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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
The site was down for a couple of days due to a modem error. Steve was away and so I couldn't contact him so sorry about that. That of course meant I couldn't publish new material either so a thin week.
That said I spent some time on the Internet archive and found an interesting selection of books and a few on the early pioneering days in Australia and New Zealand.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. 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.
Former Scottish government minister Alex Neil voted for Brexit
A former member of Nicola Sturgeon's Cabinet has said that he voted for Brexit and that other SNP MSPs did the same.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-37870167
Religious observance opt-out for pupils to be considered
A consultation is to be held on whether older pupils should be allowed to opt themselves out of religious observance in schools, the BBC has learned.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37883229
Edinburgh Airport earmarked for US Preclearance expansion
Edinburgh is the only UK airport considered in this round of Preclearance expansion
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/edinbur...sion-1-4278874
Scottish heritage helped build the whisky business
Now it’s payback time
Read more at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ch-of-the-glen
Outer Hebrides battle to reverse steep population decline
Mangurstadh, in the Uig area of Lewis. The Outer Hebrides face a steep drop in population over the next 20 years
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/regions/inve...line-1-4278090
The £9bn Fiscal Transfer vs The £15bn GERS Deficit
I've noticed there still seems to be a lot of confusion about the difference between the GERS deficit, the deficit gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK and the effective fiscal transfer that the rest of the UK currently makes to Scotland.
Read more at:
http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2016/1...15bn-gers.html
Up to one in three children living in poverty
Up to one in three children grow up in poverty in parts of Scotland, a new study has suggested.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37898723
Canadian mining company moves its HQ from Paris to London
Canadian mining company Endeavor is to relocate its headquarters from Paris to London
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...ris-to-london/
Trump beats Clinton to take White House
Donald Trump will become the 45th US president after a stunning victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37920175
US entry in World Championship Scotch Pie Awards
The World Championship Scotch Pie Awards have had their first ever international entry with a contender from the US.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37930122
Ireland will not hold Scottish Government Brexit talks
The confirmation by Irish minister Joe McHugh is a blow for Nicola Sturgeon
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/ireland...alks-1-4284805
The Calcutta cemetery where more than 3,000 Scots lie
From the jute mill workers of Dundee to the industrialists, policemen, teachers and officers of East India Company - almost half of its writers were Scots - Calcutta became a very Scottish city in parts.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/the-cal...-lie-1-4284585
Tartan Army puts party on hold to pay Armistice Day tribute at Trafalgar Square
The Tartan Army has heeded calls to respect Armistice Day events in London ahead of tonight’s World Cup qualifier at Wembley.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...falgar-square/
TUC releases legal opinion on EU Referendum
Alyn Smith MEP and the SNP’s Christina McKelvie have highlighted an independent legal opinion commissioned by the Trade Union Council (TUC). See also the comment below the article.
Read more at:
http://scotsindependent.scot/?p=1343
Why is Scotland turning its back on an economic boom?
By Ryan Stevenson
Read more at:
http://www.scottishreview.net/Stevenson93a.html
Electric Canadian
Chronicles of Canada
Added Volume 4 - The Jesuit Missions: A Chronicle of the Cross in the Wilderness
You can read this at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/chronicles/chronicles04a.pdf
Canada’s example to the world
Liberty moves north. From an article in the Economist Magazine...
It is uniquely fortunate in many ways—but Canada still holds lessons for other Western countries
WHO will uphold the torch of openness in the West? Not America’s next president. Donald Trump, the grievance-mongering Republican nominee, would build a wall on Mexico’s border and rip up trade agreements. Hillary Clinton, the probable winner on November 8th, would be much better on immigration, but she has renounced her former support for ambitious trade deals. Britain, worried about immigrants and globalisation, has voted to march out of the European Union. Angela Merkel flung open Germany’s doors to refugees, then suffered a series of political setbacks. Marine Le Pen, a right-wing populist, is the favourite to win the first round of France’s presidential election next year.
In this depressing company of wall-builders, door-slammers and drawbridge-raisers, Canada stands out as a heartening exception. It happily admits more than 300,000 immigrants a year, nearly 1% of its population—a higher proportion than any other big, rich country—and has done so for two decades. Its charismatic prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has been in office a year, has welcomed some 33,000 Syrian refugees, far more than America has. Bucking the protectionist mood, Canada remains an eager free-trader. It was dismayed by the EU’s struggle to overcome a veto by Walloons on signing a “comprehensive” trade agreement that took seven years to negotiate (see Charlemagne). Under Mr Trudeau, Canada is trying to make amends for its shameful treatment of indigenous peoples, and is likely to become the first Western country to legalise recreational cannabis on a national level.
Go, Canada!
Irredeemably dull by reputation, less brash and bellicose than America, Canada has long seemed to outsiders to be a citadel of decency, tolerance and good sense. Charles Dickens, bewildered by a visit to America in 1842, found relief in Canada, where he saw “public feeling and private enterprise in a sound and wholesome state; nothing of flush or fever in its system.” Modern Canada’s social safety net is stronger than America’s; its gun-control laws saner. Today, in its lonely defence of liberal values, Canada seems downright heroic. In an age of seductive extremes, it remains reassuringly level-headed.
Many of Canada’s virtues spring from its history and geography and are not readily exportable (see Briefing). It is easier to be relaxed about immigration when your only land border is protected by a wall the size of the United States. Appreciation for the benefits of trade comes more easily to countries next door to big markets. British Brexiteers might justifiably claim that they voted for exactly what Canada already has: control of immigration and the freedom to negotiate trade deals with any country willing to reciprocate.
Despite such luck, Canada suffers from some of the stresses that feed populism in other rich countries. It has experienced a decline of manufacturing jobs, stagnant incomes for most of its citizens and rising inequality. It, too, frets about a shrinking middle class. Canadians worry about Islamist terrorism, though the country has so far been spared a big attack. Some right-of-centre politicians, playing on fears that one will happen, indulge in Trumpian rhetoric. Yet Canada does not seem tempted to shut itself off from the world. What can other Western countries learn from its example?
First, Canada not only welcomes newcomers but works hard to integrate them. Its charter of rights and freedoms proclaims the country’s “multicultural heritage”. Not every country will fuse diversity and national identity in the same way that Canada does. Indeed, French-speaking Quebec has its own way of interpreting multiculturalism, which gives priority to the province’s distinct culture. But other countries can learn from the spirit of experimentation that Canada brings to helping immigrants find employment and housing. Its system of private sponsorship, in which groups of citizens take responsibility for supporting refugees during their first year, not only helps them adapt but encourages society at large to make them welcome. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called on other countries to copy it.
Follow the moose
The second lesson is the value of knowing when fiscal austerity does more harm than good. Canada has been managing its public finances conservatively for the past 20 years or so. Now in charge of a sluggish economy, Mr Trudeau can afford to give growth a modest lift by spending extra money on infrastructure. His government has given a tax cut to the middle class and raised rates for the highest earners to help pay for it. These economic policies deserve to “go viral”, the head of the IMF has said. Canada has a further economic lesson to impart in how it protects people hurt by globalisation. Compared with America, its publicly financed health system lessens the terror of losing a job; it also provides more financial support and training to people who do. And its policy of “equalisation” gives provincial and local governments the means to maintain public services at a uniform level across the country.
Perhaps most important, this mixture of policies—liberal on trade and immigration, activist in shoring up growth and protecting globalisation’s losers—is a reminder that the centrist formula still works, if politicians are willing to champion it. Instead of folding in the face of opposition to liberal policies, Mr Trudeau and his ministers have instead made the case for them. Although free trade is not the hot-button issue in Canada that it is in America, they have been tireless in listening to critics and trying to take their concerns into account.
Canada is far from perfect. It remains a poorer, less productive and less innovative economy than America’s. While championing freer international trade, Canada has yet to eliminate obstacles to trade among its provinces. For many liberals, Canada’s emphasis on “peace, order and good government”, enshrined in its constitution, is inadequate without an infusion of American individualism. But for now the world owes Canada gratitude for reminding it of what many people are in danger of forgetting: that tolerance and openness are wellsprings of security and prosperity, not threats to them.
Electric Scotland
The Stickett Minister
And some Common Men by S. R. Crockett (1908)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/book...itminister.pdf
A Treatise on Practical Store Farming
As Applicable to the Mountainous Region of Etterick Forest and the Pasoral District of Scotland in General by the Honourable William John Napier, E.R.S. Edin. Post-Captain in the Royal Navy and a Vice President of the Pastoral Society of Selkirkshire (1822)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/agri...orefarming.pdf
The Story of Bothwell Castle
And Tillietudlem, Crookston and other Castles by H. C. Shelley
You can read this at; http://www.electricscotland.com/book...wellcastle.pdf
The Story of PiIrig Church
1843, 1863, 1913 by Eben Turner, Session-Clerk (1913)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bible/pilrig.pdf
Studies in the History and Development of the University of Aberdeen
A Quatercentenary Tribute paid by certain of her Professors of her devoted sons edited by P. J. Anderson, M.A., LL.B. (pdf).
Read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/education/aberdeen.pdf
The Story
I thought you might enjoy this story of a fishing town in Scotland which shows how times have changed in Scotland.
Cromarty
The town of Cromarty lies at the north-east tip of the Black Isle, its feet in the waters of the Cromarty Firth and its back to the heather covered slopes of the South Sutor. With wide views across the Cromarty and the Moray Firths to distant encircling mountains and nearer glimpses of narrow streets and secluded courts, the district has much with which to enchant the visitor. But those who would wish to enjoy it to the full, and especially those who seek the atmosphere of the birthplace of the Cromarty Stonemason, must see not only the length, breadth and height of the scene but should view it in the fourth dimension of time also.
The deserted little town of today, however picturesque, bears little resemblance to the busy place it was when Hugh Miller was a boy. At the dawn of the nineteenth century the streets of Cromarty were astir with seafaring men for then the industry of the town was concerned with the broad waters that lay beyond the Sutors. Cromarty was an important centre of the fishing industry and in the fishertown men and women baited lines for the boats at anchor in the harbour while the sea air was heavy with the tang of fish curing from a previous catch. Beside the herring-barrels on the quay lay the manufactures of the town, hempen cloth, linen, lace, ale, nails and spades, and bacon awaiting shipment on one of the tall-masted sloops to ports around the Scottish coast and the Continent.
Before this active time, Cromarty had had its ups and downs. The Cromarty Firth, protected from east winds and open seas by the bastions of the Sutors, had been from time immemorial a haven for shipping and its geographical situation was well adapted to make it a centre for coastal trading. Thus the population of Cromarty, in common with so many of the east-coast ports of Scotland, was of lowland or Scandinavian origin. The lowland seafarers had to fight for their foothold on Celtic soil on more than one occasion, however, and it is recorded that the neighbouring clans sacked the town in the reign of James IV. Cromarty comes into historical prominence for the first time under the Stuarts when the Urquharts were the lairds. The most famous of the family was the whimsical Sir Thomas Urquhart, translator of Rabelais and author of several rare and eccentric works. Sir Thomas continued the family tradition of royalist and fought at the field of Worcester. He died in exile on the Continent—it is said of joy at hearing of the news of the Restoration.
Today tribute is paid to Sir Thomas Urquhart on a memorial plaque erected by the Saltire Society in the Old Kirk of Cromarty. This is one of the few buildings of the old town that remain, the seventeenth century town, built to the north of the present site, having been washed house by house into the sea. The Church, being built to the south of the old town, has escaped coast erosion. It is a T-plan kirk dating from 1700. It has harled walls and a simple belfry (1799) with large round-headed windows flanking the pulpit. The eighteenth century Cromarty House loft at the east end is decorated with pillars and panelling while opposite it is a simpler loft. The north loft or poor’s loft has been described as a more rudimentary piece of work. Other interesting features of the Old Kirk are the box pews at its centre and the hatchments or funeral escutcheons. These were displayed outside the houses of the dead during mourning and were later hung in the kirk near the family pew.
The union of 1707 brought depression to Cromarty and failure of the fishing made the first half of the eighteenth century a black time for the town. The house in which Hugh Miller was born dates from these days being built about 1711. Its builder, John Fiddes, was unlucky in his love for the beautiful Jean Gallie and little caring for his future he became a buccaneer on the Spanish Main. Returning later to Cromarty with his money-bag filled with dollars and doubloons he found his old sweetheart a widow and soon they became man and wife. With some of his Spanish gold he built the long low thatched cottage ‘with its tiny windows half buried in the eaves’ which was to be their home and the home of their family for so many years. Hugh Miller tells us that the death of the old buccaneer did not sever his connection with the house, for young Hugh saw his apparition there over fifty years after they had laid the seafarer in his grave, a tall figure dressed in a light blue greatcoat standing at the head of the stairs gazing down at his terrified great-grandson.
Prosperity began to return through the enterprise of William Forsyth, a merchant and native of Cromarty. He tried to help the fishing trade by instituting a bounty on herrings which encouraged the fitting out of boats and later he provided the fishers with nets and tackle. Although the venture met with limited success it was over a century before herring returned to the firth in large numbers. Forsyth expanded the interest which his father had in importing and exporting, and in 1746 he was appointed agent of the British linen Company in the north of Scotland.
Flax was shipped from Holland and prepared in Cromarty whence it was shipped again to the ports of the north. Employment was thus provided for many linen spinners which made up in some measure for the loss of the herring fisheries. William Forsyth built for himself the fine red sandstone house which is known today as Forsyth House around which he planted a spacious garden. 'Both serve to show how completely this merchant of the eighteenth century had anticipated the improvements of the nineteenth. There are not loftier nor better proportioned rooms in the place, larger windows, nor easier stairs; and his garden is such a one as would satisfy an Englishman of the present day’ (Hugh Miller Tales and Sketches).
The coasting schooners brought other goods from the Continent such as Swedish iron and Norwegian timber which provided raw materials for other manufactures. These and local resources were put into use by George Ross who bought the Cromarty estate in 1722, and who did more for the town than anyone else has been able to do. Ross had made his fortune as an army agent owing his advancement to Lord Mansfield and the Duke of Grafton. He instituted the manufacture of biscuit and cotton-bagging from imported hemp which for many years was a flourishing industry employing over 200 people in the factory and more than twice that number in their own homes.
He also erected what was at the time the largest brewery in the north which was intended to encourage ale drinking rather than whisky drinking among the people. A nail and spade factory was set up and lace makers were brought from England. Such was the consequent trade that Ross persuaded the Government to contribute £7000 for the building of the pier to which he also gave liberally and which was constructed in 1785. Later a factory for the curing of pork and cod was set up which for twenty years prior to 1845 had sent between fifteen and twenty thousand pounds worth of goods annually to the English market. In 1829 smacks sailed from Cromarty every Tuesday.
The employment thus created, coupled with the break up of the clan system in the Highlands, caused an immigration of Gaelic speakers into Cromarty, for whom Mr Ross gave the elegant Gaelic Chapel (1783) which stands on the high ground above the town. He also gave the Court-House (1782) whose cupola and clock have since been landmarks in the Cromarty scene. Building was a product of the new-found prosperity of the townsfolk and the greater part of the town as we know it today was built in the latter part of the eighteenth century or the opening years of the nineteenth. It ranged from the unique and stately merchants’ houses, with their three storeys and wide steps rising to their well proportioned front doors, to the humble cottages of the fisherfolk with their gables to the sea and their tiny windows peeping at one another across the vennels. Hugh Miller’s father, master of one of the Cromarty sloops, shared in the fashion by building a two storeyed sandstone villa between the Court-House and old John Fiddes’ cottage but the sea claimed Captain Miller before the new house could become a family home.
A visitor to Cromarty during Hugh Miller’s time was Robert Chambers who records that ‘Cromarty is one of the neatest, cleanest, prettiest towns of the size in Scotland.. . . Most of the houses are whitewashed, owing to the generosity of a candidate for the representation of the county in Parliament, who, anxious to gather golden opinions from all sorts of men, offered thus to adorn the house of any person who so desired; the consequence of which has been that Cromarty came cleaner out of the election business of 1826 than perhaps any other town in his Majesty’s dominions’!
During Hugh Miller’s years in Cromarty the business of the town was still done by way of the sea. On 6 January 1830 he published in the Inverness Courier an account of the launching from Hugh Allan’s shipyard in the town of a large and handsome schooner which was christened The Sutors of Cromarty. He was not always able to report such happy events, however, for he saw the harbour, which under George Ross and his successors had become the artery for the town’s trade, gradually change into one of the ports through which ebbed so much of Scotland’s life blood in the emigrant ships. These ships left Cromarty for Canada and Australia taking with them emigrants from Ross and Sutherland not all of whom, at least in the earlier days, were impoverished for we read that many possessed property and many were young and eager for adventure. The ships themselves, however, must have been a nightmare for one young man from Sutherland who sailed from Cromarty in May 1830 wrote: ‘Nearly the whole of the passengers, about 220 in number, were attacked by a severe fever owing to bad water. The water had been put in palm-oil casks, or some other obnoxious stuff was in them formerly, and we could neither use it for tea, coffee, or anything else, and of which we got a very small allowance. We lost nine passengers in all.’ Another ship, the Asia, sailing from Cromarty to Australia with 280 emigrants, was stopped at Plymouth on 17 September 1838 and declared unfit, being leaky and the passengers’ food poor and insufficient.
Thus it was that through a changing social structure and by competition from the industrial south whose steam looms were to rob the local weavers of employment, Cromarty shared depression with the Highlands. Even the railway-builders were to bypass the town leaving it in isolation and at the same time undercutting the economy of the coastal trade. Only in the first world war was the quietness of the little town interrupted when the Army was encamped nearby and the ships of the Navy once again used the firth and the old streets echoed to the voices of seafaring men.
And that's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
The site was down for a couple of days due to a modem error. Steve was away and so I couldn't contact him so sorry about that. That of course meant I couldn't publish new material either so a thin week.
That said I spent some time on the Internet archive and found an interesting selection of books and a few on the early pioneering days in Australia and New Zealand.
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. 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.
Former Scottish government minister Alex Neil voted for Brexit
A former member of Nicola Sturgeon's Cabinet has said that he voted for Brexit and that other SNP MSPs did the same.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-37870167
Religious observance opt-out for pupils to be considered
A consultation is to be held on whether older pupils should be allowed to opt themselves out of religious observance in schools, the BBC has learned.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37883229
Edinburgh Airport earmarked for US Preclearance expansion
Edinburgh is the only UK airport considered in this round of Preclearance expansion
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/edinbur...sion-1-4278874
Scottish heritage helped build the whisky business
Now it’s payback time
Read more at:
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ch-of-the-glen
Outer Hebrides battle to reverse steep population decline
Mangurstadh, in the Uig area of Lewis. The Outer Hebrides face a steep drop in population over the next 20 years
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/regions/inve...line-1-4278090
The £9bn Fiscal Transfer vs The £15bn GERS Deficit
I've noticed there still seems to be a lot of confusion about the difference between the GERS deficit, the deficit gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK and the effective fiscal transfer that the rest of the UK currently makes to Scotland.
Read more at:
http://chokkablog.blogspot.ca/2016/1...15bn-gers.html
Up to one in three children living in poverty
Up to one in three children grow up in poverty in parts of Scotland, a new study has suggested.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37898723
Canadian mining company moves its HQ from Paris to London
Canadian mining company Endeavor is to relocate its headquarters from Paris to London
Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...ris-to-london/
Trump beats Clinton to take White House
Donald Trump will become the 45th US president after a stunning victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37920175
US entry in World Championship Scotch Pie Awards
The World Championship Scotch Pie Awards have had their first ever international entry with a contender from the US.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37930122
Ireland will not hold Scottish Government Brexit talks
The confirmation by Irish minister Joe McHugh is a blow for Nicola Sturgeon
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/ireland...alks-1-4284805
The Calcutta cemetery where more than 3,000 Scots lie
From the jute mill workers of Dundee to the industrialists, policemen, teachers and officers of East India Company - almost half of its writers were Scots - Calcutta became a very Scottish city in parts.
Read more at:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/the-cal...-lie-1-4284585
Tartan Army puts party on hold to pay Armistice Day tribute at Trafalgar Square
The Tartan Army has heeded calls to respect Armistice Day events in London ahead of tonight’s World Cup qualifier at Wembley.
Read more at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...falgar-square/
TUC releases legal opinion on EU Referendum
Alyn Smith MEP and the SNP’s Christina McKelvie have highlighted an independent legal opinion commissioned by the Trade Union Council (TUC). See also the comment below the article.
Read more at:
http://scotsindependent.scot/?p=1343
Why is Scotland turning its back on an economic boom?
By Ryan Stevenson
Read more at:
http://www.scottishreview.net/Stevenson93a.html
Electric Canadian
Chronicles of Canada
Added Volume 4 - The Jesuit Missions: A Chronicle of the Cross in the Wilderness
You can read this at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/chronicles/chronicles04a.pdf
Canada’s example to the world
Liberty moves north. From an article in the Economist Magazine...
It is uniquely fortunate in many ways—but Canada still holds lessons for other Western countries
WHO will uphold the torch of openness in the West? Not America’s next president. Donald Trump, the grievance-mongering Republican nominee, would build a wall on Mexico’s border and rip up trade agreements. Hillary Clinton, the probable winner on November 8th, would be much better on immigration, but she has renounced her former support for ambitious trade deals. Britain, worried about immigrants and globalisation, has voted to march out of the European Union. Angela Merkel flung open Germany’s doors to refugees, then suffered a series of political setbacks. Marine Le Pen, a right-wing populist, is the favourite to win the first round of France’s presidential election next year.
In this depressing company of wall-builders, door-slammers and drawbridge-raisers, Canada stands out as a heartening exception. It happily admits more than 300,000 immigrants a year, nearly 1% of its population—a higher proportion than any other big, rich country—and has done so for two decades. Its charismatic prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has been in office a year, has welcomed some 33,000 Syrian refugees, far more than America has. Bucking the protectionist mood, Canada remains an eager free-trader. It was dismayed by the EU’s struggle to overcome a veto by Walloons on signing a “comprehensive” trade agreement that took seven years to negotiate (see Charlemagne). Under Mr Trudeau, Canada is trying to make amends for its shameful treatment of indigenous peoples, and is likely to become the first Western country to legalise recreational cannabis on a national level.
Go, Canada!
Irredeemably dull by reputation, less brash and bellicose than America, Canada has long seemed to outsiders to be a citadel of decency, tolerance and good sense. Charles Dickens, bewildered by a visit to America in 1842, found relief in Canada, where he saw “public feeling and private enterprise in a sound and wholesome state; nothing of flush or fever in its system.” Modern Canada’s social safety net is stronger than America’s; its gun-control laws saner. Today, in its lonely defence of liberal values, Canada seems downright heroic. In an age of seductive extremes, it remains reassuringly level-headed.
Many of Canada’s virtues spring from its history and geography and are not readily exportable (see Briefing). It is easier to be relaxed about immigration when your only land border is protected by a wall the size of the United States. Appreciation for the benefits of trade comes more easily to countries next door to big markets. British Brexiteers might justifiably claim that they voted for exactly what Canada already has: control of immigration and the freedom to negotiate trade deals with any country willing to reciprocate.
Despite such luck, Canada suffers from some of the stresses that feed populism in other rich countries. It has experienced a decline of manufacturing jobs, stagnant incomes for most of its citizens and rising inequality. It, too, frets about a shrinking middle class. Canadians worry about Islamist terrorism, though the country has so far been spared a big attack. Some right-of-centre politicians, playing on fears that one will happen, indulge in Trumpian rhetoric. Yet Canada does not seem tempted to shut itself off from the world. What can other Western countries learn from its example?
First, Canada not only welcomes newcomers but works hard to integrate them. Its charter of rights and freedoms proclaims the country’s “multicultural heritage”. Not every country will fuse diversity and national identity in the same way that Canada does. Indeed, French-speaking Quebec has its own way of interpreting multiculturalism, which gives priority to the province’s distinct culture. But other countries can learn from the spirit of experimentation that Canada brings to helping immigrants find employment and housing. Its system of private sponsorship, in which groups of citizens take responsibility for supporting refugees during their first year, not only helps them adapt but encourages society at large to make them welcome. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called on other countries to copy it.
Follow the moose
The second lesson is the value of knowing when fiscal austerity does more harm than good. Canada has been managing its public finances conservatively for the past 20 years or so. Now in charge of a sluggish economy, Mr Trudeau can afford to give growth a modest lift by spending extra money on infrastructure. His government has given a tax cut to the middle class and raised rates for the highest earners to help pay for it. These economic policies deserve to “go viral”, the head of the IMF has said. Canada has a further economic lesson to impart in how it protects people hurt by globalisation. Compared with America, its publicly financed health system lessens the terror of losing a job; it also provides more financial support and training to people who do. And its policy of “equalisation” gives provincial and local governments the means to maintain public services at a uniform level across the country.
Perhaps most important, this mixture of policies—liberal on trade and immigration, activist in shoring up growth and protecting globalisation’s losers—is a reminder that the centrist formula still works, if politicians are willing to champion it. Instead of folding in the face of opposition to liberal policies, Mr Trudeau and his ministers have instead made the case for them. Although free trade is not the hot-button issue in Canada that it is in America, they have been tireless in listening to critics and trying to take their concerns into account.
Canada is far from perfect. It remains a poorer, less productive and less innovative economy than America’s. While championing freer international trade, Canada has yet to eliminate obstacles to trade among its provinces. For many liberals, Canada’s emphasis on “peace, order and good government”, enshrined in its constitution, is inadequate without an infusion of American individualism. But for now the world owes Canada gratitude for reminding it of what many people are in danger of forgetting: that tolerance and openness are wellsprings of security and prosperity, not threats to them.
Electric Scotland
The Stickett Minister
And some Common Men by S. R. Crockett (1908)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/book...itminister.pdf
A Treatise on Practical Store Farming
As Applicable to the Mountainous Region of Etterick Forest and the Pasoral District of Scotland in General by the Honourable William John Napier, E.R.S. Edin. Post-Captain in the Royal Navy and a Vice President of the Pastoral Society of Selkirkshire (1822)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/agri...orefarming.pdf
The Story of Bothwell Castle
And Tillietudlem, Crookston and other Castles by H. C. Shelley
You can read this at; http://www.electricscotland.com/book...wellcastle.pdf
The Story of PiIrig Church
1843, 1863, 1913 by Eben Turner, Session-Clerk (1913)
You can read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/bible/pilrig.pdf
Studies in the History and Development of the University of Aberdeen
A Quatercentenary Tribute paid by certain of her Professors of her devoted sons edited by P. J. Anderson, M.A., LL.B. (pdf).
Read this at: http://www.electricscotland.com/education/aberdeen.pdf
The Story
I thought you might enjoy this story of a fishing town in Scotland which shows how times have changed in Scotland.
The town of Cromarty lies at the north-east tip of the Black Isle, its feet in the waters of the Cromarty Firth and its back to the heather covered slopes of the South Sutor. With wide views across the Cromarty and the Moray Firths to distant encircling mountains and nearer glimpses of narrow streets and secluded courts, the district has much with which to enchant the visitor. But those who would wish to enjoy it to the full, and especially those who seek the atmosphere of the birthplace of the Cromarty Stonemason, must see not only the length, breadth and height of the scene but should view it in the fourth dimension of time also.
The deserted little town of today, however picturesque, bears little resemblance to the busy place it was when Hugh Miller was a boy. At the dawn of the nineteenth century the streets of Cromarty were astir with seafaring men for then the industry of the town was concerned with the broad waters that lay beyond the Sutors. Cromarty was an important centre of the fishing industry and in the fishertown men and women baited lines for the boats at anchor in the harbour while the sea air was heavy with the tang of fish curing from a previous catch. Beside the herring-barrels on the quay lay the manufactures of the town, hempen cloth, linen, lace, ale, nails and spades, and bacon awaiting shipment on one of the tall-masted sloops to ports around the Scottish coast and the Continent.
Before this active time, Cromarty had had its ups and downs. The Cromarty Firth, protected from east winds and open seas by the bastions of the Sutors, had been from time immemorial a haven for shipping and its geographical situation was well adapted to make it a centre for coastal trading. Thus the population of Cromarty, in common with so many of the east-coast ports of Scotland, was of lowland or Scandinavian origin. The lowland seafarers had to fight for their foothold on Celtic soil on more than one occasion, however, and it is recorded that the neighbouring clans sacked the town in the reign of James IV. Cromarty comes into historical prominence for the first time under the Stuarts when the Urquharts were the lairds. The most famous of the family was the whimsical Sir Thomas Urquhart, translator of Rabelais and author of several rare and eccentric works. Sir Thomas continued the family tradition of royalist and fought at the field of Worcester. He died in exile on the Continent—it is said of joy at hearing of the news of the Restoration.
Today tribute is paid to Sir Thomas Urquhart on a memorial plaque erected by the Saltire Society in the Old Kirk of Cromarty. This is one of the few buildings of the old town that remain, the seventeenth century town, built to the north of the present site, having been washed house by house into the sea. The Church, being built to the south of the old town, has escaped coast erosion. It is a T-plan kirk dating from 1700. It has harled walls and a simple belfry (1799) with large round-headed windows flanking the pulpit. The eighteenth century Cromarty House loft at the east end is decorated with pillars and panelling while opposite it is a simpler loft. The north loft or poor’s loft has been described as a more rudimentary piece of work. Other interesting features of the Old Kirk are the box pews at its centre and the hatchments or funeral escutcheons. These were displayed outside the houses of the dead during mourning and were later hung in the kirk near the family pew.
The union of 1707 brought depression to Cromarty and failure of the fishing made the first half of the eighteenth century a black time for the town. The house in which Hugh Miller was born dates from these days being built about 1711. Its builder, John Fiddes, was unlucky in his love for the beautiful Jean Gallie and little caring for his future he became a buccaneer on the Spanish Main. Returning later to Cromarty with his money-bag filled with dollars and doubloons he found his old sweetheart a widow and soon they became man and wife. With some of his Spanish gold he built the long low thatched cottage ‘with its tiny windows half buried in the eaves’ which was to be their home and the home of their family for so many years. Hugh Miller tells us that the death of the old buccaneer did not sever his connection with the house, for young Hugh saw his apparition there over fifty years after they had laid the seafarer in his grave, a tall figure dressed in a light blue greatcoat standing at the head of the stairs gazing down at his terrified great-grandson.
Prosperity began to return through the enterprise of William Forsyth, a merchant and native of Cromarty. He tried to help the fishing trade by instituting a bounty on herrings which encouraged the fitting out of boats and later he provided the fishers with nets and tackle. Although the venture met with limited success it was over a century before herring returned to the firth in large numbers. Forsyth expanded the interest which his father had in importing and exporting, and in 1746 he was appointed agent of the British linen Company in the north of Scotland.
Flax was shipped from Holland and prepared in Cromarty whence it was shipped again to the ports of the north. Employment was thus provided for many linen spinners which made up in some measure for the loss of the herring fisheries. William Forsyth built for himself the fine red sandstone house which is known today as Forsyth House around which he planted a spacious garden. 'Both serve to show how completely this merchant of the eighteenth century had anticipated the improvements of the nineteenth. There are not loftier nor better proportioned rooms in the place, larger windows, nor easier stairs; and his garden is such a one as would satisfy an Englishman of the present day’ (Hugh Miller Tales and Sketches).
The coasting schooners brought other goods from the Continent such as Swedish iron and Norwegian timber which provided raw materials for other manufactures. These and local resources were put into use by George Ross who bought the Cromarty estate in 1722, and who did more for the town than anyone else has been able to do. Ross had made his fortune as an army agent owing his advancement to Lord Mansfield and the Duke of Grafton. He instituted the manufacture of biscuit and cotton-bagging from imported hemp which for many years was a flourishing industry employing over 200 people in the factory and more than twice that number in their own homes.
He also erected what was at the time the largest brewery in the north which was intended to encourage ale drinking rather than whisky drinking among the people. A nail and spade factory was set up and lace makers were brought from England. Such was the consequent trade that Ross persuaded the Government to contribute £7000 for the building of the pier to which he also gave liberally and which was constructed in 1785. Later a factory for the curing of pork and cod was set up which for twenty years prior to 1845 had sent between fifteen and twenty thousand pounds worth of goods annually to the English market. In 1829 smacks sailed from Cromarty every Tuesday.
The employment thus created, coupled with the break up of the clan system in the Highlands, caused an immigration of Gaelic speakers into Cromarty, for whom Mr Ross gave the elegant Gaelic Chapel (1783) which stands on the high ground above the town. He also gave the Court-House (1782) whose cupola and clock have since been landmarks in the Cromarty scene. Building was a product of the new-found prosperity of the townsfolk and the greater part of the town as we know it today was built in the latter part of the eighteenth century or the opening years of the nineteenth. It ranged from the unique and stately merchants’ houses, with their three storeys and wide steps rising to their well proportioned front doors, to the humble cottages of the fisherfolk with their gables to the sea and their tiny windows peeping at one another across the vennels. Hugh Miller’s father, master of one of the Cromarty sloops, shared in the fashion by building a two storeyed sandstone villa between the Court-House and old John Fiddes’ cottage but the sea claimed Captain Miller before the new house could become a family home.
A visitor to Cromarty during Hugh Miller’s time was Robert Chambers who records that ‘Cromarty is one of the neatest, cleanest, prettiest towns of the size in Scotland.. . . Most of the houses are whitewashed, owing to the generosity of a candidate for the representation of the county in Parliament, who, anxious to gather golden opinions from all sorts of men, offered thus to adorn the house of any person who so desired; the consequence of which has been that Cromarty came cleaner out of the election business of 1826 than perhaps any other town in his Majesty’s dominions’!
During Hugh Miller’s years in Cromarty the business of the town was still done by way of the sea. On 6 January 1830 he published in the Inverness Courier an account of the launching from Hugh Allan’s shipyard in the town of a large and handsome schooner which was christened The Sutors of Cromarty. He was not always able to report such happy events, however, for he saw the harbour, which under George Ross and his successors had become the artery for the town’s trade, gradually change into one of the ports through which ebbed so much of Scotland’s life blood in the emigrant ships. These ships left Cromarty for Canada and Australia taking with them emigrants from Ross and Sutherland not all of whom, at least in the earlier days, were impoverished for we read that many possessed property and many were young and eager for adventure. The ships themselves, however, must have been a nightmare for one young man from Sutherland who sailed from Cromarty in May 1830 wrote: ‘Nearly the whole of the passengers, about 220 in number, were attacked by a severe fever owing to bad water. The water had been put in palm-oil casks, or some other obnoxious stuff was in them formerly, and we could neither use it for tea, coffee, or anything else, and of which we got a very small allowance. We lost nine passengers in all.’ Another ship, the Asia, sailing from Cromarty to Australia with 280 emigrants, was stopped at Plymouth on 17 September 1838 and declared unfit, being leaky and the passengers’ food poor and insufficient.
Thus it was that through a changing social structure and by competition from the industrial south whose steam looms were to rob the local weavers of employment, Cromarty shared depression with the Highlands. Even the railway-builders were to bypass the town leaving it in isolation and at the same time undercutting the economy of the coastal trade. Only in the first world war was the quietness of the little town interrupted when the Army was encamped nearby and the ships of the Navy once again used the firth and the old streets echoed to the voices of seafaring men.
And that's it for this week and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair