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Introduction 421
country and seek that subsistence in a distant clime, which they
cannot in their own."4
The social conditions resulting from these economic influences
were deplorable. The land was full of people without employment.
Crime, especially petty theft, was prevalent. A vivid picture of
conditions is given in 1774 by James Hogg, a native of East
Lothian, who rented a farm in Caithness. His relations with his
landlord were satisfactory, but he lost so much property and so
much of his crops through theft that he emigrated to North Caro-lina,
bringing 280 people with him. In reply, probably to an in-quiry
by British officials concerning the cause and scope of emigra-tion
from Scotland, he writes as follows :
5
"S I K,
"In answer to the questions you have sent me, in consequence of
orders from the board of customs, be pleased to know, That I am
forty-four years of age, have a wife, and five children, all under
eight years ; I am a native of East Lothian, but for some years past
have lived at Bolum, in the parish of Reay and county of Caithness,
on a farm belonging to Mr. Innes of Sandside.
"Others, with too much justice, complain of arbitrary and oppres-sive
services, of racked rents, and cruel taskmasters ; but Mr. Innes,
my landlord, did every thing in his power to render my possession
convenient and profitable ; and in order to engage me to stay, offered
me any terms I pleased : and certainly, had my situation in other
respects been agreeable, I should not have been easily prevailed upon,
with so young a family, and at my time of life, to leave my native
country, and expose myself and family to the fatigue and dangers
of a long voyage, in order to settle in an unhealthy climate in the
woods of North Carolina : but by the barbarity of the country where
I lived, I was in a manner forcibly expelled.
"The people in my neighborhood were extremely addicted to theft
and pilfering, the constant attendants of slavery and poverty. I
was fond of improvements in agriculture: I sowed field-turnips, but
they were stolen before they came to perfection : I sowed pease, and
was happy if they left me the straw: my potatoes and carrots suf-fered
in like manner : and, in short, I found it impossible to save any
4 "Philopatrise," in Scots Magazine, January, 1774, p. 64.
5 Scots Magazine, July 1774, pp. 345-346; Letter to Mr. Balfour of Trinabay.
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