CLAN SYSTEM BREAKDOWN.

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Some Lairds discovering that their could be more to life than rain, muck and inter-Clan warfare, moved their families to live in the Lowlands or even in England and became absentee landlords. This however meant them moving to a cash economy not the traditional barter and payment in kind. These Lairds were quick to discover that agents and Tacksmen could squeeze much more rent out of the population so swelling their cash reserves. During the Napoleonic wars vast fortunes were made by supply of meat and men to the English Army & Navy. The system of land held for the common good morphed into land OWNED by the laird in order to give him an income and the tenants could like it, or leave.

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This transition happened in Lowland Scotland 2-300 years before it much affected the Highlands, so by the 18th Century their were virtually two countries with two very different ways of doing things. The fertile farming area East of Inverness and extending south towards Aberdeen and including Speyside was atypical for the Highlands, having made this change by the time we are concerned with.

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Back on the land the traditional barter economy was breaking down and even the poorest needed some cash to buy what could not be locally produced, so in addition to working their strips, most had to do some work for payment. Many would work other's land for money, near the coast there was fishing and the new Kelp industry. Inevitably those who could gather a little cash, found it much easier to gather more and so a new class emerged between the Lairds and the tenants. Many of these people would slowly buy or acquire leases to more land. This land was taken out of Runrig and merged into larger more economically viable farms, employing their landless neighbours. In the 18th and 19th Centuries this proceeded much faster under enclosure acts.

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Prior to the 1707 Act Of Union, Scottish Clan Chiefs and Lairds had pretty much been lords of their own domains. Even whilst they still had their own King and Government in Edinburgh, the Highlands were a long way away, over-land transport was slow and very difficult, the sea passage around the North Coast and islands was perilous. The Scottish Kings were happy to let the Clans largely govern themselves under their Lairds, with just a vague nod in the direction of loyalty to the King. The Highlands were so impoverished that there was little point in attempting to get much in the way of taxation, there was little to be had, or so they thought at the time.

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Following the  Act of Union the two nations of Scotland and England had one monarch and in effect one Government. Whilst in theory it was a union of equals, one was very much more equal than the other and, as became almost immediately apparent, England was the bigger partner, very much the richer partner and the Government in Westminster held the whip-hand and the clout.

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​This was around the same time that the more cash based economy was starting to penetrate into the Highlands, this  increase in business on the part of the Lairds did have a downside, in that they came much more to the notice of the English Crown and Parliament. Scottish Lairds wishing to do business in England were welcome, up to a point, so long as they satisfied Westminster's  requirements for taxation. Taxation that needed to be paid in English currency, not in sheep, cattle and oats which was how the Lairds had traditionally received their income.

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