10 THE HIGHLAND CLEARANCES. 



the only thing with which he can fairly be charged in con- 

 nection with them was a too imperious disinclination to 

 listen to the people's claims, and that he had not fully and 

 sufficiently early enquired into the justice of them. On his 

 prudence very much depends at present the amicable settle- 

 ment of a great question, or at least the shape which the 

 present agitation for the settlement of the relations of land- 

 lord and tenant in the Highlands will ultimately take. 



We believe that the sad consequences of the recent pro- 

 ceedings against the Braes tenants is deplored by himself as 

 much as by any in the Isle of Skye, where the feeling of 

 regret and shame is universal among the people, from the 

 highest to the lowest, irrespective of position or party. 



There is a very strong feeling that the law must be main- 

 tained ; but the opinion is very generally expressed that the 

 people ought not on this occasion, and in the present state 

 of the public mind, to have been brought into contact with 

 the criminal authorities ; and that by a little judicious rea- 

 soning this could have been very easily avoided. We quite 

 agree that the law must not only be respected, but firmly 

 vindicated, when occasion demands it; but at the same 

 time the owners of land who press hard upon their poor 

 tenants are living in a fool's paradise if they expect that 

 harsh laws, harshly administered, will be allowed to stand 

 much longer on the statute-book if such as the recent pro- 

 ceedings at the Braes are to be repeated elsewhere throughout 

 the country. Just now the facts of history deserve careful 

 study, and we trust that the lessons they teach will not be 

 thrown away on those more immediately concerned in main- 

 taining their present position in connection with the land. 



An attempt has been made to show that the Braes tenants 

 have no real grievances ; and our own opinion before we 

 went to examine them on the spot was, and it is so still, 



