..Campbell 
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Date: Mon, Mar 11, 2002, 1:08pm To: SCT-INVERNESS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [SCT-INV] Emigration - Statistical Accounts Scotland 
There are at least 70 references to emigration in the 1791-1799 Staistical Accounts. Some of the references deal at length with it. 
There are three+ pages on the subject, for example, for the district of North Uist in Inverness-shire. 
The account was written by the Established Church of Scotland parish minister, the Rev. Allan MacQueen. The sole proprietor in North Uist was Lord MacDonald whose predecessors had had possession for several centuries back. 
Mr MacQueen wrote as follows: 
"Emigrations - The sudden rise of the land-rents was certainly the original cause of emigrations from the Isle of Sky and Uist to America. Those who found a difficulty in supporting their families when the rents were low, could not be persuaded that any exertions in industry would enable them to live with any degree of comfort, when raised a third more at least. This determined several of them to look out for an asylum somewhere else. Copies of letters from persons who had emigrated several years before to America, to their friends at home, containing the most flattering accounts of the province of North Carolina, were circulated among them. The implicit faith given to these accounts made them resolve to desert their native country, and to encounter the dangers of crossing the Atlantic to settle in the wilds of America.  From 1771 to 1775, several thousands emigrated from the Western Highlands, among whom were more than 200 from North Uist. These in their turn gave their friends at home the same flattering accounts that induced their friends to go , so that these countries would in a short time have been drained of their inhabitants, had it not been for the American war. However, it will be acknowledged, that in this parish, those who took the benefit of the leases granted at that time, never lived in greater affluence than during the currency of them, owing to the sudden and great advance in the price of kelp (seaweed L.C.) occasioned by the American war. Since the close of the war, the rage for emigration has broke out again in different parts of the Highlands. To produce this, other causes have concurred with that already mentioned. The sense of grievances, whether real or imagined; the fear of having the fruits of their industry called for by their landlords, many of whom think they have a right to the earnings of their tenants, except what barely supports life; the want of employment for such as have no lands to cultivate; the encouragements held out to them by their friends who are settled in that country, of living in a state of much greater affluence with less labour; and the facility of procuring a property for a small sum of money, the produce of which they can call their own, and from which their removal does not depend on the will of capricious masters. These are the principal motives that determine people now to emigrate to America ..." He goes on to outline some of the difficulties that the people will face if they decide to emigrate; that in the district, "...after a lease that Lord MacDonald had of his lands lately there were some murmurings which produced a general desire to emigrate, but which his Lordship in some measure removed by augmenting the manufacturing fees of kelp; however the people are still in such a state of suspense, that very trifling circumstances may weigh down the scale in favour of emigration. To put a stop to the present rage of emigration requires very nice management in the proprietors. The old attachment between them and their people must in some measure be renewed; long leases must be granted to secure the tenants the possession of their lands for a period of years, to remove their apprehensions of frequent calls upon them for an augmentation of rent. Amelioration for improvements to a certain extent ought to be granted with premiums to the most deserving. Manufactures must be established for the benefit of such as have no lands to engage their attention, and villages must be erected for the benefit of those who discover a spirit for commerce, and where those who, by the severity of their masters, may be driven from the plough, may find an asylum, and betake themselves to other occupations; but this is not to be left wholly to the proprietors. The community at large are interested, and may reap some benefit from the improvement and prosperity of the Highlands. The joint-stock Company have discovered a laudable zeal to promote the general good of the Highlands and have made such beginnings as their small capital would permit: but there exertions must be feeble to bring about this desired end, without aid from the fostering hand of the government. The Highlands have a claim upon the attention of the Government..." He goes on to talk of their contributions "..fighting for King and country," and continues,'...It is a matter of surprise that the Highlands have been so long neglected by Government and that, while they lay out so much of the public money in settling distant colonies, a channel should be left open, whereby a considerable part of the mother country may be drained of its valuable inhabitants...it is to be hoped that...when relaxation from war and other objects of importance, will afford leisure to direct their attention to these remote corners. Then means will be made use of that will be adequate to an object of such magnitude as the improvement of the Highlands..villages built ...lands that are now barren will in the vicinity of these villages be brought to a state of cultivation; population ...will increase to a much greater degree; an entire stop will be put to the spirit of emigration; new sources of wealth will spring up from an extension of commerce and manufactures; a nursery for seamen, in which the strength of the British nation in a great measure consists, will be established: So that the Highland, which now wear a gloomy aspect, will then become a flourishing part of the British empire." 
In an Argyle report for Kilchoman, the minister reported that the landlord had doubled the rents but the tenantry were better off as well as the proprietor because of better leases and the exertions of the tenants. But he gives a warning: 
" ..nothing has tended more to excite the spirit of emigration than the Demon of Monopoly, which leads the avaricious to add land to land, and farm to farm. The writer of this article cannot approve the maxim,'That the more rents you lay on, the tenants will work the better.' This, like the Egyptian bondage, is exacting bricks without straw, and tends to check, rather than incite, the spirit of industry. But if the moderation and lenity that have hitherto been observed in Islay continue to be adhered to, we may venture to promise that the people will rather stay at home to improve the lands of their native island, than go abroad to cultivate the wilds of America. Amen!" 
These are just a couple of the entries that deal with emigration in the Old Statistical Account. 
Lilian 
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