about a fifth of that of the whole county; they would by the great improvements in the condition of the people effected, render any future destitution much less severe, and by affording employment to a great number of people in their formation, place the means of subsistence within the reach of the able-bodied poor, when the relief operations of the Board terminate."

"Fine words, I wonder where you stole them!" is a verse of Swift's, pungently applicable to Mr Skene when he indulges in pseudo-prediction; but when he has to gratify pecuniary expectations, he ventures to be a little more explicit. Thus pleasingly writes the accomodating secretary to comfort the hearts of roadrequiring proprietors-" The board offer to contribute one-third of the expense in meal, although I doubt not, if money would be preferred (who questions it?), this would be no obstacle, provided the other two-thirds of the expense were forthcoming either from the county or the proprietors." Tulloch, who is evidently a gentleman of ability, education, and popular powers, seconded Skene's plausible propositions with might and main; and yet he had too much good sense and information not to drop misgivings as to the illegality of the course which he so zealously advocated. "I think it right," said he, " at once to state that, if the county meet the wishes of the promoters of this desirable object, the assessment is not a compulsory one, not one in which even a majority could bind a minority, but one that is entirely voluntary. But there are, however, some cases where the moral obligation is so strong as almost to supersede the strict letter of the law; and this is, I think, a case in point.' Now, we have the misfortune to differ widely from the clever casuist of Tulloch Castle; for we conceive that a breach of the law was but queerly atoned for by the malversation of the relief board's funds; which, instead of being directly dispensed to the destitute, were to pass "through some certain strainers, well refin'd"—even the purses and pockets of some selected Ross-shire proprietors. Tulloch then went on to describe, with graphic correctness (for which we thank him, because it puts us in possession of the subject), the miserable state of the districts excluded from the benefit of roads, and whose proprietors, moreover, had been heavily assessed for the making and maintenance of roads in other parts of the country. But of all cases of hardship from the want of roads, Tulloch dwelt with most eloquent emphasis on the case of Dundonell, who, according to his

representation, had to "walk for many miles before he could get to a road from his own residence;" and whose position seems to forbid all notion of vehicular movement in that very primitive locality. Every fact and argument adduced by Tulloch went to demonstrate the undoubted necessity for public roads, planned upon public principles, and paid for by public assessment; but to assume for a moment that any offered allocation of foreign funds could justify any interference with the legally assigned duties and responsibilities of the county authorities, was perfectly preposterous. The proposed roads were to be maintained by a paying posterity; whereas relief funds could only be wrested during a passing, malversating moment. A really useful road is a recognised part of our public institutions, and should never take its rise in a warmly urged private interest. From the report of the proceedings, we gather that Mr Macleod of Cadboll moved a negative to the proposition, but, as we think, upon wrong grounds-for he merely arrayed one private interest against another private interest, keeping out of view the only solid objection, viz., the utter illegality of the suggested course. Good Mr Macleod appears to consider Cadboll to be his county, and talks and acts accordingly. "For his own part he deemed it excessively hard to be taxed for behoof of others;" but we presume that Cadboll is accessible by means of roads for which others are assessed besides that respectable proprietor; and, consequently, he is somewhat indebted to distant parties for his improved facilities for locomotion.

The frustration of the scheme for incorporating the fugitive relief meeting with the permanent road trust of Ross-shire, led to a change of tactics, in which it would appear that the Convener of the county participated. We find that an intention of applying to Parliament to sanction certain roads was publicly notified, and then abandoned; but we also find in the notice special mention of an intended line of road "branching off from the proposed Garve and Ullapool road, at or near a place called Luibvaddug, onwards to, and by the west side of the Little Strath of Lochbroom to Mungusdale, and thence to the river of Little Gruinard." Now, this is, substantially, the line of road concerning which so much contention presently prevails, with this difference, that Mr Mackenzie of Dundonell had already been constructing, on his own account, a portion of this line, whereby he threw open communications between Gruinard and Dundonell. And here it is but bare justice

to remark, that Dundonell has exhibited a vast deal of useful activity and enterprise in his remote region, which deserves signal commendation. No doubt the farm buildings, schools, mills, piers, warehouse, &c., which he has erected, are valuable additions to his property; but this is the very point we stickle for. In promoting local improvements, proprietors cannot benefit themselves, without enlarging the sphere of social prosperity: and we think the reflux of rents in currents of salutary home expenditure, is better than lavishness in London or Brighton. But we must return to our road-making theme. In April 1848, Dundonell became a party to a co-operative agreement with the Highland Relief Board; and up to the present date he appears to have received from them £1750. Of this sum, £250 is stated by Mr Skene to be a bonus on account of the great exertion and outlay he, as an individual proprietor, had made." Now, we ask the Highland Relief Board, upon what principle of common sense, and common honesty, they could possibly feel themselves justified in bestowing a gift of £250 upon Dundonell, or upon any one else? Why, from what we have witnessed of Highland poverty, 250 families might have been made to sing for joy by the distribution of this amount among them; and is it to be endured that an owner of large possessions shall be unscrupulously voted such a donative out of funds gathered from the benevolent in every quarter of the globe! Did Scotch private soldiers, under the tropics, subscribe out of their pay to enable Mr Skene to signify the free gift of two hundred and fifty pounds of relief destitution money to a Highland laird, irrespective of £1500 advanced in the way of trade; for all these co-operative arrangements are, as we have shewn, trafficking transfers of the Board's duties to road-making proprietors? We call upon the Highland Relief Board to account for this manifest breach of their trust—not Dundonell, who seems, however inexplicable it may be, the passive recipient of the board's bounty.

With the succour of the board in addition to his own alleged expenditure of £2698, Dundonell has carried on his road before described, until he finds that Tulloch's territory "stops the way." To reach the proposed point of junction with the Ullapool trunk road, seven miles of branch line have to be completed, which Tulloch's opposition sternly forbids. Mr Davidson's statement is before the public, but there is an important omission which a reference

to the map will quickly discover. Between the west side of Little Strath and Lochbroom, there runs a range of almost perpendicular mountain heights, over which, as we are informed, no road could be eligibly constructed; in fact we are assured that nothing would answer but tunnelling. Assuming this to be true, Dundonell's road must wind round the base of the southern mountain termination in order to arrive at the nearest part of the trunk, and there can be no question as to the benefit of such a branch line, measuring, we apprehend a length of 25 miles. But the grave and important consideration for the county is, whether roads undertaken without any legal sanction, (more than what can be inferred from a tardily executed survey) are to be adopted by the Trustees, and placed on the list of District Roads which must be maintained, during all time, by compulsory assessment? It is no answer to say, that the lure of the Highland Relief Funds beguiled many proprietors into this false position. They had no business to commence roads on their private behoof, in the secret expectation that the public would invest them with a county character, and take charge of them for ever! If this be done in the case of Dundonell, other claimants for a like favour will soon be in the field. One we know to be ready for starting, namely, the Marquis of Stafford, whose factor will kindly support the legal recognition of the Dundonell road, if in requital the Cromertie road shall be elevated into district dignity. "Scratch me and I will scratch you," is fair enough between two itching parties, (itching of course for road-making renown) but that the public should have to pay for their private delectation, is rather too much.

We have thus endeavoured to redeem our pledge of impartially considering this subject. We think the existing confusion has been chiefly occasioned by the misconduct of the Highland Relief Board. So long as expectations were entertained of deriving advantages from that charitable fund, the law regarding roads was willingly lost sight of; but "then comes the reckoning when the banquet's o'er," and we scout the notion that, however rife may have been past error, any success can possibly attend jobbing arrangements now. If even the Dundonell road, or the Cromertie road, should upon public grounds be ranked as district roads, we are of opinion that the county cannot be justly called on to do more than take the cost of maintaining those roads. Where there

was no county sanction for outlay, there can be no legal claim for repayment; and we presume the Trustees will not follow the example of the Relief Board, in bestowing gifts out of other peoples' money!

ROAD-MAKING IN ROSS-SHIRE.

Little did we think when penning a short paragraph on this subject, that we were opening a controversy of the largest dimensions. The prospect of an amicable termination becomes every week more discouraging, and all our columns of correspondence have failed to bring the adverse arguers into anything like approximation, leaving full agreement out of the question. Our position being an impartial one, we find ourselves, as a matter of course, opposed, though courteously, by all the contending parties. After reading all that our correspondents have written on the subject, we see no reason for retracting any material point in our own statement. We took up the subject on the broad ground that the just and proper distinction between public and private roads had been lost sight of by all parties who entered into co-operative agreements with the Highland Destitution Relief Board, in the expectation that, by the exercise of influence, they should be able to get their private lines of communication incorporated with the district roads. The only conceivable course that could have been justifiably adopted, in order to blend the county works with the board's bounty, was to have accepted grants from the relief fund, to be mixed up with the funds of certain districts; but whether this mode of action would have been a whit more warrantable on the part of the board, is quite another question. It is clear, however, that such a mode would have secured the public prosecution of originally-planned, district roads, instead of an indirect encouragement having been given to private projects, secretly supported by expectations of enrolling them on the district list.

On referring to the published report of the proceedings of the county meeting at Dingwall in October 1847, we believe we may safely say that we were quite correct in our version of Mr Davidson of Tulloch's remarks. We maintain that his speeches from first to last were a pleading on behalf of county co-operation with the Highland Relief Board-for otherwise his confession of the illegality of his proposition would have been wholly unnecessary.