The Withdrawn Book: A Legacy of Controversy
A case of nineteenth-century cancel culture?

This story interprets the withdrawal of a book which was published in 1884, sharing:
A documented speech by Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P to his constitutuents at Inverness on Monday 13th October 1884, upon ‘The State of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, as disclosed in the evidence laid before the crofters commission, &c., &c.; and on other public matters’
Reprinted, with additions and corrections, from the report in The Inverness Courier. 

English & Gaelic versions

The Preface

The following Speech appeared, within a few hours of being spoken, in the columns of the Inverness Courier, and I feel much indebted to that paper for its great exertions. Some errors which necessarily crept in from indistinctness, or too great rapidity in delivery, have been rectified, and for what follows I am responsible.
The present state of the Highlands and Islands is a grave one. The Police Assessment in the County of Inverness, payable by the ratepayers, has risen from an average of £1700 to nearly £5000; and while it is right that the law should be vindicated, I decline resting satisfied there, and insist that the causes for disturbance be removed.  For a very long time the general character of Highlanders has been peaceable, orderly, law-abiding; and if, in the future, that character becomes in any way tarnished, the blame must rest, first, on those whose conduct has brought about such a state of matters, and secondly, on those who, possessing authority, decline or delay to remedy the grievances established.

.....but the question is.....Why?

Discovery Point

High Life Highlands Archives has many documents and resources relating to the Highland Clearances.  Click on the link below to explore some of these.

George Campbell,
8th Duke of Argyll
​(1823-1900)
The 8th Duke of Argyll, mentioned opposite, is a complex and enigmatic figure.  He was a towering figure in Scottish political life and was, like Charles Fraser Mackintosh himself, a Liberal., and he was an almost exact contemporary of Fraser Mackintosh.  He was very directly involved in the introduction and passing of the Scottish Education Act in 1872, making primary education mandatory.  He was a social reformer, but from a position of enormous privilege and with indirect connections to the hated Clearances. He was complex, mutli-facet man.  Learn more about him here 
In the late nineteenth-century, a book containing the impassioned speech of a Highland MP, Fraser-Mackintosh, was withdrawn from circulation. The speech, delivered before a fervent audience in Inverness, struck at the heart of a long-standing grievance—the Highland Clearances. As the pages of the book revealed, it wasn’t just a historical account, but a powerful indictment of those responsible for the mass evictions, including the Duke of Argyll, a prominent figure whose family played a significant role in the dispossession of thousands of Highland crofters.
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For many, Fraser-Mackintosh’s speech was a voice for the voiceless, speaking for the displaced families who had once lived on the rich lands of the Highlands, only to be forced into destitution. He had painted a vivid picture of the clearances, not as a simple matter of estate management, but as a brutal process that left scars on the very fabric of Highland society. The Duke of Argyll, a towering figure in Scottish aristocracy, was implicated by association, even though his involvement in the clearances was indirect. The speech, now bound in print, placed these historical wounds in stark relief, with fresh accusations of neglect and profiteering.

However, it wasn’t just the history that was at stake, it was the future. The book may have been withdrawn on the advice of Counsel not only because of its depiction of the duke, but because it ignited a conversation that many in power wished to suppress. The issues Fraser-Mackintosh raised, like the unequal distribution of land and the long-lasting trauma of the evictions, were highly sensitive. Landowners, already facing increasing public pressure for reform, could have feared that this book could incite further unrest among crofters and fuel the growing calls for land reform.

The speech, and its subsequent documentation in print challenged the status quo, and demanded accountability. The questions that had lingered since the clearances still hung in the air: why should so much land remain in the hands of so few? Why were the Highlanders, with their rich cultural heritage, forced to leave their homes and communities behind?
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The shadow of the Highland Clearances looms large over Scotland to this day. Once seen as a purely historical issue, the events continue to inform contemporary debates about land reform, national identity, and the role of the aristocracy. The book’s withdrawal was likely part of a broader reluctance on the part of many to confront these uncomfortable truths.
Fraser-Mackintosh’s speech, though controversial, struck a nerve because it spoke to something deeper. Though the book was suppressed, the ideas within it live on, shaping conversations about justice and ownership.

The withdrawn book can be accessed in the Charles Fraser-Mackintosh Collection in High Life Highland's Inverness Library, offering the opportunity for ongoing discussions about the struggle between power and the people, a campaign that continues to be contested throughout Scotland.