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Politjcal effects of the
Emigrations. The Highlands hitherto a nursery of Soldiers: circumstances
on which this depended; no longer exist: the loss of this national
advantage does not arise from Emigration.
AMONG the effects of
emigration, there is none that has been more universally lamented, than
the loss of that vaIuable supply of soldiers which the public service has
hitherto derived from the Highlands, such a moment as this, it is
impossible not to feel deep regret at every circumstance which may tend to
impair the military resources of the nation; and if any satisfactory means
could be devised for obviating, or even for suspending, an evil of this
nature, it must be considered as of the greatest importance. But how this
is to be accomplished, is not to be rashly decided. This is not the only
question of political economy where, an apparently direct remedy,
occurring on a superficial view of: the subject, may prove to be
calculated in no degree to prevent, perhaps to aggravate, the evil we wish
to avoid.
From the details that have
been given as to the state of the Highlands, both previous to the year
1745 and subsequently, it will be observed, that all the power of the
chieftains over their followers, rested on the essential basis of the low
rent of their land; and on the greater, or less continuance of this, the
subsequent state of the country has chiefly depended. Those proprietors
who continued to exact rents very inadequate to the real value of their
land, maintained all their former authority over the tenantry, perhaps
even a still greater; for, during the feudal times, this authority was
tempered by the dependance of the gentry on the affection of their
followers for personal safety. After the year 1745; the tenantry had no
such return to make for the means of subsistence they derived from the
indulgence of their landlord. They felt, at the same time, that he must be
under frequent temptations to discontinue that indulgence, and, therefore,
were still more anxious than formerly to merit his favour.
The only opportunity they
had of rendering him any important obligation, was when he undertook to
raise men for the army. The zeal with which the followers &
chieftain then
came forward to inlist, was prompted not only by affection and the
enthusiasm of clanship, but likewise by obvious views of private interest.
The tenant who, on such an occasion, should have refused to comply with
the wishes of his land-lord, was sensible that he could expect no further
favour, and would be turned out of his farm. The more considerable the
possession he held, the greater
was his interest, and his obligation to exert himself. The most
respectable of the tenantry would, therefore, be among the first to bring
forward their sons; the landlord might, with an authority almost despotic,
select from among the youth upon his, estate, all who appeared most
suitable for recruits. The gentry of the Highlands were, in general, too
good politicians to make a wanton display of this power; and well enough
acquainted with the temper of their people to know that they would come
forward with more alacrity, if allowed to indulge the flattering idea that
their exertions were the spontaneous effect of attachment to the chief;
yet perhaps no man of penetration in the country ever doubted the real
cause of the facility with which the Highland landlords could raise such
numbers of men with such magical rapidity.
It is easy to see how
superior a body of men, thus composed, must be to a regiment recruited in
the ordinary manner in other parts of the kingdom. As long as the old
system remained in its purity, as long as the rents in the Highlands
continued nearly at their old standard, the Highland regiments maintained
a very superior character. Instead of the refuse of a manufacturing town,
these regiments were composed of hardy mountaineers, whose ordinary mode
of life was a perfect school for the habits of a soldier. They were
composed of the most respectable
of the peasantry; men, for whose fidelity and good conduct there was a
solid pledge, in the families they left at home, and in the motives that
induced them to enter into the service; men who had much stronger motives
of obedience to their officers than the lash can enforce; who were
previously accustomed, from their, infancy, to respect and obey the same
superiors who led them into the field; who looked on them as, their
protectors, not less than their comrnanders; men in whose minds the
attachment of clanship still retained a large portion, of its antient
enthusiasm.
Besides this, each
corps being collected from. the same neighbourhood, the men were connected
by the ties of friendship and of blood ; and every
one saw in his companions those with whom he had to pass the rest of his
life, whether in a military capacity or not. Every one was therefore more
solicitous to maintain an unblemished character than he would have been,
among a medley of strangers,
from whom he might soon be parted to meet no more.
The, same circumstance tended to give
the soldiery a peculiar degree of that esprit de corps which is so
powerful an engine in the hands of a judicious commander. The attachment
of the Highland soldier to his regiment was not of a casual or transitory
nature,—it was not, a matter, of indifference. to him, or the result of
accident, whether he belonged to
one regiment or another, his regiment was derived from his clan, and
inseparably connected with it: in the honour of his regiment he saw that
of his name; and to it he transferred all those sentiments of glory which
early education had connected with the achievements of his ancestors.
The well-known military
character of the Highlanders may thus be naturally accounted for but the
peculiarities that have been described may all be traced to the recent
feudal state of the country; and in proportion as this has been supplanted
by the progress of a commercial system, the Highland regiments have
approached to a similarity with the other regiments in the service. The
low rent of land was the foundation of the whole difference; and, that
existing no longeer, there is no possibility that its consequences can
long continue. When the Highland chieftain exacts the full value for his
land, his people, even if he could accommodate them all, will no longer be
dependants; the relation between them must be the same as between a
landlord and his tenants in any other part of the kingdom.
It is not usual, in any
district for a considerable proprietor to exact for his land the utmost
shilling which it could possibly afford. The tenant has almost always some
advantage in his bargain; and, in proportion to his advantage he will be
disposed to pay a certain deference to his landlord. In many parts of
England, where the lands are held by tenants at will, the rents are
certainly lower in proportion to the real value than in Scotland, where
leases for a term of years are generally prevalent. It is probable,
therefore, that the tenantry of the Highlands, under the new system, will
be even more independant than those of England; and certainly in a very
different situation from that in which they felt a necessity of quitting
their families and their homes, whenever they were called upon by their
landlord.
A Yorkshire farmer may give
his vote at an election for the
candidate whom his landlord recommends, but would be rather surprised at
an order to inlist,—not less, perhaps, than he would be at a summons to
attend his lord to the attack of a neighbouring castle. Such a summons,
however,, to his ancestors, would once have been as irresistible a
command, as recently it was to the Highlander. The
same change in the circumstances of the country, must produce the same
consequences in the Highlands as in England. It would be as absurd now to
expect every Highlander to follow his chief into the field; as to suppose
that any English nobleman could, in these days, march against London with
an army of his dependants; because that was done by Warwick the
King-Maker.
Independantly, therefore,
of depopulation, that nursery of soldiers which has hitherto been found in
the Highlands cannot continue.
If there is a possibility
of retaining the present population under the change of the agricultural
system, it is clear that this
must be done by introducing among the inhabitants new branches of
industry, by which those who are deprived of their lands may obtain a
subsistence. If manufactories should be established, so extensively as to
employ all the present inhabitants, they must, of course, acquire the
habits of other manufacturing districts. Like them, indeed, they
will furnish a proportion of recruits; but these will be of a very
different description from the recruits that have hitherto been sent from
the Highlands.
Will it be argued, that
there is something in the blood of the Highlanders that will render them
soldiers under every circumstance of habit or education? If that be the
case, they will form as good a nursery of soldiers at Glasgow or Paisley,
as in their native valleys. Or does their military character arise from
the local and physical circumstances of their country; and is the
manufacturer of a mountainous district different from the manufacturer of
a plain? Be it so —still a Highland regiment, recruited among
manufacturing villages, must be extremely different from the Highland
regiments we have hitherto seen ;—they will no longer be composed of the
flower of the peasantry, collected under their natural superiors.
Where men are occupied with
industrious pursuits, those of steady habits will be successful in their
business, and become attached to it; none will be easily tempted to quit
their home, but those who from idleness and dissipation have not succeeded
in their ordinary occupations. Men of this description inlisting singly
and unconnected, in any regiment they may happen to meet, under officers
who are unknown to them, can be depended on no further than their
obedience is enforced by the rigour of military discipline. A. regiment
thus composed, whether from the Highlands or any other part of the
kingdom, will be in no respect different from the ordinary regiments in
the service.
This change in the
character and composition of the Highland regiments, is not a mere
speculative probability, but has been actually going on in a progressive
manner, ever since the advance of rents began to be considerable. We must
go back to the seven-years war to find these regiments in their original
purity, formed entirely on the feudal principle, and raised in the manner
that has been described. Even as early as the American war, some tendency
towards a different system was to be observed [See Appendix]; and during
the late war, it went so far, that many regiments were Highland scarcely
more than in name. Some corps were indeed composed nearly in the antient
manner; but there were others in which few of the men had any connexjon
whatever with the estates of their officers, being recruited, in the
ordinary manner, in Glasgow and other manufacturing places, and consisting
of any description of people, Lowlanders and Irish, as well as
Highlanders.
Those gentlemen whose estates had long been occupied in
large grazings, could not, in fact, raise men in any other manner. The
influence of a popular character in his immediate neighbourhood, will
every where here have some little effect in bringing forward recruits; and
the care with which the commissions in some regiments were distributed
among gentlemen resident in the same neighbourhood, gave these corps a
certain degree of local connexion, which is not found in the service in
general. Still; however, there was a great difference between these; and
the regiments which were raised in the remoter parts of the Highlands,
where the change on the state of the country was only partially
accomplished, and where recruiting proceeded on the old system.
It is to be observed, that the great demand for men
during the late war, and the uncommon advantages that accrued to those
gentlemen who had still the means of influencing their tenantry, suspended
for a time the extension of sheep--farming, and the progress of the
advance, of rents. Many estates which were ripe for the changes that have
since been made, and which, if peace had not been interrupted; would have
been let to graziers seven or eight years earlier, remained, for a time,
in the hands of the small tenants, who were not dismissed till the
conclusion of the war rendered their personal services of little further
use. This circumstance goes a great way in accounting, both for the
suspension of emigration during the late war, and for that sudden burst
which appeared immediately after peace was concluded.
The same may again take place in a certain degree, but
cannot again have much effect. The tract in which the old system remains,
is reduced within narrow limits; and even there, the tenantry will not be
so easily influenced as formerly. They have learnt, by the experience of
their neighbours, that a compliance with the desire of their landlords may
protract the period of their dismissal, but cannot procure them that
permanent possession they formerly expected to preserve. A few years more
must, in all probability, complete the change in the agricultural system
of the Highlands, and bury in oblivion every circumstance that
distinguishes the Highlands, as a nursery of soldiers, from the rest of
the kingdom.
The change in the composition of the Highland
regiments, whatever may be its consequences hereafter, has not yet
entirely altered their peculiar spirit and character. Military men are
well acquainted with the effect which the established character of any
regiment has in moulding the mind of the recruit;
and how long a peculiarity may thereby be preserved, though perhaps
originating from mere accident. The reputation acquired by the old
Highland regiments, has probably had no small effect on their successors,
and perhaps also on the opinion of the public.
The importance which has been ascribed to the
population of the Highlands, does not I apprehend, arise from the mere
number of the recruits which they supply, but from their peculiar
excellence, and the ideas entertained of their high military character. If
this character can be preserved, it must be on different principles from
those that have hitherto operated; and while the change in the system of
the country goes on without interruption, no remedy can be expected from
compulsory measures against emigration.
In addition to all that has been said, every person,
acquainted with the description of people of which the emigrants consist,
must perceive, that these are not the men who, in ordinary circumstances,
can be expected to enlist, Men with money in their pockets, and with
families to take care of, are not those whom a
Serjeant Kite would assail. From their personal and domestic
situation, they must entertain objections against a military life, which
cannot be overcome by any motive less powerful than those which influenced
the feudal tenantry. There is no reason therefore to expect, that any
direct obstruction to emigration, however severe, can add a single recruit
to the army. |
