I cannot resist the pleasure of imparting this good news, even at the risk of prematurely publishing what seems to require the sanction of official authority. But I am so anxious to render justice to Lord Macdonald, that I am willing to forego ceremony. -I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Inverness, December 14. 1849.

THOMAS MULOCK.

THE MACDONALD ESTATES.

To the Editor of the Inverness Advertiser.

SIR, A letter bearing the above title, and addressed to the editor of the Inverness Courier by Mr Cooper, Lord Macdonald's commissioner, has just fallen under my observation; and as that official epistle is quite silent upon certain points to which I eagerly gave publicity, I must free myself from the reproach of having circulated "good tidings regarding Lord Macdonald," which his Lordship's agent refuses to ratify. Up to the period when I made the communication in question, I was impressed with the belief that Mr Cooper's mission to Skye and North Uist was likely to prove a penal visitation-as it had done before. But the welcome information I received was so specific and circumstantial, that I hastened to lay it before the public. However, as Mr Cooper impliedly intimates that Lord Macdonald's "arrangements" are "incorrectly reported," I lose no time in notifying the quality and opportunities of my informant. Mr Archibald Stewart of Ellanreach, Glenelg, is the respectable party from whom I derived my "good tidings of Lord Macdonald," and I neither had nor have any reason to distrust the authenticity of his statement. Mr Stewart enjoys Lord Macdonald's confidence, for his Lordship employed him as a valuator of his estates in North Uist; and that he enjoys Mr Cooper's confidence, may be inferred from the fact that he accompanied the promising Commissioner to a succession of audits in Skye, where Mr Cooper distinctly declared to batches of well-pleased tenants the precise benefits which I stated as being in course of fulfilment by direction of Lord Macdonald. Whatever incorrectness there may exist in my notification of intentions so eminently creditable to his Lordship; it is quite impossible that any mistake can rest upon me. Mr Stewart will testify that I

was extremely sceptical when he announced his good news-that in fact I deemed it too good to be true-and even when my incredulity was fairly vanquished, I wrote down Mr Stewart's ipsissima verba in his presence, and obtained his confirmation of my accuracy.

There is nothing remarkably good or bad in Mr Cooper's letter. It merely sets forth Lord Macdonald's anxiety to have good tenants; but of the liberal, just, and needful arrangements which the public have given his Lordship credit for, Mr Cooper refrains from saying a single word.-I am, Sir, your obedient servant, THOMAS MULOCK.

Inverness, January 3. 1850.

P.S.-In order to obviate all misapprehension or cavil, I subjoin a repetition of Mr Stewart's version of the declarations made by Mr Cooper on behalf of Lord Macdonald, viz.—

All parties who have paid rent regularly during the last five years of tenancy, are to be granted leases-it is stated of 21 years. All tenants now in arrear shall, on the payment of the last Martinmas rent, receive an acquittance of all such arrears; and the expectation is held out, that if they continue to pay their rents punctually during the next ensuing three years, leases will be granted to them also.

LORD MACDONALD'S SOLLAS TENANTS.

We have received a communication signed on behalf of our humble friends as above, which we are anxious to acknowledge in such a way as shall not occasion them any hurt, if we should fail to render them any service. They complain, but in the most temperate manner, of the distressing dubiousness of their present position as tenants of Lord Macdonald; and as it appears to us not without sufficient reason. From documents before us we gather that these poor Sollas people applied on the 17th December, to Lord Macdonald's Commissioner, Mr Cooper, for leave to cart seaware in order to manure their lands for cropping. In answer to their respectful entreaty the following letter was received, of which we hold the original:

To the Tenants at Sollas, North Uist.

Portree House, Jan. 2. 1850.

SIRS,-In answer to your letter of the 17th ult., I have only to say that I am in treaty with Dr Mackintosh Mackay, Denoon (sic), regarding your position, and when I have his determination, I will communicate the same to you. In the meantime be making every preparation within your power to go to America, or elsewhere, as you may determine, in conformity with the written bargain existing between you and Lord Macdonald.-Believe me, faithfully yours, PATRICK COOPER.

This letter, brief though it be, has puzzled us not a little. We were fully cognizant of the fact that Doctor Mackay of Dunoon (who is a man of ability and universally-admitted worth) holds the present position of Moderator of the Free Church; but we certainly are surprised to learn that he enjoys the sort of potency which Mr Cooper ascribes to him. Doctor Mackay can hardly be considered as minister plenipotentiary on the part of the Sollas sufferers, forasmuch as he appears to be unprovided with the necessary credentials; at least we infer as much from the following paragraph in their letter to ourselves :- "If we are not allowed to make crop anywhere this year, there is a sad prospect for us. Dr Mackay has been in correspondence with Mr Cooper, but Dr Mackay has never mentioned the matter of it to us." Giving the Rev. Doctor all credit for good intentions, we must candidly confess that we are much in the dark as to the benefits of his interposition; for under colour of his delayed determination, the Sollas tenants have been kept on the rack of suspense, and they are at this moment, unjustly withheld from cultivating their land, in consequence of Mr Cooper's shuffling negociation with Doctor Mackay. As the people of Sollas appeal to us for advice, we tender it to them confidently and unreservedly. We counsel them to do their utmost to crop the land of which they are presently in possession. The notices to quit, and the processes of ejectment formerly served, are wholly void by reason of the very "bargain" to which Mr Cooper adverts; and as for the written agreement, we boldly maintain that it is not worth a single straw. Every one knows, from the Lord Advocate down to the Inverness policemen, that the said agreement was improperly forced upon the defenceless parties, who reluctantly subscribed it; and that their constrained concurrence

was due to the menacing presence, and peremptory suggestion of two of her Majesty's Sheriffs, who, we trust, have improved their acquaintance with Scotch law, since their unlucky interference at Sollas. We disclaim all desire of meddling with Lord Macdonald's affairs; but we really wish, for his Lordship's sake, that he would adopt a manly, generous course towards the poor people who have been oppressed under the sanction of his noble name. We under

stand his isle of Rona is vacant of tenants. Why not transfer the Sollas tenants thither, if his Lordship is resolved to remove them from their present holdings? The transit would be cheaper than a voyage to Canada; for, of course, if Lord Macdonald insists upon people emigrating, he is prepared to defray the expense of their passage, and perhaps to furnish a luck-penny to cheer their landing on a distant shore.

PART II.

SUTHERLAND AND CAITHNESS.

THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND AND THE GOLSPIE FISHERMEN.

[From the Inverness Advertiser of Oct. 16. 1849.]

SIR,-Just as I was on the point of visiting Sutherlandshire, my attention was drawn to the statements headed " GolspieCase of Hardship," which appeared in your journal of the 9th inst. I immediately determined to enquire closely and impartially into the alleged circumstances, and having done so this day, I lose no time in sending you the result. I have no hesitation in saying that the particulars furnished you are substantially correct, but as the whole case is strongly illustrative of the narrow views of some Highland proprietors, I will give you my version, founded on recitals made to me by several of the aggrieved parties.

Golspie seems eminently suited for a fishing station, and as the policy of the great Sutherland clearances was meant to remove large portions of the peasant population to the coast, it would appear to be the bounden duty of the proprietor to afford all reasonable encouragement to fishermen, and the best of all encouragement is to allow free scope to their peculiar branch of industry. This, most assuredly, has not been done by the Duke of Suther

land in limiting the number of fishing boats to six, and those boats of so small a size as not to admit of being conveniently manned by more than four hands. Some time ago the Duke removed four fishing families to Brora, and thereupon a boat was purchased by some young men of Golspie, with the view of extending the trade. On applying for bait, of which the Duke retains the monopoly, the additional boat's crew were not only refused but for at least twenty days, all bait was penally withheld, and of course all fishing operations at Golspie entirely suspended, until the delinquent surplus fishers relinquished the boat, and consented to be drafted into the only permitted boats. Another point is stated to me, which denotes such rank injustice that I hope the Duke of Sutherland is not cogniaznt of the fact-viz., that the regular boatmen had actually paid £12 (two pounds for each six boats) in advance for a year's bait; and yet to subdue them to the restrictive system. Faith was thus broken with parties who, according to my view, might have gone before the sheriff and showed their claim to redress, after a legal fashion. But it is one of the consequences of oppression exercised by a proprietor, that an intimidated dependant is shut out from the protection which laws are designed to yield; and he succumbs to injustice rather than assert the plainest right. It is difficult to imagine what can be the drift of the Duke of Sutherland's advisers in recommending the absurd limitation of fishing boats to six, when there are sufficient hands to man more than that number. The fishermen at Golspie have no land, and whoever presides at the Duke's admiralty, seems resolved that they shall have no sea; and thus, from some undivulged crotchet, the Duke's tenants are prohibited from making an honest livelihood in a pursuit calculated to increase the supply of food in these days of destitution.

As I find my allusion to the Duke of Sutherland's successful application to the Highland Destitution Committee is not intelligible here, from a total ignorance of any grant having been made to his Grace, I think it but right and fair to present your readers with a clear exposition of the matter. It is remarkable that the subject should never have transpired through the press; but I could not help noticing at the time, that when an abstract of the Committee's report was sent round to the Edinburgh newspapers, the grant to the noble proprietor of Sutherland was (as it appeared