Public Opinion, However, Is So Strongly Against Political
Disabilities On Account Of Religious Faith, That With The Aid Of The
Ministry, It Will, No Doubt, Triumph, And We Shall See Another Class Of
Adversaries Of The Establishment Making War Upon It In The House Of
Commons.
Nor will it be at all surprising if, after a little while, we
hear of Jewish barons, earls, and marquises in the House of Peers.
Rothschild himself may become the founder of a noble line, opulent beyond
the proudest of them all.
The protectionist party here are laboring to persuade the people that the
government have committed a great error, in granting such liberal
conditions to the trade of other nations, to the prejudice of British
industry. They do not, however, seem to make much impression on the public
mind. The necessaries of life are obtained at a cheaper rate than
formerly, and that satisfies the people. Peel has been making a speech in
Parliament on the free-trade question, which I often hear referred to as a
very able argument for the free-trade policy. Neither on this question nor
on that of the Jewish disabilities, do the opposition seem to have the
country with them.
Letter LI.
A Visit to the Shetland Isles.
Aberdeen, _July_ 19, 1849.
Two days ago I was in the Orkneys; the day before I was in the Shetland
Isles, the "farthest Thule" of the Romans, where I climbed the Noup of the
Noss, as the famous headland of the island of Noss is called, from which
you look out upon the sea that lies between Shetland and Norway.
From Wick, a considerable fishing town in Caithness, on the northern coast
of Scotland, a steamer, named the Queen, departs once a week, in the
summer months, for Kirkwall, in the Orkneys, and Lerwick, in Shetland. We
went on board of her about ten o'clock on the 14th of July. The herring
fishery had just begun, and the artificial port of Wick, constructed with
massive walls of stone, was crowded with fishing vessels which had
returned that morning from the labors of the night; for in the herring
fishery it is only in the night that the nets are spread and drawn. Many
of the vessels had landed their cargo; in others the fishermen were busily
disengaging the herrings from the black nets and throwing them in heaps;
and now and then a boat later than the rest, was entering from the sea.
The green heights all around the bay were covered with groups of women,
sitting or walking, dressed for the most part in caps and white short
gowns, waiting for the arrival of the boats manned by their husbands and
brothers, or belonging to the families of those who had come to seek
occupation as fishermen. I had seen two or three of the principal streets
of Wick that morning, swarming with strapping fellows, in blue highland
bonnets, with blue jackets and pantaloons, and coarse blue flannel shirts.
A shopkeeper, standing at his door, instructed me who they were.
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