336 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



tinned, or to say that, in political wisdom, the govern- 

 ment of Great Britain ought to have tolerated its longer 

 existence." * 



Kennelled like blood-hounds. Nothing was ever ex- 

 pressed more forcibly ; and Walter Scott here treats of 

 the moral and political side of the question only : he 

 does not touch at all upon the economy of such a system, 

 which is not less important. 



In France we have nothing resembling these freebooter 

 tribes of ancient Scotland, and on the score of public 

 safety we have need of no similar transportation. Still 

 we may derive instruction from the example of the High- 

 lands, inasmuch as they should teach us to consider the 

 condition of some of the rural populations in the most 

 unproductive parts of our own country. May we not also 

 have, on some parts of our territory, a population too 

 dense for the powers of the soil on which they dwell, 

 and who, even with the most assiduous labour, find 

 insufficient food while they remain so numerous ? Might 

 it not be desirable for the general good, as well as for 

 the unfortunate people themselves, seeing that they form 

 a part of the great family, to remove a portion, and 

 employ them more usefully elsewhere \ Would not this 

 be a double gain, first to the country they leave behind, 

 and then to that in which they would find employment \ 

 Would they not themselves be benefited by better wages 

 and greater comfort \ We may be thankful that the 

 employment of force in such a case could not happen 

 with us ; it would be the result only of a necessity freely 

 recognised by the parties interested ; but may we not 

 prepare the minds of the people beforehand for such 

 an event \ 



A clearance once effected, everything becomes easy in 



* Tales of a Grandfather, third series, chap. xxvi. 



