Star.
London, England, 1819-07-20 00:00:00

SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS.

Some extracts from the Scotch Papers were given
by us last week, referring to the Sutherland Fligh-
latiders ; whether the writers of them were instilled
in their remarks, is a question to -be determined by
others. The following statement has reached us from
ar. authentic source,
.and we lose no time in giving
it publicity. But we ought Est to state, that Mr.
MAq,EOD, jun. M.P. who was reported to have ac-
cepted the ski:mums of Member of the Sutherland
and Trans-Atlantic Association, has declined the ho-
nour intended him:

STATEMENT RESPECTING IMPROVEMENTS IN

SUTHERLAND.

" In 1817, a year of great distress in the llk;blands, Lord
Stafford extended his relief to the poorer tenants in the estate of
Sutherland, to the amount of £lO,OOO.
" This distress was much increased by the numbers of people
who had settled on the estate without permissionll,Eoo of them
paying rent to no person, and many more of them holding en-
tirely of the inferior tacksmen. The extreme misery endured by I
these poor people (a state of things recurring every three years
on an average), the great improvement among those who had
been settled on the coast, and the rapid extension of the fisheries,
pointed out the necessity of delaying no longer the removal of
the remainder of the people who still dwelt on the hills to the
sea-coast—a measure as necessary for them as beneficial to the
estate, and advantageous to the country.
" That these people might have ample time to make this re-
moval, it was intimated to them in the autumn of 1817, that
they should be removed to the coast side, at Whitsunday,lBl9;
and that they might have the means of doing so, it was at the
same time intimated to them, that they should hold both theirl
old possessions and their new lots, rent free, up to the date of
their removal. This has been done accordingly; and no exer-
tion was left untried to induce them to take advantage of the
last summer, in gradually preparing for their change of resi-
dence, but entirely without effect. The lots fur the parish of
Assynt were necessarily on the Western Ocean ; and here the
people are now settled, ar.d are becoming industrious li.herinen,
is are the people of Strathnaver, who are of course settled on
their own coast, from the mouth of the Never to Armadale.—
The lots for the people of Kildonan, Clyne, Gavle, and Ru-
yan, are situated on the side of the great north road leading to
Ca/titans, near the sea, and in the vicinity of the two thriving
fishing stations of Brora and Helmidale, a country generally as
early as East Lothian. The whole of the people of Loth, situa-
ted between Brora and Portgower, have settled on these lots:
Many of those people who lived by illicit distillation, have gone
into the heights of Caithness and 11°4-shire, in preference to
settling on their new lots. This has been particulaily the
case with the people. of Kildonan, the parish adjoining to
Caithness, which population subsisted entirely by smuggling,
obtaining grain in Caithness, and thus carrying on their illegal
traffic with,much facility. The people in the heights of Bogart
and Cline carried on a similar trade, but to a less extent, obtain-
ing their grain from the. coast side. The Kildonan people have
' settled in the adjoining parish in Caithness, their new lots in
Sutherland affording no opportunity for carrying on their trade
of illicit distillation,' being old in field; or land of the most
improvable quality, and ploughed for them by the voluntary and
praiseworthy exertions of the coast-side tenants, and by Lord
Stafford's own ploughs. To those far whom these lots were too
small, farms of six to twelve acres were offered on Dornoch
Muir, an improvable district near that place, the landlord bind-
ing himself to pay the tenant 4'.5 for every acre he brought in,
and that as soon as the land was hi cultivation. To news a
constant demand for their grain, and that they might have no
excuse in selling to the illegal distill' er Lnrd Stafford is erecting,
I a new distillery at Brora, the tenant being bound to consuine
the grain- of the country. The duration of their tacks is for
seven to fourteen years, varying according to situation and dr-
map:stances; the rent, in many cases, nominal; ht all, the lowest 11
in-ficutland. By the custom of the country, the moss timber
lof the cottages la the property of the tenant. Upon their remo.
xal,ag they did Dot carry it with them, and as every attention to
their interests was shown, it was appraised over to the landlord,,
paid for by him (to whom it was useless), and then burnt. The
bet, therefore, is, that by far the greater part of the people have
MOW on the estate ; heftily/amities only Arse peseta Americo.
" In 1812, the county of Sutherland was separated from the
.row of Scotland by three dangerous ferries, and without roads,,
fully a century behind the rest of Scotland. Producing nothing.
and cut off from all-markets, it was left, in hi natural state of
ihrairst, .a iriumavest to of nespectside middle men,