1803. Preventwg Eiiiigration fro7n the Highliiuds, 259 



to the Lowland diftricls in a body, is not, in many cafes, prac- 

 ticable. Individuals may, and often li?vc done it fuccefsfully j 

 but a number of families of children cannot be fo cafily remov- 

 ed, nor can accommodations be got, unlcfs previous means are 

 employed to procure a lettlcment. This brings me to tlie fe- 

 cond meafure which I mean to fubmit to the co'nfideration of 

 Highland proprietors, as calculated to provide for the people re- 

 moved, and to prevent them from leaving their native country. 



Under the fuppofition, that one half of the families difpof- 

 fefled, when the new hufbandry is introduced, can be accom- 

 modated upon the eftate in the character of labourers and arti- 

 fans, it is obvious, that the remainder mult either emigrate to 

 foreign countries, or to the Lowland diftricls. To prevent the 

 former, is a concern of material importance, and may be accom- 

 plifhed at a trifling expence, v/ithout impofing reftraints upon 

 the liberty of individuals, and \\dthout fubje£ling proprietors to 

 much trouble or inconvenience. 



Li all the Eaftern diflricfis of the ifland, from the Thames to . 

 the Moray Frith, the extent of population is lefs than what is 

 required for the purpofes of trade and cultivation j hence, it is 

 not only difficult to procure people for carrying on extraordinary 

 undertakings, but wages are alio increafed, of late, out of aU 

 common bounds. The increafmg profperity of thefe diftri^ls 

 will caufe a ftill greater demand for labouring people, and pro- 

 duce a further rife upon their payments, which might be avoid- 

 ed by receiving thofe who are deflitute of employment in the 

 Highlands. This has actually happened in many places al- 

 ready ; but no regular plan being formed for their reception, 

 when large bodies are turned out of poiTeflion, the evil on the 

 one fide has only been partially lelTened, and the benefit on 

 the other only partially gained. Were proprietors, who make 

 a change in the rural fyilem of their eflarcs, after afcertain- 

 ing the precife number of people that continued unprovided 

 at home, to feek out employment for them in tlie Eaiiern dif- 

 tridls, where population is confelTedly below what exiiling cir- 

 cumftances require, I am morally certain, that every one who 

 chofe to work would inftantly be received v/ith open arms. The 

 ihorteft and moft effe6tual way of reaching this beneficial end, 

 would be, to advertife in the public papers, the number of people 

 to be removed, their ages, fexes, and the kind of employmen;: each 

 is quahfied for undertaking, fo as a coirefpondence might be 

 opened betwixt the parties, in which the proprietor ought to take 

 an a6live hand. I am for leaving every part of the tranfaction 

 to the free w^ill of the people, and avoiding all things that might 

 i^m to infringe upon their natural liberty *, but, fure I am, that 



C c c 4 very 



