1803. Thi Highland Society Vindicated. 31^ 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMER'S MAGAZINF. 

 The Highland Society Findi fated. 



Sir, 



■ The extenfive circulation of your ufefiil Work, whilfl it fpreads 

 wide and impcrtnnt information, relative to the bed intereils 

 of our country, may occafionaliy be the means of dilleminating 

 error. It becomes, therefore, the duty of your readers to enable 

 you to correcl any miftake, in point of facb, which, through 

 inadvertency or otherwife, may have crept into your Magazine. 

 In this view, I think it right to inform you, that Mr Dempfter, 

 in the very excellent letter to you, publifhed in your laft Number, 

 is inaccurate, when he flates, that the important fubjeft of Emi- 

 gration has efcaped the attention of the Highland Society of 

 Scotland. Had this been the cafe, that Society would indeed 

 have had little claim to the patronage and fupport it expects 

 from the public. But, fo far from having overlooked a circum- 

 (lance fo interefting to the feelings of their countrymen, and 

 fo connected with the well-being of the State, as the emigrations 

 from the Highlands of Scotland, the truth is, that the fubjedl 

 was early taken up, and carefully inveftigated. Nor were the 

 labours of the Society in vain. The Report tranfmitted to Go- 

 vernment by the Dire£lors, at the defire of the Society, was laid 

 before the Committee of the Houfe of Commons, and is ex- 

 prefsly dated in their Report as forming one of the principal 

 grounds on which the rcfolutions of that Committee were 

 founded. 



I have no doubt. Sir, but your enlightened and worthy cor- 

 refpondent Mr Dempfter, who adds by his name much refpeda- 

 bility to the iiil of members of the Highland Society, will be 

 happy to find that he has been miftaken in this point. Nay, 

 may I not hope, that he, and my countrymen in general, will 

 be difpofed to give the Society more of their confidence, and 

 believe, that, even when the public know it not, the Society are 

 anxioufly watching over the interefts of their country, preferving 

 that filence, on queflions of delicate difcufhon, which evinces a 

 greater defire to do good, than to receive the praife of doin^ ic. 

 I am. Sir, your moft obedient fervant, 



Edifiburgh^ 9. Jutie 1803. C, 



BRANCH 



