s'803. Gcjieral Ohfervathns on Highland Rural Eccmniy. ij'S* 



}y a hard-working and induftrious fet of people when allov.-cd to 

 work for their own benefit ; and is not tins equal or perhaps fu- 

 perior to a money capital ? I own both would oe better; but how 

 ieldom are they found united, and how little can we hope to fee 

 them tranfported to the Highlands ? I woaid wifli fame good pen 

 were employed in painting the generation of capital. Mere per- 

 fonal indultry is certainly the great anpeilor. The indultrious 

 man leaves his family enriched by his little acquifitions, and his 

 example. His little property accumulates under the rnaiidgcment 

 of \\\b children, and increafes. The third and fourth generations 

 become iViU richer, and are able to improve their houfes, their 

 cattle and uteardr,, their furniture, their drefs ; till at length the 

 country is poireiled by rich farmers, and becomes well cultivated. 

 Perfonal indullry may therefore be conddered as the male an- 

 cellor of capital ; fecurc tenure cis the female ; and, between them, 

 fince the reign of H^^nry VII., have been begotten all the riches 

 and improvements of England. YxQm thence fprang our mari- 

 time ftrength. It was country gentlemen who fitted out our iirft 



fleets of difcovery. A Sir Gilbert of Devonfliire, Sir Walter 



Raleigh and others, pawned their landed property to furnilh ca- 

 pital for fueh purpofes. Our cities and towns were hrft enriched 

 by the retail of goods wanted for the farmers, and by the purchafe 

 and exportation of corn and wool which the farmer produced » 

 The children of retailers became what V7e properly call merchants, 

 and fo laid the foundation of the prefent great fuperilruclure of 

 Britifh commerce. How eafily the capitals of Glafgow, Liverpool, 

 and Birmingh?.m, might be traced to this fource, nay, even of 

 proud London herfelf ! To pcrional indullry and fecure tenure was 

 added a good and free conftitution, whereby the rich were fecured 

 from the rapine of the powerful, and their violence. Thefe three 

 formed a great loaditone, Vv^hich has attrafted all the metals of 

 the world, and all its commodities, within the vortex of this fmall 

 iiland of Great Britain, the very debts of which exceed the wealth 

 of the reft of the globe. I have ftated thefe things as explana- 

 tory of my reafous for doubting the neceihty of a m.oney capital, 

 which to your correfpcndent feemed abfolutely necefiary for the 

 improvement of the Kighlcinds, and which that country has little 

 chance -of receiving. Indeed I do not think that any benefit 

 would be received from capital, unlefs the fyllem of fliort leafes 

 and perfonal fervices v/ere to be at the fame time abandoned. 



I lately examined a Highland eilate, which has been managed 

 in a liberal manner for a number of years back, from which I can 

 deduce ftrong arguments in fupport of what I have advanced. 

 The number of families upon the eft ate" alluded to, amounted, 

 Seventeen years ago, to 124, and I now find an incrcafe of 77, the 



R r r 3 whole 



