COKRACH-BAH ; OR, A PLEA FOR THE WASTES. 223 



will go a good way to destroy our famed nationality ; and by 

 introducing moneyed strangers, who know nothing, and feel 

 less, of sympathy with the Highland character, will (unwitting- 

 ly, perhaps) do all they can to extirpate it altogether. It is 

 melancholy to hear some nouveaux riches, at Eadical meetings, 

 spouting forth their untutored volubility upon this (to me) 

 painful subject " If the hereditary feudal lairds and lords 

 cannot improve their estates, they ought to sell them to those 

 who can ! " to those pioneers of civilisation, whose chief idea 

 of a Highland estate is that of a good bargain, and whose 

 notion of raising the Highland character consists in assimilat- 

 ing it to their own ! They may give employment, 1 and money 

 for money's worth, but all their efforts will be unavailing to 

 transform the Gael into their beau iddal of a peasant; and 

 never can they gain that place in his heart, only to be occu- 

 pied by his feudal chief of ages past. Our Queen better knew 

 her northern people, when, upon her first memorable visit to 

 this land of caterans, she, like the great chieftainess, cast her- 

 self freely, fully, upon the unbought devotion of her clans. 



Perhaps I feel too strongly on this subject ; and I know I 

 am open to the remark that feudalism implies dependence, 

 while no feeling of this sort is compatible with improvement 

 in character or country. But are we sure that all we term 

 improvement is more than simple alteration ? And is there 

 one mountain-born son of Albyn who will not agree with me 

 in preferring our unspoiled, unplanted glens, our wild game, 

 and our national distinctness, to all the busy important bustle 



1 A great outcry has been raised against the "Highland clearances," and much 

 obloquy cast upon the proprietors of some remote islands and localities for turn- 

 ing adrift their dependants. Many of these poor creatures, although suffering 

 every privation, refuse to emigrate, even when given all reasonable encouragement. 

 It is a hard case, but what can the lairds do ? To give employment, by reclaim- 

 ing such land, is out of the question, and to support such numbers of starving 

 people would ruin the estate. The only resource, now that the kelp-trade has 

 failed, is to reduce the population, at the same time enlarging the grazing farms 

 (the surest return in the Highland districts), and giving leases to respectable 

 Highland tenants. 



