by an inconvenient interrogator to point them out for the benefit of wonderers standing beside him, he replies very satisfactorily"You cannot see them-for they're out of sight!"

We certainly bear in mind the Potemkin plan, by means of which the Empress of Russia was hoaxed into a belief of the prosperity of her Tartarian dominions, which we alluded to some time since; but highly as we estimate the energies of the great Gunn, and the greater Loch, we are clear that, except they can borrow the services of the Courier in substituting literary creations for living and breathing realities, the Queen will not discern the gratifying scenes pictured for her beforehand in the good shire of Sutherland. If, indeed, instead of devoting his royal zeal to the feeding of prize porkers, Prince Albert were to dedicate his whole mind to the management of sheep; we admit that Sutherland's noble straths would afford his Royal Highness ample scope for contemplating the grandeur of lonely shepherd life on the large scale organized by the late Marquis of Stafford! As the Queen has a decided taste for the picturesque, and sketches as well as she etches; we recommend her Majesty to try her hand in transferring to her album Kildonan, and Strathnaver landscapes, interspersed with the blackened ruins of burnt-down cottages, where dwelt in former days the "loyal, and peaceable, and high-spirited race of peasantry," who were driven from Sutherland, as the Jews were expelled from Spain, or the Huguenots from France! Friends sometimes do the work of enemies, by bolting in extravagant commendations, where a judicious, penitential silence is the one thing needful. So say we in noticing the encomiastic nonsense which is palmed upon the public with respect to the prosperous condition of Sutherland. We know it to be a complete fable. We have now before our eyes a letter just received from a trustworthy friend, residing within an easy walk of Dunrobin, and who is well acquainted with the whole mystery of Sutherland mismanagement. Very different are his statements, founded on local knowledge, from the rapturous rhapsody of the Courier's clever correspondent. "I have delayed writing from time to time, in the hope of being able to acquaint you with some improvement in the management of affairs in Sutherland; but I am sorry to say that things seem to be going. on in the same old style—grinding the face of the poor more and more, and nothing doing for the amelioration of the condition of the poor. The Duke has very little of improvements going on this

year; and in consequence a great number of young men in the parishes of Clyne and Loth are perfectly idle, and a burden upon their parents; nor will the Duke let additional land, which would be rendered fruitful by numerous labourers. I do really believe, that if the Duke does not alter his system, and that speedily, he will lose that place of affection in the hearts of the poor, which they have cherished even under the hand of oppression."

If

It is plain that our Sutherland correspondent, and the Courier's London letter-writer, view matters under very antagonistic aspects. Not that we would impugn the veracity of the London writer, whose pleasant pictures evince so much of the couleur de rose. twenty "correspondents" were to visit Sutherland to-morrow, they would sing of the Duke's matters pretty nearly in the same choral strain of laudation: for instead of roughing it at humble inns; penetrating into the abodes of poverty; and hearkening to the proved wrongs of the wretched and the oppressed-the amateur enquirers would be the guests of factors or potent sheep-farmers, and hear nothing "from morn till dewy eve," but praises of the good Duke;" anecdotes of Dunrobin dignity; and little episodes of Mr Loch's wonderful wisdom in depopulating whole districts of their naughty inhabitants, in order to make way for innocent sheep! Out flies the note-book; down drops the encomiastic pen or pencil; and jottings are made, which, at the proper season, mature into poetical paragraphs, designed to enlighten the rural readers of "Our London Correspondent!"

แ

THE REJOICINGS IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE.

To the Editor of the Iuverness Advertiser.

SIR,-The ample details furnished by your intelligent reporter, under the above head, in your last publication, served, I think, among other good purposes, to show that there existed no grudging spirit on the part of the Advertiser towards the noble house of Sutherland. Had the recital of those festivities proceeded from the Court journalists of Dunrobin, they could scarcely have supplied a warmer-tinted narrative than shines along your candid columns. The groaning banquet-tables-the bumper toasts-the high-flown speeches, and the responsive acclamations of hilarious guests are described with a fidelity which assures us that good eating and potent drinking are excellent nourishers of loyal at

tachment. But I confess, Sir, I should have felt somewhat more gratified to learn that the same system pursued on the Duke of Sutherland's English estates, in celebration of his heir-apparent's majority, had been graciously extended to his northern possessions. In Staffordshire and Shropshire, vast largesses of substantial food and joy-inspiring ale were discreetly dispensed to his Grace's poorer dependants; whereas in Sutherland, bounty seems to have taken the shape of giving silver money to buy illumination candles! What the people appear to have had most provided for them were bonfires-popular manifestations of rejoicing, I freely admit-but in Sutherland not quite so appropriate as in other rural regions. Some weeks ago, I had occasion to refer to burnings of a very different description, and such as I trust will never be renewed; but still, it strikes me that when the Sutherland skies were reddened with the blaze of so many rival bonfires, the flames caused by the conflagrated homes of other days, would flash fearfully on the memory of not a few of the Duke's well-wishers!

I am not inclined to attach over-importance to the effusions of after dinner orators, but an admission made by the chairman of the Dornoch convivialists in proposing the health of Mr Loch, seemed to me to possess some auspicious significancy,-particularly as Mr Dempster enjoys the pleasing privilege of interchanging billets with the Marchioness of Stafford. In allusion, no doubt, to Mr Loch's cruel clearance system, Mr Dempster is reported to have spoken as follows. "He was aware that the minds of some would recur to certain acts upon which differences of opinion might exist, and he was quite sure that Mr Loch himself, if he had to do over again all that he had done, would in the long period of his services in the county, find something which he could wish he had done better. All men were liable to mistakes, and Mr Loch would not be inclined to claim an exemption from the rule." To plain, old-fashioned people, who are frequently puzzled with the see-saw style of modern adepts in mystification, it would perhaps have been more intelligible if Mr Dempster had said, what I have ventured to say-namely, that the whole of the Sutherland Improvements, enforced and officially extolled by Mr Loch, were a barbaric blot on the House of Stafford,—a foul stain upon the annals of civilization and humanity! But when I call to mind that Mr Dempster is a friend and favourite of the noble family in question, I think his dim, twilight truthfulness may

convey some oracular intimations of a change of policy in the Dunrobin councils. I am bold enough to tell the Duke, that if he has at heart the welfare of his successor, and the prosperity of his people, he will lose no time in abolishing the whole system which Mr Loch has so craftily built up. The foundations of that ruinous system were laid wide and deep in horrible injustice towards the oppressed peasantry of Sutherland, and no modification of a cruel and corrupt system can ever produce really beneficial results. Some of the leases by which gigantic sheep farms are held, will, at no distant day luckily expire. Let there be no evasive trickery by means of arrangements which shall partition sheep walks among members of the same pastoral family, but shall still rigorously exclude the land from all re-conversion to agricultural purposes! The "good Duke" may, by an altered course of conduct, forfeit the favour of Reids, and Halls, and Houstons, and some few other sheep sovereigns in Sutherland, but by allocating cultivable land among his distressed dependants, he will retrieve his vast estate from the pauperised condition into which Mr Loch's schemes have brought it. "Look at my 500 miles of roads," exclaims Mr Loch; to which the Duke (in a polite note addressed to me at Golspie) adroitly adds the pleasant peculiarity of having no tolls to pay! But I found by experience that road without tolls were also roads void of travellers, and that macadamised highways were a miserable substitute for a rural population. No doubt droves of sheep are more conveniently hurried on to market; but where are the peasants to tread the vaunted roads of the interior of Sutherland? As I cannot help considering myself one of the sincerest of the Duke's friends-albeit my humble amity may seem questionable, from the absence of flattery-I am earnest in my expectation that his Grace will turn this season of rejoicing to good account, and, in conjunction with his highly-lauded son, do something efficiently useful for the whole of his Sutherland subjects. Half-a-dozen of mighty sheepowners, although monopolizing the finest straths and glens, must no longer be mistaken for the people of Sutherland-a very great error, which Mr Gunn, and other officials, would vainly drown in croupier toasts, and the jingling of Golspie glasses. Let the Duke evince himself a truly kind man, by showing equitable kindness to the dependants who are actuated by an affectionate allegiance towards him, notwithstanding all the privations and

oppressions they are made to groan under. Grant sufficientlysized crofts to hundreds of industrious tenants, whose hearts would leap for joy at the prospect of such a boon; and do not, my Lord Duke be surpassed by Lord Macdonald, but some fine morning, when Mr Loch happens to be absent ("my good man's awa"), give leases to humble holders of land, and the day of justice, liberality and prosperity, will soon have dawned brightly and blessedly upon Sutherland! No more petulant prohibitions of marriage, or angry expulsions of the already married, from the parental roof! The Duke will perhaps allow me to congratulate him upon being a grandpapa on a very promising scale of supply; and to add, that paternity has its legitimate delights, even out of the pale of the peerage. The Duke of Argyle, and his Lordship of Blantyre, had splendid ancestral mansions wherein to receive their beautiful brides; but, had they been less favoured by fortune, I have no doubt they would have been assigned locations at Dunrobin, or Trentham, or Stafford House. Why not permit the peasant papa of a rustic belle at Clyne, or Port-Gower, to exercise within his but and ben a privilege which the "Good Duke,” in a case of necessity, would be sorry to part with? One unavoidable accompaniment of high life seems to be the almost total ignorance of the aristocracy as to the feelings and affections of the lowlier classes. The mistress of the Queen's robes, can hardly imagine that a maternal sempstress or washerwoman is quite as much alive to the wedded welfare of her fair offspring, as is the Duchess of Sutherland when shawling her lovely daughters at Almack's or in the opera crush-room! But hearts throb in all bosoms; and well it would be for Dukes and Duchesses that, without losing a particle of their proper distinction, they condescended to credit the laudable sensibility of the poor! One instance, however, of the Duchess of Sutherland's tact fell under my knowledge a few miles from Golspie. Two sisters occupy a sightly little mansion of rather ornate architecture, kindly allotted them by her Grace, who, however, had ordered a very pretty parlour to be made for the cow--which aristocratic apartment I hope Queen Victoria will visit!

This leads me to notice Mr Gunn's authoritative intimation of the Queen's intended visit to the noble host and hostess of Dunrobin Castle. I, of course, had only an external view of that magnificent mansion, but I saw enough to satisfy me that it would