M A'H.^ i'i.Mi ■ v-’Vw''. 71 I ■ •M )-W: ScS. ZbS. /I+S SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY . FOURTH SERIES VOLUME 9 Papers on Sutherland Estate Management Volume 2 . PAPERS ON SUTHERLAND ESTATE MANAGEMENT 1802-1816 edited by R. J. Adam, m.a. Volume 2 ★ ★ EDINBURGH printed for the Scottish History Society by T. AND A. CONSTABLE LTD 1972 © Scottish History Society 1972 . SBN 9500260 3 4 (set of two volumes) SBN 9500260 5 o (this volume) Printed in Great Britain A generous contribution from the Leverhulme Trust towards the cost of producing this volume is gratefully acknowledged by the Council of the Society CONTENTS SUTHERLAND ESTATE MANAGEMENT CORRESPONDENCE 1802-1807: The factory of David Campbell 1 1807-1811: The factory of Cosmo Falconer 63 1811-1816: The factory of William Young 138 Index 305 1802-1807 LETTERS RELATING TO THE FACTORY OF DAVID CAMPBELL Colin Mackenzie to Countess of Sutherland Tongue, 14 September 1799 as 1 conclude that Your Ladyship will be desirous to know the result of my journey to Assint which I have now left, I take the opportunity of the first Place from which the Post goes to the South to address these lines to you for your and Lord Gower’s information. The people had been summoned to meet us at the Manse and most of the old men attended; few of the Sons. There was plainly a Combination fostered by the hope that if they adhered together any threats would be frustrated. All we got in two days was 4 Recruits. In these two days however we proceeded regularly to Call on the people of each farm progressively and thus showed them that none of the refractory would be overlooked. Having gone so far it seemed absolutely necessary not to stop there, and the Plan fixed was that General Wemyss should return to Dunrobin with Fraser1 while I went thro’ the farms in Assint making every demonstration of a decided purpose to punish the disobedient, and I am happy to say I think the plan has fully succeeded. I resolved not to seek Recruits but to show as if the die was Cast and prepara- tions for a new arrangement were in forwardness. I let it be under- stood that I was Come to form an acquaintance with the farms 1 John Fraser, factor of Sutherland Estate, 1791-1802. n b SUTHERLAND ESTATE MANAGEMENT: CORRESPONDENCE and their Value, and accordingly got 2 or 3 of the people on each to answer my questions and put the answers on paper. I then on each farm Concluded with a question that Could not but Come home to their minds and speak more strongly to their feelings than any address of mine. It was ‘What rent would this farm fetch if in the hands of one Tenant?’ This rough Survey I inclose in the exact Shape in which I made it, for, tho’ (taken in this hurried manner) Names of farms Re: Number Number Quantity Number Number of Cows of Sheep ofland arable familiesof personsof 1. Badidarroch £11 80 40 very little 8 50 2. Achmalvich £28 200 50 Do. 23 180 3. Clachtole £31 1 os. 250 50 a good deal 4. Store £21 2s. 6d. 100 Do.patches but in 5. Balchladich £g ys. fid. 50 40 a great deal 6. Clashmore £32 180 60 Do. 7. Achnacarnan £19 includingDurian a good deal 13 improvablearable and 9. Clashnessie £29 a good deal 18 10. CulkeinDrumbeg £23 6s. 8 Do. 16 Unaple I did not visit GlenleraigDrumbeg I had no occasion to go to as that farmDo. furnished all that w 1802-1807 3 it Cannot be Accurate, yet it is in some of its points very near Accuracy and is somewhat Curious. I walked over all these farms, being on the point of Store, and had the Satisfaction to observe that the people Universally admitted the justice of the proceeding and as I assured them every where that it would only affect the refractory and disobedient I was told that my Visit was a very welcome and acceptable one. Before Coming away from Assint I saw the operation General Nature Comparison with Rent which Incidental remarks other farms onecould tenant give 1. rocky with little better than might Suit Joplin if his road is andpatches arable of grass Bracklach to come to Lochinvar - good 2. rock and sweet £36 harbourwell adapted etc. for Sheep - good -Station Sea Ware for Cod etc. fishing - Harbour 3. Do.arable besides muchAchmalvich better than wellCattle adapted - Sea Ware either on for the Sheep Coast. or 4. rockchiefly with arable patches onthe thisworst point bargain thanMore in arable Clachtole land inbut these no Sea two BalchladichWare. is a fine sloping J. Chiefly arable thisequal with to ClachtoleStore is 6. Excellent The Houses Scattered thro’ the thearable height land and should put bein regularmoved to objectionStances. The to thispeople arrangement. will have no 7. middling; part grassarable; part poor bestAchnacarnan grass, has 8. part middling arableCulkein - valuebest tolerablegrass; part arable equal 10.9. verygood finearable £40 Same remark as on Clashmore. good grass Drumbegsame Value with Drumbeg£63 for Do. Culkeinand II. hilly but good dear in Compari- £30 Would Suit Joplin if his road is grass son with the other Joplinif let to Harbour.to Come to Loch Nedd - good 4 SUTHERLAND ESTATE MANAGEMENT: CORRESPONDENCE of these Measures. Several of the people who had been quite obstinate at the Manse followed me after I had quitted their farms and offered the Young Men that were wanted. I got in this way Six Recruits, fine Young Men, and might have got more but that my policy required I should seem indifferent about them. I have no doubt, now the Combination is broken, that all the Men will be got that are demanded, and am Satisfied by all I learnt that the Country in its present State will be the better of the drain. It is not easy to analyse the principles with Certainty on Which this opposition has been founded but I flatter myself and am Convinced, as far as my observation goes, that thus Curbed, it has no tendency to endanger ultimately or Seriously Your Lady- ship’s power and authority in the Country. I imagine that the Men of the late Fencible Regiment who came home were the root of the business. Some of them I believe had imbibed in the South, particularly at Glasgow and also perhaps in Ireland, Crude and undigested Notions quite inapplicable to a Country like Sutherland which I dare say tainted some of their Neighbours here; and many or Most of the Old Regiment (I mean the last) had Conceived a foolish and absurd prejudice against General Wemyss of which I believe they are now ashamed; those reasons made the recruiting slow and heavy at first and Highlanders when they form an idea are obstinate to a great degree perhaps especially when it is an absurd one. This is I think a Summary of what Can be stated as the Meaning of this opposition, and if I am right, there is only to be regretted the delay; for when the business gets fairly a beginning in a district it goes on rapidly, the people Seeming to me not to have lost any of their Martial Spirit or profound attachment to Your family. As Your Ladyship may not have heard of the prejudice against General Wemyss to which I allude, and as any thing touching the Regiment is I know interesting to you I may mention what it was. In the Course of a March in Ireland1 the Column of which the Sutherlands were a part met a little Stream. The Regiments in front marched thro’ in perfect order. The Sutherlands who were 1 The 3rd Sutherland Fencible Regiment (1793-8) served in Ireland during the rising of 1798. 1802-1807 5 about the Centre broke their ranks to take Stepping Stones and the rear of the Column was thereby much retarded. If the Enemy had been near very bad Consequences would have ensued. The Officers were Certainly to blame, and General Wemyss who was in front when it happened was so incensed that when the Column Came to another River over which there was a bridge he made the Sutherlands wade while the rest took the bridge. Such is the Story on which the first objections were founded. The Soldiers however found so little Encouragement in this Complaint and were so laughed at for their delicacy that they now never mention it. There is one observation I ought to make on the inclosed Survey. Lord Gower will be Surprised at the vast number of Cattle. So was I and thought the rent truly far too low Considering that Circumstance; but the truth is the Cattle are absolutely starved and this is a matter which will hereafter deserve to be Considered in the view of adopting Means for regulating the quantities which would serve the poor people themselves and make their farms more productive. Finding such prospect of good Consequence ensuing from my trip thro’ Assint I resolved to Carry the same Measures into effect in Strathnaver and, having walked over Lord Reay’s forest to this place where his Mother and Sisters now reside, I proceed tomorrow to Clerkhill, and so on to Clibrig and Shiness and back to Dunrobin. I ought to mention that I received very active assistance in this trip from John Scobie at Ardvare and also from my namesake Murdo Mackenzie at Stronchrubie. Colin Mackenzie to Countess of Sutherland Tore, Ross-shire, i October 1799 Just as I was leaving Sutherland I was honor’d by receiving Your Ladyship’s letter of 17th ult.