"Et plus ta main avare épuise leurs mammelles

Plus la douce ambroisie entre tes doigts ruisselle."

Some are lying down to lighten their load; and some, with an air of

patient expectancy, turn their heads towards an "osteria cacinante"

opposite, knowing that so soon as their drover has finished his own

cold broccoli breakfast, he will come out to accompany them into Rome

to _disperse_ theirs. And now we are within the _enceinte_ of the

Borghese grounds, have passed the good-humoured _custode_ at the gate,

responded a hearty "_da vero_," to the "_che bella qiornata_" with

which we are greeted, tarried for an instant by the little pond to the

left, and heard the Babylonian willow susurrate the same salutation to

the water under its boughs, and then make for, and soon reach, the

large ever-spouting fountain which is scattering its comminuted

water-dust far and near, and bathes our cheek refreshingly as we pass

it: and now we are at the Borghese dairy, and now by Raphael's little

frescoed house, untenanted within, and with a solitary robin, the

_custode_ of the porch; but at the back premises we come upon an

artist in a blouse making a sketch. He could not have chosen a more

picturesque spot than this any where in the park: for _foreqround_, a

beautiful green sward, well dotted with recumbent and standing cows,

and interspersed with masses of acanthus-crowned ruin; and for the

_back_, the graceful sweep of the old gray Roman walls, with the Villa

Medici and the Pincian hill peering just above. Fain would we carry

away some such souvenir; but as nature or our misfortune forbid this,

our endeavour shall be to supply its place, however inadequately, by

dotting down a few words of description of one or two of the principal

trees, which here so greatly embellish the view.

The Ilex, interesting alike from its appearance and physiology, first

engages our notice. Compact and solid while yet a shrub, (for hers is

indeed an _old_ head upon _young_ shoulders,) she grows like a tree

that is to count by centuries, and under no advantage of soil or

situation does her sober aspect change; no premature overgrowth was

ever known to weaken her fibres, those _têtes mortées_; the Lombardy

poplars there, whose only merit is their height, may shoot up ever so

tauntingly, for aught she cares, at her elbow; her ambition is not

like that of the stately pines, to nurse a noisy aviary on high; nor

does she seek to rival the fair sisterhood of the Acacias in the

youthful vanity of overdecking her person; one dark-coloured

investment lasts her, and remains unchanged the whole year through.

But though she takes no improper "pride in dress," even the rigid Dr

Watts would hardly be disposed to object to the exceedingly _charming_

trimming of semi-transparent green flouncing, and the rich festoons of

straw-yellow tassels, with which--not to appear insensible to the

festivities of spring--she has just now fringed her winter apparel.

Making less demands upon the earth than many of her neighbours, she

turns her supplies to better account; her acorns from early youth are

firm and mature; excrescences, the common result of excess, mar not

the rough symmetry of her hardy frame--few insects feed upon that

uncompromising rind, which, opposing itself to most cryptogamic

alliance, seldom suffers moss or lichen to spread over its incised and

tesselated surface,

"Save here and there in spots aye dank and dark,

When the green meshes fill the fissured bark."

Much does the Ilex gain by this prudent economy of her resources; for,

long after the autumnal rains have stripped her companions bare, while

they are shivering and sighing in the blast, _she_ knows neither moult

nor change. Immutably serene, she plants the dense screen of

well-clothed boughs across the road, and affords shelter to the

careless wight who has forgotten his umbrella, keeping him dry and

warm under an impenetrable water-proof and winter-proof canopy. Of all

trees that bloom, (especially when as now in full feather,) few can

rival the acacia in delicacy of white, or in profusion of blossoming.

Nodding their heavy plumes and parting their leafy tresses in the

breeze, they are the charm of every spot where they grow; whether as

here, alternating in beautiful relief by the lofty wall of the

aqueduct, commingling their snowy bunches amidst thousands of red and

white Banksian roses; or else standing sentinel with a weeping willow

over some garden fountain. Whether alone or in company, there is not a

more beautiful sylvan blonde than the acacia; but it is too apparent

that such loveliness will not last, that her stature is fully beyond

her strength. For example, there is a row of them; none counts her

twelfth birth-day, and yet all are grown up! Turn we, now, to the

great stone pines: here they stand in the morning sun, that has

already cracked their fevered bark, and caused it to peel off in red

_laminæ_ from the rugged trunk. See the ground at their base strewn

with these thin vegetable tiles; and large quantities of that most

beautiful of funguses, the _Clatharus Cancellatus_, chooses this

situation to blush and stink. This group is a well-known land-mark for

miles around Rome; far off in the Campagna we recognise the clump; the

dome of St Peter's itself meets not sooner the inquiring eye of the

arriving tourist. They are also the artists' trees; not a bough of

them but has been studied and depicted time after time for centuries;

they have stood oftener for their portraits than they have cones to

count, and are as familiar to the young painter, as the line-school

that beset the Pincian hill. These are the principal trees which give

character to the garden; but there are hosts of others that help to

make up the beauty of the scene; _Catalpas_, _Meleas_, _Brousenitias_,

_&c. &c._, all now in light green foliage. Some are still hung with

pods and berries of their last year's growth, producing an _insieme_

of pictorial effect rarely to be met with out of Italy, and in Italy

only at this season of the year. Continuing our walk, we pass under

the rose-crowned aqueduct, and strike into the green avenue that

darkens beyond; listening to the distant water bubbling up from the

deepest recesses, and to the fitful whistle of blackbird and thrush,

as they flit athwart the moss-grown gravel, and perch momentarily on

the heads of mutilated termini and statues; whilst the clipt trees

vibrate under the wings of others extricating themselves on a

piratical cruise against a whole flotilla of butterflies, which is

rising and falling over the sunny parterres beyond. "The well-greaved

grillus" bounds twenty feet at a spring, and having thighs as thick as

a lark's to double under him, makes little use of his wings. Many a

callow bee is buzzing helplessly in the path. The gray _curculio_

walks with snout erect, snuffing the morning air; and here we fall

upon a party of apprentice pill-beetles, learning to make up

stercoraceous boluses, and forming nearly as long a line as the

shopmen who are similarly engaged behind Holloway's counter in the

Strand. Near us, hordes of "quick-eyed lizards,"--insect crocodiles,

which much infest this region, start from their holes in the wall,

and, rustling along the box hedge, suddenly pounce upon a butterfly,

detach his wings--the whole walk is strewed with them--and having

bolted his body, retire again to their resting--no--they never

_rest_--lurking-places. Notwithstanding, however, these constant

aggressions, from both birds and reptiles, the _lepidopterous_ race is

not, it seems, to be exterminated; and there, in evidence, lies that

very blue-zoned peacock-butterfly, with his wings extended, and

motionless as if pinned to the gravel, on the same sunny spot where we

have been in the habit of noticing him for these three successive

Aprils past. The eye that follows butterflies takes note also of the

flowers on which they settle, but we must not indulge ourselves in

pointing them out to the reader, who, unless a botanist, or inclined

that way, might turn as restive as the young bride listening to her

"preceptor husband."

"He showed the flowers from stamina to root,

Calyx and corol, pericarp and fruit;

Of all the parts, the size, the use, the shape:

While poor Augusta panted to escape:

The various foliage various plants produce,

Lunate and lyrate, runcinate, retuse,

Latent and patent, papilous and plain;

'Oh!' said the pupil, 'it will turn my brain!'"

And, therefore, though "flowers, fresh in hue and many in their

class," absolutely "_implore_ the pausing step," we forbear, and will

let him off this time with rehearsing only three or four among

them:--the _Allium fragrans_, he will join with us, if he has been in

Italy, in the wish that _all_ onions there were like it! the _Anchusa

Italica_, through whose long funnel the proboscis of the ever-buzzing

_Bombylius_ finds its way to the sweet nectar prepared within; the

_Scilla Lilio-hyacinthus_--a _Squill_ masquerading it as a _Hyacinth_;

the leaves of the _Cnicus Syraicus_, most beautiful of thistles,

glistening here in abundance, and scarcely inferior in attractions to

the far-famed _Acanthus_. But the society of plants is as promiscuous

as our own, and accordingly we find here the jaundiced _Chelidonium_

filled with bilious juices; the feculent-smelling flowerets of the

_Smyrnum olusatrum_, and the stinking _Geranium robertianum_, mingle

with the sweets of _Calendula_, _Narcissus_, and _Jonquil_; not to

mention the _Orchis_ tribe, which flourishes in profusion. Traversing

the green arena of the amphitheatre,--where annual festas are held,

and occasional cricket matches played--to the left, and leaving the

Temple of Diana to the right, we come upon a deep descent just in

front of the villa, and enter it for a minute to cast a hasty

_coup-d'oeil_ at the ample frescoes of the ceiling and the grim

mosaics of the floor; the subjects of the latter, however, not being

congenial to an unbreakfasted stomach, we relinquish them presently,

for the beauties of the park.... By the time we think of retracing our

steps, the clock of Monte Citorio has struck ten; but the morning is

still delightfully cool and exhilarating; we have been overtaken and

passed by three pedestrians, each carrying away from the grounds

something more than mere recollections; one, a _semplicista_ of the

Rotunda, with a collection of Galenicals for his shop; another with a

pocket full of _Arum_ roots, which he has been grubbing up for his

wife, a _lavatrice_, to clear linen; and a third, whose handkerchief

contains several pounds weight of _prugnoli_--_Agaricus

prunulus_--destined for his breakfast. These do not long keep pace

with our lingering footsteps; we are loth to quit hastily, and for

the last time, this scene of by-gone pleasures. Oh! Villa Borghese,

well known to us from curly-pated boyhood, before Waterloo was won,

and often at intervals since, till now, when half our hair has become

gray, and the remainder has left our temples, while grown-up nephews

and nieces declare to us, what our contemporaries will not--the

progress of time--how many happy hours of careless childhood have we

frolicked away among thine avenues and plantations--on which we cast a

last sad look--with urchins now as bald as ourselves! In early youth

we have read our favourite authors under thy trees; a little later,

have botanised with friends who loved thee and nature as dearly as we

did; and thus have we learned to know thee, in every dress, in every

phase of light and shade, and in every month of the year. During our

last sojourn, in particular, this has been our favourite haunt; in

winter, when walking required speed, and stalactites of ice would

glisten occasionally from the aqueduct; or when summer returned, and

we could bask under the tall spread pines, and watch the cawing rooks

as they went and came over head, or screened ourselves in some dark

avenue from the fervency of the sun, from whence we could see him

blazing at both ends of it. A long and endearing familiarity has

indeed been ours, melancholy and unsating; and it has given rise to a

host of trying associations, conjured up by each new visit after a

brief absence from Rome, and now adds poignancy of regret to what we

feel _must_ be the last,--

"While at each step, against our will

Does memory, with pernicious skill,

Our captive thoughts enchain,

Recalls each joy that treach'rous smiled,

And of green griefs and sorrows wild,

Resuscitates the pain."

THE VILLA ALBANI.

An Italian villa is like any other Italian belle; we would rather pay

either a morning visit than summer and winter with them; both dress

themselves out for strangers, and often at the expense of their

rightful owners. An Italian villa is very charming for a brief spring,

malarious in summer and autumn, and incommodiously furnished for every

season. _Comfort_ makes but slow progress abroad, and has not yet

found its way into Italy at all; neither into her dictionaries as a

_name_, nor into her dwellings as a _thing_. What should we,

ease-loving English, think of a house, which, lined with marbles and

frescoes, carpeted with mosaics and adorned with statues, offered

nothing but niches and marble curule chairs to write on and to sit in?

Yet such is the general scheme and internal arrangement throughout

most villas in Italy; for as to the prime of the house, the _piano

nobile, that_ belongs as by prescriptive right to the Cæsars, being

indeed only fitted for impassive marble and bronze emperors:--while

the over-hospitable entertainer of these august guests is content to

stow away himself and family in apartments which are frequently little

better than our offices for menials, in which his few articles of

rococo furniture, of all sorts and sizes, are crazy, cumbersome,

undusted, and ill-matched; in short, more like the promiscuous

contents of some inferior broker's shop, than the elegant

_ameublement_ we might have expected to correspond to the profusion of

objects of _vertu_ which grace the principal show-rooms of the

mansion. At home, we may differ in our notions about comfort in the

details, but there are certain conditions which are rightly held

essential to its possible existence; and if "the cold neat parlour,

and the gay glazed bed," have their admirers, it is because

cleanliness and neatness are two of them: but in Italy we look in vain

for either, and there is nothing to compensate their absence. Few

Englishmen could engage in literary labour in the fireless,

ill-furnished rooms which throughout Italy are a matter of course;

where carpets, curtains, or an easy chair, are unknown luxuries; and

into which, entering by various ill-placed and worse fitting windows

and doors, confluent draughts catch you in all directions, turning the

_sanctum_ of study into a perfect Temple of the Winds! Yet, to some

men, comfort seems as unnecessary as it is unattainable. The Italian

antiquary, in particular, had need be careless of his ease, and

regardless of external temperature; as that degree of it necessary for

the conservation of nude marble figures, is by no means congenial to

flesh and blood. This reflection occurs to us to-day--not for the

first time, certes--under the noble portico of the villa Albani, with

a volume of Winkelmann in our hand; for in this palace, and in some

such study as we have hinted at, must he have shivered over these

recondite labours, while meditating, composing, and consulting

authorities, to constitute himself hereafter the great oracle of the

fine arts. Had Winkelmann been half as curious in his research after

comfort as vertù, verily the world would have lost many an able

dissertation and ingenious conjecture; and this villa in

particular--to which we are now come to pay our respects--we fear our

last respects--had been deprived of this renowned commentary on her

treasures. Let us hope parenthetically that a recent perusal of the

venerable antiquary, together with some slight acquaintance with the

objects themselves, will on such an occasion excite in us a spark of

that enthusiasm which animates all his descriptions. What a beautiful

portico! we catch ourselves saying _con amore_ for the hundredth

time--and who will gainsay us?--with its thirty columns of different

coloured granites and rare marbles, cipolino, porta santa, occhio di

pavone (_vide_ Corsi); its busts, its ornamented tazzas, its statues,

and many other _et coeteras_ too numerous to catalogue. Among the

statues, our eye soon singles out the queenly figure of Agrippina

seated in her marble chair. Stateliness and high rank apparent in her

features, grace and perfect self-possession in her attitude, doubtless

she is expecting a deputation of importance, or maybe a visit from the

emperor, and has prepared her well-tutored countenance to receive

either with dignity. Here are the busts of Nerva and of the first

Cæsar, to whose characters, while history gives the key, we are apt to

fancy, as we stare at them, that to Lavater we owe the discovery.

Those ubiquitous emperors Hadrian, Trajan, Antoninus _Pius_, and

Gordianus _ditto_, on whom as on other boring acquaintance you are

sure to stumble in every gallery at Rome till you almost yawn in their

faces, are here of course. Besides these, by way of novelty, we fall

in with the grave, much-bearded, long-faced bust, _Epicurus_

underwritten on the pedestal. If it _be_ that sage, then has not his

face any vestige of the jovial "live while you live" expression which

we might have expected, were he true to his own philosophy; but, on

the contrary, a dignified Melancthon sadness, as if, like Solomon, he

had had enough of pleasure, and had found nothing but "vanity and

vexation of spirit" from them all. Opposite to him, we look with

interest on the much less apocryphal head of Scipio Africanus, not

only exhibiting on his bald temple a large crucial cicatrice, in token

of a wound which we know him to have received, but presenting the

singular appearance of having been trefined, an operation of which

there is certainly no record in his life. Just before we ascend, we

glance up at those beautiful Caryatides, who give their name to one of

the principal saloons, and, loitering for a few moments on the stair

before a charming little group of Niobe and her children, are

presently in the gallery above. There--omitting all minor objects of

interest chronicled in the guide books, (which we have now no time to

re-examine,)--we devote ourselves chiefly to the reconsidering two or

three favourite marbles and bronzes. First among the former stands the

Minerva, a specimen of Roman sublime, (_vide_ Winkelmann)--perfect,

say all the guide books; but how a lady with an artificial nose, and a

right arm palpably modern, can be so considered, it would be difficult

to explain. By the side of his wise daughter is niched a noble statue

of Jupiter, executed by some great artist while the god was master of

Olympus, and probably brought to Rome when he had ceased to reign, and

his effects were sold. In the effeminate Antinous, an alto-relievo of

whitest marble, we admire the prototype of that arrow-stricken youth,

the comely St Sebastian. Nothing can exceed the grace of the bronze

Apollo; but, on looking from his form into his face, you are

surprised to find him literally _stone_-blind; a shocking case of

double cataract, produced by adopting for eyes two sardonyxes, whereof

the second layer, representing the iris, is dark, while the white

centre of the orb, corresponding to the pupil, exhibits a hopeless

opacity. We pause in succession before those weird sisters, arranged

stiffly _à l'Etrusque_, who are receiving the infant Bacchus, not to

give him milk, you may be sure, but to dry-nurse him upon Burgundy; a

perfectly intellectual head, planted upon misshapen shoulders,

supposed to be Æsop, a beautiful deformity; a Hercules, leaning

against a column, and reposing after some of his many labours; the

large marble vase with Bacchante figures and attendant Fauns, carrying

skins of wine to keep up the festivities; all these are well worthy of

a longer inspection than we have now time to bestow. The mosaics on

the floor, too, offer pleasing representations of different objects of

natural history; many birds, "goldfinch, bullfinch, greenfinch,

chaffinch, and all the finches of the grove;" cicadæ and dragonflies,

fruits and flowers, the arbutus and the ivy, commingling their various

forms and colours, and all inimitably executed. Descending slowly, we

find ourselves once more at Agrippina's side in the Portico; not this

time to look at the statues, but out upon the prospect, _sub dio_, and

amuse ourselves with tracking the broken and often interrupted lines

of converging aqueducts that cross and recross the plain. The clear

Italian atmosphere renders objects so distinct, that with a glass we

can read the names of the _locanda_ at Frascati, nine miles off, and

almost determine what provisions the man in the white apron has in his

hand. Tivoli and Frascati, not far distant from each other, stand high

upon the hills; and still higher up is Rocca di Papa on its lofty

site; while between us and them, in the dancing air, lies that

malarious Campagna, which, though unfruitful in corn, wine, or olives,

yields notwithstanding a rich harvest of its own. From it, every year

are gathered bushels of imperial and consular coins; engraved stones,

and other works of ancient art; and from the same "marble wilderness"

many of the busts and bas-reliefs, which adorn not only this villa,

but also most of the mansions in and about Rome. But we have to walk

home; and we accordingly look with natural alarm at the garden, with

its broad shadeless walks blazing in the sun; the sparrows can bear

the heat no longer; a whole bevy, who for the last five minutes have

been jargoning their uneasiness over our head, have finally gone off

to seek shelter in the bushes;--their instinct having first prompted

several expedients to relieve their distress, all of which failed

them; thus, when they found that sitting either in company or "alone

upon the house top" would not do, and that hopping on the tiles

blistered their feet, they bethought them of the metal pipes, and

tried to effect an entrance, but quickly issued screaming, having made

the discovery, that they had only got out of the fire into a

frying-pan. On issuing from the Portico, we pass a large fountain, in

which the gold fish keep studiously at the bottom of the water, while

the restless dragon-fly (who finds the glittering shell-work too hot

to hold him) is as studiously skimming backwards and forwards over the

surface, to cool and refresh himself; and the frogs, in a neighboring

tank, while conjugal duties keep them also on the top, feebly croak as

they float with their wives among the green feculence, and make love

behind the bulrushes. On leaving the garden, we mount our green

spectacles, hoist our umbrella, and resolutely set our face homeward

and Romeward. Half an hour's broiling walk brings us up under the

friendly covert of the city walls; following the _giro_ of which, we

arrive in about as much time as it has taken us to reach them, at the

Popolo Gate, and enter the Piazza, which no mortal wight would now

care to traverse, who could avoid it. The owls--how cruel to place

owls upon an obelisk dedicated to the _sun_--never blinked to a

brighter flood of light in the streets of Thebes, than that which here

streams on every object to-day. The Tazza's fountain, at its base, is

a perfect cauldron, in which the glowing water bubbles up against, the

sides, as if it were actually about to _boil over_; the domes of the

two churches, opposite the city gate, will soon warm their capacious

interiors, from the large, supply of caloric they are now rapidly

absorbing; a stand of bayonets before the Dogana, sparkles as if it

were on fire; and when we have arrived at the foot of the wide white

Scalinata of the Trinita di Monti, the whole expanse from top to

bottom shines with unmitigated and unsupportable splendour. No

importunate beggar can stand and rattle his tin box on the summit, and

if he could, there is no passenger to heed or hear him; the Sabine

model belle is not there to offer herself to the first artist who

wants a madonna or a saint, nor amateur bandits, nor faun-like

children playing on the steps; even the patient goats, long since

milked, lie panting under the convent wall; not a dog is visible on

the large _immondezaro_ in front of it; and had we not had already

painful experience of the heat of the day, the donkey who lives below,

in the court of the Palazzo Mignanelli, exhibits it most strikingly;

there he stands, a fine subject for Pinelli, with a wo-begone

countenance,--Sancho's ass not more triste--ruminating over a heap of

fresh vegetables, which he feebly snuffs, and wants resolution to

stoop his head and munch; whilst his adopted friend, the large

house-dog, totally regardless of his charge, sleeps heavily in the

opposite corner of the court.

It required an early dinner, and a long siesta afterwards, in our

darkened, water-sprinkled rooms, to resuscitate us to any fresh

exertion; but as the Ave Maria approached, we were sufficiently

refreshed to climb the Quirinal Mount, in order to witness one of our

few remaining Roman sunsets from its summit. We pass, to reach it,

down the Via Felice, across the Piazza Barberini, and up the steepest

hill in Rome, by the Via Quatro Fontani; from its brow, we look

momentarily down on the Viminal side, to Santa Maria Maggiore, with

all the other objects that present themselves to view from this spot;

and presently find ourselves at the end of that long street of

convents and churches, which issues at its other extremity in the

Porta Pia, forming a straight line of nearly a mile and a half in

length; and here we are in that well-known Piazza, which is bounded on

one side by the Papal Palace and its gardens; on the opposite by the

Colonna and its ruin-scattered grounds; backed by the palaces

Ruspigliosi and Guardi Nobile, and an open view of the Campagna in

front. No position could have been better chosen than this, for the

display of the two finest colossal statues in the world; they stand in

the midst, with the Theban Obelisk and the Roman Fountain between

them, all blending into a matchless group. As we look from this lofty

vantage ground, high over the roofs of Rome, we see the sun preparing

to take farewell of us, behind the ridge of Monte Mario; but the

convent walls on the height where we stand enjoy his beams a few

minutes longer, though they have ceased to strike upon the city at its

foot. Soon, however, he touches the horizon and begins to dip; the

palace windows behind us blaze away as if for an illumination; and

when the last golden speck has disappeared from the ridge, the whole

landscape changes colour; the yellow tint is instantaneously

transformed into a rosy light, deepening, and becoming more and more

beautiful every minute, till the short southern twilight is over; the

somewhat harsh outline of the obelisk is softened during this brief

point of time; a gentle air, (the breath of evening,) fans our cheek;

fire-flies light their lamps all around, and night suddenly overtakes

us,--"_ruit nox_." Scarcely ten minutes have elapsed since we stood

here, and already the dilated nostril and meaning eye of the restive

coursers, then so strikingly exhibited, are scarcely any longer

distinguishable; while the dark curvilinear outline of their bodies,

and the towering forms of "the great Twin Brethren" at their heads,

gain not only in stature, but in grandeur too, by this very

indistinctness,--the obscure being a well-known element of the

sublime,--and the eye becomes more and more conscious of their vast

proportions the less it is enabled to enter minutely into details.

HIGHLAND DESTITUTION.

The appalling horrors with which the Irish famine of last season set

in, seemed to exceed any similar scene of national affliction that had

been witnessed in modern times. It appeared as if the worst tragedies

that had been enacted in sieges and shipwrecks were to be realised in

the midst of comparative abundance, and within reach of friendly aid.

It was right, however, that the clamant demands for relief, uttered by

her starving millions, should not stifle the smaller voice of

suffering that issued from our Scottish shores. Nor was this the case:

the Christian philanthropy of Britain did justice to the cause of

patience and fortitude. The fountains of private beneficence were

opened, and Scotland was better protected from the miseries of this

visitation by individual exertion, than Ireland with all the aid and

apparatus of government interference.

Making every abatement for the natural exaggeration incident to such a

calamity, no doubt can be entertained as to the general condition of

our Highlands and Islands in the early part of the past year. Great

distress was almost every where prevalent, and every day that passed

was tending to increase it. A large portion of the food of the people

had failed, and the remnant of the preceding year's corn crop was

their only means of subsistence. That resource could not long be

relied on; and the great problem was, in what manner the destitute

thousands of our countrymen were to be fed till the returning harvest

should visit them with its scanty and precarious bounty. Too many of

them were habitually on the verge of starvation, and the crumbling

away of the slender support on which alone they stood, brought them at

once to the low abyss of wretchedness in which they would have been

left if public generosity had not interposed.

The task of those who undertook to distribute the large relief fund

subscribed was attended with great difficulty, and involved a solemn

responsibility of the highest kind. They appear to us, on a review of

their arrangements, to have proceeded with judgment and good feeling;

anxious, on the one hand, to alleviate want, and on the other, to

avert those moral mischiefs that follow in the wake of gratuitous or

indiscriminate liberality. Their object necessarily was, to do as much

good and as little harm as the emergency would permit.

Something has recently been said of the great extent to which the

distress in those districts was originally over-stated by the

individuals who came forward to rouse the benevolence of their

countrymen on behalf of the Highlands. We are by no means prepared to

join in this view. It is impossible to describe the consequences of a

coming famine with mathematical precision. Besides, the destitution is

not yet over. And it is at least clear, even as to the past, that

_except for the exertions of the proprietors_, which might or might

not have been so largely made, the destitution would have fully borne

out the predictions which were uttered. It could not with certainty be

assumed that the smaller and less wealthy proprietors, in particular,

would have been able to make the great sacrifices which they have so

generously submitted to, and without which the people of Wester Ross

and Skye, of Islay and Colonsay, and many other places, would have

laid on the relief fund a burden far heavier than it has had to bear.

This at least is certain, that the fund has not been dispensed upon

any extravagant views of the existence of destitution. The large

surplus that remains on hand, demonstrates the caution and economy

with which the distribution has been conducted. The money has not been

lavished merely because it had been subscribed; and the difficult

object has been accomplished, of keeping in check those demands which

were likely to become more clamorous and more unreasonable, in

proportion as the means existed of satisfying them.

It would serve little purpose to examine in detail the operations of

the Relief Board, which are already before the public in the reports

which they have published from time to time. It is, perhaps,

sufficient to say, that they present, in a great degree, the features

which might have been looked for in the working of a scheme devised on

the spur of an emergency, and destined to be followed out in remote

localities, and under influences partaking, in no ordinary degree, of

the taint of human frailty. In some parts of the country, the local

committees have done their duty conscientiously and respectably; in

others we are afraid they are not entitled to the same praise. Yet, on

the whole, things have answered better than could have been expected;

and undoubtedly the greatest benefit was derived from the able

superintendence of the two general inspectors employed by the board,

Captain Eliott and Dr Boyter, whose services to the public in this

important duty cannot be too highly commended.

It is quite clear, however, that the local machinery, which was

necessarily or allowably resorted to at the outset, ought no longer to

be kept up, if further operations are required for the relief of

destitution. There must now be a more stringent examination of the

claims which may be preferred, and a more rigid enforcement of the

proper regulations, than could well be insisted for when the field was

new and the urgency irresistible. A continuance of any past laxity

would now be inexcusable and eminently mischievous, by tending to

perpetuate in the Highlands those social evils and anomalies which the

present calamity is naturally calculated to expose and extirpate.

It is almost needless to ask the question, whether the operations of

the Relief Board are still necessary. Every one acquainted with the

Highlands and Islands is aware that the results of last year's failure

of the potato are still at work, and must necessarily prolong the

distress for some time to come. The fund which has been subscribed for

the relief of that distress must necessarily, therefore, be employed

in its legitimate and destined purpose, until that purpose be

accomplished or the fund exhausted. Independently of any blight in the

present potato crop, great distress will arise from the limited

breadth of potatoes that has been planted, and from the fact that the

cottars, who, in other years, were allowed ground to plant potatoes

for themselves, have been deprived of that resource, from the

necessity of retaining the whole arable farms for the direct use of

the tenants and crofters. It is believed, also, that the corn crops of

this year, though highly favourable in the lower parts of the country,

have neither been so early nor so productive in the Islands as was at

one time expected.

It is, therefore, with perfect propriety and justice that the Board

have determined to retain the balance in their hands, in the mean

time, as a sacred deposit for the relief of that continued distress,

which both the reports of their own inspectors, and the information of

the government officers, establish to be still prevalent. On this

point the late report of Sir John F. Burgoyne as to Ireland applies in

a smaller degree to a very great part of the Highlands and Islands.

In continuing the system of relief, however, the board must keep in

view more closely and constantly than ever the leading principles

which originally guided them, and which we believe to be founded on

the most solid grounds of humanity and social policy.

1. Nothing must be done to relieve of their legal obligations those

who are bound by law to support the infirm poor. Wherever a poor law

is established, it must, we conceive, be fully and fairly enforced

against those liable in relief, to the extent of what is imposed upon

them. In no other way will selfish or thoughtless men be taught a due

interest in the social condition of their neighbours, and make the

necessary exertion to raise or preserve them from a state of

pauperism, the effects of which they are themselves to feel in their

only sensitive part.

2. It must be a rule, all but inflexible, that the able-bodied,

receiving relief, shall give, at the time, or engage to give

afterwards, a corresponding amount of labour in return; and that

engagement must be strictly enforced. This rule is not necessary

merely for the purpose of economising the fund, and benefiting the

public by useful employment. It is essential for preserving the

destitute both from the feeling, and from the reality, of that

degradation which attends on eating the bread of idleness. We believe

that much mischief was done, in 1837, by exonerating those who had

obtained aid from the obligations of labour which they had undertaken,

and which we know, in some districts, broke down all the restraints of

self-respect, and implanted a spirit of dependence and mendicity, even

in persons of a decent station. The evils of famine itself are

great,--its moral no less than its physical effects are fearfully

destructive. But the injury done is hardly less when the poor are

deprived, by gratuitous and reckless largesses, of those habits of

industry, independence, and self-respect, which are their best

possessions, and their only means of rightly bearing their lot or

raising themselves in the scale of existence.

3. A peculiar portion of the population, consisting chiefly of

solitary females unfit for active employment, and yet not sufficiently

disabled to be objects of parochial aid, will require a humane and

indulgent consideration. The Committees hitherto seem to have advanced

them little stores of wool and flax, to enable them to give some

return for their support; and a great deal of meritorious exertion has

in this way been fostered. We presume that at least to a certain

extent this humane system may be continued.

4. Another obvious and incalculable boon will be conferred on the

country, if we can bridge over the chasm that has hitherto divided the

Highlands and Islands from the labour markets of the south. It was

indeed a strange anomaly, that strong men should be lying down to die

in the Isles, or even on the mainland of Scotland, and that within two

or three hundred miles of their homes, and on Scottish soil, there

should be a want of labourers, and the easy means of earning ample

wages. This appears to us one of the great objects to be now

consulted, and to which the attention of the Board has already been

anxiously directed: to remove the obstacles that have existed to a

free intercourse between different parts of the country, and more

particularly between the Saxon and Celtic districts. There are many

causes that combine to fix a Highlander to his home, even in the midst

of misery. Among these are ignorance of better things, and that

strangeness and helplessness, produced by a change of scene, which

half-civilised men are apt to feel with almost the timidity of

children. The diversity of the Highland and the Lowland tongue is

another impediment, but one which is daily disappearing, and is never

so likely to vanish as under the pressure of necessity. The very

virtues of the Highland character contribute to keep them where they

are, and are assisted in doing so by some of those defects which are

akin to their good qualities. Their patient endurance of cold and

privation cooperates with the congenial tendency towards indolence, to

fix them in a state of miserable inaction, rather than submit to the

active exertion that would increase their comforts. Every thing will

now combine to overcome these difficulties; the _res angusta domi_

will now be vividly felt, if it can ever be felt at all; while

fortunately both the benevolence and the necessities, both the wishes

and the interests of their Lowland neighbours, concur in desiring that

a new supply should be obtained from that quarter, in aid of what the

south itself affords. Not only railways now forming, but also the

great amount of draining operations contemplated, or already in

progress under recent enactments, must tend in an eminent degree to

alleviate the sufferings of the distressed districts, if a free

current of labour can be established, so as to redress the

inequalities prevailing in different places. The labour market may not

be so favourable this year as it was last, but it will still, we hope,

be sufficiently so for this purpose.

We have a strong impression that a change of this kind, if prudently

brought about without deranging local agriculture, will of itself do a

great deal for the permanent relief of those localities where distress

now prevails. Labourers thus obtained may in some respects be

inferior, from want of skill, and even from want of strength. But our

Highland countrymen have recommendations in their sober and orderly

habits, which are not to be found in some of their competitors in the

labour-market. Even railway contractors, though not likely to be

swayed, except by economical views, are beginning to tire of the

scenes of disorder and disturbance too frequently exhibited by workmen

from other quarters. If the natives of the Scottish Highlands can be

fairly roused to exertion, at a distance from home, their characters

will be improved, and their views enlarged. They will begin to taste

the benefits of better subsistence, and of some command of money; and

their frugal habits, as well as their kindly affections, will

communicate the advantage and spread the example among their suffering

countrymen whom they have left behind.

This resource, then, must be pressed by the Board with the whole force

of their influence, upon all the able-bodied in the distressed

districts who can with propriety be required to leave their

localities; and we should not quarrel with a very strict

administration of wholesome compulsion to effect so essential an

object.

5. The most difficult and delicate duty which the Relief Board will

have to discharge, regards the selection of works to be undertaken or

sanctioned by them, as affording employment for those destitute

persons whom they must relieve on the spot. It must here be kept in

view, on the one hand, that the permanent improvement of the Highlands

is no proper or direct object of the subscriptions received. On the

other hand, it will clearly be necessary, after every attempt to

remove labourers to the south, that some work should be provided in

each locality, on which those persons may be employed who cannot be so

removed, and who yet stand in need of relief. It would be mischievous

and wasteful to relieve such persons without exacting labour from

them, and just as reprehensible to employ them in digging holes and

filling them up again, or in any other occupation equally useless and

unproductive. If their work is to be obtained, it should be directed

into some channel that will benefit themselves and the community.

Public roads, harbours, piers, breakwaters, and the like, appear an

obvious outlet for the labour thus placed at the command of the Board;

and we are not even averse, within certain limits, to admitting their

exertions in the improvement of their own crofts, provided, at least,

the benefit thence arising be secured to the occupant by some

reasonable tenure, and that no continuance is thus effected of an

improper system of occupation. It seems no objection to such

operations that proprietors will indirectly benefit by them. It is

impossible to devise any local work that is not open to the same

objection, which would indeed be insuperable, if it were proposed to

expend the money on local improvements as a direct and substantive

object. But where the relief must be given, and the work is only to be

taken to the extent of the relief, and as a return for it, we think

almost any employment better than none, as we know no evil that can

outweigh the moral mischief arising from gratuitous distribution. At

the same time, the Board must require the co-operation of proprietors

where-ever they can, and must insist for such terms as the

circumstances of each case may recommend.

Guarded by some such principles of action, we anticipate that the

relief operations in Scotland will, on the whole, be attended with no

small degree of moral as well as of physical benefit.

The subject of Emigration is too large and complicated to be now

discussed. That remedy is perhaps essential to the thorough cure of

the social disorders prevailing in the Highlands. But it must not be

rashly resorted to; nor can it ever be safe or effectual without the

cordial co-operation of the government.

The operation and effects of the calamity with which so large a

portion of Scotland has now been visited, cannot be suffered to pass

away without an effort to extract from them a moral law and a moral

lesson for our future guidance.

It is obvious that the suffering which has been felt, arises from the

social system being in so great a degree _based upon the potato

culture_. The dependence of the great bulk of the destitute population

on a plant which, though more productive of mere sustenance than any

other, yet stands lowest in the scale of all our articles of food, is

demonstrated by the distress that has been occasioned by the failure

of that crop, and is indeed implied in all the exertions that have

been made to give relief. This is obviously an unsound foundation for

social life. It places the labouring classes on the very border of

starvation, and leaves no margin whatever for any contingencies. On

the failure of the potato, the ground can only be applied to the

cultivation of other produce, which on the same space would yield a

far inferior quantity of food, and thus a large portion of the year is

left unprovided for.

It is impossible to exclude from consideration at this time the

important question of the state of the Scotch Poor Law. On this

momentous subject we beg leave explicitly to decline at present any

announcement of opinion; and we confess that we do not think a season

of calamity is at all the proper period for legislating on a matter

which involves so much feeling, and which yet requires such grave

consideration, and so much cautious arrangement. It cannot, however,

be denied, that the events which we have lately witnessed afford

important elements and examples which must influence any opinion that

we may form, and which should be treasured up as materials for

ultimately arriving at a sound conclusion.

No one desirous of making up his mind on this point will

fail to consult, on one side of this question, the very able

"Observations"[17] which have just appeared from the pen of Dr Alison,

and to which, without adopting all the writer's views, we have great

pleasure in directing attention, as to a most powerful and temperate

argument in favour of an able-bodied Poor Law. If talents of a very

high order, if an enlarged and enlightened experience, and a long

consideration of the subject,--if a life passed, whether

professionally or in private, in the exercise of the most active and

disinterested benevolence,--if these qualifications entitle a witness

to be heard in such a cause, Dr Alison may well claim for his opinions

the greatest deference and respect: and the logical precision, and

clear and candid statement, which this essay exhibits, will secure

even from his opponents a ready and cordial approbation. Again we say,

that we do not wish to adopt his arguments as our own, but we

willingly contribute to embody them in a more permanent form, and to

offer them to the attention of our readers, that they may prevail, if

they cannot be answered, or may receive an answer, if an answer can be

given.

The general nature of Dr Alison's views will be understood by quoting

his table of contents, which contains a synopsis of his argument:

"All questions regarding Poverty and Destitution are inseparably

connected with the Theory of Population, i. e., the observation of

the conditions by which Population is regulated;--the best system

of Management of the Poor being that under which there is least

redundancy of population.

"The unequivocal tests of a population being redundant, are

Pestilence and Famine; these taking effect on such a population

much more than on any other; and the experience of both, within

the last few years in this country, proves unequivocally, that it

is in those portions of it where there is no effective legal

provision for the poor--not in those where there is such

provision--that the population is redundant.

"The peculiar Fever of 1843, as well as ordinary Typhus, now

prevail much more extensively among the destitute Irish, hitherto

unprotected by law, than among any others--and the effect of all

other predisposing causes, in favouring their diffusion, is

trifling in comparison with Destitution, and its inseparable

concomitant, crowding in ill-ventilated rooms.

"The Famine of 1846-7, consequent on the failure of the Potato

Crop, (_i. e._ of the cheapest and poorest food on which life can

be supported,) clearly reveals the parts of the country where the

population is redundant; and this is throughout Ireland, until

very lately absolutely without provision, and in 106 districts of

Scotland, where, without exception, there has been no assessment

and a nearly illusory legal provision for the poor.

"These facts not only prove incontestably that an effective Poor

Law does not foster redundant population, but justify the belief,

that the absence of a legal provision against Destitution is a

great and general predisposing cause, with which others have no

doubt concurred, in producing such redundancy; and that the

presence of such a provision greatly favours the checks upon it.

"This it may be distinctly observed to do in two ways--1. By

keeping up the standard of comfort among the poor themselves; 2.

By giving every proprietor of land a direct and obvious interest

in constantly watching and habitually checking the growth of a

_parasite_ population, for whose labour there is no demand, on his

property.

"The statement that the English Poor Rate increases more rapidly

than the wealth and population of the country, and threatens to

absorb that wealth, is statistically proved to be erroneous.

"The other accusation brought against an effective legal

provision, that it injures the character of a people, and

depresses the industry, and checks the improvement of a country,

is equally opposed to statistical facts.

"The lower orders of the Highlanders and Irish--whose resource

when destitute is mendicity, are much more disposed to idleness

than the English labouring men.

"Yet this disposition among the Highlanders has been greatly

exaggerated.

"Where it is most offensive, it is amongst those who have been

most impoverished and neglected.

"The inquiries of the agents of the Relief Committees, as well as

those of the Royal Commissioners on the Poor Laws, have

_proved_,--

"1. That there has been a great deficiency in the application of

capital and skill to develop the resources of the Highlands and

Islands.

"2. That the skilful application, even of a moderate capital, to

various undertakings requiring labour, opens a prospect of great

improvement in the country. These resources existing, the

inference is inevitable, that if the higher ranks in the Highlands

are bound to support their poor, they can and will, in general,

find "remunerative employment" for them rather than maintain them

in idleness.

"And the observations of the agents of the Committees, dispensing

a voluntary fund, but guarding it--as a well-regulated relief

would be guarded,--by the 'Labour Test' therefore affording an

earnest of what maybe expected from the habitual operation of such

a Law,--have shewn that, under its influence, the 'aboriginal

idleness' of the Highlanders rapidly disappears.

"The principle that an effective legal provision against all kinds

of destitution is useful to a country, as a wholesome stimulus

both to capitalists and labourers, is clearly stated by Sir Robert

Peel, _and now recognised and acted on in reference to Ireland_.

"The evidence of the resources of Ireland, in the absence of that

stimulus, having been very imperfectly developed,--from the Report

of the Committee on the occupation of lands, and other

sources,--is just similar to that in the Highlands.

"And the effect of an incipient Poor-Rate in forcing on profitable

improvements, as well as in equalising the burden imposed on the

higher ranks by the destitution of the lower, begins to show

itself in Ireland unequivocally.

"There are probably some districts both in the Highlands and in

Ireland, where 'profitable investments of labour' cannot be found,

which can only be effectually relieved by emigration and

colonisation.

"To which purpose, in the case of the Highlands, the surplus funds

in the hands of the Relief Committee, and even an additional

subscription, may be very properly applied, provided that the

districts requiring it are pointed out by their own agents, and

that the wholesome stimulus of an effective Poor Law, embracing

the case of destitution from want of employment, _now existing in

all other parts of her Majesty's dominions_, be extended to

Scotland."

We make no apology for the copiousness of the extracts which we are

now to make, and which, we think, will sufficiently explain themselves

without much commentary from us.

Nothing can be fairer than the footing on which Dr Alison places his

argument at the outset.

"Very little reflection appears to be sufficient to show, that the

best system of management of the poor (_ceteris paribus_) must be

that which gives the least encouragement to redundancy of

population. I have always regarded, therefore, the doctrine of

Malthus--by which all such questions are held to be inseparably

connected with the theory of population--to be the true basis of

all speculative inquiry on this subject; and I cannot help saying

again, that in consequence of some hasty expressions which he

used, and of the great practical error, which, as I believe, and

as he himself evidently suspected in the latter part of his life,

he had committed in the application of his principle, justice has

not yet been generally done to the truth and importance of that

fundamental principle itself. In the present state of this

country, and indeed of every civilised country, and with a view to

the happiness of the human race upon earth, it seems hardly

possible to exaggerate the importance of any inquiries which

promise to indicate the conditions by which the relation of the

population to the demand for labour, and the means of subsistence

there existing, is determined, and may be regulated.

"We cannot indeed expect, that so striking results can follow from

this or any other principle in political science, as have already

rewarded the labour of man in investigating the laws of the

material world. The beautiful expressions of Cicero, in describing

the power which man has acquired over Nature, are more applicable

to the present age, than to any one that has preceded it. 'Nos

campis, nos montibus fruimur; nostri sunt amnes, nostri lacus; nos

fruges serimus, nos arbores; nos aquarum inductionibus terris

fecunditatem damus; nos flumina arcemus, dirigimus, avertimus;

nostris denique manibus in rerum naturâ quasi alteram naturam

efficere conamur.' We can hardly anticipate, that science shall

acquire a similar power of regulating the condition of human

society or the progress of human affairs. In regard to the changes

which these affairs undergo in the progress of time, we are all of

us agents, rather than contrivers. 'L'homme avance dans

l'exécution d'un plan qu'il n'a point conçu, qu'il ne connoit même

pas; il est l'ouvrier intelligent et libre d'une oeuvre qui n'est

pas la sienne; il ne la reconnoit, ne la comprend que plus tard,

lorsqu'elle se manifeste au dehors et dans les realités, et même

alors il ne la comprend que très incomplètement."--(GUIZOT.) Still

we may observe, that in all applications of science, moral and

political, as well as physical, to the good of mankind, the same

principle holds true, 'Natura non vincitur nisi parendo;' and that

even in those cases where man is the agent, he may likewise be the

interpreter and the minister of Nature. It is only by acquiring a

knowledge of the natural laws of motion, of heat, of chemical

action, that we acquire that power, "quasi alteram naturam

efficere," which Cicero describes; and those events which are due

to the agency of free, and intelligent, and responsible human

beings, although liable to the influence of a greater number of

disturbing forces, and therefore requiring careful investigation,

are still subject to laws, which are imposed on the constitution

of the human race, and which may be ascertained by observations

belonging to the department of statistical science.

"That the natural tendency of the human race is to increase on any

given portion, or on the whole of the earth's surface, in a much

more rapid ratio than the means of subsistence can be made to

increase, I apprehend to be an undeniable fact. I am aware of

various objections which have been stated to this principle, but

shall not enter on these objections farther than to state, that

two considerations appear to me to have been overlooked by those

who have advanced them. _First_, That the term 'means of

subsistence,' is not to be restricted to the raising from the land

of articles of food, but applies to the extraction from the

earth's surface, and the preparation for the use of man, of all

productions of Nature, which are either necessary to human

existence or adapted for human comfort, and which have, therefore,

an exchangeable value;--_secondly_, that the question regarding

these, which concerns us in this inquiry, is not how much a given

number of men may raise, but how much a given portion of the

earth's surface can supply; and what relation this quantity bears

to the power of reproduction granted to the human race. When these

considerations are kept in view, it does not appear to me that the

objections to the general principle laid down by Malthus are of

any weight; and the truth of the principle appears to be strongly

illustrated by the care taken by Nature to have a certain number

of carnivorous genera, in every order of animals, and among the

animated inhabitants of every portion of the earth's surface,

whereby the tendency to excess in every class of animals is

continually checked and repressed. And although it is certain that

the causes of human suffering of all sorts, as of human diseases,

are very generally complex, yet we may certainly assert, that this

principle is essentially concerned, as a great and permanent

predisposing cause, in all those sufferings which result from

poverty, and must be carefully kept in view in all wise

regulations for their relief.

"Neither is it incumbent on those who acquiesce in this general

principle, to assert that the natural checks on this tendency to

excessive reproduction in the human race have been well named or

fully expounded by Malthus. But the great distinction which he

pointed out, of the _positive_ and the _preventive_ checks on

population, is undoubtedly of extreme importance. And in regard to

the positive checks, by which it is easy to see that the progress

of the human race upon earth has been hitherto rendered so very

different from what might have been expected from its powers of

reproduction,--when we reflect on the effects of War, of Disease

of all kinds, and especially of Pestilence, of Famine, of Vice, of

Polygamy, of Tyranny, and misgovernment of all kinds,--while we

can easily perceive that all these may be ultimately instruments

of good in the hands of Him who can 'make even the wrath of man to

praise Him,'--yet we must acknowledge that all, if not properly

ranked together under the general name of Misery, are yet causes

of human suffering,--so general, and so great, that the most

meritorious of all exertions of the human mind are those, which

are directed to the object of counteracting and limiting the

action of these positive checks on population; and on this

consideration it is wise for us to reflect deeply, because it is

thus only that we can judge of the value of the great preventive

check of Moral Restraint, by which alone the human race can be

duly proportioned to the means of subsistence provided for it,

without suffering the evils which are involved in the operation of

the different positive checks above enumerated.

"I consider, therefore, the general principles of Malthus as not

only true, but so important, that the exposition and illustration

of them is a real and lasting benefit to mankind. The real error

of Malthus lay simply in his supposing, that moral restraint is

necessarily or generally weakened by a legal provision against

destitution; and this is no part of his general theory, but was,

as I maintain, a hypothetical assumption, by which he thought that

his theory was made applicable in practice. His argument against

Poor Laws was this syllogism: Whatever weakens the moral restraint

on population must ultimately injure a people; but a legal

protection against destitution weakens that moral restraint;

therefore Poor Laws, giving that legal protection, must ultimately

injure any people among whom they are enforced. The answer, as I

conceive, is simply 'Negatur minor.' How do you know that a legal

protection against destitution must necessarily weaken moral

restraint? The only answer that I have ever seen, amounts only to

an _assertion_ or conjecture, that more young persons will marry,

when they know that they may claim from the law protection against

death by cold and hunger, than when they have no such protection.

But this is only _an opinion_, supported perhaps by reference to a

few individual cases, but resting on no foundation of statistical

facts. Where are the facts to prove that early marriages are more

frequent, and that population becomes more redundant, among those

who have a legal provision against destitution, than among those

who have none? I have never seen any such facts, on such a scale

as is obviously necessary to avoid the fallacies attending

individual observations; and the facts to which I have now to

advert, are on a scale, the extent of which we must all deplore,

and all tending, like many others formerly stated, to prove that

the greatest redundancy of population in her Majesty's dominions

exists among those portions of her subjects who have hitherto

enjoyed _no legal protection_, against destitution. As it is

generally avowed that it is for the sake of the poor

themselves,--with a view to their ultimate preservation from the

evils of destitution,--that the law giving them protection in the

meantime is opposed, these facts must be regarded as decisive of

the question."

It will not generally be disputed that a correct view of the main

cause of distress is contained in what follows:--

"The famine, consequent on the failure of the potato crop in 1846,

considered independently of disease, presents a still more

remarkable collection of facts, the proper view of which appears

to me to be this. The potato is an article of diet throughout the

whole of this country, particularly useful to the working classes,

and its importance to them seems to be fully illustrated by the

pretty frequent occurrence of scurvy in many places, where it had

been unknown for more than a century, since the beginning of the

winter 1846-7,--that is, since the use of the potato has been

necessarily nearly abandoned.

"But it is only in certain districts that the people have been

absolutely dependent on the potato, and been reduced to absolute

destitution by its failure; and the reason obviously is, that the

potato, although much less desirable, as the chief article of

diet, than many others, is that by which the greatest number of

persons may be fed from a given quantity of land in this climate.

When we find a population, therefore, living chiefly on potatoes,

and reduced to absolute destitution, unable to purchase other

food, when the potato crop fails,--we have at once disclosed to

us the undeniable fact, that that population is redundant. It is

greater than can be maintained in that district, otherwise than on

the poorest diet by which life can be supported, and greater than

the labour usually done in that district demands. Now I formerly

stated, that such a redundant population, living, as a foreign

author expresses it, 'en parasite,' on the working people of the

country, exists most remarkably in Scotland, in districts where no

poor-law is enforced; and I have now only to show how amply that

statement is confirmed by the facts which the present famine in

some parts of Scotland has brought to light."

Whatever be its merits, the argument for a comprehensive Poor Law is

placed on its true basis in the following passages:--

"If it be still said, that there is a difficulty in perceiving how

the natural increase of population should be restrained,--implying

that marriages should in general be rendered later and less

productive,--by laws which give protection against destitution, I

can only repeat what I formerly stated, that in order to

understand this, it is only necessary to suppose, what is quite in

accordance with individual observation, that human conduct, and

particularly the conduct of young persons, is more generally

influenced by hope than by fear,--that more are deterred from

early and imprudent marriages by the hope and prospect of

maintaining and bettering their condition in life, than by the

fear of absolute destitution. The examples of the Highlands and of

Ireland are more than enough to show, that this last is not a

motive on which the legislator can place reliance, as influencing

the conduct of young persons in extreme poverty. No legislation

can take from them the resource of mendicity, of one kind or

another, as a safeguard, in ordinary circumstances, against death

by famine; and _experience shows_ that those who are brought up in

habits of mendicity, or of continued association with mendicants,

will trust to this resource, and marry and rear families, where no

other prospect of their maintenance can be perceived; whereas

those who have been brought up in habits of comparative comfort,

and accustomed to artificial wants, will look to bettering their

condition, and be influenced by the preventive check of moral

restraint, to a degree, as Mr Farr--judging from the general

results of the registration of marriages in England--expresses it,

which 'will hardly be credited when stated in figures.'

"I have repeatedly stated likewise, that I consider an efficient

poor law, extending to all forms of destitution, as affording a

salutary preventive check on early marriages and excessive

population in another way, which is easily illustrated by

statistical facts, viz. by making it obviously the interest of

landed proprietors always to throw obstacles in the way of such

marriages among persons who are likely to become burdensome on the

poor rates, _i. e._ among all who have no clear prospect of

profitable employment. The number of crofters, and still more of

cotters, living _en parasite_ on the occupiers of the soil in the

Highlands, is the theme of continual lamentation; but the question

seldom occurs to those who make this complaint,--would such a

population be allowed to settle on the lands of an English

proprietor, who is familiar with the operation of the poor-rate?"

The following remarks also are well deserving of attention:--

"But, setting aside the argument of Malthus against effective Poor

Laws, the chief resource of the opponents of such laws has of late

years been the assertion, that a legal provision against

destitution leads naturally to relaxation of industry; that

idleness, if not improvidence, is thus fostered among the poor,

and that in this manner, the improvement of a country, necessarily

dependent on the industry of its lower orders, is retarded. I have

always maintained, that this assertion likewise is distinctly

refuted, and not only that it is refuted, but the very contrary

established, by statistical facts; that it is indeed made in face

of the demonstrable fact, that the nations most celebrated for

industry have long enjoyed a legal protection against destitution;

that the people of England, speaking generally, are probably, to

use the words of Lord Abinger,--'the most trustworthy and

effective labourers in the world,' and that the greatest degree of

idleness to be seen on the face of the earth exists among people

who have no such protection; whose only resource, therefore, when

destitute, is mendicity."

Dr Alison endeavours to show that wherever the _labour test_ is

applied, an able-bodied Poor Law is disarmed of its apparent dangers.

"Where the bounty dispensed by Dr Boyter and Captain Eliott has

been combined with 'strict attention to the rules laid down by the

Central Relief Board,' (which are exactly similar to those which

would be adopted by any experienced official Board dispensing

legal relief to the able-bodied under the safeguard of the labour

test,) its effects in stimulating the industry of the people, and

improving the prospects of the country, appear to have been

uniform and decided. And when it is remembered that,

notwithstanding the failure of the potato crop, and consequent

destitution of so large a population in the Highlands, the Relief

Committees have been not only able to prevent any death by famine,

but to open in so many places a fair prospect of improvement of

the country, and of reformation of the manners of the people, at

an expense in all not exceeding £100,000, it is surely not

unreasonable to expect, that in ordinary seasons, and after some

further assistance shall have been given them for the purpose of

emigration, the proprietors of the Highlands and Islands will be

perfectly able to bear a similar burden to that _which the

legislature has now imposed on Ireland_.

"I observe with the utmost satisfaction that the principle of a

Poor Law, skilfully imposed and judiciously regulated, and

extending to _all kinds_ of destitution, being a useful stimulus,

both to the industry of the people, and to the exertions of the

landlords and other capitalists of a country, (and a reasonable

security to others assisting them,) has now been fairly recognised

and _acted on_, in reference to Ireland. It is distinctly avowed

in the following extract from Sir Robert Peel's speech at

Tamworth, 1st June 1847. 'We have experience of the evils of

periodical returns of destitution in Ireland; we see periodically

a million or a million and a half of people absolutely in a

starving state,--in a state which is disgraceful, while it is

dangerous to the security of life and property. I believe it is a

great point _to give security to those people_ that they shall not

starve,--that they shall have a demand upon the land. I believe it

is necessary to give _a new stimulus to industry_,--_to impress

upon the proprietors and the occupying tenants, that they must

look on the cultivation of the land in a new light_; and that the

demands of poverty will not be so great when all persons do all

that they can to lighten the pressure.'

We shall quote only a part of Dr Alison's observations on Ireland, but

they contain information of some interest.

"In proof that the natural resources of Ireland, in the absence of

this stimulus, have been equally neglected as those of the

Highlands, I may quote a few sentences from the official Report of

the Commission on the Occupation of Lands in Ireland. 'The general

tenor of the evidence before the Commissioners goes to prove, that

the agricultural practice throughout Ireland is _defective in the

highest degree_, and furnishes the most encouraging proofs, that

where judicious exertions have been made to improve the condition

and texture of the soil, and introduce a better selection and

rotation of crops, these exertions _have been attended with the

most striking success and profit_.' 'The lands in almost every

district require drainage; drainage and deep moving of the lands

have proved most remunerative operations wherever they have been

applied, but as yet they have been introduced only to a very

limited extent; and the most valuable crops, and most profitable

rotations, cannot be adopted in wet lands.' (See Report of that

Commission in London newspapers, Sept. 3, 1847.)

"The Commission above mentioned stated as their opinion, that the

potato may perhaps be regarded as the main cause of that inertia

of the Irish character, which prevents the development of the

resources of the country; but with all deference to that opinion,

I would observe, that in this case, as in the Highlands, the

fundamental evil appears to be, the existence of a population,

such as nothing but the potato can support, who 'cannot find

employment,' as these commissioners themselves state, 'during

several months of the year,' and therefore cannot afford to

purchase any other food, and whose only resource, when they cannot

find employment, is beggary; and that it is the absence of skill

and capital to give them work, rather than the presence of the

potato to keep them alive, which ought chiefly to fix the

attention of those who wish to see the resources of the country

developed. And without giving any opinion on the political

question, how far it is just or expedient for Great Britain to

give farther assistance by advances of money, to aid the

improvement of Ireland, we may at least repeat here what was

stated as to the Highlands, that when it becomes the clear and

obvious interest of every proprietor in a country, to introduce

capital into it, with the specific object of employing the poor,

as well as improving his property, we may expect, either that such

improvements as will prove 'profitable investments of labour,'

will be prosecuted, or else, that the land will pass into other

hands, more capable of 'developing its resources.'"

"When we read and reflect on these statements, I think it must

occur to every one, that whatever other auxiliary measures may be

devised, the greatest boon that has been conferred on Ireland in

our time, is the Law which has not only given a security, never

known before, for the lives of the poor, but has made that motive

to exertion, and to the application of capital to 'profitable

investments of industry,' which is here distinctly avowed, equally

operative on the proprietors of land in every Poor Law union in

that country, and in all time coming; and I believe I may add, that

the individual to whom Ireland is chiefly indebted for this

inestimable boon, is one whose name we do not find connected with

any of the questions of religion or of party politics, which have

caused so much useless excitement; but who has distinctly perceived

the root of the evil,--the absence of any security, either for the

lives of the poor, or for the useful application of capital to the

employment of labour, and has applied himself patiently and

steadily to the legitimate remedy--viz. Mr Poulett Scrope.

"It is true that we have many representations, from Poor Law

unions in Ireland, of the utter inability of the proprietors and

occupiers of the soil to bear the burden which the new Poor Law

has imposed upon them; and I give no opinion on the questions,

whether they have a claim in equity on further assistance from

England, or whether the rate has been imposed in the most

judicious way. But when it is said, that they are utterly unable

to support the poor of Ireland by a rate, the question presents

itself--How do they propose that those poor are to be supported

without a rate? I apprehend it can only be by begging; and of whom

are they to beg? It can only be from the occupiers of the soil,

and other inhabitants of the country. Now, will the ability of

those inhabitants to bear this burden be _lessened_ by a law which

will, in one way or other, compel the landlords (often absentees)

to share it along with them?--and will, at the same time, make it

the obvious interest of the landlords to introduce capital into

the country, and expend it there in 'remunerative employment?'

"On the present state of Ireland I can speak with some confidence,

because I can give the opinion of a friend, the Count de

Strzelicki, who is well entitled to judge, because he was

previously thoroughly acquainted with agriculture, and because he

nobly undertook the painful office of dispensing the bounty of the

London Association in the very worst district of Ireland, during

the worst period of the famine; and who expresses himself

thus:--The real evil and curse of Ireland is neither religious nor

political, but lies simply in so many of the landlords being

bankrupts, and so many of those who are well off being absentees;

others again, equally well off, resident, judicious, benevolent,

and far-sighted, being unsupported in their efforts, and isolated

in their action upon the masses, who, long since cast away by the

proprietary, have been dragging their miserable existence in

recklessness, distrust, and rancour. It is this dislocation--even

antagonism--of social interests and relations, combined with the

_irresponsibility of the property for its poverty_, that

constitutes the '_circus viciosus_,' the source of all the evils

of this unfortunate and interesting country.

"'But now, _in consequence of the new Poor Law_, and other new

enactments of Parliament, those who have a real interest in the

preservation of their property, will be forced to look, as they

never did before, to the improvement of their tenantry. Those who

are insolvent must part with the nominal tenure of land, and leave

their estates to capitalists who can better discharge the duty of

landlords; and lastly, the masses, who hitherto had been abandoned

to themselves and to their brutal instinct for self-preservation,

will find henceforth their interest linked with that of the

landlord, and will find advice, help, encouragement, and, in

extreme cases, a legal support.

"'Every real friend of Ireland, and particularly those who, like

myself, have had an insight into the many excellent intellectual

and moral qualities of their character, while sympathising with

the hardships which at first will be felt by many from the new

system, cannot but acknowledge that it is only now that its

society is being placed on its proper basis, and in a fair way to

amelioration and prosperity.'

"This opinion was given in a letter to a common friend, and

without reference to any speculation of mine as to the management

of the poor. In a subsequent letter to myself he adds, 'It is only

since I came to Ireland that I have become conscious of _the real

value of a legal provision for the poor_, and of the demoralising

effect of private alms. Already we see some good symptoms of the

action of the new Poor Law. It is by the provision made to employ

men, and not by feeding them, that the operation of the law

begins. The out-door relief will, I am sure, act not as a premium

to idleness, but as a _stimulus to landlords_ to supply labour,

and thus prevent the people from falling on it.'"

On the absolute or eventual necessity of emigration, Dr Alison's

views seem to be sound and satisfactory.

"That there are some parts of the Highlands which may be relieved

more rapidly and effectually by aid of some form of emigration

than in any other way, I have no doubt. In many such cases it is

probably unnecessary to remove the people farther than to those

parts of the low country, where, by a little well directed

inquiry, employment may be found for them, as was done by the

Glasgow 'Committee on Employment;' but in others it is quite

certain that emigration to the colonies may be safely and

beneficially managed. And the importance of this subject becomes

much greater when we consider, that so large a surplus remains of

the sum raised for the relief of distress there, the disposal of

which is at this moment a question of difficulty. I am so much

impressed with the truth of the last observation of Dr Boyter, as

applicable to certain districts of the Highlands, that I should

think it highly advisable to apply the greater part, or even the

whole, of this surplus of £115,000 to this salutary drainage of

the population. An equal sum might be advanced by Government, to

be gradually repaid, just as in the case of assistance given to

proprietors by the Drainage Act; and the whole sum might be

expended in aiding emigration and such colonisation as Dr Boyter

describes. Nay, I am persuaded that few of the subscribers to the

Highland Destitution Fund would scruple to renew their

subscriptions, provided they had any security that the Highland

proprietors, thus relieved of a portion of their population, would

really exert themselves to develop the resources _now known to

exist_ in their country, and so maintain the remainder without

farther claims on the rest of the community. But I cannot think it

reasonable or right, that while we have periodical returns of

destitution in the Highlands, demanding aid from all parts of the

country and from the colonies, to prevent many deaths by famine, a

Highland proprietor should be enabled to advertise a property for

sale, at the upset price of £48,000, and to state as an inducement

to purchasers, that the _whole_ public burdens are £40 a-year.

(See advertisement of sale of lands in Skye, _Edinburgh Courant_,

Sept. 16, 1847.) I should think it highly imprudent for the

Committee intrusted with that money for the benefit of the poor in

the Highlands, to part with it for any kind of emigration,

excepting on _two_ express conditions: 1. That agents appointed by

the Committee, unprejudiced and disinterested, (and probably

better judges on the point than Captain Eliott and Dr Boyter

cannot be found,) shall report on the localities in which this

remedy should be applied, in consequence of "profitable

investments of industry" not existing at home; and, 2. That

application be made to the Legislature for a measure, which should

place the remaining portion of the Highlanders under the

circumstances which are known _by experience_ to be most

favourable to the development of the resources of a country, and

at the same time to the action of the preventive check on

excessive population, _i. e._, under the operation of an effective

and judicious Legal Provision for the Poor."

The following sentences form an impressive conclusion to this

valuable, dissertation.

"I have only to add, that being firmly convinced that a

well-regulated Poor Law is really, as stated by Sir Robert Peel, a

wholesome stimulus to enterprise and industry, and a check upon

extravagance and improvidence, I have written this paper to

prove,--by evidence on so large a scale, that it excludes all

fallacies attending individual cases, and ought to command

conviction,--that it is only in those parts of this country where

this salutary precaution has been neglected, that such periodical

returns of destitution and famine, as he describes, have been

suffered or are to be apprehended. But, as it is obviously

essential to this beneficial effect of a Poor Law, that it should

secure relief to _destitution from want of work_, the practical

result of all that has been stated is, to confirm the arguments

which I formerly adduced in favour of the extension of a legal

right to relief to the able-bodied in Scotland, when destitute

from that cause;--guarded of course by the exaction of work in

return for it when there are no means of applying, or when such

exaction is thought better than applying, the workhouse test. And

notwithstanding the strong feeling of distrust (or prejudice, as I

believe it) which still exists among many respectable persons on

this point, I confidently expect that this right--_now granted to

the inhabitants of every other part of her Majesty's European

dominions_, and soon to be accompanied, as I hope, in all parts,

by an improved law of settlement _i. e._, by combinations or

unions instead of parishes,--cannot be much longer withheld from

the inhabitants of Scotland."

Nor can I doubt that the intelligent people of this country,

seriously reflecting on the lessons which have been taught them by

those two appalling but instructive visitations of

Providence,--pestilence and famine--will soon perceive, whether it

is by the aid or without the aid of an effective legal provision

against destitution, that the sacred duty of charity is most

effectually performed; and what are the consequences to all ranks

of society which follow from its being neglected.

_Magna est veritas et prævalebit._

It is right that views so important and so ably stated, and which are

obviously prompted by so pure a spirit of philanthropy and true piety,

should receive the full weight that they are entitled to; and should

be canvassed and considered by all who feel an interest in the

question.

On the other hand, there are obvious considerations of an opposite

kind which should be fairly weighed. Independently of the general

arguments against an able-bodied Poor Law, with which political

economists are familiar, the special question arises, whether the

Highlands of Scotland have not been brought into their existing

condition partly by the peculiarities of national character, and

partly by the transition that is now in progress from a system of

ancient vassalage to more modern ideas of calculation and

independence. The patriarchal state which prevailed under the old

habits of clanship is now at an end, so far as regards the

proprietors, who are unable to maintain or govern their retainers as

of old, while the population generally continue in their former

condition of helpless tutelage, and must now be taught to act and

provide for themselves. The Lowlands of Scotland, though not

possessing an able-bodied Poor Law, are free from those evils by which

the Highlands are afflicted, and the population are scarcely, if at

all, in an inferior state to the corresponding portion of the English

nation.

Further, there arises the very grave consideration, that whatever may

be the abstract or original merits of an able-bodied Poor Law, the

introduction of such a system in an advanced state of society is a

matter of great delicacy, and may, from the very novelty of its

operation, often lead to utter idleness on the one hand, and

confiscation on the other. It ought not, in any view, to be attempted,

without being accompanied by some well digested plan of public

colonisation, to relieve the pressure which might otherwise over-power

the resources of all who are to be burdened.

We would say, in conclusion, that whatever may be the state of this

argument, it lies in a great degree with the proprietors in the

Highlands and Islands to avert the threatened evil, if they consider

it as such, by a gradual but entire change in the system of the

occupation of land. The great argument we have seen for an able-bodied

Poor Law is, that it compels the proprietary classes to keep down the

population by a feeling of self-interest. This object must, in some

way or other, be attained. Without harshness, without any sudden

removals, every opportunity must be sought of remodelling the plan of

small possessions, and the principle must be laid down and enforced,

that no one shall continue in the condition of a tenant who does not

occupy enough of ground to raise, at least, _an ample corn crop_ for

the support of his family. If the potato system continues,--if, after

the present calamity passes away, its lessons are forgotten, it is not

probable that the benevolence of the public would again be equally

liberal as it has now been, where the visitation was so sudden and

unexpected, and no clear or unequivocal warning of its approach had

previously been received.

We hope, however, for better things; and trust that the present crisis

will be duly improved, and will form a new era of prosperity and

increased civilisation and happiness for the Highlands and Islands of

Scotland.

FOOTNOTE:

[17] _Observations on the Famine of 1846-7 in the Highlands of

Scotland, and in Ireland, as illustrating the connexion of the

principle of population, with the management of the poor._ By W. P.

ALISON, M.D., &c.

_Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh_