( 20 ) 



as to number 380, of whom all but a mere fraction 



were below ^10 rent, and the great majority (218) 



were even below ^5. Of these last, again, .a very 



large number were as low as 30s. and ^3. There 



were, besides, a largo population of cottars who were 



without any land, employed, in so fiir as they worked 



at all, in fishing and very casual labour. 



Great destitution When the potato famine came in 1846, the destitu- 

 of people in 1846. , . « ., , i i. • 



tion 01 the people was as severe as under such circum- 

 stances it could not fail to be. Not only was there 

 great distress, but there was danger of actual starva- 

 tion. My father, John, seventh Duke of Argyll, was 

 then in possession of the estate ; but as he was in 

 feeble health, I was obliged to take a principal share in 

 Present Duke re- devising measures of relief, and as he died in the spring 



sponsible for man- r-irn- o t -i ir 



augment since ^* ^^^^ lollowing year, 1 847, 1 consider myself practi- 



^^4<5. cally responsible for the management of the estate from 



the date of the potato failure in 1846. A large sum 

 was spent in providing meal for the people, and another 

 large sum in assisting as many as were willing to 

 emigrate to Canada. I have not beside me at this 

 moment any note of the exact number who went to 

 Canada, but in the course of four years it exceeded a 

 thousand souls. The whole of this was a purely 

 voluntary emigration, for a great portion of which I 

 paid the whole cost myself, whilst assisting in the ex- 

 penses of the remainder. In 1851 the people were still 

 eager to go, and I print in an Appendix to this paper 

 the remarkable petition which they sent to me and 

 to the Government seekino; further aid towards emio;ra- 

 tion. I saw, however, that emigration was not the 

 only remedy which the condition of the Island re- 

 quired. Active steps were taken to give employment 



