or under Mar in 1715, and after Culloden in 1745 quite
a hegira took place, many of whom found service in the army of France.
Individuals, seeking employment. found their way into England before 1724.
Although there was a strong movement for England from the Lowlands, yet
many were from the Highlands, to whom was partly due the old proverb,
"There never came a fool from Scotland." These emigrants, from the
Highlands, were principally those having trades, who sought to better
their condition.
Seven hundred prisoners taken at
Preston were sold as slaves to some West Indian merchants, which was a
cruel proceeding, when it is considered that the greater part of these men
were Highlanders, who had joined the army in obedience to the commands of
their chiefs. Wholly unfitted for such labor as would be required in the
West Indies and unacclimated. their fate may be readily assumed. But this
was no more heartless than the execution in Lancashire of twenty-two of
their companions.
The specifications above enumerated
have no bearing on the emigration which took place on a large scale, the
consequences of which, at the time, arrested the attention of the nation.
The causes now to be enumerated grew out of the change of policy following
the battle of Culloden. The atrocities following that battle were both for
vengeance and to break the military spirit of the Highlanders. The
legislative enactments broke the nobler spirit of the people. The rights
and welfare of the people at large were totally ignored, and no provisions
made for their future welfare. The country was left in a state of
commotion and confusion resulting from the changes consequent to the
overthrow of the old system, the breaking up of old relationship, and the
gradual encroachment of Lowland civilization, and methods of agriculture.
While these changes at first were neither great nor extensive, yet they
were sufficient to keep the country in a ferment or uproar. The change was
largely in the manner of an experiment in order to find out the most
profitable way of adaptation to the new regime. These experiments resulted
in the unsettling of old manners, customs, and ideas, which caused
discontent and misery among the people. The actual change was slow; the
innovations, as a rule, began in those districts bordering on the
Lowlands, and thence proceeded in a northwesterly direction.
In all probability the first shock
felt by the clansmen, under the new order of things, was the abolishing
the ancient clan systern, and the reduction of the chiefs to the condition
of landlords. For awhile the people failed to realize this new order of
affairs, for the gentlemen and common people still continued to regard
their chief in the same light as formerly, not questioning but their
obedience to the head of their clan was independent of legislative
enactment. They were still ready to make any sacrifice for his sake, and
felt it to be their duty to do what they could for his support. They still
believed that the chief’s duty to his people remained unaltered, and he
was bound to see that they did not want, and to succor them in distress.
The first effects in the change in
tribal relations were felt on those estates that had been forfeited on
account of the chiefs and gentlemen having been compelled to leave the
country in order to save their lives. These estates were entrusted to the
management of commissioners who rudely applied their powers under the new
arrangement of affairs. When the chiefs, now reduced to the position of
lairds, began to realize their condition, and the advantage of making
their lands yield them as large an income as possible, followed the
example of demanding a rent. A rental value had never been exacted before,
for it was the universal belief that the land belonged to the clan in
common. Some of the older chiefs, then living, held to the same opinion,
and among such, a change was not perceptible until a new landlord came
into possession. The gentlemen of the clan and the tacks-men, or large
farmers, firmly believed that they had as much right to a share of the
lands as the chief himself. In the beginning the rent was not high nor
more than the lands would bear; but it was resented by the tacksmen,
deeming it a wanton injury inflicted in the house of their dearest friend.
They were hurt at the idea that the chief,—the father of his people—should
be controlled by such a mercenary idea, and to exercise that power which
gave him the authority to lease the lands to the highest bidder. This
policy, which they deemed selfish and unjust, naturally cut them to the
quick. They and their ancestors had occupied their farms for many
generations; their birth was as good and their genealogy as old as that of
the chief himself, to whom they were all blood relations, and whose
loyalty was unshaken. True, they had no written document, no "paltry
sheep-skin," as they called it, to prove the right to their farms, but
such had never been the custom, and these parchments quite a modern
innovation, and, in former times, before a chief would have tried to wrest
from them that which had been given by a former chief to their fathers,
would have bitten out his tongue before he would have asked a bond. There
can be no doubt that originally when a chief bestowed a share of his
property upon his son or other near relation, he intended that the latter
should keep it for himself and his descendants. To these tacksmen it was
injury enough that an alien government should interfere in their domestic
relations, but for the chief to turn against them was a wound which no
balm could heal. Before they would submit to these exactions, they would
first give up their holdings; which many of them did and emigrated to
America, taking with them servants and sub-tenants, and enticing still
others to follow them by the glowing accounts which they sent home of
their good fortune in the favored country far to the west. In some cases
the farms thus vacated were let to other tacksmen, but in most instances
the new system was introduced by letting the land directly to what was
formerly sub-tenants, or those who had held the land immediately from the
ousted tacksmen.
There was a class of lairds who had
tasted the sweets of southern luxuries and who vied with the more opulent,
increased the rate of rent to such an extent as to deprive the tacksmen of
their holdings. This caused an influx of lowland farmers, who with their
improved methods could compete successfully against their less favored
northern neighbors. The danger of southern luxuries had been foreseen and
an attempt had been made to provide against it. As far back as the year
1744, in order to discourage such things, at a meeting of the chiefs of
the Isle of Skye, Sir Alexander MacDonald of MacDonald, Norman MacLeod of
MacLeod, John MacKinnon of MacKinnon, and Malcolm MacLeod of Raasay, held
in Portree, it was agreed to discontinue and discountenance the use of
brandy, tobacco and tea.
The placing of the land in the hands
of aliens was deplored in its results as may be seen from the following
portrayal given by Buchanan in his "Travels in the Hebrides," referring to
about 1780: —"At present they are obliged to be much more submissive to
their tacksmen than ever they were in former times to their lairds or
lords. There is a great difference between that mild treatment which is
shown to sub-tenants and even scallags, by the old lessees, descended of
ancient and honorable families, and the outrageous rapacity of those
necessitous strangers who have obtained leases from absent proprietors,
who treat the natives as if they were a conquered and inferior race of
mortals. In short, they treat them like beasts of burden; and in all
respects like slaves attached to the soil, as they cannot obtain new
habitations, on account of the combinations already mentioned, and are
entirely at the mercy of the laird or tacksman . Formerly, the personal
service of the tenant did not usually exceed eight or ten days in the
year. There lives at present at Scalpa, in the isle of Harris, a tacksman
of a large district, who instead of six days’ work paid by the sub-tenants
to his predecessor in the lease, has raised the predial service, called in
that and in other parts of Scotland manerial bondage, to fifty-two
days in the year at once; besides many other services to be performed at
different though regular and stated times; as tanning leather for brogans,
making heather ropes for thatch, digging and drying peats for fuel; one
pannier of peat charcoal to be carried to the smith; so many days for
gathering and shearing sheep and lambs; for ferrying cattle from island to
island, and other distant places, and several days for going on distant
errands; so many pounds of wool to be spun into yarn. And over and above
all this, they must lend their aid upon any unforseen occurrence whenever
they are called on. The constant service of two months at once is
performed at the proper season in making kelp. On the whole, this
gentleman’s sub-tenants may be computed to devote to his service full
three days in the week. But this is not all: they have to pay besides
yearly a certain number of cocks, hen, butter, and cheese, called
CAORIGH-FERRIN, the Wife’s Portion. This, it must be owned, is one of the
most severe and rigorous tacksmen descended from the old inhabitants, in
all the Western Hebrides: but the situation of his sub-tenants exhibits
but too faithful a picture of the sub-tenants of those places in general,
and the exact counterpart of such enormous oppression is to be found at
Luskintire." [Keltie's "History of the Highland Clans," Vol. II, p.35.]
The dismissal of retainers kept by
the chiefs during feudal times added to the discontent. For the protection
of the clan it had been necessary to keep a retinue of trained warriors.
These were no longer necessary, and under the changed state of affairs, an
expense that could be illy afforded. This class found themselves without a
vocation, and they would sow the seeds of discontent, if they remained in
the country. They must either enter the army or else go to another country
in search of a vocation.
Unquestionably the most potent of
all causes for emigration was the introduction of sheep-farming. That the
country was well adapted for sheep goes without disputation. Sheep had
always been kept in the Highlands with the black cattle, but not in large
numbers. The lowland lessees introduced sheep on a large scale, involving
the junction of many small farms into one, each of which had been hitherto
occupied by a number of tenants. This engrossing of farms and consequent
depopulation was also a fruitful source of discontent and misery to those
who had to vacate their homes and native glens. Many of those displaced by
sheep and one or two Lowland shepherds, emigrated like the discontented
tacksmen to America, and those who remained looked with an ill-will and an
evil eye on the intruders. Some of the more humane landlords invited the
oppressed to remove to their estates, while others tried to prevent the
ousted tenants from leaving the country by setting apart some particular
spot along the sea-shore, or else on waste land that had never been
touched by the plow, on which they might build houses and have an acre or
two for support: Those removed to the coast were encouraged to prosecute
the fishing along with their agricultural labors. It was mainly by a
number of such ousted Highlanders that the great and arduous undertaking
was accomplished of bringing into a state of cultivation Kincardine Moss,
in Perthshire. At that time, 1767, the task to be undertaken was one of
stupendous magnitude; but was so successfully carried out that two
thousand acres were reclaimed which for centuries had rested under seven
feet of heath and vegetable matter. Similarly many other spots were
brought into a state of cultivation. But this, and other pursuits then
engaged in, did not occupy the time of all who had been despoiled of their
homes.
The breaking up of old habits and
customs and the forcible importation of those that are foreign must not
only engender hate but also cause misery. It is the uniform testimony of
all travellers, who visited the Highlands during the latter half of the
eighteenth century, especially Pennant, Boswell, Johnson, Newte, and
Buchanan, that the condition of the country was deplorable. Without
quoting from all, let the following lengthy extract suffice, which is from
Buchanan:
"Upon the whole, the situation of
these people, inhabitants of Britain! is such as no language can describe,
nor fancy conceive. If, with great labor and fatigue, the farmer raises a
slender crop of oats and barley, the autumnal rains often baffle his
utmost efforts, and frustrate all his expectations; and instead of being
able to pay an exorbitant rent, he sees his family in danger of perishing
during the ensuing winter, when he is precluded from any possibility of
assistance elsewhere. Nor are his cattle in a better situation; in summer
they pick up a scanty support amongst the morasses or heathy mountains;
but in winter, when the grounds are covered with snow, and when the naked
wilds afford neither shelter nor subsistence, the few cows, small, lean,
and ready to drop down through want of pasture, are brought into the hut
where the family resides, and frequently share with them the small stock
of meal which had been purchased, or raised, for the family only; while
the cattle thus sustained, are bled occasionally, to afford nourishment
for the children after it bath been boiled or made into cakes. The sheep
being left upon the open heaths, seek to shelter themselves from the
inclemency of the weather amongst the hollows upon the lee-side of the
mountains, and here they are frequently buried under the snow for several
weeks together, and in severe seasons during two months and upwards. They
eat their own and each other’s wool, and hold out wonderfully under cold
and hunger; but even in moderate winters, a considerable number are
generally found dead after the snow hath disappeared, and in rigorous
seasons few or none are left alive. Meanwhile the steward, hard pressed by
letters from Almack’s or Newmarket, demands the rent in a tone which makes
no great allowance for unpropitious seasons, the death of cattle, and
other accidental misfortunes: disguising the feelings of his own
breast—his Honor’s wants must at any rate be supplied, the bills must be
duly negotiated. Such is the state of farming, if it may be so called,
throughout the interior parts of the Highlands; but as that country has an
extensive coast. and many islands, it may be supposed that the inhabitants
of those shores enjoy all the benefits of their maritime situation. This,
however, is not the case ; those gifts of nature, which in any other
commercial kingdom would have been rendered subservient to the most
valuable purposes, are in Scotland lost, or nearly so, to the poor natives
and the public. The only difference, therefore, between the inhabitants of
the interior parts and those of the more distant coasts, consists in this,
that the latter, with the labors of the field, have to encounter
alternately the dangers of the ocean and all the fatigues of navigation.
To the distressing circumstances at home, as stated above, new
difficulties and toils await the devoted farmer when abroad. He leaves his
family in October, accompanied by his sons, brothers, and frequently an
aged parent, and embarks on board a small open boat, in quest of the
herring fishery, with no other provisions than oatmeal, potatoes, and
fresh water; no other bedding than heath, twigs, or straw, the covering,
if any, an old sail. Thus provided, he searches from bay to bay, through
turbulent seas, frequently for several weeks together, before the shoals
of herring are discovered. The glad tidings serve to vary, but not to
diminish his fatigues. Unremitting nightly labor (the time when the
herrings are taken), pinching cold winds, heavy seas, uninhabited shores
covered with snow, or deluged with rain, contribute towards filling up the
measure of his distresses ; while to men of such exquisite feelings as the
Highlanders generally possess, the scene which awaits him at home does it
most effectually. Having disposed of his capture to the Busses, he returns
in January through a long navigation, frequently amidst unceasing
hurricanes, not to a comfortable home and a cheerful family, but to a hut
composed of turf, without windows, doors, or chim— ney, environed with
snow, and almost hid from the eye by its astonishing depth. Upon entering
this solitary mansion, he generally finds a part of his family, sometimes
the whole, lying upon heath or straw, languishing through want or
epidemical disease; while the few surviving cows, which possess the other
end of the cottage, instead of furnishing further supplies of milk or
blood, demand his immediate attention to keep them in existence. The
season now approaches when he is again to delve and labor the ground, on
the same slender prospect of a plentiful crop or a dry harvest. The cattle
which have survived the famine of the winter, are turned out to the
mountains; and. having put his domestic affairs into the best situation
which a train of accumulated misfortunes admits of, he resumes the oar,
either in quest of herring or the white fishery. If successful in the
latter, he sets out in his open boat upon a voyage (taking the Hebrides
and the opposite coast at a medium distance) of two hundred miles, to vend
his cargo of dried cod, ling, etc., at Greenock or Glasgow. The product,
which seldom exceeds twelve or fifteen pounds, is laid out, in conjunction
with his companions, upon meal and fishing tackle : and he returns through
the same tedious navigation. The autumn calls his attention again to the
field the usual round of disappointment, fatigue, and distress awaits him
; thus dragging through a wretched existence in the hope of soon arriving
in that country where the weary shall be at rest." [Keltie's
"History of the Highland Clans," Vol. II, p. 42.]
The writer most pitiably laments
that twenty thousand of these wretched people had to leave their homes and
famine-struck condition, and the oppression of their lairds, for lands and
houses of their own in a fairer and more fertile land, where independence
and affluence were at their command. Nothing but misery and degradation at
home; happiness, riches and advancement beyond the ocean. Under such a
system it would be no special foresight to predict a famine, which came to
pass in 1770 and again in 1782-3. Whatever may be the evils under the clan
system, and there certainly were such, none caused the oppression and
misery which that devoted people have suffered since its abolishment. So
far as contentment, happiness, and a wise regard for interest, it would
have been better for the masses had the old system continued. As a matter
of fact, however, those who emigrated found a greater latitude and
brighter prospects for their descendants.
From what has been stated it will be
noticed that it was a matter of necessity and not a spirit of adventure
that drove the mass of Highlanders to America; but those who came,
nevertheless, were enterprising and anxious to carve out their own
fortunes. Before starting on the long and perilous journey across the
Atlantic they were first forced to break the mystic spell that bound them
to their native hills and glens, that had a charm and an association bound
by a sacred tie. A venerable divine of a Highland parish who had
repeatedly witnessed the fond affection of his parishioners in taking
their departure, narrated how they approached the sacred edifice, ever
dear to them, by the most hallowed associations, and with tears in their
eyes kissed its
very walls, how they made an
emphatic pause in losing sight of the romantic scenes of their childhood,
with its kirks and cots, and thousand memories, and as if taking a formal
and lasting adieu, uncovered their heads and waived their bonnets three
times towards the scene, and then with heavy steps and aching hearts
resumed their pilgrimage towards new scenes in distant climes. [" Celtic
Magazine," Vol. 1, p. 143.]
"Farewell to the land of the mountain
and wood,
Farewell to the home of the brave and the good,
My bark is afloat on the blue-rolling main,
And I ne’er shall behold thee, dear Scotland again!
Adieu to the scenes of my life’s
early morn,
From the place of my birth I am cruelly torn;
The tyrant oppresses the land of the free:
And leaves but the name of my sires unto me.
Oh! home of my fathers, I bid thee
adieu,
For soon will thy hill-tops retreat from my view,
With sad drooping heart I depart from thy shore,
To behold thy fair valleys and mountains no more.
‘Twas there that I woo’d thee, young
Flora, my wife,
When my bosom was warm in the morning of life.
I courted thy love ‘mong the heather so brown,
And heaven did I bless when it made thee my own.
The friends of my early years, where
are they now?
Each kind honest heart, and each brave manly brow:
Some sleep in the churchyard from tyranny free,
And others are crossing the ocean with me.
Lo! now on the boundless Atlantic I
stray,
To a strange foreign realm I am wafted away,
Before me as far as my vision can glance,
I see but the wave rolling wat’ry expanse.
So farewell my country and all that
is dear,
The hour is arrived and the bark is asteer,
I go and forever, oh! Scotland adieu!
The land of my fathers no more I shall view."
—Peter Crerar.
America was the one great inviting
field that opened wide her doors to the oppressed of all nations. The
Highlanders hastened thither; first in small companies, or singly, and
afterwards in sufficient numbers to form distinctive settlements. These
be— longed to the better class, bringing with them a certain amount of
property, intelligent, persevering, religious, and in many instances
closely related to the chief. Who was the first Highlander, and in what
year he settled in America, has not been determined. It is impossible to
judge by the name, because it would not specially signify, for as has been
noted, Highlanders had gone to the north of Ireland, and in the very first
migrations of the Scotch-Irish, their descendants landed at Boston and
Philadelphia. It is, however, positively known that individual members of
the clans, born in the Highlands, and brought up under the jurisdiction of
the chiefs, settled permanently in America before 1724. [See Appendix,
Note A. See Appendix, Note B.] The number of these must have been very
small, for a greater migration would have attracted attention. In 1729,
there arrived at the port of Philadelphia, five thousand six hundred and
fifty-five Irish emigrants, and only two hundred and sixty-seven English,
forty-three Scotch, and three hundred and forty-three Germans. Of the
forty-three Scotch it would be impossible to ascertain how many of them
were from the Highlands, because all people from Scotland were designated
under the one word. But if the whole number were of the Gaelic race, and
the ratio kept up it would be almost insignificant, if scattered from one
end of the Colonies to the other. After the wave of emigration had finally
set in then the numbers of small companies would rapidly increase and the
ratio would be largely augmented.
It is not to be presumed that the emigrants found the
New World to be all their fancies had pictured. If they had left misery
and oppression behind them, they were destined to encounter hardships and
disappointments. A new country, however great may be its attractions,
necessarily has its disadvantages. It takes time, patience, industry,
perseverance and ingenuity to convert a wilderness into an abode of
civilization. Innumerable obstacles
must be overcome, which eventually give way before the
indomitable will of man. Years of hard service must be rendered ere the
comforts of home are obtained, the farm properly stocked, and the ways for
traffic opened. After the first impressions of the
emigrant are over, a longing desire for the old home engrosses his heart,
and a self-censure for the step he has taken. Time ameliorates these
difficulties, and the wisdom of the undertaking becomes more apparent,
while contentment and prosperity rival all other claims. The Highlander in
the land of the stranger, no longer an alien, grows stronger in his love
for his new surroundings, and gradually becomes just as patriotic for the
new as he was for the old country. All its civilization, endearments, and
progress, become a part of his being. His memory, however, lingers over
the scenes of his early youth, and in his dreams he once more abides in
his native glens, and receives the blessings of his kind, tender, loving
mother. Were it even thus to all who set forth to seek their fortunes it
would be well; but to hundreds who left their homes in fond anticipation,
not a single ray of light shone athwart their progress, for all was dark
and forbidding. Misrepresentation, treachery, and betrayal were too
frequently practiced, and in misery, heart-broken and despondent many
dropped to rise no more, welcoming death as a deliverer.
