The History of the Highland Clearances 32

The History of the Highland Clearances 32

GUISACHAN.

 

BY ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.

 

The modern clearances which took place within the last quarter of

a century in Guisachan, Strathglass, by Sir Dudley Marjoribanks,

have been described in all their phases before a Committee of the

House of Commons in 1872. The Inspector of Poor for the parish of

Kiltarlity wrote a letter which was brought before the Committee, with

a statement from another source that, “in 1855, there were 16 farmers

on the estate; the number of cows they had was 62, and horses, 24; the

principal farmer had 2000 sheep, the next 1000, and the rest between

them 1200, giving a total of 4200. Now (1873) there is but one farmer,

and he leaves at Whitsunday; all these farmers lost the holdings on

which they ever lived in competency; indeed, it is well known that some

of them were able to lay by some money. They have been sent to the four

quarters of the globe, or to vegetate in Sir Dudley’s dandy cottages at

Tomich, made more for show than convenience, where they have to depend

on his employment or charity. To prove that all this is true, take at

random, the smith, the shoemaker, or the tailor, and say whether the

poverty and starvation were then or now? For instance, under the old

_régime_, the smith farmed a piece of land which supplied the wants

of his family with meal and potatoes; he had two cows, a horse, and a

score or two of sheep on the hill; he paid £7 of yearly rent; he now

has nothing but the bare walls of his cottage and smithy, for which

he pays £10. Of course he had his trade then as he has now. Will he

live more comfortably now than he did then?” It was stated, at the

same time, that, when Sir Dudley Marjoribanks bought the property,

there was a population of 255 souls upon it, and Sir Dudley, in his

examination, though he threw some doubt upon that statement, was quite

unable to refute it. The proprietor, on being asked, said that he did

not evict any of the people. But Mr. Macombie having said, “Then the

tenants went away of their own free will,” Sir Dudley replied, “I must

not say so quite. I told them that when they had found other places to

go to, I wished to have their farms.”

 

They were, in point of fact, evicted as much as any others of the

ancient tenantry in the Highlands, though it is but fair to say that

the same harsh cruelty was not applied in their case as in many of the

others recorded in these pages. Those who had been allowed to remain in

the new cottages, are without cow or sheep, or an inch of land, while

those alive of those sent off are spread over the wide world, like

those sent, as already described, from other places.

 

 

GLENELG.

 

BY ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.

 

In 1849 more than 500 souls left Glenelg. These petitioned the

proprietor, Mr. Baillie of Dochfour, to provide means of existence for

them at home by means of reclamation and improvements in the district,

or, failing this, to help them to emigrate. Mr. Baillie, after repeated

communications, made choice of the latter alternative, and suggested

that a local committee should be appointed to procure and supply him

with information as to the number of families willing to emigrate,

their circumstances, and the amount of aid necessary to enable them to

do so. This was done, and it was intimated to the proprietor that a sum

of £3000 would be required to land those willing to emigrate at Quebec.

This sum included passage money, free rations, a month’s sustenance

after the arrival of the party in Canada, and some clothing for the

more destitute. Ultimately, the proprietor offered the sum of £2000,

while the Highland Destitution Committee promised £500. A great deal

of misunderstanding occurred before the _Liscard_ finally sailed, in

consequence of misrepresentations made as to the food to be supplied on

board, while there were loud protests against sending the people away

without any medical man in charge. Through the activity and generous

sympathy of the late Mr. Stewart of Ensay, then tenant of Ellanreach,

on the Glenelg property, who took the side of the people, matters were

soon rectified. A doctor was secured, and the people satisfied as to

the rations to be served out to them during the passage, though these

did not come up to one-half what was originally promised. On the whole,

Mr. Baillie behaved liberally, but, considering the suitability of the

beautiful valley of Glenelg for arable and food-producing purposes, it

is to be regretted that he did not decide upon utilizing the labour

of the natives in bringing the district into a state of cultivation,

rather than have paid so much to banish them to a foreign land. That

they would themselves have preferred this is beyond question.

 

Mr. Mulock, father of the author of “John Halifax, Gentleman,” an

Englishman who could not be charged with any preconceived prejudices

or partiality for the Highlanders, travelled at this period through

the whole North, and ultimately published an account of what he had

seen. Regarding the Glenelg business, he says, as to their willingness

to emigrate:--“To suppose that numerous families would as a matter

of choice sever themselves from their loved soil, abolish all the

associations of local and patriotic sentiment, fling to the winds every

endearing recollection connected with the sojourneying spot of vanished

generations, and blot themselves, as it were, out of the book of

‘home-born happiness,’ is an hypothesis too unnatural to be encouraged

by any sober, well-regulated mind.” To satisfy himself, he called forty

to fifty heads of families together at Glenelg, who had signed an

agreement to emigrate, but who did not find room in the _Liscard_, and

were left behind, after selling off everything they possessed, and were

consequently reduced to a state of starvation. “I asked,” he says,

“these poor perfidiously treated creatures if, notwithstanding all

their hardships, they were willing emigrants from their native land.

With one voice they assured me that nothing short of the impossibility

of obtaining land or employment at home could drive them to seek the

doubtful benefits of a foreign shore. So far from the emigration

being, at Glenelg, or Lochalsh, or South Uist, a spontaneous movement

springing out of the wishes of the tenantry, I aver it to be, on the

contrary, the product of desperation, the calamitous light of hopeless

oppression visiting their sad hearts.” We have no hesitation in saying

that this is not only true of those to whom Mr. Mulock specially

refers, but to almost every soul who have left the Highlands for the

last sixty years. Only those who know the people intimately, and the

means adopted by factors, clergy, and others to produce an appearance

of spontaneity on the part of the helpless tenantry, can understand the

extent to which this statement is true. If a judicious system had been

applied of cultivating excellent land, capable of producing food in

abundance, in Glenelg, there was not another property in the Highlands

on which it was less necessary to send the people away than in that

beautiful and fertile valley.

 

 

GLENDESSERAY AND LOCHARKAIG

 

Great numbers were evicted from the Cameron country of Lochaber,

especially from Glendesseray and Locharkaig side. Indeed it is said

that there were so few Camerons left in the district, that not a

single tenant of the name attended the banquet given by the tenantry

when the late Lochiel came into possession. The details of Cameron

evictions would be found pretty much the same as those in other places,

except that an attempt has been made in this case to hold the factor

entirely and solely responsible for the removal of this noble people,

so renowned in the martial history of the country. That is a question,

however, which it is no part of our present purpose to discuss. What

we wish to expose is the unrighteous system which allowed such cruel

proceedings to take place here and elsewhere, by landlord or factor.

 

 

 

 

THE HEBRIDES.

 

 

BY ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.

 

The people of Skye and the Uist, where the Macdonalds for centuries

ruled in the manner of princes over a loyal and devoted people, were

treated not a whit better than those on the mainland, when their

services were no longer required to fight the battles of the Lords of

the Isles, or to secure to them their possessions, their dignity, and

power. _Bha latha eile ann!_ There was another day! When possessions

were held by the sword, those who wielded them were highly valued, and

well cared for. Now that sheep skins are found sufficient, what could

be more appropriate in the opinion of some of the sheepish chiefs of

modern times than to displace the people who anciently secured and held

the lands for real chiefs worthy of the name, and replace them by the

animals that produced the modern sheep skins by which they hold their

lands; especially when these were found to be better titles than the

old ones--the blood and sinew of their ancient vassals.

 

Prior to 1849, the manufacture of kelp in the Outer Hebrides had been

for many years a large source of income to the proprietors of those

islands, and a considerable revenue to the inhabitants; the lairds, in

consequence, for many years encouraged the people to remain, and it is

alleged that they multiplied to a degree quite out of proportion to

the means of subsistence within reach when kelp manufacture failed.

To make matters worse for the poor tenants, the rents were meanwhile

raised by the proprietors to more than double--not because the land

was considered worth more by itself, but because the possession of it

enabled the poor tenants to earn a certain sum a year from kelp made

out of the sea-ware to which their holdings entitled them, and out of

which the proprietor pocketed a profit of from £3 to £4 per ton, in

addition to the enhanced rent obtained from the crofter for the land.

In these circumstances one would have thought that some consideration

would have been shown to the people, who, it may perhaps be admitted,

were found in the altered circumstances too numerous to obtain a

livelihood in those islands; but such consideration does not appear to

have been given--indeed the very reverse.

 

 

NORTH UIST.

 

In 1849 Lord Macdonald determined to evict between 600 and 700

persons from Sollas, in North Uist, of which he was then proprietor.

They were at the time in a state of great misery from the failure of

the potato crop for several years previously in succession, many of

them having had to work for ninety-six hours a week for a pittance

of two stones of Indian meal once a fortnight. Sometimes even that

miserable dole was not forthcoming, and families had to live for weeks

solely on shell-fish picked up on the sea-shore. Some of the men were

employed on drainage works, for which public money was advanced to

the proprietors; but here, as in most other places throughout the

Highlands, the money earned was applied by the factors to wipe off

old arrears, while the people were permitted generally to starve.

His lordship having decided that they must go, notices of ejectment

were served upon them, to take effect on the 15th of May, 1849. They

asked for delay, to enable them to dispose of their cattle and other

effects to the best advantage at the summer markets, and offered to

work meanwhile making kelp, on terms which would prove remunerative

to the proprietors, if only, in the altered circumstances, they might

get their crofts on equitable terms--for their value, as such--apart

from the kelp manufacture, on account of which the rents had previously

been raised. Their petitions were ignored. No answers were received,

while at the same time they were directed to sow as much corn and

potatoes as they could during that spring, and for which, they were

told, they would be fully compensated, whatever happened. They sold

much of their effects to procure seed, and continued to work and

sow up to and even after the 15th of May. They then began to cut

their peats as usual, thinking they were after all to be allowed to

get the benefit. They were, however, soon disappointed--their goods

were hypothecated. Many of them were turned out of their houses,

the doors locked, and everything they possessed--cattle, crops, and

peats--seized. Even their bits of furniture were thrown out of doors in

the manner which had long become the fashion in such cases. The season

was too far advanced--towards the end of July--to start for Canada.

Before they could arrive there the cold winter would be upon them,

without means or money to provide against it. They naturally rebelled,

and the principal Sheriff-Substitute, Colquhoun, with his officers and

a strong body of police left Inverness for North Uist, to eject them

from their homes. Naturally unwilling to proceed to extremes, on the

arrival of the steamer at Armadale, they sent a messenger ashore to ask

for instructions to guide them in case of resistance, or if possible

to obtain a modification of his lordship’s views. Lord Macdonald had

no instructions to give, but referred the Sheriff to Mr. Cooper, his

factor, whose answer was that the whole population of Sollas would

be subject to eviction if they did not at once agree to emigrate.