IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 / 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 IM 12.1 
 
 ||0 
 
 1.8 
 
 1-4 IIIIII.6 
 
 V] 
 
 v^ 
 
 ^;. 
 
 7 
 
 
 Hiotographic 
 
 Sdences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SB0 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 ,\ 
 
 iV 
 
 <F 
 
 ^\ 
 
 ^v 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 O^ 
 
 >^ 
 
 '% 
 
CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHIVI/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions 
 
 Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 
 
 1980 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy whicli may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 I I Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagde 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaurde et/ou pelliculde 
 
 I I Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 □ Coloured maps/ 
 C 
 
 Cartes gdographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleuj ou noire) 
 
 I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en cou'<fur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Relid avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge int^rieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear vvithin the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas 6tA filmdes. 
 
 L'Institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage 
 sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. 
 
 r~~1 Coloured pages/ 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 D 
 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommag^es 
 
 I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 
 Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6es 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages ddcolordes, tachetdes ou piqudes 
 
 □ Pages detached/ 
 Pages d^tach^es 
 
 r~~] Showthrough/ 
 IxJ Transparence 
 
 I I Quality of print varies/ 
 
 Qualitd in6gale de I'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du materiel suppl^mentaire 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont 6t6 film6es d nouveau de fapon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 D 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Conmontaires suppldmentaires: 
 
 Pagination ai follows : [i}^xvi, [1)-54,56. [55],57-212p. 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film6 au taux de rMuction indiqui ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 
 
 
 
 
 14X 
 
 
 
 
 18X 
 
 
 
 
 22X 
 
 
 
 
 26X 
 
 
 
 
 30X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12X 
 
 
 
 
 16X 
 
 
 
 
 20X 
 
 
 
 
 24X 
 
 
 
 
 28X 
 
 
 
 
 32X 
 
 1 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity off: 
 
 National Library of Canada 
 
 L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce i la 
 g6n6ro8it6 de: 
 
 Bibliothdque nationale du Canada 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6. et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprim6e sont fiim^s en commenpant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second 
 plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont film6s en common9ant par la 
 premidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par 
 la dernidre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol ^^^ (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la 
 dernidre image de cheque microfiche, seion le 
 cas: le symbole — ►signifie "A SUIVRE". le 
 symbole y signifie "FIN". 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The ifollowing diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre 
 filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit en un saul cliche, il est film6 d partir 
 de Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche d droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la mdthode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
DONALD M'LEOD'S 
 
 GLOOMY MEMORIES. 
 
f 
 
 
DONALD MACLEOD'S 
 
 Gloomy Memories 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND 
 
 VERSUS 
 
 Mrs. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE'S 
 
 SUNNY MEMORIES 
 
 Glasgow : 
 Archd. Sinclair, 47 Waterloo Street. 
 

 149931 
 
 1 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 T 
 t 
 
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION, 
 
 Many tbings have happened in the County of Sutherland, as well as 
 in the Highlands generally, since 1840-41, when Donald MacLeod wrote 
 to the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle about " the Sutherland Clearances," 
 «nd even since the later portions of this work were called forth by Mrs. 
 Beecher Stowe's attempt in her " Sunny Memories " to whitewash the 
 house of Sutherland after its defilement from contact with the fire and 
 crow-bar brigade of that county. To many interested in the Highlands 
 of Scotland, the title of this book has been long familiar, and the name 
 of Donald MacLeod has long been esteemed and honoured. Few, how- 
 ever, of the present generation have read the " Gloomy Memories" as 
 the earlier editions are long out of print, and but comparatively few of 
 the Canadian edition, published in 1857, reached this country. In these 
 circumstances it may be interesting to give a few facts regarding tlie 
 author of this patriotic work, and the causes which led him to publish 
 his " Gloomy Memories." 
 
 Donald MacLeod was born at Rossal, Strathnaver, where his father, 
 William MacLeod, was at the time a farmer. When Donald was about 
 twenty years of age, his father was obliged to leave his little farm in 
 orderthatit might form partof a gigantic sheep run, and was obliged to accept 
 a croft among others at the foot of the Strath, in Aird-an-iasgaich. After- 
 wards, the family were removed to Strathy Point, whence Donald had 
 to make another move at the instance of Patrick Sellar's successor. He 
 removed southward, keeping as long as he could within the bounds of 
 the county. The last employment he had in his native shire was as a 
 
u 
 
 mason building the breast on the north side of the Kyle, and to the easu 
 of the bridge of Bonar. 
 
 From this he went to Edinburgh, where he found access to the press, 
 but such an " agitator " was not likely to receive much encouragement in 
 that city of " law and order," and accordingly Donald MacLeod went ta 
 Canada, where he ended his days. In Woodstock, Ontario, he prepared 
 for the press, the edition which was published for him in 1857, by 
 Thomson & Coy., Colonist Office, Toronto. 
 
 No one who reads the "Gloomy Memories" and considers the author's 
 environments and opportunities, can fail to observe the marked ability 
 with which he states his facts, and the firmness displayed at a time when 
 his sentiments could find but little support and scanty approval. Despite 
 the attempts of Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Commissioner James Loch, 
 M.P., to whitewash the Sutherland escutcheon, and the various efforts of 
 the Sellar family to vindicate the memory of their father, yet the state- 
 ments made by Donald MacLeod hare never been overturned or refuted 
 — indeed they ha vein theselatter days been fully substantiated. The Royal 
 Commission appointed in 1883 to enquire into the condition of the 
 Highland Crofters had ample evidence submitted to it in the county 
 regarding the Sutherlandshire clearances, their extent and attendant 
 cruelties, At its sittings in Edinburgh, the Commission heard the 
 evidence of two witnesses of these cruel evictions, as well as received 
 fifteen duly attested affidavits of old men then living who had been eye- 
 witnesses of the clearances, and of the accompanying atrocities. 
 
 The conduct of the clergy during the period of these evictions must 
 call forth the censure of all right thinking persons. Instead of pleading 
 the cause of the poor and defending the widow and orphan, they, with 
 one or two exceptions, aided and abetted the evictors and sought t<x 
 justify their conduct. Nor is the attitude of the clergy towards the 
 Crofter Agitation in our own day much better. As a rule — with just 
 Bufficient exceptions to prove the rule — they have either sided with the 
 oppressors of the people and condemned the agitators, or displayed & 
 callous indifference when the most vital interests of their people were at 
 stake. Even many of the successors of those who protested so 
 vehemently against "site refusers" in 1843, are frequently found 
 attempting to justify the oppression and extortion of modern landlordism. 
 It is therefore a matter of profound thankfulness that the people have 
 asserted their rights and demanded a restitution of privileges long 
 denied them Till within recent years the Highland people were denied 
 
 ri 
 
iii 
 
 •a voice in the making of those lawg under which they lived. An ex- 
 tended franchise has recently endowed them with a new existence and 
 their sutferances are now sought for with a persistency indicative of 
 their importance in the domain of politics. * 
 
 The Crofters' Act of 1886, despite its imperfections and aggravating 
 limitations, is based on the historic rights of the Celts, and is therefore 
 but an earnest of what must yet be conceded, if the Highlanders 
 are united in their desires and persistent in their demands. How it 
 would have cheered the heart of Donald MacLeod had he lived to see 
 the passing of the Crofters' Act, and he would have been gratified beyond 
 measure to find that the electors of his native county had, at the last general 
 election, declined the blandishments of those in authority and sent a 
 crofter's son, Mr Angus Sutherland to Parliamelit to represent them — and 
 so furnished all other constituencies with an example well worthy of 
 imitation. 
 
 FIONN. 
 
 * In 18S4 the Sutherland coustitnency wm 325, in 1885 the extended fraoclii««i 
 railed it to 3180. 
 
 & 
 
 I at 
 
 so 
 
 nd 
 
 im. 
 
 IV© 
 
 led 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO CANADIAN EDITION 
 
 To DoSAhu Mathesov, Esq., 1VI.P.P., for North Oxford, Canada West, 
 and William Manson, Esq., Captain of the Highland Guards, New 
 York, Scottish Highlanders, and their descendants in the Canadas, 
 and in the United States of America. 
 
 Gentlemen, — In dedicating the following narrative to you, the author 
 has not the vanity to suppose that you will be honoured thereby, containing 
 as it does a narration of painful facts, connected with the suiieiing and 
 depreciation of a once mighty race of people, who had largely contributed 
 to the renown of Britain as a nation, and instrumental in raising her to 
 her present proud position among the nations of the earth. It is not the 
 object of the author to dilate here upon the antiquity and character of the 
 Celtic race, but expose the cruelty and injustice to which they have been 
 subjected by the aristocracy of Great Britain, and tolerated by the Gov- 
 ernment, seemingly with the avowed intention to extirpate them root and 
 branch from the land of their birth and home of their forefathers, and to 
 convert the fertile valleys of Caledonia, "the land of the brave," into 
 hunting and sheep walks. Doubtless the cruel dealings of Highland aris- 
 tocracy to the down-trodden sons and daughters of Caledonia, will find 
 apologists, and even at the present time they have procured an American 
 literary luminary, who promises well to whitewash their foul deeds, partic- 
 ularly the Sutherlandshire depopulators (o/'fA« /on^ purse); and endeav- 
 ouring to make it appear that all the author and others have written about 
 the Sutherlandshire clearances, were malicious accusations and groundless 
 grievances ; but she will not get Scot free away with it. I know, 
 experimentally, that the advocates of the poor man's rights do labor under 
 many disadvantages ; still the author of this work rejoices that he has it 
 in his power to appeal to hundreds of his countrymen to attest the veracity 
 of all the statements he advances, and has confidence in his own abilities 
 to bring home every charge of cruelty and oppression practised upon the 
 Sutherlandshire Highlanders by their ruthless and tyrannical lords of the 
 soil and their underlings. This unvarnished narrative, imperfect as it 
 may be, in regard to its literary character, is however, inscribed not from 
 any mercenary motives, but as a humble tribute of regard for your well 
 known sympathies for the wrongs of your oppressed countrymen : trust- 
 ing, that a liberal allowance will be made for the limited literary attain 
 ments of 
 
 Woodstock, 20th Fb., 1867. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 DONAI.D M'LEOD. 
 
r 
 
 ii 
 
 GESrLEHEN AND FeLLOW COUNTRYMEN: — 
 
 It is true, mfbanj of you said, that we have had at one time a nativity, 
 and a native country, to which we and our forefathers were married and 
 loved — where we have kindred feelings and associations, as sacred to our 
 memory as almost our very existence. It is true that we are the genuine 
 descendants of a race of whom we have much cause to be proud, and 
 boast of — for we may turn up the pages of antiquity and ransack modem 
 and ancient history in vain, to find out a race of people, among whom 
 bravery and patriotism existed equal to the Celtic race, or among whom 
 Civilization, Science, Literature, Morality, Benevolence, and Humanity, 
 made such progress as among the Celtic, who occupied the Highlands of 
 Scotland. But alas, ala^s ! It is true, that all that they were — all that 
 they have done for ungrateful Britain, went for nothing when their ene- 
 mies got the upper hand of them. It is now a lamentable truth, that the 
 Highlands of Scotland (Tlr mo ghrkidh. T\r nam beann, nangleann 's nan 
 gftisgeach) which the Boman army in their victorious days failed toconquer 
 — which the brutal Edwards, and Cromwell, and many other formidable 
 invaders failed to subdue — are now converted to a howling solitary wilder- 
 ness, from which joy and rejoicing are fled for ever. Where the martial 
 notes of the bag- pipes, echoed by mountains and glens, ceased to be 
 heard — and where no sweeter strains to cheer the stranger who may hap- 
 pen to travel there, are heard, than the yell of shepherds and foxhunters 
 the bleating of sheep, the barking of collie dogs, and the screeches of the 
 owl and eagle. 
 
 it is true my friends, that I have devoted all my spare time and means, 
 for the last thirty-four years, expostulating, remonstrating with, and expo- 
 sing the desolators of my country, and extirpators of my race, from the 
 land of their birth, and advocating the cause of the suft'ering people, dur- 
 ing these trying, murdering, and desolating times — considering that I 
 could not serve God in a more acceptable way, than to help those who 
 could not help themselves. Thousands of my countrymen in this country, 
 and elsewhere, will bear me witness in what I have suffered at the hands 
 of the scions of Highland aristocracy, for performing what I considered 
 my incumbent duty. 
 
 Not knowing my position in life, especially my pecuniary circumstances, 
 many of my countrymen in the Canadas, say — Why not come out Donald 
 M'JjEOD with your long promised Highland Cabin, that the cruel conduct, 
 and ungodly oppression of Highland oppressors, may be immortalized in 
 the Canadas. ^ 
 
 Your importunities are most agreeable to me, for I bear in my mind an 
 un«iying desire to gratify you, and I hope in the course of some time, that 
 I will accomplish it. 
 
 The only excuse I can plead for the delay, is my circumscribed circum- 
 stances. I have been peeled and plucked so often, that there was scarcely 
 a feather in my wings when I left Scotland, and they are but slowly pro- 
 gressing as yet — but there is hope of their restoration. To sol cit aid 
 was hitherto foreign to my mind, but now I am old «,«.d have learnt, 
 (nach sluagh duine na 6nar) that onrs man is not a people. 
 
ik 
 
 The time is now come when I consider I have to perfoiin my purt to 
 Ratify you. Tlie conflicting opinions and ideas regarding the riyhta of 
 property, more especially prof>erty in land, and what constitutes propei-ty 
 in land, is a great barrier in my way : all who read and believe sacred 
 history. I think will agree with me, that the whole creation of God was at 
 one time public property. How is the most part of God's creation now 
 taken out of His hands, and converted to individual private pro[ierty 1 
 Since history took notice of the movement of nations, I can trace only 
 three fundamental, feasible lawe, which constitute right of property in 
 land, viz : — the laws of discovery, of conquest, and of purchase, for 
 instance, when a seafaring captain discovers a continent, or an island, he 
 takes possession of it in the name of his Sovereign and Government. 
 On his return he is rewarded. Government transports, with soldiers, sur- 
 veyors, pioneers, <fcc., are dispatched to ascertain the mineral wealth 
 and various resources of the land, and all expenses for discovery, and of 
 the expedition are paid out of the public treasury, hence the discovered 
 land becomes national property. Emigration will follow, commissioners 
 are appointed by government, (and paid out of the public purse) to sell 
 the land. The land is sold, but under certain stipulations, and these 
 conditions must be observed, or the purchase right is forfeited. Though 
 you purchased the land legally, and pay for it punctually, still government 
 has a perfect right, (at least should have) to compel the obstinate and 
 vicious to cultivate, or use the land for the greatest good or benefit of the 
 lieges ; wise governments do in all cases retain for themselves the power 
 that no right of property in land shall be a barrier to public good and 
 prosperity ; railways and canals can be driven thi-ough your land, quarries 
 and gravel pits can be opened in your corn-fields, whether you will or not, 
 so that in my opinion land cannot be, nor should be, private property 
 that a man can do what he pleases with it. 
 
 There are many vicious, inhumane, and unconstitutional men in this 
 world, and to be found among laud owners in greater ratio than any other 
 •classes I know or read about. Now supposing that one or any number of 
 them took it into their heads to convert their estates into hunting parks, 
 lays, and preserves of wild and destructive animals, which could neither 
 be enclosed nor prevented from depredatory inroads upon other people's 
 property — purposely to afford themselves, their rich friends, and favourite 
 companions amusement, or to let their domains upon rent to sportsmen, 
 should not government interfere. But to find these men boldly entering 
 both Houses of Parliament with a bill demanding an Act of Parliament to 
 protect them in their wicked and unconstitutional scheme, and to punish 
 by banishment or long imprisonment, any one who would even trespass 
 upon the preserves or lays of these animals to annoy them. But this is 
 not all, but an act whereby they could seize upon the property of their 
 poorer co-proprietors and neighbours, bum down their habitations, banish 
 themselves from the land, and add their property to their own extensive 
 game preserves. You surely would consider this effrontery without a par- 
 allel in the annals of plunderers ; and T am sure you will agree with me 
 ithat the imbeci lity, yea, insanity of the Legislature or Government who 
 
rt 
 
 Ml 
 
 III 
 
 IV 
 
 t 
 
 HI 
 
 rii 
 
 Hi 
 
 f ■ ^ f ! 
 
 i • 
 
 i \ 
 
 would enact such laws and grant such liberties, are beyond the compre- 
 hension of ratioral beings ; likewise that the shortsightedness, culpable 
 carelessness, and cowardice of a nation boasting of their civilization, intel- 
 ligence, and Christianity, who would tolerate such unwise and ungodly 
 proceedings are beyond description. But you say Donald are you 
 raving, where did sucl'. enormities take place 1 I tell you in Scotland ;. 
 yes in beloved and never to be forgotten Scotland, in Caledonia Tir nam 
 beann, nan gleann 's nan Gaisgeach, — " the land of the mountains, 
 the cataracts, and heroes" still worse than this took place, and I will make 
 it as clear as noonday to you in my narrative, — yes, after the union of 
 England and Scotland, far more insane and unconstitutional laws were 
 enacted, and to the everlasting disgrace of the British Parliament and 
 nation are still allowed a stain upon the statute book, and in full opera- 
 tion, to rob the poor to make the rich richer — to gratify a few avaricious 
 minions who, constitutionally speaking, forfeited their rights of property,, 
 (with very few exceptions) their rights and privileges of communion with 
 christians, and who should long ere now be arrainged before the highest 
 tribunal of the nation, and dealt with as conspirators and traitors. Men 
 who have neither bravery, ancestry, virtue, or honour to boast of ; men 
 who cannot claim the rights of discovery, of conquest, of defending, nor of 
 purchase to the land they now hold as their private property, and con- 
 sidering their rights to these lands sacred. 
 
 Very few Historians, however unprincipled and partial, ever attetnpted 
 to deprive the Celtic race of their right of discovery to Scotland, and we 
 have ample proof in history of how the Celts defended Scotland from • 
 every invader from the first invasion of the Romans down to the ignoble 
 union or alliance with England ; so that Scotland stands alone among the 
 nations of the known world unconquered. No doubt the Lowlands of 
 Scotland have been invaded and conquered more than once ; but when 
 these powerful invaders came to exchange blows with the (unmixed in 
 blood) Celtic Caledonians, they met with more than their match, were 
 repelled, had to retrace their steps, and often not many of them left to 
 retrace their steps. If this is admitted, (and who can deny it) I maintain 
 that the lineal descendents of the discoverers and defenders of Scotland, 
 are the real proprietors of the land, and that every one of that lineage from 
 John O'Groat to Maiden Kirk, has as good a right to a portion of the 
 land as the Dukes of Roxburgh, Buccleuch. Hamilton, Athol, Argyle, 
 Gordon, or Sutherland, who (along with other nine or ten Earls, Mar- 
 quises and Lords) hold more than the two-thirds of Scotland, as their 
 private property, exclusively for themselves and their families' agrandize- 
 ment, luxury and amusement, and three-fourths of their domains devoted 
 to rear brute animals. How the legitimate heirs of children of the soil 
 were dispossessed and expelled, and how aliens and cruel bastards got 
 possession of the Scottish soil, is to be explained. To trace the history 
 of the Celtic race down from the Garden of Eden to Cape-wrath, in 
 Sutherlandshira would be the work of supererogation, hence I must con- 
 fine myself to the time since history took hold of their movements and 
 s^'btem of Government; and however complicated, conflicting, and partialis 
 
 1 . 
 
historians are upon the genealogy, cust/)m8 and government of this 
 it is evident that braver men never existed, and no other race on 
 
 race, 
 
 record who excelled them in literature, science, and civilization. 
 
 I would in particular solicit the attention of my readers to what they 
 should all know — the chain of Scottish historians, whose works are still 
 extant, though suppressed and locked up from those who should be edified 
 by them — works sufficient to convince the most obdurate, that learning and 
 civiliaation always followed our i-ace from the earliest ages, not only in 
 Scotland but in other nations where they made a distinguished figure. 
 " I am tired," says Julius Leichton, "of hearing the Roman authors 
 quoted, whew the commencement of our civilization is spoken of, while 
 nothing is said of the Celts, or of our obligation to them. It was not the 
 Latins, it was the Gauls who were our first instructors. Aristotle 
 declared that philosophy was derived by the Greeks from the Gauls, and 
 not imparted to them. The Gauls were truly of sharp wit and apt to 
 learn. So much did the Briton Celts excel in profound learning, that 
 the youths of the continent came hitherto to study by a course of no less 
 than twenty year's probation." (See I'acitus's life of Agricola.) Read 
 the same Roman historian's admiration and description of the Caledonian 
 Celts under the command of Corbred the Second, surnamed Galgacus and 
 twenty -second King of Scotland, when they confronted the Roman army 
 under the command of Agricola, at the foot of the Grampian hills, where 
 a most sanguinary battle was fought ; and though the Romans by strata- 
 gem gained a partial victory, and when Agricola proposed to pursue them, 
 " No," said Tacitus (his son-in-law) " be content that you have so many 
 of the Roman soldiers to lead off the field that if you pursue the defeated 
 Caledonians one league further, yon shall not have one Roman soldier to 
 guard your person going home. These are the most formidable, and 
 bravest enemy that ever Rome had to confront, every one of them will die 
 before they yield, they are true patriots, Agricola, make all haste to your 
 strongholds or you are done." So the Romans had to retrace their steps, 
 and the Calenonians pursued them until the Romans were ultimately 
 driven into the sea. Columba burned many of these Celtic records, yet 
 many survived his ravages. St. Patrick burned one hundred and eighty- 
 nine of those works at Tara, Ireland, all written in the Gaelic language, 
 with a little mixture of Latin. Edward the First, of England, destroyed 
 many of them, and after the ignoble union with England, what portion of 
 them were preserved extant from these ravages, are now suppressed so as 
 to deprive Scotland of their Celtic record and of the history of their grand- 
 fathers. I find thirty-seven of these records suppressed, and locked up in 
 libraries where only a few favorites are admitted, and those say very little 
 about them, except what they say to mutilate and violate them. To 
 enumerate all the works in the Gaelic, Latin, and English language, now 
 suppressed, would require more room or space than I can spare in 
 this small narrative. Among these works, we find the ancient annals of 
 Scotland ; the Pictish Chronicle of high antiquity ; the register of St. 
 Andrew, beginning with 827, when that university was founded by the 
 :j)iimitive Celtic christians of Scotland; the works of Nenius in the 
 
il'^-! 
 
 7 
 
 i s 
 
 Hi 
 
 seventh century ; the annals of Dunbarton, be^nning with the Colum- 
 bian period ; the Chronicle of Melrose, partly written in Gaelic, ancE 
 partly in Latin ; the Obituary and Chartularly of Glasgow ; the History 
 of Scotland by Vermandus, Arch-Deacon of St. Andrew, in 1079, 
 Hector Boethius, first principal of Aberdeen College, his history cut deep 
 and is on that account abhorred by the English, (on the savage charge 
 given by Edward the First to his no less savage son, t6 boil him after he 
 was dead, and to carry his bones with him to frighten the Scots) — Boethius 
 remarks that after he was boiled, " few would sup the broth." The black 
 book of Paisley, the last part of which is a continuation of Scots' Chroni- 
 con. Also Lord Elibank's Treatise on the Scottish League with France 
 in the reign of Charlemange ; and the vast collection of Scottish Annals 
 collected by Sir James Balfour, still preserved, particularly his registers 
 of Scone and Oambuskeneth, now locked up in the Advocates' Library, 
 Edinburgh, besides his history of Fergus the First to Charles the First; 
 together with the Monastic Chronicles, under the appropriate title of 
 Scottish Annals. 
 
 But all these and as many more are suppressed, and locked up, but still 
 extant ; besides this we have about one hundred manuscript volumes in the 
 Gaelic language, collected and in the possession of the Highland Society, 
 Edinburgli, some of which were transcribed in the fifth century, and is 
 allowed by competent judges, to be the oldest document written in any 
 living language ; the document itself is sufficient to prove its author. He 
 was named Fithil, rector of the High School of lona. The volume con- 
 sists of two poems, inculcating the only true guide to well-doing here, and 
 eternal happiness hereafter, viz. : that spotless morality which is alone 
 founded on the word of God ; there is also a critical dissertation on a 
 singular poem, Tain Bo, or the cattle spoil, an event which happened only 
 five years after the Ascension. All of these Gaelic volumes consists of 
 treatises on Botany, Anatonay, Astronomy, Astrology, Theology, Economy, 
 Science, Literature, and Politics ; all in the Gaelic language, but all (as I 
 said befoie) suppressed or lying useless, locked up in universities' and 
 societies' lii)raries. It is a very natural enquiry ; — Why are these works 
 suppressed or locked up ? or by whom, and what is the cause for if? — 
 They are suppressed by the British Government, and the cause is obvious 
 but ignoble in the extreme. 
 
 Previous to the miscalled union of Scotland and England it is evident 
 that England could never conquer Scotland until the Caledonians were 
 subdued ; they often made bloody attempts, but were as often defeated ; but 
 England had recourse to intrigues, her favourite weapons, and after secur- 
 ing her alliance with Scotland, she found it a very easy task to conquer. 
 What her arms, and her bloody and murderous kings and generals could 
 never achieve, her treacherous intrigues and hioney did for he •. She got 
 Scot to fight against Scot, Caledonian against Caledonian. She then 
 laughed in her sleeve, and exulted like the lion in the fable when he 
 saw the two bulls in the same park with him quarrelling and fighting ; 
 knowing they would soon become his pray, for she {stretched upon a 
 couch of down.) had her soul satisfaction to see the two d stupid 
 
▼ii 
 
 Scottish bulls fighting between death and life until they ultimately con- 
 quered and subdued one another in 1746, upon the murderous and unfor- 
 tunate field of Culloden, when the English insatiable Lion seized upon 
 them both, and Scotland, who, before this, wasthe;)ndeandprotectores8 
 and faithful ally of all l^e reformed christian nations of the world, and 
 the terror of England; and all other cruel ambitious nations, her name 
 became now Ichabod, her glory departed, she forfeited her proud position 
 among nations, aud ceased forever to be numbered among them or recog- 
 nized as a nation. England seized her Government, her laws, and ip 
 short her all. The duped, afiected, and the disaffected, shared alike 
 No doubt the Duke of Cumberland, the most obnoxious, cowardly monster.^ 
 that ever disgraced humanity, commissioned his followers to acts of mur- 
 der, plunder, and violence. Thank God, unprecedented in the histories of 
 nations (excepting England) plunder which some of them do enjoy to this 
 day, Argyle among the noblest of them. In that unfortunate year the 
 Black Act was enacted, which deprived the Caledonians of their national 
 garb, of their arms, and forbade them to wear either under the 
 pains and penalties of heavy fines, long imprisonment, and banishment. 
 This nefarious act was in force, and strictly watched for thirty-two 
 years, which is equal to a generation. Our poets, the reprovers of evil 
 cowardly deeds, and the recorders of the deeds of valiant men, were 
 silenced, and many pf them made a narrow escape from the gallows, for 
 their pensive memoirs of the fallen at Culloden, on the day when Scot- 
 land was prostrated, at the foot of her avowed enemy, a day pregnant with 
 degradation, slavery, and the desolation and misery I have to record ; all 
 the Gaelic manuscript and history that could be discovered, by hook or 
 by crook, was seized, destroyed, or lockei up, among which was the 
 national records, from Fergus the First, to William the First, and none 
 who understood the language were admitted to see them ; and after the 
 elapse of thirty-two years of this Eeign of Terror very few were found 
 to peruse or understand the language. 
 
 Therewere various motives for these outrageous proceedings, against the 
 Caledonians in particular, and they answered their various designs to the 
 aristocrats heart's desire. England knew that the most efiectual way to 
 subdue the Celts, was to crush their loyalty to their legitimate sovereign, 
 to crush their kindred feeling, habits and customs, and extirpate the 
 patriarchial system of government from among them ; but there was 
 another primary cause, viz. : the Celtic history of Scotland recorded the 
 feudal brutality of English invaders in Scotland, which is indeed too 
 horrifying to speak of, hence would need to be suppressed, that England's 
 barbarity might be obliterated, and that Scotland and Ireland might be 
 saddled with all her sins. Moreover that Scotland might be left defence- 
 less from the attacks of England's hired historians, to defam i her in her 
 government and her chivalry, in her patriotism, her customs, her science, 
 and literature, and to make evferything that was great and good, English. 
 It is a notorious fact that so far as the ingenuity of these hired emmisaries 
 could go, they were faithful to their employers ; and that these noted 
 
 caluumiators of Scotland were chosen frou 
 
 among 
 
 her own treacherous 
 
in 
 
 ! . 
 
 vui 
 
 sons, begiimiiKi: vnMn Robertson, under the dictation and command of 
 Horace Walpiiki, tlfi» notorious Dupe of Ghatertoii, down to infamous 
 Babinis^n Muuuiio^. Limits will not permit me to detail the injustice 
 done to CedoimnK Hy these hired literary scourges, yet with all that they 
 have done, thareiitsttill extant of the history of our noble race, enough to 
 make these uuxtii^tiTS blush, and more than enough to make their spurious 
 sarcasm and imtfumded. calumny stiuk in Scottish and in the world's 
 nostrils. Fi-^"*- bmdted years before the Christian Era, the Celts took 
 possession of iauinltHui^ and down from that period they governed them- 
 selves under Hof ffteriarchial system, until the last remnant of it was 
 destroyed upon i^h- unfortunate muir of CuUoden ; they had their kings 
 and chieftaiiiti.wrii4JWHi'eentrusted with theirgovernment, not by hereditary 
 rights, but as Dbwi;- w«?e found competent to discharge their duties. They 
 obeyed and ardmi%- Ibved and respected their kings and chieftains while 
 they behaved uhtmsftlves, but no further ; never allowed them to interfere 
 with the rigirts ttf tihfr land any further than to parcel it out to their 
 followers impaattiiHll)jr,. and the people parcelled out to them what they con- 
 sidered sufficient tij; libeep them comfortable and respectable. The chief- 
 tains or captidiK ^^tm- amenable to the king in all their proceedings , 
 when a dispute amsur between the people and their chief, that could not 
 be settled otbarwiHK^ i* was submitted to the king as their umpire ; his 
 decision wae finiil. 
 
 When the krhtg mwyiired men to defend the nation, each chief had to 
 appear with so iBDMBjrcrained men, in proportion to the number entrusted 
 to them; andingnriportion as they distinguished themselves on the battle 
 field, they weme iiifnaured and rewarded by the king. According to our 
 Celtic Annuls, lib? ftnmder of the noble family of Sutherland (after which 
 now an Engli^bnaoi takes his name, and who will make a conspicuous 
 figure in my naanatewR) ilourished in the year seventy-six. and fought 
 under Galgaoufi, rdlft- hero of the Grampians, (see Nicholl's Scottish 
 Peerage) and we ttiixB another' of that noble family of Thanes, Barons, and 
 Earls, who kept tlihtiir history unsullied from 'any acts of cruelty or injus- 
 tice for more thuu ouutteen hundred years, and their memory dear to those 
 under them far ttgf»b. I say we find him joining Bobert Bruce upon the 
 memor«,ble field <vS ffikuinockbum, leading a powerful and resolute body of 
 his retainers to IfcedKirf' of slaughter; upon this great 'occasion they distin- 
 guished ■chemselTmtso'well that the king complimented their noble leader 
 upon the field of iimtttilft', and shortly afterwards presented him with a charter 
 of lands in ManmHiire: Caithness and Sutherland Shires; but upon the 
 express condition* tiiiKC he would attend to the military discipline of those 
 brave man, and r&oiA her and his offspring, and they and their offspring, 
 would possess th(we LkHuis while he and them continued loyal subjects, and 
 attached to the mfiwai of Scotland ; many similar distinctions were made 
 and charters f^suiKfi hy Robert Bruce after the battle of Bannockbum, 
 but all on th« ssvuh' (umifitiims. Many of the Scotch Kings and Queens 
 who succeeded lESbuRie w«re still more strict upon the chief or captains ; 
 they were restriatafl Qsi only a few acres of pleasure ground, and no piece 
 of land suBoeptitile off (ndtiration was to remain uncultivated, or unoccu- 
 
w 
 
 pied, and the mountains and forests were free to all. Kings, queens, aud 
 captains, knew that men, faithful adherents, who had an interest in the soil, 
 were their safeguard and protectors in the hour of need and of danger, 
 and they valued their services. This is the fundamental Patriarchial laws 
 of property in land in Scotland. How were these laws reversed, and that 
 now, a very few men claim every inch of land in Scotland, as their private 
 property, and their rights to these sacred 1 Have they purchased their 
 lands from the rightful owners 1 No. Have they got it from Heaven 1 
 No ; but by taking the advantage of the revolts, and revolutions which 
 followed the dethroning of the legitimate Sovereigns, and the treacherous 
 union with England, they managed to plunder the people of it. After the 
 union a new sacred perishable parchment right of property was conse- 
 crated, and not a vestige of right or of protection was left for the people 
 only that the land was bound to maintain the disabled poor in so much of 
 the necessaries of life as was considered sufficient to sustain life, and so far 
 was this same vestige neglected, that it was for one hundred and twenty 
 years lying under dust, unmolested, in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, 
 and the poor throughout Scotland perishing and dying in want, and might 
 sl«ep there yet, was it not for that God fearing man, Mr Charles Spence, 
 Solicitor, Supreme Court, at the entreaties of many, made a search, and 
 found it and took an active part in putting it in force. I myself went to 
 Sutherlandshire and supplied Mr. Spence with seventy-two cases of the 
 Ducal Estate, besides what I supplied from the neighbouring Counties and 
 Estates ; we took action in some of them and were successful, the Court 
 of Session ',vas crowded with poor cases, there the hue and cry got up, 
 Highland landlords will be ruined and lowland landlords will not esca^je. 
 Sir Duncan MacNeil was then Lord Advocate for Scotland. He was soli- 
 cited to prepare a poor law bill to parliament to save Highland landlords 
 from ruin and bankruptcy. Sir Duncan went to work, prepared an ailmi- 
 rable bill, or rather a compilation of complications, of crook and straights, 
 hollows and holds, short and long, mockery and realities, sense and non- 
 sense, heaped up in a voluminous volume, he hurried the bill through 
 both Houses of Parliament, and behold the result ; the poor were depri\'ed 
 of the only vestige of right they had, and poverty made a crime, no man 
 however charitably disposed can interfere in their behalf now; but Sir 
 Duncan like a wise philosopher secured a luxurious situation for his Viro- 
 ther Sir John, who sits at the head of the Board of Su])ervision in 
 Edinburgh, gauging the stomachs of the Scottish poor to know to a nicety 
 how much food they require to sustain life. The operation of this bill is 
 a disgrace to Christianity, as you will see when I come to shew it up in its 
 proper place. But sinful and unjust as this bungling bill is, yet High- 
 land landlords found a loojvhole to get rid of it untouched. They had 
 a long established law by which they could expel the poor of the soil, to 
 foreign lands or to large towns where they had to be sustained by people 
 who had no right to do it, and who had no hand in impoverishing them aiid 
 besides they have an arbitrary power, (which none durst contend) to tax 
 the rest of their retainers, who in most cases are not much better off than 
 the paupers, they are taxed for their maintainance ; but they dai-o not 
 
 -^ 
 
I- Mil- 
 
 I 1 
 
 i i 
 
 whisper a conip oint or off'they^ go; in this way the Highland ininioiw- 
 got utt i^cQtJrtv,. But their unhallowed schemes are constituted in their 
 edicts forbidding mairiages on their estates. I have before me a letter 
 from a friend stating that there are in the parish of Clyne, Sutherlandshire, 
 a parish of small size, seventy-five bachelors, the oldest of them seventy- 
 five years; and the youngest of them thirty-five years of age, only two 
 marriages, and three baptisms registered ; in another parish one baptism no 
 tnarriage, and so on. It is not very likely that they would tell Mrs. 
 B. Stowe, or that she enquired about this edict, in order to give it a place 
 in her sunny memories, but she must have it. More of this afterwards. 
 In 1846, the result of expelling the people from their fertile valleys and 
 straths, and huddling them (those who could not make their escape to 
 foieign lands or elsewhere) together in motley groups upon patches of 
 harren moors, precipices, and by corners upon the sea shore, exposed to all 
 the casualities of the seasons ; places with few exceptions never designed 
 by God for cultivation, nor for the abode of man, without the least en- 
 couragement for improvement, all tenants at will ready to be turned away 
 for the least ofiVnce, or when a grazier or huntsman envied their places. 
 
 Tliis is a cursed scheme which was adopted by every Highland landlord, 
 from Cape-wrath to the Mull of Kintyre, with one or two honourable excep- 
 tions, (it would be more applicable if I called these Highland scourges). 
 I say in the year 184(j-'47, when the miserable unnourishing potatoe 
 cj'op which was reared upon these patches failed, then the cry of famine 
 in the Highlands got up like the voice of thunder, sounded and resounded, 
 to the outmost skirts of Europe, India, and America; public meetings 
 were called to see what could be devised and done to save the people. 
 The first meeting was held in the Music Hall, Edinburgh, the Lord 
 Provost Black, presided ; the Rev. Norman M'Leod, junior, moved the 
 first resolution, which ran nearly thus : — " As it pleased God in his 
 mysterious {)rovidence to visit the Highlands and Islands of Scotland with 
 Famine on account of their sin, that it behoved Christains of all denomi- 
 nations who were blessed with the means to come forward liberally that 
 the Highlanders might be saved." The resolution was seconded and 
 supported when his Lordship rose to put it to the meeting, I got up and 
 announced that I had a few woiua to say before it was put to the meeting, 
 being in my moleskin working dress every eye. was fixed upon me, the 
 same as if I was a wolf that had sprang up ; however I got a bearing and said 
 that I was a Highlander, and knew the cause of distress and famine in the 
 Highlands, and that I had devoted all my spare time for many years back 
 proclaiming it publicly in their ears, and the ears of the nation, predict- 
 ing that ultimately it would arrive at this fearful crisis, and now I cannot 
 sit quiet in this great assembly of learned men, and hear the sins and 
 heavy guilt of Highland proprietors saddled upon my God, and that by 
 his well paid servant. Will the Rev. mover of this resolution tell me 
 what cause he supposes the Lord has against the poor Highlanders for so 
 long a time (for they were not in a much better state for the last twenty- 
 six years than they are now), that he should send a famine among them 
 to destroy them ; or do the leaders of this movement consider themselves 
 
XI 
 
 more liuntane and merciful than God, or that puny man or uivn can con- 
 tend with him in doin;; what He in His mysterious providence, purposed 
 to do ; methinks, that iip (Jod was to visit sinners with famine or any other 
 calamity for their sins, that He would begin in London and with Highland 
 proprietors, and not with the poor people who were more sinned against 
 thansinners. Highland landlords are the legitimate parents, and the guilty 
 authors of this and of former distress and famine in the Highlands of Scot- 
 land, and should be made resiK)n8ible for it and for future calamities which 
 they are storing up for the unfortunate victims of their boundless avarice. 
 I did not come to this meeting, my Lord Provost, with a view to obstruct 
 the proceedings, for I rejoice to see such steps taken to save the people, 
 not from the famine God sent among them to destroy them, but from the 
 famine entailed upon them by their wicked unworthy landlords. But if 
 God is not exonerated from the charge brought against Him, publicly hero 
 this day, and entirely separated from an ungodly association of Highland 
 aristocrats, who were bent for years upon the destruction of Highlanders, 
 and upon the extermination of the race from the soil, T will be under the 
 necessity of proposing a counter resolution." His Lordship pledged him- 
 self that the committee would take it into consideration. I did not press my 
 motion and the meeting proceeded. The appeal went forth, and was 
 r(>sponded to in a manner creditable to the nation, the colonies and the 
 United States of America. In less time than could be expected, the 
 unprecedented sum of .£300,000 was subscribed, and the legitimate parents 
 of this distress were not behind with their subscriptions. Lord Macdonald 
 subscribed, among the first, one thousand pounds sterling, Duke of Suther- 
 land, two thousand pounds, other Dukes, Lords, Earls, and notorious Colonel 
 Gordon, followed the example so far. The sole management of this 
 enormous sum of money was placed in the hands of Government for dis- 
 tribution ; Lord Trevelyan, the Hero of the Test Starving Commission in 
 Ireland, was appointed as commissioner for the distribution of this munifi- 
 cent gift of nations for the relief of Highlanders. He got a brig of 
 war rigged out for his service, commanded, by one Captain Elliot, an 
 Englishman, an accomplished tool in the hands of tyrants and calumnia- 
 tors. The Highlanders were represented as dirty, lazy, untameable 
 beings, who would do nothing to help themselves while they would be 
 kept alive upon charity. Hence was decreed that every male and female 
 considered by the local Boards of Relief able to work, were not to be 
 relieved without working for it ; and to test their real need of relief, and 
 their willingness to work, they were allowed one pound of meal as meat 
 and wages for ten hours* labour, with the addition of one-half a pound of 
 meal to each cf their families, or children who could not work, and often 
 the meal was so much adulterated that it was dangerous for even swine to 
 eat it. Yes, reader, pregnant women whose husbands were not at home, 
 and aged widows, were seen at this work, and treated in like manner. 
 
 Tt was then suggested by some known knave, that Highland proprietors 
 would get so much of the money for improving their estates, as they 
 knew best who was worthy of relief, and willing to work ; and these sums 
 to be in proportion to their subscriptions ; then you may easily guess 
 
Xll 
 
 ' m 
 
 
 who got the lion's share of it. Froiu their own reports we find, tnat Lord 
 Macdonald got £3,000 in return for his j£l,000 subscription, what he has 
 done with it is not known, and never will, (and I durst not say that he 
 pouched it). His Grace of Sutherland got £6,000 in return for his £2,000 
 subscription, (good return) but his Grace built a splendid huntihg booth, 
 in a secluded Glen, in the north-west portion of his domains, and he made 
 a road to this booth from Lairg, through a solitary wilderness, a distance 
 of at least thirty miles, entirely for the accommodation of his gamekeepers, 
 huntsmen, and sportsmen ; any other travellers were seen only as rare as a 
 pelican in the deserts of Arabia. But very few of the Sutherlanders 
 reaped any benefit from these works, as on former ocoasiona strangers 
 were preferred. We could not expect to see this in Mrs. H. B. Stowe's 
 Sunny Memories. Neither need we expect to see in her future Memories 
 of the House of Sutherland, that during these distressing times a large 
 quantity of meal was deposited in some of his Grace's stores and entrusted 
 to some of his factors for distribution, and that that meal was concealed 
 or unrighteously kept from the people for a whole twelvemonth, and used 
 for feeding dogs, swine, poultry, and cattle, until it became so rotten that 
 it was found dangerous to the health of these animals, then men were 
 employed to hurl it out to middens and to the sea in rotten blue lumps ; 
 great quantities of it were disposed of in this way, while the poor were 
 chiefly feeding upon shell fish and sea weeds. This is a grave charge 
 against his Grace and his wicked servants, who were, at all hazards, 
 determined to destroy the people ; I have seen them living in Canada, and 
 not far from me, who were employed for days at this work. Whether his 
 Grace or his head commissioner, James Loch, dictated, or at least 
 •supplied Mrs. H. B. Stowe with all the information she required to make 
 up chapter seventeenth of her Sunny Memories, (a lady whom I will 
 use the liberty to address afterwards, but to whom I am not, at present 
 afraid to tell her if she founded the information in Uncle Tom's Cabin 
 upon no better evidence than she had on this occasion, that very little 
 credence can be placed in it). I say whether these personages, along 
 with Lord Trevelyan and his Quarter Deck Inspector were collectively or 
 separately connected with this diabolical outrage upon justice and 
 humanity, is better known to themselves ; but one thing is evident, the 
 crime was committed by their underlings, and let the reproach reaiain, 
 among them as an immortal stain upon their character. Black and 
 deformed as their deeds were, they were not without their precedents iu 
 the history of distributions in Sutherland^hire, which you will see as we 
 proceed. To be brief, I believe that if a correct history of the distribu- 
 tion of this munificent gift of nations, the squandering away of the money 
 and its misapplications could be obtained, it would be the most disgraceful 
 which ever has been recorded, and that it would be the astonishment of 
 mankind, how could men professing Christianity and of good standing in 
 society, be liardened so much as to commit such villany, or how could 
 they ever afterwards have the effrontery to shew their face in society. At 
 the closing up of the affair the public requested the trustees and ofi&cials 
 to render an account of their stewardship. Accountants were employed 
 
 ii4-L 
 
xiii 
 
 for months examining their books. It was found out that six or seven 
 thousand pounds sterling were wanted that could not be accounted for at 
 all, and their accounts and disbursements so much confounded and con- 
 fused tfiat scrutiny was given up, and the infamous affair hushed up, and 
 the wholesale plunderers allowed to escape with the booty, unblushingly to 
 mix with society. This is all the satisfaction the libeittl contributors got, 
 or ever will, excepting Highland Dukes, Lords, Ac, no doubt satisfactory 
 to them, for they got for cei-tainty the benefit of one hundred and thirty 
 thousand pounds of it ; take along with this. Captain Elliot with his crew 
 of marines and sailors, he receiving his £1 10s. per day, and his subor- 
 dinates receiving equal sums, according to their rank, and a host of agents 
 and officials on full pay, you may easily believe that a very small portion 
 of this extraordinary public bounty ever reached the stomachs of the 
 poor for whom it was intended. Indeed it is a question with me if the 
 poor realised any benefit at all from it, except those who had been trans- 
 ported to Canada and other colonies with it. I know for a certainty that 
 after the funds were exhausted, that the people were in a worse state than 
 thfry were before, and that the misapplication of these funds sealed the 
 public bowels of compassion against them in future. For many years I 
 was expostulating with the late and present Dukes of Sutherland in my 
 own humble way, for their policy towards their people. In 1841 I pub- 
 lished so many of my letters in the form of a pamphlet, which is here 
 reprinted — some may think that I have some particular private spleen 
 against the House of Sutherland, when I lay so heavy at them. To 
 disabuse the mind of such, permit me to say (honestly) that I have no 
 such private spleen to gratify, and that I have no more animosity towards . 
 the House of Sutherland than I have towards all other Highland depopu- 
 lators. That I was persecuted and suffered much at the hands of the 
 underlings of the House of Sutherland I do not deny nor conceal. But 
 it is the ten-times cursed system which desolated Caledonia, beggared and 
 pauperised the people, which broke down and scattered to the four winds 
 of heaven the best portion of the materials of our national bulwarks, which 
 robbed the people of their righteous rights, and left them the victims of 
 their avaricious spoilers and defamers. This is the system to which I will 
 be an avowed enemy and antagonist while I breathe the lireath of life. 
 You have now my former productions before you.. 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO MY FIRST PAMPHLET. 
 
 Famine and destitution in the Highlands of Scotland have become 
 proverbial, and if not altogether continuous, are at least the rule, while 
 any little gleams of improvement or partial alleviation form the excep- 
 tion. There are, however, there as elsewhere, a considerable number 
 who suffer few of the evils that flesh is heir to, but who thrive and fatten 
 on the miseries of their victims — the poor natives, whom they insult,. 
 
xlV 
 
 <)p])re88, and expatriate, without apparently the least compunction for 
 the extreme distress they occasion. 
 
 Every eft'ect must have a cause, and that cause I shall only glance at 
 here, as it will be sufficiently apparent in the course of my nnr ration. 
 
 During the Peninsular war an uncommon demand for provisions of all 
 description arose, and when, on the return of peace, this temporary de- 
 Tuand was subsiding, the landlords, being the legislators, contriv(>d to 
 keep up the extravagant war prices, by a system of prohibitions against 
 all foreign produce, so as to make a permanent artificial scarcity, and 
 consequent dearth throughout the country, that they might continue to 
 pocket the increased rents the war prices had enabled thetn to realise 
 in a depreciated currency. This, then, was the moving spring which 
 led to that general conspiracy of landlords against the before undis- 
 puted rights of the inhabitants, to a residence on their paternal soil 
 which they had so often defended with their blood, and to a subsistence 
 from its produce in return for their industry. Hence the severities 
 exercised in the most reckless manner, against the aborigines of the 
 Highlands in general, and those of Sutherlandshire in particular ; severi- 
 ties which have almost annihilated that habitual fidelity to, and respect 
 for his superiors, for which the Gael was always so reniarkal)le, and 
 which formed the leading moral trait in his character, and was identified 
 with his very existence. These bonds have been rudely severed ; the 
 immediate descendants of those serfs and retainers whose attachment 
 to their chiefs was a passion, and for whom they were at any time, ready 
 to lay down their lives, have been robbed, oppressed, and driven away, 
 to make room for flocks and herds to supply the intense demand of the 
 English market, excited by the legal prohibition of continental produce, 
 and the wants of a rapidly increasing population. 
 
 The motive of the landlords was self-interest; and in the Highlands it 
 has been pursued with a recklessness and remorselessness to which the 
 proverbial tyranny and selfishness of that class elsewhere furnishes no 
 parallel. Law and justice, religion and humanity, have been either 
 totally disregarded, or what was still worse, converted into instruments of 
 oppression. 
 
 The expulsion of the natives and the substitution of strange a<lven- 
 turers — sheep farmers, generally from England and from the English 
 liorder — being, as it were, simultaneously agreed upon by the Highland 
 proprietors, instruments were readily found to carry their plans into 
 effect, who soon became so zealous in the service — not, however, forget- 
 ting to profit by the plunder in the meantime — that they carried their 
 atrocities to a height which would have appalled their employers them- 
 selves, had they been witnesses of them. Every imaginable means, shore 
 of the sword or the musket, was put into requisition to drive the natives 
 away, or to force them to exchange their fafms and comfortable habita- 
 tions, erected by themselves or their forefathers, for inhospitable rocks on 
 the sea shore, and to depend for subsistence on the produce of the watery 
 element in its wildest mood, and with whose perils they, in their hitherto 
 pastoral life, were totally imacquainted aud unfitted to contend. 
 
 iL 
 
XV 
 
 This state of things, which I have reason to know, hun [trevailed luuru 
 or less in all the Highland districts for more than 20 years. xvas carried to 
 the greatest height in Sutherland. That unfortunate country whs made 
 another Moscow. The inhabitants were literally burnt out, and cvory 
 contrivance of ingenious and unrelenting cruelty was eagerly adopted for 
 extirpating the race. Many lives were sacriticed by famine and other 
 hardships and privations ; hundreds stripped of their all, emigrated to 
 the Canadas and other |)art8 of America; great numbers especially of 
 the young and athletic, sought employment in the Lowlands and in 
 England, where, few of them being skilled workmen, they were obliged — 
 even farmers who hadlived in comparativeaffluence in their own country — 
 to compete with common labourers as hewei-s of wood and drawers of 
 water, in communities where their language and simple manners rendered 
 theiQ objects of derision and ridicule. The aged and intirm, the widows 
 and orphans, with those who could not tliink of leaving them alone in 
 their helplessness ; and a number whose uttachment to the soil which 
 contained the ashes of their ancestors, and the temples where they hud 
 worshipped, in hopes of some change for the better, were induced to 
 Accept of the wretched allotments offereil them on wild moors and barren 
 rocks. These and their offspring remain in the country aud form tlw poor, 
 whose constant destitution and periodical famine is beginning to exerci<::^ 
 more attention, than is agreeable to those who have been the cause of their 
 miseries, lest many dark and infamous deeds should, by an authorised 
 enquiry be revealed in open day. Hence the violent opposition to a Gov- 
 ernment enquiry conducted by impartial persons. The lairds have no 
 objection to an enquiry to be conducted by themselves and the resident 
 clergy, knowing that in that case, they would be quite safe, and the report 
 would of course lay all the blame on the inveterate sloth, and vicious 
 habits they have unceasingly laboured to assign as the causes of Highland 
 <lestitution. Such a course of dark and inhumam policy as that so lon^' 
 going on in the Highlands, could not have existed if the public had been 
 properly aware of it, but among a simple illiterate people, speaking a j)ro- 
 vincial dialect, it was easy for landlords, clergy, factors, and new tenants 
 combined, who constituted the local administrators of both the law and 
 gospel — men possessed of wealth, influence, talents and education — it was 
 •easy for them to effect their purposes, and stiffle all enquiry, while the mild 
 nature, and religious training of the poor Highlanders, prevented their 
 i-esorting to that determined resistance and wild revenge which sometimes 
 sets bounds to the rapacity of landlords and clergy in the sister island. 
 The Highlanders had not language to make his wrongs known through 
 the press, nor did he resort to the ruthless deed ; hence he has been 
 oppressed with impunity, while his jjersecutors hold up their heads as 
 honourable gentlemen, and goodly ministers ! I am truly sorry that truth 
 has obliged me to represent the character of these latter gentlemen in such 
 an unfavourable light, but I am convinced that had they done their duty, 
 in denouncing the wrongs perpetrated before their eyes, instead of becom- 
 ing auxiliaries, the other parties would in most cases, have been unable to 
 |)i-oceed. The oppressors always appealed to them for sanction and justi- 
 
pp 
 
 'M 
 
 i 
 
 ! ! 
 
 i' 
 
 XVI 
 
 tication and were not disappointed. The foulest deeds were glossed over, 
 and all the evil which could not be attributed to the natives themselves, 
 such as severe seasons, famine, and consequent disease, was by these pious 
 gentlemen ascribed to Providence, as a punish went for sin — the other 
 parties who were enriching themselves, of course never sinned, for they 
 were rolling in wealth and luxury at the expense of the poor sinners ! 
 Such was the holy teaching of these learned clerics. They had always the 
 ear and confidence of the proprietors, and I put it to their consciences to 
 say how often, if ever, they exerted that influence in favor of the oppressed. 
 To the tribunal of that Master whose servants they pretend to be I cite 
 them, where hypocrisy and glaring perversions will not avail ! At this 
 same tribunal also I might arraign those unjust men who perverted the 
 judgment seat, and made what should have been a protection, an instru- 
 ment of oppression. But at present I must beg the reader's attention to 
 the following narrative, in which I have endeavored, by a recital of uncon- 
 tradicted and undenian/le facts, to bring these parties to the bar of public 
 opinion. Hitherto, during all the time that has passed in the publication 
 of these letters, no attempt has been made to deny the facts I have alleged, 
 ihough I have repeatedly challenged such contradiction. 
 
 Instead of my narrative exceeding truth, it has in reality fallen far short 
 of it ; for no language that I am able to use, can convey an adequate idea 
 of the ^/rongs and sufferings of my unfortunate countrymen. While I 
 feel myself called on by a sense of duty to bring these wrongs and suffer- 
 ings before the public, I regret that the subject has not fallen into abler 
 hands ; but, silence in the face of such a mass of cruelty and iniquity 
 would be enough to make the very stones cry out ! Having by the kind 
 ness of the PJditor of the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle been furnished 
 with a vehicle, and assisted by other kind friends and correspondents, 
 tliese letters have already met the public eye in the columns of that 
 excellent paper, to the Editors and Proprietors of which I and my 
 countrymen are so much indebted. I am now induced to comply with 
 the urgent request of great numbers of my countrymen and others, to 
 re-publish the letters in the form of a pamphlet. I have engaged in this 
 undertaking in the full confidence of the kind support of my countrymen 
 and fellow-sufferers and their descendants, in whatever place or country, 
 here or across the Atlantic, divine Providence may have fixed their 
 dpstiny, in the fervent hoi)e that He — 
 
 " Who sees with equal eyea, as Lord of all, 
 The hero perish and the sparrow fall, " 
 
 will so overrule events as to bring ultimate good out of the severe trials 
 which He hath permitted to overtake my dear country, and that — 
 
 " Though harsh and bitter is the root. 
 Yet sweet will be the flower 1 ' 
 
 Mi 
 
DESTITUTION IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 {To the Editor of the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle.) 
 
 Sir : — I am a native of Siitherlandshire, and remember when tlxe 
 inhabitants of that countiy lived comfortably and happily, when the man- 
 sions of proprietors and the abodes of factors, magistrates, and ministers, 
 were the seats of honor, truth, and good example — when people of quality 
 were indeed what they were styled, the friends and benefactors of all who 
 lived upon their domains. But all this is changed. Alas, alas ! I have 
 lived to see calamity upon calamity overtake the Sutherlanders. For five 
 successive years on or about the terra day, has scarcely anytliing been 
 seen but removing the inhabitants in the most cruel and unfeeling man- 
 ner, and burning the houses which they and their forefathers had occupied 
 from time immemorial. The country was darkened by the smoke of the 
 burnings, and the descendants of those who drew their swords at Bannock- 
 burn, Sheriffmuir, and Killicrankie— the children and nearest relations of 
 those who sustained the honor of the British name in many a bloody field — 
 the heroes of Egypt, Corunna, Toulouse, Salamanca, and Waterloo — v/ere 
 ruined, trampled upon, dispersed, and compelled to seek an asylum across 
 the Atlantic; while those who remained from inability to emigrate, de- 
 prived of all i/he coniforts of life, became paupers — beggars — a disgrace to 
 the nation whose freedom and honour many of them had maintained by 
 their valour and cemented with their blood. 
 
 To those causes the destitution and misery that exists in Sutherland- 
 shire are to be ascribed ; misery as great, if not the greatest to be found 
 in any part of the Highlands, and that not the fruit of indolence or im- 
 providence, as some would allege, but the inevicable result of the avarice 
 and tyranny of the landlords and factors for the last thirty or forty years; 
 of treatment, I persume to say, without a parallel in the history of this 
 nation. I know that a great deal has been done to mitigate the snfferiiigs 
 of the Highlanders some years back, both by Government aid and public 
 subscriptions, but the unhappy country of Sutherland wa.s excluded from 
 the benefits derived from these sources, by means of false statements and 
 public speeches, made by hired agents, or by those whose interest it was 
 to conceal the misery and destitution in the country of which themselves 
 were the authors. Thus the Sutherlandshire sutlerers have been shut out 
 from receiving the assistance afibrded by Government or by private in- 
 dividuals ; and owing to the thraldom and subjugation in which this once 
 brave and happy people are to factors, magistrates, and ministers, they 
 durst scarce whimper a complaint, much less say plainly, " Thus and thus 
 have you done." 
 
M. 
 
 II' 
 
 
 i ll 
 
 2 
 
 On thb 20th of last April, a meeting' of noblemen and gentlemen, 
 connected with diiferent districts of Scotland, was held in the 
 British Hotel, Edinburgh, for the purpose of making inquiry into 
 the misery and destitution prevailing in Scotland, and particularly 
 in the Highlands, with a view to discover the causes and discuss 
 means for meeting the prevailing evil. Gentlemen wete appointed 
 to make the necessary inquiry, and a committee named, with which 
 these gentlemen were to communicate. At this meeting a Sutlier- 
 landshire proprietor made such representations regarding the in- 
 habitants of that county, that, relying, I suppose, on his mere, 
 assertions, the propo.%d inquiry has never been carried into that 
 district. Under these circumstances, I, who have been largely a 
 sufferer, and a spectator of the sufferings of multitudes of my coun- 
 trymen, would have felt myself deeply culpable if I kept silence, and 
 did not take means to lay before the committee and the public the 
 information of which I am possessed, to put the benevolent on their 
 guard respecting the men who undertake to pervert, if they cannot 
 stifle, the inquiry as to the causes and extent of distress 
 in the shire of Sutherland. With a view to discharging this in- 
 cumbent duty, I published a few remarks, signed 'A Highlander,' 
 in the Edinburgh Weekly Journal of 29th May last, on the afore- 
 said proprietor's speech; to which he made a reply, accusing me of 
 singular ignorance and misrepresentation, and endeavouring to ex- 
 onerate himself. Another letter has since appeared in the same 
 paper, signed "A Sutherlandshire Tenant," denying my assertions 
 and challenging me to prove them by stating facts. To meet this 
 cnalleng^, and to let these parties know that I am not so ignoT-ant 
 as tlie} represent; and also to afford information to the before - 
 mentioned committee, it being impossible for those gentlemen to 
 apply an adequate remedy till they know the real cause and nature 
 of the disease, I addressed a second letter to the editor of the 
 Weekhj Journal ; but„ to my astonisliment, it was refused insertion; 
 through what influence I am not prepared to say. I have, in con- 
 sequouce, been subjected to niucli reilection and obloquy for desert- 
 ing a cause which would be so much benefited by public discussion; 
 and for failing to substantiate cliarges so publicly made. I have, 
 therefore, now to request, that through the medium of your valu- 
 able and impartial paper, the public may be made acquainted with 
 the real state of the case; and 1 pledge myself not only to meet; 
 the two opponents mentioned, but to produce and substantiate such 
 a series of appalling facts, as will sufficiently account for the dis- 
 tress prevailing in Sutherlandsliiie; and, I trust have a tendency 
 towards its mitigation. ,, 
 
 LETTER II. 
 Sir, — Previous to redeeming my pledge to bring before the public 
 a series of facts relating to the ;iiore recent oppressions and ex- 
 patriation of tlio unfortunate inhabitants of Sutherlandshire, it is 
 necessary to take a brief retl'osp<H'tive glance at the original causes. 
 
Down from the feudal times, the inhabitants of the hills ^nd straths of 
 Sutherlandshire, in a state of trannition from vassalage to tenancy, looked 
 upon the farms they occupied from their ancestors as their own, though 
 subject to the arrangements as to rent, duties and services imposed by 
 the chief in possession, to whom, though his own title might be equivocal, 
 they habitually looked up with a degree of clannish veneration. Every 
 thing was done "to please the Laird." In this kind of patriarchal 
 dominion on the one side, and obedience and confidence on the other, did 
 the late tenantry and their progenitors experience much happiness, and a 
 degree of congenial comfort and simple pastoral enjoyment. But tlie late 
 war and its consequences interfered with this happy state of things, and 
 hence a foundation was laid for all the suffering and depopulation which 
 has followed. This has not been peculiar to Sutlierlandshire; the general 
 plan of almost all the Highland proprietors of that period being to get rid 
 of the original inhabitants, and turn the land into sheep farms, though 
 from peculiar circumstances this plan was there carried into effect with 
 more revolting and wholesale severity than in any of the surrounding 
 counties. 
 
 The first attempt at this general clearing was pai'tially made in Ross- 
 shire, about the beginning of the present century; but from the resistance 
 of the tenantry and other causes, has never been carried into general 
 operation. The same was more or less the case in other counties. 
 Efl'ects do not occur without cause, nor do men become tyrants and 
 monsters of cruelty all at once. Self-interest, real or imaginary, first 
 prompts; the moral boundary is overstepped, the oppressed offer either 
 passive or active resistance, and, in the arrogance of power, the strong 
 resort to such means as will effect their purpose, reckless of conse- 
 quences, and enforcing what they call the rights of property, utterly 
 neglect its duties. I do not pretend to represent the late Duchess or 
 Duke of Sutherlandshire in particular, as destitute of the common attri- 
 butes of humanity, however atrocious may have been the acts perpetrated 
 in their name, or by their authority. They were generally absentees, and 
 while they gavein to the general clearing scheme I have no doubt they 
 wished it to be carried into effect With as little hardship as possible. But 
 their pronipters and underlings pursued a more reckless course, and, 
 intent only on their own selfish ends, deceived these high personages, 
 representing the people as slothful and rebellious, while, as they pre- 
 tended, every. thing necessary was done for their accommodation. 
 
 I have mentioned above, that the late war and its consequences laid the 
 foundation of the evils complained of. Great Britian with her immense 
 naval and military establishments, being in a great measure shut out from 
 foreign supplies, and in a state of hostility or non-intercourse with all 
 Europe and Noi-th America, almost all the necessaries of life had to be 
 drawn from our own soil. Hence, its whole powers of production were 
 required to supply the immense and daily increasing demand ; and while 
 the agricultural portions of the country were strained to yield an increase 
 of grain, the more northern and mountainous districts were looked to for 
 additional supplies of animal food. Hence, also, all the s^->Hculation« to 
 
;' I 
 
 [ ■^'A 
 
 V 
 
 get rid of the human inhabitants of the Highlands, and replace them witb 
 cattle and sheep for the English market. At the conclusion of the war^ 
 these eflfects were about to cease with their cause, but the corn laws, and 
 other food taxes, then interfered, and by excluding foreign animal food 
 altogether, and grain till it was at a famine price, caused the increasing 
 population to press against home produce, so as still to make it the in- 
 terest of the Highland lairds to prefer cattle to human beings, and to 
 encourage speculators with capital, from England and the south of Scot- 
 land, to take the lands over the heads of the original tenantry. Thus 
 Highland wrongs were continued, and annually augmented, till the mass 
 of guilt on the one hand, and of suffering on the other, became so great 
 as almost to exceed description of belief. Hence the difficulty of bringing 
 it fully before the public, especially as those interested in suppressing 
 inquiry are numerous, powerful, and unsparing in the use of every in- 
 fluence to stop the mouths of the sufiierers. Almost all the new tenants 
 in Sutherlandshire have been made justices of the peace, or otherwise 
 armed with authority, and can thus, under colour of law, aommit violence 
 and oppression Avhenever they find it convenient — the poor people having 
 no redress, and scarce daring even to complain. The clergy, also, whose 
 duty it is to denounce the oppressor, and aid the oppressed, have all, the 
 whole seventeen parish ministers in Sutherlandshire, with one exception, 
 found their account in abetting the wrongdoers, exhorting the people to 
 quiet submission, helping to stifle their cries, telling them +,hat all their 
 sufferings came from the hand of God, and was a just punishment for 
 their sins ! In what manner those reverend gentlemen were benefitted by 
 the change, and bribed thus to desert the cause of the people, I shall 
 explain as I proceed. 
 
 The whole country, with the exception of a comparatively small part of 
 one parish, held by Mr Dempster of Skibo, and similar portions on the out- 
 skirts of the county held by two or three other proprietors, is now in the 
 hands of the Sutherland family, who, very rarely, perhaps only once in 
 four or five years, visit their Highland estates. Hence the impunity 
 afforded to the actors in the scenes of devastation and cruelty — the 
 wholesale expulsion of the people, and pulling down and burning their 
 habitations, which latter proceeding was peculiar to Sutherlandshire. In 
 my subsequent communications I shall produce a selection of such facts and 
 incidents as can be supported by sufficient testimony, to many of which I 
 was an eye-witness, or was otherwise cognizant of them. I have been, 
 with my family, for many years, removed, and at a distance from those 
 scenes, and have no personal malice to gratify, my only motive being a 
 desire to vindicate my ill used countrymen from the aspersions cast upon 
 them, to draw public attention to their wrongs, and if possible to bring 
 about a fair inquiry, to be conducted by disinterested gentlemen, as to the 
 real cause oi their long-protracted misery and destitution, in order, that 
 the public sym])athies may be awakened in their behalf, and something 
 effected for their relief. With these observations I now conclude, and in 
 my next letter I will enter upon my narration of a few of such facts as. 
 can be fully authenticated by living testimony. 
 
/ 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Sir, In my last letter, I endeavoured to trace the causes that led to 
 
 the general clearing and consequent distress in Sutherlandshire, which 
 dates its commencement from the year 1807. Previous to that period, 
 partial removals had taken place, on the estates of Lord Reay, Mr. Honey 
 man of Armidale, and others: but these removals were under ordinary and 
 comparitively favourable circumstances. Those who were ejected from 
 their farms, were accommodated with smaller portions of land, and those 
 who chose to emigrate had means in their power to do so, by the sale of 
 thoir cattle, which then fetched an extraordinary high price. But in the 
 year above mentioned, the system commenced on the Duchess of Suther^ 
 land's property ; about 90 families were removed from the parishes of Earr 
 and Larg. These people were, however, in some degree provided for, by 
 giving them smaller lots of land, but many of these lots were at a distance 
 of from 10 to 17 miles, so that the people had to remove their cattle and 
 furniture thither, leaving their crops on the ground behind. Watching 
 this crop fi'om trespass of the cattle of the incoming tenants, and removing 
 it in the autumn, was attended with great difficulty and loss. Besides, 
 there was also much personal suffering, from their having to pull down 
 their houses and carry away the timber of them, to erect houses on theii 
 new possessions, which houses they had to inhabit immediately on being 
 covered in, and in the meantime, to lyve and sleep in the open air, except 
 a few, who might be fortunate enough to get an unoccupied barn, or shed, 
 from some of their charitable new come neighbours. 
 
 The effects of these circumstances on the health of the aged and infirm, 
 and on the women and children, may be readily conceived — some lost 
 their lives, and others contracted diseases that stuck to them for life. 
 
 During the year 1809, in the parishes of Dornoch, Rogart, Loth, Clyne, 
 and Golspie, an extensive removal took place ; several hundred families 
 were turned out, but under circumstances of greater severity than the 
 preceding. Every means were resorted to, to discourage the people, and 
 to persuade them to give up their holdings quietly, and quit the country; 
 and to those who could not be induced to do so, scraps of moor, and bog 
 lands were offered in Dornoch moor, and Brora links, on which it was 
 next to impossible to exist, in order that they may be scared into going 
 entirely away. At this time, the estate was under the management of 
 Mr. Young, a corn-dealer, as chief, and Mr. Patrick Sellar, a writer, as 
 under-factor, the later of whom will make a conspicuous figure in my 
 future communications. These gentlemen were both from Morayshire ; 
 and, in order to favour their own country people, and get rid of the 
 natives, the former were constantly employed in all the improvements 
 and public works under their direction, while the latter were taken at 
 inferior wages, and only when strangers could not be had. 
 
 Thus, a large portion of the people of these five parishes were, in the 
 course of two or three years, almost entirely rooted out, and those few 
 who took the miserable allotments above mentioned, and some of their 
 ■descendants, continue to exist on them in great poverty. Among these 
 
■iM 
 
 mmmmmmm 
 
 illii 
 
 'I 
 
 111 
 
 wtire the 'wufows and orphans of those heads of families who had been 
 di-owsefi iju ctte same year, in going to attend a fair, when upwards of 
 one htm&Hifl individuals lost their lives, while crossing the ferry between 
 Sutherktnfi and Tain. These destitute creatures were obliged to accept of 
 any aput ';piUii& afforded them a residence, from inability to go elsewhers. 
 
 From rfflift mine till 1812 the process of ejection was carried on annually^ 
 in a gr«8tttir or less degree, and during this period the estates of Gordon- 
 bush amti Cppefc were added, by purchase, to the ducal property, and u>. 
 the BubiKigimnc years, till 1829, the whole of the country, with the small 
 exoeptioisiiKfhre mentioned, had passed into the hands of the great family. 
 
 In tht 3u»r 1311 a raew era of depopulation commenced ; summonses 
 of remo^l Tnwe served on large portions of the inhabitants. The lands 
 were divifedi into extensive lots, and advertised to be let as sheep farms. 
 
 BtrongHi* were seen daily traversing the country, viewing these lot.s, 
 previouKisftiiidingfor them. They appeared to be in great fear of rough 
 treatnimrt Saam the inhabitants they were about to supersede; but the 
 event jarwad! chey had no cause; they were uniformly treated with 
 <nviixb^, axuB even hospitality, thus aflfording no excuse for the measures 
 of leveritcr isv which the factors and their adherents afterwards had re- 
 coui'se. 8&iw«iv«r, the pretext desired was soon found in an apparently 
 concerted (}ihai A person from the south, of the name of Reid, a manager 
 on one of ttii« aheep farms, raised an alarm that he had been pursued by 
 some oflihf OHiCives of Kildonan, and put in bodily fear. The factors 
 eagerJy jnugiiHi at this trumped-up story; they immediately swore in from 
 sixty "bo teuf Euruired retainers, and tl: e new inhabitants, as special con- 
 stablefi, limnmed and charged the cannon at Dunrobin Castle, which hnd 
 rejiosed it valence since the last defeat of the unfortunate Stuails. 
 MessengarB were then dispatched, warning the people to attend at the 
 castle at eaiKcnam hour, under the pretence of making amicable arrange- 
 ment*. J&rwuicdingly, large numbers prepared to obey the summons, 
 ignorant of ofteir enemies' intentions, till, when about six miles from the 
 castle, a lar^it Body of them got a hint of thsir danger from some one in 
 the secret, ivcl which they called a halt and held a consultation, when it 
 was re8(ihHtii tio pass on to the Inn at Golspie, and there await the ren- 
 contre -w-iitfti ti6e factors. The latter we.e much disappointed at this 
 der*aitiHuimCflf theirplans; but on their arriva"l with the sheriff, constables, 
 ifec, thej -itiiii the people, to their astonishment, that a number of them 
 were "boibf i«g}>i'f*hended, and sent to Dornoch Jail, on suspicion of an 
 attempt ■i\> tufe Mr. Reid's life ! The people, with one voice, declared 
 their inntiotmie, and that they would not suffer any of their number to be 
 impnBon«fl anj auch a pretence. Without further provocation, the sheriff 
 proceeded i»> tread the riot act, a thing quite new and unintelligible to the 
 poor BuiSiRffihinders so long accustomed to bear their wrongs patiently -^ 
 t> >w 3vm, r^jsv immediately dispersed and returned to their homes in peace. 
 Tnc .*':'.ottMs^, Kannng now found the pretext desired, mounted their horsea 
 i'od gi.lls|}««]fi Ort the castle in pretended alarm, sought protection under the 
 ^' .* of IftMJij fortress, and sent an express to Fort George for a military 
 io&wi "k) st^^iff^ss the rebellion in Sutherlandshire ! The 21st Regiment 
 
of foot (Irish) was accordingly ordered to proceed by forced marches, night 
 and day, a distance of fifty miles, with artillery, and cart-loads of am- 
 munition. On their arrival, some of them were heard to declare they 
 would now have revenge on the Sutherlanders for the carnage of their 
 countrymen at Tara-hill and Ballynamuck ; but they ware disappointed, 
 for they found no rebels to cope with ; so that, after having made a few 
 prisoners, who were all liberated on a precognition being taken, they 
 were ordered away to their barracks. The people m'^antime, dismayed 
 and spirit-broken at the array of power brought against them, and seeing 
 nothing but enemies on every side, even in those from whom they should 
 have had comfort and succour, quietly submitted to their fate. The 
 clergy, too, were continually preaching submission declaring these 
 proceedings were foreordained of God, and denouncing the vengeance 
 of Heaven and eternal damnation on those who should presume to make 
 the least resistance. No wonder the poor Highlanders quailed under 
 such influences; and the result was, that large districts of the [)arishes 
 before mentioned were dispossessed at the May term, 1812. 
 
 The Earl of Selkirk hearing of these proceedings, came personally into 
 Sutherlandshire, and by fair promises of encouragement, and other allure- 
 ments, induced a number of the distressed outcast to enter into an arrange- 
 ment with him, to emigrate to his estates on the Red River, North 
 America. Accordingly, a whole shipf ul of them went thither; but on their 
 arrival, after a tedious and disastrous passage, they found themselves 
 deceived and deserted by his lordship, and left to their fate in an incle- 
 ment wilderness, without protection against the savages, who plundered 
 them on their arrival, and, finally massacred them all, with the exception 
 of a few who escaped with their lives, and travelled across trackless wilds 
 till they at last arrived in Canada. 
 
 This is a brief recital of thj proceedings up to 1813; and these were 
 the only acts of riot and resistance that ever took place in Sutherlandshire. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 In the month of March, 1814, a great number of the inhabitants of the 
 parishes of Farr and Kildonan were summoned to give up their farms at 
 the May term following, and, in order to ensure and hasten their removal 
 with their cattle, in a few days after, the greatest part of the heath pasture 
 was set fire to and burnt, by order of Mr. Sellar, the factor, who had taken 
 these lands for himself. It is necessary to explain the effects of this pro- 
 ceeding. In the spring, especially when fodder is scarce, as was the case 
 in the above year, the Highland cattle depend almost solely on the heather. 
 As soon, too, as the grass begins to sprout about the roots of the bushes, 
 the animals get a good bite, and are thus kept in tolerable condition. De- 
 prived of this resource by the burning, the cattle were generally left 
 without food, and this being the period of temporary peace, during 
 Buonaparte's residence in Elba, there was little demand for good cattle, 
 
: !;^i: S 
 
 I :q: "l 
 
 it 
 
 8 
 
 much less for these poor starving animals, who roamed about over their 
 burnt pasture till a great many of them were lost, or sold for a mere trifle. 
 The arable parts of the land were cropped by the outgoing tenants, as is 
 customary, but the fences being mostly destroyed by the burning, the cattle 
 of the incoming tenant was continually trespassing throughout the summer 
 and harvest, and those who remained to look after the crop had no shelter; 
 even watching being disallowed, and the peoi)le were haunted l>y the new 
 herdsmen and their dogs from watching theii* ywn com ! As the spring 
 had been severe, so the harvest was wet, cold, and disastrous for the poor 
 people, who under every difficulty, were endeavouring to secure the 
 residue of their crops. The barns, kilns, and mills, except a few neces- 
 sary to the new tenant, had, as well as the houses, been burnt or otherwise 
 destroyed and no shelter left, except on the other side of the rivei*, now 
 overflowing its banks from the continual rains; so that, after ail their 
 labour and privations, the people lost nearly the whole of their crop, as 
 they had already lost their cattle, and were thus entirely ruined. 
 
 Bnt I must go back now to the May term and attempt to give some 
 account of the ejection of the inhabitants; for to give anything like an 
 n/^V'>"?t«» dpsnrintion I am not capable. If I were", the horrors of it 
 would exceed belief. 
 
 The houses haa been all built, not by the landlord as in the low country, 
 but by the tenants or by their ancestors, and, consequently, were their pro- 
 perty by right, if not by law. They were timbered chiefly with bog fir, 
 which makes excellent roofing but is very inflammable: by immemorial 
 usage this species of timber was considered the property of the tenant on 
 whose lands it was found. To the upland timber, for which the laird or 
 the factor had to be asked, the laird might lay some claim, but not so to 
 the oth«r sort, and in every house there was generally a part of both. 
 
 In former removals the tenants had been allowed to carry away this 
 timber to erect houses in their new allotments, but now a more summary 
 mode was adopted, by setting fire to the houses! The able bodied men 
 were by this time away after their cattle or otherwise engaged at a dis- 
 tance, so that the immediate sufferers by the general house-burning that 
 now commenced were the aged and infirm, and the women and children. 
 As the lands were now in the hands of the factor himself, and were to be 
 occupied as sheep-farms, and as the people made no resistance, they ex- 
 pected at least some indulgence, in the way of permission to occupy their 
 houses and other buildings till they could gradually remove and meanwhile 
 look after their growing crops. Their consternation, was, therefore, the 
 greater when, immediately after the May term day, and about two months 
 after they had received summonses of removal, a commencement was made 
 to pull down and set tire to the houses over their heads! The old people 
 women, and others, then began to try to preserve the timber which they 
 were entitled to consider as their own. But the devastators proceeded 
 with the greatest celerity, demolishing all before them, and when they 
 had overthrown the houses in a large tract of country, they ultimately set 
 Are to the wreck. So that timber, furniture, and every other article that 
 
9 
 
 oiTors of it 
 
 could not be instanbiy removed, was consumed by tire, or otherwise 
 utterly destroyed. 
 
 These proceeo". gs were carried on with the greatest rapidity as well as 
 with most reckless cruelty. The cries of the victims, the confusion, the 
 despair and horror painted on the countenances of the one party, and the 
 exulting ferocity of the other, beggar all description. In thes^ scenes 
 Mr. Sellar was present, and apparently, (as was sworn by several witnesses 
 at his subsequent trial,) ordering and directing the whole. Many deaths 
 ensued from alarm, from fatigue, and cold; the people being instantly 
 deprived of shelter, and left to the mercy of the elements. Some old men 
 took to the woods and precipices, wandering about in a state approacli- 
 ing to, or of absolute insanity, and several of them, in this situation, lived 
 only a few days. Pregnant women were taken with premature labour, 
 and several children did not long survive their suft'erings. To the.se 
 scenes I was an eye-witness, and am ready to substantiate the truth of 
 my statements, not only by my own testimony, but by that of many 
 others who were present at the time. ' 
 
 In such a scene of general devastation it is almost useless to particularize 
 the cases of individuals — the suffering was great and universal. I shall, 
 however, just notice a very few of the extreme cases which occur to my 
 recollection, to most of which I was an eye witness. John M "Kay's wife, 
 Havigill, in attempting to pull down her house, in the absence of her 
 husband, to preserve the timber, fell through the roof. She was in con- 
 sequence, taken with premature labour, and in that state, was exj)osed to 
 the open air and the view of the by-standers. Donald Muni'o, Garvott, 
 lying in a fever, was turned out of his house and exposed to the elements. 
 Donald Macbeath, an infirm and bed-ridden old man, had the house unroof- 
 ed over him, and was, in that state, exposed to wind and rain till death put 
 a period to his sulferings. I was present at the pulling down and burning 
 of the house of William Chisholm. Badinloskin, in which was lying his 
 wife's mother, an old bed-ridden woman of near 100 years of age, none of 
 the family being present. I informed the persons about to set fire to the 
 house of this circumstance, and prevailed on them to wait till Mr. Sellar 
 came. On his arrival I told him of the poor old woman being in a con- 
 dition unfit for removal. He I'eplied, " Damn her, the old witch, she has 
 lived too long ; let her burn." Fire was immediately set to the house, and 
 the blankets in which she was carried were in flames before she could be 
 got out. She was placed in a little shed, and it was with great difficulty 
 they were prevented from firing it also. The old woman's daughter 
 arrived while the house was on fire, and assisted the neighbours in remov- 
 ing her mother out of the flames and smoke, pi-esenting a picture of 
 horror which I shall never forget, but cannot attempt to describp. She 
 died within five days. 
 
 I could multiply instances to a great extent, but must leave to the 
 reader to conceive the state of the inhabitants during this scene of general 
 devastation, to which few parallels occur in the history of this or any other 
 civilized country. Many a life was lost or shortened, and many a strong 
 constitution ruined ; — the comfort and social happiness of all destroyed : 
 
 I 
 
10 
 
 and their prospects in life, then of the most dismal kind, have, generally 
 speaking, been unhappily realized. 
 
 Mr. Sellar was, in the year 1816, tried on on indictment for a part of 
 these proceedings, before the circuit court of Justiciary at Inverness. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 At the spring assizes of Inverness, in 1816, Mr. Seller was brought to 
 trial, before Lord Pitmilly, for his proceedings, as partly detailed in my 
 last letter. The indictm«ntj charging him with culpable homicide, fire- 
 raising, ikc, was prosecuted by his Majesty's advocate. In the report of 
 the trial, published by Mr. Sellar's counsel, it is said "To this measure 
 his lordship seems to have been induced, chiefly for the purpose of satis- 
 fying the public mind and putting am, tnd to the clamours of the country." 
 If this, and not the ends of justice, was the intention, it was completely 
 successful, for the gentleman w&s acquitted, to the astonishment of the 
 natives and of all who understood anything of the true state of the case, 
 and the oppressors were thereby emboldened to proceed in t'leir subsequent 
 operations witii a higher hand, and with perfect impunity, as will be seen 
 in the sequel. 
 
 It is a difficult and hazardous atteiupt to inpugn proceedings carried on 
 by his Majesty's advocate, presided over by an honourable judge, and 
 decided by a jury of respectable men; but I may mention a few circum- 
 stances which might have a tendency to disappoint the people. Out of 
 forty witnesses examined at a pre(!Ognition before the sheriff, there were 
 only eleven, and those not the most competent, brought forward for the 
 crown; and the rest, some of whom might have supported material parts 
 of the indictment — as, for instance, in the case of Donald Monro — were 
 never called at all. Besides, the witnesses for the prosecution, being simple, 
 illiterate persons, gave their testimony in Gaelic, which was interpreted to 
 the court; and, it is well-known, much depends upon the translator, 
 whether evidence so taken, retains its weight and strength or not. The 
 jury, with very few exceptions, was composed of persons just similarly 
 circumstanced with the new tenants in Sutherlandshire, and consequently, 
 might very naturally have a leaning to that side, and all the exculpatory 
 witnesses were those who had been art and part, or otherwise interested, 
 in the outrageous proceedings. Mr Sellar w«is a man of talent, an expert 
 lawyer, and a justice of the peace, invested with full powers, as factor and 
 law agent to a great absentee proprietor, and strongly supported by tie 
 clergy and gentry in the neighbourhood: he was also the incoming tenauv 
 to the lands which were the scene of his proceedings — too great odds 
 against a few poor simple Highlanders, who had only their wrongs to 
 plead, whose minds were comparatively uncultivated, and whose pecuniary 
 means were small. 
 
 The immediate cause which led to these legal proceedings was, that 
 several petitions from the expelled tenants had been sent to the noble pro- 
 
11 
 
 ^:l 
 
 prietors, representing the illegal and cruel treatment they had received ; 
 and, in consequence of the answers received expressing a wish that justice 
 might be done, the case was laid before the sheriff-depute, Mr. Cranstoun, 
 who sent an express injunction to Mr. Robert M'Kid, sheriff-substitute 
 for the county, to take a precognition of the case, and if there appeared 
 suffcient cause, to take Mr. Seller into custody. The sheriff-substitute 
 was a man of acknowledged probity, but from the representations he had 
 previously received, was considered unfavourable to the cause of the 
 people. On examining the witnesses, however, a case of such enormity 
 was made out as induced him to use some strong expressions contained in 
 a letter to Lord Stafford, which I here subjoin, and which, with some false 
 allegations, were urged against him on the trial, so that, under the direc- 
 tion of the court, the advocate depute passed from his evidence on the 
 grounds of malice and unduly expressed opinion, and thus Mr. M'Kid's 
 important testimony was lost. On the whole, this case furnishes an in- 
 stance of successful chicanery, undue influence, and the " glorious uncer- 
 tainty of Law." 
 
 TO LORD STAFFORD. 
 
 K1RK.T0WW p. ooLBPiE, 30th May; 181.5, 
 
 If T Lord, — I conceive it a duty I owe to your Lordship, to address you upon the 
 present occasion, and a more distressing task I have seldom had to perform. 
 
 Your Lordfthip knows, that in summer last, an humble petition, subscribed by a 
 number of tenants on Mr. Sellar's sheep farm in Farr and Kildonan, was presented 
 to Lady Stafford, complaining of various acts of injury, cruelty and oppression, 
 alleged to have been committed upon their persons and property, by Mr. Sellar, 
 in the spring and summer of that year. 
 
 To this complaint, her Lodyship, upon the 22nd of July last, was graciously 
 pleased to return an answer in writing. In it, her Ladyship, with her usual c&n- 
 dour and justice, with much propriety observes, " That if any person on the estate 
 shall receive any illegal treatment, she will never consider it as hostile to her if 
 they have recourse to legal redress, »s a most secure way to receive the justice 
 which she always desires they should have on every occasion." Her Ladyship also 
 intimates, "That she had communicated the complaint to Mr. Sellar, that he may 
 make proper inquiry and answer to her. " 
 
 It would appear, however, that Mr. Sellar still refused, or delayed, to afford that 
 redress to the removed tenants to which they conceived themselves entitled, which 
 emboldened them to approach Earl Gower with a complaint, similar to the one they 
 had presented to Lady Stafford. 
 
 To this complaint his Lordship graciously condescended, under date 8th Feb- 
 ruary last, to return such an answer as might have been expected from his Lord- 
 ship. His Lordship says that be has communicated the contents to your Lordship 
 and Lady Stafford, who as his Lordship nobly expresses himself, " Are desirous, 
 that the tenants should know, that it is always their wish that justice should be 
 impartially administered." His Lordship then adds, that he has sent the petition, 
 with directions to Mr. Young, that proper steps should be taken for laying the 
 business before the sheriff depute ; and that the petitioners would therefore be- 
 assisted by Mr. Young, if they desired it, in having the precognition taken before 
 the sheriff-depute, according to their petition. 
 
 Soon after receipt of Earl Gower's letter, it would appear that a copy of the peti- 
 tion, with his Lordship's answer, had been transmitted to the sheriff-depute by the 
 tenants. Mr. Cranstoun, in answer, upon 30th March last, says, "that if the 
 tenants mean to take a precognition immediately, it will proceed before the sheriff- 
 substitute, as my engagement will not permit me to be in Sutherland until the 
 mouth of July." 
 
 ?;J 
 
 i 
 
 ;,;T^ 
 
<i>: 
 
 12 
 
 ! f 
 
 y^ 
 
 i i;!!. 
 
 Tn consequence of the«e proceedingi, i^n an express injunction from his Majesty's 
 advocate-dtipute, and a iiimilar one from the sheriif-depute, I was compelled to 
 enter upon an investigation of the complaints. 
 
 With this view I was induced to go into Strathnavar, where, at considerable per- 
 S'^nal inconvenience and expense, and with much patient perseverance, 1 examined 
 ii.uut forty evidences upon the allegations stated in the tenants' petition; and it is 
 with the deepest regret I have to inform your Lordship, that a more numerous cata- 
 logue of crimes, perpetrated by an individual, has seldom disgraced any country, 
 or sullied the piiges of a precognition in Scotland. 
 
 This being the case, the lawn of the country imperiously call upon me to order 
 Mr. Sellar to be arrested and incarcerated, in order for trial, and before this 
 reaches your Lordship this preparatory legal step must be put in execution. 
 
 No person can more sincerely regret the cause, nor more feelingly lament the 
 effect, than I do ; but your Lordship knows well, and as Earl Gower very properly 
 observed, " Justice should be impartially administered." 
 
 I have, in confidence, stated verbally to Mr. Young my fears upon this distress- 
 ing subject, and I now take the liberty of stating my sentiments also to your Lord- 
 slup, in confidence. 
 
 The crimes of which Mr. Sellar stands accused are, — 
 
 1. Wilful fireraiaing ; by having set on fire, and reduced to ashes, a poor man's 
 whole premises, including dwelling-house, bain, kiln, and sheep-cot, attended with 
 most aggravated circumstances of cruelty, if not murder. 
 
 2. Throwing down and demolishing a n.ill, also a capital crime. 
 
 3. Setting £re to and burning the touauts' heath pasture, before the legal term 
 of removal. 
 
 4. Throwing down and demolishing houses, whereby the lives of sundry aged 
 and bed-ridden persona were endangered, if not actually lost. 
 
 5. Throwing down and demolishing barns, kilns, sheep-cots, &c., to the great 
 hurt and prejudice of the owners. 
 
 6. Innumerable other charges of lesser importance swell tlie Hat. 
 
 I subjoin a copy of Mr. Cruustoun's letter to me upon this subject, for your Lord- 
 ship's information, and have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 ROBT. M'KID. 
 
 Here, then, I must part with IVIessrs. Young and Sellar as agents for 
 the noble family of tSutherland^ for about this time they ceased to act as 
 such. I shall in my next, prbceed to describe the devasting removals 
 of 1819 and '20 — those which happened in the interinediate years be- 
 tween tliese and the year 1815, being similar in character to the removals 
 I have already described. Mr. Sellar shall hereafter only figure in my 
 narrative as a leviathan tenant, who individually supplanted scores of the 
 worthy small farmers of the parish of Farr. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Sir, — The integrity manifested by the sheriffs, Cranstoun and M'Kid, 
 led to their dismissal from office, immediately after the trial. This dis- 
 missal operated sts a sentance of banishment and ruin to Mr. M'Kid — his 
 business in Sutherlandshire was at an end ; he retired to Caithness with a 
 large family, and commenced business as a writer, where every malignant 
 influence followed him from the ruling powers in the former county. It 
 is to be hoped that this upright gentleman has since surmounted his dif 
 
18 
 
 ficulties ; he must at all events have enjoyed a high reward in the testi- 
 mony of a good conscience. 
 
 I have hitherto given the noble proprietors the title they bore at the 
 time of the occurrences mentioned, but in order to avoid ambiguity, it 
 may be necessary to give a brief historical sketch of the fHniily. The 
 late Duchess of Sutherland, premier peeress of Scotland, in her own right, 
 succeeded to th*« estates of her father, William, 21st Earl of Sutherland, 
 with the title of Countess, in the year 1766, being then only one year old. 
 In 1 785 she married the Marquis <^)f Stafford and took his title in addition. 
 
 In the year 1833, the Marquis wa.s created a Duke, and his lady was 
 subsequently styled Duchess-Countess of Sutherland. She was a lady of 
 superior mind and attainnuiits, but her great and good qualities were lost 
 to her Highland tenantry, from her being non-resident, and having adopt- 
 ed the plan of removing tlie natives, and letting the land to straiigeis. 
 Their eldest surviving son, Lord Leveson Gower, also a prominent per«(jii, 
 succeeded to the titles and estates of both parents on their decease, and is 
 now the Duke of Sutherland. 
 
 The family mansion, Dunrobin Castle, is situated on the so\ithern 
 border of the county, and in the rare case of any of the noble family 
 coming to the Highlands during the period of the removals, they only 
 came to the castle and stopt there, where the old tenants were strictly 
 denied access, while the new occupiers had free personal com.nunication 
 with the proprietors. When any memorial or petition from the former 
 could be got introduced, there was no attention paid to thera if not signed 
 by a minister; and this was next to impossible, as the clergy, with one 
 honourable exception, had taken the other side. In every case it appeared 
 that che factoVvS and ministers were consulted, and the decision given ac- 
 cording to their suggestions and advice. 
 
 On the resignation or dismis-sal of Messrs. Young and Sellar, jMr. Loch, 
 now M. P. for the Northern Burghs, came into full power as c^jief, and a 
 Mr. Suther as under factor. Mr. Loch is a Scotsman, but not a Hi<j;li 
 lander. He had previously been chief agent on the English estates, and 
 general adviser to the proceedings relative to the Sutherland tenantry, and 
 cognizant of all the severities towards them. This gentleman has written 
 a work entitled, " An account of the Improvements on the estates of the 
 Marquis of Stafford, in the counties of Stafford and Salop, and on the 
 estate of Sutherland," in which he has attempted to justify or palliate the 
 proceedings in which he bore a prominent part. His book is, there- 
 fore, scarce ever to be relitjd on for a single fact, when the main object 
 interfered ; hevillifies the Highlandei-s, and misrepresents every thing to 
 answer his purpose. He has been fully answered, his arguments refuted, 
 and his sophistries exposed by Major-General Stewart, in his "Sketches 
 of the Character and Manners of the Highlanders of Scotland," to which 
 excellent work I beg to call the attention of every friend to truth and 
 justice, and especially those who take an interest in the fate of the expa- 
 triated tenantry. The General has completely vindicated the character of 
 the Highland tenantry, and shown the impolicy, as well as cruelty, of the 
 means used for their ejection. The removal of Messrs. Young and Sellar, 
 

 m^'k 
 
 !■» , ^} 
 
 u 
 
 particularly the latter, from the pwwer ii\ey had exercised so cleapotically, 
 was hailed with the greatest joy by the people, to whom their very names 
 were a terror. Their appearance in any neighbourhood had been such a 
 cause of alarm, as to make women fall into fits, and in one instance caused 
 a woman to lose her reason, which, as far as I know, she has not yet 
 recovered ; whenever she saw a stranger she cried out, with a terrific tone 
 and manner, Oh! sin Sellar! — "Oh! there's Sellar!" 
 
 Bitter, however, was the people's disappointment when they found the 
 way in which the new factors began to exercise their powers. The laea- 
 sures of their predecessors were continued and aggravated, though, on 
 account of unexpired leases, the removals were but partial till the years 
 1819 and 1820. However, I must not pass over the expulsion and suflfer- 
 ings of forty families who were removed by Mr. Sellar, almost imme- 
 diately after his trial. This person, not finding it convenient to occupy 
 the whole of the 6,000 or 7,000 acres, which he had obtained possessic n 
 of, and partially cleared in 1814, had agreed to let these forty families 
 remain as tenants-at-will ; but h(. now proceeded to remove them in the 
 same unfeeling mann'^r as he had ejected the others, only he contented 
 liimself with utterly demolishing their houses, barns, kc, but did not, as 
 before, set fire to them till the inmates 'removed ; they leaving their 
 crops in the ground as before described. This year (1816) will be remeu- 
 bered for its severity by many in Scotland. The winter commenced by 
 the snow frtlliiig in large qiiHntities in the month of October, and continued 
 w^ith increased rigour, so that the difficulty — almost impossibility — of the 
 people, without barns or shelter of any kind, securing their crops, may be 
 easily conceived. I have seen scores of the poor outcasts employed for 
 weeks together, with the snow from two to four feet deep, watching the 
 corn from being devoured by the now hungry sheep of the incoming 
 tenants; cariying oil their backs — horses being unavailable in such & case, 
 across the country, without roads, on an average of twenty miles, to their 
 new allotments on the sea coast, any portion of their grain and potatoes 
 they could secure under such dreadful circumstances. During labour and 
 .sufferings, which none but Highlanders could sustain, they had to subsist 
 entirely on potatoes dug out of the snow ; cooking them as they could, in 
 the open air, among the ruins of their once comfortable dwellings! While 
 alternate frosts and thaws, snow-stornis and rain were succeeding each 
 othpi in all the severity of mid-winter, the people might be seen carrying 
 on their I".y;.jvir8, and bearing their burdens of damp produce, under which 
 many, especially the females, were occasionally sinking in a fainting state, 
 till assisted by othei-s. little better oft than themselves. In some very rare 
 instances only, a little humane assistance was afforded by the shepherds: 
 ii' general their tender mercies, like those of their unfeeling masters, 
 were only cruelty. 
 
 The filling up of this feeble outline must be left to the,imagination of 
 the reader, but I may mention that attendant on all previous and subse 
 quent removals, and especially this one, many severe diseases made their 
 appearance ; such as had been hitherto almost unknown among the High- 
 land population; viz: typus fever, consumption, and pulmonary complaints 
 
 A ! 
 
16 
 
 in all their varieties, bloody flux, bowel complaints, eruptions, 
 rheumatisms, piles, and maladies peculiar to females. So that the 
 new and uncomfortable dwellings of this lately robust and healthy 
 peasantry, "their country's pride," were now become family hos- 
 pitals and lazar-houses of the sick and dying-I Famine ai. ! utter 
 destitution inevitably followed, till the misery of my onct. happy 
 countrymen reached an alarming' height, and began to attracti 
 attention as an almost national calamity. 
 
 Even Mr. Loch in his before -mentioned work, has been con- 
 strained to admit the extreme distress of the people. He says (page 
 76), "Their wretchedness was so great, that after pawning every- 
 tliing the} possessed, to the fishermen on the coast, such as had 
 no cattle were reduced to come down from the hills in hundreds, 
 for Ihn purpose of gathering cockles on the shore. Those who lived 
 in the more remote situations of the country were obliged to sub- 
 sist upon broth made of nettles, thickened with a little oatmeal. 
 The so who had cattle had recourse to the still more wretched ox- 
 pedieni of bleeding them, and mixing the blood with oatmeal, 
 which they afterwards cut into slices and fried. Those who had a 
 littl> money, came down and slept all night upon the beach, in 
 order to watch the boats returning from the fishing, that they might 
 bo in time to obtain a part of what had been caught." This 
 gentleman, however, omits to mention the share he had in bringing 
 things to such a pass, and also that, at the same time', he had 
 armed constables stationed at Littleferry, the only place where 
 shell -fish were to be found, to prevent the people from gathering 
 them. In his next page he gives an e.xagge rated account of the 
 relief afforded by the proprietors. I shall not copy his mis-state- 
 raents, but proceed to say what that relief, so ostentatiously puti 
 forth, really consisted of. As to his assertion that "£3,000 had been 
 given by way of loan to those who had cattle," I look upon it 
 to be a fabrication, or, if tJie money really was sent by the noble 
 proprietors, it must have been retained by those intrusted with its 
 distribution; for, to my knov.ledge, it never came to the hands of 
 any of the small tenants. There was, indeed, a considerable quan- 
 tity 01 meal sent, though far from enough to afTord ejloctual relief, 
 but this meal represented to be given in charity, was charged ati 
 the following Martinmas term, at the rate of 50s. per boll. Pay- 
 ment wad rigorously exacted, and those who had cattle were obliged 
 to give them up for that purpose, but this latter part of the story 
 was never sent to the newspapers, and Mr. Loch has also forgotten 
 to mention itl There was a considerable quantity of medicine given 
 to the ministers for rJi*?tribution for which no charge was made, and 
 this wat. the whole amount of relief afforded. 
 
 r I 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 111 
 
 I H 
 it 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 The honourable acquittal of Mr. Sellar, and the com- 
 pliments he received in consequence from the presiding 
 judge, with the dismissal of the sheriffs had the desired 
 effect upon the minds of the poor Sutherlandeis. und those 
 who took an interest in their case. Every voice in their behalf 
 
 i;t! ! 
 
 
mmm 
 
 16 
 
 !' J 
 
 was silenced and every pen laid down — in short, every channel for redress^ 
 or protection from future violence was closed ; the people were prostrated 
 under the feet of their oppressors, who well knew how to take advantage 
 of their position. It appeared that, for a considerable interval, there 
 were no regular sheriffs in the county, and that the authority usually 
 exercised by them was vested in Captain Kenneth M'Kay, a native of 
 the county, and now one of the extensive sheep farmers. It was by virtue 
 of warrants granted by this gentleman that the proceedings I am about 
 to desciibe took place, and, if the sherifi-officers constables, and assistants, 
 exceeded their authority, they did so under his immediate eye and cogni- 
 zance, as he was all the time residing in his house, situated so that he 
 must have witnessed a great part of the scene from his own front window. 
 Therefore, if he did not immediately authorize the atrocities to the extent 
 committed (which I will not assert), he at least used no means to restrain 
 them. 
 
 At this period a great niajcrity of the inhabitants were tenftnts-at-will 
 and therefore liable to ejectment on getting regular notice; there were, 
 however, a few who had still existing tacks (although some had been 
 wheedled or frightened into surrendering them), and these were, of course, 
 unnjolested till the expiration of their tacks; they were then turned out 
 like the rest ; but the great body of the tenantry were in the former con- 
 dition. Meantime, the factors, taken advantage of the broken spirit and 
 prostrate state of the people — tremliling at their words or even looks — 
 betook themselves to a new scheme to facilitate their intended proceedings, 
 and this was to induce every householder to sign p bond or paper contain- 
 ing a promise of removal: and alternate threats and promises were used to 
 inilnce them to do so. The promises were never realised, but, notwith- 
 staTiding the people's compliance, the threats were put in execution. In 
 al)0ut a mouth after the factors had obtained this promise of removal, and 
 thirteen days before the May term, the work of devastation was begun : 
 they couuneiiced by setting fire to the houses of the small tenants in ex- 
 tensive districts — part of the parishes of Farr, Rogart, Golspie, and the 
 whole parish of Kildonan. I was an eye-witness of the scene. This 
 '^ahimity came on the people quite unexpectedly. Strong parties, for 
 i':i.-Ii district, furnished with faggots and other combustibles, rushed on 
 the dwellings of this devoted people, and iniinediately commenced setting 
 tire to them, piocceditig in their work with the i>reatest rapidity till about 
 *".liree hundred houses were in flames! The consternation and confusion 
 were extreme ; little or no time was given for removal of persons or 
 property — the people striving to remove the sick and the helpless before 
 the tire should reach them — next, struggling to save the most valuable of 
 th^ir effects. The cries of the women and children — the roaring of the 
 affrighted cattle hunted at the same time by the yelling dogs of the 
 shepherds amid the smoke and tire — altogether presented a scene that 
 completely baffles description: it required to be seen to be believed. A 
 dense cloud of smoke enveloped the whole country by day, and even ex- 
 tended far on the sea; at night an awfully grand, but terrific scene pre- 
 ■seiited itself — all the houses in an extensive district in flames at once! I 
 
 iil 
 
J7 
 
 myself a,scended a height about eleven o'clock in the evening, and counted 
 two hundred and fifty blazing houses, many of the owners of which were 
 my relations, and all of whom I -persotiflif krew; but whose present con- 
 dition, whether in or out of the flames, 1 could not tell. The ccnflagra- 
 tion lasted six days, till the whole of the dwellings were reduced to ashes 
 or smoking ruins. During one of these days a boat lost her way in the 
 dense smoke as she approached the shore; but at night she was enabled 
 to reach a landing place by the light of the flames ! 
 
 It would be an endless task to give a detail of the sufferings of families 
 and individuals during this calamitous period; or to describe its dreadful 
 consequences on the health and lives of the victims. I will, however, at 
 tempt a very few cases. While the burning was going on, a small sloop 
 arrived, laden with quick lime, and when discharging her cargo, the skip- 
 per agreed to take as many of the people to Caithness as he could carry, 
 on his return. Accordingly, about twenty families went on board, filling 
 deck, hold, and every part of the vessel. There were childhood and age, 
 male and female, sick and well, with a small portion of their eflfects, saved 
 from the flames, all huddled together in heaps. Many of these persons 
 had never been on sea before, and when they began to sicken a scene in- 
 describable ensued. To add to their miseries, a storm and contrary winds 
 prevailed, so that instead of a day or two, the usual time of passage, it was 
 nine days before they reached Caithness. All this time, the poor crea- . 
 tures, almost without necessaries, most of them dying with sickness, were 
 either wallowing among the lime, and various excrements in the hold, or 
 lying on the deck, exposed to the raging elements ! This voyage soon 
 proved fatal to many, and some of the survivors feel its effects to tliis day. 
 During this time, also, typus fever was mging in the country, and many 
 in a critical state had to fly, or were carried by their friends out of the 
 burning houses. Among the rest, a young man, Donald M'Kay of 
 Grumbmorr, was ordered out of his parents' house; he obeyed, in a state 
 of delirium, and (nearly naked) ran into some bushes adjoining, where he 
 lay for a considerable time deprived of reason ; the house was immediately 
 in flames, and his effects burned. Robert M'Kay, whose whole family 
 were in the fever, or otherwise ailing, had to carry his two daughters on 
 his back, a distance of about twenty-tive miles. He accomplished this by 
 first carrying one, and laying her down in the open air, and returning, 
 did the same with the other, till he reached the sea-shore, and then went 
 with them on board the lime vessel before mentioned. An old man of the 
 same name, betook himself to a deserted mill, and lay there unable to 
 move; and to the best of my recollection, he died there. He had no sus- 
 tenance but what he obtained by licking the dust and refuse of the meal 
 stv(>wed about, and was defended from the rats and other vermin, by his 
 faithful colly, his companion and protector. A number of the sick, who 
 could not be carried away instantly, on account of their dangerous situa- 
 tion, were collected by their friends and placed in an obscure, uncomfor- 
 table hut, and there, for a time, left to their fate. The cries of these 
 victims were heart-rending — exclaiming in their anguish, "Are you 
 going to leave us to perish in the flames 1 " However, the destroyers 
 
 B 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 n 
 
 il 
 
 ill 
 
 <.i.\ 
 
 
h^[ ': 
 
 18 
 
 i: 
 
 ! .: 
 
 in 
 
 ! ui 
 
 : if 
 i i! 
 
 I ^f 
 
 passed near the hut, apparently without noticing it, and consequently they 
 remained unmolested till they could be conveyed to the shore, and put on 
 board the before-mentioned sloop. George Munro, miller at Farr, residing 
 within 400 yards of the minister's house, bad his whole family, consisting 
 of six or seven persons, lying in a fever; and being ordered instantly to 
 remove, was enabled, with the assistance of his neighbours to carry them 
 to a damp kiln, where they remained till the fire abated, so that they could 
 be removed. Meantime the house was burnt. It may not be out of place 
 here to mention generally, that the clergy, factors, and magistrates, were 
 cool and apparently unconcerned spectato' , of the scenes I have been des- 
 cribing, which were indeed prepetrated under their immediate authority. 
 The splendid and comfortable mansions of these gentlemen, Avere reddeii«d 
 with the glare of their neighbours flaming houses, without exciting any 
 compassion for the sufferers; no spiritual, temporal, or medical aid was 
 afforded them ; and this time they were all driven away without being 
 allowed the benefit of their outgoing croi) . Nothing but the swowl was 
 wanting to make the scene one of as great barbarity as the earth ever 
 witnessed ; and in my opinion, this would, in a majority of cases, have 
 b'^en mercy, by saving them from what they were afterwards doomed to 
 endure. The clergy, indeed, in their sermons, maintained that the whole 
 was a merciful interposition of providence to bring them to repentance, 
 rather than to send them all to hell, as they so richl jr deserved ! And 
 here I beg leave to ask those Rev. gentlemen, or the survivors of them, 
 and especially my late minister, Mr. M'Kenzie of Farr, if it be true, as 
 was generally reported, that during these horrors I have been feebly 
 endeavouring to describe — there was a letter sent from the pi'oprietors, 
 addressed to him, or to the general body, requesting to know if the 
 removed tenants were well provided for, and comfortable, or words to that 
 effrct. -ind that the answer returned was, that the people were quite com- 
 fortable in their new allotments, and that the change was greatly for their 
 benefit. This is the report that was circulated and believed; and the 
 subsequent conduct of the clergy affords too much reason for giving it 
 credence as 1 shall soon have occasion to show. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 The depopulation I have been treating of, with its attendant horrors 
 Rud miseries, as well as its impolicy, is so justly reasoned upon by General 
 Stewart, in the work formerly alluded to, that I beg to ti'anscribe a para- 
 graph or two. At page 168 he says: — "The system of overlooking the 
 original occupiers, and of giving every support to strangers, has been 
 much practiced in the highland counties; and on one great estate (the 
 Sutherland) the support which was given to farmers of capital, as well 
 in the amount of sums expended on improvements, as in the liberal 
 abatement of rents, is, I believe, unparalleled in the United Kingdom, 
 aud afibrds additional matter of regret, that the delusions practised on n 
 
19 
 
 jntly they 
 nd put on 
 r, residing 
 consisting 
 itantly to 
 Birry them 
 ;hey could 
 it of place 
 fttes, were 
 
 been des- 
 luthority. 
 
 reddened 
 iting any 
 1 aid was 
 hout being 
 wokI was 
 arth ever 
 s-ses, have 
 loomed to 
 the whole 
 spentance, 
 ;d! And 
 
 of them, 
 
 ! true, as 
 
 en feebly 
 
 oprietors, 
 
 if the 
 
 s to that 
 
 uite com- 
 f or their 
 and the 
 
 riving it 
 
 honors 
 
 I General 
 
 a para- 
 
 cing the 
 
 las been 
 
 ite (the 
 
 las well 
 
 liberal 
 
 Ingdoni, 
 
 led on n. 
 
 •generous and public spirited landholder, have been so perseveringly and 
 successfully applied, that it would appear as if all feeling of former kind- 
 ness towards the native tenantry had ceased to exist. To them any uncul- 
 tivated spot of moorland, however small, was considered sufficient for the 
 support of a family; while the most lavish encouragement has been given 
 to the new tenants, on whom, and with the erection of buildings, the 
 improvement of lands, r«ads, bridges, &c. upwards of £210,000 has 
 been expended since the year 1808. With this proof of unprecedented 
 libQrHJity, it cannot be sufficiently lamented, that an estimate of the 
 character of these poor people was taken from the misrepresentations of 
 interested persons, instead of judging from the conduct of the same men 
 when brought into the world, where they obtained a name and character 
 which have secured the esteem and approbation of men high in honour 
 and rank, and, from their talents and experience, perfectly capable of 
 judging with correctness. With such proofs of capability, and with such 
 materials for carrying on the improvements, and maintaining the perma- 
 nent prosperity of the county, when occupied by a hardy, abstemious 
 race, easily led on to a full exertion of their faculties by a proper manHgo- 
 ment, there cannot be a question but that if, instead of placing them, as 
 has been done, in situations bearing too near a resemblance to the potato- 
 gardens of Ireland, they had been permitted to remain as cultivators of 
 the soil, receiving a moderate share of the vast sums lavished on their 
 richer successors, such a humane and considerate regard to the pro8j)erity 
 of a whole people, would undoubtedly have answered every good purj)ose." 
 In reference to the new allotments, he says; "when the valleys and higher 
 grounds were let to the shepherds, the whole population was driven to the 
 .sea shore, where they were crowded on small lots of land, to earn their 
 subsistence by labour and by sea fishing, the latter so little congenial to 
 their- former habits." He goes on to remark, in a note, that these ove or 
 two acre lots, are represented as an improved system. "In a country 
 without regular employment and M'ithout manufactures, a family is to be 
 sui)ported on orre or two acres ! !" The consequence was, and continues 
 to be, that, " over the whole of this district, where the sea shor-e is acces- 
 sible, the coast is thickly studded with wretched cottages, crowded with 
 starving inhabitants." Sti'angers " with capital" usurp tlie land and dis- 
 possess the swain. " Ancient respectable tenants, who passed the greater 
 part of life in the enjoyment of abundance, and in the exercises of hospi- 
 tality and charity, possessing stocks of ten, twenty, and tirirty breeding 
 cows, with the usual pi'oportion of ether stock, are now pining on one or 
 two acres of bad land, with one or cwo starved cows ; and for this accom- 
 modation, a calculation is made, that they must support their families and 
 pay the rent of their lots, not from the ])roduce but from the sea. When 
 the herring fishery succeeds they generally satisfy the landlords, whatever 
 privations they may suffer; but when the fishing fails, they fall in arrears 
 and are sequestrated, and their stock sold to pay the rents, their lots given 
 to others, and they and their families turned adrift on the world. There 
 are still a few small tenants on the old system ;.but they are fast falling 
 •into decay, and sinking into the class just desci'ibed." Again, " we cannot 
 
 
 
 ,i i^. 
 
.IS 1 1 
 
 20 
 
 I r 
 
 ;|i':,'i' 
 
 Bufficiently «(Win?f^ their meek and patient spirit, supported l>y the powerful 
 iiilluenoe uf auurad and religious principle." I need not go further, but 
 again beg tibf nwiderg attention to this most valuable work, especially the 
 article "UljHupt^ (ii Tenancy," as illustrative of the condition and exponent 
 of the chai%itliui and feelings of my poor countrymen, as well as corrobora- 
 tive of t^ &uSs tu) which I am endeavouring to call public attention, as 
 sauBes of l^f rjiact'esa and destitution still prevailing in Sutherlandshire. 
 By the mtaaw descrilied, large tracts of country were depopulated, and 
 convei-ted iutvaoiitary wastes. The whole inhabitants of Kildonan parish 
 (with the ^KK^tlina of three families), amounting to near 2,000 souls, 
 were uttei-ly mntsed and burned out. Many, especially the young and 
 robust, i«ft rtftkp . ■ • !7rj ; but the aged, the females and children, were obli- 
 ged to sta; . utfi o»: ,pt the wretched allotments allowed them on the sea 
 shore, wad «ufe*vour to learn fishing, for which all thdr former habits 
 rendered iimm wa&t; hence their time was spent in unproductive toil and 
 misery, and mmi? lives were lost. Mr. Sage, of evergreen memory, was 
 the pariah iuuuMfflr — 
 
 . .. •' ,Iia faithless, faithful only he ! " 
 
 This gentlenaas; iian- ■MM.t,.:'< \ flora his brethren, and, to the best of his 
 power, op|H!S«fi tjliftii. proc.v><i'r>r8: b-ince he was persecuted and despised 
 by them R' '^ 'jLi fa» or», ar.'i r lit.'d with marked disrespect. After the 
 burning o«',;. hft.vw^^ I:, 'i.': i 's pi- .-»■« and attached congregation, he 
 
 went about raiiucuin^ tiTl 1..1 <te .^ - , h 'lappened not long after. His 
 son had been tBg^\}nrnced by the peoplo mii'iscer of a chapel of ease, parish 
 of Farr, and jauaii by them ; but, when the expulsion took place, he remo- 
 ved to Aber&miv smA afterwards to a parish in Ross-shire. On account 
 of his father's ikfeftgrity he could not expect a kirk in Sutherlandshire. 
 
 After a o(ai«ii»*pahle interval of absence, I revisited my native place in 
 the year 1^2^ iwrii a^ttended divine worship in the parish church, now 
 reiiuced totht er^raajd appearance of a dove-cot. The whole congregation 
 consisted erf flijjin shepherds, with their dogs, to the amount of between 20 
 and 30, the niikuMft», three of his family, and myself ! I came in after the 
 first singing, ;l«c,.sC the conclusion, the 120th psalm was given out, and 
 struck up to tiiif Vinous tune, " Bangor ;" when the four-footed heai'ers 
 became excitred,. .^e up on the seats, and raised a most infernal chorus of 
 howling. Their mu«ters then attacked them with their crooks, which only 
 made niatteiii wojaft; the yelping and howling continued till the end of the 
 service. I retiitifBii,.tBi contemplate the shameful scene, and compare it with 
 what I had pitwiiniBly witnessed in the large and devout congregations for- 
 merly attendinjroi chat kirk. What must the worthy Mr. Campbell have 
 felt while «aadejw(uuny»g to edify such a oongregation ! Tho Barony of 
 Strath naver, parMifif Farr, 25 miles in length, containinp; a population a» 
 nuraerou* m £iiliitiraii, who had been all rooted out at the general conflag- 
 ration, pi'ewartefi * .Winilar iwpeot. Here, the church no longer found 
 necessary, wk« tn'mt to the ground, and the timber of it conveyed to Alt- 
 naharrow, tc 'inenrafirf in wecting an Inn (one of the new improvements) 
 there, and th^ iiimiMei.''a house converted into the dwelling of a fox-hua 
 
 li:::"iii 
 
 \M. • ; I 
 
21 
 
 
 ter, A woman, well known iii that parish, happening to traverse the 
 Strath the year after the burning, was asked on her return, what news? 
 " Oh," said she, "Sgeul bronach, sgeul brhnach ! sad news, sad news I 
 I have seen the timber of our well-attended kirk, covering the Inn at 
 Altiiaharrow; I have seen the kirk -yard, where our friends are rdoiildering 
 tilled with tarry sheep, and Mr. Sage's study room, a kennel for Kobeit 
 Gurin's dogs; and I have seen a crow's nest in James Gordon's chinniey 
 head !" On this she fell into a paroxysm of grief, and it was several days 
 before she could utter a word to be understood. During the kte devasta- 
 tions, a Captain John M'Kay was appointed sub-factor, under Mr. Loch, 
 for the district of Strathnaver. This gentleman, had he been allowed his 
 own way, would have exei'cised his power beneficially; but he was subject 
 to persons cast in another mould, and had to sanction what he could not 
 approve. He did all he could to mitigate the condition of the natives, by 
 giving them employment, in preference to strangers, at the public works 
 and improvements, as they were called ; but finding their enemies too 
 jiowerful and malignant, and the misery and destitution too gi*eat to be 
 even partially removed, he shrunk from his ungracious task and went to 
 America, where he breathed his last, much regretted by all who knew bin-' 
 on both sides of the Atlantic. 
 
 M 
 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 I have already mentioned that the clergy of the Established Church 
 (none other were tolerated in Sutherland), all but Mr. Sage, were consent- 
 ing parties to the expulsion of the inhabitants, and had susbtantial reasons 
 for their readiness to accept wooly and hairy animals — sheep and dogs — 
 in place of their human flocks. The kirks and manses were mostly situa 
 ted in the low grounds, and the clergy hitherto held their pasturage in 
 common with the tenantry ; and this state of things, established by law and 
 usage, no factor or proprietor had power to alter without mutual consent. 
 Had the ministers maintained those rights, they would have placed in 
 many cases, an effectual bar to the oppressive proceedings of the factois; 
 for the strange sheep-farmers would not bid for, or take the lands where 
 the minister's sheep and cattle would be allowed toco-mingle with theirs. 
 But no ! Anxious to please the " powers that be," and no less anxious to 
 drive advfMitageous bargains with them, these reverend gentlemen found 
 means to get their linea laid "in pleasant places," and to secure good and 
 convenient portions of the pasture lands enclosed for themselves: many of 
 the small tenants were removed purely to statisfy them in these arrange- 
 ments. Their subserviency to the factors, in all things, was not for nought. 
 Besides getting their hill pasturage enclosed, their tillage lands wereextend- 
 ed, new manses and offices were built for them, and roads made specially 
 for their accommodation, and every arrangement made for their advantage. 
 They basked in the sunshine of favour; they were the bosom friends of the 
 factors and new tenants (many of whom were soon made magistrates), and 
 
 ■ M 1. 
 
23 
 
 had the honour of occasionnl visits, at their manses, from the proprietors; 
 themselves. They were always employed to explain and intejpret to the 
 assembled people the orders and designs of the factors; and they did not 
 spare 'heir college paint on these occasions. Black was made white, or 
 white black, as it answered their purpose, in discharging what they called 
 their duty ! They did not scruple to introduce the name of the Diety ; 
 representing Him as the author and abettor of all the foul and cruel pro- 
 ceedings carried on ; and they had at hand another useful being ready to 
 seize every soul who might feel any inclination to revolt. Indeed, the 
 manifest works of the later in their own hands, were sufficient to prove 
 his existence ; while the whole appearance of the country, and the state of 
 its inhabitants at this period, afforded ample j>roof that the principle of 
 evil was in the ascendant. The tyranny of one class, and the wrongs and 
 sufferings of the other, had demoralising effects on both; the national 
 character and manners were changed and deteriorated, and a comparativly 
 dpgenerate race is the consequence. This was already manifest in the year 
 1822, when George IV. made his famous visit to Edinburgh. The brave, 
 athletic and gallant men, who in 1745, and again more recently, in 1800, 
 rose in thousands at the call of their chief, were no longer to be traced in 
 their descendants. When the clans gathered to honour His Majesty on 
 the latter occasion, the SutherlatKl turn-out was contemptible. Some two 
 or three dozen of squalid-looking, ill-dressed, and ill appointed men, were 
 all that Sutherland produced. So inferior, indeed, was their appearance 
 to the other Flighlanders, that those who had the management refused to 
 allow them to walk in the procession, and employed them in some duty 
 out of public view. If their appearance was so bad, so also were their 
 accommodations. Thty were huddled together in an old empty hou.se, 
 sleeping on straw, and fed with the coarsest fare, while the other clans 
 were living in comparative luxury. Lord Francis Leveson Gower, and 
 iNIr. Loch, who were present, reaped little honour by the exhibition of their 
 Sutherland retainers on that great occasion. Moral degradation also, to 
 some extent, followed that of physical. Many vices, hitherto almost 
 unknown, began to make their appearance; and though the people never 
 resorted to " wild savage justice," like thote of Ireland in similar circum- 
 stances, the minor trangressions of squabbling, drunkeness, and inconti- 
 nency became less rare — the natural consequenceof their altered condition. 
 Religion also, from the conduct of the clergy, began to lose its hold on 
 their minds — and who can wonder at it? — when they saw these holy men 
 closely leagued with their oppressors. "Ichabod," the glory ©f Suther- 
 land had departed — perhaps never to return 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 I now proceed to describe the "allotments" on which the expelled and 
 burnt-out inhabitants were allowed to locate during the pleasure of the 
 factors. These allotments were generally situated on the sea-coast, the 
 intention being to force those who could not or would not leave the^ 
 
113 
 
 country, to draw thoir subsistence from the seu by fishing ; and in order 
 to deprive them of any other means, the lots were not only made small, 
 (varying from one to tliree acres), but their nature and situation rendered 
 them unfit for any useful purpose. If the reader will take the trouble to 
 examine the map of Sutherlandshire by Mr. Loch, he will perceive that 
 the county is bounded on the north by the Northern Ocean, on the south 
 by the county of Boss, on the west by the Mynch, on the north-east by 
 Caitiniess, and on the south-east by the Moray Frith. To the sea-coasts, 
 then, which surround the greatest part of the country were the whole 
 uiass of the inhabitants, to the amount of several thousand families, driven 
 by their unrelenting tyrants, in the manner I have described, to subsist 
 as they could, on the sea or the air ; for the spots allowed them could not 
 be called land, being composed of narrow stripes, promontories, cliffs and 
 precipices, rocks, and deep crevices, interspersed with bogs and morasses. 
 The whole quite useless to the superiors, and evidently never designed by 
 nature for the habitation of man or beast. This was, with a few exceptions, 
 the chai'acter of these allotments. The patches of soil where anything 
 could be grown, were so few and scanty that when any dis])ute arose about 
 the pro|)erty of them, the owner could easily carry them away in a creel on 
 his back and deposit them in another place. In many places, the spots 
 the poor people endeayoured to cultivate were so steep that while one was 
 delving, another had to hold up the soil with his hands, lest it should roll 
 into the sea, and from its constant tendancy to slide downwards, they had 
 frequently to carry it up again every spring and spread it upon the higher 
 parts. These patches were so small that few of them would aflbrd room 
 tor more than a few handf uls of seeds, and in harvest, if there happened 
 to be any crop, it was in continual danger of being blown into the sea, in 
 that bleak inclement region, where neither tree nor shrub could exist to 
 arrest its progress. In most years, indeed, when any mentionable crop 
 was realised, it was generally destroyed before it could come to maturity, 
 by sea blasts and mildew. In some places, on the north coast, the sea is 
 forced up through crevices, rising in columns to a prodigious height and 
 scattering its spray upon the adjoining spots of land, to the utter destruc- 
 tion of jEiuy thing that may be growing on them. These were the circum- 
 stances to which this devoted people were reduced, and to which none but 
 a hardy, patient and moral race, with an ardent attachment to their 
 country, would have quietly submitted; here they, with their cattle, had to 
 remain for the present, expecting the southern dealers to come at the 
 usual time (the months of June and July) to purchase their stocks ; but 
 the time came and passed, and no dealers made their appearance; none 
 would venture into the country ! The poor animals in a starving state, 
 were continually running to and fro, and frequently could not be prevented 
 from straying towards their former pasture grounds, especially in the night, 
 notwithstanding all the care taken to prevent it. When this occurred, 
 they were immediately seized by the shepherds and impounded without 
 food or water, till trespass was paid ! this was repeated till a great many of 
 the cattle were rendered useless. It was nothing strange to see the pinfolds, 
 of twenty to thirty yards square, filled to the entrance with horses, cows. 
 
 1 ! 
 
 ;. 
 
 -I 
 
 •ir:' 
 ;i ■ 
 
24 
 
 ,|li: 
 
 sheep and goats, promiscuously for nights and days together, in that starving 
 state, trampling on and goring each other. The lamentable neighing, 
 lowing, and bleating of these creatures, and the pitiful looks they cast on 
 their owners when they could recognize them, were distressiing to witness; 
 and formed an addition to the mass of suffering then prevailing. But this 
 was not all that beset the poor beasts. In some instances when they had 
 been tres[)assing, they were hurried back by the pursuing shepherds or 
 by their owners, and in running near the precipices may of them had 
 their bones broken or dislocated, and a great number fell over the rocks 
 into the sea, and were never seen more. Vast numbers of sheep and many 
 horses and other cattle which escaped their keepers and strayed to a 
 distance to their former pastures, were baited by men and dogs till they 
 were eitherpartially or totally destroyed, or became meat for their hunters. 
 I have myself seen many instances of the kind, where the animals were 
 lying partly consumed by the dogs, though still alive, and their eyes picked 
 out by birds of prey. When the cattle were detained by the shepheids in 
 tlie folds before mentioned, for trespass, to any amount the latter thought 
 proper to exact, those of their owners ^ho had not money — and they wen? 
 the majority — were obliged to relieve them by depositing their bed and 
 body clothes, watches, rings, pins, brooches, »fec., many of these latter were 
 the relics of dear and valued relatives, now no more, not a few of whom 
 had shed their blood in defence of that country from which their friends 
 were now ignominously driven, or treated as useless lumber, to be got rid 
 of at any price. The situation of the people with their families and cattle, 
 driven to these inhospitable coasts, and harassed and oppressed in every 
 possible way, presented a lamentable contrast to their former way of life 
 While they were grudged those barren and useless spots — and at high 
 rents too — the new tenants were accommodated with leases of as much 
 land as they chose to occupy, and at reduced rents; many of them holding 
 farms containing many thousand acres. One farm held by Messrs. Atkin- 
 son and Marshall, two gentlemen from Northumberland, contained an 
 hundred thousand acres of good pasture-land! Mr. Sellar had three large; 
 farms, one of which was twenty-five miles long; and, in some places, nine 
 or ten miles broad, situated in the barony of Strathnaver. This gentleman 
 was said to have lost annually, large quantities of iheep; and others of 
 the new tenants were frequently making complaints of the same kind ; all 
 these depredations, as well as every other, were laid to the charge of the 
 small tenants. An association was formed for the suppression of sheep- 
 stealing in Sutherlandshire, and large rewai'ds were held out — Ijord 
 Stafford himself offering £30 for the conviction of any of the offenders. 
 But though every effort was used to bring the crime home to the natives 
 (one gentleman, whom, for obvious reasons I will not name, said in my 
 hearing, he would rather than £1000 get one conviction from among 
 them) : yet, I am proud to say, all these endeavours were ineffectual. 
 Not one public conviction could they obtain ! In time, however, the saddle 
 came to be laid on the right horse; the shepherds could rob their masters' 
 flocks in safety, while the natives got the blame of all, and they were 
 evidently no way sparing; but at last they were found out, and I ha\ « 
 
20 
 
 reason to know that several ofthpm were diamissed, and some liad tlioir o^v|| 
 private stocks confiscated to their masters to make good the damage of tlifir 
 depredations. This was, liowever, all done privately, so that tlie odium 
 iniyht still attach to the natives. In concluding this piirt of the suhjeot, 
 I may observe that such of the cattle as strayed on the ministers' grounds, 
 fared no better than others; only that, as far as I know, these gentlemen 
 did not follow the practice of the shepherds in working the horses all day 
 and returning them to the pinfold at night: and I am very happy in being 
 able to give this testimony in favour of these reverend gentlemen. 
 
 I must not omit to mention here an anecdote illustrative of the state of 
 things prevailing at that time One of the shepherds on returning home 
 one Sabbath evening, after partaking of the Lord's Supper, in the church 
 of Farr, observed a number of the poor people's sheep and goats trespassing 
 at the outskirts of his master's hill-pasturage, and with the assistance of 
 his Jogs, which had also been at the kirk, drove them home and impounded 
 them. On Monday morning he took as many of the lambs and kids as he 
 thought proper, and had them killed for the use of his own family! The 
 owners complained to his master, who was a magistrate ; but the ansvvei' 
 was, that they should keep them off his property, or eat tiiem themselves, 
 and then his servants could not do it for them, or words to that effect. 
 One way or other, by starvation, accidents, and the depredations of the 
 shepherds and their dogs, the people's cattle to the aiinmut of many 
 hundred head, were utterly lost and destroyed. 
 
 
 '! 
 
 
 fenders. 
 
 I natives 
 in my 
 among 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 I have now endeavoured to shadow forth the cruel expulsion of n)y 
 " co-mates and brothers in exile," from their native hearths, and to give 
 a faint sketch of their extreme sufferings and privations in consequence. 
 Few instances are to be found in modern European history, and scarce any 
 in Britian, of such a wholesale extirpation, and with such revolting 
 circumstances. It is impossible for me to give more than an outline ; 
 the filling up would take a large volume, and the sufferings, insult, and 
 misery, to which this simple, pastoral race were exposed, would exceed 
 belief. But if I can draw public attention to their case, so as to promote 
 that authorised inquiry, so much deprecated by Highland proprietors, my 
 end will bo attained. If the original inhabitants could have been got rid 
 of totally, and their language and memory eradicated, the oppressors were 
 not disposed to be scrupulous about the means. Justice, humanity, and 
 even the laws of the land, were violated with impunity, when they stood 
 in the way of the new plans on " Change of Tenancy ; " and these plans, 
 with more or less severity, still continue to be acted upon in several of the 
 Highland counties, but more especially in Sutherland, to this day. But 
 there is still a number left, abject, "scattered and peeled" as they are, in 
 whose behalf I would plead, and to whose wrongs I would wish to give a 
 tongue, in hopes that the feeble remnant of a onc«^ happy and estimable 
 
: i! i 
 
 26 
 
 I. 
 
 people, iiiuy yet find soiie redress, or at least the comfort of public 
 sympathy. J now prooued to give some account of the state of tho 
 Sutlierlnnders, on their maritime" allotments," and how timy got on in 
 their now trade of fishing. 
 
 People accustomed to witness only the quiet friths and petty heaving.s 
 of the sea, from the lowland shores, can form little conception of the 
 gigantic workingsof the North rn sea, which, from a comparatively placid 
 state, often rises suddenly without apparent cause, into mountainous 
 billows ; and, when north winds prevail, its appearance becomes terrific 
 beyond description. To this raging element, however, the poor people 
 were now compelled to look for their subsistence, or starve, which was the 
 only other alternative. It is hard to extinguish the love of life, and it 
 was almost as hard to extinguish the love of country in a Highlandman 
 in past times ; so that, though many of the vigorous and enterprising 
 pur.sned their fortunes in other climes, and in various parts of Scotland 
 and England, yet many remained, and struggled to accommodate them- 
 selves to their new and appalling circumstances. The regular fishwraien, 
 who had hitherto pursued the finny race in the northern sea, were, from 
 the extreme hazard of the trade, extremely few, and nothing could exceed 
 the contempt and derision — mingled sometimes with pity, even in their 
 rugged breasts — with which they viewed the awkward attempts and sad 
 disasters of their new landward competitors. Nothing, indeed, could seem 
 more helpless, than the attempt to draw subsistence from such a boisterous 
 (if 'A with such means as they possessed, and in the most complete ignorance 
 of all sea-fariug matters; but the attempt had to be made, and the success 
 was as might be expected in such circumstances; while many — very many 
 — lost their lives, some became in time, expert fishermen. Numerous as 
 were the casualties, and of almost daily occurrence, yet the escapes, many 
 of them extraordinary, were happily still more frequent; their disasters, 
 on the whole, arose to a frightful aggregate of human misery. I shall 
 proceed to notice a very few cases, to which [ was a witness, or which 
 occur to my recollection. 
 
 William M'Kay, a respectable man, shortly after settling in his allot- 
 ment on the coast, went one day to explore his new possession, and in 
 venturing to examine more nearly the ware growing within the flood mark, 
 was suddenly swept away by a splash of the sea, from one of the adjoining 
 creeks, and lost his life, before the eyes of his miserable wife, in the last 
 month of her pregnancy, and three helpless children who were left to 
 deplore his fate. James Campbell, a man also with a family, on attempt- 
 ing to catch a peculiar kind of small fish among the rocks, was carried 
 away by the sea and never seen afterwards. Bell M'Kay, a married 
 woman, and mother of a family, while in the act of taking up salt water 
 to make salt of, was carried away in a similar manner, and nothing more 
 seen of her. Robert M'Kay, who with his family, were sufifering extreme 
 want, in endeavouring to procure some sea-fowls' eggs among the rocks, 
 lost his hold, and falling from a prodigious height was dashed to pieces, 
 leaving a wife, and five destitute children behind him. John M'Donald,. 
 while fishing, was swept oflf the rocks, and never seen more. 
 
, many 
 
 isasters, 
 
 I shall 
 
 which 
 
 g more 
 xtrerae 
 rocks, 
 pieces, 
 )oiiald,. 
 
 27 
 
 It is not my intention to gwell ray narrative, liy reciting the "moving 
 HccirlentH " that befell individuals and boats' crews, in their new and 
 linzurdous occupation ; suffice it to say, they were many and deplorable. 
 Most of the boats were such as the regular fishermen had cast off as 
 imservicable or unsafe, but which these poor creatures were obliyod to 
 purchase and go to sea with, at the hourly peril of their lives ; yet they 
 often not only escaped the death to which others became a prey, but w>re 
 very successful. One instance of this kind, in which I bore a i)art 
 myself, I will here relate. Five venturous young men, of whom T was 
 one, having Ijought an old crazy boat, that had long been laid up as 
 useless, and having procured lines of an inferior description, for hwddotk 
 fishing, put to sea, without sail, helm or compHSs, with three patcheil 
 oars; only one of the party ever having been on sea before. Thin apparently 
 insane attempt gathered a crowd of spectators, some in derision cheering 
 us on, and our friends imploring us to come back. However, Neptune 
 lieing then in one of his placid moods, we boldly ventured on, human life 
 having become reduced in value, and, after a night spent on the sea, in 
 which we freshmen suffered severely from sea-sickness, to the great 
 astonishment of the people on shore, the fteatker-boat, a.s slie was called, 
 reached the land in the morning — all hands safe, with a very good take of 
 fishes. In these and similar ways, did the young mnn serve a dangerous 
 and painful apprenticeship to the sea, "urged on V)y fearless v ant," and in 
 time became good fishermen, and were thereby enabled in some measure 
 to support their families, and those dependent on them : Init owing to 
 I'lficuliar circumstances, their utmost efforts were, in a great degree, 
 bortive. The coast was, as I have said, extremely boisterous and 
 destructive to their boats, tackle, Ac. They had no 'i^irbours where they 
 could land and secure their V)oats in safety, and liti ' or no capital to 
 procure sound boats, or to replace those which were lost. In one year 
 on the coast, between Port«kerra and Rabbit Island, (about 30 milesj 
 upwards of one hundred boats had been either totally destroyed or 
 materially injured, so as to render them unserviceable; and many of theit 
 crews had found a watery grave! It is lamentable to think, that while 
 £210,000 were expended on the so-called improvements, besides .£500 
 suliscribed by the proprietors, for making a harbour, the most needful of 
 all; not a shilling of the vast sum was ever expended for behoof of the 
 small tenantry, nor the least pains taken to mitigate their lot ! Roads, 
 bridges, inns, and manses, to be sure, were proviued for the acoomuioda- 
 tion of the new gentlemen tenantry and clergy, but those who spoke the 
 Gaelic tongue were a proscribed race, and everything was done to get rid 
 of them, by driving them into the forlorn hope of deriving subsistence 
 rrom the sea, while squatting on their miserable allotments, where, in 
 their wretched hovels, they lingered out an almost hopeless existence, and 
 where none but such hardy "sons of the mountain and the flood" could 
 have existed at all. Add to this, though at some seasons they procured 
 abundance of fish, they had no market for the surplus; the few shepherds 
 were soon supplied, and they had no means of conveying them to distant 
 towns, so that very little money could be realised to pay rent, or procure 
 
 i: 
 
 'I • 
 
 ■^i 
 
 % 
 
 A. 
 
If 
 
 I \ 
 
 I :; 
 
 t iM 
 
 ; t'' 
 
 28 
 
 orther necessaries, fishing tackle, «fec., and when the finny race thought 
 proper to desert their shores (as, in their caprice, tliey often do,) their 
 misery was complete! Besides those located on the sea-shore, there was 
 a portion of the people sent to the moors, and these were no better off. 
 Here they could neither get fish nor fowl, and the scraps of land given 
 theio were good for nothing — white or reddish gravel, covered with a thin 
 layer of moss, and for this they were to pay rent, and raise food from it to 
 maintain their families 1 By immense labour they did improve some 
 8|)0ts in these moors, and raise a little very infef-ior produce, but not 
 unfrequently, after all their toil, if they displeased the factors, or the 
 shepherds in the least, even by a word, or failed in paying the rent, they 
 were unceremoniously turned out; hence, their state of bondage may be 
 * understood; they durst not even complain ! The people on the property 
 of Mr. Dempster, of Skibo, were little, if anything, better off. They 
 were driven out though not by burning, and located on pat'~hfts of moors, 
 in a similar way to those on the Sutherland property, witli the only 
 difference that they had to pay higher than the latter for their wretched 
 allotments. Mr. Dempster says " he has kept his tenantry ; " but how 
 lias he treated them 1 This question will be solved, I hope, when the 
 nuthoiised inquiry into the state of the poor Hij,'hlander5 takes place. 
 
 I'' 
 
 I ■' 
 
 I'j 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .ilr 
 III 
 
 illjll 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Sir, — Were it not that I am unwillin j to occupy your valuable columr.x 
 to a much greater extent, I could bring forward, in the history of many 
 families, several interesting episodes to illustrate this narrative of my 
 country's misfortunes. Numerous are the instances (some of the subjects 
 of them could be produced even in this city) of persons, especially females 
 whose mental and bodily sufferings, during the scenes I have described, 
 have entailed on them diseases which baffle medical skill, and vfhich 
 deatb only can put an end to ; but I forbear to dwell on these at present, 
 and pass on to the year 1827. 
 
 The depopulation of the county (with the exceptions I have described) 
 was now complete. The land had passed into the hands of a few'capital- 
 ists, and everything was done to promote their prosperity and convenience, 
 while everything that had been promised to the gmali tenants, was, as 
 regularly, left undone. But yet the latter were so stubborn that thej 
 could not be brought to rob or steal, to afford cause for hanging or 
 transporting them ; nor were they even willing to beg, though many of 
 them were gradually forced to submit to this last degradation to the feel 
 ings of the high-minded Gael. It was in this year that her ladyship, the 
 proprietrix, and suite, made a visit to Dunrobin Castle. Previous to her 
 arrival, the clergy and factors, and the new tenants, set about raising a 
 subscription throughout the county, to provide a costly set of ornaments, 
 with complimentary inscriptions, to be presented to her ladyship in name 
 
ging or 
 nariy of 
 the feel 
 hip, the 
 IS to her 
 
 29 
 
 of her tenantry. Emissaries were dispatched for this purpose even to the 
 small tenantry, located on the moors and barren cliffs, and every means 
 used to wheedle or scare them into contributing. They were told that 
 those who would subscribe would thereby secure her ladyship's and 
 the factor's favour, and those who could not or would not, were given to 
 understand, very significantly, what they had to expect, by plenty of 
 menacing looks and ominous shakings of the head. This caused many of 
 the poor creatures to part with their last shilling, to supply complimentary 
 ornaments to honour this illustrious family, and which went to purchase 
 additional favour for those M'ho were enjoying the lands from which they 
 had been so cruelly expelled. 
 
 Thei*e testimonials were presented at a splendid entertainment, and 
 many high-flown compliments passed between the givers and receiver : 
 but, of course, none of the poor victims were present ; no compliments 
 were paid to them ; and it is questionable if her ladyship ever knew that 
 one of them subscribed — indeed, I am almost certain she never did. Three 
 years after, she made a more lengthened visit, and this time she took a 
 tour round the northern districts on the sea-shore, where the poor people 
 were located, accompanied by a number of the clergy, the factors, &c. 
 She was astonished and distrassed at the destitution, nakedness, and 
 extreme misery which met her eye in every direction, and made enquiries 
 into their condition, and she ordered a general distribution of clothing to 
 be made among the most destitute; but unfortunately she confined her 
 inquiries to those who surrounded her, and made them the medium for 
 distributing her bounty — the very parties who had been the main cause of 
 this deplorable destitution, and whose interest it was to conceal the real 
 state of the people, as it continues to be to this day. 
 
 At one place she stood upon an eminence, where she had about a hun- 
 dred of those wretched dwellings in view; at least she could see the smoke 
 of them ascending from the horrid places in which they were situated. 
 She turned to the parish minister in the utmost astonishment, and asked 
 " Is it possible that there are people living in yonder places 1 " — O yes, 
 my lady," was the reply. *' And can you tell me if they are any way 
 comfortable ] " " Quite comfortable, my lady." Now, sir, I can declare 
 that at the very moment this reverend gentleman uttered these words, he 
 was fully aware of the horrors of their situation ; and b*»sides that, some 
 of the outcasts were then begging in the neighbouring county of Caith- 
 ness, many of them carrying certificates from this very gentleman, attest- 
 ing that they were objects of charity ! 
 
 Her ladyship, however, was not quite satisfied with tljese answers. She 
 caused a general warning to be issued, directing the people to meet her, 
 at stated places as she proceeded, and wherever a body of them met her, 
 she alighted from her carnage, and questioned them if they were com- 
 fortable, and how the factors were behaving to them 1 [N.B. The factors 
 were always present on these occasions.] But they durst make little or no 
 complaints. What they did say was in Gaelic, and, of course, as in other 
 cases, left to the minister's intorpretation ; but: their forlorn, ha^tgard, and 
 destitute appearance, sulHoiently testified their real condition. I am quite 
 
 -41 
 
 4 
 
 
 P- 
 
 'J 
 
 \ 
 
1 
 
 ! ill 
 
 3C 
 
 certain, tliat had this great, and 1 am Mill'ng to admit, when not misled) 
 good woman remained on her estates, their situation would have been 
 materially bettered, but as ail her charity was left to be dispensed by those 
 who were anxious to get rid of the people, root and branch, little benent 
 resulted from it, at least to those she meant to relieve. As I mentioned 
 above, she ordered bed and body clothes to all who were in need of them, 
 but, as usual, all was entrusted to the ministers and factors, and they 
 mannged this business with the same selfishness, injustice, and partiality, 
 that had marked their conduct on former occasions. Many of the most 
 needy got nothing, and others next to nothing. For an instance of the 
 latter, several families, consisting of seven or eight, and in great distiess 
 got only a yard and a half of coarse blue flannel, each family. Those 
 however, who were the favourites and toadies of the distributors, and their 
 servants, got an anjple supply of both bed and body clothes, but this was 
 the exception; generally speaking the poor people were nothing benefitted 
 by her ladyship's charitable intentions; though they afforded hay-making 
 seasons to those who had enough already, and also furnished matter for 
 glowing accounts in the newspapers, of her ladyship's extraordinary munifi- 
 cence. To a decent highland woman, who had interested her ladyship, 
 she ordered a piesent of a gown-piece, and the gentleman factor who was 
 entrusted to procure it, some time after sent six yards of cotton stuff not 
 worth 2s. in the whole. The woman laid it aside, intending to show it to 
 her ladyship on her next visit, but her own death occurred in the mean- 
 time. Thus, in every way were her ladyship's benevolent intentions 
 frustrated or r.;.sappliefl,and that ardent attachment to her family which 
 had sub.sisted through so many gen-^rations, materially weakened, if 
 not totally destroyed, by a mistaken policy towards her people, and an 
 undue confidence in those to who.se management she committed them, and 
 who, in almost every instance, betrayed that confidence, and cruelly abused 
 that delejjated power. Hence, and hence only, the fearful misery and 
 ^' destitution in Sutlierlanclshire." 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Sir, — In the year 1832, and soon after the events T have been describ- 
 ing, an order was issued by Mr. Loch, in the name of the Duke and 
 Duchess of Sutherland, that all the small tenants, on both sides of the 
 road from Bighoyse to Melness (about thirty miles), where their cottages 
 were thickly studded, must build new houses, with stone and mortar, 
 according to a prescribed plan and specification. Tlie poor people, finding 
 their utter inability, in their present condition, to erect such houses 
 (which, when finished, would cost £30 to £40 each), got up petitions to 
 the proprietors, setting forth their distressed condition, and the impos- 
 sibility of complying with the requisition at present. These petitions they 
 ^upplicatexl and implored the ministers to sign, well knowing that other- 
 wise they had little chance of being attended to ; but these gentlemen 
 
describ- 
 
 ike and 
 
 of the 
 
 cottages 
 
 mortar, 
 
 finding 
 
 houses 
 
 jions to 
 
 iuipos- 
 
 )ns they 
 
 other- 
 
 itleaien 
 
 31 
 
 'Could be moved by no eutreaties, auf'. answered all their applications by . 
 coiilemptuous refusal. The petitions had, therefore, to be forwarded to 
 London without ecclesiastical sanction, and, of course, effected nothing. 
 The answer returned was, that if they did not immediately begin to build, 
 they would be removed next term. The very word removed was enough; 
 it brought back to their minds the recollection of former scenes, with all 
 their attendant horrors. To escape was impossible, they had no where to 
 go; and in such circumstances they would have consented to any thing, 
 even to the making " bricks without straw," like their oppressed proto- 
 types of old. 
 
 In the midst of hopeless misery, then, and many of them without a 
 shilling in their pockets, did they commence the task of building houses, 
 such as I have mentioned, on the barren spots, and without any security 
 of retaining them, even when they were built 'J'he edict was law ; 
 supplicat'on or remonstrance was in vain j so to it they M-ent, under oircu in- 
 stances such as perhaps building was never carried on before, in a country 
 called Christian and civilised. Plans and specifications were publishf'(l, 
 and estimates required by the factors, directing the whole proceedings, 
 and, as usual, without consulting the feelings of the poor people, or in- 
 <iuiring into the means they had for carrying them into effect. All was 
 bustle and competition among masons and mechanics, of whom few resided 
 in the country; most of them were strangers; and when they commenced 
 work, the people were obliged to feed them, whether they had anything 
 themselves to eat or not, and to pay them, even if they had to sell the 
 last moveable for that purpose. Some of the masons, however, showed 
 great lenity, and are still unpaid. Previous to this, in the year 1829. J 
 and my family had been forced away like others, being particularly 
 obnoxious to those in autharity for sometimes showing an inclination to 
 oppose their tyranny ;and therefore we had to be made examples of, to 
 frighten the rest, but in 1833 I made a tour to the districts, when the 
 building was going on, and shall endeavour to describe a small part of 
 what met my eye on that occasion. In one district (and this was a fail 
 specihien of all the rest), when the building was going on, 1 saw fourteen 
 different squads of masons at woik. with the natives attending them. Old 
 grey-headed men, worn down by previous hardship and present want, were 
 to be seen carrying stones, and wheeling them and other materials on bar- 
 rows, or carrying them on their backs to the buildings, and, with their 
 tottering limbs and trembling hands straining to raise the stones, <kv,, to 
 the walls. The young men also, after toiling all night at sea, endeavour- 
 ing for subsistence, instead of rest, were obliged to yield their exhausted 
 flames to the labours of the day. Even female labour could not be 
 dispensed with ; the strong as well as the weak, the delicate and sickly, 
 and (shame to the nature of their oppressors !) even the pregnant, bare- 
 footed, and scantily clothed and fed, were obliged to join in these rugged, 
 uitfeminine labours, carrying stones, clay, lime, wood <fec., on their backs 
 or on barrows, their tracks often leddened with the blood from their hands 
 and leet, and from hurts received by then- awkwardness in handling the 
 rude materials. lo one inotance I saw the husltand quarrying stones, and 
 
 1 
 
 
 'A 
 
 ?■. 
 
 1* 
 
 '4'- 
 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 f I 
 
 1 
 
 ..[: 
 
 
wmmsff^sam 
 
 ' i! :- ■ 
 
 32 
 
 the wifo and children dragging them along in an old cart to the building. 
 CSuch were the building scenes of that period. The poor people had often 
 to give the last morsel of food they possessed to feed the masons, and 
 subsist on shell-fish themselves when they could get them. The timber 
 for their houses was furnished by the factors, and charged about a third 
 higher than it could be purchased at in any of the neighbouring sea ports. 
 1 spent two melancholy days witnessing these scenes, which Ure now 
 present to my mind, and which I can never forget. This went on for 
 several years, in the course of which, many hundreds of houses were 
 erected on inhospitable spots, unfit for human residence. It might be 
 thought that the design of forcing the people to build such houses, was to 
 provide for their comfort and accommodation ; but there was another 
 object, which T believe was the only true motive, and that was, to hide 
 the misery that prevailed. There had been a great sensation created in 
 the public mind, by the cruelties exercised in these districts ; and it was 
 thought that a number of neat white houses, ranged on each side of the 
 road, would take the eyes of strangers and visitors, and give a practical 
 contradiction to the rumours afloat ; hence the poor creatures were forced 
 to resort to such means, and to endure such hardships and privations as I 
 have described, to carry the scheme into effect. And after they had spent 
 their all, and much more than their all, on the erection of these houses, 
 and involved themselves in debt, for which they have been harassed and 
 pursued ever since, they are still but whitened tombs ; many of them now 
 ten yeaVs in existence, and still without proper doors or windows, destitute 
 of furniture, and of comfort ; merely providing a lair for a heart-broken, 
 squalid, and degenerated race. 
 
 ! :i! 
 
 J :hi 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 During the period in which the building was going on, I think in the 
 year 1833, Lord Leveson Gower, the present Duke of Sutherland, visited 
 the country, and remained a few weeks, during which he had an opportu- 
 nity of witnessing the scenes I have described in my last ; and such was 
 the impression made on his mind, that he gave public orders that the 
 people should not be forced to build according to the specific plan, but be 
 allowed to erect such houses as suited themselves. These were glad 
 tiditigs of mercy to the poor people, but they were soon turned to bitter 
 disappointment ; for no sooner had his lordship left the country, than Mr. 
 Loch or his underlings issued fresh orders for the building to go on as 
 before. 
 
 Shortly after this (in July, 1833) his Grace the first (and late) Duke 
 of Sutherland, who had been some time in bad health, breathed his last in 
 Dunrobin Castle, and was interred with great pomp in the family burying- 
 place in the cathedral of Dornoch. The day of his funeral was ordered 
 to be keot as a fast-day by all the tenantry, under penalty of the highest 
 
 II )■' 
 
■ij' J 
 
 Ml, but be 
 
 33 
 
 displeasure of those in authority, though it was just then herring-fishing 
 season, when much depended on a day. Still this was a minor hardship. 
 The next year a project was set on foot, by the same parties who formerly 
 got up the expensive family ornaments presented to her Grace, to raise a 
 monument to the late Duke. Exactly similiar measures were resorted to, 
 to make the small tenantry subscribe, in the midst of all their distresses, 
 and with similar results. All who coiiH raise a shilling gave it, and those 
 who covild not, awaited in terror the consequences of their default. No 
 doubt, the Duke deserved the highest posthumous honours from a portion 
 of his tenantry — those who had benefitted by the large sums he and the 
 Duchess had lavished for their accommodati(m ; but the poor small ten- 
 antry, what had been done for them 1 While the ministers, factors, and 
 new tenantry, were rich and luxurious, basking in the sunshine of favour 
 and prosperity, the miseries and oppressions of the natives remain unaba- 
 ted ; they were emphatically in the shade, and certainly had little for 
 wliich to be grateful to those whose abuse of power had brought them to 
 such a pass — who had drained their cup of every thing that could sweeten 
 life, and left only 
 
 " A mass of sordid lees behind I" 
 
 Passing the next two years, I now proceed to describe the failure of the 
 harvest in 1836, and the consequences to the Highlands generally , and to 
 Sutherland in particular. In this year the crops all over Britain were 
 deficient, having had bad weather for growing and ripening, and still 
 worse for gathering in. But in the Highlands they were an entire failure, 
 and on the untoward spots occupied by the Sutherland small tenants there 
 was literally nothing — at least nothing fit for human subsistence; and to 
 add to the calamity, the weather had prevented them from securing the 
 peats, their only fuel ; so that, to their exhausted state from their dispro- 
 portionate exertions in building, cold and hunger were now to be super- 
 added. The sufiTerings of the succeeding winter, endured by the poor 
 Highlanders, truly beggar description. Even the herring-fishing had 
 failed and consequently their credit in Caithness, which depended on its 
 success was at an end. Any little provision they might be able to procure 
 was of the most inferior and unwholesome description. It was no uncom- 
 mon thing to see people searching among the snow for the frosted potatoes 
 to eat, in order to preserve life. As the harvest had been disasti'ous, so 
 the winter was uncommonly boisterous and severe, and consequently little 
 could be obtained from the sea to mitigate the calamity. The distress 
 rose to such a height as to cause a universal sensation all over the island, 
 and a general cry for government interference to save the people from 
 death by famine ; and the appeal backed by the clergy of all denomina- 
 tions throughout the Highlands, (with the exception of Sutherland) was 
 not made in vain. 
 
 Dr. M'Leod of Glasgow was particularly zealous on this occasion. He 
 took reports from all the parish ministers in the destitute districts, and 
 went personally to London to represent the case to government and 
 implore aid, and the case was even laid before both houses of parliament. 
 
 c 
 
 ;- 
 
 I 
 
',1 ,::";: 
 
 34 
 
 I' I 
 
 'iH 
 
 m,. 
 
 Tn cor aticj^imiiursf these applications and proceedings, money and prov- 
 sionBto ugsaa/aamovrnt were sent down, and the magistrates and ministers 
 entrasted wiiofti tdie distribution of them : and in the ensuing summer, 
 vessels -k-wk mrvb to take on board a number of those who were willing to 
 emigrate in jl^afttralia. Besides this, private subscriptions were entered 
 into, a-ad matDxy obtained to a very great amount. Public meetings were 
 got up in «I!1 £]ie principal cities and towns in Great Britain and Ireland, 
 and large ffriufe coilojcted ; so that effectual relief was afforded to every 
 place that Mr^anred it, with the single exception of that county which, of 
 all oth«^ ^wasin: the most deplorable state — the county of Sutherland! 
 The reaBQE ««ff this I will explain presently; but first let me draw the 
 reader's aititimciian for a moment to the new circumstances in wliich the 
 Highlands "jmoR^ placed Failure in the crops in those northern and north- 
 western ladtsaf Scotland was a case of. frequent and common occurrence; 
 but f amixie, snrfi !iolicitations for national aid and charitable relief, were 
 somethinf t^mijj*^ new. I will indeavour to account for the change. Pre- 
 vious to llie •*'(ifta>ngB of tenancy," as the cruel spoliation and expatriation 
 of the nati'j:^ ih&fthitanta was denominated, when a failure occurred in the 
 grain and jitiiarr. crops, they had recourse to their cattle. Selling a few 
 additiona] hfnaiv ar an extra score of sheep, enabled them to purchase at the 
 sea- ports wihrai jjrain was w.inted. But now they bad no cattle to sell ; 
 and when iiLft (maps totally failed on their spots of barren ground, and 
 when, at 1i>f smm time, the fishing proved unprosperous, they were imme- 
 diately redimwil CO' a state of famine ; and hence the cry for relief, which 
 aa I bare mmcmhned, was so generously responded to. But I would ask 
 who were liht- ^ivnhors of all this mass of distress ? Surely the proprietors, 
 who, UTiiickiMtili that "property has its duties as well as its rights," 
 brought about t^^ state of things. They in common with other landed 
 legislators, ^nsKdjtHi the food taxes, causing a competition for land, and 
 then enooQtcB^^ strange adventurers to supersede the natives, and drive 
 them out, is itv^krr that the whole of the Highlands should be turned into 
 a manufactory tts' make beef and mutton for the English market. And 
 when, by tteif means, they had reduced the natives to destitution and 
 famine, 1A^ ''ifik it to the government and to charitable individuals to 
 provide ralirf'! lanjruageis scarcely adtquate to characterize such con- 
 duct : yet Ihem a«e the gi-eat, the noble, and right honourable of the land ! 
 However, wiiofts tlfie exception of my unfortunate native county, relief was 
 afforded, thoR^ not by those whose right it was to afford it. Large quan- 
 tities of oatim»!R'l. »Rd oats, and barley, potatoes, Ac, were brought up and 
 forwarded to ttte Sorth and West Highlands, and distributed among all 
 who were on wse£; but nothing of all this for the Sutherlanders. Even 
 Dr. M'Leod, im all the zeal of his charitable mission, passed from Stomo- 
 way to tb« f>%ifttltiiui Islands without vouchsafeing a glance at Sutherland in 
 his way. Hk mtann of all this I will now explain. It was constantly 
 asserted an€ treiiterated in all places, that there was no occasion for govern- 
 ment w other iftaajitable aid to Sutherland, as the noble proprietors would 
 themselv«6 tsikft in hand to afford their tenantry ample relief. This story 
 T'as circulaitefi t&rough the newspapers, and repeated by the cleogy and 
 
89 
 
 factors at all public meetings, till the puMic was qui(e satisfied on the 
 subject. Meantime the wretched people were suffering the most unpar- 
 alleled distress; famine had brought their misery to a frightful climax, and 
 disease and death had commenced their work ! In their agony they had 
 recourse to the ministers, imploring them to represent their case to 
 government, that they might partake of the relief afforded to other coun- 
 ties : but all in vain ! I am aware that what I here assert is incredible, 
 but not less true, that of the whole seventeen parish ministers, not one 
 could be moved by the supplications and cries of the famishing wretches 
 to take any steps for their relief ! They answered all entreaties with a cold 
 refusal, alleging that the proprietors would in their own good time, send 
 the necessary relief ; but, so far as I could ever learn, they took no means 
 to hasten that relief. They said in their sermons "that the Lord had a 
 controversy with the land for the people's wickedness ; and that in his 
 providence, and even in his mercy, he had sent this scourge to bring them 
 to repentance," &c. Some people (wicked people, of course) may tbink 
 such language, in such circumstances, savored more of blasphemy than of 
 religious truth. Meantime, the newspapers were keeping up the public 
 expectations of the munificent donations the proprietors were sending. 
 One journal had it that £9,000 worth of provisions were on the way ; 
 others £8,000, and £7,000, «fec. However, the other Highlanders had 
 received relief at least two months before anything came to Sutherland. 
 At last it did come : the amount of relief, and the aianuer of its appro- 
 priation shall be explained in my next. 
 
 1 
 
 :1 
 
 1; 
 
 ';-5 
 
 !n ! 
 
 ■ 1^. 
 
 ■' ■ 
 
 ;i 
 
 "'■ 
 
 ■'s 
 
 !;■ 
 
 '■'} 
 
 ly 
 
 
 »i 
 
 ,' 
 
 ii 
 
 
 If, 
 
 '■ 
 
 II ■ 
 
 ;■' 
 
 !r 
 
 
 is 
 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 SiR^ — In my last I quoted an expression cuiTent among the clergy at 
 the time of the famine "that God had a controversy with the people for 
 their sins," but I contend — and I think my readers in general will agree 
 with me — that the poor Sutherlanders were " more sinned against than sin- 
 ning." To the aspersions cast upon them by Mr. Loch, in his book (written 
 by an interested party, and evidently for a purpose) I beg the public to con- 
 trast the important work by General Stewart before mentioned, and 'i*aw 
 their own conclusions. The truth is that the Sutherlanders were examples 
 of almost all the humble virtues ; a simple and uncorrupted, rural, and 
 pastoral population : even the unexampled protracted c'ruelty with which 
 they were treated, never stirred them to take wild or lawless revenge. 
 During a period of 200 years, there had been only three capital convic- 
 tions, and very few crimes of any description ; the few that did occur were 
 chiefly against the excise laws. But those who coveted the lands, which 
 in justice were their patrimony, like Queen Jezebel of old, got false 
 witnesses to defame them (in order that a pretext might be afforded for 
 expelling them from the possesions which had been defended with the 
 blood of their forefathers). It was the factors, the capitalists, and the 
 
36 
 
 'ii! 
 
 ■ '■iii' 
 
 ' ■ ^' ;: 
 
 cl )rgy, that had a < ontroversy with the people, and not the Almighty, as 
 thny blasphemously asserted. The Sutherlanders had always been a 
 religious, a devout, and a praying people, and now their oppressors, and 
 not Divine Providence, had made them a fasting people. I proceed to 
 give some account of that mockery of relief which was so ostentatiously 
 paraded before the public in the newspapers, and at public meetings. 
 
 I have already observed that the relief afforded to the Highland districts 
 generally, by the government, and by private charity, was not only effec- 
 tual in meeting the exigency, but it was bone fide charity, and was 
 forthcoming in time ; while the pittance doled out to the Suthei'lunders, 
 was iestitute c f those characteristics. How the poor people passed the 
 winter and spring under the circumstances before mentioned, I must leave 
 to the reader's imagination; suffice it to say, that though worn to the bone 
 by cold, hunger, and nakedness, the bulk of them still survived. The 
 Higli'anders are still proverbially tenacious of life. In the latter end of 
 April, 1837, when news reached them that the long-promised relief, 
 consisting of meal, barley, potatoes, and seed oats, had actually arrived, 
 and was to be immediately distributed at Tongue and other stated places, 
 the people at once flocked to those places, but were told that nothing 
 woul 1 be given to any, till they produced a certificate from their parish 
 minister that they were proper objects of charity. Here was a new 
 obstacle. They had to ieturn and implore those haughty priests for certi- 
 ficater, which were frequently withheld from mere caprice, or for some 
 allegi d offence or lack of homage in the applicant, who if not totally 
 refused, had to be humbled in the dust, sickened by delay, and the boon 
 only at last yielded to the intercession of some of the more humane of the 
 shepherds. Those who were in the fishing trade were peremptorily 
 refused. This is the way in which man, religious man, too ! can trifle 
 with the distress of his famishing brother. 
 
 The places appointed for distribution were distant from the homes of 
 
 manv of the sufferers, so that by the time they had waited on the minis- 
 
 sers for the necessary qualification, and travelled again to places of 
 
 distiibution and back again, with what they could obtain, on their backs, 
 
 several days were consumed, and in many cases from 50 to 100 miles 
 
 traversed. And what amount of relief did they receive after all 1 From 
 
 7 to 28 lbs. of meal, and seed oats and potatoes in the same proportions; 
 
 land this not for individuals, but for whole families! In the fields, and 
 
 about the dykes adjoining the places where these pittances were doled out, 
 
 ! groups of famishing creatures might be seen lying in the mornings (many 
 
 of them having travelled the whole day and night previous), waiting the 
 
 lets jre of the factors or their clerks, and no attention was paid to them till 
 
 ; those gentlemen had breakfasted and dressed, <bc.; by which time the day 
 
 gras far advanced. 
 
 Several subsequent distributions of meal took place ; but in every new 
 case, fresh certificates of continued destitution had to be procured from the 
 ministers and elders of the respective parishes. This was the kind, and 
 quantity, of relief afforded, and the mode of dispensing it; different indeed 
 from what was represented in the glozing falsehoods so industriously 
 palmed on public credulity. 
 
37 
 
 ing the 
 ^eni till 
 khe day 
 
 In the month of September, her Grace being then on a risit in the 
 country, the following proceedings took place, as reported in the public 
 papers of the day, which afforded a specimen of groundless assertions, 
 clerical sycophancy, and fulsome adulation, for which it might be difficult 
 to find a parallel : — 
 
 " The Presbytery of Tongue, at their last meeting, agreed to present the follow- 
 ing address to the DuchpHS of Sutherland. Her Grace being then at Tungue, the 
 Presbytery waited on her ; aud the address being read by the moderator, »h» made 
 a suitable reply : 
 
 "May it please your Orace. 
 
 "We, the Presbytery of Tongue, beg leave to approach your Grace with feelings 
 of profound respect, and to express our joy at your safe arrival within our bounds. 
 
 " We have met here this day for the purpose of communicating to your Grace 
 the deep sense which we entertain of your kindness during the past season to the 
 people under our charge. 
 
 " When it pleased Providence by an unfavourable harvest to afflict the Highlands 
 of Scotland with a scarcity of bread, and when the clergymen of other districts 
 appealed to public charity in behalf of their parishoners, the confidence which we 
 placed in your Grace's liberality led us to refrain from making a similar appeid. 
 
 " When we say that this confidence has been amply realised, we only express the 
 feelings of our people ; and participating strongly in these feelings, as we do, to 
 withoTd the expression of them from your Grace, would do injustice alike to our- 
 selves and to them. 
 
 " In their name, therefore, as well as in our own, we beg to offer to your Grace 
 our warmest gratitude. When other districts were left to the precarious supplies 
 of & distant benevolence, your Grace took on yourself the charge of supporting 
 your people ; by a constant supply of meal, you not only saved them from famine, 
 but enabled them to live in comfort ; and by a seasonable provision of seed, you 
 were the means, under God, of securing to them the blessing of the present abun- 
 dant harvest. 
 
 " 1 liat Almighty God may bless your grace, — that he may long spare you to be 
 a blessing to your people, — and that he may finally give you the inheritance which 
 is iticoiTuptible, undenled, and that fadeth not away, is the prayer of 
 
 " May it please your Grace, 
 
 '• The Mkmbrbs of the Pkesbytery of Tongue. 
 
 (Signed) " HUGH MACKENZIE, Jl/o(?«m<or.' 
 
 The evident tendency of this document was to mislead her Grace, and 
 by deluding the public, to allay anxiety, stifle inquiry, and conceal the 
 truth. However, hex' Grace made a " suitable reply," and great favour 
 was shown to the adulators. About a year before, the very clergyman 
 whose signature is appended to this address exchanged part of his glebe for 
 the lands of Dinsad and Inshverry; but in consenting to the change, he 
 made an express condition that the present occupiers, amounting to eight 
 families, sliould be "removed," and accordingly they were driven out in 
 a body! To this gentleman, then, the honour is due of having consum- 
 mated the Sutherland ejections; and hence he was admirably fitted for 
 signing the address. I must not omit to notice 'Hhe abundant harvest" 
 said to succeed the famine. The family "allotments " only afforded the 
 sowing of from a half firlot to two or three firlots of oats, and a like 
 quantity of barley, which, at an average in good seasons, yielded about 
 
w 
 
 
 8d 
 
 three times the quantity sown ; in bad years little or nothing ; and even 
 in the most favourable cases, along with their patches of potatoes, could 
 not maintain the people more than three months in the yeai\ The crop 
 succeeding the famine was anything but an abundant one to the poor 
 people ; they had got the seed too late, and the season was not the most 
 favourable for bringing it to even ordinary perfection. Hence, that 
 "abundance" mentioned in the address was like all the rest of its 
 groundleHS assumption. But I have still to add to the crowning iniquity 
 — the provision distributed in charity had to he paid for/ but this point 
 I must postpone till my next. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Sir, — It would require a closer acquaintance with the recent history of 
 Sutherlandshire than I am able to communicate, and better abilities than 
 mine, to convey to the reader an adequate idea of the mournful contrast 
 between the former comfortable and independent state of the people and 
 that presented in my last. They were now generally speaking, become a 
 race of paupers, trembling at the very looks of their oppressors, objects of 
 derision and mockery to the basest underlings, and fed by the scanty hand 
 of those who had been the means of reducing them to their present state ! 
 To their capability of endurance must, in a great measure, be ascribed 
 their surviving in any considerable numbers, the manifold inflictions they 
 had to encounter. During the spring and summer many of the young 
 and robust of both sexes left the country in quest of employment ; some 
 to the neighbouring county of Caithness, but most of them went to the 
 Lowlands, and even into England, to serve as cattle drivers, labourers and 
 in other menial occupations. No drudgery was too low for their accep- 
 tance, nor any means left untried, by which they could sustain life in the 
 most frugal manner, and anything earned above this was carefully trans- 
 mitted to their sulTering relations at home. When harvest commenced 
 they were rather better employed, and then the object was to save a little 
 to pay the rent at the approaching term; but there was another use they 
 had never thought of, to which their hard and scanty earnings had to be 
 applied. 
 
 Not long after the termination of the Duchess' visit (during which the 
 address given in my last was presented), I think just about two months 
 after, the people were astonished at seeing placards posted up in all public 
 places, warning them to prepare to pay their rents, and also the meal, 
 potatoes, and seed oats and barley they had got during the spring and 
 summer ! This was done in the name of the Duchess, by the orders of 
 Mr. Loch and his under-factora. Ground-officers were dispatched in all 
 directions to explain and enforce this edict, and to inform the small 
 tenants that their rents would not be received till the accounts for the 
 provisions were tirst settled. This was news indeed ! — astonishing intelli- 
 
39- 
 
 gence this — that the pitiful mite of relief, obtained with so much labour 
 and ceremony, and doled out by pampered underlings with more than 
 the usual insolence of charity, was after all to be paid for! After govern- 
 ment aid and private charity, so effectually afforded to other Highland 
 districts, had been intercepted by ostentatious promises of ample relief 
 from the bounty of her Grace; after the clergy had lauded the Almighty, 
 and her Grace no less, for that bounty; the poor creatures were to be 
 concussed into paying for it, and at a rate too, considerably above the 
 current prices. I know this, to persons unacquainted with Highland 
 tyranny, extortion and vppres^iou, will appear incredible; but I am able 
 to substantiate its truth by clouds of living witnesses. 
 
 The plan adopted deserves particular notice. The people were told, 
 " their rents would not be received till the provisions were first paid for." 
 By this time those who had procured a little money by labouring elsewhere, 
 were returning with their savings to enable their relatives to meet the rents 
 and this was thought a good time to get the " charity " paid up. Accord- 
 ingly when the people, as usual, waited upon the factor with the rent, 
 they were told distinctly that the meal. &c, must be paid first, and that 
 if any lenity was shown, it would be for the rent, but none for the provi- 
 sions ! The meaning of this scheme seems to be, that by securing pay- 
 ment for the provisions in the first instance, they would avoid the odium 
 of pursuing for what was given as charity, knowing that they could at any 
 time enforce payment of the rent, by the usual summary means to which 
 they were in the habit of resorting. Some laid down their money at once, 
 and the price of all they had got was then deducted, and a receipt handed 
 to them for the balance, in part of their rent. Others seeing this, remon- 
 strated and insisted on paying their rent first, and the provisions after- 
 wards, if they must be paid ; but their pleading went for nothing, their 
 money was taken in the same manner, (no receipts in any case being given 
 for the payment of the •* charity, ")and they were driven contemptuously 
 from the counting-table. 
 
 A few refused to pay, especially unless receipts were granted for the 
 " charity," and returned home with the money, but most of them were 
 induced by the terror of their families to carry it back and submit like the 
 rest. A sm.aller portion, however, still continued refractory, and alternate 
 threats and wheedlings were used by the underlings to make these comply; 
 so that gradually all were made to pay the last shilling it was possible for 
 them to raise. Some who had got certificates of destitution being unable, 
 from age or illness, to undergo the fatigue of waiting on the factors for 
 their portion, or of carrying it home, had to obtain the charitable assistance 
 of some of their abler fellow sufferers for that purpose, but when there 
 was any difficulty about the payment, the carriers were made accountable 
 the same as if they had been the receivers ! Hitherto, the money collected 
 at the church doors, had been divided among the poor, but this year it 
 was withheld : in one parish to my personal knowledge (and as far as my in- 
 formation goes the refusal was general), the parish minister telling them 
 that they could not expect to get meal and money both, signifying that 
 the deKcient payments for the provisions had to be made up from the 
 
 'I 
 
 '^1 
 
 » 
 
 *|: 
 
 in-:-: : ■ ( 
 
 'f 
 
 'm\ 
 
 w 
 
> 1< I 
 
 • 40 
 
 church collections. Whether this was the truth or not, it served for a 
 pretext to deprive the poor of this slender resource; for, ever since — now 
 four years — they have got nothing. This is one among many subjects of 
 enquiry. Verily there is much need for light to be thrown on this corner of 
 the land! A rev. gentleman from the west, whose failing it was to trans- 
 gress the ten commandments, had, through some special favour, obtained 
 a parish in Sutherlandshire, and thinking probably that charity should 
 begin at home, had rather misapplied the poor's money which was left 
 in his hand, for on his removal to another parish, there was none of it 
 forthcoming. The elders of his new parish being aware of this, refused 
 to entrust him \vith the treasurership, and had the collection-money kept 
 in a locked box in the church, but when it amounted to some pounds, 
 the box was broken up and the money was taken out. The minister 
 had the key of the church. 
 
 Owing to the complete exhaustion of the poor peojile's means in the 
 manner I have been describing, the succeeding year (1838) found them 
 in circumstances little better than its predecessor. What any of them 
 owed in Caithness and elsewhere, they had been unable to pay, and con- 
 sequently their credit was at an end, and they were obliged to live from 
 hand to mouth ; besides, this year was unproductive in the fishing, as the 
 years since have also been. 
 
 In the earlier part of this correspondence, I have treated of the large 
 sums said to have been laid out on improvements, (roads, bridges, inns, 
 churches, manses, and mansions for the new tenants); but I have yet to 
 mention a poll-tax called-road money, amounting to 4s. on every male of 
 18 years and upwards, which w^as laid on about the year IhlO, most 
 rigorously exacted, and continues to be levied on each individual in the 
 most summary way, by seizure of any kind of moveables in or about the 
 dwelling till the money is paid. To some poor families this tax come to 
 £1 and upwards every year, and be it observed that the capitalist possess- 
 ing 50,000 acres, only pays in the same proportion, and his shepherds are 
 entirely exempt ! Those of the small tenantry or their families, who may 
 have been absent for two or three years, on their return are obliged to pay 
 up their arrears of this tax, the same as if they had been all the time at 
 home ; and payment is enforced by seizure of the goods of any house in 
 which they may reside. The reader will perceive that the laws of Suther- 
 landshire are different, and differently administered, from what they are 
 in other parts of the country — in fact those in authority do just what they 
 please, whether legal or otherwise, none daring to question what they do. 
 Notwithstanding this burdensome tax, the roads, as far as the smal' 
 tenants' interests are concerned, are shamefully neglected, while e^ 
 attention is paid to suit the convenience and pleasure of the ru 
 parties and the new tenantry, by brin&ring roads to their very doors. 
 
f? 
 
 ed for a 
 ce — now 
 ibjects of 
 corner of 
 to trans- 
 obtained 
 ;y should 
 
 was left 
 one of it 
 I, refused 
 mey kept 
 i pounds, 
 
 minister 
 
 ns in the 
 ind them 
 of them 
 and con- 
 live from 
 ng, as the 
 
 the large 
 
 ;es, inns, 
 
 |ve yet to 
 
 •y male of 
 
 |>10, most 
 
 al in the 
 
 ,bout the 
 
 come to 
 ;t possess- 
 Iherds are 
 who may 
 |ed to pay 
 time at 
 Ihouse in 
 If Suther- 
 
 they arc 
 
 hat they 
 
 they do. 
 
 )he small 
 
 lie e^ 
 
 ie ru 
 
 3ors. 
 
 41 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Sin, — In my last letter I mentioned something about the withholding 
 and nusappropriation of the money collected at church doors for the poor ;. 
 but let it be understood that notwithstanding the iniquitous conduct of 
 persons so acting, the loss to the poor was not very great. The High 
 lander abhors to be thought a pauper, and the sum afforded to each of tht 
 few who were obliged to accept it, varied from Is. 6d. to 5s. a year : 
 the congregations being much diminished, as I had before occasion to 
 observe. It is no wonder, then, that the poor, if at all able, flee from 
 such a country and seek employment and relief in the various rcintime 
 towns in Scotland, where they arrive broken down and exhausted by 
 previous hardship — meatless and moneyless ; and when unable to labour, 
 or unsuccessful in obtaining work, they become a burden to a community 
 who have no right to bear it, while those who have reduced them to that 
 state escape scot-free. Any person acquainted generally with the 
 statistics of pauperism in Scotland will, I am sure, admit the correct- 
 ness of these statements. The Highland landlords formerly counted 
 their riches by the number of their vassals or tenants, and were anxious 
 to retain them ; hence the poem of Burns, addressed to the Higiil.^nd 
 lairds, and signed Beelzebub, by which the ever selfish policy of thosb 
 gentlemen is celebrated in their endeavouring, by force, to restrain 
 emigration to Canada. But since then the case is reversed. First the 
 war, and then the food monopoly has made raising of cattle for the 
 English markets, the more eligible speculation, against which the boasted 
 feelings of clanship, as well as the claims of common liumanity have 
 entirely lost their force. Regarding the poll-tax or road money, it is also 
 necessary to state, that in every case when it is not paid on the appointed 
 day, expenses are arbitrarily added (though no legal process has been 
 entered) which the defaulter is obliged to submit to without means of 
 redress. There are no tolls in the county ; the roads, &c. , being kept up 
 by this poll-tax, paid by the small tenants for the exclusive benefit of 
 those who have superseded them. In this way very large sums are 
 screwed out of the people, even the poorest, and from the absentees, if 
 they ever return to reside. So that if the population is not extirpated 
 wuolesttie, a considerable portion of the sums laid out on improvements 
 will ultimately return to the proprietors, from a source whence, of all 
 others, they have no shadow of right to obtain it. 
 
 T 'v now arrived at an important event in my narrative; the death 
 
 alted personage to whom I have often had occasion to refer — the 
 
 Countess of Sutherland. 
 
 Tl ady who had, during a long life, maintained a high position in 
 
 ourii^v and aristocratic society, and who was possessed of many great 
 
 qualities, was called to her account on the 29th of January, 1839, in the 
 
 74th year of her age. Her death took place in London, and her body 
 
 was conveyed to ■ 'therland by way of Aberdeen, and finally interred with 
 
 great pomp in t) amily vault, beside the late Duke, her husband, in the 
 
 Cathedral of Dr >ch. The funeral wns attended to Blackwell by many 
 
 ill! 
 
43 
 
 
 ki!'- 
 
 .t\ (•:' 
 
 \$i 
 
 of the first nobility in England, and afterwards by her two grandsons, 
 Lord Edward Howard, and the Honourable Francis Egerton, and by het 
 friend and confidential servant, Mr. Loch, with their respective suites. 
 The procession was met by Mr. Sellar, Mr. Young, and many of her 
 under- factors and subordinate retainers, together with the whole body of 
 the new occupiers, while the small tenantry brought up the rear of the 
 solemn cavalcade. She was buried with the rites of the Ohurch of Eng- 
 land. Mr. George Gunn, under-fact'^r, was the only gentleman native of 
 the county who took a prominen" part in the management of the funeral 
 and who certainly did not obtain that honour by the exercise of extraor- 
 dint^ry virtues towards his poor countrymen : the rest were all those who 
 h d taken an active part in the scenes of injustice and cruelty which I 
 ha e been endeavouring to represent to the reader, in the previous part of 
 ray narrative. The ,ti-ump of fame has been seldom made to sound 
 a louder blast, than that which echoed through the island, with the virtues 
 of the Duchoss; every periodical, especially in Scotland, was for a time 
 literally crammed with them, but in those extravagant encomiums few 
 or none of her native tenantry could honestly join. That she had 
 many great and good quallaes none will attempt to deny, but at the same 
 time, under the sanction or guise of her na me and authority, were con- 
 tinually perpetrated deeds of the most atrocic us character, and her people's 
 wrongs still remain unredressed. Her severity was felt, perhaps, far 
 beyond her own intentions ; while her bmevolance was intercepted by the 
 instruments she employed, and who so |in worthily enjoyed her favour and 
 confidence. Her favours were showered on aliens and strangers ; while 
 few, indeed, were the drops which canic to the relief of those from whom 
 she sprung, and whose coeval, though subordiiiate right to their native 
 soil, had been recognised for centuries. Peace to her name ! I am sorry 
 it is not in my power to render unqualified praise to her character. 
 
 The same course of draining the small tenants, under one pretext or 
 another, coi.tinued for some time after her Grace's decease; but exactions 
 must terminate, when the means of meeting them are exhausted. You 
 cannot starve a hen, and make her lay eggs at the same time. The factors, 
 having taken all, had to make a virtue of necessity, and advise the Duke 
 to an act of high-sounding generosity — to remit all the arrears due by the 
 smair tenantry. Due proclamation was made of his Grace's benevolent 
 intentions, with an express condition annexed, that no future arrears 
 woulv! be allowed, and that all future defaulters should be instantly 
 removed, and their holdings (not let to tenants, but) handed over to their 
 next neighbour, and failing him, to the next again, and so on. This edict 
 was proclaimed under the authority of his Grace and the factors, in the 
 year 1840, about a twelvemonth afrer the Duchess's decease, and contin- 
 ues the law of the estate as regards the unfortunate natives, or smpll 
 tenantry as they are generally called. 
 
 It will be perceived that I have now brought my narrative to an end : 
 I may, however, with your permission, trouble you with a few remarks, 
 in your next publication, by way of conclusinn. 
 
^>^^ 
 
 id 
 
 LEITER XVIII. 
 
 Sir, — In concluding my narrative, Allow me to express — or rather to 
 declare my inability to express — the deep sense I entertain of your kind- 
 ness in permitting me to occupy so large a space of your columns, in an 
 attempt to pourtray the wronigs of my country. I trust these feelings 
 will be participated by those whose cause you have thus enabled me to 
 bring before the public, as well as by all benovelent and enlightened 
 minds, who abhor oppression, and sympathize with its victims. I am 
 conscious that my attempt has been a feeble one. In many cases my 
 powers of language fell short, and in others I abstained from going to the 
 full extent, when I was not quite prepared with proof, or when the deeds 
 of our oppressors were so horrible in their nature and consequence as to 
 exceed belief. 
 
 Though nowhere in the North Highlands have such atrocities been 
 pi'acticed in the wholesale way they have been in Sutherland, yet the 
 same causes are producing like effects, more or less generally in most, if 
 not all, the surrounding counties. Sutherland has served as a model for 
 successfully "clearing" the land of its aboriginal inhabitants, driving them 
 to the seashore, or into the sea, — to spots of barren moors — to the wilds 
 of Canada — and to Australia ; or if unable to go so far, to spread themselves 
 over Lowlands, in quest of menial employment among strangers, to whom 
 their language seems barbarous, who are already overstocked with native 
 labourers, besides those continually pouring in from Ireland. No wonder 
 the Highland lairds combine to resist a government inquiry, which would 
 lead to an exposure of their dark and daring deeds, and render a system 
 of efficient poor laws (not sham, like those now existiiig) inevitable 
 Were all the paupers they have created, by "removing" the natives and 
 substituting strangers and cattle in their places, enabled to claim that 
 Ruppftrt from the soil they are justly entitled to, what would become of 
 their estates? 
 
 Hence their alarm and anxiety to stille all inquiry but that conducted 
 by themselves, their favourites and retainers, and their ever-subservient 
 auxiliaries, the parochial clergy. Will these parties expose themselves by 
 tracing the true causes of Highland destitution ? Oh, no ! What they 
 cannot ascribe to Providence, they will lay to the charge of the "indolent, 
 improvident and intractablechiiracter," they endeavour to cover their own 
 foul deetls by ascribing to their too passive victims. They say "the Higli- 
 landers would pay no rent." A falsehood on the very face of it. Were 
 not the tenants' principal effects in cattle, the article of all others most 
 convenient of arrest 1 "The Highlanders were unteachable, enemies to 
 innovation or improvement, and incorrigibly opposed to the will of their 
 superiors." Where are the proofs? What methods were taken to 
 instruct them in improved husbandry, or any other improvements'? 
 None ! They were driven out of the land of their fatliers, causelessly, 
 cruelly, and recklessly. Let their enemies say what have been their 
 crimes of revenge under the most inhuman provocation 1 Where are 
 the records in our courts of law, or in the statistics of crime, of the fell 
 
 
 r 
 
 it' 
 
 i: 
 
44 
 
 deeds laid to the charge of the expatriated Highlander 1 They are 
 nowhere to be found, except in the groundless accusations of the 
 oppressors, who calculating on their simplicity, their patient, moral, and 
 religious character, which even the base conduct of their clergy could 
 not pervert ; drove them unresisting, like sheep to the slaughter, or like 
 mute fishes, unable to scream, on whom any violence could be practiced 
 with impunity. It was thought an illiterate people, speaking a language 
 almost unknown to the public press,, could not make their wrongs be heard 
 as they ought to be, through the leijgth and breadth of the land. To 
 give their wrongs a tongue — to implore inquiry by official, disinterested 
 l)arties into the cause of mal-practices which have been so long going on, 
 so as if possible to procure some remedy in future — has been my only 
 motive for availing myself of your kindness to throw a gleam of light on 
 Highland misery, its causes and its consequences. And I cannot too 
 earnestly implore all those in any authority, who take an interest in the 
 cause of humanity, to resist that partial and close- conducted, sham inquiry 
 to which interested parties would have recourse to screen themselves from 
 public odium, and save their pockets. Some of these parties are great, 
 wealthy, and influential. Several of them have talent, education, and 
 other facilities for perverting what they cannot altogether suppress, making 
 " the worst appear the better reason," and white-washing their blackest 
 deeds — therefore, I say, beware ! They want now a government grant, 
 forsooth, to take away the redundant population ! There is no redundant 
 population but black cattle and sheep, and their owners, which the lairds 
 have themselves introduced ; and do they want a grant to rid them of 
 these? Verily, no ! Their misdeeds are only equalled by their shame- 
 less impudence to propose such a thing. First, to ruin the people and 
 make them paupers, and when their wrongs and miseries have made the 
 very stones cry out, seek to get rid of them at the publ ic expense ! Insolent 
 proposition! " Contumelious their humanity." No doubt there have 
 been some new churches built, but where are the congregations 1 Some 
 schools erected, but how can the children of parents steeped in poverty 
 profit by them 1 The clergy say they dispense the bread of life, but if 
 they do so, do they give it freely — do they not sell it for as much as they 
 can get, and do the dirty work of the proprietors, instead of the behests 
 of Him thwypretend to serve 1 Did this precious ai'ticle grow on any lands 
 which the proprietors could turn into sheep walks, I verily believe they would 
 do so, and the clergy would sanction the deed ! They and the proprietors 
 think the natives have no right to any of God's mercies, but what they 
 dole out in a stinted and miserable charity. Mr. Dempster of Skibo, the 
 orator and apologist of the Highland lairds, says he "keeps two permanent 
 soup-kitchens on his estate;" if this were true (as I have reason to believe 
 it is not), what is to be inferred but that the wholesome ruin inflicted on 
 the natives has rendered such a degrading expedient necessary. Their 
 forefathei-s, a stalwart and athletic race needed no soup-kitchens, nor 
 would their progeny, if they had not been inhumanely and unjustly 
 treated. Mr. Loch says in his work, that the Sutherlanders were "in a 
 state of nature." Well ; he and his cosdjutors have done what they could 
 
'l 
 
 45 
 
 t ) put them in an unnatural state — a state from which it would take an 
 age to reclaim them. I admit there was great need of improvement in 
 Sutherland fifty years ago, as there was at that time in the Lothians and 
 elsewhere: but where, except in the Highlands, do we find general expul- 
 sion and degradation of the inhabitants resorted to by way of improvementi 
 But Mr. Loch has improved — if not in virtue, at least in station — and 
 become a great man and a legislator, from very small beginnings; he and 
 his coadjutors have waxed fat on the miseries of their fellow-creatures, 
 and, on the animals they have substituted for human beings. Well, I 
 would not incur their responsibility for all their grandeur and emoluments. 
 Mr. Dempster has improved, and his factor from being a kitchen boy, has 
 become a very thriving gentleman. These are the kind of improvements 
 which have taken place, and all would go merrily if they could get 
 entirely rid of the small tenents, "the redundant population," by a grant 
 of public money. A ledund ant population in an extensively exporting 
 country ! This is Irish political economy. The same cause (the food 
 taxes) is in operation in that unhappy country, and producing similar 
 results; but the Irish do not always bear it so tamely; a little Lynch law, 
 a few extra-judicial executions is now and then administered by way of 
 example. This, however, is a wrong mod>! of proceeding, and one which 
 I trust my countrymen will never imitate : better suffer than commit a 
 crime. No system of poor law in the Highlands would be of any avail, 
 but one that would confer settlement on Evtr^v person born in the 
 PARISH. The lairds will evade eveiy other, and to save their pockets 
 would be quite unscrupulous as to the means. They could easily resort 
 again to their burning and hunting, but a settlement on the English plan 
 would oblige them either to support the paupers they have made, or send 
 tht?m away at their own eApense. This would be bare justice, and in my 
 humble opinion nothing short of it will be of any avail. Comparatively 
 fftw of the sufferers would now claim the benefit of such settlements; the 
 greater part of them have already emigrated, and located elsewhere, and 
 would not fancy to come back as paupers whatever their right might be. 
 Dut there are still too many groaning and pining away in helpkss and 
 hopeless destitution in Sutherland, and in the surrounding counties, and 
 I have reason to know that the West Highlands are much in the same 
 situation. There is much ncsid, then, lor olHcial inquiry, to prevent this 
 mass of human misery from accumulating, as well as to afford some hope 
 of relief to present sufferers. I have now made an end for the present ; 
 liut should any contradiction appear, or any new event of importance to 
 my countrymen occur, I shall claim your kind indulgence to resume th« 
 l>en. 
 
 I- 
 I 
 
 I 
 
46 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 I:'' i|i 
 
 J( I 
 
 ''iMt 
 
 \m 
 
 '' 
 
 r 
 
 Sir, — I am glad to find that some of my couutrynien art coming forward 
 with communications to your paper confirming my statements, and expres- 
 sing that gratitude we ought all deeply to feel for the opportunity you have 
 Hfibrded of bringing our case before the public, by so humble an instru- 
 ment as myself. 
 
 Nothing, I am convinced, but fear of further persecution, prevents many 
 more from writing such letters, and hence ycu need not wonder if somt of 
 those you receive are anonymous. They express a wish, which from 
 various sources of information, I am inclined to think general, that my 
 narrative should appear, as it now does, in the form of a pamphlet, and 
 that my own particular case should form an appendage to it. I had no 
 intention originally of bringing my particular case and family sufferings 
 before the public, but called on, as I am, it appears a duty to the public, 
 as well as myself, to give a brief account of it, lest withholding it might 
 lead to suspicion as to my motives and character. 
 
 I served an apprenticeship in the mason trade to my father, and on 
 coming to man's estate I married my present wife, the partner of my for- 
 tunes, most of which have been adverse, and she, the weaker vessel, has 
 largely partaken of my uiisfortunes in a life of suffering and a ruined con- 
 stitution. Our marriage took place in 1818. My wife was the daughter 
 of Charles Gordon, a man well known and highly esteemed in the parish 
 of Farr, and indeed throughout the county, for his religious and moral 
 character. 
 
 Forsonie years I followed the practice of going south during the sum- 
 mer months for the purpose of improving in my trade and obtaining better 
 wages, and returning in the winter to enjoy the society of my family and 
 friends ; and, also, to my grief, to witness the scenes of devastation that 
 were going on, to which, in the year 1820, my worthy father-in-law fell a 
 victim. He breathed his last amid the scenes I have described, leaving 
 six orphans in a state of entire destitution to be provided for ; for he had 
 lost his all, in common with the other ejected inhabitants of the county. 
 
 This helpless family now fell to my care, and in order to discharge my 
 duty to them more effectually, I wished to give up my summer excursions, 
 and settle and pursue my business at home. 
 
 I, therefore, returned from Edinburgh in the year 1822, and soon began 
 to find employment, undertaking mason work by estimate, «kc., and had I 
 possessed a less independent mind and a more crouching disposition, I 
 might perhaps have remained. But stung with the oppression and injus- 
 tice prevailing around me, and seeing t'le contra.it my country exhibited 
 to the state of the Lowlands, I could n^. always hold my peace ; hence I 
 soon became a marked man, and my words and actions were carefully 
 watched for an opportimity to make an example of me. After I had 
 baflled many attempts, knowing how they were set for me, my powerful 
 enemies at last succeeded in effecting my ruin after seven years' labour in 
 the pious work ! If any chose to say I owed them m(»ney, they had no 
 tnorc to do than summon me to court, in which the factor was judge, 
 
47 
 
 .|:H 
 
 a decreet right or wrong, was sure to issue. Did any owe me money, it 
 was quite optional whether they paid me or not, they well knew I could 
 obtain no legal redress. 
 
 In the year 1827, 1 was summoned for £5 8s„ which I had previously 
 paid [in this case the factor was both pursuer and judge !J : I defended, 
 and produced receipts and other vouchera of payment having been made ; 
 all went for nothing ! The factor, pursuer and judge, commenced the 
 following dialogue : — 
 
 Judge — Well, Donald, do you owe this money 1 
 
 Donald — I would like to see the pursuer before I would enter into any 
 defences. 
 
 Judge — I'll pursue you. 
 
 Donald — I thought you were my judge, sir. 
 
 Judge — I'll both pursue and judge you — did you not promise me on a 
 former occasion that you would pay this debt 1 
 
 Donald — No, sir. 
 
 Judge — John M'Kay (constable) seize the defender. . 
 
 J was accordingly collared like a ci-iminal, and kept a prisoner in an 
 adjoining room for some hours, and afterwards placed again at the bar, 
 when the conversation continued. 
 
 Judge — Well, Donald, what have you got to say now, will you pay the 
 money 1 
 
 Donald — Just the same sir, as before you imprisoned me; I deny the 
 debt. 
 
 Judge — Well, Donald, you are one of the damn'dest rascals in exist- 
 ence, but if jow have the sum pursued for between heaven and hell, I'll 
 wake you pay it, whatever receipts you may hold, and Til get you removed 
 from the estate. 
 
 Donald — Mind, sir, you are in a magisterial capacity. 
 
 Judge — I'll let you know that— (with another volley of execrations.) 
 
 Donald — Sir, your conduct disqualifies you for your office, and under 
 tlie protection of the law of the land, and in presence of this court, 1 put 
 you to defiance. 
 
 I was then ordered from the bar, and the case continued undecided. 
 Steps were, however, immediately taken to put the latter threat — my 
 removal — my banishment ! — into execution. 
 
 Determined to leave no means untried to obtain deliverance, I prepared 
 an humble meraorial in my own name, and that of the helpless orphans, 
 whose protector I was, and had it transmitted to the Marquis and Mar- 
 obieness of Stafford, praying for an investigation. In consequence of this 
 on the very term day, on which I had been ordered to remove, I received 
 a verbal message from one of the under-factors, that it was the noble pro- 
 })kietor's pleasure that I should retain possession, repair my houses and 
 provide my fuel as umial, until Mr. Loch should come to Sutherlandshire, 
 and then my case would be investigated. On this announcement becom- 
 ing known to my opponent, he became alarmed, and the parish minister 
 no less so, that the man he ieasted with was in danger of being disgraced: 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
i^'lir .i' 
 
 48 
 m 
 eviirr amns watt therefore put in the fire, to defeat and ruin Donald for his- 
 preBumfOinni in disputing the will of a factor, and to make him an example 
 to detor (VtAiam from a similar rebellion. 
 
 The tmxacki proved how weak a just cause must prove in Sutherland, or 
 anywibtiEt SK^nat cruel despotic factors and graceless ministers; my case 
 waB ja(}^£ and decided before Mr. Loch left London! I, however, got 
 Jedduol jiisttme, for on that gentleman's arrival, 1 was brought before him 
 for exKumainion, though, I had good reason to know, my sentence had 
 been jjrunmnned in London six weeks before, and everything he said 
 coufu'mdi w^eA I had been told. I produced the receipts and other docu- 
 nientti. mti evidence, which proved fully the statements in my memorial 
 and Tiu&uvfiiM my character apparently to his satisfaction. He dismissed 
 me ooua^litrtusly, and in a soothing tone of voice bade me go home and 
 make iujadii ea-sy, and before he left the country he would let me know 
 the reanik. U cai-ried home the good news to my wife, but her fears, her 
 dreams, siu£ firarehodings were not so easily got over, and the event proved 
 that b«r tg^cehenaions were too well founded, for on the 20th October, 
 1630, ftliuut an month after the investigation by Mr. Loch, the concluding 
 scene totfe piace. 
 
 On tihHtflfegr at messenger with a party of eight men following entered my 
 dwelling (H fteing away about forty miles off at work), about 3 o'clock just 
 as the fanilljr were rising from dinner; my wife was seized with a fearful 
 paxiic £t .««tiiaj the fultilment of all her worst forebodings about to take 
 place. Ti^ party allowed no time for parley, but having put out the 
 family -wiiaiL xiiolence, proceeded to fling out the furniture, bedding, and 
 other efittua va. quick time, and after extinguishing the fire, proceeded to 
 nail a|) tt&K- (Hoovn and windows in the face of the helpless woman, with a 
 sui-kiiig mSaaiTi at her breast, and three other children, the eldest under 
 eight yeuajt ffli ajife, at her sid ^ But how shall I describe the horrors of 
 that Boant ". Wind, rain and sleet were ushering in a night of extraor- 
 dinarv duotoiesM* and violence, even in that inclement region. My wife 
 and akil&nmv alter remaining motionless a while in mute astonishment at 
 the ruiu wiiiiii had so suddenly overtaken them, were compelled to seek 
 refuge fur aftH- night under some neighbour's roof, but they found every 
 door Bhut «4;riinst them ! Messengers had been dispatched warning all 
 the surpuutuiiin^ inhabitants, at the peril of similar treatment, against 
 afibrding; ^iiitiicer, or assistance, to wife, child, or uiimal belonging to 
 Donald M EjtDdv The poor people, well aware of the rigour with whicli 
 such ediocfc wftre carried into execution, durst not afford my distressed 
 family asv^ aMaiatAnce in such a night as even an "enemy's dog " might 
 have ex^ieittMli shelter. After spending most part of the night iu fruitless 
 attempts -U' (sHdain the shelter of a roof or hovel, my wife at last returned 
 to colieot «tme of her scattered furniture, and erect with her own hands 
 a tempce'Birf ^iJiKlter against the walls of her late comfortable residence, 
 but ev*m illift a«terapt proved in vain ; tho wind dispersed her materials as 
 fast as «itf <tnn>lii collect them, and she was obliged to bide the pelting of 
 the pitikwii ffiovm with no covering but the frowning heavens, and i o 
 sounds ox Ikit (»nrt hut the storm, and the cries of her famishing children. 
 
 W) 
 
■ ' ' ■ ' I 
 
 d for his. 
 example 
 
 rland, or 
 my case 
 ever, got 
 jfore him 
 ence had 
 r he said 
 her docu- 
 memorial 
 dismissed 
 Lome and 
 me know 
 fears, her 
 nt proved 
 October, 
 oncluding 
 
 iitered my 
 'clock just 
 1 a fearful 
 )ut to take 
 ut out the 
 ding, txnd 
 jceeded to 
 an, with a 
 lest under 
 orrors of 
 extraor- 
 My wife 
 ihment at 
 to seek 
 ind every 
 [rning all 
 t, against 
 nging to 
 ith which 
 [istressed 
 " might 
 fruitless 
 returned 
 n hands 
 esidence, 
 jterials as 
 lelting of 
 and 1 o 
 ihildren. 
 
 49 
 
 Death seemed to be staring them in the face, for by remaining where 
 they were till morning, it w^as next to impossible even the strongest of 
 them could survive, and to travel any distance amid the wind, rain, and 
 darkness, in that rugged district, seemed to afford no prospect but that of 
 death by falling over some of the cliffs or precipices with which they were 
 surrounded, or even into the sea, as many others had done before. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Sir, — Before proceeding to detail the occurrences of that memorable 
 night in which my wife and children were driven from their dwelling, it 
 seems necessary to guard against any misconception that might arise from 
 my rather incredible statement, that the factor (whose name I omit for 
 obvious reasons) was both pursuer and judge. 
 
 Tlie pretended debt had been paid, for which payment I hold a receipt, . 
 but the person represented it as still due, and the factor advanced the 
 amount, issued the summons, &c., and proceeded in court in the manner 
 I described in my last. But to proceed with my narrative. 
 
 The only means left my wife seemed to be the choice of perishing with 
 
 her children where she was, or of making some perilous attempt to reach 
 
 distant human habitations where she might hope for shelter. Being a 
 
 woman of some resolution, she determined on the latter course. Buckling 
 
 up her children, including the one she had hitherto held at her breast, in 
 
 the best manner she could, she left them in charge of the eldest (now a 
 
 soldier in the 78th regiment), giving them such victuals as she could 
 
 collect, and prepared to take the road for Caithness, fifteen miles off, in 
 
 such a night and by such a road as might have appalled a stout heart of 
 
 the other sex ! And for a long while she had the cries of her children, 
 
 whom she had slender hopes of seeing again alive, sounding in her ears. 
 
 This was too much ! No wonder she has never been the same person 
 
 since. She had not proceeded many miles when she met with a good 
 
 Samaritan, and acquaintance, of the name of Donald M'Donald, who 
 
 disregarding the danger he incurred, opened his door to her, refreshed 
 
 and consoled her, and (still under the cover of night) accompanied her to 
 
 the dwelling of William Innes, Esq., of Sandside, Caithness, and through 
 
 liis influence, that gentleman took her under his protection, and gave her 
 
 permission to occupy an empty house of his at Armidale (a sheep farm he 
 
 iield of the Sutherland family), only a few miles from the dwelling she had 
 
 been turned out of the day before. On arriving there she was obliged to 
 
 take some rest for her exhausted frame, notwithstanding the horrible 
 
 suspense she was in as to the fate of her children. 
 
 At this time I was working in Wick, and on that night had laboured 
 under such great uneasiness and apprehension of something wrong at home 
 that I could get no rest, and at last determined to set out and see how it 
 
 ured with my family, and Wte K the eviuiiDg overtook my wife and her 
 
 
 t' 
 
 ^1 
 
:r. It 
 
 iff 'I' 
 
 
 60 
 
 benevolent conductor proceeding from Sandside. After a brief recital 
 of the events of the previous night, she implored me to leave her and 
 seek the children, of whose fate she was ignorant. At that moment I 
 was in a fit mood for a deed that would have served as a future warn- 
 ing to Highland tyrants, but the situation of my imploring wife, who 
 suspected my intention, and the hope of saving my children, stayed my 
 hand, and delayed the execution of justice on the miscreants, till they 
 shall have appeared at a higher tribunal. 
 
 1 made the best of my way to the place near our dwelling where the 
 children were left, and to my agreeable surprise, found them alive ; the 
 eldest boy in pursuance of his mother's instructions, had made great exer- 
 tions, and succeeded in obtaining for them temporary shelter. He took 
 the ini^nt on his back, and the other two took hold of him by the kilt, 
 and in this way they travelled in darkness, through rough and smooth, 
 bog and mire, till they arrived at a grand-aunt's house, when, finding the 
 door open they bolted in, and the boy advancing to his astonished aunt, 
 laid his infant burden in her lap, without saying a word, and proceeding 
 to unbuckle the other two, he placed them before the fire without waiting 
 for invitation. The goodman here rose, and said he must leave the house 
 and seek a lodging for himself, as he could not think of turning the 
 children out, and yet dreaded the ruin threatened to any that would 
 harbour or shelter them, and he had no doubt his house would be watched 
 to see if he should transgress against the order. His wife, a pious woman, 
 upbraided hira with cowardice, and declared that if there was a legion of 
 devils watching her she would not put out the children or leave the house 
 either. So they got leave to remain till I found them next day, but the 
 man impelled by his fears, did go and obtain a lodging two miles off. I 
 now brought the children to their mother, and set about collecting my 
 little furniture and other efiects which had been damaged by exposure to 
 the weather, and some of it lost or destroyed. I brought what I thought 
 worth the trouble, to Armidale, and having thus secured them and seen 
 the family under shelter, I began to cast about to see how they were to 
 live, and here I found troubles and difiiculties besetting us on every side. 
 
 I had no fear of being able by my work to maintain the family in com- 
 mon necessaries, if we could get them for money, but one important 
 necessary, fuel, we could scarce at all obtain, as nobody would venture 
 to sell or give us peats (the only fuel used), for fear of the factors; but at 
 last it was contrived that they would allow us to take them by stealth, and 
 under cover of night ! 
 
 My employment obliging me to be often from home, this laborious 
 task fell to the lot of my poor wife. The winter came on with more 
 than its usual severity, and often amidst blinding, suffocating drifts, and 
 temi)est8 unknown in the lowlands, had this poor, tenderly brought up 
 woman to toil through snow, wind, and rain, for miles, with a burden of 
 peats on her back ! Instances, however, were not few of the kind assis- 
 tance of neighbours endeavouring by various ways to mitigate her hard 
 lot, though, of course, all by stealth lest they should incur the vengeance 
 of the factors. 
 
'i 
 
 ;f recital 
 s her and 
 koment I 
 ire warn- 
 vife, who 
 bayed my 
 till they 
 
 'here the 
 live; the 
 •eat exer- 
 
 He took 
 ' the kiltf 
 
 smooth, 
 tiding the 
 lied aunt, 
 roceeding 
 it waiting 
 the house 
 rning the 
 lat would 
 B watched 
 IS woman, 
 
 legion of 
 the house 
 r, but the 
 
 68 off. I 
 
 cting ray 
 
 posure to 
 
 thought 
 
 and seen 
 
 were to 
 
 ery side. 
 
 in com- 
 
 portant 
 
 venture 
 
 's; but at 
 
 ,1th, and 
 
 laborious 
 Ith more 
 fifts, and 
 |ught up 
 irden of 
 kid assis- 
 ler hard 
 Ingeance 
 
 51 
 
 During the winter and following spring, every means was used to induce 
 Mr. Innes to withdraw his protection and turn us out of the house ; so 
 that I at last determined to take steps for removing myself and family 
 for ever from those scenes of persecution and misery. With this view, in 
 the latter end of spring I went to Edinburgh, and found emi)loyment, 
 intending when I had saved as much as would cover the expenses, to bring 
 the family away. As soon as it was known that I was away, our enemies 
 
 recommenced their work. Mr. , a gentleman, who fattened on the 
 
 spoils of the poor in Sutherland, and who is now pursuing the same course 
 on the estates of Sir John Sinclair in Caithness ; this manager and factor 
 bounced into my house one day quite unexpectedly, and began abusing 
 my wife, ftnd threatened her if she did not instantly remove, he would 
 take steps that would astonish her, the nature of which she would not 
 know till they fell upon her, adding that he knew Donald M'Leod was now 
 in Edinburgh, and could not assist her in making resistance. The' poor 
 woman, knowing she had no mercy to expect, and fearing even for her 
 life, removed with her family and little effects to my mother's house which 
 stood near the parish church, and was received kindly by her. There she 
 hoped to find shelter and repose for a short time, till I should come and 
 take her and the family away, and this being the week of the sacrament, 
 she was anxious to partake of that ordinance in the house where her fore- 
 fathers had worshipped, before she bade it farewell for ever. But on the 
 Thursday previous to that solemn occasion, the factor again teriified her 
 by his appearance, and alarmed my mother to such an extent that my 
 poor family had again to turn out in the night, and had they not a more 
 powerful friend, they would have been forced to spend that night in the 
 open air. Next day she bade adieu to her native country and friends, 
 leaving the sacrament to be received by her oppressors, from the hands of 
 one no better than themselves, and after two days of incredible toil she 
 arrived with the family at Thurso, a distance of nearly forty miles ! 
 
 These protracted sufferings and alarms have made fatal inroads on the 
 health of this once strong and healthy woman — one of the best of wives — 
 so that instead of the cheerful and active helpmate she was formerly, she 
 is now, except at short intervals, a burden to herself, with little or no hopes 
 of recovery. She has been under medical treatment for years, and has 
 used a great quantity of medicine with little effect ; the injuries she 
 received in body and mind, were too deep for even her good spirits and 
 excellent constitution to overcome, and she remains a living monument of 
 Highland oppression. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Sir, — I beg leave, by way of conclusion, to take a retrospective glance 
 of some of the occurrences that preceded the violent exptilsion of my 
 family, as described in my two last letters, and our final retirement from 
 the country of our nativity. 
 
 
 t 
 
h' 
 
 I'l 
 
 
 03 
 
 For reasons before alleged, nothing could have given more satisfaction 
 to the factors, clergy, and all the Jacks-in-oflice under th«in, than a final 
 riddance of that troublesome man, Donald M'Leod; and hence their 
 extreme eagerness to make an example of him, to deter others from call- 
 ing their proceedings in question. I mentioned in letter XIX that on 
 being unjustly and illegally imprisoned, and decerned to pay money I did 
 not owe, I prepared and forwarded a memorial to the noble proprietors (the 
 then Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford), setting forth the hardships of 
 my case, and praying for investigation, alleging that I would answer any 
 accusation of my enemies, by undeniable testimonials of honest and peace- 
 ful character. This memorial was returned with the deliverance that Mr. 
 Loch, on his next visit to Sutherland, would examine into my case and 
 decide. I then set about procuring nly proposed certificate preparatory 
 to the investigation, but hero I found myself baffled and disappointed in a 
 quarter from which I had no reason to expect such treatment. I waited 
 on my parish minister, the Rev. Mr. M'Kenzie, requesting him to give 
 me a certificate, and then, after him I could obtain the signatures of the 
 elders and as many of the other parishonera as might be necessary. He 
 made no objection at the time, but alleging that he was then engaged, 
 said I could send my wife for it. I left directions with her accordingly, 
 and returned to my work. The same night the factor (my pretended 
 creditor and judge) had the minister and hia family to spend the evening 
 with him, and the consequence was that in the morning a messenger was 
 dispatched from his reverence to my wife, to say, that she need not take 
 the trouble of calling for the certificate, as he had changed his mind I 
 Some days after, I returned and waited on the Rev. gentleman to imjuire 
 the cause of this change. I had great ditiiculty in obttiining an audience, 
 and when at last I did, it was little to my satisfaction. His manner was 
 contemptuous and forbidding : at last he told me that he could not give 
 me a certificate as I was at variance with the factor ; that my conduct was 
 unscriptural, as I obeyed not those set in authority over me, <kc. I 
 excused and defended myself as well as I could, but all went for nothing, 
 and at last he ordered me to be off, and shut the door in my face. This 
 took place in June, 1830, and Mr. Loch was not expected till the Septem- 
 ber following, during which interval I had several re-encounters with the 
 minister. Many of his elders and parishoners pleaded and remonstrated 
 with him on my behalf, well knowing that little attention would be paid 
 in high quarters to my complaints however just, without his sanction; 
 and considerable excitement prevailed in the parish about this dispute, 
 but the minister remained immoveable. Meantime the parish schoolmaster 
 mentioned in confidence to one of the elders (who was a relation of uiy 
 wife, and communicated it to us) that my case was already decided by 
 Mr. Loch, though a sham trial would take place ; that he had been told 
 this, and he had it from good authority, and that the best thing I could 
 do was to leave Che place entirely. I could not believe this, but the result 
 proved the truth of it. Matters continued in the same way till Mr. Loch's 
 arrival, when I ventured to repeat my request to the minister, but found 
 him A^ill more d'Svftrmined. and I was dismissed with more than usual 
 
 I rii, ; ■ 
 
58 
 
 contempt. I then got a certificate prepared myself, and readily obtained 
 the signatures of th« elders and neighboviring parishoners to the amount 
 of several hundreds, which I presented to Mr. Loch, along with the before 
 mentioned memorial, when the following dialogue took place between that 
 gentleman and me in presence of the factors, tSic. 
 
 Mr. Loch. — Well, Mr. M'Leod, why don't you pay this £5 8s. you 
 were summoned fori 
 
 Donald. — Just, Sir, because I don't consider myself entitled to pay it. 
 T hold legal receipts to show that I paid it two years ago ; besides, that is 
 a case to be legally decided before a competent court, and has no connexion 
 with my memorial. 
 
 Mr. L.— Will you pay it altogether or by instalments, if you are allowed 
 to remain on the estate? 
 
 Z). — Let the case be withdrawn from the civil court or decided by the 
 civil magistrate, before I answer that question. 
 
 Mr. L. — Well, can you produce the certificate of character mentioned 
 in this memorial 1 
 
 I handed over to him the certificate mentioned above, with tJiree or four 
 sheets full of names attached to it. He look at it for some time (per- 
 haps surprised at the number of signatures) and then said, — 
 
 Mr. L. — I cannot see the minister's name here, how is this 1 
 
 D. — I applied to the minister and he would not sign it. 
 
 Mr. Z.— Whyl 
 
 D. — He stated as his reason that I was at variance with the factors. 
 
 One of the factors. — That is a falsehood. 
 
 Mr. L. — I will wait upon Mr. M'Kenzie on the 8u>»ject. 
 
 D. — Will you allow me, sir, to meet you and Mr. M'Kenzie face to 
 face, when he is asked to give his reasons 1 
 
 Mr. L. — Why ■^ you not believe what he saysf 
 
 D. — I have got tou much reason to doubt it ; but if he attempts to deny 
 what I have stated, I hope you will allow him to be examined on oath 1 
 
 Mr. L. — By no means, we must surely believe the minister. 
 
 After asking me some further questions which had nothing to do with 
 the matter in hand, he dismissed me in seeming good humour. 
 
 I pressed to know his decision in my case, but he said, you will 
 get to know it before I leave the country ; u)ake yourself easy, I will write 
 to your parish minister in a few days. The result was the cruel expulsion 
 of my family and the spoliation of my goods, as detailed in my two last 
 letters. 
 
 Mr. Loch in his judgement on my case, alleged as his principal reason 
 for punishing me that Mr. M'Kenzie denied my assertions in regard to 
 himself, and represented me as a turbulent character. 
 
 During our temporary residence at Armidale, I took an opportunity of 
 again waiting on the Kev. gentleman when he was catechising in a neigh- 
 bouring fishing village with several of his elders in company, and asked to 
 speak with him in their ])resence. He attempted to meet me outside the 
 door, but I pushed in when the elders were sitting at breakfast ; saying, 
 " no sir, I wish what passes between you and uie to be before witnesses. 
 
 ■\ 
 
64 
 
 I want a certificate of my moral character, or an explanation from yoir 
 before your elders why it is withheld." Here my worthy friend Donald 
 M 'Donald (the preserver of my wife's life on the memorable night of her 
 expulsion) interfered and expostulated with his reverence, who driven 
 into a corner, found no excuse for refusal, except that he had not writing 
 materials convenient. I directly met this objection by producing the 
 articles required, yet, strange to say, he found means to shuffle the busi- 
 ness over by a solemn promise, in presence of his elders, to do it on a 
 certain mentioned day. I waited on him that day, and after long delay 
 was admitted into his parlour and accosted with, "Well M'Leod, I am not 
 intending to give you a certificate." "Why so, sirl" Because you 
 have told falsehoods of me to Mr. Loch, and I cannot certify for a man 
 that I know to be a liar : " adding " Donald, I would favour you on your 
 father's account, and much more on your father-in-law's account, but after 
 what you have said of me, I cannot." I repelled the charge of being a 
 liar, and said " I do believe that if my father and father-in-law, whom you 
 have mentioned with so much respect, stood at the gate of Heaven seeking 
 admittance, and nothing to prevent them but a false accusation on the 
 part of some of the factors, you woud join in refusing their entrance to 
 all eternity." He rose up and said, " you are a Satan and not fit for 
 human society." I retired for that time ; but ultimately forced him, by 
 incessant applications, to write and sign the following: — 
 
 " This certifiea that tho bearer, Doitald M'Lbod, is a native of this parish 
 a married man, free from church censure ; therefore he, his wife and 
 family may be admitted at Ootpel hearers wherever Providence may order 
 their lot. 
 
 Given at Farr Manae. (Signed) 
 
 Previous to granting this certificate the minister proposed to bind me 
 up not to use it to the prejudice of the Marquis of Stafiford, or any of his 
 factors! This point, however, he did not carry, for when he submitted 
 it to the session he was overruled by their votes. 
 
 This concludes the narrative of what I have myself suflfered at the hands 
 of the petty tyrants whom I had enraged by denouncing their barbarous 
 treatment of my countrymen, and whose infamous deeds I have had the 
 satisfaction of exposing to public reprobation. I shall not resume the pen 
 on this subject unless I see that what I have written requires to be fol- 
 lowed up to prevent a continuation of such atrocities as are already 
 recorded. I am a Highlander, and must have revenge for the wrongs 1 
 have suffered. The revenge I desire is that these letters may be pre- 
 served for many a day in my native country, to keep up the remembrance 
 of the evil that was done to many an innocent individual, and among 
 others to 
 
 Donald M'Leod. 
 
 mm^ 
 
M 
 
 fare, or which way they were to turn to procure a subsistence. To emi- 
 grate they were unable, and to repair to the manufacturing towns in quest 
 of employment, when such multitudes are in destitution already, would 
 atfurd no hope of relief. Where, then, were they to find refuge 1 To this 
 question, so often urged by the poor out-casts in Sutherlandshire, the 
 general answer of their tyrants was, "let them go to hell, but they must 
 leave our boundaries." 
 
 Human patience and endurance have limits, and is it to be wondered 
 at that poor creatures driven to such extremities should be tempted to turn 
 on their oppressors, and violate the letter of the law ] Hence it is true 
 that the ))nor people gathered, and seized and burned the paper which 
 appeared as a death warrant to them (and may in one way or other prove so 
 to them) and did their utmost, though without much personal violence, to 
 scare away their enemies, and though law may punish, will humanity not 
 sympathize with them 1 The story, as represented in the papei-s, of severe 
 beating and maltreatment of the officers is, to say the least, a gross exag- 
 geration, The intention, however indefensible on the score of law, was 
 merely to intimidate, not to injure. The military, it seems, is now to be 
 called upon to wind up the drama in the wslj of their profession, I pray it 
 may not end tragically. If the sword be unsheathed at Cape Wrath, let 
 the southrons look out ! If the poor and destitute — made so by injustice 
 — are to be cut down in Sutherland, it may only be the beginning ; there 
 are plenty of poor and destitute elsewhere, whose numbers the landlords, 
 to save their monopoly, might find it convenient to curtail ; and to do 
 which they only want a colourable pretext. Meanwhile, I shall watch the 
 progress of the afikir at Dui-ness, and beg to call on all rightly constituted 
 minds, to sympathize with the distress of the unfortunate people. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Sir, — Having lately exposed the partial and exaggerated statements in 
 the Inverness Courier, (the organ of the oppressors of Sutherlaudshire,) 
 my attention is again called to subsequent paragraphs in that paper, and 
 which I feel it my duty to notice. 
 
 Since my last, I have received communications from correspondents 
 on whom I can rely, which, I need scarcely say, give a very different 
 colour to the proceedings from what appears in the Courier, emanating, 
 as it evidently does, from the party inflicting the injury. The first notice 
 in that paper represents the conduct of the poor natives in the blackest 
 aspect, while the latter, that of the 27th October, is calculated to mislead 
 the public in another way, by representing them as sensible of their errors, 
 and acknowledging the justice of the severities practised upon them. 
 
 The Courier says, " We are happy to learn that the excitement that led 
 to the disturbance by Mr. Anderson's tenants in Durness has subsided, 
 and that the people are quiet, peaceful, and fully sensible of the illegality 
 
THE LATE RIOTS IN DURNESS. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 1 = 
 
 H i 
 
 'I'lv 
 
 When concluding that series of ieMers, descriptive of the woes of Suth- 
 erlandshire, which I now republish in the form of a pamphlet, I was not 
 expecting so soon to find occasion to add important new matter to the ::>ad 
 detail. Another portion of my natire county has fallen Uiider the 
 oppressor, and got into the fangs of law, which being administered by 
 those interested, little mercy can be expected by the wretched defaulters. 
 
 All those conversant with the public papers vill have seen an article, 
 copied from the /nvr.-ness Conner, entitled " Riot in Durness, Suther- 
 I'indshire," in which as usual a partial and one-sided account of the affair 
 is given, and the whole blame laid on the unfortunate inhabitants. The 
 violation of law, committed b; the poor people driven to desperation, and 
 for which they will no doubt have to pay dear, is exaggerated, while their 
 inhuman oppression and provocation are carefully Itft out of sight. The 
 following facus of the cases are a combination of my own knowledge, and 
 that of tru8^worthy correspondents who were eye-witnesses of this unfor- 
 tunate occvi'Tence, which will yet be productive of much misery to the 
 victims — perhaps end in causing their blood to be shed ! 
 
 Mr. Anderson, the tacksman of Keenabin, and other farms under Lord 
 Reay, which were the scene cf the riot, was one of the earliest of that 
 unhallowed ci-ew of new tenants, " ' middlemen, who came in over the 
 he^ds of the native farmers. Uu, «vith several others I could name, some 
 of whom have come to an unhappy end, counting the natives as their 
 slaves and their prey, disposed without scruple of them and all that they 
 had, just as it suited their own interest or convenience, recklesp of the 
 wrongs and misery they inflicted on these simple unresisting people. 
 They were removed from their comfortable houses and farms i:i the interior, 
 to spots on the sea shore, to make room for the new-comers with their 
 flocks and herds, and to get their living, and pay exorbitant rents, by 
 cultivating kel|), and deep-sea fishing. In these pursuits their persevering 
 courage and industry enabled them to surmount appalling difficulties, 
 though with much suflering and waste of health and life. The tacksman 
 set up for a fish curer and rented the sea to them at his own pleasure, fur- 
 nishing boats and implements at an exorbitant price, whiU he took their 
 fisii at his own price, and thus got them drowned in debt and consequent 
 bondage, from which, by failures both in the kelp and fishing trad s, they 
 have never been able to relieve themselves. Seeing this, and thinking 
 he could, after taking their all for thirty years, put their little holdings, 
 improved by their exertions, to a more profitable use, this gentleman 
 humanely resolved to extirpate them', root and branch, after he had sucked 
 th''>r blotxl and peeled their flesh, till nothing more could be got by them, 
 and regardless of the misery to which he doomed them, how they might 
 
97 
 
 and unjustiiiable nature of their proceedings. Tha Sheriff addressed the 
 people in a powerful speech, with an effect which had the l^st conse- 
 quences. They soon made written communications to the Sheriff and Mr. 
 Anderson, stating their contrition, and soliciting forgiveness ; promising 
 to remove voluntarily in May next, if permitted in the meantime to remain 
 and occupy their houses. An agreement on this footing was then 
 happily accomplished, which, while it vindicates the law, tempers justice 
 with mercy. Subsequently, Mr. Najrier, Advocate- Depute, arrived at the 
 place to conduct the investigation," Ac. 
 
 Latterly the Courier says, 
 
 " The clergyman of the parish convinced the people, and Mr. Lumsden, 
 the Sheriff, addressed theiu on the serious nature of their late proceedings; 
 this induced them to petition Mr. Anderson, their landlord,, asking bis 
 forgiver, ?S8 ; and he has allowed theiu to remain till May next. We trust 
 soiiiethiiig will be done in the interval for the poor homeless Mouittaineers." 
 This is the subdued, though contemptuous tone of the Courier, owing 
 doubtless to the noble and impartial conduct of the Advocate-Deputf, Mr. 
 Napier, who in conducting the investigation, found, notwithstanding the 
 virulent and railing accusations brought by those who had driven the poor 
 |)eople to madness, that their conduct was very different from what it had 
 been represented. The Courier, in his first article, called for the military 
 "to vindicate the law" by shedding the blood of the Sutherland rebels ; 
 but now calls them " poor homeless mountaineers." His crocodile tears 
 accord ill with the former virulence of him and his employers, and we 
 have to thank Mr. Napier for the change. The local authorit'es who 
 assisted at the precognition did'the utmost that mabV-e could suggest to 
 exasperate that gentleman against the people, but he went through the 
 case in his own way, probing it to the bottom, and qualifying their rage 
 by his coolness and impaitiality. 
 
 Notwithstanding a series of injuries and provocations unparallel«»d, this 
 is the first time the poor Sutherlanders, so famous in their happi days 
 for defending their country and its laws, ha\e been led to transgress; and 
 I hope when the day of trial conies, ..he very worst of them will be found 
 " more sinned against than sinning." It is to be lamented that the law 
 has been violated, but still more to be lamented that all the best attributes 
 of our common nature — all the principles of justice, mercy, and relii,'ion, 
 have been violated by the oppressors of this j)eople, under colour ot law ! 
 The poor victims, simple, ignorant, and heart-broken, have men of wealth, 
 talent, and influence, for their opponents and accusers — the very individu- 
 als who have I /^en the authors of all their woes, are now their vindictive 
 persecutors — against the combination of landlords, factors, and other 
 officials, there is none to espouse their cause. One of my correspond' nts 
 says, the only gentleman who seemed to take any interest in the people's 
 cause was ordered by the Sherifi Lumsden out of his presence. Another 
 says, no wonder the Sh<«riff was so disposed, for when he arrived in Dor- 
 noch, the olHcials represented the peopK; as savages in a state of rebellion, 
 .so that he at first declined proceeding without military |>rotection, and in 
 consequence, a detach ment of the .')3rd Regiment in Edinburgh Castle re- 
 
58 
 
 ceived orders to march ; and could a gteamboat have been ptocured at the 
 time, which providence prevented, one hundred rank and tile would have 
 been landed on the shores of Sutherlandshire, and, under the direction of 
 the people's enemies, would probably have stained their arms with innocent 
 blood ! But before a uroper conveyance could be obtained, the order waa 
 countermanded, the Sherifi' having found cause to alter his opinion ; the 
 people, though goaded into momentary error, became immediately amenable 
 to his advice, The clergyman of the parish, also, made hiQ>«elf useful on 
 this occasion, threatening the people with punishment here and hereafter, if 
 they refused to bow their necks to the oppressor. According to him, all the 
 evils inflicted upon them were ordained of God, and for their good, where- 
 as any opposition on their part proceeded from the devil, and subjected 
 them to just punishment here, and eternal torment hereafter. Christ 
 says " Of how much more value is a man than a sheep 1" The Sutherland 
 clergy never preached this doctrine, but practically the reverse. They 
 literally prefer flocks of sheep to their human flocks, and lend their aid to 
 every scheme for extirpating the latter to make room for the former, 
 'i-hey find their account in leaguing with the oppressors, following up the 
 threatenings of fire and sword by the Sheriff, with the terrors of the 
 bottomless pit. They gained their end; the people prostrated themselves 
 at the feet of their oppressors, "whose tender mercies are cruel." The 
 Courier says, "the law has thus been vindicated." Is it not rather injus- 
 tice and tyranny that have been vindicated, and the people make a preyl 
 When they were ordered, in the manner prescribed, to put themselvea 
 entirely in the wrong, and beg mercy, they were led to believe this would 
 procure a full pardon and kinder treatment. But their submission waa 
 immediately followed up by the precognition, in which, ad I said before, 
 every means was used to criminate them, and exaggerate their oflence, and 
 it depends on the view the Lord Advocate may be induced to take, what 
 is to be their fate. One thing is certain, Mr. Anderson and his colleagues 
 will be content with nothing short of their expatriation, either to Van 
 Dieman's Land or the place the clergy consigned them to, he cares not 
 which. For the mercy which, as the Courier says, has been tempered with 
 justice, uf allowing the people to possess their houses till May, while their 
 crop had been lost by the bad weather, or destroyed by neglect during the 
 disturbance, tliey are mainly indebted to Mr. Napier. Anderson found 
 himself shamed into aconsent, which he would otherwise never have given. 
 God knows, their miserable allotments, notwithstanding the toil and money 
 they have expended on them, are not worth contending for, did the poor 
 creatures know where to go when banished, but this with their attachment 
 to the Hoil, makes thum teel it like death, to think of removing. 
 
 Anderson cmftily turned this feeling to his advantage, for, though he 
 obtained the degrees of ejectment in April, he postponed their execution 
 till the heiring jUhery was over, in order to drain every shilling the poor 
 people had earned, exciting the hope, that if they paid up, they would ha 
 'allowed to remain ! The Courier hopes " somecliing will be done for the 
 poor mountaineers." my lato happy, highminded countrymen is it 
 come to this? Represented as wild animals o • savages, and hunted accord- 
 
 IP 
 
M 
 
 ingly in your own native straths, so often defended by the sinews and 
 l)lood of your vigorous ancestors ! 
 
 Surely, your case must arouse the sympathy of generous Britons, other- 
 wise the very stones will cry out ' Surely, there is still so much virtue 
 remaining in the country that your wrongs will be made to ring in the 
 ears of your oppressors, till they are obliged to hide iaeic heads for very 
 shame, and tardy justice at length overtake them in the shape of public 
 indignation. 
 
 LETTER XXIV 
 
 Sir,— Sincp my last communication was written, I have received letters 
 ft'otit several corivspondents in the ncilii, and, aa I intimated, now proceed 
 to lay a portion of their contents l>efore the public. Much of the infor- 
 mation 1 have received must Vje 'juppr»>8sed from prudential considerations. 
 Utter ruin would instautly overtake the individual, especially if an official, 
 who should dak > to throw a g'.eara of light on *he black deeds going on, or 
 give a tongue to the people' wrongs ; besides, the language of some of the 
 letters is too strong and "l.^^♦ i ' indignant, to venture its publication, lest 
 I ifi' "ht involve myself a?'ti thers in the toils of law, with the meshes of 
 V ..^h .' am but little ..quainted , hence my coriespondence must 
 {^ "vra Hy speaking, \iti suppressed or emasculated. Frou the mass of 
 eviuv...v> received, I am fully satisfied that the feeble resistance to the 
 instruments of cruelty and oppressions at Dui'ness, and which was but a 
 solitary and momentary outbreak of feeling, owes it importance as a riot 
 entirely to the inventive and colouring talents of the correspondent of the 
 Inveviiess Courier. One of my correspondents says, " this affray must bo a 
 preconcerted one on the jmrt of the authorities;" another says "the Ad\o- 
 cate-Depute asked me, why did the Duke of Sutherland's tenants join Mr. 
 Andersons's tenants; my reply was (which he allowed to be true) that when 
 Anduison would remove his, he and his either hand neighbour would di- 
 rectly use their inHuencetoget the duke's small tenants remo>ed likewise, 
 as they hate now v.o see a poor marv at ull, and if any of the tenants 
 would ofler to say so much, they would not be believed ; tliis is the way 
 the offspring of the once valiant M'Kay's are now used, their condition is . 
 Ijeyond what a pen can describe, but we are here afraid to correspond with 
 such a character as vou : if it was known, we would be ruined at once." 
 Another says " ther; was not a pane of glass, a door, or railing, or any 
 article of furniture broken within or without tho inn at Durine, nor 
 as much as a hair of the head of a Sheriff, Fiscal, or Constable, 
 touched. If it was the Shitrill" or Fiscal Fniser who published the 
 first article, titled Durness Riot, in the Inverness Courier^ indeed they 
 should be ashamed of their unpardonable conduct ;" another says 
 "after all tiieir ingenuity it war. only one Judas they n\ado in Durnesh, 
 and if there was any one guilty of endeavouring to create disturbance it 
 
!'f f. 
 
 60 
 
 I I 
 
 was himself. Therefore, we may call him Donald Judas Mae an Diohhail 
 fear-casaid nam breugan, and the authorities should consider what credence 
 his evidence deserved in criminating the people he was trying to mislead." 
 Another correspondent says "Fraser the Fiscal (a countryman himself, 
 but an enemy as all renegades are) inserted a most glaring and highly 
 coloured mis-statement in the Invtmtta Courier, and is ever on the alert to 
 publish anything that might serve his employers and injure his poor coun- 
 trymen;" another says " The Fiscal and Sheriff Lumsden were very severe 
 on the people before the Advocate-Depute, but after he had gone through 
 the business they found it prudent to alter their tone a good deal," he 
 adds *' £ incurred the Fiscal's displeasure for not giving the eviilence he 
 uxinted for condemning the peoph, and to punish me, he would pay me 
 only 1 Os. for attending the precognition five days and b night. But when 
 the Duke conies I will lay the case before him and tell him how Fraser 
 was so anxious to get the people into a scrape. He :s a little worth gen- 
 tleman." The conduct of the Fiscal requires no comment, and his, it is 
 said, is th'^ Courier's authority for its mis-statements. The plan of the 
 persecutors is not only to ruin and ex^el the natives, by any and every 
 means, but to deprive them of public sympathy, by slandering their 
 character, belying their actions, and harassing them in every possible way, 
 so as to make them willing to leave their native soil before a regular 
 autlioriaed enquiry takes place, which would (in case their victims reniain 
 on the spot, not only expose their nefarious deeds, but also lead the way 
 to a regular law for oblig^.ag them to provide in some way for the poor they 
 have made. 
 
 These are now the two objects of their fears, first, lest they should be 
 shown up, and secondly, that a real^ — and not, as hitherto, a sham — jioor- 
 law should be established, to make them contribute to relieve the misery 
 they have so recklessly and wickedly created. With these prelimfnaries, 
 I present you a large extract verbatim, from the letter of a gentleman, with 
 whom, though I know his highly respectable connexions, I am personally 
 unacquainted. Coming evidently from a person of education and charac- 
 ter, it seems justly entitled to the consideration of all v/ho are pleased to 
 interest themselves in the woes and wrongs of Sutherland, and the out- 
 rages there offered to our common humanity : — 
 
 " You are aware that Anderson was a pretty considerable speculator in 
 his time, (but not so great a speculator as ♦ * *,) extensively engaged in 
 the white and herrin?» fishings, at the time he held out the greatest induce- 
 ments to the poor natives who were expelled from other places in the 
 paribh, who came and built lime huts on his farm and were entirely 
 dependent on their fishings and eaniings with him. In this humble 
 sphere they wore maintaining themselves and families, until God in just 
 retribution turned the scaies upon Anderson ; his speculations provetl 
 unsuccessful, he lost his shipping, and his cash was fast following ; he 
 broke down his herring establifiiments, and so the poor fishermen had to 
 make the best of it they could with other curers. Anderson now began to 
 turn his attention to sheep farming, and re noved a gi(>at many of his 
 former tenants and fishermen : however, he knew little or nothing of the 
 
 
Gl 
 
 Diohhail 
 credence 
 nislead." 
 
 hiDiself, 
 id highly 
 e alert to 
 oor coun- 
 ty severe 
 I through 
 deal," he 
 iiUnce he 
 I pay me 
 lut when 
 w Fraser 
 orth gen- 
 
 his, it is 
 m of the 
 nd every 
 ing their 
 jible way, 
 a regular 
 118 reniain 
 I the way 
 poor they 
 
 hould be 
 ]ioor- 
 e misery 
 
 luifnaries, 
 
 an, with 
 
 ij-sonally 
 
 i charac- 
 
 leased to 
 
 the out- 
 
 lulator in 
 [gaged in 
 It induce- 
 |s in the 
 entirely 
 humble 
 in just 
 proved 
 [ing ; he 
 n had to 
 |)egaii to 
 |y uf liis 
 Ig of the 
 
 
 details of sheep farming, and was entirely guided by the advices of hi» 
 either hand neighbours, Alex. Clark of ErriboU and John Scobe of 
 Koldale (both sheep farmers) ; and it is notorious that it was at the insti- 
 (ration of these creatures that he adopted such severe measures against 
 those remaining of his tenants — but, be this as it may, this last sumuier 
 when the whole male adult population were away at the fishing in Wick, 
 
 he employed a fellow of the name of C 1 to summon and frighten 
 
 the T oor women in the absence of their husbands. The proceeding was 
 both cowardly and illegal ; however, tl ) women (acting aa it can be proved 
 
 upon I's own suggestion !) congregated, 'vghted a fire, laid 
 
 hands on C 1 and compelled him to consign his papers to the flames ! 
 
 Anderson immediately reported the case to tl)e Dornoch law-mongers, who 
 sraelling a job, dispatched their officer;— off he set to Durness as big as a 
 mountain, and together with one of Anderson's shepherds proceeded to 
 
 finish what 1 had begun : however, he ' reckoned without his 
 
 host,' for ere he got half through, the women fell in hot love with him 
 also — and embraced him so cordially, that he left with them his waterproof 
 ATackintosh, and ' cut ' to the tune of '' Cabert'eidh." No sooner had he 
 arrived in Dornoch, than the gentlemen there concluded that th'^y them- 
 selves had been insulted and ill-used by proxy in Durness. Shortly after- 
 wards they dispatched the same officer and a messeng^r-at-arms, with 
 instructions to raise a trusty party by the way to aid th(m. They came 
 l)y Tongue, went down to Farr on the Saturday evening, raided Donald 
 XfTCay, pensioner, and other two old veterans, whom they sent off before 
 them on the Sabbath incog. ; however, they only advanced to the ferry at 
 Hope when they were told that the Durness j)eople were fully prepared to 
 ;^ive them a warm reception, so they went no further, but returned to 
 Dornoch, and told there a doleful Don Quixote tale. Immediately there- 
 after, a 'council of war' was held, and the Sheriff-substitute, together with 
 the fiscal and a band of fourteen special constables marched off to Durness. 
 Before they arrived the people heard of their approach, and consulted 
 among themselves what had best b« done (the men were by this time lill 
 returned home.) They allowed the whole party to pass through the 
 parish till they reached the inn; this was on a Saturday evening about 
 oight or nine o'clock ; — the men of the parish to the amount of four 
 ilozen called at the inn, and wanted to have a conference with the Sheriff, 
 this was refused to them. They then respectfully requested an assurance 
 from the sheriti that they would not be interfered with durinjj; the Siibbath, 
 this was likewise refused. Then the people got a little exasperated, and, 
 determined in the first place on depriving the sheriff of his sting, they took 
 I;i8 constables one Vy one, and turned them out of the house tuinus their 
 Uatons, There was not the least injury done, or violence shewn to the 
 u'Tsono of any of the party. The natives now made their way to the 
 sheriff's room and began to dictate (!) to him; however, as they could 
 not get him to accede to their tern>s, they ordered him to march off; 
 which, after some persuasion he did , they laid no hands on him or tho 
 ti.^cal. And, to show their civility, they actually harnessed the horses for 
 I hem, and escorted them beyond the precincts of the parish!!! The 
 
 
62 
 
 ■V : 
 
 !i'''i 
 
 
 M&bir ort^v amanied racher an alarminj; aspect. The glaring and highly 
 tsoloBimfii ^Catement referred to, appeared in the Inverness Com ier, and 
 «o(»D iStiuoiil ECS way into all the provincial and metropolitan prints; the 
 partiwf rn»fi<rrftii to were threatened with a military force. The Duke of 
 Svrtiiwiluarii wiw stormed on all hands with letters and petitions. The 
 mattw uuuR to the ears of the Lord Advocate. Mr. Napier, the Depute- 
 AdrocHrtfti. was sent from Auld Reekie, and the whole affair investigated 
 },»t€orf iiiiai; aaid the Sheriff, and Clerk and FiBcal of the County. How 
 tiuB muj uuLiri'mately terminate I cannot yet say, but one thing is certain, the 
 inreHtikfitittitrH have discovered some informality in the proceedings on the 
 ]ta.ri ctf iHh pftCty lawyers, which has for the present suspended all further 
 jirouffAunt-! I am glad to understand that the Duke of Sutherland 
 exprtHw«t p'i*at sympathy with the poor people. Indeed I am inclined 
 to ^Tif &i» (rtw.et credit for good intentions, if he but knew how his 
 peojik- am* h«ira.s«ed, but this is religiously concealed from him. 
 
 I lii>f an .*iuie distance from Tongue, but I made myself sure of tlie 
 certaiuty <i€ the following extraordinary case which could have occurred 
 nowiHtr*- "iu* in Sutherland. 
 
 Tiu*- }irt«M»nt factor in Tongue is from Edinl)urgh. — This harvest, a 
 br(it4>«r (Vi' Mn who i.s a clerk, or something in that city, came down to 
 pay liini ai txiirit; they went out a-shooting one day in September, but could 
 kill mi Hiimik They, however, determined to have some sport before return- 
 ing Itatm-:: *\ falling in with a flock of goats belonging to a man of the 
 naiuf <iif Manaon, and within a few hundred yards of the man's own house, 
 ihef «tn ttw(», and after firing a number of ineffectual shots, succeeded at 
 lenglft) m na»king down two of the goats, which they left on the ground ! 
 Satifi6«fi tairfi tidighted with this manly sport they returned to Tongue. 
 And urtm 'ftttv when called upon by the poor man who owned the goats, 
 and t(di nlki»y were all he had to pay his rent with, this exemplary 
 facUir MuW tw him, 'he did not care should he never pay his rent,' — ' he 
 WHR oiiih sniTTfy he had not proper ammunition at the time,' — as ' he would 
 not iwT^ Ikfts one of them alive ! ! !' Think you, would the Duke tolerate 
 Buda (icKui^utii m this, or what would he say did the fact come to his ears? 
 As Bnaniif iaij» :~ 
 
 ■ This is a 8ket<'h of H h's way, 
 
 Thus does he slauuhior, kill, and slay, 
 And 'b weel paid lor t." 
 
 I'li :i 
 
 The jrtrtB man durst not whisper a complaint for this act of brutal 
 desp^itiaui u Uc.-^ I resjM'ctfully ask, will the Duke of Sutherland tolerate 
 siui ticinihi'.r ' I ask will such conduct be tolerated by the legislature 'i 
 Will t'auiii^ b i-a.^er and the 1 >ornoch law-mongers smell this job t 
 
€3 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 
 Sir, — Having done my best to bring the wrongs of the Sntherlanders 
 in general, and, latterly, those of Mr. Anderson's tenantry in particular, 
 under the public eye in your valuable columns, I beg leave to close my 
 correspondence for the present, with a few additional facts and observa- 
 tions. Before doing so, however, 1 must repeat my sense — in which I am 
 confident my countrymen will participate — of your great kindness in allow- 
 ing me such a vehicle as your excellent paper through which to vent our 
 complaints and proclaim our wrongs. I also gratefully acknowledge the 
 disinterested kindness of another individual, whose name it is not now 
 necessary to mentipn, who has assisted me in revising and preparing my 
 letters for the press. I hope such friends will have their reward. 
 
 It is unnecessary to spin out the story of the Durness Riot (as it is 
 called) any longer. It evidently turns out what I believed it to be from 
 the beginning — a humbug scheme for further oppressing and destroying 
 the people ; carrying out, by the most wicked and reckless means, the 
 long prevailing system of expatriation, and, at the same time, by gross 
 misrepresentations, depriving them of that public sympathy to which their 
 protracted sufferings and present misery give them such strong claims. In 
 my latest correspondence from that quarter the following facts are con- 
 tained, which further justify the previous remarks, viz : — 
 
 A gentleman who makes a conspicuous figure in the proceedings against 
 the people, is law-agent of Mr. Anderson, the lessee, from whose property 
 
 the poor crofters were to be ejected ; and C 1, the first officer sent 
 
 to Durness, was employed by them. This C 1 was an unqualified 
 
 officer, but used as a convenient tool by his employers, and it was actually, 
 as I am assured, this man who advised or suggested to the poor women 
 and boys, in absence of the male adults, to kindle the fire, and lay hold on 
 him, and compel him to consign his papers to the flumes! — acting doubt- 
 less under the directions of his employers. 
 
 The next emissary sent was a qualified officer j qualified by having 
 
 served an apprenticeship as a thief -catcher and w chaser in the police 
 
 establishment of Edinburgh, who, when he came in contact with the vir- 
 tuous Durness women, behaved as he was wont to do among those of 
 Anchor Close and Halkerston's Wynd ; and I am sorry to say some of the 
 former were inhumanly and shamefully dealt with by him. — See Inverness 
 Courier of 17th .November. And here I am nappy to be able in a great 
 degree to exonerate that journal from the charge brought against it in 
 former letters. The Editor has at last put the saddle on the right horse 
 — namely, his first informers, the advisers and actors in the cruel and 
 vindictive proceedings against the poor victims of oppression. 
 
 It is lamentable to think that the Sheriff'-substitute of Sutherland should 
 airive in Durness, with a formidable party and a train of carts, to carry off 
 to Dornoch Jail the prisoners he intended to make, on the Sabbath-day ! 
 If this was not his intention, what was the cause of the resistance and 
 <lefeat he and his party met with 1 Just this (according to the Cturier 
 ajid my own correspondtnts), that he would not consent to give his word 
 
64 
 
 'U; i i 
 
 !!.»»■ 
 
 that he would not execute his warrant on the Sabbath-day, although they 
 were willing to give him every assurance of peaceably surrendering on the 
 Monday following. Provoked by his refusal, the men of Durness, noted 
 for piety as well as for)>earance, chose rather to break the laws of man on 
 the Saturday, than see the laws of God violated in such a manner on the 
 Sabbath. He and his party, who had bagpipes playing before them on 
 leaving Dornoch, told inquirers, that •' they were going to a wedding in 
 Durness." It was rather a divorce to tear the people away from their 
 dearly-loved, though barren, hills. Under all the circumstances, many, I 
 doubt not, will think with me that these willing emissaries of mischief got 
 better treatment than they deserved. It is high time the law-brenking 
 and law-wresting petifoggers of Sutherlandshire were looked after. Thia 
 brings again to my mind the goat-shooting scene, described in my last, 
 which was the more aggravated and diabolical from having been perpe- 
 trated during the late troubles, and while a military force was hourly 
 expected to cut down such as should dure to move a tinger against those 
 in authority ; knowing that, under these circumstances, no complaints of 
 the people would be hearkened to. But this was not the only atrocity of 
 the kind that took place in the country at this time. I have seen a letter 
 from a respectable widow woman residing in Blairmore, parish of Rogart; 
 to her Ron in Edinburgh, which, after detailing the harassment and misery 
 to which the country is subject, says — "I had only sewn sheei», and one 
 of Mr. Sellar's shepherds drowned five af them in Lochsalchie, along with 
 other five belonging to Donald M'KeuEie ; and many more, the property 
 of ot'ier neighlKJurs, shared the same fate. We could not get so miich as 
 the skins of them." But they durst not say one word about it, or if they 
 did, no one would hearken to their complaints. God alone knows how 
 they are used in that unfortunate country, and he will avenge it in his own 
 time. 
 
 A correspondent of mine says — " At an early period of your narrative, 
 you stated that the natives were refused employment at public works, even 
 at reduced wages ; but, if you believe me, sir, in the last and present 
 year, masons, carpentens, «kc,, were brought here from Aberdeenshire, and 
 employed at those works, while equally gootl, if not better native trades- 
 men were refused, and obliged to go idle. This, however, was not 
 admitted as an excuse when house-rent, poll-tax, or road-money wns 
 demanded, but the most summary and oppressive mcHus were used for 
 recovery. They have been paying those strangers four or five shillings 
 a-day, when equally good workmen among the natives would be glad of 
 eighteen-pence 1" 
 
 In this way, the money drained from the natives in the most rigorous 
 manner, is paid away to strangers before their eyes, while th«y themselves 
 are refused permission to earn a share of it ! My correspondent adds — 
 ** We know the late Duchess, some years before b*»r demise, gave orders 
 (and we cannot think the present Ditke of Sutherland has annulled these 
 orders^ that no stranger should b« employed, while natives could be found 
 to execute the work. But it seems the officials, and their under strapj)ers, 
 i can do what they please, without being called to account, and this is but 
 
65 
 
 »ugh they 
 ng on the 
 pss, noted 
 >f man on 
 ler on the 
 
 them on 
 edding in 
 rom their 
 , many, I 
 Bchief got 
 -breHking 
 er. This 
 I my last, 
 m perpe- 
 is hourly 
 intt those 
 plaints of 
 atrocity of 
 sn a letter 
 f Rogart; 
 id misery 
 , and one 
 long with 
 I property 
 
 much as 
 ^r if they 
 OW8 how 
 
 his own 
 
 nrrative, 
 •ks, even 
 present 
 lire, and 
 trades- 
 ras not 
 ley WHS 
 ised for 
 shillings 
 I glad of 
 
 Jigoroua 
 
 |m selves 
 
 I adds — 
 
 orders 
 
 these 
 
 found 
 
 |apj)ers, 
 
 is but 
 
 one instance among the many in which their tyranny and injustice is 
 manifested." Every means, direct and indirect, are used to discourage 
 the alK>rigines, to make them willing to fly the country, or be content to 
 starve in it. 
 
 May I not ask, will the Duke of Sutherland never look into the state of 
 his country? Will he continue to suffer such treatment of the people to 
 whom he owes his greatness ; proceedings so hazardous to his own real 
 interest and safety? Is it not high time that that illustrious family should 
 institute a searching inquiry into the past and present conduct of those 
 who have wielded their power only to abuse it? 
 
 Their extensive domains are now, generally speaking, in the hands of a 
 few selfish, ambitious strangers, who would laugh at any calamity that 
 might befall them, as they do at the miseries of those faithful subjects 
 whom they have supplanted. Many of these new tenants have risen from 
 running about with hobnails in theii- shoes, and a colly-dog behind them, 
 their whole wardrobe being on their V)ack, and all their other appoint- 
 ments and equipage bearing the same proportion — to be Esquires, J us- 
 tices of the Peace, and gentlemnri nding in cairiages, or on blood-horses, 
 and living in splendid mansionn all at the expense of his Grace's family, 
 arifl of those whom they have denpoiled of their inheritance. The time 
 may come — I see it approaching already, when these gentlemen will say to 
 his Grace " if you do not let your land to us on our own terms, you may 
 take it and make the best of it; who can compete with us?" This will 
 be the case, especially when the natives are driven away, and the compe- 
 tition for land, caused by the food taxes, comes to an end. Let his Grace 
 consider these things, and no longer be entirely guided by the counsels of 
 his Ahithophel, nor adopt the system of Relioboam towards the race of 
 th*^> devoted vassals of his ancestors, a portion of whose blood runs in his 
 veins. 
 
 " VVoe is me ! the possessors of my people slay them, and hold them- 
 selves not guilty;" and they that sell them say, "blessed bo the Lord, for 
 I am rich; and their own shepherds pity ihem not." "Let me mourn 
 and howl" for the pride of Sutherland is spoiled! 
 
 In a former letter 1 put the question to the Sutherland clergy, " ot 
 how much more value is a man than a sheep i" No reply has been made. 
 
 1 ask again, "you that have a thousand scores of slx'ep feeding:: on the 
 straths that formerly reared tens of thousands of as brave and virtuous 
 men as Britain could boast of, ready to shed their blood for their country 
 or their chief ; were these not of moi'e value than your animals, your 
 shepherds, or yourselves? You that spend your ill-gotten gains in riotous 
 living, in hunting, gaming, and delmuchery, of how much more value 
 were the men you have dispersed, riiined, and tortured out of existence, 
 than you and your base companions I" But I now cea8« to unpack my 
 heart with words, and take leave of the subject for the present ; assuring 
 niT kind correspondents, that their names will never be divulged by me, 
 and pledging myself to continue exposing oppression so long as it exists 
 in my native country. 
 
 In conclusion, 1 implore the Government to make intjuiry into the con- 
 
<lition of this part of the empire, and not Idok lightly over the outrooung 
 of a brave and loyal people, and the razing to the ground of that 
 important portion of the national bulwarks, to gratify the cupidity of a 
 few, to whose oburacter neither bravery nor good feeling can be attri- 
 buted. 
 
 Tears, iko., 
 
 DONALD M'LEOD. 
 
 8v Mi 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 During the publication of the foregoing series of letters In the Chroni- 
 <U, I have received a very great number of letten, all tending to establish 
 and illustrate, and in no instance to contradict, the facts adduced. Much 
 of this correspondence is valuable from being well written, and containing 
 the graphic dfedcriptions of eye witnesses. I regret, therefore, that the 
 limits to which I had resolved and arranged to cunfine the sise of this 
 pamphlet, will admit of my giving at present but a very small selection of 
 this large and daily increasing mass of corroboraMve evidence. This is 
 also partly caused by the space unavoidably occupied in the recent case of 
 the so called Durness riots, as well as by my personal narrative, on neither 
 of which I had originally calculated. 
 
 Should the present publication be favourably received, T may, however, 
 soon follow it up with some supplementary matter, especially if the course 
 of proceedings in that devoted county should continue. In this case the 
 correspondence would be an interesting and appropriate adjunct. I have 
 in the previous pages repeatedly pledged myself to keep watch and ward, 
 and bring the wrongs of Sutherland before the public so long as I can 
 hold a pen, or obtain a medium for the publieation of them, and, with 
 God's help, I will not shrink from the engagement. 
 
 I am quite aware that great allowances must be made, by readers of 
 education and literary taste, should these pages be honoured with a perusal 
 by any such. I am not capable of writing to please critics ; I had a higher 
 aim, and my success in bringing out the case of my countrymen must now 
 stand the ordeal of public opinion. For my own part, zeal and faithful- 
 ness are all I lay claim to, and if my conscience tells me true, I deserve 
 to have these conceded to me, by both friends and enemies. 
 
 There are three reniarkable cases in the correspondence which I cannot 
 think to postpone; the first is that of Angus Campbell, who possessed a 
 small lot of land in the parish of Rogart, in the immediate neighbourhood 
 of the parish minister, the Rev. Mr. M'Kenzie. This Rev. Divine, it 
 seems, had, like King Ahab, coveted this poor man's small possession, in 
 addition to his own extensive glebe, and obtained a grant of it from the 
 factor. Angus Campbell, besides his own numerous family, was the only 
 support of his elder brother, who had laboured for many years under a 
 painful and lingering disease, and had spent his all upon physicians. 
 
 Angus having got notice of the rev. gentleman's designs, had a memo- 
 rial drawn up and presented to her Grace the late Duchess, who, in 
 answer, gave orders to the factor to the effect that, if Angus Campbell 
 was to be removed for the convenience of Mr. M'Kenzie, he should be 
 provided with another lot of land equally as good as the one he possessed. 
 But, like all the other good promised by her Grace, this was disregarded 
 as soon as she turned her back; the process of removal was carried on, 
 and to punish Angus for having applied to her, he was dealt with in the 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 !l.25 
 
 m 
 
 IIIIIM 
 IIIIM 
 
 m 
 
 IM 
 
 2.2 
 
 1.8 
 
 1-4 IIIIII.6 
 
 
 V] 
 
 ^ 
 
 <9> 
 
 % c^^'^'^' 
 
 ^ ^.>^ 
 
 7] 
 
 c?m <>- :> 
 
 '? / 
 
 
 '/ 
 
 /A 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 V 
 
 '^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^9) 
 
 '^ 
 
 <> 
 
 V 
 
 
 #• 
 
 6^ 
 
c* 
 
 6^ 
 

 K 
 
 ■I :>l 
 
 W M 
 
 
 "a. 
 
 68 
 
 following inann.er, as stated in a memorial to his Graoe the present Duke^ 
 dated 30th March, 1840. 
 
 In his absence, a messenger-at-arms with a party, came from Dornoch 
 to his house, and ejected his wife and family ; and having flung out their 
 effects, locked the doors of the dwelling house, offices, &c., and carried the 
 keys to the safe keeping of the Rev. Mr. M'Kenzie, for his own behoof. 
 These proceedings were a sufficient warning to all neighbours not to afford 
 shelter or relief to the victims ; hence the poor woman had to wander 
 about, sheltering her family as well as she could in severe weather, till 
 her husband's arrival. When Angus came home, he had recourse to an 
 expedient which annoyed his reverence very much; he erected a booth 
 on his own ground in the church-yard and on the tomb of his father^ and 
 in this solitary abode he kindled a fire, endeavouring to shelter and com- 
 fort his distressed family, and showing a determination to remain, notwith- 
 standing the wrath and threatenings of the minister and factors. But as 
 they did not think it prudent to expel him thence by force, they thought 
 of a stratagem which succeeded. They spoke him fair, and agreed to 
 allow him to resume his former possession, if he would pay the expenses 
 (£4 13s) incurred in ejecting him. The poor man consented, but no 
 sooner had he paid the money than he was turned out again, and good 
 care taken this time to keep him out of the church-yard. He had then 
 to betake himself to the open fields, where he remained with his family, 
 till his wife was seized with an alarming trouble, when some .charitable 
 friend at last ventured to afford him a temporary covering : bui no dis- 
 tress could soften the heart of his reverence, so as to make hiin relent. 
 
 This Campbell is a man of good and inoffensive character, to attest 
 which he forwarded a certificate numerously signed, along with his memo- 
 rial to the Duke, but received for answer, tliat as the case was settled by 
 his factor, his Grace could not interfere ! 
 
 The second case is that of an aged women of four score — Isabella Gra- 
 ham, of .the parish of Lairg, who was also ejected with great cruelty. She 
 too sought redress at the hands of his Grace, but with no better success. 
 A copy of the substance of her memorial, which was backed by a host of 
 certificates, I here subjoin : — 
 
 " That your Grace's humble applicant, who has resided with her hus- 
 band on the lands of Toroball for upwards of fifty -years, has been removed 
 from her possession for no other reason than that Robert Murray, holding 
 an adjoining lot, coveted her's in addition. That she is nothing in arrears 
 of her rent, and hopes from your Grace's generosity and charitable dispo- 
 sition, that she will be permitted to remain in one of the houses belonging 
 to her lot, till by some means or other she may obtain another place pre- 
 vious to the coming winter, and may be able to get her bed removed from 
 the open field, where she has had her abode during the la3t^//«e/t weeks/ 
 Your Grace's humane interposition most earnestly but respectfully 
 implored on the present occasion, and your granting immediate relief will 
 confirm a debt of never-ending gratitude, and your memorialist shall evei- 
 pray, ii9." 
 
 ' M 
 
^ 
 
 b Duke, 
 
 )ornoch 
 ut their 
 ried the 
 behoof. 
 ;o aflford 
 wander 
 her, till 
 le to an 
 a booth 
 he7\ and 
 md com- 
 notwith- 
 But as 
 thought 
 greed to 
 expenses 
 I, but no 
 md good 
 liad thei\ 
 s family, 
 iharitable 
 J no dis- 
 relent. 
 
 to attest 
 is memo- 
 ettled by 
 
 lella Gra- 
 |lty. She 
 
 success. 
 
 a host of 
 
 I her hus- 
 , removed 
 ,', holding 
 in arrears 
 )le dispo- 
 [)elonging 
 slace pre- 
 Ived from 
 en weeks! 
 Ipectfully 
 Velief will 
 Lliall evet 
 
 69 
 
 jThe following letter will explain the third case without any comment] 
 
 December 8, 1841. 
 
 Dear Sir, — In your descriptions of the inhuman treatment to which 
 tlie poor Sutherlanders have been, and are still exposed, you have not 
 hitherto represented the unhallowed proceedings which took place between 
 five and six years ago, in the "Episcopal City of Dornoch," when the 
 parish church underwent an extensive repair, and considerable additions 
 were made to it solely for thept^vate convenience of the great Sutherland 
 family, who defrayed the whole expense. 
 
 During the progress of these works, the church-yard, in which the 
 inhabitants had buried their dead for time immemorial, presented the most 
 revolting spectacle imaginable, being strewed with human bones, skulls, 
 and pieces of coffins, (fee, exhumed by the workmen employed in digging 
 for the foundations of the new additions to the church, in levelling the 
 church-yard, and forming new and enlarged walks. 
 
 These relics of mortality were permitted to remain exposed to view long 
 after the mason-work was completed, and an entire coffin was actually 
 suffered to remain on the surface for a fortnight ; while the tomb-stones ■ 
 which indicated their resting place, bearing the endearing inscriptions of 
 parents and chil Iren, were rudely thrown aside, and afterwards not 
 replaced nor preserved, but used, it is said, in the formation of a new 
 enclosure wall. It is true indeed, that one or two families of the aristo- 
 cracy there threatened resistance, but their anger was appeased, if not 
 their vanity gratified, by having their family tomb-stones fixed inside one 
 of the entrance porches. The resident inhabitants of Dornoch, however, 
 whose progenitors had been buried there for ages, were denied even the 
 privilege of re-interring the remains exhumed by workmen brought from 
 a distance who felt no sympathy for the lacerated feelings of the commu- 
 nity, and refused to re-inter the human bones ; alleging that their instruc- 
 tions were limited to be careful in preserving and delivering to the agent 
 of the Duke, at Golspie, any ancient coins or other relics of antiquity 
 that might be discovered in the course of the excavations. Matters con- 
 tinued in this painful position till a new church-yard was formed at a 
 distance from the town, and where, ultimately, the surplus earth, (fee, was 
 removed from the old church-yard. 
 
 Whether it was that the inhabitants disliked the idea of being buried 
 beyond the sound of the church bell, or apart from their relatives, or from 
 whatever other cause, it is certain the dying made it a last special request 
 that they should be buried in some of the neighbouring parishes, — and 
 thus the new church-yard was likely to be so only tn 7iame. Ultimately, 
 however, the death of a poor person at a distance presented an opportunity 
 of providing at least one tenant, and since that i)eriod the objections to 
 the new Imrying ground are not now so frequently made. 
 
 A stranger to the Sutherland tyrannical system of management may well 
 exclaim in wonder and horror, — Why did the inhabitants tolerate such 
 unhallowed proceedings] — and why did the clergyman of the parish 
 
 
I'ii 
 
 70 
 
 silently witness the barbarous treatment of the remains of his lata 
 parishioners 1 Those, however, who have perused your graphic account 
 of the dreacKul sufferings of the people will be at no loss to discover froia 
 whence arises their apparent apathy. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 A Dornoch Correspondent. 
 
 To Mr. Donald M'Leod. 
 
 wiu' 
 
 '"The following letter appeared in the Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle of the 
 
 18th Dec, 1841.] 
 
 Mr. Editor, — Sir, the publication of Donald M'Leod's Letters, while it 
 adds to your high reputation for independence, reflects in a double sense 
 on a brother contemporary in the North ; and 1 must say with Donald 
 M'Leod, that the Editor recently alluded to by him is ever to be found 
 with "the powers that be." He catches at any circumstance that affords 
 an opportunity of lauding a lord or a laird, and he is always laying his 
 blarney on their doors with a trowel; while his negative praise of the 
 poorer natives is disgusting to those who really know them. 
 
 The subject of Donald's letters leads me now to notice a removing, 
 which I fear is too truly apprehended at the term of Whitsunday, in one 
 of the remote glens of Ross- shire ; and though not very extensive, it is of 
 a very aggravated nature, inasmuch as the victims are not only able to 
 keep their holdings, but are men of the most spotless character. These 
 are chiefly the M'Crie's of Corryvuik, in Strathconan, a county now pos- 
 sessed by one of the wealthiest men in Scotland, but who, it would seem, 
 feels but little solicitude about this portion of the dependants over whom 
 Providence has placed hira as guardian. The farm has been occupied for 
 time immemorial by the progenitors of the present tenants, all of whom 
 have lived upon it from infancy. They maintained their means and credit 
 in the worst of times, and are fully stocked ; — they have never been in 
 arrears to the laird ; — and it is believed that their names were never called 
 in a court of law, either as suitors or defenders. They are known as the 
 quiet, unobtrusive, primitive people of Corryvuik ; and at a happier period 
 of their lives, they were the pride of their proprietors (the ancient family 
 of Fairburn), though they now feel, that the chain wluch bound them to 
 iheir native soil and chiefs is snapped asunder for ever. 
 
 i. '1 
 
w 
 
 his lata 
 
 account 
 
 )ver front 
 
 NDENT. 
 
 MRS. H. BEECHEii STOWE. 
 
 icle of the 
 
 s, while it 
 uble sense 
 ih Donald 
 be found 
 lat affords 
 laying his 
 lise of the 
 
 , removing, 
 iay, in one 
 live, it is of 
 ly able to 
 Br. These 
 now pos- 
 ould seem, 
 over whom 
 cupied for 
 of whom 
 and credit 
 been in 
 ever called 
 awn as the 
 pier period 
 Lent family 
 id them to 
 
 sr 
 
 Madam, — I would wish to address you as inoffensively as our present 
 position before the public can admit of. Without any provocation on my 
 part, you have assailed my character most shamefully, and I must teil you,, 
 that though a humble individual who has devoted much of his time and 
 means in advocating the cause and righteous claims of the poor, remon- 
 strcting with, and exposing the ungodly dealings of the rich towards them, 
 unaided as I am by classical education, or the smiles of fortune; yet I con- 
 sider my reputation and character as a narrator of unvarnished facts, equally 
 as sacred, and as dear to me, as you can consider your own as an accomplish- 
 ed novelist and sophistical adulator of the oppressors of the poor. Taking 
 the advantage of your auspicious position in society; surrounded by the 
 beauties of English aristocracy, golden diamond, ducal braclets, glittering 
 gold sovereigns, fame, favour and fortune, thinking the \,-hole world was 
 bound to believe whatever you would say or write-r-yes Madam, dreaming 
 in these paradises of grandeur, wealth, dignity and luxury, you, in the 
 greatness of your soul, thought to demolish me for ever, by making me 
 out as a ridiculous fabricator of falsehood. Against whom 1 The fasci- 
 nating, angelic, and spotless Duchess of Sutherland. I do acknowledge to 
 you, and before the world, to be the legitimate parent and author of the 
 accusations against the House of Sutherland, which found their way to the 
 American public prints, of which you gave a specimen in your " Sunny 
 Memories," to convince the American people of how ridiculous, and exces- 
 sively absurd they were. I know v.. t it was reported, and circulated 
 through the public press in England and Scotland, that I was dead ; but 
 even if dead, it would be very unlady-like of you to attack even a dead 
 man's character, at least until you made a searching enquiry into the 
 veracity or falsehood of his statements. If you believed this report, they 
 have deceived you, and as sure as I am a living Scotchman my motto is, 
 nemo me impunt lacessete. I do really sympathize with you, for I know 
 it is a humiliating reflection for you, that for the sake of aristocratic 
 adulation and admiration, which you could well spare, that you have 
 exposed yourself to be publicly chastised by an old Highland Scotch 
 broken down stone mason ; yet you have done it and I am sorry for it, 
 and to do you justice, to do my own character justice, but above all to do 
 the public justice, I consider it my bounden duty to bring you to the 
 test, that the public may judge aright who is the greatest fabricator of 
 false stories — you or me — expecting the public judgment will be based 
 upon the evidence we advance to confirm the veracity of our opposed 
 statements, and tho source from which we obtain our evidence. I deny 
 the charge of fabricating falsehood against the Duchess of Sutherland, or ' 
 against the House of Sutherland, or against any other despotic depopu- 
 
..f i< 
 
 72 
 
 I' "''''sill ♦ 
 
 lating house in the highlands of Scotland ; neither had I need to exagge- 
 rate nor to colour the truth ; indeed I have taken more pains to modify 
 the truth than I should have done, so that people could believe me. I 
 challenge, yea, I court contradiction, or a combatant upon fair ground. 
 
 '*No favour — honour bright." 
 
 Then at it. In prefacing your " Sunny Memories" you say — " This book 
 will be found to be really what its name denotes, Sunny Memories." I 
 admit this to be an indisputable fact, for I believe you never basked in the 
 sunshine of favour more luxuriously than you did vhile in England. You 
 had no doubt a pecuniary object in view in going to England, and you 
 have realized it to your heart's desire. The ladies of England had also a 
 particular object in view in inviting you Uiere, and you satisfied them, 
 Their fame as the greatest philanthropists under heaven — their superiority 
 in accomplishments and gorgeous sublimity to any other nation on earth, 
 are now establishfed for ever, and for ever, (as they and you think). Next 
 you say — "The writer has been decided to issue these letters principally, 
 however, by the persevering and deliberate attempt in certain quarters to 
 misrepresent the circumstances which are here given. So long as these 
 misrepresentations aflfected those who were predetermined to believe 
 unfavourably, they were not regarded; but as they have had some influ- 
 ence in certain cases upon really excellent and honest people, it was desi- 
 rable that the truth be plainly told." ♦ * * Now Madam had you 
 kept up to the principle of telling the plain truth, you would have saved 
 me the disagreeable task of correct: ^g you, and of pointing out to your- 
 self, and to the public, where you ha,ve failed to ascertain or tell the plain 
 truth. Truth and Justice, Madam, are Heaven-begotten twin sisters, but 
 if they had not, nor have not any other place of abode upon earth but the 
 palaces of English dukes and duchesses, lords, primates, and bishops, and 
 the mansions of money-mongers, manufacturers, commissioners and factors 
 such people, by your own confession, with whom you associated, and cor- 
 responded while in England, I say that long since the heavenly pair 
 would perish homeless, houseless, friendless, unpitied, and persecuted 
 among snow and frost on the streets of England, Ireland, and Scotland ; 
 but being immortal, they will ultimately prevail and triumph over false- 
 hood, sophistry and injustice. 
 
 Your lavishing of praise and admiration of English feminine beauty 
 and virtue, of mansions, scenery, institutions, aristocratic manners and 
 arrangements, I will let you go with it by merely offering a short but an 
 earnest prayer up to Heaven, that the Lord of Heaven and earth may 
 preserve the American ladies from being smitten or infected by the fatah 
 contagion with which your "Sunny Memories" are pregnant, and that they 
 may not adopt the English system of grinding down the people upon 
 whom they depend for protection in the time of need, and for supplying 
 them with all the necessaries of life at all times, to starvation and beggary, 
 to crime and punishment, and then separate themselves from them as 
 unclean animals, in railway cars, in churches, in schools, in streets, 
 theatres, and assemblies, considering, their very breath to pollute the. 
 
73 
 
 exagge- 
 
 modify 
 
 1 me. I 
 ^ound. 
 
 rhis book 
 jries." I 
 ked in the 
 nd. You 
 , and you 
 iiad also a 
 ied them, 
 uperiority 
 on earth, 
 ik). Next 
 rincipally, 
 uarters to 
 ; as these 
 )o believe 
 ome influ- 
 ; was desi- 
 n had you 
 lave saved 
 ; to youT- 
 1 the plain 
 listers, but 
 ■th but the 
 shops, and 
 nd factors 
 1, and cor- 
 veiili/ pail 
 jersecuted 
 Scotland ; 
 )ver false- 
 
 le beauty 
 iners and 
 )rt but an 
 artb may 
 r the fatal I 
 that they 
 ople upon 
 supplying 
 beggary, 
 them as 
 streets, 
 llute the, 
 
 titmosphere, and exceedingly dangerous to their refined constitutions. This 
 is my prayer, and for the sake of the American ladies and the American 
 people, I hope I will be heard and answered. The Americans should have 
 sad recollection of what their fathers told them of the English systems 
 and manners among themselves in the days of yore, and should watch well 
 and guard themselves against being beguiled to adopt any more of the 
 English systems than what is consistent with humanity, nature and true 
 godliness. None will deny, but Engli-sh ladies in general are beautiful 
 women (yet there are some, no but many, ugly exceptions,) and can 
 assume affability to a most coaxing and deceptive extent when they have 
 an object in view to gain ; but any one less or more acquainted with their 
 history, or with themselves personally, for aijy length of time, may discern 
 with many of them souls so much chocked up with pride and ambition, 
 tlutt all which can be admired about them is only skin deep, especially 
 among the majority of your bosom favourites while in England. 
 
 It is likewise well known throughout the whole world that the British 
 aristocracy, such as landocracy, priestocracy, moneyocracy, cottonocracy, 
 and many other robbingocracies, do enjoy all the luxuries, grandeur, 
 amusement, and pleasure, that seared consciences can enjoy, that art can 
 produce, and that ill gotten wealth can purchase. But how many thou- 
 sands, yea millions of as valuable human beings as they are, are toil- 
 ing and languishing in misery and want all their life time, to keep up this 
 unnecessary grandeur and dignity ] Ah ! Madam, this is an enquiry you 
 should have made, if you are really what you say you are, — a sympathiser 
 with suffering humanity, — before spending so much of your valuable time 
 and talents, praising and admiring English grandeur and dignity. The 
 majority of these dignitaries and nobles never did anything to benefit so- 
 ciety ; so that all you have seen about them must be the production of 
 plunder, and the price of blood. Yes, 1 say, for one instance, you ought 
 to ascertain how many slaves his grace the Duke of Sutherland, himself 
 alone, would require to build, and to furnish, and keep up his establish- 
 ment in London, viz. Stafford House, (of notoriety) which you have so 
 elaborately described in letter 16 of your "Sunny Memories." But as 
 you have neglected to inform the American ladies how this magnificent 
 establishment is supplied, I must inform them. You say in letter 17, 
 " That the total population of the Sutherland estate is twenty-one thousand 
 seven hundred and eighty-four." Correct, or incorrect as this statement 
 may bo, I leave it to you ; but if correct, his Grace's people must have in- 
 creased most wickedly since his Grace permitted them to man-y, and since 
 1 left Scotland four years ago. Likewise, if correct, I can tell you Madam, 
 without hesitation, that three-fourths of that immense population are living 
 in poverty and incredible penury. I will risk my reputation, yes my life, 
 that sixteen thousand of them do not consume, upon an average, half-a- 
 pound of animal food of any description through the whole year, and that 
 they have to live upon the scantiest and poorest allowances of all other food 
 that human beings can exist upon. Yes, all that they can scrape and 
 save is needed at Stafford House. Then I will allow that three thousand 
 «of them lire a little better, but who are not to be envied ; then take one 
 
iij' 
 
 wiiMi I'M 
 
 74 
 
 thousand seven hundred who live comfortable, but not in aMuence. Add 
 to those a score or two of sheep farmers, who occupy three-fourths of 
 Sutherlandshire, paying heavy rent8,Mnd living sumptuously — in short all 
 proceeds are sent up to supply the needs of Stafford House, and this is but 
 one of its many streams of wealth. No wonder, Madam, that you ha^e 
 seen such wonderful splendour, and been so delightfully entertained at 
 Stafford House — especially invited there to vindicate their character from 
 the accusations brought against them by Donald M'Leod, and others of 
 the plebian order. There is still a balance of one thousand and forty -four 
 of the population yet unaccounted for , — these are of the unproductiveg. 
 They consist of factors, sub-factors, established (by law) ministers, school- 
 masters, sheriffs, police, constables, fiscals, lawyers, pettifoggers, gamekeep- 
 ers, foresters, shepherds ground officers, water and mussel bailiffs, and an 
 host of blood-sucking subordinates, vermin, who pick up every cent that can 
 be concealed or saved from Stafford House. It is well known and easily 
 believed, where poverty prevails, there is strife, and where strife is, there is 
 afieldforplundertosuitthese lowvermin inquisitors. Now, Madam, I grant 
 that the Duke of Sutherland and his predecessors were, and are, the most 
 humane and liberal of all other Highland, Scotch, Irish, or English plun^ 
 dering depopulators. But if it was possible or practicable to try the ex- 
 periment, that is, to bring nineteen thousand of the American slaves to 
 Sutherlandshire, and give them all the indulgence, all the privileges, and 
 comforts the aborigines of that county do enjoy, I would risk all that 
 is sacred and dear to nie, that they would rend the Heavens, praying to be 
 restored to their old American slave owners, and former position. I con- 
 sider this but a small tribute or compliment to the slave owners , yet 1 
 know that there is nothing bad but what can be worse, for there are many 
 more painful ways of killing a dog than to hang him. I would respect- 
 fully ask who are the greatest objects of commisseration and sympathy, — 
 a brave, moral, intelligent and enterprising race of people, who were born 
 free, who were nurtured in the school of freedom, and defenders of free- 
 dom in all the ages of time ; against whom there was no priestly denunci> 
 ations to be traced in sacred, ancient, moral, or modem history; and who 
 were robbed and deprived of all the liberties and rights they were told and 
 taught by their fathers to be their indisputable inheritance, and enthralled 
 to the lowest degree of degradation, submission, and poverty. I say are 
 they not much more to be pitied, than an unfortunate race, who at an 
 early period of time became the victims of cruel priestcraft, taking the ad- 
 vantage of a curse, said to be pronounced by a drunken father, very likely 
 in delirium tremens ; or to the misrepresentation of that curse left on sa- 
 cred record, which left that race denounced, consigned, and designated to 
 be slaves and the servant of servants — consequently despised, l«ft untold, 
 untaught in the science of enterprise, progress, or civilization and totally 
 
 ignorant of the rights and privileges of human beings. Both cases 
 are to be pitied and lamented, but I hold the latter case 
 to be far more tolerable to endure than the former. The 
 child who has been born blind is not so helpless, nor so 
 much to be pitied when he comes to manhood, as the poor fellow who- 
 has been deprived of his sight after arriving at manhood; the 
 
75 
 
 ce. Add 
 ourths c? 
 n short all 
 his is but 
 you ha^e 
 tained at 
 icter from 
 others of 
 forty-four 
 oductives. 
 irs, school- 
 ^amekeep- 
 jOfs, and an 
 it that can 
 and easily 
 is, there is 
 wn, I grant 
 !, the most 
 »lish plun- 
 try the ex- 
 a slaves to 
 ileges, and 
 sk all that 
 lying to be 
 m. I con- 
 lers , yet 1 
 i are many 
 Id respect- 
 on pathy, — 
 were born 
 ers of free- 
 y denunci- 
 •; and who 
 ■6 told and 
 enthralled 
 I say are 
 ho at an 
 ing the ad- 
 ery likely 
 lleft on sa- 
 iisnated to 
 |«ft untold, 
 d totally 
 
 {oth cases 
 tter case 
 ^r. The 
 nor so 
 5II0W who- 
 l)od ; the 
 
 former never knew what light or the use of it was, and will not pine and 
 lament over the loss of it; besides, in most cases natural instincts will, to 
 a certain extent, make up for the deficiency. Whereas, the latter poor 
 fellow who knew what light is and the use of that inestimable gift of Ood, 
 when he stumbles, or falls, or strikes his head against a post, it is not the 
 personal injury he sustained, that is the principal cause of his bewailing 
 and sufferings, no, but the loss of his sight, and that he had none to- 
 lead him past danger. 
 
 It is a melancholy, undeniable /ac< that Republic Americans do breed, 
 sell, and buy slaves; that they chase them with blood hounds when they 
 run away; that they flog them, that they shoot and hang them for dis- 
 obedience ; that they separate husbands and wives, parents and children. 
 But will any one prove to me that the condition of the unfortunate people 
 would be better or more tolerable should the Americans, like High- 
 land Scotch and English dukes, marquises, earls, and lairds, make and 
 take as many slaves as they choose for nothing. Methinks it would be 
 more consistent to admit, that buying and selling, and the higher the price 
 of slaves are, is a sure guarantee that they will be taken care of, (leaving 
 humanity out of sight.) If a man purchases a horse at a high price, he 
 will take care of that animal ; but if he knew that he could get as many 
 horses as he chose for nothing, and that when one horse died or was 
 lamed, that he had nothing to do but to go and take another, you could 
 not expect that man to care much whether his horses were well fed or 
 housed. 
 
 The American slave owners themselves are to be pitied, for they are the 
 dupes or victims of false doctrine, or rather say, of the misinterpretation 
 of sacred records. They believe to have a divine right to sell and buy 
 African slaves ; to flog, hang and shoot them for disobedience ; and to 
 chase them with blood hounds and Methodist ministers, if they run away 
 But the English aristocracy maintains to still higher prerogatives, in di- 
 rect opposition to sacred records, — they believe to have divine right to 
 monopolise the whole creation of Ood in iintainfor their own private use, 
 to the exclusion of all the rest of His creatures. They have enacted laws 
 to establish these rights, and they blush not to declare these laws sacred. 
 And it is to be lamented that these laws and doctrines are generally be- 
 lieved. Let any one peruse their Parchment Rights of Property, and he 
 will find that they include the surface of the earth, all the minerals, ic. 
 below the surface to the centre, all that is above it up to the heavens, 
 rivers of waters, bays, and creeks, of mixed salt water and fresh water, for 
 one and one-fourth leagues out to the sea, with all the fishes of every des- 
 cription which spawn or feed therein, and all fowls who lay and are raised 
 on land, — a right to deprive the people of the least pretention of right to 
 the creation of God but what they choose to give them, — a right to compel 
 the people to defend their properties from invaders; to press and ballot as 
 many of them as they choose; hand-cuff them if they are unwilling, and 
 force them to stveai' by God to be true and faithful slaves, — a right to im- 
 prison them, to flog, to hang, and shoot them if refractory, or for the least 
 disobedience. Yes, a right to force them away to foreign and unhealthy 
 
• climes, to tight nations who never did them any injury, where they perish 
 in thousands by disease, fatigue and starvation, like brute beasts; to hang, 
 shoot, or flog them to death for even taking a morsel of food when dying 
 for want of it : all for to gain more possessions and power for British aris- 
 tocracy. Only read the history of the East and West Indies ; of the Pen- 
 insula, Crimea, and China Wars. 
 
 Slavery is domnable, and the most disgusting word in the English or 
 any other language ; and it is to be hoped that the Americans will soon 
 discern its deformity, j)ollution and iniquity, and wipe away that old 
 English polluted stain from their character. But there is not the least 
 shadow of hope that ever the British aristocracy will think shame, or give 
 up their system of slavery ; for it is the most profitable now under heaven, 
 and the most admired, and adopted by all other nations of the earth ; at 
 least until the promised Millenium will arrive, whatever time that blessed 
 era will take in coming — unless the people in their might will rise some 
 morning early, and demand their rights and liberties with the united 
 voice of thunder which will inake the most hardened and stubborn of the 
 aristocratic adamant hearts tremble and ache. British ocracy's sympathy 
 with American slaveu is, in reality, a burlesque ; for I do assure you. 
 Madam, they care no more for the emancipation of the American slaves 
 than they do for the emancipation of Greenland whales and seals from 
 their captors. Self-interest and fame was their object in jumping at your 
 "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and in their adulation of the authoress, and has 
 been their object since ever I began to take notice of their sophistical 
 movements, and long before it. Much to their praise (though it cost 
 them twenty-one million pounds sterling) the British people abolished sla- 
 very in the West India British Colonies. But who were their bitter and 
 inveterate opponents 1 — English Bishops, and aristocracy ; but now they 
 take all the praise to themselves. Their principal cause for denouncing 
 American slavery is, if properly searched out, that their West Indian 
 estates does not make such lucrative returns to them now as they used to 
 do, and not their sympathy for the African race. However, it is an ad- 
 mitted fact, that it is characteristic of British aristocracy to be the most 
 liberal sympathisers with foreign victims of oppression, injustice and 
 barbarous, ungodly laws ; but with me their motives are very question- 
 able, they having reverse qualifications at home. But they know that 
 their foreign sympathy, liberality, and abhorrence of foreign slavery will 
 find a conspicuous place in the public press, magazines, school books, re- 
 ports and tracts, and that their praise will reach the utmost corner of the 
 earth — that their fame, as the most humane, the most benevolent and 
 blessed, will be ballooned up to Heaven by bishops, priests, ministers, that 
 (reverently speaking) God might approve of it. At home they are the 
 most liberal contributors to Bible and Missionary Societies, especially to 
 the publication and circulation of missionary reports, where the donors 
 and donations are sure to be magnified and praised up to heaven ; and the 
 recipients represented as the most ignorant of the plan of salvation and of 
 the Christian religion — denying not but they had the image of God on 
 them, yet not (in intellect) much above the condition of the brute crea- 
 
77 
 
 ey perish 
 
 to hang, 
 en dying 
 itish aris- 
 
 the Pen- 
 
 ngliah or 
 will soon 
 that old 
 the least 
 le, or give 
 sr heaven, 
 earth : at 
 at blessed 
 rise some 
 he united 
 orn of the 
 sympathy 
 ssure you, 
 san slaves 
 seal* from 
 ng at your 
 IS, and has 
 sophistical 
 gh it cost 
 shed sla- 
 litter and 
 now they 
 enouncing 
 Indian 
 ey used to 
 is an ad- 
 the most 
 istice and 
 question- 
 :now that 
 avery will 
 jooks, re- 
 ner of the 
 olent and 
 sters, that 
 are the 
 (ecially to 
 he donors 
 and the 
 ion and of 
 f God on 
 rute crea- 
 
 tion. These hired emissaries have contributed on a large scale, and assist 
 ed greatly the calumniators of the Highlands of Scotland. I know many 
 of them going about preaching, praying, ciixulating Gaelic Bibles and 
 religious tracts, at the same time surveying the country and collecting in- 
 formation of the districts more susceptible and profitable for sheep-farm- 
 ing, and publishing the most gross, unfounded and inconsistent falsehoods 
 regarding the character and intelligence of the people, that could be coined 
 by the arch-enemy of mankind — (you know who that is.) However, all 
 this had the desired consummation or effect. The benevolence of aristo- 
 cratic donors and liberal donations were praised in every sublime term 
 that the English language could supply ; and to magnify their liberal and 
 benevolent dispositions still more, the demerits, undeservedness, the 
 barbarianism and sloth of the recipients were described in the j^rossest Bil- 
 lingsgate language that could be collected. But follow those over-praised 
 and admired aristocratic personages home to these palaces, which cost you, 
 Madam, so much time and labour to describe to your American friends, 
 (although you were supplied with catalogues and invoices of their interior, 
 and a plan or map of their pleasure grounds), and ask them the few fol- 
 lowing questions : — In the name of wonder how did you manage to get 
 these splendid edifices built and furnished so gorgeously, when I know 
 you yourselves never put a hand to any work ] The reply would be — We 
 employ men to do it for us. Still more surprised, you ask — How have 
 you got the enormous sums of money required to pay them 1 The truth- 
 ful reply should be — Oh, we have large, extensive landed estates, and we 
 can tax the people who occupy and labour them as we please. Others 
 would reply, we employ so many thousands of people, and we pay them 
 as we please; for every shilling they work for, or get, we have three shil- 
 lings, and were it not for the tricks you Yankees play on us at' times, we 
 might be a great deal richer than we are, even richer than the landlords. 
 But halt a little until you see a poor industrious tenant of one of these 
 landed aristocracy, approaching the gate of this palace with a humble 
 petition, shewing a most grevious complaint, for an outrage committed by 
 one of his grace's or lordship's factors or underlings, and prevented to enter 
 any farther by a bulldog at full chain length ; if he got past the dog, met 
 another bull in human shape, dressed in livery, from whom there was no 
 escaping, and had to stand still until his grace or lordship thought it 
 proper to take an airing walk for his health after breakfast or dinner, and 
 after waiting for days in this humiliating position, ultimately told that 
 nothing could be done lor him, or oi-dered back to the tyrant underling 
 against whom he complained for redress, and you may easily guess what 
 kind of redress or reception the poor fellow would get. Shift then to the 
 palace of a church-ocracy, cotton-ocrauy, or any other oci'acy you please, 
 and see a poor fellow in rags, exhausted in frame, with trembling limbs, 
 leaning on his staff", coming up to the gate soliciting a crumb of bread or 
 a morsel of broken meat from the table which he was supplying all his 
 lifetime. There you will see the broken meat thrown away to feed useless 
 dogs, and the poor fellow collared by a police constable, and next day 
 sfi.t'^nced to thirty days' imprisonment 'u Bridewell, breaking stones or 
 
 ^'■m 
 
78 
 
 
 teasing oakum, for his impudence; but two blacks will never make a white 
 — if you, Madam, and I were sitting side by side for six months, I would 
 bet you a dollar my side of the leaf would be the darkest — hence we 
 uiust turn up the most ridiculous bright side of the question. Did yoa. 
 Madam, enquire while in England, how this noble institution called the 
 Poor Man's Church, in England and Ireland, whose bishops, structure, 
 and constitution you admired so much, and laboured so much in recom- 
 mending to others, is maintained 1 I know you did not. That such 
 questions were entirely out of your way. This is another of the costly and 
 pernicious aristocratic institutions of the country, self styled the "Poor 
 Man's Church." It is not difficult to make you understand how it is so 
 called. Church revenues were at one period, yes for ages, divided into 
 three parts, — the first part for the maintenance of the ))riesthood — the 
 second for the maintenance and repair of the fabric of the Church, and 
 the third for the relief and support of the poor. But the Clergy, aided bjr 
 their patrons, the aristocracy, have contrived and enacted laws to saddle the 
 maintenance of the fabric on the people, in the form of Church Rates, the 
 maintenance of the poor on the people in the form of Poor Rates, while 
 the Apostolic priesthood, descended from the poor fishermen of Galilee, 
 swallowed up both their own and the poor people's share. Not satisfied 
 with this, the Church does not disdain to seize the poor man's pots and 
 pans, and even the bed that he rests his weary limbs on, to sell them by 
 public auction to raise funds to wash the priests' surplices, and to ring the 
 bells. The twenty-five State Bishops of England divide among them- 
 selves incredible sums of money. By a late Parliamentary return, it 
 will be seen the sums they leave behind them at their death are 
 enormous. From another Parliamentary return it is proved, as stated 
 in the House of Commons by Captain Osbom, that eleven Irish State 
 Bishops left behind them at their death, the sum of one million eight 
 hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds sterling, accumulated within 
 a period of from forty to fifty years. The Bishop of Cashel during a 
 single life, saved j£400,000 from the tributes levied on the poorest, 
 worst fed, worst clad, of all the nations of the earth. How much charity 
 and spirit of Christianity dwelt in his palace, or occupied his bosom, may 
 be guessed ? How much piety and christian rirtue must the prelates of 
 Dublin, Tuam, Armagh, and Clogher have exercised to enable them to 
 hoard up fortunes of from j£250,000 to £600,000 a piece during their 
 lives. This is a sample of the Bishops of the English Church in Ireland, 
 for which the British nation are keeping up an army of 34,000 soldiers, 
 besides an army of mounted police, to watch over its safety. Surely these 
 are expected to be serious and strenuous sympathisers with American 
 slaves. Now you must know Madam, that there was only £151,127 12s. 
 4d. of hard cash divided by the bishops among themselves ; but this only 
 represents but a small proportion of their actual gains ; we have to add to 
 this the rents and profits of 670,000 acres of the Irish land which, in 1845, 
 amounted to £92,000 : tithe composition, £531,781 14s 7d. ; minister 
 money, £10,000; then what is terme^ Deans and Chapter, £22,624 5g. 
 od., besides other perquisites, makes a total of £807,533 12s. 4d. What 
 
79 
 
 ea white 
 , I would 
 tience we 
 Did you, 
 iaWed the 
 structure, 
 n recom- 
 'hat such 
 ;ostlv and 
 le "Poor 
 iw it is so 
 ided into 
 lood — the 
 urch, and 
 , aided by 
 saddle the 
 Rates, the 
 tes, while 
 jf GalUee, 
 b satisfied 
 I pots and 
 I them by 
 » ring the 
 9ng them- 
 retum, it 
 death are 
 as stated 
 rish State 
 lion eight 
 ed within 
 during a 
 poorest, 
 ch charity 
 >som, may 
 )relates of 
 them to 
 ■mg their 
 1 Ireland, 
 soldiers, 
 rely these 
 American 
 ,127 12s. 
 this only 
 to add to 
 , in 1845, 
 minister 
 2,624 58. 
 What 
 
 ■work is done for all this expenditure 1 According to report, out of 2364 
 parishes in Ireland, 155 have no churches, and not a single protestant 
 inhabitant ; 45 parishes, having under 50 protestants, including men, 
 women and children, they are not on that account however, relieved from 
 paying tithes to the English Churchwhich are still compulaorily exacted, of 
 300 dignities, and prebends 75 of them have no duties to perform, and 96 
 other sinecures. The Archdeacon of Meath has £731, and not one pre* 
 testant to attend him or a soul to cure. I find seven benefices, with 62 
 protestants, without one church or a clergyman, who pays £2869 lis. of 
 tithe. I find eight parishes with only 173 members of the State Church 
 who pay £4860 of tithe composition. Need we be surprised that such a 
 system as this should have issued in beggary and wretchedness and crime 
 to the Irish people, and kept that nation banging on the brink of rebellion 
 since they became subject to the English Government. This is the church, 
 which Babington Macauly describes the " most ridiculous, and inde- 
 fensible of all the institutions now existing in the civilized world." and 
 by Mr. Roebuck as the "greatest ecclesiastical enormity in Europe." 
 Space will not permit me to dwell on these cases, which could be multi- 
 plied almost without end. Indeed the rapacity of the clergy is almost 
 proverbiel. They are not satisfied with one living, they would grasp at 
 ten if they could get them. "What do they care about duties, it is the 
 money they want. They are in reality what Milton styled them in his 
 day, ''non resident, and plurality gaping prelates, the gulphs and 
 whirlpools of benefices, but the dry pits of all sound doctrine who engross 
 many pluralities under a non-resident and slumbering dispatching of 
 souls, who let hundreds of parishes famish in one diocese, while they, the 
 prelates, are mute, and yet enjoy that wealth which would furnish all those 
 dark places with able supply ; and yet they eat, and yet they live at the 
 rate of lords, and yet hoard up ; consuming and purloining even that 
 which by their foundation is allowed and left to the poor and to the 
 repajration of the church." 
 
 The English people who believe in the Episcopalian creed and doctrine 
 are entitled to support this apostolic institution named after them and they 
 do it sweetly. It is a difficult thing to get exact estimates of the total 
 revenue of this institution in England. Churchmen have always been 
 exceedingly loath to give information on this subject. When the Gov- 
 ernment in 1836 had made enquiries on the subject, the ecclesiastical 
 commission was called on to make a return of the income of the clergy to 
 Parliament, they then gave in the net revenue of the church at only 
 £3,436,851; but since then the tithe commutation act has come into 
 operation, then it became the interest of the church to claim as much as 
 possible, forgetting their previous return. What has been the consequen- 
 ces 1 The tithes commuted swelling up at once to six millions and a half 
 sterling, and they found out that if the tithes yet uncommuted be 
 rated at the same value as those commuted, the annual income of the clergy 
 from tithes alone will at least amount to £8,000,000 a year. Besides the 
 tithes, there are the charitable foundations of England, most of which 
 hey have got into their hands. These are the professorships, fellowships,. 
 
 .IK'. !^Kli.l^«:■ 
 
,1 
 
 lit 
 
 M 
 
 80 
 
 tutorships, masterships, <fec , in the universities, and the revenues of Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge amounts to no less than j6741,000. Then the surplice 
 feef for the consecration of burial grounds, preacherships, lectureships, 
 chaplainships, chapel of ease, easter dues, christening fees, marriage fees, 
 burial fees, episcopal revenues from land and other sources, when added 
 together, will form a total of not less than ten millions sterling per year. 
 Then Madam, I will give you a brief sketch of how the British people 
 are taxed for other aristocratic purposes; the process is simple indeed. They 
 don't ask the consent of those whom they tax — they take particular care 
 to keep them out of their counsels as much as -possible : they merely tax 
 us and make us pay, having at all times at hand, and under their command 
 a strong body of police, soldiers, and diabolical agencies of all sorts, and 
 pay the people must. See how they manage to get it, — so much on sugar, 
 so much on tea, coffee, tobacco, malt, hops, cocoa, soap, spirits, window 
 light, &c. ifec. "We are quarrelling about an income tax of seven-pence the 
 pound sterling," said Mr, Cobden, in his speech in the House of Com- 
 mons, March 13th, 1852. "What amount do the people pay on articles 
 consumed by them 1 For every 20s. they expend on tea, they pay 10s. 
 of duty; for every 20s, on sugar, they pay 6s.; on coffee, 8s,; on soap, Ts,; 
 on beer, 4s,; on tobacco, 16s.; on spirits, 14s.; on every 208, they expend 
 upon these articles, and other articles in proportion, you cannot but see 
 that this amounts to an income tax, not 7d. the pound, but sometimes of 
 12s., 15s., or 16s, i)er pound ; while men of thousands a year expend their 
 money upon luxuries, with comparatively little tax." It is really wonder- 
 ful how the aristocratic classes have contrived to evade the payment of 
 their due share of the taxation of the country. According to their own 
 Parliamentary Report, the land tax of Great Britian amounts to j£l, 183,- 
 000, which is only one pound in every thirty-three pounds raised by tax- 
 ation in Britain, The taxes are mainly extorted from the working classes, 
 who are the least able to bear the imposition, while the rich both exempt 
 themselves, and spend the taxes so raised in the most riotous, reckless, 
 extravagance. The lapd tax, so far as I can trace, has not been increased 
 since 1688, though other taxes during that period have nearly twenty fold. 
 Yet from the beginning of George the Third's reign to 1834, the aristocracy 
 had seized upon and enclosed not less than 6,840,540 acres of common 
 land, but the taxes were not increased one cent. This is not all, they have 
 enacted laws to exempt the landed and agricultural classes from taxes im- 
 posed on the rest of the community. The landlord laws enact that all shall 
 pay the stamp duties but themselves. The assessed taxes have been re- 
 moved down to the farm-house, and the shepherd's dog. The laws author- 
 ize entail, by which real estates are preserved to a series of heirs, unat- 
 tachable by the claims of creditors. They have S[)ecially exempted lands 
 from the heavy probate and legacy duty, imposed on all other kinds of 
 property descending by inheritance or Will. By these means alone, ac- 
 cording to calculation, they saved themselves the enormous sum of £3,- 
 000,000 annually. I say, for instance, that a poor labouring man, by dint 
 of hard industry and economy, has saved two hundred pounds, which he 
 leaves to a relative at his death. The amount is taxed at the rate of one 
 
81 
 
 es of Ox- 
 le surplice 
 itureships, 
 riage fees, 
 len added 
 5 per year, 
 ish people 
 eed. They 
 icular care 
 merely tax 
 [• command 
 sorts, and 
 b on sugar, 
 ,s, window 
 a-pence the 
 B of Com- 
 on articles 
 y pay 10s. 
 n soap, Ts.; 
 iiey expend 
 ot but see 
 )mctimes of 
 xpend their 
 Uy wonder- 
 laynient of 
 their own 
 to £1,183,- 
 ised by tax- 
 ing classes, 
 th exempt 
 I, reckless, 
 ^1 increased 
 renty fold, 
 aristocracy 
 >f common 
 |, they have 
 taxes im- 
 lat all shall 
 e been re- 
 ws author- 
 leirs, unat- 
 pted lands 
 :r kinds of 
 alone, ac- 
 ini of £3,- 
 an, by dint 
 which he 
 rate of one 
 
 tu ten per cent., according to the nearest of Kin. Buo say that a lord, duke, 
 or earl dies, and leaves an estate of from one to forty thousand pounds a 
 year, not one penny is in this case paid in the shape of tax. They man- 
 aged that the industrious, and all other classes but their own, should pay 
 sweetly for public misrule. To help themselves still further, they have 
 saddled eight hundred and forty-one of their order upon the nation, wnder 
 the lucrative title of State Pensioners, whose pensions average £l,876, 
 total, JC1,&3S,371 per annum, not speaking of the thousands of lower 
 grades of petisianers. I shall conclude this portion of my address to you, 
 ]jy l^riefly informing you of the expenses of the aristooratic fighting estab- 
 lishment of Great Bn>tian, dtu*ing thirty years of peace, (beth military and 
 naval), — £549,083,112 ; average per annum, £16,160,000, including the 
 expenses of putting down the CanadiaH Liberals, aad of the Gpium War 
 in China. (See Lord John Russell's spepch in the House of Commons, 
 on the 18th of July, 1848.) In short, llkladam, if I -^vas to enumerate 
 what 1 know myself of the extravagant expenditure of the British 
 Aristocratic Government, and of the monopolising systems of Great 
 Bpitain, you would be astonished how the producers of all the wealth and 
 splendour you have seen in England could exist at all. The Duke of Wel- 
 lington alone cost the nation £2,762,563, since he entered the army, up to 
 1818. Ko wonder that the magnificent edifices, the sumptuous furnish- 
 ings and embellishments, the beauties of art and nature within and with- 
 out these edifices, and the amiable demeanour of the crafty ladies of Eng- 
 land, have dazzled your eyes, so much so as to throw all republic grandeur, 
 liberty, beauty, and arrangements, completely in the shade of insignifi- 
 cancy. But, Madam, had you made proper enquiry and research, you would 
 have tbuod that all these magnificent superstructures and splendour which 
 rivetted your attention, and brought forth your admiration and superfiuity 
 of praise, were founded on American and West Indian slavery, and East 
 Indian plunder, embellished and supplied by hooje plunder; then you 
 have a fair specimen, rather an ocular demonstration of the sublime and 
 ridiculous — somewhat like what you will find in Spain, Portugal and 
 Italy. There you will find superb mansions, and churches which will sur- 
 pass any you have seen in England, connected with an institution they call 
 The Holy Inquisition. But in the rear and basement, you may find 
 racks, gags, wheels, and other instruments of punishment; helpless, hope 
 less victims going through various ordeals of lingering death, and a char 
 nel house to receive them. Let no one suppose that I include the English 
 people in this black catalogue; no, I respect them, for they are the real 
 victims of unnecessary dignity and grandeur. 
 
 In your perambulation in Scotland, you have seen only one church 
 worthy of your notice, and that same one was faulty, and not one livii g 
 literary, scientific, or theological gentleman met you, even in Edinburgh, 
 (modern Athens) that was worth mentioning his name, but Doctor 
 Guthrie, a Free Church minister, and Doctor Henderson, a homoepathic 
 physician. Of all the letters you found waiting you in Edinburgh, there 
 were only five of them worthy of your notice, viz: "A very kind and 
 beautiful one from the Duchess of Sutherland, another from her brother 
 
82 
 
 the Earl of Carlisle, making an appointment for meeting you ps soon as 
 yoti arrived in London; another from the Rev. Mr. Kingsley and his lady. 
 Letters from Mr. Binney, and Mr. Sherman — all containing invitations to 
 visit them in London." You say, in writing to your dear sister upon this 
 subject, "As to all engagements, I am in a hap[>y state of acquiescence, 
 having resigned myself as a very tame lion into the hands of my keepers. 
 Whenever the time comes for me to do anything, I will try to behave 
 myself as well as I can, — which, as Dr. Young says, is all an angel can do 
 in the same circumstances." Oh, Madam, what presumptive comparisons. 
 Whsm GiOd appoints and commissions men or angels to advocate the cause 
 of the oppressed, and preach deliverance to the captive «,nd slave. The 
 oppressors of the people will not be (nor wei'e not) their admired, bosom 
 friends and only associates; they would not be embarrassed, nor would 
 hearken to the flattering correspondence and invitation of Dukes, Duch- 
 esses, Earls, nor of such as those who accumulated immense wealth and 
 grandeur by grinding down the faces of the poor and industrious ; nor 
 yet would they be coaxed from performing their mission faithfully, by 
 presents of platefulls of glittering gold — long purses, containing unac- 
 counted large amounts of the same precious metal, and boxes of jewelry 
 and diamond bracelets — yes, and costly dresses, not knowing their number. 
 We have an obular demonstration of this in the behaviiour and conduct of 
 men (not speaking of angels), down from Moses to Luther, Calvin and 
 John Knox — men >yho despised that which you admired — who did not 
 hesitate to proclaim the messages they received from their master to the 
 different Pharoah s they had to contend with in the world, and chose ra- 
 ther to associate with the captives — partake of their suffering and afftic- 
 tions, than to share in the festivities, sumptuousness, and luxuries of the 
 oppressors. None who \yill peruse your "Sunny Memories" carefully, but 
 must come to the conclusion, that if ever you received any injunctions 
 from heaven regarding the American slaves, that you have merchandised 
 them. Mr. Gough, the great teetotal advocate and abstainer, hearing of 
 your success, soon followed you to Britain; but what would you think of 
 him yourself, had he made the distillers and brewers of Britain his only 
 bosom associates and co-operators in putting down the vices of intemper- 
 ance in America or anywhere else, which brought thousands, yea, millions 
 of the people to a premature grave, crime, and condign punishment. I 
 say what would you think of him should these gentlemen load him with 
 many thousand sovereigns for praising their mansions, and extensive 
 establishments for manufacturing crime and woe to an extent which would 
 throw the American establishment of the same character into the shade of 
 insignificance; would you yourself consider him worthy the name of a 
 teetotal advocate, or a sympathiser with the victims. I am sorry to say 
 that my view of your movements and manceuvers in Britian, is a fac 
 simile; only this, that you have received many thousand sovereigns (yes, 
 to an unknown amount), for the express purpose and conditions of eman- 
 cipating American slaves. What have you done with these immense 
 suras 1 — not a single dollar of it can be traced to where it was intended 
 and should be found. 
 
8» 
 
 PS soon as 
 ad his lady, 
 vitations to 
 r upon this 
 iquiescence, 
 noy keepers, 
 to behave 
 angel can do 
 omparisons. 
 ,te the cause 
 slave. The 
 lired, bosona 
 [, nor would 
 ukes, Duch- 
 wealth and 
 strious ; nor 
 lithfuUy, by 
 lining unac- 
 is of jewelry 
 heir number, 
 id conduct of 
 , Calvin and 
 who did not 
 nascer to the 
 md chose ra- 
 g and afliic- 
 xuries of the 
 sarefuUy, but 
 injunctions 
 aerchandised 
 sr, hearing of 
 rou think of 
 ain his only 
 of intemper- 
 yea, millions 
 lishment. I 
 ad him with 
 id extensive 
 which would 
 the shade of 
 name of a 
 sorry to say 
 a fac 
 
 ^ (yes. 
 
 ons of eman- 
 jse immense 
 as intended 
 
 lan, IS 
 ftreigns 
 
 1 was present at the great meeting or soiree you had in the Music Hall, 
 Edinburgh, (the seat of learning,) I know that you have been well received 
 there, and almost every body thought you were worthy of it, (I among 
 the rest): a great deal of merited eulogy, and a great deal of what I consider 
 fulsome, blasphemous adulation, were poured out upon you that evening, 
 but all seemed to go down well with you; you were held up by the orators 
 of the evening to the immense assembly as the Angel of Freedom, the 
 Angel of Light, ^c But among the flattering orators there were 
 none worthy of your notice, (as I said before) but Doctor Guthrie ! Why 1 
 because he spoke highly of the Duchess of Sutherland. This pays the 
 Doctor well, for when the Duchess comes to Edinburgh, she attends 
 divine worship in the Doctor's church, the only Free church she ever 
 entered, and she graces the offering plate with two or three sovereigns ; 
 she will call upon the Doctor at his house and take him out for an after- 
 noon's drive in her carriage, and send her compliments to him when in 
 Sutherland (her Highland deer stalking and game preserve estate) in cart 
 loads and hurly loads of deer carcases and fowl. Her daughters, viz : 
 Duchess of Argyle, and Lady Blantyre, will follow the example of their 
 mother, and the Proprietrix of Cromarty, who is married to her son. Mar- 
 quis of Stafford, will not be behind any of them. I assure you the Doctor 
 has fine times of it between them all, and bound to praise them well. 
 
 But the only portion of his speech on this great eventful, and never- 
 to-be-forgotten occasion, which amused you most was, "In allusion to the 
 retorts which had been made in Mrs. Tyler's letter to the ladies of England, 
 on the defects in the old country." You introduced the Doctor to your read- 
 ers of the Sunny Memories as "a tall thin man, with a kind of quaintness in 
 his mode of expressing himself, which sometimes gives an air of drollery 
 to his speaking." (True indeed, but a good man, and a man I admired 
 much, though he befooled himself that night.) " I do not deny," he said 
 "but there are defects in our country, what I say of them is this, — that 
 thoy are incidental very much to an old country like our own, as Dr. 
 Simpson knows very well and so does every medical man, that when a 
 man gets old he gets infirm, his blood vessels get ossified. What is true 
 of an old country is true of old men, and old women too. I am very much 
 disposed to say of this young nation of America, that their teasing with 
 our defects, might just get the answer which a worthy member of the 
 Church of Scotland gave to his son, who was so dissatisfied with the defects 
 in the church, that ho was determined to go over to a younger commu- 
 nion — " Ah Sandy, Sandy, man, when your lum reeks as lang as ours, it 
 will maybe need sweeping too." Now, I do not deny but we need sweep- 
 ing; every one knows that I have been singing out about sweeping for 
 the last five years. Let me tell my good friends in Edinburgh and in the 
 country, that the sooner you sweep the better, for the chimney may catch 
 fire and reduce your noble fabric to ashes. He continued and said, 
 " They tell us in that letter about the poor needle-woman that had to 
 work sixteen hours a day," (but the doctor forgot to say for eight pence 
 per day). Tis true, exclaimed the doctor ; but does our law compel 
 tiiem to work sixteen hours a day ; may they not go where they like and 
 
^'■^^p 
 
 l,i 
 
 I ' 
 
 1 1 
 
 84 
 
 get bstter wa^es, and better work — can tke slaves do that!" Then the 
 doctor went on to detail about ragged children and his own sympathy 
 towards them, and what he had done for them. Now, the doctor was in- 
 vited to this raeetingto speak of the incompatabilty of American slavery with 
 Christianity ; but he knew better how to please his favourable Duchess 
 than to speak consistently to his text — praising English ladies and justi- 
 fying the Duchess of Sutherland from charges brought against her and 
 othenB in the liberal public press of tho nalnon, was his sol« object in 
 speaking tt the meeting. I really felt sorry for the poor misguided "thin 
 tall" doctor, yet I could not allow him to escape with impunity for 
 his reckless, inconsistent and uncalled-for oondnot that night. A few 
 days afterwavcirt, I addressed the following letter to him through the 
 Edinburgh Guardian. You wi^U observe there was some peculiar cause 
 for inviting the doctor to this meeting, and that he was invited at the re- 
 quest of some great personage or another, or he would not be there. He 
 was the only one of that reverend body who was invited, or took any part in 
 the proceedings that night, for this Ckiuse : the meeting was got up by the 
 Anti-Slavery Society, who raised such a hue and cry against the Free Church 
 ministers for years before this, for taking money from the American slave- 
 holders t© build ehurches, and Dr. Guthrie was then the Free Church 
 chamtiion — defending their conduct, who, at every meeting, would pin 
 up his opponents to the wall ; however, the Anties managed to break 
 down the good and friendly feeling between the Free Church body anei 
 the Americans, which I believe, if allowed to continue undisturbed, would 
 have ten times more eti'ect for the emancipation of the slaves, at least of 
 ameliorating thoir condition, than all the agitation, excitement and novels 
 which have been displayed upon the subject. 
 
 To the Editor of the Edinburgh Guardian, 
 
 Sm, — You are already aware that the higher a man's position is in 
 society, and in the estimation of the people, the more dangerous he is 
 when he errs. It is a singular anamoly that the ecclesiastical orators of 
 the platform in our day cannot praise one party enough without calumni- 
 ating other parties. This I deplore, and gentlemen guilty of such prac- 
 tice should be ashamed of themselves, however much they may be ap- 
 plauded, and whatever amount of mei'riment they may create at the time ; 
 it is passing strange that the Rev. Dr. Guthrie could not praise Mrs. 
 IJeecher Stowe enough, a lady who understood so well that she eeukl not 
 serve God in a n>ore acceptable way than to help those who could not 
 help themselres, hence, who merit-ed for herself the gratitude ©f every 
 sympathiser with suflfeiing humanity ; nor yet could he praise God 
 enough, " for (as he saith) giving us in our day (ia the person of that 
 lady) one in whom i\\B finest genius is associated with the purest and trtiest 
 Piety" without attacking the memory of Byron and of Burns, two 
 shining men to wIkxu the world are so much indebted, with a view to de- 
 teriorate their memory in the estimation of his hearers in the Music Hall 
 on the 19tli ultimo. Be ashamed, Doctor, for your hyperbolic assertions ; 
 both these valuable men are dead, but still speaking, and their memory is 
 
Then the 
 sympathy 
 or was in- 
 ,very with 
 ) Duchess 
 and justi- 
 t her and 
 
 object in 
 ded "thin 
 junity for 
 i. A few 
 rough the 
 iliar cause 
 I at the re- 
 here. He 
 iny part in 
 ; up by the 
 rec Church 
 •ican slave- 
 ■ee Church 
 would pin 
 1 to break 
 
 body and 
 bed, wouki 
 
 at least of 
 
 and novels 
 
 Bition is in 
 
 kous he is 
 orators of 
 
 jit calumni- 
 such prac- 
 
 jay be ap- 
 
 the time ; 
 
 ■aise Mrs. 
 
 eeuld not 
 
 could not 
 
 ©f every 
 
 Iraise God 
 )n of that 
 land truest 
 \urns, two 
 liew to de- 
 Lusic Hall 
 Issertious ; 
 nemory is 
 
 !<5 
 
 associated with truth, though not with whining hypocrisy, falsifying pL^ 
 losophy, and perverting truth, a trade wkxr.h pays well iu our dot/, — be. 
 sides, ysu have not been long acquainted with Mrs. B. Stowe yet, and yon 
 should be more cautious and sparing of praise. In like manner, the 
 Doct«r could not praise and make manifest his love to the American peo 
 pie as the greatest and noblest on earth (ourselves excepieJ) for ^eir pure 
 faith, many Bibles, Family Altars, Free I'res$, Flags, and peaceable 
 lib«rty, especially for their soil and air, which, he says, makes extraordi- 
 imry changes on men, though he never was there, and is not sure what 
 change they would make on him if he went, — I say, he could not do all 
 this without putting his religious iron bull upon the neck of unfortunate 
 people (whose position in life is not their crime, but th^ir misfortune), 
 witl) a view to sink theut lower in the estimation of the world than even 
 Highland and Irish tyrannical landlords and their tools placed them. 
 "Take (said the humane Doctor) an Indolent Celt, let him go to Ame- 
 rica, he becomes active, — take a wild Irishman, he becomes civiliaed. — 
 a V*liiid bigoted Papist, his eyes are opened, and he turns his back on 
 Rome. These are facte extraordinary ; we pour with many good elements 
 a singular amount of impurity across the Atlantic, but America does not 
 oast it off, it mergas, changes, and reforms it like the sea that receives 
 many muddy rivers, but keeps it own bosom clean." Now, Sir, the 
 Doctor was requested to speak at this meeting to the incompatibility ot 
 American Slavery with CSiristianity, and I tell him that all this unfoun- 
 ded foulsome calumny which he poured out against Hifrliland and Irish 
 Celts, is as incompatible with Christianity as is falsehood wit^ truth, *nd 
 as Aittfrican Slavery is with Christianity ; and i^ould it be true, it is un- 
 called for, and out of art er, and that it would be more like a minister 
 and expounder of the gospel of truth, if he had said, — take the poor op- 
 pressed troddea down Highland Celts who have been ejected from every 
 ^lOrtioB of their fatherland, created by God susceptible to rear food for 
 man, and who were cast upon sterile moors and barren by-corners, to whom 
 every inducement or encourngement for activity and industry in their na- ' 
 tive land was sternly d^iied, — let them go to America, where such are 
 cheerfwUy held out to them, and they will soon become active trustworthy 
 mombers •f society, respected, prosper like other men, and bely their lay 
 and clerical calumniators. He should continue, and say, — take the poor 
 Irish, who oould not submit sa tamely to oppression, who were often 
 driven to niadnes by legalised plunderers, — let them go to America, 
 where they are not subject to such ungodly exactions and persecution as 
 in Ireland, and they will soon become as civil, as peaceable, as honest, as 
 easily dealt with, and as industrious as other men (independent of the 
 miraeulous efficacy of the soil and air). But the Doctor aays their eyes 
 are opened, and they turn their bask on Roue, — that is to say, on their 
 father's religion. I much doubt this applauded assertion. No, Doctor, 
 b^ijb their eyes are open, and they turn their backs on the insatiable Eras- 
 tisn Church of England in Ireland, and see themselves out of the reach 
 of her cruel Tithe and Tax Collectors, aud/«r/ar away from her Ratk- 
 coimack sabre amd batten abettors, where they are not annoyea day and 
 
 4! 
 
8ff 
 
 night by her licensed emissaries of discord, wlio have for ceiturios kept 
 them and brother Protestants in each other's throats abouo religion, and 
 they now find themselves living among people worthy of the name, where 
 every man may believe what he pleases, worship as he pleases; where, if 
 he is a good citizen, none will dispute his right, where every man pays 
 priest or parson, as he pays his tailor and shoemaker, where they can live 
 in harmony among Protestants, Jews, Greeks, Mohammedanc<, bh*kkero, 
 Jumpers, Latter-Day Saints, «fec., and where churches of all denominations 
 are as free as th© Doctor's and mine are. This would be more like Doctor 
 Guthrie, for it is the only cause which he or any one else can assign for 
 the indolent Celt becoming active, and the wild Irishman becoming civil- 
 ized, and not the mysterious efficacy of the American soil and air. — 
 Where, Doctor, under heaven, will you find better soil and air than in Ire- 
 land and the Highlands of Scotland. The doctor would have us to believe 
 that he would fight for the American Slaves if he would see any of them 
 set up for sale — (not so fast, Doctor); — but, strange to tell, that he is 
 aware that a Highland landlord, a very few years ago, employed consta- 
 bles, policemen and other minions, to apprehend a great number of High- 
 landers among the rocks and hills, where they fled for safety, to handcuff 
 them, and force them on board an old rotten ship which he hired to 
 carry them away from the land of their birth, and should be aware that 
 the majority of this people perished, houseless, homeless, among snow and 
 frost on the frozen soil, and among the biting air of North America. I 
 never heard that the Doctor found fault with him for this, far less fight 
 with him, although he had only to step over from his own house, with a 
 good cudgel, to St Andrew's Square, to meet him; but these were High- 
 landers, and had no claim on the Doctor's sympathy or interposition; yet, 
 there is no doubt the Doctor will fight, but the Atlantic must be between 
 him and the adversary ; he will fight none at home. The slave and pauper 
 makers in Ireland and Scotland, yea, those who dispersed the brave sons 
 of the mountains and valleys of Caledonia, and of Green Erin, to the 
 four winds of heaven, the Doctor will stroke their honourable heads, and 
 clap them gently, exclaiming, you ai'e the blessed, graceful humane ones 
 who are purging our nation from the impure Irish and Scottish Celts, may 
 you be spared to see the consummation of your desire. Hearken to his 
 sorrow for the pitiless storin of unmerited abuse which was poured on the 
 head of a certain noble lady of the Stafford-House meeting, viz: Duchess 
 of Sutherland, and he cries aloud, shame to them who did it. And who 
 would confound the incidental defects of this country, which, he says, 
 are becoming so old and infirm, that her blood-vessels are otsified with the 
 deep-stained sins of America. Dear me, Doctor, I thought a little ago 
 that the Americans were most pious; what has become of ^he\r pure faith, 
 Bibles, and Family A liars ? Be that as it may, I am neither ashamed 
 nor afraid to tell you. Doctor, in the face, that if the number could be 
 computed and compared, that Highland and Irish landlords sent more 
 umau beings to a premature grave, and caused a greater amount of 
 ing and grief than ever the slave lords of America did since America 
 ame a Republic, and that if it was not for America, they would triple 
 
rniof^. 
 
 87 
 
 the number. Now, hearken to the Doctor's sympatb with the poor 
 needle woman. He exultingly bawls out at this meeting, — but does our 
 law compel them to work 16 hours a-day. True, Oh, Doctor ! it does not 
 l)ut the law of natu»e does, for they would rather do it than starve, and 
 there is no other alternative ; but does that lessen their pain ] The Doc- 
 tor says — can they not go elsewhere and get better wages? — miscalled 
 humanity — how far can penniless, helpless, and unprotected women go 
 in search of work, or of better wages ] and where would they go. Doctor] 
 The Doctor says that liberty speaks no tongue but Saxon, and only found 
 among Saxon people. What has become of the 'Tongues of Hungarian, 
 Italian, and Polish patriots 1 Oh, Doctor, Doctor, you are away with it 
 now, but with all your fawning and pandering in quest of Aristocratic; 
 adulation and honour, the Saxons themselves can scarcely believe you. 
 At present I will leave you by merely advising you not to go to America, 
 especialljjr in an impaired state of health, for fear you may lose your no- 
 tion of Rags and Soup-Kitchens among the slaves and slave lords of 
 America, and on the Queen's first visit to Edinbuigh, decline to be crea- 
 ted Bishop_ of the Bagged Schools of Scotland, for you really merit the 
 honour. While T join with you in your quotation from the Poet, viz. ~ 
 
 We but ask our rocky strand, 
 Freedom's true and brother band — 
 Freedom's strong and honest hand ; 
 Valleys by the slave untrod, 
 And the pilgrim's mountain sod, 
 Blessed by our Father's God. 
 
 I pray that their numbers may be few, who^will be so unfortunate as to 
 come within the bounds of of the Doctor's sympathy. Yours, &c, 
 
 , DONALD McLEOD. 
 
 Doctor Guthrie did err in some expressions he made use of at that 
 meeting, and he erred more so in going to the meeting at all, yet I love 
 him and respect him as a Christian minister and sympathiser with suffer- 
 ins; humanity. You would have left him unmentioned as you left the 
 other orators, were it not for his praise of Duchesses and English ladies, 
 and his sarcasm and retorts upon Mrs. Tyler, and you only held his name 
 up for his quaintness and drollery, fearing to offend the English ladies by 
 letting them know that there was any talent in Scotland ; but 1 tell you that 
 it would take all the bishops in England to compose and deliver an address or 
 speech any thing equal to the other more sublime portions of his speech 
 that night. But I will leave the worthy Kev. Doctor ; he caught grief 
 enougn from his own brethren in the church, and from other quarters, for 
 being at the meeting, and it is a great pity he was there. And I ask you 
 what has becom.e of this money, and what have you done with it — not 
 with this £1,000, but with the many thousands you have got in Scotland 
 and England. Here is the express conditions upon which you got it, from 
 the mouth of Mr. Ballantine, Secretary for the anti-Slavery Society, after 
 detailing the progress of the penny offering at this meeting, he says : — "It 
 was accordingly proposed to appeal to the readers of Uncle Tom's Cliblii in 
 
88 
 
 m 
 
 i.iWi 
 
 Scotland to contribute one penny oach to create a fund to be placed in the 
 handfi of Mrg. Stowe to be distributed by her for the benefit of the slave, and 
 for the cause of emancipation. That appeal was made, and it has been 
 promptly and eordially responded to. The result of*that appeal is now 
 before you — (cheers). I easnot state precis«ly what amount of money 
 has been collected, as sums are still daily coming in, but up to this hour 
 it presents itself in the form of 1000 sovereigns " — (loud cheering.) I 
 have all their speeches here before me, and in case my raaders may think 
 that I am exaggerating the adulation of Mrs. Stowe in Edinburgh, you 
 have a verse here, which, along with other seven verses of the compositi'^n, 
 was sung before her by oae of the speakers : — 
 
 Freedom's angel new's come, 
 Mercy's sister now's come : 
 Grim opprtssion drees his doom : 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe's come. 
 
 Would you meet such a reception in Scotland now 1 No. You have 
 let the veil of deception drop unawares. Now you will excuse me. Madam, 
 for directing your attention to chapter 1 7 of your Sunny Memories, where 
 you have attacked me individually, though clandestinely, in order to 
 justify the House and Duchess of Sutherland from the chai-ges brought 
 against them in the American prints. You say — "My Dear C. — As to 
 the ridiculous^stones about the Duchess of Sutherland, which found their 
 way into many of the American prints, one has only to be here moving in 
 society to see how excessively absurd they are. In all these circles I have 
 heard the great and neble of the land spoken of and canvassed, and it 
 there had been the shadow of a foundation for any such accusation, I cer- 
 tainly should have heard it recognised in some manner. As I have before 
 intimated, the Howard family, to which the Duchess belongs, is one which 
 has always been on the side of popular rights and popular reform. Lord 
 Carlisle, her brother, has been a leader of the people during the time of 
 the Corn Law reformation, and she has been known to take a wide and 
 generous interest in all tJiese subjects," Heavens ! by whom was she 
 known to be so, Madam, — you have discovered mysteries that were never 
 known before, none under heaven heard it before. 
 
 " Go ! if your ancient but i^oble blood, 
 
 Has orept throaah scoundrels ever since the flood — 
 
 Ge ! and pretend your family is young ; 
 
 Nor own your fathers have been tools so long. 
 
 What can enneble sots, or slaves, or Qowards ; * 
 
 Not all the blood of all the Howards."— Pope. 
 
 You say, " Imagine, then, what people must think when they find iu 
 respectable Amerioeui prints the absurd stories of her turning her tenants 
 out into the snow, and ordering the cottages to be set on fire over their 
 heads, because they would not go out." '* But, if you ask how such an 
 absurd story could ever have been made up, whether there is the least 
 foundation to make it on, I answer that it is the exaggerated report of a 
 
89 
 
 i^ere never 
 
 movement made by the present duke of Sutherland's father, in the year 
 181 1, and which was a part of a great movement that passed through the 
 Highlands uf Scotland, when the advancing progress of civilization be^an 
 to make it necessary to change the estates from nulitary to agricultural es- 
 tablishments." You go on then detailing the results of the union of Eng- 
 land and Scotland, the situation of the Sutherland estate in the map of 
 the Highlands. You say, " The general agent of the estate of Sutherland 
 is Mr. Loch." You are right, he was, and you provided a place for his 
 whole speech before the House of Commons, on the second reading of the 
 Scotch Poor Law Bill, June 12th, 1845, where he strenuously endeavoured 
 to vindicate and exonerate himself and His Grace of Sutherland from the 
 charges of cruelly and injustice to the people, brought against them m 
 that House on that occasion by Mr. Crawford. No wonder that he ex- 
 erted himself tihat day to silence his opponents, and to dupe the House. 
 He was 21 years a member in the House for the Northern Boroughs, and 
 this is the enly speech of his which found its way to the public prints, or 
 considered worthy of being borrowed or copied by any other print. (The 
 honour of it was left for you alone Madam.) If I am not mistaken the 
 very day this speech was delivered in the House of Commons, the case of 
 a poor cripple woman, from the parish of Farr, Sutherlandshire, was de- 
 cided against His Grace, in the Court of Session, Edinburgh, and I had 
 71 more cases from his estate at the same time, in the hands of a solicitor, 
 til pursuing his Grace for the support the law of the land provided for 
 ihem, but denied them. Yet I find in your quotations from Mr. Loch's 
 ipeech, this — " Therefore the statements that have been made, so far from 
 being correct, are in every way an exaggeration of what is the fact. No 
 portion of the kingdom has advanced in prosperity so much ; and if the 
 honourable member, Mr. S. Crawford, will go down there, I will give him 
 every facility to see the state of the people, and he shall judge with his 
 own eyes whether my representation be not correct ^ ^^^ :^ But I will 
 not trouble the House ^ ^j. ^ the statements I have made are accu- 
 rate, and I am quite ready to prove them, any way that is necessary." To 
 follow this trumpeted up sjHiech of Mr. Loch in your " Sunny Memories," 
 would be lost time, and abuse of ink, paper, and type. Every Highlander 
 over which he had any control, or had the least transaction with him, 
 experimentally knew him to be the greatest deceiver, and the most avowed 
 enemy of the Celtic race that ever existed ; hence I will confine myself to 
 a few remarks which will be corroborated by hundreds of living witnesses. 
 " In the years 1812-13 and 1816-17, so great was their misery, that it was 
 necessary to send down oatmeal for their supply, to the amount of £2,200, 
 and that given to them." (The phrase given signifies gratis.) I know 
 meal was sent these years to the amount of nearly one third of the stated 
 amount ; but I know for a certainty that the people had to pay this tram- 
 peted-up charity at the rate of £2 8s. sterling per boll. I knew my own 
 father to pay it with cattle, and on the least calculation he handed over to. 
 his Grace, or his factor, eight pounds of good Highland beef for every 
 pound of course oatmeal he received three months prior; and so did every 
 one, who paid for that meal in kind. His Grace's libei ality to kirk ses- 
 
90 
 
 
 sions, and the poor viz. '• £450-a-year ; " to say the least, this is monstrous 
 exaggeration. He says, "before 1812 there were no bakers, and only two 
 shops in the county, and two blacksmiths." Now Madam, I can tell you, 
 (and hundreds will back rae) that before 1812 there were thousandis of 
 bakers in Sutherlandshire, and had plenty to bake, and that for tiuie im- 
 memorial prior to that date, they never needed charity or supply of oat- 
 meal from their chiefs or any one else. Prior to 1812, and as long as T 
 can remember, there were 26 shops in the county, and 31 blacksmiths. 
 There was scarcely a parish in the county but there were two blacksmiths 
 employed. The Sutherland people never knew what want was, until they 
 became subjected to Loch's iron sway. You go on and say, " What led 
 me more particularly to inquire into these facts was, that I received by mail 
 while in London, an account containing some of these stories which had 
 been so industriously circulated in America: these were dreadful accounts 
 of cruelties practised, in the process of inducing the tenants to change 
 their places of residences." The following is a specimen of these stories : 
 
 " I was present at the pulling down and burning of the house of Wil- 
 liam Chisholm, Badinloskin, in which was lying his wife's mother, an old 
 bedridden woman, of near one hundred years of age, none of the family 
 being at home. I informed the party about to set lire to the house of the 
 circumstance, and prevailed on them to stop till Mr, Sellar would come; on 
 his arrival, T told him of the poor old woman being in a condition unfit for 
 
 removal. He replied, ' D n her, she has lived too long, lit her burn.' 
 
 Fire was immediately set to the house, and the blankets in which she was 
 carried were in flames before she could be got out. She was placed in a 
 little shed, and it was with great difliculty they were prevented from firing 
 that also. The old woman's daughter arrived while the house was on fire, 
 and assisted the neighbours in removing her out of the flames and smoke, 
 presenting a picture of horror which I shall never forget, but cannot at- 
 Ij-'mpt to describe : she died in five days." 
 
 '•With regard to this story, Mr. Loch the agent says, 'I must notice the 
 • only thing like a fact stated in the newspaper extract which you sent me, 
 wherein Mr. Sellar is accused of acts of cruelty toward some of the people. 
 This Mr. Sellar tested by bringing an action against the then sherifl[-sub- 
 stitute of the county. He obtained a verdict for heavy damages. The sher- 
 iffj by whom the slander was pi'opagated, left the county. Both are since 
 dead," 
 
 Having, through Lord Shaftesbury's kindness, received the benefit of 
 Mr. Loch's corrections to this statement, I am permitted to make a little 
 further extract from his reply. He says — 
 
 "In addition to what I was able to say in my former paper, I can now 
 state that the Duke of Sutherland has received from one of the most deter- 
 mined opposers of the measure, who travelled to the north of Scotland as 
 editor of a n«wspaper, a letter regretting all he had written on the subject, 
 being convinced that he was entirely misinformed. As you take so much 
 interest in the subject, 1 will conclude by saying that nothing could exceed 
 the prosperity of the county during the past year; their stock, si eep, and 
 
n 
 
 91 
 
 other thingssold at high prices jthoir crops of grain and t'lrnijis were never 
 60 good, and the potatoes were free from all disease : ren's have been paid 
 better than was ever known .... As an instance of tb ■ irapi'oved hnbi s 
 of the farmers, no house is now built for them that tb jy do not require a 
 hot-bath and water-closets." 
 
 From this long epitome you can gather the following results: first, if th» 
 system was a bad one, the Duchess of Sutherland had nothing to do wit' 
 it, since it was first introduced in 1806, the same year her grace was born; 
 and the accusation against Mr. Sellar dates in 1811, when her griice wa: 
 five or six years old. The Sutherland arrangements were completed in 1 8 1 9 , 
 and her Grace was not married to the duke till 1823, so that, had the ar- 
 '■angement been the worst in the world, it is nothing to the purpose so far 
 as she is concerned. 
 
 As to whether the arrangement is a bad one, the facts which have beoii 
 stated speak for themselves. To my view, it is an almost sublime instaiioB 
 of the benevolent employment of superior wealth and power in shortenin^j 
 the Struggles of advancing civilization, and elevating in a few years a whob 
 community to a point of education and material prosperity which,* unas- 
 sisted, they might never have obtained." 
 
 Yes, Madam, a "sublime instance," you say, "of the benevolent em- 
 ployment of superior wealth and power in shortening the struggles o- 
 advancing civilization." I say yes, indeed, the shortest process of civil- 
 ization we have recorded in the history of nations. {Oh marvellous ! ) 
 From the year 1812 to 1820, the whole interior of the county of Suther- 
 land, whose inhabitants were advancing rapidly in the science of agricul- 
 ture and education, who by nature and exemplary training were the bravest, 
 the most moral, and patriotic people that over existed, — even admitting a 
 few of them did violate the excise laws, (the only sin which Mr. Loch and 
 all the rest of their avowed enemies could bring against them,) — where a 
 body of men could be raised on the shortest possible notice, that kings and 
 empeiors might and would be proud of; and the whole fertile valleys, and 
 straths which gave them birth, were in due season waving with corn ; 
 their mountains and hill sides studded with sheep and cattle; when r »- 
 joicing, felicity, happiness, and true piety prevailed; where the marshal 
 notes of the bagpipes sojinded and reverberated from mountain to glen, from 
 glen to mountain: I say marvillo^rj ! in eight years converted to a solitary 
 wilderness, where the voice of man praising God is not to be heard, nor 
 the image of God upon man not to be seen ; where you can set a compass 
 with twenty miles of a radius upon it, and go round with it full stretchet 
 and not find one acre of land within the circumference, which came under 
 the plough for the last thirty years, except a few in the parishes of Lairg 
 and Tongue, — all under mute brute animals. This is the advancement of 
 civilization, is it not Madam ] Return 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 be convinced that I never published, 
 nor circulated in the American, English, or Scotch public prints any 
 ridiculous absurd stories about her gvace of Sutherland. An abridgement 
 ©f my lucubrations are now in the hands of the public, and you may per- 
 
92 
 
 (1 
 
 111: I 
 
 111 
 
 une them. I stand by them as facte, (stubborn cheils,) I can prove them 
 to be so even in tlus county, by a cloud o£ living witnesses, an I my read- 
 erg will find that, instead of bringing excessive absurd accusations against 
 her Grace, that I have endeavoured, in some instances, to scre^^n her and 
 her predecessors from the public odium their own policy, and the doings 
 of their servants, merited. Moreover, there is thirty years sinie I begap 
 to ex])03tulate with the house of Sutherland for their shortsighted policy 
 in dealing with their people as they were doing, and it is twenty years 
 since I began to expose them publicly, with my real plain name, Donald 
 M'Leod attached to each letter, and a copy of the pubkc paper where it 
 appeared, directed and sent by post to the Dulce of Sutherland. These 
 exposing and renonsttating letters were puoUslied in the Edinburgh papers 
 whero the Dnke and his predecessors had their principal Scotch law a<;ent, 
 and you nay easily believe that I was closely watched, so as to find one 
 false accusation in my letters, but they were baffled. I am well aware that 
 every one letter I have written on the subject would constitute a tru» lih»l, 
 and I knew the editors, printers, and publishers of these papers were as 
 liable or responsible for true libel as I was. Cut the House of Sutherland 
 could never venture to raise an action of damages against either of us. In 
 1841, when I pubWshed my first pamphlet. I paid $4 50, for binding one 
 of them in splendid style, which I sent by mail to Ihs grace the pr^.sent 
 iDukc of Sutherland with a complimentary note, requesting kim to peruse 
 it, and let me know if it contained anything offensive er untrue. I never 
 i-eceived a reply, nor did I expect it, yet I am satisfied t^at his grace |*er 
 used it. I posted a copy of it to Mr. Looh, his chief comtaissiener; to 
 Mr. W. Mackenzie, his chief lawyer. Edinburgh; and to every one ot 
 their underlin(]!S, and sheep farmers, and minisbera in the county of Suth- 
 erland who abbbtted the depopB.lAtor.s, and I challenge the whole o: them 
 and other literary scourges who aided and justified their unhallowed doings, 
 to gainsay one statement I have made. Can you, or any other belitjve, 
 that a pour sinnsr Uke Donald M'Leod would be allowed for so many years 
 bo escape with impunity, had he been circulating and publishing calum- 
 nious absnrd falseheods against suoh personages as the House of Sutber 
 land. No, I tell you, if money could secure my punishment, without es- 
 tablishing their own shame and guilt, that it would be considered well 
 spent long ere now, — they would eat me in penny pies if they could get 
 me cooked for them. 
 
 I agree with you that t^e Duchess of Sutherland is a beauti^l accom- 
 plished la(fy, who wovld shudder at the idea of taking a faggot or a burn- 
 ing torch in her hand, to set fire to the cottages of her tenants, and so 
 would her predecessor, the first Duchess of Sutherland, her good mother; 
 likewise would tSie late and present Dukos of Sutherland, at least I am 
 willing to believe that they would. Yet it was done in thuur naaie, unaer 
 their authority, to their knowledge, and with their sanetien. The Dukes 
 and Duchesses of Suth^land, and those of their depopulating order, had 
 not, nor has any call to defile their pure hands in milder work than to burn 
 people's houses; no, n«, they had, and have plenty of willing t«o!s at 
 their beck to perform their dirty work. Whatever amount of hamanity 
 
 ii^liik 
 
93 
 
 and purity of heai't the late or the present duke and duchess may posses 
 or lie asui'ibed to them, we know the class of men from whom they selected 
 their commisBionevs, factors and underlings. I knew every one of these 
 wicked servants who ruled the Sutherland estate for the last fifty years, 
 and I am justified in saying that the most skilful phrenologist and physi 
 ognoraist that ever existed could not discern one spark of humanity in the 
 whole of them, from Mr. Loch down to Donald Sgiios, or in other words, 
 damnable Donald, the name by which he was known. The most part of 
 those vile executors of the atrocities I have been describrng are now dead, 
 and to be feared but not lamented. But it seems the chief were left to 
 give you all the information yeu required about British slavery and oppres 
 sion. I have read from speeches delivered by Mr. Loch at public dinners 
 among his own party, " that he would never be satisfied until the Gaelic 
 language and the Gaelic people would be extirpated root and branch from 
 the Sutherland estate; yes, frojn the highlands of Scotland." He published 
 a book, where he stated as-a positive fact, that "when he got the manage- 
 ment of the Sutherland estate, that he found 408 families on the estate 
 who never heard the name of Jesus," — whereas I could make an oath that 
 there M'ere not at that time, and for ages prior to it, above two families 
 within the limits of the county who did wot worship that name, and holy 
 Being every mopaing and evening. I know there are hundreds in the 
 Canadas who w^ill bear me out in this assertion. I was at the pulling 
 down and burning of tiie house of William Chi.sholm, I got my hands 
 burnt taking out the poor old woman from amidst the flames of her once 
 comfortable though humble dwelling, and a more hoi-rifyingand lamenta- 
 ble scene could scarcely be witnessed. I may say the skeleton of once a 
 tall, robust high-cheek-boned respectable woman, who had seen better days, 
 who could neither hear, see, nor speak, without a tooth in her mouth, hev 
 cheek skin meeting in the centre, her eyes sunk out of sight in theii- 
 sockets, her mouth wide open, her nose st:uiding upright among smoke 
 and flames, utterirng piercing moans of distress and agony, in articulations 
 from which could be only understood. Oh, Dhia, Dliia, teui'/, tein! — oh God, 
 God, fire, fire! When she came to the pure air her bosom heaved to 
 a most extraordinary degree, accompanied by a deep hollow sound from 
 the lungs, comparable to the sound of thunder at a distance. When laid 
 down upon the bare, soft, moss floor of the roofhiss shed, I will never 
 forget the foam of perspimtion which emitted and covered the jjallid death- 
 looking countenance. This was a scene. Madam, worthy of an artist's 
 pencil, and of a conspicuous place on the stages of tragedy. Yet you call 
 this a specimen of the ridiculous stories which found their way into 
 respectable prints, because Mr. Loch, the chief actor, told you that Sellni', 
 the head executive, brought an action against the sheriff and obtained a 
 verdict for heavy damages. What a subterfuge ; but it will not answer 
 the purpose, ''</ie bed is too short to stretch yourself, and the covering too 
 narrow coid short to cover you." If you took your information and 
 evidence upon which you founded your Uncle Tom's cabin from such dis- 
 creditable sources, (as I said befbre), who can believe the one-tenth of 
 your novel 1 / cannot. I have at my hand here the grand-child of th*^ 
 
94 
 
 murdered old woman, who recollects well of the circumstance, I have not 
 far from me a respectable man, an elder in the Free Church, who was 
 examined as a witness "^ Sellar's trial, at the spring assizes of Inverness, 
 1816, which you will find narrated in letters four and five of my work. 
 I think. Madam, had you the opportunity of seeing the scenes which I, 
 and hundreds more, have seen, and see the ferocious appearance of the 
 infamous gang, who constituted the burning party, covered over face 
 and hands with soot and ashes of the burning houses, cemented by 
 torch grease and their own sweat, kept continually drunk or half drunk, 
 while at work ; and to observe the hellish amusements some of them 
 would get up for themselves and for an additional pleasure to their leaders. 
 The peo])le's houses were generally built upon declivities, and in many 
 cases not far from pretty steep precipices, they preserved their meal 
 in tight made boxes, or chests, as they were called ; 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 ; 
 this was considered grand sport to see the box breaking to atoms and the 
 meal mixed with the air. When they would set fire to a house, they 
 would watch any of the domestic animals making their escape from the 
 flames, such as dogs, cats, hens or any poultry, these were caught and 
 thrown back to the flames ; grand sport for demons in human form. 
 I assure you the Dukes and Duchesses of Sutherland had no need to try 
 their hand at burning houses while James Lo«h, William Young, Patrick 
 Sellar, Francis Suther, John Horseburgh, Captain Kenneth M'Kay, and 
 Angus Leslie were alive, nor while George Loch, George Gunn, and Robt. 
 Horseburgh, (fee, are ah ve. Mr. Seller (as I' said before) was brought to 
 trial for culpable homicide and tire-raising ; and those dog, cat, and hen 
 murderers who acted under him and took act and part with him were the 
 exculpatory witnesses, who saved his neck from a sudden jerk, or himself 
 from teasing oakum in the hulks for many years. As to this vaunted letter 
 his " Grace received from one of the most determined opposers of the 
 measures, who travelled in the north of Scotland as editor of a newspaper 
 regretting all that he had written on the subject, being convinced that ho 
 was misinformed." I may tell you. Madam, that this man did not travel 
 to the north, or in the north of Scotland as editor ; his name was Thomas 
 Mullock, he came to Scotland a fanatic speculator in literature in search of 
 money, or a lucrative situation, vainly thinking that he would be a dicta- 
 tor to every editor in Scotland, he first attacked the inmiortal Hugh Miller 
 of the Witness, Edinburgh, but in him he met more than his match. He 
 then went to the north, got hold of my first pamphlet, and by setting it 
 up in a literary style, and in better English than I did, he made a 
 , 'plendid and promising appearance in the northern papers for some time, 
 but he found out that the money expected was not coming in, and he 
 found that the hotels, head inns, and taverns, would not keep him up any 
 longer without the prospect of being paid for the pastor for the future. I 
 found out that he was hard up, and a few of the highlanders in Edinburgh 
 and myself, sent him from twenty to thirty pounds sterling. When he 
 saw that that was all he wa« to get, he at once turned tail upon us, and 
 
 m 
 
I have not 
 
 who was 
 
 Inverness, 
 
 my work. 
 
 I which I, 
 
 ice of the 
 
 over face 
 
 lented by 
 
 talf drunk, 
 
 i of them 
 
 eir leaders. 
 
 [ in many 
 
 iheir meal 
 
 is fiendish 
 
 n them to 
 
 md yells ; 
 
 ms and the 
 
 oiise, they 
 
 5 from the 
 
 aught and 
 
 man form. 
 
 leed to try 
 
 ^g, Patrick 
 
 ['Kay, and 
 
 and Robt. 
 
 jrought to 
 
 and hen 
 
 were the 
 
 or himself 
 
 nted letter 
 
 ers of the 
 
 newspaper 
 
 3d that ho 
 
 not travel 
 
 IS Thomas 
 
 search of 
 
 be a dicta- 
 
 igh Miller 
 
 atch. He 
 
 setting it 
 
 made a 
 
 ome time, 
 
 and he 
 
 m up any 
 
 future. I 
 
 Idinburgh 
 
 When he 
 
 n us, and 
 
 >'-i\ 
 
 n 
 
 95 
 
 instead of expressing his gratitude, he abused us unsparingly, and 
 regretted that ever he wrote in behalf of such a hungry, moneyless class. 
 He smelled (like others we suspect) where the gold was hoarded up for 
 hypocrites, and flatterers, and that one ajjologizing letter to his grace would 
 be worth ten times as much as he could expect from the highlanders all 
 his lifetime, and I doubt not but it was, for his apology for the sin of mis- 
 informatrion got wide circulation. 
 
 He then went to France and started an English paper in Paris, and for 
 the service he rendered Napoleon in crushing republicanism during the 
 besieging of Rome, &c., the Emperor presented him with a Gold Pin, 
 and in a few days afterwards sent a Gendaime to Mullock with a brief 
 notice that his service was not any longer required, and a warning to quit 
 France in a few days, which he had to do. What became of him after I 
 know not, but very likely he is dictating to young Loch, or some other 
 Metternich. 
 
 No feelings of hostile virdictiveness, no desire to inflict chastisement, 
 no desire to make riches, 'nfluencecl my mind, pourtraying the scenes of 
 havoc and misery which in those past days darkened the annals of Suther- 
 hind, I write in my own humble style with higher aims, wishing to prepare 
 the way for demonstrating to the Dukes of Sutherland, and all other High- 
 land proprietors, great and small, that the path of selfish aggrandisement 
 and oppression, leads by sure and inevitable results, yea to the ruin and 
 d'estruction of the blind and misguided oppressors themselves. I consider 
 the Duke himself victimised on a large scale by an incurably wrong system 
 and by being enthralled by wicked counsellors, and servants, I have no 
 hesitation in saying, had his Grace and his predecessors, bestowed one 
 half of the encouragement they had bestowed upon strangers, upon the 
 aborigines, a hardy, healthy, abstemious people, who lived peaceably in 
 their primative habitations, unaflected with the vices of a subtle civiliza- 
 tion, possessing little, but enjoying much ; a race devoted to their heredi- 
 tary chief, ready to abide by his counsels, a race proii table in peace, and 
 loyal available in war; I say his Grace, the present Duke of Sutherland, 
 and his beautiful Duchess, would be without compeers in the British 
 dominions their rents at least doubled, would be as secure from invasion 
 and annoyance in Dunrobin Castle as Queen Victoria could, or can be, in 
 ner Highland residence, Balmoral, and far safer than she is in lier 
 English home, Buckingham Palace ; every man and son of Sutherland would 
 be ready, as in the days of yore, to shed the last drop of blood in defence 
 of their patron, if required. Congratulations, rejoicings, dancing to the 
 marshal notes of the pipes, would meet them at the entrance to every 
 Glen and Strath in Sutherlandshire, accompanied, surrounded, and 
 greeted as they proceeded, by the most grateful,' devotedly attached, 
 happy, and bravest peasantry, that ever existed; yes, but alas! where 
 there is nothing now but desolation and the cries of famine and want to 
 meet the noble pair, the ruins of once comfortable dwellings, will be seen 
 the land marks of the furrows and ridges which yielded food to thousands, 
 the footprints of the arch enemy of human happiness, and ravager before, 
 after, and on each side, solitude, stillness, and quiet of the grave, disturbed 
 
96 
 
 
 only at intervals by the yells of a shepherd, or fox-hunter, and the bark of a 
 collie dog. Surely we must admit the Marquises and Dukes of the house of 
 Sutherland have been duped, and victimized to a most extraordinary and in- 
 creditable extent, and we have Mr. Loch's own words for it in his speech in 
 the House of Commons, June 21st, 1845, "I can sfcate, as from facts, that 
 from 1811 to 1883, not one sixpence of rent has been received from that 
 county; but on the contrary, there has been sent there for the benefit and 
 improvement of the people, a sum exceeding sixty thousand pounds, ster- 
 ling." Now think you of this immense wealth which has been expended, I 
 am not certain, but 1 think the rental of the county would exceed £60,000 
 a year, you have then from 1811 to 1833, twenty -two years, leaving them 
 at the above figures, and the sum total will amount to j£ 1,320,000 expen- 
 ded upon the self styled Sutherland improvements, add to this £60,000 
 sent down to preserve the lives of the victims of those improvements from 
 death by famine, and the sum total will turn out in the shape of £1,380,- 
 000 ; it surely coso the hea<ls of the house of Sutherland an immense sum 
 of money to convert the county into the state I have described it, in a 
 former part of this work, (and I challenge contradiction), I say the ex- 
 pelling of the people from their Glens and Straths, and huddling them in 
 motely groups on the sea-shores, and barren mo.ors, and to keep them alive 
 there, and to make them willing to be banished from the nation, when they 
 thought proper, or when they could get a haul of, the public money, to paj 
 their passage to America or Australia, cost them a greal deal. This 
 fabulous incredible munificence of their Graces to the people, I will leave 
 the explanation of what it was, how it was distributed, and the manner in 
 which payment and refunding of the wholeur it was exacted off the people, 
 to my former description of it in this work ; yet I am willing to admit 
 that a very small portion, if any, of the refunding of the amount sent 
 down, ever reach the Duke's or the Marquis's coflfers, which is easily 
 understood by not granting receipts for it. Whatever particle of good 
 the present Duke might feel inclined to do, will be ever frustrated by th 
 counteracting energy of a prominent evil principle; I knew the adopting 
 and operations of the Loch policy towards the Sutherland peasantry, cos 
 the present Duke and his father many thousands of pounds, and, I pre- 
 dict, will continue to cost them on a large scale while a Loch is at the 
 head of their affairs, and principal adviser. Besides how may they 
 endanger what is far more valuable than gold and silver ; for those who 
 are advised by men who never sought counsel or advice from God, all 
 their lifetime, as their work will testify, do hazard much, and are trilling 
 with omniscience, 
 
 You should be surprised to hear and learn. Madam, for what purpose?: 
 the most of the money drained from the Duke's coffers yearly are ex- 
 pended, since he became the Duke and proprietor of Sutherland, and 
 upholding the Loch policy. There are n.^ i.ewer than seventeen who ai'e 
 known by the name of Water Bailiffs, in the county, who receive yearly 
 salaries, what doing, think you 1 protecting the operations of the Loch 
 policy, watching day and night the fresh water lakes, rivers, and creeks, 
 tppniing with the finest salmon and trout fish in the world, guardincf from 
 
97 
 
 bark of a 
 I house of 
 ry and in- 
 speech in 
 'acts, that 
 Erom that 
 >nefit and 
 mds, ster- 
 ipended, I 
 I £60,000 
 ving them 
 
 00 expen- 
 
 1 £60,000 
 lents from 
 f £1,380,- 
 lense sum 
 d it, in a 
 ,y the ex- 
 g them in 
 :hem alive 
 when they 
 ley, to pu> 
 eal. This 
 
 will leave 
 manner in 
 he people, 
 to admit 
 ount sent 
 L is easily 
 le of good 
 ted by th 
 i adopting 
 uitry, cos 
 nd, I pre- 
 1 is at the 
 may they 
 those who 
 
 I God, all 
 ire trilling 
 
 b purpose!^ 
 y are ex- 
 and, and 
 
 II who are 
 ve yearly 
 the Loch 
 d creeks, 
 
 dine from 
 
 the famishing people even during the years of famine and dire dis- 
 tress, when many had to subsist upon weeds, sea ware, and shellfisli, 
 yet guarded and preserved for the auiusenient of English anglers ^ 
 and what is still more heart-rending, to prevent the dying by hunger 
 to pick up any of the dead fish left by the sporting anglers, rotting 
 on the lake, creek, and river sides, when the smallest of them, or a 
 morsel, would be considered by hundreds, I may say thousands of the 
 needy natives, a treat, but durst not touch them, or if they did and 
 found out, to jail they were conducted, or remove 1 summarily from 
 his Grace's domains; (let me be understood, these gentlemen had no 
 use of the fish, only killing them for amusement, only what they re- 
 quired for their own use, and complimented to the factors, they were 
 nor i>ermitted to cure them). 
 
 You will find. Madam, that about three miles from Dunrobin Castle 
 there is a branch of the sea which extends up the county about six 
 miles, where shellfish called mussels, abound; here you will find there 
 are two sturdy men, called mussel bailiffs, supplied with rifles and 
 ammunition and as many Newfoundland dogs as assistants, watch- 
 ing the mussel scalp, or beds, to preserve them from the people in the 
 surrounding parishes of Dornoch, Rogart and Golspie, and keep 
 them to supply the fishermen on the opposite side of the Moray Firth 
 with bait, who come there every year and take away thousands of 
 toUvS of this nutritive shellfish, when many hundreds of the people 
 would be thankful for a diet per day of them, to pacify the cravings 
 of nature. You will find the unfortunate native fisherman who pays 
 a yearly rent to his Grace for bait, that they are only permitted 
 theirs from the refuse left by the strangers of the other side of the 
 Moray Firth, and if they violate the iron rule laid down to them, 
 they are entirely at the mercy of the underlings : there has been an 
 instance of two of the fishermen '^s wives going on a snowy frosty 
 day, to gather bait, but on account of the boisterous sea, could not 
 reach the place appointed by the factors; and one took what ihey re- 
 quired from the forbidden ground, and was observed by some of the 
 bailiffs in ambush, who pursued them like tigers, one came tip to her 
 unobserved, took out his knife and cut the straps by which the basket 
 or creel on her back was suspended, the weight on her back fell to the 
 ground, and she, poor woman, big in the family way, fell her whole 
 length forward in the snow and frost, another turned round to see 
 what had happened, and he pushed her back with such force that she 
 fell her whole length; he then trampled their baskets and mussels to 
 atoms, and took them both prisoners, ordered one to go and call his 
 superior bailiff to assist him, and kept the other for two hours stand- 
 ing wet as she was, among frost and snow until the superior came a 
 distance of three miles. After a short constiltation \ipon the enormitv 
 of the crime, the two poor women were led like convicted criminals to 
 Golspie, to appear before Licurgus Gunn, and in that deplorable 
 condition were left standing before their own doors in the snow, 
 until Marshal Gunn found it convenient to appear to pro- 
 notmce judgment, — verdict: You are allowed to go into 
 your hou««8 this niffht. this day wee^c you must leave this villaee 
 for ever, and the whole of the fishermen of the village are strictly 
 prohibited from taking bait from the Little Ferry until you leave; 
 
 ■'1 ' 
 
98 
 
 m • 
 
 i 
 
 p y] 
 
 my bailifTR are requested to see this my decree strictly attended to. Being 
 the middle of winter and heavy snow, they delayed a week longer: ulti- 
 mately the villagers had to expel the two families from among them, so as 
 they would get bait, having nothing to depend upon for subsistence 
 but the fishing, and fish they could not without bait. This is a specimen 
 of the injustice and subjugation of the Golspie fishermen, and of the peo- 
 ple at large ; likewise of tlie purposes for which the duke's money is ex- 
 pended in that quarter. If you go then, to the other side of the domain, 
 you will find another kyle, or a branch of the sea which abounds in cockles 
 and other shellfish, which, fortunately for the poor people, are not 
 forbidden by a Loch Ukase. But in the years of distress, when the people 
 were principally living upon vegetables, sea weeds and shellfish, various 
 diseases made their appearance among them, hitherto unknown. The ab- 
 sence of meal of any kind being considered the primary cause ; some of 
 the people thought they would be permitted to exchange shellfish for meal 
 with their more fortunate neighbours in Caithness, to whom such shell- 
 fish were a rarity, and so far the understanding went between them, that 
 the Caithness boats came up loaded with meal, but the Loch embargo, 
 through his underling in Tonnjue, who was watching their movements, 
 were at once placed upon it, and the Caithness boats had to return home 
 with the meal, and the duke's people might die or live, as they best could. 
 Now, Madam, ym have steeped your brains, and ransacked the English 
 language to find refined 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 would briefly ask you (and others who de- 
 voted much of their time and talent in the same strain,) would it not be 
 more like a noble paii-, who, (if they did) merit such noble praise as you 
 have bestowed upon them, if tbey had, especially during years of famine 
 and distress, freely opened up all these bountiful resources which God in 
 his eternal wisdom and goodness ])repared for his people, and which 
 should never be intercepted nor restricted by man or men. You and others 
 have composed hymns of praise, which it is questionable if there is a tune 
 in heaven to sing them to. 
 
 So I retur.icd, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: 
 and behold the teara of such as were oppressed, and they had do comforter ; and 
 on the side of their oppressors there was power ; but they had no comforter — Ec- 
 CLES. iv.l. 
 
 " The wretch that works and weeps without relief 
 Has one Miat notices his silent grief. 
 ' He, from whose hanvid alone all pow'r proceeds, 
 Kanks its abuse among the foulest deeds, 
 Considers a>l injustice with a frown, 
 i But marks tiie man that treads his fellow down. 
 Remember Heav'u has an avenging rod — 
 To smite the poor is treason against God." — Cowpkr. 
 
 But you shall find the duke's money is expended for most astonishinsr 
 purposes ; not a little of it goes to hire hypocrites and renowned liUra ,v 
 flatterers to vindicate the nial-administration of those to whoui lie en- 
 trusted the management of his aflfairs, svnd make his grace, (who is by 
 
99 
 
 nature a simple-minded niau) believe his servants are innocent of all the 
 charges brought against them, and doing justice to himself and to his 
 people, when they are doing the greatest injustice to both; so that in- 
 st«ad of calling his servants to account at any time, and enquiring into 
 the broad charges brought against them — as every wise landlord should 
 do — it seems the greater the enormities of foul deeds they commit, and 
 the louder their accusation may sound through the land, the farther they 
 are received into his favour. The fact is, that James Loch was Duke 
 of Sutherland, and not the "tall, slender man with rather a thin face, 
 light brown hair, and mild blue eyes" who armed you up the extraor- 
 dinary elegant staircase iu Stafford House: and Geordy Loch, his son, 
 succeeded his father, and the duke will have no more control over 
 him than he had over the old fox. The Duke of Sutherland would 
 neither need foreign or home eulogisers, were it not for the unhallowed 
 crew he has chosen to manage his affairs. Read the following humble 
 appeal of his grace for a certificate of character. In the year 1 848, 
 "Duke of Sutherland, and those entrusted with the management of his 
 vast possessions, preferred a somewhat queer request to the Highland 
 Distribution Committee, viz. for 'the service of the Committee's staff' 
 to report whether he, [his grace] had adequately fulfilled his self-imposed 
 responsibilities." That the Duke should require a certificate of good 
 behaviour towards his people is undoubtedly a little odd indeed, and at 
 the expense of a public charity ; but such was the case, and Captain 
 Elliot, Inspector General of the Board, received orders " to attend to the 
 duke's wishes." The result of the Captain's mission to Sutherland ./as 
 a high flown report, extolling the ducal bounty towards his Sutherlanders, 
 which utterly excluded the necessity of any aid from the Committee, al- 
 though he knew well that hundreds of bolls of the charity meal were 
 there at that time, but which was studiously kept out of view, that the 
 duke might have the honour and praise of supporting his people. But 
 what was my surprise to find in the next published proceedings of the 
 Couunittee, a correspondence with Mr. Loch, M.P., the duke's pre- 
 mier, who put the Committee in mind that his grace had formerly sub- 
 scribed £1000 to the fund, and conjoined with this reminiscence, a sup- 
 plication to the committee to grant his noble employer the sum of £3500 
 to help towards the relief of the poor people of Sutherland. Subse- 
 quently the duke's petition was acceded to, with this preconcerted modi- 
 fication, namely, that the money was not to be expended for the relief 
 of the poor Sutherlanders, but "on the forniation of a road bisecting his 
 grace's territory in the most favourable direction," (Mr. Loch's own 
 words.) The premier goes then to prove the vast utility of the road in 
 question, (planned by himself, and to be executed by the Committee,) it 
 being designed to stretch from Inchnaclauip in Assynt, to the boundary 
 of the county of Caithness. Now, Madam, I can tell you, and hundreds 
 of my countrymen in Canada, and thousands of them at home can tell 
 you, (as I have said before) that not one single native of Sutherland will 
 ever reap any benefit of this road, every inch of it going through a soli- 
 tary wilderness, and deer forests, wher* men are forl)idden io travel, — 
 
 
 ■'f! : 
 
Mb 
 
 I 
 
 iJ;-' 
 
 100 
 
 exclusively for the benefit of his grace'* deer stalkers, game keepers^ 
 and shepherds. 
 
 It is evident from the above corresponde.ice between the dishonour- 
 able Celtic hater aud destroyer, Mr. Loch, and the audacious tt-uat be- 
 traying, base, Edinburgh Committee, that there was pre-arrangenient be- 
 tween the unprincipled parties to increase his grace's riches, with £3500 
 of poor famishing people's money. Yes, with a sum which would make 
 3400 destitute families sing for joy by the distribution of this amount 
 among them. (Another report which was latterly published in the* 
 Edinburgh papers, states that his grace got £6000.) These are unde- 
 niable facts ; but who can believe that it could be endured in christian- 
 ised Scotland ; that an owner of such large possessions should be so un- 
 scrupulously voted such a sum, out of the funds gathered from the 
 benevolent in every quarter of the globe. Did Scotch private soldiers. 
 under the tropics subscribe out of their scanty pay, to enable the notori- 
 ous Mr. Skene, and his committee, to take the free gift of £6000, or even 
 £3500 of tlie relief distribution money to make a road from Inchnadamp, 
 in Assynt, to Caithness, exclusively for his own use, or to any other 
 Highland proprietor ; yet according to the reports of the infamous com- 
 mittee, obscure as they were studiously kept, they show that after the 
 ducal and lordly gifts were granted, the net balance at the credit of the 
 Treasurer was £38,000, and the bulk of this balance in hand was 
 dedicated to the relief of Highland distressed pro{)vietors, leaving 
 a discretionary power with themselves [the committee] to hand it over 
 to those who they in their judgment considered most needful and de- 
 serving ; (but the short of it is, to their own nearest relations and great- 
 est favourites.) Of this sum we find in their own reports that Dundonnell, 
 a Rosshire proprietor, got £1756 : we have Mr. Skene's (a distant rela- 
 tive of Dundonnell) own words for it as ''bonus on account of the great 
 outlay as an individual proprietor had made, and £1500 for road making." 
 Then pleasingly writes the accomodating Secretary, Skene, to the High- 
 land road requiring proprietors, "The broad ofier to contribute one 
 third of the expenses in meal, although I doubt not if money would be 
 preferred this would be no obstacle." That roads were and are needed 
 in the Highlands none will deny, and that able bodied men in want, aud 
 could not get employment should work at these roads none should op- 
 pose. But I strenuously contend that if men were required to render a 
 full amount of labour, they were entitled to an equitable proportion of 
 wages. It was monstrous to administer a fund unconditionally subscrib- 
 ( d for the relief of the destitute, upon the principle that the poor crea- 
 tures were to be fully worked, and in requittal, were to be only half fed. 
 Never was there a more fatal failure, than in the mal-administration of 
 that magniticent fund intended for the relief and welfare of the afflicted 
 Highland population. Never were the malversation of Highland proprie- 
 tors and underlings, more odiously discerned and exhibited to the world 
 than in this case. Not being satisfied plundering the people by every 
 system and plan that the Satanic council could devise, against which the 
 people contended for at least this last seventy years, struggling against 
 
101 
 
 , game keepers^ 
 
 . the dislionour- 
 dacious titist be- 
 irrangenient be- 
 lies, with £3500 
 lich would make 
 of this amount 
 ublished in the- 
 These are unde- 
 red in christian- 
 should be so un- 
 ihered from the 
 private soldier* 
 nable the notori- 
 f £6000, or even 
 ■om Inchnadamp, 
 or to any other 
 le infamous com- 
 w that after the 
 the credit of the 
 :e in hand was 
 ipiietors, leaving 
 to hand it over 
 needful and de- 
 ations and great- 
 that Dundonnoll, 
 (a distant rela- 
 unt of the great 
 :or 
 sne, to the 
 
 contribute one 
 nioney would be 
 and are needed 
 leu in want, and 
 none should op- 
 lired to render a 
 )le proportion of 
 donally subscrib- 
 at the poor crea- 
 |be only half fed. 
 idministration of 
 of the afflicted 
 ighland proprie- 
 Ited to the world 
 Ipeople by every 
 ;ainst which the 
 ■uggling against 
 
 road making.'^ 
 High- 
 
 many adverse circumstances, casualties of the season, and tyrannical ex- 
 actions, often in want, but not repining or complaining, until ultimately they 
 became helpless, and as it were, fell into the slough of despondency, en 
 masse ; when their long exidurance came to an end, despair took hold of 
 their souls, and clamour for food was the result ; appeal after appeal was 
 made to the public in their behalf, which was responded to ; yet when 
 a christian world came in a glorious manner to their rescue from death 
 by faniine, we find a set of rapacious Highland proprietors coming for- 
 ward and placing their unhallowed hands upon the world's gift, and as 
 if they in audible terms or words swore by heaven, we shall not allow 
 this. Neither they did, for by examining minutely the distribution of 
 the fund you will find that they pocketed two-thirds of tlie whole : in the 
 •first place, they got three-fourths of the meal bought for the people, to. 
 inipi'ove their estates, and they exacted (agreeable to the Trevellyan test 
 scheme) ten hours labour for every pound of adulterated meal. Now, 
 taking able bodied men's wages at the lowest figure. Is. 6d. per day, you 
 find the lairds gained Is. 6d. per day of every man they employed, be- 
 sides reaping the benefits of the improvements. Then the road-making 
 gifts, which they let to the competition of needy and greedy unfeeling 
 contractors, where men were not much bette*.- paid nor dealt with than 
 they were with the lairds — ;just a bare subsistence. Ah ! what a for- 
 tunate famine this was for the Highland proprietors, especially to those 
 of extensive domains, and favourites of Mr. Skene and his committee. 
 I assure you they should pray for a return of it every seven years. 
 
 Now, Madam, T am about done with you at this time, but before closing 
 I would ask you, can you believe that the proprietor of Stafford House, 
 which you have so elaborately pourtrayed. whose elegance and sump- 
 tuousness threw all the grandeur which ever you have seen in America 
 into insignificance, and which threw yourself into a nervous rapture of 
 admiration, which you could not withstand, until the proprietrix mistress 
 of the robe conveyed you to a private roonj, and eased you by whisper- 
 ing in your ear, "Dear me, Mrs. Stowe, be not concerned so much or so 
 much embarrassed in your mind, at the sight of this select company and 
 of the splendour of the house ; I assure you, though beautiful, we are not 
 auj/ela, we are all mortal beings; and though the* house is splendid it is 
 not heaven, but earthly materials," or some soothing words to that oftect, 
 tliat brought you back again to your senses. I say could, or can you 
 believe that if there was the least spark of the grace of God in the soul 
 of His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, and his Duchess, or yet of hu- 
 manity and common honesty, would they lower and degrade their position 
 in society, their name and titles among the nobles, so as to become the 
 most conspicuous among these villainous Highland plunderers of the 
 poor, and receive double the amount of any of the rest, of the booty 1 
 No, Madam, neither could I believe it myself, were it not that I knew 
 the simple minded duke, in all his afi'airs is advised by the vilest of the 
 vile, and the lowest of the low in principle. 
 
 These are stern facts, T must allow, but they are beyond contraldiction, 
 and should not be concealed, but merit universal reprobation and public 
 
1,1 
 
 102 
 
 censure. Public confidence l)as been shamefully abused, the poor have- 
 l)een cheated, degraded, and I may say demoralised ; the funds intended 
 and provided for the indigent poor have been squandered upon a need- 
 less useless staff of pampered officials, and Highland j)roprietors. You 
 may praise them, and admire them and their palaces as much aa 
 you please, but the denunciations of the sacred volume condemn the op- 
 pressors of the poor, their abettors and apologisers, to their faces, and 
 you cannot silence them. Should such a calamity overtake the High- 
 landers again, where will they look for commiseration or aid after this 
 iniquitious abuse? I answer, let them trust in God, as Cromwell used 
 to say, and keep their powder dry ; I say let them take what they cati 
 get, and where they can get it. Let them not leave a bull, cow, or bul- 
 lock ; ram, sheep, or lamb ; deer, or roe ; blackcock, hen, or pheasant ; 
 moor-cock, hen, or siiij)e, &c., feeding and fattening upon the straths 
 and glens which should be rearing corn and cattle for them and families: 
 and take all the salmon and trout which is provided for them in the rivers 
 and lakes upon which they can lay hands on, muscles and cockles to boot, 
 ("Hunger," says a Highland proverb, has "long arms," and Bacon says 
 " rebellion of the belly is worst,") and then their spoilers and monopo- 
 lizers of every provision God has provided for the Celtic race in the 
 Highlands of Scotland, will soon come to their right senses. I see no 
 other alternative, unless the nation will step in and demand reti'ibution 
 for jiast wrongs, and secure even-handed justice for the people in future. 
 What did I say, retribution for past wrongs, and secure justice for the 
 people in future 1 hundreds will confer upon me a derisive laugh, and 
 bawl out Utopianism. But allow me to allude to an historical parallel. 
 After the conquest, the Norman kings afforested a large portion of the 
 soil of conquei-ed England, in much the same way as the landlords are 
 now doing in the Highlands of Scotland. To such an extent was this 
 practice carried on, that an historian informs us, that in the reign of 
 King John, " the greater part of the kingdom " was turned into forest, 
 and that so multiform and oppressive were the forest laws, that it was 
 impossible for any man who lived within the boundaries to escape falling 
 a victim to them. To prepare the land for these forests, the people were 
 required to be driven, in many cases, as in the Highlands, at the point 
 of the bayonet ; and notwithstanding what Voltaire has said to the con- 
 trary, cultivated lands were laid waste, villages were destroyed, and the 
 inhabitants extirpated. Distress ensued, and discontent followed as na- 
 tural consequences. But observe, the Norman kings did all this in vir- 
 tue of their feudal supremacy ; and in point of law and I'ight, were 
 better entitled to do it than the Highland lairds are to imitate their ex- 
 ample in the present day. Was it, however, to be tolerated? were the 
 people to groan for ever under his oppression] No. The English 
 Barons gave a practical reply to these questions at Runn*ymede, which 
 it is unnecessary to detail. King John did cry out Utopian at first, but 
 was compelled to disafforest the land, and restore it to its natural and 
 appropriate use ; and the records of that great day's proceedings are uni- 
 versally esteemed as one of the brightest pages in English history. 
 
103 
 
 oor have- 
 intended 
 ti a need- 
 rs. You 
 much as^ 
 n the op- 
 aces, and 
 he High- 
 after this 
 ivell used 
 they can 
 v, or bul- 
 jheasant ; 
 e straths 
 families: 
 the rivers 
 ^s to boot, 
 aeon says 
 monopo- 
 ice in the 
 I see no 
 etvibution 
 in future. 
 36 for the 
 augh, and 
 ,1 parallel, 
 on of the 
 lords are 
 was this 
 reign of 
 to forest, 
 at it was 
 pe falling 
 ople were 
 the point 
 the con- 
 and the 
 [ed as na- 
 lis in vir- 
 ^ht, were 
 I their ex- 
 Iwere the 
 English 
 le, which 
 [first, but 
 lural and 
 are uni- 
 history^ 
 
 With tlifs great example before their eyes, let tlie most conservative 
 ' use before they yield implicit faith in the doctrine that every one of 
 them may do with liis land as he pleases. The fundamental principle of 
 land tenure are unchanged since the days of Magna Charta ; and how- 
 ever much the tendency of n)odern ideas may have cast these principles, 
 into oblivion, they are still deeply graven in the constitution, and if ne- 
 cessity called, would be found as strong and operative in the present 
 day as they were live centuries ago. If the barons could compel the 
 sovereign to open his forests, surely the sovereign may more orderly 
 * compel the barons to open theirs, and restore them to their natural and 
 appropriate use ; and there is a power behind the throne which impels 
 and governs all. These are deep questions that should be stirred in the 
 country, in the midst of extremities and abuse of power. For it is im- 
 possible for any one to travel in the Highlands of Scotland, and cast his 
 eyes about him without feeling inwardly that such a crisis i.s approaching, 
 and infleed consider it should arrive long ago. Sufferings have been in- 
 flicted in the Highlands as severe as occasioned by the policy of the 
 brutal Norman kings in England ; deer have extended ranges, while 
 men have been hunted within a narrower and still narrower circle. The 
 strong has fainted in the race for life; the old have been left to die. 
 One after another of their liberties have been cloven down. To kill a 
 fish in the stream, or a wild beast in the hill is a transjwrtable crime, even 
 in the time of famine. Even to travel through the fenceless forest is a 
 crime ; paths which at one time linked hamlet to hamlet for ages have 
 been shut and barred. These oppressions are daily on the increase, and 
 if pushed much further, (I should say if not speedily and timely pushed 
 l)ack) it is obvious that the suffei-ings of the j)eople will reach a pitch, 
 when action will be the plainest duty, and the most sacred instinct. To 
 j)revent such forbidden calamity, permit me to address a few lines to Her 
 Majesty. 
 
 Come Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Berwick-upon-Tweed, and 
 Ireland ; thou, the most beloved of all Sovereigns upon earth, in whose 
 bosom and veins the blood of the Stuarts, the legitimate Sovereigns of 
 Scotland is freely circulating ; who hath endeared thyself to thy Celtic 
 lieges in a peculiar manner, stretch forth thy Royal hand to preserve 
 that noble race from extirpation, and becoming extinct, and to protect 
 them from the violence, oppi'ession, and spoliation to which they have 
 been subjected for many years. Bear in mind, that this is the race in 
 whom your forefathers confided, entrusted and depended so much at all 
 times, especially when a foreign invader threatened and attempted to 
 take possession of the Scotch throne ; and never trusted to them in vain. 
 And though they unfortunately divided, upon which of the Stuart family 
 was to rule over them, and much valuable blood shed on that aecount ; 
 yet the impartial investigator into that affair will find the zeal, patriotism 
 and loyalty of each party meriting equal praise and admiration, though 
 the butchers, and literary scourges of the defeated party converted the 
 l>raise and loyalty due to them, into calumny and abuse. But these 
 gloomy days of strife and murder are over, and the defeated consider 
 
m 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 >f.f 
 
 104 
 
 Uiat they sustained no loss but that they gained much ; and I assure your 
 majesty that your name is now imprinted upon every Scotch Highlander's 
 heart in letters more valuable than gold, and that the remnant of them 
 still left, are as willing and as ready to shed their blood for the honour 
 and dignity, of your crown, and the safety of your person and family, as 
 their fathers were for your grandsires. Then allow not this noble race 
 to be extirpated, nor deteriorated in their soul, mind, chivalry, charac- 
 ter, and persons ; allow it not, your majesty, to be told in " Gath," nor 
 published in the streets of Askelon, that other nations have to feed and 
 keep alive your Highland Scotch warriors, while you require their ser- 
 vice in the battle field ; while the nursery where these brave men, who 
 carried many a laurel to the British crown from foreign strands, are now 
 converted to game preserves, hunting parks, and lairs for wild animals. 
 Come them, like a God fearing, God loving and Christian queen ; like a 
 subject-loving and beloved Sovereign, and demand the restitution of 
 their inalienable rights to your Highland lieges, and the restoration of 
 the Highland straths and glens to their natural and appropriate use. 
 Examine like '^ Ahasuerous," the book of records of the chronicles, and 
 find what service the HighlatK'ers rendered you and your forefathers, and 
 how they are requited. " Who knoweth whether thou art come to the 
 kingdom for such a time as this]" and " how can you endure to see the 
 evil that came upon your people, or how can you endure to see the de- 
 struction of your kindred 1" people, and then like good Queen Esther, 
 declare boldly and publicly that you shall not have a Hamanite, or a Ha- 
 manitess about your person, in your household, or in your council. I know 
 many of them will raise a Rob Roy cry, when the real owner of the cat- 
 tle he has taken away, came and got possession of them, (I am plundered 
 of my just rights.) Highland proprietors hold the lands and other rights 
 they plundered of the people, on the principle that Rob Roy maintained 
 his right to the cattle he stole from his distant neighbour in Badenoch. 
 But the day is drawing nigh when these rank delusions in high quarters 
 will be dispelled. It is a Satanic imposture, that the stewardship of 
 God's soil is freely convertible into a mischievous power of oppressing 
 the poor. The proper use of property is to make property useful ; 
 where this is not done, it were better for land owners to have been born 
 beggars, than to live in luxury while causing tb j wretched to want and 
 weep. I know that if our Sovereign Lady woj to make such a demand 
 as this, that she would incur the ire and difipleasure of the turf and 
 sporting classes, (a consuming but not a producing body) the most des- 
 tructive, vicious, cruel, disorderly, unvirtu 'US, revelling, and the most 
 useless of all her Majesty's subjects. On the other hand her Majesty 
 would gain for herself the praise and admiration of all the most wise, 
 prudent, liberal, humane, virtuous and most exemplary of the nation ; 
 the blessings of the people and of heaven would rest upon her, and re- 
 main with her, and Highland proprietora, their children, and children's 
 children would have cause to hold her name and memory in grateful 
 recollection. Their estates would in a few years double their rents, and 
 they and their heirs would be redeemed from insolvency, and secured 
 
105 
 
 lure your 
 hlander's 
 of them 
 J honour 
 'amily, as 
 loble race 
 ^, charac- 
 ath," nor 
 feed and 
 their ser- ' 
 nen, who 
 s, are now 
 animals, 
 m; like a 
 tution of 
 oration of 
 iriate use. 
 licles, and 
 others, and 
 nie to the 
 to see ihe 
 ee the de- 
 iXi Esther, 
 , or a Ha- 
 1. I know 
 of the cat- 
 plundered 
 bher rights 
 iiaintained 
 Badenoch. 
 h quarters 
 [irdship of 
 ppressing 
 ,y useful ; 
 leen born 
 want and 
 a demand 
 turf and 
 most des- 
 the most 
 Majesty 
 lost wise, 
 |e nation ; 
 and re- 
 chiidren's 
 grateful 
 jreuts, and 
 secured 
 
 •from beggary. The poor law would l)econie a dead letter. The poach- 
 ing game law expenditure, along with many other unrighteous laws, 
 which are hanging heavily upon the nation, would fall to disuse ; the peo- 
 ple would prosper, and nothing would be lost but hunting grounds for 
 the younger branches of the aristocracy and English snobs, and that 
 same could easily be supplied by Her Majesty directing the attention of 
 this cruel, cowardly class to the Hudson's Bay and Nor' West Terri- 
 tories, where they might have plenty of useful sport, destroying animals 
 ninch of their own disposition, though not half so injurious. In conclu- 
 ding this long letter to you Madam, pei-mit me to tell you my opinion of 
 you on your landing in Britian, after taking notice of the parties who in- 
 vited you, and with whom you have associated, and the parties you have 
 shunned, as if unclean or unworthy of your society and countenance. 
 I concluded at once your service for tlie emancipation of the American 
 slaves was for ever lost, and not only lost, but be the means to screw 
 their chains tighter than ever they were before. Is there a class under 
 heaven this day more unlikely to have any inflionce over the minds of 
 republic Americans than English inhuman, ambitious, slave making aris- 
 tocracy t I answer, no, no! Hence I was convinced that English gold 
 was your main object. But had you come to Britain, and got up an 
 Uncle Donald, Uncle Jock, and Uncle Geordy's Cabin, where you 
 would not need colouring, nor steep your brains to get up sublime false- 
 hood, and impossible achievements of runaway slaves, where the naked 
 unvarnished truths were more than could be believed. Then to return 
 with these British cabins to the United States you would have a good 
 chance to reap as rich a harvest of them in the States, as you have I'eaped 
 of Uncle Tom in Britain, and establish your name and memory immor- 
 tal and unsullied. Forming these opinions, I published the following let- 
 ter in the "Northern, Ensign^' newspaper, Wick, and addressed a copy of 
 it to you: — 
 
 Sir. — In my last, of the 18th ult., upon the late member for the 
 Northern Burghs, I stated that I was not half through, but that I would 
 need to forbear. The Stafford House meeting has diverted my attention 
 at present from following up the subject as I intended, so as to make the 
 best use I can of this aristocratic movement in behalf of the African 
 slaves while it was warm before the public. Many thanks to you and 
 your Perth correspondent for your talented comments upon the hollow 
 hypocrisy of this meeting and the injurious effects it will have, if their 
 (so called) Christian affectionate address, headed by the Duchess of 
 Sutherland, her two daughters of Aigyle and Blantyre, Duchess of 
 Bedford, Lady Trevellyan, Lady John Russell, and many more, be pre- 
 sented to their sisters, the ladies of America. 
 
 I believe your Perth coiTespondent has given us the true brief ver- 
 sion or exact reply of the American ladies to this affectionate address — 
 ' Look at home.' But I must go further and instruct the American la- 
 dies in what they should tell their English sistei-s to look at, at home. 
 Not with a view to justify the American traffic in human beings — God 
 forbid, but merely to tell them that they can meet this feminine, Eng- 
 
106 
 
 lish, iJhristian, affectionate appeal, with the same argument that the CHn- 
 nibal Queen met a French philosopher when he was remonstrating with 
 her u|»on the hateful, horrifying, and forV»idden practice of eating hu- 
 man flesh, and recommending her to discontinue and forWid the practice 
 in her dominions. ' Well,' replied the Cannibal Queen, ' Volaire, what 
 is the difference between your people and us? You kill men, and allow 
 them to rot; we kill men, and to crown our victory we eat them, and 
 we find them as good for food as any other flesh ; besides, our law de- 
 mands of us to eat our enemies.' Now, Sir, though two blacks will 
 never make a white, yet the American ladies may justly reply and ask 
 their English sisters, 'What is the difference between you and ust We 
 buy black African slaves; but when we buy them, we feed, clothe and 
 house them. No doubt some of us whip them at times for disot>edience 
 or for our own caprice ; but we heal their stripes, and take care of them, 
 that they may do our work. But you, English sisters, you make 
 white slaves paupers and beggars; and when you make them this, by 
 depriving them of all means to live by their own industry, then you turn 
 them adrift — you raze, plough-up, or buiii, dovon their habitations, and 
 allow them to die (in hundreds,) the agonizing, lingering death of star- 
 vation on the road sides, ditches, and open fields. Dear sisters, look at 
 the history of Ireland for the last six or seven years, and you will see 
 how many thousands you have allowed to die by hunger; and consider 
 how many thousands more you would have allowed to die a similar death, 
 had we not come to their rescue, and sent them food until we could re- 
 move them from your tender mercy and from your territories, to feed, 
 clothe, and house them, and to find employment and fair remnnei-ation 
 for their labour among ourpelves. Look for instance at an Irishman 
 arraigned at the bar of justice for sheep-stealing, and his counsel offering 
 to prove that before he stole the sheep, three of his children perished for 
 want of food, and in the case of the last of them who died a sucking 
 infant, the mother jieeled the flesh oft' its legs and arms; she boiled it. 
 and both she and her husband (the prisoner) ate it to save their own 
 lives, and the mother died soon after. At this time you, our English sis- 
 ters, were riding upon chariots, rolling smoothly over your extensive, 
 uncultivated, depopulated domains, upon the wheels of splendour, and 
 lushions of the finest texture, and your husbands, sons, and daughters 
 sharing of your festivities, luxuries, and unnecessary grandeur ; expend- 
 ing more money and human food upon useless dogs and horses than 
 would have saved thousands of the poor useful Irish (with the image of 
 God upon them) from a premature agonizing death. We have read 
 with horror of one of your husbands iirging with might and main upon 
 the government (who bestirred themselves at the time for fear the famine 
 might cause disease among the Irish landlords.) to feed the people with 
 cuny powder ; and you must recollect, when the curry powder scheme of 
 destroying the Irish could not be approved of, that Sir A. Trevellyan was 
 sent over to Ireland with the test starving commission, and conducted the 
 Irish destruction with more humanity, for he allowed one pound of meal 
 as meat and wages for every starving Irishman Avho would work ten 
 
107 
 
 the Cnn- 
 iiig with 
 iting hu- 
 ? practice 
 ire, what 
 ind allow 
 heiu, and 
 r law de- 
 acks will 
 and abk 
 U8l We 
 lothe and 
 ioV>edience 
 e of theui, 
 vou make 
 J this, by 
 a you turn 
 tioDS, and 
 h of star- 
 re, look at 
 u will see 
 d consider 
 lilar death, 
 ? could re- 
 js, to feed, 
 iinei-ation 
 Irishman 
 ;! offering 
 rished for 
 a sucking 
 lioiled it. 
 their own 
 English sis- 
 I extensive, 
 Ldour, and 
 I daughters 
 ; exi>end- 
 t)rses than 
 image of 
 Ihave read 
 lain upon 
 Ithe famine 
 jple with 
 I scheme of 
 silvan was 
 icted the 
 id of meal 
 work ten 
 
 htturs per day at making roads, draining, and improving the estittes of 
 Irish landlords. Ah! English sisters, though we cuu Id bring no mon; 
 against you, the public will Judge and decide that you should be the 
 defenders, and not the pursuers, in thii case ; but since you began to 
 expose us, we will expose you tu the letter, for there is no case or cases 
 l)rought out against us in ' Uncle Tom's Cabin,' witii all Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe's capabilities of colouring, that is equal to this. We tell you 
 emphatically that our law would neither sanction or tolerate such in- 
 human cruelty — our religion forbids it ; and that any man or number of 
 men who would bo guilty of such would be branded with infamy and 
 chased from our states and from our societies as inhuman, irrational, 
 irreligious, and immoral monsters, unworthy of christian society, or to 
 have a voice in the civil or religious government of our country. But by 
 taking a retrospective view of the history of your christianizrd nation, we 
 find that inhumanity, oppre.ssion, cruelty, and extortion, are qualifications 
 required to fit a legislator, commander, coniniissione)', or any other func- 
 tionary to whom you may safely entrust the law making, the law adniinis 
 tration, and the government of your people; but qualifications specially 
 required to entitle them to dignified high sounding titles and distinction, 
 as will be shown afterwards.' 
 
 ' "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has aroused the sympathy and compassion of 
 the Duchesses of Sutherland, Argyle, Bedford, and Ladies Blantyre and 
 Trevellyan, and many thousands of the women of England, over the fate 
 of Ham's black children. But we would seriously advi.se the Duchess of 
 Sutherland and her host to pause until Uncle Donald M'Leod's Cabin 
 comes out, and until he himself comes across the Atlantic with it among 
 the thousands of those and their ofllsprings who have fled from their iron 
 sway and slavery to our shores. He, \nior man, has been expostulating 
 with you for the last twenty years against your cruel, unnatural, irrational, 
 unchristian, and inhuman treatment of the brave, athletic, Highland 
 white sons of Japhet, but no English or Scottish Duchesses and Ladies 
 took any notice of him, nor convened a meeting to sympathise with him 
 or to remonstrate with Highland despotic slave-making proprietors to 
 discontinue their unrighteous depopulation of the country, and their un- 
 godly draining away of the best blood from the nation. Hence we aver 
 that these ladies would never convene a synipathising meeting for the 
 benighted Africans, should their own African Chiefs, kings, and queens 
 destroy them by the thousand ; but because they sell them, and we buy 
 them and take care of them, English feminine hearts sympathise with 
 them. This is a fine opportunity for Donald M'Leod. Let him now speak 
 out, and make haste, and we promise him a quick and an extensive sale 
 for his Cabin of unvarnished facts.' 
 
 The Duchess of Sutherland got very warm on the subject. After she 
 read the sympathising remonstrating address (which need not be quoted 
 here, being long ago before the public), she with great erapha.sis said, 
 ' I hope and believe that our efforts, under God's blessing, will not be 
 without some happy result ; but whether it will succeed or fail, no one 
 will deny that we shall have made an attempt, which had for its beginning 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
m 
 
 
 ;i' 
 
 
 i 
 
 it 
 
 ■i^ 
 
 I if 
 
 108 
 
 •and end, ''Glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace and good will 
 ■to men." ' It seems that effrontery is » ecouie very lofty and high- 
 voiced under the protection of high-sounding English titles, when the 
 Duchess of fSutherland could presume to mix such notorious hypocri- 
 tical whinings as these with, ' Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
 peace and good will to men,' for no other cause or design tlian to 
 whitewash from some public odium already out, or to screen from 
 some that is expected, come from what quarter n may. Surely this 
 cannot be the Duchess of Sutherland who pays a visit every year to 
 Dunrohin Castle, who has seen and heard so many supplicating ap- 
 peals presented to her husband by the poor fishermen of Golspie, so- 
 liciting liberty to take mussels from the Little Ferry Sands to l>ait 
 their nets — a liberty which they were deprived of by his factors, 
 though paying yearly rent for it; yet returned by his Grace; with 
 the brief cleliverance, that he could do nothing for them. Can I be- 
 lieve that this is the same personage who can set oTit from Dunrobin 
 Castle (her own Highland seat), and after travelling from it, then 
 can ride in one direction over thirty miles, in another direction 
 forty-four miles, in another direction (by taking the necessary cir- 
 cuitous route) sixty miles, and that over fertile glens, valleys, and 
 straihs, bursting with fatness, vhioh gave birth to, and where were 
 reared for ages, thousands of the bravest, the most moral, virtuous, 
 and religious men that Europe could boast of ; ready to a man, at a 
 moment's warning. from their chiefs, to rise in defence of their king, 
 queen, and country; animated with patriotism and love to their 
 ■chief and irresistable in the battle contest for victory. But nief;e 
 valiant men had then a country, a home, and a chief, worth the fight- 
 ing for. But I tell her that she can now ride over these extensive 
 tracts in the interior of the country without seeing the Image of God 
 upon a man travelling these raads, with the exception of a wander- 
 ing Highland shepherd, wrapped up in a gray plaid to the eyes, with 
 a collie dog behind him &.& a drill sergeant to train his ewes and to 
 marshall his tups. There may happen to ti-avel o'er the dreary 
 tract a geologist, a tourist, or a lonely carrier, 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 
 stag-hounds, pointer dogs, and their servants, and put themselves 
 and their bravery together, and a company of French soldiers would 
 put ten thousand of them to a disorderly flight to saA^e their own car- 
 casses, leaving their ewes and tups to feed the invaders ! The ques- 
 tion may arise, where those people, who inhabited this country at 
 •one period have gone? In America and Australia the most of them 
 will be found. The Sutherland family and the nation had no need of 
 their services; hence they did not regard their patriotism or loyalty, 
 and disregarded their past services. Sheep, bullock, dear and game, 
 became more valu&ble than men. Yet a remnant of them, or in other 
 words a skeleton of them is to be found along the sea-shore 
 huddled together in motley groups upon barren moors, 
 among cliffs and precipices, in the most impoverished, de- 
 graded, subjugated, slavish, spiritless condition that human 
 Ijeings could exist in. If this is really the lady who has ' Glory to 
 God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will to men,' in 
 
:ood will 
 id high- 
 vlien the 
 hypocri- 
 011 earth 
 til an to 
 en from 
 rely this 
 ' year to 
 tinjr ap- 
 spie. so- 
 3 to Vjait 
 factors, 
 ce ; with 
 ^an I be- 
 Junrobin 
 it, then 
 ii recti on 
 sary cir- 
 ievs, and 
 ere Mere 
 firtuous, 
 lan, at a 
 eir king, 
 to their 
 iut tuese 
 [the tight- 
 xtensive 
 e of God 
 wander- 
 ves. with 
 s and to 
 dreary 
 as rare 
 n in the 
 th their 
 emselves 
 R would 
 own car- 
 he ques- 
 .mtry at 
 of them 
 need of 
 loyalty, 
 id crame. 
 in other 
 ea-shore 
 moors, 
 ed. de- 
 hiiman 
 lory to 
 len,* in 
 
 view, and who is so religiously denouncing the American statute which' 
 ' denies the slave the sanctity of marriage, with all its joys, rights, and 
 obligations — which separates, at the will of the master, the wife fiora the 
 husband, the children from the parent, — I would advise her in God's 
 name to take a tour round the sea skirts of Sutherland, her own estate, 
 beginning at Brora, then to Helmsdale, Portskerra, Strathy, Farr, Tongue, 
 Durness, Eddrachillis, and Assynt, and learn the subjugated, degraded, 
 impoverished, uneducated, condition of the spiritless people of that sea- 
 beaten coast, about two hundred miles in length, and let her with similar 
 zeal remonstrate with her husband, that their condition be bettered ; for 
 the cure for all their misery and want is lying nninolested in the fertile 
 valleys above, and all under his control ; and to advise his Grace, her 
 husband, to be no longer guided by his Ahithophel, Mr. Loch, but to dis- 
 continue his depopulating schemes, which have separated many a wife 
 from her husband, never to meet — which caused many a premature death, 
 and that separated many sons and daughters, never to see them ; and by 
 all means to withdraw that mandate of Mr. Loch, which forbids marriage 
 on the Sutherland estate, under the pains and penalties of being banished 
 from the county ; for it has been already the cause of a great amount of 
 prostitution, and augmented illegitimate connections and issues fifty per 
 cent, above what such were a few years ago, before this unnatural, ungodly 
 law was put in force. When the Duchess will do this, then, and not till 
 then, will I believe that she is in earnest regarding the American slaves. 
 Let her and the other ladies who attended the Stattbrd House meeting be 
 not like the believers and followers of Jupiter, who were supplied with 
 two bags each, the one bag representing their own faults, the other their 
 neighbours' faults — the one representing their neighbours' faults sus- 
 pended before thorn, and the one repi'esenting their own faults snsi)ended 
 behind them, so that they could never see their own faults, but their 
 neighbours' were seen at all times. Ah ! ladies, change your Jupiter 
 bags, that you may discern your inconsistency and connection with those 
 to whom you owe your position, your grandeur, your greatness, and all 
 your enjoyments. 
 
 1 am encroaching too much at this time, and will forbear, but will sooni 
 
 be at them again. 
 
 Yours, ifec, 
 
 Donald M Leod. 
 
 16 South Richmond Street, 
 Edinburgh, December 25, 1852. " 
 
110 
 
 To the Editor of the Northern Knaicjn. 
 
 Sir, — In dealing with those who convened and attended this meeting, 
 I am not so uncharitable as to include the whole of them under the same 
 denomination ; for I am willing to believe that some of them are genuine 
 sympathisers, with generous christian feeling towards their trodden-down, 
 broken-hearted, oppressed fellow-creatures, whether black or white, or 
 whatever nation they belong to, and who have been despoiled of the pro- 
 vision which God in his infinite love and unlimited goodness made, with- 
 out distinction or respect of titles or personages of the human family, and 
 who became the victims of cruel avarice and boundless ambition. But 
 being unacquainted with them personally, I am not in a position to separate 
 the genuine from the sjiuriouSjand must leave them together until they 
 separate themselves, or till some other one higher favored than I am, do it. 
 
 No one living would rejoice more earnestly than I would, to see the 
 American slaves, and all slaves liberated ; but if they are only to be 
 liberated equally with Highland slaves, and subjected to similar oppression, 
 degradation, and want, I pray to the good Lord to deliver them from 
 such liberation. Being altogetlier free from pei'.sonal spleen, and irithout 
 any other motive in view but pure respect for my country, I request the 
 genuine christian benevolent portion of our ladies, in the name of all that 
 is sacred, if they have a genuine desire for the liberation of the American 
 Slaves, and do not want their chains rivetted tighter, and their slavery 
 prolonged, not to subscribe their names, nor mingle with the Stafford 
 House sophistical mockery of God and men. For the Americans are a 
 proud, discerning pec^jle, and when they will see the iniquity of slavery 
 they will abolish it as effectually as they did under the command of im- 
 mortal Washington abolish English tyranny and slavery among them- 
 selves ; but they will be neither dogged, dictated to, nor bullied, to abolish 
 it, especially by people who are a hundred-fold more guilty than them- 
 selves ; whose hands are never but soiled in blood, and who, when they 
 could not maintain or uphold slavery in their own dominions abroad, de- 
 manded and obtained for their compliance to abolish it, twenty millions 
 out of the public money in compensation, then turned round upon the 
 industrious producing classes, (who were taxed and peeled, to refund this 
 money, who had fought for them, wrought for them, and paid for all, and 
 told them tliey had no use for them — laid their land waste, supplanted a 
 portion of the ])eople with bulls, bullocks, cows, sheep, deer, and dogs, 
 others with steel men, or machinery; banished the rest from the coast, 
 with the exception of those they would require to make and attend their 
 machinery, and as many as would allow themselves to be transmitted to 
 animals called soldiors, to keep the rest of the people quiet, or kill them. 
 
 But the first question our ladies should ponder well and discuss seriously 
 before they would subscribe this appeal to the American ladies in behalf 
 of the slaves is : How aie they prepared to stand the campaign of retalia- 
 tion under such leaders'? — For I predict they will be put to the blush, and 
 that their affectionate address will soon find its way unceremoniously to a 
 very disrespectful purpose. The Americans are not to be 
 
 dogged 
 
 or 
 
s meeting, 
 r the same 
 re genuine 
 .den-down, 
 white, or 
 of the pro- 
 lade, with- 
 amily, and 
 tion. But 
 to separate 
 until they 
 lam, doit. 
 
 to see the 
 only to be 
 oppression, 
 them from 
 nd Tfithout 
 request the 
 i of all that 
 e American 
 leir slavery 
 he Stafford 
 icans are a 
 of slavery 
 land of ini- 
 long them- 
 , to abolish 
 han them- 
 when they 
 abroad, de- 
 ty millions 
 upon the 
 efund this 
 or all, and 
 ppl anted a 
 and dogs, 
 the coast, 
 tend their 
 smitted to 
 kill them, 
 seriously 
 in behalf 
 )f retalia- 
 )lush, and 
 liously to a 
 logged or 
 
 111 
 
 cajoled; many of them have sad, sad recollections of the mandates which 
 used to be " issued " from Stafford House, and from Dunrcbin Castle, 
 dictated and composed by James Loch, Esq., chief commissioner, approved 
 of by his patron, and executed by their minions: whose names I might 
 mention > gentlemen, upon the whole, with one or two exceptions, whose 
 inhumanity and injustice throws the American slavetfaders, slave-breeders 
 and slave-owners, completely into the shade. — Yes, I say mandates, not 
 announcing for their beginning and end " Glory to God in the highest, 
 on earth peace, and good will to men; " no, woes me! no, but 
 
 Far worse than Egypt's wasting plague, 
 
 Wrought dismal desolation ; 
 Glens, straths, yea, parishes, at once 
 
 Were swept of population. 
 
 Mandates with every line of them announcing schemes for the destruction, 
 dispersion, and utter ruin of the innocent religious, and patriotic brave 
 aborigines; laying waste the land i)rovided and appointed by God for their 
 ■maintenance, to feed brute beasts (for whose rights to themselves in com- 
 mon with their chieftains, they and their forefathers so often fought and 
 cemented with their blood), commanding to burn down the habitation* 
 they and their grand-sires occupied for time immemorial per the hundred 
 year after year, leaving the people houseless and homeless — old and young 
 weak and strong, sick and hale, without a sanctuary; calumniated in their 
 moral and religious character, by specially hired emissaries, without an eye 
 to pity them that could render them any assistance. Mandates pregnant 
 with confusion, despair, dismay, weeping, wailings, anguish, and bitter 
 lamentations ; separation of the dearest and nearest, never to meet; Ijreak- 
 ing asunder the most sacred ties of associations, to describe which must 
 remain incredible to those who have not seen it, beyond description; thank 
 God with few precedents of parallels in the annals of ancient or modern 
 history — yea, in the darkest or most brutal times ; — and mandates, indeed 
 equal in sum and substance to the mandates issued Vjy the Protestant pious 
 King William, and his secretary Master of Stair, at the instigation of the 
 Duke of Argyle and Breadalbane, and executed by the infamous Canipliell 
 of Glenlyon, Hamilton, Hill, Duncanson, and Lindsay, purporting the 
 horrible massacre of the brave loyal McDonalds of Glencoe, which left an 
 infamous stain upon King William's memory, his Government, and accom- 
 plice.s, that time will not wipe away. And I emphatically tell her Grace 
 that the evolution of years or of ages will not efface the tragical depopula- 
 tion of Sutherland, and that the waters of Jordan, and all the fuller's earth 
 and soap in Europe, will not cleanse from the guilt: and that the time is 
 bygone when the blood of bullocks, and rams, sheep and deer, would atone 
 or satisfy Divine justice for guilty deeds, where there was nothing wanting 
 but the wielding operation of the unsheathed sword (and the same weapon 
 was threatened and attempted) to make the scene upon a larger scale — a 
 sectmd Glencoe. Yet, T am perfectly satisfied, if the blood of such animals 
 would atone, that abundance of it could be procured in Sutherland, And if 
 money and the influence of priests established by law could procure a 
 
 
112 
 
 1 ' "i 
 
 1 1 ' 
 
 scajje-goat, that the second, third or fourth generation would have 
 nothing to fear. 
 
 But how can I believe, who was an eye witness to these appal- 
 ling scenes, without an ample proof, that absolution was diligently 
 sought for from the only source where remission of sins can be ob- 
 tained, and conversion manifested by visible genuine contrition, 
 demonstrated by a restoration of the undoubted rights of the 
 people of which they were despoiled — 1 say, how can I believe that 
 the Duchess of Sutherland, her co-operators, and those who followed 
 the house of Sutherland, or, more properly speaking, Mr. Loch's ex 
 tirpating ey-mple, have a genuine desire to bestow liberties and 
 blessings ujaon the American slaves, which they so sternly and 
 Malthusian-like deny to their own people, who are more unfor- 
 tunate, and who have a hundred fold stronger claims upon their 
 sympathy 1 Monstrous sophistry I The Stafford House meeting is 
 nothing more or less than a revival of Sutherland's deceptive dodges, 
 with which I have been well acquainted for the last forty-five years 
 at least, and of Avhich I will give you a few specimens in my next. 
 At present, for fear of encroaching too much on your liberality, I 
 will conclude by merely telling you that at this moment I am in- 
 . formed that female agents are employed in Edinburgh to procure- 
 subscribers to the Stafford House bubble in a clandestine way, not 
 paying so much respect to our Edinburgh ladies as to convene a 
 meeting, and send even one of their female pages to preside, should 
 they consider it below their own station to preside or address our 
 Scottish Ladies. It is evident they coidd not be favoured by the 
 Duchess of Sutherland, as in all likelihood liy this time she is ad- 
 mitted Mistress of the Robes. 
 
 Meantime, vours, etc.. Donald Macleod. 
 
 Farewell, Mrs. H. B. Stowe, at present: expecting when your 
 Delif/ht upon Dunrobin Castle, or the Suhliviity of Sutherlandshire 
 (which you visited last year), comes to hand, that it will afford me 
 an extensive scope for animadversion, if I will be spared to see it. 
 
 Prince De Ligne, in his amusing memoirs, gives an entertaining 
 account of '^n imperial visit of Catherine II. to her ultra-Russian 
 dominion;-^ in the Crimea. The Tartarian tracts of desolation were 
 as dispeopled as Kildonan and Strathnaver are ; but, in timely ad- 
 vance of the august cortege, workmen were employed to construct 
 nice temporary cottages, in which picturesque peasants greeted their 
 sovereign lady as she glided past; and when the monarch was 
 fairly out of sight, the theatrical tenants were ejected, and the 
 make-shift little mansions were tumbled to the ground ! Prince 
 Potemkin was the author of this stupendous deception, and Prince 
 De Ligne, who was in the secret, and travelling in the imperial 
 carriarje, could hardly refi-ain from chuckling as they 
 passed through a succession of sham villages. I have 
 been informed by a correspondent who is^ in the secrets of the 
 Potemkins of Sutherland, that similar preparations were in contem- 
 plation, should Her Majesty consent to visit Dunrobin Castle ; but 
 
i'ould have 
 
 lese appal- 
 diligently 
 can be ob- 
 contrition, 
 hts of the 
 )elieve that 
 ho followed 
 . Loch's ex 
 jetties and 
 ;ernly and 
 lore unfoi- 
 upon their 
 meeting is 
 :ive dodges, 
 y-five years 
 n my next, 
 iberality, I 
 it I am in- 
 to procure 
 ne way, not 
 ) convene a 
 side, should 
 address our 
 [ired by tlie 
 i she is ad- 
 
 Vlacleod. 
 
 w^hen your 
 erlandshire 
 afford me 
 to see it. 
 ntertaining 
 ra-Russiaii 
 ation were 
 timely ad- 
 I construct 
 eeted their 
 march was 
 i. and the 
 Prince 
 and Prince 
 le imperial 
 as they 
 I have 
 rets of the 
 in contem- 
 IJastle : but 
 
 113 
 
 the dodge was in reality practised upon you, Madam, with success. A 
 goodly number of cottages for the poor were in the process of building in 
 the neighbourhood of Golspie and not far from the castle, when it was made 
 known thAt you were to visit Dunrobin. All the carpenters, masons, 
 slaters, painters, and plumbers that could be procured, and that could get 
 room to work, were employed day and night — superintended during the 
 day by her Grace. The furniture of the old castle, and a good deal of 
 furniture borrowed from the sheep farmers and factors, to replenish or 
 furnish these domiciles of the poor in a splendid style, which with the old 
 castle mirrors, carpets, and hair-bottom chairs and sofas, made a very nice 
 and agreeable appearance. These abodes were presented to you as a 
 sample of Sutherlandshire comforts, and I admit it wotdd be the natural 
 conclusion of your mind, if the poor paupers are so well provided for, 
 and so comfortable, surely the condition of the peasantry must be enviable 
 above any condition of people that ever came under my notice. But, says 
 my correspondent, Mrs. Stowe could not be the length of Inverness on her 
 way back, when every stick of this splendid replenishing was returned, 
 and the poor cottages furnished after the order of the other poorhouses : 
 he adds, "however, they are pretty comfortable, if the necessaries of life 
 will correspond with the building, a question to be decided after this." 
 The Potemkins of Sutherland, exultingly chuckling in a suppressed tone 
 — we have dodged the Yankee-ess, have we noti but, poor old lady, she 
 was much easier dodged than we expected. Ah! what glorious praise we 
 may now expect, when her Delight, or Sublimity of Duurobin Castle, 
 and of our noble family, and of our humane factors and servants, comes out! 
 Good bye. Madam, for the present time. 
 
 This leads me again to the operations of the new and disgraceful Poor 
 Law of Scotland, which is without precedent on the Statute book of any 
 Christian civilized nation on earth. Indeed, when pondering over its 
 details, crooks, chicanery and deception, I am tempted to question whether 
 epidemic blindness and hardness of heart have not seized hold of the ruling 
 and influential classes of society ; and it seems as if Providence had de- 
 termined to destroy the baneful system on which the population of the 
 Highlands has so long grown poor and wretched, by destroying the potato 
 crop; in order to arouse the nation from their culpable apathy, regarding 
 the Highland portion of His vineyard, where He was more beloved, more 
 feared, and His statutes more strictly obeyed than any other portion of 
 His creation, by giving this sharp warning of their danger, in tolerating a 
 system pregriant with disastrous results, and cutting deep at the root of 
 national i uin ; you may easily perceive, if all Scotch and English proprie- 
 tors would follow the example of the Highland and Irish Nimrods, what 
 the resnlt would be. Their rights of property conveys the same power to 
 every one of them, to do with their properties what they please, as they 
 do to Highland lairds. In this age of utility we should expect to find 
 the forest ground of Scotland rapidly decreasing, but the reverse is the 
 case. The Highlands is an outer kingdom that moves uuder different 
 laws of progress from any other portion of Britian. Here the Nimrods ot 
 England made a desperate rally. As they have seen their privileges falling 
 
 ^v 
 
114 
 
 H'V 
 
 ■i.t 
 
 m 
 
 .(:''; 
 
 off one after another by the blows of public opioion, and their parks and game 
 preserves invaded and ruined by the rise of towns, factories, railways, and 
 other democratic nuisances, the sons of the mighty aristocratic ancestors 
 have cast their eyes to the far North, and by universal reigp in that 
 quarter, resolved to make up for all they have lost. Highland proprietors 
 considered that a deer forest was both a necessary and profitable appendage 
 of an estate. If it wanted that it wanted dignity. Hence (according to 
 Mr. Robert Somers, editor of the North British Mail, Glasgow, a gentle- 
 men to whom the Highlanders are much indebted) "Deer forests were 
 introduced in much the same spirit as powdered wigs and four-wheeled 
 carriages at the beginning and end of the last century.'' Now, it is a 
 notorious fact that Highland glens and mountain ranges laid out in forests, 
 is more profitable to a proprietor than when let as a sheep walk, (not 
 speaking of agricultural purposes at all). Not so to the tacksman or to 
 the country, but if it yields more rent to the owner, that one fact is suf- 
 ficient to decide the disposal of it. The huntsman who wants a deer 
 forest, limits his offers by no other calculation than the extent of his purse. 
 He expects no pecuniary return ; his object is simply to spend his money 
 ■id to have sport, and if means will allow, and man be capacitated capacious 
 iDi ugh, he will out-bid every opponent. But had the Legislature taken 
 C;fr-j as they should, and have made the rapidly increased rents of the proprie- 
 tor, -.eible for the employment and maintenance of the people, which 
 tia>^ ' • . . 'i' ;heep walks, deer forests and game preserves, deprived of 
 their U3ii.u,i meaiis of livelihood, the Highlanders might not have had occa- 
 sion to regret the change so much ; or if the Legislature did not see fit to 
 retain and secure their clansmen in those rights of tenure which they and 
 their ancestors had possessed for time immemorial, in the same way as the 
 English copyholders were secured in the reign of Charles II, it ought to 
 have vigorously enforced the Poor Law of James VI and supplemented it 
 with a leaf or two from the 43rd of Queen Elizabeth, the true tenor of which 
 was to provide sufiicient fco^l, clothing and lodgings, to those among the 
 lieges who arc proveably destitute, and who cannot obtain support without 
 public aid. When this law was enforced (in Scotland as I said before) in 
 1845, the Poor Law Amendment Act was enacted, and the administration 
 of this law entrusted or committed to two sets of men, rather say two 
 Boards, viz. , the Board of Supervision and Parochial Board. The Board 
 of Supervision consisted of two able men, (no mistake,) Sir John MacNeil 
 and Mr. Smyth were the responsible parties. The Parochial Boards were 
 composed principally of proprietors, factors, and sheep farmers, established- 
 by-law ministers, doctors, parish schoolmasters, rich merchants, (if favou- 
 rites of the powers that be) with a very thin mixture from any other de- 
 nomination, who hold monthly or quarterly meetings, as they think proper, 
 to deliberate and consider who is deserving relief and who is not. (God 
 help the poor for the tender mercies of the wicked are at the best cruel.) 
 When a poor person puts in a claim, the officer of the Board waits upon 
 him to examine his case, and his report is submitted for judgment at the 
 next meeting of the Board; in most cases the relief is refused, or if granted 
 is so small that it ii inadequate to sustain life ; in most cases from nine 
 
115 
 
 and game 
 trays, and 
 ancestors 
 1 in that 
 roprietors 
 ppendage 
 ;ording to 
 a gentle- 
 ests were 
 r-wheeled 
 w, it is a 
 in forests, 
 valk, (not 
 man or to 
 Pact is suf- 
 its a deer 
 I his purse, 
 his money 
 1 capacious 
 iture taken 
 he proprie- 
 ople, which 
 leprived of 
 e had occa- 
 ot see fit to 
 ;h they and 
 way as the 
 it ought to 
 [emented it 
 ;)r of which 
 [among the 
 t without 
 before) in 
 inistration 
 r say two 
 iThe Board 
 MacNeil 
 loards were 
 jstablished- 
 (if favou- 
 other de- 
 Ink proper, 
 lOt. (God 
 •est cruel.) 
 aits upon 
 entat the 
 if granted 
 from nine 
 
 pence to sixpence per week, and often below that sum, especially if there 
 are more than one pauper in the same house. The only course open for 
 the poor supplicant is to demand a schedule to make their cases known to 
 the Board of Supervision, rather say Sir John MacNeil. These schedules 
 are a printed form with a great amount of interrogatories and large blanks 
 left for iinswers, something like this — 
 
 What is your name] 
 
 What is your agel 
 
 Where were you born] 
 
 Have you any children? 
 
 About forty questions are asked which must be all answered in writing. 
 The other side of this large sheet is left blank for the Inspector of the 
 Poor to make his answers to the complaint. Yes, (but behold where the 
 secret of iniquity and injustice are concealed which brand the concocters, 
 supporters and enactors of this new Poor Law of Scotland with infamy, 
 and should consign the Law itself to everlasting destruction) when the 
 poor pauper gets his or her side of the schedule made up with answers, 
 then it is handed over to the Inspector, who, in general, is the Factor, 
 Parish Schoolmaster or the Doctor of the District, (who of course must 
 be a creature of the Proprietors and Factors) to make up his side of the 
 schedule, he is at liberty to state the truth or the greatest falsehood ima- 
 ginable, (one thing evident he must please the Factor or he will not occupy 
 his situation long) he seals up the schedule in a Parochial Poor Board 
 envelope, under the Board's stamp, and hands it to the supplicant to pay 
 it and post it to the Board of Supervision. This is all the liberty and 
 recourse for obtaining justice the British-enacted Poor Law of Scotland 
 left for their paupers, should the supplicant be as poor, moral, upright and 
 honest as Job. The Inspector may represent him or her immoral, intem- 
 perate, lazy or thievish, having plenty to eat and drink; for the law enacts 
 that no other evidence can be taken or produced to prove the supplicant's 
 claim ; and should the Board of Supervision think proper to reverse the 
 decision of the Parochial Board, what can they do ] they can only (by 
 enacted law) recommend the claimant to get relief ; they dare not state 
 what amount he is entitled fo get; all they can do if the Parochial Board' 
 continues obstinate and allow nothing, they can give the claimant a cer- 
 tificate to employ a Solicitor to bring his case before the Supreme Court 
 at Edinburgh, but this is seldom done. I was six years in Edinburgh 
 during the operation of this law, and only one i)Oor case was permitted to 
 pass the Bar of the Board of Supervision all that time. That case was 
 successful in the Court of Session, but carried to the House of Lords, and 
 how it was decided there I have not heard. The fact is that these Boards,] 
 the Law, and Highland Proprietors are going hand in hand to demoralize, i 
 pauperize and extirpate the race. You have a pointed illustration of 
 this in the following brief account of their co-operation for the consumma- 
 tion of their designs. In the year 1850, Ministers of the Free Ohurch 
 and other dissenting bodies in the Isle of Skye and other districts in the 
 Highlands, forwarded many grievous complaints in behalf of the poor to the 
 Board of Supervision, showing the culpable carelessness and malversation 
 
116 
 
 
 m 
 
 ■ 'it'-i 
 
 !'f' 
 
 and partiality of the Parochial Board, detailing many extreme cases of 
 poverty and actual death by famine. The public press took up the case, 
 and so urgent were the public requests, that Government ordered Sir John 
 MacNeil and Mr, Smyth to repair to the scene of poverty and fields of 
 famine and death, to make enquiry into the truth of these alarming reports. 
 In a fe\r days they landed among the valleys of famine, death and com- 
 plaints. These Commissioners of justice and humanity summoned the 
 Parochial Board and the reverend reporters of distress, before them, and 
 enquired where extreme cases of poverty were to be found j being told, 
 they then enjoined upon the parties to accompany them early next morn- 
 ing, at daylight, to examine these cases. So at daylight they started, and 
 they were in the first instance directed to a poor widow's abode. Is this 
 one of the worst cases you have to showl enquired Sir John; being an- 
 swered in the affirmative, then says he, Mr. Smyth we must see what is 
 within ; in they go, the widow with her three fatherless children were in 
 bed. Holo, cries Sir John, have you any food in the house 1 Very little 
 indeed sir, was the reply. Sir John, by this time was searching and 
 opening boxes, where nothing but rags and emptiness was to be found; at 
 last he uncovered a pot where there was about three pounds of cold pot- 
 tage ; Smyth discovered a small bowl or basin of milk. Sir John bawls 
 out with an authoritative tone, holding out the cold pottage in one hand and 
 the basin of milk in the other, " Do you presume, gentlemen, to call this 
 an extreme case of poverty, where so much meat was left after being 
 satisfied at supper?" Some of the party ventured to mutter out, "that is 
 all the poor woman has." "Hush" says Sir John, "she was cunning 
 enough to hide the rest." Sir John's dog made a bolt at the pottage and 
 devoured the most of it ; the party left ; did not go far when the dog got 
 sick. "That d — n cold pottage has poisoned my valuable dog," says 
 Sir John ; the servant was ordered back to the inn to physic the dog. 
 The whole investigation of the day was conducted in a similar manner ; 
 only the dog was taken care of, and not allowed among the pots of the 
 perishing people. Next day Sir John summoned the Parochial Board to 
 appear before him, to get instructions for their future proceedings. The 
 Board attended, and Sir John addressed them nearly as follows : — 
 
 Gkntlkmkn of the Board — The Government who sent me out, will 
 not compel you to give out more relief than you are giving, until extreme 
 cases of famine are made out. Extreme cases means death by famine ; 
 such cases makes you culpable and responsible to the law of the land. 
 Gentlemen, (understand me) who are almost to a man. Ministers of the 
 Gospel, Missionaries, Priests, Sheepfarmers, Factors, Game Keepers, 
 Foresters, Doctors, and Proprietors, to whom the Government look for 
 truth ; whose prerogative, by a special Act of Parliament, is to report the 
 cause of death in the Isle of Skyeduring these clamorous times (understand 
 me), be very careful about making out your reports ; how can you prove 
 the death of any one to be caused by want of food without having first a 
 post mortem examination of the body by more than one medical man. 
 There are many other distempers and diseases that may linger about 
 people, that may cut away life very quick when a person is in a weak state 
 
le cases of 
 3 the case, 
 d Sir John 
 i fields of 
 Dg reports. 
 1 and com- 
 ononed the 
 them, and 
 being told, 
 next morn- 
 tarted, and 
 le. Is this 
 
 being an- 
 3ee what is 
 ren were in 
 Very little 
 rching and 
 e found; at 
 if cold pot- 
 Fohn bawls 
 lie hand and 
 , to call this 
 after being 
 )ut, "that is 
 as cunning 
 pottage and 
 
 the dog got 
 
 dog," says 
 ic the dog. 
 ir manner; 
 
 pots of the 
 [al Board to 
 3. The 
 
 [ws ; — 
 
 |e out, will 
 
 til extreme 
 
 by famine ; 
 the land. 
 
 (ters of the 
 Keepers, 
 
 int look for 
 report the 
 nderstand 
 you prove 
 
 Iving first a 
 al man. 
 iger about 
 
 I weak state 
 
 117 
 
 for want of nourishment, which cannot be attributed to famine. So, be 
 aware of what you are about, for I assure you if you continue to report 
 extreme cases and death by famine, you shall (gentlemen) find yourselves 
 in a sad dilemma when you have to defend yourselves at the bar of a Jus- 
 ticiary Court for culpable homicide. , 
 
 These instructions and definition of the Scotch new Poor Law Bill 
 enactment were forwarded to every Parochial Board in Scotland, and had 
 the desired effect. We never heard, nor never will hear of ai\ extreme 
 case of death by famine in the Highlands of Scotland. It could not be 
 expected that such valuable men as constitute, the Parochial Boards in 
 Scotland, would criminate themselves for the sake of making up a faithful 
 report of the cause of deaths among the unfortunate despised Highlanders. 
 Yet vengeance for all these evil doings, says God, is mine; I am forbear- 
 ing but not an all -forbearing God. 
 
 '' Hence then, and evil go with thee, along 
 
 Thy offspring the place of evil — hell 
 
 Thou and thy wicked crew; there mingle broils 
 
 Ere this avenging sword begin thy doom, 
 
 Or some more sudden vengeance wing'd from God 
 
 Precipitate thee with augmented pains — Paradise Lost. « 
 
 an*8 
 
 May we not exclaim in the language of immortal Burns, " IM 
 inhumanity to man . . ." — and borrow a short paragraph from Shylock, 
 but to change the names, which is quite applicable to the Highland Board, 
 proprietors and their accomplices: "Are we not Highlander: have High- 
 landers no eyes; have Highlanders no hands, organs, dimensions, senses, 
 afiections, passions, and appetites, that should be fed with the same food 
 with you; are Highlanders not hurt with the same weapon, and healed by 
 the same means as you are, warmed and cooled by the same summer and 
 winter as you are 'J If you prick us, do we not bleed and feel it? If you 
 tickle us, do we not laugh 1 If you poison and starve us, do we not die I 
 If you persecute us and wrong us, shall we not be revenged 1 If we are like 
 you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. The villany you have 
 taught us we will execute, and it will go hard with us, or we will better 
 the instructiorfs when our turn of revenge will come." To detail the 
 preconcerted destructive schemes manifested in every chapter of this bill, 
 (which, indeed, we may say, was conceived in sin and brought forth in 
 iniquity ;) the malversation of its administration, the fatal effects of its 
 operations, would require more room than I can spare : you will have to 
 be content with the foregoing specimen ; and I think it should convince 
 you of the length that the machinations of evil doers in high places may 
 go, to rob and punish their fellow creatures, and to make the credulous 
 world believe that all they do is for the good of their victims. Look at a 
 Board of Supervision sitting in secret at Edinburgh, a distance 
 of about 400 miles from some of the most impoverised districts in 
 Scotland, hearing the complaints of the poor only upon schedules, refusing 
 them a right of reply to the allegations of hostile inspectors, and giving no 
 reasons for its decisions, though involving questions of life or death to 
 the poor. The sheriffs of counties were even debarred from giving them 
 
 
118 
 
 u\m 
 
 fjii 
 
 la.ri 
 
 justice when deprived of adequate relief. All these precautions were 
 taken lest the poor might have power to impose upon the parochial boards. 
 A grosser misapprehension of the relative position and strength of the two 
 parties could not possibly be acted upon. A Highland pauper is one of 
 tlift most helpless of mortals: a Highland Poor Board, so far as its juris- 
 diction extends, is all-powerful, embracing in its ranks the whole wealth 
 and influence of a parish. If the legislature had had any sincere intention 
 of giving the poor a chance of justice against the prejudices of the boards, 
 it would have thought of strengthening instead of weakening their posi- 
 tion, but the blunder or the crime, whichever it may be, of 1845, ought 
 now to be atoned for. Let the sheriffs be empowered to review the 
 decisions of the parochial board in re8i)ect to the amount of relief; let the 
 old right of appeal, free of let or hindrance, to the Court of Session be 
 restored ; let the Board of Supervision itself be made amenable in all its 
 acts to that supreme tribunal to which all classes and bodies of Scotchmen 
 are accustomed to bow in respectful deference ; and, in short, let every 
 possible facility be given to the poor of stating their complaints in the 
 courts of justice of having their claims impartially investigated, and of 
 obtaining decisions in accordance with the law, and not with the narrow and 
 illiberal views of bodies which have a palpable interest in depriving the 
 poor of an adequate maintenance. As for the objection that the expense 
 of maintaining the poor would soon consume the entire rental of the 
 HighlaiKls, it has no foundation in fact. The total amount expended on 
 the poor in the four counties of Sutherland, Ross, Inverness, and Argyle, 
 though embracing six months of the severe and universal distress occa- 
 sioned by the failure of the potato crop, was only £37,618 lis. 7fd., 
 being scarcely 6^ per cent, of the valued rent. This sum may be 
 considerably increased, without exceeding the rate of assessment in many 
 parts of the coimtiy in ordinary years. But even supposing that the 
 expenditure on the poor should rise to a height ijxtremely inconvenient to 
 the proprietors, I do not perceive that this would be disastrous. The 
 proprietors have the means of correcting this evil in their own hands. 
 There is no country on earth where the duty of children to support their 
 aged and disabled parents, and the ties of kindred generally, are more 
 profoundly respected than in the Highlands. As long as a Highlandnian 
 has a bite and a sup he shares it with an aged father or mother. It ic 
 only when reduced to poverty himself that he allows any of his near kind- 
 red to claim tlio benefit of the poor's roll. The policy of the Highland 
 lairds for many years has been to deprive the able-bodied of their holdings 
 of land, to reduce them to the verge of destitution, and compel them, if 
 possible to emigrate. The direct tendency of these meas^ures has been 
 to increase the number of the aged and infirm dependent upon parochial 
 relief. The proprietors have only to reverse their policy, to keep the 
 able-bodied at home, to lay opon the soil to their industry, and to pro- 
 mote their industry, their comfort and independence, in order to reduce 
 the burden of the aged and disabled poor. This is the safety-valve of 
 a liberal and effectual Poor Law. While it would protect the poor from 
 stai'vation and suffering, it would constrain the owners of property, by the 
 
119 
 
 tions were 
 [lial boards. 
 I of the two 
 sr is one of 
 as its juris- 
 lole wealth 
 'e intention 
 the boards, 
 their posi- 
 845, ought 
 review the 
 lief; let the 
 Session be 
 )]e in all its 
 Scotchmen 
 i, let every 
 ints in the 
 ;ed, and of 
 narrow and 
 jriving the 
 ;he expense 
 ntal of the 
 xpended on 
 ,nd Argyle, 
 tress occa- 
 lis. 7fd., 
 m may be 
 nt in many 
 g that the 
 ivenient to 
 Dus. The 
 wn hands, 
 [jport their 
 are more 
 hlandinau 
 ler. It ic 
 near kind- 
 Highland 
 r holdings 
 them, if 
 has been 
 parochial 
 keep the 
 I to pro- 
 to reduce 
 valve of 
 poor from 
 ty, by the 
 
 A 
 
 bonds of self-interest, to consult the happiness of the people, to strive for 
 their employment, and to introduce that new division and management of 
 the soil which lie at the foundation of permanent improvement. The 
 same considerations which induced the proprietors would dispose the sheep- 
 farmers to submit to the new" order of things. Farewell to the Poor Law 
 at present. 
 
 Bad and inadequate as the relief for the poor was, there were still more 
 inconsistent and imbecile schemes tried, and propositions were made to 
 relieve them : such as the Patriotic Society schemes, headed by the Duke 
 of Sutherland, and the most notorious portion of his co depopulators in the 
 Highlands, which broug'ht me out in the following letter to the Northern 
 Ensign, when the emigration of the Highlanders to the waste bogs of 
 Ireland and Wales, and the Russian war opened a field for me. I am 
 sorry that I cannot refrain from repetitions, as I had to contend with so 
 many deceivers of my countrymen and of the public, almost single-handed, 
 and had often to use the same arguments with them, so you must excuse 
 me for repetitions. This Patriotic Society employed a sneaking scoundrel 
 to bring their scheme of relief of the Highlanders before the public, which, 
 as may be seen at a glance, was a scheme to plunder the credulous public. 
 After his first tour in the Highlands, on his return he had the efirontery 
 to advertise a public meeting in the Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh, to give 
 an account of success in the Highlands. I had an opportunity to confro*^'; 
 him, face to face, at this meeting, and I assure you it was not much in his 
 favour I did meet him: he had good cause to understand that his knavery 
 was dismantled before we parted. . , . 
 
 lo the Editor of the Northern Ensign. 
 
 Sir, — How proud I would be, and what pleasure it would afford me, if 
 I could but give vent to my feelings of gratitude towards you, for your 
 manly, timely and practical interposition in behalf of my ill-used, mis- 
 represented and long-neglected countrymen, at a time when all other 
 philanthropists who have exerted themselves in their behalf as yet soem to 
 content themselves with merely suggesting plans and remedies, which will 
 take years before they can bring relief ; and, alas, after thousands of the 
 Highlanders will after the most agonizing sufferings, drop into a premature 
 grave. Look, for instance, at Mr. Bond, Secretary for the Royal Patriotic • 
 Association, (under the patronage of the Duke of Sutherland, his commis- 
 sioner, Mr. Loch, and others,) travelling in the Highlands, with about half 
 a cwt. of cottage models on his back, going from one duke's palace to 
 another, from one marquis to another, from one factor to another, from one 
 grade of proprietors and other underlings to another, including ministers, 
 schoolmasters, sheriffs, and fiscals, collecting information about Highland 
 destitution, and the cause of it, and consulting them upon the best scheme 
 to remedy the evil. Yes, consulting men whose predecessors and them- 
 selves have been steeping and racking their brains for the last half century, 
 contriving how to destroy and extirpate the Highland peasantry from the 
 land of their fathers, arid reduce them to their present deplorable condition 
 
 ^ ;^ 
 
 I ., 
 
130 
 
 — men, I emphatically say, that instead of being consulted, should be 
 arraigned at the bar of public justice, dealt with as traitors, and their 
 property confiscated, for they of verity destroyed and trod under foot the 
 best portion of the national bulwork. But this assuming Mr. Bond comes 
 before the public so ostentatiously, just as it men could believe bis infor- 
 mation, or be assured that the plans he and the oppressors of the people 
 ,had devised could save their victims from perishing or bettering their 
 condition in future. 
 
 During Mr. Bond's perambulations in the Highi''T\dg, he had to travel 
 over extensive tracts of fine lands and fertile glen sting with fatness 
 
 and teeming with everything that is necessary to .^*»Ke the people com- 
 fortable and independent of charity, but locked up from them, and lying 
 a solitary waste, or under brute beasts, where no sweeter strains are heard 
 than the screeches of the night owl, or the barking of the collie dogs, and 
 the image of God upon man dare not approach the spot. This M r. Bond did 
 see, though often gliding smoothly over these tracts, shut up snugly {with 
 his models) in the laird's coach, or in the Commissioner's dog cart. But 
 then comes Mr. Bond upon the portion of the Highlands allotted to the 
 people, viz., the creeks, j)recipices, bogs, barren moors and bye-corners, 
 places found both dangerous and unprofitable to rear sheep and bullocks, 
 in most cases dangerous for deer and goats to approach, and never designed 
 by the God of Nature for cultivation or the abode of human Ijeinge. 
 Here he found them in clusters and motley groups, where they were 
 huddled together after being exf)elled from their fertile valleys, and with- 
 out leases or encouragement to improve, should it b )ssible to do so. If 
 I am not mistaken, (for I don't hear well,) Mr. Bo laitted at a public 
 
 meeting in Edinburgh, that he had seen some oi i,. people tearing or 
 cultivating moss which was as tough as India rubber, and as unsusceptible 
 of rearing human food as gutta percha ; that the seed they sowed in the 
 evening was wholly eaten up by birds before morning, as nothing could be 
 torn out of the spongy moss to cover the seed, though he himself were to 
 try on the harrow. Mr. Bond found the people without food, money or 
 clothing; they were dirty, starving looking creatures ; they were living in 
 turf hovels, (houses he could not call them.) The lords of the soil com- 
 plained that the wretches would neither joay rent nor go away ; that all 
 their means were nearly eaten up with poor rates ; and that they were 
 alarmed out of measure, as the case and cries of the poor wretches had 
 already reached the ears of Government, and that an able-bodied poor law 
 was likely to be the result. Besides, Dr. Begg, of Edinburgh, had 
 bestirred the Free Church ministers and other influential bodies in behalf 
 of these miserable-looking wretches, and the public are becoming very 
 indignant at being called upon year after year for subscriptions to keep 
 them alive, even though it is the desire of the Highland landlords that 
 they were all dead or banished. Oh ! exclaimed Mr. Bond. I see what 
 will remedy the whole evil. These dirty, unshapely, and uncomfortable 
 turf hovels must be changed to cleanly stone-built cottages, of which this 
 is a model, and if our Association can procure money from the Govern- 
 ment, or from the public, and that you, gentlemen, will grant sites, we 
 
should be 
 and their 
 er foot the 
 ond comes 
 ? his infor- 
 the people 
 ring their 
 
 1 to travel 
 ith fatness 
 eople com- 
 : anii lying 
 ] are heard 
 ; dogs, and 
 . Bond did 
 I ugly (icith 
 airt. But 
 tted to the 
 ye-corners, 
 d bullocks, 
 ;r designed 
 an Wings, 
 they were 
 , and '.vith- 
 ^ do so. If 
 it a public 
 tearing or 
 lusceptible 
 ed in the 
 could be 
 •^Ifwere to 
 money or 
 e living in 
 soil com- 
 ; that all 
 they were 
 tches had 
 1 poor law 
 irgh, had 
 in behalf 
 ling very 
 to keep 
 ords that 
 see what 
 fortable 
 hich this 
 Govem- 
 sites. we 
 
 121 
 
 will undertake the building. This suggestion met at once the approbation 
 of Highland Dukes, Lords and Commons, cunning enough to know as well 
 as I do, (however Utopian the suggestion was) that if the public, through 
 the high-sounding names connected with this society, could be gulled to 
 join it and subscribe to its funds, and Government to grant a large sum of 
 the public money, and the Royal Patriotic Society to build houses with it, 
 I say they knew it was a scheme which would at least take a hundred 
 years in its operation, and then vanish like a burst bottle of smoke. But 
 the houses would be foun'l useful to the proprietors, for the dwellings of 
 shepherds and dogs, or, as some churches in the Highlands just now, for 
 sheltering sheep during stormy nights, or for wool stores, and manses for 
 the abodes of gamekeepers, fox-hunters and foresters. Let the public and 
 Government be guarded against such futile sophistry and preconcerted 
 machinations, and let me tell them that it is not neat cottages that the 
 Highlanders now need to redeem them from their misera])ly pauperised 
 condition, or to better their condition in future, and elevate their position 
 in society. It is the land the Highlanders would require, yes, the land 
 now under beasts; and unless they get that, it is in vain to suggest or 
 devise remedies; they will ultimately perish unless they become State 
 paupers. But if they get the land which God designed for cultivation, 
 they will soon cease to be objects of commisseration, and they will pay 
 rents and become independant o^' charity. Then let them build such 
 houses as will suit themselves, whether of mud, turf or stones. Many a 
 brave Highlander was reared in a turf house, whose intrepidity and valor 
 gained many ^ ictorios and immortal fame and praise to the nation which 
 has callously, cruelly, and carelessly allowed a few despotic minions to 
 reduce the progeny of Hie heroes of Bannockburn, Sheriffmuir, Killie- 
 crankie. Prestonpans, F* itenoy, Egypt, Corunna, Salamanca, Vittoria, 
 and Waterloo, to' their present deplorably destitute condition, a by-word 
 and an eye-sore to the nation, which often had cause to be proud of them 
 in many a battlefield, and would be proud of them still more if they had 
 but half fair play. 
 
 Contrast the present race of Highlands with those of forty-five, who, 
 when only a few clans of them joined together, shook this empire to its 
 very centre, and were within a very little of placing the crown of England 
 upon the head of one who (with all his faults,) would not see nor hear of a 
 Highlander dying for want of food while there would be a bullock, deer, 
 ram, sheep, or lamb living in the land, not speaking of allowing thousands 
 of acres of fertile land in his dominions to lie waste to feed such animals — 
 and after you compare them, (without any reference to the cause in which 
 our predecessors were engaged,) ask what is the cause, and who were, and 
 are to be blamed for such fearful deterioration of everything that was 
 recommendable or characteristic of our forefathers 1 Mr. Bond and his 
 patrons will reply, the Highlanders are exceedingly lazy — yes, lazy, they 
 will not make bricks without straw. I am encroaching too much on your 
 liberality ; perhajw I will recur to the subject again. Hoping the Govern- 
 ment and the nation will respond to the voice of heaven, that the High- 
 
w 
 
 122 
 
 landers will be saved from dying for want of food, and this nation from a 
 stain on their profession of Christianity that ages will not \npe off. 
 
 I am, (fee, 
 
 DONALD M'LEOD. 
 16, S Richmond St., 
 Edinburgh, February 4, 1851. , 
 
 The emigration of the Highlanders to the wastes of Ireland, and to send 
 them Gaelic Bibles and Psalm Books to supply the spiritual famine then 
 discovered among the dying people, brought me out in the following : — 
 
 To the Editor of the Northern Ensign. 
 
 Sir, — Though I confess my inability to ascertain the exact amount of 
 money expended to meet the spiritual and temporal destitution of the 
 Highland population, by preaching and teaching the Protestant Christian 
 religion, and promoting British civilization in the Highlands and Islands 
 of Scotland, yet I am confident that any one who could ascertain the 
 amount, would be ready to conclude that the Highlanders should be the 
 most religious, the most enlightened, the most civilized, and the most 
 comfortable people under the canopy of heaven. In my opinion, the 
 amount cannot be le" , or not more, than three millions sterling. To pre- 
 vent such conclusion^,, I am resolved in my old simple style to prove to 
 you and your readers, that it had been well for the Highlanders if they 
 had never seen a farthing of the immense sum, and that the progress of 
 civilization and religion were left to Heaven and their own exertions. 
 This will be easier credited, when we candidly and impartially compare 
 the present state of religion, comfort and civilization in the Highlands, 
 with that which existed about fifty years ago, or before one farthing of 
 these enormous sums was expended to improve either. Besides, I am at 
 no loss to prove to your satisfaction, that the principal contributors to 
 those societies who squandered the money, were the chief plunderers of the 
 people; hence, that it was neither for the glory of God nor the elevation 
 of the Highlanders that the money was contributed and expended. Be- 
 stov/ing chai'ity in all ages has had the most effectual tendency to make 
 beggars. Only think of men in power depriving their subjects of their 
 corn fields and of every means of their subsistence, then to cloak their un- 
 righteous doings, would subscribe liberally that the poor would receive 
 Gaelic Bibles and Psalm Books in lieu of their plunder, 
 
 I ain now advanced in years, and have a pretty correct recollection of 
 passing events and of the movements of society for the last fifty years. 
 At that period, and down to the period at which the calamities accompa- 
 nying the clearing system overcook us, and before we came under the 
 Loch iron rod of oppression, and drank of that bitter cup of many wither- 
 ing ingredients which accompanied that ever cursed and condemned by 
 God system, I say that we lived what might be termed a happy life, when 
 
on from a 
 3 off. 
 
 LEOD. 
 
 ,nd to send 
 imine then 
 owing : — 
 
 amount ot 
 bion of the 
 t Christian 
 md Islands 
 certain the 
 3\ild be the 
 i the most 
 pinion, the 
 35. To pre- 
 ;o prove to 
 lers if they 
 progress of 
 exertions, 
 compare 
 Highlands, 
 farthing of 
 es, I am at 
 ributors to 
 erera of the 
 e elevation 
 nded. Be- 
 ;y to make 
 ts of their 
 ,k their un- 
 iild receive 
 
 ollection of 
 
 fifty years. 
 
 s accompa- 
 under the 
 ny wither- 
 
 ndemned by 
 life, when 
 
 123 
 
 compared with the present. Some years our corn crops Mould fail, but 
 we had cattle which we could sell, and purchase food with the price <rf 
 them ; we had sheep and goats which we could take and eat ; we had 
 salmon and trout for the taking ; we had abundance of milk, butter and 
 cheese ; and none of us ever died by famine. To the stranger every dooi- 
 was open ; to the lame, needy, and poor every hand was stretched with 
 relief ; to the sick and afflicted every breast was full of sympathy. Sab- 
 bath desecration, profane swearing, drunkenness, disobedience to parents, 
 immorality of every description, in short, every violation of the laws of 
 God and rules of society, was considered as a heinous crime, and not 
 allowed to pass with impunity. I may add, without fear of refutation, 
 that there was not exceeding four families in the county of Sutherland 
 but who worshipped God morning and evening in their respective families. 
 Weekly, mv^i-thly, and yearly prayer meetings were held in every district. 
 The pulpits of our respective parish churches were occupied by ministers 
 worthy of their vocation, who were making themselves well acquainted 
 with their flocks by visiting them often, besides having Men known for 
 their piety and exempfery virtues, (chosen by the people), appointed to 
 examine, instruct, admonish, and reprove, when required. There was no 
 need for fiscal, constables, thief-catchers, or policemen to keep us quiet 
 and protect property ; till of late years these hateful names were not known 
 in the Gaelic language. Now, this is a brief sketch of the state of religion 
 and civilization in the beginning of this century. Query, what is it now ] 
 Yet, though these are stubborn facts which challenge refutation, I am 
 aware, while I confine my observations to Highland character and High- 
 landers among these secluded glens, romantic mountains, and cascades, 
 for many years their religion and moral virtues have become an easy prey 
 to every vile calumniator, theologian and historian, down from M'CuUocli 
 and Loch of Sutherland, to the /Scotsman and your own contemporary at 
 the Bridgend ; so that I am unprotected from the literary scourges of 
 Highland hnppiness, civilization, and religion. Hence I must extend my 
 remarks to a period when the Sutherland Highlanders were embodied, and 
 came before the world in such a position that their character could neither 
 be concealed nor villified with impunity, and we will hear what competent 
 impartial judges said of them, among other Highland regiments. General 
 Stewart of Garth, in his 'Sketches jf the Highlands,' says : In the words 
 of a general officer by whom the 93d Sutherlanders were once reviewed, 
 *' They exhibit a perfect pattern of military discipline and moral rectitude. 
 In the case of such men disgraceful punishment would be as unnecessary 
 as it would be pernicious." ' Indeed,' says the general ' so remote was the 
 idea of such a measure in regard to them, that when punishments were to 
 be inflicted on others, and the troop in garrison assembled to witness their 
 execution, the presence of the Sutherland Highlanders was dispensed with, 
 the effects of terror as a check to crime being in their case uncalled for, 
 as examples of that nature were not necesssary for such honourable soldiers. 
 When the Sutherland Highlanders were stationed at the Cape of Good 
 Hope, anxious to enjoy the advantage of religious instruction agreeably to 
 the tenets of their national church", and there being no religious service in 
 
 to-, I « 
 
 
 i \ 
 
 
 1:1 
 
 
 fc •■:;: 
 
 *-«*■■ ifc)^ 
 
 |m 
 
 i;-. '^■'' 
 
 i 
 
 k- ^-' 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 it 
 
 124 
 
 the garrison except the customary one of reading prayers to the soldiers on 
 pfirade, the Sutherland men,' says the general, 'formed themselves into a 
 congregation, appointed elders of their own number, engaged and paid a 
 stipenH (collected among themselves) to a clergyman of the Church of 
 Scotland, and had divine service performed agreeable to the ritual of the 
 Established Church every Sabbath, and prayer meetings through the 
 week.' This reverend gentleman, Mr. Thorn, in a letter which appeared 
 in the Christian Herald of October 1814, writes thus: 'When the 93rd 
 Highlanders left Cape Town last month, there were among them 156 
 members of the church, including three elders and three deacons, all of 
 whom, so far as men can know the heart from the life, were pious men. 
 The regiment was certainly a pattern of morality, and good behaviour to 
 all other corps. They read their Bibles and observed the Sabbath. They 
 saved their money to do good. 7,000 rix dollars, a sum equal to £1,200 
 sterling, the non-commissioned officers and privates saved for books, socie- 
 ties, and for the spread of the Gospel, a sum unparalleled in any other 
 corps in the world, given in the short space of eighteen months. Their 
 example had a general good effect on both the coionists and the heathen. 
 If ever apostolic days were revived in modern times on earth, I certainly 
 believe some of those to have been granted to us in Africa.' Another 
 letter of a similar kind, addressed to the Committee of the Edinbui'gh 
 Gaelic School Society (fourth annual report), says : 'th" 93rd Highlanders 
 arrived in England, when they immediately received orders to proceed to 
 North America ; but, before they re-embarked, the sum collected for your 
 society was made up and remitted to your treasurer, amounting to seventy- 
 eight poundj sterling.' * In addition to this,' says the noble minded 
 immortal General, * such of them as had parents and friends in Sutherland 
 did not forget their destitute condition, occasioned by the operation of the 
 {fire and faggot) " ffM>-im proved state of the country." During the short 
 period the regiment was quartered at Plymouth, upwards of ;;^oOO wag 
 lodged in one banking-house, to be remitted to Sutherland, exclusive of 
 many sums sent through the Post-office and by officers ; some of the sums 
 exceeding ^20 from an individual soldier. Men like these do credit to 
 the peasantry of a country. ' It must appear strange, and somewhat incon- 
 sistent.' continues the general, 'when, the same men who are so loud in 
 their profession of an eager desire to promote and preserve the religious 
 and moral virtues of the people, should so frequently take the lead in re- 
 moving them from where they inbibed principles which have attracted 
 the notice of Europe, and of measures which lead to a deterioration, placing 
 families on patches of potato ground as in Ireland, a system pregnant with 
 degradation, poverty, and disaffection.' It is only when parents and 
 heads of families in the Highlands are moral, happy, and contented, that 
 they can instil sound principles into their children, who in their inter- 
 course with the world may become what the men of Sutherland have 
 already been, " an honourable example worthy the imitation of all." 
 
 I cannot help being grieved at my unavoidable abbreviation of these 
 heart-stirring and heart-warming extracts^ which should ornament every 
 mantle-piece and library in the Highlands of Scotland ; but I could refer 
 
Idlers on 
 es into a 
 id paid a 
 hurch of 
 lal of the 
 )ugh the 
 appeared 
 the 93rd 
 hem 156 
 IS, all of 
 3US men. 
 aviour to 
 h. They 
 
 £1,200 
 •ks, socie- 
 iny other 
 . Their 
 heathen, 
 certainly 
 Another 
 dinburgh 
 ;hlanders 
 )roceed to 
 
 1 for your 
 ) seventy- 
 minded 
 
 itherland 
 on of the 
 
 \e short 
 500 was 
 usive of 
 
 le Slims 
 credit to 
 at incon- 
 
 loud in 
 religious 
 
 ad in re- 
 ittracted 
 
 , placing 
 ant with 
 
 nts and 
 
 ted, that 
 
 ir inter- 
 
 nd have 
 
 all." 
 
 of these 
 t every 
 Id refer 
 
 125 
 
 to other authors of similar weight; among the last, (though not the least), 
 Mr. Hugh Miller of the Witness, in his ' Sutherland as it was, and is : or. 
 How a country can be ruined;' a work which should silence and put to 
 shame every vile, malignant, calumniator of Highland religion and moral 
 virtue in bygone years, who in their sophistical profession of a desirie to 
 promote the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people, had their own 
 sordid cupidity and aggrandisement in view in all their unworthy lucubra- 
 tions, (as I will endeavour to show at a future period.) Come then, ye 
 perfidious declaimers and denouncers ; you literary scourges of Highland 
 happiness, under whatever garb, whether political economist or theology 
 mongers, answer for yourselves — What good Ijave you achieved, after 
 expending such enormous sums of money 1 Is it possible that the world 
 will believe you, or put confidence in you any longer 1 Before I am done 
 with you, come, you professing preachers of the everlasting gospel of peace 
 and of good will to men, stand alongside and on the same platform with 
 the Highland Destitution Relief Board, exhibited before God and the 
 world, and accused of misapplying and squandering away an enormous 
 amount of money, and of having in your league, and combination with 
 political economists — treacherous professing civilizers and improvei's of the 
 Highlands and Highland population, — produced the most truly deplorable 
 results that ever were recorded in the history of any nation, the utter 
 ruin and destruction of as brave, moral, religious, loyal, and patriotic 
 a race of men as ever existed. Spiritual and temporal destitution in the 
 Highlands has been a profitable field for you these many years back. 
 Many a scheme have you tried (hitherto successful) to extract money from 
 the pockets of the credulous benevolent public, who unfortunately believed 
 your fabulous accusation and misrepresentation of the Highlanders, and 
 who confided in your honesty ; and although you, yourselves, may see ; the 
 public, yea, and he that runneth may see, that the Lord (not without a 
 cause) has discountenanced you, still you continue your appeals to the 
 public, that your traffic may continue likewise ; appeals from respectable 
 quarters have lately been made for Gaelic teachers, Gaelic bibles, and 
 psalm books, and tracts, for the poor Highlanders, who are dying for want 
 of food ; depend upon it that there is a squad of students out of employ- 
 ment, and a great deal of these books unsold somewhere, that must be 
 turned to money. We have now an association forming in Edinburgh, 
 got up by men from whom better things should be expected, who have 
 for their object to export these dying, penniless Highlanders to Ireland, 
 to mix location with the poor Irish — who have gone through many a fiery 
 ordeal for the last sixty years — that the wastes of Ireland may be reclaimed 
 from nature, and cultivated by Highlanders ; just as if there was no waste 
 land in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to reclaim and cultiva,te; or, 
 as if there was something devilish or unnatural in the Highland soil, and 
 detrimental to the progress of its inhabitants. Perhaj)s they have in view 
 to have the Highlanders trained in the school and discipline of that great 
 and useful lady (to the fiscal department) Molly ArGuire, to partake of 
 her uncouth freaks. Very likely the next sj^eculative experiment will be 
 the exportation of Highlanders to Wales, to learn the humoursome freaks 
 
126 
 
 of Rebekah, since all the ingenuity of evildoers, evil teachers, the effects 
 of famine, oppression, and false accusation, have been baffled to make them 
 murder, rob, steal, or destroy property, while on the (stubborn and unpro- 
 ductive of crime) Highland soil. 
 
 You, benevolent public, pause, for a little while, till I have time to ex- 
 plain myself better, and draw the curtain of the stage of devices, chicanery, 
 and deception, and be no longer the abettors and accomplices of Highland 
 depopulators — the legitimate parents of Highland calamities. 
 
 Britain will some day bewail the loss of her Highland sons. Highland 
 bravery, loyalty, patriotism and Highland virtue. May God hasten the 
 day, that I may live to see it. 
 
 Meantime, yours, «fec., 
 
 DONALD M'LEOD. 
 
 [Note, — Molly McGuire was Chief Judge of what was termed the Lynch Law of 
 Ireland, When au evictor or a man used intrigues to supplant any of Molly's So- 
 ciety, he was at once summoned to her bar, to be judged by Molly, yet the man 
 did not know where to attend, being a secret court ; yet the case would go on and 
 Molly would employ a counsel to defend the accused, where I am told erei^ facility 
 was afforded him and rewarded provided he could exonerate the accused; otherwise 
 there was nothing for him. If the accused was found innocent he got notice to 
 that effect, that he had nothing to fear; but if found guilty he was next day 
 warned to leave the country or prepare for eternity, that upon a certain day and 
 hour he was to be dispatched by order of Molly M'Guire, which orders were in 
 general punctually executed, Again, when farmers raised the price of butcher's 
 meat so high that her disciples could not buy it, Molly (in order to keep the meat 
 market down at a reasonable price) would order so many of her subjects to proceed 
 to the town or district where such high prices were wrung from the poor people 
 to (what they termed) houghing all the fat cattle and sheep in the district, so as to 
 compel them to sell cheap. Yet we have writers of no small reputation maintain- 
 ing that " however diabolical Molly M'Guire 's laws, rules, and operations were, 
 still there was more humanity and justice discerned than in the new Poor Law of 
 Scotland. " Rebekah was the leader of the Toll breakers in Wales, South of England, 
 some few years ago, but solely on account of being English, Rebekah and her 
 children claimed redress for their grievances, and the offensive Tolls were removed .] 
 
 To the Editor of the Northern Ent'gn. 
 
 Sib, — If in my last I have suceeded in making out a claim upon the 
 sympathy and interposition of the nation, in behalf of my unfortunate 
 countrymen, where is the Christian heart so void of sympathy as not to 
 throb heavily, or the eye so void of pity as not to shed a bitter tear over 
 the lamentable fate of this peaceable, inoffensive, and once brave peoplel 
 Or where is the Ohristian heart that is not full of indignation, or the eye 
 that will not look with abhorrence, upon the criminal men who are the 
 legitimate parents and sole cause of all the sufferings and premature agon- 
 izing death to which the Highland population are doomed 1 Napoleon 
 Bonaparte, at one period of his horrible career in Turkey, ordered four 
 hundred Musselmen whom he had taken prisoners, to be shot, because he 
 
127 
 
 he electa 
 lake them 
 lid unpro- 
 
 iine to ex- 
 chicanery, 
 Highland 
 
 Highland 
 basten the 
 
 LEOD. 
 
 'nch Law of 
 Molly's So- 
 ;t the man 
 i go on and 
 reiy facility 
 I; otherwise 
 )t notice to 
 a next clay 
 in day and 
 ers were in 
 of butcher's 
 lep the meat 
 8 to proceed 
 poor people 
 rict, so as to 
 )u maintain- 
 itions were, 
 oor Law of 
 of England, 
 ah and her 
 removed.] 
 
 upon the 
 ifortunate 
 as not to 
 tear over 
 ve peoplel 
 or the eye 
 are the 
 ture agon- 
 Napoleon 
 ered fmr 
 )ecause he 
 
 could not provide them with food, and to let them go free he would not, 
 and he saw that they would die by famine — hence mercy dictated that they 
 would be formed into a solid square, and 2,000 French muskets loaded 
 with ball cartridges levelled at them, which was done, and this disarmed 
 mournful square mass of human beings were quickly put out of pain. All 
 the Christian nations of Europe were horrified, and every breast was full 
 of indignation at the perpetrator of this horrible tragedy, and France wept 
 bitterly for the manner in which the tender mercies of their wicked Em- 
 peror were exhibited. Ah ! but guilty Christian, your Protestant law-mak- 
 ing 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, and innocent children, to a death a hundred fold more agon- 
 ising and horrifying. With the sanction of your law he (Colonel Gordon) 
 and his predecessors, in imitation of His Grace the Duke of Sutherland 
 and his predecessors, removed the people from the land created by God, 
 suitable for cultivation, and for the use of man, and put it under brute 
 animals; and threw the people upon bye-corners, precipices, and barren 
 moors, there exacting exorbitant rack-rents, until the people were made 
 penniless, so that they could neither leave the place nor better their con- 
 dition in it. The potato-blight blasted their last hopes of retaining life 
 upon the unproductive patches — hence they became damourous for food. 
 Their distress was made known througli the public press; public meetings 
 were held, and it was managed by some known knaves to saddle the God 
 of providence with the whole misery — a job in which many of God's pro- 
 fessing and well-paid servants took a very active part. The generous public 
 responded ; immense sums of money were placed in the hands of Govei-n- 
 ment agents and other individuals, to save tlie people from death by famine 
 on the British soil. Colonel Gordon and his worthy allies were silent con- 
 tributors, though terrified. The gallant gentleman solicited Government 
 through the Home Secretary to purchase the Island of Barra for a penal 
 colony, but it would not suit; yet our humane Government sympathised 
 with the Colonel and his coadjutors, and consulted tlie honourable and brave 
 M'Neil, the chief pauper gauger of Scotland, upon the most efiective and 
 speediest scheme to relieve the gallant Colonel and colleagues from this 
 clamour and eyesore, as well as to save their pockets from able-bodied poor 
 rates. The result was. that a liberal grant from the public money, which 
 had been granted a twelvemonth before for the purpose of improving and 
 cultivating the Highlands, was made to Highland proprietors to assist 
 them to drain the nation of its best blood, and to banish the Highlanders 
 across the Atlantic, there to die by famine among strangers in the frozen 
 regions of Canada, far from British sympathy, and far from the resting- 
 place of their brave ancestors; though the idea of mingling with kindred 
 dust to the Highlanders is a consolation at death, more than any other race 
 of people I have known or read of under heaven. Oh ! Christian people, 
 Christian people, Christian fathers and mothers, who are living at ease, 
 and never experienced such treatment and concomitant sufferings; you 
 Christian rulers, Christian electors, and representatives, permit not Christ- 
 ianity to blush and hide her face with shame before heathenism and idol- 
 
 ffS': 
 
128 
 
 atry any longer. I speak with reveren«e when I say, permit not Mahomet 
 Ali to deride our Saviour with the conduct of his followers — allow not 
 demons to exclaim in the face of Heaven, What can you expect of us when 
 Christians, thy chosen people, are guilty of such deeds of inhumanity ta 
 their own species ] I appeal to your feelings, to your respect for Christ- 
 ianity and the cause of Christ in the world, that Christianity may be re- 
 deemed from the derision of infidels, Mahommedans, idolaters, and demons 
 — that our beloved Queen and constitutional laws may not be any longer a 
 laughing stock and derision to the despots of the Continent, who can justly 
 say : You interfere with us in our dealings with our people ; but look at 
 your cruel conduct toward your own. Ye hypocrites, first cast out the 
 beam out of your own eye, before you meddle with the mote in ours. Come, 
 then, for the sake of neglected humanity and prostrated Christianity, and 
 look at this helpless unfortunate people — place yourselves for a moment in 
 their hopeless position at their embarkation, decoyed, in the name of the 
 British Government, by false promises of assistance, to procure homes and 
 comforts in Canada, which were denied to them at home — decoyed, I say, 
 to an unwilling and partial consent, and those who resisted or recoiled 
 from this conditional consent, and who fled to the caves and mountains to 
 hide themselves from the brigands, look at them, chased and caught by 
 policemen, constables, and other underlings of Colonel Gordon, handcuffed, 
 it is said, and huddled together with the rest on an emigrant vessel. Hear 
 the sobbing, sighing, and throbbings of the'r guileless, warm Highland 
 hearts, taking their last look, and bidding a final adieu to their romantic 
 mountains and valleys, the fertile straths, dales, and glens, which their 
 forefathers for time immemorial inhabited, and where they are now lying 
 in undisturbed and everlasting repose, in spots endeared and sacred to the 
 memory of their unfortunate offspring, who must now bid a mournful fare- 
 well to their early associations, which were as dear and as sacred to them 
 as their very existence, and which had hitherto made them patient in suf- 
 fei'ings. But follow them on their six weeks' dreary passage, rolling upon 
 the mountainous billows of the Atlantic, ill fed, ill clad, among sickness, 
 disease and excrements. Then come ashore with them, where death is in 
 store for them — hear the captain giving orders to discharge the cargo of 
 live-stock — see the confusion, hear the noise, the bitter weeping and bus- 
 tle — hear mothers and children asking fathers and husbands, where are we 
 going? hear the reply, cha 'n 'eilfhios againn — we know not — see them in 
 groups in search of the Government agent, who they were told was to give 
 them money — look at their despairing countenances when they came to 
 learn that no agent in Canada was authorised to give them a penny — hear 
 them praying the Captain to bring them back that they might die among 
 their native hills, that their ashes might mingle with those of their fore- 
 fathers — hear this request refused, and the poor helpless wanderers bidding 
 adieu to the captain and crew, who showed them all the kindness they 
 could, and to the vessel to which they formed something like an attach- 
 ment during the voyage — look at them scantilyclothed, destitute of food, 
 without implements of husbandry, consigned to their fate, carrying their 
 children on their backs, begging as they crawl along in a strange land, un- 
 
129 
 
 tlahomet 
 How not 
 UB when 
 lanity to 
 ar Chvist- 
 ay be re- 
 el demons 
 y longer a 
 can justly 
 lut look at 
 b out the 
 rs. Come, 
 anity, and 
 moment in 
 ime of the 
 homes and 
 yed, I say, 
 jr recoiled 
 ountaina to 
 caught by 
 landcufifed, 
 ssel. Hear 
 n Highland 
 T romantic 
 hich their 
 . now lying 
 tcred to the 
 irnf ul fare- 
 red to them 
 ;ient in suf- 
 jUing upon 
 ig sickness, 
 death is in 
 ie cargo of 
 ig and bus- 
 lere are we 
 lee them in 
 [was to give 
 ley came to 
 |nny — hear 
 die among 
 their f ore- 
 |ers bidding 
 Iness they 
 an attach - 
 ite of food, 
 rying their 
 re land, un- 
 
 qualified to beg or buy their food for want of English, until the slow-mov- 
 ing and mournful company reach Toronto and Hamilton in Upper Canada, 
 where, according to all accounts, they spread themselves over their respec- 
 tive burying-places, where yamine &ndjrost-bitten death was waiting them. 
 Mothers in Christian Britain, look, I say, at these Highland mothers who 
 conceived and gave birth, and who are equally as fond of their offspring 
 as you can be ; look at them by this time, wrapping their frozen remains 
 in rags and committing them to a frozen hole — fathers, mothers, sons, and 
 daughters, participants of similar sufferings and death, and the living who 
 are seeking for death (yet death fleeing from them for a time) performing 
 a similar painful duty. This is a painful picture ; the English language 
 fails to supply me with words to describe it : I wish the spectrum would 
 depart from me to those who could describe it and tell the result. But 
 how can Colonel Gordon, the Duke of Sutherland, James Loch, Lord 
 Macdonald, and others of the unhallowed league and abettors, after look- 
 ing at this sight, remain in Christian communion, ruling elders in Christ- 
 ian churches, and partake of the emblems of Christ's broken body and 
 shed blood ? But the great question is, can we as a nation be guiltless, and 
 allow so many of our fellow creatures to be treated in such a manner, and 
 not exert ourselves to put a stop to it and punish the perpetrators'! Is am- 
 biti'^n which attempted to dethrone God, become omnipotent, or so power- 
 ful ./hen incarnated in the shape of Highland dukes, lords, esquires, col- 
 onels, and knights, that we must needs submit to its revolting deeds'? Are 
 parchment riglits of property so sacred that thousands of human beings 
 must be sacrificed year after year, till there is no end of them, to preserve 
 them in violated 1 Are sheep walks, deer forests, hunting parks, and game 
 preserves, so beneficial to the nation that the Highlands must be converted 
 into a hunting desert, and the aborigines banished and murdered t 1 
 know that thousands will answer in the negative ; yet they will fold their 
 arms in criminal apathy until the extirpation and destruction of my race 
 will be completed. Fearful is the catalogue of those who have already 
 become the victims of the cursed clearing system in the Highlands, by 
 famine, fire, drowning, banishment, vice, and crime. What is to he done, 
 and how to proceed, will be the subject of my next — expecting the co- 
 operation of the advocates and sympathisers of suffering humanity. 
 
 I am, meantime, yours, (fee, 
 
 DONALD M'LEOD. 
 IG, South Richmond St., Edinburgh. 
 
 To the Editor of the Northern Ensign. 
 
 Sir, — There is assuredly no lawful day to which I look forward with 
 such intense interest as Friday, being the day (if favourable) on which the 
 Ensign crosses the tempestuous Pentland Firth It is generally the bearer 
 of something new, and very often brings tidings of importance to me from 
 the once happy home of my youth, a home which nothing but death can 
 ever sever from my remembrance 
 
130 
 
 The Ensign is not only the bearer of something new, something cheer- 
 ing, something teeming with acts of Christian charity and benevolence, 
 but, I am sorry to say, it also brings intelligence mouniful, deplorable, and 
 inhuman. VV^ho has perused its columns for the last year, and does not 
 feel within his breast the deepest sympathy for the sick and the dying, the 
 helpless and the destitute, the hoary locks and the furrowed cheek, yea, 
 the aged, the friendless, and the infirm, with one foot in the grave and 
 another upon its brink, driven by cold-hearted lordlings to seek for 
 shelter and beg a morsel of bread in foreign wilds 1 Certainly few, indeed ! 
 How awful is the idea to the cherisher of his native plains, which are still 
 as dear to him as life, to be driven far, far away from the land of his fore- 
 fathers, the sepulchres, of those whose dust, although now covered with the 
 green sward, and it may be trodden upon by some coveteous man's favour- 
 ite quadrupeds, is deposited there as a momento of a glorious resuirection 
 to the departed in Christ, and a coming judgment to the oppressors of the 
 widow and the fatherless! The pages of the Ensign inform us in rending 
 language, piercing to the inmost core, that — 
 
 ' Man's inhumanity to man, 
 Makes countless thousands mourn.' 
 
 Is it possible that man, a being of a few years existence, and perhaps 
 only days, every moment a dependant upon God for the air he breathes, 
 the food he eats, and the raiment he puts on, can, with the impartial sword 
 of death unsheathed to strike him down as a tyrant and a curaberer of the 
 ground, spend so many sleepless nights devising schemes, the result of 
 which sinks him as low as were he the companion of the lion, the tiger, 
 or the hyena] Can he, as a being possessed of an immortal soul, primitively 
 formed in the moral image of God, and destined for eternity, look around 
 him upon the cottages of his less temporally favoured and humbler fellow 
 mortals, from whence, at morning, night, and noonday, have arisen to 
 the throne of God on high the sacred song and pious pi'ayer, and yet de- 
 liberately scatter before the four winds of heaven from off his bit of idol- 
 ised soil those beings whose actions in the sight of heaven are more 
 acceptable than his? Yes ; such hearts as are deceitful above all things 
 and desperately wicked can do these and more : 
 
 ' Unmindful, though a weeping wife 
 And helpless offspring mourn ! ' 
 
 Strange as it is, that such a being as man, exposed to numberless cal- 
 amities, coming naked into the world, and who at last must return to the 
 gi'ound from whence he was taken, to become the companion and food of 
 worms, can, during a few and uncertain years, be guilty of glaring haras- 
 sings and inhuman treatment to his fellow men, as if his present little brief 
 authority, his few perishing pence, and the gay clothing which so pom- 
 pously adorns his polluted clay, were to be his companions through eter- 
 nity. Strange, indeed, thus to act, with a coming judgment and an 
 endless eternity before him, either to spend a glorious immoi-tality in the 
 beatific mansions of the eternal, or wretchedness and woe with the devil 
 and his angels. Are pride and oppression the highways to the latter 1 
 
ig cheer- 
 jvolenco, 
 able, and 
 does not 
 ying, th« 
 cek, yea, 
 rare and 
 seek for 
 r, indeed! 
 are atill 
 f hisfore- 
 [ with the 
 'a favour- 
 uirection 
 ors of the 
 n rending 
 
 d perhaps 
 breathes, 
 tial sword 
 3rer ofthe 
 result of 
 the tiger, 
 imitively 
 around 
 er fellow 
 risen to 
 id yet de- 
 t of idol- 
 are more 
 1 things 
 
 jrless cai- 
 rn to the 
 
 food of 
 iig haras- 
 ttle brief 
 so pom- 
 ugh eter- 
 and an 
 ty in the 
 the devil 
 
 latter 1 
 
 131 
 
 So ffays the Word of God. Then, ostentatious and puny tyrants, grievu 
 no more the Holy Spirit of your Judge. Death, that matchless marksman, 
 is hovering over you, from whose icy grasp, the potency of your wealth, 
 with all its self-destroying allurements, will not be able to rescue you. The 
 bar of Go J is before you, and there assuredly you must stand and receive 
 a sentence conformable to your actions done here below ; and then eter- 
 nity will receive you into its everlasting embrace, and as the tree falleth so 
 shall it lie. Why, then my fellow worm, with these awful realities before 
 you, do you oppress and grind the face of the poorl Remember Lazarus 
 and the rich man. With you, as well as the beggar who begs at your door" 
 a morsel of bread, from which you too often spurn him as abject, mean, 
 and vile, a few square yards of your depopulated domains will only be your 
 share in the 'narrow house', over which, in a few years hence, sheep and 
 cattle may graze. 
 
 I am, Sir, yours <fec., D. M'LEOD. 
 
 The following is from the pen of a man of affluence, and an independent, 
 patriotic, Scotch Lowlander, who has travelled in the Highlands for to ob- 
 tain personal knowledge of what was going on there, and whose sympathy 
 for the oppressed Highlanders often graced the pages of the Scotch public 
 press : — 
 
 To the Editor of the Scottish Herald. 
 
 Sir, — An unaccountable apathy has come over the press this some time 
 past I'egarding Highland affairs. Twelve months ago the nation was made 
 to ring with indignant exclamations at the oppressions and privations un- 
 der which our Celtic countrymen have been long groaning ; but now there 
 is as little said on the subject, as if the people on whose behalf so much 
 had been written were living in perfect tranquility, and had nothing to 
 complain of. This, however, is not the case. The grievances of the Gael 
 still remain unredressed. They still continue to live, steeped in the same 
 poverty and degradation which have been their lot since they were burned 
 out of their ancient habitations in the valleys, and planted like sea fowls on 
 the outskirts of their country. While a Highlander is left to shiver out a 
 miserable existence on that dismal, sea-begirt locality which he has been 
 compelled to exchange for his once comfortable inland farm — while one 
 glen remains unoc«upied, capable of affording adequate shelter and nourish- 
 ment to him, the public ought not to be satisfied, and the press betrays its 
 trust by remaining silent. 
 
 I have been led into these remarks in consequence of accidentally per- 
 using an admirable work on the state of the Highlands, published in 1785 
 by Mr. John Knox, a man celebrated for his patriotism and enlightened 
 philanthropy. About the period Mr. Knox wrote his book, the depopulat- 
 ing projects of the Highland lairds were in full operation, and this warm- 
 hearted individual resolved, if possible, to avert the ruin he saw impending 
 over his country. He accordingly travelled alone through the glens and 
 mountains of the north on horseback, with the view of convincing the 
 chieftains of the cruelty and error of their conduct towards their unoffend- 
 ing clansmen, and devising schemes for the immediate relief and perma- 
 
 
1 
 
 132 
 
 nent elevation of those unhappy sons of toil ; and since Mr. Kuox's day 
 no author that I am aware of has written so powerfully on the distress of 
 the Highlanders, or displayed so minute and accurate a knowledge of the 
 remedies best adapted for their condition. True, Mr. Knox was no flat- 
 terer of the great, no visionary dreamer. He did not, as is the modern 
 custom, go to the Highlands to calumniate the natives, to represent them 
 as drones and cumberers of the ground, in order to minister to the designs 
 of a few rapacious capitalists and hard-hearted landowners; no, he went 
 there to console the inhabitants under the hardships they were suffering — 
 to proclaim to the world their patient industry, and the many noble virtues 
 by which they were distinguished. But he was sensible his work was only 
 half done when he accomplished these things. A practical benefactor, he 
 examined into the fishing and agricultural capabilities of the country, and 
 having, after incredible labour, satisfied himself that the Highlands teem- 
 ed with resources, sufficient to sustain ten times the number of human 
 beings that were starving in those regions, he points out how the resources 
 he had discovered might be called forth, and the aboriginal tribes thereby 
 kept at home, and made useful citizens, instead of being banished like 
 felons into far distant climes. O that Scotchmen of the present day would 
 imbibe a little of Mr. Knox's wisdom aud fervour in this cause, and look 
 with the same compassionate eye that he did towards the neglected hills of 
 Caledonia: but, alas ! I fear everything like a disinterested, manly public 
 spirit is dead among us, and the age is vanished when the Highlanders 
 would have disdained to ask any other aid save that of their own good 
 swords to right their own wrongs. But did Mr. Knox content liimself 
 with using soft words while witnessing those terrible exhibitions of havoc, 
 oppression, and expulsion which were then prevalent in the Highlands ? 
 Very far from it ; being convinced that the chieftains were for their own 
 mean and selfish ends madly bent on destroying a community that might 
 be the glory and stay of their country in the hour of peril, his indignation 
 rose in proportion to the magnitude of crime those infatuated men were 
 committing, and he speaks of their doings in the following emphatic 
 terms : — 
 
 " I shall not waste paper on arguments which with some minds pass as 
 tinkling sounds. Since neither the precepts of Christianity nor philosophy 
 can make any impression — since humanity and avarice never can assimi- 
 late — we must change our ground, and trace the subject to its origin. The 
 earth w^hich we inhabit was given for the general support and benefit of 
 all mankind, by a Being who is incapable of partiality or destinction; and 
 though in the arrangements of society the earth is divided into very un- 
 equal proportions, and these confined to a few individuals, whilst the great 
 body of the people are totally cut off, this distribution doth not give the 
 possessors a shadow of right to deprive mankind of the fruits of their la- 
 bour. The earth is the property of Him by whom it was called into exist- 
 ence ; and, strictly speaking, no person hath an exclusive right to any 
 part of it who cannot show a charter or deed handed down from the ori- 
 ginal and only Proprietor of all nature ; if otherwise, they hold their pos- 
 sessions upon 'usage only. Grants of land were made by princes to their 
 
lox's day 
 istresa of 
 [ge of the 
 ks no flat- 
 e modern 
 jent them 
 le designs 
 , he went 
 iffering — 
 (le virtue* 
 c was only 
 ifactor, he 
 intry, and 
 nds teem- 
 of human 
 I resources 
 es thereby 
 ished like 
 day would 
 I, and look 
 bed hills of 
 nly public 
 ighlanders 
 [own good 
 it liimself 
 of havoc, 
 i^hlands ] 
 their own 
 lat might 
 idignation 
 men were 
 emphatic 
 
 ■ds pass as 
 >hilosophy 
 an assimi- 
 igin. The 
 benefit of 
 ;tion; and 
 very un- 
 the great 
 i give the 
 their lor 
 to exist- 
 : to any 
 the ori- 
 their pos- 
 to their 
 
 133 
 
 champions, friends and favourites; and these have been handed down from 
 father to son, or by them transferred to new possessors ; but where are the 
 original charters from the Author of nature to those inonarchs? Tii vain 
 may we search the archives of nations from one extreme of the globe to • 
 the other. If so, and who can controvert if? the man who toils at the 
 plough from five o'clock in the morning to sunset, and who sows the seed, 
 hath undoubtedly a right to the pioduce thereof, preferably to the lounger 
 who lies in bed till ten, and spends the remainder of the day in idhjuesai, 
 extravagance, and frivolous or vicious pursuits. The tenure of the former 
 is held from God, founded on the eternal law of justice ; the claim of the 
 latter is from man, held in virtue of the revolutions and casual events of 
 nations. 
 
 " He therefore who denies his fellow-creatures the just earnings of their 
 labour counteracts the benovelent intentions of the Deity — deprives his 
 king and country of an industrious and useful body of the community, 
 whom he drives from starvation at home to slavery abroad — ought to be 
 considered as an avoived enemy of society, particularly the man who can 
 take the cow from the aged widow, and afterwards the bed, the kettle, and 
 the chair — thus turning out the decrepid at fourscore to wander from door 
 to door, till infirmities and grief close the scene of tribulation. 
 
 " Since human laws do not reach such persons, while petty rogues are 
 cut off in dozens, their names ought to be published in every neu;spaj)er 
 within these kingdoms, and themselves excluded from any place of honour 
 or profit, civil or military." 
 
 Now, Sir, let it be observed, these are not the sentiments of a person who 
 had revolutionary or party purposes to serve, but the deliberate opinions of 
 a philosophic, humane, generous, and independent spirit ; who could take 
 an enlarged view of the matter he had in hand, and sincerely feel for the 
 distresses, and show that he had a thorough perception of the inalienable 
 rights of his fellow-creatures. But I fatigue you, and I would just add in 
 conclusion, let your readers ponder well the quotation I have just given 
 themfrom Mr. Knox'spublication.andask themselves thequestion, whether 
 it is not as capable of being applied to landowners, both in the High- 
 lands and Lowlands, in the 19th, as it was in the 18th century. I could 
 instance facts to prove this ; but, as I understand Mr. Donald M'Leod is 
 to give you a few sketches of some pictures of wretchedness he saw in Suth- 
 erland lately, I forbear in the meanwhile, and shall simply refer you to 
 him for practical illustrations of the truth of the general statements con- 
 tained in this epistle I am. Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Edinburgh, 24th July, 1844. John Steill. 
 
 I know many will consider that I am unwarrantably attacking the 
 character of Ministers of the Gospel ; and may say what could they do as 
 they had no control over the proprietors. Thank God that the Gospel or 
 religion is not to be measured by the conduct of its preachers, and that 
 they are not all alike. Read the following from the pen of a reverend 
 gentleman, whom I believe to be a faithful Minister of Christ, upon the 
 subject I have handled a little ago, and I think when you will read the 
 
13* 
 
 evidence of so many witnesses tipon oath, you will admit at once that I 
 have not exagge)-ated Colonel Gordon's strictureH, and none, I hope, who 
 will read the conduct and co-operation of this infamous hireling, Henry 
 Beatson, Minister of Barra, with Colonel Gordon in the evictions in that 
 island, cannot but admit that such vicious dogs should be ex|i08ed, and 
 classed in this wo.ld, among their companions through eternit'/, viz., op- 
 pressui K of the poor, with the Devil and his angels : read 10th chapter. 
 Gospel of St John. 
 
 THE RXILKD BARRAMEN AND THEIR CALUMNIATORS. 
 
 " \Vh:»t I have written, I well know, will give otfeiice to many petty tyrants : but 
 I am actuated by motives of hiunauity, and of duty tu the common Parent and Lord 
 of all mankind. And I thaok God, who has given me grace to speak the truth 
 with )>oldues8, notwithstanding the menaces of certain unprincipled oppreseors." — 
 Rev. J. L. Buchanan. 
 
 " 8ince the dawn of the creation, when wicked Cain imbrued his hands 
 in the blood of his V)rother Abel, there has been two opi>osite classes in 
 the world, viz, — oppressors and oppressed. There are generally other 
 two classes who step in as seconds in this unequal contest between right 
 and wrong ; and that is the fawning party who put their Amen to the 
 most cruel deeds of the arch-oppressors, and also those who are, like Moses 
 grieved at the su fie rings of their brethren, and who, like Job. do what 
 they can to " break the arm of the oppressor." 
 
 Since the overthrow of West Indian Slavery the friends of human free- 
 dom in Britain have been resting on their oars, with the exception of an 
 occasional fling at American despots, and no doubt congratulating them- 
 selves, as well they might, for their achievements in the cause of liljerty. 
 But let them not conclude that a complete victory is obtained even at 
 home. The following disclosures will at once convince every philantro- 
 phist that he should be up and doing; and that there is much need that 
 a share of that noble and disinterested sympathy which was shown to the 
 sable sons of Africa should now be imparted to our brethren in the 
 Western Hebrides. 
 
 It was a most unlucky day to the Highlands that Sir John M'Neil was 
 commissioned to investigate their condition ; and the one-sided Re{K)rt 
 which he has laid before the Legislature of our country shows how incem- 
 
 dr 
 
 xed docu- 
 and which, 
 g Press the 
 r how little 
 
 petent he was for the undertaking. Our analysis 
 
 nient, which he obtained from the Parochinl Bo 
 
 by the way, was considered by the pro-cle^' • 
 
 cream of his trashy Report, will show e\ 
 
 confidence may be placed in Sir John's >ence. 
 
 recollect the excitement which was caustu in Glasgow and Edinburgh 
 
 about 18 months ago, by the appearance of some - patriated and starving 
 
 Barramen. The unfeeling conduct of the proprietor , Colonel Gordon, v <d 
 
 his underlings on that occi>«ion was the subject of many well-meri i 
 
 a- rea.i«rs probably 
 
136 
 
 animadversions , both from the platform and the press. But in order to 
 shield Colonel Gordon from these castigntions, the Barra authorities, headed 
 by Henry Beatson their minister, have thrown their mantle around hiui. 
 and besides have made a malicious, but a moat silly attack upon the ex- 
 patriated Barramen. This attack is now fully nix months before the 
 public ; but till within a few days these caluminated creatures have not 
 heard a word of it. The following is a verbatim copy of the infamous 
 document : — 
 
 " We are acquainted with Barr Macdougall, Donald M'Lean, commonly 
 called Donald Hecterson, Roderick M'Neil, senior, and Roderick McNeil 
 junior, who have been referred to in the newspapers as persons who had 
 left Baira and gone to Edinburgh because of their inability to obtain the 
 means of subsistence here. Th(;y were all provided with houses at the 
 tin)e of their departure. They were all, either employed by the Relief 
 Committee or miju'lit have been so at the date when they left BHrra. With 
 the exception of Roderick M'Neil, senior, who left this in the first week 
 of September, all the others left Barra in July. Barr Macdougall wag 
 notoriously lazy, and before Colonel Gordon had acquired this property, had 
 voluntarily surrendered his croft at Greine, and subsisted thereafter by 
 begging, for which purpose he perambulated the country. On the failure 
 of the potatoes he became altogether destitute, and was received upon the 
 lists of the Relief Committee. Roderick M'Neill, junior, was employed 
 by Mr. M'Alister at Is a day, which he voluntarily relinquished, declaring 
 that the wage was too low. He then applied to the inspector of poor 
 for assistance, and was refused, on the ground that he had left Mr. M'Alis- 
 ter's service, where he could have obtained the means of subsistence He 
 was an able-bodied man. 
 
 Donald M'Lean was an indolent man who never did much work even 
 when wages could be earned ; whose wife perambulated the country beg- 
 ging from hous(; to house. 
 
 Roderick M'Neill, senior, was several times accused of theft, and once 
 api)rehended on a charge of sheep stealing, but was not convicted. 
 
 Of Ann M'Pherson or M'Kinnon, nothing is known in Barra, unless 
 sht be a sister-in-law to Roderick M'Neil, senior, who had un illegitimate 
 child to a person of the name of M'Pherson, and whose own name is 
 M'Kinnon. 
 
 We are of opinion that the cleemosynaiy relief artorded to the people 
 has had a prejudicial eflect upon their character and habits ; that it has 
 induced many to misrepresent their circumstances with a view to partici- 
 pate in it ; that it has taught the people generally to rely more upon others, 
 and less upon themselves ; and that we have reason to believe that, relying 
 upon this source of subsistence, some persons even neglected to sow their 
 lands." 
 
 (Signed) Henry Beatson, Minister. 
 
 D. W. M'Gillvray, J. P., Tacksman. 
 Wm. Birrie, Manager for Colonel Gordon, 
 Donald A. Nicolson. M.D. Tacksman. 
 Archibald M 'Donald, Elder, Tenant. 
 
136 
 
 The following declaration which we have obtained from three of the 
 individuals mentioned in the preceding document is a true statement of the 
 case; being corroborated by other parties who ate well acquainted with 
 the state of affaiis in that island : — 
 
 Declaratirn of Barr M'Dougall, Roderick M'Noill, senior, and Ann 
 M'Kinnon, being three individuals of the expatriated people of 
 Barr». 
 
 *' It is nov, true that we were all provided with houses before we left 
 Barra ; neither were we employed, nor might have bejn employed by the 
 Relief Committee at the date when we left Barra. i3arr M'Doujiall. and 
 Donald M'Lean occupied houses on the farm rentei by Dr. M'Gillvray, 
 and got notice to quit them a week before the term of Whitsunday, 1850. 
 They did not remove till their houses had been partly stripped and their 
 fires put out. Donald M'Lean did not remove till his house was totally 
 unroof ed and remained for ten days within the bare walls without any cover- 
 ing but the sail of a boat : though he was at the time lingering under the 
 disease of which he has since died. Barr M'Dougall did not give up hia 
 croft at Greine voluntarily ; but when his rent was augmented without 
 any corresponding advantages he fell into arrears, like all his neighbours.* 
 His stock was seized by the factor and sold for the arrears — consequently 
 had to surrender his croft, and finally his native country along with it. 
 Does not deny that he sought assistance when pressed by famine ; but 
 always labourer, when he could find employment. 
 
 Donald M'Lean was not indolent, as is falsely reported ; but, the poor 
 man was quite incapable of standing fatigue or hard labour, as he was for 
 a long while labouring under the consumptive disease which relieved him 
 from the fangs of his pampered calumniators, six weeks after he went to 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Roderick M'Neil senior, was not several times accused of theft, and 
 never apprehended. There was an attempt made once to implicate him, 
 by another man who broke into a grocer's shop and who afterwards (in 
 order to lighten his own punishment) accused Roderick M'Neil, senior, as 
 being art and part ; but the said Roderick appeared before the Fiscal, Mr. 
 Duncan M'Nee, at Lochmaddy, North Uist, where he was honourably ac- 
 quitted, and was paid the sum of twelve shillings for his trouble. 
 
 Roderick M'Neil, junior, laboured for a long time for the Relief Com- 
 mittee, at roads and other works for lOJ lbs of meal per week, which was 
 all the means of subsistence allowed for himself, his wife and two children. 
 Finding death staring them in the face, Roderick's wife went to the su- 
 
 * For the information o^ our readers we may here notice the manner in which 
 the l^rra crofters have boen reduced to their present condition. When kelp was 
 in great demand the former proprietor, started a kelp manufactory, at which the 
 services of all the spave hands in the island were required. He always preferred 
 labour to money : and when he found that the crofters could pay their rent in three 
 months he increased his claims gradually, until each crofter required to keep a 
 labourer there all the year round. ^Aftei th« manufacturing of kelp stopped the 
 rents continued fit the same figure. This is the whole secret of the Harra desti- 
 tutiou. 
 
[\ree of the 
 nent of the 
 inteu with 
 
 and Aun 
 i people of 
 
 'ore we left 
 oyed by the 
 )ougall, and 
 M'Gillvray, 
 nday, 1850. 
 sd and their 
 was totally 
 it any cover- 
 g under the 
 give up his 
 ted without 
 cighbours.* 
 onsequently 
 )ng with it. 
 amine ; but 
 
 bt, the poor 
 
 } he was for 
 
 elieved him 
 
 he went to 
 
 theft, and 
 
 )licate him, 
 
 rwards (in 
 
 , senior, as 
 
 riscal, Mr. 
 
 ourably ac- 
 
 Ae. 
 
 lelief Com- 
 which was 
 o children, 
 to th« 8U- 
 
 ler in which 
 en kelp was 
 t which the 
 jB preferred 
 ■ent ill three 
 to keep a 
 stopped the 
 lUrra desti- 
 
 137 
 
 perintendent of the Relief Board and beggtd of him to allow her to work 
 in her husband's place that he might go to the fishing, which the super- 
 intendent granted ; and for this favour Roderick shared the fish with him. 
 There were many females labouring for 10 hours a day in the island of 
 Barra at that time. They were compelled from the system of labour to 
 work with wheelbarrows and carry burdens. The method taken to load 
 them was as follows : — The female being ordered to turn her back to the 
 tui-f -cutter and to place her hands behind in a position almost on her knee«, 
 the turfs were laid on her back in succession till she had a sufficient bur- 
 ded — enough to rise under and carry for some distance — there lay them 
 down to come back for more. They had often to gather their petticoats 
 about the sod in order to keep it on their back, while, in wet weather, the 
 water, sometimes the melted snow, streamed down their back and sides. 
 At this work Roderick M'Neil's wife continued till within two days of her 
 confinement ! ! 1 
 
 Ann M'Kinnon acknowledges having had a child ten years ago ; but 
 neither herself nor her child ever became a burden on the Parochial Board 
 of Barra ; though (in consequence of the father's death) the maintenence 
 of the child fell entirely on herself. She also laboured at both the turf- 
 carrying and the wheelbarrow so long as she could get work, at the rate of 
 4^ lbs of meal per week. 
 
 We further declare that we went to Henry Beatson, minister, requesting 
 certificates of character, which he refused, alleging that he was not in the 
 habit of giving such to any one. However we see that he has sent one 
 after us ; though to his eternal shame he has given it in direct violation 
 of the Holy Scriptures which he pretends to expound to the people, and 
 which says, * Thou shalt not raise a false report ; jjut not thine hand with 
 the wicked to be an unrighteous witness'. — Exod. xxiii. 1. That the 
 said Henry Beatson is a mo.st unfeeling person. He once told James 
 M'Donald, an indigent man, when he solicited aid, ' Go to the mountains 
 and eat grass and heather ! ' He has been most energetic in assisting 
 Colonel Gordon's underlings in forcing away from their fatherland the 2000 
 which were transported to America from Barra and South Uist, and who 
 are now begging and starving in Upper Canada. That there are at the 
 present time men and women working about his manse, raising fences, 
 trenching, iic, for one i)ound of meal i)er day, and although they would 
 perish of cold, they dare not approach the minister's kitchen tire. That 
 the meal which is doled out on these hard conditions, under the supei'in- 
 tendence of Mra. Beatson, is believed to be the remains of the old Relief 
 Committee meal. 
 
 We also know D. W. M'Gillvray, J. P., Tacksman, and think he should 
 be the last to speak of ' illegitimate children,' as a poor idiotic female who 
 perambulated the country fathered a child on him, and declared that var- 
 ious stratagems were tried to prevent disclosures which cannot be men- 
 tioned here. 
 
 We have nothing particular to say of Wni. Birnie, Manager for Colonel 
 Oordon, as he is but seldom in the island. 
 
 Of Donald N. Nicolson, M.D., Tacksman, we will only wait to say that 
 
 By."!* 
 
 ill 
 
 :*! 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 1:1 
 
 
i ■ 
 
 ^it 
 
 138 
 
 after continuing for years, 'adding house to house and field to field,' the 
 woes which are pronounced against such have at last overtaken him ; his 
 whole effects having been sold by his creditors a few weeks ago. 
 
 Archibald M'Donald, Elder, Tenant, is a bastard son ; and the gallant 
 Colonel himself had no fewer than three bastard children to grace the 
 name of Gordon." 
 
 The above declaration was taken at Glasgow, on the 26th of January, 
 1852, in the presence of the undersigned witnesses, and was read in 
 Gaelic to the Declarants, v\lio affii'm that it is correct. 
 
 ARCHrBALD SINCLAIR, Witness. 
 
 DUNCAN M'DOUGALL, do. 
 
 NEIL CAMPBELL, do. 
 
 WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE, do. 
 
 As the Declarants have not said anything in reference to the last para- 
 graph in the accusations, we would simply ask, What person in his senses 
 will believe that "eleemosynary relief," as administered by the Barra 
 Authorities, would have the tendency to make the recipients "neglect to 
 sow their land" so long as they are allowed to gather the crumbs that 
 fall from the Parochial Board ! 
 
 To follow these investigations a little farther, we cannot do it better 
 than by giving the following well authenticated communication received 
 from a gentleman who had resided for some time in Barra, and was an eye- 
 witness of the enormities perpetrated there during the summer of 1851 : — 
 
 "The unfeeling and deceitful conduct of those acting for Colonel Gor- 
 don, in Barra and South Uist last summer, cannot be too strongly censured. 
 The duplicity and art which was used by them in order to entrap the un- 
 wary natives is worthy of the craft and cunning of an old slave-trader. 
 Many of the poor people were told in my hearing, that Sir John M'Neill 
 would be in Canada before them, where he would have every thing neces- 
 sary for their comfort prepared for them. Some of the officials signed 
 a document binding themselves to emigrate in order to induce the poor 
 people to give their names; but in spite of all these sti-atagems many of 
 the people saw through them and refused out and out to go. When the 
 transports anchored in Loch Boisdale the tyrants threw otf their raagk, 
 and the work of devastation and cruelty commenced. The poor people 
 were commanded to attend a public meeting at Loch Boisdale where the 
 transports lay, and according to the intimation, any one absenting himself 
 from the meeting was to be fined in Two Pounds. At this meeting some 
 of the natives were seized and in spite of their entreaties were sent on 
 board the transports. One stout Highlander, named Angus Johnstone, 
 resisted with such pith that they had to handcuffhim before he could be 
 mastered ; but in consequence of the priest's interference his manacles 
 were taken oft' and marched between four officers on board the emigrant 
 vessel. One morning, during the transporting season, we were suddenly 
 awakened by the screams of a young female who had been recaptured in 
 an adjoining house ; having escaped after her first apprehension. We all 
 rushed to the door and saw the bi*oken-hearted creature with dishevelled 
 
field,' the 
 en hiiu ; his 
 
 go- 
 the gallant 
 
 ) grace the 
 
 )f January, 
 /as read in 
 
 tness. 
 
 0. 
 0. 
 0. 
 
 le last para- 
 n his senses 
 ' the Barra 
 "neglect to 
 rumbs that 
 
 lo it better 
 
 on received 
 
 was au eye- 
 
 of 1851 — 
 
 olonel Gror- 
 
 y censured. 
 
 rap the un- 
 
 ave-trader. 
 
 in M'Neill 
 
 ling neces- 
 
 ials signed 
 
 3 the poor 
 
 8 many of 
 
 When the 
 
 leir mask, 
 
 aor people 
 
 where the 
 
 ng himself 
 
 3ting some 
 
 e sent on 
 
 ohnstone, 
 
 e could be 
 
 manacles 
 
 emigrant 
 
 suddenly 
 
 ptured in 
 
 We all 
 
 she veiled 
 
 139 
 
 hair and swollen face, dragged away by two conatables and a ground officer. 
 Were you to see the racing and chasing of policemen, constables, and 
 ground officers, pursuing the outlawed natives, you would think, only for 
 their colour, that you had been by some miracle transported to the banks 
 of the Gambia on the slave coast of Africa. 
 
 *' The conduct of the Rev. H. Beatson on that occasion is deserving of 
 the censure of every feeling heart. This "Wolf in sheep's clothing" made 
 himself very officious, as he always does when he has an opportunity of 
 oppressing the poor Barramen and of gaining the favour of Colonel Gor- 
 don. In fact, he is the most vigilant and assiduous officer Colonel Gordon 
 has. He may be seen in Castle Bay, the principal anchorage in Barra, 
 whenever a sail is hoisted, directing his men, like a game-keeper with his 
 hounds, in case any of the doomed Barramen should escape, so that he 
 might get his land cultivated and improved for nothing. They offered 
 one day to board an Arran boat who had a poor man concealed, but the 
 master, John Crawford, lifted a hand-spike and threatened to split the 
 skull of the first man who would attempt to board his Vjoat, and thus the 
 poor Barramen escaped their clutches. 
 
 " I may state in conclusion that two girls, daughters of John M'Dou- 
 gall, brother of Barr M'Dougall whose name is mentioned in Sir John 
 M'NeiU's Report, have fled to the mountains to elude the grasp of the ex- 
 patriators, where they still are, if in life. Their father, a frail old man, 
 along with the rest of the family, have been sent to Canada. The respec- 
 tive ages of these girJs is 12 and 14 years. Others have fled in the same 
 manner, but I cannot give their names just now," 
 
 Let us now follow the exiled Barramen to the "new world " and witness 
 their deplorable condition and privations in a foreign land. The (Quebec 
 Iwies says: — 
 
 " Many of our i'eadei*s may not bo aware that their lives such a person- 
 age as Colonel Gordon, proprietor of large estates, South Uist and Barra. 
 in the Highlands of Scotland; we are .sorry to be obliged to introduce hini 
 to their notice, under circumstances which will not give them a very fa- 
 vourable opinion of his character and heart. 
 
 "It appears that tenants on the above mentioned estates were on the 
 verge of starvation, and had probably become an eye-sore to the gallant 
 Colonel ! He decided on shipping them to America. What they were 
 to do there, was a question he never put to his oimscience. Once lancled 
 in Canada, he had no further concern about them. Up to last week, 1, 100 
 souls from his estates had landed in Quebec, and begged their way to Up- 
 per Canada ; when in the summer season, having only a morsel of food to 
 procure, they probably escaped the extreme misery whi<rh seenis to be 
 the lot of those who followed them. 
 
 On their arrival here, they voluntarily made and signe<l the following 
 statement: — "We the undersigned passengers per Admiral from Storno- 
 way, in the Highlands of Scotland, do solemnly depose to the following 
 facts, — That Colonel Gordon is the proprietor of the estates of South Uist 
 and Barra; that among many hundreds of tenants and cotters whom he 
 has sent this season from his estates to Canada, he gave directions to bia 
 
140 
 
 factor, Mr. Fleming of Cluny Castle, Aberdeenshire, to ship on board of 
 the above named vessel a number of nearly 450 of said tenants and cottars 
 from the estate in Barra — that accordingly, a great majority of these peo- 
 ple, among whom were the undersigned, proceeded voluntarily to embark 
 on board the Admiral, at Loch Boisdale, on or about the 11th August, 
 1851 ; but that several of the people who were intended to be shipped for 
 this port, Quebec, refused to proceed on board, aud in fact, absconded 
 from their homes to avoid the embarkation. Whereupon Mr. Fleming 
 gave orders to a policeman, who was accompanied by the ground officer of 
 the estate of fiarra, and some constables, to pursue the people who had 
 ran away among the mountains ; which they did, and succeeded in cap- 
 turing about twenty from the mountains and islands in the neigli bout hood ; 
 but only came with the officers on an attempt being made to handcufl' them ; 
 and that some who ran away were not brought back, in consequence of 
 which four families at least, have been divided, some having come in the 
 ships to Quebec, while other members of the same families were left in the 
 Highlands. 
 
 '" ' The undersigned further declare, that those who voluntarily em- 
 barked did so under promise to the eifect, that Colonel Gordon would 
 defray their passage to Quebec ; that the Government Kmigration Agent 
 there would send the whole party free to Upper Canada, where, on arrival 
 the Government Agents would give tbem Avork, and furthermore, grant 
 them land on certain conditions. 
 
 " 'The undersigned finally declare, that they are now landed in Quebec 
 .so destitute, that if inmiediate relief be not atforded them and continued 
 until they are settled in employment, the whole will be liable to perish 
 with want.' 
 
 (Signed) Hector L-amont, 
 and 70 others. 
 
 " This is a beautiful picture. Had the scene been laid in Russia or 
 Turkey the barbarity of the proceeding would have shocked the nerves of 
 the readers ! but when it happens in Britain, emphatically the land of 
 liberty where every man's house, even the hut of the poorest, is said to 
 be his castle, the expulsion of these unfortunate creatures from their 
 homes — the man-hunt with policeman and Bailiffs — the violent separation 
 of families — the parents torn from the child, the mother from her daughter 
 — the infamous trickery practised on these who did embark — the aban- 
 donment of the aged, the in6rm women, and tender children in a foreign 
 land — form a tableau which cannot be dwelt on for an instant without 
 horror. VVor-^s cannot depict the atrocity of the deed. For cruelty less 
 savage, the db;' -rs of the South have been held up to the execration of 
 the world. 
 
 And if, as men, the sufferings of these our fellow-creatures find sympathy 
 in our liearts, as Canadians their wrongs concern us more dearly. The 
 fifteen hundred souls whom Colonel Gordon has sent to Quebec this season, 
 have all been supported for the past week at least, and conveyed to Upj)er 
 Ganada at the expense of the Colony ; and on their arrival in Toronto and 
 Hamilton, the greater number have been defiendent on the charity of the 
 
 bei 
 pn 
 Co 
 Th 
 are 
 
Ul 
 
 benevolent for their morsel of bread. Four hundred are in the river at 
 y>re8ent and will arrive in a day or two, making a total cf nearly 2,000 of 
 Colonel Gordon's tenants and cotters whom the province has to support. 
 The winter is at hand, work is becoming scarce in Upper Canada. Where 
 are these people to ftnd food 1 " 
 
 Having laid a great mass of conclusive evidence before the public, we 
 must now " sum up." We are certain that every man who has any sense 
 of honour and justice cannot but condemn Colonel Gordon and his officials 
 for these hitherto unheard of cruelties, and will loudly protest against the 
 woes which are being heaped upon the head of the poor Hebridean. Is 
 such conduct as we have now recorded to be winked at and tolerated by a 
 nation who have laboured more in the sacred cause of human liberty than 
 any other nation from the beginning of the world ? Are those very men 
 who have ungrudgingly paid £20,000,000 for the freedom of the negroes 
 on a few of the VVest Indian islands : and who have effected the emanci- 
 pation of every caj)tive within the British dominions, to stand by with 
 folded arms and not offer a helping hand to their own flesh and blood in 
 the Western Isles — to those who have victoriously fought their battles and 
 kept foreign invaders from their shores ] Are they to remain calm and 
 unmoved, while British laws are being violated, and the poor inoffensivfy 
 unprotected, and down-troddeu Celt is hand cuffed and dragged from his 
 country and his kinsman with less regard to his comfort than if he were a 
 beast of burden ? Certainly not. And we are confident that all an en- 
 lightened and a benevolent public require to stir them up to cause a proper 
 and impartial investigation being made is to lay the case explicitly before 
 them. Instead of trusting to a " broken reed," as Sir John M'Neil has 
 proved himself to be, let a disinterested public act in this case as they 
 have done in that already mentioned. In 1838, when conflicting accounts 
 of the cruelties endured by the Africans were wafted across the Western 
 Ocean, instead of confiding in the report brought by Government Officials, 
 the friends of the Negro sent a deputation of enlightened and fearless men 
 who brought back a trustworthy report, and they went to work accord 
 ihgly. Let them do the same now and send men who will not pass by th 
 cottage of the poor but will listen to what he has to say — neitner will ac 
 cept of the gifts of the rich, and we have no doubt that the result will b 
 the same — the emancipation of the poor Hebridean and his restoration t 
 his rights and his responsibilities as a British subject. Then petty tyrants 
 will see that however well concocted their plans — however far removed 
 from the public eye " that their sins will find them out." 
 
 I ask Mrs. Stowe, what is your Uncle Tom's Cabin or your Dred in 
 comparison to such treatment as this 1 and dare you say in the face of 
 such (living) evidence that my narrative is a ridiculous unfounded 
 calumny, and ridiculous and absurd accusation. I am told when writing 
 this that you were lately in Rome paying homage to his Holiness and his 
 Jesuit Ministers and kissing his toe; but whatever indulgence he may grant 
 you for ))erverting truth and falsifying philosophy, and whatever promises 
 ho has made to you for absolutions for such sins, I tell you in plain 
 
143 
 
 Heeland Scotch terms that you will find all his promises insufficient to 
 screen or protect you from me, in your future praise of Highland Pro- 
 prietors. And may I not ask, why are noi«ll the Christian nations of the 
 world up with a united universal cry of disappi'obation of the system, 
 law, and reprobation of the foul deeds committed under the protection of 
 such law and system, and demand of the British Legislature their aboli- 
 tion and erasement from the Statute bof»k, and retribution of their rights 
 to their victims — a cry and demand in which the slaveowners of America 
 would have a tenfold better right to join than the English aristocracy 
 had to remonstrate with them on American Slavery. 
 
 The following is my appeal published before T left Scotland ; 
 
 To the Editor of the Northern Engign. 
 
 Sir, — Highland destitution and famine in the Highlands have become 
 proverbial and so familiar that people think and speak of them as a 
 calamity hereditary to the Highlanders ; and, indeed, since they have be- 
 come so burdensome to the public for the last half century (keeping them 
 alive upon charity), the more fortunate portion of the Christian world are 
 beginning to think, and say, that they should not exist any longer, and 
 that the sooner they are exterminated the better. The appellation Gael, 
 Celt, or Gaul, l»a8 now become a reproach ; yet those to whom the titles 
 originally belong were at one time the terror and admiration of all 
 Europe. They at one period inhabited Upper Asia, and took posstjssion 
 of Italy, and marched upon Rome 390 years before the advent of Christ 
 — defeated the Roman army, laid the city in a heap of ruins, and levied 
 one thousand pounds weight of gold of the then invincible Ronmns to 
 purchase their departure. They were the people of whom Ccesar said — 
 after a fearful struggle of ten years fighting, in which his army cut off 
 one million of them — that he never observed one Gael tusning his back, 
 but that they all died fighting in their ranks without yielding one foot. 
 But to come nearer home. They were a race of men who, when they 
 had to encounter the Romans at the foot of the Grampian Hills (under 
 the command of Galgacus), defied the Roman legion (under the com- 
 mand of Agricola, the most renowned of the Roman generals), whose 
 discipline, science, and civilization, c.n that bloody occasion, drew forth 
 the admiration of Tacitus, the Roman annalist, who declared that the 
 Caledonian Celts were the roost formidable enemy and the bravest people 
 that ever Rome encountered — that, indeed, they were unconquerable. 
 That learning and civilization followed this race of people is evident, and 
 could be proved from a chain of Scottish historians whose works are 
 still extant. ' I am tired,' said a distinguished writer many centuries 
 ago, ' of having Roman authors quoted when the commencement of our 
 civilization is spoken of, while nothing is said of the Celts, or of our obli- 
 gations to them.' It was not the Latins^ it was the Celts, who were our 
 first instructors. Aristotle declared that philosophy was derived by the 
 Greeks from the Gauls, and not imparted to them. — {See introduction to 
 Logan's *' Scottish Gael") 
 
U3 
 
 jfficient to 
 Kland Pro- 
 Dions of the 
 he system, 
 otection of 
 bheir aboli- 
 heir rights 
 of America 
 aristocracy 
 
 ive become 
 them as a 
 ey have be- 
 eping them 
 n world are 
 onger, and 
 ation Gael, 
 1 the titles 
 tion of all 
 |)08.S(!Ssion 
 of Christ 
 and levied 
 Lomans to 
 said — 
 ly cut off 
 his back, 
 one foot, 
 [kvhen they 
 ills (under 
 the com- 
 lls), whose 
 Irew forth 
 that the 
 l^est people 
 iiquerable. 
 dent, and 
 Works are 
 centuries 
 it of our 
 o»ir obli- 
 1 were our 
 fed by the 
 ii action to 
 
 You will pardon me, should 1 ask, through you, the most avowed 
 and inveterate enemies of the Highlander, where, or when, has the 
 Highland Celt stained the chai-acter jriven them by the Roman annalist 
 at the early period of our history ? If we turn up the annals of Euro- 
 pean bloody battle fields, from the Grampians to Waterloo, where will 
 we find bravery to excel Highland bravery 1 If we look for discipline, 
 morality and religion, among the British army, we must find such in the 
 Highland regiments. 
 
 We have now a small remnant of the progeny of this mighty race of 
 men who conquered civilized and enlightened Europe, yea more, who 
 converted Europe from heathenism and paganism to Christianity ; I say 
 we have them in obscure corners of the West and North Highlands of 
 Christianized, vain, vaunting, civilized Scotland, dting by famine, to 
 the everlasting disgrace, confusion, and abhorrence here and hereafter, 
 of those, and their abettors, to whose cupidity, ambition, and steel hearted 
 inhumanity, thousands of deaths in the Highlands could be attributed, 
 Let this be told and proclaimed throughout the length anfl breadth of 
 the land, on every market-cross, and in every place of rosort, all over 
 Europe — that Roman Catholic and Mahommedan nations may record it 
 against them, when endeavours are making to proselytise them. But 
 thank God that Christianity is not to be measured by the conduct of Chris- 
 tians J if it were the heathens would <lo well to reject it. 
 
 Let the Legislature of this nation (to their shame) know it, that the 
 only portion of Her Majesty's subjects who, by language and appearance, 
 legitimately can lay claim to be the progeny of those who chastised and 
 forced many a formidable invader from Britain's shore — who fought the 
 battles of this nation at home and aliroad, from the day of the Gram- 
 pians to Waterloo, and who broUi,'ht immortal praise and laurt-ls of 
 victory home to Britain — let the representatives of Scotland (the dumb 
 dogs, with one honourable excejition, Mr. Cowan) know it — that in 
 return for their ancestor's services to tho nation, they, the progeny aro 
 doomed to die by famine, or be exterminated from the land, so dear to 
 them by many sacred ties, by compulsory emigration, that they were 
 made subject to, and left the vietims of the most wanton cruelty, ingrati- 
 tude, and injustice that the most avaricious barbarians could devise. 
 That the most fertile valleys, straths, and glens of Caledonia, which they 
 have been for ages defending, and purchased so often with their dearest 
 blood, are depopulated, and converted by a few selfish minion.s, who have 
 neither ancestry nor bravery to boast of, if they were proj^-rly searched, 
 into deer-forests and hunting-parks, for the amusement of English snobs 
 and sporting gents, where the image of God upon a Gael dare not 
 approach ; while the Celts, who can boast of both bravery and ancestry, 
 are turned adrift as beings of no value, upon barren, unproductive moors 
 and precipices, and on skirts exposed to all the casual ities of the season, 
 deprived of every means to better their condition. Here they are dying, 
 or living, what we may term a lingering, agonizing death, fed by the 
 cold, sparing, stinted hand of charity, when twenty -four lines (upon 
 octavo) of an Act of Parliament would cure all. 
 
144 
 
 III ' 
 
 In the days of one of thei Csesars (during what are called the dark ages) 
 there was a law in Rome, that none would be allowed to sit in the State 
 Council, ride in a chariot, hold any public office, or sit at a public feast, 
 while it was known that any of his dependents were in want ; and du- 
 ring the prosperous and victorious days of Greece, they had two tem- 
 ples built, one for virtue and one for honour, and ho constructed that it 
 was impossible to enter the temple of honour without going through the 
 ' temple of virtue, — intended for a noble purpose, and it had the desired 
 eifect in those days. Would to God we had such qualifications, and we 
 would not have so many direful revolting deeds perpetrated, and so many 
 ignobles raised to honour and titles till there is no room to ascend. Let 
 the ministers of the everlasting Gospel, the ambassadors of Christ, hear 
 it, that in ])roportion as the people are diminished and extirpated, their 
 services will be less required — sheep, bullocks, deer, blackcocks, and 
 pheasants, will renuire no ministry. It is a part of their commission to 
 plead the widow, the fatherless, and the orphan's cause — to resist and 
 denounce the oppressors, — to follow the example of their Master and 
 the prophets in reproviug evil doers. How can they prostrate them- 
 selves at the throne of mercy, pleading with God for the spiritual wants 
 of their Hocks, and not utter a word against these wolves who are tramp- 
 ling under foot, scattering their flocks by banisliment (under the name 
 of emigration) depriving them of the land created for their subsistence, 
 and bestowing it upon brute-beasts — thus ushering thousands to a pre- 
 mature grave 1 How can they see this, and not interpose, plead with 
 God, and call upon the nation to their assistance, that the ungodly, un- 
 national, and unjust law which tolerates and protects such evil-doers, may 
 be expunged from the Statute book 1 This is their duty — they may seek 
 a subterfuge to disregard .it, but if they will, The day is coming when 
 they shall repent, if they can find a place for repentance. Thank God we 
 have a Rev. Charles Thomson in Wick, a Dr. Begg in Edinburgh, and 
 others — For woe's me, my people air, robbed and sold, and those who rob 
 them say. Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity 
 them not. 
 
 I would ask the mercantile and manufacturing portion of this nation, 
 will you stand by carelessly and callously, seeing the home market des- 
 troyed, millions of those that should and would be the consumers of your 
 goods banished from our shores, dying by famine, or living in a state of 
 misery and wretcheclness, that they can be of no service to you, but the 
 reverse — a burden to you 1 I leave you to reflect iipon this for a time. 
 Sheep and bullocks may bupply you, but they will take very little in ex- 
 change ; but supply and demand, when corresponding, are the very life 
 of the home market. I ask you, literary men or knowledge manufac- 
 turers, — How are the people ignorant 1 The people are in misery, dy- 
 ing by famine, and cannot buy knowledge. There is abundance of 
 wealth in the land, and abundance of work before you ; but if the peo- 
 ple are banished from the land or die by famine, you may shut your 
 shops, for sheep, bullocks, deer, black cocks, and pheasants will not em- 
 ploy ypu, and you need not attempt to teach them. Rise, then, frc m 
 
146 
 
 dark ages) 
 the State 
 blic feast, 
 ; and du- 
 two tem- 
 3d that it 
 rough the 
 lie desired 
 8, and we 
 i so many 
 send. Let 
 hrist, hear 
 a ted, their 
 BOcks, and 
 mission to 
 resist and 
 1 aster and 
 rate them- 
 tual wants 
 are tramp- 
 thc name 
 lubsiatence, 
 to a pre- 
 Iplead with 
 igodly, un- 
 doera, may 
 may seek 
 minf/ when 
 God we 
 urgh, and 
 le who rob 
 iherds pity 
 
 your lethargy, and stand no longer in your criminally callous indilierence 
 regarding the producing classes. You are the fourth estate, and to 
 whom much is given, much shall be required. To the Government of 
 this nation I would say, and put them in mind, that this kingdom whs 
 often invaded before, and often threatened, and it may happen yet. You 
 have allowed the best part of the national i*amparts to be trodden down 
 and razed to the foundation, you have allowed the patriotism or love of 
 country which was characteristic of Highlanders and which was so 
 powerful to animate them at alk times when encountering an enemy, to 
 be destroyed ; you have allowed, and helped to banish them from your 
 shores, to foreign strands, where, at no distant period, they or their ofl- 
 spring may become as formidable enemies as their sires were formidable 
 friends. Then you will find that cruel Highland proprietors, English 
 snobs, and sporting gents, sheep, bullocks, rams, deer, blackcocks, and 
 pheasants, will make but a poor stand for your nation's defence. I say, 
 reHect. This is the time, this is the day to retract, to retrieve, and to re- 
 claim lost confidence, and make reparation to the unfortunate Highland 
 victims of mal-administration and of cruel short-sighted policy. 
 
 The accounts received daily by the Secretary of the Highland Destitu- 
 tion Relief Committee (of which I am a member) are heart-rending and 
 revolting to humanity. A reverend gentleman writes thus : — ' You have 
 sent nie two pounds ; I bought meal with the money but there were so 
 many applicants for relief that I had to divide it in ounces.' Another 
 writes ; — ' I acknowledge the receipt of £5, but I must keep it a secret 
 or the people will storm my house ; yet I am travelling among them, 
 and enquiring, and where I find that death by famine is approaching, 1 
 administer relief. 1 need not trouble you with any more. This is a 
 sample of them all.' People of high standing in society were finding 
 fault with me for advising the poor Highlanders to take sheep or any 
 other animal they could get their hands on and eat them, before they 
 would allow themselves or their children to die ; but I'll warrant you, 
 if these gentlemen were only getting an ounce each of oatmeal to make 
 water gruel for their supper, in Edinburgh, and had no other prospect for 
 food until a few more ounces came from the Isle of Skye, there would not 
 be u hen-roost nor pig-stye in or about Edinburgh but they would pay 
 a visit to before morning, and where they would help themselves. This 
 is a fearful state of matters in a country professing Christianity. Yet, 
 however dreadful and threatening it is, I have often said, and will say it 
 yet, that until the land in the Highlands is under a difieient system of 
 management, matters will be getting worse and worse. I hojie that 
 the Rev. Charles Thomson's exhortation in your last will be followed 
 up by every one whose breast contains a spark of humanity, and who is 
 favoured with an opportunity. — I am, «fcc., 
 
 DONALD M'LEOD. 
 
 16, South Richmond Street, 
 Edinburgh, July 14. 185L 
 
U6 
 
 <■ 
 
 I have, in the preceding pages, particTilarized the Duke of Sutherland 
 as chief tlepopulator of the Highlands ; I must now notice those next to 
 hira, Athol, Breadalhane, Lord Macdonald, and Gordon, as you will see 
 from the following : — A gentleman of the name of R. Alister,* in 1853, 
 wrote a work which was inscribed to another patriotic philanthropist of the 
 name of Patrick Edward Dove, Edinburgh, titled " Barriers to National 
 ProsjMirity," in which he demonstTates the short-sighted policy of Highland 
 proprietors in a style worthy of the author and (iditor, Mr. Dove. Tho Mar- 
 quis of Breadalhane was offended at seeing the work advertised, and wrote 
 the following letter through the public press. As I was not personally 
 acquainted with tlie extent of the clearance system in that quarter, f con- 
 sider the most pi'udent step I can adopt is to give verbatim Breadal bane's 
 letter and Mr. Alister's reply : — 
 
 COPV LETTER. 
 To the Editor of tlie Perthshire Advertiser. 
 
 21 Park Lane, London, \ 
 June 18, 1853. / 
 
 " Sir, — My attention has been directed to an article in the Peitiu-ihire 
 Advertiser, of the 13th ultimo,, in which a work, entitled Barriers to the 
 National Prosperity of Scotland, is reviewed, and from which are quoted 
 passages tending to give an impression of the management of my estates 
 in the Highlands, which is inconsistent with the facts. 
 
 The extract from Mr. Alister's work to which 1 more partii'ularly 
 allude is the following : — " At the present rate of depopulation, the High- 
 lands must soon be one vast wilderness ; and although their numbers wei"« 
 never great in the British Army, yet we aver that one-tenth of the men 
 who fought in the last war could not be got in the Highlands. Many of 
 the smaller glens are totally cleared, and any of the peasantry remaining 
 do not calculate that they can obtain a home for many years loiign. 
 Glencoe, the Black Mount, and Lochtayside, where the Campbells 
 flourished, are swept ; and although no difliculty was experienced by the 
 late Marquis of Breadalhane in raising three battalions of fencibles at the 
 Jast war, we are sure that 150 men could not now be obtained." 
 
 Glencoe does not, and never did, belong to me. 
 
 Mr. Alister appears to labour under a mistake as to the history of the 
 Black Mount, inasmuch as he would seem to assert that it was formerly 
 densely inhabited ; whereas the fact is, that, as far back as the records of 
 my family reach (for some centuries) till towards the close of last century, 
 when it was put into very large sheep farms, that country was always a 
 deer forest, and consequently uninhabited, except by the foresters. As I 
 began to convert it again into a forest upwards of thirty years since, it is 
 obvious that it could only have been in the hands of tenants for a (com- 
 paratively speaking) short period. The present population of that district 
 is, I believe, as great as it was in the times to which Mr. Alister alludes, 
 and, in point of fact, the number of families employed by me there now. 
 as shepherds and foresters, is much the same as the number who lived 
 there when the ground was tenanted by farmers. 
 
 * Mr Alex. Kobertsou ot Duudonachie. 
 
147 
 
 un my Aether Lome proi^rty, I believe the population to be grt'uter 
 than it was fifty or sixty years ago. 
 
 The population on the banks of Loch Tay is certainly not as large as it 
 was twenty years since, and it is fortunate for all parties concerned that it 
 is not, as a continuance of the old system would, before this, have pro- 
 duced disastrous results. 
 
 When 1 succeeded to the property, I found the land cut up into pos- 
 sessions too small for the proper conduct of agricultural operations, or the 
 full employment of the occupiers. The consequence was, that habits of 
 idleness were engendered, great poverty existed, and the cultivation of the 
 land was in a most unsatisfactory state — the social, the moral, and physi- 
 cal condition of the people being thus uufavouiably atlecled 
 
 A continuance of this slate of ujatters was clearly inconsistent wi»li the 
 iniprovement of the country and the welfare of the inhabitants, subjects 
 to which I at once, on my succession, directed «iy attention, and to which 
 I have ever since constantly directed my best thoughts. 
 
 To carry these views into ellect, it was absolutely necessary tliat the 
 holdings should be so increased in siz^ as to give sullicient employment to 
 the resources of the occupiers, and this could only be done by consolidat- 
 ing some of the smallest possessions, retaining the tenants who ap])eHred 
 most likely to profit by the change. 
 
 In no case was this done in the way implied by Mr. Aiister, as the 
 changes were always made gradually, and so as to produce as little incon 
 venience as possible to those whom it was necessary to remove. Indeed, 
 whenever, from the circumstances of the case, it was {practicable, those 
 who were removed were offered other houses. 
 
 In reality, there has been no depopulation of the district, in the sense 
 in which the word is usually accepted. There is still a large population 
 on both sides of Loch Tay, and almost all the land is still held in, com- 
 paratively speaking, small possessions. 
 
 The results of the system I have pursued speak for themselves. If any 
 person who saw Lochtayside twenty years since were to see it now, he 
 could not fail to be struck with the change for the better in the face of 
 the country, in the state of the dwellings, and in the appearance and 
 habits of the people. 
 
 A very satisfactory proof of the flourishing condition of the people may 
 be found in the fact, that, while the inhabitants of many parts of the 
 Highlands were suffering from famine in the years 1846-47, and were to 
 a great extent indebted for mere existence to the charity of the public, 
 none of the money so collected was expended on, or required by, the 
 inhabitants of my estates, even on the west coast. All were supported l)y 
 internal, not by external aid, although the failure of the potato crop was 
 quite as complete there as in other parts of the Highlands. Indeed, 
 money was raised in these districts in aid of the general funds collected 
 for the alleviation of the famine. 
 
 In no pai*t of the Highlands are the religious and educational wants of 
 the inhabitants better provided for, nor are there fewer public-houses. 
 
 In looking over my factorial accounts, I find that, on my Perthshire 
 
148 
 
 profM^rty, I liave expended, in employing the people in useful works, 
 Xlb8,750; on Glenurchay, a part of my Argyleshire property, £19,402; 
 and on the other part a similar sum in proportion — in each case from the 
 period of my succession down to 1862 (eighteen years). 
 
 Having stated these facts regarding the management of my property, 
 and my conduct towards those residing upon it, I fearlessly ask, am I 
 justly obnoxious to the imputation of being regardless of the prosperity 
 and happiness of the people upon it* Have I recklessly driven out from 
 its mountains and its glens the interesting and gallant race that formerly 
 renided there i — 1 remain, sir, your olwdient servant, 
 
 (Signed) Bkradalbaxk. 
 
 LETTER I. I 
 
 To the mo8t\ohle the Marquis of BrecuUUbane. 
 
 " M V Lord, — For the last fifteen yetirs I have been brought into imme- 
 diate contact with the middle and lower orders in various parts of Scot- 
 land, and during that period I have observed that the section of our 
 population deriving their support from land have been subjected to some 
 grievances, so much su that their means of living have become pinched, 
 and multitudes, who would have submitted to great privations at home, 
 have nevertheless been compelled to expatriate themselves from the coun- 
 try so dearly loved, or, what is wuise, take shelter in the dungeons of a 
 large town. For a. long time it puzzled nie to understand how a country 
 growing in commercial prosperity must be declining in its agricultural 
 poi)nlation; and while the towns were doubling their residenters, and con- 
 sequently demanding greater suppHepot" food, yet all the while vast tracts 
 of protlucing land should be thrown waste! Any enquiries that I could 
 make were genei"ally answered, that the peasantry must make way before 
 the improvements of modern agriculture ; but that explanation I never 
 was satisfied with, and I never was at peace until I found out what 
 appeared to me to be the real cause of such great evils ; for I c«>uld not 
 shut my eyes to the fact that rural depopulation and the overpeopling of 
 towns stood linked together as cause and etiect. As your Lordship must 
 know, I traced out these evils to the Laws of Entail, which have concen- 
 trated vast territories into the hand of a single individual, while they pie- 
 vented peasant proprietorship, — asystem that has produced magical benefits 
 wherever it has been allowed to come into operation. The Game Law 
 rules I also found to be a wicked instrument, seized by lairds for banishing 
 the peasantry, and for .desolating great tracts of laud. The Laws of 
 Hiipotliec I also found operated most injuriously against society, by unduly 
 enlarging the size of farms, by giving illegitimate security to lairds for 
 rents, and for increasing the price of rent to a fictitious amount The 
 abolition of these unjust laws is all the cure that I suggest, and T hesitate 
 not to HtUrm that if their abolition were secured, a most healthful im- 
 provement, both moral and {)}iysical, would be apparent in Scotland, and 
 that at no postponed date. 
 
149 
 
 Your Lordiihip is aware that 1 brought these views under public uo- 
 tice in a volume entitled, " Barriers to the Prosperity of Scotland ; " at 
 the same time labourin<; to prove that a country cannot long suivive the 
 loss of its peasantry, or, if it did exist, it would be — like Sauison, de- 
 prived ^f his hair — shorn of all that was morally fair or physically good. 
 I have laboured to show how the peasant at home loves his country and 
 liis God, but when huddled into the pestiferous alleys of a large town, 
 he loses his physical strength and his religious principle ; and hi;s fiimily, 
 which, in the cottaroon, would be brought up in thrift and in virtue, 
 would, like the rest, be swept into the vortex of vice and disHipation. 
 
 This theory of human life your Lordship has not attempted to overturn, 
 neither have you denied its applicability to the present condition of 
 Scotland. But you have attempted to place my statements before the 
 public as being untrue, and therefore my case against the laws of Game, 
 Entail, and Hypothec would fall to the ground. 1 must confess that I 
 should have much rather been attacked in my arguments than in any 
 isolated illustration thereof, because the general argument may be per- 
 fectly good, albeit the particular illustration thereof may have l)een in- 
 correct In a former publication 1 had to complain of this ; for many 
 busied themselves with the iUiistration, while they overlooked entirely 
 the principle it was intended to support. 
 
 When illustrating the evil effects of our feudalistic legislation, it was 
 barely possible for me to avoid pointing to certain estates where the evilg 
 were most apparent. But I certainly did so as seldom as possible, and I 
 think in only one instance have I condescended on a personal reflection. 
 Your Lordship's name is not tnentioned at all, for although I state that 
 Lochtayside had been cleared, I did not say /'// whom ; and had you not 
 published the letter of 18th Juno, your lordship's name and cliaiacter 
 might have been forgotten altogether in connection with such a deplorai)le 
 state of matters. Personally, I entertain no grudge towards your Lord- 
 ship or any other laird, but on the contrary it might have been beneficial 
 to me to retain the good favour of lairds rather than to excite their ill-will. 
 But the letter referred to leaves me only two courses, — either to support 
 the statements of my book, or stand arraigned before the public as guilty 
 of circulating untruths. Your Loidship 1ms dragged our dispute promi- 
 nently before the public ; let the public, therefore, be judge between us. 
 
 I have good right to complain that your Lordship's contratliction of my 
 statements are not brought out in a straightforward manner, but that by 
 numerous shifts and fallacies you evade the facts altogether. Considering 
 the high position of your Lordship, I think you might have condescended 
 to have met such a humVde antagonist as I am openly and frankly ; ex- 
 cuse me, therefore, if I now ask you to answer my statements senatim. 
 
 \st. Do you deny in general that the Highlands are being depopulated, 
 and that one soldier could not now be raised for ten who fought in the last 
 war 1 Your Lordship, I think, would hai dly risk the denial of a state- 
 ment which every person in this country knows to be correct. I have 
 given the public an opportunity of denying my statements ; but so far as 
 I can judge, my figures are under rather than over the mark. I can point 
 
160 
 
 to a place where thirty recruits that manned the 92d in Egypt came from 
 — men before whom Napoleon's Invincibles had to bite the dust, — and 
 now only two families reside there altogether. I was lately informed by 
 a grazier that on his farm a hundred swordsmen could be gathered at the 
 country's call ; and now there is only himself and one or two shepherds. 
 On his neighbour's farm fifty swordsmen formerly lived, and it is now 
 much in th j same condition. The Sutherland and Gordon clearings are 
 known to the world, and yet the fact of Highland depopulation is stated 
 as being inconsistent with truth ] Under this head your Lordship had 
 ample opportunity of contradicting my st^toments, but no man with any 
 regard to his standing could do so. Bat if [ am labouring under a delu- 
 sion here, I am not alone, as will be seen from the following quotation: — 
 
 " But in other and in too many instances the Highlands have been 
 drained, not of their superfluity of population, but of the whole ma i of 
 the inhabitants, dispossessed by an unrelenting avarice, w/iich will be one 
 day found to have been as short-sighted as it is unjust and selfish. Mean- 
 time tke Highlands may become the fairy ground for romance and 
 poetry, or the subject of experiment for the professors of speculation, po- 
 litical and economical. But if the hour of need should come, — and it may 
 nnc perhaps be far distant, — the pibroch may sov.nd through the deserted 
 region, but the sunnnons will remain unanswered." — Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 Let us hear what the great continental historian, Michelet, says : — 
 
 "The Scotch Highlanders will ere long disappear from the face of the 
 earth ; the viountainK are d'.iily depopulatinij ; the great estates have 
 ruined the land of the Gaul, as they did ancient Italy. The Highlander 
 will ere long exist only in the romances of Walter Scott. The tartan 
 and the c more excite surprise in the streets of Edinburgh : they dis- 
 appear — they emigrate — their national airs will ere long be lost, as the 
 music of the Eoliaii harp when the winds are hushed." 
 
 It is not necessary for me to say anything about the result of this de- 
 population — whether it is desirable or not — for ^ am not at present dis- 
 cussing an abstract question in political science, but the fact of ihat 
 depopulation going on is notorious over all. In one week one hundred 
 most industrious eknigrafits left the district of Athole for Canada, while 
 fcixty additional v/ere preparing to remove. As the press stateil, there 
 is a general "move" of Highland population to Australia and Canada, 
 of tlieii- own accord in many instances. The ousted farmers from Athole 
 have tiiriven so well in Canada, tliat the remainiag friends are desirous 
 of sharing their prosperity. Those who left Badenoch for Australia six- 
 teen years ago have made fortunes rapidly, and now the people «n masse 
 are Hitting But it is not only in the Highlands this system is at work ; 
 from where 1 write I see a farm in the oocupation of a tenant who has 
 ground that formerly sustained one hundred lowland Scotch families, 
 and all in {)eace and plenty, in contentment and happiness. On hundreds 
 of places might Nicoll sing, — 
 
 " Ae auld aik tree, or may be twa, 
 
 Ainang the wavin' corn, 
 la a' the mark that time has left 
 (y the toon where 1 was h(»rn." 
 
151 
 
 ime from 
 8t, — and 
 )rmed by 
 ed at the 
 i|i|)herds. 
 t is now 
 rings are 
 is stated 
 ship had 
 with any 
 iv a delu- 
 tation: — 
 ive been 
 ; nia i of 
 nil be one 
 Mean- 
 ince and 
 ition, po- • 
 nd it may 
 deser\;ed 
 • Scott. 
 iys:— 
 ice of the 
 tes have 
 Ighlander 
 le tartan 
 ihey dis- 
 as the 
 
 tliis de- 
 sent dis- 
 of that 
 hundred 
 wliile 
 there 
 Canada, 
 Athole 
 desirous 
 alia fi\x- 
 611 masse 
 t work ; 
 who has 
 families, 
 uudredn 
 
 I have never said that the Highlanders should be kept up as a nursery 
 for soldiers ; my only position is this, do not keep up nor put titem doivn. 
 If they cannot work, let them shift for themselves ; but if thei/ are beaten, 
 it is time for others to look out. Although it is not necessary to keep up 
 the Scottish peasantry by eleemosynary aid, yet does that arjfue that 
 they should be oppressed as much as possible] that they should be ren- 
 dered uncomfortable at home, and their crops devoured through the in- 
 fluence of game laws 1 Surely not. 
 
 1 say. that "any of the peasantry remaining do not calculate that they 
 can obtain a home for many years longer." Now, on Lochtayside, and 
 especially at Acharn, I certainly underatood that some thirty or forty ten- 
 ants looked at Whitsunday next as the time when their doom would be 
 fixed. Certain ominous examinations have been seen, and whispers were 
 rife that the same dose which their neighbours had been favoured with 
 was in preparation for them. The besom of extermination had left no 
 barrier betwixt them and being thrown ujjon the wide world for a home' 
 and the means of life. To say what your Lordship's plans are for the 
 future is what I cannot do; but I am perfectly correct in saying what 
 is "calculated." On another Highland property, 1 was aware at the 
 time luy book was in the press that extensive warnings had been given 
 for tlie small tenants to leave. I am glad, however, to say, that such 
 doings have been seen in their true colours, and that if any have to leave 
 that property it wiH be their own fault, as I learn that every reasonable 
 encouragement will now be affordeil them to stay at home. The question 
 was started in high quarters, — "If the people leave, who will be got to 
 work the land?" Well would it be for Breadalbane, r.nd for our country, 
 if your Lordship would set yourself seriously to examine the same ques- 
 tion. 
 
 I}i reference to Gleucoe, your Lordship abruptly answers, that it does 
 not, and never did belong to you. 1 never said that it did. 1 assorted 
 that it is "swept" of its inhabitants, u. 1 perhaj)s my information is in- 
 correct, but your Lioidsliip has not condescended to state whether it is so 
 or not. If. however, my language can bear any such construction as that 
 your Lord'hip is proprietor thereof, I wiHingly withdraw any such ambi- 
 guity, and confess that my language should nut be etjuivocal, although at 
 the same time, 1 believe that the less some Campbells say about (jrlencoe 
 the better. I have also put the Black Mount among the number of cl«^ared 
 grounds That there were numerous tenants living there waa according 
 to my information. In a region of tei-ritory covering sonn- 200 or .300 
 square miles of Scottish ground, the fact is. as ^ have stated, viz. that it is 
 "swept" — not one tenant on the whole!!! Your Lordship evades the 
 question by saying, that my statement amounts to this, "that it was for- 
 merly densely populated." I certainly whs unable to tell th»* number ot 
 families put away, but your Lordship might- hi*ve done so, and therp is 
 nothing to prevent that being done yet. iTou tell us about the records of 
 your family; your Lordship might have S])ared siu:h an allusion. It is a 
 painful one to a Scotchman, and particularly to a Highlander. I radition 
 must be far wide of the truth if the early history of your family be fit for 
 
152 
 
 seeing light in the nineteenth century. You tell us that the present pop- 
 ulation of that district is now as great as the time to which I allude. What 
 time, my Lord 1 — please explain yourself. You tell us that it is obvious 
 that this laud could only have been in the hands of tenants for a short 
 time. I certainly understood that it never was a deer forest until made so 
 by your Lordship, but I never said so. The argument8 used to excuse the 
 clearing system are not a little unique. Thus, the Black Mount is ci(^iirud, 
 having been " but thinly peopled"; and Lochtayside is all but swept, be- 
 cause it was "too densely populated.'' Some of your Glenquiech tenants' 
 families were in possession 400 years — was that the reason they were 
 " swept 1 " If not contradictory, these arguments are, at least, somewhat 
 strange ; thus the Fens of Lincoln have only been improved lately, — ei-go 
 there would V^ no harm in converting them again into marshes. The 
 whole cultivation of America is of comj)aritively recent origin, — ergo, it 
 would be no harm for a tyrant to lay it all waste 1 Then,you very coolly 
 tell us that your shepherds and foresters make up as great a populution as 
 formerly resided there. But you have forgotten to tell how many shep- 
 herds you have there, and it would be naturally inferred that the Black 
 Mount is as well grazed as before. Now, allow me to remind your Lord- 
 ship that such an impression is very far from being borne out by the facts 
 of the case, tliere being only a veri/ «;««// part of the Black Mount under 
 sheep pasture. Then, about the foresters, you would think it no harm in 
 having the whole Highlands under the dominion C/J chat excellent and 
 useful class, would you 1 Your Lordship must hold verystran"« 'octrines 
 of political science, if you estimate that game keepers and f i . . " > '■. : who 
 keep the country lying waste, viho dissipate the national reso . . .e for 
 a moment to be compared to the industrious pi^asant, by the sweav ux vhose 
 brow human life is sustained, and whose laudable endeavour is to in)prove 
 land, not to lay it waste ! The country would be vastly improved it" idle 
 keepers, who are a notorious pest to any district, were transformed into 
 res|)ectable and industrious tillers of the ground. Am I not correct, then, 
 in saying that the Black Mount has been swept of its industrious tenants, 
 and that only a few shepherds, (not, I believe, one-tenth of what ought to 
 be) occupy their placet But about the Black Mount more anon. 
 
 We have now come to Lochtayside ; and if the ])easantry be not uiV- 
 tiially " swept " from there, T shall make all apology that may be deemed 
 meet. By a mere play upon words, your Lordship makes out that it is 
 not " swept," because some tenants remain there still ; and yet in another 
 place we are told it was for good to the i^eople themselves tliat they were 
 cleared off, and, in the same letter, it was for the prevention of pauperism ; 
 again, at the conclusion, you triumphantly ask, " Uave I recklessly driven 
 out from its mountains and glens the interesting and gallant race that 
 FOKMKRLY dwelt there?" 
 
 In volunteering to correct the impression which every one has, of Loch- 
 tayside being virtually cleare«l of its peasantry, I think if your Lordship 
 could have proved that it was not cleared, this would have been easily 
 done by a statoment of th* number of families there were in 183-1 and chose 
 now in 1843. If my »oatement was not worth answering, why meddle 
 
esent pop- 
 le. What 
 Lb obvious 
 )r a short 
 il made so 
 jxcuse the 
 is cleurod, 
 swept, be- 
 h tenants' 
 ;hey were 
 somewhat 
 ely, — ergo 
 lies. The 
 ,—ergo, it 
 ery coolly 
 ulution as 
 any siliep- 
 tlio Black 
 our Lord- 
 r the facts 
 mt under 
 o harm in 
 illent and 
 •octrinos 
 toil " who 
 ; . e for 
 OA vhose 
 improve 
 (I it' idle 
 med into 
 Bct, then, 
 tenants, 
 ought to 
 
 not vir- 
 
 '■ deemed 
 
 hat it is 
 
 another 
 
 ey were 
 
 perism ; 
 
 driven 
 
 ,ce that 
 
 if Loch- 
 
 Lordsiiip 
 
 easily 
 
 lid chose 
 
 nieddle 
 
 153 
 
 with it ? If it was worth noticing why not answer it in the only manner 
 it could be answered, viz., by an appeal to facts and tigures 1 In a passing 
 allusion I think I shall be borne out if, in denouncing the clearing system, 
 four out of five families are thrust out. If I bad meant that it was cleared 
 of every inhabitant, I should certainly have said " totally cleared;" but I 
 adopted the everyday exjiression used whenever Lochtayside is spoken of. 
 both by strangers who see the remains of fornier houses, Ac, and of 
 Brradalbane men themselves. But lest your Lordship's memory 
 should have got rusty on this point, allow me to remind you of Mornish, 
 with its twenty-two families now occupied by one ; of the Oloichran with 
 eight or nine families, without a tenant at all. In Acharn, near Killin, 
 there were nineteen fanjilies ; how many nowl if there be one tenant, 
 mention his name. How niany "toons" have been cleared of four, ten, 
 or fourteen families besides those (juoted 1 Out with it my Lord I If 
 you have not been actuated l>y a desire to banish the people ot Bn-adal- 
 bane out of the country, prove it by tacts and Hguios, not by roundabout 
 statements entirely beside the point. It is quite true that many ptople 
 still live there ; and if your Lordship thinks it anything to your credit 
 that bothy-mm now usurp the place of honest cottagers, I am willing to 
 allow you all the benelit of the plea, although, at tht; same time, I think 
 the bothy system is one of the worst that your Lordshi}) could possibly 
 pat^ -tnise. You can take credit in the population account for the inhabi- 
 t'ii.i^i of your Lordship's bothies at Newhall, Comrie farm, Balmacuaugh- 
 U'u, \uchmore; and Acharn, near Killin. 
 
 And, lastly, as to the fencible men. You must be aware that your late 
 father raised 2,300 men the last war, and that 1,600 of that nuuibcr were 
 from the Breadalbane estates. My stateuient i.s, that 150 could uotniao 
 be raised. Your Lordship has most carefully evaded all allusion to this. — 
 perhaps the voiut charge of the whole. From your L<jrdship's silence I 
 am surely justified ;n concluding that you may endeavour to evade the 
 «|Uestion, but you dar** not attempt an open contradiction. I have often 
 made en(|uirie8 of Highlanders on this point, 'vnd the number above stated 
 was the hir/fiest estiviate. Many who should know, state to me that your 
 Lordbhip would not f^ftjifti/ tollowers from the whole I'Htates ; and anothrr 
 says, — " Why, he would not get ha't'-a-dozen, and not one of th«'m unless 
 he could not possibly do otherwise." ThiH, then, is the potiition of the 
 question : in 1793-4, thpre wa,s hu h a uunmrous. haniy, and induHtrious 
 population on th(f Breadalbane estates, that there coultl lie spared of valo- 
 rous defenders of their country in h»*r hour of duiigor 1600 
 
 Highest estimate now 150 
 
 Banished 14.")0 
 
 Per Coutrfi. 
 
 Game of all sorts increased a hundred fold. 
 
 Ir, conclusion, under thit. head, can you produce any thing farther in 
 <;or.tutatioii of the statements made in mv lx>ok 'I it' so, lot us have them. 
 
 PF- ■ 
 
154 
 
 Knt>win>i a good luaay fads, 1 am quite prepared to substantiate all I bare 
 ndvauced. 
 
 I mu, my Lord, 
 
 your very obedient humble servant, 
 July, 18o3. ' R. ALTSTER. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To tie most noble f/e Alar ui of Breadalbane. 
 
 " My Lord, — Having a tempted t > support the original statemonts 
 made by ine in tho volume J)efore alluded to, 1 am now at liberty to 
 «'xamine souip of those adduced by you ; and from the manner they are 
 stated, and the semi-othciHl tone in vvlnr^h they are couched, some might 
 believe that 1 had wantonly under/.aken to misrepresent your Lordship. 
 In my book .here was not a single imputation thrown upon your Lord- 
 ship's character, but the manner in which you have endeavoured to clear 
 yourself of blame (not then imputed), convinced many that you had made 
 a personal application of the general charges made in my book. 
 
 In the examination which \ intend to make of the facts brought for- 
 ward by your Lordship, I shall contine my observations to two parts, 
 viz., — 1.-7, Destroying the resources of the country for game. 2nd, Ex 
 termination of the peasantry. 
 
 In the factorial accounts to which your Lordship refers, is there any 
 estimate of the territory laid virtually waste for game sports 1 The next 
 time your Lordship openly makes reference thereto, perhaps you could 
 without much troulde, favour the public by replies to the following 
 (jueries : — 
 
 How many square miles c»f valuable pasture are kept waste for deer? 
 
 HovV many sheep could annually be drawn from tiiem, but for tho 
 deer ] 
 
 How many thousand black cattle could be reared, but for the same 
 cause? 
 
 With moderate and judicious outlays in planting, open draining, Ac, 
 •fee, how much extra protluce could l>e brought into market'! Would 
 the increase be f), lUO. 'JUU, or 300 per cent? Opinion differs very 
 much about these tigui",-.. 
 
 Uefer»-ing again to the Black Mount, perhaps your Lordship would 
 favour th«' [)ublic with its (/fOffia/t/u'cal boundaries. I have had greai 
 difficulty in arriving at anything like a correct estimate of the extent of 
 territory laid waste. The lowest estimate of its circumffjrenco 1 have 
 heard is fii'tt/ miles, others say sixty, and some as high as ninety miles. 
 Let us assume ihat in its present state there an* 100,000 acres of the 
 most valuable pasture all but usel^tss to the nation at present, but with 
 
 ^ifi^^ 
 
Ball I have 
 
 rvant, 
 ilSTER. 
 
 statements 
 liberty to 
 >i- they are 
 ome might 
 ' Lordship, 
 your Lord- 
 rud to clear 
 u had mude 
 k. 
 
 rought tor- 
 two parts, 
 2nd, Ex 
 
 there any 
 The next 
 
 you could 
 following 
 
 for deer? 
 It for the 
 
 the same 
 
 kning, Ac, 
 Would 
 [Hers very 
 
 )ip would 
 
 lad greai 
 
 J extent of 
 
 |o 1 have 
 
 ty mi lei. 
 
 B8 of thv 
 
 I hut with 
 
 15fi 
 
 the abolition of the Game Law Rules we mi(;ht guess that it could graze 
 70,000 sheep. One third to onefoui th of these could bo annually drawn, 
 and thus twenty thousand sheep would be yearly brought down for sale, 
 minm some 3,000 at present. The Clasht/oure wedders were said to be 
 the best ever seen in Glasgow market. How many does the hill pro- 
 duce now 1 Besides 20,000 sheep, thern might be 50,000 fleeces sold, 
 in which almost nothing is done at present. 
 
 If these statistics approximate the truth, would not such an addition 
 to the supplies f food to our town population be very valuable 1 Con- 
 sidering the hi' .1 price of meat at present, the great demand, the limited 
 supply, I am sure that no more wholesome or beneficial change could 
 take place in this country th .a would the opening up of the Highlands 
 to trade. The supply of black-faced sheep and of black cattle would be 
 increased beyond all conception. Instead of sending to the four quarters 
 of the earth for food, why not let Scotland produce all that it can ? why 
 banish the industrious population when such a field of real, not repro 
 sentative, wealth (as gold is) lies inviting them only to reap it 1 
 
 Yotir Tjordship states, that to the improvement of the countri/ and to 
 the welfare of the inhabitants you liave directed your attention and your 
 best thoughts. vV^ithout disputing your good intentions, allow me to ask 
 you before Scotland what luore could ytu have done, by yourself oi 
 your agents, to lay the country >yaste,— the Black M(mnt in particular] 
 Was it for the improvement of the country that you have kept some ot 
 ihe finest soil of Perthshire waste, — ihat is, the forest faciitg Kenmore 1 
 Is it for the iiuproveuient of the country that you keep all the land round 
 Drunnnond Hill merely for sport at deer-stalking 1 Is it for the encou- 
 rageujeut of agriculture that the tenants are bound htf lease to leave the 
 fields nearest the hill under grass, apparently that tht; gunie may have a 
 morsel in winter 1 Is it for the public good that your deer come to the 
 gard(>ns and destroy the cabV>age (some of it having had to be three times 
 planted this year in conse(iuence) I and yet the tenants dare iiot scare 
 them away ; if dogs are set iifter them they are forthwith shot ; if they 
 are frightened by firearms, the tenant is forthwith put off the property ! 
 And yet this is all done for " the injprovement of the coui.try," or else 
 " for the welfare of the inhabitants ! ! " 
 
 Whatever good has accrued from tln^ unexampled increase of game, 
 must be entirely placed to the credit of your liOrdship, for your pn de- 
 ces.sor (whose memory and good det^ds are warmly extolU-d by thousands) 
 did not favour the increase of gauie. No doubt he had numbers of deer, 
 but they were principally in parks, few or none being wild ; and no 
 tenant was restricted from using his gun (except in the parks) until thu 
 efforts of your Lordship introduced a dilleient regime. The late Ma'- 
 quis iuid a greater respect for his splendid and devoted peasantry than 
 ti) harass them with gamekeepers, or d«!Stroy their crops with hares and 
 pheasants. He wished them to live in the country, and therefore ho 
 adopted no measures directly or indirectly, to force them away. There 
 are, however, certain doings alwtut i^auiH of which your Lordship must 
 be ignorant, l>*'oause no nobleman, profe.ssing such lilterality as you du. 
 
156 
 
 could be a party to such transactions. 1 refer to the case of a tenant at 
 Acham, who was tempted to shoot a fallow deer, which had perhaps 
 fattened oa his own crops or cabbage. His servant, instead of going to 
 church on Sabbath, went to inform your Lordship's keeper of the oc- 
 currence ; and, if I am correctly informed, that excellent man went 
 shortly after and made a search, in the house. He was like to be foiled 
 in the pursuit, when he took off the kail-pot, and carrying it to the door, 
 found therein a piece of venison ! What a horrible disclosure ! Tha 
 venison was forthwith carried to Bolfcacks, and such a hullabaloo whs 
 there ! And what was the sentence? — banishment ! Although stronj^ly 
 attached to Scotland, yet no remedy could be found for the unpardonalde 
 crime — off he had to go. Now it turns out this happened for the man'.s 
 welfare, fo< he would hardly return to Breadalbane, although made pro- 
 prietor of his former occupancy. 
 
 How these 200 square miles, laid all but desolate, besides crops in 
 fields and in gardens destroyed, tallies with your Lordship's loud profes- 
 sions for agricultural improvement, is what others must explain for I 
 really confess for once that T am shamefully l)taten in the attempt to do so. 
 
 I shall now trouble your Lordship with a few inquiries relative to the 
 Extermination op tub Peasantry. On your Nether ixtrne property, 
 you state your belief that the population is as large as ever it was. Pre- 
 vious to the overturn of the Roman empire, the towns multiplied ex- 
 ceedingly, but at the sau\e time the rural population was totally swamped. 
 Would your Lordship bo good enough to state whether or not the Nether 
 Lome M cleared of the peusfuitri/, and the land is now tenanted by south 
 country fiviners^ luul if the populatioii to which your Lordship refers is 
 not that employed at Easdale slnte quarries 1 
 
 In reference to the removals from Lochtayside, your Lordship claims 
 great credit on that accoimt, alleging that pauperism would have produced 
 '' disiistrous results before this." Again, you ilaim great credit, because 
 there was no destitution in 1846-7.* Now, I most flatly deny the insinua- 
 tions here thrown out upon the peasant population ; and not only so, liut 
 T aver that it ia to c/eaitng lamllords like yourself that we are indebted 
 for the i/ient ahutiduntr of' pauperism in large towns ! The deplorable 
 destitution on tlm west coast wa.s in a great measure occasioned by lairds 
 thrusting out the population (which they had previously done so much to 
 develop), and huddling them together in fishing villages along the coast. f 
 I do not reuMiudier of any peasantry in Scotlaiid being afllicted with the 
 evils you name. On those parts of the Breadalbane property iiot yet 
 cleared, did any destitution prevail "? Was there any of it felt at th? 
 densely populated neighbourhood of Aeharn I i can point out to numer- 
 ous estates, as densely populated as over Lochtayside was, and in as un- 
 favourable circumstance's, and yet destitution was never dreamt of. In 
 Athole, in Strathtay, Moulin, and many other places that suggest them- 
 selves to me, where the holdings are almost all small, the people never 
 were more prosperous than they have lH»en since 1846. 
 
 • Pray, how could there be pfniperism wh'?a the people were baniihed ? 
 + See "Theory of Human Progression," page :iI2, an<i also Pariiamentary Re- 
 port of 24ch May 1841. 
 
I a tenant at 
 had perhaps 
 1 of going to 
 r of the 00 
 t man went 
 I to be foiled 
 to the door, 
 osure ! Th« 
 llabaloo whs 
 I'^h stronj^ly 
 n pardonable 
 }r the man's 
 h made pro- 
 
 h's crops in 
 loud profes- 
 cplain for I 
 mpt to do so. 
 lative to the 
 ne propfrty, 
 ; wa8. Pro- 
 ilti plied ox- 
 ly swamped. 
 ■j the Nether 
 ttid V)y south 
 ip refers is 
 
 ship elaiaiH 
 ! produced 
 Jit, because 
 le insinua- 
 ly so, but 
 indebted 
 deplorable 
 d by lairds 
 so much to 
 the coast, f 
 d with the 
 not yet 
 elt at th? 
 to numer- 
 in as un- 
 lit of. In 
 gest them- 
 ple never 
 
 a? 
 
 entary Ro- 
 
 tre 
 
 'V 
 
 157 
 
 Your Lordship takes it for granted that any visitor must see a vast im- 
 provement in Lochtayside, dating from 1884, — a statement which demands 
 proof ; for I am informed on the most unquestionable authority, that 
 there is now iess produced to clothe and feed the human race on Lochtay- 
 side than there was twenty years ago ;and I fully believe it. Instead of 
 the improvements on the Breadalbane estates keeping up with the times, 
 I am strongly convinced that they have retrograded rather than advanced 
 since your Lordship'^ succession. 
 
 The former condition of the peasantry seems to have drawn forth an un- 
 merited sneer. In reply to numerous inquiries, the answers all concur in 
 r«' presenting the peaceful dwellers by the lakeside as jwculiarly social. 
 They lived without guile ; they assisted each other in every respect, and 
 nothing but harmony and good feeling prevailed ; and certainly, if such 
 were the case, it would form a j)lea8ing contrast to the bitterness, rancour, 
 and ill-feeling that is elsewhere displayed. We are also told that "the 
 physical condition whs unfavourably affected." Now, of all places in 
 Europe, 1 certainly understood that physical strength was nowhere better 
 developed than in the Highlands of Scotland. In Lochtayside I have seen 
 some very powerful, hardy, well-knit men. In particular, the most her- 
 culean tigure that I ever neinember to have seen was one of the individuals 
 from a croft on the lake-side ! Although your Lordshi}) has chosen to 
 blacken the Highland peasantry to justify your own doings, yet I shall 
 easily get many who are of a different opinion. The following is the testi- 
 mony of a Breadalbane man ; — •' fi» my young days the people lived 
 happy* and sociably, as well as V)eing healthy and comfortable. There 
 was plenty of animal food, and abundance of milk. There were few or 
 no paupers ; for when a man was worn out he got a cow's haddin, which 
 the neighV)our8 ploughed, sowed, and reaped. 'I'hus he was kept oil" the 
 poor's box, — a calamity they were dreadfully afraid of." 
 
 Your Lordship congratulates yourself for the gntat efforts uiadti for the 
 religious and educational wants being supplied better than in any other 
 part of the Highlands. Now, it is unfortunate that those laudible efforts 
 are so little known, and the example of such excellent endeavours thereby 
 
 wouul 
 Nicoll 
 
 Tiiose 
 inaiia 
 words 
 trover 
 Holy 
 
 am quite alive to the fact, that nothing is more common amon^ cc-rtain 
 -be-wiau theorist than to sneer at the phase of human life here alluiicd to. 
 , on the other hand, is perhaps too seme in its favour : — 
 
 " We saw tlie corn and hand the plough, — 
 
 We a' w'/rk for our living ; 
 ) We gather nought hut what weve suwu, 
 
 A' else we reckon thievuig. 
 And for the loon wha fears to say 
 
 He conies o' lowly suia' folk, 
 A wizened aaul the creature has.— . 
 
 Disown him will the puir folk ! " 
 
 who scoff at peasant life are uflcn tiiogu who hold the ludicrous i'iea thut a 
 life consist in the things of which ho is possesi^ed ! To such we say, in the 
 of the poet. "Let not ambition mock th«ir humble toil ; " for beyond all con- 
 'sy the peaoxntry were possessed of a rare ^em, — oontentmeut ; that which 
 Writ hath pronounced to be better than riches i 
 
 I 
 
 'm 
 
 m 
 
168 
 
 lost. As for the educational sujieriority, I may safely state tliHt the aver- 
 age amount of education, on the best part of the Breudalbane estates, does 
 not nearly approximate to that of Logierait in your own neighbourhood. 
 
 In my work I have endeavoured to show that religion takes a much 
 firmer hold in the cotter toons than in the Oallowgates and Cannongates 
 of our large towns, and I adduced Buru's description of a "Cotter's Satur- 
 day Night" in proof of my position. I fear that the transforming of 
 honest cottagers into bothy blackguards hus uui a salutary effect ; and if 
 your Lordship desires the religious and social amelioration of the Scottish 
 peasantry, I would strongly advise you to abandon the bothy system in the 
 farms wrought by youreelf, and lend a helping hand to put down the 
 system in Scotland generally. Nicoll's description «»f an evening in a 
 Scottish cottage would not answer for bothies generally : — 
 
 " And when the supper-time was o'or, 
 
 'J'he I^Ki'K waa taeit as it ahoulii be, 
 Aud heaven had itu trysted liuur 
 
 Aiicath that sooty auld rooftreo." 
 
 It is quite possible that the population on both sides of the lake might 
 have been too great, but then there was ample room for expanding. In 
 Breadalbane there was no trade, although 1 believe there is abundant 
 room for a con.siderable local business. Look at Athole for instance, which 
 has not greater facilities, and yet many branches of commerce are developed 
 there. I could point out tiom personal experience how this could be hc- 
 complished, but it is not wanted, — it would keep too many people in the 
 country, the very rock which is of all others to be avoided. It consists, 
 with my knowledge, that when the Brendalbar.e farms were small, the 
 rents wei-e paid up to the last farthing, and testimony to i\i\f ellect will 
 not be wanting if called for. Since the farms have been made large, have 
 the rents been equally well paid 1 But who caused the population to ex- 
 pand on Lochtayside ] Was it not your noble father 1 Did he not cram 
 in the men who returned from the fencible regiments 1 This method of 
 cutting and carving up human families, — the father increasing, and the 
 son sweeping away, — is what, in my humble opinion, deinands investiga- 
 tion. Human l)eings have acute feelings, an I they should not be removed 
 hither and thither to accomodate the caprice of an ill-disposed laird. I 
 shall not inquire about the original rights of the proi)erly of the Campbell 
 clan,— 1 shall not ask whether or not the men whose swords ac({uired the 
 property had no right to any part of the acquired territory, — I shall not 
 ask whether or not, at a recent date, the clansmen did exercise their rights, 
 and caused their castle to be built where it now stands, yes, after the foun- 
 dations of another had been raised ground high. All that 1 beseech and 
 pray for, on behalf of the ))easantry i^, that they may be allowed to live in 
 Scotland, and that they may be allo^*'ed to cultivate the land, paying full 
 rent for their possessions, and that they shall not be harassed by a wicked 
 law, such as the one that jjrotectR game. Do I ask, or rather deuiund, 
 anything but whatall would openly admit was bare justice and no favour < 
 
 Your Lordship states that in reality therij has been no depopulation of 
 
r 
 
 lat the uver- 
 states, does 
 [hbourhood. 
 
 :es a much 
 Jannoiigates 
 tter's Satur- 
 iforming of 
 feet ; and if 
 the Scottish 
 r'steni in the 
 i down the 
 I'eniug in a 
 
 I lake might 
 
 imling. in 
 
 » abundant 
 
 ance, which 
 
 •e developed 
 
 could be ac- 
 
 eople in tlie 
 
 It consists, 
 
 small, the 
 
 ^fttect will 
 
 large, have 
 
 at ion to ex- 
 
 le not cram 
 
 method of 
 
 and the 
 
 nvestiga- 
 
 )0 removed 
 
 laird. I 
 
 Campbell 
 
 (juired the 
 
 shall not 
 
 leir rights, 
 
 r the foun- 
 
 eseech and 
 
 d to live in 
 
 laying full 
 
 y n wifki'd 
 
 • demand, 
 
 U) favour i 
 
 lulaiiuu of 
 
 169 
 
 the district. This, and other parts of your Lordship's letter would cer- 
 tainly lead any who know notliingof the facts to suppose that there iunl 
 been no cloanngs on the Breadalbane estates ; whereas it is generally be- 
 lieved that your Lordship removed, since IH.*!-!, no less than oOU families ! ! 
 Some may think this a small matter ; but I do not. I think it is a great 
 calamity for a family to be thrown destitute of the means of life, without 
 a roof over their heads, and cast upon the wide sea of an unfet-ling world, 
 [n Glenqueich, near Amulree, some sixty families formerly lived, where 
 there are now only four or five ; and in America there is a glen inhabited 
 by its ousted tenants, and called (ilenqueith still. Yet forsooth, it is main- 
 tained there has been no depopulation here !* Ihe desolations here look 
 like the ruins of Irish cabins, althou'^h the population of (Jlenqueich were 
 always characterized as being remarkably thrifty, economical and wealtiiy. 
 On the braes of Taymouth, at the back of Drummond Hill, and at Tul- 
 lochyoule, some forty or fifty families formerly resided where there is not 
 one now! Glenorchy, by the returns of lt»31, showed a population (»f 
 1806 ; in 1841, 831 ; — is there no depopulation there 1 Is it true that in 
 Glenetive there were sixteen tenants a year or two ago, where there is not 
 a single one nowl Ts it true, my liord, that you purchased an islaml on 
 the wes< ■ oast, called Luing, where some twenty-five families lived at the 
 beginnnKi of this i/far, but who are now cleared otl' to make room for one 
 tenant, for whom an extensive steading is now being erected I If my in- 
 formation be correct, I shall allow tlie public to draw their own conclu- 
 sions ; but, from every thing that 1 have heard. I beli<'ve that your 
 Lordshi]) has done more to exterminate the Scottish peasantry than any 
 man now living ; and perhaps you ought to be ranked next to the ^Iai(|uis 
 of Stafford in the unenviable clearing celebrities. If I have over-estinuittd 
 the clearances at 500 families, please to correct ul(^ 
 
 Now, my Lord, I did not say how ilust! clearances were uifjcted. I 
 have been told they have been gone about in a covert and most insidious 
 iijftnner, and that a mock ceremony has been gone through of ofi;'ring th»' 
 people houses; but where are there houses in Un.'udaliKine to u'ive them I 
 I never heard of any unoccupied cottages — pray, .vhere are they 1 1 am 
 credibly informed that many have been offered places unfit for pigs ; and 
 some have got the sliaro of a house, but from which they were shortly 
 driven out, on the shadow of a |)retext. Hut granting that they i^ot 
 houses, what could the people do / could they live on the wind 1 I am 
 aware. that your Lordship does give c(»nsideial)Ie employment to work- 
 people ; but what kind of wages do the regular workers get i Tin y travel 
 some three, four, or five miles to and from work daily, and the scajity pit- 
 tance they obtain is Is. 2d. per diem in winter, rnd Is. 4d. in summer. 
 By the time an able-bodied man pays house-rent out of that sum, and 
 keeps a family, he cannot hoard much money in the l»anks That the 
 condition of such people is greatly ameliorated by depriving them of their 
 
 * A stranger, paasing thtough thu glen, in<|uired what had become of the penpl 
 wlioBO houues lay in rinun, and a man, apimrently weak in iiitoU«)ct, replied, " I'lie; 
 are out of my sight, aud 1 know not where they have guno ! " 
 
 a 
 Itey 
 
160 
 
 I I 
 
 small holdings is what might he disputed. Jf they were not comfortable 
 then, it is at least evident they are not in the Garden of Eden now. 
 
 Your Lordship states that upwards of £208,000 have been expended 
 on " useful works." Of course, a large amount thereof has been recorded 
 ii^ainst the future heirs of entail. But bow much of this large sum has 
 l)een exi)ended in a manner that will yield any benefit to the countfi/ f 
 (for money expended for the gt-atitication of caprice might be as well 
 thrown into Loch Tay.) I am informed that the proportion is miserably 
 Hmall ; hut lu)w much is itf Let it be known to a penny, so that your 
 Lonisiiip may have full justice rendered you. I may safely say that the 
 peasantry have hail very little of it appropriated for the improvement of 
 their holdings. But after such a display of figures, you say, "I fearlessly 
 ask, am 1 obnoxious to the imputation of being regardless of the prosperity 
 of the people upon the pi'operty f" That you have been blamed for being 
 utterly regardless of thejieople, is what 1 have often heard, and that you 
 cared not a farthinj; v/hat became of them, if they are got quickly out of 
 Hight ; and all my informants agree to the same assertion (some of them 
 using stronger language.)* But I am bound to admit that one of your 
 factoi-s JH blamed for much of the mischief that has been done. If, as it 
 is alleged, he boasted that he could get a south country farmer to rent 
 the whole ;^ouml lietween Drummond Hill and Killin, it did certainly 
 reveal no kindly fueling toward numerous families residing there. 
 
 Yo;i conclude your famous letter by asking, " Have I recklessly driven 
 out from its mountains Hud glens the interesting and gallant race that 
 fuivierly resided there f I can prove that the " interesting and gallant 
 nice" rather increHS»;<l than diminished under your father's management. 
 Who. then has driven them ouf? I know of no one who could but 
 your Lordship or your agents. 
 
 But 1 cannot finish this long letter, without paying a tribute to the 
 memory of the late Marquis of Breadalbane. He was beloved by a 
 numerous and attached tenantry, and it may be some consolation to his 
 descendants to know that his memory is yet respected in Breadalbane. 
 ^nstead of being feared by his servants, he was greatly esteemed by all of 
 <^henj. Instead of making loud [)rofes8ions abroad and acting the tyrant 
 at home, his practice always stood higher than his professions of liberality, 
 '''he poor blessed him in the gate, and well might they deplore his depar- 
 ture ; and yet he had always plenty himself; he was no niggard, but 
 dispensed a bounteous Highland hospitality ; yet he left his estates free 
 of debt, besides leaving nearly half a million sterling to his heirs ! 
 
 I have shortly alluded to the past and present on the Breadalbane 
 estates, but what shall l)e said of the future 1 Hope, that always expects 
 the best, whispere that present evils may come to an end ; and, if rej)ort 
 speaks correctly, promises to that effect may yet be realised. The tenure 
 of entailed estates makes the possessor only a life-renter on thenj ; and in 
 
 * Thus, a party, well-known on the Lakeside, is reported to have addroased a 
 certain Marquis, " Ay, my Lord, and you're to put me out ! are ye ? But if I 
 was a pheasant cock or a pointer dog, / %oouXd yet a liouse, and meat too." 
 
nfortable 
 now. 
 sxpendecl 
 recorded 
 sum has 
 country f 
 Q as well 
 iiiaerably 
 that your 
 ' that the 
 cement of 
 fearlessly 
 )ro8perity 
 for being 
 that you 
 Icly out of 
 le of theui 
 e of your 
 If, us it 
 ir to rent 
 1 certainly 
 jre. 
 
 isly drivnn 
 I race that 
 id gallant 
 lagement. 
 Qould but 
 
 lite to the 
 ved by a 
 ion to his 
 adalbane. 
 by all of 
 he tyrant 
 berality. 
 is depar- 
 ar«l, but 
 ates free 
 Irs! 
 
 adalbane 
 
 s expects 
 
 if r(;i)ort 
 
 e tenure 
 
 ) ; and in 
 
 Idroiised a 
 But if I 
 
 161 
 
 the course of nature, the Breadalbane estates must some time pass into 
 the possession of othei'K, who, it is hoped, will act more kindly to the 
 people remaining than your Ijordship has done. But it is hoped that they 
 will remain as long in the hands of tht) present possessor as will enable 
 him to make some reparation fur the unexampled blunders he has com- 
 mitted. 
 
 I could have brought forward many more facts to prove that the system- 
 atic extermination of the peasantry, that is being carried on all over 
 Scotland, is particularly felt on the Breadalbane estates ; but whether 
 pauperism and other claimant evils are occasioned thereby is M'hat the pub- 
 lic can determine ; but they will widely differ from me if they do not 
 believe that the Gothic or feudalistic legislation that fosters such enormi- 
 ties is a great obstruction to our prosperity and happiness as a nation. 
 I am, my Lord, your Lordship's very humble servant, 
 
 R. ALISTEK. 
 
 July, 1853. 
 
 P.S. — On same future occasion I may trouble your Lordship with 
 some inciuiries about the benefits conferred ui>on the Highlands by 
 ABSENTEEISM, and ask some questions about the legality of deer forests, 
 which, 1 believe, cause an annual loss to Scotland of 100,000 sheep, and 
 10,(100 black cattle. I believe they occupy 800 srjuare miles of Scottish 
 territory. Why we should spend so much money and spill so much blood 
 in Africa for the protection of grazings there, while such tracts of country 
 in Scotland are locked up from industry, and all but laid desolate ? 
 
 To trace the scenes of desolation, and the extreme poverty occasioned 
 by the clearing system, in the West Highlands, is more than can be 
 expected in this work. This was done by abler men than me, viz., Mu. 
 Robert Summehs, Editor of the Glasgow Daily Mail^ and Mr. Don.vlo 
 Ross, Writer, Glasgow, gentlemen to whom the Highlanders are much 
 indebted for their disinterested advocacy in behalf of the poor, and their 
 disclosure of the cruelty and unyodly conduct of proprietors. Bu L before 
 leaving Perthshire, permit roe to make some few remarks upon his Grace 
 of Atholl. The Duke of AthoU, can, with propriety, claim the origin of 
 Highland clearances. Whatever merit the family of Sutherland and 
 Stafford may take to themselves, for the lire and faggot exj)ulsion of the 
 people from the Glens of Sutherland, they cannot claim the merit of 
 originality. The present Duke of Atholl's Grandfather cleared Glen 
 Tilt, (so far as I can learn) in 1784. This beautiful valley was occupied 
 in the same way as other Highland valley lij each family possessing a piece 
 of arable land, while the hill-pasture was held in common. The p»!ople 
 held a right and full liberty to fish in the Tilt, an excellent salmon river, 
 and the pleasure and profits of the chase, in common with their chief ; 
 but the then Duke acquired a great taste for deer. The people were for 
 time iinmemorinl accustomed to take their cattle in the summer seasons to 
 
 hX 
 
 fi| 
 
 vm 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-S) 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 'f. m 
 
 ]~ 140 
 
 M 
 
 2.0 
 
 III 1.4 
 
 1= 
 1.6 
 
 V] 
 
 <? 
 
 /2 
 
 % 
 
 /a 
 
 0% '\> 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 /A 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 \ 
 
 -q\^ 
 
 ^9) 
 
 V 
 
 «^ 
 
 <F 
 
 :\ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 o^ 
 
 rv 
 
 <^ 
 
 ^1 
 
4is 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
162 
 
 I; 
 
 a higher glen, which is watered by the River Tarfe ; but the Duke 
 appointed this Glen Tarfe for a deer forest, and built a high dyke at the 
 head of Glen Tilt. The people submitted to this encroachment on their 
 rights. The deer increased; and did not pay much regard to the march, 
 they would jump over the dyke, ana destroy the people's crops ; the 
 people complained, and His Grace rejoiced : and to gratify the roving 
 propensities of these light-footed animals, he added another splice of some 
 thousand acres of the people's land to the grazing grounds ut hisia-ruuii.o 
 deer. Gradually the deer forest extend '-d, and the marks of cultivation 
 were effaced, till the last of the brave Git n Tilt men, who fought and often 
 confronted and defeated the enemies of Scotland and her Kings upon 
 many a bloody battle field, were routed off and bade a final farewell to the 
 beautiful Glen Tilt, which they and their forefathers for ages considered 
 their own healthy sweet home. An event occurred at this period, 
 according to history, which afforded a pretext to the (villain) Duke for 
 this heartless extirpation of the aborigines of Glen Tilt. Highland 
 Chieftains were exhibiting their patriotism by raising regiments to serve 
 in the American war ; and the Duke of Atholl could not be indifferent in 
 such a cause. Great efforts were made to enlist the Glen Tilt people, who 
 are still remembered in the district as a strong athletic race. Perpetual 
 possession of their lands, at the then existing rents, was promised them, 
 if they would only raise a contingent force equal to a man from each family. 
 Some consented, but the majority, with a praiseworthy resolution not to 
 be dragged at the tail of a Chief into a war of which they knew neither 
 the beginning nor the end, refused. The Duke flew into a rage ; and 
 press-gangs were sent up thtJ Glen to carry off the young men by force. 
 One of these companies seized a cripple tailor, who lived at the foot of 
 Bene_;, -gloe, and afraid lest he might carry intelligence of their apjiroach 
 up the Glen, they bound him hand and foot, and left him lying on the 
 cold hill-side, where he contracted disease, from which he never recovered. 
 By impressment and violence the regiment was at length raised ; and 
 when peace was proclain)ed, instead of restoring the soldiers to their 
 friends and their homes, the Duke, as if he had been a trafficker in slaves, 
 was only prevented from selling theia to the East India Company by the 
 rising mutiny of the regiment ! He afterwards pretended great offence 
 at the Glen Tilt people, for their obstinacy in refusing to enlist, a7id — it 
 may now be added — to be sold; and their conduct in this affair, was 
 given out as the reason why he cleared them from the glen — an excuse 
 which, in the present day, may increase our admiration of the people, but 
 can never palliate the heartlessness of his conduct. His ireful policy, 
 however has taken full effect. The romantic Glen Tilt, Avith its fertile 
 holmes and verdant steeps, is little better than a desert. The very deer 
 rarely visit it, and the wasted grass is burned like heather at the beginning 
 of the year, to make room for the new verdure. On the spot where I 
 found the grass most luxuriant, I traced the seats of thirty cottages, and 
 have no hesitation in saying, that under the skill, the industrious habits, 
 and the agricultural facilities of the present day, the land once occupied 
 by the tenants of Glen Tilt, is capable of maintaining a thousand people, 
 
163 
 
 •and leave a large proportion of sheep and cattle for exportation besides. 
 In the meantime, it serves no better purpose than the occasional play- 
 ground of a Duke. 
 
 " Proud Nimrod firat the bloody chase began, 
 
 A mighty htinter — and his prey was man. 
 
 Our haughty Norman boasts the barbarous name, 
 
 And makes his trembling slaves the royal game. 
 
 The fields are ravished from iiidustrioua swains, 
 
 From men their cities, and from gods their fanes. 
 
 In vain kind seasons swell the teeming grain, 
 
 Soft showers distill'd, and suns grow warm in vain; 
 
 The swain, with tears, his frustrate labour yields, 
 
 And, famish'd dies amidst the ripening fields. ' 
 
 What wonder then a beast or subject slain. 
 
 Were equal crimes in a despotic reign? 
 
 Both, doomed alike, for sportive tyrants bled; 
 
 But, while the subject starved, the beast was fed." — Pope, 
 
 The Parish of Atholl was at one period a gigantic parish; it is traversed 
 from end to end by the Great Northern Road, from Perth through tlie 
 Orarapian Hills to Inverness, formerly a favorite resort for tourists 
 annually — the natural attraction of the place being so widely known for 
 its romantic scenery. The famous Pass of Killicrankie, ushers you from 
 the south to the Plains of Atholl, a beautiful level strip of land stretching 
 along the north bank of the River Garry, about three and a half miles 
 long, and about two miles broad. Here stands Blair Castle, the Duke's 
 seat, whose parks and pleasure grounds take up three-fourths of the whole 
 plain. The whole industry of this once populous parish, is compressed 
 into the remainder one-fourth. This busy little plain is the terminus of 
 half a dozen of other great glens, which shoot amongst the Grampians. 
 The renowned Glen Tilt stretches easterly, Glen Bruan northw rd, and 
 Glen Garry westward. These Glens are intersected by smaller valleys 
 presenting varieties of aspects, from the most fertile carses to the bleak 
 moorland. But man durst not be seen there. The image of God i 
 forbidden to travel there, unless it is stamped upon the Duke, his foresters 
 and game-keepers, that His Grace's deer may not be annoyed. In 1800 
 the population of this parish was given in at 2,998; \i\ 1841, the popula 
 tion was given in at 2,304, shewing a decrease of 694. But those betto 
 acquainted in the parish, say that the population does not exceed 1,800 
 For all these highland depopulators manage to keep up a false population t 
 screen them from tlje infamy they so Well merited. 
 
 "Wealth increases, and men decay." , 
 
 Long since these valliant men of Atholl have been expelled from the 
 Grami)ian Nursery. Still new forests for deer are springing up from east 
 to west; from the neighbourhood of Aberdeen to the crags of Oban, y u 
 have one continuous line of forests. Jn other parts of the highlands they 
 can scarcely be numbered. Such as the Forest of Loch Archaig, Glen 
 Morison, Glen Strathfai'ar, Dirubh Mdbr, (Sutherlandshire) ; and many 
 more unpronounceable names, which would only weary the reader. In 
 sljort, whether the old Forests of King Fergus and Ceanmore were revived, 
 
 
 IT- '■,'•;■■ iffil 
 
 mm 
 
 '7'!*' '■/''* 
 
 r ill 
 
 I'k. 
 
 •f;'. 
 
164 
 
 or new regions are brought within the mystic circle for the first time^ 
 the same devastation precedes the completion of the enterprise ; houses, 
 roads, enclosures, cattle, men, every work of time and progress, the 
 valuable creation of labour, and changes of centuries, are all extirpated by 
 the word of a mortal insignificant worm of the earth, in order that deer, 
 blackcock, and other sporting animals, more valuable than men, may 
 enjoy the pleasing solitude ; and that aristocratic sportmen may monopo- 
 lise the pleasure and benefits of the chase. Yes my highland Scotch 
 readers, but Britain is now in need of men to fight her battles, to subdue 
 her rebellious subjects or slaves in India, to invade and conquer China, U> 
 keep at bay Russia, Persia, and many other formidable enemies. Cringing 
 and making alliance with perjured Napoleon and France, who cannot but 
 remember, and will remember, Waterloo, and who would rejoice to see her 
 glory departed, and her humbled in the dust. Look at her squandering her 
 money away, hii-ing German paltroons to fight her battles. Pawning her 
 revenues with Jews, to raise money to pay them, while her own nursery 
 of the brave, irresistable in the battle field, who always fought for glory 
 and honour, not for her shilling per day ; who at all times, and especially 
 in need, increased her army and navy with men by the thousands worthy 
 of the name — not with hired foreign cowards, who in most cases, do 
 more harm than good — but with men who were never known to turn their 
 back to an enemy, but when prudence and good discipline required it. 
 Yes I say this nnrseVy is converted into a howling desert, to afford amuse- 
 ment and sporting ground for a number of these aristocratic locusts, who 
 were, and will continue to be, the desolating curse of every land and 
 nation they are allowed to breed in. This Royal Caledonian Forest they 
 destroyed by fire ; the oaks and cedars of this Lebanon liave been hewn 
 down and up-rooted. They are (to my joy) taking firm root and spreijding 
 fast in foreign climes. But the question is, has Britain or their mother, 
 any claim u})on their sympathy or assistance wherever they (her children) 
 are to be found. Let me not say no, though she deserved it — I say yes 
 However cruel she dealt with us, she ;'s still our mother ; and bad and 
 short-sighted as she acted, she is still, 1 ho[)e, open to conviction ; and 
 this is the time to convince her of her folly, when she is under the unerring 
 chastising Rod of God, when her sins have found her out. And every true 
 Scotchmen should exert himself, wherever he is, to persuade her of her 
 past folly, and help on her conviction and conversion. She has hearkened 
 to sound reasoning in many inslfances this some years back ; and it is to 
 be hoped her Rulers will do so yet ; and that the Highlands of Scotland will 
 be re-peopled, and flourish as in the days of yore. The people have only 
 to demand it in earnest, and it will be done ; whereas in other nations the 
 peo])le's demands are answered by the cannon. Let no Scotchman, High- 
 l«nd or Lowland, wish to see their mother trampled down by Mohnmme- 
 dans. Paeans, Idolators, and Despots, who erased liberty and freedom froui 
 tlieir vocabularies, and even the very word is not found in their nations. 
 But I am sorry that through evil agency and mal administration of 
 Highland proprietors, sympathy for Britain in her late and present trouble 
 disappeaied in the Highlands of Scotland ; a proof of it is to be seen in> 
 ♦^lie following letter which I received shortly after leaving Scotland : 
 
165 
 
 Srst time, 
 J ; houses, 
 
 gress, 
 
 the 
 
 irpated by 
 that deer, 
 men, may 
 y monopo- 
 ad Scotch 
 to subdue 
 f China, U> 
 Cringing 
 3annot but 
 ! to see her 
 ideriug her 
 Lwning her 
 vn nursery 
 t for glory 
 . especially 
 ids worthy 
 cases, do 
 ► turn their 
 jquired it. 
 ord amuse- 
 icusts, who 
 land and 
 i'oreiit they 
 )een hewn 
 spreijding 
 ir mother, 
 children) 
 say yes 
 bad and 
 tion ; and 
 unerring 
 nerv true 
 er of her 
 learkened 
 id it is to 
 bland will 
 lave only 
 itions the 
 an, High- 
 ohnmme- 
 idom from 
 nations. 
 ;ration of 
 at trouble 
 seen in 
 and : 
 
 My correspondent says: "MacLeod, your predictions are making their 
 appearance at last, great demand are here for men to go to Russia, b;;i 
 they are not to be found. It seems that the Secretary of War ha.s corres- 
 ponded with all our Flighland Proprietors, to raise as many men as they 
 could for the Crimean War, and ordered so many officers of rank to the 
 Highlands to assist the proprietoi-s in doing so — but it has been a complete 
 failure as yet. The nobles adverti.sed by placards, meetings of the people ; 
 these proclamations were attended to, but when they came to understand 
 what they were about, in most cases the recruiting proprietors and staff 
 were saluted with the ominous cry of Maa ! maa! boo ! boo! imitating 
 sheep and bullocks, and- send your deer, your roes, your rams, dogs, shep- 
 herds, and gamekeepers, to fight the Russians, they never di(> us any 
 harm. The success of his Grace the Duke of Sutherland was depl(jiable, 
 I believe you would have pitied the poor old man had you seen him. 
 
 In my last letter I told you that his head commissioner, Mr. Loch, and 
 military officer, was in Sutherland for the last six weeks, and failed 
 in getting one man to enlist ; on getting this doleful tidings the Duke 
 himself left London for Sutherland, he arrived at Dunrobin about ten 
 days ago, and after presenting himself upon the streets of Golspie and 
 Brora, he called a meeting of the male inhabitants of the parishes of Clyne, 
 Rogart, and Golspie; the meeting was well attended, upwards of 400 were 
 punctual at the hour, his Grace in his carriage with his military staff and 
 factors appeared shortly after, the people gave them a hearty cheer ; his 
 Grace took the chair. Three or four clerks took their seats at the table, 
 and loosened down bulky packages of bank notes, and spread out plate- 
 fulls of glittering gold. The Duke addressed the people very serious, and 
 entered upon tlie necessity of going to war with Russia, and the danger 
 of allowing the Czar to have more power than what he holds already, 
 of his cruel despotic reign in Ru.ssia, »fec., likewise praising the Queen and 
 her government, rulers and nobles of Great Britain, who stood so much in 
 need of men to put and keep down the Tyrant Russia, and foil him in his 
 wicked schemes to take possession of Turkey. In concluding his address, 
 which was often cheered, he told the young able bodied men that his clerks 
 were ready to take down the names of all those willing to enlist, and every 
 one who would enlist in the 93rd Highlanders that the clerk would give 
 him, there and then, £6 sterling, those who would rather enter any 
 other corps would get £3, all from his own private purse, independent of 
 the government bounty ; after advancing many silly flattering decoyments, 
 he sat down to see the result, but there was no movement among the people; 
 afttjr sitting for a long time looking at the clerks, and' them at him, at last 
 his anxious looks at the people ansumed a somewhat indignant appearance, 
 when he suddenly rose up and asked what was the cause of their non-at- 
 tention to the proposals he made, but no reply ; it was the silence of the 
 grave — still standing, his Grace suddenly asked the cause ; but no 
 reply ; at last an old man leaning upon his staff, was observed moving 
 towards the Duke, and when he approached near enough, he addressed hia 
 Grace something like as follows : ' I am sorry for the response your 
 Grace's proposals are meeting here tr)-day, so near the spot where your 
 
166 
 
 maternal inother, by giving forty-eight hours notice, marshalled fifteeiv 
 hundred men, to nick out of* them the nine hundred she required, but 
 there is a cause lor it, and a grievous cause, and as your Grace demandsv 
 to know it I must tell you, as I see none else are inclined in this assembly 
 to do it. Your Grace's mother and predt cessors applied to our fathers for 
 men upon former occasions, and our fathers responded to their call, they 
 have made liberal promises which neither them nor you performed ; we art', 
 we think, a little wiser than our fathers, and we estimate your promises of 
 to-day at the value of theirs, besides you should bear in mind that your 
 predecessors and yourself expelled us in a most cruel and unjust manner 
 from the land which our fathers held in lie7i from your family for their 
 sons, brothers, cousins, and relations, which was handed over to your parents 
 to keep up their dignity, and to kill the Americans, Turks, French, and the 
 Irish ; and these lands are devoted now to rear dumb brute animals, which 
 you and your parents consider of far more value than men. I do assure 
 jour Grace that it is the prevailing opinion in this country, that should 
 the Czar of Russia take possession of Dunrobin Castle and of Stafford 
 House next term, that we could not expect worse treatment at his hands 
 than we have experienced at the hands of y('ur family for the last fifty 
 years. Your parents, yourself, and your commissioners, have desolated 
 the glens and straths of Sutherland, where you should findtundreds, yea, 
 thousands of men to meet you and respond cheerfully to your call, had 
 your parents and yourself kept faith with them. How could your Gracf 
 expect to find men where they are not, and t \e few of them which are to 
 be found among the rubbish or ruins of the country, have more sense than 
 to be decoyed by chaff" to the field of sla ughter ; but one comfort you have, 
 though you cannot find men to fight, you can supply those who will fight 
 with plenty of mutton, beef, and venison.' The Duke rose up, put on his 
 hat and left the field." 
 
 Whether my correspondent added to the old man's reply to his Grace 
 or not, I cannot say, one thing evident, it was the very reply his Grace 
 deserved. 
 
 I know for a certainty this to be the prevailing opinion throughout the 
 whole Highlands of Scotland, and who should wonder at it 1 How many 
 thousands of them who served out their 21, 22, 25, and 26 years, fighting 
 for the British aristocracy, and on their return, wounded, maimed, or 
 worn out, to their own country, promising themselves to spend the remain- 
 der of their days in peace, and enjoying the blessings and comfort their 
 fathei's enjoyed among their healthy Highland delightful hills, but found 
 to their grief their parents were expelled from the country to make room 
 for sheep, deer, and game, the glens where they were born desolate, and 
 the abodes which sheltered them at birth and where they were reared to 
 manhood, burnt to the ground ; and instead of meeting the cheer, shaking- 
 hands, hospitality and affections of fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and 
 relations, met with a desolated glen, bleating of sheep, barking ofdogs, 
 and if they should happen to rest their worn-out frame upon the green sod 
 which has grown upon thei?' father's hearth, and a game-keeper, a factor^ 
 01 water bailiff" to come round, he would very unceremoniously tell them* 
 
167 
 
 led fifteeiv 
 uired, but 
 e demands- 
 s assembly 
 fathers for 
 r call, they 
 ed ; we art-, 
 aromises of 
 '. that youi 
 ust manner 
 y for their 
 our parents 
 Lch, and the 
 iials, which 
 I do assure 
 ;hat should 
 of Stafford 
 it his hands 
 [6 last fifty 
 e desolated 
 adreds, yea, 
 ir call, had 
 your Grace 
 which are to 
 e sense than 
 rt you have, 
 ,0 will fight 
 , put on his 
 
 |o his Grace 
 his Grace 
 
 jughout the 
 I How many 
 ^ fighting 
 laimed, or 
 |the remain- 
 ifort their 
 but found 
 I make room 
 jsolate, and 
 re reared to 
 3r, shaking- 
 I sisters, and 
 dng of dogs, 
 le green sod 
 r, a f actoc» 
 |ly tell them* 
 
 to absent themselves as smart as they could, and not annoy the deer. No 
 race we have on record has suffered so much at the hands of those who 
 should be their patrons, and proved to be so tenacious of patriotism as the 
 Celtic race, but I assure you it has found its level now, and will disapocar 
 altogether soon, and as soon as patriotism will disappear in any nation, so 
 sure that nation's glory is tarnished, victories uncertain, and her greatness 
 diminished, and decaying consumptive death will be the result. If ever 
 the old adage, which says, '' Those whom the Gods determine to destroy, 
 they first deprive them of reason," was verified, it was, and is, in the case 
 of British aristocracy, and Highhind proprietors in particular. I am not 
 so void of feeling as to blame the Duke of Sutherland, his parents or any 
 other Highland absentee proprietor for all the evil done in the land, but 
 the evil was done in their name and under the authority they have invested 
 in wicked cruel servants. For instance, the only silly man who enlisted 
 from among the great assembly his Grace addressed, was a married man 
 with three of a family and his wife; it was generally believed that his bread 
 was baked for life, but no sooner was he away to Fort George to join his 
 regiment than his place of abode was pulled down, and his wife and family 
 turned out, and only permitted to live in a hut, from which an old female 
 pauper was carried a few days before to the church-yard ; there the young 
 family were sheltered, and their names registered upon the poor roll for 
 support; his Grace could not be guilty of such low rascality as this, yet he 
 was told of it, but took no cognizance of those who did it in his name. It 
 is likewise said that this man got a furlough of two weeks, to see his wife 
 and family before going abroad, and that the factor heard he was coming 
 and ordered the ground officer of the parish of Rogart, of the name of 
 M'Leod, to watch the soldier, and not allow him to see nor speak to his 
 wife, but in his, the officer's presence. This was cruelty to prevent the 
 poor fellow who was three months absent from his wife, and could not be 
 allowed to kiss, or have one night's pleasure with herbeforehewouldembark 
 for the Crimea, but in presence of an officer. None could think his Grace 
 to be so devoid of natural feelings, yet it. was done in his name. The 
 factor alleged as an excuse for it, that he did not want the parish of 
 Rogart to be burdened with any more children to keep up. Economy! 
 Economy!! We have then in the same parish an old bachelor of the 
 name of John Macdonald, who had three idiot sisters, whom he upheld 
 independent of any source of relief, but a favorite of George, the notorious 
 factor, envied this poor bachelor's farm, and he was summoned to remove 
 at next term. The poor fellow petitioned his Grace, and Loch, but to no 
 purpose, he was doomed to walk away, on the terra day as the factor 
 told him, " to America, Glasgow, or to the devil if he choosed." Seeing 
 he had no other alternative, two days before the day of his removal he 
 yoked his cart, and got neighbours to help him to haul the three idiots into 
 it, and drove away with them to Dunrobin Castle ; when he came up to 
 factor Gunn's door he capsized them out upon the green, and wheeled 
 about and went away home, the three idiots finding themselves upon the top 
 of one aiiOther so sudden, they raised an inhuman-like yell, and fixed into 
 one andther to fight, and scratched, yelled, and scceeched so terrific that 
 
 ii 
 
 i; 
 
168 
 
 ' i 
 
 I;' .; 
 
 Mr. Gnnn, his lady, his daiighters, and all the clerks and servants, were 
 «oon about them, but they hearkened to no reason, for they had none them- 
 selves, but continued their fighting and inharmonious music; messenger 
 after messtmger was sent after John, but of no use; at last the great Gunn 
 himself followed and overtook him, asked him how did he come to leave 
 his sisters in such a state] He replied. " I kept them while I had a piece 
 oi land to support them, you have taken that land from me, then take 
 them along with the land, and make of them what you can, I must look 
 out for myself, but I cannot carry them to the labour market." Gunn 
 was in a fix, and had to give John assurance that he would not be removed 
 if hr^ would tnke his sisters, so John took them home, and has not been 
 molested as yet. 
 
 i have ijere Iteside me a respectable girl of the name of Ann Munay, 
 whose father was removed during the time of the wholessile forgot removal 
 but got a lot of a barren moor to cultivate ; however barren like it was, he 
 was raising a family of industrious young sons, and by dint of hard labour 
 and perseverence, they made it a comfortable home, but the young sons 
 one by one left the country, (and four of them are within two miles of 
 where I sit), the result was, that Ann was the only one who remained 
 with the parents. The mother who had an attack of palsy, was left 
 entirely under Ann's care after the family left; and she took it so much to 
 heart that her daughter's attention was required day and night, until 
 d»-ath put an end to her afflictions, after twelve years* suffering. Shortly 
 after the mother's death, the father took ill, and was confined to bed for 
 nine months ; and Ann's labour re-commenced until his decease. Though 
 Ann Murray could be numbered among the most dutiful of daughters 
 yet her incessant labour for a period of more than thirteen years, made 
 visible inroads upon her tender constitution; yet by the liberal assistance 
 of her brothers, who did not lose sight of her and their parent, (though 
 upon a foreig \ strand) Ann Murray kept the farm in the best of order, 
 no doubt expecting that she would be allowed to keep it after her parent's 
 deceasi^ ; but this was not in store for her, the very day after her father's 
 funeral, the officer came to her, and told her that she was to be removed 
 in a few weeks, that the farm was let to another, and that Factor Gunn 
 wished to see her. She was at that time afflicted with jaundice, and told 
 the officer that she could not undertake the journey, which was only ten 
 miles. Next day the officer was at her again, more urgent than before, and 
 made use of extraordinary threats ; so she had to go. When she appeared 
 before this Bashaw, he swore like a trooper, and damned her soul, wliy 
 she disobeyed his first summons; she excused herself trembling, that she 
 was unwell ; another volley of oaths and threats met her response, and told 
 her to remove herself from the estate next week, for her conduct ; and 
 with a threat, which well becomes a Highland tyrant, not to take away nor 
 sell a single article of furniture, implements of husbandry, cattle, or crop; 
 nothing was allowed but her own body clothes: that every thing was to be 
 handed over to her brother, who was to have the farm. Seeing there was 
 neither mercy nor justice for her, she told him the crop, house, and every 
 other thing belonging to the farm, belonged to ber and brothers in 
 
vants, were 
 none them- 
 
 messenger 
 great Gunn 
 me to leave 
 
 had a piece 
 ), then take 
 I must look 
 et." Gunn 
 be removed 
 as not been 
 
 nn Muinay, 
 igot removal 
 ce it was, he 
 hard labour 
 young sons 
 wo miles of 
 10 remained 
 >y, was left 
 t so much to 
 night, until 
 ig. Shortly 
 d to bed for 
 ie. Though 
 f daughters 
 years, made 
 il assistance 
 nt, (though 
 st of order, 
 her parent's 
 her father's 
 be removed 
 'actor Gunn 
 ice, and told 
 v^as only ten 
 before, and 
 he appeared 
 r soul, why 
 ng, that she 
 use, and told 
 nduct ; and 
 ke away nor 
 tie, or crop ; 
 ig was to be 
 ig there was 
 s, and every 
 brothers ia 
 
 169 
 
 America, and that the brother to whom he (the factor) intended to hand 
 over the farm and effects, never helped her father or mother while in 
 trouble ; and that she was determined that he should not enjoy what she 
 laboured for, and what her other brother's money paid for. She went and 
 got the advice of a man of business, advertised a sale, and sold ott in the 
 face of threats of interdict, and came to Canada, where she was warudy 
 received by brothers, sisters, and friends, now in Woodstock, and can tell 
 her tale better than I can. No one could think nor believe tliat his 
 Grace would even countenance such doings as these ; but it was done in 
 his name. 
 
 I have here within ten miles of me, Mr. William Ross, once Taxman of 
 Achtomeleeny, Sutherlandshire, who occupied the most convenient farm 
 to the principal deer-stalking hills in the county. Often have the English 
 and Irish lords, connected in mariiagc with theSutherlands, dined and took 
 their lunch at William Ross' table, and at his expense ; and more than 
 once passed the night under his roof. Mr. Rosa being so well acquainteil 
 among the mountains and hauntsof the deer, wasof ten engaged asaguide and 
 insti'uctor to these noblcmtn, on their deer-stalking and tishing excursions, 
 and became a I'eal favorite with the Sutherland family, which enabled him, 
 to erect superior buildings to the common rule, and improve his farm in a 
 superior style ; so that his mountain-side farm was nothing short of a 
 Highland paradise. But unfortunately for William, his nearest neighbour, 
 one Major Gilchrist, a sheep farmer, (Aliab) coveted Mr. Ross's vine- 
 yard, and tried many underhand schemes to secure the place for himself, 
 but in vain. Ross would hearken to none of his proposals. But Almh 
 was a chief friend of Factor Gunn ; and William Ross got notice of 
 removal. Ross prepared a Memorial to the tix'st and late Duchess of 
 Sutherland, and placed it in her own hand Her Grace read it, and 
 instantly went in to the Factor's office, and told him that William Ross 
 was not to be removed from Achtomeleeny while he lived ; and wrote the 
 same on the petition, and handed it back to Ross, with a graceful smile, 
 saying, "you are now out of the reach of Factors;, now, William, go home 
 in peace." William bowed, and departed cheerfully; but the Factor and 
 Ground Officer followed close behind him, and while Ross was reading 
 Her Grace's deliverance theofficer, David Ross, came and snapped the paper 
 out of his hand and ran to Factor Gunn vi^ith it ; Ross followed, but Gunn 
 put it in his pocket saying, " William, you would need to give it to me after- 
 wards at any rate, and 1 will keep it till 1 read it, and then return it to 
 you," and with a tiger-like smile on his face said, "I believe you came 
 speed to-day, and I am glad of it ;" but William never got it in his hand 
 again. However, he was not molested during He)* Grace's life. Next 
 year she paid a visit to Dunrobin, when factor Wm. Gunn advised Ross to 
 apply to her for a reduction of rent, (under the mask of favouring him.) 
 He did so, and it was granted cheerfully. Her Grace left Duni-obin this 
 year never to return ; in the beginning of the next Spring she was carried 
 back to Dunrobin a corpse, and a few daysaf tershe was interred in Dornoch, 
 William Ross was served with a Summons of Removal from Achtomeleeny, 
 «nd he had nothing to shew. He petitioned the present Duke and his 
 
170 
 
 Commissioner, Mr. Loch, and related the whole circumstance to them, but 
 to no avail, only he was told that factor Gunn was ordered to give him 
 some other lot of land, which he did; and having no other resource Wil- 
 liam accepted of it to his loss; for between loss of cattle, building and 
 repairing houses, he was minus of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling 
 of his means and substance, from the time he was removed from Achtome- 
 leeny till he removed himself to Canada. Besides he had a written 
 agreement or promise for melioration or valuation for all the farm improve- 
 ments and house building at Achtomeleeny, which was valued by the family 
 surveyor at £250. ^^'^illiam was always promised to got it, until they 
 came to learn that he was leaving for America, then they would not give 
 a cent of it. Williara Ross left them with it to join his family in Canada ; 
 but he can in his old age sit at as comfortable a lable, and sleep on as 
 comfortable a bed, with greater ease of mind and a clearer conscience, 
 among his own dutiful and affectionate children, than the tyrant Factor 
 ever did or ever will among his. I know as well as any one can tell me 
 that this is but one or two cases out of the thousand I could enumerate, 
 where the liberality and benevolonce of His Grace, and of his parents, 
 were abused, and that to their pe.tron's loss. You see in the above case, 
 that William was advised to plead for a reduction of rent, so that the Fac- 
 tor's favourite, Ahab Gilchrist, would have the benefit of Naboth Ross' 
 improvement, and the reduction he got on his rent, which would not be 
 obtained otherwise. The long and the short of it is, that the unhallowed 
 crew of factors and officials, from the highest to the lowest grade of them 
 employed by the family of Sutherland for the last 54 years, were so wedl 
 qualified in rascality that they in their combination, could rob both proprietor 
 and people. They got the corrupt portion of the public press on their 
 side, to applaud their wicked doings and robbing schemes, as the only 
 mode of improvement and civilization in the Highlands of Scotland. They 
 have got what is still more to be lamented, all the established ministers, 
 with few exceptions, on their side; and in them they found faithful aux- 
 iliaries in crushing the people. Any of them could hold a whole 
 congregation- by the hair of their heads over hell-fire, if they offered 
 to resist the powers that be, until they submitted. If a single in- 
 dividual resisted, he was denounced from the pulpit, and considered 
 afterwards a dangerous man in the community; and he might depart 
 as quick as he could. Any man, or men, may violate the laws of 
 God, and violate the laws of heaven as often as he chooses ; be is 
 never heeded, and has nothing to fear, but if he offends the 
 Duke's Factor, the lowest of his minions, or violates the least of their 
 laws and regulations it is an unpardonable sin. The present Duke's 
 mother, was no doubt a liberal lady of many good parts, and seemed to be 
 much attached to the natives, but unfortunately for them, she employed 
 for her factors a vile, unprincipled crew, who were their avowed enemies; 
 she would hearken to the complaints of the people, and would write to the 
 ministers of the Gospel to ascertain the correctness of complaints, and the 
 factor was justified, however gross the outrage was that he committed — the 
 minister dined with the factor and could not refuse to favour hini. The- 
 
171 
 
 ■) them, but 
 ) give him 
 lource Wil- 
 lilding and 
 ids sterling 
 1 Achtome- 
 a written 
 •m improve- 
 y the family 
 until they 
 ild not give 
 in Canada ; 
 ileep on as 
 conscience, 
 rant Factor 
 can tell me 
 enumerate, 
 is parents, 
 above case, 
 lat the Fac- 
 ,both Ross' 
 >uld not be 
 unhallowed 
 ide of them 
 rere so wedl 
 1 proprietor 
 iS on their 
 8 the only 
 land. They 
 1 ministers, 
 lithful anx- 
 d a whole 
 ley offered 
 single in- 
 considered 
 ght depart 
 he laws of 
 3ses ; be is 
 lends the 
 st of their 
 3nt Duke's 
 eemed to be 
 e employed 
 ed enemies; 
 write to the 
 its, and the 
 litted — the 
 him. The 
 
 [•resent Duke is a simple, if not a silly, narrow minded gentleman, who- 
 concerns himself very little, about even his own pecuniary affairs ; he 
 entrusts his whole affairs to this set of vile, cunning knaves, called factors, 
 and the people are enslaved so much that it is no^y considered the most 
 foolish thing a man can do to petitiqn his Grace, whatever is done to 
 him, for it will go hard with the factor, or he will punish and make an 
 example of him to deter others. 
 
 To detail .vhat I knew myself personally, and what I have leari.t from 
 others of their petty roguery and robbery, it would, as I said before, fill a 
 volume. For another instance : — When a marriage in the family of 
 Sutherland takes })lace, or the birth of an heir, a feast is ordered for the 
 Sutherland people, consisting of whiskey, porter, ale, and plenty oi eata- 
 bles. The day of feasting and rejoicing is appointed, and heralded through- 
 out the country, and the people are enjoined in marshal terms to assemble 
 — barrels of raw adulterated whiskey are forwarded to each parish, and 
 some raw adulterated sugar, and that is all. Bonfires are to be prepared 
 upon the tops of the highest mountains. The poorest of the poor are 
 warned by family officers to carry the materials consisting of peats and tar 
 barrels, upon their backs ; the scene is lamentable to see groups of these 
 wretched, half clad and ill-shod, climbing up these mountains with their 
 loads ; however, the work must be done, there is no denial, and the evening 
 of rejoicing arrived, and the people are assembled at their different 
 Clachans ; the barrels of whiskey are taken out to the field, and are poured 
 into large tubs, and a good amount of abominable-looking sugar is mixed 
 with it, and a sturdy favourite is employed to stir it about with a flail 
 liandle, or some long cudgel — all sorts of drinking implements are 
 produced, such as tumblers, bowls, ladles, and tin jugs. Bagpipers 
 are set up with great glee. In the absence of the factor, the animal 
 called the ground officer, and in some instances the Parish Minister will 
 open the jolification, and show an example to the people how to deal with 
 this coarse beverage ; after the first round the respectable portion of the 
 people will depart, or retire to an inn, where they could enjoy themselves : 
 but the droiithies, and ignorant youthful, will keep the field of revelling 
 until tearing of clothes and faces come to be the rule ; fists and cudgels 
 supplant jugs and ladles, and this will continue until king Bacchus enters 
 the field and hushes the most heroic brawlers, and the most ferocious com- 
 batants to sound snoring on the field of rejoicing, where many of them 
 enter into contracts with death, from which they never could extricate 
 themselves. With the co-operation and assistance of factors, ministers, and 
 editors, a most flourishing account is sent to the world, and to the absentee 
 family in London, who knows nothing about how the aflair was conducted. 
 The world will say how happy must the people be who live under such 
 good and noble liberal minded patrons, and the patrons themselves are so 
 highly pleased with the report, that however extraordinary the bill that 
 comes to them on the rent day, in place of money, for roast beef and niut 
 ton, bread and cheese, London porter, and Edinburgh ale, which was 
 never bought nor tasted by the people, I say they consider their commis- 
 sioners used great economy ; no cognizance are taken, the bill is accepted 
 
172 
 
 and discharged, the people are deceived and the proprietors robbr-d, and 
 ilie factors divide the spoil, which is not a trifle ; no wonder that the Duke 
 of Sutlierland receives so little rent from his Sutherland Estates. Were it 
 not for the many channels of wealth pouring in upon him he would be 
 bankrupt long ago; l)ut all these robberies of his Grace will no doubt 
 be among the items which makes up the j£GO,000 sent down to save the 
 people from dying by famine, as Loch says ; but T will leave the Duke 
 and his factors to settle their own accounts ; one thing is evident, his fac- 
 tors and commissioners have disgraced him, and left a stain of immortal 
 dye upon him and the family of Sutherland, that time and revolution of 
 years will not wipe away. 
 
 Let me now conclude by taking a few extracts from other authors who 
 wrote faithfully and without any hostile feeling towards his Grace, or his 
 family, nor any other Highland proprietor who followed the Atholl and 
 Sutherland clearing example. The first of these extracts is from the 
 pen of that nobl': minded Scotclinian, General Stuart, of Garth, who 
 wrote largely upon the clearing system : — 
 
 "It is painful to dwell on this sulyect" [the present state of Suther- 
 land] ; "but as information communicated by men of honour, judgment, 
 and perfect veracity, descriptive of what they daily witness, affords the 
 best means of forming a correct judgemant, and as these gentlemen, from 
 their situations in life, have no immediate 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." — General Stuart of 
 Garth. 
 
 "It is by a cruel abuse of legal forms, — it is by an unjust usurpation, 
 — that the tacksman and the tenant of Sutherland are considered as having 
 no right to the land which they have occupied for so many ages. * * A 
 Count or Earl has no more right to expel from their homes the inhabitants 
 of his county, than a King to expel from his country the inhabitants of 
 his kingdom." — Sismondi. 
 
 THE BELOVED AND GREAT HUGH MILLKK ON SUTHERLAND AS IT 
 
 WAS AND IS. 
 
 " There appeared at Paris, about five years ago, a singularly ingenious 
 work on political economy, from the pen of the late M. de Sismondi, a 
 writer of European reputation. The greater part of the first volume is 
 taken up with discussions on territorial wealth, and the condition of the 
 cultivators of the soil ; and in this portion of the work there is a promi- 
 nent place assigned to a subject which perhaps few Scotch readers would 
 expect to see introduced through the medium of a foreign tongue to the 
 people of a great Continental State. We find this philosophic writer, 
 whose works are known far beyond the limits of his language, devoting 
 an entire I'ssay to the case of the late Duchess of Sutherland and her 
 tenants, and forming a judgement on it very unlike the decision of political 
 economists in our own country, who have not hesitated to char»:cterize her 
 great and singularly harsh exreriment. whose worst effects we are but 
 
»b"d, and 
 the Duke 
 Were it 
 would be 
 no doubt 
 t save the 
 the Duke 
 it, Iiis fac- 
 immortal 
 Dlution of 
 
 thors who 
 ace, or liia 
 IthoU and 
 from the 
 arth, who 
 
 of Snther- 
 judgment, 
 tfFords the 
 men, from 
 lination of 
 e of truth, 
 Sfuart of 
 
 surpation, 
 as having 
 
 IS. * * A 
 ihabitants 
 ibitants of 
 
 AS IT 
 
 lingenious 
 
 smondi, a 
 
 Ivolume is 
 
 Ion of the 
 
 a promi- 
 
 3rs would 
 
 lue to the 
 
 lie writer, 
 
 I devoting 
 
 and her 
 
 ' political 
 
 Iterize her 
 
 are but 
 
 173 
 
 beginning to see, as at once justifiable in itself and happy in its results. 
 It is curious to observe how deeds done as if in darkness, or in a corner, are 
 beginning, after the lapse of nearly thirty years, to be proclaimed on the 
 houie-tops. The experiment of the late Duchess was not intended to be 
 made in the eye of Euiope. Its details would ill bear the exposure. 
 When Cobbett simply referred to it only ten years ago, the noble proprie 
 trix was startled, as if a rather delicate family secret was on the eve of 
 being divulged ; and yet nothing seems more evident now than that civi- 
 liz •(! man all over the world is to be made aware of how the experiment 
 was accomplished, and what it is ultimately to produce. It must be obvi 
 ous further, that the infatuation of the present proprietor, in virtually 
 setting aside the Toleration Act on his property, must have the etlect of 
 spreading the knowledge of it all the more widely, and of rendering it.s 
 re.sults much more disastrous than they could have possibly been of them- 
 selves. 
 
 In a time of quiet and good order, when law, whether in the right oi- 
 the wrong, is ftll-jjotent in enforcing its findings, the argument which the 
 philosophic Frenchmen employs in behalf of the ejected tenantry of 
 Sutherland, is an argument at which proprietors may afibrd 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, 
 — suniciontly so, at least, to lead a wise proprietor in an unsettled age 
 rather to conciliate than oppress and irritate the class who would be able 
 in such circumstances to urge it with most etlect. It is not easy doing 
 justice in a few sentences to the facts and reasonings of an elaborate essay ; 
 but the line of the argument runs somewhat thus : — 
 
 Under the old Celtic tenures, — the only tenures, be it remembered, 
 through which the Lords of Sutherland derive their rights to their lands, 
 • — the C'lann, ov children of the soil, were the proprietors of the soil ; — 
 " the whole of Sutherland," says Sismoudi, belonged to "the men of 
 Sutherland." Their chief was their monarch, and a very absolute mon- 
 arch he was. " He gave the different tac/cs of land to his officers or took 
 them away from them, according as they showed themselves more or less 
 useful in war. But though he could thus, in a military sense, reward oi' 
 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 from their homes the inhabitants of his county, than a king to 
 expel from his country the inhabitant.? of his kingdom." *' Now, the 
 Gaelic tenant," continues the Frenchman, "has never been conquered; 
 nor did he forfeit, on any after occasion, the rights which he originally 
 possessed ;" — in point of right, he is still a eo-proprietor with his captain. 
 To a Scotchman acquainted with the law of property as it has existed 
 among us, in even the Highlands, for the last century, and everywhere 
 else for at least two centuries more, the view may seem extreme ; not so, 
 however, to a native oi; tue Continent, in many parts of which, prescrip- 
 tion and custom are found ranged, not on the side of the chief, but on 
 that of the vassal. "Switzerland," says Sismondi, "which in so many 
 respects resembles Scotland, — in its lakes, its mountains, — its climate, — 
 
 M ■ 
 
174 
 
 and the character, manners, and habits of its children, — was likewise aC 
 the same period parcelled out among a small number of Lords. If the 
 Counts of Kyburgh, of Lentzburg, of Hapsburg, and of Gruyeres, had been 
 protected by the English laws they would find themselves at the present 
 day precisely in the condition in which the Earls of Sutherland were 
 twenty years ago. Some of them would perhaps have had the same taste 
 for improvements, and several republics would have been expelled from 
 the Alps, to make room for flocks of sheep." "But while the law has 
 given to the Swiss peasant a guarantee of perpetuity, it is to the Scottish 
 laird that it has extended this guarantee in the British empire, leaving the 
 peasant in a precarious situation." "The clan, — recognised at first by 
 the captain, whom they followed in war, and obeyed for their common ad- 
 vantage, as his friends and relations, then as his soldiers, then as his vas- 
 sals, then as his farmers, — he has come finally to regard as hired labourers, 
 whom he may perchance allow to remain on the soil of their common 
 country for his own advantage, but whom he has the power to expel so 
 soon as he no longer finds it for his interest to keep them.'' 
 
 Arguments like those of Sismondi, however much their force may be 
 felt on the Continent could be formidable at home, as we have said, in 
 only a time of revolution, when the very foundations of society would be 
 unfixed, and opinion set loose, to pull down or reconstruct at pleasure. 
 But it is surely not uninteresting to mark how, in the course of events, 
 that very law of England which, in the view of the Frenchman, has done 
 the Highland peasant so much less, and the Highland chief so much more 
 than justice, is bidding fair, in the case of Sutherland at least, to carry its 
 rude equalizing remedy along with it. Between the years 1811 and 1820, 
 fifteen thousand inhabitants of this northern district were ejected from 
 their snug inland farms, by means for which we would in vain seek a 
 precedent except perchance in the history of the Irish massacre. 
 
 Mr Miller goes on. , He visited Sutherland at the the time of the dis- 
 ruption, in the Church of Scotland, and found the people in a deplorable 
 state; their complaints and sorrow were heard by him thus — " We were 
 ruined and reduced to beggary before," they say, "and now the gospel 
 is taken from us." 
 
 Nine-tenths of the poor people of Sutherland are adherents to the Free 
 Church, — all of them in whose families the worship of God has been set 
 up, — all who entertain a serious belief in the reality of religion, — all who 
 are not the creatures of the proprietor, and have not stifled their convic- 
 tions for a piece of bread, — are devotedly attached to the dis-established 
 ministers, and will endure none other. The Residuary clergy they do not 
 recognise as clergy at all. The Established Churches have become as use- 
 less in the district, as if, like its Druidical circles, they represented some 
 idolatrous belief, long exploded, — the people will not enter them ; and 
 they respectfully petition his Grace to be permitted to build other churches 
 for themselves. And fain would his Grace indulge them, he says. In 
 accordance with the suggestion of an innate desire, willingly would he 
 permit them to build their own churches and support their own ministers. 
 But then, has he not loyally engaged to support the Establishment ? To 
 

 
 ikewise aC 
 }. If the 
 1, had been 
 be present 
 land were 
 same taste 
 ailed from 
 le law has 
 le Scottish 
 saving the 
 it first by 
 •mmon ad- 
 as his vas- 
 labourers, 
 r common 
 o expel so 
 
 ;e may be 
 e said, in 
 r would be 
 pleasure, 
 of events, 
 , has done 
 Liuch more 
 carry its 
 and 1820, 
 cted from 
 in seek a 
 
 9. 
 
 )f the dis- 
 eplorable 
 We were 
 le gospel 
 
 the Free 
 been set 
 -all who 
 r convic- 
 tablished 
 ey do not 
 le as use- 
 ted some 
 em \ and 
 churches 
 ays. In 
 fould he 
 unisters. 
 ent? To 
 
 175 
 
 ])ermit a religious and inoffensive people to build their own places of wor- 
 ship, and support their own clergy, would be sanctioning a sort of perse- 
 cution against the Establishment; and as his Grace dislikes religious per- 
 secution, and has determined always to oppose whatever tends to it, he has 
 resolved to make use of his influence, as the most extensive of Scottish 
 proprietors, in forcing them back to their parish churches. If they persist 
 in worshipping God agreeably to the dictates of their conscience, it must 
 be on the unsheltered lull-side, — in winter, amid the frosts and snows of 
 a severe northern climate, — in the milder seasons, exposed to the scorch- 
 ing sun and the drenching shower. They must not be permitted the 
 shelter of a roof. 
 
 We have exhibited to our readers, in the clearing of Sutherland a pro- 
 cess of ruin so thoroughly disastrous, that it might be deemed scarcely 
 possible to render it more complete. And yet with all its apparent com- 
 pleteness, it admitted of a supplementary process. To employ one of the 
 striking figures of Scripture, it was possible to grind into powder what had 
 been previously broken into fragments, — to degrade the poor inhabitants 
 to a still lower level than that on which they had been so cruelly precipi- 
 tated, — though persons of a not very original cast of mind might have 
 found it difficult to say how, the Diilie of Sutherland has been ingenious 
 enough to tall on exactly the one proper expedient for supplenumting their 
 ruin. All in mere circumstance and situation that could lower and 
 deteriorate, had been present as ingredients in the first process; but there 
 still remained for the people, however reduced to poverty or broken in 
 spirit, all in religion that consoles andenuobles. Sabbath-days came rour^ 
 with their humanizing influences; and, under the teachings of the gospeT7 
 the poor and the oppressed looked longingly forward to a future scene of 
 being, in which there is no poverty or oppression. They still possessed, 
 amid their misery, something positively good, of which it was impossible to 
 deprive them; and hence the ability derived to the present lord of Suther- 
 land of deepening and rendering more signal the ruin accomplished by 
 his predecessor. 
 
 These harmonize but too well Avith the mode in which the interior of 
 Sutherland was cleared, and the improved cottages of its sea-coasts erected. 
 The plan has its two items. No sites are to be granted in the district for 
 Free Churches, and no dwelling-house for Free Church ministers. The 
 climate is severe, — the winters prolonged and stormy, — the roads which 
 connect the chief seats of population with tht neighbouring counties, 
 dreai-y and long. May not ministers and people be eventually worn out 
 in this way? Such is the portion of the plan which his Grace and his 
 Grace's creatures can afford to present to the light. But there are supple- 
 mentary items of a somewhat darker kind. The poor cotters are, in the 
 great majority of cases, tenants-at-will; and there has been much pains 
 taken to inform them, that to the crime of entertaining and sheltering a 
 Protesting minister, the penalty of ejection from their holdings mu.st 
 inevitably attach. The laws of Charles have again returned in this un- 
 happy district, and free and tolerating Scotland has got, in the nineteenth 
 •century, as in the seventeenth, its intercommuned ministers. We shall 
 
176 
 
 not say that the intimation has emanated from the Duke. It is the mis- 
 fortune of such men, that there creep around them creatures whose busi- 
 ness it is to anticipate their wishes ; but who, at times, doubtless, instead 
 of anticipating, misinterpret them ; and who, even when not very much 
 mistaken, impart to whatever they do the impress of their own low and 
 menial natures, and thus exaggerate in the act, thd intention of their 
 masters. We do not say, therefore, that the intimation has emanated 
 from the Duke ; but this we say, ^hat an exemplary Sutherlandshire 
 minister of the Protesting Chui'ch, who resigned his worldly all for the 
 sake of his principles, had lately to travel, that he might preach to his 
 attached people, a long journey of forty- four miles outwards, and as much 
 in return, and all this without taking shelter under cover of a roof, or 
 without partaking of any other refreshment than that furnished by the 
 slender store of provisions which he had carried with him from his new 
 home. Willingly would the poor Highlanders have received him at any 
 risk ; but knowing from experience what a Sutherlandshire removal means 
 he preferred enduring any amount of hardship 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 hei- home because she had extended the shelter of her 
 roof to one of the Protesting clergy, — an aged and venerable man, who 
 had quitted the neighbouring manse, his home for many years, because he 
 could no longer enjoy it in consistency with his principles ; and we have 
 shown that that aged and venerable man was the lady's own father. What 
 0niount of oppression of a smaller and more petty character may not be 
 expected in the circumstances, when cases such as these are found to stand 
 but a very little over the ordinary level ] 
 
 The meanness to which ducal hostility can stoop in this hapless district, 
 impress with a feeling of surprise. In the parish of Dornoch, for instance, 
 where his Grace is fortunately not the sole landowner, there has been a 
 site procured on the most generous terms from Sir George Gunn Monro 
 of Poyntzfield ; and this gentleman, believing himself possessed of a 
 hereditary right to a quarry, which, though on the Duke's ground, had 
 been long resorted to by the proprietors of the district generally, instruc- 
 ted the builder to take from it the stones which he needed. Here, how- 
 ever, his Grace interfered. Never had the quarry been prohibited before, 
 but on this occasion, a stringent interdict arrested its use. If his Grace 
 could not prevent a hated Free Church from arising in the district, he 
 could at l','aat add to the expense of its erection. We have even heard 
 that the portion of the building previously erected had to be pulled down 
 and the stones returned. 
 
 How ai-e we to account for a hostility so determined, and that can stoop 
 so low 1 In two different ways, we are of opinion, and in both have the 
 people of Scotland a direct interest. Did his Grace entertain a very 
 intense regard for Established Presbytery, it is probable that he himself 
 would be a Presbyterian of the Establishment. But such is not the case. 
 The church into which he would so fain force the people has been long 
 since deserted by himself. The secret of the course which he pursues caa 
 
is the mis- 
 vrhose busi- 
 iss, instead 
 ^ery much 
 a low and 
 n of their 
 emanated 
 srlandshire 
 ill for the 
 ach to his 
 id as much 
 a roof, or 
 ed by the 
 n his new 
 iiim at any 
 )val means 
 I that the 
 ruin We 
 threatened 
 jlter of her 
 man, who 
 because he 
 id we have 
 er. What 
 lay not be 
 id to stand 
 
 ss district, 
 instance, 
 as been a 
 n Monro 
 ised of a 
 und, had 
 , instruo- 
 ere, how- 
 led before, 
 jhis Grace 
 [strict, he 
 len heard 
 lied down 
 
 3an stoop 
 
 have the 
 
 a very 
 
 le himself 
 
 I the case. 
 3en long 
 
 fsues caa 
 
 177 
 
 have no connection therefore with religious motire or belief. It can be 
 no prosleytising spirit that misleads his Grace. Let us remark, in tne 
 first place, rather however, in the way of embodying a fact, than imputing 
 a motive, that with his present views, and in his present circumstances, it 
 may not seem particularly his Grace's interest to make the county of Suther- 
 land a happy or desirable home to the people of Scotland. It may not 
 l>e to his Grace's interest that the population of the district should increase. 
 The clearing of the sea-coast may seem as little prejudicial to his Grace's 
 welfare now, as the cleanng of the interior seemed adverse to the interests 
 of his predecessor thirty years ago ; nay, it is quite i^ssible that his Grace 
 ma-' be led to regard the clearing of the coast as the better and more im- 
 portant clearing of the two. Let it not be forgotten that a poor-law hangs 
 over Scotland — that the shores of Sutherland are covered with what 
 seems one vast straggling village, inhabited by an impoverished and ruined 
 people — and that the coming assessment may yet fall so weighty that the 
 extra profits accruing to his Grace from his large sheep farms, may go but 
 a small way in supporting his extra paupers. It is not in the least impro- 
 bable, that he may live to find the revolution efiected by his predecessor 
 taking to itself the form not of a crime, for that would be nothing, — 
 but of a disastrous and very terrible blunder. 
 
 There is another remark which may prove not unworthy the considera- 
 tion of the reader. Ever since the completion of the fatal experiment 
 which ruined Sutherland, the noble family through which it was originated 
 and carried on have betrayed the utmost jealousy of having its real results 
 made public. Volumes of special pleading have been written on the sub- 
 ieot, — pamphlets have been published, laboured articles have been inserted 
 in widely spread reviews, — statistical accounts have been watched over 
 with the most careful surveillance. If the misrepresentations of the press 
 could have altered the matter of fact, famine would not be gnawing the 
 vitals of Sutherland in a year a little less abundant than its prede- 
 cessors nor would the dejected and o])pre8sed people be feeding their 
 discontent, amid present misery, with the recollections of a happier past. 
 If asingularly well-conditioned and wholesome district of country has been 
 converted into one wide ulcer of wretchedness and woe, it must be confessed 
 that the sore has been carefully bandaged up from the public eye. — that 
 if there has been little done for its cure, there has at least been much done 
 for its concealment. Now, be it remembered, that a Free Church threat- 
 ens to insert a tent into this wound, and so keep it open. It has been 
 said that the Gaelic language removes a district more effectually from the 
 influence of English opinion than an ocean of three thousand miles, and 
 that the British public know better what is doing in New York than what 
 is doing in Lewis or Skye. Anti hence one cause, at least, of the thick 
 obscurity that has so long enveloped th^ miseries which the poor High- 
 lander has had to endure, and the oppressions to which he has been 
 subjected. The Free Church threatens to translate her wrongs into Eng- 
 lish, and to give them currency in the general mart of opinion. She 
 might possibly enough be no silent spectator of conflagrations such as 
 those which characterized the first general improvement of Sutherland, — 
 
 M 
 
 i;v 
 
178 
 
 iior yet of such Egyptian schemes of hoase-building as that which furmed 
 part of the improvements of a later plan. She might be somewhat apt to 
 betray the real state of the district, and thus render laborious misrepre- 
 sentation of little avail. She might effect a divei-sion in the cause of the 
 people, and shake the foundations of the hitherto despotic power which 
 has so long weighed them down. She might do for Sutherland what 
 Gobbett promifxd to do for it, but what Cobbett had not character enough 
 to accomplish, and what he did not live even to attempt. A combination 
 of circumstances have conspired to vest in a Scottish proprietor, in this 
 northern district, a more despotic power than even the most absolute 
 monarchs of the Continent possess; and it is, perhaps, no great wonder 
 that that proprietor should be jealous of the introduction of an element 
 which threatens, it may seem, materially to lessen it. And so he strug- 
 gles hard to exclude the Free Church, and, though no member of the Es- 
 tablishment himself, declares warmly in its behalf. Certain it is, that 
 from the Establishment, as no' r constituted, he can have nothing to fear, 
 and the people nothing to hope. 
 
 After what manner may his Grace, the Dul^e of Sutherland, be most 
 efiectually met in this matter, so that the cause of toleration and freedom 
 of conscience may be maintained in the extensive district which God, in 
 his providence, has consigned to his stewardship? We shall in our next 
 chapter attempt giving the question an answer. Meanwhile, we trust the 
 people of Sutherland will continue, as hitherto, to stand firm. The strong 
 repugnance which they feel against being driven into churches which all 
 their ministers have left, is not ill founded. No church of God ever em- 
 ploys such means of conversion as those employed by his Grace; they are 
 means which have been often resorted to for the purpose of making men 
 worse, — never yet for the purpose of making them better. We know that 
 with their long formed church-going habits, the peoplo must feel their 
 now silent Sabbaths pass heavily ; but they would perhaps do well to 
 remember amid the tedium and gloom, that there were good men who 
 not only anticipated such a time of trial for this country, but who also 
 made jjrovision for it. Thomas Scott, when engaged in writing his Com- 
 mentary, used to solace himself with the belief that it might be of use at 
 a period when the public worship of God would be no longer tolerated in 
 the land. To the great bulk of the people of Sutherland that time seeras 
 to have already come. They know, however, the value of the old divines, 
 and have not a few of their more practical treatises translated into theii 
 expressive tongue, — Alleine's Alarm, — Boston's Fourfold State, — Dod- 
 dridge^s Rise and Progress, — Baxter's Call, — Guthrie's Saving Interest 
 Let these and such as these be their preachers, when they can procure no 
 other. The more they learn to relish them, the less will they relish th< 
 bald and miserable services of the Residuary Church. Let them hold 
 their fellowship and prayer meetings, — let thorn keep up the worship oi 
 God in their families : the cause of religious freedom in the district is in- 
 volved in the stand which they make. Above all, let them possess theii* 
 souls in patience. We are not unacquainted with the Celtic character 
 as developed in the Highlands of Scotland. Highlanders, up to a certain 
 
179 
 
 mi 
 
 ch formed 
 rhat apt to 
 ; misrepre- 
 ause of the 
 «rer which 
 land what 
 ter enough 
 tmbination 
 or, in this 
 it absolute 
 eat wonder 
 Ein element 
 o he strug- 
 of the Es- 
 it is, that 
 ing to fear, 
 
 d, be most 
 nd freedom 
 ich God, in 
 in our next 
 ve trust the 
 The strong 
 3S which all 
 od ever em- 
 36 ; they are 
 laking men 
 know that 
 it feel their 
 do well to 
 men who 
 it who also 
 ng his Com- 
 be of use at 
 tolerated in 
 time seems 
 old divines, 
 d into theii 
 tate, — Dod- 
 ng Interest 
 procure no 
 7 relish th« 
 them hold 
 worship ofc 
 _i8trict is in- 
 lossess theii* 
 c character 
 to a certaiiL 
 
 fjoint, are the raosc docile, patient, enduring of men ; but that {loint once 
 passed, endurance ceases, and the %\\ too gentle lamb starts up an angry 
 lion. The spirit is stirred that maddens at the sight of the nake^ weapon, 
 ^nd that in its headlong rush upon the enemy, discipline can neither 
 check nor control. Let our oppressed Highlanders of Sutherland beware. 
 They have suffered much ; but, so far as man is the agent, their battles can 
 be fought on only the arena of public opinion, and on that ground which 
 the political field may be soon found to furnish. Any explosion of violence 
 ^n their part would be rain to both the Free Church and themselves. 
 
 But we have not yet said how this ruinous revolution was effected in 
 Sutherland, — how the aggntvation of the mode, if we may so speak, still 
 testers in the recollection vi the peopl«« — or how thoroiighly that policy ot 
 the lord of the soil, through which he now seems determined to complete 
 the work of ruin which his predecessors began, harmonizes with its worst 
 details. We must first relate, however, a disastrous change which took 
 place, in the providence of God, in the noble family of Sutherland, and 
 which, though it dates fully eighty years back, may be regarded as preg- 
 nant with the disasters which afterwards befell the country. 
 
 Such of our readers as are acquainted with the memoir of Lady Glen- 
 orchy, must remember a deeply melancholy incident which occurred in 
 the history of this excellent woman, in connection with the noble family 
 of Sutherland. Her only sister had been married to William, seventeenth 
 Earl of Sutherland, — " the first of the good Earls ;" " a nobleman," says 
 the Kev, Dr. Jones in his Memoir, '* who to the finest person united all 
 the dignity and amenity of manners and character which give lustre to 
 greatness." But his sun was destined soon to go down. Five years after 
 his marriag ;,, which proved one of the happiest, and was blessed with two 
 children, the elder of the two, < he young Lady Catherine, a singularly en- 
 gaging child, was taken from him by death, in his old hereditary castle of 
 Dunrobin. The event de;jply affected both parents, and preyed on their 
 health and spirits. It had taken place amid the gloom of a severe north- 
 ern winter, and in the solitude of the Highlands ; and acquiesing in the 
 advice of friends, the Earl and his lady quitted the family seat, where 
 there was so much to remind them of their bereavement, and sought relief 
 in the more cheerful atmosphere of Bath. But they were not to find it 
 there. Shortly after their arrival, the Earl was seized by a malignant 
 fever, with which, upheld by a powerful constitution, he struggled for 
 fifty -four days, and then expired. For the first twenty-one days and 
 nights of these," says Dr. Jones, " Lady Sutherland never left his bed- 
 side; and then at last, overcome with fatigue, anxiety, and grief, she sank 
 an unavailing victim to an amiable, but excessive attachment, seventeen 
 days before the death of her lord." The period, though not very remote, 
 was one in which the intelligence of events travelled slowly ; and in this 
 instance the distraction of the family must have se -ved to retard it beyond 
 the ordinary time. Her Ladyship's mother, when hastening from Edin- 
 burgh to her assistance, alighted one day from her carriage at an inn, and 
 •on seeing two hearses standing by the way side, inquired of an attendant 
 whose remains they contained ? The reply was, the remains of Lord and 
 
 II 
 
 fi' ! 
 
■■Hill 
 
 180 
 
 Lady Sutherland, on their way for interment to the Royal Chapel of Holy- 
 rood House. And such was the first intimation of which the lady received 
 of the death of her daughter and son-in-law. 
 
 The event was pregnant with disaster to Sutherland, though many years 
 elapsed ere the ruin which it involved fell on that hapless country. The 
 sole survivor and heir of the family was a female infant of but a year old. 
 Her maternal grandmother, an ambitious, intriguing woman of the world, 
 had the chief share in her general training and education ; and she was 
 brought up in the south of Scotland, of which her grandmother was a 
 native, far removed from the influence of those genial sympathies with 
 the people of her clan, for which the old lords of Sutherland had been so 
 remarkable, and, what was a sorer evil still, from the influence of the 
 vitalities of that religion which, for five generations together, her fathers 
 had illustrated and adorned. The special mode in which the disaster told 
 first, was through the patronage of the county, the larger part of which 
 was vested in the family of Sutherland. Some of the old Earls had been 
 content, as we have seen, to place themselves on the level of the Christian 
 men of their parishes, and thus to unite with them in calling to their 
 churches the Christian minister of their choice. They know, — what re- 
 generated nature can alone know, with the proper emphasis, that in Christ 
 Jesus the vassal ranks with his Lord, and they conscientiously acted on the 
 conviction. But mattens were now regulated difierently. The presenta- 
 tion supplanted the call, and the ministers came to be placed in the parishes 
 of Sutherland without the consent, and contrary to the will, of the people. 
 Churches, well filled hitherto, were deserted by their congregations, just 
 because a respectable woman of the world, making free use of what she deem- 
 ed her own, had planted them with men of the world, who were only tolera- 
 bly respectable ; and in houses and barns, the devout men of the district 
 learned to hold numerously attended Sabbath meetings for reading the 
 Scriptures, and mutual exhortation, and prayer, as a sort of substitute for 
 the public services, in which they found they could no longer join with 
 profit. The spirit awakened by the old Earls had survived themselves, 
 and ran directly counter to the policy of their descendant. Strongly at- 
 tached to the Establishment the people, though they thus forsook their 
 old places of worship, still remained members of the national Church, and 
 travelled far in the summer season to attend the better ministers of their 
 own and the neighbouring counties. We have been assured, too, from 
 men whose judgment we respect, that, under all their disadvantages, 
 religion continued peculiarly to flourish among them ; — a deep-toned evan- 
 gelism prevailed; so that perhaps the visible church throughout the world 
 at the time could furnish no more striking contrast than that which ob- 
 tained between the cold, bald, common -place service of the pulpit in some 
 of these parishes, and the fervid prayers and exhortations which give life 
 and interest to these humble meetings of the people. What a pity it is 
 that difierences such as these the Diike of Sutherland cannot see. ! 
 
 The marriage of the young countess into a noble English family was 
 fraught with further disaster to the country. There are many Englishmen 
 quite intelligent enough to perceive the difference between a smoky cottage 
 
•'in 
 
 v.- if 
 
 world 
 
 lich ob- 
 
 |n some 
 
 ive life 
 
 fy it is 
 
 [ly was 
 
 ishmen 
 pottage- 
 
 ISl 
 
 of turf and a white-washed cottage of stone, whose judgment on tlieir 
 respective inhabitants would be of but little value. " Slither' --nd, as a 
 country of Tnen, stood higher at this period than perhaps any ether dis- 
 trict in the British empire; but, as our description in the preceding chap- 
 ter must have shown, — and we indulged in them mainly with a view to this 
 part of our subject, — it by no means stood high as a country of farms and 
 cottages. The marriage of the Countess brought a new set of eyes upon 
 it — eyes accustomed to quite a different face of things. It seemed a wild, 
 rude country, where all was wrong, and all had to be set right, — a sort of 
 Russia on a small scale that had just got another Peter the Great to civi- 
 lize it, — or a sort of barbarous Egypt, with an energetic Ali Pasha at its 
 head. Even the vast wealth and great liberality of the Stafford family 
 militated against this hapless country : it enaWed them to treat it as the 
 mere subject of an interesting experiment, in which gain to tlieniselves 
 was really no object, — nearly as little so as if they had resolved on dissect- 
 ing a dog alive for the benefit of science." 
 
 Mr. Miller might have gone farther to shew the cause of the desolation 
 which overtook the Sutherlanders, for he was aware of it, but for want of 
 positive proof he was deterred. There was mighty cause to believe in 
 Sutherlandshire that there was not a dropof tlie Sutherland families blood 
 in the veins of tiie first Duche.ss of Sutherland. As tradition in the 
 country went, when she an infant came under the guardianship of her 
 Grandmother, a cousin or a second cousin of hers of the name of Beuy 
 Wyms of the same age, and complexion with Betsy Sutherland, was 
 brought home to the Grandmother to be her companion, the children 
 lived happy, and gre\y together, but Betsy Sutherland grew taller than her 
 companion. The gentlemen of Sutherland were very mindful of their 
 heiress, and were sending her presents of the produce of the county, such 
 as fowls, venison, batter, cheese, <fec., yearly, and the family officer of the 
 name of John Harall, was always entrusted with the mission ; in this 
 way John became well acquainted with the young heiress and her com- 
 panion, on his arrival she always (after she was four or five years of age) 
 met him at the gate entrance, and made great work with him, she could 
 scarcely be prevailed upon to go to bed that night he arrived, but getting 
 little news from him. When she was about eight years of age, the news 
 came home to Sutherland that a sudden death deprived her of her com- 
 panion, Betsy Wyms : and a great lamentation was made as Betsy Suther- 
 land was so very melancholy, and refused to accept of any other comi)anion. 
 Next Martinmas John Harral was despatched with presents more than 
 ordinary, and letters of condolence to the young heiress, and wishing 
 the day might soon arrive when they would see her in Sutherland, and 
 sitting on her mother's chair in Dunrobin Castle. John Harral arrived 
 in Edinburgh, and at the gate of Leven Mansion, rang the bell, obsei ved 
 the young lady coming as usual, "Lipping down among the shrubbtsry, 
 and her maid following, the gate was opened and the young lady grasped 
 him by the hand ; John was dumbfounded and in his confusion of mind 
 asked where was Betsy Sutherland, (as he used to call her) ; I am Betsy 
 ^Sutherland was the reply ; no my dear says he, you are Betsy Wyms ; the 
 
 
 
182 
 
 maid whirled the young lady about, and John did not see her face agaiit 
 for years ; John delivered his commission as usual, and was dischargee! 
 that same night, instead of remaining a week or a fortnight as usual. 
 John came home disappointed and disheartened, and told his plain story 
 but full of mystery. The heiress was removed to a boarding school in 
 England, and could not be seen by another Sutherlander to recognise her 
 until she came to raise a regiment in Sutherland : what confirmed the fraud 
 upon the minds of the people was a singular anecdote. The first night 
 she landed in Sutherlandshire a rnildew or hoar-frost fell that night, in 
 June, which destroyed the crops of that year, and almost every green 
 growth in the county, and did yet not reach upon either the neighbouring 
 counties of Caithness or Ross, and it is said that that mildew never rose 
 yet. One thing is clear that at the time Betsy Wyms was reported to be 
 dead, that a commission was bought in the East India Company for the 
 proper heir of the estate, who was then only A young boy ; though ever 
 so young he was despatched to that cemetery of enterprise, where he 
 soon died, none being then to claim the estate but his two orphan sisters, 
 the investigation to the fraud ceased, but the Duchess had the generosity 
 of settling a portion of £15 upon each of these presumptive female heirs, 
 Ijut when they became old and infirm, occupying a small garret room in 
 the Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh, the portiun was reduced by Loch to 
 £2 each, yearly. I knew them, I often visited them in this forlorn con- 
 dition, I petitioned her Grace twice in their behalf, but to no purpose ; at 
 last I got them on the west Kirk parish poor roll. They were taken into 
 the poor house and died there. 
 
 The former part of this short but singular narrative, be it correct or in- 
 correct, I give it as I heard it from my father, and many more of the old 
 men who lived in that age, and who had too much cause to believe it to 
 be correct, for they were almost ever since governed and treated with an 
 alien's iron and fiery rod. 
 
 I am sorry that for the present I must lay aside many important com- 
 munications bearing upon the clearing system of the Highlanders which 
 corroborates and substantiates my description of it, such as letters published 
 by Mr. Summer and Mr, Donald Ross, Glasgow, Mr. Donald Sutherland, 
 which appeared in the Woodstock Sentinel a few weeks ago, but above all 
 I regret how little I can take from the pen of Mr. Mackie, Editor of the 
 Northern Ensign, Wick, Caithness, N. B. , a gentleman who since the appear- 
 ance of his valuable paper proved himself the faithful friend of the op- 
 pressed, the indefatigable exposer of their wrongs, terror of oppressors, and 
 a chastiser of their tools, apologizers and abettors, though his pecuniary 
 benefits would be to sail in the same boat with his unprincipled contempo- 
 raries in the north of Scotland, but he chose the better part, and there 
 is a higher promise of reward for him than worm Dukes, Lords, Esquires,, 
 and their vile underlings could bestow. The following is among the last 
 of his productions on the subject. 
 
183 
 
 •WILLING HANDS FOR INDIA/ 
 
 Over this title Punch of last week gives a very exciting illustration. A 
 towering cart load of ingathered grain, with a crowing cock on its summit, 
 forms the background ; while in front a recruiting officer and a party are 
 cheered by the excited harvesters coming forward with reaping hooks in 
 their hands, to volunteer for India, the banner borne by the officer repre- 
 senting the British lion in the act of springing on the Bengal tiger. The 
 recruits, not yet returned from the harvest field, are all enthusiasm, and 
 are eagerly rushing to enrol themselves among the avengers of the butch- 
 eries that have been perpetrated in our Indian empire. 
 
 The newspapers of the south report that the recruiting in certain dis- 
 tricts has been most successful, and that 'already many thousand young 
 men of promise have entered the line. It is remarkable, however, particu- 
 larly so, that all reference to the district from which the main strength 
 of our regular army was formerly obtained is most studiously avoided. 
 May we ask the authorities what success the recruiting officer has now 
 met with in the Highlands of Scotland ? Time was, in former exigencies, 
 when all eyes were turned in that direction and not in vain. Time was, 
 when, in only five days, the county of Sutherland alone contributed one 
 tlivitsand young men ; and when, in fourteen days, no fewer than eleven 
 times that number were enrolled as recruits from the various Highland 
 districts. Time was when the immortal Chatham boasted that ' he had 
 found upon the mountains of Caledonia a gallant though oppressed race of 
 heroes, who had triumphantly carried the British banner into every 
 quarter of the globe.' Time was when Punch would, in 3uch an illustra- 
 tion as that of last week, have included in its representation some half- 
 dozen kilted Celts, shoulder to shoulder, issuing from the mountain 
 homes, and panting to be let loose on the Indian bloodhounds. 
 
 Why not now 1 Answer the question, my Lord Duke of Sutherland. 
 Tell her Majesty, my Lord, why the bag[>ipes of the recruiting party are 
 silent in Sutherland, and why ' no willing hands for India ' are found in 
 your Grace's vast Highland domain. Tell her how it happens that the 
 patriotic enthusiasm which at the close of the last century was shown in 
 the almost magical enrolment of thousands of brawny Sutherlanders, who 
 gained world-wide renown at Corunna, at Fuentes d'Onor, at Vittoria, at 
 Waterloo, and elsewhere, is now unknown in Sutherland, and how the 
 enrolment of one man in that large county is a seven year's wonder. If 
 ycur Grace is silent the answer is not wanting, nor is her Majesty igno- 
 rant of it. 
 
 And yet the cursed system which has disheartened and well nigh 
 destroyed that ' race of heroes,' is pertinaciously persevered in by the very 
 men who, of all others, should be the first to come forward and denounce 
 it. • Willing hands for India,' say Punch. * No,' says high bred lords 
 and coroneted peers ; gives us game preserves, deer forests, and sheep 
 walks. Perish your bold peasantry ! and life to the pleasures of the forest 
 and the mountain heath.' And thus it is that landlord after landlord is 
 yearly weeding out the aborginies, and converting Scotland into one pon- 
 
 H 
 
184 
 
 derous deer forest. Not a year passes without seeing hundreds of tinof- 
 fending men, women, and children, from Cape Wrath to Mull of Galloway, 
 remorselessly unhoused, and their little crofts added to the Tast waste. 
 And now that Britain for the second time in four years has again to 
 invoke the patriotism of her sons, and to call for aid in the eventful crisiH 
 in India, the blast of the recruiter's bugle evokes only the bleat of sheej*, 
 or the pitiful bray of the timid deer, in the greater part of those wide regions 
 which formerly contributed their tens of thousands of men to fight their 
 country's battles. Oh, had Chatham been alive now, what a feeling would 
 have been awakened in his manly breast as he surveyed the wreck which 
 the Loch policy has occasioned ; and with what crushing eloquence would 
 he have invoked the curse of heaven on that system. Meanwhile, Britain 
 misses her Highland heroes, and the imperilled trooi)s in India, with the 
 unoffending women and children, must wait the tardy arrival of ' willing 
 hands ' to assist them, while, had the Highlanders of Scotland been as 
 they once were, in one week more men would have been raised for India 
 than would have sufficed to have effectually crushed the Indian revolt, had 
 spread itself from the foot of the Himalaya mountains to the niost distant 
 district of our Indian empire. 
 
 Let Highland evictors, from Dukes to the meanest squires, beware. 
 Popular patience has a limit ; and it seems to me that the time is rapidly 
 nearing when, if Parliament remains longer silent, the people of the 
 country will arouse themselves, and, by one united expression of their 
 will, drive back to its native den the foul and disastrous policy which has 
 depeopled the Scottish Highlands." 
 
 Brave John Mackie keep on your ainiour, you have now another Eng- 
 lish Duke, no doubt a sporting one, to watch, who will finish the desolu 
 tion of the Langwell Estate, which the scourge, Donald Horn, commenced 
 some years ago. You never had a higher dignitary before in Caithness 
 than a Lord. Now that you are to be honoured and blessed by a Duke, a 
 sporting Grace, i predict that in a few years Caithness which has been hith- 
 erto an exception among all other Highland Counties; may be ranked in 
 the same category with Sutherlandshire — (fchabod, glory departed, deso- 
 lation) — for his Grace of Portland's retinue will consist of other Graces, 
 and Lords who must be supplied with sporting ground for themselves, 
 while there is an estate in Caithness which money can purchase or to 
 lease, Caithness lairds cannot resist the temptation of their long purses. 
 We have proof positive of this in the parishes of Reay, Thurso, and 
 Halkirk what devastation was made there, to gratify that insatiable mon- 
 ster in human shape, John Paterson of rotten, and infamous memory, to 
 the everlasting disgrace of the Gordons and Sinclairs who indulged that 
 man, what will they not do when they have to gratify English graces and 
 lords] But it is not what they have done, or what they will do, should be 
 the question with us, but what have we done and what are we to dol We 
 have a very important duty to peiiorm, and the sins of omission and the 
 sins of commission are equally as henious, and as culpable in the sight of 
 Heaven. Much has the British nation to account for, for these sins of 
 omission. With folded anus, and callous indifference they have seen 
 
purses. 
 ;o, and 
 \e moii- 
 |ory, to 
 pd that 
 pes and 
 jmld be 
 n We 
 
 id the 
 [ght of 
 
 sins of 
 seen 
 
 185 
 
 county after county in the flighlands of Scotland depopulated, th.^ people 
 ruined, oppressed and dispersed ; they have tolerated, indeed countenanced, 
 a systematic policy, which anyone might see with half an eye, would end 
 in the alienation of the people, the enfeeblement and ultimately in the 
 disgrace of the nation. In the year 1747, the very next year after the 
 Cumber land nmss&cie of the Highlanders upon Culloden field, and its nine 
 monthsravagesandmurderinthat country. According to Gartmor's manu- 
 script, the Highlands could raise 62,800 able-bodied young men from the 
 age of 18 to 36 years. It is evident that many years ])rior to this date 
 agricultural improvements were not much studied in either Scotland or 
 England, more especially in the Highlands, on account of continued inter- 
 nal war and broils, about throning and dethroning legitimate and illegiti- 
 loate sovereigns ; but if the Highlands of Scotland could then raise 52,000 
 njcn, I ask, under proper and wise management, how many soldiers should 
 the Highlands raise in the year 1857 ] At the lowest estimate we cannot 
 say less than 67,000, only allowing the population to increase one-third 
 during a period of one hundred and ten years. What would such an in- 
 vincible Celtic army be worth to the British nation to-day 1 who laughed 
 and sneered at their calamities and dispersion some years ago, and who 
 would practically say, they may go to h — 1 if they choose, but we and our 
 sons must have deer stalking ground. 1 ask, what would such an irresis- 
 tiV>le body of men be worth to Britain to-day ] Would they not be worth 
 more than all the deer, grouse, game, V)ulls, bullocks, rams, sheep, and 
 lambs, all the sporting gents, foresters, she] herds, dogs, and aristocratic 
 scions in Britain, and all the German legions that Germany can produce 
 to boot. Tell them John Mackie, and proclaim it in their ears through 
 your widely circulated and well read Ensign, that on former emergen- 
 cies of less importance than the present, there was no difficulty in 
 raising regiments in the highlands — take them to their own rtjcords, and 
 they will find that 6,000 were raised or embodied in one year, 8,000 in 
 another four years, and twenty times that number willing and ready if 
 required ; 2,000 of these were from Sutherlandshire, where there is not one 
 willing man to be found now, and I question if a score, or even two, will- 
 ing to be soldiers are to be found throughout the whole highlands. The 
 patriotism so characteristic of highlanders is completely destroyed, and 
 that for years past. But Britain will find out that if she is to maintain 
 her former envied position among the nations of the earth that it will be 
 by her own sons, and not by aliens or confederating with foreigners, upon 
 whose constancy very little reliance can be plctced. Woe to kuigs, and 
 rulers who forsake, oppress, and disperse their own people, and have to 
 look up to strangers and aliens for succour in time of need. Biitain has 
 dealt treacherously with her own people. I'he mountains of Caledonia, 
 from which at all times her principle succour did come to her in time of 
 need are desolated. Britain is now in need, and in vain looks to these 
 mountains for the invinoible host, for they are not there, and it is to be 
 feared that she may look in vain to (the mountain) God, to whom her 
 sires looked for succour, and who often accompanied her armies, and host, 
 while they were counselled by Him, fighting the battles of civil and reli- 
 
 if 
 
 f 
 
 ;.!' 
 
 
 ■> '>n 
 
 'i f. \ 
 
 »■ 
 
186 
 
 gious liberty at home and abroad, and dealing justly with his people. But 
 wlio can nay but it is upon the scorching plains of India and through the 
 instrumentality of Mohammedans, Pagans and other idolators. where her 
 eves are to be opened, and convinced of her past shortsighted folly and* 
 sinful policy, although hitherto blind to see her folly, and deaf to the dic- 
 tates of humanity, and sound reasoning, to the instruction and commands 
 of God, his prophets and apostles, to the remonstrance of philosophers, and 
 all who had her real interest at heart ; and although it is generally believed 
 that it is similar British tyranny, shortsighted, cruel policy, and mal-ad- 
 niinistration, which depopulated the Highlands of Scotland, ruined Ire- 
 land, and beggared two-iifths of the nation is the cause of the outbreak 
 in India, and the horrifying massacres, and inliuman deeds perpetrated by 
 these uncivilised deluded savages ; yet it behoves every son of Britain 
 wherever he is to be found, to join in the demonstration, demanding the 
 abolition of her game laws, and every other law known and proven to- 
 aflford these accursed vermin of the aristocratic tribe an opportunity of 
 oppressing the industrious people, and detrimental to the progress and 
 prosperity of the n 'i'on, and endangering her dignity, her safety, yea her 
 very existence. Utupianism, utopianism, many will cry out ; but it is 
 not more Utopian to demand the abolition of the game laws, which costs 
 the nation more than half a million sterling yearly for banishing and im- 
 prisoning poachers, and which have been the cause of many a bloody, 
 raurderousaffray, preserving animals, and birds which consume, more than 
 three millions sterling worth of human food every year, besides the many 
 thousand acres of land lying waste to afford them room for amusement and 
 solitude, th&n it was to demand the abolition of the Corn Laws and Slave 
 Laws. Many excellent men of high standing in Society are devoting 
 their time demonstrating the necessity and legality of abolishing, not 
 onl^ the Game Laws, but the Laws of Entail and Primogeniture, thp 
 Hypothec, <kc. Will you not follow their example 1 
 
 THE FREEHOLD MOVEMENT AND HIGHLAND CLEARANCES. 
 
 A stiiring meeting, fully reported in the Daily Express of Monday, 
 was held in Queen Street Hall, Edinburgh, on Saturday, when powerful 
 speeches were made by Messrs Beal (from London), Taylor (from Bir- 
 mingham), Dr. Begg, Mr Duncan M'Laren, Mr Dove, and others, The 
 meeting was most enthusiastic, and gave every indication of energy and 
 decision. 
 
 Mr Beal, in the course of his speech, said, — In England, they had 
 looked with stem indignation at some acts which had taken place in the 
 northern parts of Scotland, in regard to those great clearings of which 
 they had heard so much. (Applause.) Such things might be 
 jirevented if the influence of the tenantry and of the mass of the- 
 people, who were now deprived of the suffrage, were brought to bear on 
 the system of Parliamentary representation by means of a freehold move- 
 ment. The counties would not then send as their representatives some 
 twenty or thirty men who lacked the intelligence and the progressive- 
 
187 
 
 had 
 
 the 
 
 ^^hich 
 
 be 
 
 the 
 
 Lr on 
 
 love- 
 
 tome 
 
 Bsive- 
 
 spirit of lihe age. (Hear, hear.) The landlord influence would then be 
 dentroyed. and the people's poet would then be no longer tible to say as at 
 present — 
 
 I have driven out pcaaants, I have banished them forth, 
 There is hardly a Celt on the hilU of the north. 
 
 If their own members opposed them, instead of assisting them in the 
 movement, they could yet look confidently to the support of a large body 
 of the English statesmen. 
 
 Mr. Dov^e, with his usual manly independence, spoke out nobly, as fol- 
 lows : — He looked upon this movement as the first thing which he had 
 seen in his day that was calculated to break up that aristocratic influence 
 that had long preyed upon this country of Scotland. (Applause.) When 
 they saw men hounded out of the Highlands as they had been — (cheers 
 and hisses) — let them ask themselves what possible measure could save 
 that Highland population except a freehold movement, which should root 
 them into the soil of Scotland. (Cheers.) That population had been 
 driven out of their country, and now they had only the sea and the sea- 
 shore left to them ; but he (Mr. Dove) told them, as he told Scotland, that 
 this movement was the best movement which they had seen in their day, 
 and the most calculated to benefit the whole population of the Highlands 
 of Scotland. (Loud applause.) This very day he was a Scottish Rights' 
 man, and would remain so. He did not care one single farthing what any 
 might say on that subject ; he would say that he was a Scottish Rights' 
 man, and would always be so. (Laughter and clu>ers.) And that very 
 day, finding that they could do very little for that Highland population in 
 any other way, he had been engaged with his friend Mr. George Wink, 
 the Secretary of the Scottish Rights' Association, in endeavouring to 
 found a fishery, and to furnish to these people their boats, lines, nets, and 
 everything which could keep them at home. (Cheers.) Now, he did 
 not know that he should have used the word himself ; but they had been 
 told of their subserviency to the landlords; and Mr. Duncan M'Laren had 
 used the words bad lawyers. He did not mean to say that he would have 
 used the word, but in his opinion they were all bad lawyers. (Mr. 
 M'Lai'en — I meant that they were giving bad law, and not that they were 
 bad men.) Mr Dove said he knew perfectly well Mr M'Laren's mean- 
 ing — that they were giving a wrong explanation of what the law of Eng- 
 land was, and that they were either ignorant or maliciously misleading the 
 people of Scotland. But his (Mr. Dove's meaning was very different; 
 for he told them that they were bad lawyers, because they had cleared out 
 that Highland population in many cases illegally — (hisses and cheers) — 
 and he told them that two or three years ago down at Knoidart, they took 
 the sick people out of their houses, pulled those houses down, and left the 
 inmates exposed to the winds of heaven. (A voice — 'They had no right 
 to the land,' and cries of 'Order') — and he told them that they pulled 
 down the barns there in which the people could have been sheltered. 
 Now, it was quite true that the law unfortunately gave them the power to 
 pull down the houses, but not the bams, which would have in some maa- 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
188 
 
 sore sheltered the poor people. But, nevertheless, they had done so, and 
 the people had remained unsheltered , "id he, (Mr. Dove) said that, if as 
 Scotchmen they permitted such things to go on, they were not worthy of 
 the name, (applause.) He hoped he had expressed his meaning pretty 
 plainly, which was, that he was a Scottish Bights' man, and as such he 
 could look any Englishman in the face. 
 
 We hope to give this groat movement due attention at an early date. 
 Good speed to it. 
 
 ODE ON SCOTLAND'S LOVE OP INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Scotland's hills and dales can tell, 
 How bravely foemen she could quell, 
 What hosts before her vanquish d fell 
 On many a well fought day. 
 
 For liberty her red cross dew ; 
 For liberty her sword she drew ; 
 For liberty her foes o'erthrew ; 
 She could not be a ulavc. 
 
 When Rome's proud eagle was unfurlM, 
 And floated o'er a prostrate world, 
 Defiance, Caledonia hurl'd, 
 And scorn'd the haughty foe. 
 
 When Scandinavia pour'd her swarms ; 
 Fill'd all her coasts with dire alarms, 
 Then Scotland dauntless rose in arms, 
 Her heart was proud and brave 
 
 Like ocean wave rush'd on her foes. 
 Like ocean's barrier Scotland rose, 
 And dashed them back and 'round them strews 
 Their boasted chivalry. 
 
 In freedom's cause she drew her brand. 
 And freedom still has bless'd her laud, 
 And laurel crown'd she aye could stand, 
 'Mid bravest of the brave. 
 
 Even when her nobles did conspire, 
 Chose England as their high umpire. 
 Her gallant son she did inspire — 
 Wallace of Ellerslie. 
 
 Who, follow'd by a noble band. 
 Defended well their native land ; 
 And Cambuskenneth saw the stand 
 They made for Scotland there. 
 
 But envy ever doth pursue 
 l'[ie brave, the faithful, and the true. 
 And traitors bslse this hero slew, 
 Whose arm they dare not br^ve. 
 
189 
 
 and 
 fas 
 yof 
 
 3tty 
 he 
 
 ,ate. 
 
 Tbo' Scotland mourn'd her hero slain, 
 And prostrate seem'd, she rose amain, 
 And under Bruce did freedom gain, 
 As Bannockbum can tell. 
 
 But though our wars with England cease. 
 And union brings the joys of peace ; 
 Joys which may more and more increase, 
 While time its course shall run ; 
 
 Forget we not that patriot band, 
 Midst blood and death who raised the brand. 
 And fought for freedom and the laud 
 Of Scotia brave and free. 
 
 Sandwick, 6th January, 1857. 
 
 »T. M. Aim. 
 
 i'tiH 
 
 
 LORDS OF THE GLEN. 
 
 (from ' Bratmer Ballads,' by Professor Blackie.) 
 
 I. 
 
 fair is the land, my own mountain land. 
 
 Fit nurse for the brave and the free, 
 Where the fresh breezes blow o'er the heath's purple glow, 
 And the clear torrent gushes with glee ! 
 
 But woe's me, woe ! what dole and sorrow 
 From this lovely land I borrow. 
 When I roam, where the stump of stricken ash-tree 
 Shows the spot where the home of the cotter should be. 
 And the cold rain drips, and the cold wind moans 
 O'er the tumbled heaps of old grey stones, 
 Where once a fire blazed free. 
 For a blight has come down on the land of the mountain, 
 The storm-nurtured pine, and the clear-gushing fountain, 
 And the chieftains are gone, the kind lords of the glen, 
 In the land that once dVvarmed with the brave High landmen r 
 
 i I! 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 II. 
 
 O fair is the land, my own mountain land, 
 
 Fit nurse for the brave and the free, 
 Where the strong waterfall scoops the gray granite wall, 
 'Neath the roots of the old pine tree ! ^ , 
 
 But woe's for me, woe ! what dole and sorrow 
 From this lovely land I borrow, 
 When the long and houseless glen I see, 
 Where only the deer to range is free, 
 And I think on the pride of the dwindled clan, 
 And the homesick heart of the brave Highlandmen ! 
 Far tost on the billowy sea. 
 For a blight has come down on the land of the mountain, 
 The storm-nurtured pine, and the clear-gushing fountain, 
 And the stalkers of aeer keep their scouts in the glen 
 That once swarmed with the high-hearted brave Highlandmen t 
 
\w 
 
 MI. 
 
 O fair is the land, my own moui'tain land, 
 
 Fit nune for the brare and the free, 
 Where the young rirer leaps down the sheer ledge, and sweeps 
 With a fall-fl(K>ded force to the sea ! 
 
 But woe is me t What dole and sorrow 
 From this lorely land I borrow, 
 When I think on the men that should father the clan, 
 But who bartered the rights i)f the brare Hiffhlandman 
 To the lordlings that live for the pleasure to sill 
 The stag that roams free o'er the tenantless hill ; 
 What care they for the brave Hiehlandman ? 
 For a blight has come down on the land of the mountain. 
 The storm-nurtured pine, and tha clear gushing fountain, 
 And vendors of game are the lordb of tlie glen 
 Who rule o'er the fair mountain land without men 1 
 
 THE HIGHLAND EMIGRANTS. 
 
 CoHK away I far away ! from the hills of bonnie Scotlnnd 
 
 Here no more may we linger on the mountain — in the glen — 
 Come away I Why delay ? far away from bonnie Scotland. 
 Land of grouse, and not of heroes ! Land of sheep, and not of men i 
 Mighty hunters, for their pastime. 
 
 Needing deserts in onr shires, 
 Turn to waste our pleasent places. 
 Quench the smoke of cottage fires. 
 Come away ! why delay? Let us seek a home denied us, > 
 
 O'er the ocean s that divide us from the country of our sires. 
 
 II. 
 
 Come away 1 far away ! from the river ; from the wild wood ; 
 
 From the soil where our fathers lifted Freedom's broad claymore 
 From the paths in the straths, that were dear to us in childhood ; 
 From the kirk where love was plighted in the happy days of yore. 
 Men and women hare no value . 
 
 Where the Bruce and Wallace grew. 
 And where stood the clansman's shieling 
 There the red deer laps the dew. 
 Come away ! far away ! But to thee, oh bonnie Scotland, 
 Wheresoever we may wander shall our hearts be ever true. 
 
 III. 
 Far away ! far away ! in the light of other regions 
 
 We shall prove how we lore thee to our children yet unborn. 
 Far away I far away ! we shall teach them our allegiance 
 To thy name and to thy glory, thou beloved, though forlorn. 
 At recital of thy greatness 
 
 Shall our warmest fervour swell ; 
 On the story of thy sorrow 
 
 Shall cur fondest memories dwell. 
 Far away ! why delay ? We are banished from our Scotland, 
 
 From our own, our bonnie Scotland 1 fare thee well ! oh ! fare thee well I 
 
 Charles MuKat. 
 
191 
 
 well! 
 [oKat. 
 
 But I have here before me Lord Palmerston's scheme to raise men in 
 the Highlands, and he makes himself sure it will succeed. [ aut now an 
 old man, and I have read many wicked, stupid, and suicidal proposals, 
 made by Statesmen, and schemes laid down before a discerning public, 
 but as yet I aver that I never read a more stupid, suicidal, and uncon- 
 stitutional, and surer of failing, than this one now before you, taken from 
 Palmerston's own sweet organ, the I.,ondon Morning Post. I need not 
 comment upon it. The Editor of the Northern Ensign, a gentlemen who 
 know9 more of the Highlanders that any other £ditor living, has done it 
 ample justice. Palmerston, through his organ, the Morning Post, after 
 prefacing the article, says : — " The East India Company wants men ; but 
 how are these men to be obtained 1 are they to be obtained by volunteer- 
 ing, by increasing the bounty, or by the employment of foreign mer- 
 cenaries 1 He proceeds and says : — 
 
 "We would purpose that the peasantry, the artizans, and the working 
 classes of the three kingdoms, should be told that if they enlisted — during 
 the troubles in India for instance — for a limited period, at the expiration 
 of their services they would receive the same kind of treatment which has 
 been extended to the German Legionaries — namely, a free passage to a 
 British Colony, a respectable outfit, a Jret grant of kind* a hi use and no 
 rent, and half pay for three years, the consideration being a few days' 
 drill in the year, and permanent service in the case of some great emer- 
 gency We believe that the Legislature of Canada would 
 
 now cheerfully grant millions of acres of wild land of the provinces, to 
 be distributed as rewards amongst the solaiers of the British army. New 
 Brunswick and Nova Scotia would do the same. If Officers and Ser- 
 geants at the present time engaged in the recruiting service, were enabled 
 to tell those classes of men out of which the British army is raised, that 
 at the termination of their service they would have a free passage to 
 Canada, a free grant of land, and money enough to build a log house and 
 to clear a small patch of land, we believe that there would be no dearth «)f 
 recruits. This plan, we are persuaded, would be more effectual than 
 increased bounty of double pay. . If a system of military colonization can 
 be adopted for the special benefit of a few lucky German soldiers, let the 
 same experiment, we say, be tried for the general benefit of the British 
 army." 
 
 This scheme, attractive enough at first-sight, is the most positively 
 suicidal which it is possible to propose. Let any sensible, patriotic man 
 ponder it well, in its bearings and results, and we feel assured his very 
 blood will rise within him when he thinks of it. Why, its issue must 
 ultimately be to draw the main strength of the country out of it. Just 
 think of 20,000 militia men, drawn from ' the peasantry, the artizans, and 
 the working men of the three kingdoms,' serving 'for a limited period,' 
 and then sent off to enjoy the fruits of their servitude in a distant colony 
 — just think of this sage proposal being regularly and periodically carried 
 out, and where would the bone and sinew of our national strength be in a 
 <}uarter of a century 1 Toiling away in the ' free land ' of Australia, oi 
 J^ewing down the forests of Canada. 
 
 'i^ I 
 
192 
 
 We humbly sub'nit to Lord Palmerston and the Morning Post, a far 
 more likely and satisfactory aiethod of obtaining militia. There are hun- 
 dreds of thousands of acres, capable of improvement, but lying in waste 
 and inutility over the Highlands of Scotland. There are in the immedi- 
 ate neighbourhood tens of thousands of inhabitants, living in poverty and 
 social discomfort, because deprived of the exercises of their industrial ener- 
 gies, and otherwise prevented f roi j rising in the scale of social beings. 
 Well. There are among these many thousands of young men capable of 
 bearing arms, as the shores of Caithness recently testified, and whose 
 fathers and grandfathers fought and died in their country's service ; but 
 who now moodily refuse to lift a weapon in the same service. To these 
 the offer of a hundred, fifty, or even ten acres of land in the Highlands to 
 each man, with Government security of Tenure, should they pay reasona- 
 ble rent for it, would be a stimulant which Palmerston, or his aristocratic 
 colleagues never took into consideration. Any other decoyment will most 
 assuredly fail ; for we can toll Lord Palmerston the brightest jewels in 
 Britain's crown would not awake the scintillation of an snthusiastic glance ; 
 but we most surely believe that could Lord Palmerston prevail on certain 
 Whig Dukes and Lords to alter their treatment of their tenantry, and 
 abrogate the policy that is rapidly making the ncrth and north-west of 
 Scotland a prodigious deer forest, there would soon be no fear of raising 
 militia by the thousand. 
 
 If, for example, the Duke of Sutherland, the husband of ' the most 
 influential woman in Europe,' were to preclaiin from the Meikle Ferry to 
 Cape Wrath, that the Loch policy is to cease for ever; that the long desolate 
 Straths of Sutherland are to be peopled ; that the humblest tenant in the 
 county is to be treatedto a lease on favourable terms ; and that men are to 
 be henceforth prefeired to sheep and deer, we verily believe there would 
 be kindled in that county an amount of enthusiasm which it never before 
 witnessed, and which would issue in the raising of such a number of 
 recruits as would astonish even the versatile aud sanguine premier 
 himself. 
 
 And were a like change to be heralded over the whole Highlands of 
 Scotland, a corresponding result would most surely follow. We assure the 
 Morning Post that it would be a far more effectual and nationally bene- 
 ficial method of defending Britain than casting out the bait of grants of 
 land on foreign shores, and tempting men to fight for a country they 
 are destined to leave. A thousand times rather let the government buy 
 up the myriads of profitless acres at home, give presents of a correspond- 
 ing quantity of colonial land to the absentee lords, along with a free 
 passage, and give the land at home as a present to recruits, than allow 
 them first to enrol, and then pack them off" as felons to Botany Bay. The 
 fauu is, the home country stands in need of such men, instead of requiring 
 them to emigrate ; and we see no scheme half so likely to reara race of 
 invincibles, than restoring to the people the land from which they have 
 been cruelly driven, and evicting those droves of deer that will very soon 
 have their head-quarters within a stone- throw of the largest towns, if the 
 present mania continue to influence many purblind and selfish landlords of 
 
193 
 
 ree 
 ow 
 The 
 
 the Highlands and Islands. The coontrv can want most of its Highland 
 lairds, but it can not safely want its Highland inhabitants. — Northern 
 Ensign. 
 
 What do you think of my Lord Palmerston 1 He in the spirit qi aris- 
 tocratic liberality will allow the British soldiers equal benefits allowed 
 German mercenaries ; yes. my Lord, and if they do not enrol themselves 
 upon these conditions, send the press gang, and the ballot box among them, 
 handcuff the stubborn fellows, and force them tx) swear by God to fight 
 for the East India Company, that they may retain the monopoly of the 
 trade of that boundless territory, and charge what prices they please for 
 the produce; a fac simile of how the unmeasurable territories of valuable 
 land in the north-west of Canada were handed over to the Hudson Bay 
 Company, to enrich a few villians who can keep up the price of skins 
 and fur, that the working, or producing classes^ to whom those terri- 
 tories belong, cannot purchase them, hence deprived of the comfort 
 and pleasures of weaiing them; But where is thei'e a British soldier 
 tc be found who will not frown and spit with disgust upon such 
 propositions, and audacious comparisons ; yes, British soldiers, and 
 German beggars and cowards, to be equally rewarded, and where 
 is a British young man to be found, who is as yet a freeman, who 
 will volunteer to risk his life to fight savages, among the pestilence, 
 and venomous emanations of India, with no better prospect before him 
 than, that should he escape the«word of the Mohammedan, and Juggernaut 
 sava.s^e, and plagues of India, on his return home to be packed oti' to the 
 wilda- of Canada to cut wood during the remainder of his life, or perish 
 unprovided and uncared for. Monstrous sophistry, my Lord Palmerston ; 
 you may get German mercenaries, as you call them, and town keelies and 
 desperadoes to fill up your ranks, and manure the plains of India upon 
 such conditions, but not Highland, high-minded Scotchmen, and God 
 knows that the British nation has too many German paupers alreadv sad- 
 dled upon them to feed and clothe, without bringing Legions of the 
 beggarly lowest order upon them to feed and clothe. The fact is, if I am 
 not misinformed, England will soon have the whole of that nurseiy 
 or kennel of Prines to keep up altogether. Britain had to pay the 
 king of Hanover £21,000 salaiy a year, it is said that was 3s. 9^d. more 
 than his own nation could afford to allow him. Then our own beloved 
 sovereign, whose hand any emperor or prince in Europe would be proud 
 to obtain unconditionally ; yet Britain had to negotiate with the house of 
 Saxe Coburg and Gotha, and settle £30,000 per year upon one of that 
 family to become her husband ; not content with this, he was raised to the 
 rank and full pay of field mar8hall,and colonel oi two or three regiments so 
 that his income can figure no less than sixty or seventy thousand pounds 
 sterling per year, besides, as I am told £37,000 to build stables for his 
 horses, £15,000 to build a kennel for his dogs, a square to break and train 
 them, and dwelling houses for their keepers, without any responsibilities 
 on his part, whether he was competent to discharge the duties of his 
 vai ious offices or not. We have now a young Princess, I believe the love- 
 liest and most enticing creature living; another hungry German Prince 
 
 ill 
 
194 
 
 smelled the delicious pie, and by some means or another managed to pay 
 his passage to Dover, and it is said that a Government agent paid £2 I63. 
 sterling for his railway fare from Dover to London to meet his spark. It 
 is now said that he has agreed to marry our lovely Princess on condition 
 that she gets £50,000 to fit her out, and that he gets £41,000 annually 
 during her life, to take care of her, and if she should die, and leave a 
 family, that suitable provisions should be made to maintain them. 
 
 Then we have other four lovely Princesses, should they arrive at the 
 age of matrimony, as I hope they will, they must be divided econoraically 
 among German Princes upon similar terms no doubt. The short and the 
 long of it is, that should the producing classes of Britain have no more 
 taxes to pay than what is required to keep up Germans and their brood 
 of the high order, that other nations would consider it enormous, leaving 
 the expenses of the Legions out of view. Some may say, that I lost sight 
 of ray tejft, " Highland Dej^apulatiofiy" yet by looking narrowly into the 
 affair, you will find them closely connected ; robbery is robbery by what 
 ever way it is perpetrated, or committed j those who rob the nation of 
 their money, and squander it away upon other nations, are to a certain 
 extent as guilty as those who depopulated the nation, and disperses 
 her bones and sinews to the four winds of heaven, but not so bad. The 
 former party are draining the nation of the blood and sinews of commerce, 
 hence short-sighted and mischievous, yet a nation may redeem themselves 
 from the disasters which their wicked, foolish, profligate, and prodigal 
 Government bring upon them in this way. But the latter party drains 
 away blood and sinews of infinitely more value, and are satanic in the 
 extreme, they do all they can to destroy the very paladium of the nation, 
 which, if once destroyed can never be redeemed — 
 
 " Bold peasantry their country's pride, 
 Once destroyed can nev«r be supplied. " 
 
 There are many damnatory features in their schemes and conduct that 
 are not to be found in the schemes and conduct of any other class of men 
 under heaven ; it is not the millions of brave, patriotic, and industrious 
 people they have banished or expelled from Britain, the only injury they 
 have done and are doing to the nation, they have beggared the re.st by 
 forcing the peasantry to manufacturiiig towns, where vice and crime are 
 in the ascendency ; they have glutted the labour market, so that the work- 
 ing classes are entirely at the mercy of employers who can take advantage 
 of every casualty of the season, of every stagnation in trade, and in the 
 money market, so that they can keep the poor workers continually on 
 starvation wages. They do still worse, if that could be, they destroy the 
 confidence which should exist between the government and the governed, 
 they are alienating the minds of the loyal lieges so far, that in a few years, 
 \f matters continue to go on as they do, it is to be feared that the peasantry 
 pAidworkingclassesneednotcaremuchwhowillgovern them, Napoleon, the 
 0. or, thefooltyrantofAustriaor our lovely and exemplary Victoria. They 
 ha>e done still worae and worse, they have undermined the Gospel of Sal- 
 vation, they have filled the age we are in with sceptics, infidels, and athe- 
 
I9n 
 
 ;ir;- 
 
 ists who can stand now before even the sceptic himself, and defend chris- 
 -tianity and maintain that God is just, holy, and impartial; he will tell you 
 at once, how can you prove that when he is always on the side of the 
 strong and the rich, and never interfei'es in behalf of the poor masses nor 
 4iideth them, however much they are trodden down and robbed by the rich ; 
 and when the masses will withstand their robbing rich, and demand even 
 a portion of their just rights, he is always against them, and will allow 
 the rich and their tools to hew them down with sabres, and blow them 
 to atoms with cannons and bombshells. These, and such are the arguments 
 the sceptic, infidel, and atheist, will advance ; but to say the least, this class 
 in view, abetted by the clergy, who reversed every provision God made 
 ior his people, and abused the power placed in their hands, I say has done 
 more injury to the cause of Christ, and Christianity in the world, than all 
 hiy avowed enemies could have done. What think you, a friend 
 of mine, on whose veracity I can place confidence, was travelling 
 in the West Highlands, and spent some days in the Isle of Skye, one 
 day came upon a party of women who were cutting down and col- 
 lecting heather; he stood a short time speaking to them, when on a 
 sudden a party of gentlemen appeared upon the top of a ridge of hills 
 a very short distance from the heather gatherers, and were soon among 
 them with their dogs and guns ; the poor women had by this time had their 
 creels, or baskets filled, he who seemed to be the chief the gang, asked 
 haughtily, " what are you cutting and taking away the heather fori" the 
 reply was, "please your Honour, Ijord Macdonald, to bed our cows, to pre- 
 pare manure for our potatoes." In an instant the monster was engaged 
 in tramping the creels to atoms, scattering the heather, breaking theliooks 
 or scythes, and with a face more like an enraged demon than a lord, told 
 the poor women to go to hell for beds to their cows, and manure for their 
 potatoes, if they chose, but if they would dare to take away any of his 
 grouse's food that he would shoot every one of them; one of them said, 
 trembling, " Oh, my Lord, we are paying rent for this hill," he took up 
 -his gun to a level and swore that he would shoot her if she said another 
 word ; the poor ci'eature let herself down among the heather ; his Lordship 
 and party left, went about a hundred yards, halted, consulted a minute, 
 turned round, levelled their pieces at the women, and bawled out, " you 
 will be all shot in a minute ; " the poor creatures then ran for their lives, 
 which seemed to afford his Lordship and his party of English gents much 
 amusement. The fiendish lord's grandsires at one period of our Scottish 
 history disputed the crown of Scotland with no other aid but his own clan, 
 now he would not get twenty followers, should that number gain the crown 
 of England for him ; you speak, McLeod, not without a cause, of the poverty, 
 deterioration, and subjugation of the Sutherlanders, and the tyranny of 
 their Lords, but here is the ultra beyond description, and the poor animal 
 himself is drowned in debt, every inch of his estates are encumbered, 
 and it would be but justice should he die a wretched mendicant. 
 
 I have made many quotations from many excellent men for various 
 reasons — I take to myself the credit, and I believe none will dispute it 
 ■with me, 1 say the credit of breaking the ice before them all. that in bring 
 
 A 
 
 i'ii 
 
 li 
 
 M 
 
196 
 
 ing the short-sighted policy of the cleating system, with its diieful con- 
 comitant results before the world ; but I knew, and do know myself 
 to be a poor man, and however sincere and indefatigable I was and am 
 in the cause, that there is not much credence given to what a poor man 
 may write, say, or do — " a poor man saved a city but no notice was taken 
 of him because he was a poor man," — Ecles, chap. 9, v. xv ; yet it is a last- 
 ing consolation for me to know that men of piety, talent, affluence and influ- 
 ence made a searching inquiry, and investigated my statement, and found 
 them beyond contradiction — indeed more modified and short of what should 
 be told. Many consultations were held by Sutherland factors and sheep 
 farmers to consider whether I should be prosecuted or not ; but knowing 
 that they had truth to contend with in taking legal steps against me — the 
 resolution that I was so insignificantand poor that few if any would believe 
 what I was writing always carried the majority, and jx)or Donald was per- 
 mitted to proceed with impunity. Silence was considered by my enemies 
 the best policy ; but they had to be silent since before the world when 
 attacked and exposed by men of high standing in Society, whose afflu- 
 ence and influence put them beyond suspicion of telling ridiculous false 
 stories, as laid to my charge by Mrs. Stowe. Annexed is an extract 
 taken from a sermon preached by an English • divine, I wish to God 
 many more of his order would follow his example. What promptecl 
 this man of God, whom I know personally, to come out on such 
 a theme as this 1 That his Divine Master demanded it of his hand, 
 to denounce the oppressors of the poor. He preached the sermon 
 first ; afterwards he was told that the statements were controverted — he 
 then eorresponded with Professor Black, and finding that it was not the 
 case, he preached the same sermon over again with emphasis not to be 
 disregarded. 
 
 ' A Sermon for the Times,* lately preached by the Rev. Richard 
 Hibbs, Church of England clergyman, Edinburgh, contains the follow 
 ing exposure of Highland depopulation : — 
 
 " Take then, at first, the awful proof how far in oppreation men can go — 
 men highly educated and largely gifted in every way — property, talents, 
 all ; for the most part, indeed, they are so-called noblemen. What, then, 
 are they doing in the Highland districts, according to the testimony of 
 a leai-ned professor in. this city 1 Why, depopulating those districts in 
 order to make room for red deer. And howl by buying off the cottars, 
 and giving them money to emigrate 1 Not at all, but by starving them 
 out ; by rendering them absolutely incapable of procuring subsistence 
 for themselves and families ; for they first take away from them their 
 small apportionments of poor lands, although they may have paid their 
 rents ; and if that do not suffice to eradicate from their hearts that love 
 of the soil on which they have been bom and bred — a love which the 
 great Proprietor of all has manifestly implanted in our nature — why, 
 then, these inhuman landlords, who are far more merciful to their very 
 beasts, take away from these poor cottars the very roofs above their 
 defenceless heads, and expose them, worn down with age and destitute 
 
197 
 
 e 
 
 e 
 
 of everything, to the inclemencies of a northern sky ; and this, forsooth, 
 because they must have plenty of room for their dogs and deer. For 
 plentiful instances of the most wanton barbarities under this head we 
 need only point to the Knoidart evictions. Here were perpetrated siich 
 enormities as might well have caused the very sun to hide his face at 
 noonday." 
 
 It has been intimated to me by an individual who heard this dis- 
 course on the first occasion that the statements referring to the Highland 
 landlords have been controverted. I was well aware long before the 
 receipt of this intimation, that some defence had appeared ; and here I 
 can truly say, that none would have rejoiced moie than myself to find 
 that a complete vindication had been made. But, unha}»pily; the case is 
 far otherwise. In order io be fully acquainted with all that had passed 
 on the subject, I have put myself during the week in communicatiuii 
 with the learned professor to whose letter which appeared some months 
 ago in the Times, I referred. From him I learn that none of his state- 
 ments were invalidated — nay, not even impugned ; and he adds, that to 
 do this was simply impossible, as he had been at great pains to verify 
 the facts. All that could be called in question was the theory that he had 
 based upon these facts — namely, that evictions were made for the pur- 
 pose of making room for more deer. This, of course, was ojjen to con- 
 tradiction on the part of those landlords who bad not openly avowed 
 their object in evicting the poor Highland families. As to the e\'ictions 
 themselves — and this was the main point — no attempt at contradiction 
 was made. 
 
 But in addition to all that the benevolent professor has made known 
 to the civilized world under this head, who has not heard of ' The mas- 
 sacre* of the Rosses, and the clearing of the glens'? I hold in my hand a 
 little work thus entitled, which has passed into the second edition. The 
 author is Mr Donald Ross— a gentleman whom all who feel sympathy 
 for the down-trodden and oppressed must highly esteem. What a humi- 
 liating picture of the barbarity and cruelty of fallen humanity does this 
 little book present ! The reader, utterly appalled by its horrifying state- 
 ments, finds it difficult to retain the recollection that he is perusing the 
 history of his own times and country too. He would fain yield himself 
 to the tempting illusion, that the ruthless atrocities which are depicted 
 were enacted in a fabulous period, in ages long past ; or, at all events, 
 if it be contemporaneous history, that the scene of such heart-rending 
 cruelties, the perpetrators of which were regardless alike of the inno- 
 •cency of infancy and the helplessness of old age, in some far distant, and 
 as yet not merely unchristianized, but wholly savage and uncivilized 
 region of our globe. But, alas ! it is Scotland in the latter half of the 
 nineteenth century, of which he treats. One feature of the heart- 
 harrowing case is the shocking and barbarous cruelty that was practised 
 •on this occasion upon the female portion of the evicted clan. Mr. D. 
 Ross, in a letter addressed to the Right Hon. the Lord Advocate, Edin- 
 burgh, dated April 19, 1854, thus writes in reference to one of those 
 •clearances and evictions which had just then taken place under the 
 
 I : 
 
 SI 
 
 l 
 
198 
 
 authority of a certain Sheriff of the district, and by means of a body uf 
 policemen as executioners : — ' The feeling on this subject, not only in 
 the district, but in Sutherlandshire and Ross-shire is, among the great 
 majority of the people, one of universal condemnation of the Sherift's 
 reckless conduct, and of indignation and disgust at the brutality of the 
 policemen, Such, indeed, was the sad havoc made on these females on 
 the banks of the Carron, on the memorable 31st March last, that pools 
 of blood were on the ground — that the grass and earth were dyed red 
 with it — that the dogs of the district came and licked up the blood ; and 
 at last, such was the state of feeling of parties who went from a distance 
 to see the field, that a party (it is understood by order or instructions 
 from head quarters) actually harrowed the ground during the night to 
 hide the blood !' 
 
 These things were brought to light during the recent war with Russia ; 
 who can marvel at the sympathising author thus expressing himself,. 
 when concluding the astonishing account — 
 
 'The affair at Greenyard, on the morning of the 31st March last, is 
 not calculated to inspire much love of country, or rouse the martial spirit 
 of the already ill-usod Highlanders The savage treatment of innocent 
 females on that morning, by an enraged body of police, throws the 
 Sinope butchery into the shade ; for the Ross-shire Haynaus have shown 
 themselves more cruel and more blood-thirsty than the Austrian women- 
 floggers. What could these poor men and women, with their wounds, 
 and scars, and broken bones, and disjointed arms, stretched on beds of 
 sickness, or moving on crutches, the result of the brutal treatment of 
 them by the police at Greenyard, have to dread from the invasion of 
 Scotland by Russia V 
 
 ' What, indeed,"} echo back these depopulated glens. • 
 
 Bat enough of the subject of clearances and evictions, of which we- 
 had not originally intended to say so much. A regard, however, to the 
 interests of truth and humanity, which we are sure is the causf of God, 
 of God even the Father and Redeemer of all, as I'evealing liimself in 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, has constrained us to notice these l>hings thus far. 
 
 The publications of Mr Ross are recommended to all who may desire 
 further information on this subject. But as concerning the signs of the 
 times upon which wc are discoursing, do not these atrocities, viewed too- 
 as complimentary of the Knoidart evictions, demonstrate that we are 
 now in the last time, at the end of the age, when, from the beginning of 
 it, it was prophetically declared that ' men shall be lovers of their own 
 selves,' utterly regardless of what others may suffer thereby. 
 
 This murderous affair at Greenyard, of which the reverend gentiaman 
 spoke, was so horrifying and so brutal that I think no wonder at his 
 delicacy in speaking of it, and directing his hearers to peruse Mr, Ross's^ 
 pamphlet for full information. Mr. Ross went from Glasgow to Green- 
 yard, Rossshire, to investigate the case on the spot, and found that Mr. 
 Taylor, a native of Sutherland, (well educated in eviction schemes and 
 murderous cruelty of that county) and Sheriff substitute of Ross-shire, 
 marched from Tain upon the morning of the 31st March at the head of 
 
190 
 
 a strong party of armed constables, with heavy bludgeons and tire anus, 
 conveyed in carts and other vehicles, allowing them as much ardent drink 
 as they chose to take before leaving and upon their march, so as to qualify 
 them for the bloody work they had to perform. Fit for any outrage, fully 
 equipped, and told by th" Sheriff to shew no mercy to any one who 
 would oppose them, aud not allow themselves to be called cowards, 
 by allowing these mountaineers victory over them. In this excited half 
 drunk state they came in contact with the unfortunate women of Green- 
 yard, who, were determined to prevent the officers from serving the sum- 
 mons of removal upon them, and keep their holding of small farms 
 where they and their forefathers lived and died for generations. But no 
 time was allowed to parley ; the Sheriff gave the order to clear the way, 
 and be it said to his everlasting disgrace (but to the credit of the county 
 of Sutherland) that he struck the first blow at a woman, the mother of 
 a large family, and large in the family way at the time, who tried to 
 keep him back, then a general slaughter commenced, the women made 
 noble resistance, until the bravest of them got their arms broken, then 
 they gave way. This did not allay the rage of the murderous brutes, 
 theycontinued clubbingat the protectless creatures until every one of 
 them was stretched on the field wallowing in their blood, or with broken 
 arms, ribs, and bruised limbs ; in this woeful condition many of them 
 were handcuffed together, others tied with coarse ropes, huddled into 
 carts and carried prisoners to Tain jail. I have seen myself in the pos- 
 session of Mr. Ross, Glasgow, patches or scalps of the skin with the long 
 hair adhering to them, which was found upon the field a few days after 
 this inhuman afiray. I did not see the women, but 1 was told that 
 gashes were found on the heads of two young females prisoners in Tain 
 jail, which exactly corresponded with these slices or scalps T have 
 seen, so that Sutherland and Ross shire may boast of having the Nena 
 Sahibs and his Chiefs some few years before India, and that in the per- 
 sons of some whose education, training, and parental example should 
 prepare their minds to perform and act differently. Mr. Donald Ross 
 placed the whole affair before the Lord Advocate for Scotlsnd, but no 
 notice was taken of it by that functionary, any fuiiiher than that the 
 majesty of the law would need to be observed and attended to. 
 
 In this unfortunate country, you see the law of God and humanity 
 may be violated and trampled under foot, but the law of wicked men 
 which sanctions murder, rapine and robbery must be observed. From 
 the same estate, (the estate of Robinson of Kindeas, if I am not mistaken 
 in the date) in the year 1843 the whole inhabitants of Glencalve were 
 evicted in a similar manner, and so unprovided and unprepared went 
 they for lemoval at such an inclement season of the year, that they had 
 to shelter themselves in a Church yard, or burying ground. I have seen 
 myself nineteen families within this gloomy and solitary resting abode of 
 the dead; they were there for months. The London Timet sent a com- 
 missioner direct from London to investigate into [this case, and he did 
 his duty ; but like the Sutherland cases, it was husiied up in order to 
 maintain the majesty of the law, and in order to keep the ri|;ht, the 
 majesty of the people and the laws of God in the dark. 
 
 rtii 
 
 ft; 
 
200 
 
 In the year 1819 or 20, about the time when the depopulation of 
 Sutherlandshire was completed, and the annual conflagration of burn- 
 ing the houses ceased, and when there was not a glen or strath in the 
 country to let to a sheep farmer, one of these insatiable monsters of 
 Sutherlandnhire sheep farmers fixed his eyes upon a glen in Ross shire, 
 inhabited by a brave, hardy race from time immemorial. Summons of 
 removal were served upon them at once. The people resisted — a mili- 
 tary force was brought against them — the military and the women of 
 the glen met at the entrance to the glen — a bloody conflict took place, 
 without reading the riot act or taking any other precaution, the military 
 fired (by the order of Sheriff McLeod) ball cartridge upon the women ; 
 one young girl of the name of Matheson was shot dead on the spot, many 
 were wounded. When this murder was observed by the survivors, and 
 some young men concealed in the back ground, they made a heroic sud- 
 den riMh upon the military, when a hand to hand melee or fight took 
 place. In a few minutes the military were put to disorderly flight ; in 
 their retreat they were unmercifully dealt with, only two of them escaped 
 with heal heads. The SherifTs coach was smashed to atoms, and he 
 made a narrow escape himself with a heal head. But no* legal cogniz- 
 ance was taken of this affair, as the Sheriff and the military were the 
 violators. However, for fear of prosecution, the Shcrifi' settled a pension 
 of £6 sterling yearly upon the murdered girl's father, and the case was 
 hushed up likewise. The result was that the people kept possession of 
 the glen, and that the proprietor, and the oldest and most insatiable of 
 Sutherlandshire scourges went to law, which ended in the ruination of 
 the latter, who died a pauper. 
 
 To detail individual murders, sufferings and oppression in the High- 
 lands of Scotland would be an endless work. A few months ago a letter 
 from Donald Sutherland, farmer. West Zorra, Canada West, appeared in 
 the Woodstock Sentinel, detailing what his father and family suffered at 
 the hands of the Sutherlandshire landlords ; all the offence his father 
 was guilty of was, that he along with others went and remonstrated 
 with the house burners, and made them desist until the people could 
 remove their families and chattels out of their houses ; for this ofience 
 he would not be allowed to remain upon the estate. He took shelter 
 with his family under the roof of his father-in-law, from this abode 
 he was expelled, and his father-in-law made a narrow escape from 
 sharing the ;3ame fate for affording him shelter. He was thus persecuted 
 from one parish to another, until ultimately another proprietor, Skibo, 
 took pity upon him, and permitted him in the beginning of an extraordi- 
 nary stormy winter, to build a house in the middle of a bog or swamp, 
 during the building of which, he having no assistance, his family being 
 all young, and far from his friends, and having all materials to carry on 
 his back the stance of his new house b'fing inaccessible by horses or 
 carts, he, poor fellow, fell a victim to cold and fever, and a combination 
 of other troubles, and died before the house w^a finished, leaving a 
 widow and six fatherless children in this half-finished hut, in the middle 
 of a swamp, to the mercy of the world. Well might Donald Suther- 
 
201 
 
 land, who was the oldest of the family, and who recollects what his 
 father suirefed, and of his death, (I say), charge the Sutherland 
 
 imp, 
 
 Jeing 
 
 on 
 
 or 
 
 Ition 
 
 Ig a 
 Idle 
 
 and their tools with the murder of his father. 
 
 family 
 
 But many were the hundreds who sufliered alike and died similar 
 deaths in Sutherlandshire during ,the wholesale evictions and house 
 burnings of Sutherlandshire. But I must now cease to unpack my heart 
 upon these revolting scenes and gloomy memories. I know many will 
 say that I have dealt too hard with the house of Sutherland, — that such 
 disclosures as I have made cannot be of any public service — that the 
 present Duke of Sutherland is a good man, and that in England he is 
 called the Good Duke. I have in my own unvarnished way brouijht to 
 light a great amount of inhumanity, foul unconstitutional and barbarous 
 atrocities, committed and perpetrated in his name, and in the name of 
 his parents, and by their authority. I stand by these as stern facts. Now 
 I call upon his Grace's and predecessora' sympathisers and apologisers to 
 say and point out to me one public or private act performed by iiny of 
 the family which should entitle his present Grace to be called the Good 
 Duke. I have myself looked earnestly and impartially for such acts ; but 
 could find none, no, not one. I know he never killed or even struck a 
 man or women in his lifetime, nor set fire to a house where a bod-ridden 
 woman was lying disabled by age and infiru)itie8 to escape from the 
 flames, he needed not while (as I said before) Loch, Young, Sellar, Suther, 
 Gunn, Leslie, Horsbui'g, and Maclvor, were appointed by him to 
 advise and superintend the work of brutal destruction and while the 
 Stobbs and Sgrioses, &c. were at their beck to execute their orders at 
 2s. 6d. sterling per day and their whiskey. The Duke's unassuming, 
 modest, and sheepish like appearance will not entitle him to the appela- 
 tion of the Good Duke ; neither will his meek, easily approached man- 
 ners, and readiness to hear poor people's complaints entitle him to the 
 title — for 1 demand of you to point one complaint of any importance 
 which he redressed, and I will give you and him credit for it. The 
 poor never realized any relief, nor benefit from his interpositions, or from 
 the thousand appeals they made to him ; but the reverse left them 
 more exposed to the wrath and fury of their oppressors, his factors. 
 
 What then constitutes his right to theappellatior of the Good Duke. I 
 admit that he is not so inhuman, nor so brutal a savage as Lord Macdonald, 
 Duke of Alhol, Breadalbane, Colonel Gordon, of Clunny, and many more 
 Highland landlords, but that does not constitute theappeTlntion good Duke; 
 to be more human than these would make him only a little better than 
 incarnate demons or an host of Nena Sahibs. My views of rights of 
 property in land are open to criticism ; T wish they may be criticised, and 
 that properly, for I find that under that cursed law which affords every 
 opportunity to stupid kings and queens, their selfish ambitious govern 
 ment, and profligate avaricious favourites and capitalists in the days of 
 old, to monopolize the land, created by God for the people without excep- 
 tion, are now in full operation in the Ganadas ; I find your government 
 handing large slices of the Canada lands over to one another, and to 
 favourite individuals and companies, as free as Malcolm Ceanmor, King of 
 
 5: 
 
20-2 
 
 Scotland, handed estates to his favourites in the tenth century, in his owa 
 word, " as free as Ood gave it to nie and mine, I give it to you and yours." 
 But my Canadian readers the days are coming and approaching when there- 
 will be a scramble for land in the Canadas, as sure as it was and is in all 
 European nations, and I tell you that this is the age and years, when 
 you should enquire and study the rights of property in land; particularly 
 what right has your own servants, the Government, to gift or traffic with, 
 monopolisers in your land, and what right have you to abide by the traffic- 
 ing covenants of stupid kings and queens, and insane Governments who> 
 deprive you and your offspring of such immense territories as the Hudson 
 Bay Company now possess. Let it not be recorded that the Canadians of the 
 19th century will allow the egregious spoliation to continue or remain un- 
 corrected, yea, undemolished, for while it remains undemolished minor 
 spoliations will increase ; indeed to all appearance there are very few who 
 are entrusted with the law making and government of the Canadas, who 
 entereitherof the Houses with that patriotic spirit which should constitute 
 members of parliament. It is to be feared, indeed it is too evident, that sel- 
 fishness, and how to better themselves and relations at the people's expense 
 are their motives and principle study while acting for the people. I say, 
 O ! Canadians watch and look, as well as pray, generations yet unborn 
 demand it of you. 
 
 Mrs. Harriet BeecherStowemay be very ill-pleased at my animadversions, 
 and may consider that I went too far with my strictures upon her Sunny 
 Memories. "Those to whom much are given much will be required of 
 them ;" I have no private spleen or animosity against that amiable, talented 
 lady, but I could nor cannot be but sorry for her merchandising the 
 gift of God ; will that lady, however great her talents are, come out now 
 in the face of such a cloud of witnesses, and corroborating evidence as she 
 will find within this little volume and say and maintain that I have been 
 circulating unfounded false accusations against the Duchess and house of 
 Sutherland ; well let her peruse the following from the pen of Mr. Mackie,. 
 Editor of the Northeiii Ensign, a paper published next county to Suther 
 land, and say what praise she can lavish upon that family. 
 
 figh 
 
 WELL DONE, BRAVE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 (From the Northern Ensiyn. ) 
 
 There is not a man in the civilized world who does not admire the energy 
 daring, persevei'ence and bravery of the glorious 78th, in their victorious 
 march against the Indian mutineers. Every ofBcial dispatch and every 
 private letter concur in proclaiming that those 'brave Highlanders' have 
 not only done their duty, and done it well, but hkve given another proof 
 to the world of the value of such troops in circumstances of crisis and peril. 
 Even General Havelock, tied down by military and official restraint, seems 
 to have thrown aside reserve, and to have exclaimed in the hearing of hia 
 gallant companions in arms, 'Well done, brave Highlanders!' The country 
 re-echoes the cry. It is heard from the Himalaya Mountains to the Guli 
 of Mannar, and strikes terror in the breasts of the fiendish revolters. It is. 
 
203 
 
 heard in every hamlet in tlie British ittles. The press and the platform 
 catch the echo, and with giant tone swell the strain, ' well done, bravo 
 Highlanders' have called forth such eulogistic exclauiati*. . :. Even Napo- 
 leon himself, as he saw the phalanx of Scotch Greys at th.^ battle of Water- 
 loo, could not resist a similar tribute; and the despatches of the Peninsular 
 and other wars, down to the recent Crimean campaign, where Alma, Bala- 
 clava, and Inkerman were fought testify to the same. All modern warlike 
 history, from the rebellion in 1715 to the Cawnpore massacre in 1857, 
 teems with the record of Highland bravery and prowess. What say onr 
 highland evicting lairds to these facts, and to their treatment of the High- 
 landers 1 What reward have these men received for saving their country, 
 fighting its battles, conquering its enemies, turning the tide of revolt, rescu- 
 ing women and children from the hands of Indian fiends, and establishing 
 order when disorder and bloody cruelty have held their murderouscarnival? 
 And, we ask, in the name of men who have, ere now, we fondly hope, saveil 
 our gallant countrymen and heroic countrywoman at Lucknow ; in the 
 name of those wlio fought in the trenches of Sebastopool, and proudly plant- 
 ed the British standard on the heights of the Alma, how are they, their 
 fathers, brothers, and little ones treated 1 Is the mere shuttlecocking of an 
 irrepressible cry of admiration from mouth to mouth, and the settin-/ to 
 music of a song in their praise, all the return the race is to get for such 
 noble acts] We can fancy the expression of admiration of Highland bra- 
 very at the Dunrobin dinner table, recently, when the dukes, earls, lords, 
 and other aristocratic notables enjoyed princely hospitality of the Duke. 
 We can imagine the mutual congratulation of the Highland lairds as they 
 prided themselves on being proprietors of the soil which gave birth to the 
 race of 'Highland heroes' Alas, for the blu.sh that would cover their faces 
 if they would allow themselves to reflect that in their names, and by their 
 authority, and at their expense, the fathers, mothers, brothers, wives, of 
 the invincible ' 78th ' have been remorselessly driven from their native soil, 
 and at the very hour when Cawnpore was gallantly retaken, and the 
 ruffian Nena Sahib was obliged to leave the bloody scene of his fiendish 
 massacre, there were Highlanders within a few miles of the princely Dun- 
 robin, driven from their homes and left to starve and to die in the open 
 field. Alas, for the blush that would reprint its scarlet dye on their proud 
 faces as they thought in one country alone, since Waterloo was fought, 
 more than 14,000 of this 'race of heroes,' of whom Canning so proudly 
 boasted, have been hunted out of their native homes ; and that where the 
 pibroch and bugle once evoked the martial spirit of thousands of brave 
 hearts, razed and burning cottages have formed the tragic close of scenes of 
 eviction and desolation; and the abodes of a loyal and liberty -loving people 
 are made sacred to the rearing of sheep, and sanctified to the preservation 
 of game ! Yes ; we echo back the ory, * Well done brave Highlanders !' 
 But to what purpose would it be carried on the wings of the wind to the 
 once happy straths and glens of Sutherland ? Who, what, would echo 
 back our acclaims of prais? 1 Perhaps a shepherd's or a gillie's child, 
 l>laying amid the unbroken wilds, and innocent of seeing a human face 
 but that of its own parents, would hear it ; or the cry might startle a herd 
 
 11 
 
204 
 
 of timid deer, or t'rightena covey of partridges,or call forth a bleat from a 
 herd of sheep ; bui men would not, could not, hear it. We must go to the 
 back-woods of Canada, to Detroit, to Hamilton, to Woodstock, to Toronto, 
 to Montreal ; we must stand by the waters of Lake Huron, or Luke Ontario, 
 where the cry — ' Well done, brave Highlanders !' would call up a thousand 
 brawny fellows, and draw down a tear on a thousand manly cheeks. Or 
 we must go to the bare rocks that skirt the sea coast of Sutherland, where 
 the residuary population were generoudy treated to barren steeps and in- 
 hospital shores on which to keep up the breed of heroes, and fight for tho 
 men who dared — dared — to drive thew from houses for which they fought, 
 and from land which was purchased with the blood of their fathers. But 
 the cry, 'Well done, brave Highlanders,* would evoke no effective response 
 from the race. Need the reader wonder 1 Wherefore should they fight 1 
 , To what purpose did their fathers climb the Peninsular heights, and gloi'i- 
 ously write in blood the superiority of Britain, when their sons were re- 
 warded by extirpation, or toleration to starve, in sight of fertile straths and 
 glens devoted to beasts 1 These are words of truth and soberness. They 
 are but repetitions in other forms of arguments, employed by us for 
 years ; and we shall continue to ring changes on them so long as our brave 
 Highland people are subjected to treatment to which no other race would 
 have submitted. We are no alarmists. But we tell Highland proprietors 
 that were Britain some twenty years hence to have the misfortune to be 
 plunged into such a crisis as the present, there will be few such men 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 ■'heep and deer, ptarmigan and grouse, can do little to save it from 
 such a calamity. 
 
 EVICTION BY FIRE IN SUTHERLAND. 
 
 Once more has the fire been kindled in Sutherland, to carry out the 
 exterminating theories of the Loch policy. Confessing most heartily that 
 notwithstanding all the antecedents of that system in Sutherland, we are 
 not prepared for this recent case, we proceed to lay before our readers its 
 leading facts : — 
 
 "It will be remembered that on the 7th of June last an industrious cottar 
 named Don Murray, with his aged sister, and two little motherless girls were 
 ejected from the hut which they had occupied for many years. After lying 
 for sometimes in the open air, the Rev. Mr. MacKellar, parish minister of 
 Clyne, gave them the use of a cart shed, which they continued to occupy 
 ' from the date of eviction till Saturday the 17th of this month, their little 
 bits of furniture meanwhile lying in the open air. In the meantime it 
 was found that the Duke of Sutherland had no right to the cot from which 
 Murray and his family were ejected ; and that it stood on glebe land, and 
 a case was entered in the Court of Session. Acting under advice, Murray 
 and his family again took possession of the hut, along with part of their 
 furniture, on the date referred to, and immediately on this being done the 
 machinery was set in order for a second eviction. Accordingly, on the 
 forenoon of Tuesday last, public attention was attracted to a denbe volume 
 
 lyir 
 
.:| 
 
 205 
 
 of smoke rising from the neighbourhood of ihe manse of Clyne, and it was 
 soon found that Murray's cabin was on fire, and that workmen were 
 actively employed in the demolition of its rude walls, th j Magnus Appolo 
 of the patriotic and humane labour of love being Mr. Patrick M'Gibbon, 
 Golspie, who, with crowbar in hand, and with a heart of will, wrought in 
 the good cause with astonishing energy, assisted (1) by a John Thomson, 
 cartwright in Golspie, and a youth of some fifteen summers, glorying in 
 the name of Mackay. The worthy three persevei-ed in the ducal mission till 
 the miserable hut was razed to the ground. Part of the poor creature's 
 furniture was soon scattered here and there. A correspondent who wit- 
 nessed the most part of the proceedings says : — " I stood for a brief period, 
 surveying the progress of the flames and the torch bearers, and then turned 
 away in disgust from the scene, with the reverberation of H.M.S. Pem- 
 broke's guns ringing in my ears, and thoughts occupying my mind that 
 my pen fails to describe ; but thanking my Maker that I was not born a 
 Duke and left to tarnish a ducal coronet by such a deed of inhumanity. I 
 again passed the spot when the work was finished. The walls were com- 
 pletely levelled, and the timbers were still burning ; while the master of 
 the ceremonies was retiring to a streamlet hard by, to wash his dirty hands. 
 The outcasts had again to betake themselves to the cart shed, kindly given 
 to them by the minister of Clyne, every other person in the district being 
 afraid to do anything for them, or show them any kindness, dreading that 
 for the simplest act of humanity towards one of the family they would be 
 similarly treated. I may add that the blankets that Murray's sister had 
 lying on her straw pallet were burned." 
 
 To His Grace the Duke op Sutheland : 
 
 May it please your Grace, — . ' • 
 
 Such is the last act of eviction perpetrated in the name and by the 
 authority of your Grace. We do not now enter upon the question of right 
 of property involved in this case, and pending before the legal tribunals 
 of the country; but admitting that your Grace was found to be the owner 
 of the few square feet of valueless soil on which that hut stood, we ask 
 your Grace, firmly, plainly, and boldly, if it is like a ''good Duke" to 
 commit such an act of high handed cruelty and indefencible spoliation ? 
 Would it have weakened the case before the court had your Grace allowed 
 that poor man with his sister and little girls, quietly to occupy their 
 HOME — a home of peace, contentment, and affection, as deep, as sincere, 
 as lasting, as devoted as Dunrobin's palatial halls can boast of — until at 
 least it is decided that your Grace had a legal right to burn them outi 
 Would it have diminished your Grace's happiness ; would it have dimmed 
 the lustre of your Grace's coronet ; would it have infinitessimally neu- 
 tralised your Grace's influence ; would it have redounded to your Grace's 
 ♦liscredit, that you had allowed these poor creatures to return and occupy 
 the little cot which you have now burned and raised 1 A thousand times, 
 No ! ! My Lord Duke, your Grace seems to be forgetful, totally oblivious, 
 cadly neglectftil, of the times and their signs. We are not now living in 
 
206 
 
 the seventeenth century. This is eighteen hundred and tifty-seven, whether 
 _your Grace pleases or no, with its enlightenment, its independence, its free 
 press (thank God !) and its noble tendencies to respect the priticiples before 
 ])ersons. Remember, my Lord Duke, what you have done, and where. 
 You have burned out a native of Suthei-land, with his little girls ; cast them 
 into the open field till a good Samaritan allowed them the use of a cart 
 «hed, at a time when public sentiment is being thoroughly aioused to the 
 indescribable and momentous importance of doing everything to encou- 
 rage the peasantry of this coun^ y, and to secure their services in the 
 nation's cause at this deeply perilous crisis. At the very time when the 
 national ear is kept in a state of painful tension, almost hearing the voice 
 of our brothers' and sisters' blood, spilled in oceans on the plains of Hin- 
 •dostan and calling on Britain to send relief; and when we almost see the 
 smoke of desolation ribing from I'evolted Indian provinces, all of a sudden, 
 the smoke of a burning cottage is seen in Sutherland, and a wail of house- 
 less, homeless, burned out females is heard from a Scotch county wliich 
 lioasts its possessor to be the husband of the mistress of Queen Victoria's 
 robes. What a state of matters ! Look at it, my Lord Duke of Suther- 
 land. It cannot, it must not last. We refrain from implicating in its 
 vileness and guilt even the humblest serf that dared to soil liis fingers with 
 the dark deed. The blame, the responsibility is yours. Therk it rksts, 
 in all its effects and in all its forbidden features. Your Grace may calmly 
 sit in your gilded saloon, surrounded by a loving family, with your fair 
 children prattling on your knee ; your Grace's sycophantic followers and 
 servile hangers-on may adroitly conceal from your Grace these and similar 
 proceedings under your name, at your instance, and at your expense ; but 
 tiie smoke of Donald Murray's cabin shall not soon die away; the cries of 
 Donald Murray's children shall find an echo ; and on the wings of the 
 wind shf.ll be carried the report of this last high-handed act of oppression 
 and spoliation. 
 
 Now my dear countrymen my labour is near an end, for if my 
 health continues to decline as rapid as it has been doing for some time 
 back, my pen is laid down never again to be taken up. So far as the 
 Almighty favoured me with abilities, I did not swerve from performing 
 iny duty to society even in the J^Je of persecution, oppression, privation, 
 -and the forsaking of dear friends and patrons; the most part of my 
 labours arenow before you under its deserved title, Gloomy Memories. 
 Gloomy as they are, and thoroughly open to criticism, I challenge con- 
 tradiction to any one charge I have made against the House of Sutherland 
 ■or any other depopulating house in the Highlands of Scotland. Come 
 then Mrs. B. Stowe, come you literary scourges and apologisers of high- 
 land evictors, vindicate their ungodly and unconstitutional schemes and 
 actions before the world now if you dare. Who have you attempted to 
 crush] The sincere advocates of the Caledonian Celtic race and the 
 ^xposors of their enemies. Who have you been calumniating in their 
 moral and religious character, in their brave and chivalrous spirit, so cha- 
 racteristicof the mce, who would, if you could, make the world believe 
 that they were not half so valuable to the nation as sheep and red deer 
 
207 
 
 the 
 
 the 
 
 and unworthy of a home in Caledonia, the nursery of braxery aud gallant 
 unconquerable warriors. You vile sycophants, did you ever consult 
 General Abercrombe in Egypt, Cfeneral Moore at Corunnt;., Wellington 
 in the Peninsula, and at Waterloo, did you consult Lord Raglan in the 
 Orimea, when proclaiming the taking of the Alma, by the Highland Bri- 
 gade, and their intrepid bold stand before the Russian cavalry at Bala- 
 clava, when the fate of the British army depended that day upon their 
 bravery. What would all the legions of German ])oltroon8, all the deer- 
 stalking snobs of England and Scotland, shepherds and dogs to boot, 
 avail Lord Raglan and the British army that day. What deprived the 
 British army and Generals of the praise of taking Sebastopol '( That the 
 Highland Brigade under Colin Campbell were not brought forward to 
 the first day's assault, they were brought up next day, but the Rusnians 
 came to learn who they wonld have to deal with the second day and Hed. 
 You hired calumniators, oppressors, and dispersers of the Celtic race, 
 ■did you consult General Uavelock, who it seems never witnessed the 
 undaunted bravery and prowess of Scottish Highlanders before, and ask 
 him what made him exclaim "Well done, brave Highlandera !" How many 
 German cowards and town keelies or loafers would he take in exchange 
 for this handful of brave Celts under his command. He would 
 not accept of twenty to one. Did you consult the Generals, and Com- 
 manders-in-chief of the British Army at the present time, and they would 
 tell you, however numerous and strong an army sent out upon an emer- 
 gency minus of a Highland Brigade, that that army is deficient, and uncer- 
 tain of success. To enumerate the many victories and laurels the Celtic 
 race gained for ungrateful Britain would be an easy task, had history done 
 them justice ; but when put to the test their enemies will find it a difficult 
 task to point out where they have failed to gain victory where bravery 
 could obtain it. If the few of these men now embodied in two or three 
 regiments are gaining and deserving the admiration of the world, what 
 if Britain could boast of from 50,000 to 70,000 of such men, who would 
 make her afraid 1 But alas, the Caledonian nursery, by proper treat- 
 ment, I aver, from which she could raise that number in time of need, 
 is now a desolation, consigned to feed and rear brute animals. Our 
 beloved Queen taking up her residence in the Highlands during the 
 deer-stalking months of the year, has turned up a curse for the remainder 
 of the people, since then the country is fast becoming one vast Deer 
 Forest. Oh ! ray lady Queen, you should show the cruel monsters a bet- 
 ter example, than to chase away the few Highlanders you have found 
 upon the Balmoral Estate. 
 
 to 
 the 
 eir 
 :ha- 
 eve 
 ;er 
 
 Come, then, you calumniators of my people, apologisers of their des- 
 troyers, and extirpators from their own rightful soil — I conclude by call- 
 ing upon every British subject, every lover of justice, every sympathiser 
 with suffering humanity, to disapprove of such tmconstitutional and 
 ungodly^oings, and to remonstrate with the Queen and Government, 
 so as to put an end to such systems. Call you upon the world to 
 vftidicate and exonerate them. 
 
208 
 
 1 am now an old man bordering on seventy years of age ; symptomg- 
 of decay in the tabernacle convince me that my race through time towards^ 
 eternity is near at an end, when I will have to give an account for what I 
 write and leave on record. I have devoted the most of this time and the 
 limited talents God has bestoweduponme, advocating the causeof the wrong 
 and oppressed, as I said before, persuaded in ray own mind that I could 
 not serve God in a more acceptable way, nor yet discharge my duty to my 
 country, my fellow creatures, and co-sufferers, more consistent with the 
 dictates of humanity, justice, and christian religion, in which I have 
 been nurtured and educated. (Yes and would spend ten more lives in 
 the same r'^.use if bestowed upon me and needed). I cannot charge myself 
 wi';'^ vhy. ■ ' ig one single false accusation against any one of these High- 
 land depot. aiaturs, yet some of them, or their hired apologists; who dared 
 not confront me while alive, may attack my character and dispute the 
 veracity of my statements, and charges against them after I am dead and 
 gone. Some have the audacity already to question my ability to write such 
 a narra i"" 9'v ^ :5U have now before you, and bestowing the credit of it 
 upon sf -■•■■ cv know not. I have not miich cause to boast of my 
 
 abilities diap'^'" '■ mj Gloomy Narrative, only that I have performed 
 what I cons' lero.' 1.17 inoambent duty in society, and made the best use I 
 coiild of all the abilitJoo bestowed upon me, but I challenge them to find 
 out any one v.-}>...) bave ^ ■ ' r -vord or one idea into my head. I wish it to 
 be kuown rtuionj^' j > i, ^ "v. *50w willingly Mr. MoWhinnie, editor 
 
 and proprietor of the k'ooc ..v Ssntinel, volunteered to assist me in 
 revising and reading the proof sheets, I hope he will not loose his reward. 
 I know my enemies will accuse me of plagiarism ; 1 deny it, I gave cre- 
 dit to every gentleman from whose writings I have made quotations. 
 
 During the time I have been exposing the clearing system in the High- 
 lands through the public press, I have received many private and public 
 letters from almost every quarter of the empire and her colonies, en- 
 couraging me in my labour and approving of my actions in very flattering 
 terms, and passing eulogies upon me, many of which should have a place 
 in this work only for this, that my enemies and hired critics might 
 construe them to self-praise, hence I have to suppress them ; but to let 
 my friendly readers know that my name is still alive in Scotland, and 
 honourably mentioned there by the real friends and advocates of the 
 Highlanders, and the unflinching exposers of their wrongs. I here sub- 
 join a speech delivered in November last, by one of the most patriotic 
 gentlemen with whom the clan Campbell or the Highlanders can claim 
 connection, viz. Captain Campbell of Borlum : — 
 
 A HIGHLANDER ON THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 Last week on the presentation of a handsome testimonial to Captain 
 Campbell, Glasgow, by a number of friends and admirers, that gentle- 
 man, whose enthusiasm in behalf of the cause of the Highlanders is sa 
 well known, made the following truly spirited and patriotic reply. 
 
 Gentlemen, — I feel that my friend the chnirman has, in his earnest 
 and eloquent address described my conduct and character in terms far 
 
iOd 
 
 above my merits ; but I trust the time is yet distant when it will be con- 
 sidered in accordance either with good taste or proper feelings to apply 
 the rules of strict criticism to the innocent exajitgerations so natural to 
 gentlemen of kind hearts and generous sympathies, on occasions like thd 
 present. My military services have been too brief to deserve the notice 
 taken of them by the chairman. I joined the army at the beginning of the- 
 campaign of 1813, in the seat of war — I might almost say the field of bat 
 tie, and was put on half-pay so soon as our arms achieved the peace. I 
 have the satisfaction of knowing, however, that my conduct in presence of 
 the enemy was considered by my brother officers as not unworthy of my 
 country or my clan ; but the fact is, that every Highlander is inspired by 
 his birth and traditions with the feelings best calculated to enable him to 
 bear himself manfully on the field of battle. The Highlander who does 
 not do so is untrue, not only to the name of his race, but also to the bosom 
 on which he was nursed. That few su6h have ever appeared among 
 Highland soldiers, is proved by their conduct in battle, from the day of 
 the wild and romantic battle of the Grampians, until that on which 
 the illustrious Havelock gained his ninth victory against such fearful odds, 
 on the arid plains of India. Hence it is that the Lowlander or Celt, whom 
 the novelists and penny-a-liners of modern times seem determined to 
 metamorphose into an Anglo-Saxon, is entitled to credit for having, by 
 his energetic enterprise and skilful industry, covered our plains with 
 palaces and warehouses, and our seas with navies and argosies ; the High- 
 lander or Gael is entitled to credit for the patriotism and bravery, th»; 
 abilities, vigour, and trenchants which still secure to our mountains the 
 proud distinction of having proved in every national extremity the uncon- 
 quered citadel of our country's independence. Alas, that we have seen 
 the day when the citadel may be ascribed as dismantled and dispoiled of 
 its warlike defenders, not by a V)rave and noble enemy but by an insidious 
 and unpatriotic friend, aided and abetted by the public apathy. Had the 
 public feeling remained alive to the importance of preserving the clans to 
 their country, the Highlands would have been at this day the best military 
 nursery in Europe — a nursery capable of rearing legions upon legions of 
 strong, brave, willing, and hardy soldiers, eager to enter into the service 
 of their beloved country. There never was a greater fallacy than the 
 studiously inculcated and generally prevailing impression that the High- 
 lands are incapable of maintaining a large population in comfort and 
 prosperity. The straths, the vales, the glens, and even the far extending 
 wilds of the Highlands, up to an altitude of a thousand feet above the 
 level of the sea, are fertile and salubrious, and under a system of hus- 
 bandry fitted to grow all the ordinary crops of this country ; while the 
 value of the abundance of all kinds of fish contained in the inland and sur- 
 rounding seas can scarcely be overstrained by the most expansive imagin- 
 ation. Had the old clan system of managing estates been adhered to by 
 the modern proprietors, or in other words, had the country, as of old, 
 been covered with hamlets or clachans, occupied by a rural population, 
 each family possessing a sufficient allotment of the arable land for its own 
 sustenance, and every clachan possessing the whole neighbouring grnzings 
 
 / 
 
210 
 
 for the I a Dient of its rents, the rentalH would have been larger than thej 
 now are in the Highlands, and the countiy teeming with the most virtu- 
 ous and warlike population in the world. That the population are being 
 expatriated, whilesuchlatentresources remained undeveloped, and while the 
 Government are requiring a greatly increased army, is a national disgrace, 
 und may prove a national calamity ; but are that disgrace and calamity 
 not to be ascribed more to the infatuated adulation of wealth and rank by 
 the public than to the blindness or apathy of the Government 1 That 
 such is the case has been painfully confirmed by a paragraph which 
 appeared in the newspapers the other day, showing that the great Celtic 
 Society of Glasgow, froui whose patriotism and independence of spirit, as 
 well as its professed object of conserving the poetry, the garb, and the 
 athletic games of the Highlanders, something very diflferent was to be 
 expected, applied for and obtained tha patronage of the Duke of Suther- 
 l>;nd for the ensuing year. Now, gentlemen, no Highlander possessing a 
 heart worthy of the name, who has perused the history of the Sutherland 
 clearances, written by that brave and noble hearted man, Donald M'L«'od, 
 and which remains until this day uncontradicted, can assign to the Duke 
 of Sutherland a brighter page in the history of the Highlands than has 
 been occupied by another Duke since the battle of Oulloden. I have 
 been told that neither the Directors nor the Society have been consulted, 
 nor are consenting parties to the application, and I trust that it is so ; but 
 it is humiliating to think that a single Highlander could be found in Glas- 
 gow capable of applying for or accepting the patronage of a clearance- 
 maker. Mr Chairman and gentlemen, allow me to assure you that 1 am 
 at a loss for words in which adequately to express my high sense and 
 heart-felt appreciation of the tokens of approval by which I have this day 
 been honoured by so large a number of gentlemen, for every one of whom 
 I have every reason to feel the warmest respect and esteem ; and I beg 
 leave to oflfer, not only to you who have attended this meeting, the greater 
 number of you from so great a distance, but also, through the committee, 
 to all the other generous donors of this splendid testimonial, my proud 
 and grateful thanks." 
 
 Captain Campbell is a gentleman of high'birth, moving among the most 
 noble and educated order of society, not among those whose birth and 
 position in the world blinds and deafens to the dictates and demand of 
 Christian humanity, and to disown his country and countrymen even in 
 distress, trampled down and forsaken. Well might he be surprised that 
 a single Highlander could be found in Glasgow, who would be capable of 
 committing such an outrage upon the feelings of his true-hearted country- 
 men, as to apply and solicit the Duke of Sutherland to become the patron 
 of a Celtic Society of any form ; but the one which would please him best, 
 a society to extirpate the Celts, and their name and remembrance from 
 under heaven. I hope for the sake of the Society, and those connected 
 with it, that the anti-highland villain, or villains who gave the call will be 
 discovered and exposed, and he or they will be expelled from the society 
 along with their patron, for a more undeserving or incorisistent nobleman 
 elected to be patron of a Highland society could not be found in all Europe 
 
211 
 
 than the Duke of Sutherland ; it is enough to make every Highlander bln8K 
 and be ashamed of the Glasgow Celtic Society ; surely their secretary could 
 not be cognizant of a party to bring this disgrace upon the srjciety, and 
 put himself upon a level with Thomas Mullock who spent so much time 
 and published a book exposing his Grace of Sutherland and other High- 
 land depopulators, until he found it more profitable to praise thefn, beg 
 their pardon, and like a faithful collie dog lick their wounds. I would fain 
 hope that Mr. Boss can exonerate himself. Woe bo to him who seeks 
 alliance, and courts the favour of the oppressors of the poor. I am now 
 done, it is for the public and my people to say whether I have performed my 
 part, and redeemed my pledge. While I hold myself ready to substantiate 
 every charge 1 have made against Highland depopulating proprietors, be 
 it known that I will pay no attention to anonymous animadvertors; I must 
 know my man. You must excuse me for not having an index to this 
 work, you will have to read it through and judge of its merits and demerits 
 the best you can j it is a Highland production, hence I hope you will 
 sympathise with the author's limited literary attainments and look over his 
 grammatical blunders, and breaches of the Queen's language. Farewell, 
 my dear countrymen and friends. 
 
 I remain yours respectfully, 
 
 DONALD MACLEOD. 
 
 P.S. While 1 hold out such a bold and unreserved challenge to ail 
 animadvertors and refutors of my charges against Highland depopulators, 
 be it understood that all the corroborating quotations I have made from 
 other authors must stand by themselves, and their veracity established by 
 this one fact, viz : that the whole of them were published and widely 
 circulated through the Scottish and English public press, and their 
 veracity never challenged. Some one may now ai'ise and dispute their 
 veracity in this country, but I think, (and 1 believe my readers will 
 agree with me,) that it would be more creditable for the accused and their 
 defenders had they exonerated themselves and vindicated their character 
 in Scotland, where these charges were brought against them. For one 
 instance, Mr. Donald Ross, a public writer in Glasgow, addressed the 
 Lord Advocate of Scotland, (the highest functionary in Scotland,) in 
 behalf of the victims of the Green Yard murderous affray ; yes, in terms 
 that should not only impell his Lordship to investigate the case properly, 
 but was sufl&cient to soften, if not to melt down a heart of steel. I had it 
 and read it, but I lost it, or I would have given it word for word. Why 
 was Donald Ross not punished if he stated falsehoods'? The Lord Advo- 
 cate and Sheriflf Taylor had ample means to punish him, and he would be 
 punished, (and no mistake) had he published or stated falsehoods ; but to 
 punish truth was too high for even the Lord Advocate, or Sheriff Taylor. 
 Wanting proper information, I am prevented to enter upon the unpar- 
 alleled sufferings of tlie whole, and massacre of many of Lord Selkirk's 
 Colony, from Sutherlandshire to the Red River, North America, whose 
 progeny and some of themselves, are still allowed by their fellow-country- 
 
men in Canada to he under the iron rule, and subject to the grasping 
 insatiable avarice of the Hudson Bay Company ; but if I am restored to 
 health, advanced as I am in years, I promise it will be forth-coming. 
 
 My readers will excuse me should some of my figures throughout this 
 work be incorrect, for it is not easy to obtain correct figures from officials 
 wliose interest is to conceal them. It is not necessary to mention names, 
 but I am duty bound to tender my gratitude and thanks to my securities, 
 who enabled me to place this little book of sad remembrance in your hands. 
 I thank likewise those who assisted me a little in a pecuniary j)oint of 
 view, during my protracted illness while the work was preparing. 
 
 You have now before you the substance of my labour in behalf of my 
 people and race for many years. Highland oppressors dealt out un- 
 sparingly to me the remuneration they thought 1 deserved, in many a 
 BITTER CUP. You ..ill deal with me now as you deem proper in my 
 advanced years ; but my request is, whether this will find you among the 
 mountains of Scotland, or upon a foreign strand, Cuimhnichibh air na daoine 
 thctinig roimhibh — remember those who were before you, that many 
 Havelocks yet unborn may have cause to exclaim before the world, to the 
 tlisgraoe of your oppressors, " Well done, b»ave Highlanders." 
 
 D. McL., 
 
 Buok Agent. Woodntock. 
 
;raspiiig 
 ored to 
 ing. 
 
 3ut this 
 officials 
 names, 
 surities, 
 ' hands. 
 )oint of 
 
 ' of iny 
 ut un- 
 
 [ANY A 
 
 in my 
 
 »ng the 
 daoine 
 many 
 to the