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By ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.
It has been shown, under
"Glengarry," that a chief's widow, during her son's minority, was
responsible for the Knoydart evictions in 1853. Another chief's widow,
Marsali Bhinneach--Marjory, daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant of Dalvey,
widow of Duncan Macdonnell of Glengarry, who died in 1788—gave the whole
of Glencruaich as a sheep farm to one south country shepherd, and to
make room for him she evicted over 500 people from their ancient homes.
The late Edward Ellice stated before a Committee of the House of
Commons, in 1873, that about the time of the rebellion in 1745, the
population of Glengarry amounted to between 5000 and 6000. At the same
time the glen turned out an able-bodied warrior in support of Prince
Charles for every pound of rental paid to the proprietor. To-day it is
questionable if the same district could turn out twenty men—certainly
not that pumber of Macdonalds. The bad example of this heartless woman
was unfortunately imitated afterwards by her daughter Elizabeth, who, in
1795, married William Chisholm of Chisholm, and to whose evil influence
may be traced the great eviction which, in i8oi, cleared Strathglass
almost to a man of its ancient inhabitants. The Chisholm was delicate,
and often in bad health, so that the management of the estate fell into
the hands of his strong-minded and hard-hearted wife. In i8oi, no less
than 799 took ship at Fort William and Isle Martin from Strathglass, the
Aird, Glen Urquhart, and the neighbouring districts, all for Pictou,
Nova Scotia ; while in the following year, 473 from the same district
left Fort William, for Upper Canada, and 128 for Pictou. Five hundred
and fifty went aboard another ship at Knoydart, many of whom were from
Strathglass. In 1803, four different batches of 120 souls each, by four
different ships, left Strathglass, also for Pictou ; while not a few
went away with emigrants from other parts of the Highlands. During these
three years we find that no less than 5390 were driven out of these
Highland glens, and it will be seen that a very large portion of them
were evicted from Strathglass by the daughter of the notorious Marsali
Bhinneach. From among the living cargo of one of the vessels which
sailed from Fort William no less than fifty-three souls died, on the way
out, of an epidemic ; and, on the arrival of the living portion of the
cargo at Pictou, they were shut in on a narrow point of land, from
whence they were not allowed to communicate with any of their friends
who had gone before them, for fear of communicating the contagion. Here
they suffered indescribable hardships.
By a peculiar arrangement
between the Chisholm who died in 1793, and his wife, a considerable
portion of the people were saved for a time from the ruthless conduct of
Marsali Bhinneach's daughter and her co-adjutors. Alexander Chisholm
married Elizabeth, daughter of a Dr. Wilson, in Edinburgh. He made
provision for his wife in case of her outliving him, by which it was
left optional with her to take a stated sum annually, or the rental of
certain townships, or club farms. Her husband died in 1793, when the
estate reverted to his half-brother, William, and the widow, on the
advice of her only child, Mary, who, afterwards became Mrs. James Gooden
of London, made choice of the joint farms, instead of the sum of money
named in her marraige settlement; and though great efforts were made by
Marsali Bhinneach's daughter and her friends, the widow, Mrs. Alexander
Chisholm, kept the farms in her own hands, and took great pleasure in
seeing a prosperous tenantry in these townships, while all their
neighbours were heartlessly driven away. Not one of her tenants were
disturbed or interfered with in any way from the death of her husband,
in February 1793, until her own death in January, 1826, when,
unfortunately for them, their farms all came into the hands of the young
heir (whose sickly father died in 1817), and his cruel mother. For a few
years the tenants were left in possession, but only waiting an
opportunity to make a complete clearance of the whole Strath. Some had a
few years of their leases to run on other parts of the property, and
could not just then be expelled.
In 1830 every man who
held land on the property was requested to meet his chief at the local
inn of Cannich. They all obeyed, and were there at the appointed time,
but no chief came to meet them. The factor soon turned up, however, and
informed them that the laird had determined to enter into no negotiation
or any new arrangements with them that day. They were all in good
circumstances, without any arrears of rent, but were practically
banished from their homes in the most inconsiderate and cruel manner,
and it afterwards became known that their farms had been secretly let to
sheep farmers from the south, without the knowledge of the native
population in possession.
Mr. Colin Chisholm, who
was present at the meeting at Cannich, writes:—"I leave you to imagine
the bitter grief and disappointment of men who attended with glowing
hopes in the morning, but had to tell their families and dependents in
the evening that they could see no alternative before them but the
emigrant ship, and choose between the scorching prairies of Australia
and the icy regions of North America." It did not, however, come to
that. The late Lord Lovat, hearing of the harsh proceedings, proposed to
one of the large sheep farmers on his neighbouring property to give up
his farm, his lordship offering to give full value for his stock, so
that he might divide it among those evicted from the Chisholm estate.
This arrangement was amicably carried through, and at the next
Whitsunday-1831--the evicted tenants from Strathglass came into
possession of the large sheep farm of Glenstrathfarrar, and paid over to
the late tenant of the farm every farthing of the value set upon the
stock by two of the leading valuators in the country; a fact which
conclusively proved that the Strathglass tenants were quite capable of.
holding their own, and perfectly able to meet all claims that could be
made upon them by their old proprietor and unnatural chief. They became
very comfortable in their new homes; but about fifteen years after their
eviction from Strathglass they were again removed to make room for deer.
On this occasion the late Lord Lovat gave them similar holdings on other
portions of his property, and the sons and grandsons of the evicted
tenants of Strathglass are now, on the Lovat property, among the most
respectable and comfortable middle-class farmers in the county.
The result of the
Strathglass evictions was that only two of the ancient native stock
remained in possession of an inch of land on the estate of Chisholm.
When the present Chisholm came into possession he found, on his return
from Canada, only that small remnant of his own name and clan to receive
him. He brought back a few Chisholms from the Lovat property, and
re-established on his old farm a tenant who had been evicted nineteen
years before from the holding in which his father and grandfather died.
The great-grandfather was killed at Culloden, having been shot while
carrying his commander, young Chisholm, mortally wounded, from the
field. The gratitude of that chief's successors had been shown by his
ruthless eviction from the ancient home of his ancestors; but it is
gratifying to find the present chief making some reparation by bringing
back and liberally supporting the representatives of such a devoted
follower of his forbears. The present Chisholm, who has the character of
being a good landlord, is descended from a distant collateral branch of
the family. The evicting Chisholms, and their offpsring have, however,
every one of them, disappeared, and Mr. Colin Chisholm informs us that
there is not a human being now in Strathglass of the descendants of the
chief, or of the south country farmers, who were the chief instruments
in evicting the native population.
To give the reader an
idea of the class of men who occupied this district, it may be stated
that of the descendants of those who lived in Glen Canaich, one of
several smaller glens, at one time thickly populated in the Strath, but
now a perfect wilderness—there lived in the present generation, no less
than three colonels, one major, three captains, three lieutenants, seven
ensigns, one bishop, and fifteen priests.
Earlier in the history of
Strathglass and towards the end of last century, an attempt was made by
south country sheep farmers to persuade Alexander Chisholm to follow the
example of Glengarry, by clearing out the whole native population. Four
southerners, among them Gillespie, who took the farm of Glencruaich,
cleared by Glengarry, called upon the Chisholm, at Coinar, and tried
hard to convince him of the many advantages which would accrue to him by
the eviction of his tenantry, and turning the largest and best portions
of his estate into great sheep walks, for which they offered to pay him
large rents. His daughter, Mary, already referred to as Mrs. James
Gooden, was then in her teens. She heard the arguments used, and having
mildly expressed her objection to the heartless proposal of the greedy
southerners, she was ordered out of the room, crying bitterly. She,
however, found her way to the kitchen, called all the servants together,
and explained the cause of her trouble. The object of the guests at
Comar was soon circulated through the Strath, and early the following
morning over a thousand men met together in front of Comar House, and
demanded an interview with their chief. This was at once granted, and
the whole body of the people remonstrated with him for entertaining,
even for a moment, the cruel proceedings suggested by the strangers,
whose conduct the frightened natives characterised as infinitely worse
than that of the freebooting Lochaber men who, centuries before, came
with their swords and other instruments of death to rob his ancestors of
their patrimony, but who were defeated and driven out of the district by
the ancestors of those whom it was now proposed to evict out of their
native Strath, to make room for the greedy freebooters of modern times
and their sheep. The chief counselled quietness, and suggested that the
action they had taken might be construed as an act of inhospitality to
his guests, not characteristic, in any circumstances, of a Highland
chief.
The sheep farmers who
stood inside the open drawingroom window, heard all that had passed,
and, seeing the unexpected turn events were taking, and the desperate
resolve shown by the objects of their cruel purpose, they adopted the
better part of valour, slipped quietly out by the back door, mounted
their horses, galloped away as fast as their steeds could carry them,
and crossed the river Glass among the hooting and derision of the
assembled tenantry, heard until they crossed the hill which separates
Strathglass from Corriemony. The result of the interview with their
laird was a complete understanding between him and his tenants; and the
flying horsemen, looking behind them for the first time when they
reached the top of the Maol Bhuidhe, saw the assembled tenantry forming
a procession in front of Comar House, with pipers at their head, and the
Chisholm being carried, mounted shoulder-high, by his stalwart vassals,
on their way to Invercannich. The pleasant outcome of the whole was that
chief and clan expressed renewed confidence in each other, a
determination to continue in future in the same happy relationship, and
to maintain, each on his part, all modern and ancient bonds of fealty
ever entered into by their respective ancestors.
This, in fact, turned out
to be one of the happiest days that ever dawned on the glen. The people
were left unmolested so long as this Chisholm survived--a fact which
shows the wisdom of chief and people meeting face to face, and refusing
to permit others—whether greedy outsiders or selfish factors—to come and
foment mischief and misunderstanding between parties whose interests are
so closely bound together, and who, if they met and discussed their
differences, would seldom or ever have any disagreements of a serious
character. Worse counsel prevailed after Alexander's death, and the
result under the cruel daughter of the notorious Marsali Bhinneach, has
been already described.
Reference has been made
to the clearance of Glenstrathfarrar by the late Lord Lovat, but for the
people removed from there and other portions of the Lovat property, he
allotted lands in various other places on his own estates, so that,
although these changes were most injurious to his tenants, his
lordship's proceedings can hardly be called evictions in the ordinary
sense of the term. His predecessor, Archibald Fraser of Lovat, however,
evicted, like the Chisholms, hundreds from the Lovat estates. |
