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THE LAND ! ¦ Within that land was Hiany a malcontent , Who cnrs'd the tyranny to which he bent ; The son full many a wringing despot saw , T ? ho wnrk'd Ms wantonness in form of law . ^ JW » . "A people among whom equality reigned , would pos-^ s everything they wanted where they possessed the ffleansofsnbastence . Why should they pursue additional ^ altli or territory ? So man can cultivate morethan a terrain portion of land . "— Godwin . « So one is able to produce a charter from heaven or i& > ° - v tetter title t 0 a particular possession than ' his jeighfeour . "—raley . ™" . ¦ There could he no such thing as landed property oi ^ oally . Xan did not make the earth , and , thouS hi jmd a naturalnghtto ocntpg it , he had no right to locStc « & property vi /* rp € tu ^ any part of it ; niither did the ^ tor of the earth open a land office , from whence the as , tide deeds should issue . " -5 rao » , as Paine . The land shall not be sold for eeer . —Jtoses ~
"There is no luundationin nature or in natural law why a set of words upon parchment should convey the dominion » f laueL " -Black-stone . 5 . < The land or earth , in any country or neighbourhood wtheverything in or on the same , orpertaiSing thereto teloDgsataUtanesto the living inhabitants of the said country or neighbourhood in an equal manner For Acre is no living but on land and its productions- consequ ently , what we cannot live without , we have the « ame r ro ]« rty m as in our lives . "— Humus Spencc . Tlielanaisthepeoi . le ' sinheritance- . andldngs , prince ytvrs , nobles , pnests , and commoners , who have stolen it from them , held it upon the title of popular ignorance rather than upon any right , human or divine "—FearmA
" My reason teaches me that land eamiot he sM Tk Great Spirit gave it to his children to live upon , and culti rate , as for as is necessary for their subsistence ; and so long as they occupy and cultivate * , they have the right to ihesoil-but if they voluntarily leave it , then any other peoplehaye a right to settle uponit . Nothing can be sold but such things as can be carded away . » -iad- S ' " Every individual possesses , legitimately , ftc thina which his labour , his intelligence ( or more generaUyf which his aclitUy has created ? Ecl « ra" 5 > "This principle is incontestible , and itis well to remark Aat it contains expressly an aclmowledgiuent of the right cf aUtothesofl . Foras thesoil has nSt been created by man , it follows from the fundamental principle of pr < vperty , that it cannot belong to any small portion of the human race , who have created it by their activity , let us then conclude that the true theory of property is founded on the creation of Vte Ciini vosieised . ' "—Fourier .
If man Bas a right -to light , air , and water , which no «« e will attempt to question , he has a right also to the Statf , which is just as necessary for the maintenance of his subsistence . If every person had an equal share of the soil , poverty would be unknown in the world , and crime would disappear with want "—IKke Wahli . "As the nature and wants of all men are alike the wants of all must be equal ; and as human existence is ^ pendent on the same contingencies , it follows that the great field for all exertion , and the raw material of all wealth , lie eartt , is the common property of all its inha bitauts . 'WoJm Francis Bray .
« What monopoly inflicts evils of such magnitude as that of land ? It w Hie sole larrier to national prosperity The people , the only creators of wealth , possess know ledge ; they possess industry ; and if they possessed land , they could set all other monopolies at defiance they would then be enabled to employ machinery for their own benefit , and the world would behold with delight and astonishment the beneficial effects of this mighty engine , when properly directed . "—Author of ( hi "Reproof of
THE AUTOCRAT OF SUTHERLANDSHHtE UNMASKED . In esposingihe tyranny of the Highland landlords we have specially adverted to "Ms Grace" the Lake of Sutherland , and promised to more fully unveil the g rinding tjranny , the wholesale spoliation , and practical murder , charged to the accountof his dukeship and hia graceless predecessors . We now come to the fulfilment of our promise . For centuries Sutherlandshire was divided between the two great families of Reay and Sutherland . Under their influence Sutherlandshire formed an exception to other Highland districts ; Highland feuds ceased there a full century before they were suppressed elsewhere , and in their place peace and
contentment flourished . The last of "the good earls" of Sutherland , the seventeenth , was the father of the late countess . He and his wife had two daughters , one of whom was suddenly cut off atDunrohin Castle . Shortly afterwards the earl died of a malignant fever at Bath , and immediately afterwards Ms wife followed him to the grave . Their only surviving daughter -was educated by an ambitious maternal grandmother , far removed from the influence of those sympathies with the people of her clan for which her ancestors had been remarkable , and in the faith of a church not theirs . She married the heir of the English family of Gower , rich in southern seals , and immersed in diplomacy and politics : and now commenced the horrible system of clearances . Agricul tural "improvements" became the order of the
dayand men decayed . Sutherlandshire , that the old lords of Dunrobin loved so well , seemed to their daughter a wild rude country , where aU was wrong , and where all had to be set right . Black cattle , so long the pride of the country , were made to disappear , and sheep to roam-where they once fed ; for lib . of beef 21 b . of mutton were produced ; but , alas ! for two families it then supported in comfort , it now supports but one ; and good store fanners were converted into unskilful fishermen . In nine years 25 , 000 persons were either removed from the centre to the sea coast , or had emigrated to America . Inland districts , long dotted -with cottages and reticulated with the share of the plough , were transformed into steppes ; the population spread over the whole county -was compressed into a wretched selvage of
povertyandsufFering—intoafringeofmisery . Farms were consolidated , without a poor law sufficient to mitigate any of the disastrous results of consolidation . The Atlas , writing the history of these atrocities , says : — "Cobbett saw what was going on , and threatened a visit of inspection . 'I will , ' said he , go and inquire on the spot whether the natives of the county of Sutherland were driven from the hud of their birth by the countess of that name , and by her husband , the Marqais of Stafford . I wish to possess authentic information relative to that clear ing affair . ' But Cobbett never went . General Stewart , of Garth , attempted to rouse public attention to the facts , but in vain . Sismondi , from his retirement on the Lake of Geneva , protested in the name of law and of humanity against the clearance ,
saying , ' It is b y an abuse of legal forms—it is by an unjust usurpation—that the tacksman and tenant of Sutherland are considered as having no right to what they have occupied for so many ages . ' 'If , ' he added , looking proudly around on his happier mountain home , 'the Counts of Kyburgh , of liutzburgh , of Hap 3 burgh , and of Gruyeres , had been protected by English laws , they would find themselves at the present day precisely in the condition in which the Earls of Sutherland were twenty years ago . Some of them would , perhaps , have had the same taste for Improvements , and several republics would have been expelled from the Alps to make room for flocks of ekeep . ' AUthedfcctth&l Sismondi ' snobledeelamation produced -was , a laudatory essay on those very im-WKCEMSltS ifi thfe Quarterly Review ! " As an
instance of the atrocities perpetrated at the time described by the Atlas , we find it recorded in the Annual Itojitter for 1815 , that in the month of May « r June 3814 , one Peter Seixars , an under-factor on the Sutherland estate , took possession of a large farm held by certain tenants of the parish of Far , in the vale and district of Strathnavar ; the people were forcibly driven out , and three human beings were } iui » ERED . TVhen the people refused to leave their louses , having no other places of shelter to go to , tlic 7 toiucs were set frc to , and puUtd down about their ?<<« fe . To this * horrible death were consigned three human beings—one woman , old and bed-ridden , and two men . Besides these , one woman whose house
^ as pulled do wn , site beingfar advanced in pregnancy , miscarried from terror ; and a man , aged upwards of iihitty years , whose house was pulled down , had an arm fractured while in bed , by the falling roof . But enoush of the horrors of the past—let us come to ihoseTof the present time , which , though they do not appear in the shape of burnings and open murders , nevertheless arc more than sufficiently atrocious . ! In the linns of the 28 th ult . appeared a letter worn its " assistant commissioner , " describing the weseEt state of Sutherlandshireat great length . The lertcr is too lengthy to g ive entire in our columns , lat the extracts we have selected will , we dare say , fully satisfy our readers . The letter is dated Lairg , ' Suthcrlanlshirc , May 2 ith . After some few
observaiionsthe writer says : — I This vast estate ( the Duke of Sutherland ' s ) , which is litarly co-esteusive with the county , coversa district ninety ailes by seventy in extent Its rental is from £ 30 , 000 to £$ > , Ws a-year . * It is managed by three factors , each laving a large district under his immediate controul ; and lhtse are superintended by Mr . Loch , M . P . for the w boroughs , who is the chief steward or manager of 3 i « estate . The character of the country is that of a ccininued succession of rock and heather covered hills , iiitaH-cted with many straths or glens , containing arable iaud . The soil is generally poor . Formerly these sUaths aai Situs wen- thickly peopled . The inhabitants lived vbitfly ty rearing cattle and sheep , and as the population increased they spread up the different remote glens , many w" tlitm , like the " squatters" of Australia and North America , buiUiing places for themselves where they
latches of j ^ a wi , ere they could find them , and the tending of their small flocks and herds . Xo doubt this was asiaJe of things not altogether desirable in a civilized country , anj certa ; niy not very profitable to the landlord . tjjK tiie rtincdy then adopted was wholly unjustifiable . « k « - was not an assertion of right , and a demand of X 4 E " If their condition was one which , for their own ^ ts , it was desirable to alter , it was not for them a otsiraMe alteration to be lnrned adrift on the world without knowledge , and without prospect , and if driven to " ¦" Sratp , witli only the hope of establishing themselves as they wcre \^ 0 Te ^ jj , e arbitrary exercise of such a ri sto , while justly punished by universal condemnation , * as , in itself , a most narrow-minded and unwise policy . * here is no soil so rich , no rentaoll so productive , as the work of men ' s hands , if they be employed . But the policy then pursued -was—not to find employment—not lo create b y wise measures a population who would find inunsdves employment but to drive away the people as aidi as possible , and to crush those who remained into
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immM walk . ™ u now-a barren , unpopulated sheeps ^ esasiass ,-js &tatiasftaisstts am are not allowed to live on it , to say nothin E of Sttgtt % ft £ i ! £ «* weS * fu" ? and t 0 * " S 0 Uth > tofl *«* » 4 to the m ™ V ? - ^ P aCe SOever you may fa * J ° u « U 1 find a man who will drive you thence , saying , ? . This fieU fa
And after having travelled through the country sou ? tlf ^ 0 WiDgthat fllcre is """ lereamSSJ spot of earth where your wife may bring forth her firstborn , or where you may repose after the toils of the day or where , arrived at your latter end , your cluldren majbury your bones in a place that may be yours . JI W * M the Abbe adds « " certainly a gi-cat evil . But no matter , Byron remarked"Though Ireland starve , great George weighs twenty stone : and although the many are denied even a foot of land passing through life onnerhaosa shillW * a ™
and in old age enjoying the blessings flowing fi ^ m halfacrowna year it is doubtless a great consolation to them to know that his Lord God-ship of Sutherland isan autocrat of ninety by seventy miles of land , rntn an income from that land of from thirty to thirty-live thousand pounds a year ! The writer in the Times tells us that Sutherlandshire was formerl y "thickly peopled : " how it is peopled now we shall show presently . In former tunesmany of the inhabitants were what in Australia and Worth America would be called " squatters " {^ atog small patches of the soil for their own benent . anu "having no place on the rcnt-rolL" This says the Times correspondent , was " not altogether desirable in a civilised country , and not verv
nrofitable to the landlord . " The latter portion , of this sentence welcan believe : but not the former . What is civilisation ? We understand b y civilisation the cultivation of the faculties of mankind and theresources of the earth to the highest possible state of perfection ; together with the so perfecting and securing the individual rights of each member of the community as to ensure the happiness of all . Tried by this test , we fancy the free " squatters" of former tunes were much nearer a state of civilisation than the remnant of wretched serfs who now represent tuem . Before the clearances commenced , according to the evidence of the Rev . Hugh M'Keszie , "the inhabitants of Sutherlandshire used to subsist principally upon flesh , fish , milk , butter , and curds and
cream . They used to eat no vegetables . They had a few spots of oats and beans , butthey bought very little meal . Potatoes were only introduced when 1 was a Child ; and now it is tiieir general food . " This was the food that made fine men and gallant soldiers . They ate not , however , now to be seen . The correspondent of the rimes says— " The people now are a thin , meagre , haltstarved-lookin g , and stunted race . The V 0 T a . aisatney exhibit , however , is their abject apathy . The feet is , they are starved down , and kept 111 such perpetual terror of losing their crofts , their only livelihood , that they are spiritbroken and hopeless . I saw a school of some twenty children to-dav . I do not think in any by-alley in London , in the most imnnre and rotnfinn ? nfmnanfimuk vnu dahU DAn uwuwvuwiV
f - — — ~ w | JVU IAIIUU OUO twenty children with such paflid faces and thin , halffed forms , as these poor children , living on the hillside facing the sea . " * We dare say there will not be much difference of opinion amongst our readers as to which , the former or the present state of the people of Sutherlandshire , is the most like a state of civilisation . The world has seen , and yetsees , a select band of vegetable-eating philosophers , who have written , said , and sung a vast deal of nonsense respecting the virtues of vegetable as opposed to animal diet ; but , with all deference to these gentlemen , we think the state of the people of Sutherlandshire , past and present , is a " settler" for their theory . At all events , we have no hesitation in giving our vote for the "barbarous" time when men eat no vegetables , in preference to the present " civilised" state of things when pigmy skives revel in the luxury of potatoes . Really , when we see what the " accursed root" has
helped to do in the Highlands , as well as in too many other places , to bring the masses into degradation , we can hardly hold back from imitating the great Wauam Cobbett in bestowing upon it our anathema . As to the unprofitableness of the " squatting system . " to the landlord , we deny his right to the land , and , consequently , lus right to receive rent , or interfere with the " squatters . " As Lord Jeffrey says , " We don't go into that now ; " but their lord-godships , the landlords , need not fear that we shall forget their " rights . " They shall have ample justice before we have done with them . The system pursued towards the " squatters , " and rural inhabitants generally—the " weedings , " the burnings , and the murders , are sufficiently described above . The result has been the making of Sutherlandshire " a barren , unpopulated sheep-walk . " Gome we now to the policy at present pursued in that devoted region : —
Nearly the whole county has been paicelled out into vast sheep walks , held by a few individuals . The place from which I now write is Lairg ; miles and miles in its neighbourhood are rented by one person for £ 1500 a year . Bj the evidence given before the Poor Law Commissioners of Inquiry ( Scotland ) , I see that another person near here , Mr . Donald Macdonald , of Lochinver , rents " 30 , 000 acres of land , the whole a pasture farm , " Por the management of this vast tract of country , Mr . Macdonald says "I have eleven shepherds under me . " Here then , 30 , 000 acres of land only give employment and subsistence to eleven families . This is merely , an esample of what is the rule throughout the country . The population that still remains—the highland cotters—by this parcelling out of the country , are driven into corners , and ou to bar
ren hill sides here and there , to make fertile a desert spot for some future sheep-walk . Thirty thousand acres of land giving employment and subsistence to eleven families , and such subsistence as shepherds are allotted ! We must have a word respecting this DoKiin M'Doxald , the monopolist of thirty thousand acres : not content with defrauding hundreds of his fellow-creatures of their fair right to the means of existence—not content with reducing them to a state of hopelessmisery , he has the astounding impudence to slander his fellow country men , accusing them of "idleness . " la his evidence before the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry he is reported to have said— " From the apathy which now prevails here , if a boat were to go out and come home laden , with a quantity of fisli , the people would not go out again , but would live upon the fish till it was all consumed . I would certainly not advise granting
able-bodied persons relief from an assessment . I think that the effect of it would be to encourage idleness ; and we have too much idleness already . " How like is this to the ravings of the Scotch " feelosofer , " Bbougium , against the English working classes , and the caHting lie about "Idleness and her sister Guilt stalking through the land . " This same Donald M'Doxald , in another part of his evidence , speaking of the food of the people , acknowledges that " their usual food is potatoes , ami occasionally salt herrings . They have no milk . They likewise eat shell-fish , such as muscles and cockles / ' This is surely the diet of apathy ; and this wretched food , together with the want of any remunerative employment , would satisfactorily account for the " apathy " and "indolence " of the Highlanders , even was the charge true , but p lenty of evidence exists that the charge is as false as it is unjust . We request particular attention to the next extract .
It is a rule on the estate , that as far as possible no new cottage shall be allowed to be built . If the population increases , it must be driven out as it increases . This is effected in the following manner : —if a small cotter with a croft of three or four acres , on which he contrives to live , iias a family , they may live with him , but they can .-not marry till the death of the old people . It is a rule on the estate , and apparently a very proper one , that not more than one family shall inhabit a cottage , and a son or a daughter are not allowed to marry and reside in the same cottage with their father or mother . But can the young couple get another cottage ? So . They may travel the length and breadth of Sutherlandshire , but not a cottage will they find , or a place where they will be
suffered to remain . They may go to " the south ; ' that is their only chance of a home . If the young men or women remain with their parents till the old people die , and the cottage , or " bothie , " and land becomes vacant , they arc suffered to remain , and may then marry . If the young jicople will not wait , but niarry , and " go south , " and take their chance , and the old people die , the "bothie" and croft do not become a vacant tenement for any young couple ; the rule is that it shall then be added to the next eroft if the tenant will have it , and the cottage is pulled down . This , no doubt , improves the condition of the cotters who remain , but it is as apparent that it gradually exterminates them , till another sheep-walk is created , oi onealreadv large enough is made larger .
When I speak of these rules I do not allude to apowerless principle . If there is any infraction of them , the factor of the district learns it from one of the assistants or officers under him , stationed at the place , called a " ground officer . " Every tenant is a tenant at will , and an infraction of the rules is followed by the certain expulsion of the tenant from his holding , without the slightest possibility of his getting another in Sutherlandsbire . The old policy of depopulating is still , therefore , pursued by slow and gradual , but not less certain
measures . After reading the above , who will say that feudaliim no longer exists amongst us ? The lows ot the
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This is probably one of the schools for the establishing , or aiding in the establishing of wliich , the Duke of Sutherland has been latelv lauded in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland ( not the Free Church ) . Behold the blessings of "heddikashun !"
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J ± SiSaSffSS ! 1 * PT life ™* death . firi ? ftrt ' ilIld «<> man call ¦ MH SS ^ patetftte ^^ S ^ e wS \ h ^ » Snt to < SA Duke ° l Sutherland is what iiL ; * i ^ C progress of P <> P « lation by riS 3 ? Mari K . » t *» l abrogation of marnage and the compelling men and women to Km in
a « aw ot torced celibacy . We have caUed this SL i f * . t omiuat { |> ^ any rate bound the lord to the serf-it compelled the former to take care that the latter was well f « l—that the serf , in his social condition ,. should feel he had an inteiW infiSini tor his chief , rather than for any other chief-and ft Wnf ? i P ^ . ^ "toMSt ; otherwise , in the hour of danger , he might find his vassals unfitted or S ^ S combat "m- It strikes us , there-S *« « e r , V ¥ . f > feudalism was a better TlT w . tliaVluch uow cxists- Trac they were dates ; but is not the same class slaves still ? The m-anded arm , the brazen collar , and such like badges ofslaveryhave goneout-but with small benefit to 5 r J ; ^? . 01 llyin Sutherlaudshire , but throughout breat Britain and Ireland , slavery continucsthe slavery of waces . The emanc .. mn «< m « f the
massesis ideal , not real . In the language of Car-LTLE- "Gurth-born thvall of Cedric , the Saxon , with the brass collar round his wok , tending Ccdric ' s pigs m the glades of the wood , is not what I call an exemplar of human felicity ; but Gurth to me seems &' V ^ Pa " " with many a Lancashire and S 2 l S iamS L i r ? f the 8 . d ^ -not born to the r HS . ? Dy tyi ^ ^ pl ? were Cedric ' s ; but Gurth , too , would get his parings of them Gurth is now emancipated long since-has what we call t -i i , Llbcrt y » I am tfilvl , is a divine thin " . Liberty when it becomes the ' liberty' to die uV starvation , is not so divine ! " y The Duke of Sutherland ' s system is despotism rather than feudahsm-a despotism of the most atrocious character . The nrieststell i » tw «™™ s . m
is an institution of the Deity ' s . They hand usa took which they assure us is a revelation from heaven . In that book it is stated that God found it was not "ood tor man to be alone , therefore was woman made to be a help meet unto , or helpmate for him ; and in uniting them together God bade them "be fruitful and multiply , and replenish the eavth . " So much tor revelation . Our own natural instincts need not be stated ; and our reason confirms what we are told revelation commands . But his Lord-Godship ot butherlandshive—the autocrat of ninety miles bv seventy of land-the petty imitator of the imperial
desolator NicnoLAS-he daringly and impiously sets himself above nature , reason , and revelation , and , defying God and man , commands that there shall be neither marrying nor giving in marriage ! Is is not time that the reign of these inhuman , unnatural landplunderere was brought to an end ? The limes ' s correspondent gives a series of " returns' taken from the evidence of the three factors on the estate—Mr . George Gcsk , Mv . Robert Uohsbburoh , and Mr . Robehi Sinclair , showing the different classes of tenants on the estate . For these returns we have not room , but we give the Times ' s correspondent ' s summary : —
What , then , do these returns show ? That throughout the whole of Sutherlandshire there are . including the peo . pie who live in towns , and renthouseB at comparatively higher rents , only 82 tenants above £ 10 and under £ 200 —thatis , of theclass of yeomen . Of large shcepfarmers , employing only a few shepherds , at rentals of from £ 200 to £ 2 , 000 a-year , there are 44 ; whilst the great mass of the people are tenants under £ 10 rent , aud scarcely a remove from beggary . Out of a total number of 2 , 937 tenants , 2 , 712 pay less than £ 10 r « nt—that is , they can scarcely live . They are tenants at will ; they have , therefore , no incitement to improve even their poor estate ; being wholly dependent on the will of the factor , they dare not act independently , or project or do any one thing without his sanction , for fear of being turned out . Their absolute poverty renders it impossible for them to
attempt any sort of enterprise , even if , living in § uch a condition , they could have the disposition . They , therefore , of themselves , never can improve . Of the class of yeomen—the men who create capital by their ingenuity , tueir diligence , and their skill—of this class , confined to 82 individuals in the whole county , can much be expected in the way of improvement ? The class of large sheep farmers are mere wealth amassers , satisfied with things as they are . Does not , then , the system of management which has been pursued crush down the population into mere serfs , from whom nothing can be hoped ? I think the above facts prove that it does ; and so long as this system shall be pursued , so long will Sutherlandshire be abarren wild , and its population a race of unimprovable and povertystricken men—always complaining , always declining , as they grow old , into paupers .
What , then , is the remedy ? Employment ! Give employment to the people . Create employment . Pursue a course directly the opposite in its tendencies to that pursued . Bo notmake employment more scarce by turning the hills and glens into sheep-wilds . Create the class of yeomen , and they will create employment . Make many yeomen out of one sheep farmer . A people , the mass of whom it is evident can now only just live , cannot create employment . That is a duty which his Grace of Sutherland ought to perform . There is an inexhaustible store of fish—haddocks , cod , tarings , lobsters—round the coast , promote fisheries on a large scale for employment , not for profit ; the profit will return to the landowner in many other ways . Enormous quantities of fine wool are grown on the hills . Why send it to Yorkshire to make cloth ? At high elevations among the hills are large lakesproriding an inexhaustible store of water-power . Promote factories ; surely with water-power costing nothing ,
and wool at your doors , you can make cloth as cheaply as it can be made in Yorkshire , with expensive steam power and 300 to-JOO milescarriage ofyour wool . This will employ yourpopulation instead of driving them to Canada . Employment will bring wealth . Youv western coast has some of the finest harbours in Britain . Wealth will bring commerce to your shores , and commerce will again engender wealth . And what will the process effect on the estate of Sutherlandshire ? It will make barren acres which now are not worth 6 d . a-ycar return bulky rents , and thus will his Grace , and his children after him , be repaid for blessing his countrymen with employment , and for creating a class who of themselves will do it . But the very first step to create that class is to- create independence of spirit in the place of serfage . Abandon the ttnant-at-will system ' , give leases , or make such agreement as shall secure the tenant as well as the landlord ; and independence of spirit , and improvement , and enterprise , will rapidly follow .
And what if his Lord-Godship of Sutherlandshire will not do what the writer in the Times says he " ought" to do ? What if he curis his aristocratic lip , cocks his aristocratic nose , bids such " vilefeU lows" as he of the Times not to come " betwixt the wind and his nobility , " declares he will " stand by his order , " and , setting at defiance newspaper men and " all other anarchists and levellers , " snail proclaim that he will continue to " do what he likes with his own ? " If he will so do , as he will do , what then , good Times ? Shall you and we , lovingly yoked together , set about inquiring if the ninety miles by seventy of land be his own ? But , perhaps , like Lord Jeffret , j'ou "don't go into that" just yet . Sorry for it . As you are the " leading journal . " we should
have been happy to have allowed jrou the post of honour . But if you decline , so be it ; with you or withoutyoutheinquiry must be made . The " Reckoning Commission" must be opened . On the occasion of the second reading of the New Scotch Poor Law on Friday , the 13 th inst ., reference was made to the extraordinary statements of the Urns " commissioner , " by Mr . Siiarman Crawford . This called up Mr . Loch , the agent-in-chief and deputy-autocrat of the Duke , who denounced the reports in the Times as " aniazin" mis-statements . " He did not , however , condescend to go into particulars in refutation of the statements of the Times correspondent , with the exception of one particular instance : —
It has been said that the contribution of tlie heritor to one Kirk Session for the poor was but . £ C . Now , in the eight parishes which are properly called Sutherlandshire the amouut of the contribution of the Duke of Sutherland to the Kirk Session is £ 42 a-year . That is a very small sum ; but that sum merely is so given because the landlord thinks that he can distribute his charity in a way move beneficial to the people ; and the amount of charity wliich he gives ( and which i 9 , 1 may say , settled on them , for it is given regularly ) is above £ 450 a-year . This certainly presents the Duke ' s character in a somewhat improved light . He gets , it appears , from thirty to thirty-five thousand pounds a year from the estate , and returns to the poor—at * least so Mr , Loch avers—four hundred and fifty pounds . The Times remarks : —
Air . Loch here shows a wish to refute where lie can . Why , then , does he not show , for instauce , that in the parish of Farr , Ann M'Donald , a deformed and crippled dwarf , receives more than two shillings in the name of aliment for a year ? Why does Mr . Loch not come forward to declare , thatatLickvourn ahclpless woman , named Campbell , who has been bed-ridden for six years , has a larger allowance than 4 s . a-year | from the Kirk Session ? Why does he not make it apparent that it is all a mistake to believe that Ann Matkie , in the parish of Tongue , has only 2 s . 6 d . a-year allowed , and lives by begging ? But , instead of meeting these and other issuable and triable facts , Mr . Loch made the astounding statement : —
That from the year 1811 to the year 1839 not one sixpence of rent has been received from * the county of Sutherland , but , on the contrary , there has been sent there for the improvement and benefit of the people a sum ex-
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S" 5 r ? ° ' ° ' " iD aMti 0 n t 0 th € cntire rcntal laia On this the Tims remarks : — « f n f n ^ . « - ° 8 h here ab ! Olv « s h « principal from all charge of oppres I 0 n what an amount of ceusure does he ^ on him who has the outlaying of the Duke ' s bounty ! tJLiri » £ . > B statemcnt be true , that during SirfiSi - f u ot onc forfhin S of the rentfl 1 ° f Sutlicrlanclslurc has been sent out of the county , and M , 2 ? 1 i' - l SUI ? . wfaS ^ 00 , 000 has been laid out there , making at the lowest calculation in twentyeight you * sumof £ 900 , 000 expended on the estate , -if this be tme , we should like to know who has betl ? V , . T ? um ofmoney ? Certainly ??'™ J - / hcirs ateis mosWvctched-andbeit
-, .. remembered that their wretchedness is vouched for , not only by the correspondent of the Times , as his statements are fully borne out by the evidence eiven on oath before the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry ; and Mr . E . Euice , jun ., contradicted point blank all that Mr . Loch had said as to the comfortable and contented state of the people inthellHilam s . Mr . Eluce declared that" the state of thines in the north of Scotland was a perfect disaracc to a civilmd country . * * * * The state of the population was wretched in the extreme ; he had witnessed ft , and he knew it . " To this Mr . Loch made no repl y . We give a few brief extracts from letters wliich have appeared in the Times subsequent to the one quoted ^ ° ! ^^ l . lett , < l « ted Lah-B , Sutherbndshire , M 2 ? th the writer
ay quotes the following from the evidence of the Rev . Mr . M'Kenzte , of Tongue :-1 would wish to remark , that an erroneous inference , as to the state of fhu country , might to drawn from tl . e fact that the cottages built within the last twenty years are superior to the cottages formerly inhabited by tenants in tins country . The cottages are certainl y now farsupenw ,. / j / on oofc to the outside only , but if you consider what the old cottages contained inside , as compared with the new cottages , the advantages in favour of the old cot tnges is great . They used to be well supplied with ar tides of bed-furniture ; they used to have chests full of blankets ; and no Highland gentleman would have been afraid formerly to sleep in one of those tenants' houses . That is not the case now . Tenants are very ill supplied with bedding , and the blankets which they have Uity Wp so long thnt they are frequently very filthy .
In a letter dated Tongue , Sutherlandshire , May 30 tli , the writer says : —
From Lairg to thisplace is about forty miles due nortli . The road passes over wild barren heaths . The glens were formerly peopled . All have been " cleared" out . In that forty miles of country I did not see six houses , and not six people . There was scarcely a tree , or a stone wall , or anything to see on all sides as far as the eye could reach but the barren heath , over which sheep and lambs were running about . Its loneliness may be judged of from the fact that I saw about twenty wild red deer in the course of the day . The land , formerly arable and green pasture from the labour of small tenants , is now rapidly getting like the adjacent heath—full of bogs and wire grass , and is scarcely now distinguishable from the heath . This is the result of " clearance" improvements . Speaking of Tongue , the writer says : —
This is one of the places to which the people from the interior of the country have been driven to get a living on the coast as they can . The best off among the cotters have five acres of land , part of it arable , and a right of common on the . adjacent hill . The tenants houses are small stone-built cottages , ana much superior in appearance outside to the mud huts of the country . Inside , however , they are quite as filthy and as wretched as the mudhuts . A mud floor ; a peat fire upon it , a table , a rush chair , and a bed , with two or three plates , form their usual appearance aud furniture ; all within looking poverty-stricken , wretched , and filthy . The people seem too broken-spirited and abject to be clean . I went into two or three of the tenant ' s houses , and this is a fair description of the best of them . They usually pay 2 J guineas rent for their five acres .
In a letter dated Farr , Sutherlandshire , June 3 rd , The inhabitants of this parish formerly occupied the interior , and were driven out to the coast to make way for sheep farmers . They had generally moss allotments given them to take in , or render arable , but insufficient to support them , andtheywere expected to gettheir living by fishing . They were without boats , without nets or lines , and without the knowledge or experience of fishers , as well as without their training and daring . In some cases boats have been provided for them by the Duke of Sutherland . If , then , they got a boat-load of fish , they had no market for it , but distributed it amongst themselves as long as it lasted . And this , without any natural encouragement from a middle class ( which does not here exist ) ,
they were without the inducements which led to success . * * * * The late minister of the parish in his evidence before the commissioners speaks strongly of the " deterioration , " both in food and in clothing , of the people from being cleared out of the interior , and being driven to the coast . The Free Church minister ' s son here told me , as sad evidence of a change of spirit for the worse also among them , resulting from abject poverty , that "the people are now anxious to grasp at anything in the way of charity . Formerly they thought it a disgrace to be on thepoor-roU , butit is not so now . I perhaps cannot more exactly describe their whole position and feeling , than by concluding with the pithy sentence of one poor fellow to me— " Give us work , and we don't want the Poor Law .
In a letter dated Scowrie , Sutherlandshire , June 5 th , the writer says : — From the Kyleof Touguo the road passes over a barren and bleak hill . This is pavt of an extensive sheep farm . Regarding its " population , " with the exception of a solitary house on the hill-top for the accomodation of wayfarers , and in which I was told a shepherd lived , I did not see a hut or a house of any kind on either the hills or in the glens till I arrived at Loch Eribol—a distance of 12 miles . On the banks of this loch resides the sheep farmer , who rents the whole country for a dozen miles round him—a gentleman of much intelligence and the magistrate of the district . In fact , besides the shepherds and the cotters , he is the only resident in a district of
some 40 miles in extent . # # * # If you ask where is the former population , you are told , they arc driven out . Some have goriB " south , " others are starving at Melness—a " comfortable fishing village-, " others , the best of the population , have emigrated to Canada . * # Nature has done much for this place ; man , nothing : indeed , worse than nothing for this locality , which only wants man ' s industry , had a population ready for use and proper direction , and man drove them out . It is now desolate—terribly desolate—for miles and miles you drive over barren hills , so barren that the greater part of them have a face of rock , on which only here and there a patch of heather can be seen , and ( as the people here express it ) there is " not a smoke" in the once popular valleys .
In a letter dated Lairg , Sutherlandshire , June fth , the writer says : — Passing on through Assynt , I had pointed out to me valley after valley from which hundreds of people had been cleared . From one valluy sixty tenants were " cleared out , " all of them comfortably off , and , excepting a large space of ground encircled'by a wall , and which had formerly been an arable field , there was not a trace of the former tenants . The site of the former blacksmith ' s forge was shown to me , and the former blacksmith ' s potato land beside it . The potato ridges are now
grown over with heather , and there is now nothing to distinguish this former seat of industry from the brown hill of which it forms a part . There is not a cottage to be seen where formerly there was a contented population . I was told , that for some thirty miles in extent tlit country hereabouts belongs to one sheep farmer , who employs only a few shepherds . The letters frem which we have qaoteilthe above , abound with the most harrowing descriptions of the misery of the " pauperised" portion of the population : some of these we may transfer to our columns
on a iuture occasion . The reader lias now before him botli sides of the question—the liberality of the Duke of Sutherland as vouched for by his interested apologist , Mv Loch , ami the actual condition of the country and its people , of which the Duke is lord and master , as described by the correspondent of the Times , backed by tho testimony of Mr . Ellice , one of the Highland representatives . On the evidence of the contending parties tho reader will reflect and decide 1 ' or himself . So mnch for Sutherland !
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Though some who voted for the Liberal candidates wer « heavily in arrcar , they received the same indulgence as those who voted at the other side . ' In another part of the country , more remarkable than any other for agrarian crime , the system of eviction is also in active operation . From the estates of one nobleman in that county two hundred and forty-three families have already been evicted , and we learn that he has given orders for the turning out of more ! In the county of Limerick , also , tho system of eviction is carried on with unabntcd vigour . We copy the following harrowing statement from the Limerick Reporter : —
A few days ago a heart-rending scene took place at Buukcy , in the neighbourhood of Castleconnell . The High Sheriff dispossessed the ten following families : — Matt Farrell , three in family : John Hynn , eight in family , Patt Tracy ( aged 70 ) , three in family : Matt O'Breen , four in family ; Pat Kelly , six in family ; Thomas Bradshaw , one ; Morty Gleesonj one ; Dennis Ryan , seven in in family ; Michael Kelly , eight in family . Thus . forty , eight human beings , in order to make room for a middleman ( for only two or three , we understand , owed any rent ) were thrown upon the road-side , where they had to remain for ten or twelve days and nights , exposed to the elements , there being no room for them in the neighbouring houses . The old man ( Tracy ) became paralysed ; and another of the wifoUunntc creatures is also despaired of . —The Sheriff we understand , entreated permission to leave them in possession ten days , and that he would be accountable ; but entreaty was useless—five of tlte houses were levelled , and cure-takers placed in the rest . "
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Loj tDos Corjt Exchange , Monday , June 16 . Ihe arrivals of wheat and Hour were very liberal during the past week , and a fair quantity ' of malt came to hand ; but with oats , beans , and peas , the market was ycry scantily supplied . From abroad the receipts were moderate of most articles . This morning there was a small show of wheat by land-carriage samples from the home counties , and scarcely any spring corn fresh up . The weather has continued very favourable for the growing crops , and the accounts from the country are niucli more cheering than was the case in the early part of the month . Holders of wheat nevertheless remained firm , and with rather a slow demand to-day full prices were realised . White wheat was , if anything ; , the turn deare ^ and redccrtainlynotcheaper . ' In tree foreign wheat there
was not much passing , but previous rates were maintained . In bond nothing ofinterest transpired . The principal millers eontiuuc to demand 45 s . per sack for the best marks of flour , and ship samples were not lower this morning . English barley was very scarce but the enquiry was far from lively , and last Monday ' s currency could not be exceeded . In foreign there was little passing . Malt , without being in much request , firmly supported its former value , Ihe dealers were not generally inclined to buy oats freely ; having , however , a tolerable country demand , factors succeeded in realising quite as high terms as those current on this day week . Beans and peas were extremely scarce , and commanded fully as much money . There was a fair quantity of canarvseed on sale , and late rates were barely obtainable , tn prices of other sorts of seeds r . o change requiring notice took place .
CURRENT PRICES OF GRAIN , PER IMPERIAL QUARTER .-Briti > L s s , , Wheat , Essex , it Kent , new & old red 43 49 Wliito SO M Norfolk and Lincoln . ... do 44 48 Ditt » 49 88 Northum . and Scotch white 43 48 Fine < 9 it Irish red old 0 0 Red 43 45 White 47 48 Bye Old 30 31 Xew 28 80 Brank 34 3 Barley Grinding . . 24 26 Distil . 27 30 Malt . 30 38 Malt Brown 52 54 Pale SB 59 Ware «» 62 Beans Tick 6 old « fcnew 35 37 Harrow 37 39 Pigeon 41 43 Pe « 8 Grey 35 36 Maple 37 38 White 88 40 Oats Lincolns & Yorkshire Feed -22 24 Poland 24 W Scotch Angus 23 25 Potato 26 29 „ Irish White 21 25 Black 21 28 Per 2801 b . net . s si Per 2 S 01 b . net . s T (; wn-made . Flour ... 43 48 Nerfolk & Stockton 83 U EsWx aud Kent .... 35 3 G I Irish 85 SC
Free . Bond * Foreign . as s Wheat , Dantsic , Konigsburg , &c 5 S 57 38 42 Marks , Mecklenburg 51 52 38 3 S Danish , Holstein , aud Fricsland v « 143 45 28 30 Russian , Hard 44 46 Soft ... 44 46 28 29 Italian , Red . . 47 48 White ... 51 52 32 86 Spanish , Hard . 46 48 Soft .... 48 52 31 84 Rye , Baltic , Dried , " ... 28 30 Undried . . 28 30 22 24 Barley , Grinding . 24 26 Malting . . 28 32 1 » 2 * Beans , Ticks . . 34 SU Egyptian . 34 35 28 82 Peas , White . . 37 39 Maple . . 36 37 28 U Oats , Dutch , Brew and Thick 25 26 21 32 Russian feed , 21 22 1 « If Danish , Friesland feed 21 23 15 17 Flour , per barrel 24 26 19 21 * » v «* j i * v * wrt * iv * * t «* ¦•••• * X XV £ v JH
London- Sjiitiifikld Cattle Mamcet , Monday , June 16 . —In the port of London the imports oflive stock from abroad , during the past week , have been again extensive , viz ., 180 oxen and cows , 3 calves , S sheep , and 4 lambs irom the Giraffe , Batavier , and Ocean steamers , from Rotterdam ; tosether with 26 sheep per the Caledonia from Hamburg . At Hull , upwards of 200 beasts have been received irom Holland in excellent condition . We had on sale this morning 91 Dutch oxen ami cows , the quality of which , though good , was not quite equal to that of some previous importations . Hence they commanded much less attention than those exhibited on Monday last , yet nearly the whole found buyers , at prices varying from £ 16 to £ 21 per head . The high prices obtained for beef on this day se ' nnight , together with
the prevailing warm , weather , caused the butchers , notwithstanding the bullock supply was comparatively small , to be very cautious in their operations to ^ lay . Hence we have to report a dull inquiry for beef , at a decline , on last Monday ' s quotations , of from 4 d to 6 d per 81 b—the very highest figure not exceeding 4 s id per 8 lb ; and at which great difficulty was experienced in effecting a clearance . The large amvals of Scotch meat up in Newgate and Leadenhall markets operated to some extent upon our trade today . We regret to observe that the arrivals from the nonh have mostly sold at a ruinous sacrifice . The droves from Norfolk , Suffolk , Essex , and Cambridgeshire , comprised 1200 shorthorns , Scots , and homebreds . From the western , midland , and northern
counties , we received 400 Ilcrefords , Devons , runts , shorthorns , &c . ; from other parts of England 300 of various breeds ; and from Scotland < 10 U horned and polled Scots . For the time of year , the numbers ot sheep on offer wore small , they falling short of an average by upwards of nine thousand . The primest old Downs commanded a steady , though not to say brisk , inquiry , at last week ' s currencies ; but the demand for all other kinds was somewhat inactive , at barely stationary prices . The supply of lambs was small ; while the lamb trade may be co ' nsidor' -d steady , at previous quotations . From the Isle of Wi"ht the numbers did not exceed 80 . Calves , the supply or which was good , moved off heavily , at a reduction in value of from 2 d to 4 d per S lb . In pigs , little WSS doing , at late nates .
By the quantities of 81 b ., sinking the ofra ! . ... s . u . s . d . Interior coarse beasts . . . 2 10 3 4 Second quality .... 3 fi 3 8 Prime large oxen . . . . 8 11 ) 4 0 Prime Scots , < fce 42 44 Coarse inferior sheep . . , $ 4 3 g Second quality . , , . ; i 10 44 Prime coarse woolled . . . 4 U 4 g Prime Southdown ... 4 10 5 0 Lambs 5 0 6 » Large coarse calves ... . 3 8 4 4 Prime small 4 C + 8 Suckling calves , each . . . 18 0 2 !) 0 Large hogs 3 0 3 8 Neat small porkers ... 3 10 4 2 Quarter-old store pigs , each , . 16 0 19 0
UBAD OF CAT TIE ON SA 1 E . ( From the Hooks of the Clerk of the Markat . ) Beasts , 2 , 395-Sheep and Lambs , 25 , 570—Calves . 133—Pigs , 320 . lliciuioxp Cons AIahket , Satuhday , Juxk 14 . — . We had a tolerable supply oi" grain in guv market to day . Wheat sold irom Cs . to 7 s . fid . ; outs 2 s . 9 d . to 3 s . 3 d . ; barley 3 s . 9 d . to 4 s . fbear . s -is . 6 d . to 4 s . ltd . per bushel .
Liverpool Cons Mahket , Monday , Jcxf . 16 . — With the exception of about 7000 sacks of Imh Hour , the supplies of grain and meal , either from our own coast orfrom abroad , have been light . The duty on beans and peas declined on Thursday to 5 s . Gd . per quarter , which forms the only alteration this week . Under the influence of tine growing weather , and more favourable accounts from the agricultural districts , there has not been much animation in the corn trade during the past week ; holders of wheat , however , have not evinced any disposition to force , and the few sales of this article have boor , without ; any material variation from the prices ia . « t quoted . I Oats have been held for late rates , but few have been I wanted : 3 s is an extreme value for the best Irish , I fair runs of which may be bought at 2 s . 10 * d . to 2 s . lid .
per 45 lbs . Ihe flour and nieal trade has ruled exceedingly dull , and late prices hs \\ o been barely supported . In barley , beans , peas , or Indian corn there is little to observe as rarards demand , and our last quotations are continued . Mjuciffisttit Cork Market , Saturday , June U -ilironghout the week the weather has continued is favourable as could be wished , and reports SS ESSS ? T , + " T ^ wnirfS g ; owing crop . The trade , as is usual under such crcuinstances at this season of the yea " has S generally of a lifeless character , without any perceptible alteration in prices . At our market this S A . TO arti ( % of ; the trade met an exceedingly wuiicu eiaii
r demand ; but , in the absence of any anxiety on the part of holders to press sales , we repeat tlie quotations of this day se ' nnight . Leeds Corn- Market , Tuesdat , June 17 —W « have very moderate supplies of all gaain thiB week , lhere is little change in the wheat trade to-day ; the demand for fresh qualities is just sufficient to inert the urgent want of our millers , who manifest no disposition to hold large stocks . In prices , there is no variation , and in chambered wheats extrS httlc is doing . Barley nominal . Oats and bVai are firm , with a good demand for the latter . Malton Corn _ Market , June H .-We have a short supply of all kinds of grain offering to this daVs market , and no alteration in the price of any aSe Wheat , red , 47 s . to 51 s . ; white ditto , 6 fo S per qr . of 40 stones . Oats , lid . to Ilk . per S
Itofcet Jttuutgeiiw*
itofcet JttUUtgeiiw *
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THE " AMENDED" SCOTCH POOR LAW Has passed the second reading in the House of Commons , and will go into committee on Mondav next . The bill is a bad bill . A worse could hardlv have been conceived . But it is sure to pass , and we fear—thanks to the apath y with wliich the measure appears to be generally viewed in Scotland—that it will pass with but few alterations for the better . 'Irue some of the Scoteh members are active in their opposition to what they conceive to be the bad points of the bill : but their own views of the question appear in the main to be but little superior to those of the Lord Advocate and his colleagues . Most of them , for instance , profess the utmost horror at the idea of giving relief to the " able-bodied nauner . " V . von
where the Scotch members are right in then- objections , and in the views they put forth , they appear to stand almost alone , unsupported by the petitions of their countrymen . Mr . P . M . Stewart denounced the measure ( on Friday night ) as " a bill for the lairds and heritors , not for the poor . The bill gave power to the powerful , and threw additional burdens on the oppressed poor . " And Mr . Fox Maulp described it as " a bill not for the benefit of the poor but to protect the rich from contributing too much to their maintenance . " But denunciations by individuals , even though they be members of the
legislature , win not do mucii unless backed by a strongly organued public opinion . Wh y the masses of Glasgow , Edinburgh , Dundee , Aberdeen , and the rest of the towns where united and simultaneous action is easy , and where their influence is not slight ; why they—the class whom this bill will most materially anect--should remain quiescent while it is manufactured into law , does pass our comprehension . Surely the questions of " settlement "—" relief to ' ablebodied paupers '" — " workhouses" — and " assessments , are questions wliich are of the utmost importance to the Scottish working-men ; and of their ability to discuss them when once furnished with the requisite information , there can be no doubt : for
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the "intelligence" of the Scottish working classes is a " great fact , " not to be disputed . We would say , therefore , to the working men of Dumfries , Kilmarnoek , Paisley , Greenock , Glasgow , Edinburgh , Perth , Dundee , Forfar , Aberdeen , Elgin , and all other p laces where persons can be found to take the initiative , get together ; appoint a committee ; or , to save time , let a provisional committee appoint themselves ; let that committee correspond with the member or members for the town or district ; obtain from those members copies of the Lord Advocate ' s "Bill ; " then summon public meetings of all the inhabitants for the discussion of the measure , the provisional committee preparing the resolutions beforehand ; send up the resolutions adopted by the meetings to the members for the town or district , and petitions to both houses as extensively signed as pqssible , ' , setting forth wherein the petitioners disagree with the bill , and the amendments they desire to be introduced into it . This ought to have been done
before this time . There ought to have been a national delegate meeting sitting in Edinburgh to harmonize the objections to tlie bill , concentrate the opposition , and unite in one consistent who ' c the amendments suggested by the vox populi . This ought to have been done : but we fear our Scottish friends are rather contented with the present gleam of " prosperity , " than watchful of th < 5 adversity which we fear the future will disclose to them . However , all is not yet lost ; and some good may be effected , provided prompt action takes the place of present apathy . This is a matter in which the Trades should be the first to move ; butiftlicv are supine , let the Scotch Chartists , wherever they We an active committee , at once set about rousing public attention to this subject . Remember the bill goes into committee on Monday next . Wo append a few extracts from the evidence given before the Commissioners of Poor Law Inquiry , and from other sources , showing the workings of the present Scottish Poor Law Svstem : —
Pinisu op Duiion . —The minister writes— "The poor obtain their additional support by begging from door to door . Such of the paupers as liave humane relatives get some pecuniary relief from them ; but such as have not , and arc unable to beg , ( ire HtcraHj / starving , or next thing to it . slavery is condemned , ami justly condemned : hut I am 2 > cvs « adea tftat the Haves are far letter off than our paupers . I trust , therefore , that prompt measures will forthwith be adopted to ameliorate their wretched condition . " Rev . James Macdonaid , minister of Urray . — . " The
allowances m our parish to the aged and intSrm arc from 3 s . to 10 s . annually . Indeed , I am ashamed to tell it , they are so far below what they should be . I have often spoken to some of the heritors on the subject . I have only one resident out of thirteen heritors , and one besides who comes here every year for a short time . Tho heritors , when I have spoken to them , have always admitted that the funds were very low , and that we should certainly require more ; but , with one exception , they never sent donations . They are not in the habit of sending money to me in aid of the church collections . The exception I allude to was a donation only for one year . "
Edinburgh . —Sir William Drysdale , treasurer of the city of Edinburgh , examined : — You are a member of the town-council , and treasurer of the city ?—lam . Have you had opportunities of judging of the Poor Laws ?—1 have paid considerable attention to the subject . It has frequently been represented to the tOwn-COUllcil that the allowance for the poor was inadequate ?—Certainly . What has been the consequence ; has the legal assessment been increased?—No ; the general anxiety of the town-council is to keep down rates . Do you think it possible that the frequent refusals of the town-council to raise an assessment may account for the managers not having applied lately for an increase t—Oh , I have no doubt they knew perfectly what answer they would get . Have you any knowledge of the condition of the poor in Edinburgh ?—There is great destitution .
Do you conceive their allowances are sufficient ?—Quite inadequate , in my opinion . Mr . George Small , treasurer of the Edinburgh Charity Workhouse , examined : — I see that there is a debt owing by the Charity Workhouse , amounting t « £ 10 , 794 . How was that debt contracted ?—There was no debt contracted for a great many years ; but in the celebrated year of the cholera th « institution got into debt by tho extraordinary expenses . They applied to thethen town-council year after year , when they found they were getting into debt , for an additional assessment todefray the extraordinary expenses as they occurred ; but the town-council declined giving more than 6 per cent . ; and in consequence the debt had accumulated till it reached the amount stated . * # # # I may mention , that three years successively some of the rates have been arrested in the hands of the ratepayers by the banks , to which a considerable debt is due , and thereby much obstruction and inconvenience is caused .
Glasgow . —The following communication is from a "Kirk Treasurer , " produced by Captain Miller , Superintendent of the Glasgow 1 'olice , before the Commissioners , and to bo found in page 403 of the Appendix to their Report , numbered 1 . Captain Miller stated to the Commissioners , among other cases , the following : — On the afternoon of Wednesday last , an old man , in a very feeble state , was brought to the Police-office , having been found lying in the street , by one of the officers . The surgeon of the establishment visited him , and his case was brought under the notice of the proper officer at the town ' s hospital . In the course of yesterday afternoon , he was taken away to Langloan , Old Monkland , in a cart sent from the hospital , on which parish he was supposed to have a legal claim . The poor man died before reaching Langloan , and his body was returned to Glasgow with the following letter from Old Monkland parish : — " Langloan , Old Monkland , April 20 , 1843 .
" Sir , —I have returned the man , James Dick , being dead jefien brought here , and I hope you toiU not send any more ill sucfc a sl « t « . I do not think you are justified in so doing . The man , if it is really James Dick , did get a temporary relief of 4 s ., but being just a travelling beg gar , although once belonging to this parish , but being long out of it , he has no legal claim ; but you can please get the man interred , and I will pay the expense , if this be found his proper parish , "I am , sir , yours truly , " Willum Johnstone , Kirk Treasurer . " To Mr . Robert Ross , Town ' s Hospital . " Captain Miller stated , that , —
In the very centre of the city of Glasgow , there was an accumulated mass of squalid wretchedness , which was probably unequalled in any other town in the British dominions ; that in the interior part of tlie square bounded by Salt-market , Trongate and Stockwell streets , and by the river Clyde , as well as in certain parts of the east side of High-street , including the Vennels , Havannah , aud Burnside , there was concentrated everything wretched , dissolute , loathsome , and pestilential . These places are filled by a population of many thousands of miserable creatures . The houses in which they live are altogether unfit far human beings , and every apartment is filled with a promiscuous crowd of men , women , and children , in a state of filth and misery . In many of the houses there is scarcely any ventilation , Dunghills lie in the vicinity of the dwellings , and , from the extremely defective sewerage , filth of every Itiud constantly accumulates . In these horrid dens the most abandoned characters of the
city are collected , from whence they nightly issue to disseminate disease , and to pour upon the town every species of abomination and crime . In such receptacles , so long as they are permitted to remain , crime of every sort may be expected to abound ; and unless the evil is speedily and vigorously checked , it must , of necessity , increase . The people who dwell in those quarters of the city are sunk to the lowest possible state of personal degradation , in whom no elevated idea can be expected to arise , and who regard themselves , from the hopelessness of their condition , as doomed to a life of wretchedness and crime . # # The fact cannot be concealed that hundreds of persons die annually in Glasgow from disensts brouyM on by want of proper nourishment , &c . ; and from what has comeundtr my own personal observation , 1 am convinced of the fact that many pcrsous die in consequence of being treated in their own houses , where they have neither food , fuel , nor clothing , while labouring under fever , and other infectious disease . On such facts as these , Captain Miller arrived at the cenclusion , that some better provision for the poor is imperatively necessary , not merely on the ground oi humanity , but also as a means of repressing crime .
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MORE "CLEARINGS "—MORE "WEEDINGS . " RosssninE . —Depopulation of Estates . —The number of tenants warned out this year , at the instance of proprietors , is—in Wester Ross , 253 ; in Easter Ross , 51 in Croinartyshirc , 32—330 . And of sub-tenants , at the instance of tacksmen and of occupants of glebe lands the number is—in Wester Iioss , 82 ; in Easter Ross , about 10 ; in Croraarty , 2—94 . In all , m .-Edinlv . rgh Weekly Register . "
IKELANB . —TVllOWSilE EXTERMINATION . —( FrQ , M the fluUin Evening Post ) . —In the Kilkenny Journal we find a hst of two hundred and fifty-five persons , victims of the hxtermmatiou System in the County of Carlow . Most of those have already been sent adrift upon the world , in order that what is termed a " Protestant Colony" should be established , and the remainder , nineteen families , consisting of one hundred human beings , havo been noticed to quit at November . In referring to those nineteeu families , the Kilkenny Journal describes them as industrious , improving tenants , who had built good slated houses , and paid their rent with regularity . Carlow , the scene of those wholesale evictions , is one of the most peaceful counties in the empire . But those tenants , we arc told , had " given oifence by conscientiously voting for the Liberal ^ candidates at the last Carlow election , " and their eviction , as houseless wanderers , is tlie punishment inflicted by the landlord . Our Kilkenny contemporary adds the following state ment : —
We have further heard that some of the oldest and most respectable inhabitants of the town of Borris , whose leases have expired , and who have always paid their rents well , are warned off—one in particular , it is said , was told that he thovld txpect no quarter , as his son n < as seen to wear «¦ Repeal Mton ! Here , too , must be established a little Protestant colony . To the credit of Lord Courtown , who has considerable property in this persecuted district , he an
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J ose 81 > 1845 . ' > THR *™™™ " STAR . *
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), June 21, 1845, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1320/page/7/
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