During the Famine Years, 1845-1855 Postgraduate School of Scottish Sıudies September 19.96
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'CONTEMPT, SYMPATHY AND ROMANCE' Lowland perceptions of the Highlands and the clearances during the Famine years, 1845-1855 Krisztina Feny6 A thesis presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Glasgow PostgraduateSchool of Scottish Sýudies September19.96 To the Meniog of My Grandparents ABSTRACT This thesis examines Lowland public opinion towards the Highlanders in mid- nineteenth century Scotland. It explores attitudes present in the contemporary newspaper press, and shows that public opinion was divided by three basic perceptions: 'contempt', 'sympathy' and 'romance'. An analysis of the main newspaper files demonstrates that during the Famine years up to the Crimean War, the most prevalent perception was that of contempt, regarding the Gaels as an 'inferior' and often 'useless' race. The study also describes the battle which sympathetic journalists fought against this majority perception, and shows their disillusionment at what they saw at the time was a hopeless struggle. Within the same period, romanticised views are also examined in the light of how the Highlands were increasingly being turned into an aristocratic playground as well as reservation park for tourists, and a theme for pre-'Celtic Twilight' poets and novelists. Through the examination of various attitudes in the press, the thesis also presents the major issues debated in the newspapers relating to the Highlands. It draws attention to the fact that the question of land had already become a point of contention, thirty years before the 1880s land reform movement. The study concludes that in all the three sections of public opinion expressed in the press the Highlanders were seen as essentially a different race from the Lowlanders. This thesis aims to work within the so far unexplored field of newspaper materials in the mid-nineteenth century, showing the uniqueness, power and richness of these sources for the evaluation of the range of Scottish public opinion. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to expressmy gratitude to the staff of the National Library of Scotland,the GlasgowMitchell Library, the GlasgowUniversity Library and especiallythe Colindale Newspaper Library of the British Museum, for their patience with my newpapers searchesand their invaluablehelp with massivephotocopy orders. My sincerest thanks are due to my two supervisors, Professor Ted Cowan and ProfessorDouglas Gifford for their understandingsupport and inspiring supervision. I owe special thanks to Dr David Lloyd-Jones whose magnificent houseprovided me with the most inspirationalenvironment to work in. My thanks are due to Andrew Malcolm who first took me to the Highlandsmany years ago. I would also like to say thank you to my friends, in the department and in the wider world, who helped and encouraged me during the writing of this thesis: to HeatherAnderson, Meriel Beattie, Marianna Birkeland, Caroline Hoare,Lucy Hooker, Irene Maver, Kirsty Reid, and many friends on the 'Eorpa' team of BBC Scotland Television, especially John Morrison, who always managed to bring back my enthusiasmand belief in this project. My thanks are also due to my parentsfor their encouragement,and I promisethat I will translate this thesis for them. And finally, thanks also to Jonathan for his loving supportand stimulating intellect. CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION PART ONE: CONTEMPT Chapter One: Background I. Eighteenth century roots 20 II. 'Zeitgeist' 45 Chapter T-wo: Contempt ULazy but improvable' 67 11.'Vicious dirty race' 91 III. Removing the 'diseased part' 121 PART TWO: SYMPATHY AND ROMANCE Chapter One: Sympathy 1.The Critics of the 1840s 155 H. The Crusadersof the 1850s 199 Chapter Two: Romance I. Romantic elementsin the contemptuous and in the sympatheticpress 252 11.A 'gloomy' and 'doomed' people 257 CONCLUSION 273 Bibliography 281 INTRODUCTION Lowland readers of the Scotsinan 'were becoming annoyed in 1847. Since the outbreak of the Potato Famine in the Highlands in the late summerof 1846 they had beenconstantly beseeched to subscribeto relief for their starving Highland neighbours.At first their charity was generous,but as newspaperreports startedto flow in with 'revelations' about the exaggerationof the famine and of the 'inherently idle character' of the Highland Gaels many Lowlanderslost their patience. Why should they support with their own hard and industrious work the habitually "lazy" and "barbarous"Highlanders, who were clearly an "inferior race" to them? They were angry and appalled,and insistedthat charity must haveits limits, and if the starving people did not manageto help themselvesthey had better remove themselvesfrom the land. Letters expressingsuch sentiments were frequenton the pages of the Scotsinan and several other newspapersduring the years of the Highland Famine. And this was only the beginning of an upsurge of views of contempt, and at times even sheerhatred, for the Highland Gaels on the pagesof the Lowland press. There were, however, other voices expressing sympathy towards the Highlanders. The picture emerging from the contemporary Scottish newspapers shows that when Lowlandersjudged the Highlandersthey basically formed three %camps'. One regarded the Gaels as an 'inferior race' deserving only deep contempt; one looked at them with sympathy and pity vowing "to lift them from the dust"; and one had very romantic notions about the 'inherent poetic' nature of this 'noble' people. In short, these were views of contempt, sympathy and romance.There were very few neutral voices. Thesethree different views were simultaneouslypresent in public opinion, often running in parallel columns in the samenewspaper. While the romanticisation of 1 the Highlands was persistent and considerable, and sympathy towards the Highlanders was slowly growing, by far the most prevalent and most strongly expressedview was that of contempt. Contempt 'I'lie prevalenceof the contemptuousviews was ensured by the fact that most of the major papers with the biggest circulations belonged to this group. The leading Scotsmanwas one of the firmest members of this camp with its average 2500 copies in the periodl. The largest circulation paper the Glasgon, Hei-ald with an averageof 4000 copies also belongedhere, along with the Invei-nessCozil-iel- (average 1900), and severalsmaller paperssuch as the FifeshireJow-nal (c.600) and the Pei-thshil-e Constitutional (c.800). These papers taken together simply dwarfed the sympatheticpapers. The o,ily large paperwith sympatheticviews was the Witness Scotsman For 1840s 1850s with similar averagecirculation as the . the and early at least, thus, the forum of. contempt was the dominant one on the Scottish newspaperscene. ne views of one readerof the Scotsmanin 1847 were characteristicof many who regardedthe Gaels with contempt. Thesefollowing lines were to be echoedand repeatedwith a growing senseof hatred in pamphlets,press reports and readers' lettersthroughout the yearsof the GreatFamine. Will you allow me to make another suggestion through your paper! It is that a short pamphlet in the Gaelic language should be prepared and extensively circulated among the Highland population, denouncing in stern terms the indolent habits that prevail among them -- contrasting the steady industry of the Saxon with the scarcely occasional labour of the Celt -- tracing the consequence of this in the respective conditions at present of the Lowlander and the Highlander -- enforcing the necessity 2 of their working regularly throughout the year, and if they cannot find employment where they are, of migrating elsewherein searchof it -- and giving a hint, that unless they do so, they cannot expect to be again compassionatedand 2 relieved-- There was growing impatience and annoyancenot only on the part of certain Lowland newspaper readers and editors but also of those landowners and government officials who were intent on "improving" and "civilising" the Gael. This mission was often a failure for which mostly the Gaels themselves were blamed. Highland destitution was linked directly to the "character" of the Gaels, and their perceived "inherent" 'sloth' and 'abhorrence'of regular work came to be seen as the main reason for the famine and the general destitute state of the Highlands. "The great causeof the destitution is -- not the failure of the potato crop last year, but -- the intense and abominable idleness of the inhabitants,"3 contendedthe editor of the ffeshii-e Jow-nal. The fimly establishedstereotype of the lazy Highlander was soon carried further, especially in the Scotsmanand the Ffeshh-e Joui-nal, when their correspondents embarkedon a tour around the Western Isles in 1847. These articles conveyed a very strong senseof hatred.They denouncedthe Gaels as an "inferior race to the Lowland Saxon", a "dirty race", which was "vicious", "perverse" and "degraded".The remediesthese journalists suggestedwas to 'improve' the 'race' by "Lowland intermixture", and to changethe "Celtic characterin great measure" by breakingup the old systemand actually forcing them into the new one. Such strong views were far from being limited to the journalists of the Scotsman and the Fifeshii-e Jow-nal. A flood of readers' letters followed their reports expressing full agreement. Such letters along with numerous editorials and correspondents'reports reflected a marked senseof Lowland superiority arising from the conviction that their Highland neighbours belonged to an 'uncivilised', 'inferior race' with inherent habits of 'sloth and laziness'. The Highland Celts 3 were seen as