The Crofter question and church endowments in the Highlands, viewed socially and politically : with an appendix

Ir'

*^S

L I E, RAR.Y

OF THE

U N IVLRSITY

Of ILLI NOIS

THE CROFTER QUESTION

AND

CHURCH ENDOWMENTS

IN THE HIGHLANDS,

VIEWED SOCIALLY AND POLITICALLY.
WITH AN APPENDIX.

BV

GILBERT BEITH,

Ballochneck, Stirlingshire.

" Thus saith the Lord, keep Equity and do Justice."

GLASGOW: DAVID BRYCE & SON,

EDINBURGH: MACNIVEN & WALLACE, AND ANDREW ELLIOT.

1884.

[Price Twopence.

THE CROFTER QUESTION

AND

CHURCH ENDOWMENTS.

Some time ago it was my lot to spend a Sunday, in the
month of August, on the west coast of Sutherland. Noth-
ing could exceed the beauty of the surrounding landscape.
All nature was bathed in sunshine. Gurgling moss-coloured
water from the hills, humming insect life, and varied bleat-
ings from the surrounding uplands, chanted a song of praise.
All besides was still as the Sahara desert. Even within
the precincts of the hotel, quiet reigned. It was the " Sab-
bath day," and no work uncalled for by the stern mandate
of " necessity and mercy," was engaged in. I learned from
" mine host " that the Free Church was half a mile, and the
Parish Church about a mile distant, towards the west, and
that service in both began at twelve o'clock, the language
used in the former being Gaelic, and in the latter English.
Soon after eleven o'clock men, women, and children might
be seen, singly and in groups, approaching slowly over the
crests, and from behind the huge grey boulders of the sur-
rounding hills, as if they had risen out of the ground, and
all converged towards one general rendezvous. There
I concluded, would be found the Free Church, and accord-
ingly joining leisurely in the procession, I found myself in
a short time in view of the building. It was situated in a
secluded spot all but unseen from the highway; a plain
but capacious edifice in the style of many of the earlier
Disruption churches, with three low spanned roofs supported
internally by a double row of iron pillars, and resting
upon four plain rubble walls from fifteen to twenty feet
high. This church, which accommodated about twelve
hundred worshippers, was by twelve o'clock filled to over-
flowing. The minister, a man in middle life, and seemingly
much impressed with the responsibility of his office, was

manifestly held in much esteem by the people who crowded
to hear his preaching. As I hastened away to join in the
English service of the Parish Church, there burst from
the open doors and windows that remarkable cadence of
praise, so plaintive and beautiful, which is only to be heard
in the Scottish Highlands. A turn in the road brought me
suddenly in view of one of those magnificent lochs or fiords,
everywhere indenting the western coast of Sutherland.
Along the shores, and at some points stretching half a mile
inland, were to be seen many small thatch-covered huts
surrounded by little patches of land, green with growing
potatoes and oats; and, drawn up high on the beach,
here and there lay a tiny fishing-boat. Close on my right,
near to the highway, stood the Parish Church, a substantial
building with a belfry and bell; and about five hundred
yards nearer to the sea, situated in the centre of what
seemed to be a goodly sized and well stocked farm, was the
Manse, a large and comfortable mansion, looking out upon
one of the fairest and most enchanting prospects under
heaven. The church was closed, and fearing that service
had begun, I hastened and tried to open the door, but found
it locked. I looked through one of the windows, but all
was empty and silent within. In about a quarter of an
hour a figure issued from the manse, looked at me for a
little, and then retired. Half an hour later a respectably
dressed woman came along the road from the shore, ac-
companied by a little girl, her daughter, and proceeded to
open the door of the church. I approached and asked if
there would be service to-day. She replied, " O yes, sir."
"What hour," I rejoined. "Twelve o'clock, sir." "But it
it now not far from one o'clock," I replied. " O, there will
be service, sir," was her quiet answer. I went into the
church, and found, to my surprise, the pews, with the ex-
ception of one or two on either side of the pulpit, and two
immediately in front, covered with what seemed to be white
dust, and sitting down in one of the clean or used seats,
I awaited the course of events. After some time had

.^%
^ ^

*"'"^j-

5

elapsed the little girl came running to her mother, who
stood at the door, and said in an earnest whisper, " They
are coming." The bell began to toll, the sound of horses*
hoofs and wheels approaching was heard, and a large car-
riage soon stopped close to the church. In a few minutes
a tall, dignified, and handsomely dressed lady, with two
well-grown daughters and one or two children, entered, ac-
companied by her husband, a vigorous looking country
gentleman, evidently of local importance. They occupied
the seat in front of the pulpit, whilst the adjoining pew was
taken possession of by one or two persons, apparently their
domestic servants. Soon a lady, evidently the minister's
wife, entered with a son and daughter and two domestics.
These occupied the pew on the left of the pulpit. Then
followed, at intervals, two men respectably attired, and ac-
companied by one or two persons. And last of all came
the minister, a venerable looking old gentleman, carrying a
large Bible under his arm, and ascending the stair, entered
the pulpit. There was no beadle and no precentor. The
service began by the minister reading, in full, one of the
Psalms of David, from the metrical version. Thereafter he
engaged in prayer, read at some length from the Scriptures,
again read a metrical Psalm, and then announced his text.
The sermon, which was read with much deliberation, oc-
cupied twenty minutes. It was elegantly composed and
thoroughly evangelical in doctrine. Another prayer, beauti-
fully expressed, and the reading of a suitable Psalm con-
cluded the service, which occupied, in all, rather less than
three-quarters of an hour. The impression produced on
my mind was that of real sympathy and pity for both
minister and congregation ; they looked so like strangers in
a strange land.

Next morning, proceeding on my way south, I had to
cross an arm of the sea about three miles distant. The
ferryman was a burly intelligent looking man, and desiring
to be sociable, I said, "The people here do not seem to go
much to the Parish Church." An emphatic " No " was the

A 2

laconic reply. Continuing, I said, " I was there yesterday."
"You were there yesterday," he said, looking hard at me,
"and was there any person there besides.'^" "O yes," I
replied. " Oh, aye, the day was fine," he continued, " and
the factor would be there with his lady and some others,
they come when it's fine ; and the Doctor would be there,
and the Exciseman would be there no doubt, and the minis-
ter's family of course, but that would be all." I said, " We
had no singing." "Did Duncan no sing.''" was the reply.
"Who is Duncan.?" I said. "The minister's son; he would
not sing because you was there." I continued, "We had
an excellent sermon all the same." " He would read it,"
said my oarsman. I nodded assent. "Aye, aye, one of
the old stock, and likely the best of them too," muttered

the burly cynic. Continuing, he said, " I am an A

man, and they are stiff enough there, but nothing like the
people here. All over this country, far and near, they would
just rather go up and be hanged than go into the Parish
Church, so they would." "Very strange," I said, as step-
ping ashore I bade farewell to my brusque companion,

I narrate in detail this incident as affording a fair example
of the uncompromising attitude assumed by the people of
the northern and western counties towards the State
Church and all connected with it. Deep-seated aversion,
and an almost passionate determination to ignore the very
existence of the Established Church, is the all but universal
sentiment. Now, the question comes to be, why should
this be so .'' What causes lie at the root of a protest so
emphatic as this } Everyone has, of course, heard of the
great hold which those principles, the contravention of
which led to the Disruption of the Church of Scotland,
have always had on the minds and consciences of the
Highland people. These principles are traditional among
them, and are associated and intertwined with their most
hallowed memories. When, therefore, the government in
1843 determined, in spite of vehement remonstrances, to
jissert the will of the State over what the people believed to

7

be the mind and will of Christ in His church, a gross out-
rage was perpetrated upon their most sacred convictions.

I will not pause to inquire into the merits of the question,
which, on that supreme occasion, agitated to its centre the
entire Scottish nation. The crisis which followed has had
issues of world-wide importance — issues which are still
active and must yet have great results. Suffice it to say
that the ablest and most practical minds which Scotland
has ever produced recognized, as involved in that struggle,
principles of vital importance affecting the honour of the
Master and the religious liberties of the people, to preserve
which no sacrifice of earthly possessions and prospects was
considered too great. The people of the Highlands were
profoundly impressed with this view, and resolved as one
man to sever connection with a church which they held to
be no longer the true Church of Scotland. This resolution
was formed unhesitatingly, and for forty years has been
held to with characteristic determination.

But some other cause beyond, of a more mundane
character, must be found to account satisfactorily for the
intensity of feeling which I have described. That cause
is not far to seek. One has only to revert to the history
of the Disruption period, to the deeds that were then
done, and above all to the men who did them, to dis-
cover the secret. Who among us in middle life does not
remember the persecutions to which the Highlanders were
subjected in the "site-refusing"* time } — how noble dukes
and great landlords with their factors, refused, for months
and even years, to allow the people to assemble for the
worship of God, according to their consciences, in any house
or on any land within their wide domains — how Christian
men and women were compelled, summer and winter, to
meet for worship on the public highway, or else within
highwater mark on the sea-shore. I have been shown a
cavern on the wild north-western coast, into which, for two

* See Appendix A, also Report, House of Commons Select Committee on Sites
for Churches, Scotland, 1847.

8

years (1843-44), the people of the district were driven by
the high-handed proceedings of the landlord or his factor,
to worship the God of their fathers, — an occurrence by no
means uncommon in those days of oppression and violence.

But when one comes to consider that the men who pushed
on the crisis of 1843, and who thereafter sought to cover
their discomfiture by such acts, were the traditional
oppressors of the people, the immediate descendants of
those who in a previous generation burnt the homes of
their fathers, evicted them from their lands, and drove them
into destitution and exile; and, moreover, when one con-
siders that these men, with their estate officials and depen-
dants, are now virtually the only adherents of the State
Church in the Highlands; and also that the ministers who
now enjoy the emoluments and occupy the manses and
glebes of the country are the natural successors of those who,
with few exceptions, in the day of bitter distress sided with
the oppressors, and for their sympathy and aid received new
manses and extended lands, taken in many cases from the
home steadings and farms of the evicted peasantry; when
all of these causes put together, are duly considered, can it
be wondered that the people of the Highlands regard with
feelings of almost passionate aversion a Church from which
they have been so alienated, which represents to their minds,
not the bearer of glad tidings of peace, but the remembrance
rather of ruined homesteads and scattered families ? *

The Established Church question in the Highlands is a
crofters' question, bound up with the crofter land question.
You cannot deal practically with the one injustice and
leave the other untouched. The two questions together,
represent a struggle for civil and religious liberty in which
the people have been worsted and overthrown. If, in
respect of religious privileges, the Highlanders are not now
as destitute and helpless as they are in respect of their civil
rights as occupiers of the soil, the cause is manifest and
does not affect the question at issue. In the former case

* See Appendix B.

they had for comrades in the fight their fellow-countrymen
in the south, and have participated equally with them in the
outflow of Christian benevolence, which it is the great glory
of that conflict to have elicited. But the injustice, viewed
socially and politically, everywhere remains, and in the
Highlands it is immensely intensified from its connection
with the land question, and the aggravating circumstances
relative thereto. The claim for all Scotland is that the
church endowments, with the buildings and lands, are the
property of the people, and ought not to be in possession
of one sect or section of the nation. But, taking the High-
lands by themselves, the claim becomes immensely more
urgent. There the church funds are disbursed for the sole
benefit of the landlords and their minions, whereas the
people, already bereft of their civil rights as occupiers of the
soil, are also shut out from participating in any benefit
derivable from this public property.

I refrain from dilating upon the history of the last fifty
years in relation to this question, or upon the point and
force which that history contributes to the national claim
for justice in this matter. Neither will I dwell upon the
fact that the one church at present in possession of this
public property is in close alliance all over the country
with the landed interest and privileged classes, and forms
the leading outwork for defence of that political party of
which these, with some noble exceptions, are the soul and
centre. And I only mention in passing what has often been
stated and requires no proof, that a judicious redisposal of
those public funds can be eflected without inflicting injury
on any individual interest, and that the issue must only be
eminently beneficial to the Church herself, and to the moral
and religious well-being of the nation at large.

What I desire to emphasize as forming the basis of this
statement is, that the church property, including teinds
(valued and unvalued), glebes, churches, and manses, in
each parish (when these are not recent and special gifts by
individuals to the State Church as at present constituted),

lO

are the public property of that parish or district. The
teinds are held subject to being given up in whole or in
part whenever a court of law decides that they are required
for the parish that yields them. The clergy have no
beneficiary right to the teinds, but only the stipendiary
privilege of being salaried out of them to the extent to
which commissioners who are now represented by the Court
of Teinds, may determine; and Parliament has absolute
power over the property thus applied in liferent of State
Church ministers. John Knox contended stoutly that the
"teinds by God's law do not appertain of necessity to the
Kirkmen." The Court of Session and the House of Lords
have both decided that the teinds never were restored to
the Reformed Church of Scotland. The property, therefore,
of which the State Church now derives the entire benefit is
not ecclesiastical, but the public possession of the nation.

Such is the general state of the case; but I confine the
question, for my present purpose, to the Highlands in
particular, and claim that those funds which are the public
property of the respective parishes be disposed of for the
benefit of the people residing in those parishes. It will not
be disputed that a scandalous injustice is involved in the
application of these funds during the past forty years, and
that the redisposal of them in the interest of the crofter
population is urgently required, in view alike of their
destitute condition, and of the relation in which they stand
to the State Church.

Now, in proceeding to deal practically with this matter,
I shall inquire — First, What do the endowment funds in
the Highland parishes amount to.^ Second, How and when
can they be made available for the end contemplated.'*
Third, To what specific purposes ought they to be applied ?

First, Taking the counties interested to be Orkney and
Shetland, Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Inverness, and
Argyle,* I find that the income from all sources at present
enjoyed by the parish church ministers in these counties,

* Other districts might be included, such as, the Island of Arran in the county of
Bute, and portions of the county of Perth.

exclusive of payments from the exchequer, and the stipends
of ministers of government churches, amounts to nearl}-
;^40,ooo a year — say ;^40,ooo a year. To this yearly sum has
to be added the free and unexhausted teinds applicable to
the augmentation of stipends, amounting to £6000, making
in all a possible yearly income from teinds, &c., of ^^"46,000.*
Besides, there falls to be added an asset which I shall not
venture to value, but which nevertheless assuredly forms
an element not to be overlooked in this account and reckon-
ing. I refer to compensation of some kind for the forty
years' misapplication of the public annual income of
^^40,000. Without adding interest, the gross sum so mis-
apphed amounts to no less than ;^ 1,600,000. Adding
interest and compound interest, at four per cent, it runs up
to the large figure of ^3,801,020. If compensation in any
form is refused in this respect, parties will have to show that
good and needful work for the respective parisl^es has been
done commensurate with so large an outlay of public
money. If this cannot be proved, or if on the contrary
it can be shown that public money to so large an amount
has been wasted, or as good as wasted, is the matter to be
passed over without any redress, particularly when the
public in this case is represented by a sorely- oppressed
and impoverished people, who for two or three generations
have striven to maintain a bare existence under circum-
stances which are a disgrace to our civilization.^

On the other side of the account has to be placed com-
pensation, in one form or another, for the life-interest of
the present incumbents. Even to hint that this should not
be allowed in their case would be looked upon, by most
people, as savouring of confiscation, and I do not find fault
with this opinion. Justice must be done although the
heavens should fall. But let me ask. What of the people
who have been ruthlessly driven from their homes and
lands into destitution and misery.-^ There was no word of

* Parliamentary Return (Ministers' Stipends, Sec, Scotland) to an Address of
the House of Lords, dated 29th July, i83i.

12

compensation to them then, nor since. Is it to be always
so? Is justice to be done in the one case and not in the
other? Is there to be one law for the rich and another for
the poor ? And as regards this Church Endowment Fund,
are the people to be for ever denuded of any benefit accruing
from it ; and is no redress to be allowed by the Nation, which
is reponsible, for the loss already incurred of ;^3,8oo,ooo,
through the misapplication and waste of this public money?
Second, It is a question for statesmen and for Parliament
to determine how and on what equitable principles the
people are to be reinstalled and compensated in this matter.
The time zvhen this business is actually to be taken up and
dealt with practically is of more pressing importance, and
the decision, let me say, in this respect, lies chiefly with
the people themselves. Nearly everything depends upon a
combined and earnest expression of the popular will in this
matter. When the people are thoroughly roused and in
earnest, Parliament must and will act. The time is not far
distant, let us hope, when every householder, whatever may
be his social position, will possess the right of the franchise,
and be able in this practical form to assert his opinion.
The question now under consideration is a people's ques-
tion, and the people of the Highlands must see to it that
they send to Parliament representatives who will express
their views fearlessly and well. They should, if possible,
be men of ability and influence who have sprung from their
own ranks, and who therefore understand and have sym-
pathy with their grievances, and can properly and per-
sistently represent these in Parliament. Let me say further,
that the Highland people should solicit and look for the
friendly aid and support of the working-classes all over the
country. It is in that direction that substantial aid and
sympathy is to be obtained; for the "arm-chair" philan-
thropists and philosophers of the wealthier classes represent
generally an element of most diluted potency, and, I fear,
can only become an ingredient reliable and helpful, when the
leading SLotcli mctropoh'tan Newspaper, and the set whom

it represents, have discovered, beyond any question, that the
people are in earnest and mean to look after themselves.

The struggle may be long — it will certainly be severe,
for on the opposing side are ranged "principalities and
powers." Victory, however, must in the end declare for the
people, for on their side is " the right."

Third, With regard to the purpose or purposes to which,
in the interests of the respective parishes, these church
funds should be applied, that too is a question to be
handled by statesmen and by Parliament. I may, however,
be permitted to name three distinct purposes, each of which,
under wise legislative enactment, would prove of great ad-
vantage to the Highland people, and together would go far
to elevate their social and material condition.

First, Free Education, administered, I am disposed to
say, under a direction other than the Local School Board.
In the Highlands, because of the physical character of the
country, the scattered and helpless condition of the people,
and the absence of any independent middle class to come
between the crofter population and the hostile landlord
interest, the School Board system has not worked well and
does not yield satisfactory results. It is, moreover, very
expensive, keeping in view the slender resources of the
crofter ratepayers. The annual report by the Accountant
for Scotland to the Scottish Education Department for
1883 gives for the counties named: Fees collected for the
year, ^^12,282; and rates for the same period, ;^5 3,803 —
together representing a very heavy tax upon the slender
resources of the people.* As an example of the unsatisfac-
tory nature of some results under the present School Board
system, as applied to these districts, I may state that it is
no uncommon case in a purely Gaelic-speaking district to
find a teacher, who does not know a word of Gaelic, set
over a school in which the children attending do not know
a word of English. The latter, which is the only language
taught, is acquired by rote; and the children, aided by their

* See Appendix C.

14

natural quickness and good memories, pass the government
inspection without possessing any practical knowledge of
what they have been examined upon. For many reasons
which need not be mentioned I beHeve it would be in the
interest of the Highlands that the education of the people,
until all are possessed of the franchise, should be directed
by commissioners named by the department, men who
know the Higlands, and have sympathy with the people. It
is of the first importance to the Highland people that they
should everywhere be provided with FREE SCHOOLS supply-
ing good practical education — primary and also secondary
if desired ; and likewise schools for technical instruction,
situated in one or two of the more important centres. The
funds required, so far as the proportion of rates and school
fees derivable from the crofter and cottar population are
concerned, may well be taken from the Church Endowment
Fund ; but everything beyond should remain, as at present,
a burden upon land. In any case a just re-disposal of this
public fund, now so urgently called for, might readily and
well bestow upon the oppressed and helpless people of the
Highlands the inestimable boon of a first-class education
in all the branches, /r^^ of cJiarge.

Second, Land Legislation, having for its object the
application to the Highlands of the Irish Land Act, in all
its leading features, with this addition, that land-owners be
compelled, under just provisions, to supply suitable land
when required, at a fair rent, in quantity sufficient to enable
a family, by honest industry, to acquire a comfortable liveli-
hood. It is not needful that I should state the case in
language more definite. The land question in the High-
lands cannot any longer be trifled with. Happily the true
state of the case is now pretty well understood all over the
country, in England as well as in Scotland; and the mind
and conscience of the nation will not much longer consent
to have things remain as they are. The principles which
should guide and control legislation on the land question,
are at present in the Highlands, even more that in England,

IS

the subject of much interest and discussion. Those views, no
doubt extreme and visionary, advocated with such earnest-
ness and power by Mr. Henry George, if they do not carry
conviction, in any case stimulate inquiry, and are rapidly
helping to form an intelligent opinion. When the oppor-
tunity is afforded, that opinion will certainly express itself in
a constitutional form. Meantime for my present argument
it is enough to say, that a large public fund, available for the
necessities of the people, Avill form an element of invaluable
service when Parliament comes to deal practically with this
question. Farms Avill have to be stocked and houses built.
Loans, and possibly grants of money will therefore have to
be provided ; and it need not be said that the security
afforded by a fund representing so large an amount as
;^46,ooo a year will go far to remove practical difficulties in
this respect.

Third, HARBOURS OF Refuge, and requisite appliances
for prosecuting and developing the fisheries on the High-
land coasts. When the crofter population now settled upon
the shores of the Highlands were evicted from their hold-
ings in the interior, and driven to seek a livelihood as they
best could on the coast, they were, as a rule, wholly un-
acquainted with a seafaring life. The art of deep-sea
fishing, even if they had possessed the requisite implements,
was unknown to them. And to acquire this art on a coast
so boisterous as theirs, and with such slender appliances as
they were able gradually to command, meant no small
amount of courageous perseverance and self-denial. Now,
however, after one or two generations have gone, boatmen
more daring and expert are nowhere to be found. Still,
although their storm-beaten shores abound with fish, no
proper development of this industry on the open coast has
been possible, from the absence of Harbours of Refuge for
shelter, and the difficulty of access to remunerative markets.
With large and powerful boats, and sufficient tackle, the fish-
ing industry on these coasts might, notwithstanding such
drawbacks, have attained to some importance; but how could

i6

a half-starved, oppressed, and helpless people procure such
appliances? If those friends who talk so glibly of the lazi-
ness of the Highland people were themselves placed in
similar circumstances, they would beyond any question dis-
cover that a half-starved and helpless man need not be ex-
pected to attack and overcome insuperable difficulties. To
pursue with success the deep-sea fisheries. Harbours of
Refuge on the northern and north-eastern coasts are indis-
pensable. Proper appliances for prosecuting the industry
are also wanted, particularly on the western coast, and like-
wise facilities for ready access to the larger markets. There
is reason to believe that the government have in contem-
plation legislative action in this respect, and every legiti-
mate means should of course be used to press its importance
upon their attention.

I do not say that the great public fund, to which I have
been referring, would be most suitably applied in furtherance
of this object; it is enough to know that the fund exists as
the property of the people, and this fact should, and no
doubt will, encourage Parliament when called upon to deal
with the case of the Highland crofters, to do so compre-
hensively and thoroughly. Let us hope that the day is not
far distant when a beneficent course of legislation in the
directions I have indicated will have wiped out for ever a
blot and scandal upon our civilization which has been too
long permitted to remain, and that this most interesting
Highland country, no longer disfigured by the action of un-
just laws and a dominant landocracy, will add to its many
natural attractions the presence of a contented, prosperous,
and Christian people.

I have been blamed by friends of the Highland Associa-
tion, whom I can only respect, for bringing up this burning
Church question in connection with the Crofters' land ques-
tion. In the foregoing pages I have endeavoured to show
that in the circumstances of the Highlands the two ques-
tions are inextricably united. It is vain to think of dealing
practically with the one injustice and leaving the other un-

touched. I regret that offence should be given. But no
one individual interest can suffer by the course proposed.
Good only, to all concerned, must result, and a scandal
most damaging to the Established Church herself, and dis-
graceful to the nation, would be removed and buried out of
sight.

APPENDIX A.

In the Annals of the Disruption, Part III., pages i to 41,
cases of oppression are stated, all confirmed by evidence
given before the House of Commons Committee on Sites,
1847. I give two extracts only. Annals, page 8. Report
on Sites, ii. p. iii, q. 36^4. seq.; Hi. p. p, q. 4442 seq.; Hi. pp.
23, 24, qq. 4440-4459; a. p. Ill, q. 3684.

"At the hamlet of Paible, in North Uist, the circumstances are
given in greater detail. The people had set about erecting a rude
shelter of turf and stone (within which to meet for worship) on what
was called a common, where the ground was of little value. The
factor, after warning them in vain, came personally on the scene, got
together the carts belonging to members of the Established Church,
and removed the materials to a distance. When the next term came,
he summoned out of their lands all the crofters who had taken part in
the erection, actually ejected nine of the more prominent, and imposed
fines of from ^i to £1 on those who were suffered to remain.

"The poor Islemen, however, did not flinch. In March, 1847, when
Dr. Macintosh Mackay came to preach at Paible, he had, owing to the
state of the weather, to stand within the door of a cart-shed in order
to get some protection. The congregation ' stood all round on a level
piece of ground sheltered by the walls of the houses on one side. It
was a stormy day, and there were heavy showers of sleet and rain.'
Afterwards they met under the shelter of a peculiar jutting rock near
the hamlet. ' I could compare it to nothing but what is sometimes
seen on the quarter-deck of a vessel — an oval skylight.' In all states
of the weather it was possible to get some shelter by going round to
the point opposite to that from which the wind blew."

Annals, Part IV., page ^i. Dr. Begg visited Applccross in 1845,
and reports — " Here was another scene. The tent (pulpit) was placed
amid the naked rocks on the sea-shore, the sound of the Psalms
literally mingled with the roar of the waves of the Atlantic. The
tent was fastened down with strong ropes to prevent its being upset,
and there were gray -headed men sitting uncovered in the cold,

i8

and several of them with tears streaming down their cheeks, whilst
Mr. Glass preached to them the blessed Gospel in their native tongue.
Every new spectacle I witnessed deepened my impression of astonish-
ment. These poor Highlanders must face all the storms of winter on
the bare sea-beach, denied a single inch of land on which to erect a
place of worship. Such a state of matteis in b'eland would shake the
empire^ and it is Christian principle alone which has borne it so
meekly." &c. &c. &c. &c. &c.

APPENDIX B.

As it is more than probable that many who are interested
in the Scottish Highlands are not familiar with the history
of the wrongs of the Highland people, I append, in corrobora-
tion of statements in the foregoing pages which may seem
extreme, extracts from authentic writings on the subject.
Mr. Alexander Mackenzie of Inverness, in a volume entitled
The Highland Clearances, has compiled a valuable collec-
tion of these writings, which I commend to the notice of
those who desire information in a concrete and methodical
form on the Highland question. It should be borne in
mind that the Highland peasantry were not evicted because
they failed to pay rents, but that the landlord might obtain
higher rents by turning the lands into sheep-farms of im-
mense extent, and into deer-forests.

Extracts.

SUTHERLAND.— Z?^;/^/^il/«^/^^^'j ''Gloomy Memories:;' p. 27, 28.
— "At this period (18 14-16) a great majority of the inhabitants were
tenants-at-will, and therefore liable to ejectment on getting regular
notice; there were, however, a few who had still existing tacks (although
some had been wheedled or frightened into surrendering them), and
these were, of course, unmolested until the expiration of their tacks; they
were then turned out like the rest ; but the great body of the tenantry
were in the former condition. Meantime, the factors, taking advantage
of the broken spirit and prostrate state of the people — trembling at
their words or even looks — betook themselves to a new scheme to
facilitate their intended proceedings, and this was to induce every
householder to sign a bond or paper containing a promise of removal;
and alternate threats and promises were used to induce them to do so.
The promises were never realized, but, notwithstanding the people's
compliance, the threats were put in execution. In about a month
after the factors had obtained this promise of removal, and thirteen

19

days before the May term, the work of devastation was begun. They
commenced by setting fire to the houses of the small tenants in
extensive districts — part of the parishes of Farr, Rogart, Golspie,
and the whole parish of Kildonan. I was an eye-witness of the
scene. This calamity came on the people quite unexpectedly. Strong
parties for each district, furnished with faggots and other combustibles,
rushed on the dwellings of this devoted people, and immediately com-
menced setting fire to them, proceeding in their work with the greatest
rapidity till about three hundred houses were in flames ! The con-
sternation and confusion were extreme ; little or no time was given for
removal of persons or property — the people striving to remove the sick
and the helpless before the fire should reach them — next, struggling to
save the most valuable of their effects. The cries of the women and
children — the roaring of the affrighted cattle, hunted at the same time
by the yelling dogs of the shepherds amid the smoke and fire —
altogether presented a scene that completely bafiles description ; it
required to be seen to be believed. A dense cloud of smoke enveloped
the whole country by day, and even extended far on the sea ; at night
an awfully grand but terrific scene presented itself — all the houses in
an extensive district in flames at once ! I myself ascended a height
about eleven o'clock in the evening, and counted two hundred and fifty
blazing houses, many of the owners of which were my relations, and
all of whom I personally knew; but whose present condition, whether
in or out of the flames, I could not tell. The conflagration lasted six
days, till the whole of the dwellings were reduced to ashes or smoking
ruins." ........

P. ^^, 34. — " In reference to the new allotments, General Stewart says:
— " When the valleys and higher grounds were let to the shepherds the
whole population was driven to the sea-shore, where they were crowded
on small lots of land to earn their subsistence by labour and by sea-fish-
ing, the latter so little congenial to their former habits." He goes on to
remark, in a note, that these one or two acre lots are represented as an
improved system. " In a country without regular employment and
without manufactures a family is to be supported on one or two acres!!"
The consequence was and continues to be, that, "over the whole of
this district, where the sea-shore is accessible, the coast is thickly
studded with wretched cottages, crowded with starving inhabitants."
Strangers "with capital" usurp the land and dispossess the swain.
"Ancient respectable tenants, who passed the greater part of life in the
enjoyment of abundance, and in the exercises of hospitality and charity,
possessing stocks of ten, twenty, and thirty breeding cows, with the
usual proportion of other stock, are now pining on one or two acres of
bad land, with one or two starved cows ; and for this accommodation
a calculation is made, that they must support their families and pay
the rent of their lots, not from the produce but from the sea. When
the herring fishery succeeds they generally satisfy the landlords,

20

whatever privations they may suffer ; but when the fishing fails they
fall in arrears and are sequestrated, and their stock sold to pay their
rents, their lots given to others, and they and their families turned
adrift on the world." ......

P- 36, 2,7' — " I have already mentioned that the clergy of the Estab-
lished Church (none other were tolerated in Sutherland), all but Mr.
Sage were consenting parties to the expulsion of the inhabitants, and
had substantial reasons for their readiness to accept woolly and hairy
animals — sheep and dogs — in place of their human flocks. The kirks and
manses were mostly situated in the low grounds, and the clergy hitherto
held their pasturage in common with the tenantry; and this state of
things, established by law and usage, no factor or proprietor had power
to alter without mutual consent. Had the ministers maintained those
rights they would have placed in many cases an effectual bar to the
oppressive proceedings of the factors ; for the strange sheep-farmers
would not bid for or take the lands where the minister's sheep and
cattle would be allowed to commingle with theirs. But no ! Anxious
to please the 'powers that be,' and no less anxious to drive advantage-
ous bargains with them, these reverend gentlemen found means to get
their lines laid 'in pleasant places/ and to secure good and convenient
portions of the pasture lands enclosed for themselves : many of the
small tenants were removed purely to satisfy them in these arrange-
ments. Their subserviency to the factors in all things was not for
nought. Besides getting their hill pasturage enclosed their tillage
lands were extended, new manses and offices were built for them, and
roads made specially for their accommodation, and every arrangement
made for their advantage. They basked in the sunshine of favour,
they were the bosom friends of the factors and new tenants (many of
whom were soon made magistrates), and had the honour of occasional
visits at their manses from the proprietors themselves. They were
always employed to explain and interpret to the assembled people the
orders and designs of the factors; and they did not spare their college
paint on these occasions."

Hugh Miller, p. 179, in his powerful writings on the Sutherland
clearances, quotes the following passage from the French writer Sis-
mondi : — " It is by a cruel abuse of legal forms — it is by an unjust
usurpation — that the tacksjnan and the tenant in Sutherland are con-
sidered as having no right to the land which they have occupied for so
many ages. ... A count or earl has no more right to expel from
their homes the inhabitants of his county, than a king to expel from
his country the inhabitants of his kingdom."

ROSS-SHIRE.— £wWz^« of the Rosses, p. 222, 223.—" Commenting
on this incredible atrocity committed in the middle of the nineteenth
century! Donald Macleod says truly that: — It was so horrifying and
so brutal that he did not wonder at the rev. gentleman's delicacy in

21

speaking of it, and directing his hearers to peruse Mr. Ross's pamphlet
for full information. Mr. Ross went from Glasgow to Greenyard all
the way to investigate the case upon the spot, and found that Mr.
Taylor, a native of Sutherland, well educated in the evicting schemes
and murderous cruelty of that county, and Sheriff-substitute of Ross-
shire, marched from Tain upon the morning of the 31st March, at the
head of a strong party of armed constables, with heavy bludgeons and
firearms, conveyed in carts and other vehicles, allowing them as much
ardent drink as they chose to take before leaving and on their march,
so as to qualify them for the bloody work which they had to perform ;
fit for any outrage, fully equipped, and told by the sheriff to show no
mercy to anyone who would oppose them, and not allow themselves to
be called cowards, by allowing these mountaineers victory over them.
In this excited half-drunken state they came in contact with the un-
fortunate women of Greenyard, who were determined to prevent the
officers from serving the summonses of removal upon them, and keep
their holding of small farms where they and their forefathers lived and
died for generations. But no time was allowed for parley; the sheriff
gave the order to clear the way, and, be it said to his everlasting dis-
grace, he struck the first blow at a woman, the mother of a large family,
and large in the family way at the time, who tried to kee^ him back;
then a general slaughter commenced ; the women made noble resist-
ance until the bravest of them got their arms broken, then they gave
way. This did not allay the rage of the murderous brutes; they con-
tinued clubbing at the protectless creatures until every one of them
was stretched on the field, weltering in their blood, or with broken
arms, ribs and bruised limbs. In this woeful condition many of them
were hand-cuffed together, others tied with coarse ropes, huddled into
carts, and carried prisoners to Tain. I have seen myself, in the
possession of Mr. Ross, Glasgow, patches or scalps of the skin, with
the long hair adhering to them, which was found upon the field a few
days after this inhuman affray. Mr. Donald Ross placed the whole
affair before the Lord Advocate for Scotland, but no notice was taken
of it by that functionary further than that the majesty of the law would
need to be observed and attended to."

INVERNESS. — Glengar7-y Clearances, p. 267, 268. — "The tenants
of Knoydart, like all other Highlanders, had suffered severely during
and after the potato famine in 1846 and 1847, and some of them got into
arrear with a year, and some with two years' rent ; but they were fast
clearing it off. Mrs. Macdonell and her factor determined to evict every
crofter on her property, to make room for sheep. In the spring of 1853
they were all served with summonses of removal, accompanied by a mes-
sage that Sir John Macneil, chairman of the Board of Supervision, had
agreed to convey them to Australia. ... It was afterwards found not
convenient to transport them to Australia, and it was then intimated

22

to the poor creatures, as if they were nothing but common slaves to be
disposed of at will, that they would be taken to North America, and
that a ship would be at Isle Ornsay, in the Isle of Skye, in a few days,
to receive them, and that they must go on board. The Sillery soon
arrived. Mrs. Macdonell and her factor came all the way from Edin-
burgh to see the people hounded across in boats, and put on board this
ship whether they would or not. An eye-witness who described the
proceeding at the time, in a now rare pamphlet, and whom we met a
few years ago in Nova Scotia, characterizes the scene as heart-rending.
"The wail of the poor women and children, as they were torn away
from their homes, would have melted a heart of stone." Some few
families, principally cottars, refused to go, in spite of every influence
brought to bea^ upon them; and the treatment they afterwards received
was cruel beyond belief. The houses, not only of those who went, but
of those who remained, were burned and levelled to the ground. The
Strath was dotted all over with black spots, showing where yesterday
stood the habitations of men. The scarred, half-burned wood —
couples, rafters, and cabars — were strewn about in every direction.
Stooks of corn and plots of unlifted potatoes could be seen on all sides,
but man was gone. No voice could be heard. Those who refused to
go aboard the Sillery were in hiding among the rocks and caves, while
their friends were packed off like so many African slaves to the Cuban
market."

KKGYhY^.—Morvern, p. 358, 359.— The Rev. Donald Macleod,
editor of Good Words, describing the death of the late Dr. John Mac-
leod, for fifty years the parish minister of Morvern, says— "His later
years were spent in pathetic loneliness. He had seen his parish almost
emptied of its people. Glen after glen had been turned into sheep-walks,
and the cottages in which generations of gallant Highlanders had lived
and died were unroofed, their torn walls and gables left standing like
mourners beside the grave, and the little plots of garden, or of cultivated
enclosure allowed to merge into the moorland pasture. He had seen
every property in the parish change hands, and though, on the whole,
kindly and pleasant proprietors came, in the place of the old families, yet
they were strangers to the people, neither understanding their language
nor their ways. The consequence was that they perhaps scarcely realized
the havoc produced by the changes they inaugurated. 'At one stroke
of the pen,' he said to me, with a look of sadness and indignation, 'two
hundred of the people were ordered off. There was not one of these whom
I did not know, and their fathers before them; and finer men and women
never left the Highlands.' He thus found himself the sole remaining
link between the past and present — the one man above the rank of a
peasant who remembered the old days and the traditions of the people.
The sense of change was intensely saddened, as he went through his
parish and passed ruined houses here, there, and everywhere. 'There

23

is not a smoke there now,' he used to say with pathos, of the glens which
he had known tenanted by a manly and loyal peasantry, among whom
lived song and story, and the elevating influences of brave traditions.
All were gone, and the place that once knew them, knows them no
more.' The hill-side, which had once borne a happy people, and
echoed the voices of joyous children, is now a silent sheep-walk. The
supposed necessities of PoHtical Economy have effected the exchange;
but the day may come when the country may feel the loss of the loyal
and brave race which has been driven away, and find a new meaning
perhaps in the old question, ' Is not a man better than a sheep?' They
who 'would have shed their blood like water' for queen and country,
are in other lands, Highland still, but expatriated for ever.

From the dim shieling on the misty island,

Momitains divide us and a world of seas,
But still our hearts are true, our hearts are Highland,

And in our dreams we behold the Hebrides;
Tall are these mountains, and these woods are grand,

But we are exiled from our fathers' land."

APPENDIX C.

A well-known authority on Educational matters in Scot-
land, writes as follows in an important article entitled "Lord
Ernest and the Church," which will be found in the North
British Mail of February 8th last. The figures given in-
clude the siLin- total of Educational expenditure in the
respective districts.

" But it is in the Highlands and Islands, where the Established Church
is a perfect nullity, that the school rates press most heavily upon the
mass of the people. In the eleven parishes of the county of Caith-
ness, for example, the educational expenditure amounted last year to
^16,561, and the average rate of assessment is upwards of a shiUing
a pound. In Latheron it is \s. 6d. and in Keiss is. gd. a pound. In
Inverness-shire the sum-total of educational expenditure was ^38,350,
and in a number of parishes the school rate ranges from two shillings
to half-a-crown per pound. Matters are worse in Ross and Cromarty,
where the total cost of the schools last year was ^39,928, and the
assessment was as high as 4^. 6d. in two parishes and 6s. Sd. in a third.
In Orkney the expenditure was ^12,971, and the average rate about a
shilling in the pound. In Shetland the total cost was ^16,062, and the
average assessment is one and sixpence. In three parishes it is two
shillings; in two, two shillings and eightpence; and in one, three shillings
a pound. In all these cases the rate is, of course, exclusive of school
fees. But in order to show the urgent need of a change in this system,

24

it is necessary to place side by side witli the cost of the schools the
position and the expense of the Established Church in those counties.
In the greater part of the thirty-seven parishes in Orkney and Shetland
the churches of the Establishment are almost entirely empty. The
public money spent in maintaining a sinecure clergyman in each parish
is more than wasted, and, if properly directed, the sum would go a great
way to provide free education for all the children. In looking over the
list of Parliamentary returns, in Ross-shire we find one parish minister
whose Sunday audience consists of his sister and domestics ; another
who, having no wife or sister to manage his household affairs, has an
audience limited to his servants ; a third who has never had a single
hearer, though personally liked by the parishioners; a fourth in a similar
position, who is neither esteemed nor liked. Would it not be better
both for the interests of religion and the general welfare of the country
if the salaries of these ministers were devoted to the support of the
teachers who are instructing the rising generation in the knowledge of
their duties and training them to be useful members of society ? In
Applecross, where the Sunday congregation in the Established Church
usually consists of five persons, the school rate is one shilling a pound,
and the annual cost of the schools is ^670. In Lochcarron, where the
audience on special occasions reaches a dozen, the rate is is. ^d., and
the expenditure ^1826 a year. In Gairloch, one of the largest parishes
in Scotland, the minister claims thirteen adherents, the rate is a shilling,

and the total cost ^1310 a year In Portree, the chief town of

Skye, where the Established Church musters forty-nine adherents, the
school rate is 2s. a pound, and the total cost ^1423. Snizort, with
twenty-three adherents, is assessed at is. 8d. per pound, and pays ^1682
for education. Kilmuir, which made no return of members, is rated at
2S. per pound; and Harris, at 2S. yd. a pound, has to meet an expendi-
ture of ^6828 a year for education. But " in the lowest depth a lower
deep still opens." The Island of Lewis exhibits the 7ie plus idtra of
this system. The Established Church can scarcely be said to have
even a nominal existence there. In the Parliamentary return the com-
municants in the parish of Lochs are set down at six — the school rate
is 4>y. 6d., and the annual expense of the schools is ^4578. In Barvas
there are said to be seven adherents of the Establishment — the school
rate is 6s. Sd. per pound, and the total educational expenditure is £$73^
a year. The instances we have given are fair specimens of the state
of iiiatters, ecclesiastical and educational, in the Highlands and Is-
lands No candid and impartial person will deny that the large

sums of money thus uselessly spent in maintaining ministers who have
no congregations and pastors who have no flocks would be laid out to
much greater advantage in maintaining a system of education of which
the whole nation, without distinction of class or sect or creed, could
avail themselves, and which would bring the blessings of free educa-
tion within reach of the whole community."

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