|
PREFACE
IT is the object of these
volumes to follow the course of Scottish history from the time when
Scotland was divided from its southern neighbour by well-defined lines
of demarcation, alike in religion, in politics, in tradition, and in
social habit when, indeed, the points of contact were but few and
unimportant down to the period when the Scottish nation, while
preserving some valuable and durable national characteristics, became,
as regards all its main interests and in the main current of its
history, absorbed in one stream with that southern neighbour, with whom
it has now formed a partnership so close as to share a common life, and,
in the eyes of Europe, to be almost identical. The history of Scotland
down to the Jacobite rising of 1745 has been treated very fully in
previous works. But in those works the first half of the eighteenth
century has been dealt with chiefly as the concluding chapter of her
national history not as it affected the period which was to follow. It
has therefore been found necessary in these volumes to recapitulate
shortly the leading events of that half century, as opening the new
chapter in Scottish history which began with the Revolution and the Act
of Union episodes, indeed, complementary to one another. From that point
Scotland began to shape a new phase in her national life.
As the plan of the present work is to give a chronological narrative of
the leading historical events down to the middle of the nineteenth
century, it has been necessary to include in it an account of the rising
of 1745. But as that dramatic and romantic episode has formed the
subject of many detailed narratives, and as the personal history of many
of the chief actors has been fully told, the present account of it has
been confined to the main events, which alone may be held to come within
the history of the nation as a whole.
From 1745 onwards the history of Scotland has hitherto been treated for
the most part only as subsidiary to the history of the Empire, and as
forming a subordinate chapter in the history of England. Besides this we
have, as illustrating Scottish life, a large and most interesting series
of memoirs, of accounts of social traits, of pictures of manners, and of
contemporary reminiscences. The history of the great ecclesiastical
struggle, which culminated in 1843, has been treated as an episode
apart, and not as a phase of national history, with its origin in the
past and with its permanent influence on national character. The object
of these volumes is to give a chronological narrative of all the
principal incidents political, ecclesiastical, and legislative, as well
as literary, social, and commercial which form the history of Scotland
throughout a very momentous century, in the course of which the
character of her permanent contribution to the common life of the Empire
was chiefly shaped.
H. C.
January 1901.
It finishes with..
We have thus followed the
history of Scotland from the period when she was first joined by
legislative union with England, and when there still lay before her the
last struggle of a decayed system against the forces of modern
constitutionalism, down to a period within the memory of those now
living. We have seen how, if much of the stress and strain which she had
to endure was the inheritance of her own stormy history, it was also, in
no small degree, the result of the heedless injustice, the careless
apathy, and the purblind neglect of successive English governments. We
have seen how, out of varied and often antagonistic elements, she
managed to form and to preserve a very strong and vivid sense of
nationality, which was not lessened, but distinctly increased and
fostered, by the Jacobite movement—a movement which became stronger in
Scotland just as it faded away in England. We have seen how she provoked
the jealousy of, and met with indifference and contempt an almost insane
outburst of abuse from, her southern neighbour. We have seen how,
preserving much that was most picturesque and romantic in her national
traditions, she shook herself free from the trammels and bondage of
mediaevalism, and achieved notable results in thought and literature,
which gave her a proud place not only in the Empire, but abroad. We have
seen how she helped to consolidate and strengthen the Empire, and how
she bore her part in the most critical struggle which that Empire has
yet seen. We have seen how her enterprise developed and how she became
absorbed in the eager competition for wealth. We have watched how the
older and more exclusive forces gradually grew more weak, and how
Scotland took her part in the great Reform movements which changed the
face of society.
We have seen a new class gaining political supremacy, and holding with a
tenacity distinctive of the nation to the new opinions which they had
come to form, and clinging to them as sternly as to a religion or an
ethical code. We have seen how these convictions were clinched by the
fierceness of a great ecclesiastical struggle, the bitter memories of
which very slowly passed away. During that struggle a close alliance was
struck between religious opinions which were opposed to the dominant
latitudinarianism of the previous century, and the middle class which
had thriven on commercial prosperity, and had no sympathy with the older
social traditions. Only as the century closes has the stubbornness of
these convictions relaxed, and a great change of political principle
taken place. Its weight and its meaning will be differently explained by
different men. To trace its causes, and to estimate its results, must be
the business of another generation.
You can download both
volumes here...
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
