Life in the Highlands also was changing,
Effects on the clans really far-ranging,
Chiefs became landlords and moved the goal posts,
Thought sheep the answer to cover their costs1
Many were guilty, I'll mention the worst,
Sutherland's Countess and factor who durst2
Tenants expel and their houses burn down,3
Brought ruminants in, all white, black and brown.
Clansmen evicted from ancestral straths,
Fiscal demography was the new maths.4
Many set sail for America's shore,
Then slyly the fare was hiked up some more,5
Stopping poor clansmen from leaving their glen,
They're needed to fight Napoleon's men!6
Once Boney was beaten no one cared less,
Leaving encouraged relieving distress7
From failures of crops, poor harvests and blight8
Some scurrilous chiefs, with all of their might9
Ditched their own clans, loyal service forgot,
Lives oversees banned kinsfolk now sought,
Loss to the Highland's was Canada's gain,.
America too was a winner 'tis plain.10
Down in the Lowlands was civil unrest,
Electoral franchise was the request11,
But during the war it all got suppressed,6
Some years later on 'twas put to the test,12
Smartly put down, strung up were three leaders,13
At last Tories out, Whigs their "succeeders",14
Political franchise for many more,15
More Scottish MPs allowed than before16
Notes
1 The Highland Clearances.
2 A cause célèbre in Highland history.
3 Between 5 and 10 thousand expelled from Strathnaver in 1814.
4 The Highlands were unable to support the growing population.
5 Passenger Vessel Act, 1803.
6 Napoleonic War, (1799-1815).
7 Passenger Act Removed, 1827.
8 Potato blight, 1845; crops 1848,1849.
9Gordon of Cluny in Uists and Barra, Baillie of Dochfour, Lord Cranstoun in Arisaig.
Meal provided for relief, Lord MacDonald, resold for a profit instead of bringing it home.
10 Eleven US Presidents were of Scottish descent.
11 United Scotsmen was a secret society established, 1793.
12 "Radical War", 1820.
13 Wilson, Hardie and Baird.
14 General Election, 1830.
15 £10 property owners eg.
16 Reform Bill, 1832.
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