No one was evicted from the Island of Lewis, in the strict sense of
the term, but 2231 souls had to leave it between 1851 and 1863. To pay
their passage money, their inland railway fares on arrival, and to
provide them with clothing and other furnishings, the late Sir James
Matheson paid a sum of £11,855. Notwithstanding all this expenditure,
many of these poor people would have died from starvation on their
arrival without the good offices of friends in Canada.
In 1841, before Mr. Matheson bought it, a cargo of emigrants from
the Lews arrived at Quebec late in the autumn, accompanied by a Rev.
Mr. Maclean, sent out to minister to their spiritual wants, but it
appears that no provision had been made for the more pressing demands
of a severe Canadian winter; and were it not for the Saint Andrew’s
Society of Montreal, every soul of them would have been starved to
death that winter in a strange land. The necessities of the case, and
how this patriotic Society saved their countrymen from a horrid death
will be seen on perusal of the following minutes, extracted from the
books of the Society, during the writer’s recent tour in Canada:--“A
special meeting of the office-bearers was summoned on the 20th
September, 1841, to take into consideration an application made by Mr.
Morris, President of the Emigration Association of the district of St.
Francis, for some pecuniary aid to a body of 229 destitute emigrants
who had recently arrived from the Island of Lewis (Scotland), and who
were then supported chiefly by the contributions of the charitable
inhabitants of the town of Sherbrooke and its neighbourhood. Mr.
Morris’ letter intimated that unless other assistance was received,
it would be impossible for these emigrants to outlive the winter, as
they were in a state of utter destitution, and the inhabitants of the
township could not support so large a number of persons from their own
unaided resources. The meeting decided that the Constitution of the
Society prohibited them from applying its funds to an object like the
one presented--it did not appear to authorise the granting of relief
from its funds except to cases of destitution in the city; but as
this case appeared of an urgent nature, and one particularly calling
for assistance, Messrs. Hew Ramsay and Neil M’Intosh were appointed
to collect subscriptions on behalf of the emigrants. This committee
acquitted itself with great diligence and success, having collected the
handsome sum of £234 14s. 6d., the whole of which was, at different
times, remitted to Mr. Morris, and expended by him in this charity.
Letters were received from Mr. Morris, expressing the gratitude of the
emigrants for this large and timely aid, which was principally the
means of keeping them from starvation.” The whole of these emigrants
are now in easy circumstances.
Commenting on the conduct of those in power, who sent out their poor
tenantry totally unprovided for, is unnecessary. The idea of sending
out a minister and nothing else, in such circumstances, makes one
shudder to think of the uses which are sometimes made of the clergy,
and how, in such cases, the Gospel they are supposed not only to preach
but to practise, is only in many instances caricatured. The provisions
sent by the Society had to be forwarded to where these starving
emigrants were, a distance of 80 miles from Sherbrooke, on sledges,
through a trackless and dense forest. The descendants of these people
now form a happy and prosperous community at Lingwick and Winslow.