Where
There Is No Commerce Nor Manufacture, He That Is Born Poor Can
Scarcely Become Rich; And If None Are Able To Buy Estates, He That
Is Born To Land Cannot Annihilate His Family By Selling It.
This
was once the state of these countries.
Perhaps there is no
example, till within a century and half, of any family whose estate
was alienated otherwise than by violence or forfeiture. Since
money has been brought amongst them, they have found, like others,
the art of spending more than they receive; and I saw with grief
the chief of a very ancient clan, whose Island was condemned by law
to be sold for the satisfaction of his creditors.
The name of highest dignity is Laird, of which there are in the
extensive Isle of Sky only three, Macdonald, Macleod, and
Mackinnon. The Laird is the original owner of the land, whose
natural power must be very great, where no man lives but by
agriculture; and where the produce of the land is not conveyed
through the labyrinths of traffick, but passes directly from the
hand that gathers it to the mouth that eats it. The Laird has all
those in his power that live upon his farms. Kings can, for the
most part, only exalt or degrade. The Laird at pleasure can feed
or starve, can give bread, or withold it. This inherent power was
yet strengthened by the kindness of consanguinity, and the
reverence of patriarchal authority. The Laird was the father of
the Clan, and his tenants commonly bore his name.
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