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IN 1887, Edinburgh took its
part in the joyful celebrations of Queen Victoria's J'ubilee. I cannot speak
of these in detail, as I was not able to be at home at that time, having to
take official part in the ceremonies in London. I had the high honour of
being on the staff of Sir H. Evelyn Wood, who commanded a division at the
Royal Review at Aldershot, and as regards that occasion, I would like for
the sake of my old comrades in the Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade
to mention an incident which occurred. I wore the dress of the Queen's
Brigade—the only uniforni I was entitled to wear at that time. It is the
well-known quiet, sober, dark uniform, with dull bronze ornaments, and dull
black grained leather belts, all glitter being absent*—the uniform wt
chledtoour being dubbed "The Blacks". Returning to London by train in
the afternoon, I happened to be seated opposite to General Butterlin, the
Russian military representative at the jubilee. I here was some conversation
by the group of officers in the carriage, and what led up to it I do not
remember, but he said to me: "Ah, sir, I did notice your uniform as you did
march past; in all other glitter I thought it disdistinguished." This
pleased me much, as I always loved our simple dress; and when, more than
once, officers would plead with me to change to scarlet, otherwise recruits
would go to other corps, my reply always was: "If any man chooses his corps
because of the colour of the coat, let him do so, I do not want him. We
never did suffer for our lack of gaudiness, as we always kept up our
strength, and added to it largely during the years I was in command.
Although not able to be at
home during the Edinburgh celebrations, I was glad to get the opportunity to
leave London for one day, to be present at the dinner given by the Faculty
of Advocates at the old Scottish Parliament House, under the presidency of
the Dean, my old and valued friend, Mackintosh, afterwards Lord Kyllachy. No
dinner had been held in the great hall since the occasion of George IV's
visit in 1822. It was fitting that such a celebration should take place in
the ancient national hall, full of historic associations connected with the
Crown and Parliament of Scotland.
In connection with the
Queer's Jubilee, there is an incident, not happening in Edinburgh, but
associated with it as the seat of the General Assembly, which has such
amusing features that I make no excuse for recounting it. When the Jubilee
took place, the Lord Chamberlain had to allocate the seats in Westminster
Abbey, a difficult task, no doubt. It was arranged that a certain number of
admissions should be given for the Scottish clergy. Sixteen cards were to be
sent to the Church of Scotland, and six to each of the Free, the United
Presbyterian, and the Episcopal Churches. Lord Lathom, who was then Lord
Chamberlain, like most English Government grandees, never thought of asking
any official at Dover House about a Scottish matter, and sent the cards, as
he thought, according to the arrangement. There was immediately a row, and
with very good cause. Lord Lothian, who was then Secretary for Scotland,
told me the story himself, I being Lord-Advocate at the time. He said that
he went to Lord Lathom and challenged him:
"Look here, Lathom, you've
made a mess of the allocation of admissions for the Scottish clergy, and
there is great indignation.
"Oh, no," replied the
Chamberlain, "I assure you I did exactly as was arranged; I sent the sixteen
tickets to the Primus Bishop of the Church of Scotland, and six to each of
the others; there was the Free, and there—er—er— there was the United
Presbyterian, and there was a third—eh, ah—I can't quite remember the name;
what was it now?"
"Perhaps it was the
Established Church of Scotland."
"Yes, yes, that was it, the
Established."
"Perhaps you are not aware
that that is the Church of Scotland, and that the Primus Bishop and his
clergy are Dissenters there."
"God bless me, no, you
surprise me; how can a bishop be a Dissenter?"
"Well, he is, that's all I
can tell you. The Sovereign is the State head of the Presbyterian Church in
Scotland; and not of the Episcopal Church. You had better get back ten cards
from the Primus Bishop and send them to the Moderator of the Church of
Scotland."
Well, that was put right, but
the bungling did not stop there. The Church of Scotland got the sixteen
tickets, and as they were all marked with numbers, the holders assumed that
they would get seats set apart for them, and therefore went down to the
Abbey in what they thought was reasonably good time. On showmg their cards
they were politely ushered along by gentlemen in uniform with batons, to the
bottom of a temporary wooden winding staircase, and they toiled up and up
and up, till at last they came in front of the top of a great arch, and. had
any little breath that remained to them taken away. For on the arch a large
placard was fixed, and on it, in long black letters on a white ground, were
the insulting words :
NONCONFORMIST BODIES.
On entering- through the peak
of the arch, they saw below them a crowd of ecclesiastics, Greeks, Copts,
Armericans, Lutherans, Independents, thetir friends of the Free, United
Presbyterian, and Episcopal, and others "too numerous to mention," as the
reports say. There were many strange and tall mitres and hats, shutting out
the view, and our Church of Scotland representatives were crowded up under
the peak of the arch, with the fumes arising from many an Eastern and
others, and working their passage past them out at the top of the archway,
they could see almost nothing, and hear very little, and it is to be feared
they left the budding under sore temptation not to be "in charity with all
men." What I know is, that next morning I received from the Reverend Dr.
Phim, then an Edinburgh citizen, a letter, which did not surprise me that he
had written, but which it might have been better to have kept back, and
expurgated a little before despatch. Of course I had nothing to do with the
matter, and I told him so, and did my best to pour oil. I understand there
was a correspondence with some gall on one side, and that, by direction of
the Queen, who was displeased, an apology had to be made by the Lord
Chamberlain in writing, and a soothing syrup applied in the form of a
knighthood to the Procurator of the Church.
I had great joy in being
present officially at the glorious celebration of the Jubilee service of
thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey, seeing the dear aged Queen, surrounded on
the dais by a veritable crowd of children and grandchildren, sons-in-law and
daughters in-law—a goodly sight never to be forgotten, as each was seen
enclosed in her motherly embrace before she left the Abbey.
In 1889 I was elected by the
Edinburgh University Council to represent it on the University Court, and
the Court were good enough while I was serving to appoint me to be one of
the Patronage Curators of the University. I valued these appointments the
more, as they were both honours unsolicited and unexpected. |
