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Means that have been proposed for
preserving the population of the Highlands: improvement of waste lands;
fisheries; Manufactures:
cannot obviate the necessi1y
of emigration.
THOUGH the partial interests of the Highland
proprietors do not seem entitled to all the regard that has been claimed
for them from the Legislature; though it is
contrary to every principle of justice, that unusual and unnecessary
restraints should, for their benefit, be imposed on the personal liberty
of their dependants; yet every friend to his country would rejoice, if
they could find means of obviating the local depopulation of their
district, by the introduction of suitable branches of productive industry.
Among. these, the most promising is the cultivation of
waste land. Some attempts have been made in the Highlands to turn the
superfluous population to this branch of industry. The success with which
they have been attended is sufficient to encourage
further experiments, and to leave no doubt that, by
this means, a number of people may every where be retained fully adequate
to any supply of labourers that can be required for the accommodation of
the country. The maintenance to be derived from this resource is indeed a
very wretched one: poor as it is, however, there are few of the class of
cotters who would not readily accept any situation where they could by
this employment find a support for their families.
The plan upon which the gentry of the Highlands have
proceeded in encouraging this branch of industry, does not
seem calculated to draw from it all the
advantage which circumstances might admit. They have in general laid out
patches of a few acres of waste land,. Which they have granted on very
short leases, seldom exceeding seven years; leaving, the Occupiers to
their own management without further guidance, and with little or no
pecuniary aid. It is surprising, that under such leases, any improvements
at all should be made; and it is only, perhaps, from the low value of
labour, that the poor in the Highlands are disposed to consider a bare
subsistence in the mean time, as a sufficient indemnification for work of
which the benefit is in so short a period to revert to the landlord. Such,
however, are the circumstances of. the country, that these tenures are
sufficient to prompt the occupiers to considerable exertions of their own
personal labour; but there are few instances where that alone is
sufficient for improving waste lands. Calcareous manure is a requisite
almost indispensable; and where it must be purchased from a distance, the
poor occupier cannot be expected, on such a tenure, to undertake any share
of the expense. If, therefore, the proprietor does not find it convenient
to incur the expense himself, it is absolutely necessary that the terms of
the lease should be much more encouraging.
It is not easy to judge whether these poor people could
by any means be induced to sink in such improvements the little capital
they may possess: but there is no
probability that they would do so without a lease of
such duration as to be nearly equivalent to absolute property. The
calculations which a rich and intelligent farmer would make, as to the
proportion between his outlay and its return, would by no means be
suitable to a case of this kind. The poor Highland cotter finds so much
difficulty in accumulating a small sum. of money, that it is no wonder he
should be disposed to hoard it with tenacity, and be reluctant to lay it
out-for a profit, which a person accustomed to a liberal scale of business
might think more than adequate. In proportion as he finds his labour of
little value, he must value his money the more, arid will not part with it
without a very evident advantage indeed. On the other hand, a very long
lease would certainly have bad effects. The exertions of these poor
cotters are seldom carried further than they are impelled by the necessity
of providing a maintenance for their families. Whenever this becomes
tolerably easy, their new and half-formed habits of industry relax; and at
any rate, they proceed in a trifling and unsystematic manner.
The improvements would be carried on
with much more effect, if the proprietor would advance not only the
pecuniary expenses which are indispensable, but make the occupier an
allowance for every work he executes, Such amount, as to form (along with
the first crop or two on the improved land) a fair compensation for his
labour. In this way there would be no necessity of giving him a permanent
tenure and the proprietor might carry forward the improvements with spirit
and regularity, keep up the industry of the people, and, render it far
more effective. This, though a temporary burthen, would soon be
compensated by the increased value of the land, and those who have the
means could not perhaps apply their capital in a more advantageous manner.
How far pecuniary difficulties may prevent the proprietors in general
through the Highlands from making these advances, and how far the
situation of entailed estates may be an obstacle, are questions very
interesting in a review of the improvements of which the Highlands are
capable, but not immediately connected with the subject of these
observations; for there is no probability that this resource can have any
effect in diminishing the emigrations. It is only to the poorest of the
people that it can be rendered acceptable; by the tenants, even those of
the lowest order, it would he considered as too great a degradation.
The same may, perhaps, be said of
the fisheries, which seem, next to the cultivation of waste lands, the
most important resource that is open to the Highlanders in their own
country. The extent to which they may be carried, will probably fall far
short of any expectations formed upon the romantic ideas, which some
authors have given of the incredible abundance of fish. Without listening
to these exaggerations, it is unquestionable that several stations are
very productive, and a great extent of coast sufficiently so to afford an
adequate reward for the labour of the industrious fisherman, and to employ
a considerable number of people. It is also certain, that this employment
is more congenial to the habits and inclinations of the people, than
almost any other that can be proposed, and. without any very extraordinary
encouragement this branch of business may be carried as far as natural
circumstances, and the extent of the market will permit.
The obstacles arising from the
salt-laws, &c., are illustrated in so many publications, that it is
unnecessary here to dwell upon them; but it may not be superfluous to
observe, that the general change, in the management of Highland estates,
is likely to remove the greatest of all impediments to the progress of the
fisheries on the Western coast and Isles: I mean the connection between
fishing and the cultivation of land. The opinion of practical men, as to
the absolute incompatibility of these ernployments, is uniform; and
experience has also proved, that a very trifling possession of land, by
distracting the attention of a fisherman, will lead him to neglect
opportunities of more important profits in his own business. The minute
division of farms, which was the result of the feudal state, precluded
entirely the separation of these employments. The natural remedy to this
lies in the rise of the value of land, and its accumulation in the hands
of active and intelligent farmers. When land becomes dear, some of those
who cannot procure it, will be under the necessity of betaking themselves
to fishing as their only employment. The success which may justly be
expected to attend those who first apply to it with steady and unremitting
industry, is the only bounty which will be necessary to induce others to
follow their example.
It is to be regretted that the establishments of the
British Society for the Encouragement of Fisheries have not, in this
respect, been conducted on just principles, and. have counteracted,
instead of aiding, the natural progress of the country. In the villages
where those gentlemen proposed to fix the head quarters of the Highland
fisheries, they have annexed to the building lots, portions of arable and
meadow land at low rents, with a right of common for the pasture of
a cow or horse. These patches of land, though they afford but a miserable
subsistence, are yet a sufficient resource for men, whose rooted habits
require. the stimulus of absolute necessity, to bring them to a life of
regular and persevering industry. Accordingly the .villages of Tobermory
and Steen, on which very large sums of money have been expended, are
scarcely possessed of a fishing-boat, their inhabitants are sunk in
inactivity, and consist in general of the refuse of the population of the
country.
The custom so universally
established in the Highlands and Western Isles, that every person whatever
should have some portion of land large or small, has tended to render
fishing an entirely subordinate employment, followed in an irregular
manner, only as it suits the intervals, of leisure from business on shore.
It is a natural consequence, that the fishing boats and apparatus are in
general extremely bad; nor is it surprising, that from these combined
circumstances, an idea should prevail among the peasantry, that it is
impossible by fishing alone to earn a livelihood. Instances are quoted,
where the proprietors have been anxious to employ in fishing the tenants
who were dispossessed of their lands; and have with this view made liberal
offers of supplying boats, nets, and every requisite material, which have
been rejected under that idea. To establish fishing. as a separate
employment can only perhaps be brought about in a gradual manner, by
encouraging individuals to pay a greater share of attention to it,
previous to their being totally deprived of land though this may not
succeed with those who have property, there is no doubt that, among. those
who are too poor to have much land, many may be found who would pursue the
business with activity, if they were assisted with credit for the purchase
of the necessry materials, and if arrangements were made for securing them
as advantageous a market as possible.
It is with pleasure I learn that;
the practicability of this suggestion has been ascertained by experimental
proof in a village on Loch Fyne, established by Mr. Maclachlan of
Maclachlan. That gentleman, finding himself a number of years ago under a
necessity of thinning the population on several of his farms, selected ten
or twelve families of the poorest cotters, men, however, whom he knew to
be capable of laborious exertion. These he fixed in a situation on the
shore, where he furnished them with two substantial fishing boats of the
best construction, with all their apparatus, on condition that their cost
should be repaid to him from the produce of their industry. Anxiety to
discharge their debt stimulated these: men to exertion, and a season or
two of successful fishing left them free proprietors of the boats they had
been furnished with. The proprietor was sensible that, from the habits of
these people, they.would think it impossible to live without some land;
and that in fact, from the want of markets for purchasing provisions, such
an accommodation was to a certain degree indispensable in the present
state of the country. He therefore laid out a part of a farm for them,
and, to avoid disheartening them, allowed them to possess it for a year or
two at an inadequate rent. By degrees, however, he raised it to its full
value, so that the possessors cannot trust to the land for their support,
having no means to pay their rent unless they are industrious in their
fishing. Other inhabitants have likewise been brought to the village, and
the original portions of land subdivided, so as to become to every
individual a mere accommodation, and an object entirely subordinate. When
the further progress of the country towards a cornmercial state leads to
the establishment of markets for provisions, these people, being already
brought to such a degree of advancement may be entirely deprived of land
without any fear of their being disconcerted by the change. The success of
the first fishermen has been such, that they have fitted out a number of
additional boats, of’ the best construction, at their own charge, and
several of them have accumulated considerable sums of money.
This experiment was made in one
respect under favourable circumstances; as the situation, from the
vicinity of the richer parts of Scotland, has the advantage of a constant
and ready market for fish. In the remoter parts of the Highland coast, and
Hebrides, the people can scarcely get any price for fish in small
quantities; and in the establishment of a village there, it would be of
essential consequence to obviate the difficulty by proper arrangements.
But if, with a due attention to this point, experiments were made on the
same principles in each of the capital fishing stations in the distant
Hebrides, a race of people exclusively fishermen would by degrees
be formed, and would spread to every part of the coast that is adapted to
the purpose.
The success of a few poor people in
each of these, supported in the manner that has been alluded to, "would
overcome the prevailing prejudices, and encourage others to embark in the
business on their own capital. It is not likely indeed that any of the
middling or more opulent of the tenants could be brought to this; nor is
there any reason to be anxious on that account; as there are certainly
among the cotters a great many more people than there is any prospect of
employing in the fisheries of the Western coast and Isles, though
conducted in the best manner; and to the utmost extent which the
established demand of the market will admit.
Manufactures are another resource,
frequently pointed out as capable of affording maintenance for all the
people in the Highlands who must be deprived of their lands. This idea
does not appear to be well founded. Manufactures may perhaps be carried on
to a small extent in the Highlands in a domestic way by the families of
men engaged in other pursuits; but a large establishment would not succeed
under so many natural disadvantages of situation. In fact, though much has
been said on the subject by speculative writers, and every disposition has
appeared on the part of the land-holders to encourage it, no practical
manufacturer has ever shown the least inclination to make the attempt.
The mechanical improvements that
have been introduced of late years, into so many. branches. of
manufacture, leave but very few which, like the linen, manufacture of
Ireland, can be carried on to advantage by a scattered population. A
manufactory in which machinery is much employed, is seldom so profitable
on a small as on a large scale; and, on the smallest, requires a greater
accumulation of people than can be found in many situations in the
Highlands. There are indeed two or three villages where the population
would supply bands enough for a small establishment; but other
difficulties arise from the remoteness of the: situation, and the infant
state of the country as to every improvement in the arts. Mechanical
artists of various kinds, are always at hand in the great centres of
commercial industry, and their assistance, must frequently be resorted to.
The want of this accommodation is a great inconvenience to a manufactory
in an insulated situation. An inconsiderable breakage of machinery, which
in a great town might perhaps, be repaired in a few hours, will there be
sufficient to interrupt the whole business for a long period. To this
inconvenience is to be added the want of regular and speedy conveyance for
goods, and the tediousness of the posts.
All these difficulties might be
obviated, were there any great advantage on the other hand, or any great
profit to be the reward of success; but there is no prospect of the kind.
The temporary superabundance of population and consequent low rate of
wages, is the only favourable circumstance that can be named, and this is
more than counterbalanced by the total want of skill, and of habits of
regular industry, in the people. These could not be introduced without
much assiduity and patience, and perhaps some loss to the manufacturer who
should undertake an establishment; and should he after all succeed in
effecting this reform, it cannot be disguised that, as soon as he has
rendered the situation desirable, other adventurers will follow him to it,
and raise the price of labour by their competition.
All the permanent advantage arising
from the establishment, would rest with the proprietors of the adjacent
lands, and if the difficulties attending the attempt are to be overcome,
the burthen also must rest with them. The exertions which may be made with
a view to this improvement must be considered laudable; but the object is
of no national importance, and is of a totally different nature from the
other resources which have been alluded to as fit employment for the
superabundant population. By the improvement of waste land, or the
extension of the fisheries, a nett and absolute addition is made to the
production of national wealth, a new supply is procured of human
subsistence, which would otherwise be lost. But the success of a
manufacturing establishment in the Highlands would have no further effect,
than to fix the seat of a certain portion of industry in one part of the
kingdom, instead of another. Manufacturing enterprises: are limited by the
extent of the market, as well as by the supply of hands. In either of
these respects, a manufactory established in the Highlands, with much
pains and expense, could only occupy the place of one, which would of
itself, have grown up in those parts of the kingdom, where the undertaking
is not subject to the same natural and political disadvantages, and where
the Highlanders may find the employment they are in want of.
The establishment of manufactures in the Highlands,
might thus affect the migrations of those classes who now seek employment
in the old established seats of industry but to the small tenants, the
same objections which occur against a manufactory in the South would apply
equally to a similar employment, in a situation a little nearer home.
There is no probability therefore, that such establishments could have any
effect on those who are inclined, to emigrate to America. |
