Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-02-23
The Duchess of Sutherland.


headed the late Appeal of the Women of
England to the Women of America on the
subject of slavery, and to her belongs the
credit of having put on foot this notable
scheme of female filibustering: A London
correspondent of the New York Tribune,
who is himself an abolitiopist, gives some
of the noble lady's antecedents, which
show what claim she has 10 the title of
philanthropist. After remalking hat the his
tory fthe Sutherland family is the history
of the ruin and spo!iation of the Scotch
Gaelic.population, and explaining at con-
siderable length the nature of the tenure
by which the clans held the soil, the wri-
ter goes on to say:
It was only after 1911 that the ultimate
and real usurpation was enacted, the forci-
BILE transformation of improperly into the
private property, IN the modern sense, OF
The Chief The person who stood at the
head of this economical revolution, was
female Mehemet Ali, who had well digest
ed her Malthus-the Countless Of Smther-
land, alias Marchioness Of Stafford.
Let us first state that the ancestors OF
the Marchoness of Stafford were the "great
men" of the most northern part Of Scot
land, of very near three-quarters of Suth-
erlandshire. This county is more extern
sive than many French Departments or
small German Principalities. When the
Countess of Sutherland inherited these es.
tates, which she afterward brought to her
husbard the Marquis of Stafford, after
ward Duke of Sutherland, the population
of them was already reduced 10 15,oOO.-
NV lady Countess resolved upon radical
economical reform, and determined upon
transforming the whole tract of country in
to sheep-walks. From 1914 to 1920, these
IL, 600 inhabitants, about 5000 families,
were Systematically expelled and extermi-
mated. All their villages were demolished
and burned down, and all their fields con-
verted into pasturage. British soldiers
were commanded for this execution, and
came to blows with the natives. An old
woman refusing to quit her hut, was burn
ed in the flames of it. Thus my lady
Countess appropriated to herself seven
hundred and ninetyfour thousand acres OF
land, which from time immemorlal had be-
longed to the clan. In the eXuberance OF
her generosity she allotted to the expelled
natives about s., 900 acies-2 acres per fam
lily. These 5000 acres had been laying
waste until then, and brought no revenue
to the propretors. The Countess was gen.
erous enough to sell the acre at 2s Cd on
an average, TO the clan-men who for centu-
ries past had shed their blood for her fami-
| ly. The whole of the unrghtfully appre-
priated clan-land she divided into 20 large
sheep FARMS each of them inhabited by one
single family, mostly English farm labor
ers , aud in 1921 the $1,000 Gauls had
already been superseded by 13l, 900 sheep.
A portion of the aborgines had been
thrown upon the sea-shore, and attempted
to live by fishing, They became amphibi-
Gus, and, as an English author says, lived
half on land and half on water, and after
all did not half live upon both.
The process Of clearing estates which, in
Scotland, we have Just now described, was
carried out IN England in the 18th, 18th
and 18th centuries. Thomas Morus al
ready complains of it in the beginning OF
the 18th century. 1t was performed in
Scotland in the beginning OF the 18th, and
in Ireland is now in full progress. The no.
BILE Viscount PalmcrSton too, some years
ago cleared of men his property in Ireland,
exactly in the manner described above.
The above Turkish reform by the Count
ess of Sutherland was justlfiable, at least,
from a Mallhusian point Of view. Other
Scottish nobIemcn went further. Having
superseded human beings by sheep, they
superseded sheep by game, and the pas
ture grounds by forests. At the head of
these was the Duke Of Athol. CATER the
conquest, the Norman Kings aIorested large
portions of tue soil Of England, in much
the same way as the landlords here are
now doing with the Highlands"
As for large number Of the human be-
ings expelled to make room for the Game
of the Duke of Athol, and the sheep Of the
Countess of Sutherland, where did they fly
to, where did they find a home'
In The United States Of .N'o,M .9merica.
Tie enemy of British Wages Slavery
has right to condemn Negro Slavery;
Duchess of Sutherland Duke of Athol, a
Manchester Cotton-lord-never!