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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. errata I to t } pelure, on A n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 '"'y^i^r i i REMARKS ON T"I^ EARL or SELKIRK'S OBSERVATIONS, &rV HI iiX. KEMARKS ON THE EARL OF SELKIRK'S OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT STATE OP THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, WITH A VIEW OF THE CAUSES AND PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES OP EMIGRATION. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR JOHN ANDERSON, ''^ ^'^-^'^-^^AX, HURST, REES, AVD ORME, LONDON, •^LEX. SMRLLIE, Printer. ] 806". ' 1 i INTRODUCTION. r £W subjects seem more to have occupied the public attention than the important po- litical speculation; contained in the ' Ob- ' servations on the Present State of the * Highlands of Scotland.' In itself at all times of deep moment, it is at present more peculiarly interesting, from certain temporary considerations arising out of the political as- pect of the times ; when our national rival is making such gigantic strides to universal do- minion, and when we are now called upon to exert all tlic cncriiks of the British em- pire in our clefciicc. At such an erj, when ingenuity" Seems to exhaust herself in devising means for raising men adecjuate to the de- mands of ihese perilous tiuies, the inquiry- may well aiTest attention, liow far it is ex- pedient or wise that any person, capable of adding to our national strength, should be encouraged to abandon his native country. The mode in which this subject has been discussed by Lord Selkirk renders it si ill niore attractive and inviting. We are not present- ed w ith a dull and tiresome calculation in po- litical arithmetic, to enable us to estimate the profit or loss resulting from Highland emi- ^; ration. 1 lie charms of language with which his opinions are adorned ; the enthusiasm which they breathe, and tlie beneficence from which they seem to spring ; tlie indisputable truths upon which his great and leading doc- trines are founded ; the tone of authority in which the conclusions he iias crawn are delivered, not as the opinions and theories of others, but as the result of actual observa- I tl t( ii I IT table loc- in are of I i tloii, tlirow a kind of flisclnalioa over tlie reader, which prcwiUs liiin from doubtlnq the sorulity of the political consecjiienccs d^'- duced. If any thing were wanting com- pletely to delude the judgment of the public, it would be found in the air of romance, which the narrative of the estal)lishment of the colony on Prince Edward's island gives to the whole. Tiiere is something extremely inviting in the review of an Arcadian state of society : and how amiable does the design appear of withdrawing the poor and the humble from the miseries incident to their situ- ation, amidst the cold selfishness of an advanc- ed period of society ; and transplanting thcni to a new country where the same odious dis- tinctions do not meet them, but wlicrc they will all fmd themselves equal, in being dependent only on nature and their own exertions for their support and enjoyment, it seems, too, to afford such a proof of the deep convictioii which the author has of the justice of the views he has formed, and it has letl to such a course of laborious and unwearied cxcrtldn. without nny other aj'parcnt motive than that of juirc patiiotisin and disinterested hciievo- Icnce, that it is almost impossible ibr the most determined secptieism to refuse assent to the opinions ^vhich have dietated such a conduct. It is the more remarkable, and therefore the more seducing, when it has origir.ated in a person of an elevated rank of life and ample fortune : circumstances at all times apt to in- fluence our judgment. The numerous and frequent emigrations, which have for many years taken place from the Highlands of Scotland, did not long escape notice. The peopde, thus expatriatcil, were of a race of men peculiarly attached to their ancient customs and their native soil ; the characteristic of all rude tribes in a moun- tainous, inaccessible, and highly picturestiuc country. The fate of these exiles excited in the public mind in general deep commisera- tion, mixed with otlier sentiments called forth by the apparent oppression exercised by the Highland propiietors, which occasioned so much individual suffering. Others who I th (■'. re, ti( tl; I 11 lan lliat IjL'IU'VO- lic most t to the ondiict. (nc the ed ill a ample t to ill- 'ations, e from long :natccl, hcd to li soil ; iiouri- "estjuc ted ill dscra- Ibrtli y the *d SO who i viewed the sul^ject more nearly, aiul not throupjh the m. "^ of prcjudifc, while they could not stifle in their breasts the feelings of regret, so natural for the melaueholy situa- tion of the emigrants, often brought upon tliemsclves by their ignoranee and restless pursuit of happiness at a distaiiee, entertained a doubt how far the .harge of oppression and eruclty against the proprietors was in all eases well-founded. They saw that emigration had often commeneed, not in necevSsity or eovetous- ness on the part of the landlords j but because, m the progress of improvement, it was proposed tliat the tenaniS should pay a rent more ade- quate to the state of the country than they had paid for centuries before, when the pro- duce of the ground was neither so great nor so valuable. They saw that the discon- tent thus excited among the ignorant was fos- tered by selfish and interested men ; one set of whom thought that such persons continuing in this country stood in the way of their own ambitious views ; while another set, who iiad obtained grants of land in America, knew I^r** that without emigration these would he per- fectly useless to them. But, of all the theorists in this age of no- velty and paradox, none arose so hardy as to maintain, that the great and increasing Temi- gration from the Highlands was advantage- ous to this empire ; that no room for the industry of those who proposed to emigrate could he found within the country ; that if they remained, they must be unemployed, and consequendy a burden ; and that, therefore, the sooner they earned their industry and their skill to another countiy, so much the better. This, however. Lord Selkirk has sup- plied ; for all this he maintains. He is at the same time fully aware of the singularity of his opinions ; and he seems to claim no small share of merit from this very circumstance. He bespeaks the attention and favour of his reader, by boldly declaring, in the first words which he addresses to the public, that, ' on a * subject which had undergone much investi- ' gation, and excited general attention, he ' comes forward to controvert received opi- would be Per- th is age of no- so hardy as to iicreasing Teini- vas advantage- room for the sd to emigrate Jntry ; that if i^mployed, and tiat, therefore, industry and so much the Ikirk has sup- He is at the ;u!arity of his m no small ircumstance. our of his first words that, * on a uch investl- ention, he ccivcd opi~ * nions, ri:"d to offer views which have prc- ' viously passed unnoticed.' Singularity of opinion, however, is no where declared to be the test of truth. The annunciation is, of course, intended to pro- voke discussion ; and Lord Selkirk will proba- bly have no dislike to have an opportunity of canvassing and conlirming his opinions, it he should hoi-jour these remarks with a peiiisal. hi them it Is hoped he will find nothing in- consistent with the legitimate rules of fair ami impartial inquiry ; and the same freedom winch he claims in commenting upon thc^ opinions or conduct of others, he will not of course object to, when applied to his own. A question is anticipated, which at once occurs after the bold declaration of his beinc; to produce novel opinions upon a subject which has been often canvassed, and which embraces the political happiness of a large portion of the inhabitants of this country. * Every one is disposed to ask. What ' have been the peculiar opportunities of ' information upon which he presumes to I, I ii i •' Mis !iill 8 * contradict those who have gone before lihn r' The following is the answer, which tl.c au- thor gives to this very natural question. It shows the foundation of the right by which he claims the prerogative of dictating on this subject ; and it at the same time contains what he exhibits as an accurate picture of the progress of those views which led to all his subsequent exertions. ' Without any immediate or local con- nection with the Highlands, I w\is led early in life to take a w^irm interest in the fate of my countrymen in that part of the empire. During the course of my academi - cal vStudies, my curiosity was strongly ex- cited by the representations I had heard of the ancient state of society, and the striking peculiarity of manner still remaining among them ; and in the year 1 792, 1 w^as prompt- ed to take an extensive tour through their wild region, and to explore many of its re- motest and most secluded vallies. In the course of this, I ascertained some of the leading facts, on which the arguments of ^ ' ( ■' ] ■' 1 ^ ] ' 1 \\ 9 ore liimr' 1 tl c all- itlon. It 3y wliicli g on this contains .ire of the o all his ocal con- was led ist in the rt of the academi - ngly ex- heard of striking Ig among prompt- jgh their pf its re- in tlie of the lents of I ^ the following pages are gi'ounded : in par- ' ticular, that emigration was an unavoid- ' ahle result of the general state of the coun- * try, arising from causes above all controul, ' and, in itself, of essential consequence to the ** trancjuillity and permanent welfare of the * kingdom. The particular dc^.tlnation of the emi- ' grants is not likely to excite much interest * in those who believe that emigration may ' be obviated altogether. 13eing persuaded ' that no such expectation could be reason- * ably entertained, I bestowed some attention ' on details, which, to other observers, may * have appeared nugatory. I learned that ^ the Highlanders were dispersing to a va- * riety of situations, in a foreign land, where ' they were lost not only to their native * country, but to themselves as a separate ' people. Admiring many generous and ' manly features in their character, I could * not observe, without regret, the rapid de- ' cline of their genuine manners, to which * the circumstances of the country seemed B 10 ll ? ll H !l! inevitably to lead. I thought, however, that a portion of the ancient spirit might be preserved among the Highlanders of the New World : that the emiij^rants mimantic rd Sel- Im and He has ft^rmer aracter them closet 3ortu- il state have re to ivery been illustrated by Dr Adam Smith, in his im- mortal Treatise on the Wealth of Nations. His usual acuteness is displayed in the 4th book, where the solid foundation of all our reasoning upon this subject is , accurately laid down. It is unfortunate that, upon the same in- controvertible and firmly established princi- ples, Lord Selkirk rests his general reason- ings ; -for, in their application, he has raised an edifice totally different from what that au- thor intended. The singular plausibility and air of intelligence and candour, with which his conclusions are stated, mislead the reader, till he finds himself in the midst of a la- byrinth of paradoxes and contradictions, from which he knows not how to escape, and cannot conceive how he wandered so far. While he thinks he has been only yielding his assent to the illustration, from the individual case of the Highlands, of those general law^s by the operation of which Dr Smith has shewn, that a re- moval of a part of the tenantry is always f i\i< fjljl I'll 14 the forerunner of tlie improvement of tlie manufactures and commerce of the state, he iinds he is assenting to a system of depopula- tion, inconsistent with the true interests of the commonwealth. The removal, which that enlightened author alludes to, means only the change of employment, not change of country. For it can form no part of a ge- neral system of improvement to diminish the cultivators of the soil, without increasing the industrious inhabitants of the towns. To assist in endeavouring to detect the sophistry of some of the reasonings of Lord Selkirk, and to controvert the truth of some of the facts from which his inferences are deduc- ed, the following hints are offered. The sketch, it is hoped, will be filled up by some abler pen. The writer of these remarks cannot expect this endeavour to meet with the singular apj)lause which has accompanied Lord Selkirk's spe- culations, or the marked approbation which his conduct has experienced. The very at- tempt to dissolve the magic spell, which Lord Selkirk has contrived to throw around him^ ^5 must, Independently of any defect in the execution, be Unpopular. All that is aimed at is a fair discussion of the question, which, or\ one side, has been argued with so much of the imposing enthusiasm of eloquence. In disapproving of much which is advanced, the author can assure the public that he has no personal object of any kin ' to serve : he has unfortunately no highland tenantry to lose in this country, and no means of employing them in another. What he conceives to be the best and most solid advantage which the empire at large will derive from Highland population, and the greatest sum of indivi- dual happiness which that population can attain, is the only incitement he has to dis- cuss this question. Every patriotic and be^ nevolent mind must feel an interest in such a question, when he thinks he sees mistaken opinions recommended by such high autho- rity, and sanctioned by a conduct which only makes them the more pernicious, . • m n . i I. > i6 Hi 3 I. The Noble Author begins by directing the attention of his readers to the ancient state of the Highlands, during the indepen- dence of the chieftains, and marks the intcrnai state of the country resulting from that cii*- cumstance. In a picture of the present state of a country, it seems singular to begin by describing what it fctf-merly was, of which the author's readas have generally just the same means of information as the author himself When both derive their knowledge from the same source, it seems unnecessary to dwell on details whidi all may acquire without liis aid ; and the reader impatiently turns to the page where the present not the past state of society and manners is to be sketched. No one in tlie slightest degree acquainted with the Highlands of Scotland, is ignorant of those leading facts which are detailed by Lord Selkirk at so much lengtlu But the intention of again exhibiting a view of ancient manners, is for the purpose of I ^ ingniftlng hi. future speculations upon It. To have referred merely to the ptn-trait of tlic state of soeiety wlileli others had drawn With- out reference to any particular theory, and unconnected with any practical inference^, would have heen sufliclent for liis purpose. The prominent figure whicli some jxnts of it make, and the mode in which other features are thrown into the shade, in liis eloquent sketch, may he thus easily accounted for. It forms the hasis of all his subsequent reason- ings ; had it not been for this, it would have been quite unnecessary to take any notice of it in an ii^quiry into the present state of the PIic;hlands. Lord Selkirk describes every person, above the common rank, as havinc: former- ly depended for his safety and his conse- quence on the number and attachment of his servants and dependants : without peo- ple ready to defend him, he could not ex- pect to sleep in safety, to preserve his Iiouse from pillage, or his family from murder. To this essential object, every inferic-r con- sideration was sacrificed ; and the principal c <>'i ^1 >l\ r8 I t" '111' 'iii aJvantngc nf landed property consisted in tlu! means It aflbrJed to the pro})nL'tor of inultl- plylnv^ his doiicndants. By allowing liis tenants to possess their farms at low rents, he secured thiir services wlienever recpiired ; and, hy the power of removing any one that was refractory, maintained over tiiein the aiitliority of a monarch. Hie tenant in fact paid his rent, not so niueh in money as in military services ; and the proprietors vSeem never to liave venturcul to rai:-^c theiv rents.* The rent^ however, it may he remarked, were low, not so much because the proprietor abstained from raising them in order to retain his power over his tenantry, as that in fact, in that rude state of society, he had no artilicial wants to be gratified, which present such an. increasing source of expence from their never- failing variety. Besides, by far the greatest part of his rents was paid in kind, or in services military personal or predial ; very litde was ever paid in money. Little altera- tion therefore could be expected to take place * P. II. ■t'i od ill tlu? )f nuilti- Aiv^ his rents, lui c(iuircd ; [iny one cr theiTi :enant in loney as oprictors ise tlieir ;niarketl, 'oprictor to retain I'act, in artilicial such an r never- '•reatest or in ; very altera- z place •■/<' 19 upon the rent payahlo in such a country as the H!i;h!ancls then were. Consiili'ring the state of agriculture, the rents, though certainly not high, were not ;;o perfectly tiiHing as is imagined ; nor did they admit of any great or regular increase. If the tenant raised upofi his farm enough to maintain his family and pay his landlord, it was all he ever thought of. The Highlands were not then in the state of an advancing country. They lay at the back ol the world, if the vulgarism may he allowed ; and it is only since the colonization of America that either the Highlands of Scotland or Ireland have risen into any iniportancc. The wholi* trade of Scotland was formerly mono])oliscd by the east coast. The Highlands exported no- thing. They had no const;int communication with any other country, to fiirnlsli the means of improvement, or an encoui-jgcmcnt to at- ten^pt increasing tlieir productiveness, llow then could the rents be raised? l.^ut, if th.' Jowness of the rent was merely to preserve tlur itttachment of their tenantry, for tr.c pur|;C),-e ; of attack or dL-fjnce, iiovv comco il that ihoH- >. ■ U •20 proprietors did not raise their rents whose tenants owed no obedience to them, but were at the entire command of their chieftain ? Those proprietors had not the same interest which Lord Selkirk assigns as the reason for their being satisfied with an inadequate rent. In short, the state of the rents arose solely from the state of the country ; and, while that con- tinued the same, no change in the rent could possibly take place. The value of landed property, we are told by the Noble author, w^as in those times to be reckoned not by the rent it produced, but by the men whom it could send into the field. Under these circumstances, it was natr.ral that v:very proprietor should wish to reduce his farms into as small portions as possible ; and this Inclination was most fully seconded by the dispositions of the people. The state of the country left a father no other means of provid- ing for a numerous family, than by dividing his farn\ among them ; and when two families "ously occu- 1' pre ,1 jued by t>ne, tnc proprietor acquired a new ed 21 Us whose but were chiefrain ? le interest rea'^on for uate rent. 3le]yfroni that con- ent could e are told lies to be 1, but by :hc field. Ltnral that duce his ible ; and ed by the e of the ifprovid- dividincr o ) families 5ly occu- d a new I tenant and a new soLIier. From the opera- tion of these principles, the lane! seems, in a great majority of cases, to have been divided into possessions barely sufficient for a scanty subsistence to the occupiers.*" But the state of occupation dii not and could not result merely from the principle to which it is here ascribed. Every holder of a farm could not possibly expect to be cal- led upon to act as a soldier. Amidst all the feuds of the Clans, it never was heard of that a chief went into the field with all or near- ly all the inhabitants of his estate capable of bearing arms. In fact, the very same circum- stance takes place wherever the same state of society is found. Land is, next to the beasts of the chace, the first source from which man derives his subsistence ; and the idea of aid- ing the spontaneous productions ot nature is the first exertion of industry which he maices. All have a connection with land, not from choice or affection, but from necessity. - P. 13, I Pi *i 22 Where there is little accumulation of capital, the portion of land held by each must be nearly equal, and proportioned only to the wants of each family. Their only object is subsistence. They have neither the means nor the inclination to occupy more ground than can be converted to this purpose, without any very great exertion either of industry, which thev are unwilling; to bestow, or of skill, which thc'v do not possess. There is little ap- pearance tliat, in former times, the population of the Highlandr. ever encreased so as to have made it necessary to Iiminish the size of farms v. hich were once occupied by fewer tenants and in larger proportions. The ten- dency of improveiVient, as skill and capital pro;;^re.ssive]y encrease, is to enlarge the farms, and for one man to hire the labour of others, where he formerly depended solely on ihe labour of himself and his family. Indeed there were many causes which seem to have checked in tlie Highlands tlie natural tendency of population to encrease : amon^ these may be ranked constant wars with the r ^3 H\ ' capital, must be y to the object is 2 means ground , without industry, r of skill, little ap- ipulation 5 to have size of V fewer he ten- capital I farms, others, on ihe Indeed pern to natural among itli the Jl Scottish and Norwegian Sovereigns, and a- mong their own independent Clans, added to the inevitable consequence of every failure of a crop producing a flunine. Till order and good government were established, and a communication opened with other parts of the Vv^orld, the recurrence of similar calamities could not be prevented. These causes suffi- ciently account for a fact which could not be learned from tlie description of Lord Selkirk, that the country was peopled far below its re- sources ; and that great tracts now cultivated and peopled were formerly waste. To su.h spots, any increase of the inhabitants would have naturally betaken themselves, as they have since done. But the reason why a farm appears divided among a number of tenants, interested in its labour and produce, is to be found in the necessity there was of creating in each individual an interest to protect his neigh- bour ; and the principle of self preservation points out why the various occupiers of the same piece of ground clustered their several huts together. It is only in a state of security i- V. i 1 m M that single families can venture to live out of the reach of protection against a superior force. One reason, however, why in many cases the portions of land occupied by a family were small is totally overlooked by Lord Sel- kirk. Before any separation of professions takes place, every family performs for itself many offices, for w^hich, in civilized life, it applies to others for assistance. But even after considerable progress has been made in the various aits of hfc, after one family occu- pies itself only ;n one effort of industry, and hires out its industry and skill to others, it is necessary in a thinly peopled country, where constant employment cannot be had, that a certain portion of land should be occupied by every man for the maintenance of his fami- ly. In no one district could an artisan in the Highlands fmd sufficient employment for furnishing a decent livelihood ; and the little communication between one part of the country and another, prevented this deliciency from being supplied by the de- mand for his labour from any other quar- ter. In a country too, where a circulating I I k Id 25 medium of exchange is little known, a pro- prielor, who receives ahnost all liis rents in kind, is naturally induced to give portions of land for services v^hich at more advanced pe- riods of society would he rewarded hy money. Hence the harj)er and more recently the piper of the chieftain always possessed a certain por- tion of land, as the wages he was entitled to for the exercise of liis tuneful art. Kvery per- son was ohliged to cultivate some small spot of ground at his leisure hours, to ohtain for his family that subsistence which he could not derive without this aid from any other source. This 'was the result of necessity and n^/t of choice, on the part both of the landlord and the tenant, and would naturally give place, like a combination of professions, to a better system, whenever a constant demand for the labour of any one artizan, furnished by the en- creasing populousness of the country, render- ed it unnecessary. It has done so in all countries which have attained an ordinary degree of civilization. m\ :'■'■ . i?. m I i "■ ^."1 ' V 1 » ':.. H 26 It was, indeed, usual, we arc further in- formed, for the head of a Clan, possessing ex- tensive territories, occasionally to grant more considerable farms to tlie younger branches of the family ; but this circumstanc had Uttle ef- fect on the general mode of agricultural ma- nagement. The tacksmen (as the holders of vsuch large farms w^ere termed) w^erc considered nearly in the same light as proprietors, and acted on the same principles. They were the officers who, under the chief, command- ed in the military expeditions of the Clan. This was their employment ; and neither their own dispositions, nor the situation of the country, inclined them to engage in the drud- gery of agriculture, any farther than to sup- ply the necessaries of life for their own fami- lies. A part of their land was usually suffi- cient for this purpose ; and the remainder was let off in small portions to cotters who differed but little from the small occupiers who held their lands immediately from the chief, excepting that, in lieu of rent, they were bound to a certain amount of labour rther in- ;ssing ex- ant more inches of 1 little ef- tural ma- lolders of Dnsidered !ors, and icy were mimand- iie Clan. :her their I of the le drud- to sup- 7n fami- Ily suffi- mainder rs who ccupiers 'om the It, they f labour for the ad^ 27 of thei m vantage ot their immediate supe- rior. Tlie more 01 :hese people any gentle- man could collect around his habitation, with the greater facility could he carry on the work of his farm, — the greater too was his own personal safety. Besides this, the tacks- men, holding their lands from the Chiefs at a mere quit rent, were naturally solicitous to merit his favour, by the number of their im- mediate dependants, whom they could bring to join his standard ; and they had in fact no other means of employing to advantage the su- perfluity of their possessions, than by joining in the general system of the country, and mul- tiplying the ultimate occupiers of the land ^ '. This last remark, that the tacksmen pos- sessed no other means of employing the land which remained after supplying the wanri> of their own family, seems to account suf- ficiently ;or the fact of its being so employ- ed, without adducing as its cause either the desire of pleasing the Chief by bringing more * P. 14. f'^i ill if] ♦J.;, 1 '>. I ^';r Ill «i:M 28 soldiers into the field, or a concern for their own safety, or the benefit ot obtaining the work upon their farm easily and speedily executed. In fact, what else could a tacksman do, who had more land than he required to cultivate, but give it olf to others, receiving from them an acknowledgement for it ? He had neither the means nor desire of accumulating stock, which would only excite the avarice of some neighbour to drive it off, for it could consist only of c:ittle. llie conduct of the tacksmen in subdividing their possessions was founded u})on the shape and form which such a state of society niust natu- rally assume, and not upon any of the artidcial motives to which it has been ascribed. But so far w^as it from being merely because they h.eld their lands at a quit rent, tliat the tacksmen followed their Chief to the field, that this was one of the tenures upon which they were en- titled to hold their farms. In every respect they were so like proprietors that the same subor- dination of subtenant and cotter existed under them, as in the case of those from whom • ■ iS 1 P tl PJ ! .^ 29 lor their ning the speedily could a than he others, mcnt for desire of \j excite ve it off, e. The ing their lape and [St natii- LirtKicIal But so :y held ksmen lis was Tre en- xt they subor- under whom ic they themselves derived their own title. This has been misapprehended hy Lord Selkirk. For the subtenants, totally distinct from thr. cotters under the tacksmen, were in every point of view similar to the same class under tlie landlord, except in this, that the rent they paid was in general higher, and the ser- vices they performed more severe. Proba- bly two-thirds of the whole tenantry were of this class. Among them, it will after- wards be seen, that emigration has chiefly pre- vailed ; and it will also be found that they neither have nor could have been supposed to have any feeling of pride which would rather lead them to America to fmd a farm which they must clear from wood and cultivate, than to become fishermen or crofters in this countiy immediately under the laird. After giving the description of society here adverted to, Lord Selkirk thus con- tinues : These circumstances produced a state of manners, from which it is easy still to trace the most striking peculiarities of the Highlanders. The greatest part of the coun- V, ». V:-. \".l V'.r ■■tK' V f • , • 11 m t( i 30 try was fi*- only for pasturage, and the small portions of arable land^ which fell to the share of any family, could occupy but little of their time. On two or three occasions, in the course of the year, the labours of the field re- quired a momentary exertion to prepare the soil, or secure the crop : But no regular or continued industry was necessary for provid- ing t:he ample necessaries of life, to which their forefathers had been accustomed, and beyond which their ambition did not extend. I'he periods of labour were short ; and they could dedicate the intermediate time to indo- lence or to amusement, unless when their as- sistance was required for the defence of their chief, or of their families, or for attacking some neighbouring clan. Prowess on these occasions was the most valuable quality they could possess, and that on which their pride was founded ; warlii^e atchievements engross- ed their thoughts ; and the amusements of their leisure hours generally consisted of ac- tive exercises, or displays of strength and agi- k '-y the small the share e of their 5, in the ■ field re- -pare the 'gular or • provid- 5 which ed, and extend, nd they o indo- heir as- 3f their :acking these they pride gross- Its of )f ac- lagi- 31 litv, calculated to inhancc tlich* estimation as warriors * Th: 'hich of the portrait character and occupations of the Highlanders, in ancient times, is a very remarkable in- stance of the high colouring which the sub- ject derives from the pen of Lord Selkirk. It is unquestionably true, that there can be no industrv where there is no room for its employment. But were the labours of the Highlander, in former times, confined sole- ly to sowing a few acres with grain, and reaping it when ripe ; had he not his cattle at all seasons of the year to take care of; had he not the labour of procuring fuel constantly awaiting his leisure hours ; and, can that man be entirely idle, who has almost every operation of domestic industry to per- form, which he must always perform awk- wardly, and therefore slowly ? The ancient style of manners in the High- lands was more calculated certainly to form an * P. i6. i»' "1 s f:\] i ^•/. 32 [I ^i I: llll 1!* Iiitrepicl than an uulustrions character: for the natural incitements to intlubtry tlid not meet the attention so frcciucntly and so str()np;ly as to create any regular or vigorous exertion. Hut it is not hence to be inferred, that that vi- gour of mind and ardour of application, which prepare a man for habits of industry, were wholly unoccupied, or did not exist ; their exercise was only directed to those objects which the early stages of society present; but which change their form and lose their attractions in the more civilized periods of so- ciety, leaving their place to be occupied by objects m.ore beneficial to the country. The enthusiastic devotion with which each member of the clan looked up to its chieftain, is one of the most prominent, and at the same time the most artificial parts of the Highland character. But if Lord Selkirk attri- butes its rise, as he seems to do, to the original possession of the property parcelled out among the members of the clan, and supposes that it could only be maintained by unremitted at- tention to the arts of popularity, and un- f I « , I t(j nil cl y\ til 33 Kbunucti gciicioslty v\\ ttic part W tlic cliici- taia, he sccins altogcllicr to have lui^t.ikcn if. His view of it would limit its effects entirely to ihc connection formed between landlord and tenant, snpeiior and vassal. But the chieftains sometimes possessed little or no pro- }^erty, and yet exerted their authority and their inlluence very widely, very often in op- position to the inelinatioii and j)Ower of the immediate landlord. It had no absolute or decided connection with the teudal system. It preceded tlie introduction of that system, and was always independent of it. It was much more a patriarchal than a leudal ait.ii.h- mcnt, though the forms of the feudal law came to be ingrafted upon it. It was the same form of government which formed tlie lirbi rudiments of more artificial systems. Ev;ry member of the clan derived himself from tne same stock with the chief, and looked upon himself as one of the children of his family. He desired not, nor expected, to be treated as an equal ; his profound respect for his chier removed such a sentiment far from his mind- E ^ I '^i 34 ik\t he looked iur no glory except througlv liiin, and considered no calamity equal to that ot" his dis})leasiire. His attachment was alto- I'-ether unconnected with his interest or his am- o bition ; it had the strengtli of a native instinct; and acted almost with its blindness. ' Every ' duty, moral or political, was absorbed in af- ' "lection and adherciice to the chief. Not many ' years have passed since the clans knew no *• law but the lainrs will. He told them to * whom they should be friends or enemies^ ' wb.at king tlicy should obey, and what reli- *■ ginn they should profess *.' In tlie casdc cf the chief unboiHided hospitality prevailed, not from any necessity of conciliating the at- tachment of their people, or any idea that this mode would be successful, but as a necessary result of the state of society. In a country which lias neither foreign commerce, nor any of the ilner manufactures, a great pro- prietor having nothing for which he can ex- change the greater part of the produce of his- lands, which is (3ver and above the mainte*- ii Johnson's Journey, p. 196. i «- ■ 35 nance of the cultivators, consumes the whole in nistic hospitality at home. If this surplus produce be sufficient to maintain a hundred or a thousand men, he can make use of it in no other way than by maintaining a hundred or a thousand men *, As a proof of what has been advanced, re- ference may be made to a very singular do- cument, exhibiting a curious picture of the manners and state of society in this part of the kingdom in the i6th century. One of the enactments of the Scottish legislature f , for repressing commotions in the Highlands and borders, sets forth, that * clans dwell upon the ' lands of diverse landlords, and depend upon '* the direction of the captain, chief, or chict-- ' tain (by pr.etenGe of blood, or place of their ' dwelling) although against the w'ill eft- * tancs of the lord of the ground.' From ihese last, therefore, hostages were not taken tLr the good behaviour of their tenants : it would liave been unjubt to have made thcrn '• Wealth of Natior.j, D. 4, c. 4. T Stat. 1507, c, 94. 4il' €: ■/■■ 4i : f 3C '! s;j it: : ;i liable for the conduct of iliosc over vvliom they had no sort of control whatcvor. Bur hos- tages were taken from the chieftains for the good conduct of every person v/ho belonged to the clan, whether he lived under the chief- tain's immediate eye, under the direction of his tacksmen, or was resident upon the pro- perty of another from whom he derived right to tlie farm which he possessed, but to whom he neither owed nor paid any obe- dience. We thus find that the v. eakncss of the government was obliged virtually to recognise an authority which resulted from the state of society, and which the attachment of tlicir people continued voluntarily to con- fer upon their chief In the course of the subsequent pages, ii. Vvill probnbly occur to the reader, wliy some parts of tlie sketch which is given by Lord Selkirk of the ancient manners liavc re- ceived so iiigh a colouring : and the repre- sentation wiiich is given of the effect produced upon the Highland character by the progiessi of improvement, will probablv account tor o7 some o^ the omissions which are to be met \vi(h ia it. Amidst opinions anr! pr. 'pts, vvliich are admitted to be so very novel^ it was necessary for Lord Selkirk to maintain this idea of the origin of the connection be- tween the chief and the members of the clan. This connection gave birth to most of those peculiarities in character, which were fast wearing away in this country, but which it was his object to preserve entire and una- dulterated in the New World. But how could it possibly be conceived that this tender plant should thrive amid the wilds of Ca- nada, wdien transplanted from its native soil, j:nd deprived of its natural nutriment. Lord Selkirk's opinions at once solve the difficulty ; for if they be correct, he has nothing to do but to establish a feudal subordination simi- lar to that of the tacksman, tenant, and cotter, in order to transfer to himself that blind de- votion to a partici'ilar f-rnily, which can be traced back to the earnest dawn of society, and had received additional v'goar from ac- cumuiatiiig associations during subsecjuent ,1" i'^'', M5 \. ■:■ >, ages. 'I 1 I 3« 11. Lord Selkirk proceeds to remark, that the change which the state of society in the Highlands underwent, after the rehellion of 1 745, was great and sudden. The final issue of that contest annihilated the indepen- dancc of the chieftains ; and the vigorous measures by w^hich the victory of Cullodea was followed gave to regular government an authority which it had never before posses- sed in that part r^ the kingdom. The king- dom was disarmed, and a sufficient force stationed in It to prevent any great and daring violation of the law. The chiefs now ceased to be petty mo- narchs. The services of their followers were no longer requisite for defence, and could no longer be made use of for the plunder of a defenceless neighbour. They were reduced to the situation of any other proprietors : but they were not long in discovering, that, to subsist, a numerous train of dependants was no: the only v^^ay in which their estates could be rendered of value ; that the rents they re- ceived wcve fcxr below those given for hindy ."> 39 of equal quality in other parts of the king* elom. For a few years after the power of the chieftains was broken, the influence of old habits seems to have prevailed, and it was some time before any great change took place ; but, by degrees, the proprietors began to exact a rise of rent. Though the first demands of this kind were extremely mode- rate, the rents being still far below the real value of the lands, yet the circumstance was so unprecedented that great dissatisfactioii en- sued ; and the removd of some of the ten- ants, who refused to comply, excited still more indignation *. To these circumstances, the demand of a rise of rent w^as partly owing ; but it was in part also owing to the peaceable state to which the country had now attained. Every man might now enjoy the fruits of his own Industiy ; and security never fails to produce both the means and desire of accumulation. By the intercourse with the southern pro- vinces of the kingdom, an eager desire for :..' ' ' 1 1 ^s * ;^.Li P. II. N 'I I IV, Vll;' 40 all the liixurlcs of an advanced state of 56-* cicty was iritroduced ; and a ready market was now opened for the productions of the eoim- try, which of course raised the value of the lands more nearly to a level with lands of a similar quality in other pans of the country : enahling them to pay, and inducing the pro- prietors to demand a better rent. The progress of raising rents, and conse- quently of discontent and dispossession, the" author infcrms us, was slow. The gentle- men, v/ho had been educated amidst the ha- bits of the feudal times, could not at once relinquish all the sentiments of their youth. The attachment of a numerous tenantry was of so flattering a nature, that it was often preferred to pecuniary advantages, and little alteration was ma^.:: till the generation of old proprietors was extinct. Gradually, how- ever, men educated under different circum- stances, and feeling more remotely the influ- ence of ancient connections with their de- pendants, succeeded, who were not inclined to sacrifice for a shadow the substantial ad- vantage of a productive property ; the fi.di m 41 benefit of which, It is al ledge ', wa^; incon- sistent with retaining tlic population of ♦:heir estates. This change, we arc informed, has not yet taken place nearly to its full extent : But the Highlands are described to be at present in the crisis of change, which has ' yet to pro- * duce its entire and unimpaired effect, in a * country still teeming with the superabundant ' population accumulated by the genius of the ' feudal times *.' The full and entire effect thus anticipated, it is not disguised, will be to drive out the largest proportion of the present inhabitants, as ' a few shepherds with * their dogs will be found sufficient for all tlic ' prolitable work of an extcn:jive range of ' land t; Effects wliich are ascribed to such a general cause must have taken place in every country wdiich is now improved and civilized, where the feudal system and its accompanvlng man- iiers have been formerly [)revalenr. \Vc are not thcrcjcre e: ''ed upon .0 contemplate in the coiitra t between ibe present and f )riner state r-37- ^K-'' .■ ^ ">i! F 42 ! !il .1 ' ' '1 I, 1, 1 r \\ ! ^\ U. I 1 !'>; m of the Higlilands, iin insulated aiul s;)^-tary fact in the progrcs of society, f(^r whieh we ijhall in vain seek a parallel among other na- tions. History will teach us the course which other nations have jnu'sued in advancini^froni a similar state of society to ini})rovenicnt and civilization ; and by examining the effects produced in these instances by the operat o\\ of the same causes, wt shall perhaps b'^ able to acccimt for those peculiar and unfortunate occurrences with^w'hich they are combined in tlie Highlands. We need not go be- yond the limits of our island for exam]les. The same change we know has been effect- ed in the Lowlands of Scotland and in England. The change which took place in England was during the time of Henry Vll. v.' ho was enabled, partly thro' the losses sustained by the great barons during the contest for the crown between the houses of York and liancastcr, and pardy through the power of the com- mons, to finish the efforts of -ireceding mo- iiarchs to crush tlie power of ' "^ feudal aris- tocracy. A new ordev had been gradually i!h '^ 43 ilsiiif^ in the state ; towns had hccn hiiiit ar.d made nulcpcndcnt of their superiors ; iind every cneoiirageinent, whieh poliey could suggest, was held out to promote their ^velfare. Tiie rise of the commons was thus gradual anil progressive ; and, with t-hem, as l/cing then incapahle of injuring the royal prerogative, tlic sovereign always allied him- srlF as a counterpoise to the great power of the harons. When the army of retainers, wliicli each had formed v maintained, was dismissed by means of the vigorous admiiii- stration of Ilem-y, tliey retired into tlie Mei;:;h- bouring towns and villages, which, from the advanced state of the country, were sufficient- ly numerous to absorb all the industrious part of those who were displaced. Wc hear of no emigrations in consequence of this change. Complaints were indeed made, and statutes enacted regarding the depopulation of the kingdom : but the appearances of de- population were entirely fldlacious. The people merely changed their residence from the country to the towns j and the eye, \\ii'A\ .. '/-I J "tir i!il!i!;;: 'j: Ji. iiifii' fr C 44 obscrvcu a nilncJ cottage or tkscrtcd farm, forgc^t to examine the ne!;-,lilK)unng vill.igc, vvhicli would have accouiitcd for the apparent cleficIcnLy. The kingu(*iu at hirgc prolited reatly by tlic change : the IiuUistry of the •ountry was conchicted l>y fewer iuinJs, wdillc the hidiLstry of the towns was benefited hy the additional iiifliix of lahoin". l>ur it was not till nearly a century afterwards th.at the seitlen-.cnts in Amciic" eavricd off any of tlic pojvalatJnn of r'nc;'and. The accoiniLS handed down to us of the state of liie h.ordcrs betwceri Kngland and ^codar.d, and of the 0};ini(ais and employ- ment of the ho:-,tilc clans of that district ot country, shew that the same system of man- ners at one time prevailed there that till lately existed in tlic Highlands. In the scries of acts of parliament formerl)' referred to^ as hav- ing been enacted in 1587, for settling the peace of the country, we lind that one third of the troublesome clans, of whom hostages were required, resided upon the borders. But now the same regularity and industry distinguishes that portion of the empire which : I' ii U* 45 Is to be fbiiiKl in tlic rest of the Lowlands, I'liis Is the more similar to the cliaiiL^e tluit is taking place in the Illghlancls, that the coun- trv is chicHy occupied in pastmiiv.^ sheep : vet vvc i!() not fmd any great and increasing emigrations to a foreign country. We only seethe rise of the towns of Selkirk, I lawick, Langhiolm, and several others in that tjuarter, by the gradual and silent inHux of the now unomnloved inliabitants of the country. It Is true, indeed, that the change in tlie Highlands has been * great and sudden :' it is (^.wing to this very circumstance that, in itc^^ eliects, t!ie cliange has been attended by any thing so very unusual or so inconsistent with national improvement as emigration. 11 »e country, in fact, was not ripe for tlie change. It was brouglit about by violence against tb.e natural course of advancement, and consequently before provision had been made for such a step. Previous to the various measure, adopted by government, in consequence of the vic- tory at Culloden, the Highlands were as ■w. •%V til »'M ■ h ..r, I ^ M,I|. ■iil. completely vsquratcd from tlic Lo\v1.ukI'> of ScoiLiiul, as if these two cli;.tnets had been under independent sovereigns. A distinct origin, opposite manners, a dillucnt language, guarded still more tlian even their then unaeeessible mountains, the pnrity of their race from the effeets of foreign inter- mixture, or even the Inlluenee of Ibreign in- tercourse. The stale of society was entirely pastoral ; neither towns nor villages liad anscfi among tiiem. The 'powerful aristo- cracy and the system of clansliip remained in their original strength ; and no new order had arisen in the state, through whose influ- ence the sovereign of this country, indepen- dently of tlic power acquired by the right of conquest, could have destroyed the aristocracy. This, liowever, was eflectcd almost instan- taneously by die sovereign of the British Isles. Ages probably would have elapsed before such an event could have taken 'place from the in- ternal energies cf the country itself. Towns and villages must have previously arisen; commerce and industry must have been in some de- gree mtroduced ; and the change would have \ ^t mL I 7 "1 • •"■ 47 operated gradiKilly and silently as it has done in other countrcs. The demand for an en- crcascd rent, under such circuIn^'tanccs, if \c~ coin^ anicd hy dissatisfaction, would have hccn unattended hy enii':;rati()n : the dis- conteared pnpu'at'on of ilic country would h:ivo heen ahsor')p:l iiit) the towns ; giving a s])uv to their \- i^istrv from tlie addi- li(,Mal capital carried .nto thm as well as hy the diminished j^rlce of lahour from the ccMnpetition created hy the numhers now locking for > mpl3 48 II iiiil'l tenants and cotters there tcok up tlieir abode. There they turned t^icir attedtion to the occupation most congenial to their temper and feelings. Most unfortunately for them and for the country, these oppor- tunities were few indeed. Thus we learn, that ' one fourtji of the parish (of Kil- * malic) is still under black cattle, and con- ' taiiis as great a number of people as ever ; ' and of those ^vho have been dispossessed, * very f v^^ hci\^'j quitted the parish. They ' go ard reside at Maryburgh, as several ' alsc' do trom :if:ighbouring parishes, whicli * accounts for the incrcac^ing po[)ulousness of * that vliiage*. The very same circumstance is nientioned by the well inibrmed author of the account of ;he parish of Boleskine. The change of system, ^ vvhcn the principal tacks- ' men excliangcd tl:eir former tenants and ' dependents for a Hock of south country ' sheep,' we are told, ' has turned out much * to the advantage ot the tenantry, vv'ho ' tliercupon retired to the town of Inverness, , * Statist. Ace. otScotl. vol. 8 p. 477. 'U] '•"*/i| of 49 '- and applied themselves to maniifaetunng * industry*.' These facts are of importance, as they arc the result of experience : and if they should be adverse to the theoretical conclusions which have been drawn from the supposed character of the Highlanders, the reflecting mind will have no difficulty in deciding between them. Such indeed is the versatile nature of man, and such the facility with which he adapts him- self to the varying pursuits of life, that it is impossible to reason a priori how he will be able to act in untried scenes, or to what a pitch his exertions will raise him when spur- red on by necessity. The above are recent instances of the dis- possessed tenantry betaking themselves quiet- ly to the industry of the towns. But a mo ment's reflection must teach us, tliat as High- land manners were once mucli more exten- sive in Scotland than they now are, and as no complaints have been made, till within .. Jr ^v' yvi' Statist. Ace. ofScotl. vol. 20. p. 26. );i' ^1. ■I 11 •'i 1^ M\' m I II 50 these few years, of violent and frequent emi- grations, the cliange must have produced ef- feets extremely different from tliosc which are predicted to he its never-failing accom^ paniments. On examining a documer.t formerly referred to, it will ' e found, tliat the estates of manv of those, w'ho were oblin:- ed to give liostages for their tenants, are situ- ated on the borders of the Highlands, which form now as quiet and well ordered a part of the kingdom as is to be found within the compass of the island. Hie feudal system and clanship existed just as strongly there as it did in any part of the Highlands previous to the year 174, ; and yet, without any emigration to America, an encroachment has been made upon the former modes of life, and man- ner of occupying the land, all along the bor- ders of the Highlands from Dunbarton to Aberdeen. Any supernumerary population has been suitably dispo^ed of, j.ot dismissed; and tlie country has assume tiie character best adapted to the advancement of its pros- perity : it has become, in e-'-cry respect, simi- lar to the Lowlands, f»-om which it cannot I "•>;i| 5» tiow be distinguished. The towns of Dun- barton, Greenock, Glasgow, Paisley, Stir- ling, Montrose, Forfar, Aberdeen, and innu- merable villages have received the population, and have been enabled to employ it in the use- ful industry which lias been so beneficial to Scodand. The farms have by degrees been as- suming the size thought most convenient, and acquiring the stock deemed most advantageous; but the numbers of the people have not upon the whole been diminished : On the contrary, this change of employment has given birth to greater and more profitable industry ; and, without these supplies, the trade and manu- factures of this country never could have made the rapid progress they have done within the last fifty years. No spot in tlie . Highlands is oftener visited by travellers than Lochlomond ; and w^e need only re- mark the population employed on the hanks of the river Leven, and the productive cilects of the industry there exerted, as a specincn of what it is possible for the Highlaii lors to attain, at some future, perhaps not very distant period. A great part of the displaced . •M i!9^' ■'.••' . ■': TV' " , U V '"■] I i'i '! f 52 tenantry cf Argykshirc has found employ- ment there. Various other situations afford similar advantages. Since the security of ^hc kingdom, how- ever, has (bliged government to introduce re- gulations for repressing the power of theKigh-. land Chieftains ; since power consists no lon- ger in men, hut in money, as it does in every civilized or improving country ; and since a man's power cf coniinandln^j; the labours of others, is just equal to the c;uantlty of mo- ney he can give in exchange for it ; it cannot surely be either wondered at or lamented, that the desire of bettering the condition in which we arc placed, which is the univer- vsal passion and tlie spring of every improve- ment, should infiueace the conduct of inany of the Highland proprietors. But the right of conquest having been exercised, the revolu- tion from the one state to the other has unfor- tunately been rapid and premature. It is then the duty of Government, whose conduct has made the agricultural improvement of the country produce effects so very unusual and destructive, jto provide whatever means can be ,. .,M*«iiMMHH!«M •*» -1 53 devised, consistently witli national policy ana the constitution of a free state, for averting as much as possible the evils attending the loss of so much capital and industry to the country. III. Seemingly conscious that the same ef- fects which had attended the breaking up of the feudal system in other countries, shoukl liave occurred in the Highlands, Lord Sel- kirk proceeds to remark, that, ' in one very ' important circumstance, the ancient state of ' the Highlands difiered remarkably from the * rest of the kingdom j — every spot was occu- ^ pied by nearly as many families as the pro- ' duce of the land could subsist *.' This must indeed be allowed to be a most singular fact in political oeconomy, and it is a solitary in- stance ; for even the great and populous em- pire of China is found to possess, within its im- mense compass, vast quantities of waste land which would admit of a greater number of inhabitants than it at present maintains. With a vigorous and patriotic government,, an industrious and sober people, a mild cli- * P. 25. '■■■ ' ', •5-^ 1 ■ * \.' ' > >.'l , I - H ■■'/:'»■■ ' , ^Tr :i'l m 54 mate and productive soil, and in a country tvhcre agriculture is made a public concern, it might have been expected, that we should lind, if we were to ruccf with it any where, every spot occupied by nearly as many families as the produce of the land could subsist. But Lord Selkirk desires us to look for an example of this singular fact to the Highlands of Scot- land immediately after the victory of Cul- loden — to the inhabitants of a country whose manners were lawless and chiefs independent, — constantly at enmity with each other, — suf- fering from an unsettled government, the mi- series of famine, and the destructive effects of war — with a climate not uncommonly favour- able to the productions of nature, and a soil by no m-^ans supplying this defect. The ob- servation must be allowed at least to have the attraction of novelty in its favour. It can scarcely be conceived how it should have escaped Lord Selkirk, that this is so far from being the case, that, by more vigorous exertion, and under a better system of agri- culture, the land has even already been Li; :>• 55 ma-'le to yie^'^ a much p;renter fiiunt*«-v of fcKj.l than it f(>rmcr1y furnished. In- Iced it will be found in all tlv se districts where shcep- farnirig has not bed introduced, that -he increase of population has umply kept pice with the increase of subsistence; so that, up )n the whole, the Highlands are now much more populous than they were fifty vears ago, ;md that many districts, which formerly imported grain when the inhabitants were fev\er, now need no foreign supply. As long as there is waste land which can be cultivated, it will be found in evei*y country which is poor, and where the tenantry of course partake of the general poverty, that the only 'A-ay in which this can be done, is by u.vi- gor:iting the exertions of the labourers, by securing to them the fruits of their tnil, by possession of t> t lar.d ivhich ihey have in-proved. Till the whole, which can be made productive, is cultivated, it ncvjr can be true, that there are ' inore pc>)p]e O.ian ' aie necessary for carrying on the work tiiat ■-* '" - ■ I I I - 1 1 I ■ I ■ ^ . . ^ * P. 2s- ■ ' f t 'I '* •' •^'>^::: .. \-' • ' ' ' . •• 1.. f- ! . ■ ■ J6 * must be clone *.' Most assuredly it can- not be said that the Highlands either in the present, or at any former time, have at- tained this pitch of agricultural perfection. Lord Selkirk sometimes speaks of the coun- try * as teeming with the superabundant po- * pulation accunmlated by the genius of the ' feudal times i .' By this phrase, it cannot possibly be meant, that the population ex- ceeded the productive j owcrs of the country for procuring subsistence. In this sense the po- pulation carmot possibly be said to have been superabundant ; for the country now main- tains not only the same number of inhabuants it did before the year 1745, but even a much larger number. If there be any meaning at all in these high sounding v^'ords, it must be tliis, that the population, under the feudal system of manners, was greater than is re- quired at a more improved period of society for procuring the same quantity of subsistence from the ground. There cannot be a doubt of this. Perhaps few persons then exclusively devoted themselves to agriculture : each family fP. o »7 57 had to perform for itself many of the opera- tions of domestic industry which, in a more advanced age, become separate professions ; aiid occasional predatory excursions demanded a portion of their time from their other con- cerns. Each family was satisfied with pro- curing subsistence, — they could have no ob- ject in accumulation, — there was no means of exporting their own produce, and ex- changing it with the produce of other coun- tries. As they had no wants to supply from abroad, they could do nothing else than make use of the whole produce of their coun- try : more was not raised than was necessary for this purpose. But wiien the state of the country enables the inhabitants to accumulate stock with perfect security ; and the intro- duction of new wants makes it an object to do this as cheaply as possible, and to employ themselves exclusively in it, are we to rest sa- tisfied with the same quantity of produce which the country formerly yielded ? and is all the labour, which is not required for this H •'!♦ K ■a H ' 5; ,V/' • A, '' ' ''.-^ f' 58 purpose, to be considered useless, and the po- pulation to be called superabundant ? We may now see whether the statement of the argu- ment be correct, when it is said, that ' the ' fact in reality amounts to this, that the 'produce of the country, instead of being * consumed by a set of intrepid but indolent ' military retainers, is applied to the sup- ' port of peaceable and industrious manufac- * tures *' in other parts of die country. Would not all this take place in a much higher de- gree, if the country was made productive to the utmost extent of its resources, by taking the full benefit of the present population. Many more manufacturers would be encouraged for supplying their wants, and a much great- er quantity of surplus produce would be sent OLit of the country in return for the productions of their skill. Tlie ground, which is now waste, would become fertile ; and the people, who would otherwise be obliged to weaken our national system, by * P. 77. Ill 59 deserting the country, be usefully and happily employed at home. In mountainous districts, we are told, wlien a considerable population is collected into one spoti it is only where a number of hands are required for working mines, or where the abundance of coal has led to the establish- ment of manufactures. ' In the Highlands, * (Lord Selkirk continues) there arc few ' mines, and these of little consequence ; the * counti*y is entirely destitute of coals ; and * though the inhabitants have an opportunity ' of supplying themselves with peat or turf ' from the mosses, yet this is by a process * so expensive and precarious, in a rainy cli- ' mate, that this fuel is by no means a com- * plete substitute for coals, and is of very ' inferior value. '^ ' These statements lead to the following ti'ain of reasoning. ' The ' Highlands are, therefore, on a par with the * mountains in the south of Scotland,^ and * those on the borders of the two kingdoms, * with a great part of Cumberland and ■■ I - - I ■ ■ - - «. ^ 'I , V • . ■ ^1 • 'J ■ M 6o J *> Westmoreland, of North Wales, and some other mountainous districts in England. In such mountainous regions, the most pro- fitable employment of land is universally found to be in rearing young cattle and sheep; which, at a proper age, are bought by farmers in more fertile countries, and fattened for the butcher.* The conclusion of the whole is, that, from the prevalence of lie same circumstances, it must be expected hat the lands in the Highlands will fall into he same general style of management ; and hat ' a few shepherds and their dogs will be found sufficient for all the profitable work of an extensive range of land *; and therefore a great part of the present inha- bitants of the Highlands must, in one way or another, seek for means of livelihood totally different from those on which they have hitherto depended'!'.' This is the foundation of the whole of Lord Selkirk's doctrines : if natural causes * P. 29. t P. 37- 6i oppose any other mode of employing those hardy and intrepid mountaineers, it would he idle to resist the future progress of Ame- rican colonization. For experience teaches us, that the conclusion of the ingenious au- thor is but too just, that wherever the sheep- farming system has prevailed, according to the rash and unskilful mode in which that has too often been introduced, the old oc- cupiers of the land have been displaced ; and it seems probable that the same consequences will accompany it into many other districts of the country. To those who consider the Highlands as fit only for breeding and rearing sheep for the rest of tiie island, this change will be looked upon as the most advantageous which can happen : as the fewer people are em- ployed in sending the produce of the earth to market, the occupier will be enabled to send a greater quantity, and thus increase the national wealth. But is it certain that this system of depopulation is really the most ad- vantageous for the country r Does the climate ■ I 63 ''. !' 1' * " 4 ■ • . •i 'i\ i 1 4 and situation of tlie country present no other means of making it productive ? Is it impos- sible that numerous improvements, requiring additional labourers, should be made upon the present agricultural system ? Do the seas which s'lrround the Highlands furnish ao object for the employment of those who leave their farms ? Is the inexhaustible supply of peat so poor a substitute for coals as to be a bar to the introduction of all ' kinds of manufactures ? These are serious and important questions well worthy of at- tentive consideration. - " , From the experience of some late years, these questions meet with a most satisfactory answer. It will be found quite unnecessary for the population to seek for lands to cul- tivate in America, or for the proprietors to look only to a flock of sheep as the means of obtaining an adequate rent. It is very true that a small mountainous and inland district, in the neighbourhood of rich and fertile fields, will be best employed in rearing young cattle, which may be exchanged for the {\ i [tnct, ^rtile mng tlic - 63 corn of the immediately adjacent district. But it is a very different case, when a whole country is to be appropriated to this pur- porse ; when the inhabitants are to be re- moved to another region, and the supplies of the necessaries of life arc to be brought from a great distance. This condemns it to a stationary condition for ever : the pro- prietors have no chance of increasing their rents by agricultural exertion : the country never can advance ; its resources never can be drawn forth. If it possess arable land, that will of course yield an inferior produce ; and the fleeces of its flocks must be sent out of it for the. purpose of being manuflictured. But these points will more naturally solicit our attention aftervv'ards : in the mean time, it will be suflicient to obsei*ve, that, to every one, the aspect of the country has not appear- ed in the same light that it has done to Lord Selkirk. So far from being similar to the mountainous districts in the south, and adapted to the same mode of culture, tliq two count lies arc pronounced to be ' very 1. R, I' It, t , ; ' -11 't'' ■■'■! U' 64 * different productions of nature. The Chc- ' viots are a congeries of tall hillocks without * regular vallies, and with little or no bottom ' lands between them. The Highlands, on * the contrary, are formed of long ridges of * mountains intersected by extended vallies, * some of them of considerable width, con- * taining lands well fitted, by soil and situa- * tion, for arable lands of the first quality : * and even supposing a general plan of sheep- * farming to be practicable, it would perhaps ' be found most profitable to keep these lands * under a course of cultivation *.' Such is the opinion of one of the first rural econo- mists of the age, a man whom no local pre- judices could possibly bias in favour of this opinion. -. Lord Selkirk himself adds an unintentional testimony to the same truth : indeed, it is not unusual for him to take the trouble of answering himself: he tells us that in the island of South Uist alone, the extent of • Survey of the Centr, High, by Mr Marshall, >nal is of I the of 65 good land, tlioiigh not accurately surveyed, seems to be at least thirty square miles, be- sides ten or twelve times as much moorish pasture, partly improveable ; and we find no obstacle alleged against its being as produc- tive as it ought to be, except the u miserable style of agriculture under which it is mana- ged f . Now, in which of the districts to which his Lordship has compared the High- lands is this applicable ? Would it be more advantageous to devote the whole of this island to pasturage, and import its whole sup- ply ofgrain?Lord Selkirk himself has answer- ed this in the negative ; and cvei*y person who is acquainted with the subject knows that in this he is correct. It may be added, that no mountainous country in the world affords such a facility as the Highlands for the for- mation of good roads, which may be made nearly upon a level throughout the whole country : in addition to this, it is intersected in a very remarkable manner with arms of I; 1 • i M, '"I'.'t ^ .V- it ball, f Appendix, p. 47. 1 '<'C-r- >n» rjT;}i "■ jjjl *. ♦ If: 66 the sea, affording all the means of internal navigation. These circumstances point out the Highlands, if other causes concur, as much more adapted for agriculture, for inter- nal commerce, and for manufactures than any other of the mountainous districts to which it has been compared. IV. The ingenious author now proceeds to a branch of his subject, which, to his sys- tem, is extremely important ; namely, the choice of employment to which the tenantry may have resource on being dispossessed of their farms. To them, as well as to the cotters, who, by the eame progress of improvement, are deprived of their situation and livelihood, two different resources, wc are told, present themselves. They know that, in the low country of Scotland, and particularly in the manufacturing towns, labour will procure them good wages : they know likewise that in America the wages of labour aie still higher ; and that, from the moderate price of land, they may expect to obtain not only tne pos- m tl degi cou ?T^^i 67 session of a farm, but an absolute property. Of these alternatives, it is added, every one who is acquainted with the country must ad- mit that emigration is by far most likely to suit the inclinations and habits of th'=t High- landers *. It is possible that, if there really exist a ne- cessity for the. people leaving the liighlands, it may have been at one time with many, and may stiil with some, be the most coi^enial to their insulted feelings, to leave the country, which, like an unnatural mother, seems to have turned out her unoffending offspring to the world, houseless and fn«.*ndless. The High- lander, too, may have formerly felt a national dislike at forming any settltment in the low country, which it would require strong induce- ments to overcome. But now that these antipa- thies are wearing out, and that the harsh shades in the character of the separate clans are by degrees softening from more frequent Inter- course, can we suppose that men, so peculiar- t * % ^'1 P. 47. > '>'< V pi m. 68 \y devotee- to their country, will resolutely iii- sist upon quitting it ? The introduction of a new system, by which, ia a f<"w instances, some may have been dispossessed of farms, which they looked upon to be as mucli the inheritance of their families, as the estate was of the landlord who dispossessed them, would naturally excite great irritation and discontent. But can we suppose that the same feelings now operate, when the frequency of the oc- currence has prepared them for the event. The first idea may have been to abandon the country entirely ; and discontent would carry them out of sight of those well known ob-- jects of endearment which had twined them- selves round their hearts. Now, if it be at all necessary to displace them, (as it most certainly is not,) they must view their situ- ation with more calmness, — they can see its approach at a distance, — they can prepare themselves for its consequences, — and they may hope, by the exertion of industry, again to revisit in comfort and case the scenes of their youth, provided they do not place the II .11 of "ihe 69 wide atlantic between I hem and their strong- est passions. Such unquestionably are the feelings of these people, if freely left to the impulse of their own hearts ; and ac- cordingly they would do almost any thing rather than leave t! eir own country; and would contentedly endure poverty, and all its ills, if they could but hope that their bones should repose with the ashes of their fiitlicrs. Admitting, however, with Lord Selkirk, that the Highlander, upon being dispossessed of his farm, must have emigrated either to America, or to the low country of Scotland ; and that this same alternative, and no other, will ever open to him, experience seemj scarcely to justify the conclusion, that, with ' a very few exceptions, we fmd the choice ' of the Highlanders has been entirely regu- ' lated by their ability or inability to afford ' the expences of their passage to America* ;' for the idea of emigration to America, after # P -- m Ik. hi •>i' 0!" f . f ' 'A 'I IJ- f'i 'it the resolution was taken of ciuitting the High- lands, seems to have been often as much the result of necessity as of choice ; it seems to liave been confined entirely to particular dis- tricts of the country ; to those which are re- moterr om the manuJacturing counties of the south, or fror the ^' w towns in the High- lands to wh;c]\ ih^ people could retire. When they weiw all «■ once dispossessed, and in great numbers, and no new agri- cultural employments provided for them ; all except those, who could find occupation in the fisheries, were obliged to leave the coun- try. Thus, from the county of Argyle, which many years ago set the example of this new system of management, it is a very well known fact that emigration at no time has been great. The fisheries employed a considerable number: a still greater number were required for navigat- ing the shipping belonging to the Clyde ; but by far the greatest proportion removed to the manufacturing towns upon that river. It has only been in such districts as are remote ». * v.' 7» from the Lowlands, and with which the com- munication is both distant and difficult, that emigration has taken place to the injury of the state : this difficulty is so much cncreascd, and this distance so much magnified by the igno. ranee of the people, that the direct communi- cation between America and the west coast of the Highlands was at one time (though the assertion may appear singular) easier and more regular than with the low country of Scot- land. This circumstance, then, of remoteness or nearness to any place, which could absorb the labour of the dispossessed peasantry, seems hitherto to have regulated the desire to emi- grate, among those who could afford to pay for the passage. As the country goes on im- proving both by a readier communication, and by the introduction of industry, the ef- fects of this circumstance must be much more universally prevalent. Whenever emigration has taken place, it may be very true that ' the emigrants ' have been almost entirely of the class ' of tenants ; while the cotters, whom the '.■■Vjf» •^^i^ V »•;.''■".«• I .•) » di >■«■■:■ * same change of anrrlcultural system has * deprived of tlieir sitiiallon and livelihood, * have in general removed into the nia- * nufacturing districts of the south of Scot- * land *.' But, though formerly, l)cfore proj^cr employment could be held out for the inhabitants in the more remote parts of the country, this statement may be cor- rect, still h will be found that the small te- nants have just as little inclination to emi- grate as rhe cotters, out of whose reach it is raid always to have been placed. It will be found much more universal than the favour- ed of emigration will chuse to avow, that wherever proper attention has been paid to provide employment for them, they have not shewn themselves so discontented with the change as rather to abandon their country than betake themselves to a new branch of industry. Very possibly they would have preferred continuing the occupation which their fathers followed before them ; but it has # T> V. 57. •7 ^ /J cost them a much less effort to leave one line of life and adopt another, than to ta^c such an immense voyage as that to America for the sake of pursuing their former employ- ment. Although this may be inconsistent with theory, it is still most stricdy con- formable to fact, which many proprietors who have made the experiment can amply testify. In the course of these remarks, this will be made abundantly evident ; but, in the meantime, the following striking instance may be given in the present situation of those Highlanders who originally composed the Ca- nadian regiment raised in 1802. Great temp- tations were held out by government, and li- beral promises of grants of land were given, for the pui*pose of raising that regiment ; nor can it be supposed that these inducements would be diminished in the representation of those who recruited it. In general the men were of the class of tenantry, with the usual portion of the pride of indepen- dence, which they are supposed peculiarly to possess. When they were disbanded, it was K •>> •ill \. ' ■ > I .-• v' • ^ ' " ♦■ • II ■ ; i '"I 74 impossible for them to return to the High- kiius, as their places had l>cen filled up upon quitting the country ; a few only were dispos- ed of in this way : and but few would con- sent to enter into a marching regiment, their conditions of service having been so mucli more inviting, and the experience of the treatment they were led to expect not being calculated to overcome their dislike. By far the greatest number are therefore at this moment employed, and happily employ- ed, as labourers in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. They have neither inclination nor intention to emigrate, because they are now no longer in the rank of tenants, their situ- ation being extremely comfortable, from the increasing j)rice of labour. Their children, too, have an opportunity of very early being of use to their parents, by being employed in the manufactories, to which their habits can- not be averse, whatever may be said of those of their parents. All Lord Selkirk's reasonings upon the ne- cessity of emigration are drawn from those i^'>. n distri'^ts irto which shccp-farming has been introduced ; the cftects of which seemed best to suit his colonizing views. Cut the preva^ lencc of this system has hitherto been only local and partial ; and any person, in the slightest degree ac(|uainted with the subject upon which he has undertaken to enlight- en the public, knows that by far the great- est proportion of the districts, from which emigration has taken place, neither have been yet stocked with sheep, nor are fit for being so. It is a fact, too, that emigration began before this system was heard of. The ' iirst colony of Higlilanders, who went to America, was in the year 1735, to the settle- ment of Georgia ; an emigration neither nu- merous nor respectable ; but which was oc- casio.ied by the encouragement given by go- vernment to settlers. Il, was intended for the protection of Carolina from the inroads of the Spaniards. The greatest emigration, how- ever, which toc'k place, and which has been repeated at certain intervals since, was from Skye and NortJi Uist about the year : •'• ^ > ' • '•' •' 1' '.iJ> 76 I'.i.r ■^■^ 1770, occasioned solely by a demand for aw increase of rent, which later events have shewn the tenants could have perfectly well afforded to pay, but which they chose to resist, being contrary to what they con- ceived to be their rights. Several of the tacksmen, men of some property, of educa- tion and skill, having a very great influence over their subtenants and cotters, settled with them in North Carolina. The emigration went on regularly for several years, arrangements being always made to accommodate the people in the one country before they left the other. Not many years afterwards the same event happened, exactly from the same cause, from South Uist, from Glengarry's country, and from Appin. The emigrants from this last dis- trict joined the settlement in Qirolina ; while those from the other two, who were almost all Roman Catholics, emigrated to Canada, which now belonged to the British empire, and where that religion was extremely pre- valent. All of these were led by discon- tented men of a superior class, w^ho refused «. * 17 to pay an adequate rent, and who stirred up •as many as they possibly could to accom- pany their flight, for the sake of profitably establishing themselves in America. If it were possible for Highlanders to be more comfortable and happy any where else than in their own country, it co\ild be looked for only from emigrations conducted in this man- ner. But when the sheep-farming system was introduced, and many Scotch setders had obtained grants of uncultivated land in Ame- rica, the mode and necessity of emigration became extremely different. Those who were dispossessed had no time to look about them to form any future plan at home ; and it was only those of the poorer sort who ever thought of such a step as going to America. For by this time the tacksmen had found their way into the British army ; they did not emigrate, and therefore did not incline to conduct a systematic emigration ; while, on the other liand, those who had previously emigrated, fmding the advantage of having more labour- ers, assailed the poor and the ignorant tenant \ ■ i ^i 4 7« on every side with golden dreams of wealth and happiness, and fixed his wavering reso- lution. After the establishment of the inde- pendence of the United States, when every effort was made by the Americans to im- prove their territory ; and when we also en- deavoured to strengthen our colonies, by giv- ing settlements in Canada to the loyalists as well as to the army who had served in the war, the incitements to emigration were again renewed with surprising success ; till at length an universal fever raged throughout the coun- try, extending over every district, whether capable of being stocked with sliecp or not, and affecting every person, whctlier capable of labour or not: — being as disadvantage- ous to the country to which they flocked, as hurtful to the country from which they were flying ; and, in both, calling loudly for legislative interference. V. The political effects of the emigrations from the Highlands next claim the discussion of the enlightened author. These, however, he has conlined entirely to the supposed los* of that V public s Ilighlan the auth cessary die coi many c The from it the chr be sobc uiious, COLlki dice h tcr thu * ed, u ' red i ' howc * be si ' of tl ' turet ' tion ' actl\ * wlii' . t> ,r; 79 of that valuable supply of soldiers which the public service has hitherto derived from the Highlands. Before proceeding to examine the author's views upon this subject, it is ne- cessary to consider minutely the loss which the countiy sustains by the desertion of so many of her haidy sons. The advantage which a country derives from its population depends much upon the character of the people ; whether they be sober, industrious, and warlike ; or lux- urious, idle, and effeminate. One who could have no local attachments to preju- dice his estimate of the Higldand charac- ter thus sketches it : ' It is strongly mark- ' cd, unusual circumstances having concur- * red in forming it. It might be wrong, ' however, to attempt its history here. It may * be sulack.nt to say, that out of the aggregate ' of these circumstances grew a strongly fea- ' tured character ; inquisitive to gain informa- ' tion ; cautious to retain it ; and artful and ' active in applying it to advantage : Features * wlujh, though somewhat altered by a i 5--, t 7 11 M ' • 1-: . ••■ l.» • k ':t"> 8o * chanjre of circumstances, still mark to this * day the Highland character. I must not, * however, omit in this place to do justice to * the moral character of the modern High- * hnder. Murder, cruelty, and even theft, * are rarely heard of; nor are riotings, drunk- * enncss, or any kind of debaucheries, at pre- * sent prevalent among them, comparatively, * at least, with other districts of the island *.' In addition to this, it may be mentioned, that, at Inverary, where all criminal causes arc tried for the southern Highlands, not a single criminal was executed from the year 1754 to the year 1803 ; and at Inverness, wherr: the criminal causes fc* the rest of the Hi^r'i lands are brought to trial, nearly the same picture of good conduct is to Lc i oand. Such is the character of those men whoni th* principles of this work doom to peipeiuul banishment ; and such are the dispositions which might di- rect their industry to the good of their ccuu^ try. i * Survey of Ccntr. Highl. p. 18. ftl . . *■ to i The direct loss sustained by this coun- try in consecjucnce of these emigrations, is much more than is perhaps at first perceived. History teaches us, that the internal strength of a nation is in no case to be estimated bv the extent of its territory, but by the number of its citizens, and the utility of their labours : that the population, tlie wealth, and the power of a state cannot be supported with perma- nence by any resources exclusive of liomc- productions raised and augmented by an in- creasing improvement of the soil. Othei* sources of wealth may be cut off by political convulsions; but nothing short of a convulsion of nature, annihilating the fund upon which national industry is to be exercised, can des- troy the basis of national wealth derived from the population and produce of the country itself. While there exists an acre of unculti- vated and waste land within the country ; or a mai'ket for the lish which swarm upon oiu* coasts ; or sale for the manufactured pn^duco of our industry, every man who leaves the country mubt be considerjd as a national loss. " » L i^ 82 An estimate of this loss may be made from tlie following considerations. I. The emigrants, we are infonned by- Lord Selkirk, form the greatest number of those who are dispossessed. Data, however, are not furnished for ascertaining what that number is ; but it appears that it amounts, in the sheep-farming districts, to at least three-fourths of the population of the coun- try. Admitting again that, on Lord Selkirk's principles, only two-thirds of this num- ber leave the country, {the other third not being able to pay for their passage, or not chusing to bind themselves as slaves to defray riie freight,) it will be at once seen what a number of able active citizens ; re lost to tlie state for ever. The irulustry thus transferred to another cou.i ry is very great. But there is not only this loss in expectancy ; there is also the direct loss of the cxpcnce of the main- tenance of all the grown persons who emi- grate ; these may be reckoned at three out of every five. While children, they were nc^ fl!",i 83 ccssarlly maintained by the nation, and the whole which was then consumed is thus left unrequited ; for at the very time that they are in a capacity of remunerating the state by their industry, they abandon the country. There is also a serious loss in pc/int of popula- tion. For although ail tlic children under live years of age were to he cut «ff, it is very doubtful whether the effective popuintion would be at all injured ; other children would immediately supply tlie plilce thus vacated for them. The expence of tjje maintenance of those cut off would be very trifling. But on the other hand, while it must be very long before a nation could recover the loss of all the young men and women between 20 and 25 years of age, the expence of their maintenance thus lost would be veiy con- siderable. It need scarcely be added tiiat the effect of a decrease of population is to cause an encrease in the price of labour, which again throws the most powerful bar in the way of all kinds of improvement. In some places of the Highlands, the ailvance, in point ■>;^»* t' H: 84 ot" wages, lias been greivtly tlivsproportionatc to what has taken place hi the low country. 2. We are inforaied by Lord Selkirk, and it is indeed a well known fact, that the emi- grants carry out with them much more mo- ney than it could liave been conceived pos- sible for persons in their situation to j)ossess. An account^ is given of one whose capital amounted to L. 116. as a specimen of what others in a similar rank, and that not very liigh, might be possessed of. Many carry out much more with them, even to the extent of L. 1000. By far the greater proportion, however, transport along vvith themselves a great deal less. Supp'w:jc, thiit on an average each person carries out L. 3 ), it will, be at oficc seen, that besides the (juaniity of productive industry, the na- tion is also cie[)rived of a very consider- able quantity of capital, amply snllicient for putting that industry and nuich more into motion. In the year 1802, it is known, that 4513 emigrants, independently of the passage money, took with them above I: r • 85 L. 100,000. in cabh *. The iiulustry of u country being always in proportion to the capital which excites it, the capital is reci- procally increased by the industry which circulates it ; and a capital is always the more advantageous according to the use which is made of it. If it be hoarded up in gold and silver, it aflords no pn^llt to the state ; if it be employed in exerting agricultu- ral industry, it is the most beneticial mode of employing it. Its loss is so much the more to be deplored. 1 he expenccs of national defence must always remain the same, while the same territory is to be defended. But if, instead of deserting the country, the capital and additional industry of the emigrants re- mained to operate on each otiier, the burdeu of the expences of the state would fall lighter upon the community at large. 3. It is no doubt true, that the emigrants, when in America, will still have a demand for various maiuifactures with which we sup- I • Aj>p. C. to Third Rep. on Cuaits, &c. of Scotl.incl. . n ■ 1 1 86 it- ply that great continent. Tlicy will tluis in some measure encourage our national indus- try and advance our commerce. But this operation turns tlie ca})ital and industry of the country from the liomc trade into a fo- reip;n trade of consumption ; from a trade where the returns are quick, to one where they arc comparatively very slow; from a trade which brings the market as it were into the centre of every Highland estate, to one which removes it to the opposite shores of the Atlantic. If the emigrants can be u«iefully employed in this country, their whole capital and labour is employed lor the advantage of the state ; and, after furnishing their necessities and ministering to their con- venience, the surplus is exchanged for tlie produce of other countries. While, on the (3ther hand, when they have emigrated, and no longer add to the population and protection of the state, it is only a part of this surplus which they exchange for sucli of our productions as they recjuire or can af- {ovd to procure. Industry at home must in I iH r 87 I he meantime languish exactly in proportion as these emigrations occasion a loss of mar- ket at home ; and still more from making the market which is created abroad compara- tively disadvantageous. They add in no other way to our national resources, as our colonies on the other side of the Atlantic have never contributed either to our defence or the expences of our government. 4. It has hitherto been taken for granted that the emigration is to our own colonies. But in former times this has not always been the case ; as they have veiy commonly gone to increase the wealth and power of a state fast rising to commercial eminence : So that every person who leaves the Highlands, and settles in the United States, inflicts a double wound upon the power and resources of his native country. This is indeed a very seri- ous evil. The political effects then of emigration seem to be loss of population, and conijequendy of national strength — loss of capital, and conse- ■I .' <'.' ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 2.2 ^ ii£ IIIIIM 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" - ► V2 ^ /}. "cM ^^ /^ y >^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 .t quently encreasc of national burdens — loss of industry, and consequently of the means of supplying these oefects. If we are not mistaken, the loss in point of population is a loss greatly and sincerely to be lamented ; lor tve cannot agree with Lord Selkirk in thinking that, ' independently of depopula- ' tion, that nursery of soldiers which has hi- ' therto been found in the Highlands cannot ' continue.' It is very true that tlie compo- sition of the Highland regiments is now in some degree changed * ; that the clan does not now fight under the chief, nor the different companies under the hereditary officers ; that as the rents are raised and mo- ney preferred to men, a regiment in the Highlands must now be recruited pretty much in the same way as in any other part of the country. But can it be disputed that the hardy mountaineers of our native country possess in no common degree those qualities P. 67. 89 which fit them for modern warfare, where so much depends upon strength of body and energy of mind. Can the jail sweepings of a great town, or the enfeebled inmates of a manufactory, be compared with Highlanders in that noble elevation of thought, and in that pride of national glory which makes them fear nothing so much as disgrace to the name they bear ? The change, however, cannot be so great as is represented, and most assuredly it is not such as to injure the military character of our countrymen. It has not been cus- tomary for the chief and the subordinate officers to lead out the clan according to the old practice ; since Highland regiments were first raised for the service cf the state, it has been usual for some one, having the coun- tenance of the chief and the confidence of the clan, to command them. Thus much, however, was absolutely necessary ; it is still necessary ; and will continue to be so, till the present manners are entirely changed, and the recollection of former events entire - M .1 '*t'. ' ^^ . ■ ,. 1^ ■ ..■'■'■ • - I ■'■^i *l M rf r, : ■ 90 ly obliterated. Let any person unconnect- ed with the Highlands endeavour to recruit soldiers in that country as he would do at Glasgow or Paisley ; and his want of success will most completely justify the re- mark, that the Highlanders are still so unlike the rest of our countrymen, and still retain so much of those habits which produced their most heroic atchievements, that they will only engage to fight under native of- ficers connected with their chiefs. In no other way can they think it possible that they should earn the laurels they conceive to be attached for ever, by a kind of imprescriptible right, to the Highland name. It will probably be found upon examina- tion that there is room for supporting the greatest part of the present population in agri- cultural industry, the best mode of forming a brave and hardy peasantry. But even were a very great proportion to fmd their way into a fishing village or manufactory, it would require many generations before the glory and gallantry of their ancestors would be for- gotten, or the eager desire to im'tate their ' "-^V^ X 9* deeds be extinguished. No set of men on earth have such a strong passion for national glory, preserved under almost every circum- stance of distance, climate, and occupation ; and the predeliction they uniformly show to Highland regiments and Highland officers, prove that the present race still furnish the same source of national defence and triumph which is allowed to have been once the glo- ry of the Highlander. They must indeed un- dergo a very great change when their habits and feelings do not peculiarly fit them for forming the military establishment of the country. Sobriety, obedience, ardour, pa- tience of fatigue, are qualities eminently use- ful in a soldier, and eminently possessed by our countrymen. Inured to hardships from their earliest years, possessed of activity and courage which brave difficulty, and know no fear, they form a part of our bulwarks the best fitted for the defence of the state. This opinion is justified by the experience of every war in which we have been engaged, since the immortal Chatham called upon the High- ■ > ■I' ' ■' ■'■ Hi Ili' w li ^.f gz landers to fight the battles of their coun- try, whether we look to tlie fields of Ger- many, the wilds of America, the plains of Hindoostan, or the sands of Egypt. Yet the regiments which there distinguished them- selves were not raised till the vigour of the feudal system was at an end. At a time when it has been necessary to encrcase the bounty for recruiting our army beyond all for- mer example, and when the demands of our navy are likely to embroil us with a powerful rival, does it become a real patriot to disparage the best source from which those difficulties can be obviated ? Lord Selkirk ought to have looked well to the ranks of our army, to the situation of the British empire, and to the as- pect of Europe, before he attempted to dimi- nish the public reliance upon this resource; or hazarded opinions of which every avaricious speculator will eagerly avail him^lf, who, while he is inflicting one of the severest w^ounds upon his country, will claim the ap- plause of having performed an acceptable ser- vice to the state, and assume the privilege of 95 heaping abuse upon every person who con- scientiously opposes his pernicious schemes. It is very true, that it is not now so easy as it formerly was, to raise a regiment in the Highlands ; but this surely does not betray any unfitness or unwillingness in the inhabi- tants to undertake a military life. Neither can any one in the least degree acquainted with recent events, ascribe it with justice to the change of management. No doubt this last has its effect in the depopulated districts ; but it is well known that the main obstacle in general has been (and it has required strong influence and strong inducements to get the better of it) the fear, whether justified or not, that they will be draughted into other regi- ments, and lose the glory of the national character by serving along with comrades, and under oflicers, who are not Highlan- ders. Their fear of being considered in the same light and upon the same footing as other regiments, has been able to check feelings the most congenial to their hearts. From this cause, much more than from anv ' ♦ M • vi -,:■* 94 m ' y V ■ ^^rii I change of system whlcli has yet taken place, is to he ascribed the hesitation which has been sometimes found among the Highland- ers to obey the call of their country. Expe- rience, they have thought, teaches them that their chieftains and officers are not sufficient- ly powerful to protect them from what they conceive to be an unjust invasion of their rights. Their very unwillingness proceeds from a strong and seemingly indelible charac- ter which has ever distinguished them, and which will probably endure as long as the political independence of our empire. The motives and conduct of the author himself give a sufficient earnest, that the spirit of the Highlanders, which lays the foundation of the great and generous features in their character, will not soon be effaced. It is ac- knowledged to have been one of the objects of all his perilous undertakings to preserve, even en the other side of the Atlantic, the same temper of mind which distinguishes them in their native country. The associa- tions from external objects, the impressions ' . • V 95 Irom sympatliy of feeling, lay the founda- tion of a national character : Lord Selkirk, however, seems satisfied that when these ties are broken, — when clanship is dissolved and chieftainship is forgotten, — when their coun- try itself, and the deeds of their fiithers live alike to them only in the tale of other times, the same character may still be exerted upon a different field of action. If so, how much more naturally must it exist among scenes which recal every warlike impression to the mind, and among those kinsmen who can still point to the rude memorials of former times ; although their occupation no longer be the indolent amusements of the shepherd state, but the adventurous conflicts of the ocean, or the ani nating pursuits of the industrious vil- lage. m I ' I'- '» s VL Our attention is now called to a position which, at first sight, w^e should most certainly not expect to find seriously maintained — that instead of emigration being prejudicial to the public interest, ' the effect on the commercial i:^;; '<''! '*■ ■■■- !•' • If ■ *'l >.l 1 , * i 4i K^t i * •» f ' ' '. i-'t a'- •N » ■■'l!--' >,■&': M» h-^ ■ 'S'? i ■'•y ' . ' % " '.11' J i , tr>jV '*« ' ■ . i; \i .. ^ 'a: > :(.».-• »lf» 96 ' prosperity of tlic kingdoni is directly the ' reverse. To give a just view of the subject, * the great change that has been described in ' the general management of the Ilighhinds ' must be considered as one coiuiected event. ' Emigration is a part of the change : it is * one result ; and cannot, in fair reasoning, ' be abstractCvl from the other concomitant ' effects. If tlie national prosperity is es- ' sentially promoted by the causes from ' v^'hich emigration ensues, this effect cannot * be considered as pernicious *.' It is not possible to yield assent to this reasoning to the length to which it is carried : it decides the question without meeting it. It may no doubt be true, that the present system of management is more immediately profitable to the individual proprietors than the former was, and that it is therefore more productive of na- tional wealth. But the object of enquiry still remains ; Would not the advantage ultimately be tenfold greater, if means could be devised to prevent emigration taking effect as a con- * P. 75. 97 sequence of the new system of management ? How much greater would the improvement be, to turn the whole land to its most proik- able use, and to bring a market into the heart of every Highland property by the establishment of some branch of productive industry, which would afford employment to the people, and wealth to the proj^rictor ? If emigration be a necessary and unavoidable precursor of na- tional improvement, we must submit vvimout a sigh to the miserable spectacle of depopulat- ed fields and dreary wastes : but if these be not naturally concomitant, but, on the contrary, hostile to each other, let us not lose the advan- tage of our population by being satisfied with the acquisition we have already made to our national wealth ; but let us strain every nerve to make the acquisition still greater, and to avail ourselves of whatever the liberality of nature has placed within our reach. She has given us arable plains ; let them be cultivated : and let our mountains be stocked with the produce best fitted for them : let the raw mate- rials, the produce of our fields, be exported ■#;> ^ y: 4 f f-l . ' 4 1 " 1 ' w 'f ,v 98 under all the advantages of manufacturing industry. Let the people who arc idle for want of employment be dms employed. If, after this, we have any unemployed people desirous of emigrating, let them by all means leave us : Such could only be a burden to the country. If such were the system adopted, and If the change of management were gradually intro- duced, not only all emigration to a foreign country would discontinue, but there could not then exist the most distant excuse for transfer- ring ' the seat of population from the remote * villages in the Highlands to the towns * and villages of the South *.' For surely this could not be an advantageous change for the state, even although it should take place * without any absolute difference of * numbers.' Will the towns and villages of the south produce the same hardy and intrepid race of mountaineers that have so often made our enemies tremble? Is there not some danger that the people would, in a certain degree, change their manners and habits with their place of * P. 78; i <(' 99 tcsulence ? At all events such a removal is at- iw.« *cd with much distress, and many affect- ing circumstances, in breaking asunder the strongest natural instincts, which bind us to our kindred and the scenes of our early en- joyments : and the country perhaps might lose some who may have a dislike to settle in, what is to them, a land of strangers. Nei- ther can it, in other points of view, be for the safety or advancement of the state, that a part should be turned into a desert, and the whole population concentrated into one spot. The improvement of no country whatever was ever effected in this way. The advantages resulting to the cultivation of the soil from the vicinity of towns and villages are well known ; but, for many obvious reasons, their influence extends only a few miles. It is of importance, then that this beneficial influence should be as widely diffused as possible, and nothing can do so, but the multiplication of towns and villages in all different parts of the country. It gives to aH the same advantages, instead of creating a monopoly in favour m f t *,• • - 4-' - >T| -'■>• t' ■•fv« •■■*■•' 100 'V't of one or of a few districts : and, by more generally diffusing incitements to industry, really increases the productive industry of the nation. Bulky articles, too, thus find a market, when perhaps they would not bear the expence of distant carriage ; or, being manufactured on the spot into a much more valuable and more portable commodity, they will find their way to a distant market, at a cheaper rate to the public, but with a much more profitable return to the district of pro- duction. Were the whole manufacturing capital and population collected into one or two spots, wages must rise in proportion to the diffi- culty of providing great towns with all the necessaries and luxuries of life ; the expence of carnage from a distance necessarily adding one to other reasons for their advanced price. This consequently must, iri some de- gree, increase the price of the manufactures, which is always attended with this conse- quence, that it lessens the demand for them, by putting them beyond the reach of many W lOI who would otherwise become purchasers. The wages in our manufacturing towns are often at- so high a rate, that the manufacturer can afford to spend a great part of his time in idleness and dissipation ; the profits of his la- bour for a part of the week being amply suf- ficient for his support during the w hole of it. Part of these wages, too, he expends upon what the manufacturer may consider as a ne- cessary of life, but which certainly adds neither to the strength nor health of the in- dividual. Some years ago, several inhabitants of the Orkneys came to the manufacturing towns in the low country, where they got employ- ment. But they soon had the sagacity to discover, that they could perform the same quantity of work equally well at home, at a much more profitable rate to themselves, as provisions w^ere so much cheaper ther". They did so accordingly. Now, instead of the higli wages in the south, occasioned in part by t; le consumption of such an expensive article of food as butcher's meat, the manufacturer iii .. *" H 1 1 ^l'--:-J it i :m ..fjhy i ■ ■ ' r • '> It- !.■«'' 102 the Highlands would give additional eiicoit- ragement to tillage by the use of the vege- table productions of the earth, as well as ad- ditional scope for the industry of the country by furnishing its. manufactures at a cheaper rate. One acre raising grain is found to be much more productive of food, than one em- ployed in rearing and fattening cattle. It has been computed, that, for every meal of butcher's meat produced by one fertile acre consumed by catde or sheep in pasture, 1 2 ^ would be produced, if such acre were oc- cupied by corn crops ; and yy\-, if it were occupied by potatoes. The advantages de- rivable from the last crop, are thus im- mense : to it, under all its disadvantages, Ireland is very much indebted for its present prosperous state. The climate and soil of the Highlands seem to be universally favourable to its production, and it is by degrees, be- coming the principle food of the common people, who are beginning to appreciate its inestimable value. This glaring circumstance, that, from the wages he receives, the manufacturer can af- ' :^- .^, 103 ford to be idle for whole days, shews, in the niost distinct manner, that, owing to the pro* digious increase of our manufactures, there is a competition for workmen, who do not flock to the manufacturing districts quickly enough to allow wages to assume their proper level. The floodgates should therefore be opened, and the population of the Highlands should be more generally introduced into such occupations. There is a demand for labour ; and every obstacle should be removed which prevents it being satisfied. There is no doubt that as the people have hitherto eagerly em- braced this source of employment, they will continue to do so. Upon the whole, then, looking solely to the profit of the manufacturer, it is not politic that the population should desert a cheap country, where the mode of living is sober, and the manners simple, for a large crowded and dis- solute town, where the reverse of all this is the ciise. As to the state itself, the advantage of retaining the people, antj of profiting by the market thus created^ needs not be dvvclr . '^ ' » :m m > 'hi 104 V*' ». .' - ■s:'' '■^.r*' ^ » ■ upon. Nor is it just to the individual pro- prietors, that, to the other disadvantages con- nected with remoteness of situation, the loss of this artificial spur to industry and improve- ment should be added. Nothing should be done to produce this unnatural order of things. The state ought never to be unjust ; and there is no fear that the Highland pro- prietors will be unjust to themselves. This diminution of tillage in the High- lands, in consequence of the prevalence of the sheep-fa ''ming system, Lord Selkirk remarks, ' will probably be followed by an increase in ' the southern parts of the kingdom. It is ' well known that in England a great deal of * arable land is kept in grass for rearing ' young cattle and sheep ; but there will be ' the less necessity for this when the moun- ' tains furnish a greater supply *.* Such a conclusion, perhaps, it was thought, would make these speculations popular every where beyond the Highlands. But there has, in reality, been no diminution of tillage upon (f I * r. 79. 10 >r»^ the whole ; and the produce of the richest land, it is believed, is greater and more certain in pasture than in tillage; which, along with some political reasons, accounts for the predilection in England for the first-mentioned mode of occupying land. But be this as it may, most assuredly it is unnecessary to depopulate one part of the kingdom to induce the inhabitants of another part to attend more to tillage and less to pasturage ; or rather still more to encrease the quantity of ground under tillage with- out diminishing its present quantity of pastur- age, for it is a well known fact, that Great Britain does not raise grain sufficient for the maintainance of its inhabitants. The high price at which a necessar)'- of life must arrive, when supplied by importation, is the best encouragement for its production ; and Eng- land has no occasion, for her own advance- ment, to diminish the quantity of tillage, and consequently the population of Scotland, while she requires foreign supplies of grain for herself. While tillage is constantly at- tended with a demand for labour, and consc- o I pi'''':. ^■.^■:.i r ■■ ' i yh m 1 06 t^i '".V»^ :kf. % ;r quently with an encrease of population, pas- turage just as regularly produces the opposite effect ; and while this last gives encourage- ment to very few handicraft-trades, and still fewer manufactures, tillage may be said to be the parent of arts and manufactures, which, in regular progression, never fliil to be ac- companied by commerce. So that even though its produce should not be so great aa in fact it is, the advantages which attend it are such, that they should never be aban- doned unless the profits of pasturage greatly exceed what are derived from tillage. While, however, it is maintained, that, upon the whole, the present system is not unfavourable to population, its destructive effects cannot be altogether concealed ; for this great and important' truth appears where we should most certainly least expect to find it, ' that, in some districts, the more seclud- ' ed vallies, lying in the midst of high moun- ' tains, retains carcely any inhabitants ;' altho', it is immediately added, that ' numbers are ' every where found along the larger vales * and near the arms of the sea, by which the ^^v >-^ 107 country is so much intersected ; hence there arc, in almost every part of the High- of the inferior class of people * lands, more * than enougn to carry on all ttie work that * is to be done *.* The admission that in some districts there are not enough of people to manage the few agricultural operttions which this favourite system has left to be per- formed, is most material in the present inqui- ry ; as it shews that it is not always from ne - cessity nor from present want that the emigra- tions from such districts have taken place, and points out pretty strongly the justice of a re- mark that has been made upon the emigrations which took place in 1802, that, ' not deny- ' ing that some have no alternative but emi- * gration, by far the greater number emigrate ' from the prevalence of passion or capricef,'*^ This conclusion is very strongly corroborated by a circumstance mentioned by the same author, who is uniformly quoted widi re- spect by Lord Selkirk, for every thing de- pending upon the accuracy of local informa- tion, although the conclusion diawn by each ■ . , ...(.I. . 1 . ■*• '■■/('. '.^y.: '■ •■'■II,' §' " *' . '''\ *fe^ > \ ' A ■ ■ **■; i- '«, ■ ^ ' »« ■ "'f , 1 * p. 86. f Irvine on Emigration, p. ■; A .ft - - t* 'I io8 "m be very opposite indeed. ' In some districts * day labourers are become scarce ; in others, * they can hardly be got for any price : * hence, their wages have cncreased fourfold * within the last twelve years.** Such never could be the consequence of a superabundant population thinning itself so as to meet the just demand for labour. It is indeed notorious, that throughout some parts of the Highlands, the price of labour at present is higher than in the Lowlands, owing to the competition that arises from the diminished number of labour- ers. The neighbourhood of Lochfyne may be mentioned as an instance of this. Great in- deed must be the desire of improvement, if, imder these very weighty disadvantages, any such attempts are made ; but what would have been the progress, how much capital would have been added to the state, and how much employment provided for industry, had not the too rapid adoption of sheep-farming ex- pelled the means of those improvements ? It must be long indeed before, in such districts. i t c ■ K . * Irvipc, P. 80. \ r. „■■» 109 this diminution of numbers can be supplied from the natural encrease of the inhabitants. As the Noble Author is probably aware that th'^ fact cannot be concealed, and that even hi(i own statement betrays the melancholy truth, that population must be diminished by the introduction of sheep-farming ; it is gifnain- tained, that a very great increase of produc- tive industry, mong those who remain, will more than counterbalance this loss. ' Where ' the old system of management is broken up, ' the utmost that can be supposed, with any * probability, is, that from an estate inhjibit- ' ed by i oo families, . 25 or perhaps 30, may * have the means of ^emigrating ; and does * any one, acquainted with the Highlanders, ' entertain a doubt, that 70 or 75 well em- ' ployed labourers will perform work of * more value than 1 00 small tenants and cot- ' ters ? It would perhaps be nearer the truth ' to say, they will do three or four times as * much*.' This last supposition is quite ex- travagant J and the small number who arc * p. 9u ' ♦ ■. ■, < i ' 4 ■■*■', •■• no >»t; supposed to emigrate, is quite inconsistent with those principles wliich lead to the con- clusion so often expressed, that a few shep- herds and their dogs will he sufficient for a large extent of country, and that the whole race of tenants must be drained off. But take )^s positions for granted, how docs the population which remains become at once so singularly industrious and ex- pert ? It can only be, because sufficient employment and sufficient encouragement are held out for the exercise of their habits of industiy. It can proceed from no other cause. By the removal of tlic emigrants, those that remain undergo no metamorphosis ; their latent energies only are called forth. Would not the same effect be produced, if the same cause existed, although no emigra- tion took place ? It most assuredly would, and all the misery of emigration, and all this waste of labour would be saved. If in Prince Edward's Island, Lord Selkirk had found that 75 men could do the same work which it had been supposed would re- (piire 100 to perform, Would he proceed in- lcvery personal consideration connected with the peculiar manners of the Highlanders, and the composition of their society, the indus- ". .-'^ • » .■•''•^.. • ^ * ' 1 . \ ■ % }| i J r- .1 1 i Mji I-' > 114 trioiis habits of the country would hh hm deranged, if, upon the brcakin;^ out of a war, they were always ready to fill tlic ranks of the army, leaving our manuflicturers to tlio (jiiiet prosecution of their various occupa- tions, this would be imposing a heavy tax upon the Highland proprietors. They would thus be at the sole expence of pro- viding for the national defence. Would they not, in such a case, be entitled to claim from the nation some recompencc for a pri- vation submitted to for the general good ? This is not, however, a system which can or ever ought to be adopted ; sound policy forbids it ; it would in fact put the nation to the expence of a war establishment in time of peace : and Lord Selkirk surely cannot be serious when he says, it is the only altcv-ia- tive for those who wish to retain the popula- tion of their estates. Neither need any well-wisher of his country fear that tiie Highland proprietors, if they should not cliuse to adopt this only alternative which is held out to them, will, from inattention to their peo- V'liSs true interests, abandon tlicm to Amcrl- .-•■» IIJ cun colonizers^ They know well that the clr- nimstances of the country, and the diwSposition of its inhabitants, point out much more ge- nerous and enlightened plans, which, it is Jiopcd, will the more steadily be pursued from discussions, the only effect of which will be to make the subject more and more understood. If, indeed. Lord Selkirk could persuade the public, that the fact regarding the depopula- tion of the Higlilands ' in reality amounts to ' this, that the produce of the country, in- ' stead of being consumed by a set of intre- ' pid but indolent military retainers, is ap- ' piled to the support of peaceable and In- ' dustrious manufacturers *,' then might he claim some merit from having freed society of these useless, or rather burdensome mem- bers. But no one, who opposes Lord Sel- kirk's plans, wishes to bring bv.ijk. lL.' cus- toms or the indolence of former time;. It is mistating the question in dispute to say so. What we maintain is, that in this country -^ ,,. '■ I ■■ r , ■> • t * V T" ¥'ti'i (> ' / ' V ■ t _ I '♦. " • ' 1 »•• . ■ >'.i *l. ■*..» u v Ii6 i I ;iv- : I r the Highlander will exert his iiidastry wltH- the same vigour he is said to do amidst the woods of America ; that he only wants pro- per incitements and proper opportunities for doing so ; and that these are every where to be met with in the Highlands with an abun- dance which the present population will be unable fully to exhaust. In this way a great- er demand will be created' for the labour of the manufacturer, and a greater supply of necessaries will be sent to him to feed his- wants; at the same time that the state^will acquire additional strength from the numbers she maintains, and assume a more imposing^ aspect amidst the political convulsions of the times. Tile Highland proprietors most certainly need not be ashamed to demand the assist- ance of the Legislature to ensure the success of their efforts for obviating the necessity of emigration. Not indeed by any restrictive re- gulations ; but by assisting them in providing employment for the people at home. For, as akeady remarked, it is very much owinp- 11/ to the right of conquest exercised by go^ vernment, that this rage for emigration has arisen. The changfe of manners was vioient-^ ly inti'oduced, before the immediate means of absorbing the displaced or discontented population into other occupations could be provided. But, independently altogether of this claim of right which the Hig!;land pro- prietors have upon government, surely the interest of the nation at large demands that the capital and industry of the country shall never be forced to abandon her, unless it shall po- litically conduce to her advantage. That it cannot possibly do so, as long as an acre re- mains uncultivated, is too obvious to need illustration. If any unjust prohibition or im- politic discouragement stands in the way of the free course of national industry, it is the duty of government instantly to remove the obstacle, and to repair the loss which it may have occasioned. •r. ti it VII. ' Every friend to his country,' says Lord Selkirk,. ' would rejoice if they (the A . , it :-i 7/. ' , ' 4 ■ < , ••■ ^ 1 f ->;• ' ' ' ■ lift ii8 Highland proprietors) ' could find the means ' of obviating the local depopulation of theii' ' district, by the introduction of suitable ' branches of productive industry *.' Such a correct view of the advantacres re- suiting to the country from this very effectual mode of preventing the necessity of emi- gration^ it is pleasing to find followed up by these observadons : ' Among these the * mo^*" promising is the cultivation of waste ' land. Some attempts have been made in ' the Highlands to turn the superfluous po- ' pulation to this branch of industry. The ' success widi which they have been attend- ' ed is sufficient to encourage further experi- ' ments.' Some of the obstacles which ol> struct the compleat success of this measure, such as short leases^ and the little encourage- ment which it is said has hitherto been given by the proprietors, are then pointed out : this conclusion, however, is drawn from the whole, ' that there is no probability that this P. 9] i 119 * resource can have any ciTcct In dlmmlslilng * the emigrations. It is only to the poorest * of the people that this can be rendered ac- * ceptable ; by the tenants even of the lowest * order, it would be considered as too great •t- » ■f'.i 'I * a degradation *. This subject is so very important that it demands a more minute discussion than has been bestowed upon it. If, where- ever it has hitherto been tried, ^t has been successful, as it is admitted to have been under every disadvantage, it will be diilicult to conjecture to what extent it would succeed, if the most judicious plans were adopted. Even although it should be true, that its success is confmed to the poor- er class of people, this of itself would be sin- gularly advantageous to the state. But if it siiall be found that there is really nothing which can confine these benefits to the poorer sort, but that they are greedily sought after by the whole class of small tenants, the importance of this sort of employment must »! iV f ■ « • -I It >i ". • ' *l '■ . 'I '■- 1 P. ()6. 120 < :'- be at once obvious. As it will immediately appear that such really is the case, we cannot help thinking that Lord Selkirk's well known talents in rural and political economy would have been more usefully and honourably em- ployed, in illustrated proper systems of im- provement for the Highlands, than in the speculations his eloquence has illustrated, and the plan he has so much exerted himself to recommend. It is frequently insinuated by Lord Selkirk, in the course of his observations, that the most beneficial use to which the district of the Highlands can be applied, is to be the breed- ing country of the united kingdom, as being throughout more fitted for pasturage than for raising grain. Like most other general ob- servations, this can by no means be admit- ted to be in all respects correct. In many very remote districts, sufficient grain is raised for the consumption of the whole inhabitants, and even from som^ of the western isles grain is an article of export. There is no doubt that the Highlands could raise enough of grain for the support of a greater number of inhabl- ns;i ■- >T 121 tants than are at present maintained in It. The remark of Lord Selkirk, it is very true, applies more justly to some parts of the wes- tern coast, where the climate is so wet and stormy that in some years the crop of grain cannot be secured, although even in this dis- trict, * wherever grain is cultivated, it is ex- * tremely productive * ;' and it is well known that every species of green crop is there raised with great success. It may very possibly be thought that the encreasing adoption of the sheep-farming system, is a sufficient proof that it has been found to be the most profitable mode of ru- ral management. But this cannot be con- sidered as by any means an accurate crite- rion. It has not yet been tried, for a suffi- cient length of time, to ascertain accurately its advantages, compared with other modes. It is unquestionably much more profitable than the old system, and requires much less advance of money on the part of the "* Survey of ihe North Counties, p. 1 18. Q i"M h'- '*■% \ ■ '/ ■ \ ' 122 ■; y: ; ji. '»>" , I if landlord. This is all th;it can yet be said of it ; but this of itself is (juitc enough to procure it very universal adcption. Had the same attention been emj^loyed in in\- proving the breed of catde in many of those districts which have reaped the bene- fit of the care bestowed upon shccp-farm- ing, and had proper winter food been raised upon the arable land for them, there cannot be a doubt that the value of sucli a farm would have been superior to wliat is now obtained, and without any of the evils of de- population. There are many situations much better adapted to rear black cattle than sheep ; and it may be said of the whole Highlands, that they are equally adapted for either, except upon the sides of some of the steepest, or the tops of some of the highest of tlie ranges of mountains ; and ' wherever ii is possible to rear cattle, they are much more advantageous to the grazier than sheep, whose greatest pro- perty is to feed in those j'laces which cattle cannot reacli. Besides, although the price of slieep continues high, from the vast quanta- ■*■:;!■ j,-i' I 123 tics required for stocking the country, and the tenant is thus enabled to pay a good rent, the immense increase In the quantity of this stock will certainly greatly diminish the price of the produce. Before a great pro- portion of the Highlands can be fully stocked, the market will he glutted — a sale must be for- ced — consc(juently the price diminished. This seems even already in some measure to have taken place, as the price of lambs has fallen considerably at the latest markets in the Highlands, TiOt so many being now requir-» cd for new stocks. In all probability the country will be obliged again to return to the corn and cattle system, wherever such a system is advantageous. This is the more likely, if the quantity of cattle reared be diminished from their place being occupied by sheep ; for, in that case, the value of the black catde stock must rise in proportion, till a much greater profit be derived from It than from sheep. But how difficult will the return be to the corn and cattle sys-* tern ? No more inhabitants will have been re- 4 ,. .»»*•■*■• «■" '1 I ^»^- ';! ', I tiincd than could attend to the great sheep' walk, wliich is to embrace the principal part of the Highlands; the cncrcased demand for labourers will greatly and disproportion- ately increase the price of labour, so as com- pletely to discourage any change of system ; and the slowness with which this demand can be supplied by a population increasing from natural means, will powerfully retard the progress of improvement. It is not at all likely that, in such a state of things, any .strangers would migrate to the Highlands. To a person not a native, it does not present my very alluring objects: so that while we con- clude, with an intelligent observer, that ' the * joint productions of corn, cattle, and sheep, * appear most likely to give permanency and ' certainty to the prosperity of the coun- try*', we must also agree with him, that the proper time for adopting this system, ij* ' while tliere are people in the Highlands f sufhcient for these purposes. The same author '* Survey of Centr. Highl. p. 56. iP.52. t' 12/ * declares, that the 'hlch has bcc rgumcnt * held about whether the Highlands should be * inhabited by the human species or by sheep, * can have no sufHcient ground until the coun- * try be rendered fully productive, and fit for * the support of eidicr. At present it may be * said to be in a state of wildness not unsimilar * to that of the wilds of America.' The pos- sibility and advantage of retrieving it from this state must place in a most striking point of view, the impo!i\:y of emigration. The greatest efforts of human industry have been made from the influenee of necessity ; and no country will ever be made to maintain near- ly the population its physical powers give it a capacity of doing, if its inhabitants leave it whenever they fmd land in some other re- gion more productive or more easily culti- vated. Some circumstances seemingly very obvious must have been overlooked by Lord Sel- kirk, otherwise the idea could never have been for one moment entertained, that emigra- tion was necessary, far less that it could /-«>»;. :.*■."- ' < , ■' ill '»> ■ ."J 1' IV':* ■■■■ ;';S •I ' 126 have a beneficial inllucncc upon the polkical interests of the country. That agriculture is yet in in its infancy, is a remark which cannot be confined to tlie district of the Higldands : nor is tliat part of the British empire singular in yielding a very inferior produce compared with its power of raising vegetable food. Great Britain, by the most accurate computation *, contains 67,000,000 acres. Of these 7,000.000 are supposed to be occupied by houses, roads, lakes, rivers, and other objects which render them incapable of cultivation. Of the re- maining 60,000,00c, only five are cmplnyed in raising grain, and twenty-five in pastu- rage ; while thirty millions lye waste, or arc cultivated in such a manner as to be extreme- ly^ unproductive. "V'^-^hin the last fifty years, how^ever, much has been done to reclaim these wastes : no less than 2,800,000 acres have been improved and inclosed f ; and it * Sir John Sinclair's, f M' Arthur's Pol. and Fin. Facts, c. 13. W: 12' •"• lias been calculated that If a third of the waste lands had been brought into a proper state of cultivation, they would have afforded maintenance for double the [fopulation that the island at present contains. Had wc l)cen able to oppose a population of twen- ty-two millions to the towering ambition of France, liow much less reason should wc have had to dread the event of the present contest? It will not be thought surprising, after the details which have been given of the former state of die Highlands, that they should be found to contain at least an equal proportion of waste lands with any other part of the king- dom. Those, however, who are best ac- (luainted with the rural economy of tlic dis- tricts of the country where these are situ- ated, point them out as highly improveable, and as affording a valuable and important ad- dition to our national wealth. Every page of the Agricultural Surveys of the High- land counties, as well as of the more minute details of the Statistical Accounts of the Higli- j^.-i V • * ' ♦ 'f.f '■ .•.♦■■': I2S '■ « , f' -k/" land parishes,"* place this subject in a most conspicuous point of view. Indeed it is im- possible for any person to travel through the Highlands without remarking, that the same spirit of agricultural improvement, which so remarkably distinguishes the rest of Scot- land, is making rapid, though late, advances into every part of this hitherto neglected district : and when we compare even its present with its former state, we cannot but wonder at the prodigious quantity of waste ground which every year sees added to the productive resources of the country. It is not alone in the wild district of Rannoch, that the following is a true picture. Every cor* ner of the country can furnish similar in- stances. ' In my neighbourhood, there are * fields, which, in their natural unimproved * state, were scarcely worth any thing, but * which will now set at 2I. or ^L an acre. ' A field of from four to six acres yields a * crop of hay which sells for 30I. or 40I. I * have seen those fields mere black moss, or ' rocks, stones, or brushwood, like inaccessible t ot < n 129 * jungles of India or America *.* Political circumstances are now permitting the country to enjoy the benefit of such improvements j so that the present moment seems least of any fitted for insisting upon the inhabitants quitting their native country to find employ- ment amidst the pestilential swamps of Ame- rica. . ■ • . , » . ' It is impossible, in a sketch like this, to enter minutely into the subject ; nor to dis- cuss the capacities of different parts of the Highlands for employing the population in this branch of industry ; But the following account of one district may serve as a speci- men of all the rest : ' In this county (Argyle) * there is a vast quantity of waste land, which ' is capable of cultivation. Much of this * land, if improved, would be of more value * than a great part of what we have now in ' tillage. Our forefathers, ignorant of the ' art or advantage of draining, pitched not ' upon the best, but upon the driest fields. * If the plain was too wet to admit the plough, • Irvine, p. ii6. R ?;r^. !■.. ' ■ 1 .■ ** ^1 ■ » » ► 130 '■ll!^ .Y. • *:. :• ,^- •X^:^ ► JJr>': if; * they passed by it, and tore up the face of c- ' bleak and barren hill, where there was nei- * ther soil nor shell er. Hence a great deal ' of oui best soil remains in a state of nature. ' The quantity of waste land capable of culti- * vation, that may be in the continental part ' of the county, may probably, at a low cal- * culation, be stated at an average at 2000 * acres to each parish, or about 50,000 in ' all *.* This most unquestionably exhibits the country in a very diflerent point of view from that in which it has been placed by Lord Selkirk. The Rev. Author was called upon to exhibit a faithful narrative of what he had the best means of knowing ; while the opposite representation is essential to the speculations of any one whose interest it is that America should be supposed the only field for the industry of the Highlander. Nume- rous extracts might be produced in support of th : opinions of Dr Smith ; but, on the present occasion, one other quotation only * Surv. of Argylc by Rev, Dr J. Smith, p. 171. ^ *3i shall be offered. It will be the more readily forgiven, as it contains the opinion of one without any national partiality to bias his judgment, and with too intimate a knowledge of the subject to suffer any deception to mis- ead him. ' The central Highlands do not produce a sufficient supply of vegetable food for their numerous inhabitants. Meal is every year, 1 believe, brought irto it, and some years in considerable quantities : and this, notwithstanding the country, if fully reclaimed and properly cultivated, would, I am of opinion, produce more than enou jh for the present, or a greater number of inha- bitants *.' Will any one doubt that it is better to employ the present inhabitants in reclaiming the country, and raising vegetable food for the present, and even an increased population, than to drive them out of it from a supposed want of sources of productive in- dustry for employing diem ? In the cultivation of waste land, it may be affirmed without fear of contradiction, that * Survey of Centr. Hi^Hl- p. 21. H *' t'. If ■ lis 132 the whole amouiiL of the people, who must be displaced by the prevalence of sheep- farming, where judiciously pursued, might be usefully employed very much to the ad- vantage of the state, as well as to their own individual comfort. The capital which goes out of the country to cultivate the wilds of America, would just serve the same purpose here, saving, at the same time, to the cultiva- tors the expence of the voyage. Give them leases sufficient to secure a proper reward for their labour, and there is no fear of their becoming any longer bondsmen to American Colonizers : Nor hae it been found that many of those, who have sufficient proper- ty to purchase lands for themselves, insist upon carrying themselves and their families to a foreign country, if they can embark their little fortune in similar adventures on this side of the Atlantic. A few, no doubt, may have done so j but they are not nume- rous. These exceptions, however, cannot affect the general argument : find employment, upon the extensive wastes which every where ^33 desolate the country, and by far the greatest proportion of the present inhabitants will eagerly grasp at it. The cultivation of waste land obtained through these means, in fact, adds to the territory of the state ; and, by doing so, at the same time increases its resourses and population. For while so much ground, capable of culdvation, remains in a state yielding little or nothing, the country is just as litde benefited by it as if it did not exist. But if reclaimed, which the present population affords in a great measure the means of doing, it supplies much more effectually to the state, although perhaps not to certain individuals, all the ad- vantages which can possibly be expected to result from the most flourishing condition of our foreign colonies. Nature, indeed, has for this purpose been bountiful in her favours, as perhaps no corn- try contains a greater variety or a greater quan- tity of those natural stimuli which add fresh vigour to die soil, and repair the waste pro- duced by frequent cropping. We possess mar- ■i^".' -'.i .'? tI tt '■\ 9... "Ms •» 134 1 'i-i ..' 1.' i • •Si .'* I I ble, limestone, marie, sea shells, and sea- weed, or ware as it is called, almost every where, and in great abundance, both in the inte- rior of the country and along the sea shore ; we have rills of water every where flowing for the profitable uses of irrigation ; and we mc.y also add, although it may provoke a smile, that we have an inexhaustible supply of peat moss, the effects of which, as a valuable manure, are becoming generally known and acknowledged. It is indeed a most important acquisition to agricultural science. Of such advantages we are beginning to avail ourselves. Already a very material improve- ment has been made in the rural oeconomy of the Highlands, by what may be termed the system of crofting. By it every different varie- ty of ^ ound upon a Highland estate is tui*n- ed to its proper use, and every person em- ployed to the best advantage. All the arable grounds in the bottom of the vallies, on the sides of the hills, on the banks of rivers, and the margnis of lochs, are laid out in small farms, consisting of from ten to twenty acres, or perhaps more. Upon each of these ^35 lots one family is set down, each of which . enjoys all the benelit of its own indui^try ; sometimes each has also a portion of grazing ground. These possessions are separated from each other by proper fences, as well as by an enclosure from the farms which comprehend the interior and mountainous part of the es- tate, upon which in former times perhaps on- ly a few deer wandered, but which is now occupied either by black cattle or sheep, ac- cording as it is adapted to one or the other species of stock. In this way the proprietor has a prospect of seeing a great addition made to the cultivated parts of his property, with* out any expence on his part ; and will in a few years obtain a rent pehaps six times as high as a sheep farm would have produced. The whole population on the estate is ac- commodated with certain portions of land, according to their skill, industry, and capital, so that individual interest and public prosne- rity go hand in hand. The Duke of Argyle has prosecuted this system for many years to a very g eat extent, as well as Lord Brea- dalbane j and with a little encouragement the J 1 I ^' ^ i ■ ■ ■ r' 136 • f 1 1 5: 1^ tenants have bv their labour made im- provcrncnts by cncloshig, draining, &c. to an astonishing amount. They are not only compleatly contented but thriving ; they have exerted themselves beyond the most sanguine hopes of their landlords. Lord Selkirk per- haps kr.ows, that all the attempts to persuade them in 1S03, that their lot would be hap- pier in America, proved fruitless. The same system has been followed with the same suc- cess upon the estates of Ardgower, of Locheil, and of Clanranald, as well as in North Uist and the island of Ulva ; and it has been ac- complished still more lately by the Duke of Gordon in Lochaber. After accommodating: all the inhabitants on his property, and many from the neighbourhood, still this was not sufficient to occupy the whole ground fit for crofthig ; and accordingly it was found ne- cessary to advertise for settlers from other parts of the country. So much is the merit of this system now acknowledged, that a plan has been given, within these few weeks, of the best mode of imp: :)ving an estate in the is- land cf Mull, which bv universal consent is §(' ^' 137 believed to be as populous as any other estate in the Highlands ; and yet, according to the plan which has been submitted to the pro- prietor, nine new families are required before the whole farms and possessions can be occu- pied to the best advantage. In the same manner it has been found necessary to plant new tenants in the isle of Harries, in order most beneficially to improve the estate of its principal proprietor. Yet this is the country from which Lord Selkirk calls upon govern- ment to encourage an emigration of its peace- able and well disposed inhabitants ; and this the very time which he has chosen for making an appeal upon this subject to the public. In a few years more, these practical experiments w^ould have been universally known, and rooted up the very basis of his reasonings. This system has been of course attended with the annihilation of the tacksmen, as middle-men between the tenant and the pro- prietor, and with the abclition of the ser- vices and the exactions which former times ■h^ ^ : 1.1 8 138 had sanctioned. Nor is this to be regret- ted. Their tenants were in general less comfortable than those of the laird ; though this certainly may not have been universal ; but, at all events, experience has always shewn, that such an order of men, between the owner of the ground and the occupier, is a political evil of very great magnitude, and that scarcely any thing can prove a greater bar to the tenant's success, than the claim which his master makes upon his time and labour. Neither have those tacksmen any reason to complain, as they in ge- neral have received a farm perhaps larg- er than they ever occupied before, the rest of their extensive possession having been subset. Some of them, however, have been discontented, and have led to America those over whom they had influence in this coun- try; whose lot, it is feared, they have not always improved by the change. The following account of an experiment, upon principles a little different from those akeady mentioned, will, it is hoped, not be iMr ■% m-x I ^39 displeasing. A few years ago, a large estate was converted into a sheep pasture, and given in lease to a few rich graziers at an ad- vanced rent. So much humanity, however, was shewn to some of the poor people, who could not provide for themselves elsewhere, that they were allowed one large tarm among them, the rent of which was advancjil, by degrees, to the general stiiulard. There rhey sat down to the number of about 30 fani :!ics, and, at a considerable expence, built for themselves tolerable habitations. The arable part of thfi farm, with as much ground as could be improved by cultivation, they di- vided into shares proportionate to their re- spective families. This being done, they set to work with plough, spade, and mattock, occasionally uniting their forces to perform what they could not singly accomplish. At the same time they joined the little mo- ney they possessed, with what they could raise upon credit. Vj put a common stock of sheep upon the mountain, and em- ployed a common shepherd to look after them. Their flock prospered ; and tlicir I I ■V ?. • ■ ^ I J 1 TM i • 1 V 1. ■' tM -4 'V.' 140 ' .••'•iii ,« f ■ > L ,1 ■ •■ .'f t :; » ground, rendered fertile by their exertions, produced enough to su})})ly the wants ot na- ture, which arc all a Highlander requires. From 100 to ijo souls not unly derived their subsistence from the farm, but paid their rent, perhaps without any sensible diminution of the cattle it was capable of maintaining, if the plain had not been tilled *. There are some things in this narrative well worth; of attention. While the inter- est of the landlord did not suffer, thirty fa- milies had the means of making themselves comfortable without the heart-rending pang of looking for comfort in America ; and had the plan been steadily pursued, there can- not be a doubt that the proprietor would have profited much more than by the sys- tem of depopulation, which is so strongly recommended. The encouragement to in- industry effectually prevents idleness in the people ; the less aciive being spurred on to emulate the example and earn the success of their more industrious neighbours ; commu- Stat. Acct. of Scotl. Vol. X. p. 563. 141 nicating to each other the benefit of an ex- perience which may have cost considerable hardships and cxpence, till all the ar.ible parts of the farm, by their labour and indus- try, arc brought into a course of cultivation the most producti'.'c. When the great bulk of the present occupiers have either died or been otherwise acconuiiodated, the whole may be put into the hands of two or three of the most intelligent and industrious cither of themselves or of their sons ; when the rent that will be drawn for it must be much high- er than that for any of the mere pasture farms of the same size and quality. In the mean time, the proprietor ought gradually tg introduce among them and their families some easy effort of domestic industry, assembling them into a village for that purpose ; or di- rect their attention to the prosecution of the fishery, if they be situated near the sea shore. By this means, the land will yield a rent which the consumption of towns and villages alone can justify, and will at the same time, a- mong other sirgular advantages, find suflieient assistance from the inhabitants of these, dur- •i •i 'A' > :%■ 1 I <1 ii ?■ % ■ -r 142 ing the periodical seasons of agricultural ex- ertion which requi^'e the labour of many more hands than are usually employed upon the farm. By such management as this, the hills might be covered with sheep, and the plains with grain ; the Highland estates would be improved, while the people would be ren- dered happy. It need not be dissembled, that through- out a very great part of the Highlands, the state of husbandry is just as bad as possible ; the very same which was once unl ersal throughout the whole of Scotland, and which prevailed even in some of the best cultivated districts of the low country, within the me- mory of the present generation. The soil is often cropt with successive white crops, till it can produce nu longer ; it is then al- lowed to rest for three or four years, with- out the precaution having been taken of sow- ing it down with grass seeds. The soil per- haps i^ just beginning to give a litde tolera- ble grass, when it is again ploughed up, and, without the smallest particle of manure, its productive powers are once more exhausted H3 :d by repeated white crops. It is only up- on a field or two near the farm-house that any manure is bestowed. It cannot surely be wondered at, if, under such a mode of management, the produce is very scanty in- deed ; and it is probably not assuming too much to say, that, under a proper sys- tem, the land would produce three times, or at least twice, the quantity of vegetable food it now affords. Where bad management is very much the cause of bad crops, the cli- mate is too often introduced to bear a much greater share of the blame than is justly due to it. In most places, it forms no obstacle to the production of grain which skill and industry may not conquer. But although in some, the climate may not be so favourable for corn corps, both it and the soil have been uniformly found admirably adapted for rais- ing all kinds of green crops. In the island of S^iy, sonic {'xpcriments have been made in turi ip luisbandry, where the returns have been 'XjUoi even to the produce of the lovi'- lanc! drtncts best ad.ipted to that crop. The advantage of this mode of culture is great, ' % 1 Hi 1^ .« 136 but they will rcinaui. If some valuable and important disco^'cry in mcclKuiics were made, by which the labour of o'.iC half of the manu- facturers of Glasgow and raislcy was sup- planted, how would a speculator be listen t'd to who should gravely recommend to government to force the people, thus displac- ed, to leave the country, and carry their ma- nufacturing skill and industry to a foreign state ? Would not the discovery of machi- nery, if attended by such consequences; real- ly diminish the national strength, although it might leave a smaller population in posses- sion of a greater quantity of wealth ? But, on the other hand, would not government rouse and excite the patriotism of individuals to carry on such works as would employ the unoccupied and unexerted industrv whicli liad been saved by the discoveries of science ? 'Ihe temporary competiuon for employinent would greatly benefit the country ; and, bv vlie lower price at which the manufactured article miglit be fiu-nislied, a market would he sccTUX'd, which it would require an increas- ^;-:- [i. ^57 :Xo' ing produce to supply. If this would be the consequence of a number of manufacturers being turned suddenly out of employment, how ought the interests of the state to prompt an opposite line of conduct, because the dis- placed workmen have left the agriculture in- stead of the manufactures of the country ? Grain, which is the staple commodity up- on which the prosperity of every country must ultimately depend, should, if possible, be always raised within its territory sufficient for the support of its inhabitants. In small states, this may not be so very essential, as they never can excite any great jealousy, and must always place themselves under the protection of some powerful neighbour. But in a great state, such as Britain, it is sometimes dangerous, and at all times im- politic, to depend upon a neighbour, and consequently a rival, for a supply either of grain or stores necessary for the national de- fence: yet such is the present aspect of the po- litical economy of this country, that, ever since the year 1 769, grain has been imported, in- •* m '5S tf y :( , ■♦.■ m stead of being exported in great quantities as it formerly was. The immense increase of our commerce and manufactures, and consequent- ly of the population of the state, having pre- ceded the advancement of agricultural in- dustry, may, in some measure, account for this circumstance. It is possible, too, that legislative interference may also have had its influence. It is melancholy to consider, that when wre could easily raise grain for double the present number of inhabitants, we should risk our prosperity to the good sense of the powers surrounding the Baltic. Grain has cost the nation, for the last ten years, not less than the enormous sum of L. 3,500,000 an- nually : the idea which the Northern Powers seem ^ to entertain, that they hold in their hands the means of starving this country into compliance with their demands, has twice induced them to attempt a violent subversion of those principles of the law of Nations relating to Neutrals, which for- mer times had sanctioned. Both times these attempts have been thwarted : but I' r *-3 .-T JJ9 111 bodi the combination was extremely for- midable, and made us tremble for our naval superiority. The time may come when the very wealth which this country circulates among the Northern States for the purchase of grain and naval stores, part of which might be easily raised by ourselves, may so far increase their power, and the capability of drawing forth their immense resources, that we shall no longer be able to resist their demands. Thcu' obstinate adherence to the same principles in their neutral code for regulating commerce, leaves us no room fcr supposing that they will ever desist till their object be attained. Scotland, and particularly the Highland district of it, assuredly Is not so fertile as ei- ther England or Ireland. Still it will be able, without difficulty, to bear its share in the attempt to supply the inhabitants of the empire with grain from our own resources. From the ground already under tillage in the Highlands, if a proper system were adopted, at least twice the (j^uantity of grain might '" * "1 r ' 1 60 I 1^ 'If ^^^;' be raised ; and It may be predicted, that the consumption of i^rain for food will not in- crease by any means in proportion with an increase of inhabitants ; potatoes furnishing a most grateful substitute. This to a poor* man is on many accounts a most invaluable root : it suits the climate ; it is produced in singular abundance ; it is a great enricher of the soil ; it affords a most nutritious food at an easy rate ; and it saves both the expence of grinding and baking. To the idea of raising grain and other necessary articles sufficient for our own consumption within the country, it will surely be objected, that it leads us back to the old system of national jealousy, and forces the production of a commo- dity among ourselves, which it would be more advantageous to purchase from our neighbours by the exchange of some of our own productions which are encouraged by this trade. But the question is not aboTit turning our industry from a more produc- tive channel into one less so ; it is about i6i exciting the latent energies of our national industry, and finding employment for many who must otherwise either be a burden up- on the nation, or withdraw themselves frorh the country. Bet, independently of this, the trade with those states from which we import grain, is not such an encouragement to our manufactures as may at first be thought ; for from all of them we import a great deal more than we export to them, and, from Russia, about four times as much. It is not so much an opening for our ma- nufacturing industry as a drain for our coin. This has been brought into the country, it is true, by exchanging for it part of our pro- duce, for which those nations, from whom we received it, had nothing else which we stood in need of to give us in return. But by sending it once more out of the king- dom, we convert it into a circuitous foreign trade, the most unfavourable the nation can be engaged in. It would be much better employed in putting into motion the latent industry which is in search of employmcnr, i ■* 4!'. * ■Jt ' ■ •-' ■ I .: 162 m 1 I ffl 'I '"'■- 1. •♦■- f, li and which might be exerteJ in producing grain vithin our own territory. It appears, then, that this drain is an 'unnecessary drain, as well as one highly prejudicial, as we have ample resources unemployed which would prevent this trade taking place at all. The want of capital is the great obstacle to the better cultivation of the soil of the kingdom, Almost all the old proprietors have, on many accounts, very little ready money to lay out on improvements, which require a considerable sum to be taken from the fund of immediate consumption, and added to their capital. This the laws of pri- mogeniture and entail make it in many cases extremely inconvenient to do. Stilij how- ever, as it cannot be denied that a state is great according to her population and re- sources, it seems a liational concern, that every addition whicii is possible should be made to them. A nation on the continent of Europe may grow powerful by the gradual acquisition of territory from neighbouring states which are consolidated togetlier, till one great, powerful, and compact empire is form- ed. Our situation, surrounded and inclosed on all sides by the sea, precludes such a mode of aggrandisement ; but then every acre which was once waste, and which is brcMght into culiivation, is so much added to the territory of the state. Along with this comes the additional quantity of subsistence, while its never failing attendant, population, keeps pace with it in a beautiful order, nice- ly adjusted by the author of Nature. Much money is expended, and cheerfully expended, upon the acquisition of some paltry island or insignificant possession abroad, which perhaps is the only fruit of a long war, except the loss of many brave men, and a great addi- tion to our public debt : Ought not some- thing to be contributed towards conquering and subduing our own territoiy ? If land- holders, whose capitals will not afford any very extensive outlay of money, were enab- led to undertake the improvement of the mosses and waste gro aids upon their estates, the benefit to the nation v.ould be . ingularly I. t I 'A 11 1 ■t?.', ■) : •ii» i vfli' ■ L ;■'»'* 164 great. Large sums of money have been ad- vanced by government at different times, to save the sinking credit of commerce, upon the occurrence of any great and unforeseen calamity ; and it has been wisely done. But why should not the agricultural interests of thr country be equally well attended to ? /) e they either less important, or do they funilsh a less ample security for repayment ? The advance of a sum of money, not one half of what is sent out of the country for grain, to be repaid by instalments within a given period, would, in the course of a few years, bring into cultivation an immense quantity of land at present useless. One effect of this, among mariy other veiy im- portant ones, would be to diminish the price of grain, which regulates the price of all our manufactures. This would in some degree counteract the necessary, but grievous burden of excessive taxation ; give a new spur to industry, and enable our manu- facturers to supply the produce of their in- dustry at a cheaper rate ; increasing the mar- :i •i" • \ 165 ket by bringing the power of purchas- ing within the reach of greater num- bers. It has been well observed, that the manufactures of Great Britain con- sist rather of necessary and useful articles than of expensive luxuries *. The ascenden- cy which the middling classes are at present every where attaining in Europe, must there- fore daily increase the demand for British manufactures, and thus increase every spe- cies of her industry. Any dimipiiti 1 in the price will necessarily augm< u the de- mand, by extending the power to ^ archasc. The remarks upon this subjec; / liichhavc insensibly been drawn out to too great a length, cannot be better closed than in the w^ords of the father of the science of political economy : * The capital employed in agriculture not only puts into motion a greater quantity of * productive labour than any equal capital employed in manufacturies, but in propor- * tion to the quantity of productive labour Lauderdale on Pub. Wealth, p. 259. I *'K 1 06 which It employs, it adds a much greater vahic to the annual produce of the land and lahour of the country, to the real wealth and revenue of the inhabitants. Of all the ways in wliich a capital can be employed, it is by far the most advantageous to society.' Hie ordinary revolutions of WMr and go- vernment easily dry up the sources of that wealth which arises from commerce alone. That which arises from the inorc solid improvements of agriculture is much more durable, and cannot be destroyed but by those more violent convulsions occasioned by the depredations of hostile and barbarous nations continued for a century or two to- gether ; such as those which happened for some time before and after the fall of the Roman empire in the western provinces of Europe *.' 2. ' The fisheries,* says Lord Selkirk,' next to the cultivation of waste lands, seems the most important resource that is open to the Wealth of Nations, vol. i. p. 362. and p. 418. '* > ■vt. 6? * Highlanders in their own country ^' Such au admission from one vvlio seems determin- ed, at all events, to remove the present inhahi* tants ot tlie Highlands for want of employ- ment, at once shews that this must indeed be a very important object. The extent of coast to which fish of every kind resort, the inkts and bays that indent the west Highlands, affording excellent stations for innumerable quantities of shipping ; and the seemingly in- exhaustible su})ply of lish, flir greater than any probable dtinand, point out this as an immeasurable fund of wealth for the High- lands, as well as a means of employment to a great number of the inhabitants. The race of hardy and intrepid seamen, by this means trained for the service of tlic state, is unques- tionably an object of great national import- ance. Besides this, the fisheries are always the source of a variety of manuflictures and handicrafts, many, in a political point of view, essential to the existence of a eommer- ■■'f: ■n ♦ P. 96. I'l A' ^>^ w < • it ^He 'i ' H i. ^H> « r ,BHl f mKA 'V • ii :; t 1 4 >i I f|. i68 cial country. It is not merely the seaman who is trained, or the fish-curer who is enriched by the trade, but the boat-builder, the sail-maker, the cooper, the ropemaker, the netmaker, &c. all derive employ! ucnt from it. By this means they exert industry and acquire skill, which the higher interests of the state may one day call forth for their protection. At this particular period, when we are told emigration must prevail to an extent hitherto unexperienced, till the whole class of small tenants be drained off, we cannot but re- gard the political aspect of the world, though in other respects sufficiently dark, as pointing out this source of national wealth most par- ticularly to public notice. At this very mo- ment the commerce of the Dutch is annihil- ated ; and this trade, from which they de- rived so much of their wealth, and which was the cradle of their naval strength, is abandoned. While they remain as at pre- sent tributary to France, it cannot revive. Without the energy acquired from indepen- dence, and the security attendant on liberty, the Dutch commonwealth never would have- 1. iii; 169 risen from the bed of the ocean, and never will again reach such a height of prosperity as even, on our own coasts, to exclude our en- terprising merchants. The market, however, still continues the same ; and we have nothing to do but to step in to supply the demand, which the Dutch cannot now do. • , . • The extent to which they formerly carried on the herring trade on the coast of Scotland is quite incredible. In the year 16 18, they sent out 3000 busses with 50,000 men to fish ; and they required 9000 vessels more to transport and sell the fish : this employed by sea and land about 150^000 men, besides those first mentioned. Even though the fisli were caught on our own coasts, we were obli- ged to send a sum of money out of the coun- try for purchasing thein, which would have been much more profitably employed in pro- secuting the fishery ourselves. It will scarcely be believed, by those who are ignorant, that ca- pita.' does not very easily flow into a new chan- nel, till the old channels have all overflowed ; that when this trade, owing to the political j i- Y ^' *.' 170 'i^ iv'V ^\' Illation of the Dutch, was destroyed, we did not immediately seize it. It seems the more ex- traordinary that we did not immediately avail oqrselves of this favourable opportunity, as at this very time the population, the very sinews and life of our empire, was abandoning the country from a difficulty in finding employ- ment. Nay, what is still more, we have become indebted to Norway for a supply of tfiis com-» modity. Her trade, arising from the lislie- ries, has increased in proportion as that ot the Dutch has declined ; so that in 1802 she exported no less than 26,500 tons of fish, although five years before, she had not ex- ported one half of that quantity. In that year, 2500 tons were cleared out for Great Britain and Ireland *, It has been calculated by men unbiassed by any national prejudice, and blinded by ao speculative imagination, that the continental consumption of herrings might be from 250,000 to 300,000 biincls at the lcai>i, and 'f, Oddy on Commerce, p. 52^. i "^ -^^^^^ 171 probably much more, if the fish were equally well cured as those cured by tlic Dutch. Each barrel is worth, upon an average, L. 4 ; so that this fishery would produce to the nation at least L. 1,000,000 Ster- ling per annum *. The number of seamen employed could not be less than between 45,000 and 50,000. Can any advantages^ to be derived from colonising America and peopling Canada, compensate the loss of such immense national resources ? It is im- possible for any person, who calmly views this subject, without passion or prejudice, to hesitate one moment in his opinion. . The employment of the fisheries is ex- tremely congenial to the character of the Highlanders. It calls forth many of their most hardy and adventurous talents. Upon this subject, Lortl Selkirk's testimony is very important: It is ' more congenial to the lia- ' bits and inclinations of the people than al- % ii i'\ *' App. No. 10. to Fourth Rep. ou Coasts, i 172 * most any other that can he proposed ; and, * without any very extraordinary encourage - ' ment, this branch of business may be car- ' ried as far as natural circumstances, and the * extent of the market will permit*.* A more decided testimony in its favour cannot be looked for, as it is very clear that no en- couragement could possibly extend it far- ther than the market and the abundance of the article will admit. When we consi- der the employment given to so many families, the encouragement to so many arts, and the consequent demand for so much of the produce of the earth, occasioned by a pro- per attention to the lisheries, it cannot but be looked upon as a most fortunate circum- stance, that we have now an opportunity of deriving all the benefit they are capa- ble of aftbrdlng. We ought to profit even more than the Dutch did ; for, being so much nearer the fishing grounds than they were, we can catch herrings at a cheaper rate ; and consecjuently sell them in the mar- • P. ory. 173 4 , ket at a lower price than they did, which, avS in other cases, will increase the demand. Al- though the Dutch have hitherto surpassed us in their mode of curing, this is chiefly to be accounted for from the circumstance of our market being principally the West Indies, where the herrings are disposed of for the use of the negroes ; and where not so much the delicacy of the taste, as the lowness of the price, is the inducement to purchase. But when proper attention is bestowed up- on this article, and Dutch prisoners of war, who are skilful in this business, are employed to teach our people, can there be a doubt of our success ? The experiment was tried and vsucceeded in 1801. Herrings cured in this country were mistaken for Dutch cured her- rings*. The obstacles to the success of our fish- eries, and consequently to the increase of ca- pital, industry, and population derivable from that soun-.e, arc shortly adverted to by Lord ' 1 n * A pp. No. 10. to Fourth Rep. on Coasts, &c. ot Scotl, li'*2 ' 1 ,. ' Selkirk; and it is pleasing to remark, that they are all adventitious ; unconnected with the trade itself; and that they may be all easily remedied. The fiscal regulations re- . garding the salt laws form the prominent fea- ture in this melancholy picture, and call loudly for the attention of an enlightened statesman. A necessary of life should, if possible, never be taxed, because it affects every other article of consumption and ma- nufacture much more than it benefits the .state. The absolute necessity of ch exemj)- tion from duty for all salt used in tlif iishery, in order to encourage this vmiif; and most lucrative manufacture^ has inch d the le- gislature to allow the fishories to emoy this pri- vilege. Bu'^ in ^rder to obtain this exemption, it is lu cessarv to c;;* throueh so manv trouble* some and expensive forms that a poor fisher- man is often disappointed when he least ex pccts it. Besides, he must go so far to the custom house, (often forty or fifty miles) to perform all the requisites for obtaining the excmptic^n, that before he can return, the . >'"" 175 fish may have left tlie ground where their appearance made him prepare himself foi the adventure. If he should fail in the mi- nutest titde of the multifarious Custom House regulations, he forfeits his claim, which vcr)'^ often is attended with his ruin. This most ef- fectually deters him and those of the neigh- bourhood who hear of his misfortune (the jus- tice of which they have perhaps the misfor- tune to be dull enough not to apprehend) from again embarking in so j)cnIous an un- dcrtalvlng. But surely it is not enough to S-iy that the regulations of the state, if they be manifestly impolitic, arc sufficient to justi- fy the depopulation of the country, — the los.^ of the nerves and sinews of the empire. But it may well justify the ingenious and intc" i- gent author in explaining to the LcgislaLiirc the impolicy of those regulations ' hich jirj- duce such a baneful cflect. Sue! a remon- strance from such a quarter couK! not fail ol* being listened to. The connection which in mcjt cases has hi- therto subsisted between the fisheries aiul the >, • »H n r V 176 V ..1' ^l/'J u ■;Pt cultivation of land, Lord Selkirk considers z^ absolutely destructive of the success of the former : as the people, it is said, never fail to abandon the new occupation for that in which they have hitherto passed their whole life, wherever they can possibly find their wants supplied by it. But if this evil be of the magnitude which it is said to be, it can easily be removed in future ; and we are told that ' the success which may justly be expect- * ed to attend those who first applied to it with ' steady and unremitting industry, is the only * bounty which will be necessary to induce * others to follow tlieir example *.* Even their prcdelictioii for cultivating the ground may be employed for invigorating their exeriions of industry in the other cccupa- tion : it will incite thcni to greater and more jierscvering zeal ; and the consequent acquisition of capital will enable them to com- pete, at some future period, for a farm which at present they perhaps cannot possibly un- dertake. Even although their exertions should not yield this reward, they will * P. <)H. h\f 1/7 still be profitable to himself and advantage- ous to the state, more so perhaps than if such an incitement had not existed. There seems to be no insurmountable dif- ric!j!ty whatever, arising either from this source or from the salt laws, to impede the adoption of such measures as may very much extend our fisheries and employ a very great proportion of the inhabitants of the sea coasts. A foundation will thus be laid for the success of all those arts connected with its various branches. There are yet other obstacles which have hitherto prevented the HighLo .is from reap- ing the full benefit of the valuable fishery up- on the coast. These have not been advert- ed to by Lord Selkirk, perhaps because they are either temporary or may easily be remov- ed. I. The trade had already been monopo- lized by the Dutch, whose mode of curing herrings we have hitherto made very unsuc- cessful attempts at imitating. We seem to y. :ll fit I .' « •i!; 1 ! I t 178 have given up in despair all hope of rivalling them in the European market, contenting ourselvCvS with the market in the West Indies. Besides, it is well known how extremely difficult it is, except through some violent political convulsion, to divert the course of trade from one channel to an- other ; particularly when, even with the be- nefit of the bounty in favour of the British merchant, the foreigner is able to furnish a superior article at not an unreasonable price. 2. The bounty was only granted to bus- ses or large vessels in imitation of the Dutch. This of course did not in the least degree add to the industiy of the Highlands, as but few individuals there, in the employment of fishing, have capital enough to embark in such an imdertaking as that of fitting out a large vessel, far less a fleet of such vessels. The busses generally belong to merchants in the lowlands, principally from the Clyde; and the only places in the Highlands, which have profited by this bounty, are believed to t.».' ^79 ». be Campbelton, Rothsay, and Stornoway. Besides the bounty, being a tonnage bounty, did not by any means depend upon the suc- cess of the fishers, and still less upon the skill of the fish-curer ; and as the bounty nearly compensated any danger of loss, it took away the greatest incitement to exer- tion, and of competition with foreigners. 3, The bounty not only did not forward the progress of the fisheries among the na- tive Highlanders, but, on the contrary, it was highly disadvantageous to them. The native fishers could only carry on this trade in small boats, for which both the nioral iind natural situation of the country and of its in- habitants are suited. The islands and western shores of the Highlands are completely in- tersected by lochs, to which the herrings resort in their annual visit to our coasts ; and the adventurous disposition of tlie people makes them navigate their small and open boats In the deep sea between the main-land and the ialands, in pursuit of the shoals. The want of capital prevents them from litting out any -a'/ -ar- r\ f ■' • I I:V' M '■i .•[K ■ 'I:" I 80 more costly vessels. ' A boat-fisliing/ Hays Dr Smith, ' seems to be the mode of fishing * best adapted to the peculiar situation of ' Scotland ; the fishers carrying the herrings * on shore as fast as they are taken, to be * either cured or consumed fresli*^.' The bounty on busses operated directly as a dis- couragement to the boat-fishery, by giving such an advantage to the other. At last, a bounty of is. afterwards raised to as. was allowed on every barrel of herrings caught by boats. But by the same act (26 Geo. 3.) the bounty of 2cs. per ton was continued to busses, besides 4s. a barrel, })ro- vidcd the number did not exceed zi lor each ton. This act, of course, did not at all mend the matter, as it still provided such a bounty against the boat-fishery as put it alinosr en- tirely out of the power of the propi letorb of boats to avail themselves of this b( unty, in- dependently altogether of the many trouble- some regulations for obtaining it. We have in this, as in many other in- stances, endeavoured too much to force im-^ ^ Wealth of Nations, 13. 4. c. 5, ^^- iSi provcmcnt, at least so far as the native fish* ers were concerned, Improveiiicnt must al- ways be gradual and progressive. But we attempted at once to force a market ; and, for this purpose, robbed the community in gene- ral, for the sake of one class of manufactur- ers, in order to enable them at once to com- pete with the long established traders in the foreign market. It obviously was the natu- ral course cf things so far to encourage the fishery, as fust of all to supply our home market with a iood which is cheap and whole- some. Before there could have been any neceS' sity for exporting it, except to the West Indies, it might have lowered the expence of the sub- sistence of the lowest class of people, and, consequently, the vakie of our manufactures. During all this time, the fish-curers would have been gradually acquiring skill and capi- tal suflicient to endeavour to drive the Dutch out of die market. The period, hov;cver, is come when we do not need to stand any competition for the complete monopoly of this trade. The nuirkyt of Europe is open to • . il 4 >■ 3; ,f IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) /. W V :/ W /^^ W- 1.0 I.I 1.25 IrllM IIM II 1.8 U 1111.6 Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^^ S^ V ^9) V ^ '1.- <^ ■ A 4ip (/. Q>- & %' l82 *■' 4 > , '; '■• ■ 'i * -^"i '_ ^ ^ K ., ; .> IW' '^ t 1. : US ; let us seize it before other powers step into the situation which the political misfor- tunes of the Dutch have mad'^' them aban- don. The trade has not yet settled in any- new channel, although the Northern States, who enjoyed, and amply profited by their neutrality during the last war, are making great strides to avail themselves of this fa- vourable opportunity, which never occurred before since the rise of l^olland. Nothing is so easy and so natural as for the people in the Highlands to adont this line of life : all along the sea-shore and the sides of the lochs, they already prosecute it for their immediate supply. The example of collecting them into a village, for the more steady prosecution of it, which Mr Mac- lachlan has set, and which is mentioned with so much approbation by Lord Selkirk, shows how likely such establishments are to thrive ; since, in only two fishing seasons, the people were able to pay for the boats from which this profit was raised. So eagerly were the tenantry on his estate desirous of availing themselves of the same prospect of i83 success which had attended the first adven- turers, that application for feus increased up- on him to an amount beyond what he chose to listen to. There is one point, however, with regard to this establishment, upon which Lord Selkirk is very much misinformed. It is a very material point, too, as the very foundation of all his reasonings is, that no employment whatever, which they will adopt, can be found within the country for the small tenants. The settlers in this village are represented as being all of the class of cot- tars; whereas they were tenants and sons of tenants, who could not be otherwise easily provided for in a new arrangement which the proprietor was making of the farms upon his estate. Even if this had not been the case there, it will be found that, wherever the experiment has been made, no difficulty has occurred in accommodating the small te- nants in this way. It is not very easy to see why this estab- lishment is mentioned as the only prosperous fishing village in the Highlands ; and why 6 i i -i :■ * ' fir.' B h m y ■A ,' 184 all other proprietors are represented as supine and negligent except Mr M*Lachlan. Had Lord Selkirk, instead of so steadily directing his eye across the Atlantic, only looked to the opposite side of Lochfyne, he would have seen a village there no mean rival to the one he so much approves of. The inhabitants of Ken more profit most amply of the advan- tage of their situation : during the whole fishing season, their attention is exclusively bestowed upon that lucrative employment ; from which, and from the produce of their looms, they have acquired a considerable ca- pital. They have improved also a great deal of excellent ground which formerly produc- ed nothing but heath. The townofLoch- Gilphead, in the same district of country, which, at present affords very promising prospects of becoming a place of great im- portance, might also have satisfied him, that where attempts are properly made they have will not fail of success. But of all the omissions which are met with, the total silence with regaid to Oban, can least o^ •: n .(. ..4. i85 all be accounted for. In a work profess- ing to exhibit a faithful view of the present state of the Higlilands, particularly as it re- gards the means of employing the people, it is singular that the success of this establish- ment should have been Overlof ked. Begun about 40 years ago, without any very pecu- liar advantages except the possession of a custom house, and the abilities and enterprise of its two first settlers, it has risen into emi- nence with a success unparalleled in any other village in similar circumstances. It now con- tains above 2000 inhabitants. The commerce which it carries on, enables the neiglibourhood to exchange the commodities it can spare, for those it stands in need of j the wealth ac- quired from this barter has given an additional value to the ground for some miles round, and additional cultivation to it : and the peo- ple it has collected together have relieved the adjoining district of any excess in its popu- lation. If Lord Selkirk had chosen to direct his attention to other parts of the country, he A a "^ if . *» I*^-'. ^ - } t' .; « ^ • •{■" •.*-'4 i86 would have found that the suphieness which he charges against the proprietors, in not avaihng themselves of their advantages, is by no means well founded. That their efforts have not been more frequent is greatly to be lamented ; but no true patriot will over- look what has been done, particularly when it is considered that the first experiments are always the most difficult, and still more when these give the most satisfactory earnest of success. We need not despair of seeing fishing villages every where planted upon the western coasts, and that they will one day rise into eminence as commercial towns, as surely, though perhaps not so rapidly, as Greenock, which, half a century ago, was the abode of only a few fishermen. It has risen by re- ceiving the population of Argyleshire and the neighbouring parts of the Highlands, so that, although it be in a lowland district, it has been remarked, that one may walk from one end of the town to the other without hearing a single word spoken of any language but Gaelic *.* * Statist. Ace. of ScotL Vol. V. p. 583. i87 It Is only necessary at present to take no- tice of what has been done in one corner of the country. Very considerable success has attended this kind of improvement in the case of Arnisdale on Loch Hourn, where some of the tenants on the estate of Glenelg ha\ e been set down, who could not other- wise be accommodated. They are thriving, although in a situation seemingly but ill cal- culated for such an undertaking. It is at a great distance from the more cultivated dis- tricts of the country, and the great market for fish ; and the want of a ready internal communication, from the defective state of the roads, prevents the operation of even the little influence which so thinly peopled a country could have upon its success. Not very far from the same place two different modes have been most satisfac- torily tried, by which, among the small tenants as well as cottars, a change of em- ployment has been introduced, and their pre- dilection for the situation of cultivators of the ground overcome by their success in tlie fisheries. These experiments must be ex- i 1. V I •*.k u* 188 If ^ m ' ,7 •ft' tremely gratifying to every person whose self-interest is not effected by their result ; for the class of small tenants, whom, without ex- ception, Lord Selkirk dooms to exile, in order to cultivate the waste lands of speculators in America, have shewn no dissatisfaction what- ever at their change of life : at least their con- tentment widi their present prospects made them resist all the exertions that caused, in a great measure, the emigrations in 1802 and 1803. One of these modes was simply to col- lect the people into fishing villages, leav- ing them, in a great measure, to their own exertions for future success. It was adopted by Lord Scafcrth on the estates of Kintall and Lochalsh. Upon the latter, a village was established at the opening of Loch Duich, in a situation extremely favourable for the iish- ery of the Minch, at a place called I'lock, with the view of providing for the tenantry of the estate a new source of emulative in- dustry which might serve to draw off from an unskilful and too subdivided agri- culture, the superfluity of persons employed 1S9 as farmers on their own account. The vil- lage ot Plock was planned in 1 793 ; and so rapid has hccn its success, that it now con- tains many settlers i)ossessing decked vessels engaged in the fishery, who arc in the way of accumulating considerahle wealth, and thereby holding out a proof, that the possci;- sion of a farm is not the sole source of a com- fortable maintenance. Another similar in- sitution has been formed at Dornie, on the estate of Kintail, upon the shore of the same Loch ; but as it is less favourably situated (being more remote from the IVlinch) tliia village is less advanced in its progress than Plock. There exists, however, no doubt of its ultimate and complete success. • • • • The other mode referred to has been begun with equ?l success. In the more remote parts of the Highlands, where the non-residence of the proprietors, the ex- treme ignorance of the inhabitants, and tlieir want of capital as w^ell as defect of skill, com- bined in the greatest possible degree to dar- ken every prospect of improvement, it seem- n 'i .. k\ IQO *f. .. Li T< i Ui, - ' i' A' J ■ 9 f;^; IV • ' ed that tlic interposition of a middle-man, un- der modifications easy to be devised, would be attended with the best effect in introducing sources of new and highly productive industry^. Many and strong prejudices were to be en- countered, and some difficulties to be obviat- ed, but the experiment has been tried, and its success has been already assured. The circumstances are so pertinent and so interest- ing, that no apology can be required for a pretty full detail of them. Several farms of the estate of Suther- land situated on the coast of Assint, which were well adapted as a station for the fish- ery of cod, ling, and herrings, and were occupied by a number of small tenants, were selected for the purpose of this ex- periment. They were let, on a lease of nineteen years, to Mr Macdonald of Ta- nera, a skilful and enterprising speculator in the fishery, under a variety of conditions. 1st, It w^as stipulated that these farms were to be possessed by other persons as his sub- tenants, but no part of them, on any pretence, by himself. 2dly, He was debarred from 191 making any profit by taking from his sub- tenants any higher rent than that payable by himself, and expressly prevented from exact- ing any services or other prestatioi.s what- soever. He was thus, in respect to the grounds let, a receiver to collect and pay over the rent, and at the vSame time answerable for the full payment of that rent ; a circum- stance w^hich furnished one incitement, among others, to urge and assist the industry by means whereof the fund was tr^ be raised for paying the rent. 3dly, Though he was per- mitted to subdivide the possessions to a cer- tain specified extent, and thereby to introduce new tenants, he was debarred from removing any one, unless on failure either to pay his rent or to attend the fishery when required in moderate weather. Thus was he restrain- ed in such a way as to prevent oppression, and, at the same time, furnished with the best stimulus to the industry of the people. 4thly, He was taken bound to furnish them witti boats, nets, lines, and other fishing im- plements, or (in their option) the materials •'i n I .•J-. 1 it ■'4''.' for making tlicise articles, at prime cost, and lie was restricted to the produce of the fislicry, as the only fund from which liis reimbursement should he claimed. Last- ly, as the reward of all the sujK'rlntcn- dance and instruction and outlay of mo- ney which Mr McDonald was to con- tribute, it was stipulated that the people should give him, in an uncured state, all tlic fish they should catch, for which he should pay them according to the rate current at the time on that coast ; and in case of any (pies- tion or dispute on this point, it was agreed that the rate should be fixed by the award of any one (to be selected by the proprietor) of the clergymen of the maritime parishes, the coasts of which were the scene of the fishery. It is truly pleasing to be able to record the result of this scheme. The restraints on the middle-man, however proper it was to stipulate them, have been imposed on a person whose conduct has shown that, with regard to him individually, they were quite unnecessary. Prompted by a benevolent wish for the wel- M 193 fare of the people placed under his charge, as well as hy flense of their true inte- rests hcing insepa/ablc from his own, he has laboured, and successfully laboured, to inspire them with those views which lead to a course of patient industry, and to furnish them with instruction how best to turn their labour to account. They, on the other hand, though at first the preju- dices of Highlanders led them to take fire at the idea of becoming subtenants, having been cahnly exhorted to consider the safeguards against oppression which had been interposed, and having heard the advantages set forth which the proposed change in their situation was expected to procure for them, submit- ted to the innovation, and now consider them- selves the happiest and most prosperous among the inhabitants of that princely estate No seductive insinuations of trans-atlantic hap- piness have robbed this settlement of a single family ; and, although the hernag fishery has been extremely unfavourable on that coast, ever since the pian was adopted (in 1802) yet the produce of the cod and ling fishery, to Bb > •|| .% 194 t, ■•I ^i'' which little attention was ever before paid by the natives, has abundantly rewarded their toil. In one year the price of cod and ling, furnished to Mr M'Donald by these tenants, surpassed the amount of two years rent of his farms. The gradual subdivision of the grounds possessed by these fishermen will at length terminate in converting them into villagers ; and in short there seems to be no doubt th-^t these, or such like institutions, may one day rival the town of Stornoway in the isle of Lewis, which has grown great from a simi- lar origin. From the effects of the capital, created principally by the fisheries, it now contains above 1,500 inhabitants, in hand- some well built houses ; it has a considerable quantity of shipping, trading even to the West Indies, America, and Holland. The estate of Sutherland, from the gener- ous pride which has always 'nfluenced the conduct of its noble proprietors, has to this day retained the full vigour of the feudal sys- tem. In no part of the Highlands has the ii ty W 1-f u -i-':'' paid by J tlieir id ling, enants, rent of grounds length lagers ; ibt thit )ne day : isle of a simi- capital, it now hand- Iderable to the : gener- r.ed the to this dal sys- has the so much reprobated pursued ; so steadily mode of management, by Lord Selkirk, bee so that the people who have left the Suther- land estate, except in the regiments raised by the family, have been few indeed. From this circumstance, in the eye of an American colonizer, this part of the Highlands will be considered as very much overstocked with inhabitants. Here, however, the experiment has bren fairly begun ; the change of system has been commenced with moderation, and consequently it has not been attended with what is held out to be its necessary concoihi- tant, emigration. For a few years unques- tionably the rent obtained is less ; but can such a consideration enter into the account when the happiness of so many is procured by the sacrifice ? But even if this feeling did not sufficiently reward the noble proprietor, the immediate sacrifice will be most amply compensated at no distant peri( d. The pro- fit in a few years must be greater than if the country had been depopulated for the sake of sheep-farming. Whatever will admit of cul- 4' ■i". ^\ r% 6ti t , » ■• >♦ ; M^ 196 tivation, may be cultivated, as the people still exist for this purpose : and the additional de- mand for the produce of the ground will give a spur to industry which nothing else could give. There is every appearance, that, with- out very much diminishing the pasture, all the low arable land which surrounds the in- land lochs and forms the bottoms and sides of the valleys, will be much more profitably employed in raising food for man. It will not fail to be remarked that by far the greater proportion of those, both on the Seaforth and Sutherland estates, who now employ themselves in fishing, were small te- nants. This incontrovertible fact throws down the very basis of Lord Selkirk's sys- tem, and shows it to be most completely de- void of that solidity which is the true merit and touchstone of every theory. The success and advantage of the plan established on the west coast of the estate of Sutherland, have been such as to stimulate attempts of a similar sort on the eastern part of it. It has long been known, that upon this part of the Sutherland coast, ^97 still tie- give ;ould kith- 1, all in- sides tably and the neighbouring coast of Caithness, a most lucrative fisheiy might be carried on, to which tlie only obstacles are the want of good harbours for the retreat of the fishing vessels in boisterous w^eather, and a steady market for uncurcd fish. In the view of re- medying these defects, the Marquis of Staf- ford is engaged in the project of building, at his own expence, a harbour amply sufficient for every purpose ; and it is proposed to esta- blish in the vicinity of it a respectable per- son v^ho will carry on a traffic for fish upon reasonable terms of contract, with such per- sons as may chuse to become villagers in that, or in any of the other stations in the vicinity which have been pitched upon for that pur- pose. By these establishments, aided by every encouragement w^hich can be aftbrded, there is no room to doubt that a spiiit of industry will be gradually diffused, and that it w^ill come ere long to be considered by many, rather as an advantage than a hardship, to be removed from the interior of the stacc to ibc .i' 198 p 9 vJL' '■'¥■ K\ ■»^ coast, where the fruits of industry will have begun to be enjoyed ; and in this way, a change of system may be gradually intro- duced, uniting the most productive employ- ment of the soil with the preservation of all the inhabitants. It may perhaps be the opinion of some, that it is idle to establish villages, or to em- ploy the people in the fisheries ; for, if the mai'ket be sufficiently encouraging, the capi- tal and skill of the merchants and mariners of the sea-ports in the south, will naturally look for employment there : so that the same num- ber of men may be engaged in the fisheries, and the same quantity be caught, only by the inhabitants of one part of the empire, instead of those of another. It is impos- sible to assent to the policy of such an opi- nion, j ust as little as to those theories which W'Ould transfer the population of the moun- tains and vallies of the Highlands, for the purpose of manufacture, to the towns and villages in the south. The mercantile capi- tal of cur sea-ports will not fail to find the 199 most beneficial employment for itself, more particularly now when the commerce of the world is very much laid open to us. It would be impolitic to divert any part of it to a purpose which may be accom- plished by the exercise of other capital and other industry, which could not be use- ful to the country in any other way. It will indeed probably be long before those creeks and bays of the Highlands, which at present give shelter only to a few fishing barks, shall have capital sufficient to vie with the commercial parts of the country in car- rying on the intercourse between themselves and the Baltic, America, or the West Indies : But something may be done by a gradual extension of the fishery, and by the appli- cation of the wealth acquired from that source, in carrying on other branches of trade. Independently cf this, we all know how feelingly attached the Highlander is to his native mountains, and what a pang it costs him to be separated from them : would not then those proprietors be justly charge- able with cruelty and mean avarice, if they "»8 I •| i- -:*;'. 'ii •4; If, p'.< t' , I 1 » •'in i "il" 200 cleclined to forego for a few years a little ad- ditional rent, till the proper accommodation was provided for every person inclined to remain ? And would that goveriunent be said to study the happiness of the people, which should encourage their removal, and be the influential means of so much misery, when not only no loss, but the greatest possible benefit arises to the state from the opposite system ? The object of the rulers of a state ought not exclusively to be to create the greatest immediate quantity of national wealth ; such is only valuable to a nation, as it is to individuals, as a means of attaining a higher end : the happiness of the people should be the aim of every government ; and this surely never can be effected by driving from the bosom of the country its indus- trious inhabitants, and making them unwil- ling exiles. If, in future, a Highland proprietor should think it for his advantage to change the sys- tem of management upon his estate, and dis- possess many of the former occupiers, either 201 Ly the introduction of sheep-farming, or hy enlarging his farms, he ought to do so gra- dually. It is not peculiar to the Highlands, that violent changes are always attended with inconvenience. He ought to give the people ample warning of his intention ; he ought to provide them with the power of remaining within the country if they chuse. Give them the means and example, and sure reward of industry, and there is no danger of the most flattering descriptions of foreign countries deceiving them. Furnish them with those little aids which an infant establishment stands in need of, and there is no fear that what in one respect is the advancement of the coun- try, will be attended with the melancholy cir- cumstance of emigration. It is remarked, that the villages of Toher- morry and Steen, built for the Society for Bri- tish Fisheries, scarcely possess a lisliing boat ; their inhabitants are sunk in inactivity, and consist in general of the refiu.c of the popul.i- tion of the country*. Wliile succcsslul ex- * P. 99. c c *i -:*■». (i ;...< I' 'if • 202 crtions have been totally ovcilookcil, oi' which any one, undertaking- to give a view of the present state of the country, could liardly be supposed ignorant, it seems singular that Lord Selkirk should dwell upon the failure of the plans of the British Society. The account he had already given was sufTicicnt to justify the sanguine hopes entertained from the fisheries : if these be just, American colonists cannot be encouraged till this source of employment be filled up. But the failure of success, in tlie case at least of Stecn, has been very much exaggerated : for in it, as well as in Ullapool, another vil- lage built by the same Society, a considerable trade is carried on, derived from the cod as well as herring fishery. No mention is made by Lcrd Selkirk of Ullapool : it would have warranted some departure from the general charge of failure brought against the Society's fishing villages. The failure, however, we are told is to be accounted for by the practice of giving the settlers too great a quantity of land along with 203 their building (ground, which distract^, their attention, and prevents close and unremitting application to the fisheries. But while tliis may have had its effect, there were other causes which most powerfully operated to tlie disadvantage of these establishments. But it is pleasing to reflect, tha^ tlicy are obstacles which, so far as regards artificial regulations, experience will shew futuie patriots how to avoid ; and, in so far as they arise from tlic moral and natural aspect of the country, are every day more and more disappearing. I. The Society proceeded on too ex- tensive a scale in the buildings they erected, upon which they expended their caplt^» adventurers, who, being set down wltliout tlie means of purchasing fishing apparatus, were obliged to apply the little industry they were inclined to exert to the cultivation of their small lots of ground. 2. The great majority of settlers necessarily were those who were idle and discontented, who therefore had no countenance from any neighbouring proprietor to supply their want of capital, or instruct their ignorance. With- out the constant and unceasing patronage of an intelligent proprietor, it is not easy to con- ceive liow any very well directed efforts can be made at first by the people, be they ever so willing to exert themselves. Every thing is new^ to them. They know not their wants and their unskilfulness, till dear bought expe- rience teaches them perhaps by their ruin. The settlers in these fishing villages were set down without any guide to direct them, ex- cept a Board of Directors resident in London. No wonder that the exertions of the Society did not meet with all the success that its :Pl ^ .»?? •♦ 20 •-^' sanguine and zealous (laudably zealous) mem- bers had expected. 3. The want of good roads, and an easy communication with different parts of the country, before the attention of government was called to this subject, presented an invin- cible bar to the success of such establishments. The Society were incapable of doing much to remedy this defect. Had no obstacles at that time existed to retard a successful pursuit of the fisheries, the various manufactures, to which these give rise, might, by this time, have made considerable progress, affording em- ployment to new settlers, and a foundation for other branches of manufacturing industry. The extreme difficulty of obtaining the raw materials for these, and bartering them with the produce of the fishery, arising from the want of capital among the settlers, has pre- vented the prospect of success which was once 30 reasonably entertained. All these obstacles, however, are plainly artificial, and admit of being easily remov- ed. They furnish a most useful lesson to .' ■m I :'K .m 20C I ivr" l§ !• '• • • (i'M ' ■ '■ jm ;■?• ■ . ■ :i» fi'i .: .•^V 4 ' •■ 'J ■HI ^1 ^'^'' 'BK'tl ^^*' ^^Htii v!f^'* I^^HlM ^'ii' HI ml the Highland ]>roprictors to Iinltalo tlie ex- ample of those among themselves who liave exerted their own influence with so much sa- tisfaction to themselves, contentment among their people, and benefit ta the state. Let them be persuaded that their object will never be gained so well by trusting to the activity of any body of men, however zealously inclin- ed, as to their own endeavours. Such socie- ties, too, will find that they will much sooner accomplish the object they have in view, by giving premiums- to public spirited proprie- tors who shall establish villages and people them with industrious fishermen. The pre- mium will be sought after, not so much as part of the profit upon a mercantile specu- lation, but as an earnest of the approbation of an enlightened public, which must ever be gratifying to a liberal mind. This propo- sition is offered as the surest and most ad- vantageous way in which the British Fishing Society could attain its object ; but it is not by this meant to be insinuated, that such a stimulus is necessarv to induce an emulation 207 of that conduct, which has shown that a lishing village needs not necessarily be a nest of idle needy adventurers. The public roads which are now making throughout the Highlands, and which tra- verse that country in every direction, open- ing an easy communication between tiie most distant parts of it, will remove the ob- stacle which was the greatest, both in the ex- tent and in the formidable difficulties ojv posed to any [)lan for obviating it. When we consider the attention which government has been for some years paying to this most important of all objects, and, at the same time, reflect upon the present commercial state of Europe, it will be seen how much Highland proprietors upon the sea-coasts have an op- portunity of improving their fortune, with- out injuring the population or diminish- ing the useful industry of the country, and without any necessity of resorting to tliose violent remedies which l^ord Selkirk consi- ders as the only cure for the disease. Nor are the Highland proprietors deficient in the l\ i), k'il 20S v- I ^'ir ■: ■f^M '^'"^ ' '■ t: ik- i M public spirit requisite on the present occa- sion. The liberality with which they have assessed themselves for making roads and erecting bridges throughout the country, and the alacrity with which they have al- ways seconded and often prompted the zeal of our statesmen in forwarding measures of such great national importance, was certain- ly never surpassed, in any period of society, by the individuals of any state. In an unim- proved and untraversed country, the opening of communication betw^een one part and an- other has been almost every where a public and general concern ; both because, in the ad- vancement of the individual portions of an em- pire, the good of the whole is forwarded, and that there is seldom sufficient wealth or suf- ficient public spirit among the proprietors for such expensive undertakings. In this last, the Highland proprietors have not been defi- cient ; and with regard to the other, their zeal hai i^robably exceeded the expectation of government It is strongly inculcated in the writings of the French economists, that no expenditure 209 I' of public money can be so advantageous as In forwarding these schemes of improvement ; and at a time whea the British senate have been willing^ even amidst unexampled diffi- culties, to lend their aid to the enlighted views of the minister, the speculations of Lord Selkirk must be calculated to damp an ardour which has been considered as produc- tive of great advantages. We should listen with extreme and becoming caution to the instructions of a foreigner, with regard to the proper employment of our internal re- sources. Without meaning to depreciate the stake which the noble author possesses, or the interest which he feek in the welfare of this country, his concern for the prosperity of hi$ Irans-atlantic possessions, and the early zeal which he owns himself to have felt for the system of colonizing there, may be fairly enough supposed io warp the impartiality o^ his judgment, and to lessen the authority of his opinions. The speculations of Lord Sel- kirk are certainly written with a keener eye to the improvement of Canada than the be- Dd . ^f n •ft. 2ro >•-• m. '? F' k > •» ♦ • » ,< ' ■I . « ■ nefit of the mother country, or the happiness of its people. .: * 3. The idea that there is room for the ex- ertion of much industry^, and consequently a prospect of the operation of ail the advan- tages resulting from the accumulation of wealth, by the introduction of manufactures into the Highlands, does not appear to Lord Selkirk to be well founded *. His reasons for this opinion is that there are only one or two villages where the population would sup- ply hands enough for even a small establish- ment ; but other difficulties, it is added, arise from the remoteness of the situation, and the infant state of the country, as to every im- provement in the artSi These remarks, al- lowing them their utmost latitude, present only temporary impediments. Indeed, in the natural course of improvement, if the people be permitted and encouraged to exert their industry at home, those impediments must gradually and very speedily wear away. ^•. • P. 104. •211 In every countiy the same obstacles have at first presented themselves, and have been overcome. Any one, who attentively surveys the phy- sical situation of the Highlands, must observe that they possess some very important advan- tages for the success of manufactures. There is almost every where an inexhaustible store of fuel, one of the most expensive articles in a poor man's family ; wiien the occupation of a peat-maker becomes distinct from every other, a supply will be obtained without dis- tracting the attention from other pursuits. The circumstances of Uaving great supplies of wood for charring has, for half a century past, established English companies at Bu- naw, and in other places, for the purpose of converting pig iron into steel. If the want of coal be an obstacle to manufactures, tlic same obstacle is surmounted in every part ol" Scotland north of the frith of Tay. In tlu: Highlands there is also a most wonderful profusion of streams and falls of water adap - ted for the purposes of machinery. This latr , i '.?.. « t. r U: « ^ '.*■ 212 circumstance seems the only thing to wliich Halifax is indebted for being the seat of the most extensive woollen manufactures in Eng- lands. Although the vicinity to a stream of water should always be attended to in fixing the situation of an inland village in the High- lands, it would be absurd to make an attempt all at once to introduce manufactures requir- ing expensive machinery. Such, in general, is used only for the finer sort of manufactures, which form tjie a^ra of the highest and most improved efforts in the art. These would most assuredly not thrive at first for many obvious reasons ; and, ac- cordingly, such an establishment at Skibo ^Id not not answer the expectations of its public spirited undertaker. The simplest operations should be first of all accomplished ; such are all those branches of industry which may be termed domestic. Throughout a great part of the Highlands, each family per- forms many of these for ii^elf, owing to llie thinly peopled country, which does not Tct admit of a very minute separation ot "" ^'..■ 213 professions. If it be ever permitted to the country to become better peopled, a proper separation of all the different occupations, connected with the advantage and comfort of human life, will take place ; that of the ma- nufacturer will become a distinct employ- ment. At present, almost all the lower class, and formerly nearly all of the highest also, used no articles of dress but the produce of domestic industry. A greater proportion of wealth, a longer acquaintance with the world, and a consequent taste for foreign aiticles, has rendered it less common now to see the produce of the flock upon the mountain cloath its master and his family, after having been manufactured in his house. But this only shows that a more liberal reward will attend the manufacturer who will now un- dertake to furnish what is obliged to be brought from so great a distance. Those manufactures are the most advantageous, which, without any great advance of capital, in the greatest degree enhance the value of the raw material, by the labour employed I (! 'o CI4 ♦ V • 1 1 . », ''''■■'■. -•■tty," V- 11 i. Upon It. These it should be the study of the proprietors and of government to intro- luce. i\.i , >.i- At present the wool of the Highlands is sent out of the country to be manufactur- ed elsewhere ; and is then returned to it again in its manufactured state, at perhaps ten times its original cost. That this is a great loss to the Highlands is very plain, as the additional value given to the raw material, by the labour of the manufacturer, is just so much lost to it for ever. But it may not at first sight be so apparent that this is also a loss to the country at large, because the cxpence of the carriage of the raw and bulky material might be saved, and only expended upon the valuable manufactur- ed article ; besides, in another point of view, the manufacture would also be che?p- er, because the workmen require lcs& wa^ies in a cheap country. If it be thought that, even under such advantages, the home manufacturer would not be able to compete in the m irket ot the Highlands with the sale of the product of the English manufactories, '^u it clearly would well reward the efforts of any person whr should supplant the ili-di- rected, unskilful, and therefore expensive ef- forts of domestic industry. Every family, instead of supplying their own wants, would find it cheaper to apply to the manufac- tory at their door. This coarse manufacture would produce another very great saving to the country, by introducing the know- ledge of stapling^ or sorting the wool into its various qualities ; from the imperfect man- ner of doing which at present, a very great loss is every year sustained. Can there be any reason why our own country should not be able immediately to work up its wool in- to coarse flannels, serges, or blankets, whicli would lay a foundation for future progress, as the skill, the capital, and the industry of those employed increased ? . . ^^r :; The extent to which the manufacture of cotton has been carried on at the principal seats of that species of industry, has intro- duced a mode of operation extremely bene- ficial to remote districts. It is likely to be -Jl I 2l6 t1 17 .; ••t.r^\: . k fnofe extensively pursued with the progres- sive incre;^se of the manufacture. The cot- ton, after being spun into thread by those ingenious contrivances which so much dimi- nish labour, is sent to various parts of the country to be woven into cloth, and, when so done, it is returned to the manufacturer. It is attended with this advantage, that it re* quires no accumulation of population in one place, and no advance of capital in the weaver to carry it on ; a single loom is all that is required. ' In the county of Argyle this has already been carried to a considerable height, owing not to any superior aptness in the disposition of its inhabitants for manufac- tures, but merely from the advantage of their greater vicinity and connection with the ma- nufacturing districts on the Clyde. What is still more, a very considerable quantity of cotton cloth is also sent into the same districts, partly for the purpose of having the operation of ta7tibouring performed upon it, which is done with a degree of taste and neatness highly creditable to the inhabitants. The same plan. 2 I J together with all its advantages, will be gra- dually communicated to other partr. of the Highlands, in proportion as the communi- cation with the manufacturing districts is more and more opened up. The establishment of the cotton manuflic- tories on the banks of the Clyde, was entirely owing to the circumstance of this being the most commodious place for landing the pro- duce of our West Indian colonies. 71iere was no other reason for fixing It in that spot. It seems to be no unreasonable spccuhition to think that, through means of the (..dcJo- nian Canal, Inverness may one day bcccjme the Paisley of the North. From particular circumstances, it has happened that a very great number of the proprietors of the cotton islands, taken from the Dutch during the late and present wars, are natives of the counties in the neighbourhood of that northern capi- tal. It would be more agreeable to them to dispose of their property to persons near than at a distance. Probably sc;ne ad- venturous individual among them may scr £ e ] t. I •I I ■.ft' ■ ^ J '• ,, : . ■' . ■■;»■ -..■ 2l8 on foot such establishments In that place, which would add very greatly to the com* fort of the people. The great market of Germany could be just as easily supplied from Inverness as from Glasgow. Although it be peopled exclusively by Highlanders, the manufactories it at present carries on arc deficient in no one particular which can re- commend them to public notice. It is mak- ing rapid advances in wealth and population. From the advantage of the river Ness, and a good harbour, it possesses every requisite for manufactures and commerce. The linen manufacture may be pursued with peculiar propriety in the Highlands, as 'l may be carried on by a detached popula- tion. It is. so in Ireland: and it may be re- marked as something singular, that it flou- rishes principally m the northern provinces ; between which and the west Highlands so close an intercourse has been kept up for many centuries, that the inhabitants may in fact be said to form but one people, in regard to language, manners, and dispositions. If 219 n- manufacturing Industry flourishes there, and furnishes a great source of national wealth, is it to be believe;! that a Highlander's laboiu- would not be equally profitable ? Their present in- dolence, Lord Selkirk says, has been often re- marked : this, * however, is not to be ascribed * to inherent dispositions, but to the circum- * stances in which they arc placed ; to the ' want of sufficient incitements to industry, * and to the habits which have naturally * grown out of such a situation *.' How can a person be industrious, who has nothing on which his industry can be exerted ? A race of men, who depend more on the produce of their flocks than of their fields for subsistence, cannot but be idle. These supply the wants of nature : his activity is excited only by the love of amusement. Indeed, it may be re- marked, that indolence is very seldom the ruling passion of individuals or of nations ; but, on the contrary, growing desires and wants, as civilization advances, rouse them ' n % . ^ i * p. 80. * ^ •(■.■ 2 20 £tv. Ml' .■. 't "I more and more into exertion. Tlie same race of men exist among the mountains of Wales ; but veiy lew countries exhibit greater instances of manufacturing industry, and the improvements derivable from that source. Of the success which the introduction of the linen trade has met with in the Orkneys, a most interesting account has been lately pub- lished *. These islands surely were as little prepared for the reception of any innovation from former habits of thinking and acting as any part of the Highlands can possibly be ; yet although this trade was only introduced in the year I747> — though it had every disadvan- tage, from prejudice and a defective popula- tion, to strive against and overcome, — though the public encouragement given to it is ex- tremely small, still, independent'^ of the quan- tity of thitad, which is exported in great quantities, above 50,000 yards of linen were stamped in the year i -Q9. Hist, of the Orkney Isles. Barry's, p. 36^. 221 Connected with the linen manufacture, the culture of flax cannot he too strongly recom- mended, for which the Highlands seem to he peculiarly adapted. It is in general, in- deed, thought to be an exhausting crop ; hut this has happened only through mismanage- ment. In a climate which is rather moist, and upon ground improved from moss, which can always supply a fresh quantity of vege- table substance for a calcareous stimulus to act upon, the very great advantages derivable from a flax crop ought least of all to be over- looked. The produce of an acre in the coun- ty of Caithness was no less in value than i61. 8s. 3d *. Take the produce, however, at 15 1. on the fitid,it will be worth 20I. when it comes from the mill ; it will be worth 60 1. when spun into yarn ; and more than 1 00 1. when woven into cloth and bleached. Great, then, would be the advantage from this application of labour, in all its various branches, to the pro- duce of the ground; and there is nothing surely ^11 'I * Surv. of North. Count, p. 270. n "} ^ ■\ :^i: It* ■ ■ ■■] which can prevent it. The culture of both flax and hemp seems to oe a very great na« tional object to a commercial people, whose pre-eminence principally consists in preserving the empire of the sea. It would be much for the advantage of such a country not to depend upon any foreign state for a supply of those necessary articles. In Ireland very great progress has been made within a few years in raising those articles of manufacture : much of the present flourishing state of the ex- ports from that country is owing to this. Al- though Scotland is little inferior to Ireland in point of capacity for raising those articles, it has been so much neglected that little as yet has been done ; wherever the experiment, how- ever, has been made, success has uniformly at- tended it. The trustees for manufacturies, fisheries, &c. do not oflfer premiums for the cultivation of flax in any of the Highland districts : an omission which should be im- mediately repaired. It is very true, that, by this plan, less money will circulate among foreign nations, their 223 progressive improvement v^rill of course be slower ; and they will be less able to furnish an increasing market for our manufactures. But it would be much better, that, in this way, a little of the capital at present em- ployed in manufacturing the raw materials of foreign countries, and exporting them in that state, should be turned to the cultivation of the soil of our own country, the most pro- fitable of all manufactures ; more especially when this important consequence follows, that our prosperity wull be less at the mercy of the rival jealousies of other states, whom we are raising to an equality with ourselves sufficiently formidable. The state would also benefit, in another point of view, by occupying a greater number of its peo- ple in a healthy invigorating employment, and perhaps somewhat less within the noxious walls of a crowded manufactory. But, in truth, it is not very likely that ■ any great decrease in our manufacturics, from this cause, would take place : Foj wc should thus be able to furnish them cheaper, by not having to send to a great distance for iih r *■■ In A. i"' » ; ■'1 r ^■J h .;' '• ► *i ' I ;i ■ ■ 1,, ^ ■■ « u 224 ■I..' r| 'hi IS^' 1 *."^'',^r; ■ijv i.v-^''' iiH Ki 'it' t ' ' /!jlj V ' fr * ' t 1 ':/» ■ ^■1? r. ■■■■ .■■■ s. ^ . . A. ■ I •> ^ :^ V I , t. : ■I: ^ ;^' ..■kti- .■ :1 ^'•fk 44* the raw materials. Th*! money which now goCvS abroad to put in motion the industry, and increase the resources of other countries, would be sufficient to cultivate our own waste lands by means of labour, at present very much unemployed. Among all those sources of industry, there is none that requires any great accumulation of people in one spot. But if such were ne- cessary, it could be very soon supplied. For there is a disposition in man which strongly impels him to society ; he naturally feels a de- sire to associate with his fellows. The ease with which the scattered population of the country has been assembled into a village, is a strong proof of this. The satisfaction which the people derive from this sort of union among themselves, rewards the trouble which all in- fant estaulishments require. Their labours seem more profitable as they are certainly more light when carried on togetlier. Of the examples which exist in different parts of the countiy of the success of such establish- ments, the following may be instanced as 22C one of the least promising, but which has completely answered the sanguine expecta- tions of the proprietor, by the beneficial con- sequences which have resulted from its ad- vancement. Mr Cumine of Auchry planned a regular village upon the moorish part of a farm, which altogether ' yielded only i il. a year. He divided it into 75 feus, occupied by a set of industrious, honest, and active people, who, instead of the original rent, produced him, in 1792, from 120I. to 150I. annually. He introduced the vspinning and weaving of linen yarn ; and the conse- quences continue to be greatly advantageous to the settlers *. The village of Grantcwn is another strong proof of the same rer.oark ; situated in the very centre of the Highland;...^ without any natural advantages except the neighbourhood of vast quantities of moss, and the protection of its public spirited pro- prietor, it has in the cousre of a few years attained a stability almost exceeding belici*. i. ■ m ^ Statist. Acct. Vol. VI. p. 1 29. Ff K ■ um. W : I ', .. :f''; r (< .?' 226 ^ 111 the vicinity of every moss, a similar esta- blishment would have the same certainty of success. While the original settlers are oc- cupied in clearing the ground and improv- ing it, their children may be easily taught some effort of manufacturing industry. This progress has been followed most successfully both at Grantown and at Cuminestown. It is said, inileed, that the Highlanders are not nice workmen * ; so that they never are employed in any other than the drudgery parts of a manufactory. But would a plough- man or day-labourer in the lowlands, or in England, be in the least degree more expert the first time he was so employed, or is the one less capable of learning than the other ? Experience shews, that in no art, which re- quires skill or dexterity of execution, is it possible to arrive at any proficiency, unless the versatile habits of man be moulded to it at that period of life when every impression is easily and deeply made upon the mind. Yet, * P. 83. i .J'r' ' ^^herever the experiment has been made up- on the young, the success has been fully equal to expectation. To them has been owing, in a great measure, the success of the establishment at New Lanark. But there does not seem to be any reason for attempt- ing any great extension of manufactures a- mong the more advanced in life, and those whose habits are already formed. All of them, it cannot now be doubted, may be employed in a manner perhaps more con- genial to them. Their children, however, should be encouraged to avail themselves of the increasing manufacturing property of the country. Every proprietor in the Highlands may do this without any risk to himself, at a very trifling expence, and with the most complete certainty of success. It is not necessary that he should establish great manufactories, in- ■ volving himself in a costly undertaking and troublesome superintendance ; he has only to proclaim annual premiums for industry, and ensure an adequate return for their la- S.*: ij,: ^'^ ■£-■ ii ■S- If III ik- < « ■■ »■ ..!' v;:! ■•■■',) 228 bcur, and tlie o'lijcct is attained. An ex- ample of this has been attended with the most gratifying success to the public spirited and accomplished individual who planned it, who, on an annual visit to one of the most delightful and romantic spots in the High- lands*, at once saw why industry had made so small a progress, and comprehended how this was to be remedied. These cares dig- nify even the most exalted station. An an- nual competition is established, where the most industrious and the most skilful are re- warded, and where all find a ready sale for their manuflicture. Ac the last of these meetings, no less than 300 articles, the pro- duce of various kinds of domestic industry, were exhibited in a district very far from be- ing populous e* n in the Highlands. The exertion which formerly ceased with supply- ing the few wants it could provide for, now looks with confidence to a market for the utmost efforts of their ingenuity and labour. * At Kinrara on the banks of the Spey. H A few years more of the same enllglitcncd patronage will introduce such a spirit of en- terprise, and the means of exerting it, that no further encouragement will be required for attaining the very beneficial object of creating habits of ind'istry among those who, without such patronage, might have continu- ed to be so little employed, as to be almost useless in a nation: 1 point of view. Lord Selkirk remarks, that the exertions, which may be made with a view to the esta- blishment of manufactures, must be consid- ered as laudable ; but the object is of no na- tional importance ; and is of a totally diffe- rent nature from the other resources of the improvement of waste land, or the extension of the fisheries, by which a net and absolute addition is made to the production of national wealth ; but the success of a manufacturing establishment in the Highlands would have no farther effect than to fix the seat of a cer- tain portion of industry in one part of the country rather than in another *. But even *P. 107. M F -f.H^: A .<- &> I • » .k • i' i,:. this IS enough for our present purpose, which is to find employment for the Highlanders within their own country. People are al- ways, and naturally, much more attached to the place of their nativity than to any new situation ; they are much more contented and happy in it, consequently better men and better citizens. Besides the establishment of manufactures, throughout every portion of the empire, must diffuse their beneficial ef- fects over the whole. Each part will keep pace with the other in improvement and ci- vilization, and no one part will reap a great- er shar^ of wealth from this source than an- other. Above all, it is obvious, that the pe- riod when the manufactures of a country ar- rive at their utmost perfection, is when the raw bulky material is worked up on the spot where it was raised, into the more portable and more valuable manufactured article, and that the market for consuminj^ it is brought as near as possible. This is not practicable to the fullest extent, for many reasons ; but the country must always profit exactly in 4^1 flt .k^ 231 proportion as the departure from it is the least. The vicinity to towns and villages, the seat of manufactures, always operates as a bounty in tavour of the ground in the neigh- bourhood. This bounty should operate as equally as possible. The plan of removing the population of the Highlands to the south- ern districts, converting that whole couatry into a sheep-walk, would in fact put the • Highlands out of the reach of any improve- ment, condemning it to remain in its pre- sent unimproved state, or rather in that state of depopulation to which, according to the opinion and advice of Lord Selkirk, it is fast tending ; a measure which is neither just nor politic. The experiment of driving away the inhabitants for the sake of augmenting the size of the farms and their rents, was fully tried above a century ago in Galloway ; an actual rise of rent was the consequence at the moment. But the ultimate impolicy of the measure may now be fully ascertained, by comparing the value of estates there with i i i ' 4 .M f U.i .1 ■ ^ ■ . ^ , :i 232 those in tlic equally mountainous districts of Perth and Angus. There the people have been preserved, and manufactures introduced. Towns and villages are daily increasing in populousness and wealth, and furnish the farmer with a certain market, occasioning at the same time a demand for land which has quadrupled its former value. The rule, then, which ought ever to be kept in view by the Highland proprietors, in the exercise of their undoubted right of ad- ministration over their estates, is to make no violent nor unexpected change. It is not very probable that many more districts will be swept of their inhabitants for the sake of sheep-farming ; but if any proprietor thinks it for his interest to adopt such a system of management as must dispossess any of his ten- ants and cotters, let it be done gi'adually, and with sufficient notice to the people to enable them to provide other means of employment for themselves : In such a search every faci- lity should be afforded them, both by the pro- prietors and by government ; the important !'■*' 233 public and private advantages resultinp; from removing the necessity of emigration justify this interference. If numerous farms, as at present occupied, are to be converted into one sheep-walk, and employed solely in that kind of husbandry, they ought to be gradual- ly turned to this use. Those who are dispos- sessed, should be encouraged to apply them- selves to the fisheries, or the improvement of waste lands, and reap all the benefits attend- ing their union in the animating intercourse of a town or village. The capital which would have carried them and their families to America, and maintained them till they had cleared enough of land for their support, will enable them fully to enjoy the profits of well directed industry. All this may l>c ac- complished by merely making the change of system gradual and progressive ; not all at once deserting the people whose services as cultivators are dispensed with, but aiding their ill-directed though ardent extr ions to their own and their country's good. 'I'iiis seems to be a very important point j and in so tar, G g -i34 • ♦ ■ >i< * \ 3 '[ .y,i • ''H? ■ ''. t. V ;r -r Lord Selkirk seems mistaken when he main- tains the opposite opinion, that it signifies little whether the change be rapid or gradual : lor this can be true only on the snpjH^iiion that it is quite impossible to find any occupation within the country for any additi'^niil num- ber of people. In no country whatever, which is not cither stationary in its progress or declining, can this be true. Our country most certainly is in neither of these predica- ments, but on the contrary is making great and rapid progress towards the highest jVitch of national wealth which its natural and moral resources are capable of reaching. It is indeed admitted by the noble author, that the class of cotters may be absorb- ed into other employments ; that they must remain because they cannot afford to transport themselves to America ; they can- not starve ; and therefore they must employ themselves as they best can. But the suiall tenants would, it is said, consider themselves degraded by engaging in any of these new occupations i they would raiher expose them- selves to the dan^^er of an untried element, ^3S the miseries of a distant voyage, the dldljuk ties ot a rew country, and the painful regret of their former homes, and the friends they liave left hehind, than concjuer those artifiei- al feeHngs whieh arc very little becoming their situation and circumstances. The fa- vourers of emigration and the proprietors of waste land in America must ever unceasing- ly press this idea upon the public, as unless this be adopted, government cannot be sup- posed to favour the colonizing system, nor can they have the sanction of their country to plans for their own individual aggrandise- ment. But wherever the experiment has been fairly tried, the fullest success has at- tended the employment pointed out for the small tenants. Where fishing villages have been established, no difficulty has been found in procuring occupiers from among the te- nantry. In many parishes all those who have been displaced have remained as villagers, and they have been always found to embrace with eagerness the means of occupying themselves in the cultivation of waste ground, which in many places have, within the memory 2^G lU^ ■•'''■■'■■ 5^-1 1 .■■,■ I" '! ;' » ' '.. |t ' of persons now living, doubled the arable ground. Their children, and the child- ren of those employed in lishing, have al- ready in many places united their efforts to those of the manufactures who were for- merly scattered about the country, and are laying the foundation of the most solid and substantial improvements. It is a gratifying proof of the soundness of the principles here advanced upon the sub- ject of emigration, that in every one of the Statistical Accounts of the Highland parishes,, published by Sir John Sinclair, the same means for obviating the supposed necessity of emigration have been pointed out as amply sufficient for this purpose. This avowal will no doubt detract from the originality of these remarks, a merit which is claimed by Lord Selkirk for his own opinions, and most will- ingly conceded to him. But while he avow- edly controverts received opinions, and offers views which have previously passed unno- ticed. Can we suppose that one or two casual visits by a sti anger unacquainted with the ■i.,i»' it m language of the people, except from short In- tercourse with a few discontented emigrants, can furnish better sources of information than the united voice of the clergy ; men re- sident among the people committed to their charge, conversing every hour with them with a primitive simplicity, intimately ac- quainted with their feelings and their wants, and regarding, with anxious solicitude, every thing which can add to their temporal or spiritual welfare ? Instead of looking to these records of the manners and dispositions of the inhabitants, ought we to receive our in- formation on this subject from America? Grant that the whole Highland clergy may be biassed in their opinion, or mistaken in their conclusions, are there no circumstances which could have blinded the author of these observations \ Must he be regarded as the only person who, on this subject, is entitled to form an opinion, and guide the opinions of others ? The view which the author has given of the Highlands seems to be much more appli- %\ '11 : 238 ■If;*., .'"■>.' ■jJTiJ, I fi i^i. '; ■ , » I ?:'^- ■li f *(.' B cable to the state of the country half a cen- tury ago than to its present condition. Since the breaking up of the feudal system, the opinions of the people are not represented as having undergone any change ; their passions appear as strong, and their feelings as irritable as ever. The proprietors are charged with the same heedless wantonness which charac- terised the first introduction of the svstem of sheep-fanning, and the people with the same peevish discontent and dislike at following any new occupation. Every thinjr w.ilch has been done to shew the possibility of im- provement without emigration is overlooked, or its success depreciated, and future attempts are discouraged and ridiculed. VIII. That emigration has no permanent effect on population, is a maxim which needs no other illustration than these contained in the very ingenious work of Malthas. Wherever there is room for the industry and occupation of a family, there, in the course of a few years, a family will spring up : and, 239 if any inducement should tempt that family to emigrate, its place will, in the course of time, be again su}>plicd by another, so long as there v, room for its inilustry and the means of iis subsistence. In every country, according to the improvement of its resources, an accession to Its population every year takes place : in so.ne gre.i^^r, in others less, according to circumstances of a moral and political nature. The Highlands form no exception to this remark, as it is certainly more populous now than it was fifty years ago, notwithstanding the great emigiations from some districts. But this argues nothing in favour of emigration; just as little as the success ot particular trades or manufactures proves the wisdom of the impolitic interfe- rence by which almost every government has attempted to advance the prosperity of the state. For the question truly is. What would have been the result, if employment had been provided, and the people encouraged to avail themselves of it, till every source was com- pletely filled up ? What woulU have been tiie ^^, :>■>? '■■'..■- , ' i ■<■. * 240 VI r li'' V' !• ■■''>: 'li' ■it tf number of people usefully occupied ? In the steady and even course of progressive im- provement, the population must necessarily have been much greater than it is at this day ; and much misery and wretchedness would have been spared to those who have been obliged to leave the darling objects of their affection for the desarts of America. A coun- try, or district of a country, once depopulated, by being devoted to pasturage, does not soon recruit itself through the operation of its own internal energies. While the same system continues, and no new occupation is pro- vided, it must always throw off every addi- tion to the existing stock. In such a situa- tion, the want of labourers is almost an in- superable obstacle to the introductioii of any change by which more people are employed : it is only by very slow degrees, and during a succession of generations, that such difficul- ties can be overcome by natural means. The mountains of Spain were drained of their in- habitants by the colonising system introduced upon the discovery of America : they were It.!-;' ' 4 : 241 then covered with sheep ; from v.hich state the country, through the concurrence of na- tural and poUtical causes, has never recovered. The instances produced by Lord Selkirk to show, that, notwithstanding great and fre- quent emigrations, the population has not been affected, it will be observed arc drawn exclusively from those parts of the country where the sheep-farming system, with its de- populating consequences, has not been adopt- ed. So that although, in general, it may be true that any emigrations which take place from a country in the ordinary course^ that: is, wl:en the population increases moiV ra- pidly than the means of subsistence, do not ultimately affect the amount of population ; yet it is surely a most fallacious mode of^ rc:i- soning to apply this general principle to the present case. , When the means of procuring subsistence regulate the necessity and amount of emigration, it is plain that the population cannot be diminished ; for the country, in that case, maintains all the inhabitants ir possibly x:an, which will always be, at least up to a II h ■' fl M. .1 :i 242 l.J ■ f^:-'". i;». l-{ .M ^vrf 'iM ■^ ■ * , » certain point, progressively somewhat more than it previously did, as an increasing ne- cessity always augments industry, and in- creased industry never fails to render labour more productive. But this is a case widely different from emigrations, which originate in violent convulsions in the state, in the ani- mosities of civil and religious party, or in a violent and rapid change of system, which in a moment renders unnecessary, in their former employments, the labour of half the inhabi- tants of the country. Is it possible to sup- pose that such emigrations do not produce a permanent effect : that they do not reduce the population of the country not only below the standard fixed by the quantity of pro- visions, but far below the limit pointed out by the useful and profitable industry which they can furnish to the state ? The acknowledge- ment of Lord Selkirk himself, that, in a few years, the Highlands will become one great sheep-walk, inhabited by a few shepherds and their dogs, is the best illustration possible of the consequences which his Lordship expects (r '■ • 243 t more ig ne- tid in- liibour \vidcly late in le ani- or in a lich in former nhabi- o sup- iduce a reduce below >f pro- out by h they /ledge- a few e great ds and ible of ;xpects irom the principles and the plan recon>- mended so strongly as the proper mode of making the Highlands productive. If the whole ground is to be appropriated to the pasturage of sheep, — if the fishery will not bccupy the supernumerary population, and if manufactures will not thrive, how are tiie people to subsist? Will the place of those who, in such circumstances, leave the coun- try ever be supplied ? Perhaps Ic is not very easy to ascertain with accuracy what have been the eftects of the sheep-farming system upon population j and it is therefore still , more difficult to estimate the amount of the \ depopulation, if it should prevail unLvcrsally. From the two following facts, however, a conjecture may be formed on this subject.? From a medium estimate in one paiish, i& would appear that the inhabitants in it were formerly three times as numerous as they now are * : in another, it appears that the population, before the introduction of sheep- ,„^_^.,.^.._,,,.^_^.i,.,^^^»«.«. --Ill- - - -^' * Statist. Ace. of Scothvol. VIII. p. 427. -.V .■•♦1 3i 244 > If*?' iV iM :f ^,''- f '. ,' ii"-V i Mi! • ■■} >-l farm*in[^, was In the proportion of four to one more numerous than at present *. The effects wliich Iiavc attended the depo- pulation thus predicted are so extremely dif- ferent, as far as regards the welfare of the state, from those which attend depopulation from other causes, that it is impossible for the utmost ingenuity to confound them to- gether. When the inhabitants of a country are thinned from the raging of war, of pes- tilence, or of famine, the country, though it suffers severely in its resources in the mean time, gradually recovers from the devastation of these scourges of the human race : a de- mand is created for men from the vacancies which are thus left to be filled up in the usual occupations carried on in the country. In those parts of the Highlands, on tiie other hand, where the inhabitants are expelled for want of employment, there is no vacant space for the industry of man left* to occasion any demand for a supply; and if there be no ¥'^ mm 'I i< Stat. Ace. of Scotl. vol. IV. p. 338. i^"» market for a man's labour, men will not !)e produced. The supply follows the demai\d in this as in every other case. ' The emigrations from the Highlands, without ultimately affecting the number of the people, operate, it is said, a very desire- able "change in their character and composi- tion *. This change, so advantageous, is pro- posed to be accomplished in a way the most extraordinary that ever was thought of for the advancement of a country. It has been ge- nerally conceived, that the strength of a state consists much in the number, the indepen- dence, and the public spirit of its native yeo- manry, who feel an interest in the welfare of their country, and know that their fortune is staked upon its prosperity. But the plan of Lord Selkirk is to drive out all the present tenantry, — all those who have any capital, and to retain only the cotlers, the poorest class, who, in most countries, feel themselves but little interested in the fate of that society fn n * p. ii6. H - 1 > '§ 111: : 'ii I 'I til' .ti 1 1<* If*. >•;, I cf which they arc consklcred as the lowest order. A few of ^hese, in the station of la- bourers, and a few south country shep- herds, is to constitute the population of the country. It is impossible that such an ar- rangement of society can be politically expe- dient. Can a stranger form a proper link of connection between the proprietor and the people upon his property ? Will the cotters and tenants place themselves as willingly ui.der them as their hereditary employers and protectors ? It is impossible, under such a system, that all ranks should be firmly unit- ed together wi^h that cordial and common zeal which is the best safeguard of the state. The same change in the character of the inhabitants, which has taken place in other p^rts of the island, will in due time take place in the Highlands also, without any of the disadvantages of emigration. In the course of a few years, the inhabitants of the sea- coasts will betake tiit m^ielves to the fisheries, and those of the inland country to manufac- tures, allowing the farms to be enlarged or :'i4:"> *. w4 : t> tf 247 waste lands more fully cultivated ; the clasi of labourers will becomo a distinct order from the cultivators of the earth, as these will be from the persons employed in the fisheries and manufactures. The most industrious and the most skilful will ac- quire wealth, and occupy the higher njnk among them. The descendants of the c-»-ae people, who bled in the contests of York yi^d Lancaster, now cover the fields with gram, and supply the whole world with manufac- ture. The less emigration is encouraged, the more quickly will this change take place : The effect of necessity is the best spur to ex- ertion ; the change from one mode of life to another is an effort of exertion, which few are willing to make, merely from the distant, and perhaps uncertain, prospect of gain. It is only on finding the old employments overstocked, and that the due reward of the labour and skill applied, has not been obtained, that the new road to wealth is followed. In a thin- ly peopled country, the inhabitants naturally combine together a number of often very dis- similar trades. The market does not aftord 4 i48 ■Mir- t" Ia '^■i. ■ ' t. 'I l( > , lull employment for one person in each ; he must therefore go and leave the country al- together without any such profession, or make up for the defective demand in the one hy tlie similarly defective demand in another. Upon the sheep-farming system, however, the country would be reduced even to a greater degree of barbarism than ever : in- stead of being in a progressive state in all the arts and luxuries of life, it would become ra- pidly retrograde. The few ariists who at present find a livelihood, from the demand of the country, would be obliged to emigrate along with those who occasion the demand ; and the population that remained would find no necessity, and therefore no inclination, to force themselves into new cliannels of indus- try. The country, after assuming the rude and semi-barbarous condition of the shepherd state of society, would remain stationary per- haps for ever, refusing ite natural resources to the state, and the comfort of a civilized life to its inhabitants. . . . m4 H9 Lord Selkirk most properly warns the country against any attempts by mcms of le- gislative interference torctain the small te- nants in their present situation. Such an at- tempt un(juestionably is inconsistent with every principle of good government. Let their si- tuations be made advantageous to tlicm, and prevent as much as possible the delusive re- presentations of foreign emissaries, and there is no fear of any thing else being required to keep them contentedly at home. But If this sliould not be thought suflicient, their unwilling services never could add to the welfare of the state ; and no sober thinking man ever dreamt of restraining them. That there would be many who would resist the inducements that might be offered for their remaining, there is no reason to believe, and, indeed, the contrary appears, from the ex- perience of the alacrity with which they have disposed of themselves within the country wherever there was an opportunity tl * P. 84. I i .^il lt% 250 m afforded them in the moment of calm and deliberate thought. Indeed, it seems singular that Lord S"el- kirk should think it necessary so frequently to recur to grave arguments and earnest ex- hortations to dissuade the attempt to put a step cO emigration by coercive measures. It cannot surely be from the motive which in- duce some adversaries to impute opinions and doctrines to their opponents too absurd for them ever to have thought of or enter- tained. Such a mode of reasoning is some- times extremely successful, as it brings in the assistance of ridicule, one of the m^ost powerful auxiliaries in arguments Although, at first, there was most certainly much irritation at the innovation introduced into society upon the first breaking up of the patriarchal system in all those districts of the Highlands where no other means but emi- gration was left for the people, yet assured^ ly it is going too far to assert, that ' the pro- * gress of the rise of rents, and the frequent ' removal of the ancient possessors of the land„ L and IS-el- lently St ex- put a s. It ch in- inions ibsurd enter- some - igs in z most rtainly )duced of the of the t emi- jsuredr- e pro- equent e land,, 251 ^ have nearly annihilated in the people all ' that enthusiastic attachment to their chiefs * which was formerly prevalent, and have * sub^ituted feelings (£, disgust and irritation * .proportionally violent */ This overcolour- ed portrait 'may be easily accounted for from the nature of those opportunities which Lord Selkirk most frequently had of inti- mately knowing the manners or feelings of the Highlanders ; these .presented to him on- ly such as had been driven from the country by real or imaginary necessity, and who looked upon their landlc«;d or their chief as the sole cause of their miseries. Any person who has travelled through the Highlands must have perceived that although designing men have most zealously insdlled dissatisfac- tion into the minds of the people, even where there existed no just grounds for apprehen- sion, yet the feelings which are interwoven in 4he very constitution of their strongly impas- sioned minds cannot soon be obi e atcd. * P. 1 19. W: r** • I 'M- 1^-^ 1&,? ■ rrsK'^ ]..(>• 'i I it » ;ff ^5^ Nay^ wlicn tlie wide Ailar/ac roars between them, they still look back with fond regret upon their country and their chief. • It cannot be questioned, that it tends in no common degree to the peace of a country*, that the It iders of faction and tlie inciters of sedition should leave it, rather than that they should attempt to make the constitu- tion more palatable to their ideas of jus- tice and freedom. But it is never neces- sary that many should abandon their native country on this account. In all popular tu- mults and discontents, the ringleaders are but few ; and, although they may be able for a time to animt.te the bulk of the people with sentiments similar to their own, yet the mass, when this leaven is withdrawn,' sinks again into its former state of quiescent obedience. The tranquillity of England has been much indebted to the drain occasioned by the Ame- rican colonies. But of all people on earth, the Highlanders are perhaps the most at- tached to the government under which they * P. 120. 3ai*' ^53 again live. Lord Selkirk bears ample testimony in favour of their loyalty ; a testimony the more valuable, as, during the time that the mate- rials for these observations were collected, they were assailed with all the artillery which sedition could bring against their attachment to their country and its magistracy. It is indeed going very far for an instance to quote the situation of Ireland as a parallel case with that of the Highlands. Ireland most certainly affords a melancholy proof of deep-rooted animosities in a whole people, as well as of the fury with which they occa- sionally break forth. But can any one rea- sonably compare the temper of the Highland peasantry, many of them dispossessed of their farms, and obliged to look out for other sources of employment within the country, to that of men deprived of their ancient and hereditary estates by strangers in origin, in language, in manners, and, above all, in re- ligion, and in virtue of a title which they they conceive no length of time can vali- date. Such sources of discontent may well <''i i Lf Iv 'M^ ■ /■/ • \ ■ * ; "/:^- '1 ' ? »' '• ' ,■ » II' - •r' .'■ v^V , !l n 254 be kept alive when, in addition to all this, die dispossessed and persecuted party may be kd to entertain the hope of regaining their original prerogatives, as they form four-lifths of the population of the country. The change in the Highlands which drives some of the inhabitants from the country into towns and villages, and instead of being all husbandmen, incites some of them to be- come fishers and manufacturers, can leave no such permanent impression of deep regret for the occupation they have quitted, as to prove dangerous to the public peace. We do not find that the successful manufacturer or me- chanic, whose father was an agriculturist, is less contented or happy than one who has succeeded his father in the same profession. Did any of the apprehensions entertained about the progress of discontent among the workmen in Glasgow and Paisley, during the first years of the French Revolution, arise firom the circumstance of so many High- landers being employed, who either them- celves, or whose fathers had been turned out of their farms ? Did those, so eager to cxeite a spirit of disloyalty and diseoutent, dwell upon such topics ? I the IX. ' It appears very unaccountable to Lord Selkirk, that the gentlemen of the Highlands should express such an extreme aversion against emigration. Since the re- moval of tlie superfluous population is ne- cessary to the advance of their rents, Why , it may be asked) do they quarrel with that which is so beneficial to them '* ?* Can Lord Selkirk fmd no means of accounting for this, except in a total misconception of their interest I Is it so inconceivable that they should be influenced by generous feel- ings in preferring the real or supposed hap- piness of others to their own immediate ad- vantage ? If such an instance be uncommon, when it does occur, it is only the more praise-worthy. It must, indeed, be a strong principle which can direct a body of men to , * P. 12^. 1 1 I T. ■s6 ;'}^ •;:■. > , ♦- act contrary to what is supposed to be: tlicir best intei est. Perhaps few of the proprietors, who did i^o, earned their views beyond the scene of misery which an opposite conduct would have pre- vented : in the case of men, too, who had been the pride and support of their ancestors, and who still looked up to them as their pro- tectors, and the source of all their comforts, Could they, without cruelty, abandon such men ? Could they forget the obligations con- fen*ed on their family by the predecessors of those very persons whom they were driving away from those lands which had been se- cured to them in many a well fought field ? Can the feelings upon which they acted be considered (on this side of the Atlantic at least) only in the light of a prejudice ? Does it merit no epithet less harsh than this ? Hitherto the voice of the public b-^.:, confirmed the satisfacdon they must have felt from hav- ing made no unwilling exiles. If the people chose to leave the country from the well- grounded hope of bettering their condition. 1 )v? their did j^o, misery ;^e pre- ho had cestors, eir pro- )mforts, 3n such IS con- Bsors of driving een se- it field ? icted be antic at ? Does 1 this ? ifirmed m hav- people le well- idition. 2J7 the proprietors neidier could nor were in- clined to forbid them. But while they declined being them- selves the immediate cause of emigrations, they equally declined to accept the favour of an increased rent at the hands of those who deluded their people to an unnecessary and injudicious emigration. The conduct of those proprietors who first depopulated their estates was branded from one end of the kingdom to the other with the odious names of cruelty and oppression. They did not try to justify themselves by attempts to maintain the expediency and still less the national advantages of a depopulating system, but contented themselves with pleading their lawful right ; and whatever they suiTercd from the odium attending their conduct, was compensated by the addition made to their rent-roll. Those again %vho felt that they were sacrificing their private interest for the sake of their tenantry, most naturally opposed themselves very keenly to any un- necessarv desire to emigrate, excited, or frt, K k i ,■'•■* ■• ri ;'v %.J ■at, i" i 258 least greatly id, by those who, llki fo 4^4^, ''h. V ' 1. !:,< '< .If i r II ' i 5 ■':: ■■ ! V > i-i 1 '. ■' 1, ^M't' .:, incrcase( Lord Selkirk, arc proprietors of waste lands in America. Can it he wondered at, that those who endeavoured to persuade their people, that they could only enjoy happiness by aban- doning their native country, that their con^ dition WMS wretched, and tlieir landlord a tyrant, ver; iOt looked upon as great bene- factors t<.' rhoNC whom they thus seduced ; Extremely doubiiu!, indeed, is the success v/hich, in mOvSt cases, has attended their pm- suit of liappincss. They have, in general, been condemned to a still greater dnidgery of labour than would have procured them com- fort at home j and although the wages may be greater, the price of provisions keeps pace with it in a proportion which affords no very uncommon advantages. Those whose inclinations led them former- ly, or prompt them now, to dispossess their tenantry, will not object to the principles il- lustrated by Lord Selkirk, and still less con- demn his practise, but will look upon him with singular complacency for the part lie 'ho, like ; lands in lat those • people, by aban- hcir con- id lord a sat benc- seduced ; ; success leir pur- gencral, idgery of em coni- iges may ;eps pace no very L former- sess their iciples il- less cou- pon him part he 259 has taken ia turning ' the tide of opiiiioa from setting so strongly agamstthera, T^.ey will not only bear ample testimony to the merit of his reasonings, but will probably have no objection also to profit a little by the practise of them. Advantageous as the spe- culation must have been, it would be still more so to those who should benefit both by the removal of the people from their estates in this country, and by settling them upon the property in America, which they per- haps have obtained from government gratis. From such, these reasonings will obtain the warmest approbation. The popular clamour has not been so un- just as it too often is. For, most assuredly, it is abundantly harsh and cruel to introduce an liiuovation in such a way as is attended with much misery ; while, if gradually and cauti- ously carried into effect, the change may operate to the stiil greater benefit of every pel son connected with it without any emigra- tion. If it be merely the desire of indepen- dence and the love of bettering their situation i. » i-\ i6o i'V' . ft' i ' » . » > 1 X. Vi, ; ' *•! .H ■r' /}. •' .: ■, * «. t It, " ■* r for the low rents at which thcv were :;llowc( to remain. Thev diJ so as a means of em- ploying an increasing population, for whom other sources of wealth had not then open- ed. The reproaches of the tacksmen and fac- tors are also said to prevent the proprietors, from seeing or following out their own in- terest *. How veiy unlikely is this to be true, from the description which Lord Sel- kirk gives of the proprietors whom he re- presents as being thus influenced ? that lliey are non-resident, ignorant about their estates, feeling no common sympathies with their people, but leaving the management of them (Uitirely to others. Are such the persons who would dread the reproaches, or listen to the suggestions of others ? A non-resident proprietor can generally have riO other view than to draw the higliest possible rent from his estate ; and will any pcrj-on believe tliat a Highland proprietor exists, who lias not. - P. 131. 20 7 illowcc] Df em- whoiii opcu- id fac- prietors. wn in- to be -d Sel- he rc- \i llicy estates, h their if them persons isten to ■esldcnt [' view t from ic tliat las not heard of the consequences of the shccp-f aM> ing system so extensively adopted ? Neither can their conduct be ascribed to any desire to keep down the price of labour, either in the manufacturing of kelp, or in any other occupadon. '' No mvi can live in the Highlands," we are told, " as an in- dependent labourer ; every inhabitant of the country is under an absolute necessity of obtaining a possession of land 'V* How then is the price of labour to be kept down ? it must be by losing a rent much greater than the additional price payable for labour. No man of common sense could act in the manner alleged from any such motive. He must see at once that, upon a principle vi enriching hin.self, he only repays with one hand what he receives by the other. If he cannot fail to see this, how is an opposite conduct to be accounted for ? Would any of those, be they tacksmen or factors, who hold farms from him, and who of course would * ApjK'u. p. 5>'- 268 W V I,) I ii: L-' - ■ ■iCl. I '! .' Il » '• be anxious to court his good opinion, pre- sume to solicit him upon, a subject with which his self-interest is so much connected,, and which seems so strongly to urge him to an opposite line of conduct ? The removal of any such impertinent monitor would be the necessary consequence of such an unwel- come interference. It is a feet, which any person acquainted with the present state of the Highlands knows^ that so far from the tacksmen opposing emigration, they have themselves, in general, been exciters of if. Their subtenants emigrate much more uni- versally than the tenants who held of the laird, who is often obliged to see,,, Vv^ith un' «> vailing regret, the population leav.rg lii s estate, from the mnr i g«ment of persons otu whom he can exercise biue r^t: no controuL Almost every where, tlit small tenants are encroaching upon the tacksmen^ who can hope to retam their present situation only by the emigration of those whose management is found by the proprietor to be more ad- vantageous than theirs. Still less would the n ,/ 26g 1, pre- with nected,. him to jmoval )ulcl be unwel- :h any >tate of Dm the have of ir, re tini- of the th nnr-" ►ns ov'ix ontrouL nts are ho can only by igement ore ad- uld the factors represent to their landlords the pro- priety of retaining the former population. It is indeed most probable that their conduct would just be the very reverse. The more the rent-roll is raised, the more they will ex- pect their services to be valued ; and the few- er the tenants whose rents they have to col- lect, so much the lighter will their task be. Consider the difference of situation, when a factor has to collect the rents from a hun- dred small tenants, or from four or five s'^b- stantial farmers ; how much less frequent in the latter case, must be the demands for delay, and the occasions of dispute ? Indeed, the trouble attending such a host of tenantry i& of- ten so great, that it is no wonder if proprietors, sometimes cannot resist ridding themselves of it, since they find their rent greatly im- proved at the same time, instead of looking to advantages still greater and more lasti- ,, but which require efforts of attention and zeal, which those who are born to the pos- session of affluence are not always ir inied to bestow. They wnll not find their factors 270 'i I * ^l'^^ i',» i- ■*\'. '!;i' 1 i '. * very eager to prontpt them to sucli excrtlon.% not at least from any personal motives, for none of them are interested in the manufac- ture of kelp, and but a few of them have farms. Admit, however, that they really had any such inducement to make them averse to emigra- tion, does Lord Selkirk really conceive that a Highland proprietor is a species of animal so dull and stupid as not to perceive that he sets about bettering his fortune in a most singu- lar manner indeed, when, as is alleged, he takes but half the real rent from his farm in order to pay los. or 15s. per ton less to the raanufacturers of kelp ? The fact is, this would be a mode of obtaining a somewhat higher rent in a way extremely agreeable to a Highlander; for, instead of paying it in mo- ney, he pays it by his labour, at a season of the year when he r-.ui leave the agricultural operations of his farm, without detriment, to the mangement of his wife and children. In short, notwithstanding die attempt which has been made to represent those Highland proprietors, who have injured the progress of ■I.' <-••, ,, f 271 American colonization l)y a generous and public spirited resistance to uiuiee€ssary cmi- gration, as weak men, implicitly following tliP council of interested persons, or themselves mistiiking the plain beaten road to wealth, their conduct, when fairly examined, will appear to have proceeded from no other motive than iliat of sparing the miseiy consequent upon the adopdon of opposite measures. Some of them of kite seem to have established a most importanftruth, tliat the improvement of the country, and their o\vn advantage, will be found most surely and steadily advanced by retain u;; the present population ; and upon this principle the management of many great properties has been conducted for some years paCst wi'th the most gratifying success. It is difficult to see why Lord Selkirk should wish to strip them of tlic merit of pure and upright and honest intention ; if tlicy be mistaken, this can neither detract frQUi the truth of his spe- culations, nor from the applause due to his conduct. ?;■/> t: 1^ !; * iif ' ''■f' ',1 ♦ 111.' • ? .^ 272 It is at best an illiberal and often an unjust mode of arguing to ascribe motives and feel- ings different frcm what are publicly profes- sed or generally credited. For instance, how would Lord Selkirk consider himself injured if any of the Highland proprietors were to retort upon him, and represent his conduct, for which he claims the merit of disinterested and enlightened benevolence, in some such view as the following ? It is acknowledged, they might say, that the first idea of the plan which he has since executed was adopted very early in life, and during the course of his acade- mical studies, and confirmed in the course of an extensive tour through the High- land's in the year 1792. The impressions of early life are warm, but they are not on that account the more likely to be correct : the ardent sensibility of youth is too apt to be roused with the rhapsodies of the cele- brated classics of antiquity about political hap- piness, and not a lew have traced the errors of maturer age to the unchastined studies of their bo) ish years. It was at a time too m I '.', TV' J!:^ unjust 1 feel- Drofcs- ?, how njured rere to nduct, srestcd : such r, that le has irly ill acadc- course High- essions tiot oil orrect : apt to e ccle- al hap- t errors dies of lie too when reform was souiulcd from one ci;d of the kingdom to another, and which coiiki not fail both in public and in private to meet die cars of Lord Selkirk, hi the struggle between what was termed liberty on the one hand, and due restraint u|)on the other, many, nei- ther very ignorant nor timorons, dreaded the event from the awful lesson held out in the French revolution; and looked beyond the At- lantic for that security and peace which Europe did not then seem likely to afford. It was at a period in the i^uthor's life when he was called upon to look out for an emi)loymcnt- suited to his inclinations and acquirements. At that time the fourth and youngjst son of an ancient and honourable fan\ily, conocm::- cd by the law of })riin.ogeijiturc to the pro- spect of a younger brothel's portion, wiiiiou!: any taste for the military professioji, and no H.le!-:ire to shine in the senate or ;it the bar, and ])er]ia|)s disdaining mercantile ])ursuits, ' liis L(4"dsliip early turned his attention if agriculture. Under such circumstances it was no idle or unmeaning speculation to cu- M m •*? ''if i''li '■ I'' r '!' '; ^" ; ' ' ■ f» .274 ploy his patrimony in cullivatiiig tlic fields of America rather than those of liis own coun- try. He could net fail to know the singular advantage which a person possesses who has both means and money and agricultuial skill to employ in a new and hitherto uT-.cultivat- cd countr)\ The profit to he derived from obtaining a settlem< nt in Canada, however, was so far superior to that of the United States, that he probably did not long hesitate in his choice. For in Canada, upon appli- cation to government, a tract of land fit for titltivation may be obtained for nothing, w'hereas it would be necessary to make a purchase of land in the United States iVom some individual, as all tlie best land there has been already appropriated. Since, amid the restrictions of society in the mo- ther country. Lord Selkirk found himself deprived of many prerogatives which his .eldest brother could alone enjoy, perhaps a little personal ambition was mixed with the desire of laying out his portion to rhe best advantage. In wishing to apply to fields of n coiin- singiilar who fias ml skill cultivat- d from Dwever, United hesitate n appli- I fit for lothing, > make States ?st land Since, lie mcv himself ich his )erhaps II with ion to pply to himself and his settlers, the att.iehnicnt and connection which subssited between the Hi h- land chief and the members of his clan, he must have seen that this attachment ami connexion were founded upon the direct interest created between them by means of the. pro})crty of the one being occupied by the other ; and if this coidd be ce- mented by the most winning arts of popnla- rity, a settlement might be formed in Canada, where thcs^ c.iuses might have full scope and proLJucc the same elTects which Lord Sel- kirk states them to have li;id in the Highlands. For tliis purpose an inland situation at such a distance as to leave only a nominal de})endencc upon tlie government was the most eligible, although, in otlier respects, it seems less calculated for rapid im- provement than one nearer the rest of the civili/ed world. For the same [jurpose it would also be necessary to attract men of every description in the Hifihlands, to kc p up the same rank and subordination between the chief and the meanest cotter ; and w!ien "^^ # ■'^^"^ ^:"^'^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 - "r IIIIIM 1^ 1.4 20 1.8 1.6 <^ /; O: o / Photographic Sciences Corporation ^ iV m o % v <^ cS^ '^U 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ? ■ >'*'■' " ■■" .;1V » "yt ^■< i '■■ * 1 ■%. t nl ' 18 27G siicli should be carried into eflcct, the romaii'- tic wanntli of youth perhaps antieipated ' nothing less than a restoration of the happy ' days of clanship.*' Ihe succession to the hereditary titles and estates of his family might perhaps Iiave in- duced the noble Author to abandon the plan to which, when a younger brother, he looked as the source from whicli the future prospects of his life were to spring : but of some minds a persevering ardour is a promi- nent feature ; and it is no reflection on Lord Selkirk'sto suppose it of tluit description. Lord Selkirk seems to have viewed tlie acquisition of wealth and consequence only as the means of carrying into execution, with more effi- cacy, the plan he had conceived in early youth. He applied to government there- fore, and was enabled to compleat his arrangements for his establishment in Upper Canada, at a place fully eight hundred milea. in . '"'i ' 11 , -1 ■ ■ i /) • * p. 192. 277 from tlie se^it of government, and half that distance from the colonized part of the coun- try. The distance was too great to admit of much controul ; and its near vicinity to the hostile and savage tribes of Indians formed a bond of union, centering of course in the leader of the colony, which could only be dissolved by the annihilation of the cause from w^hich it sprung. To meet these views, the plan was totally different from any other upon which the cul- tivation of th.at district had hitherto been at- tempted. Various agents were employed, whose most active exertions were used to procure emigrants from every corner. If .Lord Selkirk has been made to believe that they scrupulously engaged only those who had pre- viously determined to go to the United States, he is grossly misinformed with regard to their proceedings. If it be conceived that only the small tenants were ixavited to emigrate, the public is greatly deceived. Foi* en- couragement was held out to a class of pco- I ;* ij it.' A. ■V; I'^'^'t^ 278 pie superior to the small tenants, as well a.^"- to the inferior class of cottars, in order more nearly to preserve ' all those peculiarities of * customs and language ' which it was so much his object to secure. Neither of these two classes, upon the principles of these Ob- servations, had any occasion to emigrate ; but they were necessary for the feudal sub- ordination which was to be kept up in the new setdement. Some officers on half-pay formed a part of the emigration, and some of the inferior class who were too poor to pay for their paSbage, for which accordingly they engaged to serve by indenture for a cer-^ tain number of years *, formed also a part of the setdement. The first class, had the object been merely the cultivation of waste land, might be termed unproductive labour- ers, as they were not to labour with their own hands ; and the latter class could not have found their way to this settlement with- \ > * App. p. 26, r?»v ■■•'1 ' |V» ft,, , ,..\ 279 out an emigration beyond what was excited by the causes arising in the Mighlands, as they did not originally emigrate, but only set- tled in the low country, when they found it necessary to leave their native districts. Had Ijord Selkirk known that he should not be able to carry into effect his original plan of a remote and inland settlement, he plainly intimates that he w^ould have confmed his encouragements to the same class of people that formed the wealth of other cultivators of waste ground, or perhaps have abandoned the scheme entirely : But, before he knew that government wished a maritime settle- ment, we are informed that he had already proceeded far in his preparations*, and the engagements entered into must be fulfilled. A purchase was accordingly made of a large tract of uncultivated ground in Prince Ed- ward's Island, from the proprietor, at a very easy rate. The emigrants defrayed the ex- P-s. -> f 2S0 i-)'' , H?;^; pences of the v oy , either by their money or labour ; and the land wus sold at a very great advance :^f price. The success of these measures has not disappointed the calcula- tions of prudence ; the emolument has been very great without any great ouday of mo- ney, and merely by employing some little care and attention. Lord Selkirk still has a considerable quantity of ground uncultivated: he did not procure as many .emigrants as would have been sufficient for cultivating his whole property. Additional recruits are re- quired for the colony; but although so many have already transported themselves to it, and although those of their friends, who may chuse to follow their example, have had li- beral and earnest invitations, Lord Selkirk will be able to inform the public how these invitations have been listened to. Tlie pub- lic must know what would be sufficient to ensure success ; it may also be able to con- jecture what are the circumstances whicli must retard its further progress. I- ■( %:. ., ■H :f 28i A Lord Selkirk will prok^.bly object to this pic- ture, as ascribing motives for his condact diffe- rent from those by which it was really actuat- ed; but the public will judge, whether the mo- tives, which have been attributed to the High- land proprietors, have not less appearance of probability than those upon which they may be supposed to account for his Lordship's con- duct ; and whether, after being so roughly handled by his Lordsliip, they could be very much blamed for retorting in this manner. They could assert, at the same time, that their account is gathered chiefly from his own statement, v/hich he candidly akilmits was drawn up by w-ay of vindication for his conduct *. No one will believe that, writing under such circumstances, the apology has been hastily or incautimisly written, or that any thing has been omitted which could jus- tify his principles or vindicate his practice. No philanthropist need fear, that the most profitable employment of the Highlands will 't I ^': T.- ■i-i' •*■'■. '.t' ; 4 * P. 8. Nn 282 ■<•■? ^-^;:- •1 1 •. ^ J.t ,': bo tbiinJ incompatible with retaining the present population ; or that the experience of those who have acted judiciously, and therefore successfully, in attaining this de- sirable object, will not be universally adoj ted. Only give the people the same advantages which others have j let the change be made gradually ;. and let opportunities be offered to the displaced tenants and cottars of usefully employing themselves. This is all that needs to be done. The most gratifying picture is pre- sented in the general character of the High- land proprietors y for the disposition of those who have hitherto acted so honourably and feelingly, in preferring low rents to expatri- ating their tenantry, entirely removes the greatest obstacle tliere otherwise wrould be to gradually improving the Highlands. In this respect, the size of the Highland estates, which are in general very extensive, while it diminishes the number of the persons, up- on whose conduct so much depends, also ne- cessarily facilitates their operations. Almost all of the great proprietors possess estates 283 Ing the perience jly, and this dc- idoj ted. vantages e made FFered to usefully leeds to e is pre* ; High- 3f those )ly and xpatri- vcs the d be to In this estates, while is, up- so ne- Umost estates with such varieties of situation as will fur- nish means suited to every different variety of employment which can influence the for- tunes of their tenantry. The advantage of this is such, that it insures the beneficial ef- fects of the exertion of the enlightened po- licy and improved experience of modern times, and the improvement of the High- lands. Every encouragement, which a mea- sure of such immense national importance deserves, is at this moment most liberally be- stowed by the state. Very considerable pro- gress has already been made in facilitating the means of internal communication, which bestows a vigour and a permanency upon every other species of improvement. The pa- triotic views of Government have been mosi honourably seconded by private individuals. The opinion entertained by those who thinv. that the great national works in question will tend to prevent emigration, is not founded, on the temporary employment^ they afford •for a few years to those engaged in execut- ing them*. Even this, however, w^ould al - _ I r II I I I ■ ■ -- ■ — - . ■-■■■-.. « * P. 58. t\ i 3 " 'I ■ 11 'I f >tl '1 'ii /'■■ : ■',»'( ' , !■ ■* » ,■; 41^ '4 1 . 1 '■» II BpIS 284 low a very considerable addition to be made to the sheep-farming system, without av.y immediate loss of po{)ulation, industry, or capital, to the state. But the benefit to the general improvement of the country, arising from these public works, operates in a dif- ferent manner, and will be quite incalculable. They are, in every case, the first effectual step to improvement. How different must be the progress of barter, when loaded wag- gons may with case traverse the remotest corners of the Highlands, compa,red wdth that period when it was necessary to trans- port every commodity on a half starved po- ney, over almost impassable mountains, or through nearly trackless morasses. In a few years, we shall probably see the Banks of the Caledonian Canal covered w^ith towns and villages, as depots for the produce of tho industry of the interior parts of the country, for v/hich foreign commodities will there be ready to be exchanged. It will no longer be necessary, as it once was, that almost the only exporlablc production of the country a8i : matle ut ar.y try, or to the arising a dif- ciilable. iffectual It must :d wag- emotcst d with I trans- ed po- ins, or a few inks of towns of tho untry, ^re be longer it the luntry tihould transport itself alive to the markctri of the south. In .his respect, the Highlands will soon be put more nearly upon a footing with the rest of the kingdom ; and many of the disadvantages, under which it has hitherto laboured, will be softened away ; so that the native and powerful energies of its active and high-spirited inhabitants will be allowed free scope, and thus be employed usefully for themselves and their country, without the most distant necessity for look- ing to the other side of the Atlantic for a field for the exercise of the*r industrious ha- bits. X. ' The emigrations from the Highlands,' says Lord Selkirk,' which had been of little ' moment during the continuance of hostili- ' ties, recommenced, upon the return of peace, ' with a spirit more determined and more ' widely diffused than on any former occa- " sion *.' This circumstance, that the cur- V, I i * P- 4- w « tl^ '-, • .^ ..K: V'/i' ■ -ii ,.;.»i I'^i W^ ' ' v< I ». i Nil B K H PF ''*' 2S6' rent of emigration was checked during the l:ite war, naturally excitCvS a doubt how far ita progress was altogether owing to the alleged necessity of thinning an unnecessarily nume- rous population. The effect of the war could only be, in a small degree, to enhance the freight for the passage, and to afford an open- ing for some of the younger and more active Highlanders to enter into the army. It re- commenced, however, on the return of peace with more than ordinary vigour ; and a ge- neral ferment prevailed through the whole country, not keeping pace, in the smallest degree, with the conversion of arable and cattle farms into pasture for sheep. The bulk of those proposing to emigrate were persons not labouring under any distress, but who, on the contrary, were in possession of lands suited to their circumstances, enabling them to live at their ease * : in many instances the deserted farms held under current leases, in the possession of which they were of course I i :■ First Report on Emigration, p. 5. }:m 287 bulk ersons who, lands them Atciirc * : and it Is a fact, that, at the \xry tune whe '»o rage for emigration was at the highest, there were farms unoccupied, which might have been obtained upon moderate terms, and which were actually lying waste, being deserted by the tenants notwithstand- ing the anxious wish of the proprietors to re- tain them. In most of the districts where this spirit was most prevalent, they were not only then uninjured by the consequences' of sheep-farming, but not even the most dis- tant idea was entertained of its introduction. Sheep-farming was only very partially and locally adopted at this time in the countie;; of Ross and Inverness : the greatest part of the country, from which the emigration was going on, was by no means adapted for this species of stock ; and no measures were even in contemplation for enlarging the farms which could account for such a spirit being so universally diffused. ' ij i-' H * Third Report, p. 9- M I- Ig; IP Hw' 1, '<■■: 4gS The emigration, which took place in the year i8oi, from the west coast of the High* lands, was comprehended in three vessels, conveying about 830 passengers to Nova Scotia*. ' But such was the celerity wuth which this spirit increased that, next year, no less than 45 1 o emigrants left this country, in fifteen vessels, from different parts of the Highlands, most of them destined for the United States f : and the probable ex- tent of emigration was calculated, from the preparations which were then making, and the ferment which prevailed, at no less than 20,000 for the following year J. Among the instances which came to the notice of a committee of the Highland So- ciety, whose attention was drawn to this sub- ject, there w^as one estate where no less than 150 families were preparing to emigrate, ^ ,i-« * First Report, p. 2. f Appen. C. to the Third Report on Coasts, Sec. of Scotland. i Third Report, p. 3. •j? i^ Vv'hlch comprehended the whole population upon it, with the exception of three families: upon another estate the whole inhabitants, to the amount of 2000 sOiils, were in corres- pondence upon this subject *. Lord Selkirk himself has been obliged to record an instance of this unreasonable and unnecessary dis- position to emigration from the island of Barra f . ' . The circumstances attending the voyages of many of these emigrant ships exhibited melancholy pictures of mortality, which, add- ed to the hardships of the situation of these poor people, naturally excited the most deep- felt compassion. This feeling would have been barren, indeed, if it had not excited the desire of removing the delusion and ig- norance under which these poor people seem- ed to be blindly acting. Accordingly, all these united circumstances* w^ould have been sufficient to call aloud foF :l a '-.Vi <■ I cc. of * First Report, p. 3. ' r. 14Z. o o I- ^'Fm .1:?: , t'l 290 the attention of much less enlightened pa- triots than the Highland Society of Scotland- have always shewn themselves to be, in order to discover, if possible, what were the effi- cient causes of such an unusual ferment in the Highlands ; whether it proceeded en- tirely from the rapid, and therefore injudici- ous change of system adopted by the pro- prietors, or whether it did not, in a great measure, originate in the ignorance of the people, worked upon by designing men stir- ring them up to discontent. Their inquiries led to a full discovery of. * the instigation of interested persons, who * promote the ferment of the people, and go ' about recruiting for the plantations with the ' usual eloquence of crimps *.' These are the words of a contemporary author. The persons, however, th^s employed did not make these exertions for the sake of the poor Highlander that he might profit by these hitherto untried scenes of enjoyment ; for we * Irvine on Emigration, p. d--. }. i-^i 291 learn from the same author, that, of these persons, ' some instigators have lands in * America, but they have no people to culti- * vate them : they must try then to supply * this want, by those measures which interest * suggests, by large promises of prosperity, * and by gay descriptions of the country *.' But the other class of instigators, who may be aptly termed crimps, have no lands upon which they can set down the people whom they solicit to leave this country : the sole ob- ject of their profit is the freight which they obtain from each passenger : the sooner and more completely they fill up their cargo, so much the greater of course will the advan- tage be. That such persons would not be very scrupulous in the means they made use of to serve their own interest need scarcely be re- marked : it would be singular indeed if we found them going about giving a fair repre- sentation of the hardships of the voyage, the 1,. n )• IB .1, •'. ... ■■■1 \ " ^ Irvine on Emigration, p. 68. 2()1 mm mm: mm: ■hj ■■■.'■- t( difficulties to be encountered in America^ and the real circumstances in which the emigrants would find themselves placed : as little can we expect to see such persons limit their tempta- tions to the necessities of the people and the conduct of the proprietors. Lord Sclkuk himself acknowledges, that * the niachina- ' tions of the leaders of emigration, as des- ' cribed in the Reports (of the Highland So- * ciety) are nothing more than might reason- ' ably be expected from men of that stamp ' in a country where a general tendency to ' irritation prevails :' yet it is thought to be absurd, that ' the Society should consider ' these artifices as the prime source of all the 'discontent they observe, and assign as their * ultimate motive the unjust and tempting ' gains accruing to the traders in emigra- * tion *.' The times in which we live have afforded many melancholy lessons in the study of human nature. We all witnessed, with a well grounded apprehension, the ra- mm * P. M?.. 29 ca, and ligrants can we empta- ind the Sclkiik ichina- is des- [id So- easGn- stamp ncy to t to be )nsider all the i their ipting ligra- have the ssed. pid prcgres-s, among the low and ignorant, of opinions as agreeable to their passions and feelings as inconsistent with the due order of civil society. When once the artful and the eloquent obtain a hearing, the contagion spreads like a mighty torrent, bearing down every thing which resists its progress. Can any subject be addressed to the imagination more captivating than the prospect of happiness ? It is not difficult, in any situation of life, to create discontent : every condition may ad- mit of amelioration. Wherever imagination is set afloat, and scope given for the free cur- rent of our desires, reason loses it controul. * A thousand gay illusions sport before the ' eye, and solicit the fancy. Present advan- ' tages become insipid, or sink in esteem ; the * future gains what the present loses *.' The most deceitful representations are held out of the blessings to be found in America : the cli- mate and the very elements are represented as assuming something like paradisiacal harmony: .t , l \ I * Irvine, p. 60. mm .)>; I 1 ',.• ' ■ ..*•' i', ^ ...'■, ■ J.' ■it '■■» 294 *no dlfFiculrics arc to be met with ; but tlie cartli IS supposed almost spontaneously to yield her increase : ' Where tliere is no landlord, no * factor, no threatening for rents at Martinmas.' These delusions, of course, are circulated, and every kind of authenticity is given to them by the leaders of emigration. It is very much their interest to do so ; and so successful are they, that even Lord Selkirk has admitted, that * the emigrants are sel- dom fully aware of the discouragements* * they are to encounter. How should it be otherwise ? Does any person suppose that they would emigrate, if they^ knew but th. one half of the truth which escaped even fj'om Lord Selkirk himself, that " there cannot be a more extreme contrast, to any country that has been long under cultivation, or a scene more totally new to a native of these kingdoms than '^le boundless forests of Ame- rica, ^^/i emigrafit set down in such a sccnCy feels all the helplessness of a child, lie has a new set of ideas to acquire ; the knowledge * P. 178. ';,R.; lie eartli vicld lord, no tin mas.' rculatecl, ;iven to . It is and so Selkirk are sel- ments'* ' Id it be )0?e that the one n f]*om nnot be :ountry or a If these Ame- SCCJlCy He has ,'ledge 39i which all his previous experience has accu- Hiiilated, can seldom be applied ; his igno- rance, as to the circumstances of his new situation, meets him on every occasion*/' What is the effort required for removing to the low country, compared to this ; where,, if he is to be employed in a new occupation, lie is surrounded by those who can instruct liis ignorance and assist his helplessness ? How much rather should he prefer remain- ing in the land of his fathers, to this looking for untried scenes of happiness in a country and in an occupation for which his pre- vious habits lend him no aid, and his pre- vious experience leaves him only the weak- ness of a child. Can any thing but delusion lead him to America? No sooner is one cargo landed, than on the return of the crimps before mentioned to look out for a fresh, supply, a great number of letters, supposed to be written by those who went before, are transmitted to their friends and neighbours- Xhese give flattering accounts of the success * P; 178. It '' i •i' I" I ■ ■ I', ■ I If!' .'it of their voyage, and tlie happiness they en- joy after havhig made the experiment. These letters are given out as being written by the direction of persons who can neither read nor write ; and it need scarcely be added, that all the letters of an opposite tendency, sent home by the same conveyance, are sup- pressed. Lord Selkirk is pleased to remark, that ' throughout all British America, at ' least the ports, are under the same regula- * tions as at home, and that (under the au- * thority of the postmaster general of Eng- ' land) letters may he conveyed from almost * every part of the colonies, more tediously ' indeed, but (sea risk excepted) with as * much safety as within Great Britain itself*.* This is all very true ; but Lord Selkirk forgets that the establishment of post offices, in the uncultivated parts of the colonies to which- these poor people are deluded, is still more scanty than in the wildest and most remote part of the Highlands of Scodand, which is • i ■: '> * P. 139. P8 I i:- J'-: m. m 297 ley eii- These by the er read added, idency, re sup- remark, ica, at regula- :he au- f Eng- i almost diously ith as Itself*' [forgets lin the which' moi^e gemote lich is often at the distance of 40 or 50 miles, where a poor tenant would litde think of inquiring for a letter from America. The poor people throughout the country have a singular an- tipathy to this kind of taxation ; and, ac- cordingly, the whole correspondence, which takes place, is carried on directly by means of these traders. That the Society did not on light grounds hazard the assertion, that all let- ters, not of a particular tendency, were as much as possible suppressed. Lord Selkirk probably knows, or might have known; and the follow- ing statement was given in proof of it, which, as Lord Selkirk could not possibly deny, he thought it best to overlook, and simply to say, that there was a post office establishment in America. ' The feelings of the emi- ' grants,' says the reporter, ' after finding ' themselves in America, are strongly illus- ' trated by a genuine letter which the com- * mittee has had occasion to see, written in * 1792, by a Highlander in America to his * cousin at home. Among other things, he ' says, " Dear Angus, you may tell Bois- pp * 298 m- i: 11 c» I i> < ■ • 1 ', 'i:f ; i t ■ f j ■ 1 _ ■ • r 1 1 " dale about t]\e people that left ITlst, that " they arc crying every day, sayhig, if Bois- " dale knew their condition, that he would " send for them again ; but if you hear any " of them talking of coming to this place, " for God's sake advise them to stay wlicre " they are, else they will repent." ' How ' this letter made its way from America, in * spite of the care which is certainly taken to ' prevent such intelligence being conveyed to ' Britain, does not appear ; but it is a cir- * cumstance deserving of notice, that this ' was the only letter that came from the ' Uist emigrants written by the party him- ' self, while a great number were received * by the very same conveyance, as for, and * by direction, and in name of others among * these emigrants, who were themselves un- * able to read or vvrrite, and containing the * most flattering accounts of their situation*.' Is it enough to dispute such a distinct state- ment, by simply saying, that there are post * First Report, p. 34. LTist, that J, if Bois- lie wouUl hear any his place, ay where * How lerica, ii\ J taken to iveyed to is a cir- that this from the Tty hi in- received for, and s among ;lves un- ing the ation*.' |ct state- are post 299 oflices in America, and that the Society ought to have made inquiry into this before such an assertion was hazarded ? Does Lord Sel- kirk really believe the Society are indebted to his Lordship's connection with America for the first notice of this piece of information ? They knew also, however, that few of the High- landers correspond with the mother coun- try through the medium of the post office ; and they had fully ascertained the remark- able fact regarding the Uist emigrants in 1792, which admits of no explanation dif- ferent from what they have given. Lord Selkirk will probably find, on inquiry, that the knowledge of this practice being usual, in other cases, has produced a conviction in the colony established in Prince Edward's Island, that the emigrants to that settlement have not been exempted from it. The ac- counts which have reached this country, how- ever, show that, with regard to that settle- ment, it has not been equally successful. The artifices of the leaders of emigration completely account for the prodigious in- ^i ■% I' f. 300 crease in the success of American coloniza- tion, and fully explain the singular pheno- menon of an emigration taking place, far beyond the supposed drain necessary, from the actual circumstances of the country. It is said, indeed, that " no explanation is given of the mode in which the extraordina- ry gains arise*,*' which make this a lucrative trade, and which induced men to pursue it with the same eagerness with which the Af- rican slave trade used to be carried on. The gains were indeed extraordinary, as they de- pended not on the life and health of the pas- sengers, but upon the death. The contrac- tors purpose -vas served even before the emi- grant was admitted on board. For he never was permitted to put his foot into the ship until the passage money was paid down ; and the sooner the contractor was relieved of the burden of him by death, or by other means, the greater proportion of food set apart for him was saved. The more people •< I ■I ( 11* }]': P» M3" 30I from that were crowded into one ship, so much the more profit was made at the same exptnce, which never was cncreased by even the ne- ccssaiy medical attendance requibite for so many people in such circumstances. This is no imaginary picture. Upon such princi- ples of mercantile speculation, had the trade been carried on for many years. For what- ever previous agreement had been made, when the poor emigrant found that his ac- comnnodalion was inadequate to the purposes of health or comfort, what could he do ? He must pay for what his contract bound him to, and by giving up his farm, he had abandoned all claim to a residence in this country. He must either remain unprovided for and a burden upon his friends, with the loss of the passage money, and all his hopes of a happy independence ; cr he must submit to the ac- commodation the contractor chose to afibrd him. However scanty this was, the contrac- tor might well think as long as he was under no regulations, that if he received him on board, it w^s all he had undertaken for. 302 ■S'Jit ,"' swm ■ i 'I . ,1, ' V \ »''■' •■IS i:f. The poor creatures were landed often in so enfeebled a state, that they were unable to reach those parts of the country where it was possible to employ them ; and if they did, were quite incapable of bearing the fatigue necessary in their new situation. They thus became in many instances an intolerable bur- den upon the poor's rates. The evil at length became so great that several of the states en- acted a law that in future no ship-master should be allowed to land any emigrant un- less he found an American citizen to give security in a hundred dollars that he should not become a burden upon the country. Can a more direct testimony be given of the enfeebled state in which they landed ? As the same principles of profit regulated every voyage, the circumstances attending each were in general extremely similar : in some perhaps the inconvenience was less than in others ; but the following statement, taken from a judicial proceeding before the Court of Session relative to a ship that carried pas- sengers from the isle of Sky to Carolina in I® 3^3 1 79 1 J Is selected both for its publicity and authenticity. ' The vessel was about 270 * tons burden — the number of passengers * about 40 ., including women and children, * so that their situation was most uncomforta- ' ble and dangerous, there being hardly room * for them to stretch themselves. There were * three tiers of beds fore and aft, and two ' midship. The births for a full passenger ' were 1 8 inches broad. Those fore and aft * were only about 2 feet high, including the ' space occupied by bedding, so that it was * scarcely possible to creep into them. The * others were a litde higher, so that the pas- * senger could turn himself on his side, and ' rest on his elbow. To add to their calami- ' ties, they neither had a sufficiency of vic- ' tuals nor proper cooking utensils, there be- * ing only two pots of twenty-four pints ' each, which were quite inadequate to the ' preparation in any reasonable time .; a ' mcLd for 400 persons. Had the v :ssei ' made out its voyage, the chief part oi ti.e * people must have been consumed by dis- 5 "I m '} W ■■ |yy„; ,.,. flj^w]^ * ''^ t plff- V W- ■if '•■ ' H SiSi t"- •:• K-'i? '.'V .■ li ... t I , » 304 *. :* * ease and filth, which last was horrible ; but ' after being twelve days at sea, the ship was * dismasted and put back to Greenock, where * many of the passengers, especially children, * died from the effects of the short voyage ' they had made. These unfortunate people ' were completely cured of their passion for ' America ; and happily found an asylum in ' the benevolence of Mr David Dale, who * employed them in his extensive cotton ma- * nufactory in the vacinity of Glasgow.'* This hitherto uncontradicted statement sure- ly informs us of some particulars well wor- thy of attention, entering deeply into the merits of this question ; it is surely little de- serving of the light and jocular manner in which Lord Selkirk has been pleased to re- present it. Will any person believe that this is the statement to which Lord Selkirk refers when he says that nothing can be ga- thered from it, except that ' after 1 2 days of ' boisterous weather, the passengers were tired, First Rept. p. 8. 1% .-.■.■lAv---- 3^5 * especially the women and children, and did ' not chuse to proceed ; a consequence very * likely among people who, for the first time * in their lives, were heartily sea-sick !*' Need it be wondered at that the Highland Society of Scotland should think it unnecessary to take notice of the charge of inhumanity for endeavouring to prevent the recurrence of such scenes in future, when it proceeds from the same quarter with the above re- marks ? Lord Selkirk accuses the Society of not producing more instances of those hardships which the emigrants suffered upon their voy- age. But their inquiries uniformly led to the same conclusion, though some instances were more fatal and better authenticated than others. From the nature of the case it could not be otherwise: the same motives uni- formly operated ; and the same effects were found to result in the years 1773, 1791, and 1801. In this last year, two vessels, a- |i .1 ' ■1 ■'1 hi n f * P. 147. ■'I •■'»is; Ki'..: '■ ''I U: ! V I ■ ii .' I ! if/'t-i 306 mounting to 559 tons, are, on good grounds,' believed to have carried out to America not less than 700 persons. Will it be thought wonderful that a fever should be the conse- quence of this very crowded state of the ves- sels, and that the consequence of this fever should be, * that 53 of the passengers died * on board one of the vessels before reaching * America*?' This statement. Lord Selkirk says, is given ?ip07t hearsay'\ ; and the High- land Society are accused of lending their* sanction to a vague report. Unquestionably it is true, that the evidence of this fact did not fall directly under their own immediate observation ; the account was received from others j so far it was upon hearsay ; but it is probable the members of the committee, who inquired into this subject, did so as coolly and dispassionately as the noble author, and that they are just as capable of judging of evi- dence upon this or any other subject as he can be. The fact was not difficult to be disproved, if the committee had been mis- * First Report, p. 13, t P. 147- 307 informed : It was said to have happened to one of two ships which sailed from Fort-Wil- liam in a particular year ; and Lord Selkirk could not have failed to have obtained a re- futation of it from persons who were so much interested in having it discredited. , , , While the situation of the poor deluded creatures, who entrusted themselves to the designing artifices of speculators, excited the compassion of the committee, still it was ad- mitted that * it was not their object to pro- ' pose that any restraint should be put on * the will of any of his Majesty's subjects * who may chuse, however unwisely, to quit ' his native habitations, and depart abroad, ' more . especially to some of his Majesty's ' foreign possessions. As little do they wish ' to involve the Society in a suggestion of * any restraint on the lawful solicitations of * persons holding estates in his Majesty's ' foreign possessions, addressed to natives of * Britain for persuading them (however much * to their disadvantage) to abandon their * own country, where ample fields of im- ' provement remain, in order to cultivate t 11 m i^i ><•- ( I ' -i I- A I ■ ;i.l 1 ;';;;»* 1 I ■■, ■» l- ,'..,. i 1^ ■','!' ' i/'' ^V'^ > 'ffC^V . . ' ';•;►, '■^• 'hirt! "V ■ lis- 308 ' distant lands.' The object of the commit- tee is only * to regulate the transportation of * emigrants in such a way as that no undue * profit may arise from its being conducted * in a manner destructive to the passengers*.* These views will unquestionably meet the approbation of every true patriot and friend to humanity ; while they left open the fair road to advancement which America might be supposed to open. While true representa- tions of the advantages or disadvantages were allowed to operate, their object was to pre- vent every kind of delusion ori^nating in the interested and selfish conduct of men whose object was their own profit, and not the good of the pretended subjects of their commiseration. / > . ; . n i-'ii .i The regulations proposed, in consequence of these views, have been treated by Lord Sdkirk sometimes with ridicule, as unneces- sary, and, at other times, by a singular abuse of words, with a charge of inhumanity. But it will probably astonish those unacquainted I . _ I - ■ ^ - * Third Report, p. 18, ao» i • 1. 309 with the subject, otherwise than in the ac- count he has been pleased to give of it, that the regulations which are chiefly objected to, regarding the accommodation of the passen- gers, which were recommended by the com- mittee, were copied from the law regulating the conveyance of slaves from the coast of Africa to the West Indies * : and surely it Was not stipulating too much in favour of our own countrymen, that their health and comfort should be as much studied in the im- perative regulations of an act of Parliament, as the welfare of the negroes, to which the powerful motive of self-interest, as has been often strongly argued, must have procured a proper degree of attention. But in the transportation of the emigrants, as it was ge- nerally managed, the private interest was ex- actly in opposition to the accommodation, the health, and the lives of the passengers. - The wisdom of Parliament, when the matter was submitted to their consideration, thought proper to provide for the emigrants * Stat. 38. Geo. III. c. 88. M li i. 'iii ■■(>< I,-, '.. • . »• '. ',J''-H (k> 310 somewhat more accommodation than is sti- pulated in favour of the African slaves. If Lord Selkirk chuses to lind fault with this preference of his own countrymen, and this superior attention to their health and com- fort, he m.ust arraign the legislature of his country, which thought it necessary to pro- vide for their accommodation at least equal to that provided for our forces when they go on similar voyages, which is generally at least 1 7 or 2 tons per man. The fear of contagious diseases must be much less among those w^ho are kept cleanly by the rules of military discipline than among those who, for the first time in their lives, have lived out of the smoke and filth of a Highland cottage. . / ;, . , 1!. ■ ! r* • .- ;:»;. •.•.:, , The special provisions of the act of Par- liament for regulating the conveyance of pas- sengers from any part of Great Britain, or Ireland, are treated uniformly by Lord Sel- kirk as the suggestion of the Highland So- ciety : and it is wished that the world should believe that the Society entertained the idea 311 Par- pas- or Sel- So- ould idea of preventing emigration by these restric- tions, which are therefore represented as be- ing unnecessarily severe. But it might have been expected from a person who professed to talk of " the benevolence which marks the proceedings of the Highland Society in general," which is such, as " to leave no room to doubt of their conduct respecting emigration having been founded on the purest motives ;*" that if the regulations be thought unnecessarily severe or absurd, the Society, who did not propose them, should be ex- empted from the ridicule and blame attached to them. The impression which the repre- sentation given of the conduct of the Higli- land Society is meant to convey, clearly h, that the reports transmitted to Government pointed out the rule which was adopted. This Lord Selkirk, who was furnished with them, know^s was not the case. In fair ar- gument, the Society have a right to insist that more should not be imputed to them than they can clearly take the merit of. P- 135- m ,>■*,♦ ''f h * , ,1''! *< ;* 31^ Any person who has had an opportunity of being on board an emigrant ship, navigat- ed even according to the rules of the act of Parliament, will have no reason for thinking that any unnecessary attention has been paid to the accommodation of the people. The number of human beings crowded into one spot, without any very easy circulation of air, of people, at no time very remarkable for cleanliness, and of course still less so in so new a situation, affording so few conve- niencies for this purpose, makes the condi- tion of such a ship quite different from one conveying a body of men under strict disci- pline, trained to habits of cleanliness and at- tention to airing their bedding. Neither can it be seriously thought that the proportion of food is tpo great for a voyage of uncertain length, which depends entirely upon the state of the weather. Ani- mal food is an article much less bulky, there- fore carried at a much cheaper rate, and much more nutritive than farinaceous food ; and surely it cannot be said that for a labour- m 13 )rtunity lavigat- act of linking en paid . The ito one tjon of Larkable } so in conve- condi- )m one :t disci- and at-o It that for a spends Ani- there- and food; ibour- ing man, who, immediatuly upon his arrival in America, is to meet with the diHicultics, and must sul)due the obstacles which arc so eloquently described by Lord Selkirk *, and which are sufiicieiit to appal the stoutest heart, 3-!, lib. of animal food each week is an unreasonable allowance. Formerly, from injudicious management, and a very short- sighted policy, the economical arrangements upon this subject were so very scanty as very often so much enfeebled the emigrant, that, if he ever recovered himself from the natural depression of his mind and enervated state of his body, the period during which he was unable to undergo the immense fatigue necessary in his new situation, wasted much mure of his little capital than his defective fare had saved. But in his remarks upon this subject 'j', Lord Selkirk shows hovvr little he is acquaint- ed w4th that class of Highlanders who com- pose the ordinary emigrations. They arc, P. 178, 189. R r r. 15c. .1 i, '1 •' I 1 vf Si'.' > '■ ,i , 1 '■r^'V ■,'!,! ,""■ f \ z^' »■ '. t . ' Ills' i: '■;■ - 3H according to Ills own account, the more wealthy of the tenantry, among whom, es- pecially in the Isles, the quantity of animal food consumed in their families is very con- sidcrahlc indeed. It has hitherto been, and probably ever will be, more a cattle than a grain country : And can it be wondered at, that in a country where a cow may be bought from 35s. to 2I. and a sheep at 3s. 6d. or 4s. and where the necessity of importa- tion always keeps grain at a high price**, the people should resort more to the former kind of food than the same class of people do in other parts of the coimtry ? Few fa- milies, of such a class as used to emigrate, kill fewer than six or eight sheep, besides a cow, for their support during the year. The al- lowance of farinaceous food is c,'.d objected to, as " being more than equal to the entire consumption of country labourers in any part of Scodand f ". But, admitting that it is so, * Statis. Account of Harris, t P. 150. 315 more ►m, es- anlinal y con- n, and than a red at, lay be 3 s. 6d. iporta- i*", the former people w fa- te, kill I cow, he al- •jccted entire y part is so* "when the ingenious author objects to an al- lowance of 1 1 lib. each day, he forgets the quantity of vegetable food^ milk, and tea, which every where diminishes the labourer's consumption of grain. For this deficiency it was necessary to provide. It will not appear surprising, that the de- sire of going as cheaply as possible to Ame- rica led them to bargain for themselves just as small a portion of food as it was possible for them to subsist upon ; and their igno- rance of the length and hardships of the voyage, left this desire to operate in its full force, unchecked by the expc:rience of those who cared not how soon they were relieved of the burden of supporting them. No bet- ter criterion could be obtained upon this sub- ject than by enlarging somewhat all the al- lowances usually made, in order more espe- cially to guard against the dismal effects of a voyage extending beyond the usual limits. Accordingly, in a contract entered into in the year 1802, between the owners of a vessel and a party of emigrants, the quantity of > • .'1 .,:yt: I P*"*::. It ■ ,: . ..V'M i f', J i.'i.',' ''I provisions, which they insist upon, being pro- vided for them, is as follows : 5 lib. of oat- meal, 3 lib. of biscuit, 4 lib. of beef, i Eng- lish pint of molasses, and \- lib. of barley for each passenger per week, and i gallon of water per day. The stipulations of the act of Parliament make very little addition to the quantity of farinaceous food, and even pro- vide less animal food than the people, when left to themselves, insisted upon. This seems to leave no room to doubt the propriety of its enactments. But some very material provisions of the act of Parliament are entirely overlooked by Lord Selkirk, which was necessary, perhaps, as he was bringing forward a charge of in- humanity against its framers. Tiie condi- tion of the poor people who embarked was miserable, not only from their crowdeci situa- tion and want of food, but was also shock- ing to human nature, if any epidemical dis- temper arose among them, which was ex- tremely likely to happen. In such a case, how much was the malignity of disease ag- '* m t'ti^-v; m y M I 517 gravated by the want of any medical assis- tance ? But whether they escaped this or not, there was no security that tlieir agree- ment should be fulfilled either on shipboard or in America. The bonds which are taken as a security for having the proper quantity of provisions on board, for embarking no more than the just proportion of passengers, for airing the bedding once-day, and fumi- gating the vessel twice a-week, for landing them at the place agreed upon, and the ne- cessity there is to have a skilful surgeon on board every vessel which carries more than 50 passengers, operate as a complete check against any kind of deceit. By these regu- lations, the trade is not prohibited, but is now placed upon the best possible footing. This, however, does not seem to be tht; opinion of Lord Selkirk : ' The regulations ' of the act of parliament, we are told, are ' so far from being absolutely necessary, that * it is difficult to see what object they can ' serve, except to enliancc the expence of 3i« passage '.■'J ■■-^'. i ■ > ,*' In one sense, indeed, it may be iruc mat it is not absolutely necessary for this country to interfere. For although the accommodation formerly was such as in ge- neral produced a very great mortality, as they were at all events quitting the country, it signified little how many reached their place of destination, which was often a fo- reign and independent state. But though unquestionably by these regulations, the ex- pence of the passage be a little enhanced, can any person be so blinded by prejudice as not to perceive that the object attained is fully a recompencc for this additional ex- pence ? These regulations now produce this excellent effect, that every one of those poor creatures, whose real or supposed miseries in- duce them to look for happiness at a distance from thei" native country, now knows ex- acdy what he bargains for ; and has a dis- tinct and easy mode pointed out of obtaining its fulfilment' He is not now left, as he for- .1 '''■'!> I",,' ' (I K,;.- {■■ y^il'*! .-■■l. .- ;■■;!» m 'V*' p. 152 f. I lay be iry for igh the in ge- lity, as )untry, I their 1 a fo- though the ex- lanced, ejudicc lined is lal ex- ice this e poor :ics in- istancc ws ex- a dis- aining le for- merly was, to the mercy of the contractor, who just took on board as many as he could possibly crowd together ; but he now knows that for the stipulated sum, which he is left to fix at what rate he pleases, he must have a certain quantity of accommodation. Neither will it be found that there was any check against imposition, from the circumstance of one of the emigrants themselves being sometimes contrac- tor for the voyage *, the instances of which, however, were not very frequent. For unfor- tunately the interest of the contractor, whe- ther Highlander, Lowiander, or American, whether one of their own number, or in a higher sphere of life, is decidedly at variance with the comfortable accommodation of the emigrant. Whenever one of themselves un- dertook to bargain about a vessel to transport them, the ship- owners of course bound him under a penalty to provide the number of passengers agreed upon by a certain day ; but in return for this, the contractor took '•I ! H ■<■::! * P. 144. 320 'm-v->i V,i. ' ■1-5 r- I ; '■*■.:. care to secure liiniself in a most ample re- compense. The contract formerly alluded to was clogged by a private letter granted by the ship-owners to the person "who took bur- den for the rest of the emigrants, by which it was secretly agreed upon that, of the sum which he bargained that each should pay for his passage, he was to receive il. for his exertions. This plainly identified his inte- rest with that of the owners of the vessel, which was to induce as many as possible to go, and to crowd as many as could be into the same vessel ; and this, whether the state of the country, their comfort, or their incli- nations led them to it or not. It is very easy to say, that * in this, as in ' other trades, competition must be the best ' check to abuse.*' But after a poor ignorant Highlander, who perliaps has never wander- ed beyond the district in which he was born, had given up his farm or been turned out of :t ; after he had bargained for his passage, and paid down half the passage- money; af- ter a ship had been provided, and before he m .^ * p. 146. 321 iplc rc- alluded ited by )k bur- winch le sum Id pay for his s inte- vessel, ible to be into le state r incli- as in le best norant ander- born, out of assage, ;y; af- Dre he 8^t his foot on board to inspect the accom- modation provided for him, he had been obliged to pay down the other half. — If, when he got on board, he found the vessel overloaded, or the quantity and quality of the food deficient, how could he remedy this ? He had in fact made himself an out- cast from the society he was leaving; he had now no home where he could repose his head ; and the greater part of his fortune was in the hands of a man who might set sail with it next day, declaring it forfeited, be- cause he was ready to fuUil his engagement by conveying him to the other side of the Atlantic. How would the emigrant, in such a case, be able to support his claim by suing the contractor in a court of law ? He had no alternative but to submit to whatever was provided for him, till these regulations en- abled him to fix specifically the accommoda- tion he was to obtain for the price stipulated between them. Amidst so much ignorance on the one hand, and self-interested specula- s s ■^ ^1 f ^1 m., ".1 mi m' !■ »ifl Hn'!' !■■'■ ■1 mW: '^' wl If , . ■ ■ II |:.:-: SI |,,,:p: MEal fiS^"' ^rW H Irr'-. '1 ■^;i:'. ■• . I 322 tion on the other, it seems perfectly plain, that * much higgling would take place, some- ' times deceit and imposition, and almost al- ' ways a great deal of petty artifice and vul- * gar intrigue'''^.' It will scarcely be believed possible that this admission can come fronx the same pen which has so loudly depre- cated any interference to regulate this traffic. It is surely a very great inconsistency for any person to see, to the fullest extent, the evils complained of, and yet to consider the means which completely check these, as bor- dering upon a degree of inhumanity which deserves the utmost seventy of his Lord- ship's pen. It is indeed saidf, that ' it * does not appear how the regulations pro- * posed can operate to remedy any of the * inconveniencies arisltig from these circumi- ' stances, or to Ouviate the deceit and impo- * sition which may occasionally have been ' practised by contractors/ It is hoped, however, that the public is fully aware of t T- M5- t Ibid. my fell' ;''■> plain, some- ost al- id vul- ilieved £ from depre- traffic, :y for It, the kr the IS bor- which Lord- Lt * it 5 pro- of the ircunii- impo- ; been hoped, ^are of 323 the way in which the Act of Parliament has effected this grand object j and if Lord Sel- kirk shall ever again induce another cargo of emigrants to trust their fortunes and their happiness to him, he will probably derive the same informr.tion from experience. After all the clamour which has been rais- ed against the framers of this bill, who are said to have compelled the emigrant to ' waste * his capital in expences absolutely futile and * useless,' the public will be astonished to iearn how litde the passage-money has been raised since the passing of the act. Prior to its enactment, the passage money was, upon an average, 7 1. * ; it is now raised to 9 1. Considering that it is pardy for theliseless and futile expence of medical assistance, of the equally useless and futile expence of se- curity to be landed at the place agreed upon, as well as for the accurate fulfilment of every other stipulation, the difference, in such cir- cumstances, would be two small to throw * Irvine, p. 88. fif ;»! 324 m .' I any great check upon emigration ; and is most amply cpmpensated to the emigrants themselves, in the vigorous state of body which enables them to enter at once upon their distant jourjiey to the back settlements of America, and the laborious task they have to perform when they reach their place of destin^ktion. But when it is considicred, tha|: since that period the rate of insurance has very much risen, the cpnyoy duty has bcpn impose(j, ^nd the wages of seamen, owing to the demand for men for the navy, hfiye very greatly increased, so that the freight of a vessel, from the Clyde to America, has advanced at least ^^ per cent, i^ will be found that what formerly went to the unlawful gains of the contractor now goes to the comfort- able accommodation of the emigrant. A liigher eulogium upon the merits of the emi- grant bill cannot be devised th^n this simple- filCt. Lord Selkirk says, * some persons may be y inclined to doubt whether humanity was ■•!■ ' Willi / ,■ 3^5 was * the leading motive of the Society *.' He goes on : ' Whatever may have been their * views, it has certainly been the subject gf ^ exultation to many individuals, that the ^ bill, by rendering the passage too expen- ' sive for the pecuniary means of the tenant- '^ ry, must leave them at the mercy of their * superiors,' It is acknowledged that this effect will be produced only in a very incon-. siderable degree, not, however, to the praise either of the superiors or of the Highland Society, but from the alleged obstinacy of the people, who the more they are restrain- ed will be the more eager to go. But docs Lord Selkirk really think, that any indivi- dual, who bears the name of Briton, rejoices that any of the human race, far less their own countrymen, should be at the mercy of their superiors ? The force of the phrase, be- ing at a person's mercy, is very peculiar ; it is adopted, on the present occasion, to imply the possibility of the Highland gentlemen being tyrants, who would oppress the peo- 5 P. 152. I* .f •.. '^Vj ■:kV^ Vb' r I ' J ' * i^ .■ 326 pk, provided they were prevented from leav- ing them, the very persons whom he had already represented as being in general most indulgent masters *. But what do their su- periors, according to Lord Selkirk, gain by having them at their mercy ?— loss of rent, an infinite deal of trouble, and no advantage whatever. IhcbC, then, are not the indivi- duals whose interest it is to exult at those supposed consequences of the bill ; and how any other persons, possessing no property in the Highlands, can have any view but the good of their countrymen, either in the wish of their hearts or the object of their exertions, it will require all the ingenious reasoning of Lord Selkirk to point out. The view which Lord Selkirk has ex- hibited of the conduct of the Highland Society would lead the world to conceive that they rested satisfied with suggesting dis- couragements to emigration, by restrictions and penalties, without troubling themselves about any means for its prevention, by sug- * P. 128. y-1 om leav- he had ral most heir su- gain by 3f rent, vantage indivi- it those id how )erty in but the le wish ertions, ling of as ex- ghland nceive ig dis- ctions iselves r sug- gesting sources of employment for the peo- ple at home. Had this really been their conduct, the sneers they have met with would not have been altogether so much misplaced. But such was not the conduct of the Society. For, after endeavouring to find out a check to those unlawful gains which \^ to an unnecessary emigration, the re- ports proceed to consider the situation of those emigrants who leave their country not from choice, but from a supposed necessity. It is observed, ' * That means are not difE- ' cult to be found whereby this supposed * necessity to emigrate may be overcome, ' by which the landholders may in due time ' be not only left at liberty, but encouraged * to enlarge the size of their farms, and pro- * secute every plan of agricultural improve- * ment ; and, finally, through which the in- * creasing population of the country may be * found its blessing and support, instead of * its burden and oppression.' The means which are then suggested for finding em- * First Report, p. 3^. ■^ 1 < 1 ^ 3^8 ployment for the Highlanders, and directing their industry to the advantage of their na- tive country, which occupy the remainder of the report, cannot but have met with his Lordship's approbation ; but they exhibit views of policy regarding the Highlands, so adverse to the principles of American colo- nization, that it was not to have been ex- pected that any very particular notice would be taken of them. A higher approbation, and one much more gratifying to a genuine patriot, has been obtained, in the adoption, by the legislature, of those great objects of improvement which are now encouraged in this hitherto neglected portion of the em- pire, and which have been suggested and enforced by the information and zeal of the Highland Society. From one end of the kingdom to the other will be felt the bene- ficial consequences arising from the exten- sion of the fisheries, the facility of inland navigation, the increase of internal commu- nication, the consequent improvement of agriculture, the introduction, of manufactures, i\ \ #1 <>i 4 3^9 cting ir na- dcr of th his xhibit ds, 80 colo- a cx- would )ation, inuine ption, cts of iraged le em- 1 and )f the f the bene- ;xten- nland nmu* It of tures, and the success of the arts, which add to th< comfort of man in society. ,,.. , Few, we are informed, will be prevented from emigrating, by all the difference of ex- pence from the regulations introduced by the act of Parliament *. Had it been the object of the Society to put a stop to emigration by force, they would have recommended some much more efficacious measures. Such an idea they uniformly disclaimed ; and they were too enlightened and too humune, for one moment to harbour the thought of re- straining the constitutional freedom of their countr)''men. Their conduct was directed by the most liberal vriews of general policy and knowledge of individual circumstances. While they perceived designing men, for their own advantage, sowing discontent and disseminating sedition, leading to the loss of many valuable lives, and the misery of the survivors, they would have ill discharged their duty to their country, if they had omit- ' ,i ■' * P. 153. T t m m. I' M jy .■■■ 'I <■ f. I , i ' ted the opportunity of explaining to the legis- lature those circumstances of deUision on the one hand, and of crafty design on the other, which were accompanied by such manifold evils. They acted upon the conviction, that they were offering to the august Assembly of the nation, not one single sentiment unwar- ranted by well vouched or notorious facts; and now that they review their former recom- mendations with the scrutinizing eye of men whose opinions have been questioned by such high authocicy, they probably look back with heartfelt satisfaction on the part they have acted, and enjoy with confident anticipation the applause of their country and of posteri- « ty. Lord Selkirk supposes, * that the Highland society would not have recommended the measures in q\iestion, if they had been fiware of all their consequences. It would perhaps (continues his Lordship) be un- just to blame them for not having con- sidered the subject with perfect im* artiaiity, oj" extended their views to the gential mte- it'^".;:f:-^' T. l!ii' ')■•■ ■'',:■ •111 ^.J[ 33* irest of the empire. The peculiar objects of their institution lead them to pay an exclu- sive attention to the local interests of one dis- trict. They have given their opinion not in the character of a judge, but as a party in the cause, as representing one class of men for whom they appear as advocates at the bar of the public*.' The society might w^ithout scruple accept of this character of the measures they adopted, as it would at least identify them with one part of their country, to the interests of which those measures were, in their intention at least, directed ; and it would not be assuming too much to suppose that such measures could be at least as impartial, and as generally pointed to the good of the whole state, as those dictated even by the most respectable men, who, from the zeal of sys- tem, or the bias of patrimonial interest, might be supposed, not uncharitably, to be some- what prejudiced in their opinions. The most national member of the Highland So- * P. 163. 332 11 uiety troiiM not be more entitled to the appd- htion of a party in this question than a cul- tivator of Canada, or a settler of St Johns. But in truth a majority of the committee of c^lde8y in the leas or society »edient ed up- ons of ip in mpted id the of the ht not be conductive to their own plans of imme- diate gain or of speculative advantage*. XL Lord Selkirk assumes it * as sufHcienth * ly proved, that emigration, to a greater or * less extent, is likely to go on from the * Highlands till the whole class of small ' tenants be entirely drained off.' Such a position being admitted, this drain can only be effected by their leaving the island. It needs * Lord Selkirk says, (page 145) " But allowing any degree of credit to the circomstances relaited in this re- port, (report of the Highland Society) they arc far from warranting the conclusions drawn Tom them, and are in fact nothing more than instances of that ir- ritation, the grounds of which have already been ex- plained. It cannot be thought extraordinary that those who have determined on emigration should express their discontent with little reserve, and avail them- selves of the prevailing temper of the county to induce others to join in their schemes." But this statement (doubtless without design in the noble author) is a lit- tle incorrect in a most material circumstance. It was not by persons determined to emigrate, that the arts detailed in the report of the Highland Society were used to encite or encourage emigration. These were •employed b)' men determined to get money by the emigration of others, whose dangers they were not to share, and some of whose hardships were to be a source of profit to those advocates for emigration. 334 "« ^ .6^'f " ) ■ t ": I {'. *■ 'A 9 ^illfel' n6t be added, that it necessarily follows, * that it is an object deserving of some at- * tention, and of some exertion, to secure * these emigrants to our own colonies, rather * than abandon them to a foreign country.' But if the remarks, which have already been made, show that it is much for the ad- vantage of this country that no part of her population, capital, or industry, which can be employed at home, should abandon it ; they seem also to show, that there is none which cannot be so employed, and that no obstacle arises from the temper of the peo- ple to prevent this employment. We must not then allow ourselves to be blinded by the ideal splendour of possessing foreign em- pires. No substantial benefits can be expected to follow from the transfer of a part of our people to the opposite side of the Atlantic. To even the most inattentive observer, it will not be thought immaterial, whether the inhabitants of the Highlands remain where they now are, or form a part of our empu'2 in Canada. . t I follows, )me at- secure , rather titry.' already the ad- of her :h can ion it ; is none hat no e peo- ; must by the 1 em- pected Df our tlantic. : tr'i'C -. ii M m. m 'I i .' i: .^^ ' ^ i. ":.:v::i I • ■■Si'' :••/* I! '■::' i'' ■'■[;: /i ll ! , >■ ■ . >, ^ colony, would in the least degree compensate for their loss to the country. The colonial trade, though its returns are distant, and therefore its profits less than the home trade, most certainly opens a market for the produce of such manufactured arti- cles as exceed the demand of the home trade, ^d turns into this channel such a portion of the capital and industry of the country as cannot be so beneficially employed by any other meaijs. This furnishes an indirect ad- dition to the resources of Great Britain ; but all the addition which is obtained by trans- planting tlje population of our own country to our foreign colony, is acquired at an ex- pence which greatly counterbalances the ad- vantage. Let our American colonies increase according to the usual progress of new states, or let the emigrations from Germany and Switzerland, which, from the political con- vulsions of the times, are likely to increase, be directed to fix there ; but let it never be supposed that the strength or wealth of the British empire will be increased by the de- npensate l:iirn8 are than the : market red arti- lie trade, ortion of Lintry as by any lirect ad- lin ; but )y trans- country I an ex- ; the ad- increase w states, iny and :al con- increase, lever be of the the de- 337 population of her own territory, in favour of her colonies. As long as we can furnish our manufactures at a rate cheaper than any other country, and more agreeable to the taste of the consumers, our manufactures will be sought after under whatever govern- ment the state may be. To think of con- quering and keeping in subjection a nation for the sake of creadng a demand for the produce of our industry, is one of the visions of the mercantile system which now gains very little credit ; and the idea of wast- ing the strength and population of the coun- try in forming a colony, as a mart for our manufactures, seems not in the least degree more solid. In short, till our country is stocked to the full with capital, till agricul- ture has made its utmost cxerrions in culti- vating the ground, till our fisheries have been carried to their utmost possible success, till every market to which we have access is dutted with our manufactures, and tlie car- rying trade, in which we can employ our vessels, is completely occupied, It cannc:t be • u u :i 338 ■■1 > I i^ 1^' H good policy to colonizie and cultivate distant territories with the view of forming a new outlet for the commodities of our country. "' We all know how very far the above is from being the case, and we may there- fore judge how unwise and unpolitic it is, that emigration should take place in the present political and economical state of the nation. . Although our opinion unquestionably is, that our colonies ai'e of less use than are sometimes rated at, we are far from ar- guing either that they should be neglected or relinquished*. It may be well perhaps to give the colonies such an acquaintance with our manufactured produce, and to in- duce their capital to flow into such a channel as that, if events should occur to separate the mother country from them, they may still continue to resort to the same market. Al- though they were once obliged to supply themselves in this way, they will continue to to do so of their own accord as long as we ■*n P. 158. 339 te distant ; a new untry. le above ly there- :)oIitic it I in the :e of the )nably is, than are rom ar- leglected perhaps laintance i to in- channel irate the nay still et. AI- • supply itinue to g as we can furnish them with the same article cheap- er than any other country. But what we contend for is, that although we ought not in point of justice to abandon the colonies which we have hitherto protected, a great part of whose population and wealth consists of what has been drawn from the mother coun- try, we still ought neVer to think of depopu- lating our own island upon the idea of strength- ening our colonies or encreasing their wealth. No country ^n modern Europe has arrived at such a pitch of population as that subsistence may not be easily afforded for a much great- er number of inhabitants than is maintained by it. There cannot, therefore, in any coun- try be an overflowing of population proceed- ing from necessary causes, but whenever emigration takes place, it must be such as the government can and ought to remove, arising from impolitic monopolies and re- strictions, from unwise and unjust fiscal re- gulations, or from a general system of p- pression which induces the young and high >'i 34-0 1 ■ > t i 1 %; ' ' .' :'■ 1 *. . : ■. * ■ •' . < , '.... Pi 5 ..-r j^piritcd to abandon a country no longer con- genial to their feelings, . ..iiu :UL iiL,' • Lord Selkirk claims great merit from having turned the emigrations to our own colonies instead of allowing them to go to the United Stj^tes, and talks of having given more than ordinary advantages to those who joined his colony, and c»f having extended his ofTcrs of encouragement as far as he could without a total disregard to his own inte- rest. . * ^*. . '. 1 ■,j Political circumstances had already made the tide of emigration set in strongly to our own colonies. After the close of the Ame- rican war, most of those gallant Highlanders who survi'xd the contest were settled in Ca- nada and Nova Scotia, by the liberality of the British government. The new lands re- quired cultivators, and the loyalists came to look for them among their kinsmen in the Highlands. Almost every district in the Highlands had furnished some one officer or other whose services were rewarded by these grants of land ; so that every dis- . iger con- rlt from our own to go to ng given lose who extended he could svii intc- dy made ly to our he Ame- ^hlanders ;d in Ca- Tality of lands rc- came to 1 in the t in the e officer arded by ^ery dis- 341 trict was equally assailed with temptations to tlic discontented peasanti-y to emigrate, with- out leaving the dominions of the British so- vereign. Every year these incitements Wi^re becoming stronger, so that there was perhaps no part of the Highlands which continued to send emigrants to the United States except the isle of Sky. During the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, independendy of Lord Selkirk's emigration, 25 vessels sailed with emigrants. Of these one only went to the United States ; and since the era of Lord Selkirk's emigration, though several vessels have carried out the same cargo, they have without exception been bound for cur own colonies, being all landed in Nova Scotia.* * Strictures and Remarks on the Earl of Selkirk's observations by Ro. Brown, Esq; p. 7. If this valua- jale publication had appeared soonei\, the public would have been spared the trouble of perusing these re- marks ; but it affords a very gratifying reflection that the \iews here detailed in general coincide so nearly with those of one who has written with so much intel- ligence and practical knowledge upon the subje j;' ' 'I What then arc we to think of the extraoN dinary inducements which were held out to make the people emigrate to the very- country to which their own unassisted in- clinations would have taken them ? If induce- ments were necessary and high offers of en- couragement required, it must have been not to take them to our own colonies in preference of the United States, but to take them there in preference to remaining at home. It need scarcely be added, that we look with extreme jealousy upon the suggestion of ' the measures that are necessary for di- * verting the current of emigration, and direct- * ing it to any part of the colonies whicli * may appear to government the most advise- * able.*' It is acknowledged to be ' indispen- ' sible that some pretty strong inducement ' should be held out to the first party who * will setde in the situation offered to them. * To detached individuals it would be diffi- •■: [? ' m M " Ci 1 ,• SI, if • p. 163, ^xtraof*- eld out le very ted in- induce- of en- e been )nies in :o take ling at re look ;gestion for di- direct- whicli advise- dispen- cement :y who ► them. e diffi- J43 cult to offer any advantage sufficiently st'cni', to counterbalance the pleasure of be- iij)^ settled among friends, as well as the as- sistance they might expect from their rela- tions, but if means can be found of influ- encing a considerable body of people, con- nected by the ties of blood and friendship, they may have less aversion to try a new situation : and if such a seltlement be once conducted safely through its first difiiculties, till the adventurers feel a confidence in their resources, and acquire some attachment to the country, the object may be considered as al- most entirely accomplished. All those circum- stances, which operate against the first pro- posal of change, will serve to confirm it when it is brought to this stage of advance- ment ; and no peculiar encouragement will any longer be necessary*.' We cannot help thinking that this system can be viewed n no other point of view than that of hold- ng out a direct encouragement to emigra- • P. i68. i m'i->rr,'-' •; i, :• ^^ IK' -^ N X ' > ,' *> ■•!/ »i ^ r h ' lUf 1 344 lion : tliat, instead of finding a remedy or palliation of an evil directly destructive of the body politic, it furnishes a provocative to the disease rendering its destructive te idency ir- resistible. The emigration is not now to be local and impartial, but en masse^ and to an extent far beyond former examples. The inducement which is to be held out is to be so great that it would be sufficient to alter their original destination, which is fixed, not by motives of caprice, but because they go to the place where their friends and relations have gone before them. It must be just as great to obtain this victory over their feel- ings and desires, as the original determination to emigrate. • Nothing short of exciting this desire seems equivalent to the effect proposed. Besides, the encouragement must not only be thus strong, but it must also be general. It is not a few decached individuals that will serve the purpose in view ; it must be ' a con- * siderable body of people connected both by * the ties of blood and friendship,' that, is ex- pected to lay the foundation of a predilection 345 nedy or re of the e to the £ncy ir- )w to be id to an s. The ut is to : to alter xed, not ey go to relations ►e just as neir feel- [nination ting this iroposed. only be eral. It hat will ' a con- both by lat. is ex- dilection for any particular spot in those who remain* Nor is this direct encouragement, which it is allowed must be pretty strong, to be con- fined merely to one spot ; for to serve the object of drawing off the population in the Highlands, the same inducements must be offered in every village. Of the first settle- ments, which were formed from different districts of the Highlands in different parts of America, * the information sent home from * each,' we are informed,* as to the circum- * stances of the country in which it was situ- ' ated, did not spread fan The nature of a * mountdnous country, and the difficulty of * mutual intercourse, tended to confine any * information to the valley in which it was * first received *.' Thus, then, we see the extensive nature of that encouragement which will be necesbary for carrying through Lord Selkirk's views, for we cannot suppose that the intercourse will increase in proportion as the depopulating effects of the sheep-farming sys- * P. 165. X X m'^'^ V".; kM I > <» . ; ti \ xM i»r,J ^■■^' ''^-|1 tcm gain ground. Sanguine as Lord Selkirk is well entitled to be, from the numbers in the colony which he has planted in the gulph of St Laurence, we do not find that he considers the course of emigration at all diverted to that point ; and the recommendation to govern- ment c . providing still further inducements, points out that much yet remains to be done, in Lord Selkirk's opinion, for the benefit of the Transatlantic colonists. But even after one settlement has been fairly accomplished, and government, proceeding on the plan recom- mended to drain off all the small tenants, (by far the largest proportion of people in the Highlands,) wishes toXorm another settlement at a different spot, the same system of encou- ragement must be again resorted to in order more to attract this new favoured spot, the torrent flowing in the channel formerly chalked out for it, ^ . Aware of the force of the objection, that no encouragement should be held out to emigration. Lord Selkirk, overlooking the fever of emigration which raged throughout elkirk is •s in the ^ulph of onsiders i to that govern- zements, be done, enefit of after one tied, and 1 recom- mts, (by e in the ittlement f encou- in order jpot, the formerly ion, that out to dng the •oughout 347 the country in 1802 and 1803, gives it aShis opinion, that it is extremely difficult to raise a spirit of emigration merely by holding out inducements for settlers, without some other predisposing cause ; and he cites as a proof of this remark the bad success which attend- ed the publication of the plan for settling Georgia in the yeav 1722*. Some pro- ceeding is perhaps here alluded to, which the noble author, if he fully understood, has not fully explained. For neither the name nor the settlement of Geor- gia, it is believed, were ever thought of till the year 17^2, when letters patent were obtained by certain trustees for settling poor people there with a view to their advantage, as well as for the security of Carolina. The country had not been hitherto inhabited by Europeans. In November 1732, General James Oglethorpe, one of the trustees, em- barked for what, in honour of the king, was new called Georgia, with 116 settlers, and built Savannah. From many injudicious *P. i7i» i ■^.r:> I I ,.; .it 34^ rules, connected with the form of the proprie- tary government, the people, \^ho were poor and indigent, did not thrive, although, besid'^s the sums expended by the trustees, parlia- ment granted 36,900!. for two years succes- sively for then: encouragement. Many of them found more beneficial settlements in other parts of America, particularly in Caro- lina. The legislature of Carolina, however^ conceiving that the settlement of Georgia would be a most useful barrier against the Spanish power, sent a memorial upon this subject to Britain. * The nation considered . ' Georgia to be of the utmost importance to ' the British settlements in America, and be- * gan te make still more vigorous efforts for it& ' speedy population. The first embarkations * of poor people from England, being collec- * ted from towns and cities, were found equal- * ly idle and useless members of society * abroad as they had been at home. An * hardy and bold race of men, envired to rural * labour and fatigue, they were persuaded, * would be much better adapted buth for eul- ^'^ >■ 'm .: /;:v 349 ropne- e poor t)esid^s parlia- lucces- ny of nts in Caro- wever, reorgia ist the )n this ;idered . nee to id be- for it& ations :ollec- ^qual- xiety An rural adedy : eul* * tivation and defence. To find men pos- * sessed of these qualifications, they turned ' their eyes to Germany and the Highlands ' of Scotland, and resolved to send over a * number of Scotch and German labourers to ' their infant province. vVhen they publish- * ed their terms at Inverness, 130 High- * landers immediately accepted them, and * were transported to Georgia ; a town on * the river Alatamaha, which was considered * as the boundary between the British and * Spanish territories, was allotted for the * Highlanders ; on which dangerous situation * they settled, and built a town, which they * called New Inverness. About the same •time, 170 Germans embarked with James * Oglethorpe, and were fixed in another quar- *ter; so that in the space of three years, * Georgia received above 400 British subjects, * and about 170 foreigners. Afterwards * several adventurers, both from Scotland and * Germany, followed their countrymen, and * added further strength to the province *.' * Morre's Amer. Geogr. p. 453- 350 N .I ii ^ I - These proceedings, which took place in the year 173 c, cannot possibly be the same with those alluded to as having taken places in the year 1722 : for we find a very considerable alacrity to embrace the favourable terms which were held out to the Highlanders even during the full vigour of the feudal system ; insomuch that more of them emigrated at this time than had originally left England when Georgia was first settled ; and the way being once pointed out, others continued oc- casionally to find their way to the city of New Inverness. In short, so very strong in the hu- man mind is the design of bettering our con- dition, and so blind is the pursuit of happi- ness, that it has at all times been found riot very difficult to excite a spirit of emigration to an extent quite disproportionate either to the moral or physical state of the country. But Lord Selkirk forgets the existence of an additional predisposing cause in the changes now going on, and that their bad effects should be obviated as much as possi- ble instead of being cherished. The High- ly;.! in u 35^ in the z with in the lerablc terms •s even >rsteni ; ited at ngland iie way led oc- DfNew :he hu- ir con- happi- nd riot Igration ther to itry. nee of n the leir bad possi- High- lands are at this moment an object requiring public attention, as many important advan- tages which they are capable of affording will be lost, and the future progress and advance- ment of the countiy much retarded, unless judicious plans are adopted and skilfully ex- ecuted. Impressed with this conviction, we must be allowed to say, that it must give pleasure to every real patriot, studious only of the good of his country, and of the happiness of his fellow citizens, that the plausible eloquence of Lord Selkirk was not able to induce administration to enter into his views. It is hoped that the wisdom which guided that determination will continue to regulate the conduct of those who now hold the future destinies of the British Empire. For instead of government holding out any inducements to forward this colonising system in the present state of the country, it is the duty of a wise and patri- otic administration neither forcibly to check the desire of emigration, nor resolutely to in- terfere with proprietors in their r^ght to ma- nage their estates in the way they deem most 35 2 I 4 Bl H ,' ■ -> advantageous, — ^but to afford every facility to the employment of the population and in- dustry of the country which otherwise must abandon it — to remove every obstruction to the success of a measure fraught with so many and such incalculable benefits — to give every encourag'^.ment, so far as is consistent with the welfare of the rest of the empire, to the discover c che resources which the Highlands coiitu-ii to second the patriotic zeal of the proprietors, w ho, as an earnest of their desire of preserving to the country use- ful citizens and able defenders, have hitherto contented themselves with very inadequate returns from their estates. These are the objects becoming the legislature of this hi- therto highly favoured country to attend to ; because every increase of our internal re- sources makes us still more able to resist the towering ambition of our rival on the other side of the Channel, who, amidst all the events which have hitherto convulsed the Continent, looks with a steady eye to the destruction of our naval power and commer- \ 3S3 cial superiority. Vnr th: .our and cnLgi J;/" ""'"^' ■^" *^ ^ called fo,,h ,o r : ""''^ ""^' •«= to Pi-esm-e the proud indenen ti.e yoke, and bowed their heads at hcootofn..^,io„.hut,.hi,ethewe:.t; of th,s eountry does not enervate our minds nor enfeeble our bod.es, and the great „. ternal resources of whieh she is possessed re.. -mm, we ,nay bid defiance to all them,, naces of our enemies. THE ENC. ^^x. SmcWe, P,},^ '^r.