Electric Scotland News
Scotland’s Outer Hebrides
A friend sent in a link to a NASA picture of the Outer Hebrides which I thought I'd share with you...
https://www.bluemarble.nasa.gov/imag...outer-hebrides
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The Canada Postal Strike is causing havoc in Canada and we're now almost a month into the strike. The company is losing a lot of money but the unions still want good pay increases and are also against some new working practices that need to be put in place if the company is to return to profit. I have made available a video about this in our News section below.
--------
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a biographical reference for deceased persons notable in British history. The current edition of this work has been published online by Oxford University Press since 2004. The current electronic edition is not free, but is available through individual or library subscription. There is also a recent print edition. Some earlier editions of this work are freely available online, and remain of historic interest. Below we link to free online volumes of the first edition, and some of their supplementary volumes.
First edition
The first edition was published in 63 volumes from 1885 through 1900 in London by Smith, Elder, and Co. (In the US, Macmillan also published many of the volumes in conjunction with Smith, Elder). Various supplements, errata volumes, and indexes were published in the years to follow, prior to the second edition.
I have added all 63 volumes to the site along with 5 supplementary volumes and you can get to all this at: https://electricscotland.com/history/bios/index.htm
I have been working on this for some time as it's been difficult to find good copies that are totally free to access and are searchable and in good condition. I am certain I've found all the volumes but if I am wrong in this assumption I look forward to hearing from you.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
U.S. Releases 14 Canadian Wolves Into the Wild and Saves $94 Billion
What if I told you that 14 wolves changed the course of an entire ecosystem?
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/xGGeUfVZH1g?si=7BVFPYjrUtzQhEt3
Why Reform UK is making an impact in Scotland
LAST SATURDAY I had the pleasure of speaking at the Reform UK conference in Perth. It was actually Reform’s fourth Scottish Conference, but the three previous ones might have fitted in the backroom of some pub.
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2024/12/wh...t-in-scotland/
Tartan Army Euros fun boosts tourism in Scotland
Months have passed since the kilts were packed away and the hangovers cured, yet the echoes of Scotland's summer of fun in Germany continue to resonate.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgvr5573v2o
Early Budget analysis suggests several causes for concern
The draft Holyrood budget had a lot of work to do: responding to public services badly in need of repair, reducing child poverty and boosting economic growth, securing enough votes to pass the legislation in February, and setting the direction for John Swinney to take his party into the next election.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9vz21g8vo
Family of beavers take first swim in Scots forest in heart-warming video
Two adults and three kits were released into restored wetland habitat at Loch Ard Forest, near Aberfoyle.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...-swim-34263995
Private shipping companies feeling stretched amid Canada Post strike
From Global News Dec. 6, 2024
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/6GEUd78uGCc?si=4YrfArrY_2iCoC-_
Assad flees to Moscow after rebels take Syrian capital
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow with his family after rebels took the capital Damascus, according to Russian state media. Assad held onto power with the help of allies like Russia, Iran and its proxies, like Hezbollah. The question now is whether rebel forces, which started as an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda, will rule differently. Eric Sorensen reports on the fast-moving developments inside Syria.
Watch this at;
https://youtu.be/1F1rtl0uTx4?si=rZGCKeBleGnH_P_5
The CPTPP is Global Britain’s next step towards CANZUK
On 15th December, the United Kingdom will accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This is a major milestone towards establishing Global Britain. It is a huge post-Brexit win and one that the last Conservative Government can be proud to have negotiated.
Read more at:
https://conservativehome.com/2024/12...towards-canzuk
A failure of leadership over Glasgow’s "Mack"
By Jackie Kemp
Read more at:
https://sceptical.scot/2024/12/a-fai...glasgows-mack/
When Scottish Sages Christened "Liberal"
Big data is often a big bust, but not always. Big data has resolved a longstanding debate about when "liberal" first acquired a political meaning.
Read more at:
https://lawliberty.org/when-scottish...tened-liberal/
Almost 1 month into Canada Post strike, Ottawa says it won't intervene
On Wednesday, Canada Post said the union's new demands are unaffordable and unsustainable, claiming they would cost more than $3 billion over four years at a time when the postal service is struggling financially. The federal government has been under pressure from business groups to intervene in the strike, but Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says the government will remain on the sidelines.
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/nzedvgn35UI?si=S75VRpcCkVJA5iDo
Electric Canadian
Selections from Canadian Poets
With occasional critical and biographical notes and an introductory essay on Canadian poetry by Edward Hartley Dewart (1864)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...selections.htm
Canada
A brief outline of the geographical position productions, climate, capabilities, educational and municipal institutions, &c., &c., published by authority Toronto, Canadas West (1857) (pdf)
You can read this pamphlet at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...dahu00hutt.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - Sunday the 8th day of December 2024 PEACE
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...ber-2024-peace
The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion
Or, The Captivity and Deliverance of Rev. John Williams of Deerfield (sixth edition) (1908) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...00willrich.pdf
The Beaver Magazine
Added Volume 3 No. 7 (pdf)
You can read this issue at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...rApril1923.pdf
Electric Scotland
Brougham, Henry Peter
Lord Brougham. Added a page for him which includes a 3 volume autobiography.
You can learn more about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...gham-henry.htm
The Edinburgh Review
Added 4 volumes of articles from this journal and also added some additional content as to the importance of this publication.
You can read all this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...rgh_review.htm
Dictionary of National Biography
Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee in 63 volumes with 5 supplementary volumes.
A major work which you can get to at;
https://electricscotland.com/history/bios/index.htm
The Return of the Scots
The impact of Scottish raiding of Northern England in the 1330s and 1340s by Dr Iain A. MacInnes, University of the Highlands and Islands (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...pact_of_Sc.pdf
Scotland Launches Entrepreneurial Plan-of-Action fit for Digital Era
Entrepreneurial activity represents the lifeblood of Scotland's centuries-old globally renowned innovations. Truly enterprising, if at times refreshingly eclectic just think of the "fs" for fingerprinting to the flushing toilet, there's also the "ts" for telephone and television. An article by Bill Magee.
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/magee/article0021.pdf
Scottish Restaurants
EPIC Week in Scotland | Edinburgh + Isle of Skye + Highlands + Islay + Glasgow Added this video to the foot of the page at:
https://electricscotland.com/food/sc...estaurants.htm
Bygone Church Life in Scotland
By William Andrews (1899) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/b...00andrrich.pdf
Charles Alexander Lockhart Robertson
Distinguished medico-psychological physician, obituary (1897) (pdf)
You can read his obituary at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...n-Obituary.pdf
Simply The Best Pork Pies
Mr Pauls award winning Pork Pie recipe including the spice mix his family used for 120 years! Added this video to the foot of our Food & Drink page.
You can watch this at:
https://electricscotland.com/food/index.htm
Miscellany of The Scottish History Society
Added the Fourth Volume which contains Cordora's Commentary on the expedition to Scotland made by Charles Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales, The Manuscript history of Craignish, Miscellaneous charters, 1165-1300, From transcripts in the collection of the Late Sir William Fraser, K.C.B.
You can read this volume at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/shs/index.htm
Bain, Alexander
Professor of Logic. A most interesting person and spent most of a day finding out about him and tracing some of his work. You'll find a decent short biography of him and then links to some of his work including an Autobiography and other works.
You can get to all this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...alexander2.htm
Scotland-Upon-Thames
Got in an update of this article providing further information.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...mes(ultra).pdf
Alexander Bain
Did an update on his page with a video and a new article which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/history..._alexander.htm
Alexander Mackie
Prose and Verse, edited, with Memoir by John Minto Robertson, M.A. (1918) (pdf) Though Buchan-born, he was Banff-bred.
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/poetry/...der-mackie.pdf
Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart 1807—1891
A Biography by Alexander F. Robertson (1925) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ol0000alex.pdf
The Religion of the Threshold
And other Sermons by Donald Sage MacKay, D.D., LL.D. Late Minister of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, New York with an introduction by Professor Hugh Black, D.D. (1908) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...resh00mack.pdf
Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland
With extracts from other records relating to the affairs of the Burghs of Scotland
You can read these at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...oyalburghs.htm
Old Caledonian Pinewood by Dunlop, Balharry and Watson, July 2013
Note by Ramblers Scotland (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/nature/...m%20Watson.pdf
Scottish Society of Louiville
Got up their December 2024 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ille/index.htm
Clan Munro of Australia Newsletter
Got in their December 2024 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...unro/index.htm
Story
HIGHLAND PRIDE AND FIDELITY
The character of the Highlander of Scotland is, like his origin, a complex one. A blend of the various races who struggled for supremacy at the dawn of history in Britain, he has not altogether been uninfluenced by his surroundings, and this latter fact has undoubtedly contributed towards the forming of a character at once original and peculiar.
Prominent amongst his many characteristics are those of racial pride and unswerving fidelity, engendered in him, no doubt, as a result of centuries of warfare, coupled with the fact of the ease with which he could trace his descent, no matter how poor, to the earliest times, to some half-mythical Celtic warrior; of his habit of living in small communities almost cut off by nature from the outside world ; of the hereditary contempt with which he regarded the “Gall,” or stranger from the plains; of the absolute need of union and mutual help in face of a common foe; and of the intense love he bore towards his home and family.
Setting aside the two world-wide known qualities of the Highlander—hospitality and undaunted valour in battle—we come to those two which form the subject of this essay:
“Highland pride!”
Have we not heard these words uttered again and again, both by those who are cognisant of their true meaning, and by those, the ignorant and unread ones, who would scoff at them? Highland pride, as we know it, is not that foolish empty, vain, self-conceit, which is so often wrongly called pride. It is the healthy self-respect, the fact of being able to look back on a line of ancestors, and being able to say, “though poor, our parents and grandparents were honest,” or “our forefathers were fearless, loyal, and true, let us never disgrace them,” which constitutes what Highland pride really is. Many a Highlander has been prevented from doing some mean or low act through this* same pride. “What will they say of me or iny race if I do this?” is the question the Gael asks himself. Who, indeed, has not heard the pathetic story of
JAMES MOR MACGREGOR,
son of the renowned Rob Roy, who, when an exile in. France, and reduced to extreme destitution, was offered a free pardon and a lucrative employ by the Government if he would betray another fugitive named Alan Breac Stewart, answered, “I was born a Highland gentleman, and can never accept that which would make me the disgrace of my family, and the scoff of my country.”
To the Highland soldier of the old days, that which he dreaded most, to which he infinitely. preferred death itself, was the “posting up” of his name on the kirk door of his native town— a thing only done in cases of disgraceful conduct in barracks or in the field. A soldier who incurred this penalty, shunned by his comrades, and not daring to return to his native countryside, generally sought and found a speedy end to his misery on the battlefield.
It is recorded that when
THE BLACK WATCH,
the first Highland regiment to be formed, was embodied in 1743, King George expressed a desire to see a Highland soldier. Two privates, Gregor MacGregor, commonly called “Gregor the beautiful,” and John Campbell son of Duncan Campbell, of the family of Duneaves in Perthshire, were chosen to appear before the King. After having performed the Lochabcr, and Claymore exercises to His Majesty’s complete satisfaction, they each received a guinea, which however they gave to the porter at the palace gates, as they went out! the King had quite forgotten that, although they were private soldiers, they were Highland gentlemen.
But not always do we see Highland Pride exercised in the right direction. It is said that at the rising of 1715, the Earl of Mar, the
“BOBBING JOHN” OF HISTORY,
called an assembly of all the chiefs and gentlemen of his army. To this the chief of the MacLeans haughtily replied “that in that case, the whole of his clan, some 800 men, wou1d have to be present as they were all Highland gentlemen”; and it required all the tact and persuasion of the leaders of the Jacobite force to prevent a schism in the already too small army.
Had it not been for this same pride, the Battle of Culloden might have had a different ending. The Macdonalds, who claimed the post of honour on the right wing of the Jacobite army, an honour they had had since the day of Bannockburn, were, through an oversight, put on the left of the line. Their honour and pride were slighted, they refused to charge at the critical moment; “but,” to quote from Drummond Norio’s Life and Adventures of Prince Charles Edward Stuart “the chivalrous
ALEXANDER OF KEPPOCH,
true Highland gentleman that he was, had no thought of turning his back on the Sassunach, and finding, much to his sorrow and mortification, that his clansmen refused to advance, he went on alone to meet a hero’s death in front of the foe. It was then that be is reputed to have exclaimed in his anguish ‘My God, have the children of my tribe deserted me?’ He had not gone far when a musket ball struck him to the earth. A captain of Clanranald’s regiment, Donald Roy MacDonald, ran quickly forward to assist the wounded chief, and endeavoured to persuade him to return, but Keppoch positively refused to listen to such a suggestion, and once more moved towards the English ranks. He only proceeded a few steps when he was again hit, and he fell mortally wounded among the heaps of the slain.” But still, even at the sight of their chief being killed before their eyes, the MacDonalds remained immovable, and they ultimately retired towards Inverness without having fired a shot.
A story told by Col. Gardyue in his splendid history of the Gordon Highlanders, shows very well the lofty
PRIDE OF THE HIGHLAND CHIEF.
Speaking of the raising of the Gordon Fencibles in 1793, he says:—“The forming of flank companies excited no little jealousy among several of the Highland officers, especially one young chief who had no conception when he brought four score of his clan as volunteers, that they were to be disunited, and said in the mess room, 'If the commanding officer dared to draft any of his men to other companies, he would order his piper to sound his gathering and march them all back to Lochaber; that his men were gentlemen, and he would not have them associate with “bodich nam brigis” (carles with breeches).' It had to be explained to him that his men were now soldiers and must go to whatever company they suited, and that a court martial might prove a disagreeable commencement to his own military career.”
To show what height Highland pride is capable of soaring, the following tale is perhaps as good an example as may be found anywhere. One of the
MACNEILLS OF BARRA,
named Rory the Turbulent, who lived in the reign of James VI., and who came of an old family in the Western Isles, famous for their antiquity, their valour, and their vanity, had a herald who proclaimed in Gaelic, daily, from the summit of his castle:—“Hear, ye people, and listen all ye nations!
MacNeill of Barra having finished his dinner, all the kings and princes of the earth have liberty to dine.” Surely, indeed, Highland pride can go no further. As the Sassunach has it — “---------that race of high-born beggars. The MacKenzies, MacLeods, and Macgregors.”
Nevertheless, this pride of race and of family, whether for good or bad, has always been and always will be one of the most prominent characteristics of the Celtic race, and will last until that race dies away in the vistas of the the centuries yet unborn.
THE FIDELITY OF THE GAEL,
which we now turn to, has always been a strong element in the Celtic character, and never did it shine forth more conspicuously than in that romantic but ill-fated campaign of 1745-6. The story of the Highlander who was captured by the Hanovarian troops when in charge of a horse known to have been sent as a present from some Jacobite noble to Prince Charlie, and who, when he was to be granted his life and liberty if he would divulge who had sent it, refused to do so, and was consequently executed, is only one example of many, showing the unshakeable fidelity of the Gael during those troublous times.
It was during the wanderings of Prince Charlie after the fateful battle of Culloden, however, that the fidelity of the Gael appeals in its strongest light.
WITH A SUM OF £30,000, an untold amount in those days, on his head, the Prince, for a period of over five months, lay at the mercy of any Highlander who might ba base enough to betray him, and so secure the enormous reward. But not a man did so, unless we except the attempt made by a half-starved Lowland gipsy boy, who, when the Prince was wandering in South Uist, happened to chance on the royal fugitive’s hiding place, and went straight away and informed a party of militia who happened to be near. Luckily, his dirty appearanceand manners were such that nobody believed him, and he was laughed at for being a fool.
We cannot do better than quote what Drummond Norie in his Life and Adventure* of Prince Charles Edward Stuart has to say with reference to the reward of £30,000 offered for the Prince’s capture. He says, “what a fabulous sum this must have seemed to the poorer Highlander, to whom money was a rarity, and a pound Scots (one shilling and eightpence) quite a little fortune; and even to those of the highest' rank whose rent rolls rarely exceeded £500 per annum, how enormous the reward must have appeared, and how tempting the ease with which it might be gained. To the everlasting honour of the Gael, the reward was never earned, “Nior leigeadh Ni Maith” said a Highlander who knew where Charles was hidden, when he was told that, as sure as the sun was in the sky, he and his friends could make themselves wealthy for life if they betrayed the secret of the Prince’s hiding place, “Ochan! ged gheibheamaid an saoghal mu’n iadh a’ghrian, cha bhrathmaid ar n-oganach RioghaiT gu brath!” (Goodness forbid! alas! should we receive the world, around which the sun revolves, we should never betray our royal youth!) and again, when Donald MacLeod, who had helped the Prince to escape from Loch Boisdale, was captured by the Hanoverians and brought before General Campbell, that officer tried to explain to him how he might have made himself happy and contented for life by betraying the Prince, and so gaining the Government reward. To this, however, the old Highlander replied, “what then, thirty thousand pounds! though I had gotten’t I could not have enjoyed it eight and forty hours. Conscience would have gotten up upon me, that money could not have kept it down, and tho’ I could have gotten all England and Scotland for my pains, I would not have allowed a hair of his body to be touch’d if I could help it.”
Perhaps in no other country in the world could such extreme loyalty, undying fidelity, and faithful devotion to a Prince who had brought nothing but disaster in his train, have been possible!
But with the Highlander, his fidelity was bound up, so to speak, with his laws of hospitality, which were as sacred to him as they are at the present day amongst the Arabs and wandering tribes of the Sahara.
“Bheirin dha cuid oidche ged robh ceann fir ’na achlais” (I would give him a night’s fare although he had a man’s head under his arm) is . a Gaelic saying which means more than is apparent at first sight, preserving as it docs the memory of the story of how
MACGREGOR OF GLENSTRAE
sheltered the murderer of his own son, and unable to violate the sacred laws of hospitality which he had extended to the murderer when in ignorance of the deed that bad been done, even aided him to escape from the vengeance of his pursuers.
Thus we dee that the Prince, having received and having partaken of the hospitality of the Celt, was as safe in their hands as it was possible to be, considering the fact that the whole country was swarming with the enemy’s troops.
The Highlanders took it as their absolute duty to exercise all the means in their power to enable him to escape out of the country scathless and free. For had the Prince been captured in their country, they would have regarded it as a reflection on their character, on their fidelity, and on their strict laws of hospitality.
The fidelity of the Highlanders towards their chief was just as unswerving as that towards “Prionnsa Tearlach nan Gaidheal.” This fact enabled many of the fugitive Jacobite chiefs to remain in hiding in their own country, often within a mile of the enemy who were searching for them, and to ultimately escape to France, or to remain hidden until the affair had blown over. To take a remarkable instance of this tribal devotion, we have the case of
MACPHERSON OF CLUNY,
who, in his “cage” on Ben Alder, lay securely hidden throughout the troublous period following the Battle of Culloden. At one time, indeed, a large force of the enemy under Lord Loudoun lay encamped within a short distance of the “cage,” and it was only due to the extreme caution and secrecy of Cluny’s clansmen that the Hanovarion General never had the slightest suspicion that such an important fugitive was so near. In Stevenson’s Kidnapped we have a vivid description presented to us of this chief in his hiding place. It was in Cluny’s “cage” that Prince Charlie found welcome, rest and shelter just before his departure from Lochna-naugh for France.
In conclusion let us take yet one more instance of devoted loyalty on the part of the clansman to his chief. After the nsing of the ’45 was over, Stewart of Ardsheal, who had led
THE STEWARTS OF APPIN
throughout the whole campaign, had managed to escape to France after Culloden. He was of course attainted and his property forfeited by the Government. Nevertheless, during the whole time he was an exile in France, the rents of his estates were regularly paid to him, through his natural brother, “James of the Glen,” by his devoted tenantry, who thus, poor though they were, and notwithstanding the fact that they were already paying one rent to the Government, managed somehow to find a second rent for their beloved chief.
Such an extraordinary instance as this of devoted fidelity is, in truth, indeed fit to rank amongst the noblest acts of the human race.
Iain H. Mackay Scobie (Lieut.). Upper Burma.
END
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair
Scotland’s Outer Hebrides
A friend sent in a link to a NASA picture of the Outer Hebrides which I thought I'd share with you...
https://www.bluemarble.nasa.gov/imag...outer-hebrides
-------
The Canada Postal Strike is causing havoc in Canada and we're now almost a month into the strike. The company is losing a lot of money but the unions still want good pay increases and are also against some new working practices that need to be put in place if the company is to return to profit. I have made available a video about this in our News section below.
--------
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a biographical reference for deceased persons notable in British history. The current edition of this work has been published online by Oxford University Press since 2004. The current electronic edition is not free, but is available through individual or library subscription. There is also a recent print edition. Some earlier editions of this work are freely available online, and remain of historic interest. Below we link to free online volumes of the first edition, and some of their supplementary volumes.
First edition
The first edition was published in 63 volumes from 1885 through 1900 in London by Smith, Elder, and Co. (In the US, Macmillan also published many of the volumes in conjunction with Smith, Elder). Various supplements, errata volumes, and indexes were published in the years to follow, prior to the second edition.
I have added all 63 volumes to the site along with 5 supplementary volumes and you can get to all this at: https://electricscotland.com/history/bios/index.htm
I have been working on this for some time as it's been difficult to find good copies that are totally free to access and are searchable and in good condition. I am certain I've found all the volumes but if I am wrong in this assumption I look forward to hearing from you.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland and world news stories that can affect Scotland and as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on search engines it becomes a good resource. I might also add that in a number of newspapers you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish which I do myself from time to time.
Here is what caught my eye this week...
U.S. Releases 14 Canadian Wolves Into the Wild and Saves $94 Billion
What if I told you that 14 wolves changed the course of an entire ecosystem?
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/xGGeUfVZH1g?si=7BVFPYjrUtzQhEt3
Why Reform UK is making an impact in Scotland
LAST SATURDAY I had the pleasure of speaking at the Reform UK conference in Perth. It was actually Reform’s fourth Scottish Conference, but the three previous ones might have fitted in the backroom of some pub.
Read more at:
https://thinkscotland.org/2024/12/wh...t-in-scotland/
Tartan Army Euros fun boosts tourism in Scotland
Months have passed since the kilts were packed away and the hangovers cured, yet the echoes of Scotland's summer of fun in Germany continue to resonate.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgvr5573v2o
Early Budget analysis suggests several causes for concern
The draft Holyrood budget had a lot of work to do: responding to public services badly in need of repair, reducing child poverty and boosting economic growth, securing enough votes to pass the legislation in February, and setting the direction for John Swinney to take his party into the next election.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9vz21g8vo
Family of beavers take first swim in Scots forest in heart-warming video
Two adults and three kits were released into restored wetland habitat at Loch Ard Forest, near Aberfoyle.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...-swim-34263995
Private shipping companies feeling stretched amid Canada Post strike
From Global News Dec. 6, 2024
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/6GEUd78uGCc?si=4YrfArrY_2iCoC-_
Assad flees to Moscow after rebels take Syrian capital
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow with his family after rebels took the capital Damascus, according to Russian state media. Assad held onto power with the help of allies like Russia, Iran and its proxies, like Hezbollah. The question now is whether rebel forces, which started as an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda, will rule differently. Eric Sorensen reports on the fast-moving developments inside Syria.
Watch this at;
https://youtu.be/1F1rtl0uTx4?si=rZGCKeBleGnH_P_5
The CPTPP is Global Britain’s next step towards CANZUK
On 15th December, the United Kingdom will accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This is a major milestone towards establishing Global Britain. It is a huge post-Brexit win and one that the last Conservative Government can be proud to have negotiated.
Read more at:
https://conservativehome.com/2024/12...towards-canzuk
A failure of leadership over Glasgow’s "Mack"
By Jackie Kemp
Read more at:
https://sceptical.scot/2024/12/a-fai...glasgows-mack/
When Scottish Sages Christened "Liberal"
Big data is often a big bust, but not always. Big data has resolved a longstanding debate about when "liberal" first acquired a political meaning.
Read more at:
https://lawliberty.org/when-scottish...tened-liberal/
Almost 1 month into Canada Post strike, Ottawa says it won't intervene
On Wednesday, Canada Post said the union's new demands are unaffordable and unsustainable, claiming they would cost more than $3 billion over four years at a time when the postal service is struggling financially. The federal government has been under pressure from business groups to intervene in the strike, but Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says the government will remain on the sidelines.
Watch this at:
https://youtu.be/nzedvgn35UI?si=S75VRpcCkVJA5iDo
Electric Canadian
Selections from Canadian Poets
With occasional critical and biographical notes and an introductory essay on Canadian poetry by Edward Hartley Dewart (1864)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...selections.htm
Canada
A brief outline of the geographical position productions, climate, capabilities, educational and municipal institutions, &c., &c., published by authority Toronto, Canadas West (1857) (pdf)
You can read this pamphlet at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pion...dahu00hutt.pdf
Thoughts on a Sunday Morning - Sunday the 8th day of December 2024 PEACE
By the Rev. Nola Crewe
You can watch this at:
http://www.electricscotland.org/foru...ber-2024-peace
The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion
Or, The Captivity and Deliverance of Rev. John Williams of Deerfield (sixth edition) (1908) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...00willrich.pdf
The Beaver Magazine
Added Volume 3 No. 7 (pdf)
You can read this issue at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...rApril1923.pdf
Electric Scotland
Brougham, Henry Peter
Lord Brougham. Added a page for him which includes a 3 volume autobiography.
You can learn more about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...gham-henry.htm
The Edinburgh Review
Added 4 volumes of articles from this journal and also added some additional content as to the importance of this publication.
You can read all this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...rgh_review.htm
Dictionary of National Biography
Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee in 63 volumes with 5 supplementary volumes.
A major work which you can get to at;
https://electricscotland.com/history/bios/index.htm
The Return of the Scots
The impact of Scottish raiding of Northern England in the 1330s and 1340s by Dr Iain A. MacInnes, University of the Highlands and Islands (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...pact_of_Sc.pdf
Scotland Launches Entrepreneurial Plan-of-Action fit for Digital Era
Entrepreneurial activity represents the lifeblood of Scotland's centuries-old globally renowned innovations. Truly enterprising, if at times refreshingly eclectic just think of the "fs" for fingerprinting to the flushing toilet, there's also the "ts" for telephone and television. An article by Bill Magee.
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/magee/article0021.pdf
Scottish Restaurants
EPIC Week in Scotland | Edinburgh + Isle of Skye + Highlands + Islay + Glasgow Added this video to the foot of the page at:
https://electricscotland.com/food/sc...estaurants.htm
Bygone Church Life in Scotland
By William Andrews (1899) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/bible/b...00andrrich.pdf
Charles Alexander Lockhart Robertson
Distinguished medico-psychological physician, obituary (1897) (pdf)
You can read his obituary at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...n-Obituary.pdf
Simply The Best Pork Pies
Mr Pauls award winning Pork Pie recipe including the spice mix his family used for 120 years! Added this video to the foot of our Food & Drink page.
You can watch this at:
https://electricscotland.com/food/index.htm
Miscellany of The Scottish History Society
Added the Fourth Volume which contains Cordora's Commentary on the expedition to Scotland made by Charles Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales, The Manuscript history of Craignish, Miscellaneous charters, 1165-1300, From transcripts in the collection of the Late Sir William Fraser, K.C.B.
You can read this volume at:
https://electricscotland.com/history/shs/index.htm
Bain, Alexander
Professor of Logic. A most interesting person and spent most of a day finding out about him and tracing some of his work. You'll find a decent short biography of him and then links to some of his work including an Autobiography and other works.
You can get to all this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...alexander2.htm
Scotland-Upon-Thames
Got in an update of this article providing further information.
You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...mes(ultra).pdf
Alexander Bain
Did an update on his page with a video and a new article which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/history..._alexander.htm
Alexander Mackie
Prose and Verse, edited, with Memoir by John Minto Robertson, M.A. (1918) (pdf) Though Buchan-born, he was Banff-bred.
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/poetry/...der-mackie.pdf
Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart 1807—1891
A Biography by Alexander F. Robertson (1925) (pdf)
You can read about him at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...ol0000alex.pdf
The Religion of the Threshold
And other Sermons by Donald Sage MacKay, D.D., LL.D. Late Minister of the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, New York with an introduction by Professor Hugh Black, D.D. (1908) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...resh00mack.pdf
Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland
With extracts from other records relating to the affairs of the Burghs of Scotland
You can read these at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...oyalburghs.htm
Old Caledonian Pinewood by Dunlop, Balharry and Watson, July 2013
Note by Ramblers Scotland (pdf)
You can read this article at:
https://electricscotland.com/nature/...m%20Watson.pdf
Scottish Society of Louiville
Got up their December 2024 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ille/index.htm
Clan Munro of Australia Newsletter
Got in their December 2024 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...unro/index.htm
Story
HIGHLAND PRIDE AND FIDELITY
The character of the Highlander of Scotland is, like his origin, a complex one. A blend of the various races who struggled for supremacy at the dawn of history in Britain, he has not altogether been uninfluenced by his surroundings, and this latter fact has undoubtedly contributed towards the forming of a character at once original and peculiar.
Prominent amongst his many characteristics are those of racial pride and unswerving fidelity, engendered in him, no doubt, as a result of centuries of warfare, coupled with the fact of the ease with which he could trace his descent, no matter how poor, to the earliest times, to some half-mythical Celtic warrior; of his habit of living in small communities almost cut off by nature from the outside world ; of the hereditary contempt with which he regarded the “Gall,” or stranger from the plains; of the absolute need of union and mutual help in face of a common foe; and of the intense love he bore towards his home and family.
Setting aside the two world-wide known qualities of the Highlander—hospitality and undaunted valour in battle—we come to those two which form the subject of this essay:
“Highland pride!”
Have we not heard these words uttered again and again, both by those who are cognisant of their true meaning, and by those, the ignorant and unread ones, who would scoff at them? Highland pride, as we know it, is not that foolish empty, vain, self-conceit, which is so often wrongly called pride. It is the healthy self-respect, the fact of being able to look back on a line of ancestors, and being able to say, “though poor, our parents and grandparents were honest,” or “our forefathers were fearless, loyal, and true, let us never disgrace them,” which constitutes what Highland pride really is. Many a Highlander has been prevented from doing some mean or low act through this* same pride. “What will they say of me or iny race if I do this?” is the question the Gael asks himself. Who, indeed, has not heard the pathetic story of
JAMES MOR MACGREGOR,
son of the renowned Rob Roy, who, when an exile in. France, and reduced to extreme destitution, was offered a free pardon and a lucrative employ by the Government if he would betray another fugitive named Alan Breac Stewart, answered, “I was born a Highland gentleman, and can never accept that which would make me the disgrace of my family, and the scoff of my country.”
To the Highland soldier of the old days, that which he dreaded most, to which he infinitely. preferred death itself, was the “posting up” of his name on the kirk door of his native town— a thing only done in cases of disgraceful conduct in barracks or in the field. A soldier who incurred this penalty, shunned by his comrades, and not daring to return to his native countryside, generally sought and found a speedy end to his misery on the battlefield.
It is recorded that when
THE BLACK WATCH,
the first Highland regiment to be formed, was embodied in 1743, King George expressed a desire to see a Highland soldier. Two privates, Gregor MacGregor, commonly called “Gregor the beautiful,” and John Campbell son of Duncan Campbell, of the family of Duneaves in Perthshire, were chosen to appear before the King. After having performed the Lochabcr, and Claymore exercises to His Majesty’s complete satisfaction, they each received a guinea, which however they gave to the porter at the palace gates, as they went out! the King had quite forgotten that, although they were private soldiers, they were Highland gentlemen.
But not always do we see Highland Pride exercised in the right direction. It is said that at the rising of 1715, the Earl of Mar, the
“BOBBING JOHN” OF HISTORY,
called an assembly of all the chiefs and gentlemen of his army. To this the chief of the MacLeans haughtily replied “that in that case, the whole of his clan, some 800 men, wou1d have to be present as they were all Highland gentlemen”; and it required all the tact and persuasion of the leaders of the Jacobite force to prevent a schism in the already too small army.
Had it not been for this same pride, the Battle of Culloden might have had a different ending. The Macdonalds, who claimed the post of honour on the right wing of the Jacobite army, an honour they had had since the day of Bannockburn, were, through an oversight, put on the left of the line. Their honour and pride were slighted, they refused to charge at the critical moment; “but,” to quote from Drummond Norio’s Life and Adventures of Prince Charles Edward Stuart “the chivalrous
ALEXANDER OF KEPPOCH,
true Highland gentleman that he was, had no thought of turning his back on the Sassunach, and finding, much to his sorrow and mortification, that his clansmen refused to advance, he went on alone to meet a hero’s death in front of the foe. It was then that be is reputed to have exclaimed in his anguish ‘My God, have the children of my tribe deserted me?’ He had not gone far when a musket ball struck him to the earth. A captain of Clanranald’s regiment, Donald Roy MacDonald, ran quickly forward to assist the wounded chief, and endeavoured to persuade him to return, but Keppoch positively refused to listen to such a suggestion, and once more moved towards the English ranks. He only proceeded a few steps when he was again hit, and he fell mortally wounded among the heaps of the slain.” But still, even at the sight of their chief being killed before their eyes, the MacDonalds remained immovable, and they ultimately retired towards Inverness without having fired a shot.
A story told by Col. Gardyue in his splendid history of the Gordon Highlanders, shows very well the lofty
PRIDE OF THE HIGHLAND CHIEF.
Speaking of the raising of the Gordon Fencibles in 1793, he says:—“The forming of flank companies excited no little jealousy among several of the Highland officers, especially one young chief who had no conception when he brought four score of his clan as volunteers, that they were to be disunited, and said in the mess room, 'If the commanding officer dared to draft any of his men to other companies, he would order his piper to sound his gathering and march them all back to Lochaber; that his men were gentlemen, and he would not have them associate with “bodich nam brigis” (carles with breeches).' It had to be explained to him that his men were now soldiers and must go to whatever company they suited, and that a court martial might prove a disagreeable commencement to his own military career.”
To show what height Highland pride is capable of soaring, the following tale is perhaps as good an example as may be found anywhere. One of the
MACNEILLS OF BARRA,
named Rory the Turbulent, who lived in the reign of James VI., and who came of an old family in the Western Isles, famous for their antiquity, their valour, and their vanity, had a herald who proclaimed in Gaelic, daily, from the summit of his castle:—“Hear, ye people, and listen all ye nations!
MacNeill of Barra having finished his dinner, all the kings and princes of the earth have liberty to dine.” Surely, indeed, Highland pride can go no further. As the Sassunach has it — “---------that race of high-born beggars. The MacKenzies, MacLeods, and Macgregors.”
Nevertheless, this pride of race and of family, whether for good or bad, has always been and always will be one of the most prominent characteristics of the Celtic race, and will last until that race dies away in the vistas of the the centuries yet unborn.
THE FIDELITY OF THE GAEL,
which we now turn to, has always been a strong element in the Celtic character, and never did it shine forth more conspicuously than in that romantic but ill-fated campaign of 1745-6. The story of the Highlander who was captured by the Hanovarian troops when in charge of a horse known to have been sent as a present from some Jacobite noble to Prince Charlie, and who, when he was to be granted his life and liberty if he would divulge who had sent it, refused to do so, and was consequently executed, is only one example of many, showing the unshakeable fidelity of the Gael during those troublous times.
It was during the wanderings of Prince Charlie after the fateful battle of Culloden, however, that the fidelity of the Gael appeals in its strongest light.
WITH A SUM OF £30,000, an untold amount in those days, on his head, the Prince, for a period of over five months, lay at the mercy of any Highlander who might ba base enough to betray him, and so secure the enormous reward. But not a man did so, unless we except the attempt made by a half-starved Lowland gipsy boy, who, when the Prince was wandering in South Uist, happened to chance on the royal fugitive’s hiding place, and went straight away and informed a party of militia who happened to be near. Luckily, his dirty appearanceand manners were such that nobody believed him, and he was laughed at for being a fool.
We cannot do better than quote what Drummond Norie in his Life and Adventure* of Prince Charles Edward Stuart has to say with reference to the reward of £30,000 offered for the Prince’s capture. He says, “what a fabulous sum this must have seemed to the poorer Highlander, to whom money was a rarity, and a pound Scots (one shilling and eightpence) quite a little fortune; and even to those of the highest' rank whose rent rolls rarely exceeded £500 per annum, how enormous the reward must have appeared, and how tempting the ease with which it might be gained. To the everlasting honour of the Gael, the reward was never earned, “Nior leigeadh Ni Maith” said a Highlander who knew where Charles was hidden, when he was told that, as sure as the sun was in the sky, he and his friends could make themselves wealthy for life if they betrayed the secret of the Prince’s hiding place, “Ochan! ged gheibheamaid an saoghal mu’n iadh a’ghrian, cha bhrathmaid ar n-oganach RioghaiT gu brath!” (Goodness forbid! alas! should we receive the world, around which the sun revolves, we should never betray our royal youth!) and again, when Donald MacLeod, who had helped the Prince to escape from Loch Boisdale, was captured by the Hanoverians and brought before General Campbell, that officer tried to explain to him how he might have made himself happy and contented for life by betraying the Prince, and so gaining the Government reward. To this, however, the old Highlander replied, “what then, thirty thousand pounds! though I had gotten’t I could not have enjoyed it eight and forty hours. Conscience would have gotten up upon me, that money could not have kept it down, and tho’ I could have gotten all England and Scotland for my pains, I would not have allowed a hair of his body to be touch’d if I could help it.”
Perhaps in no other country in the world could such extreme loyalty, undying fidelity, and faithful devotion to a Prince who had brought nothing but disaster in his train, have been possible!
But with the Highlander, his fidelity was bound up, so to speak, with his laws of hospitality, which were as sacred to him as they are at the present day amongst the Arabs and wandering tribes of the Sahara.
“Bheirin dha cuid oidche ged robh ceann fir ’na achlais” (I would give him a night’s fare although he had a man’s head under his arm) is . a Gaelic saying which means more than is apparent at first sight, preserving as it docs the memory of the story of how
MACGREGOR OF GLENSTRAE
sheltered the murderer of his own son, and unable to violate the sacred laws of hospitality which he had extended to the murderer when in ignorance of the deed that bad been done, even aided him to escape from the vengeance of his pursuers.
Thus we dee that the Prince, having received and having partaken of the hospitality of the Celt, was as safe in their hands as it was possible to be, considering the fact that the whole country was swarming with the enemy’s troops.
The Highlanders took it as their absolute duty to exercise all the means in their power to enable him to escape out of the country scathless and free. For had the Prince been captured in their country, they would have regarded it as a reflection on their character, on their fidelity, and on their strict laws of hospitality.
The fidelity of the Highlanders towards their chief was just as unswerving as that towards “Prionnsa Tearlach nan Gaidheal.” This fact enabled many of the fugitive Jacobite chiefs to remain in hiding in their own country, often within a mile of the enemy who were searching for them, and to ultimately escape to France, or to remain hidden until the affair had blown over. To take a remarkable instance of this tribal devotion, we have the case of
MACPHERSON OF CLUNY,
who, in his “cage” on Ben Alder, lay securely hidden throughout the troublous period following the Battle of Culloden. At one time, indeed, a large force of the enemy under Lord Loudoun lay encamped within a short distance of the “cage,” and it was only due to the extreme caution and secrecy of Cluny’s clansmen that the Hanovarion General never had the slightest suspicion that such an important fugitive was so near. In Stevenson’s Kidnapped we have a vivid description presented to us of this chief in his hiding place. It was in Cluny’s “cage” that Prince Charlie found welcome, rest and shelter just before his departure from Lochna-naugh for France.
In conclusion let us take yet one more instance of devoted loyalty on the part of the clansman to his chief. After the nsing of the ’45 was over, Stewart of Ardsheal, who had led
THE STEWARTS OF APPIN
throughout the whole campaign, had managed to escape to France after Culloden. He was of course attainted and his property forfeited by the Government. Nevertheless, during the whole time he was an exile in France, the rents of his estates were regularly paid to him, through his natural brother, “James of the Glen,” by his devoted tenantry, who thus, poor though they were, and notwithstanding the fact that they were already paying one rent to the Government, managed somehow to find a second rent for their beloved chief.
Such an extraordinary instance as this of devoted fidelity is, in truth, indeed fit to rank amongst the noblest acts of the human race.
Iain H. Mackay Scobie (Lieut.). Upper Burma.
END
Weekend is almost here and hope it's a good one for you.
Alastair