The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-01-09
The Skye CrOfters.

islands from IA IrlnceSS OF 1nule'H
and "Madcap Violet" will be surprised
to learn that theresis, mile for mile, more
genuine distress among the poor there
than can be found in Conemara or ON
the bleak Kerry coast, writes CORE
spondent of The Nea0 York Times. The
huts are poorer, the food even more
scanty, and the law Of evictions far
more merciless. The parallel with
Ireland is not an exact one, however,
for both the past and present condi4
tions of the two countries differ wide
lv. In ireland, the poor tenants have
been ground under the heel of land
lords. alien to them in race and relig-
ion, for centuries. In the highlands,
the oppressors are the heads of ancient
Scottish families, and it is only within
recent years, within the last century at
any rate, that they have turned in hos
tility upon their own clansmen. 1t is
true that the clan system, in the old
sense, come to an end soon after tho
collapse of the last pretender uprising
| in 1745. But the more admirable
phases of the old system, with fealty to
the chief from one side and protecting
LOYALTY from the other, lasted gen.
| tl ally tiiC iiOi I'll I'll i2 oi tCl
| Waterloo, Long before this time
British law had transformed the High
land chief, who held suzerainty over
the lands of his clan in trust for the
whole tribe, into landlord liz his own
right, but it was not until the age of
the steamboat, telegraph, and loconl8
tive that the chiefs began to take adj
vantage of this change. Within the
past forty years these landlords of
newer generations have entirely lost
sight of the historic claims which the
native population of these islands have
in common with themselves. The duke
of Argyll, for example, writes over his
own Signature in The Times that it is
ridiculous to charge him with mean
ness in evicting his clansmen crofterSA
from their ancient holdings and d-iv-V
ing them off his islands when he can
add to the rent value of the ISLANDS by
so doing. 1t is purely a matter of bu-i
siness. he says, and he is to be no more
attacked for doing what he likes with
his own than is a man in commercial
life. He does not see, his class do not
see, that when he thus coolly repudi-
ates all responsibilities in pay for his
position and possession, every word
he utters raises up a score of angry
liberals eager to call into question hifA
right to either. These poor crofter$W
have, year by year, been forced off the
good land, and on to the barren lands
of the coast. AS the more progressive
south learned improved methods of
agriculture the landlords have
made big farms by disposscss-
ng small holders, and let these
to English or lowland capitalists1H
Even the common grazing ground,
which in the old days belonged to the
whole clan for pasturage, has been
swept away now by the landlords and
fenced in along with the farms. This
stealing of commons is not rare,
thing in England. Many thousands of
acres which century or two centuries
ago belonged to the whole village are =
safely classified now with the inalien-
able property of the wealthy English
mobiles, and by no better right than
that of powerful greed. But in the
where property in common
had been legal fact within the mem
DRY of the fathers of men now living, !
this is far greater hardship than in
England, where it has been hardly
lhOtO ehsih a u dultlOu SluCC luc ldli VI
the monasteries. In this Island of
Skye, where at last the crofters have
been goaded even beyond their great
patience, between the years 1910 and
1883 there were issued DEGREES of evic- q
ton to $500 heads of families, en-
oracng nearly or quite 10000 persons
This IS twice the total inhabitants of
he island, so that it amounts to every
nan, woman, and child having been
vice ordered to move within the past
orty-four years. In few cases n
carcely worth mentioning in proper
the excuse one of failure to
ay rent. The crofters are an indus
rious, thrifty class, and they now pay
ents equivalent to the highest farm
ents in England for the miserable
rivDege of living on the barren sea-
oast-rents even higher in proportion 4.
han the great factors pay for the big
arms which monopolize the good land
the island. The great lords do not
rant them to stay, no matter what
hey pay. On the Island of TREE,
'hich is wholly the property of the
uke of Argyll, there were in 1855,
hen he succeeded to the titles and
states, about 5000 inhabitants. A.
here are now 200, and of these 400
re land.ess in four townships alone
he difference between the figures
epresents the number who have been.
improved off, driven to America or
ustralia. or death, to enable his
race to add ESQ or f4O a year to his
lcome of scores of thousands. Yet
2 is a philanthropist, as his order J
pes, and reformer!
The crofters, who will not be i'm
owed off, and who cling to the idea
at the clans whose devotion made
ese Campbells and Douglasses, and
ordons mobiles, and gave them the
'e of land which they have now seized
their own have as much right to live
EAR the graves of their fathers as have !
Q dukes and marquises and earls,
I'VE no standing now in law. Relief
vs. been promised to them by Mr..
adstone, but so it has been to Cor
IN, and he will die before IL reaches