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D D D n n Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou peilicuides Pages discoloured, stf n, the vi..:''.cf- ty ot its execution, the inter^'Ring tendv^nc) of its lub- jed, the enthufiafni which it both breathes and in- fpires, the acllve zeal of fo elevated and fo young a man, the ahnofl romantic flory of the fcttleiaent of his infant colony, are all calculated to excite lively emotions of admiration. — At a tirn.- when the llrug- gles of the Kmnire to advance her own rreatiiefs, and to curb the criminal ambition of another power, de- mands the patriotifm of every clafs ; in an age when thofe demands do, neverthelefs, not always hnd a, fympathetic of fympatlietic obedience from the yvoungcr men of the higher ranks ; in fiich times, to difcover fuch talents, and fuch atlivity, in fuch a man as Lord Selkirk, na- turally draws forth neither very ordinary, nor very limited applaufe. Nor is it wonderful that profelTional reviewers lliould join in this applaufe. With them, popularity is the prime motive both of opinion and of conduct. To fuit the public tafte is their great and obvious ob- jeCl, not only in the fcledion of the books they cha- raderife, but in the tenor of their individual reports. In the prefent inilance, befides, it is more than fuf- peeled, that the author of the warmed panygeric which the reviews have furnifhed, was an early and zealous friend of the Earl*s, whofe attachment to the man may have overmatched the juflice of the critic, and whole piedifpofitlon for opinions may have led hhn fomewhat haftily to prefume the redlitude of their application. To the writer of this letter, the praifes which have been fo profufely lavlflied on the pamphlet of this Noble Lord, appear to be matter of fome regret. So long as the peafantry of any country is effential to its well-being, fo long as this illand has within its bounds one unprodudive acre capable of improvement, as long mull any book, of which the tendency goes to reprcfs I 8 reprefs the exertions either of Government or of in- Hdlvidiuils to rePauin emigration, occafion public dan- ger. It were a doOrlne too wild for the warmeft tuhnirer of tlie Noble Earl to maintain that the prof- pcrity of a country i^' only in proportion to its wafit of population ; it were a pofition too adventurous for all his admirers together, to infift that Scotland has arrived at that confammation of improvement which luperfcdes the neceirny of future exertions. And yet the tendency of the Noble Earl's obfervations, — and, what may perhaps be fooner obvious to mankind in general — the tendency of his example, ftrikes fomc individuals as diretlly calculated for the recommenda- tion of a fyfteni, of all others in theory the niofl wild, and in pradice the nioft mifchievous. The great and leading outfet doctrines of the No- ble Lord arc fpeihaps unhappily) founded in indif- putable truths. The primary foimdation of his ar- guiniiut I,-:, in foine meafure, incontrovertible ; and to men who do not think very deeply on any fubjedt ; to ihofe who are caught by the mufic and the tinfel of diction ; to "hofe who yield to the fimplicity of a plau- fible dedi'cKon, or the fafcination of merely prefent good intentions , over and above the ample herd of thofe v/ho believe any thing they fee In a printed book, efpecially when ufiicred into notice by the fanc- tiou i ■■1: &-' of to ' .»-,,» «ijeiuM mtmmm X tion of a great name; to all fuch run, the effects of a publicallon, fiich as Lord Selkirk's, mud be convic- tion. No man who knows any thing of the ftate of fociety in the Highlands of bcotland, is ignorant of thofe leading fads which the Earl of Selkirk has, neverthelefs, filled many a page to tell. Every Scotf- man, and almofl every educated Briton, is aware that the gradual abolition of the feudal fyflem, and the meafures confequent on the rebellions 17 15 and 1745, changed the meafures of the chieftains, and altered the manners of their people. By the deter- mined introduction, and the vigorous execution of her laws. Government transferred the weapons of autho- rity from individuals to the State. Ihe decay of tlie defire foon followed the extirpation of the means, of Clanilh hoitihty ; and of confequence, the occafion for a warlike tenantry, died away with the outrage- ous opportunities and the ferocious difpofitions of the landlords. Men who were retai, .;d, not to till the ground, but to fight the quan..is or increafe the magnificence of their mailers, / ,:re ufekfs encum- brances to thefe mailers, when tlic battle and parade were no more — men who had loll the fpcar, but who had not yet got the ploughfliare in ks place, became of necelTity idle. It is always eafier 10 difarm than to employ; to forbid one Aflcm than to intro- B dues 10 Jiicc anotlicr. The proliibitions which followed the viclory of Ciillodcn were therefore fpeedlly enforced, but the rev(jlLiUon of feelings long acquired, and of difpofitions inherited through a fuccefTion of ages, required patience, and a gradual advance. The land- lordj were, however, compelled to rcfign i/jcir power, and this at once deftroyed the reciprocity of obliga- tion witli their people. For as the mafier loft his ufe f )r tlic viiifd, fo the Vciflal, of confequence, lod his claims for fupport irom his chief. — A great body of men thus became apparently fupernumerary, and, as ir. were, a drug on the hands of chieiiahis now una- ble, and perhaps unwilling, to attempt the conver- fion or a numerous band to habits foreitrn to their natures, diiTicult in the peculiar ftate of the country, and impoJiblc without great expence. Hence at firll arofc tliat iiecefTitv, and thofo difcontents which drove the Highlanders to look to other countries for thofe blclllngs, (as they conceived them), which the own land no longer gave ; and hence that apathy with which their mailers, for a time, permitted the fu- perfluous tenantry to depart. Ihe vanity of numbers was eafily overcome by the profits of a temporary re- duclion, and even the love of power retired before ihe profpecls of immediate emolument. Lord 4 I BBSS 1 1 Lord Selkirk Is rlglit, therefore, when he obferves, that a change of policy accompanied a change of manners ; and that the operation of the two having thrown loofe a great body of people, that body was necefTitated to feek the employment abroad, of which they no longer faw the profpecl at home. Sir, — I fliall, if your permit me, refume this fub- ject in your next number. — I am, Sec, Amicus, LETTER II. -0 THE LDirOR OF TNE IirHylLn AND ClI :r.:^icj.i . S I R, IN my lad I obfcrved that Eord Selkirk was correct. in fo far as he remarked, th:. , when a numercu:, body of men w^ere turned adrift by a revolution, boiii in manners and policy, tliefe men were naturally obliged to leek that protccllon abrovid, of which the\ were for tlie time deprived at home. A traiu of bold ...ind luingry followci^, no iojrjT j\uil'i\d by law to llgli! Ill" i! 12 nght for their bread, not yrt en:^blcd, in the condition of their country, to procure tliar breiid by other means, and incapable, from tlicir nature, to fubfilt without it, mud be employed (Ilcvvlicre. The new fyiteni came upon this people very unprepared for its recep- tion, and but little difpofed to make the experiment. Befides, — transformed into corn farmers at once, they could not be ; they wanted Ikill ; they wanted capi- tal ; they wanted a country ada])ted to the necellltics of an innnediate and expenfive change. Converted into flieep farmers, they could as little be ; for in ad- dition to the other obje«^lions, their numbers prefent- ed an inlurmountable bar to that plan. Still., how- ever, many of them flruggled for a while to refift the innovation ; In fome inflances preferring miilakeu claims of right ; in others, appealing to prejudices not yet quite fubdied, and to feelmgs which even a change of education could not at once totally obliter- ate. But the ftruggle of erroneous pofieffion is ever vain ; the combat of feeling againfl profit is general- ly fruiilefs. The majority of the people foon found they could be fpared ; and the doom of the Highland revolution, 1745, was now indeed heard and felt by the inhabitants. It is true, the operation of this aw- ful fenter.ce did not take place to its full extent in a moment ^ I I Km 13 3 ^nt } moment •, but It commenced, and it has been in pro- grcis ever fiiice. In all this radical detail I agree with the Earl of Selkirk. In all this, 1 Ihould fuppofe that neither his Lorddiip nor myfelf can find an opponent; for the fads are of univerflil admillion and notoriety. But fartner I canno^ accord with his Lordfhip. I acknow- ledge that the overthrow of feudal manners produced, on the prcilure of the inflant, a iuperabundant local population, and that fuch fuperabundance, not being directed into new channels of dime/tic ufes, were of neccllity driven to feek the means of exiftence elfe- where ; but 1 can hardly admit the juflice of any one other pofition in Lord Selkirk's book. Indeed, Sir, I muft unequivocally oppofe the remainder of this book, in refpcct of its general tendency, and alfo in refpetl of the particular grounds by which that ten- dency is manifelled. Of the firlt, I complain, becaufe it is calculated not merely to extenuate, but to en- courage emigration. With the latter, I am diflatisli- ed, becaufe I fufped their accuracy. But were the materials unobjedionable, I cannot, as a friend to the country which contains me, but condemn a work of which the fcope of ten out of twelve chapters is di- rectly calculated to remove thofe apprehenfions, which either the moll difcontentcd or the moil fanguine Highlander, >.j«-.iu&e>ilto .^'a^. :i! Highlander, miiR entertain (but for fuch afTiii anccs) againfl: i'o vaft an adventure as emigration. Domef- tic diflatisfadlion is a chcerL-fs and dangerous ienti- rnent ; and yet, can there be a keener edge laid to the root of donieflic peace, than thofe glowing pic- tures of independence, fee urity, congenial fociety, and every blelhng a Highlander has been taught to prize, which the Earl of Selkirk lias penciled under the term Emignttioiu Does he not turn to the peafant and fay, " Leave your country ; leave a land which has no longer ufe for you ; a land where you may have bread indeed, but where you can only earn that bread by the direllction of every habit which could fweeten the morfel. Emigrate therefore ; and if you will but turn towards the colony which I proted, and clear a few acres of its forefls, you will become affluent and happy beyond the condition of all your fathers." And does he not look towards the Legiilature and plead — " Eiicour.ge emigration — drain off your fu- perfluous people — depopulate your mountains, and fend your hardiefl Ions to foreign climes, there to feek that happinels and protection which the land of their fathers denied them ; there to become the fure and ileady friends of the country which turned them from her bofom." — Such, 1 contend, is the true import of the Noble Earl's advice ; and if the n^niiculnrs of its detail •I 1 dct[\il arc cmbclllflicd with the pcrfaafivcs both of pre- cept and example, (liil the object of all this is nothing t-lfc than to render his favourite emigration more pala- tal-ile to the people, and lefs odious to the govern- ment. In this fplrit of well meant, but to my mind mif- taken cnthuliafm, I fee nothini; to commend. As we are a nation, in thefe precarious tiiues, of f >Idivrs — as \vc are a nation, at all times, of mariners — a.-; v/e are alfo an agrieullural and a mercantile people — in all thefe charadcrs, is it poiliblc to deny the im- portance of an abundant population ? 1 would not, in the prcfent condition of Europe, fpeak the lan(;uag\> of delpondenc)^ ; but, as a lover of my country, I cannot but advifc the champions of emigration to K)ok well to the ranks of our armies, and the demands of our navy j to regard the (late of wages oi' domcftic labour, and the calls of our manufaclurers, mechanics and farmers, before they proceed farther in their expe- rimental fchemes of depopulation ; I would have them regard the thoufands of wafle acres in our own land before they thus llruggle to drain the fcanty popula- tion it poiTcfles ; and I would carneflly remind them that, until the days of Lord Selkirk, the doClriiie of mofl philofophers was, that the life's blood of this nation ■I; 16 nation was her inhabitant?; — her pcifantry — nay, Sii% 1 will add (without meaning olicnce to any clafs of fubjeOs) her Highlanders. Williani Pitt's illuftrioui* father told the nation, and the nation's reprellntativc?, that he " fought for merit, and he found it in the mountains of the north ;** and an author, at whom though it is the fafliion of modern reviewers fome- times to fneer, flill whofc fame will not perifli while the aifeftions of the heart, and the love of morals en- dure, in rebuking the fupinenefs, as well as the errors which thirty years ago prevailed on the fubjecl of emi- gration, obfervcs, that " to hinder infarredlon by driving away the people, and to govern peaceably by having no fubjccls, argues no great profundity of politics. To foften the obdurate, to convince the miftaken, to mollify ihe relentful, are worthy of a ftatefman j but it aftbrds a legiflator little f-lf-applaufe to confider that where there was formerly an infur- redion, there is now a defart."* Sir, perhaps it may be faid, that Lord Selkirk's book does not recommend to drain the country of its people ; that he only fecks to conduct thofe who are pre-refolved to travel, hito an afylum good for theni- felves, and beneficial to their native country ; but a fair examination of his Lordfhip's pamphlet, of which I 1 1 •' it ■';« * Vide Johnson's Tour. ^7 ay, Sii% clafs or ultrioui* itaiivcs, t in the ,t whom rs fome- (h while )rals en- ic errors of emi- tlou by rdbly by idiiy of nee the hy of a :ip})laufe in infur- Delkirk's ry of its who are 3r them- ; but a if which I >«, I iha!l offer iomelhin;; more in n\y next, will, I be- lieve, correct the ijnprelfion. Amicus, mjn»mmmm LETTER IIJ. '/o the editor of the herald and ciironjcle^ Sir, 1 HAVE afTerted, that a fair examination of Lord Selkirk's pamphlet will demonftratc the miftake of fuppofing that his arguments are eonlined to thofe individuals whofe peculiar tempers or views would have led them to migrate at all eveius. His Lord- fhip's 3d fedion, which is the bafis of all his reafon- ings, (hidorical facls excepted) br -jns with reprefent- ing the foil and climate — nature herfelf — as oppofed "to the extenfion of Highland tillage j" that is to fay, as in oppofition to the very poflibility of employ- ing the people at home in thoie labours, which -he Noble Lord is at great pahis, in other places, to G Ihew, iS I li'l'! flicw, arc bed aJiiplCil to n 11 .^hhuKlcr's rtclin;js Mid n;itiire. This, as an abfiratfl: ami fuiulaincnral pro- pofitloii, I tlciiy. Graining tliat the mountains, jiro- pcrly lb tcnncil, arc chicily iiitocl lor palturaj^c, wc know that there aro Hill nnculiivutcd tracls, both valt and numerous, of which the foil is equal to every or- dinary agricultural purpofc-, ;uul as to the climate ol thcle region;-, though nioift in fouie places, it is alto- gether erroncnui to iuppoie it inferior to a great por- tion of the cultlvatccl tlKlrl'.'ls of Sv-o(L\nd. \Vho- ever will go to the lilgldand.^, unprejudifed by cpi- mous prc'v'ioujly jOrniiJ, niui iiidifpojlcl !o rjctl all in- formatkn icbic/j docs not h(irmoni:^c ijilh thofc opinions, will find, that wherever tiie improved fylleni of huf- bandry has been even partially introduced, there has been found no impoHibility of improvement, no fu- perabundance of people, no love of emigration, and no want of good land to cultivate. Sir, 1 am well affured of thefe facls ; and if any m;\n doubts them, let him hrd impartially inquire, and then determine between Lord Selkirk and me. Willi fuch informa- tion, 1 cannot acknovvled'j-e that the Hit'-hlander is driven acrofs the Atlantic by u defective foil, or a dif- aftrous climate. Indeed, the Noble Lord has hini- felf been aware of the inadequacy of thefe caufes of emigration, and, accordingly, he ftudioully couples them ^' s f >. Mid pro- pro- , vvc 1 vaft f 19 !hcni wltli two oilier riippofi^l l);ir:icrs to IJi^hlaiul piofpirity, the fcarciiv ot liicl, and ihc charackriflic indole ncc ot ihc peoplj. In ihcic lalt lourccs of Cix- loclonian inilLry, the author is much about as uiilor- tunatc as in their iinteceJeiUs. Kven in liie eye oi' inanufaeturlng inchiliry, the I'carcity o[' fuel in ihefe thltrieh prefents nu real oblhicic ; and liie rui)pofed tiinicuhies from national charaeter arc furmounted, almoft as foon as they arc created, by the Earl him- fclf. That the Highlander may not have a coal-pit open at his cottage door, is true ; but has he not a navigable fea all around him, and did Lord Selkirk never hear of imported fuel? How many of the Eu- ropean minui fa Glories arc ferved with fea-borne coal ; nay, how many of the buficft and wealthied towns in Scoiland (all, I believe, tt) the north ol' Dundee) are ihus accoiiunodated, and yet llnive ? — I'he fearcity of fuel, iherelore, wiihout ))lacing any dependence on the ahnofl univeri'al facility of obtuining peat, would feem to be an alfeeled and faciiiious obj^ciion againll* ihe hitrodutlio.n of a commercial and mechanical in- dufirv in the Hicdilands of Scotla.nd. Bui to'this it has been fupcradded, thai ilie temper of the people is adverfe to exertion, at Laic at home. Novv, •Sir, let us confider but for a monieni ; — the man wlio has not been ta;icht to work, and the man to whom employment iss^ W'^i^^' 20 |; employment has never been furniilietl, niufl he oflen- fibly indolent. The Ipirit of hiduflry nuid be ever dormant, until it is awakened by the opportunity of exertion ; and thus the Higlilander, while bereft ot the means of employment, mull appear as idle, as a Lowlander would appear in lunilar circumflances : yet luch is not his native genius. Thoullmdis of tef- timonies prove this. At this moment, 1 know that public works are carrying on in dillerent counties hy natives of Invernefs and Rofsflnre, who are employed for the very reafon, that they are better labourers than the people of thefe counties. — View them alfo as foldiers and as feamen, and then decry their capabili- ties if you can. It is needlefs, however, to purfue this inquiry, for I can produce the evidence of tlie Noble Lord ac;ainll himitlf. lie has told vou, that the Highlander, inaclive and indolent on his own fliore, is no fooner tranfi slanted lo his Lordflilp's co- lony, than he becomes artivc and encrj^etic, an induf- trious huibandman, and a promifmg warrioi-. The coniiitution of the man undergoes, ii feeins, a total revolution by the mere acl of emigration, and the very hereditary vices of his nature are, !)y this lingle ftep, transformed Into their oppofite virtues. The inconfiltcncy of thefe ftatemenls Is manlfefl and linking. Ir can only be the rei'ult of an enthu- fialm. m 11 ml lai of ('■1 '"I or T.;- ■i 21 lat vn :o- if- ic al ic le \1 fiafni, which is jufl the more dangerous in propor- tion to liic general hberahty and excellence of the niiiu! on which It has faftened itlelf. Sir, I fhould lament to hcai h argued, even in the fportive difplay of controver^'al ikill, thai the ftilied and leverifh air of an American i.ii ums i-ctiuifite for the prcfervation of that Ipirit nhich (^-nee di^^nified the Ions of Morv; n. Far more mufl I lameiii to had it ferioafly upheld, and by fo elevated an adviier, that the hcroilm of charac- ter, which once dhtinguilhed our countrymen, has %1- len ib low, th.at to preferve the Highland name from utter contcmptabihty, we mufl: tranfplant her people to a diftant — an American clime. Haj^pily for our country, we believe the opinion to be erroneous ; and not lefs happily, we are perfuaded that in general the remedy will be elfeemed as much worfe than 'he dife;.ie. If the temper and charader of the Highland pep^'i;.f' \' has indeed degenerated, it is traded that the ^cm: d difpofition will turn towards the trial of a lomellic cure. At this crifis, wlien men, in numbers bevond example, are wanted to defend our illand 'rom the attacks of a miui who would have no objeclion to an- nex even the Highlands of Scotland, with ;:i( their imperfections " oi loi) and climate," to his own over- proAn polTefllons, we can fcarcely refolve wlu'ch n^ofb io con<)enm, the enthufiafm which would invite, or the 'I 'i r:i 'I - I' 22 the argument that would exculpate an acllvc fph-It of Britifh emigration. On thefe grounds, I beg leave to rcfifl: Lord Sel- kirk's whole pofi lions relied on the ideas of foil, and cHmate, and national charader. They are fuf- picious in accuracy, and arc dangerous in experiment. Neither can I yeild to the wild and unaccountable no- tion, that banifliment from our native land, and all the fcenes of infincy, is in any way caculated to call forth the hidden virtues of the human charader. One word more on this head only. The Noble Earl has argued, that any change of fcene to a Highlander, is emigration ; that to remove him acrofs the Clyde is tantamount to removal acrofs the Wcflern Ocean ; that Glafgow and Paifley are to him as fortign as the fliores of Labrador, or St John's ; that to be happy, he muft have land ; and that to have land, he mull be an emigrant. On the jullice of fome of thefe opinions, I ihall probably here- after remark; at prefent, I would only rec^uell of Lord Selkirk and his admirers, generally to afk themll tves thefe qucftions ; — Granting that the Highland climate is boifterous. Is it not at lead nearer to that of " Glaf- gow and Paillev," than the el tlcments of North America miate of the Back Stt- mlttimr that the man- ners of Lanark or Renfrew may at firll furprife a iia- [i-^ tivc 1 '> c fpirit )rd Scl- of foil, are fuf- LM'iment. able no- and all d to call er. One lange of ) remove al acrofs aifley are ir, or St iiul ; and On the ibly here- fli of Lord hemlllves id climate of"G!ai: Back Sct- thc man- prifc a na- tive i live of Argyle or Inverncfs, are ihofe manners more ilifiicuk for a Scotcliman to imbibe, than the cuftoms which pervade the banks of the MiflifTippi or the Oronooko ; above all, granting that change of place of any kind is emigration, which of the two is the better for the Patriot to recommend, that movement from county to county, whereby the Nation lofes not one man ; or the pallage from clime to clime, which, in all human probability, fcparates the fubjccl from ^ the parent State for ever ? LETTER IV. g'o ruE LDiroR of the herald and chronicle. 8 I R, [t is a prominent feature in Lord Selkirk's book, the confideration and itate of that valuable fupply of foldkrs which his Lordihip owns that the public, for a long while, derived from the Highlands, but which as si \y ill 24 as he conceives, Is now at an end. Satisfied that this is " one of the chief political evils of emigration," it is fmgular that the Noble Lord fliould ever have propagated a fingle opinion, far lefs Ihould have a- dopted a courfe of meafures, which were fufceptible of a conftruclion favourable to fo fatal a fplrlt. For- tunately, however, neither his arguments nor his ex- ample have yet extL.gulflied this nurfery of national proteclors. I am credibly informed, that fmce the bill which the Legillature litely and wifely pafled, at the inrtlgation of the Highland Society, nearly four thoufand Highlanders have entered into the army ; and as one remarkable inilance of the exilting fpirit of thefe people, and of the ilill exIRIng nurfery which their country contains, It may be mtniioued^ that Colonel Cameron of the 79th regiment, lately raifed 800 men in fix months, for his fecond battalion, without himfelf polTeffing one fuigle foot of Highland territory. This fuecefs could not be the ciYczt of thofe " low rents, and that feudal Influence," to which a- lone Lord Selkirk would afcrlbe fuch diings ; the days of ;/7£^ operating caufes have nearly pafled a- way. And let us only contrafl: the fact I have men- tioned, with another fad: which Lord Selkirk cannot but know ; his own fuecefs in the recruiting for emi- grants. He too, raifed about 800 people j but his troops m . '4 *»^^ t^.-m mmmmmm 25 tour 7 '# ;« troops were compofcd of a motley aflemblagc of ages and fcxcs. 1'' ven thefc, I am informed, heraifed with infinite labour and difficulty ; travelling from market to market, fupportinp; hired recruiters, aided by eloquent harangues, and holding out fplendid promifes, and en- chanting profpects. Won by thefe means, about 8oo people were enticed to vifit an expe6ted land of eafe and plenty, and to defert the fcenes of their youth. The Highlander is not naturally credulous ; but amidlt a whole mafs of peojple, there always will be fome who are not proof againfl golden dreams, nor fuch temptations as the Earl of Selkirk's perfonal attendance in the jour- ney in purfuit of promifed aflluence. Yet, with all thefe allurements, his Lordfhip's recruiting came but llow- ly on, while every common regimental fcrjeant around him, with no other fedudion but " Ki)ig and Coun- try,'* out-did the eloquence, and overpowered the lar- gelTes of the Earl and all his fupporters. Sir, I have perfeft alTurances that this is the faft, and 1 have pride in announcing it to my country. Stili then I nmfl maintain, that the Scottifh Highlands are yet a nuri'ery for foldiers, and will continue fo, unlefs the friends of colonization fliould ever unhappily fuc- ceed in defolating its fhores. The men who fought our battles in Egypt, in the 42d, 91ft, and ^id regi- ments, were Highlanders j raifed long after feudal D influence I. ■ ■■! L'l '• ). 26 fluence was In Its wane. The men wlvj vanquiflied Tippoo, who Ibllowcd General Balril to the breach at Serhigapatain, were moltly perlons of the fame def- cription ; and many of our bcfl: fdled regiments at this moment, who pollibly may foon be called to fight our battles on our own ground, are thofe very High- landers, whofe brethren it has cofl Lord Selkirk fo many pounds, and lb much trouble, to fend off to fell wood, and drain fwamps in Prince Edward's Illand. It has been obftrvcd by the Noble Earl, that in proportion as the feudal fylleni lias been fupplanted by commerce, the Elighland regiments have " ap- proached" to a fimilarity with others in the fervicc. Depend upon it, Sir, no officer will fay io. If, indeed, the Earl only means to flate, that in thofe regiments where the native Highlaixders are mixed with Low- land recruits, there, the efpccial character of the former will be lefs confpicuous in the corps ^ than in regiments purely IL'ghland, the aflertion is very fafe. But if it is meant to be conveyed, that in the regi- ments v/holly Highland-born^ the characleriflic fea- tures of their birth have changed, then do I deny the ftatement, and put the fad to the judgm.ent and ex- perience of every officer in the fervice. Be alTured, Sir, that the precife Highland charac- ter of many regiments, will be found as diflindly marked in 1806, as it was in 1756. The caufes are not irf^' „.»:i^K^ not juflly to be fought in the progrcis and hicrcal'e of commerce ; they are to be found in tlie climate, in the conftitution, and in blood. — It is a total millake to fu}.- pofe, that commercial profperity deftroys the heroilm of national charadler. The hiilory of the world, and the uniform condud of our own Lowland, Englifli, and Irifh troops, refutes the idea. To difcover the fource of the peculiar gallantry and hardihood of the Highland corps, you muft turn to the country which produced them — to its mountains and its rugged fhores. In thefe natural caufes, conjoined with the effects of a free government, you will find the true and the ftill exifling means of preferving that nurfery for your foldiers, which I am apprehenfive the forcd lands of North America are little calculated to improve. The Noble Lord defires his readers to look back 10 the Seven Years War, in order to view Highland regiments in their purity. This, Sir, in one fenfe, is but a paltry con:pliment to their fucceflors. I fufped, however, that the Earl here alludes to one thing, and I he generality of his readers look to another ; that it is not the character of the foldier, but the mode of re- cruiting him, to which his Lordfliip refers. If tlii,> ilifpicion is accurate, the difficulty i.s unriddled at once. We are as far from maintaining, tliat the l.uidlords, in general, have now the fame influence which •'.! 28 which they poflcfled fifty years ago, in dii'cding tlicir people to follow them, as we are from admitting, that the conflitutional powers of the foldicr have declined with the aridocracy of the Chieftain. The importance of a Highland peafantry, as a mirfciy for foldiers, and for mariners, too, is not de- nied by the Noble Earl himfclf. Unlefs, therefore, it could be proved, that the country, at this moment, has a fuperfluity of both defcriptions of men, 1 fhould imagine that there would be more genuine patriotifm in conducing the unemployed population of the High- lands (if fuch there be) to the immediate fervice of the State, than to tranfatlantic fpeculations. It is faid, how- ever, that the emigrant is not the defcription of perfon who would enlift. We reply, Try them. We btlieve indeed, that the trial has been frequently made, and fuc- cefsfully made, on the very eve of embarkation. Take but half the pains, and lefs than half the fums which Lord Selkirk has expended in teaching the advantages of his American eftabliihment, to inflrud the Higldan- der that his country wants himfelf, and will protect his family, and denend on it you will keep him. Some reftlefs and diffatisfied fpirits will no doubt always form an exception to general conduct. But of thefe 1 fpeak not. At all events, why not make the at- tempt ? Is money and labour only rationally employ- ed ed ii and Ei neftt t M MM 111— MWiti < 29 ed in the fervice of emigration? Ships you may build, and temples you may reitore j but " A bold peasantry, their country's pride, " When once destroy'd, can never be supplied. Emigration, fays Lord Selkirk, is, at any rate, con- nected with " national profpcrity," in refpcdl both to agriculture and manufadtures j and this pofition he raifes on the hiftory of our filter kingdom, during the sera of the Houfe of Tudor. That during the reigns of Henry the Seventh, and his fucceflbr, the power of the greater Englilh Barons was broken ; that in confequence, their retainers were fet loofe upon the infiant, and obliged to move ; and that, hiftorically fpeaking, England has been a flourifhing country ever fmcc, I am no ways difpofed to contradid. But it does not follow, that the emigration of thofe days was the caufe of the fubfequent profperity of the nation. This emigration was the effc8 of a fudden revolution, and not the caufe of anv internal national advantage. It is incorredl to confound the partial refult of a pe- cuHar and temporary innovation, with the cltablifh- ment of a general principle of political cconc tiiis enormous F enormous length, that national profperity is ever in proportion to the extcnfion and adivity of the fpirit of emigration. I am, &c, " Amicus. LETTER V. TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD AND CHRONICLE. Sir, In recommending emigration as advantageous to manufaftures and igriculture. Lord Selkirk begins with alluring us that thofe who emigrate are not of the defcription of " induftrious workmen.** Granted: *They are no more to be reckoned induftrious work- men, who have not been inftruded, and are not em- ployed, than they are to be efteemed American far- mers who have never croffed the ocean. But the queftion ought to be, arc thefe men incapable of being made induftrious workmen ? For refolving that point the Noble Earl, as ufual, himfelf aids us. He freely admits admits that they arc capable of all the adequate exertion how foon they arc removed from their native homes ; and furcly it is an undeniable and neceffary confe- flucnce of this admiflion that the fame fitnefs would ap- pear at home, were the opportunity of its exercife only prefcnted. In hdi it is the cultivation of the earth, we are afTured, that is the great bent of their natures and inclinations ; and of courfe, unlefs they are born to be fit for nothini;-, in any fituation, they mull be capable at home as well as abroad for all adequate exertions in this great tendency of their original and hereditary dif- pofitions. Thus one difliculty is furmounted. It is true, there remains another ; for the capability of the labourer is ufclefs, unlel's there are opportunities for its dilphiy. Availing himfelf of this proportion, the Noble Earl is anxious to reprefent the Highland dif- trids as abfolutely unfit for any purpofes but thofe of pafturage. He would profcribe Highland cultivation. as unprofitable to the fubjeft, and as baneful to the ftate. Nay, Sir, he would even advife a diminution of that wretched portion of tillage land, which, in thefe regions, at prefent cheers the difmal expanfe of other- ways uninterrupted wade. Widi deference to his Lord- fliip, this is a little too much. Thofe who know the Highlands much better than Lord Selkirk, can inftru^t him that within its bounds there is abundant ca- pacity 32 pacify for the employment of all the population, ami pafturage land enough befidcs. His notion of ba- nifliing agriculture entirely from the Highlands, and the parallel fchemeof difmifling pafturagc wholly from the plains of England, may be extremely ingenious in theory, but the vifions of theory do not always ac- commodate the homely circumftances of vulgar prac- tice. It may be beautiful in fancy to fee the High- lander importing every ounce of his bread corn, and to view his fouthern neighbours driving every ox and every flicep to the palturcs of liuchaber. But it is believed that a farmer would inform the Noble Lord, that though the relative proportions of arable and grafs land mud doubtlcfs vary in different places, flill his convenience depends on the 'mion, not on the fc- paration of the two. Difmifling, however, the Idea of Highland improve- ment altogether, are we to forget that there is other land to cultivate in Britain, in diftricls lefs inacceflible than thofe which have fallen within the profcription* of Lord Selkirk ; land which at this moment lies wafle, only from the want of hands to till it? — Or is it an anfwer to that objedion to obferve, that Govern- ment muft not compel, " by reflridive laws, " men difpofed to emigrate, to feek employment within the kingdom, becaufe, in that even, the labour would be un- 1 lU' :^3 tinwclcoine, anJ ilie produce fciinty ? — Sir, \vc Jo not alluuc to conipullioii. The labour which is forced is never kindly ; it accords not wiili o:n- ilhmd ; it InK-lls too rankly of" America and her illands. Wc alhide not to it. \Vc reconnnend to Lord Selkirk, and others who have the power, to invite and court, not to drive, the unemployed Highlander. Even in diltrefs and penury, he needs temptations to draw him abroad ; and, if blandiflnnents are to be given, why not tempi to domefiic ferviee, even though emi- graiion (iiould thereby ficken .Mid decay, as for two years pad it has been doing, through the beneficent nieaiures of the Legiflature, and the patriotic labours of the Highland Society ? No man will require a greater bribe to travel to a nearer than to a more dif- tant fpot, efpecially when, in the latter cafe, he has not the pGiucr to rc1urn.-^V\ity only who have wit- neffed an emigrant departure can know how fmall an offer would change the deflination of the travellers. Such of your readers as have chanced to peruie Mrs Grant's beautiful and juft defciiption of whi-i. fa- milies wandering to the fhore, while in pathetic ftrains they fung, " We return no more *,** may guefs the afTe^ling truth, and refl affured, that it is neceility, not choice, which actuates the emigrant. E A8 * Poems by Mrs Grant of Laggan, I 1 ii I ! :54 As to manufdclnrrs^ the elconnt nnd Noble Author has denied even the cnpabilitii s oi the Highlander. lie denies th:il he is htted for any thing beyond the labour ••' of the porter or the barrowman." l^his a- gain is a condemnation far too broad. It niay be true that a Highlander grown to man's elf ate may be much about as unfit to begin the fhidy of the nicer operations of mechanical labour, as the Noble Lord, after hv , and twenty years of literary purfuit, would probably be. I>ut this does not indicate a natur.d difqualificalion for the oriiinary purpofes of manufae- turini!: induflrv, if the education is beu'ini fulTicientlv foon. Every r.Kinufacluring company in Scotland can prove my affertic>u ; and as to the cflabliihment of lo- cal manufactures among themfclves, alas ! Sir, it is not the failure, ii is the ahfcv.ce o^ the v;xperim,ent, which (hives the poor Highlander from his home. This allufion to the poflibility of employliig thefe wanderers in our own country, leads me to fay a word or two mr.re on tlie means which (independently of public works) have been propofed for the j)refervation of Highland population. It is truly furprifmg how lightly Lord Selkirk has treated thefe things. The fame man, to whom remote colonization prefents al- mofl no diiTicuhies, who can cheerfully embark to people the defart, to transform the wildernefs, to overpower '. ' fffF-y 35 overpower the (trongeft obftacles of nature, and the to- tal want of arts, ilarts at the very mention of impiovc- ment in his own country. He rejects the whole clafs of meafures which have been luggeftcd for ihe preferva- tion of our Highland brethren ; he will not admit that the improvement of wade lands can anfwer ; and, as already mentioned, he is not lefs hopelefs of the plans of manufactures and the fiflieries. Now, in regard to wafte land, his Lordfhip's incredulity is palTmg flrange; for he himfelf allows that the attempts hi- therto made towards this objed have been fuccefsful, and leave no doubt " that, by this means, a number of people may every where be retained." Thefe are his words ; and yet he argues againft the plan, be- caufe of the general poverty of the people. 1 anfwer, that if the people are poor, the public Is powerful ; and I repeat, that if aid is wanting, it is better to aid the man who remains than the man who leaves you ; better to tempt the aJhca-ent than the fugitive. Few and fimple are the ILghlander'o wants. lie needs proteclion and inflruclion more than mo- ney. Find him thcfe, and trull me, l.;s inuullry in liis nulive cottage will not be inferior to his activity in an American wigwam. The fame obfervations ap- ply both to agricultural and manulacluring imjirovc- ments. In both, the diuiculties rcll much more in the ■f;i the want of a little prcfent menus and ul ikil.ul in* (Iructlon, than iii the obduracy of conRitutional indo- lence, or the difadvantages of local chcunidance. Lord Selkirk, it is true, iippears to tlinik only of nianufaclures on the great fcale — of an " accummuhi- tlon of people" — of the neceflity for a ready fupj'ly of all forts of artiits — of the accommodations of neigh- bouring markets, &c. Really, Sir, this Is furpriflng ; there is no end to objeftions, if one is refolved to hnd them. Were we propofing to plant a Manchcf- ter, or a Birmingham on the inflant, all the requifites of multitudes, of ready-made mechanics, and of com* ijctin'^ marts mip-ht be thought of. Ikit raifnip- our ideas not higher than towards Lochbroom or Ul- lapool, we mud be permiited to reduce our nccef- fities to the level of an infantine trade, and the em- ployment, of a people juft emerging from barbarifm. Lallly, in regard to the hlheries ; the Noble Lord has not been able to av'vance againfl this grand re- fource from the evils of Highland fuper-population, one argument, but the obflacle of the fait laws, and the incompatibility of connecting the profellion of fifhing, with, the cukivation of land. Parliament at a breaih can, and it is to be hoped will loon remove the one ; for ilw.jalt Ia\i's arc no\N' known for certairi \o bv prejudicial to the fi(heries j — rand experience will he for to ^^hi ja \ 37 u ill by anJ bye correcl the other. A Highlander is IKK abioluie proof againil iiiflru^uon and advice. If he were. Lord Selkirk muft have found other tenants for his tranfatlantic eflate. Theie people will liften to you. if you vviil tcich them, as a friend. — Some- whar jealous at fir;!, they certainly are ; but if you once gain them, they are not fickle. All therefore tl]ar is wanted, is to cor.vhice them of the danger of uniiing two inconfiilent profeffions, and this lall ob- jection is at an end. Lord Selkirk, I underftand, was iull one day at Tobermory, and that a very bad one, infomuch, that his Lordfliip was moftly confined to the houfe. It is faid, indeed, that he pafTed a few days more in the interior of Mull, (at Quinifh I think) ; but that vifit could as little improve his Lordfhip's acquaintance with the condition of the fifheries on the coaft, as a vifit to Durham or North- allerton could enable another man to decide on the exilting circumflances of the NewcafHe :oaliieries. With this llender opportunity of information, he nevcr- thelefs ftands forth to advocate the condemnation of a fource of n?tional wealth —which, had his fa6ts been unchallengeable, a Biitofx ihould have been flow to decry, and flower to counteract. In truth, on tins he. d, as on others, the candour of this iNobie Lord has induced him to anlwer hun- felf. II ^^^ 38 felf. In the fame Chapter, in which he denies that the fiflieries afford an antidote to emigration, he owns that wherever the experiment has been fairly made, (as in the cafe of Mr Maclauchlan of Maciauchlan) it has fuccccdcd. Amicus* LETTER VI. rO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD l^ CHRONICLE. S I R, It is one of Lord Selkirk's moft favourite theories, that emigration " has no permanent effed: on popula- tion.'* This fancy, however, is obvioufly felf-contra- di^tory in one fenfe, and its application is manifcflly •.lexpedient in another. It is impoflible to deny that thofe who depart, not to return, muft, for themfeives and children, for certain diminifli the flock of the po- pulation of the country which they abandon ; and it is not lefs impofTible to difpute, that even on the foot- ing that the place of thofe emigrants may be filled by others in the progrefs of ages, (fill the immeJiate lofs to the parent ftate mufl be felt. Touching this mat- ter. 39 ler, the Noble Lord has chiefly referred to the la- ftance of the Ifle of Sky, as illultraiive of his pofition. contending that the multiplication of the people in that ifland has gradually advanced, in fpite of all the drains of emigration. Before, however, his Lordihip is in condition to require our acquiefcence in this in- ihmce, he is bound to tell us (which he has not done) how uiany people have gone to Sky fnice the period afTumed in his calculations. To enumerate the ex- ported, and to draw a veil over the imports (who have been numerous in the Ifle of Sky,) is not exactly to furnilli accurate data. Th^ fact is, Lord Selkirk has for once miiapprehended the elemental principles of his own theory, or at lead their application. The neceifarily progrelFive increafe of the llock, is a firit principle both in the animal and the vegetable world ; and population nmfl go on, if its progrefs is not pofi- tively ftopt. But this affords no argument to prove the neceffity of an artificial check, unlefs it can be demonftrated that the abundance of the population exceeded the opportunities of employment and the means of fuppart. It is time enough to lop the ti-ee of its branches, when they have begun either to en- cumber the adjacent ground, or to injure the parent ftem. It will be foon enough to banifh our luxuriant population, when the defarts of our own country are lefs I 40 Irfs extcnfive, and the times In which \vc \i\:c Icf- perilous. But I have Vet a heavier objeftlon lo the fpecuhi- tions of the Larl of Seikiik. Allerting that a changv' has of late vears arifen in the very " charader" oi" the Highland peafantry, he has prcilcd his d.l alive fchcmes of emigration as a lalutary antidote againd the growing fpirit "• of difcontent." A revolutic>n in national character, and that a revolution of difcon- tent, is indeed a fcrious mattLr, iufhcient to jullify al- mod any prevention, fuinciwnt ev^n to authonfe par- tial extirpauon. But as the evil is awful, fo it liiould not be alle<:;ed on ili^ht grounds ; nor fnould we for- get, that to get rid of one calamity, men have oiten- times rufhed intc he boiom of a worfe. In the pre- fent inltance, I believe the complaint to be Imaginary, and the remedy to be pernicious. The Rofs-ihire mobs indeed I have heard of, as well as Lord Selkirk. But let it be remembered, that thefe were mere local and temporary exceiles, which firmnefs in the Gentry would probisLly have repreflfed, which the efforts of a fingle Circuit Court extinguiflied, and which owed their origin as much to the period when they arofe as to the introduction of (lieep farming. In 1792, the fpirit of revolution pervaded higher ranks than the peafants of Rofsfliire. At that time, Sir, if I have not been kn been miriiifoimcJ, icmc men of better Ir.roriiKitlon thiVrt RDi'sfliire probably contains, are \\\\d to luwe incou- fuleratcly predicleJ the fall of our Governniem, and enthuilallicallv to have avowed a palllon for Anicrican enii.;ration. Thanks to God, thefe fentinients have vanilh.d with the fever whieh produced them, and the peaceful difpolitlon of the lil^;hland peafaniry is now as pure as would be their conteiitnieut, if American advii'ers would let them rell. \Vere it oiherwife, how- ever, illll would I aik, Is banilliment the only cure for internal dircontent ? — I have underilood that the blood of the human body may be purified, without being abfolutely drawn OiT, and I ihould fuppofe that the dilVatijsfadiuns of a people may be removcvl without the tranfporration of their perfons. ~ Would Lord Selkirk, therefore, but apply the llren;;th ol' his ta- lents to cure the malady, not the individual, we ihould applaud his exertions. While his attentions are con- fined to the removal of the patient, without the re- moval of the contagii>n, thofe who remahi owe him but little thanks. The ranks of the infeeled m;iy be tliinned, but the feat of the di'eafe has not been extirpated. And, here, let me pay a palling tribute of praife to that fociery whole labours Lord Selkirk, though a member, has difelaimed, but whofe z«.a!, I truii, he F has H |i ' i f ■i »l I 4 ^ r \ 1 — -r— -ffv T" 4'i has not exlinj'uillicd. — Thtir motives no man cui! o m ce nfurc ; and as the eflt'tt of their labours has un- doubtedly been to check, iu l"oine, antl that not hnall degree, the phrcnzy oCcnilgrat ion, even the objection- able portions of ihcir plans and regulations (if fuch there rciilly are) might have been pardoned for the good they have j^ionioted. Be this as it may in Lord Selkirk's eyeti, we can only pre.fcis oppofitc impref- fions. Seeing that by their exctions, many families have been faved, al this portcnt(.us acra, to their coun- try, and that a dawning fpirit fvf indullry has in many places bden introduced, we trull the Highland Socie- ty will not relax lis efforts to preferve an orderly and a valuable people agalnfl every necellity, and againft every allurement, to emigration. Could the writer of this letter fuppofe that his fug- geftions were requifite either to animate the exertions or to enlarge the information of the Highland Society, Vvith a view to this important objecl:, thefe iliould not be withheld. But us he is co' vinced of the zeal, {o is perfuaded of the intelligenci ■'•' this dillinguifhed aflbciation. Already do we difcover the teftinionies of that zeal and intelligence in the fuccefs of their niea- fures in behalf of their humble and remote brethren j and can it be doubted, that a fpirit, of which the advantages have already been as remarkable as the ardour. ! I ^1 43 •ardour, will conLnuc ? On ihe conti\uy, wo look ii, rhut " fomc pretty ([row^ inilucLmtin Uiuuld be held out to the lirll piirty who will fettle in other fiiualjons offered to them ;" and it was 'lut to be doubled that his Lordfnip's doclrine fiiuuld thus ac- cord with the example which he has lurnifhed. — It is ftrange, however, that the fame man who would in this way bribe the emi^u^raiit to turn in his courfe, fliould cafl a cold and repidfive eye on every fuggef- tion calculated to divert him from vhat courfe entirely. To advife the application of inducements in order to guide the deflination of the wanderer, and to rejed every perfuafive for avoiding the radical evil, is not of aj>pai'. nt wifdom. Had his Lordfhip's fcbeme of inJticcments been lon'j* and unfuccefsfully tried with a view to the prevention of emigration altogether, then the propriety of a mea- fure calculated to alleviate that which would not cure, mud have been undeniable. But it is time c- nough to rcfort to palHatives, when the antidote is proved to be vain; and we have not yet feen lufficient evidence of the failure of the latter. We know that / it is long fmce the mere gollip's tale of " happy re- gions, and fortunate illands," has loPc its effieacv in the \ highlands. 'J'he decay of the ancient fyllem of iniular iui^oramatiou, may, ior a time, inaeed have raifed 46 raifecl an epidemic ilcfirc of vvanilcring ; but tliat fe- ver has cooled, and the einifTaries of emigration are obliged to ufe enticements. In truth, the Scottlfh emigration was never that capricious movement, which in former times prevailed among thofe regions of the North, from whence fhe irruptions iifued which fubverted the power of Rome, where the ftate of life was always unfettled, and where colonization was fyf- tematical. In Scotland, it has been the immediate refult of a peculiar caufe, and is fufceptible, of courfe, of a peculiar correclive. To what degree the mifchiefs of emigration, if un- corrected, may advance, we venture not to foretel. Our object is only to fhew that the fyftem itfclf is corrupt. It tends to the removal of fubje8:s whom the State requires ; and it tends not to the probable happinefs of the people themfelves. The firft of thefe fad:s is beyond all difpute, for emigration without re- moval is a follcifm and an abfurdity ; and the impor- tance of prevt-;ntlng this removal can only be denied when the claims of the flate, and the demands of im- provers, are univerfally anfwered. The fecond fad is no lefs v/ithin the atlurance of every man who will condefcend to inquire before he pronounces. Ilap- pinefs, Sir, does often follow in the paths of emigra- tion. Of the numbers who have travelled to the new ] I 47 new wofid within thcfc 50 years, it will be found, on invcdigLition, that the greater part has fallen early un- der difappointnient and diflrefs. Their dreams of felici- ty have terminated in penury and toil ; and to the evils of indigence have been fuperadded the horrors of perjKtual banifliment. I have learned from a gentleman of great refpc^la- bility, who has refided long in Anierica, and in a fitua- tion allording peculiar means of information, that his furpriie at the flatemer^t^ in Lord Selkirk's book re- garding the profpe6\s and polhbilities which await the emigrants, exceeds all example ; that he knows that of the whole mafs of thofe who have heretofore emi- grated, not one in ten has furvived, above a few years, the calamities of his hit ; and that of thofe few, the defcendants have hardly in any one inflance reached to the third generation. Again, in refpcd to the la- bours which even thofe, whofe conftitutional powers can bed withiland the preffure of the ordinary hard- Ihips of a new life, muff encounter, I am warranted by the fame authority to deny the phyficai pofTibility of the Noble Lord's calculations ; to alfert that the molt able negro on the whole continent of America would fmk under the work Lord Selkirk has ailigned for each of his Highlanders ; and to require of Lord Selkirk, if he fliall hereafter perfiil in his flatements, that " ^'■•~f''-*'witrf.^'^fiif.'^VT'i"-i>^^^-''^ 1.8 that he fliall fupport them by fomc authority of un- queftionable experience:. On this fubje(!^, Sir, I repeat that enquiry is within the reach of us all j and thofc who take the trouble to enquire may foon learn to eftimate the accuracy of Lord Selkirk's deductions. Very probably thofe \fho oriolnally went, at the commencement of this mania, were fuch as could be fpared in the immediate circumdanccs of the country ; and it is not lefs probable, that the deluiion of the benefits of their departure were long kept up by thofe iiiore wary adventurers, who, having obtained grants of American land, were difpofed to invite fettlers from all quarters. But this does not obviate the objections to modern emigration. Lord Selkirk, indeed, con- ftantly repeats, that the people will go at all events, and it is on this foundation, that he fo plaufibly argues for his plan of temptations. He would rather make them a fort of Anglo-Americans than total Americans, and perhiips there may be fomething in the fcheme. But what I maintain is, that it has not yet been afcertaincd, that thefe people will migrate at all hazards. So far as the trial has been made, ma- ny who thought of going, have been prevailed on to abandon their refolution ; a fa6l to which Lord Sel- kirk himlelf bears witnefs. Why not therefore pur- fue un- 49 fue thefe meafurcs of retention ? The woid poflible fervant to any (late, is an emigrant fubje^. A pen- fioned HelTian is better than an ejected citizen. For if the former has no attachment to infpire him, he has at lead: the recollection of no forrows to cool hini. Lord Selkirk has alfo been defirous to imprcfs the idea, that none but men of the clafs of fanners are difpofed to emigrate, in order, doubtlefs, to enable him to argue, that with fuch men no fupply of the means of labour, nor any temptation, but land, would operate as a reflraint. In this, however, there is a twofold miilake. The farmers are not the only emigrants, although, when- men of that cl'fs do move, they form the moft difunguilhed part of tlic cargo, from the comparative eminence of tliciry?c7/iVj-, as well as from the flock which they poflefs. In the fecond place, it is erroneous to fuppofo, that even this defcription of pcrfons c:innot be provided lor ai; home with at Ica't as much faciliiv as the cottareri. '.rhey are the very perfons whojn the wade L.nds oi Britain would fuit ; the very men v, huf.- llttLi capi- tals, and whofe iratural energies, tl^.eir count ry might, \a' judicious arrano-enients, bell turn lo its own rood. Fjut thefe men, it feenis, from the code o^ the Earl i^^ Selkirk, are neverthclefs to b.- conligncd tu expend G the 1 1 ■inniiMTM^Mliial 5^ the vigour of their minds iii a Rate of baulfliment, and the fruits of their former induflry in the defperate fpeculations of blind experiment. We are told, moreover, that if we fo change the ufual * deflinatlon' of the emigrants as to get them conduced exclufively to our own colonies, they will conflitutc a bulwark of future flrength to the parent State. 1 ven v/ere this a certain fact, inftead of a fpeculative idea, it does not obviate the queftion, Why v/e ihould let them go at all ? Or "why allure men by any means to leave us, when the bufinefs of the nation requires them at home. It is In vain to denominate thefe people the " overflowings of our population.'* That land can hardly be faid to overflow with people, in which there are thoufands of defolate and unemploy- ed waflics, and for which the various artificial eilab- lifliments call unceafingly for fupplies. And let it be remembered, that all this warmth of attachment which our colonies are to fofter, is yet to be difcovcred. The hifl.ory of mankind does not furnifh very favourable teftimoi ies of the zeal or conflancy of colonial affedion, even in the cafe of original, volun- tary, and gregarcous feparation. In general, the fpirit of independence has overfet the affections of kindred, and even the feelings of gratitude ; and I may put it to the recolle<^lion of your readers, whether, fince the world ]'M I i 51 world began, a colony has ever declined to fliew, that it could do without the mother country, if its circumflances enabled it to difplay an independence. Befides, it is, to ordinary minds, a ftrange thing to imagine, that the medium of tranfplantation fliould improve the native force of Britain, for Britifli fer- vice. Moderate conceptions Hiould rather conjecture, that if the depopulation of the mother country f^all ever arrive at that pitch when our armies mud be recfuited from Prince Edward's Ifland, we need care but little whether we recruit at all. llie original emigrants muft then be off the flage of life ; and their poiterity will, in all likehhood, be as ready to hearken to the fedu£tions of other powers, as to the invitations of the country which caft out their fa- thers. — The French, who detect us on fyftem, arc always bufy with our colonifls j and the An.ericans, who hate us in revenge, are no lefs alert in their own neighbourhood. It feems doubtful, therefore, whe- ther there is any wifdom in retaining fo many coionies as we already poflefs ; to encourage more were furdy unwife. We could even better underftand the policy of perfuading refugees to fettle on the naked fhores of Scotland, than the plan of aiding Scotchi ivn to colonize the fhores of Labrador, or tlie Hudfons. The ? m%m'-*;" cr of his countrymen, may, on relledion, regret that this fame ardour had not been monopulifed in ihc creation n oi- ."> 8 If ofvillaf^cs anl manufadtories in the country which gave him birih, where his example would have been vegardcd with veneration, and his opinions referred to as a law. I have now, Sir, taken the hberty to fuggcfl, in the course of our fliort correfpondence, the doubts which I entertain of the leading principles on which Lord Selkirk has founded his popular and attradive volume. Had it been my puvpofe to anfwer that pro- duction, paragraph by paragrapli, I lliould certainly nv)t have been deterred by any apprehenfion that thofe parts of it which 1 have pafTed unnoticed are of more difficult refutation than thofe to which I haver ventureil to objei'^. But far diO'erent avocations, and ci: euniflances of little importance to your readers, have prevented any attempt on my part to write a book. Believing, however, from my heart, in the dangerous tendency of a work which every man was reading, and many men (I admit) applauding, 1 have not he- fitated to attempt to arrell this extenfive Ipirit of com- mendation, even by the medium of a few detached paragraphs in a newfpaper ; in the hope that even rhefe fuggeflions may excite more perfecl inveftiga- lions ; and in the confidence that the concealment I have adopted may at leaft prove that I have been ac- tuated tu fa :h m id of 59 tuated by no impulfe but attachment to the wel- fare of my country — " O Caledonia, stern and wild !" — — '* Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and tlic flood, Land of my Sires ! — what mortal hand Can ere untie the filial band That knits me to the rugged strand 1" I am, Sir, Your obedient fervant, t. Supplementary Il sijim»l1':m1':ntary ousi'iiv ations, APPLICABLE TO THE SUBJECr 01- THE PRECEDING LETTr.RS. 1 HE Karl oF Selkirk's labours ^ire dircded ro the caufes, the confcquences, and the cure of Highhuid emigration. Thefc caufes he reckons irrelillible and imperious, but the eonfequences he tlleems to be totally unimportant to the fafety of the parent ilate. The cure, or cor redo ry mea- I'ures, again, fo far as any have ever been projed- ed, he deems to be either futile or vifionary. The cauft's of emigration may be arranged, ac- cording to his Lordflfip, as follows: The altera- tion in Highland and infiilar manners, confequent on the aboiitioii of the feudal fyilem as it exilled in thofe regions ; the imperfedions of foil and cli- mate ; the modern rife of rents ; the introdudion of fheep, and enlargement of farms ; the fcarcity of fuel ; and the national charader of the people. We looked through his Lordfliip's book for one I other 'ir -^ 62 m Other caufe of emigration, and vi^e found it. It is, however, but juftice to the Noble Author to add, that we faw it mentioned, only to be reje^led and ridiculed We allude to the labours of thofe who have found it their intereft to awaken and cheriih a difpofition to emigrate. The confeqiicnces of emigration, as thev have been forefeen by Lord Selkirk, may be divided in- to two parts; domeftic improvement, by the re- moval of an idle, and faperfluous, and difcontent- ed population ; and colonial aggrandizement by the acquifition of an adive, and hardy, and well dilpofed people, to (lock the defart, and cultivate the wild. The preventives of emigration are lead re- garded in the fpcculations of the Noble Earl. Many, which the philanthropy or the genius of others have fuggefted, he has not thought it nc- ceflary to notice. There are others, to which he has adverted. Thefe arc, the walk lands ; ma- nufactures, and kelp ; the filhcries ; public works ; reilriclivc regulations. In the foregoing letters, thefe feveral fubjeds are briefly adverted to. A fcv additional flric- tures are wax tt; be offered. — And, full, as to his Lordiiup's cAUiJiS ot" Highland emigration. I. Effeas 63 It. It add, Id and Pe who :hcrini have led in- the rc- 311 tent- en t by ' id well altivate :a{l re- e Earl. :nius of : it nc- lich he s ; ma- works ; fubjeds d ftric- s to his 4 I. Effects of the chatii^es confequent on the abo" Ution of clanjhip and the feudal fyjlem. — The ef- fects of the decay of feudal ariftocracy, as it exifli- ed in the Highlands, has been admitted by Amicus to have been favourable to emigration. In his firfl: and fecond letters, he exprefily owned, that the alteration of the ancient fv item of manners and fubordination, did, for a time, fet loofe a conlider- able body of people, whofe temporary difappoint- ment or diftrefs naturally drove them to feek a new country, in remedy of evils which the ii- tuation of the land of their birth could not at the moment redify. But this admiiTion mull be taken with a twofold qualification : Firfl ^ The change alluded to had but a temporary operation, as a caufe of emigration ; and, fecondly^ This fhort- lived effect, though grievous, was amply com pen- fated by other coniequences, of which the dura- tion was to be infinitely greater, and the advan- tages comparatively unbounded. Change of circumltances mult always occafion temporary embarruifments to the inhabitants of any country. There is an inevitable period of difficulty betv/een the ceffation oF ancient habits, and the re- conciliation to new employments, which mull ever produce partial diilrefs. In fuch cafes, however, it Fit 64 it is equally the duty and the intereil of a LegilU- ttire to n, ligate the evil, by fuch regulations as are beft calculated to facilitate the progrefs of the ul- timate improvement for which the alterations were intended. The change of Highland manners, on the demolition of clanfliip, like every national re- volution, great or fmall, came upon many who were indifpofed towards, and unprovided for, the experiment. But novelty foon wears off. The mod ignorant, and the molt obflinate, become, through time, fiitisfied with any change. A Frenchman will gallop over the circle of poflible revelutions in the narrow compafs of ten or a do- zen years ; and in that period, approve, reject, create, and deftroy every form of government of which human genius can tigure the imagination. A Highlander's difpofition is fomewhat more iteady. But liable as are his habits, ilill even be partakes of the nature of humanity, and may by degrees be thoroughly reconciled to a domefiiic, as well as to a foreign, — to a lefs, as well as to a greater — change of manners and of views. Hence it has happened, and naturally happened, that the natives of the Highlands of Scotland, when they became familiarized to the revoluti«:>n of manners and of fyllem ; when the new arrai ge- racnts *p?«<- 1 n ments had become vifible, and intelligible, and llationary ; and when, moreover, they had learned the deplorable fate of many of the firft adventu- rers who braved the dangers of the Atlantic, and tried the experiment of American felicity ; began at length to fettle themfelves under the new order ; to be content to labour, not to fight ; to eat the earnings of indultry, not the fruits of rapine. Thus it has been, that a little time, conjoined with the exertions of Government, and the adj ailments of the landholders, has foftened the afperities of that temporary irritation, which, in feme mcafure, had railed the original fpirit of emigration. J3ur. had thefo means of reconciliation been far lefs eflicaclous than they were, ilill there arofe another medium of rcfloration to favour, in the peopled own convirtion and experience of the cfiential ad- vantages cf the new fv Hem. A ftubborn individual mav remain for ever blind even to his intereil, but a whole people cannot long contiiiue in darknefs. The fubftitution of regular laws in place of arbi- trary rule ; the protection of pcrfonal liberty ; the fecurity of property ; and even a very partial introduction of the arts, and of the comforts of focial li.^e, were improvements, to the value of Avhich human nature could not for ever remain in- fcnliblc. W a 66 WH] t ;i feniible. " Nor are the Highlanders," fays Mr Brown *, " infcnfible to this great change. They contraft their prelent Hate with that of their fore- fathers, and draw the proper inference." As a " caufe," therefore, of emigration, the change of manners fo amply and fo warmly paint- ed by Lord Selkirk, while it is admitted to have been fuch canfe, cannot be acknowledged to be fo now. It affords no vindication to the friends of modern depopulation, that fentiments which are unpatriotic in them, might have been forgiven iu their forefathers. It prefents no apology for tht' prefent lovers of emigration, that a former ge- neration were cxcufable for their diffatisfadion, or juftifiable in their own meafiires of adven- ture. The violence of a temporary ferment, is not the criterion of genuine opinions. What Lord Selkirk was bound to have adduced, was an -enumeration of thofe regular, permanent and fyf- tematicul caiifes, of which the operation is con- ilant, habitual and durable ; not the momentary cffervei'cence of a fudden derangement, which a few years muft always remove, and which, in the pre- fent inftance, a few years have already corrected. Before we take leave of this topic, of the effedls of * Vide " Strl*5lures on Lord Selkirk's Obfervatlons," p. 13. . 67 of the change of manners, it may be proper to notice one circumllance which is frequent!^' inter- woven into the fpeculations or ihe Noble Lord. His readers are repeatedly informed, that the cor- diality which once fiiblifted between the Highland gentry and their people has totally vaniflied ; and that in the room of the condefcenlion and fami- liarity, which in former times won the hearts and cheered the fpirits of the vaffal, there has grown up a cold, fuUtn and repuUive haughtinefs, the ordi- nary concomitant of that felfifh fpirit, which com- mercial habits and the love of money too often en- gender. In this, as in many other of the Noble Lord's iinoftentatious, but infinuating remarks, there appears to be a curious mixture of truth and of imagination. Always enough of the one to render his flatements fpecious ; and generally enough of the other to make them fufpicious. The condefcenfion of the ancient Scottiih chief- tains is certainly underftood to have been remark- able, fo far as it extended. But it is not believed that it reached beyond a particular clafs of fa- vourites •, and, at all events, it was but condefceiijion at the bed. Lord Selkirk may depend upon it, .hat the clanifli chief w^as a far prouder man than his more opulent fuccellbr. With the.impofing but empty dif- play 68 play of parade, he had the fLibllantiul iiuthority of command ; and, what is more, he had the no lefs fubftantial power to piiniQi. Such a man might oc- calionallybe familiar with the people arou.id him ; but fuch a man would feldom fufler thcfc people to forget their dillance. On the other hand, al- though the growth of a warmth of attacliment is natural, whenever there exifts a frequency of in- tcrcourfe, conjoined with the means of reward and of proteclion ; yet Hill the attachment which is formed for a fuperior, and which hangs on the capricious exercife of arbitrary rule, can never be fo very fteady, or fo very elTential to the formation of character, as Lord Selkirk feems to imagine. And that the decay of an uncontrolled power, fliould now produce what his Lordfnip terms " feel- ings of difguil and irritation," appears altogether improbable. The members of the prefent gene- ration came not into the world, until the an- cient feudal " condefccniion" had long decayed; and furclv a race of men, who had not for them- felves experienced the change, could not be dif- guflcd or oilcnded with that change. Difguft, with- out the feniation of a contrail, is unintelligible. Befides, the pidure of modern manners which the noble author has drawn, appears to be greatly over- charged. di 6g |ty of lefs charged. Altered as is tlie old provincial arilto- cracy, even n;)\v the cordiality vm\ unani-'led condefcenfion of the Highland lairds, is prooably as great and a. warm as it ever was in the rudeft period of clanfliip. Is there a nian but Lord Selkirk, who ever has fet a foot in the Highlands, and who will deny the exillence of that kindnefs of man- ners, and that affedionate patronage towards their people, which to this hour is a prominent feature in the charader of the Highland gentry ? The lofty ilrut of military command, may indeed have fublided ; but, if it has yielded to that more gentle demeanour which betokens a peaceful conncclion, we cannot difcover how it fliould offend. It is very true, the tenantry are become more independent ; and they, perliaps, in the pride of that independence, may have fomewhat advanced the ellimate of their own claims. But, will Lord Selkirk fay, that the tenant's opinion of his own exaltation, and his fenfe of his i nip roved fecurity, both of perfon and property, are calculated ferioufly to diffatisfy him with his condition, or to irritate him againlt his landlord? As to certain weighty " obligations" which, it is faid, the chieUains of former times owed to their vailah, and which, it is fuppofed, the tenants of the prefent day love to recount, and ought to K have i .\A '/i; 70 ;■; i M ^ have repaid them, we anfwer, i/?, That any luch obligations were mutual ; Tervice for protedion, and protedion for fervice : id/y. That even a Highlander's mind is too acute not to difcover, and too 'uft n't lo feel, that the obligations of former g' rMiU 'ons were difcharged in their own day, and v. irait no claims at the fuit of the childrens* children, of thofe who are fuppofed to have earned the original boon. 2. ImperfeSlions of Soil and Climate, — On this fubjed, we may (imply refer the public to the map ; to the evidence of every man who knows the Highlands ; nay, to the teftimony of Lord Selkirk himfelf. A very great proportion of the country from whence the emigrants iflue, lies to the fouthward of many of the moll cultivated di- ftrids of Scotland ; to the fouth of Fife, Angus and Kincardine ; and to the fouth of the lower divilions of Perth, Aberdeen, Banff, Moray and Rofs fliires. That its climate is unequal, is true : — fuch is the condition of every hilly and every infular country. That its climate may alfo be moift on the whole, is alfo true ; but the quantity of rain which falls there, is not generally greater, and feldom fo great as that which falls in Ayrfhire, in the neighbourhood of Glafgow, or in various other parts of the weftern divihon of Scotland. From 71 From the fame obvious caufes, the foil is alfo unequal ; and hence its alternate adaptation to mod of the varieties of culture, and to all the furpofes of pafturage. But inequality does not imply infufficiency. Embofomed in the moun- tains, there are innumerable trads of improve- able land ; and around the various rivers, lakes and coafts, there is abundant territory of a charai ter perfedly fufceptible of cultivation. Mr Brov. ,j, whofe veracity and whofe perfedl knowledge oi ti-^ country, will probably be admitted, even r hi<^ opponents in argument, aflures us, that of " thefe countries (the iflands and weftern coaft), the cli- mate is by no means fo unfavourable for the rai- ling of corn-crops as is commonly imagined, and both foil and climate are admirably adapted for the potato, and every fpecies of green crop*." " Amongft the Hebrides," (fays the learned Dr Anderfon, in his Report to the Lords of the Trca- fury, in the year 1784), " 1 found many large and fair iflands, containing extenfive diftridts of land, endowed with an uncommon degree of fertility, and many trads of much larger extent, conlifting of foil, that, by a {kilful culture, might be con- verted into corn-fields, which would furnifh fub- fiftenoe * StriAures, p. 24. Jl r s*f ■ fidcnce to a great number of people ; thai ihe climate in tlicfc illunth is more favourable for bringr ing corn to maturity, and that the harveft is for the moR part carliL-r than on the parallel coalls of Scotland ; and that Inncllonr and marl, and (belly fund, which are the manures bed calculated for improving thel'c foils-, abound fu nuich, that one or other of thoU. manures could be got in eve- ry place, at a very moderate ex pence," £cc. But what need is there to rcfort to other authorities ; tlie Earl himfelf admits, that e^ ?n of the inountains^ ** few of them are entirely dcHitute of fpots in which cultivation might be pradieable -^ ;" and as to the country in general, he qbfcrve3, that " the tracl of country known by the general name of Highlands, is not every where mountainous ; and there are fituations where, in all probability, flieep- farming will not prevail. In fome parts, the country conlills of low hills, more adapted for pa- lluring black cattle than Iheep ; in others, there is a ^reat proportion of arable land^y It is true, that his Lordihip qualifies this laft admifTion with this aiVertion, " But the climate is generally j\ difcouragcment to tillage, even where the foil ^nd fitualion oppofe no obllacles/? This quahfica- tion, * ObfervationS; &c. p. 31. '\ Page 36. 73 lion, however, broad as it is, not only ilocs not deftroy the conccfTion that tlicre is an abmulance of arable land within the boundaries of the proper High- land?, but it does not even go the length of deny- ing the capabilities of fuch land, even under the difadvantages of a climate comparatively inferior to that of fome other parts of the iilmd. The fa6l, belides, is indifpntable, that crops for the food of man are raifed in thcfe diftric^ls ; and the fame climate which is able to nourilh thcfe crops at pre- f(mt, mult be equally able to nourifh others on a more extenlive fcale. There is no jiill occalion, therefore, to defolate the peaceful hamlet, or to bring the parting tear from any eye in the land we refer to, from the notion that this land is exhaufted of its powers, or limited in the gifts of nature. Whether, taken all and all, the foil and climate of the Highlands of Scotland, may or may not be as fit for the fervice of man, as the foil and climate of Prince Edward's Ifland, we arc not altogether certified, and we have no oceafion to inquire. Our prefent bulinefs is to dilcover, whether the defe(5ts of the former form a '* real caufe of emigration." Now, this there feems to be every reafon to difpute* The country is the fame country which it was be- fore the rage of emigration began. Its political circumftances 74 circiimftances unqucftionably have fluduatcd, but its natural condition has been rather too ftationary ; and even as to thefc political alterations, their ten- dency has not been to augment, but to diminifli and overrule the exifting incommodations of foil and climate. They have tended to the diflfufion of (kill and capital, to the increafe of cultivated furface, and to the employment of additional hands. What- ever, therefore, may have been the real caufes which have driven the people of whom we fpeak, to fet their future happinefs ** upon a caft," that call being emigration, we may fafely challenge Lord Selkirk to prove, that ever one individual of them forfook his native country from an im- preflion of the evils of its climate, or from expe- rience of the obduracy of its foil. 3. The Advance of Land Rent. — In arguing, that the rife of modern rent is a caufe of emigration, Lord Selkirk's remarks feem to imply, not only that the meafures, but that the very objedl of the land- holders is calculated to infpire the love of change among their people. He does not indeed exprefsly fay, that thefe proprietors are abfolutely difpofed towards opprcffion ; butafTuredly he does reprefent the cafe as if they were become indifferent to the comforts of their people, and carelefs of every con- fequence, provided only their rent-rolls increafe. The (( 75 The love of money is undoubtedly a pafl'ion as univerfal as it is powerful. It will blunt, if it does not fubdue, the fined feelings of the human heart. But yet wc cannot believe, that the mofl unbounded fpirit of avarice of which the mind of man is capable, is fo very grofs and unreafonable a palTion, that its appetites muft be whetted with fuch oppreflion, as would evidently tend to coun- teradl its very obje6t. A Highland landlord will naturally prefer a better to a worfe rent for his acres ; but a Highland landlord is not fo weak as to exad a rent which his tenant cannot pay with equal fafety and comfort. He would foon be taught to difcover, that the mod mifchievous fcheme which the iuve of money ever fiiggefted, would be tiiC exadion of rents which the people could not pay, and profper. This fubjedl o^ rent is too often made t!ie handle of very bad reafoning, and in fome inftanceh, the engine of very bad pur« pofes. Tenants ought not to be mifled. No rent is a **high rent ' which the induftrious tackfman can afford to pay. On the other hand, no rent is low rent when the tenant who pays it is not induftrious. It is for the tenant's own good, to require of him fuch an equivalent for the land he holds, as fhall po- filively fecure the exertion of his activity and atten* tion. '» !i'k,«ui»-»*L.. ^«V! lion. Beyond that proportion, there is nogreat fear that proprietors will ever ilretch. They are not in- dependent of their pcojjlc ; and muft lliidy to give them rcaibnable caul'e for contentment. In truth, felf-intevert alone would infure this objed:. A contented tenant, w ho pays a fair rent, and thrives, is evidently a better, and will always be, a more favourite tenant than a dillatisiied and heart-wrung being, who is unable to contend with the opprcflion which grinds him. As, then, the landlord's natural attachment to the profpcrity of thofe around him, and his no lefs natural regard for his own profit, af- ford a double fec.n-ity for the jull comforts of the te- nantry, it is no', cafy to comprehend the poUibility of a general fpiritof indidcrcnce to the condition and ftate of their people, among a race of gentry, in whom popularity has been a hereditary pallion, and with whom felf-interelt is now allowed, even by Lord Selkirk, to be a modern attainment. In point of fact, we rather fufpedt that *' high rent" is a bug- bear,which fome of the advocates of emigration have preired into their fervice, than that oppreilive ex- adions have really been introduced, or of them- felves have tended to hatch any ferious popular difcontent in the Highlands. It is impoflible to doubt, that fome of the more unworthy emiflarics of m^mm. 77 at fear not in- o give truth, t\. A hrives, I more wrung predion natural id him, otit, af- fthetc- iVibility tion and ntry, in ion, and even by In point is a bug- ion have ilive ex- f them- popular iflible to tniflarics of of emigration, have difingenuoufly laboured to com- pare the hi^b rents of the Highlands with the low rents of America. It is no lefs impoflible to doubt, that in fuch comparifon, there would be little pains taken to difclofe to the deluded people who were addrelTed, that the '* high" rents of the Highlands may be paid, and yet the tenants fucceed, while, for aught that experience teaches, the " low" rents of the weftern continent cannot, in the general, be paid for three years together, without the ruin of the occupants. It is not to be expected that a tenant will not feek to pay as little as he can, whether his leafe extends to the rocky fliores of St Kilda, or to the gloomy forefts of Prince Edward's. But fome rent in both places he muft pay. If he thinks a mo- ment, he nuift: difcnver, that fooncr or later this rent will be made to correfpond to the value of the fubjcd. " In what, then, (he will alk himfelf), am I benefited by the payment of a lower rent abroad, than of a higher rent at home, if the ulti- mate profit to myfelf is the fame?" And if the fimplicity of his character is too great to prevent his putting this quellion before it is too late to do him good, it is the more requifite that men of un- derftanding, like the Noble Earl, fliould lludy to inftrudt thefe inexperienced peafants, that the pro- L greflivc 78 greflive advance of land-rent is the neceffury refult of the progrefllve depreciation of money ; of thcex- tenllioii of cultlv:ition ; of the influence of commerce, and, finally, of tlie advancing profpcrity of the te- nants themfelyes. Perhaps, on this point, it may be anfwered, that the benevolence of the Noble Lord will induce him to deal with peculiar libe- rality towards his newly imported American te- nantry. It may be fo ; but let it be remembered, that thougVi he ib generous, he is not immortal, and other men will be juft. In fhort, theincreafe of modern land-rent affords no real caufe for the malady of Highland emigra- tion. Rent cannot be railed beyond what land can aftbrd to pay, for otherwife the object would defeat itfelf ; and while rents are adequate, they furniili no juft ground for complaint. Neither do they con- ftituteevcn a nominal caufe of dilTatisfadion. In the dawnings of HighUmd emancipation, perhaps this, like other innovation'', may have provoked an out- cry. The clamoiu', however, has fubfided. All- powerful cuftom has foftened the original irrita- tion ; and the prefent race of Highlanders can look as fted^'aftly, and as calmly on llipulations, which u'ouM have e(iually alarmed and enraged their anceftors, as their fouthern brethren can be- hold an income tax or a wine duty, the bare mention 19 mention of which vould have turned the brains of their grandfathers. Another obfervation defervcs attention. If the rife of rents were an inevitable caufe of emigra- tion, its operation, in fome degree or other, would extend beyond the limits of the " Highlands." For although the introdudlion of equivalant rent is but of modern (landing in thofe more remote diftricts, and therefore the degree of popular dif- fatisfaclion may there be more violent than elfe- where, yet it is perfetltly evident, that as the ori- gin of this dilUitisfaclion is feated in a paflion ot the human heart which is univeifal, the fame caufe mull, to fome extent or other, operate uai- verfally, Nevcrthelefs, Lowland emigration ib rnknovvn. Individuals, indeed, occafionally try their fortunes from every quarter ; but the difeaie is not known as dw epidemic, beyond the proper bounds of the Highlands and Iflands. And Aili further on this general topic, it is im- pollible not to remark, that Lord Selkirk has borne a little too hard upon the Highland proprietors. In treating of the means which the Lcgiflature has de- vifed for the prevention of the evil which it is our earneftobjed to check, his LordQiip obferves *, that the * Page 9|. 'i'l -.i^i^sLtUh^lJfU-f 80 II i i the Highland landlords are the lait perfons whofc »ntere(ls ought to be confulted. " They have no right to complain of a change which is their own worky the neceflary refult of the mode in which they choofe to employ their property. Claiming a right to ufe their lands as they fee fit, and moft for their own advantage, can they deny their tenantry au equal right to carry their capital and their labou.: to the bed market they can find ?" And aga ,v \\ % V . 6^ <^^ » <€^l? a^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 S£iiiiat»^tttc^> fi \ Ui 88 this obftacle, while it bids a powerful defiance to the fpirit of engrolTment, feems to teach, that it was the accommodation, not the avarice of man, for which a mountainous country was defigned by Providence. Befides, the extenfion of tillage, even under an engrofTer, cannot be accomplifhed without a numerous population. In Eflex, or in Berwick- ihire, the mod extenfive farmer can eafily condudt the routine of his annual operations by means of a limited number of hands. With him, the greateft part of the labour, — the original cultivation, — has long been overcome. But in the mere infancy of im- provements, the labour is both difficult and uncer- tain. It requires the aid of many workmen ; and af- ter it is accompliflied, the increafe of the cultivated furface, and the produce of additional food, are cir- cumftanccs evidently favourable, not inimical, to population, even under the drawback of occafional enlargement of farms, and under the miftaken idea that there were no other peculiar occupations for mankind in highland and infular diftr'ds, of which the fruits can minifter both to their own fupport, and to their country's aggrandizement. That^ fheep-farming, and the enlargement of fmall poireflions have operated to the unbounded encouragement of emigration, is neverthclefs an opinion fo generally received in the Low Country, that 89 that it fcarcely appears to be enough, to deny the fuppofed extent of their efFeds, even on the autho- rity of the fads which have been ftuted. Very candid men may naturally enough inquire, To what, then, do you attribute the rage of emigra- tion ? Caufelefs to move is quite unnatural. — We cannot better anfwer this queftion, than by refer- ring our readers again to Mr Brown *, who has enu- merated, in fucceffion, the true caufes from which this fpirit arofe, and by which it has been foftered ; all of which were temporary, and many of which have already ceafed. Thefe were chietly, a combi- nation of the tackfmen on a particular eftate, to ob- llrucfl the meafures of their landlord ; a rivalfhip in intereft among the cadets of another family ; a feries of religious difputcs between the Proteftants and Catholics ; the labours of itinerant preachers, fanatics and levellers ; and, above all, the efforts of emigrant agents, trafficking in the regular buiinefs of tranfportation. To thefe caufes, coupled with a certain portion of diffatisfadion, confcquent on the abolition of the old fyftem, and a certain por- tion of that fpirit of enterprife which is more or lefs univerfal among mankind, Mr Brown has juft- ly afcribed the rife and continuance of Highland emigration. ^. Scarc'ifv * Page 36 — 43. m. "l' growing reve- nue ; and we are allured, on all hands, that it can only be worked to advantage by pcrfons who have been early habituated to the difficulties of the la- bour. Lord Selkirk's objedions to the kelp, as oppofed to the neceffity of emigration, are, that the feafon of working is fhort * ; that in the kelp diftrids, land is made a fubordinate confideration ; that it would be wifer to let the lands at their full value, and to hire kelp- makers from other corners ; and that the great proprietors, in endeavouring to pre- ferve a crowded population on their kelp ^~ ores, are adingon mifguided impreffions, raifed l.\v ivi\- cenary individuals ; by the lefler herit; :;>, the principal tackfmen, and the land-ftewards. To all thefe objedions, the anfwers are cafy and ob- vious. From the precarious, difac>reeable, and even perilous nature of the kelp-work, it is cer- tain, that no other thaii the prcrcnt race vvuuld un- dergo * ^age 135. ii6 dergo its hardfhips. It requires a crowd of hands to catch the opportunity of fecuring the floating and drifting weed, which, if not obtained on the inftant, is loft; entirely. Thefc neccflary hands could not be found at a call, to the amount of hundreds for each eft ate, even if proprietors were difpofed to pay them the higheft: wages ; and if fuch men were to be found, the prolitb of the ma- nuf\i6lure could not aiford fuch remuneration as would defray the expence of bringing and return- ing them to the low country, and of tempting them befides. Further ; It has uniformly been found, that, in proportion as population increafes, fo does the quantity of kelp, owing to the nature of the ve- getable, and the progreflive improvements in cut- ting and managing it ; and, what is more, it has alfo been found, that, fo far from the htnd adjacent to the kelp (liores being any wife fi^crificcd to the fer- vice of the kelp-makers, the tenants in ihefe dillricls are enabled, and are in ufe, to pay a greater price for the lands they rent, than fuch land would fetch under any other circumftanccs*. "Had the Earl of Selkirk a fufficient opportunity of knowing the fact, he would learn, that kelp farms are frequent- ly let to fmall tenants conliderably above their in- trinfic value. This being the cafe, his arguments may * Strlflures, page 97. 117 hands loating on the hands unt of s were and if tie nia- tion as •etuin- g them found, fo does the ve- in cut- las alio cent to be fcr- liilrids I' price d fetch ic Earl ing the quent- leir in- uments may may amufe, but will never convince, the proprietorr. of thofe parts of the Highlands and Ifles, where kelp is an article of profit, that they are under the influence of an erroneous policy. In regard to the fuppofed vices of the fmaller heritors, tackfmen, and fadors, in impofingon the credulity of the great landholders, that is a fubjeft which falls not diredly within the fcope of our ob- jedl, which is to hint at the more obvious evils> and fuggeft the more general corredives of depo- pulation. But to thofe who wifti to fee the caufe of the gentry and others vindicated from the charge of Lord Selkirk, we humbly recommend the ap- parently unanfwerable explanations of Mr Brown *. 3. Fif/jeries. — It was at one period our intention to have entered at fome length into the nature and detail of this extenfive fource of national profperi- ty, and to have prefTcd, in the mofl earneft lan- guage ue could command, its importance as a cure for emigration, on the attention of our readers. RecoUedting, however, that the public are in pof- feflion of feveral very valuable trads on the fubjed, and underflanding, befides, that a gentleman of great local information, and of talents, is likely to Q^ favour * Fide Striaures p. 8(5. Sec. Ii8 li ; 'A. favour the world with .ne refult of his experience and rcflc6lion, it is enough for us to hail the pro* mifed wor]., and to befecch every friend to his country, to let no unfcumly prejudice, no ungene- rous apathy prevent his bell confideration of a fubr jed, which, in fomc mea(\ne, involves the prefer- vation of the r[)lendour of the Britilh name. By the extenfion of thefe fiHieries, Lord Selkirk concedes, that *' p neat and abfolute addition may be made to the produdion of national wealth, and a new fupply is procured of human fubliilence, which would otherwife be loft''*^." In the pofTibili- ty of this extenfion, even to an extent that is inde- finite, all other writers concur, Inftead of thefe filheries being rtprcfe/it brought to perfeclion ; in- ftead of their being incapable of affording employ- ment to many additicnul hands, as Lord Serkirk in another place would inlinuate, " It is a certain fad, that were the fait regulations fo framed, that this necelTury article might be procured free of all duty and reilraint of every kind, c.'.onies of Dutch- men, and even of Americans, with large capitals, have expreffed a defirc to fettle in the Weft High- lands, and to profecute the fulieries.f" A confir- mation * Page. III. f Striaures, p. 76. •■_**«a mation of thefc facfts will be found, if we are not miPiaken, in a printed letter addixfled by Robert Frafcr, Efq; in the year 1803, to the Sneaker of the Houfe of Commons, and in another Icrter of much (though in fome points iniitakeii) force of eloquence, written by the learned Dr Anderion, and annexed as an appendix to IVIr Frafcr's pamphlet. Without prefuming to enter into the detail of a dircufi^on, v- hich has been, and is about to be treated, with frrcatcr knowledge and ability, let us jull remind our readers, that the north-weftern coaft and iflcs offer to their people, from the fifh- «ries, the means of fubfiftence, employment and wealth ; that they prcfcnt a maritime frontier of great extent, and of inexhanftible relburces ; that they fupply, befide^;, a vaft nuricry for thofe feamen who are to conftitute the force of that bulwark, on which, if not our exilU^ice as an indepen lent nation, at lead our influence as a powerful empire, for certain depends. The population of Holland is in a great meafure fupported by the very fi(heries wiiiih we neg'^dt. The population of the Highlands of Scotland is neverthelel). to be weakened, if Lord Selkirk pre- vail ; while every traveller, every invefligator, and almoft every writer exclaims, that were a care- ful 120 ■ ■it} ful examination to be made of our coafts, not on- ly would new fources of wealth arife in the dif- covery of new fiftiing-grounds, to an extent almoft unlimited, but (ituations would be found admirably fitted for the formation of towns and villages, as well as for the ftationing of fleets, in protedlion of the empire and its trade. For regions, therefore, in extent, amounting to a fixth part of the territory of Great Britain ; for regions at prefent doomed to the punifhment of depopulation, we would proclaim the improve- ment of the fifheries, as of itfelf a perfed: mean of falvation. Againft this opinion. Lord Selkirk has little to prefer. He doubts the extent^ indeed, to which this national objedl may be carried. He is afraid of an overflocked and furfeited mar- ket. In (hort, in his monitory reafonings, he ex- hibits all that timidity, apprehenlion and fufpi- cion, which emanate from his fpeculations in eve- ry direction of domeftic improvement, but which have no admiffion into his vilions of tranfatlantic good, and never chequer his ideal courfe of the benefits of Highland emigration. It is time enough to entertain alarm when there is an afcertained caufe for it ; time enough to flop in the career of home improvement, when the mine of wealth is really 121 really worked to the bottom, or the mart of dif- pofal vifibly and experimentally glutted. Hither- to that has not happened ; even the Earl of bel- kirk does not affedl to fay fo. As yet there is room, by the medium of the fiflieries, to ftop both the neceflity and the deiire of emigration ; in other words, to prove that the evil is not incorrigible. By the adoption of a few judicious regulations, it is admitted by all mankind, that the filheries might to fome extent be improved ; and by the fame eafy means, it has been demonftrated by a variety of able men, that thefe liflieries might be created into a fource both of maintenance and re- venue of incalculable amount. We do not, how- ever, aik the public to decide on our anonymous opinions. We do not bid them reft either on the cold and fcanty admiflions of the Earl of Sel- kirk, nor on the fanguine and fervid expectations of every other writer. We appeal to their obli- gations as Britons ; to their attachments as fellow- fubjecU ; to their juftice as men, and call upon them to invcftip-ate and inform themfclves : to re- fledl on thif] important topic of univcrfal concern to ourfelves rMid to unborn millions i and when they are convinced, to beftir themlclves before it be too late, to oppofc that noxious fpirit of which Lord 122 Lord Selkirk is the champion, and by diverting the puriuits of their inexperienced brethren into channels of private wealth and public aggrandize- ment, to ftay a torrent, which, if allowed to roll on, muft, ere long, deftroy the means whereby na- tional advantages can alone be obtained. One word only, touching the falt-laws ; the du- ties, or regulations concerning which, all pcrfons admit to have an oppreflive operation. At pre- fent, the duties coUedled on this article of hu- man fupport, in the Highland diftrids, do not de- fray the cxpence of the coUedtion ; of courfe the lofs of thole duties would be no injury to the pu- blic. At prcfent, the regulations concerning its importation, by the proceis of cuftomhoufe infpec- tion, the execution and cancelling of the bonds, and the vifks and inconveniencies which both im- porters and purchafers are obliged to run, render this article almoil inacceflible to the poorer fifh- ers, and a grievous burden to all ; of confequence, a change of fyftem niufl be for the advantage of the Highlanders. *' The falt-laws (obferves Dr Anderfoii) are the real caufe of the didrefs under which thefe countries have fo long groaned ; nor can nny thing elfe than a total repeal of thefe laws ever mitigate, far lefs entirely remove thofe evils.'" 123 >nds, im- :ndei: fi(h- ince, itage Is Dr Inder nor ihefe hofe ils/' evils.** In Guemfey, Jerfey, and Man, we under- ftand that the greateft advantages have refulted fronfi the exemption of the inhabitants from this grinding impoft, — an impoll evidently at abfolute war with the extenlion of the fiiheries ; and why the fame indulgence lliould be withheld from the Highlands and liles of Scotland, has never yet been fliewn. If the Legiflature were fiipine, its» conftituents might roufe its energies, by thofe ap- peals to its wifdom which would doubtlcfs be heard. If the fubjedt were of no iniportance to the general weal, individuals might be expcdtcd to purfue the means of their own emolument. But living under a Government, in whofe Crown the brighteft gem is its invaried difpolition to anti- cipate the people's wants, and preffing for a boon which is calculated to promote the advantage of the State, as much as the profit of individuals, we cannot but truft that the time is not remote, when every meafure will be tried, that either in- telligence or experience can fugged, as likely to forward the increafe of the fiflieries ; in other words, to fecure the prefervation of our naval flrength, the augmentation of the means of human fubfiftence; the full employment of the population of the coun- try, and the utter decay of Highland emigration. 4. Puhliii 124 4. Puhlic Works. — On this article, it does not appear necelTary to add any thing, even to the brief obfcrvations in the Letters. There are (bine things too plain for argument. Under this defcrip- tion, the firing oF indifputable propolitions relative tothulc improvements in the Highhaids which be- long to the clafs of Public Works, really and truly appears, in our humble conceptions, to fall. Works that arc executed by Highlanders, muft give em- ployment to Highlanders ; wages earned, muft give bread ; the vihblf difpolition of Governn»ent to fupply the lofs of the ancient patriarchal protec- tion of the Chieftains, by a far wifcr, more libe- ral, and more confolidated aid, muft cherilh and fecurc the attachment of a warm-hearted people ; above all, the efFed of thefe public works, when atchieved, muft tend to the internal melioration of the country, by an accumulation of all thofe fa- cilities, which, in every other quarter cf the globe, have been the firft and the beft means of civiliza- tion and of wealth. 5. ReJlridUve Regulations. — Lord Selkirk has dif- played m efpecial anxiety to refift the very ap- pearance of compulfatory meafures ; to cenfure every idea of retaining fubjeds againft their will ; to reprefs the flighteft notion of perfecutioq. " If there :'V'r^H^r— : y -^ r3ie ; there cxift* (obfcrvc3 his Lorddiip *, fpeaking of the late emigrations), " among the Highlanders, any wanton difcontcnt and rcflleiFnefs, nothing feems fo likely to keep alive and extend this fpi- rit, as the attempt to rellrain it by individual per- fecution. Every manly heart will revolt at fuch means, employed to reftrain the exercife of an acknowledged natural right ; and the indignation which every adl of oppreflion mull excite, may ac- tually impel thofc to emigration, who otherwife would never have thought of it." Had thefe fentiments been really called for by any of the fteps which have hitherto been adopt- ed, or any argument which, as far as we can learn, has ever yet been advanced, the propriety of their introdudion into his Lordlhip's book would have been obvious. A moral and well-regulated liberty is the proud inheritance of every fubjedl of thefe realms. From the highell to the lowed ci- tizen, (excepting only a particular fet of artifans), every man has a right, not only to enjoy the fruits of his induftry, but to choofe the place of his re- lidence, within or without the boundaries of the kingdom. He has a title to come and go at plea- fure 5 and fo long as he encroaches not on the R eftabliHied * Page .145. 126 il n l-L cftablifhcd right*; of others, his privilege of fell- govfrnmcnt is perfcOl, Of courfc, the forcgoinp; propofitions of the Noble Earl are indifputiible. At the fame tune, vvc cannot tlifcover either the occafion or the priulence of their promulgation, in the work before us. Mankind are but too apt to take fire at the moll diflanr hint of an invafion of their natural rights ; antl there are many on u honi even a publieation, merely declaratory of the ex- jftence of thole rights, will carry the fufpicion that they are adually in danger. Now, we deny that any fuch conclufion has been juftified, cither by the mcafures of the Highland Society, or the recommendations of individuals. That legillativc interference has been fought and obtiiined, in order to regulate the exportation o^ ihc emigrants, is true ; but does this infer an en- croachment on natural liberty ? Had an armed force been marflialled around our coafts, and the bayonet been pointed at the breall of the emi- grant ; or had a law pafled, declaring it felony to migrate to America, then, to be fure, the hue and cry of *• libc- ty wounded" might have been raifed, as loud as ever was the hov/l of facrilege in the mod turbulent days of fanaticifm. But when the utmoft mcafure of legillative interference has only been 127 been to correal that dangcroiH negligence ot tlie exportation- trudfis, by which il ilea I'c and death on the very paflage were adtlcd to the long lill utthe calamities which beful the emigrants, the prefcnt implied charge of encroachment on the natural rights ot' man, occupies that place which would have been better tilled with a tribute of applaufe to benevolence. Civil liberty docs notconfifl in the uncontrolled and unadvited power of following out every in- conlideratc or millaken inclination. As it is the duty and privilege of a parer.t, to direcl and ad- monilh his family, fo it is the duty and privilege of a Legiiluture to provide againft the ralhnefs and incaution of her peo[)le. The fame title which authorifed the State to adopt regulations of humanity for the welfare of the black Jlaves im ported to the Well Indies from Africa, juftifies the cilablilhment of limilar precautions for the fafety of the white freemen exported from the Hebrides to America. Sucli laws, if they are to be termed *' refliidive," at lealt partake fome- what more of the kindneis of the protedor, than of the lalh of the executioner. Prior to thefe re- gulations, humanity and jullice in the conduct of the proccfs of emigration, were funerfeded by rapacity 128 I rapacity and avarice; now, thefe paflions are fub- jcdled to the control of a decent regard to the lives of human beings. This is the fum and fub- ftance of the evil, which has awakened the fears of Lord Selkirk ; this is that dread encroachment on the rights of men, which has provoked his animadverlion. Yet all this, and more, feems to be perfedly confident with that true and rational liberty, which is only enjoyed when it is reftrain- ed, and which, without fome regulation, would degenerate into wild and horrible anarchy. Were it, therefore, true, that regulations of fome force had been impofed on the means of Highland emi- gration, we fliould Hill have ventured to anfwer, that a free government, eftabliihed on the bafis of natural right and general happinefs, is nowife tarniflied by the exercife of the checks which lead to ultimate good ; that a free people are mod fe- cure when their abflradl rights are encircled by the controlling hand of moderate power. *♦ Hail facred polity, by freedom reared ! Hail facred freedom, ivhcn by law rejlrained ! Without you what were men ? A grovelling herd, In darknefs, wretchednefs, and want enchained. Sublimed by you, the Greek and Roman, teign'd Itt arts unrivalled : Oh, to lateft days, I« I« 129 In Albion, may your influence, unprophaneJ, To godlike worth the generous bofom raife, And prompt the fage's lore, and iire tlie poet's lays." It is indeed matter of no ordinary furprife, to find fuch a mind as Lord Selkirk's fqueamilh, and apprehcnfive of the propriety of any laws for which hh brethren of the Highland Society are capable of prefllng, or which the BritilTi Legiflature is likely to pafs, for interrupting the means of emi- gration. It almoft reminds us of the labours of an author, (much noticed by Mr Malthus), God- win, who, in his fallacious book on Political Juftice, drives to perfuade mankind to throw off the bonds of civil regulation, becaufe, as he con- tends, the whole vices in fociety arife from human irftitutions. To political regulations, and to the adminiftration of property, this ardent, but art- ful writer, afcribes every crime by which man- kind is degraded. Every evil with him is of human inftitution ; every good to be obtained on- ly by the abrogation of thofe coercive regulations that form the bonds by which dates and govern- ments are upheld. Nothing is allowed to the laws of nature, or to the imperfedions of humanity, — to the indifpenfablc mixture of virtues and of fail- ings. mmm fmmmm 130 ings. Such fanciful reprefentations may exhibit rhetorical (kill, or the fplendour of imagination, but they arc not of the fchool of found philofo- phy. The real condition of human nature and focial life, is not fit to endure abfolute freedom and felf-vviU. The great inequality of talents, and the empire of the pallions, demand inilitu- tions of proteclion ; and protection implies con- trol. Reftriclivc laws, and penal bills, therefore, are as necellluy for man, as are regulations direclly proteclive ; although it may happen that both the one and the other may be mifapplied. In the words of Mr Burke, " Abllradtly fpeaking, govern- ment, as well as liberty, is good ; circumjiances give to every political principle its didinguilhing co- lour and difcriminating efl'ed:. The circumilances are what render every civil and political fcheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.'* Let it not, then, be objeded to the proceedings taken, or to be taken, in relation to the emigrants, that they are in fome fhape rellri6tivc. Let it firft be in- quired, whether their objjcl is hollile to humani- ty, or inconfiftent with the principles of good government ; and by that objed let them be judg- ed. The medium through which happinefs is to be circulated among thoufands of valuable and innocent 131 [jlKlg- is to and locent innocent men ; the medium through which n fyf- tem of error, difappointment, infelicity, and in ihort, of Highland emigration^ is to be correded, ought not, perhaps, to be very curiouily fcanned. But when, neverthelefs, it can bear even the in- vedigationof jeah)us inquiry, and (land its ground, it ought not to be difcarded, becaufe the "eins have been given to genuine benevolence. This much we have thought it our duty to fay, in regard to the late emigration-ad, of which Lord Selkirk appears to us to have written, in one or two places =*, without ever conlulting the feelings of his own heart. The fingle objcd of this ftatute was, to enfure to the emigrant a fafe and comfortable paflage, by removing the mifcries attendant on a long voyage, in velfels whereof the cargo was hu- man creatures, and under the management of tliofe who v.'cre profciTed traffickers in nefli and blood. It was to regulate the tranfportation in Rich way as might be leait deftruclive to human livCs. The individual regulations adopted were borrowed chiefly from the laws refpeding the Slave Trade ; and the advantages fought for our countrymen, and complained of by the Earl of Selkirk, are al- moil the verbainn provifions, which legillativc be- neficence * V'uk p. 130 — 152, %<{ 132 neficcnce has iccurcd for the Negroes imported from the Guinea coafl. This is a fad beyond the reach of contradidion ; although it may be equal- ly beyond the reach of ordiuary comprehenfion in one or two particulars, which the Noble Lord will eafily difcover. Inftead of obftrucling the views of voluntary ex- iles, the late ad: has really facilitated their objed, by the redudion of exorbitant profits formerly taken by the traders, and by augmenting the comforts of the voyage. We have inquired into this matter, and find, that even the freight of an emigrant has not been raifed above forty ftiillings iince the date of the bill ; and for this trifling ad- dition, the paffcnger has medical afliflance, and abundant provifion during the voyage, and fe- curity given to be landed at the place he pre- fers, notvvithftanding the rife on every article of life, the advance of infurance, and the in- creafe of feamens wages, fince that period. To fee Lord Selkirk, therefore, with thefe fads before his eyes, pouring forth anathemas againft the wifdom and juftice of the emigrant bill, is one of thofe rare and inexplicable deviations from the common order of human fentiments, that the bulk of mankind will be difpofed to rank among the eccentricities 133 eccentricities of genius, that are far more to be lamented than approved. Neither has this emigrant adl impeded the indiif- try even of the fpeculators. At this very moment, various (liip-loads of emigrants are preparing to fail for Prince Edward's ! The fad is notorious and open. Indeed, Mr Brown gives a diftincl report of the whole bufinefs * ; the bargain with the Ameri- can landlord ; the fub-cngagements of the inferior parties ; the contradl for the paffage, Sec &-c. The fuperintcndencc of this embarkation is en- trufted to a Jew of the name of Rabbi ; the member of a tribe which is not j^cculiarly diftinguilhed in the annals of bad bargain-making. This Hebrew coadjutor of the Earl of Selkirk, is even now publicly employed in the exportation of the inha- bitants of the ill-fated diftrids to which we have alluded ; thofe diltridls whofe coads the Noble Lord imagines to be guarded by reltridive regu- lations, adverfe to the departure of the people. Nothing can prefent a more fatal proof that Lord Selkirk is miftaken, if he really fuppofes contrary to his own experience, that there are any reftraints " ifhcicnt t( "^ ' >g. tay tion. For ourfelves, with every attachment to the caufe of liberty, we fay. Would to God there were § fomething Page 99. ^34 1. ibmcthing of the kind ; Ibmething clifcovered, at Icaft, which might inftrud Mr Rabbi, the Jew, and ail the vermin whic h Uirround him, that they had inillakcn the colour of thcK merchandile ; or^ if that be a loft: hope, forncthing which might fct on foot thofe rcllriclions which the convidlion of a whole people has fometimes impofed on them- felves ; which wifdom and experience fometimes raife in the brcafts of individuals for fclf-proteclion. Finally, on this article, we mull obferve, there is a difference in point of lad between Lord Selkirk and Mr Brown, which ought, for the fake of ju- llice, to receive the wideft pollible circulation. Both thefe oppofite authorities cannot be right ; and, as Lord Selkirk receives a flat denial, he is bound to juftify, ( to corred his ftatement. We think it beit to give the words of his TiOrdlhip'a contradiclor. " Lord Selkirk ftates, That the Highland proprietors ufed all their influence, and even applied to Parliament for legiflative inter- ference, to prevent their people from leaving them. Now, I boldly aver, that this ftatement is in dired: oppofition to the fad. The Highland proprietors ufed no influence ; they did not apply for any le- giflative interference ; they left the people to the freedom of their own will, and the only interfe- rence ^35 rence tlicy Oicwctl, was, a difpofitlon to pioviJc fettlemciits on their property tbu pcrfons wlio Teemed 136 confequencc, power, and authority can adminirter to their relief. That thufe brief and curfory remarks have to encounter all that difregard which generally befal, and frequently are merited by, anonymous ftate- ments, he is aware. Nor is he lets aware of the oppofition which ifliies from the perennial fprings of intereft: and prepofleflion, when authors of much lefs eminence than Lord Selkirk are aflailed. But with all thefe difadvantages, and all their inability to encounter the eloquence, and labour, and long preparation, which have fecured celebrity to the finiilied work which they were intended, not fure- iy to cope with, but unqueftionably to refill ; the Letters of Amicus are again delivered to a publifli- er, in the words of an author who wrote on an occaiion perhaps of lefs importance to his coun- try : " I find a confolation, (faid he), that re- fpedable works on the fame fnbje6t are expeded. by the public. Too many minds cannot be em- ployed on a controverfy fo immenfe as to prefent the moft various afpedls to diflcrent underftandings, and fo important, that the more :orreB Jiatement of onefaBy or the more fucccfiful illujiration of one argument^ would refcue a whole volume from the imputation of having been written in vain.^* FINIS. Jminiller have to lly befal, LIS ftate- -* of the f iprings of much 1 But nubility id long ^ to the 3t fu re- it ; the 'ubiifli- on an coun- lat re- pe