The History of the Highland Clearances 1

The History of the Highland Clearances 1

The History of the Highland Clearances

Second Edition, Altered and Revised

: Alexander Mackenzie

 

CONTENTS.

 

 

EDITOR’S PREFACE, 7

 

INTRODUCTION, 9

 

SUTHERLAND--

 

Alexander Mackenzie on the Clearances, 19

The Rev. Donald Sage on the Sutherland Clearances, 32

General Stewart of Garth on the Sutherland Clearances, 41

Hugh Miller on the Sutherland Clearances, 52

Mr. James Loch on Sutherland Improvements, 69

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe on the Sutherland Clearances, 78

Reply to Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe by Donald Macleod, 88

 

TRIAL OF PATRICK SELLAR, 115

 

ROSS-SHIRE--

 

Glencalvie, 128

The Eviction of the Rosses, 134

Kintail, 143

Coigeach, 144

Strathconon, 144

The Black Isle, 146

The Island of Lewis, 147

Mr. Alexander Mackenzie on the Leckmelm Evictions, 149

Lochcarron, 161

The 78th Highlanders, 167

The Rev. Dr. John Kennedy on the Ross-shire Clearances, 169

 

INVERNESS-SHIRE--

 

Glengarry, 170

Strathglass, 187

Guisachan, 193

Glenelg, 194

Glendesseray and Locharkaig, 196

 

THE HEBRIDES--

 

North Uist, 198

Boreraig and Suisinish, Isle of Skye, 202

A Contrast, 212

South Uist and Barra, 213

The Island of Rum, 222

 

ARGYLLSHIRE--

 

The Island of Mull, 228

Ardnamurchan, 232

Morven, 235

Glenorchy, 237

 

BUTESHIRE--

 

Arran, 240

 

PERTHSHIRE--

 

Rannoch, 242

Breadalbane, 245

 

NOTABLE DICTA--

 

The Rev. Dr. Maclachlan, 247

A Highland Sheriff, 253

The Wizard of the North, 254

A Continental Historian, 254

Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, 255

A French Economist, 259

Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, 263

Hardships Endured by First Emigrants, 264

An Evicting Agent, 271

An Octogenarian Gael, 274

 

STATISTICAL STATEMENT--

 

Showing the Population in 1831, 1841, 1851, 1881, and

1911, of all Parishes in whole or in part in the Counties

of Perth, Argyll, Inverness, Ross and

Cromarty, Caithness, and Sutherland, 278-282

 

APPENDICES, 283

 

 

 

 

EDITOR’S PREFACE

 

TO SECOND EDITION.

 

 

Mackenzie’s _History of the Highland Clearances_, with its thrilling

and almost incredible narratives of oppression and eviction, has

been for a long time out of print. In view of the current movement,

described by Mr. Asquith as an “organised campaign against the present

system of land tenure,” it has occurred to the holder of the copyright,

Mr. Eneas Mackay, publisher, Stirling, that, at the present juncture,

a re-issue might be expediently prepared. He recognised that the story

of the great upheaval which, early in the nineteenth century, took

place among the Highland crofters would be of undoubted interest and

utility to those who follow the efforts now put forth to settle the

land question in Scotland. At his request I readily undertook the task

of re-editing.

 

The circumstances, or points of view, having changed in no slight

measure since the first appearance of the work, I decided to subject

it to a pretty thorough revision--to excise a large mass of irrelevant

matter and to introduce several fresh articles. Donald Macleod’s

“Gloomy Memories” are omitted out of considerations for space,

and because it is proposed to reprint them shortly in a separate

form. There is included, for the first time, a vindication of the

Sutherland Clearances by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of “Uncle

Tom’s Cabin,” and another by Mr. James Loch, principal factor on the

Sutherland Estates during the time the removals were carried out.

There are also given graphic and realistic word pictures of these

evictions by the Rev. Donald Sage. The general arrangement of the

book has been altered to the extent of grouping together the accounts

relating to each particular county, and descriptions are added of a

number of Clearances which were not dealt with in the first edition.

 

I have pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to Mr. Ian Macpherson,

M.P., and Dr. J. H. Fullarton, London, for kindly looking over the

proofs.

 

Special and very sincere thanks are due to Mr. John Henderson,

secretary of the National Library Club, London, who manifested the

kindest and liveliest interest in the undertaking. Not only did he read

the proofs with scrupulous care, but he was ever ready to give advice

and offer suggestions when cases of doubt arose. To me, one of the most

pleasant memories connected with the labour of editing is the valuable

assistance always so promptly and cheerfully given by Mr. Henderson.

 

I greatly appreciate the courtesy shown by Messrs. Daniel Ross & Co.,

Ltd., publishers, Wick, in permitting extracts to be taken from Mr.

Sage’s _Memorabilia Domestica_.

 

Regarding the Publisher, I may be permitted to mention that he rendered

my task very easy by providing, sometimes at considerable trouble and

expense, all works of reference which I considered would be of service

in endeavouring to make this History thoroughly accurate and reliable.

 

 

 

 

_INTRODUCTION._

 

 

It is with great pleasure that I accede to the request that I should

write a short introduction to welcome this reprint of so interesting

and valuable a book as Mackenzie’s _Highland Clearances_. It has long

been out of print, which anyone who recalls its first appearance will

easily understand. It was written by a Highlander who commanded in

a great measure the esteem of Highlanders, and it collected for the

first time the sane and authenticated accounts of the experience of the

Highlanders in the great agrarian crisis of their history. It appealed

to the race as no book within recent years has done. The Highlander

loves his past and his native land with a passionate attachment, and

the story of the great wrongs of the days of the clearances is still

deeply embedded in his mind. Within the last year or two many accounts,

more or less imaginary, have appeared purporting to be true stories

of those terrible days in the north, and it is peculiarly appropriate

that, when once again men’s minds are centred on the great problem of

the land in this country as a whole, and specific attention has been

directed towards the Highlands, this reprint should now appear. We

are all, therefore, under deep obligations to the public spirit and

enterprize of the publishers and others who have been good enough to

secure in an accessible form a reliable account of the conditions and

events which at once intensified the acuteness of the land-hunger in

the Highlands and constituted the blackest page in Highland history.

 

Many evil deeds have been associated with the abuse of the monopoly

power of land ownership in this and other countries, but it is safe

to say that nowhere within the limits of those islands, or, indeed,

anywhere else at any time have blacker or more foul deeds been

committed in the sacred name of property than in the Highlands of

Scotland in those days. It has always been a matter of astonishment