pension were an ample provision. To enter the army in any rank was thus a provision for life. To the proud, poor Highlander of all ranks the profession of a soldier therefore offered irresistible attractions. It was the profession of a gentleman, it was congenial to his habits and to his thoughts and feelings-nurtured as he was on the stirring records of a warlike race, it relieved him from the necessity of any menial or mechanical employment, and from all anxiety as to the future. The time too was propitious; it was a time of constant wars, men for the army were urgently required, and the elder Pitt saw with the glance of genius where they were to be got. As he said himself, in a memorable and often-quoted speech" I sought for merit where it was to be found; it is my boast that I was the first Minister who looked for it and found it in the mountains of the North. I called it forth, and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men, who, when left by your jealousy, became a prey to the artifice of your enemies, and had gone nigh to upset the State in the war before last. These men in the last war were brought to combat on your side, they served with fidelity as they fought with valour, and conquered for you in every part of the world." The system which Pitt adopted, and which was continued down to the close of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the giving of commissions for the raising of a certain quota of men, admirably suited the circumstances of the Highlands. Accordingly, from 1757 to 1815, Highlanders literally swarmed into the army, and inany a youth brought up in a bothy, but with good blood in his veins, was able, by this influence still attaching to his blood and name, to gather together a band of his neighbours and companions sufficient to entitle him to a commission, and thus to establish himself in a social position, to which he felt his lineage entitled him, but to which he had probably no other means of attaining. It was during this time that all the ever-victorious Highland Regiments, which are yet the pride and glory of the nation, were raised, and there were many others, which have since been disbanded, raised. Down to the time of the Crimean War, too, these regiments all continued to be substantially Highland, and until that time the Highlands were a favourite and prolific recruiting ground. With the Crimean War came the necessity of great and immediate increase to the army, and the great towns had to be resorted to, and regiments were filled up without regard to nationality. Following on this came the short service system, with the disappearance of the pension, and somehow not only were the Highlands neglected as a recruiting ground, but the conditions of service appear to have become unsuitable, and to a very great extent Highland Regiments were so only in name and dress. This is very greatly to be regretted, for nowhere does the Highlander appear to greater advantage than as a soldier, and it is to be hoped that, with the increased permission for long service, and the quartering of a Highland Regiment permanently in the Highland Capital, the old spirit may revive, and that Highland Regiments may become so in reality both as regards officers and men. I have not said anything about the services of the Highland Regiments, for this does not fall within my present subject, but if any proof is wanted that the Highland people of the time of which we are treating, or of an earlier time, were not rude and uncivilized, and were in no sense degraded by poverty, but were, on the contrary, a sober, God-fearing, intelligent, and moral race, in a much higher degree than persons of the same class in other parts of the country, we have only to turn to the records of the conduct of the Highland Regiments, particularly those first raised, in camp and quarters. They were not only brave in the field, but in peace they were orderly, sober, amenable to discipline, thus exhibiting the highest qualities of men and of soldiers. The large number of men who served in the army naturally produced a large number of retired military men, who settled in their native land. It became much the fashion with them to take farms, and these men naturally gave a tone to the society of their time, and contributed to keep up that honourable tone of feeling and high and gentleman-like bearing which had distinguished the Highlanders of the old time. Such are briefly some of the causes and their effects which marked this period of time in the Highlands. But even at the close of this period, much of the old spirit and the old state of society still remained. All over the Highlands many of the old tacksmen families remained, and even when new men had come they were rapidly assimilated, and adopted the old habits of free and cordial hospitality which had distinguished the good old time. The causes I have indicated were still at work, but they had not produced their full effects, and it is since the close of this period that the great changes have taken place; that the race of long descended gentlemen-tacksmen has been swept entirely away. I believe there are not now half-a-dozen considerable farmers in the Highlands and Islands who hold the farms which their ancestors held over one hundred and fifty years ago. I only really know of To show the magnitude of the change, I will just quote one sentence :-When the late Cluny brought home his bride in 1832 -and we have lost them both only within the last eighteen months he was met at Dalwhinnie by upwards of sixty mounted gentlemen of his clan. Where are these or their descendants They are certainly not in now? An echo answers where? SMUGGLING IN THE HIGHLANDS. (Continued.) I AM surprised to find so little reference to whisky and smuggling in our modern Gaelic poetry and literature. There is no reference in earlier writings. In fact, both are more indebted to Burns for their popularity than to any of our Highland writers. Dugald Buchanan (1716-1768) has a reference to drinking in his celebrated "Claigeann." Rob Donn (1724-1812) has “Oran a Bhotuil," and "Oran a Bhranndaidh." Allan Dall (1750-1829) has "Oran do'n Mhisg," Uilleam Ross (1762-1790) has “Moladh an Uisge-Bheatha," and Mac-na-Bracha; and Fear Strath mhathasaidh has "Comunn an uisge-Bheatha." But their songs are not very brilliant, and cannot be compared with Burns' poems on the same subject. Highland whisky and smuggling do not appear to hold a befitting place in Highland song and literature. We have seen that the manufacture and consumption of whisky on an extensive scale in the Highlands is comparatively recent. So far as can be ascertained, the quantity was not large even 100 years ago. Since the beginning of the 17th century the Highland people were in the habit of distilling in their homes for their own private use, and no doubt to this practice is due to a great extent the prevalence of illicit distillation among them at one time. As late as 1859 every household was allowed to have a bushel of malt for making ale, and cottagers are to be again exempted from the brewing licence recently imposed upon them. Such a privilege as the Ferintosh exemption must have exercised an evil influence among the people. They must have looked upon illicit distillation as a very venial offence when Government would grant permission to manufacture whisky practically duty free. As a rule, spirits were distilled from the produce of their own lands, and the people being simple and illiterate, ignorant alike of the necessity for a national Exchequer, and of the ways and means taken by Parliament to raise revenue, they could not readily and clearly see the justice of levying a tax upon their whisky. They draw a sharp distinction between offences created by English statute and violations of the laws of God. The law which made distillation illegal came to them in a foreign garb. Highlanders had no great love or respect for the English Government. If the Scottish Parliament could pass an Act to destroy all pewits' eggs, because the birds migrated South, where they arrived plump and fat, and afforded sport and food for the English, it need not cause surprise if Highlanders had not forgotten Glencoe, Culloden, Butcher Cumberland, the tyrannical laws to suppress the clans, and the "outlandish race that filleth the Stuart's throne." While a highly sentimental people, like the Highlanders, were in some degree influenced by these and similar considerations, the extent of illicit distillation depended in a great measure on the amount of duty, and the nature of the Excise regulations. The smuggler's gain was in direct proportion to the amount of the spirit duty; the higher the duty the greater the gain and the stronger the temptation. We have seen how the authorities of the time, regardless of the feelings and the habits of the people, and of the nature and capabilities of the Highlands, imposed restrictions which were injudicious, vexatious, and injurious; which not only rendered it impracticable for the legal distiller to engage profitably in honest business, but actually encouraged the illicit distiller. We have seen how, particularly under the operation of the still licence, the legal distiller, in his endeavours to increase production, sacrificed the quality of his spirits, until the illicit distiller commanded the market by supplying whisky superior in quality and flavour. To this fact, more than to anything else, is due the popular prejudice which has existed, and still exists in some quarters, in favour of smuggled whisky. There can be no doubt that while the still licence was in force from 1787 to 1814, and perhaps for some years later, the smugglers' whisky was superior in quality and flavour to that produced by the licensed distiller. But this holds true no longer; indeed, the circumstances are actually reversed. The Highland distiller has now the best appliances, uses the best materials, employs skill and experience, exercises the greatest possible care, and further, matures his spirit in bond-whisky being highly deleterious unless it is matured by age. On the other hand the smuggler uses rude imperfect utensils, very often inferior materials, works by |