The History of the Highland Clearances 7

The History of the Highland Clearances 7

“When the valleys and higher grounds were let to the shepherds, the

whole population was drawn down to the sea-shore, where they were

crowded on small lots of land, to earn their subsistence by labour

(where all are labourers and few employers) and by sea-fishing, the

latter so little congenial to their former habits. This cutting down

farms into lots was found so profitable, that over the whole of this

district, the sea-coast, where the shore is accessible, is thickly

studded with wretched cottages, crowded with starving inhabitants.

Ancient respectable tenants, who passed the greater part of life in the

enjoyment of abundance, and in the exercise of hospitality and charity,

possessing stocks of ten, twenty, and thirty breeding cows, with the

usual proportion of other stock, are now pining on one or two acres of

bad land, with one or two starved cows, and, for this accommodation

a calculation is made, that they must support their families and pay

the rent of their lots, which the land cannot afford. When the herring

fishery (the only fishery prosecuted on this coast) succeeds, they

generally satisfy the landlords, whatever privations they may suffer,

but when the fishing fails, they fall in arrears, and are sequestrated,

and their stock sold to pay the rents, their lots given to others,

and they and their families turned adrift on the world. The herring

fishery, always precarious, has, for a succession of years, been very

defective, and this class of people are reduced to extreme misery.

At first, some of them possessed capital, from converting their farm

stock into cash, but this has been long exhausted. It is distressing

to view the general poverty of this class of people, aggravated by

their having once enjoyed abundance and independence; and we cannot

sufficiently admire their meek and patient spirit, supported by the

powerful influence of religious and moral principle. There are still a

few small tenants on the old system, occupying the same farm jointly,

but they are falling fast to decay, and sinking into the new class of

cottars.”

 

This mode of sub-dividing small portions of inferior land is bad enough

certainly, and to propose the establishment of villages, in a pastoral

country, for the benefit of men who can neither betake themselves to

the cultivation of the land nor to commerce for earning the means of

subsistence, is doubtless a refinement in policy solely to be ascribed

to the enlightened and enlarged views peculiar to the new system. But,

leaving out of view the consideration that, from the prevalence of

turning corn lands into pasture, the demand for labour is diminished,

while the number of labourers is increased, it can scarcely be expected

that a man who had once been in the condition of a farmer, possessed

of land, and of considerable property in cattle, horses, sheep, and

money, often employing servants himself, conscious of his independence,

and proud of his ability to assist others, should, without the most

poignant feelings, descend to the rank of a hired labourer, even where

labour and payment can be obtained, more especially if he must serve on

the farms or in the country where he formerly commanded as a master.

 

It is not easy for those who live in a country like England, where

so many of the lower orders have nothing but what they acquire by

the labour of the passing day, and possess no permanent property or

share in the agricultural produce of the soil, to appreciate the

nature of the spirit of independence which is generated in countries

where the free cultivators of the soil constitute the major part of

the population. It can scarcely be imagined how proudly a man feels,

however small his property may be, when he has a spot of arable

land and pasture, stocked with corn, horses, and cows, a species of

property which, more than any other, binds him, by ties of interest

and attachment, to the spot with which he is connected. He considers

himself an independent person, placed in a station in society far

above the day labourer, who has no stake in the permanency of

existing circumstances, beyond the prospect of daily employment; his

independence being founded on permanent property, he has an interest

in the welfare of the state, by supporting which he renders his own

property more secure, and, although the value of the property may not

be great, it is every day in his view; his cattle and horses feed

around him; his grass and corn he sees growing and ripening; his

property is visible to all observers, which is calculated to raise

the owner in general consideration; and when a passing friend or

neighbour praises his thriving crops and his cattle, his heart swells

with pleasure, and he exerts himself to support and to preserve that

government and those laws which render it secure. Such is the case in

many parts of the world; such was formerly the case in Scotland, and is

still in many parts of the Highlands. Those who wish to see only the

two castes of capitalists and day-labourers, may smile at this union

of independence and poverty. But, that the opposite system is daily

quenching the independent spirit of the Highlanders, is an undoubted

fact, and gives additional strength to the arguments of those who

object to the reduction of the agricultural population, and regret

their removal to the great towns, and to the villages in preparation in

some parts of the country.

 

It is painful to dwell on this subject, but as information communicated

by men of honour, judgment, and perfect veracity, descriptive of

what they daily witness, affords the best means of forming a correct

judgment, and as these gentlemen, from their situations in life, have

no immediate interest in the determination of the question, beyond what

is dictated by humanity and a love of truth, their authority may be

considered as undoubted.

 

The following extract of a letter from a friend, as well as the extract

already quoted, is of this description. Speaking of the settlers on the

new allotments, he says:--

 

“I scarcely need tell you that these wretched people exhibit every

symptom of the most abject poverty, and the most helpless distress.

Their miserable lots in the moors, notwithstanding their utmost labour

and strictest economy, have not yielded them a sufficient crop for

the support of their families for three months. The little money they

were able to derive from the sale of their stock has, therefore, been

expended in the purchase of necessaries, and is now wholly exhausted.

Though they have now, therefore, overcome all their scruples about

leaving their native land, and possess the most ardent desire to

emigrate, in order to avoid more intolerable evils of starvation, and

have been much encouraged by the favourable accounts they have received

from their countrymen already in America, they cannot possibly pay the

expense of transporting themselves and their families thither.”

 

It has been said that an old Highlander warned his countrymen “to

take care of themselves, for the law had reached Ross-shire.” When

his fears were excited by vague apprehensions of change, he could

not well anticipate that the introduction of civil order, and the

extension of legal authority, which in an enlightened age tend to

advance the prosperity as well as promote the security of a nation,

should have been to his countrymen either the signals of banishment

from their native country, or the means of lowering the condition of

those who were permitted to remain. With more reason it might have

been expected that the principles of an enlightened age would have

gradually introduced beneficial changes among the ancient race; that

they would have softened down the harsher features of their character,

and prepared them for habits better suited to the cultivation of the

soil, than the indolent freedom of a pastoral life. Instead of this,

the new system, whatever may be its intrinsic merits or defects, has,

in too many cases, been carried into execution in a manner which has

excited the strongest and most indignant sensations in the breasts of

those who do not overlook the present inconvenience and distress of

the many, in the eager pursuit of a prospective advantage to the few.

The consequences which have resulted, and the contrast between the

present and past condition of the people, and between their present and

past disposition and feelings towards their superiors, show, in the

most striking light, the impolicy of attempting, with such unnatural

rapidity, innovations which it would require an age, instead of a few

years, to accomplish in a salutary manner, and the impossibility of

effecting them without inflicting great misery, endangering morals, and

undermining loyalty to the king, and respect for constituted authority.

 

A love of change, proceeding from the actual possession of wealth,

or from the desire of acquiring it, disturbs, by an ill-directed

influence, the gradual and effectual progress of those improvements

which, instead of benefiting the man of capital alone, should equally

distribute their advantages to all. In the prosecution of recent

changes in the north, it would appear that the original inhabitants

were never thought of, nor included in the system which was to be

productive of such wealth to the landlord, the man of capital, and the

country at large,--and that no native could be intrusted with, or,

perhaps, none was found hardy enough to act a part in the execution of

plans which commenced with the ejectment of their unfortunate friends

and neighbours. Strangers were, therefore, called in, and whole glens

cleared of their inhabitants, who, in some instances, resisted these

mandates (although legally executed), in the hope of preserving to

their families their ancient homes, to which all were enthusiastically

attached. These people, blameless in every respect, save their poverty

and ignorance of modern agriculture, could not believe that such harsh

measures proceeded from their honoured superiors, who had hitherto been

kind, and to whom they themselves had ever been attached and faithful.

The whole was attributed to the acting agents, and to them, therefore,

their indignation was principally directed; and, in some instances,

their resistance was so obstinate, that it became necessary to enforce

the orders “vi et armis,” and to have recourse to a mode of ejectment,

happily long obsolete, by setting their houses on fire. This last

species of legal proceeding was so peculiarly conclusive and forcible

that even the stubborn Highlanders, with all their attachment to the

homes of their fathers, were compelled to yield.

 

In the first instances of this mode of removing refractory tenants, a

small compensation (six shillings), in two separate sums, was allowed

for the houses destroyed. Some of the ejected tenants were also allowed

small allotments of land, on which they were to build houses at their

own expense, no assistance being given for that purpose. Perhaps it

was owing to this that they were the more reluctant to remove till

they had built houses on their new stations. The compensations allowed

in the more recent removals are stated to have been more liberal; and

the improvements which have succeeded those summary ejectments of

the ancient inhabitants are highly eulogised both in pamphlets and

newspapers.

 

Some people may, however, be inclined to doubt the advantages of

improvements which called for such frequent apologies; for, if more

lenient measures had been pursued, vindication would have, perhaps,

been unnecessary, and the trial of one of the acting agents might have

been avoided.

 

This trial was brought forward at the instance of the Lord Advocate,

in consequence of the loud cry of indignation raised in the country

against proceedings characterised by the sheriff of the county as

“conduct which has seldom disgraced any country.” But the trial ended

(as was expected by every person who understood the circumstances) in

the acquittal of the acting agent, the verdict of the jury proceeding

on the principle that he acted under legal authority. This acquittal,

however, did by no means diminish the general feeling of culpability;

it only transferred the offence from the agent to a quarter too high

and too distant to be directly affected by public indignation, if,

indeed, there be any station so elevated, or so distant, that public

indignation, justly excited, will not, sooner or later, reach, so as to

touch the feelings, however obtuse, of the transgressor of that law of

humanity written on every upright mind, and deeply engraved on every

kind and generous heart.

 

It must, however, be a matter of deep regret, that such a line of

proceeding was pursued with regard to these brave, unfortunate, and

well-principled people, as excited a sensation of horror, and a

conviction of culpability, so powerful as only to be removed by an

appeal to a criminal court. It is no less to be deplored that any

conduct sanctioned by authority, even although productive of ultimate

advantage (and how it can produce any advantage beyond what might have

been obtained by pursuing a scheme of conciliation and encouragement

is a very questionable point), should have, in the first instance,

inflicted such general misery. More humane measures would undoubtedly

have answered every good purpose; and had such a course been pursued,

as an enlightened humanity would have suggested, instead of depopulated

glens and starving peasantry, alienated from their superiors, and,

in the exacerbation of their feelings, too ready to imbibe opinions

hostile to the best interests of their country, we should still have

seen a high-spirited and loyal people, ready, at the nod of their

respected chiefs, to embody themselves into regiments, with the same

zeal as in former times; and when enrolled among the defenders of

their country, to exhibit a conduct honourable to that country and

to their profession. Such is the acknowledged character of the men

of these districts as soldiers, when called forth in the service of

their country, although they be now described as irregular in their

habits, and a burthen on the lands which gave them birth, and on which

their forefathers maintained the honour, and promoted the wealth and

prosperity of the ancestors of those who now reject them.