112 BENBECULA. HIGHLAND POPULATION. 



this much agitated question. The^vils that resulted 

 from the change in the state of trrc Highlands which 

 followed the events of 1745 and the subsequent intro- 

 duction of sheep farming into many districts, undoubtedly 

 found a relief by emigration, and then justified its utility. 

 But on the one side it appears to have been looked to 

 as the only remedy, while on the other it was maintained 

 to be always unnecessary, and at the same time deemed 

 politically inexpedient. The objection of political inex- 

 pediency must be given up by its supporters ; yet it 

 must at the same time be admitted, as abundant expe- 

 rience has since shown, that the process of crofting on 

 new lands, ameliorations in agriculture, and above all 

 the extended use and cultivation of the potatoe, have 

 proved that many remedies besides emigration were 

 capable of being applied, and of absorbing that popu- 

 lation which was rapidly augmenting, and always trench- 

 ing on the very verge (to say no less) of redundance. 

 But the views of the partizans of these expedients were 

 not sufficiently penetrating, and the instances adduced 

 above are sufficient to show that the disease has advanced 

 more rapidly than this class of remedies has been pro- 

 vided to cope with it, and thus the question in favour 

 of occasional emigration is determined. The fault has 

 been one too common in argument, that neither party 

 has been inclined to yield enough to its antagonist*. 

 I shall not be suspected of quoting Voltaire as an 



* It will be easily perceived that I here allude to the numerous writ- 

 ings which followed the able essay of my noble friend the Earl of 

 Selkirk. To the general principles laid down in that work we are 

 indebted for the greater correctness of thinking which has lately been 

 introduced into this branch of our political economy. But enough 

 power was not granted in it to the system of removal, crofting, and 

 general improvement. His opponents on the other hand have attri- 

 buted too much to its efficacy, and have supposed it to afford a perpetual 

 remedy for all future accumulation of people ; while they have made 

 the subject a source of controversy in a manner unfitting that which 

 peculiarly requires calm and temperate discussion. 



