Newsletter 14th February 2014

[Alastair]

To see what we've added to the Electric Scotland site view our What's New page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm

To see what we've added to the Electric Canadian site view our What's New page at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm

For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/

Electric Scotland News

Update on Bannockburn Live / Stirling’s Big Homecoming Weekend
Bannockburn Live will now take place over two days (Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 June), with extended hours from 10am – 7pm each day to maximise the entertainment programme, which includes a large scale battlefield involving over 300 re-enactors. This will be the largest event of this nature seen in Scotland.

Ticket holders for the Monday event will be fully reimbursed or can have their ticket reallocated to either the Saturday or Sunday.

VisitScotland is looking at how best to engage with Clans and Families that have already made plans to be in Stirling on the Monday and will work with representative groups, including COSCA, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and The Highland Clans Partnership Group to create a programme of activity for the day.

Reasons for the change

Scotland is preparing to host three large scale events over one weekend in Stirling:
• Pipefest (Friday, 27 June)
• Bannockburn Live (Saturday and Sunday 28-29 June)
• Armed Forces Day National Event (Saturday, 28 June)

The expanded weekend-long programme of events led to VisitScotland taking on responsibility for the management of Bannockburn Live last month. This will enable VisitScotland to successfully market and promote the event in the wider of context of Stirling’s Homecoming Weekend.

As part of the review of the project, and due to the scale of events taking place in Stirling over the same weekend, a decision was made to consolidate the Bannockburn Live programme into two days. This will ensure that visitors have the best possible experience and the events can be promoted and delivered in unison.

The Bannockburn Live Programme

Celebrating 700 years since one of the most famous battles in Scottish history, Unique Events, working with VisitScotland, The National Trust for Scotland and partners, has unveiled details of Bannockburn Live which includes:

• A large scale battlefield involving over 300 re-enactors who will recreate the atmosphere of the most famous battle in Scotland’s history, the largest event of this nature seen in Scotland. Battles will take place at 12noon, 2pm and 4pm.
• Encampments that evoke the preparations for battle and of medieval times including a fully operational kitchen, blacksmiths, armouries and living quarters.
• Clan and Family Village - with around 40 Clans and Families from Scotland, the UK and overseas who will tell their own stories. Clan people and the general public will be able to trace their own Scottish routes at a genealogy centre.
• Food & Drink Village - specially curated by Scotland’s Food and Drink where high quality, seasonal and local artisan food and drink will be available to sample and buy. There will be discussions and demonstrations both on food in historical and contemporary contexts. The main bar in this ‘village’ will serve selected and artisan beers and other drinks. There will be a large area for outdoor eating and drinking.
• ‘Storyville’ - where Scotland’s story will be told through music, song and spoken word. On the stage there will be performance and debate in a wide variety of genre’s and topics both historical and current. There will be many interactive games and activities for children.
• The Main Stage featuring folk and contemporary music throughout the day.
• Craft stalls and demonstrations, many of which are of a historical and medieval nature.

Pipefest Stirling

Pipefest Stirling takes place on 27 June 2014 and is supported by Homecoming Scotland, The Famous Grouse Experience and Stirling Council. Marking the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, the parade (involving 1220 pipers, drummers, Highland Dancers and Clans currently registered) will start from the gates of Stirling Castle and proceed through the city led by Pipe Major Ian Duncan and the Atholl Highlanders – Europe’s only private army.
(info and registration www.pipefest.com)

Armed Forces Day National Event

Armed Forces Day National Event will take place in Stirling on 28 June 2014, enabling the local community to lead the nation in honouring UK Armed Forces personnel past and present. It will be the sixth national event since 2009, and the second to be held in Scotland, after Armed Forces Day in Edinburgh in 2011.

Ticketing information

Tickets are available for Bannockburn Live at www.bannockburnlive.com: Adults £20; Children (under 14) £12.50; Family ticket £55.00; King’s Ticket £75.00; Children under 5 yrs are free.

Due to capacity, the new Battle of Bannockburn visitor centre (opening in March 2014) will not be open to general admission ticket holders during the Bannockburn Live event. The visitor centre will only be open to Bannockburn Live ‘The King’s Ticket’ ticket holders who will be permitted exclusive access as part of their ticket package.

Pipefest and Armed Forces Day are both free to the public.

Note: News item in the Scotsman.... "Bannockburn tickets cut by half after poor demand"

The official celebrations to mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn have been slashed in the wake of poor ticket sales and an unexpected clash with the UK government’s annual military showpiece.

See http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/he...mand-1-3294423 for the full article.

I do note that there are quite a few articles around this event which are all very negative so you might want to learn more about this before deciding to go and especially if you are coming from overseas.

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Steve managed to resolve our problem with our community and it's now working at normal speeds again.

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I wanted to talk a little about Tait's Edinburgh Magazine. I have been working through a number of their volumes. It was published between 1832 and 1861. As Electric Scotland is an educational site to do with the history of Scotland and the Scots, both at home and abroad, I do publish any articles on this topic. Many students at universities do make use of the site for research into all aspects of Scottish history. That means that I regularly post up articles that are likely of little interest to general readers. For example if you were researching the Poor Law in Scotland then you'll find good articles on this subject on the site. In fact if you use our site search engine you'll find 159 pages that refer to "Poor Law". And so you can see why we're a popular resource for research.

There are a whole mix of articles both fiction and non fiction within their pages and I note also that there are many articles to do with Ireland and also many discussing America and trips people make there. I have posted a couple up on trips to America but if you are interested in reading more then you can get copies of the magazine on the Internet Archive.

Electric Canadian

Across the Canadian Prairies
A Two Months Holiday in the Dominion by J. G. Colmer (1894)

I have now completed this book.

You can read the balance of the chapters at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...ries/index.htm

Experiences of a Backwoods Preacher
Facts and Incidents culled from thirty years of Ministerial life by Rev. Joseph H. Hilts, Second Edition (1892). A new book we're going to add day by day.
Here is the Preface to read here...

TO THE READER

To walk together in harmony two must be agreed. This is Bible sentiment, and it is as applicable to going through a book as it is to walking along a country road or a city street.

But no two independent thinkers can reasonably expect to see exactly alike in every particular. The best thing that they can do is to agree to differ without alienation or contention.

In writing the following pages I have stated many facts and incidents. For the substantial truthfulness of every line I can vouch without any misgivings. But I have also given many opinions on a variety of things. Of the correctness of these you must judge for yourself.

You will find some things that will not suit you; and you will say things that would not suit me, if I could hear them. So that in the matter of fault-finding we will come out about even.
But, on the other hand, you will find some things that you will like, and you will say some things that 1 would like, if 1 could hear them. So that in the matter of appreciation and approval we may reckon ourselves to be about even also.

Now, with this understanding at the start, you may safely commence the perusal of the book, and I hope that in going through it you will have a pleasant time, and that we will be no less friends when we part at the conclusion of your task than we were at the beginning of it.

The book has been written almost entirely from memory, and in calling upon that faculty to furnish the materials that fill the following pages, I have found some difficulty in determining what to select and what to exclude, as I could not find room for all the matter presented by that faithful recorder of passing events.

I have made no effort to produce a sensational volume; nor have I attempted anything like fine writing. I simply tried to write so as to avoid dullness on the one hand and frivolity on the other. How far I have succeeded in doing this you must decide, and for that decision I wait with some solicitude.

J. H. H.

You can read this book at http://www.electriccanadian.com/Reli...oods/index.htm

By Trench and Trail in Song and Story
By Angus MacKay (Oscar Dhu) (1918). Adding one of his poems each day until complete.

You can read this book at http://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/music/mackay/index.htm

Here is one of his poems "The Lumberjack"

We have songs on many topics,
New and old, beneath the sun,
But, alas, in many cases,
Minstrelsy is overdone;

So I’ll sing a song of labor —
Where the muse is rather slack —
And my theme shall be of timber
And the hardy lumberjack.

Now republican traditions
Are so grafted in our bones,
That e’en monarchs of the forest
Must be tumbled from their thrones.

And to raze those ancient strongholds
We have armies of the axe,
Plucky pioneers of progress,
Known to all as lumberjacks.

He may lack the wings of angels
And the sanctity of saints:
If a town's in need of painting
He may furnish all the paints.

Yet he lapses but a moment
And again he hies him back
Close unto the heart of nature,
Does the lonesome lumberjack.

There amid his wild surroundings
And the crooning of the trees,
He finds balm for mind and body
Borne on every passing breeze.

There is something strangely healing
In the magic of the myrrh,
In the odor of the cedar
And the fragrance of the fir!

Grind your axes, O my heroes,
Point your peavies, file your saws;
Let your ropes and chains and cables
Be examined now for flaws.

Fire up the iron donkey,
Till each rivet feels the strain,
Lumberjack has had his outing
And returns to camp again!

There is music in the axe fall
As it sounds upon the ear;
There is music in the sawing
When the dust is flying clear—

Aye, there’s music for the lumberjack
Magnificent of sound.
In the crashing of the timber
As it thunders to the ground.

He will never lack for music
While the owl is keeping time
With the ceaseless serenading
Of the frog within the slime.

But the music ever sounding,
With the sweetest of appeals,
Is the ding-dong of the iron gong
That calls him to his meals!

He's a credit to his calling,
To his country and his clan:
There is not a dude among them—
Every lumberjack’s a man.

And you’ll find him ever cheerful,
In the sunshine or the rain,
From the camps of B. Columbia
To the lumber camps of Maine.

He may show a rough exterior,
But his heart is warm within—
Mark him poring o’er that letter.
Just received from home and kin:

Tears will gather hot and blinding
And he cannot hold them back,
Reading words from distant loved ones
To their absent lumberjack!

'Tis, perchance, a loving message
From a sweetheart far away.
Or a tender admonition
From a mother old and gray.

O, ye lumberjacks, remember,
That wherever ye may roam,
There are anxious hearts awaiting
For an answer "back at home"!

When the sun in golden glory
Hath descended in the west,
They indulge in song and story
Till they seek their bunks for rest

There to dream of scenes of childhood.
Amid mountain stream or glen.
Till old Sol in morning splendor
Calls them to their tasks again.

Soft and soothing are the voices
As the shades of evening fall,
Stealing gently through the forest—
Brooding calmly over all.

By yon lake a loon is calling
And the night bird answers back.
Keeping vigil o’er the slumbers
Of the weary lumberjack.

O, the lumberjack is loyal
And he’ll surely see to it,
In the grind against the Kaiser
That each axe will "do its bit";

He will spruce up for the allies
Till ten thousand airplanes hum.
All to win the war for freedom
And democracy, by gum!

Chorus
Grind your axes, O my heroes,
Point your peavies, file your saws,
Let your ropes and chains and cables
Be examined now for flaws:
Fire up the iron donkey
Till each rivet feels the strain,
Lumberjack will help the Allies
Win the war with ship and plane!

Scots in BC
A department of Simon Fraser University.

I was talking to Dr Leith Davis of the Scottish Studies Centre of Simon Fraser University and she told me about this new web site they had started.

You can learn more at http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist.../scotsinbc.htm

The Letters of Rusticus
By David Currie (1880)

He was an investigative journalist (way ahead of his time) for the Montreal Witness newspaper. He was sent west to write a series of dispatches for the paper which told of conditions that Canadian pioneers and homesteaders would find. The Witness later published the entire series of dispatches as this book, "The Letters of Rusticus" in 1880. It became a must-have resource.

My thanks for Bob Currie of the Clan Currie Society for contributing this book to the site. I found it a wee bit hard to read so spent some time editing it to provide a single page view of the book rather than the double page it was produced in. I have made both versions available and you can decide which one to download at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/pioneering/letters.htm

Canada - Standing Armies
An article from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine c1840. (pdf)

You can download this article at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...nding_army.pdf

The Flag in the Wind
This weeks issue was compiled by Jim Lynch, the editor of the Scots Independent Newspaper, in which he has produced a number of interesting articles and a good range of articles in the Synopsis.

You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org

Electric Scotland

Alexander Murdoch (1841-1891)
A Scottish Engineer, Poet, Author, Journalist

Added a third book called "Scotch Readings: Humorous and Amusing" and we're breaking this down into individual chapters for you to read. We've added three of them this week... "The Wooin' O' Kate Dalrymple", "A Poet's Bid For Fame" and "Jock Broon's Patent Umbrella"which you can find at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...doch/index.htm

Scotland in the World
Executive Summary
James Wilkie

Scotland in the World is one of four studies and policy proposals on Scotland’s post-independence international political relations: at global level, within Europe, within the Commonwealth, and with its immediate neighbours in the archipelago of the so-called British Isles. It does not deal with economic and monetary relations.

This global survey starts with a review of the latest developments on the world stage, and in particular the ongoing development of a global system of governance through hundreds of international organisations under the general umbrella of the United Nations. It points out that Scotland’s vital interests in the world cannot possibly be adequately protected without constitutional autonomy and a seat at the United Nations, which is the very hallmark of an independent state.

The global institutions now largely supersede corresponding European ones over a wide spectrum of activity. Scotland will eventually have to join around 50 essential international organisations that carry out functions of importance to the country and its people. This will also involve the signing, ratification and adherence to the terms of hundreds of treaties that now regulate international relations. Even the conduct of domestic policy must now be carried out in accordance with the international norms of pluralist democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.

Scotland will need a specialised diplomatic service to represent it around the world, even although the nature of diplomacy has changed over the years. The selection and training of members of the Foreign Service will have to be of the highest order if they are to be capable of upholding Scotland’s interests in the world.

The functions of classical diplomacy, of representation and consular services, are still valid but have nowadays expanded to cover such tasks as export promotion, inward investment, cultural and educational exchanges at school and university level, research and development cooperation, and much more. The disadvantages of a smaller state can be overcome by extensive cooperation with partners as well as with the appointment of honorary consuls and other measures. The departmental structure of the Foreign Ministry is also discussed, and its role as a clearing house for activities abroad by government ministries and national organisations.

Scotland can play a large part in international humanitarian and development activities. Its programme of development cooperation should be concentrated on a few developing countries, and should provide quality assistance in engineering, education, agriculture, forestry, fishing and many other fields, making full use of the private sector.
Provision should be made for assisted places for students from developing countries at Scottish universities and colleges, and for service abroad by young Scottish graduates and technicians, including “associate experts” made available to the United Nations at subsidised rates.

All members of the United Nations are obliged by the UN Charter to provide military forces, resources and facilities for implementing and enforcing Security Council resolutions. Peacemaking and peacekeeping missions should be regarded as an integral function of the Scottish Defence Force, to be carried out only under the authority of the Department of Peacekeeping operations at the UN general Secretariat in New York.

Disaster relief and other humanitarian activities will be carried out under the auspices of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs at UN New York. Scotland should be prepared to assist the international community in emergencies ranging from the displacements caused by war, weather and natural disasters to the impact of such disruptions on health, hygiene, nutrition, education, and even basic shelter. Such humanitarian activities should be regarded as an integral part of military functions.
Scotland has more incentive than most nations to seek the abolition of weapons of mass destruction, whether chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRD). It should therefore play an active part in steps towards the control and eventual abolition of all CBRD weapons and their carrier systems, and should sign and ratify all of the relevant treaties to this end. The same applies to the so-called conventional weapons, especially small arms and light weapons, which because of their sheer numbers represent an even greater threat than the WMDs. Scotland may be drawn into the various informal regimes for controlling the export of substances and technology that could be used for the production of armaments in other countries.

You can read the full report at: http://www.electricscotland.com/inde...intheWorld.pdf

Tait's Edinburgh Magazine
Have continued to work on these magazines from c1840. Here are some of the articles I've culled from the pages this week. I might add that some of the scans are not too clear so I ended up providing them as pdf files.

Scottish Entails
An upholsterer gets an order to fit up in a first-rate style, the mansion-house of a young gentleman who has just succeeded to his paternal estate. The order is large; but that is a commendable quality, for the estate is large, too,— and, contemplating its broad woodlands and fruitful meadows the mahogany heart of the upholsterer grows glad within him, and he says of his long bill, “It is as good as the bank.” He awards it, in his secret thoughts that compliment which the Americans consider the greatest of all and which they expies by mying of any thing, that “It is actually equal to cash. Alas unthinking upholsterer! year after year passes by, and the bill is unpaid. Every twelvemonth it is becoming nominally more valuable, but in its real nature more precarious and questionable. Its owner hears some incomprehensible statement that the dashing young laird is no more owner of his fine estate, than the captain is owner of the man-of-war he commands. He is informed that some one, who was real owner of that estate a hundred and fifty yean ago, being armed with that despotism which the legislature cannot of itself use, but which it can bestow on individuals had fixed that, thereafter to all eternity no one should be owner of that land; that it should be excluded from commerce and from human control; and that a certain series of persons genealogically expected to come into existence, should successively have the privilege of enjoying its fruits so long as they lived. The upholsterer is told that if he had made himself acquainted with the practice of the feudal law, and had devoted himself to the study of a certain record preserved in Edinburgh, called the Register of Tailsies he would have found out how the matter lay; and that, not having adopted these very obvious precautions he must take the consequences and content himself with such a percentage on his debt as the numbers of his fellow-suflferers may limit his proportion of the accessible funds.

Such is the working of the law of Entail

You can read the rest of this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...sh_entails.htm

Relief of the Poor in Scotland
A novel and important document has been presented to Parliament this session, entitled the "First Annual Report of the Board of Supervision for Relief of the Poor in Scotland.” One of the most notable features of the Scottish Poor-law Act, passed in 1845, was the erection of a central Board or Commission, somewhat akin to the Board of Poor-law Commissioners in England, and charged with the supervision of the parochial officials. Previous to the passing of the new Act, the parishes were left to do very much as they pleased: the consequence was, great inequality in the mode and amount of relief throughout Scotland, and in the majority of parishes an inconceivable degree of hardship and injustice to the poor. The old poor-law, in so far as it appeared on the statute book, was not to blame for these evils. The rights of the poor, and the duties of the parochial boards, were singularly well defined by the various acts and proclamations which the Legislature and Privy Council of Scotland, from the days of James VI. to those of William and Mary, had with exemplary perseverance enrolled among the laws of the realm. Even the usual checks and counterchecks, with which it is customary in this country to regulate the exercise of authority and secure the impartial discharge of official duty, were not neglected. A power of appeal was given from the parochial boards to the sheriffs of counties; and from these again to the lords of session. Magistrates, justices of the peace, sheriffs and judges, were all by turns invoked to protect the interests of the poor, and to visit the negligence of parishes with severe pecuniary penalties. In short, the sustenance of the poor was constituted a right—a legal and civil right—surrounded with the same sanctions as the right of property, and capable of being enforced by the same means as a creditor would recover a just debt, or as an heir of tailzie would make good his claim to an estate. But in vain were all these benevolent precautions. The “still small voice” of charity which issued at intervals from the hall of Parliament, or the recesses of the Secret Council, was utterly lost amid the theological contentions and civil convulsions of the times. The first enactments relating to the poor, were passed in the crises of the Reformation: the last received the touch of the Royal sceptre when the nation had newly and but temporarily emerged from the fiery struggle by which an ancient line of kings was finally expolled from the throne. The claims of the poor and indigent had but small chance of being respected in an age when ecclesiastics strove for supremacy, and kings themselves were forced to contend for their crowns. Even when civil turmoil had subsided, and peace, order, and government were fully established, new pretexts were not long in being discovered for evading the administration of laws which proposed to relieve the wants of the poor out of the superfluities of the wealthy. It was found that such a mode of relieving destitution was very ill adapted to the peculiar genius of the Scottish people; and another system, or rather like no-system which had prevailed from the beginning of the Reformation, was applauded as exceedingly congenial with the pride, modesty, and independence of the national character. Science and philosophy came to the aid of avarice and greed; and elaborate arguments, founded upon ingenious but speculative theories of population, were added to the more vulgar reasons dictated by sheer selfishness, in support of the dogma that no provision should be made for the poor.

You can read the rest of this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...cles/poor2.htm

The River Jordon in Scotland
We have been much gratified by the perusal of some well-written and interesting articles on Irish rivers, which have appeared in the numbers of our able contemporary, the Dublin University Magazine. It has occurred to us that we might, now and then, say a few words about our Scottish rivers. We are ready to admit that we owe the idea to our much-respected brother, and to thank him for having inspired us with it; but, at the same time, we are fully disposed to exercise that discretion which we both wish and require to maintain within the regions of our own particular domain, and to do the matter entirely after our own taste and fancy. We, who have served in our younger days, cannot forget the military lessons which our much-lamented friend, old Major Ramsbottom, used to take every opportunity of impressing or us, under the firm conviction which the good and brave man held, that we had been born to die a Field-Marshal. “When you are about to fight the enemy, my boy,” said he, “whether it may be with a small or a large force, never bring the elite of your troops prominently forward at first. Begin with the rapscallions— if, indeed, any such fellows are ever to be found in any British army—and then, by afterwards supporting them with your more choice corps "Parmee, you will annihilate the enemy, without any serious loss to yourself.” Peace to the manes of the brave and kind-hearted Major! His doating affection for us was such, and his augury of our future military fame was so wonderful, that, if he had had any control over us, we never should have got leave to have quitted the service as we did; and all his life afterwards he solemnly declared that, if we had only stuck to the red coat, the ran of the great Duke of Wellington never would hare risen above the horizon, for that its beams would have been utterly quenched beneath the superior splendour of our military career.

You can read the rest of this article at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...les/jordon.htm

Forsyth's Autobiography
To the citizens of Edinburgh, and the people of Scotland in general, this posthumous volume requires no introduction. Through a long life, its author among them, well known, and highly esteemed as an eminent lawyer, and as a man of learning and general science: the author of several works that have attained celebrity, though of none so well calculated as that on our table directly to advance the interests of religion and virtue. And we are not sure but that the history of Mr Forsyth’s life, of his early struggles, indomitable perseverance, and final triumph over great difficulties, may not afford even more effectual lessons than his Sermons and Commentaries. His personal history is one which is almost peculiar to his native country; for in what other land could the son of “very poor parents,” without patrons, and with nothing to rely upon save his own exertions have trode the same arduous path and attained the same distinction? Mr. Forsyth has related his early history in an autobiography full of interest and instruction, though the reader may wish that it had been more expanded and circumstantial. But the author considered it great presumption in a man to dwell upon the history of his own life, pleasant as it is to look back upon past trials and pleasures; and his notes are therefore brief and scanty. It is, however, written, so far as it goes, with the brevity and modest, manly grace of Franklin. He was born at Biggar; and though he attained the age of nearly four score, was so delicate a child that he was not expected to survive. He was far advanced in life before ho wrote down the particulars of his early career, which seems to have been vividly remembered. Of himself in childhood, he says,

“I had slow talents, but great fits of application. I was an only child, and my parents were extremely poor, but they resolved to make me a minister, if in their power. I assented to whatever was proposed. I was of a soft timid disposition in childhood — kept down by a sense of poverty, and the evident preference given at school to the children of wealthy parents. Occasionally, however, starts of fearlessness occurred in my conduct; but I soon relapsed.

"I was taught to read English by my mother—began Latin at a parish sohool at seven year old, and continued till twelve, learning very little. We were kept in school in summer from ten a.m. till two p.m., and then from three to six or seven o’clock: in winter from ten a.m. till dark. Going to school I often looked at grownup persons, and wondered if the time of blessedness would ever arrive when I would be allowed to walk about like them, without being subjected to the misery of sitting all day in school.
I have added this article to the page we created for his "Beauties of Scotland" is which you can find information containing a clear and full account of the agriculture, commerce, mines and manufactures of the population, cities, towns and villages, &ct, of each country. By Robert Forsyth in 5 volumes printed in 1805.

You can read the rest of this at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...s_scotland.htm

The Educational Institute of Scotland
Its Origin, History, and Objects.

It is not often that the brethren of the scholastic profession have attempted to force themselves on public notice. They are vulgarly said to be a pedantic race; they are, unquestionably, a quick, inoffensive race, and have hitherto drudged silently on in their laborious calling, the worst paid, and the most undervalued of public servants. But as certain animals, naturally meek and peaceful, are, when excited, more terrible in their wrath than such as are habitually fierce and irascible, so this retiring and passive body of men, when once roused to vindicate their claims upon society, may urge them with irresistible energy and perseverance. They have already made a bold beginning. Between 600 and 700 teachers, of various denominations, and from all parts of Scotland, assembled in the hail of the High School of Edinburgh, on Saturday the 18th of September, and formed themselves into an association, which they have denominated the "Educational Institute of Scotland." They were enthusiastic—they were unanimous—they were moderate in their aims, and temperate in their language; and when a number of men of education, intelligence, and respectability, thus combine, and thus conduct their proceedings, there is no object, provided it be laudable, rational, and practicable, which they may not hope to accomplish. We shall, therefore, be doing a service to the educator, to education, and to the community, by devoting a portion of our present number to a brief consideration of this movement among the teachers of Scotland.

You can read the rest of this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/educ..._institute.htm

Robert MacKenzie Daniel
An author and significant Scot.

The late Mr. Robert Mackenzie Daniel, author of the "Young Widow," the ”Scottish Heiress,” and other popular works of fiction, was best known to general readers, through his soubriquet of the ”Scottish Box.” We think it was the Literary Gazette which first designated Mr. Daniel by that title; and from its aptness, as indicating the peculiar quality of his talents, it was at once adopted nod received as just, by the general reading public. Not that his style was in anything akin to that of the distinguished author of “Pickwick," for never, perhaps, in that respect alone, did two authors differ more widely than the “Scottish Box," and the original “Box," but rather that the name being already in the market, as the head of a class of literature, original in the real sense of the term, and distinctive for the deep and varied acquaintance with human life which it displayed, it appeared to the mind of the critic, the most aptly descriptive of an author, who, without possessing attributes of genius at all comparable to Dickens, yet owned, in common with his great prototype, the quality of treating the subjects which he chose as the groundworks of his novels, in a manner truly original, and totally devoid of the violations of truth and nature, so characteristic of fashionable works of fiction. Mr. Daniel finished his career but a short time ago, and a posthumous production from his pen, entitled the "Cardinal's Daughter,” has just made its appearance. Sir Egerten Bridges remarks, that in perusing any literary work, the reader is always anxious to know something of its author—how he thought, how he spoke, and what were his habits; and if such curiosity is excited in the case of books in general, how much more so in the case of one whose author has ceased to exist before his hand was allowed to give the last polish to its pages, and whose final moments—his brain now torn and dismembered by the stern necessities of his position, a wife and children looking for that support, which his exertions were inadequate to supply, was enshrouded amid the clouds of dark insanity!

You can read the rest of this account at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...iel_robert.htm

Celtic Tenures and Highland Clearings
The stability of property is, next to the safety of life, the most important object of every government; and no country can be called highly civilized where it is not firmly and distinctly secured, and where it is liable to any derangements, at the will either of multitudes or individuals. It is part of a firm and well established rule of property, that it should be able to stand criticism and inquiry down to its very roots. Wherever people evade inspection and examination, whispering that it is dangerous, that it may be a precedent for questioning the stability of property at large, that it will give a feeling of insecurity,—there we may expect to find something wrong that should be altered to give symmetry and strength to the whole. There indeed we may expect to find property having a feeble and uncertain hold of the social system, which it is likely some time or other to lose; and it will not be the inspection of the whole edifice, and the repairing and readjusting of the part that is wrong,—it will not be this, we say, that is dangerous to the stability of the whole framework of property, though some interested persons may tell us so; but it is the overlooking the disorganized part, and allowing it to remain unremedied, that constitutes the danger. In this country there is a most unworthy diffidence on the point. People are afraid to look into the foundations of proprietary rights, lest they should find the whole rotten, and upset the social fabric in their operations. Yet there can be nothing in the shape of social institution more deeply and firmly planted, and more consistent with the sound philosophy of individual rights, than the tenure of property in general in this country—nothing that has stronger support in the general principles and opinions of the people — nothing that has fewer opponents. Surely this, instead of making us diffident of such inquiries, should induce us to approach them with boldness and freedom, and to ask whether the broad and just principles that characterize the system in general may not have been overlooked in some of its details.

You can read the rest of this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ic_tenures.htm

James Calder
An account of this Significant Scot, one the famous band of Reformers.

You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...lder_james.htm

Thomas Brown, Significant Scot
We have a good page about him and have now added an article about his book "Lectures on Ethics" and also provided the book for you to read.
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...omas_brown.htm

Burns and the Paraphrases
An announcement, calculated to startle Presbyterian Scotland from one end of it to the other, has been somewhat boldly hazarded, that our national poet, Bums, had a hand in giving some of the last touches to our national Paraphrases, and left the mark of his genius deeply stamped on them. The statement is not given by way of conjecture or surmise merely, but as a positive and peremptory averment.

To the Witness newspaper belongs the extraordinary merit of being the first to proclaim this discovery, as remarkable in its way, if true, as any of the vestiges of pre- Adamite existences found filagreed into fossils, or intagliced on stones. But that paper, though the first to proclaim, was not the first to make the discovery. An article in the Free Church Magazine for April on the Paraphrases led, it seems, “one of the readers, a gentleman of Edinburgh, to bring to the shop of the publisher, Mr. Johnstone, a manuscript volume which he had found lying among some old hereditary papers, embrowned with the dust of half a century, in a waste corner of his library, and in which a considerable number of the Paraphrases was copied out in a small and neat, though somewhat common-place hand.” Of this volume every alternate page had been left blank, and on the blank pages were found corrections on the verse by three different hands. One of these, on being shown to the Rev. James Begg of Edinburgh, was straightway pronounced by him to be that of Burns; the “remarkable handwriting” of the poet having become familiar to him — so, and in none other strain, runs the tale — from his having seen it “in the big ha’ Bible of Jean Armour, the widow of Robert Bums,” while he was minister of Maxwelltown Chapel, Dumfries. - Mr. Begg, therefore, is the Columbus of this new discovery in the world of literature; to substantiate which, a facsimile of some of the alleged alterations by Bums, appears in the May number of the Free Church Magazine.

You can read the rest of this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/burn...araphrases.htm which is a pdf download.

River Tweed
A video and 7 part article on the River Tweed.

You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...iver_tweed.htm

John Claudius Loudon
I added an article about him and his books which I found in the 1845 issue of Tait's Edinburgh Magazine. I also found a copy of his book for young gardners so added that to the page.

You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...oudon_john.htm

Random Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott
A 2 part article from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 1844.

You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...er/wscott3.htm

A Voyage Round Scotland and the Isles
By James Wilson (1841). I found an article about this publication in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and extracted it for you and also found the 2 volume publication as well.

You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/voyage.htm

Report of the Poor-Law Commissioners for Scotland
From the narrow and partial character ofthe Commission appointed to inquire into the administration and operation of the Poor LawB in Scotland, little could have been expected from its investigations; and very little, we regret to say, on which an effectual legislative measure can be based, has been attained. The Commission consisted of highly respectable individuals; yet, what could be expected from the labours of two Scottish peers, two Scottish landed proprietors, and two Scottish clergymen—with the single counterpoise of one English barrister—except what has resulted; namely, that the whole of the' Scottish Commissioners should concur in recommending the existing system, with a few modifications,—some of them unquestionably improvements, and others of doubtful character,—and that the solitary Englishman should dissent. Such is actually the case. Lords Melville and Belhaven, Mr. Home Drummond, and Mr. Campbell of Craigie, the Rev. Mr. Patrick MacFarlan of the West Kirk of Greenock, and the Rev. Mr. James Robertson minister of Ellon, concur in judgment; and Edward Twisleton, Esq., alone dissents. The principle of his dissent will, we believe, be adhered to by the great majority of the people of Scotland, not being ministers, members of kirk-sessions, or landowners. It might save time to transfer the reasons of dissent verbatim to our pages; but, in order to understand the grounds of it, the recommendations embodied in the Report may first be briefly noticed.

You can the rest of this article at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/law/poorlaw.htm

Perault, or Slaves and their Masters
This is a 7 part serial which I extracted from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine and combines into a pdf file.

The daring attempt of Perault and his companions, to free themselves from slavery, must still be fresh in the minds of many of the citizens of South Carolina; nor is it likely to be soon forgotten in any slave-holding State. Although little may be heard within the bounds of the slave-holding States of North America, of the mental fiscal ties of the negro race, facts oft-times occur, which show that the blacks are gifted with higher talents than they are generally allowed to possess. Of this the Insurrection planned, a few years back, by Perault, a negro slave in Charleston, afforded a striking example; and the ringleaders of that deep-laid plot were allowed, on all hands, to have displayed an elevation of mind, and a heroic fortitude, worthy of the best cause. That insurrection is the subject of the following tale, descriptive of the character, manners, and feelings of Slaves and their Masters.

It is left to the reader to reconcile the existing institutions of the slave-holding States of America with the following clauses in their Declaration of Independence, dated the 4th July, 1776:—“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all mankind are created equal—that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights—that amongst these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted amongst men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right in the people to alter or abolish it..... When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for future security."

You can download this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ca/perault.htm

Parochial Schools of Scotland
An article from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine c1843 in two parts. This is a pdf file and can be found at the foot of our Education page at http://www.electricscotland.com/education

Geikie's Etchings
This is an article about him and his etchings written in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine of 1843. It is is pdf formt and I added it to the top of the page at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/geikie

Episcopacy in Scotland
We take up the subject at the epoch when the Episcopal became a dissenting and voluntary church, viz., the Revolution of 1688. When that event took place, “the persecuted remnant” felt that the day had come when their enemies were to be delivered into their hands,—and terrible hands they would have been for any persons of a different opinion from their own to be delivered into. But William III. was not a man to be easily turned to such purposes; and when a deputation of zealous priests waited upon him to tell him that they hoped he would exterminate Prelacy and Heresy, he intimated to them, that extermination was not a word in his political vocabulary. The Dutch king had a curious mixture of political elements to deal with. There were the High English Churchmen, who would rather go to the Tower than promulgate James’ declaration of indulgence, yet would have no other king but him; the dissenters, who had been the real moving engine in the Revolution, yet to whom, at the risk of getting even the Low Church party of England against him, he dared give no higher boon than that of mere existence. In Ireland, a couple of millions or so of Roman Catholics thought it not quite reasonable that they should be saddled and bitted by a hundred thousand English Churchmen; but the latter said, Is not Popery a false religion, and shall we not put it down? a vaunt hardly uttered, when Presbyterianism appears at its back, and says, Nay, nay, yon are nearly as far wrong as the Papists: we are the truth, our king is a Calvinist, and he will assist us to extirpate error. In Scotland, however, there was not that overwhelming preponderance in favour of Presbyterianism which is generally supposed to have existed. Probably there was a majority, certainly notavery large one, in favour of that form; and it certainly had on its side the portion of the population most zealously religious, while the other had the preponderance in rank and wealth.

I added this as a pdf file which can be downloaded at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bible/episcopacy.htm

Memoirs and Correspondence of Mrs Grant of Laggan
We already have up a page for her but added this article from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine to the foot of the page in pdf format at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist..._chapter17.htm

Robert Burns
I found three articles about Burns in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine of 1844 and have added them in pdf format to his page. They can be found just above the picture half way down the page at: http://www.electricscotland.com/burns/index.html

The three articles are "The Burns Festival" which was quite an emotional account, "Burns and Byron" and "Correspondence between Burns and Clarinda"

Rev. John Campbell
I found an article in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine about this person which we've added to the foot of the page we have about him in our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/Hist...bell_john3.htm

Colliers and Colliaries
I added this article to the foot of our page about the Coal Industry at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/Hist.../industry1.htm

Buckingham's Tour of the Slave States of America
This was an article I extracted and added to our Slavery page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ca/slavery.htm which you can find towards the foot of the page.

And this concludes the articles from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine for this week.

The Songstresses of Scotland
Added the biography of Miss Susanna Blamire (1747—1794)

I have to say that I am enjoying these biographies and hope you are as well. This one can be read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/music/songstresses/

Neil Gow
I got in an addition for our page on Neil Gow, significant Scot. Two chapters were extracted from a book which discusses the relationship between Gow and Burns.
You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...r/gow_neil.htm

The Campells of Argyll
By Hilda Skae. A new book we're starting.

You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...pbell_book.htm

A New Song from John Henderson
A Spirk O' Kineness which you can get to at: http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerel526.htm

Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Put up the March 2013 section 2 issue.

You can get to this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft

The Working Life of Christina McKelvie MSP
Same sex marriage legalised in Scotland.

You can to her column at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...vie/140207.htm

We've continued to add chapters to...
Scottish Historical Review at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...w/volume16.htm
The Life and Times of General Sir James Browne at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/browne/
The Clyde from the Source to the Sea at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/clyde/index.htm
The History of Burke and Hare at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/burkehare/

And Finally...
Weight Off Her Mind

A new mum joined a slimming group in Edinburgh to lose weight after the birth of her baby.

As the rest of the class cooed over the little one, one of the other ladies, to help her get on with the meeting, told her she would look after the baby.

"Brilliant," said the mum handing the child over, "I'll come back and collect him when he's 21."

-----

Bigger Picture

Two chaps were discussing the merits of the Ayrshire town of Troon, with one arguing that it was no longer just a large retiral home and was now popular with younger commuters.

His mate, though, was having none of it, and responded,

"There's so many old folk in Troon that most of the shop windows are made out of bifocal glass."

And that's it for this week and I hope you all have a good weekend.

Alastair