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Electric Scotland News
We have been getting lots more visits to the site due to comments on the Scotsman newspaper site about our papers about the Scotland-UN committee. For those who haven't visited this section you can get to it at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/scotlandun.htm
We got hit with a faulty modem which has caused the site to be really slow over the past 48 hours. In addition we have been receiving unusually high IP traffic which has also caused a slow down. While we are getting more visits this doesn't relate to this high IP traffic and our ISP is helping us to investigate this. As part of the process of investigation we were asked to switch everything off for 30 minutes. It is possible that we are getting what is called a Denial of Service attack but investigation are still ongoing while I write this.
As a result of all this I have also been unable to publish new content on the site although I have been able to add links to existing pages through ftp.
Never rains but it pours!
Electric Canadian
Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island
An Account of the Forests, Rivers, Coasts, Gold Fields, and Resources for Colonisation by Commander Edward C. Mayne, R.N., F.R.G.S. (1862).
We have now completed this book.
You can read this book at http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/bc/4years/index.htm
History and Folklore of the Cowichan Indians
THE history and legends of the Indians of the Pacific Northwest is especially interesting from the fact that they have not been so long or so closely in touch with the white races as the other aboriginal inhabitants of North America. This little volume deals with the Cowichan tribe of Vancouver Island, who, from being a numerous and powerful people, are now reduced to a mere handful. Civilization is destroying their native dignity and wholesome life, substituting much evil for the real good found in their former customs and character. Their legends are fast being forgotton, and as a contribution towards their preservation, I have translated them as a memento of British Columbia.
You can read this book as we get it up at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/bc/cowichan/index.htm
Grand Priory of Canada of the Knights Templar
Got up the July edition of this newsletter which can be viewed towards the foot of the page at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/Religion/kt.htm
The Flag in the Wind
As Tricia is experiencing the same problem I am this weeks Flag will hopefully appear on Friday.
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Electric Scotland
Thomas Dick Lauder
Hope you are enjoying this book. Started on Volume 2 and you can find these at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/lauder_thomas1.htm where we've added another couple of chapters now up to Chapter 16.
Alan Cunningham
This distinguished poet entered the world under those lowly circumstances, and was educated under those disadvantages, which have so signally characterized the history of the best of our Scottish bards.
Now started on Volume 2 and have added Pages 215 to 294.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/music/cunningham/index.htm
The Northern Highlands in the Nineteenth Century
Some years ago I published the 2 volumes in this set. Well I have now found a third volume is now available and so have started to work on this.
Added the issue for 1850...
The year 1850 was active in Parliament. Mr Disraeli again asked for a committee of inquiry into the prevailing distress, with the view of transferring a portion of the expenses which had hitherto been defrayed out of the rates to the general taxation of the country. On a division there was a majority of only 21 against the motion, which delighted the protectionists. Great debates occurred on the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston arising out of what is known as the Don Pacifico case. In the Lords a motion of censure was carried by 169 votes to 132, but in the Commons, after a speech from Palmerston, which lasted “from the dusk of one day to the dawn of another,” his policy was endorsed by 310 votes to 264. Sir Robert Peel was mortally injured by a fall from his horse, and died on 2nd July.
The Gorham case in the Church of England stirred ecclesiastical feeling, and public excitement arose from the papal aggression implied in the creation of Dr Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster and Cardinal. Lord John Russell encouraged the agitation. During the year Mr Gladstone paid the visit to Naples which resulted in his famous letters. In the Highlands the condition of the people continued to cause anxiety, and farmers took part in the movement for a return to protection.
You can read this issue (No. 8) at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/highlands/3no9.htm
Henry Dryerre
Compositor, Poet, Journalist and Musician.
Now added another two Worthies...
William Duff
Ian MacLaren
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/dryerre/index.htm
Songs by John Henderson
John sent in a new song but was unable to publish it due to the problems we've had.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerel543.htm
Poets and Poetry of Scotland from the earliest to the present time
Comprising characteristic selections from the works of more noteworthy Scottish poets with biographical and critical notices. By James Grant Wilson (1876)
Now up to page 536.
You can read all about them at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/poets/
Samuel Smiles
Newspaper Editor, Author and Social reformer has been added to our Significant Scots page.
This is another biography we're adding. I've added this week...
Chapter XI End of Residence in Leeds
Chapter XII Newcastle and Neighbourhood
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/smiles_samuel.htm
Book of the Old Edinburgh Club
We have acquired copies of 12 volumes of this club's publications and we're going to add one a week.
Now added volume 6 which includes...
David's Tower at Edinburgh Castle By W. T. Oldrieve With illustrations.
The Incorporated Trade of the Skinners of Edinburgh, with Extracts from their Minute, 1549-1603 By William Angus
The Old Tolbooth: Extracts from the Original Records By John A. Fairley
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/edinburgh/edinburghclub
The Scottish School of Painting
By William D. MaKay, R.S.A. (1906).
Now up to Chapter XVII. This also includes a chapter on miniature painting which starts...
It is impossible in a work such as this to give more than a passing glance at painters who, though not entitled to a leading place, have yet helped to give body and weight to the national art. Some of these, even when they have worked in the larger centres, have a local rather than a general reputation, and they are usually spoken of in connection with the localities to which they belonged, as Tannock of Kilmarnock, Crabb of Laurencekirk, and, more recently, James Irvine of Montrose. Tannock, a contemporary of Wilkie, exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy from 1813 to 1841. The three examples at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery give a far from favourable idea of his powers. Crabb, who belonged to a later generation—he was born in 1811—practised both portraiture and historical painting, and his work in both departments had something of originality and talent. From 1851 till 1864 he was resident in London, and thenceforth till his death in 1876 in his native town, Laurencekirk. Before that he had lived both in Edinburgh and Glasgow. His more ambitious work is little known. A picture, Ahab in NabotKs Vineyard, seems to have made some mark at the Royal Academy in 1851, and an earlier work, Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu after the Combat, found its way to the Edinburgh International of 1886. It was spirited, if somewhat loose in execution, and forced in its scheme of lighting. His portraits often show a fine grasp of character and a handling indicative of great facility in the management of the brush, though they lack the completion of the true craftsman. A half-length of Mrs. Cowie, a middle-aged lady of well-marked features and somewhat masculine type has a technique reminiscent of Hals, the dark dress, coal-scuttle bonnet, and broad rilled collar, furnishing one of those black and white schemes in which the Dutchman delights.
You can get to this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/art/schoolmdx.htm
Enigma Machine
Now have up puzzle 68.
You can get to this one athttp://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/enigma/enigma068.htm
George Burns, His Times and Friends
By Edwin Hodder (1890). A new book we're starting.
Great history in this book and Chapter 9 is all about the founding of the Cunard Company which starts...
In December, 1835, Dr. Lardner, in a lecture delivered at Liverpool, said: “As to the project which is announced in the newspapers of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it is, I have no hesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and they may as well talk of making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to the moon! ”It seemed to him as wild a notion as one, propounded five years before, had appeared to others, namely, that the ribs of a ship should be made of iron instead of timber. What nonsense it is!” people were heard to exclaim; as if anybody ever knew iron to float! —or, as the chief naval architect of one of our dockyards said to Mr. Scott Russell, Don’t talk to me about iron ships; it’s contrary to nature!”
The practicability of steam navigation to the United States was not fully tested until 1838, when the Sinks was advertised to leave London for New York. She sailed on the 4th of April with ninety-four passengers. Three days later, the Great Western, a wooden paddle-wheel steamer, and the first steam ship specially constructed for the purpose, followed her.
To the wonder of the whole world, the two vessels reached their destination in safety, after a passage of seventeen days and fifteen days respectively.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/burns/index.htm
Kindly Tenants
Got the benefit of some research John Henderson was doing and hence this article.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/henderson/kindly.htm
Clan Darroch/Dorrough
Got in an alternative history of this name which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/scotsirish/dorrough.htm
A Story of the Wall - The Maetae - 209 AD
By William G. A. Shaw of Easter Lair
You can read this story at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/wall.htm
Dr Alexander Cameron
Added this Minister and Gaelic scholar to our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/cameron_alexander.htm
Scot Family
Got in a new report on the research from Gary so added it to this page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/scot.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Got in Section 1 of the July 2014 issue which you can read at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft
The MacIntyre's and the Forty-Five
An article from Alistair K. MacIntyre which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/macintyre/macintyre45.htm
Europe in China
The History of Hong Kong from the beginning to the year 1882 by E J Eitel (1895).
At first sight, indeed, the Colony of Hongkong appears like an odd conglomeration of fluctuating molecules of nationalities, whose successive Governors seem to be but extraneous factors adventitiously regulating or disturbing the heavings of this incongruous mass. But in reality the Hongkong community is solidarily one. Though an unbridged chasm does yawn in its midst, waiting for a Marcus Curtius to close it and meanwhile separating the outward social life of Europeans and Chinese, the people of Hongkong fire inwardly bound together by a steadily developing communion of interests and responsibilities: the destiny of the one race is to rule and the fate of the other to be ruled. The different periods of Hongkong’s history, though demarcated each by the administration of a different Governor, are in reality the successive stages of the growth of one ideal person (the Colony) naturally expanding itself in a continuous line of so many generations, as it were, of one and the same ideal family (the community). Looking deeper still, there is seen underlying this mixed and fluctuating population of Hongkong a self-perpetuating unity: the secret inchoative union of Europe and Asia (as represented by China). This union is in process of practical elaboration through the combined forces of .commerce, civilisation and Christian education, and particularly through the steady development of Great Britain’s political influence in the East, an influence which dates back to the earliest days of the East India Company in India and China. Indeed, the Anglo-Chinese community of Hongkong specifically represents that coming union of Europe and Asia which China stubbornly resists while Great Britain and Russia, France and Japan unconsciously co-operate towards it- As representing that union, the Hongkong community has its root in the earlier and smaller community of British and other European merchants with their Chinese hangers-on settled at the Canton Factories. But the earliest prototype can be discerned in the previous settlements of the Portuguese and Dutch and more particularly of the agents of the East-India Company who were unconsciously working out in China, as well as in India, the international problem with the solution of which Hongkong is specially concerned. When, under the impulse of the awakening free trade spirit in England, the East-India Company had to withdraw from the field (1834), the British free-traders at Canton continued to represent Europe in China, and, when driven out thence, transplanted to Hongkong (1841) those unifying commercial and political principles which; are to the present day the underlying elements progress in the historic evolution of Hongkong.
But as the history of the Hongkong community presents thus an unbroken chain of influences connecting the political mission of Europe with the present politics of Asia, so also the successive administrations of the government of this Colony have the same inner unity. Though each Governor is but a transient visitor, each possessed of his own idiosyncracies, and each controlled by an ever shifting series of Secretaries of State for the Colonies, behind them all is that ideal but none the less real entity, the genius of British public opinion, which inspires and overrules them all. That genius, feeling its mission in Europe and North America fulfilled, has of late commenced to enter upon a new field of action whereby to complete its destiny. Asia and generally the countries and continents bordering on the Pacific Ocean, now task the energies of Downing Street and of the Governors sent forth from it, as well as the energies of the India Office, with problems of such increasingly international bearings, that both the Colonial Office and the India Office are rapidly outstripping in importance the Foreign Office, and the necessities of both now demand the creation of a Ministry specially charged with the direction of British affairs in the Far East, The fact is. the fulcrum of the World's balance of power has shifted from the West to the East, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
To the popular view the position of Hongkong in the East appears to be that of a remote Island, a mere dot in a little-known ocean. In reality, however, Hongkong, which commercially ranks as the second port of the British Empire, occupies a geographically most fortunate place in relation to the peculiar destinies of the Far East. For the /last two thousand years, the march of civilization has been directed from the East to the West: Europe has been tutored by Asia. Ennobled by Christianity, civilization now returns to the East: Europe’s destiny is to govern Asia. Marching at the head of civilization, Great Britain has commenced her individual mission in Asia by the occupation of India and Burma, the Straits Settlements and Hongkong. By fifty years’ handling of Hongkong Chinese population, Great Britain has shewn how readily the Chinese people (apart from Mandarindom] fall in with a firm European regime, and the rapid conversion of a barren rock into one of the wonders and commercial emporiums of the world has demonstrated what Chinese labour, industry and commerce can achieve under British rule. 'Moreover, located on the western border of the Pacific, in line with Canada in the North-East, with Her Majesty’s Indian and African Possessions in the South-West, and with the Australian Colonies in the South, Hongkong occupies a specially important position, not only with regard to the problems gathering round China and Japan (in their mutual relations to Great Britain, Russia and Franee), but especially also with regard to the greater .role which the Pacific Ocean is destined to play in the closing scenes of the world’s history. What the Mediterranean and Atlantic were while civilization moved from East to West, the Pacific is bound to become now since the tide of progress runs from West to East. Africa is even now being brought into the sphere of modern civilization by the combined powers of Europe. The turn of South-America will come next. There is not a first-class power in the world that has not possessions on the shores of the Pacific. Great Britain and the United States, Russia and Franee, Germany and Italy, Spain and Portugal, all vie with each other in the control of countries bordering on, or islands situated in, the Pacific basin. It requires no prophet’s gift to see that the politics of the near future centre in the East and that the problems of the Far East will be solved on the Pacific main. Contests will be sure to arise and in these contests Hongkong will be one of the stations most important for the general strength of the British Empire. Here, ever more than in its bearing upon the Asiatic problem, lies the real importance of HongKbng Success the position of this Colony in relation to the destinies of the young Hongkong will yet have a prominent place in the future history of the' British Empire.
The foregoing consideratons will commend the subject of this book to the attention of the general reader. As to its treatment, the endeavour of the writer has been to combine with the aims of the historian, writing from the point of view of universal history, the duties of the chronicler of events such as are of special interest to European residents in the East,. so as to provide at the same time a handbook of reference for those who take an active interest in the current affairs of this British Colony as well as in British relations with China. This volume brings down the story of Hongkong’s rise and progress to the year 1882. The more recent epochs of its history are too near to our view yet to admit of impartial historic treatment for the present.
E. J. EITEL.
College Gardens,
Hongkong, August 2, 1895.
Editors Note: As you work your way through this book you will see the prominent place Scots played in the formation of Hongkong and its development.
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/china/europe.htm
And Finally...
Cold Calling
A friend in Washington got in touch to explain why President Bush is allowing the west's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to deteriorate.
"Bush thinks," he told me, "a new Cold War will solve global warming."
Wonder if that's what Obama thinks as well?
And that's it for this week and I hope our Canadian friends enjoyed their Canada Day on 1st July and that our American friends enjoy their 4th of July.
Alastair
We have been getting lots more visits to the site due to comments on the Scotsman newspaper site about our papers about the Scotland-UN committee. For those who haven't visited this section you can get to it at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/independence/scotlandun.htm
We got hit with a faulty modem which has caused the site to be really slow over the past 48 hours. In addition we have been receiving unusually high IP traffic which has also caused a slow down. While we are getting more visits this doesn't relate to this high IP traffic and our ISP is helping us to investigate this. As part of the process of investigation we were asked to switch everything off for 30 minutes. It is possible that we are getting what is called a Denial of Service attack but investigation are still ongoing while I write this.
As a result of all this I have also been unable to publish new content on the site although I have been able to add links to existing pages through ftp.
Never rains but it pours!
Electric Canadian
Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island
An Account of the Forests, Rivers, Coasts, Gold Fields, and Resources for Colonisation by Commander Edward C. Mayne, R.N., F.R.G.S. (1862).
We have now completed this book.
You can read this book at http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/bc/4years/index.htm
History and Folklore of the Cowichan Indians
THE history and legends of the Indians of the Pacific Northwest is especially interesting from the fact that they have not been so long or so closely in touch with the white races as the other aboriginal inhabitants of North America. This little volume deals with the Cowichan tribe of Vancouver Island, who, from being a numerous and powerful people, are now reduced to a mere handful. Civilization is destroying their native dignity and wholesome life, substituting much evil for the real good found in their former customs and character. Their legends are fast being forgotton, and as a contribution towards their preservation, I have translated them as a memento of British Columbia.
You can read this book as we get it up at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/bc/cowichan/index.htm
Grand Priory of Canada of the Knights Templar
Got up the July edition of this newsletter which can be viewed towards the foot of the page at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/Religion/kt.htm
The Flag in the Wind
As Tricia is experiencing the same problem I am this weeks Flag will hopefully appear on Friday.
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Electric Scotland
Thomas Dick Lauder
Hope you are enjoying this book. Started on Volume 2 and you can find these at the foot of the page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/lauder_thomas1.htm where we've added another couple of chapters now up to Chapter 16.
Alan Cunningham
This distinguished poet entered the world under those lowly circumstances, and was educated under those disadvantages, which have so signally characterized the history of the best of our Scottish bards.
Now started on Volume 2 and have added Pages 215 to 294.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/music/cunningham/index.htm
The Northern Highlands in the Nineteenth Century
Some years ago I published the 2 volumes in this set. Well I have now found a third volume is now available and so have started to work on this.
Added the issue for 1850...
The year 1850 was active in Parliament. Mr Disraeli again asked for a committee of inquiry into the prevailing distress, with the view of transferring a portion of the expenses which had hitherto been defrayed out of the rates to the general taxation of the country. On a division there was a majority of only 21 against the motion, which delighted the protectionists. Great debates occurred on the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston arising out of what is known as the Don Pacifico case. In the Lords a motion of censure was carried by 169 votes to 132, but in the Commons, after a speech from Palmerston, which lasted “from the dusk of one day to the dawn of another,” his policy was endorsed by 310 votes to 264. Sir Robert Peel was mortally injured by a fall from his horse, and died on 2nd July.
The Gorham case in the Church of England stirred ecclesiastical feeling, and public excitement arose from the papal aggression implied in the creation of Dr Wiseman as Archbishop of Westminster and Cardinal. Lord John Russell encouraged the agitation. During the year Mr Gladstone paid the visit to Naples which resulted in his famous letters. In the Highlands the condition of the people continued to cause anxiety, and farmers took part in the movement for a return to protection.
You can read this issue (No. 8) at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/highlands/3no9.htm
Henry Dryerre
Compositor, Poet, Journalist and Musician.
Now added another two Worthies...
William Duff
Ian MacLaren
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/dryerre/index.htm
Songs by John Henderson
John sent in a new song but was unable to publish it due to the problems we've had.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerel543.htm
Poets and Poetry of Scotland from the earliest to the present time
Comprising characteristic selections from the works of more noteworthy Scottish poets with biographical and critical notices. By James Grant Wilson (1876)
Now up to page 536.
You can read all about them at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/poets/
Samuel Smiles
Newspaper Editor, Author and Social reformer has been added to our Significant Scots page.
This is another biography we're adding. I've added this week...
Chapter XI End of Residence in Leeds
Chapter XII Newcastle and Neighbourhood
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/smiles_samuel.htm
Book of the Old Edinburgh Club
We have acquired copies of 12 volumes of this club's publications and we're going to add one a week.
Now added volume 6 which includes...
David's Tower at Edinburgh Castle By W. T. Oldrieve With illustrations.
The Incorporated Trade of the Skinners of Edinburgh, with Extracts from their Minute, 1549-1603 By William Angus
The Old Tolbooth: Extracts from the Original Records By John A. Fairley
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/edinburgh/edinburghclub
The Scottish School of Painting
By William D. MaKay, R.S.A. (1906).
Now up to Chapter XVII. This also includes a chapter on miniature painting which starts...
It is impossible in a work such as this to give more than a passing glance at painters who, though not entitled to a leading place, have yet helped to give body and weight to the national art. Some of these, even when they have worked in the larger centres, have a local rather than a general reputation, and they are usually spoken of in connection with the localities to which they belonged, as Tannock of Kilmarnock, Crabb of Laurencekirk, and, more recently, James Irvine of Montrose. Tannock, a contemporary of Wilkie, exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy from 1813 to 1841. The three examples at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery give a far from favourable idea of his powers. Crabb, who belonged to a later generation—he was born in 1811—practised both portraiture and historical painting, and his work in both departments had something of originality and talent. From 1851 till 1864 he was resident in London, and thenceforth till his death in 1876 in his native town, Laurencekirk. Before that he had lived both in Edinburgh and Glasgow. His more ambitious work is little known. A picture, Ahab in NabotKs Vineyard, seems to have made some mark at the Royal Academy in 1851, and an earlier work, Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu after the Combat, found its way to the Edinburgh International of 1886. It was spirited, if somewhat loose in execution, and forced in its scheme of lighting. His portraits often show a fine grasp of character and a handling indicative of great facility in the management of the brush, though they lack the completion of the true craftsman. A half-length of Mrs. Cowie, a middle-aged lady of well-marked features and somewhat masculine type has a technique reminiscent of Hals, the dark dress, coal-scuttle bonnet, and broad rilled collar, furnishing one of those black and white schemes in which the Dutchman delights.
You can get to this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/art/schoolmdx.htm
Enigma Machine
Now have up puzzle 68.
You can get to this one athttp://www.electriccanadian.com/lifestyle/enigma/enigma068.htm
George Burns, His Times and Friends
By Edwin Hodder (1890). A new book we're starting.
Great history in this book and Chapter 9 is all about the founding of the Cunard Company which starts...
In December, 1835, Dr. Lardner, in a lecture delivered at Liverpool, said: “As to the project which is announced in the newspapers of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it is, I have no hesitation in saying, perfectly chimerical, and they may as well talk of making a voyage from New York or Liverpool to the moon! ”It seemed to him as wild a notion as one, propounded five years before, had appeared to others, namely, that the ribs of a ship should be made of iron instead of timber. What nonsense it is!” people were heard to exclaim; as if anybody ever knew iron to float! —or, as the chief naval architect of one of our dockyards said to Mr. Scott Russell, Don’t talk to me about iron ships; it’s contrary to nature!”
The practicability of steam navigation to the United States was not fully tested until 1838, when the Sinks was advertised to leave London for New York. She sailed on the 4th of April with ninety-four passengers. Three days later, the Great Western, a wooden paddle-wheel steamer, and the first steam ship specially constructed for the purpose, followed her.
To the wonder of the whole world, the two vessels reached their destination in safety, after a passage of seventeen days and fifteen days respectively.
You can read this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/history/burns/index.htm
Kindly Tenants
Got the benefit of some research John Henderson was doing and hence this article.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/henderson/kindly.htm
Clan Darroch/Dorrough
Got in an alternative history of this name which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/scotsirish/dorrough.htm
A Story of the Wall - The Maetae - 209 AD
By William G. A. Shaw of Easter Lair
You can read this story at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/wall.htm
Dr Alexander Cameron
Added this Minister and Gaelic scholar to our Significant Scots section at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/cameron_alexander.htm
Scot Family
Got in a new report on the research from Gary so added it to this page at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/scot.htm
Beth's Newfangled Family Tree
Got in Section 1 of the July 2014 issue which you can read at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bnft
The MacIntyre's and the Forty-Five
An article from Alistair K. MacIntyre which you can read at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/m/macintyre/macintyre45.htm
Europe in China
The History of Hong Kong from the beginning to the year 1882 by E J Eitel (1895).
Preface
TO Europeans residing in Hongkong or China, I need not offer any excuse for inviting them to take up this book. The natural desire to learn to understand the present by a consideration of the past, will plead with them better than I could do. But the general reader, in England and elsewhere, I entreat for a reconsideration of the popularly accepted view that but little importance, beyond that of a curio, attaches to Hongkong, its community and position, or indeed to European relations with China.At first sight, indeed, the Colony of Hongkong appears like an odd conglomeration of fluctuating molecules of nationalities, whose successive Governors seem to be but extraneous factors adventitiously regulating or disturbing the heavings of this incongruous mass. But in reality the Hongkong community is solidarily one. Though an unbridged chasm does yawn in its midst, waiting for a Marcus Curtius to close it and meanwhile separating the outward social life of Europeans and Chinese, the people of Hongkong fire inwardly bound together by a steadily developing communion of interests and responsibilities: the destiny of the one race is to rule and the fate of the other to be ruled. The different periods of Hongkong’s history, though demarcated each by the administration of a different Governor, are in reality the successive stages of the growth of one ideal person (the Colony) naturally expanding itself in a continuous line of so many generations, as it were, of one and the same ideal family (the community). Looking deeper still, there is seen underlying this mixed and fluctuating population of Hongkong a self-perpetuating unity: the secret inchoative union of Europe and Asia (as represented by China). This union is in process of practical elaboration through the combined forces of .commerce, civilisation and Christian education, and particularly through the steady development of Great Britain’s political influence in the East, an influence which dates back to the earliest days of the East India Company in India and China. Indeed, the Anglo-Chinese community of Hongkong specifically represents that coming union of Europe and Asia which China stubbornly resists while Great Britain and Russia, France and Japan unconsciously co-operate towards it- As representing that union, the Hongkong community has its root in the earlier and smaller community of British and other European merchants with their Chinese hangers-on settled at the Canton Factories. But the earliest prototype can be discerned in the previous settlements of the Portuguese and Dutch and more particularly of the agents of the East-India Company who were unconsciously working out in China, as well as in India, the international problem with the solution of which Hongkong is specially concerned. When, under the impulse of the awakening free trade spirit in England, the East-India Company had to withdraw from the field (1834), the British free-traders at Canton continued to represent Europe in China, and, when driven out thence, transplanted to Hongkong (1841) those unifying commercial and political principles which; are to the present day the underlying elements progress in the historic evolution of Hongkong.
But as the history of the Hongkong community presents thus an unbroken chain of influences connecting the political mission of Europe with the present politics of Asia, so also the successive administrations of the government of this Colony have the same inner unity. Though each Governor is but a transient visitor, each possessed of his own idiosyncracies, and each controlled by an ever shifting series of Secretaries of State for the Colonies, behind them all is that ideal but none the less real entity, the genius of British public opinion, which inspires and overrules them all. That genius, feeling its mission in Europe and North America fulfilled, has of late commenced to enter upon a new field of action whereby to complete its destiny. Asia and generally the countries and continents bordering on the Pacific Ocean, now task the energies of Downing Street and of the Governors sent forth from it, as well as the energies of the India Office, with problems of such increasingly international bearings, that both the Colonial Office and the India Office are rapidly outstripping in importance the Foreign Office, and the necessities of both now demand the creation of a Ministry specially charged with the direction of British affairs in the Far East, The fact is. the fulcrum of the World's balance of power has shifted from the West to the East, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
To the popular view the position of Hongkong in the East appears to be that of a remote Island, a mere dot in a little-known ocean. In reality, however, Hongkong, which commercially ranks as the second port of the British Empire, occupies a geographically most fortunate place in relation to the peculiar destinies of the Far East. For the /last two thousand years, the march of civilization has been directed from the East to the West: Europe has been tutored by Asia. Ennobled by Christianity, civilization now returns to the East: Europe’s destiny is to govern Asia. Marching at the head of civilization, Great Britain has commenced her individual mission in Asia by the occupation of India and Burma, the Straits Settlements and Hongkong. By fifty years’ handling of Hongkong Chinese population, Great Britain has shewn how readily the Chinese people (apart from Mandarindom] fall in with a firm European regime, and the rapid conversion of a barren rock into one of the wonders and commercial emporiums of the world has demonstrated what Chinese labour, industry and commerce can achieve under British rule. 'Moreover, located on the western border of the Pacific, in line with Canada in the North-East, with Her Majesty’s Indian and African Possessions in the South-West, and with the Australian Colonies in the South, Hongkong occupies a specially important position, not only with regard to the problems gathering round China and Japan (in their mutual relations to Great Britain, Russia and Franee), but especially also with regard to the greater .role which the Pacific Ocean is destined to play in the closing scenes of the world’s history. What the Mediterranean and Atlantic were while civilization moved from East to West, the Pacific is bound to become now since the tide of progress runs from West to East. Africa is even now being brought into the sphere of modern civilization by the combined powers of Europe. The turn of South-America will come next. There is not a first-class power in the world that has not possessions on the shores of the Pacific. Great Britain and the United States, Russia and Franee, Germany and Italy, Spain and Portugal, all vie with each other in the control of countries bordering on, or islands situated in, the Pacific basin. It requires no prophet’s gift to see that the politics of the near future centre in the East and that the problems of the Far East will be solved on the Pacific main. Contests will be sure to arise and in these contests Hongkong will be one of the stations most important for the general strength of the British Empire. Here, ever more than in its bearing upon the Asiatic problem, lies the real importance of HongKbng Success the position of this Colony in relation to the destinies of the young Hongkong will yet have a prominent place in the future history of the' British Empire.
The foregoing consideratons will commend the subject of this book to the attention of the general reader. As to its treatment, the endeavour of the writer has been to combine with the aims of the historian, writing from the point of view of universal history, the duties of the chronicler of events such as are of special interest to European residents in the East,. so as to provide at the same time a handbook of reference for those who take an active interest in the current affairs of this British Colony as well as in British relations with China. This volume brings down the story of Hongkong’s rise and progress to the year 1882. The more recent epochs of its history are too near to our view yet to admit of impartial historic treatment for the present.
E. J. EITEL.
College Gardens,
Hongkong, August 2, 1895.
Editors Note: As you work your way through this book you will see the prominent place Scots played in the formation of Hongkong and its development.
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/china/europe.htm
And Finally...
Cold Calling
A friend in Washington got in touch to explain why President Bush is allowing the west's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin to deteriorate.
"Bush thinks," he told me, "a new Cold War will solve global warming."
Wonder if that's what Obama thinks as well?
And that's it for this week and I hope our Canadian friends enjoyed their Canada Day on 1st July and that our American friends enjoy their 4th of July.
Alastair