sociate in barracks with troops of all characters, or in quarters, or billets, with the lowest of the people, instead of mingling with such society as they left in their native homes? Why should these Highlanders be at home so degenerate, as they are represented, and as in recent instances they would actually appear to be? And why, when they mount the cockade, are they found to be so virtuous and regular, that one thousand men of Sutherland have been embodied four and five years together, † at different and distant periods, from 1759 to 1763, from 1779 to 1783, and from 1793 to 1798, without an instance of military punishment ? These men performed all the duties of soldiers to the perfect satisfaction of their commanders, and continued so un

it is recollected that this population has been maintained for so many centuries, these assertions will be received with caution.

⚫ Of the fruits of the modern civilization of the Highlanders, and of the system of improving their condition, as it is practised in the North, we have an instance in a recent association for the suppression of felony, formed by those concerned in the stock-farms of Sutherland. The object of this measure is the protection of property from the depredations of that people, amongst whom, in their uncivilized state, and under other management, crimes were so few, that, according to the records of the Court of Justiciary, from 1747 to 1810, there was only one capital conviction for theft, (horse stealing, which happened in the year 1791,) and only two capital convictions for other crimes, namely, a woman for child murder in 1761, and a man for fire raising in 1785. Such was the former state of the people in Sutherland, where crimes have increased so rapidly of late, that protecting associations are become necessary, and where it has been found that nearly 600 sheep have been stolen in a season from one individual: while those who left the country with the character and dispositions acquired among their fathers and brothers, (against whom those protecting societies are formed,) are declared by the first authority “ pictures of perfect moral rectitude, military discipline, and soldierly conduct;" and in the energetic language of an ingenious author, “a mirror to the British army."-The man convicted of horse stealing was William M'Kay, a discharged soldier, who had learned a lesson in another country. The circumstance was so very extraordinary as still to afford subject of conversation among the people. Since writing the above, I find that the civilization of the Highlanders is extending, and that similar associations are forming in other parts.

+ See Article Sutherland Highlanders.

exceptionable in their conduct down to the latest period, when embodied into the 93d regiment, that, according to the words of a distinguished general officer, "Although the youngest regiment in the service, they might form an example to all :" And on general parades for punishment, the Sutherland Highlanders have been ordered to their quarters, as "examples of this kind were not necessary for such honourable soldiers." *

Can it be doubted, that had the civil superiors of these valuable men taken the same pains as their military commanders, and had a moderate portion of the encouragement said to have been given to the stock graziers possessed of capital been bestowed on them, we should probably have seen no difference of character, except that, in those who remained at home, we might have expected to meet with more of native simplicity and integrity, part of which might have been lost by those who had mixed more with the world? If those who remain at home have shown contrary dispositions, these must have been produced by some powerful cause ; and, with the loss of that independence and disinterested fidelity which hardly knew any bounds, the finer parts of their character must have been destroyed. Is not their altered conduct rather a subject of pity than of blame? When they see their children starving, and crying for that food which they have not to give; when they see the superiors of their former lands publishing their destitution and their poverty; when they see the descendants of their kind and venerated chiefs complaining of the heavy assessment on their benevolence to relieve this poverty,-an assessment never known, and a benevolence never called for, till the recent changes were introduced;-when this unfortunate people see all this, and when we reflect that, according to the Gaelic proverb, "Hunger has a long arm,”—some cause may, perhaps, be discovered why the land which ought to have been employed in profitable industry at home, or

See Article Sutherland Highlanders.

against an enemy abroad, has been sometimes extended to endanger a neighbour's property. Have they shown ingratitude for kind treatment? Fire has been applied to their houses to effect their more speedy expulsion; and if they cannot comprehend the kindness and benevolence of such measures, are they to be declared too stupid and unattractable to be improved or managed? Are they unreasonable, because they are not satisfied when suddenly deprived of their usual, and, indeed, their only means of subsistence? Some are, indeed, told that the ocean is open to them, and that they may live by fishing, while others are allowed settlements of the following nature, not certainly well calculated to "encourage virtuous contentment and industry." "One of these settlers had trenched and manured his allotment of land, sowed the necessary seeds, and, in proper season, carried home the crop on his back to the barn; and the next term ultimate diligence (the Scotch term of distraining for rent) was done against this man for his rent of thirty shillings." +

*

It is probable that the notoriety, which these facts have obtained, is the cause which has given birth to the statements which I have already noticed. In these publications the people are vilified and the proprietors applauded; the

Till lately, very few flat fish were caught by the fishers on the east coast of Scotland, although the sea abounds with turbot, soles, &c. Every encouragement in the way of premiums had failed to induce these men to alter their usual mode of fishing. When such are the difficulties in the way of overcoming the prejudices of men who have been fishers from their youth; can it be matter of surprise that the shepherds and graziers of the mountains do not, as if by instinct, become fishers, without the least knowledge or experience of the new element from which they are desired to extract their subsistence?

Letters from a Friend in the North. The three gentlemen from whose letters I have quoted these extracts are not acquainted with one another; they reside in different parts of the country, and two of them on opposite sides of the island. These, as well as many other communica tions which I have received, describe what the writers see in their own neighbourhood, and afford a painful confirmation of one another's statements, and of the general condition of the people.

former are described as dishonest, irregular in their ha bits, and incapable of managing their farms, or of paying adequate rents, although great sums have been advanced for improvements, and charitable purposes, while the latter are represented as affording extraordinary instances of indulgence and culpable forbearance towards a worthless race. It is unfortunate that such an outlay of money should have been productive of so little good, and that felony, destitution, and poverty, formerly unknown, should accompany the recent improvements, and this especially at a period when the great and unprecedented value of mountain produce ought to have contributed to the prosperity and preservation of the morals of the people.

* Detachments of the Sutherland Fencible regiment of 1762 were stationed in different parts of the Perthshire Highlands. The excellent and orderly conduct of these men, their regular attendance at church, and their general deportment, were so marked, even among a people who were themselves distinguished for similar habits, that the memory of the Sutherland soldiers, is, to this day, held in respect. In the years 1797 and 1798, large detachments of the Sutherland regiment of that period were stationed in the same districts. The character and conduct of these soldiers, every man of whom was from Sutherland, were in all respects the same. So strong was the impression made on the minds of the people of Athole and Breadalbane by the behaviour of the Sutherland men, that it materially changed their previous opinion of the character of soldiers in general, whom they considered as reprobates, with whom no person of quiet domestic habits could with safety associate; and hence, when a young man enlisted in any regiment except the National Corps, his family were too ready to believe that he was a lost man, an outcast from them and his native country. I now speak from personal experience, as I found, in the course of my recruiting in those districts, a great and gratifying change in the sentiments of the people. After the Sutherland detachments were stationed in Perthshire, young men engaged more readily, and their parents showed less dread at their inlistment as recruits," as they now found that soldiers were quiet sober people, with whom they need not be afraid to trust their sons."

In the country where the Sutherland soldiers were born, and received those principles which made them so exemplary, certainly there could not at that period be any necessity for associations to guard property against thieving and robbery. As these associations have lately been found neces sary, the cause should be inquired into, and fully explained.

With reference to the former situation of these people, so far as regards their independence of charitable aid, a comparison of their condition then with their late wretchedness, deteriorated character, and general call for the unbounded charity which is reported to have been generously granted, may be interesting, and may, perhaps, prove more satisfactory than general statements. On reference to the poor's funds, taken on an average of many years previous to 1800, it will be found, that, in those days, when that country was so populous, that this formed one of the alleged causes of removal, the sums paid to the poor of this surplus population in the parish of Rogart, containing 2023 persons, were under L.18 annually; in the parish of Farr, containing 2408 persons, under L.12; in Assynt, containing 2395 inhabitants, under L.11; in Kildonan, containing 1443 persons, under L.8 annually: other parishes were nearly in the same proportion; and at this moderate expence were all the poor of those districts supplied! As there can be no doubt of the correctnesss of the published statements of the great sums lately advanced for charitable purposes, they form a strong contrast. Judging from this, conjoined with the facts of the thousands of sheep stolen, and of the associations for the suppression of felony, how great must be the change in the habits and principles of that people who sent forth the religious, the virtuous, and the honourable soldiers of the Reay and Sutherland regiments, whose character, as appreciated by the best judges, and proved by their own conduct, will be seen in the notice of the military services of these corps!