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EGIONAL LIBRARY FACIL |
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ON
EMIGRATION,
AND THE
STATE OF THE HIGHLANDS.
OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
PRESENT STATE
OF THE
HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND,
WITH A VIEW OF THE
CAUSES AND PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES
OF
EMIGRATION.
BY THE EARL OF SELKIRK.
SECOND EDITION.
EDINBURGH:
Printed by J. Ballantyne fy Co. FOR A. CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH ; AND LONG- MAN, HURST, BEES, AND ORME, LONDON.
1806.
• • •
He S4-S &
1806
CONTENTS.
Introduction,
I. Independence of the Highland Chieftains in former times — Internal state of the country
resulting from that circumstance, 11
tfi
II. Change in the policy of the Highland pro- prietors subsequent to the Rebellion in 1745, . 23
I
as III. Consequences of this change on population, — through the prevalence of pasturage, — sheep- farming, — and engrossing of farms, 27
IV. Situation and circumstances of the old te- nantry : choice of resources when dispossessed of their farms : Emigration preferred ;—for what reasons ; — limited in extent, 40
4L1G7
VI CONTENTS.
V. Political effects of the Emigrations — The Highlands hitherto a nursery of Soldiers : — circumstances on which this depended; no lon- ger exist — the loss of this national advantage does not arise from Emigration, 63
VI. The Emigrations of the Highlanders inti- mately connected with the progress of National prosperity — not detrimental to Manufactures,
nor Agriculture, ...... 79
VII. Means that have been proposed for preser- ving the population of the Highlands — improve- ment of waste lands— -fisheries ; — manufactures
■ — cannot obviate the necessity of emigration, . ■ 95
VIII. Emigration has no permanent effect on po- pulation-^-Legal restrictions useless and dange- rous—discontents in the Highlands — emigra* tion useful to the public peace, 114
IX. Prejudices of the Highlandproprietors against Emigration — mistakes from which they arise, ISO
X« Conduct of the Highland Society — Emigrant Regulation Bill, ...,,. 139
CONTENTS. Vll
XI. Importance of the emigrants to our colonies — custom of settling in the United States — means of inducing a change of destination — will not increase the spirit of emigration, ... 1 64
XII. Measures adopted in pursuance of these views by the author — Settlement formed in Prince Edward's Island — its difficulties, pro- gress and fowl success, 183
APPENDIX.
INTRODUCTION.
When, on a question that has undergone much investigation and excited general atten- tion, an individual comes forward to contro- vert received opinions, and to offer views which have previously passed unnoticed, every one is disposed to ask, what have been the pecu- liar opportunities of information upon which he presumes to contradict those who have gone before him. I trust, therefore, it will not be deemed an unbecoming egotism, that some particulars relating to myself form the subject of these preliminary pages.
Without any immediate or local connexion with the Highlands, I was led, very early in
% INTRODUCTION.
life, to take a warm interest in the fate of my countrymen in that part of the kingdom. Du- ring the course of my academical studies, my curiosity was strongly excited by the repre- sentations I had heard of the ancient state of society, and the striking peculiarity of manners still remaining among them ; and, in the year 1792, I was prompted to take an extensive tour through their wild region, and to explore many Of its remotest and most secluded val- leys. In the course of this I ascertained se- veral of the leading facts, on which the aiv guments of the following pages are grounded; in particular, that Emigration was an una- voidable result of the general state of the coun- try, arising from -causes above all control, and in itself of essential consequence to the tran«* quillity and permanent welfare of the king- dom.
The particular destination of the emigrants is not likely to excite much interest in those who believe that emigration may be obviated altogether. Being persuaded that no such ex- pectation could be reasonably entertained, I
INTRODUCTION. 3
bestowed some attention on details, which to other observers may have appeared nugatory. I learned, that the Highlanders were disper- sing to a variety of situations, in a foreign land, where they were lost not only to their native country, but to themselves as a separate peo- ple. Admiring many generous and manly features in their character, I could not ob- serve without regret the rapid decline of their genuine manners, to which the circumstances of the country seemed inevitably to lead. I thought, however, that a portion of the an- tient spirit might be preserved among the Highlanders of the New World — that the emi- grants might be brought together in some part of their own colonies, where they would be of national utility, and where no motives of ge- neral policy would militate (as they certainly may at home) against the preservation of all those peculiarities of customs and language, which they are themselves so reluctant to give up, and which are perhaps intimately connect- ed with many of their most striking and cha- racteristic virtues.
4 INTRODUCTION.
It was on the eve of the late war that these views occurred to me, and any active prose- cution of them was precluded by the event- ful period which followed ; but the object was deeply impressed on my mind, and has never been lost sight of. Far from, being effaced by the lapse of time, or the occupations of ma- turer years, my ideas of its practicability and its importance have been confirmed by every succeeding reflection.
The emigrations from the Highlands, which had been of little amount during the conti- nuance of hostilities, recommenced upon the return of peace, with a spirit more determin- ed and more widely diffused than on any for- mer occasion. All those views which I had hitherto entertained, then recurred as re- quiring immediate attention ; and the strong impressions I had on the subject induced me to state, to some persons then in Administra- tion, the necessity of active interference, for attracting the emigrants to our own colonies. These representations were treated with polite attention, but did not excite an interest cor-
INTRODUCTION. O
responding to my ownideas of the importance of the object. Inasmuch, however, as it could be promoted by the disposal of waste lands of the Crown, I was informed that every reason- able encouragement might be expected. See- ing no probability of my views being effectu- ally adopted by Government, and reluctant to abandon the object altogether, I was led to consider how far, under the encouragement held out, I could, as an individual, follow it up on a more limited scale, to the effect at least of establishing the practicability of my suggestion. Having, therefore, received the assurance of a grant of land on such terms, as promised an adequate return for the una- voidable expences of the undertaking, I re- solved to try the experiment, and, at my own risk, to engage some of the emigrants, who were preparing to go to the United States, to change their destination, and embark for our own colonies.
It is unnecessary to detail the transactions to which this led, and the various obstruc-
INTRODUCTION.
tions I met with in the Highlands, from per- sons whose jealousy had been roused by my attempt. When the preparations for my ex- pedition were pretty far advanced, I learned that in consequence of some calumnious re- ports, Government were disposed to look less favourably than at first on my undertaking. To remove the grounds of these misapprehen- sions, in February 1803, I stated to the Se- cretary of State for the Colonial Department, (in the concise form to which the bounds of a Letter restricted me,) the principal outlines of the following arguments ; and I had the satisfaction to learn that this representation bad removed the doubts of the Noble Lord to whom it was addressed,
I was given to understand, however, that it would be more satisfactory to Government, if the people I had engaged were settled in a maritime situation, instead of that I had at first in contemplation. For reasons, which I may perhaps have occasion hereafter to lay before the public, I was by no means satis- fied that this suggestion was founded in just
INTRODUCTION. 7
views of national policy. Nevertheless, I thought it my duty, under all the circumstan- ces of the case, to acquiesce, and determined on making my settlement in the Island of St John (now called Prince Edward's) in the Gulph of St Lawrence.
From various considerations I found, that, to give the experiment a fair prospect of suc- cess, my own presence with the colonists was indispensable. It was indeed with some re- luctance that I ultimately yielded to this ; for, before I sailed, the unexpected renewal of hostilities had taken place. The business was then too far advanced to admit of any change of plan ; and it was with the most anxious feelings that I found myself under the neces- sity of quitting the kingdom at so critical a
i
moment. In other respects I have had no reason to regret my absence, as it has not only led me to sources of information, to which few have access ; but I trust that my occupation in the mean time has not been wholly useless to my country.
8 INTRODUCTION.
I find, that my own views in this underta- king have been as much misrepresented, as the subject in general has been misunder- stood. But I enter with confidence on the task of correcting the mistakes that have been disseminated ; trusting that a simple state- ment of facts will be not less convincing to the public at large, than it has already been to an official character.
My first intention was to have given to the world the very letter, I have above alluded to, with a few additional illustrations ; but I could not avoid expanding my observations more than was consistent with such a plan, in order to render them intelligible to those who are not well acquainted with the local cir- cumstances of Scotland. 1 have therefore cast the whole anew into its present form ; and, notwithstanding the bulk to which it has grown, I cannot flatter myself that the sub- ject is exhausted. If time had permitted, some valuable additional documents might have been collected. Anxious, however, that the misrepresentations, which have been cir-
INTRODUCTION. 9
culated under the sanction of respectable names, should no longer remain uncontradict- ed, I venture to submit these remarks, in their present imperfect state, to the judgment of the public, and solicit that indulgence, to which, perhaps, I have some claim from the importance of the subject, and the unavoida- ble haste of this publication.
London, June, 1805.
OBSERVATIONS
ON
THE PRESENT STATE
OF THE
HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, &c.
I. Independence of the Highland Chieftains in former times — Internal state of the country resulting from that circum- stance.
JL he state of commercial refinement and re- gular government, to which we are accus- tomed in England, has been so long esta- blished, that it requires some effort of imagi- nation, to form a distinct idea of the situa- tion of things under the feudal s}rstem. We must look back to a distant period of time, the manners and customs of which have gra- dually disappeared, with the causes which gave rise to them, and have left few traces of their existence. This has also been the case,
12
to a great degree, in the Low Country of Scotland ; but the progress of society in the Highlands has been very different. It must not be forgotten, that little more than half a century has passed, since that part of the kingdom was in a state similar to that of Eng- land before the Norman conquest. When we look back to . the condition of the High- lands before the year 1745, the differences which still exist between that and the other parts of the kingdom are easily accounted for. There is much more reason to be sur- prised at the progress that has been made by the inhabitants in these sixty years, than that they should not have accomplished to its full extent the change, which in other parts has been the work of many centuries. The feudal system has been abolished ; but the customs t%at arose out of it are not forgotten. An act of parliament, supported by a military force, could destroy the one ; time only can eradi- cate the other : and in every peculiarity of the Highlanders, we may trace the remnants of this former state of the country, or the ef- fects of its violent and rapid change.
13
Though the conquests of Cromwell, and the issue of the rebellion in 1715, gave a check to the independence of the Highland chief- tains, yet it is well known that, till after the year 1745, it was never completely overthrown. Before that period, the authority of law was too feeble to afford protection. The obstruc- tions to the execution of any legal warrant were such, that it was only for objects of great public concern that an extraordinary effort was sometimes made to overcome them. In any ordinary case of private injury, an indivi- dual could have little expectation of redress, unless he could avenge his own cause ; and the only hope of safety from any attack was in meeting force by force.
- In this state of things, every person above
the common rank depended for his safety and his consequence on the number and attach- ment of his servants and dependants : without people ready to defend him, he could not ex- pect to sleep in safety, to preserve his house from pillage, or his family from murder ; he must have submitted to the insolence of every
14
neighbouring robber, unless he had maintain- ed a numerous train of followers to go with him into the field, and to fight his battles. To this essential object, every inferior consi- deration was sacrificed ; and the principal ad- vantage of landed property consisted in the means it afforded to the proprietor of multi- plying his dependants. By allowing his te- nants to possess their farms at low rents, he secured their services whenever required, and, by the power of removing any one who was refractory, maintained over them the autho- rity of a monarch. The sacrifice of pecuniary interest was of very inferior importance, and was not a matter of choice ; for any proprie- tor, who should have acted on contrary prin- ciples, losing the attachment of his people, would have been left a prey to the violence of his neighbours.
The Highland gentlemen appear to have been so anxious on this subject, that they never ventured to raise their rents, however much the circumstances of any case might make it reasonable : the tenant, in fact, paid
15
his rent not so much in money as in military services ; and this explains the extraordinary difference between the apparent value of land in the Highlands, in former times, and at pre- sent. The small rentals of the estates forfeit- ed by the rebels of 1745 have been often re- marked with surprise, and contrasted with the great value of the same lands at present ; but were the rent of these lands at their utmost actual value to be all laid out in employing labourers, at the rates now current in the north of Scotland, the number of men to whom they would furnish wages and mainte- nance would not be very different from that of the clans who formerly came out in arms from the same tracts of country *.
The value of landed property was, in these times, to be reckoned, not by the rent it pro- duced, but by the men whom it could send into the field. It is mentioned, indeed, of one of the chieftains, that being questioned by a stranger as to the rent of his estate, he answered, that it could raise 500 men.
* See Appendix [A.]
16
Under these circumstances, it was natural that every proprietor should wish to reduce his farms into as small portions as possible : and this inclination was fully seconded by the disposition of the people. The state of the country left a father no other means of provi- ding for a numerous family, than by dividing his farm among them ; and where two fami- lies could be placed on the land that was pre- viously occupied by one, the proprietor ac- quired a new tenant, and a new soldier. From the operation of these principles, the land seems, in a great majority of cases, to have been divided into possessions barely suf- ficient for a scanty subsistence to the occu- piers.
It was indeed usual for the head of a clan, possessing extensive territories, occasionally to grant more considerable farms to the younger branches of his family ; but this circumstance had little effect on the general mode of agri- cultural management. The tacksmen (as the holders of such large farms were termed) were considered nearly in the same light as pro*
17
prietors, and acted on the same principles. They were the officers who, under the chief, commanded in the military expeditions of the clan. This was their employment ; and nei- ther their own dispositions, nor the situation of the country, inclined them to engage in the drudgery of agriculture, any further than to supply the necessaries of life for their own families. A part of their land was usually suffi- cient for this purpose ; and the remainder was let off, in small portions, to cotters, who differ^ ed but little from the small occupiers who held their lands immediately from the chief, except- ing that, in lieu of rent, they were bound to a certain amount of labour for the advantage of their immediate superior. By collecting a number of these people around his own habita- tion, a gentleman not only procured the means of carrying on the work of his farm with ease, but also promoted the personal security of his family. Besides this, the tacksmen, holding their lands from the chief at a mere quit-rent, were naturally solicitous to merit his favour, by the number of their immediate dependants whom they could bring to join his standard ;
18
and they had in fact no other means of em- ploying to advantage the superfluity of their land, than by joining in the general system of the country, and multiplying the ultimate occupiers of the land.
These circumstances produced a state of manners, from which it is easy still to trace the most striking peculiarities of the Highlan- ders. The greatest part of the country was fit only for pasturage, and the small portions of arable land which fell to the share of any family, could occupy but little of their time. On two or three occasions in the course of the year, the labours of the field required a mo- mentary exertion, to prepare the soil, or to secure the crop : but no regular and conti- nued industry was requisite for providing the simple necessaries of life, to which their fore- fathers had been accustomed, and beyond which their desires did not extend. The pe- riods of labour were short ; and they could devote the intermediate time to indolence, or to amusement, unless when they were called upon by the chief to unite for the common de-
19
*
fence, or for an attack on some hostile clan. The merit of every individual was estimated by his prowess on these occasions ; Avarlike achievements were ever the favourite theme among them ; and the amusements of their leisure hours generally consisted of active ex- ercises, or displays of strength and agility, calculated to enhance their character as war- riors.
This style of life, favourable as it was to those qualities of mind and body which are requisite to form a good soldier, was no less adverse to habits of industry. If, indeed, the natural disposition of the Highlanders to in- dustry had been ever so great, their situation would have allowed it but little scope. Their lands afforded few objects of commerce : the only article of which they ever had any con- siderable superfluity was cattle ; and, from the turbulent state of the country, these could not be brought to market without the utmost difficulty. The desire of accumulating was checked by the insecurity of property : those, indeed, who derive their acquisitions from the
20
sword, are seldom in the habit of hoarding them with care ; what may next day be replaced by the plunder of an enemy, they are dispo- sed to lavish with careless profusion. Thus, among the antient Highlanders, the same men, who made a glory of pillage and rapine, car- ried the sentiments of hospitality and genero- sity to a romantic excess.
The meanest of the Highlanders was im- pressed with these sentiments ; but, while he reckoned it disgraceful to shut his door against the stranger, or to withhold from him any thing which his house contained, he consider- ed it as equally unpardonable, if a friend re- fused him any thing of which he was in want. .From the chieftains, in particular, the most unbounded generosity was expected ; and the necessity, which they were under, of conci- liating the attachment of their people, led them to follow the same conduct, whatever might be their natural disposition.
The authority of the chief, however great, was not of that absolute kind which has some-
21
times been imagined, and could not be main- tained without an unremitted attention to ali the arts of popularity. Condescending man- ners were necessary in every individual, of whatever rank ; the meanest expected to be treated as a gentleman, and almost as an equal. The intimate connexion of the chief with his people, their daily intercourse, the daily dependance they had on each other for immediate safety, the dangers which they shared, were all calculated to produce a great degree of mutual sympathy and affection ; and if there were any of the higher ranks who did not really feel such sentiments, prudence pre- vented them from allowing this to appear.*
On the other hand, the devoted attachment of the common people to their chiefs, though described in terms of astonishment by contem- porary writers, was an effect easily deducible from the general principles of human nature. Among the poor in civilized countries, there is, perhaps, no circumstance more severely felt, than the neglect they meet with from persons of superior condition, and which ap-
■5
22
pears to stigmatise them, as of an inferior spe- cies : and if in the hour of distress they meet with an unexpected degree of sympathy, the attention bestowed on their situation is often more soothing than direct benefits, conferred without any appearance of sensibility or concern. When a person of rank treats his inferiors with cordiality, and shows an in- terest in their welfare, it is seldom that, in any country, this behaviour is not repaid by gratitude and affection. This was particu- larly to be expected among the Highlanders, a people naturally of acute feelings, habitua- ted to sentiments of a romantic and poetical cast : in them the condescending manners and kindness of their chiefs excited an attach- ment bordering on enthusiasm *.
* See Appendix [B]t
23
II. Change in the policy of the Highland proprietors subse- quent to the Rebellion in 1745.
1 he change which this state of society un- derwent after the rebellion in 1745, was great and sudden. The final issue of that contest annihilated the independence of the chief- tains ; and the vigorous measures, by which the victory of Culloden was followed, gave to regular government an authority which it had never before possessed in that part of the kingdom. The country was disarmed, and a sufficient force stationed in it to prevent any great and daring violation of the law.
The chiefs now ceased to be petty mo- narchs. The services of their followers were no longer requisite for defence, and could no longer be made use of for the plunder of a defenceless neighbour. They were reduced to the situation of any other proprietors : but they were not long in discovering, that to sub- sist a numerous train of dependants was not the only way in which their estates could be
24
rendered of value ; that the rents they recei- ved were far below those given for lands of equal quality in other parts of the kingdom.
For a few years after the power of the chief- tains was broken, the influence of old habits seems to have prevailed, and it was some time before any great change took place ; but, by degrees, the proprietors began to exact a rise of rent. Though the first de- mands of this kind were extremely moderate, the rents being still far below the real value of the lands, yet the circumstance was so un- precedented, that great dissatisfaction ensued; and the removal of some of the tenants, who refused to comply, excited still more indigna- tion. Accustomed to transmit their posses- sions from father to son, as if they had been their property, the people seem to have thought, that as long as they paid the old and accustomed rent, and performed the usual services, their possessions were their own by legal right.
The discontents which arose from these
15
causes, were for a time but partial ; for the progress of raising rents was slow. The gen- tlemen, who had been educated amidst the habits of the feudal times, could not at once relinquish all the sentiments of their youth. The attachment of their people was of so flat- tering a nature, that it was often preferred to pecuniary advantages ; and little alteration seems to have been made, till the generation of old proprietors was extinct. Gradually, however, men educated under different cir- cumstances came forward, and feeling more remotely the influence of antient connexions with their dependants, were not inclined to sacrifice for a shadow the substantial advan- tage of a productive property. The more necessitous, or the less generous, set the ex- ample ; and one has followed another, till at length all scruple seems to be removed, and the proprietors in the Highlands have no more hesitation than in any other part of the kingdom, in turning their estates to the best advantage.
There are still, indeed, a few chieftains who
26
retain so much of the antient feudal notions., as to be unwilling to dispossess the old adhe- rents of their families ; and, from a tender- ness towards them, submit to considerable loss. There are many others who, from va- nity, are desirous of counting a numerous te- nantry, and would willingly preserve the po- pulation of their estates, if it could be recon- ciled to their pecuniary interest. These mo- tives, though now wearing fast away, have however had great effect till of late ; so that, notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed since the year 1745, a very consider- able proportion of the Highlands remains under circumstances directly arising out of the feudal state, or is at this moment in the crisis of change. But the causes which have hitherto retarded the change are so much en- feebled, that they cannot long continue to have a perceptible effect ; and, as an una- voidable consequence, the Highlands in ge- neral must soon fall into that state of occu- pancy and cultivation which is most condu- cive to the pecuniary interest of its individual proprietors.
27
f II. Consequences of this change on population — through the prevalence of Pasturage — Sheep-Farming — and Engros- sing of Farms.
1 N one very important circumstance, the an- tient state of the Highlands differed remark- ably from the rest of the kingdom ; — every spot was occupied by nearly as many families as the produce of the land could subsist.
In other parts, and indeed in every civilized country where landed estates are on a large scale, we find no more people upon a farm than are reckoned necessary for carrying on the work that must be done upon it. This is the natural result of the operation of private interest. The proprietor lets his land to the tenant who will give him the highest rent for it ; and the tenant manages it in the manner that he expects will produce him the most profit. For this purpose, he must raise as much produce, but with as little expense, as possible : to avoid expense, he must employ no unnecessary hands ; must feed no super-
fluous mouths. The less of the produce is consumed upon the farm, the more he can carry to market.
From these causes, the population in all tnose parts of the kingdom which are merely agricultural, is reduced much below the pro- portion of people which the country could feed ; while particular spots that are favour- able for manufactures have accumulated a population greatly exceeding what the pro- duce of the immediate vicinity could main- tain. There the superabundant produce of the agricultural districts finds a market; there any superabundant population may expect to find employment.
Where there is no employment but what arises directly from the cultivation of the land, the country is more or less peopled according to the mode of cultivation. A highly refined agriculture, that approaches to gardening, will employ a considerable population, though not equal to that of a manufacturing district. In the ordinary style of agricultural manage-
29
Client, less labour being bestowed on the land, fewer people will be required, and fewer will find a maintenance. This will be still more the case where a great proportion of the land is in grass ; and even in countries entirely devoted to pasture, a difference will be ob- served ; as a dairy farm will require more hands than the same land employed for mere grazing.
When we inquire, therefore, what popula- tion may be maintained in any district, we have not merely to ask what the country could produce, or how many inhabitants that pro- duce could maintain ; the essential point is, to know what employment it can afford, and under what mode of management the land will be most profitable to the occupier. To examine the Highlands of Scotland by this test, let us consider what are the other parts of the kingdom to which it bears most resem- blance. If in any of the mountainous dis- tricts of England, we find a considerable po- pulation collected in one spot, it is where a number of hands are required for working
v
30
mines, or where the abundance of coal has led to the establishment of manufactures. In the Highlands there are few mines, and these of little consequence : the country is entirely destitute of coals ; and though the inhabitants have an opportunity of supplying themselves with peat or turf from the mosses, yet this is by a process so expensive and precarious in a rainy climate, that this fuel is by no means a complete substitute for coals, and is of very inferior value. The Highlands are therefore on a par with the mountains of the South of Scotland, and those on the borders of the two kingdoms, with a great part of Cumber- land and Westmoreland, of North Wales, and some other mountainous districts in England : — in all of these, the soil and climate forbid the extension of tillage, while the scarcity of fuel has discouraged manufacturing industry.
In such mountainous regions, the most profitable employment of land is universally found to be in rearing young cattle and sheep, which, at a proper age, are bought and fattened by farmers in more fertile coun-
31
tries. Few of these mountains are entire- ly destitute of spots in which cultivation might be, practicable ; but it is found more advantageous to keep them in grass, as the numerous flocks which a range of mountains can feed in summer, require some better pas- ture in sheltered situations for a retreat in winter. For these reasons, judicious farmers attempt little cultivation, except in so far as it can be rendered subservient to the accom- modation of their flocks ; and those who have tried more have been obliged to acknowledge, that the expense of labour, combined with the loss of their winter pastures, has overba- lanced any profit arising from their crops.
These reasons have still more force in the Highlands, where the climate is more adverse to the production of grain, and renders a re- serve of winter pastures still more indispensa- ble *. From the prevalence therefore of the same circumstances, it must be expected that the lands will fall into the same general style af management ; and that in the Highlands,
* See Appendix (U.)
St '
as in the Cheviots or in Tweeddale, a few shepherds, with their dogs, will be found suf- ficient for all the profitable work of many an extensive range of land.
Ever since sheep-farming gained a footing in the Highlands, the ancient .possessors of the lands have had a very unequal struggle to maintain. It would be difficult, perhaps, to quote an instance where they have been able to offer a rent fully equal to that which the graziers would have given ; and the com- petition against them has been continually increasing.
On the first introduction of sheep-farming, it was confined to a few adventurous indivi- duals, who, being accustomed to it in the south of Scotland, had penetration to observe the vast field which was open to them, and firmness to persevere, notwithstanding the multiplied obstacles which opposed them. Having a great extent of country in their choice, they selected only such farms as were peculiarly adapted to their purpose, and such
33
as they could obtain on very advantageous terms. This monopoly, however, has gradual* ly disappeared.
The first sheep-farmers, like all who intro- duce new and successful modes of agriculture, reaped great profits, extended their capital, and have naturally been induced to employ it all in the same manner. Their success has also attracted others from the South of Scot- land. The more sagacious of the inhabitants of the country itself saw the benefits they might derive from a similar mode of manage- ment. The small proprietors of land were among the first to imitate it ; and some of them have taken the whole, or the greater part of their estates into their own possession. Many of the tacksmen have also discarded their superfluous cotters and subtenants, and imitate the active industry of the strangers. In this manner the graziers have now become so numerous as to enter into competition with one another, and to offer rents as fully pro- portionate to the value of the land as in other parts of the kingdom.
c
34
During the earlier periods of this progress, the competition against the old tenantry was partial and comparatively feeble ; while, on the other hand, the feudal prepossessions of the landlords in their favour still retained great force. Hence they often received a preference at rents much inferior to those which might have been procured for their farms ; and though, in many instances, the utmost was exacted, that under their mode of management appeared to be possible, they have, in general, found their situation more advantageous than they had just reason to expect. From the great and continual rise in the value of grazing cattle, many who, in taking their leases, could only calculate on a bare subsistence for themselves, have been enabled to pay their rent with tolerable ease, and even to accumulate some saving*;
The profits of the sheep-farmers during the same period, have, however, been incompa- rably greater. The same rise in the value of produce, has operated in their favour also, and has encouraged them to extend their of-
35
fers of rent to the utmost which the improved modes of management enable them to afford. The invariable success that has hitherto at- tended the new system of grazing, has, at the same time, drawn into this business almost every person in the Highlands who can com- mand any considerable capital ; so that there are now numerous competitors for every farm that is adapted to this purpose. — Such a com- petition, the old tenantry cannot possibly re- sist; and the consequence is inevitable, that, as fast as the current leases expire, the whole, or nearly the whole, of this body of men will be dispossessed.
The cotters are scarcely more likely to hold their place ; because, though a few may be requisite, yet the number usually employed
m
on any farm under the old system, was incom- parably greater than a grazier has occasion for. The rents that are now to be paid, will not allow the occupier to submit to any un- necessary expense : the families to be main- tained on the ground must, for his own inte-
36
rest, be reduced to the small number who are sufficient for the tending of his flocks.
The tract of country known by the general name of Highlands, is not everywhere moun- tainous ; and there are situations where, in all probability, sheep-farming will not pre- vail. In some parts the country consists of low hills, more adapted for pasturing black cattle than sheep ; in others, there is a great proportion of arable land ; but the climate is generally a discouragement to tillage, even where the soil and situation oppose no obsta- cles.— The Western Coast and Isles are sub- ject to such excessive rains, that a crop of grain can scarcely be secured without da- mage, or at least not without great expense, difficulty, and uncertainty. Under these cir- cumstances, the farmer will certainly find it for his advantage to keep the greatest part of his arable land in pasture : and, though the tending of cattle may require rather more la- bour than that of sheep, yet grazing of any kind, when managed with ceconomy, can af- ford employment to very few people in com-
37
parison with the numbers hitherto maintained under the old system of the Highlands.
The same general principle is applicable even to the districts where agriculture can be earned on to advantage : in no part will cul- tivation require all the people whom the pro- duce of the land can support. Where farms are very small, the proprietors will, in every situation, find it for their interest to throw several into the hands of one man. The oc- cupier of a minute portion of land, whoa with- out any other source of profit, can raise little more produce than enough for his own con- sumption, has no means of paying an ade- quate rent. One man, constantly employed, might accomplish all the work of cultivating several of these small possessions. When they are thrown together, the farmer is enabled, merely by diminishing the number of super- fluous mouths, to send a part of the produce to market; and from the same land, without any addition to its fertility, to afford a better rent to the landlord*. This the Highland
* See Appendix [C].
410716
38
proprietors have already begun to experience ; and a tendency to the engrossing of farms, is very observable in the agricultural districts, as well as in those employed in pasturage.
From these reasons, it is an unavoidable consequence that a great proportion of the small occupiers of land must be dispossessed. Of the people, whose services were necessary in the feudal times, a small part only can be useful as agricultural labourers. The super- fluous numbers have been hitherto enabled to live by possessing land at a rent below its value : directly, or indirectly, they are a bur- then on the proprietors ; and unless some new and profitable employment can be devised for them, they must continue to be a burthen as long as they remain in the country. To this the proprietors certainly will not long sub- mit ; and, therefore, a great part of the pre- sent inhabitants of the Highlands must, in, one way or another, seek for means of live- lihood totally different from those on which they have hitherto depended.
39
Though there has been a continual pro- gress towards this state of things, it has never till now taken place to its full extent. Those parts of the Highlands, where the new modes of management are generally established, form, as yet, but the smaller proportion. From other districts, where they have been more recently introduced, emigrations have taken place on former occasions, but not to such an extent, as to produce a sensible diminution of the inhabitants. Thus the change of system has yet to produce its entire and unimpaired ef- fect in a country still teeming with the su- perabundant population accumulated by the genius of the feudal times.
40
IV. Situation and circumstances of the old tenantry — choice of resources when dispossessed of their farms — Emigration preferred— for wliat reasons — limited in extent.
1 his great change in the system of manage- ment throughout the Highlands branches into various and complicated effects. In order to give a clear view of its unavoidable conse- quences, it will be proper, first, to enter into some details as to the situation and mode of life of the people, such as we actually find them, where the old system of occupancy still remains. From this it will be easy to deduce the immediate effects which the change must produce on their circumstances ; and it will thus appear that emigration is the line of con- duct which the occasion leads them most na- turally to pursue. After considering this con- sequence, as it affects the interest of the pub- lic, the same details will enable us to appre- ciate how far it may be obviated or modified by legislative wisdom ; and this will lead to a discussion of all the resources which have been proposed as remedies for preventing emi- gration.
41
In consequence of the extensive distribu- tion of landed possessions arising from the feu- dal manners, combined with the small pro- gress that has been made in the arts of life and division of labour, the people of the High- lands are not separated into distinct classes of farmers, labourers, and mechanics : they are all more or less engaged in agriculture. There are no markets where provisions can be pur- chased, so that every man must be a farmer, at least so far as to raise provisions for his own family. Whatever additional employ- ment a man may follow, he must occupy a small spot of land ; and any one who cannot procure such a possession, cannot live in the country.
The farms occupied by the common te- nantry, are hamlets or petty townships *, held by six or eight partners, sometimes by many more. The shares appear to have been ori- ginally equal; but, by the subdivision of some,
* Called in the Gaelic language bailt; in the Low Country dialect touns. 5
42
and the accumulation, in other cases, of seve- ral in the same hand, it is now frequently found that one man has a third or a fourth part of a farm, while his neighbour has but a fifteenth or a twentieth part.
These farms consist, in general, of a por- tion of a valley, to which is annexed a tract of mountain pasture, often stretching to the distance of many miles. The habitations are collected in a little village, upon the best of the arable lands, which are used as crofts in constant tillage. The less fertile of the arable lands on the outskirts, termed outfield, are only occasionally cultivated, and every part of them is in its turn allowed to rest in grass. The lands in tillage are sometimes cultivated in common, but are more usually distributed among the tenants in proportion to their shares ; seldom, however, in a permanent manner, but from year to year. The produce of the land in tillage is rarely more than sufficient to maintain the tenants and their families. Their riches consist of cattle, chiefly breed- ing cows, and the 3foung stock produced
43
from them, which are maintained on the fann till of a proper age for the market ; and by the sale of these the tenants are ena- bled to pay their rent. The number which each farm or toun is capable of maintaining, is ascertained by antient usage, and may be, in genera], from thirty to eighty cows, besides other cattle. Of these, each tenant is allow- ed to keep a fixed proportion, according to his share of the fann.
The joint occupiers of such farms are term- ed small tenants, to distinguish them from the tacksmen, who hold entire farms, and who are in general of the rank of gentry, each of them tracing himself to some antient proprietor of the estate, who has allotted the farm as a provision for a cadet of his family.
Upon the farms of the tacksmen, are a number of subtenants or cotters, under which general term may be included various local denominations of crofters, mailers, &c. &c. These people hold their possessions under va-
44
rious conditions : sometimes they differ from the tenants in little else than the diminutive scale of their possessions ; but in general they have a greater or less amount of labour to perform as a part of their rent. Frequently they are absolute servants to their immediate superior, having the command only of a small share of their own time to cultivate the land allowed them for maintaining their families. Sometimes the tacksman allows a portion of his own tillage-field for his cotter ; sometimes a small separate croft is laid off for him ; and he is likewise allowed, in general, to pasture a cow, or perhaps two, along with the cattle of the farm *.
Cotters are not confined to the farms of the tacksmen — they are also intermixed with the small tenants. Two or three are generally em- ployed on every farm, as servants of the whole partnership, for herding their cattle, or pre- venting the trespasses of others. There are also a few people who exercise the trades of black-
* See Appendix [DJ.
45
smiths, weavers, taylors, shoemakers, &c. and who bargain with one or other of the tenants for a portion of his land. Sometimes persons who have been dispossessed of their own farms, and are unable to procure a share of one elsewhere, will secure a temporary resi- dence in the country by taking subsets of this kind : sometimes individuals, connected by relationship with the tenants of a farm, and who have no other resource, are permitted, from mere charity, to occupy some corner of waste land, where, by raising crops of pota- toes, they contrive to procure a miserable subsistence.
It may be easily conceived, that the line between these two classes, the small tenants and the cotters, is not always very accurately defined ; some of the more opulent of the cot- ters being as well provided as the lowest of the tenants. Upon the whole, however, there is a great difference in the amount of their property, and in the views they may enter- tain, when, by the progress of sheep-farming, they are dispossessed of their tenements.
46
Among the more opulent, it is not uncommon for one man to have twelve, fifteen, or even twenty cows ; but, in general, the small te- nant, according to his share of the farm, may have from three or four, to six or eight cows, and always with a proportionate number of young cattle. He has also horses, a few small sheep, implements of agriculture, and various household articles to dispose of; and, from the sale of all these he is enabled to embark in undertakings which cannot be thought of by the cotter, and which are not within the reach of the peasantry even in the more im- proved and richer parts of the kingdom.
There the labouring poor, though earning very considerable wages, are seldom possess- ed of much permanent property. Their daily or weekly wages are expended in the market as fast as they arise, for the immediate sup- ply of their families. In the Highlands, there are few of the lower class who have the means of living nearly so well as an En- glish labourer, but many who have property of much greater value. In the Agricultural
47
Survey of the Northern Counties, details are given of the oeconomy of a farmer of about 30 acres of arable land, whose diet and habita- tion appear to be of the lowest kind, the total value of his buildings not exceeding 10/., and the annual consumption of provisions for his own family and three servants amounting to about \5l. ; yet his capital is estimated at 116/.; and from the advance in the price of cattle since the date of that publication, his stock must now be of considerably greater value *.
Of this description of people it has often happened that 30 or 40 families have been dispossessed all at once, to make way for a great sheep-farm : — and those who have at- tended to the preceding details will easily un- derstand the dilemma to which every one of these people must be reduced. The country affords no means of living without a posses- sion of land, and how is that to be procured ? The farms, that are not already in the hands of the graziers, are all full of inhabitants,
# See Survey of the Northern Counties of Scotland, drawn up for the board of Agriculture, page 76 to 84.
48
themselves perhaps in dread of the same fate, and at any rate too crowded to make room for him. Should he, in spite of every diffi- culty, resolve to earn his bread as a labourer, he can expect no employment in a neigh- bourhood, where every spot is occupied by many more people than are necessary for its own work ; and if any casual opportunity of employment occur, it is too uncertain to be depended upon. Let his industrious dispo- sitions be ever so great, he must, in the total want of manufacturing employment in his own neighbourhood, quit his native spot ; and, if he do not leave the kingdom altoge- ther, must resort to some of those situations where the increasing demand for labour af- fords a prospect of employment.
When a great number are dispossessed at once, and the land is to be applied to pur- poses that afford little or no employment, as in a sheep-walk, the conclusion is so evident as to require no illustration : but the case is not essentially altered when these people are dismissed in a gradual and continued pro-
49
gress one after another. In this way, indeed, the circumstance does not excite so much public attention ; but the efifects on the state of the country are the same : and to the indi- vidual who is dispossessed, it makes no other difference than that he has fewer companions to share his misfortune. It is equally impos- sible for him to find resources in his native spot, and he is equally under the necessity of removing to a different situation.
Sheep-farming, though it is the most pro- minent occasion, is not the radical cause of the difficulties to which the peasantry of the Highlands are reduced : the disposition to ex- tend farms by throwing several possessions into one, must produce the same effect, in whatever mode the land is afterwards to be managed.
To the dispossessed tenantry, as well as to the cotters, who by the same progress of things are deprived of their situation and live- lihood, two different resources present them- selves. They know that in the Low Country
50
of Scotland, and particularly in the manu- facturing towns, labour will procure them good wages : they know likewise that in Ame- rica the wages of labour are still higher, and that, from the moderate price of land, they may expect to obtain there not only the pos- session of a farm, but an absolute property.
Of these alternatives, every one who is ac* quainted with the country must admit that Emigration is by far the most likely to suit the inclination and habits of the Highlanders. It requires a great momentary effort ; but holds out a speedy prospect of a situation and mode of life similar to that in which they have been educated. Accustomed to possess land, to derive from it all the comforts they enjoy, they naturally consider it as indispen- sable, and can form no idea of happiness without such a possession. No prospect of an accommodation of this kind can enter into the views of any one who seeks lor employ- ment as a day-labourer, still less of those who resort to a manufacturing town.
51
The manners of a town, the practice of se- dentary labour under the roof of a manufac- tory, present to the Highlander a most irk- some contrast to his former life. Among his native mountains he is accustomed to a free- dom from constraint which approaches to the independence of the savage. His activity is occasionally called forth to the utmost stretch, in conducting his boat through boisterous waves, or in traversing the wildest mountains amidst the storms of winter : but these ef- forts are succeeded by intervals of indolence equally extreme. He is accustomed to occa- sional exertions of agricultural labour, but without any habits of regular and steady in- dustry ; and he has not the least experience of sedentary employments, for which, most frequently, the prejudices of his infancy have taught him to entertain a contempt.
To a person of such habits, a manufactory can have no attraction except in a case of ne- cessity ; it can never be his choice, when any resource can be found more* congenial to his native disposition. The occupations of an
52
agricultural labourer, though very different, would not be so great a contrast to his for- mer life ; but the demand for labour, in this line, is too limited to afford him any great encouragement. In this, as well as in ma- nufacturing establishments, every desirable situation is pre-occupied by men of much greater skill than the untutored Highlander. He has therefore little chance of finding em- ployment but in works of the lowest drudgery.
To this it is to be added, that the situation of a mere day-labourer, is one which must appear degrading to a person, who has been the possessor of a portion of land however small, and has been accustomed to consider himself as in the rank of a farmer. In America, on the contrary, he has a prospect of supe- rior rank ; of holding land by a permanent te- nure, instead of a temporary, precarious, and dependant possession. It is not to be forgot- ten, that every motive of this nature has a peculiar degree of force on the minds of the Highland peasantry. The pride, which for- merly pervaded even the lowest classes, has
always been a prominent feature of their na- tional character : and this feeling is deeply wounded by the distant behaviour they now experience from their chieftains — a mortify- ing contrast to the cordiality that subsisted in the feudal times.
It has sometimes been alleged, that these motives of preference derive their principal strength from the ignorance of the people, and their expectation of procuring in America lands like those of Britain, fit for immediate cultiva- tion. That such ideas may have been enter- tained, and even that individuals who knew bet- ter may have been unprincipled enough to cir- culate such falsehoods, is not impossible : but certainly there is no need of recurring to de- lusions of this kind, for an explanation of the universal* preference of the Highlanders for America. I know, indeed, from personal communication with them, that they are aware of the laborious process that is neces- sary for bringing the forest lands into a pro- ductive state. But this is not sufficient to deter men of vigorous minds, when they are
54
incited by such powerful motives to encoun- ter the difficulty.
It is indeed very probable, that the fashion, being once set, may influence some who are under no absolute necessity of emigrating. That this cause, however, has any very ex- tensive operation, I can see no ground for believing. Those who represent the emigra- tions as arising from capricious and inade- quate motives, argue from the circumstance of tenants having occasionally relinquished advantageous leases several years before their expiration, in order to go to America. This, I believe to be a fact, though a very rare oc- currence ; but were it ever so common, it would afford no proof in favour of the argu- ment which it is brought to support.
Do the gentlemen who urge this argument, suppose the tenantry so blind as to perceive no danger till they are overwhelmed ? The fate of their friends and neighbours is a suffi- cient warning of that which they must sooner or later expect. It is surely with good rear
55
son they are convinced that they cannot long continue to retain the possessions they now hold ; and, under this conviction, the simplest dictates of prudence would lead them to an- ticipate the evil day, if thej' meet any un- commonly favourable opportunity for execu- ting the plans to which, sooner or later, they must have recourse,
The price of cattle has of late years been so fluctuating, and at some periods so ex- tremely high, that opportunities have occur- red for tenants to sell off their stock at two or three times their usual and average value. Those who availed themselves of this advan- tage have acquired so great an increase of capital, that a few remaining years of an ex- piring lease could be no object when put in comparison. Such instances, so far from im- plying capricious levity in the people, are ra- ther a proof of the deep impression which the circumstances of the country have made on their minds, and of the deliberate foresight with which their determinations are formed.
56
If there were no other proof that emigra- tion arises from radical and peculiar causes in the circumstances of the country, it might be strongly presumed from the fact, that while this spirit is so prevalent in the Highlands, it has made no impression, or a very inconsider- able and transient impression, in the adjoin- ing Lowlands. The labourer in the South may occasionally feel the stimulus of ambi- tion ; but this affects comparatively few : the great mass of people go on in the track to which they have been accustomed ; none but those of peculiarly ardent minds can bring themselves, for the sake of a distant object, to make the exertion which emigration re- quires.
The Highlander, who is dispossessed of his land, is forced to this species of exertion : it is utterly impossible for him to go on in the path he has been accustomed to tread . Whe- ther he emigrate to America, or remove to the Low Country of Scotland, the scene is equally new to him ; his habits are broken through : he must in either case form himself
57
to an entirely new mode of life. Forced to a change, it is comparatively of little conse- quence whether he undertake an exertion of greater or less amount *. To move his fami- ly from the Highlands to Glasgow or Paisley, is not to be done without an effort, and, to a poor man, a very considerable effort : and if the result is, that, after all, he must enter upon a mode of life to which all his habits render him averse, which all his prejudices teach him to consider as degrading, it is sure- ly to be expected that he will be ready to carry his effort something further, in order to attain a more desirable situation.
Though the Highlanders are certainly very inferior to their Southern neighbours in ha- bits of regular and steady industry, yet, for a temporary effort, there are few people equal to them ; none who will submit to greater hardships and privations, where there is a great object to be accomplished. Any one who resolves on braving the difficulties of an American settlement, may soon look for- * See Appendix [E.]
58
ward to a situation so much superior to that of a day-labourer, and, particularly, so much more consonant to his former mode of life, that no tenant, who loses his farm in the Highlands, can hesitate between these resources, unless his preference is over-ruled by circumstances of inevitable necessity.
Accordingly, with a very few exceptions, we find the choice of the Highlanders has been entirely regulated by their ability or in- ability to afford the expenses of their passage to America ; and among those whose poverty has forced them to go into the manufacturing towns, some of the most remarkable exertions of industry have been prompted only by the desire of accumulating as much money, as might enable them to join their friends be- yond the Atlantic,
From the peculiar circumstances of the Highlands, the proportion of the peasantry, whose property is sufficient to carry them to America, is much greater than in other parts of the kingdom.
59
The excessive division of land arising from the feudal manners, has confounded and in- termixed the characters of farmer and la- bourer ; and, while it has reduced to a very low standard the rank of the individual far- mer, has diffused the agricultural capital of the country among a great number of hands. The small tenants form a very considerable proportion of the population of the High-, lands. Few, even of the lowest of this class, are, in ordinary times, unable to pay for their passage to America : in most instances they have carried with them some money to begin with in their new situation,
The cotters, on the contrary, have not, in general, had property adequate to the ex- pense of the passage, and few of them have ever been able to emigrate. There have been instances of young unmarried .men binding themselves by indenture to a number of years service in return for their passage ; but this has been very rare. From Ireland, there has been a greater proportion of these redempr doners (as they are called) : they are gene-
60
rally, however, young men who go to seek their fortunes ; careless, perhaps, whether they ever again meet their relations. The more social and systematic plan which the High- landers have always followed in going to Ame- rica, is inconsistent with the obligations of a redemptioner ; and to men with families, this resource is wholly inapplicable. The emi- grants have, therefore, been almost entirely of the class of tenants ; while the cotters, whom the same change of agricultural system has deprived of their means of livelihood, have in general removed into the manufacturing districts of the South of Scotland.
Some expectations have been entertained, that the great public works which have lately been set on foot in the North of Scotland, the Caledonial canal, and the improvement of the roads, «may prevent emigration by the employment they will afford. But this is more than problematical. Their great and permanent national utility is a sufficient ground of praise for these noble undertakings,
61
without ascribing to them effects to which they are altogether inadequate.
These works may give a temporary relief to some of the peasantry, but will not essen- tially alter the circumstances of the country. They bring employment a little nearer to the people, but few can derive any advantage from this without a change of residence. Those who have to remove their families, cannot forget that the employment will only be temporary, and this reflection will strong- ly counteract the preference which the situa- tion would otherwise command. No one will be disposed to form permanent arrangements on such a foundation.
Except in point of situation, the employ- ment afforded by these public works has no advantage over that which the Highlanders have long been in the habit of seeking in the Low Country of Scotland. The small tenant, who is deprived of his land, has still the same question to ask himself as formerly, — whether he will remove into a different part of the
62
country to earn his subsistence as a labourer, or go to America to obtain land : — and the motives which have hitherto determined his preference for emigration will in no respect be altered.
63
V. Political effects of the Emigrations — The Highlands hitherto a nursery of Soldiers — circumstances on which this depended — no longer exist — the loss of this national ad- vantage does not arise from Emigration.
Among the effects of emigration j there is none that has been more universally lamented than the loss of that valuable supply of sol- diers, which the public service has hitherto derived from the Highlands. At such a mo- ment as this, it is impossible not to feel deep regret at every circumstance which may tend to impair the military resources of the nation; and if any satisfactory means could be devi- sed for obviating, or even for suspending, an evil of this nature, it must be considered as of the greatest importance. But how this is to be accomplished, is not to be rashly de- cided. This is not the only question of poli- tical economy where an apparently direct re- medy, occurring on a superficial view of the subject, may prove to be calculated in no degree to prevent, perhaps to aggravate, the evil we wish to avoid.
From the details that have been given as to the state of the Highlands previous to the
64
year 1745, it will be observed, that all the power of the chieftains over their followers, was ultimately derived from the low rent of their lands. This was the essential circum- stance on the greater or less continuance of which the subsequent state of the country has chiefly depended. Those proprietors who continued to exact rents very inadequate to the real value of their land, maintained all their former authority over the tenantry, per- haps even a still greater ; for, during the feu- dal times, this authority was tempered by the dependence of the gentry on the affection of their followers for personal safety. After the year 1745, the tenantry had no such return to make for the means of subsistence they derived from the indulgence of their land- lord. They felt, at the same time, that he must be under frequent temptations to dis- continue that indulgence, and, therefore, were still more anxious than formerly to merit his favour.
The only opportunity they had of render- ing him any important obligation, was when he undertook to raise men for the army. The
65
zeal with which the followers of any chieftain then came forward to enlist, was prompted not only by affection and the enthusiasm of clanship, but likewise by obvious views of private interest. The tenant who, on such an occasion, should have refused to comply with the wishes of his landlord, was sensible that he could expect no further favour, and would be turned out of his farm. The more considerable the possession he held, the more was it his interest, as well as his duty to exert himself. The most respectable of the tenant- ry would, therefore, be among the first to bring forward their sons ; and the landlord might, with an authority almost despotic, select from among the youth upon his estate, all who ap- peared most suitable for recruits. The gentry of the Highlands were, in general, too good politicians to make a wanton display of this power ; and well enough acquainted with the temper of their people to know that they would come forward with more alacrity, if al- lowed to indulge the flattering idea that their exertions were the spontaneous effect of at- tachment to the chief; yet, perhaps, no man
B
66
of penetration in the country ever doubted the real cause of the facility, with which the Highland landlords could raise such numbers of men with such magical rapidity.
It is easy to see how superior a body of men, thus composed, must be to a regiment recruited in the ordinary manner in other parts of the kingdom. As long as the old system remained in its purity, as long as the rents in the Highlands continued nearly at their old standard, the Highland regiments maintained a very superior character. Instead of the refuse of a manufacturing town, these regiments were composed of hardy moun-» taineers, whose ordinary mode of life was a perfect school for the habits of a soldier. They were composed of the most respectable of the peasantry ; men, for whose fidelity and good conduct there was a solid pledge, in the fa- milies they left at home, and in the motives that induced them to enter into the service ; men, who had much stronger motives of obe- dience to their officers than the lash can en- force ; who were previously accustomed, from 6
67
their infancy, to respect and obey the same superiors who led them into the field ; who looked on them as their protectors no less than their commanders ; men, in whose minds the attachment of clanship still retained a large portion of its antient enthusiasm.
Besides this, each corps being collected from the same neighbourhood, the men were connected by the ties of friendship and of blood ; and every one saw in his companions those with whom he had to pass the rest of his life, whether in a military capacity or not. Every one was therefore more solicitous to maintain an unblemished character, than he would have been among a medley of stran- gers, from whom he might soon be parted, to meet no more. The same circumstance tend- ed to give the soldiery a peculiar degree of that esprit de corps, which is so powerful an engine in the hands of a judicious comman- der. The attachment of the Highland soldier to his regiment was not of a casual or transi- tory nature, — it was not a matter of indiffer- ence to him, or the result of accident, whe-
m
ther he belonged to one regiment or another, —his regiment was derived from his clan, and inseparably connected with it : in the honour of his regiment he saw that of his name ; and to it he transferred all those sentiments of glory, which early education had connectee! with the achievements of his ancestors.
The well-known military character of the Highlanders may thus be naturally accounted for : but the peculiarities that have been de- scribed may all be traced to the recent feudal state of the country ; and in proportion as this has been supplanted by the progress of a commercial system, the Highland regiments have approached to a similarity with the other regiments in the service. The low rent of land was the foundation of the whole differ- ence ; and, that existing no longer, there is no possibility that its consequences can long continue. When the Highland chieftain ex- acts the full value for his land, his people, even if he could accommodate them all, will no longer be dependants ; the relation be- tween them must be the same as between a
w 69
landlord and his tenants in any other part of the kingdom.
It is not usual in any district for a consi- derable proprietor to exact for his land the utmost shilling which it can possibly afford. The tenant has almost always some advantage in his bargain ; and, in proportion to this ad- vantage, he will be disposed to pay a certain deference to his landlord. In many parts of England, where the farmers are tenants at will, the rents are certainly lower, in proportion to the real value of the lands, than in Scotland, wliere leases for a term of years are generally prevalent. It is probable, therefore, that the tenantry of the Highlands, under the new system, will be even more independent than those of England ; and certainly in a very different situation from that, in which they felt a necessity of quitting their families and their homes, whenever they were called upon by their landlord.
A Yorkshire farmer may give his vote at an election for the candidate whom his land-
70
lord recommends, but would be rather sur- prised at an order to enlist, — not less, perhaps, than he would be at a summons to attend his lord to the attack of a neighbouring cas- tle. Such a summons, however, to his an- cestors, would once have been as irresistible a command, as recently it was to the High- lander. The same change in the circumstan- ces of the country, must produce the same consequences in the Highlands as in Eng- land. It would be as absurd now to expect every Highlander to follow his chief into the field, as to suppose that any English noble- man could, in these days, march against Lon- don with an army of his dependants, because that was done by Warwick the King-maker,
Independently, therefore, of depopulation, that nursery of soldiers which has hitherto been found in the Highlands cannot continue.
If there is a possibility of retaining the pre- sent population under the change of the agri- cultural system, it is clear that this must be done by introducing among the inhabitants
71
new branches of industry, by which those who are deprived of their lands may obtain a subsistence. If manufactories could be es- tablished, so extensively as to employ all the present inhabitants, they must, of course, ac- quire the habits of other manufacturing dis- tricts. Like them, indeed, they would furnish a proportion of recruits ; but these would be of a very different description from the recruits that have hitherto been sent from the High- lands.
Will it be argued, that there is something in the blood of the Highlanders that will ren- der them soldiers under every circumstance of habit or education ? If that be the case, they will form as good a nursery of soldiers at Glasgow or Paisley, as in their native valleys. Or does their military character arise from the local and physical circumstances of their country ; and is the manufacturer of a moun- tainous district different from the manufac- turer of a plain ? Be it so — still a Highland regiment, recruited among manufacturing vil- lages, must be extremely different from the
72
Highland regiments we have hitherto seen ,*— we can no longer expect to see the flower of the peasantry, collected in the ranks, under their natural superiors.
Where men are occupied with industrious pursuits, those of steady habits will be suc- cessful in their business, and become attached to it ; none will be easily tempted to quit their home, but those who from idleness and dissipation have not succeeded in their ordi- nary occupations. Men of this description, inlisting singly and unconnected, in any regi- ment they may happen to meet, under officers who are unknown to them, can be depended on no further than their obedience is enfor- ced by the rigour of military discipline. A regiment thus composed, whether from the Highlands or any other part of the kingdom, will be in no respect different from the ordi- nary regiments in the service.
This change in the composition and charac- ter of the Highland regiments, is not a mere speculative probability, but has been actually
73
going on in a progressive manner, ever since the advance of rents began to be consider- able. We must go back to the Seven- Years War to find these regiments in their original purity, formed entirely on the feudal princi- ple, and raised in the manner that has been described. Even as early as the American war, some tendency towards a different system was to be observed * ; and during the late war, it went so far, that many regiments were Highland scarcely more than in name. Some corps were indeed composed nearly in the antient manner ; but there were others in which few of the men had any connexion Avhatever with the estates of their officers, being recruited, in the ordinary manner, in Glasgow and other manufacturing places, and consisting of any description of people, Low- landers and Irish, as well as Highlanders.
Those gentlemen, whose estates had long been occupied in large grazings, could not, in fact, raise men in any other manner. The influence of a popular character in his im-
* See Appendix [F.]
74
mediate neighbourhood, will every where have some little effect in bringing forward re- cruits ; and the care with which the commis- sions in some regiments were distributed among gentlemen resident in the same dis- trict, gave these corps a certain degree of local connexion, which is not found in the service in general. Still, however, there was a great difference between these, and the regiments which were raised in the remoter parts of the Highlands, where the change in the state of the country was only partially accomplished, and where recruiting proceed- ed on the old system.
It is to be observed, that the great demand for men during the late war, and the uncom- mon advantages that accrued to those gentle- men, who had still the means of influencing their tenantry, suspended /or a time the ex- tension of sheep-farming, and the progress of the advance of rents. Many estates which were ripe for the changes that have since been made, and which, if peace had not been interrupted, would have been let to
75
graziers seven or eight years earlier, remain- ed, for a time, in the hands of the small te- nants, who were not dismissed till the conclu- sion of the war rendered their personal servi- ces of little further use. This circumstance goes a great way in accounting, both for the suspension of emigration during the late war, and for that sudden burst, which appeared immediately after peace was concluded.
The same may again take place in a cer- tain degree, but cannot again have much ef- fect. The tract in which the old system re- mains, is reduced within narrow limits ; and even there, the tenantry will not be so easily influenced as formerly. They have learnt, by the experience of their neighbours, that a compliance with the desire of their landlords may protract the period of their dismissal, but cannot procure them that permanent pos- session they formerly expected to preserve. A few years more must, in all probability, com- plete the change in the agricultural system of the Highlands, and bury in oblivion every circumstance that distinguishes the High-
76
lands, as a nursery of soldiers, from the rest of the kingdom.
The change in the composition of the Higb- land regiments, whatever may be its conse- quences hereafter, has not yet entirely alter- ed their peculiar spirit and character. Mi- litary men well know the effect which the established character of any regiment has in moulding the mind of the recruit ; and how long a peculiarity may thereby be preserved, though perhaps originating from mere accident. The reputation acquired by the old Highland regiments, has probably had no small effect on their successors, and perhaps also on the opinion of the public.
In a period of great and imminent national danger, the reflection may naturally occur, as it has, in fact, occurred to men whose opinions de- serve the highest respect, that an exclusive at- tention to commercial improvement may lead to very pernicious consequences, and that the feudal system, with all its unavoidable evils, had effects on the national character, the loss of
77
which may be justly regretted. Whether it be within the reach of political wisdom to re- concile these opposite systems, or by any means to retain the appropriate advantages of each, is a most interesting question, but not connected with the immediate subject of these discussions ; since every argument which, in this view, can be applied to the Highlands, must be equally applicable to the rest of the kingdom. It is sufficient for our present purpose, if the circumstances we actually ob- serve, are distinctly traced to their real cau- ses ; and if it be made apparent, that the de- cay of a military spirit in the Highlands ne- cessarily follows from the abolition of feudal anarchy ; from that system of policy wliich was adopted in the year 1746, and which has from that time been the theme of un- qualified approbation. If the military cha- racter of the Highlanders is to be preserved, it must be founded on principles different from those that have hitherto operated ; and while the change in the state of the country goes on without interruption, no remedy can be ex-
pected from compulsory measures against emigration.
If we are to look no farther than to the mere number of recruits of the ordinary de- scription to be procured from the Highlands, it must be apparent to every one who is ac- quainted with the circumstances of the emi- grants in general, that these are not the men who can be expected to enlist. Men with money in their pockets, and with families to take care of, are not those whom a recruiting serjeant would assail. From their personal and domestic situation, they must entertain objections against a military life, which can- not be overcome by any motive less powerful, than those which influenced the feudal te- nantry. There is no reason therefore to ex- pect, that any direct obstruction to emigra- tion, however severe, can add a single re- cruit to the army.
79
VI. The Emigrations of the Highlanders intimately connected with the progress of National prosperity — not detrimental to Manufactures or Agriculture.
Immigration has also been thought preju- dicial to the public interest, as depriving the country of the hands requisite for carrying on its agriculture and manufactures. How far this idea might be just, if the people who went away were industrious workmen, is not the question ; but in the case of the Highlanders, the effect of emigration is absolutely benefi- cial to the commercial prosperity of the king- dom.
To give a just view of this subject, the great and important change that has been described in the general management of the Highlands, must be considered as one con- nected event. Emigration is a part of the general change : it is one result, and cannot in fair reasoning be abstracted from the other concomitant effects. If the national wealth be essentially promoted by the causes from which emigration necessarily ensues, this
80
their effect cannot be reprobated as detri- mental.
The same change in the state of the coun- try, which we now see going on in the High- lands, took place in England under the Tu- dorSi In the reign of Henrj VII. the autho* rity of the crown was firmly established ; the power of the great barons was broken ; their retainers, being found to be useless, were dis- missed. In the same progressive manner the rents were then raised, by turning the lands into more profitable modes of management, and letting them in larger farms ; the same odium was excited by dispossessing the small occupiers, and by the prevalence of pastur- age ; the very same complaints were made of the sheep having driven out the men*. No one, however, now entertains a doubt, that from the aera of this change the prosperity of England, as a commercial country, is to be dated : and can it be supposed that an ar- rangement, of which the beneficial conse- quences in England have been so remarkable*
* See Appendix [G.]
81
will have an opposite effect when extended to the Highlands of Scotland ?
After all the declamation that has been ex- cited by the depopulation of the Highlands, the fact in reality amounts to this ; that the produce of the country, instead of being con- sumed by a set of intrepid but indolent mili- tary retainers, is applied to the support of peaceable and industrious manufacturers. Notwithstanding the marks of desolation which occasionally meet the eye of the travel- ler, impressing him with melancholy reflec- tions on the change which is going on, it can- not be doubted, that the result is ultimately favourable to population, when we take into account that of the whole kingdom, balan- cing the diminution in one district by the in- crease in another.
In former times, when a great population was maintained in the midst of these moun-. tains, their produce was almost entirely con- sumed on the spot. All the cattle that at any time found their way to a distant mar-
F
82
ket were of inconsiderable value, in compa- rison with the produce sent away under the new system of grazing. This produce is an addition to the supply of the manufactu- ring districts ;* and, in proportion as it aug- ments their means of subsistence, must tend to the increase of population. Supposing, therefore, that the produce of every farm un- der the new mode of management, were of the same total amount as under the old, the effect of the change would only be, to trans- fer the seat of population from the remote valleys of the Highlands, to the towns and villages of the South, without any absolute difference of numbers *.
It is agreed, however, by the best autho- rities, that the produce is not merely changed in its kind, but augmented, by the improved management which has been introduced. No doubt can be entertained as to the augmen- tation of pasturage produce ; but it may be questioned, whether this is not balanced by the diminution of tillage. The land, however,
* See Appendix [FT].
83
which is still kept in tillage, will certainly be much better managed ; and, from a smaller number of acres, the same, or nearly as great a produce, may perhaps be obtained. — It is ob- served by Dr Adam Smith, that " the diminu- " tion of cottagers, and other small occupiers " of land, has, in every part of Europe, been " the immediate forerunner of improvement " and better cultivation *." When the land is occupied by men in the lowest state of po- verty, their penury and want of resources must affect their husbandry. It is only when farms are on such a scale, as to be objects of at- tention to men of education and capital, that agriculture can be carried on with that spirit and intelligence, which are necessary for obtaining the most abundant produce of which the land is capable.
Besides this, the change in the management of the Highlands will probably be followed by an increase of tillage in the Southern parts of the kingdom. It is well known, that in England a great deal of arable land is kept in grass, for rearing young cattle and sheep : but there
* See Appendix [C].
84
will be the less necessity for this, when the mountains furnish a greater supply. Many of the arable pastures will then be broken up, and, in all probability, their produce will far exceed that of the fields hitherto cultivated in the Highlands, as the soil and climate are both so much better adapted for the produc- tion of grain. In this, as in many similar instances, motives of private interest lead to the same general arrangements, which the most enlarged views of public advantage would dictate *.
But leaving out of the question these more remote consequences, the emigrations of the Highlanders have an immediate and direct ef- fect in extending the productive industry of their own country. The extreme indolence of these people, where they are allowed to remain in their original seats under the old system, has often been remarked. That indolence, how- ever, is not to be ascribed to inherent disposi- tions, but to the circumstances in which they are placed ; to the want of sufficient incitements to industry, and to the habits which have na-
* See Appendix [I.]
85
turally grown out of their situation *. This is demonstrated by their laborious exertions when they come into the Low Country, and feel at the same time the spur of necessity and the encouragement of good wages. A stranger, who had seen them in their native spots, would scarcely believe them to be the same men. Though, in many branches of business, they cannot be equal to people of more practised industry, yet their labour, however unskilled, will admit of no compari- son, in point of value and productive effect, with their former work, while lounging over their paternal farms.
Thus the same general circumstances, which lead a part of the Highlanders to emigrate, occasion a very great increase of productive industry among those who remain. There can be no shadow of doubt, that this increase is much more than equivalent to the trifling amount of work that was usually performed by the emigrants before any change took place. Where the old system of management is broken * See Appendix [L.]
86
up, the utmost that can be supposed with any probability is, that from an estate inhabited by 100 families, 25 or perhaps 30 may have the means of emigrating : and does any one acquainted with the Highlanders entertain a doubt, that 70 or 75 well employed labourers will perform work of more value than 100 small tenants and cotters ? It would perhaps be nearer the truth to say, that they will do three or four times as much.
If, by restrictive laws, those who would otherwise have emigrated should likewise be brought under the necessity of seeking em- ployment within the kingdom, it does not by any means follow, that the increase of produc- tive industry would be in proportion to the additional numbers. The laborious life for which any of these people have to exchange their former habits, is a hard and unwelcome change, forced on them only by the pressure of severe necessity. Those who have capital enough to go to America, are not under such immediate necessity as those who have no property, and will be so much the more re-
87
luctant to conform themselves to their new situation. It is they who will feel with pe- culiar force the idea of degradation from the change ; and, in proportion as their situation was formerly above their neighbours, they will rank below them as useful labourers. De- prived of the encouraging prospect of main- taining or improving their station in life, they will continue in a state of inaction or feeble exertion, as long as the remnant of their pro- perty will allow them. This little capital, which would have enabled them in the colo- nies to begin as settlers, will be wasted in in- dolence at home ; and no effectual exertion of industry can be looked for from them, till they too are reduced to beggary.
But is it possible to suppose that a policy, which must occasion so much individual hard- ship, would be adopted for so trifling a pub- lic object, as any advantage that could be ex- pected from the reluctant industry of those who might be restrained from emigration ?
The peasantry, whom the necessity of their
88
circumstances has brought from the High- lands to the manufacturing towns, have been found but ill suited for any of the nicer operations of mechanical industry, and have been chiefly employed as labourers in works of mere drudgery *. Though the Le- gislature has at times thought fit to interfere, for the purpose of preventing our manufac- turers from being deprived of their choice hands, of workmen whose peculiar skill and dexterity were considered as of essential con- sequence ; yet there is perhaps no precedent of regulations for obviating a deficiency of porters, and barrowmen, and ditchers.
If such a precedent should be found, is it for the advantage of Glasgow and Paisley, that the peasantry of the Highlands are to be debarred from the exercise of their natural rights ? It was, however, from a very differ^ ent quarter that the adoption of restrictive measures has been urged. The principles of political ceconomy are too well understood among the leading merchants and manufac-
* See Apendix [K].
89
hirers of that city, to allow them to suppose that, without giving adequate wages, they can procure the hands required for their work ; nor will they entertain a doubt that good wages will attract all those they need. Any trifling advantage, that might arise from for- cing a superabundant, and, of course, tem- porary supply of hands, is an interest much too inconsiderable to excite, in that liberal and enlightened body of men, any of the in- tolerant zeal which some individuals of a dif- ferent description displayed upon this ques- tion.
If any partial interest, however, is promo- ted by measures of this kind, assuredly it is not that of the Highlands. The utmost effect that can result from the regulations that have been adopted, or from any others of the same tendency, can only be to force a greater pro- portion of the people who must leave the Highlands, to settle in the seats of manufac- turing industry, instead of going to America; to force the small tenants to follow the same course as the cotters. If the restrictions were even carried as far as a total prohibition of
90
any person leaving the kingdom, it would not prevent the depopulation of the Highlands, unless the people were also restrained from moving to a different district.
We hear, indeed, from some gentlemen, that the spirit of emigration threatens such a complete depopulation, as will not leave hands even for the necessary business of cultivation. This, however, rests upon mere conjecture, and is not supported by any one example. There is scarcely any part of the Highlands, where the new system of management has come to such full maturity, as to have redu- ced the population to that which is absolutely requisite for the business of the country.
In some districts, the more secluded val- leys, lying in the midst of high mountains, retain scarcely any inhabitants ; but numbers are everywhere found along the larger vales, and near the arms of the sea, by which the country is so much intersected. In these si- tuations, where fishing affords some addition- al resource, and where opportunities of occa-
91
sional employment occur, many proprietors have laid out small separate possessions or crofts, and have never found any deficiency of occupiers for them. The cotters seem al- ways to prefer a situation of this kind to any prospect they may have in the manufactur- ing districts ; and hence there are, in almost every part of the Highlands, more of the in- ferior class of people than enough to carry on all the work that is to be done ; a greater po- pulation than is proved by experience to be sufficient, among similar mountains in the South of Scotland *.
That the population in the Highlands still bears a greater proportion to the demand for labour than in other parts of the kingdom, there is a satisfactory proof in the customary rate of wages. In some of the Southern districts of the Highlands, where the system of sheep-farm- ing has been longest established, where the small tenants are entirely gone, and the alarm of depopulation was felt upwards of forty years ago, wages are higher than in the rest of the Highlands, but still below the rate of the * See Appendix [M]»
92
Low Country of Scotland : and still there is, from among the remaining inhabitants even of these parts, a silent hut continual migra- tion towards the great centres of manufactur- ing industry. This drain is, perhaps, no more than sufficient to relieve the country of the natural increase of inhabitants. Be that, how- ever, as it may, it is evident that, if any cir- cumstance should lead to a further diminu- tion of numbers, such as to occasion a want of hands, the consequence would be a rise of wages, which would take away from the temp- tation to seek employment elsewhere, and, by rendering the situation of the labouring poor as favourable as in other parts of the^ coun- try, would retain at home their natural in- crease, till every deficiency should be filled up.
Thus it must appear, that emigration pro- duces no real inconvenience, even to the dis- trict most immediately affected. But these arguments are, perhaps, superfluous ; for, if the subject deserves the interference of the Legislature, it is no more than justice, that among the interests that are to be consulted,
93
that of the Highland proprietors ought to be the last of all. They have no right to com- plain of a change which is their own work, the necessary result of the mode in which they choose to employ their property. Claiming a right to use their lands as they see fit and most for their own advantage, can they deny their tenantry an equal right to carry their capital and their labour to the best market they can find ? If the result of this should prove of such extreme detriment to the pub- lic welfare, as to call for a restrictive remedy, — if necessity demand a limitation on these natural rights of the peasantry, — would not the same principles justify, and would not equity dictate, a corresponding restriction on the proprietors in the disposal of their lands ?
If the gentlemen of the Highlands are de- termined at all events to preserve the popu- lation of their estates, it is unquestionably in their power —by replacing their farms on the old looting, and relinquishing their advance of rent. If they do not choose to make this pecuniary sacrifice, they must abide by the consequences ; and it is with a bad grace
94
they come to the Legislature for the means of obviating them.
If any one of these proprietors, while he lets his farms for the most advantageous rent he can procure, could also concentrate upon his estate a numerous population, enriched by productive industry, it would, no doubt, be much for his advantage. If he has a view to such improvements, it is incumbent on him to find the means of carrying them into effect, as it is to his advantage they will ulti- mately redound. It is his own business to provide the means of subsistence and em- ployment for the people he wishes to re- tain ; to render the situation advantageous and acceptable to them. If he cannot suc- ceed in this, he has no more title to expect public assistance for keeping his dependants on his estate, than any other proprietor would have, for establishing a village, and compel- ling people to inhabit it, on the summit of the Cheviot mountains, or of the Peak of Derby.
95
VII. Means that have been proposed for preserving the popu- lation of' the Highlands — improvement of waste lands— fish- eries— manufactures — cannot obviate the necessity of emi- gration.
1 hough the partial interests of the High- land proprietors do not seem entitled to all the regard that has been claimed for them from the Legislature ; though it is contrary to every principle of justice, that unusual and unnecessary restraints should, for their bene- fit, be imposed on the personal liberty of their dependants ; yet every friend to his country would rejoice, if they could find means of obviating the local depopulation of their district, by the introduction of suit- able branches of productive industry.
Among these, the most promising is the cultivation of waste land. Some attempts have been made in the Highlands to turn the superfluous population to this employ- ment. The success with which they have been attended is sufficient to encourage fur-
96
ther experiments; and to leave no doubt that, by this means, a number of people may every- where be retained, more than adequate to any supply of labourers that can be required for the accommodation of the country. The mainte- nance to be derived from this resource is in- deed a very wretched one : poor as it is, how^ ever, there are few of the class of cotters who would not readily accept any situation, where they could by this employment find a sup- port for their families.
The plan upon which the gentry of the Highlands have proceeded in encouraging this branch of industry, does not seem calcu- lated to draw from it all the advantage, which circumstances might admit. They have in general laid out patches of a few acres of waste land, which they have granted on very short leases, seldom exceeding seven years ; leaving the occupiers to their own manage- ment, without further guidance, and with lit- tle or no pecuniary aid *. It is surprising, that under such leases, any improvements at
* See Apendix [N].
91
all should be made ; and it is only, perhaps, from the low value of labour, that the poor in the Highlands are disposed to consider a bare subsistence in the mean time, as a suffi- cient compensation for work, of which the benefit is in so short a period to revert to the landlord. Such, however, are the circumstan- ces of the country, that these tenures are suffi- cient to encourage the occupiers to consider- able exertions of their own personal labour ; but there are few instances where that alone is sufficient for improving waste lands. Cal- careous manure is a requisite almost indis- pensable ; and where it must be purchased from a distance, the poor occupier cannot be expected, on such a tenure, to undertake any share of the expense. If, therefore, the proprietor does not find it convenient to in- cur the expense himself, it is absolutely ne- cessary that the terms of the lease should be much more encouraging.
It is not easy to judge, whether these poor people could by any means be induced, to sink in such improvements the little capital
g
98
they may possess : but there is no probability that they would do so, without a lease of such duration, as to be nearly equivalent to abso- lute property. The calculations which a rich and intelligent farmer would make, as to the proportion between his outlay and its return, would by no means be suitable to a case of this kind. The poor Highland cotter finds so much difficulty in accumulating a small sum of money, that it is no wonder he should be disposed to hoard it with tenacity, and be reluctant to lay it out for a profit, which a person, accustomed to a liberal scale of busi- ness, might think more than adequate. la proportion as he finds his labour of little va- lue, he must value his money the more, and will not part with it without a very evident advantage indeed. On the other hand, a very long lease would certainly have bad effects. The exertions of these poor cotters are sel- dom carried further, than they are impelled by the necessity of providing a maintenance for their families. Whenever this becomes tolerably easy, their new and half-formed ha-
99
bits of industry relax ; and at any rate they proceed in a trifling and unsystematic manner.
The improvements would be carried on with much more effect, if the proprietor would not only advance the pecuniary expenses which are indispensable, but make the occu- pier an allowance for every improvement, to such an amount, as will form (along with the first crop or two on the improved land) a fair compensation for his labour. In this way, there would be no necessity of giving him a permanent tenure, and the proprietor might carry forward the improvements with spirit and regularity, keep up the industry of the people, and render it far more effective. The temporary burthen, thus incurred, would soon be compensated by the increased value of the land, and those who have the means could not perhaps apply their capital in a more ad- vantageous manner. How far pecuniary dif- ficulties may prevent the proprietors in gene- ral through the Highlands from making these advances, and how far the situation of entailed estates may be an obstacle, are questions very
100
interesting in an examination of the improve- ments of which the Highlands are capable, but not immediately connected with the sub- ject of these observations ; for there is no pro- bability that this resource can have any effect in diminishing the emigrations. It is only to the poorest of the people that it can be ren- dered acceptable ; by the tenants, even those of the lowest order, it would be considered as too great a degradation*.
The same may, perhaps, be said of the fish- eries, which seem, next to the cultivation of waste lands, the most important resource that is operi to the Highlanders in their own coun- try. The extent to which they may be car- ried, will probably fall far short of any ex- pectations formed upon the romantic ideas, which some authors have given of the abun- dance of fish. Without attending to these exaggerations, it is unquestionable that se- veral stations are very productive, and a great extent of coast sufficiently so to afford an adequate reward for the labour of the in-
* See Appendix [O].
101
dustrious fisherman, and to employ a consi- derable number of people. It is also certain, that no other new employment could be de- vised more congenial to the habits and in- clinations of the people; and without any very extraordinary encouragement, this branch of business may be carried as far, as natural circumstances and the extent of the market will permit.
The obstacles arising from the salt-laws, &c. are illustrated in so many publications, that it is unnecessary here to dwell upon them; but it may not be superfluous to ob- serve, that the general change, in the ma- nagement of Highland estates, is likely to remove the greatest of all the impediments, which now retard the progress of the fisheries on the Western coast and Isles : I mean the connection between fishing and the cultiva- tion of land. The opinion of practical men, as to the absolute incompatibility of these employments, is uniform*; and experience has also proved, that a very trilling posscs- * See Appendix [P.]
102
sion of land, by distracting the attention of a fisherman, will lead him to neglect oppor- tunities of more important profits in his own business. The minute division of farms, which was the result of the feudal state, pre- cluded entirely the separation of these em- ployments. The natural remedy to this lies in the rise of the value of land, and its ac- cumulation in the hands of active and intel- ligent farmers. When land becomes dear, some of those who cannot procure it, will be under the necessity of betaking themselves to fishing, as their only employment. The suc- cess, which may justly be expected to attend those, who first apply to it with steady and unremitting industry, is the only bounty which will be necessary to induce others to follow their example *.
It is to be regretted, that the establish- ments of the British Society for the encou- ragement of Fisheries have not, in this res- pect, been conducted on just principles, and, in so far as they have had any effect, have * See Appendix [QJ.
103
tended to counteract, instead of aiding, the natural progress of the country. In the villa- ges, where these gentlemen proposed to fix the head-quarters of the Highland fisheries, they have annexed to the building lots, portions of arable and meadow land at low rents, with a right of common for the pasture of a cow or horse. These patches of land, though they afford but a miserable subsistence, are yet a sufficient resource for men, whose rooted ha- bits require the stimulus of absolute necessi- ty, to bring them to a life of regular and per- severing industry. Accordingly, the villages of Tobermory and Steen, on which very large sums of money have been expended, are scarcely possessed of a fishing-boat ; their in- habitants are sunk in inactivity, and consist in general of the refuse of the population of the country.
The custom so universally established in the Highlands and Western Isles, that every person whatever should have some portion of land, large or small, has tended to render fishing an entirely subordinate employment,
104
followed in an irregular manner, only as it suits the intervals of leisure from business on shore. It is a natural consequence, that the fishing boats and apparatus are in general ex- tremely bad ; nor is it surprising, that from these combined circumstances, an idea should prevail among the peasantry, that it is im- possible by fishing alone to earn a livelihood. Instances are quoted, where proprietors, on dispossessing tenants of their lands, have been anxious to find employment for them in fish- ing ; and have, with this view, made liberal offers of supplying boats, nets, and every re- quisite material, which have been rejected under that idea. It is only, perhaps, in a gradual manner that fishing can be esta- blished as a separate employment, by en- couraging individuals to pay a greater share of attention to it, previous to their being totally deprived of land : and though this might not succeed with those who have property, there is no doubt that, among those who are too poor to have much land, many might ;be found who would pursue the business with activity, if they were assisted
105
with credit for the purchase of the necessary materials, and if arrangements were made for seeming them as advantageous a market as possible.
It is with pleasure I learn, that the practi- cability of this suggestion has been ascertain- ed by experimental proof in a village on Loch Fyne, established by Mr Maclachlan MacJachlan. That gentleman, finding him- self, some years ago, under a necessity of thinning the population on several of his farms, selected ten or twelve families of the poorest cotters, men, however, whom he knew • to be capable of laborious exertion. These he fixed in a situation on the shore, where he furnished them with two substantial fish- ing-boats of the best construction, with all their apparatus, on condition that their cost should be repaid to him from the produce of their industry. Anxiety to discharge their debt, stimulated these men to exertion, and a season or two of successful fishing left them free proprietors of the boats they had been furnished with. The proprietor was sensible
106
that, from the habits of these people, they would think it impossible to live without some land ; and that in fact, from the want of markets for purchasing provisions, such an accommodation was to a certain degree in- dispensable in the present state of the coun- try. He therefore laid out a part of a farm for them, and, to avoid disheartening them, allowed them to possess it for a year or two at an inadequate rent. By degrees, however, he raised it to its full value, so that the pos- sessors cannot trust to the land for their support, having no means to pay their rent unless they are industrious in fishing. Other inhabitants have likewise been brought to the village, and the original portions of land subdivided, so as to become to every individual a mere accommodation, and an object entirely subordinate. When the fur- ther progress of the country towards a com- mercial state leads to the establishment of markets for provisions, these people, being already brought to such a degree of advance- ment, may be entirely deprived of land, with- out any fear of their being disconcerted by
107
the change. The success of the first fisher- men has been such, that they have fitted out a number of additional boats, of the best construction, at their own charge, and seve- ral of them have accumulated considerable sums of money.
This experiment was made, in one respect, under favourable circumstances ; as the si- tuation, from the vicinity of the richer parts of Scotland, has the advantage of a constant and ready market for fish. In the remoter parts of the Highland coast, and Hebrides, the people can scarcely get any price for fish in small quantities ; and in the establishment of a village there, it would be of essential consequence to obviate this difficulty by pro- per arrangements. But if, with a due at- tention to this point, experiments were made on the same principles, in each of the capital fishing stations in the distant Hebrides, a race of people exclusively fishermen would by degrees be formed, and would spread to every part of the coast that is adapted to tlie purpose.
108
The success of a few poor people, support- ed in the manner that has been alluded to, would overcome the prevailing prejudices, and encourage their neighbours to embark in the business on their own capital. It is not likely, indeed, that any of the middling or more opulent tenants could be brought to this ; nor is there any reason to be anxious on that account ; as there are certainly among the cotters a great many more people, than there is any prospect of employing in the fisheries of the Western coast and Isles, though carried on in the best manner, and to the utmost extent which the established de- mand of the market will admit.
Manufactures are another resource, fre- quently pointed out as capable of affording maintenance for all the people in the High- lands, who must be deprived of their lands. This idea does not appear to be well founded. Manufactures may perhaps be carried on to a small extent in the Highlands in a domes- tic way, by the families of men engaged in other pursuits ; but a large establishment
109
could not succeed under so many natural dis- advantages of situation. In fact, though much has been said on the subject by specu- lative writers, and every disposition has ap- peared on the part of the landholders to en- courage the attempt, no practical manufac- turer has ever shown the least inclination to make it *.~
The mechanical improvements, that have been introduced of late years, into so many branches of manufacture, leave but very few, which, like the linen manufacture of 'Ireland, can be carried on to advantage by a scatter- ed population. A manufactory, in which ma- chinery is much employed, is seldom so pro- fitable on a small, as on a large scale ; and, on the smallest, requires an accumulation of people, that is rarely to be met with in the Highlands. There are, indeed, two or three villages, where the population would supply hands enough for a small establish- ment ; but other difficulties arise from the remoteness of the situation, and the infant * Sec Appendix [K].
110
state of the country as to every improve- ment in the arts. There are innumerable oc- casions on which a manufacturer must have recourse to the assistance of various mecha- nical artists. It is only in the great centres of commercial industry, that these are al- ways at hand, and the want of this accom- modation is a great inconvenience in an in- sulated situation. An inconsiderable break- age of machinery, which , in a great town might, perhaps, be repaired in a few hours, will there be sufficient to interrupt the whole business for a long period. To this inconve- nience is to be added the want of regular and speedy conveyance for goods, and the tediousness of the posts.
All these difficulties might be obviated, were there any great advantage on the other hand, or any great profit to be the reward of success. But there is no prospect of the kind. The temporary superabundance of population and consequent low rate of wages, is the only favourable circumstance that can be named, and this is more than counterbalanced by the total want of skill, and of habits of regu-
Ill
lar industry, in the people. These could not be introduced without much assiduity and patience, and perhaps some loss to the ma- nufacturer, who should undertake an esta- blishment ; and after all should he succeed in effecting this reform, it cannot be disguised that, as soon as he had rendered the situation desirable, other adventurers would follow him to it, and raise the price of labour by their competition.
All the permanent advantage arising from the establishment, would rest with the pro- prietors of the adjacent lands, and if the difficulties attending the attempt are to be overcome, the burthen also must rest with them. The exertions which may be made with a view to this improvement must be considered as laudable ; but it is an object of no national importance, and of a totally dif- ferent nature from the other resources which •have been alluded to, as fit employment for the superabundant population. By the im- provement of waste land, or the extension of the fisheries, a nctt and absolute addition
112
is made to the production of national wealth, a new supply is procured of human subsist- ence, which would otherwise be lost. But the success of a manufacturing establishment in the Highlands would have no further ef- fect, than to fix the seat of a certain portion of industry in one part of the kingdom, in- stead of another. Manufacturing enterprises are limited by the extent of the market, still more than by the supply of hands. A manufactory, therefore, established in the Highlands, with much pains and expense, could only occupy the place of one, which would of itself have grown up in those parts of the kingdom, where the undertaking is not subject to the same disadvantages, and where the Highlanders, who are so disposed, already find the employment they are in want of.
The establishment of manufactures in the Highlands, might thus affect the migrations of those, who now seek employment in' the old established seats of industry : but to the small tenants, the same objections, which occur against a manufactory in the
113
South, would apply equally to a similar em- ployment in a situation a little nearer home. There is no probability therefore, that such establishments could have any effect on those who are inclined to emigrate to America.
H
114
VIII. Emigration has no permanent effect on population- — legal restrictions useless and dangerous — discontents in the Highlands — emigration conducive to the public peace.
1 h e concise view that has been taken of the different resources which have been proposed for preserving the local population of the Highlands, may be sufficient to show, that not one of them is applicable to the circum- stances of those who are most inclined to emi- gration. It must also be observed that these resources are still to be found only in the re- gions of theory ; and to their practical appli- cation there are impediments, which cannot be removed without much patience and ex- ertion. The country is by no means arrived, and will require a considerable time before it can arrive, at such a state, that every man, who is industriously disposed, may have op- portunities of employment adapted to his si- tuation.
Independently of any question as to con- stitutional propriety, nothing seems more ob-
115
vious, than the necessity of bringing resour- ces of this kind to full maturity within the country, before any legal interference is ha- zarded for preventing the people from seek- ing them elsewhere. To act upon contrary principles would be productive of the utmost misery, and of a real, instead of an apparent depopulation. Let us suppose an extreme case ; that, while the change of the agricul- tural system is allowed to go on, and no ade- quate means of support are provided for the superabundant population, invincible obsta- cles should be contrived to restrain the peo- ple from removing to a different situation. The infallible consequence must be, that the lower classes would be reduced to the utmost distress : the difficulty of procuring either land or employment would amount almost to an impossibility ; and if the people should escape absolute famine, few would be in- clined in such circumstances to undertake the burthen of rearing a family, or would ven- ture on marriage. The misery of the people would thus in time produce the effect which emigration is now working, and reduce their
116
numbers to a due proportion with the em- ployment that can be given them. On the other hand, if a number of people, who are under no absolute necessity, should emigrate, those who remain behind will find it so much easier to procure employment and subsistence, that marriages will more readily take place, and the natural increase of population will proceed with more rapidity, till every blank is filled up.
• On this subject it will be sufficient to refer to the valuable work of Mr Malthus on the Principle of Population, in which these argu- ments are traced to such uncontrovertible ge- neral principles, and with such force of illus- tration, as to put scepticism at defiance. I may be allowed, however, to state one or two facts, which, while they add to the mass of concurring proofs which Mr Malthus has quo- ted, may serve to show how. immediately his principles are applicable to the particular case of the Highlands,
By the returns made to Dr Webster, in the
117
year 1755, the seven parishes of the Isle of Sky contained 11,252 inhabitants. By those to Sir John Sinclair, between 1791 and 1794, 14,470 *. Some time after Dr Webster's enu- meration, the emigrations commenced, and, since the year 1770, have been frequent and extensive. A gentleman of ability and ob- servation, whose employment in the island gave him the best opportunities of informa- tion, estimates the total number who emi- grated, between 1772 and 1791, at 4000. The number who, during the same period, went to the Low Country of Scotland, going in a more gradual manner, and exciting less no- tice, could not be so well ascertained ; but from concurring circumstances he considers 8000 as the least at which they can possibly be reckoned.
Notwithstanding this drain, it appears that the natural tendency of population to in~ crease has more than filled up the blank ;
* See Statistical Account of Scotland. General Table of Population, Vol. XX.
113
and if, to the numbers which have left the island, we add the increase which has pro- bably taken place among them also, in their new situation, we cannot doubt that there are now living a number of people descended from those who inhabited the island at the period of Dr Webster's enumeration, at least, double of its actual population. Now, let it be supposed, for the sake of argument, that the whole of these could again be collected within the island : will the wildest declaimer against emigration pretend to say, that it could afford support or employment to them all ? when its actual numbers are an oppres- sive burthen, what would be the case if such an addition were made ? Can it possibly be believed, that, if the emigrations had not ta- ken place, the same natural increase would have gone on ? and does not this instance de- monstrate, that to restrain emigration would Only be to restrain the principle of increasing population ?
Another instance of a similar fact is quoted
119
by Mr Irvine*. It was communicated, he says, by a gentleman of unquestionable vera- city, who relates, from his personal know- ledge, that * in 1790, a place on the west ' coast contained 1900 inhabitants, of whom ■ 500 emigrated the same year to America. ' In 1801, a census was taken, and the same 1 spot contained 19&7, though it had furnish- ' ed 87 men for the army and navy, and not 1 a single stranger settled in it/
There is, perhaps, no part of the Highlands, where the people have so strong a spirit of emigration, and where the gentry are so much in dread of its effects, as in that part of the Hebrides called the Long Island, particularly in North and South Uist, and Barra. From these islands there have been very considerable emigrations at different times ; some of which, though by no means all, are enumerated in the statistical accounts. How many people may have left these islands, I cannot pretend to say with precision ; but from various cir- i
* See Irvine's Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of Emigration, 8cc. p. <).
120
cumstances the number appears to have been as great in proportion to the whole popula- tion, as in most other parts of the Highlands. Nevertheless, these parishes, which, in 1755, contained 5268 people, were found to have 8308 at the date of Sir John Sinclair's statis- tical survey. The particulars that may. be collected from that publication, as to the crowded state of population, and the poverty of the people in consequence of it, make it apparent that the inhabitants have multi- plied to an inconvenient and excessive de- gree.
These facts might be corroborated by many other examples * ; but these are perhaps suf- ficient to leave no doubt of the principle, that emigration does not imply the necessity of a permanent diminution of population, and is not even inconsistent with an increase, where^ ever there are adequate resources for its em- ployment and support. •
This principle, important in itself, leads to * See Appendix [V].
a conclusion of still more importance — the emigrations from the Highlands, without ul- timately affecting the numbers of the people, operate a very desirable change in their cha- racter and composition.
A few of the small tenants, who combine industry and good management with some amount of capital, gradually extend their possessions, and grow up into farmers on a more respectable scale : the rest of this class, and the greater proportion, emigrate to Ame- rica : the cotters, or as many of them as can remain in the country, fall into the station of labourers on these extended farms, and other subordinate employments, multiplying till every blank is filled up. The peasantry in this way takes the form most fit for a commercial state of society ; and in order to complete the abolition of feudal man- ners, such a change in the people of the Highlands is absolutely necessary. Their es- tablished character, founded upon the habits which the former state of the country re- quired, does not accord with the condition
122
of the lower classes in an industrious com- munity.
The obstacles to the requisite change are chiefly found among the more opulent of the commonalty : among them is it most diffi- cult to excite a spirit of industry, or to di- rect it to any new pursuit, and, nearly in proportion to the amount of their property,, are their dispositions intractable. The te- nants are, no doubt, those who come nearest to the description of men whom an ancient chieftain would value. The cotters ma}^ not retain so much of the generous spirit of their warlike ancestors ; but they will be more ea- sily moulded into the character adapted to the present circumstances of the country, — into industrious and contented labourers.
While the small tenants emigrate, the cot- ters, if any productive employment is intro- duced as a resource for them, will feel their circumstances ameliorated in proportion to the growth of their industrious habits. Ha* ring little in their previous situation to excite
V23
feelings of regret, and animated by the pros- pect of bettering their condition, they will proceed with vigour and cheerfulness in the career that is opened to them.
If by any coercive means the small tenants should be obliged to remain, it must be with a very different spirit that they would follow the same pursuits. They would not forget that they were once in a higher station, nor would they allow their children to be ignorant that they were once on a level with the men who might assume a superiority over them. Instead of the animating prospect of rising in the world, they would have the idea of degradation con- stantly rankling in their minds, to damp their exertions and to sour their temper.
It is not to be overlooked, that among the peasantry of the Highlands, and particularly among the tenants, a spirit of discontent and irritation is widely diffused ; nor will this ap- pear extraordinary to any one, who pays a minute attention to the circumstances at- tending the breaking up of the feudal system.
5
324
The progress or the rise of rents, and the fre- quent removal of the antient possessors of the land, have nearly annihilated in the people all that enthusiastic attachment to their chiefs, which was formerly prevalent, and have sub- stituted feelings of disgust and irritation pro- portionally violent. It is not the mere bur- then of an additional rent that seems hard to them : the cordiality and condescension which they formerly experienced from their superi- ors are now no more : they have not yet learnt to brook their neglect : they are not yet ac- customed to the habits of a commercial so- ciety, to the coldness which must be expect- ed by those, whose intercourse with their su- periors is confined to the daily exchange of labour for its stipulated reward. They re- member not only the very opposite behaviour of their former chiefs ; they recollect also the services their ancestors performed for them : they recollect that, but for these, no estate could have been preserved : they well know of how little avail was a piece of parchment and a lump of wax, under the old system of the Highlands : they reproach their landlord
12$
with ingratitude, and remind him that, but for their fathers, he would now have no pro- perty. The permanent possession which they had always retained of their paternal farms, they consider only as their just right, from the share their predecessors had borne in the ge- neral defence, and can see no difference be- tween the title of their chief and their own.
Men in whose minds these impressions have taken root, are surely not a desirable popu- lation ; and if they do not remove, the irrita- tion that prevails among them may be trans- mitted from generation to generation, and disturb the peace of the country long after the causes from which it has arisen may be considered as worn out. The example of Ire- land may, perhaps, be quoted to prove, to what distant periods the effect of an antiqua- ted ground of discontent may be prolonged, by a train of consequences continually re- viving the original impression. Amidst all the variety of opinions that are entertain- ed as to the immediate effect of more re- cent measures, no one who is acquainted
126
with that kingdom will deny, that the mu- tual animosity of its religious parties is (at least in a great degree) the legitimate offs- pring and consequence of the horrible feuds that raged in the 17th century and preceding ages ; nor can it be doubted, that if after the forfeitures under Cromwell and King William, all who felt themselves immediately aggrieved by these acts of power, had found the means (as much as they doubtless had the inclina- tion) to seek a distant asylum, the internal state of that country at this day would be much more satisfactory.
To state any comparison with a part of the empire so deeply agitated, may appear an ex- aggerated view ; but incidents have occurred in the Highlands, sufficient to prove that the apprehension I have stated is not altogether visionary. For the truth of this, I may appeal to any gentleman, who was in the shire of Ross or Cromarty in July and August, 1792. I happened to be there myself at that mo- ment, when the irritation alluded to broke out into actual violence. Sheep-farming was
127
then in the first stage of its introduction inte> thai district, but the people had heard of its consequences in others. Roused by the cir- cumstance of a particular estate being turned into sheep-walks, the tenantry of all the ad- joining country took part with those who were ejected, and rose in arms. These poor and ignorant men, without leaders, and with* out any concerted plan, actuated by indig- nation merely against their immediate supe- riors, and as if they did not understand that they were committing an offence against the general government of the kingdom, proceed- ed to vent their rage by driving away the sheep that had been brought to stock the grazings. They had for many days the entire command of the country ; and it was not from want of opportunity, that few acts of pillage or per- sonal violence were committed. In a letter to the officers of government at Edinburgh, a general meeting of gentlemen expressed themselves nearly in these words : ' We are 4 at the feet of the mob, and if they should ' proceed to burn our houses, we are incap;t- ' ble of any resistance/
128
It is satisfactory to reflect, that this irrita- tion of the common people has been hitherto against their immediate superiors only, and that the Highlanders have never given reason to impeach that character of loyalty towards their sovereign, which their ancestors main- tained. It is surely of some importance to preserve these sentiments unimpaired ; and this object ought not to be overlooked in the consideration of any legislative measure, which may appear to these people the result of un- due partiality for the interest of their supe- riors, or which can with any plausibility be deemed an infringement of the principles of equal justice towards the lower orders.
This, however, is not the only view, in which a direct attempt to restrain emigration may have pernicious consequences. There is scarce- ly any part of the Highlands that has not in its turn been in a state of irritation, as great as that of Ross-shire in 1792. Can any com- ment be necessary to show what would have been the dreadful state of things, if this had
129
come to a height at the same moment over all the country ? It has been the good for- tune of Scotland, that, from the gradual man- ner in which the new system of management has advanced, this has happened in different districts, at different times ; and by means of the emigrations, the discontented people of one have been removed, before the same causes of discontent had produced their full effect in another. What must we think, then, of the policy which would impede this salu- tary drain, and would prevent a population infected with deep and permanent seeds of every angry passion, from removing and ma- king way for one of a more desirable charac- ter ?
130
IX. Prejudices of the Highland proprietors against Emigra- tion— mistakes from which they arise.
If the preceding arguments are satisfactory, it must appear very unaccountable, that the gentlemen of the Highlands should express such extreme aversion against emigration. Since the removal of the superfluous popula- tion is necessary for the advance of their rents, why (it may be asked) do they quarrel with that which is so beneficial to them ? But those who reflect how very common it is for men to mistake their own interest, will not consider this as a paradox. The change that has taken place in the Highlands, is so exten- sive, its effects are so complicated, and so many circumstances have concurred to dis- guise their operation, that it ought not to ex- cite surprise if they are not generally under- stood.
The prejudices which many persons enter- tain on this subject arise from the most pa- triotic, though mistaken motives. Ascribing
131
the spirit of emigration to mere capricious restlessness, they deprecate in it the loss ol the nursery of soldiers that has hitherto been found in the Highlands, not adverting to the decay of those causes from which that advan- tage was derived. They see the possibility of employing great numbers in works of pro- ductive industry, and overlook the distinc- tions which render these unsuitable to a great proportion of the actual inhabitants.
To these have, in some instances, been su- per-added mistaken views of private interest. Some proprietors, accustomed to the advan- tageous facility of recruiting, would wish to preserve this power, at the same time that they profit by the advance of their rents. A few individuals have perceived the incompa- tibility of these objects, and, unwilling to re* linquish the antient splendour of a numerous train of dependants, have frankly resolved to make an adequate pecuniary sacrifice : but in a much greater number of instances, this incompatibility has been oVer-looked, or seen indistinctly; and the consequence has been
132
a train of inconsistent management, vibrating between contradictory motives.
The ideas of the Highland gentry have also, perhaps, been influenced by the very unjust cry that has been prevalent against themsel- ves, and the unfavourable impressions, as to the tendency of their conduct, which the pub- lic have been led to entertain. The long continued indulgence of the landlords, the sacrifice of rent to which they submitted for so many years to preserve their people, are little known beyond their immediate neigh- bourhood. It would be difficult to find a proprietor in other parts of the kingdom, who, to please his tenants, would accept a rent not half the value of his land. This has been done by many in the Highlands, and yet these gentlemen have been generally reputed severe landlords.
The old system of the Highlands, so long established and deeply rooted, could not be broken up without a great degree of popular odium. When any proprietor grew tirep! of
133
the loss of rent he sustained, and resolved to enjoy the full value of his estate, his conduct was deemed oppressive and unjust ; and the clamours of the tenantry were re-echoed from distant parts of the kingdom. When a popu- lous valley was converted into sheep-walks, the author of the change was held up as an enemy of the public, who, for a sordid inte- rest, promoted the desolation of his country ; and the remote consequences through which these " partial evils" terminate in " univer^ " sal good," were not to be seen by superfi- cial observers.
The gentlemen of the Highlands might have repelled these aspersions, by appealing to the general right of landed proprietors to manage their property to the best advantage : but this argument was too much at variance with the established prejudices of their neighbour- hood to be well received. Conscious, there- fore,, of the unpopularity of their conduct, and sore under this impression, they acted as if diffident of the justice of their own cause, and, instead of meeting the question on fair
134
and manly grounds, recriminated with accu- sations of capricious discontent on the part of the people, excited only by the artifices of men who had an interest to delude them.
Such motives of pique, and a remnant of the feudal pride, which a numerous clan was calculated to inspire, have perhaps more in- fluence than any view of pecuniary interest, in exciting a violent jealousy against emigra- tion in the minds of the more considerable proprietors of the Highlands ; and this may account for a singular contradiction that has been frequently observed. Many of these gentlemen, who, in their cooler moments have expressed their regret, at the loss they sustained from the excessive population of their estates, have nevertheless been warmed, even to indignation, when any of their own tenantry showed a disposition to emigrate. Their feelings have been roused, and the phantom of antient prejudice has put to flight every sober. consideration of interest.
These impressions among the greater pro- prietors are sometimes, perhaps, strengthen-
ISo
ed by the clamour of certain persons among their dependants, or their neighbours of an inferior order ; some of whom have an aver- sion against emigration, founded on motives not altogether so honourable, though more active, as arising more immediately from views of pecuniary interest.
Among the few branches of business which furnish more or less employment for labour- ing people in the Highlands, is the manufac- ture of kelp, which, to many landed proprie- tors, is a very considerable source of income. The sea-weed, from which this article is made, is cut on rocks along the shore, which are sometimes annexed to the adjoining farms. In most cases, however, these rocks are re- served by the landlords, who let them from year to year, or more frequently employ la- bourers to make the kelp at a stipulated al- lowance per ton. Many gentlemen feel on this account an immediate interest in keep- ing down the wages of labour, and therefore imagine the crowded state of population to be an advantage. Some go so far as to as-
136
sert that, if they had fewer hands, the making of kelp must be given up altogether, or, at least, that the increased expense of the work would reduce its nett profit to a trifle. This may be ; but the difference of expense is not all clear gain to the landlord : the season of kelp-making is but a few weeks in the year ; and in so far as any gentleman retains a greater number of people on his estate than full em- ployment can be found for, he must do it by letting land to them below its value. In all the great kelp stations, the land is, in fact, made an object totally subordinate, and let at rents more disproportioned to its real value than in any other parts of the Highlands.
Were an accurate computation to be made, it is probable that the proprietor would find it more for his advantage, on the whole, to pay the most liberal Avages for the manufac- ture of his kelp, and to let his land at its full value. A great proprietor, of a liberal mind, might perceive the force of such a statement, nor would his judgment be warped by the fear of losing 10 or 155. per ton on his kelp. But
137
the subject will be viewed in a very different light by those who have no permanent inte- rest in the land, by some of the tacksmen, and other inferior people engaged in this bu- siness. A small difference in the expense in- curred may form a great proportion of their profit. They, too, feel all the benefit of the low price of labour, while the sacrifice that is necessary for maintaining that low price, is made at the expense of another. Among them, therefore, we find a zeal approaching to fury, when any thing threatens to interfere with this interest *.
To men of this class, the depression of the price of labour appears an object of import- ance in other respects. If they have not kelp to make, they feel the same interest in keep- ing down the wages of their agricultural ser- vants, or of those they employ in any other species of work. From these causes a consi- derable body of men feel a direct interest in repressing emigration ; and it is not to be
* See Appendix [R.]
138
wondered at that their clamours should im* pose on the greater proprietors.
These gentlemen are only occasionally re- sident on their estates ; and, conscious that their own personal acquaintance with the in- ternal State of the country is imperfect, are disposed to place too great a reliance on the opinions of others, whose practical informa- tion they believe to be complete, and whom they do not suspect to have interests so di- rectly at variance with their own. This evil is much increased, by the practice (unfortu- nately, too common with the proprietors of great Highland estates) of letting farms to their factors or land-stewards, and allowing them to engage in various petty branches of business, by which their interest is identified with that of the very people on whom they ought to be a check, and is set in opposition to that of their employers *.
* See the latter part of Appendix [Tj.
139
X. Conduct of the Highland Society — Emigrant Regulation?
Bill.
If, from all these circumstances, individual proprietors so far mistake their own interest, it will not be surprising that the same mis- takes should pervade and influence a public body. The respectable names which appear on the list of the Highland Society, and the benevolence which marks their proceedings in general, leave no reason to doubt of their conduct respecting emigration having been founded on the purest motives. Neverthe- less, they have lent the sanction of their name to representations of the most partial nature, and have recommended measures inconsistent with every principle of justice.
As this Society claim (and I believe with- out any competition) the merit of the bill passed in 1803, for regulating the transporta- tion of emigrants, the consideration of that bill cannot easily be separated from a discus- sion of the arguments and statements, upon
140
which they recommended the measure. They transmitted for the consideration of Govern- ment, and of several members of the Legis- lature, three Reports, on the emigrations from the Highlands, in which many topics, con- nected with the improvement of that district, are treated with great judgment, and on the most liberal principles of political oeconomy. Intermixed, however, with these discussions, we find some of a very different description *.
The first Report commences with a state- ment of the causes of emigration, among which are enumerated,
# These Reports have never been published, but are noticed in the Introduction to Vol. II. of The Prize Es- says aud Transactions of the Highland Society. The first was presented to the Society in January, 1802 — the se- cond in June following — the third in March, 1803. — Some extracts have been printed as an Appendix to a " Report " of a Committee of the House of Commons on the Sur- " vey of the Coasts, &c. of Scotland, relating to Emigra- " tion — ordered to be printed, June 9th, 1803/' The quotations I have occasion to make, refer to the MS. copies engrossed in the Records of the Sociey, with which they have been collated, and in which the First Report occupies 16 pages, and the Third, 13. To the Second Re- port, I have no occasion to refer.
141
' I. Such an increase of population as the
* country, in its present situation, and with
* a total want of openings for the exertion of
* industry, cannot support/
1 2. The removal of many of the tenants 6 from their farms, in consequence of a con- ' fiction on the part of the proprietors, that 4 they will be better cultivated and managed, ' and pay better rents, when let in larger di-
* visions ; and more particularly, in conse- 1 quence of the preference now very generally 1 given to a sheep stock, of which the ma- ■ nagement does not, like that of a black-cat- ' tie pasture, admit of minute partition of the 6 farm, nor require nearly so many hands/
' 3. The active circulation of seductive ac- ' counts of the immense advantages to be dx^~ 4 rived from going to settle in America/
The two first of these causes are so candid- ly stated, and furnish so plain and consistent an account of the fact, that it must excite surprise in the reader to find the third insist-
142
ed upon as the principal and the most exten- sive in its effects.
The Reporter indeed assumes the fact, that the condition of a labourer in America is not so advantageous as in Britain* ; and, taking for granted, that the flattering accounts which have reached the people as to America are all false, has to explain how in the course of so long an intercourse, as has been kept up between different districts of Scotland and dif- ferent settlements in America, no contradic- tion of these falsehoods should have appeared. Here he does not think it beneath the dignity of the Society to repeat the threadbare and ridiculous story of Uncle James, and to assert, that all letters, not of a particular tenden- cy, are detained -f ; as if every letter had to pass a scrutiny, and as if there was no post- office establishment in America. Had some inquiry been made before such an assertion was hazarded, the Society might have learnt, that throughout all British America at least, the posts are under the same regulations as
* First Report— page 11. f See Appendix [S],
143
at home, and that (under the authority of the Postmaster-General of England) letters may be conveyed from almost every part of the colonies, more tediously indeed, but (sea-risk excepted) with as much safety as within Great Britain itself.
It is truly surprising, that gentlemen of respectable abilities and information, should give credit to fables of so little apparent pro- bability. If they expect, by repeating such stories without examination, to deter the com- mon people from emigration, they will be miserably disappointed. There are so many of the people in the Highlands who have in- formation of the situation of their friends in America on indubitable authority, confirmed by concurring testimonies, that it is in vain to think of concealing from them the true state of the fact ; and the attempt to impose on their understanding can only tend to con- firm the jealous suspicions, which they enter- tain against their superiors.
In another Report we find details of the
144
emigrations going on, and representations of a spirit, from which the immediate and total devastation of the country is predicted *. The discussions contained in the preceding parts of these remarks, render it unnecessary to enter into any particular refutation of this asser- tion. It must, however, be observed, that this representation (as well as the particulars that are given of the artifices of individuals to delude the people) appears to have been trans- mitted from the Island of Benbecula, one of the principal stations of the kelp manufac- ture -j-. No reference is given in the Report, to the authority on which the facts are stated ; and the tenor of the accompanying remarks may at least give room to doubt the candour and moderation of the narrator, a circum- stance of no less importance than his veracity, for ascertaining the credibility of his informa- tion.
* Third Report — page 1 and 2.
f This island is a part of the Long Island, concerning which some particulars are stated in page 1 19 ; sufficient . to enable the reader to judge what grounds there are for apprehending a total devastation.
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But, allowing every degree of credit to the circumstances related in this report, they are far from warranting the conclusions drawn from them, and are, in fact, nothing more than instances of that irritation, on the part of the common people, the grounds of which have already been explained *. It cannot be thought extraordinary, that those who have determined on emigration, should express theirdiscontents with little reserve, and avail themselves of the' prevailing temper of the country, to induce others to join in their schemes.
Independently of any question as to the policy of retaining against their will, a popu- lation infected with a spirit of discontent, it seems very plain that their superiors are not following the best methods to allay the fer- ment. If there exist among the Highlanders any such wanton discontent and restlessness as the Society allege, nothing seems so likely to keep alive and extend this spirit, as the at- tempt to repress it by individual persecution * See Appendix \T]. K
146
Every manly heart will revolt at such means employed to restrain the exercise of an ac- knowledged natural right ; and the indigna- tion which every act of oppression must ex- cite, may actually impel those to emigration who otherwise would never have thought of it.
Should an unreasonable and unnecessary disposition to emigration be any where ob- served, those who wish to obviate it, may perhaps profit by an example, which occur- red in the island of Barra in 1802, A num- ber of people were preparing to emigrate. The proprietor, without allowing any hint to escape of his regret at the circumstance, told his tenants, that since such was their deter- mination, he wished to see them well accom- modated, and would assist them to negotiate for a ship to convey them to America. The frankness of this procedure laid every mur- mur at rest, and no more was heard of the emigration *. Nor is this the only instance
* — at least for the time. The circumstances of that island render it probable, however, that no very long pe-
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that might be quoted, where a rising spirit of this kind has been allayed by the temper and moderation of a proprietor.
Though the machinations of the leaders of emigration, as described in the Reports, are nothing more than might reasonably be ex- pected from men of that stamp in a country where a general tendency to irritation pre- vails ; yet the Society consider these artifices as the prime source of all the discontent they observe, and assign as their ultimate motive, the unjust and tempting gains accruing to the traders in emigration *. No explanation, however, is given of the mode in which these extraordinary gains arise, and therefore it may not be superfluous to state a few of the details which are passed over.
Whenever the circumstances of any part of the country induced the people to think of emigration, the usual procedure has gene-
riod can elapse, before it will be absolutely necessary, that it should be relieved of a part of its population.
* Third Report — page 4 to 6. See also Introduction to Vol. II. Transactions of the Highland Society, p. 8 and 9.
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rally been, that the leading individuals have circulated a subscription-paper, to which all those, who agreed to join in chartering a ship for the purpose, signed their names ; and whenever they had thereby ascertained their number, they called together all those who had declared their intention to emigrate. If previous information had been obtained of the price at which shipping could be procu- red, it was usual for some person, of the most respectable situation and property among the associates, to make proposals to transact the business for them at a certain rate for each passenger ; if his offer was accepted, one half of the price agreed upon was deposited by each in his hands. With the money so col- lected, he proceeded to some of the great commercial ports, where he made the best bargain he could with a ship-owner, con- tracting for such provisions and accommoda^ tion as were customary, and giving security that the rest of the passage-money should be paid previous to embarkation. When no in-r dividual was prepared to undertake the bu- siness in this manner, some one in whom the
149
rest of the associates had confidence, was usually deputed to negotiate in their name, and to procure them the best terms he could. In either case, however, the price to be paid by the individual emigrants, was always well understood to be rather higher than the price bargained for with the ship- owner. A difference of from 10 to 20s. on each passenger, was not considered as unrea- sonable, to compensate the trouble, expen- ses, and risks, to which the intermediate con- tractor was subject. The ship-owner seldom made more by the voyage than a mere freight ; and the ordinary gains of the contractor, who was usually himself one of the emigrants, do not seem entitled to the epithet of unjust and tempting, or to be assigned as the motive for deceits and impositions, so artful and so ex- tensive, as to be capable of diffusing the spi- rit of emigration all over the Highlands.
It may be readily believed, that in the course of such a transaction as has been de- scribed, carried on among men of low rank and little education, (the contractor being
150
sometimes but a few steps above his asso- ciates), much higgling would take place, some- times deceit and imposition, and almost al- ways a great deal of petty artifice and vulgar intrigue. It does not appear how the regu- lations proposed by the Society can operate to remedy any of the inconveniences arising from these circumstances, or to obviate the deceit and imposition which may occasion- ally be practised by contractors. In this, as in other trades, competition must be the best check to abuse. The emigrants understand the accommodation for which they stipulate, and competition alone can prevent them from paying too much for it. All that can be ne- cessary, therefore, to put an end to the un- just and tempting gains, of which the Society complain, is to enforce, on the part of the ship-owner and contractor, a fair performance of their bargain ; leaving it to every one to make the best terms he can for himself. It is surely an extravagant idea, that the igno- rance of the people> as to the nature of the voyage, puts them on a footing with men who have no will of their own, and renders it
151
as necessary to regulate their accommodation as that of the negro slaves *.
The necessity of regulation is, however, in- ferred from 5 the hardships to which the emi- ' grants were subject on their passage from * this country/ which, it is said, ' were as- f certained beyond the possibility of doubt by ' authentic documents -f-/ It is rather singu- lar, however, that, to find an instance in point, the Society go as far back as the year 1773. There is indeed one other instance quoted, in 1791» and from the details that are given, it is evident that the ship referred to was too much crowded to be comfortable. As to the actual result, however, all we can learn is, that being put back after twelve days boisterous weather, the passengers were tired, especially the women and children, and did not choose to proceed : — a consequence not at all surprising among people, who for the first time in their lives were heartily sea-sick !
* See First Report, p. 7.
t Vol II. Transactions of the Highland Society. In- troduction, p. 7.
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In speaking of the emigrations of 1801, the Society admit that minute particulars have not come to their knowledge : they state, how- ever, upon hearsay, " that 53 of the passen- " gers died on board one of the vessels before " reaching America/' — A committee of the House of Commons, receiving this intelli- gence from so respectable a quarter, deemed it worthy of being quoted among the grounds for a legislative enactment *. They could not indeed suppose that the Highland Society would lend the sanction of their name to a mere vague report : but surely the Society, being informed of a fact so shocking to hu- manity, and giving such entire credit to it, ought to have followed out the inquiry, and brought the accusation home to those whose criminal negligence or avarice had occasion- ed the disaster. This, however, they have never yet thought proper to do, and have
* See the Appendix to the Report above referred to from a Committee of the House of Commons, " on the " Survey of the Coasts, &c. of Scotland, relating to Emi- " gration."
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never even named the vessel to which they refer.
In calling for a remedy against the abuses they allege, the Society disclaim any view of restraining ' the constitutional freedom of the ' Highlanders/ and declare that their only object is, ' to regulate the transportation of 4 emigrants in such a way, that no undue pro- ' fit may arise from its being conducted in a ' manner destructive to the passengers*/ The sentiments here professed are liberal ; and if the legislative provisions adopted on their sug- gestion correspond to this profession, the So- ciety are entitled to the gratitude of the emi* grants, as well as of the rest of the public. Let us see then how far this coincidence can be traced, and whether the regulations laid down are ' absolutely necessary for the pre- ' servation of the health and lives of the emi- * grants -f.'
The most important clauses of the bill are
* Third Report.
f Transactions of the Highland Society. Introduction.
154/
those which regulate the number of persons which any ship is permitted to carry, and the provisions which are to be laid in and allow- ed to them. As to provisions, the customary food of the people to be conveyed cannot be objected to, as an inadequate criterion of what is absolutely necessary. A passenger at sea, with little or no opportunity of exer- cise, cannot well be supposed to require more or better food, than when engaged in a labo- rious life at home.
A bill of fare is laid down for the passen- gers, with no part of which they are them- selves at liberty to dispense ; and in this there is an allowance of farinaceous food, more than equal to the whole consumption of country labourers in any part of Scotland that I am acquainted with. Over and above this, each person is obliged to take Sslb. of beef or pork, weekly. The Highland Society indeed re- commended 7lb. " as absolutely necessary for a passenger *." Was it from their intimate knowledge of the domestic oeconomy of the * Sec First Report, p. 9-
155
peasantry of the Highlands, that the Society were led to judge such an allowance of ani- mal food indispensable, — even for an infant at the breast ? and is no credit to be given to the gentlemen, who were employed by the Board of Agriculture to examine the High- lands, when they inform us, that ' animal
* food is rarely tasted by the lower order of
* tenantry * i' and that among the farmers
* there is not 5lb. of meat consumed in the
* family throughout the year -f\'
In the regulation which they recommend- ed as to the numbers which any ship should be allowed to carry, the Society surely did not mean a censure on His Majesty's Go- vernment : yet the allowance of room which they lay down as absolutely necessary for the health of the passengers, is far greater than, in voyages similar to those of the emigrants, is given to soldiers when conveyed in trans- ports. In such cases, the number of men
* Agricultural Survey of the central Highlands by Mr Marshall, p. 21. f Ditto of the Northern Counties, p. 82.
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allotted to each ship is usually reckoned at one for every ton-and-a-half of her bur- then ; and these passengers are, of course, all full-grown persons. The Emigrant bill re- quires two tons for every passenger, including the youngest child in the enumeration.
It will not be asserted that an infant re- quires as large a bed as a grown man, and, whatever be the proper number of passengers for any ship to carry, some modification ought surely to be admitted when a great propor- tion of them are children. On this point the regulations, which were customary among the emigrant passage-ships, deserve atten- tion. With respect both to the payment of passage-money, and the allowances of provi- sions and birth-room, children were rated ac- cording to an established scale ; a greater or less number, according to their age, being considered as equivalent to one full-grown person. The rules, founded on this prin- ciple, were deduced from experience, and acted upon for many years, by all those
157
who had most interest in their accuracy : they may therefore be depended upon as not mate- rially incorrect. Now, it is to be observed, that, upon an examination of several emi- grant ships, in which the passengers consist- ed of entire families, with the usual proportion of young and old, the number of full passen- gers at which they were rated, was found to be in general about two-thirds of the num- ber of individuals of all ages. Unless, there- fore, the principles upon which these people proceeded were grossly erroneous, it must be admitted that two tons for every individual is as great an allowance as three tons for a grown person — an allowance double of that of the transport service, and not far from the proportion that the tonnage of a man of war bears to her crew alone.
These regulations of the Emigrant Bill are so far from being absolutely necessary, that it is difficult to see what object they can serve, except to enhance the expense of passage. Thii object, indeed, is not entirely disavow- ed by the Society ; and in the history of their
15S
Transactions the regulations are spoken of as ' having the effect of a certain necessary bur- 4 then on the voyages of emigrants */ It is rather an unfortunate coincidence* that an object of so very different a nature, should be combined with the regard which is pro- fessed for the comfort and safety of the emi- grants. Some persons may be inclined to doubt whether humanity was the leading mo- tive of the Society.
Whatever may have been their views, it has certainly been a subject of exultation to many individuals, that the bill, by rendering the passage too expensive for the pecuniary means of the tenantry, must leave them at the mercy of their superiors. But, I apprehend, that however oppressive its consequences may be, the bill can produce this effect only in a very inconsiderable degree.
Every one who is acquainted with the cha-
* Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland So- ciety, Vol. II. Introduction, p. Q.
159
racteristic obstinacy of the Highlanders, must be sensible how much the attempt to keep them at home by force, will rivet their deter- mination to take the first opportunity of lea- ving the country. The circumstances of the times may compel them to defer the execu- tion of this intention ; but, if peace were re- established, and trade relieved from its pre- sent difficulties, the increase of expense ari- sing from the regulations laid down, would not be sufficient to prove an effectual obsta- cle to the greater number of the Emigrants. It has been observed, that the tenants in ge- neral have been hitherto enabled, by the sale of their farming stock, not only to defray the expense of their passage, but to carry some money along with them. The Highland So- ciety estimate the average amount * which is carried in this way, by the emigrants, at 10/. for each family of the poorest class, and by some a great deal more : they instance one ship, in which they give reason to suppose, that the whole party carried with them loOO/.
* Third Report.
160
The enhanced expense of passage arising from the regulations, will encroach upon this re- serve of cash, and, in some cases, may to- tally exhaust it. Should this happen, it will not deter the emigrant from trying his fate. Few of the Highlanders are so ignorant of America, as not to know that a persevering exertion of personal industry will supply the want of every other resource ; and that, if they should have to land there without a shil- ling, they may be thereby exposed to tem- porary hardships, and retarded for a few years in their progress ; but the independence, which is their great object, will still be within their reach.
What is to be thought, however, of the su- perabundant humanity of the Highland So- ciety, of which this is all the result — which, to save the emigrants from the miserable con- sequences of being as much crowded on ship- board as the king's troops themselves, and of living there on the same fare as at home, re- duces them to land in the colonies in the
161
state of beggars, instead of having a comfor- table provision beforehand ?
Humanity apart, can such waste be consi- dered as a matter of indifference in a national view ? The money which the emigrants carry with them serves as capital, by means of which the forests of the colonies are brought into a productive state, the markets of Great Britain supplied with various articles of value, and the consumption of her manufactures ex- tended. Is it consistent with any rational po- licy, that individuals should be compelled to waste this capital in expenses absolutely fu- tile and useless ? The framers of the bill, in- deed, can perceive no distinction between the money expended by the emigrants for their passage, and that which they carry with them to the colonies ; they set it all down alike — as I lost to the kingdom for ever */
* See a " Communication from a Gentleman in the
* North of Scotland," inserted in Appendix C to the Re-
* port of a Committee of the House(of Commons, on the-
162
It cannot, for a moment, be supposed, that these considerations can have occurred to the Highland Society, or that they would have re- commended the measure in question, if they had been aware of all its consequences. It would, perhaps, be unjust to blame them for not having considered the subject with perfect impartiality, or extended their views to the general interests of the empire. The peculiar objects of their institution lead them to pay an exclusive attention to the local interests of one district. They have given their opinion not in the character of a judge, but as a party in the cause, as representing one class of men, for whom they appear as advocates at
the bar of the public.
*
It has fallen to my share to plead a too long neglected cause, in opposition to these powerful adversaries : I have treated their arguments with the freedom which belongs to fair discussion, but, I trust, without any sen- timent inconsistent with that respect to which
" Survey of the Coasts, &c. of Scotland, relating to Emi- " gration."
163
they are so justly entitled, from the general
tenor of their patriotic labours *.
■
* In the Highland Society, and I presume in every other that is equally extensive, the whole business is managed by a very small proportion of the members : nine-tenths of them, perhaps, scarcely hear of the proceedings that are carried on in the name of the whole. Having the honour to be upon their list myself, I should certainly be very sorry to think that every member of the Society is held responsible for all their proceedings.
ni) <noini<;
.lljvl v i
164,
XL Importance of the emigrants to our colonies — Custom of . settling in the United States — Means of inducing a cliange of destination — will not increase the spirit of emigration.
■
eeping in view the distinction already in- sisted upon, between the cotters and the small tenants, I think it may now be assumed as sufficiently proved, that emigration, to a grea- ter or less extent, is likely to go on from the Highlands, till the latter class is entirely drained off. If this be admitted, I need not take up much time to prove, that it is an ob- ject deserving of some attention, and of some exertion, to secure these emigrants to our own colonies, rather than abandon them to a foreign country.
Some persons, indeed, have insinuated, that the colonies are altogether of little use. That is a point, which it would be foreign to my present purpose to discuss. Those, however, who are of that opinion, ought to argue, not for their being neglected, but relinquished. If they are to be retained, it cannot surely
165
admit of a doubt, that it is better the over- flowings of our own population should con- tribute to their improvement, than to that of a country with which we are unconnected, and which may become hostile to us. It is besides of no small importance, that our own colonies should be peopled by men, whose manners and principles are consonant to our own government. . It is with regret I have heard persons of distinguished judgment and information give way to the opinion, that all our colonies on the continent of America, and particularly the Canadas, must inevitably fall, at no dis- tant period of time, under the dominion of the United States. That continued misma- nagement may bring this about, cannot be denied ; but, I think it equally clear, that, by steadily pursuing a proper system, such an event may be rendered not only improba- ble, but almost impossible.
The danger to be apprehended, is not merely from an invading military force, but
166
much more from the disposition of the colo- nists themselves, the republican principles of some, and the lukewarm affection of others. From the origin of some of the settlements, formed at the close of the American war en- tirely by refugee loyalists, we might natu- rally expect to find among them a population firmly attached to the interests of Britain. The fidelity, of which they had given proof during the war, was recompensed by the scrupulous attention of Government to their relief and support, when the contest became desperate ; and, in all the situations where an asylum was provided for them, they re- ceived advantages unprecedented in the his- tory of colonization. This generous conduct of Government has not been forgotten ; and the most satisfactory dispositions still remain among these loyalists and most of their des- cendants. ■ But the general character of some of the colonies has received an unfortunate tinge, from the admixture of settlers of a very dif- ferent description. Numbers of Americans,
167
of principles the most opposite to the Loya- lists (many of them worthless characters, the mere refuse of the States), have since found their way into these provinces. Unless ef- fectual means are adopted to check this in- flux, there is every probability that it will continue ; for, in consequence of some capi- tal errors in the original regulations laid down for the disposal of waste lands, and from the state of landed property, which has been the result, there is a continual encouragement to settlers of the same description. In some parts, where, from local circumstances, it is peculiarly desirable to have a well disposed population, these intruders are fast approach- ing to an absolute majority of numbers : there is, besides, but too much probability of their principles infecting the mass of the people throughout the provinces. .
Under these circumstances, it is evident what important services may be derived from such a body of settlers as the Highland emi- grants would form. It is not merely from their old established principles of loyalty,
168
and from their military character, that they would be a valuable acquisition. It is a point of no small consequence, that their language and manners are so totally different from those of the Americans, as this would tend to preserve them from the infection of dan- gerous principles. But, it seems, in this view, of essential importance, that, whatever situation be selected for them, they should be concentrated in one national settlement, where particular attention should be bestow- ed to keep them distinct and separate, and where their peculiar and characteristic man- ners should be carefully encouraged.
It is much to be regretted, that so little attention has been paid to this principle, not only with respect to the Highlanders, but also the Dutch and Germans, who, in some parts, form a considerable proportion of the colo- nists. Had these also been separated into distinct national settlements, they would have formed a strong barrier against the contagion of American sentiments ; and any general
169
combination against the mother country would have been rendered almost impossible.
The local circumstances of the different provinces, the political and commercial ad- vantages to be expected from the further co- lonization of each, the precautions requisite for their security, and the means which may be found for remedying the errors of their former administration, are topics which would lead me into too great length, and which this is not the proper place to discuss. The only point immediately connected with the sub- ject of this work, is to consider the measures that are necessary for diverting the current of emigration, and directing it to any part of the colonies, which may appear to govern- ment most advisable. It has been supposed that this could not be done without such en- couragements, as would tend very much to increase the evil in general : but I hope to make it appear that this is a mistake ; and that the object may be accomplished without adopting any measure that can have a pei> manent bad effect.
170
The difficulty of directing the emigrations of the Highlanders, arises from their uncom- monly gregarious disposition ; a singularity which is easily accounted for, when we con- sider how much their peculiar language and manners tend to seclude them from inter- course with other people. Circumstances, in a great measure accidental, induced the first persons, who left the different districts of the Highlands, to fix themselves in various situa- tions. The first steps of this kind were taken with feelings of awful uncertainty. They were decided upon, under a total want of in- formation respecting the country, towards which their course Avas directed ; except, per- haps, from interested representations of per- sons concerned in land speculations. It is said that some of the first adventurers had fatal experience of the falsehood of these ; — that they were misled and ruined.
Whether from the tradition of such events, or from the habitual jealousy, which is gene- rally found among men in the ruder stages of society, it is certain that the Highlanders al-
171
ways show great distrust of any information, which does not come from their own imme- diate connexions ; and, in consequence of this disposition, those adventures which have proved fortunate, have been scarcely more important to the persons immediately em- barked in them, than to the friends whom they had left behind. These were soon in- formed of their success ; and to men who foresaw the necessity of similar steps, it was highly interesting to be certain of any asy-» lum. The success of those with whom they were acquainted, was a sufficient motive to determine their choice of situation ; and ha- ving found a rallying point, all who at subse- quent periods left the same district of Scot- land, gathered round the same neighbour- hood in the colonies.
No one of these settlements, however, gain- ed an universal ascendancy. A number were formed about the same period of time, and each attracted the peculiar attention of the district from which it had proceeded. The information sent home from each, as to the
172
circumstances of the country in which it was situated, did not spread far. The difficulty of mutual intercourse in a mountainous coun- try, tended to confine any information to the valley in which it was first received. This effect was still more promoted by the feudal animosities of the different clans, which were not entirely forgotten at the period of the first emigrations. Thus it often happened, that the inhabitants of one estate in the High- lands acquired a strong predilection for a par- ticular place in America, while on the ad- joining estate, separated only by a lake or a mountain, a preference as decided was given to another settlement, perhaps extremely re- mote from it.
In this manner the people of Breadalbane and other parts of Perthshire, as also those of Badenoch and Strathspey, and part of Ross-shire, have generally resorted to New York, and have formed settlements on the Delaware, the Mohawk, and the Connecti- cut rivers. A settlement has been formed in Georgia, by people chiefly from Inverness.
173
Those of Argyleshire and its islands, of tlie Isle of Skye, of the greater part of the Long Island, of Sutherland, and part of Ross-shire, have a like connexion with North Carolina, where they have formed the settlement of Cross Creek, noted in the history of the Ame- rican war for its loyalty and its misfortunes. This settlement has been since named Fayet- teville, and is perhaps the most numerous colony of Highlanders on the American con- tinent. Some people from Lochaber, Glen- gary, &c. who joined the settlements in New York at the eve of the American war, were forced, by the ensuing disturbances, to re- move themselves, and take refuge in Cana- da, to which they have attracted the subse- quent emigrations of these districts. The people, again, of Moydart, and some other districts in Inverness-shire, with a few of the Western Isles, are those who have formed the Scotish settlements of Pictou in Nova Sco- tia, and of the Island of St John.
The communication arising from repeated emigrations, and the continual correspondence
174
between these settlers and their relations in Scotland, have given the people of every part of the Highlands a pretty accurate acquaint- ance with the circumstances of some parti- cular colony ; and the emigrants, though their ideas are often sanguine, are by no means so ignorant of the nature of the coun- try they are going to, as some persons have supposed. But the information which any of the peasantry have of America, is all con- fined to one spot ; to the peculiar circum- stances of that place, they ascribe all those advantages, which it has in common with other new settled countries. Of the other colonies they are perfectly ignorant, and have often very mistaken notions. Those, in par- ticular, whose views are directed towards the southern states, have received very gloomy impressions of the climate of Canada, and of all the northern colonies. But to rectify these mistaken opinions, is by no means the great- est difficulty in bringing them to change their plans. The number of their friends or relations who have all gone to the same quar-
•
175
ter, give it the attraction almost of another home.
It is therefore indispensable, that, to over- come these motives, some strong inducement should be held out to the first party, who will settle in the situation offered to them. To detached individuals, it would be diffi- cult to offer advantages sufficient to coun- terbalance the pleasure of being settled among friends, as well as the assistance they might expect from their relations. But a consider- able body of people, connected by the ties of blood and friendship, may have less aver- sion to try a new situation : and if such a settlement be once conducted safely through its first difficulties, till the adventurers feel a confidence in their resources, and acquire some attachment to the country they are pla- ced in, the object may be considered as al- most entirely accomplished. All those cir- cumstances, which operate against the first proposal of a change, will serve to confirm it, when it is brought to this stage of ad- vancement*
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The encouragement, thus proposed to be given to emigration, would be so limited in extent, and continued for so short a period, that it could afford no rational ground of alarm. It ought, besides, to be considered, that the degree of encouragement, which may be sufficient to induce people to change their destination, must be very far short of that which would induce men, who have no other motive, to think of emigration. To excite a spirit of emigration where no such inclination before existed, is a more arduous task than those who have not paid a minute attention to the subject may imagine. To emigrate, implies a degree of violence to many of the strongest feelings of human na- ture— a separation from a number of con- nexions dear to the heart — a sacrifice of the attachments of youth, which few can resolve upon without absolute necessity. Dr Adam Smith has justly observed, that ■ Man is of * all species of luggage the most difficult to ' be transported ; the tendency of the labour- ing poor to remain in the situation where they have taken root, being so strong, that
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the most palpable and immediate advantages are scarcely sufficient to overcome the force of habit, as long as they find a possibility of going on in the track they have been accus- tomed to. In one out of a hundred, this ten- dency may be overcome by motives or' ambi- tion or enthusiasm ; but when a general dis- position to emigration exists in any country, it would need strong grounds indeed, to jus- tify the supposition, that it arises from any accidental or superficial cause.
There occurs, in the history of the High- land emigrations, one striking example, how little permanent effect arises from any casual and occasional encouragement. I allude to the settlement of Georgia in 1722. The pa- trons of that undertaking, conceiving the Highlanders to be people of a description likely to answer their purpose, sent agents to Inverness to publish their proposals. The causes, which have since produced so strong a spirit of emigration in the Highlands, had not begun to operate ; and nothing of the
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kind had taken place, except in the case of some few detached individuals, who by vari- ous accidents might have found their way to America. The settlement, however, was to be conducted under such respectable patro- nage, the terms were so liberal, and the ad- vantages offered to people of the poorest class so extraordinary, that there was no difficulty in finding a considerable number of that de- scription, who entered into the undertaking. But this event does not appear to have had any effect in occasioning a general spirit of emigration. It was forty years afterwards, before any such spirit was to be observed. We neither find that the people who went to Georgia were the subject of regret in the country they left, nor that the transaction, by its subsequent effects, produced any such inconvenience as to give rise to the slightest complaint.
This example seems to prove that the ut- most effect of such encouragement will by it- self be inconsiderable and transitory ; and that there is no reason to be apprehensive of
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the consequences of any temporary induce- ments, which Government may judge proper for the purpose of diverting the emigration into a different channel. I have observed that there would be no necessity for continu- ing this encouragement long, or affording it to any but the first who should enter into the measures proposed, or, at most, to a few peo- ple from each district. Supposing that such a party were even wholly composed of per- sons who would not otherwise have emigrated, it is not clear that they would form a nett ad- dition to the body of emigrants ; for, if I have been successful in proving that the disposi- tion we observe in the Highlands arises from unavoidable and radical causes in the state of the country, then must it go on till these causes are exhausted, and the population is brought to that level which natural circum- stances point out. A certain number of peo- ple must leave the country ; and whether it falls to the lot of this or of that man to go, the general result will not be affected. If a set of people, who had no such intention, are by any means induced to go, they make room
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for others to stay, who would otherwise have been under the necessity of emigrating.
The force of this principle is illustrated by the feelings of the country people themselves on the subject ; by the anxiety they frequent- ly show that others should emigrate, though they have no such intention themselves ; mere- ly that they may have a chance of procuring the possession of lands which would not other- wise be attainable. It has been known in more than one instance, that an individual, who felt that his example would have some weight, has even pretended to join in a pro- ject of emigration, and made every demon- stration of zeal for the undertaking, till his neighbours have been fully committed ; and has then deserted them, as soon as he could see any vacant farm, that he could have a chance of procuring.
But if peculiar advantages are to be given, to encourage a party of emigrants to settle in a new situation ; is it to be supposed that these must all be people who would not otherwise
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have left the country ? or rather is not such a supposition contrary to every probability ? Let encouragement be held out, even in the most indiscriminate manner, the persons most likely to accept the offer, will certainly be those, whose views were previously directed to emigration. Perhaps, indeed, the more opulent among the people who have taken such a resolution, will not be easily diverted from their preconcerted plans, and will be little influenced by the offer of assistance. Those who feel some difficulty in accom- plishing their views, will be more ready to listen to terms, by which the attainment of their object is rendered more easy. The en- couragement held out, must therefore be of such a nature as to suit those whose means are scanty. There is a chance, no doubt, that, in this way, emigration may be brought within the reach of a few, who could not otherwise have made the attempt. The effect of this, however, must be trifling ; and, at any rate, the object in view deserves some sacrifice. There are individuals, perhaps, in the Highlands, who may think it better that
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a hundred persons should emigrate to the United States, than that a hundred and one should go to our own colonies. But this is a sentiment in which, I trust, they will not be joined by many whose opinions deserve re- spect.
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XII. Measures adopted in pursuance of these man by the au- thor— Settlement formed in Prince Edward's Island — i~ts difficulties — progress — and Jinal success.
When these general principles are under- stood, the part which I have myself taken, in regard to the settlers whom I conveyed, in 1803, to Prince Edward's Island, will need little explanation. Of these settlers, the great- est proportion were from the Isle of Sky ; a district which had so decided a connexion with North Carolina, that no emigrants had ever gone from it to any other quarter. There were a few others from Ross-shire, from the North part of Argyle-shire, and from some in- terior districts of Inverness-shire, all of whose connexions lay in some part of the United States. There were some also from a part of the Island of Uist, where the emigration had not taken a decided direction.
If my views had extended no further than to the mere improvement'of a property in the
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colony I have mentioned, I might, without any loss, and with much less trouble, have found settlers enough in the districts, where the custom of emigrating to the same quarter was already established. But this was not my purpose. I had undertaken to settle these lands with emigrants, whose views were di- rected towards the united States ; and, with- out any wish to increase the general spirit of emigration, I could not avoid giving more than ordinary advantages to those who should join me. The prejudices entertained against the situation 1 proposed, were industriously fomented by some persons, who had con- ceived a jealousy against my undertaking; and, in consequence of this obstruction, I found it necessary to extend my offers of en- couragement as far as I could, without a to- tal disregard of my own interest.
To induce people to embark in the under- taking, was, however, the least part of my task. The difficulties which a new settler has to struggle with, are so great and various, that, in the oldest and best established colonies,
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they are not to be avoided altogether ; and it is rare that any one does not, at some time in the course of the first two or three years, feel disheartened and repent of his conduct. Of these discouragements the emigrants are seldom fully aware. It was to be expected, that men who had been induced to deviate from their own plans, would ascribe all these unforeseen difficulties to the peculiar disad- vantages of the place they were settled in ; and if, under this impression, they had be- come disgusted, as might naturally have hap- pened, the experiment, instead of tending to divert the current of emigration, would have had an opposite effect.
There cannot be a more extreme contrast to any country that has been long under cul- tivation, or a scene more totally new to a na- tive of these kingdoms, than the boundless fo- rests of America. An emigrant set down in such a scene feels almost the helplessness of a child. He has a new set of ideas to acquire : the knowledge which all his previous experience has accumulated, can seldom be applied ; his
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ignorance as to the circumstances of his new situation meets him on everv occasion. The disadvantages to which he is thereby subject- ed are so great, that emigrants who are taken at once from Europe to such a situation, and abandoned to their own exertions without aid or guidance, rarely avoid involving them- selves in inextricable difficulties. To settlers of this description, success can be insured only by well calculated arrangements, and an un- remitted attention in directing their efforts.
A detached and unsupported settler is lia- ble, in the first place, to lose a great deal of time before he fixes on a situation. Unskill- ed in those indications, by which the nature of the soil in the forests is to be judged of, he wanders about with all the jealousy which conscious ignorance inspires. His vague re- searches terminate probably in a choice made at random ; in the mean while, he has not only lost his time, but his ideas have become unsettled. He will again, perhaps, take a dislike to the place he has chosen, and, by repeated changes, sustain more loss, than if
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he had employed his time on the most barren and unfavourable spot he had met with.
Those whose interests have been intrusted to the care of their superiors, have not always fared much better in this respect. A gentle- man, who had accompanied a party of emi- grants to Cape Breton in 1802, informed me, that, on their arrival, a situation was pointed out to them where they might have grants of land. Comparing it with that they had left, they were delighted, and were inclined to settle immediately. Another place, however, was shown to them, and they were allowed to choose. This situation was still more agree- able to them ; but, before they could make their determination, they heard of another that was yet finer, and proceeded to view it. Here, again, they found that they were at no great distance from some relations, who had formerly settled inNovaScotia. Havingfound every new situation better than the former; and, concluding that their friends must have cho- sen the best of all, they determined to join them. They proceeded therefore, with their
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families and their baggage, to that settle- ment, where they found that all the best si- tuations were taken up. They would willing- ly have returned, but had incurred so much expense, as well as loss of time, that they were under the necessity of remaining upon inferior land, with diminished resources.
Those who receive gratuitous grants of land are often subjected to delays, which more than counterbalance all the advantages. The loyalists, who were brought at the end of the American war to Nova Scotia, had to wait above a year, some of them nearly two, be- fore the surveyors had completed their work, and their allotments were pointed out to them. In Upper Canada, I met with some emigrants, who had left Scotland about two years before. On their arrival in that pro- vince, they had received a promise of grants of Crown lands, for which (though every dis- position to accommodate them had been shown by the officers of Government) they had till then been waiting, and not till then had they received possession. In the interval,
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most of the money they had brought with them was expended, and, in this exhausted condition, they were beginning the cultiva- tion of their property.
When the new settler is fixed on his land, his difficulties are not at an end : he is still exposed to much waste of time, and can sel- dom proceed in his work without interrup- tion. He must first procure provisions ; and, though no pecuniary difficulty should occur, he generally, from his ignorance of the coun- try, loses more time than necessary in this business. In bringing them home, he often finds himself much at a loss, from the wild and almost impassable state of the roads through the woods ; the same difficulty oc- curs whenever any article, however inconsi- derable, is wanted from the mill, the forge, or the store. From the want of a general at- tention to keep the settlements compact, and within reach of mutual assistance, most of the people who begin on new and untouched land, are reduced to a situation of more than savage solitude. The new settler from Eu-
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rope is unacquainted with the methods, by which a practised woodsman can find his way through the trackless forest. Every time he leaves his hut, he is exposed to the danger of being bewildered and lost ; if he has been sufficiently warned of this danger, to teach him the requisite degree of attention, still he can feel no confidence that his children will have the same caution ; and must still shud- der, when he thinks of the howling wilder- ness that surrounds him. The horror of these impressions has, in many instances, complete- ly un-nerved the mind of the settler, and ren- dered him incapable of any vigorous exer- tion.
But, though his mental energy should re- main unimpaired, the practical difficulties that await him are sufficient to discourage the most hardy. In every work he has to perform, he is unpractised, and has all the awkwardness of a novice. The settler, who begins on new lands, has little access to the assistance of professed artificers. He must Ipuild his own house, construct his own cart,
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and make almost all his own implements. Amidst the variety of these operations, to which a European is unaccustomed, it is well if he be not often totally at a loss, and una- ble to proceed. Winter may overtake him with his house unfinished, or, when com- pleted, he may find it insufficient to resist the rigours of the season. If illness attack him in his solitary residence, remote from medical assistance, his deplorable situation may easily be imagined. If, however, he escape this disaster, and proceed with indus- try to clear his land, this work, on which all his hopes are founded, is so new to him, that it must be expected to advance with a dis- couraging degree of slowness. His awkward- ness, too, exposes him to frequent accidents : the falling of the trees, which an experienced axe-man regulates with almost mathematical precision, often takes a novice by surprise ; and it is no rare occurrence, that he is severe- ly wounded in the course of his work. If he escape unhurt, he will probably, as the re- ward of a great deal of severe labour, have but a small spot of land cleared in the course
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of many months, perhaps not the fourth part of what a man accustomed to the business might have accomplished with less exertion. To cut down the trees is but half the work ; in destroying them, and preparing the land for the seed, a number of minutiae must be attended to ; if, from want of experience, these are omitted, the consequence may be fatal to the crop. The seasons of sowing, and many details in the management of unknown kinds of grain, are all to be learnt. Thus, independently of the accidents of seasons to which all are subject, and over and above the danger of losing his seed-time altogether, by not having his land ready, the new settler has to add many chances that, from his own igno- rance and mismanagement, his crop may to- tally fail.
All these disasters are within the bounds of probability, though the settler should be in no degree deficient in exertion. But, in the management of a number of people, it is a matter of much delicacy to keep alive their industry, and seldom in any great underta-
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king has this been fully accomplished. In such instances as that of New South Wales, where the progress of the colony depended on men who had no interest in their own work, the difficulty is obvious. But even where the settlers are to reap the entire benefit of their own industry, circumstan- ces, apparently inconsiderable, may tend to diminish their energy. When, to obviate the disadvantages of a new situation, assist- ance has been granted with a liberal hand, particularly when gratuitous rations of pro- visions have been allowed, the effect has al- most invariably been, by taking away the pressure of necessity, to render the settlers in- active, and to damp their exertions for over- coming the difficulties of their situation. A great proportion of the loyalists and disband- ed provincials, in Canada and Nova Scotia, performed scarcely any work, as long as they received rations from Government ; and, when these were discontinued, found themselves al- most as destitute, as if no aid had ever been given* The Maroon settlement near Halifax
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was totally ruined by mismanagement of the same kind.
The industry of new settlers has likewise been damped, in many cases, by injudicious regulations as to the disposal of land. Some grantees of large tracts in America, have at- tempted to settle them with people holding their farms on lease, like the tenantry of Eu- rope. Experience has proved, that this is impracticable within the reach of other pla- ces, where, for a low price, land may be had in absolute property. At any rate, the peo- ple who begin a new settlement, ought to have every stimulus to exertion, which the most permanent tenure can afford. But the opposite extreme has also its dangers ; the profusion with which gratuitous grants of Crown lands have been given in some situa- tions, has been scarcely less pernicious. It has taught the settlers to despise what they procured with so little difficulty ; and, by di- minishing their estimation of the spot on which they were fixed, and their attachment to it,
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has tended to enfeeble their exertions for its improvement.
The combined effect of these accumulated difficulties is seen in the long infancy of most new settled countries. Till the colonists, from their own lands, and the produce of their own labour, reap a harvest adequate to their maintenance, they cannot be considered as fairly established. In most instances of the kind, there has been a long and critical pe- riod of dependence on extraneous and preca- rious supplies. I do not refer to the first es- tablishments which were made on the conti- nent of America, at a period when little ex- perience had been obtained on the subject of colonization, and when the principles, on which a new establishment ought to be con- ducted, were perhaps unknown. But so lately as the year 1783, when the loyalists were settled in Nova Scotia and Canada, it was not supposed that they could provide for themselves in less than three years. A great proportion did not accomplish it even in this period ; and when the bountiful support of
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Government was discontinued, many of the settlements were abandoned. The colony in New South Wales was for six or seven years dependent on imported provisions ; and, du- ring all that time, was in hazard of famine, whenever a store-ship was unexpectedly re- tarded. The very island where I have esta- blished my own settlers, affords an instance in point : when it was first colonized by the En- glish about the year 1770, many farmers were brought from Europe, who, after being sup- ported for two years by extraneous supplies, went away in disgust, spreading the idea that the country was incapable of cultivation.
I will not assert that the people I took there have totally escaped all difficulties and dis- couragement ; but the arrangements for their accommodation have had so much success, that few, perhaps, in their situation, have suffered less, or have seen their difficulties so soon at an end.
This island of St John, or Prince Edward, is situated in lat. 46Q and 47% in the gulph of
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St. Laurence, near the coast of Nova Scotia, to which province it was formerly annexed. It now forms a separate government, having a civil establishment, on a small scale, but on the same plan as in other colonies. The island is about 120 miles long, and much inter- sected by arms of the sea, on the shores of which there is a thinly scattered population, estimated at about 7 or 8000. The whole of the lands were granted by the crown in the year 1767, in large lots. A great proportion of these fell into the hands of absentees, who have paid no attention to their improvement, and in consequence many very extensive tracts are totally uninhabited. I had acquired the pro- perty of some of these neglected lots, and the settlement I had in view, was to be fixed in a part of the coast, where, for upwards of 30 miles, there was not a single habitation. The spot selected for the principal establishment was separated by an arm of the sea, from any older settlement. Those that were nearest at hand, were of inconsiderable amount, and lit- tle benefit was derived from any intercourse with them ; so that the emigrants, who arri-
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ved on this occasion, were placed in circum- stances scarcely rhore favourable, than if the island had been completely desert.
These people? amounting to about 800 per- sons of all ages, reached the island in three ships, on the 7th, 9th, and 27th of August 1803. It had been my intention to come to the island some time before any of the set- lers, in order that every requisite preparation might be made. In this, however, a num- ber of untoward circumstances concurred to disappoint me ; and on my arrival at the ca- pital of the island, I learned that the ship of most importance had just arrived, and the passengers were landing at a place previously appointed for the purpose.
I lost no time in proceeding to the spot, where I found that the people had already lodged themselves in temporary wigwams, con- structed after the fashion of the Indians, by setting up a number of poles in a conical form, tied together at top, and covered with boughs of trees. Those of the spruce fir were preferred, and, when disposed in regular lay-
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ers of sufficient thickness, formed a very sub- stantial thatch, giving a shelter not inferior to that of a tent.
The settlers had spread themselves along the shore for the distance of about half a mile, upon the site of an old French village, which had been destroyed and abandoned after the capture of the island by the British forces in 1758. The land, which had formerly been cleared of wood, was overgrown again with thickets of young trees, interspersed with grassy glades. These open spots, though in- considerable as objects of cultivation, afford- ed a convenient situation for the encamp- ent, — indeed the only convenient place that could have been found, for all the rest of the coast was covered with thick wood, to the very edge of the water.
I arrived at the place late in the