The Bridge - 1861 - Erasmus+
27
We shall not stay to calculate how much it may be abused; what considerable portion of the relief forwarded may go to swell the exactions of greedy, needy demagogues, whose stock in trade is their country’s misfortunes, and who, vampire like, suck the life-blood of their infatuated followers, fanning their victims with the idle wind of winged words to lull suspicion and secure repose. These are, indeed, the curse of that unhappy land. Cruel, unnatural leaders, who cannot meet each other without mutual smiling at the unsuspecting gullibility upon which they prey. With these however, in the present crisis, we have nothing too. Feed the distressed first, and perhaps they will listen afterwards to our exhortations and advice. In the meantime we must assist in the good work of forwarding the measures of relief, that benevolent individuals throughout the kingdom are carrying out. Opportunity to help themselves, the late ministry, by the Labour Rate Act, have placed in the hands of the Irish gentlemen themselves. Able-bodied men at all events will get employment and wages. But this will not be sufficient; the aged and infirm, the women and children, have also to be provided for. Subscription lists should be opened in every town. A testimonial to Heaven for the mercy vouchsafed to ourselves could not have a more opportune moment to command contributions. Is gratitude alone due to man for the relief from corn taxation we have obtained this very year? Had it been otherwise, with the serious failure of our potato crop, what would now have been the price of bread? Give of the surplus gained but a trifling portion, and an ample fund will be provided for our Irish brethren.
This must not be. To prove the charge of injustice, oppression only is required. But England indignantly denies all that Irish agitators have alleged, and to prove the sincerity of her sympathy she must now advance unhesitatingly that relief which can alone save the Irish people. And she will do. England will give with an open hand. Will Ireland, like a sturdy vagrant, continue to curse a generosity that fails to satisfy inordinate, unreasonable demands?
The "eviction of the Gaels" needs to be speeded up by London landlords, members of parliament have demanded the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the North of Scotland. Evicting ignorant and uneducated wild men and allowing the change from farming to sheep rearing will allow hereditary aristocratic landowners to put money back into the economy. An enforced simultaneous eviction of all families living in a given area, such as an entire glen or region will allow better profitability for sheep rearing. For squeamish souls who say this will result in starvation on the same scale we currently see in Ireland, the house of Lords announced that you cannot stand in the way of progress.
The Clearances rely on the insecurity of tenure of most tenants under the Scottish legal system. There is no equivalent of the English system which provided a heritable tenancy for many English counterparts of the Scots who were cleared from their farms. The cumulative effect of the Clearances and the large-scale emigrations over the same period should devastate the cultural landscape of Scotland; in the end will destroy much of Gaelic culture
The Clearances have recently resulted in significant emigration of Highlanders to North America and Australasia.
THE SUTHERLAND CLEARANCES. Sheep bring in Money