofwinter . Nor is there any part of thesemountains , over which the sheep cannot roam with ease ,in search of food , rendering the whole available and profitable .

As there was every reason therefore for concluding ,that the mountainous parts of the estate and indeed ofthe county of Sutherland , were as much calculated forthe maintenance of stock as they were unfit for thehabitation of man , there could be no doubt as to the pro

priety of converting them into sheep walks , provi dedthe people could be at the same time settled in situations ,where , by the exercise of their honest industry , they couldobtain a decent li veli hood , and add to the general massof national wealth , and where they should not be exposedto the recurrence of those privations , which so frequentlyand so terribly afflicted them , when situated among themountains . It was a matter of important consideration ,

to determine how this was to be accomplished . The localpeculiarities of the county presented none of those ad

vantages in disposing of , and absorbing the surpluspopulation , which the borders of the two kingdoms , andthe southern and eastern hi ghlands had enjoyed . Be

sides it had made no approximation to the state in whichthe rest of Scotland was placed , when those changes werecarried into effect . It had stood still in the midst of thatcareer of improvement which had so remarkably and so

splendidly distinguished the rest of the kingdom andremained separated by its habits , prejudices , andlanguage , from all a round .

It had long been known , that the coast of Sutherland


mate advantages that would necessarily accrue to them ,

from their completion .

These communications were made to the people by thefactor personally , or by written statements , communicated to them by the ground officers . That nothi ngmight be omitted in this respect , the different ministers ,and the principal tacksmen connected with the districtswhich were to be newly arranged , were written to , explaining to them , fully and explicitly , the intentions ofthe proprietors in adopting them . It was particularlyrequested of

,these gentlemen , that they would impress

upon the minds of the people , the propriety of agreeingto them , and of explaining , that the motives whi ch .

dictated this step , arose out of a real regard for theirinterests and prosperity , as well as for the general improvement of the estate .

It was distinctly admitted , that it was not to be ex

pected, that the people should be immediately reconciledto them . Such was to expect more than it was possibleto hope for . But it was represented , that if thi s was sofully felt , and s o clearly admitted , that the landlordsmust have been strongly and conscientiously impressedwith the necessity and propriety of the measures adopted ,as tending directly to the happiness of those placed undertheir protection . These representations had the desiredeffect , and nothi ng can be more praiseworthy , or deservemore to be applauded , than the conduct of the peopleon quitting their original habitations for although theyleft them with much regret , they did so in the most quiet ,orderly, and peaceable manner .If , upon one occasion , in the earlier years of these ar

rangements , a momentary feeling of a contrary nature wasexhi bited , it arose entirely from the misconduct of personswhose duty it was to have recommended and enforcedobedi ence to the laws , in place of infusing into the mindsof the people , feelings of a contrary description . As soon ,however , as the interference of these persons was withdrawn , the poor people returned to their usual state ofquietness and repose . All the statements , giving

‘

adifferent account of their conduct , are abs olutely false ,

SUTHE RLAND . 77

and a libel upon their good conduct and peaceable character .These arrangements commenced in 1 807, and have beencarried on from that period , as the different tacks ex

p ired, and afforded an opportunity of doing so . Badyears , and the failure of crops continuing to produce thesame miserable effects they had constantly occasionedto that portion of the population , which still continuedto reside among the mountains . This calamity fell withgreat severity upon them in the seasons of 1 81 2 - 1 3 and1 81 6- 1 7.

During the latter period they suffered the extremesof want and of human misery , notwithstanding every aidthat could be given to them , through the bounty of theirlandlords . Their wretchedness was so great , that afterpawning everything they were pos sessed of , to the fishermen ou the coast , such as had no cattle were reduced tocome down from the hills in hundreds , for the purpose ofgathering cockles on the shore . Those who lived in themore remote situations of the country were obliged tosubsist upon broth made of nettles , thickened with a littleoatmeal . Those who had cattle had recourse to the stillmore wretched expedient of bleeding them , and mixingthe blood with oatmeal , whi ch they afterwards cut intoslices and fried . Those who had a little money camedown and slept all night upon the beach , in order towatch the boat returning from the fishing , that they mightbe in time to obtain a part of what had been caught .

In order to alleviate this misery , every exertion wasmade by Lord Stafford . To those who had cattle headvanced money to the amount of above three thousandpoundsTo supply those who had no cattle , he sent meal intothe country to the amount of nearly nine thousandpounds . Besides which , Lady Stafford distributed moneyto each parish on the estate in order that no pains norconsideration might be wanting , it was arranged that thegentleman who is at the head of his Lordship

’

s affairs ,the wr iter of this statement , should go to Dunrobin tosettle with the local management and the clergymen ,


what was the best and most effectual way of dis tributinghis Lordshi p

’

s relief . Similar means were taken by LordReay, to alleviate the d istresses of hi s people . Whilesuch was the distress of those who still remained amongthe hills , i t was hardly felt by those who had been s ettled

upon the coast. Their new occupation , as fishermen ,rendered them not only independent of that which produced the misery of their neighbours , but enabled themat the same time , in some degree , to become contributorstowards their support , both by the fish they Were able tosell to them , and also by the regular payment of theirrents . While it need hardly be stated , that thesewretched sufferers not only required to be relieved , butfai led entirely in the payment of what they owed the landlord .

MRS . HARRIET BEECHER STOWE ON THE


*

As to those ridiculous stories about the Duchess of

Sutherland , which have found their way into many of theprints in America , one has only to be here , moving insociety , to s ee how excessively absurd they are .

All my way through Scotland , and through England ,I was associating , from day to day , with people of everyreligious denomination , and every rank of life . I havebeen with dissenters and wi th churchmen ; with thenational Presbyterian church and the free Presbyterianwith Quakers and Baptists .In all these circles I have heard the great and noble

of the land freely spoken of and canvassed , and if therehad been the least shadow of a foundation for any suchaccusations , I certainly should have heard it recogni zedin some manner . If in no other , such warm friends asI have heard speak would have alluded to the subj ec tin the way of defence ; but I have actually never heardany allusion of any sort , as if there was anything to beexplained or accounted for .

! Sunny Memories,Letter xvu .

SUTHERLAND . 79

As I have before intimated , the Howard family , towhich the duchess belongs , is one whi ch has always beenon the side of popular rights and popular reform . LordCarlisle , her brother , has been a leader of the people ,particularly during the time of the com - law reformation ,and she has been known to take a wide and generousinterest in all these subjects . Everywhere that I havemoved through Scotland and England I have heard herkindness of h eart , her affabili ty of manner, and herattention to the feelings of others spoken of as markedcharacteristics .Imagine , then , what people must think when they find

in respectable American prints the absurd story of herturni ng her tenants out into the snow, and ordering thecottages to be set on fire over their heads because theywould not go out .But , if you ask how such an absurd story could ever

have been made up , whether there is the least foundationto make it on , I answer that it is the exaggerated reportof a movement made by the present Duke of Sutherland

’

s father , in the year 1 81 1 , and whi ch was part of agreat movement that passed through the Highlands ofScotland , when the advancing progress of civilisationbegan to make it necessary to change the estates frommilitary to agricultural establishments .Soon after the union of the crowns of England and

Scotland , the border chiefs found it profitable to adoptupon their estates that system of agriculture to whichtheir hills were adapted , rather than to continue themaintenence of mi litary retainers . Instead of keepinggarrisons , with small armies , in a di strict , they decidedto keep only so many as could profitably cultivate theland . The effect of this , of course , was like disbandingan army . It threwmany people out of employ, and forcedthem to seek for a home elsewhere . Like many othermovements which , in their final results , are beneficialto society , this was at first vehemently res isted , and hadto be carried into effect in some cases by force . As Ihave said , it began first in the southern counties ofScotland , soonafter the union of the English and Scottish


crowns , and gradually crept northward— one countyafter another yielding to the change . To a certainextent , as it progres sed northward , the demand forlabour in the great towns absorbed the surplus population but when it came in to the extreme Highlands ,this refuge was wanting . Emigration to America nowbecame the resource and the surplus population wereinduced to this by means such as the Colonization Societynow recommends and approves for promoting emigrationto Liberia .

The first farm that was s o formed on the Sutherlandestate was in 1 806. The great change was made in1 81 1 - 1 2 , and completed in 1 81 9- 20.

The Sutherland estates are in the most northern portionof Scotland . The distance of this district from the moreadvanced parts of the kingdom , the total want of reads ,the unfrequent communication by sea , and the want oftowns , made it necessary to adopt a different course inregard to the location of the Sutherland populationfrom that which circumstances had provided in otherparts of Scotland , where they had been removed from thebleak and uncultivable mountains . They had lots giventhem near the sea , or in more fertile spots , where , bylabour and industry , they might maintain themselves .They had two years allowed them for preparing for thechange , without payment of rent . Timber for theirhouses was given , and many other facilities for assistingtheir change .

The general agent of the Sutherland estate is Mr . Loch .

In a speech of thi s gentleman in the House of Commonson the second reading of the Scotch Poor-Law Bill , June1 2 , 1 845, he states the following fact with regard to themanagement of the Sutherland estate during this period ,from 1 81 1 to 1 833 , which certainly can speak for itselfI can state as from fact that , from 1 81 1 to 1 833 , not one

Sixpence of rent has been received from that county , but ,on the contrary , there has been sent there , for the benefitand improvement of the people , a sum exceeding sixtythousand pounds .

”

Mr . Loch goes on in the same speech to say : There

SUTHE RLAND 8 I

is no set of people more industrious than the people ofSutherland . Thirty years since they were engaged inillegal distillation to a very great extent at the presentmoment there i s not , I believe , an illegal still in theCounty . Their morals have improved as those habitshave been abandoned and they have added manyhundreds , I believe thousands , of acres to the land incultivation since they were placed upon the shore .

Previous to the change to which I have referred , theyexported very few cattle , and hardly anything else .

They were also , every now and then , exposed to all thediffi culties of extreme famine . In the years 1 81 2 - 1 3 ,and 1 81 6- 1 7, so great was the misery that it was necessaryto send down oatmeal for their supply to the amount ofnine thousand pounds , and that was

!

given to the people .

But , since , industrious habits were introduced , and theywere settled within reach of fishing , no such calamityhas overtaken them . Their condition was then so lowthat they were obliged to bleed their cattle during thewinter, and mix the blood with the remnant of meal theyhad , in order to save from them starvation .

Since then the country has improved so much thatthe fish , in particular , which they exported , in 1 81 5,from one village alone , Helmsdale (whi ch , previ ous to1 81 1 , did not exist) , amounted to five thousand threehundred and eighteen barrels of herring , and in 1 844thirty - seven thousand five hundred and ninety- fourbarrels , giving employment to about three thousandnine hundred people . This extends over the

”

wholeof the county , in which fifty- six thousand barrels werecured .

Do not let me be supposed to say that there are not .

cases requiring attention it must be so in a large population but there can be no means taken by a landlord ,or by those under him , that are not bestowed upon thattenantry .

It has been said that the contribution by the heritor

(the duke) to one kirk session for the poor was but s ixpounds . Now ,

in the eight parishes which are calledSutherland proper , the amount of the contribution of


the Duke of Sutherland to the kirk session is forty-twopounds a -year . That is a very small sum, but that summerely is so given because the landlord thinks that hecan distribute hi s charity in a more beneficial mannerto the people and the amount of charity which he gives

-and which , I may say , i s settled on them , for it i s givenregularly— is above four hundred and fifty pounds a

year .Therefore the statements that have been made , so

far from being correct , are in every way an exaggerationof what is the fact . N0 portion of the kingdom has

advanced in prosperity so much and if the honourablemember (Mr . S . Crawford) will go down there , I will givehim every facility for seeing the state of the people ,and he shall judge with his own eyes whether my repre

sentation be not correct . I could go through a greatmany other particulars , but I will not trouble the Housenow with them . The statements I have made are accurate, and I am quite ready to prove them in any way thatis necessary .

”

The same Mr . Loch has published a pamphlet , in whichhe has traced out the effects of the system pursued on theSutherland estate , in many very important particulars .It appears from this that previously to 1 81 1 the peoplewere generally sub tenants to middlemen , who exactedhigh rents , and also various perquisites , such as the delivery oi poultry and eggs , giving so many days

’

labouri n harvest time , cutting and carrying peat and stones forbuilding .

Since 1 81 1 the people have become immediate tenants ,at a greatly diminished rate of rent , and released from allthese exactions . For instance , in two parishes , in 1 81 2 ,

the rents were one t housand five hundred and ni netythree pounds , and in 1 823 they were only ni ne hundredand seventy- two pounds . In another parish the re

duction of rents has amounted , on an average , to thirtysix per cent . Previous to 1 81 1 the houses were turfhuts of the poorest description , in many instances thecattle being kept under the same roof with the family .

Since 1 81 1 a large proportion of their houses have been


shops , in nearly all of which shoe - blackmg was sold tosome extent, an unmistakable evidence of advancingcivilization .

In 1 808 the cultivation of the coast- side of Sutherlandwas so defective that it was necessary often , in a fall ofsnow, to cut down the young Scotch firs to feed the cattleon and in 1 808 hay had to be imported . N ow the coas tside of Sutherland exhi bits an extensive district of landcultivated accordi ng to the best principles of modernagriculture several thousand acres have been added tothe arable land by these improvements .Before 1 81 1 there were no woodlands of any extent on

the estate , and timber had to be obtained from a distance .

Since that time many thousand acres of woodland havebeen planted , the thinnings of which , being sold to thepeople at a moderate rate , have greatly increased theircomfort and improved their domestic arrangements .

Before 1 81 1 there were only two blacksmiths in thecounty . In 1 845 there were forty - two blacksmiths andsixty- three carpenters . Before 1 829 the exports of thecounty consisted of black cattle of an inferior description ,pickled salmon , and some ponies ; but these were precarious sources of profit , as many died In winter for wantOf food for example , in the spring of 1 807,

!

two hundredcows , five hundred cattle , and more than two hundredponi es died in the parish of Kildonan alo

’

ne . Since thattime the measures pursued by the Duke of Sutherland ,in introducing improved breeds of cattle , pigs , and modesof agriculture , have produced results

!

in exports whichtell their own story . About forty thousand sheep and

one hundred and eighty thousand fleece of wool are exported annually also fifty thousand barrels of herring .

The whole fishing vi llage of Helmsdale has been builtsince that time . It now contains from thi rteen to fifteencuring yards covered with slate , and several streets wi thhouses similarly built . The herring fishery , which hasbeen mentioned as so productive , has been establishedsince the change , and affords employment to

’

threethousand nine hundred people .

Since 1 81 1 , also , a savings-bank"

has been established

SUTHERLAND . 85

in e very parish , of which the Duke of Sutherland ispatron and treasurer, and the savings have been veryconsiderable .The education of the children of the people has been a

subj ect of deep interest to the Duke of Sutherland . Be

sides the parochial schools (which answer , I suppose , toour district schools) , of whi ch the greater number havebeen rebuilt or repaired at an expense exceeding what islegally required for such purposes , the Duke of Sutherland contributes to the support of several schools foryoung females , at whi ch sewing and other branches ofeducation are taught and in 1 844 he agreed to establishtwelve General Assembly schools , in such parts of thecounty as were without the sphere of the parochi alschools , and to build schools and schoolmasters

’

houses ,which will , upon an average , cost two hundred poundseach ; and to contribute annually two hundred poundsin aid of salaries to the teachers , besides a garden andcow

’

s grass and i n 1 845 he made an arrangement withthe education committee of the Free Church , whereby nochild , of whatever persuasion , will be beyond the reachof moral and religious education .

There are fivemedical gentlemen on the estate , three ofwhom receive allowances from the Duke of Sutherland forattendance on the poor in the districts in which they

An agricultural association , or farmers’

club , has beenformed under the patronage of the Duke of Sutherland , ofwhich the other proprietors in the county , and the largertenantry

,are members , which

- is in a very active and

flourishi ng state . They have recently invited ProfessorJohnston to visit Sutherland and give lectures on agricultural chemistry .

The total population ofthe Sutherland estate is twentyone thousand seven hundred and eighty- four . To havethe charge and care of so large an estate , of course , mustrequire very systematic arrangements but a talentfor system seems to be rather the forte of the English .

The e state is first divided into three districts , and eachdistrict is under the superintendence of a factor , who


communicates with the duke through a general agent .Besides this , when the duke i s on the estate , whi ch isduring a portion of every year , he receives on Mondaywhoever of his tenants wishes to see him . Their complaints or wishes are presented in writing he takes theminto consideration , and gives written replies .Besides the three factors there is a ground officer , or

sub - factor, in every parish , and an agriculturist in theDunrobin district , who gives particular attention toinstructing the people in the best methods of farming .

The factors , the ground officers , and the agriculturists ,all work to one common end . They teach the advantagesof draining of ploughing deep , and forming theirridges in straight lines of constructing tanks for savingliquid manure . The young farmers also pick up a greatdeal of knowledge when working as ploughmen orlabourers on the more immediate grounds of the estate .

The head agent , M1 . Loch , has been kind enough to putinto my hands a general repo rt of the condition of theestate , which he drew up for the inspection of the duke ,May 1 2 , 1 853 , and in which he goes minutely over thecondi tion of every part of the estate .

One anecdote of the former Duke of Sutherland willshow the spirit whi ch has influenced the family in theinmanagement of the estate . In 1 81 7, when there wasmuch suffering on account of bad seasons , the Duke ofSutherland sent down his chief agent to look into thecondition of the people , who desired the ministers ofthe parishes to send in their lists of poor . To hi s surpriseit was found that there were located on the estate a number of people who had settled there without leave . Theyamounted to houn hundred and eight families , or twothousand persons and though they had no legal titleto remain where they were , no hesitation was shown insupplying them with food in the same manner with thosewho were tenants , on the sole condition that on the firstopportunity they should take cottages on the sea- shore ,and become industrious people . It was the constantobj ect of the duke to keep the rents of hi s poorer tenantsat a nominal amount .

SUTHERLAND . 87

What led me more particularly to inquire into thesefacts was , that I received by mail , while in London , anaccount Containing some of these stories , which had beenindustriously circulated in America . There were dreadful accounts of cruelties practised in the process of inducing the tenants to change their places of residence . Thefollowing is a specimen of these storiesI was present at the pulling down and burni ng of the

house of William Chisholm , Badinloskin, in which waslying hi s wife

’

s mother, an old, bed- ridden woman ofnear one hundred years of age , none of the family beingpresent . I informed the persons about to set fire to thehouse of this circumstance , and prevailed on them towait till Mr . Sellar came . On his arrival I told him of

the poor old woman , being a condition unfit for removal .H e replied ,

‘ The old witch ! she has lived too longlet her burn .

’

Fire was immediately set to the house ,and the blankets in which she was carried were in flamesbefore she could be got out. She was placed i n a littleshed , and it was with great difficulty they were preventedfrom firing that also . The old woman

’

s daughter arrivedwhile the house was on fire , and as sisted the neighboursin removing her mother out of the flames and smoke,pres enting a picture of horror which I shallnever forgetbutcannot attempt to describe . She died withi n five days .”

paper , I can now state that the Duke of Sutherland hasWith regard to this story , Mr . Loch, the agent , saysI must notice the only thi ng like a fact stated in thenewspaper extract which you sent to me , wherein Mr .

Sellar is accused of acts of cruelty towards some of thepeople . This Mr . Sellar tested , by bringing an actionagainst the then Sheri ff substitute of the county . Heobtained a verdict for heavy damages . The Sheriff, bywhom the slander was propagated , left the county .

Both are since dead .

”

H aving, through Lord Shaftesbury’

s kindness , receivedthe benefit of Mr . Loch

’

s corrections to this statement,I

am permitted to make a little further extract from hi s

reply . He saysIn addition to what I was able to say in my former


received from one of the most determined opposers of themeasures , who travelled to the north ofScotland as editorof a newspaper, a letter regretting all he had written onthe subj ect , being convinced that he was entirely misinformed . As you take so much interest in the subj ect , Iwill conclude by saying that nothing could exceed theprosperity of the county during the past year ; theirstock , sheep , and other things sold at high prices theircrops of grain and turnips were never so good , and thepotatoes were free from all disease : rents have beenpaid better than was ever known . As aninstance of the improved habits of the farmers , no houseis now built for them that they do not require a hot bathand water- closets .From this long epitome you can gather the following

results . First , if the system were a bad one , the Duchessof Sutherland had nothing to do with it , since it was firstintroduced in 1 806, the same year her grace was bornand the accusation against Mr . Sellar , dates in 1 81 1 , whenher grace was five or s ix years old . The Sutherlandarrangements were completed i n 1 81 9, and her grace wasnot married to the duke till 1 823 , so that , had the arrangement been the worst in the world , it i s nothing to thepurpose s o far as she is concerned .

As to whether the arrangement i s a bad one , the factswhi ch have been stated speak for themselves . To myview it is an almost sublime instance of the benevolentemployment of superior wealth and power in shorteningthe struggles of advancing civilization , and elevating ina few years a whole community to a point of educationand material prosperity , which , unassisted , they mightnever have obtained .

REPLY TO MRS . BEE CHER STOWE BY

DONALD MACLEOD .

*

From the year 1 81 2 to 1 820, the whole interior of thecounty ofSutherland— whose inhabitants were advancing

From enlarged edition of Gloomy Memories,publi shed in

Canada in 1 857 .

SUTHERLAND . 89

rapidly in the science of agriculture and education , whoby nature and exemplary training were the bravest ,the most moral and patriotic people that ever existedeven admitting a few of them did violate the excise laws ,the only s in which Mr . Loch and all the rest of theiravowed enemies could bring against them— where abody of men could be raised on the shortest possiblenotice that kings and emperors might and would be proudof and where the whole fertile valleys and strathswhich gave them birth were in due season waving withcorn their mountains and hillsides studded with sheepand cattle where rej oicing , felicity ,

happiness , and truepiety prevailed where the martial notes of the bagpipessounded and reverberated from mountain to glen , fromglen to mountain . I s ay , marvellous ! in eight yearsconverted to a solitary wilderness , where the voice of man

praising God is not to be heard , nor the image of God uponman to be seen where you can set a compass with twentymiles of a radius upon it , and go round with it fullstretched , and not find One acre of land withi n the c ir

cumference whi ch has come under the plough for the lastthi rty years , except a few in the parishes of Lairg andTongue , —all under mute brute animals . This is theadvancement of civilization , is it not , madamReturn now with me to the beginning of your elaborate

eulogy on the Duchess of Sutherland,and if you are open

to conviction , I think you should beconvinced that I neverpublished nor circulated in the American , English , orScotch public prints any ridiculous , absurd stories abouther Grace of Sutherland . Ari abridgment of my lucubrations is now in the hands of the public , and you may peruse them . I stand by them as facts (stubborn chi els) .I can prove them to be so even in this country (Canada) ,by a cloud of living witnesses , and my readers will findthat , instead of bringing absurd accusations against herGrace , that I have endeavoured in some instances toscreen her and her predecessors from the public odiumtheir own policy and the doings of their servants merited .

Moreover, there is thirty years since I began to expostulate with the House of Sutherland for their short


sighted policy in dealing with their people as they weredoing , and it is twenty years since I began to expose thempubli cly, with my real name , Donald MacL eod, attachedto each letter , sending a copy of the public paper where itappeared , directed by post , to the Duke of Sutherland .

These exposing and remonstrating letters were publishedin the Edinburgh papers , where the Duke and his predecessors had their principal Scotch law agent , and youmay easily believe that I was closely watched , with theview to find one false accusation in my letters , but theywere baffled . I am well aware that each letter I havewritten on the subject would , if untrue , constitute a libel ,and I knew the editors , printers , and publishers of thesepapers were as liable or responsible for libel as I was .

But the House of Sutherland could never venture toraise an action of damages against either of us . In 1 841 ,when I published my first pamphlet , I paid $4 50C . , forbinding one of them , in a splendid style, which I sentby mail to his Grace the present Duke of Sutherland ,with a complimentary note requesting him to peruse it ,and let me know if it contained anythi ng offensive oruntrue . I never received a reply, nor did I expect ityet I am satisfied that his Grace did peruse it . I posted acopy of it to Mr . Loch , his chief commissioner to Mr .W. Mackenzie , his chief lawyer in Edinburgh to everyone of their underlings , to sheep farmers , and ministersin the county of Sutherland , who abetted the depopulators , and I challenged the whole of them , and

‘

otherliterary scourges who aid and justified their unhalloweddoings , to gainsay one statement I have made . Can youor any other believe that a poor sinner like DonaldMacLeod would be allowed for so many years to escapewi th impunity, had he been circulating and publishingcalumnious , absurd falsehoods against such personagesas the House of Sutherland ? No , I tell you , i f moneycould secure my punishment , without establishing theirown shame and guilt , that it would be considered wellspent long ere now - they would eat me in penny piesif they could get me cooked for them .

I agree with you that the Duchess of Sutherland i s a


Being every morning and evening . I know there arehundreds in the Canadas who will bear me out in thisassertion . I was at the pulling down and burning of thehouse ofWilliam Chisholm . I got my hands burnt takingout the poor Old woman from amidst the flames of heronce- comfortable though humble dwelling , and a morehorrifying and lamentable scene could scarcely be witmessed . I may say the skeleton of a once tall , robust ,high- cheek-boned , respectable woman , who had seenbetter days ; who could neither hear , see, nor speak ;without a tooth in her mouth, her cheek skin meeting inthe centre , her eyes sunk out of sight in their sockets ,her mouth wide open , her nose standing upright amongsmoke and flames , uttering piercing moans of distressand agony, in articulations from which could be onlyunderstood , 0h, Dhi a , Dhia , teine, teine —Oh God,

God, fire,fire . When she came to the pure air , ,her

bosom heaved to a most extraordinary degree , aecom

panied by a deep hollow sound from her lungs , comparableto the sound of thunder at a distance . When laid downupon the bare , soft , moss floor of the roofless shed , I willnever forget the foam of perspiration which emitted andcovered the pallid death- looking countenance . This wasa scene , madam , worthy of an artist

’

s pencil , and of aconspicuous place on the stages of tragedy . Yet youcall this a specimen of the ridiculous stories which foundtheir way into respectable prints , because Mr . Loch ,

the chief a ctor , told you that Sellar , the head executive ,brought an action against the sheriff and obtained averdict for heavy damages . What a subterfuge butit will not answer the purpose ,

!

the bed i s too short to

stretch yourself, and the covering too narrow and short to

cover you .

” If you took the information and evidenceupon which you founded your Uncle Tom

’

s Cabin fromsuch unreliable sources (as I said before) , who can believethe one-tenth of your novel P I cannot . I have at myhand lhere the grandchi ld of the slaughtered old woman ,who recollects well of the circumstance . I have not farfrom me a respectable man , an elder in the Free Church ,

who was examined as a witness at Sellar’

s trial , at the

SUTHERLAND . 93

Spring Assizes of Inverness , in 1 81 6, which you will findnarrated in letters four and five of my work . Had youthe opportunity, madam , of seeing the scenes whi ch I ,and hundreds more, have seen— the wild ferocious appearance of the infamous gang who constituted the burningparty, covered over face and hands with soot and ashes ofthe burning houses , cemented by torch- grease and theirown sweat , kept continually drunk or half-drunk while atwork and to observe the hellish amusements some ofthem would get up for themselves and for an additionalpleasure to their leaders The people

’

s houses weregenerally built upon declivities , and in many cases notfar from pretty steep precipices . They preserved theirmeal in tight-made boxes , or chests , as they were called ,and when this fiendish party found any quantity of meal ,they would carry it between them to the brink , and dispatch it down the precipice amidst shrieks and yells .It was considered grand sport to see the box breaking toatoms and the meal m ixed with the air . When theywould set fire to a house , they would watch any of thedomestic animals making their escape from the flames ,such as dogs , cats , hens , or any poultry these were caughtand thrown back to the flames— grand sport for demonsin human formAs to the vaunted letter which his Grace receivedfrom one of the most determined opposers of the measures , who travelled ih the north of Scotland as editor of anewspaper , regretting all that he had written on the subj cet , being convinced that he was misinformed , I maytell you , madam , that thi s man did not travel to thenorth or in the north ofScotland , as editor hi s name wasThomas Mulock he came to Scotland a fanatic speculator in literature in search of money , or a lucrativesituation , vainly thinking that he would be a dictatorto every editor in Scotland . He first attacked theimmortal Hugh Miller Of the Wi tnes s , Edinburgh , butin him he met more than his match . He then went to thenorth , got hold of my first pamphlet , and by setting it upin a literary style , and in better English than I , he made asplendid and promising appearance in the northern


papers for some time ; but he found out that the moneyexpected was not coming in , and that the hotels , headinns , and taverns would not keep him up any longerwithout the prospect of being paid for the past or for thefuture . I found out that he was hard up , and a few of theHighlanders in Edinburgh and ! myself sent him fromtwenty to thirty pounds sterling . When he s aw thatthat was all he was to get , he at once turned tail upon us ,and instead of expres si ng hi s gratitude , he abused usunsparingly, and regretted that ever he wrote in behalfof such a hungry , moneyless class . He smelled (like otherswe suspect) where the gold was hoarded up for hypocritesand flatterers , and that one apologising letter to hisGrace would be worth ten times as much as he couldexpect from the Highlanders all hi s lifetime and Idoubt not it was , for his apology for the s in of misinformation got wide circulation .

He then went to France and started an English paper inParis , and for the service he rendered Napoleon in crushing republicanism during the besieging of Rome , etc , theEmperor presented him with a gold pin, and in a fewdays afterwards sent a gendarme to him with a briefnotice that his service was not any longer required , and awarning to quit France in a few days , which he had to do .

What became of him after I know not , but very likelyhe is dictating to young Loch , or some other Metternich .

No feelings of hostile vindictiveness , no desire to infli ctchastisement , no desire to mak e riches , influenced mymind , pourtraying the scenes of havoc and misery which"

11 those past days darkened the annals of Sutherland . Iwrite in my own humble style , with higher aims , wishingto prepare the way for demonstrating to the Dukes ofSutherland , and all other H ighland proprietors , great andsmall , that the path of selfish aggrandisement and oppression leads by sure and inevitable results , yea to theruin and destruction Of the blind and misguided oppressors themselves . I consider the Duke himselfvictimised on a large scale by an incurably wrong system ,

and by being enthralled by wicked counsellors and ser

vants . I have no hesitation in saying , had his Grace and

SUTHERLAND . 95

his predecessors bestowed one-half of the encouragementthey had bestowed upon strangers on the aborigines— a

hardy,healthy , abstemious people , who lived peaceably

in their primitive habitations , unaffected with the vi cesof a subtle civilization , possess ing little , but enj oyingmuch a race devoted to their hereditary Chief , ready toabide by his counsels ; a race profitable in peace , andloyal , available in war I s ay, hi s

’

Grace , the presentDuke of Sutherland , and his beautiful Duchess , would bewithout compeers in the British dominions, their rents , atleas t doubled would be as secure from invasion andannoyance in Dunrobin Castle as Queen Victoria could , orcan be , in her Highland residence , at Balmoral , and farsafer than she is in her English home , BuckinghamPalace ; every man and son of Sutherland would beready , as in the days of yore , to shed the last drop of theirblood in defence of their chi ef , if requi red . Congratu

lations , rej oicings , dancing to the martial notes of thepipes , would meet them at the entrance to every glen andstrath in Sutherlandshire , accompanied , surrounded , andgreeted , as they proceeded , by the most grateful ,devotedly attached , happy , and bravest peasantry thatever existed yes , but alas I where there is nothing now,

but desolation and the cries of famine and want , to meetthe noble pair— the ruins of once comfortable dwellingswill be seen the landmarks of the furrows and ridgeswhich yielded food to thousands , the footprints of thearch- enemy of human happiness , and ravager— before ,after, and on each side , solitude , stillness , and the quietof the grave , disturbed only at intervals by the yells of ashepherd , or fox-hunter , and the bark of a collie dog .

Surely we must admit that the Marquises and Dukes ofSutherland have been duped and victimised to a mostextraordinary and incredible extent and we have Mr.

Loch’

s own words for it in his speech in the House ofCommons, June 2 1 st, 1 845 I can state , as from facts ,that from 1 81 1 to 1 833 , not one Sixpence of rent has beenreceived from that county but , on the contrary, therehas been sent there

'

for the benefit and improvementof the people a sum exceeding sixty thousand pounds

96 H IGH LAND CLEARANCES .

sterling. Now think you of this immense wealth whichhas been expended . I am not certain , but I thi nk therental of the county would exceed £60,000 a year ; youhave then from 1 81 1 to 1 833 , twenty - two years , leavingthem at the above figures, and the sum total will amountto 000 expended upon the self styled Sutherlandimprovements ; add to this £60,000 sent down to preserve the lives of the victims of those improvementsfrom death by famine , and the sum total will turn outin the shape of It surely cost the heads ofthe house of Sutherland an immense sum of money toconvert the county into the state I have described it in aformer part of this work (and I challenge contradiction) .You should be surprised to hear and learn , madam ,

for what purposes most of the money drained from theDuke

’

s coffers yearly are expended since he became theDuke and proprietor of Sutherland , upholding the Lochpolicy . There are no fewer than seventeen who areknown by the name of water bailiffs in the county, whoreceive yearly salaries , what doing , think you . Protectingthe operations of the Loch policy , watchi ng day and nightthe freshwater lakes , rivers , and creeks , teeming wi th thefinest salmon and trout fi sh in the world , guarding fromthe famishi ng people , even during the years of famine anddire distress , when many had to subsist upon weeds , seaware , and shell-fish, yet guarded and preserved for theamusement of E ngli sh anglers and what is still moreheartrending , to prevent the dying by hunger to pick upany of the dead fish left by the sporting anglers rottingon the lake , creek , and river sides , when the smallest ofthem , or a morsel , would be considered by hundreds, Imay say thousands , of the needy natives , a treat butthey durst not touch them , or if they did and were foundout to j ail they were conducted , or removed summarilyfrom his Grace

’

s domains ; (let me be understood , thesegentlemen had no use for the fish , killing them for

‘

amusement , only what they required for their own use, and com

plimented to the factors ; they were not permitted tocure them) .You will find , madam , that about three miles from

SUTHERLAND . 97

Dunrobin Castle there i s a branch of the sea which extendsup the county about s ix miles , where shell-fish, calledmussels , abound . Here you will find two sturdy men ,called mussel bailiffs , supplied with rifles and ammunition ,and as many Newfoundland dogs as assistants , watchingthe mussel scalps , or beds , to preserve them from thepe0p1e in the surrounding parishes ofDornoch ,Rogart , andGolspie , and keep them , to supply the fishermen , on theopposite side of the Moray Firth , with bait , who comethere every year and take away thousands of tons of thisnutritive shell -fish, when many hundreds of the peoplewould be thankful for a diet per day of them , to pacifythe cravings of nature . You will find that the unfortunate native fishermen , who pay a yearly rent to hisGrace for bait , are only permitted theirs from the refuseleft by the strangers of the other side of the Moray Firthand if they Violate the i ron rule laid down to them , theyare entirely at the mercy of the underlings . There hasbeen an instance of two of the fi shermen

’

s wives goingon a cold , snowy , frosty day to gather bait , but on ac

count of the boisterous s ea , could not reach the placeappointed by the factors one took what they requiredfrom the forbidden ground , and was observed by some ofthe bailiffs , in ambush , who pursued them like tigers .One came up to her unobserved , took out hi s knife , andcut the straps by whi ch the basket or creel on her backwas suspended the weight on her back fell to the ground ,and she , poor woman , big in the family way, fell her wholelength forward in the snow and frost . Her companionturned round to see what had happened

,when she was

pushed back with such force that she fell he then trampled their baskets and mussels to atoms , took them bothprisoners , ordered one of them to call his superior bailiffto assist him ,

!

and kept the other for two hours standing ,wet as she was , among frost and snow , until the superiorcame a distance of three miles . After a short consultation upon the enormity of the crime , the two poorwomen were led , like convicted criminals , to Golspie , toappear before Lycurgus Gunn , and in that deplorablecondi tion were left standing before their own doors in

G

98 H IGH LAND CLEARANCES .

the snow, until Marshall Gunn found it convenient toappear and pronounce j udgment — verdi ct You areallowed to go into your houses thi s night this day weekyou must leave this village for ever , and the whole of thefishermen of the Vi llage are strictly prohi bited fromtaking bait from the Little Ferry until you leave mybaili ffs are requested to see this my decree strictly at

tended to . Being the middle of winter and heavy snow,

they delayed a week longer : ultimately the villagershad to expel the two families from among them , so thatthey would get bait , having nothing to depend upon forsubsistence but the fishing , and fish they could notwithout bait . This is a specimen of the injustice to andsubjugation of the Golspie fishermen , and of the peopleat large likewise of the purposes for whi ch the Duke

’

smoney is expended in that quarter . If you go , then ,to the other side of the domain , you will find anotherKyle , or a branch of the sea , which abounds in cocklesand other shell-fi sh, fortunately for the poor people , notforbidden by a Loch ukase . But in the years of distress ,when the people were principally living upon vegetables ,sea-weeds , and shell -fi sh, various diseases made theirappearance amongst them hitherto unknown . Theabsence of meal of any kind being considered the primarycause , some of the people thought they would be permitted to exchange shell -fi sh for meal with their morefortunate neighbours in Caithness , to whom such shellfish were a rarity , and so far the understanding wentbetween them , that the Caithness boats came up loadedwith meal , but the Loch embargo , through his underlingin Tongue , who was watching their movements , was atonce placed upon it the Caithness boats had to returnhome with the meal , and the Duke

’

s people might live ordie , as they best could . Now, madam , you have steepedyour brains , and ransacked the English language to findrefined terms for your panegyric on the Duke , Duchess ,and family of Sutherland . (I find no fault with you ,knowing you have been well paid for it . ) But I wouldbriefly ask you (and others who devoted much of theirtime and talents in the same strain) , would it not be more

Ioo HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

Dunrobin Castle , and has seen and heard so many supplicating appeals presented to her husband by the poorfishermen of Golspie , soliciting liberty to take musselsfrom the Little Ferry Sands to bait their nets— a libertyof which they were deprived by his factors , though payingyearly rent for it yet returned by hi s Grace with thebrief deliverance , that he could do nothing for them .

Can I believe that this is the same personage who can s etout from Dunrobin Castle , her own Highland seat , andafter travelling from it , then can ride in one directionover thirty miles , in another direction forty- four miles , inanother , by taking the necessary circuitous route , sixtymiles , and that over fertile glens , valleys , and straths ,bursting with fatness , whi ch gave birth to , and where werereared for ages , thousands of the bravest , the most moral ,virtuous, and religious men that Europe could boast ofready to a man , at a moment

’s warning from their chiefs ,to rise in defence of their king , queen , and countryanimated with patriotism and love to their chi ef , andirresistible in the battle contest for victory ? But thesevaliant men had then a country,

a home, and a chi efworththe fighting for . But I can tell her that she can now rideover these extensive tracts in the interior of the countywithout seeing the image of God upon a man travellingthese roads , with the exception of a wandering Highlandshepherd , wrapped up in a grey plaid to the eyes , with acollie dog behind him as a drill

,

sergeant to train his ewesand to marshal his tups . There may happen to travelover the dreary tract a geologist , a tourist , or a lonelycarrier , but these are as rare as a pelican in the wilderness ,or a camel’s convoy caravan in the deserts of Arabia .

Add to this a few English sportsmen , with their staghounds , pointer dogs , and servants , and put themselvesand their bravery together , and one company of Frenchsoldiers would put ten thousand of them to a disorderlyflight , to save their own carcases , leaving their ewes andtups to feed the invaders !f

! The question may arise , where those people , whoinhabited this country at one period , have gone PIn America and Australia the most of them will be

found . The Sutherland family and the,

iiation‘ had”)

no need of their servi ces ; hence they di d: not regardtheir patriotism or loyalty, and disregarded thei r p astservices . Sheep , bullocks , deer , and game , becamemore valuable than men . Yet a remnant , or inother words a skeleton, of them is to be found along thesea shore , huddled together in motley groups upon barrenmoors , among cliffs and precipices , in the most impoveri shed, degraded , subjugated , slavish , spiritless , conditionthat human beings could exist in . If this is really thelady who has Glory to God in the highest , peace onearth , and good will to men ,

”in view , and who is so

religiously denouncing the American statute whichdeni es the slave the sanctity of marriage , with all itsj oys , rights , and obligations— whi ch separates , at thewill of the master , the wife from the husband , the childrenfrom the parents ,

” I would advise her in God’s name totake a tour round the sea- skirts of Sutherland , her ownestate , beginning at Br ora , then to Helmsdale , Portskerra , Strathy , Farr , Tongue , Durness , E ddrachillis ,and As synt, and learn the subjugated , degraded , impoveri shed, uneducated condition of the spiritless people of

that sea -beaten coast , about two hundred miles in length ,and let her with sim ilar zeal ! remonstrate with her husband , that their condition is bettered for the cure forall their misery and want is lying unmolested in the fertilevalleys above , and all under hi s control and to advisehis Grace , her husband , to be no longer guided by hi sAhi tophel , Mr . Loch , but to discontinue his depopulatingschemes , which have separated many a wife from herhusband , never to meet -which caused many a prematuredeath , and that separated many sons and daughters ,never to see each other and by all means to withdrawthat mandate ofMr . Loch , which forbids marriage on theSutherland estate , under pains and penalties of being .

banished from the county for it has already augmentedillegitimate connections and issues fifty per cent abovewhat such were a few years ago— before this unnatural ,ungodly law was put in force .

Let us see what the character of these ill - used people

g102 HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

of Garth, in his Sketches of thethe words of a general officer

Sutherlanders were once reviewed ,They exhibit a perfect pattern of mili tary disciplineand moral rectitude . In the case of such men disgraceful punishment would be as unnecessary as it would bepernicious .” Indeed , says the General , so remotewas the idea of such a measure in regard to them , thatwhen punishments were to be inflicted on others , and thetroops in garrison assembled to witness their execution ,the presence of the Sutherland Highlanders was di s

pensed with , the effects of terror as a check to crimebeing in their case uncalled for, as examples of thatnature were not necessary for such honourable soldi ers .When the Sutherland Highlanders were stationed at theCape of Good Hope anxious to enj oy the advantages ofreligious instruction agreeably to the tenets of theirnational church , and there being no religious service inthe garrison except the customary one of reading prayersto the soldiers on parade , the Sutherland menformed themselves into a congregation , appointedelders of their own number , engaged and paid astipend (collected among themselves) to a clergyman ofthe Church of Scotland , and had divine service performedagreeably to the ritual of the Established Church everySabbath , and prayer meetings through the week .

”

This reverend gentleman , Mr . Thom , in a letter whichappeared in the Chri sti an H erald of October , 1 81 4,writes thus : When the 93rd Highlanders left CapeTown last month , there were among them 1 56 membersof the church , including three elders and three deacons ,all of whom , so far as men can know the heart from thelife , were pious men . The regiment was certainly apattern of morality , and good behavi our to all othercorps . They read their Bibles and observed the Sabbath .

They saved their money to do good . 7000 rix dollars ,a sum equal to £1 200, the non- commissioned offi cersand privates saved for books , societies , and for the Spreadof the Gospel , a sum unparalleled in any other corps inthe world , given in the short space of eighteen months .

104 HIGHLAND CLEAR ANCE S .

and library in the Highlands of Scotland but I couldrefer to other authors of similar weight among thelast (though not the least) , Mr . Hugh Millar of theWi tnes s ,in his Sutherland as it was and is or, How a countrycan be ruined a work whi ch should silence and putto shame every vile , malignant calumniator of Highlandreligion and moral virtue in bygone years , who in theirsophi stical profession of a desire to promote the temporaland spiritual welfare of the people , had their own sordidcupidity and aggrandisement in view in all their unworthylucubrations .

At the commencement of the Russian war acorrespondent wrote as follows Your predictionsare making their appearance at last , great demandsare here for men to go to Russia , but they are notto be found . It seems that the Secretary of Warhas corresponded with all our H ighland proprietors , toraise as many men as they could for the Crimean war ,and ordered so many ofli cers of rank to the Highlands toassist the proprietors in doing so— but it has been a com

plete failure as yet . The nobles advertised , by placards ,meetings of the people these proclamations were at

tended to , but when they came to understand what theywere about , in most cases the recruiting proprietorsand stafl were saluted with the ominous cry of Maa !

maa ! boo ! boo !’ imitating sheep and bullocks , and ,

Send your deer , your roes , your rams , dogs , shepherds ,and gamekeepers to fight the Russians , they have neverdone us any harm .

’

The success ofhis Grace the Duke ofSutherland was deplorable I believe you would havepitied the poor old man had you seen him .

In my last letter I told you that hi s head commissioner , Mr . Loch , and military ofli cer, was in Sutherland for the last six weeks , and failed in getting one manto enlist on getting these doleful tidi ngs , the Duke himself left London for Sutherland , arriving at Dunrobinabout ten days ago , and after presenting himself upon thestreets of Golspie and Brora , he called a meeting of themale inhabitants of the parishes of Clyne , Rogart , andGolspie the meeting was well attended upwards of

SUTHERLAND . 1 05

400 were punctual at the hour hi s Grace in his carriage ,with his military staff and factors appeared shortly afterthe people gave them a hearty cheer his Grace took thechair . Three or four clerks took their seats at the table ,and loosened down bulky packages of bank notes , andspread out platefuls of glittering gold . The Duke ad

dressed the people very seriously , and entered upon thenecessity of go ing to war with Russia , and the danger ofallowing the Czar to have more power than what he holdsalready of his cruel , despotic reign in Russia , etc .

likewise praising the Queen and her government , rulersand nobles of Great Britain , who stood so much in needof men to put and keep down the tyrant of Russia , andfoil him in hi s wicked schemes to take possession ofTurkey . In concludi ng his address , whi ch was oftencheered , the Duke told the young able—bodied men thathis clerks were ready to take down the names of all thosewilling t o enlist , and everyone who would enli st in the

g3rd Highlanders , that the clerk would give him, thereand then , £6 sterling those who would rather enter anyother corps , would get £3 , all from his own private purse ,independently of the government bounty . After ad

vancing many silly flattering decoyments , he sat down tosee the result , but there was no movement among thepe0p1e after sitting for a long time looking at the clerks ,and they at him , at last hi s anxious looks at the peopleassumed a somewhat indignant appearance , when hesuddenly rose up and asked what was the cause of theirnon- attention to the proposals he made , but no replyit was the silence of the grave . Still standing , his Gracesuddenly asked the cause but no reply at last an old

man , leaning upon his staff , was observed moving towardsthe Duke , and when he approached near enough , headdressed his Grace something as follows I am sorryfor the response your Grace

’

s proposals are meeting hereto - day, so near the spot where your maternal grandmother ,by giving forty- eight hours

’

notice,marshalled fifteen

hundred men to pick out of them the nine hundred sherequired , but there is a cause for it , and a grievous cause ,and as your Grace demands to know it , I must tell you ,

1 06 HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

as I see no one else are inclined in thi s assembly to do it .Your Grace

’

s mother and predecess ors applied to ourfathers i for men upon former occasions , and our fathersresponded to their call they have made liberal promises ,which neither them nor you performed we are, we thi nk ,a little wiser than our fathers , and we estimate your promises of to -day at the value of theirs , besides you shouldbear in mind that your predecessors and yourself expelledus in a most cruel and unjust manner from the land whi chour fathers held in lien from your family, for their sons ,brothers , cousins , and relations , which were handed overto your parents to keep up their di gnity , and to killthe Americans , Turks , French , and the Irish and theselands are devoted now to rear dumb brute animals , whi chyou and your parents consider of far more value thanmen .

I do assure your Grace that it is the prevailing opinion11 this county , that should the Czar of Russia take possession of Dunrobin Castle and of Stafford House nextterm , that we could not expect worse treatment at hishands , than we have experienced at the hands of yourfamily for the last fifty years . Your parents , yourself ,and your commissioners , have desolated the glens andstraths of Sutherland , where you should find hundreds ,yea , thousands of men to meet you , and respond cheerfully to y2ur call , had your parents and yourself kept faithwith them . How could your Grace expect to find menwhere they are not, and the few of them which are to befound among the rubbish or ruins of the county , has moresense than to be decoyed by chaff to the field of slaughterbut one comfort you have , though you cannot find men tofight , you can supply those who will fight wi th plenty of

mutton , beef , and venison .

’

The Duke rose up, put onhi s hat , and left the field .

Whether my correspondent added to the old man’

sreply to hi s Grace or not , I cannot say , but one thi ng isevident , it was the very reply hi s Grace deserved .

I know for a certainty this to be the prevaili ng feelingthroughout the whole Highlands of Scotland , and whoshould wonder at it How many thousands of them whoserved out their 2 1 , 2 2 , 25, and 26 years , fighting for the

1 08 H IGHLAND CLEARANCE S .

of abode was pulled down , hi s wife and family turned out ,and only permitted to live in a hut , from which an oldfemale pauper was carried a few days before to thechurchyard ; there the young family were sheltered ,and their names registered upon the poor roll for supporthis Grace could not be guilty of such low rascality as this ,yet he was told of it , but took no cognisance of those whodid it in his name . It is likewise said that this man got afurlough of two weeks to see hi s wife and family before,

going abroad , and that when the factor heard he wascoming , he ordered the ground officer of the parish ofRogart , named MacLeod, to watch the soldier , and notallow him to s ee nor speak to his wife , but in his (theoffi cer

’

s) presence . We had at the same time , in theparish , an old bachelor of the name of John Macdonald ,who had three idiot sisters , whom he upheld , independentof any source of relief but a favourite of George , thenotorious factor , envied this poor bachelor

’

s farm , andhe was summoned to remove at next term . The poorfellow petitioned his Grace and Loch , but to no purposehe was doomed to walk away on the term day, as thefactor told him , to America , Glasgow , or to the devil ifhe choosed. Seeing he had no other alternative , twodays before the day of hi s removal he yoked his cart ,and got neighbours to help him to haul the three idiotsinto it , and drove away with them to Dunrobin Castle .

When he came up to factor Gunn’

s door , he capsizedthem out upon the green , and wheeled about and wentaway home . The three idiots finding themselves uponthe top of one another so sudden , they rais ed an inhumanlike yell , fixed into one another to fight , and scratched ,yelled , and screeched so terrific that Mr . Gunn , his lady ,his daughters , and all the clerks and servants were soonabout them but they hearkened to no reason , for theyhad none themselves , but continued their fighting andinharmonious music . Messenger after messenger wassent after John , but of no use at last the great Gunnhimself followed and overtook him , asked him how di dhe come to leave his sisters in such a state P He replied ,I kept them while I had a piece of land to support

SUTHERLAND . 1 09

them you have taken that land from me , then take themalong with the land , and make of them what you can Imust look out for myself , but I cannot carry them to thelabour market . Gunn was in a fix , and had to giveJohn assurance that he would not be removed if he wouldtake hi s sisters , so John took them home , and has not beenmolested as yet .

I have here beside me (in Canada) a respectable girlof the name of Ann Murray , whose father was removedduring the time of the wholesale faggotremovals , but got alot of a barren moor to cultivate . However barren- like itwas , he was raising a family of industrious young sons ,and by dint of hard labour and perseverance , they madeit a comfortable home but the young sons one by oneleft the country (and four of them are wi thin two milesof where I s it) the result was , that Ann was the only onewho remained with the parents . The mother , who hadan attack of palsy , was left entirely under Ann

’s careafter the family left and she took it so much to heartthat her daughter

’

s attention was required day andnight , until death put an end to her afflictions , aftertwelve years

’

suffering . Shortly after the mother’

sdeath , the father took ill , and was confined to bed fornine months and Ann

’

s labour re- commenced until hisdecease . Though Ann Murray could be numbered amongthe most dutiful of daughters , yet her incessant labour ,for a period of more than thirteen years , made visiblei nroads upon her tender constitution yet by the liberalassistance of her brothers , who did not loose sight of herand their parent (though upon a foreign strand) , AnnMurray kept the farm in the best of order , no doubtexpecting that she would be allowed to keep it afterherparent

’

s decease , but this was not in store for her thevery day after her father

’

s funeral , the officer came to herand told her that she was to be removed in a few weeks ,that the farm was let to another , and that Factor Gunnwished to see her . She was at that time affi icted withj aundice , and told the officer she could not undertake thej ourney , which was only ten miles . Next day the officerwas at her again , more urgent than before , and made use

1 1 0 HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

of extraordinary threats so sbe had to go . When she

appeared before this Bashaw , he swore like a trooper , anddamned her soul , why she disobeyed hi s first summonsshe excused herself , trembling , that she was unwellanother volley of oaths and threats met her response , andtold her to remove herself from the estate next week , forher conduct and with a threat , which well becomes aHighland tyrant , not to take away, nor sell a singlearticle of furniture , implements of husbandry , cattle , orcrop nothi ng was allowed but her own body clotheseverythi ng was to be handed over to her brother , who wasto have the farm . Seeing there was neither mercy nor

j ustice for her , she told him the crop , house , and everyother thi ng belonging to the farm , belonged to her and herbrothers in America , and that the brother to whom he

(the factor) intended to hand over the farm and effectsnever helped her father or mother while in trouble andthat she was determined that he should not enjoy whatshe laboured for, and what her other brothers paid for .She went and got the advice of a man of business , advertised a sale , and sold off, in the face of threats of interdict ,and came to Canada , where she was warmly received bybrothers , sisters , and friends , now in Woodstock , and cantell her tale better than I can . No one could think norbelieve that his Grace would ever countenance such doingsas these but it was done in hi s name .

I have here within ten miles of me , Mr . William Ross ,once taxman of Achtomleeny , Sutherlandshire , who oc

cup ied the most convenient farm to the principal deerstalking hills in the county . Often have the Englishand Irish lords , connected in marriage with the Sutherlands , dined and took their lunch at William Ross

’

s table ,and at his expense and more than once passed the nightunder his roof . Mr . Ross being s o well acquaintedamong the mountains and haunts of the deer, was oftenengaged as a guide and instructor to these noblemen ontheir deerstalking and fishing excursions , and became areal favourite with the Sutherland family , which enabledhim to erect superior buildings to the common rule , andimprove his farm in a superior style so that his moun


hi s loss for between loss of cattle, building and repai ringhouses , he was minus one hundred and fifty pounds sterling , of his means , and substance , from the time he wasremoved from Achtomleeny till he removed himself toCanada . Besides , he had a written agreement or promise for melioration or valuation for all the farm improvements and house building at Achtomleeny , whi ch wasvalued by the family surveyor at £250 . Willi am wasalways promised to get it , until they came to learn thathe was leaving for America , then they would not give hima cent . William Ross left them with it to j oin his familyin Canada but he can in his old age sit at as comfortablea table , and sleep on as comfortable a bed , with greaterease of mind and a clearer conscience , among his owndutiful and affectionate children , than the tyrant factorever did , or ever will among his . I know as well as anyone can tell me , that this is but one or two cases out ofthe thousand I could enumerate , where the liberalityand benevolence of his Grace , and of his parents , wereabused , and that to their patron

’s loss . You s ee in theabove case that William was advised to plead for areduction of rent , so that the factor

’s favourite , AhabGilchr ist , would have the benefit of Naboth Ross

’

s improvement , and the reduction he got on hi s rent , whichwould not be obtained otherwise .

The unhallowed crew of factors and ofli cials , from thehighest to the lowest grade , employed by the family of

Sutherland , got the corrupt portion of the public press ontheir side , to applaud their wicked doings and schemes , asthe only mode of improvement and civili sation in theHighlands of Scotland . They have got what is still moreto be lamented , all the Established ministers , with fewexceptions , on their side and in them they found faithfulauxiliaries in crushing the people . Any of them couldhold a whole congregation by the hair of their headsover hell- fire , if they offered to resist the powers that be ,until they submitted . If a single individual resisted , hewas denounced from the pulpit , and considered afterwards a dangerous man in the community and he mightdepart as quick as he could . Any man , or men , may

SUTHERLAND . 1 1 3

violate the laws of God , and violate the laws of heaven ,as often as he chooses he is never heeded , and has nothing to fear but if he offends the Duke

’

s factor , the lowestof his minions , or violates the least of their laws and regulations , it is an unpardonable s in. The present Duk e

’

smother was no doubt a liberal lady of many good parts ,and seemed to be much attached to the natives , but nufortunately for them

, she employed for her factors a vile ,unprincipled crew , who were their avowed enemiesshe would hearken to the complaints of the people , andwould write to the ministers of the Gospel to ascertain thecorrectness of complaints , and the factor was justified ,however gross the outragewas that he committed— theminister dined with the factor , and could not refuse tofavour him . The present Duke* is a simple , narrowminded gentleman , who concerns himself very littleeven about hi s own pecuni ary affairs he entrusts hi swhole affairs to his factors , and the people are enslavedso much , that it is now considered the most foolish thi nga man can do to petition his Grace , whatever is done tohim , for it will go hard with the factor , or he will punishand make an example of him to deter others .To detail what I knew myself personally , and what Ihave learned from others of - their conduct , would , as Isaid before , fill a volume . For instance —When amarriage in the family of Sutherland takes place , or thebirth of an heir , a feast is ordered for the Sutherlandpeople , consisting of whisky , porter , ale , and plenty ofeatables . The day of feasting and rej oicing is appointed ,and heralded throughout the country , and the people areenjoined in marshal terms to assemble— barrels of rawand adulterated whisky are forwarded to each parish ,some raw adulterated sugar , and that is all . Bonfires areto be prepared on the tops of the hi ghest mountains . Thepoorest of the poor are warned by family offi cers to carrythe materials , consisting of peats and tar barrels , upontheir backs the scene is lamentable to see groups of thesewretched , half- clad and ill- shod

,climbing up these

Macleod wrote thi s in 1 854 .- E D .


mountains with their loads however , the work must bedone;there is no deni al , the evening of rej oicing is arrived ,and the people are assembled at their different clachans .The barrels of whisky are taken out to the open field

,

poured into large tubs , a good amount of abominablelooking sugar is mixed with it , and a sturdy favouriteis employed to stir it about with a flail handle , or somelong cudgel— all sorts of drinking implements are produced, tumblers , bowls , ladles , and tin j ugs . Bagpipersare set up with great glee . In the absence of the factor,the animal called the ground officer , and in some instancesthe parish minister , will open the jollification, and showan example to the people how to deal with thi s coarsebeverage . After the first round , the respectable portionof the people will depart , or retire to an inn , where theycan enj oy themselves but the dronthi es , and ignorantyouthful

,will keep the field of revelling until tearing of

clothes and faces comes to be the rule fists and cudgelssupplant jugs and ladles , and thi s will continue until kingBacchus enters the field and hushes the most heroicbrawlers and the most ferocious combatants to soundsnoring on the field of rej oicing , where many of thementer into contracts with death , from which they couldnever extricate themselves . With the co - operation andassistance of factors , ministers , and editors , a mostflourishi ng account is sent to the world , and to theabsentee family in London , who knows nothing about howthe affair was conducted . The world will say how happymust the people be who live under such good and noble ,liberal-minded patrons and the patrons themselves areso highly-pleased with the report that , however extraordinary the bill that comes to them on the rent day , inplace of money

,for roast beef and mutton , bread and

cheese , London porter and Edinburgh ale , which wasnever bought , nor tasted by the people , they will considertheir commissioners used great economy no cognizanceis taken , the bill is accepted , and discharged , the peopleare deceived , and the proprietors injured .


occupied by the said persons , whereby they themselvesare turned out , without cover or shelter , as aforesaid ,and the greater part of their different crops is lost anddestroyed

,from the want of the usual and necessary ac

commodation for securing and manufacturing the sameand the wantonly setting on fire , burning, and otherwisedestroying , or causing and procuring to be set on fire ,burnt , and otherwise destroyed , growing corn , timber ,furniture , money, and other effects , the property , or in thelawful possession of the said tenants and other poorpersons , are crimes of a heinous nature , and severelypunishable . Yet true it is , and of verity , that you thesaid Patrick Sellar are gui lty of the said crimes , or of oneor more of them ,

actor , or art in part in so far as youthe said Patrick Sellar did , on the 1 5th day of March ,

1 81 4, or on one or other of the days of that month, or ofApril and May immediately following , and on many occasions during the said months of March , April and May ,wickedly and maliciously set on fire and burn , or causeand procure John Dryden and John M ‘

Kay , both at thattime shepherds in your service , to set on fire and burn agreat extent of heath and pasture , many miles in lengthand breadth , situate in the heights of the parishes ofFarrand Kildonan

,in the county of Sutherland , and in parti

cular in the lands of R avigill, Rhiphail, Rhiloi sk , Ros s al,Rhimsdale , Garvault, Truderskaig , and D alcharrel,whereby many of the tenants and others in the landsaforesaid were deprived of pasturage for their cattle , andin consequence thereof reduced to great distress and poverty and many of them were obliged to feed their cattlewith the potatoes intended for the use of their families ,and with their seed corn particularly William Gordon,J ames M ‘

Kay , Hugh Grant , and Donald M‘

K ay , all thentenants in Rhiloi sk aforesaid John Gordon and HughM

‘

Beath, then tenants in Rhimsdale aforesaid DonaldM

‘

Beath, then tenant in Rhiphai l aforesaid MurdoM

‘

Kay and John M‘

Kay , then tenants in Truderskaigaforesaid . And further, you the said Patrick Sellar did ,upon the 1 3th day of June , 1 81 4, or on one or other of thedays of that month , or of May immediately preceding,

TRIAL OF PATRICK SELLAR . 1 1 7

or of July immediately following , together with four ormore persons , your assistants , proceed to the di strict ofcountry above -mentioned

,and did , then and there ,

violently turn , or cause or procure to be turned out oftheir habitations , a number of the tenants and poorpe0p1e dwelling there and particularly Donald M ‘

Kay ,

a feeble oldman of the age of fourscore years or thereby,then residing in Rhiloi sk aforesaid who , upon being soturned out , not being able to travel to the nearest inhabited place , lay for several days and nights thereafterin the woods in the vicinity , without cover or shelter , tohis great distress , and to the danger of hi s life . As also ,Barbara M ‘

Kay , wife of John M ‘

Kay , then tenant inR avigill aforesaid , who was at the time pregnant , and wasmoreover confined to her bed in consequence of beingseverely hurt and bruised by a fall and you the saidPatrick Sellar did , then and there , notwithstanding theentreaties of the said John M ‘

Kay , give orders that thesaid Barbara M ‘

Kay should be instantly turned out ,whatever the consequences might be , saying , That youwould have the house pulled about her ears and thesaid John M ‘

Kay was accordingly compelled , with theassistance of some women and neighbours to lift hi s saidwi fe from her bed , and carry her nearly a mile across thecountry to the imminent danger of her life : As also ,time last above -mentioned

,you the said Patrick Sellar

did forcibly turn out , or cause and procure your assistantsaforesaid , to turn out , of hi s bed and dwelling , in Garvault aforesaid , Donald Munro , a young lad , who lay sickin bed at the time . And further

,you the said Patrick

Sellar , did time aforesaid , wickedly and maliciously set onfire , burn, pull down , and demolish , or cause and procureyour assistants aforesaid to set on fire

,burn

,pull down,

and demolish a great number of the dwelling- houses ,barns , kilns , mills , and other buildings , lawfully occupiedby the tenants and other inhabitants in the said districtof country and in particular

,the houses

,barns , kilns ,

mills , lawfully occupied by the above -mentionedWilliamGordon , J ames M

‘

Kay , Hugh Grant , in Rhiloi sk afores a1d ; and John Gordon in Rhimsdale aforesaid ; As


also , the barns and kilns in Rhiphail aforesaid , lawfullyoccupied by Alexander Manson , John M

‘

Kay ,and others

,

then tenants or residenters there the barns and kilnsin R avigill aforesaid , lawfully occupied by John M

‘

Kay ,

Murdo M ‘

Kay , and others , then tenants there and thebarns and kilns in Garvault aforesaid , lawfully occupiedby William Nicol and John Monro , then tenants thereAs also , the house and barn in R avigill aforesaid , lawfully occupied by Barbara M ‘

Kay , an infirm old widow ,

nearly fourscore years of age , and who was obliged tosell three of her five cattle at an under value , in order tosupport herself , her crop being destroyed from the wantof her barn : As also , the greater part of the houses

,

barns , kilns , mills , and other buildings in the whole distriet of country above mentioned , was , time aforesaid ,maliciously set on fire , burnt , pulled down , and demoli shed, by you , the said Patrick Sellar , or by yourassistance or by your orders , whereby the inhabitantsand lawful occupiers thereof were turned out, withoutcover or shelter and the greater part of their differentcrops was lost and destroyed from want of the usual andnecessary accommodation

,

for securing and manufacturingthe same and especially the lawful oc cupiers of thebarns , kilns , mills , and other buildings particularlyabove mentioned , to have been set on fire and destroyedas aforesaid , did sustain great loss in their crops , frombeing thus deprived of the means of securing and manufacturing the same . And further , you , the said PatrickSellar , did , time aforesaid , culpably kill Donald M

‘

Beath,

father to Hugh M ‘

Beath,then tenant in Rhimsdale

aforesaid , by unroofing and pulling down , or causing tobe unroofed and pulled down , the whole house in Rhims

dale aforesaid , where the said Donald M‘

Beath was thenlying on hi s sick bed , saving only a small space of roof ,to the extent of five or six yards , whereby the said DonaldM

‘

Beath was exposed , in a cold and comfortless situation ,without cover or shelter , to the weather and he , the saidDonald M ‘

Beath, in consequence of being so exposed ,never spoke a word more

,but languished and died about

eight dayslthereafter, and was thereby culpably killed


dwelling-

,place the said Margaret Mackay, by setting onfire , burning , and demolishi ng , or causing and procuringto be set on fire , burnt , and demolished , the said house andother buildings , in manner above mentioned , to her greatdistress , and the imminent danger of her life . And farther, all the persons whose houses , barns , kilns , mills ,and other buildings , were burnt and destroyed , or causedand procured to be burnt and destroyed by you , the sai dPatrick Sellar , all as above described , did sustain greatloss in their moss wood , and other timber , whi ch wasbroken and demolished , and destroyed by fire and otherwise , at the same time , and in the same manner, with thebuildings as aforesaid and also in their furni ture andother effects , all their lawful property , or in their lawfulpossession at the time And , in particular , the saidBarbara M ‘

Kay in R avigill, aforesaid , lost her door anddoor- posts , and timber of her house and barn , her mealchest , and several articles of furniture , all her property ,or in her lawful possession

,whi ch were then and there

destroyed , or caused to be destroyed , by you , the saidPatrick Sellar , as aforesaid and the greatest part of thefurniture, and timber belonging to the said WilliamChi sholm , together with three pounds in bank notes , anda ridge of growing corn , all the property, or in the lawfulpossession of the said William Chi sholm , in Badinloskin,

aforesaid , were then and there destroyed by fire , andotherwise , by you, the said Patrick Sellar . And you , thesaid Patrick Sellar

,having been apprehended and taken

before Mr . Robert Mackid, Sheriff—Substitute of Sutherland , di d, in his presence , at Dornoch , on the 3 1 5t day ofMay , 1 81 5, emit and subscribe a declaration whi chdeclaration , together with a paper entitled Noticegiven to the Strathnaver tenants , 1 5 Dec .

, beingto be used in evidence against you , at your trial , will belodged in due time in the hands of the Clerk of the CircuitCourt of Justiciary

,before which you are to be tried , that

you may have an Opportunity of seeing the same : atleast , time and places above -mentioned , the said heathand pasture

,was wickedly and maliciously set on fire

and burnt , or caused and procured to be set on fire and

TRIAL OF PATRICK . SELLAR . 1 2 1

burnt , to the great injury and distress of the said tenantsand others and the said persons were violently turned ,or caused and procured to be turned , out of their habitations , and deprived of all cover and shelter , to their greatdistress , and the imminent danger of their lives and thesaid Donald M ‘

Beath and Margaret M ‘

Kay were culpablykilled in manner above mentioned , or were cruelly turnedout of their habitations as aforesaid and the saiddwelling-houses , barns , kilns , mills, and other buildings ,lawfully inhabited and occupied by the said persons , weremaliciously set on fire , burnt , pulled down , and demoli shed, or were caused and procured to be set on fire ,burnt , pulled down , and demolished , and the inhabitantsand lawful occupiers thereof turned out as aforesaidand the greater part of their different crops was lost ordestroyed , from want of the usual and necess ary aecommodation for securing and manufacturing the sameand the growing corn

,timber , furniture , money , and other

effects, the property , - or in the lawful possession , of thesaid persons, were wantonly set on fire , burnt , and otherwise destroyed or caused and procured to be set on fire ,burnt , and otherwise destroyed And you , the saidPatrick Sellar , are guilty of the said crimes , or of oneor more of them , actor , or art and part . All which , orpart thereof , being found proven by the verdict of anassize , before the Lord Justice General, the Lord JusticeClerk , and Lords Commissioners of Justiciary , in a Circuit Court of Justiciary to be holden by them , or by anyone or more of their number , withi n the burgh of Inverness, in the month of April , in thi s present year , 1 81 6,you, the said Patrick Sellar , ought to be punished with thepains of law , to deter others from committing the likecrimes in all time coming .

H . HOME DRUMMOND , A .D .

Mr Sellar, havi ng pleaded N OT GUILTY, the followingdefences were read Fi rst, The panel objec ts to therelevancy of various parts of the libel . S econd, In sofar as the libel is relevant , the panel denies its truth the


whole of the charges are utterly false , in so much so , thatthe Prosecutor is not only unable to bring any suffi cientevidence in support of his own accusations , but the panelwill bring positive proof against them . The panel willprove , that the ejectments whi ch have given rise to thistrial , were done in due order of law , and , under the warrants of the proper Judge

,issued on regular process .

Farther , he will prove that great indulgence was shownto the tenants , even after they had resisted the regulardecrees of the Judge that nothi ng was done on his part ,or with hi s knowledge or approval , either cruel , oppres

sive or illegal . That he committed no acts of homicideand , on the whole, he will prove , that throughout everypart of this affair , he (the panel) has been the victim , notonly of the most unfounded local prejudices , but of longcontinued and active defamation , on the part of certainpersons , who have made it their business to traduce thewhole system of improvements introduced into the Sutherland estate , and to vilify the panel , by whom , they havebeen pleased to suppose , that these improvements havebeen partly conducted . He rejoices , however , in the firs topportunity , whi ch has now been afforded to him , ofmeeting these calumnies and prepossessions in a Court ofJustice , and relying , as he does , with implicit confidenceon the candour and dispassionate attention of a Britishjury, he has no doubt whatever of being able to establishhis complete innocence of all the charges now broughtagainst him .

Under protestati on to add and ei k.

J . GORDON .

H . COCKBURN .

PAT. ROBERTSON .

Mr . Robertson opened the case on the part of the panel .The object of addressing the court at this time was tostate such observations as occurred on the relevancy ofthe indictment , and to give a general View of the line ofdefence . On the former , he remarked , that various ob

jections did occur to the relevancy of the charges , par


destroyed by him , or by hi s orders ,— no unnecessaryviolence was used , nor any cruelty exercised , but everything was done in due order of law , and without oppression of any kind . The charges of culpable homicide werequite out of the question , and Mr . Sellar defied the PublicProsecutor to prove them . Upon the whole , it was notdoubted , that if truth and justice were to prevail overmalice and conspiracy , Mr . Sellar would obtain an honourable and triumphant acquittal .

The Advocate -Depute havi ng here stated that he didnot mean to insist on any charges , excepting those whi chwere specially and articulately mentioned in the indictment , Lord P itmilly said

It would be improper for me to enter at present intothe origin of the prosecution , or the nature of the defences .Neither shall I s ay anything of the publications whichhave been alluded to , except that they appear to be of themost contemptible nature , and the only prejudice whi chI can entertain is the other way that is , against thecause requiring such aid . I have no doubt as to therelevancy of the libel .

The jury was composed of the following gentlemenJames Fraser , of Belladrum .

William Fraser , of Culbockie .

William Mackintosh , of Balnaspeck .

Duncan Fraser , of Fingask .

Alexander Smith , merchant in Inverness .John Gillanders , of H ighfleld.

William Reid , of Muirtown.

William Mackenzie , of Strathgarve .

George Falconer Mackenzie , of Allangrange .

Robert Denham , tacksman of Dunglass .George Kay , residing at Tannachy .

Bailie Robert Joss , merchant in Elgin .

John Barclay , writer , Elgin .

John Collie , farmer at Alvas .

John Smith, tacksman of Greens .

TRIAL OF PATRICK SELLAR . 1 25

Evi dence for the prosecution and for the defencehaving been led at considerable length ,Mr . Drummond addressed the jury on the part of the

Crown . He stated that he gave up all the chargesexcept the one which regarded the ej ections fromthe barns , and that of real injury in the case ofthe old woman at Badinloskin. He certainly didnot think the evidence in this case last was suffi ci entto establish culpable homicide but he argued ,that the circumstances proved were suffi cient toauthorise the jury in findi ng a verdict of guilty to theextent of an injury , as she had been removed at the riskof her life , whi ch he maintained to be contrary to law .

As to the barns , he contended that the conduct of Mr .

Sellar was irregular and illegal , and consequently oppressive , the outgoing tenants be ing entitled , by the customof Sutherland , to retain them as long as the arableland .

Mr . Gordon addressed the jury on the part Of the panel ,and replied to the arguments used on behalf of the prosecution . He entered at great length into the history andobj ects of the prosecution the preconcerted plan onwhich certain persons had instigated the people of Strathnaver to complain at first , and to

‘

persist afterwards theviews they entertained of successfully opposing the im

provements of Sutherland , by affecting the noble personsto whom the property belonged , through the sides of Mr .

Sellar , as a convenient medium of succeeding the di sgraceful measures to whi ch these persons had resorted ,with a view to affect the channels of justice , theimpartiality of j urymen , and the purity of evidence . Heattacked the measures and conduct of Mr . Mackid in themost pointed terms exposed the characters of the evidence of Chisholm and others , and dwelt in the clearevidence of the total innocence of Mr . Sellar , and on thepoints of law which applied to the particular charges ascriminal charges , at considerable length , and wi th reference to various law authorities and finally , concludedby maintaining to the jury , that this was not merely thetrial of Mr . Sellar , but , in truth , a conflict between the law


of the land and a resistance to that law That the question at issue involved the future fate and progress of

agricultural,andeven moral improvements , in the county

of Sutherland that (though certainly not so intendedby the Public Prosecutor , whose conduct throughouthas been candid , correct , and liberal) , it was nevertheless ,in substance

,and in fact , a trial of strength between the

abettors of anarchy and misrule , and the magistracy, aswell as the laws of this country .

Lord P itmi lly ,after having stated the law as appli cable

to thi s case , summed up the evidence in a very clear andable manner . His lordship stated , that it was unnecessary for the jury to consider any of the charges , exceptingthe one in regard to the old woman at Badinloskin . As tothe first

,there could be no doubt of the practice in the

country,of retaining these barns till the crops would be

threshed out neither could it be doubted , that Mr . Sellarhad not left the whole of the barns for the use of the outgoing tenants , and in consequence of this , the tenantssuffered damage . But in point of law, as the Court ofSession had dec ided in a similar question , Mr . Sellar wasnot bound by any such practice , but was entitled to pro !

ceed in the ej ections . In regard to the injury charged tohave been done to Margaret M ‘

Kay , his Lordship directedthe attention of the jury to the evidence of Chi sholm .

Thi s witness , although contradicted in some particularsby his wife , was confirmed by John M

‘

Kay , whose testimony his Lordship also laid before them . On the otherhand

,he brought under their view , the evidence ofSuther

land,Fraser

,and Burns , and stated that it was the duty of

the Jury to balance betwixt these two sets of witnesses .His Lordship also said , that if the jury were at all at a losson thi s part of the case , they ought to take into viewhe character of the accused ; for this was always ofimportance in balancing contradictory testimony . Nowhere there was , in the first place , real evidence , from theconduct of Mr . Sellar , in regard to the sick , for thi s , inseveral instances , had been proved to be most humane .

And secondly, there were the letters of Sir George Abercromby

,Mr . Brodie , and Mr . Fenton , whi ch, althoughnot

I 2 8 HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

R OS S -SH IR E .

GLENCALVIE .

Great cruelties were perpetrated at Glencalvie, Rossshire , where the evicted had to retire into the parishchurchyard . There for more than a week they found theonly shelter obtainable in their native land . No one daredto succour them , under a threat of receiving similar treatment to those whose hard fate had driven them thusamong the tombs . Many of them , indeed , wished thattheir lot had landed them under the sod with their ancestors and friends , rather than be treated and driven out ofhouse and home in such a ruthless manner . A specialcommi ssioner sent down by the London Times describesthe circumstances as follows

ARDGAY, NEAR TAIN , ROSS- SH IRE ,

1 5th M ay, 1 845 .

Those who remember the misery and destitution towhich large masses of the population were thrown by thesystematic Clearances (as they are here called) carriedon in Sutherlandshire some 20 years ago , under the di rection and on the estate of the late Marchioness of Stafford—those who have not forgotten to what an extent theancient ties which bound clansmen to their chiefs werethen torn asunder- will regret to learn the heartlessscourge with all its sequences of misery, ofdestitution , andand of crime , i s again being resorted to in Ross - shire .

Amongst an imaginative people like the H ighlanders ,who

,poetic from dwelling amongst wild and romantic

scenery,shut out from the world and clinging to the

traditions of the past , it requires little , with fair treatment

,to make them almost idoli se their heritor . They

would spend the last drop of their blood in hi s service .

But this feeling of respectful attachment to the landowners

,which money cannot buy, i s fast passing away .

ROSS- SHIRE . 1 29

This change is not without cause and perhaps if thedark deeds of calculating feelosophy transactedthrough the instrumentality of factors in some of thes elonely glens ; if the almost inconceivable misery andhopeless destitution in 'whi ch, for the expected acquisitionof a few pounds

,hundreds of peaceable and generally

industrious and contented peasants are driven out fromthe means of self- support , to become wanderers andstarving beggars , and in which a brave and valuablepopulation i s destroyed— are exposed to the gaze of theworld , general indignation and disgust may effect whatmoral obligations and humani ty cannot . One of theseclearances is about to take place in the parish of Kincar

dine , from which I now write and throughout the wholedistrict it has created the strongest feeling ofindignation .

This parish is di vided into two districts each of greatextent one is called the parliamentary district ofCroick . The length of this district is about 20 miles ,with a breadth of from 1 0 to 1 5 miles . It extendsamongst the most remote and unfrequented parts ofthe country , consisting chi efly ofhills of heather and rock ,peopled only in a few straths and glens . Thi s districtwas formerly thickly peopled but one of those clearances many years ago nearly swept away the population ,and now the whole number of its inhabitants amounts ,I am told , to only 370 souls . These are divided into threes traths or glens , and live in a strath called Amatnatua ,

another strath called Greenyard , and in Glencalvie . Itis the inhabitants of Glencalv ie , in number 90 people ,whose turn it is now to be turned out of their homes , allat once , the aged and the helpless as well as the young andstrong nearly the whole of them without hope or pros

pect for the future . The proprietor of thi s glen is MajorCharles Robertson of K indeace , who is at present out

with his regiment in Australia and his factor or stewardwho acts for him in hi s absence i s Mr . James Gillanders ofH ighfield Cottage , near Dingwall . Glencalvi e is situatedabout 25 miles from Tain , eastward . Bleak rough hills ,whose surface are almost all rock and heather, closed in


on all sides , leaving in the valley a gentle declivity ofarable land of a very poor description , dotted over bycairns of stone and rock , not , at the utmost computation,of more than 1 5 to 2 0 acres in extent . For thi s piece ofindifferent land with a right of pasturage on the hi llsimpinging upon it — and on which , if i t were not a factthat sheep do live , you would not credit that they couldlive , so entirely does it seem void of vegetation, beyondthe brown heather , whilst its rocky nature makes itdangerous and impossible even for a sheep walk— thealmost increditable rent of £55 1 0s . has been paid . I amconvinced that for the same land no farmer in Englandwould give £1 5 at the utmost .Even respectable farmers here say they do not know

how the people raise the rent for it . Potatoes and barleywere grown in the valley , and some sheep and a fewblack cattle find provender amongst the heather .Eighteen families have each a cottage in the valley ;they have always paid their rent punctually , and theyhave contrived to support themselves in all ordinaryseasons . They have no poor on the poor roll, and theyhelp one another over the winter . I am told that not aninhabitant of this valley has been charged with anyoffence for years back . During the war it furnishedmany soldiers and an old pensioner , 82 years of age ,who has served in India , is now dying in one of thesecottages , where he was born . For the convenience of theproprietor , some ten years ago , four of the principaltenants became bound for the rest , to collect all the rentsand pay the whole in one sum.

The clearance of this valley, having attracted muchnotice , has been thoroughly enqui red into , and a kind ofdefence has been entered upon respecting it , which Iam told has been forwarded to the Lord Advocate .

Through the politeness of Mr . Mackenzie , writer , Tain , Ihave been favoured with a copy of it . The only explan

ation or defence of the clearance , that I can find in it , isthat shortly after Mr . Gillanders assumed the management of Major Robertson’s estate , he found that it became absolutely necessary to adopt a different system ,


were also to have liberty to carry away the timber of thei rhouses , which was really worthless , except for firewood .

On their part they agreed to leave peaceably , and not tolay down any crop . Beyond the excessive harshness ofremoving the people at all , it is but right to say that themode of proceeding in the removal hi therto has been temperate and considerate .

Two respectable farmers became bound for the peoplethat they would carry out their part of the agreement ,and the time of removal has since been extended to the25th of this month . In the defence got up for this proceeding it is stated that all have been provided for thi sis not only not the case , but seems to be intentionallydeceptive . In speaking of all , the four principal tenants

:

only are meant for , according to the factor , these wereall he had to do with but this is not the case even inregard to the four principal tenants . Two only , a fatherand son , have got a piece of black moor , near Tain , 2 5miles Off, without any house or shed on it , out of whi chthey hope to obtain subsistence . For this they are topay £1 rent for 7 acres the first year £2 for the secondyear and £3 for a continuation . Another Old man witha family has got a house and a small lot of land in Edderton , about 20 miles off. These three , the whole who haveobtained places where they may hope to make a living .

The old pensioner, if removing does not kill him , has obtained for himself and family, and for his son

’

s family , ahouse at a rent of £3 or £4,

some ten miles off, withoutany land or means of subsistence attached to it . Thi s oldsoldier has been offered 2 5 . a week by the factor to supporthim whi le he lived . He was one of the four principaltenants bound for the rent and he indignantly refusedto be kept as a pauper .A wi dow with four children , two imbecile , has obtained

two small apartments in a bothy or turf hut near BonarBridge , for which she is to pay £2 rent , wi thout any landor means of subsistence . Another , a man with a wife andfour children , has got an apartment at Bonar Bridge , at

£1 rent . He goes there quite destitute , without means ofliving . Six only of eighteen households , therefore , have

ROSS-SHIRE . 1 33

been able to obtain places in whi ch to put their headsand of these , three only have any means of subsistencebefore them . The rest are hopeless and helpless . Two orthree of the men told me they have been round to everyfactor and proprietor in the neighbourhood , and theycould obtain no place , and nothi ng to do , and they did notknow where to go to , or what to do to live .

And for what are all these people to be reduced fromcomfort to beggary For what is this virtuous and contented community to be scattered P I confess I can findno answer . It i s said that the factor would rather haveone tenant than many , as it saves him trouble But solong as the rent is punctually paid as thi s has been, it iscontrary to all experience to suppose that one large tenantwill pay more rent than many small ones , or that a sheepwalk can pay more rent than cultivated land .

Let me add that so far from the clearance at Glencalvie being a solitary instance in this neighbourhood , itis one ofmany . The tenants of Newmore, near Tain , whoI am told , amount to 1 6 families , are to be weeded out (asthey express it here) on the 25th, by the same Mr . Gillanders . The same factor manages the Strathcononestate , about 30 miles from N ewmore, from whi ch duringthe last four years , some hundreds of families have beenweeded . The Government Church of that district ,built eighteen years ago , to meet the necessities of thepopulation , is now almost unnecessary from the want ofpopulation . At Black Isle , near Dingwall , the sameagent is pursuing the same course , and so strong is thefeeling of the poor Highlanders at these outrageousproceedings , so far as they are concerned wholly nu

warranted from any cause whatever , that I am informedon the best authority , and by those who go amongstthem and hear what they s ay , that it is owing to the influence of religion alone that they refrain from breakingout into open and turbulent resistance of the law . I enclose you the defence oi thi s proceeding , with a list of thenames and numbers of each family in Glencalvie— in all

London Times of Tuesday,20th May, 1 845 .


THE EVICTION OF THE ROSSES .

In a Sermon for the Times , the Rev . Richard Hibbs ’

of the Episcopal Church , Edinburgh , referring to theseevictions

,says Take first , the awful proof how far in

Oppression men can go— men highly educated and largelygifted in every way— property , talents , all for the mostpart indeed , they are so - called noblemen . What , then ,are they doing in the Highland districts , according to thetestimony of a learned professor in thi s city ? Why ,

depopulating those districts in order to make room for

red deer . And how ? By buying Off the cottars , andgiving them money to emigrate ? Not at all , but bystarving them out by rendering them absolutely incapable of procuring subsistence for themselves andfamilies for they first take away from them their apportionments of poor lands , although they may have paidtheir rents and if that don’t suffi ce to eradicate fromtheir hearts that love of the soil on whi ch they have beenborn and bred— a love which the great Proprietor of allhas manifestly implanted in our nature— why , then , theseinhuman landlords , who are far more merciful to theirvery beasts , take away from these poor cottars the veryroofs above their defenceless heads , and expose them ,

worn down with age and destitute of everything , to theinclemencies of a northern sky and this , forsooth , because they must have plenty room for their dogs and deer .For plentiful i nstances of the most wanton barbaritiesunder this head we need only point to the Knoydartevictions . Here were perpetrated such enormities asmight well have caused the very sun to hide his face atnoon-day . Macleod , referring to thi s sermon , says :It has been intimated to me by an individual who

heard thi s discourse on the first occasion that the statements referring to the H ighland landlords have been controverted. I was well aware, long before the receipt ofthis intimation, that some defence had appeared andhere I can truly say, that none would have rejoiced morethan myself to find that a complete vindication had been

1 36 HIGHLAND CLEARANCE S .

of the heart-harrowing case is the shocking and barbarouscruelty that was practised on this occasion upon thefemale portion of the evicted clan . Mr . D . Ross , in aletter addressed to the Right Hon . the Lord Advocate,Edinburgh

,dated April 1 9, 1 854, thus writes in reference

to one of those clearances and evictions which had justthen taken place , under the authority of a certain Sheriffof the district , and by means of a body of policemen asexecutioners The feeling on thi s subj ect , not onlyin the district , but in Sutherlandshire and Ross - shire ,is , among the great maj ority of the pe0p1e , one of universal condemnation of the Sheriff

’

s reckless conduct ,and of indignation and disgust at the brutality of thepoli cemen . Such, indeed , was the sad havoc made on thefemales on the banks of the Carron , on the memorable3 1 5tMarch last , that pools of blood were on the groundthat the grass and earth were dyed red with it— that thedogs of the district came and licked up the blood andat last , such was the state of feeling of parties who wentfrom a distance to s ee the field , that a party (it is understood by order or instructions from headquarters) actuallyharrowed the ground during the night to hi de the bloodThe affair at Greenyard , on the morning of the 3 I st

March last , is not calculated to inspire much love ofcountry , or rouse the martial spirit of the already ill-usedHighlanders . The savage treatment of innocent femaleson that morning , by an enraged body of police , throwsthe Sinope butchery into the shade for the Ross - shireH aynaus have shown themselves more cruel and moreblood- thirsty than the Austrian women-floggers . Whatcould these poor men and women— with their woundsand scars , and broken bones , and disj ointed arms ,stretched on beds of sickness , or moving on crutches ,the result of the brutal treatment of them by the policeat Greenyard— have to dread from the invasion of Scotland by RussiaCommenting on this incredible atrocity , committed in

the middle of the nineteenth century, Donald Macleodsays truly that : It was s o horrifying and so brutaltha the did not wonder at the rev . gentleman

’

s delicacy

ROSS-SHIRE . 1 37

in Speaking of it , and directing his hearers to peruse Mr .Ross

’

s pamphlet for full information . Mr . Ross wentfrom Glasgow to Greenyard , all the way to investigate thecase upon the spot , and found that Mr . Taylor , a native ofSutherland , well educated in the evicting schemes andmurderous cruelty of that county , and Sheriff- substituteof Ross- shire , marched from Tain upon the morning of the3 I st March, at the head of a strong party of armed constables, with heavy bludgeons and fire- arms , conveyedin carts and other vehicles , allowing them as much ardentdrink as they chose to take before leaving and on theirmarch , so as to qualify them for the bloody work whichthey had to perform fit for any outrage , fully equipped ,and told by the Sheriff to show no mercy to any one whowould oppose them , and not allow themselves to becalled cowards , by allowing these mountaineers victoryover them . In this excited , half - drunken state , theycame in contact with the unfortunate women of Greenyard,

’

who were determined to prevent the Offi cers fromserving the summonses of removal upon them , and keeptheir holding of small farms where they and their forefathers lived and died for generations . But no time wasallowed for parley the Sheriff gave the order to clear theway, and , be it said to his everlasting disgrace , he struckthe first blow at a woman , the mother of a large family ,and large in the family way at the time , who tried to keephim back then a general slaughter commenced thewomen made noble resistance , until the bravest of themgot their arms broken then they gave way . This didnot allay the rage of the murderous brutes , they con

tinned clubbing at the protectless creatures until everyone of them was stretched on the field , weltering in theirblood , or with broken arms , ribs , and bruised limbs .In this woeful condition many of them were hand- cuffedtogether , others tied with coarse ropes , huddled into carts ,and carried prisoners to Tain . I have seen myself in theposses sion of Mr . Ross , Glasgow, patches or scalpsof the skin with the long hair adhering to them , which wasfound upon the field a few days after this inhuman aflray .

I did not see the women , but I was told that gashes were


found on the heads of two young female prisoners inTain j ail, whi ch exactly corresponded with the slices ofscalps which I have seen , so that Sutherland and Rossshire may boast of having had the Nana Sahib and hischiefs some few years before India , and that in the persons of some whose education , traini ng , and parentalexample should prepare their minds to perform and actdifferently . Mr . Donald Ross placed the whole affairbefore the Lord Advocate for Scotland , but no notice wastaken of it by that functionary, further than that themajesty of the law would need to be observed and at

tended to .

In thi s unfortunate country, the law of God and humanity may be violated and trampled under foot , but thelaw of wicked men whi ch sanctions murder , rapine , androbbery must be observed . From the s ame

‘

estate (theestate of Robertson of Kindeace, if I am not mistaken inthe date) in the year 1 843 the Whole inhabitants of Glencalvie were evicted in a similar manner , and so unpro

vided and unprepared were they for removal at such aninclement season of the year, that they had to shelterthemselves in a Church and a burying- ground . I haveseen myself ni neteen families within thi s gloomy andsolitary resting abode of the dead , they were there formonths . The London Times sent a commissioner directfrom London to investigate into thi s case , and he did hi sduty but like the Sutherland cases , it was hushed upin order to maintain the majesty of the law, and

‘

in orderto keep the right , the majesty of the people , and the lawsof God in the dark .

! In the year 1 81 9 or’

20, about the time when thedepopulation of Sutherlandshire was completed , and theannual conflagration of burning the houses ceased , andwhen there was not a glen or strath in the county to letto a sheep farmer , one of these insatiable monsters ofSutherlandshire sheep farmers fixed hi s eyes upon a glenin Ross shire

,inhabited by a brave , hardy race for time

immemorial . Summonses of removal were served uponthem at once . The people resisted— a military forcewas brought against them— the military and the women


from his testimony that the old state of things whichis so immediately on the eve of being broken up in thi slocali ty , lacked not a few of those sources of terror to theproprietary of the county , that are becoming so veryformidable to them in the newer states .”

The constitution of society in the Glens , says Mr .

Robertson , is remarkably simple . Four heads of familiesare bound for the whole rental . The number of soulswas about ni nety , sixteen cottages paid rent they supported a teacher for the education of their own childrenthey supported their own poor . ! The laird has neverlost a farthing of rent in bad years , such as 1 836 and 1 837,the people may have required the favour of a few weeks

’

delay , but they are not now a single farthing in arrearsthat is , when they are in receipt of summonses of removal .For a century , Mr . Robertson continues , speaking of

the Highlanders , their privileges have been lesseningthey dare not now hunt the deer , or shoot the grous e orthe blackcock they have no longer the range of the bi llsfor their cattle and their sheep they must not catch asalmon in the stream in earth , air , and water , the rightsof the laird are greater , and the rights of the people aresmaller, than they were in the days of their forefathers .The same writer eloquently concludes

The father of the laird of Kindeace bought Glencalvie . It was sold by a Ross two short centuries ago .

The swords of the Rosses of Glencalvie did their part inprotecting this little glen , as well as the broad lands ofP itcalvi e , from the ravages and the clutches of hostilesepts . These clansmen bled and died in the belief thatevery principle of honour and morals secured theirdescendants a right to subsisting on the soil . The chiefsand their children had the same charter of the sword .

Some Legislatures have made the right of the peoplesuperior to the right of the chi ef British law-makersmade the rights of the chi ef everything , and those of theirfollowers nothi ng . The ideas of the morality of propertyare in most men the creatures of their interests and sym

pathi es . Of thi s there cannot be a doubt , however ,the chiefs would not have had the land at all , could the

ROSS-SHIRE . 1 41

clansmen have foreseen the present state of the Highlands— their children in mournful groups going intoexile— the faggot of legal myrmidons in the thatch of thefeal cabin— the hearths of their homes and their lives thegreen sheep -walks of the stranger . Sad it i s , that it isseemingly the will of our constituencies that our laws shallprefer the few to the many . Most mournful wi ll it be ,should the clansmen of the Highlands have been clearedaway , ej ec ted , exiled , in deference to a political , a moral ,a social , and an economical mistake ,— a suggestion notof philosophy , but of mammon ,— a system in whi ch thedemon of sordidness assumed the shape of the angel ofcivi lization and of light .”

That the Eviction of the Rosses was of a harshcharacter is amply corroborated by the following account ,extracted from the Invernes s Conri er We mentionedlast week that considerable obstruction was anticipatedin the execution of the summonses of removal upon thetenants ofMajor Robertson of Kindeace , on his propertyof Greenyards , near Bonar Bridge . The offi ce turnedout to be of a very formidable character . At six o

’

clockon the morning of Friday last , Sheriff Taylor proceededfrom Tain , accompanied by several Sherifl

’

s ofli cers , anda police force of about thi rty more , partly belonging to theconstabulary force of Ross - shire , and partly to that ofInverness—shire ,— the latter under the charge of Mr .

Mackay , inspector , Fort William . On arrivi ng at Greenyards , which is nearly four miles from Bonar Bridge ,it was found that about three hundred persons , fullytwo - thirds of whom were women , had assembled fromthe county round about , all apparently prepared to resistthe execution of the law . The women stood in front ,armed with stones , and the men occupied the background ,all , or nearly all , furnished with sticks .The Sheriff attempted to reason with the crowd , and

to show them the necessity of yielding to the law buthis efforts were fruitless some of the women tried to layhold of him and to strike him, and after a painful effortto effect the obj ect in view by peaceable means— whichwas renewed in vain byMr. Cumming , the superintendent


of the Ross- shire police— the Sheriff was reluctantlyobliged to employ force . The force was led by Mr .

Cumming into the crowd , and , after a sharp resistance ,which happily lasted only a few minutes , the people weredispersed , and the Sheriffwas enabled to execute the summonses upon the four tenants . The women , as they borethe brunt of the battle , were the principal sufferers . Alarge number of them— fifteen or sixteen , we believe , wereseriously hurt , and of these several are under medicaltreatment one woman , we believe, still lies in a precarious condition . The policemen appear to have usedtheir batons with great force , but they escaped themselvesalmost unhurt . Several correspondents from the district ,who do not appear , however , to make sufli c ient allowance for the critical position of affairs , and the necessityof at once impressing so large a multitude with the seriousnature of the case , complain that the policemen used theirbatons with wanton cruelty . Others state that they notonly did their duty , but that less firmness might haveproved fatal to themselves . The instances of violenceare certainly , though very naturally , on the part of theattacking force ;

’ several batons were smashed in themelee a great number of men and women were seriouslyhurt , especially about the head and face , while not one ofthe policemen , so far as we can learn , suffered any injuryin consequence . As soon as themob was fairly dispersed ,the police made active pursuit , in the hope of catchingsome of the ringleaders . The men had , however , fled ,and the only persons apprehended were some women ,who had been active in the opposition , and who had beenwounded . They were conveyed to the prison at Tain

,

but liberated on bail next day , through the intercessionof a gallant friend , who became responsible for theirappearance .

A correspondent writes , continues the Conri er, tenyoung women were wounded in the back Of the skull andother parts of their bodies . The wounds onthese women show plainly the severe manner in whichthey were dealt with by the poli ce when they were retreating . It was currently reported last night that one


after, had to sell the last inch of their ancient inheritancein Lochalsh and Kintail . Shortly after these Glenelchaigevictions , about fifty families were banished in the sameway and by the same people from the district of Letterfearn . This property has also changed hands since , andis now in possess i on of Sir Alexander Matheson , BaronetOfLochalsh . Letter ofLochalsh was cleared by Sir HughInnes , almost as soon as he came into possession by purchase of that portion of the ancient heritage of Seaforthand Kintail. The property has since passed into thehands of the L illingstones .

COIGEACH .

The attempt to evi ct the Co igeach crofters must alsobe mentioned . Here the people made a stout resistance ,the women disarming about twenty policemen and sheriffofficers , burning the summonses in a heap , throwing theirbatons into the s ea , and ducking the representatives ofthe law in a neighbouring pool . The men formed thesecond line of defence , in case the women should receiveany ill - treatment . They

,however , never put a finger

on the ofli cers of law , all of whom returned home withoutserving a single summons or evicting a single crofter .The proceedings of her subordinates fortunately came tothe ears of the noble proprietrix , with the result that theCo igeach tenants are stillwhere they were , and are to - dayamong the most comfortable crofters in the north of Scotland .

STRATHCONON .

*

From 1 840 to 1 848 Strathconon was almost entirelycleared of its ancient inhabitants to make room for sheepand deer , as in other places ; and also for the purposes ofextensive forest plantations . The property was undertrustees when the harsh proceedings were commenced bythe factor , Mr . Rose, a notorious Dingwall solicitor .

By Alexander Mackenz i e .

ROSS -SHIRE . 1 45

He began by taking away , first , the extensive hill-pasture ,for generations held as club-farms by the townships , thusreducing the people from a position of comfort and independence and secondly , as we saw done elsewhere ,finally evicting them from the arable portion of the strath ,though they were not a single penny in arrear of rent .Coirre-Bhuic and Seard-Roy were first cleared , and given,

respectively , as sheep- farms to Mr . Brown , from Morayshire , and Coli n Munro , from Dingwall . Balfour,when he came of age , cleared Coire Feola an

r

dAchadhan- eas Carnach was similarly treated , whi le no fewerthan twentyseven families were evicted from GlenMeine alone . Baile- a -Mhuilinn and Baile-na-Creige werecleared in 1 844, no fewer than twenty- four families fromthese townshi ps removing to the neighbourhood of

Knock- farrel and Loch Us s ie , above Dingwall , wherethey were provided with holdings by the late John HayMackenzie of Cromartie , father of the pres ent Duchess ofSutherland , and where a few of themselves and manyof their descendants are now in fairly comfortable circumstances . A great many more found shelter on variousproperties in the Black Isle— some at D rynie Park ,Maol-Bui others at Kilcoy , Allangrange , Cromarty ,and the Aird .

It i s computed that from four to five hundred soulswere thus driven from Strathconon , and cast adrift on theworld , including a large number of persons quite helpless ,from old age , blindness , and other infirmities . The sceneswere much the same as we have described in connectionwith other places . There is , however , one apect of theharshness and cruelty practised on the Strathcononpeople , not applicable in many other cases , namely ,that in most instances where they settled down and re

claimed land , they were afterwards re- evicted , and thelands brought into cultivation by themselves , takenfrom them , without any compensation whatever , andgiven at enhanced rents to large farmers . This isspecially true of those who settled down in the BlackIsle , where they reclaimed a great deal of waste nowmaking some of the best farms in that district . Next after

K


Mr . Rose of Dingwall , the principal instrument in clearingStrathconon, was the late J ames Gillanders of H ighfi eld ,

already so well and unfavourably known to the reader inconnection with the evictions at Glencalvie and elsewhere .

It may be remarked that the Strathconon evictions areworthy of note for the forcible illustration they furni sh ofhow, by these arbitrary and unexpected removals , hardships and ruin have frequently been brought on famili esand communities who were at the time in contented andcomfortable circumstances . At one time , and previousto the earlier evictions

,perhaps no glen of its size in the

Highlands had a larger population than Strathconon.

The club farm system , once so common in the North ,

seems to have been peculiarly successful here . Hencea large proportion of the people were well to do , but whensuddenly called upon to give up their hill_ pasture, andafterwards their arable land , and in the absence of Othersuitable places to settle in , the means they had very soondisappeared , and the trials and difli culties of new conditions had to be encountered . As a rule , in most of theseHighland evictions , the evi cted were lost sight of , theyhaving either emigrated to foreign lands or becomeabsorbed in the ever—increasing unemployed populationof the large towns . In the case of Strathconon it wasdifferent , as has been already stated many of thefamilies evicted were allowed to settle on some of thewildest unreclaimed land in the Black Isle . Their subsequent history there , and the excellent agricultural condition into which they in after years brought their smallholdings , is a standing refutation of the charge so Oftenmade against the Highland people , that they are lazyand incapable of properly cultivating the land .

THE BLACK ISLE .

Respecting the estates of D rynie and Ki lcoy , a correspondent , who says , I well remember my excessive griefwhen my father had to leave the farm whi ch hi s forefathers had farmed for five generations ,

” writes

1 4s HIGHLAND CLEARANCES .

emi grants from the Lews arrived at Quebec late i n theautumn , accompanied by a Rev . Mr . Maclean , sent out tominister to their spiritual wants , but it appears that noprovision had been made for the more pressing demands ofa severe Canadian winter and were it not for the SaintAndrew

’

s Society of Montreal , every soul of them wouldhave been starved to death that winter in a strange land .

The necessities of the case , and how this patriotic Societysaved their countrymen from a horrid death will be seenon perusal of the following minutes , extracted from thebooks of the Society, during the writer

’

s recent tour inCanada A special meeting of the oflice-bearers wassummoned on the 20th September , 1 841 , to take intoconsideration an application made by Mr . Morris , President of the Emi gration Association of the di stri ct of St .Francis , for some pecuniary aid to a body of 2 29 destituteemigrants who had recently arrived from the Island of

Lewis (Scotland) , and who were then supported chi eflyby the contributions of the charitable inhabitants of thetown of Sherbrooke and its neighbourhood . Mr . Morris

’

letter intimated that unless other assistance was received ,

it would be impossible for these emigrants to outlive thewinter , as they were in a state of utter destitution , andthe inhabitants of the townshi p could not support so

large a number of persons from their own unaided re

sources . The meeting decided that the Constitutionof the Society prohibited them from applying its funds toan obj ect like the one presented— it di d not appear toauthorise the granting of relief from its funds except tocases of destitution in the city but as thi s case appearedof an urgent nature , and one particularly calling forassistance , Messrs . Hew Ramsay and Neil M

‘

Intosh wereappointed to collect subscriptions on behalf of the emigrants . Thi s committee acquitted itself with greatdiligence and success , having collected the handsomesum of £234 1 4s . 6d. , the whole of whi ch was , at differenttimes , remitted to Mr . Morris, and expended by himin this charity . Letters were received from Mr . Morris ,expressing the gratitude of the emigrants for this largeand timely aid , which was principally the means of

ROSS- SHIRE . 1 49

keeping them from starvation . The whole of theseemigrants are now in easy circumstances .Commenting on the conduct of those in power, who sent

out their poor tenantry totally unprovided for , is unnecessary . The idea of sending out a minister and nothing else , in such circumstances , makes one shudder tothink of the uses which are sometimes made of the clergy ,

and how, in such cases , the Gospel they are supposednot only to preach but to practise , i s only in manyinstances caricatured . The provisions sent by theSociety had to be forwarded to where these starvingemigrants were , a distance of 80 miles from Sherbrooke ,on sledges , through a trackless and dense forest . Thedescendants of these people now form a happy and prosperons community at L ingwick and Winslow .

LECKMELM .

MR . ALEXANDER MACKENZIE ON THE

LECKMELM EVICTIONS .

Thi s small property, in the Parish of L ochbroom,

changed hands in 1 879, Mr . A . C . Pirie , paper manufacturer , Aberdeen , having purchased it forfrom Colonel Davidson , now of Tulloch . No soonerdid it come into Mr . Pirie

’

s possession than a notice , dated2nd November , 1 879, in the following terms , was issuedto all the tenantsI am instructed by Mr . P i 1i e, proprietor of Leckmelm ,

to give you notice that the present arrangements by whichyou hold the cottage , byre , and other buildi ngs , togetherwith lands on that estate , will cease from and after theterm of Martinmas , 1 880 and further, I am instructedto intimate to you that at the said term of Martinmas ,1 880, Mr . Pirie purposes taking the whole arable andpasture lands , but that he is desirous ofmaking arrangements whereby you may continue tenant of the cottageupon terms and conditions yet to be settled upon . Ihave further to inform you that unless you and the other


tenants at once prevent your sheep and other stock fromgrazing or trespassing upon the enclosures and bi ll, andother lands now in the occupation or possession of thesaid Mr . Pirie , he will not , upon any conditions , permit

you to remain in the cottage you now occupy , after thesaid term of Martinmas , 1 880, but will clear all off theestate , and take down the cottages .This notice affected twenty- three families , numberingabove one hundred souls . Sixteen tenants paid betweenthem a rent of £96 1 os . —ranging from £3 to £1 2 each perannum . The stock allowed them was 72 head of cattle ,8 horses , and 320 sheep . The arable portion of Leckmelmwas about the best tilled and the most productive landin possession of any crofters in the parish . It could all beworked with the plough, now a very uncommon thing inthe H ighlands for almost invariably land of that classis inthe hands of the proprietors themselves , when notlet to sheep farmers or sportsmen . The intention of thenew proprietor was strictly carried out. At Martinmas ,1 880, he took every inch of land— arable and pas toralinto his own hands , and thus by one cruel stroke , reduceda comfortable tenantry from comparative affluence andindependence to the position of mere cottars and daylabourers , absolutely dependent for subsistence on hi s

own will and the likes or dislikes of his subordinates ,who may perhaps , for a short time , be in a position tosupply the remnant that will remain , in their altered c ircumstances , with such common labour as trenching ,draining , fencing , carrying stones , lime and mortar , forthe laird

’

s mansion-house and outhouses . With theexception of one, all the tenants who remained are stillpermitted to live in their old cottages , but they are notpermitted to keep a living thing about them— not even ahen . They are existing in a state of abj ect dependenceon .Mr . Pirie’s will and that of his servants and in aconstant state of terror that next they will even be turnedout of their cottages . As regards work and the necessat ies of life , they have been reduced to that of commonnavvies . In place of milk , butter , and cheese in fairabundance , they have now to be satisfied with sugar ,


a work in which the name of his prototype in Sutherland ,the Rev . Mr . Sage , shows to such advantage during theinfamous clearances in that county , already describedat length . At the urgent request ofmany friends of theHighland crofters , resident in Inverness , Mr . MacMillan

agreed to lay the case of hi s evicted parishioners beforethe public . E arly in December , 1 880,

he delivered anaddress in Inverness to one Of the largest and mostenthusiastic meetings whi ch has ever been held in thattown , and we cannot do better here than quote at cons iderable length from his instructive eloquent , and rousingappeal on that occas ion . Though his remarks do not seemto have influenced Mr. Pirie

’

s conduct , or to have benefited his unfortunate subj ects , the Inverness meeting wasthe real beginning in earnest of the subsequent movementthroughout the Highlands in favour of Land Reform ,

and the curtailment of landlord power over their unfortunate tenants . Mr . Pirie can thus claim to have doneour poorer countrymen no small amount of good , thoughprobably, qui te contrary to his intentions , by his crueland high-handed conduct in dealing with the ancienttenants of Leckmelm . He has set the heather on fire ,and it is likely to continue burning until such proceedingsas those for which he is responsible at Leckmelm will befinally made impossible in Scotland . Mr . MacMillan

after informing hi s audi ence that Mr . Pirie is now in afair way of reachi ng a notoriety whi ch he little dreamtof when he became owner of the Leckmelm estate ,

” proceeds to tell how the harsh proceedings were gone about ,and saysAs the public are aware , Mr . Pirie

’

s first step afterbecoming owner of the estate , was to inform the tenantry ,by the hands of Mr . Manners , C.E . , Inverness , that atMartinmas following they were to deliver their arableland and stock , consisting Of sheep and cattle , into hi shands , but that some of them , on conditions yet to berevealed , and on showing entire submission to the newregimeof things , and , withal , a good certificate of character from his factotum , William Gould , might remainin their cottages to act as serfs or slaves on hi s farm . On

ROSS -SHIRE . 1 53

this conditional promise they were to live in the best ofhope, for the future and all at the mercy of the absolutemaster of the situation

,with a summum fus at his back

to enable him to eflect all the purposes of his heart . Asa prologue to the drama whi ch was to follow , and to give asample of what they might expect in the sequel , two actswere presented , or properly speaking , one act in two parts .These were to prepare them for what was to come , reminding us of what we read somewhere in our youth ,of a husband who on marrying hi s fair spouse wished toteach her prompt obedience to all hi s commands , whatever their character . His first lesson in thi s directionwas one assuredly calculated to strike terror into hertender breast . It was the shooting on the spot of thehorse which drew hi s carriage or conveyance , on showingsome slight restiveness . The second lesson was of asimi lar nature we can easily imagine that hi s obj ect wasgained . Then , after coming home , he commanded hi sspouse to untie hi s boots and shoes , and take them off,and to engage in the most servile acts . Of course promptobedience was given to all these commands and his endwas gained . H is wife was obedient to him to the lastdegree . Of the wisdom and propriety of such a procedure in a husband towards his lawful wife , I shall nothere and now wait to enquire , but one thing is plain to usall there was a species of earthly and carnal wisdom init whi ch was entirely overshadowed by its cruelty .

N ow thi s illustrates exactlyhow Mr . Pirie acted towardsthe people of Leckmelm . To strike terror into theirhearts , first of all , two houses were pulled down , I mights ay about the ears of their respective occupants ,withoutany warni ng whatever , except a verbal one of the shortestkind . The first was a deaf pauper woman , about middlelife , living alone for years in a bothy of her own , altogether apart from the other houses , beside a purlingstream , where she had at all seasons pure water to drinkif her bread was at times somewhat scanty . After thi smost cruel eviction no provision was made for the helplesswoman , but she was allowed to get shelter elsewhere oranywhere , as best she could . If any of you ever go the


way of Leckmelm you can see a gamekeeper’

s house , thegentry of our land , close to the side of Iseabal Bheag

’

s

bothy , and a dog kennel quite in its neighbourhood , oras I said in one of my letters , adorning it . This then isact the first of thi s drama . Act second comes next .

Mrs . Campbell was a wi dow with two children afterthe decease of her husband she tried to support herselfand them by serving in gentlemen’s families as a servant .Whether she was all the time in Tulloch

’

s family I cannots ay , but , at all events , it was from that family she re

turned to Leckmelm , in failing health , and on gettingrather heavy for active service . Of course her father haddied since she had left , and the house in which he livedand died , and in whi ch in all likelihood he had rearedhis family , and in which he was born and bred , was nowtenantless . It was empty , the land attached to it beingin the hands of another person . HereWidow Campbellturned aside for a while until something else would inkind Providence turn up . But , behold , during hersoj ourn from her native township , another king arose ,who knew not Joseph , and the inexorable edict had goneforth to raze her habitation to the ground . Her housealso was pulled down about her ears . This woman hassince gone to America , the asylum of many an evictedfamily from hearth and home . Such tragedies as I havementioned roused some of us to

'

remonstrate with theactors engaged in them , and to the best of our abilityto expose their conduct , and , furthermore , we havebrought them to the bar of public judgment to pass theirverdict , which I hope before all is over , will be one ofcondemnation and condign punishment .”

Having referred at some length to the worst classes ofevictions throughout the Highlands in the past , andalready described in this work

,the reverend lecturer

proceededBut there is another way , a more gentle , politic , and

insinuating way at work which depopulates our countryquite as effectually as the wholesale clearances of whichwe have been speaking and against which we protest , andto which we must draw your attention for a little . There


ance , the work of depopulation is effected in a few years ,or in a generation at most , quite as effectually as by themore glaring and reprehensible method . This moresecret and insinuating way of depopulating our nativeland should be as stoutly resisted as the more open anddefiant one , the result it produces being the same .

Describing the character of the Highlanders , as shownby their conduct in our Highland regiments , and the impossibili ty of recruiting from them in future , if harshevictions are not stopped , the reverend gentlemen con

tinnedLet me give you words more eloquent than mine

on this point , which will show the infatuation of ourGovernment in allowing her bravest soldiers to be drivento foreign lands and to be crushed and oppressed by thetyrant

’

s rod . After having asked , What have thesepeople done against the State , when they were so remorselessly driven from their native shores , year by year inbatches of thousands What class have they wrongedthat they should suffer a penalty so dreadful thi swriter ! gives the answer They have done no wrong .

Yearly they have sent forth their thousands from theirglens to follow the battle flag of Britain wherever it flew .

It was a Highland rearlorn hope that followed the brokenwreck of Cumberland ’s army after the disastrous day atFontenoy , when more British soldiers lay dead upon thefield than fell at Waterloo itself . It was another Highland regiment that scaled the rock- face over the St .

Lawrence , and first formed a line in the Septemberdawn on the level sward of Abraham . It was a Highland line that broke the power of the Maharatta hordesand gave Welli ngton hi s maiden victory at Assaye .

Thi rty- four battali ons marched from these glens to fightin America , Germany , and India ere the 1 8th century hadrun its course and yet , while abroad over the earth ,Highlanders were the first in assault and the las t in re

treat , their lowly homes in far away glens were beingdragged down , and the wail of women and the cry of

Major W . S . Butler in M acM i llan’

s M aga z i ne for May, 1 878 .

ROSS - SHIRE . 1 57

children went out on the same breeze that bore too uponits wings the scent of heather, the freshness of gorseblossom , and the myriad sweets that made the lowly lifeof Scotland

’

s peasantry blest with health and happiness .These are crimes done in the dark hours of strife , andamid the blaze of man

’

s passions , that sometimes makethe blood run cold as we read them but they are not soterrible in their red-handed vengeance as the cold malignity of a civilized law, which permits a brave and noblerace to disappear by the operation of its legalised inj ustice . To convert the Highland glens into vast wastesuntenanted by human beings to drive forth to distantand inhospitable shores men whose forefathers had heldtheir own among these bi lls , despite Roman legion , Saxonarcher, or Norman chi valry , men whose sons died freelyfor E ngland

’

s honour through those wide domini onstheir bravery had won for her . Such was the work oflaws formed in a cruel mockery of name by the Commons of England . Thus it was , that about the year1 808 the stream of Highland soldiery , whi ch had beengradually ebbing , gave symptoms of running completelydry . Recruits for Highland regiments could not beobtained for the simple reason that the Highlands hadbeen depopulated . Six regiments which from the dateof their foundation had worn the ki lt and bonnet wereordered to, lay aside their distinctive uniform and henceforth became merged into the ordinary line corps . Fromthe mainland the work of destruction passed rapidly tothe isles . These remote resting- places of the Celt werequickly cleared , during the first ten years of the greatwar , Skye had given 4000 of its sons to the army . It hasbeen computed that 1 600 Skyemen stood in the rank s atWaterloo . Tod ay in Skye , far as the eye can reach ,nothing but a bare brown waste is to be seen , where stil lthe mounds and ruined gables rise over the melancholylandscapes , sole vestiges of a soldier race for ever passedaway .

’

In J anuary , 1 882 , news had reached Inverness thatMurdo Munro , one of the most comfortable tenants onthe Leckmelm property, had been turned out , with his


wife and young family , in the snow whereupon thewriter started to enquire into the facts , and spent a wholeday among the people . What he had seen proved to beas bad as any of the evictions of the past , except that itapplied in this instance only to one family . MurdoMunro was too independent for the local managers , andto some extent led the people in their opposition to Mr .Pirie

’

s proceedings : he was first persecuted and afterwards evicted in the most cruel fashi on . Other reasonswere afterwards given for the manner in which this poorman and hi s family were treated , but it has been shownconclusively , in a report published at the time , that thesereasons were an after- thought . * From this report weshall quote a few extractsSo long as the laws of the land permit men like Mr .

Pirie to drive from the soil , without compensation , themen who , by their labour and money , made their pro

perties what they are , it must be admitted that he isacting within his legal rights , however much we may de

plore the manner in which he has chosen to exercise them .

We have to deal more with the system whi ch allows himto act thus , than with the special reasons whi ch he considers sufficient to justify hi s proceedings and if hi s conduct in Leckmelm will , as I trust it may , hasten on achange in our land legislation , the hardships enduredby the luckless pe0p1e who had the misfortune to comeunder his unfeeling yoke and hi s ideas of moral right andwrong , will be more than counterbalanced by the benefitswhi ch will ultimately accrue to the people at large . Thisis why I , and I believe the public , take such an interestin thi s question of the evictions at Leckmelm .

I have made the most careful and complete inquirypossible among Mr. Pirie

’

s servants , the tenants , and thepeople of Ullapool . Mr . Pirie

’

s local manager , after Ihad informed him of my obj ect , and put him on his guardas to the use whi ch Imi ght make of his answers , informed* See pamphlet pub li shed at the time enti tled R eport on the

L eckmelm E vi cti ons,by A lexander M ackenz i e

,S cot. ,

E di tor of the!Celti c M agaz i ne, and Dean of Gui ld of

Invernes s .

1 60 H IGH L AND CLEARANCES .

The extract in the action of removal was signed onlyon the 24th of J anuary last in Dingwall . On the following day the charge is dated , and two days after , on the2 7th of J anuary , the eviction is complete . When I visitedthe scene on Friday morning , I found a substantially builtcottage, and a stable at the end of it , unroofed to withi nthree feet ofthe top on either side , and thewhole surroundings a perfect scene of desolation ;the thatch , and part ofthe furniture , including portions of brokenbedsteads , tubs ,basins , teapots , and various other articles , strewn outside .

The cross- beams , couples , and cabars were still there ,a portion of the latter brought from Mr . Pirie

’

s manager ,and paid for within the last three years . The Sheriffofli cers had placed a padlock on the door , but I mademy way to

'

the inside of the house through one of thewindows from which the frame and glass had been re

moved . I found that the house , before the partitionshad .been removed , consisted of two good- sized rooms anda closet , with fireplace and chimney in each gable , thecrook still hanging in one of them , the ofli cer havingapparently been unable to remove it after a considerableamount of wrenching . The kitchen window , containingeight panes of glass , was still whole , but the closet window , with four panes , had been smashed while the onein the ben end of the house had been removed . Thecottage , as crofters

’

houses go , must have been fairlycomfortable . Indeed , the cottages in Leckmelm are altogether superior to the usual run of crofters

’

houses on theWest Coast , and the tenants are allowed to have been themost comfortable in all respects in the parish , before theland was taken from them . They are certainly not thepoor , miserable creatures , badly housed , whi ch Mr .

Pirie and hi s friends led the public to believe withi n thelast two years .The barn in which the wife and infant had to remain

all night had the upper part of both gables blown out bythe recent storm , and the door was scarcely any protection from the weather . The potatoes , whi ch had beenthrown out in showers of snow , were still there , gatheredand a little earth put over them by the friendlyneighbours ,

ROSS - SHIRE . 1 61

The mother and children wept piteously during theeviction , and many of the neighbours , afraid to succouror shelter them , were visibly affected to tears and thewhole scene was such that , if Mr . Pirie could have seenit , I feel sure that he would never consent to be held responsible for another . His humanity would soon drivehi s stern ideas of legal right out ofhis head , and we wouldhear no more of evictions at Leckmelm .

”

Those of the tenants who are still at Leckmelm arepermitted to remain in their cottages as half -yearly tenants ou payment of 1 2 3 . per annum , but liable to be removed at anymoment that their absolute lord may takeit into his head to evict them or , what i s much moreprecarious , when they may give the slightest offence toany of hi s meanest subordinates .

LOCHCARRON .

BY ALEXANDER MACKENZIE .

The following account was written in April, 1 882 , aftera most careful enquiry on the spot — So much whitewashhas been di stributed in our Northern newspapers of lateby Local Correspondents ,

” in the interest of personalfriends who are responsible for the Lochcarron evi ctionsthe worst and most indefensible that have ever beenattempted even in the H ighlands— that we consider it aduty to state the actual facts . We are really sorry forthose more immediately concerned , but our friendlyfeeling for them otherwise cannot be allowed to comebetween us and our plain duty . A few days before thefamous Battle of the Braes , in the Isle of Skye , wereceived information that summonses of ejectmentwere served on Mackenzie and Maclean , Lochcarron .

The writer at once communicated wi th Mr . DugaldStuart , the proprietor , intimating to him the statementsreceived , and asking him if they were accurate , and ifMr . Stuart had anything to s ay in explanation of them .

Mr . Stuart immediately replied , admitting the accuracyof the statements generally , but maintaining that he had


good and valid reasons for c arryi ng out the evictions ,which he expressed himself anxious to explain to us on thefollowing day , while passing through Inverness on his

way South . Unfortunately , his letter reached us toolate , and we were unable to see him . The only reas onwhich he vouchsafed to give in hi s letter was to the following effect Was it at all likely that he , a Highlander , born and brought up in the Highlands , the sonof a H ighlander , and married to a H ighland lady , wouldbe guilty of evicting any of his tenants without goodcause We replied that , unfortunately, all thesereasons could be urged by most of those who had in thepast depopulated the country , but expressing a hope that ,in his case , the facts stated by him would prove sufficientto restrain him from carrying out his determination toevict parents admittedly innocent of their sons

’

proceedings , even if those proceedings were unjustifiable . Earlyin April , 1 882 , we proceeded to Lochcarron to makeenquiry on the spot , and the writer on his return fromSkye a few days later reported as follows to the Highland Land Law Reform AssociationOf all the cases of eviction whi ch have hitherto come

under my notice I never heard of any so utterly unjustifiable as those now

‘

in course of being carried out by Mr . D .

Stuart in Lochcarron . The circumstances whi ch ledup to these evictions are as follows — InMarch , 1 881 , twoyoung men , George Mackenzie and Donald Maclean ,masons , entered into a contract with Mr . Stuart

’

s groundofli cer for the erection of a sheep fank , and a disputeafterwards arose as to the payment for the work . Whenthe factor , Mr . Donald Macdonald , Tormore , was sometime afterwards collecting the rents in the district , thecontractors approached him and related their grievanceagainst the ground ofli cer, who , while the men were in theroom , came in and addressed them in libellous anddefamatory language , for which they have since obtainedsubstantial damages and expenses , in all amounting to

£2 2 1 3s . 8d. , in the Sheriff Court of the County . I have acertified copy of the whole proceedings in Court in mypossession , and , without going into the merits , what I


recover . It was most pitiable to see the aged and frailhuman wreck as I saw him that day , and to have heardhim talking of the cruelty and hard-heartedness of thosewho took advantage of the existing law to push him outof the home whi ch he has occupied so long , while he i salready on the brink of eternity . I quite agreed withhim , and I have no hesitation in saying that if Mr . Stuartand his ground offi cer only called to see the miserableold man , as I did , their hearts , however adamantine ,would melt , and they would at once declare to him thathe would be allowed to end his days , and die in peace ,under the roof whi ch for generations had shelteredhimself and his ancestors . The wife i s over 70 years ofage , and the frail Old couple have no one to succour thembut the son who has been the cause , by defending his owncharacter , of their present misfortunes . Whatever Mr .Stuart and his ground offi cer may do , or attempt to do ,the old man will not, and cannot be evicted until he iscarried to the churchyard and it would be far moregracious on their part to relent and allow the Old man todie in peace .

Mackenzie has paid rent for over 40 years , and hi sancestors have done s o for several generations beforehim . He is nearly sixty years of age , and is highlypopular among his neighbours , all of whom are intenselygrieved at Mr . Stuart

’

s cruel and hard-hearted conducttowards him and Maclean , and they still hope that hewill not proceed to extremities .The whole case is a lamentable abuse of the existing

law , and such as will do more to secure its abolition ,when the facts are fully known , than all the other cases ofeviction which have taken place in the Highlands duringthe present generation . There is no pretence that thecase is anything else than a gross and cruel piece of retaliation against the innocent parents for conduct on thepart of their sons which must have been very aggravatingto this proprietor and his ground offi cer ,

!

who appear tothi nk themselves fully justified in perpetuating such actsof grossest cruelty and injustice .

”

This report was slightly noticed at the time in the local

ROSS - SHIRE . 1 65

and Glasgow newspapers , and attention was thus directedto Mr . Stuart

’

s proceedings . His whole conduct ap

peared so cruelly tyrannical that most pe0p1e expectedhim to relent before the day of eviction arrived . But notso a sheri ff ofli cer and his assistants from Dingwallduly arrived , and proceeded to turn Mackenzie

’

s fum iture out of hi s house . People congregated from all partsof the district , some of them coming more than twentymiles . The sheriff ofli cer sent for the Lochcarron policemen to aid him , but , notwithstanding , the law whichadmitted of such unmitigated cruelty and oppression wasset at defiance the sheriff ofli cers were deforced , and thefurniture returned to the house by the sympathi singcrowd . What was to be done next The ProcuratorFiscal for the county was Mr . Stuart

’

s law agent in carrying out the evictions . How could he criminally prosecutefor deforcement in these circumstances The Crownauthorities found themselves in a dilemma , and throughthe tyranny of the proprietor on the one hand , and theinterference of the Procurator-Fiscal in civil businesswhi ch has ended in public disturbance and deforcementof the Sheriff

’

s offi cers , on the other , the Crown authoritiesfound themselves helpless to vindicate the law . This is apity for all right thinking people have almost as littlesympathy for law breakers , even when that law Is unjustand cruel , as they have for those cruel landlords who , likeMr . Stuart of Lochcarron , bring the law and hi s own orderinto disrepute by the oppressive application of it againstinnocent people . The proper remedy is to have the lawabo lished , not to break it and to bring this about suchconduct as that of Mr . Stuart and his ground ofli cer ismore potent than all the Land Leagues and R eform Assoc iations in the United Kingdom .

*

Mr .William Mackenzie of the Aberdeen Free P res s , whowas on the ground , writes , next morning , after the deforcement of the sheriff ofli cers

During the encounter the local police constable drewhis baton , but he was peremptorily ordered to lay it

Celti c M agaz i ne for July, 1 882 .


down , and he did so . The offi cers then gave up the contest and left the place about three in the morning .

Yesterday , before they left , and in course of the evening ,they were offered refreshments , but these they declined .

The people are this evening in possession as before .

When every article was restored to its place , the songand the dance were resumed , the native drink was freelyquaffed— for ‘ freedom an’ whisky gang thegither —thesteam was kept up throughout the greater part of yesterday , and Mackenzie

’

s mantelpiece to -day is adorned witha long tier Of empty bottles , standing there as monumentsof the eventful night of the 29th-

3oth May , 1 882 .

A chuirm sgaoilte chualas an ceOl

Ard—sholas an talla nan treun

While these things were going on in the quiet township of Slumbay , the Fiery Cross appears to have beendespatched over the neighbouring parishes and frmo

Kintail , Lochalsh , Applecross , and even Gairloch , theHighlanders began to gather yesterday with the view of

helping the Slumbay men , if occasion should arise . Fewof these reached Slumbay , but they were in small detachments in the neighbourhood ready at any moment tocome to the rescue on the appearance of any hostileforce . After all the trains had come and gone for theday , and as neither policemen nor Sheriff

’s officers hadappeared on the scene , these different groups retired totheir respective places of abode . The Slumbay men , too ,

resolved to suspend their festivities . A procession wasformed , and , being headed by the piper , they marchedtriumphantly through Slumbay and Jeantown ,

andescorted some of the strangers on their way to theirhomes , returning to Slumbay in course of the night .

”

As a contrast to Mr . Stuart’

s conduct we are glad torecord the noble action of Mr . C . J . Murray , M .P . for

Hastings , who has , fortunately for the oppressed tenantson the Lochcarron property , j ust purchas ed the estate .

He has made it a condition that Maclean and Makenz ieshall be allowed to remain and a further public scandalhas thus been avoided . This is a good beginning for the


Dunrobin di nner table , recently , when the dukes , earls ,lairds , and other aristocratic notables enj oyed the princelyhospitali ty of the Duke . We can imagine the mutualcongratulations of the Highland lairds as they pridedthemselves on being proprietors of the soil which gavebirth to the race of Highland heroes . Alas , for theblush that would cover their faces if they would allowthemselves to reflect that , in their names , and by theirauthority , and at their expense , the fathers , mothers ,brothers , wives , of the invincible 78th have beenremorselessly driven from their native soil and that , atthe very hour when Cawnpore was gallantly retaken ,and the ruffi an, Nana Sahib , was obliged to leave thebloody scene of hi s fiendish massacre , there were Highlanders , withi n a few miles of the princely Dunrobin ,driven from their homes and left to starve and to di e inthe open field . Alas , for the blush that would reprintits scarlet dye on their proud faces as they thought inone county alone , since Waterloo was fought , more than

of this same race of heroes of whom Cannings o proudly boasted , have been hunted out of theirnative homes and that where the pibroch and the bugleonce evoked the martial spirit of thousands of bravehearts , razed and burning cottages have formed the tragicscenes of eviction and desolation and the abodes of aloyal and a liberty- loving people are made sacred to therearing of sheep , and sanctified to the preservation of

game Yes we echo back the cry , Well done , braveHighlanders But to what purpose would it be carriedon the wings of the wind to the once happy straths andglens of Sutherland Who , what , would echo back our

acclaims of praise ? Perhaps a shepherd’s or a gillie’s

child , playing amid the unbroken wilds , and innocentof seeing a human face but that of its own parents , wouldhear it or the cry might startle a herd of timid deer, orfrighten a covey of partridges , or call forth a bleat from aherd of sheep but men would not, could not, hear it .We must go to the backwoods of Canada , to Detroit , toHamilton , to Woodstock , to Toronto , to Montreal wemust stand by the waters ofLake Huron or Lake Ontario,

ROSS -SHIRE . 1 69

where the cry Well done , brave Highlanders wouldcall up a thousand brawny fellows , and draw down a tearon a thousand manly cheeks . Or we must go to the barerocks that skirt the sea—coast of Sutherland , where theresiduary population were generously treated to barrensteeps and inhospitable shores , on which to keep up thebreed of heroes , and fight for the men who dared— daredto drive them from houses for which they fought , andfrom land which was purchased with the blood of theirfathers . But the cry , Well done , brave Highlanders ,would evoke no effective response from the race . Needthe reader wonder Wherefore should they fightTo what purpose did their fathers climb the Peninsularheights and gloriously write in blood the superiority ofBritain , when their sons were rewarded by extirpation , ortoleration to starve , in sight of fertile straths and glensdevoted to beasts These are words of truth and soberness . They are but repetitions in other forms of arguments , employed by -us for years and we shall continueto ring changes on them so long as our brave Highlandpeople are subjected to treatment to whi ch no otherrace would have submitted . We are no alarmists . Butwe tell Highland proprietors that were Britain sometwenty years hence to have the misfortune to be plungedinto such a crisis as the present , there will be few suchmen as

,the Highlanders of the 78th to fight her battles ,

and that the country will find when too late,if another

policy towards the Highlanders is not adopted , that sheepand deer , ptarmigan and grouse , can do but little to saveit in such a calamity .

THE REV . D R . JOHN KENNEDY ON THE

ROSS - SHIRE CLEARANCES .

*

Dr . John Kennedy, the highly , deservedly respected ,and eminent minister of Dingwall so long resident amongthe scenes whi ch he describes

,and so intimately ac

quainted with all classes of the people in hi s native

The Days of the Fathers m R os s -shi re,1 86 1

,pp 1 5 ,

1 6 .


county of Ross , informs us that it was at a time when theHighlanders became most distinguished as the mostpeaceable and virtuous peasantry in the world at theclimax of their spiritual prosperity, in Ross - shi rethat the cruel work of eviction began to lay waste thehill- sides and the plains of the N orth . Swayed by theexample of the godly among them , and away from theinfluences by whi ch less sequestered localities werecorrupted , the body of the pe0p1e in the Highlandsbecame distinguished as the most peaceable and virtuouspeasantry in Britain . It was just then that they beganto be driven off by ungodly oppressors , to clear theirnative soil for strangers , red deer , and sheep . With fewexceptions , the owners of the soil began to act as if theywere also owners of the people , and , disposed to regardthem as the vilest part of their estate , they treated themwithout respect to the requirements of righteousness orto the dictates of mercy . Without the inducement ofgain

,in the recklessness of cruelty , families by hundreds

were driven across the sea , or gathered , as the sweepingsof the hillsides , into wretched hamlets on the shore .

By wholesale evictions , wastes were formed for the reddeer , that the gentry of the nineteenth century mightindulge in the sports of the savages of three centuriesbefore . Of many happy households sheep walks werecleared for strangers , who , fattening ami dst the ruinedhomes of the banished , corrupted by their example thefew natives who remained . Meanwhile their rulers ,while deaf to the Highlanders

’

cry of oppression , werewasting their sinews and their blood on battle-fields , that ,but for their prowess and their bravery

,would have been

the scene of their country ’s defeat .”

[ N VE R N E S S -SH IR E .

GLENGARRY .


Glengarry was peopled down to the end of last centurywith a fine race of men . In 1 745 , s ix hundred stalwart


possessions , she was comparatively the worst ofthem all .The tenants of Knoydart, like all other Highlanders ,

had suffered severely during and after the potato faminein 1 846 and 1 847, and some of them got into arrear with ayear and some with two years’ rent , but they were fastclearing it off. Mrs . Macdonell and her factor determinedto evict every crofter on her property , to make room forsheep . In the spring of 1 853 , they were all served withsummonses of removal , accompanied by a message thatSir John Macneil, chairman of the Board of Supervision ,had agreed to convey them to Australia . Their feelingswere not considered worthy of the slightest consideration .

They were not even asked whether they would preferto follow their countrymen to America and Canada .

They were to be treated as if they were nothing betterthan Africans , and the laws of their country on a levelwith those which regulated South American slavery .

The people , however , had no alternative but to accept anyoffer made to them . They could not get an inch of landon any oftheneighbouring estates , and any onewho wouldgive them a night

’

s shelter was threatened with eviction .

It was afterwards found not conveni ent to transportthem to Australia , and it was then intimated to the poorcreatures , as if they were nothi ng but common slaves todisposed of at will, that they would be taken to NorthAmerica , and that a shi p would be at Isle Ornsay , in theIsle of Skye , in a few days , to receive them , and that theymust go on board . The S i llery soon arrived . Mrs .

Macdonell and her factor came all the way from Edinburgh to s ee the pe0p1e hounded across in boats , and puton board this ship whether they would or not . An eyewitnes s who described the proceeding at the time , in anow rare pamphlet , and whom we met a few years ago inNova Scotia , characterises the scene as heart - rending .

The wail of the poor women and children as they weretorn away from their homes would have melted a heart ofstone .

” Some few families , principally cottars , refusedto go , in spite of every influence brought to bear uponthem and the treatment they afterwards received was

INVE RN E SS -SHIPE . 1 73

cruel beyond belief . The houses , not only of those whowent , but of those who remained , were burnt and levelledto the ground . The Strath was dotted all over withblack spots , showing where yesterday stood the habitations ofmen . The scarred half-burned wood— c ouples ,rafters , cabars— were strewn about in every direction .

Stooks of corn and plots of unlifted potatoes could beseen on all sides , but man was gone . No voice could beheard . Those who refused to go aboard the S i llery werein hiding among the rocks and the caves, while theirfriends were packed off like so many African slaves tothe Cuban market .N o mercy was shown to those who refused to emigratetheir few articles of furniture were thrown out of theirhouses after them— beds , chairs , tables , pots , stoneware ,clothi ng , in many cases , rolling down the hill . Whattook years to erect and collect were destroyed and scattered in a few minutes From house to house , fromhut to hut , and from barn to barn , the factor and hismenials proceeded , carrying on the work of demolition ,until there was scarcely a human habitation left standingin the district . Able-bodied men who , if the matterwould rest with amere trial of physical force , would havebound the factor and his party hand and foot , and sentthem out of the district , stood aside as dumb spectators .Women wrung their hands and cried aloud , chi ldren ranto and fro dreadfully frightened and while all this workof demolition and destruction was going on no Oppositionwas offered by the inhabitants , no hand was lifted , nostone cast , no angry word was spoken . The few hutsleft undemolished were occupied by the paupers , butbefore the factor left for the south even they were warnednot to give any shelter to the evicted , or their huts wouldassuredly meet with the same fate . Eleven families ,numbering in all over sixty persons , mostly old anddecrepit men and women , and helpless children , wereexposed that night , and many of them long afterwards ,to the cold air , without shelter of any description beyondwhat little they were able to save out of the wreck oftheir burnt dwellings .


We feel unwilling to infli ct pai n on the reader by therecitation of the untold cruelties perpetrated on the poorHighlanders of Knoydart, but doing so may , perhaps ,serve a good purpose . It may convince the evil -doerthat hi s work shall not be forgotten , and any who may bedisposed to follow the example of past evictors may hesitate before they proceed to immortalise themselves insuch a hateful manner . We shall , therefore , quote afew cases from the pamphlet already referred toJohn Macdugald, aged about 50, with a wife and

family, was a cottar , and earned his subsistence chiefly byfishing . He was i n bad health , and had two ofhis sons inthe hospital , at Elgin , ill of smallpox , when the S i llerywas sent to convey the Knoydart people to Canada . Herefused to go on that occasion owing to the state of hi shealth , and hi s boys being at a distance under medicaltreatment . The factor and the officers , however , arrived ,turned Macdugald and his family adrift , put their bits offurniture out on the field , and in a few minutes levelledtheir house to the ground . The whole family had now noshelter but the broad canopy of heaven . The motherand the youngest of the children could not sleep owing tothe cold , and the father , on account of his sickness , keptwandering about all night near where his helpless familylay down to repose . After the factor and the officers leftthe district Macdugald and hi s wife went back to theruins of their house , collected some of the stones and turfinto something like walls , threw a few cabars across ,covered them over with blankets , old sails , and turf ,and then , with their children , crept underneath , trustingthat they would be allowed , at leas t for a time , to takeshelter under this temporary covering . But , alasthey were doomed to bitter disappointment . A weekhad not elapsed when the local manager , accompaniedby a pos se of offi cers and menials , traversed the countryand levelled to the ground every hut or shelter erected bythe evicted peasantry . Macdugald was at this timeaway from Knoydart his wife was at Inverie , distantabout six miles , seeing a sick relative the oldest children were working at the shore and in the hut , when the


and spread its light on the path and surrounding district .

A sharp frost set in , and ice began to form on the littlepools . Passing near a rock and some bushes , where thechildren of the tenants used to meet when herding thecattle , she felt as if something beckoned her to searchthere this she did , and found her two little chi ldrenfast asleep , beside a favourite bush , the youngest with herhead resting on the breast of the eldest ! Their own

version of their mishap is thi s that when they saw theofli cers they crept out and ran in the direction of

Inverie to tell their mother that they missed the footpath , then wandered about crying , and finally returned ,they knew not how , to their favourite herding ground , andbeing completely exhausted , fell asleep . The mothertook the young one on her back , sent the other on beforeher , and soon j oined her other children near the ruins oftheir old dwelling . They put a few sticks up to an oldfence , placed a blanket over it , and slept on the bareground that ni ght . Macdugald soon returned from hi s

distant j ourney , found his family shelterless , and againset about erecting some refuge for them from the wreckof the old buildings . Again , however , the local managerappeared with levellers , turned them all adri ft , andin a few moments pulled down and destroyed all that hehad built up . Matters continued in this way for a weekor two until Macdugald

’

s health became serious , and thena neighbouring farmer gave him and his family temporaryshelter in an out-house and for thi s act of disinterestedhumanity he has already received some most improperand threatening letters from the managers on the estateofKnoydart . It is very likely that in consequence of thi sinterference Macdugald is again taking shelter among therocks or amid the wreck of hi s former residence .

John Mackinnon , a cottar , aged 44, with a wife and s ixchildren , had his house pulled down , and had no place toput his head in , consequently he and his family , for thefirst night or two , had to burrow among the rocks nearthe shore ! When he thought that the factor and hi sparty had left the district , he emerged from the rocks ,surveyed the ruins of his former dwelling , saw his fum i

INVERNESS - SHIRE . 1 77

ture and other effects exposed to the elements , and nowscarcely worth the lifting . The demolition was so com

plete that he considered it utterly impossible to make anyuse of the ruins of the old house . The ruins of an old

chapel , however , were near at hand , and parts of the wallswere still standing thi ther Mackinnon proceeded withhi s family , and having swept away some rubbish andremoved some grass and nettles , they placed a few cabars

up to one of the walls , spread some sails and blanketsacross , brought in some meadow hay, and laid it in acorner for a bed , stuck a piece of iron into the wall inanother corner , on which they placed a crook , thenkindled a fire , washed some potatoes , and put a pot onthe fire , and boiled them , and when these and a few fi shroasted on the embers were ready , Mackinnon and hisfamily had one good diet , being the first regular mealthey tasted since the destruction of their house!Mackinnon is a tall man , but poor and unhealthy

looking . His wife is a poor weak women , evidentlystruggling with a diseased constitution and dreadfultrials . The boys , Ronald and Archibald , were lying inbed — (may I call a

! pickle hay on the bare ground abed — suffering from rheumatism and cholic . Theother children are apparently healthy enough as yet , butvery ragged . There is no door to their wretched abode ,consequently every breeze and gust that blow have freeingress to the inmates . A savage from Terra- del-Fuego ,or a Red Indian from beyond the Rocky Mountains ,would not exchange huts with these victims , nor humanity with their persecutors . Mackinnon

’

s wife was

pregnant when she was turned out ofher house among therocks . In about four days after she had a prematurebirth and this and her exposure to the elements , and thewant of proper shelter and nutritious diet , h as broughton consumption from whi ch there is no chance whateverof her recovery .

There was somethi ng very solemn indeed in this scene .

Here , amid the ruins of the old sanctuary, where theswallows fluttered , where the ivy tried to screen the greymoss - covered stones , where nettles and grass grew up

M


luxuriously, where the floor was damp , the walls sombreand uni nviting , where there were no doors nor windows ,nor roof , and where the owl , the bat , and the fox used totake refuge , a Christian family was obliged to takeshelter ! One would thi nk that as Mackinnon took re

fuge amid the ruins of this most singular place , that hewould be let alone , that he would not any longer bemolested by man . But , alas that was not to be . Themanager of Knoydart and hi s minions appeared , and invaded this helpless family, even within the walls of thesanctuary . They pulled down the sticks and sails heset up within its ruins— put his wife and chi ldren out onthe cold shore— threw his tables , stools , chairs , etc . ,

over the walls -burnt up the hay on which they sleptput out the fire , and then left the district . Four timeshave these offi cers broken in upon poor Mackinnonin thi s way, destroying hi s place of shelter , and sent himand his family adrift on the cold coast of Knoydart.

When I looked in upon these creatures last week I foundthem in utter consternation , having just learned that theo

'

fli cers would appear next day , and would again destroythe huts . The children looked at me as if I had been awolf they crept behi nd their father , and staredwildly , dreading I was a law ofli cer . The sight was mostpainful . The very idea that , in Christian Scotland ,and in the nineteenth century , these tender infantsshould be subjected to such gross treatment reflectsstrongly upon our humanity and civilization . Hadthey been suffering from the ravages of famine , or pestilence , or war , I could understand it and account for it , butsuffering to gratify the ambition of some unfeelingspectator in brute beasts , I think it most unwarranted ,and deserving the emphatic condemnation of everyChristian man . Had Mackinnon been in arrears of rent ,whi ch he was not , even this would not justify the harsh ,cruel , and inhuman conduct pursued towards himselfand his family . No language of mine can describe thecondition of this poor family

,exaggeration is imposs ible .

The ruins of an old chapel is the last place in the worldto which a poor Highlander would resort with his wife


her outside , the work of destruction immedi ately commenced. Stools , chairs , tables , cupboard , spinningwheel , bed , blank ets , straw , dishes , pots , and chest ,were thrown out in the gutter . They broke down thepartitions , took down the crook from over the fireplace ,destroyed the hen roosts , and then beat the hens out

thi ough the broad vent in the roof of the house . Thi sdone , they set to work on the walls outside with picksand iron levers . They pulled down the thatch , cut thecouples , and in a few minutes the walls fell out , while theroof fell in with a dismal crashWhen the factor and hi s party were done with this

house , they proceeded to another district , pulling downand destroying dwelling- places as they went along . Theshades of night at last closed in , and here was the poorhelpless widow sitting like a pelican , alone and cheerless .Allan Macdonald , a cottar , whose house was also pulleddown , ran across the hill to see how the poor widow hadbeen treated , and found her moani ng beside the dyke .

He led her to where his own children had taken shelter ,treated her kindly , and did all he could to comfort herunder the circumstances .When I visited: Knoydart I found the poor widow at

work , repairing her shed , and such a shed , and such adwelling , I never before witnessed . The poor creatureSpoke remarkably well , and appeared to me to be a verysensible woman . I expressed my sympathy for her, andmy disapprobation of the conduct of those who so un

mercifully treated her . She said it was indeed mostungrateful on the part of the representatives of Glengarry to have treated her so cruelly— that her predeces sors were , from time immemorial , on the Glengarryestates— that many of them died in defence of , or fightingfor , the old Chieftains— and that they had always beentrue and faithful subjects . I asked why she refused to goto CanadaFor a very good reason , she said , I am now

old , and not able to clear a way in the forests ofCanada and , besides , I am unfit for service and , further, I am averse to leave my native country, and rather

INVERNESS-SHIRE . 1 81

than leave it , I would much prefer that my grave wasopened beside my dear daughter, although I should beburied aliveI do thi nk she was sincere in what she said .

Despair and anguish were marked in her counten

ance , and her attachment to her old habitation and itsassociations were so strong that I believe they can onlybe cut asunder by death ! I left her in thi s miserableshed which she occupied , and I question much if thereis another human residence like it in Europe . The wigwarn of the wild Indian , or the cave of the Greenlander ,are palaces in comparison with it and even the meanestdog -kennel in England would be a thousand times morepreferable as a place of residence . If thi s poor Highlandwoman will stand it out all winter in this abode it will beindeed a great wonder . The factor has issued an nkase,which aggravates all these cases of evi ction with peculiarhardship he has warned all and sundry on the Knoydart estates from receiving or entertaining the evictedpeasantry into their houses under pain of removal .Allan Macdonald , aged 54,

a widower , with four chi ldren , was similarly treated . Our informant says ofhimWhen his late Majesty George IV . visited Scotland in

1 823 , and when Highland lairds sent up to Edinburghspecimens of the bone and sinew— human produce— of

their properties , old Glengarry took care to give AllanMacdonald a polite invi tation to thi s Royal exhibition .

’

Alas how matters have so sadly changed . Within thelast 30 years man has fallen off dreadfully in the estimation ofHighland proprietors . Commercially speaking ,Allan Macdonald has now no value at all . Had he been aroe , a deer , a sheep , or a bullock , a Highland laird inspeculating could estimate his real worth to within afew shillings , but Allan is only a man . Then his childrenthey are of no value , nor taken into account in the calculations of the sportsman . They cannot be shot at likehares , blackcocks , or grouse , nor yet can they be sentsouth as game to feed the London market .Another case is that of Archi bald Macisaac , crofter ,aged 66 wife 54, with a family of ten children .


Archibald’

s house , byre , barn , and stable were levelledto the ground . The furniture of the house was

thrown down the hill , and a general destructionthen commenced . The roof , fixtures , and woodworkwere smashed to pieces , the walls razed to thevery foundation , and all that was left for poor Archibald to look upon was a black dismal wreck . Twelvehuman beings were thus deprived of their home in lessthan half- an-hour . It was grossly illegal to have desstroyed the barn , for , according even to the law of

Scotland , the outgoing or removing tenant is entitled tothe use of the barn until his crops are disposed of . But ,of course , in a remote district , and among simple andprimitive people like the inhabitants of Knoydart, thelaws that concern them and define their rights are unknown to them .

Archibald had now to make the best shift he could . N O’

mercy or favour could be expected from the factor .Having convened hi s children beside an Old fence wherehe s at looking on when the destruction of hi s home wasaccomplished , he addressed them on the peculiar nature ofthe position in which they were placed , and the necessityof asking for wisdom from above to guide them in anyfuture action . His wife and chi ldren wept , but the oldman said , Neither weeping nor reflection will now avail;we must prepare some shelter .” The children collectedsome cabars and turf , and in the hollow between twoditches , the old man constructed a rude shelter for thenight , and having kindled a fire and gathered in hi sfamily , they all engaged in family worshi p and sungpsalms as usual . Next morning they examined theruins , picked up some broken pieces of furniture , dishes ,etc .

, and then made another addition to their shelter inthe ditch . Matters went on thi s way for about a week ,when the local manager and hi s men came down uponthem , and after much abuse for daring to take shelterson the lands of Knoydart, they destroyed the shelter andput old Archy and his people again out on the hill .I found Archibald and his numerous family still

‘

atKnoydart and in a shelter beside the old ditch . Any


would become chargeable as a pauper , and , acting as aprudent man ,

”be resolved to get quit of him at once .

Three or four pounds would send the old man across theAtlantic , but if he remained in Knoydart, it would likelytake four or five pounds to keep him each year that helived . When the factor and his party arrived at Charles

’

sdoor, they knocked and demanded admission the factorintimated his object , and ordered the Old man to quit .As soon as I can,

” said Charles , and , taking up his plaidand stafl and adjusting his blue bonnet , he walked out,

merely remarking to the factor that the man who couldturn out an old, inoffensive Highlander of seventy , fromsuch a place , and at such a season , could do a great dealmore if the laws of the country permitted him. Charlestook to the rocks , and from that day to thi s he has nevergone near hi s old habitation . He has neither house norhome , but receives occasional supplies of food from hi s

evicted neighbours , and he sleeps on the hi ll ! Poor oldman , who would not pity him— who would not share withhim a crust or a covering— whoAlexander Macdonald , aged 40 years , with a wi fe and

family of four children , had his house pulled down . Hiswife was pregnant still the levellers thrust her out, andthen put the children out after her . The husband argued ,remonstrated , and protested , but it was all in vain forin a few minutes all he had for his (to him once comfortable) home was a lot of rubbish, blackened rafters , andheaps of stones . The levellers laughed at him and at hisprotests , and when their work was over , moved away ,leaving him to find refuge the best way he could . Alexander had , like the rest of hi s evicted brethren, to burrowamong the rocks and in caves until he put up a temporaryshelter amid the wreck of hi s old habitation , but fromwhi ch he was repeatedly driven away . For three daysAlexander Macdonald ’s wife lay sick beside a bush , where ,owing to terror and exposure to cold , she had a 111 15

carriage . She was then removed to the shelter of thewalls of her former house , and for three days she lay so

‘

ill

that her life was despaired of . These are facts as to whichI challenge contradiction . I have not inserted them

INVE RNEs S - SHIRE . 1 85

wi thout the most satisfactory evidence of theiraccuracy .

Catherine Mackinnon,aged about 50 years , unmarried

Peggy Mackinnon,aged about 48 years , unmarried ;aand

Catherine Macphee (a half- sister of the two Mackinnons ) ,also unmarried occupied one house . Catherine Mackinnon was for a long time sick, and she was confined tobed when the factor and hi s party came to beat down thehouse . At first they requested her to get up and walk out,but her sisters said she could not , as she was so unwell .They answered , Oh , she is scheming the sisters saidshe was not , that she had been ill for a considerabletime , and the sick woman herself , who then feebly spoke ,said she was quite unfit to be removed , but if God sparedher and bestowed upon her better health that she wouldremove of her own accord . This would not sufli ce

they forced her out of bed, s i ck as she was , and left!

her

bes ide a di tch from 1 0 a .m. to 5 when , afraid that shewould die , as she was seriously unwell , they removed herto a house and provided her wi th cordials and warmclothing . Let the reader imagine the sufferings of thispoor female , so ruthlessly torn from a bed of sickness andlaid down beside a cold ditch and there left exposed forseven long hours , and then say if such conduct does notloudly call for the condemnation of every lover of humanliberty and humanity . Peggy and her half- sister Mac

phee are still burrowing among the ruins of their old

home . When I left Knoydart last week there were nohope whatever of Catherine Mackinnon

’

s recovery .

I challenge the factor to contradi ct one sentence in thi sshort narrative of the poor females . The melancholytruth Of

'

lt is too palpable , too well-known in the districtto admit of even a tenable explanation . Nothing can

palli ate or excuse such gross inhumanity,and it is but

right and proper that British Christians should be madeaware of such unchristian conduct— such cruelty towardshelpless fellowcreatures in sickness and distress .

The last case , at present , is that ofDuncan Robertson , aged 35 years , with wife aged 32

years , and a family of three children . Very poor the


oldest boy is deformed and weak in mind and body . re

quiring almost the constant care of one of his parents .Robertson was warned out like the rest of the tenants ,and decree of removal was obtained against him. At thelevelli ng time the factor came up with hi s men beforeRobertson

’

s door, and ordered the inmates out . Robertson pleaded for mercy on account ofhi s sick andfimbecileboy , but the factor appeared at first inexorable at lasthe sent in one of the ofli cers to see the boy , who , on hi sreturn , said that the boy was really and truly an objectOf pity . The factor said he could not help it , that he mustpull down . Some pieces of furni ture were then thrownout, and the picks were fixed in the walls , when Robertson

’

s wife ran out and implored delay, asking the factor ,for heaven’s sake , to come in and see her sick child .

He replied , I am sure I am no doctor . I know that ,she said , but God might have given you Christianfeelings and bowels of compassion notwithstanding .

Bring him out here , said the factor and the poormother ran - to the bed and brought out her sick boy inher arms . When the factor saw him, he admitted thathe was an object of pity ,

but warned Robertson that hemust quit Knoydart as soon as possible , so that hi s housewould be pulled down about his ears . The levellers peepin once a week to see if the boy is getting better , so thatthe house may be razed .

We could give additional particulars of the crueltieswhi ch had to be endured by

’

the poor wretches who remained— cruelties whi ch would never be tolerated in anyother civili zed country than Britain , and whi ch in Britainwould secure instant and severe puni shment if inflictedon a dog or a pig , but the record would only inflict furtherpain , and we have said enough .

Retribution has overtaken the evictors , and is it awonder that the chicfs of Glengarry are now as li ttleknown , and own as little of their ancient domains in theHighlands as their devoted clansmen P There is nowscarcely one of the name of Macdonald in the wide districtonce inhabited by thousands . It i s a huge wilderness inwhich barely anything is met but wild animals and sheep ,


Strathglas s , also for Pictou whi le not a few went awaywith emigrants from other parts of the Highlands . During these three years we find that no less than 5390 weredriven out of these Highland glens , and it will be seenthat a very large portion of them were evicted fromStrathglas s by the daughter of the notorious M arsali

Bhinneach. From among the living cargo of one of thevessels which sailed from Fort William no less than fiftythree souls died , on the way out, of an epidemic and ,on the arrival of the living portion of the cargo at Pictou ,they were shut in on a narrow point of land , from whencethey were not allowed to communicate with any of theirfriends who had gone before them

,for fear of communi

cating the contagion . Here they suffered indescribablehardships .By a peculiar arrangement between the Chi sholm who

died in 1 793 , and his wife , a considerable portion of thepeople were saved for a time from the ruthless conduct ofM arsali Bhinneach

’

s daughter and her co - adjutors .

Alexander Chi sholm married Elizabeth , daughter of a Dr .

Wilson,in Edinburgh . He made provision for hi s wife in

case of her outliving him , by whi ch it was left optionalwith her to take a stated sum annually , or the rental ofcertain townships

,or club farms . Her husband died in

1 793 , when the estate reverted to hi s half-brother ,William , and the widow , on the advice of her only chi ld ,Mary , who , afterwards became Mrs . J ames Gooden of

London , made choice of the j oint farms , instead of thesum of money named in her marraige settlement andthough great efforts were made by M arsali Bhinneach

’

s

daughter and her friends , the wi dow ,Mrs . Alexander

Chisholm , kept the farms in her own hands , and tookgreat pleasure in seeing a prosperous tenantry in thesetownships , while all their neighbours were heartlesslydriven away . Not one of her tenants were disturbed or

interfered wi th in any way from the death ofher husband ,in February 1 793 , until her own death in January , 1 826,when , unfortunately for them , their farms all came intothe hands of the young heir (whose sickly father died in

and his cruel mother . For a few years the tenants

INVERNESS - SHIRE . 1 89

were left in possession , but only waiting an opportunityto make a complete clearance of the whole Strath . Somehad a few years of their leases to run on other parts of theproperty , and could not just then be expelled .

In 1 830 every man who held land on the property wasrequested to meet hi s chief at the local inn of Cannich .

They all obeyed , and were there at the appointed time ,but no chief came to meet them . The factor soon turnedup , however , and informed them that the laird haddetermined to enter into no negotiation or any new arrangements -with them that day . They were all in goodcircumstances , without any arrears of rent , but werepractically bani shed from their homes in the mostinconsiderate and cruel manner , and it afterwards became known that their farms had been secretly let tosheep farmers from the south , without the knowledge ofthe native population in possession .

Mr . Colin Chisholm , who was present at the meeting atCannich , writes leave you to imagine the bittergrief and disappointment ofmen who attended with glowing hopes in the morning , but had to tell their familiesand dependents in the eveni ng that they could see noalternative before them but the emigrant shi p , and choosebetween the scorchi ng prairies of Australia and the icyregions of North America . It did not , however , cometo that . The late Lord Lovat , hearing of the harshproceedings , proposed to one of the large sheep farmerson hi s neighbouring property to give up hi s farm , hi s lordship offering to give full value for hi s stock , so that hemi ght di vide it among those evicted from the Chi sholmestate . Thi s arrangement was amicably carried through ,and at the next Whitsunday— 1 83 1

— the evicted tenantsfrom Strathglass came into possession of the large sheepfarm of Glenstrathfarrar, and paid over to the late tenantof the farm every farthi ng of the value set upon the stockby two of the leadi ng valuators in the country a factwhich conclusively proved that the Strathglas s tenantswere quite capable ofholding their own , and perfectly ableto meet all claims that could be made upon them by theirold proprietor and unnatural chi ef . They became very


comfortable in thei r new homes but about fifteen yearsafter their eviction from Strathglass they were againremoved to make room for deer . On thi s occasion thelate Lord Lovat gave them similar holdings on otherportions of hi s property, and the sons and grandsons oftheevicted tenants of Strathglas s are now, on the Lovat property, among the most respectable and comfortablemiddle- class farmers in the county .

The result of the Strathglas s evictions was that onlytwo of the ancient native stock remained in possession ofan inch of land on the estate of Chi sholm . When thepresent Chisholm came into possession he found , on hi sreturn from Canada , only that small remnant of hi s ownname and clan to receive him. He brought back a fewChisholms from the Lovat property, and re- establishedon his old farm a tenant who had been evi cted nineteenyears before from the holding in whi ch hi s father andgrandfather died : The great- grandfather was killed atCulloden , having been shot while carrying his commander ,young Chi sholm , mortally wounded , from the field . Thegratitude of that chi ef

’

s successors had been shown by hi sruthles s eviction from the ancient home of hi s ancestorsbut it is gratifying to find the present chi ef making somereparation by bringing back and liberally supporting therepresentatives of such a devoted follower of hi s forbears . The present Chisholm , who has the character ofbeing a good landlord , is descended from a distant collateral branch of the family . The evicting Chi sholms ,and their offpsring have , however , every one of them ,

disappeared , and Mr . Colin Chisholm informs us that thereis not a human being now in Strathglas s of the descendants of the chief , or of the south country farmers , whowere the chi ef instruments in evicting the native population .

To give the reader an idea of the class of men whooccupied thi s di strict , it may be stated that of

‘ thedescendants of those who lived in Glen Canaich, one of

several smaller glens , at one time thi ckly populated in theStrath, but now a perfect wilderness— there lived in thepresent generation , no less than three colonels , onemajor,


room window, heard all that had passed , and , seeing theunexpected turn events were taki ng , and the desperateresolve shown by the objects of their cruel purpose , theyadopted the better part of valour , slipped quietly out bythe back door , mounted their horses , galloped away as

fast as their steeds could carry them , and crossed theriver Glass among the hooting and derision of the assembled tenantry , heard until they crossed the hill whi chseparates Strathglas s from Corriemony . The result ofthe interview with their laird was a complete understanding between him and his tenants and the flying horsemen

,looking behi nd them for the first time when they

reached the top of the Maol Bhui dhe , saw the assembledtenantry forming a procession in front of Comar House ,with pipers at their head , and the Chi sholm being carried ,mounted shoulder-high , by hi s stalwart vassals , on theirway to Invercannich . The pleasant outcome of thewhole was that chi ef and clan expressed renewed confidence in each other , a determination to continue in futurein the same happy relationshi p , and to maintain , each onhis part , all modern and ancient bonds of fealty everentered into by their respective ancestors .This

,in fact , turned out to be one of the happiest days

that ever dawned on the glen . The people were leftunmolested s o long as thi s Chisholm survived— a factwhi ch shows the wisdom of chief and people meeting faceto face

,and refusing to permit others— whether greedy

outsiders or selfish factors— to come and foment mischiefand misunderstanding between parties whose interestsare so closely bound together , and who , if they met anddiscussed their differences , would seldom or ever have anydi sagreements of a serious character . Worse counselprevailed after Alexander

’

s death , and the result underthe cruel daughter of the notorious M arsali Bhinneach,has been already described .

Reference has been made to the clearance of Glenstrathfarrar by the late Lord Lovat , but for the peopleremoved from there and other portions of the Lovat property

,he allotted lands in various other places on hi s

own estates , so that , although these changes were most

HIGHLAND CLEARANCES . 1 93

injurious to his tenants , hi s lordshi p’

s proceedings canhardly be called evictions in the ordinary sense of theterm . His predecessor , Archi bald Fraser of Lovat ,however , evicted , like the Chisholms , hundreds from theLovat estates .

GUISACHAN .

BY ALE! ANDER MACKENZIE .

The modern clearances whi ch took place withi n thelast quarter of a century in Gui sachan, Strathglas s , bySir Dudley Marjoribanks , have been described in all theirphases before a Commi ttee of the House of Commons in1 872 . The Inspector of Poor for the parish of Kiltarlitywrote a letter which was brought before the Committee ,with a statement from another source that ,

! in 1 855,there were 1 6 farmers on the estate the number of cowsthey had was 62 , and horses , 24 the principal farmer had2000 sheep , the next 1 000, and the rest between them1 200, giving a total of4200. Now ( 1 873) there is but onefarmer , and he leaves at Whi tsunday all these farmerslost the holdings on whi ch they ever lived in competencyindeed , it is well known that some of them were able tolay by some money . They have been sent to the fourquarters of the globe , or to vegetate in Sir Dudley

’

sdandy cottages at Tomi ch , made more for show than conveni ence , where they have to depend on his employmentor charity . To prove that all thi s is true , take at random , the smith, the shoemaker , or the tailor , and saywhether the poverty and starvation were then or nowFor instance , under the old regime, the smith farmed apiece of land whi ch supplied the wants of his familywith meal and potatoes he had two cows , a horse , and ascore or two of sheep on the hill he paid £7 of yearlyrent ; he now has nothing but the bare walls of hi s

cottage and smithy , for whi ch he pays £1 0. Of course hehad hi s trade than as he has now . Will he live more comfortably now than he did then It was stated , at thesame time , that , when Sir Dudley Marjoribanks bought


the property , there was a population of 255 souls upon it ,and Sir Dudley, in hi s examination , though he threwsome doubt upon that statement , was quite unable torefute it . The proprietor , on being asked , said that hedi d not evict any of the people . But Mr . Macombiehaving said , Then the tenants went away of their ownfree will, Sir Dudley replied , I must not s ay so quite .

I told them that when they had found other places to goto , I wished to have their farms .

”

They were , in point of fact , evicted as much as anyothers of the ancient tenantry in the Highlands , thoughit is but fair to say that the same harsh cruelty was notapplied in their case as in many of the others recordedin these pages . Those who had been allowed to remainin the new cottages , are without cow or sheep , or an inchof land , while those alive of those sent off are spread overthe wide world , like those sent , as already described ,from other places .

GLENELG .


In 1 849 more than 500 souls left Glenelg . Thesepetitioned the proprietor , Mr . Baillie of D ochfour , toprovide means of existence for them at home by meansof reclamation and improvements in the district , or , failing this , to help them to emigrate . Mr . Baillie , afterrepeated communications , made choice of the latteralternative

,and suggested that a local committee should

be appointed to procure and supply him with informationas to the number of families willing to emigrate , theirc ircumstances , and the amount of aid necessary to enablethem to do so . This was done , and it was intimatedto the proprietor that a sum of £3000 would be requiredto land those willing to emigrate at Quebec . Thi s sumincluded passage money , free rations , a month

’

s susteuance after the arrival of the party in Canada , and someclothing for the more destitute . Ultimately , the pro

prietor offered the sum of £2000, while the Highland

1 96 INVERNESS - SHIRE .

he says , these poor perfidi ously treated creatures if,notwithstanding all thei r hardshi ps , they were willingemigrants from their native land . With one voice theyassured me that nothi ng short of the impossibility ofobtaini ng land or employment at home could drive themto seek the doubtful benefits of a foreign shore . So farfrom the emigration being , at Glenelg , or Lochalsh , orSouth Uist , a spontaneous movement springing out of thewishes of the tenantry , I aver it to be , on the contrary ,the product of desperati on , the calamitous light of hopeless oppression visiting their s ad hearts . We have nohesitation in saying that thi s is not only true of those towhom Mr . Mulock specially refers , but to almost everysoul who have left the Highlands for the last sixty years .Only those who know the people intimately, and themeans adopted by factors , clergy , and others to producean appearance of spontaneity on the part of the helplesstenantry, can understand the extent to whi ch this statement is true . If a judicious system had been appliedof cultivating excellent land , capable of producing food inabundance , in Glenelg , there was not another property inthe Highlands on which it was less necessary to send thepeople away than in that beautiful and fertile valley .

GLE NDE SSE RAY AND LOCHARKAIG

Great numbers were evicted from the Cameron countryof Lochaber , especially from Glendes seray and Locharkaig side . Indeed it is said that there were so fewCamerons left in the district , that not a single tenant ofthe name attended the banquet given by the tenantrywhen the late Lochiel came into possession . Thedetails of Cameron evictions would be found pretty muchthe same as those in other places , except that an attempthas been made in this case to hold the factor entirelyand solely responsible for the removal of thi s noble people ,so renowned in the martialhi story of the country . That isa question , however , which it is no part of our presentpurpose to discuss . What we wish to expose is the unrighteous system which allowed such cruel proceedingsto take place here and elsewhere , by landlord or factor .

TH E H E BR ID E S .

BY ALEXANDER MACKENK IE .

The people of Skye and the Uist , where the Macdonaldsfor centuries ruled in the manner of princes over a loyaland devoted people , were treated not a whit better thanthose on the mainland , when their services were no longerrequired to fight the battles of the Lords of the Isles , or tosecure to them their possessions , their dignity , and power .Bha tatha ei le ann There was another day Whenpossessions were held by the sword , those who wieldedthem were hi ghly valued , and well cared for . Now thatsheep skins are found suffi cient , what could be moreappropriate in the opini on of some of ' the sheepish chi efsof modern times than to di splace the people who ancientlysecured and held the lands for real chi efs worthy of thename , and replace them by the animals that produced themodern sheep skins by whi ch they hold their landsespecially when these were found to be better titles thanthe old ones— the blood and sinew of their ancient vassals .Prior to 1 849, the manufacture of kelp in the Outer

H ebrides had been for many years a large source of incometo the proprietors of those islands , and a considerablerevenue to the inhabitants the lairds , in consequence ,for many years encouraged the people to remain , and it isalleged that they multiplied to a degree quite out of proportion to the means of subsistence withi n reach whenkelp manufacture failed . To make matters worse for thepoor tenants , the rents were meanwhile raised by the pro

prietors to more than double— not because the land wasconsidered worth more by itself , but because the possession of it enabled the poor tenants to earn a certain suma year from kelp made out of the sea-ware to whi ch theirholdings entitled them , and out of whi ch the proprietorpocketed a profit of from £3 to £4 per ton, in addi tion tothe enchanced rent obtained from the crofter for the

197


land . In these circumstances one would have thoughtthat some consideration would have been shown to thepeople , who , it may perhaps be admitted , were found inthe altered circumstances too numerous to obtain alivelihood in those islands but such consideration doesnot appear to have been given— indeed the very reverse .

NORTH UIST .

In 1 849 Lord Macdonald determined to evict between600 and 700 persons from Sollas , in North Uist , ofwhi chhe was then proprietor . They were at the time in a stateof great misery from the failure of the potato crop forseveral years previously in succession , many of themhaving had to work for ninety- s ix hours

(a week for apittance of two stones of Indian meal once a fortnight .Sometimes even that miserable dole was not forthcoming ,and families had to ‘live for weeks solely on shell-fi shpicked up on the sea - shore . Some

‘

of the men were employed on drainage works , for whi ch public money wasadvanced to the proprietors but here , as in most otherplaces throughout the Highlands , the money earned wasapplied by the factors to wipe Off old arrears , while thepeople were permitted generally to starve . His lordshi phaving decided that they must go , notices of ej ectmentwere served upon them , to take effect on the 1 5th ofMay,1 849. They asked for delay

,to enable them to dispose

of their cattle and other effects to the best advantage atthe summer markets , and offered to work meanwhi lemaking kelp , on terms which would prove remunerativeto the proprietors , if only , in the altered circumstances ,they might get their crofts on equitable terms— for theirvalue , as such— apart from the kelp manufacture , on

account of whi ch the rents had previously been raised .

Their petitions were ignored . N o answers were received ,whi le at the same time they were directed to sow as muchcorn and potatoes as they could during that spring , andfor whi ch , they were told , they would be fully compen

sated , whatever happened . They sold much of theireffects to procure seed , and continued to work and sow up

‘


simplest character— its greatest , and by far its mostvaluable part

,being three small children , dressed in noth

ing more than a single coat of coarse blanketing , whoplayed about her knee , whi le the poor woman , herselfhalf - clothed

,with her face bathed in tears , and holdi ng

an infant in her arms , assured the Sheriff that she and herchildren were totally destitute and without food of anykind . The Sheriff at once sent for the Inspector of Poor ,and ordered him to place the woman and her family onthe poor

’

s roll .”

The next house was occupied by very old and infirmpeople , whom the Sheriff positively refused to evict . Healso refused to eject eight other families where an irregularity was discovered by him in the notices served uponthem . The next family ejected led to the almost solitaryinstance hitherto in

‘

the history ofHighland evi ctions wherethe people made anythi ng like real resistance . Thi s manwas a crofter and weaver , having a wife and nine childrento provide for . At thi s stage a crowd of men and womengathered on an eminence a little distance from the house ,and gave the first indications of a hostile intention byraising shouts

, as the police advanced to help in the workof demolition , accompani ed by about a dozen men whocame to their assistance in unroofing the houses from theother end of the island . The crowd , exasperated at theconduct of their own neighbours , threw some stones atthe latter . The police were then drawn up in two lines .The furniture was thrown outside , the web was cut Of theloom , and the terrified woman rushed to the door with ainfant in her arms , exclaiming in a passionate and wailingvoice Tha mo chlann air a bhi

’ air a muirt (Mychildren are to be murdered) . The crowd became excited ,stones were thrown at the officers , their assistants weredriven from the roof of the house , and they had to retirebehi nd the police for shelter . Volleys of stones and othermissiles followed . The police charged in two divisions .There were some cuts and bruises on both sides . ! Thework of demolition was then allowed to go on withoutfurther opposition from the crowd .

Several heart - rending scenes followed , but we shall only

THE H E BRIDES . 201

give atdescription of the last whi ch took place on thatoccasion, and whi ch brought about a little delay in thecruel work . In one cas e it was found necessary to removethe women out of the house by force .

! One of themthrew hers elf upon the ground and fell into hysterics ,uttering the most doleful sounds , and barking and yellinglike a dog for about ten minutes . Another , with manytears , sobs , and groans put up a petition to the Sheriffthat they would leave the roof over part of her house ,where she had a loom with cloth in it , whi ch she wasweaving and a thi rd woman , the eldest of the family,made an attack with a stick on an offi cer , and , missi nghim, she sprang upon him , and knocked off hi s hat . S0

violently did thi s Old woman conduct herself that twostout policemen had great diffi culty in carrying her outside the door . The excitement was again getting so

strong that the factor , seeing the determination of thepeople , and finding that if he continued and took theircrops away from those who would not leave , even whentheir houses were pulled down about their ears , theywould have to be fed and maintai ned at the expense ofthe parish during the forthcoming winter , relaxed andagreed to allow them to occupy their houses until nextspring , if the heads of families undertook and signed anagreement to emigrate any time next year , from the I stof February to the end of June . Some agreed to thesecondi tions , but the majority declined and , in the c ircumstances , the people were permitted to go back to theirunroofed and ruined homes for a few months longer .Their cattle were , however , mostly taken possession of,and applied to the reduction of old arrears .”

Four of the men were afterwards charged with deforcingthe offi cers , and sentenced at Inverness Court ofJusticiary each to four months

’

imprisonment . The following year the di strict was completely and mercilesslycleared of all its remaining inhabitants , numbering 603souls .* A very full ac count of thes e proceedings , wri tten on the spot,

appeared at the time in the Invernes s Couri er, to which weare indebted for the above facts .


The Sollas evictions did not satisfy the evicting crazewhich hi s lordshi p afterwards so bitterly regretted . In1 851

-

53 , he , or rather his trustee , determined to evict thepeople from the villages of

BORERAIG AND SUISIN ISH , ISLE OF SKYE .

His lordship’s position in regard to the proceedi ngs wasmost unfortunate . Donald Ross, writing as an eyewitness of these evictions , says

! Some years ago Lord Macdonald incurred debtson hi s property to the extent of sterling ,and his lands being entailed , hi s creditors couldnot dispose of them , but they placed a trusteeover them in order to intercept certain portionsof the rent in payment of the debt . Lord Macdonald ,of course , continues to have an interest and a sur

veillance over the property in the matter of removals ,the letting of the fi shi ngs and shootings , and the generalimprovement of his estates . The trustee and the localfactor under him have no particular interest in the property , nor in the people thereon , beyond collecting theirquota of the rents for the creditors consequently theproperty is mismanaged

,and the crofter and cottar popu

lation are greatly neglected . The tenants of Sui s ini shand Boreraig were the descendants o f a long line ofpeasantry on the Macdonald estates , and were remarkablefor their patience , loyalty , and general good conduct .

”

The only plea made at the time for evicting them wasthat of over-population . Ten families received the usualsummonses , and passages were secured for them in theH ercules , an unfortunate ship whi ch sailed with a cargoof passengers under the auspices of a body calling itselfThe Highland and Island Emigration Society . Adeadly fever broke out among the passengers , the shi p wasdetained at Cork in consequence , and a large numberof the passengers died of the epidemic . After the sadfate of so many of those previously cleared out, in theill fated ship , it was generally thought that some compassion would be shown for those who had been still


a great quantity of food and clothi ng , describes severalof the cases . I can only find room here , however , forhis first .

Flora Robertson or Matheson , a widow , aged ninety- sixyears , then residi ng with her son, Alexander Matheson ,who had a small lot of land in Sui s inish . Her son was awidower , with four children and shortly before the timefor evicting the people arrived , hewent away to labourat harvest in the south , taking hi s oldest boy with him.

The grandmother and the other three children were left inthe house . When the evicting officers and factor arrived , the poor old woman was sitting on a couch outsidethe house . The day being fine , her grandchi ldren liftedher out of her bed and brought her to the door . She wasvery frail and it would have gladdened any heart tohave seen how the two youngest of her grandchildr enhelped her along how they seated her where there wasmost shelter and then , how they brought her some clothing and clad her , and endeavoured to make her comfortable . The gratitude Of the old woman was unboundedat these little acts of kindness and compassion and thepoor children , on the other hand , felt hi ghly pleased atfinding their services so well appreciated . The sun wasshi ning beautifully , the air was refreshing , the gentlebreeze wafted across the hills , and , mollified by passingover the waters of Loch Slapin , brought great relief andvigour to poor old Flora . Often with eyes di rected towards heaven , and with uplifted hands , did she invoke theblessings of the God of Jacob on the young children whowere ministering so faithft to her bodily wants .

Nothing could exceed the beauty of the scene . The seawas glittering wi th millions of little waves and globules ,and looked like a lake of si lver , gently agitated . Thehi lls , with the heather in full bloom , and with the wildflowers in their beauty , had assumed all the colours of therainbow

,and were most pleas ant to the eye to look

upon . The crops of corn in the neighbourhood werebeginning to get yellow for the harvest the smallpatches of potatoes were under flower , and promised wellthe sheep and cattle , as if tired of feeding , had lain down

THE HEBRIDES . 205

to rest on the face of the hills and the dogs , as if satisfiedtheir services were not required for a time , chose forthemselves pleasant

,well - sheltered spots and lay basking

at full length in the sun . Even the little boats on the loch ,though their sails were spread , made no progress , butlay at rest

,reflecting their own tiny shadows on the

bosom of the deep and still waters . The scene was mostenchanting ; and , although old Flora

’

3 eyes were gettingdim with age , she looked on the objects before her withgreat delight . Her grandchi ldren brought her a cup of

warm milk and some bread from a neighbour’

s house , andtried to feed her as if she had been a pet bird ; but theoldwoman could not take much , although she was greatlyinvigorated by the change of air . Nature seemed to takerepose . A white fleecy cloud now and then ascended ,but the sun soon dispelled it thin wreaths of cottagesmoke went up and along , but there was no wind to movethem

,and they floated on the air and , indeed , with the

exception of a stream whi ch passed near the house , andmade a continuous noise in its progress over rocks andstones , there was nothi ng above or around to disturb theeye or the ear for one moment . While the old womanwas thus enjoying the benefit of the fresh air , admiringthe beauty of the landscape , and just when the poor chi ldren had entered the house to prepare a frugal meal forthemselves , and their aged charge , a sudden barking ofdogs gave signal intimati on of the approach of strangers .The native i nquisitiveness of the young ones was immediately set on edge , and off they set across the fields ,and over fences , after the dogs . They soon returned ,however , with horror depicted in their countenances ;they had a fearful tale to unfold . The furni ture and othereffects of their nearest neighbours , just across the hill,they saw thrown out they heard the children screaming ,and they saw the factor

’

s men putting bars and locks onthe doors . Thi s was enough . The heart of the Oldwoman , so recentfy revived and invi gorated , was now liketo break withi n her . What was she to do What couldshe do Absolutely nothi ng The poor children , in theplenitude of their knowledge of the humanity of lords and


factors , thought that if they could"

only get their agedgrannie inside before the evi cting officers arrived , thatwould be safe ,— as no one , they thought , would interferewith an old creature of ninety- s ix , especially when herson was not there to take charge of her and , actingupon thi s supposition , they began to remove their grandmother into the house . The ofli cers , however , arrivedbefore they could get this accomplished and in place ofletting the old woman in , they threw out before the doorevery article that was inside the house , and then theyplaced large bars and padlocks on the door The grandchildren were horror- struck at this procedure— and nowonder . Here they were , shut out of house and home ,their father and elder brother several hundred milesaway from them , their mother dead , and their grandmother , now aged , frail , and unable to move , sitting before them , quite unfit to help herself , —and with no othershelter than the broad canopy of heaven . Here , then ,was a crisis , a predicament , that would have twisted thestrongest nerve and tried the stoutest heart and healthiest frame , -with nothi ng but helpless infancy and oldage and infirmities to meet it . We cannot comprehendthe feelings of the poor children on thi s occasion andcannot find language suffi ciently strong to expresscondemnation of those who rendered them houseless .Shall we call them savages That would be paying themtoo hi gh a compliment , for among savages conduct suchas theirs is unknown . But let us proceed . After thegrandchildren had cried until they were hoarse , and aftertheir little eyes had emptied themselves of the tearswhi ch anguish, sorrow , and terror had accumulated withinthem , and when they had exhausted their strength in thegeneral wail, along with the other children of the district ,as house after house was swept of its furniture , the inmates evicted , and the doors locked , — they returned totheir poor Old grandmother , and began to exchangesorrows and consolations with her . But what could thepoor children do The shades of evening were closingin , and the air , whi ch at mid- day was fresh and balmy ,was now cold and freezing . The neighbours were all


ground ofli cer to Lord Macdonald , and also acted as thechi ef officer in the evictions , at last appeared , and re

moved the old woman to another house not , however ,until he was threatened with a prosecution for neglect ofduty

,The grandchildren were also removed from the

sheep- cot , for they were ill Peggy and William wereseriously so , but Sandy , although ill, could walk a little .

The inspector for the poor gave the children , during theirillness , only 1 4 lbs . of meal and 3 lbs . of rice , as alimentfor three weeks , and nothing else . To the grandmotherhe allowed two shillings and sixpence per month , butmade no provision for fuel , lodgings , nutritious di et , orcordials— all of whi ch thi s old woman much required .

When I visited the house where Old Flora Mathesonand her grandchildren reside , I found her lying on amiserable pallet of straw , which, with a few rags of clothing , are on the bare floor . She is reduced to a skeleton ,and from her own statement to me , in presence of witnesses , coupled with other inquiries and examinations ,I have no hesitation in declaring that she was thenactually starving . She had no nourishment , no cordials ,nothing whatever in the way of food but a few wet potatoes and two or three shell-

(

fi sh. The picture she presented , as she lay on her wretched pallet of black ragsand brown straw, _

with her mutch as black as soot , andher long arms thrown across , with nothing on them butthe skin , was a most lamentable one— and one that reflects the deepest discredit on the parochi al authoritiesof Strath . There was no one to attend to the wants orinfirmities of this aged pauper but her grandchild , ayoung girl , ten years of age . Surely in a country boastingof its humanity , liberty , and Chr istiani ty , such conductshould not be any longer tolerated in dealing with theinfirm and helpless poor . The pittance of 2 s . 6d. a monthis but a mockery of the claims of this old woman it isinsulting to the commonsense and every- day experienceof pe0p1e of feeling , and it is a shameful evasion of thelaw . But for accidental charity , and that from a di stance , Widow Matheson would long ere this have perished of starvation .

THE HEBRIDES . 209

Three men were afterwards charged with deforcing theOffi cers of the law before the Court of Justiciary at Inverness . They were first

'

imprisoned at Portree , and afterwards marched on foot to Inverness , a distance of over ahundred miles , where they arrived two days before thedate of their trial . The factor and sheriffofli cers camein their conveyances , at the public expense , and livedright loyally , never dreaming but they would obtain avictory , and get the three men sent to the Peni tentiary ,to wear hoddy , break stones , or pick oakum for at leasttwelve months . The accused , through the influence ofcharitable friends , secured the services of Mr. Rennie ,solicitor , Inverness , who was able to show to the jurythe unfounded and farcical nature of the charges madeagainst them . His eloquent and able address to the juryin their behalf was irresistible , and we cannot betterexplain the nature of the proceedings than by quotingit in part from the report given of it , at the time , in theInvernes s Adverti ser .

Before proceeding to comment on the evidence inthi s case , he would call attention to its general features .It was one of a fearful series of ej ectments now beingcarried through in the Highlands ; and it really became amatter of serious reflection , how far the pound of fleshallowed by law was to be permitted to be extracted fromthe bodies of the Highlanders . Here were thirty- twofamilies , averaging four members each , or from 1 30 to

1 50 in all , driven out from their houses and happyhomes , and for what For a tenant who , he believed ,

was not yet found . But it was the will of Lord Mac

donald and of Messrs . Brown and Ballingal, that theyshould be ejected; and the civil law having failed them ,

the criminal law with all its terrors , is called in to overwhelm these unhappy people . But , thank God, it hascome before a jury— before you , who are sworn to return ,and will return , an impartial verdict and which verdictwill , I trust , be one that wi ll stamp outwi th ignominy thecruel actors in it . The Duke ofNewcastle had querulouslyasked , Could he not do as he liked with his own buta greater man had answered , that

‘ property had its0


duties as well as its rights ,’

and the concurrent opinionof an admiring age testified to this truth . Had the factorhere done his duty No He had driven the miserableinhabitants out to the barren heaths and wet mosses .He had come with the force of the civil power to dispossess them , and make way for sheep and cattle . Buthad he provided adequate refuge The evictions inKnoydart, whi ch had lately occupied the attention of thepress and all thinking men , were cruel enough but therea refuge was provided for a portion of the evicted , andships for their conveyance to a distant land . Wouldsuch a state ofmatters be tolerated in a country where asingle spark of Highland spirit existed ? N0 ! Theirverdict that day would proclaim , over the length andbreadth of the land , an indignant denial . Approachingthe present case more minutely , he would observe thatthe prosecutor , by deleting from this li bel the charge ofobstruction , which was passive , had cut away the groundfrom under hi s feet . The remaining charge of deforcement being active , pushing , shoving , or striking , wasess ential. But he would ask , What was the character ofthe village , and the household of Macinnes There weremutual remonstrances but was force used The onlythi ngs the ofli cer, Macdonald , seized were carried out . Aspade and creel were talked of as being taken from him,

but in this he was unsupported . The charge against thepanel , Macinnes , only applied to what took place insidehi s house . As to the other panels , John Macrae wasmerely present . He had a right to be there but hetouched neither man nor thi ng , and he at any rate mustbe acqui tted . Even with regard to Duncan Macrae , theevidence quoad him was contemptible . According toAllison , in order to constitute the crime of deforcement ,there must be such violence as to intimidate a person of

ordinary firmness of character . N ow, there was no vi olence here , they did not even speak aloud , they merelystood in the door that might be Obstruction , it wascertai nly not deforcement . Had Macdonald , who itappeared combined in hi s single person the triple ofli cesof sheriff- offi cer, ground-officer, and inspector of poor,


manity as were exhibited by Lord Macdonald and hisfactor on this and other occasions .

A CONTRAST .

Before leaving Skye , it will be interesting to s ee thedifference of opinion which existed among the chiefsregarding the eviction of the people at this period and acentury earlier . We have just seen what a Lord Macdon

ald has done in the present century , little more than thirtyyears ago . Let us compare his proceedings and feelingsto those of hi s ancestor , in 1 739, a century earlier . Inthat year a certain Norman Macleod managed to get someislanders to emigrate , and it was feared that Government would hold Sir Alexander Macdonald of Sleat responsible , as he was reported to have encouraged Macleod .

The baronet being from home , his wife , Lady Margaret ,wrote to Lo rd Justice-Clerk Mi lton on the 1 st of J anuary ,

1 740, pleading with him to use all his influence agai nst aprosecution of her husband , which, tho

’

it cannot bedangerouse to him, yett it cannot faill of being bothtroublesome and expensive . She begins her letter bystating that she was informed ! by di fferent handsfrom Edinburgh that there is a currant report of aship

’

s haveing gone from thiss country with a greatemany people designed for America , and that Sir Alexander is thought to have concurred in forceing thesepeople away . She then declares the charge against herhusband to be ! a falsehood ,

” but she is qui te ao

quainted with the danger of a report of that nature .

Instead of Sir Alexander being a party to the proceedingsof thi s Norman Macleod , with a number of fellows thathe had picked up execute hi s intentions ,

” he was both

angry and concern’

d to hear that some of hi s oune peopleWere taken in thi ss affair .

”

What a contrast between the sentiments hereexpressed and those whi ch carried out the modernevictions And yet it is well -known that , in otherrespects no more humane man ever lived than hewho was nominally responsible for the cruelties in Skye

THE HEBRIDES .

and at Sollas . He allowed himself to be imposed upon byothers

,and completely abdicated his hi gh functions as

landlord and chi ef of his people . We have the mostconclusive testimony and assurance from one who knewhis lordshi p intimately, that , to hi s dying day, he neverceased to regret what had been done in hi s name , and atthe time , with hi s tacit approval , in Skye and in North

SOUTH UIST AND BARRA .

Napoleon Bonaparte , at one time , took 500 prisonersand was unable to provide food for them . Let them go hewould not , though he saw that they would perish byfamine . H i s ideas of mercy suggested to him to havethem all shot . They were by hi s orders formed into asquare , and 2000 French muskets with ball cartridgewas simultaneously levelled at them , which soon put thedisarmed mass of human beings out of pain . DonaldMacleod refers to this painful act as followsAll the‘ Christian nations of Europe were horrified ,

every breast was full of indi gnation at the per

petrator of this horrible tragedy , and France weptbitterly for the manner in which the tender merciesof their wicked Emperor were exhibited . Ah ! butguilty Christians , you Protestant law-making Britain ,tremble when you look towards the great day of

retribution . Under the protection of your law ,

Colonel Gordon has consigned 1 500 men , women , andchildren , to a death a hundred- fold more agonising andhorrifying . With the sanction of your law he (ColonelGordon) and hi s predecessors , in imitation of his Gracethe Duke of Sutherland and his predecessors

,removed

the pe0p1e from the land created by God,suitable for

cultivation , and for the use of man , and put it underbrute animals and threw the people upon bye- corners ,precipices , and barren moors , there exacting exorbitantrack- rents , until the people were made penniless , so thatthey could neither leave the place nor better their condition in it . The potato -blight blasted their last hopes


of retaining life upon the unproductive patches— hencethey became clamourous for food . Their di stress wasmade known through the public press public meetingswere held , and it was managed by some known knavesto saddle the God of providence with the whole misery— a

j ob in whi ch many of God’

s professing and well - paidservants took a very active part . The generous publicresponded immense sums of money were placed in thehands of Government agents and other individuals , tosave the people from death by famine on British soil .Colonel Gordon and his worthy allies were silent con

tributors ,thoughterrified. Thegallantgentleman solicitedGovernment , through the Home Secretary , to purchasethe Island of Barra for a penal colony , but it would notsuit . Yet our humane Government sympathi sed with theColonel and his coadjutors

,and consulted the honour

able and brave MacN eil, the chief pauper gauger of Scotland , upon the most effective and speediest scheme torelieve the gallant Colonel and colleagues fromthis clamourand eye- sore , as well as to save their pockets from ablebodi ed paupers . The result was , that a liberal grantfrom the public money , which had been granted a twelvemonth before for the purpose of improving and cultivating the Highlands , was made to Highland proprietorsto assist them to drain the nation of its best blood , andto banish the H ighlanders across the Atlantic , there todi e by famine among strangers in the frozen regions ofCanada , far from British sympathy , and far from theresting- place of their brave ancestors , though the idea ofmingling with kindred dust , to the Highlanders , is a consolation at death , more than any other race of people Ihave known or read of under heaven .

Oh ! Christian people , Christian people , Christianfathers and mothers , who are living at ease , andnever experienced such treatment and concomitantsufferings you Christian rulers , Chr istian electors ,and representatives , permit not Christianity toblush and hide her face with shame beforeheathenism and idolatry any longer . I speakwith reverence when I say , permit not Mahomet Ali to


were told , was to give them money look at their despairing countenances when they come to learn that noagent in Canada is authorised to give them a pennyhear them praying the captain to bring them back thatthey might die among their native hills , that their ashesmight mingle with those of their forefathers hear thisrequest refused , and the poor helpless wanderers biddingadieu to the captain and crew , who showed them all thekindness they could , and to the vessel to whi ch theyformed something like an attachment during the voyagelook at them scantily clothed

,destitute of food , without

implements of husbandry,consigned to their fate , carry

ing their children on their backs , begging as they crawlalong in a strange land , unqualified to beg or buy theirfood for want of English , until the slow moving andmournful company reach Toronto and Hamilton , inUpper Canada , where , according to all accounts , theyspread themselves over their respective burying-places ,where famine and frost- bitten deaths were awaiting them .

Thi s is a painful picture , the English languagefails to supply me with words to describe it . I wishthe Spectrum would depart from me to those whocould describe it and tell the result . But how canColonel Gordon , the Duke of Sutherland , J ames Loch ,Lord Macdonald , and others of the unhallowed league andabettors , after looking at thi s sight , remain in Christiancommunion , ruling elders in Christian Churches , andpartake of the emblems of Christ

’

s body broken and shedblood But the great question is , Can we as a nationbe guiltless and allow so many of our fellow creatures tobe treated in such a manner , and not exert ourselvesto put a stop to it and punish the perpetrators ? IS

ambition , whi ch attempted to dethrone God, becomeomnipotent, or so powerful , when incarnated in the shapeof Highland dukes , lords , esquires , colonels , andknights , that we must needs submi t to its revoltingdeeds Are parchment rights of property so sacred thatthousands of human beings must be sacrificed year afteryear , till there is no end of such , to preserve them inviolate Are sheep walks , deer forests , hunting

!

parks,

THE HEBRIDES . 2 1 7

and game preserves , so beneficial to the nation that theHighlands must be converted into a hunting desert , andthe aborigines banished and murdered I know thatthousands will answer in the negative ; yet they will foldtheir arms in crimi nal apathy until the extirpation anddestruction of my race shall be completed . Fearful i sthe catalogue of those who have already become thevictim$ of the cursed clearing system in the Highlandsby famine , fire , drowning , banishment , vice , and crime .

‘

He then publishes the following communication froman eye -witness , on the enormities perpetrated in SouthUist

'

and in the Island of Barra in the summer of 1 851The unfeeling and deceitful conduct of those acting for

Colonel !Gordon cannot be too strongly censured . Theduplicity and art which was used by them in order toentrap the unwary natives , is worthy of the craft andcunning of an old slave - trader . Many of the poor peoplewere toldi n my hearing that Sir John M ‘

N ei lwould be inCanada before them , where he would have every necessaryprepared for them . Some of the ofli c ials Signed a document binding themselves to emigrate , in order to inducethe poor people to give their names but in spite of allthese stratagems , many of the people s aw through themand refused out and out to go . When the transportsanchored in Loch Boisdale these tyrants threw off theirmasks , and the work of devastation and cruelty commenced. The poor people were commanded to attend apublic meeting at Loch Boisdale , where the transportslay , and , according to the intimation , any one absentinghimself from the meeting was to be fined in the sum oftwo pounds sterling . At this meeting some of thenatives were seized and , in spite of their entreaties , senton board the transports . One stout Highlander , namedAngus Johnston , resisted with such pith that they had tohandcuff him before he could be mastered but in consequence of the priest

’

s interference hi s manacles wereremoved , and he was marched between four offi cers onboard the emigrant vessel . One morning , during thetransporting season , we were suddenly awakened by thescreams of a young female who had been re- captured in


an adj oining house , she having escaped after her firstcapture . We all rushed to the door , and s aw the brokenhearted creature , with di shevelled hair and swollen face ,dragged away by two constables and a ground Officer .Were you to see the racing and chasing of policemen ,constables , and ground officers , pursuing the outlawednatives , you would think , only for their colour , that youhad been , by some miracle , transported to the banks ofthe Gambia , on the slave coast of Africa .

! The conduct of the R ev . H . Beatson on that occasion isdeserving of the censure of every feeling heart . Thi swolf in sheeps

’

clothi ng made himself very Offi cious ,as he always does , when he has an opportunity ofopprsseing the poor Barra men , and of gaining the favour ofColonel Gordon . In fact , he is the most vigilant and as s iduous ofli cer Colonel Gordon has . He may be seen in CastleBay , the principal anchorage in Barra , whenever a sail ishoisted , directing his men , like a gamekeeper with hi shounds , in case any of the doomed Barra men shouldescape . He offered one day to board an Arran boat , thathad a poor man concealed , but the master , John Crawford ,lifted a hand- spike and threatened to split the Skull ofthe first man who would attempt to board hi s boat , andthus the poor Barra man escaped their clutches .I may state in conclusion that , two girls , daughters of

John Macdougall , brother of Barr Macdougall , whosename is mentioned in Sir John M ‘

N eil’

s report , have fledto the mountains to elude the grasp of the expatri ators ,where they sti ll are , if in life . Their father , a frail , Oldman , along with the rest of the family , has been sent toCanada . The respective ages of these girls are 1 2 and1 4 years . Others have fled in the same way , but Icannot give their names justWe Shall now take the reader after these people to

Canada , and witness their deplorable and helpless condition and privations in a strange land . The followingis extracted from a Quebec newspaperWe noticed in our last the deplorable condi tion of the

600 paupers who were sent to this country from the Kil*See Note B in Appendices .


in Barra , and some constables , to pursuewho had run away , among the mountainsdid , and succeeded in capturing about twenty from themountains and islands in the neighbourhood but onlycame with the ofli cers on an attempt being made tohandcuff them and that some who ran away were notbrought back , in consequence of whi ch four families atleast have been divided , some having come in the Shipsto Quebec , while the other members of the same familiesare left in the Highlands .

The undersigned further declare that those whovoluntarily embarked did so under promises to theeffect that Colonel Gordon would defray their passage toQuebec that the Government Emigration Agent therewould send the whole party free to Upper Canada , where ,on arrival , the Government agents would give them work ,and furthermore , grant them land on certain condi tions .

The undersigned finally declare , that they are nowlanded in Quebec so destitute , that if immediate relief benot afforded them , and continued until they are settled inemployment , the whole will be liable to perish with want .

’

(Signed) HE CTOR LAMONT,and 70 others .

This is a beautiful picture Had the scene been laidin Russia or Turkey , the barbarity of the proceedingwould have shocked the nerves of the reader but whenit happens in Britain

,emphatically the land of liberty ,

where every man’s house , even the hut of the poorest , issaid to be his castle , the expulsion of these unfortunatecreatures from their homes— the man-hunt with policemen and bai liffs— the violent separation of famili es— theparent torn from the child , the mother from her daughter ,the infamous trickery practised on those who did embark— the abandonment of the aged , the infirm , women ,and tender children , in a foreign land— forms a tableauwhich cannot be dwelt on for an instant without horror .Words cannot depict the atrocity of the deed . For

cruelty less savage , the slave- dealers of the South havebeen held up to the execration of the world .

THE HEBRIDES . 2 2 1

And if, as men , the sufferings of these our fellowcreatures find sympathy in our hearts , as Canadianstheir wrongs concern us more dearly . The fifteen hundred souls whom Colonel Gordon has sent to Quebec thisseason have all been supported for the past week , at least ,and conveyed to Upper Canada at the expense of thecolony and on their arrival in Toronto and Hamiltonthe greater number have been dependent on the charityof the benevolent for a morsel of bread . Four hundredare in the river at present , and will arrive in a day or two ,making a total of nearly 2000 of Colonel Gordon

’

s tenantsand cottars whom the province will have to support .

The winter is at hand , work is becoming scarce in UpperCanada . Where are these people to find foodWe take the following from an Upper Canadi an paper

describing the position of the same people after findingtheir way to OntarioWe have been pained beyond measure for some

time past to witness in our streets so many un

fortunate Highland emigrants , apparently destituteof any means of subsistence , and many of themsick from want and other attendant causes . It was pitiful the other day to View a funeral of one of thesewretched people . It was , indeed , a sad procession .

The coffin was constructed of the rudest material a fewrough boards nailed together was all that could beafforded to convey to its last restingplace the body of thehomeless emigrant . Children followed in the mournfultrain perchance they followed a brother

’

s bier , one withwhom they had sported and played for many a healthfulday among their native glens . Theirs were looks of

indescribable sorrow . They were in rags their mourning weeds were the shapeless fragments ofwhat had oncebeen clothes . There was a mother , too , among themourners , one who had tended the departed with anxiouscare in infancy , and had doubtless looked forward to ahappier future in thi s land of plenty . The anguish ofher countenance told too plainly these hopes were

! uebec Times .


blasted , and she was about to bury them in the grave ofher child .

! There will be many to sound the fulsome noise offlattery in the ear of the generous landlord , who had spentso much to assist the emigration of his poor tenants .

They will give him the misnomer of a benefactor, andfor

'

what Because he has rid hi s estates of the encumbrance of a pauper population .

! Emigrants of the poo rer class who arrive here from theWestern Highlands of Scotland are often so Situated thattheir emigration is more cruel than banishment . Theirlast shilling is Spent probably before they reach the upperprovince— they are reduced to the necessity of begging .

But , again , the case of those emigrants of whom we Speakis rendered more deplorable from their ignorance of theEnglish tongue . Of the hundreds of Highlanders in andaround Dundas at present , perhaps not half- a - dozenunderstand anything but Gaelic .

! In looking at these matters , we are impressed wi th theconviction that , so far from emigration being a panaceafor Highland destitution , it is fraught with disasters of noordinary magnitude to the emigrant whose previoushabits , under the most favourable circumstances , renderhim unable to take advantage of the industry of Canada ,even when brought hither free of expense . We may assistthese poor creatures for a time , but charity will scarcelybide the hungry cravings of so many for a very longperiod . Winter is approaching , and then— but we leavethis painful subject for the

THE ISLAND OF RUM .

Thi s island , at one time , had a large population , all ofwhom were w eeded out in the usual way . The Rev .

Donald Maclean , Minister of the Parish of Small Isles ,informs us in The N ew S tati sti calAccount, that in 1 826all the inhabitants of the Island of Rum , amounting atleast to 400 souls , found it necessary to leave their native

D unda s Warder, 2nd October, 1 85 1 .


place shortly after in Skye , he accommodated some tenor twelve of the ejected families with sites for cottages ,and pasturage for a few cows , on the bit of morass besideLoch Scresort, on which I had seen their humble dwellings . But the whole of the once -peopled interior remainsa wilderness , without inhabitants ,— all the more lonelyin its aspect from the circumstance that the solitaryvalleys , with their plough- furrowed patches , and theirruined heaps of stone , open upon shores every whit assolitary as themselves , and that the wide untroddens ea stretches drearily around .

! The armies of the insect world were Sportingin the light this evening by the million abrown stream that runs through the valley yieldedan

_incessant poppling sound , from the myriads

of fish that were ceaselessly leaping in the pools , beguiledby the quick glancing wings of green and gold thatfluttered over them along a distant hi llside there ranwhat seemed the ruins of a grey- stone fence , erected , saystradition , in a remote age to facilitate the hunting of thedeer there were fields on whi ch the heath and moss ofthe surrounding moorlands were fast encroachi ng , thathad borne many a successive harvest and prostratecottages , that had been the scenes of chr istenings , andbridals , and blythe new year

’

5 days,

— all seemed tobespeak the place of fitting habitation for man , in whichnot only the necessaries , but also a few of the luxuries oflife , might be procured but in the entire prospect not aman nor a man

’

s dwelling could the eye command . Thelandscape was one without figures .

I do not much like extermination carriedout so thoroughly and on system — it seems badpolicy and I have not succeeded in thi nk ing anythe better of it i though assured by the economiststhat there are more than enough people inScotland still . There are , I believe , more than enough inour workhouses— more than enough on our pauper 1 0115more than enough muddled up

, di sreputable , useless , andunhappy , in their miasmatic valleys and typhoid courts ofour large towns ; but I have yet to learn how arguments

THE HEBRIDES . 2 25

for local depopulation are to be drawn from facts such asthese . A brave and hardy people , favourably placed forthe development of all that is excellent in human nature ,form the glory and strength of a country — a people sunkinto an abyss of degradation and misery , and in which itis the whole tendency of external circumstances to sinkthem yet deeper , constitute its weakness and its shameand I cannot qui te see on what principle the ominousincrease whi ch is taking place among us in the worse class ,is to form our solace or apology for the wholesale expatriation of the better .It di d not seem as if the depopulation of Rum had

tended much to anyone’

s advantage . The singleSheep farmer who had occupied the holdings of s o

many had been unfortunate in his speculations , andhad left the island the proprietor , hi s landlord , seemedto have been as little fortunate as the tenant , for theisland itself was in the market , and a report went currentat the time that it was on the eve ofbeing purchased bysome wealthy Englishman , who purposed converting itinto a deer forest .

H ow strange a cycle Uninhabited originally , saveby wild animals , it became at an early period ahome of men , who , as the gray wall on the hillsidetestified , derived in part at least , their sustenance fromthe chase . They broke in from the waste the furrowedpatches on the slopes of the valleys ,— they reared herds ofCattle and flocks of sheep , —their number increased tonearly five hundred souls , — they enjoyed the averagehappiness of human creatures in the present imperfectstate of being , —they contributed their portion of hardyand vigorous manhood to the armies of the country , anda few of their more adventurous spirits , impatient of thenarrow bounds whi ch confined them , and a CollI

‘

S ( of lifelittle varied by incident , emigrated to America . Thencame the change of system so general in the Highlandsand the island lost all its original inhabitants , on a wooland mutton speculation

,—inhabitants

,the descendants

of men who had chased the deer on its hi lls five hundredyears before , and who , though they recognized some

P


wild island lord as their superior , and did him servi ce ,had regarded the place as indisputably their own . . Andnow yet another change was on the eve of ensuing , andthe island was to return to its original state , as a home ofwild animals , where a few hunters from the mainlandmight enjoy the chase for a month or two every twelvemonth, but which could form no permanent place ofhuman abode . Once more a strange , and surely mostmelancholy cycleIn another place the same writer asks ,Where was the one tenant of the island , for whose

sake so many others had been removed ? and heanswers , We found hi s house occupied by a humbleshepherd , who had in charge the wreck of hi s property ,property no longer his , but held for the benefit of hiscreditors . The great sheep farmer had gone downunder circumstances of very general bearing , and onwhose after development , when in their latent state ,improving landlords had failed to calculate .

HARR IS and the other Western Islands suffered in asimilar manner . Mull , Tiree , and others in Argyllshi reare noticed in dealing with that county .

A R GYL L SH IR E .


In many parts of Argyllshire the people have beenweeded out none the less effectively , that the processgenerally was of a milder nature than that adopted insome of the places already described . By some means orother , however , the ancient tenantry have largely disappeared to make room for the sheep farmer and thesportsman . Mr . Somerville , Lochgilphead , writing onthi s subject , says , The watchword of all is exterminate ,exterminate the native race . Through this monomani a oflandlords the cottier population is all but extinct and

Lead ing arti cles from the Wi tnes s .


These remarks are only too true , and appli cablenot only in Argyllshire , but throughout the Highlandsgenerally .

A deputation from the Glasgow Highland Relief Board ,consisting of Dr . Robert Macgregor , and Mr . Charles R .

Baird , their Secretary , visited Mull , Ulva , Iona , Tiree ,CO11, and part of Morvern, in 1 849, and they immediatelyafterwards issued a printed report on the state of theseplaces , from which a few extracts wi ll prove instructive .

They inform us that the population of

THE ISLAND OF MULL .

according to the Government Census of 1 82 1 , wasin 1 841 , In 1 871 , we find it reduced to 6441 ,

and by the Census of 1 881 , now before us , it is stated at

5624, or a fraction more than half the number that inhabited the Island in 1 82 1 .

TOBE RMOR Y , we are told , has been for some time theresort of the greater part of the small crofters and cottars ,ejected from their holdings and houses on the surroundingestates , and thus there has been a great accumulation of

distress . Then we are told that severe as thedestitution has been in the rural districts , we think it hasbeen still more so in Tobermory and other vi llages -a

telling comment on,and reply to , those who would now

have us believe that the evictors of those days and of ourown were acting the character of wise benefactors whenthey ejected the people from the inland and rural districtsof the various counties to wretched villages , and rockyhamlets on the sea- shore .

ULVA .— The population of the Island of Ulva in

1 849 was 360 souls The reporters state that a! large

portion of it has lately been converted into a sheepfarm , and consequently a number of small crofters andcottars have been warned away by Mr . Clark . Someof these will find great diffi culty in settling themselvesanywhere , and all of them have little prospect of employment . Whatever may be the ultimate effectto the landowners of the conversion of a number of small

ARGYLLSH IRE . 2 29

crofts into large farms , we need scarcely say that thisprocess is causing much poverty and misery among thecrofters . How Mr . Clark carried out hi s intention ofevicting the tenantry of Ulva may be seen from the factthat the population of 360 souls , in 1 849, was reduced to

51 in 1 881 .

KILFIN ICHEN .— In this district we are told that The

crofters and cottars having been warned off, 26

individuals emigrated to America, at their own expenseand one at that of the Parochi al Board a good manyremoved to Kinloch , where theyare now in great poverty ,

and those who remained were not allowed to cultivateany ground for crop or even garden stuffs . The stockand other effects of a number of crofters on Kinlochlast year whose rents averaged from £5 to

£1 5 per annum , having been sequestrated and sold , theseparties are now reduced to a state of pauperism , havingno employment or means of subsistence whatever . Asto the cottars , it is said that the great mass of them arenow in a very deplorable state . On the estate ofGR IBUN , Colonel Macdonald of Inchkenneth, the pro

prietor, gave the people plenty of work , by whi ch theywere quite independent of relief from any quarter , andthe character which he gives to the deputation of thepeople generally is most refreshing , when we compare itwith the -baseless charges usually made against them bythe majority of hi s class . The reporters state thatColonel Macdonald Spoke in hi gh terms of the honestyof the people and of their great patience and forbearanceunder their severe privations .

” It is grati fying to be ableto record this simple act of justice , not only as the people

’sdue , but specially to the credi t of Colonel Macdonald

’

smemory and goodness of heart .BUNE SSAN .

—Respecting this district , belonging to theDuke of Argyll , our authority says It will be re

collected that the [Relief] Committee , some time ago ,advanced £1 2 8 to assist in procuring provisions for anumber of emigrants from the Duke of Argyll

’

s estate ,in the Ross of Mull and Io na

,in all 243 persons— 1 25

adults and 1 1 8 children . When there , we made inquiry


into the matter , and were informed [by those , as it proved ,quite ignorant of the facts] that the emigration had beenproductive of much good , as the parties who emigratedcould not find the means of subsistence in this country

,

and had every prospectof doing so in Canada , where all ofthem had relations and also because the land occupiedby some of these emigrants had been given to increasethe crofts of others . Since our return home , however ,we have received the very melancholy and distressingintelligence , that many of these emigrants had been seizedwith cholera on their arrival in Canada that not a fewof them had fallen victims to it and that the survivorshad suffered great privations .

” Compare the prospect ,of much good , predicted for these poor creatures , withthe sad reality of having been forced away to die a,

terrible death immediately on their arrival on a foreignshoreIONA , at this time , contained a population of 500 ,

reduced in 1 881 to 243 . It also is the property of theDuke of Argyll, as well asTH E ISLAND OF TIRE E , the population of which is

given in the report as follows — In 1 755, it was 1 509,increasing in 1 777 , to 1 681 in 1 801 , to 241 6 in 1 82 1 , to

41 81 and in 1 841 to 4687 . In 1 849, after considerableemigrations ,

” it was 3903 while in 1 881 , it was reduced to2 733 . The deputation recommended emigration fromTiree as imperatively necessary , but they call especialattention to the necessity of emigration being conductedon proper principles , or , on a system calculated to promote the permanent benefit of those who emigrate , and ofthose who remain ,

’

because we have reason to fear thatnot a few parties in these districts are anxious to get rid ofthe small crofters and cottars at all

'

haz ard, and withoutmaking sufli cient provision for their future comfort andsettlement elsewhere and because we have seen the verydistressing account of the privations and sufferings of thepoor people who emigrated from Tiree and the Ross ofMull to Canada this year and would spare no painsto prevent a recurrence of such deplorable circumstances .As we were informed that the Duke of Argyll had ex


capital , the condi tion of the people here might ere longbe greatly improved . The grand diffi culty in the way ,however , is the want of capital . Mr . Maclean , the princ ipal proprietor, always acted most liberally when he hadit in hi s power to do so , but , unfortunately , he has nolonger the ability , and the other two proprietors are alsounder trust Notwithstanding these possibilities thepopulation is undergoing a constant process ofdiminution .

We Shall now return to the mainland portion of theCounty , and take a glance at the parish of

ARDNAMURCHAN .

Ua ine gu’

m mullach (green to their tops l) . So Dr .NormanMacleod described the bens of Ardnamurchanin hi s inimitable sketch , the Emigrant Ship ,

” and so

they appear even to thi s day . Their beautiful slopes showscarcely a vestige of heather , but an abundance of rich ,sweet grass of a quality eminently suitable for pasturage .

As the steamboat passenger sails northward throughthe Sound of Mull , he sees straight ahead , and stretchingat right angles across his course , a long range of low

hills culminating in a finely- shaped mass which seems torise abruptly from the edge Of the sea . The hills are thoseof Ardnamurchan, and the dominating pile is Ben Hiant ,1 729 feet in height , and green to its top . Around thebase of the mountain and for miles in every direction theland is fair , fertile , and well adapted either for arableor grazing purposes . It comprises the farm ofMin

'

gary ,and , to - day , is wholly under deer .Down to the second decade of last century it supported

about twenty- S ix families , whi ch were distributed overthe component townships of Coire -mhuilinn , Skinid,

Buarblaig, and Tornamona . At one sweep , the wholeplace was cleared , and the grounds added to the adj acent*Comp iled partly from evidence submi tted to Deer Fores t Com

mi s s i on of 1 892 (s ee M inute of E vidence , vol. i i .

,.pp 884

- 5and pp . 9 1 2 and partly from notes of convers ati ons whi chthe E ditor has had with actual witnes s es of the incidentsdes c ribed

ARGYLLSHIRE . 233

sheep farm of Mingary . The evictions were carried outin 1 828, the process being attended with many acts ofheartless cruelty on the part of the laird

’

s representatives .In one case a half-witted woman who flatly refused toflit , was locked up in her cottage , the door being barricaded on the outside by mason-work . She was visitedevery morning to see if She had arrived at a tractableframe of mind , but for days she held out . It was notuntil her slender store of food was exhausted that sheceased to argue with the inevitable and decided to capitulate . It is to cases of this character that Dr . J ohnMacL achlan, the Sweet Singer of Rahoy , referred inthe lines

An da ll , an s eann duine s an o inid

To i rt am mallachd air do bhua irea s .

(The blind , the aged , and the imbecile calling curses onthy greed . ) The proprietor at whose instance these! removals were carried out was Sir James MillesR iddell , Bart . Of the dislodged families a few were givensmall patches of waste land

,some were given holdings in

various townshi ps on the estate— the crofts ofwhi ch weresub- divided for their accommodation— and some wereforced to seek sanctuary beyond the Atlantic .

Additional clearances were effected on the Ardnamurchamestate in 1 853 , when Swordle- chaol , Swordlemhor , and Swordle- chorrach,

with an aggregate area ofabout 3000 acres , were divested of their crofting population , and thrown into a single sheep farm . Swordle

chaol was occupied by four tenants , Swordle-mhor bysix , and Swordle- chorrach by s ix . Five years previousto the evictions , all the crofters came under a writtenobligation to the proprietor to build new dwellinghouses . The walls were to be of stone and lime , 40 ft .

long , 1 75» ft . wide , and 712 ft. high . The houses , twogabled , were to have each two rooms and a kitchen , withwooden ceiling and floors

,the kitchen alone to be floored

with flags . By the end of 1 851 all the tenants hadfaithfully implemented their promise

,and the work of

building was quite completed . Tradesmen had beenemployed in every case , and the cost averaged from £45


to £50. When the people were ejected , two years later,they received no compensation whatever for theirlabours and outlays . They were not even permitted toremove a door , a window , or a fixed cupboard . Some ofthe houses are still intact in this year of grace , 1 91 4, onebeing occupied by a shepherd on Swordle farm , and an

other used as a byre . They compare favourably as re

gards size , design , and workmanship with the best andmost modern crofter houses in the Ardnamurchan distriet . The Swordle tenants were among the best-to-doon the estate , and not one of them owed the proprietora shilling in the way of arrears of rent . When cast adrift ,the majority of them were assigned holdings of oneacre or s o in the rough lands of Sanna and Portuairk ,

where they had to start to reclaim peatbogs and to buildfor themselves houses and steadings . Sir J ames MillesRiddell was the proprietor responsible for clearing theSwordles as well as the Ben Hiant townships .*

Other places whi ch he divested of people and placedunder sheep were Laga , held by eight tenants , and Tarbert , which was in the hands of four .About sixteen years ago Ben Hiant , or Mingary , as

well as the Swordles , Laga , Tarbert , and other farms ,was swept clean of sheep and converted into a deer forest ,the preserve having a total area of acres . Thewoolly ruminants met with a retribution , direful andcomplete , and the native people viewed the change withmild amusement . Sheep had been the means of ruiningtheir forefathers , whereas deer had never done them ortheir kinsfolk the smallest injury .

The highest hill on the estate of Ardnamurchan isBen Hiant , the altitude of which is 1 729 feet . It maybe described as an isolated peak . It forms no part ofany definite mountain range , although , when viewedfrom the s ea , it seems to blend with Ben an L eathaidand other local eminences . For the most part , theelevation of the area embraced in the Ardnamurchandeer forest varies from 600 feet or 700 feet to s ea- level .

See Note C in Appendi ces .


fat hens , slowly cooked on the fire in a pot of potatoes ,without their skins , and with fresh butter storedhens ,

’

as the superb dish was called and though last ,not least , tender kid , roasted as nicely as Charles Lamb

’

scracklin

’

pig . All was served up with the utmost pro

priety , on a table covered with a fine white cloth , and withall the requisites for a comfortable dinner , including thechampagne of elastic , buoyant , and exciting mountainair . The manners and conve rsations of those men wouldhave pleased the best- bred gentleman . Everythi ng wasso simple , modest , unassuming , unaffected , yet so frankand cordial . The conversation was such as might beheard at the table of any intelligent man . Alas thereis not a vestige remaining of their homes . I know not

whither they are gone , but they have left no representatives behind . The land in the glen is divided betweensheep , shepherds , and the shadows of the clouds .

”

The Rev . Donald Macleod , editor of Good,Words

describing the death of the late Dr . John Macleod , theminister of the Parish referred to by Dr . Normanin the above quotation , and for fifty years minister ofMorven —says of the noble patriarch

! His later years were spent in pathetic loneliness .He had seen his parish almost emptied of itspeople . Glen after glen had been turned intosheep -walks , and the cottages in which generationsof gallant Highlanders had lived and di ed wereunroofed , their torn walls and gables left standinglike mourners beside the grave , and the little plots ofgarden or of cultivated enclosure allowed to merge intothe moorland pasture . He had seen every property inthe parish change hands , and though , on the whole ,kindly and pleasant proprietors came in place of the oldfamilies , yet they were strangers to the people , neitherunderstanding their language nor their ways . The consequence was that they perhaps scarcely realised thehavoc produced by the changes they inaugurated . Atone stroke of the pen ,

’ he said to me , with a look of sad

R emi ni scences_of a H i ghland P ari sh.

ARGYLLSHIRE . 237

ness and indignation ,‘ two hundred of the people were

ordered off. There was not one of these whom I did notknow

,and their fathers before them and finer men and

women never left the Highlands .’

He thus found himself the sole remaining link between the past and present—the one man above the rank of a peasant who remembered the old days and the traditions of the people . Thesense of change was intensely saddened as he wentthrough hi s parish and passed ruined houses here , there ,and everywhere . There is not a smoke there now ,

’

heused to s ay with pathos , of the glens which he had knowntenanted by a manly and loyal peasantry , among whomlived song and story and the elevating influences of

brave traditions . All are gone , and the place that onceknew them , knows them no more The hi ll - side , whichhad once borne a happy people and echoed the voices ofj oyous children is now a silent Sheep walk . The supposed necessities of Political Economy have effec ted theexchange , but the day may come when the country mayfeel the loss of the loyal and brave race whi ch has beendriven away , and find a new meaning perhaps in the oldquestion , Is not a man better than a sheep ? Theywho would have shed their blood like water for Queenand country , are in other lands , Highland sti ll , butexpatriated for ever .

From the dim shi eling on the mi s ty i s land ,

Mountains di vide us and a world Of s eas ,But s till our hearts are true , our hearts are H ighland ,

And in our dreams we behold the H ebrides .

Tall are thes e mountains , and thes e woods are grand ,

But we are exi led from our father’s land .

”

GLENORCHY .

Glenorchy , of whi ch the Marquis of Breadalbane issole proprietor , was , like many other places , ruthlesslycleared of its whole native population . The writer of theNew Statistical Account of the Parish , in 1 843 , the Rev .

Farewell to Fiunary, by Donald Mac leod , D .D in Good Words

for August, 1 882 .


Duncan Maclean , Fior Ghael of the Teachda i re,informs us that the census taken by Dr . Webster in 1 755,and by Dr . Maclntyre forty years later , in 1 795, differexceedingly little ,

” only to the number of sixty . TheMarquis of the day , it is well known , was a good friendof his reverence the feeling was naturally reciprocated ,and one of the apparent results is that the reverendauthor abstained from giving , in his Account of theParish , the population statistics of the Glenorchy distri ct. It was , however , impossible to pass over that important portion of hi s duty altogether , and , apparentlywith reluctance , he makes the following s ad admissionA great and rapid decrease has , however , taken place

Since [referring to the population in This decrease is mainly attributable to the introduction of sheep ,and the absorption of small into large tenements . Theaboriginal population of the parish of Glenorchy (notof Ini shail) has been nearly supplanted by adventurersfrom the neighbouring district of Breadalbane , who nowoccupy the far largest share of the parish . There are afew , and only a few , shoots from the stems that suppliedthe ancient population . Some clans , who were rathernumerous and powerful, have disappeared altogether ;others , viz . , the Downi es , Macnabs , Macnicols , andFletchers , have nearly ceased to exist . The Macgregors ,at one time lords of the soil , have totally disappearednot one of the name is to be found among the population .

The Macintyres , at once time extremely numerous , arelikewise greatly reduced .

By thi s nobleman’s mania for evictions , the populationof Glenorchy was reduced from 1 806 in 1 83 1 to 83 1 in1 841 , or by nearly a thousand Souls in the short spaceof ten years It is , however , grati fying to find that ithas since , under wiser management , very largely increased .

In spite of allthis we have been seriously told that therehas been no

DE POPULATION OF TH E COUNTY

in the rural districts . In this connection some very


on at a fairly rapid rate Campbeltown , Dunoon , Oban ,Ballachulish , Blairmore , and Strone , Innellan , Lochgilphead , Tarbet , and Tighnabruaich, combined , havingadded no less than some 5500 to the population of thecounty in the ten years from 1 871 to 1 881 . These populous places will be found respectively in the parishes ofCampbeltown , Lismore , and Appin , Dunoon and Kilmun , Glassary , K ilcalmonell and Kilbery , and in Kilfinan and this will at once account for the comparativelygood figure which these parishes make in the tabulatedstatement in the Appendix . That table will Show exactlyin which parishes and at what rate d epopulation pro

gres sed during the last fifty years . In many instancesthe population was larger prior to 1 831 than at that date ,but the years given will generally give the best idea ofhowthe matter stood throughout that whole period . Thestate of the population given in 1 83 1 was before thefamine which occurred in 1 836 while that in 1 841 comesin between that of 1 836 and 1 846-

47, during whi ch periodlarge numbers were sent away , or left for the Colonies .There was no famine between 1 851 and 1 881 , a timeduring whi ch the population was reduced fromto notwithstanding the great increase whi ch tookplace simultaneously in the town and Village sectionof the people in the county, as well as throughout thecountry generally .

B UTE SH IRE .

ARRAN .

DUGALD MACKENZIE MACKILLOP ON THE

ARRAN CLEARANCES .

*

Once upon a time— and the time was 1 828— Alexander,tenth D uke of Hamilton , decided that he would makelarge farms on his estate , and , of course , the will and wish

Meganti c , by Dugald Mackenz i e Mackillop .

BUTESHIRE . 241

of a duke in hi s own domains must be respected , eventhough— as in one instance— the land rented by twentySeven families was converted into one farm .

For various reasons , the islanders had for many yearsbeen discontented , and there seemed no hope of a changefor the better . If a man worked his place in a progressiveway and made improvements on the farm ,

the benefitaccrued solely to the landed proprietor , who thanked thegood tenant by promptly raising hi s rent . If the farmerobjected to paying more rent , his only alternative was tosubmit to be turned off his holding at the expiration of

his lease ; then the landlord would collect the increasedrent froni the new tenant .

So when the duke made overtures to a large number ofhis tenants to the effect that if they would make room forhim by getting away from their ancestral moorings inArran , he would see that they were well provided for inthe new world , it is not to be wondered at that theyaccepted hi s propositi on . It is so nice when you are castout to be told where you can go , and be directed what todo . The Duke promised to secure for each family a grantof 1 00 acres of land in Canada , and the same amount ofland for each son in each family who at that time hadreached the age of 2 1 .

Arrived at their destination at Johnston Ford , provinceof Quebec , each family constructed a tent by stretchingblankets , quilts , etc .

, over poles suitably disposed andtied together at the top with withes and ropes . Fortunately the season was favourable and fires were neededonly for cooking . As just stated , the Duke of H amiltonhad promised that each family and each young man whohad a ttained hi s majority Should receive a grant of 1 00acres of land but , when the colony was actually on thescene , the Government officials refused to give a grantexcept to the heads of the families .The matter of grants has been so variously stated that

it is diffi cult to determine what the conditions were , but itappears that the actual agreement of the Duke of Hamilton was that grants should be given for two years only .

Those who came out in 1 829 and 1 830 secured certain


grants after a delay . Those , however , who did not arrivetill 1 83 1 were told by the agents that grants were nolonger to be had .

P E R TH SH IR E .

RANNOCH .

BY ALE! ANDER MACKENZIE .

Regarding the state of matters in this district a correspondent writes us as follows — I am very glad to learnthat you are soon to publish a new edition of your ! Highland Clearances . You have done good work already inrousing the conscience of the public against the conductof certain landlords in the Highlands , who long ere nowshould have been held up to public scorn and execration ,as the best means of deterring others from pursuing apolicy which has been so fatal to the best interests of ourbeloved land . And now, if I am not too late ,I should like to direct your attention to a few authenti

cated facts connected with two districts in the Highlands ,that I am familiar with , and which facts you may utilise ,though I Shall merely give notes .In 1 851 the population of the district known as the

quoad sacra parish of Rannoch numbered altogether1 800 at the census Of 1 881 it was below 900 . Even in1 851 it was not nearly What it was earlier . Why thisconstant decrease ? Several no doubt left the districtvoluntarily but the great bulk of those who left wereevicted .

Take , first , the Slios Min , north Side of Loch Rannoch .

Fifty years ago the farm of Ardlarich, near the west end ,was tenanted by three farmers , who were in good circumstances . These were turned out to make room for onelarge farmer , who was rouped out last year , pennilnes sand the farm is now tenantless . The next place , furthereast , is the township of K illi choan , containing aboutthi rty to forty houses , with small crofts attached to each .


the Tummel . Kinloch , D ruimchurn, and D ruimchaisteil,always in the hands of three tenants , are now held by one .

D rumaglas s contains a number of small holdings , withgood houses on many of them . Balmore , whi ch alwayshad s ix tenants in it , has now only one , the remainingportion of it being laid out in grass parks . Ballintuim ,

with a good house upon it , is tenantless . Auchi tars in,

where there used to be twenty houses , is now reduced tofour . The whole di strict from , and including , Ki nlochto Auchitars in belongs to General Sir Alastair Macdonaldof D alchosnie, Commander of Her Majesty

’s Forces inScotland . His father , Sir John , during hi s life , took agreat delight in having a numerous , thriving , and sturdytenantry on the estates of D alchosnie , Kinloch , Lochgarry , Dunalastair , and Morlaggan . On one occasionhis tenant of D alchosnie offered to take from Sir Johnon lease all the land on the north side of the river . Ay ,

man ,” said he , you would take all that land , would you,

and turn out all my people ! Who would I get , if myhouse took fire , to put it outThe present proprietor has Virtually turned out the

great bulk Of those that Sir John had loved so well .Though , it i s said , he did not evict any man directly , heis alleged to have made their positions so hot for them thatthey had to leave . Sir John could have raised hundredsof Volunteers on his estates— men who would have di edfor the gallant old soldier . But how many could be nowraised by his son Not a dozen men though he goesabout inspecting Volunteers and praising the movementofli c ially throughout the length and breadth of Scotland .

The author of the N ewS tati sti calAccount, writing oftheParish of Fortinga ll , of whi ch the district referred to byour correspondent forms a part

,says At present

[1 838] no part of the parish is more populous than it wasin 1 790 Whereas in several districts , the population hassince decreased one-half and the same will be found tohave taken place , though not perhaps in so great a proportion , in most or all of the pastoral districts of thecounty .

”

According to the census of 1 801 the population was

PE RTHSHIRE . 245

3875 in 1 81 1 , 3236 in 1 82 1 , 3 1 89 in 1 83 1 , 3067 andin 1 881 it was reduced to 1 690 .

Upwards of 1 20 families , the same writer says , crossedthe Atlantic from this parish , since the previous Accountwas drawn up [in besides many individuals of bothsexes while many others have sought a livelihood in theLow Country , especially in the great towns of Edinburgh ,Glasgow , Dundee , Perth , Crieff , and others . The systemof uniting several farms together , and letting them to oneindividual , has more than any other circumstance produced this result .

BREADAL BAN E .

Mr . R . Alister , author of Barri ers to the N ati onal

P rosperi ty ofS cotland, had a controversy with the Marquisof Breadalbane in 1 853 , about the eviction of his tenantry .

In a letter , dated July of that year , Mr . Alister made acharge against his lordship which , for obvious reasons , henever attempted to answer , as followsYour lordshi p states that in reality there has been no

depopulation of the district . This , and otherparts of your lordship ’s letter , would certainlylead any who know nothing of the facts to supposethat there had been no clearings on the Breadalbaneestates whereas it is generally believed thatyour lordshi p removed , Since 1 834, no less than 500families Some may think thi s i s a small matter butI do not . I think it is a great calamity for a family to bethrown out, destitute of the means of life , wi thout a roofover their heads , and cast upon the wide sea of an unfeeling world . In Glenqueich, near Amulree , some sixtyfamilies formerly lived , where there are now only four orfive and in America , there is a glen inhabited by itsousted tenants , and called Glenqueich still. Yet , forsooth , it is maintai ned there has been no depopulationhere The desolations here look like the ruins of Irishcabins , although the population of Glenqueich werealways characterised as being remarkably thrifty, economi cal, and wealthy . On the Braes of Taymouth , at


the back of Drummond Hill, and at Tullochyoule, someforty or fifty families formerly resided , where there is notone now Glenorchy , by the returns of 1 83 1 , showed apopulation of 1 806 in 1 841 , 831

— i s there no depopulation there ? IS it true that in Glenetive there weresixteen tenants a year or two ago , where there is not aSingle one now Is it true , my lord , that you purchasedan island on the west coast , called Luing , where sometwenty-five famili es lived at the beginning of thi s year,but who are now cleared Off to make room for one tenant ,for whom an extensive steading is now being erectedIf my information be correct , I Shall allow the public todraw their own conclusions but , from every thing thatI have heard , I believe that your lordshi p has done moreto exterminate the Scottish peasantry than any man nowliving and perhaps you ought to be ranked next to theMarquis of Stafford in the uneviable clearing celebrities .If I have over- estimated the clearances at 500 families ,please to correct me .

” As we have already said , hi s lordship thought it prudent , and by far the best policy , notto make the attempt .In another letter the same writer saysYou must be aware that your late father raised

2 300 men during the last war , and that 1 600 of

that number were from the Breadalbane estates .

My statement is , that 1 50 could not now be raised .

Your lordship has most carefully evaded all allusionto this

,—perhaps the worst charge of the whole .

From your lordshi p’s Silence I am surely justifiedin concluding that you may endeavour to evadethe question , but you dare not attempt an open contradiction . I have often made inquiries of Highlanders onthi s point , and the number above stated was the hi ghes testimate . Many who should know , state to me thatyour lordship would not get fifty followers from the wholeestates and another says Why , he would not gethalf- a - dozen

,and not one of them unless they could not

possibly do otherwise .

’ This , then , i s the position of

the question : in 1 793-

4, there was such a numerous ,hardy,

and industrious population on the Breadalbane


lady had taken umbrage at the clan . Whatever thecause might have been , the Offence was deep , and couldonly be expiated by the extirpation of the race . Summonses of ej ection were served over the whole property ,even on families the most closely connected with thechief and if we now seek for the Highlanders of Glengarry , we must search on the banks of the St . Lawrence .

To thewestward ofGlengarry lies the estate of Lochiel— a name to whi ch the imperishable poetry of Campbellhas attachedmuch interest . It is the country of the braveclan Cameron , to whom , were there nothing to speak ofbut their conduct at Waterloo , Britain owes a debt .Many of our readers have passed along Loch Lochy , andthey have likely had the mansion of Auchnacarry pointedout to them , and they have been told of the Dark Mile ,surpassing , as some say , the Trossachs in romanticbeauty but perhaps they were not aware that beyondlies the wide expanse Of Loch Arkaig , whose bank s havebeen the scene of a most extensive clearing . There wasa day when three hundred able , active men could havebeen collected from the shores of this extensive inlandloch but eviction has long ago rooted them out, andnothing is now to be seen but the ruins of their huts , withthe occasional bothy of a shepherd , while their lands areheld by one or two farmers from the borders .

! Crossing to the south of the great glen , we maybegin with Glencoe . H ow much of its romanticinterest does this glen owe to its desolation Letus remember , however , that the desolation , in alarge part of it , is the result of the extrusion ofthe inhabitants . Travel eastward , and the footprintsof the destroyer cannot be lost sight of. Large tracksalong the Spean and its tributaries are a wide waste .

The southern bank of Loch Lochy is almost withoutinhabitants , though the symptoms of former occupancyare frequent .

When we enter the country of the Frasers ,the same spectacle presents itself— a desolate land .

With the exception of the miserable vi llage of FortAugustus the native population i s almost extinguished ,

NOTABLE DICTA . 249

while those who do remain are left as if , by their squalidmisery

,to make darkness the more visible . Across the

hi lls , in Stratherrick , the property of Lord Lovat , withthe exception of a few large sheep farmers , and a veryfew tenants , is one wide waste . To the north of LochNess , the territory of the Grants , both Glenmori ston andthe Earl of Seafield, presents a pleasing feature amidstthe sea of desolation . But beyond thi s , again , let ustrace the large rivers of the east coast to their sources .

Trace the Beauly through all its upper reaches , andhow many thousands upon thousands of acres , oncepeopled , are , as respects human beings , a wide wilderness !The lands of the Chisholm have been stripped of theirpopulation down to a mere fragment the possessors ofthose of Lovat have not been behind with their share ofthe same sad doings . Let us cross to the Conon and itsbranches , and we will find that the Chieftains of theMackenzies have not been less active in extermination .

Breadalbane and Rannoch , in Perthshi re , have a similartale to tell , vast masses of the population havi ng beenforcibly expelled . The upper portions ofAthole have alsosuffered , whi le many of the valleys along the Spey and itstributaries are without an inhabitant , if we except a fewshepherds . Sutherland , with

'

all its atrocities , affordsbut a fraction of the atrocities that have been perpetratedin following out the ej ectment system of the Highlands .In truth , of the habitable portion of the whole countrybut a small part is now really inhabited . We are unwilling to weary our readers by carrying them along the westcoast from the Linnhe Loch, northwards but if theyinquire , they will find that the same system has been ,in the case of most of the estates , relentlessly pursued .

These are facts of whi ch, we believe , the British publicknow little , but they are facts on whi ch the changesshould be rung until they have listened to them andseriously considered them . May it not be that part of theguilt is theirs , who might , yet did not, step forward tostop such cruel and unwise proceedingsLet us leave the past , however he continues , and

consider the present . And it is a melancholy reflection


that the year 1 849 has added its long list to the roll ofHighland ejectments . While the law i s banishing itstens for terms of seven or fourteen years , as the penaltyof deep- dyed crimes , irresponsible and infatuated poweris banishi ng its thousands for life for no crime whatever .Thi s year brings forward , as leader in the work of expatriation , the Duke of Argyll . Is it possible that hi svast possessions are over- densely peopled Credat

j udceus appelles . And the Highland DestitutionCommittee co - operate . We had understood that thelarge sums ofmoney at their disposal had been given themfor the purpose of relieving , and not of banishi ng , thedestitute . N ext we have Mr . Baillie of Glenelg , profes s edly at their own request , sending five hundred soulsoff to America . Their native glen must have been madenot a little uncomfortable for these poor people , ere theycould have petitioned for so sore a favour . Then we haveColonel Gordon expelli ng upwards of eighteen hundredsouls from South Uist Lord Macdonald follows with asentence of banishment against six or seven hundredof the people of North Uist , with a threat , as we learn ,that three thousand are to be driven from Skye nextseason ; and Mr . L illingston of Lochalsh , Maclean ofArdgour , and Lochi el , bring up the rear of the blackcatalogue , a large body of people having left the estatesof the two latter , who , after a heart - rending scene of

parting with their native land , are now on the wide s eaon their way to Australia . Thus , withi n the last threeor four months’ considerably upwards of three thousandof the most moral and loyal of our people— people who

,

even in the most trying circumstances , never required asoldier , seldom a policeman , among them , to maintain thepeace— are driven forcibly away to seek subsistence on aforeign soil .Writing in 1 850 , on more Recent Highland

Evictions , the same author saysThe moral responsibility for these transactions

lies in a measure with the nation,and not merely

with the individuals immediately concerned inthem. Some years ago the fearful scenes that


be rising against the people themselves . The cry seemedto be , Do away with the people : this is the shorthandway of doing away with the language . He remindedthem of the sayi ng of a queen , that She would turn Scotland into a hunting field , and of the reply of a Duke ofArgyll it is time for me to make my hounds ready ,and said he did not know whether there was now an Argyllwho would make the same reply . But there were otherfolks— less folks than queens— who had gone pretty deepin the direction indicated by thi s queen . He would notsay it was not a desirable thing to see Highlandersscattered over the earth— they were greatly indebted tothem in their cities and the colonies but he wished topreserve their Highland homes , from whi ch the coloniesand large cities derived their very best blood . Drive Offthe Highlander and destroy his home , and you destroythat which had produced some of the best and noblestmen who filled important positions throughout the empire . In the interests of great cities , as a citizen ofEdinburgh , he desired to keep the Highlanders in theirown country , and to make them as comfortable aspossible . He only wished that some of the Highland pro

prietors could see their way to offer sections of the landfor improvement by the people , who were quite as ableto improve the land in their own country as to improvethe great forests of Canada . He himself would ratherto -morrow begin to cultivate an acre in any habitablepart of the Highlands of Scotland than to begin to cultivate land such as that on whi ch he had seen thousandsof them working in the forests of Canada . What had allthi s to do with Celtic Literature? Dr . Maclachlanreplied that the whole interest which Celtic Literature hadto him was connected with the Celtic people , and if theydestroyed the Celtic people , hi s entire i nterest in theirliterature perished . They had been told the other daythat this was sentiment , and that there were cases inwhich sentiment was not desirable . He agreed with thi sso far but he believed that when sentiment was drivenout of a Highlander the best part of him was driven out,

for it ever had a strong place among mountain people .

NOTABLE DICTA . 253

He himself had a warm patriotic feeling , and he grievedWhenever he saw a ruined house in any of their mountainglens . And ruined homes and ruined villages he , alashad seen— vi llages on fire— the hills red with burninghomes . He never wished to see thi s sorry sight again .

It was a sad , a lamentable sight , for he was convincedthe country had not a nobler class of people than theHighland pe0p1e , or a set of people better worth preserving .

A HIGHLAND SHERIFF .

Mr . Robert Brown , Sheriff- Substitute of the WesternDistrict of Inverness - shi re , in 1 806, wrote a pamphlet of1 20 pages , now very scarce , entitled , Strictures andRemarks on the Earl of Selkirk

’

s Observations on thePresent State of the Highlands of Scotland .

’ SheriffBrown was a man of keen observation , and hi s workis a powerful argument against the forced depopulationof the country . Summing up the number who left from1 801 to 1 803 , he saysIn the year 1 801 , a Mr . George Dennon, from Pictou ,

carried out two cargoes of emigrants from Fort Williamto Pictou , consisting of about seven hundred souls . Avessel sailed the same season from Isle Martin with aboutone hundred passengers , it is believed , for the sameplace . N o more vessels sailed that year ;but in 1 802 ,eleven large ships sailed with emigrants to America .

Of these , four were from Fort William , one from Knoydart , one from Isle Martin , one from Uist , one fromGreenock . Five of these were bound for Canada , fourfor Pictou , and one for Cape Breton . The only remainingvessel , whi ch took a cargo of people in Skye , sailed forWilmington , in the United States . In the year 1 803exclusive of Lord Selkirk’s transport , eleven cargoesof emigrants went from the N orth Highlands . Of these,four were from the Moray Firth

,two from Ullapool ,

three from Stornoway , and two from Fort William .

The whole of these cargoes were bound for the Britishsettlements , and most of them were discharged at Pictou .


Soon after, several other vessels sailed from the N orthWest Highlands with emigrants , the whole of whom werefor the British Colonies . In addition to these , LordSelkirk took out 250 from South Uist in 1 802 , and in 1 803he sent out to Prince Edward Island about 800 souls , inthree different vessels , most of whom were from the Islandof Skye , and the remainder from Ross - shire , N orth Argyll ,the interior of the County of Inverness , and the Island ofUist . In 1 804, 1 805, and 1 806, several cargoes ofHighlanders left Mull , Skye , and other Western Islands , forPrince Edward Island and other N orth AmericanColonies . Altogether , not less than souls left theWest Highlands and Isles during the first six years of thepresent century , a fact whi ch will now appear incredible .

THE WIZARD OF THE NORTH .

Sir Walter Scott writes In too many instancesthe Highlands have been drained , not of their superfluity of population , but of the whole mass of theinhabitants , dispossessed by an unrelenting avarice ,whi ch will be one day found to have been as Shortsighted as it i s unjust and selfish . Meantime , theHighlands may become the fairy ground for romanceand poetry , or the subj ect of experiment for theprofessors of speculation , political and economical . Butif the hour ofneed Should come— and it may not , perhaps ,be far distant— the pibroch may sound through the

deserted region , but the summons will remain unanswered.

A CONTINENTAL H ISTORIAN .

M . Michelet , the great Continental historian , writesThe Scottish Highlanders will ere long disappearfrom the face of the earth ; the mountains aredaily depopulating ; the great estates have ruinedthe land of the Gael , as they did ancient Italy .

The Highlander will ere long exist only in theromances of Walter Scott . The tartan and the d aymore excite surprise in the streets of Edinburgh the


the land shall be free for all who are willing to pay a fairvalue for its use— and , as this i s not possible underlandlordism

,that landlordism shall be abolished .

The general results of the system of modern landlordi sm in Scotland are not less painful than the hardshi p andmisery brought upon individual sufferers . The earlierimprovers , who drove the peasants from their shelteredvalleys to the exp05 1 d sea- coast , in order to make roomfor Sheep and Sheep farmers , pleaded erroneously thepublic benefit as the justification of their conduct . Theymaintained that more food and clothi ng would be produced by the new system , and that the people themselveswould have the advantage of the produce of the sea as

well as that of the land for their support . The result ,however , proved them to be mistaken , for henceforththe cry of Highland destitution began to be heard , culminating at intervals into actual famines , like that of

1 836-

37, when were distributed to keep theHighlanders from death by starvation . j ust asin Ireland , there was abundance of land capable of cultivation , but the people were driven to the coast and to thetowns to make way for sheep , and cattle , and lowlandfarmers and when the barren and inhospitable tractsallotted to them became overcrowded , they were told toemigrate . As the Rev . J . Macleod says By theclearances one part is depopulation and the other overpopulated the people are gathered into villages wherethere is no steady employment for them , where idlenesshas its baneful influence and lands them in penury andwant .

! The actual effect of this system of eviction and emigration— o i banishi ng the native of the soil and giving it tothe stranger— is shown in the steady increase of povertyindicated by the amount spent for the relief of the poorhaving increased from less than in 1 846 to morethan now while in the same period the population has only increased from to so

that pauperism has grown about nine times faster thanpopulation The fact that a whole population could be driven from their homes like cattle at the

NOTABLE DICTA . 257

will of a landlord , and that the Government which taxedthem , and for whom they freely shed their blood on thebattle- field, neither would nor could protect them fromcruel interference with their personal liberty , is surely themost convincing and most absolute demonstration of theincompatibility of landlordism with the elementaryrights of a free people .

As if , however , to prove this still more clearly, and toShow how absolutely incompatible with the well-beingof the community is modern landlordism , the great lordsof the soil in Scotland have for the last twenty years ormore been systematically laying waste enormous areasof land for purposes of sport , j ust as the Norman Con

queror laid waste the area of the New Forest for similarpurposes . At the present time , more than two millionacres of Scottish soil are devoted to the preservation of

deer alone— an area larger than the entire Counties ofKent and Surrey combined . Glen Tilt Forest includes

acres the Black Mount is sixty miles in circumference and Ben Alder Forest is fifteen miles long byseven broad . On many of these forests there is the finestpasture in Scotland , while the valleys would support aconsiderable population of small farmers , yet all thi s landis devoted to the sport of the wealthy , farms being destroyed , houses pulled down , and men , Sheep , and cattleall banished to create a wilderness for the deer - stalkersAt the same time the whole people of England are shutout from many of the grandest and most interestingscenesof their native land , gamekeepers and watchers forbiddingthe tourist or naturalist to trespass on some of the wildestScotch mountains .Now , when we remember that the right to a property

in these unenclosed mountains was most unjustly given tothe representatives of the Highland chi efs little morethan a century ago , and that they and their successorshave grossly abused their power ever since , it i s surelytime to assert those fundamental maxims of jurisprudencewhi ch state that No man can have a vested right in themisfortunes and woes of hi s country , and that theSovereign ought not to allow either communities or pri

R


vate individuals to acquire large tracts of land in orderto leave it uncultivated . If the oft- repeated maximthat property has its duties as well as its rights is notaltogether a mockery , then we maintain that in this casethe total neglect of all the duties devolving on the ownersof these vast tracts of land affords ample reason why theState should take possession of them for the public benefit . A landlord government will, of course , never do thistill the people declare unmistakably that it must be done .

To such a government the rights of property are sacred,while those of their fellow- citizens are of comparativelylittle moment ;but we feel sure that when the people fullyknow and understand the doings of the landlords of Scotland , the reckless destruction of homesteads , and thesilent sufferings of the brave Highlanders , they will maketheir will known , and , when they do so , that wi ll mustsoon be embodied into law .

”

After quoting the opinion of the Rev . Dr . J ohnKennedy of Dingwall, given at length on other pages ,Mr . Wallace next quotes from an article in the West

minster Revi ew, in 1 868 . The Gaels ,” this writer says ,

rooted from the dawn of hi story on the slopes of thenorthern mountains , have been thinned out and thrownaway like young turnips too thickly planted . Noblegentlemen and noble ladies have shown a flintines s of

heart and a meanness of detail in carrying out theirclearings , upon whi ch it is revolting to dwell and afterall , are the evils of over-population cured Does not thedisease still spring up under the very torture of the knifeAre not the crofts Slowly and silently taken at everyopportunity out of the hands of the peasantry When aHighlander has to leave his hut there i s now no restingplace for him save the cellars or attics of the closes ofGlasgow , 01 some other large centre of employment ithas been noticed that the poor Gael is even more liablethan the Irishman to sink under the debasement in whichhe i s then immersed . The same writer holds Noerror could be grosser than that of reviewing the chiefs asunlimited proprietors not only of the land , but of thewhole territory of the mountain , lake , river, and sea- shore,


It is now clearly established that in Scotland , j ust as inIreland , the soil was once the property of the clan or sept .The chiefs of the clan had certain rights over the communal domain but they were even further from beingproprietors than was Louis XIV . from being proprietorof the territory of France . By successive encroachments ,however , they transformed their authority of suzeraininto a right of private ownership , without even recogni sing in their Old co- proprietors a right of hereditary possession . In a similar way the Zemindars and Talugdarsin India were , by the Act of the British Government ,transformed into absolute proprietors . Until moderndays the chi efs of the clan were interested in retaining alarge number of vassals , as their power , and often theirsecurity, were only guaranteed by their arms . Butwhen the order was established , and the chi efs —or lords ,as they now were— began. to reside in the towns , and required large revenues rather than numerous retainers ,they endeavoured to introduce large farms and pasturage .

We may follow thefirst phases ofthis revolution ,whi chcommences after the last rising under the Pretender, inthe works of J ames Anderson , and J ames Stuart . Thelatter tells us that in hi s time— in the last third of the1 8th century— the Highlands of Scotland sti ll presenteda miniature picture of the Europe of four hundred yearsago . The rent (so he misnames the tribute paid tothe chi ef of the clan) of these lands is very little in comparison with their extent , but if it is regarded relativelyto the number of months which the farm supports , itwill be seen that land in the Scotch Highlands supportsperhaps twice as many persons as land of the same valuein a fertile province . When , in the last thi rty years ofthe 1 8th century , they began to expel the Gaels , they atthe same time forbade them to emigrate to a foreigncountry, so as to compel them by these means to congregate in Glasgow and other manufacturing towns .In his observations on Smith

’s Wealth ofN ati ons , published in1 81 4, David Buchanan gives us an idea of the progress made by the clearing of estates . ‘In the Highlands ,

’

he says , the landed proprietor , without regard to the

NOTABLE DICTA . 261

hereditary tenants (he wrongly applies this term to theclansmen who were j oint proprietors of the soil) , Offersthe land to the hi ghest bidder , who , if he wishes to improve the cultivation , is anxious for nothing but the introduction of a new system . The soil , dotted with smallpeasant proprietors , was formerly well populated in proportion to its natural fertility . The new system of improved agriculture and increased rents demands thegreatest net profit with the least possible outlay , and wi ththis object the cultivators are got rid of as being of nofurther use . Thus cast from their native soil , they go toseek their living in the manufacturing towns . ’

GeorgeEnsor , in awork published in 1 81 8, s ays z— They

(the landed proprietors of Scotland) dispossessed familiesas they would grub up coppice -wood , and they treatedthe villages and their people as Indians harassed withwild beasts do in their vengeance a jungle with tigers .

It is credible , that in the l gth century , in thi smi ssionary age , in thi s Christian era , man shall be bartered for a fleece or a carcase of mutton— nay , heldcheaper Why, how much worse i s it thanthe intention of the Moguls , who , when they had brokeninto the northern provinces Of China

,proposed i n Council

to exterminate the inhabitants , and convert the land intopasture Thi s proposal many Highland proprietorshave effected in their own country against their own countrymen.

! M . de Sismondi has rendered celebrated on the Continent the famous clearing executed between 1 81 4 and1 820 by the Duchess of Sutherland . More than threethousand families were driven out and acres ofland , whi ch formerly belonged to the

'

clan , were transformed into seignorial domain . Men were driven out tomake room for sheep . The sheep are now replaced bydeer , and the pastures converted into deer forests , whichare treeless solitudes . The E conomi st of June 2 , 1 866,said on thi s subject Feudal instincts have as fullcareer now as in the time when the Conqueror destroyedthirty- s ix villages to make the New Forest . Twomillions of acres , comprising most fretile land , have been


changed into desert . The natural herbage in Glen Tiltwas known as the most succulent in Perth ; the deerforest of Ben Alder was the best natural meadow ofBadenoch ; the forest of Black Mount was the bestpasturage in Scotland for black-woolled Sheep . The soilthus sacrificed for the pleasures of the chas e extendsover an area larger than the county of Perth . The landin the new Ben Alder forest supported sheep andthi s is but the thirtieth part of the territory sacrificed ,and thus rendered as unproductive as if it were buriedin the depths of the sea .

The destruction of small property is still going on,no

longer , however , by encroachment , but by purchase .

Whenever land comes into the market it is bought bysome rich capitalist , because the expenses of legal inquiryare too great for a small investment . Thus , large pro

perties are consolidated , and fall , so to speak , into mortmain

,in consequence of the law of primogeniture and

entails . In the 1 sth century , accordi ng to ChancellorFortescue , England was quoted throughout Europe for itsnumber of proprietors and the comfort of its inhabitants .In 1 688, Gregory King estimates that there wereproprietors , exclusive of proprietors of noble rank .

In 1 786 there were proprietors of England .

According to the ‘ Domesday Book of 1 876, there were1 70,

rural proprietors in England owni ng above anacre

;in Ireland , and 8000 i n Scotland . A fifth

of the entire country is in the hands of 523 persons .Are you aware , said Mr . Bright , in a speech deliveredat Birmingham , August 2 7, 1 866, that one - half of thesoil of Scotland belongs to ten or twelve persons Areyou aware of the fact that the monopoly of landed property is continually increasing and becoming more andmore exclusive

! In England , then , as at Rome , large property hasswallowed up small property , in consequence of a con

tinuous evolution unchecked from the beginning to theend of the nation

’

s hi story and the social order seemsto be threatened just as in the Roman Empire .

An ardent desire for a more equal division of the pro


were driven for refuge . In some cases the cruel kindnessof their landlords provided the means of emigration— insome cases they were actually driven abroad . Theysuffered greatly in foreign countries , being unprovidedwith the means of sustaining themselves until they couldearn a livelihood , but the descendants of those who survived have conti ibuted in no mean degree to the pros

perity of the countries in which they finally settled .

Those who remained behi nd had , I am afraid , little causeto be grateful for the consideration whi ch was shown tothem . In the course of years they were deprived of allthe advantages which they had previously enj oyed .

They had never had legal security of tenure , and theywere transferred from their original holdings in the glensand straths , which at one time resounded with their industry , and they were placed out upon barren patcheson the sea - Shore where it was impossible for the mostexacting toil and industry to obtain a subsistence . Thepicture that I have drawn was no doubt relieved in somecases by the exceptional generosity and kindness of particular proprietors , but , speaking generally , I think itis the fact that the Highland country was to a considerable extent depopulated by those clearances . Thegeneral condition of the people suffered , and it has gone ondeteriorating until it has become at last a matter ofnational concern . If I am correct in the statement inwhich I have endeavoured to summarise what I have read,and learned upon this subject , I ask you whether it is nottime that we should submit to careful examination andreview a system which places such vast powers for evil inthe hands of irresponsible individuals , and which makesthe possession of land not a trust but a means of extortion and exaction

HARDSHIPS ENDURED BY FIRST

EMIGRANTS .


The reader is already acquainted with the miseryendured by those evicted from Barra and South Ui st

_by

NOTABLE DICTA . 265

Colonel Gordon,after their arrival in Canada . Thi s was

no isolated case . We shall here give a few instances ofthe unspeakable suffering of those pioneers who left soearly as 1 773 , in the ship H ector, for Pictou , Nova Scotia ,gathered from trustworthy sources during the writer

’

slate visit to that country . The H ector was owned by twomen , Pagan and Witherspoon , who bought three sharesof land in Pictou , and they engaged a Mr . John Ross astheir agent , to accompany the vessel to Scotland , to bringout as many colonists as could be induced , by misrepresentation and falsehoods , to leave their homes . Theyoflered a free passage , a farm , and a year

’

s free provisionsto their dupes . On hi s arrival in Scotland , Ross drew aglowing picture of the land and other manifold advan

tages of the country to whi ch he was enticing thepeople .

The Highlanders knew nothing of the diffi culties awaiting them in a land covered over with a dense unbrokenforest and , tempted _

by the prospect of owning Splendidfarms of their own , they were imposed upon by hi s promise , and many of them agreed to accompany him acrossthe Atlantic and embraced his proposals . Calling first atGreenock , three famili es and five single young men j oinedthe vessel at that port . She then sailed to Lochbroom,

in Ross - shi re , where She received 33 families and 2 5single men , the whole of her passengers numbering about200 souls . Thi s band , in the beginning of July , 1 773 ,bade a final farewell to their native land , not a soul onboard having ever crossed the Atlantic except a singlesailor and John Ross , the agent . As they were leaving ,a piper came on board who had not paid hi s passage ;the captain ordered him ashore , but the strains of thenational instrument affected those on board so much thatthey pleaded to have him allowed to accompany them ,

and offered to share their own rations with him in exchange for hi s music during the passage . Their requestwas granted , and his performances aided in no smalldegree to cheer the noble band;of pioneers in their longvoyage of eleven weeks, in a miserable hulk , across theAtlantic .


The pilgrim band kept up their spirits as bestthey could by song , pipe -music , dancing , wrestling , andother amusements , through the long and painful voyage .

The ship was so rotten that the passengers could pick thewood cut of her sides with their fingers . They met with asevere gale off the Newfoundland coast , and were drivenback by it so far that it took them about fourteen days toget back to the point at which the storm met them . Theaccommodation was wretched , smallpox and dysentrybroke out among the passengers . Eighteen of thechildren died , and were committed to the deep amidstsuch anguish and heart - tending agony as only a Highlander can understand . Their stock of provi sions becamealmost exhausted , the water became scarce and bad ;the remnant of provisions left consisted mainly of saltmeat , which , from the scarcity of water , added greatlyto their sufferings . The oatcake carried by them be

came mouldy , so that much of it had been thrown awaybefore they dreamt of having such a long passage .

Fortunately for them , one of the passengers , Hugh Macleod , more prudent than thc others , gathered up thedespised scraps into a bag , and during the last few daysof the voyage his fellows were too glad to j oin him in devouring this refuse to keep souls and bodies together .At last the H ector dropped anchor in the harbour ,

opposite where the town of Pictou now stands . Thoughthe Highland dress was then proscribed at home , thi semigrant band carried theirs along with them , and , incelebration of their arrival , many of the younger mendonned their national dress— to which a few of them wereable to add the sgi an dubh and the claymore— while thepiper blew up hi s p i pes with might and mai n , its thrillingtones , for the first time , startling the denizens of the endless forest , and its echoes resounding through the wildsoli tude . Scottish emigrants are admitted upon allhands to have given its backbone of moral and religiousstrength to the Province , and to those brought over fromthe Highlands in thi s vessel i s due the honour of beingin the forefront— the pioneers and vanguard .

But how different was the reality to the expectations of


They seized the agents , tied them , took their guns fromthem , which they hi d at a distance told them that theymust have the food for their families , but that they werequite willing and determined to pay for them if ever theywere able to do so . They then carefully weighed or

measured the various articles , took account ofwhat eachman received and left , except one , the latter , a powerfuland determined fellow , who was left behi nd to release thetwo agents . Thi s he did , after allowing suffi cient timefor his friends to get to a safe distance , when he informedthe prisoners where they could find their guns . Intelli

gence was sent to Halifax that the Highlanders were inrebellion , from whence orders were sent to a CaptainArchibald in Truro , to march hi s company of militia tosuppress and pacify them but to hi s honour be it said ,he , point blank , refused , and sent word that he would dono such thi ng . I know the Highlanders , he said ,and if they are fairly treated there wi ll be no troublewith them . Finally, orders were given to supply themwith provisions , and Mr . Paterson , one of the agents ,used afterwards to s ay that the Highlanders who arrivedin poverty , and who had been so badly treated , had paidhim every farthing with which he had trustedthem .

It would be tedious to describe the suflerings whi chthey afterwards endured . Many of them left . Others ,fathers , mothers , and children , bound themselves away ,as virtual slaves , in other settlements , for mere sub

sistence . Those who remained lived in small huts ,covered only with the bark of branches of trees to Shelterthem from the bitter winter cold

, of the severity of whichthey had no previous conception . They had to walksome eighty miles , through a trackless forest , in deep snowto Truro , to obtain a few bushels of potatoes , or a littleflour in exchange for their labour

,dragging these back all

the way again on their backs , and endless cases of greatsuffering from actual want occurred . The remembranceof these terrible days sank deep into the minds of thatgeneration , and long after , even to this day , the narrationof the scenes and cruel hardshi ps through which they had

NOTABLE DICTA . 269

to pass begui led , and now beguiles many a winter’s night

as they s it by their now comfortable fires ides .

In the following spring they set to work . They clearedsome of the forest , and planted a larger crop . Theylearned to hunt the moose , a kind of large deer . Theybegan to cut timber , and sent a cargo of it from Pictouthe first of a trade very profitably and extensively carriedon ever since . The population had , however , grown lessthan it was before their arrival ; for in this year itamounted only to 78 persons . One of the modes of layingup a supply of food for the winter was to dig up a largequantity of clams or large oysters , pile them in large heapson the sea- Shore , and then cover them over with sand ,though they were often , in winter , obliged to cut throughice more than a foot thick to get at them . Thi s willgive a fair idea of the hardshi ps experienced by theearlier emigrants to these Colonies .In Prince Edward Island , however , a colony from

Lockerbie , in Dumfriesshire , who came out in 1 774,seemed to have fared even worse . They commencedoperations on the Island with fair prospects of success ,when a plague of locusts , or field mice , broke out , andconsumed everything , even the potatoes in the groundand for eighteen months the settlers experienced all themiseries of a famine , having for several months only whatlobsters or shell- fi sh they could gather from the sea- shore .

The winter brought them to such a state of weaknessthat they were unable to convey food a reasonable distance even when they had means to buy it .In this pitiful position they heard that the Pictou

people were making progress that year , and that they hadeven some provisions to spare . They sent one of theirnumber to make enquiry . An American settler , when hecame to Pictou , brought a few slaves with him, and atthi s time he had just been to Truro to sell one of them ,

and brought home some provisions with the proceedsof the sale of his negro . The messenge r from Pri nceEdward Island was putting up at this man

’

s house . Hewas a bit of a humorist , and continued cheerful in spite ofall hi s troubles . On his return to the Island , the people

276 H IGHLAND CLEARANCE S .

congregated to hear the news . What kind of place isPictou enquired one . Oh , an awful place . Why, Iwas staying with a man who was j ust eating the last ofhi sniggers and the poor creatures were reduced to such apoint themselves that they actually believed the peopleof Pictou to be in such a condition as to oblige them to liveon the flesh of their coloured servants . They were told ,however , that matters were not quite so bad as that , andfifteen families left for the earlier settlement , where , for atime , they fared but very little better , but afterwardsbecame prosperous and happy . A few of their childrenand thousands of their grandchildren are now living incomfort and plenty .

But who can think of theseearly hardships and cruelexistences without condemning— even hating— thememories of the harsh and heartless Highland andScottish lairds , who made existence at home even almostas miserable for those noble fellows , and who then drovethem in thousands out of their native land , not caringone iota whether they sank in the Atlantic , 01 werestarved to death on a strange and uncongenial soilRetributive justice demands that posterity shouldexecrate the memories of the authors of such misery andhorrid cruelty . It may seem uncharitable to write thusof the dead but it is impossible to forget their inhumanconduct , though , no thanks to them— cruel tigers inhuman form— it has turned out for the better , for thedescendants of those who were banished to what was theninfinitely worse than transportation for the worst crimes .Such criminals were looked after and cared for but those

poor fellows , driven out of their homes by the Highlandlairds , and sent across there , were left to starve , helpless ,and uncared for . Their descendants are now a prosperous and thriving people , and retribution is at hand . Thedescendants of the evicted from Sutherland , Ross , Inverness- Shi res , and elsewhere , to Canada , are producingenormous quantities of food , and millions of cattle , topour them into thi s country . What will be the conse

quence ? The sheep farmer— the primary and originalcause of the evictions— will be the first to suffer . The


I may as well mention that it was in connection withRudha that I came to examine the book .

First I should mention that these people occupiedRhu as cottars , and they had land for whi ch apparentlythey paid no rent , but worked the land , of which Mr .Macdonald of Rudha cropped a portion . They paid rentfor grazing ,— a small nominal sum, and he himself paid avery small rent also to the then proprietor , Macdonaldof Clanranald. In fact he , as well as Macdonald ofBorrodale and Macdonald of Glen Alladale , came intopossession of the various lands as being sons of the thenMacdonald of Clanranald. They took these lands withthe population on them , and occupied them .

The rents were paid to the tenants , to these Macdonalds

,at a very small rate , because they themselves

were not highly charged .

It so came to pass that in Lord Cranston’

s time myuncle

,Gregor Macdonald , who then occupied Rudha ,

had to give a large increase of rent , 01 be quit of it . Well,he could not under the old system on which he heldit afford to give more rent . The consequence was thatthe farm was taken over him and the cruel thing was ,that he was obliged to remove all the sub- tenants upon itwho had been there generations before him or hi s an

cestors . The only thing that he could do was to get hi sbrother Macdonald of Loch Sheil to take the people overto Loch Sheil in Moidart. Times grew black, and thepotato famine occurred , and the consequence was thatthere was a redundant population , for Mo idart hadpreviously been well inhabitated, and the addition of somany families from Rudha, Arisaig , quite overwhelmedthem when the potato famine occurred .

I was then puzzled to know how many came fromRhu

,Arisaig , and I got access in that way to the old books

from which I took an extract , and I have here a listof the names of the various people and the portions ofRudha that they occupied . In Ardgaseri ch there were1 2 , viz .

, Lachlan Mackinnon , Donald Roy Macinnes ,John Macintyre , John Mackinnon , Patrick Maccormack ,Neil Mackinnon , Ronald Macdonald, Mrs . Macdonald ,

NOTABLE DICTA . 273

Donald Macvari sh, Duncan Macinnes , John Macdonald ,and Allan Mackiii non . In Torbae there were 4, viz .

Angus Smith , L . Mackinnon , J . Macdonald , JohnMacias aac . In Dubh- chamus , ten , viz .

, John Kinnaird ,John Macisaac

,Finlay Mackellaig, Archibald Macfar

lane , James Macdonald , Widow Maceachan, PatrickGrant , Allan Mackinnon , Dugald Macpherson , andWidow Maclean . In Rudha , 1 1 , viz . , Mrs . DonaldMacdonald , Donald Macinnes, Roderick Mackinnon ,John Maccormack , Rory Smith , Angus Bain Macdonald ,Ewan Mackinnon , Peter Macfarlane , Dugald Gillies ,Alexander Macleod , Angus Roy Maceachan. These arein all 37, and they are evidently of different families .The rents were given

,and the payments made , and

everything in connection with their holdings . The dateof this is 1 794.

I was going on to explain that these people , or ratherthe descendants of some of them , had to be removed toMoidart, and in the congested state of the estate it hadto be considered what was best to be done . I was thena young man . I had just passed at the Bar , and I andthe late respected J ames Macgregor of Fort Williamwere appointed trustees to do what was best . Wecould see nothing for it, — it was impossible for thepeople to subsist , —but to assist them to emigrate , andwe were assisted very materially in carrying out theemigration by the resident Catholic clergyman of thattime , Rev . Ronald R ank ine , who indeed followed them .

So many of them went to Australia and a few of themto America . But never shall I forget until my dyingday ,— it is a source of grief to me that I had anythingwhatsoever to do with that emigration

,although , at

the same time , God knows I cannot understand how itcould have been averted . Many of the people havesucceeded well and are well -to - do , but if they had re

mained , they would have been impoverished themselves ,and they would have impoverished the few that are stillon the estate .


AN OCTOGENARIAN GAEL .

In his interesting volume entitled Remini scencesandReflecti ons ofan Octogenari an 6a , Mr . Duncan Campbell , for over twenty- s ix years editor of the N orthern

Chroni cle, writes as follows with regard to the Breadalbane EvictionsAs second Marquis , the son of his father , contrary

to all prognostications , became , as soon as expiringleases permitted it , an evicting landlord on a largescale , and he continued to pursue the policy of j oiningfarm to farm , and turning out native people , to theend of his twenty- eight years’ reign . But like thefirst spout of the haggis , his first Spout of evicting energywas the hottest . I saw with childish sorrow, impotentwrath , and awful wonder at man

’s inhumanity to man ,the harsh and sweeping RO1 0 and Morenish clearances ,and heard much talk about others which were said to beas bad if not worse . A comparison of the census returnsfor 1 83 1 with those of 1 861 will show how the secondMarquis reduced the rural population on hi s large estates ,while the inhabitants of certain villages were allowed ,or, as at Aberfeldy, encouraged to increase . Whensuch a loud and long - continued outcry took place aboutthe Sutherland clearances , it seems at first Sight strangethat such small notice was taken by the Press ,authors , and contemporary politicians , of the Breadalbane evictions , and that the only set attack on theMarquis should have been left to the vainglorious , blundering , Dunkeld coal merchant , who added the chief - likeword Dunalastair to his designation . One reasonperchance the chief one— for the Marquis’s immunity wasthe prominent manner in which he associated himselfwith the N onintrus ioni sts , and his subsequently be

coming an elder and a liberal benefactor of the FreeChurch . He had a Presbyterian upbringing , and livedin accordance with that upbringing . H is Free Churchzeal may, therefore , have been as genuine as he wishedit to be believed but whether simply real or partly


from Breadalbane, Lochearnhead , and Balquhi dderwent off to Nova Scotia about 1 828, and got Gaelicspeaking ministers to follow them . In 1 829 a greatnumber of Skyemen from Lord Macdonald

’

s estate wentto Cape Breton , where Gaelic is the language of the peopleand pulpit to this day . The second Marquis of Breadalbane would have won for himself lasting glory andhonour

,and done hi s race and country valuable service ,

if he had chosen to place himself at the head of an emi

gration scheme for his surplus people , instead of merelydriving them away , and further trampling on their feeli ngs by letting the big farms he made by clearing out thenative population to strangers in race , language , andsympathies . He was rich, childless , and gifted , and heutterly missed hi s vocation , or grand chance for gaininglasting fame among the children of the Gael .At a later period of my life than this of which Iam now writing , I looked into many kirk session books ,and found that those of the parishes of Kenmore andKillin indicated a worse state of matters in Breadalbanethan existed In any of the neighbouring parishes . Pauperi sm was increasing at a rapid rate , although it was anotorious fact that rents there were lower than on otherHighland estates . The old Marquis was never a rack1 enter . Other proprietors , when leases terminated , tookmore advantage than he did of a chance to rais e rents ,and when once raised they strove ever afterwards tokeep them up . But I do not wonder that his son thoughtthat if things were allowed to go on as he found them onsucceeding to titles and estates , a general bankruptcywould soon be the result . Without ceasing to regretand detest hi s methods , I learned to see the reasonableness of the second Marquis

’

s view of the alarming situation . The population had Simply outgrown the meansof decent subsistence from the carefully cultivatedsmall holdings whi ch were the general rule . Hadit not been for the frugality and self -helpfulness ofthe people , the crisis of general poverty would havecome when the inflated war prices ceased , or at leastin the short -crop year of 1 826, when the corn raised in

NOTABLE DICTA . 277

Breadalbane , although the hillsides were cultivated as

far up as any cereal crop could be expected to ripenin the most favourable season , did not supply mealenough for two - thirds of the people . But the calanasof the women

,especially as long as flax - spinning con

tinned in a flourishi ng condition , brought in a good dealof money ; and for many years Calum a Mhuilin

(Calum of the Mill) , otherwise Malcolm Campbell , roadcontractor, Killin , led out a host of young men to makeroads in various parts of the country, and these returnedwith their earnings to spend the winter at home . Thesesources of profit were beginning to dry up when the OldMarquis died .

What came of the dispersed The least adven

turons or poorest of them slipped away into the nearestmanufacturing town , or mining districts where there wasa demand for unskilled labourers . There some of themflourished , but not a few of them foundered . The largerportion of them emigrated to Canada , mainly to theLondon district of Ontario , where they cleared forestfarms , cherished their Gaelic language and traditions ,prospered , and hated the Marquis more , perhaps , than herightly deserved when things were looked at from hisown hard political- economy point of view .

S TA TI S TICA L S TA TE M E N T.

POPULATION IN 1 83 1 , 1 84 1 , 1 85 1 , 1 88 1 , AND 1 9 1 1 , OF ALL THE

PAR ISHE S IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE COUNTY OF PE RTHSHIR E .

AberfoyleAbernethyAbernyte

ArngaskAuchterarderAuchtergaven

Balquhi dderBendochy

Blai r-AtholBlairgowrieCallanderCaputhCargi llCluni eCollaceCulros sComri e

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Fortevi ot .

FortingallFos soway andTiilli ebOle

m

Fouli s Wes terGlendevonInchture


Ki lmartin

K i lmodan

Ki lmore andKi lbride .

Kilnini an andKi lmore

K ilniver and K i lmelford

Knapdale, NorthKnapdale, South ”

Li smore and AppinLo chgo ilhead and K ilInOI' ich .

Morvern

Saddelland Ski pnes s”

Sma ll IslesSouthend .

Strachur and.

StralachanTi ree and CollToros ay

POPULATION IN 1 83 1 , 1 841 ,1 85 1 , 1 88 1 ,

AND I g I I , OF ALL TH E

PAR ISHE S IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN TH E COUNTY OF INVE RNE SS

AbernethyAlvi eArders i er , .

A rdnamurchan

Boleskin and Abertarff

Cromdale.

CroyD avi ot and D unli chi tyDores . .

Duthi lGlenelgInvernes s

K i lmonivaigK i lmorach (includingK i ltarli ty "

Kingus s i e and InshKirkhi llLagganMoy and D alaros s i e

PettyUrquhart and Glenmori ston

UrrayI nsular

Bracadale

Including 948 mi li tary and mi li ti a in Fort-George in I 88I .

STATISTICAL STATEMENT . 281

POPULATION IN I 83 I , I 84 1 ,

Alnes sApplecros sAvoch

1 85 1 , 1 88 1 , AND 1 9 1 1 , OF ALL THE

PARISHE S IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN TH E COUNTIE S OF R oss ANDCR OMARTY.

Confi n

CromartyD ingwallE dderton

P eanl . . n u lfffffiflfjfiL'

fififFoddertyGa irlo chGlenshi elK illearnan

Ki lmuir -E as ter

Ii fltearn

KincardineKintai lKnockbainLochalshL ochbrOOIn

LochcarronLogi e E as terNigg .

R eso li s Or K 1rkm1 chae1R os emarki eR os skeen

TarbatUrquhart and Logi e -Wes ter

UrrayInsular

BarvasLochsStornoway

30 1 1

3067

549 1

304 1

3850 4 1 89 532 5 6040

3653 42 56 62 48 6689

62 1 8 8057 1 0389 1 3438

33 1 6 3209 3489 3436


POPULATION IN 1 83 1 , 1 84 1 , 1 85 1 , 1 88 1 , AND 1 91 1 , OF ALL TH E

PAR ISHE S IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN TH E COUNTY OF CAITH NE s s .

1 83 1 1 84 1 1 85 1 1 88 1 1 9 1 1

1 6 1 5 1 689 1 658 1 608 1 3932 364 2 306 2 437 2 62 6 1 866

1 906 1 880 1 868 1 607 1 1 472 847 2 963 2 9 1 8 2 705 2 04 1

7030 7637 82 2 4 6675 45 1 2

1 1 46 1 584 1 873 2 002 1 450

2 88 1 2 8 1 1 2 506 2 1 9 1 1 8 1 1

4679 488 1 5096 62 1 7 4732

1 2 34 1 966 1 35 1 1 406 1 079

9850 1 0393 1 1 85 1 1 2 82 2 1 2 772

POPULATION IN 1 80 1 1 8 1 1,

1 82 1,1 83 1 , 1 84 1 , 1 85 1 , 1 87 1 , 1 88 1 ,

AND 1 9 1 1 , OF ALL TH E PAR ISHE S IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN THE

COUNTY OF SUTHE RLAND

As syut( flyne

Crei chDornochDurnes sE ddrachilli sFarr

Golsp i eKi ldonanLairgLothTR eayR ogart

The lands of H elmsd ale and others previously in the pari shof Loth were, about thi s time , added to Ki ldonan , Whi ch accountsfor thi s large increas e . It also accounts for the decreas e in Loth .

1 Note that R eay i s given both in Caithness and Sutherlandrecords- s ame figures . The pari sh li es one half in each county.


the ejections were carried out in June , 1 81 4, and thathi s directions to the Officers were that they should lawfully ej ect the tenants , and that after ej ecting theyshould remove the roof of every house in Rhimsdaleexcepting those occupied by families, wherein sicknesswas mentioned to have been . That he was present atthe first part of the ej ections (of the towns of Garvault,R avigill, Rhiphail, and Rhilo i sk) , but after they hadej ected from a few houses and had unroofed these thetenants of the others ! in the neighbourhood yieldedobedience to the warrant , and removed themselves .Interrogated . If the declarant

’s orders to the officerand party were not to throw down the couples andtimber of the different dwelling-houses , barns , kilns , andsheep cots ? Declares that the declarant directed theoffi cers to remove the tenants’ property and effectsfrom the premises and thereafter to unroof the hutsto prevent them from retaking possession after thedeclarant should leave that part of the county . Sellarhimself admitted burning only in one case . The proceedings from a judicial aspect were largely a farce , ascan be judged from the fact that the first evidence ad

duced for the defence consisted of written certificatesfrom three landed proprietors , Who did not appear , as toMr. Sellar’s character for humanity , and that thesecertificates, although not evidence , were founded on inLord P itmilly

’

s charge to the jury . But the importantthing i s that Sellar ’s declaration implicates Lord and LadyStafford as being by their own instructions the directinstruments of putting this tyrannical under- factorin the position of rendering homeless some hundredsof their helpless tenants . The little crofts were madeinto large sheep farms , which were advertised to let to thehighest offerer, and the exposure was a farce , because theSutherland family had personally arranged that Sellarwas to be allowed to cap the highest ofier . One wouldrequire a double -power microscope to see the noblephilanthropy of that transaction I have extracted theabove summary from the report of the trial , which wasprepared and circulated by Sellar

’

s own junior counsel .

APPENDICES . 285

On the other hand , the stories yet told in Sutherlandrepresent a much harsher state of matters . I personallyhave talked with men whose fathers were as young children turned out on the hillside to see their li ttle cottagesburned to the ground , and I have had pointed out to methe sites of these same cottages and crofts , where nowthere is nothing but miles and miles of dreary wasteand this did not happen in one or two instances , but in thewhole of Strathnaver, Strathbrora , and many otherplaces in all parts of the county .

NOTE B . (See Page

The following interesting letter has been handed to theEditor by Mr . J . Stewart Bannatyne, solicitor , Glasgow

CASTLE BAY, BARRA .

S eptember 1 91 2 .

Dear Sir,In reply to your letter of the 6th inst , and after con

sulting the older inhabitants, I beg to inform you that itwas John Bannatyne who rescued Mrs . J . M

‘

Kinnon, hersister and another woman , from compulsory emigration ,but it was John Crawford who rescued John M ‘

Lean.

I know the women and M ‘

Lean as well as I know my twofingers , and heard the whole story from their own lipsdifferent times .

! Both my father and mother were eye-witnesses ofpeople being chased like wild cattle over the hi lls, not inBarra , but in North and South Ui sts . People canhardly believe now what took place then , and what mymother, who died in my arms at the fall of last year , toldme it would be enough to make the devil himself desperate , if I am not using too strong an expression .

! There is a man still living at Mallaig , Invernessshire , named Ewen M

‘

Dugald, who sailed with JohnBannatyne .

People nowadays are trying to deny that such


brutalities were carried out by landlords , but they neednot attempt such nonsense . I have no doubt but thedescendants of the perpetrators of those acts are ashamedof the deeds— and no wonder .

Yours faithfully,D ON . M ‘AULAY .

JOHN STEWART BANNATYNE , E sq. ,

Solicitor, Glasgow .

NOTE C . (See page

In the Invernes s Courz’

er for 1 1 thOctober , 1 837, appearsthe followingA large body of emigrants sailed from Tobermory ,

on the 2 7th September, for New South Wales . Thevessel was the Brilliant , and its size and splendidfittings were greatly admired . The pe0p1e to be conveyed by this vessel are decidedly the most valuable thathave ever left the shores of Great Britain . They are ofexcellent moral character, and, from their knowledgeof agriculture , and management of sheep and cattle ,must prove a most valuable acquisition to a colony likeNew South Wales . The Rev . Mr . Macpherson , ofTobermory , preached a farewell sermon before the partysailed . The total number of emigrants was 32 2 , made upas follows z— From Ardnamurchan and Strontian, 1 05from C011 and Tiree , 1 04 ; from Mull and Iona, 56 ; fromMorven , 25 and from Dunoon , 2 8. There were twoteachers and two surgeons . A visitor from New SouthWales presented as many of the party as he met withletters of introduction, and expressed himself highlygratified with the prospect of having so valuable anaddition to the colony . A Government agent superintended the embarkation .

j amz'

esrm M un ro, L td” P r inter s , S ti rling .

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