a journey to-第22章
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forfeiture of another。 A soldier may expedite his march by
throwing away his arms。 To banish the Tacksman is easy; to make a
country plentiful by diminishing the people; is an expeditious mode
of husbandry; but little abundance; which there is nobody to enjoy;
contributes little to human happiness。
As the mind must govern the hands; so in every society the man of
intelligence must direct the man of labour。 If the Tacksmen be
taken away; the Hebrides must in their present state be given up to
grossness and ignorance; the tenant; for want of instruction; will
be unskilful; and for want of admonition will be negligent。 The
Laird in these wide estates; which often consist of islands remote
from one another; cannot extend his personal influence to all his
tenants; and the steward having no dignity annexed to his
character; can have little authority among men taught to pay
reverence only to birth; and who regard the Tacksman as their
hereditary superior; nor can the steward have equal zeal for the
prosperity of an estate profitable only to the Laird; with the
Tacksman; who has the Laird's income involved in his own。
The only gentlemen in the Islands are the Lairds; the Tacksmen; and
the Ministers; who frequently improve their livings by becoming
farmers。 If the Tacksmen be banished; who will be left to impart
knowledge; or impress civility? The Laird must always be at a
distance from the greater part of his lands; and if he resides at
all upon them; must drag his days in solitude; having no longer
either a friend or a companion; he will therefore depart to some
more comfortable residence; and leave the tenants to the wisdom and
mercy of a factor。
Of tenants there are different orders; as they have greater or less
stock。 Land is sometimes leased to a small fellowship; who live in
a cluster of huts; called a Tenants Town; and are bound jointly and
separately for the payment of their rent。 These; I believe; employ
in the care of their cattle; and the labour of tillage; a kind of
tenants yet lower; who having a hut with grass for a certain number
of cows and sheep; pay their rent by a stipulated quantity of
labour。
The condition of domestick servants; or the price of occasional
labour; I do not know with certainty。 I was told that the maids
have sheep; and are allowed to spin for their own clothing; perhaps
they have no pecuniary wages; or none but in very wealthy families。
The state of life; which has hitherto been purely pastoral; begins
now to be a little variegated with commerce; but novelties enter by
degrees; and till one mode has fully prevailed over the other; no
settled notion can be formed。
Such is the system of insular subordination; which; having little
variety; cannot afford much delight in the view; nor long detain
the mind in contemplation。 The inhabitants were for a long time
perhaps not unhappy; but their content was a muddy mixture of pride
and ignorance; an indifference for pleasures which they did not
know; a blind veneration for their chiefs; and a strong conviction
of their own importance。
Their pride has been crushed by the heavy hand of a vindictive
conqueror; whose seventies have been followed by laws; which;
though they cannot be called cruel; have produced much discontent;
because they operate upon the surface of life; and make every eye
bear witness to subjection。 To be compelled to a new dress has
always been found painful。
Their Chiefs being now deprived of their jurisdiction; have already
lost much of their influence; and as they gradually degenerate from
patriarchal rulers to rapacious landlords; they will divest
themselves of the little that remains。
That dignity which they derived from an opinion of their military
importance; the law; which disarmed them; has abated。 An old
gentleman; delighting himself with the recollection of better days;
related; that forty years ago; a Chieftain walked out attended by
ten or twelve followers; with their arms rattling。 That animating
rabble has now ceased。 The Chief has lost his formidable retinue;
and the Highlander walks his heath unarmed and defenceless; with
the peaceable submission of a French peasant or English cottager。
Their ignorance grows every day less; but their knowledge is yet of
little other use than to shew them their wants。 They are now in
the period of education; and feel the uneasiness of discipline;
without yet perceiving the benefit of instruction。
The last law; by which the Highlanders are deprived of their arms;
has operated with efficacy beyond expectation。 Of former statutes
made with the same design; the execution had been feeble; and the
effect inconsiderable。 Concealment was undoubtedly practised; and
perhaps often with connivance。 There was tenderness; or
partiality; on one side; and obstinacy on the other。 But the law;
which followed the victory of Culloden; found the whole nation
dejected and intimidated; informations were given without danger;
and without fear; and the arms were collected with such rigour;
that every house was despoiled of its defence。
To disarm part of the Highlands; could give no reasonable occasion
of complaint。 Every government must be allowed the power of taking
away the weapon that is lifted against it。 But the loyal clans
murmured; with some appearance of justice; that after having
defended the King; they were forbidden for the future to defend
themselves; and that the sword should be forfeited; which had been
legally employed。 Their case is undoubtedly hard; but in political
regulations; good cannot be complete; it can only be predominant。
Whether by disarming a people thus broken into several tribes; and
thus remote from the seat of power; more good than evil has been
produced; may deserve inquiry。 The supreme power in every
community has the right of debarring every individual; and every
subordinate society from self…defence; only because the supreme
power is able to defend them; and therefore where the governor
cannot act; he must trust the subject to act for himself。 These
Islands might be wasted with fire and sword before their sovereign
would know their distress。 A gang of robbers; such as has been
lately found confederating themselves in the Highlands; might lay a
wide region under contribution。 The crew of a petty privateer
might land on the largest and most wealthy of the Islands; and riot
without control in cruelty and waste。 It was observed by one of
the Chiefs of Sky; that fifty armed men might; without resistance
ravage the country。 Laws that place the subjects in such a state;
contravene the first principles of the compact of authority: they
exact obedience; and yield no protection。
It affords a generous and manly pleasure to conceive a little
nation gathering its fruits and tending its herds with fearless
confidence; though it lies open on every side to invasion; where;
in contempt of walls and trenches; every man sleeps securely with
his sword beside him; where all on the first approach of hostility
came together at the call to battle; as at a summons to a festal
show; and committing their cattle to the care of those whom age or
nature has disabled; engage the enemy with that competition for
hazard and for glory; which operate in men that fight under the eye
of those; whose dislike or kindness they have always considered as
the greatest evil or the greatest good。
This was; in the beginning of the present century; the state of the
Highlands。 Every man was a soldier; who partook of national
confidence; and interested himself in national honour。 To lose
this spirit; is to lose what no small advantage will compensate。
It may likewise deserve to be inquired; whether a great nation
ought to be totally commercial? whether amidst the uncertainty of
human affairs; too much attention to one mode of happiness may not
endanger others? whether the pride of riches must not sometimes
have recourse to the protection of courage? and whether; if it be
necessary to preserve in some part of the empire the military
spirit; it can subsist more commodiously in any place; than in
remote and unprofitable provinces; where it can commonly do l