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http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
This is a reminder that the Guelph Centre for Scottish Studies 2018 Spring Colloquium will take place on Saturday, April 14, at Knox College at the University of Toronto. Registration commences at noon. Speakers include Dr. Catriona Macdonald, University of Glasgow, Dr. Donald Nerbas, Chair in Canadian-Scottish Studies at McGill University, Dr. Sarah Sharp, University of Otago, New Zealand and Dr James E. Fraser, Chair of Scottish Studies and Director of the Guelph Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph. More information at: http://www.scottishstudies.com/520-s...quium-2018.htm
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Oil sands in Alberta have a proven reserve of 170 billion barrels, the second largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world.
I am raising this topic as there is a current situation in Canada where the only pipe line being considered is now subject to closure if something is not done to ensure its survival.
I'm aware that it's mainly the First Nations and Green activists that are against it but it's a national asset for all Canadians and one that could realize billons for the Canadian economy. You can read about the case for it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_Oil:_The_Case_for_Canada%27s_Oil_Sands
Here is the video introduction to this newsletter...
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.
New Scottish tax system comes into force
The changes, which were signed off by MSPs alongside the Scottish government budget in February, will see many pay less tax, but some pay more.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-43655803
An independent Singapore was never given a chance
Britain should learn from it
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/independen...britain-learn/
US-Scots to help rebuild communities with Tartan Cents’ initiative
Three pilot urban regeneration projects in Fife and Ayrshire are set to receive funding from descendants of Scots who emigrated to the United States.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/us-sco...tive-1-4719908
Knife epidemic in Scotland's schools
New figures show a five-year high despite calls for action on knife crime in schools following the tragic death of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne two-and-a-half years ago.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...knife-12317953
Canadian junior hockey team bus crash kills 14
Fourteen people were killed when a bus carrying a Canadian junior hockey team collided with a truck in Saskatchewan province
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ca...-idUKKBN1HE08D
KT Tunstall leads Tartan Day procession in New York
More than 30,000 spectators flocked to New York city to celebrate the event and its anniversary.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/kt-tun...york-1-4720513
Kilted Scots wanted for Canadian window cleaning company
Men in Kilts is hiring in Calgary, Alberta, with the firm offering a free one-way flight from Scotland to the lucky candidate.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/k...pany-1-4721143
Inuit stowaway who found naval glory with Scots aristocrat
The 18-year-old Greenlander had stowed away – along with his kayak on the Leith whaler the Thomas and Ann.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/i...crat-1-4720462
Rose like a Lion
John McAllion on Mick McGahey
Read more at:
http://www.scottishreview.net/JohnMcAllion422a.html
Great Polish Map of Scotland restored to former glory
A giant three-dimensional concrete map of Scotland has been restored to its former glory
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...tland-43729829
The UK’s first cat census has been launched
The UK’s first cat census has been launched in an attempt to track the number of strays across the country, an animal charity has announced.
Read more at:
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/first-uk...ing-programme/
Brexit means the UK will get a better or larger trade deal with Canada, says Justin Trudeau
Speaking to the Times, he said the EU's free trade agreement with Canada should be seen as the starting point for negotiations with the UK.
Read more at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-Trudeau.html
The Indian dish you can’t find in India
The coastal city of Durban in South Africa is home to one of the largest Indian communities outside India. It’s also home to the unique curry called bunny chow.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2017...-find-in-india
UK to challenge Scotland’s Brexit bill in Supreme Court
The UK Government will launch an unprecedented legal challenge against Scotland’s emergency Brexit legislation early next week in the country’s highest court.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-to-...ourt-1-4722757
Billy Connolly hits out at anti-English Scots
I dislike people that write England off because they’re Scottish. It’s unfair and *brutal
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/world-...cots-1-4721301
Chemical weapons agency confirms British findings on Salisbury poison attack
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said there was no doubt Russia was responsible for the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal after a chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Britain’s analysis of the nerve agent used.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-br...-idUKKBN1HJ1L0
Oilsands research could be 'game changer' for renewable energy
Researchers are extracting vanadium from the oilsands and using it to build batteries
Read more at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/vana...bles-1.4608208
Electric Canadian
Transactions of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers
I discovered a lot of volumes of these transaction which are very detailed and note that they are very popular downloads so assume civil engineers are enjoying the details given in these transactions.
I've added the 1933 volume and will add others each week. You can view these at
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...rial/index.htm
Some of the topics discussed include Aerial Mapping Photographs, Agriculture Mechanization, Aviation To-dav, Bakelite Industry, Buildings of the Future, The Dominion's Relief Work, Coinage Methods, Cements in Canada, Concrete Mixtures, Defects in Steel Rails, Electrical Generation, Foundations in Clay, Trans-Canada Highway, Hudson Bay Project, Hydro-Electric Developments, Lighting the Welland Ship Canal, Magnesian Carbonates, Materials of Construction, Obituaries, Ontario Highways and Byways, Power Distribution, Preservative Treatment, Radium, Town Planning Scheme for Saint John, Water Powers of the World, etc.
Forest Life in Acadie
Sketches of Sport and Natural History in the Lower Provinces of the Canadian Dominion by Captain Campbell Hardy (1869) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...feinacadia.pdf
Maple Leaves - Canadian History, Literature, Sport
By J. M. LeMoine (1873) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...apleLeaves.pdf
Canada under the Administration of the Earl of Dufferin
By George Stewart, Jr (1878) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/makers/lordduffrin.pdf
First Nations in Canada and Inuit
I was advised of a web site that gave some good information on the First Nations and Inuit peoples of Canada. When visiting there was an announcement on the page that the sites were going to go down and new ones created as so I decided to create a pdf of the information they contained and have made them available on our First Nations page at:
First Nations in Canada at http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...nsinCanada.pdf
Inuit at http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/first/Inuit.pdf
I also added external links to the two new web sites.
Conrad Black
The Liberals prefer punishing Christians to confronting the abortion issue
http://www.conradmblack.com/1381/the...-christians-to
Electric Scotland
Commonwealth of Australia
Historical Records of Australia published in 1914 in 19 volumes. Intending to put up 1 volume s week until complete.
Added volume 3 to this collection at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mmonwealth.htm
Quartermaster Supply
Added Volume VI - Salvage and Services in two parts which now completes the volumes I have found.
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...stersupply.htm
History of New Zealand
From the Arrival of Tasman in Golden Bay in 1642, to the second arrival of Sir George Grey in 1861 by Alfred Saunders (1896) in 3 volumes
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nz/history.htm
The Life and Work of Richard John Seddon
Premer of New Zealand, 1893-1906 with a History of the Liberal Party in New Zealand by James Drummond (1907)
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nz/seddon.pdf
Unique Traditions Chiefly of the West and South of Scotland
By John Gordon Barbour (1886) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/book...Traditions.pdf
Angling Reminiscences
By Thomas Tod Stoddart
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...greminices.pdf
Historical Tales and Legends of Ayrshire
By William Rovertson (1889) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...f_ayrshire.htm
The Story
I read the book about Sir Howard Douglas and I was very impressed with him and his work. I thus thought I'd bring just one story from his life which demonstrates how one Scot impacted millions from around the world.
Sir Howard Douglas
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick
Sir Howard had now attained the rank of Major-General, and in 1824 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and Major-General in command of the troops in that province, together with those in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda.
The colony of New Brunswick dates its origin from 1764, when it was established by a body of New Englanders, who settled at the mouth of the River St. John, in what is now called the county of Sunbury. The population received an addition in 1783 from an influx of American Royalists, who abandoned their homes in New York and Boston on the Declaration of Independence, and came to live under English rule. The numbers were further increased by emigration, and Sir Howard found them amount to upwards of 74,000, of whom only 3227 claimed descent from the New Englanders.
The Governor of a colony then held a different position from at present, when he merely represents the Sovereign, the government being vested in Ministers nominated by a Parliament. Sir Howard was associated with a Parliament, but responsible to the Ministers at home, who formed their views on his reports. The weal of a colony thus depended greatly on the Governor’s abilities; and his proved equal to the post. He came to a wilderness, carried it through a terrible visitation, and left it a thriving province.
The New Brunswick of 1824 could boast of only five roads, and these were but roads by courtesy. Three led severally to St. John’s, St. Andrew’s, and Chatham, from the capital Fredericton; another ran in the direction of Quebec, and the fifth led to Halifax. They were constructed on the Roman plan of going up hill and down, and attracted little traffic, the colonists preferring to settle on the banks of the rivers, where they had the advantage of water communication. Sir Howard turned his first attention to this deficiency, and designed a road to connect Fredericton with the port of St. John’s, by the Nara-pia river, pushing it forward with great rapidity; and the colonists were astonished to see a way opened that saved a third of the distance. It was so constructed that horses could trot the course without danger or distress, though it crossed a lofty ridge of slate. "In fact,” writes a clergyman of New Brunswick to the author of this work, “Telford or M‘Adam could hardly have designed a better.” Comfortable inns garnished the wayside, and insured the traveller good entertainment, whether he stopped at the sign of the “Government House,” or that of the “Douglas Arms.” The St. John’s road was but the beginning of a system, and was soon followed by others, which opened up New Brunswick in every direction, while he contracted for the navigation of the St. John by a steamer, almost the first introduced in a British colony.
But it struck him that he could know little of the deficiencies of his government unless he visited its remotest parts, and he waited for neither roads nor steamers to carry him through. His old Indian habits made the task easy, and he penetrated forests and forced his way up streams to back settlements, hardly known by name, startling the inhabitants with a sight of the Governor. “I have received accounts of his visits to every part of the country,” writes the Rev. Dr. Jacob to the author. “It has been especially observed to me, by persons likely to have taken particular notice of his peculiar habits, that Sir Howard showed himself determined to know men and things as they really were, and was accustomed to go in all directions, closely inspecting the abodes and occupations of the rich and the poor, and discovering a kind interest in the welfare of all classes.”
His progresses brought him to perceive that the colonists were very backward in farming, and conducted its operations in the most primitive manner, whence he applied himself to promote a better system. He had not the advantage of personal experience, but he took counsel of the best agriculturists at home, and disseminated their suggestions. He also established agricultural societies, and obtained them the support of public grants, while he encouraged improvements by prizes, which he often distributed himself. He introduced a better arrangement in the construction of dwellings, affording more accommodation and domestic comfort, and he extended the same principle to churches and schools. These measures resulted in a general elevation of the population. Farmers multiplied their crops, and carried on their work with superior implements, and the regenerating influence was apparent both in their stock and seeds. The remotest settler felt a stimulus to exertion, when any moment might bring the Governor into his cabin, with a greeting for each of his household, and an interest in all his proceedings.
At the Great Fire
The impulse Sir Howard had given the province met a sudden check in 1825. The season was advancing, and no rain had fallen for two months, which excited uneasiness for the harvest, and he visited some of the settlements to ascertain their prospects. An urgent letter recalled him to Fredericton, and he returned to find himself houseless, a fire having broken out at Government House on the 19th of September, and almost burnt it to the ground before it could be arrested. Happily it occurred in the daytime, and the courage and devotion of Lady Douglas nerved her to supply his place, which led to the preservation of the most valuable part of the effects; and the author is the more bound to mention this, as it secured him the materials for the present work; for nothing seemed more precious to Lady Douglas than the memorials of her husband’s services.
But his own misfortune was forgotten by Sir Howard in a calamity which fell on the community. The long drought continued, and October came in with midsummer sultriness, keeping the thermometer at 86° in the shade, and 126° in the sun. On the morning of the 7th he expressed his belief that a large fire prevailed in the woods, as a breeze had risen, and blew warm and parched, bringing in clouds of smoke; but this was ascribed to the burning of the brushwood by the lumberers. The explanation did not allay his apprehensions, and he directed the engines to be in readiness, and the military prepared to assist, fearing that brands might be blown into Fredericton. The wisdom of his precautions too soon appeared, for the afternoon brought an alarm that fire had broken out in the wood round the house of the Hon. John Baillie, about a mile from the town; and he ordered out the engines and troops, and galloped off at their head, followed by nearly the whole population.
The air brought an odour of burning as they advanced, but they saw nothing of the fire except a cloud of smoke, till a gust blew it aside and showed the flaming trees. The house rose behind, and appeared uninjured; nor had the trees caught beyond a few yards, where a gap imposed a boundary. Sir Howard directed the engines to play here and on the house, though this presently seemed doomed, as the trees began to fall and covered it with flakes of fire. Indeed, it excited less interest than the wood, for there the fate of the province was at stake, as a spark winged across the gap might spread the fire to the interior. Sir Howard watched both points, and so posted the firemen that they got the mastery of the flames, and less than an hour found the house preserved, and the fire extinguished.
All were rejoicing at the result, when danger presented itself in a new quarter, a messenger spurring up to report a fire in Fredericton. Sir Howard pushed on the engines to the spot, and ordered up the troops at the double, while he hastened to be first himself; for the breeze had increased to a gale, and blew in a direction to imperil the town. The flames burst on his view as he galloped up, rising from the house and barn of Mr. Ring, which they had half consumed, and they now threatened a range of wooden houses beyond. The engines played on the nearest; but the gale blew about burning flakes, which rendered precaution futile; and smoke rose from two or three houses at once—then from a dozen; and a whole street was in flames. They spread like lightning, not from building to building, but in forks; and roofs lit up a dozen houses off as if they kindled spontaneously. A large area was one flame, crackling and crashing, as it shot over rafters, split walls, and brought down floors and beams, whirling smoke through the town till the whole seemed on fire. The torrents of water poured in had no effect; for the smoke and flame thickened where they fell, as if they supplied fuel, and house after house caught like tinder. But the engines worked on, the soldiers and population manning the pumps, and relieving each other, while parties kept back the crowd of women and children who watched their burning homes with frantic emotion. Nothing could be saved; for buildings caught at a distance where they appeared secure, and blazed in an instant, throwing out flames like arms, and dragging the next houses into the vortex. Night added its shadows to this scene; and some of the most respectable families of the town crouched destitute in the streets, reduced to beggary in a moment. All seemed lost; and all had been lost indeed, but for one man.
Sir Howard marked a point where he thought the fire might be arrested, as it was occupied by a brick building less in front of the wind, and here he concentrated a large force, and so saturated the adjacent houses with water, that flakes fell on them without igniting. How long this might have continued is doubtful; but the wind gradually veered further round and blew in the opposite direction, which turned the fire in upon itself, and a third of the town was a burning mass while the rest stood clear.
The deliverance was not understood at first, but the report spread, and families returned to their homes, carrying back their furniture which they had brought into the streets. Sir Howard remained at the angle, and urged the firemen to renewed exertion; for the wind grew more and more boisterous, and might shift any moment, when the flames would again be driven forward if not extinguished. The continuous stream of water began to abate their fury, or nothing remained to consume, for they now vanished in smoke, which rolled away from the town, and showed the sky above. Yet the air was so hot that it became difficult to breathe; a suffocating odour pervaded every quarter; and a belief arose that the fire smouldered somewhere, and would break out again. But imagination never dreamt of the conflagration at hand, the most stupendous ever witnessed by man.
A roar of thunder came from the forest, and a column of smoke shot up, followed by blaze on blaze, and then a burst of fire, like the eruption of a volcano. The flames fell in a shower, which the gale blew wide, hurling them about like darts; and here they might be seen on the tops of trees—there flaring in the branches—there running up or down the trunks, or from base and summit at once. The smoke blew back on the unkindled woods, making them darker than before—blacker than the blackest night; and the fire raged in the middle, imaging the mouth of hell. But this was only for a moment. Blazes gleamed at the sides, behind, in the depths of the woods, on the river’s brink; trees of centuries’ growth lit up in the midst of the darkness; fire rained from above, soared up from below, spread from the centre, and closed in from the distance. It burst in a hundred eruptions, mounting, declining, and mounting again, throwing up spouts, falling in showers or sheets, or glaring in mid-air. A thousand miles of forest had caught! The river was crimson with the reflection; the clouds took the form of flames; the very heavens seemed on fire.
The intense heat deranged the strata of the atmosphere; and the gale burst into a hurricane, tore through the town, wrenched up trees, and carried strong men off their feet. Horses broke from the fields, and galloped about in troops, snorting and neighing, their eyes starting from their heads and their manes on end, while the wind swelled the clatter of their hoofs to the rush of hosts. All occurred in an instant, and inspired a religious people with an impression akin to the spectacle—that it was the Day of Judgment. They threw themselves on their knees in the streets, or buried their faces to shut out the scene, as if they made the appeal foretold to the mountains and hills. And it did seem a burning world, with the fire raging like a sea, in mountainous waves; the sky glowing like a furnace; the hurricane breaking in peals and crashes; and the scorched air flapping as with a million wings.
Sir Howard kept moving through the town, or paused only in the centre, where he had posted a reserve of the 52nd Regiment under Colonel M‘Nair, and a body of firemen; while the remainder were stationed at different points, ready to operate on the first alarm. Only the greatest vigilance could preserve the remaining houses, and he went from post to post, giving directions and overlooking all. He was nobly supported by Colonel M‘Nair and the other officers, as well as the gentlemen of the town, who formed parties to drive back the horses and patrol the streets. This reassured the crowd, whose terrors calmed as they felt the presence of authority, and more as they saw the light of another day.
But now they began to realise their destitution, which horror had made them forget; and hundreds cried for bread. Sir Howard organised a system of temporary relief, and formed a committee to carry it out, but charity could do little in a case so desperate. Thriving men of yesterday had lost all they possessed; honoured families were beggars; and delicate women and children stood unsheltered before their ruined homes. It terrified him to think that they reflected a distress as wide as the province; for it could not be doubted that the fire had ravaged the interior, and left thousands without a roof. He considered that it must have destroyed the harvest, and that the navigation might close before they obtained supplies—so far did he look forward in a moment, and with courage to act on his forethought. He sent for an active merchant of the town, and ordered him to proceed to Quebec, and buy up food and clothing, furnishing him with bills on the Treasury, which he drew at his own risk. He then took measures for the relief of the misery in the town, calling a meeting of the inhabitants by proclamation; and this brought up the whole community—the rich and destitute together. He presided himself, and made a touching appeal to the more fortunate, while he set an example of liberality by subscribing 20l. from his own purse, and 200l. in the name of the King, appropriated from the casual revenue on his own responsibility. “Such conduct as his speaks volumes in his praise,” says the New Brunswick Courier. “It endears him to our hearts, and throws a moral splendour around his character, that the adventitious distinctions of birth, rank, and fortune cannot confer; and much as we admire his bravery as a soldier, his indefatigable endeavours to make himself acquainted with the real state of the province, and his profound political sagacity, we admire still more the distinguished efforts he has made in the cause of suffering humanity on this occasion.”
He did not confine his solicitations to the colonists, but addressed letters to the Governor-General of Canada, his friends in England, and the Colonial Secretary, claiming their succour; and his official despatch stated the need so forcibly that the Government inserted it in the ‘Gazette’ to stimulate the public bounty. The result was a subscription of 40,000l. collected in England and the colonies, and the presentation of large supplies of food and clothing.
Several days elapsed before the fire subsided, and then it became masked by smoke which darkened the whole country. But night proved that it had not burnt out: for showers of flame shot up at intervals, and trees stood glaring in the dark, while the mingled black and red of the sky seemed its embers overhead. Thus a week passed, when Sir Howard determined to penetrate the forest, and visit the different settlements. A friend has described his parting with Lady Douglas and his daughters, whose pale faces betrayed their emotion, though they forbore to oppose his design, knowing that nothing would keep him from his duty. But this was not understood by others, and the gentlemen of the town gathered round his rough country waggon at the door, and entreated him to wait a few days, pointing to the mountains of smoke, and declaring that he must be suffocated, if he escaped being burnt. He thanked them for their good feeling, grasped their hands, and mounted the waggon. It dashed off at a gallop, and wondering eyes followed it to the woods, where it disappeared in the smoke.
The devastation he met exceeded his worst fears; for the settlements he went to visit no longer existed. The fire seems to have burst in every quarter at once, for it broke out at Miramichi the same moment as at Fredericton, though a hundred and fifty miles lay between. But here its aspect was even more dreadful, and its ravages more appalling, as Miramichi stood in the forest, completely girt round, except where escape was shut off by the river. Many were in bed when they heard the alarm; many were first startled by the flames, or were suffocated in their sleep, leaving no vestige but charred bones. Others leaped from roof or window, and rushed into the forest, not knowing where they went, or took fire in the street, and blazed up like torches. A number succeeded in gaining the river, and threw themselves in boats or on planks, and pushed off from the bank, which the fire had almost reached, and where it presently raged as fiercely as in the town. One woman was aroused from sleep by the screams of her children whom she found in flames, and caught fire herself as she snatched up an infant and ran into the river, where mother and child perished together. Then came the hurricane, tearing up burning trees and whirling them aloft; lashing the river and channel into fury, and snapping the anchors of the ships, which flew before it like chaff, dashing on the rocks, and covering the waves with wreck. Blazing trees lighted on two large vessels, and they fired like mines, consuming on the water, which became so hot in the shallows that large salmon and other fish leaped on shore, and were afterwards found dead in heaps along the branches of the river. What can be said of such horrors, combining a conflagration of a thousand miles with storm and shipwreck, and surprising a solitary community at midnight. Happily, the greater number contrived to reach Chatham by the river; but floating corpses showed how many perished in the attempt, and nearly three hundred lost their lives by fire or drowning.
A harrowing spectacle presented itself on the subsidence of the flames. Scarcely a house remained standing; not one uninjured; and the road was strewn with black heaps, which proved to be the ashes of men and women. One of these claims mention as the remains of a woman who had so disposed herself as to cover her infant while she burnt to a cinder above, and the child was taken from beneath alive — a witness to the sublimest instance of maternal devotion ever recorded. The devastation struck the survivors with despair, and they made no effort at retrieval, but wandered about the ruins bewildered, or crouched down wherever they found shelter. Suddenly there was a general movement; everybody hurried out — some without knowing why —and they hardly believed their eyes as they looked up the forest, and saw Sir Howard walking down, his waggon being blocked by a fallen tree. He had come a hundred and fifty miles through the woods where the fire still burnt, and received no injury, though he was often in danger, and once all but suffocated. Simultaneously the whole crowd went forward, and every one uncovered as they met, receiving him with a silence more eloquent than cheers. But he spoke out; for he knew what to say, and raised courage and hope in their breasts, if he brought tears to no few eyes. Soon the axe and the hammer were at work; spades were throwing up the ground; men bustled about with loads on their backs; a vessel came round from St. John’s with supplies; and the cloud began to pass from Miramichi, like the smoke from the forest. He remained through their trial, and shared its privations, while his presence alleviated its bitterness; and they followed him with blessings on his departure. He had distributed amongst them 1000 barrels of flour, 500 barrels of pork, and 1700/. worth of clothing, which he purchased on his own responsibility, though he was afterwards indemnified by the Government. Well and truly did Lord Sidmouth write to him:— “Happy was it for the province that such a person as yourself was on the spot. All its hopes of protection, relief, and redemption depended on the resources and energies of your judgment, fortitude, activity, and benevolence.” He refers to the account Sir Howard had sent him of the fire in the following words:—“I was at a large dinner-party at Lord Stowell’s, and your detailed communication had the effect of exciting all present to contribute and to promote the means of relief to the utmost of their power. In reflecting upon the ruin which surrounds you, I rejoice that it has been your lot to be the instrument of performing such duties as, T truly think, you, of all the men I have ever known, are the best calculated to discharge. The affectionate solicitude of every member of my family constantly attends you.”
I hoped you enjoyed this story and you can read more about him at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/nb/douglas.htm
And that's it for this week and hope you have a great weekend.
Alastair
http://www.electricscotland.com/
Electric Scotland News
This is a reminder that the Guelph Centre for Scottish Studies 2018 Spring Colloquium will take place on Saturday, April 14, at Knox College at the University of Toronto. Registration commences at noon. Speakers include Dr. Catriona Macdonald, University of Glasgow, Dr. Donald Nerbas, Chair in Canadian-Scottish Studies at McGill University, Dr. Sarah Sharp, University of Otago, New Zealand and Dr James E. Fraser, Chair of Scottish Studies and Director of the Guelph Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph. More information at: http://www.scottishstudies.com/520-s...quium-2018.htm
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Oil sands in Alberta have a proven reserve of 170 billion barrels, the second largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world.
I am raising this topic as there is a current situation in Canada where the only pipe line being considered is now subject to closure if something is not done to ensure its survival.
I'm aware that it's mainly the First Nations and Green activists that are against it but it's a national asset for all Canadians and one that could realize billons for the Canadian economy. You can read about the case for it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_Oil:_The_Case_for_Canada%27s_Oil_Sands
Here is the video introduction to this newsletter...
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.
New Scottish tax system comes into force
The changes, which were signed off by MSPs alongside the Scottish government budget in February, will see many pay less tax, but some pay more.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...itics-43655803
An independent Singapore was never given a chance
Britain should learn from it
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/independen...britain-learn/
US-Scots to help rebuild communities with Tartan Cents’ initiative
Three pilot urban regeneration projects in Fife and Ayrshire are set to receive funding from descendants of Scots who emigrated to the United States.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/us-sco...tive-1-4719908
Knife epidemic in Scotland's schools
New figures show a five-year high despite calls for action on knife crime in schools following the tragic death of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne two-and-a-half years ago.
Read more at:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...knife-12317953
Canadian junior hockey team bus crash kills 14
Fourteen people were killed when a bus carrying a Canadian junior hockey team collided with a truck in Saskatchewan province
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ca...-idUKKBN1HE08D
KT Tunstall leads Tartan Day procession in New York
More than 30,000 spectators flocked to New York city to celebrate the event and its anniversary.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/kt-tun...york-1-4720513
Kilted Scots wanted for Canadian window cleaning company
Men in Kilts is hiring in Calgary, Alberta, with the firm offering a free one-way flight from Scotland to the lucky candidate.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/k...pany-1-4721143
Inuit stowaway who found naval glory with Scots aristocrat
The 18-year-old Greenlander had stowed away – along with his kayak on the Leith whaler the Thomas and Ann.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/i...crat-1-4720462
Rose like a Lion
John McAllion on Mick McGahey
Read more at:
http://www.scottishreview.net/JohnMcAllion422a.html
Great Polish Map of Scotland restored to former glory
A giant three-dimensional concrete map of Scotland has been restored to its former glory
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-...tland-43729829
The UK’s first cat census has been launched
The UK’s first cat census has been launched in an attempt to track the number of strays across the country, an animal charity has announced.
Read more at:
https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/first-uk...ing-programme/
Brexit means the UK will get a better or larger trade deal with Canada, says Justin Trudeau
Speaking to the Times, he said the EU's free trade agreement with Canada should be seen as the starting point for negotiations with the UK.
Read more at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-Trudeau.html
The Indian dish you can’t find in India
The coastal city of Durban in South Africa is home to one of the largest Indian communities outside India. It’s also home to the unique curry called bunny chow.
Read more at:
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/2017...-find-in-india
UK to challenge Scotland’s Brexit bill in Supreme Court
The UK Government will launch an unprecedented legal challenge against Scotland’s emergency Brexit legislation early next week in the country’s highest court.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-to-...ourt-1-4722757
Billy Connolly hits out at anti-English Scots
I dislike people that write England off because they’re Scottish. It’s unfair and *brutal
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/world-...cots-1-4721301
Chemical weapons agency confirms British findings on Salisbury poison attack
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said there was no doubt Russia was responsible for the attempted murder of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal after a chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Britain’s analysis of the nerve agent used.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-br...-idUKKBN1HJ1L0
Oilsands research could be 'game changer' for renewable energy
Researchers are extracting vanadium from the oilsands and using it to build batteries
Read more at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/vana...bles-1.4608208
Electric Canadian
Transactions of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers
I discovered a lot of volumes of these transaction which are very detailed and note that they are very popular downloads so assume civil engineers are enjoying the details given in these transactions.
I've added the 1933 volume and will add others each week. You can view these at
http://www.electriccanadian.com/tran...rial/index.htm
Some of the topics discussed include Aerial Mapping Photographs, Agriculture Mechanization, Aviation To-dav, Bakelite Industry, Buildings of the Future, The Dominion's Relief Work, Coinage Methods, Cements in Canada, Concrete Mixtures, Defects in Steel Rails, Electrical Generation, Foundations in Clay, Trans-Canada Highway, Hudson Bay Project, Hydro-Electric Developments, Lighting the Welland Ship Canal, Magnesian Carbonates, Materials of Construction, Obituaries, Ontario Highways and Byways, Power Distribution, Preservative Treatment, Radium, Town Planning Scheme for Saint John, Water Powers of the World, etc.
Forest Life in Acadie
Sketches of Sport and Natural History in the Lower Provinces of the Canadian Dominion by Captain Campbell Hardy (1869) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...feinacadia.pdf
Maple Leaves - Canadian History, Literature, Sport
By J. M. LeMoine (1873) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/life...apleLeaves.pdf
Canada under the Administration of the Earl of Dufferin
By George Stewart, Jr (1878) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electriccanadian.com/makers/lordduffrin.pdf
First Nations in Canada and Inuit
I was advised of a web site that gave some good information on the First Nations and Inuit peoples of Canada. When visiting there was an announcement on the page that the sites were going to go down and new ones created as so I decided to create a pdf of the information they contained and have made them available on our First Nations page at:
First Nations in Canada at http://www.electriccanadian.com/hist...nsinCanada.pdf
Inuit at http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/first/Inuit.pdf
I also added external links to the two new web sites.
Conrad Black
The Liberals prefer punishing Christians to confronting the abortion issue
http://www.conradmblack.com/1381/the...-christians-to
Electric Scotland
Commonwealth of Australia
Historical Records of Australia published in 1914 in 19 volumes. Intending to put up 1 volume s week until complete.
Added volume 3 to this collection at:
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...mmonwealth.htm
Quartermaster Supply
Added Volume VI - Salvage and Services in two parts which now completes the volumes I have found.
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...stersupply.htm
History of New Zealand
From the Arrival of Tasman in Golden Bay in 1642, to the second arrival of Sir George Grey in 1861 by Alfred Saunders (1896) in 3 volumes
You can read these at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nz/history.htm
The Life and Work of Richard John Seddon
Premer of New Zealand, 1893-1906 with a History of the Liberal Party in New Zealand by James Drummond (1907)
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/nz/seddon.pdf
Unique Traditions Chiefly of the West and South of Scotland
By John Gordon Barbour (1886) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/book...Traditions.pdf
Angling Reminiscences
By Thomas Tod Stoddart
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...greminices.pdf
Historical Tales and Legends of Ayrshire
By William Rovertson (1889) (pdf)
You can read this book at: http://www.electricscotland.com/webc...f_ayrshire.htm
The Story
I read the book about Sir Howard Douglas and I was very impressed with him and his work. I thus thought I'd bring just one story from his life which demonstrates how one Scot impacted millions from around the world.
Sir Howard Douglas
Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick
Sir Howard had now attained the rank of Major-General, and in 1824 was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, and Major-General in command of the troops in that province, together with those in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Bermuda.
The colony of New Brunswick dates its origin from 1764, when it was established by a body of New Englanders, who settled at the mouth of the River St. John, in what is now called the county of Sunbury. The population received an addition in 1783 from an influx of American Royalists, who abandoned their homes in New York and Boston on the Declaration of Independence, and came to live under English rule. The numbers were further increased by emigration, and Sir Howard found them amount to upwards of 74,000, of whom only 3227 claimed descent from the New Englanders.
The Governor of a colony then held a different position from at present, when he merely represents the Sovereign, the government being vested in Ministers nominated by a Parliament. Sir Howard was associated with a Parliament, but responsible to the Ministers at home, who formed their views on his reports. The weal of a colony thus depended greatly on the Governor’s abilities; and his proved equal to the post. He came to a wilderness, carried it through a terrible visitation, and left it a thriving province.
The New Brunswick of 1824 could boast of only five roads, and these were but roads by courtesy. Three led severally to St. John’s, St. Andrew’s, and Chatham, from the capital Fredericton; another ran in the direction of Quebec, and the fifth led to Halifax. They were constructed on the Roman plan of going up hill and down, and attracted little traffic, the colonists preferring to settle on the banks of the rivers, where they had the advantage of water communication. Sir Howard turned his first attention to this deficiency, and designed a road to connect Fredericton with the port of St. John’s, by the Nara-pia river, pushing it forward with great rapidity; and the colonists were astonished to see a way opened that saved a third of the distance. It was so constructed that horses could trot the course without danger or distress, though it crossed a lofty ridge of slate. "In fact,” writes a clergyman of New Brunswick to the author of this work, “Telford or M‘Adam could hardly have designed a better.” Comfortable inns garnished the wayside, and insured the traveller good entertainment, whether he stopped at the sign of the “Government House,” or that of the “Douglas Arms.” The St. John’s road was but the beginning of a system, and was soon followed by others, which opened up New Brunswick in every direction, while he contracted for the navigation of the St. John by a steamer, almost the first introduced in a British colony.
But it struck him that he could know little of the deficiencies of his government unless he visited its remotest parts, and he waited for neither roads nor steamers to carry him through. His old Indian habits made the task easy, and he penetrated forests and forced his way up streams to back settlements, hardly known by name, startling the inhabitants with a sight of the Governor. “I have received accounts of his visits to every part of the country,” writes the Rev. Dr. Jacob to the author. “It has been especially observed to me, by persons likely to have taken particular notice of his peculiar habits, that Sir Howard showed himself determined to know men and things as they really were, and was accustomed to go in all directions, closely inspecting the abodes and occupations of the rich and the poor, and discovering a kind interest in the welfare of all classes.”
His progresses brought him to perceive that the colonists were very backward in farming, and conducted its operations in the most primitive manner, whence he applied himself to promote a better system. He had not the advantage of personal experience, but he took counsel of the best agriculturists at home, and disseminated their suggestions. He also established agricultural societies, and obtained them the support of public grants, while he encouraged improvements by prizes, which he often distributed himself. He introduced a better arrangement in the construction of dwellings, affording more accommodation and domestic comfort, and he extended the same principle to churches and schools. These measures resulted in a general elevation of the population. Farmers multiplied their crops, and carried on their work with superior implements, and the regenerating influence was apparent both in their stock and seeds. The remotest settler felt a stimulus to exertion, when any moment might bring the Governor into his cabin, with a greeting for each of his household, and an interest in all his proceedings.
At the Great Fire
The impulse Sir Howard had given the province met a sudden check in 1825. The season was advancing, and no rain had fallen for two months, which excited uneasiness for the harvest, and he visited some of the settlements to ascertain their prospects. An urgent letter recalled him to Fredericton, and he returned to find himself houseless, a fire having broken out at Government House on the 19th of September, and almost burnt it to the ground before it could be arrested. Happily it occurred in the daytime, and the courage and devotion of Lady Douglas nerved her to supply his place, which led to the preservation of the most valuable part of the effects; and the author is the more bound to mention this, as it secured him the materials for the present work; for nothing seemed more precious to Lady Douglas than the memorials of her husband’s services.
But his own misfortune was forgotten by Sir Howard in a calamity which fell on the community. The long drought continued, and October came in with midsummer sultriness, keeping the thermometer at 86° in the shade, and 126° in the sun. On the morning of the 7th he expressed his belief that a large fire prevailed in the woods, as a breeze had risen, and blew warm and parched, bringing in clouds of smoke; but this was ascribed to the burning of the brushwood by the lumberers. The explanation did not allay his apprehensions, and he directed the engines to be in readiness, and the military prepared to assist, fearing that brands might be blown into Fredericton. The wisdom of his precautions too soon appeared, for the afternoon brought an alarm that fire had broken out in the wood round the house of the Hon. John Baillie, about a mile from the town; and he ordered out the engines and troops, and galloped off at their head, followed by nearly the whole population.
The air brought an odour of burning as they advanced, but they saw nothing of the fire except a cloud of smoke, till a gust blew it aside and showed the flaming trees. The house rose behind, and appeared uninjured; nor had the trees caught beyond a few yards, where a gap imposed a boundary. Sir Howard directed the engines to play here and on the house, though this presently seemed doomed, as the trees began to fall and covered it with flakes of fire. Indeed, it excited less interest than the wood, for there the fate of the province was at stake, as a spark winged across the gap might spread the fire to the interior. Sir Howard watched both points, and so posted the firemen that they got the mastery of the flames, and less than an hour found the house preserved, and the fire extinguished.
All were rejoicing at the result, when danger presented itself in a new quarter, a messenger spurring up to report a fire in Fredericton. Sir Howard pushed on the engines to the spot, and ordered up the troops at the double, while he hastened to be first himself; for the breeze had increased to a gale, and blew in a direction to imperil the town. The flames burst on his view as he galloped up, rising from the house and barn of Mr. Ring, which they had half consumed, and they now threatened a range of wooden houses beyond. The engines played on the nearest; but the gale blew about burning flakes, which rendered precaution futile; and smoke rose from two or three houses at once—then from a dozen; and a whole street was in flames. They spread like lightning, not from building to building, but in forks; and roofs lit up a dozen houses off as if they kindled spontaneously. A large area was one flame, crackling and crashing, as it shot over rafters, split walls, and brought down floors and beams, whirling smoke through the town till the whole seemed on fire. The torrents of water poured in had no effect; for the smoke and flame thickened where they fell, as if they supplied fuel, and house after house caught like tinder. But the engines worked on, the soldiers and population manning the pumps, and relieving each other, while parties kept back the crowd of women and children who watched their burning homes with frantic emotion. Nothing could be saved; for buildings caught at a distance where they appeared secure, and blazed in an instant, throwing out flames like arms, and dragging the next houses into the vortex. Night added its shadows to this scene; and some of the most respectable families of the town crouched destitute in the streets, reduced to beggary in a moment. All seemed lost; and all had been lost indeed, but for one man.
Sir Howard marked a point where he thought the fire might be arrested, as it was occupied by a brick building less in front of the wind, and here he concentrated a large force, and so saturated the adjacent houses with water, that flakes fell on them without igniting. How long this might have continued is doubtful; but the wind gradually veered further round and blew in the opposite direction, which turned the fire in upon itself, and a third of the town was a burning mass while the rest stood clear.
The deliverance was not understood at first, but the report spread, and families returned to their homes, carrying back their furniture which they had brought into the streets. Sir Howard remained at the angle, and urged the firemen to renewed exertion; for the wind grew more and more boisterous, and might shift any moment, when the flames would again be driven forward if not extinguished. The continuous stream of water began to abate their fury, or nothing remained to consume, for they now vanished in smoke, which rolled away from the town, and showed the sky above. Yet the air was so hot that it became difficult to breathe; a suffocating odour pervaded every quarter; and a belief arose that the fire smouldered somewhere, and would break out again. But imagination never dreamt of the conflagration at hand, the most stupendous ever witnessed by man.
A roar of thunder came from the forest, and a column of smoke shot up, followed by blaze on blaze, and then a burst of fire, like the eruption of a volcano. The flames fell in a shower, which the gale blew wide, hurling them about like darts; and here they might be seen on the tops of trees—there flaring in the branches—there running up or down the trunks, or from base and summit at once. The smoke blew back on the unkindled woods, making them darker than before—blacker than the blackest night; and the fire raged in the middle, imaging the mouth of hell. But this was only for a moment. Blazes gleamed at the sides, behind, in the depths of the woods, on the river’s brink; trees of centuries’ growth lit up in the midst of the darkness; fire rained from above, soared up from below, spread from the centre, and closed in from the distance. It burst in a hundred eruptions, mounting, declining, and mounting again, throwing up spouts, falling in showers or sheets, or glaring in mid-air. A thousand miles of forest had caught! The river was crimson with the reflection; the clouds took the form of flames; the very heavens seemed on fire.
The intense heat deranged the strata of the atmosphere; and the gale burst into a hurricane, tore through the town, wrenched up trees, and carried strong men off their feet. Horses broke from the fields, and galloped about in troops, snorting and neighing, their eyes starting from their heads and their manes on end, while the wind swelled the clatter of their hoofs to the rush of hosts. All occurred in an instant, and inspired a religious people with an impression akin to the spectacle—that it was the Day of Judgment. They threw themselves on their knees in the streets, or buried their faces to shut out the scene, as if they made the appeal foretold to the mountains and hills. And it did seem a burning world, with the fire raging like a sea, in mountainous waves; the sky glowing like a furnace; the hurricane breaking in peals and crashes; and the scorched air flapping as with a million wings.
Sir Howard kept moving through the town, or paused only in the centre, where he had posted a reserve of the 52nd Regiment under Colonel M‘Nair, and a body of firemen; while the remainder were stationed at different points, ready to operate on the first alarm. Only the greatest vigilance could preserve the remaining houses, and he went from post to post, giving directions and overlooking all. He was nobly supported by Colonel M‘Nair and the other officers, as well as the gentlemen of the town, who formed parties to drive back the horses and patrol the streets. This reassured the crowd, whose terrors calmed as they felt the presence of authority, and more as they saw the light of another day.
But now they began to realise their destitution, which horror had made them forget; and hundreds cried for bread. Sir Howard organised a system of temporary relief, and formed a committee to carry it out, but charity could do little in a case so desperate. Thriving men of yesterday had lost all they possessed; honoured families were beggars; and delicate women and children stood unsheltered before their ruined homes. It terrified him to think that they reflected a distress as wide as the province; for it could not be doubted that the fire had ravaged the interior, and left thousands without a roof. He considered that it must have destroyed the harvest, and that the navigation might close before they obtained supplies—so far did he look forward in a moment, and with courage to act on his forethought. He sent for an active merchant of the town, and ordered him to proceed to Quebec, and buy up food and clothing, furnishing him with bills on the Treasury, which he drew at his own risk. He then took measures for the relief of the misery in the town, calling a meeting of the inhabitants by proclamation; and this brought up the whole community—the rich and destitute together. He presided himself, and made a touching appeal to the more fortunate, while he set an example of liberality by subscribing 20l. from his own purse, and 200l. in the name of the King, appropriated from the casual revenue on his own responsibility. “Such conduct as his speaks volumes in his praise,” says the New Brunswick Courier. “It endears him to our hearts, and throws a moral splendour around his character, that the adventitious distinctions of birth, rank, and fortune cannot confer; and much as we admire his bravery as a soldier, his indefatigable endeavours to make himself acquainted with the real state of the province, and his profound political sagacity, we admire still more the distinguished efforts he has made in the cause of suffering humanity on this occasion.”
He did not confine his solicitations to the colonists, but addressed letters to the Governor-General of Canada, his friends in England, and the Colonial Secretary, claiming their succour; and his official despatch stated the need so forcibly that the Government inserted it in the ‘Gazette’ to stimulate the public bounty. The result was a subscription of 40,000l. collected in England and the colonies, and the presentation of large supplies of food and clothing.
Several days elapsed before the fire subsided, and then it became masked by smoke which darkened the whole country. But night proved that it had not burnt out: for showers of flame shot up at intervals, and trees stood glaring in the dark, while the mingled black and red of the sky seemed its embers overhead. Thus a week passed, when Sir Howard determined to penetrate the forest, and visit the different settlements. A friend has described his parting with Lady Douglas and his daughters, whose pale faces betrayed their emotion, though they forbore to oppose his design, knowing that nothing would keep him from his duty. But this was not understood by others, and the gentlemen of the town gathered round his rough country waggon at the door, and entreated him to wait a few days, pointing to the mountains of smoke, and declaring that he must be suffocated, if he escaped being burnt. He thanked them for their good feeling, grasped their hands, and mounted the waggon. It dashed off at a gallop, and wondering eyes followed it to the woods, where it disappeared in the smoke.
The devastation he met exceeded his worst fears; for the settlements he went to visit no longer existed. The fire seems to have burst in every quarter at once, for it broke out at Miramichi the same moment as at Fredericton, though a hundred and fifty miles lay between. But here its aspect was even more dreadful, and its ravages more appalling, as Miramichi stood in the forest, completely girt round, except where escape was shut off by the river. Many were in bed when they heard the alarm; many were first startled by the flames, or were suffocated in their sleep, leaving no vestige but charred bones. Others leaped from roof or window, and rushed into the forest, not knowing where they went, or took fire in the street, and blazed up like torches. A number succeeded in gaining the river, and threw themselves in boats or on planks, and pushed off from the bank, which the fire had almost reached, and where it presently raged as fiercely as in the town. One woman was aroused from sleep by the screams of her children whom she found in flames, and caught fire herself as she snatched up an infant and ran into the river, where mother and child perished together. Then came the hurricane, tearing up burning trees and whirling them aloft; lashing the river and channel into fury, and snapping the anchors of the ships, which flew before it like chaff, dashing on the rocks, and covering the waves with wreck. Blazing trees lighted on two large vessels, and they fired like mines, consuming on the water, which became so hot in the shallows that large salmon and other fish leaped on shore, and were afterwards found dead in heaps along the branches of the river. What can be said of such horrors, combining a conflagration of a thousand miles with storm and shipwreck, and surprising a solitary community at midnight. Happily, the greater number contrived to reach Chatham by the river; but floating corpses showed how many perished in the attempt, and nearly three hundred lost their lives by fire or drowning.
A harrowing spectacle presented itself on the subsidence of the flames. Scarcely a house remained standing; not one uninjured; and the road was strewn with black heaps, which proved to be the ashes of men and women. One of these claims mention as the remains of a woman who had so disposed herself as to cover her infant while she burnt to a cinder above, and the child was taken from beneath alive — a witness to the sublimest instance of maternal devotion ever recorded. The devastation struck the survivors with despair, and they made no effort at retrieval, but wandered about the ruins bewildered, or crouched down wherever they found shelter. Suddenly there was a general movement; everybody hurried out — some without knowing why —and they hardly believed their eyes as they looked up the forest, and saw Sir Howard walking down, his waggon being blocked by a fallen tree. He had come a hundred and fifty miles through the woods where the fire still burnt, and received no injury, though he was often in danger, and once all but suffocated. Simultaneously the whole crowd went forward, and every one uncovered as they met, receiving him with a silence more eloquent than cheers. But he spoke out; for he knew what to say, and raised courage and hope in their breasts, if he brought tears to no few eyes. Soon the axe and the hammer were at work; spades were throwing up the ground; men bustled about with loads on their backs; a vessel came round from St. John’s with supplies; and the cloud began to pass from Miramichi, like the smoke from the forest. He remained through their trial, and shared its privations, while his presence alleviated its bitterness; and they followed him with blessings on his departure. He had distributed amongst them 1000 barrels of flour, 500 barrels of pork, and 1700/. worth of clothing, which he purchased on his own responsibility, though he was afterwards indemnified by the Government. Well and truly did Lord Sidmouth write to him:— “Happy was it for the province that such a person as yourself was on the spot. All its hopes of protection, relief, and redemption depended on the resources and energies of your judgment, fortitude, activity, and benevolence.” He refers to the account Sir Howard had sent him of the fire in the following words:—“I was at a large dinner-party at Lord Stowell’s, and your detailed communication had the effect of exciting all present to contribute and to promote the means of relief to the utmost of their power. In reflecting upon the ruin which surrounds you, I rejoice that it has been your lot to be the instrument of performing such duties as, T truly think, you, of all the men I have ever known, are the best calculated to discharge. The affectionate solicitude of every member of my family constantly attends you.”
I hoped you enjoyed this story and you can read more about him at:
http://www.electriccanadian.com/history/nb/douglas.htm
And that's it for this week and hope you have a great weekend.
Alastair