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By ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.
In many parts of
Argyllshire the people have been weeded out none the less effectively,
that the process generally was of a milder nature than that adopted in
some of the places already described. By some means or other, however,
the ancient tenantry have largely disappeared to make room for the sheep
farmer and the sportsman. Mr. Somerville, Lochgilphead, writing on this
subject, says, "The watchword of all is exterminate, exterminate the
native race. Through this monomania of landlords the cottier population
is all but extinct; and the substantial yeoman is undergoing the same
process of dissolution." He then proceeds:-
"About nine miles of
country on the west side of Loch Awe, in Argyllshire, that formerly
maintained 45 families, are now rented by one person as a sheep farm;
and in the island of Luing, same county, which formerly contained about
5o substantial farmers, besides cottiers, this number is now reduced to
about six. The work of eviction commenced by giving, in many cases, to
the ejected population, facilities and pecuniary aid for emigration ;
but now the people are turned adrift, penniless and shelterless, to seek
a precarious subsistence on the sea-board, in the nearest hamlet or
village, and in the cities, many of whom sink down helpless paupers on
our poor-roll ; and others, festering in our villages, form a formidable
Arab population, who drink our money contributed as parochial relief.
This wholesale depopulation is perpetrated, too, in a spirit of
invidiousness, harshness, cruelty, and injustice, and must eventuate in
permanent injury to the moral, political, and social interests of the
kingdom. . . The immediate effects of this new system are the
dissociation of the people from the land, who are virtually denied the
right to labour on God's creation. In L— ., for instance, garden ground
and small allotments of land are in great demand by families, and
especially by the aged, whose labouring days are done, for the purpose
of keeping cows, and by which they might be able to earn an honest,
independent maintenence for their families, and whereby their children
might be brought up to labour instead of growing up vagabonds and
thieves. But such, even in our centres of population, cannot be got; the
whole is let in large farms and turned into grazing. The few patches of
bare pasture, formed by the delta of rivers, the detritus of rocks, and
tidal deposits, are let for grazing at the exorbitant rent of £3 10s.
each for a small Highland cow; and the small space to be had for garden
ground is equally extravagant. The consequence of these exorbitant rents
and the want of agricultural facilities is a depressed, degraded, and
pauperised population."
These remarks are only
too true, and applicable not only in Argyllshire, but throughout the
Highlands generally.
A deputation from the
Glasgow Highland Relief Board, consisting of Dr. Robert Macgregor, and
Mr. Charles R. Baird, their Secretary, visited Mull, Ulva, Iona, Tiree,
Coll, and part of Morvern, in 1849, and they immediately afterwards
issued a printed report on the state of these places, from which a few
extracts will prove instructive. They inform us that the population of
THE ISLAND OF MULL.
according to the
Government Census of 1821, was 10,612 ; in 1841, 10,064. In 1871, we
find it reduced to 6441, and by the Census of 1881, now before us, it is
stated at 5624, or a fraction more than half the number that inhabited
the Island in 1821.
TOBERMORY, we are told,
"has been for some time the resort of the greater part of the small
crofters and cottars, ejected from their holdings and houses on the
surrounding estates, and thus there has been a great accumulation of
distress." Then we are told that "severe as the destitution has been in
the rural districts, we think it has been still more so in Tobermory and
other villages "—a telling comment on, and reply to, those who would now
have us believe that the evictors of those days and of our own were
acting the character of wise benefactors when they ejected the people
from the inland and rural districts of the various counties to wretched
villages, and rocky hamlets on the sea-shore.
ULVA.—The population of
the Island of Ulva in 1849 was 36o souls The reporters state that a
"large portion" of it "has lately been converted into a sheep farm, and
consequently a number of small crofters and cottars have been warned
away" by Mr. Clark. "Some of these will find great difficulty in
settling themselves anywhere, and all of them have little prospect of
employment. . . . . Whatever may be the ultimate effect to the
landowners of the conversion of a number of small crofts into large
farms, we need scarcely say that this process is causing much poverty
and misery among the crofters." How Mr. Clark carried out his intention
of evicting the tenantry of Ulva may be seen from the fact that the
population of 36o souls, in 1849, was reduced to 51 in 1881.
KILFINICHEN.—In this
district we are told that "The crofters and cottars having been warned
off, 26 individuals emigrated to America, at their own expense and one
at that of the Parochial Board; a good many removed to Kinloch, where
they are now in great poverty, and those who remained were not allowed
to cultivate any ground for crop or even garden stuffs. The stock and
other effects of a number of crofters on Kinloch last year (1848), whose
rents averaged from £5 to £15 per annum, having been sequestrated and
sold, these parties are now reduced to a state of pauperism, having no
employment or means of subsistence whatever." As to the cottars, it is
said that " the great mass of them are now in a very deplorable state."
On the estate of
GRIBUN, Colonel Macdonald
of Inchkenneth, the proprietor, gave the people plenty of work, by which
they were quite independent of relief from any quarter, and the
character which he gives to the deputation of the people generally is
most refreshing, when we compare it with the baseless charges usually
made against them by the majority of his class. The reporters state that
"Colonel Macdonald spoke in high terms of the honesty of the people and
of their great patience and forbearance under their severe privations."
It is gratifying to be able to record this simple act of justice, not
only as the people's due, but specially to the credit of Colonel
Macdonald's memory and goodness of heart.
BUNESSAN.—Respecting this
district, belonging to the Duke of Argyll, our authority says:—"It will
be recollected that the [Relief] Committee, some time ago, advanced £128
to assist in procuring provisions for a number of emigrants from the
Duke of Argyll's estate, in the Ross of Mull and lona, in all 243
persons - 125 adults and 118 children. When there, we made inquiry into
the matter, and were informed [by those, as it proved, quite ignorant of
the facts] that the emigration had been productive of much good, as the
parties who emigrated could not find the means of subsistence in this
country, and had every Prospect of doing so in Canada, where all of them
had relations; and also because the land occupied by some of these
emigrants had been given to increase the crofts of others. Since our
return home, however, we have received the very melancholy and
distressing intelligence, that many of these emigrants had been seized
with cholera on their arrival in Canada; that not a few of them had
fallen victims to it ; and that the survivors had suffered great
privations." Compare the " prospect," of much good, predicted for these
poor creatures, with the sad reality of having been forced away to die a
terrible death immediately on their arrival on a foreign shore!
IONA, at this time,
contained a population of 500, reduced in 1881 to 243. It also is the
property of the Duke of Argyll, as well as
THE ISLAND OF TIREE, the
population of which is given in the report as follows:—In 1755, it was
1509, increasing in 1777, to 1681; in 1801, to 2416; in 1821, to 4181;
and in 1841 to 4687. In 1849, "after considerable emigrations," it was
3903; while in 1881, it was reduced to 2733. The deputation recommended
emigration from Tiree as imperatively necessary, but they "call especial
attention to the necessity of emigration being conducted on proper
principles, or, 'on a system calculated to promote the permanent benefit
of those who emigrate, and of those who remain,' because we have reason
to fear that not a few parties in these districts are anxious to get rid
of the small crofters and cottars at all hazard, and without making
sufficient provision for their future comfort and settlement elsewhere;
and because we have seen the very distressing account of the privations
and sufferings of the poor people who emigrated from Tiree and the Ross
of Mull to Canada this year (1849), and would spare no pains to prevent
a recurrence of such deplorable circumstances. As we were informed that
the Duke of Argyll had expended nearly £1200 on account of the emigrants
(in all 247 souls) from Tiree ; as the Committee advanced £131 15s. to
purchase provisions for them ; and as funds were remitted to Montreal to
carry them up the country, we sincerely trust that the account we have
seen of their sufferings in Canada is somewhat over-charged, and that it
is not at all events to be ascribed to want of due provision being made
for them, ere they left this country, to carry them to their
destination. Be this as it may, however, we trust that no emigration
will in future be promoted by proprietors or others, which will not
secure, as far as human effort can, the benefit of those who emigrate,
as well as of those who are left at home. . . . Being aware of the
poverty of the great majority of the inhabitants of this island, and of
the many difficulties with which they have to contend, we were agreeably
surprised to find their dwellings remarkably neat and clean—very
superior indeed, both externally and internally, to those of the other
islands; nay, more, such as would bear comparison with cottages in any
part of the kingdom. The inhabitants, too, we believe, are active and
enterprising, and, if once put in a fair way of doing so, would soon
raise themselves to comfort and independence." Very good, indeed, Tiree!
THE ISLAND of COLL, which
is separated from Tiree by a channel only two miles in width, had a
population, in 1755, of 1193; in 1771, of 1200 ; in 1801, of 1162; in
1821, of 1264. In 1841 it reached 1409. At the time of the visit of the
deputation, from whose report we quote, the population of the Island was
down to 1235; while in 1881 it had fallen to 643. The deputation report
that during the destitution the work done by the Coll people
"approximates, if it does exceed, the supplies given; "they are" hard
working and industrious. . . We saw considerable tracts of ground which
we were assured might be reclaimed and cultivated with profit, and are
satisfied that fishing is a resource capable of great improvement, and
at which, therefore, many of the people might be employed to advantage;
we are disposed to think that, by a little attention and prudent outlay
of capital, the condition of the people here might ere long be greatly
improved. The grand difficulty in the way, however, is the want of
capital. Mr. Maclean, the principal proprietor, always acted most
liberally when he had it in his power to do so, but, unfortunately, he
has no longer the ability, and the other two proprietors are also under
trust." Notwithstanding these possibilities the population is undergoing
a constant process of diminution.
We shall now return to
the mainland portion of the County, and take a glance at the parish of |
