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Until
lately, the great majority of Highland emigrants preferred
British America to any other colony, and at the present day
Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and many other districts of British North America,
contain large Highland population, proud of their origin, and
in many instances still maintaining their original Gaelic. One
of the earliest Highland settlements was, however, in Georgia,
where in 1738, a Captain Mackintosh settled along with a
considerable number of followers from Inverness-shire. The
favourite destination, however, of the earlier Highland
emigrants was North Carolina, to which, from about 1760 till
the breaking out of the American war, many hundreds removed
from Skye and other of the Western Islands. During that war
these colonists almost to a man adhered to the British
Government, and formed themselves into the Royal Highland
Emigrant Regiment, which did good service. At the conclusions
of the war, many settled in Carolina, while others removed to
Canada, where land was allotted to them by Government. That
the descendants of these early settlers still cherish the old
Highland spirit, is testified to by all travellers; some
interesting notices of their present condition may be seen in
Mr David Macrae's American Sketches (1869). Till quite lately,
Gaelic sermons were preached to them, and the language of
their forefathers we believe has not yet fallen into disuse in
the district, being spoken even by some of the Negroes. Those
who emigrated to this region seem mostly to have been tacksmen,
while many of the farmers and cottars settled in British
America. Although their fortunes do not seem to have come up
to the expectations of themselves and those who sent them out,
still there is no doubt that their condition after emigration
was in almost every respect far better than it was before, and
many of their descendants now occupy responsible and prominent
positions in the colony, while all seem to be as comfortable
as the most well-to-do Scottish farmers having the advantage
of the latter in being proprietors of their own farms.
According to the Earl of Selkirk, who himself took out and
settled several bands of colonists, "the settlers had
every incitement to vigorous exertion from the nature of their
tenure. They were allowed to purchase in fee-simple, and to a
certain extent on credit. From 50 to 100 acres were allotted
to each family at a very moderate price, but none was given
gratuitously. To accommodate those who had no superfluity of
capital, they were not required to pay the price in full, till
the third of fourth year of their possession; and in that time
an industrious man may have it in his power to discharge his
debt out of the produce of the land itself". Those who
went out without capital at all, could, such was the high rate
of wages, soon save as much as would enable them to undertake
the management of land of their own. That the Highlanders were
as capable of hard and good labour as the lowlanders, is
proved by the way they set to work in these colonies, when
they were entirely freed from oppression, and dependence, and
charity, and had to depend entirely on their own exertions.
Besides the above settlements, the mass of the population in
Caledonian County, State of New York, are of Highland
extraction, and there are large settlements in the State of
Ohio, besides numerous families and individual settlers in
other parts of the United States. Highland names were numerous
among the generals of the United States army on both sides in
the late civil war.
The fondness of these settlers for the old country, and all
that is characteristic of it, is well shown by an anecdote
told in Campbell's Travels in North America (1793). The spirit
manifested here is, we believe, as strong even at the present
day when hundreds will flock from many miles around to hear a
Gaelic sermon by a Scotch minister. Campbell, in his travels
in British America, mainly undertaken with the purpose of
seeing how the new Highland colonists were succeeding, called
at the house of a Mr Angus Mackintosh on the Nashwack. He was
from Inverness-shire, and his wife told Campbell they had
every necessary of life in abundance on their own property,
but there was one thing which she wished much to have - that
was heather. "And as she had heard there was an island in
the Gulf of St Lawrence, opposite to the mouth of the
Merimashee river, where it grew, and she understood I was
going that way, she earnestly entreated I would bring her two
or three stalks, or cows as she called it, which she would
plant on a barren brae behind her house where she supposed it
would grow; that she made the same request to several going
that way, but had not got any of it, which she knew would
beautify the place; for, said she, 'This is an ugly country
that has no heather; I never yet saw any good or pleasant
place without it". Latterly, very large numbers of
Highlanders have settled in Australia and New Zealand, where,
by all accounts, they are in every respect as successful as
the most industrious lowland emigrants.
No doubt much immediate suffering and bitterness was caused
when the Highlanders were compelled to leave their native
land, which by no means treated them kindly; but whether
emigration has been disastrous to the Highlands or not, there
can be no doubt of its ultimate unspeakable benefit to the
Highland emigrants themselves, and to the colonies in which
they have settled. Few, we believe, however tempting the
offer, would care to quit their adopted home, and return to
the bleak hills and rugged shore of their native land.
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