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CONTENTS
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Geikie's Etchings
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Robert Chambers - Songs of Scotland
Lays of the Covenanters
History of Scotland
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
Arran of the Bens, The Glens and the Brave
Harry Lauder
Lord Elgin
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
Robert Burns Lives!
Clan Leslie Society of New Zealand & Australia
Lossiemouth Project
Clan Leslie Society International
Curling in Canada and the United States (New complete book)
Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
We've made another change to our Toolbar. I was getting a bit fed up with the social network window popping up any time my cursor went anywhere near that part of the screen. I asked about that and was told there is an option where you can tell it only to open if you click on the icon. So I tried that and it now works a treat.
I've also added a bookmark icon which is an orange star. When clicked on you can add bookmarks to any of your favourite places on Electric Scotland or indeed on any other site that uses the toolbar. You just need to be on the page you want to bookmark and then click the icon and click "add bookmark". You can also name the page anyway you wish as a description.
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I am embarking on another attempt at bringing a real community to life on Electric Scotland and this time it's Lossiemouth in the North East of Scotland. You can read more about this below.
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I did a new video introduction for Electric Scotland which I posted onto YouTube. It's about 15 minutes in length and I did need to crop it down from the 17 minutes as YouTube only accept a max of 15 minutes. You can view it at
http://www.electricscotland.org/show...ctric-Scotland
ABOUT THE STORIES
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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 in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
Electric Scotland Community
---------------------------
We added loads of music videos to the site this week and we'd certainly encourage you to get involved and add your own favourite artists and groups to the music forum.
Thanks to Ranald for pointing out a new singing sensation from Ayr in Scotland, one Rebecca Sheering, and you can view a few videos of her at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...r-old-from-Ayr
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org/forum.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
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This weeks issue is now available compiled by Jennifer Dunn. In her compilation Jennifer is commenting on the Highlands of Scotland as a poor place to find something decent to eat between 2pm to 5pm and has produced an interesting article.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Christina McKelvie's weekly diary is available at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lvie/index.htm
Christine got in touch to say she's been rather overworked and so instead of a diary entry this week she thought she'd send me her "budget special" newsletter that she sent out to her consituency this week.
Geikie's Etchings
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This week we've added more articles...
The Cowgate, Edinburgh
A Grandchild Reading
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ikie/index.htm
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
----------------------------------------
And of the Border Raids, Forays and Conflicts by John Parker Lawson (1839). This is a new publication we're starting on which is in 3 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Battle of Roslin
Battle of Flodden
The Battle of Flodden, so disastrous to the Scots, is one ot the most remarkable events in Scotish history. It's a long and interesting account.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Robert Chambers
---------------
Robert Chambers is a famous author and publisher and we do carry a few of his publications on our site such as the 3 volume Domestic Annals of Scotland and his 4 volume Biographical Dictionary of Significant Scots.
John Henderson found his 2 volume "Songs of Scotland" which we both agree is a fabulous resource and so we are going to add this to the site in small chuncks in pdf format for you to enjoy.
This week we added...
Pages 469 to 536
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ers_robert.htm
Lays of the Covenanters
-----------------------
By James Dodds (1880)
This week we've added...
Trial and Death of Robert Baillie of Jervieswoode
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/covenanters/
History of Scotland
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By Wm Robertson
This is part of the Works of Wm. Robertson and it's actually my intention to bring you all his works over time but to start we're doing his "History of Scotland" which got very favourable reviews at the time and so much so he was asked by the King to do a History of England.
The History is now going up and this week we've started on Volume 2 with
Book 8 which starts in the year 1590.
These can be read, along with a small biography of him at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...on_william.htm
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
------------------------------------------
By Cuthbert Bede (1861)
This week we put up Chapter IX - Kilkerran and the First Missionary in the Highlands
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glencreggan/
Arran of the Bens, The Glens and the Brave
------------------------------------------
By MacKenzie MacBride FSA Scot (1911)
This week we've added...
PART VI: ARRAN—THE BATTLE-GROUND OF THE VIKING AGE
Chapter XIII.
Arran in the Viking Age - The Christians of Iona, The Vale of Shisken and Machrie Moor
Chapter XIV.
The Arran Men at the Battle of Brunanburh - The Fleet in Lamlash Bay, Magnus Barefoot
Chapter XV.
Somerled, the Hammer of the Norsemen
Chapter XVI.
How King Hakon fought at Largs
Chapter XIII starts...
It is unfortunate that, owing to their stormy history and the loss of their records, but perhaps far more to the neglect and suppression of the native language in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the history of the Western Highlands and Islands, which has been of so stirring a character, has not and perhaps cannot be fully written.
Assuredly no greater misfortunes could have happened to the Gaelic people of the West Highlands, advanced as they were in the arts, skilled in the manufacture of beautiful cloths, in the carving of fine monuments; in the illuminating of the most beautiful missals and manuscripts the world can boast; steeped as they were to the lips in the progressive spirit of the new Christian religion, than to have been submerged by hordes of destructive ruffians; and later to have been associated with a race of kings partly alien in blood and wholly alien in spirit. It was a calamity that, under the monstrous idea that it was a superior civilisation, those rulers should have forced upon them the feudal system, than which the mind of man never invented a more wicked and ingenious device for keeping his fellow-man in subjection.
It is true that Scotland, only in parts and to a limited extent, fell in any real sense under the black hand of feudalism. In law, however, it did so, and the assumption that every breach of it was wrongful plunged Scotland, especially in the non-feudalised parts, into endless trouble and disaster. It was largely because of it that the Highlands and the Border districts, differing little from them, like the district of Galloway, were inevitably rebels against a system that was not theirs, which was infinitely inferior to their own system, and which was at no time understood by them. Their rebellion has lasted for all these centuries and exists to-day, as a glance at the recent history of the land question in the Highlands will show.
This book can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/arran/
Harry Lauder
------------
we've added two more songs for you to listen to...
Saturday Night
Will You Stop Your Tickling Jock
This page can be found at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...derson/lauder/
Lord Elgin
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By John George Bourinot (1903)
We have added further chapters...
Chapter IX - Canada and the United States
Chapter X - Farewell to Canada
Chapter XI - Political Progress
Chapter XII - A Comparison of Systems
The Canada and the United States starts...
In a long letter which he wrote to Earl Grey in August, 1850, Lord Elgin used these significant words: "To render annexation by violence impossible, or by any other means improbable as may be, is, as I have often ventured to repeat, the polar star of my policy." To understand the full significance of this language it is only necessary to refer to the history of the difficulties with which the governor-general had to contend from the first hour he came to the province and began his efforts to allay the feeling of disaffection then too prevalent throughout the country--especially among the commercial classes--and to give encouragement to that loyal sentiment which had been severely shaken by the indifference or ignorance shown by British statesmen and people with respect to the conditions and interests of the Canadas. He was quite conscious that, if the province was to remain a contented portion of the British empire, it could be best done by giving full play to the principles of self-government among both nationalities who had been so long struggling to obtain the application of the parliamentary system of England in the fullest sense to the operation of their own internal affairs, and by giving to the industrial and commercial classes adequate compensation for the great losses which they had sustained by the sudden abolition of the privileges which England had so long extended to Canadian products--notably, flour, wheat and lumber--in the British market.
Lord Elgin knew perfectly well that, while this discontent existed, the party which favoured annexation would not fail to find sympathy and encouragement in the neighbouring republic. He recalled the fact that both Papineau and Mackenzie, after the outbreak of their abortive rebellion, had many abettors across the border, as the infamous raids into Canada clearly proved. Many people in the United States, no doubt, saw some analogy between the grievances of Canadians and those which had led to the American revolution. "The mass of the American people," said Lord Durham, "had judged of the quarrel from a distance; they had been obliged to form their judgment on the apparent grounds of the controversy; and were thus deceived, as all those are apt to be who judge under such circumstances, and on such grounds. The contest bore some resemblance to that great struggle of their own forefathers, which they regard with the highest pride. Like that, they believed it to be the contest of a colony against the empire, whose misconduct alienated their own country; they considered it to be a contest undertaken by a people professing to seek independence of distant control, and extension of popular privileges." More than that, the striking contrast which was presented between Canada and the United States "in respect to every sign of productive industry, increasing wealth, and progressive civilization" was considered by the people of the latter country to be among the results of the absence of a political system which would give expansion to the energies of the colonists and make them self-reliant in every sense. Lord Durham's picture of the condition of things in 1838-9 was very painful to Canadians, although it was truthful in every particular. "On the British side of the line," he wrote, "with the exception of a few favoured spots, where some approach to American prosperity is apparent, all seems waste and desolate." But it was not only "in the difference between the larger towns on the two sides" that we could see "the best evidence of our own inferiority." That "painful and undeniable truth was most manifest in the country districts through which the line of national separation passes for one thousand miles." Mrs. Jameson in her "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles," written only a year or two before Lord Durham's report, gives an equally unfavourable comparison between the Canadian and United States sides of the western country. As she floated on the Detroit river in a little canoe made of a hollow tree, and saw on one side "a city with its towers, and spires, and animated population," and on the other "a little straggling hamlet with all the symptoms of apathy, indolence, mistrust, hopelessness," she could not help wondering at this "incredible difference between the two shores," and hoping that some of the colonial officials across the Atlantic would be soon sent "to behold and solve the difficulty."
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ordelgin09.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rdelginndx.htm
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
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A Series of Anecdotal Biographies chiefly of Scotchmen, Mostly by James Paterson and Edited by James Maidment (1885)
This week we have added...
The Daft Highland Laird
Jamie Duff, an Idiot
Francis M'Nab, Esq., of M'Nab
Andrew Bell, Author and Engraver
The account of Francis M'Nab starts...
Scotland, about the close of the eighteenth century, contained few men of greater local notoriety than the herculean Highlander, whom Mr. Kay has represented in the act of reeling along the North Bridge, a little declined from the perpendicular. "The Laird of M'Nab," as he was commonly called, represented his clan at a time when the ancient peculiarities of the manners and ideas of a Highland chief were melting into an union with those of a Lowland gentleman. A strong clash of the primitive character, joined to run a natural eccentricity, tended to make him a wonder in the midst of the cultivated society of his day. To complete the effect of his singular manners, his person was cast in one of nature's most gigantic moulds.
A volume, and that not a small one, might be filled with the curious sayings and doings of this singular gentleman; but unfortunately the greater part of them, for reasons which may be guessed, could not, with any degree of propriety, be laid before the public.
The Laird was remarkable, above all things, for his notions of the dignity of his chieftainship. A gentleman, who had come a great distance to pay him a visit, either ignorant of, or forgetting the etiquette to be observed in speaking to or of a Highland chieftain, inquired if Mr. M'Nab was within?—"Mr." being a contemptible Saxon prefix, applied to every one who wears a passable coat, and well enough probably in the case of those ignoble persons who earn their bread by a profession, but not at all fit to be attached to the name of a Highland chief. The consequence of this error of the Laird's visitor was, that he was refused admittance—a fact the more astonishing to himself, as he distinctly heard the Laird's voice in the lobby. In explanation of his blunder, he was told by a friend that he should have inquired, not for Mr. M'Nab, but for the Laird of M'Nab, or simply M'Nab, by way of eminence. Acting on this hint, he called on the following day, and was not only admitted, but received with a most cordial and hearty welcome.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/vol104.htm
The other articles can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
One of my favorite Scottish journals is THE DROUTH, and one of the reasons I enjoy it so is because its two editors, Mitchell Miller and Johnny Rodger, write and live on the cutting edge of Scottish life. THE DROUTH also has a guest editor for each issue and for the Winter 2009/2010 volume it was none other than Dr. Rhona Brown who has written two articles for Robert Burns Lives!, both concerning the man affectionately known as the Chairman of the Bard, Professor G. Ross Roy.
One of the major contributors to THE DROUTH is Dr. Gerard Carruthers whose contributions are usually about one person – Robert Burns. Thus, “Robert Burns and the Excise” which appeared in the above mentioned issue will now grace the pages of Robert Burns Lives! thanks to the writer and editors who have consented for it to appear on our web site as the 102nd chapter or article about Burns. Little did I know when I started editing RBL a few years ago that so many would be so willing to contribute to its pages.
A lot has been written about Burns the exciseman, some of it good, some of it…well, you finish the sentence. This is an excellent piece, and over lunch recently at the University of South Carolina, two of the people who should know the good from the bad and the ugly pronounced it very good! Thank you, Drs. Robert Crawford and Patrick Scott. And, I offer my thanks on behalf of our readers for such a quality example of writing by Dr. Gerard Carruthers.
You can read this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives102.htm
You can read other articles in this series at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
Clan Leslie Society of New Zealand & Australia
----------------------------------------------
Got in a copy of their Jan, Feb, Mar 2011 newsletter which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...letters/leslie
Lossiemouth Project
-------------------
Some of you may remember that we were hopeful in building a community site for Gairloch and Loch Maree but we didn't even get one contribution from the local community.
We are now trying to do a similar project for the Lossiemouth area of Scotland and this time are more hopeful of making this happen. Our thanks go to David Thomson, who lives in the area, for taking up the challenge of getting the locals involved.
This is an area that includes the RAF base which is being considered for closure and so we hope to learn much more about this area as it goes through some interesting times.
We have our first contribution in from Jim Campbell who for some 50 years was a fishing boat captain. As it happens he has written some poems and also wrote some stories for his grand kids and has shared some of those with us. The stories are in the language of the North East of Scotland. He is also going to send us some pictures of old fishing boats that plied their trade from Lossiemouth so we're looking forward to receiving them.
We also got a write up in the local newspaper and got sent in a scan of the article so have put it up on the index page of the project.
You can learn about this project at http://www.electricscotland.com/lossiemouth
Clan Leslie Society International
---------------------------------
We got in a copy of their November 2010 newsletter which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ters/leslieint
Curling in Canada and the United States
---------------------------------------
A Record of the Tour of the Scottish Team, 1902-3 and the Games in the Dominion and the Republic by the Rev. John Kerr (1904).
IT was incumbent on me as Captain of the Scottish curling team that I should prepare and publish a full and permanent record of our historic tour in Canada and the United States in the winter of 1902-3 an event quite unique in the annals of curling, and fraught, as I believe it to be, with most important and beneficial results from a National and Imperial point of view. This was due to the Mother-club, the Royal Caledonian, which sent the team with a Message of Goodwill to her bairns across the sea; to the members of the team, who so loyally supported their Captain and so manfully played their various parts; and to our brother-curlers in Canada and the United States, who extended to us such a hearty, enthusiastic, never-to-be-forgotten welcome wherever we went.
This book is in pdf format and we've added it to the foot of the existing book about Curling by the same author. You can thus read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/curling/
Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University
-------------------------------------------
I got in a copy of their newsletter where I get a wee plug for my speaking engagement with them in February. You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...021-Newsletter
And to finish...
The wee ones are always fun...
My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, '62.'
He was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, 'Did you start at 1?'
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I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was.
She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued.
At last she headed for the door, saying sagely, 'Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these yourself!'
And that's it for now and wishing all our American friends a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you all have a good weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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Electric Scotland News
Electric Scotland Community
The Flag in the Wind
Geikie's Etchings
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
Robert Chambers - Songs of Scotland
Lays of the Covenanters
History of Scotland
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
Arran of the Bens, The Glens and the Brave
Harry Lauder
Lord Elgin
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
Robert Burns Lives!
Clan Leslie Society of New Zealand & Australia
Lossiemouth Project
Clan Leslie Society International
Curling in Canada and the United States (New complete book)
Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
We've made another change to our Toolbar. I was getting a bit fed up with the social network window popping up any time my cursor went anywhere near that part of the screen. I asked about that and was told there is an option where you can tell it only to open if you click on the icon. So I tried that and it now works a treat.
I've also added a bookmark icon which is an orange star. When clicked on you can add bookmarks to any of your favourite places on Electric Scotland or indeed on any other site that uses the toolbar. You just need to be on the page you want to bookmark and then click the icon and click "add bookmark". You can also name the page anyway you wish as a description.
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I am embarking on another attempt at bringing a real community to life on Electric Scotland and this time it's Lossiemouth in the North East of Scotland. You can read more about this below.
-----
I did a new video introduction for Electric Scotland which I posted onto YouTube. It's about 15 minutes in length and I did need to crop it down from the 17 minutes as YouTube only accept a max of 15 minutes. You can view it at
http://www.electricscotland.org/show...ctric-Scotland
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 in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/rss/whatsnew.php
Electric Scotland Community
---------------------------
We added loads of music videos to the site this week and we'd certainly encourage you to get involved and add your own favourite artists and groups to the music forum.
Thanks to Ranald for pointing out a new singing sensation from Ayr in Scotland, one Rebecca Sheering, and you can view a few videos of her at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...r-old-from-Ayr
Our community can be viewed at http://www.electricscotland.org/forum.php
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks issue is now available compiled by Jennifer Dunn. In her compilation Jennifer is commenting on the Highlands of Scotland as a poor place to find something decent to eat between 2pm to 5pm and has produced an interesting article.
You can get to the Flag at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Christina McKelvie's weekly diary is available at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lvie/index.htm
Christine got in touch to say she's been rather overworked and so instead of a diary entry this week she thought she'd send me her "budget special" newsletter that she sent out to her consituency this week.
Geikie's Etchings
-----------------
This week we've added more articles...
The Cowgate, Edinburgh
A Grandchild Reading
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ikie/index.htm
Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland
----------------------------------------
And of the Border Raids, Forays and Conflicts by John Parker Lawson (1839). This is a new publication we're starting on which is in 3 volumes. We intend to post up 2 or 3 stories each week until complete.
This week we've added...
Battle of Roslin
Battle of Flodden
The Battle of Flodden, so disastrous to the Scots, is one ot the most remarkable events in Scotish history. It's a long and interesting account.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/
Robert Chambers
---------------
Robert Chambers is a famous author and publisher and we do carry a few of his publications on our site such as the 3 volume Domestic Annals of Scotland and his 4 volume Biographical Dictionary of Significant Scots.
John Henderson found his 2 volume "Songs of Scotland" which we both agree is a fabulous resource and so we are going to add this to the site in small chuncks in pdf format for you to enjoy.
This week we added...
Pages 469 to 536
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ers_robert.htm
Lays of the Covenanters
-----------------------
By James Dodds (1880)
This week we've added...
Trial and Death of Robert Baillie of Jervieswoode
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/covenanters/
History of Scotland
-------------------
By Wm Robertson
This is part of the Works of Wm. Robertson and it's actually my intention to bring you all his works over time but to start we're doing his "History of Scotland" which got very favourable reviews at the time and so much so he was asked by the King to do a History of England.
The History is now going up and this week we've started on Volume 2 with
Book 8 which starts in the year 1590.
These can be read, along with a small biography of him at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...on_william.htm
Glencreggan: or A Highland Home in Cantire
------------------------------------------
By Cuthbert Bede (1861)
This week we put up Chapter IX - Kilkerran and the First Missionary in the Highlands
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glencreggan/
Arran of the Bens, The Glens and the Brave
------------------------------------------
By MacKenzie MacBride FSA Scot (1911)
This week we've added...
PART VI: ARRAN—THE BATTLE-GROUND OF THE VIKING AGE
Chapter XIII.
Arran in the Viking Age - The Christians of Iona, The Vale of Shisken and Machrie Moor
Chapter XIV.
The Arran Men at the Battle of Brunanburh - The Fleet in Lamlash Bay, Magnus Barefoot
Chapter XV.
Somerled, the Hammer of the Norsemen
Chapter XVI.
How King Hakon fought at Largs
Chapter XIII starts...
It is unfortunate that, owing to their stormy history and the loss of their records, but perhaps far more to the neglect and suppression of the native language in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the history of the Western Highlands and Islands, which has been of so stirring a character, has not and perhaps cannot be fully written.
Assuredly no greater misfortunes could have happened to the Gaelic people of the West Highlands, advanced as they were in the arts, skilled in the manufacture of beautiful cloths, in the carving of fine monuments; in the illuminating of the most beautiful missals and manuscripts the world can boast; steeped as they were to the lips in the progressive spirit of the new Christian religion, than to have been submerged by hordes of destructive ruffians; and later to have been associated with a race of kings partly alien in blood and wholly alien in spirit. It was a calamity that, under the monstrous idea that it was a superior civilisation, those rulers should have forced upon them the feudal system, than which the mind of man never invented a more wicked and ingenious device for keeping his fellow-man in subjection.
It is true that Scotland, only in parts and to a limited extent, fell in any real sense under the black hand of feudalism. In law, however, it did so, and the assumption that every breach of it was wrongful plunged Scotland, especially in the non-feudalised parts, into endless trouble and disaster. It was largely because of it that the Highlands and the Border districts, differing little from them, like the district of Galloway, were inevitably rebels against a system that was not theirs, which was infinitely inferior to their own system, and which was at no time understood by them. Their rebellion has lasted for all these centuries and exists to-day, as a glance at the recent history of the land question in the Highlands will show.
This book can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/arran/
Harry Lauder
------------
we've added two more songs for you to listen to...
Saturday Night
Will You Stop Your Tickling Jock
This page can be found at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...derson/lauder/
Lord Elgin
----------
By John George Bourinot (1903)
We have added further chapters...
Chapter IX - Canada and the United States
Chapter X - Farewell to Canada
Chapter XI - Political Progress
Chapter XII - A Comparison of Systems
The Canada and the United States starts...
In a long letter which he wrote to Earl Grey in August, 1850, Lord Elgin used these significant words: "To render annexation by violence impossible, or by any other means improbable as may be, is, as I have often ventured to repeat, the polar star of my policy." To understand the full significance of this language it is only necessary to refer to the history of the difficulties with which the governor-general had to contend from the first hour he came to the province and began his efforts to allay the feeling of disaffection then too prevalent throughout the country--especially among the commercial classes--and to give encouragement to that loyal sentiment which had been severely shaken by the indifference or ignorance shown by British statesmen and people with respect to the conditions and interests of the Canadas. He was quite conscious that, if the province was to remain a contented portion of the British empire, it could be best done by giving full play to the principles of self-government among both nationalities who had been so long struggling to obtain the application of the parliamentary system of England in the fullest sense to the operation of their own internal affairs, and by giving to the industrial and commercial classes adequate compensation for the great losses which they had sustained by the sudden abolition of the privileges which England had so long extended to Canadian products--notably, flour, wheat and lumber--in the British market.
Lord Elgin knew perfectly well that, while this discontent existed, the party which favoured annexation would not fail to find sympathy and encouragement in the neighbouring republic. He recalled the fact that both Papineau and Mackenzie, after the outbreak of their abortive rebellion, had many abettors across the border, as the infamous raids into Canada clearly proved. Many people in the United States, no doubt, saw some analogy between the grievances of Canadians and those which had led to the American revolution. "The mass of the American people," said Lord Durham, "had judged of the quarrel from a distance; they had been obliged to form their judgment on the apparent grounds of the controversy; and were thus deceived, as all those are apt to be who judge under such circumstances, and on such grounds. The contest bore some resemblance to that great struggle of their own forefathers, which they regard with the highest pride. Like that, they believed it to be the contest of a colony against the empire, whose misconduct alienated their own country; they considered it to be a contest undertaken by a people professing to seek independence of distant control, and extension of popular privileges." More than that, the striking contrast which was presented between Canada and the United States "in respect to every sign of productive industry, increasing wealth, and progressive civilization" was considered by the people of the latter country to be among the results of the absence of a political system which would give expansion to the energies of the colonists and make them self-reliant in every sense. Lord Durham's picture of the condition of things in 1838-9 was very painful to Canadians, although it was truthful in every particular. "On the British side of the line," he wrote, "with the exception of a few favoured spots, where some approach to American prosperity is apparent, all seems waste and desolate." But it was not only "in the difference between the larger towns on the two sides" that we could see "the best evidence of our own inferiority." That "painful and undeniable truth was most manifest in the country districts through which the line of national separation passes for one thousand miles." Mrs. Jameson in her "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles," written only a year or two before Lord Durham's report, gives an equally unfavourable comparison between the Canadian and United States sides of the western country. As she floated on the Detroit river in a little canoe made of a hollow tree, and saw on one side "a city with its towers, and spires, and animated population," and on the other "a little straggling hamlet with all the symptoms of apathy, indolence, mistrust, hopelessness," she could not help wondering at this "incredible difference between the two shores," and hoping that some of the colonial officials across the Atlantic would be soon sent "to behold and solve the difficulty."
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ordelgin09.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...rdelginndx.htm
Kay's Edinburgh Portraits
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A Series of Anecdotal Biographies chiefly of Scotchmen, Mostly by James Paterson and Edited by James Maidment (1885)
This week we have added...
The Daft Highland Laird
Jamie Duff, an Idiot
Francis M'Nab, Esq., of M'Nab
Andrew Bell, Author and Engraver
The account of Francis M'Nab starts...
Scotland, about the close of the eighteenth century, contained few men of greater local notoriety than the herculean Highlander, whom Mr. Kay has represented in the act of reeling along the North Bridge, a little declined from the perpendicular. "The Laird of M'Nab," as he was commonly called, represented his clan at a time when the ancient peculiarities of the manners and ideas of a Highland chief were melting into an union with those of a Lowland gentleman. A strong clash of the primitive character, joined to run a natural eccentricity, tended to make him a wonder in the midst of the cultivated society of his day. To complete the effect of his singular manners, his person was cast in one of nature's most gigantic moulds.
A volume, and that not a small one, might be filled with the curious sayings and doings of this singular gentleman; but unfortunately the greater part of them, for reasons which may be guessed, could not, with any degree of propriety, be laid before the public.
The Laird was remarkable, above all things, for his notions of the dignity of his chieftainship. A gentleman, who had come a great distance to pay him a visit, either ignorant of, or forgetting the etiquette to be observed in speaking to or of a Highland chieftain, inquired if Mr. M'Nab was within?—"Mr." being a contemptible Saxon prefix, applied to every one who wears a passable coat, and well enough probably in the case of those ignoble persons who earn their bread by a profession, but not at all fit to be attached to the name of a Highland chief. The consequence of this error of the Laird's visitor was, that he was refused admittance—a fact the more astonishing to himself, as he distinctly heard the Laird's voice in the lobby. In explanation of his blunder, he was told by a friend that he should have inquired, not for Mr. M'Nab, but for the Laird of M'Nab, or simply M'Nab, by way of eminence. Acting on this hint, he called on the following day, and was not only admitted, but received with a most cordial and hearty welcome.
You can read the rest of this account at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/vol104.htm
The other articles can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/kays/index.htm
Robert Burns Lives!
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By Frank Shaw
One of my favorite Scottish journals is THE DROUTH, and one of the reasons I enjoy it so is because its two editors, Mitchell Miller and Johnny Rodger, write and live on the cutting edge of Scottish life. THE DROUTH also has a guest editor for each issue and for the Winter 2009/2010 volume it was none other than Dr. Rhona Brown who has written two articles for Robert Burns Lives!, both concerning the man affectionately known as the Chairman of the Bard, Professor G. Ross Roy.
One of the major contributors to THE DROUTH is Dr. Gerard Carruthers whose contributions are usually about one person – Robert Burns. Thus, “Robert Burns and the Excise” which appeared in the above mentioned issue will now grace the pages of Robert Burns Lives! thanks to the writer and editors who have consented for it to appear on our web site as the 102nd chapter or article about Burns. Little did I know when I started editing RBL a few years ago that so many would be so willing to contribute to its pages.
A lot has been written about Burns the exciseman, some of it good, some of it…well, you finish the sentence. This is an excellent piece, and over lunch recently at the University of South Carolina, two of the people who should know the good from the bad and the ugly pronounced it very good! Thank you, Drs. Robert Crawford and Patrick Scott. And, I offer my thanks on behalf of our readers for such a quality example of writing by Dr. Gerard Carruthers.
You can read this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...s_lives102.htm
You can read other articles in this series at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
Clan Leslie Society of New Zealand & Australia
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Got in a copy of their Jan, Feb, Mar 2011 newsletter which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...letters/leslie
Lossiemouth Project
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Some of you may remember that we were hopeful in building a community site for Gairloch and Loch Maree but we didn't even get one contribution from the local community.
We are now trying to do a similar project for the Lossiemouth area of Scotland and this time are more hopeful of making this happen. Our thanks go to David Thomson, who lives in the area, for taking up the challenge of getting the locals involved.
This is an area that includes the RAF base which is being considered for closure and so we hope to learn much more about this area as it goes through some interesting times.
We have our first contribution in from Jim Campbell who for some 50 years was a fishing boat captain. As it happens he has written some poems and also wrote some stories for his grand kids and has shared some of those with us. The stories are in the language of the North East of Scotland. He is also going to send us some pictures of old fishing boats that plied their trade from Lossiemouth so we're looking forward to receiving them.
We also got a write up in the local newspaper and got sent in a scan of the article so have put it up on the index page of the project.
You can learn about this project at http://www.electricscotland.com/lossiemouth
Clan Leslie Society International
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We got in a copy of their November 2010 newsletter which you can view at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ters/leslieint
Curling in Canada and the United States
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A Record of the Tour of the Scottish Team, 1902-3 and the Games in the Dominion and the Republic by the Rev. John Kerr (1904).
IT was incumbent on me as Captain of the Scottish curling team that I should prepare and publish a full and permanent record of our historic tour in Canada and the United States in the winter of 1902-3 an event quite unique in the annals of curling, and fraught, as I believe it to be, with most important and beneficial results from a National and Imperial point of view. This was due to the Mother-club, the Royal Caledonian, which sent the team with a Message of Goodwill to her bairns across the sea; to the members of the team, who so loyally supported their Captain and so manfully played their various parts; and to our brother-curlers in Canada and the United States, who extended to us such a hearty, enthusiastic, never-to-be-forgotten welcome wherever we went.
This book is in pdf format and we've added it to the foot of the existing book about Curling by the same author. You can thus read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/curling/
Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University
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I got in a copy of their newsletter where I get a wee plug for my speaking engagement with them in February. You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...021-Newsletter
And to finish...
The wee ones are always fun...
My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, '62.'
He was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, 'Did you start at 1?'
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I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was.
She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued.
At last she headed for the door, saying sagely, 'Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these yourself!'
And that's it for now and wishing all our American friends a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you all have a good weekend :-)
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com
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