Letter: Clear culpability

Peter Smaill (Letters, 17 March) implies that the Clearances commenced in 1843. However, long before this date, fire and faggot raged in the Highland glens, evicting the inhabitants from their native heath.

The origin of the Clearances goes back to at least 1784 when the Duke of Atholl cleared the whole population of Glen Tilt, Perthshire, when he appointed the glen for a deer forest.

Between 1811 and 1820, the Duke of Sutherland evicted 15,000 from Sutherland. The homes they had built themselves were burned to the ground. The last mass evictions were in the early 1900s when Lady Gordon-Cathcart was jamming the holds of emigrant ships with young and old from Uist and Barra, compelling them to seek asylum across the Atlantic.

Lasting for more than a hundred years, the Clearances must be the longest period of ethnic cleansing in the history of Europe. The Clearances were short-sighted, selfish, criminal and unjust, and Scotland is still paying the price for the unrelenting avarice of the anglicised clan chiefs and Highland landlords.

Donald J MacLeod

Woodcroft Avenue

Bridge of Don, Aberdeen

As Peter Smaill writes (Letters, 17 March) Norwegians as well as Scots migrated to North America in considerable numbers in the 19th century.

I have visited Norwegian communities from which that migration came; these communities are still there, active and alive, since it was only some members of the community who left, largely for economic reasons though a sense of adventure may have played a part.

The difference with the Highland Clearances is that entire communities were forced off their land and often their houses were destroyed. In Norway you still find life. In cleared areas of the Scottish Highlands you find ruins where life should be.

David Stevenson

Blacket Place

Edinburgh