It's your Electric Scotland newsletter meaning
the weekend is nearly here :-)
You can view what's new this week on Electric Scotland at
http://www.electricscotland.com/update.html and you can unsubscribe to
this newsletter by clicking on the link at the foot of this newsletter.
See our Calendar of Scottish Events around the world at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/calendar_help.htm
CONTENTS
--------
Electric Scotland News
Scotland on TV
The Flag in the Wind
The Scottish Nation
New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845)
Good Words - Edited by the Rev Norman MacLeod
Clan Information
Poetry and Stories
Book of Scottish Story
History of Ulster
Bonnie Scotland
Reminiscences and Reflections of an Octogenarian Highlander
Sketches of The Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of
Scotland (New Book)
ELECTRIC SCOTLAND NEWS
----------------------
We've made more progress with ScotCards this week. I only just noticed the
watermark on the pictures and have now removed that. Have also added a lot
more pictures and more poems and stories. Have also added a couple more
Scottish Clans to the list. Mind if you have any pictures of clan chiefs,
castes or lands we'd be happy if you shared your pictures with us for that
Scottish Clan section!
I've also got up our old Electric Scotland cards where we use our wee
characters like a Birthday Card from Duncan and Brodies and... where you
then enter your name and any message :-)
You can see our ScotCards at
http://www.scotcards.org/
We've also repaired our ScotSearch site by adding back in the menu bar that
I obviously over wrote while updating the header. Thanks to Steve for
getting that back for us. Our ScotSearch site is at
http://www.scotsearch.org/
And Steve is hoping to get a few new games up for us in time for the
Christmas season so you'll have something to keep you amused :-)
I am pleased to say we have Christina McKelvie MSP taking over from Linda
Fabiani MSP to do a weekly diary for us. You can see her initial entry at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/mckelvie/index.htm
Have also started a new book, "Sketches of The Character, Manners, and
Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland; with details of The Military
Service of The Highland Regiments" by Major-General David Stewart. See below
for more details on this book.
I was over in Toronto for a couple of days this week and attended the
Scottish Studies Foundation meeting where we are in the process of
organising the Tartan DaY Dinner. I was also helping Nola Crewe get familiar
with FrontPage so she can update her web site and when I left she was busy
typing away at a great rate of knots adding tons more information on her
castle which if interested you can read at
http://www.inverie.com
I also hear that two of her daughters are close to launching their own web
sites. Verity is doing a voting site and Torry is doing a wedding site. Once
they are up and running I'll give you the urls so you can see what they are
like :-)
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out
the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's
New" section at the link at the top of this newsletter and pick up poems and
stories sent into us during the week from Donna, Margo, Stan, John and
others.
Scotland on TV
--------------
Visit their site at
http://www.scotlandontv.tv
The Scotland on TV Festive Calendar
We mentioned our Scotland on TV Festive Calendar a couple of weeks ago and
it’s proving extremely popular. It works just like a traditional Advent
calendar, but with this version each day during December you click on a
‘door’ and reveal a special seasonal video.
We’re almost half-way through the month, but if you’ve not had a chance to
take a look ‘behind the doors’ yet, it’s not too late. You can go back and
view the videos from the days which have already passed as well as opening
new ‘doors’ each day for the rest of the month.
So far, we’ve revealed some beautiful scenes, showcasing Scotland at its
wintry best with shoppers, skaters, revellers, Christmas lights and Scottish
landmarks. And it’s not just wonderful pictures; we also have some great
music – carols from Glasgow Cathedral and McCallum Bagpipes – and a reading
of Robert Burns’ Winter Dirge by acclaimed Scottish actor David Anderson. As
well as a Scottish Christmas weather forecast, and memories of Christmases
past.
And it’s only the 14th of December! The calendar takes you all the way up to
Hogmanay with a brand new video every day. We won’t spoil the surprise by
telling you what’s lined up behind the next set of ‘doors’, but the videos
include readings of classic Scottish seasonal poems and texts, more
wonderful festive music, and another weather forecast from stv’s own Sean
Batty. But it’s up to you to discover which doors they’re hiding behind...
Click here to view the calendar
http://www.scotlandontv.tv/scotland_on_tv/Calendar.html
And don’t forget to open a new ‘door’ every day in December.
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks Flag is compiled by Donald Bain and he shows us how the people of
Scotland are responding to the new SNP Government.
In Peter's cultural section he tells us...
Have we got too used to just walking into a supermarket and eating food from
all over the world? A group in Fife think so and have set up an organisation
Fife Diet to encourage people to eat local produce. Think Global Eat Local
is their motto. The recently set up group hope to change eating habits
through the eating of fresh local products and cutting down the large
importation of food from all over the world. They point out the effect of
transportation, particularly air freight, on the environment and the food
itself. They note that the further food has to be transported results in
vital vitamins being lost and a decline in nutritional values. The Fife Diet
group look back to the days when people mainly ate local produce. They aim
to bring together folk who want to eat local food and thus boost the local
economy and promote local producers. The Kingdom of Fife is a great place to
celebrate the diversity of local food from both land and sea. The growing
number of local Farmers’ Markets, all over Scotland, shows the potential for
groups such as Fife Diet. In the modern world every organisation appears to
have a website and Fife Diet is no exception – visit
http://www.fifediet.wordpress.com for further details (the feedback on
eating local is fascinating) and links to a variety of Fife food producers
with a wide range of produce. These include Fletchers of Auchtermuchty who
are able to provide the basic ingredient for this week’s recipe – venison.
Simmered Venison with Walnuts and Pomegranate would make a splendid
alternative to turkey for your Yule Denner.
Simmered Venison with Walnuts and Pomegranate
Ingredients: 900g (2 lb) diced venison haunch or shoulder; 600ml (1 pt)
venison or other stock; 1 onion; 150g (5 oz) freshly shelled walnuts; 1
litre pomegranate juice (or 2-3 tablespoons tart jelly); juice of 1 lemon
(optional)
Method: If using pomegranate juice, put it in a wide pan and boil it down
until only 3 or 4 tablespoons of syrup remain. It will be reduced by the
time the meat has cooked. Chop the walnuts into small crumbs. Fry them
gently in a teaspoon of oil, stirring for about fifteen minutes until they
darken, then draw them off the heat. Fry the onion in oil till golden brown,
then add the neat and brown that too. Add just enough stock to cover the
meat, cover, and simmer gently for 30 minutes, topping up with stock if
necessary. Then stir in the pomegranate paste (or jelly) and continue to
simmer until the meat is tender (about another 30-45 minutes, longer for
shoulder). Season with salt and pepper, adding lemon juice if necessary to
increase the note of tartness. Serve with steamed spinach and plain or
saffron rice.
You can read the Flag, listen to the Scots Language, enjoy the Scots Wit and
lots more at
http://www.scotsindependent.org
The Scottish Nation
-------------------
My thanks to Lora for transcribing these volumes for us.
We are now onto the L's with Loudon, Loudoun, Lovat and Love
Here is how the interesting account of Loudon starts where "noticing the
inferior state of farming in England, compared to that in Scotland"...
LOUDON, JOHN CLAUDIUS, an eminent writer on gardening and agriculture, the
son of a farmer at Kerse Hall, Gogar, near Edinburgh, was born 8th April
1783, at Cambuslang in Lanarkshire, where resided his maternal aunt, the
mother of the Rev. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, celebrated for his philanthropic
labours in India. He received his education at Edinburgh, and early evinced
a decided taste for drawing and sketching scenery. This, with a fondness
which he also showed for gardening, induced his father to bring him up as a
landscape gardener. To give him a knowledge of plants he was placed, for
some months, with Mr. Dickson, a nurseryman in Leith Walk. At this time he
acquired the habit of sitting up two nights a-week to study, and this
practice he continued for many years, drinking strong green tea, to keep
himself awake. Besides learning Latin, he also acquired French and Italian,
and paid his teachers out of the profits of translations from these
languages, which he sold to the booksellers. The first of these was a life
of Abelard, from the French, which he had made as an exercise, and which he
sent to a periodical then publishing, called Sharton’s Encyclopaedia. He
also attended the classes of botany, chemistry, and agriculture in the
university of Edinburgh. The vacations he spent at home, working beside his
father’s labourers in the fields, with such vigour that it was a common
saying among them that they were all shamed by the young master.
In 1803, Mr. Loudon went to London, carrying with him numerous letters of
introduction to noblemen and gentlemen, and soon found ample employment as a
landscape gardener. In a journal which he kept in his early years, he
remarks at this time, “I am now twenty years of age, and perhaps a third
part of my life has passed away, and yet what have I done to benefit my
fellow-men?” He now learnt German, and for a pamphlet, which he had
translated by way of exercise from that language, he received from Mr.
Cadell the publisher £15. To the Literary Journal he contributed at this
period a paper entitled ‘Observations on laying out the Public Squares of
London,’ which led to their being adorned with some of the lighter trees,
such as, the oriental plane, the sycamore, and the almond, instead of yews,
pines, and other heavy plants, as had been the custom previously. In 1804,
he returned to Scotland, but went back to England the following year.
In 1806 he was attacked with rheumatic fever, and being much debilitated, he
took lodgings at Pinner near Harrow. There he had an opportunity of noticing
the inferior state of farming in England, compared to that in Scotland, and
on his recovery, with the view of introducing improvements, and showing the
advantage of the Scottish system of agriculture, in conjunction with his
father, he took a farm near London, called Wood Hall. A pamphlet, which he
published in 1807, entitled ‘An Immediate and Effectual Mode of Raising the
Rental of Landed Property in England,’ was the means of his introduction to
General Stratton, the owner of Tew Park in Oxfordshire, and in 1809 he went
there as tenant of a large farm on his estate. Here he established a sort of
agricultural college, in which young men were instructed in the principles
of farming. He was so successful that in 1812 he found himself worth
£15,000. In 1813 he determined to travel for a time on the continent, which
was then thrown open to the English, and, giving up his farm, he proceeded,
in March of that year, to Sweden, and afterwards went to Russia, Poland, and
Germany, visiting the principal cities of the countries through which he
passed. A journal which he kept during the whole time of his absence he
illustrated with spirited sketches of the various places he saw, most of
which were afterwards engraved on wood, for the historical part of his
‘Encyclopaedia of Gardening.’ Some of his adventures were remarkable. Once,
while making a drawing of a picturesque old fort in Russia, he was arrested
as a spy, and on his examination before a magistrate, he was very much
amused at hearing his note-book, full of unconnected memoranda, translated
into Russ. Another time, between St. Petersburg and Moscow, the horses in
his carriage being unable to drag it through a snowdrift, the postilions
very coolly unharnessed them, and trotted off, telling him that they would
bring fresh horses in the morning, and that he would be in no danger from
the wolves if he would keep the windows of the carriage close and the
leathern curtains down. On all subsequent occasions of travelling, when he
met with difficulties, he was accustomed to say that they were nothing
compared to what he had suffered during the night he passed in the steppes
of Russia.
You can read the rest of this account at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/lochnaw.htm
You can read the other entries at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nation/index.htm
New Statistical Account of Scotland (1845)
------------------------------------------
The first volume I am dealing with is the one on Aberdeenshire. There are
some 85 parishes in this volume and a write up on each.
This week have added...
Parish of Oyne at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/oyne.htm
Parish of Midmar at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/midmar.htm
Here is some information on the Parish of Oyne...
Name.—The name of this parish is, in some old papers, written Oyen, but now
generally Oyne, and is pronounced Een. Its origin is doubtful, but it is
thought by some to be derived from the same Celtic word as Inch, and to
denote a place having a resemblance to an island or a peninsula, an opinion
which is very plausible, as the parish is bounded by the river Don on the
southern side, and in the northern part alone has three fresh water streams
which mark its boundaries, namely, the Shevock, dividing it from Insch on
the north-west; the Ury, separating it from Rayne on the north; and the
smaller stream Gady, running from the west, and falling into Ury at the
eastern extremity, where Chapel of Garioch begins; and these general
features of the peninsula are distinctly seen from Ardoyne, which signifies
the top or height of Oyne, and is the highest ground in the northern section
of the parish.
Eminent Men.—Among persons of eminence connected with the parish may be
mentioned John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who had been educated in France, and
was made priest of Oyne, and an official of the diocese of Aberdeen about
the middle of the sixteenth century; but in 1565, he was promoted to the
bishoprick of Ross, and became the friend and counsellor of Queen Mary, and
continued so during her long imprisonment and last trials. This John Leslie
appears to have been a natural son of the minister of Kingussie, who was
himself an illegitimate descendant of the Leslies of Bal-quhaine, an ancient
and powerful family in this district; so that the epithet of "Priest's
brat," given by John Knox to the Bishop of Ross, though harsh was not
unjust. Sir John Runciman was also one of the Priests of Oyne, and an
official of the diocese, being "Rome raiker," or messenger to Rome. And that
the Pro-testant established church may not appear altogether isolated from
the honourable families in the land, it may be added that Mr Alexander
Turing, who was minister at Oyne from 1729 to 1782, had a hereditary claim
to the baronetcy of Turing of Foveran, a title which was claimed and enjoyed
by his son, Sir Robert Turing, Baronet, who died at Banff Castle within the
last ten years; and which has fallen to his cousin, Sir James Turing in
Rotterdam.
You can read the rest of this account at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/oyne.htm
On the index page of this volume you can see a list of the 85 parishes and
also a map at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/statistical/volume12.htm
Good Words - 1860 Edition
-------------------------
Edited by Rev. Norman MacLeod
You should note that as this is a weekly publication you'll find larger
articles are continued week by week.
This week have added articles on...
"Sorrowing, Yet Rejoicing" (Page 232)
Lady Sommerville's Maidens (Pages 233-237)
On Messianic Prophecy (Pages 237-239)
Good Words for Every Day in the Year (Pages 239-240)
A Journey by Sinai to Syria (Pages 241-244)
On Messianic Prophecy (Pages 244-246)
Here is a little from "Good Words for Every Day of the Year"...
April 14.
"Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and
go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do,"—Acts ix. 6.
If we are indeed sincere in asking this most important question, God will
not leave us unanswered, though, perhaps, He may not at once reveal His will
concerning us, but may give us, as a test of obedience, some duty to perform
as simple as that which He gave first of all to the newly-awakened Saul of
Tarsus—"Arise, and go into the city." How apt are we to think that we must
do some great thing for Christ, while, perhaps, we are neglecting some very
obvious though lowly duty which lies close to our feet. Again, how ready are
we to look at our neighbours, and think what would be the right thing for
them to do, instead of saying, " "What wilt thou have me to do?" Truly,
there would be fewer doubts about the way if there were more sincerity in
asking and following it; and there would be fewer falls in the Christian's
journey if he would be content to perform it step by step, the nearest duty
first, and all for the Lord's sake, so as to make of each in its turn a
practical answer to the question here asked.
"Oh, that I were an orange tree,
That busie plant!
Then should I ever laden be,
And never want
Some fruit for Him that dressed me!"
April 15.
"And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith
unto them, Peace be unto you."—Luke xxiv. 36.
What a blessed salutation! Peace from Him who alone can give it. Peace
purchased by Him with His own blood. Peace for time and for eternity. What a
depth of peace lies in these words! He had won the victory; the agony, the
bitter cross, the dark, cold grave were all behind Him now. He had risen and
conquered, and the first pledge of His triumph bestowed on His Church lay in
His first greeting, "Peace!" Yes, those whose sins are nailed to the cross,
who have died with Him unto sin, have peace; a peace that the world knows
not of, and can neither give nor take away. O Jesus, cause me to hear Thy
peace-speaking voice! Suffer me not to disregard its gentle accents amidst
the turmoil of this world's vanities. Enable me to meditate on Thy peace,
and on all that Thou hast done to bestow it; and may my whole soul expand
with love to Thee, who hast so loved our guilty world as to make thine own
self an offering, that we might possess peace with God.
"Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the Cross I spend,
Life and death and peace possessing,
From the sinner's dying Friend."
You can read the rest of this account at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/goodwords/goodwords121.htm
You can read the other articles at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/goodwords/index.htm
Clan Information
----------------
Added the Samhain 2007 newsletter for Clan Gregor at
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/newsletters/gregor/Samhain_Autumn_2007-Online.pdf
Poetry and Stories
------------------
Donna sent in a short story, Kitty Litter in an Ice Storm at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/donna/children/story8.htm
John sent in a doggerel, Hale an Fere - [Healthy] at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerel238.htm
And also a poem, Kelty Clippie, at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/kelty_clippy.htm
John also sent in Chapter 65 of his Recounting Blessings at
http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/blessings.htm
Stan sent in information on the King Edward War Memorial which we've added
to our historic Grampian page at
http://www.electricscotland.com/historic/grampian.html
Book of Scottish Story
----------------------
Kindly sent in to us by John Henderson
The Book of Scottish Story - Historical, Humorous, Legendary, Imaginative
by Standard Scottish Writers Published by Thomas D. Morison, 1896
This week we have...
A Tale of Pentland
by James Hogg
Here is how it starts...
Mr JOHN HALIDAY having been in hiding on the hills, after the battle of
Pentland, became impatient to hear news concerning the sufferings of his
brethren who had been in arms; and in particular, if there were any troops
scouring the district in which he had found shelter. Accordingly, he left
his hiding-place in the evening, and travelled towards the valley until
about midnight, when, coming to the house of Gabriel Johnstone, and
perceiving a light, he determined on entering, as he knew him to be a devout
man, and one much concerned about the sufferings of the Church of Scotland.
Mr Haliday, however, approached the house with great caution, for he rather
wondered why there should be a light there at midnight, while at the same
time he neither heard psalms singing nor the accents of prayer. So, casting
off his heavy shoes, for fear of making a noise, he stole softly up to the
little window from whence the light beamed, and peeped in, where he saw, not
Johnstone, but another man, whom he did not know, in the very act of cutting
a soldier's throat, while Johnstone's daughter, a comely girl, about twenty
years of age, was standing deliberately by, and holding the candle to him.
Haliday was seized with an inexpressible terror; for the floor was all
blood, and the man was struggling in the agonies of death, and from his
dress he appeared to have been a cavalier of some distinction. So completely
was the Covenanter overcome with horror, that he turned and fled from the
house with all his might. So much had Haliday been confounded that he even
forgot to lift his shoes, but fled without them; and he had not run above
half a bowshot before he came upon two men hastening to the house of Gabriel
Johnstone. As soon as they perceived him running towards them they fled, and
he pursued them; for when he saw them so ready to take alarm, he was sure
they were some of the persecuted race, and tried eagerly to overtake them,
exerting his utmost speed, and calling on them to stop. All this only made
them run faster; and when they came to a feal-dyke they separated, and ran
different ways, and he soon thereafter lost sight of them both.
You can read the rest of this story at
http://www.electricscotland.com/books/story/story25.htm
The index page of the book where you can read the other stories is at
http://www.electricscotland.com/books/story/index.htm
The History of Ulster
------------------------------
From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Ramsay Colles (1919)
This week we continue Volume II with
The Progress of the Plantation
A Precedent for Parliaments
The Romanists Remonstrate
Tyrone and Tirconnell Attainted
Here is how the chapter "The Progress of the Plantation" starts...
King James was by nature a very suspicious person. He trusted no one, and
one of his favourite devices for his own protection was (on the principle
offset a thief to catch a thief") to supplement the work of a commissioner
who believed himself to be in supreme command by that of another who, as
specially commissioned, was to overlook and report upon the work of the
first. Not satisfied with Chichester's guidance in the settlement of Ulster,
nor pleased with the progress made, which, if slow, was sure and steady, the
King now (1611) sent over Lord Carew, formerly Sir George Carew, President
of Munster (a position from which he had retired) to report on matters
generally, but chiefly on the question of how to make Ireland
self-supporting. He was also specially instructed to discover how His
Majesty may without breach of justice make use of the notorious omissions
and forfeitures made by the undertakers of Munster, for supply of some such
portion of land as may be necessary for transplanting the natives of Ulster.
This was with the view of making further provision for the native Irish.
Carew in his diary gives us a graphic account of this journey undertaken by
command of the King. Accompanied by the Lord Deputy, Sir Thomas Ridgeway
(afterwards Earl of Londonderry), Sir Richard Wingfield, and Sir Oliver
Lambert, he started from Dublin on his mission on the 30th of July. The
difficulties and dangers of the undertaking were greatly increased by a
countryside flooded by three weeks' constant rainfall which swept away old
landmarks, and made travelling perilous as well as irksome. Few of the
rivers were fordable, and in crossing one Carew himself nearly lost his
life.
The special commissioner found that the work, like all work done on a very
large scale, and for which there had scarcely been a precedent (unless the
work attempted, but not accomplished, in Munster could be deemed such), was
being done imperfectly. Many were still on the land from which, in theory,
they were supposed to have removed months before. There still lingered in
the air rumours of Tyrone's possible return, and, as time passed without any
reappearance of the Earl, vague whisperings announced the advent of 10,000
men from Spain, "armed with the Pope's indulgences and excommunications".
Carew found that, as of yore, the English settlers who had been long on the
land joined hands with the Irish, and both alike resented the intrusion of
the new-comers. The strange and unaccountable sentiment which, even in the
days of the Norman invasion, led to the proud knight sinking his noble
patronymic, and in exchanging it for a barbarous equivalent to become more
Irish than the Irish themselves had led to the older settlers acknowledging
a common bond with their Irish neighbours, and adopting the same attitude of
resentment towards, if not actual hostility to, the intruders who disturbed
their peace. "For this cause," and the cause of religion, said Carew, "in
odium tertni the slaughters and rivers of blood shed between them is
forgotten and the intrusions made by themselves or their ancestors on either
part for title of land is remitted."
The new settlers on their side had had much to contend with, apart from the
uphill work of eking out a livelihood. Their experiences were not unlike
those of a pale-face who elects to live among red-Indians. An undertaker had
not alone to till a neglected land, but he had to build under the strange
conditions of those who, we are told, rebuilt Jerusalem, with the sword in
one hand and the trowel in the other, for at any moment he might be called
upon to contend with the cruel wood-kerne, the devouring wolf, and other
suspicious Irish". Even Sir Toby Caulfeild, he who was deputed to
cross-examine Lady Tyrone in private on her husband's attitude towards the
Government, was no better off than his fellow-settlers, but had, himself, to
secure his cattle at night, driving them in at nightfall but notwithstanding
this precaution, do he and his what they can, the wolf and the wood-kerne,
within caliver shot of his fort, had often times a share".
One such early settler under the plantation scheme was of opinion that
active measures should be taken by those in possession against the common
enemy, and by concerted effort he held that much might be done to
exterminate the offenders against law and order. He proposed that one day a
week should be devoted to an organized hunt made by the inhabitants of, say,
Coleraine, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Lifford, and Omagh, who, joining their
forces, should also concentrate their efforts to discover the hiding-places
of two-footed as well as quadrupedal foes, and no doubt it will be a
pleasant hunt and much prey will fall to the followers. The wolf by such
means might be exterminated, and "those good fellows in trowzes", the
creaghts, be persuaded that the wiser course was to turn a deaf ear to
revolutionary counsels, and no longer harbour the plundering wood-kerne.
Such were the conditions under which the new-comers lived. The natives were,
however, in a worse plight. Numerically they preponderated, but in pride of
possession they were sadly inferior. Chichester, whatever his faults may
have been, was not lacking in consideration for the natives when the
plantation scheme was first promulgated. His experience as Governor of
Carrickfergus made him well acquainted with the conditions of life and
sentiment in Ulster, and he urged that the land should be parcelled out
first to the Irish, who should get all they required, and, their wants and
wishes being satisfied, the residue should be planted. Had his scheme been
carried out, widespread disaffection and misery might have been avoided. As
it was, the condition of the Irish of all social conditions was deplorable.
They were not alone made, in modern parlance, to take a back seat, and
thereby treated with great indignity, which to the susceptible Irish is
almost worse than death, but they were deprived of their very means of
subsistence, the land, which they had the sorrow to see transferred to
strangers who had come in to lord it over them. It is not to be wondered at
that gentleman and kerne alike bitterly resented the new order of things and
never ceased to cherish blind wild hopes of being able to grasp this sorry
scheme of things, shatter it to bits, and then remould it nearer to the
heart's desire.
You can read the rest of this chapter at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ulster/vol2chap25.htm
The rest of the chapters can be read at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/ulster/
Bonnie Scotland
---------------
Painted by Sutton Palmer, Described by A R Hope Moncrieff (1904)
Have now completed this book with...
The Whig Country
Galloway
Here is how the account of "Galloway" starts...
The Whig country included Galloway, that rough southwestern corner that
stretches its Mull towards Ireland in what Boece calls "ane great snout of
crags." The whole promontory formed by the stewartry of Kirkcudbright and
the county of Wigtown, once known as Upper and Lower Galloway, and then
taking in parts of Ayr and Dumfries, seems to concentrate many of the
qualities of Scotland, Land und Leute. This northern Cornwall lent itself of
old as a scene for dark romance, whose combats glitter here and there
through deepest mists of history. Its Attacott people, Picts or what not,
mixed with Scots from Ireland and Gaels from who knows where, run to dark
hair and the tallest forms of Britain, perhaps even of Europe, while their
character is a blend of especially perfervid spirit. Though this corner was
the first foothold of Christianity on the mainland, it long remained notable
for untamed fierceness, like that of the northern mountain cats. So near
England, it came to glow with a patriotism more fervent than its loyalty;
and some of the doughtiest exploits of Wallace and Bruce were done upon its
borders, not always indeed with the help of the Galwegians. Mr. S. R.
Crockett, who in a generation too forgetful of Guy Mannering has come
forward to give Galloway its fair share of fame, tells us how most of its
gentry, as well as its long-limbed and hot-hearted peasants, threw
themselves into the Covenant struggle, their "Praying Societies" throughout
making camps of resistance and protest against the persecutors; and in
quieter times the same enthusiasm has flared up into will-o'-the-wisp
fanaticism bred among the moss hags. Later on, as we know from Scott, the
wild coasts of Galloway reared a daring breed of smugglers to testify for
what they called "fair trade" with the Isle of Man. That trans-atlanticised
firebrand, Paul Jones, hailed from Galloway, to which he came back to
threaten the mouth of his native Dee.
Whatever this people's hand finds to do, it has been apt to do it with might
and main. What it chiefly finds to do in our day is the rearing of cattle,
that seem to thrive best on the promontories of our island ; then also
Galloway has given its name to a hardy horseflesh, and pigs, too, are
largely reared in this region. Such an authority as the author of Field and
Fern judges no beef better than that which matches the brawn of Galloway
men. And these tall fellows have the name of living to a good old age, as
witness the Galloway story of a man of threescore and ten found "greeting"
when his father had given him "his licks" for throwing stones at his
grandfather.
You can read the rest of this account and enjoy the landscape paintings at
http://www.electricscotland.com/art/bonnie/bonnie12.htm
You can read the rest of the chapters at
http://www.electricscotland.com/art/bonnie/index.htm
Reminiscences and Reflections of an Octogenarian Highlander
-----------------------------------------------------------
By Duncan Campbell (1910)
This week we've added the following chapters...
Chapter XII.
Social Life and Morals
Chapter XIII.
The Highland Landlords
Chapter XIV.
Francie Mor Mac an Aba
Chapter XV.
Disappearance of Old Landed Families Much Regretted
Chapter XVI.
Patriotism and Politic
Chapter XVII.
The Breadalbane Evictions
Chapter XVIII.
The Parting of the Ways
Here is the chapter on "The Breadalbane Evictions"...
As second Marquis, "the son of his father," contrary to all
prognostications, became, as soon as expiring leases permitted it, an
evicting landlord on a large scale, and he continued to pursue the policy of
joining farm to farm, and turning out native people, to the end of his
twenty-eight years' reign. But like the first spout of the haggis, his first
spout of evicting energy was the hottest. I saw with childish sorrow,
impotent wrath, and awful wonder at man's inhumanity to man, the harsh and
sweep- ing Roro and Morenish clearances, and heard much talk about others
which were said to be as bad if not worse. A comparison of the census
returns for 1831 with those of 1861 will show how the second Marquis reduced
the rural population on his large estates, while the inhabitants of certain
villages were allowed, or, as at Aberfeldy, encouraged to increase. When
such a loud and long-continued outcry took place about the Sutherland
clearances, it seems at first sight strange that such small notice was taken
by the Press, authors, and contemporary politicians, of the Breadalbaue
evictions, and that the only set attack on the Marquis should have been left
to the vainglorious, blundering, Dunkeld coal-merchant, who added the
chief-like word "Dunalastair" to his designation. One reason perchance the
chief one for the Marquis's immunity was the prominent manner in which he
associated himself with the Nonintrusionists, and his subsequently becoming
an elder and a liberal benefactor of the Free Church. He had a Presbyterian
upbringing, and lived in accordance with that upbringing. His Free Church
zeal may therefore have been as genuine as he wished it to be believed; but
whether simply real or partly simulated, it covered as with a saintly cloak
his eviction proceedings in the eyes of those who would have been his loud
denouncers and scourging critics had he been an Episcopalian or remained in
the Church of Scotland. The people he evicted, and all of them, young and
old, who were witnesses of the clearances, could not give him much credit
for any good in what seemed to us the purely hard and commercial spirit of
the policy which he carried out as the owner of a princely Highland
property. Such of the witnesses of the clearances as have lived to see the
present desolation of rural baronies on the Breadalbane estates can now
charitably assume that had he foreseen what his land-management policy was
to lead up to, he would, at least, have gone about his thinning out business
in a more cautious, kindly, and considerate manner, and not rudely cut, as
he did, the precious ties of hereditary mutual sympathy and reliance which
had long existed between the lords and the native Highland people of
Breadalbane.
It is quite true that in 1834 the population on the Breadalbane estate
needed thinning. The old Marquis had made a great mistake in dividing
holdings which were too small before, in order to make room for Fencible
soldiers who were not, as eldest sons, heirs to existing holdings. In twenty
years congestion to an alarming extent was the natural result of the old
man's mistaken kindness.
There was indeed a good deal of congestion before that mistake was
committed, although migration and emigration helped to keep it within some
limits. Emigration would have proceeded briskly from 1760 onwards had it not
been discouraged by landlords who found the fighting manhood on their
estates a valuable asset; and when not positively prohibited, emigration was
impeded in various ways by the Government, now alive to the value of
Highlands and Isles as a nursery of soldiers and sailors. Although
discouraged and impeded, emigration was never wholly stopped, and after
Waterloo, Glenylon, Fortingall and Breadalbane, Rannoch, Strathearn and
Balquidder, sent off swarms to Canada, the United States, and the West
Indies. A large swarm from Breadalbane, Lochearnhead, and Balquidder went
off to Nova Scotia about 1828, and got Gaelic-speaking ministers to follow
them. In 1829 a great number of Skyemen from Lord Maconald's estate went to
Cape Breton, where Gaelic is the language of the people, pulpit, and the "Mactalla"
newspaper to this day. The second Marquis of Breadalbane would have won for
himself lasting glory and honour, and done his race and country valuable
service, if he had chosen to place himself at the head of an emigration
scheme for his surplus people, instead of merely driving them away, and
further trampling on their feelings by letting the big farms he made by
clearing out the native population to strangers in race, language, and
sympathies. He was rich, childless, and gifted, and he utterly missed his
vocation, or grand chance for gaining lasting fame among the children of the
Gael.
At a later period of my life than this of which I am now writing, I looked
into many kirk-session books, and found that those of the parishes of
Kenmore and Killin indicated a worse state of matters in Breadalbane than
existed in any of the neighbouring parishes. Pauperism was increasing at a
rapid rate, although it was a notorious fact that rents there were lower
than on other Highland estates. The old Marquis was never a rack-renter.
Other proprietors, when leases terminated, took more advantage than he did
of a chance to raise rents, and when once raised they strove ever afterwards
to keep them up. But I do not wonder that his son thought that if things
were allowed to go on as he found them on succeeding to titles and estates,
a general bankruptcy would soon be the result. Without ceasing to regret and
detest his methods, I learned to see the reasonableness of the second
Marquis's view of the alarming situation. The population had simply outgrown
the means of decent subsistence from the carefully cultivated small holdings
which were the general rule. Had it not been for the frugality and self-
helpfulness of the people, the crisis of general poverty would have come
when the inflated war prices ceased, or at least in the short-crop year of
1826, when the corn raised in Breadalbane, although the hillsides were
cultivated as far up as any cereal crop could be expected to ripen in the
most favourable season, did not supply meal enough for two-thirds of the
people. But the "calanas" of the women, especially as long as flax-spinning
continued in a flourishing condition, brought in a good deal of money; and
for many years "Calum a Mhuilin" (Calum of the Mill), otherwise Malcolm
Campbell, road contractor, Killin, led out a host of young men to make roads
in various parts of the country, and these returned with their earnings to
spend the winter at home. These sources of profit were beginning to dry up
when the old Marquis died.
What came of the dispersed? The least adventurous or poorest of them slipped
away into the nearest manufacturing town, or mining districts where there
was a demand for unskilled labourers. There some of them flourished, but not
a few of them foundered. The larger portion of them emigrated to Canada,
mainly to the London district of Ontario, where they cleared forest farms,
cherished their Gaelic language and traditions, prospered, and hated the
Marquis more, perhaps, than he rightly deserved when things were looked at
from his own hard political-economy point of view.
The other chapters added so far can be read at the index page of the book at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/octogenarian/index.htm
Sketches of The Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of
Scotland
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Major-General David Stewart (1822)
This is a 2 volume publication and is extensively quoted from on many web
sites and so I am pleased to bring you this publication and hope you enjoy
the read.
In his Preface the author states...
After the conclusion of the late war, his Royal Highness the
Commander-in-Chief directed that the Forty-second should draw up a record of
its services, and enter it in the regimental books, for the information of
those who should afterwards belong to the corps. As none of the officers who
had served previously to the loss of the records in 1794 were then in the
regiment, some difficulty arose in drawing up the required statement of
service; indeed, to do so correctly was found impossible, as, for a period
of fifty-four years previous to 1793, the materials were very defective. In
this situation, the commanding officer, in the year 1817, requested me to
supply him with a few notices on the subject. After some hesitation and
delay, I commenced; but merely with the intention of noting down as much as
would cover about thirty or forty pages of the record book. I did not,
indeed, expect that my knowledge of the subject would enable me to extend my
statement to greater length, especially as I had kept no journal, and had
never even been in the habit of taking any notes or memorandums of what I
had heard or seen: but as I proceeded, I found that I knew more, and had a
better recollection of circumstances, than I was previously aware of,
although, in the multiplicity of facts I have had to state, some
inaccuracies may afterwards be discovered. I had, indeed, possessed
considerable advantages.
Several old officers of great intelligence belonged to the regiment when I
joined it. One of these had not been a week absent from the day he entered
in the year 1755. His wife, too, who was a widow when he married her, had
joined the regiment with her first husband in the year 1744, and had been
equally close in her attendance, except in cases where the presence of
females was not allowed. She had a clear recollection of much that she had
seen and heard, and related many stories and anecdotes with the animated and
distinct recitation of the Highland senachies.
Another officer, of great judgment, and of a most accurate and retentive
memory, had joined the regiment in the year 1766; and a third in 1769. I had
also the advantage of being acquainted with several Highland gentlemen who
had served as private soldiers in the regiment when first organized. The
information I received from these different sources, together with that
which I otherwise acquired, led me on almost insensibly till the narrative
extended to such length, that I had some difficulty in compressing the
materials into their present size. It then struck me, that I could, without
much difficulty, give similar details of the service of the other Highland
regiments.
In the course of this second investigation, I met in all of them much of the
same character and principles. The coincidence was indeed striking, and
proved that this similarity of conduct and character must have had some
common origin, to discover the nature of which appeared an object worthy of
inquiry. The closest investigation only confirmed the opinion I had before
entertained, that the strongly marked difference between the manners and
conduct of the mountain clans and those of the Lowlanders, and of every
other known country, originated in the patriarchal form of government, which
differed so widely from the feudal system of other countries. I, therefore,
attempted to give a sketch of those manners and institutions by which this
distinct character was formed; and, having delineated a hasty outline of the
past state of manners and character, the transition to the changes that had
been produced, and the present condition of the same people, was obvious and
natural. Hence I have been led on, step by step, from one attempt to
another, till the whole attained its present form.
So far I have added...
Section 1
Geographical Situation and Extent of the Highlands—Celtic Kingdom
Section 2
System of Clanship—Patriarchal Sway of the Chiefs—Consequences of this
System—Effects of the want of Laws, and of constant agitation and alarms on
the Character of the People
Section 3
Devoted Obedience of the Clans—Spirit of Independence—Fidelity
Section 4
Arms—Warlike Array
You can read this book at
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/sketches/highlandsketchesndx.htm
And that's all for now and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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