PRIZE ESSAY
The prize of ten guineas
offered by The Mackintosh of Mackintosh, under the auspices of the
Society, for the best essay on “The Social Progress of the Highlands
since 1800” was won by Mr A. Poison, teacher, Dunbeath. Mr Poison’s
essay is as follows:—
THE SOCIAL PROGRESS OF THE
HIGHLANDS SINCE 1800.
For people and nations a
period of one hundred years is generally regarded by students of
sociology as rather a short one for the purpose of contrasting and
comparing the social state at its beginning and end. The progress made
by the Highlands is, however, quite a marked exception to this general
rule. To old people still alive, and more especially to students of
Highland history, it is abundantly evident that the social condition of
the people, as well as the face of the country, has undergone
extraordinary changes within this comparatively short period. Up to the
middle of last century the Highlands of Scotland was as much an unknown
land as many parts of the interior of Africa still are.
Lord Macaulay, in writing
of the period immediately succeeding the Revolution, and depending for
his information on Captain Burt’s letters from Scotland and other
documents written in the early part of last century by Southrons, who
had themselves never seen the Highlands, says, that if an observer were
to pass through the Highlands then—“He would have to endure hardships as
great as if he had sojourned among the Æquimeaux or the Samoyeds. ... In
many dwellings the furniture, the food, the clothing, nay, the very hair
and skin of his hosts, would have put his philosophy to the proof. His
lodging would sometimes have been in a hut of which every nook would
have swarmed with vermin. He would have inhaled an atmosphere thick with
peat smoke, and foul with a hundred noisome exhalations. At supper,
grain fit only for horses would have been set before him, accompanied by
a cake of blood drawn from living cows. Some of the company with which
he would have feasted would have been covered with cutaneous eruptions,
and others would have been smeared with tar like sheep. His couch would
have been bare earth, dry or wet as the weather might be, and from that
couch he would have risen, half-poisoned with stench, half-blind with
the reek of turf, and half-mad with itch.” Several of the particulars of
this dark picture of the conditions under which Highlanders had to live
are repeated by other writers, but there is grave reason to doubt that
it ever could apply to the whole Highlands, or even to any part of it in
its entirety. But notwithstanding what must have been the rather hurtful
influence of some such surroundings it had even then to be admitted that
Highlanders possessed a superiority of general character. Macaulay
further on says, regarding them, As there was no other part of the
island where men sordidly clothed, lodged, and fed, indulged themselves
to such a degree in the idle sauntering habits of an aristocracy, so
there was no other part of the island where such men had in such a
degree the better qualities of an aristocracy, grace, and dignity of
manner, self-respect, and that noble sensibility which makes dishonour
more terrible than death. A gentleman from Skye or Lochaber, whose
clothes were begrimed with the accumulated filth of years, and whose
hovel smelt worse than an English hog-stye, would often do the honours
of that hovel with a lofty courtesy worthy of the splendid circle of
Versailles. Though he had as little book-learning as the most stupid
ploughboys of England, it would be a great error to put him in the same
intellectual rank with such ploughboys.” This estimate of Highlanders
has since then been endorsed by many a writer who has had opportunities
of knowing them well, and no later than 1884, such an eminent authority
as the Royal Commission sent to enquire into the crofters grievances
said, “The crofter and cottar population of the Highlands and Islands,
small though it be, is a nursery of good workers and citizens for the
whole empire. In this respect the stock is exceptionally valuable. By
sound physical constitution, native intelligence, and good moral
training, it is particularly fitted to recruit the people of our
industrial centres.” This superiority of character has stood not only
Highlanders themselves in good stead, but the whole nation as well, for
had they been less noble than they are, it is extremely unlikely that
they could have quietly borne the privations, hardships, insults, and
wrongs which they have so often been called on to endure, or would have
borne themselves with so much valour when the empire was imperilled.
In considering this
people’s social progress it will conduce to clearness to trace the
progress made in each branch of what constitutes their social condition,
and it is, therefore, necessary to show—
I. How those depending on
the soil and the surrounding soil— farmer, crofter, labourer, and
fisherman—have had their lot ameliorated.
II. How in religion and
morals, superstition and ignorance have given place to an educated and
efficient pastorate and high ideals of Christian duty on the part of the
laity.
III. How in education, in
place of a people among whom a century ago persons who could sign there
names were rare, and among the older of whom a prejudice to learning
existed, the young are now attending schools in an increasing ratio, and
the older people are willing to sacrifice much for the sake of the
education of their children.
IV. How in politics, a
people who had then no voice in the making of the laws by which they
were governed are now virtually self-governed, and how they who were
precluded from taking an interest in anything beyond their village
commune now take a keen and patriotic interest in the affairs of a great
nation.
V. How in such matters as
sanitation, care of the poor, <fec., changes for the better have been
made.
RELATION OF PEOPLE AND
LAND.
From the nature of the
circumstances by which they are surrounded, it is evident that the vast
majority of the Highland people must depend on agricultural pursuits for
their livelihood. This is very distinctly shown by the census of 1881,
from which the following table is constructed :—
The relation which the
people bear to the land on which they depend affords some estimate of
their social state, and it is interesting to notice the several changes
which this has undergone. Prior to the ’45, the clan system was almost
universal in the Highlands. Much has been written in defence and
condemnation of the system, and we find Mrs Grant of Laggan writing,
“Nothing can be more erroneous than the prevalent idea that a Highland
chief was an ignorant and unprincipled tyrant, who rewarded the abject
submission of his followers with relentless cruelty and rigorous
oppression. If ferocious in disposition, or weak in understanding, he
was curbed and directed by the elders of his tribe, who, by inviolable
custom, were his standing councillors, without whose advice no measure
of any kind was decided.” General Stewart of Garth says, “The chiefs
sway was chiefly paternal. Reverence for his authority, and gratitude
for his protection, which was generally extended to shield the rights of
his clansmen against the aggression of strangers, were the natural
results of his patriarchal rule. This constituted an efficient control,
without many examples of severity.” On the other hand, Burt had to
write, “The chief does not think the present abject condition of the
clan towards him to be sufficient; but entertains that tyrannical and
detestable maxim that to render them poor would double the tie of their
obedience, and accordingly he makes use of all oppressive means to that
end.”
These pictures are very
likely drawn from particular instances which came under the notice of
the writers, and none of them can be true of the whole. It, however,
seems that the chief resided among his people, settled their disputes,
received rent in kind, was hospitable to all, and, in short—
“Never closed the iron
door
Against the desolate and poor"
but protecting and being
protected by his fellow-clansmen, who were loyal and faithful to him and
to one another even to the death, and depending for little on the
outside world.
The laws which followed
the suppression of “the forty-five” altered the relations of chief and
people, and thereafter until 1886 the relation between them was that of
landlord and tenant— purely a commercial one. There was, however, little
evidence of the change until something like twenty years had elapsed
under the new regime, for it was only about the year 1770 that the
beginning of the “economic transformation” was noticeable. Then followed
many of the “clearances,” the formation of large sheep farms, and of
congested seaside townships and villages. Of the effect of this change
on the condition of the people much has been written, but it is now
generally admitted that it was a mistake, and that it is matter for
regret that the experiment was not made of leaving this peasantry where
they were and of making their rents a fair one, of improving modes of
cultivation, and of inducing the surplus population, if such there were,
to migrate either to other cultivable lands or to the seashore to engage
in fishing. The mistake was, however, made, and in doing it many a
landlord threw away the love of his people—a heritage which his
ancestors had for ages esteemed above all things—and the population of
the time suffered. Though after 1820 evictions were not carried out on
the previous large scale, still, whenever a croft or crofter stood in
the landlord’s way, or his factor was crossed in any wise, bullying,
and, if that were unsatisfactory, then eviction was resorted to,
whatever might be the suffering thereby caused to the evicted.
As time passed on the
people began to feel their importance, the more especially after the
passing of the various Franchise Bills and the more general spread of
education; and the result was the agitation which culminated in the
passing of the Crofters’ Act of 1886, which freed the people from the
fear of the power of arbitrary landlords, and under which a large number
of crofters have with confidence set about improving their holdings and
homes.
It is of interest to know
how the people lived under these systems, and to see what progress has
been made in affording them not only an assured regular supply of the
necessaries of life, but also of those small luxuries which help to make
life more than a daily struggle for existence, and of those things which
make men less like the dumb driven cattle.
It is extremely probable
that while the clan system prevailed, because of the frequent feuds, and
the want of roads or means of intercommunication, every district must
depend on its own resources for the means of subsistence. Fish of all
kinds would be got in the districts bordering on the sea. Salmon would
be got in the rivers, and the flesh of their cattle must have been used
by themselves. But should the supplies of any district for any reason
fail, then the pressure of want would be felt in all its keenness, and
many would have to succumb, as the knowledge of a district’s want could
scarcely be known beyond a limited circle, and the tardy means of
transit, even when help was vouchsafed, must have brought relief at a
very late stage. According to Martin, who wrote at the beginning of the
eighteenth century,
“The diet used by the
natives consists of fresh food, for they seldom taste any that is
salted, except butter; the generality eat but little flesh, and only
persons of distinction eat it every day and make three meals, for all
the rest eat only two, and they eat more boiled than roasted. Their
ordinary diet is butter, cheese, milk, potato, coleworts, brochan, i.e.,
oatmeal and water boiled; the latter taken with some bread is the
constant food of several thousands of both sexes in this (Skye) and
other islands during the winter and spring; yet they undergo many
fatigues both by sea and land, and are very healthful.”
Pennant visited the north
of Scotland, towards the end of the eighteenth century, and witnessed
the transformation in the condition of the population, which resulted
because “deprived of his state, of his patriarchal and feudal
privileges, the Highland landlord seems to have resolved upon the part
of a hard taskmaster as a satisfaction to his wounded pride, for the
immunities he had forfeited.” Of the condition of the people of Skye,
Pennant says that the poor were left to Providence’s care. They prowled
along the shore to pick up limpets and other shell-fish, the casual
repasts of hundreds during part of the year. Hundreds annually dragged
through the season a wretched life, and numbers unknown, in all parts of
the Highlands, fell beneath the pressure, some of hunger, more of the
putrid fever, the epidemic of the coasts, originating from unwholesome
food, which they had to use in their dire necessity. In Mull, Rum, Canna,
Colonsay, and Islay the story of semi-starvation is the same. Regarding
the inhabitants of Arran he says, “No time can be spared for amusement
of any kind; the whole being given up to providing the means of paying
their rent, of laying in their fuel, or getting a scanty pittance of
meat and clothing.”
The methods of
cultivation were laborious and hence expensive in the extreme. In many
parts com lands were tilled solely by the caschrom. Where there was a
plough it took three men to manage it—one to hold it, a second to drive
the four horses abreast, and a third to follow with the spade to rectify
the “imperfections of the tilth.” Thus three men and four horses did the
work which two horses and one man now do.
The tenure by which,
during the latter part of last century and the early part of this, the
majority of the people held their lands was of a kind to discountenance
the making of any permanent improvements. Dr Walker, who was
commissioned to write a report of the state of the Western Isles to the
now defunct Commissioners of the annexed estates, says of them in his
economical history: “All the sub-tenants, who were the great body of the
people in the Highlands, are tenant at will of the tacksman or farmer,
and are, therefore, placed in a state of subjection that is not only
unreasonable, but unprofitable, both to themselves and their superiors.
The tacksman generally has one day in the week of the sub-tenant’s
labour all the year round, which, with the spring and harvest work and
other occasions, will amount to one-third of the whole annual labour. He
can, therefore, have neither ability nor opportunity to attempt any
improvements, which many of these sub-tenants would undoubtedly do, were
they but masters of their time, and independent in their possessions.”
Beneath these sub-tenants were the scallags, who were practically the
slaves of laird, tacksman, or sub-tenant. Five days in the week the
scallag had to work for his master, the sixth was allowed to himself for
the cultivation of some scrap of land, which was assigned to him, where
he raised for himself kail, barley, and potatoes, which with some fish
formed the staple of his food
The dwellings of the
people would seem to have been of the most wretched description. Holes
in the thatch served for windows. The fireplace was in the centre of the
floor, and the smoke was allowed to find its way out as best it could.
Beds a& we have known them were unknown, and each person rolled himself
in whatever clothes he could, and lay on the floor, whatever the
weather. Such, then, was the condition of the people of the Highlands
during the latter part of the last century and the early part of this.
From that time to this their condition has been gradually ameliorated,
but certainly not at the same rate in all parts, and nowhere as yet so
much as those who know them' would wish.
One of the chief factors
in the production of this improved , state is the construction of the
means of inter-communication afforded (1) by the roads made first for
military purposes, aud then by the joint action of the Government and
the northern proprietors. In making these, it is said that the amount of
joint expenditure exceeded £460,000, that upwards of 1200 miles of new
roads were repaired, and 1436 bridges, and 11,450 covered drains were
constructed. Since then, proprietors and Commissioners of Supply have
had many more miles constructed and upheld, and the recently-appointed
County Councils are, it would seem, further to enhance the boon of easy
inter-communication by the construction of many more miles of road in
hitherto neglected localities; (2) by the construction and continued use
of the Caledonian Canal since 1821; (3) by the Highland Railway, opened
first to Inverness, then to Dingwall, Tain, Golspie, Helmsdale, Wick,
Thurso, and Stromeferry; and (4) by the establishment of postal and
telegraph facilities in even the very remote parts of the Highlands.
By all these means, not
only are goods transmitted hither and thither with quickness, and prices
thus equalised, as well as a plethora or famine prevented, but the
knowledge of the higher social state attained elsewhere is conveyed to
the people, and as it is characteristic of Highland self-respect to
strive after the realisation of the higher ideals, it is found that
where communication has been longest open, the social condition of the
population is, in most particulars, of a higher standard than where such
communication has been only recently opened.
The following table shows
(1) the price of agricultural labour in 1790, and (2) during the first
thirty years of this century : —
Price of the necessaries
of life in 1800:—
From these tables it is
interesting to note that though the necessaries of life have since then
risen in price, yet the remuneration of all kinds of agricultural labour
has risen in every county in a much higher ratio, thus giving those who
depend on the land a much greater purchasing power. The nett results of
the changes which have taken place in the Highlands are, to all who
depend on the land, (1) a higher standard of comfort than at the opening
of the century; (2) security of tenure to all crofters who may have been
harassed by arbitrary landlords, whom this class cannot now have any
reason to fear; (3) houses, clothing, and food are of a better class,
and are now more regularly secured; (4) the conveniences of life are
much more common ; and (5) the people are possessed of a higher and
wider intelligence.
THE FISHERIES.
The importance of the
fishing industry to Highlanders may be inferred from the fact, that at
least twelve per cent, of all males in ‘ the Highlands above twenty
years of age are fishermen, and that nearly half of the fishermen in
Scotland live in Highland counties.
In the early part of the
century, arms of the sea yielded a sufficiency for the population that
could then be served, because the means of transit were exceedingly
difficult and salt was dear. At that time the boats were small, without
deck or any means which would conduce to the comfort and safety of the
men The fishing gear was good of its kind, but rather clumsy, and not
the best adapted for the work. The boats which have gradually superseded
those are longer of keel, decked, and generally have a stove and some
sleeping accommodation for the crew. Fishing gear is of light and
superior make. The men can venture far out into the open sea, and the
total catch has been almost regularly rising each year during the
present century, as markets for the disposal of the fish, fresh and
cured, have been opened, and the prices realised have been such as to
afford encouragement to the toilers.
Although in recent years
the industry has been depressed from a variety of causes, chiefly
over-speculation, and the raising of Continental tariffs—there is again
evidence of its reviving and of affording lucrative employment to many
of the people. To the attainment of this end, the construction of light
railways, piers, harbours, and landing places, for which Government aid
is in certain localities conditionally promised, will give very material
aid.
The following table shows
the progress made in the annual catch at certain periods during the
century :—
The estimated money value
of the whole Scotch fisheries was in 1810 only £500,000, while in 1880
it was £2,210,790, and the greater part of this increased value is due
to its successful prosecution in the Highlands
RELIGIOUS PROGRESS.
The high moral tone and
general good deportment of Highlanders have been testified by observers
for a long period, and this is confirmed by official records which show
the rarity of crime among them. Readers of such books as Sage’s
Memorabilia Domestica, cannot, however, help coming to the conclusion
that the conduct of the people was, in the early part of the century,
superior to their creed.
People do not change
their religion quickly, and for a long time after the Reformation
Highlanders were really Episcopalians, though nominally Presbyterians,
and entertained a strong antipathy to the settlement of Whig ministers
in their midst. Mr Sage tells that when Rev. Mr Pope was settled in Reay
very few of the parishioners came to hear him, they rather spending the
time at an inn a few hundred yards away from the manse. One Sunday
evening they came to him and invited him to join them. He declined the
invitation and rated them on their manner of spending Sunday. Their
reply was, “You are most ungrateful to refuse our hospitality, and if
you think we are to give up the customs of our fathers for you, or all
the Whig ministers of the country, you’ll find yourself in error. But
come along with us,, for if we repeat your words to our neighbours
they’ll call you te such a reckoning that you’ll be wishing you had
never uttered them.” Mr Pope was firm, and soon a dozen and a half
drunken men came to him and asked him to drink. He refused, and after
they assaulted him he put the whole gang of them to rout with his “
bailie,” as he called the cudgel with which he dealt out punishment to
his offending parishioners. The churches of the time were low,
ill-lighted, irregularly seated buildings, thatched with heather roofs.
To these churches the people could only with difficulty be got to go,
and in some parishes the elders chosen were not only the most decent and
orderly men in the parish, but also the strongest, as those who had
erred and refused to submit to church discipline were compelled to
attend and make public profession of repentance.
There can be no question
that the vast majority of the ministers themselves were much ahead of
the people among whom they ministered, and although there is evidence
that a few were uneducated and rude in the extreme, the drawing up of
the statements which constituted Sir John Sinclair’s old statistical
account is of itself evidence of their commonsense and education. As
regards the people who waited on their ministrations there is no denying
that whatever church they professedly adhered to superstition was
rampant. Of the nature of this superstition two views have been taken.
General Stewart of Garth laments its decay, and speaks of them as the
innocent, attractive, and often sublime superstitions of the
Highlanders*—superstitions which inculcate no relentless intolerance,
nor impiously dealt out perdition and Divine wrath against rival
sects—superstition which taught men to believe that a dishonourable act
attached disgrace to a whole kindred and district, and that murder,
treachery, oppression, and all kinds of wickedness would not only be
punished in the person of the transgressor himself, but would be visited
on future generations. Martin, on the other hand, shows how gross and
degrading the superstitions were, and says that in the Island of Lewis,
on the first day of May, a man was sent very early to cross a certain
stream, which, if a woman crossed first, no salmon could ascend; another
stream never whitened linen; in the water of a certain well no meat
could be boiled; persons suffering from jaundice were cured by the
application of a hot iron to the backbone; the fever-stricken were cured
by fanning them with the leaves of a Bible; a valley was haunted by
spirits, and no one dared set foot in it without first pronouncing three
sentences of adulation to propitiate them; a change of wind before
landing at a particular spot was an omen requiring an immediate return
homewards, but if they landed they uncovered and pivoted round “sun
way's.” When they commenced a voyage it was the height of impiety to
proceed without first pulling the boat round and round from East to
West. Under the spread of education and an enlightening gospel many of
these superstitions have disappeared, and what remains are beliefs
cherished in secret only, never openly disseminated, and acted on rather
shamefacedly. Against them all the Church fought, and it is creditable
to it that during the first quarter of the century the Church of
Scotland in the Highlands commanded much influence, and up to the time
of the Disruption of 1843 was without any rival in the doing of
religious work. Of the “ ten years’ conflict ” and the period of
bitterness which succeeded it there is little need to write here, beyond
saying that the spirit which seemed to animate spiritual advisers and
rival sects, was not that which was generally characteristic of
Highlanders, and certainly was not that laid down in the sermon on the
mount. It is, however, matter of congratulation that the now
well-educated and efficiently-trained ministers of the various churches
are realising that they are engaged in the same grand work, and are in
many places doing it in perfect unison. The people have not been slow to
recognise this, and show their appreciation of ministerial work and
doctrine by attending the churches in increasing numbers, there being
now few Highlanders who can in Church language be called altogether
“lapsed.” This attendance on divine ordinances is followed by a high
standard of morality.
In one particular the
result of this can be tabulated. The census of 1891 shows that while in
all Scotland the proportion of men above fifteen years of age who are
bachelors is 45 per cent., in the Highlands it is 51 per cent.; and that
while in all Scotland the number of spinsters over fifteen years is 43
per cent. the number in the Highlands is 49 per cent. Again, in all
Scotland 16jper cent, of married men and 19 per cent, of married women
are under thirty years of age, the similar percentages for the Highland
counties are only 7 for men and 11 for women. But notwithstanding that a
greater proportion of Highlanders thus remain single, and those who
marry do so later in life than the average for all Scotland, yet the
rate of illegitimacy is lower than that for the whole of Scotland. In
1881 8 3 per cent of the births in Scotland were illegitimate, and in
the Highlands only 7 per cent. This state of matters is surely excellent
proof of much prudence and a high standard of morality among the
Highland people.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS.
Of all the changes which
have been made in the north the most marked has been that in the
educational condition of the people. It is true that in 1616 some parish
schools were established in the Highlands, and the Privy Council which
granted this boon declared their wish “that the vulgar Inglishe toung be
universallie plantit, and the Irishe, which is one of the chief and
principall causis of the continuance of barbaritie and incivilitie
amongis the inhabitants of the Ilis and Heylandis, be abolishit and
removeit.” The same Privy Council also ordained that the eldest sons of
West Highland chiefs would not be served heirs to their fathers unless
they could read, write, and speak English. The result was that while the
young gents were “traynit up in vertew, leamying, and the Inglishe toung”
they were losing all knowledge of Gaelic, and for a long time thereafter
English was the language of Highland aristocrats, and it is perhaps
because of this that the weaker among the Highland people have sometimes
in the past disowned, when in the south, the knowledge of their mother
tongue, and that a prejudice has so long existed against it as a school
language. Happily, such feelings are now reversed, and natives, wherever
they be, seem proud to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Highlands
and the language of its people.
At the opening of this
century nothing whatever of any consequence had been done for the
education of the great body of the people, and it would seem that then,
and for sometime thereafter, those in authority justified the truth of
Lord Cockbum’s assertion that the principle was reverenced as
indisputable, that the ignorance of the people was necessary to their
obedience to the law.
Light, however, did break
at last, and in 1824 the General Assembly formed their great Education
Scheme. Dr Norman Macleod says that there were then in the county of
Argyle according to carefully prepared statistics, no less than 26,326
children between the age of five and fifteen, for whom there was no
provision whatever, except such as was provided in a desultory and
intermittent way by certain private societies which then existed. It was
ascertained that in the six Synods of Argyle, Glenelg, Ross. Sutherland,
Orkney, and Shetland, containing 143 parishes, and a population of
377,730 souls, as many as 258 additional schools were urgently called
for. As late as 1833 the Educational Committee reporting on the state of
education in the Highlands and Islands, founded on returns from the
parochial clergy, stated that the number of young between six and twenty
years of age, untaught to read, and beyond the reach of any of the
existing provisions for elementary education, was 28,070, and that the
number between five and twenty unable to write was 84,210. The parochial
school system was then legally maintained, but because of the large
extent, physical configuration, and the roadless condition of many
parishes, it never could produce in the Highlands the amount of good
which followed its establishment in Lowland parishes. The Highland
School Act of 1838 did much for several outlying districts, which, to
this day, continue to receive the funds voted to them under the Act.
After the Disruption of
1843 the Free Church also established many schools in northern parishes,
and between rival schools, the education of the young was well looked
after and went on apace with the result that the greater the number of
schools and scholars attending them, and the better the education given,
the more clamorous did the demand for more education become; and in the
Highlands it was certainly shown that there is truth in the maxim which
says, that the demand for education is always in the inverse ratio to
the need of it.
With the resources at the
command of school managers, matters were making good progress up to
1872, when the Education (Scotland) Act was passed, and the carrying out
of its enactments have marked an epoch in Highland education, for not
only had school accommodation to be provided for every child of school
age, but every child was to be compelled to occupy that accommodation.
Though the difficulties of doing this are more numerous and arduous in
the Highlands than in any other part of Scotland, it is extremely
creditable to the intelligence of the people that the average population
attending school compares favourably with that of the whole of Scotland.
This is brought out in
the following table, which shows the percentage of the population (1881)
receiving education at various ages up to fifteen years in all Scotland
and in the Highland counties:—
The following table
compiled from the Blue-Books of the Education Department shows how
extremely rapid has been the progress made since 1872. From the first
report issued by the Department after the passing of the Act, the
following figures are taken:—
From the Educational
Department’s tenth (1883) annual report the following particulars are
taken for comparison :—
Since 1883 the number of
schools has decreased, as a number of small neighbouring ones have been
merged into larger new ones with good results. The regularity of
attendance and the efficiency of instruction have also increased, as is
shown by the Blue Books published since then. Quite recently the school
fees, which had been in some measure a bar to the poorer classes, have
been remitted. It is hoped than when education is free up to, and
perhaps within, the gates of our universities, that other means may be
found to let the child of the poorest get the education thus afforded,
provided that his character and abilities prove that this would be
desirable for his own and the public good, and that the Highlands may
continue to furnish to the learned professions —as has been done in the
past—a larger proportion than any other district of equal population.
POLITICAL PROGRESS.
The political changes
which have passed over the whole country have been shared by the people
of the Highlands, and what progress has been made in this respect is
that which it shares in common with the entire kingdom.
Prior to the abolition of
Heritable Jurisdiction, the system of government was patriarchal, and
the heads of clans had practically all power in their hands. Since the
middle of last century the machinery of law has existed, but in it the
common people for a long time had no confidence, and scarcely ever
expected to win a case if their opponent were a man of wealth. This
dread of receiving injustice where justice ought with certainty to be
got has happily in part passed away.
From the patriarchal (the
oldest form of government) political power passed away into the hands of
a class, as from that time until 1832, only “ freeholders” had the light
of voting, and of these there were few in the Highlands. In the whole of
Scotland there were not more than two thousand voters who returned the
then forty-five members, and of these the twenty freeholders of
Sutherlandshire returned one. As a class these members of Parliament
naturally paid chief regard to the advantages of the class to which they
belonged.
The change from
government by class to that by the people was made by the great Reform
Act of 1832, and since then legislation recognises no class and no
favourites. A still wider interest in matters political was given by the
Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884, with the result in the Highlands, at
least, an intense interest is taken in political matters, and, as a
secondary result, the circulation of newspapers has increased fully
twenty-fold within the past twenty years, so that Highlanders are now
surely prevented from the narrowing influences of the purely local, and
from believing
“The crackle of their
bourg The murmur of the world.”
The burden of
self-government has been still further laid upon them by the Local
Government (Scotland) Act, and such benefits as can possibly be expected
from the County Councils will, doubtless, be realised ; and when
extended powers are granted them, the democracy will elect councillors,
who, by their works, will show that in the important work of
self-government Highlanders are ever found exercising their political
powers wisely and well.
SANITARY PROGRESS.
It is matter of much
regret that the progress made in matters sanitary during the century has
not at all been commensurate with that made in most other particulars.
Only a few months ago, a competent authority reported that 90 per cent,
of the houses in the Island of Lewis were in an unsanitary condition,
and he gave particulars which, when compared with the statements of
observers early in the century, show how very little progress has been
made in this matter. Though the percentage of unsanitary houses is
probably not so high in the other parts, yet it is very evident to any
one travelling through the north that a great number are still not what
they ought to be in the interests of health. The Royal Crofter
Commission report that “ no one concerned for the elevation of the
Highland people can fail to desire an improvement in this particular, no
one can doubt if they are well conducted and robust, it is in spite of
their lodging and in consequence of counteracting causes, and that if
they enjoyed the benefit of purer and brighter homes they would prosper
more. They further say, “The ancient model of Highland habitation may,
indeed, be contemplated with too much indulgence by those whose minds
are not duly possessed by considerations of utility and sanitation, for
it is associated in fancy with all that is most pleas* ing and romantic
in the manners and history of the people, while in form and colour it is
in perfect harmony with the landscape and the shore. The white house may
be seen anywhere now. . . . It is not attractive and not picturesque,
but is usually built apart from the byre, and it is tolerably dry,
light, and free from smoke. It stands half-way between the original
hovel of the Celtic peasant and the comfortable and comely dwelling
which the substantial crofter of the future may, we trust, possess.”
It almost seems a pity
that these black houses do not, in some measure, make the inhabitants
unhappy, and so induce them to make their houses cleaner, brighter, and
more comfortable in every respect. County CouLcils under powers invested
in them will, however, bring the true state of matters to light, and
means will then surely be devised to change a state of matters which is
neither for the individual nor the public good.
Census returns show that
in several particulars considerable progress has been made. In 1881 the
number of persons to an inhabited house in all Scotland was 5'05, which
figure also represents the number to each house in the Highlands. The
number of rooms to a house in all Scotland is 3-17, while in the
Highland counties it is 3*55, and the number of persons to a room for
all Scotland is 1*59, and for the Highlands it is 1.43. If, however, the
like calculation be made for the Western Isles alone it is found that
there are 4.86 persons to a family and 5.33 persons to a house, 2.69
rooms to a house, and 1*94 persons to a room, which indicates an
accommodation considerably less than the average for Scotland. It is,
however, a very satisfactory sign of progress that while the number of
families in the Highland counties remained practically the same between
1871 and 1881, the number of inhabited houses had increased about 5 per
cent., and the number of rooms with one or more windows 15 per cent. It
is expected that when the details of last year’s census are made known,
a still further increase in this direction will be shown, as well as a
decrease in the already small number of families living in rooms without
windows. It would appear that, almost in spite of the unsanitary state
of the dwellings, the death-rate has, during the century, been falling.
In 1881 it was 16.2 per 1000 in the Highland counties, while for the
same year it was 19.3 for the whole of Scotland, and this healthy
eminence it has regularly retained, which proves that the outdoor active
life of crofters and fishermen is more conducive to longevity than the
less simple manner of living in the confined cities of the south.
In this connection it is
interesting to note the fact that in the five counties of Inverness,
Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, and Argyll, the population during the first
forty years of the century increased steadily, attaining its maximum in
1841. Between 1841 and 1871 it decreased at a considerable rate. From
1871 to 1881 the population appeared to be perfectly stationary.
The following table shows
the exact progress:—
Under the clan system
there were no “poor” so-called, as all bad a right to the means of
livelihood so long as that was within the chiefs power. Thereafter the
Churches took the matter up, until it was in great measure taken out of
their hands by the Act of 1840. In many poor Highland parishes the
burden of the taxation which this cast upon the people was considered
heavy and irritating, but this feeling is disappearing, and it is
pleasant to see that the number of paupers in the Highlands has, during
recent years, regularly decreased, and that those who really are
compelled to become paupers have more attention paid to them. It is only
fair to add that there exists among the vast majority of the Highland
people a wholesome spirit of independence which makes them struggle
onward long and bravely rather than become dependent on parochial
relief.
It is not only in the few
particulars more especially dealt with in this paper that rapid progress
has been made, but in almost every branch of industry if we except one
or two, but chiefly the manufacture of kelp.
And this progress has
been attended with a corresponding rise in the social state of the
people, which will become the more marked when such obstacles as still
retard progress are removed. Grievances will, however, always remain.
Because of the ever onward moving and shifting conditions of human life,
what to us may to-day be regarded as a necessary right, will to our
children be a hindrance and a wrong; but with government in the hands of
the people the conditions of life will easily be modified to suit
existing circumstances, for—
“The old order changeth,
giving place to the new;
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”
It is as yet well-nigh
impossible to appreciate the recent rapidly succeeding changes, for, as
Herbert Spencer Bays, “In a society living, growing, changing, every new
factor becomes a permanent force, modifying more or less the direction
of movement determined by the aggregate of forces. Never simple and
direct, but by the co-operation of so many causes made irregular,
involved, and always rhythmical, the course of social change cannot be
judged of in general direction by inspecting any small portion of it.
Each action will inevitably be followed, after a while, by some direct
or indirect reaction, and this again by a reaction, and, until the
successive effects have shown themselves^ no one can say how the total
motion will be modified.”
It is, however, earnestly
hoped that the aggregate of the forces now- at work will have the effect
not only of raising the people to a still higher platform in every
matter which pertains to their social state, but that thu educational
and religious influences at work may also be the means of getting
Highlanders to realise that the chief end of man is “to glorify God, and
to enjoy Him for ever.” |