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Until lately, the great majority of Highland emigrants
preferred British America to any other colony, and at the present day Cape Breton, Prince
Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and many other districts of British North
America, contain large Highland population, proud of their origin, and in many instances
still maintaining their original Gaelic. One of the earliest Highland settlements was,
however, in Georgia, where in 1738, a Captain Mackintosh settled along with a considerable
number of followers from Inverness-shire. The favourite destination, however, of the
earlier Highland emigrants was North Carolina, to which, from about 1760 till the breaking
out of the American war, many hundreds removed from Skye and other of the Western Islands.
During that war these colonists almost to a man adhered to the British Government, and
formed themselves into the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment, which did good service. At
the conclusions of the war, many settled in Carolina, while others removed to Canada,
where land was allotted to them by Government. That the descendants of these early
settlers still cherish the old Highland spirit, is testified to by all travellers; some
interesting notices of their present condition may be seen in Mr David Macrae's American
Sketches (1869). Till quite lately, Gaelic sermons were preached to them, and the language
of their forefathers we believe has not yet fallen into disuse in the district, being
spoken even by some of the Negroes. Those who emigrated to this region seem mostly to have
been tacksmen, while many of the farmers and cottars settled in British America. Although
their fortunes do not seem to have come up to the expectations of themselves and those who
sent them out, still there is no doubt that their condition after emigration was in almost
every respect far better than it was before, and many of their descendants now occupy
responsible and prominent positions in the colony, while all seem to be as comfortable as
the most well-to-do Scottish farmers having the advantage of the latter in being
proprietors of their own farms. According to the Earl of Selkirk, who himself took out and
settled several bands of colonists, "the settlers had every incitement to vigorous
exertion from the nature of their tenure. They were allowed to purchase in fee-simple, and
to a certain extent on credit. From 50 to 100 acres were allotted to each family at a very
moderate price, but none was given gratuitously. To accommodate those who had no
superfluity of capital, they were not required to pay the price in full, till the third of
fourth year of their possession; and in that time an industrious man may have it in his
power to discharge his debt out of the produce of the land itself". Those who went
out without capital at all, could, such was the high rate of wages, soon save as much as
would enable them to undertake the management of land of their own. That the Highlanders
were as capable of hard and good labour as the lowlanders, is proved by the way they set
to work in these colonies, when they were entirely freed from oppression, and dependence,
and charity, and had to depend entirely on their own exertions.
Besides the above settlements, the mass of the population in Caledonian County, State of
New York, are of Highland extraction, and there are large settlements in the State of
Ohio, besides numerous families and individual settlers in other parts of the United
States. Highland names were numerous among the generals of the United States army on both
sides in the late civil war.
The fondness of these settlers for the old country, and all that is characteristic of it,
is well shown by an anecdote told in Campbell's Travels in North America (1793). The
spirit manifested here is, we believe, as strong even at the present day when hundreds
will flock from many miles around to hear a Gaelic sermon by a Scotch minister. Campbell,
in his travels in British America, mainly undertaken with the purpose of seeing how the
new Highland colonists were succeeding, called at the house of a Mr Angus Mackintosh on
the Nashwack. He was from Inverness-shire, and his wife told Campbell they had every
necessary of life in abundance on their own property, but there was one thing which she
wished much to have - that was heather. "And as she had heard there was an island in
the Gulf of St Lawrence, opposite to the mouth of the Merimashee river, where it grew, and
she understood I was going that way, she earnestly entreated I would bring her two or
three stalks, or cows as she called it, which she would plant on a barren brae behind her
house where she supposed it would grow; that she made the same request to several going
that way, but had not got any of it, which she knew would beautify the place; for, said
she, 'This is an ugly country that has no heather; I never yet saw any good or pleasant
place without it". Latterly, very large numbers of Highlanders have settled in
Australia and New Zealand, where, by all accounts, they are in every respect as successful
as the most industrious lowland emigrants.
No doubt much immediate suffering and bitterness was caused when the Highlanders were
compelled to leave their native land, which by no means treated them kindly; but whether
emigration has been disastrous to the Highlands or not, there can be no doubt of its
ultimate unspeakable benefit to the Highland emigrants themselves, and to the colonies in
which they have settled. Few, we believe, however tempting the offer, would care to quit
their adopted home, and return to the bleak hills and rugged shore of their native land.
An
Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of Emigration from the Highlands and
Western Islands of Scotland
with Observations on the means to be employed for Preventing it by Alexander
Irvine (1802).(pdf) |
