There are several stills in the Island,
and more is made than the inhabitants consume.
The great business of insular policy is now to keep the people in
their own country. As the world has been let in upon them, they
have heard of happier climates, and less arbitrary government; and
if they are disgusted, have emissaries among them ready to offer
them land and houses, as a reward for deserting their Chief and
clan. Many have departed both from the main of Scotland, and from
the Islands; and all that go may be considered as subjects lost to
the British crown; for a nation scattered in the boundless regions
of America resembles rays diverging from a focus. All the rays
remain, but the heat is gone. Their power consisted in their
concentration: when they are dispersed, they have no effect.
It may be thought that they are happier by the change; but they are
not happy as a nation, for they are a nation no longer. As they
contribute not to the prosperity of any community, they must want
that security, that dignity, that happiness, whatever it be, which
a prosperous community throws back upon individuals.
The inhabitants of Col have not yet learned to be weary of their
heath and rocks, but attend their agriculture and their dairies,
without listening to American seducements.
