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*m 


GIFT   OF 
MICHAEL  REESE 


~1 


"V*^ 


*& 


Copyright,  1902 

BY 

CHARLES   A.   HANNA 


Zbe  twtcherbocfcer  press.  View  tfocfe 


TO  THE  FORGOTTEN  DEAD 

OF  THAT   INDOMITABLE   RACE 

WHOSE  PIONEERS 

IN  UNBROKEN   RANKS   FROM  CHAMPLAIN  TO   FLORIDA 

FORMED  THE  ADVANCE  GUARD   OF  CIVILIZATION 

IN  ITS  PROGRESS  TO   THE   MISSISSIPPI 

AND   FIRST  CONQUERED,  SUBDUED,  AND  PLANTED   THE 

WILDERNESS   BETWEEN 


"    °! 


PREFACE 

THESE  volumes  are  designed  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  a  series  of 
Historical  Collections  which  the  writer  expects  hereafter  to  publish, 
relating  to  the  early  Scotch-Irish  settlements  in  America.  They  are  not  in- 
tended as  a  history  of  the  Scotch  -  Irish  people,  for  such  a  work  would 
require  more  time  and  labor  than  have  been  expended  upon  the  present 
undertaking. 

The  subject  is  one,  like  that  of  the  history  of  America  itself,  which  must 
wait  for  some  future  gifted  historian  ;  but  unlike  the  subject  of  American 
history  in  general,  it  is  also  one  concerning  which  no  comprehensive  treat- 
ment has  ever  been  attempted.  Such  being  the  case,  in  order  to  enable  the 
reader  to  understand  the  relation  of  the  Scotch-Irish  to  American  history, 
it  has  seemed  necessary  to  make  a  brief  general  survey  of  the  origin  and 
old-world  history  of  the  race  to  which  the  Scotch-Irish  belong. 

In  doing  this,  it  has  not  been  his  purpose  to  attempt  even  an  outline 
sketch  of  the  history  of  Scotland,  but  merely  to  condense  and  connect  the 
record  of  its  most  important  events,  and  indicate  some  of  the  principal 
writers  upon  different  aspects  of  its  history. 

The  fact  is,  that  the  lack  of  acquaintance  of  many  native-born  Americans 
with  the  details  of  Scottish  history  is  such  that  they  require  an  elemen- 
tary grounding  even  in  the  annals  of  its  most  noteworthy  events.  Such 
a  primer  the  writer  has  undertaken  to  prepare.  In  doing  so,  he  has  found 
it  advisable  to  compile,  epitomize,  and  consolidate  a  number  of  the  most 
compact  of  the  sketches  of  Scottish  history  which  have  appeared  in  Great 
Britain,  using  for  this  purpose  the  writings  of  William  F.  Skene  and  of  E. 
William  Robertson,  the  Annals  of  Lord  Hailes,  the  brief  history  of  Mack- 
intosh and,  for  the  topographical  and  ethnographical  description  of  Scot- 
land of  the  present  day,  the  works  of  the  French  geographer  and  traveller, 
J.  J.  E.  Reclus,  of  which  an  edition  in  English  has  been  published  by 
Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Company. 

The  written  history  of  the  Scots  in  Ireland  is  in  very  much  the  same 
condition  as  their  history  in  America.  Few  attempts  have  been  made  to 
record  it;  and  for  this  reason,  very  little  of  their  history  can  be  presented. 
What  is  given  has  been  condensed  chiefly  from  Harrison's  monograph  on 
The  Scot  in  Ulster;  from  Latimer's  and  Reid's  histories  of  the  Irish  Presby- 
terians; and  from  Hill's  Plantation  of  Ulster.  The  most  valuable  features  of 
the  present  volumes  in  this  connection  will  be  found  to  be  the  contemporary 
documents  and  reports  relating  to  the  inception  and  progress  of  the  coloni- 
zation of  Northern  Ireland  by  the  Scots. 

Scottish  history,  as  has  been  intimated,  is  as  a  sealed  book  to  the  great 
majority  of  American  readers.     In  the  United  States,  outside  of  the  public 


VI 


Preface 


libraries  in  perhaps  two  or  three  of  the  larger  cities,  it  is  difficult  to  find 
reprints  of  any  of  the  original  sources  of  information  on  the  history  of  Scot- 
land, or  indeed  any  commentaries  on  the  subject,  except  occasional  copies 
of  the  histories  of  Dr.  William  Robertson  and  Mr.  John  Hill  Burton,  neither 
of  which  is  adapted  to  present  requirements.  For  this  reason,  it  has  been 
deemed  essential  by  the  writer,  in  giving  his  references,  to  print  the  citations 
in  full;  as  it  seems  probable  that  that  is  the  only  means  of  making  them 
available  to  the  greater  part  of  his  readers. 

New  York,  Dec.  i,  1901. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I — The  Scotch-Irish  and  the  Revolution  i 

II — The  Scotch-Irish  and  the  Constitution         .         .         .31 

III — The  Scotch-Irish  in  American  Politics           ...  49 

IV — New  England  not  the  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  55 

V — Liberty  of  Speech  and  Conscience  Definitely  Estab- 
lished in  America  by  Men  of  Scottish  Blood         .         .  70 

VI — The   American  People   not    Racially   Identical   with 

those  of  New  England  .......  78 

VII — American  Ideals  more  Scottish  than  English       .         .  90 

VIII — The  Scottish  Kirk  and  Human  Liberty         ...  105 

IX — Religion  in  Early  Scotland  and  Early  England        .  120 

X — Scottish  Achievement 133 

XI — The    Tudor-Stuart    Church    Responsible    for    Early 

American  Animosity  to  England 146 

XII — Who  are  the  Scotch-Irish  ? 159 

XIII — Scotland  of  To-day     .....                .         .  169 

XIV — The  Caledonians,  or  Picts 182 

XV — The  Scots  and  Picts 199 

XVI — The  Britons 224 

XVII — The  Norse  and  Galloway 235 

XVIII— The  Angles 265 

XIX — Scottish    History    in    the    English    or    Anglo-Saxon 

Chronicle 289 

XX — From  Malcolm  Canmore  to  King  David         .         .         .316 

XXI — William  the  Lion 338 

XXII — The  Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol    .  352 

vii 


viii  Contents 


CHAPTER 

XXIII — Wallace  and  Bruce 


XXIV — John  of  Fordun's  Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce 

XXV — From  Bruce  to  Flodden 

XXVI — The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  . 

,     XXVII— The  Days  of  Knox 

XXVIII — James  Stuart,  Son  of  Mary       .... 
XXIX — The  Wisest  Fool  in  Christendom 

XXX — Scotland  under  Charles  I 

XXXI — Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops 
XXXII — Ireland  under  the  Tudors         .... 
XXXIII — The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim 
XXXIV — The  Great  Plantation  of  Ulster    . 
XXXV — The  Ulster  Plantation  from  1610  to  1630 
XXXVI — Stewart's  and  Brereton's  Accounts  of  the  Plan 

tation  of  Ulster 

XXXVII — Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results 
XXXVIII — Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  .... 
XXXIX — The  Emigration  from  Ulster  to  America 


366 
378 
398 

408 

415 

424 

433 
439 
45i 
469 

486 
498 
506 

568 
559 
579 
614 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Acknowledgments  are  due  to  the  publishers  hereinafter  named  for 
their  courtesy  in  permitting  the  use.  in  text  and  notes,  of  extracts  from  their 
publications,  as  follows  : 

To  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  publishers  of  Recluses  The  World  and  Its  Inhabitants, 
Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  and  Lecky's  England  in  the  XVIIIth  Century. 

To  Messrs.  William  Blackwood  &  Sons,  publishers  of  Burton's  History  of  Scotland, 
Harrison's  Scot  in  Ulster,  MacKerlie's  Galloway  :  Ancient  and  Modern,  and  Maxwell's  His- 
tory of  Dumfries  and  Galloway. 

To  James  Cleland,  publisher,  and  W.  T.  Latimer,  author,  of  Latimer's  History  of  the 
Irish  Presbyterians. 

To  David  Douglas,  publisher  of  Robertson's  Scotland  under  Her  Early  Kings,  and 
Skene's  Celtic  Scotland. 

To  Joseph  Foster,  editor  of  Members  of  the  Scottish  Parliament. 

To  Samuel  Swett  Green,  author  and  publisher  of  The  Scotch-Irish  in  America. 

To  Messrs.  Macmillan  &  Co.,  Limited,  London,  publishers  of  Green's  Short  History  of 
England,  Making  of  England,  Conquest  of  England,  and  General  History  of  England.. 

To  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers,  publishers  of  Campbell's  The  Puritan  in  Holland,  Eng- 
land, and  America,  Freeman's  Origin  of  the  English  Nation,  and  Green's  Short  History  of 
England,  Conquest  o.f  England,  and  Alaking  of  England. 

To  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  publishers  of  Adams's  Massachusetts :  Its 
Historians  and  Its  History,  Fiske's  Critical  Period  of  American  History,  and  Winsor's 
Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America. 

To  Messrs.  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  publishers  of  Fisher's  Evolution  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

To  Messrs.  Longmans  &  Co.  and  Messrs.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  publishers  of  Froude's 
English  in  Ireland. 

To  Messrs.  Longmans  &  Co.,  publishers  of  Lecky's  England  in  the  XVIIIth  Century. 

To  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  publishers  of  Breed's  Presbyterians  and  the 
Revolution,  Craighead's  Scotch  and  Irish  Seeds  in  American  Soil,  and  Moffat's  The  Church 
in  Scotland. 

To  Oliver  P.  Temple,  author  of  The  Covenanter ,  Cavalier,  and  Puritan. 

To  James  Thin,  publisher  of  Cunningham's  Church  History  of  Scotland. 

To  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  publisher  of  Rhys's  The  Welsh  People. 


AMERICA'S  DEBT  TO  SCOTLAND 


CHAPTER    I 

THE   SCOTCH-IRISH   AND   THE   REVOLUTION 

THE  term  "  Scotch-Irish  "  is  peculiarly  American,  and  in  tracing  its  ori- 
gin we  have,  epitomized,  the  history  of  the  people  to  whom  it  is  now 
applied.  The  word  seems  to  have  come  into  general  use  since  the  Revolu- 
tion, having  been  first  taken  as  a  race-name  by  many  individuals  of  a  very 
large  class  of  people  in  the  United  States,  descendants  of  emigrants  of  Scot- 
tish blood  from  the  North  of  Ireland.  The  name  was  not  used  by  the  first 
of  these  emigrants,  neither  was  it  generally  applied  to  them  by  the  people 
whom  they  met  here.1  They  usually  called  themselves  "  Scotch,"  just  as  the 
descendants  of  their  former  neighbors  in  Northern  Ireland  do  to-day  ;  and 
as  do  some  of  their  own  descendants  in  this  country,  who  seemingly  are 
averse  to  acknowledging  any  connection  with  Ireland.3  The  Quakers  and 
the  Puritans  generally  spoke  of  them  as  "  the  Irish,"  *  and,  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary period,  we  find  a  large  and  influential  body  of  these  people  joined 
together  at  Philadelphia,  in  the  formation  of  a  patriotic  association  to 
which  they  gave  the  distinctively  Irish  title,  "  The  Society  of  the  Friendly 
Sons  of  St.  Patrick."  4 

The  appellation  "  Scotch- Irish  "  is  not,  as  many  people  suppose,  an  indi- 
cation of  a  mixed  Hiberno-Scottish  descent  ;  although  it  could  be  properly 
so  used  in  many  cases.  It  was  first  appropriated  as  a  distinctive  race-name 
by,  and  is  now  generally  applied  to,  the  descendants  in  America  of  the  early 
Scotch  Presbyterian  emigrants  from  Ireland.  These  Scotch  people,  for  a 
hundred  years  or  more  after  1600,  settled  with  their  wives  and  families  in 
Ulster,  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  whence  their  descendants,  for  a  hundred 
years  after  1700, — having  long  suffered  under  the  burdens  of  civil  and  religi- 
ous oppression  imposed  by  commercial  greed  and  despotic  ecclesiasticism, 
—  sought  a  more  promising  home  in  America. 


It  has  been  remarked  by  some  recent  observers  in  this  country  that  while 
American  history  has  been  chiefly  written  in  New  England,  that  section  has 
not  been  the  chief  actor  in  its  events. 

No  doubt  the  second  part  of  this  proposition  would  be  disputed  by  a  large 

1 


2  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

number  of  American  people  as  not  substantiated,  who  would  perhaps  claim 
that  their  position  was  supported  by  the  testimony  of  a  majority  of  the  writers 
on  the  subject.  With  the  latter  claim  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  take  issue.  Yet 
the  first  part  of  the  proposition  is  more  lacking  in  substantiation  than  the 
second.  For,  while  it  is  apparent  that  the  natural  spirit  of  self-assertion,  so  J 
early  manifested  by  the  descendants  of  the  English  Puritans,  has  found - 
expression  in  a  lengthy  series  of  recitals  of  the  doings  and  virtues  of  New 
England  men,  it  is  no  less  evident  that  these  portrayals  are  largely  of 
restricted  application,  and,  for  the  most  part,  can  only  be  considered 
as  contributions  to  that  portion  of  American  history  which  is  called  local. 

That  these  writings  have  ever  been  taken  as  national  history  arises  per- 
haps from  a  conjunction  of  two  causes,  or  conditions.  The  first  of  these,  and 
one  that  naturally  would  have  been  ineffective  without  the  other,  is  the 
marked  tendency  on  the  part  of  many  New  England  writers  to  ignore  or  be- 
little the  presence  of  any  element  not  within  the  range  of  their  own  immedi- 
ate horizon.  In  this  they  are  peculiarly  English,  and  exhibit  that  trait  which 
has  become  so  characteristic  of  the  native  English  as  to  take  its  name  from 
their  geographical  situation,  namely — insularity.  The  second  cause,  which 
will  be  more  fully  adverted  to  hereafter,  arises  from  the  comparative  dearth 
of  historical  writings  originating  outside  of  the  Puritan  colonies. 

The  New  England  fathers  came  to  a  strange  coast  and  found  stretching 
back  from  the  shore  a  forbidding  wilderness,  to  them  of  such  unknown 
depth  that  it  was  not  until  after  a  slow  and  gradual  pushing  forward  of  the 
frontier  line  for  a  period  extending  over  a  century  and  a  half  that 
their  children  found  this  wilderness  was  unsubdued  only  as  far  west  as  the 
Hudson  River  ; 6  and  fully  another  century  elapsed  before  many  of  them  were 
willing  to  acknowledge  this  .to  be  the  case.  To  the  fathers,  accordingly, 
New  England  meant  America,  and  to  some  of  the  sons  who  stayed  at  home  it 
is  not  unnatural  that  the  western  boundary  line  of  America  should  seem  to 
be  fixed  at  the  point  where  the  early  Dutch  settlements  began. 

In  the  examination  of  the  contributions  of  the  New  England  writers  to 
the  "  history  of  America,"  therefore,  it  is  only  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  the 
restricted  sense  in  which  so  many  of  them  use  this  term,  and  to  observe  their 
superficial  treatment  of  men  and  affairs  not  within  their  own  provincial 
boundaries,  to  enable  us  to  accept  these  contributions  at  their  true  value. 
Hence  we  can  take  pride  with  the  New  Englanders  in  the  noble  deeds  which 
they  narrate  of  their  fathers  and  of  the  good  these  fathers  wrought  for  their 
own  communities,  and  can  thus  understand  the  nature  and  extent  of  New 
England's  contribution  to  the  good  of  our  country  as  a  whole. 

It  is,  however,  this  inevitable  disposition  on  the  part  of  New  England 
writers  in  their  treatment  of  American  history  to  magnify  local  at  the  ex- 
pense of  national  affairs,  to  which  may  be  attributed  so  much  of  the  present 
adverse  criticism  of  their  authority.  If  it  be  said  that  this  tendency  is  only 
a  natural  manifestation  of  the  dominating  Anglo-Saxon  spirit,  which  brooks 


The  Revolution  3 

no  rivalry  and  sees  no  good  in  anything  foreign  to  itself,  it  may  properly  be 
answered  that  the  page  of  impartial  history  is  no  place  for  such  display.8 
The  share  of  New  England  in  making  American  history  is  great ;  but  it  is 
perhaps  not  so  great  as  its  chroniclers  would  have  us  believe.  Neither  can 
it  be  said  by  any  fair-minded  student  that  the  events  which  took  place  on  the 
soil  of  New  England  are  of  chief  interest  or  importance  in  connection  with 
the  progress  and  success  of  the  American  War  of  Independence,  and  the 
foundation  of  our  present  system  of  government  subsequent  thereto,  even 
though  the  record  of  those  events  forms  the  substance  of  a  majority  of  the 
books  which  have  been  called  American  history. 

A  notable  instance  of  this  one-sided  treatment  of  our  country's  history,  if 
not  of  its  actual  perversion,  on  the  part  of  all  but  the  most  recent  writers, 
treating  the  subject  from  a  New  England  standpoint,  is  that  furnished  by  cer- 
tain tables  purporting  to  give  the  numbers  of  troops  supplied  by  the  different 
colonies  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  These  tables  have  appeared  in  whole  or 
in  part  a  great  many  times  during  the  past  sixty  years,  and  until  recently  have 
been  quite  generally  cited  to  show  the  superior  patriotism  of  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  over  that  of  the  other  colo- 
nies, and  to  sustain  the  claim,  repeatedly  made,  that  New  England  furnished 
more  than  half  the  soldiers  in  that  struggle.  The  tables  first  appeared  in  the 
Collections  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  for  1824.,  vol.  i.,  p.  236  ; 
then  in  the  American  Almanac  for  1830,  p.  187,  and  for  i8ji,  p.  1 12;  in  Niles 's 
Register  for  July  31,  1830  ;  in  Sabine's  Loyalists  of  the  Revolution,  in  1847,  p. 
31  ;  in  Lossing's  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution,  vol.  ii.,  p.  837  ;  in  Hildreth's 
History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  iii.,  p.  441  ;  in  Barry's  Massachusetts,  vol.  ii., 
p.  304  ;  in  Greene's  Historical  View  of  the  American  Revolution,  p.  455  ;  etc.T 
They  are  supposed  to  be  founded  on  a  report  made  to  Congress,  May  n, 
1790,  by  Henry  Knox,  then  Secretary  of  War  ;  but  they  contain  only  a 
portion  of  the  figures  given  in  that  report,  and  utterly  ignore  and  omit  the 
part  relating  to  the  enlistment  and  service  of  certain  southern  troops  com- 
posing, perhaps,  one  fourth  of  the  entire  army.  The  compilers  of  the  tables 
also  attempt  to  summarize  the  portion  given,  by  adding  up  the  aggregates  of 
the  various  enlistment  rolls  for  the  whole  Revolutionary  period  (many  of 
which  in  the  early  part  of  the  war  were  duplicated  more  than  four  times  in 
a  single  year,  the  same  names  appearing  at  every  ninety-days'  re-enlistment), 
and  then  claiming  that  the  results  reached  give  the  total  number  of  Regulars 
furnished  by  the  different  colonies  in  the  struggle.  This  erroneous  sum- 
mary appears  as  follows  : 

New  Hampshire 12,496 

Massachusetts 67,807' 

Rhode  Island 5,908 

Connecticut 3r>939 

New  York 17,781 

New  Jersey 10,726 

Carried  forward 146,657 


4  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Brought  forward 146,657 

Pennsylvania 25,678 

Delaware 2,386 

Maryland 13,912 

Virginia 26,678 

North  Carolina 7,263 

South  Carolina 6,417 

Georgia 2,679 

231,670 

The  report  on  which  these  tables  are  said  to  be  founded  is  published  in 
the  American  State  Papers,  vol.  i.,  pp.  14-19,  of  the  series  relating  to  Mili- 
tary Affairs  ;  and  in  order  to  show  the  falsity  of  the  statements  based  upon 
the  garbled  and  incomplete  extract  made  from  it  in  the  aforesaid  tables,  the 
report  is  here  given  in  full  and  the  figures  accompanying  the  same  appear 
in  tabulated  form  on  the  opposite  page.  This  tabulation,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, shows  the  form  in  which  the  incomplete  statement  appears,  as  well 
as  the  full  report, —  the  figures  here  printed  in  heavy-faced  type  being 
omitted  from  all  of  the  former  tables  since  the  first  report  of  Knox. 


TROOPS,    INCLUDING     MILITIA,    FURNISHED    BY    THE    SEVERAL    STATES 
DURING    THE    WAR    OF    THE    REVOLUTION. 

Communicated  to  the  House  of  Representatives >  May  11,  1790. 

War  Office  of  the  United  States,  May  10,  1790. 

In  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Secretary 
of  War  submits  the  statement  hereunto  annexed  of  the  troops  and  militia 
furnished  from  time  to  time  by  the  several  States,  towards  the  support  of  the 
late  war. 

The  numbers  of  the  regular  troops  having  been  stated  from  the  official 
returns  deposited  in  the  War  Office,  may  be  depended  upon  ;  and  in  all 
cases  where  the  numbers  of  militia  are  stated  from  the  returns,  the  same 
confidence  may  be  observed. 

But  in  some  years  of  the  greatest  exertions  of  the  Southern  States  there 
are  no  returns  whatever  of  the  militia  employed.  In  this  case  recourse  has 
been  had  to  letters  of  the  commanding  officer,  and  to  well  informed  indi- 
viduals, in  order  to  form  a  proper  estimate  of  the  numbers  of  the  militia  in 
service  ;  and  although  the  accuracy  of  the  estimate  cannot  be  relied  on,  yet 
it  is  the  best  information  which  the  Secretary  of  War  can  at  present  obtain. 
When  the  accounts  of  the  militia  service  of  the  several  States  shall  be 
adjusted  it  is  probable  that  the  numbers  will  be  better  ascertained. 

There  are  not  any  documents  in  the  War  Office  from  which  accurate  re- 
turns could  be  made  of  the  ordnance  stores  furnished  by  the  several  States 
during  the  late  war.  The  charges  made  by  the  several  States  against  the 
United  States,  which  have  been  presented  by  the  commissioners  of  accounts, 
are,  probably,  the  only  evidence  which  can  be  obtained  on  the  subject. 

All  of  which  is  humbly  submitted  to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

H.  Knox,  Secretary  of  War. 


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6  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  column  of  aggregate  footings  which  appears 
at  the  right  side  of  the  table  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  original  report  of  Gen- 
eral Knox.  This  column  gives  the  erroneous  summary  of  the  successive 
enlistment  rolls,  already  referred  to;  but  these  rolls  cannot  be  added  together 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  number  of  troops  furnished  with  any  more 
propriety  than  we  can  add  the  population  of  Massachusetts  in  1776  to  that 
of  the  same  State  in  1777,  1778,  1779,  1780,  and  1781  for  the  purpose  of  find- 
ing out  the  number  of  people  who  lived  there  during  the  Revolution.  We 
might  attempt  to  make  an  approximation  of  the  average  number  of  troops 
from  each  State  by  dividing  the  aggregates  of  the  complete  returns  by  the  total 
number  of  years,  but  this  would  only  afford  a  conjectural  average  upon  which 
no  reliance  could  be  placed  ;  for  besides  the  fact  that  Knox's  militia  returns 
are  mainly  estimated,  many  of  the  early  Continental  enlistments,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  were  made  for  only  three  months  at  a  time,  and  either  re- 
newed at  the  expiration  of  the  term  by  re-enlistment,  or  the  ranks  filled  by 
fresh  levies  ;  or,  as  was  more  generally  the  case  during  1775  and  1776,  the 
Continental  ranks  were  so  frequently  depleted  by  desertions  that  to  ascribe 
an/ average  service  of  one  month  to  each  man  enlisted  therein  during  the 
first  eighteen  months  of  the  war  would  perhaps  be  nearer  a  true  statement 
of  the  fact  than  to  set  the  service  of  each  individual  at  from  three  to  twelve 
months.  The  militia  estimates,  however,  as  General  Knox  states,  approxi- 
mate the  numbers  actually  serving,  and  are  not,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Conti- 
nentals, merely  records  of  enlistments.  It  will  also  be  noticed  that  these 
militia  reports  do  not  refer  to  the  minutemen  or  militiamen  who  did  not  serve, 
but  the  estimates  are  of  those  who  were  actually  called  out  and  saw  service 
in  the  field.  In  the  South  this  service  was  perhaps  harder  and  more  fatal — 
and  relatively  much  more  effective — than  that  of  the  Continental  line  in  the 
North,  for  the  reason  that  the  patriots  of  the  South  had  to  contend  not  only 
with  the  invading  armies  from  abroad,  but  also  with  the  armed  forces  of 
their  Tory  neighbors  at  home,  whose  numbers  often  exceeded  their  own,  and 
the  cruelty  and  brutality  of  whose  attacks  were  surpassed  only  by  the  savage 
atrocities  of  another  of  Great  Britain's  hired  auxiliaries — the  native  Indians.8 

The  fact  is  that  these  tables  of  Knox,  as  they  now  exist,  are  of  little  or 
no  value  whatever  in  giving  a  correct  idea  of  the  proportionate  number  of 
troops  furnished  by  the  different  colonies.  We  know  that  Pennsylvania,  for 
instance,  had  more  than  twenty  thousand  men  in  the  Flying  Camp,  who  saw 
service  about  New  York,  in  1776  ;  yet  Knox's  tables  show  from  Pennsylvania 
but  little  more  than  half  that  number,  including  both  Continentals  and 
militia.  And  that  almost  as  many  as  twenty-five  thousand  were  under  arms 
in  that  State  the  year  before  is  apparent  from  the  testimony  of  Richard 
Penn  given  before  Parliament  in  1775.9 

The  following  letter,  received  by  the  writer  from  the  War  Department  at 
Washington  in  response  to  an  inquiry  for  some  explanation  of  Knox's 
figures,  will  serve  to  show  how  little  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  them  : 


The  Revolution  7 

September  2,  1897. 
Sir: 

Referring  to  your  letter  of  the  26th  ultimo,  and  its  two  enclosures,  rela- 
tive to  the  number  of  men  in  service  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  I 
have  the  honor  to  advise  you  as  follows  : 

Various  tables  and  statements  have  been  made  up  from  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  War  of  May  10,  1790,  referred  to  in  your  letter,  but  I  do  not 
know  of  any  one  of  them  that  is  of  any  value  or  is  entitled  to  any  weight 
whatever.  There  is  nothing  on  file  in  this  Department  which  suggests  any 
interpretation  of  the  figures  given  in  that  report,  and  it  is  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain whether  those  figures  represent  the  number  of  new  enlistments  during 
each  year,  or  whether  they  include  men  who  were  in  service  at  some  time 
during  the  year  but  who  enlisted  in  a  prior  year.  In  other  words,  it  cannot 
be  positively  determined  whether  the  figures  merely  represent  additions  to 
the  force  during  each  year,  or  whether  they  represent  these  additions  to- 
gether with  the  force  remaining  in  service  from  a  prior  year.  It  is  certain 
that,  in  either  case,  they  do  not  represent  the  total  number  of  individuals 
added  to  the  force  in  any  year,  or  the  total  number  of  individuals  in  service 
in  any  year,  because  there  must  have  been  many  duplications  caused  by 
counting  the  same  man  over  again  for  each  successive  enlistment.  As 
pointed  out  in  the  letter  addressed  to  you  by  this  office  on  the  9th  ultimo,  it 
is  well  known  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  men  who  served  during 
the  Revolution  rendered  two,  three,  or  more  terms,  or  "  tours,"  of  service. 
This  was  notably  the  case  in  militia  organizations,  in  which  men  frequently 
served  tours  of  a  few  days  each  at  comparatively  short  intervals.     .     .     . 

It  will  never  be  possible  to  determine  with  any  approximation  to  accuracy 
the  number  of  individuals  who  actually  rendered  military  service  during  the 
Revolution.  The  records  that  have  survived  destruction  and  have  been 
handed  down  to  us  are  meagre  in  the  extreme,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  if 
every  military  record  that  was  made  during  the  Revolution  had  been  pre- 
served so  as  to  be  available  for  reference  at  the  present  time,  it  would  be 
possible  to  make  even  a  reasonably  accurate  estimate  of  the  number  of  men 
in  service  from  any  State  or  from  all  the  States  together.  The  records  of 
that  time  were  comparatively  few,  were  imperfectly  kept,  and  contained  but 
little  of  the  statistical  information  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  records  of 
later  wars.  But  even  in  the  case  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  of  1861  to 
1865  it  has  been  found  impossible  to  determine  accurately  from  all  of  the 
voluminous  records  that  were  kept  the  number  of  individuals  who  were  in 
service  from  any  State  or  from  all  the  States.     .     .     . 

No  returns  or  other  documents  have  been  found  in  this  Department  from 
which  the  missing  information,  indicated  on  the  list  of  organizations  which 
accompanied  your  letter,  can  be  supplied. 

The  term  "on  command,"  as  given  on  the  published  returns  of  the 
Revolutionary  Army,  is  understood  to  be  equivalent  to  the  term  "  on  de- 
tached service,"  as  used  at  the  present  day,  and  the  number  of  men  so 
reported  should  be  included  with  the  number  of  "  present  and  fit  for  duty  " 
to  determine  the  effective  force  of  the  Army.     .     .     . 

Regretting  my  inability  to  be  of  more  material  service  to  you  in  con- 
nection with  the  subject  of  your  inquiry,  I  am 

Very  respectfully, 

F.  C.  Ainsworth, 
Colonel,  U.  S.  Army, 
Chief,  Record  and  Pension  Office. 


8  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Concerning  the  matter  of  desertions,  the  correspondence  of  Washington, 
in  the  latter  part  of  1776,  contains  numerous  complaints  of  this  evil,  and  in 
some  of  his  letters  of  that  period  to  Governor  Trumbull  he  specifies  the  dis- 
tricts whose  troops  were  most  faulty  in  this  respect.  In  the  same  connection, 
the  following  excerpt  from  an  incomplete  memorial  prepared  by  General 
Steuben  on  the  subject,  and  printed  in  Kapp's  Life  of  Steuben  (pp.  704,  705), 
is  of  great  importance  as  presenting  an  official  statement  of  the  composition 
of  the  army  from  the  Inspector-General  himself.  This  memorial  also  shows 
that  Steuben  accounted  for  the  frequent  re-enlistments  by  suggesting  the  fre- 
quency of  desertions  : 

The  respectable  citizens  who  entered  the  lists  with  so  much  ardor, 
quitted  their  cabins  with  more  regret  to  answer  to  the  second  call.  Those 
who  were  in  more  easy  circumstances  emptied  their  purses  to  induce  those 
who  were  poorer  to  take  their  places.  The  rotation  of  service  soon  became 
a  speculation,  and  before  the  end  of  the  second  campaign  there  were  very 
few  rich  enough  to  pay  a  substitute  to  serve  in  their  stead.  Associations 
were  formed,  and,  by  the  force  of  money,  children,  invalids,  and  vagrants 
were  engaged  to  complete  the  number  of  the  contingents.  These  men  were 
engaged  for  such  short  terms  that  one  recruit  soon  took  the  place  of  another, 
and  the  country  became  quickly  destitute  of  money.  They  then  began  to 
pay  in  produce.  Negroes,  cattle,  produce,  even  lands,  were  given  to  recruits 
who  were  utterly  useless  to  the  army. 

Congress  and  the  commander-in-chief  remonstrated.  The  evil  had  be- 
come incurable.  The  soldiers  whose  term  had  expired  could  not  be  kept 
on  at  any  price  ;  several  withdrew  in  the  middle,  others  at  the  end  of  the 
campaign.  The  enemy  was  always  in  full  force,  while  the  American  Army 
was  almost  insufficient  to  furnish  the  guards  for  our  advanced  posts.  The 
new  recruit  generally  arrived  when  the  operations  of  the  war  were  far  ad- 
vanced. He  arrived  in  a  wretched  condition,  destitute  of  every  article  of 
clothing,  and  utterly  ignorant  of  a  soldier's  duty.  Often  a  third  of  these 
new  levies  was  totally  unfit  for  service  ;  another  third  soon  went  into  hos- 
pital ;  and  the  remaining  third  was  slightly  trained  during  the  time  that  the 
enemy  employed  in  making  his  dispositions. 

In  the  third  campaign  the  government  was  compelled  to  reduce  to  a 
considerable  extent  the  number  of  regiments,  from  inability  to  recruit  them. 
If  the  fate  of  America  could  have  been  decided  in  one  day  by  a  general 
engagement,  it  is  possible  that  the  enthusiasm  of  our  valorous  citizens  might 
have  achieved  a  victory  over  an  army  as  brave  as  it  was  well  disciplined. 
But  a  war  is  seldom  finished  by  one  or  two  battles.  It  is  necessary  to  keep 
the  field,  and  the  hope  of  regaining  advantages  on  another  occasion  tends  to 
prolong  the  operations  of  the  war. 

The  citizen  who  had  braved  death  at  Bunker  Hill  could  not  resist  the 
desire  to  see  his  family  and  take  charge  of  his  household.  The  hero  in  the 
battle  of  to-day  became  a  deserter  to-morrow,  perfectly  confident  that  he 
was  not  guilty  of  any  impropriety.  "  I  have  had  my  turn,"  he  used  to  say  ; 
"  I  have  fought  bravely,  let  my  neighbor  do  likewise.  If  five  hundred  thou- 
sand of  my  fellow  citizens  fire  as  many  shots  at  the  enemy  as  I  have  fired  in 
the  last  battle,  the  enemy  would  be  soon  annihilated,  and  my  country  would 
be  free."  The  neighbor,  animated  by  the  same  sentiments,  puts  on  his  arms, 
joins  the  army,  fills  the  vacancy,  and  asks  nothing  better  than  to  fight  and  dis- 
tinguish himself.      But  a  battle  is  not  fought  every  day.     He  waits  a  week, 


The  Revolution  9 

two,  three,  perhaps  a  month.  He  begins  to  long  to  see  his  family,  his  cabin, 
his  land,  which  requires  his  presence  to  sow  the  crop  or  make  his  harvest. 
He  fears  to  lose  the  produce  of  an  entire  year.  His  anxiety  affects  his  health. 
There  is  nothing  left  for  him  but  to  go  into  hospital  or  go  home.  He  re- 
turns to  require  some  other  neighbor  to  take  his  turn,  and  so  on  indefinitely. 
This  rotation  soon  exhausts  the  village,  but  the  war  is  not  ended,  and  the 
enemy  is  getting  ready  for  another  campaign. 

The  military  establishment  in  1775  consisted  of  three  battalions  of  in- 
fantry from  New  Hampshire,  as  follows  :  those  of  Colonels  Enoch  Poor, 
James  Reed,  and  John  Stark  ;  twenty-seven  from  Massachusetts,  as  follows  : 
Colonels  Daniel  Brewer,  Jonathan  Brewer,  Theophilus  Colton,  Timothy 
Danielson,  Ephraim  Doolittle,  John  Fellows,  James  Frye,  Thomas  Gardner, 
Samuel  Gerrish,  John  Glover,  William  Heath,  Ebenezer  Learned,  Moses 
Little,  John  Mansfield,  John  Nixon,  John  Paterson,  Edmund  Phinney, 
William  Prescott,  Joseph  Reed,  Paul  D.  Sargent,  James  Scammon,  John 
Thomas,  Timothy  Walker,  Artemas  Ward,  Asa  Whitcomb,  Benjamin  Wood- 
bridge  ;  three  from  Rhode  Island,  as  follows  :  Colonels  Thomas  Church, 
Daniel  Hitchcock,  James  Varnum  ;  eight  from  Connecticut,  as  follows  : 
Colonels  Benjamin  Hinman,  Jedediah  Huntington,  Samuel  H.  Parsons, 
Israel  Putnam,  Joseph  Spencer,  David  Waterbury,  David  Wooster,  Charles 
Webb  ;  four  from  New  York,  as  follows  :  Colonels  James  Clinton,  James 
Holmes,  Alexander  McDougall,  Gosen  Van  Schaick  ;  two  from  New  Jersey, 
as  follows:  Colonels  William  Alexander  and  William  Maxwell;  two  from  Penn- 
sylvania, as  follows:  Colonels  John  Bull  and  William  Thompson;  two  from 
North  Carolina,  as  follows  :  Colonels  Robert  Howe  and  James  Moore  ;  and 
two  from  South  Carolina,  as  follows  :  Colonels  Christopher  Gadsden  and 
William  Moultrie.  There  was  also,  besides  these  fifty-four  battalions  of  in- 
fantry, one  artillery  regiment  from  Massachusetts  under  command  of 
Colonels  Joseph  Gridley  and  Henry  Knox. 

The  infantry  establishment  of  1776  consisted  of  twenty-seven  regiments 
of  "  Continentals  "  so-called,  composed  of  one  regiment  from  Pennsylvania : 
the  1st,  under  Colonel  William  Thompson  ;  three  from  New  Hampshire  : 
the  2d,  Colonel  James  Reed  ;  5th,  Colonel  John  Stark  ;  8th,  Colonel  Enoch 
Poor  ;  sixteen  from  Massachusetts  :  the  3d,  Colonel  Ebenezer  Learned  ;  4th, 
Colonels  John  Nixon  and  Thomas  Nixon  ;  6th,  Colonel  Asa  Whitcomb  ; 
7th,  Colonel  William  Prescott ;  12th,  Colonel  Moses  Little  ;  13th,  Colonel 
Joseph  Reed  ;  14th,  Colonel  John  Glover  ;  15th,  Colonel  John  Paterson  ; 
16th,  Colonel  Paul  D.  Sargent  ;  18th,  Colonel  Edmund  Phinney  ;  21st, 
Colonel  Jonathan  Ward  ;  23d,  Colonel  John  Bailey  ;  24th,  Colonel  John 
Greaton  ;  25th,  Colonel  William  Bond  ;  26th,  Colonel  Loammi  Baldwin  ; 
27th,  Colonel  Israel  Hutchinson  ;  two  from  Rhode  Island  :  9th,  Colonel 
James  Varnum  ;  nth,  Colonel  Daniel  Hitchcock  ;  and  five  from  Connecti- 
cut :  10th,  Colonels  Samuel  H.  Parsons  and  John  Tyler;  17th,  Colonel 
Jedediah  Huntington  ;  19th,  Colonel  Charles  Webb ;  20th,  Colonels  Benedict 


io  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Arnold  and  John  Durkee  ;  22d,  Colonel  Samuel  Wyllys.  There  were  also 
an  additional  regiment  from  New  Hampshire,  Colonel  Seth  Warner's,  and 
one  from  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  Colonel  Nicholas  Hausegger's,  both 
afterwards  included  in  the  sixteen  additional  regiments  raised  under  resolve 
of  Congress  of  27th  December,  1776.  Besides  the  Continental  Line  of  1776, 
the  following  States  also  furnished  Continental  troops  in  that  year  :  New  York 
Line,  five  regiments  :  1st,  Colonels  Rudolphus  Ritzema  and  Gosen  Van 
Schaick  ;  2d,  Colonels  G.  Van  Schaick  and  James  Clinton  ;  3d,  Colonels  James 
Clinton,  Rudolphus  Ritzema,  and  Peter  Gansevoort  ;  4th,  Colonels  Cornelius 
Wynkoop  and  Henry  Livingston  ;  5th,  Colonel  Lewis  Dubois  ;  New  Jersey 
Line,  four  regiments  :  1st,  Colonels  William  Alexander,  William  Winds,  and 
Silas  Newcomb  ;  2d,  Colonels  William  Maxwell  and  Israel  Shreve  ;  3d, 
Colonel  Elias  Dayton  ;  4th,  Colonels  Ephraim  Martin  and  David  Brearley 
(Lieutenant-Colonel);  Pennsylvania  Line,  seven  battalions:  1st,  Colonel  John 
P.  De  Haas;  2d, Colonels  Arthur  St.Clair  and  Joseph  Wood;  3d,Colonels  John 
Shee  and  Lambert  Cadwallader  ;  4th,  Colonel  Anthony  Wayne  ;  5th,  Colonel 
Robert  Magaw  ;  6th,  Colonel  William  Irvine  ;  7th,  Colonel  Samuel  Miles, 
Rifle  Battalion;  and  five  additional  regiments  :  8th,  Colonel  ^EneasMackay  ; 
9th,  Colonel  James  Irvine  ;  10th,  Colonel  Joseph  Penrose;  nth,  Colonel 
Richard  Humpton  ;  12th,  Colonel  William  Cook  ;  Delaware  Line,  one  regi- 
ment: Colonel  John  Haslet;  Maryland  Line,  seven  regiments  :  1st,  Colonels 
William  Smallwood  and  Francis  Ware  ;  2d,  Colonel  Thomas  Price  ;  3d, 
Colonel  Mordecai  Gist ;  4th,  Colonel  Josiah  C.  Hall  ;  5th,  Colonel  William 
Richardson  ;  6th,  Colonel  Otho  H.  Williams  ;  7th,  Colonel  John  Gunby  ; 
Virginia  Line,  fifteen  regiments  :  1st,  Colonel  James  Reed  ;  2d,  Colonel 
William  Woodford  ;  3d,  Colonels  Hugh  Mercer  and  George  Weedon  ;  4th, 
Colonels  Adam  Stephen  and  Thomas  Elliott  ;  5th,  Colonels  William  Peachy 
and  Charles  Scott  ;  6th,  Colonel  Mordecai  Buckner  ;  7th,  Colonels  William 
Dangerfield  and  William  Crawford  ;  8th,  Colonel  Peter  Muhlenberg  ;  9th, 
Colonels  Charles  Fleming  and  Isaac  Reed  ;  10th,  Colonel  Edward  Stevens  ; 
nth,  Colonel  Daniel  Morgan  ;  12th,  Colonel  James  Wood;  13th,  Colonel 
William  Russell ;  14th,  Colonel  Charles  Lewis  ;  15th,  Colonel  David  Mason  ; 
North  Carolina  Line,  nine  regiments  :  1st,  Colonels  James  Moore  and  Francis 
Nash  ;  2d,  Colonels  Robert  Howe  and  Alexander  Martin  ;  3d,  Colonel 
Jethro  Sumner  ;  4th,  Colonel  Thomas  Polk  ;  5th,  Colonel  John  A.  Lilling- 
ton  ;  6th,  Colonel  Edward  Buncombe  ;  7th,  Colonel  James  Hogan  ;  8th, 
Colonel  James  Armstrong  ;  9th,  Colonel  Abraham  Shephard  ;  South  Caro- 
lina Line,  five  regiments  :  1st,  Colonels  Christopher  Gadsden  and  Charles  C. 
Pinckney  ;  2d,  Colonels  William  Moultrie  and  Isaac   Motte  ;  3d,  Colonel 

William   Thompson  ;    4th,  ;    5th,   Colonel   Isaac 

Huger  ;  Georgia  Line,  two  regiments  :  1st,  Colonel  Lachlan  Mcintosh  ;  2d, 
Colonel  Joseph  Habersham.  Besides  these  eighty-nine  regiments  of  infantry 
there  were  two  artillery  regiments  :  Colonels  Richard  Gridley  and  Henry 
Knox's  Massachusetts  Artillery  and   Colonel  Charles  Harrison's  Virginia 


The  Revolution  n 

Artillery.  There  was  also  a  regiment  of  light  horse  organized  in  Connecticut 
by  Colonel  Elisha  Sheldon. 

In  1777  the  New  Hampshire  Line  contained  three  regiments  under 
Colonels  John  Stark  and  Joseph  Cilley,  Enoch  Poor,  and  Alexander 
Scammell  ;  the  Massachusetts  Line,  sixteen,  under  Colonels  Joseph  Vose, 
John  Bailey,  John  Greaton,  William  Shepard,  Rufus  Putnam,  Thomas 
Nixon,  Ichabod  Allen,  Michael  Jackson,  James  Wesson,  Thomas  Marshall, 
Ebenezer  Francis  and  Samuel  Carlton  (Lieutenant-Colonel),  Edward 
Wigglesworth,  Gamaliel  Bradford,  and  Timothy  Bigelow  ;  the  Rhode  Island 
Line,  two,  under  Colonels  Christopher  Greene  and  Israel  Angell ;  the  Con- 
necticut Line,  eight,  under  Colonels  Jedediah  Huntington  and  Josiah  Starr, 
Charles  Webb,  Samuel  Wyllys,  John  Durkee,  Philip  B.  Bradley,  William 
Douglas  and  Return  J.  Meigs,  Heman  Swift,  John  Chandler  ;  the  New  York 
Line,  five,  under  Colonels  Gosen  Van  Schaick,  Peter  Van  Cortland,  Peter 
Gansevoort,  Henry  B.  Livingston,  and  Lewis  Dubois  ;  the  New  Jersey  Line, 
four,  under  Colonels  Mathias  Ogden,  Israel  Shreve,  Elias  Dayton,  and  David 
Rhea  (Lieutenant-Colonel)  ;  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  thirteen,  under  Colonels 
Edward  Hand  and  James  Chambers,  John  P.  De  Haas,  James  Irvine  and 
Henry  Bicker,  Joseph  Wood  and  Thomas  Craig,  Lambert  Cadwallader, 
Francis  Johnston,  Robert  Magaw,  William  Irvine,  ^Eneas  Mackay  and 
Daniel  Brodhead,  James  Irvine  and  Anthony  J.  Morris  and  Richard  But- 
ler, Joseph  Penrose  and  James  Chambers  and  Adam  Hubley  (Lieutenant- 
Colonel),  Richard  Humpton,  William  Cook  and  John  Bull ;  the  Delaware 
Line,  one,  under  Colonel  David  Hall ;  the  Maryland  Line,  seven,  under 
Colonels  John  H.  Stone,  Thomas  Price,  Mordecai  Gist,  Josias  Hall,  William 
Richardson,  Otho  H.  Williams,  and  John  Gunby;  the  Virginia  Line,  fifteen, 
under  Colonels  James  Reed  and  James  Hendricks,  William  Woodford  and 
Alexander  Spotswood,  George  Weedon  and  Thomas  Marshall,  Thomas 
Elliott  and  Robert  Lawson  and  Isaac  Reed,  Charles  Scott  and  Josiah  Par- 
ker, Mordecai  Buckner  and  John  Gibson,  William  Crawford  and  Alexander 
McClanachan,  Peter  Muhlenberg  and  Abraham  Bowman  and  John  Neville, 
Isaac  Reed  and  George  Matthews,  Edward  Stevens,  Daniel  Morgan,  James 
Wood,  William  Russell,  Charles  Lewis,  and  David  Mason  ;  the  North  Caro- 
lina Line,  ten,  under  Colonels  Francis  Nash  and  Thomas  Clarke,  Alexander 
Martin  and  John  Patton,  Jethro  Sumner,  Thomas  Polk,  Edward  Buncombe, 
Gideon  Lamb,  James  Hogan,  James  Armstrong,  John  Williams,  and  Abra- 
ham Shephard  ;  the  South  Carolina  Line,  five,  under  Colonels  Charles  C. 

Pinckney,  Isaac  Motte,  William  Thompson,  (4th),  and  Isaac 

Huger  (5th)  ;  and  the  Georgia  Line,  four,  under  Colonels (1st), 

Samuel  Elbert  (2d), (3d),  and  John  White  (4th).  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  John  Mcintosh  commanded  one  of  the  Georgia  regiments. 

In  1778  there  were  three  infantry  regiments  from  New  Hampshire  under 
Colonels  Joseph  Cilley,  Nathan  Hale,  and  Alexander  Scammell  ;  fifteen 
from  Massachusetts,  all  but  the  nth  under  the  same  colonels  as  in  1777  ; 


12  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

two  from  Rhode  Island,  under  Greene  and  Angell  ;  eight  from  Connecticut, 
with  the  same  colonels  as  in  1777,  with  the  exception  of  the  2d,  in  which 
Zebulon  Butler  succeeded  Charles  Webb,  and  the  8th,  in  which  Giles 
Russell  succeeded  John  Chandler  ;  five  from  New  York,  under  the  colonels 
of  1777  ;  four  from  New  Jersey,  under  the  colonels  of  1777  ;  thirteen  from 
Pennsylvania,  under  the  colonels  of  1777,  with  the  exception  of  the  2d,  in 
which  Walter  Stewart  succeeded  Henry  Bicker,  the  10th,  in  which  George 
Nagel  first,  and  afterwards  Richard  Humpton,  succeeded  to  the  command, 
and  the  nth,  which  was  disbanded  and  its  place  taken  by  Colonel  Thomas 
Hartley's  4th  Additional  Continental  Regiment  ;  one  from  Delaware,  under 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Joseph  Vaughan  ;  seven  from  Maryland  ;  fifteen  from 
Virginia,  under  Richard  Parker  (1st),  Christopher  Febiger  (2d),  William 
Heath  (3d),  Isaac  Reed  and  John  Neville  (4th),  Josiah  Parker  and  Richard 
Russell  (5th),  John  Gibson  and  John  Greene  (6th),  Alexander  McClanachan 
and  Daniel  Morgan  (7th),  John  Neville  and  James  Wood  (8th),  George 
Matthews  and  John  Gibson  (9th),  John  Green  and  William  Davies  (10th), 
Daniel  Morgan  and  Abraham  Buford  (nth),  James  Wood  (12th),  William 
Russell  (13th),  Charles  Lewis  and  William  Davies  (14th),  and  David  Mason 
and  Abraham  Buford  (15th)  ;  North  Carolina,  eight  ;  South  Carolina,  five  ; 
Georgia,  four,  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Mcintosh  succeeding  to  command 
of  the  3d,  where  he  remained  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

In  1779,  and  thereafter,  of  the  sixteen  additional  regiments  raised  under 
resolution  of  Congress  of  27th  December,  1776,  the  2d  and  3d  (Virginia) 
were  united  under  Nathaniel  Gist  ;  the  4th  (Pennsylvania)  was  designated 
as  the  nth  Pennsylvania  ;  the  5th,  6th,  and  7th  (Massachusetts)  were  united 
under  Henry  Jackson,  and  became  the  16th  Massachusetts  in  1780  ;  the  8th 
and  1 2th  (New  Jersey)  were  united  under  Oliver  Spencer,  and  the  remainder 
seem  mostly  to  have  been  continued  by  their  respective  States  as  additional 
regiments  until  1781.  The  Massachusetts  Line  (fifteen  regiments)  remained 
substantially  intact  until  1781  ;  as  did  those  of  New  Hampshire  (three  regi- 
ments), Rhode  Island  (two  regiments),  and  Connecticut  (eight  regiments), 
until  the  end  of  1780.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Isaac  Sherman  succeeded  Giles 
Russell  in  command  of  the  8th  Connecticut  in  October,  1779  ;  and  the  names 
of  John  Bailey  (in  1780),  Ichabod  Allen  (in  1778),  Samuel  Carlton  (in  1778), 
and  Edward  Wigglesworth  (in  1779)  disappear  as  commanders  of  regiments 
from  Massachusetts.  There  was  no  change  in  the  number  or  commanders 
of  the  five  regiments  of  New  York  from  1778  to  1781,  excepting  in  the 
case  of  the  5th,  where  Marinus  Willet  succeeded  Lewis  Dubois  in  December, 
1779.  In  New  Jersey,  the  4th  was  probably  incorporated  with  one  of  the 
additional  regiments  after  1778.  In  Pennsylvania,  Morgan  Connor  succeeded 
William  Irvine  as  commander  of  the  7th  in  May,  1779,  and  he  was  succeeded 
in  January,  1780,  by  Josiah  Harmar  ;  the  12th  and  13th  were  disbanded 
before  the  close  of  1778.  In  Delaware,  Joseph  Vaughan  continued  in 
command  of  the  one  regiment  from  that  State  to  the  close  of  the  war.     In 


The  Revolution  13 

Maryland,  Otho  H.  Williams  was  transferred  to  the  command  of  the  1st  and 
John  Gunby  to  that  of  the  2d,  in  January,  1781  ;  Lieutenant-Colonels  John 
E.  Howard  and  Thomas  Woolford  serving  successively  in  the  5th  up  to  Octo- 
ber, 1779,  under  Colonel  William  Richardson  ;  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  N. 
Ramsay  succeeding  Mordecai  Gist  as  commander  of  the  3d  at  the  beginning 
of  1779.  In  Virginia,  the  12th,  13th,  14th,  and  15th  regiments  were  disbanded 
towards  the  close  of  1778  ;  William  Davies  became  colonel  of  the  1st, 
Abraham  Buford  of  the  2d,  and  John  Gibson  of  the  7th,  in  February, 
1781  ;  the  9th,  10th,  and  nth  having  also  been  disbanded.  In  North  Caro- 
lina there  are  no  returns  from  the  5th,  6th,  7th,  8th,  after  1778.  In  South 
Carolina,  the  2d  regiment  seems  to  have  been  under  command  of  Major 
Isaac  Harleston  after  December,  1778,  the  1st  and  3d  remaining  unchanged 
to  1 781  ;  there  are  no  returns,  lists,  or  rolls  of  the  4th  to  be  found,  but  Isaac 
Huger  continued  as  colonel  of  the  5th  to  June,  1779,  and  the  regiment 
remained  in  service  until  1781.  The  names  of  Colonels  Francis  Marion 
and  David  Hopkins  also  appear  in  orders.  In  Georgia,  the  1st,  2d,  and  3d 
regiments  remained  in  service  to  the  close  of  the  war  ;  the  4th  probably 
not  later  than  1779. 

RETURNS  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL  LINE  REGIMENTS  IN  1 776,  OFFICERS 
AND  RANK  AND  FILE  PRESENT  AND  FIT  FOR  DUTY,  OR  ON 

COMMAND. 

The  following  returns  are  from  the  volumes  of  the  Fifth  Series  of  Ameri- 
can Archives  : 

July,  1776.     Monthly  return  of  forces  in  South  Carolina,  vol.  i.,  p.  632. 

September  27th.  Return  of  Colonel  William  Smallwood's  Maryland 
Regiment,  vol.  ii.,  p.  567. 

October  5th.  Return  of  forces  under  Washington  at  Harlem  Heights, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  907. 

November  9th.  Return  of  the  forces  in  Northern  Department  under 
Gates,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  701,  702. 

December  1st.     Return  of  forces  under  Washington  at  Trenton,  vol.  iii., 

December  22d.  Return  of  the  forces  under  Washington  on  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  1401,  1402. 

continentals  :  8.  Enoch  Poor,  N.  H Nov. 

total.  9.  James  Varnum,  R.  I Oct. 

1.  Edward  Hand,  Pa Oct.  5,  367  10.  Sam'l  H.  Parsons,  Ct Oct. 

2.  James  Reed,  N.  H Nov.  9,  221  II.  Daniel  Hitchcock,  R.  I. .   Oct. 

3.  Ebenezer  Learned,  Mass. Oct.  5,  474  12.  Moses  Little,  Mass Oct. 

4.  Thomas  Nixon,  Mass Oct.  5,  386  13.  Joseph  Read,  Mass Oct. 

5.  John  Stark,  N.  H Nov.  9,  258  14.  John  Glover,  Mass Oct. 

6.  Asa  Whitcomb,  Mass Nov.  9,  308  15.  John  Paterson,  Mass Nov. 

7.  William  Prescott,  Mass.  ..Oct.  5,  318  16.  Paul  D.  Sargent,  Mass... Oct.     5,     398 


9. 

274 

5, 

330 

5, 

448 

5, 

312 

5, 

347 

5, 

424 

5, 

384 

9. 

249 

*4 


The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 


17.  Jedediah  Huntington,  Ct.Oct. 

18.  Edmund  Phinney,  Mass.. Nov. 

19.  Charles  Webb,  Conn Oct. 

20.  John  Durkee,  Conn Dec . 

21.  Jonathan  Ward,  Mass.... Oct. 

22.  Samuel  Wyllys,  Conn Oct. 

23.  John  Bailey,  Mass Oct. 

24.  John  Greaton,  Mass Nov. 

25.  William  Bond,  Mass Nov. 

26.  Loammi  Baldwin,  Mass. .  .Oct. 

27.  Israel  Hutchinson,  Mass.  .Oct. 
Knox's  Artillery Oct. 


TOTAL. 

5,  230 

9.  3oi 

5,  428 

22,  371 

5,  435 

5,  391 

5,  394 

9,  476 

9,  164 

5,  378 

5,  489 

5,  341 

9,896 


NEW  YORK  LINE  : 

1.  Gosen  Van  Schaick Nov.  9,  231 

2.  James  Clinton Oct.  5,  253 

3.  Rudolphus  Ritzema Oct.  5,  338 

4.  Cornelius  Wynkoop Nov.  9,  114 

5.  Lewis  Dubois 

NEW   JERSEY   LINE: 

1.  Silas  Newcomb Nov.  9,  165 

2.  Israel  Shreve. , Nov.  9,  225 

3.  Elias  Dayton Nov.  9,  540 

4.  Ephraim  Martin Oct.  5,  277 

PENNSYLVANIA    LINE  : 

1.  John  P.  De  Haas Nov.  9,  393 

2.  Joseph  Wood Nov.  9,  262 

3.  Lambert  Cadwallader. . .  .Oct.  5,  336 

4.  Anthony  Wayne Nov.  9,  394 

5.  Robert  Magaw Oct.  5,  343 

6.  William  Irvine Nov.  9,  277 

Miles's  Rifle  Regiment. .  .Oct.  5,  105 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland 

German  Regiment,  Hau- 

segger's  (one  half) Dec. 22,  197 

DELAWARE  LINE  : 

1.  John  Haslet Oct.  5,  479 


MARYLAND  LINE  : 

1.  William  Smallwood Sept.  27, 

2.  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 

German  Regiment,  Hau- 
segger's  (one  half) Dec.  22, 

VIRGINIA  LINE  : 

1.  James  Read Oct.  5, 

2.  William  Woodford 

3.  George  Weedon Oct.  5, 

4.  Thomas  Elliott Dec.  1, 

5.  Charles  Scott Dec.  1, 

6.  Mordecai  Buckner Dec.  1, 

7.  William  Crawford 

8.  Peter  Muhlenberg July 

9.  Isaac  Reed July  12, 

10.  Edward  Stevens 

11.  Daniel  Morgan 

12.  James  Wood . .      

Harrison's  Artillery 

NORTH   CAROLINA    LINE: 

1.  Francis  Nash July 

2.  Alexander  Martin July 

3.  Jethro  Sumner July 

4.  Thomas   Polk 

5.  Edward  Buncombe 

6.  John  A.  Lillington 

7.  James  Hogan 

8.  James  Armstrong 

9.  John  Williams 

3d  Company  Horse July 

SOUTH   CAROLINA   LINE: 

1.  Christopher  Gadsden July 

2.  William  Moultrie July 

3.  William  Thompson July 

4.  Artillery 

5.  Isaac  Huger July 

6 July 

GEORGIA  LINE  : 

1.  Lachlan  Mcintosh 

2.  Samuel  Elbert 

CANADIAN   REGIMENTS  : 

1.  James  Livingston 

2.  Moses  Hazen 


5io 
263 
184 
313 


357 
306 
342 


36 

326 
392 
414 

297 
299 


These  returns,  complete  for  all  the  New  England  regiments,  show  a  total 
number  in  the  Continental  Line  from  that  section  in  the  fall  of  1776  of  about 
9500  men,  or  an  average  of  353  men  to  each  of  the  twenty-seven  New  Eng- 
land regiments.     The  incomplete  returns  from  the  fifty-two  regiments  outside 


The  Revolution  15 

of  New  England  show  a  total  of  11,004  men  *n  thirty-four  regiments,  an  aver- 
age of  323  men  in  each.  There  are  no  returns  in  the  archives  of  the  War 
Department  from  the  remaining  eighteen  regiments,  but  estimating  that 
they  contained  an  average  of  300  men  each,  or  5400  in  all,  it  would  give  a 
total  effective  force  of  "  Regulars  "  in  the  American  Army,  before  the  loss  of 
Fort  Washington,  of  about  26,000  men,  of  whom  thirty-seven  per  cent,  were 
from  New  England. 

In  the  collections  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  is  a  folio 
manuscript  volume,  Abstracts  of  Muster-Rolls,  prepared  by  direction  of 
Deputy  Muster-Master-General  William  Bradford,  Jr.,  which  contains  the 
names  of  the  field  officers  and  officers  commanding  companies,  with  the 
strength  of  each  company  and  regiment.  This  invaluable  book,  the  cover  of 
which  is  largely  composed  of  muster-rolls  dated  at  Valley  Forge,  gives  the 
musters  for  the  months  of  June,  July,  August,  September,  and  October  of 
1778,  and  January  of  1779.  The  following  is  the  muster  for  July  of  1778,  as 
it  is  in  a  more  perfect  condition  than  any  of  the  others. 

PARTIAL   ROSTER  OF  OFFICERS    UNDER  WASHINGTON,  JULY,    1 778. 

NORTH    CAROLINA. 

First  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Thomas  Clark  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Ma- 
bane  ;  Major,  Ashe  ;  Captains,  Tatum,  Dixon,  Bowman,  Read,  McRees, 
Moore  ;  commissioned  officers,  26  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates, 
658. 

Second  Regiment. — Colonel,  John  Patten  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Harney  ; 
Major,  Murpee  ;  Captains,  Englis,  Tenner,  Coleman,  Hall,  Armstrong,  Wil- 
liams ;  commissioned  officers,  27  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates, 
647. 

DELAWARE. 

Delaware  Battalion.  —  Colonel,  David  Hall ;  Captains,  Patten,  Anderson, 
Leavmonth,  Kirkwood,  Jaquett ;  Lieutenants,  Wilson,  Powell,  Rhodes  ; 
commissioned  officers,  29  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  351. 

AT    LARGE. 

Lieutenant-Colonel,  Aaron  Burr ;  Captains,  Tom,  Sandford,  Hallet ; 
Lieutenants,  Dove,  Neely  ;  commissioned  officers,  1 1  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-com- 
missioned and  privates,  SS. 

Major,  William  Harrison  ;  Captains,  Wikoff,  Burrows,  Forman,  Combs  ; 
commissioned  officers,  6  ;  staff,  2  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  73. 

Colonel,  Oliver  Spencer  ;  Captains,  Broderick,  Weatherby,  Striker,  Edsell, 
Pierson,  Bommel ;  Lieutenants,  Meiker,  Ogden  ;  commissioned  officers,  14  ; 
staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  157. 


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1 6  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

NEW    HAMPSHIRE. 

First  Regiment.  — Colonel,  Joseph  Cilley  ;  Captains,  Taswell,  Scott,  Fry, 
Hutcheson,  Wail,  House,  Emmerson,  Morrell  ;  commissioned  officers,  26  ; 
staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  476. 

Second  Regiment.  —  Major,  Benjamin  Titcomb  ;  Captains,  Drew,  Carr, 
Norris,  Rowell,  Clay,  Blodgett,  Robinson  ;  Lieutenant,  Hardy  ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  27  ;  staff,  3  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  368. 

Third  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Alexander  Scammell ;  Captains,  Livermore, 
Gray,  Weiser,  Fry,  Stone,  McClary,  Bealls,  Ellis  ;  commissioned  officers, 
26  ;  staff,  3  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  333. 

Independent  Corps.  —  Captain,  Selir  ;  commissioned  officers,  5  ;  non- 
commissioned and  privates,  44. 

CONNECTICUT. 

First  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Heman  Swift ;  Captains,  Woodbridge,  Wat- 
son, Hill,  Converse,  Beardsley,  Chapman,  Hale,  Steven ;  commissioned 
officers,  25  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  398. 

Second  Regiment.  —  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Isaac  Sherman;  Captains, 
Parsons,  Beebe,  Manning,  Hinkly,  Betts,  Walbridge,  Mills,  Parker  ;  com- 
missioned officers,  16  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  289. 

Third  Regiment.  —  Major,  David  Sill;  Captains,  Haney,  Troop,  Shum- 
way,  Ely,  Perkins,  Richards,  Darrow,  Home  ;  commissioned  officers,  23  ; 
staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  434. 

Fourth  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Philip  Bradley;  Captains,  Strong,  Lacey, 
Wright,  Sandford,  Prior,  Catlin,  Childs,  Harts  ;  commissioned  officers,  23  ; 
staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  386. 

Fifth  Regiment.  —  Major,  Joseph  Hait ;  Captains,  Monson,  Brown,  Rice, 
Brigham,  Sandford,  Smith,  Comstock,  Mattocks  ;  commissioned  officers,  21  ; 
staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  336. 

Sixth  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  John  Durkee  (two  companies  detached)  ; 
Captains,  Bacon,  Fitch,  McGuire,  Lee,  Webb,  Bile,  Hallam,  Harmar  ;  com- 
missioned officers,  26  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  348. 

NEW    YORK. 

First  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Gosen  Van  Schaick  ;  Captains,  Finch,  Hicks, 
Sherwood,  Hogkish,  Copp,  McCracky,  Graham,  Wendall ;  commissioned 
officers,  28  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  454. 

Second  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Philip  Cortland;  Captains,  Wright,  Ten 
Eyk,  (late)  Graham,  Riker,  (late)  Hallet,  Pell,  Lounsbery  ;  Lieutenant, 
French  ;  commissioned  officers,  23  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  pri- 
vates, 413. 

Fourth  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Henry  Livingston  ;  Captains,  Titus,  Sack- 
ett,  Gray,  Strong,  Smith,  Walker,  Davis  ;  Lieutenant,  Elsworth  ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  20  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  ^8^. 


The  Revolution  17 

RHODE    ISLAND. 

Second  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Israel  Angell ;  Captains,  C.  Olney,  S. 
Olney,  Dexter,  Potter,  Humphreys,  Tew,  Hughes,  Allen  (detachment  of 
Colonel  Green)  ;  commissioned  officers,  27  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned 
and  privates,  469. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

First  Regiment. — Colonel,  James  Chambers  ;  Captains,  Grier,  Buchanan, 
Wilson,  Hamilton,  Simpson,  Doyle,  Craig,  Wilson,  Parr ;  Lieutenant, 
Hughes  ;  commissioned  officers,  25  ;  staff,  2  ;  non-commissioned  and 
privates,  331. 

Second  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Walter  Stewart;  Lieutenant  -  Colonel, 
Henry  Miller  ;  Major,  Murray  ;  Captains,  Marshall,  Ashmead,  Howell, 
Bankson,  Tolbert,  ^Patterson  ;  commissioned  officers,  24 ;  staff,  3  ;  non- 
commissioned and  privates,  437. 

Third  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Thomas  Craig  ;  Captains,  Craig,  Moore,  S. 
Moore,  Butler,  Rees,  Christie,  Holling,  Epple  ;  commissioned  officers,  12  ; 
staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  204. 

Fourth  Regiment.  —  Lieutenant-Colonel,  William  Butler  ;  Captains,  Con- 
nelly, Means,  Burd,  Williams,  McGowan,  Fishburn,  Scull,  Gray  ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  19  ;  staff,  3  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  217. 

Fifth  Regiment. — Colonel,  Francis  Johnston  ;  Captains,  Oldham,  Christy, 
Smith,  McHenry,  Gregg,  Seely,  Potts,  Bond,  Bartholomew  ;  commissioned 
officers,  24  ;  staff,  2  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  300. 

Sixth  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Josiah  Harmar  ;  Captains,  Mouser,  Cruise, 

McCowan,  Waugh,  Humph,  Bower, ;  commissioned  officers,  15  ;  staff, 

5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  194. 

Seventh  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  William  Irvine  ;  Captains,  Bratton,  Wil- 
son, Alexander,  J.  Alexander,  Parker,  Montgomery,  Irwin,  Miller  ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  26  ;  staff,  1  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  201. 

Ninth  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Richard  Butler  ;  Captains,  Bowen,  Irwin, 
Davis,  Henderson,  Grant,  McClelland  ;  Lieutenant,  Bickham  ;  commissioned 
officers,  21  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  210. 

Tenth  Regiment.  —  Colonel,  Richard  Humpton  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Hubley  ;  Major,  Grier ;  Captains,  Stake,  Lang,  Sample,  Weaver,  Stout, 
Colhoon  ;  commissioned  officers,  22  ;  staff,  3  ;  non-commissioned  and 
privates,  342. 

Twelfth  Regiment.  —  (Late  William  Cook);  Captains,  McElhatton, 
Lincoln,  Patterson,  Bohn,  Miller,  Ruby  ;  commissioned  officers,  9  ;  staff, 
4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  146. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

First  Regiment. — Colonel,  Mathias  Ogden  ;  Captains,  Mead,  Piatt,  Polhe- 
mus,  Longstreet,  Morrison,  Baldwin,  Angell  ;  Lieutenant,  D.  Hart ; 
commissioned  officers,  22  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  532. 


1 8  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Second  Regiment. — Colonel,  Israel  Shreve;  Captains,  Redding,  Hollings- 
head,  Sparks,  Holmes,  Cummings,  Lucy,  one  company  wanting  ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  20  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  365. 

Third  Regiment. — Colonel,  Elias  Dayton  ;  Captains,  Ballard,  Ross, 
Anderson,  Patterson,  Grifford  (vacant),  Cox,  Mott ;  commissioned  officers, 
23  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  473. 

Fourth  Regiment. — Colonel,  Ephraim  Martin ;  Captains,  Anderson, 
Mitchell,  Lyon,  Forman  ;  Lieutenants,  Johnston,  Lloyd,  Barton  ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  19  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  321. 

MARYLAND. 

First  Regiment. — Colonel,  John  H.  Stone ;  Captains,  Gaither,  Rox- 
borough,  Ewing,  Winder ;  Lieutenants,  Smith,  Bruce,  Farnadis,  Peal  ; 
commissioned  officers,  19  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  374. 

Second  Regiment. — Colonel,  Thomas  Price  ;  Captains,  Anderson,  Long, 
Davidson,  Eccleston,  Williams,  Dent,  Dorsey ;  Lieutenant,  Hardman  ; 
commissioned  officers,  16  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  526. 

Third  Regiment. — Colonel,  Mordecai  Gist  ;  Captains,  Smith,  Gist,  Brice, 
Griffiths,  Marbury,  Brooks  ;  Lieutenants,  Armstrong,  Deaver,  Clagett,  Smith  ; 
commissioned  officers,  31  ;  staff,  6  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  461. 

Fourth  Regiment. — Colonel,  Josiah  C.  Hall ;  Captains,  Oldham,  Selman, 
Lansdale,  Goodman,  Burgess,  Smith,  Norwood  ;  Lieutenants,  Reilly,  Smith  ; 
commissioned  officers,  23  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  517. 

Fifth  Regiment. — Colonel,  William  Richardson  ;  Captains,  Hawkins, 
Hardey,  Lynch,  Johnston  ;  Lieutenants,  Hamilton,  Emory,  Hand  ;  Ensign, 
Jones  ;  commissioned  officers,  19  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates, 

457- 

Sixth  Regiment. — Colonel,  Otho  Williams  ;  Captains,  Harris,  Hyres, 
Dobson,  D.  Beal,  Lawrence,  Freeman,  Myle,  Ghislin  ;  commissioned  officers, 
20  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  391. 

Seventh  Regiment. —  Colonel,  John  Gunby ;  Captains,  Jones,  Stull, 
Spyker,  Grost,  Morris,  Bayley,  Anderson  ;  Lieutenant,  Beatty  ;  commissioned 
officers,  23  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  369. 

German  Battalion. — Lieutenant-Colonel,  Ludwig  Weltner ;  Captains, 
Hubley,  Bunner,  Boyer,  Baltzell  ;  Lieutenants,  Cramer,  Rice,  Shugart,  Boyer, 
Meyer  ;  commissioned  officers,  20  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates, 

385- 

VIRGINIA. 

First  Regiment. — Colonel,  Richard  Parker ;  Captains,  Minnes,  Conyng- 
ham,  Lawson,  Lewis  ;  commissioned  officers,  22  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned 
and  privates,  243. 

Second  Regiment. — Colonel,  Christian  Febiger  ;  Captains,  Harrison,  Mc- 


The  Revolution  19 

Calmis,  Taylor,  W.  Taylor,  Willis,  Upshaw,  Holmes,  Parker  ;  commissioned 
officers,  23  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  253. 

Third  and  Seventh  Regiments. — Lieutenant-Colonel,  William  Heath  ; 
Captains,  Young,  Hill,  Blackwell,  Peyton,  Lipscomb,  Powell,  Briscoe ; 
Captain-Lieutenant,  Baylor ;  Lieutenant,  Sayres  ;  commissioned  officers, 
27  ;  staff,  9  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  556. 

Fourth  and  Twelfth  Regiments. — Colonel,  James  Wood  ;  Lieutenant- 
Colonel,  Nevil  ;  Major,  Clark  ;  Captains,  Lapsley,  Still,  Wall,  Kirkpatrick, 
Waggoner,  Croghan,  Bowyer ;  commissioned  officers,  30  ;  staff,  13  ;  non- 
commissioned and  privates,  752. 

Fifth  Regiment. — Colonel,  Joseph  Parks  ;  Captains,  Fowler,  Anderson, 
Colston,  Fauntleroy  ;  commissioned  officers,  23  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned 
and  privates,  182. 

Sixth  Regiment. — Colonel,  John  Gibson  ;  commissioned  officers,  17  ; 
staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  85. 

Ninth  Regiment. — Lieutenant-Colonel,  Burgess  Ball ;  commissioned 
officers,  10  ;  staff,  1  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  53. 

Tenth  Regiment. — Colonel,  John  Greene ;  Captains,  Shelton,  West, 
Stephens,  Mountjoy,  Spotswood,  Blackwell,  Gillison  ;  Lieutenant,  Lamne  ; 
commissioned  officers,  23  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  380. 

Eleventh  and  Fifteenth  Regiments. — Colonel,  David  Meson  ;  Captains, 
Porterfield,  Gregory,  Ree,  Gray  ;  Colonel,  Cropper ;  Major,  Wallace ; 
Captains,  Will,  Johnston  ;  commissioned  officers,  26 ;  staff,  10 ;  non- 
commissioned and  privates,  584. 

Fourteenth  Regiment. — Colonel,  William  Davis ;  Captains,  Conway, 
Reid,  Robert,  Winston,  Overton,  Marks,  Jones,  Thweat  ;  commissioned 
officers,  26  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  390. 

First  State  Regiment. — Colonel,  George  Gibson  ;  Captains,  Brown,  Hamil- 
ton, Ewell,  T.  Ewell,  Shields,  Valentine,  Armistead,  Crump,  Hoffler,  Nicholas; 
commissioned  officers,  29  ;  staff,  4 ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  329. 

Second  State  Regiment. — Colonel,  Gregory  Smith  ;  Captains,  Spiller, 
Dudley,  Talifero,  Quarles,  Busse,  Garnet,  Barnard,  Lewis  ;  commissioned 
officers,  26  ;  staff,  4  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  418. 

At  Large. — Colonel,  John  Parke  ;  Captains,  Bicker,  Prowel,  Keen,  Dennis, 
Grubb,  Redman  ;  commissioned  officers,  16  ;  staff,  2  ;  non-commissioned 
and  privates,  89.     (Captain  McLean's  company  not  mustered.) 

At  Large. — Colonel,  William  Grayson ;  Captains,  Mitchell,  Smith, 
Triplett,  Jones,  Moore,  McGuire,  Smallwood,  Willis,  (late)  Grant ;  commis- 
sioned officers,  17  ;  staff,  3  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  189. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

First  Regiment. — Colonel,  Thomas  Marshall ;  Captains,  Wolcut,  Soper, 
Warner,  Marshall,  Smith,  Thomas,  King,  Wales  ;  commissioned  officers,  25  ; 
staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  277. 


20  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Second  Regiment. — Colonel,  G.  Bradford  ;  Captains,  Wadsworth,  Cooper, 
Warner,  Marshall,  Smith,  Thomas,  King,  Wales  ;  commissioned  officers,  22  ; 
staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  311. 

Third  Regiment. — Colonel,  Benjamin  Tupper  ;  Captains,  Thorne,  May- 
bury,  Farnum,  White,  Wheelwright,  Page,  Porter,  Greenleaf  ;  commissioned 
officers,  30  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  342. 

Fourth  Regiment. — Colonel,  Samuel  Brewer  ;  Captains,  Watkins,  Bur- 
bank,  Jenkins,  Merrel,  Stones,  Chadwick,  Donnel,  Brewer  ;  commissioned 
officers,  29  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  313. 

Fifth  Regiment. — Colonel,  James  Wesson  ;  Captains,  Pettengill,  Child, 
Bartlet,  Blanchard,  Cogswell,  Ward,  Dix  ;  commissioned  officers,  22  ;  staff, 
5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  336. 

Sixth  Regiment. — Colonel,  John  Bailey  ;  Captains,  Darby,  Maxwell, 
Drew,  Alden,  Dunham,  Burr,  Allen,  Warren  ;  commissioned  officers,  24  ; 
staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  384. 

Seventh  Regiment. — Colonel,  Michael  Jackson  ;  Captains,  Keith, 
Burnam,  Brown,  Varnum,  Wiley,  Cleveland,  Eb.  Cleveland,  Bancroft ; 
commissioned  officers,  25  ;  staff,  4;   non-commissioned  and  privates,  315. 

His  Excellency's  Body-Guard. — Captain,  Gibbs  ;  commissioned  officers, 
4  ;  staff,  1  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  148. 

LIGHT  DRAGOONS. 

Colonel,  Stephen  Moylan  ;  Captains,  Moore,  Plunket,  Hopkins,  Heard, 
Pike,  Gray  ;  commissioned  officers,  15  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and 
privates,  187. 

Colonel,  Theo.  Bland  ;  Captains,  Jones,  Belfield,  Call,  Harrison,  Dan- 
dridge  ;  commissioned  officers,  15  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and 
privates,  165. 

Colonel,  George  Blaylor ;  Captains,  Lewis,  Jones,  Smith,  Cad.  Jones  ; 
commissioned  officers,  15  ;  staff,  6  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  129. 

ARTILLERY. 

Colonel,    Ch.  Harrison  ;  Captains,  Brown,  ,  ,  Dandridge, 

Singleton,  Carter,  Pendleton,  Henry,  Baylop,  Eddens ;  commissioned 
officers,  42  ;  staff,  5  ;  non-commissioned  and  privates,  432. 

Colonel,  John  Crane  ;  Captains,  Burbeck,  Eustice,  Wills,  Trothengha, 
Sergeant,  Treadwell,  Seward  ;  commissioned  officers,  36  ;  staff,  2  ;  non- 
commissioned and  privates,  295., 

Colonel,  John  Lamb  ;  Captains,  Lee,  Jnoa.  Gibb,  Clark,  Randall, 
Porter,  Doughty,  Bauman,  Mansfield  ;  commissioned  officers,  34  ;  staff,  — ; 
non-commissioned  and  privates,  203. 


The  Revolution  21 


SUMMARY. 

New   Hampshire,  total  officers  and  men,  1,3*5 

Massachusetts             "         "  "  "  2,642 

Rhode  Island             "          "  "  "  500 

Connecticut                 "         "  "  "  2,352 


Total  in  New  England  regiments, . 

6,809 

New   York,    total 

officers  and   men, 

i,334 

New  Jersey       " 

i,794 

Pennsylvania      ' ' 

"           "        " 

2,8lt 

Delaware            ' ' 

c«          «         »» 

385 

Maryland           " 

3,689 

Virginia              ' ' 

X                     it                 t* 

4,891 

North  Carolina  " 

l  all  State  regiments, 

1,367 

Total  ir 

23,080 

Artillery, 

1,049 

Light  Dragoons, 

542 

At  Large, 

358 

Grand  total  25,029 

We  can  gain  considerable  knowledge  of  the  American  Army  in  1778  and 
1779  from  the  reports  of  Baron  Steuben,  its  Inspector-General,  some  of 
which,  printed  in  Kapp's  Life  of  Steuben,  can  be  profitably  repeated  at  this 
time  : 

The  effective  strength  of  the  army  was  divided  into  divisions,  com- 
manded by  major-generals  ;  into  brigades,  commanded  by  brigadier-gen- 
erals ;  and  into  regiments,  commanded  by  colonels.  The  number  of  men 
in  a  regiment  was  fixed  by  Congress,  as  well  as  in  a  company  —  so  many 
infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery.  But  the  eternal  ebb  and  flow  of  men  en- 
gaged for  three,  six,  and  nine  months,  who  went  and  came  every  day,  ren- 
dered it  impossible  to  have  either  a  regiment  or  a  company  complete  ;  and 
the  words  company,  regiment,  brigade,  and  division  were  so  vague  that  they 
did  not  convey  any  idea  upon  which  to  form  a  calculation,  either  of  a  par- 
ticular corps  or  of  the  army  in  general.  They  were  so  unequal  in  their 
number,  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  execute  any  manceuvers. 
Sometimes  a  regiment  was  stronger  than  a  brigade.  I  have  seen  a  regiment 
consisting  of  thirty  men,  and  a  company  of  one  corporal !  Nothing  was  so 
difficult,  and  often  so  impossible,  as  to  get  a  correct  list  of  the  State  or  a  re- 
turn of  any  company,  regiment,  or  corps.  .  .  .  General  Knox  assured 
me  that,  previous  to  the  establishment  of  my  department,  there  never  was  a 
campaign  in  which  the  military  magazines  did  not  furnish  from  five  thou- 
sand to  eight  thousand  muskets  to  replace  those  which  were  lost  in  the  way 
I  have  described  above.  The  loss  of  bayonets  was  still  greater.  The 
American  soldier,  never  having  used  this  arm,  had  no  faith  in  it,  and  never 
used  it  but  to  roast  his  beefsteak,  and  indeed,  often  left  it  at  home.  This  is 
not  astonishing  when  it  is  considered  that  a  majority  of  the  States  engaged 
their  soldiers  for  from  six  to  nine  months.     Each  man  who  went  away  took 


22  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

his  musket  with  him,  and  his  successor  received  another  from  the  public 
store.  No  captain  kept  a  book.  Accounts  were  never  furnished  nor  re- 
quired. As  our  army  is,  thank  God,  little  subject  to  desertion,  I  venture  to 
say  that  during  an  entire  campaign  there  have  not  been  twenty  muskets  lost 
since  my  system  came  into  force.  It  was  the  same  with  the  pouches  and  other 
accoutrements,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  I  exaggerate  when  I  state  that  my 
arrangements  have  saved  the  United  States  at  least  eight  hundred  thousand 
French  livres  a  year. 

The  arms  at  Valley  Forge  were  in  a  horrible  condition,  covered  with 
rust,  half  of  them  without  bayonets,  many  from  which  a  single  shot  could 
not  be  fired.  The  pouches  were  quite  as  bad  as  the  arms.  A  great  many 
of  the  men  had  tin  boxes  instead  of  pouches,  others  had  cow-horns  ;  and 
muskets,  carbines,  fowling-pieces,  and  rifles  were  to  be  seen  in  the  same 
company. 

The  description  of  the  dress  is  most  easily  given.  The  men  were  liter- 
ally naked,  some  of  them  in  the  fullest  extent  of  the  word.  The  officers  who 
had  coats,  had  them  of  every  color  and  make.  I  saw  officers,  at  a  grand 
parade  at  Valley  Forge,  mounting  guard  in  a  sort  of  dressing  gown,  made 
of  an  old  blanket  or  woollen  bed-cover.  With  regard  to  their  military  dis- 
cipline, I  may  safely  say  no  such  thing  existed.  In  the  first  place  there  was 
no  regular  formation.  A  so-called  regiment  was  formed  of  three  platoons, 
another  of  five,  eight,  nine,  and  the  Canadian  regiment  of  twenty-one.  The 
formation  of  the  regiments  was  as  varied  as  their  mode  of  drill,  which  only 
consisted  of  the  manual  exercise.  Each  colonel  had  a  system  of  his  own, 
the  one  according  to  the  English,  the  other  according  to  the  Prussian  or 
French  style.  There  was  only  one  thing  in  which  they  were  uniform,  and 
that  was  the  way  of  marching  in  the  manceuvers  and  on  the  line  of  march. 
They  all  adopted  the  mode  of  marching  in  files  used  by  the  Indians. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  correct  statement  of  the  strength  of  the 
southern  army  10  ;  but  without  doing  injustice  to  the  South,  we  may  reason- 
ably suppose  that  matters  stood  much  worse  there  than  in  the  North,  because 
the  South  was  more  divided  in  itself,  and  less  enthusiastic  for  the  cause  of 
Independence.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find,  in  the  Steuben  Papers,  the 
strength  of  the  principal  army  exactly  stated. 

General  Washington's  army,  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  of  1779, 
consisted  of  six  divisions,  of  two  brigades  each,  numbering  in  all  11,067 
men  —  forty-six  regiments.  These  regiments  had  from  one  hundred  and 
fifty  (Seventh  Virginia)  to  four  hundred  and  thirty  (Sixth  Connecticut) 
rank  and  file.  Steuben  selected  from  each  regiment,  in  proportion  to  its 
strength,  a  number  of  picked  men,  to  form  eight  light-infantry  companies, 
and  then,  where  they  were  too  weak,  united  the  regiments  into  one  battalion. 
Thus,  the  whole  army  consisted  of  thirty-five  battalions  (9,755  men),  making 
two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  the  average  strength  of  each  battalion,  and 
the  eight  companies  of  light  infantry  before  mentioned  in  addition.  Each 
of  the  latter  had  one  field  officer,  four  captains,  eight  subalterns,  twelve 
sergeants,  and  164  rank  and  file.  The  divisions  were  severally  known  as 
the  Virginia,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and 
North  Carolina. 


The  Revolution  23 

FORMATION  OF  THE  ARMY  COMMANDED  BY  HIS  EXCELLENCY  GENERAL 
WASHINGTON,  FOR  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  PRESENT 
CAMPAIGN  [1779]- 

VIRGINIA. 

First  Brigade,  Woolford  [Woodford?]  —  2d  Regiment,  175;  5th  and 
nth,  223  ;  8th,  182  ;  7th,  150  ;  3d  and  4th,  245.     Total,  975. 

Second  Brigade,  Muhlenberg. — 6th,  168  ;  2d  State,  230  ;  Gist's,  153  ; 
1st  State,  209  ;  1st  and  10th,  270.     Total,  1030. 

MARYLAND    AND    DELAWARE. 

First  Brigade,  Smallwood. —  1st,  260  ;  5th,  220  ;  7th,  230  ;  3d,  270. 
Total,  980. 

Second  Brigade,  Guest  [M.  Gist]. —  2d,  280;  6th,  230;  4th,  320; 
Delaware,  220.     Total,  1050. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

First  Brigade,  Irvine. —  1st,  210  ;  7th,  170  ;  10th,  240  ;  2d,  340.  Total, 
960. 

Second  Brigade,  Johnson. —  3d,  260;  6th,  180;  9th,  180;  5th,  240. 
Total,  860. 

CONNECTICUT. 

First  Brigade,  Huntington. —  4th,  184;  8th,  232  ;  6th,  430  ;  3d,  $67;* 
Total,  1 2 13. 

Second  Brigade,  Parsons. — 1st,  289  ;  5th,  220  ;  2d,  206  ;  7th,  295.  Total,. 
1010. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

First  Brigade,  Nixon. —  2d,  224  ;  5th,  263  ;  4th,  313.     Total,  800. 
Second  Brigade,  Learned. —  1st,  277  ;  7th,  212  ;  8th,  248.     Total,  737. 
Pettason's  [Paterson's]  Brigade. —  9th,  192  ;   12th,  184  ;   10th,  179  ;  15th, 
260.     Total,  815. 

NORTH    CAROLINA. 

1st,  328  ;  2d,  298.     Total,  626. 

Return  of  the  number  of  men  enlisted  during  the  war,  and  for  shorter 
periods  in  the  army  under  the  immediate  command  of  His  Excellency 
General  Washington,  December,  1779  : 

1st   Maryland   Brigade 1416 

*d         "  "      1497 

1st  Pennsylvania 12s * 

2d  "  "  ,050 

New  Jersey  "       1297 

New  York  "        1267 

1st  Connecticut     "       1680 

*d      ,      "  "       1367 

Hand's  "       IOS3 

Stark's  " 12 10 

Total,  13,070 


24  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

It  would  appear  from  the  figures  given  in  the  preceding  pages  that  the 
New  England  element  in  the  American  Army,  subsequent  to  the  withdrawal 
of  the  British  from  New  England  territory,  was  under  forty  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  native  force,  or  but  little  more  than  proportionate  to  its  relative  pop- 
ulation. In  like  manner,  it  appears  that  the  leaders  of  the  army  were  no 
less  representative  of  its  true  constitution  than  the  rank  and  file.  Of  Wash- 
ington's twelve  generals  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Nathan  ael  Greene, 
William  Heath,  Seth  Pomeroy,  Israel  Putnam,  Joseph  Spencer,  John  Sulli- 
van, John  Thomas,  Artemas  Ward,  and  David  Wooster  were  New  Eng- 
land men — Charles  Lee  of  Virginia,  and  Richard  Montgomery  and  Philip 
Schuyler  of  New  York  completing  the  staff.  But  the  majority  of  the  New 
Englanders  dropped  out  of  sight  before  the  conflict  was  fairly  begun  ; 
and  besides  Greene,  the  only  general  officers  from  that  section  who 
achieved  renown  during  the  progress  of  the  war  were  the  Scotch-Irishmen, 
Henry  Knox  and  John  Stark,  and  the  Irishman,  John  Sullivan.  The  New 
England  general  in  command  of  the  forces  on  Long  Island  seems  to  have 
been  relegated  mainly  to  garrison  duty  after  the  retreat  from  that  place,  and 
Benjamin  Lincoln's  campaign  in  the  South  resulted  most  disastrously. 
When  the  army  was  discharged  in  1783,  we  find  that  among  the  fifteen 
major-generals,  New  England  was  represented  by  five  —  Greene,  Heath, 
Putnam,  Lincoln,  and  Knox.  Of  the  remainder,  there  were,  of  Scottish 
descent,  besides  Knox  :  William  Alexander  (N.  J.),  Alexander  McDougall 
(N.  Y.),  Arthur  St.  Clair  (Pa.)  ;  of  English  descent,  in  addition  to  the  four 
first  named  :  Horatio  Gates  (Va.),  Robert  Howe  (N.  C),  William  Small- 
wood  (Md.),  and  William  Moultrie  (?)  (S.  C);  of  French  birth:  Lafayette  and 
Du  Portail ;  and  of  German:  Steuben.  Of  the  twenty-two  brigadiers  at  that 
time — six  from  New  England — there  were  of  Scottish  blood  :  William  Irvine 
(Pa.),  Lachlan  Mcintosh  (Ga.),  John  Paterson  (Mass.),  Charles  Scott  (Va.), 
John  Stark  (N.  H.);  of  Anglo-Scottish:  George  Clinton  (N.  Y.),  James 
Clinton  (N.  Y.),  Edward  Hand  (Pa.),  Anthony  Wayne  (Pa.);  of  French  : 
Isaac  Huger  (S.  C);  of  German  :  Johann  De  Kalb  (France),  Peter  Muh- 
lenberg (Va.);  of  Welsh:  Daniel  Morgan  (Va.),  O.  H.  Williams  (Md.); 
and  of  English  :  Elias  Dayton  (N.  J.),  Mordecai  Gist  (Md.),  John  Greaton 
(Mass.),  Moses  Hazen  (Mass.),  Jedediah  Huntington  (Conn.),  Rufus  Put- 
nam (Mass.),  Jethro  Sumner  (?)  (S.  C),  George  Weedon  (Va.).  Out  of  the 
thirty-seven  names  on  these  two  lists  of  1783,  eleven  were  from  New  Eng- 
land ;  and  of  the  total  list  about  one  half  were  of  English  descent,  while 
two  fifths  were  to  a  large  degree  Celtic  in  their  descent. 

Proceeding  to  analyze  the  list  of  the  other  generals  created  during  the 
Revolutionary  period,  we  further  find  as  of  probable  Scottish  blood  :  John 
Armstrong  (Pa.),  Francis  Barber  (N.  J.),  William  Campbell  (Va.),  George 
Rogers  Clark "  (Va.),  William  Davidson  (N.  C),  John  Douglas  (Conn.), 
James  Ewing  (Pa.),  Robert  Lawson  (Va.),  Andrew  Lewis  (Va.),  William 
Maxwell  (N.  J.),   Hugh  Mercer  (Va.),   James  Moore  (N.  C),  John  Nixon 


The  Revolution  25 

(Pa.),  Andrew  Pickens  (S.  C),  James  Potter  (Pa.),  Joseph  Reed  (Pa.), 
Griffith  Rutherford  (N.  C),  John  Morin  Scott  (N.  Y.),  Adam  Stephen 
(Va.),  Thomas  Sumter  (?)  (Va.),  William  Thompson  (Pa).,  a  total  of  twenty- 
one  ;  of  Welsh  blood  :  John  Cadwallader  (Pa.),  William  Davies  (Va.),  James 
Varnum  (Mass.);  of  French  :  P.  H.  De  Barre  (France),  Philip  De  Coudray 
(France),  A.  R.  De  Fermoy  (France),  John  P.  De  Haas  (Pa.,  Holland- 
French),  Francis  Marion  (S.  C);  of  Dutch:  Nicholas  Herkimer  (N.  Y.), 
Abraham  Ten  Broeck  (N.  Y.),  Philip  Van  Cortlandt  (N.  Y.),  Gosen  Van 
Schaick  (N.  Y.);  of  German  :  Frederic  W.  de  Woedtke  ;  of  Irish  :  Thomas 
Conway  (Ireland),  James  Hogan  (N.  C.),  Stephen  Moylan  (Pa.);  of  Polish  : 
Casimir  Pulaski  (Poland);  and  of  probable  English  descent:  Benedict 
Arnold  (Conn.),  William  Blount  (N.  C),  Philemon  Dickinson  (N.  J.), 
Samuel  Elbert  (Ga.),  John  Fellows  (Mass.),  Joseph  Frye  (Mass.),  John 
Frost  (Maine),  Christopher  Gadsden  (S.  C),  John  Glover  (Mass.),  John 
Lacey  (Pa.),  Ebenezer  Learned  (Mass.),  Thomas  Mifflin  (Pa.),  Francis 
Nash  (?)  (Va.),  William  North  (Maine),  Samuel  Parsons  (Conn.),  Enoch 
Poor  (N.  H.),  James  Reed  (N.  H.),  Gold  S.  Silliman  (Conn.),  Edward 
Stevens  (Va.),  James  Wadsworth  (Conn.),  Joseph  Warren  (Mass.),  John 
Whitcomb  (Mass.),  James  Wilkinson  (Md.),  William  Woodford  (Va.), 
Nathaniel  Woodhull  (N.  Y.),  a  total  of  twenty-five  ;  making  with  the  other 
names  mentioned  in  this  paragraph  a  list  of  sixty-three  names  in  all,  less 
than  half  of  which  are  English,  and  about  one  fourth  from  New  England. 

Taking  all  the  lists  together,  we  have  an  aggregate  of  one  hundred  and 
nine  names,  which  include  practically  all  of  Washington's  generals  ;  and  it 
appears  that  but  thirty-one  of  them  came  from  the  New  England  States,  and 
that  less  than  half  were  of  English  descent — about  sixty  being  non-English. 

An  examination  of  the  lists  of  colonels,  captains,  lieutenants,  and  minor 
commissioned  officers  will  show  a  like  distribution.  The  names  of  2310  of 
those  who  were  in  the  Continental  service  are  printed  in  the  American  State 
Papers,  vol.  iii.,  Military  Affairs,  pp.  529  to  559,  under  the  heading,  "  Sched- 
ule of  the  names  and  rank  of  most  of  the  officers  of  the  War  of  Indepen- 
dence, chiefly  returned  as  belonging  to  the  lines  or  corps  of  the  thirteen 
original  United  States  soon  after  said  army  was  disbanded  in  1783,  arranged 
alphabetically  and  numbered  distinctly  according  to  the  States." 

This  schedule  is  prefaced  by  the  following  communication  to  Congress 
from  the  Secretary  of  War  : 

NINETEENTH  CONGRESS  :    SECOND  SESSION  :    342.      STATEMENT  OF  THE  NAMES 
AND    RANK    OF    THE    OFFICERS   OF    THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR,  &C. 

Communicated  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  January  10,  1827. 

Department  of  War,  January  10,  1827. 
Sir  : 

In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  8th  instant,  directing  the  Secretary  of  War  "  to  report  to  their  House 


26  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  name  and  rank  of  each  officer  of  the  Continental  army  who  served  to 
the  end  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  who  were  by  the  resolution  of  Con- 
gress entitled  to  half-pay  during  life  ;  and  also,  as  nearly  as  practicable,  the 
names  of  the  remaining  officers  and  their  places  of  residence,"  I  transmit 
herewith  a  list  of  the  names  and  rank  of  the  officers  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  as  complete  as  the  records  of  the  Department  will  furnish,  with  the 
exception  of  foreign  officers.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the  Department  to 
show  which  of  them  "  were  by  the  resolution  of  Congress  entitled  to  half- 
pay  during  life,"  nor  is  it  known  which  of  them  are  still  living,  with  their 
places  of  residence,  except  those  who  are  on  the  pension  list. 
Very  respectfully,  etc., 

James  Barbour,  Secretary  of  War. 
To  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

The  list  of  names  sent  with  this  report  shows  the  State  to  which  each 
officer  is  credited,  and  the  regiment  to  which  he  belonged.  In  the  final 
years  of  the  war,  with  very  few  exceptions,  the  officers  commanded  troops 
raised  by  their  own  States.  Of  these  2310  officers,  79  were  from  New 
Hampshire,  445  from  Massachusetts,  44  from  Rhode  Island,  254  from  Con- 
necticut, 200  from  New  York,  92  from  New  Jersey,  421  from  Pennsylvania, 
32  from  Delaware,  166  from  Maryland,  337  from  Virginia,  99  from  North 
Carolina,  93  from  South  Carolina,  and  48  from  Georgia.  Less  than  forty  per 
cent,  of  these  were  from  New  England. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  heading  of  the  list  that  these  officers  principally 
belonged  to  the  Continental  Army.  Militia  officers  are  not,  as  a  rule,  men- 
tioned, unless  they  also  served  in  the  Continental  or  State  lines.  As  the 
most  of  the  troops  of  the  Southern  States  did  not  belong  to  the  Conti- 
nental establishment,  but  were  simply  State  militiamen,  their  officers  would 
have  no  place  in  this  list. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  I. 

1  As  early  as  1763-64  we  find  them  mentioned  by  the  name  "  Scotch-Irish  "  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  when  one  Nathaniel  Grubb,  a  member  of  the 
Assembly  from  Chester  County  so  denominated  the  Paxtang  settlers.  These  people  had 
petitioned  the  Quaker  government  in  vain  for  protection  from  the  murderous  attacks  of  the 
savages  ;  and  finally,  despairing  of  help  from  that  source,  some  of  them  took  the  law  into 
their  own  hands  and  made  an  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  such  Indians  as  they  could  find 
in  their  neighborhood.  In  denouncing  this  action  to  his  fellow  Quakers,  Grubb  referred  to 
these  settlers  as  "  a  pack  of  insignificant  Scotch-Irish,  who,  if  they  were  all  killed,  could  well 
enough  be  spared."     (See,  William  H.  Egle,  History  of  Dauphin  County,  Penna.,p.  60.) 

Rev.  John  Elder,  also,  in  a  letter  written  from  Paxtang,  under  date  of  February  7, 
1764,  to  Col.  Edward  Shippen,  of  Lancaster,  relative  to  the  killing  of  the  Conestoga 
Indians  in  December,  1763,  says  :  "  The  Presbyterians,  who  are  the  most  numerous  I 
imagine  of  any  Denomination  in  the  Province,  are  enraged  at  their  being  charged  in  bulk 
with  these  facts,  under  the  name  of  Scotch-Irish,  and  other  ill-natured  titles,  and  that  the 
killing  of  the  Conestegoe  Indians  is  compared  to  the  Irish  massacres  and  reckoned  the  most 
barbarous  of  either,  so  that  things  are  grown  to  that  pitch  now  that  the  country  seems 
determined  that  no  Indian  Treaties  shall  be  held,  or  savages  maintained  at  the  expense  of 
the  Province,  unless  his  Majestie's  pleasure  on  these  heads  is  well  known  ;  for  I  understand, 


The  Revolution  27 

to  my  great  Satisfaction  that  amidst  our  great  confusions  there  are  none  even  of  the  most 
warm  and  furious  tempers,  but  what  are  firmly  attached  to  his  Majesty,  and  would  cheer- 
fully risk  their  lives  to  promote  his  service." 

Edmund  Burke,  writing  in  1757,  says  :  "The  number  of  white  people  in  Virginia  is 
between  sixty  and  seventy  thousand  ;  and  they  are  growing  every  day  more  numerous,  by  the 
migration  of  the  Irish,  who,  not  succeeding  so  well  in  Pennsylvania  as  the  more  frugal  and 
industrious  Germans,  sell  their  lands  in  that  province  to  the  latter,  and  take  up  new  ground 
in  the  remote  countries  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  North  Carolina.  These  are  chiefly 
Presbyterians  from  the  Northern  part  of  Ireland,  who  in  America  are  generally  called 
Scotch-Irish." — European  Settlements  in  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  216. 

8  Although  they  came  to  this  land  from  Ireland,  where  their  ancestors  had  a  century 
before  planted  themselves,  yet  they  retained  unmixed  the  national  Scotch  character. 
Nothing  sooner  offended  them  than  to  be  called  Irish.  Their  antipathy  to  this  appellation 
had  its  origin  in  the  hostility  existing  in  Ireland  between  the  Celtic  race,  the  native  Irish, 
and  the  English  and  Scotch  colonists.  Mr.  Belknap  quotes  from  a  letter  of  Rev.  James 
MacGregor  to  Governor  Shute,  in  which  he  says:  "We  are  surprised  to  hear  ourselves 
termed  Irish  people,  when  we  so  frequently  ventured  our  all  for  the  British  crown  and 
liberties  against  the  Irish  Papists  and  gave  all  tests  of  our  loyalty  which  the  government  of 
Ireland  required,  and  are  always  ready  to  do  the  same  when  required." — Parker's  History 
of  Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  p.  68. 

3 As  against  the  more  or  less  willing  adoption  of  the  name  "Scotch-Irish"  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  we  may  contrast  the  following  citations,  gathered  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Hamilton  Murray,  a  more  recent  emigrant  from  Ireland,  who  argues  that  a  man  born  in  a 
stable  must  be  a  horse.     Mr.  Murray  says  : 

"The  colonial  records  repeatedly  mention  the  'Irish,'  not  the  Scotch-Irish.  Cotton 
Mather,  in  a  sermon  in  1700,  says  :  '  At  length  it  was  proposed  that  a  colony  of  Irish  might 
be  sent  over  to  check  the  growth  of  this  country.'  .  .  .  The  party  of  immigrants  remaining 
at  Falmouth,  Me.,  over  winter,  and  which  later  settled  in  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  were  alluded 
to  in  the  records  of  the  general  court  as  '  poor  Irish.' 

"  On  St.  Patrick's  day,  the  Irish  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  instituted  St.  Patrick's  Lodge 
of  Masons.  Later  we  find  Stark's  Rangers  at  Fort  Edward  requesting  an  extra  supply  of 
grog  so  as  to  properly  observe  the  anniversary  of  St.  Patrick. 

"  Marmion's  Maritime  Ports  of  Ireland  states  that  '  Irish  families '  settled  Londonderry, 
N.  H.  Spencer  declares  that  '  the  manufacture  of  linen  was  considerably  increased  by  the 
coming  of  Irish  immigrants.'  In  1723,  says  Condon  '  a  colony  of  Irish  settled  in  Maine.' 
Moore,  in  his  sketch  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  pays  tribute  to  the  '  Irish  settlers'  in  that  section 
of  New  England.  McGee  speaks  of  *  the  Irish  settlement  of  Belfast,'  Me.  The  same 
author  likewise  declares  that  '  Irish  families  also  settled  at  Palmer  and  Worcester,  Mass.' 
Cullen  describes  the  arrival  at  Boston  in  1717  of  Capt.  Robert  Temple,  'with  a  number  of 
Irish  Protestants.'  Capt.  Temple  was,  in  1740,  elected  to  the  Charitable  Irish  Society. 
In  another  place  Cullen  alludes  to  '  the  Irish  spinners  and  weavers,  who  landed  in  Boston 
in  the  earlier  part  of  the  18th  century.'      .     .     . 

"Among  those  who  have  been  wrongly  claimed  [as  Scotch-Irish]  are  Carroll,  Sullivan, 
.  .  .  Moylan,  Wayne,  Barry,  .  .  and  .  .  .  of  a  later  period,  .  .  .  Meade  and 
Sheridan.     .     .     . 

"  Of  the  Revolutionary  heroes  mentioned  above,  Charles  Carroll  was  of  old  Irish  stock. 
His  cousin,  John  Carroll,  was  a  Roman  Catholic  clergyman,  a  Jesuit,  a  patriot,  a  bishop, 
and  archbishop.     Daniel  Carroll  was  another  sterling  patriot. 

"The  Sullivans,  James  and  John,  were  also  of  ancient  Irish  stock,  the  name  having 
been  O'Sullivan  even  in  their  father's  time. 

"  Gen.  Knox  and  his  father  were  both  members  of  the  Charitable  Irish  Society,  of 
Boston.      The  General  also  belonged  to  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  Philadelphia. 


28  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

' '  Moylan  was  a  brother  of  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop  of  Cork.     .     .     . 

"  Wayne  was  of  Irish  [English]  descent  and  proud  of  his  Irish  lineage.  He  was  an 
active  member  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick. 

"  Barry  was  an  Irish  Roman  Catholic." 

(T.  H.  Murray,  in  Appendix  to  Samuel  Swett  Green's  monograph  on  The  Scotch- 
Irish  in  America,  read  before  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  in  Boston,  April  24,  1895.) 

4  The  members  of  this  organization  were  as  follows  :  Isaac  All,  John  Barclay,  Thomas 
Barclay,  William  Barclay,  Commodore  John  Barry,  Thomas  Batt,  Colonel  Ephraim  Blaine, 
John  Bleakly,  William  Bourke,  Dr.  Robert  Boyd,  Hugh  Boyle,  John  Boyle,  John  Brown, 
William  Brown,  General  Richard  Butler,  Andrew  Caldwell,  David  Caldwell,  James  Cald- 
well, John  Caldwell,  Samuel  Caldwell,  William  Caldwell,  George  Campbell,  James 
Campbell,  Samuel  Carson,  Daniel  Clark,  Dr.  John  Cochran,  James  Collins,  John  Connor, 
William  Constable,  D.  H.  Conyngham,  James  Crawford,  George  Davis,  Sharp  Delany,  John 
Donnaldson,  John  Dunlap,  William  Erskine,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  Tench  Francis,  Turbutt 
Francis,  Benjamin  Fuller,  George  Fullerton,  Archibald  Gamble,  Robert  Glen,  Robert 
Gray,  John  Greene,  General  Edward  Hand,  William  Hamilton,  James  Hawthorn,  Charles 
Heatly,  George  Henry,  Alexander  Holmes,  Hugh  Holmes,  George  Hughes,  Genl.  William 
Irvine,  Francis  Johnston,  Genl.  Henry  Knox,  George  Latimer,  Thomas  Lea,  John  Leamy, 
James  Logan,  Ulysses  Lynch,  Blair  M'Clenachan,  George  Meade,  James  Mease,  John 
Mease,  Matthew  Mease,  John  Mitchell,  John  Mitchell,  Jr.,  Randle  Mitchell,  William  Mit- 
chell, Hugh  Moore,  Major  James  Moore,  Patrick  Moore,  Col.  Thomas  Moore,  James 
Moylan,  Jasper  Moylan,  John  Moylan,  Genl.  Stephen  Moylan,  John  Murray,  John  M. 
Nesbitt,  Alexander  Nesbitt,  Francis  Nichols,  John  Nixon,  Michael  Morgan  O'Brien,  John 
Patton,  Capt.  John  Patterson,  Oliver  Pollock,  Robert  Rainy,  Thomas  Read,  Genl.  Thomas 
Robinson,  John  Shee,  Hugh  Shiell,  Charles  Stewart,  Walter  Stewart,  William  Thompson, 
George  Washington  (an  adopted  member),  Genl.  Anthony  Wayne,  Francis  West,  Jr.,  John 
West,  William  West,  William  West,  Jr.,  John  White,  Joseph  Wilson.  The  Moylans,  Barry, 
Fitzsimmons,  Leamy,  and  Meade,  all  brave  and  active  patriots,  are  said  to  have  been 
Catholic  Irish,  and  probably  also  were  Bourke,  Connor,  Lynch,  O'Brien,  and  Shee.  The 
others,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were  Scotch-Irish.  When  Robert  Morris  organized  the 
Bank  of  Pennsylvania  in  1780  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  funds  to  keep  the  army  in  food, 
more  than  one  third  of  its  ,£300,000  capital  was  subscribed  for  and  paid  in  by  twenty-seven 
members  of  this  Society.     The  society  is  still  in  existence. 

5  Two  notable  exceptions  were  those  of  the  settlement  of  Luzerne  County  (Wyo- 
ming), Penna.,  by  117  colonists  from  Connecticut  in  1762-63  and  by  196  in  1769;  and 
the  settlement  at  Marietta,  Ohio,  of  the  Massachusetts  colonists  in  1788.  Small  col- 
onies were  also  planted  in  Maryland,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  by  settlers  from  New 
England. 

6  More  than  sixty  years  ago  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  found  occasion  to  rebuke  an  indiscreet 
exhibition  of  this  same  spirit  in  connection  with  the  early  church  history  of  the  country.  His 
remarks,  at  that  time  so  pertinent  to  the  point  in  question,  have  ever  since  been  so  generally 
applicable  to  the  majority  of  New  England  attempts  at  American  history  that  they  cannot 
be  said  to  have  lost  any  of  their  force  since  1839.  He  says  {Constitutional  History  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  vol.  i.,  pp.  60,  61) : 

••  Nothing  but  a  sectional  vanity  little  less  than  insane,  could  lead  to  the  assertion  that 
Congregationalism  was  the  basis  of  Presbyterianism  in  this  country,  and  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  never  would  have  had  an  existence,  except  in  name,  had  not  the  Congregationalists 
come  among  us  from  New  England.  The  number  of  Puritans  who  settled  in  New  England 
was  about  twenty-one  thousand.  If  it  be  admitted  that  three-fourths  of  these  were  Congre- 
gationalists, (which  is  a  large  admission,)  it  gives  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  thousand. 
The  Presbyterian  emigrants  who  came  to  this  country  by  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
were  between  one  and  two  hundred  thousand.     Those  from  Ireland  alone,  imperfect  as 


The  Revolution  29 

are  the  records  of  emigration,  could  not  have  been  less  than  fifty  thousand,  and  probably 
were  far  more  numerous.     .     .     . 

"It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  emigration  of  New  England  men  westward  did 
not  take  place,  to  any  great  extent,  until  after  the  Revolutionary  War ;  that  is,  until  nearly 
three-fourths  of  a  century  after  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  founded  and  widely  extended. 
At  that  time  western  New  York,  Ohio,  and  the  still  more  remote  west  was  a  wilderness. 
Leaving  that  region  out  of  view,  what  would  be  even  now  the  influence  of  New  England 
men  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  ?  Yet  it  is  very  common  to  hear  those  who  formed  a  mere 
handful  of  the  original  materials  of  the  Church,  speaking  of  all  others  as  foreigners  and 
intruders.  Such  representations  would  be  offensive  from  their  injustice,  were  it  not  for  their 
absurdity.  Suppose  the  few  (and  they  were  comparatively  very  few)  Congregationalists 
of  East  Jersey  had  refused  to  associate  with  their  Dutch  and  Scotch  Presbyterian  neighbours, 
what  great  difference  would  it  have  made  ?  Must  the  thousands  of  Presbyterians  already  in 
the  country,  and  the  still  more  numerous  thousands  annually  arriving,  have  ceased  to  exist  ? 
Are  those  few  Congregationalists  the  fathers  of  us  all  ?  The  truth  is,  it  was  not  until  a 
much  later  period  that  the  great  influx  of  Congregationalists  into  our  Church  took  place, 
though  they  are  now  disposed  to  regard  the  descendants  of  its  founders  as  holding  their 
places  in  the  Church  of  their  fathers  only  by  sufferance." 

7  The  falsity  of  these  tables  was  first  clearly  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Justin  Winsor,  in  an 
address  delivered  before  the  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts,  in  January,  1886.  See 
Proceedings  of  that  Society,  Second  Series,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  204-207. 

8  The  backwoodsmen  were  engaged  in  a  threefold  contest.  In  the  first  place,  they  were 
occasionally,  but  not  often,  opposed  to  the  hired  British  and  German  soldiers  of  a  foreign 
king.  Next,  they  were  engaged  in  a  fierce  civil  war  with  the  Tories  of  their  own  number. 
Finally,  they  were  pitted  against  the  Indians,  in  the  ceaseless  border  struggle  of  a  rude, 
vigorous  civilization  to  overcome  an  inevitably  hostile  savagery.  The  regular  British  armies, 
marching  to  and  fro  in  the  course  of  their  long  campaigns  on  the  seaboard,  rarely  went  far 
enough  back  to  threaten  the  frontiersmen  ;  the  latter  had  to  do  chiefly  with  Tories  led  by 
British  chiefs,  and  with  Indians  instigated  by  British  agents. — Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the 

West,  vol.  i.,  p.  276. 

Dr.  Thomas  Smythe  gives  a  careful  statement  of  the  activity  of  Presbyterian  elders  in 
the  War  of  Independence  in  the  province  of  South  Carolina  :  "The  battles  of  the  'Cow- 
pens,'  of  '  King's  Mountain,'  and  also  the  severe  skirmish  known  as  '  Huck's  Defeat,' 
are  among  the  most  celebrated  in  this  State  as  giving  a  turning-point  to  the  contests  of  the 
Revolution.  General  Morgan,  who  commanded  at  the  Cowpens,  was  a  Presbyterian 
elder.  .  .  .  General  Pickens  .  .  .  was  also  a  Presbyterian  elder,  and  nearly 
all  under  their  command  were  Presbyterians.  In  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  Colonel 
Campbell,  Colonel  James  Williams  (who  fell  in  action),  Colonel  Cleaveland,  Colonel  Shelby, 
and  Colonel  Sevier  were  all  Presbyterian  elders  ;  and  the  body  of  their  troops  were  col- 
lected from  Presbyterian  settlements.  At  Huck's  Defeat,  in  York,  Colonel  Bratton  and  Major 
Dickson  were  both  elders  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Major  Samuel  Morrow,  who  was  with 
Colonel  Sumter  in  four  engagements,  and  at  King's  Mountain,  Blackstock,  and  other  battles, 
and  whose  home  was  in  the  army  till  the  termination  of  hostilities,  was  for  about  fifty  years 
a  ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  in  this  connection 
that  Marion,  Huger,  and  other  distinguished  men  of  Revolutionary  memory  were  of 
Huguenot  .  .  .  descent." — Thomas  Smythe,  Presbyterianism,  the  Revolution,  the  Declara- 
tion, and  the  Constitution,  pp.  32  sea. 

9  Examination  of  Richard  Penn  before  Parliament,  November  1,  1775  : 
"  Q.  What  force  has  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  received?     A.  When  I  left  Pennsyl- 
vania they  had  20,000  men  in  arms,  imbodied  but  not  in  pay  ;  and  4500  men  since  raised. 
Q.  What  were  these  20,000  ;    militia,  or  what?     A.   They  were  volunteers  throughout  the 
Province.    Q.  What  were  the  4500  ?    A.  They  were  Minute-men,  when  upon  service  in  pay." 


30  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

10  Greene's  army  at  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court-House  (N.  C.),  March  15,  1781,  con- 
sisted of  4243  foot  and  201  cavalry.  It  was  composed  of  Huger's  brigade  of  Virginia  Con- 
tinentals, 778  ;  Williams's  Maryland  brigade  and  a  company  from  Delaware,  630  ;  infantry 
of  Lee's  partisan  legion,  82 ;  total  of  Continentals,  1490.  There  were  also  1060  North 
Carolina  militia,  under  Brigadier-Generals  Butler  and  Eaton  ;  1693  militia  from  Augusta 
and  Rockbridge  counties,  Virginia,  under  Generals  Stevens  and  Lawson  ;  in  all,  2753. 
Washington's  light  dragoons,  86 ;  Lee's  dragoons,  75  ;  Marquis  de  Bretagne's  horse,  40 ; 
total,  201. 

11  Mr.  Reuben  G.  Thwaites,  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wisconsin,  writes  to  the 
author  of  this  paper  as  follows:  "According  to  all  family  traditions,  John  Clark,  great- 
grandfather of  George  Rogers  Clark,  came  to  Virginia,  in  1630,  from  the  southwest  part  of 
Scotland.  According  to  one  tradition,  a  few  years  later,  he  visited  friends  in  Maryland, 
and  married  there  '  a  red-haired  Scotch  woman.'  George  Rogers  Clark  himself  had  '  sandy  ' 
hair  ;  another  tradition  has  it  that  the  woman  was  a  Dane.  Their  one  son,  William-John, 
died  early,  leaving  two  sons,  John  (2)  and  Jonathan.  Jonathan  was  a  bachelor,  and  left  his 
estate  to  his  brother's  son,  John  (3).  One  of  William-John's  daughters  married  a  Scotch 
settler,  McCloud,  and  their  daughter  married  John  Rogers,  the  father  of  the  Ann  Rogers 
who  married  John  Clark  (4),  her  cousin,  and  thus  she  became  the  mother  of  George  Rogers 
Clark.  So  George  Rogers  Clark  had  Scotch  ancestry  on  both  sides  of  the  house." — Samuel 
Swett  Green,  The  Scotch-Irish  in  America. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  AND  THE  CONSTITUTION 

LET  us  now  examine  the  composition  of  the  Continental  Congress  of 
1776,  the  fifty-six  members  of  which  were  the  signers  of  the  Declara- 
tion. So  far  as  can  at  this  time  be  ascertained,  that  body  consisted  of 
thirty-four  of  English  descent,  as  follows  :  John  Adams  (Mass.),  Samuel 
Adams  (Mass.),  Josiah  Bartlett  (N.  H.),  Carter  Braxton  (Va.),  Samuel 
Chase  (Md.),  George  Clymer  (Pa.),  William  Ellery  (R.  I.),  Benjamin 
Franklin  (Pa.),  Elbridge  Gerry  (Mass.),  Lyman  Hall  (Ga.),  John  Hancock 
(Mass.),  Benjamin  Harrison  (Va.),  Thomas  Heyward,  Jr.  (S.  C),  Joseph 
Hewes  (N.  C),  Stephen  Hopkins  (R.  I.),  Francis  Hopkinson  (N.  J.), 
Samuel  Huntington  (Conn.),  F.  L.  Lee  (Va.),  R.  H.  Lee  (Va.),  Arthur 
Middleton  (S.  C),  Robert  Morris  (Pa.),  Lewis  Morris  (N.  Y.),  William 
Paca  (Md.),  Robert  Treat  Paine  (Mass.),  John  Penn  (N.  C),  Caesar  Rod- 
ney (Del.),  Benjamin  Rush  (Pa.),  Roger  Sherman  (Conn.),  Richard  Stock- 
ton (?)  (N.  J.),  Thomas  Stone  (Md.),  George  Walton  (Ga.),  William  Whipple 
(N.  H.),  Oliver  Wolcott  (Conn.),  George  Wythe  (Va.)  ;  eleven  of  Scottish: 
William  Hooper  (N.  C),  Philip  Livingston  (N.  Y.),  Thomas  McKean  (Pa.), 
Thomas  Nelson,  Jr.  (Va.),  George  Ross  (Del.),  Edward  Rutledge  (S.  C), 
James  Smith  (Pa.),  George  Taylor  (Pa.),  Matthew  Thornton  (N.  H.),  James 
Wilson  (Pa.),  John  Witherspoon  (N.  J.)  ;  five  of  Welsh  :  William  Floyd 
(N.  Y.),  Button  Gwinnett  (?)  (Ga.),  Thomas  Jefferson  (Va.),  Francis  Lewis 
(N.  Y.),  William  Williams  (Conn.)  ;  one  of  Swedish  :  John  Morton  (Pa.); 
two  of  Irish:  Charles  Carroll  (Md.),  Thomas  Lynch,  Jr.  (S.  C).  The  father 
of  George  Read  (Del.)  was  born  in  Ireland  and  his  mother  in  Wales  ; 
Abraham  Clark,  of  Elizabethtown,  and  John  Hart,  of  Hunterdon  County, 
both  from  strong  Scottish  settlements  in  New  Jersey,  are  difficult  to  place. 

On  the  whole,  the  Continental  Congress  of  1776  was  a  fairly  representa- 
tive body,  being  two  thirds  English  and  one  third  non-English  ;  although  it 
may  be  observed  that  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  the  Germans  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  the  Huguenots  of  the  South  are  not  represented  by  members  of 
their  own  races.  The  first  two  classes,  however,  were  generally,  and  to  a  con- 
siderable degree  erroneously,  regarded  as  unfavorable  to  the  American  cause. 

A  similar  examination  of  the  membership  of  the  Constitutional  conven- 
tion, which  completed  its  labors  at  Philadelphia,  September  17,  1787,  shows 
a  like  mixed  composition  to  that  of  the  Continental  Congress. 

Of  the  fifty-four  members  representing  the  colonies  in  that  body,  we 
find  that,  besides  Washington,  probably  twenty-nine  of  them  were  English, 
as  follows  :  Abraham  Baldwin  (Ga.),  Richard  Bassett  (Del.),  Gunning 
Bedford,  Jr.  (Del.),  William  Blount  (N.  C),  David  Brearly  (N.  J.),  George 

31 


32  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Clymer  (Pa.),  William  R.  Davie  (N.  C),  Jonathan  Dayton  (N.  J.),  John 
Dickinson  (Del.),  Oliver  Ellsworth  (Conn.),  William  Few  (Ga.),  Benjamin 
Franklin  (Pa.),  Elbridge  Gerry  (Mass.),  Nicholas  Gilman  (N.  H.),  Nathaniel 
Gorham  (Mass.),  Jared  Ingersoll  (Pa.),  William  Johnson  (Conn.),  Rufus 
King  (Mass.),  John  Langdon  (N.  H.),  George  Mason  (Va.),  Thomas 
Mifflin  (Pa.),  Gouverneur  Morris  (Pa.),  Robert  Morris  (Pa.),  William  Pierce 
(Ga.),  Charles  Pinckney  (S.  C),  Charles  C.  Pinckney  (S.  C),  Roger  Sher- 
man (Conn.),  Caleb  Strong  (Mass.),  George  Wythe  (Va.)  ;  twelve  were 
Scottish  :  John  Blair  (Va.),  Alexander  Hamilton  (N.  Y.),  W.  Churchill 
Houston  (N.  J.),  William  Livingston  (N.  J.),  James  McClurg  (Va.),  James 
McHenry  (Md.),  John  Mercer  (Md.),  William  Paterson  (N.  J.),  John  Rut- 
ledge  (S.  C),  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight  (?)(  N.  C),  James  Wilson  (Pa.),  Hugh 
Williamson  (N.  C.)  ;  three  were  Irish  :  Pierce  Butler  (S.  C),  Daniel  Car- 
roll (Md.),  Thomas  Fitzsimmons  (Pa.)  ;  two  French  :  Daniel  Jenifer  (?) 
(Md.),  Henry  Laurens  (S.  C.)  ;  one  German  :  Jacob  Broom  (?)  (Del.)  ; 
George  Read  (Del.)  was  Welsh-English  ;  James  Madison's  ancestry  was 
mixed  —  English,  Welsh,  and  Scottish,  and  that  of  Edmund  Randolph 
(Va.)  English  and  Scottish  ;  John  Lansing  (N.  Y.)  and  Robert  Yates 
(N.  Y.)  were  Dutch,  and  the  descent  of  Luther  Martin  (Md.)  is  uncertain. 

When  the  independent  State  governments  were  formed  after  the  adoption 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  their  governors  chosen,  then,  in 
the  words  of  the  ablest  and  most  recent  historian  of  the  Puritans,1  "  the 
Scotch-Irish  gave  to  New  York  her  first  governor,  George  Clinton.  .  .  .  To 
Delaware  they  gave  her  first  governor,  John  MacKinley.  To  Pennsylvania 
they  gave  her  war  governor,  Thomas  McKean,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  To  New  Jersey  Scotland  gave  her  war 
governor,  William  Livingston,  and  to  Virginia,  Patrick  Henry,  not  only  her 
great  war  governor  but  the  civil  leader  who,  supported  by  his  Scotch-Irish 
brethren  from  the  western  counties,  first  carried  and  then  held  Virginia  for 
the  cause  of  Independence.  To  North  Carolina  the  Scotch-Irish  gave  her 
first  governor,  Richard  Caswell,  and  to  South  Carolina  they  gave  another 
signer  of  the  Declaration,  Edward  Rutledge,  and  another  great  war  gov- 
ernor in  the  person  of  John  Rutledge.  .  .  .  What  those  men  did  for  the 
cause  of  American  Independence  is  known  to  every  student,  but  their  un- 
English  origin  is  not  so  generally  recognized.  In  the  colonial  wars  their 
section  furnished  most  of  the  soldiers  of  Virginia. 

"  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  in  American  history,  that  of  the  four  members 
of  Washington's  Cabinet,  Knox,  of  Massachusetts,  the  only  New  Englander 
was  a  Scotch-Irishman  ;  Alexander  Hamilton,  of  New  York,  was  a  Scotch- 
Frenchman  ;  Thomas  Jefferson  was  of  Welsh  descent,  and  the  fourth,  Ed- 
mund Randolph,  claimed  among  his  ancestors  the  Scotch  Earls  of  Murray. 
New  York  also  furnished  the  first  chief  justice  of  the  United  States,  John 
Jay,  who  was  a  descendant  of  French  Huguenots  ;  while  the  second  chief 
justice,  John  Rutledge,"  was  Scotch-Irish,  as  were  also  Wilson  and  Iredell, 


OF 

j£alifob^ 

The  Constitution  33 

two  of  the  four  original  associate  justices  ;  a  third,  Blair,  being  of  Scotch 
origin.  John  Marshall,3  the  great  chief  justice,  was,  like  Jefferson,  of  Scotch 
and  Welsh  descent." 

Jonathan  Trumbull,  Connecticut's  war  governor  (the  original  "  Brother 
Jonathan"),  was  descended  from  a  member  of  the  ancient  Scottish  border 
clan  of  Turnbull.4  Archibald  Bulloch,  the  Scottish  ancestor  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  was  likewise  the  Revolutionary  Governor  of  Georgia  in  1776-77. 

To  pursue  the  subject  further,  it  appears  that  of  the  twenty-five  Presi- 
dents of  the  United  States  down  to  the  present  time,  less  than  half  the 
number  were  of  purely  English  extraction. 

Of  predominating  English  blood  may  be  counted  Washington,  the  two 
Adamses,  Madison,  William  Henry  Harrison,  Tyler,  Pierce,  Fillmore,  Lincoln, 
and,  perhaps,  Taylor.  Cleveland's  father  was  of  English  descent,  but  the 
name  of  his  mother's  father  (Abner  Neal),  who  was  born  in  Ireland,  indicates 
a  Celtic  origin,  possibly  Scottish.  Benjamin  Harrison  and  Theodore 
Roosevelt  both  had  Scotch-Irish  mothers.  Of  the  remaining  twelve 
Presidents,  Monroe,  Hayes,  Jackson,  Polk,  Buchanan,  Johnson,  Grant, 
Arthur,  and  McKinley  (nine)  have  been  of  Scottish  descent  —  the  last  seven 
largely  Ulster  Scotch.  Jefferson  was  of  Welsh  ancestry  ;  Van  Buren,  Dutch  ; 
and  Garfield  a  mixture  of  Welsh  and  Huguenot  French.  This  list  is  in- 
structive, in  showing  that  one-half  our  Presidents  have  been  to  a  large  ex- 
tent of  Celtic  extraction.  (For  notes  on  the  Genealogies  of  the  Presidents, 
see  Appendix  N.) 

Of  the  great  statesmen  connected  with  the  period  immediately  following 
the  Revolution,  perhaps  the  four  most  eminent  names  are  those  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  James  Madison,*  John  Adams,  and  Alexander  Hamilton  :  the  first 
of  Welsh  origin,  the  second  and  third  English,  and  the  fourth  Scotch. 
Next  to  these  four  may  be  mentioned  the  names  of  James  Wilson,  the 
Scotsman,  whom  Bancroft  pronounces  to  have  been  the  most  learned  civilian 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  than  whom  none  were  more  influential, 
sagacious,  or  far-seeing  ;  John  Jay,  the  French  Huguenot  ;  John  Dickinson, 
the  English  Quaker  ;  Roger  Sherman,  the  English  Connecticut  compromiser  ; 
and  John  Rutledge,  the  Ulster  Scot.  Of  the  members  of  the  Convention 
of  1787,  nine  were  graduates  of  Princeton,  some  of  them  pupils  of  the 
venerable  Witherspoon,  four  were  from  Yale  (including  Livingston),  three 
from  Harvard,  two  from  Columbia  (including  Hamilton),  two  from  Glas- 
gow, one  from  Oxford,  one  from  Pennsylvania  (Williamson),  and  five,  six, 
or  seven  from  William  and  Mary  (including  Blair  and  Jefferson  —  the  latter 
of  whom  had  there  as  his  chief  instructor  Dr.  William  Small,  the  Scottish 
teacher  from  whom  he  imbibed  so  many  of  his  own  liberal  views).6  Of 
the  college-bred  men  in  the  convention,  therefore,  it  would  seem  that 
more  than  half  were  either  of  Scottish  descent  or  educational  training  ; 
and  this  fact  could  not  have  been  without  some  influence  in  the  result  of 
its  deliberations.7 


34  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

So  far  as  their  theories  of  government  went,  it  would  appear  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  convention  were  influenced  more  by  the  French  writers  than  by 
the  English  exemplars.  Montesquieu  was  the  oracle  of  Washington  ;  and 
Madison  and  Jefferson  freely  acknowledged  their  debt  to  Scottish  and  Con- 
tinental influences.  Hamilton's  allusion  to  the  English  system  as  a  model, 
and  his  first  plan  of  an  elective  monarchy,  were  both  alike  repugnant  to 
the  views  of  his  colleagues.  In  the  words  of  Yates,  "  he  was  praised  by 
everybody,  but  supported  by  none." 

The  most  judicial  mind  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  was  undoubt- 
edly that  of  the  Scottish  James  Wilson,  from  Pennsylvania,  the  leader  in  the 
debates.  Madison  has  been  called  the  Father  of  the  Constitution  ;  Wilson 
breathed  into  it  the  breath  of  life.  "  Of  the  fifty-five  delegates,"  says  Mc- 
Master,  "  Wilson  was  undoubtedly  the  best  prepared,  by  deep  and  systematic 
study  of  the  history  and  science  of  government,  for  the  work  that  lay  before 
him."  His  learning  Wilson  had  in  times  past  turned  to  excellent  use,  and 
in  the  Convention  he  became  one  of  the  most  active  members.  None,  with 
the  exception  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  was  so  often  on  his  feet  during  the  de- 
bates, and  none  spoke  more  to  the  purpose.  He  supported  direct  popular 
suffrage  and  a  single  executive.  He  probably  exercised  more  influence 
than  any  other  single  member  in  determining  the  character  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  to  him  is  due  the  honor  of  securing  later  the  ratification  of  that 
instrument  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  He  clearly  foresaw  and  warned 
his  colleagues  against  the  evils  which  would  and  did  result  from  the  per- 
nicious New  England  principle  of  State  sovereignty — a  principle  that,  not- 
withstanding his  earnest  protests,  was  given  undue  acknowledgment  and 
strength  by  the  Connecticut  compromise.  This  measure  decided  the  ques- 
tion of  representation  in  and  election  to  the  Senate. 

Representing  the  most  democratic  State  in  the  confederation,  Wilson, 
more  than  any  other  one  man  in  that  assemblage,  strove  for  the  adoption  of 
a  purely  democratic  form  of  government,  one  that  would  be  entirely  of  the 
people,  wholly  for  the  people,  and  truly  by  the  people.  Opposed  to  him 
at  times  were  Roger  Sherman,  the  New  England  leader,  John  Dickinson, 
the  Pennsylvania  Quaker  who  spoke  for  Delaware,  Luther  Martin,  the  leader 
of  the  Maryland  delegation,  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  sole  acting  member 
from  New  York,  John  Rutledge,  the  foremost  citizen  of  South  Carolina, 
William  Paterson,  who  voiced  the  sentiments  of  New  Jersey,  and  even 
Edmund  Randolph,  the  eloquent  advocate  of  the  Virginia  Plan. 

Wilson  successfully  refuted  the  arguments  of  his  adversaries,  and  had  his 
judgment  been  followed  in  every  question  as  it  was  in  most  of  them,  the 
least  satisfactory  features  of  our  Constitution  would  have  been  kept  out,  and 
the  Republic  might  have  been  spared  the  loss  of  countless  lives  and  treas- 
ure. From  first  to  last,  he  was  the  chief  opposer  of  the  plan  of  equal 
representation  of  the  States  in  the  Senate,  and  did  everything  in  his  power 
to  procure  the  election  of  senators  by  a  direct  vote  of  the  people.8 


The  Constitution  35 

From  time  to  time  claims  have  been  made  by  overzealous  members  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  that  the  Federal  Constitution  was  modelled  upon 
their  form  of  Church  government  —  a  system  which  requires  each  congre- 
gation to  be  represented  in  the  general  assemblies  of  that  Church  by  delegates 
chosen  by  its  own  congregational  members.'  Evidently  these  claims  are  as 
far  out  of  the  way  in  one  direction  as  are  in  another  the  similar  claims  to 
the  effect  that  our  Constitution  was  copied  from  that  of  England.10  The 
Presbyterian  Church  was  probably  no  more  a  factor  in  forming  the  consti- 
tutional government  of  the  United  States  than  was  the  church  of  the 
Congregationalist,  the  Lutheran,  the  Baptist,  or  the  Quaker.  The  most 
that  can  be  said  to  this  end  is  that  many  men  who  had  been  brought  up 
under  Scottish  ideals  of  freedom  and  duty  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
Convention  of  1787,  and  that  the  result  of  their  deliberations  bears  a  resem- 
blance to  the  system  of  government  laid  down  by  the  canons  of  the  Scottish 
Church.  This  resemblance  may  result  from  the  fact  that  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  church  government  is  a  mean  between  the  Congregational,  or  Puri- 
tan, plan — which  involves  the  entire  independence  and  sovereignty  of  each 
community,11  and  the  Episcopalian,  or  Cavalier,  plan — which  would  aim  at 
the  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands  of  one  man. 

In  Pennsylvania,  the  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  came 
chiefly  from  some  of  the  Presbyterians  ;  and  in  Virginia1,  also,  a  large  num- 
ber of  them  stood  behind  Patrick  Henry  in  his  opposition  to  that  instrument. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  probable  that  if  a  vote  could  have  been  taken  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  it  would  have  shown  many  more  of  its  adherents  favor- 
able to  the  Constitution  than  opposed  to  it.  In  the  Pennsylvania  convention 
held  for  its  ratification,  an  examination  of  the  list  of  delegates  shows  that 
considerably  more  than  one  half  the  number  present  and  voting  were  of 
Presbyterian  proclivities  ;  yet  when  the  final  vote  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  was  taken,  but  twenty-three  votes  were  cast  against  it,  and  forty- 
six  in  its  favor.  The  Anti-Federalists  in  the  Pennsylvania  convention  had 
for  their  leaders  in  the  debate  the  three  Scotch  Presbyterians,  Whitehill, 
Findley,  and  Smilie,  who  came  from  the  counties  of  Cumberland,  Westmore- 
land, and  Fayette ;  while  the  Federalists  also  looked  for  leadership  to  the 
two  Scotch  Presbyterians,  Wilson  and  McKean.  The  final  vote  was  as 
follows  : 

Yeas. — George  Latimer,  Benjamin  Rush,  Hilary  Baker,  James  Wilson, 
Thomas  McKean,  William  MacPherson,  John  Hunn,  George  Gray,  Samuel 
Ashmead,  Enoch  Edwards,  Henry  Wynkoop,  John  Barclay,  Thomas  Yardley, 
Abraham  Stout,  Thomas  Bull,  Anthony  Wayne,  William  Gibbons,  Richard 
Downing,  Thomas  Cheyney,  John  Hannum,  Stephen  Chambers,  Robert 
Coleman,  Sebastian  Graff,  John  Hubley,  Jasper  Yeates,  Henry  Slagle,  Thomas 
Campbell,  Thomas  Hartley,  David  Grier,  John  Black,  Benjamin  Pedan, 
John  Arndt,  Stephen  Balliet,  Joseph  Horsfield,  David  Deshler,  William  Wil- 
son,  John   Boyd,   Thomas   Scott,   John   Neville,    John   Allison,   Jonathan 


36  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Roberts,  John  Richards,  F.  A.  Muhlenberg,  James  Morris,  Timothy  Picker- 
ing, Benjamin  Elliott. — Total,  46. 

Nays.  —  John  Whitehill,  John  Harris,  John  Reynolds,  Robert  Whitehall, 
Jonathan  Hoge,  Nicholas  Lutz,  John  Ludwig,  Abraham  Lincoln,  John 
Bishop,  Joseph  Hiester,  James  Martain,  Joseph  Powell,  William  Findley, 
John  Bard,  William  Todd,  James  Marshall,  James  Edgar,  Nathaniel  Bread- 
ing, John  Smilie,  Richard  Baird,  William  Brown,  Adam  Orth,  John  Andre 
Hanna.  —  Total,  23. 

A  very  full  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Pennsylvania  convention 
was  printed  in  1888  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  under  the 
title,  Pennsylvania  and  the  Federal  Constitution,  edited  by  John  Bach  Mc Mas- 
ter and  Frederick  D.  Stone.  The  following  statement  from  that  work  (pp. 
21,  22)  may  enable  us  to  comprehend  some  of  the  motives  which  influenced 
the  twenty-three  members  who  comprised  the  opposition  : 

An  examination  of  this  list  reveals  the  fact  that  the  little  band  of  mal- 
contents was  made  up  of  all  the  delegates  from  the  counties  of  Cumber- 
land, Berks,  Westmoreland,  Bedford,  Dauphin,  Fayette,  half  of  those  from 
Washington,  half  from  Franklin,  and  John  Whitehill,  of  Lancaster.  The 
reason  is  plain.  The  constitution  proposed  for  the  United  States  was  in 
many  ways  the  direct  opposite  of  the  constitution  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania  consisted  of  a  single  house.  The  legislature 
of  the  United  States  was  to  consist  of  two  houses.  The  President  of  Penn- 
sylvania was  chosen  by  the  Assembly.  The  President  of  the  United  States 
was  chosen  by  special  electors.  The  constitution  of  Pennsylvania  had  a 
bill  of  rights,  provided  for  a  body  of  censors  to  meet  once  each  seven  years 
to  approve  or  disapprove  the  acts  of  the  legislature  ;  for  a  council  to  advise 
the  President ;  for  annual  elections  ;  for  rotation  in  office,  all  of  which  were 
quite  unknown  to  the  proposed  constitution  for  the  United  States.  But  the 
Pennsylvania  constitution  of  1776  was  the  work  of  the  Patriot  party  ;  of  this 
party  a  very  considerable  number  were  Presbyterians  ;  and  the  great  Pres- 
byterian counties  were  Cumberland,  Westmoreland,  Bedford,  Dauphin,  and 
Fayette.  In  opposing  the  new  plan  these  men  simply  opposed  a  system  of 
government  which,  if  adopted,  would  force  them  to  undo  a  piece  of  work 
done  with  great  labor,  and  beheld  with  great  pride  and  satisfaction.  Every 
man,  therefore,  who  gave  his  vote  for  the  ratification  of  the  national  consti- 
tution, pronounced  his  State  constitution  to  be  bad  in  form,  and  this  its 
supporters  were  not  prepared  to  do.  By  these  men,  the  refusal  of  the  con 
vention  to  accept  the  amendments  they  offered  was  not  regarded  as  ending 
the  matter.  They  went  back  to  the  counties  that  sent  them  more  determined 
than  ever,  but  failed  to  gain  to  their  side  the  great  body  of  Presbyterians. 

A  perusal  of  the  journal  of  the  Federal  Convention  and  of  the  various  pri- 
vate accounts  of  the  debates  ia  will  sufficiently  indicate  how  far  New  Eng- 
land in  1787  was  behind  the  middle  colonies  and  Virginia  in  its  conception 
of  what  constitutes  a  democracy. 

John  Adams  contended  that  the  English  Constitution  was  the  "  most 
stupendous  fabric  of  human  invention"  {Works,  vol.  iv.,  p.  358),  a  decla- 
ration which  seems  to  have  been  the  source  of  amusement  to  many  of  his 


The  Constitution  37 

contemporaries.13     Thomas  Jefferson  explained  Mr.  Adams's  attitude  on  the 
subject  in  this  way  : 

Adams  had  originally  been  a  republican.  The  glamour  of  royalty  and 
nobility  during  his  mission  to  England  had  made  him  believe  their  fascina- 
tion a  necessary  ingredient  in  government.  .  .  .  His  book  on  the  Ameri- 
can Constitution  having  made  known  his  political  bias,  he  was  taken  up  by 
the  monarchical  Federalists  in  his  absence,  and  on  his  return  to  the  United 
States  he  was  made  by  them  to  believe  that  the  general  disposition  of  our 
citizens  was  favorable  to  monarchy.14 

Even  so  usually  careful  a  reader  as  John  Fiske  fails  to  recognize  fully 
the  various  influences  which  were  at  work  in  the  framing  of  the  Constitution. 
In  seeking  to  present  what  may  appear  to  some  to  be  rather  too  flattering  a 
portrayal  of  the  attitude  and  share  of  the  New  England  delegates  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  convention,  he  follows  John  Adams  in  ascribing  every- 
thing to  the  supposed  influence  of  the  British  Constitution.     Fiske  says  : 

The  most  curious  and  instructive  point  concerning  the  peculiar  execu- 
tive devised  for  the  United  States  by  the  Federal  Convention  is  the  fact  that 
the  delegates  proceeded  upon  a  thoroughly  false  theory  of  what  they  were 
doing.  .  .  .  They  were  trying  to  copy  the  British  Constitution,  modifying 
it  to  suit  their  republican  ideas  ;  but  curiously  enough,  what  they  copied  in 
creating  the  office  of  President  was  not  the  real  English  executive  or  prime 
minister,  but  the  fictitious  English  executive,  the  sovereign.  And  this  was 
associated  in  their  minds  with  another  profound  misconception,  which  in- 
fluenced all  this  part  of  their  work.  They  thought  that  to  keep  the  legisla- 
tive and  executive  offices  distinct  and  separate  was  the  very  palladium  of 
liberty  ;  and  they  all  took  it  for  granted,  without  a  moment's  question,  that 
the  British  Constitution  did  this  thing.  England,  they  thought,  is  governed 
by  a  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  and  the  supreme  power  is  nicely  divided 
between  the  three,  so  that  neither  one  can  get  the  whole  of  it,  and  that  is 
the  safeguard  of  English  liberty.  So  they  arranged  President,  Senate,  and 
Representatives  to  correspond,  and  sedulously  sought  to  divide  supreme 
power  between  the  three,  so  that  they  might  operate  as  checks  upon  each 
other.  If  either  one  should  ever  succeed  in  acquiring  the  whole  sovereignty, 
then  they  thought  there  would  be  an  end  of  American  liberty. 

.  .  .  But  in  all  this  careful  separation  of  the  executive  power  from  the 
legislative  they  went  wide  of  the  mark,  because  they  were  following  a 
theory  which  did  not  truly  describe  things  as  they  really  existed.  And  that 
was  because  the  English  Constitution  was,  and  still  is,  covered  up  with  a 
thick  husk  of  legal  fictions  which  long  ago  ceased  to  have  any  vitality.  .  .  . 
In  our  time  it  has  come  to  be  perfectly  obvious  that  so  far  from  the  English 
Constitution  separating  the  executive  power  from  the  legislative,  this  is  pre- 
cisely what  it  does  not  do.  In  Great  Britain  the  supreme  power  is  all  lodged 
in  a  single  body  :  the  House  of  Commons.16 

Let  us  examine  these  statements  in  the  light  of  Madison's  and  Hamil- 
ton's elucidation  of  the  same  subject  and  see  if  those  two  delegates — them- 
selves originally  strong  admirers  of  the  English  Constitution— were  really 
so  entirely  ignorant  of  its  distinctions.     On  this  subject  Madison  says : 


38  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

One  of  the  principal  objections  inculcated  by  the  more  respectable  ad- 
versaries of  the  Constitution,  is  its  supposed  violation  of  the  political  maxim 
that  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary  departments  ought  to  be  sepa- 
rate and  distinct.  In  the  structure  of  the  Federal  Government,  no  regard,  it 
is  said,  seems  to  have  been  paid  to  this  essential  precaution  in  favor  of 
liberty.  The  several  departments  of  power  are  distributed  and  blended  in 
such  a  manner  as  at  once  to  destroy  all  symmetry  and  beauty  of  form  ;  and 
to  expose  some  of  the  essential  parts  of  the  edifice  to  the  danger  of  being 
crushed  by  the  disproportionate  weight  of  other  parts.  .  .   . 

The  oracle  who  is  always  consulted  and  cited  on  this  subject  is  the  cele- 
brated Montesquieu.  .  .  .  Let  us  endeavor  in  the  first  place  to  ascertain  his 
meaning  on  this  point. 

The  British  Constitution  was  to  Montesquieu  what  Homer  has  been  to 
the  didactic  writers  on  epic  poetry.  .  .  . 
f        On  the  slightest  view  of  the  British  Constitution,  we  must  perceive  that 
the  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary  departments  are  by  no  means  totally 
separate  and  distinct  from  each  other.  .  .  . 

From  these  facts,  by  which  Montesquieu  was  guided,  it  may  clearly  be 
inferred  that,  in  saying  "  there  can  be  no  liberty  where  the  legislative  and 
executive  powers  are  united  in  the  same  person,  or  body  of  magistrates," 
or  "  if  the  power  of  judging  be  not  separated  from  the  legislative  and  ex- 
ecutive powers,"  he  did  not  mean  that  these  departments  ought  to  have  no 
partial  agency  in,  or  no  control  over,  the  acts  of  each  other.  .  ^.  . 

If  we  look  into  the  constitutions  of  the  several  States,  we  shall  find,  not- 
withstanding the  emphatical,  and,  in  some  instances,  the  unqualified  terms 
in  which  this  axiom  has  been  laid  down,  that  there  is  not  a  single  instance 
in  which  the  several  departments  of  power  have  been  kept  absolutely 
separate  and  distinct.     (James  Madison,  Federalist,  No.  xlvii.) 

It  was  shown  in  the  last  paper,  that  the  political  apothegm  there  ex- 
amined does  not  require  that  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary  de- 
partments should  be  wholly  unconnected  with  each  other.  I  shall  undertake 
in  the  next  place  to  show  that,  unless  these  departments  be  so  far  con- 
nected and  blended  as  to  give  to  each  a  constitutional  control  over  the 
others,  the  degree  of  separation  which  the  maxim  requires,  as  essential 
to  a  free  government,  can  never  in  practice  be  duly  maintained.  (Ibid., 
No.  xlviii). 

Hamilton's  comparison  of  the  executives  under  the  two  constitutions  is 
as  follows  : 

I  proceed  now  to  trace  the  real  characters  of  the  proposed  executive,  as 
they  are  marked  out  in  the  plan  of  the  Convention.  This  will  serve  to  place 
in  a  strong  light  the  unfairness  of  the  representations  which  have  been  made 
in  regard  to  it. 

The  first  thing  which  strikes  our  attention  is,  that  the  executive  author- 
ity, with  few  exceptions,  is  to  be  vested  in  a  single  magistrate.  This  will 
scarcely,  however,  be  considered  as  a  point  upon  which  any  comparison  can 
be  grounded  ;  for  if,  in  this  particular,  there  be  a  resemblance  to  the  king 
of  Great  Britain,  there  is  not  less  a  resemblance  to  the  Grand  Signior,  to  the 
Khan  of  Tartary,  to  the  Man  of  the  Seven  Mountains,  or  to  the  governor 
of  New  York.  .  .  . 

The  President  is  to  be  the  "  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy 
of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when  called 
into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States.     He  is  to  have  power  to  grant 


The  Constitution  39 

reprieves  and  pardons  for  offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases 
of  impeachment  ;  to  recommend  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  such 
measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient ;  to  convene,  on  extraor- 
dinary occasions,  both  houses  of  the  legislature,  or  either  of  them,  and  in 
case  of  disagreement  between  them  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment, 
to  adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think  proper  ;  to  take  care  that  the 
laws  be  faithfully  executed  ;  and  to  commission  all  officers  of  the  United 
States."  In  most  of  these  particulars,  the  power  of  the  President  will 
resemble  equally  that  of  the  king  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  governor  of  New 
York.  The  most  material  points  of  difference  are  these:  —  First:  —  The 
President  will  have  only  the  occasional  command  of  such  part  of  the  militia 
of  the  nation  as  by  legislative  provision  may  be  called  into  the  actual  service 
of  the  Union.  The  king  of  Great  Britain  and  the  governor  of  New  York 
have  at  all  times  the  entire  command  of  all  the  militia  within  their  several 
jurisdictions.  .  .  .  Second  :  —  The  President  is  to  be  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States.  In  this  respect  his  authority 
would  be  nominally  the  same  with  that  of  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  but  in 
substance  much  inferior  to  it.  It  would  amount  to  nothing  more  than  the 
supreme  command  and  direction  of  the  military  and  naval  forces,  as  first 
general  and  admiral  of  the  confederacy  ;  while  that  of  the  British  king  ex- 
tends to  the  declaring  of  war,  and  to  the  raising  and  regulating  of  fleets  and 
armies  ;  all  which  by  the  Constitution  under  consideration  would  appertain 
to  the  legislature.  .  .  .  Third  :  —  The  power  of  the  President  in  respect  to 
pardons  would  extend  to  all  cases  except  those  of  impeachment.  The 
governor  of  New  York  may  pardon  in  all  cases,  even  in  those  of  impeach- 
ment, except  for  treason  and  murder.  .  .  .  Fourth  :  —  The  President  can 
only  adjourn  the  national  legislature  in  the  single  case  of  disagreement 
about  the  time  of  adjournment.  The  British  monarch  may  prorogue  or 
even  dissolve  the  Parliament.  .  .  . 

Hence  it  appears,  that,  except  as  to  the  concurrent  authority  of  the  Presi- 
dent in  the  article  of  treaties,  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine  whether  that 
magistrate  would  in  the  aggregate  possess  more  or  less  power  than  the  gov- 
ernor of  New  York.  And  it  appears  yet  more  unequivocally,  that  there  is  no 
pretence  for  the  parallel  which  has  been  attempted  between  him  and  the 
king  of  Great  Britain.  But  to  render  the  contrast  in  this  respect  still  more 
striking,  it  may  be  of  use  to  throw  the  principal  circumstances  of  dissimili- 
tude into  a  closer  group. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  would  be  an  officer  elected  by  the 
people  for  four  years  :  The  king  of  Great  Britain  is  a  perpetual  and 
hereditary  prince. 

The  one  would  be  amenable  to  personal  punishment  and  disgrace  :  The 
person  of  the  Other  is  sacred  and  inviolable. 

The  one  would  have  a  qualified  negative  upon  the  acts  of  the  legislative 
body  :     The  other  has  an  absolute  negative. 

The  one  would  have  a  right  to  command  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the 
nation  :  The  other,  in  addition  to  this  right,  possesses  that  of  declaring  war, 
and  of  raising  and  regulating  fleets  and  armies  by  his  own  authority. 

The  one  would  have  a  concurrent  power  with  a  branch  of  the  legislature 
in  the  formation  of  treaties  :  The  other  is  the  sole  possessor  of  the  power  of 
making  treaties. 

The  one  would  have  a  like  concurrent  authority  in  appointing  to  offices  : 
The  other  is  the  sole  author  of  all  appointments. 

The   one   can   confer  no  privileges  whatever  :      The  other  can  make 


40  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

denizens  of  aliens,  noblemen  of  commoners  ;  can  erect  corporations,  with 
all  the  rights  incident  to  corporate  bodies. 

The  one  can  prescribe  no  rules  concerning  the  commerce  or  currency  of 
the  nation  :  The  other  is  in  several  respects  the  arbiter  of  commerce,  and  in 
this  capacity  can  establish  markets  and  fairs  ;  can  regulate  weights  and 
measures  ;  can  lay  embargoes  for  a  limited  time  ;  can  coin  money  ;  can  au- 
thorize or  prohibit  the  circulation  of  foreign  coin. 

The  one  has  no  particle  of  spiritual  jurisdiction  :  The  other  is  the  su- 
preme head  and  governor  of  the  national  church. 

What  answer  shall  we  give  to  those  who  would  persuade  us  that  things  so 
unlike  resemble  each  other  ?  The  same  that  ought  to  be  given  to  those  who 
tell  us  that  a  government,  the  whole  power  of  which  would  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  elective  and  periodical  servants  of  the  people,  is  an  aristocracy,  a 
monarchy,  and  a  despotism.     (Alexander  Hamilton,  Federalist,  No.  lxix.) 

It  is  only  necessary  to  compare  these  statements  with  those  of  Mr.  Fiske 
to  see  that  some  of  our  modern  commentators  on  the  Constitution  have  dis- 
covered a  great  many  more  things  in  that  instrument  than  its  authors  were 
aware  they  had  put  there  when  drafting  it. 

Just  what  were  the  contributions  of  England  to  the  American  Constitu- 
tion, is  somewhat  difficult  to  determine.  There  was  certainly  no  manner 
of  resemblance  in  form  between  the  unwritten  Constitution  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  voluminous  written  instrument  subscribed  at  Philadelphia  by  the 
delegates  from  the  American  colonies  in  September,  1787.  It  is  true,  the 
first  ten  amendments,  proposed  by  Congress  in  1789,  may  be  said  to  consti- 
tute a  Bill  of  Rights,  having  been  adopted  with  that  end  in  view.  In  form 
they  do  bear  an  outward  resemblance  to  those  limitations  upon  kings  which, 
until  recently,  were  regarded  in  England  as  the  foundation  and  chief  bulwark 
of  liberty.  But  the  vital  substance  of  the  ten  amendments  to  our  Constitu- 
tion finds  few  counterparts  in  similar  enunciations  of  the  British  legislature. 
In  this  day  some  of  the  minor  provisions  of  these  amendments,  which  no  doubt 
seemed  vital  to  our  fathers,  appear  to  us  to  be  chiefly  valuable  as  reminders 
of  the  excesses  of  tyranny  from  which  they  had  escaped,  and  of  the  kind  of 
constitutional  government  under  which  those  excesses  had  been  committed. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  adoption  of  the  first  ten  amendments  to  the 
American  Constitution  by  Congress  was  due  chiefly  to  popular  clamor,  and 
not  from  conviction  on  the  part  of  the  legislators  that  they  were  necessary 
in  order  to  complete  the  Constitution.  The  framers  of  the  original  docu- 
ment almost  without  exception  deemed  most  of  the  provisions  of  these  amend- 
ments superfluous. 

The  declarations  of  the  Bill  of  Rights  passed  by  the  English  Parliament 
in  1689  were  as  follows  : 

1.  That  the  pretended  power  of  suspending  of  laws,  or  the  execution  of 
laws  by  regal  authority  without  consent  of  Parliament,  is  illegal. 

2.  That  the  pretended  power  of  dispensing  with  laws,  or  the  execution  of 
laws  by  regal  authority,  as  it  hath  been  assumed  and  exercised  of  late,  is  illegal. 


The  Constitution  41 

3.  That  the  commission  for  erecting  the  late  court  of  commissioners 
for  ecclesiastical  causes,  and  all  other  commissions  and  courts  of  like  nature, 
are  illegal  and  pernicious. 

4.  That  levying  money  for  or  to  the  use  of  the  Crown,  by  pretence  of 
prerogative,  without  grant  of  Parliament,  for  longer  time  or  in  other  manner 
than  the  same  is  or  shall  be  granted,  is  illegal. 

5.  That  it  is  the  right  of  subjects  to  petition  the  king,  and  all  commit- 
ments and  prosecutions  for  such  petitioning  are  illegal. 

6.  That  the  raising  or  keeping  a  standing  army  within  the  kingdom  in 
time  of  peace,  unless  it  be  with  consent  of  Parliament,  is  against  law. 

7.  That  the  subjects  which  are  Protestants  may  have  arms  for  their  de- 
fence suitable  to  their  conditions,  and  as  allowed  by  law. 

8.  That  elections  of  members  of  Parliament  ought  to  be  free. 

9.  That  the  freedom  of  speech,  and  debates  or  proceedings  in  Parlia- 
ment, ought  not  to  be  impeached  or  questioned  in  any  court  or  place  out  of 
Parliament. 

10.  That  excessive  bail  ought  not  to  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  im- 
posed, nor  cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

11.  That  jurors  ought  to  be  duly  impanelled  and  returned,  and  jurors 
which  pass  upon  men  in  trials  for  high  treason  ought  to  be  freeholders. 

12.  That  all  grants  and  promises  of  fines  and  forfeitures  of  particular 
persons  before  conviction  are  illegal  and  void. 

13.  And  that  for  redress  of  all  grievances,  and  for  the  amending, 
strengthening,  and  preserving  of  the  laws,  Parliament  ought  to  be  held 
frequently. 

We  have  but  to  read  over  the  amendments  to  the  American  Consti- 
tution and  compare  them  with  the  foregoing  English  Bill  of  Rights  to  per- 
ceive how  much  they  are  opposed,  both  in  letter  and  spirit,  to  the  whole 
theory  and  practice  of  the  science  of  government  as  applied  by  England 
during  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  greater  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  In  doing  this  we  realize  that  the  amendments  are  not  so  much 
limitations  restricting  the  operation  of  government  under  the  American  Con- 
stitution as  they  are  eternal  protests  against  a  recurrence  of  the  evils  which 
had  been  suffered  under  the  Constitution  of  Britain. 

The  first  amendment  provides  that — 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion. 

Or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  press. 

The  absence  of  the  first  of  these  provisions  from  the  constitution  of  Eng- 
land, even  to  this  day,  is  what,  perhaps,  more  than  any  one  thing  else,  led 
to  the  early  and  rapid  British  settlement  of  America,  and  drove  to  its 
shores  such  a  large  proportion  of  the  bravest  and  noblest  of  the  English  and 
Scottish  people.  The  necessity  for  the  second  provision  was  probably  first 
impressed  upon  the  minds  of  Americans  by  the  prosecution,  on  informa- 
tion, of  the  printer,  John  Peter  Zenger,  for  libelling  the  English  governor 
of  New  York  in  1735. 

The  second  amendment  announces  that  "  A  well-regulated  militia  being 
necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  state,  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and 


42  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed."  The  English  Bill  of  Rights  permits  only 
those  who  are  Protestants  to  "  have  arms  for  their  defence." 

The  third  amendment  provides  that  no  soldier  in  time  of  peace  shall 
be  quartered  in  any  house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner.  This  cor- 
responds with  a  provision  in  the  English  Petition  of  Rights  passed  by  Par- 
liament and  approved  by  Charles  I.  in  1628.  The  only  provision  in  the 
English  Bill  of  Rights  bearing  on  this  subject  is,  that  a  standing  army  shall 
not  be  kept  within  the  kingdom  without  consent  of  Parliament. 

The  fourth  amendment  relates  to  the  right  of  search  or  seizure,  and 
requires  all  warrants  for  arrest  or  search  to  be  specific,  and  supported  by 
oath.     There  is  no  corresponding  clause  in  the  English  Bill  of  Rights. 

The  fifth  amendment  requires  all  criminal  indictments  to  be  made  by  a 
grand  jury  ;  and  provides  that  no  person  shall  for  the  same  offence  twice  be 
put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb  ;  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property 
without  due  process  of  law.  The  nearest  corresponding  provision  in  the 
Bill  of  Rights  is  that  contained  in  the  eleventh  clause,  suggesting  "  That 
jurors  ought  to  be  duly  impanelled  and  returned,"  instead  of  being  creatures 
of  the  judge  or  prosecutor. 

The  sixth  amendment  gives  the  accused  the  right  of  a  speedy  trial  before 
witnesses  in  criminal  cases. 

The  seventh  amendment  assures  the  right  of  trial  by  jury.  It  appears 
from  Olaus  Wormius  that  this  system  was  first  introduced  into  Denmark  by 
Regnerus,  surnamed  Lodborg,  who  began  to  reign  in  the  year  820,  from 
whom  Ethelred  of  England  is  said  to  have  borrowed  it.  It  was  Henry  II. 
who  brought  into  general  use  in  England  the  trial  by  jury,  afterwards  incor- 
porated in  Magna  Charta  and  confirmed  by  King  John. 

The  eighth  amendment  is  a  counterpart  of  the  tenth  provision  of  the 
English  Bill  of  Rights,  prohibiting  excessive  bail  or  fines,  or  cruel  and 
unusual  methods  of  punishment. 

The  ninth  amendment  states  that  the  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of 
certain  rights  shall  not  be  construed  as  a  denial  or  disparagement  of  others 
"retained  by  the  people."  This,  of  course,  would  be  an  anomaly  in  the 
constitution  of  a  monarchical  government,  where  all  rights  possessed  by  the 
people  have  first  to  be  granted  by  the  supreme  power,  the  Crown. 

The  tenth  amendment  reserves  to  the  States  and  to  the  people  all  powers 
not  delegated  to  the  general  government. 

A  comparison  of  all  these  amendments  with  the  English  Bill  of  Rights, 
therefore,  shows  that  one  only  out  of  the  ten  is  copied  from  the  charter  of 
British  constitutional  privileges.  Nearly  all  the  amendments  show  in  them- 
selves that  they  were  devised  and  worded  to  meet  conditions  which  were 
either  pertinent  or  peculiar  to  American  life  and  experience.  To  a  large 
extent  they  form  an  embodiment  of  certain  features  of  the  common  law 
as  it  had  been  applied  in  America  to  American  conditions  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  before  1787.     The  provisions  for  free  speech,  a  free  press, 


The  Constitution  43 

freedom  of  religion,  freedom  to  bear  arms,  freedom  from  unwarranted 
search  or  seizure,  freedom  from  indictment  on  secret  information,  and 
freedom  from  the  usurpation  of  the  people's  natural  rights,  were  all  of 
American  origin.  They  were  attached  to  the  Constitution  because  Americans 
had  learned  by  bitter  experience,  in  the  century  between  the  enactment  of 
the  English  Bill  of  Rights  and  the  adoption  of  the  American  Constitution, 
that  their  absence  from  the  British  charter  led  to  numerous  abuses  and 
perversions  of  justice  on  the  part  of  imported  judges  and  governors. 

In  short,  the  difference  between  the  British  and  the  American  Constitu- 
tions is  a  fundamental  one.  The  former  is  a  concession  of  privileges  to 
the  people  by  the  rulers  :  the  latter,  a  grant  of  authority  by  the  people  to 
the  rulers. 

But  before  leaving  our  original  Scotch  commentator,  let  us  see  just 
what  his  views  were  on  the  question  of  the  kinship  between  the  British  and 
American  Constitutions.  Some  expression  of  these  views  is  to  be  found  in 
No.  lxxxiv.  of  the  Federalist : 

The  several  bills  of  rights,  in  Great  Britain,  form  its  constitution.     .     .     . 

It  has  been  several  times  truly  remarked,  that  bills  of  rights  are,  in  their 
origin,  stipulations  between  kings  and  their  subjects,  abridgments  of  pre- 
rogative in  favor  of  privilege,  reservations  of  rights  not  surrendered  to  the 
prince.  Such  was  Magna  Charta,  obtained  by  the  barons,  sword  in  hand, 
from  King  John.  Such  were  the  subsequent  confirmations  of  that  charter 
by  succeeding  princes.  Such  was  the  Petition  of  Right  assented  to  by 
Charles  the  First,  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign.  Such  also  was  the  declara- 
tion of  rights  presented  by  the  Lords  and  Commons  to  the  Prince  of  Orange 
in  1688,  and  afterwards  thrown  into  the  form  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  called 
the  Bill  of  Rights.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  according  to  their  primitive 
signification,  they  have  no  application  to  constitutions  professedly  founded 
upon  the  power  of  the  people,  and  executed  by  their  immediate  representa- 
tives and  servants.  Here,  in  strictness,  the  people  surrender  nothing  ;  and 
as  they  retain  everything,  they  have  no  need  of  particular  reservations. 
"  We,  the  People  of  the  United  States,  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to 
ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  constitution  for  the 
United  States  of  America."  This  is  a  better  recognition  of  popular  rights 
than  volumes  of  those  aphorisms  which  make  the  principal  figure  in  several 
of  our  State  bills  of  rights,  and  which  would  sound  much  better  in  a  treatise 
of  ethics  than  in  a  constitution  of  government. 

While  it  may  be  a  fact  that  the  New  England  members,  and  especially 
the  Massachusetts  members  of  the  convention,  were  imbued  with  the  truly 
English  idea  of  uniting  the  executive  and  legislative  branches  by  making 
the  executive  head  merely  the  creature  of  the  legislature,18  yet  that  this  plan 
was  not  adopted  is  perhaps  due  to  the  efforts  of  those  members  whose  birth 
or  training  had  not  been  such  as  to  bring  them  into  accordance  with  English 
traditions.  The  idea  of  a  representative  form  of  government  was  novel  to  the 
men  from  New  England,  and  contrary  to  their  accustomed  methods  ;  so  that 
from  the  date  of  the  first  gathering  it  took  several  days'  time  to  win  them  over 


44  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

to  it.  James  Wilson,  the  Pennsylvania  Scotsman,  led  in  the  opposition  to  the 
English  and  New  England  plan  of  vesting  the  executive  power  mainly  in  the 
legislature  ;  and  to  say,  as  Mr.  Fiske  does,  that  Wilson  did  not  know  at  what 
he  was  aiming  is  to  belittle  the  intelligence  of  the  convention's  clearest  mind. 

The  chief  contribution  of  New  England  was  the  essentially  English 
suggestion  of  compromise.  The  conditions  under  which  one  of  these  com- 
promises was  made  were  so  unwise,  though  so  characteristic  of  the  typical 
English  commercial  spirit  actuating  its  promoters,  as  to  make  it  a  matter  of 
doubt  whether  on  the  whole  the  evil  consequences  arising  from  the  com- 
promises were  not  greater  than  the  benefits  which  they  secured.  These  con- 
ditions involved  the  demand  for  special  privileges  by  the  shipping  interest  of 
New  England,  and  the  prohibition  of  a  tax  on  exports,  coupled  with  the  recog- 
nition of  the  right  of  the  southern  states  to  continue  for  twenty  years  the 
importation  of  negroes,  and  to  maintain  indefinitely  the  institution  of  slavery. 
A  bargain  was  made  between  the  two  sections,  and  all  three  propositions 
were  carried  by  the  united  votes  of  New  England  and  all  the  southern  states 
save  Virginia. 

Certainly,  the  one  republican  institution  which  forms  the  chief  glory 
and  boast  of  New  England,  that  of  local  self-government,  cannot  be  clearly 
traced  back  to  England.  Where  it  did  originate  is  a  disputed  ques- 
tion. Mr.  Douglas  Campbell,  in  his  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  certain 
American  institutions,  has  traced  the  beginnings  of  many  of  them  to  Holland. 
While  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  his  proof  in  the  case 
of  township  organization,17  he  has  at  least  made  it  apparent  that  at  the  time 
the  Pilgrims  left  Holland  that  country  and  its  institutions  were  infinitely 
more  analogous  to  the  government  established  at  Plymouth  than  to  any  like 
institutions  in  England.18  In  concluding  his  review  of  some  of  the  Dutch 
contributions  to  America,  Mr.  Campbell  sums  them  up  as  follows19: 

Such  are  the  leading  institutions,  political  and  legal,  for  which  the 
American  Republic  is  indebted,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  Netherland 
Republic,  itself  the  heir  of  all  the  ages.  Some  of  them,  especially  our 
written  constitutions,  have  been  greatly  improved  upon  ;  but  at  the  time  of 
their  introduction  into  America  few,  if  any,  of  them  could  be  found  in  any 
country  of  Europe  except  the  Netherlands.  Having  completed  our  sketch 
of  their  history,  let  us  now  bring  them  together,  in  order  that  we  may  appre- 
ciate their  combined  importance. 

First  comes  the  Federal  Constitution,  a  written  instrument  as  opposed 
to  the  unwritten  English  Constitution.  Next  are  the  provisions  of  this 
instrument  placing  checks  on  the  power  of  the  President  in  declaring  war 
and  peace,  and  in  the  appointment  of  judges  and  all  important  executive 
officers.  Then  comes  the  whole  organization  of  the  Senate  —  a  mutable  and 
yet  a  permanent  body,  representing  independent  bodies  politic,  and  not  caste 
in  State  and  Church.  After  these  features  of  the  national  system,  but  not  less 
important,  follow  our  State  constitutions,  our  freedom  of  religion,  our  free 
press,  our  wide  suffrage,  and  our  written  ballot.  With  these  come  the  free 
schools,  for  boys  and  girls  alike,  the  township  system  (with  its  sequence 
of  local  self-government  in  county  and  State),  the  independence  of  the 


The  Constitution  45 

judiciary,  the  absence  of  primogeniture,  the  subjection  of  land  to  execution 
for  debt,  and  the  system  of  recording  deeds  and  mortgages.  Added  to  these 
are  our  public  prosecutors  of  crime  in  every  county,  the  constitutional 
guarantee  that  every  accused  person  shall  have  subpoenas  for  his  witnesses 
and  counsel  for  his  defence,  the  reforms  in  our  penal  and  prison  system,  the 
emancipation  of  married  women,  and  the  whole  organization  of  our  public 
charitable  and  reformatory  work. 

Taking  these  institutions  all  together,  is  there  any  cause  for  wonder  that 
they  excite  astonishment  among  modern  English  scholars  and  statesmen 
who,  looking  beneath  the  mere  surface  resemblances  of  language  and 
domestic  habits,  seek  an  explanation  of  the  manifest  difference  between  the 
people  of  England  and  a  people  in  the  United  States  assumed  by  them  to 
be  of  the  same  blood  ?  These  observers,  unlike  some  of  our  American 
writers,  see  plainly  enough  that  our  institutions  are  not  inherited  from 
England,  however  much  we  may  have  of  English  characteristics. 

The  simple  fact  is,  that  the  whole  theory  of  society  and  government  in 
the  two  countries  has  always  been  radically  different.  Under  such  condi- 
tions, it  was  but  natural  that  our  forefathers  should  turn  for  their  precedents, 
not  to  a  monarchy  or  an  aristocracy,  but  to  a  republic  —  a  republic  which 
was  the  beacon-light  of  the  English  Commonwealth,  and  whose  people  were 
our  warmest  unselfish  sympathizers  throughout  the  Revolution,  as  they  also 
proved  themselves  to  the  Union  cause  during  our  late  struggle  for  a  national 
existence. 

The  latest  writer  on  the  subject,  Mr.  Sydney  George  Fisher,  in  his  book 
on  The  Evolution  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  takes  issue  with 
Mr.  Campbell  and  with  all  other  writers  who  attribute  the  origin  of  American 
institutions  for  the  most  part  to  European  influences.  In  an  exhaustive  ex- 
amination of  early  trading  and  colonial  charters  and  laws,  he  presents  a  great 
many  facts  tending  to  prove  that  the  American  system  of  government  is  not 
copied  from  others  at  all,  but  is  the  result  of  a  slow  and  gradual  period  of 
evolution  and  growth  which  took  place  on  this  continent  for  two  hundred 
years  after  1584.  This  is  both  a  philosophical  and  a  satisfactory  explanation 
of  the  origin  of  our  institutions,  and  Mr.  Fisher's  book  goes  far  toward 
making  the  reader  believe  that  it  is  also  the  true  one.  In  referring  to 
English  sources  of  the  Constitution,  this  writer  says  20: 

After  reading  the  assertions  of  learned  writers  that  our  Constitution  was 
modelled  on  the  British  government  as  it  existed  in  1787,  I  have  sometimes 
turned  to  the  words  of  the  Constitution  to  see  the  resemblance,  and  have 
never  been  able  to  find  it.  As  one  reads  along,  sentence  after  sentence, 
everything  seems  so  un-English  and  so  original  and  peculiar  to  our  own 
locality  that  the  mind  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  either  grew  up  as  a 
natural  product  of  the  soil  or  was  invented  offhand  —  struck  off  at  a  given 
time,  as  Mr.  Gladstone  says.  I  recommend  to  those  who  believe  in  the 
British  model  theory  to  adopt  this  simple  plan  :  Read  our  Constitution, 
sentence  by  sentence,  from  beginning  to  end,  and  see  how  many  sentences 
they  can  trace  to  an  origin  in  the  British  government. 

I  do  not  deny  that  in  a  certain  sense  it  is  all  English.  ...  I  would 
be  the  last  person  in  the  world  to  dispute  the  Anglo-Saxon  influence  in  our 
civilization.     But  all  this  is  very  different  from  the  dogma  some  wish  to 


46  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

establish,  that  our  Constitution  was  taken  or  copied  from  or  suggested  by 
the  forms  of  the  British  government  as  it  existed  in  1787.  .  .  . 

In  the  first  eleven  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  a  number  of  the 
provisions  about  trial  by  jury  and  freedom  of  speech  were  doubtless  evolved 
from  the  experience  of  the  race  in  England.  But  even  these,  as  already 
shown,  were  worked  out  slowly  and  re-evolved  on  American  soil.  In  the 
body  of  the  Constitution  itself  —  the  political  framework  proper  —  there  is 
little  or  nothing  that  can  be  traced  to  the  forms  of  the  British  government 
as  it  existed  in  1787  or  at  any  other  time  for  hundreds  of  years  previous. 

I  do  not  deny  that  the  framers  of  our  Constitution  considered  and  dis- 
cusssed  the  forms  of  the  British  Constitution.  But  they  considered  them 
principally,  as  the  minutes  of  their  debates  will  show,  for  the  purpose,  or  at 
any  rate  with  the  result,  of  avoiding  them.  They  were  intelligent  men, — a 
large  number  of  them  were  college-bred,  —  and  they  discussed  the  forms  of 
government  of  all  countries.  They  were  not  unmindful  of  the  example  of 
Holland,  the  democracies  of  Greece,  the  Roman  republic  and  empire,  and 
the  free  republics  of  the  Middle  Ages.  They  took  what  light  they  could 
from  them  all  ;  and  I  think  as  good  an  argument  could  be  framed  to  show 
that  they  were  guided  by  what  they  knew  of  classic  antiquity  as  could  be 
brought  forward  to  prove  that  they  were  guided  by  the  British  Constitution. 

But  the  foundation  for  all  their  final  decisions,  the  basis  which  the  forms 
of  government  in  Europe  merely  illustrated  or  made  more  certain,  was  their 
own  experience  of  nearly  two  hundred  years  with  the  colonial  charters  and 
constitutions  and  the  constitutions  of  1776.  What  they  took  from  England 
went  back  through  that  two  hundred  years,  and  then  not  to  the  British 
government,  but  to  the  forms  of  the  old  trading  charters.  What  had  been 
envolved  from  the  trading  charters  had  been  so  long  with  us  that  it  was 
completely  Americanized,  and  it  was  valued  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion for  that  reason,  and  because  it  had  been  tested  by  two  hundred  years  of 
American  life. 

They  did  not  commit  the  absurdity  of  skipping  those  two  hundred 
years  of  their  history,  or  of  crossing  an  ocean  and  entering  other  countries 
to  copy  constitutions.  .  .  .  They  took  their  own  experience  as  it  was  up 
to  that  date  in  the  place  and  community  for  which  they  were  making  a  frame 
of  government.  They  made  no  skips  or  jumps,  but  went  backward  in  the 
past  directly  from  themselves  and  in  their  own  line,  taking  for  their  guide 
that  which  was  nearest  to  them  and  latest  developed,  provided  it  had  been 
tested  in  that  line  of  their  own  past.81 


NOTES  TO   CHAPTER  II. 

1  Douglas  Campbell,  The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  481, 
487,  488. 

3  Bancroft  speaks  of  him  as  the  ablest  man  south  of  the  Potomac. 

3  Marshall's  mother  was  of  the  Scotch  family  of  Keith. 

4  See  Autobiography  of John  Trumbull,  p.  12.     New  York,  1841. 

5  On  the  twenty-seventh  of  May  [1776],  Cary  from  the  committee  presented  to  the 
[Virginia]  convention  the  declaration  of  rights  which  Mason  had  drafted.  For  the  next  fort- 
night the  great  truths  which  it  proclaimed,  and  which  were  to  form  the  groundwork  of 
American  institutions,  employed  the  thoughts  of  the  convention.  One  clause  only  received 
a  material  amendment.     Mason  had  written  that  all  should  enjoy  the  fullest  toleration  in 


The  Constitution  47 

the  exercise  of  religion.  ...  A  young  man,  then  unknown  to  fame,  .  .  .  proposed 
an  amendment.  He  was  James  Madison,  the  son  of  an  Orange  County  planter,  bred  in  the 
school  of  Presbyterian  dissenters  under  Witherspoon  at  Princeton,  trained  by  his  own  studies, 
by  meditative  rural  life  in  the  Old  Dominion,  by  an  ingenuous  indignation  at  the  persecution 
of  the  Baptists,  and  by  the  innate  principles  of  right,  to  uphold  the  sanctity  of  religious 
freedom.  He  objected  to  the  word  "  toleration,"  because  it  implied  an  established  religion, 
which  endured  dissent  only  as  a  condescension  ;  and  as  the  earnestness  of  his  convictions 
overcame  his  modesty,  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate  that  "all  men  are  equally  entitled  to 
the  free  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience."  .  .  .  This  was 
the  first  achievement  of  the  wisest  civilian  of  Virginia. — Bancroft,  vol.  iv.,  p.  417. 

6  In  the  spring  of  1760  I  went  to  William  and  Mary  College  where  I  continued  two 
years.  It  was  my  great  good  fortune,  and  what  probably  fixed  the  destinies  of  my  life,  that 
Dr.  William  Small  of  Scotland  was  then  professor  of  Mathematics,  a  man  profound  in  most 
of  the  useful  branches  of  science,  with  a  happy  talent  of  communication,  correct  and  gentle- 
manly manners,  and  an  enlarged  and  liberal  mind.  He  most  happily  for  me  became  soon 
attached  to  me  and  made  me  his  daily  companion  when  not  engaged  in  the  school ;  and  from 
his  conversation  I  got  my  first  views  of  the  expansion  of  science,  and  of  the  system  of  things 
in  which  we  are  placed. — Jefferson's  Autobiography,  p.  2. 

'Bancroft,  vol.  vi.,  p.  211. 

8  See  Appendix  A  (James  Wilson  and  the  Convention  of  1787). 

9  Grouping  together,  then,  these  facts  among  others — the  fact  that  Presbyterianism  is  in 
its  own  nature  a  system  of  pure  representative  republican  government,  and  as  such  in  strik- 
ing harmony,  both  in  form  and  spirit,  with  that  of  the  State  and  nation  ;  that  it  has  always 
been  peculiarly  odious  to  tyrants  ;  the  numerous  patriotic  deliverances  of  the  Synod  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  and  of  some  of  the  Presbyteries  of  our  Church  ;  the  fact  that  ' '  the 
first  voice  publicly  raised  in  America  to  dissolve  all  connection  with  Great  Britain,"  was  that 
of  the  Presbyterians,  the  Westmoreland  County  resolutions  and  the  Mecklenburg  Declara- 
tion ;  the  fact  that  Witherspoon,  a  Presbyterian  of  the  most  authentic  type,  represented  in 
the  Continental  Congress  the  compact  Presbyterianism  of  the  land,  and  that  (besides  his 
other  numerous  and  exceedingly  important  services)  he  threw  the  whole  weight  of  his  own 
personal  influence  and  that  of  those  he  represented,  first  in  favor  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  then  in  favor  of  the  organization  of  the  States  into  a  confederate  union — and 
we  have  some  of  the  grounds  upon  which  to  base  an  estimate  of  the  share  which  Presbyteri- 
ans had  in  building  and  launching  that  national  vessel  that  now  rides  so  proudly  upon  the 
billows  with  forty  millions  of  voyagers  on  board. — W.  P.  Breed,  Presbyterians  and  the 
Revolution,  pp.   177-179. 

10  See  Letters  and  Other  Writings  of  James  Madison,  vol.  ii.,  p.  144;  vol.  iv.,  pp.  469- 
475,  480,  482  ;  Works  of  John  Adams,  vol.  iv.,  p.  358  ;  Works  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  vol. 
ix.,  p.  97. 

11  The  choice  between  a  confederacy  and  a  republic  was  very  much  the  same  as  a  choice 
between  Congregationalism  and  Presbyterianism  ;  for  Congregationalism  is  a  confederacy  of 
independent  churches,  but  Presbyterianism  is  an  organized  representative  and  constitutional 
government.  The  Presbyterian  form  of  government  was  familiar  to  the  great  mass  of  the 
inhabitants  in  the  middle  and  southern  colonies  ;  it  was  the  form  of  government  which 
Puritan  Episcopacy  has  ever  preferred.  The  Congregationalism  of  Connecticut  and  of  other 
parts  of  New  England  tended  in  the  same  direction.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Presbyterianism  influenced  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  in  their  efforts  to  erect  a  national 
organism, — a  constitutional  republic.  But  Congregationalism  also  had  its  influence  in  de- 
fining the  limitations  of  the  supremacy  of  the  general  government  and  in  the  reservation  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  States  in  all  those  affairs  which  were  not  assigned  to  the  general 
government.  It  is  true,  Presbyterianism  was  prepared  for  such  limitations  by  the  Scotch 
Barrier  Act  of  1697,  which  prevented  hasty  legislation  by  an  appeal  to  all  the  Presbyteries 


48  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

of  the  Church  ;  and  still  more  by  the  persistent  resistance  of  American  Presbyterianism  to 
any  legislative  power  in  the  Synod,  without  the  consent  of  the  Presbyteries.  But  the  limi- 
tations of  the  general  government  in  the  American  Constitution  were  beyond  anything  known 
to  Presbyterianism  before,  and  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  were  vastly  in  excess  of  any 
rights  ever  claimed  or  exercised  by  Presbyteries.  The  American  form  of  civil  government 
was  a  happy  combination  of  some  of  the  best  features  presented  in  Presbyterianism  and  in 
Congregationalism. — Briggs,  American  Presbyterianism,  pp.  356,  357. 
13  See  Bancroft,  vol.  vi.,  book  iii. 

13  See  Madison's  Works,  vol.  ii.,  p.  144;  vol.  iv.,    pp.  469-475,  480-482. 

14  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  vol.  ix.,  p.  97. 
16  Critical  Period  of  American  History,  p.  289. 

16  See  extracts  from  debates  in  the  Constitutional  Convention,  and  particularly  the  words 
of  Sherman  and  Gerry  (Appendix  A). 

17  Campbell,   The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  426-430. 
18 Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  chap.  xxii. 

,9  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  465-467  (by  permission  of  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers). 

20  The  Evolution  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  pp.  90-93. 

21  See  Appendix  B  (Pennsylvania's  Formative  Influence). 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  SCOTCH-IRISH  IN  AMERICAN  POLITICS 

IN  more  recent  years  Scotland's  contribution  to  the  United  States  has 
been  no  less  remarkable  in  the  number  and  high  standing  of  the 
Scottish  names  which  appear  on  America's  Roll  of  Honor  than  it  was  in 
the  early  days  of  the  Republic. 

Starting  with  the  governors  of  the  States  and  Territories,  a  brief  exam- 
ination of  the  civil  lists  published  in  Lanman's  Biographical  Annals  of  the 
Civil  Government,  a  semi-official  work,  shows  that  up  to  the  year  in  which 
that  book  was  printed  (1886)  there  have  been  about  half  a  dozen  more  than 
one  thousand  State  or  Territorial  governors  in  office  since  1789.  Of  these, 
judging  from  the  names  alone,  more  than  two  hundred  are  of  evident  Scot- 
tish descent,  and  it  is  altogether  probable  that  if  a  closer  inspection  were 
to  be  made  a  great  many  more  would  be  found  of  that  race,  although  bear- 
ing names  alike  common  to  Scotland  and  England.  In  connection  with  the 
same  subject  it  may  be  remarked  that,  of  the  colonial  governors  sent  from 
England  to  the  American  colonies  before  1776,  and  of  the  provincial  gov- 
ernors from  that  time  to  1789,  upwards  of  forty  were  of  Scottish  blood, 
among  them  being  Robert  Hunter  (1710),  William  Burnett  (1720),  John 
Montgomerie  (1728),  John  Hamilton  (1736),  Cadwallader  Colden  (1760), 
John,  Earl  of  Dunmore  (1770),  James  Robertson  (1780),  all  of  New  York  ; 
Robert  Barclay  (1682),  John  Skene  (1686),  Lord  Neil  Campbell  (1687), 
Andrew  Hamilton,  John  Hamilton  (1736),  William  Livingston  (1776),  all  of 
New  Jersey  ;  Andrew  Hamilton  (1701),  Sir  William  Keith  (17 17),  Patrick 
Gordon  (1726),  James  Logan  (1736),  James  Hamilton  (1748),  Joseph  Reed 
(1778),  all  of  Pennsylvania  ;  and  all,  except  the  one  last  named,  governors  of 
Delaware  also  ;  John  McKinley  (1777),  of  Delaware  ;  Alexander  Spotswood 
(1710),  William  Gooch  (?)  (1727),  Robert  Dinwiddie  (1752),  John  Camp- 
bell (1756),  John  Blair  (1767),  William  Nelson  (1770),  Lord  Dunmore 
(1772),  Patrick  Henry  (1776),  Thomas  Nelson  (1781),  all  of  Virginia; 
William  Drummond  (1663),  Gabriel  Johnston  (1734),  Matthew  Rowan 
(J753)»  Alexander  Martin  (1782),  Samuel  Johnston  (1788),  all  of  North 
Carolina;  Joseph  Morton  (?)  (1682),  Richard  Kirk  (1684),  James  Moore 
(1719),  William  Campbell  (1775),  John  Rutledge  (1779),  all  of  South 
Carolina;  William  Erwin  (1775),  Archibald  Bulloch  (1776),  John  Houston 
(1778),  Edward  Telfair  (1786),  all  of  Georgia;  and  George  Johnstone 
(1763),  of  Florida. 

Of  the  State  governors  from  1789  to  1885,  the  Scotch  furnished  to  Penn- 
sylvania nearly  one-half  her  chief  executives  ;  to  Virginia,  nearly  one- 
third  ;  to  North  Carolina,  more  than  one-fourth  ;  to  South  Carolina,  nearly 

49 


50  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

one-third  ;  to  Georgia,  more  than  one-half  ;  to  Alabama,  more  than  one- 
fifth  ;  to  Mississippi,  about  one-fifth  ;  to  Louisiana,  more  than  one-fifth  ; 
to  Texas,  about  one-third  ;  to  Tennessee,  nearly  one-half  ;  to  Kentucky, 
about  one-third  ;  to  Ohio,  one-half  ;  to  Indiana,  more  than  one-third ;  to 
Illinois,  nearly  one-third  ;  to  Missouri,  nearly  one-half. 

Among  other  celebrated  Scottish  characters  of  colonial  times  may  be 
mentioned  Captain  William  Kidd,  the  notorious  pirate,  Major  Richard 
Stobo,  and  possibly  Sir  William  Johnson,  Great  Britain's  celebrated  Indian 
agent  in  the  Mohawk  valley. 

Of  Scotch  descent,  also,  on  both  sides  of  his  house,  was  General  George 
Rogers  Clark,  the  record  of  whose  daring  and  successful  campaigns  north 
of  the  Ohio  River  in  1778,  is  not  surpassed  in  American  history.  To  this 
man  alone  the  United  States  owes  that  part  of  its  territory  lying  between 
the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers  ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  conquest  of 
this  empire  from  the  British  by  Clark  and  his  Scotch-Irish  soldiers,  the 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota 
might  have  been  to-day  a  portion  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.1 

In  the  naval  wars  of  1776  and  later,  we  find  among  the  most  celebrated 
commanders  the  following  of  Scottish  birth  or  descent  :  John  Paul  Jones, 
Samuel  Nicholson,  Richard  Dale,  Alexander  Murray,  Charles  Stewart,  James 
Barron,  John  Rodgers,  Sr.,  John  Rodgers,  Jr.,  Thomas  McDonough,  Matthew 
Galbraith  Perry,  Oliver  Hazard  Perry,3  Franklin  Buchanan. 

Some  well-known  border  heroes  of  Scottish  descent,  besides  George 
Rogers  Clark,  were  Adam  and  Andrew  Poe,  Samuel  Brady,  Captain  Jack, 
Simon  Kenton,  Kit  Carson,  David  Crockett,  and  Samuel  Houston. 

Among  the  American  generals  and  warriors  since  the  Revolution  none 
rank  higher  than  Andrew  Jackson,  Winfield  Scott,  Hugh  Brady,  Zachary 
Taylor,  U.  S.  Grant,  James  B.  McPherson,  George  B.  McClellan,  J.  E. 
Johnston,  Stonewall  Jackson,  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  James  Longstreet,  John  A. 
Rawlins,  Robert  H.  Milroy,  Lew  Wallace,  Irvin  McDowell,  Q.  A.  Gilmore, 
Hugh  Kilpatrick,  Francis  P.  Blair,  John  F.  Reynolds,  Fitz-John  Porter, 
David  Hunter,  William  H.  Jackson,  Alexander  W.  Campbell,  David  Bell, 
William  Birney,  Horace  Porter,  John  A.  McNulta,  Alexander  Hays,  La- 
fayette McLaws,  D.  M.  Gregg,  Schuyler  Hamilton,  John  J.  Abercrombie, 
William  H.  Lytle,  John  B.  S.  Todd,  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  Clement  A. 
Finley,  Isaac  Ridgeway  Trimble,  James  Ronald  Chalmers,  George  A. 
McCall,  John  A.  McClernand,  Nathan  B.  Forrest,  Benjamin  McCul- 
loch,  John  B.  Magruder,  John  B.  Gordon,  John  A.  Logan,  Theodore 
Roosevelt,3  Henry  W.  Lawton,  Frederick  Funston,  and  Daniel,  George 
W.,  Robert  L.,  Alexander  McD.,  Daniel,  Jr.,  Edwin  S.,  Edward  M.,  and 
Anson  G.  McCook,  all  of  Scottish  blood. 

In  American  politics  this  race  has  been  represented  by  such  individuals 
as  Thomas  H.  Benton,  John  C.  Calhoun,4  Jefferson  Davis,  James  G.  Blaine, 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Joseph   E.   McDonald,   John   Bell,   Alexander  H. 


American    Politics  51 

Stephens,  Samuel  Randall,  J.  C.  Breckenridge,  John  G.  Carlisle,  Simon 
Cameron,  the  Livingstons  of  New  York,  William  B.  Allison,  John  B.  Gib- 
son, Matthew  S.  Quay,  Calvin  S.  Brice,  Marcus  A.  Hanna,  Whitelaw  Reid, 
J.  Sterling  Morton,  Wayne  McVeagh,  Chauncey  Mitchell  Depew,  Robert 
Todd  Lincoln,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  Stephen  B.  Elkins, 
Daniel  S.  Lamont,  Arthur  P.  Gorman,  William  McKinley.6 

In  the  Presidents'  Cabinets,  the  Scotch  have  been  represented  as  Secre- 
taries of  State  by  Edward  Livingston,  Louis  McLane,  John  Forsyth,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  James  Buchanan,  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  James  G.  Blaine,  John  Hay  ; 
Secretaries  of  the  Treasury,  Alexander  Hamilton,  George  W.  Campbell, 
Alexander  J.  Dallas,  William  H.  Crawford,  Louis  McLane,  Thomas  Ewing, 
Thomas  Corwin,  James  Guthrie,  Howell  Cobb,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Hugh  Mc- 
Culloch  ;  Secretaries  of  War,  Henry  Knox,  James  McHenry,  John  Arm- 
strong, James  Monroe,  William  H.  Crawford,  George  Graham,  John  C. 
Calhoun,  James  Barbour,  Peter  B.  Porter,  John  Bell,  James  M.  Porter, 
George  W.  Crawford,  Jefferson  Davis,  Simon  Cameron,  U.  S.  Grant,  James 
D.  Cameron,  George  W.  McCrary,  Alexander  Ramsey,  Robert  Todd  Lincoln, 
Daniel  S.  Lamont ;  Secretaries  of  the  Navy,  Paul  Hamilton,  Thomas  W. 
Gilmer,  William  A.  Graham,  John  P.  Kennedy,  James  C.  Dobbin,  George  M. 
Robeson,  Nathan  W.  Goff ;  Secretaries  of  the  Interior,  Thomas  Ewing, 
Alexander  H.  H.  Stuart,  Robert  McClelland,  James  Harlan,  Henry  M. 
Teller  ;  Postmasters-General,  John  McLean,  James  Campbell,  Montgomery 
Blair,  Frank  Hatton  ;  Attorneys-General,  John  Breckenridge,  Felix  Grundy, 
Jeremiah  S.  Black,  James  Speed,  John  W.  Griggs  ;  United  States  Senators, 
(since  i860),  Blair  (2),  Cameron  (2),  Cockrell,  Gibson,  Logan,  McMillan, 
McPherson,  Mitchell  (2),  Stewart,  Teller,  McEnery,  Caffery,  Butler,  Mc- 
Laurin,  Cannon,  Vance,  Johnston,  Houston,  Bailey,  Blaine,  Burnside,  Gor- 
don, Sharon,  Armstrong,  Beck,  Wallace,  Thurman,  Patterson  (2),  Oglesby, 
McDonald  (2),  McCreery,  Brownlow,  Caldwell,  Kelly,  Ramsey,  Robertson, 
Scott  (2),  Tipton,  Corbett,  Harlan,  Hill,  Pomeroy,  Wilson,  Ross,  Dixon, 
Davis  (2),  Guthrie,  Grimes,  Welch,  Cowan,  McDougall,  Henderson,  Hen- 
dricks, Nesmith,  Carlisle,  Breckenridge,  Kennedy,  Johnson,  Hunter,  Hemp- 
hill, Douglas,  Morton,  McComas,  Ross,  Clark,  Foster,  McCumber,  Hanna, 
Culberson,  Hamilton  (2),  Mills,  Kyle,  McBride,  Brice,  Lindsay,  Blackburn, 
Palmer,  Cullom,  Call,  Kenney,  Beveridge,  and  others  ;  Speakers  of  the 
House,  John  Bell,  James  K.  Polk,  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter,  Howell  Cobb, 
James  L.  Orr,  James  G.  Blaine,  Michael  C.  Kerr,  Samuel  J.  Randall,  John 
G.  Carlisle,  David  B.  Henderson. 

In  literature  may  be  named  Washington  Irving,  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  Her- 
man Melville,  Joel  Chandler  Harris,  Lew  Wallace,  Marion  Crawford,Thomas 
Nelson  Page,  Maurice  Thompson  ;  in  art,  Gilbert  Stuart,  J.  McNeil  Whistler, 
Walter  MacEwen,  George  Inness,  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  James  Wilson  McDonald, 
James  D.  Smillie,  Alexander  Doyle,  E.  F.  Andrews,  Thomas  Crawford, 
Frederick  MacMonnies,  John  W.  Alexander ;  in  music,  Edward  MacDowell. 


Y/vUkaj<^- 


52  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

In  practical  science,  whether  the  credit  for  the  invention  of  the  telegraph 
be  given  to  Charles  Morrison,  to  Joseph  Henry,  or  to  Samuel  Finley  Morse, 
each  of  whom  contributed  towards  it,  the  honor  still  belongs  to  the  Scotch. 
Edison's  mother  was  Mary  Elliott,  of  Scottish  blood  ;  and  John  Ericsson 
had  in  his  veins  a  strain  of  the  same  virile  current.  Likewise,  William 
Henry,  James  Rumsey,  and  Robert  Fulton,  who  each  had  a  share  in  the  inven- 
tion of  the  steamboat,  were  all  three  Scotch  ;  as  well  as  Alexander  Graham 
Bell  and  Elisha  Gray,  the  inventors  of  the  telephone,  and  the  McCormicks, 
who  did  so  much  for  the  improvement  of  harvesting  machinery.  Drs.  D. 
Hayes  Agnew  and  Frank  Hamilton  the  eminent  surgeons,  Alexander  Wilson 
the  ornithologist,  and  Asa  Gray  the  botanist,  all  of  Scottish  descent,  are  also 
ranked  among  the  greatest  in  their  respective  professions. 

In  no  departments  of  American  civil  life,  however,  is  the  Scottish  influ- 
ence more  marked  and  dominating  than  in  those  of  the  judiciary  and  the 
press.  The  interpretation  of  law  in  America  has  been  chiefly  the  work 
of  non-English  judges  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
distinctive  character  of  American  jurisprudence  is  due  to  the  preponder- 
ating influence  of  men  of  Celtic  blood  at  the  bench  and  bar. 

Of  the  fifty  judges  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  from  1789  to 
1882,  we  find  not  more  than  twenty-two  of  probable  English  blood  ;  Jay  and 
Duval,  of  French  ;  Marshall,  of  Welsh  and  Scotch  ;  Rutledge,  Wilson,  Blair, 
two  Johnsons,  Paterson,  Moore,  Livingston,  Todd,  Thompson,  Trimble, 
McLean,  Barbour,  McKinley,  Daniel,  Nelson,  Grier,  Campbell,  Miller, 
Davis,  Harlan,  of  Scottish ;  and  Wayne,  Catron,  and  Chase  of  mixed 
descent. 

The  first  newspaper  printed  in  America — the  Boston  News-Letter — was 
the  enterprise  of  a  Scotchman  bearing  the  characteristic  name  of  John 
Campbell.  In  recent  times,  among  editors  of  the  first  rank,  we  find  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Scottish  race  :  James  Gordon  Bennett,  Horace  Greeley, 
Henry  W.  Grady,  Murat  Halstead,  Samuel  Medary,  Joseph  Medill,  James 
W.  Scott,  Alexander  K.  McClure,  John  A.  Cockerill,  Whitelaw  Reid,  Wash- 
ington and  John  R.  McLean,  Joseph  B.  McCullagh,  Richard  Smith, 
John  Russell  Young,  Henry  Watterson,  "  Richelieu "  Robinson,  Beriah 
Wilkins,  Robert  W.  Patterson. 

Among  America's  prominent  business  men  of  Scottish  descent  may  be 
named  A.  T.  Stewart,  Robert  Stuart,  Peter  Cooper,  John  I.  Blair,  John 
Crerar,  James  Lenox,  Andrew  Carnegie,  John  Davison  Rockefeller. 

Daniel  Webster,  the  most  brilliant  statesman  New  England  has  given  to 
the  country,  was  likewise  not  of  English  origin  in  the  paternal  line,  but  came 
from  the  New  Hampshire  Scotch.8 

In  view  of  these  facts  can  it  not  with  propriety  be  contended  that  the 
Scottish  race,  in  proportion  to  its  relative  strength  in  the  New  World,  has 
contributed  to  America  a  vastly  greater  number  of  her  leaders  in  thought 
and  action  than  has  any  other  ? 


American    Politics 


NOTES   TO    CHAPTER   III. 


53 


1  A  list  of  the  officers  of  the  Illinois  Regiment  and  of  the  Crockett  Regiment  : 

Brig.-General — George  Rogers  Clark.  Lieut. -Col.  —  John  Montgomery.  Majors 
—  Thomas  Quirk,  George  Slaughter.  Captains  —  John  Bailey,  Richard  Brashear,  Abraham 
Chaplin,  Benjamin  Fields,  Robert  George,  John  Gerault,  Richard  Harrison,  Abraham  Kellar, 
Richard  McCarty,  John  Rogers,  Benjamin  Roberts,  Mark  Thomas,  Isaac  Taylor,  Robert 
Todd,  John  Williams.  Lieutenants  —  Richard  Clark,  William  Clark,  James  Merriweather, 
James  Montgomery,  James  Robertson,  William  Roberts,  Joseph  Saunders,  Jarret  Williams. 
Ensigns  —  William  Asher,  Laurence  Slaughter.     Cornet — John  Thurston. 

Crockett's  Regiment:  Lieut. -Col.  —  Joseph  Crockett.  Major  —  George  Walls.  Sur- 
geon—  Charles  Greer.  Captains — John  Chapman  (killed),  William  Cherry,  John  Ker- 
ney,  Benjamin  Kinley  (died),  Peter  Moore,  Abraham  Lipton,  Thomas  Young.  Ensigns  — 
Henry  Daring,  Samuel  Ball  Greene,  Hugh  McGavock. 

For  George  Rogers  Clark's  descent,  see  p.  30,  note  n. 

The  names  of  the  following  Scotch-Irishmen  and  others  are  taken  from  a  list  of  the 
*' Noncommissioned  Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the  Illinois  Regiment  and  the  Western  Army 
under  the  Command  of  General  George  Rogers  Clark."  The  full  list  appears  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Historical  Magazine \  vol.  i.,  pp.  131-141  : 

John  Allen,  Sr.,  John  Allen,  Jr.,  John  Anderson,  Samuel  Allen  (Sergeant),  David  Allen, 
Isaac  Allen,  Francis  Adams,  Wm.  Bell,  John  Blair,  David  Bailey,  Richard  Breeden,  James 
Brown  (S.),  Wm.  Berry,  James  Bentley,  John  Bentley,  Lon  Brown,  James  Baxter  (Corporal), 
J.  B.  Biron  (S.),  Colin  Brown,  Wm.  Barry,  Thos.  Benton  or  Bernton,  John  Breeden  (S.), 
Samuel  Bird,  Wm.  Bowen  (C),  John  Barber,  Robert  Burnett  (died),  James  Bryant,  George 
Burk,  John  Burris,  John  Boyles,  Ebenezer  Bowing,  Asher  Brown,  Adam  Bingoman,  Samuel 
Blackford,  Simon  Burney,  Lewis  Brown,  Collin  Brown,  Daniel  Bolton,  John  Clark,  Andrew 
Clark,  Richard  Chapman,  Edward  Chapman,  Wm.  Chapman,  Patrick  Cornelia,  Wm. 
Crassley,  John  Cowan,  Andrew  Cannon,  James  Curry,  Patrick  Conroy,  Joseph  Cooper, 
Ramsey  Cooper,  Thomas  Connolly,  John  Conn,  George  Campbell  (S.),  John  Campbell,  John 
Cowdry,  Andrew  Cowan,  Daniel  Calvin,  James  Corder,  Rice  Curtis,  Ellick  Chamber, 
Edward  Cockran,  George  Cockran,  Dennis  Coheron,  James  Cameron  (C),  Daniel  Cowgill, 
James  Cox,  Andrew  Codes,  James  Dawson,  James  Dawson,  John  Doyle,  Benj.  Duncan, 
Archibald  Duncan,  Charles  Duncan,  David  Duncan,  Nimrod  Duncan,  Joseph  Duncan, 
Samuel  Duncan,  John  Duff,  Joseph  Donon,  Abraham  Frazier  (S.),  Henry  Foster,  John 
Grimes,  John  Gordon,  John  George,  John  Garret,  Samuel  Gibbons,  David  Glenn,  James 
Graham,  Samuel  Humphries,  Thomas  Hays,  Barney  Higgons,  Miles  Hart,  James  Hays, 
Wm.  Hall,  Wm.  Huin,  Andrew  Hendrix,  John  Johnston,  Edward  Johnston,  Samuel 
Johnston,  Thos.  Jamison  (S.),  David  Kennedy,  James  Kincaid,  James  Kirkley,  Thomas 
Kirk,  Wm.  Kerr,  Robert  Kidd,  George  Key,  Thomas  Key,  John  Lasley,  Peter  Laughlin, 
John  Levinston,  Richard  Lovell,  Benjamin  Lewis,  Jacob  Lyon,  John  Lyons,  Wm.  Long, 
Pleasant  Lockhert,  Archibald  Lockhart,  Hugh  Logan,  James  Lewis,  Edward  Murray,  John 
Montgomery,  Francis  McDermot,  John  Moore  (S.),  John  McMickle,  Abraham  Miller  (C), 
John  Montgomery,  Wm.  Montgomery,  Chas.  McLockland,  Edward  Matthews  (S.),  John 
McGuire,  James  Mcintosh,  Patrick  Marr  (C.  and  S.),  John  McMichaels,  James  McMullen, 
Patrick  McClure,  Wm.  Merriweather,  John  Miller,  Charles  Martin,  David  McDonald,  John 
Murphy,  Thomas  Murray,  Thomas  McClain,  Wm.  Munrony  (S.),  Sylvestor  Munrony, 
Thomas  McQuiddy,  Thomas  McDaniel,  James  McDonald,  Elijah  Martin,  James  McKin, 
Solomon  Martin,  John  McKinney,  John  Moore,  Thomas  Moore,  Thomas  McDonald,  Wm. 
Marshall,  John  McGann,  Enock  Nelson,  Moses  Nelson,  John  Nelson,  John  Neal,  Ebenezer 
Ozburn,  John  Patterson,  James  Potter,  Edward  Parker,  Wm.  Patterson,  David  Pagan, 
Ebenezer  Potter,  Samuel  Pickens,  John  Ross,  Andrew  Ryan,  Lazarus  Ryan,  James  Ramsay, 
John  Robertson  (S.),  James  Ross  (S.),  John  Rice  (S.),  David  Rogers  (S.),  Joseph  Rogers, 


54  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Larkin  Rutherford,  Richard  Robinson,  Joseph  Ross  (C),  Benjamin  Russell,  Robert  Randal, 
Patrick  Riley,  David  Smith,  Randal  Smith,  Joseph  Smith,  John  Spencer,  Wm.  Shannon, 
John  Stephenson  (S.),  Samuel  Stephenson,  James  Thompson,  James  Taylor,  Edward  Taylor, 
Wm.  Thompson,  Daniel  Tygard,  Thomas  Taylor,  Robert  Whitehead,  Wm.  Whitehead, 
Randal  White,  Robert  White,  David  Wallace,  Wm.  Wilkerson,  John  Wilson,  Thomas 
Wray. 

2  "  Going  out  from  Put-in-Bay  the  tenth  of  September,  1813,  with  his  whole  squadron, 
Perry  met  the  British  fleet  in  a  memorable  naval  contest.  Himself  a  young  man  of 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  was  opposed  to  one  of  Nelson's  veterans.  Himself  a  Scotch- 
Irishman,  his  opponent,  Captain  Robert  H.  Barclay,  was  a  Scotchman.  The  engage- 
ment was  hot,  but  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  gallant  Perry  saw  the  British  flag 
hauled  down.  For  the  first  time  since  she  had  created  a  navy,  Great  Britain  lost  an  entire 
squadron.  "  We  have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours,"  is  the  familiar  line  in  which  Perry 
announced  his  victory,  in  a  despatch  to  General  William  Henry  Harrison.  Commodore 
Perry's  mother  was  Sarah  Wallace  Alexander,  a  Scotch  woman  from  the  north  of  Ireland. 
She  became  the  mother  of  five  sons,  all  of  whom  were  officers  in  the  United  States  Navy. 
Two  daughters  married  Captain  George  W.  Rogers  and  Dr.  William  Butler  of  the  United 
States  Navy.  Dr.  Butler  was  the  father  of  Senator  Matthew  Galbraith  Butler,  of  South 
Carolina.  After  the  victory  at  Lake  Erie,  some  farmers  in  Rhode  Island  declared,  such  was 
the  estimation  in  which  they  held  this  woman,  that  it  was  '  Mrs.  Perry's  victory.'  " — S.  S. 
Green,  The  Scotch-Irish  in  America. 

3  Theodore  Roosevelt's  father,  bearing  the  same  name,  was  of  Dutch  descent ;  his 
mother,  a  native  of  Georgia,  of  Scottish.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Sr.,  married  Martha  Bulloch 
on  December  22,  1853.  Martha  Bulloch's  parents  were  Major  James  Stephens  Bulloch  and 
Martha  Stewart,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Stewart  (an  officer  of  the  Revolution)  and 
Susan  Oswald.  James  Stephens  Bulloch  was  a  son  of  James  and  Ann  Irvine  Bulloch,  the 
latter  a  daughter  of  Dr.  John  and  Ann  Elizabeth  Baillie  Irvine.  James  Bulloch  (b.  1765  ; 
d.  Feb.  9,  1806)  was  a  son  of  Archibald  and  Mary  De  Veaux  Bulloch,  the  latter  a  daughter 
of  James  De  Veaux,  of  French  Huguenot  descent,  and  senior  judge  of  the  King's  Court  in 
the  province  of  Georgia.  Archibald  Bulloch  was  president  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
colony  of  Georgia,  1776-1777  ;  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress  of  1775,  and  elected  to 
the  one  of  1776  ;  signed  the  first  constitution  of  the  State  of  Georgia  as  president ;  and  died 
in  1777.  He  was  a  son  of  James  and  Jean  Stobo  Bulloch,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
Archibald  Stobo,  who  sailed  from  Scotland  with  the  Darien  colonists  in  1698,  and  subse- 
quently (in  1700)  settled  at  Charleston,  S.  C.  James  Bulloch,  Sr.,  b.  about  1701,  in  Scot- 
land, came  from  Glasgow  to  Charleston  about  1728,  where,  in  1729,  he  married  Jean  Stobo. 
The  Bullochs  appear  to  belong  to  Baldernock,  in  Stirlingshire,  where  the  name  appears  on 
the  records  for  some  four  hundred  years  back.  See  A  History  and  Genealogy  of  the  Families 
of  Bellinger  and  De  Veaux,  etc.,  by  Joseph  Gaston  Bulloch,  Savannah,  1895. 

4  John  C.  Calhoun  was  the  grandson  of  James  Calhoun,  who  is  said  to  have  emigrated 
from  Donegal,  Ireland,  in  1733  {John  C.  Calhoun,  by  Dr.  H.  von  Hoist,  p.  8).  John  C. 
Calhoun  was  the  son  of  Patrick  Calhoun,  whom  James  Parton,  in  his  Famous  Americans  of 
decent  Times,  speaks  of  (pp.  117,  118)  as  a  Scotch-Irishman,  who,  with  Andrew  Jackson  and 
Andrew  Johnson,  other  Scotch-Irishmen,  illustrates  well  the  "  North  of  Ireland"  character. 
Patrick  Calhoun  was  a  Presbyterian  like  his  father  (J.  Randolph  Tucker,  in  article  "John 
Caldwell  Calhoun,"  in  Appleton's  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography).  In  1770,  Patrick 
Calhoun  married  (von  Hoist,  p.  8)  Martha  Caldwell,  who,  says  John  S.  Jenkins  in  his  Life 
of  John  Caldwell  Calhoun  (p.  21),  was  a  daughter  of  a  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian,  who, 
according  to  Tucker,  was  an  emigrant  from  Ireland. 

6  Henry  Clay  has  been  classed  with  the  Scotch-Irish  by  Mr.  Elbert  Hubbard. 
6  Lodge,  Daniel  Webster,  p.  5  ;  Curtis,  Life  of  Daniel  Webster,  vol.  i.,  p.  2. 


p-  tf 


CHAPTER  IV 

NEW  ENGLAND  NOT  THE  BIRTHPLACE  OF  AMERICAN 

LIBERTY 

ANOTHER  instance  of  the  effect  of  continuous  advertising  by  New 
England's  historians  of  the  superlative  and  exclusive  patriotism  of 
her  sons  may  be  noted  in  the  claims  so  frequently  made,  that  the  Ameri- 
can people  were  first  prepared  for  the  idea  of  resistance  to  the  arbitrary 
measures  of  Great  Britain,  and  for  independence,  by  a  few  of  the  citizens  of 
Massachusetts.  These  claims  seem  first  to  have  been  given  prominence  by 
the  discussion  that  arose  among  some  of  the  surviving  leaders  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary period,  in  1817  and  1818,  upon  the  appearance  of  William  Wirt's 
Life  of  Patrick  Henry.  On  page  41  of  that  book,1  the  biographer  cites 
Thomas  Jefferson  as  saying  that  "  Mr.  Henry  certainly  gave  the  first  impulse 
to  the  ball  of  the  Revolution." 9 

This  statement  by  Mr.  Wirt  led  to  several  appeals  being  made  to  Mr. 
Jefferson  by  correspondents  from  New  England  for  its  verification  ;  and  in 
answering  such  communications,  its  distinguished  author  uniformly  dis- 
claimed any  thought  of  the  general  application  of  his  remark  to  the  country 
at  large,  and  very  properly  limited  its  range  to  the  development  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary movement  within  his  own  State.  ' 

The  spirit  of  sectional  pride  had  been  aroused,  however,  and  an  exten- 
sive epistolary  discussion  followed,  in  which  some  of  the  foremost  citizens 
of  the  Republic  took  part.  New  England's  chief  advocate  was  John  Adams, 
doubtless  the  original  "  Honest  John "  of  American  politics.  With  his 
natural  garrulousness,  he  had  written  at  great  length  the  history  of  the  origin 
of  independence  in  Massachusetts,  going  into  minute  detail  to  show  how  it 
all  developed  from  the  Boston  speech  made  by  James  Otis  in  1761.  While 
Mr.  Adams's  report  of  and  commentary  upon  this  famous  argument,  written 
so  many  years  after  it  occurred,  reminds  the  reader  somewhat  of  the  elo- 
quent and  lengthy  speeches  which  the  Roman  and  mediaeval  historians  put 
into  the  mouths  of  warrior  heroes  about  to  engage  in  some  great  battle,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  general  correctness  of  his  statements  regarding  the 
effect  of  Otis's  words  in  crystallizing  public  sentiment  in  Massachusetts  and 
turning  it  definitely  against  the  encroaching  tendencies  of  Great  Britain's 
commercial  policy.  It  goes  without  saying,  that  the  beginning  of  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  John  Adams  dates  from  that  time.  His  description  of 
the  incident,  given  in  a  letter  to  William  Tudor,  written  March  29,  181 7, 
begins  as  follows 3  : 

The  scene  is  the  Council  Chamber  in  the  old  Town  House  in  Boston. 
The  date  is  in  the  month  of  February,  1761.     .     .     . 

55 


56  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

In  this  chamber,  round  a  grate  fire,  were  seated  five  Judges  with  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Hutchinson  at  their  head  as  Chief  Justice,  all  arrayed  in 
their  new  fresh,  rich  robes  of  scarlet  English  broadcloth  ;  in  their  large 
cambric  bands,  and  immense  judicial  wigs.  In  this  chamber  were  seated 
at  a  long  table  all  the  barristers-at-law  of  Boston,  and  of  the  neighboring 
county  of  Middlesex,  in  gowns,  bands,  and  tie  wigs.  ...  In  this  chamber 
you  have  now  the  stage  and  the  scenery ;  next  follows  a  narrative  of  the 
subject.     .     .     . 

When  the  British  ministry  received  from  General  Amherst  his  despatches 
announcing  the  conquest  of  Montreal,  and  the  consequent  annihilation  of 
the  French  government  in  America,  in  1759,  they  immediately  conceived  the 
design  and  took  the  resolution  of  conquering  the  English  colonies,  and  sub- 
jecting them  to  the  unlimited  authority  of  Parliament.  With  this  view  and 
intention  they  sent  orders  and  instructions  to  the  collector  of  customs  in 
Boston,  Mr.  Charles  Paxton,  to  apply  to  the  civil  authority  for  writs  of  assist- 
ance, to  enable  the  custom-house  officers,  tide-waiters,  land-waiters,  and  all, 
to  command  all  sheriffs  and  constables  to  attend  and  aid  them  in  breaking 
open  houses,  stores,  shops,  cellars,  ships,  bales,  trunks,  chests,  casks,  pack- 
ages of  all  sorts,  to  search  for  goods,  wares,  and  merchandises,  which  had 
been  imported  against  the  prohibition  or  without  paying  taxes  imposed  by 
certain  acts  of  Parliament,  called  the  acts  of  trade.     .     .     . 

Now  for  the  actors  and  performers.  Mr.  Gridley  argued  with  his  charac- 
teristic learning,  ingenuity,  and  dignity.  .  .  .  Mr.  Thacher  followed  him 
on  the  other  side,  and  argued  with  the  softness  of  manners,  the  ingenuity 
and  cool  reasoning,  which  were  remarkable  in  his  amiable  character. 

But  Otis  was  a  flame  of  fire  ! — with  a  promptitude  of  classical  allusions, 
a  depth  of  research,  a  rapid  summary  of  historical  dates  and  events,  a  pro- 
fusion of  legal  authorities,  a  prophetic  glance  of  his  eye  into  futurity,  and  a 
torrent  of  impetuous  eloquence,  he  hurried  away  everything  before  him. 
American  Independence  was  then  and  there  born  ;  the  seeds  of  patriots  and 
heroes  were  then  and  there  sown,  to  defend  the  vigorous  youth,  the  non  sine 
Diis  animosus  infans.  Every  man  of  a  crowded  audience  appeared  to  me  to 
go  away,  as  I  did,  ready  to  take  arms  against  Writs  of  Assistance.  Then  and 
there  was  the  first  scene  of  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  claims  of  Great 
Britain.  Then  and  there  the  child  Independence  was  born.  In  fifteen 
years,  namely,  in  1776,  he  grew  up  to  manhood,  and  declared  himself  free.* 

After  reading  Mr.  Wirt's  Life  of  Patrick  Henry y  and  comparing  the  date 
of  his  famous  speech  before  the  Virginia  Assembly  with  that  of  James  Otis's 
argument  against  the  Writs  of  Assistance,  Mr.  Adams  valiantly  took  up  his 
pen  in  defence  of  the  honor  of  his  native  State,  and  at  once  indited  a  notice 
of  infringement  to  the  panegyrist  of  the  Virginia  orator  in  this  fashion  * : 

I  envy  none  of  the  well-merited  glories  of  Virginia,  or  any  of  her  sages 
or  heroes.  But,  Sir,  I  am  jealous,  very  jealous,  of  the  honor  of  Massachu- 
setts. 

The  resistance  to  the  British  system  for  subjugating  the  colonies  began  in 
1760,  and  in  the  month  of  February,  1761,  James  Otis  electrified  the  town  of 
Boston,  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  whole  continent  more 
than  Patrick  Henry  ever  did  in  the  whole  course  of  his  life.  If  we  must 
have  panegyric  and  hyperbole,  I  must  say  that  if  Mr.  Henry  was  Demos- 
thenes and  Mr.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Cicero,  James  Otis  was  Isaiah  and  Eze- 
kiel  united.8 


The  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  57 

Basing  chiefly  on  this,  and  on  other  hasty  and  ill-considered  statements  of 
a  like  tenor,  made  at  about  the  same  time,  New  England's  historians,  as  a  rule, 
have  since  accepted  as  final  and  authoritative  this  claim  of  her  foremost 
Revolutionary  statesman  as  to  the  beginnings  in  America  of  resistance  to  the 
repressive  measures  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  with  one  voice  they  ascribe  to 
Massachusetts,  and  to  Massachusetts  alone,  the  inauguration  of  the  move- 
ment which  led  to  final  independence. 

That  the  deliberate  judgment  of  Adams  did  not  confirm  the  drawing  of 
such  a  broad  conclusion  from  the  statement  first  put  forth  by  himself  under 
the  impulse  of  feelings  aroused  by  wounded  State  pride,  may  be  reasonably 
demonstrated  by  an  examination  of  some  of  his  later  writings. 

As  tending  to  show  this  more  impartial  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
amiable  and  impulsive  Adams,  his  correspondence  with  Madison  in  the  same 
year  may  be  cited,  in  which  some  observations  of  the  latter  afford  a  convincing 
proof,  as  well  of  Adams's  ultimately  just  conception  as  of  the  insufficiency 
of  any  view  of  the  matter  in  which  the  range  is  limited  to  individuals. 
Madison's  letter  to  Adams  of  August  7,  1818,  is  in  part  as  follows7 : 

Your  remark  is  very  just  on  the  subject  of  Independence.  It  was  not 
the  offspring  of  a  particular  man  or  a  particular  moment.  .  .  .  Our 
forefathers  brought  with  them  the  germ  of  Independence  in  the  principle  of 
self-taxation.     Circumstances  unfolded  and  perfected  it. 

The  first  occasion  which  aroused  this  principle  was,  if  I  can  trust  my 
recollection,  the  projected  union  at  Albany  in  1754,  when  the  proposal  of 
the  British  Government  to  reimburse  its  advances  for  the  colonies  by  a  par- 
liamentary tax  on  them  was  met  by  the  letter  from  Dr.  Franklin  to  Governor 
Shirley,  pointing  out  the  unconstitutionality,  the  injustice,  and  the  impolicy 
of  such  a  tax. 

The  opposition  and  discussions  produced  by  the  Stamp  and  subsequent 
Acts  of  Parliament,  made  another  stage  in  the  growth  of  Independence.    .   .    . 

Franklin's  letters  to  Governor  Shirley  written  in  December,  1754,  to 
which  reference  is  made  by  Madison,  contain  such  expressions  as  these  8 : 

I  apprehend  that  excluding  the  people  of  the  colonies  from  all  share 
in  the  choice  of  the  grand  council  will  give  extreme  dissatisfaction,  as  well 
as  the  taxing  them  by  act  of  Parliament,  where  they  have  no  represen- 
tation.    .     .     . 

That  it  is  supposed  an  undoubted  right  of  Englishmen  not  to  be  taxed 
but  by  their  own  consent,  given  through  their  representatives. 

That  the  colonies  have  no  representatives  in  Parliament. 

That  to  propose  taxing  them  by  Parliament,  and  refuse  them  the  liberty 
of  choosing  a  representative  council  to  meet  in  the  colonies  and  consider  and 
judge  of  the  necessity  of  any  general  tax  and  the  quantum,  shows  a  suspicion 
of  their  loyalty  to  the  Crown,  or  of  their  regard  for  their  country,  or  of  their 
common  sense  and  understanding  which  they  have  not  deserved. 

In  Pennsylvania,  the  matter  of  taxation  had  been  a  constant  source  of 
dispute  between  the  Assembly  and  the  Proprietary  government  for  many 
years  prior  to  1760.     In  that  State,  more  than  ten  years  before  the  battle  of 


58  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Lexington,  an  armed  uprising  took  place  on  the  part  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
against  the  principle  of  taxation  without  representation  or  protection. 

The  inciting  causes  of  this  hostile  demonstration  against  the  provincial 
government  of  Pennsylvania  grew  out  of  the  continued  and  studied  neglect, 
by  the  Quaker  oligarchy  then  controlling  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  of  that 
primary  essential  of  all  organized  governments,  namely,  the  ability  and  dis- 
position to  defend  its  citizens  against  the  murderous  invasions  of  an  armed 
foe.  The  Quaker  government  not  only  failed  to  furnish  protection  to  its 
citizens,  but  made  a  virtue  of  its  own  shortcomings  in  that  respect. 

Along  the  thinly  settled  borders,  in  1762-63,  two  thousand  persons  had 
been  killed  or  carried  off,  and  nearly  an  equal  number  of  families  driven 
from  their  homes.  "  The  frontier  people  of  Pennsylvania,"  says  Parkman, 
"  goaded  to  desperation  by  long-continued  suffering,  were  divided  between 
rage  against  the  Indians,  and  resentment  against  the  Quakers,  who  had 
yielded  them  cold  sympathy  and  inefficient  aid.  The  horror  and  fear,  grief 
and  fury,  with  which  these  men  looked  upon  the  mangled  remains  of  friends 
and  relatives,  set  language  at  defiance."  On  one  occasion,  the  frontiersmen 
sent  to  Philadelphia  a  wagon  laden  with  the  mangled  corpses  of  their  friends 
and  relatives,  who  had  fallen  by  Indian  butchery.  These  were  carried  along 
the  streets,  with  many  people  following,  cursing  the  Indians,  and  also  the 
Quakers  because  they  would  not  join  in  war  for  the  destruction  of  the  sav- 
ages. But  the  hideous  spectacle  failed  of  the  intended  effect,  and  the  As- 
sembly still  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  entreaties  for  more  effective  aid.  The 
Scotch- Irish  of  the  frontier  were  the  chief  sufferers  from  the  depredations 
of  the  Indians.  They  were  of  a  rude  and  hardy  stamp, — hunters,  scouts, 
rangers,  Indian  traders,  and  backwoods  farmers, — who  had  grown  up  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  and  been  trained  under  all  the  influences  of  the  war- 
like frontier.  They  fiercely  complained  that  they  were  interposed  as  a 
barrier  between  the  rest  of  the  province  and  a  ferocious  enemy,  and  that 
they  were  sacrificed  to  the  safety  of  men  who  looked  with  indifference  on 
their  miseries,  and  lost  no  opportunity  to  extenuate  and  smooth  away  the 
cruelties  of  their  destroyers. 

Along  the  western  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  in 
the  summer  of  1763,  terror  reigned  supreme.  Indian  scalping  parties  were 
ranging  everywhere,  laying  waste  the  settlements,  destroying  the  harvests, 
and  butchering  men,  women,  and  children,  with  ruthless  fury.  Many  hun- 
dreds of  wretched  fugitives  flocked  for  refuge  to  Carlisle  and  the  other 
towns  of  the  border,  bringing  tales  of  inconceivable  horror.  Strong  parties 
of  armed  men,  who  went  out  to  reconnoitre  the  country,  found  every  habi- 
tation reduced  to  cinders,  and  the  half-burned  bodies  of  the  inmates  lying 
among  the  smouldering  ruins  ;  while  here  and  there  was  seen  some  miserable 
wretch,  scalped  and  tomahawked,  but  still  alive  and  conscious.  As  the 
summer  passed,  the  frontiers  of  Cumberland  County  were  completely  aban- 
doned by  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers,  many  of  whom,  not  content  with  seeking. 


The  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  59 

refuge  at  Carlisle,  continued  their  flight  to  the  eastward,  and  pushed  on  to 
Lancaster  and  Philadelphia.  Carlisle  presented  a  most  deplorable  spectacle. 
A  multitude  of  the  refugees,  unable  to  find  shelter  in  the  town,  had  en- 
camped in  the  woods,  or  on  the  adjacent  fields,  erecting  huts  of  branches 
and  bark,  and  living  on  such  charity  as  the  slender  means  of  the  towns- 
people could  supply.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  dated  at 
Carlisle,  July  5,  1763  (Hazard's  Pennsylvania  Register,  iv.,  390)  : 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  terror  which  prevailed  from  house  to  house, 
from  town  to  town.  The  road  was  near  covered  with  women  and  children 
flying  to  Lancaster  and  Philadelphia.  The  pastor  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
went  at  the  head  of  his  congregation,  to  protect  and  encourage  them  on  the 
way.  A  few  retired  to  the  breastworks  for  safety.  The  alarm  once  given 
could  not  be  appeased. 

The  letter  from  which  the  following  extract  is  taken  appears  in  the 
Pennsylvania  Gazette,  No.  1804,  the  letter  being  dated  at  Carlisle,  July  12, 
1763: 

I  embrace  this  first  leisure  since  yesterday  morning  to  transmit  you  a 
brief  account  of  our  present  state  of  affairs  here,  which  indeed  is  very  dis- 
tressing ;  every  day,  almost,  affording  some  fresh  object  to  awaken  the  compas- 
sion, alarm  the  fears,  or  kindle  into  resentment  and  vengeance  every  sensible 
breast,  while  flying  families,  obliged  to  abandon  house  and  possessions,  to 
save  their  lives  by  an  hasty  escape  ;  mourning  widows,  bewailing  their  hus- 
bands surprised  and  massacred  by  savage  rage  ;  tender  parents,  lamenting 
the  fruits  of  their  own  bodies,  cropt  in  the  very  bloom  of  youth  by  a  barbar- 
ous hand  ;  with  relations  and  acquaintances  pouring  out  sorrow  for  murdered 
neighbors  and  friends,  present  a  varied  scene  of  mingled  distress. 

To-day  a  British  vengeance  begins  to  arise  in  the  breasts  of  our  men. 
One  of  them  that  fell  from  among  the  twelve,  as  he  was  just  expiring,  said 
to  one  of  his  fellows,  "  Here,  take  my  gun,  and  kill  the  first  Indian  you  see, 
and  all  shall  be  well." 

In  October,  1763,  several  companies  of  Rangers  were  formed  by  the 
Scotch-Irish  in  Lancaster  and  Cumberland  counties,  for  the  purpose  of 
patrolling  the  borders  and  giving  such  protection  as  they  were  able  to  the 
scattered  inhabitants.  One  of  these  companies,  starting  from  Paxtang  in 
Lancaster  County,  marched  to  the  relief  of  the  Connecticut  settlers  at  Wyo- 
ming, but  arrived  two  days  after  that  settlement  had  been  burned,  and  its 
inhabitants  killed,  imprisoned,  or  driven  off  by  the  Indians.  They  buried 
the  dead  bodies  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  the  massacre,  and  returned  to 
the  southern  settlements.  The  Quakers,  who  seemed  resolved  that  they 
would  neither  defend  the  people  of  the  frontier  nor  allow  them  to  defend 
themselves,  vehemently  inveighed  against  the  several  expeditions  up  the 
Susquehanna,  and  denounced  them  as  seditious  and  murderous.  "  Urged 
by  their  blind  prejudice  in  favor  of  the  Indians,"  says  Parkman,  "they 
insisted  that  the  bands  of  the  Upper  Susquehanna  were  friendly  to  the  Eng- 
lish ;  whereas,  with  the  single  exception  of  a  few  Moravian  converts  near 
Wyoming,  who  had  not  been  molested  by  the  whites,  there  could  be  no 


60  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

rational  doubt  that  these  savages  nourished  a  rancorous  and  malignant 
hatred  against  the  province.  But  the  Quakers,  removed  by  their  situation 
from  all  fear  of  the  tomahawk,  securely  vented  their  spite  against  the  bor- 
derers, and  doggedly  closed  their  ears  to  the  truth."  Meanwhile,  the  people 
of  the  frontier  besieged  the  Assembly  with  petitions  for  relief  ;  but  little 
heed  was  given  to  their  complaints. 

At  this  time,  the  provincial  government  had  the  custody  of  some  twenty 
Iroquois  Indians,  who  were  seated  on  Conestoga  Manor,  in  Lancaster  County, 
not  far  from  the  Susquehanna.  The  men  spent  part  of  their  time  in  hunting, 
and  lounged  away  the  rest  of  it  in  idleness  and  dissipation.  They  lived  by 
beggary,  and  the  sale  of  brooms,  baskets,  and  wooden  ladles,  made  by  the 
women.  In  the  immediate  vicinity  they  were  commonly  regarded  as  vaga- 
bonds, but  in  the  neighboring  settlements  they  were  looked  upon  as  secretly 
abetting  the  enemy,  acting  as  spies,  giving  shelter  to  scalping  parties,  and 
aiding  them  in  their  depredations.  Their  chief  had  repeatedly  threatened 
to  kill  various  white  men  and  women  of  the  neighborhood. 

About  the  middle  of  December,  word  was  brought  to  the  settlers  living 
at  Paxtang  (now  Harrisburg),  that  an  Indian,  known  to  have  committed 
depredations  in  the  vicinity,  had  been  traced  to  Conestoga.  Matthew  Smith, 
a  man  of  influence  and  popularity  among  his  associates,  called  together  a 
number  of  the  Paxtang  Rangers,  and  led  them  to  the  Conestoga  settlement. 
One  of  the  men  saw  an  Indian  issuing  from  a  house,  and  thought  that  he 
recognized  him  as  the  savage  who  had  killed  his  own  mother.  Firing 
his  rifle,  he  brought  the  Indian  down.  Then,  with  a  loud  shout,  the  furious 
mob  rushed  into  the  cabins,  and  killed  all  the  Indians  whom  they  found 
there,  some  six  in  number.  Fourteen  of  the  Conestogas  managed  to  escape, 
and,  fleeing  to  Lancaster,  were  given  a  place  of  refuge  in  the  county  jail. 
While  there,  word  was  again  carried  to  the  Paxtang  men  that  an  Indian, 
known  to  have  murdered  the  relatives  of  one  of  their  number,  was  among 
those  who  had  received  the  protection  of  the  Lancaster  magistrates.  This 
again  aroused  a  feeling  of  rage  and  resentment  amongst  the  Rangers.  On 
December  27th  some  fifty  of  them,  under  the  leadership  of  Lazarus  Stewart, 
marched  to  Lancaster,  broke  open  the  jail,  and  with  the  fury  of  a  mob 
massacred  every  Indian  contained  therein,  man,  woman,  and  child. 

This  is  said  by  some  to  have  been  the  first  instance  of  the  operation  of 
lynch  law  in  America  ;  and  many  blame  the  Scotch-Irish  for  its  introduction. 
Doubtless  the  odium  is  merited  ;  as  a  similar  incident  occurred  nearly 
twenty  years  later,  when  some  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Washington  County, 
Pennsylvania,  under  far  less  extenuating  circumstances,  murdered  in  cold 
blood  upwards  of  ninety  men,  women,  and  children  of  the  community  of 
Moravian  Indians  at  Gnadenhutten,  west  of  the  Ohio.  This  atavistic  ten- 
dency is  further  illustrated  in  our  own  day  by  the  lynching  of  negroes  in 
the  South,  the  frequency  of  which  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
southern  white  population  is  chiefly  of  Scotch-Irish  descent ;  these  examples 


The  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  61 

of  perverted  administration  of  justice  finding  many  parallels  in  the  annals 
of  mediaeval  Scotland.  The  family  feuds  of  Kentucky,  which  for  the  most 
part  seem  peculiar  to  families  bearing  Scottish  names,  may  also  be  cited  as 
examples  and  counterparts  in  America  of  the  clan  and  family  feuds  formerly 
so  common  in  Scotland.  The  case  of  the  Regulators  of  North  Carolina  is 
another  well-known  instance  in  American  history  of  the  Scotch-Irish  back- 
woodsmen taking  the  administration  of  justice  into  their  own  hands,  when 
their  rulers  had  failed  to  provide  for  them  a  safe  government. 

But  the  uprising  of  the  "  Paxtang  Boys  "  was  more  than  that  of  a  mere 
lynching  mob,  bent  on  the  immediate  extermination  of  all  redskins  who 
came  within  its  reach.  It  was  a  protest,  bloody  and  atrocious,  it  is  true, 
made  by  the  harassed  frontiersmen  against  the  cowardly  policy  of  the 
Quaker  government.  The  Scotch-Irish  had  suffered  grievously  from  the 
Indian  outrages,  caused  in  a  great  measure  by  the  neglect  of  that  government 
to  provide  adequately  for  the  defence  of  the  province.  They  had  repeatedly 
appealed  to  the  Assembly,  and  their  petitions  for  help  had  been  rejected 
with  contempt.  They  were  unable  to  bring  about  a  change  for  the  better,  as 
all  the  political  power  was  in  the  hands  of  a  small  number  of  people.  They 
determined  finally  to  appeal  to  force,  and,  in  doing  so,  thought  in  their  first 
blind  rage  that  they  might  strike  a  blow  at  the  Quakers,  and  at  the  same 
time  rid  themselves  of  probable  enemies,  by  killing  the  Quakers'  wards.  The 
Assembly,  they  argued,  had  shown  infinitely  more  consideration  for  the 
feelings  of  the  Indians  than  it  had  for  the  wounds  of  the  Scotch-Irish.  It 
had  voted  the  savages  large  sums  of  money  as  presents,  and  indirectly  en- 
abled them  to  carry  on  an  exterminating  warfare  against  the  whites  ;  while 
at  the  same  time  it  refused  to  make  any  proper  defence  of  the  province 
against  the  marauders.  If  the  Quakers  were  unmoved  by  the  killing  of 
hundreds  of  their  Scotch-Irish  fellow  citizens,  whom  they  hated,  perhaps 
they  could  be  made  to  realize  the  condition  of  the  frontiers  by  the  killing  of 
their  own  Indian  wards,  whom  they  loved  and  cherished. 

The  Paxtang  Rangers,  in  their  bitter  resentment  against  the  government, 
lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  it  is  better  for  twenty  guilty  men  to  escape  than 
for  one  innocent  man  to  suffer.  Their  own  miseries  made  them  believe  in 
all  sincerity  that  the  only  good  Indian  is  a  dead  one  ;  and  that  they  them- 
selves were  the  agents  appointed  of  Providence  to  make  all  Indians  good. 

The  Reverend  John  Elder  was  captain  of  the  Paxtang  Rangers,  and 
minister  of  Paxtang  and  Derry  congregations,  from  which  the  Rangers  were 
enlisted.  He  tried  in  vain  to  dissuade  his  men  from  going  to  Conestoga  on 
their  bloody  errand,  and  desisted  only  after  they  had  broken  away  from  him 
in  anger.  On  the  27th  December,  1763,  the  reverend  captain  wrote  to 
Governor  Penn  as  follows  : 

The  storm  which  had  been  so  long  gathering,  has  at  length  exploded. 
Had  Government  removed  the  Indians  from  Conestoga,  as  was  frequently 
urged  without  success,  this  painful  catastrophe  might  have  been  avoided. 


62       ^         The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

What  could  I  do  with  men  heated  to  madness  ?  All  that  I  could  do  was 
done.  I  expostulated,  but  life  and  reason  were  set  at  defiance,  and  yet 
the  men,  in  private  life,  were  virtuous  and  respectable  —  not  cruel,  but 
mild  and  merciful.  .  .  .  The  time  will  arrive  when  each  palliating  cir- 
cumstance will  be  calmly  weighed.  This  deed,  magnified  into  the  blackest 
of  crimes,  shall  be  considered  one  of  those  youthful  ebullitions  of  wrath 
caused  by  momentary  excitement,  to  which  human  infirmity  is  subjected. 

The  different  proclamations  of  Governor  Penn,  and  the  action  of  the 
Assembly  relative  to  this  transaction,  created  intense  excitement  on  the 
frontiers  of  Lancaster,  Berks,  and  Northampton  counties,  and  meetings  were 
held  at  which  the  provincial  authorities  were  severely  condemned.  Repre- 
sentatives were  appointed  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  and  demand  redress 
and  protection.  Accompanying  them  were  large  delegations  from  the 
"back  inhabitants." 

The  approach  of  the  frontiersmen  caused  great  uneasiness  in  Philadel- 
phia. Their  force  was  magnified  by  rumor  to  many  thousands.  Six  com- 
panies of  foot,  one  of  artillery,  and  two  troops  of  horse  were  formed  to 
oppose  them  :  and  some  thousands  of  the  inhabitants,  including  many 
Quakers,  were  prepared  to  render  assistance,  in  case  an  attempt  should  be 
made  upon  the  town.  The  barracks,  which  were  under  the  protection  of  the 
regular  troops,  were  fortified,  several  works  being  thrown  up  about  them, 
and  eight  pieces  of  cannon  mounted. 

On  arriving  at  Germantown,  the  Paxtang  men  were  met  by  commission- 
ers to  whom  they  made  known  their  grievances.  Colonel  Matthew  Smith 
and  James  Gibson  then  accompanied  the  commissioners  to  Philadelphia, 
where  they  met  the  Governor  and  the  Assembly,  and  presented  their  de- 
mands. In  the  meantime,  with  few  exceptions,  the  frontiersmen  who  accom^ 
panied  them  returned  home. 

The  memorial  of  Gibson  and  Smith  was  sustained  by  a  "  Declaration  " 
bearing  fifteen  hundred  signatures. 

In  a  letter  written  at  this  time,  Governor  Penn  says  :  "  We  expect  a 
thousand  of  back  inhabitants  in  town,  to  insist  upon  the  Assembly  granting 
their  request  with  regard  to  the  increase  of  representatives,  to  put  them  upon  an 
equality  with  the  rest  of  the  counties.  They  have  from  time  to  time  presented 
several  petitions  for  the  purpose,  which  have  been  always  disregarded  by 
the  House  ;  for  which  purpose  they  intend  to  come  in  person.  I  am  of 
opinion  they  [the  Assembly]  will  never  come  into  [agreement],  as  it  will 
be  the  means  of  lessening  the  power  of  the  governing  few  in  this  Province." 

The  petition  presented  by  these  Scotch-Irish  citizens,  in  enumerating 
their  grievances,  mentions  as  the  chief  one  the  fact  that  they  were  not 
permitted  a  proportionate  share  in  the  government  of  the  province.  This 
petition  is  printed  in  full  in  the  Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  ix.,  pp. 
138-145,  and  its  principal  contents  are  as  follows  : 

We,  Matthew  Smith  and  James  Gibson,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  his 


The  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  63 

Majesty's  faithful  and  loyal  subjects,  the  inhabitants  of  the  frontier  counties 
of  Lancaster,  York,  Cumberland,  Berks,  and  Northampton,  humbly  beg 
leave  to  remonstrate  and  lay  before  you  the  following  grievances,  which  we 
submit  to  your  wisdom  for  redress. 

First,  We  apprehend  that,  as  freemen  and  English  subjects,  we  have  an 
indisputable  title  to  the  same  privileges  and  immunities  with  his  Majesty's 
other  subjects  who  reside  in  the  interior  counties  of  Philadelphia,  Chester, 
and  Bucks,  and  therefore  ought  not  to  be  excluded  from  an  equal  share 
with  them  in  the  very  important  privilege  of  legislation  :  nevertheless,  con- 
trary to  the  Proprietor's  charter,  and  the  acknowledged  principles  of  com- 
mon justice  and  equity,  our  five  counties  are  restrained  from  electing  more 
than  ten  representatives,  viz.,  four  for  Lancaster,  two  for  York,  two  for 
Cumberland,  one  for  Berks,  and  one  for  Northampton,  while  the  three  coun- 
ties and  city  of  Philadelphia,  Chester,  and  Bucks  elect  twenty-six.  This 
we  humbly  conceive  is  oppressive,  unequal,  and  unjust,  the  cause  of  many 
of  our  grievances,  and  an  infringement  of  our  natural  privileges  of  freedom 
and  equality ;  wherefore,  we  humbly  pray  that  we  may  no  longer  be 
deprived  of  an  equal  number  with  the  three  aforesaid  counties,  to  represent 
us  in  Assembly." 

Secondly,  We  understand  that  a  bill  is  now  before  the  House  of  As- 
sembly, wherein  it  is  provided  that  such  persons  as  shall  be  charged  with 
killing  any  Indians  in  Lancaster  county,  shall  not  be  tried  in  the  county 
where  the  fact  was  committed,  but  in  the  counties  of  Philadelphia,  Chester, 
or  Bucks.  This  is  manifestly  to  deprive  British  subjects  of  their  known 
privileges,  to  cast  an  eternal  reproach  upon  whole  counties,  as  if  they  were 
unfit  to  serve  their  country  in  the  quality  of  jurymen,  and  to  contradict  the 
well-known  laws  of  the  British  nation  in  a  point  whereon  life,  liberty,  and 
security  essentially  depend,  namely,  that  of  being  tried  by  their  equals,  in 
the  neighborhood  where  their  own,  their  accusers,  and  the  witnesses'  char- 
acter and  credit,  with  the  circumstances  of  the  fact  are  best  known,  and 
instead  thereof  putting  their  lives  in  the  hands  of  strangers,  who  may  as 
justly  be  suspected  of  partiality  to  as  the  frontier  counties  can  be  of  preju- 
dices against  Indians.     .     .     . 

Thirdly,  During  the  late  and  present  Indian  War,  the  frontiers  of  this 
Province  have  been  repeatedly  attacked  and  ravaged  by  skulking  parties  of 
the  Indians,  who  have  with  the  most  savage  cruelty  murdered  men,  women, 
and  children,  without  distinction,  and  have  reduced  near  a  thousand  fam- 
ilies to  the  most  extreme  distress.  It  grieves  us  to  the  very  heart  to  see 
such  of  our  frontier  inhabitants  as  have  escaped  savage  fury  with  the  loss  of 
their  parents,  their  children,  their  wives,  or  relatives,  left  destitute  by  the 
public,  and  exposed  to  the  most  cruel  poverty  and  wretchedness,  while 
upwards  of  an  hundred  and  twenty  of  these  savages,  who  are  with  great 
reason  suspected  of  being  guilty  of  these  horrid  barbarities,  under  the  mask 
of  friendship,  have  procured  themselves  to  be  taken  under  the  protection  of 
the  Government  with  a  view  to  elude  the  fury  of  the  brave  relatives  of  the 
murdered,  and  are  now  maintained  at  the  public  expense.  Some  of  these 
Indians,  now  in  the  Barracks  at  Philadelphia,  are  confessedly  a  part  of  the 
Wyalusing  Indians,  which  tribe  is  now  at  war  with  us,  and  the  others  are  the 
Moravian  Indians,  who,  living  with  us  under  the  cloak  of  friendship,  carried 
on  a  correspondence  with  our  known  enemies  on  the  Great  Island.  We 
cannot  but  observe,  with  sorrow  and  indignation,  that  some  persons  in  this 
Province  are  at  pains  to  extenuate  the  barbarous  cruelties  practised  by  these 
savages  on  our  murdered  brethren  and  relatives,  which  are  shocking  to 


64  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

human  nature,  and  must  pierce  every  heart  but  that  of  the  hardened  perpe- 
trators or  their  abettors  ;  nor  is  it  less  distressing  to  hear  others  pleading 
that  although  the  Wyalusing  tribe  is  at  war  with  us,  yet  that  part  of  it  which 
is  under  the  protection  of  the  Government,  may  be  friendly  to  the  English, 
and  innocent.  In  what  nation  under  the  sun  was  it  ever  the  custom  that 
when  a  neighboring  nation  took  up  arms,  not  an  individual  should  be 
touched  but  only  the  persons  that  offered  hostilities  ?  Who  ever  proclaimed 
war  with  a  part  of  a  nation,  and  not  with  the  whole  ?  Had  these  Indians 
disapproved  of  the  perfidy  of  their  tribe,  and  been  willing  to  cultivate  and 
preserve  friendship  with  us,  why  did  they  not  give  notice  of  the  war  before 
it  happened,  as  it  is  known  to  be  the  result  of  long  deliberations,  and  a  pre- 
concerted combination  among  them  ?  Why  did  they  not  leave  their  tribe 
immediately,  and  come  among  us  before  there  was  ground  to  suspect  them, 
or  war  was  actually  waged  with  their  tribe  ?  No,  they  stayed  amongst 
them,  were  privy  to  their  murders  and  ravages,  until  we  had  destroyed 
their  provisions,  and  when  they  could  no  longer  subsist  at  home,  they  come, 
not  as  deserters  but  as  friends,  to  be  maintained  through  the  winter,  that 
they  may  be  able  to  scalp  and  butcher  us  in  the  spring. 

And  as  to  the  Moravian  Indians,  there  are  strong  grounds  at  least  to 
suspect  their  friendship,  as  it  is  known  that  they  carried  on  a  correspond- 
ence with  our  enemies  on  the  Great  Island.  We  killed  three  Indians  going 
from  Bethlehem  to  the  Great  Island  with  blankets,  ammunition,  and  pro- 
visions, which  is  an  undeniable  proof  that  the  Moravian  Indians  were  in 
confederacy  with  our  open  enemies  ;  and  we  cannot  but  be  filled  with 
indignation  to  hear  this  action  of  ours  painted  in  the  most  odious  and 
detestable  colors,  as  if  we  had  inhumanly  murdered  our  guides,  who  pre- 
served us  from  perishing  in  the  woods,  when  we  only  killed  three  of  our 
known  enemies,  who  attempted  to  shoot  us  when  we  surprised  them.  And, 
besides  all  this,  we  understand  that  one  of  these  very  Indians  is  proved,  by 
the  oath  of  Stinson's  widow,  to  be  the  very  person  that  murdered  her  hus- 
band. How,  then,  comes  it  to  pass,  that  he  alone,  of  all  the  Moravian 
Indians,  should  join  the  enemy  to  murder  that  family  ?  Or  can  it  be  sup- 
posed that  any  enemy  Indians,  contrary  to  their  known  custom  of  making 
war,  should  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  a  settled  country  to  burn,  plunder, 
and  murder  the  inhabitants,  and  not  molest  any  houses  in  their  return,  or 
ever  be  seen  or  heard  of  ?  Or  how  can  we  account  for  it,  that  no  ravages 
have  been  committed  in  Northampton  county  since  the  removal  of  the 
Moravian  Indians,  when  the  Great  Cove  has  been  struck  since  ?  These 
things  put  it  beyond  doubt  with  us  that  the  Indians  now  at  Philadelphia  are 
his  Majesty's  perfidious  enemies,  and,  therefore,  to  protect  and  maintain 
them  at  the  public  expense,  while  our  suffering  brethren  on  the  frontiers 
are  almost  destitute  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  are  neglected  by  the  pub- 
lic, is  sufficient  to  make  us  mad  with  rage,  and  tempt  us  to  do  what  nothing 
but  the  most  violent  necessity  can  vindicate.  We  humbly  and  earnestly 
pray,  therefore,  that  those  enemies  of  his  Majesty  may  be  removed  as  soon 
as  possible  out  of  the  Province. 

Fourthly ',  We  humbly  conceive  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  maxims  of  good 
policy,  and  extremely  dangerous  to  our  frontiers,  to  suffer  any  Indians,  of 
what  tribe  soever,  to  live  within  the  inhabited  parts  of  this  Province  while 
we  are  engaged  in  an  Indian  war,  as  experience  has  taught  us  that  they  are 
all  perfidious,  and  their  claim  to  freedom  and  independency  puts  it  in  their 
power  to  act  as  spies,  to  entertain  and  give  intelligence  to  our  enemies,  and 
to  furnish  them  with  provisions  and  warlike  stores.     To  this  fatal  intercourse 


The  Birthplace  of  American   Liberty  65 

between  our  pretended  friends  and  open  enemies,  we  must  ascribe  the 
greatest  part  of  the  ravages  and  murders  that  have  been  committed  in  the 
course  of  this  and  the  last  Indian  war.  We  therefore  pray  that  this  griev- 
ance be  taken  under  consideration  and  remedied. 

Fifthly,  We  cannot  help  lamenting  that  no  provision  has  been  hitherto 
made,  that  such  of  our  frontier  inhabitants  as  have  been  wounded  in  defence 
of  the  Province,  their  lives  and  liberties,  may  be  taken  care  of,  and  cured  of 
their  wounds  at  the  public  expense.  We  therefore  pray  that  this  grievance 
may  be  redressed. 

Sixthly,  In  the  late  Indian  war,  this  Province,  with  others  of  his  Majesty's 
colonies,  gave  rewards  for  Indian  scalps,  to  encourage  the  seeking  them  in 
their  own  country,  as  the  most  likely  means  of  destroying  or  reducing  them 
to  reason,  but  no  such  encouragement  has  been  given  in  this  war,  which  has 
damped  the  spirits  of  many  brave  men,  who  are  willing  to  venture  their  lives 
in  parties  against  the  enemy.  We  therefore  pray  that  public  rewards  may 
be  proposed  for  Indian  scalps,  which  may  be  adequate  to  the  dangers 
attending  enterprises  of  this  nature. 

Seventhly,  We  daily  lament  that  numbers  of  our  nearest  and  dearest 
relatives  are  still  in  captivity  among  the  savage  heathen,  to  be  trained  up  in 
all  their  ignorance  and  barbarity,  or  to  be  tortured  to  death  with  all  the 
contrivances  of  Indian  cruelty,  for  attempting  to  make  their  escape  from 
bondage  ;  we  see  they  pay  no  regard  to  the  many  solemn  promises  they  have 
made  to  restore  our  friends  who  are  in  bondage  amongst  them.  We 
therefore  earnestly  pray  that  no  trade  may  hereafter  be  permitted  to  be 
carried  on  with  them  until  our  brethren  and  relatives  are  brought  home 
to  us. 

Eighthly,  We  complain  that  a  certain  society  of  people  in  this  Province 
[meaning  the  Quakers]  in  the  late  Indian  war,  and  at  several  treaties  held  by 
the  King's  representatives,  openly  loaded  the  Indians  with  presents,  and  that 
I[srael]  P[emberton],  a  leader  of  the  said  society,  in  defiance  of  all  government, 
not  only  abetted  our  Indian  enemies,  but  kept  up  a  private  intelligence  with 
them,  and  publicly  received  from  them  a  belt  of  wampum,  as  if  he  had  been 
our  Governor,  or  authorized  by  the  King  to  treat  with  his  enemies.  By  this 
means,  the  Indians  have  been  taught  to  despise  us  as  a  weak  and  disunited 
people,  and  from  this  fatal  source  have  arose  many  of  our  calamities  under 
which  we  groan.  We  humbly  pray,  therefore,  that  this  grievance  may  be 
redressed,  and  that  no  private  subject  be  hereafter  permitted  to  treat  with, 
or  carry  on  a  correspondence  with,  our  enemies. 

Ninthly,  we  cannot  but  observe  with  sorrow,  that  Fort  Augusta,  which 
has  been  very  expensive  to  this  Province,  has  afforded  us  but  little  assistance 
during  this  or  the  last  war.  The  men  that  were  stationed  at  that  place 
neither  helped  our  distressed  inhabitants  to  save  their  crops,  nor  did  they 
attack  our  enemies  in  their  towns,  or  patrol  on  our  frontiers.  We  humbly 
request  that  proper  measures  may  be  taken  to  make  that  garrison  more 
serviceable  to  us  in  our  distress,  if  it  can  be  done. 

N.  B.  We  are  far  from  intending  any  reflection  against  the  commanding 
officer  stationed  at  Augusta,  as  we  presume  his  conduct  was  always  directed 
by  those  from  whom  he  received  his  orders. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  ourselves,  and  by  appointment  of  a  great  number  of 
the  frontier  inhabitants. 
February  13th,  1764. 

Matthew  Smith, 
James  Gibson.  ,0 


66  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

No  action  on  the  two  memorials  was  taken  by  the  Assembly,  but  a  bill 
was  passed  granting  supplies  for  the  ensuing  campaign  ;  and  the  consequent 
military  preparations,  together  with  a  threatened  renewal  of  the  war  on  the 
part  of  the  Indians,  engrossed  the  minds  of  the  frontier  people,  and  caused 
the  excitements  of  the  winter  to  be  forgotten. 

The  nature  of  some  earlier  conflicts  between  the  Assembly  and  the  State 
Government  of  Pennsylvania  is  thus  alluded  to  by  Franklin  in  chapter  nine 
of  his  Autobiography  : 

These  public  quarrels  were  all  at  bottom  owing  to  the  Proprietaries,  our 
hereditary  governors  ;  who,  when  any  expense  was  to  be  incurred  for  the 
defence  of  their  province,  with  incredible  meanness  instructed  their  deputies 
to  pass  no  act  for  levying  the  necessary  taxes,  unless  their  vast  estates  were 
in  the  same  act  expressly  exonerated  ;  and  they  had  even  taken  the  bonds 
of  these  deputies  to  observe  such  instructions.  .  .  .  The  Assemblies  for 
three  years  held  out  against  this  injustice,  though  constrained  to  bend  at 
last. 

The  significance  of  the  contest  between  the  Assembly  and  the  Proprietary 
may  be  inferred  from  a  perusal  of  the  message  sent  to  the  Assembly  by  Gov- 
ernor Morris,  May  16,  1755,  which  charges  some  of  its  members,  among  other 
things,  with  a  desire  for  independence"  This  portion  of  the  message  may 
well  be  reproduced  in  connection  with  the  present  consideration  of  its  sub- 
ject. It  is  to  be  found  in  volume  vi.  of  the  Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania, 
at  pp.  386,  387  : 

Gentlemen  : 

When  I  summoned  You  together  on  the  Seventeenth  of  March  last  I 
was  in  Hopes  You  would  bring  with  you  Inclinations  to  promote  the  Publick 
Service  by  Granting  the  Supplies  expected  by  the  Crown  and  by  putting 
this  Province  into  a  Posture  of  Defence  ;  but  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  neither 
the  Danger  to  which  this  Country  stands  exposed,  nor  his  Majesty's  repeated 
and  affectionate  calls,  have  had  any  Weight  with  You. 

The  Bill  you  sent  me  for  striking  Twenty-Five  Thousand  Pounds  was  of 
a  more  extraordinary  Nature  than  that  I  refused  my  Assent  to  in  the  Winter 
Sessions,  as  it  gave  General  Braddock  a  Power  over  no  more  than  Five 
Thousand  Pounds,  and  subjected  the  remaining  Twenty  Thousand  and  all 
the  Surplus  of  the  Excise  for  Eleven  Years  to  come  to  the  Disposition  of 
some  of  the  Members  of  your  House,  and  to  the  Assembly  for  the  Time 
being. 

The  offering  Money  in  a  Way  and  upon  Terms  that  You  very  well 
knew  I  could  not  consistent  with  my  Duty  to  the  Crown  consent  to,  is  in  my 
Opinion  trifling  with  the  King's  Commands,  and  amounts  to  a  Refusal  to  give 
at  all,  and  I  am  satisfied  will  be  seen  in  this  Light  by  my  Superiors,  who  by 
your  Bill  above  mentioned,  which  I  shall  lay  before  them,  and  by  the  whole 
of  your  Conduct  since  You  have  been  made  acquainted  with  the  designs  of 
the  French,  will  be  convinced  that  your  Resolutions  are  and  have  been  to 
take  Advantage  of  your  Country's  Danger,  to  aggrandize  and  render  perma- 
nent your  own  Power  and  Authority,  and  to  destroy  that  of  the  Crown. 
That  it  is  for  this  Purpose  and  to  promote  your  Scheme  of  future  Independency 
You  are  grasping  at  the  Disposition  of  all  Publick  Money  and  at  the  Power 


The  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  67 

of  filling  all  the  offices  of  Government  especially  those  of  the  Revenue,  and 
when  his  Majesty  and  the  Nation  are  at  the  Expense  of  sending  Troops  for 
the  Protection  of  these  Colonies,  You  refuse  to  furnish  them  with  Provisions 
and  necessary  Carriages  tho'  your  country  is  full  of  both,  unless  You  can  at 
the  same  Time  encroach  upon  the  Rights  of  the  Crown  and  increase  your 
own  Power,  already  too  great  for  a  Branch  of  a  Subordinate  dependant 
Government  so  remote  from  the  principal  Seat  of  Power. 

In  an  address  delivered  before  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
in  1882,  upon  "  Pennsylvania's  Formative  Influence  upon  Federal 
Institutions,"  Mr.  William  A.  Wallace  presented  some  facts  which  may  well 
be  given  a  place  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation : 

The  earliest  instance  that  I  can  find  in  which  the  issue  of  no  taxation 
without  representation  was  sharply  defined  in  America  was  that  of  1740, 
between  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Provincial  Assembly.  The  city 
corporation,  consisting  of  the  mayor  and  common  council,  possessed  exten- 
sive powers  of  taxation,  and  it  was  proposed  to  take  them  away  and  vest 
them  in  commissioners  and  assessors,  to  be  elected  by  the  people.  A  bill 
for  that  purpose  was  passed  by  the  Assembly,  but  the  Governor  refused  to 
sign  it.  The  quarrel  was  really  between  the  proprietary  party  and  the  people. 
The  city  corporation  was  a  close  body,  originally  composed  of  persons  nom- 
inated by  William  Penn,  and  keeping  up  succession  by  the  election  of 
councilmen  and  aldermen  by  those  already  in  office,  so  that  the  policy  of 
the  corporation  guarded  from  the  interference  of  persons  whose  views  might 
have  differed  from  the  councilmen.  In  the  controversy  the  Assembly  struck 
the  key-note  which  sounded  thirty-six  years  afterward  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  The  ground  was  taken  that  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  city 
had  no  right  to  choose  members  of  the  city  corporation,  the  latter  should 
not  have  the  power  of  taxing  the  people  without  their  own  consent  ;  that 
the  King  claimed  no  power  of  levying  taxes  without  the  consent  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  that  there  should  be  no  taxation  without  representation.12 

This  action  was  twenty-five  years  before  the  resolutions  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  of  Virginia,  introduced  by  Patrick  Henry,  were  passed,  and, 
whilst  it  may  be  true,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  states,  that  Mr.  Henry  certainly 
gave  the  "  first  impulse  to  the  ball  of  the  Revolution  "  by  these  resolutions, 
yet  the  people  of  the  colonies  were  familiar  with  the  controversies  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  these  and  the  teachings  of  Franklin  prepared  the  public  mind 
for  its  final  attitude  of  resistance  to  the  death.  Mr.  Graham,  in  his  history 
of  the  colonies,  says  that  when  in  the  beginning  of  1764,  Lord  Granville  in- 
formed the  colonies  of  his  purpose  to  procure  an  Act  of  Parliament,  im- 
posing a  stamp  duty  on  the  colonies,  which  ultimately  was  carried  into 
execution,  and  aroused  the  patriotic  fervor  and  indignation  of  all  of  the 
people,  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  "  was  distinguished  above  all  others  by 
the  temperate,  firm,  dignified,  and  consistent  strain  of  its  debates  and  pro- 
ceedings." It  was  declared  there  that  this  proposition  was  a  deviation  from 
national  usage,  unconstitutional,  unjust,  and  unnecessary,  and  that  Parlia- 
ment had  no  right  to  tax  the  colonies  at  all.  They  recognized  the  right  of 
the  Crown  to  ask  for  supplies,  and  expressed  their  willingness  to  grant 
them,  but  utterly  denied  the  power  and  authority  of  the  ministers  and 
Parliament  to  tax  them.  Virginia  and  New  York  also  gave  positive  con- 
tradiction  to   this   claim  of   right    to   tax   the   colonies,  and   affirmed  its 


68  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

unconstitutionality.  Differing  from  Pennsylvania  in  her  dignified  silence, 
they  sent  petitions  to  both  King  and  Parliament,  but  that  of  Virginia  weakened 
its  force  by  distinguishing  between  the  power  and  the  right  to  tax,  for,  while 
denying  the  right,  the  exertion  of  the  supposed  power  was  deprecated  in  a 
manner  which  indicated  that  no  opposition  beyond  remonstrance  was  in- 
tended. They  denied  the  right,  recognized  the  power,  and  breathed  not  a 
syllable  that  implied  either  the  power  or  the  will  to  resist  the  infliction.  The 
petition  of  New  York  was  not  presented.  No  member  of  Parliament  was 
found  willing  to  present  it,  and  it  reached  England  after  the  Stamp  Act  was 
in  progress. 

Massachusetts,  on  the  contrary,  amid  her  divided  councils,  not  only  did 
not  boldly  stand  against  the  right  to  tax,  but  addressed  the  House  of  Com- 
mons by  a  petition  imploring  for  favor.  The  practical  effect  was  to  sanction 
the  pretensions  of  Parliament  to  enforce  its  right  to  enact  and  execute  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  to  place  the  hope  of  the  colonies  upon  the  lenity  and  indul- 
gence of  the  British  Government.  The  bold  and  unhesitating  declaration 
announced  in  our  Assembly  under  the  lead  of  Dickinson  and  Franklin 
against  the  right,  and  the  denial  of  the  power  by  its  record,  was  followed 
by  no  other  of  the  colonies,  but  Franklin  in  advocating  the  doctrine  thus 
laid  down,  in  his  controversy  with  British  authority,  as  our  representative, 
quoted  Philip  De  Comines  and  the  famous  declaration  :  "  There  is  neither 
King  nor  sovereign  lord  on  earth,  who  has  beyond  his  own  domain  power 
to  lay  the  imposition  of  one  farthing  on  his  subjects,  without  the  consent  of 
those  who  pay  it,  unless  he  does  it  by  tyranny  and  violence."  Here,  as  in 
other  things,  we  find  Pennsylvania  and  her  sons  in  the  advance,  and  this, 
too,  in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  charter  to  Penn  at  least  impliedly  recognized 
the  right  of  Parliament  to  tax.  When  this  first  step  in  the  oppressive 
statutes  of  the  mother  country,  which  ultimately  brought  armed  resistance 
and  independence,  was  taken,  and  the  Stamp  Act  was  a  fixed  fact,  Virginia, 
under  the  fiery  lead  of  Henry,  declared  through  a  small  majority  of  its 
House  of  Burgesses  that  "  the  most  substantial  and  distinguished  part  of 
their  political  birthright  was  the  privilege  of  being  taxed  exclusively  by 
themselves,  or  their  representatives,"  and  thus  primarily  voiced  the  uni- 
versal thought.  Massachusetts,  following  Otis,  Adams,  and  Hancock,  at  the 
same  hour  initiated  her  call  for  a  convention  of  the  colonies  for  unity  and 
resistance.  Our  Assembly  with  unanimous  voice  placed  upon  record  their 
protest,  that  "  the  only  legal  representatives  of  the  people  were  the  persons 
elected  to  serve  as  members  of  the  Assembly,  and  that  the  taxation  of  the 
Province  by  any  other  persons  whatsoever  was  unconstitutional,  unjust, 
subversive  of  liberty,  and  destructive  of  happiness." 

The  firm  and  decided  attitude  of  the  colonies,  and  the  representations 
and  genius  of  Franklin,  then  the  agent  of  Pennsylvania  at  London,  so  pre- 
vailed upon  Pitt  and  those  in  power,  that  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed 
within  two  years  from  its  enactment,  and  the  opening  of  the  bloody  drama 
of  the  Revolution  was  postponed  for  further  contests  between  prerogative 
and  arbitrary  power  on  the  one  hand,  and  patriotic  independence  and  per- 
sonal right  on  the  other.  They  soon  came,  and  in  them  we  trace  the  spirit 
of  feudal  control  combating  the  rights  of  the  individual,  which,  since  the 
foundation  of  the  colony,  had  been  struggling  for  the  mastery. 


The  Birthplace  of  American  Liberty  69 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  IV. 

!P.  59,  25th  edition. 

8  In  his  conversation  with  Webster  in  1824,  Jefferson  pronounced  a  further  eulogy  on 
the  character  of  Patrick  Henry  in  these  words:  "It  is  not  now  easy  to  say  what  we 
should  have  done  without  Patrick  Henry.  He  was  far  before  all  in  maintaining  the  spirit  of 
the  Revolution.  His  influence  was  most  extensive  with  the  members  from  the  upper 
counties  ;  and  his  boldness  and  their  votes  overawed  and  controlled  the  more  timid  and 
aristocratic  gentlemen  of  the  lower  part  of  the  State.  .  .  .  After  all,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  he  was  our  leader  in  the  measures  of  the  Revolution  in  Virginia,  and  in  that  respect 
more  is  due  to  him  than  to  any  other  person.  If  we  had  not  had  him  we  should  have  got 
on  pretty  well  as  you  did  by  a  number  of  men  of  nearly  equal  talents  but  he  left  all  of  us 
far  behind." — Curtis,  Life  of  Daniel  Webster,  vol.  i.,  p.  585. 

3  Works,  vol.  x.,  pp.  244,  245,  247. 

4  See,  also,  Works  of  John  Adams,  vol.  x.,  pp.  274,  277,  279,  280,  282,  289,  292,  298, 
314,  317,  320. 

5  Works,  vol.  x.,  p.  272. 

6  The  influence  of  this  controversy  [over  the  Writs  of  Assistance  in  1761]  in  producing 
the  Revolution,  is  not  wholly  due  to  the  fiery  eloquence  of  Otis,  whose  words,  said  John 
Adams,  "breathed  into  the  nation  the  breath  of  life,"  nor  to  the  range  of  his  argument 
.  .  .  but  to  their  effect  upon  th*e  commercial  interest  —  then  the  leading  one  —  of  New 
England  ;  for  if  the  latent  powers  of  these  writs  were  set  free  and  used  by  the  revenue 
officers,  the  commerce  of  Boston,  Salem,  and  Newport  would  have  been  effectually 
crippled. —  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  II,  12.  Mellen 
Chamberlain,   The  Revolution  Impending. 

In  the  debate  in  the  Commons  on  the  Boston  Port  Bill  and  the  infraction  of  the  charter 
of  Massachusetts,  Sir  Richard  Sutton  said  that  "even  in  the  most  quiet  times  the  disposi- 
tion to  oppose  the  laws  of  this  country  was  strongly  ingrafted  in  the  Americans,  and  all 
their  actions  conveyed  a  spirit  and  wish  for  independence.  If  you  ask  an  American  who  is 
his  master,  he  will  tell  you  he  has  none,  nor  any  governor  but  Jesus  Christ."  {Adolphus,  ii., 
108) — N.  and  C.  Hist.,  vi.,  p.  232,  note. 

I  Life  and  Writings  of  "fames  Madison,  vol.  iii.,  p.  105. 

8  See  Franklin's  Works,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  376,  377  ;  and  for  the  whole  history  of  his  plan  of 
union  and  its  attendant  circumstances,  ibid.,  pp.  343  to  387,   and  his  Autobiography,  ch.  ix. 

9  The  number  of  taxables  in  Lancaster,  Cumberland,  York,  Northampton,  and  Berks 
counties  in  1760  was  15,437,  and  in  Bucks,  Chester,  and  Philadelphia,  16,230. 

10  See  Parkman,  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  ch.  xxv.,  and  his  Appendix  E. 

II  On  this  subject  see  also  Appendix  E  (Examination  of  Joseph  Galloway). 

12  See  Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  375-420.  The  principle  is  laid 
down  in  a  message  from  the  Assembly  to  the  Governor  in  May,  1740,  as  follows  (p.  408) : 
"  Nor  would  any  part  of  the  bill,  if  passed  into  a  law,  debar  them  from  levying  money  on 
the  inhabitants  to  these  purposes,  if  they  were  authorized  by  their  charter  so  to  do,  altho' 
in  our  opinion,  it  ought  not  nor  cannot  give  any  such  power,  for  the  following  reasons : 
I.  The  members  of  the  corporation  were  originally  named  by  the  Proprietor,  and  have 
since  chosen  their  successors  ;  and  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  have  not  any  right  to  chuse 
them,  it  is  not  reasonable  they  should  have  the  power  of  levying  money  on  the  inhabitants 
without  their  consent.  2.  The  King  himself  claims  no  power  of  laying  and  levying  taxes 
on  his  subjects  but  by  common  consent  in  Parliament ;  and  as  all  the  powers  of  government 
in  this  province  are  derived  under  him,  they  cannot  be  greater  in  this  respect  than  those  from 
which  they  are  derived,"  etc. 


CHAPTER  V 

LIBERTY  OF  SPEECH  AND  CONSCIENCE  DEFINITELY  ESTAB- 
LISHED IN  AMERICA  BY  MEN  OF  SCOTTISH  BLOOD 

WE  have  now  cited  some  authentic  instances  of  vigorous  and  prolonged 
resistance  to  the  monarchical  principle  of  taxing  the  many  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few,  as  well  as  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  of  no  taxation 
without  representation,  all  of  which  occurred  many  years  before  the  passage 
of  the  Stamp  Act.  We  have  also  had  the  example  of  an  armed  demonstration 
on  the  part  of  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Pennsylvania  in  opposition  to  the  first- 
named  principle,  at  a  time  when  the  Massachusetts  Independence  "  infant  " 
was  yet  in  its  swaddling  clothes. 

Nor  are  these  all.  The  early  pages  of  American  colonial  history  contain 
numerous  like  instances  of  resistance  to  arbitrary  power  ever  since  the  time 
of  the  first  great  outbreak  of  the  American  spirit  in  opposition  to  old- 
world  traditions  and  oppressions  which  took  place  in  1676  in  the  revolt  of 
the  English  Nathaniel  Bacon  and  the  Scottish  William  Drummond  and  their 
followers  against  the  royal  government  as  then  administered  by  Governor 
Berkeley  in  Virginia. 

Let  us  now  consider  another  of  these  vital  principles  of  human  liberty, 
one  in  the  development  of  which  Americans  boast  themselves  as  being  fore- 
most among  the  nations  of  the  world,  —  that  is,  liberty  of  speech  and  the 
freedom  of  the  press. 

This  principle  was,  perhaps,  first  effectively  contended  for  and  success- 
fully established  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  public  twenty-six  years  be- 
fore James  Otis's  speech  at  Boston,  in  the  trial  of  John  Peter  Zenger,  a  printer 
of  New  York,  and  it  was  then  done  chiefly  by  the  eloquence  and  per- 
sistence of  the  Scottish  Attorney-General  of  Pennsylvania,  a  man  named 
Andrew  Hamilton,  who  was  aided  by  two  Presbyterian  lawyers  of  New  York, 
James  Alexander  and  William  Smith.  Hamilton  was  the  chief  actor  in  this 
affair,  which  has  been  cited  by  Gouverneur  Morris  as  the  beginning  of  Amer- 
ican liberty,  and  no  early  moulder  of  public  opinion  on  the  questions  involved 
in  that  struggle  deserves  a  higher  place  in  the  affections  of  the  American 
people  than  this  Scotch  attorney,  the  first  "  Philadelphia  lawyer  "  to  give 
that  appellation  international  renown.1 

The  occasion  of  his  appearance  was  a  memorable  one,  and  the  incident  is 
not  unlike  that  narrated  by  John  Adams  in  telling  of  the  argument  over  the 
Writs  of  Assistance  in  Massachusetts;  the  scene  in  this  case  being  the  highest 
court  of  the  neighboring  colony  of  New  York,  and  the  leading  actors  the  chief 
justice  and  attorney-general  of  that  province  with  the  aged  and  fearless  lawyer 
from  the  Quaker  colony.     Its  action  took  place  on  August  4,  1735,  and  the 

70 


Liberty  of  Speech  and  Conscience  71 

incident  is  narrated  at  length  in  a  pamphlet  issued  soon  afterwards  by  two  of 
the  defendant's  attorneys.  Zenger's  defence  was  undertaken  by  the  Presby- 
terian Junta,  which  later  became  so  famous  in  the  Revolutionary  history  of 
New  York.8 

Zenger  was  the  publisher  of  the  New  York  Journal,  and  had  printed  in 
its  columns  some  strictures  on  William  Cosby,  the  royal  governor  of  the 
province.  These  criticisms  were  for  the  most  part  true,  and  for  that 
reason  very  unpalatable  to  their  subject.  As  a  warning  to  others,  as  much 
as  for  his  own  offences,  Zenger  was  arrested.  It  was  proposed  to  deal  sum- 
marily with  the  prisoner,  but  public  interest  was  aroused  in  his  case,  and  it 
was  seen  that  if  he  was  convicted  all  hope  of  free  speech  would  for  the  time 
be  gone.  As  the  public  became  interested,  the  authorities  became  de- 
termined and  harsh.  In  pursuance  of  his  rights,  Zenger's  counsel  made  an 
objection  to  the  judges  who  were  to  try  the  case,  and  they  were  promptly 
disbarred,  while  a  lawyer  was  assigned  by  the  Court  to  carry  on  the  defence. 
When  Zenger  was  finally  called  on  to  face  a  jury,  the  authorities  were  confi- 
dent of  making  short  work  of  his  case,  and  of  establishing  a  precedent  which 
would  crush  out  in  the  future  what  they  termed  "  sedition."  Through  the 
instrumentality  of  James  Alexander  and  William  Smith,  who  were  the  chief 
spirits  in  a  society  known  as  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty,"  Andrew  Hamilton  was 
induced  to  appear  as  counsel  for  the  prisoner.  The  fame  of  this  venerable 
attorney,  his  standing  at  the  bar,  the  prominent  offices  he  had  held,  and  his 
position  as  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  forbade  his  being 
treated  in  the  summary  fashion  of  Zenger's  earlier  counsel,  so  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  prosecution  could  do  nothing  but  submit.  They  had  hopes 
from  the  jury,  and  knew  that  the  judges  were  with  them. 

The  prosecution  claimed  that  all  the  jury  had  to  determine  was,  whether 
the  publication  which  was  scheduled  as  libellous  had  appeared,  and  that  they 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  libel.  Hamilton  demurred 
from  this,  saying  he  was  prepared  to  admit  the  publication  of  the  strictures, 
and  to  prove  their  truth,  leaving  the  issue  to  the  jury  to  be  whether  truth 
was  a  libel  or  not.  He  was  overruled  by  the  Court  on  the  inferred  ground 
that  anything  reflecting  on  the  King  was  a  libel.  Hamilton  then  denied 
that  the  King's  representative  had  the  same  prerogatives  as  the  sovereign 
himself,  and  claimed  the  right  of  proving  the  truth  of  every  statement  that 
had  been  made  in  Zenger's  paper.  This  the  Court  again  overruled,  and 
Hamilton  then  confined  his  attention  to  the  jury,  and  made  a  glowing 
speech  on  behalf  of  personal  liberty  and  the  right  of  free  criticism,  which 
still  ranks  as  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  American  eloquence.  "  His 
speech,"  says  Dr.  Peter  Ross,  whose  account  has  been  chiefly  followed,3  "  was 
productive  of  effect  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  court-room  in  which  it  was 
delivered,  or  the  case  in  which  it  was  used.  It  started  a  train  of  thought 
which  fired  men's  minds,  and  did  more  than  anything  else  to  give  expres- 
sion  to   the  popular  desire  for  freedom."      Hamilton  admitted  again  the 


72  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

publication  of  the  words  deemed  libellous,  and  urged  the  jury,  even  though 
the  Court  might  decide  otherwise,  to  consider  the  words  for  themselves, 
and  put  their  own  construction  upon  them.  In  closing,  he  said  :  "  You  see 
I  labor  under  the  weight  of  many  years,  and  am  borne  down  by  many  in- 
firmities of  body  ;  yet  old  and  weak  as  I  am,  I  should  think  it  my  duty,  if 
required,  to  go  to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  land  where  my  service  could 
be  of  any  use  in  assisting  to  quench  the  flame  of  prosecutions  upon  informa- 
tions set  on  foot  by  the  Government  to  deprive  a  people  of  the  right  of 
remonstrating,  and  complaining,  too,  against  the  arbitrary  attempts  of 
men  in  power.  Men  who  oppress  and  injure  the  people  under  their  admin- 
istration provoke  them  to  cry  out  and  complain,  and  then  make  that  very  com- 
plaint the  foundation  for  new  oppressions  and  persecutions.  .  .  .  The 
question  before  the  Court  is  not  of  small  or  private  concern.  It  is  not  the 
cause  of  a  poor  printer,  nor  of  New  York  alone,  which  you  are  now  trying. 
No  !  It  may  in  its  consequences  affect  every  freeman  that  lives  under  the 
British  Government  upon  the  main  of  America.  It  is  the  best  cause.  It  is 
the  cause  of  liberty.  And  I  make  no  doubt  but  your  upright  conduct  this 
day  will  not  only  entitle  you  to  the  love  and  esteem  of  your  fellow-citizens, 
but  every  man  who  prefers  freedom  to  a  life  of  slavery  will  bless  and  honor 
you,  as  men  who  have  baffled  the  attempts  of  tyranny,  and  by  an  impartial 
and  incorrupt  verdict  have  made  a  noble  foundation  for  securing  to  our- 
selves and  our  posterity  and  our  neighbors  that  to  which  nature  and  the  laws 
of  our  country  have  given  us  a  right  —  the  liberty  of  both  exposing  and 
opposing  arbitrary  power,  in  these  parts  of  the  world,  at  least,  by  speaking 
and  writing  truth." 

The  prosecution  replied,  and  the  Court  gave  his  charge  against  the 
prisoner  ;  but  Hamilton's  eloquence  proved  irresistible,  and  the  jury,  after  a 
few  minutes'  deliberation,  brought  in  a  verdict  of  "  Not  Guilty." 

How  this  verdict  was  received  by  the  citizens  of  New  York  who  were 
present  at  Zenger's  trial  is  related  by  an  early  historian  of  that  State  4: 

Shouts  shook  the  hall.  The  judges  threatened  the  leader  of  the  tumult 
with  imprisonment,  when  a  son  of  Admiral  Norris  declared  himself  the 
leader  and  invited  a  repetition  of  the  huzzas.  The  judges  had  no  time  for 
a  reply,  for  the  shouts  were  instantly  repeated,  and  Mr.  Hamilton  was  con- 
ducted from  the  hall  by  the  crowd  to  a  splendid  entertainment.  The  whole 
city  renewed  the  compliment  at  his  departure  the  next  day.  He  entered 
the  barge  under  a  salute  of  cannon,  and  the  corporation  presented  him  with 
the  freedom  of  the  city  in  a  gold  box,  on  which  its  arms  were  engraved,  en- 
circled with  the  words,  "  Demersae  Leges,  Timefacta  Libertas,  Hsec 
Tandem  Emergunt." 

Dr.  John  W.  Francis  states  in  his  description  of  the  city  of  New  York 
(printed  in  the  American  edition  of  Brewster  s  Encyclopedia,  and  on  page 
400  of  Hinton's  History  of  the  United  States),  that  Gouverneur  Morris  told 
him  that  "the  trial  of  Zenger  in  1735  was  tne  germ  of  American  freedom  — 
the  morning  star  of  that  liberty  which  subsequently  revolutionized  America." 


Liberty  of  Speech  and  Conscience  j$ 

The  origin  of  the  so-called  Presbyterian,  or  liberal,  party  in  New  York, 
which  first  committed  and  then  held  that  colony  to  the  American  cause  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  dates  from  the  time  of  this  trial ;  and  its  importance  in 
forming  and  influencing  public  sentiment  in  the  middle  colonies  is  well  in- 
dicated by  the  view  of  the  trial  generally  taken  by  writers  on  the  opposite 
side  since  that  time. 

In  the  memoir  of  Chief  Justice  James  De  Lancey,  prepared  by  Edward 
F.  De  Lancey,  and  published  in  the  Documentary  History  of  New  York, 
vol.  iv.,  pp.  1037-1059,  the  Zenger  case  is  referred  to  as  follows  : 

About  two  years  afterwards  came  on  before  the  Supreme  Court  the  fa- 
mous trial  of  John  Peter  Zenger  for  a  series  of  libels  on  the  governor  and 
chief  officers  of  the  colony.  He  was  a  printer  by  trade,  in  arrears  to  a  small 
amount  as  collector  of  taxes  in  the  city,  and  the  Assembly  had  refused  to 
allow  him  to  discharge  the  small  debt  by  doing  public  printing  enough  to 
cover  it. 

He  subsequently  published  a  small  paper  entitled  the  New  York  Weekly 
Journal,  at  the  instance  of  the  opposition,  in  which  the  libels  complained  of 
were  published.  His  counsel  were  James  Alexander  and  William  Smith, 
the  elder,  the  supposed  authors  of  the  libels,  two  gentlemen  of  ability  and 
intellect,  both  politically  opposed  to  Chief  Justice  De  Lancey. 

Aware  that  the  law  would  certainly  convict  their  client,  they  attempted 
to  destroy  the  court  by  excepting  to  the  commissions  of  the  judges  as  in- 
valid and  illegal ;  though  they  knew  them  to  be  in  the  usual  form,  and  such 
as  their  predecessors  had  always  held,  and  under  which  they  had  acted 
for  a  number  of  years.  Their  objections,  if  valid,  would  have  destroyed 
the  court  as  well  as  the  commissions,  for  it  existed,  not  by  force  of  any  stat- 
ute, as  they  contended,  but  by  virtue  of  an  ordinance  of  the  governor  and 
council,  dated  May  15,  1699.  A  formal  denial  of  its  existence  deliberately 
made  was  therefore  a  gross  contempt  of  court,  and  the  Chief  Justice  from 
the  bench  warned  the  counsel  of  the  consequences.  But  they  persisted  in 
tendering  the  exceptions,  upon  which  the  court  made  an  order,  striking  their 
names  from  its  rolls  and  excluding  them  from  further  practice.  Zenger,  be- 
ing unable  to  procure  other  counsel,  the  court  assigned  him  Mr.  Joseph 
Murray,  with  whom  the  silenced  lawyers  associated  Mr.  Hamilton,  of  Phila- 
delphia, who  made  so  artful  an  address  to  the  jury  at  the  trial  a  few  days 
afterwards  that,  in  the  words  of  one  of  their  own  [Tory]  friends  (Smith, 
History  of  New  York,  ii.,  22),  "when  he  left  his  client  in  those  hands,  such 
was  the  fraudful  dexterity  of  the  orator,  and  the  severity  of  his  invectives 
upon  the  governor  and  his  adherents,  that  the  jury,  missing  the  true  issue 
before  them,  they,  as  if  triers  of  their  rulers,  rather  than  of  Zenger,  pro- 
nounced the  criminal  innocent  because  they  believed  them  to  be  guilty." 

Chief  Justice  De  Lancey's  course  on  this  occasion  has  been  much  misun- 
derstood, owing  to  the  fact  that  the  only  report  of  the  trial  was  that  pub- 
lished by  Zenger  himself,  written  by  the  silenced  lawyers,  and  printed,  not 
in  New  York,  but  in  Boston,  in  1738,  three  years  after  the  trial,  which  of 
course  represents  him  in  the  worst  possible  light.  Taking  the  facts  of  the 
case,  however,  as  given  even  there,  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  out  any 
other  course  which  the  court  could  have  taken  consistently  with  its  own  dig- 
nity and  self-respect. 

At  this  period,  and  from  these  controversies  and  others  allied  to  them, 
arose  the  two  great  parties  which  ever  afterwards  divided  the  people  of  the 


74  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

province  :  the  one  maintaining  principles  moderate  and  conservative  ;  the 
other,  those  of  a  more  radical  tendency. 

Both  professed  the  strongest  attachment  and  loyalty  to  the  British  con- 
stitution, and  vied  with  each  other  in  claiming  and  upholding  all  the  rights 
of  Englishmen. 

In  New  York,  as  in  some  of  the  other  colonies,  the  religious  element  en- 
tered largely  into  politics.  In  point  of  wealth  and  influence  the  Episco- 
palians were  the  leading  denomination,  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  came 
next,  and  the  Presbyterians  last ;  while  in  point  of  numbers  their  positions 
were  exactly  reversed,  the  Presbyterians  outnumbering  the  Dutch,  and  the 
Dutch  the  Episcopalians.  The  last,  with  most  of  the  Dutch,  chiefly  be- 
longed to  the  conservative  party  ;  while  the  remainder  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
Presbyterians  almost  to  a  man  were  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  opposition. 

Another  and  very  striking  peculiarity  in  the  composition  of  the  colonial 
parties  was  the  remarkable  preponderance  of  the  wealth  and  social  position 
of  the  province  on  the  side  of  the  conservatives  [the  Loyalist  party  of  1776]. 
In  their  ranks  were  found  the  Philipses,  Van  Cortlandts,  De  Lanceys, 
Bayards,  Crugers,  Wattses,  Waltons,  Van  Rensselaers,  Beekmans,  Bleeckers, 
Barclays,  Joneses  of  Long  Island,  Jays,  Verplancks,  Harrisons,  and  other 
substantial  families  ;  while  in  those  of  the  opposition  the  Livingstons, 
Morrises,  Alexanders,  and  perhaps  the  Smiths  and  one  or  two  more  were 
probably  all  that  belonged  to  the  same  class. 

Here,  then,  we  find  the  contest  for  freedom  of  public  utterance  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press  waged  and  won  in  America  at  least  forty  years  before 
Lexington,  and  at  a  time  when  James  Otis  and  Samuel  Adams  themselves 
were  not  long  out  of  their  swaddling  clothes.  Yet,  concerning  these  things, 
the  pages  of  so-called  American  histories,  of  the  New  England  school,  in 
nine  cases  out  of  ten  are  silent. 

Finally,  let  us  revert  to  a  much  earlier  period  and  consider  for  a  moment 
the  founding  in  America  of  what,  with  civil  liberty,  is  the  twin  support  of 
the  structure  of  all  just  and  lasting  governments,  namely,  the  principle  of 
religious  freedom.6 

In  Penn's  colony  liberty  of  worship  was  permitted  from  the  beginning  of 
his  government.  In  Maryland  and  in  one  or  two  others  of  the  southern  col- 
onies, for  a  short  time  at  the  beginning  there  was  the  same  beneficent  pro- 
vision made  by  their  laws  or  charters,  but  statutory  enactment  soon  destroyed 
it.  Outside  of  Pennsylvania  and  Rhode  Island,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  English  Church  had  been  established  by  law  in  most 
of  the  middle  and  southern  governments,  and  the  Congregational  Church  in 
those  of  New  England.  The  Revolution  of  1689  had  brought  to  Britain, 
among  other  blessings,  that  of  the  Toleration  Act,  but  its  provisions  had 
not  yet  been  fully  or  definitely  extended  to  the  American  colonies.  Rev. 
Francis  Makemie,  the  Scotch-Irish  founder  of  American  Presbyterianism, 
had  come  from  County  Donegal,  Ireland,  to  the  island  of  Barbadoes  about 
1683,  and  thence  proceeded  to  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  There  and 
along  the  Elizabeth  River  in  Virginia  he  began  to  labor  in  establishing  mis- 
sionary stations  among  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  families  who  had  settled 


Liberty  of  Speech  and  Conscience  75 

in  those  parts.  In  the  course  of  twenty  years  he  had  helped  to  build  up 
two  or  three  church  organizations  in  that  territory,  and  in  1706  their  minis- 
ters united  with  those  of  other  churches  of  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Penn- 
sylvania in  forming  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  After  this  organization 
had  been  made,  Makemie  undertook  a  journey  to  Boston.  While  on  the  way 
he  stopped  and  preached  in  New  York,  and  there  the  opportunity  came  to 
him  for  making  that  first  fight  against  the  encroachments  of  the  English 
Church  establishment  in  America,  which  resulted  in  restricting  and  mini- 
mizing its  power  forever  afterwards. 

After  the  adjournment  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  October  27, 
1706,  Francis  Makemie  took  with  him  John  Hampton  and  set  out  on  his  jour- 
ney, probably  to  consult  with  the  Boston  ministers.  They  stopped  at  New 
York  on  their  way.  They  were  invited  by  the  Puritans  of  the  city  to  preach 
for  them.  The  Consistory  of  the  Dutch  Church,  in  accordance  with  their 
generous  custom,  offered  their  church  edifice  for  the  purpose.  But  their 
kindness  was  frustrated  by  the  refusal  of  Governor  Cornbury  to  permit  it. 
Makemie,  therefore,  preached,  January  20,  1706-7,  in  the  private  house  of 
William  Jackson,  in  Pearl  Street.6  The  same  day,  John  Hampton  preached 
at  Newtown,  Long  Island.  On  the  following  Tuesday,  Makemie  and 
Hampton  went  to  Newtown  intending  to  preach  the  next  day,  according  to 
appointment ;  but  they  were  there  arrested  on  a  warrant  from  Governor 
Cornbury,  on  the  ground  that  they  had  preached  without  his  permission. 
They  were  detained  until  March  1st,  when  they  were  brought  before  the 
Supreme  Court  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus. 

The  charge  against  Hampton  was  not  pressed,  but  Makemie  was  released 
on  bail  to  appear  for  trial  June  3d.  He  immediately  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia with  Hampton  for  the  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  March 
22,  1707.     From  thence  he  writes  to  Benjamin  Colman,  of  Boston  : 

Since  our  imprisonment  we  have  commenced  a  correspondence  with  our 
rev.  breth.  of  the  ministry  at  Boston,  which  we  hope  according  to  our  in- 
tention has  been  communicated  to  you  all,  whose  sympathizing  concurrence 
I  cannot  doubt  of,  in  an  expensive  struggle,  for  asserting  our  liberty  against 
the  powerful  invasion  of  Lord  Cornbury,  which  is  not  yet  over.  I  need  not 
tell  you  of  a  picked  jury,  and  the  penal  laws,  are  invading  our  American 
sanctuary  without  the  least  regard  to  the  toleration,  which  should  justly 
alarm  us  all. 

The  New  England  ministers  immediately  wrote  to  Sir  Henry  Ashurst, 
Sir  Edmund  Harrison,  and  other  London  agents,  April  1,  1707  : 

Except  speedy  relief  be  obtained,  the  issue  will  be,  not  only  a  vast  op- 
pression on  a  very  worthy  servant  of  God,  but  also  a  confusion  upon  the 
whole  body  of  Dissenters  in  these  colonies,  where  they  are  languishing  under 
my  Lord  Cornbury's  arbitrary  and  unaccountable  government.  We  do 
therefore  earnestly  solicit  you,  that  you  would  humbly  petition  the  Queen's 
Majesty  on  this  occasion,  and  represent  the  sufferings  of  the  Dissenters  in 
those  parts  of  America  which  are  carried  on  in  so  direct  violation  of  her 


j6  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Majesty's  commands,  of  the  laws  of  the  nation,  and  the  common  rights  of 
Englishmen.  (Hutchinson,  History  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
2d  edition,  London,  1768,  ii.,  p.  125.) 

Makemie  returned  to  New  York  and  sustained  his  trial.  He  was  de- 
fended by  three  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  the  province — James  Reigniere, 
David  Jameson,  and  William  Nicholl,  made  an  elaborate  and  convincing 
argument  in  defence  of  his  own  religious  rights,  and  was  acquitted  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  complied  with  the  Toleration  Act  and  had  acted 
within  his  rights  as  a  Presbyterian  minister.  He  produced  his  license  to 
preach  under  the  Toleration  Act  in  Barbadoes,  and  this  was  recognized  as 
valid  throughout  the  Queen's  dominions.  The  claim  of  Cornbury,  that  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  have  a  special  license  from  the  governor  of 
New  York,  was  simply  ridiculous.  But,  notwithstanding  his  acquittal, 
Makemie  was  obliged  to  pay  the  costs  of  the  prosecution  as  well  as  the 
defence,  amounting  to  the  large  sum  of  £83  7s.  6d.  "  This  trial,"  says 
Professor  Briggs,  "  followed  by  the  bitter  pursuit  of  the  acquitted  man  on 
the  part  of  the  wrathful  governor,  was  the  culmination  of  a  series  of  tyran- 
nical acts  which  aroused  the  entire  Puritan  body  of  the  colonies  and  of 
Great  Britain  to  action.  The  arbitrary  acts  of  Governor  Cornbury  were 
indefensible.  He  had  exceeded  his  prerogative,  transgressed  the  provisions 
of  the  Toleration  Act,  and  violated  the  liberties  of  the  Dissenters,  and  in- 
deed twisted  and  perverted  the  royal  instructions  to  himself.  He  even 
intermeddled  with  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  and  gained  the  hostility  of  all  the  better 
elements  in  the  Church  of  England."  The  New  York  Assembly,  in  April, 
1707,  remonstrated  against  Cornbury's  actions,  charged  him  with  bribery, 
with  encroachment  on  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  finally  expressed  their 
determination  to  redress  the  miseries  of  their  country.  He  was  recalled, 
and  in  1709  Lord  Lovelace  took  his  place.7 

An  account  of  Makemie's  trial  was  first  printed  in  1707,  and  a  second 
publication  was  made  in  1755.  The  former  account  was  reprinted  in 
Force's  Tracts  in  1846  (vol.  iv.),  and  the  latter  in  Hill's  American  Presby- 
terianism  (1839).     For  Makemie's  argument,  see  Appendix  D. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  V. 

1  Of  this  event,  Gouverneur  Morris  said  :  "  Instead  of  dating  American  liberty  from  the 
Stamp  Act,  I  trace  it  to  the  persecution  of  Peter  Zenger,  because  that  event  revealed  the 
philosophy  of  freedom  both  of  thought  and  speech  as  an  inborn  human  right,  so  nobly  set 
forth  in  Milton's  Treatise  on  Unlicensed  Printing." — Lossing,  The  Empire  State,  Hart- 
ford, 1888,  p.  147.     For  Hamilton's  argument,  see  Appendix  C. 

2  The  account  of  Zenger's  trial  was  first  printed  in  Boston  in  1738,  and  passed  through 
several  editions,  two  of  which  appeared  in  London  in  1738,  and  another  in  Lancaster,  Pa., 
in  1756.     See  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  vol.  iv.,  p.  104. 

3  The  Scot  in  America,  pp.  302-307. 


Liberty  of  Speech  and  Conscience  yy 

4  William  Dunlap,  History  of  New  Netherlands,  Province  of  New  York,  and  State  of 
New  York,  vol.  i.,  pp.  298-310. 

5  ' '  Where  is  the  man  to  be  found  at  this  day  .  .  .  who  will  believe  that  the  apprehen- 
sion of  Episcopacy  contributed  fifty  years  ago,  as  much  as  any  other  cause,  to  arouse  the  at- 
tention not  only  of  the  inquiring  mind,  but  of  the  common  people,  and  urge  them  to  close 
thinking  on  the  constitutional  authority  of  Parliament  over  the  colonies  ?  This,  neverthe- 
less, was  a  fact  certain  as  any  in  the  history  of  North  America.     .     . 

"  The  opinion,  the  principles,  the  spirit,  the  temper,  the  views,  designs,  intrigues,  and  ar- 
bitrary exertions  of  power  displayed  by  the  Church  of  England  at  that  time  towards  the 
Dissenters,  as  they  were  contemptuously  called,  though  in  reality  the  churchmen  were  the 
real  dissenters,  ought  to  be  stated  at  full  length.     .     .     . 

"  In  Virginia,  the  Church  of  England  was  established  by  law  in  exclusion  and  without 
toleration." — John  Adams,   Works,  vol.  x.,  pp.  185,  186. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution,  public  feeling  in  the  eastern  colonies  was  ex- 
cited by  the  fears  of  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  British  ecclesiastics.  Elbridge  Gerry 
and  Samuel  Adams,  for  political  effect,  led  off  with  predictions  as  groundless  as  they  were 
vain.  Plain  facts  demonstrated  that,  notwithstanding  these  misrepresentations,  Episcopa- 
lians were  the  leading  architects  of  the  great  work  of  American  Independence.  Franklin, 
Laurens,  the  Pinckneys,  Wythe,  Marshall,  Pendleton,  the  Randolphs,  Hamilton,  Washing- 
ton, Jefferson,  Patrick  Henry,  Monroe,  Rutledge,  the  Lees,  Jay, Williams,  Gen.  Wayne,  Robt. 
R.  Livingston,  Gouverneur,  Lewis,  and  Robert  Morris,  Duer,  Duane,  Lord  Stirling,  Wil- 
liam Samuel  Johnson,  Chase,  Madison,  and  a  host  of  others,  distinguished  patriots  of  the 
Revolution,  were  of  the  Episcopal  Church. — Opdike,  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Providence,  R,  I.,  pp.  241,  242. 

6  This  sermon  was  printed  at  Boston  in  1707.  A  reprint  of  the  Boston  edition  may  be 
found  in  the  Collections  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  for  the  Year  1S70,  pp.  409-453. 

1  American  Presbyterianism,  pp.  152-155. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  AMERICAN   PEOPLE  NOT  RACIALLY  IDENTICAL   WITH 
THOSE  OF  NEW  ENGLAND 

THE  second  reason  for  the  undue  prominence  of  New  England  in  the 
popular  conception  of  American  history,  to  which  reference  was  made 
in  the  introductory  chapter,  is  found  in  the  absence,  for  a  long  time,  of  any 
systematic  or  comprehensive  treatment  by  the  writers  of  the  middle  and 
southern  colonies  of  the  history  of  their  own  districts.1  A  start  was  made  in 
this  direction,  it  is  true,  by  Dr.  David  Ramsay  in  his  History  of  South  Carolina 
(1789),  followed,  with  less  degrees  of  excellence,  by  Hugh  Williamson's 
History  of  North  Carolina,  Gordon's  Histories  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jer- 
sey, and  Day's,  Howe's,  and  Barber's  Historical  Collections  of  Pennsylvania, 
Virginia,  and  New  Jersey  ;  but  these  books  were  all  written  at  a  date  when 
there  was  little  material  collected  or  available,  and  before  the  inception  of 
modern  methods  of  historic  inquiry  and  analysis  ;  and  they  are  only  good 
examples  of  what  can  be  done  by  conscientious  workmen  without 
proper  tools,  or  suitable  material  at  hand  on  which  to  work.  Bancroft  was 
the  first  American  historian  to  do  even  partial  justice  to  the  subject  from  a 
national  standpoint.  Foote's  Sketches  of  Virginia  and  of  North  Carolina  are 
among  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  the  early  history  of  these  States 
that  we  have,  but  these  works  were  written  nearly  fifty  years  ago.  Bishop 
Meade's  Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia  also  contains  a  vast  amount  of 
local  and  family  history  in  connection  with  that  of  the  Episcopal  churches. 

In  New  England,  from  the  time  of  its  first  settlement,  more  or  less  ample 
and  detailed  records  of  the  political  and  social  history  of  nearly  every 
community,  however  small,  have  been  preserved  in  written  form,  as  well  as 
much  of  personal  history.  The  publication  of  these  records,  which  has 
been  carried  on  for  many  years  by  public  and  private  agencies,  and  their 
use  as  the  bases  for  many  of  our  popular  histories,  has  served  to  dissem- 
inate a  vastly  greater  amount  of  information  about  the  people  and  events  with 
which  these  records  are  concerned  than  those  of  any  other  part  of  America. 

Literary  genius,  likewise,  has  aided  materially  in  forming  our  popular 
ideals  of  characters  and  events  in  connection  with  certain  phases  of  Ameri- 
can history,  particularly  with  those  of  New  England.  Indeed,  certain  liter- 
ary productions  may  have  been  the  sole  sources  of  information  regarding 
occurrences  which  are  now  reputed  historic.  This  has  been  true  in  all 
ages.  The  Arabian  Nights,  in  the  incidental  evidence  which  it  affords,  as 
well  as  by  reason  of  its  own  intrinsic  merit,  must  always  be  our  chief 
authority  for  the  high  degree  of  civilization  attained  by  the  early  Moham- 
medans ;  just  as  the  military  prowess  of   ancient  Greece  has  from  time 

78 


The  American  People  79 

immemorial  been  best  appreciated  through  the  glowing  imageries  of  the 
minstrel  poet,  and  the  glory  of  English  history  been  best  expressed  in  the 
imaginary  conceptions  of  an  obscure  playwright.  Shakspeare  has  given  us 
an  idea  of  the  character  of  Richard  III.  and  his  predecessors  and  followers, 
as  well  as  of  that  of  Macbeth,  which  a  more  thorough  investigation  —  while 
showing  it  to  be  in  a  large  measure  false  —  can  never  completely  correct. 
In  like  manner,  Walter  Scott  has  typified  in  the  personality  of  the  first 
Richard  all  the  romantic  tendencies  of  the  age  of  the  Crusaders,  with  the 
result  that  his  highly  idealized  portrait  will  ever  be  preferred  to  the  less 
flattering  though  more  honest  delineation  of  history.  So  it  is  that  the  best- 
known  pictures  of  early  American  life  and  character  presented  in  our  roman- 
tic literature,  being  taken  for  the  most  part  through  New  England  lenses, 
can  be  considered,  from  an  historical  standpoint,  only  with  due  allowance 
for  that  fact.  Hawthorne  has  immortalized  the  Puritan,  just  as  Cooper  has 
created  the  American  Indian  of  the  popular  mind  ;  yet,  however  true  the 
former's  characterization  of  the  early  New  Englander  may  be,  it  has  but  little 
more  value,  as  a  type  of  the  true  American  eponym,  than  that  of  the  latter. 

These  various  aids  and  influences,  either  of  a  literary  or  historic  nature, 
have  not  until  quite  recently  been  available  for  the  study  of  American  his- 
tory in  its  broader  sense  ;  and  we  are  only  just  beginning  to  get  the  benefit  of 
their  assistance  in  the  examination  of  other  than  the  New  England  portion 
of  it.  But  this  examination  can  never  be  carried  on  with  entire  satisfac- 
tion, until  the  complete  publication  of  the  early  records  of  the  general 
government.  An  attempt  was  made  to  this  end  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago, 
which  began  quite  favorably,  and  resulted  in  the  publication  of  Force's 
series  of  Archives  pertaining  to  affairs  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary 
struggle,  and  the  projection  of  other  series.  But  that  work  was  dropped  long 
before  completion,  and  beyond  nine  volumes  of  Archives  of  the  years  1775 
and  1776,  and  the  several  volumes  of  State  Papers  of  later  date,  very  little 
other  data  has  been  printed.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  material  relating 
to  the  colonial  period  and  to  the  progress  of  the  war  and  the  subsequent 
formation  of  our  system  of  government  which  still  remains  to  be  published. 

It  is,  however,  to  the  recent  enlightened  policy  of  many  of  the  State  gov- 
ernments of  the  original  colonies  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  inauguration 
of  a  movement  looking  to  the  conservation  of  the  materials  for  their  early 
history  in  a  form  that  makes  them  at  once  both  accessible  and  capable  of 
preservation.  This  consists  in  the  publication  of  various  volumes  of  State 
archives,  Revolutionary  rosters,  and  documentary  and  other  records,  of  which 
many  series  have  already  been  issued  by  the  States  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina,  and  others 
are  in  course  of  preparation.  Of  these,  by  far  the  most  useful  and  compre- 
hensive in  their  preparation  are  the  fifty  volumes  of  Archives  brought  out 
by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  under  the  capable  editorship  of  Dr.  William  H. 
Egle,  for  many  years  the  State  librarian. 


80  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

In  New  York,  up  to  1887,  there  had  been  published  a  Documentary  His- 
tory (4  vols.,  1850)  and  seventeen  volumes  (1856-1887)  of  documents  re- 
lating to  the  colonial  history,  including  a  roster  of  Revolutionary  soldiers. 
New  Jersey  published  twenty  volumes  of  Archives  between  1872  and  1893, 
and  also  a  Revolutionary  roster. 

Besides  these  State  publications,  the  various  State  historical  societies  of 
the  older  colonies  have  also  awakened  in  late  years  to  the  fact  that,  in  order 
to  justify  their  right  to  existence,  it  will  be  necessary  for  them  to  do  some- 
thing of  a  less  trivial  nature  than  merely  to  publish  reports  of  their  business 
meetings  and  lengthy  obituaries  of  their  deceased  members.  In  conse- 
quence we  are  beginning  to  benefit  by  their  labors.  The  New  York  society 
gives  the  best  promise  of  future  accomplishments,  if  the  industry  of  its 
members  is  at  all  equal  to  the  opportunities  afforded  in  the  wealth  of 
documentary  material  now  undergoing  classification  by  the  State  officials. 

The  Historical  Society  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  is  unfortunate  in  being 
located  away  from  the  seat  of  the  State  government.  Its  headquarters  are 
in  Philadelphia,  where  live  most  of  its  members,  and  consequently  its  work 
is  directed  more  along  the  line  of  local  investigation  than  concerned  with 
the  history  of  the  State  at  large.  It  might  more  appropriately  be  called  the 
Historical  Society  of  Philadelphia.  In  that  field  its  labors  are  invaluable. 
Its  chief  publication  is  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  a  large  quarterly,  estab- 
lished in  1877,  and  a  model  periodical  of  the  class.  In  the  Society's  early 
days  a  number  of  volumes  relating  to  the  history  of  the  State  were  also  issued, 
but  few  in  recent  years.  The  inattention  on  the  part  of  this  Society  to  that 
portion  of  the  State  outside  of  Philadelphia,  however,  is  more  than  made  up 
by  the  private  enterprise  of  Dr.  Egle,  already  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  publication  of  the  State  Archives.  During  the  past  twenty  years  this  gen- 
tleman, in  addition  to  his  work  on  the  State  Archives,  published  on  his  own 
behalf  more  than  a  dozen  volumes  of  historical  collections  relating  to  inte- 
rior Pennsylvania.  The  debt  owed  to  him  by  all  students  of  that  part  of 
early  American  history  is  one  that  will  steadily  increase  with  the  passing 
years.  The  chief  work  of  the  Maryland  society  up  to  this  date  has  been 
the  preparation  of  sixteen  volumes  of  Maryland  Archives  (1883-1897),  which 
were  printed  by  the  State,  and  nine  or  ten  volumes  of  Collections.  The 
Historical  Society  of  Richmond  has  also  contributed  nearly  a  dozen  volumes 
(1882-1891)  of  Collections  relating  to  Virginia.  There  is  a  rich  field  in  that 
State  for  the  future  historian  of  America,  but  up  to  the  present  time  a 
comparative  dearth  of  published  material.  Some  early  history  of  North 
Carolina,  including  a  roster  of  Revolutionary  soldiers,  has  been  given  in  the 
Colonial  Records  of  that  State  (18  vols.,  1886-1900)  ;  but  South  Carolina 
has  produced  only  a  few  small  volumes  of  Collections,  issued  by  its  Histori- 
cal Society  some  forty  years  ago  (1857-59)  ;  and  Georgia  still  less. 

In  addition  to  the  various  general  historical  societies  in  these  States,  there 
are  also  many  other  organizations  devoted  to  the  collection  of  historical 


The  American  People  81 

matter  relating  to  special  classes  of  the  population.  Of  these  may  be  men- 
tioned the  Holland  Society  of  New  York,  the  Huguenot  Society,  and  the 
Scotch-Irish  Society  of  America.  The  one  last  named  held  an  annual  con- 
gress each  year  from  1889  to  1897,  and  published  nine  volumes  of  its  Collec- 
tions. Their  contents  are  chiefly  made  up  from  the  addresses  delivered  at 
the  annual  meetings;  hence  there  is  considerable  difference  in  their  degrees 
of  merit. 

None  of  these  works  compare  in  thoroughness  or  scope  with  the 
publications  of  the  New  England  State  governments  and  of  their  various 
historical  and  antiquarian  societies.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Middle  States 
equal  to  the  Plymouth  or  Suffolk  Records  of  Massachusetts,  for  instance  ; 
or  the  Provincial,  State,  or  Town  Papers  of  New  Hampshire  ;  or  the  New 
England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register. 

As  another  result  of  the  fecundity  and  one-sidedness  of  the  New  England  \/ 
writers  before  1870,  it  has  been  long  customary  to  ascribe  to  the  English 
element  in  the  American  population  the  credit  not  only  for  all  the  early 
achievements  of  the  nation  in  war  and  peace,3  but  also  for  having  furnished 
practically  all  the  colonists  who  settled  in  the  country  before  the  Revolu- 
tion.3 As  a  matter  of  fact,  nothing  could  be  more  erroneous.  The  population 
of  the  New  England  States  at  the  date  of  the  first  general  census  (1790)  was 
1,009,408,  and  the  total  white  population  of  the  country,  3,172,006.  Bancroft 
estimated  the  white  population  of  the  colonies  in  1775  to  have  been  about 
2,100,000;  and  as  it  is  probable  that  the  New  England  population  did  not 
increase  so  rapidly  between  1775  and  1790  as  that  of  the  other  States,  we 
may  safely  estimate  it  at  one-third  of  the  total  population  in  1775. 

Of  the  total  white  population  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  there  is 
abundant  evidence  to  show  that  at  least  one-third  was  not  of  English  descent 
or  sympathies  at  all,  but  consisted  of  a  variety  of  nationalities,  including  the 
Germans,  French,  Hollanders,  Swedes,  and  others.  The  Germans  and  Swiss 
comprised  nearly  a  third  of  the  population  of  Pennsylvania  in  1776,4  and  they 
likewise  had  formed  many  communities  in  western  Maryland  and  northern 
Virginia,  as  well  as  in  the  lower  country  of  South  Carolina.  The  Swedes 
made  the  first  settlements  in  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware;  but  these  were 
afterwards  overrun  by  the  Dutch,  who  acquired  most  of  the  territory  along 
the  Delaware  River,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  valleys  in 
New  York,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  New  Jersey.  The  Welsh  had  large 
grants  of  land  and  numerous  settlements  in  Delaware  and  southeastern 
Pennsylvania.  The  French,  usually  Huguenot  refugees  from  the  German 
Palatine,  or  from  Holland  or  Ireland,  were  likewise  among  the  early  colo- 
nizers of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  same  people  formed  a  large  part  of  the  first 
European  population  of  the  Carolinas.  But  the  settlements  of  all  these  dif- 
ferent nationalities  taken  together  did  not  begin  to  equal  in  number  or 
importance  those  of  another  class  of  people  with  which  we  now  have  to  deal 
—  a  class  that  was  as  distinctly  non-English  as  many  of  those  just  named  ; 

6 


2>2  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

and  one  that  had  infinitely  greater  reason  than  any  of  the  others  for  resenting 
the  course  of  injustice  and  oppression  so  long  pursued  in  the  administration 
of  the  British  Government.5 

These  were  the  Scots  of  North  Britain  and  North  Ireland,  a  composite 
race,  even  at  that  time  having  in  the  organic  make-up  of  each  individual  a 
combination  of  the  several  racial  elements  which  were  almost,  identical  with 
those  now  forming  the  present  collective  population  of  America,  and  from 
which  the  American  of  the  future  is  gradually  being  evolved.  Theirs  was  the 
one  representative  and  typical  race  in  America  with  which  all  others  are  com- 
ing more  and  more  to  conform.  That  is  to  say,  these  Attacot-Goidelic-Cymro- 
Anglo-Norse-Danish  Scots  of  colonial  times,  these  Celto-Teutonic  emigrants 
to  America  of  the  eighteenth  century,  combined  in  their  individual  bodies 
the  physical  attributes  of  the  Angle,  the  Gael,  the  Norse,  and  the  Brython. 
In  their  veins  was  already  blended  the  blood  of  the  various  peoples  which  in 
the  past  hundred  years  have  been  pouring  millions  of  individuals  into  the 
race  alembic  called  America  ;  and  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  any  of  their 
neighbors  were  these  Scottish  emigrants  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  true 
prototypes  of  the  typical  American  of  the  twentieth.8 

Their  settlements  in  America  began  in  the  seventeenth  century  but  were 
made  chiefly  in  the  eighteenth.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  these 
people  comprised  fully  forty  per  cent,  of  the  patriotic  population  of  the 
country  south  of  New  England. 

The  Continental  Congress  of  1776  made  an  estimate  of  the  population  of 
the  thirteen  original  colonies  as  a  basis  from  which  to  apportion  the  expense 
of  the  war.7  The  figures  of  this  conjectural  census  of  Congress  are  as 
follows  : 

New  Hampshire 102,000 

Massachusetts  (including  Maine) 352,000 

Rhode  Island 58,000 

Connecticut 202,000 

New  York  (including  Vermont) 238,000 

New  Jersey 138,000 

Pennsylvania 341,000 

Delaware 37,000 

Maryland 174,000 

Virginia  (including  Kentucky) 300,000 

North  Carolina  (including  Tennessee) 181,000 

South  Carolina 93,000 

Georgia 27,000 

Total  white  population 2,243,000 

Slave  population 500,000 

2,743,000s 

This  estimate  is  now  generally  conceded  to  have  been  too  large,  since  the 

census  of  1790  showed  a  total  white  population  of  only  3,172,006  ;  and  as 

the  average  normal  rate  of  increase  of  population  in  America  ever  since  we 

have  had  any  data  to  enable  us  to  strike  an  average  has  been  about  three 


The  American  People  83 

per  cent,  a  year,  the  population  doubling  about  every  twenty-three  years,  it 
would  appear  that  the  actual  population  of  the  colonies  in  1776  was  about 
ten  per  cent,  less  than  the  congressional  estimate.  For  the  purpose  of 
lessening  its  proportion  of  the  general  tax,  New  Hampshire  caused  a  State 
census  to  be  taken  in  1782,  and  as  a  result  of  that  census  reported  its  popu- 
lation at  82,000,  but  this  figure  was  in  all  probability  as  far  below  the  true 
number  as  that  of  the  congressional  estimate  was  above  it.  Pennsylvania 
had  not  quite  40,000  taxables  in  1770.  Counting  six  persons  to  one  taxpayer, 
the  population  then  would  have  been  about  240,000,  and,  with  an  annual 
increase  of  three  per  cent.,  about  280,000  in  1776.  There  was,  however,  a 
very  large  immigration  of  Ulster  Scots  into  this  province  in  1773  and  it  is 
probable  the  report  made  by  Governor  Penn  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  January 
30,  1 775,"  fixing  the  white  population  at  300,000,  was  not  far  from  the  truth. 
Bancroft,  as  stated  before,  estimated  the  total  white  population  of  the  colonies 
in  1775  to  have  been  2, 100,000. 10  It  would  seem  that  we  can  safely  follow 
this  estimate,  and  assign  700,000,  or  one-third,  to  the  territory  east  of  the 
Hudson.11  Of  the  1,400,000  west  of  the  Hudson  and  south  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence, the  following  is  probably  as  close  and  accurate  an  estimate  as  can  be 
made  from  the  data  now  available,  the  estimated  1,400,000  of  inhabitants 
being  apportioned  among  the  nine  States  in  accordance  with  their  relative 
populations  in  1790  : 

New  York  (excluding  Vermont) 202,000 

New  Jersey 109,000 

Pennsylvania 273,000 

Delaware 30,000 

Maryland 134,000 

Virginia  (including  Kentucky) 325,000 

North  Carolina  (including  Tennessee) 206,000 

South  Carolina 90,000 

Georgia 34,ooo 

Total 1,403,000 

Now,  we  may  safely  estimate  the  proportion  of  inhabitants  of  Scottish 
blood  or  descent  to  have  been  one-eighth  of  the  whole  white  population  in 
New  York  ;  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  in  the  States  of  New  Jersey,  Maryland, 
and  Virginia  ;  more  than  one-third  in  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia  ;  and  one-half  in  South  Carolina.19 

Using  the  census  of  1790  as  a  basis  on  which  to  apportion  the  population 
in  1775,  we  find  from  the  foregoing  estimates  that  the  number  of  inhabitants 
of  Scottish  ancestry  at  that  time  in  the  nine  colonies  south  of  New  England 
(there  were  probably  25,000  in  New  England)  was  close  to  385,000,  as 
follows : 

New  York 25,000 

New  Jersey 25,000 

Pennsylvania ico,ooo 


84  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Delaware 10,000 

Maryland 30,000 

Virginia 75,ooo 

North  Carolina 65,000 

South  Carolina 45,°oo 

Georgia 10,000 

Total 385,000 

Of  the  1,400,000  total  white  population  of  these  States  it  is  probable  that 
nearly  one-third  were  in  open  or  secret  sympathy  with  the  Crown  during  the 
Revolution,  and  did  not  voluntarily  contribute  either  men  or  means  to  the 
American  cause.  Many  of  these  were  engaged  in  active  hostilities  against 
the  patriotic  party,  particularly  in  New  York  and  North  and  South  Carolina, 
in  the  latter  of  which  States  at  times  more  than  half  the  population  is  said  to 
have  been  on  the  English  side.  John  Adams  estimated  that  about  one-third 
of  the  Americans  were  Loyalists  in  the  first  years  of  the  struggle,  though  he 
sometimes  reduced  this  figure  considerably.13  It  would  perhaps  be  not  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  in  1776  one-sixth  of  the 
white  population  was  opposed  to  the  war  and  to  independence,  and  was  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  Loyalist ;  in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware, 
one-third  ;  and  in  New  York,  Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas,  two-fifths.14  If 
these  figures  may  be  taken  as  fairly  accurate  in  the  aggregate,  they  would 
reduce  the  patriotic  population  to  somewhat  below  a  million,  outside  of  New 
England;  and  of  that  number  it  is  altogether  likely  that  less  than  half  were 
of  English  extraction. 

Concerning  the  patriotism  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  the  general  testimony  of 
contemporary  and  later  writers  is  to  the  effect  that  there  were  no  Tories 
among  them,  and  that  they  were  found  uniformly  arrayed  against  the  British  ; 
but  it  is  probable  this  statement  can  be  taken  as  applicable  only  in  a  general 
way  and  one  to  which  many  individual  exceptions  may  be  noted.  One  of 
these  exceptions  was  that  of  the  notorious  renegade,  Simon  Girty 
and  his  brothers,  who  were  probably  Scotch-Irish  on  their  mother's  side. 
The  Scotch  (Jacobite)  Highlanders  of  North  Carolina  principally  settled 
along  the  Cape  Fear  River,  were  nearly  all  active  Tory  partisans,16  as  were 
also  the  Scotch  Catholics  of  New  York.  Many  Scottish  names  appear  in 
Sabine's  list  of  Loyalists,  principally  from  these  two  States  ;  and  some  also 
from  Pennsylvania,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  that  of  Galloway.18 

Among  the  British  and  Tory  leaders  in  the  South  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  may  be  mentioned  Colonel  Patrick  Ferguson,  Major  James 
Dunlap,  Captains  Patrick  and  John  Moore,  Captain  Peter  Campbell,  Captain 
Cunningham,  Major  Fraser,  Lieutenant  John  McGinnis,  Captain  Walter  Gil- 
key,  Captain  Grimes,  Captain  Wilson,  Lieutenant  Lafferty,  Captain  Alexan- 
der Cameron,  Captain  James  Kerr,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Alexander  Innes,  all 
apparently  of  Scotch  or  Scotch-Irish  origin,  and  many  of  them  born  in 
America.     In  the  West  were  Governor  Hamilton,  Dr.  John  Connolly,  the 


The  American  People  85 

Girty  brothers,  McKee,  Elliott,  and   others  ;  while  with  Howe's  northern 
army  undoubtedly  the  greatest  soldier  was  General  James  Grant. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VI. 

1  "  A  good  deal  of  surprise  was  expressed  at  the  Congress  [of  the  Scotch-Irish  Society  of 
America,  held  in  1889]  that  a  history  of  the  Scotch-Irish  had  never  been  attempted  ;  but  we 
do  not  have  to  seek  far  for  the  reason.  There  is  ample  material  from  which  to  speak  in  a 
general  way  of  their  origin  and  of  their  existence  in  Ireland,  but  when  we  come  to  their 
emigration  to  America,  excepting  the  causes  which  led  to  it,  it  is  meagre  in  the  extreme. 
Coming  from  one  part  of  Great  Britain  to  another,  no  record  has  been  preserved  of  their 
arrivals  as  would  have  been  the  case  had  they  been  of  alien  origin  ;  and  all  we  know  is  that 
while  a  large  majority  came  to  Pennsylvania,  others  settled  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas. 
The  country  along  the  Atlantic  coast  was  then  comparatively  thickly  settled,  and  the  Scotch- 
Irish  took  up  their  abodes  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization.  This  was  not  because  the 
Quakers  sent  them  there,  as  has  been  asserted,  to  protect  their  own  settlements  from  the 
Indians,  or  because  the  Scotch-Irish  did  not  wish  to  live  near  the  Quakers,  who  were  con- 
tinually finding  fault  with  them,  but  for  the  same  reason  that  now  takes  the  emigrants  to  the 
West, — i.  e.,  because  there  good  land  is  cheap,  and  large  families  can  be  supported  at  a  small 
expense.  They  took  with  them  their  religion  and  their  schools,  and  those  in  Pennsylvania 
extended  their  settlements  across  the  mountains  and  down  the  valley  into  Maryland  and 
Virginia.  There  they  met  with  their  brethren  from  Virginia  and  Carolina,  and  penetrated 
into  the  country  now  included  in  the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  Excepting  in  a 
general  way  the  records  of  this  emigration  are  difficult  to  trace,  and  are  only  found  by 
examining  old  deeds,  wills,  and  in  family  tradition. 

"  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  in  no  way,  in  the  same  sense  of  the  word,  did  the 
Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  settle  a  colony  as  the  Puritans  settled  Massachusetts,  the  Quakers 
Pennsylvania,  the  Catholics  Maryland,  or  the  Episcopalians  Virginia.  They  belonged  to 
a  later  wave  of  emigration  than  any  of  the  above,  and  when  they  arrived  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  governments  were  firmly  established.  The  consequence  is  that  there  are  no  early 
governmental  records  that  can  be  quoted  as  giving  expression  to  their  views.  Besides  this, 
the  worldly  condition  of  many  of  the  emigrants  was  not  such  as  would  permit  them  to  take 
an  active  part  in  political  affairs,  as  the  elective  franchise  was  then  limited  by  a  property 
qualification,  and  some  of  those  who  might  have  claimed  the  right  to  vote  were  too  deeply 
engaged  in  providing  for  their  families  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics.  It  was  not,  there- 
fore, until  they  gained  a  foothold,  and  by  their  thrift,  energy,  and  enterprise  made  their 
settlements  important,  that  they  exercised  any  influence  in  colonial  affairs.  When  this 
point  was  gained  they  brought  into  public  life  an  element  directly  antagonistic  to  the  estab- 
lished order  of  things,  and  no  one  can  deny  that  they  were  instrumental  in  bringing  about 
the  War  for  Independence,  which  they  loyally  supported.  What  the  result  of  their  influence 
would  have  been  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  where  they  were  pioneer  settlers,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  Revolution,  we  can  only  surmise.  After  that,  civil  and  religious  liberty  were 
such  cardinal  principles  of  government,  that  it  is  not  safe  to  attribute  them  to  any  one  class. 
The  material  for  the  history  of  the  Scotch-Irish  in  this  country  we  fear  has  been  largely 
destroyed.  Some  portion  of  it  may  yet  exist  in  private  letters,  in  church  records,  and  in 
the  diaries  that  some  of  their  ministers  wrote  while  travelling  from  one  settlement  to  an- 
other. Much  can  also  be  accomplished  by  preparing  memoirs,  as  full  of  original  material 
as  possible,  of  early  settlers  in  various  parts  of  the  country." — Frederick  D.  Stone,  in  The 
Pennsylvania  Magazine,  January,  1890. 

5  The  trouble  with  the  historical  writers  who  have  taken  upon  themselves  the  defence  of 
the  founders  of  Massachusetts  is  that  they  have  tried  to  sophisticate  away  the  facts.     In  so 


86  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

doing  they  have  of  necessity  had  recourse  to  lines  of  argument  which  they  would  not  for  an 
instant  accept  in  defence  or  extenuation  of  those  who  in  the  Old  World  pursued  the  policy 
with  which  they  find  themselves  confronted  in  the  early  record  of  the  New.  But  there  that 
record  is  :  and  it  will  not  out.  Roger  Williams,  John  Wheelwright,  and  Anne  Hutchinson 
come  back  from  their  banishment,  and  stand  there  as  witnesses  ;  the  Quakers  and  Baptists, 
with  eyes  that  forever  glare,  swing  from  the  gallows  or  turn  about  at  the  cart's  tail.  In 
Spain  it  was  the  dungeon,  the  rack,  and  the  fagot ;  in  Massachusetts  it  was  banishment,  the 
whip,  and  the  gibbet.  In  neither  case  can  the  records  be  obliterated.  Between  them  it  is 
only  a  question  of  degree, — one  may  in  color  be  a  dark  drab,  while  the  other  is  unmistakably 
a  jetty  black.  The  difficulty  is  with  those  who,  while  expatiating  with  great  force  of  lan- 
guage on  the  sooty  aspect  of  the  one,  turn  and  twist  the  other  in  the  light,  and  then  solemnly 
asseverate  its  resemblance  to  driven  snow.  Unfortunately  for  those  who  advocate  this  view 
of  the  respective  Old  and  New  World  records,  the  facts  do  not  justify  it.  On  the  contrary, 
while  the  course  in  the  matter  of  persecution  pursued  by  those  in  authority  in  the  Old  World 
was  logical  and  does  admit  of  defence,  the  course  pursued  by  the  founders  of  Massachusetts 
was  illogical,  and  does  not  admit  of  more  than  partial  extenuation.  —  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  Massachusetts  :  Its  Historians  and  Its  History \  p.  34. 

3  See  New  Englander  Magazine,  vol.  x.,  pp.  393-414,  for  an  elaborate  example  of  this 
false  enumeration. 

4  Proud,  History  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  ii.,  p.  273. 

5  Driven  from  their  adopted  home  in  the  north  of  Ireland  by  English  persecution,  there 
was  burned  into  their  very  souls  the  bitter  recollection  of  English  ingratitude  and  English 
broken  faith.  They  were  un-English  in  their  origin,  and  they  came  to  America  —  which 
they  have  always  looked  upon  as  their  only  country  —  hating  England,  her  Church,  and  her 
form  of  government  with  the  intensest  hatred.  They  contributed  as  little  which  was  original 
to  American  institutions  as  did  the  Puritans  of  New  England  ;  but  they  were  also  as  willing 
to  accept  new  ideas  from  other  quarters,  and  they  contributed  elements  to  American  thought 
and  life  without  which  the  United  States  of  to-day  would  be  impossible.  By  them  American 
independence  was  first  openly  advocated,  and  but  for  their  efforts,  seconding  those  of  the 
New  England  Puritans,  that  independence  would  not  have  been  secured. —  Campbell,  The 
Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  471. 

6  "  The  backwoods  mountaineers  .  .  .  were  all  cast  in  the  same  mould,  and  resembled 
each  other  much  more  than  any  of  them  did  their  immediate  neighbors  of  the  plains.  The 
backwoodsmen  of  Pennsylvania  had  little  in  common  with  the  peaceful  population  of  Quakers 
and  Germans  who  lived  between  the  Delaware  and  the  Susquehanna  ;  and  their  near  kinsmen 
of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains  were  separated  by  an  equally  wide  gulf 
from  the  aristocratic  planter  communities  that  flourished  in  the  tide- water  regions  of  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas.    .    .    . 

"  The  backwoodsmen  were  Americans  by  birth  and  parentage,  and  of  mixed  race  ;  but 
the  dominant  strain  in  their  blood  was  that  of  the  Presbyterian  Irish  —  the  Scotch-Irish  as 
they  were  often  called.  .  .  .  Mingled  with  the  descendants  of  many  other  races,  they  nev- 
ertheless formed  the  kernel  of  the  distinctively  and  intensely  American  stock  who  were  the 
pioneers  of  our  people  in  their  march  westward,  the  vanguard  of  the  army  of  fighting  settlers, 
who  with  axe  and  rifle  won  their  way  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Pacific. 
.  .  .  The  Presbyterian  Irish  stock  furnished  Andrew  Jackson,  Samuel  Houston,  David 
Crockett,  James  Robertson,  Lewis,  the  leader  of  the  backwoods  hosts  in  their  first  great 
victory  over  the  northwestern  Indians,  and  Campbell,  their  commander  in  their  first  great 
victory  over  the  British.     .    .     . 

44  That  these  Irish  Presbyterians  were  a  bold  and  hardy  race  is  proved  by  their  at  once 
pushing  past  the  settled  regions,  and  plunging  into  the  wilderness  as  the  leaders  of  the  white 
advance.  They  were  the  first  and  last  set  of  immigrants  to  do  this  ;  all  others  have  merely 
followed  in  the  wake  of  their  predecessors.     But  indeed,  they  were  fitted  to  be  Americans 


The  American  People  87 

from  the  very  start ;  they  were  kinsfolk  of  the  Covenanters  ;  they  deemed  it  a  religious  duty 
to  interpret  their  own  Bible,  and  held  for  a  divine  right  the  election  of  their  own  clergy. 
For  generations  their  whole  ecclesiastic  and  scholastic  systems  had  been  fundamentally 
democratic.    .    .    ." — Roosevelt,  Winning  of  the  West,  vol.  i.,  pp.  102-106. 
'Pitkin's  Statistics,  p.  583  ;  Harper's  Magazine,  vol.  li.,  p.  399. 

8  John  Adams  gives  the  following  estimate  as  one  made  by  Congress  in  1774:  "  In 
the  year  1774  there  was  much  private  conversation  among  the  members  of  Congress  con- 
cerning the  number  of  souls  in  each  colony.  The  delegates  of  each  were  consulted,  and  the 
estimates  made  by  them  were  taken  down  as  follows  :  New  Hampshire,  150,000  ;  Massa- 
chusetts, 400,000 ;  Rhode  Island,  59,678  ;  Connecticut,  192,000  ;  New  York,  250,000  ; 
New  Jersey,  130,000 ;  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  350,000 ;  Maryland,  320,000 ;  Vir- 
ginia, 640,000  ;  North  Carolina,  300,000  ;  South  Carolina,  225,000 ;  total,  3,016,678." — 
Works,  vol.  vii.,  p.  302.  "  Governor  Pownall  thinks  that  2,142,037  would  come  nearest  to 
the  real  amount  [of  whites]  in  1774." — Ibid.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  304.  See,  also,  Holmes's  Annals, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  533,  etc.  "An  estimate  of  the  white  population  of  the  States  made  in  1783  for 
purposes  of  assessment  gives  the  number  as  2,389,300  {American  Remembrancer,  1783,  part 
ii.,  p.  64)." — McMaster,  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  9. 

9  Pennsylvania  Archives,  First  Series,  vol.  iv.,  p.  597. 

10  History  of  the  United  States  (1888),  vol.  iv.,  p.  62. 

11  The  population  of  the  New  England  States  in  1790  was  1,009,408,  or  a  little  less  than 
one-third  of  the  total  white  population  of  3,172,006.  It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  the 
population  of  the  newer  middle  colonies  increased  more  by  immigration  between  1776  and 
1790  than  that  of  New  England,  and  we  know  that  many  New  England  people  moved  into 
the  western  colonies,  particularly  to  New  York  and  Ohio.  It  is  therefore  probable  that 
an  estimate  of  New  England's  population  in  1776  fixing  it  at  one-third  of  the  whole  cannot 
be  far  out  of  the  way. 

12  The  following  estimate  of  the  white  population  in  1775,  which  does  not  vary  much  from 
that  given  in  the  table  quoted,  is  found  in  Seaman's  Essays  on  the  Progress  of  Nations,  New 
York, 1852,  pp.  579-583  :  "  Maine,  45,000 ;  New  Hampshire,  90,000  ;  Vermont,  40,000  ;  Mas- 
sachusetts, 280,000  ;  Rhode  Island,  50,000 ;  Connecticut,  195,000  [total  for  New  England, 
700,000]  ;  New  York,  175,000 ;  New  Jersey,  120,000 ;  Pennsylvania,  275,000 ;  Delaware, 
35,000 ;  Maryland,  160,000 ;  Virginia,  360,000 ;  North  Carolina,  200,000 ;  South  Carolina, 
90,000  J.Georgia,  25,000  [total,  outside  of  New  England,  1,440,000]  ;  total  for  the  thirteen 
colonies,  2,140,000."  Mr.  Seaman's  estimate  of  the  population  of  Maryland  is  perhaps  based 
on  a  census  taken  in  1755,  giving  it  107,208  white  inhabitants  ;  but  as  there  were  but  208,649 
whites  in  1790,  the  population  could  not  have  increased  as  rapidly  during  the  interim  as  in 
the  other  States,  where  it  usually  doubled  in  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  years.  Hence,  it  is 
probable  that  160,000  is  too  large  an  estimate  for  the  population  of  Maryland  in  1775,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  134,000  (about  64  per  cent,  of  the  population  in  1790)  may  be  somewhat 
below  the  true  figures.  In  New  Jersey  in  1830,  out  of  a  total  white  population  of  299,667, 
there  were  about  44,000  communicants  in  the  various  churches,  representing  with  their 
families  perhaps  200,000  persons.  Of  these,  13,517  were  Presbyterians;  15,567,  Metho- 
dists; 6,000,  Quakers;  4,173,  Dutch  Reformed;  3,981,  Baptists;  and  900,  Episcopalians. 
It  is  safe  to  say  the  Presbyterians  were  chiefly  Scottish  ;  and  likewise  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  the  Methodists  and  Baptists,  because  in  the  South,  for  instance,  there  are  more 
persons  of  that  blood  in  those  two  churches  than  in  the  whole  membership  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Smith,  in  his  History  of  the  Province  of  New  Jersey,  published  in  1765, 
gives  information  respecting  the  number  of  the  various  congregations  in  the  province,  from 
which  the  following  table  is  compiled  :  Episcopalians,  21  ;  Presbyterians,  65  ;  Quakers,  39  ; 
Baptists,  20  ;  Seventh-Day  Baptists,  2  ;  Low  Dutch  Calvinists,  or  Reformed,  21  ;  Dutch 
Lutherans,  4  ;  Swedish  Lutherans,  4  ;  Moravians,  1 ;  German  Lutherans,  2  ;  Separatists,  1 ; 
Rogerians,  1  ;  Lutherans,  I  ;  total,  179,     In  Pennsylvania  in  1760  there  were  31,667  taxables 


88  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

(Colonial  Records,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  336).  At  that  time  a  large  part  of  the  frontier  inhabitants 
were  not  entered  on  the  tax-lists  (see  Proud's  History  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  ii.,  p.  275, 
note).  Delaware  formed  part  of  Pennsylvania  prior  to  1776,  and  was  largely  overrun  by 
the  Scotch-Irish  before  they  reached  the  Susquehanna  valley.  A  considerable  part  of  western 
Maryland  was  settled  by  Scottish  emigrants,  as  well  as  Cecil  and  Somerset  counties  on 
the  Eastern  Shore,  and  many  districts  around  Baltimore.  Jefferson  states  in  his  Auto- 
biography (p.  31),  that  in  1776  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  Virginia  were  Dissenters 
(at  that  time  chiefly  Presbyterians  and  Baptists),  and  as  one-fourth  of  the  total  white  popu- 
lation was  in  the  upper  country  and  west  of  the  mountains  (see  Virginia  Militia  returns  in 
1782,  annexed  to  chapter  ix.,  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia),  and  that  fourth  almost  to  a 
man  of  Scottish  ancestry,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  of  the  whole  white  population  those 
people  comprised  nearly  one-fourth.  Williamson  (History  of  North  Carolina,  vol.  ii. ,  p.  68) 
says  that  the  Scottish  race  was  the  most  numerous  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Carolina;  and 
we  know  that  they  comprised  nearly  the  whole  of  the  population  of  Tennessee  (then  part  of 
North  Carolina).  Ramsay  says  they  were  more  numerous  than  any  other  race  in  South  Caro- 
lina (History  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  i.,  p.  20);  and  they  likewise  formed,  if  not  a  majority,  at 
least  a  controlling  element  in  the  population  of  Georgia.  To-day  their  descendants  in  the 
Carolinas,  Georgia,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  West  Virginia  form  the  most  influential  and 
presumably  the  most  numerous  element  in  the  white  population  of  those  States;  and  in  all  pro- 
bability the  same  thing  is  true  of  the  native-born  population  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. 

"  When  the  first  Continental  Congress  began  its  sittings,  the  only  frontiersmen  west  of  the 
mountains,  and  beyond  the  limits  of  continuous  settlement  within  the  old  thirteen  colonies, 
were  the  two  or  three  hundred  citizens  of  the  little  Watauga  commonwealth.  This  quali- 
fication is  put  in  because  there  were  already  a  few  families  on  the  Monongahela  [this  is  in- 
correct, because  there  were  7500  to  10,000  settlers  in  Westmoreland  County,  Pa.,  before  1776], 
the  head  of  the  Kanawha,  and  the  Upper  Holston  ;  but  they  were  in  close  touch  with  the 
people  behind  them.  When  peace  was  declared  with  Great  Britain,  the  backwoodsmen  had 
spread  westward  in  groups,  almost  to  the  Mississippi,  and  they  had  increased  in  number  to 
some  twenty-five  thousand  souls,  of  whom  a  few  hundred  dwelt  in  the  bend  of  the  Cumber- 
land, while  the  rest  were  about  equally  divided  between  Kentucky  and  Holston.  These 
figures  are  simply  estimates  ;  but  they  are  based  on  careful  study  and  comparison,  and,  though 
they  must  be  some  hundreds,  and  maybe  some  thousands,  out  of  the  way,  are  quite  near 
enough  for  practical  purposes." — Roosevelt,   Winning  of  the  West,  vol.  ii.,  p.  370. 

13  "  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  were  so  nearly  divided  —  if  their  propensity  was  not 
against  us  —  that  if  New  England  on  one  side  and  Virginia  on  the  other  had  not  kept  them 
in  awe,  they  would  have  joined  the  British." — Works  of  John  Adams,  vol.  x.,  p.  63.  This 
opinion  of  John  Adams,  which  he  affirmed  more  than  once  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  was 
on  one  occasion  mentioned  by  him  in  a  letter  to  his  old  compatriot,  Thomas  McKean,  Chief 
Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  a  member  of 
every  American  Congress  from  that  of  1765  to  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  "You  say," 
wrote  McKean  in  reply,  "that  .  .  .  about  a  third  of  the  people  of  the  colonies  were 
against  the  Revolution.  It  required  much  reflection  before  I  could  fix  my  opinion  on  this 
subject  ;  but  on  mature  deliberation  I  conclude  you  are  right,  and  that  more  than  a  third  of 
influential  characters  were  against  it  "  (Adams's  Works,  vol.  x.,  pp.  63,  no). — Sparks,  Wash- 
ington, vol.  ii.,  p.  496. 

John  Adams  was  of  the  opinion  that  only  about  a  third  of  the  people  were  averse  to  the 
Revolution,  but  in  1780  in  his  letters  to  Calkoen,  written  to  secure  Dutch  sympathy,  he  flatly 
affirms  that  the  Tories  constituted  not  a  twentieth  of  the  population,  which  may  mean  that 
he  thought  the  French  alliance  and  the  progress  of  the  war  had  diminished  at  that  time 
the  body  of  its  opponents. — Winsor,  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vii., 
p.  187. 

It  is  probably  below  the  truth  to  say  that  a  full  half  of  the  more  honorable  and  respected 


The  American  People  89 

Americans  was  either  openly  or  secretly  hostile  to  the  Revolution. — Lecky,  England  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  iv.,  p.  153. 

14  "  Of  the  New  England  colonies  Connecticut  had  the  greatest  number  of  Tories,  and 
next  in  proportion  to  population  was  the  district  which  was  afterwards  known  as  the 
State  of  Vermont. 

"  .  .  .  In  Virginia,  especially  after  hostilities  began,  the  Tories  were  decidedly  less  in 
number  than  the  Whigs.  In  North  Carolina,  the  two  parties  were  about  evenly  divided. 
In  South  Carolina,  the  Tories  were  the  numerous  party ;  while  in  Georgia  their  majority 
was  so  great  that,  in  1781,  they  were  preparing  to  detach  that  colony  from  the  general 
movement  of  the  rebellion,  and  probably  would  have  done  so,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
embarrassing  accident  which  happened  to  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  in  the  latter  part  of  that 
year." — Moses  Coit  Tyler,  in  American  Historical  Review,  vol.  i.,  p.  28  (October,  1895). 

Considerable  information  in  regard  to  the  Loyalists  may  be  found  in  Winsor's  Narrative 
and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  185-214,  and  in  Sabine's  Loyalists  of  the 
Revolution. 

15  A  strong  contrast  to  the  political  apathy  of  these  worthy  men  [the  Germans  of  South 
Carolina]  was  to  be  found  in  the  rugged  population  of  the  upland  counties.  Here,  the  small 
farmers  of  Scotch-Irish  descent  were,  every  man  of  them,  Whigs,  burning  with  a  patriotic 
ardor  that  partook  of  the  nature  of  religious  fanaticism  ;  while  on  the  other  hand  the  [High- 
land] Scotsmen  who  had  come  over  since  Culloden  were  mostly  Tories,  and  had  by  no 
means  as  yet  cast  off  that  half-savage  type  of  Highland  character  which  we  find  so  vividly 
portrayed  in  the  Waverley  novels. — Fiske,  American  Revolution,  vol.  ii.,  p.  165. 

The  single  exception  was  that  of  some  of  the  Highlanders  in  North  Carolina  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution.  Banished  from  Scotland  for  taking  up  arms  for  the  Pretender, 
their  pardon  was  conditioned  on  a  solemn  oath  of  allegiance  to  their  sovereign.  Such  obli- 
gations they  regarded  with  peculiar  sacredness,  and  they  had  required  the  king  to  swear  to 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  Not  feeling  to  any  great  degree  the  evils  complained  of 
by  the  other  colonists,  they  were  slow  to  engage  in  the  contest.  Some  of  them  at  first 
sympathized  with  and  aided  the  royalists  ;  but  when  the  monarchical  government  came  to  an 
end,  they  became  the  fast  friends  and  supporters  of  republican  institutions.  We  may  respect 
their  moral  principles,  while  we  deplore  their  error  of  judgment,  that  led  them  at  first  to 
battle  with  freemen  who  were  only  demanding  their  rights. — Craighead,  Scotch  and  Irish 
Seeds  in  American  Soil,  p.  315.  See  also  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,  vol.  v.,  pp. 
1194-98. 

16  See  Appendix  E  (Parliamentary  Examination  of  Joseph  Galloway,  March,  1779). 


CHAPTER  VII 

AMERICAN  IDEALS  MORE  SCOTTISH  THAN  ENGLISH 

IT  is  difficult  to  understand  the  grounds  for  claiming  that  the  credit  for  the 
conception  or  development  of  the  principle  of  man's  equality  belongs  to 
the  English.  So  far  as  history  and  the  observation  of  life  reveal,  that  prin- 
ciple is  not  established  in  England  to-day,  nor  even  recognized  by  any 
more  than  a  small  part  of  its  population.  Still  less  was  it  the  case  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago,  either  in  England  or  in  English  colonies.  The 
distinctions  of  caste  remained  longer  as  bitter  realities  in  Massachusetts  than 
they  did  in  Virginia  ;  and  so  far  from  either  of  those  States  being  the  first  to 
introduce  the  principles  of  democracy,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  overstating  it 
to  say  that  Quaker  Pennsylvania,  with  two-thirds  of  its  population  non-Eng- 
glish,  had  more  real  freedom  and  political  equality  twenty  years  before  1787, 
than  Massachusetts  or  Virginia  had  twenty  years  after  that  date.  Neither 
can  it  be  considered  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  those  embryonic  principles 
of  civil  liberty  which  first  were  brought  to  New  England  by  the  Pilgrims 
from  Holland,  then  for  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  buried  and  forgotten 
in  the  sterile  soil  of  later  New  England  Puritanism,  and  which  finally  seemed 
to  germinate  spontaneously  and  produce  such  abundant  fruit  during  the 
Revolutionary  period,  did  not  come  chiefly  from  England,  but  came  rather 
from  the  influence  of  the  French  writers,  and  from  Switzerland  and  the 
Dutch  Republic. 

Prior  to  1850  Massachusetts  remained  essentially  English,  and  would  be 
so  to-day  were  it  not  for  the  large  influx  of  foreign  population  during  the 
past  fifty  years.  If  there  is  any  one  characteristic  that  distinguishes 
the  Englishman  more  than  another,  it  is  his  persistent  assertion  —  and, 
where  he  is  able,  the  maintenance  —  of  his  own  rights.  This  is  doubtless  a 
consequence  of  his  Teutonic  nature.  It  comes  from  the  realization  of  his 
own  intrinsic  excellence,  and  from  that  spirit  which  prompts  him  to  go  out 
and  subdue  the  earth.  Unless  constantly  held  in  check,  however,  it  is  very 
easy  for  him  to  overstep  the  line  between  his  own  rights  and  the  rights  of 
others  ;  and  so  far  as  he  is  free  to  act  upon  his  own  racial  instincts,  he  does 
overstep  this  line.  This  is  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion. If  the  Englishman  did  not  do  so  unto  others  it  might  be  so  done  unto 
him.  We  see  manifestations  of  this  encroaching  spirit,  in  all  aspects  of 
English  life  or  history,  from  the  time  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  down  to  the 
time  of  Jameson's  Raid,  and  from  the  days  of  John  Smith  and  John  Win- 
throp  down  to  the  days  of  the  year  1901.  It  is  this  aggressive  spirit  which 
proudly  points  the  way  to  the  universal  dominion  of  the  so-called  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  ;  and  it  is  the  one  attribute  without  which  the  Anglo-Saxon's 

90 


American  Ideals 


91 


further  racial  progress,  according  to  his  own  view,  would  be  impossible. 
Hence,  to  repeat,  the  Englishman  has  a  greater  regard  for  his  own  rights  than 
for  those  of  others.  So  truly  is  this  the  case,  that  the  rights  of  his  weaker 
neighbor  are  invariably  sacrificed,  whenever  the  two  clash  together.  As  a 
result,  there  can  be  no  real  equality  among  the  English.  There  is  not  such 
a  thing  in  England  to-day,  nor  indeed  any  pretence  of  it.  Socially,  the  dis- 
tinctions of  caste  and  rank  are  perhaps  not  so  strongly  marked  there  between 
the  various  classes  as  were  those  between  master  and  slave  in  early  America, 
but  the  distance  between  the  high  and  the  low  is  almost  as  great, —  and  the 
abject  wretchedness  of  the  poorest  class  in  England  is  far  more  noticeable. 
The  opportunities  of  the  individual  are  likewise  restricted  wholly  to  those  of 
his  particular  class,  and  it  is  only  by  a  miracle  that  he  can  ever  hope  to  break 
through  into  a  higher  and  better  association. 

Down  to  a  few  years  before  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  Englishman  of 
New  England  did  not  differ  greatly  from  his  kinsmen  at  home.  He  had  the 
same  aggressive  and  independent  nature,  the  same  reverence  for  ecclesiastical 
and  political  power,  the  same  suspicion,  jealousy,  and  hatred  of  things  not 
English,  and  the  same  bitter  intolerance  and  persecuting  spirit  for  all  opinions 
not  identical  with  his  own.  The  Puritans  who  came  to  Massachusetts  before 
1640  soon  forgot  the  lessons  of  forbearance  and  justice  they  had  learned  at 
home  when  persecuted  for  conscience*  sake.  They  and  their  children  re- 
tained the  pride  of  caste,  the  arrogance,  the  narrow-mindedness,  and  the 
bigotry  of  the  ruling  class  at  home.  They  made  laws  prohibiting  people  of 
the  poorer  classes  from  wearing  as  good  clothing  as  their  superiors  in  wealth 
and  position.  They  established  a  State  church,  and  enforced  conformity  to 
its  worship  and  universal  contributions  to  its  support,  by  means  of  the 
whipping-post,  the  jails,  and  the  gibbet.1  They  limited  suffrage  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Established  Church  ;  and  during  most  of  the  time  they  required 
qualifications  for  church-membership  which  were  wholly  secular  and  which 
had  no  connection  whatever  with  religion.9 

In  all  respects,  their  government  prior  to  1760  partook  only  of  the  nature 
of  an  ecclesiastical  and  aristocratic  oligarchy,  and  it  was  more  than  sixty 
years  after  that  time  before  the  principle  of  equal  rights  became  fully  estab- 
lished in  Massachusetts.* 

In  America,  as  in  every  other  country,  the  first  to  appreciate  the  necessity 
for  man's  equality  before  the  law  were  those  who  had  suffered  most  from 
the  perversions  of  justice.  These  were  the  early  Pilgrims,  the  Quakers,  the 
Catholics,  the  Baptists,  and  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians.  As  a  rule,  the 
oppressed  can  better  be  relied  upon  to  distinguish  between  right  and  wrong 
than  the  oppressors.  They  have  a  keener  moral  sense,  and  their  more  active 
exercise  of  nature's  first  instinct  teaches  them  the  necessity  of  giving  due 
deference  to  the  rights  of  their  fellow  men. 

As  we  know,  laws  are  but  limitations  upon  arbitrary  power  ;  and  the 
battle  for  man's  industrial,  political,  and  religious  freedom  has  ever  been  a 


92  The  Scotch- Irish  Families  of  America 

contest  between  vested  interests  and  highly  privileged  power  on  the  one  side, 
and  unaided,  suffering,  and  burden-bearing  humanity  on  the  other.  Injus- 
tice must  be  long  endured  and  its  oppressions  made  intolerable  before  the 
weaker  masses  who  suffer  from  its  burdens  can  acquire  enough  intelligent 
strength  to  resist,  and  to  bring  about  reforms.  Reforms  rarely  originate 
with  the  power-holding  classes  ;  but  are  granted  by  them  as  concessions  — 
indeed,  usually  wrung  from  them  by  repeated  and  urgent  protests,  prayers, 
and,  at  certain  long  intervals,  by  the  sword  of  the  revolutionist. 

The  oppressed  and  persecuted,  therefore,  are  those  to  whom  mankind 
owes  its  greatest  social  blessings.  They  ever  stand  as  living  witnesses  against 
injustice  and  tyranny.  They  are  the  first  to  demand  reforms.  In  the  days 
of  Rome,  they  raised  the  standard  of  the  Cross,  around  which  in  due  time 
the  men  of  all  nations  gathered.  Under  this  standard  was  erected  later  the 
most  effective  system  ever  devised  by  the  genius  of  man  for  curbing  the 
despots  of  paganism — a  system  so  well  organized,  indeed,  that  when  the  evils 
which  it  was  created  to  destroy  had  been  wellnigh  stamped  out  it  gave  those 
evils  a  new  lease  on  life  by  introducing  their  spirit  into  its  own  religious  pol- 
ity, resulting  in  the  massacres  of  the  Reformation  period. 

So,  in  the  days  of  John  Knox,  the  blood  of  the  early  Scottish  martyrs 
was  the  seed  not  only  of  the  British  Protestant  Church,  but  of  the  greater 
tree  of  human  liberty,  which  grew  up  and  flourished  under  his  fostering  care; 
yielding  its  fruits  in  abundant  measure  when  the  time  came  for  Scotland 
to  take  the  lead  against  tyranny  and  to  preserve  for  herself,  for  England,  and 
for  all  mankind  the  threatened  heritage  of  granted  liberties.4 

To  a  vastly  greater  extent  does  America  owe  her  love  of  liberty  to 
those  who  had  suffered  from  persecution.  At  an  early  day  becoming  the 
harbor  and  home  of  the  oppressed  of  all  nations,  its  shores  ever  received  the 
exiles,  the  refugees,  and  the  proscribed  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe.  Here 
came  the  Pilgrim,  the  Puritan,  the  Baptist,  the  Quaker,  the  Mennonite,  the 
Moravian,  the  Catholic,  the  Huguenot,  and  the  Presbyterian.  Here  these 
people  felled  the  forests,  subdued  the  wilderness,  planted  the  soil,  established 
towns,  raised  schoolhouses,  built  churches,  and  in  every  way  prepared  them- 
selves to  guard  the  precious  treasure  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  they 
had  crossed  unknown  seas  to  obtain.  However,  with  the  lapse  of  years  and 
the  coming  of  children  and  grandchildren,  some  of  them  grew  to  forget  the 
lessons  of  liberty  which  they  had  learned  in  the  old  world,  and  remembered 
only  the  deeper-grounded  hereditary  admonitions  of  their  earlier  persecut- 
ing forefathers.  These  colonists  reverted  to  the  same  life  of  injustice  and 
oppression  which  their  cousins  still  lived  at  home. 

This,  as  has  been  already  intimated,  and  as  we  shall  more  fully  perceive 
in  the  pages  following,  was  particularly  the  case  in  New  England  and  Virginia. 
In  the  former  colony,  the  retrogression  was  rapid  and  marked.  To  use  the 
expression  of  its  most  candid  native  expositor,  the  period  between  1637  and 
1760  was  the  "  glacial "  age  of  Massachusetts.'     In  early  Virginia  there  never 


American  Ideals  93 

was  much  of  Freedom's  light  let  in.  Its  early  settlers  were  English  Royalists, 
so-called  Cavaliers,  who  were  Episcopalian  conformists,  and  dissent  of  any 
kind  was  prohibited  by  the  severest  penalties.  The  institution  of  slavery 
was  established  there  before  the  expulsion  of  the  Stuarts  from  England,  and 
the  slave  trade  was  encouraged  and  maintained  by  British  adventurers  and 
Yankee  skippers,*  notwithstanding  the  protest  of  many  of  Virginia's  most 
eminent  men,' 

In  New  England,  until  the  Scotch  came,  the  sole  guardians  of  liberty  were 
the  Separatists,  the  Quakers,  and  the  Baptists.  The  first,  because  of  their 
liberal  views,  were  forced  to  remove  from  Massachusetts  to  Connecticut  and 
Maryland,  and  the  others  were  driven  into  Rhode  Island  and  New  Jersey. 
In  the  central  colonies,  those  who  kept  alive  the  sacred  flame  were  found  at 
first  in  Maryland,  but  later  chiefly  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey, 
where  the  Quakers  had  early  settled  and  where  afterwards  came  the  Mo- 
ravians, the  Lutherans,  the  Huguenots,  the  Catholics,  and  the  Covenanters. 
These  two  colonies  became  the  only  secure  retreats  for  all  the  persecuted  of 
Europe,  of  Britain,  of  New  England,  and  of  the  Episcopalian  colonies  of  the 
South.8  Here  was  the  landing-place  of  more  than  three-fourths  of  the 
Protestant  emigrants  from  Ireland,  and  here  they  lived,  increased,  spread 
out  over  the  south  and  west,  and  carried  into  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the 
Carolinas  their  democratic  principles  of  human  equality,  of  the  responsibility 
of  the  governor  to  the  governed,  and  of  the  supremacy  of  conscience  over 
all  established  forms  of  thought,  government,  or  worship. 

It  was  not  until  a  long  time  after  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
that  freedom  of  worship  prevailed  in  Massachusetts.  Up  to  the  middle  of 
the  preceding  one,  it  was  not  safe  for  a  visiting  Presbyterian  minister  to 
preach  in  that  colony  or  in  Connecticut.  In  1740,  a  few  Scotch-Irish 
families  lived  in  Worcester.  After  infinite  labor  and  pains,  and  with  con- 
siderable sacrifice  on  their  part,  they  began  the  erection  of  a  small  meeting- 
house within  the  confines  of  that  village.  The  framework  of  the  building 
had  been  reared,  and  the  structure  was  being  pushed  to  completion,  when, 
one  dark  night,  a  body  of  citizens,  representing  the  majesty  of  the  State  and 
the  Puritan  Church,  secretly  assembled  before  the  partially  erected  build- 
ing. Having  made  all  preparations,  they  began  to  demolish  the  structure, 
and  before  morning  had  razed  it  to  the  ground.  The  offensive  Presbyte- 
rians were  not  permitted  to  rebuild,  but  were  obliged  to  remove  to  the 
frontiers.  These  Scots,  and  their  fellow-colonists  in  Londonderry,  New 
Hampshire,  gave  to  America  Matthew  Thornton,  Hugh  McCulloch,  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  Charles  Foster,  George  B.  McClellan,  Asa  Gray,  Horace  Greeley, 
General  John  Stark,  and  perhaps,  also,  Henry  Knox,  the  Boston  bookseller, 
whom  Washington  so  highly  honored.  Reverend  Samuel  Finley,  a  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterian,  afterwards  president  of  Princeton  College,  was  arrested 
and  imprisoned  in  Connecticut  in  1742-43,  because  he  ventured  to  preach 
in  that  colony  without  an  invitation  from  a  minister  of  one  of  the  established 


94  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

churches.  Francis  Makemie,  the  father  of  American  Presbyterianism, 
was  likewise  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  New  York,  in  1707,  because  he 
held  services  in  the  city  of  that  name  as  a  Presbyterian  minister.  New 
Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland  were  the  only  colonies 
in  which  there  was  any  approach  to  freedom  of  worship  during  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Down  to  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary 
period,  Virginia  was,  if  anything,  more  intolerant  than  Massachusetts.  Dis- 
senting ministers  were  imprisoned  there  after  the  year  1760,  according 
to  Patrick  Henry's  reading  of  their  bill  of  indictment,  for  "preaching  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ."  That  State  was  the  first,  however,  to  adopt  a 
constitution  declaring  for  a  total  separation  of  Church  and  State  ;  and  it 
was  owing  to  the  earnest  fight  against  the  intolerable  inflictions  of  the  old 
laws,  a  fight  made  chiefly  by  the  Scotch-Irish  composing  the  Presbytery  of 
Hanover,9  that,  beginning  in  1776,  these  laws  were  finally  swept  from  the 
statute-books.  In  contrasting  the  New  England  and  the  Southern  colonies, 
Mr.  Douglas  Campbell  points  out  the  racial  differences  in  their  respective 
populations,  and  thus  reveals  the  true  reason  for  the  differences  in  their 
treatment  of  the  matter  of  religious  liberty.     He  says  10  : 

The  New  England  Colonies  were  republics,  but  not  democracies.  Most 
of  them  had  state  churches  ;  their  suffrage,  though  broad,  was  restricted, 
and  among  their  people  social  distinctions  were  very  marked.  When  these 
colonies  became  States  they  clung,  with  true  English  tenacity,  to  their  old 
traditions,  and  looked  with  horror  upon  the  levelling  democratic  theories 
advanced  in  other  quarters.  In  the  South,  on  the  other  hand,  with  its  large 
and  influential  Scotch-Irish  population,  the  natural  tendency  was  to  get  as  far 
as  possible  from  the  past.  These  men  hated  England  as  the  New  Engend- 
ers never  did,  and  they  also  hated  all  her  institutions.  Their  religion  had 
taught  them  the  absolute  equality  of  man,  and  on  this  point  they  were  in 
full  accord  with  men  like  Jefferson,  who  had  learned  the  same  principle 
from  the  philosophers  of  France.  Here,  then,  in  this  difference  of  race  we 
may  perhaps  find  an  explanation  of  the  fact  that  Virginia,  formerly  the  most 
aristocratic,  became  the  most  democratic  in  theory  of  all  the  States  ;  while 
Massachusetts,  standing  on  old  conservative  ways,  became  the  chief  expo- 
nent of  the  opposing  theories.  One  thing  is  very  clear  —  from  no  English 
element  of  the  population,  except  the  Separatists,  would  have  come  the  ideas 
of  human  equality,  freedom  of  religion,  separation  of  Church  and  State,  and 
universal  suffrage. 

Peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  consideration  of  these  questions  are  the 
lectures  delivered  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  at  Cambridge,  in  1893,  which 
have  since  been  published  in  an  enlarged  form,  under  the  title  of  Massa- 
chusetts :  Its  Historians  and  Its  History.  Some  of  Mr.  Adams's  observations 
may  be  cited  here  : 

So  far  as  the  principles  of  civil  liberty  and  human  right  are  concerned, 
Massachusetts  has  always  been  at  the  front.  .  .  .  The  backbone  of  the 
movement  which  preceded  the  French  Revolution,  she  inspired  the  agitation 
which  ended  in  the  fall  of  African  slavery. 


American  Ideals 


95 


Such  has  been  the  Massachusetts  record  as  respects  equality  before  the 
law  ;  as  respects  religious  toleration,  it  has  been  of  a  character  wholly- 
different.  Upon  that  issue,  indeed,  not  only  has  Massachusetts  failed  to 
make  herself  felt,  but  her  record  as  a  whole,  and  until  a  comparatively  recent 
period,  has  been  scarcely  even  creditable.  This,  too,  was  the  case  from  the 
beginning. 

The  story  opens  with  the  contested  charter  election  of  1637,  as  a  result 
of  which  Governor  John  Winthrop  replaced  Governor  Sir  Harry  Vane  as 
chief  executive  of  the  colony.  This  election  took  place  ...  on  the  27th 
day  of  May.  Four  months  later  it  was  followed  by  the  gathering  of  the  first 
Synod  of  Massachusetts  churches.  .  .  .  The  Synod  sat  through  twenty- 
four  days,  during  which  it  busied  itself  unearthing  heterodox  opinions  and 
making  the  situation  uncomfortable  for  those  suspected  of  heresy.  .  .  . 
Finally  .  .  .  took  place  the  trial  of  the  arch-heretic,  Mistress  Anne 
Hutchinson  ;  and  on  the  18th  of  November,  1637,  she  was  condemned  to 
banishment. 

As  the  twig  is  bent,  the  tree  inclines.  The  Massachusetts  twig  was  here 
and  then  bent ;  and,  as  it  was  bent,  it  during  hard  upon  two  centuries 
inclined.  The  question  of  Religious  Toleration  was,  so  far  as  Massachusetts 
could  decide  it,  decided  in  1637  in  the  negative.  On  that  issue  Massa- 
chusetts then  definitely  and  finally  renounced  all  claim  or  desire  to  head  the 
advancing  column,  or  even  to  be  near  the  head  of  the  column  ;  it  did  not  go 
to  the  rear,  but  it  went  well  towards  it,  and  there  it  remained  until  the  issue 
was  decided.  But  it  is  curious  to  note  from  that  day  to  this  how  the  exponents 
of  Massachusetts  polity  and  thought,  whether  religious  or  historical,  have, 
so  to  speak,  wriggled  and  squirmed  in  the  presence  of  the  record.  .  .  . 
They  did  so  in  1637,  when  they  were  making  the  record  up  ;  they  have  done 
so  ever  since.  There  was  almost  no  form  of  sophistry  to  which  the  founders 
of  Massachusetts  did  not  have  recourse  then, — for  they  sinned  against  light, 
though  they  deceived  themselves  while  sinning ;  and  there  is  almost  no  form 
of  sophistry  to  which  the  historians  of  Massachusetts  have  not  had  recourse 
since, — really  deceiving  themselves  in  their  attempt  to  deceive  others.    .    .    . 

The  first  decision,  and  the  policy  subsequently  pursued  in  accordance 
with  it,  were  distinct,  authoritative,  and  final, — against  religious  toleration. 
.  .  .  The  offence,  as  well  as  the  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  government, 
was  explicitly  and  unmistakably  set  forth  by  the  chief  executive  and  the 
presiding  official  at  the  trial  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  when  Governor  Winthrop 
said  to  her, — "  Your  course  is  not  to  be  suffered  ;  .  .  .  we  see  not  that  any 
should  have  authority  to  set  up  any  other  exercises  besides  what  authority 
hath  already  set  up."    .    .    . 

I  have  cited  Urian  Oakes,  President  of  Harvard  College  from  1675  to 
1681.  He  was  succeeded  by  Increase  Mather,  who  was  President  from  1685 
to  1 701  ;  and  in  1685  Increase  Mather  thus  delivered  himself  on  the  subject 
of  religious  liberty  : 

"  Moreover,  sinful  Toleration  is  an  evil  of  exceeding  dangerous  conse- 
quence :  Men  of  Corrupt  minds  though  they  may  plead  for  Toleration,  and 
Cry  up  Liberty  of  Conscience,  etc.,  yet  if  once  they  should  become  numerous 
and  get  power  into  their  hands,  none  would  persecute  more  than  they.  .  .  . 
And  indeed  the  Toleration  of  all  Religions  and  Perswasions,  is  the  way  to 
have  no  true  Religion  at  all  left.  ...  I  do  believe  that  Antichrist  hath  not 
at  this  day  a  more  probable  way  to  advance  his  Kingdom  of  Darkness,  than 
by  a  Toleration  of  all  Religions  and  Perswasions."  (A  Call  to  the  Rising 
Generation,  1685,  pp.  107,  108.)     .     .     . 


96  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

So  far  as  America  is  concerned,  it  is  greatly  to  be  feared  that  we  in  the 
matter  of  historical  work  are  yet  in  the  filio-pietistic  and  patriotic  stage  of 
development.  "  Ancestor  worship  "  is  the  rule,  and  an  excellent  illustration 
of  the  results  to  which  that  worship  leads  those  given  to  it  is  afforded  in  the 
treatment  which  has  been  accorded  to  that  portion  of  the  Massachusetts 
record  which  relates  to  religious  toleration.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  resources  of  sophistry  and  special  pleading  have  been  exhausted  in  the 
attempt  to  extenuate  or  explain  it  away.  On  its  face  it  presents  difficulties 
of  an  obvious  nature  :  wholesale  proscription  ;  frequent  banishment  under 
penalty  of  death  in  case  of  return  ;  the  infliction  of  punishments  both  cruel 
and  degrading,  amounting  to  torture,  and  that  regardless  of  the  sex  of  those 
punished  ;  the  systematic  enforcement  of  rigid  conformity  through  long 
periods  of  time  ; — all  these  things  are  part  of  the  record  : — and  in  these 
bad  respects  it  is  not  at  once  apparent  how  the  Massachussets  record  differs 
from  those  of  Spain  or  France  or  England.  But  the  Massachusetts  school 
of  historians,  undismayed  by  the  difficulties  which  confronted  it,  has  ad- 
dressed itself  to  the  task  in  such  a  blind  sense  of  filial  devotion  that  the 
self-deception  of  many,  and  not  the  least  eminent  of  those  composing  the 
school,  has  been  complete.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  have  such  remarks  made, 
but  there  is  a  certain  justice  in  Sir  Henry  Maine's  reference,  to  "  the  nauseous 
grandiloquence  of  the  American  panegyrical  historian  "  (Popular  Govern- 
ment^ p.  222)  ;  and  J.  A.  Doyle  might  have  extended  his  criticism  of  the 
early  New  England  chroniclers, —  that  in  reading  their  writings  "we  are 
reading  not  a  history  but  a  hagiology," — so  as  to  include  not  a  few  later 
investigators.     .     .     . 

Again,  approaching  a  yet  larger  question, —  the  question  of  Toleration. 
Confronted  with  the  record  on  that  matter,  the  Massachusetts  historian,  so 
free  and  frank  in  his  denunciation  of  English  and  Italian  and  Spanish 
ecclesiastical  bigotry  and  intolerance,  proceeds  to  argue  that,  after  all,  "  re- 
ligious intolerance,  like  every  other  public  restraint,  is  criminal  wherever  it 
is  not  needful  for  the  public  safety  :  it  is  simply  self-defence  whenever 
toleration  would  be  public  ruin."  (Palfrey,  History  of  New  England,  1864, 
i.,  300.)  These  words  from  the  latest  and  most  elaborate  history  of  New 
England  sound  like  an  echo, —  loud,  reverberating,  close  at  hand, —  of  the 
utterance  of  two  centuries  before.  Thus  Increase  Mather,  later  president  of 
Harvard  College,  expressed  himself  in  1681  :  "The  place  may  sometimes 
make  a  great  alteration,  as  to  indulgence  to  be  expected.  It  is  evident,  that 
that  Toleration  is  in  one  place  not  only  lawful,  but  a  necessary  duty, 
which  in  another  place  would  be  destructive,  and  the  expectation  of  it 
irrational."     .     .     . 

The  stronger  and  more  stimulating  the  food,  the  sooner  any  undue  quan- 
tity of  it  is  felt ;  until,  in  the  case  of  wine,  while  a  carefully  measured  use 
may  stimulate  the  healthy  and  nourish  the  sick,  excess  brings  on  fever  and 
delirium.  Rhode  Island  went  through  this  experience  in  its  early  days.  It 
was,  so  to  speak,  the  dumping-ground  for  the  surplus  intellectual  activity  of 
New  England.  .  .  .  Thus  what  was  a  good  and  most  necessary  element 
in  the  economy  of  nature  and  the  process  of  human  development  was  an 
excess  in  Rhode  Island  ;  and  the  natural  result  followed, —  a  disordered 
community.  .  .  .  But  it  by  no  means  followed  that  what  disordered  infant 
Rhode  Island  would  have  proved  more  than  a  healthy  stimulant  for  larger 
and  more  matured  Massachusetts.  In  its  spirit  of  rigid  conformity,  Massa- 
chusetts rejected  and  expelled  whatever  did  not  immediately  assimilate  ; 
and  so  did  Spain.     Indeed,  Spain  regarded  Holland  much  as  Massachusetts 


American  Ideals  97 

regarded  Rhode  Island  .  .  .  the  only  trouble  was  that  while  Massachusetts 
did  not  have  enough  of  the  stimulant,  Rhode  Island  had  too  much.    ... 

But,  as  I  have  observed,  this  fact  the  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  could 
not  see  then,  and  the  Massachusetts  school  of  historians  has  refused  to  see 
it  since.  Those  composing  that  school  have  systematically  narrowed  their 
vision  ;  and  denouncing  the  rulers  of  Spain  and  France  and  England  for 
bigotry,  intolerance,  and  cruelty, — shutting  their  eyes  to  Holland  .  .  .  they 
have  pointed  to  Rhode  Island  as  an  example  of  what  must  inevitably  have 
ensued  had  the  rulers  of  Massachusetts  in  its  formative  period  not  pursued 
that  policy  of  which  Philip  II.  was  the  great  and  only  wholly  successful  ex- 
positor. In  other  words,  they  insist  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  toleration 
meant  chaos, — "  had  our  early  ancestors  .  .  .  placed  their  government  on 
the  basis  of  liberty  for  all  sorts  of  consciences,  it  would  have  been  in  that 
age  a  certain  introduction  of  anarchy"  (Ellis,  Memorial  History  of  Boston, 
i.,  127)  ;  and  in  proof  of  this  they  point  to  Rhode  Island.    .    .    . 

It  was  not  until  after  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  in  1787 
that  the  political  agitation  which  for  Massachusetts  began  in  1760  can  be 
said  to  have  practically  subsided.  .  .  .  During  that  period,  nearly  the  life- 
time of  a  generation,  the  glacial  mass  of  superstition  and  terrorism  had  been 
gradually  but  imperceptibly  receding  and  disappearing.  It  was  still  potent, 
but  in  an  inert  sort  of  way.  .  .  .  When  the  constitution  of  1780  was  framed, 
it  yielded  a  grudging  and  reluctant  consent  to  limited  concessions  of  non- 
conformity ;  but  it  was  then  so  potent  and  so  rife  that  the  framer  of  the 
instrument  abandoned  in  despair  the  attempt  to  put  his  idea  of  religious 
freedom  in  any  form  of  words  likely  to  prove  acceptable  to  those  who  were 
to  pass  upon  his  work  (  Works  of  yohn  Adams \  iv.,  p.  222,  n.).    .     .    . 

The  phase  of  political  activity  has  already  been  alluded  to.  In  that  field 
Massachusetts  was  always  at  home — it  enjoyed  an  easy  American  supremacy 
which  even  its  ice  age  did  not  wholly  arrest.  And  now,  when  the  struggle 
against  superstition  had  drawn  to  a  close,  that  against  caste  came  again  to 
the  front,  with  Massachusetts  still  in  the  van.  Indeed,  on  this  issue,  in  1837 
as  in  1635,  the  proper  and  natural  place  for  the  Puritan  commonwealth  was 
in  the  van.     It  stood  there  ;  indeed  it  was  the  van. 

The  record,  opened  at  Plymouth  in  December,  1620,  closed  as  a  distinct 
and  independent  record  in  April,  1865.  That  long  struggle  for  the  recog- 
nition of  the  equality  of  man  before  the  law,  of  which  Massachusetts  was  the 
peculiar  and  acknowledged  champion,  came  to  its  close  at  Appomattox. 

Frank  and  novel,  indeed,  are  these  confessions  of  Puritan  shortcom- 
ing from  a  scion  of  one  of  New  England's  most  noted  families.  While 
one  cannot  but  feel  that  Mr.  Adams  has  rendered  an  inestimable  service  to 
the  cause  of  truth,  it  is  yet  to  be  questioned  whether  in  his  concluding 
sentences  he  does  not  himself  fall  under  the  filio-pietistic  influence  when 
speaking  of  the  Massachusetts  monopoly  of  the  principles  of  civil  liberty. 
Claiming  descent  from  John  Cotton,  as  Mr.  Adams  does,  it  is  not  strange 
that  the  inquiry  arises  whether  the  fact  of  that  descent,  and  the  desire  to 
condone  the  bigotry  of  that  ancestor,  may  not  have  led  him  to  take  a  broader 
and  more  philosophical  survey  of  the  subject  of  religious  liberty  in  New 
England  than  has  been  taken  by  any  of  his  predecessors.  It  may  also  be 
questioned  whether  his  estimate  as  to  the  perniciousness  of  the  early  Puritan 


gS  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ecclesiastical  system  may  not  have  been  reached  through  a  realization  of 
the  inadequacy  of  any  other  conclusion  to  rightly  explain  the  Jesuitical 
polity  developed  and  practised  by  that  Puritan  ancestor.  John  Cotton  was 
a  man  who  argued  that,  "  to  excommunicate  an  Heretick,  is  not  to  perse- 
cute ;  that  is,  it  is  not  to  punish  an  innocent,  but  a  culpable  and  damnable 
person,  and  that  not  for  conscience,  but  for  persisting  in  error  against  light 
of  conscience,  whereof  it  hath  been  convinced."  " 

Would  that  some  equally  worthy  descendant  of  John  Winthrop  or  Ed- 
mund Andros  might  give  us  a  like  demagnetized  and  impartial  account  of 
the  history  of  civil  liberty  in  Massachusetts. 

Lacking  this,  we  have,  however,  from  an  outside  source,  a  very  clear 
and  forceful  criticism  of  those  portions  of  Mr.  Adams's  addresses  which 
partake  of  tendencies  the  opposite  of  the  liberal  ones  just  indicated.  This 
criticism  is  to  be  found  in  Oliver  Perry  Temple's  little  volume  on  The 
Covenanter,  Cavalier,  and  Puritan™  and  is  as  follows  : 

The  truth  is,  from  the  beginning  "  caste  "  was  in  higher  favor  and  more 
regarded  in  this  [Massachusetts]  than  in  any  of  the  Colonies,  except  possibly 
in  Virginia.  The  distinction  between  the  "  better  class  " — those  "  above  the 
ordinary  degree  " — and  those  of  "  mean  condition,"  was  expressly  pointed 
out  and  declared  by  the  General  Court  in  165 1.  Under  the  law  enacted  by 
it,  regulating  the  kind  of  dress  to  be  worn,  and  other  things,  magistrates, 
civil  and  military  officers,  persons  of  education  and  employment  "  above  the 
ordinary  degree,"  those  who  were  worth  two  hundred  pounds,  and  those 
whose  estates  had  been  considerable,  but  had  decayed, — all  those  in  a  word 
called  the  better  class,  were  exempt  from  the  operation  of  these  sumptuary 
laws.  But  the  court  declared  most  earnestly,  almost  pathetically,  its  "  utter 
detestation  and  dislike  that  men  or  women  of  mean  condition,  educations, 
and  callings,  should  take  upon  them  the  garbe  of  gentlemen,  by  the  wearing 
of  gold  or  silver  lace,  or  buttons  or  poynts  at  their  knees,  to  walke  in  great 
bootes  ;  or  women  of  the  same  ranke  to  weare  silk  or  tiffany  hoodes  or 
scarfes,  which,  though  allowable  to  persons  of  greater  estates,  or  more  lib- 
eral education,  yet  we  cannot  but  judge  it  intolerable  in  persons  of  such  like 
condition."     (Bryant's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  63.) 

Most  reluctantly  do  I  attempt  to  take  from  "  Puritan  Massachusetts" 
any  of  the  honors  she  so  gracefully  and  complacently  wears,  won  in  the  long 
contest  over  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but  the  truth  of  history  compels  my 
doing  so.  That  State  was  not  "  in  the  van  "  ;  much  less  "  was  she  the  van  " 
on  that  question  until  after  1836.  The  leading  men  of  Virginia  condemned 
the  institution  of  slavery  both  before  and  immediately  after  the  Revolution. 
In  1804  a  number  of  Baptist  ministers  in  Kentucky  started  a  crusade 
against  the  institution,  which  resulted  in  a  hot  contest  in  the  denomination, 
and  the  organization  of  the  "  Baptist  Licking  Locust  Association  Friends  of 
Humanity."  In  1806  Charles  Osborne  began  to  preach  "immediate  eman- 
cipation "  in  Tennessee.  Ten  years  later  he  started  a  paper  in  Ohio,  called 
the  Philanthropist,  devoted  to  the  general  cause  of  humanity.  In  1822  a 
paper  was  started  at  Shelbyville  (no  State  mentioned,  probably  Kentucky), 
called  the  Abolition  Intelligencer. 

Osborne  probably  went  from  Jefferson  County,  eastern  Tennessee,  the 


American  Ideals  99 

same  county  from  which  John  Rankin,*  the  noted  abolitionist,  went,  since 
his  was  the  first  name  on  the  roll  of  the  "  Lost  Creek  Manumission  Society" 
of  that  county  in  1815. 

Twenty  years  before  Massachusetts  took  her  stand  at  all  on  this  subject, 
there  were  eighteen  manumission,  or  emancipation,  societies  in  eastern  Ten- 
nessee, organized  by  the  Covenanters,  the  Methodists,  and  the  Quakers  of 
that  region,  which  held  regular  meetings  for  a  number  of  years  in  the  inter- 
est of  emancipation  or  abolitionism.  In  1822  there  were  five  or  six  abolition 
societies  in  Kentucky.  In  181 9  the  first  distinctively  emancipation  paper  in 
the  United  States  was  published  in  Jonesborough,  eastern  Tennessee,  by 
Elihu  Embree,  a  Quaker,  called  the  Manumission  Intelligencer.  In  1821 
Benjamin  Lundy  purchased  this  paper,  and  published  it  for  two  years  in 
Greenville,  East  Tennessee,  under  the  title  of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Eman- 
cipation. Lundy  was  merely  the  successor  of  Embree.  At  and  previous 
to  this  time,  the  Methodist  Church  in  Tennessee,  at  its  conferences,  was 
making  it  hot  for  its  members  who  held  or  who  bought  or  sold  slaves,  by 
silencing  or  expelling  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  late  as  1835,  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  mobbed 
in  the  streets  of  Boston,  because  he  was  an  abolitionist.  About  1827,  Ben- 
jamin Lundy  could  not  find  an  abolitionist  in  that  city.  In  1826,  of  the 
one  hundred  and  forty-three  emancipation  societies  in  the  United  States, 
one  hundred  and  three  were  in  the  South,  and  not  one,  so  far  as  I  know,  in 
Massachusetts.  John  Rankin,  the  noted  abolitionist  of  Ohio,  who  went 
from  East  Tennessee  in  1815  or  1816, — a  Covenanter  and  from  a  Covenanter 
neighborhood, — declared  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  that  it  was  safer  in  1816 
to  1820  to  make  abolition  speeches  in  Tennessee  or  Kentucky  than  it  was  in 
the  North. 

In  1833,  the  poet  Whittier  and  George  Thompson,  the  celebrated  Eng- 
lish abolitionist,  were  mobbed  and  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives,  in  at- 
tempting to  make  abolition  speeches  in  one  of  the  towns  of  Massachusetts.! 

In  1833,  Governor  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  suggested  the  expediency 
of  prosecuting  abolitionists.  Mr.  Garrison  said,  in  the  first  number  of  the 
Liberator,  that  he  found  in  the  North  "  contempt  more  bitter,  prejudice 
more  stubborn,  and  apathy  more  frozen  than  among  slave-owners  them- 
selves." It  was  estimated,  in  1828,  that  in  Tennessee  three-fifths  of  the 
people  were  favorably  disposed  toward  the  principle  of  emancipation. 

In  the  Constitutional  convention  of  Tennessee,  in  1834,  a  proposition 
was  made  to  emancipate  the  slaves  of  the  State,  and  it  received  over  one- 
third  of  the  votes  of  the  members,  and  the  favorable  indorsement  of  all, 
those  opposing  it  approving  the  principle,  but  insisting  that  the  time  for 
that  step  had  not  yet  arrived. 

It  is  well  known  that  Henry  Clay  commenced  his  political  career  in 
Kentucky  by  an  effort  to  secure  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of  that 
State.  The  fact  is,  the  emancipation  movement  seems  to  have  gotten  its 
first  start  and  strength  in  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky,  though  the 
Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  made  feeble  efforts  in  that  direction  before  the 
Revolution.18 

It  thus  appears  that  Massachusetts  was  a  long  way  behind  even  some  of 

♦John  Rankin's  father  was  a  Pennsylvanian  and  was  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  John 
was  the  founder  of  the  Free  Presbyterian  Church  and  organized  the  first  "underground 
railway  "  in  Ohio. 

f  This  is  likewise  true  of  Benjamin  Lundy,  who  first  interested  Garrison  in  abolition. 


ioo  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  slave  States  in  the  struggle  for  "man's  equality  before  the  law."     It  was 
not  until  1836  that  she  led  in  the  abolition  movement. 

From  the  very  beginning,  as  we  have  seen,  there  has  always  been  a  ten- 
dency toward  caste  in  Massachusetts.  Her  people  were  Englishmen.  They 
had  English  ideas.  Ideas  of  caste  were  a  part  of  their  heritage.  I  have  al- 
ready quoted  one  of  their  early  statutes  showing  that  a  clear  distinction  was 
drawn  between  the  "  better  class,"  those  "  above  the  ordinary  degree,"  and 
those  of  "  mean  condition."  Those  of  the  latter  class  were  not  to  wear  the 
same  clothing  that  the  former  did.     .     .     . 

I  refer  to  one  more  fact  on  this  subject.  In  the  discussion  over  the  for- 
mation of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  during  the  twelve  years  following 
its  adoption,  the  Federal  and  the  Anti-Federal  parties  were  formed  and  came 
into  being  ;  the  one,  thoroughly  democratic,  was  led  by  Mr.  Jefferson  ;  the 
other,  led  by  Mr.  Hamilton  and  John  Adams,  leaned  toward  a  strong  cen- 
tral government.  Massachusetts  and  New  England,  following  the  lead  of 
Mr.  Adams,  ranged  themselves  on  the  Federal  side,  while  the  Southern 
States  followed  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  Massachusetts  became  a 
Federal  State,  while  Virginia  became  thoroughly  Democratic. 

As  the  logical  conclusion  of  the  discussions  in  the  last  four  chapters,  and 
the  underlying  thought  running  through  them  all,  it  is  affirmed  as  almost  an 
undeniable  proposition  that  the  advanced  theories  and  the  liberal  ideas,  in 
reference  to  both  political  and  religious  liberty,  which,  like  threads  of  gold, 
were  woven  into  the  institutions  of  the  country  and  the  life  of  the  people, 
and  which  gave  them  their  chief  glory,  were  of  Covenanter,  and  not  of  Puri- 
tan or  Cavalier,  origin.  This  is  so  manifestly  true  as  to  religious  liberty 
that  the  reader  has  only  to  recall  the  facts  already  given  in  order  to  com- 
mand his  ready  assent  to  the  truth  of  the  proposition.  For  it  will  be  re- 
membered that  until  after  the  coming  of  the  Covenanters  there  was  not  one 
gleam  of  light  in  all  the  dreary  regions  dominated  by  the  Puritans  and  the 
Cavaliers.  The  despotism  and  the  gloom  of  intolerance  reigned  supreme. 
A  narrow  bigotry  and  superstition  cast  their  blighting  shadows  over  the 
minds  of  men.  Notwithstanding  the  bold  and  never-ceasing  teachings  of 
the  Covenanters,  from  the  day  of  their  arrival  in  the  country  until  they  had 
aroused  the  storm  of  the  Revolution,  so  difficult  was  it  to  induce  the  Puri- 
tans and  the  Cavaliers  to  relax  their  deadly  grasp  on  the  consciences  of 
men  that  eleven  years  passed  away  after  the  inauguration  of  hostilities  in 
the  colonies  before  universal  religious  liberty  prevailed  in  the  Cavalier 
State,  and  nearly  sixty  years  before  complete  religious  emancipation  was  ac- 
complished in  Massachusetts. 

The  struggles  for  political  and  personal  liberty  are  always  easily  remem- 
bered. The  glare  and  the  thunders  of  war  are  never  forgotten.  But  the 
quiet,  the  persistent,  and  the  courageous  warfare  waged  by  the  Covenant- 
ers, everywhere  and  at  all  times,  for  the  right  of  conscience,  while  it  was 
effecting  a  revolution  as  important  for  the  happiness  of  mankind  as  the 
great  one  settled  by  arms,  did  not  appeal  to  the  senses  and  the  imagi- 
nation of  men,  and  hence  it  has  been  but  little  noted  by  speakers  or  by 
historians. 

To  prove  the  correctness  of  the  other  branch  of  my  summary,  or  propo- 
sition, in  reference  to  political  freedom,  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the 
facts  already  given,  to  show  the  deeply  rooted  ideas  of  caste  and  social  dis- 
tinction existing  in  the  minds  of  the  ruling  classes,  and  in  the  society  of 
Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  previous  to  and  at  the  date  of  the  Revolution. 
These  caste  ideas  and  social  distinctions  did  not  prevent  those  favorable  to 


American  Ideals  101 

Independence  from  doing  their  duty  in  the  great  contest  of  arms,  but  they 
did  have  a  most  important  influence  in  shaping  the  institutions  of  the 
country,  and  in  giving  tone  and  coloring  to  its  thought  afterward.  And  in 
this  second  stage  of  the  Revolution,  these  Covenanters,  dwelling  in  large 
numbers  in  all  the  States  south  of  New  England,  with  their  liberal  and  ad- 
vanced ideas,  learned  in  their  bitter  experience  of  nearly  two  centuries,  and 
with  their  creed  of  republicanism,  were  ready  to  infuse  their  spirit  and  in- 
ject their  ideas  of  equality  into  the  constitutions,  the  institutions,  and  into 
the  life  of  that  vast  region.  Under  this  influence  even  aristocratic  Cavalier 
Virginia  became,  as  we  have  seen,  the  most  democratic  of  all  the  States. 
Under  this  influence,  also,  the  constitution  of  Tennessee  was  framed, 
which  was  pronounced  by  Mr.  Jefferson  the  most  republican  in  its  spirit  of 
all  the  American  constitutions.  And  this  same  spirit  pervaded  the  institu- 
tions of  all  the  Southern  States,  excepting  South  Carolina.  I  do  not  with- 
hold from  Mr.  Jefferson  the  high  meed  of  praise  he  so  richly  merits  for  his 
magnificent  work  in  behalf  of  liberal  ideas  and  republican  institutions  in 
Virginia.  But  Mr.  Jefferson  was  always  a  Covenanter  in  his  opinions  as  to 
political  and  religious  liberty.,,  Besides  this,  we  have  seen  that  he  would 
have  failed  in  his  great  reforms,  except  for  the  powerful  aid  he  received 
from  the  Covenanters. 

Nor  do  I  ignore  the  teachings  of  Roger  Williams,  nor  the  liberal  ideas  of 
the  Dutch  of  New  York,  nor  the  conservative  opinions  of  the  Quakers,  nor 
the  tolerant  spirit  of  the  Catholics  of  Maryland,  in  accomplishing  these  great 
results,  but  these  were  insignificant  in  their  influence  in  comparison  with  the 
widely  extended  power  of  the  great  Covenanter  race. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  VII. 

1  See  Alexander  Johnston's  "  History  of  Parties,"  in  Nar.  and  Crit.  History  of  America, 
vol.  vii.,  and  Bryant's  History  of  the  United  States.  "  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  would  have  a 
poor  time  of  it  if  they  must  rely  on  a  free  contribution  of  the  people  for  their  maintenance. 
.  .  .  The  laws  of  the  province  [Massachusetts]  having  had  the  royal  approbation  to  ratify 
them, they  are  the  king's  laws.  By  these  laws  it  is  enacted  that  there  shall  be  public  worship  of 
God  in  every  plantation  ;  that  the  person  elected  by  the  majority  of  inhabitants  to  be  so,  shall 
be  looked  upon  as  the  minister  of  the  place  ;  and  that  the  salary  for  him,  which  they  shall 
agree  upon,  shall  be  levied  by  a  rate  upon  all  the  inhabitants.  In  consequence  of  this,  the 
minister  thus  chosen  by  the  people  is  (not  only  Christ's,  but  also)  in  reality  the  king's  min- 
ister, and  the  salary  raised  for  him  is  raised  in  the  king's  name,  and  is  the  king's  allowance 
unto  him." — Cotton  Mather,  Ratio  Disciplines  ;  or,  Faithful  Account  of  the  Discipline  Pro- 
fessed and  Practised  in  the  Churches  of  New  England,  p.  20. 

2  "  The  constancy  of  the  Quakers  under  their  sufferings  begot  a  pity  and  esteem  for  their 
persons,  and  an  approbation  of  their  doctrines  ;  their  proselytes  increased  ;  the  Quakers 
returned  as  fast  as  they  were  banished  ;  and  the  fury  of  the  ruling  party  was  raised  to  such 
a  height  that  they  proceeded  to  the  most  sanguinary  extremities.  Upon  the  law  they  had 
made,  they  seized  at  different  times  upon  five  of  those  who  had  returned  from  banishment, 
condemned,  and  hanged  them.  It  is  unknown  how  far  their  madness  had  extended,  if  an 
order  from  the  King  and  Council  in  England  about  the  year  166 1  had  not  interposed  to  re- 
strain them. 

"  It  is  a  task  not  very  agreeable  to  insist  upon  such  matters  ;  but,  in  reality,  things  of  this 
nature  form  the  greatest  part  of  the  history  of  New  England,  for  a  long  time.  They  per- 
secuted the  Anabaptists,  who  were  no  inconsiderable  body  amongst  them,  with  almost  an  equal 
severity.     In  short,  this  people,  who  in  England  could  not  bear  being  chastised  with  rods, 


102  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

had  no  sooner  got  free  from  their  fetters  than  they  scourged  their  fellow  refugees  with  scor- 
pions ;  though  the  absurdity,  as  well  as  the  injustice  of  such  a  proceeding  in  them,  might 
stare  them  in  the  face." — Burke,  European  Settlements  in  America,  vol.  ii.,  p.  151. 

3  Most  of  the  States  [at  the  time  of  Jefferson's  inauguration]  had  had  property  qualifica- 
tions as  limitations  either  on  the  right  of  suffrage  or  on  the  composition  of  the  legislature. 
The  Republican  policy  had  been  to  remove  such  limitations  in  the  States  which  they  con- 
trolled, and  to  diminish  the  time  of  residence  required  for  naturalization.  The  bulk  of  the 
new  voters,  therefore,  went  to  them,  and  they  were  continually  making  their  hold  stronger 
on  the  States  which  had  come  under  their  control.  New  England  and  Delaware  remained 
Federalist,  and  Maryland  was  doubtful ;  the  other  States  could  be  counted  on  almost  cer- 
tainly as  Republican.  Under  the  New  England  system,  governmental  powers  were  prac- 
tically divided  among  a  multitude  of  little  town  republics  ;  and  restriction  on  the  right  of 
suffrage,  intrenched  in  these  towns,  had  to  be  conquered  in  a  thousand  successive  strong- 
holds. The  towns,  too,  sufficient  to  themselves,  cared  little  for  the  exclusion  from 
national  life  involved  in  their  system  ;  and  for  nearly  twenty  years  New  England  was 
excommunicated  from  national  politics.  It  was  not  until  the  rise  of  manufactures  and  of 
dissenting  sects  had  reinforced  continuous  agitation  that  the  Republican  revolution  pene- 
trated New  England  and  overcame  the  tenacious  resistance  of  her  people. —  Alexander  John- 
ston, "  History  of  Parties,"  in  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  vii.,  p.  272. 

4  "  Knox,  under  God,  made  the  Scotch  and  the  Scotch-Irish.    .    .    . 

"Observe  well,  the  influence  of  this  prophetic  patriot  was  felt  most  at  St.  Andrews, 
through  the  long  Strathclyde,  in  the  districts  of  Ayr,  Dumfries,  and  Galloway,  the  Lothians 
and  Renfrew.  There  exactly  clustered  the  homes  which  thrilled  to  the  herald  voice  of 
Patrick  Hamilton  ;  there  were  the  homes  which  drank  in  the  strong  wine  of  Knox  ;  there 
were  the  homes  of  tenacious  memories  and  earnest  fireside  talk  ;  there  were  the  homes 
which  sent  forth  once  and  again  the  calm,  shrewd,  iron-nerved  patriots  who  spurned  as 
devil's  lie  the  doctrine  of  '  passive  resistance  ' ;  and  there  —  mark  it  well — were  the  homes 
that  sent  their  best  and  bravest  to  fill  and  change  Ulster  ;  thence  came  in  turn  the  Scotch- 
Irish  of  the  Eaglewing ;  thence  came  the  settlers  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  the  Carolinas, 
Tennessee,  and  Kentucky  ;  and  the  sons  of  these  men  blush  not  as  they  stand  beside  the 
children  of  the  Mayflower  or  the  children  of  the  Bartholomew  martyrs.  I  know  whereof 
I  affirm.  My  peculiar  education  and  somewhat  singular  work  planted  me,  American-born, 
in  the  very  heart  of  these  old  ancestral  scenes  ;  and  from  parishioners  who  held  with  death- 
less grip  the  very  words  of  Peden,  Welsh,  and  Cameron,  from  hoary-headed  witnesses  in  the 
Route  of  Antrim  and  on  the  hills  of  Down,  have  I  often  heard  of  the  lads  who  went  out  to 
bleed  at  Valley  Forge, —  to  die  as  victors  on  King's  Mountain, —  and  stand  in  the  silent 
triumph  of  Yorktown.     We  have  more  to  thank  Knox  for  than  is  commonly  told  to-day. 

"  Here  we  reach  our  Welshes  and  Witherspoons,  our  Tennents  and  Taylors,  our  Calhouns 
and  Clarks,  our  Cunninghams  and  Caldwells,  our  Pollocks,  Polks,  and  Pattersons,  our  Scotts 
and  Grays  and  Kennedys,  our  Reynoldses  and  Robinsons,  our  McCooks,  McHenrys,  McPher- 
sons,  and  McDowells. 

"  But  the  man  behind  is  Knox.  Would  you  see  his  monument  ?  Look  around.  Yes  : 
To  this,  our  own  land,  more  than  any  other,  I  am  convinced  must  we  look  for  the  fullest 
outcome  and  the  yet  all  unspent  force  of  this  more  than  royal  leader,  this  masterful  and 
moulding  soul.  .  .  .  Carlyle  has  said  :  '  Scotch  literature  and  thought,  Scotch  industry  ; 
James  Watt,  David  Hume,  Walter  Scott,  Robert  Burns.  I  find  Knox  and  the  Reforma- 
tion at  the  heart's  core  of  every  one  of  those  persons  and  phenomena ;  I  find  that  without 
Knox  and  the  Reformation,  they  would  not  have  been.  Or  what  of  Scotland  ? '  Yea,  verily  ; 
no  Knox,  no  Watt,  no  Burns,  no  Scotland,  as  we  know  and  love  and  thank  God  for :  And 
must  we  not  say  no  men  of  the  Covenant  ;  no  men  of  Antrim  and  Down,  of  Derry  and 
Enniskillen  ;  no  men  of  the  Cumberland  valleys  ;  no  men  of  the  Virginian  hills  ;  no  men  of 
the  Ohio  stretch,  of  the  Georgian  glades  and  the  Tennessee  Ridge ;  no  rally  at  Scone ;  no 


American  Ideals 


103 


thunders  in  St.  Giles  ;  no  testimony  from  Philadelphian  Synod ;  no  Mecklenburg  declara- 
tion ;  no  memorial  from  Hanover  Presbytery ;  no  Tennent  stirring  the  Carolinas ;  no 
Craighead  sowing  the  seeds  of  the  coming  revolution  ;  no  Witherspoon  pleading  for  the 
signing  of  our  great  charter  ;  and  no  such  declaration  and  no  such  constitution  as  are  ours, 
—  the  great  Tilghman  himself  being  witness  in  these  clear  words,  never  by  us  to  be  let  die  : 
'  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  were  greatly  indebted  to  the  standards 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland  in  modelling  that  admirable  document.' —  Rev.  John 
S.  Mcintosh,  Proceedings  Scotch-Irish  Society  of  America,  vol.  i.,  pp.  199-201. 

"  In  the  history  of  Scotland,  too,  I  can  find  properly  but  one  epoch  :  we  may  say,  it 
contains  nothing  of  world-wide  interest  at  all  but  this  Reformation  by  Knox.  A  poor,  bar- 
ren country,  full  of  continual  broils,  dissensions,  massacrings  ;  a  people  in  the  last  state  of 
rudeness  and  destitution,  little  better  perhaps  than  Ireland  at  this  day.  Hungry,  fierce  bar- 
ons, 'not  so  much  as  able  to  form  any  arrangement  with  each  other  how  to  divide  what  they 
fleeced  from  these  poor  drudges  ;  but  obliged,  as  the  Columbian  Republics  are  at  this  day,  to 
make  of  every  alteration  a  revolution  ;  no  way  of  changing  a  ministry  but  by  hanging  the 
old  ministers  on  gibbets :  this  is  a  historical  spectacle  of  no  very  singular  significance : 
4  Bravery '  enough,  I  doubt  not ;  fierce  fighting  in  abundance  :  but  not  braver  or  fiercer 
than  that  of  their  old  Scandinavian  Sea-king  ancestors  ;  whose  exploits  we  have  not  found 
worth  dwelling  on  !  It  is  a  country  as  yet  without  a  soul  :  nothing  developed  in  it  but  what 
is  rude,  external,  semi-animal.  And  now  at  the  Reformation,  the  internal  life  is  kindled,  as 
it  were,  under  the  ribs  of  this  outward  material  death.  A  cause,  the  noblest  of  causes,  kindles 
itself,  like  a  beacon  set  on  high  ;  high  as  Heaven,  yet  attainable  from  Earth  ; — whereby  the 
meanest  man  becomes  not  a  Citizen  only,  but  a  Member  of  Christ's  visible  Church  ;  a  ver- 
itable Hero,  if  he  prove  a  true  man  ! 

"This  that  Knox  did  for  his  nation,  I  say,  we  may  really  call  a  resurrection  as  from 
death.  It  was  not  a  smooth  business  ;  but  it  was  welcome,  surely,  and  cheap  at  that  price, 
had  it  been  far  rougher.  On  the  whole,  cheap  at  any  price  ; — as  life  is.  The  people  began 
to  live:  they  needed  first  of  all  to  do  that,  at  what  cost  and  costs  soever.  Scotch  Literature 
and  Thought,  Scotch  Industry  ;  James  Watt,  David  Hume,  Walter  Scott,  Robert  Burns  :  I 
find  Knox  and  the  Reformation  acting  in  the  heart's  core  of  every  one  of  these  persons  and 
phenomena  ;  I  find  that  without  the  Reformation  they  would  not  have  been." — Thomas 
Carlyle,  On  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship,  iv. 

6  So  much  for  the  early  clergy.  As  to  the  magistrates,  in  the  mouths  of  James  I.  and 
Charles  I.,  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  or  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  the  words  :  "We  see  not  that 
any  should  have  authority  to  set  up  any  other  exercises  besides  what  authority  had  already 
set  up," — these  words  in  those  mouths  would  have  had  a  familiar  as  well  as  an  ominous 
sound.  To  certain  of  those  who  listened  to  them,  they  must  have  had  a  sound  no  less 
ominous  when  uttered  by  Governor  John  Winthrop  in  the  Cambridge  meeting-house  on  the 
17th  of  November,  1637.  In  them  was  definitely  formulated  and  clearly  announced  the 
policy  thereafter  to  be  pursued  in  Massachusetts.  It  was  thereafter  pursued  in  Massachusetts. 
John  Winthrop,  John  Endicott,  and  Thomas  Dudley  were  all  English  Puritans.  As  such 
they  had  sought  refuge  from  authority  in  Massachusetts.  On  what  ground  can  the  impartial 
historian  withhold  from  them  the  judgment  he  visits  on  James  and  Philip  and  Charles  and 
Louis  ?  The  fact  would  seem  to  be  that  the  position  of  the  latter  was  logical  though  cruel ; 
while  the  position  of  the  former  was  cruel  and  illogical. —  C.  F.  Adams,  Massachusetts  :  Its 
Historians  and  Its  History,  p.  38. 

6  See  letter  of  Col.  William  Byrd,  written  from  Virginia  to  Lord  Egmont,  July  12,  1730, 
printed  in  American  Historical  Review  for  October,  1895,  vol.  i.,  p.  88  ;  also,  W.  E.  B. 
DuBois,  The  Suppression  of  the  African  Slave  -Trade  to  the  United  States  of  America, 
1638-1870,  chapter  iv.  {Harvard  Historical  Studies,  vol.  i.). 

'Bancroft,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  276-279,  549,  550;  vol.  iii.,  pp.  410-413;  vol.  iv.,  p.  34;  vol. 
v.,  p,  329. 


104  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

"  I  have  found  no  mention  of  negroes  in  the  colony  until  about  1650.  The  first  brought 
here  as  slaves  were  in  a  Dutch  ship  ;  after  which  the  English  commenced  the  trade,  and  con- 
tinued it  until  the  Revolutionary  War.  That  suspended,  ipso  facto,  their  further  importation 
for  the  present,  and  the  business  of  the  war  pressing  constantly  on  the  Legislature,  this  sub- 
ject was  not  acted  on  finally  until  the  year  '78,  when  I  brought  in  a  bill  to  prevent  their 
further  importation.  This  passed  without  opposition,  and  stopped  the  increase  of  the  evil 
by  importation,  leaving  to  future  efforts  its  final  eradication.  In  1769  I  became  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  by  the  choice  of  the  county  in  which  I  lived,  and  so  continued  until  it  was 
closed  by  the  Revolution.  I  made  one  effort  in  that  body  for  the  permission  of  the  emanci- 
pation of  slaves,  which  was  rejected ;  and  indeed,  during  the  regal  government  nothing 
liberal  could  expect  success." — Jefferson's  Autobiography,  pp.  3,  38. 

8  "  In  1681,  William  Penn  received  from  Charles  II.  a  grant  of  the  Province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, including  what  is  now  the  State  of  Delaware.  Penn's  mother  was  a  Dutch  woman 
from  Rotterdam,  and  one  very  prominent  in  her  generation.  His  peculiar  religious  ideas, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  were  derived  from  his  mother's  country.  He  travelled  extensively 
in  Holland,  and  spoke  the  language  so  well  that  he  preached  to  the  Dutch  Quakers  in  their 
native  tongue.  Finally,  before  coming  to  America,  he  took  up  his  residence  for  some  time 
at  Emden,  in  democratic  East  Friesland.  Under  all  these  influences,  he  sat  down  in  1682, 
and  prepared  a  "  Frame  of  Government  "  for  his  dominion,  and  a  "  Code  of  Laws,"  which 
was  afterwards  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly.  In  their  preparation  he  was  assisted  by 
Algernon  Sidney,  who  had  lived  many  years  upon  the  Continent,  who  was  perfectly  familiar 
with  the  institutions  of  the  Netherland  Republic  and  on  most  intimate  terms  with  its  leading 
statesmen.  How  much  they  borrowed  from  Holland  we  shall  see  hereafter.  [The  registra- 
tion of  land  titles ;  that  all  prisons  should  be  workhouses  for  felons,  vagrants,  etc. ,  and 
should  be  free  to  others  as  to  fees,  board,  and  lodgings  ;  that  landed  estate  should  be  liable 
for  a  descendant's  debt  (one-third  in  cases  where  issue  was  left);  that  one-third  the  estate  of 
a  murderer  passed  to  the  next  of  kin  of  his  victim  ;  that  all  children  in  the  province  over  the 
age  of  twelve  were  to  be  taught  a  trade  ;  religious  toleration.] 

"  With  Pennsylvania,  we  reach  the  most  southern  point  to  which  a  Dutch  influence  upon 
the  early  settlers  of  America  can  be  traced,  as  we  also  reach  the  limit  of  the  colonies  whose 
institutions,  except  that  of  slavery,  have  affected  the  American  Commonwealth.  Virginia 
alone  contributed  an  idea,  that  of  the  natural  equality  of  man  ;  but  this  was  borrowed  by  her 
statesmen  from  the  Roman  law. 

"One  fact  in  connection  with  the  Southern  colonies,  which  in  early  days  were  almost 
wholly  under  an  English  influence,  is  very  significant.  In  1669,  John  Locke,  with  the  aid 
of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  prepared  a  frame  of  government  for  Carolina.  None  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  constitution,  except  that  for  recording  deeds  and  mortgages,  were  borrowed 
from  Holland,  and  not  one  of  them,  with  this  exception,  has  found  a  permanent  place  among 
American  Institutions.  The  Puritans  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  418- 
420  (by  permission  of  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers). 

9  This  Presbytery  furnished  10,000  names  to  a  petition,  which  was  the  force  back  of 
Jefferson's  bill  for  religious  freedom  (1785),  an  enactment  of  which  he  was  so  proud  that  he 
had  a  statement  of  the  fact  that  he  was  its  author  engraved  upon  his  tombstone.  The  peti- 
tion is  printed  herein  as  Appendix  F. 

10  The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  A m erica,  vol.  ii.,  p.  502. 

11  Cotton's  "  Answer  to  Williams,"  Narragansett  Club  Publications,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  48-49  ; 
also  vol.  ii.,  p.  27. 

12  See  Appendix  L  (Tithes  in  Ulster.) 

13  The  first  printed  protest  in  America  against  slavery,  issued  by  Rev.  George  Keith,  a 
Scotch  Quaker,  October  13,  1693,  and  published  at  New  York  by  William  Bradford,  is  re- 
produced in  the  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  265-270. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SCOTTISH  KIRK  AND  HUMAN  LIBERTY 

IT  may  seem  a  reiteration  of  the  words  of  Mr.  Henry  Thomas  Buckle  to 
say  that  the  history  of  Scotland  during  the  century  and  a  half  from  1550 
to  1700  is  almost  completely  merged  in  the  history  of  the  Scottish  Church.1 
He  who  would  form  a  just  conception  of  the  forces  in  operation  in  that 
country,  during  the  period  when  the  Middle  Ages  passed  away  and  the  mod- 
ern era  began,  must  study  them  chiefly  in  connection  with  their  bearing  on 
religion.  But  it  will  not  suffice  in  such  an  investigation  to  assume  that 
ecclesiasticism  means  religion.  In  his  elaborate  and,  in  some  respects,  highly 
philosophical  analysis  of  civilization  in  Scotland,2  it  seems  to  the  writer  that 
Mr.  Buckle  has  failed  to  reach  a  wholly  true  and  satisfactory  estimate  of 
Scottish  character,  and  that  in  just  so  far  as  he  has  neglected  to  discriminate 
in  this  regard.  It  is  true  he  approaches  the  subject  from  the  logical  English 
point  of  view.  Looking  upon  the  institution  of  the  Church  with  strictly  utili- 
tarian eyes,  he  fails  to  perceive  the  spiritual  life  of  its  people,  of  which  the 
Church  in  Scotland  may  in  all  seriousness  be  considered  merely  the  medium 
of  expression.  Long  accustomed  by  heredity,  training,  and  experience  to 
the  ecclesiastical  system  at  home,  which,  even  down  to  his  own  time,  was  wont 
to  administer  to  its  adherents  only  such  theological  pabulum  as  would  nour- 
ish doctrines  according  with  the  views  and  vices  of  its  reigning  head,  it  is  at 
least  not  surprising  that  the  great  mind  which  produced  the  Introduction  to 
the  History  of  Civilization  in  England  should  fail  to  strike  the  keynote  of 
that  part  of  its  theme  which  relates  to  North  Britain.  Nor  can  it  be  greatly 
wondered  at,  in  view  of  the  history  of  the  English  Church  establishment, 
that  one  of  its  native  observers  should  formulate  a  judgment  against  the  re- 
ligious system  of  the  neighboring  country,  finding  evidences  in  it  of  the  same 
spirit  which  dominated  the  Church  at  home,  and  denouncing  it  as  the  chief 
hindrance  to  its  country's  progress  ;  even  though  in  so  doing  his  gravest 
charge  against  the  Scottish  Church  is,  that  its  votaries  have  too  much  super- 
stitious reverence  for  God  and  the  Bible. 

It  will  ever  be  a  matter  of  regret  that  Mr.  Buckle  passed  away  just  as  he 
had  fairly  entered  upon  the  prosecution  of  his  great  work.  Still  more  is  it  to 
be  regretted  that  he  died  before  the  full  promulgation  of  our  modern  theories 
of  science  and  philosophy.  Had  he  lived  to-day  it  is  not  unlikely  that  his 
name  would  have  been  linked  with  that  of  Herbert  Spencer,  and  his  meth- 
ods in  historical  analysis  become  analogous  in  nature  and  merit  to  those  of 
that  master-thinker  in  matters  of  speculative  philosophy.  He  might,  in 
some  respects,  have  excelled  that  philosopher  had  he  enjoyed  the  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  present  day  instead  of  beginning  to  unfold  and  develop 
his  theories  of  the  philosophy  of  history  by  the  light  of  the  first  fitful  and 

105 


106  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

half-clouded  rays  of  forty  years  ago.  In  that  event,  being  a  student  of  history, 
it  is  possible  Buckle  might  have  taken  a  different  view  of  the  part  religion 
has  played  in  the  progress  of  the  world  from  that  expressed  in  his  work.  He 
might,  also,  afterwards  have  based  his  theory  as  to  Scottish  progress  or  retro- 
gression upon  a  different  premise  from  the  one  which  he  has  used.  Whether 
he  would  have  done  so  or  not,  however,  it  is  reasonably  certain  that,  if  living 
to-day,  he  would  have  seen  a  gradual  change  of  public  opinion  between  the 
years  1861  and  1900  as  to  the  correctness  of  his  original  hypothesis.  Nor 
could  he  have  failed  to  perceive  a  slowly  growing  conviction  on  the  part  of 
fair-minded  thinkers  —  a  conviction  that,  after  all,  some  of  the  chief  ele- 
ments of  human  progress  are  bound  up  with  the  phenomena  of  religion;  that 
human  nature  does  not  reach  its  highest  development  under  a  strictly  intel- 
lectual standard  of  morality  ;  that  human  reason  is  not  yet  sufficiently  acute 
to  classify,  much  less  to  harmonize,  the  incongruities  of  daily  life  and  expe- 
rience ;  in  short,  that  the  permanency  of  nations  and  the  endurance  of  the 
race  itself  depends  not  so  much  upon  intellectual  development  as  upon  the 
cultivation,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  of  those  restraining  influences  of 
religion  which  the  able  author  of  the  History  of  Civilization  in  England  has 
denominated  a  "  mixture  of  wonder  and  fear."  3 

Mr.  Buckle  has  failed  to  grasp  the  one  salient  point  necessary  for  a  right 
understanding  of  the  history  of  religion  and  its  effects  in  Scotland.  Or, 
noting  the  results  of  a  certain  moving  cause,  he  has  so  clouded  and  distorted 
the  evidences  of  its  presence  that  we  can  only  reach  a  true  apprehension  of 
the  cause  by  reasoning  backward  from  his  luminous  and  eulogistic  summary 
of  its  effect. 

This  cause  or  principle  of  action  in  the  Scottish  people,  the  workings  of 
which  have  been  so  beneficial  to  the  growth  of  human  liberty  and  to  man's 
progress,  this  divine  afflatus  which  Mr.  Buckle  seeks  to  stigmatize  by  the  use 
of  that  much-abused  term  "  superstition,"  and  to  classify  as  an  emanation 
from  the  caverns  of  darkness  and  ignorance,  is  the  principle  of  conscience. 
It  is  this  which  is  the  guiding  light  of  the  Scottish  soul  and  intellect.  With- 
out the  full  and  just  recognition  of  its  pervading  influence  among  that  people, 
it  were  vain  for  us  to  attempt  to  read  aright  the  lessons  of  Scottish  history  ; 
and  idle  to  seek  for  explanation  of  the  reasons  for  Scottish  pre-eminence,  of 
which  we  see  so  many  proofs  in  the  mental  and  material  subjugation  of  the 
earth. 

Probably  the  most  noticeable  instance  of  the  blindness  of  the  author  of 
the  History  of  Civilization  in  England  is  afforded  in  the  conclusion  reached 
by  him  in  the  following  passage4  : 

By  this  union  of  ignorance  with  danger,  the  clergy  had,  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  obtained  more  influence  in  Scotland  than  in  any  other  Euro- 
pean country,  Spain  alone  excepted.  And  as  the  power  of  the  nobles  had 
increased  quite  as  rapidly,  it  was  natural  that  the  Crown,  completely  over- 
shadowed by  the  great  barons,  should  turn  for  aid  to  the  Church.     During 


The  Scottish  Kirk  107 

the  fifteenth  century  and  part  of  the  sixteenth,  this  alliance  was  strictly  pre- 
served, and  the  political  history  of  Scotland  is  the  history  of  a  struggle  by 
the  kings  and  clergy  against  the  enormous  authority  of  the  nobles.  The  con- 
test, after  lasting  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  years,  was  brought  to  a  close 
in  1560,  by  the  triumph  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Church. 
With  such  force,  however,  had  the  circumstance  just  narrated  engrained 
superstition  into  the  Scotch  character,  that  the  spiritual  classes  quickly  ral- 
lied, and,  under  their  new  name  of  Protestants  they  became  as  formidable  as 
under  their  old  name  of  Catholics.  .  .  .  The  great  Protestant  movement 
which,  in  other  countries,  was  democratic,  was,  in  Scotland,  aristocratic.  We 
shall  also  see,  that,  in  Scotland,  the  Reformation,  not  being  the  work  of  the  peo- 
ple, has  never  produced  the  effects  which  might  have  been  expected  from  it,  and 
which  it  did  produce  in  England.  It  is,  indeed,  but  too  evident  that,  while  in 
England  Protestantism  has  diminished  superstition,  has  weakened  the 
clergy,  has  increased  toleration,  and,  in  a  word,  has  secured  the  triumph  of 
secular  interests  over  ecclesiastical  ones,  its  result  in  Scotland  has  been 
entirely  different  ;  and  that  in  that  country  the  Church,  changing  its  form 
without  altering  its  spirit,  not  only  cherished  its  ancient  pretensions  but  un- 
happily retained  its  ancient  power  ;  and  that,  although  that  power  is  now 
dwindling  away,  the  Scotch  preachers  still  exhibit,  whenever  they  dare,  an 
insolent  and  domineering  spirit,  which  shows  how  much  real  weakness  there 
yet  lurks  in  the  nation,  where  such  extravagant  claims  are  not  immediately 
silenced  by  the  voice  of  loud  and  general  ridicule. 

The  inadequacy  and  perniciousness  of  Mr.  Buckle's  conception  of  the 
real  bearing  of  religion  upon  the  national  life  and  character  of  the  Scottish 
people  cannot  perhaps  be  better  shown  than  by  such  a  disingenuous  state- 
ment as  this.  In  it  he  deliberately  ignored  the  facts,  and  falsified  and  reversed 
the  verdict  of  modern  history.  Messrs.  Freeman  and  Gardiner,  in  their 
sketch  of  English  history  contained  in  a  recent  edition  of  the  standard  ref- 
erence manual  of  Great  Britain,6  only  voice  the  opinion  of  all  honest  stu- 
dents when  they  say: 

The  English  Reformation  then,  including  in  that  name  the  merely  ecclesi- 
astical changes  of  Henry  as  well  as  the  more  strictly  religious  changes  of 
the  next  reign,  was  not  in  its  beginning  either  a  popular  or  a  theological 
movement.  In  this  it  differs  from  the  Reformation  in  many  continental 
countries,  and  especially  from  the  Reformation  in  the  northern  part  of 
Britain.  The  Scottish  Reformation  began  much  later  ;  but,  when  it  began, 
its  course  was  far  swifter  and  fiercer.  That  is  to  say,  it  was  essentially  popular 
and  essentially  theological.  The  result  was,  that,  of  all  the  nations  which 
threw  off  the  dominion  of  the  Roman  See,  England,  on  the  whole,  made  the 
least  change,  while  Scotland  undoubtedly  made  the  most.  (On  the  whole, 
because,  in  some  points  of  sacramental  doctrine  and  ritual,  the  Lutheran 
churches,  especially  in  Sweden,  have  made  less  change  than  the  Church  of 
England  has.  But  nowhere  did  the  general  ecclesiastical  system  go  on  with 
so  little  change  as  it  did  in  England.)  In  England  change  began  from 
above.  .  .  .  The  small  party  of  theological  reform  undoubtedly  welcomed 
the  changes  of  Henry,  as  being  likely  in  the  end  to  advance  their  own  cause  ; 
but  the  mass  of  the  nation  was  undoubtedly  favorable  to  Henry's  system  of 
Popery  without  the  Pope. 


108  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

On  the  same  subject,  Green  says8 : 

Knox  had  been  one  of  the  followers  of  Wishart ;  he  had  acted  as  pastor 
to  the  Protestants  who  after  Beaton's  murder  held  the  Castle  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  had  been  captured  with  them  by  a  French  force  in  the  summer  of  1547. 
The  Frenchmen  sent  the  heretics  to  the  galleys  ;  and  it  was  as  a  galley  slave 
in  one  of  their  vessels  that  Knox  next  saw  his  native  shores.  .  .  .  Re- 
leased at  the  opening  of  1549,  Knox  found  shelter  in  England,  where  he 
became  one  of  the  most  stirring  among  the  preachers  of  the  day,  and  was 
offered  a  bishopric  by  Northumberland.  Mary's  accession  drove  him  again 
to  France.  But  the  new  policy  of  the  Regent  now  opened  Scotland  to  the 
English  refugees,  and  it  was  as  one  of  these  that  Knox  returned  in  1555  to 
his  own  country.  Although  he  soon  withdrew  to  take  charge  of  the  English 
congregations  at  Frankfort  and  Geneva,  his  energy  had  already  given  a  deci- 
sive impulse  to  the  new  movement.  In  a  gathering  at  the  house  of  Lord 
Erskine  he  persuaded  the  assembly  to  "  refuse  all  society  with  idolatry,  and 
bind  themselves  to  the  uttermost  of  their  power  to  maintain  the  true  preach- 
ing of  the  Evangile,  as  God  should  offer  to  their  preachers  an  opportunity." 
The  confederacy  woke  anew  the  jealousy  of  the  government,  and  persecu- 
tion revived.  But  some  of  the  greatest  nobles  now  joined  the  reforming 
cause.  The  Earl  of  Morton,  the  head  of  the  house  of  Douglas,  the  Earl  of 
Argyle,  the  greatest  chieftain  of  the  west,  and  above  all  a  bastard  son  of  the 
late  King,  Lord  James  Stuart,  who  bore  as  yet  the  title  of  Prior  of  St. 
Andrews,  but  who  was  to  be  better  known  afterwards  as  the  Earl  of  Murray, 
placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  movement.  The  remonstrances  of 
Knox  from  his  exile  at  Geneva  stirred  them  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the 
persecuted  Protestants  ;  and  at  the  close  of  1557  these  nobles  united  with 
the  rest  of  the  Protestant  leaders  in  an  engagement  which  became  memor- 
able as  the  first  among  those  Covenants  which  were  to  give  shape  and  color 
to  Scotch  religion. 

"  We,"  ran  this  solemn  bond,  "  perceiving  how  Satan  in  his  members,  the 
Antichrists  of  our  time,  cruelly  doth  rage,  seeking  to  overthrow  and  to 
destroy  the  Evangel  of  Christ,  and  His  Congregation,  ought  according  to 
our  bounden  duty  to  strive  in  our  Master's  cause  even  unto  the  death,  being 
certain  of  our  victory  in  Him.  The  which  our  duty  being  well  considered, 
we  do  promise  before  the  Majesty  of  God  and  his  Congregation  that  we,  by 
His  grace,  shall  with  all  diligence  continually  apply  our  whole  power,  sub- 
stance, and  our  very  lives  to  maintain,  set  forward,  and  establish  the  most 
blessed  Word  of  God  and  His  Congregation,  and  shall  labor  at  our  possi- 
bility to  have  faithful  ministers,  purely  and  truly  to  minister  Christ's  Evangel 
and  Sacraments  to  his  people.  We  shall  maintain  them,  nourish  them,  and 
defend  them,  the  whole  Congregation  of  Christ  and  every  member  thereof, 
at  our  whole  power  and  wearing  of  our  lives,  against  Satan  and  all  wicked 
power  that  does  intend  tyranny  or  trouble  against  the  foresaid  Congregation. 
Unto  the  which  Holy  Word  and  Congregation  we  do  join  us,  and  also  do 
forsake  and  renounce  the  congregation  of  Satan  with  all  the  superstitious 
abomination  and  idolatry  thereof  :  and  moreover  shall  declare  ourselves 
manifestly  enemies  thereto  by  this  our  faithful  promise  before  God,  testified 
to  His  Congregation  by  our  subscription  at  these  presents." 

The  Covenant  of  the  Scotch  nobles  marked  a  new  epoch  in  the  strife  of 
religions.  Till  now  the  reformers  had  opposed  the  doctrine  of  nationality  to 
the  doctrine  of  Catholicism.  In  the  teeth  of  the  pretensions  which  the 
Church  advanced  to  a  uniformity  of  religion  in  every  land,  whatever  might 
be  its  differences  of  race  or  government,  the  first  Protestants  had  advanced 


*-* DIVERSITY  / 

or         J 
*$4M£20*r  The  Scottish  Kirk 


109 


the  principle  that  each  prince  or  people  had  alone  the  right  to  determine  its 
form  of  faith  and  worship.  "  Cujus  regio  "  ran  the  famous  phrase  which 
embodied  their  theory,  "ejus  religio."  It  was  the  acknowledgment  of  this 
principle  that  the  Lutheran  princes  obtained  at  the  Diet  of  Spires  ;  it  was  on 
this  principle  that  Henry  based  his  Act  of  Supremacy.  Its  strength  lay  in 
the  correspondence  of  such  a  doctrine  with  the  political  circumstances  of 
the  time.  It  was  the  growing  feeling  of  nationality  which  combined  with  the 
growing  development  of  monarchical  power  to  establish  the  theory  that  the 
political  and  religious  life  of  each  nation  should  be  one,  and  that  the  religion 
of  the  people  should  follow  the  faith  of  the  prince.  Had  Protestantism,  as 
seemed  at  one  time  possible,  secured  the  adhesion  of  all  the  European 
princes,  such  a  theory  might  well  have  led  everywhere  as  it  led  in  England 
to  the  establishment  of  the  worst  of  tyrannies,  a  tyranny  that  claims  to  lord 
alike  over  both  body  and  soul.  The  world  was  saved  from  this  danger  by 
the  tenacity  with  which  the  old  religion  still  held  its  power.  In  half  the 
countries  of  Europe  the  disciples  of  the  new  opinions  had  soon  to  choose 
between  submission  to  their  conscience  and  submission  to  their  prince  ;  and 
a  movement  which  began  in  contending  for  the  religious  supremacy  of 
kings  ended  in  those  wars  of  religion  which  arrayed  nation  after  nation 
against  their  sovereigns.  In  this  religious  revolution  Scotland  led  the  way. 
Her  Protestantism  was  the  first  to  draw  the  sword  against  earthly  rulers. 
The  solemn  "  Covenant "  which  bound  together  her  "  Congregation  "  in  the 
face  of  the  regency,  which  pledged  its  members  to  withdraw  from  all  sub- 
mission to  the  religion  of  the  State  and  to  maintain  in  the  face  of  the  State 
their  liberty  of  conscience,  opened  that  vast  series  of  struggles  which  ended 
in  Germany  with  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  and  in  England  with  the  Toleration 
Act  of  William  the  Third. 

The  "  Covenant "  of  the  lords  sounded  a  bold  defiance  to  the  Catholic 
reaction  across  the  border.  While  Mary  replaced  the  Prayer-book  by  the 
Mass,  the  Scotch  lords  resolved  that  wherever  their  power  extended  the 
Common  Prayer  should  be  read  in  all  churches.  While  hundreds  were  going 
to  the  stake  in  England,  the  Scotch  nobles  boldly  met  the  burning  of  their 
preachers  by  a  threat  of  war.  "  They  trouble  our  preachers,"  ran  their  bold 
remonstrance  against  the  bishops  in  the  Queen-mother's  presence  ;  "  they 
would  murder  them  and  us  !  shall  we  suffer  this  any  longer  ?  No,  madam, 
it  shall  not  be  !  "  and  therewith  every  man  put  on  his  steel  bonnet. 

The  testimony  of  Froude  is  likewise  equally  direct  and  positive 7  : 

But  in  England  the  Reformation  was  more  than  half  political.  The 
hatred  of  priests  and  popes  was  more  a  predominant  principle  than  specialty  of 
doctrine.  .  .  .  What  kings  and  Parliament  had  done  in  England,  in  Scot- 
land had  to  be  done  by  the  people,  and  was  accompanied  therefore  with  the 
passionate  features  of  revolt  against  authority.  .  .  .  John  Knox  became 
thus  the  representative  of  all  that  was  best  in  Scotland.  He  was  no  narrow 
fanatic,  who,  in  a  world  in  which  God's  grace  was  equally  visible  in  a 
thousand  creeds,  could  see  truth  and  goodness  nowhere  but  in  his  own  for- 
mula. He  was  a  large,  noble,  generous  man,  with  a  shrewd  perception  of 
actual  fact,  who  found  himself  face  to  face  with  a  system  of  hideous  iniquity. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  direct  refutation  of  Buckle's  statements  as  to 
the  origin  of  the  Scottish  Reformation,  by  four  leading  authorities  on  British 
history,  and  their  opinions  are  merely  confirmatory  of  the  judgment  of  all 
observing  and  unprejudiced  men. 


1 10  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Much  in  the  same  line  with  Mr.  Buckle's  theory  of  the  origin  and  accom- 
plishment of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland  is  the  oft-repeated  assertion  that  the 
Scottish  Church  was  as  relentless  and  unceasing  a  persecutor  of  dissenters  as 
were  those  of  the  Papacy  or  Episcopacy.8  This  assertion,  likewise,  is  not 
sustained  by  the  facts.  Bigoted  and  intolerant  as  the  Scottish  Church  became 
after  it  was  made  a  part  of  the  machinery  of  State,  its  methods  were  mild 
and  innocuous  compared  with  those  of  its  rivals.9  The  one  solitary  case 
where  death  was  inflicted  by  the  authorities  for  heresy,  at  the  instigation  or 
with  the  approval  of  the  Kirk,  was  that  of  Thomas  Aikenhead,  who  was 
hanged  in  1697  on  the  charge  of  atheism  and  blasphemy  against  God. 
While  this  was  a  wholly  unjustifiable  and  villainous  act  of  cruelty,  it  can 
hardly  be  classed  with  those  persecutions  from  which  the  Presbyterians  had 
suffered.  It  would  seem  to  belong  rather  to  that  class  of  religious  perversi- 
ties of  which  the  most  familiar  example  was  the  burning  of  witches.  In 
this  latter  diabolism  Scotland  engaged  with  perhaps  greater  zest  than  either 
England  or  Massachusetts.  The  distinction  between  the  crime  of  the 
hanging  of  Thomas  Aikenhead  and  that  of  the  burning  of  George  Wishart, 
by  the  Catholics,  or  the  drowning  of  Margaret  Wilson,  by  the  Episcopalians, 
therefore,  is  probably  to  be  found  by  a  contrast  of  motive  rather  than  of  de- 
gree ;  at  most  it  is  the  difference  between  fanaticism  and  tyranny.  In  the 
latter  cases,  the  sufferers  had  denied  the  authority  of  the  bishops.  These 
prelates  aimed  at  preferment  by  mixing  politics  with  religion,  and  could  not 
be  wholly  sincere  or  disinterested.  George  Wishart  and  Margaret  Wilson  were 
slain  by  them  because  the  bishops  could  brook  no  limitations  upon  their  own 
power.  In  the  case  of  Thomas  Aikenhead,  the  authority  of  God  had  been 
questioned,  and  the  fanatical  zealotry  of  the  ministers  permitted  the  applica- 
tion of  John  Cotton's  law,  without  the  apparent  intervention  of  any  personal 
motives.10  If  such  a  distinction  should  at  first  appear  too  finely  drawn,  an  ex- 
amination of  the  workings  of  the  two  principles  thus  suggested  will  show  that 
their  results  are,  as  a  rule,  widely  different.  Indeed,  in  some  aspects,  their 
dissimilarity  is  almost  of  equal  extent  and  correspondence  with  that  existing 
between  the  two  churches  of  North  and  South  Britain;  and  the  divergence  of 
their  ends  but  little  short  of  that  which  marks  the  two  opposite  principles  of 
democracy  and  despotism.  In  New  England,  where  the  Calvinistic  theory 
of  the  supremacy  of  God  and  the  Bible  over  man's  conscience  was  at  first  as 
fully  carried  out  as  in  Scotland,  a  system  of  democracy  was  inaugurated 
which,  until  its  progress  became  retarded  by  the  union  of  Church  and  State, 
reached  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  than  had  been  the  case  in  any  other 
English  community.  This  system,  but  for  the  entrance  and  long-continued 
presence  of  the  fatally  defective  policy  of  ecclesiastical  usurpation  in  secular 
affairs,  might  have  developed  into  an  ideal  form  of  government.  In  Old 
England,  on  the  contrary,  where  the  authority  of  the  bishops  over  man's  con- 
science was  ever  maintained  and  the  theory  fully  developed  by  Laud  and 
Sharp  and  the  Stuarts,  a  highly  despotic  form  of  government  resulted,  from 


The  Scottish  Kirk  in 

which  mankind  had  occasionally  to  find  relief  by  "  blood-letting,"  as  in  the 
revolutions  of  1638  and  1688.  The  only  similarity  apparent  in  the  ultimate 
workings  of  these  two  principles,  therefore,  would  seem  to  be  that  identi- 
cal results  have  sometimes  been  reached  by  the  action  of  one  and  reaction 
from  the  other. 

No  theological  system  has  yet  been  devised  that  is  able  to  sustain  this 
dual  relation — secular  and  spiritual — without  deteriorating  ;  and  the  history 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland  after  1690,  when  it  became  the  estab- 
lished Church  of  the  State,  marks  a  rapid  change  in  spirit  and  a  steady 
decadence  in  spiritual  power  and  influence,  only  paralleled,  perhaps,  by  that 
of  the  kindred  Church  of  New  England  after  1640. 

Charles  II.,  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  was  a  friendless  fugitive. 
The  Scotch  offered  to  receive  him  as  their  king,  on  condition  that  he  should 
pledge  himself  by  oath  to  regard  and  preserve  their  Presbyterian  form  of 
Church  government.  To  this  he  assented.  When  he  arrived  in  the  kingdom 
he  subscribed  the  covenant  ;  and  again  at  his  coronation,  under  circum- 
stances of  much  more  than  usual  solemnity,  he  swore  to  preserve  it  inviolate. 
The  Scotch  accordingly,  armed  in  his  defence  ;  but,  divided  among  them- 
selves, and  led  by  a  general  very  unfit  to  cope  with  Cromwell,  they  were  soon 
defeated,  and  Charles  was  again  driven  to  the  Continent.  When  he  returned 
in  1660,  he  voluntarily  renewed  his  promise  to  the  Scotch,  by  whom  his  res- 
toration had  been  greatly  promoted,  not  to  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  their 
Church.  No  sooner,  however,  was  he  firmly  seated  on  his  throne  than  all 
these  oaths  and  promises  were  forgotten.  Presbyterianism  was  at  once 
abolished,  and  Episcopacy  established  ;  not  such  as  it  was  under  James  I. 
when  bishops  were  little  more  than  standing  moderators  of  the  Presbyteries, 
but  invested,  by  the  arbitrary  mandate  of  the  King,  with  the  fulness  of  pre- 
latical  power.  An  act  was  passed  making  it  penal  even  to  speak  publicly  or 
privately  against  the  King's  supremacy,  or  the  government  of  the  Church  by 
archbishops  and  bishops.  A  court  of  high  commission,  of  which  all  the  pre- 
lates were  members,  was  erected  and  armed  with  inquisitorial  powers.  Multi- 
tudes of  learned  and  pious  ministers  were  ejected  from  their  parishes,  and 
ignorant  and  ungodly  men,  for  the  most  part,  introduced  in  their  stead.  Yet 
the  people  were  forced,  under  severe  penalties,  to  attend  the  ministrations  of 
these  unworthy  men.  All  ejected  ministers  were  prohibited  preaching  or 
praying  except  in  their  own  families  ;  and  preaching  or  praying  in  the  fields 
was  made  punishable  with  death.  Any  one,  though  the  nearest  relative,  who 
should  shelter,  aid,  or  in  any  way  minister  to  the  wants  of  those  denounced, 
was  held  liable  to  the  same  penalty  as  the  person  assisted.  All  landholders 
were  required  to  give  bond  that  their  families  and  dependants  should  abstain 
from  attending  any  conventicle.  To  enforce  these  wicked  laws  torture  was 
freely  used  to  extort  evidence  or  confession  ;  families  were  reduced  to  ruin 
by  exorbitant  fines  ;  the  prisons  were  filled  with  victims  of  oppression  ;  mul- 
titudes were  banished  and  sold  as  slaves  :  women  and  even  children  were 


ii2  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

tortured  or  murdered  for  refusing  to  take  an  oath  they  could  not  under- 
stand ;  soldiers  were  quartered  upon  the  defenceless  inhabitants  and  allowed 
free  license  ;  men  were  hunted  like  wild  beasts,  and  shot  or  gibbeted  along 
the  highways.  Modern  history  hardly  affords  a  parallel  to  the  cruelty  and 
oppression  under  which  Scotland  groaned  for  nearly  thirty  years.  And 
what  was  the  object  of  all  this  wickedness  ?  It  was  to  support  Episcopacy. 
It  was  done  for  the  bishops,  and,  in  a  great  measure,  by  them.  They  were 
the  instigators  and  supporters  of  these  cruel  laws,  and  of  the  still  more  cruel 
execution  of  them.  Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  the  Scotch  abhorred  Episco- 
pacy ?  It  was  in  their  experience  identified  with  despotism,  superstition,  and 
irreligion.  Their  love  of  Presbyterianism  was  one  with  their  love  of  liberty 
and  religion.  As  the  Parliament  of  Scotland  was  never  a  fair  representation 
of  the  people,  the  General  Assembly  of  their  Church  became  their  great 
organ  for  resisting  oppression  and  withstanding  the  encroachments  of  their 
sovereigns.  The  conflict,  therefore,  which  in  England  was  so  long  kept 
up  between  the  Crown  and  the  House  of  Commons,  was  in  Scotland  sustained 
between  the  Crown  and  the  Church.  This  was  one  reason  why  the  Scotch 
became  so  attached  to  Presbyterianism  ;  this,  too,  was  the  reason  why  the 
Stuarts  hated  it,  and  determined  at  all  hazards  to  introduce  prelacy  as  an 
ally  to  despotism." 

The  chief  period  of  the  so-called  Presbyterian  persecution  in  Scotland 
was  that  immediately  succeeding  the  Revolution  of  1688,  when  we  do  find 
a  wholesale  expulsion  of  the  Episcopal  clergy,  and,  so  far  as  it  could  be  done 
without  the  use  of  measures  involving  the  loss  of  life  and  limb,  an  earnest 
attempt  to  suppress  Episcopacy  in  Scotland.  This,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered, was  immediately  at  the  close  of  a  reign  of  terror  which  had  existed  in 
that  country  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  and  was  but  the  fuller  carry- 
ing out  for  Scotland  of  the  work  of  the  Revolution.  As  the  calling  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange  and  the  expulsion  of  James  II.  was  first  made  possible 
through  the  fear  of  Papacy  on  the  part  of  the  English,  so  the  progress  and 
success  of  the  Revolution  was  finally  assured  only  by  the  fixed  determination 
of  the  Scots  to  rid  themselves  of  Episcopacy,  and  to  re-establish  the  popular 
religion  which  had  been  overthrown  by  Charles.  They  had  infinitely  greater 
cause  to  fear  the  bishops  of  the  Anglican  Church  than  their  southern  neigh- 
bors had  to  fear  those  of  St.  Peter's.  They  had  suffered  tenfold  more  from 
the  oppressions  of  the  British  pope  and  his  bishops  than  had  the  English 
from  those  of  the  pontiff  of  Rome.  In  the  annals  of  religious  persecution  in 
the  British  Islands,  the  crimes  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  were  but 
venial  compared  with  the  enormities  perpetrated  through  the  ambition  and 
malignancy  of  the  prelates  and  heads  of  the  Established  Church  of  England, 
by  which  the  Scots  were  the  chief  sufferers.13 

So  far  as  Scotland  was  concerned,  therefore,  the  benefits  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, the  success  of  which  that  country  had  rendered  possible,  would  have 
been  wholly  lost  to  it,  had  the  chief  provoking  cause  been  left  unmolested 


The  Scottish  Kirk 


ii3 


and  entrenched  in  a  position  for  working  further  harm  to  the  cause  of  human 
liberty.  All  the  legitimate  arguments  which  may  be  made  to  justify  the 
overthrow  of  papal  authority  in  England,  apply  with  thrice-augmented  force 
to  sustain  the  action  of  the  Scottish  people  in  breaking  the  wings  of  those 
ecclesiastical  vampires  who  had  been  draining  the  life-blood  of  Scotland. 
Nay,  the  whole  force  of  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  Protestant  Reformation 
of  Christendom  must  be  broken  before  it  can  successfully  be  maintained  that 
the  action  of  the  Scottish  people  in  uprooting  the  Episcopal  system  was  in- 
consistent with  their  professed  devotion  to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty.18 

The  extent  to  which  the  cause  of  the  Covenanters  was  bound  up  with 
that  of  human  liberty  and  opposed  to  the  united  despotism  of  king  and 
prelate  may  be  shown  by  the  reproduction  of  the  celebrated  Queensferry 
Paper,  for  their  approval  of  the  revolutionary  sentiments  of  which  so  many 
of  the  Scottish  martyrs  suffered  death.  The  substance  of  the  contents  of  this 
document,  and  the  accompanying  account  of  its  origin,  are  copied  from  the 
appendix  to  the  Cloud  of  Witnesses  (15th  edition,  pp.  343-348),  as  follows  : 

A  brief  relation  of  the  persecutions  and  death  of  that  worthy  gentleman, 
Henry  Hall  of  Haughhead,  who  suffered  martyrdom  at  Queensferry, 
June  3,  1680.14 

Henry  Hall  of  Haughhead,  having  had  religious  education,  began  early 
to  mind  a  life  of  holiness  ;  and  was  of  a  pious  conversation  from  his  youth  ; 
he  was  a  zealous  opposer  of  the  public  resolutions,  insomuch  that  when  the 
minister  of  the  parish  where  he  lived  complied  with  that  course,  he  refused 
to  hear  him,  and  went  to  Ancrum,  to  hear  Mr.  John  Livingston.  Being  op- 
pressed with  the  malicious  persecutions  of  the  curates  and  other  malignants 
for  his  nonconformity  with  the  profane  courses  of  abomination,  that  com- 
menced at  the  unhappy  restoration  of  that  most  wicked  tyrant  Charles  II. 
he  was  obliged  to  depart  his  native  country,  and  go  over  the  border  into  Eng- 
land in  the  year  1665,  where  he  was  so  much  renowned  for  his  singular  zeal 
in  propagating  the  gospel  among  the  people,  who  before  his  coming  among 
them  were  very  rude  and  barbarous  ;  but  many  of  them  became  famous  for 
piety  after.  In  the  year  1666,  he  was  taken  in  his  way  to  Pentland,  coming 
to  the  assistance  of  his  convenanted  brethren,  and  was  imprisoned  with  some 
others  in  Sessford  castle,  but  by  the  divine  goodness  he  soon  escaped  thence 
through  the  favour  of  the  Earl  of  Roxburgh,  to  whom  the  castle  pertained, 
the  said  earl  being  his  friend  and  relation  ;  from  which  time,  till  about  the 
year  1679,  he  lived  peaceably  in  England,  much  beloved  of  all  that  knew  him, 
for  his  concern  in  propagating  the  knowledge  of  Christ  in  that  country  ;  in- 
somuch that  his  blameless  and  shining  christian  conversation,  drew  reverence 
and  esteem  from  his  very  enemies.  But  about  the  year  1678,  the  heat  of  the 
persecution  in  Scotland  obliging  many  to  wander  up  and  down  through 
Northumberland  and  other  places  ;  one  colonel  Struthers  intended  to  seize 
any  Scotsman  he  could  find  in  those  parts  ;  and  meeting  with  Thomas  Ker 
of  Hayhope,  one  of  Henry  Hall's  nearest  intimates,  he  was  engaged  in  that 
encounter  upon  the  account  of  the  said  Thomas  Ker,  who  was  killed  there  :  ■ 
upon  which  account,  he  was  forced  to  return  to  Scotland,  and  wandered  up 
and  down  during  the  hottest  time  of  the  persecution,  mostly  with  Mr.  Rich- 
ard Cameron  and  Mr.  Donald  Cargil,  during  which  time,  besides  his  many 


H4  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

other  christian  virtues,  he  signalized  himself  for  a  real  zeal  in  defence  of  the 
persecuted  gospel  preached  in  the  fields,  and  gave  several  proofs  of  his 
valour  and  courage,  particularly  at  Rutherglen,  Drumclog,  Glasgow,  and 
Bothwell-bridge  ;  whereupon  being  forefaulted  and  violently  pursued,  to 
eschew  the  violent  hands  of  his  indefatigable  persecutors,  he  was  forced  to 
go  over  to  Holland  ;  where  he  had  not  stayed  long,  when  his  zeal  for  the 
persecuted  interest  of  Christ,  and  his  tender  sympathy  with  the  afflicted 
remnant  of  his  covenanted  brethren  in  Scotland,  then  wandering  through 
the  desolate  caverns  and  dens  of  the  earth,  drew  him  home,  choosing  rather 
to  undergo  the  utmost  efforts  of  persecuting  fury,  than  to  live  at  ease  when 
Joseph  was  in  affliction,  making  Moses'  generous  choice,  rather  to  suffer 
affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  that  he  might  be  a  partaker  of  the  fellow- 
ship of  Christ's  sufferings,  than  to  enjoy  that  momentary  pleasure  the  ease 
of  the  world  could  afford  ;  nor  was  he  much  concerned  with  the  riches  of 
the  world,  for  he  stood  not  to  give  his  ground  to  hold  the  prohibited  field- 
preachings  upon,  when  none  else  would  do  it ;  he  was  a  lover  and  follower 
of  the  faithfully  preached  gospel,  and  was  always  against  the  indulgence  ;  he 
was  with  Mr.  Richard  Cameron  at  those  meetings  where  he  was  censured. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  year  after  his  return  from  Holland,  being  in  com- 
pany with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Donald  Cargil,  they  were  taken  notice  of  by  two 
blood-hounds  the  curates  of  Borrowstounness  and  Carridden,  who  went  to 
Middleton,  governor  of  Blackness-castle,  and  informed  him  of  them  ;  who 
having  consulted  with  these  blood-thirsty  ruffians,  ordered  his  soldiers  to 
follow  him  at  a  distance  by  two  or  three  together,  with  convenient  intervals 
for  avoiding  suspicion  ;  and  he  (the  said  Middleton)  and  his  man  riding  up, 
observed  where  they  alighted  and  stabled  their  horses  ;  and  coming  to  them, 
pretended  a  great  deal  of  kindness  and  civilities  to  Mr.  Donald  Cargil  and 
him,  desiring  that  they  might  have  a  glass  of  wine  together.  When  they 
were  set,  and  had  taken  each  a  glass,  Middleton  laid  hands  on  them,  and 
told  them  they  were  his  prisoners,  commanding  in  the  king's  name  all  the 
people  of  the  house  to  assist,  which  they  all  refused,  save  a  certain  waiter, 
through  whose  means  the  governor  got  the  gates  shut  till  the  soldiers  came 
up  ;  and  when  the  women  of  the  town,  rising  to  the  rescue  of  the  prisoners, 
had  broke  up  the  outer  gate,  Henry  Hall,  after  some  scuffle  with  the  gov- 
ernor in  the  house,  making  his  escape  by  the  gate,  received  his  mortal  blow 
upon  his  head,  with  a  carbine  by  Thomas  George,  waiter,  and  being  conveyed 
out  of  the  town  by  the  assistance  of  the  women,  walked  some  pretty  space 
of  way  upon  his  feet,  but  unable  to  speak  much,  save  only  that  he  made 
some  short  reflection  upon  a  woman  that  interposed  between  him  and  the 
governor,  hindered  him  to  kill  the  governor,  and  so  to  make  his  escape 
timeously.  So  soon  as  he  fainted,  the  women  carried  him  to  a  house  in  the 
country,  and  notwithstanding  the  care  of  surgeons,  he  never  recovered 
the  power  of  speaking  more.  General  Dalziel  being  advertised,  came  with 
a  party  of  the  guards,  and  carried  him  to  Edinburgh  ;  he  died  by  the  way  : 
his  corpse  they  carried  to  the  Cannon  gate  tolbooth,  and  kept  him  there 
three  days  without  burial,  though  a  number  of  friends  convened  for  that 
effect,  and  thereafter  they  caused  bury  him  clandestinely  in  the  night.  Such 
was  the  fury  of  these  limbs  of  antichrist,  that  having  killed  the  witnesses, 
they  would  not  suffer  their  dead  bodies  to  be  decently  put  in  graves. 

There  was  found  upon  him  the  rude  draught  of  a  paper  containing  a 
mutual  engagement  to  stand  to  the  necessary  duty  of  the  day  against  its 
stated  enemies  ;  which  was  called  by  the  persecutors,  Mr.  Cargil's  convenant, 
and  frequently  in  the  foregoing  testimonies,  the  Queensferry  paper,  because 


The  Scottish  Kirk  115 

there  it  was  seized  by  the  enemies.  This  paper  Divine  Providence  seems  to 
have  made  as  it  were  the  dying  words  and  testimony  of  that  worthy  gentle- 
man ;  and  the  enemies  made  it  one  of  the  captious  and  ensnaring  questions 
they  constantly  put  to  the  sufferers,  and  therefore  it  will  not  be  impertinent 
here  to  insert  the  heads  of  it,  as  they  are  compendized  by  the  learned  author 
of  The  Hind  Let  Loose,  page  133.  For  it  was  still  owned  by  Mr.  Donald 
Cargil,  that  the  draught  was  not  digested  and  polished,  as  it  was  intended, 
and  therefore  it  will  be  so  far  from  being  a  wrong  to  recite  the  heads  of  it 
only,  that  it  is  really  a  piece  of  justice  done  him,  who  never  intended  it 
should  see  the  world  as  it  was  when  the  enemies  found  it.  I  shall  not  pretend 
to  justify  every  expression  in  it,  but  rather  submit  it  entirely  to  better  judg- 
ments ;  nor  did  the  sufferers  for  most  part  adhere  to  it,  without  the  limitation 
(so  far  as  it  was  agreeable  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  our  national  covenants) 
and  in  so  far  as  it  seems  to  import  a  purpose  of  assuming  to  themselves  a 
magistratical  authority,  their  practice  declares  all  along,  that  they  did  not 
undertand  it  in  that  sense  : 

The  tenor  of  it  was  an  engagement, 

1st,  To  avouch  the  only  true  and  living  God  to  be  their  God,  and  to  close 
with  his  way  of  redemption  by  his  son  Jesus  Christ,  whose  righteousness  is 
only  to  be  relied  upon  for  justification  ;  and  to  take  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  the  only  object  of  faith,  and  rule  of  conversa- 
tion in  all  things.  2d,  To  establish  in  the  land  righteousness  and  religion, 
in  the  truth  of  its  doctrine,  purity  and  power  of  its  worship,  discipline  and 
government,  and  to  free  the  church  of  God  of  the  corruption  of  Prelacy,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  thraldom  of  Erastianism  on  the  other.  3d,  To  persevere 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  reformed  churches,  especially  that  of  Scotland,  and  in 
the  worship  prescribed  in  the  Scriptures,  without  the  inventions,  adornings, 
and  corruptions  of  men  ;  and  in  the  Presbyterian  government,  exercised  in 
sessions,  presbyteries,  synods  and  general  assemblies,  as  a  distinct  govern- 
ment from  the  civil,  and  distinctly  to  be  exercised,  not  after  a  carnal  manner, 
by  plurality  of  votes,  or  authority  of  a  single  person,  but  according  to  the 
Word  of  God,  making  and  carrying  the  sentence.  4th,  To  endeavour  the 
overthrow  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  and  whatsoever  is  contrary  to 
the  kingdom  of  Christ,  especially  idolatry  and  popery  in  all  its  articles,  and 
the  overthrow  of  that  power  that  hath  established  and  upheld  it — And  to 
execute  righteousness  and  judgment  impartially,  according  to  the  Word  of 
God,  and  degree  of  offences,  upon  the  committers  of  these  things  especially, 
to-wit,  blasphemy,  idolatry,  atheism,  buggery,  sorcery,  perjury,  uncleanness, 
profanation  of  the  Lord's  day,  oppression  and  malignancy.  5th,  Seriously 
considering, — there  is  no  more  speedy  way  of  relaxation  from  the  wrath  of 
God,  than  hath  ever  lien  upon  the  land  since  it  engaged  with  these  rulers, 
but  of  rejecting  them,  who  hath  so  manifestly  rejected  God, — disclaiming  his 
covenant — governing  contrary  to  all  right  laws,  divine  and  human — and  con- 
trary to  all  the  ends  of  government,  by  enacting  and  commanding  impieties, 
injuries  and  robberies,  to  the  denying  of  God  his  due,  and  the  subjects  theirs  ; 
so  that  instead  of  government,  godliness,  and  peace,  there  is  nothing  but 
rapine,  tumult,  and  blood,  which  cannot  be  called  a  government,  but  a  lust- 
ful rage — and  they  cannot  be  called  governors,  but  public  grassators  and 
land  judgments,  which  all  ought  to  set  themselves  against,  as  they  would  do 
against  pestilence,  sword,  and  famine,  raging  amongst  them — Seeing  they 
have  stopped  the  course  of  the  law  and  justice  against  blasphemers,  idol- 
aters, atheists,  buggerers,  murderers,  incestuous  and  adulterous  persons 
—  and  have   made  butcheries  on  the  Lord's  people,  sold  them  as  slaves, 


u6  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

imprisoned,  forfeited,  &c.  and  that  upon  no  other  account,  but  their  main- 
taining Christ's  right  of  ruling  over  their  consciences,  against  the  usurpations 
of  men.  Therefore,  easily  solving  the  objections  :  First,  Of  our  ancestors 
obliging  the  nation  to  this  race  and  line  ;  that  they  did  not  buy  their  liberty 
with  our  thraldom,  nor  could  they  bind  their  children  to  anything  so  much 
to  their  prejudice,  and  against  natural  liberty,  (being  a  benefit  next  to  life, 
if  not  in  some  regard  above  it)  which  is  not  an  engagement  to  moral  things  : 
they  could  only  bind  to  that  government,  which  they  esteemed  the  best  for 
common  good  ;  which  reason  ceasing,  we  are  free  to  choose  another,  if  we 
find  it  more  conducible  for  that  end.  Second,  Of  the  covenant  binding  to 
defend  the  king  ;  that  that  obligation  is  only  in  his  maintenance  of  the  true 
covenanted  reformation, — which  homage  they  cannot  now  require  upon  the 
account  of  the  covenant  which  they  have  renounced  and  disclaimed  ;  and 
upon  no  other  ground  we  are  bound  to  them — the  crown  not  being  an  in- 
heritance, that  passeth  from  father  to  son,  without  the  consent  of  tenants. 
Third,  Of  the  hope  of  their  returning  from  these  courses,  whereof  there  is 
none,  seeing  they  have  so  often  declared  their  purposes  of  persevering  in 
them.  And  suppose  they  should  dissemble  a  repentance, — supposing  also  they 
might  be  pardoned  for  that  which  is  done  —  from  whose  guiltiness  the  land 
cannot  be  cleansed,  but  by  executing  God's  righteous  judgments  upon  them, 
— yet  they  cannot  now  be  believed  after  they  have  violated  all  that  human 
wisdom  could  devise  to  bind  them. 

Upon  these  accounts  they  reject  that  king,  and  those  associate  with  him 
in  the  government, — and  declare  them  henceforth  no  lawful  rulers,  as  they 
had  declared  them  to  be  no  lawful  subjects, — they  having  destroyed  the 
established  religion,  overturned  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom,  taken 
away  Christ's  church-government,  and  changed  the  civil  into  tyranny,  where 
none  are  associate  in  partaking  of  the  government,  but  only  those  who  will 
be  found  by  justice  guilty  as  criminals. — And  declare  they  shall,  God 
giving  them  power,  set  up  government  and  governors  according  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  the  qualifications  required,  Exodus  xviii.  20 — And  shall 
not  commit  the  government  to  any  single  person  or  lineal  succession,  being 
not  tyed  as  the  Jews  were  to  one  single  family, — and  that  kind  being  liable 
to  most  inconveniences,  and  aptest  to  degenerate  tyranny. — And  moreover, 
that  these  men  set  over  them,  shall  be  engaged  to  govern,  principally  by  that 
civil  and  judicial  law,  (not  that  which  is  any  way  typical)  given  by  God  to 
his  people  Israel — as  the  best,  so  far  as  it  goes,  being  given  by  God — espe- 
cially in  matters  of  life  and  death,  and  other  things  so  far  as  they  reach,  and 
are  consistent  with  christian  liberty — exempting  divorces  and  polygamy,  &c. 

6th,  Seeing  the  greatest  part  of  ministers  not  only  were  defective  in  preach- 
ing against  the  rulers  for  overthrowing  religion — but  hindered  others  also 
who  were  willing,  and  censured  some  that  did  it — and  have  voted  for  accep- 
tation of  that  liberty,  founded  upon,  and  given  by  virtue  of  that  blasphe- 
mously arrogate  and  usurped  power — and  appeared  before  their  courts  to 
accept  of  it,  and  to  be  enacted  and  authorized  their  ministers — whereby 
they  have  become  ministers  of  men,  and  bound  to  be  answerable  to  them  as 
they  will. — And  have  preached  for  the  lawfulness  of  paying  that  tribute,  de- 
clared to  be  imposed  for  the  bearing  down  of  the  true  worship  of  God. — 
And  advised  poor  prisoners  to  subscribe  that  bond, — which  if  it  were  uni- 
versally subscribed, — they  should  close  that  door,  which  the  Lord  hath  made 
use  of  in  all  the  churches  of  Europe,  for  casting  off  the  yoke  of  the  whore, 
— and  stop  all  regress  of  men,  when  once  brought  under  tyranny,  to  recover 
their  liberty  again. — They  declare  they  neither  can  nor  will  hear  them  &c, 


The  Scottish  Kirk  117 

nor  any  who  encouraged  and  strengthened  their  hands,  and  pleaded  for 
them,  and  trafficked  for  union  with  them.  7th,  That  they  are  for  a  standing 
gospel  ministry,  rightly  chosen,  and  rightly  ordained, — and  that  none  shall  take 
upon  them  the  preaching  of  the  word,  &c,  unless  called  and  ordained 
thereunto. 

And  whereas  separation  might  be  imputed  to  them,  they  repel  both  the 
malice,  and  the  ignorance  of  that  calumny. — For  if  there  be  a  separation,  it 
must  be  where  the  change  is  ;  and  that  was  not  to  be  found  in  them,  who 
were  not  separating  from  the  communion  of  the  true  church  ;  nor  setting  up 
a  new  ministry,  but  cleaving  to  the  same  ministers  and  ordinances  that 
formerly  they  followed,  when  others  have  fled  to  new  ways,  and  a  new 
authority,  which  is  like  the  old  piece  in  the  new  garment.  8th,  That  they 
shall  defend  themselves  in  their  civil,  natural  and  divine  rights  and  liberties. 
— And  if  any  assault  them,  they  shall  look  on  it  as  a  declaring  a  war,  and 
take  all  advantages  that  one  enemy  does  of  another — But  trouble  and  injure 
none,  but  those  that  injure  them. 

NOTES    TO   CHAPTER   VIII. 

1  During  the  first  fifty  years  of  this  time,  the  Scottish  Kirk  was  practically  supreme. 
What  it  then  did  to  "retard  human  progress,"  as  Mr.  Buckle  would  say,  is  best  summed 
up  in  the  words  of  its  enemy.  King  James  VI.,  spoken  when  he  first  went  down  into 
England,  and  presided  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference,  held  in  January,  1604.     See  pp. 

434-36. 

2  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  vol.  ii.,  ch.  ii.-v. 

3  What  may  be  termed,  in  its  broadest  sense,  the  utilitarian  tendency  of  modern  re- 
ligious thought,  may  be  noted  in  some  of  the  popular  writings  of  Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  S. 
Laing,  A.  J.  Balfour,  Benjamin  Kidd,  Matthew  Arnold,  John  Fiske,  etc. 

4  Vol.  ii.,  ch.  ii.  (vol.  ii.,  pp.  152,  153,  American  edition). 

8  See  also  Gardiner's  History   of  England,   1603-1642,  vol.  i.,  pp.  22-26;   vol.  viii., 

PP.  373-375. 

6  History  of  England,  book  vi.,  ch.  ii. 

7  History  of  England,  vol.  vi.,  ch.  xxxvii.,  pp.  220,  221. 

8  The  Scotch  have  been  greatly,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  justly  blamed,  because,  instead 
of  being  satisfied  with  securing  the  liberty  of  their  own  church,  they  insisted  on  the  over- 
throw of  that  of  England.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  intolerance  was  the 
epidemic  of  the  age.  The  Episcopalians  enforced  the  prayer-book,  the  Presbyterians  the 
covenant,  the  Independents  the  engagement.  The  last  being  more  of  a  political  character 
than  either  of  the  others,  was,  so  far,  the  least  objectionable.  It  was,  however,  both  in  de- 
sign and  in  fact,  what  Neal  calls  it,  "a  severe  test  for  the  Presbyterians."  Besides,  the  rigid 
doctrine  of  the  exclusive  divine  right  of  Presbyterianism,  and  an  intolerant  opposition  to 
Prelacy,  did  not  prevail  among  the  Scotch  until  they  were  driven,  by  persecution,  into  ex- 
treme opinions.  When  they  found  Episcopacy,  in  their  own  bitter  experience,  associated 
with  despotism  and  superstition,  and,  in  their  firm  belief,  with  irreligion  and  Popery,  it  is 
not  wonderful  that  they  regarded  it  as  a  bitter  root  which  could  bear  nothing  good.  Their 
best  apology  is  that  which  they  themselves  urged  at  the  time.  They  considered  it  essential 
to  the  liberty  of  their  church  and  country  that  the  power  of  the  bishops  should  be  destroyed 
in  England.  The  persecutions  which  they  had  already  endured,  and  their  just  apprehensions 
of  still  greater  evils,  sprang  from  the  principles  and  conduct  of  the  English  prelates.  How 
well  founded  this  opinion  was,  the  atrocities  consequent  on  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 
and  the  re-establishment  of  Episcopacy,  abundantly  proved.  — Hodge,  History  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  vol.  i.,  pp.  46,  47. 

•See  Lecky,  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.,  ch.  v. 


n8  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

10  The  Assembly  which  met  in  the  beginning  of  1696  passed  an  act  against  the  atheistical 
opinions  of  the  Deists,  which  received  a  melancholy  comment  in  an  occurrence  which  took 
place  during  the  same  year.  A  student  of  eighteen,  named  Thomas  Aikenhead,  had  un- 
fortunately imbibed  sceptical  opinions,  and  had  been  imprudent  enough  to  spout  them  to 
some  of  his  companions.  Trinity  in  unity,  he  said,  was  a  contradiction.  Moses  had  learned 
magic  in  Egypt,  and  this  was  the  secret  of  his  miracles.  Ezra  was  the  author  of  the  Penta- 
teuch ;  Theanthropas  was  as  great  an  absurdity  as  Hirco-Cervus.  These  sceptical  common- 
places reached  the  ears  of  the  authorities,  and  the  youth  was  indicted  under  an  old  statute 
which  made  it  a  capital  crime  to  curse  the  Supreme  Being.  He  was  convicted  and  sentenced 
to  be  hanged.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  poor  lad  with  death  before  his  eyes,  recanted  his 
errors  and  begged  for  his  life.  Even  a  reprieve  for  a  few  days  was  denied  him,  and  the 
clergy  of  the  city  .  .  .  gave  their  voice  for  his  death.  He  died  with  a  Bible  in  his  hand 
in  token  of  his  change  of  mind. — Cunningham,  Church  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.,  pp. 
197,  198. 

11  Hodge,  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,  pp.  47-50. 

12  The  enormities  of  this  detestable  government  are  far  too  numerous,  even  in  species, 
to  be  enumerated  in  this  slight  sketch  ;  and  of  course,  most  instances  of  cruelty  have  not 
been  recorded.  The  privy  council  was  accustomed  to  extort  confessions  by  torture — that 
grim  divan  of  bishops,  lawyers,  and  peers,  sucking  the  groans  of  each  undaunted  enthusiast, 
in  hopes  that  some  imperfect  avowal  might  lead  to  the  sacrifice  of  other  victims,  or  at  least 
warrant  the  execution  of  the  present.  ...  It  was  very  possible  that  Episcopacy  might 
be  of  apostolical  institution  ;  but  for  this  institution  houses  had  been  burned  and  fields  laid 
waste,  and  the  gospel  been  preached  in  the  wilderness,  and  its  ministers  had  been  shot  in 
their  prayers,  and  husbands  had  been  murdered  before  their  wives,  and  virgins  had  been  de- 
filed, and  many  had  died  by  the  executioner,  and  by  massacre,  and  imprisonment,  and  in 
exile  and  slavery,  and  women  had  been  tied  to  stakes  on  the  sea-shore  till  the  tide  rose  to 
overflow  them,  and  some  had  been  tortured  and  mutilated  ;  it  was  a  religion  of  the  boots 
and  the  thumbscrew,  which  a  good  man  must  be  very  cool-blooded  indeed  if  he  did  not  hate 
and  reject  from  the  hands  which  offered  it.  For,  after  all,  it  is  much  more  certain  that  the 
Supreme  Being  abhors  cruelty  and  persecution,  than  that  he  has  set  up  bishops  to  have  a 
superiority  over  Presbyters. — Hallam,  Constitutional  History,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  435,  442.  The 
wonderful  subserviency  and  degradation  of  the  Scottish  parliament  during  this  period  must 
strike  all  readers  with  astonishment.  This  fact  is  partially  explained,  and  the  disgrace  in 
some  measure  palliated  by  the  peculiarity  of  its  constitution.  The  controlling  power  was 
virtually  in  the  hands  of  the  bishops,  who  were  the  creatures,  and  of  course,  the  servants  of 
the  crown.  The  lords  of  the  articles  were  originally  a  committee  chosen  by  the  parliament 
for  the  preparation  of  business.  But  Charles  I,  without  any  authority  from  parliament,  had 
the  matter  so  arranged,  that  "the  bishops  chose  eight  peers,  the  peers  eight  bishops ;  and 
these  appointed  sixteen  commissioners  of  shires  and  boroughs.  Thus  the  whole  power  was 
devolved  upon  the  bishops,  the  slaves  and  sycophants  of  the  crown.  The  parliament  itself 
met  only  on  two  days,  the  first  and  last  of  their  pretended  session,  the  one  time  to  choose 
the  lords  of  the  articles,  the  other  to  ratify  what  they  proposed." — Hallam,  vol.  iii.f  p.  428. 
This  arrangement  was  renewed  after  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 

13  "  So  soon  as  it  was  known  in  Scotland  that  William  of  Orange  had  landed  at  Torbay  ; 
that  he  was  slowly  advancing  toward  London  ;  that  the  English  nobility  were  flocking  to  him  ; 
that  the  royal  army  was  deserting  to  him,  that  the  bewildered  James  had  attempted  to  flee 
the  country,  the  people  began  to  show  how  ready  they  were  to  concur  with  the  prince  in 
shaking  off  the  burdens  under  which  they  had  groaned. 

"  Meanwhile  there  were  wild  rumors  afloat  of  an  army  of  Irish  Papists  that  had  landed, 
or  was  about  to  land,  on  the  coast  of  Galloway.  Some  said  it  was  already  at  Kirkcudbright 
and  had  burned  it.  .  .  .  In  such  times  rumors  are  rife.  People  began  to  dread  a 
massacre.     The  Council  had  dissolved.      The  military  had  been  marched  into   England. 


The  Scottish  Kirk  119 

There  was  a  dissolution  of  all  authority.  The  peasantry  of  the  western  counties  began  to 
collect  in  large  crowds,  armed  with  such  weapons  as  they  could  procure,  and  to  take  the  law 
into  their  own  hands.  Their  wrath  vented  itself  on  the  unhappy  curates.  They  resolved  to 
purge  the  temple  of  them  without  waiting  for  the  decision  of  the  legislature.  They  began 
their  work  upon  Christmas,  which  seems  to  have  been  thought  an  appropriate  day.  In  some 
cases  the  curates  saved  themselves  from  insult  by  timely  flight.  In  other  cases  they  were 
laid  hold  of  by  the  rabble,  carried  about  in  mock  procession,  had  their  gowns  torn  over  their 
heads,  their  Prayer-Books  burned  before  their  eyes,  and  then  were  told  to  be  off,  and  never 
to  show  themselves  in  the  parish  again.  When  done  with  the  minister,  the  mob  frequently 
entered  the  manse,  tumbled  the  furniture  out  at  the  windows,  marched  the  inmates  to  the 
door,  took  possession  of  the  keys  ;  and  on  next  Sunday  a  preacher  who  had  till  lately  been 
skulking  among  the  hills,  was  found  in  the  pulpit  thundering  against  persecuting  prelatists. 
These  rabblings  went  on  for  two  or  three  months  ;  every  now  and  then  an  instance  was 
occurring  till  almost  every  parish  in  the  south  and  west  was  cleaned  of  its  Episcopal  in- 
cumbent. Upwards  of  two  hundred  clergymen  were  thus  rabbled  out  of  their  manses,  their 
parishes,  and  their  livings  (Somers's  Tracts,  coll.  iii.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  133.  "Case  of  the  Epis- 
copal Clergy  in  Scotland  Truly  Represented."  "  Case  of  the  Afflicted  Clergy,"  etc.,  Burnet's 
History,  vol.  ii.,  p.  444). 

"  The  wives  and  families  of  these  men  shared  in  their  misfortunes.  Many  must  have  been 
rendered  homeless  ;  some  reduced  to  absolute  beggary.  .  .  .  Still  no  life  was  lost.  The 
only  martyrdom  these  men  underwent  was  a  little  rough  usage  from  an  ignorant  rabble,  and 
the  loss  of  their  livings.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  districts  of  the  country 
where  these  things  happened  the  curates  occupied  their  pulpits  in  opposition  to  the  will  of 
the  people,  and  enjoyed  stipends  of  which  others  had  been  tyrannically  deprived.  They  had 
no  root  in  the  soil  ;  they  were  aliens  in  their  own  parishes.  What  is  more,  they  were  sus- 
pected of  having  abetted  the  persecution  of  those  who  preferred  their  old  Presbyterian 
ministers  to  them.  They  had  their  roll  of  absentees  from  church  to  hand  to  the  military 
officers  commanding  in  the  district.     .     . 

4 '  For  twenty-five  long  years,  the  Presbyterians  had  been  cruelly  oppressed  ;  and  yet  when: 
times  of  revolution  came,  they  did  not  rise  and  murder  their  oppressors.  Even  the  rabblings 
were  conducted  chiefly  by  the  Cameronians  and  the  lowest  of  the  people,  and  many  of  the 
Presbyterians  strongly  condemned  them. " — Cunningham,  Church  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  1 51-153. 

M  See  Appendix  R  (The  Scottish  Martyrs.) 


CHAPTER  IX 
RELIGION  IN  EARLY  SCOTLAND  AND  EARLY  ENGLAND 

THE  real  differences  between  the  religious  life  of  Scotland  and  that  of 
England  are  not  wholly  those  of  creed  and  polity,  brought  about  by 
the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  They  would  seem  to  go  back 
much  farther  than  that  period,  and  to  have  given  evidence  of  existence 
more  than  nine  hundred  years  before.  They  may  have  originated  from  the 
radical  differences  between  the  ancient  pagan  mythology  of  the  Druids  and 
that  of  the  Teutons.  The  religious  genius  of  early  Scotland  was,  of  course, 
largely  Celtic,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  more  or  less 
complete  but  very  gradual  amalgamation  of  the  early  race  with  that  of  the 
Norse  and  the  Angle  has  essentially  altered  the  inherent  racial  tendency  to- 
ward emotional  fervor  and  intensity.  Going  from  a  warmer  climate  into 
the  comparatively  bleak  and  northern  country  of  Caledonia,  the  early  Celt 
doubtless  became  more  "  hard-headed,"  and  lost  much  of  that  exuberance 
of  emotion  which  to-day  is  so  characteristic  of  his  cousins  in  France  and 
Ireland,  and,  perhaps,  also  in  Wales.  His  peculiar  traits  were  modified  later 
by  the  commingling  of  his  blood  with  that  of  the  Northmen.  But  his  early 
racial  point  of  view  was  far  distant  from  that  of  the  pagans  who  brought  the 
worship  of  Woden  into  Britain,  and  the  assimilating  influences  of  climate 
and  intermarriage,  even  to  this  day,  have  not  sufficed  to  break  down  the  bar- 
rier between  the  two  cults.  Christianity  was  probably  planted  in  Great 
Britain  long  before  the  Romans  left.  The  first  native  account  we  have  of 
its  early  history  there  is  that  of  Bede,  in  his  allusions  to  the  conversion 
(176-190)  of  Lucius,  King  of  the  Britons,  and  to  the  establishment  by  Ninian 
of  the  Church  of  Candida  Casa  at  Whithorn,  in  Galloway.  This  foundation 
is  supposed  to  have  been  made  about  the  year  397,  and  Ninian  (who  died 
about  432)  was  therefore  the  precursor  and  contemporary  of  St.  Patrick  (396- 
469  ?).  More  than  a  hundred  and  sixty  years  later,  Columba,  the  Scot,  came 
from  the  island  of  Iona  to  North  Britain,  and  converted  the  Picts,  as  Bede 
tells  us  in  the  following  passage  (Ecd.  Hist.,  bk.  iii.,  ch.  iv.)  : 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  565,  when  Justin,  the  younger,  the  successor  of 
Justinian,  had  the  government  of  the  Roman  Empire,  there  came  into  Brit- 
ain a  famous  priest  and  abbat,  a  monk  by  habit  and  life,  whose  name  was 
Columba,  to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  provinces  of  the  northern  Picts, 
who  are  separated  from  the  southern  parts  by  steep  and  rugged  mountains  ; 
for  the  southern  Picts,  who  dwell  on  this  side  of  those  mountains,  had  long 
before,  as  is  reported,  forsaken  the  errors  of  idolatry,  and  embraced  the 
truth,  by  the  preaching  of  Ninias,  a  most  reverend  bishop  and  holy  man  of 
the  British  nation,  who  had  been  regularly  instructed  at  Rome,  in  the  faith 
and  mysteries  of  the  truth  ;  whose  episcopal  see,  named  after  St.  Martin  the 

120 


Religion  121 

bishop,  and  famous  for  a  stately  church,  (wherein  he  and  many  other  saints 
rest  in  the  body,)  is  still  in  existence  among  the  English  nation.  The  place 
belongs  to  the  province  of  the  Bernicians,  and  is  generally  called  the  White 
House,  because  he  there  built  a  church  of  stone,  which  was  not  usual  among 
the  Britons. 

Columba  came  into  Britain  in  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Bridius,  who 
was  the  son  of  Meilochon,  and  the  powerful  king  of  the  Pictish  nation,  and 
he  converted  that  nation  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  by  his  preaching  and  exam- 
ple, whereupon  he  also  received  of  them  the  aforesaid  island  for  a  monas- 
tery, for  it  is  not  very  large,  but  contains  about  five  families,  according  to 
the  English  computation.  His  successors  hold  the  island  to  this  day  ;  he 
was  also  buried  therein,  having  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  about 
thirty-two  years  after  he  came  into  Britain  to  preach.  Before  he  passed 
over  into  Britain,  he  had  built  a  noble  monastery  in  Ireland,  which,  from 
the  great  number  of  oaks,  is  in  the  Scottish  tongue  called  Dearm-ach  —  The 
Field  of  Oaks  [now  Derry].  From  both  which  monasteries,  many  others  had 
their  beginning  through  his  disciples,  both  in  Britain  and  Ireland  ;  but  the 
monastery  in  the  island  where  his  body  lies,  is  the  principal  of  them  all. 

Columba's  religion  was  the  same  as  that  of  St.  Patrick.  It  had  been 
brought  from  the  East  at  a  time  when  the  early  Church  retained  its  primitive 
simplicity,  and  before  it  had  become  corrupted  through  the  acquisition  of 
that  temporal  power  which  came  to  it  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  Roman 
Empire.1 

The  English  were  converted  by  St.  Augustine,  who  came  from  Rome  to 
Britain  in  597."  He  was  followed  in  625  by  Paulinus.  The  success  of 
their  missions  is  related  by  Bede  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  bk.  i.,  ch. 
xxv.,  and  bk.  ii.,  ch.  ix. 

The  first  conflict  between  the  primitive  Christianity  of  the  Celts  and  the 
more  secularized  ecclesiasticism  of  Rome  occurred  in  England  about  the 
year  604,  and  in  all  its  aspects  is  typical  of  the  struggle  which  took  place  in 
North  Britain  between  the  latter-day  representatives  of  the  two  systems  in 
the  time  of  the  Stuarts.     Bede's  narrative,3  therefore,  needs  no  commentary  : 

In  the  meantime,  Augustine,  with  the  assistance  of  King  Ethelbert,  drew 
together  to  a  conference  the  bishops,  or  doctors,  of  the  next  province  of  the 
Britons,  at  a  place  which  is  to  this  day  called  Augustine's  Ac,  that  is,  Au- 
gustine's Oak,  on  the  borders  of  the  Wiccii  and  West  Saxons  ;  and  began 
by  brotherly  admonitions  to  persuade  them,  that  preserving  Catholic  unity 
with  him,  they  should  undertake  the  common  labour  of  preaching  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  Gentiles.  For  they  did  not  keep  Easter  Sunday  at  the  proper 
time,  but  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  twentieth  moon  ;  which  computation  is 
contained  in  a  revolution  of  eighty-four  years.  Besides,  they  did  several 
other  things  which  were  against  the  unity  of  the  church.4  When,  after  a 
long  disputation,  they  did  not  comply  with  the  entreaties,  exhortations,  or 
rebukes  of  Augustine  and  his  companions,  but  preferred  their  own  traditions 
before  all  the  churches  in  the  world,  which  in  Christ  agree  among  them- 
selves, the  holy  father,  Augustine,  put  an  end  to  this  troublesome  and  tedious 
contention,  saying,  "  Let  us  beg  of  God,  who  causes  those  who  are  of  one 
mind  to  live  in  his  Father's  house,  that  he  will  vouchsafe,  by  his  heavenly  to- 
kens, to  declare  to  us,  which  tradition  is  to  be  followed  ;  and  by  what  means 


122  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

we  are  to  find  our  way  to  his  heavenly  kingdom.  Let  some  infirm  person  be 
brought,  and  let  the  faith  and  practice  of  those,  by  whose  prayers  he  shall 
be  healed,  be  looked  upon  as  acceptable  to  God,  and  be  adopted  by  all." 
The  adverse  party  unwillingly  consenting,  a  blind  man  of  the  English  race 
was  brought,  who  having  been  presented  to  the  priests  of  the  Britons,  found 
no  benefit  or  cure  from  their  ministry  ;  at  length,  Augustine,  compelled  by 
real  necessity,  bowed  his  knees  to  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  pray- 
ing that  the  lost  sight  might  be  restored  to  the  blind  man,  and  by  the  corpo- 
real enlightening  of  one  man,  the  light  of  spiritual  grace  might  be  kindled 
in  the  hearts  of  many  of  the  faithful.  Immediately  the  blind  man  received 
sight,  and  Augustine  was  by  all  declared  the  preacher  of  the  Divine  truth. 
The  Britons  then  confessed,  that  it  was  the  true  way  of  righteousness  which 
Augustine  taught ;  but  that  they  could  not  depart  from  their  ancient  customs 
without  the  consent  and  leave  of  their  people.  They  therefore  desired  that 
a  second  synod  might  be  appointed,  at  which  more  of  their  number  would 
be  present. 

This  being  decreed,  there  came  (as  is  asserted)  seven  bishops  of  Britons, 
and  many  most  learned  men,  particularly  from  their  most  noble  monastery, 
which,  in  the  English  tongue,  is  called  Bancornburg  [Bangor],  over  which 
the  Abbat  Dunooth  is  said  to  have  presided  at  that  time.  They  that  were 
to  go  to  the  aforesaid  council,  repaired  first  to  a  certain  holy  and  discreet 
man,  who  was  wont  to  lead  an  eremitical  life  among  them,  advising  with 
him,  whether  they  ought,  at  the  preaching  of  Augustine,  to  forsake  their  tra- 
ditions. He  answered,  "  If  he  is  a  man  of  God,  follow  him." — "  How  shall 
we  know  that  ?  "  said  they.  He  replied,  "  Our  Lord  saith,  *  Take  my  yoke 
upon  you,  and  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ' ;  if  there- 
fore, Augustine  is  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  it  is  to  be  believed  that  he  has 
taken  upon  him  the  yoke  of  Christ,  and  offers  the  same  to  you  to  take 
upon  you.  But,  if  he  is  stern  and  haughty,  it  appears  that  he  is  not  of 
God,  nor  are  we  to  regard  his  words."  They  insisted  again,  "  And  how 
shall  we  discern  even  this  ? " — "  Do  you  contrive,"  said  the  anchorite,  "  that 
he  may  first  arrive  with  his  company  at  the  place  where  the  synod  is  to  be 
held  ;  and  if  at  your  approach  he  shall  rise  up  to  you,  hear  him  submissively, 
being  assured  that  he  is  the  servant  of  Christ ;  but  if  he  shall  despise  you, 
and  not  rise  up  to  you,  whereas  you  are  more  in  number,  let  him  also  be  de- 
spised by  you." 

They  did  as  he  directed ;  and  it  happened,  that  when  they  came,  Augus- 
tine was  sitting  on  a  chair,  which  they  observing,  were  in  a  passion,  and 
charging  him  with  pride,  endeavoured  to  contradict  all  he  said.  He  said  to 
them,  "  You  act  in  many  particulars  contrary  to  our  custom,  or  rather  the 
custom  of  the  universal  church,  and  yet,  if  you  will  comply  with  me  in 
these  three  points,  viz.,  to  keep  Easter  at  the  due  time  ;  to  administer  bap- 
tism, by  which  we  are  again  born  to  God,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
holy  Roman  Apostolic  Church  ;  and  jointly  with  us  to  preach  the  word  of 
God  to  the  English  nation,  we  will  readily  tolerate  all  the  other  things  you 
do,  though  contrary  to  our  customs."  They  answered  they  would  do  none 
of  those  things,  nor  receive  him  as  their  archbishop;  for  they  alleged  among 
themselves,  that "  if  he  would  not  now  rise  up  to  us,  how  much  more  will  he 
contemn  us,  as  of  no  worth,  if  we  shall  begin  to  be  under  his  subjection  ?  "  To 
whom  the  man  of  God,  Augustine,  is  said,  in  a  threatening  manner,  to  have 
foretold,  that  in  case  they  would  not  join  in  unity  with  their  brethren,  they 
should  be  warred  upon  by  their  enemies  ;  and,  if  they  would  not  preach 
the  way  of  life  to  the  English  nation,  they  should  at  their  hands  undergo  the 


Religion  123 

vengeance  of  death.     All  which,  through  the  dispensation  of  the  Divine 
judgment,  fell  out  exactly  as  he  had  predicted. 

For  afterwards  the  warlike  king  of  the  English,  Ethelfrid,  of  whom  we 
have  already  spoken,  having  raised  a  mighty  army,  made  a  very  great 
slaughter  of  that  perfidious  nation,  at  the  City  of  Legions,  which  by  the 
English  is  called  Legacestir,  but  by  the  Britons  more  rightly  Carlegion 
[Chester].  Being  about  to  give  battle,  he  observed  their  priests,  who  were 
come  together  to  offer  up  their  prayers  to  God  for  the  soldiers,  standing 
apart  in  a  place  of  more  safety  ;  he  inquired  who  they  were  ?  or  what  they 
came  together  to  do  in  that  place  ?  Most  of  them  were  of  the  monastery  of 
Bangor  in  which,  it  is  reported,  there  was  so  great  a  number  of  monks,  that 
the  monastery  being  divided  into  seven  parts,  with  a  ruler  over  each,  none 
of  those  parts  contained  less  than  three  hundred  men,  who  all  lived  by  the 
labour  of  their  hands.  Many  of  these,  having  observed  a  fast  of  three  days, 
resorted  among  others  to  pray  at  the  aforesaid  battle,  having  one  Brocmail 
appointed  for  their  protector,  to  defend  them  whilst  they  were  intent  upon 
their  prayers,  against  the  swords  of  the  barbarians.  King  Ethelfrid  being 
informed  of  the  occasion  of  their  coming,  said,  "  If  then  they  cry  to  their 
God  against  us,  in  truth,  though  they  do  not  bear  arms,  yet  they  fight 
against  us,  because  they  oppose  us  by  their  prayers."  He,  therefore,  com- 
manded them  to  be  attacked  first,  and  then  destroyed  the  rest  of  the  impious 
army,  not  without  considerable  loss  of  his  own  forces.  About  twelve  hun- 
dred of  those  that  came  to  pray  are  said  to  have  been  killed,  and  only  fifty 
to  have  escaped  by  flight.  Brocmail  turning  his  back  with  his  men,  at  the 
first  approach  of  the  enemy,  left  those  whom  he  ought  to  have  defended,  un- 
armed and  exposed  to  the  swords  of  the  enemies.  Thus  was  fulfilled  the 
prediction  of  the  holy  Bishop  Augustine,  though  he  himself  had  been  long 
before  taken  up  into  the  heavenly  kingdom  ;  that  those  perfidious  men 
should  feel  the  vengeance  of  temporal  death  also,  because  they  had  despised 
the  offer  of  eternal  salvation. 

In  Northumbria,  also,  some  of  the  Scottish  missionaries,  later,  had 
labored  and  made  converts.  When  King  Oswy  was  asked  to  join  the  com- 
munion of  Rome,  the  Scots  sought  to  have  him  continue  in  their  own  as  being 
that  of  the  more  ancient  British  Church.  He  accordingly  appointed  a 
synod  to  be  held  at  Whitby  in  the  year  664,  and  there,  like  James  I.  at  the 
Hampton  Court  Conference  940  years  later,  the  king  was  won  over  by  the 
"  superior  arguments  "  of  the  bishops  and  decided  to  accept  their  innova- 
tions, and  to  give  up  the  less  formal  and  more  primitive  church  system  of 
the  Scots.  For  the  account  of  this  conference  let  us  again  have  recourse 
to  Bede6: 

In  the  meantime,  Bishop  Aidan  being  dead,  Finan,  who  was  ordained  and 
sent  by  the  Scots,  succeeded  him  in  the  bishopric,  and  built  a  church  in  the 
Isle  of  Lindisfarne,  the  episcopal  see;  nevertheless,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Scots,  he  made  it,  not  of  stone,  but  of  hewn  oak,  and  covered  it  with  reeds; 
and  the  same  was  afterwards  dedicated  in  honour  of  St.  Peter  the  Apostle,  by 
the  reverend  Archbishop  Theodore.  Eadbert,  also  bishop  of  that  place, 
took  off  the  thatch,  and  covered  it,  both  roof  and  walls,  with  plates  of  lead. 

At  this  time,  a  great  and  frequent  controversy  happened  about  the  ob- 
servance of  Easter,  those  that  came  from  Kent  or  France  affirming,  that  the 


124  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Scots  kept  Easter  Sunday  contrary  to  the  custom  of  the  universal  church. 
Among  them  was  a  most  zealous  defender  of  the  true  Easter,  whose  name 
was  Ronan,  a  Scot  by  nation,  but  instructed  in  ecclesiastical  truth,  either 
in  France  or  Italy,  who,  disputing  with  Finan,  convinced  many,  or  at  least 
induced  them  to  make  a  more  strict  inquiry  after  the  truth;  yet  he  could 
not  prevail  upon  Finan,  but,  on  the  contrary,  made  him  the  more  inveterate 
by  reproof,  and  a  professed  opposer  of  the  truth,  being  of  a  hot  and  violent 
temper.  James,  formerly  the  deacon  of  the  venerable  Archbishop  Paulinus, 
as  has  been  said  above,  kept  the  true  and  Catholic  Easter,  with  all  those 
that  he  could  persuade  to  adopt  the  right  way.  Queen  Eanfleda  and  her 
followers  also  observed  the  same  as  she  had  seen  practised  in  Kent,  having 
with  her  a  Kentish  priest  that  followed  the  Catholic  mode,  whose  name  was 
Romanus.  Thus  it  is  said  to  have  happened  in  those  times  that  Easter  was 
twice  kept  in  one  year;  and  that  when  the  king  having  ended  the  time  of 
fasting,  kept  his  Easter,  the  queen  and  her  followers  were  still  fasting  and 
celebrating  Palm  Sunday.  This  difference  about  the  observance  of  Easter, 
whilst  Aidan  lived,  was  patiently  tolerated  by  all  men,  as  being  sensible, 
that  though  he  could  not  keep  Easter  contrary  to  the  custom  of  those  who 
had  sent  him,  yet  he  industriously  laboured  to  practise  all  works  of  faith, 
piety,  and  love,  according  to  the  custom  of  all  holy  men;  for  which  reason 
he  was  deservedly  beloved  by  all,  even  by  those  who  differed  in  opinion 
concerning  Easter,  and  was  held  in  veneration,  not  only  by  indifferent  per- 
sons, but  even  by  the  bishops,  Honorius  of  Canterbury,  and  Felix  of  the 
East  Angles. 

But  after  the  death  of  Finan,  who  succeeded  him,  when  Colman,  who 
was  also  sent  out  of  Scotland,  came  to  be  bishop,  a  greater  controversy  arose 
about  the  observance  of  Easter,  and  the  rules  of  ecclesiastical  life.  Where- 
upon this  dispute  began  naturally  to  influence  the  thoughts  and  hearts  of 
many,  who  feared,  lest  having  received  the  name  of  Christians,  they  might 
happen  to  run,  or  to  have  run,  in  vain.  This  reached  the  ears  of  King 
Oswy  and  his  son  Alfrid;  for  Oswy,  having  been  instructed  and  baptized 
by  the  Scots,  and  being  very  perfectly  skilled  in  their  language,  thought 
nothing  better  than  what  they  taught.  But  Alfrid,  having  been  instructed 
in  Christianity  by  Wilfrid,  a  most  learned  man,  who  had  first  gone  to 
Rome  to  learn  the  ecclesiastical  doctrine,  and  spent  much  time  at  Lyons 
with  Dalfin,  archbishop  of  France,  from  whom  also  he  had  received  the 
ecclesiastical  tonsure,  rightly  thought  this  man's  doctrine  ought  to  be  pre- 
ferred before  all  the  traditions  of  the  Scots.  For  this  reason  he  had  also 
given  him  a  monastery  of  forty  families,  at  a  place  called  Rhypum;  which 
place,  not  long  before,  he  had  given  to  those  that  followed  the  system  of 
the  Scots  for  a  monastery;  but  forasmuch  as  they  afterwards,  being  left  to 
their  choice,  prepared  to  quit  the  place  rather  than  alter  their  opinion,  he  gave 
the  place  to  him,  whose  life  and  doctrine  were  worthy  of  it. 

Agilbert,  bishop  of  the  West  Saxons,  above-mentioned,  a  friend  to  King 
Alfrid  and  to  Abbat  Wilfrid,  had  at  that  time  come  into  the  province  of  the 
Northumbrians,  and  was  making  some  stay  among  them;  at  the  request  of 
Alfrid,  made  Wilfrid  a  priest  in  his  monastery.  He  had  in  his  company  a 
priest,  whose  name  was  Agatho.  The  controversy  being  there  started,  con- 
cerning Easter,  or  the  tonsure,  or  other  ecclesiastical  affairs,  it  was  agreed, 
that  a  synod  should  be  held  in  the  monastery  of  Streanehalch,  which  signi- 
fies the  Bay  of  the  Lighthouse,  where  the  Abbess  Hilda,  a  woman  devoted 
to  God,  then  presided;  and  that  there  this  controversy  should  be  decided. 
The  kings,  both  father  and  son,  came  thither,  Bishop  Colman   with   his 


Religion  125 

Scottish  clerks,  and  Agilbert  with  the  priests  Agatho  and  Wilfrid  ;  James 
and  Romanus  were  on  their  side;  but  the  Abbess  Hilda  and  her  followers 
were  for  the  Scots,  as  was  also  the  venerable  Bishop  Cedd,  long  before 
ordained  by  the  Scots,  as  has  been  said  above,  and  he  was  in  that  council  a 
most  careful  interpreter  for  both  parties. 

King  Oswy  first  observed,  that  it  behoved  those  who  served  one  God 
to  observe  the  same  rule  of  life;  and  as  they  all  expected  the  same  kingdom 
in  heaven,  so  they  ought  not  to  differ  in  the  celebration  of  the  Divine  mys- 
teries; but  rather  to  inquire  which  was  the  truest  tradition,  that  the  same 
might  be  followed  by  all;  he  then  commanded  his  bishop,  Colman,  first  to 
declare  what  the  custom  was  which  he  observed,  and  whence  it  derived  its- 
origin.  Then  Colman  said:  "The  Easter  which  I  keep,  I  received  from 
my  elders,  who  sent  me  bishop  hither;  all  our  forefathers,  men  beloved  of 
God,  are  known  to  have  kept  it  after  the  same  manner;  and  that  the  same 
may  not  seem  to  any  contemptible  or  worthy  to  be  rejected,  it  is  the  same 
which  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  the  disciple  beloved  of  our  Lord,  with  all 
the  churches  over  which  he  presided,  is  recorded  to  have  observed."  Hav- 
ing said  thus  much,  and  more  to  the  like  effect,  the  king  commanded  Agil- 
bert to  show  whence  his  custom  of  keeping  Easter  was  derived,  or  on  what 
authority  it  was  grounded.  Agilbert  answered  :  "  I  desire  that  my  disciple, 
the  priest  Wilfrid,  may  speak  in  my  stead ;  because  we  both  concur  with 
the  other  followers  of  the  ecclesiastical  tradition  that  are  here  present,  and 
he  can  better  explain  our  opinion  in  the  English  language,  than  I  can  by  an 
interpreter." 

Then  Wilfrid,  being  ordered  by  the  king  to  speak,  delivered  himself 
thus: — "  The  Easter  which  we  observe,  we  saw  celebrated  by  all  at  Rome, 
where  the  blessed  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  lived,  taught,  suffered,  and 
were  buried;  we  saw  the  same  done  in  Italy  and  in  France,  when  we  trav- 
elled through  those  countries  for  pilgrimage  and  prayer.  We  found  the 
same  practised  in  Africa,  Asia,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  all  the  world,  wherever 
the  church  of  Christ  is  spread  abroad  through  several  nations  and  tongues, 
at  one  and  the  same  time;  except  only  these  and  their  accomplices  in  obsti- 
nacy, I  mean  the  Picts  and  the  Britons,  who  foolishly,  in  these  two  remote 
islands  of  the  world,  and  only  in  part  even  of  them,  oppose  all  the  rest  of 
the  universe. 

"  But  as  for  you,  Colman,  and  your  companions,  you  certainly  sin,  if,  hav- 
ing heard  the  decrees  of  the  Apostolic  See,  and  of  the  universal  church,  and 
that  the  same  is  confirmed  by  holy  writ,  you  refuse  to  follow  them ;  for,  though 
your  fathers  were  holy,  do  you  think  that  their  small  number,  in  a  corner  of 
the  remotest  island,  is  to  be  preferred  before  the  universal  church  of  Christ 
throughout  the  world  ?  And  if  that  Columba  of  yours,  (and,  I  may  say,  ours 
also,  if  he  was  Christ's  servant,)  was  a  holy  man  and  powerful  in  miracles, 
yet  could  he  be  preferred  before  the  most  blessed  prince  of  the  apostles,  to 
whom  our  Lord  said,  '  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 
church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it,  and  to  thee  I  will 
give  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  '  ?  " 

When  Wilfrid  had  spoken  thus,  the  king  said,  "  Is  it  true,  Colman,  that 
these  words  were  spoken  to  Peter  by  our  Lord  ?  "  He  answered,  "  It  is  true, 
O  king!  "  Then  says  he,  "  Can  you  show  any  such  power  given  to  your 
Columba?"  Colman  answered,  "None."  Then  added  the  king,  "Do 
you  both  agree  that  these  words  were  principally  directed  to  Peter,  and  that 
the  keys  of  heaven  were  given  to  him  by  our  Lord  ?  "  They  both  answered, 
"  We  do."     Then  the  king  concluded,  "  And  I  also  say  unto  you,  that  he 


126  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

is  the  door-keeper,  whom  I  will  not  contradict,  but  will,  as  far  as  I  know 
and  am  able,  in  all  things  obey  his  decrees,  lest,  when  I  come  to  the  gates 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  there  should  be  none  to  open  them,  he  being  my 
adversary  who  is  proved  to  have  the  keys."  The  king  having  said  this,  all 
present,  both  great  and  small,  gave  their  assent,  and  renouncing  the  more 
imperfect  institution,  resolved  to  conform  to  that  which  they  found  to  be 
better. 

The  disputation  being  ended,  and  the  company  broken  up,  Agilbert 
returned  home.  Colman,  perceiving  that  his  doctrine  was  rejected,  and  his 
sect  despised,  took  with  him  such  as  would  not  comply  with  the  Catholic 
-Easter  and  the  tonsure,  (for  there  was  much  controversy  about  that  also,) 
and  went  back  into  Scotland,  to  consult  with  his  people  what  was  to  be  done 
in  this  case.  Cedd,  forsaking  the  practices  of  the  Scots,  returned  to  his 
bishopric,  having  submitted  to  the  Catholic  observance  of  Easter.  This 
disputation  happened  in  the  year  of  our  Lord's  incarnation  664,  which  was 
the  twenty-second  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Oswy,  and  the  thirtieth  of  the 
episcopacy  of  the  Scots  among  the  English;  for  Aidan  was  bishop  seventeen 
years,  Finan  ten,  and  Colman  three. 

The  matter  of  religion  came  up  again  in  North  Britain  in  717,  when 
Nechtan,  King  of  the  Picts,  yielding  to  the  southern  influence  then  becom- 
ing powerful  at  his  court,  accepted  the  tonsure,  and  replaced  the  Scottish 
clergy  with  that  of  Rome  (Bede,  bk.  v.,  ch.  xxi.): 

At  that  time,  [716]  Naitan,  king  of  the  Picts.  inhabiting  the  northern 
parts  of  Britain,  taught  by  frequent  meditation  on  the  ecclesiastical  writings, 
renounced  the  error  which  he  and  his  nation  had  till  then  been  under,  in 
relation  to  the  observance  of  Easter,  and  submitted,  together  with  his  peo- 
ple, to  celebrate  the  Catholic  time  of  our  Lord's  resurrection.  For  per- 
forming this  with  the  more  ease  and  greater  authority,  he  sought  assistance 
from  the  English,  whom  he  knew  to  have  long  since  formed  their  religion 
after  the  example  of  the  holy  Roman  Apostolic  Church.  Accordingly  he 
-sent  messengers  to  the  venerable  Ceolfrid,  abbat  of  the  monastery  of  the 
blessed  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  which  stands  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Wear,  and  near  the  river  Tyne,  at  the  place  called  J  arrow,  which  he  glori- 
ously governed  after  Benedict,  of  whom  we  have  before  spoken;  desiring 
that  he  would  write  him  a  letter  containing  arguments,  by  the  help  of  which 
he  might  the  better  confute  those  that  presumed  to  keep  Easter  out  of  the  due 
time;  as  also  concerning  the  form  and  manner  of  tonsure  for  distinguishing 
the  clergy;  not  to  mention  that  he  himself  possessed  much  information  in 
these  particulars.  He  also  prayed  to  have  architects  sent  him  to  build  a 
church  in  his  nation  after  the  Roman  manner,  promising  to  dedicate  the 
same  in  honour  of  St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  that  he  and  all 
his  people  would  always  follow  the  custom  of  the  holy  Roman  Apostolic 
Church,  as  far  as  their  remoteness  from  the  Roman  language  and  nation 
would  allow.  The  reverend  Abbat  Ceolfrid,  complying  with  his  desires  and 
request,  sent  the  architects  he  desired. 

This  action  of  Nechtan,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter,  had  a  great  deal 
to  do  in  bringing  about  the  ultimate  overthrow  of  the  Pictish  dynasty  by 
Kenneth  Mc Alpine,  and  the  re-installation  of  the  Scottish  forms  of  worship.8 
The  Roman  Church  was  set  up  in  Scotland  again  after  1068,  through  the 


Religion  127 

influence  of  Queen  Margaret7  and  during  the  feudal  period  of  Britain  it 
remained  in  the  ascendancy,  although  for  some  time  before  its  final  over- 
throw the  clergy  seem  to  have  lost  their  influence  with  the  masses.8 

Surely  it  is  more  reasonable  to  account  for  the  greater  influence  of  the 
early  Scottish  clergy  over  the  people  by  ascribing  it  to  their  less  autocratic 
manners  and  simpler  lives,  rather  than  to  "  Scottish  superstition." 

In  examining  into  the  differences  between  the  Scottish  and  English 
views  of  things  religious,  we  shall  find  also  that  they  have  ever  been  influ- 
enced and  controlled  by  the  diverse  forces  originating  from  differences  of 
race,  climate,  and  physical  environment.  Stated  broadly,  the  two  contrary 
social  systems  in  which  they  are  embodied  may  be  said  to  symbolize  the 
operation  of  two  important  but  opposing  influences  of  nature,  both  con- 
stantly working  for  the  development  and  betterment  of  the  race  of  man. 
These  influences  may  be  denominated,  for  lack  of  better  terms,  knowledge 
and  environment;  the  first,  perhaps,  closely  related  to  or  even  generated 
by  the  second,  yet,  nevertheless,  ceaselessly  exercising  itself  against  it,  and 
seeking  to  secure  its  subordination  and  control.  The  second,  as  constantly 
pursuing  its  blind  course,  and  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  guided  and  restrained 
by  the  first,  wholly  impassive  as  to  whether  its  casualties  elevate  or  ruin. 
One  comprehends  all  the  outward  material  forces  of  nature;  the  other,  the 
inherent  consciousness  of  organic  existence.  One  wields  the  fate-hammer 
of  life,  under  whose  blows  individual  character  is  either  shaped  into  a  noble 
and  beautiful  form,  or  beaten  into  a  base  and  ignoble  counterfeit.  The 
other  serves  both  as  a  die  and  a  buffer,  by  which  the  crushing  power  of  the 
hammer  is  at  the  same  time  moderated  and  rightly  directed.  These  two 
influences  constitute  the  mainsprings  of  action  in  mankind,  and  working  to- 
gether they  have  raised  man  so  far  above  the  level  of  the  first  created  being  as 
to  lead  us  to  infer  that  their  ultimate  accomplishment  may  some  day  realize 
all  the  latent  aspirations  of  the  human  soul.  The  social  organism  of  England, 
with  reference  to  the  individual,  is  not  unlike  the  phenomena  of  natural  en- 
vironment with  relation  to  its  effects  on  organic  life.  The  operation  of  the 
forces  of  both  proceeds  with  little  regard  to  the  value  of  the  unit.  Neither 
takes  account  of  the  individual  as  such,  but  only  through  his  relation  to  the 
whole,  and  then  under  certain  fixed  and  immutable  laws  governing  his  status 
with  respect  to  his  surroundings,  any  infraction  of  which  involves  immediate 
punishment.  In  both  cases  the  controlling  force  is  from  without.  In  Scot- 
land, on  the  other  hand,  the  individual  is  everything.  The  unit  instinctively 
seeks  to  stand  alone,  and  to  stand  up  as  a  unit  wherever  it  may  be  placed. 
Verily,  each  man  is  a  law  unto  himself;  although,  in  most  cases,  he  exer- 
cises sufficient  self-control  to  make  him  mindful  of  the  rights  of  his  neigh: 
bor.  In  that  way,  the  Scot  practically  rises  above  the  restrictions  of  set 
forms  of  law,  or  stipulated  rules  of  conduct.  In  his  case  there  is  little 
necessity  for  these  restrictions.  In  express  terms,  he  governs  himself  and  is 
no  longer  the  slave  to  his  political  or  social  environment,  but  independent  of 


128  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

it,  if  not  its  master.  Conscience  has  become  the  touchstone  to  character, 
and  the  controlling  force  is  from  within. 

In  a  broader  sense,  these  distinctions  apply  to  the  whole  scheme  of  man's 
development.  In  the  evolution  of  human  society  the  joint  work  of  this  in- 
ward and  outward  force  may  well  be  traced  in  the  phenomena  of  war  and 
labor. 

War  is  the  natural  environment  of  society,  ever  threatening  its  destruc- 
tion :  industrial  activity,  or  labor,  is  the  inherent  safeguard  of  society,  and  its 
heritage  from  the  slave.  The  transition  of  the  European  proletariat  from  a 
state  of  savagery  to  one  of  civilized  industry  began  with  the  subjection  of  con- 
quered peoples  by  Grecian  and  Roman  warriors  ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
universal  spread  of  slavery  which  took  place  under  the  Roman  Empire,  the 
civilization  of  the  Caucasian  to-day  might  differ  but  little  from  that  of  his 
darker-skinned  brothers  the  world  over.  It  was  through  slavery  that  natural 
man,  constrained,  first  learned  to  toil,  and  so  began  to  work  out  the  salvation 
of  his  race.  The  twin  supporting  pillars  of  ancient  society  were  predatory 
warfare  and  the  enslavement,  or  robbery,  of  labor.  On  these  the  fabric  of 
Roman  power  and  civilization  mainly  rested.  Taken  together,  they  likewise 
formed  the  chief  corner-stone  of  the  institution  of  feudalism.  Naturally,  there- 
fore, they  became,  in  part,  the  inheritance  of  Rome's  chief  legatee  and  feudal- 
ism's great  ally,  master,  and  successor  —  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages.9  In 
the  childhood  of  the  world,  man's  instinct,  begotten  of  experience,  became 
sufficiently  developed  to  enable  him  to  guard  against  the  ordinary  destructive 
forces  of  nature.  But  instinct  alone  was  powerless  to  save  his  race  from  the 
terrible  agency  invoked  when  some,  desiring  to  reap  where  they  had  not  sown, 
made  war  on  their  fellow-men.  It  then  became  necessary  for  men  to  battle, 
and  the  victory  always  went  to  the  stronger.  The  killing  of  the  vanquished, 
which  in  the  early  days  of  the  race  would  appear  to  have  been  common 
both  in  plundering  and  in  bullying  warfare,  would  largely  tend  to  prevent 
population  from  increasing  beyond  a  point  where  the  natural  products  of  the 
earth  and  the  prey  of  the  hunter  were  sufficient  to  sustain  it.  In  the  occa- 
sional sparing  of  female  lives  and  the  carrying  off  and  subsequent  debase- 
ment of  an  enemy's  women-folk  doubtless  is  to  be  found  the  origin  of 
human  slavery.  After  that,  men's  lives  came  at  times  to  be  spared,  and 
domestic  slavery  was  instituted.10  From  this  it  was  but  a  few  steps  to  in- 
dustrial slavery,  and  then  began  the  operation  of  those  influences  which 
have  since  produced  our  modern  civilization.  As  men  were  conquered  and 
enslaved  the  necessity  for  war  grew  less  imperative;  and  as  men  began  to 
labor  and  to  reap,  the  value  of  a  man's  life  became  greater  and  life's  prob- 
lems took  on  a  new  meaning.  Hundreds  of  years  after  the  building  of  the 
pyramids  man  was  still  learning  the  lesson  of  patience  and  endurance,  of 
labor  and  of  hope,  of  right  and  of  wrong,  under  the  lash  of  the  taskmaster, 
at  the  oar  of  the  galley,  or  in  the  ranks  of  his  lord's  army.  In  time,  warriors 
came  to  see  the  superior  advantages  of  peace,  and  indiscriminate  warfare 


Religion  129 

ceased.  Conscience  was  born  and  free  labor  inaugurated.  As  the  moral 
sense  developed,  the  lot  of  the  slave  became  less  hard.  Laws  were  made  to 
mitigate  the  suffering  of  the  oppressed.  Gradually  the  form  of  slavery  was 
modified,  and  ultimately  it  was  changed  to  serfdom,  vassalage,  and  tenantry. 
Finally  its  most  objectionable  features  were  done  away  with,  and  to-day  they 
practically  cease  to  exist. 

But  the  force  of  despotic  authority  which  established  slavery  as  an  in- 
stitution still  remains,  and  its  burdens  have  not  yet  been  completely  removed 
from  the  shoulders  of  mankind.  In  feudal  Europe  the  fitting  complement, 
guide,  and  accessory  to  this  force  was  the  power  of  the  mediaeval  Church, 
serving  as  a  check,  it  is  true,  upon  certain  excesses  of  tyranny,  yet  without 
which  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  absolutism  to  have  restrained  so 
long  the  rising  power  of  conscience.  In  England — is  it  unfair  to  say  it  ? — the 
Church  Establishment  during  the  past  three  hundred  and  sixty  years  has 
stood  in  a  like  relation  to  kingly  authority,  and  is  to-day  the  emblem  and 
memorial  of  a  once  all-powerful  but  now  impotent  and  fast-disappearing 
institution  of  monarchy,  just  as  the  Roman  Church  system  is  a  surviving  relic 
of  the  drawn  sword  and  the  mailed  hand  of  the  age  of  iron.  Both  alike  be- 
long to  despotism,  feudalism,  and  those  other  early  stages  of  development 
which  European  civilization  has  passed  through  and  left  behind. 

On  the  other  hand,  can  it  be  truthfully  denied  that  the  theological  system 
which,  in  matters  religious,  takes  as  its  chief  tenet  the  theory  of  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  individual  conscience  over  the  voice  of  earthly  authority — that 
makes  man's  accountability  to  a  God  a  more  imperative  obligation  than  his 
accountability  to  a  prince,  and  controverts  the  divine  right  of  kings  —  can  it 
be  denied  that  this  system  on  which  the  polity  of  England  has  ever  sought 
to  cast  odium  by  the  use  in  pulpit  and  statute  of  such  invidious  terms  as 
"dissent,"  "nonconformity,"  "toleration,"  "heresy,  "  merely  embodies 
the  accumulated  protest  of  man's  conscience  against  the  oppressions  of 
tyranny ;  and  that  it  constituted  the  first  and  only  effective  barrier  that  has 
ever  been  erected  to  save  the  race  from  the  encroachments  of  that  force 
most  antagonistic  to  human  welfare  —  man's  unrestricted  exercise  of  arbi- 
trary power  ? 

Verily,  the  chief  distinction  between  the  Scottish  and  English  character 
is  that  arising  from  the  two  different  conceptions  of  religion.  The  Scotch 
make  of  religion  their  main  guiding  standard  of  life  and  rule  of  conduct. 
Its  requirements  are  supreme  over  those  of  any  temporal  or  political  con- 
sideration. Its  functions  and  obligations  are  superior  to  those  of  any  secular 
authority,  often,  indeed,  more  sacredly  regarded  than  the  bond  which  holds 
together  the  social  fabric.  Among  the  English,  on  the  contrary,  religion 
has  ever  been  of  secondary  importance,  and  subordinate  to  the  secular  State, 
and  to  the  needs  and  requirements  of  the  existing  organization  of  society, 
whatever  it  might  for  the  time  be  —  allodial,  feudal,  monarchical,  or  consti- 
tutional.     The  promptings,  hopes,  aspirations,   and  advancements  of  the 


130  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

individual  English  conscience,  therefore,  are  entirely  limited  by  considera- 
tions for  the  rights  of  existing  society  as  a  whole,  however  irrationally  con- 
stituted. The  good  of  the  individual  is  set  aside  for  the  good  of  the  state. 
Existing  institutions,  vested  rights,  and  unequal  concentrations  of  power, 
rank,  or  privilege,  are  to  be  sustained,  and  their  claims  demand  and  receive 
at  least  equal  consideration  with  the  highest  claims  of  humanity.  Hence 
arises  the  necessity  for  compromise ;  concessions  have  to  be  made  on  both 
sides.  The  strong  must  yield  a  little  of  his  substance  to  the  weak.  His 
vested  rights  must  suffer  that  their  opportunities  may  be  enlarged.  But  the 
weak  can  never  expect  full  justice  from  the  strong.  They  must  always  act 
on  the  rule  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  no  bread.  Hence,  the  history  of 
civilization  and  human  progress  in  England,  from  the  time  when  the  land 
was  seized  by  the  strong  hand  of  the  Norman,  has  been  merely  a  story  of 
continually  growing  demands  on  the  part  of  the  increasing  masses;  con- 
tinual repulse  and  rejection  on  the  part  of  the  power-holding  classes;  and 
final  concessions  and  mutual  compromise  on  the  part  of  both.  The  body 
of  English  laws,  in  consequence,  is  chiefly  the  record  of  half-acquired  de- 
mands on  the  part  of  the  people  and  half-granted  concessions  on  the  part  of 
their  lords.  By  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  power  still  remains  in  the 
hands  of  the  representatives  of  those  who  first  seized  it,  and  the  part  received 
by  the  people  is  but  a  fraction  of  what  would  result  from  a  justly  propor- 
tioned division. 

We  find,  therefore,  that  the  word  "  compromise  "  is  written,  cross-writ- 
ten, and  under-written  on  almost  every  page  of  the  record  of  English  history, 
English  legislation,  and  English  statesmanship.  The  English  statute-book 
is  one  long,  unvarying  repetition  of  the  story  of  evils  partially  cured,  of 
wrongs  half-righted,  and  of  the  attempts  of  the  framers  of  laws  to  please  all 
parties  concerned.  The  British  Constitution  is  proverbially  a  patchwork 
composition,  in  which  every  man  can  claim  that  his  rights  are  given  recog- 
nition, and  no  two  men  can  tell  alike  just  what  those  rights  are. 

The  germination  and  growth  of  English  liberty  may  be  likened  to  that  of 
a  hardy  oak,  planted  within  the  walls  of  a  strong  tower.  In  the  course  of 
time  it  grew  and  filled  the  whole  of  the  tower,  although  ever  circumscribed 
and  prevented  from  reaching  its  full  stature  and  extent  by  the  impassable 
walls  of  stone.  A  day  may  come  when  it  will  force  the  foundations  from 
the  ground,  and  reach  the  freedom  of  the  open  air  by  breaking  asunder  the 
confining  walls  of  its  prison.  Or,  possibly,  since  the  ecclesiastical  mortar 
has  lost  its  bond,  the  walls  may  fall  of  their  own  weight;  for,  indeed,  to-day, 
monarchy  in  England  stands  much  like  other  of  the  crumbling  and  ivy- 
covered  ruins  of  feudal  power  and  grandeur — slowly  but  surely  disintegrating 
and  passing  away. 

In  America,  of  course,  the  conditions  were  vastly  different.  Here  was 
a  primeval  state  of  nature.  Here  began  the  childhood  of  a  new  world. 
Here,  at  the  first,  were  none  of  man's  injustices  to  man;  no  castles;  no 


Religion  131 

oppressions  of  tyranny;  no  burdens  of  bishops.  Naturally,  the  plant  of  liberty 
thrived  and  flourished  from  the  start;  and  the  enemies  it  has  had  since  have 
been  those  of  parasitical  growth,  such  as  become  threatening  only  when 
suffered  for  too  long  a  time  to  remain  undisturbed. 

In  Scotland,  also,  the  liberty  tree  had  a  more  favorable  soil  and  less 
burdensome  bonds  than  in  England,  and  it  was  watered  and  nourished  by  the 
blood  of  many  martyrs.  The  power  of  the  nobles  was  more  frequently 
opposed  to  that  of  the  king,  and  as  a  result  there  was  often  a  division  and 
sometimes  a  disregard  of  authority.  Under  these  conditions,  the  rights  of 
the  people  were  more  fully  regarded.  Then,  when  John  Knox  stirred  the 
soil  and  fertilized  the  roots  with  his  Calvinistic  doctrines  of  equality  and 
liberty,  the  result  was  a  rapid  growth  and  a  complete  bursting  of  restricting 
bonds. 

Thus  we  may  conclude  that  the  difference  between  Scottish  and  English 
character,  in  its  ultimate  analysis,  is  this:  the  former  has  been  developed 
chiefly  by  the  exercise  of  self-control,  guided  by  the  individual  conscience; 
the  latter,  by  the  discipline  of  authority,  imposed  by  feudal  and  monarchical 
power.  While  it  is  sometimes  contended  that  monarchy  is  more  favorable 
to  the  exceptional  few,  and  offers  better  promise  to  ambitious  men,  it  is  gener- 
ally admitted  that  democracy  affords  more  opportunity  for  progress  to  the 
average  man,  and  is  therefore  better  in  its  results  for  the  masses.  However, 
the  history  of  America  shows  that  more  of  her  leaders  have  come  from  the 
democratic  Scotch,  in  proportion  to  their  number,  than  from  the  king-loving 
English.  Hence,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  that  system  of  government  is 
better  both  for  leaders  and  followers  which  gives  the  greatest  possible  amount 
of  individual  liberty,  not  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  others.  This  insures 
perfect  equality  of  rank  and  opportunity,  without  offering  undue  incentive 
to  the  ambition  of  its  leading  citizens.  Consequently,  such  a  system  is  not 
only  the  most  desirable  for  the  common  people,  but,  by  elevating  the  average 
standard  of  humanity,  serves  also  to  offer  broader  and  higher  aims  for  the 
worthy  efforts  of  the  ambitious. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  IX. 

1  See  Appendix  G  (Christianity  in  Early  Britain). 

2  It  is  usual  for  native  writers  on  English  Church  history,  who  seek  to  minimize  the  in- 
fluence of  Rome  on  their  religion,  to  ascribe  the  conversion  of  the  Angles  and  Saxons  almost 
wholly  to  the  labors  of  the  Scottish  missionaries  and  the  Christianized  Britons  who  remained 
alive  after  the  Anglian  conquest.  On  the  other  hand,  in  recent  years,  Freeman  and  other 
native  writers  on  English  secular  history  attempt  to  show  that  practically  none  of  the  east- 
ern Britons  survived  the  exterminating  wars  of  the  English  invaders.  While  these  two  the- 
ories are  wholly  inconsistent  with  one  another,  the  evidence  shows  the  former  to  be  no  less 
erroneous  than  the  latter. 

3  Book  ii.,  ch.  ii. 

4  Although  Bede  and  other  writers  make  most  mention  of  the  disputes  and  controversies 
respecting  the  celebration  of  Easter,  and  the  peculiar  form  of  clerical  tonsure,  and  such  like 


132  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

fooleries,  from  which  some  have  hastily  concluded  that  there  was,  after  all,  nothing  but  the 
most  trifling  and  unessential  distinctions  between  the  Culdees  [Columbans]  and  their  Anglo- 
Roman  opponents  ;  yet  a  closer  examination  may  enable  us  to  discover  .  .  .  that  they 
differed  in  some  points  of  vital  importance.  .  .  .  From  incidental  notices  ...  it 
may  be  gathered  that  the  Culdees  were  opposed  to  the  Church  of  Rome  in  such  essential 
doctrines  as  the  following :  They  rejected  .  .  .  auricular  confession,  penance  .  .  . 
authoritative  absolution  .  .  .  transubstantiation  .  .  .  the  worship  of  angels,  saints, 
and  relics,  .  .  .  praying  to  saints  for  their  intercession,  prayers  for  the  dead,  .  .  . 
works  of  supererogation,  .  .  .  confirmation. — Hetherington,  History  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  pp.  15,  16.  The  vital  point  of  their  difference,  as  stated  by  their  representa- 
tives at  the  Whitby  conference,  in  664,  will  be  found  in  the  next  succeeding  extract  from 
Bede.  It  was  that  they  would  not  accept  Augustine  as  their  superior. 
6  Bk.  iii. ,  ch.  xxv. 

6  See  p.  218,  Note  43. 

7  See  p.  305. 

England's  influence  and  example  were  the  direct  causes  of  the  subservience  of  Scot- 
land's more  ancient  and  purer  faith.  This  might  be  rendered  evident  did  our  limits  permit 
us  to  trace  minutely  the  successive  events  which  led  to  this  disastrous  result ;  such  as  the 
residence  for  a  time  in  England  of  some  of  our  most  powerful  kings,  especially  Malcolm 
Canmore  and  David  I.,  who,  returning  to  Scotland  with  their  minds  filled  with  prejudices 
in  behalf  of  the  pomp  and  splendor  of  the  English  Prelacy,  made  it  their  utmost  endeavor 
to  erect  buildings  and  organize  and  endow  a  hierarchy  which  might  vie  in  dignity  and  grand- 
eur with  those  of  their  more  wealthy  neighbors.  The  ruinous  effects  were  soon  apparent. 
In  vain  did  the  best  of  the  Scottish  clergy  oppose  these  innovations  ;  their  more  ambitious 
brethren  were  but  too  ready  to  grasp  at  the  proffered  wealth  and  honor  ;  and  at  length,  to 
save  themselves  from  the  usurpations  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  strove  to  assert 
supremacy  over  the  Scottish  church,  they  yielded  up  their  spiritual  liberty  to  the  Roman 
pontiff  in  the  year  1176. — Hetherington,  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  14. 

8  See  Knox's  History  of  the  Reformation,  bk.  i. 

9  Slavery  under  the  Roman  empire  was  carried  on  to  an  excess  never  known  elsewhere, 
before  or  since.  Christianity  found  it  permeating  and  corrupting  every  domain  of  human 
life,  and  in  six  centuries  of  conflict  succeeded  in  reducing  it  to  nothing.  .  .  .  Christianity 
in  the  early  ages  never  denounced  slavery  as  a  crime,  never  encouraged  or  permitted  the 
slaves  to  rise  against  their  masters  and  throw  off  the  yoke  ;  yet  she  permeated  the  minds  of 
both  masters  and  slaves  with  ideas  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  slavery.  Within 
the  Church,  master  and  slave  stood  on  an  absolute  equality. — W.  R.  Brownlow,  Lectures 
on  Slavery  and  Serfdom  in  Europe,  lecture  1,2. 

10  It  has  been  often  shown  .  .  .  that  slavery  was  introduced  through  motives  of 
mercy,  to  prevent  conquerors  from  killing  their  prisoners.  Hence  the  Justinian  code  and 
also  St.  Augustine  (De  Civ.  Dei.,  xix.,  15)  derived  servus  from  servare,  to  preserve,  be- 
cause the  victor  preserved  his  prisoners  alive.— Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol. 
i.,  pp.  101,  102. 


CHAPTER  X 
SCOTTISH  ACHIEVEMENT 

WITH  the  Scotch,  the  expression  of  the  spiritual  has  ever  been  through 
religion.  In  art  and  literature  they  have  produced  less  relatively 
than  the  English  —  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  almost  nothing.  Yet  it  is  far 
from  the  truth  to  say  that  Celtic  genius  has  not  found  expression  in  lit- 
erature or  art.  More  than  once  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  Shakespeare 
himself  was  born  near  the  forest  of  Arden,  close  to  the  border-line  between 
England  and  Wales.  The  people  of  the  West  of  England  to-day  are  prob- 
ably as  much  Celtic  as  Teutonic,  and  it  would  seem  that  there  are  at  least 
no  better  grounds  for  claiming  their  greatest  genius  as  a  Saxon  than  for  as- 
suming that  he  may  have  been  a  Briton.  He  is  as  likely  to  have  been  the 
one  as  the  other;  though  if  the  truth  could  be  known,  it  would  probably  be 
found  that  he  had  received  an  infusion  of  the  blood  and  the  spirit  of  both.1 

Of  the  second  greatest  poet  of  Britain,  it  may  be  said  there  is  vastly  more 
reason  for  believing  him  to  have  been  of  purely  Celtic  extraction  than  there 
is  for  asserting  Shakespeare's  genius  to  have  been  wholly  Teutonic.  It  is 
possible,  however,  that  Burns,  also,  was  of  mixed  descent.  Rare  Ben  Jon- 
son,  likewise,  although  himself  born  in  England,  was  the  grandson  of  an 
Annandale  Scotchman. 

Walter  Scott,  James  Boswell,  Lord  Byron,  Robert  L.  Stevenson,  Edgar 
Allan  Poe,  James  M.  Barrie,  Thomas  Carlyle,  Washington  Irving,  HallCaine, 
Robert  Barr,  John  M.  Watson,  S.  R.  Crockett,  David  Christie  Murray,  and 
William  Black  are  writers  of  Scottish  blood  who  have  been  given  a  high 
place  in  English  literature,  and  some  of  them  classed  as  English.  In  their 
days,  Buchanan,  Robertson,  Hume,  and  Macaulay  were  perhaps  the  greatest 
historians  Britain  had  produced.  Those  Scots  have  since  been  eclipsed  by 
other  writers  of  a  more  English  origin ;  but  the  latter,  in  turn,  have  been 
outdone  by  a  Celt  —  one  whose  work,  so  far  as  it  has  gone,  shows  the  most 
philosophical,  judicious,  and  enlightened  treatment  of  the  subject  of  English 
history  that  it  has  yet  received.     This  historian  is  Mr.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky. 

Other  Scottish  writers  who  have  helped  to  make  the  fame  of  "  English  " 
literature  world-wide  are  Tobias  Smollett,  William  E.  Aytoun,  Joanna 
Baillie,  M.  O.  W.  Oliphant,  Alexander  Barclay,  John  Stuart  Blackie,  James 
Beattie,  Robert  Buchanan,  John  Hill  Burton,  Thomas  Campbell,  Jane  Porter, 
Andrew  Lang,  Archibald  Forbes,  Benjamin  Kidd,  George  Farquhar  (of  Lon- 
donderry), John  Gait,  George  MacDonald,  John  Barbour,  James  Hogg  (the 
Ettrick  Shepherd),  John  Wilson  {Christopher  North),  Allan  Ramsay,  William 
Drummond,  James  Pollok,  William  Dunbar,  James  Thomson  (who  wrote 
Rule,  Britannia),  James  Macpherson,  Charles  Mackay,  F.  W.  Robertson. 

133 


134  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Among  the  great  thinkers  in  the  fields  of  political  and  practical  science 
Scotland  has  given  to  the  world  James  Watt  (the  inventor  of  the  steam- 
engine),  Adam  Smith,  Hugh  Miller,  William  Thomson  (Lord  Kelvin),  Joseph 
Black,  Robert  Simson,  John  Robinson,  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  Sir  Alexander 
Mackenzie,  Morell  Mackenzie,  William  Murdoch  (the  inventor  of  illuminat- 
ing-gas), John  Napier  (the  inventor  of  logarithms),  James  Bruce,  the  two 
Rosses,  Mungo  Park,  James  Grant,  Dugald  Stewart,  and  David  Livingstone, 
besides  a  legion  of  American  scientists  of  the  first  rank.  William  Ewart 
Gladstone  was  of  purely  Scottish  parentage.  His  father,  born  in  Leith,  was 
descended  from  a  Lanarkshire  farmer,  and  his  mother,  Ann  Robertson,  be- 
longed to  the  Ross-shire  Robertsons.8  James  Bryce  likewise  is  of  Scottish 
descent.*  In  America,  during  the  past  ten  years,  these  two  men  were  the 
best  known  and  most  popular  Britons  of  the  decade,  and  Gladstone's  death 
was  mourned  as  generally  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  in  Great  Britain. 
Lord  Rosebery,  the  present  leader  of  the  Liberal  party  in  Great  Britain,  is 
also  a  Scotchman. 

Ulster  can  boast  of  the  names  of  some  of  the  best  of  the  captains  who 
served  under  Wellington;  and  she  gave  to  India  two  men  who  helped 
materially  to  save  that  empire  for  England  during  the  great  mutiny — Henry 
and  John  Lawrence.  Of  the  blood  of  the  Ulster  settlers  sprang  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  George  Canning,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger,  and  Lord  Cairns;  and  also 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  successful  of  modern  administrators,  Lord 
Dufferin,  the  inheritor  of  the  title  of  one  of  the  first  of  the  Scottish  set- 
tlers, James  Hamilton,  Lord  Clannaboye,  and  the  possessor  of  part  of  the 
old  Scottish  settlement  on  the  south  shore  of  Belfast  Lough.4 

In  art,  Scotland  has  produced  little  that  is  worthy;  but  the  same  remark 
applies  with  equal  force  to  England.  British  art,  as  a  rule,  is  built  on  foun- 
dations of  conventionality  rather  than  inspiration.  Here,  as  in  some  certain 
other  attributes  of  a  refined  civilization,  the  best  examples  are  produced  by 
Celtic  France.  Nevertheless,  critics  to-day  are  coming  to  class  the  Scottish 
artist,  Henry  Raeburn,  with  the  world's  greatest  portrait  painters.  George 
Cruikshank,  also,  was  the  son  of  a  father  born  north  of  the  Tweed.  To 
America,  France,  more  than  England,  represents  all  that  is  most  excellent 
in  modern  art.  As  a  consequence,  American  artists  of  Scottish  and  Eng- 
lish ancestry  are  producing  more  excellent  work  than  their  British  cousins  of 
native  stock.6 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  Scottish  achievement,  it  will  be  appro- 
priate to  give  in  condensed  form  the  results  of  an  investigation  made  by  Mr. 
William  H.  Hunter,  a  diligent  and  painstaking  student,  who  presented  the 
following  facts  in  an  address  delivered  before  the  West  Florida  Pioneer 
Scotch  Society  on  January  25,  1895: 

It  has  been  said  that  opportunity  is  the  father  of  greatness;  but  the 
opportunity  for  inventing  the  steam-engine  obtained  before  the  boy  Watt 


Scottish  Achievement  135 

played  with  the  vapor  from  his  mother's  kettle.  A  Scotchman  saw  the  op- 
portunity and  grasped  it,  and  revolutionized  the  forces  in  the  hands  of  man. 

When  we  study  race-building,  we  can  understand  why  a  Scotchman 
(Cyrus  McCormick)  invented  the  mowing-machine.  John  Sinclair,  a  Scotch- 
man of  wonderful  perception,  organized  the  British  Board  of  Agriculture. 
John  Caird's  writings  added  not  a  little  to  the  advancement  of  agriculture. 
Henry  Burden  invented  the  cultivator,  and  Thomas  Jefferson  gave  us  the 
modern  plough.  I  am  also  told  that  Longstreet,  who  improved  the  cotton- 
gin,  and  made  possible  its  operation  by  means  of  steam  power,  was  of  Scot- 
tish blood.  I  take  it  that  there  are  men  here  to-day  who  remember  the 
revolution  made  in  American  farming  by  the  introduction  of  the  double 
Scotch  harrow. 

When  Michael  Menzies  and  Andrew  Meikle  invented  the  threshing-ma- 
chine in  1788,  they  made  it  so  nearly  perfect  in  all  its  workings  that  little 
room  for  improvement  was  left  for  latter-day  genius.  The  improved  roads 
in  most  general  use  are  made  after  the  systems  introduced  by  the  eminent 
Scotch  engineers,  MacAdam  and  Telford. 

Watt  made  the  first  electrical  apparatus,  and  would  have  continued  ex- 
periments along  this  line,  but  dropped  electricity  to  give  his  whole  time  to 
perfecting  the  steam-engine.  .  .  .  The  honor  for  harnessing  lightning 
to  serve  man  as  a  swift  messenger  belongs  to  one  through  whose  veins 
coursed  Scotch  blood  —  Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse.  .  .  .  The  old- 
time  telegraphers,  James  D.  Reid,  Andrew  Carnegie,  Robert  Pitcairn,  Ken- 
neth McKenzie,  and  David  McCargo,  the  men  who  aided  Morse,  and  made 
his  system  successful,  are  of  Scotch  blood.  The  Wizard  of  Menlo  Park  is  of 
the  same  blood  [Edison's  mother  was  Mary  Elliott].  Sir  William  Thomson, 
a  native  of  Scotch-Ireland,  made  possible  the  successful  operation  of  the 
ocean  electric  cables  by  invention  of  the  mirror-galvanometer,  which  reflects 
the  words  noted  by  the  electric  sparks  as  they  flash  under  the  sea.  The 
telephone  was  invented  by  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  a  Scotchman,  while 
Elisha  Gray,  of  the  same  blood,  is  at  work  perfecting  a  telotograph.  .  .  . 
John  Ericsson  was  born  a  Swede,  but  his  biographer  says  of  him  that  he 
got  his  genius  from  his  mother,  who  was  of  Scottish  descent.  ...  In 
speaking  of  the  steamship,  how  many  Scotch  names  come  to  mind!  New- 
comen,  Watt,  Patrick  Miller,  Symington,  Henry  Burden,  Bell,  Roach,  the 
American  shipbuilder,  and  Fulton,  distinguished  as  the  first  person  to  suc- 
cessfully propel  a  boat  by  steam.  The  first  steam  vessel  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
from  America  was  built  by  a  Scotchman.  The  Great  Western,  constructed 
by  Henry  Burden,  was  the  first  steamship  to  cross  the  ocean  from  Europe  to 
America.  The  modern  mariner's  compass  was  invented  by  Sir  William 
Thomson. 

The  possibility  of  a  railway  was  first  suggested  by  Watt.  Henry  Burden 
first  made  the  peculiar  spike,  used  to  this  day  to  fasten  the  rail  to  the  cross- 
tie.  Peter  Cooper  built  the  first  locomotive  in  America.  The  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company,  the  greatest  and  most  powerful  railroad  corporation  in 
the  world,  was  brought  to  its  present  stage  by  the  skilled  efforts  of  such 
Scotchmen  as  Thomas  A.  Scott,  William  Thaw,  J.  N.  McCullough,  James 
McCrea,  and  Robert  Pitcairn  [to  these  names  should  now  be  added  those  of 
Frank  Thomson  and  A.  J.  Cassatt];  while  General  Campbell,  the  manager 
of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  system,  is  also  a  Scotchman  [later  John  K.  Cowen, 
also  of  Scottish  blood].  During  the  late  war  between  the  States,  the  Federal 
railroad  military  service  was  under  the  generalship  of  D.  C.  McCullum. 
The  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad  was  built  by  a  Scotchman. 


136  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

It  is  a  fact  that  Puritan  ladies  were  taught  to  spin,  on  Boston  Common, 
by  Scottish  immigrants  from  Northern  Ireland ;  and  the  great  textile  industry- 
was  given  impetus  by  the  invention  of  carding  and  spinning  machines  by 
Alexander  and  Robert  Barr,  which  machines  were  introduced  by  a  Mr.  Orr, 
also  a  New  England  Scotchman.  And  the  inventor  of  the  mule  spinning 
machine  was  a  Scot.  Gordon  McKay  invented  the  sole-stitching  that  revo- 
lutionized shoemaking  in  New  England. 

The  first  iron-furnace  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains  was  erected  by  a 
Scotchman  named  Grant,  in  1794.  At  this  mill,  the  cannon-balls  used  by 
Perry  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie  were  made.  John  Campbell,  a  stalwart 
Ohio  Scot,  first  employed  the  hot-blast  in  making  pig-iron. 

The  Scotch  author  is  eminent  in  every  line  of  literary  production.  We 
could  rest  our  honors  with  Hume,  Carlyle,  Scott,  and  Burns,  and  hold  a  high 
place  in  the  world  of  letters.  Adam  Smith  was  the  first  person  to  write  of 
political  economy  as  a  science,  which  theme  has  been  also  treated  by  Samuel 
Baily,  J.  R.  McCullough,  Chalmers,  and  Alison.  Scotland  gave  the  literary 
world  Barbour,  Blind  Harry,  Gavin  Douglas,  Wyntoun,  Dunbar,  McKenzie, 
Wilson,  Grant,  Barrie,  George  MacDonald,  and  John  Stuart  Blackie.  .  .  . 
Scotland  gave  to  America  Washington  Irving.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Margaret  Wil- 
son Oliphant  is  of  our  blood,  and  also  Robert  Louis  Stevenson.  What  author 
of  fiction  has  received  fuller  attention  than  John  Maclaren  Watson  ? 

The  Scot  has  been  a  voluminous  writer  of  theology  from  the  days  of  John 
Knox,  the  real  hero  of  the  Reformation.  You  all  know  that,  of  the  six 
ablest  British  sermonizers  —  Alison,  Irving,  Chalmers,  Robertson,  Robert 
Hall,  and  Spurgeon  —  the  first  four  mentioned  were  Scotch. 

Hugh  Miller  told  us  the  story  of  the  rocks.  To  Scotland  we  are  in- 
debted for  William  McLuce,  the  father  of  American  geology,  undertaking, 
as  he  did,  as  a  private  enterprise,  the  geological  survey  of  the  United  States, 
visiting  each  State  and  Territory,  and  publishing  his  maps  six  years  prior  to 
publication  of  the  Smith  geological  map  of  England.  The  Owens  —  David, 
Richard,  and  Robert  Dale — were  men  of  the  highest  attainments  in  the  field 
of  American  geology,  the  latter,  at  his  death,  having  the  finest  museum  and 
laboratory  on  the  Western  Continent.  Andrew  Ramsey,  who  was  the  director- 
general  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain,  was  a  Scot. 

Nicholl,  Keill,  and  Ferguson,  the  noted  astronomers,  were  Scotchmen. 
The  most  learned  of  American  astronomers  was  General  Armsby  McKnight 
Mitchell.  .  .  .  Maria  Mitchell,  another  Scotch-American  astronomer, 
had  the  distinction  of  receiving  a  medal  from  the  King  of  Denmark. 

No  other  race  has  produced  a  greater  mathematician  than  John  Napier, 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  British  writers  on  the  science  of  numbers. 
Has  Germany  produced  men  of  larger  grasp  of  thought  along  this  line  than 
James  Beattie  or  Andrew  Baxter,  than  Sir  William  Hamilton  or  Doctor 
Abercrombie  ?  Neil  Arnott  was  the  first  person  to  illustrate  scientific  prin- 
ciples in  the  language  of  common  life,  his  work  being  so  popular  that  it  ran 
through  five  editions  in  six  years.  Robert  and  James  Holdams,  the  philos- 
ophers, Spencer  Fullerton  Baird,  the  most  noted  American  naturalist,  Alex- 
ander Wilson,  the  ornithologist,  Samuel  Mitchell,  who  published  the  first 
scientific  periodical  in  the  United  States,  Lindley  Murray,  the  philologist  — 
all  were  Scots,  and  all  authorities  in  their  respective  fields  of  research.  Dr. 
Clay  McCauley,  the  noted  Scotch  Unitarian  of  Boston,  is  at  the  head  of  the 
Senshin  Sacknin,  or  school  of  advanced  learning  belonging  to  this  church  in 
Japan.  Who  has  written  on  the  science  of  botany  with  greater  clearness 
than  John  H.  Balfour  ?     Was  there  ever  a  scholar  of  wider  distinction  for 


Scottish  Achievement  137 

comprehensive  treatment  of  botany  than  Asa  Gray,  the  descendant  of  a 
New  England  Scotch  family  ?  W.  R.  Smith,  a  Scotchman,  has  been  for 
years  superintendent  of  the  Government  Botanical  Gardens. 

That  distinguished  Scotch  anatomist,  John  Abernethy,  the  father  of 
modern  surgery,  revolutionized  this  science.  Dr.  J.  Y.  Simpson  was  the 
first  person  to  use  chloroform  as  an  anaesthetic  in  the  practice  of  surgery. 
Ephraim  McDowell's  skill  found  new  fields  in  operative  surgery,  and  he 
became  noted  in  Europe  as  well  as  in  America.  No  race  has  given  to 
medicine  the  superiors  of  William  and  John  Hunter,  of  Matthew  Bailie,  or 
John  Barclay.  If  one  were  to  ask  who  have  been  the  four  most  noted  sur- 
geons and  medical  doctors  in  America,  the  answer  would  be:  Hamilton, 
Hammond,  Hays  Agnew,  and  Weir  Mitchell,  all  of  Scotch  blood. 

As  early  as  1795,  Dr.  Thornton  called  attention  to  the  possibility  of  teach- 
ing the  deaf  and  dumb  to  talk,  and  Alexander  Bell  introduced  the  system  for 
instructing  the  deaf  and  dumb,  invented  by  his  Scotch  father.  John  Alston 
was  the  inventor  of  the  blind  alphabet,  and  John  Gall  printed  in  English  the 
first  book  for  the  blind. 

Gedd,  the  inventor  of  stereotyping,  was  a  Scotchman.  The  Scot  also 
gave  us  the  lightning  presses.  Scott,  Gordon,  and  Campbell  are  of  our 
blood.  David  Bruce,  the  pioneer  type-maker,  the  inventor  of  the  type- 
casting machine,  introduced  the  Gedd  process  in  America.  Archibald 
Binney  and  James  Ronaldson  established  the  first  type  foundry  in  Phila- 
delphia. To  Bruce  and  the  McKellars  we  are  greatly  indebted  for  the  ad- 
vanced position  our  country  holds  to-day  in  this  great  industry.  The  first 
American  newspaper,  the  News-Letter,  was  published  in  Boston  by  John 
Campbell.  William  Maxwell,  a  Scotchman,  published  at  Cincinnati  the  first 
newspaper  in  the  Northwest  Territory;  and  the  first  religious  paper  in  the 
United  States  was  published  at  Chillicothe,  Ohio,  by  a  Scotchman. 

In  sculpture,  Scotland  has  given  to  England  and  America  their  finest 
artists.  William  Calder  Marshall,  and  not  an  Englishman,  won  the  prize 
offered  by  the  British  government  for  a  design  for  the  Wellington  monument. 
Sir  John  Steele  executed  the  colossal  statue  of  Burns  that  adorns  New 
York's  beautiful  park.  John  C.  King,  the  New  England  sculptor,  whose 
busts  of  Adams  and  Emerson  are  masterpieces  of  plastic  art,  and  whose 
cameos  of  Webster  and  Lincoln  are  magnificent  gems,  was  a  Scot;  as  was 
Joel  Hart,  whose  statues  of  Clay  at  Richmond  and  New  Orleans  are  exten- 
sively admired.  Crawford  and  Ward  are  of  our  blood;  and  where  is  there 
a  Scot  whose  heart  does  not  beat  with  pride  in  the  knowledge  that  Scotch 
blood  courses  in  the  veins  of  Frederick  Macmonnies  ?  There  is  no  end  to 
Scotch  painters.  Sir  David  Wilkie  was  perhaps  the  most  noted  of  British 
artists.  Then  there  were  Francis  Brant  and  William  Hart.  Some  of  the 
works  of  Alexander  Johnston  are  among  the  world's  masterpieces.  David 
Allan's  pen  drew  the  familiar  illustrations  to  Burns's  lyrics.  There  was  an 
academy  of  art  in  Glasgow  before  there  was  one  in  London.  Guthrie,  Mac- 
Gregor,  Walton,  Lavery,  Patterson,  Roche,  and  Stevenson  all  have  been 
eminent  painters.  Gilbert  Stuart,  who  left  us  portraits  of  prominent  actors 
in  early  American  history,  was  a  Scot,  as  was  E.  F.  Andrews,  who  has  given 
America  its  best  portraits  of  Jefferson,  Martha  Washington,  and  Dolly  Madi- 
son, those  which  hang  in  the  White  House.  Alexander  Anderson  was  the 
first  American  wood-engraver,  inventing,  as  he  did,  the  tools  used  by  those 
pursuing  this  art. 

No  other  race  has  produced  explorers  of  greater  achievement  than  Mac- 
kenzie, Richardson,  Ross,  Collison,  McClintock  [Melville,  Greely],  or  Hays. 


138  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

John  and  Clark  Ross  made  the  only  valuable  discoveries  ever  made  in  the 
Antarctic  region;  while  David  Livingstone,  Mungo  Park,  Doctor  Johnson 
[James  Grant],  and  Doctor  Donaldson  penetrated  Darkest  Africa.  Thomas 
Hutchins,  the  first  geographer  of  the  United  States,  was  Scotch.  So  were 
James  Geddes  and  Samuel  Forrer,  the  pioneer  engineers  of  the  Northwest 
Territory.  Commodore  Matthew  Galbraith  Perry,  one  of  the  famous  family 
of  sailors,  broke  down  the  walls  of  Japan,  and  let  in  the  light  of  Western 
civilization.  The  Perrys  got  their  great  force  of  character  from  their  mother, 
who  was  Scotch.  For  thirty  years  Sir  Robert  Hart  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Chinese  financial  system,  and  opened  to  commerce  many  Chinese  ports, 
while  Samuel  M.  Bryan  was  for  a  dozen  years  the  Postmaster-General  of 
Japan,  and  introduced  into  that  empire  the  Western  postal  system. 

Do  we  speak  of  war,  a  thousand  Scotch  names  rise  above  all  the  heroes: 
Wallace  at  Stirling;  Bruce  at  Bannockburn;  Wolfe's  Scottish  soldiers  at  the 
Heights  of  Abraham;  Forbes  at  Fort  Duquesne;  Stark  at  Bennington; 
Campbell  at  King's  Mountain;  Scott  at  Lundy's  Lane;  Perry  on  Lake  Erie; 
Grant  at  Appomattox.  Were  not  Wellington  and  Napier  Scotch  ?  The 
latter  was. 

Paul  Jones  was  only  one  of  the  naval  heroes  of  our  blood.  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry  captured  a  whole  British  fleet  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie, 
building  his  own  ships  on  the  bank  of  the  lake.  Perry's  mother  was  an 
Alexander;  and  it  is  a  fact  not  mentioned  in  histories  published  in  New 
England,  that  for  years  after,  the  victory  on  Lake  Erie  was  called  Mrs. 
Perry's  victory,  by  neighbors  of  the  family  in  Rhode  Island.  Thomas 
McDonough,  of  Lake  Champlain,  Stewart,  and  Bailey  were  Scots.  Isaac 
Newton,  who  had  charge  of  the  turret  and  engine  of  the  Monitor,  in  its  clash 
with  the  Merrimac,  was  of  the  same  blood.  Alexander  Murray  commanded 
the  Constitution  ;  and  William  Kidd,  the  daring  pirate,  was  also  a  Scotchman. 

In  the  American  Civil  War  the  Scotch- American  generals  of  the  Federal 
Army  from  Ohio  alone  made  our  race  conspicuous  in  skill  of  arms.  Grant 
was  a  Scotchman.  His  [father's]  people  came  direct  to  America,  and  first 
settled  in  Connecticut  [his  mother's  people  were  of  Pennsylvania  Scotch- 
Irish  stock].  New  England  gave  the  country  not  only  Stark  and  Knox,  but 
Grant  and  McClellan,  as  well  as  Salmon  P.  Chase  and  Hugh  McCulloch. 
But  I  was  speaking  of  Ohio.  The  McDowells,  the  Mitchells,  the  McPher- 
sons,  the  Fighting  McCooks  (two  families  having  nine  general  officers  in  the 
field),  the  Gibsons,  the  Hayeses,  the  Gilmores,  all  were  Ohio  Scots.  General 
Gilmore,  you  will  remember,  revolutionized  naval  gunnery  in  his  cannonade 
and  capture  of  Fort  Pulaski,  which  extended  his  fame  throughout  Europe. 
Gilmore,  the  "  Swamp  Angel,"  as  he  was  called,  was  an  Ohio  Scotchman. 
A  majority  of  the  Indian  fighters  in  the  Northwest  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary period  were  Scotchmen  and  Scotch-Irishmen,  whose  achievements 
are  history.  The  McCullochs,  the  Lewises,  the  McKees,  the  Crawfords, 
the  Pattersons,  the  Johnstons,  and  their  fellow  Scots  won  the  West.  George 
Rogers  Clark  made  complete  conquest  of  the  Northwest,  giving  to  free  gov- 
ernment five  great  States  that  otherwise  would  have  been  under  the  British 
flag.  The  truth  about  Ohio  is,  it  has  been  Scotch  from  its  first  governor, 
Arthur  St.  Clair,  down  to  the  present  [1895]  chief  executive,  William 
McKinley.  In  the  list  of  governors,  we  find  Duncan  McArthur,  Jeremiah 
Morrow  (or  Murray),  the  father  of  the  national  road  and  of  Ohio's  internal 
improvements,  Allen  Trimble,  who  introduced  the  public-school  system  into 
Ohio,  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  who  became  President  of  the  United  States, 
James  E.  Campbell,  and  William  McKinley,  who  is  likely  to  be  a  candidate 


Scottish  Achievement  139 

of  one  of  the  political  parties  for  the  office  of  President  [of  the  six  Presidents 
born  in,  or  who  were  elected  to  office  from,  Ohio  —  Harrison,  Grant,  Hayes, 
Garfield,  Harrison,  and  McKinley —  four  were  of  Scottish  descent]. 

Professor  Hinsdale,  an  Ohio  historian  of  Puritan  extraction,  wrote  this  bit 
of  truth:  "  The  triumph  of  James  Wolfe  and  his  Highlanders  on  the  Heights 
of  Abraham,  and  not  the  embattled  farmers  of  Lexington,  won  the  first  vic- 
tory of  the  American  Revolution."  And  did  it  come  by  mere  chance  that 
another  Scotchman,  in  the  person  of  General  John  Forbes,  at  about  the 
same  time,  led  the  English  forces  that  reduced  Fort  Duquesne  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  three  rivers,  and  opened  the  gateway  to  the  boundless  west  for 
the  forward  march  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  ?  Did  it  come  by  chance 
that  James  Grant  was  the  commander  in  the  relief  of  Lucknow;  that  the 
unmatched  Havelock  led  Scottish  soldiers  in  his  Asiatic  campaigns  which 
brought  such  lustre  to  British  arms  ?  We  have  a  right  to  manifest  pride  in 
the  fact  that  of  the  four  field  commanders-in-chief  in  the  Civil  War,  three 
were  Scotch  —  Scott,  McClellan,  and  Grant.  Chinese  Gordon  was  a  Scot. 
Through  the  veins  of  Robert  E.  Lee  flowed  the  blood  of  Robert  Bruce. 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  Jefferson  Davis  were  descendants  of  the  same  Scotch 
family  of  Simpson. 

Statesmen  ?  If  Scotland  had  given  to  civil  government  only  the  name 
of  Gladstone,  she  might  ever  glow  with  a  mother's  pride.  Erskine,  too,  was 
a  Scotchman,  and  considered  by  many  writers  the  ablest  and  most  eloquent 
of  the  long  line  of  British  jurists  whose  influence  was  most  potent  in  giving 
England  freer  government,  and  withal  the  most  vigorous  defender  of  consti- 
tutional liberty  born  on  British  soil.  Jefferson,  the  author  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  of  the  law  providing  for  religious  tolerance;  Madison, 
the  father  of  the  Constitution,  Monroe,  [Jackson],  Polk,  [Taylor],  Buchanan, 
Johnson,  Grant,  Hayes,  [Arthur,  Harrison,  McKinley],  are  Presidents  our 
race  has  given  to  the  United  States.  Daniel  Webster  was  of  Scottish  blood; 
so  were  the  intellectual  giants,  Benjamin  Wade  and  Joshua  Giddings.  Wade's 
Puritan  father  was  so  poor  in  purse  that  the  son  was  educated  at  the  knee  of 
his  Scotch  Presbyterian  mother.  McLean  and  Burnet,  two  of  the  ablest 
lawyers  and  statesmen  of  the  West,  were  Scots.  With  one  exception,  all  the 
members  of  Washington's  Cabinet  were  of  the  same  virile  blood ;  as  were  like- 
wise three  out  of  four  of  the  first  justices  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 

In  finance,  the  Scotch  are  no  less  distinguished  than  in  other  lines  of 
endeavor.  William  Paterson  was  the  founder  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and 
Alexander  Hamilton  established  the  American  system  of  finance.  Both  were 
Scots. 

The  accepted  notion  that  all  the  Scotch  get  their  theology  from  Calvin  is 
incorrect.  Charles  Pettit  Mcllvaine,  perhaps  the  ablest  bishop  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  in  America,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  profound 
educators  on  this  continent,  was  a  Scotchman  by  descent.  Bishop  Matthew 
Simpson  was  without  question  the  ablest  prelate  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  America.  James  Dempster,  whom  John  Wesley  sent  to  America 
as  a  missionary,  was  a  Scotchman,  and  his  son,  John  Dempster,  was  the 
founder  of  the  school  of  theology  of  the  Boston  University.  "  Father 
McCormick,"  as  he  was  called,  organized  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  John  Rankin  was  the  founder  of  the 
Free  Presbyterian,  and  Alexander  Campbell  of  the  Christian  Disciples' 
Church.  Robert  Turnbull  was  the  most  scholarly  divine  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Baptist  Church.  Edward  Robinson,  of  the  Puritan  Church,  was  recog- 
nized as  the  ablest  American  biblical  scholar.     While  referring  to  scholars, 


140  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

I  must  not  neglect  to  mention  the  fact  that  James  Blair  founded  William  and 
Mary  College  in  Virginia;  that  Princeton  is  a  Scotch  institution;  that  Doctor 
Alexander  founded  Augusta  Academy,  now  the  great  Washington  and  Lee 
University;  that  Jefferson  gave  the  South  the  University  of  Virginia;  that 
Doctor  John  McMillan  and  the  Finleys  established  more  than  a  dozen  col- 
leges in  the  West  and  South;  that  Doctor  Charles  C.  Beatty  established  the 
first  woman's  college  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains;  and  that  Joseph  Ray, 
William  H.  McGuffey,  and  Lindley  Murray  were  three  of  America's  most 
prominent  educators. 

NOTES    TO    CHAPTER   X. 

1  It  seems  certain  that  William  Shakespeare  was  at  least  in  part  of  Celtic  descent.  He  was 
a  grandson  of  Richard  Shakespeare,  Bailiff  of  Wroxhall,  by  Alys,  daughter  of  Edward  Griffin 
of  Berswell.  Edward  Griffin  was  of  the  Griffin  or  Griffith  family  of  Baybrook  in  Northamp- 
tonshire, who  claimed  descent  from  Griffith,  son  of  Rhysap  Tudor,  King  of  South  Wales. 
See  The  Gentle  Shakespeare  :  A  Vindication,  by  John  Pym  Yeatman,  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
London,  1896.     See  also  p.  314,  Note  13. 

2  John  Gladstanes,  of  Toftcombes,  near  Biggar,  in  the  upper  ward  of  Lanarkshire,  was  a 
small  farmer,  who  married  Janet  Aitken ;  their  son,  Thomas,  who  died  in  1809,  settled  in 
Leith,  where  he  was  a  prosperous  merchant,  and  where  he  married  Helen  Neilson,  of  Spring- 
field ;  their  son  John,  born  in  1764,  married,  1800,  Ann  Robertson,  daughter  of  Andrew,  a 
native  of  Dingwall,  in  Ross-shire  ;  John  and  his  wife  settled  in  Liverpool,  where,  in  1809, 
their  son,  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  was  born. 

3  Rev.  James  Bryce  (1767-1857)  went  from  Scotland,  where  he  was  born,  to  Ireland,  and 
settled  in  1805,  as  minister  of  the  anti-burgher  church  in  Killaig,  County  Londonderry.  His 
son,  James  Bryce  (1806-1877)  was  born  in  Killaig  (near  Coleraine).  In  1846,  appointed  to 
the  High  School,  Glasgow.  (See  Dictionary  of  National Biography \  to  which  the  information 
contained  in  the  article  on  the  Bryces  was  furnished  by  the  family.)  James  Bryce,  the  writer 
of  The  American  Commonwealth,  the  son  and  grandson  of  the  persons  just  mentioned,  was 
born  in  Belfast,  Ireland,  May  10,  1838.  His  mother  was  Margaret,  eldest  daughter  of  James 
Young,  Esquire,  of  Abbeyville,  County  Antrim.  (See  Men  and  Women  of  the  Time,  thirteenth 
edition,  1891.) — Samuel  Swett  Green,  The  Scotch-Irish  in  America,  p.  34. 

4  "  T C ,"  a  writer  in  Eraser's  Magazine  for  August,  1876,  makes  the  following 

observations  on  the  character  and  achievements  of  the  Scotch  in  Ulster : 

"  Ulstermen  have  been  described  as  a  mongrel  community.  This  is  true  in  a  sense. 
They  are  neither  Scotch,  English,  nor  Irish,  but  a  mixture  of  all  three  ;  and  they  are  an 
ingredient  in  the  Irish  population  distinguished  by  habits  of  thought,  character,  and  utterance 
entirely  unlike  the  people  who  fill  the  rest  of  the  island.  It  is  easy  to  see,  however,  at  a 
single  glance  that  the  foundation  of  Ulster  society  is  Scotch.  This  is  the  solid  granite  on 
which  it  rests.  There  are  districts  of  country — especially  along  the  eastern  coast,  running 
sixty  or  seventy  miles,  from  the  Ards  of  Down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Foyle — in  which  the 
granite  crops  out  on  the  surface,  as  we  readily  observe  by  the  Scottish  dialect  of  the  peasan- 
try. Only  twenty  miles  of  sea  separate  Ulster  from  Scotland  at  one  point ;  and  just  as  the 
Grampians  cross  the  channel  to  rise  again  in  the  mountains  of  Donegal,  there  seems  to  be  no 
break  in  the  continuity  of  race  between  the  two  peoples  that  inhabit  the  two  opposite  coasts. 
Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  much  of  the  history  of  Ulster  is  a  portion  of  Scottish  history 
inserted  into  that  of  Ireland  ;  a  stone  in  the  Irish  mosaic  of  an  entirely  different  color  and 
quality  from  the  pieces  that  surround  it.  James  I.,  colonized  Ulster  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, not  with  the  Gaelic  Scots,  who  might  have  coalesced  with  their  kindred  Celts  in  Ireland, 
but  with  that  Lowland  rural  population  who  from  the  very  first  fixed  the  moral  and  religious 
tone  of  the  entire  province.     Ireland  was  then  called  '  the  back  door  of  Great  Britain ' ;  and 


Scottish  Achievement  141 

James  I.  was  anxious  to  place  a  garrison  there  that  would  be  able  not  only  to  shut  the  door, 
but  to  keep  it  shut,  in  the  face  of  his  French  or  Spanish  enemies  ;  and,  accordingly,  when  an 
attempt  was  made  at  the  Revolution  to  force  the  door,  the  garrison  was  there — the  advanced 
outpost  of  English  power — to  shut  it  in  the  face  of  the  planter's  grandson,  and  so  to  save  the 
liberties  of  England  at  the  most  critical  moment  in  its  history.  One  may  see  (as  Hugh  Miller 
did)  in  the  indomitable  firmness  of  the  besieged  at  Derry  the  spirit  of  their  ancestors  under 
Wallace  and  Bruce,  and  recognize  in  the  gallant  exploits  of  the  Enniskillen  men  under 
Gustavus  Hamilton,  routing  two  of  the  forces  despatched  to  attack  them,  and  compelling  a 
third  to  retire,  a  repetition  of  the  thrice-fought  and  thrice-won  battle  of  Roslin.     .     .     . 

"  It  is  now  time  to  notice  the  character  and  ways  of  the  Ulsterman,  not  the  Celt  of 
Ulster,  who  gives  nothing  distinctive  to  its  society, — for  he  is  there  what  he  is  in  Munster  or 
Connaught,  only  with  a  less  degree  of  vivacity  and  wit, — but  the  Scotch-Irishman,  inheriting 
from  Scotland  that  Norse  nature  often  crossed  no  doubt  with  Celtic  blood,  the  one  giving 
him  his  persistency,  the  other  a  touch  of  impulsiveness  to  which  Ulster  owes  so  much  of  its 
progress  and  prosperity.  He  represents  the  race  which  has  been  described  as  4  the  vertebral 
column  of  Ulster,  giving  it  at  once  its  strength  and  uprightness ' — a  race  masculine  alike  in 
its  virtues  and  faults — solid,  sedate,  and  plodding — and  distinguished  both  at  home  and 
abroad  by  shrewdness  of  head,  thoroughgoing  ways,  and  moral  tenacity.  The  Ulsterman  is, 
above  all  things,  able  to  stand  alone,  and  to  stand  firmly  on  his  own  feet.  He  is  called  '  the 
sturdy  Northern,'  from  his  firmness  and  independence  and  his  adherence  to  truth  and  pro- 
bity. He  is  thoroughly  practical.  He  studies  uses,  respects  common  things,  and  cultivates 
the  prose  of  human  life.  The  English  despise  the  Irish  as  aimless,  but  not  the  man  of 
Ulster,  who  has  a  supreme  eye  to  facts,  and  is  'locked  and  bolted  to  results.'  There  is  a 
business-like  tone  in  his  method  of  speaking.  He  never  wastes  a  word,  yet  on  occasion  he 
can  speak  with  volubility.  He  is  as  dour  and  dogged  on  occasion  as  a  Scotchman,  with,  how- 
ever, generally  less  of  that  infusion  of  sternness — so  peculiarly  Scotch — which  is  really  the 
result  of  a  strong  habitual  relation  between  thought  and  action.  English  tourists  notice  the 
stiff  and  determined  manner  of  the  Ulsterman  in  his  unwillingness  to  give  way  to  you  at  fair 
or  market,  on  the  ground  that  one  man  is  as  good  as  another.  The  Ulsterman,  no  matter 
what  his  politics,  is  democratic  in  spirit  ;  and  his  loyalty  is  not  personal,  like  that  of  the  Celt, 
but  rather  a  respect  for  institutions.  He  has  something,  too,  of  the  Scotch  pugnacity  of 
mind,  and  always  seems,  in  conversation,  as  if  he  were  afraid  of  making  too  large  admissions. 
Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  speaks  of  '  sweet  reasonableness  '  as  one  of  the  noblest  elements  of  cul- 
ture and  national  life.  The  Ulsterman  has  the  reasonableness,  but  he  is  not  sweet.  A 
southern  Irishman  says  of  him  :  '  The  Northerns,  like  their  own  hills,  are  rough  but  health- 
some, and,  though  often  plain-spoken  even  to  bluntness,  there  is  no  kinder-hearted  peasantry 
in  the  world.'  But  he  is  certainly  far  inferior  to  the  Celtic  Irishman  in  good  manners  and  in 
the  art  of  pleasing.  Though  not  so  reserved  or  grave  as  the  Scotchman,  and  with  rather  more 
social  talent,  he  is  inferior  to  the  Southern  in  pliancy,  suppleness,  and  bonhomie.  He  hates 
ceremony  and  is  wanting  in  politeness.  He  is  rough  and  ready,  and  speaks  his  mind  without 
reserve.  He  has  not  the  silky  flattery  and  courteous  tact  of  the  Southern.  A  Killarney  beg- 
garman  will  utter  more  civil  things  in  half  an  hour  to  a  stranger  than  an  Ulsterman  in  all  his 
life  ;  but  the  Ulsterman  will  retort  that  the  Southern  is  '  too  sweet  to  be  wholesome.'  Cer- 
tainly, if  an  Ulsterman  does  not  care  about  you,  he  will  neither  say  nor  look  as  if  he  did. 
You  know  where  to  find  him  ;  he  is  no  hypocrite.  The  Celt,  with  his  fervent  and  fascinating 
manner,  far  surpasses  him  in  making  friends  whom  he  will  not  always  keep  ;  while  the  Ulster- 
man,  not  so  attractive  a  mortal  at  the  outset,  improves  upon  acquaintance,  and  is  considera- 
bly more  stanch  in  his  friendships.  Strangers  say  the  mixture  of  Protestant  fierte  with 
good-nature  and  good-humor  gives  to  the  Ulsterman  a  tone  rather  piquant  than  unpleasing. 
Like  some  cross-grained  woods,  he  admits  of  high  polish,  and  when  chastened  by  culture  and 
religion,  he  turns  out  a  very  high  style  of  man.  He  differs  from  the  Celt,  again,  in  the  way 
he  takes  his  pleasures  ;  for  he  follows  work  with  such  self-concentration  that  he  never  thinks 

r     ~h  e 
UNIVERSITY 


142  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

of  looking  about  him,  like  the  Celt,  for  objects  to  amuse  or  excite.  He  has  few  holidays  (unlike 
the  Celt,  whose  holidays  take  all  the  temper  out  of  labor),  and  he  hardly  knows  how  to  employ 
them  except  in  party  processions. 

"  The  Ulsterman  is  not  imaginative  or  traditional,  chiefly,  because  his  affections  strike  no 
deep  root  into  Irish  history.  The  Celt  is  more  steeped  in  poetry  and  romance  ;  the  Ulsterman 
knows  almost  nothing  of  fairy  mythology,  or  of  the  love  of  semi-historic  legend  which  fires 
the  imagination  of  the  Celt.  The  ghost  is  almost  the  exclusive  property  of  the  ancient  race. 
The  Ulsterman  has  certainly  lost  his  share,  or  at  least  his  interest,  in  such  things,  although  he 
is  surrounded,  like  the  Celt,  by  all  the  old  monuments  of  pagan  times,  each  with  a  memory 
and  a  tale  as  gray  as  the  stone  itself.  It  is  probably  because  he  is  so  imaginative  that  the 
Celt  has  not  such  a  real  possession  of  the  present  as  the  Ulsterman  ;  for  those  who  think  too 
much  of  a  splendid  past,  whether  it  be  real  or  imaginary,  are  usually  apt  to  think  too  little  of 
the  present,  and  the  remark  has  been  made  that  the  poetry  of  the  Celt  is  that  of  a  race  that  has 
seen  better  days,  for  there  is  an  almost  total  want  of  the  fine  old  Norse  spirit  of  self-reliance, 
and  of  making  the  best  possible  use  of  the  present.  In  one  of  his  fits  of  despondency,  Goethe 
envied  America  its  freedom  from  ruined  castles,  useless  remembrances,  and  vain  disputes, 
which  entangle  old  nations  and  trouble  their  hearts  while  they  ought  to  be  strong  for  present 
action.     Certainly  the  Ulsterman  has  not  allowed  himself  to  be  encumbered  in  any  such  way. 

"  People  have  said  of  Ulstermen,  as  they  have  said  of  the  Scotchmen,  that  they  are  des- 
titute of  wit  and  humor  ;  but  they  certainly  have  wut,  if  they  have  not  wit,  and  as  practised 
in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  province,  it  corresponds  very  nearly  with  what  is  properly 
humor.  It  has  not  the  spontaneity,  the  freshness,  the  oddity,  the  extravagance  of  Celtic 
humor,  which  upsets  our  gravity  on  the  instant ;  it  has  not  the  power  of  '  pitching  it  strong ' 
or  '  drawing  the  long-bow '  like  the  humor  of  America  ;  nor  has  it  the  sparkling  and  volatile 
characteristics  of  French  wit.  It  is  dry,  caustic,  and  suggestive,  on  the  whole  rather  reticent 
of  words,  and,  in  fact,  very  Scotch  in  character  ;  and  the  fun  is  contained  rather  in  the  whole 
series  of  conceptions  called  up  by  a  set  of  anecdotes  and  stories  than  by  any  smart  quip  or 
flash  at  the  close.  Often  the  humor,  as  in  Scotland,  lies  not  in  what  is  said  but  in  what  is 
suggested,  the  speaker  all  the  while  apparently  unconscious  of  saying  anything  to  excite  amuse- 
ment or  laughter.  Many  of  the  illustrations  are,  like  those  of  Dean  Ramsay,  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical character  ;  for  the  Ulsterman,  like  the  Scotchman,  makes  religion  a  condition  of  social 
existence,  and  demands  with  an  unsparing  rigor,  on  the  part  of  all  his  neighbors,  a  certain  par- 
ticipation in  the  ordinances  of  religion.     .     .     . 

4 '  We  need  hardly  say  that  Presbyterianism  runs  strong  in  the  native  current  of  Ulster 
blood.  It  has  a  good  deal  of  the  douce  Davie  Dean  type,  and  is  resolutely  opposed  to  all 
religious  innovations.  It  was  Dean  Swift  who  said,  when  he  saw  the  stone-cutters  effacing 
the  cherub  faces  from  the  old  stonework  of  an  Episcopal  church  which  was  to  do  duty  as  a 
Presbyterian  edifice,  '  Look  at  these  rascally  Presbyterians,  chiselling  the  very  Popery  out  of 
the  stones  ! '  Mr.  Froude  says  it  was  the  one  mistake  of  Swift's  life,  that  he  misunderstood 
the  Presbyterians.  It  is  not  generally  known  that  there  was  a  Janet  Geddes  in  Ulster.  At  the 
Restoration,  the  celebrated  Jeremy  Taylor  appointed  an  Episcopal  successor  at  Comber, 
County  Down,  to  replace  an  excellent  Presbyterian  worthy,  who  refused  conformity.  The 
women  of  the  parish  collected,  pulled  the  new  clergyman  out  of  the  pulpit,  and  tore  his  white 
surplice  to  ribbons.  They  were  brought  to  trial  at  Downpatrick,  and  one  of  the  female  wit- 
nesses made  the  following  declaration  :  '  And  maun  a'  tell  the  truth,  the  haile  truth,  and 
naethin  but  the  truth  ? '  '  You  must,'  was  the  answer.  '  Weel,  then,'  was  her  fearless  avowal, 
4  these  are  the  hands  that  poo'd  the  white  sark  ower  his  heed.'  It  is  Presbyterianism  that 
has  fixed  the  religious  tone  of  the  whole  province,  though  the  Episcopalians  possess,  likewise, 
much  of  the  religious  vehemence  of  their  neighbors,  and  have  earned  among  English  High 
Churchmen  the  character  of  being  Puritan  in  their  spirit  and  theology. 

"  Arthur  Helps,  in  one  of  his  pleasant  essays,  says  that  the  first  rule  for  success  in  life  is 
to  get  yourself  born,  if  you  can,  north  of  the  Tweed  ;  and  we  should  say  it  would  not  be  a 


Scottish  Achievement  143 

bad  sort  of  advice  to  an  Irishman  to  get  himself  born,  if  possible,  north  of  the  Boyne.  .  .  . 
He  might  have  to  part  with  something  of  his  quickness  of  perception,  his  susceptibility  to 
external  influence,  and  his  finer  imagination  ;  but  he  would  gain  in  working-power,  and 
especially  in  the  one  great  quality  indispensable  to  success — self-containedness,  steadiness, 
impassibility  to  outward  excitements  or  distracting  pleasures.  It  is  this  good  quality,  together 
with  his  adaptability,  that  accounts  for  the  success  of  the  Ulsterman  in  foreign  countries. 
He  may  be  hard  in  demeanor,  pragmatical  in  mind,  literal  and  narrow,  almost  without  a 
spark  of  imagination  ;  but  he  is  the  most  adaptable  of  men,  and  accepts  people  he  does  not 
like  in  his  grave,  stiff  way,  reconciling  himself  to  the  facts  or  the  facts  to  himself.  He  pushes 
along  quietly  to  his  proper  place,  not  using  his  elbows  too  much,  and  is  not  hampered  by 
traditions  like  the  Celt.  He  succeeds  particularly  well  in  America  and  in  India,  not  because 
Ulstermen  help  one  another  and  get  on  like  a  corporation  ;  for  he  is  not  clannish  like  the 
Scottish  Highlanders  or  the  Irish  Celts,  the  last  of  whom  unfortunately  stick  together  like 
bees,  and  drag  one  another  down  instead  of  up.  No  foreign  people  succeed  in  America  unless 
they  mix  with  the  native  population.  It  is  out  of  Ulster  that  her  hardy  sons  have  made  the 
most  of  their  talents.  It  was  an  Ulsterman  of  Donegal,  Francis  Makemie,  who  founded 
American  Presbyterianism  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  just  as  it  was  an  Ulsterman  of 
the  same  district,  St.  Columbkille,  who  converted  the  Picts  of  Scotland  in  the  sixth  century. 
Four  of  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  and  one  Vice-president  have  been  of  Ulster  ex- 
traction :  James  Monroe  [?],  James  Knox  Polk,  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  James  Buchanan. 
General  Andrew  Jackson  was  the  son  of  a  poor  Ulster  emigrant  who  settled  in  North  Carolina 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century.  '  I  was  born  somewhere,'  he  said,  '  between  Carrick- 
fergus  and  the  United  States.'  Bancroft  and  other  historians  recognize  the  value  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  element  in  forming  the  society  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States.  It  has  been 
the  boast  of  Ulstermen  that  the  first  general  who  fell  in  the  American  war  of  the  Revolution 
was  an  Ulsterman — Richard  Montgomery,  who  fought  at  the  siege  of  Quebec  ;  that  Samuel 
Finley,  president  of  Princeton  College,  and  Francis  Allison,  pronounced  by  Stiles,  the  presi- 
dent of  Yale,  to  be  the  greatest  classical  scholar  in  the  United  States,  had  a  conspicuous  place 
in  educating  the  American  mind  to  independence  ;  that  the  first  publisher  of  a  daily  paper  in 
America  was  a  Tyrone  man  named  Dunlap  ;  that  the  marble  palace  of  New  York,  where  the 
greatest  business  in  the  world  is  done  by  a  single  firm,  was  the  property  of  the  late  Alexander 
T.  Stewart,  a  native  of  Lisburn,  County  Down  ;  that  the  foremost  merchants,  such  as  the 
Browns  and  Stewarts,  are  Ulstermen  ;  and  that  the  inventors  of  steam-navigation,  telegraphy, 
and  the  reaping  machine  —  Fulton,  Morse,  and  McCormick  —  are  either  Ulstermen  or  the 
sons  of  Ulstermen. 

"  Ulster  can  also  point  with  pride  to  the  distinguished  career  of  her  sons  in  India.  The 
Lawrences,  Henry  and  John, —  the  two  men  by  whom,  regarding  merely  the  human  instru- 
ments employed,  India  has  been  preserved,  rescued  from  anarchy,  and  restored  to  a  position 
of  a  peaceful  and  progressive  dependency, —  were  natives  of  County  Derry.  Sir  Robert 
Montgomery  was  born  in  the  city  of  Derry  ;  Sir  James  Emerson  Tennant  was  a  native  of 
Belfast ;  Sir  Francis  Hincks  is  a  member  of  an  Ulster  family  remarkable  for  great  variety  of 
talent.  While  Ulster  has  given  one  viceroy  to  India,  it  has  given  two  to  Canada  in  the  per- 
sons of  Lord  Lisgar  and  Lord  Dufferin.  Sir  Henry  Pottinger,  who  attained  celebrity  as  a 
diplomatist,  and  was  afterward  appointed  governor-general  of  Hong  Kong,  was  a  native  of 
Belfast.  Besides  the  gallant  General  Nicholson,  Ulster  has  given  a  whole  gazetteful  of  heroes 
to  India.  It  has  always  taken  a  distinguished  place  in  the  annals  of  war.  An  Ulsterman 
was  with  Nelson  at  Trafalgar,  another  with  Wellington  at  Waterloo.  General  Rollo  Gilles- 
pie, Sir  Robert  Kane,  Lord  Moira,  and  the  Chesneys  were  all  from  County  Down.  Ulster- 
men  have  left  their  mark  on  the  world's  geography  as  explorers,  for  they  furnished  Sir  John 
Franklin  with  the  brave  Crozier,  from  Banbridge,  his  second  in  command,  and  then  sent  an 
Ulsterman,  McClintock,  to  find  his  bones,  and  another  Ulsterman,  McClure,  to  discover  the 
passage  Franklin  had  sought  in  vain.     .     .     . 


v-" 


144  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

"We  have  already  spoken  of  the  statesmanlike  ability  of  Ulstermen  abroad.  Mention 
may  now  be  made  of  at  least  one  statesman  at  home —  Lord  Castlereagh  —  who  was  a  native 
of  County  Down,  and  the  son  of  the  first  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  who  was  a  Presbyterian 
elder  till  the  day  of  his  death.  The  name  of  Castlereagh  may  not  be  popular  in  any  part  of 
Ireland  on  account  of  the  bloody  recollections  of  the  rebellion  of  1798  ;  but  his  reputation  as 
a  statesman  has  undoubtedly  risen  of  late  years,  for  it  is  now  known  that  he  was  not  such  an 
absolutist  or  ultraist  as  has  been  generally  imagined.  He  possessed  in  perfection  the  art  of 
managing  men,  and  excelled  as  a  diplomatist,  while  he  had  an  enormous  capacity  for  work  as 
an  administrator.  For  most  of  his  career  he  had  a  very  remarkable  man  for  his  private  sec- 
retary, Alexander  Knox,  a  native  of  Derry,  whose  literary  remains  have  been  edited  by 
Bishop  Jebb,  and  whose  conversational  powers  are  said  to  have  recalled  those  of  Dr.  Johnson 
himself.  Lord  Macaulay  calls  him  '  an  altogether  remarkable  man.'  George  Canning,  the 
statesman  who  detached  England  from  the  influences  of  Continental  despotism  and  restored 
her  to  her  proper  place  in  Europe,  who  was  the  first  minister  to  perceive  the  genius  and  abilities 
of  Wellington,  and  who  opened  that  '  Spanish  ulcer  '  which  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena  declared 
to  be  the  main  cause  of  his  ruin,  was  the  son  of  a  Derry  gentleman  of  ancient  and  respectable 
family.  Lord  Plunket,  who  was  equally  celebrated  in  politics,  law,  and  oratory,  was  a  native 
of  Enniskillen,  where  his  father,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Plunket,  was  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  To  come  down  nearer  to  our  own  times,  three  men  who  have  made  their  mark  on 
the  national  politics  of  Ireland  —  John  Mitchell,  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  and  Isaac  Butt  — 
belong  to  Ulster.  The  first  was  the  son  of  a  Unitarian  minister,  and  was  born  in  County 
Derry  ;  the  second  is  the  son  of  a  County  Monaghan  farmer  ;  the  third,  the  son  of  the  late 
rector  of  Stranorlar  parish  in  County  Donegal.  An  Ulsterman  —  Lord  Cairns  —  now  [1876] 
presides  over  the  deliberations  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

"  But  we  must  speak  of  the  more  purely  intellectual  work  of  Ulstermen,  in  the  walks  of 
literature,  science,  and  philosophy.  It  has  been  remarked  that,  though  their  predominant 
qualities  are  Scotch,  they  have  not  inherited  the  love  of  abstract  speculation.  Yet  they  have 
produced  at  least  one  distinguished  philosopher  in  the  person  of  Sir  Francis  Hutchison,  pro- 
fessor of  moral  philosophy  in  the  University  of  Glasgow  in  the  last  century,  and,  if  we  may 
follow  the  opinion  of  Dr.  McCosh,  the  true  founder  of  the  Scottish  school  of  philosophy.  He 
was  born  at  Saintfield,  County  Down,  where  his  father  was  a  Presbyterian  minister.  In 
natural  science,  Ulster  can  boast  of  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  a  native  of  Killyleagh,  County  Down  ; 
of  Dr.  Black,  the  famous  chemist,  a  native  of  Belfast ;  of  Dr.  James  Thompson  and  his  son, 
Sir  William  Thompson,  both  natives  of  County  Down  ;  and  of  William  Thomson  and  Robert 
Patterson,  both  of  Belfast.  In  theology  and  pulpit  oratory,  Ulstermen  have  always  taken  a 
distinguished  place.  If  Donegal  produced  a  deistical  writer  so  renowned  as  John  Toland, 
Fermanagh  reared  the  theologian  who  was  to  combat  the  whole  school  of  Deism  in  the  person 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  Leslie,  the  author  of  A  Short  and  Easy  Method  with  the  Deists.  The 
masterly  treatise  of  Dr.  William  Magee,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  on  the  doctrine  of  the  atone- 
ment still  holds  its  place  in  theological  literature.  He  was  an  Enniskillener,  like  Plunket, 
and  his  grandson,  the  present  bishop  of  Peterborough,  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent  divines  on 
the  English  bench.  There  is  no  religious  body,  indeed,  in  Ulster,  that  cannot  point  to  at 
least  one  eminent  theologian  with  a  fame  far  extending  beyond  the  province.  The  Presby- 
terians are  proud  of  the  reputation  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Cooke,  of  Belfast ;  the  Unitarians,  of 
the  Rev.  Henry  Montgomery,  of  Dunmurry,  near  Belfast ;  the  Baptists  of  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Carson,  of  Tubbermore,  County  Derry,  the  author  of  the  ablest  treatise  ever  written  on  behalf 
of  Baptist  principles  ;  the  Methodists,  of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  the  learned  commentator  on  the 
Scriptures,  who  was  born  at  Maghera,  in  the  same  county  ;  and  the  Covenanters,  of  the  Rev. 
John  Paul,  who  had  all  the  logical  acuteness  of  a  schoolman.  In  oratory,  Ulstermen  are 
proud  of  the  great  abilities  of  Plunket,  Cooke,  Montgomery,  Isaac  Butt,  and  Lord  Cairns. 
In  pure  scholarship  they  name  Dr.  Archibald  Maclaine,  chaplain  at  The  Hague,  and 
translator  of  Mosheim's  History ;  Dr.  Edward  Hincks,  of  Killyleagh,  County  Down,  the 


Scottish  Achievement  145 

decipherer  of  the  Nineveh  tablets  ;  and  Dr.  Samuel  Davidson,  the  eminent  biblical  scholar 
and  critic.     .     .     . 

"  Ulster  claims  the  sculptor,  Patrick  McDowell  ;  and  Crawford,  whose  works  adorn  the 
Capitol  at  Washington,  was  born,  we  believe,  at  sea,  his  parents  being  emigrants  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Ballyshannon ,  County  Donegal.  But  we  cannot  remember  a  single  painter, 
or  musical  composer,  or  singer,  who  belongs  to  Ulster.  In  the  art  of  novel-writing  there  is 
William  Carleton,  already  referred  to,  the  most  realistic  sketcher  of  Irish  character  who  has 
ever  lived,  and  who  far  excels  Lever,  and  Lover,  and  Edgeworth  in  the  faithfulness  of  his 
pictures,  though  he  fails  in  the  broader  representations  of  Hibernian  humor.  No  one  has  so 
well  sounded  the  depths  of  the  Irish  heart,  or  so  skilfully  portrayed  its  kinder  and  nobler 
feelings.  Ulster  was  never  remarkable  for  pathos.  Carleton  is  an  exception  ;  but  he  belonged 
to  the  ancient  race,  and  first  saw  the  light  in  the  home  of  a  poor  peasant  in  Clogher,  County 
Tyrone.  The  only  other  novel-writers  that  Ulster  can  boast  of  —  none  of  them  at  all  equal 
in  national  flavor  to  Carleton  —  are  Elizabeth  Hamilton,  the  author  of  The  Cottagers  of 
Glenburnie,  who  lived  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  ;  William  H.  Maxwell,  the  author  of 
Stories  of  Waterloo ;  Captain  Mayne  Reid,  the  writer  of  sensational  tales  about  Western 
America;  Francis  Browne;  and  Mrs.  Riddle,  the  author  of  George  Geith.  In  dramatic 
literature,  Ulster  can  boast  of  George  Farquhar,  the  author  of  The  Beaux'  Stratagem,  who  was 
the  son  of  a  Derry  clergyman,  and  of  Macklin,  the  actor  as  well  as  the  author,  known  to  us 
by  his  play  The  Man  of  the  World.  The  only  names  it  can  boast  of  in  poetry  are  Samuel 
Ferguson,  the  author  of  The  Forging  of  the  Anchor ;  William  Allingham,  the  author  of 
Laurence  Bloomfieldy  with  two  or  three  of  lesser  note." 

6  The  affinity  between  France  and  America  is  not  limited  to  the  latter's  appreciation  and 
imitation  in  matters  of  art  alone.  At  an  early  day  in  the  history  of  this  country,  that  affinity 
extended  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  sesthetical  amenities.  It  included  the  fields  of  politics,  of 
science,  and  of  warfare.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  far  to  seek.  There  are  many  people  in 
America  who  never  will,  nor  do  they  care  to,  understand  aright  the  history  of  the  building  of 
the  American  nation  ;  and  to  these  people  the  idea  of  such  a  thing  as  a  close  bond  of  union 
and  sympathy  with  France,  which  for  so  long  a  time  obviously  existed  in  America,  is  one  of 
the  things  which  they  cannot  explain,  and  for  which  they  can  only  account  by  classing  it  as 
an  anomaly.  To  honest  students  of  their  country's  history,  however,  and  to  all  who  can  see 
beyond  their  own  immediate  community  or  horizon,  it  is  evident  that  there  was  no  anomaly 
in  a  Franco- American  alliance  ;  and  that  to  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  American  people 
whose  forefathers  were  here  in  pre-Revolutionary  days,  such  a  union  was  quite  as  much  to  be 
expected  as,  at  other  times,  would  be  an  alliance  with  England.  The  Ancient  League  between 
Scotland  and  France,  which  existed  from  before  the  time  of  Bruce  until  the  days  of  Knox,  was 
an  alliance  for  defence  and  offence  against  the  common  enemy  of  both ;  and  that  League  was  the 
veritable  prototype  of  the  later  alliance  between  America  and  France  against  the  same  enemy. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    TUDOR-STUART    CHURCH    RESPONSIBLE    FOR   EARLY 
AMERICAN    ANIMOSITY   TO    ENGLAND 

THE  English  Church  Establishment  owed  its  origin  primarily  to  the  vices 
of  Henry  VIII.,1  a  prince  whose  abnormal  appetite  for  new  wives  led 
him  into  excesses  too  great  even  for  the  absolution  of  the  Roman  pontiff  ; 
though  it  is  altogether  likely  that  Henry's  divorce  of  Catherine  of  Aragon 
was  refused  by  the  Pope  more  because  it  menaced  the  papal  ascendancy 
than  because  it  troubled  the  papal  conscience.  Organized  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, Henry's  "  Church  "  naturally  obeyed  in  all  things  the  will  of 
its  creator;  and,  as  the  conditions  required,  it  was  afterwards  the  pander, 
flatterer,  or  main  coadjutor  of  his  various  successors;  so  that,  down  to  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century  the  religion  of  the  loyal  Englishman,  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  others,  had  in  it  more  that  was  of  a  secular  nature,  and 
in  all  things  subordinate  to  the  State.  The  English  Episcopalian  has  until 
recently  been  taught  that  the  king  is  the  supreme  head  of  the  "  Church," 
and  his  universal  worship  of  the  royal  fetich  is,  perhaps,  nothing  more  than 
a  manifestation  of  the  same  emotions  which  in  other  religious  establishments 
differently  constituted  find  expression  in  the  worship  of  departed  ancestors, 
of  the  saints,  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  of  the  Deity.  As  a  result  of  this  teach- 
ing, the  Englishman's  veneration  for  British  royalty  became  almost  as  strong 
as  that  with  which  other  men  regard  things  holy,  and  was  certainly  more  far- 
reaching  in  its  effects.  The  compact  between  the  Church  Establishment  and 
royalty  was  in  the  nature  of  a  close  partnership,  with  the  terms  and  condi- 
tions clearly  laid  down  and  accepted  on  both  sides.  The  kings  have  ever 
since  relied  chiefly  upon  their  bishops  to  maintain  the  loyalty  of  the  com- 
mon people  to  the  crown,  and  to  that  end  the  bishops  have  heretofore 
effectively  used  that  most  powerful  agency,  religion. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Church  soon  secured  from  the  king  a  division  of 
the  power  thus  obtained  and  a  goodly  share  of  the  material  acquisitions  re- 
sulting from  its  exercise.  It  has  been  necessary  for  both  parties  to  the  com- 
pact, as  a  matter  of  self-preservation,  to  prevent  the  intrusion  of  new  elements 
into  the  field,  and  so  long  as  it  could  possibly  be  done  they  were  kept  out. 
Early  manifestations  of  spiritual  religion,  accordingly,  were  viewed  with 
alarm  and  abhorrence  by  bishop  and  king  alike,  stigmatized  as  dissension  by 
the  one  and  sedition  by  the  other,  and  repressed  as  treason  by  both.  It  is  only 
during  the  present  century,  with  the  spread  of  knowledge  among  the  masses, 
that  the  great  body  of  the  English  people  has  learned  that  there  is  not  ne- 
cessarily any  more  than  a  nominal  kinship  between  the  terms  ' '  bishop  ' '  and 
11  religion  ";  and  that  the  consequent  decadence  of  the  Anglican  Church  has 

146 


Early  American  Animosity  to  England  147 

resulted.  The  crimes  of  the  founder  of  that  Church,  connived  at  and  par- 
ticipated in  by  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,3  have  scarcely  a  parallel 
in  any  history  but  that  of  the  Turk ;  and  to  call  Henry  a  reformer  of  religion 
is  analogous  to  saying  that  the  fear  of  the  devil  is  the  beginning  of  god- 
liness. The  vain  Elizabeth,  likewise,  committed  so  many  heinous  offences 
in  the  name  of  religion,  that  their  aggregate  evil  would  far  outweigh  the 
good  of  her  reputed  contribution  to  its  reformation.8  Therefore,  when  the 
Scottish  nation  of  God-worshippers  became  associated  with  the  English  na- 
tion of  king- worshippers,  under  James  Stuart's  rule,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  English  "  spiritual  lords  "  should  find  nothing  but  error  and  trea- 
son in  the  teachings  of  the  Scottish  system  of  religion,  a  system  which  did 
not  recognize  the  king  as  the  supreme  head  and  fountain  of  the  Church. 

Under  such  an  institution,  then,  as  Henry  founded, — not  truly  a  spiritual 
church,  but  an  offshoot  of  despotism, — the  persecutions  of  the  Presbyterians 
in  Scotland  followed  the  succession  of  James  Stuart  to  the  throne  of  Eliza- 
beth as  a  matter  of  course.  Hence,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  in  Scotland 
should  be  fought  and  won  the  first  battles  that  established  the  principle  for 
which  the  Scottish  martyrs  died — that  in  matters  of  conscience  the  king  was 
not  supreme,4  and  that  the  State  and  Church  were  distinct  and  separate  in- 
stitutions, and  not  to  be  joined  together  as  one.6 

In  England  and  in  English  history  it  is  customary  to  speak  of  Henry 
VIII.'s  Roman  Catholic  daughter  as  "  Bloody  Mary  "  because  she  burned 
some  scores  of  Protestants  and  one  or  two  Episcopalian  bishops.8  Compared 
with  many  of  the  successors  of  those  bishops,  however,  and  with  some  of  her 
own  successors,  Queen  Mary  was  as  red  to  black.  Where  she  killed  scores, 
they  destroyed  thousands;  while  she  was  a  wronged,  superstitious,  sickly,  and 
unbalanced  woman, —  a  daughter  of  Spain  and  of  Henry  Tudor, —  brooding 
over  and  avenging  the  barbarities  inflicted  upon  herself,  her  mother,  and 
her  mother's  Church, —  they  were  set  up  as  teachers,  exemplars,  and  rivals 
of  Christ  and  the  prophets.7  Her  crimes  were  those  of  retaliation,  ignorance, 
and  superstition ;  theirs  were  deep-planned,  self-seeking,  and  malicious.  The 
English  Church  Establishment,  for  its  years,  has  fully  as  much  to  answer 
for  that  is  evil  as  any  like  organization  by  which  the  name  of  religion  has 
ever  been  disgraced.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  in  all  the  history  of 
the  inception  and  progress  of  those  movements  which  have  given  to  Eng- 
land her  boasted  boon  of  British  liberty  and  to  the  world  at  large  the  benef- 
icent results  arising  from  the  victories  of  the  British  conscience,  we  find 
their  first  chief  opposer  and  vilifier  in  the  Established  Church.8 

However,  the  murdering  missionaries  of  this  Establishment,  turned  loose 
in  Scotland  by  the  Stuarts  in  the  seventeenth  century,  did  not  all  pursue 
their  bloody  work  of  destruction  unmolested.  One  of  the  chief  agents  of 
the  persecution,  Archbishop  Sharp,  met  his  death  at  the  point  of  the 
sword,  and  died  even  as  Cardinal  Beaton  had  died  in  Scotland  more  than  a 
century  before,  with  no  time  for  repentance,  and  no  chance  for  an  earthly 


148  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

benediction.  Neither  can  their  course  be  regarded  as  productive  of  results 
ultimately  disastrous  to  the  cause  of  humanity,  however  great  the  sufferings 
of  their  immediate  victims;  but  rather,  on  the  contrary,  it  proved  to  be  the 
means  of  hastening  the  coming  of  some  of  mankind's  greatest  blessings.  It 
was  the  inciting  cause  of  the  great  revolution  that  began  in  Scotland  in  1638, 
spread  over  England  a  few  years  later,  and  reached  its  culmination  when  the 
head  of  the  Anglican  Church's  earthly  god  was  cut  off.  Afterwards,  it  drove 
thousands  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians  into  Ireland.  Without  the  presence 
of  these  refugees  in  Ulster  in  1689  the  complete  success  of  the  revolution  of 
that  period  would  have  been  impossible. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  Scots  saved  Ireland  to  William,  and 
made  it  possible  for  him  to  succeed  to  the  English  crown,  the  measure  of 
their  cup  of  persecution  was  not  yet  filled;  and  for  more  than  half  a  century 
afterwards  the  British  Government,  chiefly  through  the  Episcopal  Establish- 
ment, continued  to  run  up  a  debt  of  hatred  with  these  Scottish  emigrants  — 
a  debt  that  accumulated  rapidly  during  the  first  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  evidences  of  which  were  handed  down  from  father  to  son  and 
added  to  in  each  succeeding  generation.  After  1689,  it  received  its  first 
fresh  increments  in  Ireland  by  the  passage  of  certain  Parliamentary  acts, 
tending  to  the  restriction  and  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  the  woollen 
industry;  they  being  the  final  ones  in  a  series  of  discriminating  enactments 
which  began  at  the  Restoration  in  favor  of  the  English  manufacturers 
as  against  those  of  Ireland.8 

This  was  followed  in  1704  by  the  passage  of  the  bill  containing  the  Eng- 
lish Test  Act.  This  act  practically  made  outlaws  of  the  Presbyterians  in 
Ireland,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  inciting  causes  of  the  emigration  to 
America  which  increased  with  such  rapidity  during  the  first  twenty  years 
after  its  enactment.10 

The  next  infliction  to  which  the  Ulster  Scots  were  subjected  was  that  of 
rack-renting  landlordism,  by  which  thousands  of  families  were  driven  out  of 
the  country  after  17 18.  Rents  were  increased  to  two  or  three  times  their 
former  amounts;  and  in  addition  to  this  extortion  the  Dissenters  were  still 
obliged  to  pay  the  blood-money  exacted  by  the  Established  Church  in  the 
form  of  tithes.11 

These  galling  and  unjust  discriminations  continued  with  more  or  less 
modified  severity  during  the  whole  period  between  the  passage  of  the  Test 
Act  and  the  time  of  the  final  throwing  off  of  the  British  yoke  by  those  whom 
its  operation  had  driven  to  America. 

It  is  said  by  most  American  historians  that  the  War  of  Independence  was 
not  a  suddenly  conceived  movement;  that  it  resulted  from  repeated  acts  of 
injustice  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  toward  the  American  colonies  subse- 
quent to  and  resulting  from  the  French  and  Indian  wars  of  1755  anc*  I1^3'y 
that  the  arbitrary  action  of  the  king's  representatives  in  America  began  to  be 
resented  by  some  of  the  citizens  fifteen  years  before  the  battle  of  Lexington; 


Early  American  Animosity  to  England  149 

that  in  Massachusetts  the  necessity  for  some  measure  of  relief  from 
ecclesiastical  and  governmental  tyranny  became  apparent  as  early  as  1761; 
and  that  the  political  agitation  of  the  next  decade  and  a  half  was  what  stirred 
the  people  up  to  a  sufficiently  adequate  realization  of  the  meaning  of  the 
oppressive  measures  inflicted  upon  New  England  by  Great  Britain,  and 
made  them  ready  to  accept  the  issue  when  it  was  finally  drawn,  and  to  abide 
by  its  consequences  when  they  became  apparent.  All  this  is  very  true,  so 
far  as  it  goes.  It  is  also  true  that  the  concentration  of  the  disciplinary 
measures  upon  the  devoted  patriots  of  Boston,  and  their  being  the  first  to 
suffer  from  those  measures  and  the  results  following  upon  their  attempted 
enforcement,  may  to  a  great  extent  account  for  the  eagerness  and  intensity 
with  which  those  people  precipitated  and  entered  upon  the  conflict.  But 
these  are  only  portions  of  the  truth,  and  he  who  would  read  American  his- 
tory aright  must  first  take  into  account  the  aggregate  value  of  the  contribu- 
tions to  America  in  men  and  measures  of  the  Holland  and  Palatinate  Dutch, 
the  Huguenot  French,  and  the  Lowland  and  Ulster  Scotch,  decide  just  how 
much  greater,  if  any,  is  America's  eighteenth-century  debt  to  England  and 
the  English  than  her  obligation  to  non-English  men  and  ideas  of  other  coun- 
tries, and  learn  the  whole  truth  —  that  to  no  one  man  or  set  of  men,  and  to 
no  one  exclusive  creed,  community,  race,  nationality,  or  sectional  division, 
is  due  the  credit  for  those  institutions  and  that  liberty  which  came  to  be 
called  American  after  the  events  of  1776. 

He  is,  indeed,  a  superficial  student  of  American  history  and  of  human 
nature,  who  can  see  the  workings  of  no  other  influences  at  that  time  than 
those  which  immediately  led  up  to  the  conflict  at  Lexington.12 

In  New  England,  to  be  sure,  there  was  no  long-seated  bitterness  against 
the  British  Government.  England  was  truly  the  mother  country  of  that 
province.  Their  grievances  were  recent ;  their  wounds  fresh.  Great  Britain 
in  its  restrictive  measures  against  Boston  Port  touched  their  pockets  as  well 
as  their  persons,  and  like  true  Englishmen  they  were  bound  to  fight  against 
any  encroachments  upon  their  guaranteed  rights  of  person  or  property. 

But  in  a  great  body  of  the  people  outside  of  New  England  the  causes 
were  deeper  and  of  more  ancient  origin.  Their  enmity  to  England  and  the 
English  government  dated  far  back  from  the  beginning  of  history.  It  was 
not  unlike  the  feeling  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Irish  in  America  toward  England 
at  the  present  day.  The  Scots  were  the  hereditary  foes  of  the  English  kings. 
Their  battles  with  the  English  had  made  of  the  Scottish  Lowlands  one  vast 
armed  camp  and  battle-field  during  the  larger  part  of  a  period  of  five  centuries 
after  the  year  1000. 18  Their  forbears  were  "  Scots  who  had  wi'  Wallace  bled." 
They  were  children  of  the  men  who  had  fought  the  English  at  Stirling  Bridge, 
at  Bannockburn,  and  "  on  Flodden's  dark  field."  Their  fathers  also  had 
perished  in  countless  numbers  before  the  malignant  fury  of  the  Anglican 
Establishment.  For  worshipping  God  as  their  consciences  dictated  they 
had  been  hunted  like  wild  beasts  by  the  merciless  dragoons  of  the  bishops; 


150  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

pursued  from  moor  to  glen  by  armed  bands  of  the  king's  soldiers,  their  chil- 
dren shot  down  like  dogs  by  the  ferocious  ruffians  employed  by  the  English 
Church,  or  doomed  to  a  fate  worse  than  death  by  savage  Highlanders,  sure 
of  a  promised  immunity,  whom  that  Church  had  turned  loose  upon  their 
defenceless  homes. 

The  Scotch  were  not  of  a  cowardly  race,  nor  were  they  weak  and  spirit- 
less louts,  subject  to  their  masters  for  life  or  death,  like  dumb,  driven  cattle. 
They  cannot  be  judged  by  modern  standards,  but  must  be  compared  with 
people  of  other  races  who  were  their  contemporaries.  It  is  true  they  en- 
dured unjust  persecutions  and  grievous  oppressions  for  long  periods  without 
open  complaint  or  effective  resistance.  But  they  rebelled  against  their 
tyrants  and  oppressors  earlier,  and  more  often,  and  more  efficaciously  than 
did  the  people  of  any  other  nation.  They  anticipated  the  English  by  a  full 
century  in  their  revolutions,  and  their  claim  for  the  rights  of  the  individual. 
They  were  more  than  two  centuries  ahead  of  the  French  in  fighting  and 
dying  for  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution.  They  were  farther  ad- 
vanced three  centuries  ago  than  the  Germans  are  to-day  in  their  conceptions 
and  ideals  of  individual  liberty.  Buckle  well  says,  in  speaking  of  his  own 
English  race,  "If  we  compare  our  history  with  that  of  our  northern  neigh- 
bors, we  must  pronounce  ourselves  a  meek  and  submissive  people."  There 
have  been  more  rebellions  in  Scotland  than  in  any  other  country,  excepting 
some  of  the  Central  and  South  American  republics.  And  the  rebellions 
have  been  very  sanguinary,  as  well  as  very  numerous.  The  Scotch  have 
made  war  upon  most  of  their  kings,  and  put  to  death  many.  To  mention 
their  treatment  of  a  single  dynasty,  they  murdered  James  I.  and  James  III. 
They  rebelled  against  James  II.  and  James  VII.  They  laid  hold  of  James 
V.  and  placed  him  in  confinement.  Mary  they  immured  in  a  castle,  and 
afterwards  deposed.  Her  successor,  James  VI.,  they  imprisoned;  they  led 
him  captive  about  the  country,  and  on  one  occasion  attempted  his  life. 
Towards  Charles  I.  they  showed  the  greatest  animosity,  and  they  were  the 
first  to  restrain  his  mad  career.  Three  years  before  the  English  ventured  to 
rise  against  that  despotic  prince,  the  Scotch  boldly  took  up  arms  and  made 
war  on  him.  The  service  which  they  then  rendered  to  the  cause  of  liberty 
it  would  be  hard  to  overrate.  They  often  lacked  patriotic  leaders  at  home, 
and  their  progress  was  long  retarded  by  internecine  and  clan  strife.  They 
were  hard-headed,  fighting  ploughmen.  Though  with  a  deep  religious  char- 
acter, and  conscientiousness  to  an  extreme  that  often  has  seemed  ridiculous 
to  outsiders,  their  material  accomplishments  as  adventurers,  pioneers,  and 
traders,  in  statesmanship,  in  science,  in  metaphysics,  in  literature,  in  com- 
merce, in  finance,  in  invention,  and  in  war,  show  them  to  be  the  peers  of  the 
people  of  any  other  race  the  world  has  ever  known. 

Hence,  they  entered  upon  the  American  Revolutionary  contest  with  a 
deep-seated  hatred  of  England  inherited  from  the  past,  with  a  passionate 
desire  for  vengeance,  and  with  that  never-ceasing  persistence  which  is  their 


Early  American  Animosity  to  England  151 

chief  characteristic  as  a  race  " ;  and  in  tracing  their  history  down  to  this  point 
it  would  seem  as  if  we  could  see  the  working  of  some  inscrutable  principle 
of  Divine  compensation ;  for  without  the  later  presence  in  America  of  these 
descendants  of  the  martyred  Scottish  Covenanters  —  doubly  embittered  by 
the  remembrance  of  the  outrageous  wrongs  done  their  fathers  and  the  ex- 
perience of  similar  wrongs  inflicted  upon  themselves  and  their  families — the 
Revolution  of  1776  would  not  have  been  undertaken,  and  could  not  have 
been  accomplished.16 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XI. 

I  See  Appendix  H  (Henry  VIII. 's  Reformation  and  Church). 

8  Cranmer  first  suggested  to  Henry  a  means  by  which  he  might  free  himself  from  Catherine 
without  waiting  for  a  papal  divorce  ;  namely,  that  if  he  could  obtain  opinions  from  the  learned 
of  the  universities  of  Europe  to  the  effect  that  his  marriage  was  illegal  because  of  Catherine's 
having  been  his  deceased  brother's  wife,  then  no  divorce  would  be  necessary.  Just  how  these 
opinions  were  obtained  is  told  in  letters  of  Richard  Croke  and  others  in  Nos.  xcix.,  cxxvi., 
cxxviii.,  cxlvi.,  clvii.,  and  cciii.,  of  Pocock's  Records  of  the  Reformation  ;  and  also  by  a 
contemporary  of  Cranmer  (Cavendish,  Life  of  Wolsey,  Singer's  edition,  p.  206)  in  these 
words  :  "  There  was  inestimable  sums  of  money  given  to  the  famous  clerks  to  choke  them,  and 
in  especial  to  those  who  had  a  governance  and  custody  of  their  universities'  seals."  Later, 
Cranmer  pronounced  the  divorce  between  Catherine  and  Henry,  when  it  became  apparent 
that  the  Pope  would  not  consent  to  it ;  and  he  likewise  arbitrarily  divorced  Anne  and  Henry, 
and  declared  the  children  of  both  consorts  of  that  king  to  be  bastards.  When  finally  brought 
to  punishment  by  Mary  for  the  many  injuries  done  to  her  mother,  herself,  and  her  church, 
and  for  his  share  in  the  execution  of  the  Catholics,  he  basely  recanted  his  Protestantism  in  the 
vain  hope  of  saving  his  life. 

"  The  courage  that  Cranmer  had  shown  since  the  accession  of  Mary  gave  way  the 
moment  his  final  doom  was  announced.  The  moral  cowardice  with  the  lust  and  despotism 
of  Henry  displayed  itself  again  in  six  successive  recantations  by  which  he  hoped  to  purchase 
pardon." — Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  book  vi. ,  ch.  ii. 

3  * '  Upon  the  approach  of  the  Armada  many  of  the  Catholics  had  been  placed  in  prison  as 
a  precautionary  measure.  Even  this  hardship  did  not  turn  them  against  the  government. 
Those  confined  in  Ely  for  their  religion  signed  a  declaration  of  their  ' 4  readiness  to  fight  till 
death,  in  the  cause  of  the  queen,  against  all  her  enemies,  were  they  kings,  or  priests,  or 
popes,  or  any  other  potentate  whatsoever."  Before  1581,  three  Catholics  had  been  executed 
for  their  religion,  and  after  the  landing  of  Campian  and  Parsons,  a  few  Jesuits  were  added  to 
the  number.  Now,  directly  after  the  destruction  of  the  Armada,  which  proved  how  little 
danger  there  was  from  Rome,  a  selection  of  victims  was  made  from  the  Catholics  in  prison, 
as  if  to  do  honor  to  the  victory. 

II  Six  priests  were  taken,  whose  only  alleged  crime  was  the  exercise  of  their  priestly  office  ; 
four  laymen  who  had  been  reconciled  to  Mother  Church,  and  four  others  who  had  aided  or 
harbored  priests.  They  were  all  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  immediate  execution. 
Within  three  months,  fifteen  more  of  their  companions  were  dealt  with  in  the  same  manner, 
six  new  gallows  being  erected  for  their  execution.  It  was  not  so  much  as  whispered  that 
they  had  been  guilty  of  any  act  of  disloyalty.  Upon  their  trials  nothing  was  charged  against 
them  except  the  practice  of  their  religion.  This  was  called  treason,  and  they  met  the  bar- 
barous death  of  traitors,  being  cut  down  from  the  gallows  while  alive,  and  disembowelled 
when  in  the  full  possession  of  their  senses.  But  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  bloody 
work.  In  the  fourteen  years  which  elapsed  between  the  attempted  invasion  by  Spain  and  the 
death  of  Elizabeth,  sixty-one  Catholic  clergymen  (few  of  whom  were  Jesuits),  forty-seven 


152  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

laymen,  and  two  gentlewomen  suffered  capital  punishment  for  some  one  or  other  of  the 
spiritual  felonies  and  treasons  which  had  been  lately  created,  most  of  the  victims  being  drawn 
and  quartered. 

"  Many  writers,  when  alluding  to  this  butchery,  make  the  statement  that  it  was  not  a  relig- 
ious persecution  ;  that  these  victims  were  punished  for  treason  and  not  for  their  religion.  But 
when  a  statute,  in  defiance  of  all  principles  of  law,  makes  the  mere  practice  of  a  religious  rite 
punishable  as  an  act  of  treason,  it  is  the  paltriest  verbal  quibble  to  say  that  it  is  not  a  re- 
ligious persecution.  Under  such  a  definition,  all  of  Alva's  atrocities  in  the  Netherlands 
could  be  justified,  and  the  Inquisition  would  take  the  modest  place  of  a  legitimate  engine  of 
the  State." — Douglas  Campbell,  The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  vol.  ii., 
pp.  110-112  (by  permission  of  Messrs.  Harper  &  Brothers). 

In  the  elections  for  the  New  Parliament  [1661]  the  zeal  for  church  and  king  swept 
all  hope  of  moderation  and  compromise  before  it.  .  .  .  The  new  members  were  yet 
better  Churchmen  than  loyalists.  ...  At  the  opening  of  their  session  they  ordered  every 
member  to  receive  the  communion,  and  the  League  and  Covenant  to  be  solemnly  burned  by 
the  common  hangman  in  Westminster  Hall.  The  bishops  were  restored  to  their  seats  in  the 
House  of  Lords.     The  conference  at  the  Savoy  between  the  Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians 

broke  up  in  anger The  strongholds  of  this  party  were  the  corporations  of  the 

boroughs  ;  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  drive  them  from  these  by  the  Test  and  Corporation 
Act,  which  required  a  reception  of  the  communion  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  a  renunciation  of  the  League  and  Covenant,  and  a  declaration  that  it  was  unlawful 
on  any  grounds  to  take  up  arms  against  the  King,  before  admission  to  municipal  offices.  A 
more  deadly  blow  was  dealt  at  the  Puritans  in  the  renewal  of  the  Uniformity  Act.  Not  only 
was  the  use  of  the  Prayer-book  and  the  Prayer-book  only,  enforced  in  all  public  worship,  but 
an  unfeigned  consent  and  assent  was  demanded  from  every  minister  of  the  Church  to  all 
which  was  contained  in  it ;  while  for  the  first  time  since  the  Reformation,  all  orders  save 
those  conferred  by  the  hands  of  bishops  were  legally  dissolved.  ...  It  was  the  close  of 
an  effort  which  had  been  going  on  ever  since  Elizabeth's  accession  to  bring  the  English  com- 
munion into  closer  relations  with  the  reformed  communions  of  the  Continent,  and  into  greater 
harmony  with  the  religious  instincts  of  the  nation  at  large.  The  Church  of  England  stood 
from  that  moment  isolated  and  alone  among  all  the  churches  of  the  Christian  world.  The 
Reformation  had  separated  it  irretrievably  from  those  which  still  clung  to  obedience  of  the 
Papacy.  By  its  rejection  of  all  but  Episcopal  orders,  the  Act  of  Uniformity  severed  it  as 
irretrievably  from  the  general  body  of  Protestant  churches,  whether  Lutheran  or  Reformed. 
And  while  thus  cut  off  from  all  healthy  religious  communication  with  the  world  without,  it 
sank  into  immorality  within.  With  the  expulsion  of  the  Puritan  clergy,  all  change,  all 
efforts  after  reform,  all  national  development,  suddenly  stopped.  From  that  time  to  this,  the 
Episcopal  Church  has  been  unable  to  meet  the  varying  spiritual  needs  of  its  adherents  by  any 
modification  of  its  government  or  Its  worship.  It  stands  alone  among  all  the  religious  bodies 
of  Western  Christendom  in  its  failure  through  two  hundred  years  to  devise  a  single  new 
service  of  prayer  or  of  praise. — Green's  Short  History,  pp.  606,  607. 

4  See  Appendix  I  (Scotland  vs.  The  Divine  Right  of  Kings). 

5  This  is  said  to  be  the  one  original  principle  contributed  by  America  to  the  science  of 
government,  but  whether  that  be  true  or  not,  it  came  wholly  and  solely  from  that  part  of  the 
American  people  whose  forefathers  had  died  for  it  in  Scotland.  The  doctrine  of  the  respon- 
sibility of  kings  to  their  subjects,  as  widely  disseminated  through  America  by  Thomas  Paine 
in  his  Common  Sense  in  1774,  and  by  Jefferson  afterwards  made  a  chief  corner-stone  of  the 
Declaration,  is  likewise  of  Scottish  rather  than  English  origin.  See  Appendix  F.  (Separa- 
tion of  Church  and  State.) 

6  The  executions  of  Protestants  which  took  place  in  "Bloody  Mary's"  reign  were,  in 
1555,  seventy-five  ;  in  1556,  eighty-three  ;  in  1557,  seventy-seven  ;  in  1558,  fifty-one  ;  a  total 
of  286. 


Early  American  Animosity  to  England  153 

7  The  religious  changes  had  thrown  an  almost  sacred  character  over  the  "  majesty"  of 
the  King.  Henry  was  the  Head  of  the  Church.  From  the  primate  to  the  meanest  deacon 
every  minister  of  it  derived  from  him  his  sole  right  to  exercise  spiritual  powers.  The  voice 
of  its  preachers  was  the  echo  of  his  will.  He  alone  could  define  orthodoxy  or  declare  heresy. 
The  forms  of  its  worship  and  beliefs  were  changed  and  rechanged  at  the  royal  caprice.  Half 
of  its  wealth  went  to  swell  the  royal  treasury,  and  the  other  half  lay  at  the  King's  mercy.  It 
was  this  unprecedented  concentration  of  all  power  in  the  hands  of  a  single  man  that  over- 
awed the  imagination  of  Henry's  subjects.  He  was  regarded  as  something  high  above  the 
laws  which  govern  common  men.  The  voices  of  statesmen  and  priests  extolled  his  wisdom 
and  authority  as  more  than  human.  The  Parliament  itself  rose  and  bowed  to  the  vacant 
throne  when  his  name  was  mentioned.  An  absolute  devotion  to  his  person  replaced  the  old 
loyalty  to  the  law.  When  the  Primate  of  the  English  Church  described  the  chief  merit  of 
Cromwell,  it  was  by  asserting  that  he  loved  the  King  "  no  less  than  he  loved  God." — John 
Richard  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  book  vi.,  ch.  i. 

8  This  was  particularly  true  at  the  time  of  the  Revolutions  of  1638,  1688,  and  1775. 

9  See  Appendix  J  (Repression  of  Trade  in  Ireland). 

10  No  Presbyterian  could  henceforth  hold  any  office  in  the  army  or  navy,  in  the  customs, 
excise,  or  post  office,  nor  in  any  of  the  courts  of  law,  in  Dublin  or  the  provinces.  They  were 
forbidden  to  be  married  by  their  own  ministers  ;  they  were  prosecuted  in  the  ecclesiastical 
courts  for  immorality  because  they  had  so  married.  The  bishops  introduced  clauses  into  their 
leases  forbidding  the  erection  of  meeting-houses  on  any  part  of  their  estates  and  induced 
many  landlords  to  follow  their  example.  To  crown  all,  the  Schism  Act  was  passed  in  17 14, 
which  would  have  swept  the  Presbyterian  Church  out  of  existence,  but  Queen  Anne  died  be- 
fore it  came  into  operation,  but  not  before  the  furious  zeal  of  Swift  had  nailed  up  the  doors 
and  windows  of  the  Presbyterian  meeting-house  at  Summer  Hill,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Laracor.  Similar  scenes  occurred  at  three  other  places.  The  immediate  effect  of  these 
proceedings  was  to  estrange  the  Presbyterian  people  ;  and,  soon  after,  when  they  saw  that  all 
careers  were  closed  against  them,  wearied  out  with  long  exactions,  they  began  to  leave  the 
country  by  thousands.  The  destruction  of  the  woollen  trade  sent  20,000  of  them  away.  The 
rapacity  and  greed  of  landlords,  and  especially  the  Marquis  of  Donegal,  the  grandson  of  Sir 
Arthur  Chichester,  the  founder  of  the  Ulster  plantation,  caused  the  stream  of  emigration  to 
America  to  flow  on  for  nearly  forty  years  without  intermission. — Thomas  Croskery,  Irish 
Presbyierianism,  Dublin,  1S84,  pp.  13,  14. 

See  Appendix  K  (The  Test  Act). 

11  "  It  would  be  difficult  indeed  to  conceive  a  national  condition  less  favourable  than  that 
of  Ireland  [in  171 7]  to  a  man  of  energy  and  ambition.  .  .  .  If  he  were  a  Presbyterian  he  was 
subject  to  the  disabilities  of  the  Test  Act.  .  .  .  The  result  was  that  a  steady  tide  of  emi- 
gration set  in,  carrying  away  all  those  classes  who  were  most  essential  to  the  development  of 
the  nation.  The  manufacturers  and  the  large  class  of  energetic  labourers  who  lived  upon 
manufacturing  industry  were  scattered  far  and  wide.  Some  of  them  passed  to  England  and 
Scotland.  Great  numbers  found  a  home  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania,  and  they  were  the 
founders  of  the  linen  manufacture  in  New  England  {Burke's  Settlements  in  America,  ii.,  174, 
175,  216). 

4 '  The  Protestant  emigration  which  began  with  the  destruction  of  the  woollen  manufacture, 
continued  during  many  years  with  unabated  and  even  accelerating  rapidity.  At  the  time  of 
the  Revolution,  when  great  portions  of  the  country  lay  waste,  and  when  the  whole  framework 
of  society  was  shattered,  much  Irish  land  had  been  let  on  lease  at  very  low  rents  to  Eng- 
lish, and  especially  to  Scotch,  Protestants.  About  I7i7and  1718  these  leases  began  to  fall  in. 
Rents  were  usually  doubled,  and  often  trebled.  The  smaller  farms  were  generally  put  up  to 
competition,  and  the  Catholics,  who  were  accustomed  to  live  in  the  most  squalid  misery,  and 
to  forego  all  the  comforts  of  life,  very  naturally  outbid  the  Protestants.  This  fact,  added  to 
the  total  destruction  of  the  main  industries  on  which  the  Protestant  population  subsisted,  to 


154  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  disabilities  to  which  the  Protestant  nonconformists  were  subject  on  account  of  their 
religion,  and  to  the  growing  tendency  to  throw  land  into  pasture,  produced  a  great  social 
revolution,  the  effects  of  which  have  never  been  repaired." — Lecky,  Irelandin  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  vol.  i.,  pp.  245,  246. 

Mr.  Robert  Slade,  Secretary  to  the  Irish  Society  of  London  in  1802,  who  had  been  sent 
to  Londonderry  to  inspect  the  property  of  that  Society,  in  the  report  of  his  journey  writes  as 
follows :  "  The  road  from  Down  Hill  to  Coleraine  goes  through  the  best  part  of  the  Cloth- 
workers'  proportion,  and  was  held  by  the  Right  Hon.  Richard  Jackson  [he  was  nominated 
for  Parliament  by  the  town  of  Coleraine  in  1712],  who  was  the  Society's  general  agent.  It  is 
commonly  reported  in  the  country,  that,  having  been  obliged  to  raise  the  rents  of  his  tenants 
very  considerably,  in  consequence  of  the  large  fine  he  paid,  it  produced  an  almost  total  emi- 
gration of  them  to  America,  and  that  they  formed  a  principal  part  of  that  undisciplined  body 
which  brought  about  the  surrender  of  the  British  army  at  Saratoga."  This  undoubtedly 
refers  to  the  emigration  of  those  colonists  who,  in  1718-19,  founded  the  town  of  Londonderry, 
New  Hampshire,  from  which  place  were  recruited  Stark's  Rangers,  who  fought  the  battle  of 
Bennington,  and  also  many  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  battles  which  led  to  Burgoyne's 
surrender.  Five  ship-loads,  comprising  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  families,  sailed  from 
Ulster  in  the  summer  of  1718 ,  reaching  Boston  on  August  4th.  Here  they  were  not  long  per- 
mitted to  remain  by  the  Puritan  Government,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  had  come  from 
Ireland,  but  were  granted  a  portion  of  the  township  in  which  they  afterwards  built  the  town 
of  Londonderry,  the  site  then  being  far  out  on  the  frontier.  These  emigrants  were  accom- 
panied by  four  ministers,  among  whom  was  the  Reverend  James  Macgregor.  He  had  been 
ordained  at  Aghadoey  in  1701,  and  served  as  their  first  minister  in  America.  Their  motives 
in  emigrating  may  be  gathered  from  a  manuscript  sermon  of  Mr.  Macgregor's,  addressed  to 
them  on  the  eve  of  their  embarkation.  These  reasons  he  states  as  follows  :  "  1.  To  avoid 
oppression  and  cruel  bondage.  2.  To  shun  persecution  and  designed  ruin.  3.  To  withdraw 
from  the  communion  of  idolators.  4.  To  have  an  opportunity  of  worshipping  God  according 
to  the  dictates  of  conscience  and  the  rules  of  His  inspired  Word." 

See  also  Appendix  L  (Tithes  in  Ulster). 

12  Mr.  Adolphus,  in  his  book  on  the  Reign  of  George  III.,  uses  the  following  language  : 
' '  The  first  effort  toward  a  union  of  interest  was  made  by  the  Presbyterians,  who  were  eager 
in  carrying  into  execution  their  favorite  project  of  forming  a  synod.  Their  churches  had 
hitherto  remained  unconnected  with  each  other,  and  their  union  in  synod  had  been  considered 
so  dangerous  to  the  community  that  in  1725  it  was  prevented  by  the  express  interference  of 
the  lords-justices.  Availing  themselves,  with  great  address,  of  the  rising  discontents,  the 
convention  of  ministers  and  elders  at  Philadelphia  enclosed  in  a  circular-letter  to  all  the 
Presbyterian  congregations  in  Pennsylvania  the  proposed  articles  of  union.  ...  In  con- 
sequence of  this  letter,  a  union  of  all  the  congregations  took  place  in  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Lower  Counties.  A  similar  confederacy  was  established  in  all  the  Southern  provinces,  in 
pursuance  of  similar  letters  written  by  their  respective  conventions.  These  measures  ended 
in  the  establishment  of  an  annual  synod  at  Philadelphia,  where  all  general  affairs,  political  as 
well  as  religious,  were  debated  and  decided.  From  this  synod  orders  and  decrees  were  issued 
throughout  America,  and  to  them  a  ready  and  implicit  obedience  was  paid. 

"  The  discontented  in  New  England  recommended  a  union  of  the  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  interests  throughout  the  colonies.  A  negotiation  took  place,  which  ended  in 
the  appointment  of  a  permanent  committee  of  correspondence,  and  powers  to  communicate 
and  consult  on  all  occasions  with  a  similar  committee  established  by  the  Congregational 
churches  in  New  England.     .     . 

4 '  By  this  union  a  party  was  prepared  to  display  their  power  by  resistance,  and  the  Stamp 
law  presented  itself  as  a  favorable  object  of  hostility." 

Equally  explicit  testimony  is  borne  in  a  published  address  of  Mr.  William  B.  Reed  of 
Philadelphia,  himself  an  Episcopalian  :  "  The  part  taken  by  the  Presbyterians  in  the  contest 


Early  American  Animosity  to  England  155 

with  the  mother-country  was  indeed,  at  the  time,  often  made  a  ground  of  reproach,  and  the 
connection  between  their  efforts  for  the  security  of  their  religious  liberty  and  opposition  to 
the  oppressive  measures  of  Parliament,  was  then  distinctly  seen."  Mr.  Galloway,  a  prominent 
advocate  of  the  government,  in  1774,  ascribed  the  revolt  and  revolution  mainly  to  the  action 
of  the  Presbyterian  clergy  and  laity  as  early  as  1764.  Another  writer  of  the  same  period  says  : 
' '  You  will  have  discovered  that  I  am  no  friend  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  that  I  fix  all  the 
blame  of  these  extraordinary  proceedings  upon  them." — J.  G.  Craighead,  Scotch  and  Irish 
Seeds  in  American  Soil,  pp.  322-324. 

13  The  two  nations  in  the  long  course  of  their  history  had  met  each  other  in  three  hun- 
dred and  fourteen  pitched  battles,  and  had  sacrificed  more  than  a  million  of  men  as  brave  as 
ever  wielded  claymore,  sword,  or  battle-axe. — Halsey,  Scotland's  Influence  on  Civilization, 
p.  14. 

14  "  Call  this  war,  my  dearest  friend,  by  whatsoever  name  you  may,  only  call  it  not  an 
American  Rebellion,  it  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  an  Irish-Scotch  Presbyterian  Rebellion." 
— Extract  from  a  letter  of  Captain  Johann  Heinrichs  of  the  Hessian  Jager  Corps,  written 
from  Philadelphia,  January  18,  1778  ;  see  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography, 
vol.  xxii.,  p.  137. 

General  Wayne  had  a  constitutional  attachment  to  the  decision  of  the  sword,  and  this 
cast  of  character  had  acquired  strength  from  indulgence,  as  well  as  from  the  native  temper  of  the 
troops  he  commanded.  They  were  known  by  the  designation  of  the  Line  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
whereas  they  might  have  been  with  more  propriety  called  the  Line  of  Ireland.  Bold  and 
daring,  they  were  impatient  and  refractory  ;  and  would  always  prefer  an  appeal  to  the  bayonet 
to  a  toilsome  march.  Restless  under  the  want  of  food  and  whiskey,  adverse  to  absence  from 
their  baggage,  and  attached  to  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  Wayne  and  his  brigade  were  more 
encumbered  with  wagons  than  any  equal  portion  of  the  army.  The  General  and  his  soldiers 
were  singularly  fitted  for  close  and  stubborn  action,  hand  to  hand,  in  the  centre  of  the  army  ; 
but  very  little  adapted  to  the  prompt  and  toilsome  service  to  which  Lafayette  was  and  must 
be  exposed,  so  long  as  the  British  general  continued  to  press  him.  Cornwallis  therefore  did  not 
miscalculate  when  he  presumed  that  the  junction  of  Wayne  would  increase  rather  than 
diminish  his  chance  of  bringing  his  antagonist  [Lafayette]  to  action. — Gen.  Henry  Lee, 
Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department,  ch.  xxxi.,  p.  203,  vol.  ii.,  first  edition  ;  p. 
292,  second  edition. 

Dr.  Charles  Janeway  Stille,  in  his  work  on  Major-General  Anthony  Wayne  and  the 
Pennsylvania  Line  in  the  Continental  Army,  in  commenting  on  this  passage  speaks  as  follows  : 
"A  curious  error  has  been  fallen  into  by  many  historians,  including  Mr.  Bancroft,  in  speaking 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Line,  that  '  it  was  composed  in  a  large  degree  of  new-comers  from  Ireland.' 
.  .  .  These  writers  are  evidently  thinking  of  the  characteristic  qualities  of  the  Celtic  Irish- 
man in  war  ;  but  there  were  not,  it  is  said  on  good  authority  [*'.  e.,  Dr.  William  H.  Egle  and 
John  Blair  Linn,  editors  of  the  Pennsylvania  Archives'],  more  than  three  hundred  persons  of 
Irish  birth  (Roman  Catholic  and  Celtic)  in  the  Pennsylvania  Line.  Two-thirds  of  the  force 
were  Scotch-Irish,  a  race  with  whose  fighting  qualities  we  are  all  familiar,  but  which  are  quite 
opposite  to  those  which  characterize  the  true  Irish  Celt.  Most  of  them  were  descendants  of  the 
Scotch-Irish  emigrants  of  1717-1730,  and  very  few  of  them  were  '  new-comers.'  "  In  making 
the  statement  last  quoted,  Dr.  Stille  evidently  overlooked  the  large  emigration  of  Scotch-Irish 
from  Belfast  to  Pennsylvania  which  took  place  in  1772-73.  These  emigrants  left  Ulster 
with  a  bitter  animosity  to  England,  brought  on  in  a  large  measure  by  the  same  causes  which 
afterwards  led  to  the  Protestant  Irish  Rebellion  of  1798. 

15  See  Appendix  M  (The  Scotch-Irish  and  the  Revolution). 


THE  SCOT  IN   NORTH    BRITAIN 


157 


CHAPTER    XII 
WHO  ARE  THE   SCOTCH-IRISH  ? 

THE  North  of  Ireland  is  divided  into  the  counties  of  Antrim,  Down,  Ar- 
magh, Londonderry  (formerly  Coleraine),  Tyrone,  Monaghan,  Donegal, 
Fermanagh,  and  Cavan.  These  nine  counties  comprise  the  ancient  province 
of  Ulster,  which  includes  a  fourth  part  of  the  island,  and  contains  8567 
square  miles  of  territory,  an  area  equal  to  nearly  one-fifth  that  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, or  of  about  the  same  extent  as  the  portion  of  that  State  lying  south 
and  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains. 

At  the  present  time,  one-third  of  the  land  in  Ulster  is  under  cultivation  ; 
somewhat  more  than  a  third  is  in  pasturage  ;  and  a  little  less  than  one-fourth 
is  classed  as  waste  land — mountains  and  bogs  :  in  all  5,321,580  acres.  Such 
of  this  land  as  was  not  laid  off  into  towns  and  roads  was  held,  in  1881,  by 
22,000  owners — 3,766,816  acres,  or  72  per  cent.,  belonging  to  477  individuals, 
of  whom  95  owned  2,088,170  acres,  or  40  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 

In  1891,  the  population  of  the  province  was  1,619,814,  of  whom  45.98  per 
cent,  are  classified  in  the  Census  Report  of  Great  Britain  as  Roman  Catho- 
lics ;  22.39  Per  cent,  as  Episcopalians  ;  and  26.32  per  cent,  as  Presbyterians. 
These  proportions  bear  a  close  affinity  to  those  of  the  various  racial  elements 
of  which  the  population  is  composed.  In  this  respect,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  represents  approximately  the  ancient  Irish  element;  the  Episcopalian 
Church,  the  English  or  Anglo-Irish  ;  and  the  Presbyterian,  the  Scotch  or 
Scotch-Irish.  In  those  districts  where  one  element  predominates  over  an- 
other, we  find  a  majority  of  the  people  identified,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
with  the  corresponding  religious  sect.  This  has  been  the  case  for  nearly 
three  hundred  years,  or  ever  since  the  foreign  elements  were  first  introduced, 
and  is  so  generally  recognized  that  it  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to  say  that  in 
no  other  mixed  population  in  the  world  has  church  affiliation  been  so  char- 
acteristic of  race  and  nationality  as  in  the  North  of  Ireland  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  seventeenth  century.1  This  circumstance  being  kept  in 
mind,  does  much  to  simplify  the  work  of  tracing  the  various  elements  of  the 
population  to  their  original  sources. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland  now  numbers  over  550  congrega- 
tions, and  there  are,  besides,  several  United  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian congregations.  The  Presbyterians  number  nearly  half  a  million — 
about  one-tenth  of  the  population  of  the  country.  The  Episcopalian  Church 
claims  over  600,000  adherents.  The  Presbyterian  Church  doubtless  includes 
more  than  four-fifths  of  the  Scots  of  Ulster.  The  manner  in  which  the  mem- 
bership of  that  church  is  distributed  affords  ample  proof  of  this.  Ulster 
claims   fifteen-sixteenths   of   them,  and   they  are  found  in  those  identical 

159 


160  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

localities  where  we  know  that  the  Scots  settled.  In  Antrim  they  constitute 
38  per  cent,  of  a  total  population  of  428,000  ;  in  Down,  38  per  cent,  of  a 
total  population  of  267,000  ;  while  in  Londonderry  they  form  30  per  cent., 
in  Tyrone,  19,  and  in  Armagh  15  per  cent,  of  the  population.  But  it  is  when 
we  come  to  examine  the  details  of  the  census  of  1881  that  the  clearest  traces 
of  the  Scottish  emigration  are  to  be  found.  Down  has  only  38  per  cent,  of 
Presbyterians,  but  that  is  because  the  south  of  the  county  was  never  colon- 
ized, and  is  still  Roman  Catholic.  The  old  Scottish  colony  in  Upper  Clan- 
naboye  and  the  Great  Ards  is  still  nearly  as  Presbyterian  as  in  1630.  James 
Hamilton,  immediately  after  settling  there  in  1606,  raised  churches  and 
placed  "  learned  and  pious  ministers  from  Scotland  "  in  the  six  parishes  of 
his,  estate  —  Bangor,  Killinchy,  Holywood,  Ballyhalbert,  Dundonald,  and 
Killyleagh.  These  parishes  have  gone  on  flourishing,  so  that  when  the  census 
collector  did  his  rounds  through  Hamilton's  old  estate  in  1881,  he  found 
that  it  contained  29,678  inhabitants  ;  and  that  although  it  was  situated  in 
what  has  been  called  the  most  Catholic  country  in  Europe,  only  3444  Roman 
Catholics  were  there  to  be  found,  as  against  17,205  Presbyterians.  For 
nearly  three  centuries  these  "  Westlan'  Whigs  "  have  stood  true  to  their  Scot- 
tish Church.  The  record  of  Hugh  Montgomery's  settlement  is  quite  as 
curious.  His  old  headquarters,  Newtown-Ards,  has  grown  into  a  flourish- 
ing little  manufacturing  town  ;  and  Donaghadee  is  a  big  village  well  known 
as  a  ferry-port  for  Scotland.  Still  they  remain  "  true  blue  "  Presbyterian. 
Montgomery's  estate  is  pretty  well  covered  by  the  four  parishes  of  Newtown- 
Ards,  Grey  Abbey,  Comber,  and  Donaghadee.  These  have  a  united  population 
of  26,559  ;  the  Presbyterians  number  16,714,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  only 
1370  —  the  balance  being  mainly  Episcopalians  and  Methodists.  In  Armagh 
and  in  Fermanagh,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Episcopalians  are  more  numerous 
than  the  Presbyterians.  In  the  former  there  are  32  per  cent,  belonging  to 
the  Church  of  Ireland,  and  only  15  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  ;  while  in 
the  latter  there  are  only  2  per  cent,  of  Presbyterians,  as  against  36  of  Epis- 
copalians. The  balance  of  nationalities  and  of  religions  remains  to  all 
appearance  what  the  colonization  of  the  seventeenth  century  made  it,  and 
that  notwithstanding  the  great  emigration  from  Ulster  during  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  only  strange  change  is,  that  Belfast,  which  was  at  its  founda- 
tion an  English  town,  should  so  soon  have  become  in  the  main  Scottish,  and 
should  remain  such  unto  this  day. 

There  is  another  point  that  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  —  one, 
indeed,  on  which  the  foregoing  conditions  may  be  said  quite  largely  to 
depend.  That  is,  the  fact  that  intermarriages  between  the  natives  and  the 
Scotch  settlers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  their  descendants  in  Ulster, 
have  been  so  rare  and  uncommon  as  to  be  practically  anomalous,  and  in 
consequence  can  hardly  be  said  to  enter  into  the  general  question  of  race 
origin  ;  or  at  most,  only  in  an  incidental  way.2 

It  is  true,  this  cannot  be  said  of  the  English  colonists  of  Elizabeth's  time, 


Who  Are  the  Scotch-Irish  ?  161 

nor  of  Cromwell's  soldiers,  who  settled  in  the  southern  provinces  of  Ireland 
after  1650.  Concerning  these  two  latter  classes  of  settlers,  as  the  most 
recent  authoritative  writer8  on  Ireland  has  said:  "  No  feature  of  Irish 
history  is  more  conspicuous  than  the  rapidity  with  which  intermarriages  had 
altered  the  character  of  successive  generations  of  English  colonists.  .  .  . 
The  conquest  of  Ireland  by  the  Puritan  soldiers  of  Cromwell  was  hardly 
more  signal  than  the  conquest  of  these  soldiers  by  the  invincible  Catholicism 
of  the  Irish  women."  But  in  the  case  of  the  Scotch  colonists  planted  by 
James  in  Ulster,  and  of  those  who  followed  them,  we  find  none  of  the  results 
attributed  by  Lecky  to  the  intermarriages  of  the  English  soldiers  with  the 
Irish.  And  while  it  is  true  that  the  influence  of  religion  in  keeping  up 
the  lines  of  race  distinction  has  been  at  times  overestimated,  yet  in  the  case 
of  the  Ulster  Scots,  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  propinquity  and  the  asso- 
ciations of  daily  life  made  it  "  absolutely  certain  that  attachments  would  be 
formed,  that  connections  would  spring  up,  that  passion,  caprice,  and  daily 
association  would  .  .  .  prove  too  strong  for  religious  or  social  repug- 
nance "  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  change  or  perceptibly  influence  the  char- 
acter of  their  descendants.  These  Scottish  people  in  Ireland  to-day  exhibit 
all  the  distinctive  racial  characteristics  of  their  Scottish  forefathers  ;  and 
have  none  of  the  peculiar  qualities  attributed  by  the  two  leading  writers  on 
the  subject  to  the  offspring  of  mixed  marriages  between  Irish  Protestants 
and  Roman  Catholics.  Thus  we  are  led  to  conclude  that  inasmuch  as  the 
Ulster  Scots  have  not  been  overcome  by  the  invincible  Roman  Catholi- 
cism of  the  Irish  women,  and  since  they  remain  Presbyterians,  as  their  early- 
Scotch  ancestors  were  before  them,  they  are  likewise  of  unmixed  Scottish 
blood. 

Concerning  the  correctness  of  this  conclusion,  we  have  the  recent  testi- 
mony of  two  distinguished  Americans,  one  of  them  a  native  and  the  other 
for  many  years  a  resident  of  Ulster.  And,  considering  the  well-known 
prominence  of  these  two  gentlemen  as  clergymen,  it  cannot  be  supposed 
that  their  denominational  proclivities  would  lead  them  to  give  any  other 
than  an  accurate  statement  of  facts  so  readily  capable  of  verification.  One 
of  these  witnesses,  the  late  Dr.  John  Hall  of  New  York,  said  :  "  I  have 
sometimes  noticed  a  little  confusion  of  mind  in  relation  to  the  phrase, 
*  Scotch-Irish,'  as  if  it  meant  that  Scotch  people  had  come  over  and  in- 
termarried with  the  native  Irish,  and  that  thus  a  combination  of  two  races, 
two  places,  two  nationalities  had  taken  place.  That  is  by  no  means  the 
state  of  the  case.  On  the  contrary,  with  kindly  good  feeling  in  various 
directions,  the  Scotch  people  kept  to  the  Scotch  people,  and  they  are  called 
Scotch-Irish  from  purely  local,  geographical  reasons,  and  not  from  any 
union  of  the  kind  that  I  have  alluded  to.  I  have  n't  the  least  doubt  that 
their  being  in  Ireland  and  in  close  contact  with  the  native  people  of  that 
land,  and  their  circumstances  there,  had  some  influence  in  the  developing  of 
the  character,  in  the  broadening  of  the  sympathies,  in  the  extending  of  the 


1 62  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

range  of  thought  and  action  of  the  Scotch-Irish  people  ;  but  they  are  Scotch 
through  and  through,  they  are  Scottish  out  and  out,  and  they  are  Irish  be- 
cause, in  the  providence  of  God,  they  were  sent  for  some  generations  to  the 
land  that  I  am  permitted  to  speak  of  as  the  land  of  my  birth." 

The  second  authority  is  the  Rev.  John  S.  Macintosh  of  Philadelphia,  who, 
by  reason  of  his  many  years  of  close  observation  spent  amongst  the  people 
of  Ulster,  and  his  extended  research  into  their  earlier  history,  is  perhaps 
better  qualified  to  speak  conclusively  on  the  subject  than  any  other  living 
person.  His  testimony  is  that :  "  Our  American  term  —  the  Scotch-Irish  — 
is  not  known  even  in  Ulster,  save  among  the  very  few  who  have  learned  the 
ways  of  our  common  speech.  The  term  known  in  Britain  is  the  Ulsterman  ; 
and  in  Ireland,  it  is  the  '  sturdy  Northern,'  or  at  times  the  '  black  Northern.' 
What  changed  the  Lowlander,  and  what  gave  us  the  Ulsterman  ?  In  this 
study  I  have  drawn  very  largely  upon  the  labors  of  two  friends  of  former 
years  —  Dr.  William  D.  Killen  of  the  Assembly's  College,  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  accurate  of  historians,  and  the  Rev.  George  Hill,  once  Librarian 
of  Queen's  College,  Belfast,  Ireland,  than  whom  never  was  there  more 
ardent  student  of  old  annals  and  reliable  of  antiquarians.  But  more  largely 
still  have  I  drawn  on  my  own  personal  watch  and  study  of  this  Ulster  folk 
in  their  homes,  their  markets,  and  their  churches.  From  Derry  to  Down  I 
have  lived  with  them.  Every  town,  village,  and  hamlet  from  the  Causeway 
to  Carlingford  is  familiar  to  me.  Knowing  the  Lowlander  and  the  Scotch- 
Irish  of  this  land,  I  have  studied  the  Ulsterman  and  his  story  of  rights  and 
wrongs,  and  that  eagerly,  for  years.  I  speak  that  which  I  have  seen,  and 
testify  what  I  have  heard  from  their  lips,  read  from  old  family  books,  church 
records,  and  many  a  tombstone  in  kirk-yards.     .     .     . 

"  This  fact,  that  the  Ulster  colonist  was  a  stranger,  and  the  favorite,  for 
the  time,  of  England  and  her  government,  wrought  in  a  twofold  way  ;  in 
the  Ulsterman  and  against  him.     .     .     . 

"  Again,  the  fact  that  he  was  the  royal  colonist  wrought  in  him  the  pride, 
the  contempt,  the  hauteur  and  swaggering  daring  of  a  victorious  race  planted 
among  despised  savages.  What  at  a  later  day  was  seen  here  may  be  seen 
down  all  the  stretch  of  Ulster  history.  I  have  myself  seen  it,  and  heard 
time  and  again  he  would  '  lord  it  ower  the  mere  Eerish.'  And  the  rulers  of 
that  hour  both  cultivated  that  feeling  and  enforced  it.  The  Celt  of  that  day 
had  nothing  to  make  him  winsome  or  worthy  of  imitation.  Romance  and 
sentiment  may  as  well  be  dropped.  We  have  the  hard  facts  about  the  clans- 
men of  the  O'Neill.  The  glory  and  the  honor  were  with  England.  The 
times  were  big  with  the  fresh  British  life.  The  men  and  women  of  that  age 
and  the  age  just  closed  are  mighty  by  their  witching  force  of  greatness  in 
good  and  evil.  It  is  the  era  of  Britain's  bursting  life  and  greatening  soul. 
Song  and  statesmanship,  the  chiefs  of  the  drama,  and  the  captains  of  daring 
are  telling  mightily  on  our  forefathers  in  England  and  in  Ulster.  The  new 
'  Plantation '  itself  is  full  of  enchantment  when  contrasted  with  the  old  state 


Who  Are  the  Scotch-Irish  ?  163 

of  internecine  war.  .  .  .  But  those  proud  and  haughty  strangers,  with  high 
heads  and  their  new  ways,  were  hated  as  aliens  and  harried  from  the  begin- 
ning by  '  the  wild  Irish.' 

"  The  scorn  of  the  Scot  was  met  by  the  curse  of  the  Celt.  The  native 
chiefs  and  their  clansmen  did  not  distinguish  between  the  government  and 
the  colonists  ;  nor  had  they  the  right ;  nor  did  the  colonists  give  them  any 
cause.  The  hate  and  the  harrying  of  the  Irish  were  returned,  and  with  com- 
pound interest,  by  the  proud  Ulsterman.  I  neither  approve  nor  apologize  : 
I  simply  state  what  I  find.  To  him  the  *  redshanks  '  of  the  '  wild  Earl '  of 
Tyrone  were  exactly  as  the  redskins  of  our  forests  to  the  men  of  New  Eng- 
land and  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Ohio.  The  natives  were  always  *  thae 
Eerish  ! '  and  the  scorn  is  as  sharp  to-day  on  the  tongue  of  a  Belfast  Orange- 
man as  two  centuries  ago.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Ulster  settlers  mingled 
and  married  with  the  Irish  Celt.  The  Ulsterman  did  not  mingle  with  the 
Celt.  I  speak,  remember,  chiefly  of  the  period  running  from  1605  to  1741. 
There  had  been  in  Ireland  before  the  '  Plantation  '  some  wild  Islanders  from 
the  west  of  Scotland,  whose  descendants  I  have  found  in  the  Antrim 
*  Glynnes ' ;  they  did  marry  and  intermarry  with  the  natives  ;  but  King 
James  expressly  forbade  anymore  of  these  island-men  being  taken  to  Ulster; 
and  he  and  his  government  took  measures  that  the  later  settlers  of  the  *  Plan- 
tation '  should  be  taken  '  from  the  inward  parts  of  Scotland,'  and  that  they 
should  be  so  settled  that  they  '  may  not  mix  nor  intermarry '  with  *  the 
mere  Irish.'  The  Ulster  settlers  mingled  freely  with  the  English  Puritans 
and  with  the  refugee  Huguenots  ;  but  so  far  as  my  search  of  state  papers, 
old  manuscripts,  examination  of  old  parish  registers,  and  years  of  personal 
talk  with  and  study  of  Ulster  folk  disclose — the  Scots  did  not  mingle  to  any 
appreciable  extent  with  the  natives.  I  have  talked  with  three  very  old  friends, 
an  educated  lady,  a  shrewd  farmer's  wife,  and  a  distinguished  physician  ;  they 
could  each  clearly  recall  their  great-grandfathers  ;  these  great-grandparerits 
told  them  their  fathers'  tales  ;  and  I  have  kept  them  carefully  as  valuable 
personal  memoirs.  These  stories  agree  exactly  with  all  we  can  get  in  docu- 
ments. With  all  its  dark  sides,  as  well  as  all  light  sides,  the  fact  remains 
that  Ulsterman  and  Celt  were  aliens  and  foes. 

"  Hence  came  constant  and  bitter  strife.  ...  In  both  Lowlander 
and  Ulsterman  is  the  same  strong  racial  pride,  the  same  hauteur  and  self- 
assertion,  the  same  self-reliance,  the  same  close  mouth,  and  the  same  firm 
Will — '  the  stiff  heart  for  the  steek  brae.'  They  are  both  of  the  very  Scotch, 
Scotch.  To  this  very  hour,  in  the  remoter  and  more  unchanged  parts  of 
Antrim  and  Down,  the  country-folks  will  tell  you  :  '  We  're  no  Eerish  bot 
Scoatch.'  All  their  folk-lore,  all  their  tales,  their  traditions,  their  songs,  their 
poetry,  their  heroes  and  heroines,  and  their  home-speech,  is  of  the  oldest 
Lowland  types  and  times." 

Again,  we  have  some  supplementary  evidence  to  the  same  effect  from  a 
recent  Scottish  author,  John  Harrison,  who,  in  his  account  of  the  native 


164  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Irish-Scots,  gives  a  brief  and  characteristic  description  of  an  Ulster  grave- 
yard.    This  author  says  : 

Two  miles  south  from  Donaghadee,  on  the  shore  road  into  the  Upper 
Ards,  that  narrow  peninsula  between  Strangford  Lough  and  the  Irish  Sea, 
there  lies  a  little  enclosure  which  must  arrest  the  stranger's  attention.  It  is 
a  graveyard,  and  is  called  Temple-patrick.  It  is  surrounded  by  low  stone 
walls  ;  no  church  or  temple  is  now  within  its  confines  ;  no  trees  or  flowers 
give  grateful  shade,  or  lend  colour  and  tender  interest  ;  it  is  thickly  covered 
with  green  mounds,  and  with  monumental  slabs  of  gray  slaty  stone, — the 
graves  are  packed  close  together.  Read  the  simple  '  headstones,"  and  you 
discover  no  trace  of  sentiment  ;  few  fond  and  loving  words  ;  no  request  for 
the  prayers,  of  the  passer-by  for  the  souls  of  those  who  sleep  below  ;  nothing 
more  akin  to  sentiment  than  "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of."  Above,  great 
masses  of  gray  clouds,  as  they  go  scudding  past,  throw  down  on  the  traveller, 
as  he  rests  and  thinks,  big  drops  of  rain  ;  and  before  him  is  spread  out, 
north,  south,  and  east,  the  sullen  sea,  whose  moan  fills  all  his  sense  of  hear- 
ing. It  is  not  the  spot  which  a  man  would  love  to  picture  to  himself  as  his 
last  resting-place.  Read  the  names  on  the  stones,  and  you  discover  why 
here  in  Ireland  there  is  to  be  found  nothing  of  tender  grace  to  mark  the 
higher  side,  nothing  of  tinsel  to  show  the  lower,  of  Irish  character.  The 
names  are  very  Scottish — such  as  Andrew  Byers,  John  Shaw,  Thomas 
MacMillan,  Robert  Angus  ;  it  is  a  burying-place  of  the  simple  peasants  of 
County  Down,  who  are  still,  in  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  Scot- 
tish as  they  were  when  they  landed  here  nearly  three  centuries  ago.     .     .     . 

It  is  difficult  to  bring  home  to  men  who  do  not  know  Ireland  and  its  his- 
tory, the  fact  that  there  is  a  deep,  strongly  marked  difference  between  the 
Ulstermen  and  the  Irish,  and  that  that  difference  is  not  accidental,  not  the 
divergence  arising  out  of  different  surroundings,  not  even  that  springing 
from  antagonistic  religious  training,  but  is  the  deeper,  stronger-marked 
cleavage  of  differing  race.  It  is  as  distinct  as  that  between  any  two  varie- 
ties of  any  other  animal — say  between  mastiff  and  stag-hound.  Of  course, 
intermarriage  gradually  shades  off  the  difference  of  type  ;  but  take  the  Scots 
of  the  Ards  of  Down,  who  have  probably  scarcely  intermarried  with  the 
Irish  during  the  three  hundred  years  they  have  been  in  the  island,  and  con- 
trast them  with  the  inhabitants  of  West  Donegal,  who  have  probably  scarcely 
mixed  their  blood  with  the  English,  and  you  see  the  race  difference.  It  is 
strange  for  any  man  who  is  accustomed  to  walk  through  the  southern  dis- 
tricts of  Scotland,  and  to  meet  the  country  people  going  about  their  daily 
work  in  their  everyday  clothes  and  everyday  manner,  to  cross  into  Ireland 
and  wander  through  the  country  roads  of  Down  or  Antrim.  He  is  in  a 
country  which  is  supposed  to  be  passionately  anxious  to  set  up  a  separate 
nationality,  and  yet  he  cannot  feel  as  if  he  were  away  from  his  own  kith  and 
kin.  The  men  who  are  driving  the  carts  are  like  the  men  at  home  ;  the 
women  at  the  cottage  doors  are  in  build  and  carriage  like  the  mothers  of 
the  southern  Highlands  ;  the  signs  of  the  little  shops  in  the  village  bear 
well-known  names — Paterson,  perhaps,  or  Johnstone,  or  Slo.an  ;  the  boy 
sitting  on  the  "  dyke  "  with  nothing  to  do  is  whistling  A  man  's  a  man  for 
a'  that."  He  goes  into  a  village  inn,  and  is  served  by  a  six-foot,  loosely- 
hung  Scottish  Borderer,  worthy  to  have  served  "  drams  "  to  "  the  Shepherd 
and  Christopher  North  "  ;  and  when  he  leaves  the  little  inn  he  sees  by  the 
sign  that  his  host  bears  the  name  of  "James  Hay,"  and  his  wonder  ceases. 


Who  Are  the  Scotch-Irish  ?  165 

The  want  of  strangeness  in  the  men  and  women  is  what  strikes  him  as 
so  strange.  Then  he  crosses  the  Bann,  and  gets  into  a  different  region. 
He  leaves  behind  him  the  pleasant  green  hills  which  shut  in  Belfast  Lough, 
the  great  sweep  of  rich  plain  which  Lough  Neagh  may  well  ask  to  show 
cause  why  it  should  not  be  annexed  to  its  inland  sea  ;  he  gets  within  sight 
of  the  South  Derry  hills,  and  the  actors  in  the  scene  partly  change.  Some 
are  very  familiar  ;  the  smart  maid  at  his  inn  is  very  like  the  housemaid  at 
home,  and  the  principal  grocer  of  the  little  village  is  the  "  very  image  "  of 
the  elder  who  taught  him  at  the  Sunday  School  ;  but  he  meets  a  donkey- 
cart,  and  neither  the  donkey  nor  its  driver  seem  somehow  or  other  to  be  kin 
to  him  ;  and  the  "Father"  passes  him,  and  looks  at  him  as  at  a  stranger 
who  is  visiting  his  town, — then  the  Scotsman  knows  that  he  is  out  of  Scot- 
land and  into  Ireland.  It  is  not  in  Belfast  that  he  feels  the  likeness  to  home 
so  much,  for  everybody  is  walking  fast  just  as  they  are  in  Glasgow,  so  he 
cannot  notice  them  particularly,  and,  of  course,  the  "  loafers  "  at  the  public- 
house  doors,  who  are  certainly  not  moving  smartly,  do  not  count  for  any- 
thing in  either  town  ;  but  it  is  in  the  country  districts — at  Newtown  Ards,  or 
Antrim,  where  life  is  leisurely,  that  he  recognizes  that  he  is  among  his  own 
people  ;  while  it  is  in  a  town  which  is  in  the  border-land  between  Scot- 
tish and  Irish,  say  at  Coleraine,  on  a  Saturday  market-day,  that  he  has  the 
difference  of  the  two  types  in  face  and  figure  brought  strongly  before  him. 
Some  seem  foreign  to  him,  others  remind  him  of  his  "  ain  countrie,"  and 
make  him  feel  that  the  district  he  is  in,  is  in  reality  the  land  of  the  Scot. 

A  contributor  to  the  Edinburgh  Review  for  April,  1869,  in  writing  on  this 
subject,  says : 

Another  effect  of  the  Plantation  [of  Ulster]  was  that  it  effectually 
separated  the  two  races,  and  kept  them  apart.  It  planted  a  new  race  in 
the  country,  which  never  coalesced  with  the  native  population.  There  they 
have  been  in  continual  contact  for  more  than  two  centuries  ;  and  they  are 
still  as  distinct  as  though  an  ocean  rolled  between  them.  We  have  seen 
that  all  former  schemes  of  plantation  failed,  because  the  new  settlers  became 
rapidly  assimilated  to  the  character,  manners,  and  faith  of  the  native  inhab- 
itants ;  even  the  descendants  of  Oliver's  Puritan  troopers  being  as  effectually 
absorbed  in  the  space  of  forty  years  as  to  be  undistinguishable  from  the 
Celtic  mass.  The  Ulster  settlement  put  an  end  to  the  amalgamation  of 
races  ;  difference  of  creed,  difference  of  habits,  difference  of  tradition,  the 
sundering  effects  of  the  penal  laws,  kept  them  apart.  The  Presbyterian 
settlers  preserved  their  religious  distinctness  by  coming  in  families,  and  the 
intense  hatred  of  Popery  that  has  always  marked  the  Scottish  mind  was 
an  effective  hindrance  to  intermarriage.  It  is  a  curious  fact,  that  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Ulster  Presbyterians  still  look  back  to  Scotland  as  their  home, 
and  disclaim  all  alliance  with  the  Celtic  part  of  Ireland.  Indeed,  the  past 
history  of  Ulster  is  but  a  portion  of  Scottish  history  inserted  into  that  of 
Ireland  ;  a  stone  in  the  Irish  mosaic  of  an  entirely  different  quality  and 
color  from  the  pieces  that  surround  it. 

Hence  it  is  that  in  Ulster  of  the  present  day  there  is  little  difficulty  in 
distinguishing  the  citizen  of  Scottish  blood  from  the  Episcopalian  of  English 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  of  Irish  descent.  In  the  towns  and  districts  where 
the  Presbyterians  are  most  numerous  we  find  that,  so  far  as  names,  language, 


1 66  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

habits  of  thought  and  action,  and  the  testimony  of  recorded  history  can  be 
taken,  the  population  bears  the  most  characteristic  marks  of  a  Scottish 
origin.4  In  the  country  districts,  the  peasant  still  retains  the  Scotch  "  bur  " 
in  his  speech  * ;  devoutly  believes  in  the  doctrines  of  John  Calvin  and  John 
Knox  ;  is  firmly  committed  against  everything  allied  with  Popery  or  Prelacy  ; 
and  usually  emphatic  in  his  claims  to  a  Scottish  and  his  disavowal  of  an 
Irish  descent.6 

Not  that  all  the  Irish  Scots  are  Presbyterians,  however,  nor  all  the  Pres- 
byterians Scotch.  From  the  days  of  Echlin  and  Leslie  down,  some  of  the 
most  bitter  opponents  and  persecutors  of  Ulster  Presbyterianism  and  its 
adherents  have  been  Scotchmen  ;  while  some  of  its  most  useful  and  influen- 
tial supporters  have  come  from  the  ranks  of  the  English  Puritans  and  the 
French  Huguenots.7  Nevertheless,  the  great  bulk  of  the  Presbyterian 
settlers  in  Ulster  were  from  Scotland,  and  of  this  class  was  composed  nearly 
the  whole  emigration  from  that  country.  In  inquiring  into  the  origin  of 
these  people,  therefore,  we  must  seek  for  it  on  the  other  side  of  the  Irish 
Channel. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XII. 

1  The  rector  of  the  parish  of  Dungiven,  in  county  Derry,  writing  in  1814,  says  :  "  The 
inhabitants  of  the  parish  are  divided  into  two  races  of  men,  as  totally  distinct  as  if  they 
belonged  to  different  countries  and  regions.  These,  in  order  that  we  may  avoid  the  invidious 
names  of  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic,  which  indeed  have  little  to  say  in  the  matter,  may 
be  distinguished  by  the  usual  names  of  Scotch  and  Irish,  the  former  including  the  descend- 
ants of  all  the  Scotch  and  English  colonists  who  have  emigrated  hither  since  the  time  of 
James  I.,  and  the  latter  comprehending  the  native  and  original  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
Than  these,  no  two  classes  of  men  can  be  more  distinct  :  the  Scotch  are  remarkable  for  their 
comfortable  houses  and  appearance,  regular  conduct,  and  perseverance  in  business,  and  their 
being  almost  entirely  manufacturers  ;  the  Irish,  on  the  other  hand,  are  more  negligent  in 
their  habitations,  less  regular  and  guarded  in  their  conduct,  and  have  a  total  indisposition  to 
manufacture.  Both  are  industrious,  but  the  industry  of  the  Scotch  is  steady  and  patient,  and 
directed  with  foresight,  while  that  of  the  Irish  is  rash,  adventurous,  and  variable." — Statistical 
Account  of Ireland ',  Dublin,  1814,  vol.  ii.,  p.  307. 

2  The  numerous  Protestant  Kellys,  Sullivans,  Murphys,  McMahons,  and  others  show  that 
there  are  exceptions  to  this  general  proposition. 

8W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.,  p.  404. 

4  The  two  counties  which  have  been  most  thoroughly  transformed  by  this  emigration  are 
the  two  which  are  nearest  Scotland,  and  were  the  first  opened  up  for  emigrants.  These  two 
have  been  completely  altered  in  nationality  and  religion.  They  have  become  British,  and  in 
the  main,  certainly  Scottish.  Perhaps  no  better  proof  can  be  given  than  the  family  names  of 
the  inhabitants.  Some  years  ago,  a  patient  local  antiquary  took  the  voters'  list  of  county 
Down  "  of  those  rated  above  ^12  for  poor-rates,"  and  analyzed  it  carefully.  There  were 
10,028  names  on  the  list,  and  these  fairly  represented  the  whole  proper  names  of  the  county. 
He  found  that  the  following  names  occurred  oftenest,  and  arranged  them  in  order  of  their 
frequency  :  Smith,  Martin,  M'Kie,  Moore,  Brown,  Thompson,  Patterson,  Johnson,  Stewart, 
Wilson,  Graham,  Campbell,  Robinson,  Bell,  Hamilton,  Morrow,  Gibson,  Boyd,  Wallace,  and 
Magee.  He  dissected  as  carefully  the  voters'  list  for  county  Antrim,  in  which  there  were 
9538  names,  and  found  that  the  following  were  at  the  top  :  Thompson,  Wilson,  Stewart, 


Who  Are  the  Scotch-Irish?  167 

Smith,  Moore,  Boyd,  Johnson,  M'Millan,  Brown,  Bell,  Campbell,  M'Neill,  Crawford, 
M'Alister,  Hunter,  Macaulay,  Robinson,  Wallace,  Millar,  Kennedy,  and  Hill.  The  list 
has  a  very  Scottish  flavor  altogether,  although  it  may  be  noted  that  the  names  that  are  highest 
on  the  list  are  those  which  are  common  to  both  England  and  Scotland  :  for  it  may  be  taken 
for  granted  that  the  English  "  Thompson  "  has  swallowed  up  the  Scottish  "  Thomson,"  that 
"  Moore"  includes  the  Ayrshire  "  Muir,"  and  that  the  Annandale  '*  Johnstones"  have  been 
merged  by  the  writer  in  the  English"  Johnsons."  One  other  point  is  very  striking  —  that 
the  great  Ulster  name  of  O'Neill  is  wanting,  and  also  the  Antrim  "  Macdonnel."  .  .  . 
Another  strong  proof  of  the  Scottish  blood  of  the  Ulstermen  may  be  found  by  taking  the 
annual  reports  presented  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland, 
held  in  June,  1887.  Here  are  the  names  of  the  men,  lay  and  clerical,  who  sign  these  reports, 
the  names  being  taken  as  they  occur :  J.  W.  Whigham,  Jackson  Smith,  Hamilton  Magee, 
Thomas  Armstrong,  William  Park,  J.  M.  Rodgers,  David  Wilson,  George  Macfarlandr 
Thomas  Lyle,  W.  Rogers,  J.  B.  Wylie,  W.  Young,  E.  F.  Simpson,  Alexander  Turnbull, 
John  Malcolm,  John  H.  Orr.  Probably  the  reports  of  our  three  Scottish  churches  taken 
together  could  not  produce  so  large  an  average  of  Scottish  surnames. —  The  Scot  in  Ulster r 
Edinburgh,  1888,  pp.  103-105. 

5  Many  of  the  settlers  were  English,  but  the  larger  and  more  influential  element  came 
from  the  Calvinists  of  Scotland.  .  .  .  To-day  the  speech  of  Ulster  is  Scotch  rather  than 
English,  showing  which  nationality  has  predominated. — Douglas  Campbell,  The  Puritan  in 
Holland,  England,  and  America y  vol.  ii.,  p.  474. 

•  Towards  the  end  of  the  last  century  ' 4  in  all  social  and  political  matters  the  native  Catho- 
lics, in  other  words  the  immense  majority  of  the  people  of  Ireland,  were  simply  hewers  of 
wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  Protestant  masters,  for  masters  who  still  looked  on  themselves 
as  mere  settlers,  who  boasted  of  their  Scotch  or  English  extraction,  and  who  regarded  the 
name  of  '  Irishman '  as  an  insult."  —  J.  R.  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  book 
ix.,  ch.  ii. 

Most  of  the  great  evils  of  Irish  politics  during  the  last  two  centuries  have  arisen  from 
the  fact  that  its  different  classes  and  creeds  have  never  been  really  blended  into  one  nation, 
that  the  repulsion  of  race  or  of  religion  has  been  stronger  than  the  attraction  of  a  common 
nationality,  and  that  the  full  energies  and  intellect  of  the  country  have  in  consequence  seldom 
or  never  been  enlisted  in  a  common  cause. — Lecky,  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  505.  Am.  ed.,  pp.  440  and  441.  Travellers  tell  us  that  to-day  in  sections  of  Ulster 
the  population  is  Scotch  and  not  Irish. 

1  A  considerable  portion  of  the  English  colonists,  especially  those  who  came  to  the  Lon- 
don settlement  in  Londonderry  county,  were  Puritans,  and  joined  with  the  Scots  in  church 
affairs.  A  strong  Calvinistic  element  was  also  afterwards  infused  into  the  district  by  the 
French  Huguenots,  who  settled  in  different  parts  of  Ireland  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes. — Harrison,  The  Scot  in  Ulster,  p.  21. 

"  While  along  the  shores  of  Down  and  Antrim,  and  by  the  banks  of  the  Six-Mile  Water 
and  the  Main,  the  colonists  are  almost  wholly  from  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland  ;  upon  the 
shores  of  Derry  and  Donegal,  and  by  the  banks  of  the  Foyle  and  the  Bann,  were  planted  by 
the  action  of  the  same  far-seeing  James  Stuart,  bands  of  English  colonists.  Large  grants  of 
land  in  the  escheated  counties  of  Ulster  were  bestowed  upon  the  great  London  companies, 
and  on  their  vast  estates  by  the  Foyle  and  the  Bann  were  settled  considerable  numbers 
of  fine  old  English  families.  The  Englishmen  may  be  easily  traced  to  this  very  day  in 
Derry,  and  Coleraine,  and  Armagh,  and  Enniskillen.  Groups  of  these  Puritans  dotted  the 
whole  expanse  of  Ulster,  and  in  a  later  hour,  when  the  magnificent  Cromwell  took  hold  of 
Ireland,  these  English  colonists  were  reinforced  by  not  a  few  of  the  very  bravest  and  strongest 
of  the  Ironsides.  To  this  very  hour  I  know  where  to  lay  my  hands  on  the  direct  lineal  de- 
scendants of  some  of  Cromwell's  most  trusted  officers,  who  brought  to  Ireland  blood  that 
flowed  in  the  purest  English  veins.     The  defiant  city  of  Derry  was  the  fruit  of  the  English 


1 68  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

settlement,  the  royal  borough  of  Coleraine,  the  cathedral  city  of  Armagh,  the  battle-swept 
Enniskillen,  and  several  towns  and  hamlets  along  the  winding  Bann.  Among  these  English 
settlers  were  not  a  few  who  were  ardent  followers  of  George  Fox,  that  man  who  in  many 
respects  was  Cromwell's  equal,  and  in  some  his  master ;  these  Friends  came  with  a  man  of 
great  force  of  character,  Thomas  Edmundson,  who  bore  arms  for  the  Parliament,  and  has  left 
behind  him  a  singularly  interesting  diary.  The  Friends  came  to  Antrim  in  1652,  and  settled 
in  Antrim  and  Down  ;  hence  come  the  Pims,  the  Barclays,  the  Grubbs,  and  Richardsons, 
with  many  another  goodly  name  of  Ulster. 

"  The  name  of  this  Irish  province  was  spreading  over  Europe  by  the  second  decade  of 
the  seventeenth  century  as  the  '  shelter  of  the  hunted  '  ;  and  soon  the  Puritan  and  the  Quaker 
are  joined  in  Ulster  by  another  nobleman  of  God's  making  —  the  Huguenot  from  France. 
Headed  by  Louis  Crommellin  they  came  a  little  later  and  settled  in  and  around  Lisburn, 
founding  many  of  the  finest  industries  of  Ulster,  and  giving  mighty  impulse  to  those  already 
started.  And  still  later,  following  the  '  immortal  William  '  came  some  brave  burghers  from 
Holland  and  the  Netherlands.  Thus  Ulster  became  a  gathering  ground  for  the  very 
finest,  most  formative,  impulsive,  and  aggressive  of  the  free,  enlightened,  God-fearing 
peoples  of  Europe." — J.  S.  Macintosh,  "The  Making  of  the  Ulsterman,"  Scotch-Irish 
Society  of  America  Proceedings,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  98,  99. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SCOTLAND   OF   TO-DAY 

IT  has  been  said  of  the  modern  Scottish  race  by  some  of  its  enthusiastic  sons 
that,  in  proportion  to  its  numbers,  that  race  has  produced  more  men  who 
have  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  English  speaking  world  than 
has  any  other.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  there  are  two  facts  bearing  upon 
that  phase  of  Scottish  race-history  to  which  attention  may  properly  be 
called.  The  first  and  most  important  fact  is,  that  nearly  all  the  men  of 
Scottish  birth  or  descent  who  are  renowned  in  history  trace  their  family 
origin  back  to  the  western  Lowlands  of  Scotland.  That  is  to  say,  the  district 
comprising  the  counties  of  Lanark,  Renfrew,  Ayr,  Dumfries,  Wigtown,  Kirk- 
cudbright, and  Dumbarton — in  area  about  the  same  as  Connecticut,  and  the 
most  of  which  was  formerly  included  in  the  Celto-British  kingdom  of  Strath- 
clyde, —  has  produced  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  men  and  families  who 
have  made  the  name  of  Scotland  famous  in  the  world's  history.1 

In  this  district  are  to  be  found  the  chief  evidences  in  Scotland  of  the 
birth  or  residence  of  King  Arthur  and  his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table. 
Dumbartonshire  is  the  reputed  birthplace  of  St.  Patrick,  Ireland's  teacher 
and  patron  saint.  Elderslie,  in  Renfrewshire,  is  said  to  have  been  the  birth- 
place of  Scotland's  national  hero,  William  Wallace.  Robert  Bruce  also,  son 
of  Marjorie,  Countess  of  Carrick  and  daughter  of  Nigel  or  Niall  (who  was 
himself  the  Celtic  Earl  of  Carrick  and  grandson  of  Gilbert,  son  of  Fergus,  Lord 
of  Galloway),  was,  according  to  popular  belief,  born  at  his  mother's  castle  of 
Turnberry,  in  Ayrshire.  The  seat  of  the  High  Stewards  of  Scotland, 
ancestors  of  the  royal  family  of  the  Stuarts,  was  in  Renfrewshire.  The 
paternal  grandfather  of  William  Ewart  Gladstone  was  born  in  Lanarkshire. 
John  Knox's  father  is  said  to  have  belonged  to  the  Knox  family  of  Renfrew- 
shire. Robert  Burns  was  born  in  Ayrshire.  The  sect  called  the  "  Lollards," 
who  were  the  earliest  Protestant  reformers  in  Scotland,  appear  first  in  Scottish 
history  as  coming  from  Kyle  in  Ayrshire,  the  same  district  which  afterwards 
furnished  a  large  part  of  the  leaders  and  armies  of  the  Reformation.  The 
Covenanters  and  their  armies  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  mainly  from 
the  same  part  of  the  kingdom.  Glasgow,  the  greatest  manufacturing  city  of 
Europe,  is  situated  in  the  heart  of  this  district.  These  same  seven  coun- 
ties also  furnished  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  Scottish  colonists  of  Ulster, 
in  Ireland,  from  whom  are  descended  a  large  proportion  of  ihe  Scotch-Irish 
who  have  become  famous  in  American  history.3 

The  second  fact  about  the  race-history  of  Scotland  and  one  that  in  a 
measure  accounts  for  the  first,  is,  that  the  population  of  the  western  Low- 
lands during  the  past  six  hundred  years  has  consisted  of   a  mixed  or  com- 

169 


170  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

posite  race,  made  up  of  a  number  of  different  and  originally  very  dissimilar 
racial  elements.  The  basis  of  the  race  was  the  Romanized  Briton  who  lived 
u  between  the  walls,"  built  by  the  Romans  across  the  island  of  Great  Britain 
in  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian.*  Chiefly  from  these  early  Britons — 
or  Welsh  (i.  e.,  "aliens"),  as  they  were  called  by  the  Anglic  invaders, — 
the  Ulster  Scot  gets  his  Celtic  blood,  and  not  from  the  Gaels  of  modern 
Ireland.  The  Britons  were  in  part  Brythonic  or  Cymric  Celts,  identical  with 
some  of  the  tribesmen  of  Gaul  who  are  described  by  Caesar  ;  in  part  Gaelic 
Celts,  who  had  preceded  the  Cymri  some  centuries  in  their  migration  to  the 
islands  ;  in  part  non-Celtic  and  non-Aryan  Aborigines,  whom  the  Gaels 
found  there  ;  and  in  part  a  blended  race,  comprising  all  these  basic  ele- 
ments, with  an  additional  Roman  element  furnished  from  the  Roman  legions 
(provincial  and  imperial),  which  for  four  centuries  traversed,  harried,  and 
dominated  the  island  of  Great  Britain.  As  time  passed,  there  came  marked 
departures  from  the  original  type,  occasioned  by  intermarriages,  first  with  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  then  with  the  Angles  and  Danes  who  occupied  and  largely 
peopled  the  eastern  coast  of  Scotland,  and  with  the  Norsemen,  who  settled  in 
the  southwest.8  From  the  last-named  stock  comes  most  of  the  Teutonic 
blood  of  the  Ulster  Scots,  or  Scotch-Irish.  After  the  eleventh  century,  the 
Normans  came  from  England  into  Scotland  in  large  numbers,  and  occupied 
much  of  the  land,  their  leaders  frequently  intermarrying  with  the  daughters 
of  native  Celtic  chieftains.  Long  before  the  seventeenth  century,  in  the 
early  years  of  which  the  Scottish  emigration  to  Ireland  began,  the  various 
race-groups  of  the  western  Lowlands  of  Scotland  had  become  fused  into  one 
composite  whole,  having  the  attributes  of  the  Celt,  the  Norse,  the  Angle,  and 
the  Norman  ;  thus  typifying  many  centuries  ago  the  identical  race  which  the 
world  to-day  is  beginning  to  recognize  as  the  American — an  amalgamation 
of  the  Teutonic  and  the  Celtic,  having  the  staying  qualities  of  the  one,  with 
the  grace,  adaptability,  and  mental  brilliancy  of  the  other. 


"  The  Scottish  Lowlanders  are  a  very  mixed  race,"  says  Reclus,  the 
French  traveller  and  geographer,  "  and  even  their  name  is  a  singular  proof 
of  it.  Scotland  was  originally  known  as  Hibernia,  or  Igbernia,4  whilst 
the  name  of  Scotia,  from  the  end  of  the  sixth  to  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century,  was  exclusively  applied  to  modern  Ireland.  The  two  countries  have 
consequently  exchanged  names." 

John  of  Fordun,  the  first  of  the  early  historians  of  Scotland  whose  writ- 
ings can  even  in  part  be  relied  upon,  has  given  us  the  following  description 
of  Scotland  as  it  existed  in  his  day  (he  died  shortly  after  1384)  : 

Scotia  is  so  named  after  the  Scottish  tribes  by  which  it  is  inhabited.  At 
first,  it  began  from  the  Scottish  firth  on  the  south,  and,  later  on,  from  the 

*  One  wall  ran  east  from  the  Clyde  and  the  other  from  the  Solway. 


Scotland  of  To-Day  171 

river  Humber,  where  Albania  also  began.  Afterwards,  however,  it  com- 
menced at  the  wall  Thirlwal,  which  Severus  had  built  to  the  river  Tyne. 
But  now  it  begins  at  the  river  Tweed,  the  northern  boundary  of  England, 
and,  stretching  rather  less  than  four  hundred  miles  in  length,  in  a  north- 
westerly direction,  is  bounded  by  the  Pentland  Firth,  where  a  fearfully 
dangerous  whirlpool  sucks  in  and  belches  back  the  waters  every  hour.  It  is 
a  country  strong  by  nature,  and  difficult  and  toilsome  of  access.  In  some 
parts,  it  towers  into  mountains  ;  in  others,  it  sinks  down  into  plains.  For 
lofty  mountains  stretch  through  the  midst  of  it,  from  end  to  end,  as  do  the 
tall  Alps  through  Europe  ;  and  these  mountains  formerly  separated  the  Scots 
from  the  Picts,  and  their  kingdoms  from  each  other.  Impassable  as  they  are 
on  horseback,  save  in  very  few  places,  they  can  hardly  be  crossed  even  on 
foot,  both  on  account  of  the  snow  always  lying  on  them,  except  in  summer- 
time only  ;  and  by  reason  of  the  boulders  torn  off  the  beetling  crags,  and  the 
deep  hollows  in  their  midst.  Along  the  foot  of  these  mountains  are  vast 
woods  full  of  stags,  roe-deer,  and  other  wild  animals  and  beasts  of  various 
kinds  ;  and  these  forests  oftentimes  afford  a  strong  and  safe  protection  to  the 
cattle  of  the  inhabitants  against  the  depredations  of  their  enemies  ;  for  the 
herds  in  those  parts,  they  say,  are  accustomed,  from  use,  whenever  they  hear 
the  shouts  of  men  and  women,  and  if  suddenly  attacked  by  dogs,  to  flock 
hastily  into  the  woods.  Numberless  springs  also  well  up,  and  burst  forth 
from  the  hills  and  the  sloping  ridges  of  the  mountains,  and,  trickling  down 
with  sweetest  sound,  in  crystal  rivulets  between  flowery  banks,  flow  together 
through  the  level  vales,  and  give  birth  to  many  streams  ;  and  these  again  to 
large  rivers,  in  which  Scotia  marvellously  abounds,  beyond  any  other  country; 
and  at  their  mouths,  where  they  rejoin  the  sea,  she  has  noble  and  secure 
harbors. 

Scotia,  also,  has  tracts  of  land  bordering  on  the  sea,  pretty,  level,  and  rich, 
with  green  meadows,  and  fertile  and  productive  fields  of  corn  and  barley,  and 
well  adapted  for  growing  beans,  peas,  and  all  other  produce  ;  destitute,  how- 
ever, of  wine  and  oil,  though  by  no  means  so  of  honey  and  wax.  But  in  the 
upland  districts,  and  along  the  highlands,  the  fields  are  less  productive,  except 
only  in  oats  and  barley.  The  country  is,  there,  very  hideous,  interspersed 
with  moors  and  marshy  fields,  muddy  and  dirty  ;  it  is,  however,  full  of  pas- 
turage grass  for  cattle,  and  comely  with  verdure  in  the  glens,  along  the  water- 
courses. This  region  abounds  in  wool-bearing  sheep,  and  in  horses  ;  and  its 
soil  is  grassy,  feeds  cattle  and  wild  beasts,  is  rich  in  milk  and  wool,  and  mani- 
fold in  its  wealth  of  fish,  in  sea,  river,  and  lake.  It  is  also  noted  for  birds  of 
many  sorts.  There  noble  falcons,  of  soaring  flight  and  boundless  courage, 
are  to  be  found,  and  hawks  of  matchless  daring.  Marble  of  two  or  three 
colors,  that  is,  black,  variegated,  and  white,  as  well  as  alabaster,  is  also 
found  there.  It  also  produces  a  good  deal  of  iron  and  lead,  and  nearly  all 
metals. 

The  manners  and  customs  of  the  Scots  vary  with  the  diversity  of  their 
speech.  For  two  languages  are  spoken  amongst  them,  the  Scottish  and  the 
Teutonic  ;  the  latter  of  which  is  the  language  of  those  who  occupy  the  sea- 
board and  plains,  while  the  race  of  Scottish  speech  inhabit  the  highlands  and 
outlying  islands.6  The  people  of  the  coast  are  of  domestic  and  civilized 
habits,  trusty,  patient,  and  urbane,  decent  in  their  attire,  affable,  and  peace- 
ful, devout  in  Divine  worship,  yet  always  prone  to  resist  a  wrong  at  the  hand 
of  their  enemies.  The  highlanders  and  people  of  the  islands,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  a  savage  and  untamed  nation,  rude  and  independent,  given  to 
rapine,  ease-loving,  of  a  docile  and  warm  disposition,  comely  in  person,  but 


172  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

unsightly  in  dress,  hostile  to  the  English  people  and  language,  and,  owing  to 
diversity  of  speech,  even  to  their  own  nation,  and  exceedingly  cruel.  They 
are,  however,  faithful  and  obedient  to  their  king  and  country,  and  easily 
made  to  submit  to  law  if  properly  governed. 

The  Picts  or  Caledonians,  who  lived  in  the  country  at  the  time  of  its 
conquest  by  the  Romans,  do  not  appear  to  have  formed  a  strong  element  of 
the  actual  population  of  the  Scottish  Lowlands.8  The  inhabitants  of  that 
part  of  the  country  seem  for  the  most  part  to  be  of  British  and  Anglo-Celtic 
race.  The  line  which  separated  the  Britons  from  the  Picts  runs,  approx- 
imately, across  the  isthmus  of  the  Clyde  and  Forth  ;  the  ancient  wall  of 
Antoninus  thus  marking  an  ethnological  frontier  no  less  than  a  political 
one.  But  Angles  and  Britons  were  compelled  to  share  their  territory  with 
emigrants  of  various  races,  including  the  Scots  of  Ireland,  Frisians,  North- 
men, and  Danes.  "  At  some  places,"  says  Reclus,  "  and  more  especially 
along  the  coast,  people  of  different  origin  live  in  close  contact  with  each 
other,  and  yet  remain  separate.  Their  blood  has  not  mingled  ;  habits, 
customs,  and  modes  of  thought  and  action  have  remained  distinct.  Along  the 
whole  of  the  coast,  on  that  of  the  German  Ocean,  no  less  than  on  that  of  the 
Irish  Sea,  we  meet  with  colonies  of  fishermen,  some  of  whom  claim  descent 
from  the  Northmen,  whilst  others  look  upon  the  Danes  as  their  ancestors. 
There  are  even  colonies  which  tradition  derives  from  Flanders.  Several  of 
the  maritime  villages  consist  of  two  portions  like  the  towns  on  the  coasts  of 
Catalonia,  Liguria,  and  Sicily,  the  upper  part  being  inhabited  by  Saxon  arti- 
sans and  agriculturists,  while  the  lower  part  forms  the  *  Marina  '  of  Scandi- 
navian fishermen.  These  various  elements  of  the  population  have,  however, 
become  fused  in  the  greater  part  of  the  country.  Physically  the  Scotchman 
resembles  the  Norwegian,  and  this  is  not  solely  due  to  a  similarity  of  climate, 
but  also  to  the  numerous  unions  between  Scandinavian  invaders  and  the 
daughters  of  the  country.  The  languages  of  the  two  countries  also  possess 
more  features  in  common  than  was  formerly  believed.  The  Scotch  speak 
English  with  a  peculiar  accent  which  at  once  betrays  their  origin.  Their 
intonation  differs  from  that  of  the  English,  and  they  suppress  certain  con- 
sonants in  the  middle  and  at  the  end  of  words.  They  still  employ  certain 
old  English  terms,  no  longer  made  use  of  to  the  south  of  the  Tweed,  and, 
on  the  strength  of  this,  patriotic  Scotchmen  claim  to  speak  English  with 
greater  purity  than  their  southern  neighbors.  Amongst  the  many  words  of 
foreign  derivation  in  common  use,  there  are  several  French  ones,  not  only 
such  as  were  introduced  by  the  Normans,  but  also  others  belonging  to  the 
time  when  the  two  peoples  were  faithful  allies,  and  supplied  each  other  with 
soldiers. 

"  The  Scotch  Lowlander  is,  as  a  rule,  of  fair  height,  long-legged,  strongly 
built,  and  without  any  tendency  to  the  obesity  so  common  amongst  his  kins- 
men of  England.  His  eye  is  ordinarily  brighter  than  that  of  the  English- 
man, and  his  features  more  regular  ;  but  his  cheeks  are  more  prominent, 


Scotland  of  To-Day  173 

and  the  leanness  of  the  face  helps  much  to  accentuate  these  features.  In 
these  respects  he  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  his  American  cousins. 
Comparative  inquiries  instituted  by  Forbes  prove  that  physical  development 
is  somewhat  slower  amongst  Scotchmen  than  amongst  Englishmen  ;  the  for- 
mer comes  up  to  the  latter  in  height  and  strength  only  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, but  in  his  ripe  age  he  surpasses  him  to  the  extent  of  about  five  per 
cent,  in  muscular  strength.7  Of  all  the  men  of  Great  Britain,  those  of  south- 
western Scotland  are  distinguished  for  their  tall  stature.  The  men  of  Gal- 
loway average  5  feet  7  inches  in  height,  which  is  superior  to  the  stature 
attained  in  any  other  district  of  the  British  Islands.  The  Lowlander  is  in- 
telligent, of  remarkable  sagacity  in  business,  and  persevering  when  once  he 
has  determined  upon  accomplishing  a  task  ;  but  his  prudence  degenerates 
into  distrust,  his  thrift  into  avarice.  As  in  America,  there  is  not  a  village 
without  one  or  more  banks.  When  abroad  he  seeks  out  his  fellow-country- 
men, derives  a  pleasure  in  being  useful  to  them,  and  helps  their  success  in 
life  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 

"  The  achievements  of  Scotch  agriculturists,  who  are  so  little  favored  by 
climate,  must  appear  marvellous  to  the  peasants  of  Italy  and  of  many  parts 
of  France.  Under  the  fifty-sixth  degree  of  latitude  they  secure  crops  far 
more  abundant  than  those  obtained  from  the  fertile  lands  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean, which  are  nine  hundred  miles  nearer  to  the  equator.  Human  labor 
and  ingenuity  have  succeeded  in  acclimatizing  plants  which  hardly  appear  to 
be  suited  to  the  soil  and  climate  of  Scotland.  About  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  a  patch  of  wheat  was  pointed  out  near  Edinburgh  as  a 
curiosity,  whilst  now  that  cereal  grows  in  abundance  as  far  north  as  the 
Moray  Firth.  And  yet  it  appears  as  if  the  climate  had  become  colder,  for 
it  is  no  longer  possible  to  cultivate  the  poppy  or  tobacco,  as  was  done  in  the 
beginning  of  the  century.  Several  varieties  of  apples,  pears,  and  prunes, 
formerly  in  high  repute,  no  longer  arrive  at  maturity,  and  the  horticultural 
societies  have  ceased  offering  prizes  for  these  productions,  because  it  is  no 
longer  possible  to  grow  them  in  the  open  air.  The  manufacturing  triumphs 
of  Scotland  have  been  quite  equal  to  those  achieved  -in  agriculture,  and  it  is 
on  Scottish  soil  that  Glasgow,  the  foremost  manufacturing  town  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  has  arisen,  with  a  population  greater  than  that  of  either 
Manchester,  Leeds,  or  Birmingham.  Scotland,  through  her  numerous  emi- 
grants who  live  in  London  and  the  other  great  towns,  has  also  largely  con- 
tributed towards  the  prosperity  of  England.  The  hawkers  in  the  English 
manufacturing  districts  are  usually  known  as  '  Scotchmen.'  The  Scotch 
colonists  in  New  Zealand  and  Canada  are  amongst  the  most  active  and  in- 
dustrious, and  the  young  Lowlanders  who  go  out  to  India  as  government 
officials  are  far  more  numerous  in  proportion  than  those  from  England. 

"  The  love  of  education  for  its  own  sake,  and  not  merely  as  a  means  to  an 
end,  is  far  more  widely  spread  in  Scotland  than  in  England.  The  lectures 
at  the  universities  are  attended  with  a  zeal  which  the  students  of  Oxford 


174  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

or  Cambridge  seldom  exhibit.  It  is  by  no  means  rare  to  meet  pupils  in 
elementary  schools  who  are  passionately  fond  of  study,  and  the  humble  homes 
of  artisans  and  laborers  frequently  contain  a  select  library  which  would  do 
credit  to  a  wealthy  English  tradesman.  At  the  same  time  there  are  not 
wanting  young  men  who  accelerate  their  studies  in  order  that  they  may  se- 
cure the  certificates  which  form  their  passport  to  lucrative  employment. 
They  work  hard,  no  doubt,  but  they  strive  not  after  knowledge,  but  for  ma- 
terial gain.  The  students  of  Edinburgh  have  little  time  to  devote  to  those 
exercises  of  strength  and  skill  which  are  so  highly  cultivated  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge.8  By  a  curious  contrast,  these  Scotchmen,  so  practical  and  full 
of  common  sense,  have  an  extraordinary  love  for  the  supernatural.  They 
delight  in  stories  of  terror  and  of  ghosts.  Though  clever  architects  of  their 
own  fortunes,  they  are  yet  fatalists,  and  the  religious  sects  of  which  most  of 
them  are  members  defend  with  singular  fervor  the  doctrine  of  predestina- 
tion. Thousands  amongst  the  peasants,  dressed  in  clerical  black,  are  veri- 
table theologians,  and  know  how  to  discuss  the  articles  of  their  faith  with  a 
great  luxury  of  Scripture  texts.  As  Emerson  says,  they  allow  their  dialectics 
to  carry  them  to  the  extremes  of  insanity.  In  no  other  country  of  the  world 
is  the  Sabbath  observed  with  such  rigor  as  in  Scotland.  On  that  day  many 
of  the  trains  and  steamers  cease  running,  and  silence  reigns  throughout  the 
land.  There  are  even  landed  proprietors  who  taboo  their  hills  on  that  day, 
and  if  a  tourist  is  found  wandering  amongst  them  he  is  treated  as  a  reckless 
violator  of  the  proprieties." 

Who  were  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  Scottish  Highlands  ?  Of  what 
race  were  the  Picts,  who  formerly  inhabited  the  country,  and  over  whom 
even  the  Romans  could  not  triumph  ?  Were  they  pure  Celts,  or  had  their 
blood  already  mingled  with  that  of  Scandinavia  ?  It  is  usually  believed  that 
the  Picts  had  preceded  the  other  Britons  in  their  migration  to  the  island, 
coming  at  a  very  early  age,  and  that  their  idioms  differed  much  more  from 
the  dialect  spoken  in  Gaul  than  did  Cymric.  They  originally  inhabited, 
perhaps,  the  whole  of  Great  Britain,  and  were  pushed  to  the  northward  by 
the  Britons,  who  in  turn  were  displaced  by  Romans  and  Angles.9 

Numerous  stone  monuments,  known  as  Picts'  "  houses,"  or  weems,  and 
invariably  consisting  of  a  chamber  or  centre  passage  surrounded  by  smaller 
apartments,  are  attributed  to  these  aborigines.  The  mainland,  and  to  a 
great  extent  the  islands,  abound  in  broughs,  or  borgs — that  is,  towers  of 
defence,  resembling,  at  least  externally,  the  nuraghe  of  Sardinia.  On  the 
Shetland  Islands  there  are  seventy-five  of  these  towers,  and  in  the  Orkneys 
seventy.  Petrie,  who  has  examined  forty  of  them,  looked  upon  them  as 
fortified  dwelling-houses.  Their  circular  walls  are  twelve  feet  and  more  in 
thickness  ;  their  original  height  is  not  known,  for  every  one  of  them  has 
reached  us  in  a  partial  state  of  demolition.  Pestles  for  crushing  corn,  stone 
lamps,  and  vessels  made  of  the  bone  of  whales  testify  to  the  rudimentary 
state  of  civilization  which  the  inhabitants  had  attained.     The  Brough  of 


Scotland  of  To-Day  175 

Mousa,  to  the  south  of  Lerwick,  bulges  out  near  its  base,  probably  to  prevent 
the  use  of  scaling  ladders,  and  recesses  occur  at  regular  intervals  on  the 
inside  of  the  wall.  Cromlechs,  cairns,  standing  stones,  symbolical  sculptures, 
circles  of  stones,  pile  dwellings,  and  vitrified  forts  are  found  in  several  local- 
ities both  on  the  mainland  and  the  islands.  Primitive  monuments  of  this 
kind  form  one  of  the  most  salient  landscape  features  in  the  Orkneys.  On 
Pomona  there  is  a  district  of  several  square  miles  in  area  which  still  abounds 
in  prehistoric  monuments  of  every  description,  although  many  stones  have 
been  carried  away  by  the  neighboring  farmers.  In  the  tumulus  of  Meashow, 
opened  in  186 1,  were  discovered  over  nine  hundred  Runic  inscriptions,  and 
the  carved  images  of  fanciful  animals.  On  the  same  island  are  the  standing 
stones  of  Stennis  ;  and  on  Lewis,  twelve  miles  to  the  west  of  Stornoway,  the 
"  gray  stones  of  Callernish."  These  latter,  forty-eight  in  number,  are  also 
known  as  Tuirsachan,  or  "  Field  of  Mourning,"  and  they  still  form  a  perfect 
circle,  partly  buried  in  peat,  which  has  grown  to  a  height  of  from  six  to 
twelve  feet  around  them.10  We  know  that  these  constructions  belong  to 
different  ages,  and  that  now  and  then  the  stones  raised  by  the  earliest  build- 
ers were  added  to  by  their  successors.  Christian  inscriptions  in  oghams  and 
runes,  in  characters  not  older,  according  to  Munch,  than  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  have  been  discovered  on  these  monuments.  At  Newton,  in 
Aberdeenshire,  there  is  a  stone  inscribed  in  curiously  shaped  letters,  not  yet 
deciphered. 

Notwithstanding  a  change  of  religion,  these  sacred  places  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  still  attract  pilgrims.  On  South  Uist  the  people  until  recently 
walked  in  procession  around  a  huge  pile  of  rocks,  turning  thrice  in  following 
the  apparent  path  of  the  sun.  The  small  island  of  Iona  at  the  western 
extremity  of  Mull  is  one  of  those  places  which  have  been  held  sacred  for 
generations.  Various  stone  monuments  prove  that  this  spot  was  held  in 
veneration  at  the  dawn  of  history,  and  this  probably  induced  the  Irish 
apostle,  St.  Columba,  to  found  here  a  monastery — the  "  light  of  the  western 
world  " — which  soon  became  the  most  famous  in  Great  Britain.  Hence 
went  forth  those  ascetic  Culdees  whom  the  jealousy  of  the  clergy  caused  to 
disappear  in  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century."  In  the  ruined  ecclesias- 
tical buildings  of  this  islet  are  buried  more  than  sixty  kings  of  Scotland, 
Ireland,  and  the  Hebrides,  the  last  interred  here  having  been  Macbeth.  A 
prophecy  says  that  one  day  the  whole  earth  will  be  swallowed  up  by  a 
deluge,  with  the  exception  of  Iona.  There  was  a  time  when  this  venerated 
island  was  interdicted  to  women,  as  Mount  Athos  is  at  the  present  day.  Not 
far  from  the  church  lay  the  "  black  stones,"  thus  called  on  account  of  the 
malediction  attaching  to  him  who  foreswore  himself  by  their  side.  It  was 
here  that  the  "  Lords  of  the  Isles,"  kneeling  on  the  ground  with  their  hands 
raised  to  heaven,  were  bound  to  swear  to  maintain  intact  the  rights  of  their 
vassals.13  Among  the  heaps  of  rocks  piled  up  on  the  beach,  it  is  said  by 
monks  in  expiation  of  their  trespasses,  are  found  fine  fragments  of  granite, 


176  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

porphyry,  and  serpentine,  which  the  inhabitants  employ  Scotch  workmen  to 
cut  and  polish,  in  order  that  they  may  sell  them  as  amulets  to  their  visitors. 
Formerly  these  stones  were  looked  upon  throughout  the  Hebrides  as  the 
most  efficacious  medicine  against  sorcery  ;  and  when  about  to  be  married  a 
bridegroom,  to  insure  happiness,  placed  a  stone  of  Iona  upon  his  bare 
left  foot.1* 

The  Scotch  Highlanders  are  more  or  less  mixed  with  Scandinavians,  for 
the  Northmen,  who  for  centuries  held  possession  of  the  Orkneys,  gained  a 
footing  also  upon  the  mainland,  where  they  founded  numerous  colonies. 
Scandinavian  family  names  are  frequent  in  the  Orkneys,  but  the  type  of  the 
inhabitants  is  nevertheless  Scotch.14  The  geographical  nomenclature  of 
the  Shetland  Isles  is  wholly  Norwegian.  The  names  of  farms  terminate  in 
seter  or  ster,  and  those  of  hills  in  hoy  or  hole.  In  1820  the  sword  dance  of 
the  ancient  Norwegians  might  still  be  witnessed  on  one  of  the  islands,  and, 
according  to  Gifford,16  Norse  was  spoken  in  a  few  families  as  recently  as 
1786.  Sutherland  clearly  formed  part  of  the  old  domain  of  the  North- 
men. That  county  lies  at  the  northern  extremity  of  Scotland  ;  but  to  the 
inhabitant  of  the  Orkneys  it  was  a  Southern  Land,  and  the  name  which  they 
gave  to  it  has  survived  to  our  own  time. 

A  few  Scandinavian  colonies  on  the  mainland  have  retained  their  distinct 
character.  As  an  instance  may  be  mentioned  the  village  of  Ness  on  Lewis, 
the  inhabitants  of  which  are  distinguished  for  their  enterprise,  presenting  a 
singular  contrast  to  the  sluggishness  of  their  Gaelic  neighbors.  The  descend- 
ants of  these  hostile  races  have,  like  oil  and  water,  long  refused  to  mingle. 
It  would  nevertheless  be  next  to  impossible  to  define  the  boundaries  between 
the  various  races  throughout  the  country.  Language  certainly  would  prove 
no  safe  guide,  for  many  of  the  Gaels  have  given  up  their  language  and  speak 
English.  Out  of  5,000,000  Scotchmen,  only  350,000  are  able  to  express 
themselves  in  Gaelic,  and  of  these  only  70,000  are  ignorant  of  English.1*  As 
to  the  Scandinavians,  not  one  amongst  their  descendants  now  speaks  Old 
Norse.  The  greater  number  of  them  speak  English,  but  many,  too,  have 
adopted  Gaelic.  In  most  of  the  islands  the  names  of  places  are  Danish, 
although  Gaelic  has  for  centuries  been  the  spoken  language.  Even  in  St. 
Kilda,  remote  as  is  its  situation,  an  intermingling  of  Gaels  and  Northmen  has 
been  recognized. 

The  use  of  Gaelic  was  discontinued  at  the  court  of  Scotland  about 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  it  is  doomed  to  disappear.  Far 
poorer  in  its  literature  and  less  cultivated  than  Welsh,  its  domain  diminishes 
with  every  decade,  for  English  is  now  almost  universally  spoken  in  the 
towns,  and  the  Highland  valleys  are  becoming  depopulated,  or  invaded  by 
Saxon  sportsmen  and  graziers.  If  Caledonia  really  stands  for  Gael-Dun,  or 
"  Mountain  of  the  Gael,"  then  its  limits  are  becoming  narrower  every  time 
the  meshes  of  the  network  of  railroads  are  drawn  tighter.  But  though 
Celtic  may  disappear  as  a  spoken  language,  the  geographical  nomenclature: 


Scotland  of  To-Day  177 

of  Scotland  will  for  all  time  bear  witness  to  its  ancient  domination.  Those 
acquainted  with  Gaelic  may  obtain  a  tolerably  correct  notion  of  the  relief  of 
the  ground  by  merely  studying  the  names  upon  a  map.  Names  like  ben, 
earn,  carr,  carragh,  cnoc,  ereag,  cruach,  dun,  mam,  meal,  monadh,  sguir,  sith, 
sithean,  sliabh,  stob,  slue,  tolm,  torr,  and  tullich,  will  suggest  to  their  minds 
variously  shaped  mountains  ;  eye,  i,  and  innis  denote  islands  ;  linne  and  loch 
represent  lakes  or  gulfs  ;  abh,  abhuinn,  uisge,  esk,  and  buinne,  stand  for  rivers 
or  torrents.  Inver  in  the  west,  and  Aber  in  the  east,  indicate  the  mouths  of 
rivers.  The  names  Albainn,  Albeinn,  or  Albion,  by  which  the  Gaels  were 
formerly  designated,  are  now  applied  to  all  Britain.  The  Gaelic  bards  speak 
of  their  fellow-countrymen  by  preference  as  Albannaich,  or  "  Mountaineers."  1T 
The  Albannaich  of  the  Grampians  and  the  Albanians  of  the  Pindus  are  thus 
known  by  a  similar  name,  having  possibly  the  same  meaning. 

The  translation  of  one  of  John  Knox's  religious  works  was  the  first  book 
printed  in  Gaelic,  and  thus,  as  in  Wales,  the  Reformation  conferred  upon 
the  language  of  the  people  an  importance  which  it  had  not  possessed  before. 
But  whilst  in  Wales  religious  zeal,  through  its  manifestation  in  the  pulpit 
and  the  press,  has  contributed  in  a  large  measure  to  keep  alive  the  native 
idiom,  the  division  of  the  Highlanders  into  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants 
has  resulted  in  a  diminution  of  the  collective  patriotism  of  the  people,  as  it 
reveals  itself  in  language.  Roman  Catholics  are  numerous  in  the  county  of 
Inverness,  and  it  merely  depended  upon  the  chief  of  a  clan  whether  his 
followers  remained  true  to  the  old  faith  or  embraced  the  new.  Canna  and 
Eigg  are  the  only  Hebrides  the  inhabitants  of  which  remained  Roman 
Catholics.  Those  of  the  larger  island  of  Rum,  it  is  said,  hesitated  what  to 
do,  when  the  chief  of  the  MacLeods,  armed  with  a  yellow  cudgel,  threw 
himself  in  the  way  of  a  procession  marching  in  the  direction  of  the  Romish 
church,  and  drove  the  faithful  to  the  temple  which  he  patronized. 
Hence  Protestantism  on  that  island  is  known  to  the  present  day  as  the  "  Re- 
ligion of  the  Yellow  Cudgel."  18  But  notwithstanding  these  changes  of  religion 
many  superstitions  survive  amongst  the  people.  In  Lewis,  "  stone "  and 
"  church  "  are  synonymous  terms,  as  they  were  in  the  time  when  all  religious 
ceremonies  were  performed  around  sacred  megaliths.19 

The  fame  of  the  Highlanders  had  been  sung  by  poets  and  novelists, 
until  they  came  to  be  looked  upon  as  typical  for  bravery,  loyalty,  and  all 
manly  virtues.  The  soldiers  in  their  strange  and  showy  garb  have  so 
frequently  won  distinction  upon  the  field  of  battle  that  all  their  panegyrists 
said  about  their  native  virtues  was  implicitly  believed  ;  and  on  the  faith  of 
poets  we  admired  their  pipers,  the  successors  of  the  ancient  bards,  who 
accompanied  their  melancholy  chants  on  the  harp.  In  reality,  however,  the 
Highlanders,  until  recently,  were  warlike  herdsmen,  as  the  Montenegrins, 
Mirdits,  and  Albanians  are  even  now,  always  at  enmity  with  their  neighbors. 
It  was  only  after  forts  had  been  built  at  the  mouths  of  the  valleys,  and 
military  roads  constructed  through  their  territories,  that  they  were  reduced 


178  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

to  submission.  The  members  of  each  family  were  closely  united,  and,  like 
American  Indians,  they  had  their  war  cries,  badges,  and  distinctly  patterned 
tartans.  The  people  were  thus  split  up  into  about  forty  clans,  or,  including 
the  Lowland  families,  into  about  one  hundred,  and  several  of  these  clans  con- 
sisted of  more  than  10,000  individuals.  The  principal  Highland  clans  in 
1863  were :  MacGregors,  36,000  ;  MacKenzies,  21,000  ;  MacLeans, 
16,000  ;  MacLeods,  14,000  ;  Macintoshes,  11,000  ;  MacDonalds,  10,000. 
The  members  of  each  clan,  though  sometimes  only  cousins  a  hundred  times 
removed,  all  bore  the  same  name,  and  they  fought  and  worked  together. 
The  land  was  originally  held  in  union,  being  periodically  divided  amongst 
the  clan.  The  honor  of  the  tribe  was  dear  to  every  one  of  its  individual 
members,  and  an  injury  done  to  one  amongst  them  was  avenged  by  the 
entire  community.  When  the  kings  of  Scotland  had  to  complain  of  a  High- 
land chief,  they  attacked  his  clan,  for  they  well  knew  that  every  member  of 
it  would  embrace  the  cause  of  the  chief.  There  existed  no  courts  of  justice 
in  the  Highlands,  but  blood  was  spilt  for  blood.  Various  monuments  recall 
such  acts  of  savage  vengeance,  and  as  recently  as  181 2  a  Highland  family 
set  up  seven  grinning  heads  as  a  trophy  to  commemorate  a  sevenfold 
murder  committed  by  its  ancestors.  A  cavern  on  Eigg  Island  is  strewn  with 
human  bones,  the  relics  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  island,  two  hundred 
in  number,  who  are  said  to  have  been  suffocated  within  the  cavern  by  a 
neighboring  chief,  MacLeod,  in  retaliation  for  some  private  injury.20 

As  long  as  every  member  of  the  community  possessed  a  share  in  the  land, 
Scotland  was  spared  the  struggle  between  rich  and  poor.  But  by  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  poorer  members  of  the  clan,  though  still  claim- 
ing cousinship  with  their  chief,  had  lost  all  proprietary  rights  in  the  land, 
and  the  lairds,  when  remonstrated  with  by  the  clan,  responded  in  the  words 
of  the  device  adopted  by  the  earls  of  Orkney,  "  Sic  fuit,  est,  et  erit!  "  They 
were  even  then  able  to  drive  away  the  ancient  inhabitants  from  the  plots  of 
land  they  occupied,  in  order  that  they  might  transform  them  into  pasturing 
or  shooting  grounds.  Several  landlords  even  burned  down  the  cabins  of 
their  poor  "  cousins,"  thus  compelling  them  to  leave  the  country.  Between 
181 1  and  1820,  15,000  tenants  were  thus  evicted  from  the  estates  of  the 
Duchess  of  Stafford. 

Entire  villages  were  given  up  to  the  flames,  and  on  a  single  night  three 
hundred  houses  might  have  been  seen  afire.  Nearly  the  whole  population  of 
four  parishes  was  in  this  way  driven  from  its  homes.  Since  the  middle  of  the 
century  about  one  million  acres  in  the  Highlands  have  been  cleared  of  human 
beings  and  sheep,  to  be  converted  into  shooting  grounds.21  Thus,  contrary 
to  what  may  be  usually  witnessed  in  civilized  countries,  the  Highland 
valleys  are  returning  to  a  state  of  nature,  and  wild  beasts  taking  the  place 
of  domesticated  animals.  The  country  formerly  almost  bare  of  trees  has 
been  largely  planted,  and  from  Black  Mount  in  Argyleshire  to  Marr  Forest 
in  Aberdeen  there  now  extends  an  almost  unbroken  belt  of  verdure.    Already 


Scotland  of  To-Day  179 

the  shooting  grounds  cover  over  two  million  acres,  and  they  are  continually- 
extending.  Scotland  has  emphatically  become  a  sporting  country,  and  many 
a  large  estate  is  managed  as  a  shooting  ground,  that  proving  more  profitable 
to  its  proprietor  than  would  its  cultivation.  There  are  not  wanting  sports- 
men willing  to  pay  ^400  for  a  salmon  stream,  ^1000  for  the  right  of  shoot- 
ing over  a  moor,  or  ^4000  for  a  deer  park.  With  these  rents  a  salmon  may 
cost  £2>  and  a  stag  ^"40.  In  1877,  2060  shooting  grounds  in  Scotland 
were  let  for  ^6oo,ooo.22  Scotland,  even  more  than  England,  is  a  land  of 
wide  demesnes,  and  twenty-one  individuals  share  between  them  the  third 
of  the  kingdom,  seventy  the  half,  and  one  thousand  and  seven  hundred 
nine-tenths  of  it.  The  Duke  of  Sutherland  alone  owns  about  the  fifteenth 
part  of  Scotland,  including  nearly  the  whole  county  from  which  he  derives 
his  title.  Domains  of  such  vast  extent  cannot  be  properly  cultivated,  and 
heaths  and  swamps  which  would  repay  the  labor  bestowed  upon  them  by 
peasant  proprietors  are  allowed  by  their  wealthy  owners  to  remain  in  a  state 
of  nature. 

In  the  Orkneys,  a  portion  of  the  land  is  still  owned  by  odallers,  or  peasant 
proprietors  ;  but  the  Shetland  Islands  and  several  of  the  Hebrides,  includ- 
ing Lewis,  the  largest  amongst  them,  belong  to  a  single  proprietor,  who  thus 
disposes  indirectly  of  the  lives  of  the  inhabitants,  whom  he  can  compel  to 
abandon  their  homes  whenever  it  suits  his  interests.  Several  islands,  such 
as  Barra  and  Rum,  which  formerly  supported  a  considerable  population, 
have  in  this  way  become  almost  deserts  ;  and  amongst  the  inhabitants  left 
behind  there  are  even  now  many  who  live  in  a  state  of  extreme  poverty,  who 
look  upon  carrageen,  or  Iceland  moss,  as  a  luxury,  and  who  are  dependent 
upon  seaweeds  and  fish  for  their  daily  sustenance.  Owing  to  the  inferiority 
of  the  food,  dyspepsia  is  a  common  complaint,  and  certain  physicians  de- 
clare that  the  gift  of  "  second  sight,"  which  plays  so  prominent  a  part  in  the 
history  of  the  Highlanders,  is  traceable  to  a  disorder  of  the  organs  of  diges- 
tion. The  villages  of  Lewis  are  perhaps  unique  of  their  kind  in  Europe. 
The  inhabitants  gather  the  stones  embedded  in  the  peaty  soil  to  construct 
rough  concentric  walls,  filling  the  space  between  them  with  earth  and  gravel. 
A  scaffolding  made  of  old  oars  and  boughs  supports  a  roof  covered  with 
earth  and  peat,  leaving  a  wide  ledge  on  the  top  of  the  circular  wall,  upon 
which  vegetation  soon  springs  up,  and  which  becomes  the  favorite  prom- 
enade and  playground  of  children,  dogs,  and  sheep.  A  single  door  gives 
access  to  this  unshapely  abode,  within  which  a  peat  fire  is  kept  burning 
throughout  the  year,  in  order  that  the  damp  which  perpetually  penetrates 
through  the  wall  and  roof  may  evaporate.  Horses,  cows,  and  sheep,  all  of 
diminutive  stature,  owing  to  the  want  of  nourishment,  occupy  one  extremity 
of  this  den,  while  the  fowls  roost  by  the  side  of  the  human  inhabitants,  or 
perch  near  the  hole  left  for  the  escape  of  the  smoke.  To  strangers  the 
heat  and  smoke  of  these  dwellings  are  intolerable,  but  the  former  is  said 
to   favor    the    laying    of    eggs."      Such   are   the   abodes   of   most   of   the 


180  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

inhabitants  of  Lewis.  Yet  the  claims  to  comfort  have  increased  since  the 
commencement  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  a  porringer  is  no  longer 
looked  upon  as  a  veritable  curiosity. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XIII 

1  It  may  be  not  without  interest  to  note  here  the  names  of  the  twenty-nine  American 
Immortals,  for  whom  memorial  tablets  have  been  placed  in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  erected  during 
the  year  1900  on  University  Heights  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  names  were  selected  by 
a  jury  of  ninety-seven  members,  composed  of  twenty-five  college  presidents,  twenty-six  profes- 
sors of  science  and  history,  twenty-three  publicists,  editors,  and  authors,  and  twenty-three 
justices  of  state  and  national  supreme  courts.  The  result  of  this  selection  was  as  follows, 
the  number  of  votes  cast  for  each  candidate  being  appended  : 

George  Washington  (97),  Abraham  Lincoln  (96),  Daniel  Webster  (96),  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin (94),  Ulysses  S.  Grant  (92),  John  Marshall  (91),  Thomas  Jefferson  (90),  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  (87),  Henry  W.  Longfellow  (85),  Robert  Fulton  (85),  Washington  Irving  (83),  Jon- 
athan Edwards  (81),  Samuel  Finley  Breese  Morse  (80),  David  G.  Farragut  (79),  Henry  Clay 
(74),  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  (73),  George  Peabody  (72),  Robert  E.  Lee  (69),  Peter  Cooper 
(69),  Horace  Mann  (67),  Eli  Whitney  (67),  John  James  Audubon  (67),  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  (66),  James  Kent  (65),  Joseph  Story  (64),  John  Adams  (61),  William  Ellery  Chan- 
ning  (58),  Gilbert  Stuart  (52),  Asa  Gray  (51), 

Of  the  twenty-nine  names  given  above,  the  bearers  of  seven  were  of  Scottish  descent 
in  the  male  line — Webster,  Grant,  Fulton,  Irving,  Cooper,  Stuart,  and  Gray  ;  Marshall  was 
Welsh  and  Scotch ;  Morse,  English  and  Scotch  ;  Jefferson,  Welsh,  English,  and  Scotch ; 
Farragut,  Spanish ;  Audubon,  French  and  Spanish :  Clay,  uncertain ;  Edwards,  Welsh ; 
Adams,  English  and  Welsh  ;  and  the  remaining  fourteen  English.  Of  the  other  names  voted 
on  by  the  jury,  the  fifteen  receiving  the  most  votes  under  the  number  necessary  to  elect  (fifty- 
one)  were  as  follows,  the  names  of  those  of  Scottish  descent  (six  out  of  fifteen)  being  printed 
in  italics:  John  C.  Calhoun  (49),  Andrew  Jackson  (49),  John  Quincy  Adams  (48),  William 
Cullen  Bryant  (48),  James  Madison  (48),  Rufus  Choate  (47),  Mark  Hopkins  (47),  Elias  Howe 
(47),  Horace  Greeley  (45),  Joseph  Henry  (44),  James  B.  Eads  (42),  Benjamin  Rush  (42),  John 
Lothrop  Motley  (41),  Patrick  Henry  (39),  Edgar  Allan  Poe  (37). 

Thus  of  the  forty-four  Americans  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes,  sixteen  were  of 
Scottish  origin  in  whole  or  part,  thirteen  being  of  Scottish  descent  in  the  male  line. 

8  The  ancient  Celto-Scottish  kingdom  of  Strathclyde,  which,  as  late  as  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, extended  from  the  Clyde  to  the  river  Ribble,  in  Lancashire,  England,  and  formed  part 
of  the  domain  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  King  of  the  Scots  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
was  the  ancestral  home,  not  only  of  the  Scotch-Irish  and  many  of  the  heroes  of  Scotland, 
but  also  of  the  families  of  Washington,  Jackson,  and  Taylor,  which  have  furnished  three 
presidents  to  the  United  States. 

3  The  reader  will  of  course  remark  that  of  the  four  kingdoms — Dalriadic  Irish,  Pictish, 
British  of  Strathclyde,  and  English  of  Bernica — the  two  latter  realms  extended  far  south  be- 
yond the  line  of  modern  Scotland.  This  fact  had  remarkable  consequences  in  Scottish 
history.  Otherwise  the  existence  of  these  four  kingdoms  mainly  interests  us  as  showing  the 
nature  of  the  races — Pictish,  British,  Irish,  and  English — who  were,  then,  the  inhabitants  of 
various  parts  of  Scotland,  leaving,  doubtless,  their  strain  of  blood  in  the  population.  A 
Dumfries,  Ayr,  Renfrew,  Lanark,  or  Peebles  man,  as  a  dweller  in  Strathclyde,  has  some 
chance  of  remote  British  (Brython)  ancestors  in  his  pedigree  ;  a  Selkirk,  Roxburgh,  Berwick- 
shire, or  Lothian  man  is  probably  for  the  most  part  of  English  blood  ;  an  Argyleshire  man  is 
or  may  be  descended  from  an  Irish  Scot  or  Dalriad  ;  the  northern  shires  are  partly  Pictish, 
as  also  is  Galloway,  always  allowing  for  the  perpetual  mixture  of  races  in  really  historical  and 
in  prehistoric  times. — Andrew  Lang,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  31. 


Scotland  of  To-Day  181 

4  See  Strabo,  book  i.,  ch.  iv. ;  book  ii.,  ch.  i.,  v.;  book  iv.,  ch.  v. 

6  If  a  line  is  drawn  from  a  point  on  the  eastern  bank  of  Loch  Lomond,  somewhat  south 
of  Ben  Lomond,  following  in  the  main  the  line  of  the  Grampians,  and  crossing  the  Forth  at 
Aberfoil,  the  Teith  at  Callander,  the  Almond  at  Crieff,  the  Tay  at  Dunkeld,  the  Ericht  at 
Blairgowrie,  and  proceeding  through  the  hills  of  Brae  Angus  till  it  reaches  the  great  range  of 
the  Mounth,  then  crossing  the  Dee  at  Ballater,  the  Spey  at  Lower  Craigellachie,  till  it  reaches 
the  Moray  Firth  at  Nairn — this  forms  what  was  called  the  Highland  Line  and  separated  the 
Celtic  from  the  Teutonic-speaking  people.  Within  this  line,  with  the  exception  of  the  county 
of  Caithness,  which  belongs  to  the  Teutonic  division,  the  Gaelic  language  forms  the  vernacu- 
lar of  the  inhabitants. — Celtic  Scotland,  ii.,  453. 

The  Scottish  Highlands  are  sometimes  spoken  of  so  as  to  convey  the  impression  that 
there  is  a  clearly  defined  mountain  district,  contrasted  with  "  the  Lowlands,"  as  though  the 
latter  were  a  vast  plain.  There  could  hardly  be  a  greater  mistake.  From  Kirkcudbright  to 
Caithness,  there  is  hardly  a  county  without  its  hill  ranges  ;  and  without  leaving  the  Southern 
district,  the  lover  of  mountain  beauty  will  find  noble  heights  and  solitary  glens,  with  many 
a  rippling  burn  from  tarns  among  the  hills. — Samuel  G.  Green,  Scottish  Pictures,  p.  117. 

6  This  description  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  Lowlands  and  Highlands  of  Scotland 
is  chiefly  taken  from  Elisee  Reclus's  La  Terre,  Appleton's  American  edition,  1883.  Reclus 
bases  on  Kemble,  Saxons  in  England ;  Latham,  Ethnology  of  the  British  Isles  ;  Murray, 
in  Philological  Society's  Transactions,  1873,  etc- 

7  Forbes  ;  Hugh  Miller,  First  Impressions  of  England  and  the  English. 

8  Demogeot  and  Montucci,  De  V  enseignement  superieur  en  Angleterre  et  en  Ecosse. 

9  Just  as  Highland  scenery  has  come  to  be  reckoned  peculiarly  Scottish  scenery,  not 
only  by  Englishmen  and  foreigners,  but  even  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Lowlands  themselves, 
to  whom  its  lakes  and  glens,  its  stony  precipices  and  wind-swept  isles  are  as  familiar  and  dear 
as  they  were  once  dreaded  and  disliked  ;  so  in  some  important  aspects,  of  which  war  is  per- 
haps the  chief,  the  Highlander  has  become  the  typical  Scot,  and  the  Lowlander,  who  mainly 
shaped  the  fortunes  of  the  nation  and  gave  it  its  place  in  history,  has  acquiesced  in  the  repre- 
sentation and  is  proud  of  the  disguise.  No  harm  can  follow  from  this  if  we  only  keep  stead- 
ily in  view  the  true  ethnological  condition  of  Scotland,  and  realize  the  fact  that  while  in 
Southern  Britain  the  Saxons  and  Angles  almost  wholly  superseded  the  original  Cymric  pop- 
ulation, there  is  no  evidence  that  a  similar  act  ever  took  place  in  North  Britain  ;  there  is  no 
record  of  a  Teutonic  settlement  except  in  the  southeast,  and  there  is  no  probability  that  the 
Picts  between  Drumalban  and  the  eastern  sea,  or  even  the  Cymry  of  Strathclyde,  though 
they  lost  their  language  and  their  independence,  were  ever  expelled  from  their  original  seats, 
or  transformed  in  character  by  any  extraordinary  infusion  of  a  Teutonic  element. — J.  M. 
Ross,  Scottish  History  and  Literature ,  p.  15. 

10  Wilson's  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland. 

11  Jameson's  History  of  the  Culdees. 

18  Forbes  Leslie,  Early  Races  of  Scotland. 

13  Mercey,  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  Sept.,  1838. 

14  Hugh  Miller,  Footprints  of  the  Creator. 

15  Historical  Description  of  Zetland. 

16  E.  G.  Ravenstein,  On  the  Celtic  Languages  in  the  British  Isles, 

17  Forbes  Leslie,  Early  Races  of  Scotland. 

18  Dr.  Johnson,  Tour  in  the  Western  Hebrides. 

19  Anderson  Smith,  Lewisiana. 

80  Hugh  Miller,  Cruise  of  the  "Betsey" 

81  Hugh  Miller,  Sutherland  as  it  Was  and  Is. 
88  Official  Journal,  Nov.  16,  1877. 

83  Anderson  Smith,  Lewisiana. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  CALEDONIANS,  OR  PICTS 

OF  the  inhabitants  of  Britain  in  prehistoric  times  we  can  learn  but 
little,  and  that  only  in  the  most  general  way.  While  the  literature  on 
the  subject  is  quite  extensive,  and,  so  far  as  it  records  the  results  of  archaeo- 
logical investigation,  not  without  considerable  value,  yet  the  data  thus  far 
made  available  are  so  fragmentary  as  to  form  a  basis  for  hardly  anything  more 
than  a  probable  supposition  as  to  who  they  were  and  whence  they  came.1 
The  following  summary  by  one  of  the  recent  English  authorities 3  gives  us  a 
hint  of  the  progress  thus  far  made  in  this  line  of  inquiry  : 

From  the  bones  which  have  been  taken  from  the  tombs,  and  from  the 
ancient  flint-mines  uncovered  in  Sussex  and  Norfolk,  the  anatomists  have 
concluded  that  the  Neolithic  Britons  were  not  unlike  the  modern  Eskimo. 
They  were  short  and  slight,  with  muscles  too  much  developed  for  their 
slender  and  ill-nurtured  bones  ;  and  there  is  that  marked  disproportion  be- 
tween the  size  of  the  men  and  women,  which  indicates  a  hard  and  miserable 
life,  where  the  weakest  are  overworked  and  constantly  stinted  of  their  food. 
The  face  must  have  been  of  an  oval  shape,  with  mild  and  regular  fea- 
tures :  the  skulls,  though  bulky  in  some  instances,  were  generally  of  a  long 
and  narrow  shape,  depressed  sometimes  at  the  crown  and  marked  with  a 
prominent  ridge,  "  like  the  keel  of  a  boat  reversed."8     .     .     . 

The  oldest  races  were  in  apre-metallic  stage,  when  bronze  was  introduced 
by  a  new  nation,  sometimes  identified  with  the  oldest  Celts,  but  now  more 
generally  attributed  to  the  Finnish  or  Ugrian  stock.  When  the  Celts  arrived 
in  their  turn,  they  may  have  brought  in  the  knowledge  of  iron  and  silver  ; 
the  Continental  Celts  are  known  to  have  used  iron  broad-swords  at  the  battle 
of  the  Anio  in  the  fourth  century  before  Christ,  and  iron  was  certainly 
worked  in  Sussex  by  the  Britons  of  Julius  Caesar's  time ;  but  as  no  objects 
of  iron  have  been  recovered  from  our  Celtic  tumuli,  except  in  some  instances 
of  a  doubtful  date,  it  will  be  safer  to  assume  that  the  British  Celts  belonged 
to  the  later  Bronze  Age  as  well  as  to  the  Age  of  Iron.4 

With  reference  to  the  earliest  population  of  Scotland,  the  following 
hypothesis  given  by  Samuel  Laing  in  his  work  on  Prehistoric  Remains  of 
Caithness  may  be  taken  as  a  fairly  comprehensive  statement  : 

Our  population  contains  three  distinct  ethnological  elements  :  I.  Xan- 
thochroi  brachycephali  (the  fair,  broad-headed  type)  ;  II.  Xanthochroi 
dolichocephali  (the  fair,  long-headed  type);  III.  Melanchroi  (the  dark  type). 
In  Caesar's  time,  and  for  an  indefinitely  long  period,  Gaul  contained  the  first 
and  third  of  these  elements,  and  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  presented  the 
second.  In  other  words,  the  ethnological  elements  of  the  Hiberno-British 
islands  are  identical  with  those  of  the  nearest  adjacent  parts  of  the  continent 
of  Europe,  at  the  earliest  period  when  a  good  observer  noted  the  characters 
of  their  population. 

182 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  183 

Dr.  Thurnam  has  adduced  many  good  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
"  Belgic  "  element  intruded  upon  a  pre-existing  dolichocephalic  '  Iberian  " 
population  ;  but  I  think  it  probable  that  this  element  hardly  reached 
Ireland  at  all,  and  extended  but  little  into  Scotland.  However,  if  this  were 
the  case,  and  no  other  elements  entered  into  the  population,  the  tall,  fair, 
red-haired  and  blue-eyed  dolichocephalia,  who  are,  and  appear  always  to 
have  been,  so  numerous  among  the  Irish  and  Scotch,  could  not  be  accounted 
for. 

But  their  existence  becomes  intelligible  at  once,  if  we  suppose  that  long 
before  the  well-known  Norse  and  Danish  invasions  a  stream  of  Scandinavi- 
ans had  set  into  Scotland  and  Ireland,  and  formed  a  large  part  of  our  primi- 
tive population.  And  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  admitting  this  hypothesis 
when  we  recollect  that  the  Orkneys  and  the  Hebrides  have  been,  in  compara- 
tively late  historical  times,  Norwegian  possessions.  ...  In  another 
fashion,  the  fair  and  broad-headed  "  Belgae  "  intruded  into  the  British  area  ; 
but  meeting  with  a  large  dolichocephalic  population,  which  at  subsequent 
times  was  vastly  reinforced  by  Anglo-Saxon,  Norse,  and  Danish  invasions, 
this  type  has  been  almost  wiped  out  of  the  British  population,  which  is,  in  the 
main,  composed  of  fair  dolichocephalia  and  dark  dolichocephalia.  .  .  . 
But  language  has  in  no  respect  followed  these  physical  changes.  The  fair 
dolichocephali  and  fair  brachycephali  of  Germany,  Scandinavia,  and  Eng- 
land speak  Teutonic  dialects  ;  while  those  of  France  have  a  substantially 
Latin  speech  ;  and  the  majority  of  those  of  Scotland,  and,  within  historic 
times,  all  those  of  Ireland,  spoke  Celtic  tongues.  As  to  the  Melanchroi, 
some  speak  Celtic,  some  Latin,  some  Teutonic  dialects  ;  while  others,  like  the 
Basques  (so  far  as  they  come  under  this  category)  have  a  language  of  their 
own. 

So  far  as  any  definite  conclusions  can  be  deduced  from  the  work  of  the 
ethnologists  and  archaeologists,  it  appears  that  the  first  Celtic  invaders  to 
enter  Scotland  (whether  at  a  period  simultaneous  with  or  prior  or  subse- 
quent to  the  advent  of  the  Stone-Age  Britons  in  that  part  of  the  island  can- 
not perhaps  be  definitely  told)  were  the  Gaels,  or  Goidels,  who  had  crossed 
over  into  Britain  from  Gaul,  first  settling  on  those  portions  of  the  coast  most 
easy  of  access  from  the  points  of  embarkation,  thence  pushing  into  the  interior, 
and  gradually  spreading  to  the  west  and  north.  In  their  progress  they  must 
have  encountered  and,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  superseded  the  aborigines 
—  the  Britons  of  the  Stone  Age.  This  may  have  been  done  by  exterminating 
them,  by  driving  them  off  towards  the  west,  or  by  assimilating  them  with 
themselves.  Probably  all  of  these  methods  of  race  extinction  were 
brought  into  operation.  In  such  a  primitive  age,  these  tribes,  native 
and  foreign,  cannot  be  conceived  to  have  been  other  than  loosely  organized 
hordes  of  wandering  savages,  preying  upon  one  another,  without  fixed  habi- 
tations, and  to  whom  all  weaker  strangers  were  foredoomed  enemies.  The 
Celts,  bringing  with  them  from  the  Continent  the  knowledge  of  bronze  and 
iron,  would  have  considerable  advantage  in  battle  over  the  aborigines,  who 
had  no  more  effective  weapons  than  sharpened  stones.  In  those  days,  also, 
it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  country  was  so  sparsely  populated  that 
for  centuries  after  the  first  coming  of  the  Gaels,  there  would  be  room  enough 


184  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

on  the  island  for  both  races  ;  and  many  bodies  of  the  aborigines  no  doubt 
remained  unmolested  long  after  the  extinction  of  their  race  had  been  in  part 
accomplished.5  As  fresh  waves  of  invasion  swept  over  the  eastern  shores, 
the  Celts  first  coming  would  be  apt  to  be  driven  farther  and  farther  inland  from 
the  coast,  and  would  in  turn  displace  the  natives  —  who,  to  escape  death  or 
slavery,  would  be  obliged  to  push  farther  westward  and  northward.  Some 
of  these  (supposed)  aborigines,  however,  seem  to  have  made  a  successful 
stand  against  the  encroachments  of  the  newcomers,  and  among  them  we  find 
two  tribes  who  were  identified  with  portions  of  Scotland  down  to  a  date 
long  after  the  beginning  of  the  historic  era.  These  were  the  Novantae  and 
Selgovae  mentioned  by  Ptolemy,  whose  territory  in  his  time  (the  early  part 
of  the  second  century)  embraced  the  country  west  of  the  river  Nith  and 
south  of  the  Ayr  —  Kirkcudbrightshire  and  Galloway  —  and  possibly,  also, 
the  peninsula  of  Kintyre,  in  Argyle.  Toward  the  end  of  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion they  seem  to  have  coalesced,  and  became  known  as  the  Attecotti,  a 
"  fierce  and  warlike  tribe,"  who  gave  the  Romans  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 
They  afterwards  appear  in  history  as  the  Galloway  Picts,  and  seem  to  have 
remained  a  distinct  people  under  that  name  down  to  a  comparatively  recent 
date/ 

The  Gaelic  Celts  of  the  first  migrations  were  in  time  followed  by  other 
bodies  of  their  own  tribesmen,  and  later  by  large  incursions  of  invaders  of 
a  kindred  race — the  Cymric  Celts.7  The  first  comers,  accordingly,  seem  to 
have  been  pushed  on  to  the  west  and  north,  overrunning  the  west  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales,  entering  Scotland,  and  some  of  them,  more  venturesome 
than  others,  crossing  over  into  Northern  Ireland,  and  making  that  country 
their  own.8  In  the  course  of  time,  various  tribes  of  the  Cymric  Celts  ac- 
quired the  most  of  Southern  Britain  and  not  a  small  portion  of  Scotland, 
spreading  over  the  island  in  considerable  numbers,  and  leaving  few  parts 
unoccupied  save  the  hills  and  highlands  of  Scotland,  which  became  the 
final  retreat  and  stronghold  of  their  Gaelic  cousins." 

Caesar  was  the  first  observer  who  has  left  any  record  of  these  early  Cym- 
ro-Celtic  Britons.  Of  their  origin  and  manner  of  living  he  speaks  as  fol- 
lows (£>e  Bello  Gallico,  book  v.,  ch.  xii.,  xiv.)  : 

The  interior  portion  of  Britain  is  inhabited  by  those  of  whom  they  say 
that  it  is  handed  down  by  tradition  that  they  were  born  in  the  island  itself  ; 
the  maritime  portion  by  those  who  had  passed  over  from  the  country  of  the 
Belgae  for  the  purpose  of  plunder  and  making  war  ;  almost  all  of  whom  are 
called  by  the  names  of  those  states  from  which  being  sprung  they  went 
thither,  and  having  waged  war,  continued  there  and  began  to  cultivate  the 
lands.  The  number  of  the  people  is  countless,  and  their  buildings  exceed- 
ingly numerous,  for  the  most  part  very  like  those  of  the  Gauls  ;  the  number 
of  cattle  is  great.  They  use  either  brass  or  iron  rings,  determined  at  a  cer- 
tain weight,  as  their  money.  Tin  is  produced  in  the  midland  regions  ;  in  the 
maritime,  iron  ;  but  the  quantity  of  it  is  small  ;  they  employ  brass,  which  is 
imported.  There,  as  in  Gaul,  is  timber  of  every  description  except  beech 
and  fir.     They  do  not  regard  it  lawful  to  eat  the  hare,  and  the  cock,  and  the 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  185 

goose  ;  they,  however,  breed  them  for  amusement  and  pleasure.     The  cli- 
mate is  more  temperate  than  in  Gaul,  the  colds  being  less  severe. 

The  most  civilized  of  all  these  nations  are  they  who  inhabit  Kent,  which 
is  entirely  a  maritime  district,  nor  do  they  differ  much  from  the  Gallic  cus- 
toms. Most  of  the  island  inhabitants  do  not  sow  corn,  but  live  on  milk  and 
flesh,  and  are  clad  with  skins.  All  the  Britons,  indeed,  dye  themselves  with 
woad,  which  occasions  a  bluish  color,  and  thereby  have  a  more  terrible  ap- 
pearance in  fight.  They  wear  their  hair  long,  and  have  every  part  of  their 
body  shaved  except  their  head  and  upper  lip.  Ten  and  even  twelve  have 
wives  common  to  them,  and  particularly  brothers  among  brothers,  and  par- 
ents among  their  children  ;  but  if  there  be  any  issue  by  their  wives,  they  are 
reputed  to  be  the  children  of  those  by  whom  respectively  each  was  first 
espoused  when  a  virgin. 

A  description  of  the  several  peoples  inhabiting  Britain  at  this  time,  or 
shortly  after,  is  found  in  Ptolemy's  Geography,  written  about  a.d.  121.  Ac- 
cording to  Professor  Rhys's  interpretation  of  Ptolemy,  most  of  the  country 
between  the  Humber  and  Mersey  and  the  Caledonian  Forest  belonged  to  a 
tribe  or  confederation  known  as  the  Brigantes.  The  Novantae  and  Selgovae, 
occupying  the  district  on  the  Solway  west  of  the  Nith,  appear,  however,  to 
have  been  independent  of  them  ;  as  were  also  the  Parisi,  between  the  Humber 
and  the  Tees.  The  Otadini  (occupying  a  portion  of  Lothian  and  the  coast 
down  to  the  southern  Wall)  and  the  northern  Damnonii  (inhabiting  the  dis- 
trict north  of  the  Novantae,  the  Selgovae,  and  the  Otadini,  and  to  a  consid- 
erable distance  beyond  the  Forth  and  Clyde — the  present  counties  of  Ayr, 
Renfrew,  Lanark,  Dumbarton,  Stirling,  and  the  western  half  of  Fife)  were 
either  distinct  peoples  subject  to  the  Brigantes,  or  included  in  the  tribes  that 
went  under  that  name.10 

Aside  from  the  Novantae  and  Selgovae,  these  various  tribes  are  now  gen- 
erally supposed  to  have  belonged  to  the  Cymric  Celts,  being  part  of  the  same 
people  who,  since  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  have  been  popularly  known  as 
"  Britons,"  at  the  present  day  sometimes  called  "  Brythons,"  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  "Goidels,"  or  Gaelic  Celts  of  Britain.  Freeman  includes  with 
the  Brythons  nearly  all  the  tribes  of  North  Britain,  a  classification  which 
seems  entirely  too  comprehensive  ;  he  says  of  the  latter  : 

On  the  whole,  it  is  most  likely  that  they  belonged  to  the  same  branch  of 
the  Celtic  race  as  the  southern  Britons,  and  that  they  differed  from  them 
chiefly  as  the  unsubdued  part  of  any  race  differs  from  the  part  which  is 
brought  into  subjection.  In  the  later  days  of  the  Roman  power  in  Britain, 
these  northern  tribes,  under  the  name  of  Picts,  appear  as  dangerous  invaders 
of  the  Roman  province,  invaders  whose  inroads  were  sometimes  pushed 
even  into  its  southern  regions.11 

The  connection  of  these  different  divisions  of  the  early  races  with  our 
subject  is  quite  important,  for,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  that  portion  of  Brit- 
ain inhabited  for  so  long  a  time  by  the  Novantae,  the  Selgovae,  the  Otadini, 
the  Damnonii,  the  Brigantes,  and  the  Galloway  Picts  of  later  writers  is  the 


1 86  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

part  from  which  Ireland  received  the  largest  proportion  of  her  Scottish 
immigrants." 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  the  name  "  Scotland  "  was  applied 
solely  to  the  Hibernian  island.  The  present  Scotland  was  then  known  as 
Caledonia,  or  by  its  ancient  Gaelic  name  of  Alban,  or  Albania.  Before  that 
period,  and,  indeed,  for  some  time  afterwards,  its  boundaries  did  not  extend 
south  of  the  Forth  and  Clyde.  That  part  of  the  country  south  of  these 
estuaries  was  included  in  the  Roman  province,  and  its  inhabitants  for  the 
most  part  were  Romanized  Britons.  During  their  wars  with  the  Brigantes  in 
the  first  century,  the  Romans  learned  of  a  people  to  the  north  of  that  nation, 
whom  they  termed  Caledonian  Britons.  Lucan  first  mentions  them  a.d.  65  : 
"  Unda  Caledonios  fallit  turbata  Britannos."  They  are  alluded  to  by  Taci- 
tus some  fifteen  years  later  {Life  of  Agricola,  c.  xi.),  who  says  : 

Who  were  the  first  inhabitants  of  Britain,  whether  indigenous  or  immi- 
grants, is  a  question  involved  in  the  obscurity  usual  among  barbarians. 
Their  temperament  of  body  is  various,  whence  deductions  are  formed  of 
their  different  origin.  Thus,  the  ruddy  hair  and  large  limbs  of  the  Caledo- 
nians point  out  a  German  derivation.13  The  swarthy  complexion  and  curled 
hair  of  the  Silures,  together  with  their  situation  opposite  to  Spain,  render  it 
probable  that  a  colony  of  the  ancient  Iberi  possessed  themselves  of  that  ter- 
ritory. They  who  are  nearest  Gaul  resemble  the  inhabitants  of  that  country; 
whether  from  the  duration  of  hereditary  influence,  or  whether  it  be  that 
when  lands  jut  forward  in  opposite  directions,  climate  gives  the  same  condi- 
tion of  body  to  the  inhabitants  of  both.  On  a  general  survey,  however,  it 
appears  probable  that  the  Gauls  originally  took  possession  on  the  neighbor- 
ing coast.  The  sacred  rites  and  superstitions  of  these  people  are  discernible 
among  the  Britons.  The  languages  of  the  two  nations  do  not  greatly  differ. 
The  same  audacity  in  provoking  danger,  and  irresolution  in  facing  it  when 
present,  is  observable  in  both.  The  Britons,  however,  display  more  ferocity, 
not  being  yet  softened  by  a  long  peace  ;  for  it  appears  from  history  that  the 
Gauls  were  once  renowned  in  war,  till,  losing  their  valor  with  their  liberty, 
languor  and  indolence  entered  among  them.  The  same  change  has  also 
taken  place  among  those  of  the  Britons  who  have  been  long  subdued  ;  but 
the  rest  continue  such  as  the  Gauls  formerly  were. 

Tacitus's  account  of  the  campaigns  carried  on  against  the  Caledonians  by 
Agricola  sufficiently  illustrates  the  spirit  and  valor  of  these  early  Scotch- 
men. Though  often  defeated  in  battle,  they  were  never  subdued  ;  and  when 
unable  to  withstand  the  charges  of  the  Roman  legions  in  the  open,  they  fell 
back  to  their  retreats  in  forest  and  mountains,  where  they  were  able  to  hold 
the  Romans  at  bay. 

Dion  Cassius,  the  historian  (about  a.d.  155-230),  brings  them  to  our  at- 
tention again,  when  in  the  year  201  we  find  the  Caledonians  joined  with  the 
Maeatae  in  preparation  for  an  attack  on  the  Roman  province.  This  was 
postponed,  however,  by  the  action  of  the  Roman  Governor,  Virius  Lupus, 
who  purchased  peace  at  a  great  price  from  the  Maeatae.  Dion,  writing  before 
the  year  230,  gives  the  following  description  of  these  Maeatae,  which,  while  in 
some  respects  evidently  founded  upon  fable,  yet  as  a  whole  corresponds 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  187 

with  like  accounts  which  have  come  down  to  us  of  the  neighboring  tribes 

(1.  lxxvi.,  ch.  xii.)  : 

Of  the  Britons,  the  two  most  ample  nations  are  the  Caledonians  and 
the  Maeatae  ;  for  the  names  of  the  rest  refer  for  the  most  part  to  these.  The 
Maeatae  inhabit  near  the  very  wall  which  divides  the  island  in  two  parts  ;  the 
Caledonians  are  after  those.  Each  of  them  inhabits  mountains,  very  rugged, 
and  wanting  water,  also  desert  fields  full  of  marshes  ;  they  have  neither 
castles  nor  cities,  nor  dwell  in  any  ;  they  live  on  milk,  and  by  hunting,  and 
maintain  themselves  by  the  fruits  of  trees  :  for  fishes,  of  which  there  is  a  very 
great  and  numberless  quantity,  they  never  taste  ;  they  dwell  naked  in  tents, 
and  without  shoes  ;  they  use  wives  in  common,  and  whatever  is  born  to  them 
they  bring  up.14  In  the  popular  state  they  are  governed  as  for  the  most  part ; 
they  rob  on  the  highway  most  willingly  ;  they  war  in  chariots  ;  horses  they 
have,  small  and  fleet ;  their  infantry,  also,  are  as  well  most  swift  at  running 
as  most  brave  in  pitched  battle.  Their  arms  are  a  shield  and  a  short  spear, 
in  the  upper  part  whereof  is  an  apple  of  brass,  that  while  it  is  shaken  it  may 
terrify  the  enemies  with  sound  ;  they  have  likewise  daggers  ;  they  are  able 
to  bear  hunger,  cold,  and  all  afflictions  ;  for  they  merge  themselves  in 
marshes,  and  there  remain  many  days  having  only  their  heads  out  of  water  ; 
and  in  woods  are  nourished  by  the  barks  and  roots  of  trees.  But  a  certain 
kind  of  food  they  prepare  for  all  occasions,  of  which  if  they  take  as  much 
as  the  size  of  a  single  bean,  they  are  in  nowise  ever  wont  to  hunger  or  thirst. 

The  nation  of  the  Maeatae  {i.e.,  "  Men  of  the  Midlands  ")  embraced  those 
tribes  immediately  north  of  the  Roman  wall  between  the  Forth  and  the 
Clyde,  while  the  Caledonians  were  to  the  north  and  east.  This  division  of 
the  people  into  two  nations  or  septs  seems  to  have  continued  for  some  cen- 
turies. In  380,  they  were  known  as  the  Dicalidones  and  the  Vecturiones. 
By  Bede  they  appear  to  have  been  distinguished  as  the  Northern  Picts  and 
the  Southern  Picts.16 

In  the  year  208,  Severus  penetrated  into  their  country  as  far  as  the 
river  Tay.  By  great  exertions  in  clearing  the  country  of  forests  and  under- 
growth, and  the  construction  of  roads  and  bridges,  he  acquired  a  limited 
district  beyond  that  Wall  of  Antoninus  which  he  had  reconstructed  between 
the  Clyde  and  the  Forth.  This  territory  the  Romans  afterwards  garrisoned, 
and  retained  for  a  few  years.  Severus  is  said  to  have  fought  no  battles, 
on  this  march,  but  his  loss  in  men  was  very  great,  owing  to  the  destructive 
guerilla  warfare  carried  on  by  the  natives  during  the  progress  of  the  work 
of  clearing.  In  211,  the  Maeatae  and  Caledonians  prepared  again  for  an 
attack  on  the  Romans.  The  death  of  Severus  in  that  year  preventing  his 
conduct  of  the  operations  against  them,  his  son  and  successor  was  forced  to 
make  peace  with  these  tribes  on  terms  which  it  would  seem  eventually  in- 
volved the  withdrawal  of  the  Roman  garrisons  to  the  south  of  the  Wall. 

After  this  we  learn  nothing  more  of  the  Caledonians  from  the  Roman 
writers  until  near  the  beginning  of  the  following  century,  when  they  are 
brought  to  our  attention  again  under  a  new  name,  and  one  by  which  the 
early  inhabitants  of  Scotland  have  become  best  known  in  history.  Eumenius, 
the  panegyrist,  in  his  oration  to  Constantius  Chlorus  delivered  at  Autun,  in 


1 88  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Gaul,  a.d.  296,  on  the  occasion  of  the  victory  of  the  latter  over  Allectus, 
compares  the  victor  with  the  former  leaders  who  had  fought  against  the 
Britons,  and  adds  :  "  The  nation  Caesar  attacked  was  then  rude,  and  the 
Britons,  used  only  to  the  Picts  and  Hibernians, — enemies  then  half  naked, — 
easily  yielded  to  the  Roman  arms  and  ensigns."  At  the  same  place  some 
years  later  (309-10)  Eumenius  pronounced  a  second  panegyric  on  Constan- 
tius  Chlorus,  before  Constantine,  the  son  of  Constantius,  in  which  he  said  : 
"  The  day  would  fail  sooner  than  my  oration  were  I  to  run  over  all  the  actions 
of  thy  father,  even  with  this  brevity.  His  last  expedition  did  not  seek  for 
British  trophies  (as  is  vulgarly  believed),  but,  the  gods  now  calling  him,  he 
came  to  the  secret  bounds  of  the  earth.  For  neither  did  he  by  so  many  and 
such  actions,  I  do  not  say  the  woods  and  marshes  of  the  Caledonians  and  other 
Picts,  but  not  Hibernia  [Scotland  ?],  near  at  hand,  nor  farthest  Thule,"  etc. 

These,  and  similar  brief  allusions  on  the  part  of  later  writers,  are  all 
that  we  get  from  the  pages  of  early  history  concerning  a  subject  which, 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  gave  rise  to  the  famous  Pictish  Contro- 
versy, a  dispute  that  was  carried  on  in  Scotland  for  many  years,  and  with 
extreme  bitterness  on  both  sides,  but  which  did  not  result  in  adding  much 
information  to  that  imparted  by  Eumenius  in  the  passage  quoted  above  : 
namely,  that  the  Caledonians  were  Picts.16  For  a  full  consideration  of 
these  discussions,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  works  of  Pinkerton,  Ritson, 
Chalmers,  Prichard,  Grant,  Betham,  and  others.  While  we  cannot  but  agree 
with  Mr.  Hill  Burton  in  concluding  that  the  labor  of  those  writers  has  been 
without  avail,  and  are  entirely  willing  to  "  content  ourselves  with  the  old 
and  rather  obvious  notion  that  by  Picti  the  Romans  merely  meant  painted 
people,17  without  any  consideration  about  their  race,  language,  or  other 
ethnical  specialties,"  yet  the  efforts  of  our  modern  workers  in  the  same  field 
have  been  more  fruitful  of  results,  so  far  as  the  ethnology  of  these  painted 
people  is  concerned.  It  is  now  generally  believed  that  they  were  primarily 
descended  from  the  aborigines  of  Britain,  who  were  non-Celtic  and  non- 
Aryan.  Later,  in  accordance  with  the  usually  adopted  view  as  to  the  priority 
of  the  Gaelic  emigration  to  Britain,  its  subsequent  movement  northward,  and 
the  facility  with  which  the  Picts  afterwards  coalesced  with  the  Scots,  they 
must  also  have  become  to  a  large  extent  Gaelic.  Yet,  the  presence  of  known 
Cymric  peoples  in  the  Pictish  territories  in  Roman  times, — one  instance 
being  that  of  the  northern  Damnonii,  who  were  cut  off  from  their  own  nation 
by  the  building  of  the  first  Wall, — together  with  the  many  proofs  of  Brythonic 
occupation  shown  in  the  topographical  nomenclature  of  the  northern  Low- 
lands, lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that,  so  far  as  the  Southern  Picts  were  con- 
cerned, their  peculiar  characteristics  had  to  a  considerable  extent  been 
modified  by  the  infusion  of  Cymric  elements.  In  other  words,  the  Northern 
Picts  seem  to  have  been  largely  of  the  aboriginal  type,  more  or  less  modified 
by  fusion  with  the  Gaelic,  while  those  of  the  south  were  a  mixed  Gaelic, 
Cymric,  and  aboriginal  people.     This  view  harmonizes  with  the  distinction 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  189 

nearly  always  made  by  the  early  historians  in  their  references  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Caledonia — as  instanced  by  the  Maeatae  and  Caledonians  of  Dion 
Cassius,  the  Caledonians  and  "  other  Picts  "  of  Eumenius,  the  Dicalidones 
and  Vecturiones  of  Ammianus,  and,  somewhat  later,  the  Northern  and 
Southern  Picts  of  Bede.18 

The  Picts  were  converted  to  Christianity  by  the  preaching  of  St.  Columba 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixth  century  (after  a.d.  565)  ;  and  they  were  ruled 
over  by  a  line  of  Pictish  kings  down  to  the  year  842,  when  Kenneth  MacAlpin, 
king  of  the  Dalriada  Scots,  brought  them  under  subjection,  and  united  the 
two  kingdoms  under  one  crown. 

The  chief  original  sources  of  information  about  the  Pictish  kingdom  and 
its  rulers  are  the  Ulster  Annals,  the  Annals  of  Tighernac,  and  the  Pictish 
Chronicle,  of  which  the  best  editions  are  those  contained  in  Mr.  William  F. 
Skene's  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots.  English  translations  of  portions 
of  the  first  two  of  these  have  been  printed  in  the  Collectanea  de  Rebus 
Albanicis  of  the  Iona  Club  (see  Appendix  O). 

The  names  of  the  Pictish  kings  from  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century, 
with  the  dates  of  the  commencement  of  their  reigns,  duration  of  same,  and 
dates  of  death,  are  as  follows  : 

About  a.d.  406,  Drust  (or  Drest)  I.,  son  of  Irb  (or  Erp,  or  Wirp). 

451,  Talore  I.,  son  of  Aniel,  reigned  four  years. 

455-57,  Nechtan  I.,  surnamedMorbet,  son  of  Irb  (or  Erp);  reigned  twenty- 
four  years. 

480,  Drest  (or  Drust)  II.,  surnamed  Gurthinmoch  ;  reigned  thirty 
years. 

510,  Galanau  ;  reigned  twelve  years. 

522,  Dadrest  ;  reigned  one  year. 

523,  Drest  (or  Drust)  III.,  son  of  Gyrom  ;  reigned  eleven  years. 

524,  the  same,  with  Drust  IV.,  son  of  Udrust  (or  Wdrost).19 
529,  Drust  III.  (alone). 

534,  Gartnaoch  I.,  son  of  Gyrom  ;  reigned  seven  years. 

541,  Giltram  (or  Cailtram),  son  of  Gyrom  ;  reigned  one  year. 

542,  Talorg  II.,  son  of  Muircholaich  ;  reigned  eleven  years. 

553,  Drest  V.,  son  of  Munait  ;  reigned  one  year. 

554,  Galam,*0  son  of  Cendaeladh  ;  reigned  two  years  ;  died  (probably)  580. 

555,  the  same,  with  Bridei. 

556,  Bridei  (or  Bruidi,  or  Brudei,  or  Brude)  I.,  son  of  Mailcon  (Bruidi 
mac  Mailochon)  ;  reigned  thirty  years  ;  died  583. 

586,  Gartnard  (or  Gartnaidh)  II.,  son  of  Domelch  (or  Domlech  or  Don- 
ald) (Gartnay  mac  Donald)  ;  reigned  eleven  years  ;  died  599. 

597,  Nechtan  II.,  grandson  (or  nephew)  of  Uerd  (Nechtan  Hy  Firb)  ; 
reigned  twenty  years. 

612  (or  617),  Cinioch  (or  Cinaeth,  or  Kenneth,  or  Cinadon),  son  of 
Luchtren  (or  Lachtren)  ;  reigned  fourteen  to  nineteen  years  ;  died  631. 


190  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

631,  Gartnard  (or  Gartnaidh)  III.,  son  of  Wid  (or  Foith)  (Gartnay 
macFoith)  ;  reigned  four  years  ;  died  635. 

635,  Breidei  (or  Bruidi)  II.,  son  of  Wid  (or  Foith)  (Bruidi  mac  Foith)  ; 
reigned  five  years  ;  died  641. 

641,  Talorc  (or  Talore,  or  Talorcan)  III.,  son  of  Wid  (or  Foith)  (Talor- 
can  mac  Foith)  ;  reigned  twelve  years  ;  died  653. 

653,  Talorcan,  son  of  Ainfrait  (or  Anfrith,21  or  Eanfred)  ;  reigned  four 
years  ;  died  657. 

657-63,  Gartnait  (or  Gartnaidh)  IV.,  son  of  Donnell  (or  Domhnaill) 
(Gartnay  mac  Donald)  ;  reigned  six  and  a  half  years  ;  died  66^. 

665,  Drest  (or  Drust,  or  Drost)  VI.,  son  of  Donnell  and  brother  of 
Gartnach  (Drust  mac  Donald)  ;  reigned  seven  years  ;  expelled  672. 

672,  Bredei  (or  Bruidi,  or  Bruidhe,"  or  Bredei)  III.,  son  of  Bili  (or  Bile 
or  Beli)  (Bruidi  mac  Bili)  ;  reigned  twenty-one  years  ;  died  693. 

693,  Taran  (or  Gharan),  son  of  Entefedich  (or  Enfisedech)  (Gharan 
mac  Enfisedech)  ;  reigned  four  years  ;  expelled  697. 

695-7,  Brudei  (or  Bredei,  or  Bruidi,  or  Brude)  IV.,  son  of  Derili  (or 
Derelei)  (Brudei  mac  Derili)  ;  reigned  eleven  years  ;  died  706. 

709,  Nechtan  III.,  son  of  Derili  ;  reigned  fifteen  years  ;  resigned  724  ; 
returned  728  ;  died  729. 

724,  Drest  (or  Druxst  or  Drost)  VII.;  expelled  726;  died,  729. 

726,  Alpin,  son  of  Eachaidh  ;  expelled  728  ;  died  741. 

729-31,  Angus  (or  Hungus)  I.,  son  of  Fergus  (or  Wirgust)  ;  reigned 
thirty  years  ;  died  761. 

761,   Brudei  (or  Bruidi)  V.,   son  of  Fergus  ;  reigned  two  years  ;  died 

763. 

763,  Kenneth  (or  Cinaedh,  or  Ciniod),  son  of  Feredach  (or  Wirdech,  or 
Wredech)  ;  reigned  twelve  years  ;  died  775. 

775,  Alpin,  son  of  Wroid  ;  reigned  three  years  ;  died  780. 

777-8,  Drust  (or  Drost),  son  of  Talorgen  (or  Talorcan)  ;  reigned  four  to 
five  years  ;  and  Talorgan  (or  Talorcan),  son  of  Angus  ;  reigned  two  and 
a  half  years  ;  died  about  782. 

784,  Conall,  son  of  Taidg  (or  Canaul,  son  of  Tarl'a)  ;  reigned  five  years  ; 
expelled  789-90. 

790,  Constantine,  son  of  Fergus  (or  Wirgust)  ;  reigned  thirty  years  ;  died 
820. 

820,  Angus  (brother  of  Constantine),  son  of  Fergus  ;  reigned  twelve 
years  ;  died  834. 

834,  Drust  (or  Drost),  son  of  Constantine,  and  Talorcan  (or  Talorgan), 
son  of  Uitholl  (or  Wthoil)  ;  reigned  about  three  years. 

836,  Eoganan,  son  of  Angus  ;  reigned  three  years  ;  died  839. 

839,  Wrad  (or  Fered),  son  of  Bargoit ;  reigned  about  three  years. 

842,  Bred  (or  Bruidi),  son  of  Ferat  ;  reigned  one  year. 

842-4,  Kenneth  II.,  surnamed  mac  Alpin,  King  of  Albany. 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  191 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XIV. 

1  One  of  the  most  useful  books  on  this  subject  is  Dr.  Daniel  Wilson's  Prehistoric  Annals 
of  Scotland. 

'Charles  I.  Elton,  Origins  of  English  History \  London,  1890. 

8  Dr.  Thurnam  was  the  first  to  recognise  that  the  long  skulls,  out  of  the  long  barrows  of 
Britain  and  Ireland,  were  of  the  Basque  or  Iberian  type,  and  Professor  Huxley  holds  that 
the  river-bed  skulls  belong  to  the  same  race.  We  have  therefore  proofs  that  an  Iberian  or 
Basque  population  spread  over  the  whole  of  Britain  and  Ireland  in  the  neolithic  age,  inhabit- 
ing caves,  and  burying  their  dead  in  caves  and  chambered  tombs,  just  as  in  the  Iberian 
peninsula  also,  in  the  neolithic  age. — Cave  Hunting,  p.  214,  by  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  M.A.,  1874. 

4  "  The  site  of  the  prehistoric  Celtic  village  near  Glastonbury  has  been  further  excavated 
since  July  last  under  the  superintendence  of  the  discoverer,  Arthur  Bullied.  The  sites  of  the 
dwellings  are  marked  by  mounds.  One  of  these  contained  the  greatest  depth  of  clay  yet 
found,  no  less  than  nine  feet,  the  accumulation  of  successive  hearths,  which  were  found 
necessary  as  the  weight  of  the  clay  gradually  compressed  the  peat  beneath.  This  mound 
contained  three  hundred  tons  of  clay,  all  of  which  must  have  been  brought  in  their  boats  by 
the  inhabitants  from  the  neighboring  hills.  Under  the  mound  was  found  the  framework  of 
a  loom  with  brushwood  and  wattlework  to  form  the  foundation.  That  the  inhabitants  were 
much  engaged  in  spinning  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  in  addition  to  other  things  connected 
with  the  craft  no  fewer  than  forty  horn  and  bone  carding  combs  have  been  unearthed* 
Strangely  enough,  no  two  of  these  are  exactly  of  the  same  pattern.  As  in  previous 
seasons,  a  large  number  of  bone  articles  has  been  discovered.  The  number  of  broken  bone 
needles  and  splinters  of  bone  found  in  one  mound  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  utilized  as  a 
needle  factory. 

' '  Another  mound  was  very  rich  in  fragments  of  pottery  and  other  evidences  of  the 
manufacture  of  hardware.  No  fewer  than  ten  bronze  fibulae  were  found,  these  being 
fashioned  almost  exactly  like  the  modern  safety-pin.  Two  bronze  studs,  probably  a  part  of 
harness  or  for  fastening  clothing,  were  also  found,  together  with  other  small  bronze  articles. 
A  neatly  cut  iron  file  about  eight  inches  long  was  found.  As  usual,  very  few  human  re- 
mains were  discovered,  part  of  the  skeleton  of  a  very  young  child  being  all  that  was  brought 
to  light  this  summer.  With  the  exception  of  the  cracked  skulls  of  a  few  unfortunate  warriors, 
the  remains  of  very  young  children  have  chiefly  been  found  in  past  years,  Mr.  Bullied  being 
of  the  opinion  that  these  primitive  people  conveyed  their  dead  to  the  neighboring  hills  for 
interment. 

"  Parts  of  three  broken  millstones  were  unearthed  and  in  one  mound  a  clay  oven,  measur- 
ing two  feet  by  nine  inches.  One  glass  article  only  was  brought  to  light  this  year,  a  blue 
glass  bead  with  a  wavy  line  of  dark  blue  running  around  it." — London  Times,  circa 
January,  1898. 

6  As  for  Britain,  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  non-Celtic  portions  of  it  south  of  the  Clyde 
was  probably  that  of  the  Selgovae  or  hunters,  in  Roman  times,  and  later  the  more  limited 
Pictish  district  beyond  the  Nith. — J.  Rhys,  Celtic  Britain,  p.  270. 

6  The  name  of  the  Nith  in  Ptolemy's  time  was  Novios,  and  it  is  from  it  that  this  people 
got  the  name  of  Novantae,  given  them  probably  by  Brythons.  ...  To  the  east  and 
northeast  of  the  Novantae  dwelt  the  Selgovae,  protected  by  thick  forests  and  a  difficult 
country.  They  have  left  their  name  in  the  modern  form  of  Solway  to  the  moss  and  to  the 
firth  called  after  them.  The  word  probably  meant  hunters,  and  the  people  to  whom  it 
applied  may  be  supposed,  not  only  to  have  been  no  Brythons,  but  to  have  been  to  no  very 
great  extent  Celtic  at  all,  except  perhaps  as  to  their  language,  which  they  may  have  adopted 
at  an  early  date  from  the  Goidelic  invaders  ;  in  a  great  measure  they  were  most  likely  a 
remnant  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants,  and  the  same  remark  may  be  supposed  to  be  equally 
applicable  to  the  Novantae.     .     .     .     They  lived  between  the  Walls,  and  appeared  in  history 


192  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

as  Genunians,  we  think,  and  Attecotti.  .  .  .  The  struggle  in  which  they  took  part 
against  the  Romans  ended  in  their  ultimately  retaining  only  the  country  behind  the  Nith, 
where  the  name  of  the  Novantae  becomes  in  Bede's  mouth,  that  of  the  Niduarian  Picts, 
known  as  the  Picts  of  Galloway  for  centuries  afterwards. — Celtic  Britain,  pp.  220-221. 

The  name  "  Picti  "  was  likewise  applied  to  the  inhabitants  of  Galloway,  comprising  the 
modern  counties  of  Kirkcudbright  and  Wigton,  till  a  still  later  period,  and  survived  the  entire 
disappearance  of  the  name  as  applied  to  any  other  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Scotland, 
even  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century.  This  district  was  occupied  in  the  second  century  by  the 
tribe  termed  by  Ptolemy  the  "  Novantae,"  with  their  towns  of  Rerigonium  and  Lucopibia, 
and  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  same  people  did  not  occupy  it  throughout,  and  become 
known  as  the  Picts  of  Galloway,  of  which  "  Candida  Casa,"  or  Withern,  was  the  chief  seat, 
and  occupied  the  site  of  the  older  Lucopibia. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  131. 

The  Picts  of  Galloway  are  occasionally  confounded  with  or  included  amongst  the 
Southern  Picts,  though  when  Bede  describes  the  latter  people  as  dwellers  beyond  the  Forth, 
at  the  foot  of  the  lofty  range  of  mountains  separating  them  from  the  northern  division  of  their 
race,  he  places  them  in  a  very  different  part  of  the  country  from  Galloway.  Ritson  maintains 
that  Galloway  was  a  province  of  the  Southern  Picts,  laying  it  down,  in  his  dogmatic  manner, 
"  as  an  incontrovertible  fact,  for  which  we  have  the  express  authority  of  Bede."  In  support 
of  this  assertion  he  quotes  Bede,  Hist.  Eccl.,  1.  iv.,  ch.  xxvi.,  which,  unfortunately  for  his  argu- 
ment, proves  exactly  the  contrary,  as  the  seat  of  Trumwine's  bishopric  is  there  said  to  have 
been  placed  at  Abercorn  on  the  Forth,  which  divides  the  territories  of  the  Picts  and  the 
Angles — a  very  long  way  from  Galloway.  Bede  was  very  well  acquainted  with  this  latter 
district  under  the  name  of  the  diocese  of  Candida  Casa,  as  it  belonged,  when  he  wrote,  to  the 
kingdom  of  Northumbria  ;  and  in  his  last  chapter  he  commemorates  the  establishment  of  an 
Anglian  bishop  within  its  boundaries.  As  he  distinctly  says  that  the  Picts,  after  their 
victory  at  Nectan's  Mere,  recovered  from  the  Angles  all  that  they  had  previously  lost,  it  is 
plain  that  the  diocese  of  Candida  Casa,  which  remained  in  possession  of  the  Northumbrians, 
could  not  have  belonged  to  the  Picts,  but  must  have  been  conquered  from  another  race,  the 
Britons.  The  authority  of  Bede  is  quite  sufficient  to  refute  the  account  of  Jocelin,  a  monk 
who  in  the  twelfth  century  ascribed  the  conversion  of  the  Picts  of  Galloway  to  a  certain 
shadowy  St.  Kentigern  in  the  seventh  ;  this  very  district  having  been,  upwards  of  two  centuries 
before,  the  seat  of  a  Christian  bishop,  the  British  Ninian.  A  still  more  apocryphal  story 
occurs  in  the  Acta  Sanctorum  (nth  March),  that  St.  Constantine  of  Cornwall  (the  contem- 
porary of  Gildas)  was  martyred  in  Kintyre  about  the  year  570,  when  preaching  to  the  heathen 
Galwegians  and  pagan  Scots  ;  or  exactly  at  the  same  time  when  Columba  was  converting  the 
Northern  Picts  from  his  asylum  of  Iona,  which  he  received  from  the  Christian  King  of  the 
Dalriads.  Another  argument  has  been  brought  forward  to  place  the  Picts  in  Galloway  in 
the  days  of  Bede,  because  the  venerable  historian  has  said  that  St.  Cuthbert,  on  an  excursion 
from  Melrose,  was  driven  by  stress  of  weather  to  the  territory  of  the  Picts  called  Niduari — 
44  ad  terram  Pictorum  qui  Niduari  vocantur."  44  The  Picts  inhabiting  the  banks  of  the  Nith 
in  Dumfriesshire,"  say  Smith  and  Pinkerton,  4<  whither  the  holy  man  could  not  have  gone  in 
a  boat,"  retorts  Ritson — with  much  truth — suggesting  in  his  turn  Long  Niddry  in  Linlithgow- 
shire, to  reach  which  place,  however,  the  holy  man's  boat  must  have  been  driven  by  stress  of 
weather  across  a  considerable  tract  of  dry  land.  The  explanation  of  the  difficulty  seems  to 
be  that  Cuthbert,  sailing  from  some  point  on  the  eastern  coast,  was  driven  northwards  by 
contrary  winds  into  the  Firth  of  Tay,  landing  near  Abernethy  on  the  coast  of  Fife,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Nethy  probably  being  the  44  Picti  qui  Niduari  vocantur". — 
Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  ii.,  p.  382.     See  Note  12,  p.  214. 

1  As  early  as  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  the  British  provinces  were  already  persis- 
tently attacked  by  sea  and  land.  The  Picts  and  Scots,  and  the  warlike  nation  of  the 
44  Attecotti,"  from  whom  the  Empire  was  accustomed  to  recruit  its  choicest  soldiers,  the  fleets 
of  Irish  pirates  in  the  north,  the  Franks  and  Saxons  on  the  southern  shores,  combined  to- 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  193 

gether,  whenever  a  chance  presented  itself,  to  burn  and  devastate  the  country,  to  cut  off  an 
outlying  garrison,  to  carry  off  women  and  children  like  cattle  captured  in  a  foray,  and  to  offer 
the  bodies  of  Roman  citizens  as  sacrifices.  .  .  .  The  "  Notitia  Dignitatum  "  [compiled 
about  a.d.  400]  mentions  several  regiments  of  Attecotti  serving  for  the  most  part  in  Gaul 
and  Spain.  Two  of  their  regiments  were  enrolled  among  the  "  Honorians,"  the  most  distin- 
guished troops  in  the  Imperial  armies.  Though  their  country  is  not  certainly  known,  it 
seems  probable  that  they  inhabited  the  wilder  parts  of  Galloway. — Elton,  Origins  of  English 
History,  p.  338.  After  the  building  of  the  Roman  wall  by  which  those  south  of  it  were 
severed  from  their  kinsmen  north  of  it  the  former  probably  soon  lost  their  national  character- 
istics and  became  Brythonicized,  while  the  Selgovae  remained  to  form,  with  the  Novantae, 
the  formidable  people  of  the  Attecotti,  who  afterwards  gave  Roman  Britain  so  much  to  do, 
until  their  power  was  broken  by  Theodosius,  who  enrolled  their  able-bodied  men  in  the  Roman 
army,  and  sent  them  away  to  the  continent,  where  no  less  than  four  distinct  bodies  of  them 
served  at  the  time  when  the  Table  of  Dignities  was  drawn  up.  They  were  a  fierce  and  war- 
like people,  but  by  the  end  of  the  Roman  occupation  they  seem  to  have  been  subdued  or 
driven  beyond  the  Nith:  .  .  .  here  the  language  of  the  inhabitants  down  to  the 
sixteenth  century  was  Goidelic. — Celtic  Britain,  pp.  233-234. 

Upon  the  whole  it  seems  highly  probable — and  these  Gaulish  inscriptions  add  to  the  weight 
of  probability — that  the  Galli  of  Caesar  were  in  the  same  line  of  Celtic  descent  with  the  Irish, 
and  that  the  name  is  preserved  to  this  day  in  Gadhel  and  Gael,  and  commemorated  also  in 
the  triad  Galedin,  Celyddon,  and  Gwyddyl,  as  well  as  in  Caledonia,  Galatas,  Keltai,  and 
Celtae.  It  is  also  nearly  certain  that  these  Galli  or  Gaels  were  the  first  to  colonize  Britain, 
and  probably  that  they  were  the  first  to  colonize  Gaul,  and  that  in  both  cases  they  were 
closely  followed  by  a  people  of  the  same  original  stock  and  using  a  similar  language,  called 
Cymry,  Cimri,  and  in  earlier  times  Kimmerioi,  Cimmerii. — Thomas  Nicholas,  Pedigree  of  the 
English  People,  p.  43. 

There  also  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  statement  which  eminent  writers  have  handed 
down  is  virtually  correct,  that  the  Goidels  or  Gaels  were  the  first  Celtic  inhabitants,  who 
absorbed  the  aborigines  as  the  situations  or  circumstances  demanded,  and  who  in  turn  were 
next  dislodged  by  the  Cymri,  and  other  Celtic  fresh  hordes  who  flocked  into  Britain,  driving 
the  said  Goidels  northwards,  and  across  to  Ireland.  If  other  proof  were  wanting,  we  have 
it  in  the  surnames,  and  the  names  of  places,  many  of  which  are  common  to  both  Galloway 
and  Ireland,  being  found  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.  It  is  also  not  to  be  forgotten  that,  as 
Roger  de  Hovedon  relates,  the  Galwegians,  at  the  battle  of  the  Standard  in  a.d.  1138,  used 
the  war-cry  "  Albanach  !  Albanach  !  "  thus  identifying  themselves  as  Irish-Scots  ;  for  to  the 
present  time  the  Irish  call  the  people  of  Scotland  Albanach  and  Albanaigh.  It  also  ex- 
tends further,  for  as  Irish-Scots  its  use  implied  that  they  considered  they  had  returned  to 
the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  were  entitled  to  be  Scotsmen,  which  is  the  Gaelic  meaning  of 
the  word.  Hovedon,  having  lived  at  the  time,  is  thus  contemporary  evidence  and  it  is 
related  that  he  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  Scotland. — MacKerlie,  Galloway,  Ancient  and 
Modern,  p.  62. 

8  "  That  this  is  so  may  be  inferred  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  certainty  from  the  inaug- 
uration and  progress  of  the  English  conquest  of  a  later  age,  which,  beginning  at  nearly  the 
same  point  on  the  eastern  coast  that  Caesar  had  found  most  convenient  to  reach  from  Gaul, 
gradually  extended  westward  and  northward,  driving  the  Celts  before  until  they  reached  the 
western  shore. 

"  The  early  separation  of  these  pioneers  of  the  Gaelic  race  through  their  crossing  into 
Ireland,  whether  from  Scotland  or  Wales,  is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  marked  differ- 
ence now  existing  between  the  Gaelic,  or  Irish,  language  and  the  Welsh."— Nicholas,  Pedigree 
of  the  English  People,  London,  1873,  p.  46. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  a  contemporary  of  Caesar,  states  that  Ireland  was  inhabited  by 
44  Britains."    Camden  thinks  they  first  emigrated  from  Galloway.     Spain  was  at  least  five 


194  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

hundred  miles  distant ;  and  the  nearest  promontory  of  Gaul  lay  about  three  hundred  miles 
from  the  shores  of  Ireland. 

*  Professor  Rhys,  in  his  latest  work  (  The  Welsh  People,  New  York  and  London,  1900, 
written  in  collaboration  with  Dr.  David  Brynmor-Jones),  has  applied  the  name  "  Goidelo- 
Celtic,"  or  "Celtican,"  to  the  language  of  the  Gaelic  Celts,  and  "  Galato-Celtic,"  or  "  Ga- 
latic,"  to  that  of  the  Brythonic  Celts.     On  this  subject,  he  says  : 

"  The  ancient  distinction  of  speech  between  the  Celts  implies  a  corresponding  difference 
of  race  and  institutions,  a  difference  existing  indeed  long  before  Celts  of  any  description  came 
to  these  islands.  .  .  .  The  two  peoples  are  found  to  have  differed  largely  in  their  manner 
of  disposing  of  their  dead,  and  each  had  weapons  characteristic  of  its  own  civilization.  The 
interments  with  the  most  important  remains  of  the  older  stock  are  found  mostly  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Alps,  including  the  upper  portions  of  the  basin  of  the  Danube  and  the  plains 
of  North  Italy  (see  Bertrad  and  Reinach's  volume  on  Les  Celles  dans  les  Vallees  du  Po  et  du 
Danube,  Paris,  1894).  This  older  Celtic  world  began,  about  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  to  be  in- 
vaded by  the  Galatic  Celts,  whose  home  may  be  inferred  to  have  consisted  of  Central  and 
Northern  Germany  and  of  Belgium  ;  and  the  remains  of  these  Galatic  Celts  are  to  be  studied 
in  the  great  burial  places  between  the  Seine,  the  Marne,  and  the  Rhine — in  the  country,  in 
short,  from  which  they  invaded  Britain.  It  has  been  surmised  that  this  movement  was  begun 
by  the  Brythons  between  the  time  of  Pytheas,  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  and  the  visits  of 
Julius  Caesar.  The  latter  mentions,  (ii.,  4.)  a  certain  Diviciacos,  king  of  the  Suessiones,  a 
Belgic  people  which  has  left  its  name  to  Soissons,  as  the  most  powerful  prince  in  Gaul,  and 
as  ruling  also  over  Britain.  This  was,  moreover,  late  enough  to  be  within  the  memory  of 
men  living  in  Caesar's  time.     .     .     . 

"  When,  it  may  be  asked,  did  the  other  Celts,  the  Goidels,  whom  the  Brythons  found 
here,  arrive  in  this  country  ?  It  is  impossible  to  give  any  precise  answer  to  such  a  question, 
but  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  Goidels  came  over  not  later  than  the  great  movements  which 
took  place  in  the  Celtic  world  of  the  Continent  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  before  our  era 
(see  the  Premiers  Habitants  de  l*  Europe,  vol.  i.,  p.  262,  and  Zimmer's  Mutterrecht  der  Pikten 
in  the  Zeitschrift  fur  Rechtsgeschichte,  vol.  xv.,  pp.  233,  234).  We  mean  the  movements 
which  resulted  in  the  Celts  reaching  the  Mediterranean  and  penetrating  into  Spain,  while 
others  of  the  same  family  began  to  press  towards  the  east  of  Europe,  whence  some  of  them 
eventually  crossed  to  Asia  Minor  and  made  themselves  a  home  in  the  country  called  after 
them  Galatia.  On  the  whole,  we  dare  not  suppose  the  Goidels  to  have  come  to  Britain  much 
later  than  the  sixth  century  B.C.  ;  .  .  .  rather  should  we  say  that  they  probably  began  to 
arrive  in  this  country  earlier.  Before  the  Brythons  came  the  Goidels  had  presumably  oc- 
cupied most  of  the  island  south  of  the  firths  of  the  Clyde  and  Forth.  So  when  the  Brythons 
arrived  and  began  to  press  the  Goidels  in  the  west,  some  of  the  latter  may  have  crossed  to 
Ireland  ;  possibly  they  had  begun  still  earlier  to  settle  there.  The  portion  of  Ireland  which 
they  first  occupied  was  probably  the  tract  known  as  the  kingdom  of  Meath,  approximately 
represented  now  by  the  diocese  of  that  name  ;  but  settlements  may  have  also  been  made  by 
them  at  other  points  on  the  coast. 

' '  We  have  next  to  consider  the  question  whether  the  first  Celtic  comers,  the  Goidels, 
were  also  the  first  inhabitants  of  this  country.  This  may  be  briefly  answered  to  the  effect 
that  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  think  so,  or  even  to  suppose  that  it  may  not  have  been 
uninterruptedly  inhabited  for  a  time  before  it  ceased  to  form  a  continuous  portion  of  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe.  .  .  .  It  is  but  natural  to  suppose  that  the  Goidels,  when  they  arrived, 
subjugated  the  natives,  and  made  slaves  of  them  and  drudges.  From  the  first  the  fusion  of  the 
two  races  may  have  begun  to  take  place.  .  .  .  The  process  of  fusion  must  have  been  quick- 
ened by  the  advent  of  a  third  and  hostile  element,  the  Brythonic  .  .  .  and  under  the  pres- 
sure exerted  by  the  Brythons  the  fusion  of  the  two  other  nations  may  have  been  so  complete 
as  to  produce  a  new  people  of  mixed  Goidelic  and  native  origin.  .  .  .  Accordingly,  sup- 
posing the  Aborigines  not  to  have  been  Aryans,  one  might  expect  the  language  of  the  resultant 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  195 

Goidelic  people  to  show  more  non-Aryan  traits  than  the  language  of  the  Brythons  ;  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  proves  to  be  the  case." 

10  The  southern  Damnonii,  inhabiting  as  they  did  what  was  later  the  nucleus  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Cumbrians,  must  undoubtedly  be  regarded  as  their  ancestors  and  as  Brythons. 
So  were  the  Otadini  Brythons  .  .  .  they  disappeared  early,  their  country  having  been  seized 
in  part  by  the  Picts  from  the  other  side  of  the  Forth,  and  in  part  by  Germanic  invaders  from 
beyond  the  sea. — Celtic  Britain,  p.  271. 

Over  the  ethnography  of  Selgovae  and  Novantse  much  controversy  has  taken  place.  It 
is  probable  that  on  the  shores  of  Solway,  as  in  the  rest  of  the  British  Isles,  there  was  at  one 
time  an  aboriginal  race,  small  and  dark-haired,  which  early  Greek  writers  describe  as  being 
replaced  by  the  large-limbed,  fairer-skinned  Celts.  The  early  Irish  historical  legends  contain 
numerous  allusions  to  this  people,  generally  known  as  Firbolg.  But  as  it  cannot  be  affirmed 
that  any  trace  of  these  has  been  identified,  either  in  the  traditions  or  sepulchral  remains  of 
this  particular  district,  further  speculation  about  them  is  for  the  present  futile.  The  fairest 
inference  from  the  majority  of  place-names  in  Novantia  —  now  Galloway  —  as  well  as  from 
the  oldest  recorded  personal  names,  is  that  it  was  long  inhabited  by  people  of  the  Goidelic  or 
Gaelic  branch  of  Celts,  speaking  the  same  language,  no  doubt  with  some  dialectic  variation,  as 
the  natives  of  Ireland  and  the  rest  of  what  is  now  Scotland.  The  Cymric  or  Welsh  speech, 
which  was  afterwards  diffused  among  the  Britons  of  Dumfriesshire  and  Strathclyde,  did  not 
prevail  to  dislodge  innumerable  place-names  in  the  Goidelic  language  which  still  remain 
within  the  territory  of  the  Strathclyde  Britons.  That  the  people  who  dwelt  longest  in  Gallo- 
way spoke  neither  the  Welsh  form  of  Celtic  nor  the  Pictish  dialect  of  Gaelic,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  absence  of  any  certain  traces  of  either  of  these  languages  among  their  names  of 
places.  Yet,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  they  bore  the  name  of  Picts  long  after  it  had  fallen 
into  disuse  in  other  parts  of  Scotland.  They  were  Picts,  yet  not  the  same  as  Northern  Picts 
dwelling  beyond  the  Mounth,  nor  as  the  Southern  Picts,  dwelling  between  the  Mounth  and 
the  Forth  ;  Gaels,  yet  not  of  one  brotherhood  with  other  Gaels  —  a  distinction  emphasized  by 
the  name  given  to  them  of  Gallgaidhel  or  stranger  Gaels.  This  term  became  in  the  Welsh 
speech  Gallwyddel  {dd  sounds  like  th  in  "this"),  whence  the  name  Galloway,  which  still 
denotes  the  Stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright  and  the  shire  or  county  of  Wigtown.  Reginald  of 
Durham,  writing  in  the  twelfth  century,  has  preserved  one  word  of  Galloway  Pictish.  He 
says  that  certain  clerics  of  Kirkcudbright  were  called  scollofthes  in  the  language  of  the  Picts. 
This  is  a  rendering  of  the  Latin  scolasticus,  differing  not  greatly  from  the  Erse  and  Gaelic  scolog, 
more  widely  from  the  Welsh  yscolAeie. — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  pp.  4,  5. 

11  "  One  may  say  that  the  Welsh  people  of  the  present  day  is  made  up  of  three  elements  : 
the  Aboriginal,  the  Goidelic,  and  the  Brythonic.  And  it  would  be  unsafe  to  assume  that 
the  later  elements  predominate  ;  for  the  Celtic  invaders,  both  Goidels  and  Brythons,  may 
have  come  in  comparatively  small  numbers,  not  to  mention  the  fact  that  the  aboriginal  race, 
having  been  here  possibly  thousands  of  years  before  the  first  Aryan  arrived,  may  have  had 
such  an  advantage  in  the  matter  of  acclimatization,  that  it  alone  survives  in  force.  This  is 
now  supposed  to  be  the  case  with  France,  whose  people,  taken  in  the  bulk,  are  neither 
Frankish  nor  Celtic  so  much  as  the  representatives  of  the  non-Aryan  populations  which  the 
first  Aryans  found  there.  It  thus  becomes  a  matter  of  interest  for  us  to  know  all  we  can 
about  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  this  country.  Now,  the  question  of  the  origin  of  that  race 
is,  according  to  one  view  taken  of  it,  inseparably  connected  with  the  Pictish  question  ;  and 
the  most  tenable  hypothesis  may  be  said  to  be,  that  the  Picts  were  non-Aryans,  whom  the 
first  Celtic  migrations  found  already  settled  here.  The  Picts  appear  to  have  retained  their 
language  and  institutions  latest  on  the  east  coast  of  Scotland  in  portions  of  the  region  be- 
tween Clackmannan  and  Banff.  But  Irish  literature  alludes  to  Picts  here  and  there  in  Ireland, 
and  that  in  such  a  way  as  to  favor  the  belief  that  they  were  survivals  of  a  race  holding  pos- 
session at  one  time  of  the  whole  country.  If  the  Picts  were  not  Aryans,  we  could  hardly 
suppose  them  to  have  been  able  to  acquire  possession  of  extensive  tracts  of  these  islands  after 


196  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  arrival  of  such  a  powerful  and  warlike  race  as  the  early  Aryans.  The  natural  conclusion 
is,  that  the  Picts  were  here  before  the  Aryans  came,  that  they  were,  in  fact,  the  aborigines. 

"Now,  something  is  known  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  ancient  Picts  ;  for  one 
of  them  at  least  was  so  remarkable  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  ancient  authors  who 
mention  the  peoples  of  this  country.  It  was  the  absence  among  them  of  the  institution  of 
marriage  as  known  to  men  of  the  Aryan  race.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  history  of  the  Picts 
in  later  times,  especially  in  the  case  of  their  kings,  for  it  is  well  known  that  a  Pictish  king 
could  not  be  succeeded  by  a  son  of  his  own,  but  usually  by  a  sister's  son.  The  succession 
was  through  the  mother,  and  it  points  back  to  a  state  of  society  which,  previous  to  the  con- 
version of  the  Picts  to  Christianity,  was  probably  based  on  matriarchy  as  distinguished  from 
marriage  and  marital  authority.     .     .     . 

"  The  same  conclusion  as  to  the  probable  non- Aryan  origin  of  the  Picts  is  warranted  by 
facts  of  another  order,  namely,  those  of  speech  ;  but  the  Pictish  question  is  rendered  philo- 
logically  difficult  by  the  scantiness  of  the  remains  of  the  Pictish  language.  .  .  .  Failing 
to  recognize  the  borrowing  of  Goidelic  and  Brythonic  words  by  the  Picts,  some  have  been  led 
to  regard  Pictish  as  a  kind  of  Gaelic,  and  some  as  a  dialect  akin  to  Welsh.  The  point  to 
have  been  decided,  however,  was  not  whether  Gaelic  or  Welsh  explains  certain  words  said  to 
have  been  in  use  among  the  Picts,  but  whether  there  does  not  remain  a  residue  to  which 
neither  Gaelic  nor  Welsh,  nor,  indeed,  any  Aryan  tongue  whatsoever,  can  supply  any  sort  of 
key.  This  is  beginning  of  late  to  be  perceived.  .  .  .  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
theory  of  the  non- Aryan  origin  of  the  Pictish  language  holds  the  field  at  present." — Rhys, 
The  Welsh  People,  pp.  13-16. 

12  Some  information  in  regard  to  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  district  west  of  the  Nith  may 
be  found  in  the  works  of  Mr.  P.  H.  MacKerlie,  chief  of  which  is  Lands  and  their  Owners  in 
Galloway,  In  speaking  of  the  language,  he  says  :  "  It  is  also  found  that  the  Lowland  Scottish 
was  not  derived  from  the  Saxon,  from  which  it  differs  in  many  respects,  but  appears  to  have 
had  its  origin  from  the  language  of  the  Northern  Picts  and  Norwegian  settlers.  It  is  true 
that  there  are  no  means  of  distinctly  tracing  this ;  but  the  belief  of  some  writers  that  the 
Picts  were  originally  Britons,  and  became  mixed  with  Norse  blood,  is  more  than  probable. 
The  Pictish  language,  so  far  known  as  Celtic,  is  considered  as  having  been  nearer  to  the  dia- 
lects of  the  Britons  than  to  those  of  the  Gael,  which  coincides  with  the  above  account  of  their 
origin  —  hence  the  characteristics  of  both,  blended  with  the  Goidel  or  Gaelic,  to  be  found  in 
the  Scots.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Scottish  language  had  its  foundation  principally 
from  these  sources.  Chalmers  gives  many  Scottish  words  as  decidedly  British  or  Cymric. 
In  addition  there  are  many  Goidelic  or  Gaelic  words,  as  can  be  traced  by  any  one  possessed 
of  Gaelic  and  Scottish  dictionaries.  It  is  historical  that  in  the  eleventh  century  Gaelic  was 
in  use  at  the  Court  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  and  also  in  the  Church  at  that  period.  This 
continued  until  Edgar  succeeded  as  king  in  1098,  when  Norman  French  (not  Saxon)  dis- 
placed the  Gaelic  at  Court." — Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  p.  79. 

Mr.  MacKerlie's  work  is  chiefly  valuable  for  its  local  features,  and  he  cannot  be  too  closely 
followed  in  his  general  conclusions.  His  statement  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Scottish  language 
must  be  taken  with  considerable  allowance.  Mr.  Hill  Burton,  however,  takes  an  equally 
extreme  position  on  the  other  side  of  the  question.  In  speaking  of  the  Lowlanders,  he  says  : 
"  How  far  Celtic  blood  may  have  mingled  with  their  race  we  cannot  tell,  but  it  was  the 
nature  of  their  language  obstinately  to  resist  all  admixture  with  the  Gaelic.  The  broadest 
and  purest  Lowland  Scotch  is  spoken  on  the  edge  of  the  Highland  line.  It  ought,  one  would 
think,  to  be  a  curious  and  instructive  topic  for  philology  to  deal  with,  that  while  the  estab- 
lished language  of  our  country  —  of  England  and  Scotland  —  borrows  at  all  hands  —  from 
Greek,  from  Latin,  from  French,  —  it  takes  nothing  whatever,  either  in  its  structure  or 
vocabulary,  from  the  Celtic  race,  who  have  lived  for  centuries  in  the  same  island  with  the 
Saxon-speaking  races,  English  and  Scots." — History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  200. 

13  In  elucidation  of  this  passage  no  less  reputable  an  authority  than  Thomas  H.  Huxley 


The  Caledonians,  or  Picts  197 

is  named  by  Mr.  Skene  as  sponsor  for  his  proposition  that  "  the  people  termed  Gauls  and 
those  called  Germans  by  the  Romans  did  not  differ  in  any  important  physical  character." 
This,  indeed,  coincides  with  the  usual  description  given  by  the  Romans. 

14  This  subject  has  been  discussed  in  connection  with  the  succession  of  the  Pictish  kings. 
The  names  of  the  reigning  kings  are  in  the  main  confined  to  four  or  five  names,  as  Brude, 
Drust,  Talorgan,  Nechtan,  Gartnaidh,  and  these  never  appear  among  the  names  of  the  fathers 
of  kings,  nor  does  the  name  of  a  father  occur  twice  in  the  list.  Further,  in  two  cases  we 
know  that  while  the  kings  who  reigned  were  termed  respectively  Brude  and  Talorcan,  the 
father  of  the  one  was  a  Briton,  and  of  the  other  an  Angle.  The  conclusion  which  Mr.  Mc- 
Lennan in  his  very  original  work  on  primitive  marriage  draws  from  this  is,  that  it  raises  a 
strong  presumption  that  all  the  fathers  were  men  of  other  tribes.  At  any  rate,  there  remains 
the  fact,  after  every  deduction  has  been  made,  that  the  fathers  and  mothers  were  in  no  case 
of  the  same  family  name  ;  and  he  quotes  this  as  a  reason  for  believing  that  exogamy  prevailed 
among  the  Picts.  But  this  explanation,  though  it  goes  some  way,  will  not  fully  interpret  the 
anomalies  in  the  list  of  Pictish  kings.  The  only  hypothesis  that  seems  to  afford  a  full  expla- 
nation is  one  that  would  suppose  that  the  kings  among  the  Picts  were  elected  from  one  family, 
clan,  or  tribe,  or  possibly  from  one  in  each  of  the  two  divisions  of  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Picts  ;  that  there  lingered  among  the  Picts  the  old  custom  among  the  Celts,  who,  to  use  the 
language  of  Mr.  McLennan,  "  were  anciently  lax  in  their  morals,  and  recognized  relationship 
through  mothers  only  ;  that  intermarriage  was  not  permitted  in  this  royal  family  tribe,  and 
the  women  had  to  obtain  their  husbands  from  the  men  of  other  tribes,  not  excluding  those  of 
a  different  race  ;  that  the  children  were  adopted  into  the  tribe  of  the  mother,  and  certain 
names  were  exclusively  bestowed  on  such  children." — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  233-234  ; 
John  F.  McLennan,  Origin  of  the  Form  of  Capture  in  Marriage  Ceremonies. 

15  These  Britons,  known  by  the  name  of  Maeatae,  included  under  them  several  lesser 
people,  such  as  the  Otadini,  Selgovae,  Novantes,  Damnii,  etc. — T.  Innes,  Critical  Essay  on 
the  Ancient  Inhabitants  of  the  Northern  Parts  of  Britain  or  Scotland,  book  i.,  ch.  ii.,  art.  i. 

16  Herodian  (lib.  iii.),  in  his  account  of  Severus's  expedition,  written  about  240,  calls  the 
same  inhabitants  of  Caledonia  simply  Britons,  but  he  describes  them  as  Picts,  or  painted,  in 
these  words  :  "  They  mark  their  bodies  with  various  pictures  of  all  manner  of  animals,  and 
therefore  they  clothe  not  themselves  lest  they  hide  the  painted  outside  of  their  bodies." — Innes, 
book  i.,  ch.  iii.,  art.  i. 

11  "  The  Scots,  in  their  own  tongue,  have  their  name  for  the  painted  body  [Cruithnigh], 
for  that  they  are  marked  by  sharp-pointed  instruments  of  iron,  with  black  pigments,  with 
the  figures  of  various  animals.   .   .   . 

"  Some  nations,  not  only  in  their  vestments,  but  also  in  their  bodies,  have  certain  things 
peculiar  to  themselves  .  .  .  nor  is  there  wanting  to  the  nation  of  the  Picts  the  name  of  the 
body,  but  the  efficient  needle,  with  minute  punctures,  rubs  in  the  expressed  juices  of  a  native 
herb,  that  it  may  bring  these  scars  to  its  own  fashion  :  an  infamous  nobility  with  painted 
limbs." — Isadore  of  Seville,  Origines,  1.  ix.,  ch.  ii.;  and  1.  xix.,  ch.  xxiii. 

18  The  Picts  and  Scots  have  usually  been  associated  with  Caledonia.  These  names  are 
recent  in  origin,  being  used  only  by  later  Roman  writers.  Bede  (sixth  cent.)  calls  Caledonia 
"  Provincia  Pictorum  "  ;  and  it  would  seem  that  in  his  time  the  name  Picts,  or  Pehts,  had 
nearly  superseded  the  older  term  Caledonii  —  derived  from  the  Cymric  Celydon,  and  this 
related  to  the  generic  Galatse,  Celts,  Galli. — Nicholas,  Pedigree  of  the  English  People,  p.  49. 
The  proper  Scots,  as  no  one  denies,  were  a  Gaelic  colony  from  Ireland.  The  only 
question  is  as  to  the  Picts  or  Caledonians.  Were  they  another  Gaelic  tribe,  the  vestige  of  a 
Gaelic  occupation  of  the  island  earlier  than  the  British  occupation,  or  were  they  simply 
Britons  who  had  never  been  brought  under  the  Roman  dominion  ?  The  geographical  aspect 
of  the  case  favors  the  former  belief,  but  the  weight  of  the  philological  evidence  seems  to  be 
on  the  side  of  the  latter. — Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,  ch.  ii.,  sec.  1. 

The  Picts  were  simply  Britons  who  had  been  sheltered  from  Roman  conquest  by  the 


198  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

fastnesses  of  the  Highlands,  and  who  were  at  last  roused  in  their  turn  to  attack  by  the  weak- 
ness of  the  province  and  the  hope  of  plunder.  Their  invasions  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  the 
island.  Raids  so  extensive  could  hardly  have  been  effected  without  help  from  within,  and 
the  dim  history  of  the  time  allows  us  to  see  not  merely  an  increase  of  disunion  between  the 
Romanized  and  un-Romanized  population  of  Britain,  but  even  an  alliance  between  the  last 
and  their  free  kinsfolk,  the  Picts. — J.  R.  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  ch.  i., 
sec.  1. 

The  Southern  Picts  are  said  by  Bede  to  have  had  seats  within  these  mountains.  .  .  . 
These  districts  consist  of  the  Perthshire  and  Forfarshire  Highlands,  the  former  of  which  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Atholl.  The  western  boundary  of  the  territory  of  the  Southern  Picts 
was  Drumalban,  which  separated  them  from  the  Scots  of  Dalriada,  and  their  southern  boun- 
dary the  Forth.  The  main  body  of  the  Southern  Picts  also  belonged  no  doubt  to  the  Gaelic 
race,  though  they  may  have  possessed  some  differences  in  the  idiom  of  their  language  ;  but 
the  original  population  of  the  country,  extending  from  the  Forth  to  the  Tay,  consisted  of  part 
of  the  tribe  of  Damnonii,  who  belonged  to  the  Cornish  variety  of  the  British  race,  and  they 
appear  to  have  been  incorporated  with  the  Southern  Picts,  and  to  have  introduced  a  British 
element  into  their  language.  The  Frisian  settlements,  too,  on  the  shores  of  the  Firth  of  Forth 
may  also  have  left  their  stamp  on  this  part  of  the  nation. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  231. 

19  This  Drust  is  clearly  connected  with  Galloway  ;  and  we  thus  learn  that  when  two 
kings  appear  in  the  Pictish  Chronicle  as  reigning  together,  one  of  them  is  probably  king  of 
the  Picts  of  Galloway. 

"  Near  to  the  parish  church  of  Anwoth,  in  Galloway,  is  a  low  undulating  range  of  hills, 
called  the  Boreland  hills.  One  of  these  goes  by  the  name  of  Trusty's  Hill,  and  round  its 
top  may  be  traced  the  remains  of  a  vitrified  wall." — Stuart's  Sculptured  Stones,  vol.  i.,  p.  31. 

20  He,  too,  was  probably  a  king  of  the  Picts  of  Galloway,  and  traces  of  his  name  also  can 
be  found  in  the  topography  of  that  district.  The  old  name  of  the  parish  of  New  Abbey,  in 
Kirkcudbright,  was  Loch  Kendeloch. 

21  Skene  says  that  Talorcan  was  obviously  the  son  of  that  Ainfrait,  the  son  of  Aedilfrid, 
an  elder  brother  of  Osuald,  who  on  his  father's  death  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Picts,  and 
his  son  Talorcan  must  have  succeeded  to  the  throne  through  a  Pictish  mother.  At  the  time, 
then,  when  King  Oswiu  extended  his  sway  over  the  Britons  and  Scots,  there  was  a  king  of  the 
Anglic  race  by  paternal  descent  actually  reigning  over  the  Picts.  Tighernac  records  his 
death  in  657,  and  Bede  tells  us  that  within  three  years  after  he  had  slain  King  Penda,  Oswiu 
subjected  the  greater  part  of  the  Picts  to  the  dominion  of  the  Angles.  It  is  probable,  there- 
fore, that  he  claimed  their  submission  to  himself  as  the  cousin  and  heir  on  the  paternal  side 
of  their  king,  Talorcan,  and  enforced  his  claim  by  force  of  arms. 

22  Brudei  (Bredei,  or  Brude)  was  paternally  a  scion  of  the  royal  house  of  Alclyde,  his 
father,  Bili,  appearing  in  the  Welsh  genealogies  annexed  to  Nennius  as  the  son  of  Neithon 
and  father  of  that  Eugein  who  slew  Domnall  Brec  in  642.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of 
Talorcan  mac  Ainfrait,  the  last  independent  king  of  the  Picts  before  they  were  subjected  by 
Oswiu. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE   SCOTS   AND    PICTS 

THE  Scots  of  Dalriada  acquired  possession  of  the  peninsula  of  Kintyre 
and  adjacent  territory  in  Argyle  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century. 
About  503  Loarn  More,  son  of  Ere,  settled  there  with  his  brothers,  Angus 
and  Fergus,  and  some  of  their  followers.  They  came  from  Irish  Dalriada — 
a  district  in  Ireland  approximately  corresponding  to  or  included  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  present  county  of  Antrim. 

Of  the  Scots  of  Ireland  we  have  frequent  mention  by  the  Roman  histor- 
ians. As  we  have  seen,  their  island  was  for  some  centuries  known  by  the 
name  of  Scotia,1  and  after  the  Scots  had  settled  in  Albania,  it  continued  to 
be  called  Scotia  Major  in  distinction  from  Scotia  Minor,  which  was  the  first 
form  of  the  present  name,  "  Scotland,"  as  applied  to  North  Britain. 

The  following  references  to  the  Scots  are  found  in  the  History  of  Ammi- 
anus  Marcellinus  (written  between  380  and  390),  and  they  are  the  first  ac- 
counts that  we  have  of  these  people  under  that  name,  although  they  may  have 
been  of  the  same  race  with  the  "  Hibernians  "  mentioned  by  Eumenius  in  296, 
who,  with  the  Picts,  were  said  by  him  to  have  been  the  hereditary  enemies  of 
the  Britons  in  Caesar's  time.  It  seems  more  probable,  however,  that  the 
term  "  Hibernians  "  was  first  applied  by  the  Romans  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Western  Scotland. 

These  were  the  events  which  took  place  in  Illyricum  and  in  the  East. 
But  the  next  year,  that  of  Constantius's  tenth  and  Julian's  third  consulship 
[a.d.  360],  the  affairs  of  Britain  became  troubled  in  consequence  of  the  in- 
cursions of  the  savage  nations  of  Picts  and  Scots,  who,  breaking  the  peace  to 
which  they  had  agreed,  were  plundering  the  districts  on  their  borders,  and 
keeping  in  constant  alarm  the  provinces  exhausted  by  former  disasters. — 
(Book  xx.,  ch.  i.) 

At  this  time  [a.d.  364],  the  trumpet,  as  it  were,  gave  signal  for  war 
throughout  the  whole  Roman  world ;  and  the  barbarian  tribes  on  our  fron- 
tier were  moved  to  make  incursions  on  those  territories  which  lay  nearest  to 
them.  The  Allemanni  laid  waste  Gaul  and  Rhaetia  at  the  same  time.  The 
Sarmatians  and  Quadi  ravaged  Pannonia.  The  Picts,  Scots,  Saxons,  and 
Attecotti  harassed  the  Britons  with  incessant  invasions.2 

It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  mention  that  at  that  time  [a.d.  368]  the  Picts, 
who  were  divided  into  two  nations,  the  Dicalidones  and  the  Vecturiones, 
and  likewise  the  Attecotti,  a  very  warlike  people,  and  the  Scots  were  all 
roving  over  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  committing  great  ravages. — 
(Book  xxvi.,  ch.  iv.) 

Theodosius,  father  of  the  emperor  of  that  name,  finally  succeeded  in  driv- 
ing the  invaders  north  of  Severus's  wall,  and  the  country  between  that  and 
the  Wall  of  Hadrian  was  added  to  the  Roman  Empire  about  368  as  the  fifth 
province  in  Britain,  and  called  Valentia,  after  the  reigning  emperor.     The 

199 


200  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

legions  becoming  reduced  by  the  revolt  of  Maximus  about  390,  however, 
further  incursions  of  the  Picts  and  Scots  took  place  ;  and  though  fresh 
troops  were  sent  against  them  and  the  territory  again  recovered,  the  final 
withdrawal  of  the  garrisons  during  the  next  twenty  years  left  the  province 
wellnigh  defenceless  and  exposed  to  the  raids  of  the  savages,  who  from  that 
time  on  broke  through  the  walls  with  impunity  and  overran  and  destroyed 
the  Roman  settlements  at  will  (Ammianus,  book  xxvii.,  ch.  viii.). 

The  early  attacks  on  Britain  by  the  Scots  seem  to  have  been  made  directly 
from  Ireland,  and  were  more  in  the  nature  of  predatory  forays  than  perma- 
nent territorial  conquests.     They  first  appear  to  have  come  through  Wales.' 

The  History  of  Nennius,  so-called 4  (a  mixture  of  fables  and  half-truths), 
tells  us  : 

§  n.  ^neas  reigned  over  the  Latins  three  years  ;  Ascanius,  thirty-three 
years  ;  after  whom  Silvius  reigned  twelve  years,  and  Posthumus  thirty-nine 
years  :  the  former,  from  whom  the  kings  of  Alba  are  called  Silvan,  was 
brother  to  Brutus,  who  governed  Britain  at  the  time  Eli,  the  high-priest, 
judged  Israel,  and  when  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  taken  by  a  foreign 
people.    But  Posthumus,  his  brother,  reigned  among  the  Latins.    [Fabulous.] 

§  12.  After  an  interval  of  not  less  than  eight  hundred  years,  came  the 
Picts,  and  occupied  the  Orkney  Islands  [?]  :  whence  they  laid  waste  many 
regions,  and  seized  those  on  the  left-hand  side  of  Britain,  where  they  still 
remain,  keeping  possession  of  a  third  part  of  Britain  to  this  day. 

§  13.     Long  after  this,  the  Scots  arrived  in  Ireland  from  Spain.  [?]    .    .    . 

§  14.  .  .  .  The  sons  of  Liethali  obtained  the  country  of  the  Dimetse 
where  is  a  city  called  Menavia  [St.  David's]  and  the  province  Guiher  and 
Cetguela  [Caer  Kidwelly,  in  Carmarthenshire],  which  they  held  till  they 
were  expelled  from  every  part  of  Britain,  by  Cunedda  and  his  sons. 

§  15.  .  .  .  The  Britons  came  to  Britain  in  the  third  age  of  the 
world  ;  and  in  the  fourth,  the  Scots  took  possession  of  Ireland.  The  Britons 
who,  suspecting  no  hostilities,  were  unprovided  with  the  means  of  defence, 
were  unanimously  and  incessantly  attacked,  both  by  the  Scots  from  the 
west  and  by  the  Picts  from  the  north.  A  long  interval  after  this,  the  Ro- 
mans obtained  the  empire  of  the  world. 

§  62.  .  .  .  The  great  king,  Mailcun,  reigned  among  the  Britons, 
i.  e.,  in  the  district  of  Guenedota,  because  his  great-great-grandfather  Cun- 
edda, with  his  twelve  sons,  had  come  before  from  the  left-hand  part,  i.  e., 
from  the  country  which  is  called  Manau  Gustodia,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six  years  before  Mailcun  reigned,  and  expelled  the  Scots  with  much  slaugh- 
ter from  those  countries,  and  they  never  returned  again  to  inhabit  them. 

The  invasions  of  the  Scots  and  Picts  after  the  departure  of  the  Romans 
from  Britain  (418-426)  are  thus  described  by  Gildas,  who  wrote  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  sixth  century  : 

§  13.  At  length  also,  new  races  of  tyrants  sprang  up,  in  terrific  numbers, 
and  the  island,  still  bearing  its  Roman  name,  but  casting  off  her  institutes 
and  laws,  sent  forth  among  the  Gauls  that  bitter  scion  of  her  own  planting, 
Maximus,  with  a  great  number  of  followers,  and  the  ensigns  of  royalty, 
which  he  bore  without  decency  and  without  lawful  right,  but  in  a  tyrannical 
manner,  and  amid  the  disturbances  of  the  seditious  soldiery.     .     .     . 


The  Scots  and  Picts  201 

§  14.  After  this,  Britain  is  left  deprived  of  all  her  soldiery  and  armed 
bands,  of  her  cruel  governors,  and  of  the  flower  of  her  youth,  who  went  with 
Maximus,  but  never  again  returned  ;  and  utterly  ignorant  as  she  was  of  the 
art  of  war,  groaned  in  amazement  for  many  years  under  the  cruelty  of  two 
foreign  nations — the  Scots  from  the  northwest,  and  the  Picts  from  the  north. 

§  15.  The  Britons,  impatient  at  the  assaults  of  the  Scots  and  Picts,  their 
hostilities  and  dreaded  oppressions,  send  ambassadors  to  Rome  with  letters, 
entreating  in  piteous  terms  the  assistance  of  an  armed  band  to  protect  them, 
and  offering  loyal  and  ready  submission  to  the  authority  of  Rome,  if  they 
only  would  expel  their  invading  foes.  A  legion  is  immediately  sent,  forget- 
ting their  past  rebellion,  and  provided  sufficiently  with  arms.  When  they 
had  crossed  over  the  sea  and  landed,  they  came  at  once  to  close  conflict 
with  their  cruel  enemies,  and  slew  great  numbers  of  them.  All  of  them 
were  driven  beyond  the  borders,  and  the  humiliated  natives  rescued  from 
the  bloody  slavery  which  awaited  them.     .     .     . 

§  16.  The  Roman  legion  had  no  sooner  returned  home  in  joy  and  tri- 
umph, than  their  former  foes,  like  hungry  and  ravening  wolves,  rushing  with 
greedy  jaws  upon  the  fold  which  is  left  without  a  shepherd,  and  wafted  both 
by  the  strength  of  oarsmen  and  the  blowing  wind,  break  through  the  boun- 
daries, and  spread  slaughter  on  every  side,  and  like  mowers  cutting  down  the 
ripe  corn,  they  cut  up,  tread  under  foot,  and  overrun  the  whole  country. 

§  17.  And  now  again  they  send  suppliant  ambassadors,  with  their  gar- 
ments rent  and  their  heads  covered  with  ashes,  imploring  assistance  from  the 
Romans,  and  like  timorous  chickens,  crowding  under  the  protecting  wings  of 
their  parents,  that  their  wretched  country  might  not  altogether  be  destroyed, 
and  that  the  Roman  name  which  now  was  but  an  empty  sound  to  fill  the  ear, 
might  not  become  a  reproach  even  to  distant  nations.  Upon  this,  the  Ro- 
mans, moved  with  compassion,  as  far  as  human  nature  can  be,  at  the  relations 
of  such  horrors,  send  forward,  like  eagles  in  their  flight,  their  unexpected 
bands  of  cavalry  by  land  and  mariners  by  sea,  and  planting  their  terrible 
swords  upon  the  shoulders  of  their  enemies,  they  mow  them  down  like  leaves 
which  fall  at  the  destined  period  ;  and  as  a  mountain-torrent  swelled  with 
numerous  streams,  and  bursting  its  banks  with  roaring  noise,  with  foaming 
crest  and  yeasty  wave  rising  to  the  stars,  by  whose  eddying  currents  our 
eyes  are  as  it  were  dazzled,  does  with  one  of  its  billows  overwhelm  every 
obstacle  in  its  way,  so  did  our  illustrious  defenders  vigorously  drive  our 
enemies'  band  beyond  the  sea,  if  any  could  so  escape  them  ;  for  it  was  be- 
yond those  same  seas  that  they  transported,  year  after  year,  the  plunder  which 
they  had  gained,  no  one  daring  to  resist  them. 

§  1 8.  The  Romans,  therefore,  left  the  country,  giving  notice  that  they 
could  no  longer  be  harassed  by  such  laborious  expeditions,  nor  suffer  the  Ro- 
man standards,  with  so  large  and  brave  an  army,  to  be  worn  out  by  sea  and 
land  by  fighting  against  these  unwarlike,  plundering  vagabonds  ;  but  that  the 
islanders,  inuring  themselves  to  warlike  weapons,  and  bravely  fighting,  should 
valiantly  protect  their  country,  their  property,  wives,  and  children,  and,  what 
is  dearer  than  these,  their  liberty  and  lives.     .     .     . 

§  19.  No  sooner  were  they  gone,  than  the  Picts  and  Scots,  like  worms 
which  in  the  heat  of  mid-day  come  forth  from  their  holes,  hastily  land  again 
from  their  canoes,  in  which  they  had  been  carried  beyond  the  Cichican  val- 
ley, differing  one  from  another  in  manners,  but  inspired  with  the  same  avid- 
ity for  blood,  and  all  more  eager  to  shroud  their  villainous  faces  in  bushy 
hair  than  to  cover  with  decent  clothing  those  parts  of  their  body  which 
required  it.     Moreover,  having  heard  of  the  departure  of  our  friends,  and 


202  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

their  resolution  never  to  return,  they  seized  with  greater  boldness  than  before 
on  all  the  country  towards  the  extreme  north  as  far  as  the  wall.  To  oppose 
them  there  was  placed  on  the  heights  a  garrison  equally  slow  to  fight  and  ill 
adapted  to  run  away,  a  useless  and  panic-struck  company,  who  slumbered 
away  days  and  nights  on  their  unprofitable  watch.  Meanwhile  the  hooked 
weapons  of  their  enemies  were  not  idle,  and  our  wretched  countrymen  were 
dragged  from  the  wall  and  dashed  against  the  ground.  Such  premature 
death,  however,  painful  as  it  was,  saved  them  from  seeing  the  miserable  suf- 
ferings of  their  brothers  and  children.  But  why  should  I  say  more?  They 
left  their  cities,  abandoned  the  protection  of  the  wall,  and  dispersed  them- 
selves in  flight  more  desperately  than  before.  The  enemy,  on  the  other 
hand,  pursued  them  with  more  unrelenting  cruelty  than  before,  and 
butchered  our  countrymen  like  sheep,  so  that  their  habitations  were  like 
those  of  savage  beasts  ;  for  they  turned  their  arms  upon  each  other,  and  for 
the  sake  of  a  little  sustenance,  imbrued  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  their  fel- 
low countrymen.  Thus  foreign  calamities  were  augmented  by  domestic 
feuds  ;  so  that  the  whole  country  was  entirely  destitute  of  provisions,  save 
such  as  could  be  procured  in  the  chase. 

§  20.  Again,  therefore,  the  wretched  remnant,  sending  to  ^Etius,  a 
powerful  Roman  citizen,  address  him  as  follows  :  "  To  JEtius,  now  con- 
sul for  the  third  time:  the  groans  of  the  Britons."  And  again,  a  little 
further,  thus  :  "  The  barbarians  drive  us  to  the  sea  ;  the  sea  throws  us  back 
on  the  barbarians  :  thus  two  modes  of  death  await  us,  we  are  either  slain  or 
drowned."  The  Romans,  however,  could  not  assist  them,  and  in  the  mean- 
time the  discomfited  people,  wandering  in  the  woods,  began  to  feel  the  effects 
of  a  severe  famine,  which  compelled  many  of  them  without  delay  to  yield 
themselves  up  to  their  cruel  persecutors,  to  obtain  subsistence  ;  others  of 
them,  however,  lying  hid  in  mountains,  caves,  and  woods,  continually  sallied 
out  from  thence  to  renew  the  war.  And  then  it  was,  for  the  first  time,  that 
they  overthrew  their  enemies,  who  had  for  so  many  years  been  living  in 
their  country  ;  for  their  trust  was  not  in  man,  but  in  God  ;  according  to  the 
maxim  of  Philo,  "  We  must  have  divine  assistance,  when  that  of  man  fails." 
The  boldness  of  the  enemy  was  for  a  while  checked,  but  not  the  wicked- 
ness of  our  countrymen  ;  the  enemy  left  our  people,  but  the  people  did  not 
leave  their  sins. 

§  21.  For  it  has  always  been  a  custom  with  our  nation,  as  it  is  at  pres- 
ent, to  be  impotent  in  repelling  foes,  but  bold  and  invincible  in  raising  civil 
war,  and  bearing  the  burdens  of  their  offences.  They  are  impotent,  I  say, 
in  following  the  standard  of  peace  and  truth,  but  bold  in  wickedness  and 
falsehood.  The  audacious  invaders  therefore  return  to  their  winter  quar- 
ters, determined  before  long  again  to  return  and  plunder.  And  then,  too, 
the  Picts  for  the  first  time  seated  themselves  at  the  extremity  of  the  island, 
where  they  afterwards  continued,  occasionally  plundering  and  wasting  the 
country. 

As  already  stated,  about  the  year  503  the  sons  of  Ere,  a  descendant  of 
Cairbre  Riadhi  (founder  of  the  kingdom  of  Dalriada  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  present  county  Antrim),  passed  from  Ireland  to  Scotland  with  a  body 
of  their  followers,  and  established  a  government  over  some  of  their  country- 
men who  had  previously  settled  in  the  southwest  of  Argyle.  One  of  these 
sons,  Fergus  More,  succeeded  his  brother  Loarn  in  the  chiefship,  and  is 
generally  esteemed  the  founder  of  the  dynasty.6 


The  Scots  and  Picts  203 

Fergus  was  followed  by  his  son,  Domangart  (died  505),  by  the  latter's 
sons,  Comgall  (died  538)  and  Gabhran  (died  560),  and  by  Comgall'sson,  Co- 
nal  (died  574).  JEdan,  son  of  Gabhran,  seized  the  succession  after  the  death 
of  his  cousin,  Conal,  and  during  his  long  reign  did  much  to  increase  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  colony  and  to  create  a  respect  for  the  Scots'  arms, 
by  making  war  against  the  Picts,  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  and  the  Saxons." 
He  lived  to  see  his  dominion  independent  of  the  Irish  Dalriada,  to  which  it 
had  before  been  tributary,  and  is  usually  esteemed  the  founder  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Scots,  having  been  the  first  to  form  the  families  and  tribes- 
men of  his  race  into  a  compact  and  united  people. 

St.  Columba  settled  in  Iona  about  565,  and  the  colony  of  Dalriada  in  the 
time  of  JEdan  was,  in  consequence,  the  centre  and  chief  source  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  and  propaganda  in  Britain.  From  thence  missionaries  travelled 
to  many  parts  of  the  island  and  to  the  Continent  ;  and  the  conversion  of 
the  Gaelic  Picts  of  the  north  by  the  preaching  and  ministrations  of  Columba 
no  doubt  prepared  the  way  for  the  union  of  the  Scots  and  Picts,  which,  more 
than  two  centuries  later,  followed  the  conquering  career  of  the  most  renowned 
of  ^Edan's  successors. 

^Edan  ascended  the  throne  of  Dalriada  in  574  ;  or  perhaps  it  would  be 
more  correct  to  say  that  he  became  chief  of  the  Dalriad  tribe.  In  603  he  led 
a  numerous  force  —  recruited  largely  from  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde  — 
against  ^Ethelfrid,  the  Anglian  king  of  Bernicia.7  Meeting  him  in  Liddes- 
dale,  near  the  frontier  line  of  the  kingdoms  of  Bernicia  and  Strathclyde  (in 
the  present  Roxburghshire),  a  decisive  battle  was  fought  at  Degsastan,  which 
resulted  in  the  utter  defeat  and  rout  of  ^Edan's  army,  and  the  extension  of 
the  western  boundary  of  the  Anglian  kingdom  to  the  river  Esk.8  The  annal- 
ist, Tighernac,  records  ^dan's  death  in  606,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Eocha  Buidhe,  who  resigned  the  throne  to 
his  son,  Conadh  Cerr.  In  the  year  629,  the  latter  was  slain  in  the  battle  of 
Fedhaeoin,  fought  in  Ireland  between  the  Irish  Dalriads  and  the  Irish  Picts, 
or  Cruithne.  Both  parties  to  this  contest  received  auxiliaries  from  Scotland  ; 
Eocha  Buidhe  appears  also  in  this  battle,  on  the  side  of  the  Picts,  and  op- 
posed to  his  son,  Conadh,  the  leader  of  the  Dalriad  Scots.9  Mr.  Skene  infers 
from  this,  and  from  other  confirmatory  circumstances,  that  Eocha,  at  this 
time  having  withdrawn  from  Dalriada,  must  have  been  ruler  of  the  Gallo- 
way Picts.10     He  died  later  in  the  same  year. 

Domnall  Brecc,  or  Breac,  brother  to  Conadh  Cerr,  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  Dalriada  on  the  death  of  the  latter.  In  634,  he  fought  the 
Northumbrians  at  Calathros  (now  Callender,  in  Stirlingshire),  and  was 
defeated.11  Three  years  later  he  was  again  defeated  with  great  loss  in 
the  battle  of  Mag  Rath,  in  Ireland,  whither  he  had  gone  as  an  ally  of  the 
Cruithne,  or  Irish  Picts,  in  their  contest  with  Domnall  mac  Aed,  king  of  the 
Irish  Dalriads.  In  638,  Tighernac  records  another  battle  and  defeat,  being 
that  of  Glinnemairison,  or  Glenmureson,  which    name  has  been  identified 


204  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

with  that  of  the  present  Mureston  Water,  south  of  the  river  Almond,  in 
the  parishes  of  Mid  and  West  Calder  (Edinburghshire).  As  the  siege  of 
Etin  (Edinburgh)  is  mentioned  in  the  same  reference,  and  as  this  was  the 
second  defeat  which  the  Dalriad  king  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
Angles  within  the  space  of  four  years  in  contiguous  territory,  it  is  to  be  sup- 
posed that  these  battles  may  have  resulted  from  the  efforts  of  Domnall 
Brecc  to  dispossess  the  Angles  of  that  portion  of  their  dominions  in  or  near 
which  the  battles  were  fought.  The  battle  of  Degsastan,  near  the  Esk,  in 
603,  and  these  fights  on  both  sides  of  the  Avon  in  634  and  638,  would  seem 
to  fix  these  streams  as  at  that  time  marking  the  extremities  of  the  frontier 
line  between  Northumbria  and  Strathclyde." 

While  the  Britons  were  naturally  allied  with  the  Scots  in  these  wars  against 
the  common  enemy  of  both,  it  appears  that  the  circumstances  of  their  union 
were  not  otherwise  sufficiently  favorable  to  insure  more  than  the  temporary 
ascendancy  of  the  Dalriad  chief  as  their  leader  at  this  time.  It  is  possible 
he  may  have  taken  the  opportunity  of  his  leadership  as  an  occasion  for 
seeking  permanent  rule  ;  but  if  this  were  so,  he  could  not  have  met  with 
much  encouragement  from  the  Britons  ;  for  in  the  year  642,  Tighernac  tells 
us,  he  was  slain  at  Strathcawin  (or  Strath  Carron),  by  Oan,  king  of  the 
Britons.18 

In  654,  Penda,  king  of  the  Angles  of  Mercia,  with  his  British  or  North 
Welsh  allies,  was  defeated  by  Oswiu,  King  of  Northumbria,  in  a  battle  fought 
near  the  Firth  of  Forth.14  Penda  and  nearly  all  of  his  leaders  were  slain. 
This  victory  not  only  established  Oswiu  firmly  upon  the  Northumbrian 
throne,  but  also  enabled  him  to  bring  under  his  rule  the  dominions  of  the 
Strathclyde  Britons  and  of  the  Scots  and  Southern  Picts.15  In  672,  after 
Ecgfrid  had  succeeded  Oswiu  on  the  Northumbrian  throne,  the  Picts  at- 
tempted to  regain  their  independence,  but  without  success." 

After  the  death  of  Domnall  Brecc  in  642,  and  the  successes  of  Oswiu, 
which  must  indirectly  at  least  have  influenced  Dalriada,  that  kingdom  seems 
to  have  remained  for  a  long  time  broken  up  into  rival  clans,  the  Cinel 
Loarn,  or  Race  of  Loam,  and  the  Cinel  Gabhran  being  the  two  most  impor- 
tant.17 It  was  not  until  678  that  these  clans  again  appear  united  in  offensive 
warfare.  In  that  year  they  fought  against  the  Britons,  but  were  defeated.18 
Afterwards,  in  union  with  the  Picts,  they  seem  to  have  made  attempts  at 
recovering  their  independence,  and  so  far  succeeded  that  Ecgfrid,  then 
king  of  the  Northumbrians,  felt  obliged  to  enter  Pictland  with  an  invading 
army  to  reduce  them.  This  was  in  685.  On  June  20th  of  that  year  a  great 
battle  was  fought  at  Duin  Nechtan,  or  Nechtansmere  (Dunnichen,  in  For- 
farshire ?),  in  which  the  English  king  and  his  entire  force  perished.19 

"  From  that  time,"  in  the  words  of  Bede,  "  the  hopes  and  strength 
of  the  English  kingdom  began  to  waver  and  retrograde  ;  for  the  Picts  re- 
covered their  own  lands,  which  had  been  held  by  the  English  and  the  Scots 
that  were  in  battle,  and  some  of  the  Britons  their  liberty,  which  they  have 


The  Scots  and  Picts  205 

now  enjoyed  for  about  forty-six  years.  Among  the  many  English  who  then 
either  fell  by  the  sword,  or  were  made  slaves,  or  escaped  by  flight  out  of  the 
country  of  the  Picts,  the  most  reverend  man  of  God,  Trumwine,  who  had 
been  made  bishop  over  them,  withdrew  with  his  people  that  were  in  the 
monastery  of  Abercurnig." 

The  king  of  the  Picts  at  this  time  was  an  Anglo-Briton,  Brudei,  son  of 
Bili,  King  of  Strathclyde,"  and  grandson  through  his  mother  of  that  Pictish 
king,  Talorcan,  who  was  called  the  son  of  Ainfrait  (Eanfrid),  the  Angle. 
Ainfrait  was  the  brother  of  King  Oswiu,  and  uncle  to  King  Ecgfrid.  On  the 
death  of  ^Ethelfrid,  father  to  Ainfrait  and  Oswiu,  in  617,  his  throne  had  been 
seized  by  ^Edwine.  Bede  tells  us  21  that  during  all  the  time  King  ^Edwine 
reigned  in  Northumbria,  Ainfrait,  with  his  brothers  and  many  of  the 
nobility,  lived  in  banishment  among  the  Scots,  or  Picts. 

During  the  forty-six  years  between  the  defeat  of  the  Angles  at  Nechtans- 
mere  and  the  period  at  which  Bede's  history  is  brought  to  a  close,  two  con- 
flicts took  place  between  the  Dalriads  and  the  Strathclyde  Britons,  in  both 
of  which  the  latter  were  defeated."  These  occurred  in  the  neighboring 
territories  of  the  Picts,  during  the  reign  of  Nechtan,  son  of  Derili,  who  ruled 
from  before  710  to  724.  It  was  this  Nechtan  who,  as  Bede  states,"  was  per- 
suaded to  forsake  the  teachings  and  customs  of  the  Scottish  Church,  which 
had  been  established  in  Pictland  by  St.  Columba,  and  to  conform  to  those 
of  Rome.  In  717  he  expelled  the  Columban  priests  from  his  kingdom  and 
gave  their  possessions  and  places  to  such  of  the  clergy  as  had  conformed  to 
Rome. 

Shortly  after  this  date,  Selbhac,  son  of  Farchar  Fata,  and  leader  of  the 
Dalriad  tribe  known  as  Cinel  Loarn,  seems  to  have  obtained  the  ascend- 
ancy over  the  rival  tribe  of  Gabhran,  and  succeeded  in  uniting  the  Dalriad 
Scots  again  into  one  great  clan,  of  which  he  became  the  head.  Selbhac  is 
the  first  chief  after  the  death  of  Domnall  Brecc  in  642  to  acquire  the  title  of 
King  of  Dalriada.  In  723  he  resigned  the  throne  to  his  son,  Dungal,  and 
became  a  cleric. 

In  724,  Nechtan,  king  of  the  Picts,  also  having  become  a  cleric,  was 
succeeded  by  Druxst  (or  Drust).  The  latter  was  expelled  from  Pictland  in 
726  by  Alpin,  son  of  Eachaidh  (or  Eachach)  by  a  Pictish  princess.84  At 
the  same  time,  Dungal,  the  Cinel  Loarn  chieftain,  who  occupied  the  throne 
of  Dalriada,  was  expelled  from  that  dominion  and  succeeded  by  Eochaidh 
(or  Eochach),  the  head  of  the  rival  Scottish  clan  Gabhran.  Eochaidh  was 
a  brother  or  half-brother  to  Alpin,  then  king  of  the  Picts,  both  being  sons 
of  Eachaidh,  Domnall  Brecc's  grandson.96 

Dungal's  father,  Selbhac,  in  727,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
restore  his  son  to  the  Scottish  throne,  but  Eochaidh  seems  to  have  con- 
tinued in  power  until  733,  in  which  year  Tighernac  records  his  death. 

In  Pictavia  also,  at  this  time,  the  right  to  the  throne  was  disputed  by 
several  powerful  rivals.     Nechtan,  who  had  resigned  his  rule  to  Druxst  in 


206  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

order  that  he  himself  might  experiment  with  monastic  life,  now  returned  to 
contest  the  claims  of  Alpin,  the  Dalriadic  aspirant  who  had  driven  out 
Nechtan's  legatee.  Angus  of  Fortrenn,  son  of  Fergus,  also  appeared  as 
a  claimant.  Alpin  was  defeated  by  Angus  in  a  battle  fought  in  728  at 
Monaigh  Craebi  (Moncrieff),  and  the  territory  west  of  the  river  Tay  was 
lost  to  him  in  consequence.  Not  long  afterwards,  Nechtan  also  met  Alpin 
in  battle  at  Scone,  completely  overthrew  his  forces  and  partially  recovered 
the  Pictish  kingdom  and  title  for  himself.88 

In  729  Angus  and  Nechtan  met  and  contested  for  the  supreme  leader- 
ship. A  battle  was  fought  at  Loch  Inch,  near  the  river  Spey,  which  resulted 
in  the  defeat  and  rout  of  Nechtan's  forces  and  the  assumption  of  kingly 
authority  and  title  by  Angus.  Soon  after  this  battle,  Angus  encountered 
and  slew  Druxst ;  and  in  732,  the  last  of  his  rivals  was  removed  by  the  death 
of  Nechtan.     Angus  ruled  Pictland  for  thirty  years. 

In  733,  Eochaidh,  King  of  Dalriada,  having  died,  Selbhac's  son,  Dungal, 
regained  the  throne  of  that  kingdom.  During  the  next  year,  Dungal  having 
aroused  the  anger  of  Angus  by  an  attack  upon  the  latter's  son,  Brude,  the 
Pictish  king  invaded  Dalriada,  and  put  its  ruler  to  flight.  Two  years  later 
(in  736),  Angus  destroyed  the  Scots'  city  of  Creic,  and  taking  possession  of 
Donad,  the  capital,  he  laid  waste  all  Dalriada,  put  in  chains  the  two  sons  of 
Selbhac,27  and  appears  to  have  driven  out  the  fighting  men  of  the  two  leading 
clans.  One  of  these,  the  Cinel  Loam,  was  then  under  the  chiefship  of 
Muredach,  and  the  other,  the  Cinel  Gabhran,  was  ruled  by  that  Alpin  mac 
Eachaidh  who  had  been  driven  from  the  Pictish  throne  by  Nechtan  in  728. 
Both  of  these  chieftains  attempted  to  free  their  country  from  the  grasp  of 
the  invader  by  carrying  the  war  into  Pictland.  Muredach  fought  the  Picts 
on  the  banks  of  the  Avon  (at  Carriber),  where  he  was  opposed  by  Talorgan, 
brother  to  Angus,  and  was  completely  defeated  and  routed  by  that  lieu- 
tenant.38 Alpin  himself,  about  1740,  likewise  invaded  Ayrshire,  the  country 
of  the  Galloway  Picts,  and  though  he  succeeded  in  "  laying  waste  the  lands 
of  the  Galwegians,"  he  met  his  death  the  following  year  while  in  their  ter- 
ritories.29 In  the  same  year  in  which  Alpin  was  killed  (741),  Angus  is  said 
to  have  completed  the  conquest  of  Dalriada.  Its  subjection  to  the  Picts 
must  have  continued  at  least  during  the  period  of  his  life. 

The  existing  authentic  records  for  the  century  following  the  death  of 
Alpin  in  741  give  but  little  information  as  to  Dalriada,  beyond  the  names  of 
some  of  its  clan  chieftains.  It  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  remained 
during  that  time  a  subject  state  of  the  then  powerful  Pictish  kingdom. 

Simeon  of  Durham  tells  us  that  a  battle  was  fought  in  744  between  the 
Picts  and  the  Britons,30  and  in  750,  the  Picts,  under  the  leadership  of  Talor- 
gan, the  brother  of  Angus,  met  the  Britons  in  a  great  battle  at  Magedauc' 
(in  Dumbartonshire),  in  which  Talorgan  was  slain.31  Eadberht,  Anglic  king 
of  Northumbria,  in  750,  added  to  his  Galloway  possessions  the  plain  of  Kyle 
(in  Ayrshire)  and  "adjacent  regions."     He  formed  an  alliance  with  Angus 


The  Scots  and  Picts  207 

a  few  years  later  against  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  and  in  756  received 
the  submission  of  that  kingdom.8* 

Five  years  later  (761)  Angus  mac  Fergus  died,  and  his  brother,  Brude, 
came  to  the  Pictish  throne.  He  died  in  763,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ciniod 
(Kenneth),  son  of  Wirdech,  who  reigned  twelve  years."  Alpin,  son  of 
Wroid,  followed  Kenneth,  and  his  death  is  recorded  in  780  as  king  of  the 
Saxons,34  which  would  seem  to  point  to  his  acquisition  of  more  or  less  of  the 
Northumbrian  territory  south  of  the  Forth. 

Drust,  son  of  Talorgan,  succeeded  Alpin,  and  reigned  for  five  years,  his 
succession  being  disputed  by  Talorgan,  son  of  Angus,  who  also  reigned  in 
part  of  the  Pictish  kingdom  for  two  years  and  a  half.  Conal,  son  of  Tarla, 
then  held  the  throne  for  about  five  years,  when  he  was  overthrown  and  suc- 
ceeded by  Constantine,  son  of  Fergus.86 

Conal  fled  to  Dalriada,  then  under  the  government  of  Constantine,  son  of 
Domnall,  whom  he  seems  later  to  have  succeeded,  for  in  807  Conal's  assassina- 
tion is  reported  as  that  of  one  of  the  rulers  of  Dalriada.  After  that  date  the  name 
of  Constantine,  son  of  Fergus,  appears  as  King  of  Dalriada  for  the  nine  years 
following,  so  that  during  that  period  this  kingdom  was  doubtless  united  with 
Pictland  under  the  one  ruler.    The  two  Constantines  may  have  been  identical. 

For  some  years  after  816  Constantine's  brother,  Angus  mac  Fergus  (2d), 
governed  Dalriada,  and  on  the  death  of  the  former  in  820,  Angus  succeeded 
him  as  ruler  over  both  kingdoms.  After  825  Dalriada  was  governed  by  Aed, 
son  of  Boanta  ;  and  then  for  a  term  by  Angus's  own  son,  Eoganan. 

In  834  Angus  died,  when  Drust,  son  of  Constantine,  and  Talorgan,  son  of 
Wthoil,  are  said  to  have  reigned  jointly  for  the  space  of  two  or  three  years, 
the  former  probably  ruling  the  Southern  Picts,  and  the  latter  those  of  the 
North.  It  is  likely  that  this  joint  reign  arose  from  a  disputed  succession,  for 
about  the  same  time  another  aspirant  to  the  throne  appeared  in  the  person 
of  Alpin,  who  was  called  king  of  the  Scots,  and  apparently  must  have 
claimed  title  to  the  Pictish  throne  through  maternal  descent.  He  fought 
the  Picts  near  Dundee  in  834,  and  was  successful  in  his  first  battle  ;  but 
later  in  the  same  year  was  defeated  and  slain.88 

In  836  Eoganan,  son  of  Angus,  is  recorded  in  the  Pictish  Chronicle  as 
the  successor  to  Drust  and  Talorgan.  He  reigned  for  three  years,  and  in 
839  was  slain  by  the  Danes,  who  had  invaded  the  kingdom.  On  his  death, 
Kenneth  (son  of  Alpin,  king  of  the  Scots),  who  had  been  chief  of  the  Dal- 
riad  clans  since  the  death  of  his  father  in  834,  made  war  against  the  Picts. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  presence  of  the  Danish  pirates,  and  perhaps  pos- 
sessing some  inherited  title  to  the  Pictish  throne,  he  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing himself  first  as  the  supreme  ruler  of  Dalriada  (839)  and  then,  four  or 
five  years  later,  became  also  the  king  of  the  Picts.87  Between  the  death  of 
Eoganan  and  the  accession  of  Kenneth  mac  Alpin,  there  were  two  inter- 
mediate kings  of  Pictland.  These  were  Wrad,  son  of  Bargoit,  who  reigned 
three  years,  and  Bred,  son  of  Ferat,  who  reigned  one  year. 


208  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

When  Kenneth  mac  Alpin  became  king  of  the  Picts  in  844,  his  territories 
embraced  that  part  of  Scotland  now  included  in  the  counties  of  Perth,  Fife, 
Stirling,  Dumbarton,  and  Argyle.38  North  and  west  of  this  district  the 
country  continued  in  a  state  of  practical  independence  for  a  long  time  after- 
ward, being  in  part  occupied  by  the  Northern  Picts,  and  in  part  by  the 
Norsemen.  South  of  Kenneth's  territories  the  Northumbrian  Angles  occu- 
pied the  province  of  Bernicia,  which  included  most  of  the  present  counties 
of  Scotland  south  of  the  Forth  and  east  of  the  Avon  and  Esk.  They  also 
maintained  lordship  over  part  of  the  district  now  known  as  Galloway  and 
Ayr.  The  Cymric  Britons  of  Strathclyde  lived  and  ruled  where  are  now  the 
counties  of  Renfrew,  Lanark,  Dumfries,  Peebles  (Clydesdale,  Nithsdale,  and 
Annandale)  ;  the  adjacent  portions  of  Ayr  and  Galloway  and  also  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  to  the  south  of  Solway  Firth. 

The  reasons  for  the  success  of  Kenneth  in  establishing  himself  and  the 
small  and  numerically  insignificant 39  colony  of  Dalriad  Scots  who  inhabited 
the  southwestern  portion  of  Argyle  as  the  ruling  element  in  the  land  of  the 
Picts  have  never  been  very  clearly  understood.  Superior  prowess,40  mater- 
nal ancestry,41  favorable  matrimonial  alliances,42  the  labors  of  missionaries,48 
the  wars  of  the  Picts  with  other  intruders,44  the  higher  culture  of  the  Scots,4* 
and  various  other  causes  have  been  surmised  and  assigned  in  explanation. 
Our  present  knowledge  of  the  period  will  not  justify  more  than  a  tentative 
acceptance  of  these  several  theories  as  a  whole,  with  the  allowance  that  each 
one  probably  accounts  in  part,  or,  might  account  in  part,  for  the  result. 

Kenneth  died  in  858,  and  his  brother  Donald  succeeded  him,  who  reigned 
four  years.  On  Donald's  death,  Constantine,  the  son  of  Kenneth,  came 
to  the  throne.  After  a  reign  of  some  fifteen  years,  he  was  killed  in  battle 
with  the  Norsemen,  who  fought  the  Scots 46  at  Inverdufatha  (Inverdovet) 
near  the  Firth  of  Forth,  in  876-7.  Constantine  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
Aedh,  or  Hugh,  who  reigned  as  king  of  the  Picts  for  one  year,  when  he  was 
killed  by  his  own  people. 

While,  under  the  law  of  Tanistry,  which  governed  the  descent  of  the 
crown  among  the  Scots,  Donald,  son  of  Constantine,  was  entitled  to  rule,  yet 
by  the  Pictish  law,  Eocha  (son  of  Constantine's  sister  and  of  Run,  king  of 
the  Britons  of  Strathclyde)  was  the  next  heir ;  and  as  the  Pictish  party  at 
this  time  seems  to  have  been  in  the  ascendancy,  Eocha  was  made  king. 
Being  too  young  to  reign,  however,  another  king  was  associated  with  him  as 
governor.47  This  governor,  or  regent,  was  Grig,  or  Ciric,  son  of  Dungaile. 
While  the  earlier  Pictish  Chronicle  gives  no  account  of  this  reign  beyond 
the  statement  that  after  a  period  of  eleven  years  Eocha  and  Grig  were  both 
expelled  from  the  kingdom,  the  later  writers  have  made  a  popular  hero  of 
Grig ;  and  his  virtues  and  achievements  are  magnified  to  most  gigantic 
proportions.48  Grig,  having  been  forced  to  abdicate,  was  succeeded  in  889 
by  Donald,  son  of  Constantine,  who  reigned  for  eleven  years.  Donald 
was  also  chosen  as  King  of  Strathclyde,  which  henceforth  continued  to  re- 


/  OF  THE  \\ 

|  UNIVERSITY  j 

\vc^LFFOP^/ The  Scots  and  Picts  209 

ceive  its  princes  from  the  reigning  Scottish  family  until  it  was  finally  merged 
into  the  Scottish  kingdom.  During  Donald's  reign  his  kingdom  ceased  to 
be  called  Pictland  or  Pictavia  and  became  known  as  the  kingdom  of  Alban 
or  Albania,  and  its  rulers  were  no  longer  called  kings  of  the  Picts,  but 
kings  of  Alban."  Donald  was  slain  in  battle  with  the  Danes,  probably  at 
Dunotter  in  Kincardineshire.50 

From  900  to  942  the  throne  was  held  by  Constantine,  son  of  Aedh,  and 
cousin  to  Donald.  During  his  reign,  ^Ethelstan,  King  of  Mercia,  became 
ruler  of  Wessex  (in  925),  and  at  once  set  about  to  extend  his  power  northward 
from  the  Humber.  He  first  arranged  for  a  marriage  between  his  sister  and 
Sihtric,  the  Danish  ruler  of  Deira,  the  southern  province  of  Northumbria. 
On  Sihtric's  death  (926),  ^Ethelstan  immediately  seized  his  kingdom  and  an- 
nexed it  to  his  own,  driving  out  Guthferth,  the  son  of  Sihtric,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded his  father,  and  forming  an  alliance  for  peace  with  Ealdred,  ruler  of 
Bernicia,  the  northern  province  of  Northumbria,  and  with  Constantine,  King 
of  Alban."  A  little  later,  however,  Aulaf,  or  Olaf,  the  eldest  son  of  Sihtric, 
having  in  the  meantime  married  King  Constantine's  daughter,  and  thereby 
secured  the  co-operation  of  the  Scottish  ruler,  succeeded  also  in  enlisting 
in  his  behalf  Olaf  of  Dublin,  a  leader  of  the  Danes,  or  Ostmen,  of  Ireland, 
and  Owin,  king  of  the  Cumbrians.63  Together  these  allies  prepared  for  an 
attempt  to  recover  Olaf's  heritage.  But  ^Ethelstan,  anticipating  them,  in- 
vaded Alban  by  sea  and  land  and  ravaged  a  great  part  of  that  kingdom.68 

Three  years  afterwards  the  confederated  forces  again  assembled  and 
made  a  descent  upon  Deira.  At  first  they  were  successful  in  their  attacks, 
but  finally  encountered  ^Ethelstan  with  all  his  army  on  the  field  of  Brunan- 
burgh,  and  there  fought  the  great  battle  which  takes  its  name  from  that 
place.  ^Ethelstan  was  victorious  and  drove  the  allied  forces  of  the  Scots 
and  Danes  from  the  field  with  great  losses,  among  the  slain  being  the  son  of 
the  Alban  king,  with  many  of  his  bravest  leaders.64 

In  942  Constantine,  having  retired  to  a  monastery,  was  succeeded  by 
Malcolm,  son  of  Donald,  who  also  acquired  sovereignty  over  Cumbria,66  and 
reigned  until  954,  when  he  was  killed  in  a  battle  with  the  Norsemen  near 
Fodresach,  now  Fetteresso,  in  Kincardineshire.  The  next  king,  Indulf,  was 
also  killed  by  the  Norsemen  in  962,  at  Cullen,  in  Banffshire.66  During  his 
reign  the  kingdom  seems  first  to  have  been  extended  south  of  the  Forth, 
Edinburgh  for  a  time  being  added  to  its  territory.  Duff,  or  Dubh,  son  of 
Malcolm,  next  occupied  the  throne,  but  he  was  expelled  about  967  by 
Cuilean,  or  Colin,  son  of  Indulf,  who  succeeded  him  as  king,  and  was  slain 
himself  four  years  later  (971)  in  a  quarrel  with  the  Strathclydensians. 

Kenneth  II.,  brother  of  Duff,  and  son  of  the  first  Malcolm,  then  gained 
the  crown.  He  is  said  to  have  greatly  ravaged  the  territory  of  the  Strath- 
clyde  Welsh  ;  and  then,  in  order  to  protect  himself  against  their  counter- 
attacks, to  have  fortified  the  fords  of  the  river  Forth,  which  separated  the 
two  kingdoms.67     Immediately    after   his    attack  on    Strathclyde,  he    also 


210  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

invaded  Saxonia,  as  the  northern  part  of  Northumbria  was  then  called.  The 
following  year,  Kenneth  MacMalcolm  made  a  second  attempt  against  the 
same  district.  At  that  time,  Domnall,  or  Dunwallaun,  son  of  Eoain,  was  king 
of  the  Strathclyde  Britons.58  Edinburgh  is  supposed  to  have  been  permanently 
ceded  to  the  Scots  during  the  reign  of  Kenneth  MacMalcolm,  as  a  result  of  his 
continued  operations  against  the  territory  south  of  the  Forth.69  Kenneth 
was  slain  by  some  of  his  subjects  at  Fettercairn  in  Kincardineshire,  995.80 

He  was  succeeded  by  Constantine,  son  of  Colin  Maclndulf,  who,  after  a 
reign  of  two  years,  was  killed  by  Kenneth  MacMalcolm  (2d)  and  succeeded 
by  Kenneth  MacDufT  (Kenneth  III.),  surnamed  Grim,  who  retained  the 
throne  for  some  eight  or  nine  years. 

In  997,  the  death  of  Malcolm  MacDonald,  king  of  the  northern  Britons, 
is  recorded." 

Kenneth  MacDuff  was  defeated  in  battle  and  slain  at  Strathern  in  1005, 
by  his  cousin,  Malcolm,  son  of  King  Kenneth  MacMalcolm.  He  was  known 
as  Malcolm  II.,  or  Malcolm  MacKenneth,  and  reigned  from  1005  until  1034, 
when  he  is  said  to  have  been  assassinated  at  Glamis,  in  Angus.  He  is  ac- 
cused of  having  procured,  about  1033,  the  death  of  a  son  of  Boete  MacKen- 
neth, and  grandson  of  Kenneth  II.  (or  of  Kenneth  HI.)62  The  claim  of 
Kenneth  MacDuff's  grandson  to  the  crown,  under  the  Pictish  law  of  suc- 
cession,* was  superior  to  that  of  King  Malcolm's  own  grandson,  Duncan. 
In  1006,  shortly  after  the  commencement  of  his  reign,  King  Malcolm  II. 
invaded  Northumbria,  but  was  defeated  and  driven  out  with  the  loss  of 
many  of  his  best  warriors.88  Twelve  years  later  (1018),  in  conjunction  with 
Owen  the  Bald,  king  of  the  Strathclyde  Britons,  Malcolm  made  a  second 
attempt  against  Northumbria,  which  proved  more  successful.  In  a  battle 
fought  at  Carham,  on  the  Tweed,  he  defeated  the  Northumbrians  and  Danes 
with  great  loss.64  In  consequence,  they  were  obliged  to  cede  to  the  victor 
all  of  Northumbria  lying  north  of  the  Tweed,  which  territory  from  that  time 
became  a  part  of  Scotland.85 

The  kingdom  of  Strathclyde,  or  Cumbria,  also,  was  now  completely  ab- 
sorbed into  Scotland.  Its  ruler,  Owen,  having  been  slain  in  the  year  of  the 
battle  of  Carham,  the  union  with  Scotland  took  place  through  the  succession 
of  Duncan,  grandson  of  Malcolm,  to  the  lordship  of  Strathclyde.  For  that 
portion  of  his  domain  which  extended  south  from  the  Solway  Firth,  to  the 
river  Ribble,  in  Lancashire,  Duncan  continued  to  do  homage  to  the  King  of 
England,  as  his  predecessors  before  him  had  done,  since  the  time  (945)  when 
the  English  king,  Eadmund,  had  given  it  "  all  up  to  Malcolm,  king  of  the 
Scots,  on  condition  that  he  should  be  his  fellow-worker  as  well  by  sea  as  by 
land."  88  This  Prince  Duncan  was  the  son  of  Bethoc,  or  Beatrice,  Malcolm's 
daughter,  who  had  married  Crinan  of  the  House  of  Athol,  lay  Abbot  of 
Dunkeld,  said  by  Fordun  to  have  been  also  the  Steward  of  the  Isles.     On 

*  The  early  Picts  had  no  institution  of  marriage,  succession  passing  through  the  maternal 
line  alone.     See  note  n,  p.  196. 


The  Scots  and  Picts  2 1 1 

the  death  of  Malcolm,  his  grandfather,  in  1034,  Duncan,  King  of  Strathclyde, 
ascended  the  Scottish  throne,  thus  completely  uniting  the  subkingdom  of 
Strathclyde  with  Scotia. 

Another  daughter  of  Malcolm  had  been  given  in  marriage  to  Sigurd,  the 
Norse  jarl,  ruler  of  the  Orkney  Islands.  By  her  Sigurd  had  a  son,  Thorfinn, 
cousin  to  Duncan,  born  about  1009,  who,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  some 
five  years  later,  succeeded  to  the  lordship  of  Caithness,  Sutherland,  and 
other  districts,  including  Galloway.67  In  this  capacity,  he  was  also  over-lord 
of  the  tributary  provinces  of  Moray  and  Ross,  which  at  the  time  of  Earl 
Sigurd's  death  were  ruled  over  by  the  Mormaor  Finleikr,  or  Finley  (father 
of  Macbeth).88 

Duncan,  king  of  the  Scots,  married  the  sister69  of  Siward,  the  Danish 
Earl  of  Northumbria;  and  reigned  for  about  five  years.  He  became  involved 
in  a  war  with  his  cousin,  Thorfinn,  over  the  sovereignty  of  the  northern  dis- 
tricts of  Scotland,  and  was  slain  at  Bothgowan  in  1039-40  by  Macbeth,  who 
had  by  that  time  succeeded  to  the  mormaorship  of  Ross  and  Moray.70  Upon 
the  supposed  circumstances  of  Duncan's  tragic  death,  as  depicted  by  Boece 
and  copied  by  Holinshed,  Shakspeare  constructed  his  play  of  Macbeth. 

Before  going  into  the  details  of  that  tragedy,  it  will  be  well  to  pause 
and  take  a  glance  at  the  surroundings  and  condition  of  the  Scottish  king- 
dom at  the  beginning  of  Duncan's  brief  reign.  There  are  three  things 
connected  with  the  preceding  reign  of  his  grandfather,  Malcolm  II.,  which 
mark  it  as  a  distinctive  and  important  epoch  in  Scottish  history.  The  first 
and  most  notable  of  these  was  the  cession  to  Malcolm  by  its  Danish  ruler  of 
that  portion  of  the  Anglo-Danish  kingdom  of  Northumbria  known  as  Lothian 
—  being  all  that  part  of  eastern  Scotland  lying  north  of  the  Tweed  and  south 
of  the  Forth.  This  cession  resulted  from  the  victory  of  the  Scots  at  Carham 
in  1018,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made.71  The  next  important 
event  was  the  marriage  of  Malcolm's  daughter  with  Sigurd,  the  Norse  over- 
lord of  the  northern  regions  of  Scotland,  and  the  establishment  of  their  son, 
Thorfinn,  as  ruler  of  that  domain  on  the  death  of  his  father.  This  marriage 
eventually  proved  to  be  an  effective  step  toward  bringing  the  whole  country 
north  of  "  Scot's  Water,"  7a  under  the  rule  of  one  king.  The  third  event 
was  the  accession  of  Duncan  to  the  kingship  or  lordship  of  Strathclyde  after 
the  death  of  Owen  the  Bald,  in  1018,  and  the  subsequent  peaceful  union  of 
that  kingdom  with  Scotland  on  the  ascension  of  Duncan  to  the  Scottish 
throne.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  to  give  a  brief  summary  of  the  circumstances 
leading  up  to  this  conjunction  of  conditions  which  ultimately  resulted  in  the 
amalgamation  of  the  various  racial  elements  of  Scotland  into  one  people. 
The  Cumbrian  and  Norse  districts  will  first  be  taken  up,  as  being  more  inti- 
mately associated  with  the  history  of  Malcolm's  nearest  male  heirs  ;  and  the 
Anglo-Danish  province  will  afterwards  be  considered  in  connection  with  the 
reign  of  Duncan's  son,  Malcolm  Canmore  —  in  whom  its  possession  may  be 
said  first  to  have  been  definitely  confirmed.7* 


212  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XV. 

1  Ireland  is  first  mentioned  as  being  also  called  Scotia  by  Isadore  of  Seville,  580-600. 

2  The  first  recorded  appearance  of  the  Saxons  off  the  coast  of  Gaul  is  in  A.D.  287. 
Eutropius,  ixM  21.     {Monum.  Hist.  Brit.,  p.  lxxii.) 

The  boats  of  Irish  pirates — or,  as  they  were  then  called,  Scots — ravaged  its  western 
shores,  while  a  yet  more  formidable  race  of  freebooters  pillaged  from  Portsmouth  to  the 
Wash.  In  their  homeland  between  the  Elbe  and  the  Ems,  as  well  as  in  a  wide  tract  across 
the  Ems  to  the  Rhine,  a  number  of  German  tribes  had  drawn  together  into  the  people  of  the 
Saxons,  and  it  was  to  this  people  that  the  pirates  of  the  Channel  belonged. — J.  R.  Green, 
Making  of  England,  p.  15. 

3  ' '  We  learn  from  the  account  given  by  the  historian  of  their  eventual  recovery,  that  the 
districts  ravaged  by  the  Picts  were  those  extending  from  the  territories  of  the  independent 
tribes  to  the  Wall  of  Hadrian  between  the  Tyne  and  the  Solway,  and  that  the  districts  occu- 
pied by  the  Scots  were  in  a  different  direction.  They  lay  on  the  western  frontier,  and  con- 
sisted of  part  of  the  mountain  region  of  Wales  on  the  coast  opposite  to  Ierne,  or  the  island  of 
Ireland,  from  whence  they  came. 

"  Unaided  as  she  was  left,  Britain  held  bravely  out  as  soon  as  her  first  panic  was  over  ; 
and  for  some  thirty  years  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  legions  the  free  province  maintained  an 
equal  struggle  against  her  foes.  Of  these  she  probably  counted  the  Saxons  as  still  the  least 
formidable.  The  freebooters  from  Ireland  were  not  only  scourging  her  western  coast,  but 
planting  colonies  at  points  along  its  line.  To  the  north  of  the  Firth  of  Clyde  these  "  Scots" 
settled  about  this  time  in  the  peninsula  of  Argyle.  To  the  south  of  it  they  may  have  been 
the  Gaels,  who  mastered  and  gave  their  name  to  Galloway  ;  and  there  are  some  indications 
that  a  larger  though  a  less  permanent  settlement  was  being  made  in  the  present  North  Wales." 
— Green,  Making  of  England,  p.  23. 

4  Written  not  long  before  the  ninth  century,  and,  so  far  as  its  record  of  earlier  events 
goes,  chiefly  useful  in  giving  us  the  form  in  which  they  were  current  in  the  time  of  the 
author. 

5  Though,  as  we  have  seen,  his  eldest  brother  Loarn  ruled  before  him,  yet  Fergus  holds 
a  more  conspicuous  position  as  the  father  of  the  dynasty,  since  it  was  his  descendants,  and 
not  those  of  Loarn,  who  afterwards  ruled  in  Dalriada.  It  is  in  him,  too,  that  the  scanty 
broken  traces  of  genuine  history  join  the  full  current  of  the  old  fabulous  conventional  history 
of  Scotland.  Thus  Fergus  may  be  identified  with  Fergus  II. — the  fortieth  king  of  Scotland, 
according  to  Buchanan  and  the  older  historians.  This  identity  has  served  to  show  with  sin- 
gular clearness  the  simple  manner  in  which  the  earlier  fabulous  race  of  Scots  kings  was  in- 
vented. A  Fergus  was  still  the  father  of  the  monarchy,  but  to  carry  back  the  line  to  a 
respectable  antiquity,  a  preceding  Fergus  was  invented,  who  reigned  more  than  300  years 
before  Christ  —  much  about  the  time  when  Babylon  was  taken  by  Alexander,  as  Buchanan 
notices.  To  fill  up  the  intervening  space  between  the  imaginary  and  the  actual  Fergus, 
thirty-eight  other  monarchs  were  devised,  whose  portraits  may  now  be  seen  in  the  picture- 
gallery  of  Holyrood. — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  287. 

6  Wales,  or  the  country  of  the  Cymri,  at  this  time  extended  from  the  Severn  to  the 
Clyde,  and  comprised  all  modern  Wales,  Cheshire,  Lancashire,  part  of  Westmoreland,  Cum- 
berland, Dumfriesshire,  Ayrshire,  Lanarkshire,  and  Renfrewshire.  Novantia,  however,  re- 
mained Pictish — i,  e.,  Goidelic — in  speech  and  race.  Thus,  whatever  had  been  the  affinity 
in  earlier  centuries  between  the  Selgovae  of  Dumfriesshire  and  the  Novantae,  or  Attecotts,  of 
Galloway,  it  had  been  replaced  in  the  sixth  century  by  hereditary  racial  enmity.  Galloway 
was  peopled  by  Attecott  Picts  ;  Annandale,  Nithsdale,  and  Strathclyde  by  Britons,  Cymri,  or 
Welshmen.  ...  In  the  sixth  century,  then,  there  were  four  races  contending  for  what 
was  formerly  the  Roman  province  of  Valencia — (1)  the  Britons,  Cymri,  or  Welsh,  ancient 
subjects  of  Rome,  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  legitimate  inhabitants  ;  (2)  the  Northern  and 


The  Scots  and  Picts  213 

Southern  Picts,  representing  the  older  or  Goidelic  strain  of  Celts,  with  an  admixture,  per- 
haps, of  aboriginal  Ivernians,  with  whom  may  be  associated  the  Attecott  Picts  west  of  the 
Nith  ;  (3)  the  Scots  from  Erin,  also  Goidelic,  but  distinct  from  the  Picts,  not  yet  firmly  set- 
tled in  Lorn  and  Argyle  under  ^Edan,  the  [great-]  grandson  of  Fergus  Mor  Mac  Eire,  but 
making  descents  wherever  they  could  find  a  footing,  and  destined  to  give  their  name  to  Alban 
in  later  centuries  as  "Scotland  "  ;  and  (4)  the  Teutonic  colonists. — Herbert  Maxwell,  History 
of Dumfries  and  Galloway \  pp.  32,  33. 

I  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  163. 

8  "  Alban,  or,  as  we  now  call  it,  Scotland,  had  by  this  time  resolved  itself  into  four  domin- 
ions, each  under  its  separate  line  of  kings.  The  Picts  held  the  country  north  of  the  Forth, 
their  chief  town  being  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ness ;  Argyle  and  Lorn  formed  the  kingdom  of 
Dalriada,  populated  by  the  Scottish  (that  is,  Irish)  descendants  of  the  colony  of  Fergus  Mor. 
The  British  kingdom  of  Alclut  or  Strathclyde  was  the  northern  portion  of  the  Cymric  terri- 
tory, or  old  Wales,  once  extending  from  Cornwall  to  Dunbarton,  but  permanently  severed 
first  by  the  Saxon  king,  Ceawlin,  who  in  577  took  possession  of  the  country  round  Bath  and 
Gloucester  ;  and  second  by  Edwin,  King  of  Bernicia,  at  the  great  battle  of  Chester,  in  613. 
Strathclyde,  then,  comprised  a  tract  extending  from  the  Derwent  in  Cumberland  to  Loch 
Lomond,  the  capital  being  called  in  Welsh  Alclut,  or  the  cliff  on  the  Clyde,  but  known  to 
the  Dalriadic  and  Pictish  Gaels  as  dun  Bretann,  the  fort  of  the  Welshmen. 

"  On  the  east  the  Saxon  realm  of  Bernicia  stretched  from  the  Humber  to  the  Forth  under 
King  Edwin,  who  has  left  his  name  in  Edinburgh,  the  Saxon  title  of  the  town  which  the 
Gaels  called  Dunedin,  but  whose  seat  of  rule  was  Bamborough.  Just  as  the  territory  of  the 
Attecott  Picts  was  separated  from  Strathclyde  by  the  rampart  now  known  as  the  De'il's  Dyke, 
so  Bernicia  was  separated  from  Strathclyde  by  the  Catrail,  an  earthwork  crossing  the  upper 
part  of  Liddesdale.  Besides  these  four  realms  there  was  a  debatable  strip  of  country  between 
the  Lennox  Hills  and  the  Grampians,  including  the  carse  of  Stirling  and  part  of  Linlithgow- 
shire, chiefly  inhabited  by  the  Southern  Picts  or  Picts  of  Manau  ;  and  lastly,  the  old  territory 
of  the  Niduarian  or  Attecott  Picts,  who  had  managed  to  retain  autonomy  under  native  princes, 
and  a  degree  of  independence,  by  means  of  powerful  alliances. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  then,  Dumfriesshire  was  under  the  rule  of  the 
Welsh  kings  of  Strathclyde,  while  Wigtonshire  and  Kirkcudbright,  soon  to  acquire  the  name 
of  Galloway,  were  under  their  native  Pictish  princes." — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and 
Galloway,  pp.  35,  36. 

9  A.  d.  629,  Cath  Fedhaeoin  in  quo  Maelcaith  mac  Scandail  Rex  Cruithnin  victor  erat. 
Concad  Cer  Rex  Dalriada  cecidit  et  Dicuill  mac  Eachach  Rex  Ceneoil  Cruithne  cecedit  et 
nepotes  Aidan,  id  est,  Regullan  mac  Conaing  et  Failbe  mac  Eachach  (et  Osseric  mac  Albruit 
cum  strage  maxima  suorum).     Eochadh  Buidhi  mac  Aidan  victor  erat.— Tighernac. 

10  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  242. 

II  In  the  same  year  in  which  the  battle  was  fought  which  placed  Osuald  on  the  throne  of 
Bernicia,  Domnall  Brecc,  king  of  the  Scots  of  Dalriada,  appears  to  have  made  an  attempt  to 
wrest  the  district  between  the  Avon  and  the  Pentland  Hills  from  the  Angles,  whether  as 
having  some  claim  to  it  through  his  grandfather,  Aidan,  or  what  is  more  probable,  as  a  leader 
of  the  Britons,  is  uncertain. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  247. 

12 "  In  the  centre  of  Scotland,  where  it  is  intersected  by  the  two  arms  of  the  sea,  the 
Forth  and  the  Clyde,  and  where  the  boundaries  of  these  four  kingdoms  approach  one  another, 
is  a  territory  extending  from  the  Esk  to  the  Tay,  which  possessed  a  very  mixed  population, 
and  was  the  scene  of  most  of  the  conflicts  between  these  four  states.  Originally  occupied  by 
the  tribe  of  the  Damnonii,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Roman  province  intersected  it  for 
two  centuries  and  a  half,  including  part  of  this  tribe  and  the  province,  and  merging  the  rest 
among  the  barbarians.  On  the  fall  of  the  Roman  power  in  Britain,  it  was  overrun  by  the 
Picts,  and  one  of  the  earliest  settlements  of  the  Saxons,  which  probably  was  composed  of 
Frisians,  took  place  in  the  districts  about  the  Roman  wall.     It  was  here  that,  during  the 


214  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

sixth  century,  the  main  struggle  took  place.  It  falls  naturally  into  three  divisions.  The  first 
extends  from  the  Esk  and  the  Pentland  Hills  to  the  Roman  wall  and  the  river  Carron. 
This  district  we  find  mainly  peopled  by  Picts,  the  remains  probably  of  those  who  once  occu- 
pied the  eastern  districts  to  the  southern  wall,  and  preserved  a  kind  of  independence,  while 
the  rest  were  subjected  by  the  Angles. 

1  •  From  the  Picts  the  Angles  give  the  hills  which  formed  its  southern  boundary  the  name 
of  the  Pehtland,  now  Pentland  Hills.  Near  its  southeastern  boundary  was  the  strong  natu- 
ral position  called  by  the  Britons  Mynyd  Agned  and  also  Dineiddyn,  and  by  the  Gaels  Dun- 
edin.  Nine  miles  farther  west,  the  Firth  of  Forth  is  narrowed  till  the  coast  approaches  to 
within  two  miles  of  that  of  Fife,  and  affords  a  ready  means  of  access  ;  and  on  the  south  shore 
of  the  upper  basin  of  the  Forth,  and  near  the  termination  of  the  Roman  wall,  was  the  ancient 
British  town  of  Caeredin,  while  in  the  Forth  itself  opposite  this  district  was  the  insular  town 
of  Guidi.  The  western  part  of  this  territory  was  known  to  the  Welsh  by  the  name  of  Manau 
Guotodin,  and  to  the  Gael  as  the  plain  or  district  of  Manann,  a  name  still  preserved  in  Sli- 
abhmanann,  now  Slamanan,  and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  headquarters  of  these  Picts. 

"  Between  them  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Picts  proper  lay  a  central  district,  extending 
from  the  wall  to  the  river  Forth,  and  on  the  bank  of  the  latter  was  the  strong  position  after- 
wards occupied  by  Stirling  Castle  ;  and  while  the  Angles  of  Bernicia  exercised  an  influence 
and  a  kind  of  authority  over  the  first  district,  this  central  part  seems  to  have  been  more 
closely  connected  with  the  British  kingdom  of  Alclyde.  The  northern  part,  extending  from 
the  Forth  to  the  Tay,  belonged  to  the  Pictish  kingdom,  with  whom  its  population,  originally 
British,  appears  to  have  been  incorporated,  and  was  the  district  afterwards  known  as  Fortrein 
and  Magh  Fortren. 

"  Finally,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Solway  Firth,  and  separated  from  the  Britons  by  the 
lower  part  of  the  river  Nith,  and  by  the  mountain  range  which  separates  the  counties  of 
Kirkcudbright  and  Wigton  from  those  of  Dumfries  and  Ayr,  were  a  body  of  Picts,  termed 
by  Bede  Niduari  ;  and  this  district,  consisting  of  the  two  former  counties,  was  known  to  the 
Welsh  as  Galwydel,  and  to  the  Irish  as  Gallgaidel,  from  which  was  formed  the  name  Gall- 
weithia,  now  Galloway." — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  237-239.    See  Note  6,  p.  192. 

13  During  these  wars  there  appears  to  have  been  hitherto  a  combination  of  the  Britons  of 
Alclyde  and  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  against  the  Angles  and  the  Pictish  population  subject  to 
them.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  conflict  of  the  western  tribes  against  the  eastern,  and  of  the 
Christian  party  against  the  pagan  and  semi-pagan,  their  common  Christianity  forming  a  strong 
bond  of  union  between  the  two  former  nations,  and  after  the  death  of  Rhydderch  Hael  in 
603  the  Dalriadic  kings  seem  to  have  taken  the  lead  in  the  command  of  the  combined 
forces. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  249. 

14  Oswy  .  .  .  held  the  same  dominions  for  some  time,  and  for  the  most  part  subdued 
and  made  tributary  the  nations  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  which  possess  the  northern  parts 
of  Britain  :  but  of  these  hereafter. — Bede,  book  ii.,  ch.  v. 

15  The  same  King  Oswy  governed  the  Mercians,  as  also  the  people  of  the  other 
southern  provinces,  three  years  after  he  had  slain  King  Penda  ;  and  he  likewise  subdued  the 
greater  part  of  the  Picts  to  the  dominion  of  the  English. — Bede,  book  iii.,  ch.  xxiv. 

The  Scots  of  Dalriada  naturally  fell  under  his  [Oswiu's]  dominion  along  with  the  Britons, 
and  we  have  the  testimony  of  Adamnan  that  they  were  trodden  down  by  strangers  during  the 
same  period.  But  while  these  nations  became  tributary  to  the  Angles  during  this  period  of 
thirty  years,  the  mode  in  which  the  kings  of  Northumbria  dealt  with  the  Picts  shows  that 
their  dominion  over  them  was  of  a  different  kind,  and  that  they  viewed  that  part  of  the  nation 
which  was  subject  to  them  as  now  forming  part  of  the  Northumbrian  kingdom.  The  way 
for  this  was  prepared  by  the  accession  of  Talorcan,  son  of  Ainfrait,  to  the  throne  of  the 
Picts  on  the  death  of  Talore,  son  of  Wid,  or  Ectolairg  mac  Foith,  as  Tighernac  calls  him,  in 
653.  Talorcan  was  obviously  the  son  of  that  Ainfrait,  the  son  of  ^Edilfrid,  and  elder 
brother  of  Osuald,  who  on  his  father's  death  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Picts,  and  his  son 


The  Scots  and  Picts  215 

Talorcan  must  have  succeeded  to  the  throne  through  a  Pictish  mother.  At  the  time,  then, 
when  Oswiu  thus  extended  his  sway  over  the  Britons  and  Scots  there  was  a  king  of  the  Anglic 
race  by  paternal  descent  actually  reigning  over  the  Picts.  Tighernac  records  his  death  in 
657,  and  Bede  tells  us  that  within  three  years  after  he  had  slain  King  Penda,  Oswiu  subjected 
the  greater  part  of  the  Picts  to  the  dominion  of  the  Angles.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that 
he  claimed  their  submission  to  himself  as  the  cousin  and  heir  on  the  paternal  side  of  their 
king  Talorcan,  and  enforced  his  claim  by  force  of  arms.  How  far  his  dominion  extended 
it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  it  certainly  embraced,  as  we  shall  see,  what  Bede  calls  the  province 
of  the  Picts  on  the  north  side  of  the  Firth  of  Forth,  and,  nominally  at  least,  may  have  in- 
cluded the  whole  territory  of  the  Southern  Picts  ;  while  Gartnaid,  the  son  of  Donnell,  or 
Domhnaill,  who  appears  in  the  Pictish  Chronicle  as  his  successor,  and  who  from  the  form  of 
his  father's  name  must  have  been  of  pure  Gaelic  race,  ruled  over  those  who  remained 
independent. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  257-258. 

16  In  the  first  years  of  his  [Ecgfrid's]  reign  the  bestial  people  of  the  Picts,  despising  their 
subjection  to  the  Saxons,  and  threatening  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  servitude,  collected  to- 
gether innumerable  tribes  from  the  north,  on  hearing  which  Ecgfrid  assembled  an  army,  and 
at  the  head  of  a  smaller  body  of  troops  advanced  against  this  great  and  not  easily  discovered 
enemy,  who  were  assembled  under  a  formidable  ruler  called  Bernaeth,  and  attacking  them 
made  so  great  a  slaughter  that  two  rivers  were  almost  filled  with  their  bodies.  Those  who 
fled  were  pursued  and  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  people  were  again  reduced  to  servitude,  and 
remained  under  subjection  during  the  rest  of  Ecgfrid's  reign. — Eddi,  Life  of  St.  Wilfrid* 
ch.  xix.  (written  before  731). 

11  In  the  meantime  the  little  kingdom  of  Dalriada  was  in  a  state  of  complete  disorgani- 
zation. We  find  no  record  of  any  real  king  over  the  whole  nation  of  the  Scots,  but  each  separate 
tribe  seems  to  have  remained  isolated  from  the  rest  under  its  own  chief,  while  the  Britons 
exercised  a  kind  of  sway  over  them,  and,  along  with  the  Britons,  they  were  under  subjection 
to  the  Angles. —  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  263. 

18  A.  D.  678,  Interfectio  generis  Loairn  itirinn,  id  est,  Feachair  fotai  et  Britones  qui 
victores  erant. — Tighernac. 

Bellum  Duinlocho  et  bellum  Liaccmaelain  et  Doirad  Eilinn — Annals  of  Ulster. 

19  Bede,  book  iv.,  ch.  xxvi. 

20  Brudei  was  paternally  a  scion  of  the  royal  House  of  Alclyde,  his  father  Bili  appearing 
in  the  Welsh  genealogies  annexed  to  Nennius  as  the  son  of  Neithon  and  father  of  that 
Eugein  who  slew  Domnall  Brecc  in  642. 

81  Book  iii.,  ch.  i. 

22  711,  Congressio  Brittonum  et  Dalriadha  for  Loirgeclat  ibu  Britones  devicti.  717, 
Congressio  Dalriada  et  Brittonum  in  lapide  qui  vocatur  Minvircc  et  Britones  devicti 
sunt. — Tighernac. 

23  Book  v.,  ch.  xxi.    See  p.  126. 

24  726,  Nechtain  mac  Derili  constringitur  apud  Druist  regem.  Dungal  de  regno 
ejectus  est  et  Druist  de  regno  Pictorum  ejectus  et  Elphin  pro  eo  regnat.  Eochach  mac 
Eachach  regnare  incipit. — Tighernac. 

25  697,  Euchu  nepos  Domhnall  jugulatus  est. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

26  728,  Cath  Monaigh  Craebi  itir  Piccardachaib  fein  (i.  e. ,  between  the  Picts  themselves), 
Aengus  et  Alpine  issiat  tuc  in  cath  (fought  that  battle),  et  ro  mebaigh  ria  (the  victory  was 
with)  n  Aengus  et  ro  marbhadh  mac  Alpin  andsin  (and  the  son  of  Alpin  was  slain  there)  et  ro 
gab  Aengus  nert  (and  Angus  took  his  person).  Cath  truadh  itir  (an  unfortunate  battle  be- 
tween the)  Piccardachaebh  ac  Caislen  Credhi  et  ro  mebaigh  ar  in  (and  the  victory  was  against 
the  same),  Alpin  et  ro  bearadh  a  cricha  et  a  daine  de  uile  (and  his  territories  and  all  his  men 
were  taken),  et  ro  gab  Nechtan  mac  Derili  Righi  na  Picardach  (lost  the  kingdom  of  the 
Picts). — Tighernac.     The  Ulster  Annals  add  :  "  ubi  Alpinus  effugit." 

27  736,  Aengus  mac  Fergusa  rex  Pictorum  vastavit  regiones  Dailriata  et  obtinuit  Dunad 


216  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

et  compulsit  Creich  et  duos  filios  Selbaiche  catenis  alligavit,  id  est,  Dongal  et  Feradach,  et 
Paulo  post  Brudeus  mac  Aengusa  mic  Fergusa  obiit. — Tighernac. 

88  736,  Bellum  Cnuicc  Coirpri  i  Calathros  uc  etar  Linndu  inter  Dalriatai  et  Fortrenn 
et  Talorgan  mac  Ferguso  filium  Ainbhceallach  fugientum  cum  exercitu  persequitur  in  qua 
congressione  multi  nobiles  ceciderunt. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

99  One  of  the  chronicles  appears  to  have  preserved  the  traditionary  account  of  his  death 
when  it  tells  us  that  he  was  slain  in  Galloway,  after  he  had  destroyed  it,  by  a  single  person 
who  lay  in  wait  for  him  in  a  thick  wood  overhanging  the  entrance  of  the  ford  of  a  river  as  he 
rode  among  his  people.  (Cesty  fust  tue  en  Goloway,  com  il  le  avoit  destruyt,  de  un  soul 
hom  qi  ly  gayta  en  un  espesse  hoys  en  pendaunt  al  entree  dun  ge  de  un  ryvere,  com  chevauch- 
eoit  entre  ses  gentz. — Scala  Chron.)  The  scene  of  his  death  must  have  been  on  the  east  side 
of  Loch  Ryan,  where  a  stream  falls  into  the  loch,  on  the  north  side  of  which  is  the  farm  of 
Laight,  and  on  this  farm  is  a  large  upright  pillar  stone,  to  which  the  name  of  Laight  Alpin, 
or  the  Grave  of  Alpin,  is  given. 

30  By  the  Picts,  Simeon  usually  understands  the  Picts  of  Galloway,  and  this  battle  seems 
to  have  followed  the  attack  upon  them  by  Alpin  and  his  Scots. 

31  750,  Cath  etir  Pictones  et  Britones,  id  est  a  Talorgan  mac  Fergusa  et  a  brathair  et  ar 
Piccardach  imaille  friss  (and  his  brother  and  a  slaughter  of  Picts  with  him). — Tighernac. 

750,  Bellum  inter  Pictos  et  Brittonis,  id  est,  Gueith  Mocetauc  et  rex  eorum  Talorgan  a 
Brittonibus  occiditur. — An.  Cam. 

32  756,  Eadberht  rex,  xviii.  anno  regni  sui  et  Unust  rex  Pictorum  duxerunt  exercitum  ad 
urbem  Alcluth.  Ibique  Brittones  in  deditionem  receperunt  prima  die  mensis  Augusti. 
Decima  autem  die  ejusdem  mensis  interiit  exercitus  pene  omnis  quem  duxit.  (Eadberhtus) 
de  Ouania  ad  Niwanbirig,  id  est,  ad  novam  civitatem. — Simeon  of  Durham. 

33  775.  Pex  Pictorum  Cynoth  ex  voragine  hujus  coenulentis  vitae  eripitur. — Simeon  of 
Durham. 

"  After  the  death  of  Angus  MacFergus,  king  of  the  Picts,  who  is  stigmatized  by  a  Saxon 
writer  as  'a  bloody  tyrant,'  the  history  of  the  succeeding  period  again  becomes  obscure. 
Bruidi,  his  brother,  followed  him  on  the  throne,  which,  after  the  death  of  Bruidi,  and  an  in- 
terval of  fifteen  years,  during  which  it  was  again  occupied  in  succession  by  two  brothers, 
reverted  once  more  to  the  family  of  Angus  in  the  persons  of  his  son  and  grandson — Constan- 
tine  MacFergus,  also  probably  a  member  of  the  same  race,  acquiring  the  supreme  power 
towards  the  close  of  the  century  by  driving  out  Conal  MacTeige,  who  lost  his  life  a  few  years 
later  in  Kintyre.  The  names  of  three  kings  of  Dalriada  attest  the  existence  of  the  little 
kingdom,  without  throwing  any  further  light  upon  its  history,  though  from  the  character  of  a 
subsequent  reference  to  Aodh,  '  the  Fair,'  it  may  be  conjectured  that  he  was  in  some  sense 
the  restorer  of  the  line  of  Kintyre.  After  the  death  of  Doncorcin,  the  last  of  these  three 
princes,  which  happened  shortly  after  the  accession  of  Constantine,  no  further  mention  of  the 
province  will  be  found  in  any  of  the  Irish  annals  which  have  hitherto  been  published. 

"  For  thirty  years  and  upwards,  the  supremacy  of  Constantine  was  undisputed,  and  he 
was  succeeded  upon  his  death  by  his  brother  Angus,  his  son  Drost,  and  his  nephew  Eoganan 
in  the  same  regular  order  which  is  subsequently  observable  amongst  the  early  kings  of  Scot- 
land. His  reign  was  unquestionably  an  era  of  considerable  importance,  tradition  connecting 
it  with  the  termination  of  the  Pictish  monarchy,  and  representing  Constantine  as  the  last  of 
the  Pictish  kings  —  a  tradition  which  must  have  owed  its  origin  to  a  vague  recollection  of 
some  momentous  change  about  this  period.  He  and  his  brother  Angus  are  numbered  most 
suspiciously  amongst  the  immediate  predecessors  of  Kenneth  Mac  Alpin  in  the  '  Duan  of 
Alban,'  the  oldest  known  genealogy  of  the  early  kings  of  Scotland  ;  whilst  the  name  of  Con- 
stantine, unknown  amongst  the  paternal  ancestry  of  Kenneth,  was  borne  by  his  son  and  many 
of  his  race,  who  would  thus  appear  to  have  looked  for  their  title  to  the  throne  quite  as  much 
to  their  maternal  as  to  their  paternal  line  of  ancestry — for  the  mother  of  Alpin,  Kenneth's 
father,  was  traditionally  a  daughter  of  the  House  of  Fergus.    (Innes,  book  i.,  art.  viii.     Cale- 


The  Scots  and  Picts  217 

donia,  book  ii.,  ch.  vi.,  p.  302,  note  A,  with  other  authorities  cited  by  both.)  The  marriage  of 
Kenneth's  grandfather  with  a  sister  of  Constantine  and  Angus  rests  solely  on  tradition,  but 
it  appears  the  most  probable  solution  of  his  peaceful  accession  to  the  throne.  The  examples 
of  Talorcan,  son  of  Eanfred,  perhaps  also  of  his  cousin  Bruidi,  son  of  Bili,  which  is  a  British 
name,  shows  that  the  alien  extraction  of  the  father  was  no  bar  to  the  succession  of  the  son. 
Such  a  succession  would  be  exactly  in  accordance  with  the  old  custom  mentioned  by  Bede, 
that  '  in  cases  of  difficulty '  the  female  line  was  preferred  to  the  male,  i.  e.,  a  near  connec- 
tion in  the  female  line  to  a  distant  male  heir.  From  not  attending  to  the  expression  '  in 
cases  of  difficulty,'  the  sense  of  Bede's  words  has  been  often  misinterpreted." — Scotland 
under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  pp.  18,  19. 

34  780,  Elpin  rex  Saxonum  moritur. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

86  789,  Bellum  inter  Pictos  ubi  Conall  mac  Taidg  victus  est  et  evasit  et  Constantin  victor 
fuit. 

790,  Vel  hie  bellum  Conall  et  Constantin  secundum  alios  libros. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

86  Anno  ab  incarnatione  Domini  octingentesimo  tricesimo  quarto  congressi  sunt  Scotti 
cum  Pictis  in  sollempnitate  Paschali.  Et  plures  de  nobilioribus  Pictorum  ceciderunt.  Sicque 
Alpinus  Rex  Scottorum  victor  extitit,  unde  in  superbiam  elatus  ab  eis,  altero  concerto  bello, 
tercio  decimo  kal.  Augusti  ejusdem  anni  a  Pictis  vincitur  atque  truncatur. — Chronicles  of  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  p.  209. 

81  The  Chronicle  of  Huntingdon  tells  us  that  Kynadius  succeeded  his  father  Alpin  in 
his  kingdom,  and  that  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign,  which  corresponds  with  the  year  839, 
while  the  Danish  pirates,  having  occupied  the  Pictish  shores,  had  crushed  the  Picts  who  were 
defending  themselves,  with  a  great  slaughter,  Kynadius,  passing  into  their  remaining  terri- 
tories, turned  his  arms  against  them,  and  having  slain  many,  compelled  them  to  take  flight, 
and  was  the  first  king  of  the  Scots  who  acquired  the  monarchy  of  the  whole  of  Alban,  and 
ruled  in  it  over  the  Scots. 

Cujus  filius  Kynadius  successit  in  regno  patris  qui  vii°  regni  sui  anno,  cum  piratae  Dano- 
rum,  occupatis  littoribus,  Pictos  sua  defendentes,  straga  maxima  pertrivissent,  in  reliquos 
Pictorum  terminos  transiens,  arma  vertit  et  multis  occisis  fugere  compulit,  sicque  monarchiam 
totius  Albanise,  quae  nunc  Scotia  dicitur,  primus  Scottorum  rex  conquisivit  et  in  ea  primo 
super  Scottos  regnavit. — Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  209. 

38  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  edited  by  Wm.  F.  Skene,  pp.  9,  21,  65,  84,  102, 
1-3$,  J54»  J84,  361,  362  :  E.  W.  Robertson,  Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
23-39- 

39  In  the  Tract  of  the  Men  of  Alban  we  are  told  that  "  the  armed  muster  of  the  Cineal 
Loam  was  seven  hundred  men  ;  but  it  is  of  the  Airgialla  that  the  seventh  hundred  is." — 
Chron.  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  313.  This  name  (Airgialla)  was  therefore  likewise  applied  to 
two  districts  whose  people  were  subject  to  the  Cineal  Loam,  and  contributed  one  hundred 
men  to  their  armed  muster,  and  were  probably  the  ' '  Comites  "  who  fought  along  with 
Selbhac  in  719. 

40  It  is  utterly  impossible  that  the  Picts  could  have  been  exterminated  and  their  language 
eradicated  by  the  broken  remnants  of  the  insignificant  tribe  of  Kintyre,  and  it  is  equally  im- 
probable that  such  a  conquest,  if  it  ever  took  place,  should  have  escaped  the  notice  of  every 
contemporary  writer.  The  Pictish  name  disappeared,  but  the  Pictish  people  and  their  lan- 
guage remained  as  little  influenced  by  the  accession  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin,  apparently  in 
right  of  his  maternal  ancestry,  as  they  were  at  a  later  period  by  the  failure  of  the  male  line  of 
the  same  family  in  the  person  of  Malcolm  the  Second,  and  by  the  similar  accession,  in  right 
of  his  maternal  ancestors,  of  a  prince  of  the  Pictish  House  of  Athol. — Scotland  under  her 
Early  Kings,  vol.  ii.,  p.  373. 

At  this  time  the  Picts  were  the  chief  power  in  Scotland  ;  but,  like  the  Scots  of  Argyle, 
they  were  divided  among  themselves.  .  .  .  The  Picts  were  rather  living  in  a  rude  con- 
federacy than  under  a  fixed  monarchy  ;  and,  besides  the  domestic  feuds  and  broils  incident  to 


218  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

tribunal  communities,  the  Britons,  Picts,  Saxons,  Scots,  and  finally  the  Danes,  carried  on  an 
intermissive  warfare  with  one  another,  often  showing  little  result.  Throughout  the  seventh 
and  eighth  centuries,  the  first  four  tribes  frequently  met  in  deadly  conflict  on  a  sort  of 
debatable  land,  extending  from  the  river  Forth  to  the  river  Almond,  in  the  counties  of  Stir- 
ling and  Linlithgow.  This  region  seems  to  have  been  occupied  by  a  mixed  population  of 
Picts,  Angles,  and  Britons  ;  and  here  the  chief  tribes  encountered  each  other,  and  fought  most 
of  their  battles. — John  Mackintosh,  History  of  Civilization  in  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  in. 

41  See  Note  33,  p.  217. 

42  War  was  declared  against  the  Picts  ;  and  he  [Kenneth]  gathered  his  forces  together, 
and  made  his  way  into  the  country.  So  furiously,  then,  did  he  rage  not  only  against  the  men, 
but  even  the  women  and  little  ones,  that  he  spared  neither  sex  nor  holy  orders,  but  destroyed, 
with  fire  and  sword,  every  living  thing  which  he  did  not  carry  off  with  him.  Afterwards,  in  the 
sixth  year  of  his  reign,  when  the  Danish  pirates  had  occupied  the  coast,  and,  while  plundering 
the  seaboard,  had,  with  no  small  slaughter,  crushed  the  Picts  who  were  defending  their  lands 
Kenneth,  likewise,  himself  also  turned  his  arms  against  the  remaining  frontiers  of  the  Picts, 
and,  crossing  the  mountain  range  on  their  borders,  to  wit,  the  backbone  of  Albania,  which  is 
called  Drumalban  in  Scottish,  he  slew  many  of  the  Picts,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight  ;  thus 
acquiring  the  sole  sovereignty  over  both  countries.  But  the  Picts,  being  somewhat  reinforced 
by  the  help  of  the  Angles,  kept  harassing  Kenneth  for  four  years.  Weakening  them  subse- 
quently, however,  by  unforeseen  inroads  and  various  massacres,  at  length,  in  the  twelfth  year 
of  his  reign,  he  engaged  them  seven  times  in  one  day,  and  swept  down  countless  multitudes 
of  the  Pictish  people.  So  he  established  and  strengthened  his  authority  thenceforth  over  the 
whole  country  from  the  river  Tyne,  beside  Northumbria,  to  the  Orkney  Isles  —  as  formerly 
St.  Adamnan,  the  Abbot  of  Hy  (Iona),  had  announced  in  his  prophecy.  Thus,  not  only  were 
the  kings  and  leaders  of  that  nation  destroyed,  but  we  read  that  their  stock  and  race,  also, 
along  with  their  language  or  dialect,  were  lost  ;  so  that  whatever  of  these  is  found  in  the 
writings  of  the  ancients  is  believed  by  most  to  be  fictitious  or  apocryphal. — John  of  For- 
dun's  Chronicle ,  book  iv.,  ch.  iv. 

43  During  the  entire  period  of  a  century  and  a  half  which  had  now  elapsed  since  the 
Northern  Picts  were  converted  to  Christianity  by  the  preaching  of  St.  Columba  (565),  there  is 
hardly  to  be  found  the  record  of  a  single  battle  between  them  and  the  Scots  of  Dalriada. 
Had  they  viewed  each  other  as  hostile  races,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  more  powerful 
nation  of  the  Picts  permitting  a  small  colony  like  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  to  remain  in  undis- 
turbed possession  of  the  western  district  where  they  had  settled  ;  and  prior  to  the  mission  of 
St.  Columba  we  find  the  king  of  the  Northern  Picts  endeavoring  to  expel  them  ;  but  after 
that  date  there  existed  a  powerful  element  of  peace  and  bond  of  union  in  the  Columban 
Church. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  276. 

The  Scottish  clergy,  no  doubt,  never  lost  the  hope  of  regaining  their  position  as  the 
Church  of  Pictavia,  and  of  recovering  their  possessions  there.  The  occurrence  of  a  Scottish 
prince  having  a  claim  to  the  Pictish  crown  by  the  Pictish  law  of  succession,  accompanied  by 
the  invasion  of  the  Danes,  and  the  crushing  defeat  sustained  by  the  Pictish  army  which 
opposed  them,  probably  afforded  a  favorable  opportunity. — Skene,  Introduction  to  John  of 
Fordun's  Chronicle,  p.  xlix. 

44  The  causes  of  this  revolution  are  obscure  ;  but  the  defeat  of  the  Picts  by  the  Danes 
(in  839)  must  have  facilitated  the  accession  of  a  king  of  Scottish  descent  ;  and  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  long  struggle  among  the  various  tribes,  which  we  dimly  discern  through  the 
mist,  had  a  tendency  towards  a  greater  concentration  of  power  somewhere — one  or  other  of 
the  chief  tribes  would  gradually  obtain  an  ascendancy.  It  is  to  these  circumstances  we  should 
look  for  an  explanation  of  the  foundation  of  the  monarchy.  Other  explanations  have  been 
offered,  such  as  royal  marriages,  the  efforts  of  the  Scots  clergy,  and  so  on,  but  none  of  them  are 
satisfactory.  It  is  safer,  and  probably  nearer  the  truth,  to  rely  on  the  accumulating  force  of  the 
surrounding  circumstances. — Mackintosh,  History  of  Civilization  in  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  112. 


The  Scots  and  Picts  219 

46  "  We  cannot  thoroughly  understand  the  significance  of  the  ascendancy  so  acquired  by 
the  kings  of  the  Dalriadic  race,  without  realizing  to  ourselves,  what  is  not  to  be  done  at 
once,  the  high  standard  of  civilization  which  separated  the  Scots  of  Ireland  and  Dalriada 
from  the  other  nations  inhabiting  the  British  Isles.  .  .  .  We  have  no  conspicuous  memorials 
of  such  a  social  condition,  such  as  the  great  buildings  left  by  the  Romans  and  the  Normans. 
Celtic  civilization  took  another  and  subtler,  perhaps  a  feebler  shape.  It  came  out  emphati- 
cally in  dress  and  decoration.  Among  Irish  relics  there  are  many  golden  ornaments  of 
exquisitely  beautiful  and  symmetrical  pattern.  Of  the  trinkets  too,  made  of  jet,  glass,  orna- 
mental stone,  and  enamel,  the  remnants  found  in  later  times  belong  in  so  preponderating  a 
proportion  to  Ireland,  as  to  point  to  the  centre  of  fashion  whence  they  radiated  being  there. 
There  seems  to  have  been  a  good  deal  of  what  may  be  called  elegant  luxury  :  the  great  folks, 
for  instance,  lay  or  ecclesiastic,  had  their  carriages  and  their  yachts.  Especially  the  shrines, 
the  ecclesiastical  vestments,  and  all  the  decorations  devoted  to  religion  were  rich  and  beauti- 
ful. They  had  manuscripts  beautifully  written  and  adorned,  which  were  encased  in  costly 
and  finely  worked  bindings.  It  is  to  this  honor  done  to  sacred  books,  of  which  the  finest 
specimens  belong  to  Ireland,  that  we  may  attribute  the  medieval  passion  for  rich  bindings. 

"  The  high  civilization  of  the  Celtic  Scots,  indeed,  was  received  with  a  becoming  defer- 
ence all  around.  .  .  .  Among  the  nations  around,  whether  of  Teutonic  or  Celtic  origin, 
the  civilization  of  the  Scots,  then  a  rising  and  strengthening  civilization,  raised  them  high  in 
rank,  and  gives  us  reason  to  believe  that  the  Picts,  instead  of  mourning  the  loss  of  indepen- 
dence, felt  their  position  raised  by  counting  the  Dalriadic  sovereign  as  their  own  too." — 
Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  294,  295,  297. 

46  Paulo  post  ab  eo  bello  in  xiiij  ejus  facto  in  Dolair  inter  DanariOs  et  Scottos.  Occisi 
sunt  Scotti  co  Ach  Cochlam. — Pictish  Chronicle.  This  is  the  first  appearance  in  the  Pictisk 
Chronicle  of  the  term  "Scotti"  or  Scots  being  applied  to  any  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Pictavia,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  used  with  reference  to  those  of  the  province  of  Fife  in 
particular,  but  the  Ulster  Annals  record  the  death  of  Constantine  as  king  of  the  Picts. 

41  Eochodius  autem  filius  Run  regis  Britannorum  nepos  Cinadei  ex  filia  regnavit  annis  xi. 
Licet  Ciricium  filium  alii  dicunt  hie  regnasse ;  eo  quod  alumpnus  ordinatorque  Eochodio 
fiebat. — Pictish  Chronicle. 

48  In  their  hands  he  becomes  Gregorius  Magnus,  or  Gregory  the  Great,  and  in  his  person 
restores  the  true  line  of  Scots  royalty,  which  had  been  perverted  to  serve  the  claims  of  power- 
ful collaterals.  He  is  the  great  hero-king  of  his  age.  He  drives  out  the  Danes,  he  humbles 
England,  he  conquers  Ireland  ;  but  his  magnanimity  will  permit  him  to  take  no  more  advan- 
tage of  his  success  than  to  see  that  these  two  kingdoms  are  rightly  governed,  that  they  are  rid 
of  the  northern  invaders,  and  that  their  sceptres  are  respectively  wielded  by  the  legitimate 
heir.  All  this  is  just  about  as  true  as  the  story  of  the  king  of  Scotland  with  five  royal  com- 
panions rowing  the  barge  of  King  Edgar  in  the  Dee.  When  the  two  countries  afterwards 
had  their  bitter  quarrel,  such  inventions  were  the  way  in  which  the  quarrel  was  fought  in  the 
cloister. — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  331. 

49  See  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  pp.  9,  209  ;  Robertson's  Scotland  under  her 
Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  pp.  54,  55;  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  335. 

"  Though  we  know  less  of  his  diplomacy  in  the  states  to  the  northward  of  the  Danelaw, 
we  can  see  that  Alfred  was  busy  both  with  Bernicia  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Scots.  The  es- 
tablishment of  the  Danelaw  in  Mid-Britain,  the  presence  of  the  pirates  in  Caithness  and  the 
Hebrides,  made  these  states  his  natural  allies  ;  for,  pressed  as  they  were  by  the  vikings 
alike  from  the  north  and  from  the  south,  their  only  hope  of  independent  existence  lay  in  the 
help  of  Wessex.  Of  the  first  state  we  know  little.  The  wreck  of  Northumbria  had  given 
freedom  to  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  to  whom  the  name  of  Cumbrians  is  from  this  time 
transferred.  The  same  wreck  restored  to  its  old  isolation  the  kingdom  of  Bernicia.  Deira 
formed  part  of  the  Danelaw,  but  the  settlement  of  the  Danes  did  not  reach  beyond  the  Tyne, 
for  Bernicia,  ravaged  and  plundered  as  it  had  been,  still  remained  English,  and  governed,  as 


220  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

it  would  seem,  by  the  stock  of  its  earlier  kings.     The  weakness  of  this  state  drew  it  to  Alfred's 
side  ;  and  we  know  that  the  Bernician  ruler,  Eadwulf  of  Bamborough,  was  Alfred's  friend. 

"  The  same  dread  of  the  Danes  drew  to  him  the  kingdom  of  the  Scots.  The  Scot  king- 
dom, which  at  its  outset  lurked  almost  unseen  among  the  lakes  of  Argyle,  now  embraced  the 
whole  of  North  Britain,  from  Caithness  to  the  firths,  for  the  very  name  of  the  Picts  had  dis- 
appeared at  a  moment  when  the  power  of  the  Picts  seemed  to  have  reached  its  height.  The 
Pictish  kingdom  had  risen  fast  to  greatness  after  the  victory  of  Nechtansmere  in  685.  In  the 
century  which  followed  Ecgfrith's  defeat,  its  kings  reduced  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  from  nomi- 
nal dependence  to  actual  subjection  ;  the  annexation  of  Angus  and  Fife  carried  their  eastern 
border  to  the  sea,  while  to  the  south  their  alliance  with  the  Northumbrians  in  the  warfare 
which  both  waged  on  the  Welsh  extended  their  bounds  on  the  side  of  Cumbria  or  Strath- 
clyde.  But  the  hour  of  Pictish  greatness  was  marked  by  the  extinction  of  the  Pictish  name. 
In  the  midst  of  the  ninth  century  the  direct  line  of  their  royal  house  came  to  an  end,  and  the 
under-king  of  the  Scots  of  Dalriada,  Kenneth  MacAlpin,  ascended  the  Pictish  throne  in  right 
of  his  maternal  descent.  For  fifty  years  more  Kenneth  and  his  successors  remained  kings  of 
the  Picts.  At  the  moment  we  have  reached,  however,  the  title  passed  suddenly  away,  the 
tribe  which  had  given  its  chief  to  the  throne  gave  its  name  to  the  realm,  and  '  Pict-land ' 
disappeared  from  history  to  make  room  first  for  Alban  or  Albania,  and  then  for  '  the  land  of 
the  Scots."' — Green,  Conquest  of England ',  ch.  iv.,  sees.  39,  40. 

60  A. D.  900,  Domhnall  mac  Constantin  Ri  Alban  moritur. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

61  English  Chronicle,  Anno  926.     See  p. 

62  The  men  of  the  northern  Danelaw  found  themselves  backed  not  only  by  their  brethren 
from  Ireland,  but  by  the  mass  of  states  around  them  —  by  the  English  of  Bernicia,  by  the 
Scots  under  Constantine,  by  the  Welshmen  of  Cumbria  or  Strathclyde.  It  is  the  steady  recur- 
rence of  these  confederacies  which  makes  the  struggle  so  significant.  The  old  distinctions 
and  antipathies  of  race  must  have  already,  in  great  part,  passed  away  before  peoples  so  diverse 
could  have  been  gathered  into  one  host  by  a  common  dread  of  subjection,  and  the  motley 
character  of  the  army  pointed  forward  to  that  fusion  of  both  Norman  and  Briton  in  the  gen- 
eral body  of  the  English  race,  which  was  to  be  the  work  of  the  coming  years. — Green, 
Conquest  of  England,  ch.  v.,  sec.  42. 

63  Deinde  hostes  subegit,  Scotiam  usque  Dunfoeder  et  Wertermorum  terrestri  exercitu 
vastavit,  navali  vero  usque  Cateness  depopulatus  est. — Simeon  of  Durham,  di  Gestis  Reg. 
Fugato  deinde  Owino  rege  Cumbrorum  et  Constantino  rege  Scotorum,  terrestri  et  navali  ex- 
ercitu Scotiam  sibi  subjugando  perdomuit. — Simeon  of  Durham,  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
Durham.     See  also  English  Chronicle,  Anno  933. 

64  Florence  of  Worcester,  Anno  937;  the  Egill's  Saga;  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  Anno 
937  ;  Simeon  of  Durham  says,  in  his  History  of  the  Kings,  that  "  iEthelstan  fought  at  Wen- 
dune,  and  put  King  Oulaf  with  six  hundred  and  fifteen  ships,  Constantin,  king  of  the  Scots, 
and  the  king  of  the  Cumbrians  with  all  their  forces,  to  flight."  And  in  his  History  of  the 
Church  of  Durham  he  says  :  "  ^thelstan  fought  at  Weondune,  which  is  also  called  Aetbrun- 
nanmere  or  Brunnanbyrig,  against  Oulaf,  the  son  of  Guthred,  the  late  king,  who  had  arrived 
with  a  fleet  of  six  hundred  and  fifteen  ships,  supported  by  the  auxiliaries  of  the  kings  recently 
spoken  of,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  Scots  and  Cumbrians." 

65  In  945  Eadmund  conquered  Cumberland.  It  might  not  be  easy  to  say  exactly  what 
territory  is  meant  by  that  name  ;  but  it  was  clearly  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  ancient  Strath- 
clyde. This  territory  Eadmund  bestowed  on  Malcolm,  king  of  Scots,  distinctly  as  a  territorial 
fief.  .  .  .  The  northern  kingdom  of  the  Britons  now  became  the  ordinary  appanage  of 
the  heirs  of  the  Scottish  crown  .  .  .  and  soon  after  the  Scottish  kings  themselves  made 
their  way  south  of  the  Forth.  In  the  reign  of  Eadred,  Edinburgh,  the  border  fortress  of 
Northumberland  to  the  north,  became  a  Scottish  possession  ...  it  was  the  beginning  of 
the  process  which  brought  the  lands  between  Forth  and  Tweed  into  the  possessions  of  the 
Scottish  kings,  and  which  thereby  turned  them  into  English  kings  of  a  Northern  England, 


The  Scots  and  Picts  221 

which  was  for  a  while  more  English  than  the  southern  England  itself. — Freeman's  Sketch  of 
English  History. 

66  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  pp.  10,  151,  174,  302. 

67  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  10. 

68  He  is  the  same  Domnaldus  who  was  king  of  the  Cumbrians  when  Eadmund  ravaged 
the  country  in  945,  and  was  the  son  of  that  Eugenius,  king  of  the  Cumbrians,  who  fought  in 
the  battle  of  Brunanburgh. 

975,  Domnallmac  Eoain  Ri  Bretain  in  ailitri. — Tighernac. 

974,  Dun  walla  wn,  King  of  Strathclyde,  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  (Brut  y 
Tywysogion). —  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  pp.  77,  124. 

69  In  the  north  the  settlement  effected  by  Eadmund  still  held  good,  in  spite  of  a  raid  into 
which  the  Scots  seem  to  have  been  tempted  by  a  last  rising  of  the  Danelaw.  The  bribe  of 
the  Cumbrian  realm  sufficed  to  secure  the  Scot  king  as  a  fellow-worker  with  Eadgar,  as  effec- 
tively as  it  had  secured  him  as  a  fellow-worker  with  Eadmund,  while  a  fresh  bond  was  added 
by  the  cession  during  this  reign  of  the  fortress  of  Edinburgh  with  the  district  around  it,  along 
with  the  southern  shore  of  the  Forth,  to  the  Scottish  king. — Green,  Conquest  of  England,  ch. 
vii.,  sec.  12. 

60  Interfectus  est  a  suis  hominibus  in  Fotherkern  per  perfidiam  Finvelae  flliae  Cunchar 
comitis  de  Engus,  cujus  Finvelae  unicum  filium  predictus  Knyeth  interfecit  apud  Dunsinoen. 
— Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  pp.  175,  289. 

61  A.D.  997,  Maelcolaim  mac  Domnall  Ri  Breatan  Tuaiscert  moritur. — Tighernac. 
"See  note  1,  Chapter  XX. 

63  Fordun,  book  iv.,  ch.  xli.  Malcolm  appears  to  have  died  in  1029  and  to  have  then 
been  succeeded  by  another  Malcolm — so  at  least  the  Danish  authorities  tell  us  ;  but  the  Scots' 
chronicles  give  the  whole  of  the  period  of  the  united  reigns  to  one  Malcolm  ;  and  in  using  any 
lights  they  give  us,  it  is  necessary  to  speak  of  them  as  one,  since  there  are  no  means  of  sepa- 
rating their  two  reputations.  It  was  the  younger  Malcolm,  however,  according  to  the  same 
authorities,  who  was  the  son  of  Kenneth, —  the  other,  who  had  the  longer  reign,  being  called 
"  Mac  Malbrigid  Mac  Ruaidhri." — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  341.  This  theory 
was  first  suggested  by  Skene  in  his  Highlanders  of  Scotland,  published  in  1837,  but  was  after- 
wards considered  by  him  to  be  untenable  (Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  400).     See  p.  238. 

64  Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  366. 

66  A  comet  appeared  for  thirty  nights  to  the  people  of  Northumbria,  a  terrible 
presage  of  the  calamity  by  which  that  province  was  about  to  be  desolated.  For,  shortly  af- 
terwards (that  is,  after  thirty  days),  nearly  the  whole  population,  from  the  river  Tees  to  the 
Tweed  and  their  borders,  were  cut  off  in  a  conflict  in  which  they  were  engaged  with  a  count- 
less multitude  of  Scots  at  Carrun. — Simeon  of  Durham,  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Durham, 
ch.  v. 

1018,  a  great  battle  was  fought  at  Carham  between  the  Scots  and  the  English,  between 
the  son  of  Waltheof,  earl  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  Malcolm,  the  son  of  Kenneth,  king  of 
the  Scots ;  with  whom  in  battle  was  Owen  the  Bald,  king  of  the  Clutinians. —  Simeon  of 
Durham,  Hist.  Reg. 

Which  [Uchtred]  being  slain  [by  King  Cnut]  his  brother  Eadulf,  surnamed  Cudel, 
very  slothful  and  timid,  succeeded  him  in  comitatum.  But  fearing  lest  the  Scots  should  re- 
venge upon  him  the  death  of  those  whom  his  brother,  as  is  above  said,  had  slain,  gave  all  Lo- 
thian for  satisfaction  and  firm  concord.  In  this  manner  was  Lothian  added  to  the  kingdom  of 
the  Scots. — Simeon  De  Obsess.  Dun. 

We  have  the  authority  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  for  the  fact  that  Uchtred  was  slain  two  years 
before  and  that  Cnut  had  made  Eric,  a  Dane,  his  successor,  while  Simeon  makes  his  brother, 
Eadulf  Cudel,  succeed  him. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  393. 

66  English  Chronicle,  Anno  945.     See  p.  300. 

67  Orkneyinga  Saga,  Collectanea  de  Rebus  Albanicis,  pp.  340,  346.    See  Appendix  P. 


222  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

68  The  same  Finleikr  who  appears  in  Tighernac  as  Findlaec  mac  Ruaidhri,  Mormaer 
Moreb,  and  in  the  Ulster  Annals  as  "  Ri  Alban,"  indicating  that  he  claimed  a  position  of 
independence  both  from  the  earls  of  Orkney  and  the  kings  of  the  Scots.  —  Celtic  Scotland, 
p.  389. 

69  Fordun  says,  "  cousin." 

70  He  was,  however,  murdered  through  the  wickedness  of  a  family,  the  murderers  of  both 
his  grandfather  and  great-grandfather,  the  head  of  which  was  Machabeus,  son  of  Finele,  by 
whom  he  was  privily  wounded  unto  death  at  Bothgofnane  ;  and,  being  carried  to  Elgin,  he 
died  there,  and  was  buried,  a  few  days  after,  in  the  island  of  Iona.  —  Fordun,  book  iv., 
ch.  xliv. 

71  Innes,  Ap.  4.  Sim.,  Hist.  Dun.,  i.,  3,  c.  5,  6  ;  Ibid.,  De  Obs.  Dun.,  p.  81  ;  De  Gestis, 
1018.  On  comparing  the  passages  of  Simeon  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  cession  of 
Lothian  by  Eadulf  Cudel  was  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Carham,  though  there  is  an  evident 
reluctance  in  the  English  chronicler  to  allude  to  the  defeat  and  its  consequences.  The  men 
of  the  Lothians,  according  to  Wallingford,  retained  their  laws  and  customs  unaltered,  and 
though  the  authority  is  questionable,  the  fact  is  probably  true,  for  Lothian  law  became  eventu- 
ally the  basis  of  Scottish  law.  Conquest  indeed  in  these  times  did  not  alter  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  conquered, unless  where  they  come  into  contact  and  into  opposition  with  those 
of  the  conquerors,  and  the  men  of  the  Lothians  remained  under  the  Scottish  kings  in  much 
the  same  position  as  the  men  of  Kent  under  the  kings  of  Mercia  and  Wessex,  probably 
exchanging  the  condition  of  a  harassed  for  that  of  a  favored  frontier  province.  —  Scotland 
under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  p.  96. 

72  The  Firth  of  Forth. 

73  Scotland  had  now  reached  her  permanent  and  lasting  frontier  towards  the  south,  the 
dependent  principality  of  Strathclyde,  having,  apparently,  during  the  course  of  this  reign, 
been  finally  incorporated  with  the  greater  kingdom.  When  Donald,  son  of  the  Eogan  who 
shared  in  the  bloody  fight  of  Brunanburgh,  died  on  a  pilgrimage  in  975,  he  seems  to  have  been 
succeeded  by  his  son  Malcolm,  whose  death  is  noticed  by  the  Irish  Tighernac  under  the  date 
of  997.  The  last  king  of  Strathclyde,  who  has  found  a  place  in  history,  is  Eogan  "  the 
Bald,"  who  fought  by  the  side  of  the  Scottish  king  at  Carham,  probably  a  son  of  the  British 
Malcolm  whose  family  name  he  bears  ;  and  in  the  person  of  this  Eogan  the  line  of  Aodh's 
son,  Donald,  appears  to  have  become  extinct.  The  earliest  authorities  of  the  twelfth  century 
give  the  title  of  "  king  of  the  Cumbrians,"  meaning  undoubtedly  the  northern  Cumbria 
or  Strathclyde,  to  Malcolm's  grandson,  Duncan,  and  it  is  probable  that  upon  the  failure 
of  the  line  of  Scoto-British  princes,  the  King  of  Scotland  placed  his  grandson  over  the  prov- 
ince, which  from  that  time,  losing  the  last  semblance  of  independence,  ceased  to  be  ruled  by 
a  separate  line  of  princes.  —  Robertson,  Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  p.  98. 

"  We  have  already  seen  how  the  political  relations  of  the  Scots  with  their  southern  neigh- 
bors had  been  affected  by  the  action  of  the  Danes.  Pressed  between  the  Norse  jarls  settled  in 
Caithness  and  the  Danelaw  of  Central  England,  the  Scot  kings  were  glad  to  welcome  the 
friendship  of  Wessex  ;  but  with  the  conquest  by  the  house  of  Alfred  of  the  Danelaw,  and  the 
extension  of  the  new  English  realm  to  their  own  southern  border,  their  dread  of  English 
ambition  became  in  its  turn  greater  than  their  dread  of  the  Dane.  In  the  battle  of  Brunan- 
burgh the  Scot  king,  Constantine,  fought  side  by  side  with  the  Northmen  against  yEthelstan. 
Eadmund's  gift  of  southern  Cumbria  showed  the  price  which  the  English  kings  set  upon  Scot- 
tish friendship.  The  district  was  thenceforth  held  by  the  heir  of  the  Scottish  crown,  and  for 
a  time  at  least  the  policy  of  conciliation  seems  to  have  been  successful,  for  the  Scots  proved 
Eadred's  allies  in  his  wars  with  Northumbria.  But  even  as  allies  they  were  still  pressing 
southward  on  the  English  realm.  Across  the  Forth  lay  the  English  Lowlands,  that  northern 
Bernicia  which  had  escaped  the  Danish  settlement  that  changed  the  neighboring  Deira  into  a 
part  of  the  Danelaw.  It  emerged  from  the  Danish  storm  as  English  as  before,  with  a  line  of 
native  ealdormen  who  seem  to  have  inherited  the  blood  of  its  older  kings.     Harassed  as  the 


The  Scots  and  Picts  223 

land  had  been,  and  changed  as  it  was  from  the  Northumbria  of  Baeda  or  Cuthbert,  Bernicia 
was  still  a  tempting  bait  to  the  clansmen  of  the  Scottish  realm. 

"One  important  post  was  already  established  on  Northumbrian  soil.  Whether  by 
peaceful  cession  on  Eadred's  part  or  no,  the  border  fortress  of  Edinburgh  passed  during  his 
reign  into  Scottish  hands.  It  is  uncertain  if  the  grant  of  Lothian  by  Eadgar  followed  the 
acquisition  of  Edinburgh  ;  but  at  the  close  of  his  reign  the  southward  pressure  of  the  Scots 
was  strongly  felt.  '  Raids  upon  Saxony '  are  marked  by  the  Pictish  Cronicle  among  the 
deeds  of  King  Kenneth  ;  and  amidst  the  troubles  of  yEthelred's  reign  a  Scottish  host  swept 
the  country  to  the  very  gates  of  Durham.  But  Durham  was  rescued  by  the  sword  of  Uhtred, 
and  the  heads  of  the  slain  marauders  were  hung  by  their  long,  twisted  hair  round  its  walls. 
The  raid  and  the  fight  were  memorable  as  the  opening  of  a  series  of  descents  which  were 
from  this  time  to  form  much  of  the  history  of  the  north.  Cnut  was  hardly  seated  on  the 
throne  when  in  1018  the  Scot  king,  Malcolm,  made  a  fresh  inroad  on  Northumbria,  and  the 
flower  of  its  nobles  fell  fighting  round  Earl  Eadwulf  in  a  battle  at  Carham,  on  the  Tweed.   .    .    . 

"  Few  gains  have  told  more  powerfully  on  the  political  character  of  a  kingdom  than  this. 
King  of  western  Dalriada,  king  of  the  Picts,  lord  of  Cumbria,  the  Scot  king  had  till  now 
been  ruler  only  of  Gaelic  and  Cymric  peoples.  '  Saxony,'  the  land  of  the  English  across  the 
Forth,  had  been  simply  a  hostile  frontier  —  the  land  of  an  alien  race  —  whose  rule  had  been 
felt  in  the  assertion  of  Northumbrian  supremacy  and  West-Saxon  over-lordship.  Now  for 
the  first  time  Malcolm  saw  Englishmen  among  his  subjects.  Lothian,  with  its  Northumbrian 
farmers  and  seamen,  became  a  part  of  his  dominion.  And  from  the  first  moment  of  its  sub- 
mission it  was  a  most  important  part.  The  wealth,  the  civilization,  the  settled  institutions, 
the  order  of  the  English  territory  won  by  the  Scottish  king,  placed  it  at  the  head  of  the  Scot- 
tish realm.  The  clans  of  Kintyre  or  of  the  Highlands,  the  Cymry  of  Strathclyde,  fell  into 
the  background  before  the  stout  farmers  of  northern  Northumbria.  The  spell  drew  the  Scot 
king,  in  course  of  time,  from  the  very  land  of  the  Gael.  Edinburgh,  an  English  town  in  the 
English  territory,  became  ultimately  his  accustomed  seat.  In  the  midst  of  an  English  district 
the  Scot  kings  gradually  ceased  to  be  the  Gaelic  chieftains  of  a  Gaelic  people.  The  process 
at  once  began  which  was  to  make  them  Saxons,  Englishmen  in  tongue,  in  feeling,  in  tendency, 
in  all  but  blood.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  gain  of  Lothian  brought  them  into  closer  political 
relations  with  the  English  crown.  The  loose  connection  which  the  king  of  Scots  and  Picts 
had  acknowledged  in  owning  Eadward  the  Elder  as  father  and  lord,  had  no  doubt  been  drawn 
tighter  by  the  fealty  now  owed  for  the  fief  of  Cumbria.  But  Lothian  was  English  ground, 
and  the  grant  of  Lothian  made  the  Scot  king  *  man  '  of  the  English  king  for  that  territory,  as 
Earl  Eadwulf  was  Cnut's  '  man '  for  the  land  to  the  south  of  it.  Social  influences,  political 
relations,  were  henceforth  to  draw  the  two  realms  together  ;  but  it  is  in  the  cession  of  Lothian 
that  the  process  really  began."  —  Green,  Conquest  of  England,  ch.  ix.,  sees.  38-40. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Mr.  Green  writes  from  the  customary  English  point  of 
view  in  stating  that  the  conquest  of  Lothian  by  Malcolm  made  the  Scottish  kings  the  liege 
men  of  the  rulers  of  England.  Scottish  historians  contend  that  the  record  of  their  king 
having  acknowledged  Eadward  the  Elder  as  "  father  and  lord"  is  a  fabricated  one  ;  and  the 
evidence  seems  to  be  with  them.     See  p.  359. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  BRITONS 

OF  the  Romanized  Britons  after  the  departure  of  the  imperial  legions  in 
the  early  part  of  the  fifth  century,  we  have  no  definite  record  until  the 
time  of  Gildas,1  who  wrote  about  556.  His  description  of  the  conquest  of  the 
island  by  the  Saxons  is  more  particularly  confined  to  the  events  which  took 
place  in  Kent.  However,  he  gives  a  brief  account  of  the  inhabitants  "  between 
the  Walls,"  and  of  their  weak  and  inadequate  defence  against  the  Picts  and 
Scots.*  The  legendary  accounts  of  the  battles  of  King  Arthur  with  the  Sax- 
ons, as  given  in  the  compilation  of  Nennius,  while  no  doubt  to  a  certain  degree 
mythical,  at  least  show  us  that  the  portion  of  Britain  with  which  Arthur's 
name  and  achievements  were  earliest  connected  was  not  within  the  bounds 
of  the  present  Wales  ;  but  in  the  vicinity  of  Carlisle,  and  to  a  great  extent 
north  of  Solway  Firth.     These  accounts  of  Nennius  are  as  follows  : 

§  38.  Hengist,  after  this,  said  to  Vortigern,  "  I  will  be  to  you  both  a 
father  and  an  adviser  ;  despise  not  my  counsels,  and  you  shall  have  no  rea- 
son to  fear  being  conquered  by  any  man  or  any  nation  whatever  ;  for  the 
people  of  my  country  are  strong,  warlike,  and  robust :  if  you  approve,  I  will 
send  for  my  son  and  his  brother,  both  valiant  men,  who  at  my  invitation  will 
fight  against  the  Scots,  and  you  can  give  them  the  countries  in  the  north, 
near  the  wall  called  Gual  [Antoninus's  wall]."  The  incautious  sovereign  hav- 
ing assented  to  this,  Octa  and  Ebusa  arrived  with  forty  ships.  In  these  they 
sailed  round  the  country  of  the  Picts,  laid  waste  the  Orkneys,  and  took 
possession  of  many  regions,  even  to  the  Pictish  confines.     .     .     . 

§  50.  St.  Germanus,  after  Vortigern's  death,  returned  into  his  own 
country.  At  that  time  the  Saxons  greatly  increased  in  Britain,  both  in 
strength  and  numbers.  And  Octa,  after  the  death  of  his  father  Hengist, 
came  from  the  sinistral  part  of  the  island  to  the  kingdom  of  Kent,  and  from 
him  have  proceeded  all  the  kings  of  that  province,  to  the  present  period. 

Then  it  was  that  the  magnanimous  Arthur,  with  all  the  kings  and  mili- 
tary force  of  Britain,  fought  against  the  Saxons.  And  though  there  were 
many  more  noble  than  himself,  yet  he  was  twelve  times  chosen  their  com- 
mander, and  was  as  often  conqueror.  The  first  battle  in  which  he  was 
engaged  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Gleni.  The  second,  third,  fourth  and 
fifth,  were  on  another  river,  by  the  Britons  called  Dubglas,  in  the  region 
Linnius.  The  sixth  on  the  river  Bassas.  The  seventh  in  the  wood  Celidon, 
which  the  Britons  call  Cat  Coit  Celidon.  The  eighth  was  near  Guinnion 
Castle,  where  Arthur  bore  the  image  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  mother  of  God, 
upon  his  shoulders,  and  through  the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
holy  Mary,  put  the  Saxons  to  flight,  and  pursued  them  the  whole  day  with 
great  slaughter.  The  ninth  was  at  the  city  of  Legion,  which  is  called  Cair 
Lion.  The  tenth  was  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Tribruit.  The  eleventh  was 
on  the  mountain  Breguoin,  which  we  call  Agned.  The  twelfth  was  a  most 
severe  contest,  when  Arthur  penetrated  to  the  hill  of  Badon.  In  this  engage- 
ment, nine  hundred  and  forty  fell  by  his  hand  alone,  no  one  but  the  Lord 

224 


The  Britons  225 

affording  him  assistance.     In  all  these  engagements  the  Britons  were  suc- 
cessful.    For  no  strength  can  avail  against  the  will  of  the  Almighty. 

The  more  the  Saxons  were  vanquished,  the  more  they  sought  for  new 
supplies  of  Saxons  from  Germany  ;  so  that  kings,  commanders,  and  military 
bands  were  invited  over  from  almost  every  province.  And  this  practice  they 
continued  till  the  reign  of  Ida,  who  was  the  son  of  Eoppa  ;  he,  of  the  Saxon 
race,  was  the  first  king  of  Bernicia,  and  in  Cair  Ebrauc  [York]. 

The  "  river  Gleni  "  has  been  usually  identified  with  the  Glen,  a  river  in 
the  northern  part  of  Northumberland  ;  the  "  Dubglas,  in  the  region  of 
Linnius,"  with  the  two  streams  called  Douglas,  or  Dubhglass,  in  Lennox, 
which  fall  into  Loch  Lomond,  and  also  with  the  Dunglas,  which  formed 
the  southern  boundary  of  Lothian  ;  the  Bassas,  with  an  isolated  rock  in  the 
Firth  of  Forth,  near  the  town  of  North  Berwick,  called  "  The  Bass  "  ;  the 
"  wood  Celidon,"  with  the  Caledonian  forest ;  the  fastness  of  "  Guinnion," 
with  the  church  of  Wedale,  in  the  vale  of  the  Gala  Water  ;  the  mount 
called  "  Agned  "  with  Edinburgh.  In  the  chronicle  attached  to  Nennius, 
Arthur  is  said  to  have  been  slain  at  the  battle  of  Camlan  in  537,  in  which  he 
fought  Medraud.  This  Medraud  was  the  son  of  Lieu  of  Lothian.  It  is  true, 
Mr.  Guest  has  located  the  sites  of  many  of  these  battles  in  the  south  ;  but 
the  preponderance  of  evidence  favors  the  northern  localities  as  given  above.3 

The  Arthurian  romances,  which  appeared  at  a  later  date  than  the  Nen- 
nius fragments,  also  pertain  largely  to  Arthur's  adventures  in  the  north,  and 
this  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  is  generally  realized,  even  by  those  who  are 
familiar  with  that  romantic  literature.4 

The  district  in  Scotland  occupied  by  the  Britons  at  this  time  comprised 
all  that  part  of  the  country  between  the  Clyde  and  the  Solway  lying  west  of 
the  Esk,6  excepting  that  southern  portion  west  of  the  Nith,  occupied  in 
Ptolemy's  time  by  the  Novantae,  the  supposed  progenitors  of  the  Niduarian 
or  Galloway  Picts.  Later,  the  British  territory  was  reduced  through  the 
partial  subjugation  of  Galloway  by  the  Northumbrians,  mention  of  which 
is  made  as  early  as  750/  During  the  next  hundred  years,  probably  about 
the  time  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin's  accession  to  the  Pictish  throne,  843-44,  there 
seem  also  to  have  been  settlements  made  by  the  Irish  or  Dalriada  Scots  or 
Picts  along  the  western  and  southern  coasts  of  Galloway.7 

Ida,  the  Angle,  who  built  the  strong  citadel  of  Bamborough,  on  the 
northeast  coast  of  England  in  547,  reigned  over  Bernicia  for  twelve  years/ 
His  successors  are  described  by  Nennius  as  follows  : 

§  6$.  Adda,  son  of  Ida,  reigned  eight  years  ;  Ethelric,  son  of  Adda, 
reigned  four  years.  Theodoric,  son  of  Ida,  reigned  seven  years.  Freothwulf 
reigned  six  years  ;  in  whose  time  the  kingdom  of  Kent,  by  the  mission  of 
Gregory,  received  baptism.  Hussa  reigned  seven  years.  Against  him 
fought  four  kings,  Urien,  and  Ryderchen,  and  Guallauc,  and  Morcant. 
Theodoric  fought  bravely,  together  with  his  sons,  against  that  Urien.  But 
at  that  time  sometimes  the  enemy  and  sometimes  our  countrymen  were  de- 
feated, and  he  shut  them  up  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  island  of 


226  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Metcaut  ;  and  whilst  he  was  on  an  expedition  he  was  murdered,  at  the  in- 
stance of  Morcant,  out  of  envy,  because  he  possessed  so  much  superiority- 
over  all  the  kings  in  military  science.  Eadfered  Flesaurs  reigned  twelve 
years  in  Bernicia,  and  twelve  others  in  Deira,  and  gave  to  his  wife,  Bebba, 
the  town  of  Dynguoaroy,  which  from  her  is  called  Bebbanburg9  [Bam- 
borough]. 

The  British  king,  Ryderchen  (or  Rhydderch)  mentioned  in  this  passage, 
fought  a  great  battle  against  some  of  the  other  Welsh  I0  chiefs  in  573,  at 
Arddyred  (now  Arthuret)  on  the  river  Esk,  about  eight  miles  north  of  Car- 
lisle.11 Rhydderch  was  victorious,  and  became  sovereign  ruler  of  all  the 
northern  Britons,  with  his  capital  established  at  Alclyde.18  Adamnan,  who 
was  born  in  624,  mentions  him  in  his  Life  of  Columba"  as  Rodericus,  son  of 
Tothail,  who  reigned  at  the  rock  of  Cluaithe  (Petra-Cloithe,  Alclyde,  or 
Dumbarton.)14  Adamnan  states  also  that  Rhydderch  was  a  friend  and  cor- 
respondent of  St.  Columba.     His  death  is  said  to  have  occurred  in  603." 

In  642,  the  Annals  of  Tighernac  record  the  killing  of  Domnall  Brecc, 
king  of  the  Dalriad  Scots,  at  Strathcawin,  by  Oan  (Owen,  or  Eugein),  king  of 
the  Britons.16 

In  654,  Oswiu,  King  of  Bernicia,  defeated  the  Britons  and  Mercians,  under 
the  command  of  Penda  the  Mercian  king,  in  a  battle  fought  in  Lothian,  and 
thus  obtained  supremacy  over  the  Strathclyde  people.  Their  subjection  to 
the  Angles  continued  for  about  thirty  years,  until  the  disastrous  defeat  and 
death  of  Ecgfrid  at  Nechtansmere  (Dunnichen)  in  685. 1T  In  the  year  658, 
the  Ulster  Annals  record  the  death  of  Guiret,  King  of  Alclyde.  There  is 
then  an  interval  of  thirty-six  years  before  another  death  record  appears.  In 
694,  Tighernac  mentions  the  death  of  Domnall  mac  Avin,  King  of  Alclyde, 
whom  Mr.  Skene  supposes  to  have  been  the  son  of  that  Owen  who  is  said  to 
have  slain  Domnall  Brecc  in  642.  Domnall  mac  Avin  was  succeeded  by 
Beli  or  Bili,  son  of  Alpin,  and  grandson  of  the  same  Owen.  In  752,  Tigher- 
nac refers  to  the  death  of  "  Tuadar  mac  Bili  Ri  Alochlandaih  "  (Tuadubr, 
son  of  Bili,  King  of  Alclyde).18  Four  years  later,  Eadberht,  King  of  North- 
umbria,  and  Angus,  King  of  the  Picts,  led  an  army  to  Alclyde,  and  there 
compelled  the  submission  of  the  British.19 

It  is  probable  that  Strathclyde  remained  under  the  rule  of  Northumbria 
for  some  time  after  this  conquest.  The  Annals  of  Ulster  record  the  burn- 
ing of  Alclyde  in  the  calends  of  January,  780  ;  and  in  828,  King  Ecgbryht  is 
said  to  have  overrun  and  subdued  the  North  Welsh.20  From  that  time  there 
is  but  little  record  of  the  kingdom  until  nearly  half  a  century  later,  when  it 
again  appears  as  the  British  kingdom  of  Strathclyde.  In  the  year  872,  the 
Ulster  Annals  inform  us  that  Artgha,  king  of  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde^ 
was  put  to  death,  at  the  instigation  of  Constantine  (son  of  Kenneth  mac  Al- 
pin), then  king  of  the  Picts.  The  descent  of  this  Artgha  from  Dunnagual, 
whose  death  is  recorded  in  760,  is  given  in  the  Welsh  genealogies  attached 
to  Nennius. 

Simeon  of  Durham  records  the  invasion  of  the  Strathclyde  district  by  the 


The  Britons  227 

Danes  in  875,  under  the  leadership  of  Halfdan,  who  brought  the  whole  of 
Northumbria  under  subjection,  and  destroyed  great  numbers  of  the  Picts  (of 
Galloway)  and  people  of  Strathclyde."  Artgha  left  a  son,  Run,  who  suc- 
ceeded to  the  government,  and  married  a  daughter  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin. 
On  the  death  of  Kenneth's  son,  Aedh,  king  of  the  Picts,  in  878,  Eocha,  the 
son  of  Run,  came  to  the  throne  of  Alban,  which  he  held  for  eleven  years, 
having  associated  with  him  another  Briton,  Ciric,  or  Grig,  the  Gregory  the 
Great  of  some  of  the  later  Scottish  historians.  During  this  reign  a  large 
party  of  the  Britons  are  said  to  have  left  Strathclyde  for  the  south  and  to 
have  finally  settled  in  Wales."  Eocha  and  Grig  seem  to  have  ruled  jointly 
for  a  time  over  Strathclyde  and  Pictland,  until  they  were  both  expelled  in 
889."  They  were  succeeded  by  Donald  in  the  sovereignty  of  Strathclyde. 
The  latter  died  in  908."  He  is  said  by  Skene  to  have  been  the  last  of  the 
family  claiming  Roman  descent  which  had  hitherto  given  its  kings  to  Al- 
clyde.  Donald  was  succeeded  by  another  Donald  —  a  brother  of  Constantine 
II.,  King  of  Alban,  and  son  to  that  Aedh  mac  Kenneth  whose  sister  had 
married  Run,  the  former  King  of  Strathclyde. 

The  next  ruler  of  whom  we  have  a  record  was  Owen,  or  Eugenius,  who 
is  mentioned  by  Simeon  of  Durham,  in  connection  with  Constantine,  King  of 
Alban,  as  having  been  defeated  by  the  Saxon  ^Ethelstan  in  934."  He  was 
the  son  of  the  same  Donald  who  became  king  in  908.  Owen's  son,  Donald, 
succeeded  him,  and  was  king  in  945,  when  the  kingdom  was  invaded  and 
conquered  by  Eadmund,  the  Northumbrian  ruler,  who  gave  it  up  to  Malcolm, 
king  of  the  Scots."  Donald,  however,  continued  as  the  nominal  ruler.  He 
apparently  recovered  his  independence  after  Malcolm's  death,  and  reigned 
for  upwards  of  thirty  years.  The  Pictish  Chronicle  states  that  in  971,  Cuil- 
ean,  King  of  Alban,  and  his  brother,  Eochodius,  or  Eocha,  were  slain  by  the 
Britons,  who  were  under  the  leadership  of  Ardach.  Kenneth,  Cuilean's  suc- 
cessor, attempted  to  avenge  the  latter's  death  by  laying  waste  the  British  ter- 
ritories ;  but  succeeded  in  doing  this  only  after  considerable  loss  to  himself," 
and  in  the  following  year  was  obliged  to  fortify  the  fords  of  the  river  Forth 
in  order  to  protect  himself  from  the  counter-attacks  of  the  Britons. 

Tighernac  records  a  pilgrimage  made  by  Domnall,  son  of  Eoain,  king  of 
the  Britons,  in  975,  and  the  same  event  is  mentioned  in  the  British  chronicle 
the  Brut  y  Tywysogion,  which  calls  him  Dunwallaun,  King  of  Strathclyde, 
and  states  that  he  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  Tighernac's  record  is 
followed  by  another  in  997,  mentioning  the  death  in  that  year  of  Malcolm, 
son  of  Donald,  and  king  of  the  northern  Britons."  Malcolm  seems  to  have 
been  succeeded  by  his  brother,  as  the  next  reference  to  the  Strathclyde  kings 
mentions  Owen  (or  Eugenius),  surnamed  The  Bald,  son  of  Domnall,  as  ruler 
in  10 1 8,  in  which  year  he  fought  with  Malcolm,  King  of  Alban,  at  the  battle 
of  Carham,  against  their  common  enemy,  the  Northumbrian  Danes.  On 
Owen's  death  in  the  same  year,"  he  was  succeeded  by  Duncan,  the  grandson 
of  the  Scottish  Malcolm.     This  Duncan  on  ascending  the  throne  of  Scotland 


228  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

in  1034  permanently  united  the  kingdoms  under  a  single  ruler,  and  merged 
the  two  into  one. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XVI. 

1  The  genuineness  of  Gildas,  which  has  been  doubted,  may  now  be  looked  on  as  estab- 
lished (see  Stubbs  and  Haddan,  Councils  of  Britain,  i.,  44).  Skene  (Celtic  Scotland,  i.,  116, 
note)  gives  a  critical  account  of  the  various  biographies  of  Gildas.  He  seems  to  have  been 
born  in  516,  probably  in  the  North- Welsh  valley  of  the  Clwyd  ;  to  have  left  Britain  for 
Armorica  when  thirty  years  old,  or  in  546  :  to  have  written  his  History  there  about  556  or 
560  ;  to  have  crossed  to  Ireland  between  566  and  569  ;  and  to  have  died  there  in  570.  For 
the  nature  and  date  of  the  compilation  which  bears  the  name  of  Nennius,  see  Guest,  Early 
English  Settlements,  p.  36,  and  Stevenson's  introduction  to  his  edition  of  him.  In  its  earliest 
form,  it  is  probably  of  the  seventh  century.  Little,  however,  is  to  be  gleaned  from  the  con- 
fused rhetoric  of  Gildas  ;  and  it  is  only  here  and  there  that  we  can  use  the  earlier  facts  which 
seem  to  be  embedded  among  the  later  legends  of  Nennius. — J.  R.  Green,  The  Making  of 
England,  p.  23. 

St.  Gildas,  the  author  of  a  querulous  treatise,  De  excidio  Britannia,  is  said,  in  his  Life, 
by  an  anonymous  monk  of  Ruys,  in  Brittany,  about  1040,  to  have  been  born  at  Alcluyd,  or, 
as  he  calls  it,  in  the  most  fertile  region  of  Arecluta  (a.d.  520)  ;  his  father,  according  to  his 
other  biographer,  Caradoc  of  Llancarvan,  a  writer  of  the  following  century,  called  Nau,  (or 
Kau,)  and  being  the  King  of  Scotland,  the  most  noble  of  the  northern  kings  ;  meaning,  it  is 
presumed,  that  he  was  a  king  or  prince  of  Strathclyde.  The  monk  of  Ruys,  however,  only 
calls  the  father  "  nobilissimus  et  catholicus  vir,"  though  he  says  that  "  Cuillus  "  (Hueil, 
Caradoc)  "  post  mortem  patris,  ei  in  regno  successit." — Ritson,  Annals  of  Strathclyde, 
p.  142. 

2  See  p.  201,  sec.  19. 

On  their  departure  from  Britain  in  407  the  Roman  Government  probably  calculated  on 
re-establishing  their  authority  at  no  distant  day,  and  left  certain  officials  of  native  birth  to 
administer  the  government,  which  for  a  time  they  had  been  forced  to  relinquish.  For  some 
time  previous  to  this  Britain  had  been  divided  into  five  provinces,  of  which  Valentia,  the 
northernmost,  so  named  by  Theodosius  in  honour  of  the  Emperor  Valentinian,  was  left  under 
the  rule  of  Cunedda  or  Kenneth,  the  son  of  Edarn  or  Aeternus.  Tradition  says  that  his 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Coel  Hen,  British  King  of  Strathclyde,  whose  name  is  preserved  in 
that  of  the  district  of  Kyle  in  Ayrshire,  and  in  our  nursery  rhyme  of  "  Old  King  Cole." 
(Coel  Hen  signifies  Old  Cole.)  Cunedda's  official  title  as  ruler  of  Valentia  was  Dux  Britan- 
niarum,  or  Duke  of  the  Britons.  He  left  eight  sons,  some  of  whom  became,  like  their  father, 
very  powerful  and  distinguished.  From  one  of  these,  Meireon,  the  county  of  Merioneth  is 
named ;  from  another,  Keredig,  the  county  of  Cardigan. — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries 
and  Galloway,  pp.  31,  32. 

The  five  Romanized  tribes  of  North  Britain  continued  to  occupy  their  respective  districts, 
and  were  known  in  history  as  the  Cumbrians,  or  Walenses.  They  remained  divided,  as  for- 
merly, in  clanships,  each  independent  of  the  other,  and  an  almost  constant  civil  war  was  the 
consequence.  They  were  exposed  to  repeated  inroads  from  the  Scots  and  Picts  ;  and  to  the 
invasion  of  a  still  more  dangerous  enemy — the  Saxons — who,  in  the  fifth  century,  extended 
their  conquests  along  the  east  coast  of  North  Britain,  from  the  Tweed  to  the  Forth  ;  the  de- 
feated Otadini  and  Gadeni  falling  back  among  their  countrymen,  the  Damnonii,  and  other 
tribes  who  occupied  the  Lothians.  Seeing  the  peril  by  which  they  were  surrounded — the  Picts 
and  Scots  on  the  north,  and  the  Saxons  on  the  south — the  inhabitants  of  Ayrshire,  Renfrew- 
shire, Lanarkshire,  Dumfriesshire,  Liddesdale,  Teviotdale,  Galloway,  and  the  greater  part  of 
Dumbartonshire  and  Stirlingshire,  formed  themselves  into  a  distinct  kingdom  called  Alcluyd. 
The  metropolis  of  the  kingdom — Alcluyd — was,  no  doubt,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Clyde, 


The  Britons  229 

but  the  precise  locality  is  not  now  known.  Dumbarton  rock  was  the  main  place  of  strength, 
and  the  seat  of  the  reguli.  The  history  of  the  Alcluyd  kingdom  presents  a  series  of  wars 
domestic  and  foreign,  throughout  the  greater  portion  of  its  existence — sometimes  with  the 
Picts,  sometimes  with  the  Scots,  oftener  with  the  Saxons,  and  not  less  frequently  one  clan 
against  another.  Though  repeatedly  defeated  and  overrun,  they  continued  to  defend  them- 
selves with  great  spirit ;  and  more  than  once  their  restless  enemies  felt  the  weight  of  their 
sword. — Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr,  vol.  i.,  p.  13. 

8  Mr.  Nash,  in  his  introduction  to  Merlin,  or  the  Early  History  of  King  Arthur ,  makes  a 
statement  which  appears  to  me  to  be  well  founded  :  4<  Certain  it  is,"  he  says,  "  that  there  are 
two  Celtic — we  may  perhaps  say  two  Cymric — localities,  in  which  the  legends  of  Arthur  and 
Merlin  have  been  deeply  implanted,  and  to  this  day  remain  living  traditions  cherished  by  the 
peasantry  of  these  two  countries,  and  that  neither  of  them  is  Wales  or  Britain  west  of  the 
Severn.  It  is  in  Brittany  and  in  the  old  Cumbrian  kingdom  south  of  the  Firth  of  Forth  that 
the  legends  of  Arthur  and  Merlin  have  taken  root  and  nourished."  To  Cumbria,  however, 
may  be  added  Cornwall,  where  the  Arthurian  romance  places  the  scene  of  many  of  its 
adventures  ;  and  it  is  rather  remarkable  that  we  should  find  in  the  second  century  a  tribe 
termed  Damnonii  possessing  Cornwall  and  a  tribe  of  the  same  name  occupying  the  ground 
which  forms  the  scene  of  his  exploits  in  the  north. — Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  i54~55« 

4  "  If  any  reality  could  be  extracted  from  them,  Scotland  would  have  full  share  in  it, 
since  much  of  the  narrative  comes  northward  of  the  present  border.  Berwick  was  the  Joye- 
use  garde  of  Sir  Lancelot,  and  Aneurin  describes  a  bloody  battle  round  Edinburgh  Castle. 
Local  tradition  and  the  names  of  places  have  given  what  support  such  agencies  can  to  the 
Scottish  claims  on  the  Arthurian  history.  So  the  curious  Roman  edifice  on  the  bank  of  the 
Carron  was  called  Arthur's  Oon  or  Oven  ;  and  we  have  Arthur's  Seat,  Ben  Arthur,  Arthurlee, 
and  the  like.  The  illustrious  *  Round  Table  '  itself  is  at  Stirling  Castle.  The  sculptured 
stones  in  the  churchyard  of  Meigle  have  come  down  as  a  monument  to  the  memory  and 
crimes  of  his  faithless  wife.  A  few  miles  westward,  on  Barry  Hill,  a  spur  of  the  Gram- 
pians, the  remnants  of  a  hill-fort  have  an  interest  to  the  peasant  as  the  prison  of  her  captivity. 
In  the  pretty  pastoral  village  of  Stowe  there  was  a  '  Girth '  or  sanctuary  for  criminals,  attrib- 
uted to  the  influence  of  an  image  of  the  Virgin  brought  by  King  Arthur  from  Jerusalem,  and 
there  enshrined.     .     .     . 

"  The  parish  of  Meigle,  in  Forfarshire,  is  the  spot  most  richly  endowed  with  these  monu- 
ments ;  and  Boece  tells  us  that  they  commemorate  Arthur's  false  queen,  here  known  by  the 
name  of  Guanora,  who  fell  a  captive  to  the  Picts  in  their  contest  with  the  Britons." — Burton, 
History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  143,  177. 

See  Arthurian  Localities,  their  Historical  Origin,  Chief  Country,  and  Fingalian  Re- 
lations, by  John  Stuart  Glennie,  M.A.,  1869. 

5  Cornwall  was  subsequently  occupied  by  the  [Saxon]  strangers,  and  the  place  of  the 
Britons  to  the  south  of  present  Scotland  became  limited  to  what  was  afterwards  known  as  the 
principality  of  Wales.  The  narrow  part  of  North  England,  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire, 
being  occupied  by  the  Saxons  there  was  thus  a  gap  between  the  Southern  Britons  and  those 
of  Scotland.  These  latter  became  a  little  independent  state,  known  as  Strathclyde,  en- 
dowed with  a  sort  of  capital  and  national  fortress  at  Dumbarton.  This  country  is  now 
known  as  the  shires  of  Ayr,  Renfrew,  Lanark,  Stirling,  and  Dumbarton.  It  had  its  own 
small  portion  in  the  events  of  the  time  through  which  it  existed  in  independence,  and  became 
at  last,  as  we  shall  see,  absorbed  in  the  aggregation  that  made  the  kingdom  of  Scotland.  Such 
was  one  of  the  early  elements  of  this  aggregation. — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i., 
p.  82. 

6  The  same  natural  boundary  which  separated  the  eastern  from  the  western  tribes  after- 
wards divided  the  kingdom  of  the  Strathclyde  Britons  from  that  of  the  Angles  ;  at  a  subse- 
quent period,  the  province  of  Galweia  from  that  of  Lodoneia  in  their  most  extended  sense  ; 
and  now  separates  the  counties  of  Lanark,  Ayr,  and  Dumfries  from  the  Lothians  and  the 


230  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Merse.  Galloway  in  its  limited  sense  was  not  more  clearly  separated  by  this  mountain  bar- 
rier on  the  north  from  Strathclyde  than  were  the  Pictish  races  from  the  British  race  by  the 
same  chain,  and  the  earlier  tribes  of  the  Selgovae  and  Novantae  from  the  Damnonii. 

7  See  pp.  242-43. 

8  See  pp.  269-70. 

9  Ida,  the  son  of  Eoppa,  possessed  countries  on  the  left-hand  side  of  Britain,  i.  e.,  of  the 
Humbrian  sea,  and  reigned  twelve  years,  and  united  Dynguayth  Guarth-Berneich  [Deira  and 
Bernicia]. — JVennius,  §  61. 

10  The  name  Welsh,  or  Wealas,  meaning  "strangers,"  or  "foreigners,"  was  applied  by 
the  English  to  all  the  Celtic  inhabitants  of  Britain. 

11  See  Proceedings  Scottish  Antiquarian  Society,  vol.  vi.,  p.  91. 

12  "  We  arrive  at  something  like  historic  certainty  of  events  in  the  southwest.  The  An- 
gles were  pagans.  The  Picts  of  Novantia  had  generally  relapsed  from  Christianity  into  their 
original  cult,  of  which  the  traditions  had  been  kept  alive  by  the  native  bards,  and  a  large  part 
of  the  Welsh  population,  in  the  valleys  of  Annan,  Nith,  and  Clyde,  had  followed  them.  The 
Welsh  leader  was  Gwendolew,  who  claimed  descent  from  Coel  Hen — Old  King  Cole.  But 
there  was  still  a  Roman  party  among  these  northern  Britons,  led  by  Rydderch  Hael — that  is, 
Roderick  the  Liberal — who  adhered  to  Christianity. 

"  The  great  issue  between  the  pagans  and  Christians  was  fought  out  on  the  borders  of 
Dumfriesshire  in  575,  at  a  place  called  Ardderyd,  now  Arthuret,  on  the  Scottish  bank  of  the 
Esk.  Gwendolew's  camp  was  about  four  miles  north  of  this,  and  gave  the  name  still  borne 
by  a  stream  called  Carwhinelow — that  is,  caer  Gwendolew,  Gwendolew's  camp.  (The  parish 
of  Carruthers  in  Dumfriesshire  probably  takes  its  name  from  caer  Rydderch,  Roderich's  camp.) 
The  Christian  champion  Rydderch  was  completely  victorious,  and  became  ruler  of  the  Strath- 
clyde Britons,  under  the  title  of  King  of  Alclut." — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Gallo- 
way, p.  34. 

13  Reeves's  edition,  1874,  pp.  15,  136,  224. 

14  It  is  called  likewise,  by  Adamnan,  Petra-Cloithe,  and  by  other  ancient  writers,  Are- 
cluta,  Alcwith,  Aldclyhit,  and  Alcluth  ;  all  implying  a  rock,  or  elevation,  upon  the  Clyde, 
now  Dumbarton,  a  corruption  of  Dunbritton.  The  foundation  of  the  monarchy  cannot  be 
ascertained.  If,  however,  we  may  credit  the  Life  of  St.  Ninian  [written  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury], it  existed  so  early  as  the  fourth  ;  whence  it  can  be  traced,  with  sufficient  certainty, 
down  to  nearly  the  close,  at  least,  of  the  tenth. — Ritson,  Annals  of  the  Caledonians,  Picts, 
etc.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  132. 

15  The  population  of  this  kingdom  seems  to  have  belonged  to  the  two  varieties  of  the 
British  race  —  the  southern  half,  including  Dumfriesshire,  being  Cymric  or  Welsh,  and  the 
northern  half  having  been  occupied  by  the  Damnonii,  who  belonged  to  the  Cornish  variety. 
The  capital  of  the  kingdom  was  the  strongly  fortified  position  on  the  rock  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Clyde,  termed  by  the  Britons  Alcluith,  and  by  the  Gadhelic  people  Dunbreatan,  or  the 
fort  of  the  Britons,  now  Dumbarton  ;  but  the  ancient  town  called  Caer  Luel  or  Carlisle  in  the 
southern  part  must  always  have  been  an  important  position.  The  kingdom  of  the  Britons 
had  at  this  time  no  territorial  designation,  but  its  monarchs  were  termed  kings  of  Alcluith, 
and  belonged  to  that  party  among  the  Britons  who  bore  the  peculiar  name  of  Romans,  and 
claimed  descent  from  the  ancient  Roman  rulers  in  Britain.  The  law  of  succession  seems  to 
have  been  one  of  purely  male  descent. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  236. 

16  642,  Domnall-brecc  in  cath  Strathacauin  in  fine  anni  in  Decembre  interfectus  est  xv 
regni  sui  ab  Ohan  rege  Britonum. — Tighernac. 

17Bede,  book  iv.,  ch.  xxvi.     See  p.  204. 

18  722,  Beli  Alius  Elfin  moritur. — An.  Cam.  Bili  mac  Elphine  rex  Alochluaithe  moritur. 
— Tighernac. 

The  author  of  Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  in  his  reading  of  the  early  annalists  has 
fallen  into  the  rather  careless  error  of  confusing  the  fathers  of  the  Strathclyde  kings  with  the 


The  Britons  231 

kings  themselves.  For  instance,  at  page  91,  he  says :  "  The  next  king  of  Strathcluyd  was 
Owen,  who  was  ruling  in  694  when  his  son  Daniel  (Domnall)  died.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Elphin  (Alpin),  who  appears  as  king  in  772  when  his  son  Bili  died."  The  record  of  Tighernac 
for  694  is  as  follows  :  "  Domnall  mac  Avin  [OwenJ  rex  Alochluaithne  moritur,"  and  for  722 
(not  772)  the  same  record  reads.  "  Bili  mac  Elphin  rex  Alochluaithe  moritur." 

19  756,  Eadberht  rex,  xviii.  anno  regni  sui  et  Unust  rex  Pictorum  duxerunt  exercitum  ad 
urbem  Alcluth.  Ibique  Brittones  in  deditionem  receperunt  prima  die  mensis  Augusti. — 
Simeon  of  Durham. 

The  successes  of  Eadbert  reduced  the  fortunes  of  the  Britons  in  this  quarter  to  the  lowest 
ebb.  Kyle  was  rendered  tributary  to  Northumbria,  which  already  included  Cunningham ; 
and  shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  century,  Alclyde  or  Dumbarton,  the  strongest  bulwark  of  the 
Northern  Britons,  surrendered  to  the  united  forces  of  the  Northumbrians  and  the  Picts.  The 
capture  of  Alclyde  must  have  thrown  the  whole  of  the  ancient  British  territories  in  the  Lennox, 
which  were  subsequently  included  in  the  diocese  of  Glasgow,  into  the  power  of  Angus,  to- 
gether with  a  great  portion  of  the  "  debateable  land  "  between  the  Forth  and  Clyde,  similarly 
included  in  the  "  Cumbrian"  diocese;  and  the  little  principality  of  Strathclyde  was  now 
completely  hemmed  in  and  surrounded  by  hostile  territories,  though  the  gradual  decline  of 
the  Northumbrian  power  towards  the  close  of  the  eighth  century  enabled  the  petty  state  to 
struggle  on  for  another  hundred  years  in  a  precarious  species  of  nominal  independence. — 
Robertson,  Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 

20  English  Chronicle,  An.  828.     See  p.  298. 

81  See  also  the  English  Chronicle,  Anno  875,  p.  298,  where  in  describing  the  same  event, 
the  people  of  Strathclyde  are  called  the  Strathclyde  Welsh.  The  name  Straecled  Wealas 
is  rendered  by  ^Ethelwerd  into  the  Latin  Cumbri,  which  Mr.  Skene  notes  as  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  term  Cumbri,  or  Cumbrians,  as  applied  to  the  people  of  Strathclyde. 

1  *  Much  confusion  has  arisen  from  the  ambiguous  use  of  the  appellations  of  Cumbria  and 
Cumberland.  The  former  name  was  undoubtedly  applied  at  one  time  to  a  wide  extent  of 
country  stretching  at  least  from  Dumbartonshire  to  North  Wales,  from  which  district  it  was 
early  separated  when  the  greater  part  of  modern  Lancashire  was  added  to  the  Northumbrian 
dominions.  A  little  later  the  grants  of  Ecgfrith  to  St.  Cuthbert  must  have  severed  the  modern 
counties  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  from  the  northern  Cumbria  or  Strathclyde,  which 
was  still  further  curtailed  by  the  settlements  of  the  Angles  in  the  diocese  of  Candida  Casa,  a 
district  of  which  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole,  had  by  this  time  probably  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  ancestors  of  the  Picts  of  Galloway. 

"  Southern  Cumbria  or  Cumberland  does  not  appear  to  have  been  included  amongst  the 
conquered  districts  recovered  by  the  Britons  after  the  defeat  and  death  of  Ecgfrid  at  the  battle 
of  Nechtan's  Mere.  When  Eardulf  the  bishop  carried  off  the  relics  of  St.  Cuthbert  and  St. 
Oswald  from  the  profane  violence  of  a  pagan  as  fierce  as  Penda,  the  most  trusted  companion 
of  his  hurried  flight  was  Edred,  the  Saxon  Abbot  of  Carlisle  ;  and  there  is  little  reason  to 
doubt  that  at  this  time  the  descendants  of  the  men  who  won  the  land  in  the  days  of  Ecgfrid 
still  peopled  the  broad  acres  granted  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Cuthbert.  Forty  years  later  it 
is  told  how  Edred,  the  son  of  Rixinc,  the  foremost  chieftain  amongst  the  nobility  of  Deira, 
rode  '  westward  over  the  hills,'  and  slew  the  Lord  Eardulf,  a  prince  of  the  Bernician  race  of 
Ida,  carried  off  his  wife  'in  spite  of  the  Frith  and  the  people's  wishes,'  and  held  forcible 
possession  of  territories  reaching  from  Chester  le  Street  to  the  Derwent,  till  he  lost  both  lands 
and  life  in  the  battle  of  Corbridge  Moor.  All  these  names  are  genuine  Saxon,  and  though 
the  original  British  population  may  still  have  lingered  amidst  the  lakes  and  mountains  of  their 
picturesque  region,  it  may  be  safely  doubted  whether  they  paid  either  tribute  or  submission 
to  the  Scoto-British  prince  who  yet  retained  some  vestiges  of  authority  over  the  fertile  valley 
of  the  Clyde  ;  and  whilst  Scottish  Cumbria,  or  Strathclyde,  continued  under  the  rule  of  a 
branch  of  the  MacAlpin  family  from  the  opening  of  the  tenth  century  till  the  reign  of  Mal- 
colm the  Second,  English  Cumbria,  or  Cumberland,  when  it  was  not  under  the  authority  of 


232  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  Northumbrian  earls,  in  whose  province  it  was  included,  may  be  said  to  have  remained  in 
a  state  of  anarchy  till  the  conquest." — Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  p.  70. 

"  The  last  retreat  of  the  Romanized  Britons  was  called  originally  Strathclyde,  but  in  later 
times  more  frequently  Cumbria.    .    .    . 

1 '  In  the  scanty  notices  of  the  chroniclers  the  district  is  generally  called  a  kingdom,  but 
this  may  have  been  more  from  the  habit  of  using  that  term  towards  the  neighboring  nations, 
than  because  there  was  any  fixed  form  of  monarchical  government  in  Strathclyde." — Burton, 
History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  182,  278,  279. 

22  Again,  in  875,  the  same  restless  enemy,  sallying  forth  from  Northumberland,  laid  waste 
Galloway,  and  a  great  part  of  Strathcluyd.  Thus  harassed  by  the  insatiable  Northmen,  many 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Alcluyd  resolved  upon  emigrating  to  Wales.  Under  Constantin,  their 
chief,  they  accordingly  took  their  departure  ;  but  were  encountered  by  the  Saxons  at  Loch- 
maben,  -where  Constantin  was  slain.  They,  however,  repulsed  their  assailants,  and  forced 
their  way  to  Wales,  where  Anarawa,  the  king,  being  at  the  time  hard  pressed  by  the  Saxons, 
assigned  them  a  district  which  they  were  to  acquire  and  maintain  by  the  sword.  In  the  ful- 
filment of  this  condition,  they  aided  the  Welsh  in  the  battle  of  Cymrid,  where  the  Saxons 
were  defeated  and  driven  from  the  district.  The  descendants  of  these  Strathcluyd  Britons 
are  said  to  be  distinguished  from  the  other  inhabitants  of  Wales  at  the  present  day.  The 
Strathcluyd  kingdom  was,  of  course,  greatly  weakened  by  the  departure  of  so  many  of  the  best 
warriors  ;  and  it  continued  to  be  oppressed  both  by  the  Scots  and  Anglo-Saxon  princes.  The 
judicious  selection  of  a  branch  of  the  Scottish  line  as  their  sovereign  had  the  effect  of  secur- 
ing peace  between  the  two  nations  for  some  time.  Hostilities,  however,  at  length  broke  out 
with  great  fury,  in  consequence  of  Culen  —  who  ascended  the  Scottish  throne  in  965  — having 
dishonored  his  own  relative,  a  granddaughter  of  the  late  King  of  Strathcluyd.  Incensed  at 
the  insult,  the  inhabitants  flew  to  arms,  under  King  Ardach,  and  marching  into  Lothian,  there 
encountered  the  Scots.  The  battle  was  a  fierce  one,  and  victory  declared  for  the  Alcluyden- 
sians.  Both  Culen  and  his  brother  Eocha  were  slain.  This  occurred  in  971.  The  Scottish 
throne  was  ascended  by  Kenneth  III.  [II.]  ;  and  the  war  between  the  Scots  and  Cumbrians 
continuing,  the  latter,  under  Dunwallin — the  successor  of  Ardach — were  at  length  overpowered 
on  the  bloody  field  of  Vacornar  ;  where,  the  Welsh  Chronicle  states,  the  victors  lost  many  a 
warrior.  Dunwallin  retired  to  Rome  in  975.  The  Strathcluyd  kingdom,  now  fairly  broken 
up,  was  annexed  to  the  Scottish  erown,  and  the  inhabitants  became  mixed  with  the  Scots  and 
Picts.  This  was  a  successful  era  for  the  Scots.  Though  the  country  had  been  overrun  by 
^Ethelstan,  the  Saxons  gained  no  permanent  advantage.  On  the  contrary,  Eadmund,  in  945, 
ceded  Cumberland,  in  England,  to  Malcolm  I.,  on  condition  of  unity  and  aid.  Lothian, 
which  had  previously  been  held  by  England,  was  also  delivered  up  to  Malcolm  III.,  in  1018, 
after  the  battle  of  Carham  with  Uchtred  of  Northumberland. — Paterson,  History  of  the  County 
of  Ayr,  p.  15. 

"  An  occasional  brief  entry  in  the  early  chronicles  reveals  the  anxiety  of  the  rulers  of  the 
Picts  and  Scots  to  avail  themselves  of  the  gradual  decline  of  the  Northumbrian  power  for  the 
purpose  of  extending  their  own  influence  over  the  neighboring  province  of  Strathclyde. 
Some  such  motives  may  have  instigated  Kenneth  to  seek  for  his  daughter  the  alliance  of  a 
British  prince  ;  and  a  few  years  later,  the  death  of  Artgha,  King  of  Strathclyde,  which  is 
attributed  by  the  Irish  annalists  to  the  intrigues  of  Constantine  the  First,  may  have  been  con- 
nected with  the  same  policy  of  aggrandizement,  and  have  furthered  the  claims  of  Eocha,  the 
son  of  Constantine's  sister.  The  advancement  of  Eocha  to  the  Scottish  throne  was  shortly 
followed  by  important  consequences  to  his  native  province,  and  after  the  flight  and  death  of  the 
Welsh  prince  Rydderch  ap  Mervyn  had  deprived  the  northern  Britons  of  one  of  their  firmest 
supporters,  a  considerable  body  of  the  men  of  Strathclyde,  relinquishing  the  ancient  country 
of  their  forefathers,  set  out,  under  a  leader  of  the  name  Constantine,  to  seek  another  home 
amongst  a  kindred  people  in  the  south.  Constantine  fell  at  Lochmaben  in  attempting  to 
force  a  passage  through  Galloway  ;  but  his  followers,  undismayed  at  their  loss,  persevered  in 


The  Britons  233 

their  enterprise,  arriving  in  time  to  assist  the  Northern  Welsh  at  the  great  battle  of  the  Con- 
way, where  they  won  the  lands,  as  the  reward  of  their  valor,  which  are  supposed  to  be  occu- 
pied by  their  descendants  at  the  present  day.  (An.  67/.,  876,  877  ;  An.  Camb.  and  Brut y 
Tywys.  880  ;    Caledonia,  vol.  i.,  book  iii.,  ch.  v.,  p.  355.) 

"Chalmers  gives  the  name  of  Constantine  to  their  first  leader,  whilst,  according  to 
Caradoc,  Hobart  was  their  chief  when  they  reached  Wales.  To  some  old  tradition  of  this 
migration,  and  to  the  encroachments  of  the  Galwegians,  the  Inquisitio  Davidis  probably 
alludes  :  4  Diverse  seditiones  circumquaque  insurgentes  non  solum  ecclesiam  et  ejus  pos- 
sessions destruxerunt  verum  etiam  totam  regionem  vastantes  ejus  habitatores  exilio  tradide- 
runt. '  {Reg-  Glasg)  In  fact  it  would  appear  as  if  a  Scottish  party  had  dated  its  rise  from  the 
days  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin,  and  secured  a  triumph  by  the  expulsion  of  its  antagonists,  on 
the  accession  of  Eocha  to  the  Scottish  throne,  and  by  the  election  of  Donald  in  the  reign  of 
the  second  Constantine. 

"  With  the  retreating  emigrants,  the  last  semblance  of  independence  departed  from  the 
Britons  of  the  north  ;  and  upon  the  death  of  their  king  Donald,  who  was  probably  a  descend- 
ant of  Kenneth's  daughter,  Constantine  the  Second  experienced  little  difficulty  in  procuring 
the  election  of  his  own  brother  Donald  to  fill  the  vacant  throne.  Henceforth  a  branch  of  the 
MacAlpin  family  supplied  a  race  of  princes  to  Strathclyde  ;  and  although  for  another 
hundred  years  the  Britons  of  that  district  remained  in  a  state  of  nominal  independence,  they 
ceased  to  exist  as  a  separate  people,  appearing,  on  a  few  subsequent  occasions,  merely  as 
auxiliaries  in  the  armies  of   the  Scottish   kings." — Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol. 

i.,  p.  54- 

The  Angles  only  retained  their  power  over  the  Picts  of  Galloway  and  the  Cumbrians 
south  of  the  Solway,  together  with  the  city  of  Carlisle,  which  Ecgfrith,  shortly  before  his 
death,  had  given  to  St.  Cuthbert,  with  some  of  the  land  around  it.  The  Cumbrians  north 
of  the  Solway  became  independent,  and  had  kings  of  their  own  again,  of  whom  one  is  recorded 
as  dying  in  649,  and  another  in  722.  But  the  Picts  of  Galloway  continuing  under  the  yoke  of 
the  Northumbrians,  the  king  of  the  latter  managed  in  750  to  annex  to  Galloway  the  district 
adjoining  it  on  the  north  and  west,  which  was  then  a  part  of  the  land  of  the  Cumbrians, 
though  it  may  have  long  before  belonged  to  the  Picts.  In  the  same  year,  a  war  took  place 
between  the  former  and  the  Picts  of  Lothian,  who  suffered  a  defeat  and  lost  their  leader, 
Talorgan,  brother  to  the  King  of  Alban,  in  a  battle  at  a  place  called  Mocetauc  in  the  Welsh 
Chronicle,  and  supposed  to  be  in  the  parish  of  Strathblane  in  the  county  of  Stirling  ;  but  in 
756  we  read  of  the  Picts  and  the  Northumbrians  joining,  and  pressing  the  Cumbrians  sorely. 
Afterwards  little  is  known  of  them  (except  that  Alclyde  was  more  than  once  destroyed  by  the 
Norsemen)  until  we  come  down  to  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  when  we  meet  with  a  Welsh 
tradition  that  the  Cumbrians  who  refused  to  submit  to  the  English  were  received  by  the  King 
of  Gwynedd  into  the  part  of  North  Wales  lying  between  the  Dee  and  the  Clwyd,  from  which 
they  are  made  to  have  driven  out  some  English  settlers  who  had  established  themselves  there. 
How  much  truth  there  may  be  in  this  story  is  not  evident,  but  it  is  open  to  the  suspicion  of 
being  based  to  some  extent  on  the  false  etymology  which  identifies  the  name  of  the  Clwyd 
with  that  of  the  Clyde.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  latter,  being  Clota  in  Roman  times,  and 
Clut  in  old  Welsh,  could  only  yield  Clud  in  later  Welsh.  Harassed  and  weakened  on  all 
sides,  the  Cumbrians  ceased  to  have  kings  of  their  own  race  in  the  early  part  of  the  tenth 
century,  when  a  Scottish  line  of  princes  established  itself  at  Alclyde  ;  and  in  946  the  kingdom 
was  conquered  by  the  English  king  Eadmund,  who  bestowed  the  whole  of  it  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Derwent  to  the  Clyde  [?]  on  the  Scottish  king  Maelcoluim  or  Malcolm,  on 
condition  that  he  should  assist  him  by  land  and  sea,  the  help  anticipated  being  intended 
against  the  Danes.  .  .  .  William  the  Red  made  the  southern  part  of  Cumbria,  including 
the  city  of  Carlisle,  an  earldom  for  one  of  his  barons  ;  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  name 
of  Cumberland  has  ever  since  had  its  home  on  the  English  side  of  the  border,  while  the 
northern  portion,  of  which  the  basin  of  the  Clyde  formed  such  an  important  part,  is  spoken  of 


234  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  as  that  of  the  Strathclyde  Welshmen.  It  may  here  be  added  that  this 
last  was  still  more  closely  joined  to  the  Scottish  crown  when  David  became  king  in  1124; 
but  its  people,  who  formed  a  distinct  battalion  of  Cumbrians  and  Teviotdale  men  in  the 
Scotch  army  at  the  battle  of  the  Standard  in  11 30,  preserved  their  Cymric  characteristics  long 
afterwards.  How  late  the  Welsh  language  lingered  between  the  Mersey  and  the  Clyde  we 
have,  however,  no  means  of  discovering,  but,  to  judge  from  a  passage  in  the  Welsh  Triads, 
it  may  be  surmised  to  have  been  spoken  as  late  as  the  fourteenth  century  in  the  district  of 
Carnoban  (see  Gee's  Myvyrian  Archaeology,  p.  401,  triad  7),  wherever  between  Leeds  and 
Dumbarton  that  may  turn  out  to  have  been. — Rhys,  Celtic  Britain,  pp.  146-148. 

23  On  the  west  were  the  districts  occupied  by  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde.  In  the  previ- 
ous century  and  a  half  these  had  been  narrowed  to  the  vale  of  the  Clyde,  with  Alclyde  or 
Dumbarton  as  its  stronghold,  and  the  rest  of  the  British  districts  had,  along  with  Galloway, 
been  under  the  dominion  of  the  Angles  of  Northumbria  ;  but  their  rule  had  been  relaxed 
during  the  period  of  disorganization  into  which  the  Northumbrian  kingdom  had  fallen,  and 
had  by  degrees  become  little  more  than  nominal,  when  the  invasion  of  Bernicia  by  the  Briton 
Giric,  who  for  a  time  occupied  the  Pictish  throne,  led  to  the  severance  of  these  districts  from 
Northumbria,  and  the  whole  of  the  British  territory  from  the  Clyde  to  the  river  Derwent  in 
Cumberland  became  once  more  united  under  the  rule  of  an  independent  king  of  the  Britons. 
— Celtic  Scotland,  p.  346. 

24  Et  in  suo  octavo  anno  cecidit  excelsissimus  rex  Hibernensium  et  archiepiscopus  apud 
Laignechos  id  est  Cormac  mac  Cuilennan.  Et  mortui  sunt  in  tempore  hujus  Donevaldus 
rex  Britannorum  et  Duvenaldus  Alius  Ederex  eligitur. — Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  9. 

25  Fugato  deinde  Owino  rege  Cumbrorum  et  Constantino  rege  Scotorum,  terrestri  et 
navali  exercitu  Scotiam  sibi  subjugando  perdomuit. — Simeon  of  Durham,  Hist,  de  Dun.  Ec, 

26  English  Chronicle,  Anno  945. 

944,  Strathclyde  was  ravaged  by  Saxons. — Brut  y  Tywysogion. 

946,  Stratclut  vastata  est  a  Saxonibus. — An.  Camb. 

The  life  of  St.  Cadroe  gives  us  almost  a  contemporary  notice  of  the  Cumbrian  kingdom. 
St.  Cadroe  was  a  native  of  Alban,  and  flourished  in  the  reign  of  Constantin  who  fought  at 
Brunanburgh,  and  leaves  him  to  go  on  a  foreign  mission.  He  comes  to  the  "  terra  Cumbro- 
rum," and  Dovenaldus,  the  king  who  ruled  over  this  people,  receives  him  gladly  and  conducts 
him  "usque  Loidam  civitatem  quae  est  confinium  Normannorum  atque  Cumbrorum." 
— Chronicles  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  p.  116. 

27  Statim  predavit  Britanniam  ex  parte  Pedestres  Cinadi  occisi  sunt  maxima  cede  in  Moin 
na  Cornar. — Pictish  Chronicle. 

28  He  was,  no  doubt,  the  son  of  that  Donald  who  was  king  of  the  Cumbrians  when  his 
kingdom  was  overrun  by  King  Eadmund  and  bestowed  upon  Malcolm,  King  of  Alban,  and 
this  shows  that  though  the  sovereignty  was  now  vested  in  the  Scottish  kings,  the  line  of  pro- 
vincial kings  still  remained  in  possession  of  their  territory. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  382. 

29  With  him  ended  the  kingdom  of  Strathclyde.  Galloway  as  a  portion  of  it  then  fell 
into  the  full  possession  of  the  Norsemen. — Mac  Kerlie,  Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  p.  92. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  NORSE  AND  GALLOWAY 

THE  Norwegian  and  Danish  invasions  of  Britain  began  in  793.  In  that 
year  the  Northmen  made  an  attack  upon  the  island  of  Lindisfarne, 
which  lies  a  little  south  of  Tweedmouth.  Their  raid  is  thus  described  by 
Simeon  of  Durham  : 

In  the  same  year  [793]  of  a  truth,  the  pagans  from  the  northern  region 
came  with  a  naval  armament  to  Britain  like  stinging  hornets,  and  overran 
the  country  in  all  directions  like  fierce  wolves,  plundering,  tearing,  and 
killing  not  only  sheep  and  oxen,  but  priests  and  levites,  and  choirs  of  monks 
and  nuns.  They  came,  as  we  before  said,  to  the  church  of  Lindisfarne,  and 
laid  all  waste  with  dreadful  havoc,  trod  with  unhallowed  feet  the  holy  places, 
dug  up  the  altars,  and  carried  off  all  the  treasures  of  the  holy  church. 
Some  of  the  brethren  they  killed,  some  they  carried  off  in  chains,  many  they 
cast  out  naked  and  loaded  with  insults,  some  they  drowned  in  the  sea. 

The  following  year  a  party  of  Norsemen  plundered  the  monastery  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Wear,  where  their  chief  was  killed,  and  their  fleet  afterwards 
wrecked  by  a  storm.  In  the  same  year  one  of  their  fleets  laid  waste  the 
Western  Isles  and  sacked  the  church  of  Iona.  Four  years  later  they  again 
visited  the  Western  Isles.  In  802  they  burned  the  Iona  church  ;  and  in  806 
killed  the  inhabitants  of  that  island,  numbering  sixty-eight  persons.  These 
pirates  were  distinguished  by  the  Irish  as  belonging  to  two  races,  the  Finn- 
gaill — white,  or  fair-haired  strangers  (Norse), — and  the  Dubhgaill, — black,  or 
dark-haired  strangers  (Danes). 

While  it  has  been  generally  customary  to  speak  of  them  as  Northmen, 
yet  so  far  as  Scotland  was  concerned  they  approached  it  from  the  east  —  and 
in  the  case  of  the  Danes  from  the  southeast  —  the  distance  between  Norway 
and  Scotland  being  but  about  two  hundred  miles.  First  sailing  to  the  Ork- 
neys these  invaders  proceeded  down  along  the  west  coast  into  the  Irish  Sea, 
and  made  their  landings  in  Ireland,  Cumberland,  or  Galloway '  as  the  hope 
of  plunder  might  lead  them.  The  Irish  gave  to  the  Danes  the  name  of 
Ostmen,  or  Men  of  the  East,  which  properly  described  them  ;  but  that  point 
of  the  compass  from  which  they  approached  Normandy  and  the  southern 
coast  of  England  is  the  one  that  furnished  them  with  the  name  by  which 
they  are  best  known. 

The  following  account  of  the  operations  of  the  Norse  in  Northern,  West- 
ern, and  Southwestern  Scotland  is  based  chiefly  on  the  Orkneyinga  and  other 
Norse  sagas,  and  on  the  Annals  of  Tighernac  and  of  Ulster  (see  Appen- 
dixes O  and  P). 

In  825,  Blathmhaic,  son  of  Flann,  was  killed  by  the  Norse  in  Iona.     In 

235 


236  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

839,  the  Danes  came  to  Dublin  with  sixty-five  ships.  After  plundering 
Leinster,  they  entered  Scotland  through  Dalriada,  and,  in  a  battle  with  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  killed  their  ruler,  Eoganan,  son  of  Angus.  This  helped 
to  open  the  way  for  the  accession  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin  to  the  Pictish 
throne.3 

During  Kenneth's  reign  his  country  was  often  harassed  by  these  trouble- 
some visitors.  Later  they  seem  to  have  made  permanent  settlements  in 
some  parts  of  the  island,  particularly  in  the  north  and  in  Galloway.3  In  the 
1  latter  district  they  intermarried  with  and  made  allies  of  the  natives,  who 
in  time  became  known  along  the  western  coast  of  Scotland  and  in  Ireland 
as  the  "  Gallgaidhel  ",  or  "  stranger  (*.  ^.,  renegade)  Gaels." 

The  fragments  of  Irish  Annals  published  by  the  Irish  Archaeological 
Society  state  that  in  852  a  battle  was  given  by  Aedh,  King  of  Ailech,  to  the 
fleet  of  the  Gallgaidhel,  who  were  said  to  be  Scots  and  foster-children  of  the 
Northmen,  and  who  themselves  were  formerly  called  Northmen.  They  were 
defeated  and  slain  by  Aedh,  many  heads  being  carried  off  as  trophies  by 
himself  and  Niall.  The  Irish  justified  their  action  on  this  occasion  by  say- 
ing that  "  these  men  were  wont  to  act  like  Lochlans  "  (Northmen).  Again 
it  is  stated  of  them  in  858  that  the  Gallgaidhel  were  "  a  people  who  had  re- 
nounced their  baptism,  and  were  usually  called  Northmen,  for  they  had  the 
customs  of  the  Northmen,  and  had  been  fostered  by  them,  and  though  the 
original  Northmen  were  bad  to  the  churches,  these  were  by  far  worse  in  what- 
ever part  of  Erin  they  used  to  be."  In  866  a  large  fleet  of  Danish  pirates, 
under  command  of  Halfdan  and  his  two  brothers,  arrived  off  the  coast  of 
England.  After  spending  the  winter  in  East  Anglia,  they  invaded  Northum- 
bria,  took  the  city  of  York,  killed  the  two  rival  claimants  to  the  North- 
umbrian throne,  and  made  Ecgberht  king.  He  ruled  for  six  years,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Ricsig. 

In  the  same  year  in  which  occurred  Halfdan's  invasion  of  Northumbria, 
Olaf  the  White,  the  Norwegian  king  of  Dublin,  who  had  married  a  daughter 
of  Kenneth  MacAlpin  and  may  have  had  designs  upon  the  latter's  throne, 
invaded  Pictavia  with  the  "  Galls  "  of  Erin  and  Alban,  laid  waste  all  the 
country,  and  occupied  it  from  the  kalends  of  January  to  the  feast  of  St. 
Patrick  (March  17th).  On  returning  to  Ireland,  he  took  with  him  both 
booty  and  hostages.4  From  the  same  source  we  learn  that  in  the  year  870 
Alclyde  was  invested  by  the  Northmen  under  Olaf  and  Imhair,  and  destroyed 
after  a  four  months'  siege  ;  much  booty  and  a  great  host  of  prisoners  being 
taken.  Olaf  and  Imhair  seem  also  to  have  attacked  both  the  Picts  of 
Galloway  and  the  Angles  of  Bernicia,  for  they  are  said  to  have  returned  to 
Dublin  with  two  hundred  ships  and  great  booty  of  men,  Angles,  Britons, 
and  Picts,  as  captives.6  In  875  a  Danish  army  under  command  of  Halfdan 
again  ravaged  Northumbria,  Galloway,  and  Strathclyde,6  and  made  great 
slaughter  of  the  Picts.  In  the  same  year,  Thorstein  the  Red  (son  of  Olaf 
the  White  by  Audur,  daughter  of  the  Norseman,  Kettil  Flatnose),  who  had 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  237 

succeeded  to  his  father's  rule,  attacked  the  northern  provinces  of  Scotland 
and  added  Caithness,  Sutherland,  Ross,  and  Moray  to  his  dominion.  He 
was  slain  soon  after  by  the  Albanians.  In  the  year  877  the  Danes  and 
Norwegians  of  Ireland  contested  for  the  mastery.  The  Finngaill  being 
successful,  the  Danes  were  driven  out  of  Ireland  and  entered  Scotland. 
Here  they  attacked  the  Scots  in  Fifeshire  and  slew  a  great  multitude  of 
them,  together  with  Constantine,  their  king.  Between  885  and  890  the  Nor- 
wegians colonized  the  Orkney  Islands,  and  Harold  Harfagr,  King  of  Norway, 
having  taken  possession,  gave  them  to  Rognwald,  Earl  of  Maeri.  He  re- 
linquished to  his  brother,  Sigurd,  on  whom  the  King  bestowed  the  title  of 
jarl.  Sigurd  soon  after  invaded  Scotland  and  reconquered  Caithness,  Suth- 
erland, Ross,  and  Moray.  He  was  killed  in  an  encounter  with  Maelbrigda, 
a  Scottish  jarl.  His  son,  Guthorn,  succeeded  to  his  estates,  but  died  within 
a  year.  Earl  Rognwald  then  sent  his  own  sons,  Hallad  and  Einar,  to 
rule  the  Orkneys,  the  latter  of  whom  retained  the  government  until  his  death 
in  936. 

About  900  a  Danish  army,  having  invaded  and  plundered  Ireland,  came 
into  Scotland  and  overran  the  southern  districts,  righting  several  battles 
with  the  Scots,  in  one  of  which  King  Donald  was  slain.  At  this  time  the 
Norse  influence  was  very  strong  in  Caithness  and  Sutherland,  those  provinces 
being  ruled  from  the  Orkneys.  The  Norse  also  established  themselves  in 
the  Western  Isles  and  in  Man,  and  soon  came  to  exert  almost  as  great  an 
influence  there  as  in  Galloway.  In  912  Rognwald,  with  a  powerful  band  of 
Danish  pirates,  invaded  Scotland  and  ravaged  Dunblane.  He  returned 
again  in  918,  having  visited  and  plundered  in  Ireland  in  the  meantime. 
The  Scots'  king,  Constantine,  having  united  his  forces  with  those  of  Ealdred, 
ruler  of  Bernicia,  met  the  Danes  in  battle,  and  succeeded  in  routing  them. 
Notwithstanding  this,  they  soon  afterwards  secured  possession  of  Bernicia, 
where  Rognwald  established  himself  as  king.7  In  937  the  Scots,  having 
united  with  the  Danes  of  Northumbria  and  those  of  Dublin  in  making  war 
against  ^Ethelstan,  shared  in  the  disastrous  defeat  inflicted  by  that  king 
upon  his  enemies  at  the  battle  of  Brunanburgh.  Soon  after  this  event,  Eric 
of  the  Bloody  Axe,  son  of  Harold  Harfagr,  King  of  Norway,  came  to  the 
coasts  of  England  on  a  plundering  expedition.  Having  been  offered  a 
settlement  in  Northumberland  by  King  ^Ethelstan,  he  seated  himself  there 
with  his  followers.  After  his  death,  his  sons  removed  to  the  Orkneys,  and 
in  the  reign  of  the  Scottish  king  Indulf  (954-962),  they  are  said  to  have 
been  the  leaders  of  a  Norwegian  fleet  which  made  a  descent  upon  Buchan. 

Upon  the  death  of  Einar,  Earl  of  the  Orkneys,  in  936,  he  was  succeeded 
by  his  son  Thorfinn,  called  the  "Skull-cleaver,"  who  married  Grelauga, 
daughter  of  Dungadr,  or  Duncan,  the  Jarl  of  Caithness,  and  thus  confirmed 
the  possession  of  that  province  to  his  descendants.  His  eldest  son,  Havard, 
having  succeeded  to  the  rule,  was  slain  by  his  own  wife  ;  and  Liotr,  the 
second  son,  assumed  the  title  and  domain.    Another  brother,  Skuli,  disputed 


238  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  succession.  Having  secured  the  support  of  the  Scottish  king,  he  gave 
battle  to  Liotr  and  was  slain.  Liotr  fought  a  second  battle  with  the  Scots, 
and  killed  Earl  Maelbrigdi,  their  leader  ;  but  received  a  wound  himself  from 
which  he  afterwards  died.  Hlodver,  the  surviving  son  of  Thorfinn  Einarson, 
then  became  Earl  of  Orkney.  Upon  his  death,  which  occurred  about  the 
year  980,  Sigurd,  his  son,  became  ruler.  Soon  after,  Finley  (or  Finleikre  or 
Finlaec — son  of  Ruaidhri  and  brother  to  Maelbrigdi)  who  was  the  Scottish 
Mormaor  (Earl)  of  Moray,  made  war  against  Sigurd,  but  was  defeated  by 
him  in  battle.  The  latter,  in  consequence,  gained  possession  of  Moray, 
Ross,  Sutherland,  and  "Dali,"  all  of  which  provinces  he  ruled  over  in  989. 
However,  Finley  mac  Ruaidhri  eventually  recovered  Moray  at  a  later  date, 
and  continued  as  lord  of  that  distiict  until  1020,  when  he  was  slain  by  the 
sons  of  his  brother,  Maelbrigdi. 

These  sons  of  Maelbrigdi  appear  to  have  been  Malcolm,  who  died  in 
1029,  and  Gilcomgain,  who  was  killed  in  1032.  The  latter  had  married 
Gruoch,  daughter  of  Boete  (son  of  King  Kenneth  MacMalcolm),  or  accord- 
ing to  some  authorities,  a  granddaughter  of  Boete  other  than  Gruoch. 
After  the  death  of  Gilcomgain,  his  widow  married  Macbeth  (son  of  Finley), 
who  doubtless  had  a  hand  in  the  killing  of  her  first  husband,  in  retaliation 
for  the  killing  of  Finley  by  Gilcomgain  and  his  brother.  Malcolm  mac 
Maelbrigdi  (so-called  by  Tighernac),  who  died  in  1029,  is  spoken  of  by  the 
annalist  as  "«'  (or  king)  of  Scotland."  Undoubtedly  at  that  time  the 
mormaors  of  Moray  were  the  virtual  rulers  of  the  greater  part  of  Scotland 
lying  north  of  the  Grampians.  Under  the  Pictish  system  of  descent,  the 
rights  of  a  deceased  king's  brother  were  superior  to  those  of  the  king's  son  ; 
and  as  that  system  prevailed  in  the  Highlands  long  after  the  tenth  century, 
Finley  would  be  the  natural  successor  to  the  mormaorship  on  the  death  of 
his  brother  Maelbrigdi.  This  succession,  however,  as  indicated  above,  was 
disputed  by  the  sons  of  Maelbrigdi,  and  they  succeeded  in  settling  the  title 
for  the  time  being  by  killing  their  uncle.  After  their  own  deaths,  Macbeth 
was  the  next  in  succession,  notwithstanding  Gilcomgain  had  left  an  infant 
son  (Lulach). 

A  few  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  (about  1008), 
the  Orkneyinga  Saga  tells  us,  Sigurd,  Earl  of  Orkney,  married  the  daughter 
of  Melkolf  (Malcolm)  "  King  of  the  Scots,"  and  by  her  had  a  son,  Thorfinn. 
When  the  latter  was  five  years  old,  "  the  King  of  Scots  gave  to  Thorfinn,  his 
relation,  Katanes  [Caithness]  and  Sutherland,  and  an  earl's  title  along  with 
it,  and  gave  him  men  to  rule  the  domain  along  with  him."  8  While  this  King 
Malcolm,  has  been  identified  with  Malcolm  MacKenneth  (grandfather  of  Dun- 
can), King  of  Southern  Scotland,  by  Messrs.  Skene  and  Robertson  and  by 
all  later  writers  founding  on  them,  there  is  no  certainty  that  they  were  the 
same.  In  some  points  the  probabilities  favor  the  view  taken  originally  by 
Mr.  Skene  in  his  Highlanders,  that  the  Norse  sagas,  in  their  first  mention  of 
King  Malcolm,  really  referred  to  Malcolm  mac  Maelbrigdi,  Mormaor  of 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  239 

Moray,  the  "  ri "  who  died  in  1029,  and  who  was  the  ruler  of  the  Scotland 
best  known  to  Earls  Sigurd  and  Thorfinn.  (See  "  The  Norse  Sagas,"  Ap- 
pendix P.) 

Five  years  after  Thorfinn's  birth  (in  1014),  in  the  final  struggle  which 
took  place  between  the  Irish  and  the  Danes,  Earl  Sigurd  went  to  Dublin  as 
an  ally  of  the  latter,  and  there  met  his  death  at  the  battle  of  Clontarf. 
Before  embarking  for  Ireland,  Sigurd  had  sent  his  young  son  Thorfinn 
to  the  child's  grandfather,  Malcolm,  King  of  Scotland.  Upon  the  death 
of  the  father,  Malcolm  bestowed  Caithness  and  Sutherland  upon  Thorfinn, 
with  the  title  of  earl,  and  gave  him  men  to  enable  him  to  establish 
his  authority.  Sigurd  had  three  sons  by  a  former  wife — Sumarlidi,  Brusi, 
and  Einar  —  among  whom  the  Orkneys  were  divided.  They  all  died 
prior  to  1029,  however;  and  before  King  Malcolm's  death  in  1034, 
Thorfinn,  their  half-brother,  had  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Orkney. 
On  Duncan's  accession  to  the  Scottish  throne,  after  the  death  of  Malcolm, 
that  king  assumed  full  authority  over  Caithness,  and  bestowed  it  upon  his 
nephew,  Moddan,  with  the  title  of  earl.  Duncan's  cousin,  Thorfinn,  naturally 
looked  upon  this  as  an  abrogation  of  his  own  rights,  and  the  two  became 
enemies.  When  Moddan  came  north  with  his  men  from  Sutherland  to  take 
possession  of  the  earldom,  he  was  met  by  a  superior  force  under  Thorfinn 
and  compelled  to  retire.  Duncan  at  once  organized  a  considerable  army, 
and  having  sent  Moddan  to  the  north  overland,  sailed  from  Berwick  to 
Caithness  with  a  fleet  of  eleven  vessels.  Thorfinn  met  the  fleet  in  the 
Pentland  Firth,  and  though  having  with  him  only  five  warships,  defeated 
Duncan,  and  obliged  the  latter  to  retire  to  the  Moray  Firth,  where  he 
landed,  and  started  for  the  south  to  get  together  a  new  army.  Earl  Mod- 
dan, who  in  the  meantime  had  entered  Caithness,  was  followed  by  Thorfinn's 
lieutenant,  and  surprised  and  slain  at  Thurso.  Duncan  collected  as  large 
an  army  as  possible,  and  having  entered  Moray  again,  met  Thorfinn  in  battle 
at  Torfness,  or  Broghead,  where,  the  second  time,  he  was  completely  defeated 
and  his  forces  routed.  Earl  Thorfinn  then  overran  and  subdued  the  country 
as  far  south  as  Fife.9  Soon  after,  Duncan  was  slain  by  Macbeth,  the  Mor- 
maor  of  Moray,  whose  father,  Finley,  had  regained  the  mormaorship  after  the 
death  of  Earl  Sigurd.  Macbeth  at  the  time  may  have  been  operating  as  an 
ally  of  Thorfinn  10  ;  or,  according  to  some  accounts,  endeavoring  to  make 
good  his  own  wife's  claim  to  the  Scottish  throne — a  claim  which  seems  to 
have  been  at  least  of  equal  merit  with  that  of  Duncan  himself. 

After  Duncan's  death,  Macbeth  succeeded  to  his  crown  ;  yet  the  power 
of  Earl  Thorfinn  at  this  time  was  nearly  as  great  as  his  own.  Thorfinn  pos- 
sessed the  nine  earldoms  of  Sutherland,  Ross,  Moray,  "  Dali,"  Buchan,  Mar, 
Mearns,  Angus,  and  Galloway  "  ;  and  without  his  assistance  the  Mormaor 
of  Moray  could  hardly  have  succeeded  in  establishing  himself  upon  the 
Scottish  throne.18  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  Macbeth's  reign  marked 
the  highest  point  ever  reached  by  Norse  influence  in  Scotland.1*     As  that 


240  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

influence  has  a  considerable  interest  in  connection  with  the  genesis  and  de- 
velopment of  the  people  of  Galloway,  and  one  that  has  not  until  recently 
been  clearly  recognized,  it  may  at  this  period  properly  be  considered. 

The  part  of  Scotland  now  known  by  the  name  of  Galloway  embraces  the 
counties  of  Kirkcudbright  and  Wigton,  which  lie  west  of  the  lower  Nith 
valley,  and  south  of  the  range  of  high  hills  or  mountains  that  form  the 
southern  boundary  of  Ayr  and  Dumfries.  In  earlier  times,  after  its  separa- 
tion from  Strathclyde,  Galloway  probably  included  Annandale  (in  Dumfries), 
the  two  southern  districts  of  Ayr  (Kyle  and  Carrick),  and  perhaps  also  a  great 
part  of  the  northern  district  of  Ayr  (Cuninghame)  in  addition.14  It  thus 
embraced  within  its  bounds  nearly  the  whole  of  the  southern  and  western 
coast  of  Scotland  from  the  mouth  of  the  Nith  to  the  Clyde. 

St.  Columba  preached  to  the  Northern  Picts  as  early  as  565  ;  but  long 
before  that  St.  Ninian  had  converted  the  Galloway  Picts,16  and  built  the  mis- 
sion station  or  monastery  of  Candida  Casa,  or  White  House,  at  Whithorn  on 
the  southeastern  coast  of  Wigtonshire. 

Ninian  is  said  to  have  been  born  on  the  shore  of  Solway  Firth,16  to  have 
been  the  son  of  a  king,  or  nobleman,  and  to  have  studied  at  Rome,  where 
he  was  consecrated  as  Bishop  by  Pope  Siricius.  He  started  in  395  on  a  mis- 
sion to  convert  the  Attecotts.17 

Now,  he  chose  his  seat  in  a  place  which  is  now  called  Withern  [Whithorn]  ; 
which  place,  situate  upon  the  shore  of  the  ocean,  while  the  sea  stretches  far 
from  the  east,  west,  and  south,  is  inclosed  by  the  sea  itself  ;  from  the  north 
part  a  way  is  opened  for  those  only  who  are  willing  to  enter.  There,  then, 
by  the  command  of  the  man  of  God,  the  masons,  whom  he  had  brought  with 
him,  erect  a  church  ;  before  which  they  say  there  was  none  in  Britain  built 
of  stone.18 

This  stone  church  presented  such  a  contrast  to  the  customary  oaken  struc- 
tures of  the  surrounding  country  that  it  soon  became  known  far  andwide  as  the 
White  House.    Ninian  is  said  to  have  died  and  been  buried  here  about  432." 

In  Bede's  time,  Whithorn  had  been  erected  into  an  Episcopal  See  under  the 
fostering  care  of  the  Northumbrian  kings.  The  Lord  of  Northumbria  like- 
wise maintained  dominion  over  more  or  less  of  the  territory  and  people  of 
Galloway.20  Such  districts  as  did  not  acknowledge  his  sovereignty  remained 
either  under  their  own  independent  chiefs  or  were  included  in  the  kingdom 
of  Strathclyde,  which,  after  the  victory  of  the  Picts  at  Nechtansmere  in  685, 
had  been  freed  from  the  Northumbrian  yoke. 

In  740,  Alpin  (son  of  Eachaidh  by  a  Pictish  mother),  who  had  been  suc- 
cessively king  of  the  Northern  Picts  (726)  and  king  of  the  Scots  (729)  and 
who  later  was  driven  out  of  those  kingdoms  by  Angus,  entered  Galloway 
(Ayrshire)  with  an  army  and  laid  its  territory  waste.  In  741  he  was  defeated 
by  Innrechtach  near  the  Dee,31  and  obliged  to  retreat  to  Loch  Ryan,  where 
he  was  assassinated." 

In  750  Eadberht,  King  of  Northumbria,  added  the  plain  of  Kyle  and  other 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  241 

regions  to  his  Galloway  domain."  These  "  other  regions "  are  generally- 
supposed  to  have  been  portions  of  the  adjacent  districts  of  Cuninghame  and 
Carrick  in  Ayrshire."  They  were  retained  as  dependencies  until  the  close  of 
the  same  century,  when  by  reason  of  civil  feuds  at  home,  and  the  increasing 
invasions  of  the  Norsemen  from  without,  the  Angles  were  compelled  to 
withdraw  from  Galloway  and  their  suzerainty  was  given  up.36 

It  has  usually  been  assumed  by  modern  historians,  founding  on  George 
Chalmers,  that  there  were  repeated  invasions  of  Galloway  from  Ireland  dur- 
ing the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  and  that  this  district  was  then,  like 
Argyle  in  the  sixth,  largely  colonized  by  emigrants  from  Ulster.  This 
assumption  has  been  in  a  great  measure  refuted  by  Mr.  Skene,"  and  as  the 
question  is  one  of  considerable  interest  at  this  point,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to 
give  his  argument  some  consideration.     It  is  as  follows  : 

Chalmers,  in  his  Caledonia  (i.,  p.  358),  states  dogmatically  that  Galloway 
was  colonized  in  the  eighth  century  by  Cruithne  [Picts]  from  Ireland,  and  that 
they  were  followed  by  fresh  "  swarms  from  the  Irish  hive  during  the  ninth  and 
tenth  centuries,"  and  this  statement  has  been  accepted  and  repeated  by  all 
subsequent  writers  as  if  there  were  no  doubt  about  it.  There  is  not  a  vestige 
of  authority  for  it.  Galloway  belonged  during  these  centuries  to  the  North- 
umbrian kingdom,  and  was  a  part  of  Bernicia.  Bede,  in  narrating  the  foun- 
dation of  Candida  Casa  by  St.  Ninian  (Book  iii.,  ch.  iv.),  says,  "  qui  locus  ad 
provinciam  Berniciorum  pertinens  "  ;  and  there  is  abundant  evidence  that 
Galloway  was  under  the  rule  of  the  Northumbrian  kings  after  his  time.  It 
is  antecedently  quite  improbable  that  it  could  have  been  colonized  from  Ire- 
land during  this  time  without  a  hint  of  such  an  event  being  recorded  either 
in  the  Irish  or  English  annals. 

The  only  authorities  referred  to  by  Chalmers  consist  of  an  entire  misap- 
plication of  two  passages  from  the  Ulster  Annals.  He  says  :  "  In  682  a.d., 
Cathasao,  the  son  of  Maoledun,  the  Mormaor  of  the  Ulster  Cruithne,  sailed 
with  his  followers  from  Ireland,  and  landing  on  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  among 
the  Britons,  he  was  encountered  and  slain  by  them  near  Mauchlin,  in  Ayr, 
at  a  place  to  which  the  Irish  gave  the  name  of  Rathmore,  or  great  fort.  In 
this  stronghold  Cathasao  and  his  Cruithne  had  probably  attacked  the  Britons, 
who  certainly  repulsed  them  with  decisive  success." — Ulster  An.,  sub.  an. 
682.  "  In  702  the  Ulster  Cruithne  made  another  attempt  to  obtain  settlement 
among  the  Britons  on  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  but  they  were  again  repulsed  in 
the  battle  of  Culin." — lb.,  sub.  an.  702.  The  original  texts  of  these  pass- 
ages is  as  follows  :  "  682.  Beltum  Rathamoire  Maigiline  contra  Britones  ubi 
ceciderunt  Catusach  mac  Maelduin  Ri  Cruithne  et  Ultan  fllius  Dicolla.  702. 
Bellum  Campi  Cuilinn  in  Airdo  nepotum  Necdaig  inter  Ultu  et  Britones  ubi 
filius  Radgaind  cecidit.  Ecclesiarum  Dei  Ulait  victores  erant."  Now,  both 
of  these  battles  were  fought  in  Ulster.  Rathmore,  or  great  fort  of  Maigiline, 
which  Chalmers  supposed  to  be  Mauchlin,  in  Ayr,  was  the  chief  seat  of  the 
Cruithne  in  Dalaraidhe,  or  Dalaradia,  and  is  now  called  Moylinny.  See 
Reeves's  Antiquities  of  Down  and  Connor,  p  70.  Airdo  nepotum  Necdaig,  or 
Arduibh  Eachach,  was  the  Barony  of  Iveagh,  also  in  Dalaradia,  in  Ulster 
(lb.,  p.  348)  ;  and  these  events  were  attacks  by  the  Britons  upon  the  Cruith- 
nigh  of  Ulster,  where  the  battles  were  fought,  and  not  attacks  by  the  latter 
upon  the  British  inhabitants  of  Ayrshire 


242  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Now,  while  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  case  against  the  relevancy  of 
Mr.  Chalmers's  citations  and  his  theory  of  an  eighth  century  settlement  of  the 
Irish  in  Galloway  is  a  very  clear  one,  the  fact  remains  that  for  several  hun- 
dred years  past,  and  certainly  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin 
(840),  there  have  been  apparent  in  the  people  themselves  direct  indications 
of  large  Gaelic  infusions  into  the  Galloway  population,  whether  their  origin 
be  Ireland  or  the  north  of  Scotland.  The  most  noticeable  of  these  evidences 
are  to  be  found  in  the  language  and  in  the  names  of  the  people.  Up  to  and 
beyond  the  twelfth  century  the  Picts  of  Galloway  spoke  the  Gaelic  tongue. 
At  the  battle  of  the  Standard  in  1138  the  war-cry  of  the  Galwegians,  who 
were  in  the  van  of  the  Scottish  army,  was  "  Albanaich  !  Albanaich  ! "  the 
Gaelic  name  for  Scotland  ;  and  the  English  on  the  other  side  are  said  to  have 
answered  back  in  derision,  "  Yry  !  Yry  ! "  (Irish  !  Irish  !)  To  this  day, 
"  Eerish  "  is  a  term  of  contempt  in  Galloway." 

Mr.  Skene,  while  fully  acknowledging  the  presence  of  a  considerable 
Gaelic  element  in  the  Galloway  population,  and  while  ever  alive  to  the  im- 
portant bearing  which  language  sustains  to  racial  questions,  handles  it  in 
this  case  more  with  reference  to  its  efficacy  as  a  refutation  of  the  claim  for 
a  Cymro-Celtic  origin  of  the  Galloway  Picts.28  But  in  doing  so  he  incident- 
ally presents  some  testimony  which,  if  it  proves  no  one  thing  in  particular, 
at  least  shows  what  was  the  vulgar  opinion  of  the  origin  of  the  Galwegians, 
about  the  time  of  John  Knox.     This  testimony  is  as  follows  : 

If  any  part  of  the  Pictish  people  might  be  expected  to  retain  their  pecu- 
liar language  and  characteristics,  it  would  be  the  Picts  of  Galloway  ;  and  if 
that  language  had  been  a  Cymric  dialect,  it  must  have  merged  in  the  speech 
of  the  British  population  around  them.  In  one  of  the  legends  which  seems 
peculiarly  connected  with  them,  Gaedel  Ficht  or  the  Gaelic  Pict  appears  as 
the  "  eponymus  "  of  the  race  ;  and  Buchanan  tells  us  that  in  his  day,  that  is, 
in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  "  a  great  part  of  this  country  still  uses  its  ancient 
language."  What  that  language  was  we  learn  from  a  contemporary  of 
Buchanan,  William  Dunbar,  the  poet,  who,  in  the  "  Flyting  "  between  him  and 
Kennedy,  taunted  his  rival  with  his  extraction  from  the  natives  of  Galloway 
and  Carrick,  and  styles  him  "  Ersch  Katheraine,"  "  Ersch  brybour  baird,"and 
his  poetry  as  "  sic  eloquence  as  they  in  Erschert  use."  This  word  "  Ersch  " 
was  the  term  applied  at  the  time  to  Scotch  Gaelic,  as  when  Sir  David 
Lyndesay  says  — 

Had  Sanct  Gerome  bene  borne  intil  Arygle, 
Into  Irische  toung  his  bukis  had  done  compyle. 

And  Kennedy  retorts  upon  Dunbar — 

Thow  luvis  nane  Erische,  enf  I  understand, 

But  it  sowld  be  all  trew  Scottismenn  is  leid  ; 
It  was  the  gud  langage  of  this  land. 

Mr.  Mac  Kerlie,  in  Paterson's  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr  (pp.  14,  16), 
explains  the  reasons  for  the  similarity  between  the  Gaelic  tongue  of  Galloway 
and  that  of  Ulster,  in  this  wise  : 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  243 

In  740,  however,  the  Alcluydensians  of  Kyle  were  invaded  by  Alpin, 
king  of  the  Scots,  who  landed  at  Ayr  with  a  large  body  of  followers.  He  is 
said  to  have  wasted  the  country  between  the  Ayr  and  the  Doon  as  far  inland  as 
the  vicinity  of  Dalmellington,  about  sixteen  miles  from  the  sea.  There  he 
was  met  by  an  armed  force  under  the  chiefs  of  the  district,  and  a  battle  hav- 
ing ensued,  Alpin  was  slain,  and  his  army  totally  routed.  The  spot  where 
the  king  was  buried  is  called  at  this  day  Laicht- Alpin,  or  the  Grave  of  Alpin. 
Chalmers  observes  that  this  fact  is  important,  as  showing  that  the  Gaelic 
language  was  then  the  prevailing  tongue  in  Ayrshire.  No  doubt  it  is  :  but 
it  is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  that  could  be  urged  against  his  theory 
that  the  Gaelic  was  superinduced  upon  the  British,  which  he  holds  was  the 
language  of  the  Caledonian  Picts,  as  well  as  the  Romanised  tribes.  If  the 
Damnonii  of  Ayrshire  spoke  Gaelic  in  836,  they  must  have  done  so  long  be- 
fore ;  because  at  that  period,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Scots  of  Argyle  had  made 
no  settlement  in  Ayrshire. 

But  the  fact  that  there  is  a  considerable  difference  between  the  Gaelic  of 
the  Galloway  Cruithne  and  the  Gaelic  of  the  Scots  —  that  the  former  bears  a 
much  closer  affinity  to  the  Irish  as  it  now  exists  —  is  strong  evidence  that 
the  Scottish  Gaelic  was  not  a  direct  importation  from  Ireland,  and  that  the 
Dalriads  of  Argyle  were  not  purely  Irish.  Though  originally  from  North 
Britain,  the  Cruithne  had  been  long  resident  in  Ireland,  and  did  not  settle 
in  Galloway  till  about  four  centuries  later  than  the  return  of  Fergus  to 
Argyleshire  ;  consequently  the  greater  similarity  in  language  and  customs 
can  easily  be  accounted  for." 

The  evidences  of  a  considerable  Gaelic  admixture  in  the  blood  of  the 
early  southwestern  Scotchmen  are  also  shown  in  their  place-names  and  sur- 
names. This  is  particularly  the  case  in  Ayrshire,  which  was  the  native 
county  of  the  first  emigrants  to  Antrim  and  Down  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
To  again  quote  the  author  of  the  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr  (vol.  i.,  pp. 
9,  16,  17)  : 

In  so  far  as  Ayrshire  is  concerned,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  early 
inhabitants  were  purely  Celtic  ;  whether  called  Britons,  Belgse,  Scots,  Picts, 
or  Cruithne,  they  must  all  have  been  of  Gallic  extraction.  This  is  apparent  in 
the  topography  of  the  country,  the  hill-forts,  stone-monuments,  and  Druidi- 
cal  and  other  remains  which  have  everywhere  been  found.  Even  yet,  not- 
withstanding the  frequent  accessions,  in  later  times,  of  Saxons,  Normans, 
and  Flemings,  the  bulk  of  the  population  retains  much  of  its  original  features. 
This  appears  in  the  prevailing  patronymics,  many  of  which  preserve  their 
Celtic  prefixes,  such  as  M'Culloch,  M'Creath,  M'Crindle,  M'Adam,  M'Phad- 
ric,  or  M'Phedries  ;  or  have  dropped  them  like  the  Alexanders,  Andrewses, 
Kennedies,  and  Bones,  within  these  few  centuries.  Campbell  is  a  numerous 
surname.  The  Celtic  lineaments  are  perhaps  not  so  strong  in  Cuninghame, 
at  least  in  the  middle  portion  of  it,  as  in  the  other  districts  ;  but  this  is  easily 
accounted  for  by  the  early  settlements  of  the  De  Morville,  and  other  great 
families  from  England,  in  the  richest  parts  of  it.  In  Pont's  maps,  drawn  up 
at  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Celtic  names  are  more 
numerous  both  in  Kyle  and  Cuninghame  than  in  the  maps  of  the  present  day. 
The  Gaelic  language  is  said  [by  Buchanan]  to  have  been  spoken  in  some 
quarters  of  Ayrshire  so  late  as  the  sixteenth  century.     .     .     . 


244  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

The  main  topographical  argument  of  Chalmers  in  favor  of  the  Scoto- 
Irish  theory,  is  the  circumstance  of  Inver,  in  two  instances,  having  been  sub- 
stituted for  Aber.  Now,  as  formerly  shown,  there  are  only  two  solitary 
instances  of  Inver  in  the  whole  topography  of  Ireland,  and  not  one  through- 
out the  range  of  Galloway.  The  word,  therefore,  seems  to  have  been  pecu- 
liar to  the  Scottish  Gael.  In  Kyle,  on  the  contrary,  we  have  several  samples 
of  it  in  old  charters.  Ayr  itself  is  called  Inver-ar  in  some  instances,  while 
we  have  Inverpolcurtecan  and  Inverdon.  Another  distinction  between  the 
Gaelic,  Welsh,  and  Irish,  worthy  of  being  taken  notice  of,  is  the  patronymic 
mark.  In  the  Scots  it  is  Mac ;  in  Welsh,  Ap  ;  and  in  Irish,  0\  Now,  if 
the  Scots  had  been  thoroughly  Irish  in  their  descent,  as  Chalmers  affirms 
they  were  in  their  manners,  laws,  and  customs,  it  is  difficult  to  understand 
why  they  should  have  differed  so  widely  upon  so  common  a  point  ;  and  it  is 
equally  strange  that,  in  the  oldest  charters,  where  the  Walenses,  the  re- 
mains of  the  Alcluyd  Britons,  are  distinctly  mentioned,  there  should  not 
occur  a  single  Welsh  patronymic  mark,  if  the  language  of  the  North  Britons 
and  the  Welsh  were  so  congenerous  as  he  supposed.  If  we  take,  according 
to  Chalmers,  the  British  words  in  the  topography  of  Scotland  as  a  proof 
that  the  inhabitants  spoke  Welsh,  the  same  rule  would  apply  equally  to  Ire- 
land, where  the  same  British  words  are  prevalent. 

The  lists  of  the  Scottish  and  Pictish  kings  are  adduced  by  Chalmers  as 
another  proof  of  the  British  speech  of  the  Picts,  the  names  of  the  latter 
having  no  meaning  unless  in  the  British.  Now  this  is  not  the  case.  Most 
of  the  Pictish  names  are  just  as  capable  of  being  explained  by  a  Gaelic 
dictionary  as  those  of  the  Scots.  The  difference  lies  chiefly  in  the  spelling, 
a  circumstance  which  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 

The  Gaelic  was  not  a  written  language.  The  earliest  verses  known  are 
the  Duan,  a  sort  of  genealogy  of  the  Scottish  kings,  composed  in  the 
eleventh  century,  during  the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore.  The  Irish  Annals 
of  Ulster  and  Tighernach  were  not  written  before  the  thirteenth  [?]  century, 
so  that  any  writings  at  all  extant  —  even  where  Gaelic  names  of  places  occur 
in  the  earliest  charters  —  all  make  a  nearer  approach  to  the  language  as  it  is 
now  spoken  and  understood  than  the  Welsh  authorities,  to  whose  records  of 
facts  we  are  chiefly  indebted  for  any  knowledge  which  has  been  preserved  of 
the  Picts  or  Alcluydensians,  and  who  wrote  at  a  much  earlier  period.  The 
annals  of  the  latter  came  to  us  through  an  ancient  Cambro-British  medium, 
those  of  the  Scots  through  a  recently  written,  and  no  doubt  much  changed 
branch  of  a  kindred  tongue. 

Another  argument  against  the  Irish  extraction  of  the  Scots  may  be  drawn 
from  the  statement  of  Chalmers,  that  the  Scoto-Irish  brought  the  custom  of 
war-cries  with  them.  Now,  in  the  first  place,  we  know  that  war-cries  were 
not  peculiarly  Irish  ;  and,  in  the  second,  that  the  Scots  did  not  use  the  affix 
abo,  to  their  cries,  such  as  Butler-#&?,  or  Crom-abo,  which  was  general  over 
Ireland.  Their  national  war-cry  was  simply  Albanich  from  Albyn,  the 
ancient  name  of  North  Britain.  Thus  we  see  there  was  nothing  Irish 
even  in  the  style  of  their  war-cry,  while  the  cry  itself  shows  that  they  were 
of  Albyn,  not  of  Ireland.  Even  the  Cruithne,  or  "  the  wild  Scots  of  Gallo- 
way," as  they  were  termed  in  the  twelfth  century,  used  the  same  war-cry. 
At  the  battle  of  the  Standard,  in  1136,  they  led  the  van,30  and  rushing  on  to 
battle,  the  cry  was  "  Albanich  !  Albanich  !  Albanich  !  "  Thanks  to  Hove- 
den,  who  has  recorded  the  circumstance,  we  have  here  strong  presumptive 
proof  that  both  the  Dalriads  of  Argyle  and  the  Cruithne  of  Galloway  were 
originally  from  Albyn,  and  had  preserved  the  same  national  war-cry  through- 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  245 

out  their  long  pilgrimage  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  As  the  term  Albyn  only- 
applied  in  ancient  times  to  the  Pictish  country  north  of  the  Forth,  the  cry 
would  not  have  been  locally  appropriate  in  Galloway  ;  hence  it  was  not 
likely  to  have  been  adopted  after  their  arrival.  The  war-cry  in  ancient,  like 
armorial  bearings  in  more  modern  times,  may  be  regarded  as  strong  evidence 
of  descent. 

Taking  all  things  into  consideration,  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  there  was,  in  reality,  very  little  difference  originally  between  the 
language  of  the  Scots,  Picts,  and  Alcluydensians.  If  there  had  been  as 
great  a  distinction  between  the  Gaelic  and  the  Pictish  language  as  the 
apocryphal  specimen  left  by  Merlin,  a  poet  of  the  sixth  century,  would  lead 
us  to  suppose,  there  would  have  been  little  use  in  appointing  Gaelic  clergy- 
men over  a  Pictish  people.  That  what  is  now  the  Lowland  dialect  had  its 
rise  during  the  Scottish  period  there  can  be  little  doubt.  The  annexation 
of  Lothian,  occupied  for  centuries  chiefly  by  the  Angles,  brought  them  into 
closer  contact  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent  districts  ;  while  a  body 
of  Saxons  actually  effected  a  settlement  in  Kyle  and  Cuninghame.  Though 
these,  it  may  be  inferred,  did  not  long  retain  possession,  owing  to  the  de- 
cline of  the  Northumbrian  power,  still  the  probability  is  that  a  portion  both 
of  their  lineage  and  language  remained.  The  many  Saxons  brought  into 
Scotland  by  Malcolm  Canmore — though  numbers  of  them  were  expelled 
by  the  Scots  after  his  death  —  must  have  tended  greatly  to  disseminate  a 
language  already  constituting  the  vernacular  tongue  of  the  east  coast  from 
the  Forth  to  the  Tweed. 

The  Lowland  dialect,  originating  in  a  combination  of  the  oldest  and 
purest  Teutonic  with  the  native  Gaelic  or  British,  owes  to  this  union  much 
of  that  peculiar  softness,  copiousness,  and  graphic  power  for  which  it  is  dis- 
tinguished. One-third  of  the  language,  upon  careful  examination,  will  be 
found  to  be  Celtic.  It  has  also  a  considerable  admixture  of  French,  the 
acquisition  of  which  can  easily  be  accounted  for  by  the  number  of  Norman 
settlers  who  came  amongst  us,  and  the  subsequent  intercourse  which  took 
place  between  France  and  Scotland.  In  the  next,  or  Anglo-Saxon  period 
of  our  history,  the  growth  of  the  Scottish  dialect  can  be  still  more  distinctly 
traced. 

In  reference  to  the  laws  during  the  era  of  which  we  are  now  writing, 
Chalmers  shows  that  they  were  Celtic,  and  very  different  from  the  Saxon  ; 
but  that  they  were  peculiarly  Scoto-Irish,  as  in  accordance  with  his  system, 
he  affirms,  is  by  no  means  so  clear.  It  is  not  at  all  proved  that  the  laws  of  the 
Scots  were  different  from  those  of  the  Picts,  or  Lowland  Britons.  The  pre- 
dominance of  the  Scots  brings  them  down  more  nearly  to  written  evidence  ; 
and  therefore  we  have  a  better  knowledge  of  the  customs  which  prevailed 
under  their  rule.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  almost  in  total  ignorance  of  the 
laws  by  which  the  Picts  or  Alcluydensians  were  governed. 

The  law  of  tanistry  —  by  which  the  succession  of  the  crown  was  regu- 
lated—  existed  apparently  amongst  the  Picts  as  well  as  the  Scots.  Bede 
casually  informs  us  that  it  was  a  rule  with  the  Picts,  when  the  succession 
came  to  be  disputed,  that  the  preference  should  be  given  to  the  nearest 
claimant  by  the  female  side.  It  was  this  law  which  placed  Kenneth  on  the 
throne,  in  opposition  to  the  other  competitor,  Bred. 

That  the  customs  of  the  Scots  and  Picts  were  the  same  is  apparent  from 
an  ordinance  of  Edward  I.,  issued  with  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  Scotland, 
in  which  he  says,  "  the  custom  of  the  Scots  and  Picts  shall  for  the  future  be 
prohibited,  and  be  no  longer  practised."     Customs,  not  custom,  would  have 


246  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

been  the  phrase  if  there  had  been  different  customs  prevailing  among  the 
Scots  and  Britons.  During  the  Scottish  period  the  country  had  been  eccle- 
siastically divided  into  parishes,  but  the  introduction  of  sheriffdoms  and 
justiciaries  belongs  to  a  later  age. 

Mr.  MacKerlie  refers  to  the  same  conditions  in  the  district  of  modern 
Galloway  {Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  pp.  62-63)  : 

The  distance  between  the  county  Down  and  Galloway  is  twenty-two 
miles,  and  thus  only  eight  miles  farther  off  than  Antrim  from  Kintyre,  and 
both  to  be  seen  from  Ireland.  The  emigration  to  Galloway  must  have  been 
gradual,  and  spread  over  centuries,  until  the  Ulster  settlers  were  so  numer- 
ous as  to  become  the  dominant  people.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
Strathclyde  kingdom  came  into  existence  about  a.d.  547-8,  which  fully 
accounts  for  the  absence  of  information  in  regard  to  the  erroneous  supposi- 
tion that  Galloway  was  an  independent  district,  with  rulers  of  its  own.  This 
continued  until  a.d.  1018,  when  Strathclyde  as  a  kingdom  came  to  an  end  ; 
but  the  Norsemen  then  got  full  possession  of  and  sway  over  Galloway,  which 
continued  for  about  two  centuries,  until  the  kings  of  Scotland  were  fully 
established,  and  ruled  over  the  whole  kingdom,  as  since  known. 

The  popular  idea  that  Galloway  was  all  along  a  kingdom  in  itself  is 
purely  ideal,  and  without  the  slightest  basis  for  it.  We  wish  to  direct  atten- 
tion to  the  close  communication  which  evidently  existed  between  Galloway 
and  Ireland  from  the  earliest  times.  It  is  easily  understood  from  being  such 
close  neighbours.  There  also  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  statement  which 
eminent  writers  have  handed  down  is  virtually  correct,  that  the  Goidels  or 
Gaels  were  the  first  Celtic  inhabitants,  who  absorbed  the  aborigines  as  the 
situations  or  circumstances  demanded,  and  who  in  turn  were  next  dislodged 
by  the  Cymri,  and  other  Celtic  fresh  hordes  who  flocked  into  Britain,  driving 
the  said  Goidels  northwards,  and  across  to  Ireland.  If  other  proof  were 
wanting,  we  have  it  in  the  surnames,  and  in  the  names  of  places,  many  of 
which  are  common  to  both  Galloway  and  Ireland,  being  found  on  both  sides 
of  the  Channel. 

There  was  a  more  or  less  considerable  Teutonic  element  introduced  into 
the  population  of  Galloway  at  an  early  date  not  only  by  the  Angles  who 
occupied  it  in  Bede's  time,  but  to  a  far  greater  extent  by  the  Norse  sea-kings 
and  their  followers,  who  settled  there  in  large  numbers  during  the  latter  part 
of  the  tenth  and  first  half  of  the  eleventh  centuries.  This  conquest  of 
Galloway  and  northern  Scotland  has  been  briefly  sketched  in  the  preceding 
pages.  Let  us  now  consider  the  results  of  that  conquest.  This  subject  has 
been  treated  at  some  length  by  the  author  last  quoted,  who  says  : 

The  idea  has  also  largely  prevailed  that  Galloway  was  for  long  under 
Saxon  rule,  with  no  other  basis,  so  far  as  we  can  trace,  than  that  in  a.d.  723 
commenced  a  succession  of  bishops  connected  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church. 
This,  however,  was  of  short  duration,  as  the  last  bishop  was  elected  in  790. 
He  was  still  there  in  803,  but  the  line  ended  with  him.31  This  ecclesiastical 
establishment,  which  did  not  exist  for  a  century,  was  distinct  from  district 
rule.  The  power  of  the  Church  of  Iona  extended  to  Northumberland,  until 
the  Anglo-Saxons  conformed  to  Rome  in  664.     This  latter  was  the  church 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  247 

thrust  on  the  Galwegians,  and  failed  at  that  period.  Afterwards,  when  King 
David  I.,  with  his  Anglo-Normans,  etc.,  succeeded  in  establishing  the 
Anglo-Church  of  Rome  in  Scotland  without  an  archbishop,  the  Pope  di- 
rected that  the  Primate  of  York  should  consecrate,  and  this  was  continued 
until  an  archbishop  was  established  at  St.  Andrews  in  a.d.  1472.  During 
that  period,  however,  Scotland  as  a  country  was  not  subject  to  England, 
and  so  it  was  with  Galloway,  an  ecclesiastical  union  only  existing  with 
Northumberland. 

That  Galloway  was  overrun  and  devastated  on  different  occasions  is  to  be 
believed,  but  permanent  settlement  does  not  appear.  The  confusion,  how- 
ever, about  the  district  was  kept  up  ;  and  under  date  875  we  are  told  that 
the  Britons  of  Strathclyde  and  the  Picts  of  Galloway  were  ravaged  by  the 
Danes  of  Northumberland.82  This  is  correct  in  one  sense,  as  the  Irish-Scots 
in  Galloway,  through  Bede,  had  their  name  stamped  in  history  as  Picts  ; 
but  we  have  mentioned  in  its  proper  place  how  it  arose.  The  statement 
under  date  875  conveys  that  Galloway  and  Strathclyde  were  not  united, 
which  is  erroneous. 

Mackenzie,  in  his  History  of  Galloway,  while  joining  in  the  usual  opinion 
(taken  from  uninvestigated  writings),  yet  admits  that  few  traces  are  left  in 
support  of  Anglo-Saxon  occupation,  and  at  Whithorn  specially,  the  place 
where  such  should  be  found.  In  the  absence  of  facts,  he  therefore  had  re- 
course to  making  out  something  from  the  names  of  places,  in  which  he  was 
singularly  unfortunate.  His  examples  were  Boreland,  Engleston,  and  Carle- 
ton,  as  now  spelled.  The  first  he  describes  as  the  habitations  of  the  slaves 
who  were  employed  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  till  the  ground,  termed  boors,  and 
hence  Boreland.  The  next,  Engleston,  or  Ingleston,  is  described  as  applied 
to  farms  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  Angles.  The  last  is  Carleton, 
which  lands  he  states  were  so  called  from  the  ceorles,  or  middle-class  Saxons,, 
who  were  the  owners. 

We  thus  have  Galloway  and  Ayrshire  transformed  into  an  Anglo-Saxon 
province,  as  having  been  fully  in  their  possession.  The  meanings  given  of 
all  three  are  entirely  erroneous.  Boreland,  as  Bordland,  is  to  be  found  as 
"  lands  kept  by  owners  in  Saxon  times  for  the  supply  of  their  own  board  or 
table,  but  it  referred  specially  to  the  Norsemen,  from  the  Orkneys  to  Gal- 
loway, as  lands  exempt  from  skatt,  the  land-tax,  for  the  upholding  of  Gov- 
ernment. Ingleston  has  been  corrupted  by  some  writers  to  Englishtoun,  the 
abode  of  the  English,  whereas  it  is  also  from  the  Norse  and  refers  to  land  of 
a  certain  character  or  quality.  Under  our  reference  to  the  Norse  occupa- 
tion of  Galloway,  we  will  enter  into  more  particulars  in  regard  to  the  names 
Boreland  and  Engleston.  Lastly,  Carleton,  being  from  ceorles,  is  very  far- 
fetched. If  it  had  been  from  a  Saxon  source  as  indicated,  the  class  from 
whom  it  is  said  to  have  been  derived  must  have  been  very  few  (three  or  four) 
in  number.  .  .  .  Other  lands  in  Wigtonshire,  and  Borgue  parish, 
Kirkcudbrightshire,  got  the  same  designation  from  descendants  who  removed 
there. 

In  fact,  all  the  erroneous  exaggerations  in  regard  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  occu- 
pation of  Galloway  have  arisen  from  the  Norse  rule  being  overlooked.  The 
supposition  has  been  that  the  latter  only  held  the  coast,  whereas  their  rule 
of  the  district  was  thorough.33 

The  earliest  record  of  the  appearance  of  the  Norsemen  in  British  waters 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicles.  They  are  stated  to  have  come 
from  Haeretha-land,  now  Hordaland,  on  the  west  coast  of  Norway.  The 
Irish  Annals  and  Welsh  Chronicles  give  the  date  of  their  first  appearance  on 


248  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  Irish  coast  as  a.d.  795,  but  it  is  clear  enough  that  they  were  known  cen- 
turies previously.  .  .  .  About  872,  King  Harold,  aided  by  Earl  Rogn- 
wald,  subdued  the  Hebrides,  inclusive  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  Thorstein  the 
Red,  son  of  Olaf  the  White,  King  of  Dublin,  and  Earl  Sigurd,  subdued 
Caithness  and  Sutherland,  as  far  as  Ekkielsbakkie,  and  afterwards  Ross  and 
Moray,  with  more  than  half  of  Scotland,  over  which  Thorstein  ruled,  as 
recorded  in  the  Landnama-bok. 

About  963,  Sigurd,  son  of  Earl  Hlodver,  and  his  wife  Audna  (the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Irish  king  Kiarval),  became  ruler  over  Ross  and  Moray,  Suther- 
land and  the  Dales  (of  Caithness),  which  seems  also  to  have  included  old 
Strathnavar.  Sigurd  married,  secondly,  the  daughter  of  Malcolm  (Malbrigid), 
called  King  of  Scotland.  He  was  slain  at  Clontarf  near  Dublin,  in  10 14. 
By  his  first  marriage  he  left  issue,  Sumarlidi,  Brusi,  and  Einar,  who  divided 
the  Orkneys  between  them.  By  his  second  marriage  he  had  issue,  Thorfinn, 
on  whom  King  Malcolm  bestowed  the  earldom  of  Caithness. 

To  quote  from  the  introduction,  Njal  Saga,  by  Dasent  [Saga  of  Burnt 
Njal,  George  Webbe  Dasent,  1861],  "Ireland  knew  them  [the  Vikings] 
Bretland  or  Wales  knew  them,  England  knew  them  too  well,  and  a  great  part 
of  Scotland  they  had  made  their  own.  To  this  day  the  name  of  almost  every 
island  on  the  west  coast  of  Scotland  is  either  pure  Norse,  or  Norse  distorted, 
so  as  to  make  it  possible  for  Celtic  lips  to  utter  it.  The  groups  of  Orkney 
and  Shetland  are  notoriously  Norse  ;  but  Lewis  and  the  Uists,  and  Skye 
and  Mull  are  no  less  Norse,  and  not  only  the  names  of  the  islands  them- 
selves, but  those  of  reefs  and  rocks,  and  lakes,  and  headlands,  bear  witness 
to  the  same  relation,  and  show  that,  while  the  original  inhabitants  were  not 
expelled,  but  held  in  bondage  as  thralls,  the  Norsemen  must  have  dwelt  and 
dwelt  thickly  too,  as  conquerors  and  lords." 

The  foregoing  extract  gives  a  description  which  investigation  corrobor- 
ates. The  blank  in  the  history  of  Galloway  after  the  termination  of  the 
Strathcluyd  kingdom  is  now  fully  met.  The  only  difficulty  is  to  determine 
at  what  date  Galloway  became  separated  from  Strathcluyd.  Earl  (Jarl) 
Malcolm,  who  lived  near  Whithorn  in  1014,  is  the  first  Norseman  specially 
named.  His  place  of  residence  is  believed  to  have  been  Cruggleton  Castle, 
of  historic  renown  in  after-times.  Eogan  the  Bald,  who  fought  at  Carham, 
and  died  in  1018,  was  the  last  King  of  Strathcluyd.  We  have  thus  only  a 
difference  of  four  years,  and  certain  it  is  that  Earl  Malcolm  was  in  Galloway, 
and  evidently  located  there  as  one  in  possession.  In  the  Burnt  Njal  we  find 
the  following  :  "  They  (Norsemen)  then  sailed  north  to  Berwick  (the  Sol- 
way),  and  laid  up  their  ship,  and  fared  up  into  Whithorn  in  Scotland,  and 
were  with  Earl  Malcolm  that  year."     .     .     . 

Another  point  certain  from  close  investigation  is,  that  Jarl  (Earl)  Thor- 
finn (son  of  Sigurd  II.)  ruled  over  Galloway  in  1034,  the  time  mentioned, 
and  continued  to  do  so  until  his  death  in  1064  or  1066  [1057].  In  1034 
he  was  twenty-seven  years  of  age.  In  Scottish  history  we  learn  nothing  of 
him,  although  in  possession  of  a  large  part  of  Scotland.  During  his  lifetime 
he  ruled  Galloway  from  Solway  to  Carrick.  The  Flateyjarbok  contains  the 
Orkneyinga  Saga  complete  in  successive  portions  :  and  in  Munch's  Historie 
et  Chronicon  Mannice,  Earl  Thorfinn  is  distinctly  mentioned. 

It  is  also  related  that  the  Earl  Gille  had  married  a  sister  of  Sigurd  II., 
and  acted  as  his  lieutenant  in  the  Sudreys.  He  is  said  to  have  resided  at 
Koln,  either  the  island  of  Coll  or  Colonsay  ;  and  when  Sigurd  fell  at  Clon- 
tarf in  1014,  he  took  Thorfinn,  the  youngest  son,  under  his  protection,  while 
the  elder  brothers  went  to  the  Orkneys,  and  divided  the  northern  dominions 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  249 

amongst  them.  The  two  elder  brothers  died  early  in  life,  and  Brusi  accepted 
a  pension  for  his  claim  ;  therefore,  when  Thorfinn  grew  up  he  found  himself 
possessed  of  nine  earldoms  in  Scotland,  to  which  he  added  all  Galloway. 
Munch  thinks  they  were  Caithness,  Sutherland,  Ross,  Moray,  Buchan,  Athol, 
Lorn,  Argyle,  and  Galloway.  To  quote  from  Munch  :  "  The  Orkneyinga 
Saga  says  so  expressly." 

Outliving  his  elder  brothers,  he  (Thorfinn)  became  the  Lord  of  Orkney 
and  Shetland  ;  Caithness  was  given  to  him  by  his  maternal  grandfather,  and 
after  the  death  of  Malcolm  .  .  .  he  .  .  .  conquered  Sutherland  and  Ross, 
and  made  himself  lord  of  Galloway,  in  the  widest  sense  of  this  denomination 

—  viz.,  from  Solway  to  Carrick  —  where  he  resided  for  long  periods,  and 
whence  he  made  successful  inroads,  sometimes  on  Cumberland,  sometimes 
upon  Ireland.  He  possessed,  besides  the  Sudreys  and  part  of  Ireland,  not 
less  than  nine  earldoms  in  Scotland,  etc.  As  Munch  further  states,  all  the 
Hebrides  and  a  large  kingdom  of  Ireland  were  also  his.  The  Skeld  Arnor, 
who  personally  visited  him,  and  made  a  poem  in  his  honour,  testifies  in  it  that 
his  kingdom  extended  from  Thurso  rocks  to  Dublin.  He  also  mentions 
that  Thorfinn  obtained  possession  of  eleven  earldoms  in  Scotland,  all  the 
Sudreyar  (Hebrides),  and  a  large  territory  in  Ireland.  He  further  states 
that  Thorfinn  sent  men  into  England  to  foray,  and  then,  having  collected  a 
force  from  the  places  named,  he  sailed  from  England,  where  he  had  two 
pitched  battles :  as  Arnor  gives  it  —  "  South  of  Man  did  these  things 
happen." 

This  is  contemporary  evidence.  In  1035,  when  Rognwald  arrived  from 
Norway,  Thorfinn  was  much  occupied  in  Scotland,  and  they  made  an  alli- 
ance by  which  Rognwald  was  to  have  his  part  of  Orkney  free  of  contest, 
under  condition  of  assisting  Thorfinn  with  all  the  forces  he  could  command. 
This  alliance  lasted  ten  years,  and  during  that  time  Thorfinn  made  many 
incursions  into  England  and  Ireland.  He  generally  resided  in  the  south 
during  the  summer  months,  and  in  Caithness,  or  rather  the  Orkney  and 
Shetland  Isles,  during  the  winter.  They  quarrelled,  however,  and  Rogn- 
wald was  slain  in  1045.  Thorfinn  died  about  1064  [?  ],34  says  Munch,  or 
sixty  years  after  King  Malcolm  ...  so  far  as  the  exact  dates  can  be  ascer- 
tained.    .     .     . 

In  regard  to  Thorfinn,  it  is  stated  that  he  "  resided  long  at  Caithness  in 
a  place  called  Gaddgedlar,  where  England  and  Scotland  meet."  Munch 
correctly  insists  that  Gaddgedlar  meant  Galloway,35  which  at  the  period 
extended  to  Annan  on  one  side  and  Carrick  on  the  other,  in  its  widest  sense 

—  or,  in  other  words,  the  south-western  part  of  Scotland,  from  Annandale 
on  the  Solway  to  Carrick  opposite  Kintyre  —  and  therefore,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  the  boundary  towards  England.  Munch  was  too  careful  a 
writer  to  confuse  such  a  subject,  and  gave  as  his  opinion  that  the  sentence 
was  incomplete,  having  been  incorrectly  copied  from  the  original  MS.  This 
belief  has  been  proved  to  be  correct,  as  we  will  hereafter  show.     .     .     . 

We  have  had  much  assistance  from  other  eminent  Norse  scholars,  but 
that  Gaddgedlar  meant  Galloway  has  been  confirmed  beyond  dispute  by 
the  late  G.  Vigfusson,  who  communicated  to  us  privately  the  missing  passage 
before  his  Collection  of  Sagas  was  in  the  press.  He  found  it  in  a  Danish 
translation,  made  in  a.d.  16 15,  and  preserved  in  Stockholm,  from  an  ancient 
Icelandic  vellum,  which  is  no  longer  in  existence.  The  existing  printed  text 
of  the  Orkneyinga  Saga  was  founded  on  the  Flateyensis  only.  The  passage 
in  its  purity  is,  "  Sat  Porfinner  jarl  longum  a  Katanesi  en  Rognvaldr  i 
Eyjum.     Pat  var  a  einu  sumri  at  Porfinnr  jarl  herjadi  um  Sudreyjar  ok 


250  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

vestan  um  Skotland.  Hann  la  par  sem  Gaddgedlar  heita,  par  maetist  Skot- 
land  ok  England.  Hann  hafdi  gibrk  fra  ser  lid  sudr  a  England  at  Strand- 
hoggi."  The  rough  translation  is  :  "  Earl  Thorfinn  dwelt  for  the  most  part 
in  Caithness,  but  Rognwald  in  the  Isles.  One  summer  Earl  Thorfinn  made 
war  in  the  Hebrides  and  the  west  of  Scotland.  He  lay  at  the  place  called 
Gaddgedlar,  where  Scotland  and  England  meet.  He  had  sent  some  from 
himself  men  to  England  for  a  strand-head  (coast  foray)."  We  will  give  Mr. 
Vigfusson's  notes,  which  he  sent  to  us  in  regard  to  the  foregoing  :  (1)  "  '  En 
Rognwaldr.  Hann  la,'  is  taken  from  the  translation  —  the  careless  copyist  of 
the  Flateyensis  having  here  omitted  and  transposed  a  whole  important  pass- 
age. The  suggestion  of  the  late  Norse  historian,  P.  A.  Munch,  is  thus 
conclusively  proved  to  be  true,  both  as  to  the  identification  of  Gaddgedlar- 
Galloway  (the  translator  spells  it  Gaardgellar),  as  also  the  unsound  state  of 
the  text.  Munch  surmised  that  after  '  Katanesi '  something,  the  copula 
*  ok  '  or  the  like,  had  been  dropped  out.  It  now  is  found  that  a  whole  sen- 
tence has  been  omitted  or  transposed.  (2)  We  have  followed  the  translator, 
where  the  text  runs  thus  :  '  Gaardgellar  der  modis  Engeland  oc,  Scotland 
da  harf"  de  han  Sendt  nogen  af  sin  Krigs  folck  hen  paa  Engeland,  etc'  The 
Flateyensis  is  here  all  confusion.  As  we  have  shown,  Thorfinn  ruled  over  a 
large  part  of  Scotland  and  a  part  of  Ireland.  He  also  carried  his  sway  to 
portions  of  England,  and  at  one  time  was  chief  of  the  Thingmen.  He  went 
to  Rome,  supposed  about  a.d.  1050,  saw  the  Pope,  and  obtained  absolution 
for  all  his  sins.  His  position  is  thus  shown  to  have  been  not  only  that  of  a 
warrior,  but  also  of  a  conqueror." 

That  Galloway  was  under  his  sway  is  clear.  This  opinion  is  fully  enter- 
tained among  the  learned  in  Copenhagen  ;  and  as  mentioned  to  us,  arising 
from  our  investigations,  great  interest  has  been  evinced  in  the  universities 
there  in  regard  to  Galloway,  considering  it  at  one  time  to  have  belonged  to 
the  sea-kings.  It  thus  appears  to  us  as  very  strange  how  the  occupation  of 
the  districts,  in  the  full  sense,  by  the  Norsemen  has  escaped  the  notice  of 
those  who  have  entered  on  Galloway  history. 

The  desire  to  make  the  Fergus  line  of  lords  of  Galloway  the  ancient 
inheritors  has  blinded  research.  If  the  character  of  the  people  had  only 
been  considered,  such  an  omission  would  not  have  occurred  ;  for  we  think 
no  one  will  be  bold  enough  to  dispute  the  fact  that  the  fortresses  on  the 
coast  were  built  by  the  Norsemen.  Having  incurred  such  labor,  is  it  to  be 
supposed  for  one  moment  that  they  were  erected  as  coast  ornaments,  or  that 
the  fierce  natives  of  Galloway  would  have  permitted  such  erections  if  they 
had  not  been  subdued  ?  All  the  Danish  records  tell  us  of  a  conquered 
people.  The  fortresses  never  could  have  been  built  under  other  circum- 
stances.    .     .     . 

There  can,  we  think,  be  no  question  that  the  principal  fortresses  in 
Galloway  were  erected  in  the  time  of  Jarls,  or  Earls,  Malcolm  and  Thorfinn, 
long  before  the  appearance  of  King  Magnus,  styled  in  the  annals,  Chroni- 
cum  Scotorum,  as  King  of  Lachlann.  His  descent  was  in  1093.  He 
returned  to  Norway  in  1099.  In  1102  he  came  back,  and  was  killed  in 
Connaught,  Ireland,  in  1103.  He  was  buried  in  St.  Patrick's  Church,  Down. 
He  only  reigned  over  the  Western  Isles  for  six  years,  when  he  was  succeeded 
by  Olave,  who  was  a  pacific  prince,  and  his  confederacy  with  Ireland  and 
Scotland  so  close,  that  no  one  presumed  to  disturb  the  peace  of  these  isles 
while  he  lived.  He  married  Affrica,  daughter  of  Fergus,  Lord  of  Galloway. 
The  Inquisitio  Davidis,  a  nearly  contemporary  document,  particularly  notices 
the  influx  of  a  Gentile,  alias  heathen,  population,  and  this  could  only  be  the 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  251 

Norsemen,  as  both  Irish,  Scots,  and  Saxons  (so-called)  were  Christians,  in 
theory  at  least,  for  two  or  three  centuries  before  that  time.     .     .     . 

The  Northern  sagas,  870-75,  show  that  the  mass  of  the  population  then 
in  Galloway  was  of  the  Cymric  race,  sometimes  called  Brythons  ;  but  the 
Irish-Scots  or  Gaels,  from  the  counties  Antrim  and  Down,  the  particulars  in 
regard  to  whom  we  have  already  given,  must  also  have  been  numerous,  for 
in  876  the  Cymri  were  under  their  rule,  and  those  who  would  not  submit  to 
the  yoke  retreated  to  Wales  to  rejoin  their  countrymen  in  that  quarter.  .  .  . 
The  Norsemen  have  left  various  marks  of  their  occupation  of  Galloway  in 
the  names  of  places  and  also  in  surnames. 

Under  the  alleged  Saxon  occupation,  which  is  erroneous,  we  have  referred 
to  Boreland,  Ingleston,  and  Carleton,  at  pp.  87,  88.  The  first  two  are  from 
the  Norse,  and  the  last  from  an  Irish  personal  name.  The  Lothians  were 
for  a  time  in  the  possession  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  (so-called),  and  yet,  after 
careful  investigation,  the  first  is  not  to  be  found  there,  and  the  second,  only 
once,  in  West  Lothian.  We  find  a  Boreland  in  Peeblesshire,  a  property  so 
called  in  Cumnock  parish,  and  Boarland  in  Dunlop  parish,  Ayrshire.  There 
are  also  lands  so  called  in  Dumfriesshire,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Nith,  which 
Timothy  Pont  gives  in  his  survey  as  North,  Mid,  and  South  Bordland.  The 
Borelands  in  Galloway  are  so  numerous  that  we  must  deal  with  them  as  one, 
for  there  are  fourteen  farms  with  the  name  in  the  Stewartry,  and  three  in 
Wigtonshire. 

In  Brewer's  Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable,  Bordlands  is  interpreted  to 
mean  "  lands  kept  by  lords  in  Saxon  times  for  the  supply  of  their  own 
board  or  table/'  This  approaches  the  true  meaning,  and  is  all  that  can  be 
found  until  we  come  to  the  Norse,  when  it  is  cleared  up.  We  find  in  the 
Orkneys,  where  the  Norsemen's  headquarters  were,  that  part  of  the  ancient 
estate  of  the  jarls  (earls)  of  Orkney  and  Shetland  consisted  of  the  "  bord- 
lands," which  were  the  quarters  of  the  jarls  when  occasionally  travelling 
through  the  islands,  and  therefore  exempt  from  skatt,  the  tax  upon  all  land 
occupied  by  the  Udellers  or  Odellers,  for  the  expense  of  government.  This 
skatt,  or  scat,  was  an  ancient  land-tax  payable  to  the  Crown  of  Norway. 
Skatt  in  Norse  is  to  make  tributary,  and  skatt-lsind  is  tributary  land.  The 
Udellers  held  land  by  uninterrupted  succession  without  any  original  charter, 
and  without  subjection  to  feudal  service,  or  the  acknowledgment  of  any 
superior.  The  exemption  of  the  "bordlands"  from  skatt  or  land-tax  is 
shown  in  some  old  rentals  of  Orkney.  In  a  rental  dated  30th  April,  1503, 
there  is  the  following  entry  :  "  Memorandum,  That  all  the  Isle  of  Hoy  is  of 
the  aid  Erldome  and  Bordland,  quhilk  payit  nevir  scat."  There  are  several 
similar  entries  relating  to  other  Bordlands  in  the  same  rental.  In  a  later 
rental,  bearing  date  1595,  there  are  several  farms  entered — viz.,  "  Hanga- 
back,  na  scat,  quia  Borland,"  etc.  Numerous  other  entries  of  the  same 
description  are  given.  .  .  .  That  the  Borelands  in  Galloway  have  a 
similar  derivation  as  those  in  the  Orkneys  cannot  be  doubted.  The  old 
spelling  in  Galloway  is  "  Bordland,"  as  the  old  deeds  will  show.  The  same 
refers  to  the  lands  already  mentioned  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nith,  Dumfries- 
shire side.  Bordland,  in  fact,  appears  to  be  the  proper  spelling  throughout 
Scotland.     .     .     . 

The  other  special  name  is  Engleston  or  Ingleston,  which  we  mentioned 
at  p.  87.  In  regard  to  it  there  are  at  least  two  opinions,  one  being  that  it  is 
derived  from  "  English,"  and  another  from  the  Scottish  "  ingle,"  a  chimney, 
or  rather  fireplace.  There  are  several  farms  bearing  the  name  in  Galloway, 
and  one  so  called  in  West  Lothian.    In  a  charter  granted  by  King  David  II., 


252  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

lands  so  called  have  it  spelled  Inglynstoun,  and  in  another  charter  by  Robert 
II.,  it  is  Inglystoun  (Robertson's  Index  of  Charters).  Pont,  in  his  map 
drafted  between  1608-20,  spells  it  "  Englishtoun,"  which  cannot  be  accepted, 
for  it  is  obviously  incorrect.  The  surname  of  Inglis  found  in  Scotland  is  the 
root  of  this  error,  as  the  assumption  has  been  that  it  is  a  corruption  of 
"  English  "  ;  but  opposed  to  this  idea  is  the  fact  that  although  several  indi- 
viduals named  Inglis  are  to  be  found  in  the  possession  of  lands  at  an  early 
period,  not  one  of  them  is  styled  of  Ingliston  or  Inglystoun.  The  Inglises 
of  Manner  seem  to  have  been  the  chief  family,  and  they  held  the  lands  of 
Branksome  or  Branksholm,  afterwards  possessed  by  the  Scotts  (Buccleuch). 
The  Ingliston  in  West  Lothian  probably  got  the  name  from  Inglis  of  Cra- 
mond,  the  first  of  which  family  was  a  merchant  in  Edinburgh  about  1560, 
the  Reformation  time.  It  has  also  been  overlooked  that  "  English  "  is  a  dis- 
tinct English  surname  borne  by  families  in  England,  and  any  affinity  with  it 
and  Inglis  has  no  other  basis  than  some  similarity  in  sound.  We  still  adhere 
to  the  same  opinion  as  given  by  us  in  Lands  and  their  Owners  in  Galloway, 
that  the  farms  in  Galloway  called  Engleston  or  Ingleston  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  surname  Inglis,  or  as  Englishtoun  ;  but  were  given  from  the  nature 
or  character  of  the  land,  and  are  from  the  Norse  engi  for  meadow-land,  or  a 
meadow,  which  is  also  found  in  Anglo-Saxon  as  ing  or  inge,  a  pasture,  a 
meadow.     .     .     . 

Worsaae  mentions  that  the  names  of  places  ending  in  "  by  "  are  to  be 
found  only  in  the  districts  selected  by  the  Norsemen  for  conquest  or  colo- 
nization— as  Lockerby,  in  Dumfriesshire,  Appleby  and  Sorby  (a  parish,  and 
some  farms  corrupted  to  "bie"),  in  Wigtonshire,  etc.  Sorby  is  also  to  be 
found  in  North  Yorkshire  and  Cumberland,  where  settlements  existed. 
Camden  mentions  a  peninsula  called  "  Flegg,"  in  Norfolk,  where  the  Danes 
had  settled,  and  that  in  a  little  compass  of  ground  there  were  thirteen  vil- 
lages ending  in  "by,"  a  Danish  word  signifying  a  village  or  dwelling-place  ; 
and  hence  the  bi-lagines  of  the  Danish  writers,  and  the  "  by-laws  "  in  Eng- 
land, come  to  signify  such  laws  as  are  peculiar  to  each  town  or  village.  It 
is  also  sometimes  in  the  form  of  bui,  a  dweller,  an  inhabitant,  whereas  baer 
or  byr  or  bae  means  a  village,  etc.  Pollbae,  in  Wigtonshire,  should  in  correct 
form  be  Pollrbae,  the  marshy  or  boggy  farm.  We  entered  on  this  subject 
in  our  historical  sketch  to  vol.  ii.  of  Lands  and  their  Owners  in  Galloway.  It 
is  of  importance,  as  it  goes  to  prove  with  other  evidence  what  we  have  held 
to  all  along,  that  instead  of  a  mere  coast  occupation,  as  generally  believed, 
Galloway  was  in  the  full  possession  of  the  Norsemen.  We  were  therefore 
glad  to  find  in  Professor  MacKinnon's  article,  No.  VI.,  on  "  The  Norse 
Elements,"  published  in  the  Scotsman,  December  2,  1887,  the  following  from 
his  pen  :  "  Beer,  byr,  '  a  village,'  becomes  by,  and  marks  the  Danish  settle- 
ment in  England — Whitby,  Derby,  Selby,  Appleby  ;  and  in  the  Isle  of  Man, 
Dalby,  Salby,  Jurby.  This  form  is  not  common  in  the  Isles.  There  is 
Europie,  '  beach  village,'  in  Lewis,  hence  the  '  Europa  Point '  of  the  maps. 
There  is  Soroby  in  Tyree,  and  Soroba  near  Obam.  Shiaba  (Schabby  in  old 
records),  on  the  south  of  Mull,  contains  the  root.  So  do  Nereby  and  Con- 
nisby  {homing,  a  '  king's  village ')  in  Islay,  Canisby  in  Caithness,  and  Smerby 
in  Kintyre."     .     .     . 

To  continue  the  general  subject  the  word  flow,  well  known  in  Gal- 
loway as  donating  marshy  moorland,  is  from  the  Norse  floi,  for  a  marshy 
moor. 

The  names  of  places  beginning  or  ending  with  garth  or  guard show  where 
the  Scandinavians  were  settled  in  gaarde  or  farms,  which  belonged  to  the 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  253 

Danish  chiefs,  or  Udellers  (holdus  from  old  Norsk  holldr).  Worsaae  men- 
tions that  these  seem  to  have  been  the  property  of  the  peasants,  on  condition 
of  their  paying  certain  rents  to  their  feudal  lords,  and  binding  themselves  to 
contribute  to  the  defence  of  the  country.  In  Galloway  we  have  Garthland 
and  Cogarth  as  examples.  Worsaae  does  not  seem  to  have  visited  the  dis- 
trict, but  to  have  been  in  Dumfriesshire,  as  he  refers  to  Tundergarth,  Apple- 
garth,  and  Huntgarth. 

The  Holms  he  also  notices,  which  are  to  be  found  in  Galloway  and 
other  parts  of  Scotland,  also  in  England  where  the  Norsemen  had  settle- 
ments. The  name  is  from  the  Norse  holmr,  meaning  an  island  in  a  loch  or 
river,  or  a  plain  at  the  side  of  a  river.  In  Orkney  there  are  the  parish  and 
Sound  so-called,  also  four  islands.  In  Shetland  there  are  three  small  islands, 
and  at  Skye  there  is  one,  etc. 

Among  many  other  Norse  names  in  Galloway,  there  is  Tung  or  Tongue. 
Worsaae  calls  the  "  Kyles  of  Tongue,"  in  Sutherlandshire,  pure  Norwegian. 

Fleet,  the  name  of  a  river  in  Anwoth  parish,  is  from  the  Norse  fljot,  pro- 
nounced in  Anglo-Saxon  yfotf.  In  the  parish  at  Stoneykirk  are  the  farms 
and  bay  of  Float,  locally  stated  to  have  been  so  called  from  the  wreck  of  one 
of  the  ships  of  the  Spanish  Armada  ;  and  to  make  it  complete,  the  headland 
close  to,  corrupted  from  the  Gaelic  word  monadh,  the  hill-head,  to  "  Money- 
head,"  from  money  supposed  to  have  been  lost  from  the  wreck.  Such  deriva- 
tions are  erroneous.  The  name  Float  is  from  the  Norse  flott,  which  means 
a  plain  ;  and  the  access  from  the  bay,  with  the  character  of  the  farms  so 
called,  together  with  the  history  of  the  lands  adjoining,  fully  bear  out  the 
Norse  meaning.  One  of  the  Orkney  Isles  is  called  Flotta.  It  was  the  resi- 
dence of  the  historiographer  appointed  by  the  Crown  of  Norway  to  gather 
information  ;  his  work  was  therefore  called  Codex  Flotticenses. 

The  Norse  word  Borg,  given  to  a  parish,  is  now  spelled  Borgue  ;  and  Gata 
corrupted  to  Galtway. 

In  the  bay  of  Luce,  or  rather  in  the  offing,  are  the  "  Scar  Rocks,"  and 
without  reference  to  them,  Worsaae  mentions  sker  or  skjaer  as  the  Norse  for 
isolated  rocks  in  the  sea,  which  those  we  refer  to  truly  are.  Begbie  (Bagbie) 
and  Killiness  are  also  Norse. 

The  Norse  names  in  Galloway  are  far  from  being  exhausted,  as  will  be 
found  by  reference  to  the  parishes  and  lands  given  in  Lands  and  their 
Owners  in  Galloway. 

Worsaae  refers  to  Tinwald  in  Dumfriesshire  as  undoubtedly  identical 
with  Thingvall  or  Tingvold,  the  appropriate  Scandinavian  or  Norse  term  for 
places  where  the  Thing  was  held.  Elsewhere  he  states  that  they  settled 
their  disputes  and  arranged  their  public  affairs  at  the  Things.  In  connection 
with  this  he  mentions  Dingwall  in  Cromarty,  Tingwall  in  the  Shetland  Isles, 
and  Tynewald  or  Tingwall  in  the  Isle  of  Man. 

We  will  only  add  here  one  other  word,  and  a  well-known  one  over  Scot- 
land— viz.,  kirk,  which  is  from  kirke,  the  Danish  for  church.  In  the  old 
Norse  it  is  kirkja.  In  the  same  language  there  is  kirke-gaard  or  garth  and 
kirkju-gardr,  a  kirk  or  churchyard.  In  the  German  it  is  kirche,  and  in 
Anglo-Saxon,  church. 

Worsaae  correctly  mentions  that  old  Irish  authors  called  the  inhabitants 
of  Denmark  Dublochlannoch — dark  Lochlans — the  word  Lochlan  with  them 
being  the  usual  appellation  for  Scandinavia.  It  is  also  given  as  Lochlin  and 
Lochlann.  In  the  Gaelic  it  is  somewhat  similar,  as  in  that  language  Dubh- 
Lochlinneach  means  a  Dane,  and  Fionn- Lochlinneach,  a  Norwegian.  The  lat- 
ter are  also  found  called  Finngheinte  in  Gaelic.     Worsaae  repeats   that   the 


254  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

best  and  oldest  Irish  chronicles  distinguish  between  the  light-haired  Finn- 
Lochlannoch  or  Fionn-Lochlannaigh,  the  Norwegians,  and  the  dark-haired 
Dubh-Lochlannoch  or  Dubh-Lochlannaigh,  the  Danes  ;  or,  what  is  the  same, 
between  Dubhgall,  Dubh-Ghoill,  and  Finngall,  Fionn-Ghoill™ 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XVII. 

1  During  the  latter  years  of  Kenneth's  reign,  a  people  appear  in  close  association  with 
the  Norwegian  pirates,  and  joining  in  their  plundering  expeditions,  who  are  termed  Gall- 
gaidhel.  This  name  is  formed  by  the  combination  of  the  two  words  "  Gall,"  a  stranger,  a 
foreigner,  and  "  Gaidhel,"  the  national  name  of  the  Gaelic  race.  It  was  certainly  first  ap- 
plied to  the  people  of  Galloway,  and  the  proper  name  of  this  province,  Galweitha,  is  formed 
from  Galwyddel,  the  Welsh  equivalent  of  Gallgaidhel.  It  seems  to  have  been  applied  to 
them  as  a  Gaelic  race  under  the  rule  of  Galle  or  foreigners  :  Galloway  being  for  centuries  a 
province  of  the  Anglic  kingdom  of  Northumbria,  and  the  term  ' '  Gall "  having  been  applied 
to  the  Saxons  before  it  was  almost  exclusively  appropriated  to  the  Norwegian  and  Danish 
pirates.  Towards  the  end  of  the  eighth  century  the  power  of  the  Angles  in  Galloway  seems 
to  have  become  weakened,  and  the  native  races  began  to  assert  their  independent  action. 
— Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  311. 

9  See  p.  208. 

3  "  Deira  was  the  district  thus  portioned  out  amongst  the  Northmen  who  peopled  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Northumbria,  whilst  Bernicia  and  the  territory  of  St.  Cuthbert,  between 
Tees  and  Tyne,  seem  to  have  been  still  occupied  by  a  Saxon  proprietary,  to  a  certain  extent 
in  a  dependent  condition,  as  exemplified  in  the  Wergilds  of  the  Northern  Leod,  in  which  the 
Holdr  is  reckoned  at  twice  the  value  of  the  Thegn.  A  sure  and  certain  test  of  a  colonization 
of  this  description  is  afforded  by  the  topography  of  the  districts  thus  allotted,  the  Caster  and 
the  By  invariably  marking  the  presence  of  the  Northmen,  not  only  as  a  dominant,  but  as  an 
actual  occupying  class  ;  and  as  only  four  Bys  are  to  be  found  to  the  northward  of  the  Tees, 
whilst  the  Chester  is  traceable  from  Tees  to  Tweed,  and  in  a  few  instances  even  beyond  that 
river,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  though  the  territory  of  St.  Cuthbert  was  divided  by 
Reginald  Hy  Ivar  between  his  followers  Skuli  and  Olaf,  the  Tees  was  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  actual  settlement,  and  that  Deira  alone  was  '  roped  out '  amongst  the  Danes. 

"  The  Caster  and  the  By  in  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  tell  at  the  present  day  of  a 
considerable  colonization  amidst  the  bleak  moorlands  of  the  west,  unconnected  apparently 
with  the  Danes  of  the  Yorkshire  Trythings.  .  .  .  whilst  beyond  the  Solway  not  a  few 
Bys  between  the  Annan  and  the  Esk  mark  the  encroachments  of  the  Northmen  in  the  east- 
ern division  of  modern  Dumfriesshire,  a  few  settlers  penetrating  into  Galloway.  Cannoby, 
Dunnaby,  Wyseby,  Perceby,  Middleby,  Lockerby,  and  Sibalby  occur  in  Dumfriesshire,  and 
Sorby  and  Appleby  in  Wigtonshire." — Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  432, 

437. 

4  Annals  of  Ulster. 

6  871,  Amlaiph  et  Imhar  do  thuidhecht  a  frithisi  du  Athacliath  a  Albain  dibhcedaib  long 
(came  again  to  Athacliath  from  Alban  with  200  ships),  et  praeda  maxima  hominum  Anglo- 
rum  et  Britonum  et  Pictorum  deducta  est  secum  ad  Hiberniam  in  captivitate. — Annals  of 
Ulster. 

6  Predictus  exercitus  [Danorum]  se  in  duas  partes  divisit,  una  pars  cum  Haldene  ad 
regionen  Nordanhymbrorum  secessit  et  earn  vastavit  et  hyemavit  juxta  flumen  quod  dicitur 
Tine  et  totam  gentem  suo  dominetui  subdidit  et  Pictos  atque  Strathduccenses  depopulati 
sunt. — Sim.  Dun.  875,  Congressio  Pictorum  for  Dubgallu  et  strages  magna  Pictorum  facta 
est.— An.  Ult. 

1  English  Chronicle,  Anno  924.     See  p.  298. 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  255 

8  Orkneyinga  Saga,  Coll.  de  Rebus  Albanicis.      See  Appendix  P. 

•  "  So  it  was  that  Scotland  received  a  population  of  immigrants  from  Norway  along  the 
seaboard  from  Caithness  to  Fife.  In  Lothian  and  Northumberland  they  met  and  mingled 
with  the  people  of  a  kindred  race  who  had  crossed  from  Jutland,  Zealand,  and  Friesland  to 
the  coast  of  England.  It  is  from  the  change  that  domesticated  each  successive  horde  of  new- 
comers, that  we  lose  all  historical  hold  upon  their  coming  as  a  separate  fact,  and  have  so 
much  difficulty  in  identifying  the  leaders  who  brought  them  over.  We  cannot  say  where  it 
was  that  the  first  man  of  Teutonic  northern  race  set  foot  in  Scotland,  and  whether  he  found 
the  land  empty  or  inhabited  by  Celts.  But  we  know  pretty  well  that  from  the  fourth  cen- 
tury to  the  tenth  this  race  spread  over  the  land  that  is  now  Lowland  Scotland,  and  that  if 
they  found  Celts  there,  these  were  pressed  westwards  to  join  the  community  of  their  fel- 
low-Celts that  had  crossed  over  from  Ireland. 

4 '  Of  the  stormy  history  of  which  such  scattered  fragments  only  can  be  recovered,  the 
general  influence  on  the  future  of  Scotland  may  be  thus  abbreviated  :  As  far  as  the  Firth  of 
Forth  stretched  Northumbria,  where  the  Norse  element  predominated.  It  gradually  combined 
with  kindred  elements  on  the  side  of  England,  while  northward  of  the  firth  there  was  a 
combination  with  fresh  invaders  from  Scandinavia,  and  a  general  pressure  on  any  remains 
of  Celtic  inhabitancy,  if  there  were  such  remains,  along  the  north-eastern  districts  —  a  pres- 
sure driving  them  westward  into  the  mountain  district  peopled  by  their  Irish  kindred. 
Orkney  became  a  province  of  Norway,  with  a  tendency  to  stretch  the  power  of  that  state 
over  the  adjoining  mainland.  The  Hebrides  and  other  islands  along  the  west  coast,  so  far 
as  they  held  out  any  inducement  for  permanent  settlement  to  the  Scandinavian  colonists,  had 
a  seat  of  government  in  the  Isle  of  Man." — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  317,  330. 

10  "  Such  is  the  account  given  us  by  the  saga  of  this  war.  Marianus  supplements  it  by  tell- 
ing us  that  in  the  year  1040,  Donnchad,  King  of  Scotia,  was  slain  in  autumn,  on  the  14th  of 
August,  by  his  general,  Macbethad,  son  of  Finnlaech,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  kingdom. 
Macbeth  was  at  this  time  the  Ri  or  Mormaor  of  the  district  of  Myrhaevi  or  Moray,  which 
finally  became  the  seat  of  war,  and  when  Duncan  sent  far  and  wide  to  the  chieftains  for  aid, 
he  probably  came  to  his  assistance  with  the  men  of  Moray,  and  filled  the  place  which  Mod- 
dan  had  formerly  occupied  as  commander  of  his  army  ;  but  the  tie  which  united  the  mormaors 
of  Moray  with  the  kings  of  the  Scots  was  still  a  very  slender  one.  They  had  as  often  been 
subject  to  the  Norwegian  earls  as  they  had  been  to  the  Scottish  kings  ;  and  when  Duncan  sus- 
tained this  crushing  defeat,  and  he  saw  that  Thorfinn  would  now  be  able  to  maintain  posses- 
sion of  his  hereditary  territories,  the  interests  of  the  Mormaor  of  Moray  seem  to  have  prevailed 
over  those  of  the  commander  of  the  king's  army,  and  he  was  guilty  of  the  treacherous  act  of 
slaying  the  unfortunate  Duncan,  and  attaching  his  fortunes  to  those  of  Thorfinn. 

"The  authorities  for  the  history  of  Macbeth  knew  nothing  of  Earl  Thorfinn  and  his 
conquests.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sagas  equally  ignore  Macbeth  and  his  doings,  and  had  to 
disguise  the  fact  that  Thorfinn  was  attacking  his  own  cousin,  and  one  who  had  derived  his 
right  to  the  kingdom  from  the  same  source  from  which  Thorfinn  had  acquired  his  to  the  earl- 
dom of  Caithness,  by  concealing  his  identity  under  the  contemptuous  name  of  Karl  or  Kali 
Hundason,  while  some  of  the  chronicles  have  transferred  to  Macbeth  what  was  true  of  Thor- 
finn, that  he  was  also  a  grandson  of  King  Malcolm,  and  a  Welsh  Chronicle  denominates  him 
King  of  Orkney.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  the  conquest  of  the  provinces  south  of  Moray, 
which  took  place  after  this  battle,  was  the  joint  work  of  Thorfinn  and  Macbeth,  and  that  they 
divided  the  kingdom  of  the  slain  Duncan  between  them ;  Thorfinn  receiving  the  districts 
which  had  formerly  been  under  his  father,  with  the  addition  of  those  on  the  east  coast  extend- 
ing as  far  as  Fife  or  the  Firth  of  Tay.  According  to  the  Orkneyinga  Saga,  he  possessed 
'  nine  earldoms  in  Scotland,  the  whole  of  the  Sudreys,  and  a  large  riki  in  Ireland,'  and  this 
is  confirmed  by  the  St.  Ola/'s  Saga,  which  tells  us  that  '  he  had  the  greatest  riki  of  any  earl 
of  Orkney  ;  he  possessed  Shetland  and  the  Orkneys,  the  Sudreys,  and  likewise  a  great  riki  in 
Scotland  and  Ireland.'     Macbeth  obtained  those  in  which  Duncan's  strength  mainly  lay  — 


256  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  district  south  and  west  of  the  Tay,  with  the  central  district  in  which  Scone,  the  capital,  is 
situated.  Cumbria  and  Lothian  probably  remained  faithful  to  the  children  of  Duncan. "  — 
Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  403-405. 

To  the  existence  of  a  Norwegian  kingdom  at  this  period  lasting  for  thirty  years,  during 
which  Macbeth  ruled  as  a  tributary  of  Thorfinn,  I  must  equally  demur.  The  chronicles  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  are  silent  upon  this  subject,  whilst  the  sagas  only  say  that 
Thorfinn  plundered  the  country  as  far  as  Fife  and  returned  to  Caithness,  where  he  dwelt 
"  amongst  the  Gaddgedlar,"  every  year  fitting  out  a  fleet  for  a  course  of  piracy  —  the  normal 
summer  occupation  of  an  Orkney  jarl  in  that  age.  They  make  no  allusion  to  his  placing 
officers  over  the  conquered  districts,  according  to  the  invariable  custom  of  the  time  ;  and  in 
describing  his  proceedings  after  his  victory,  their  expressions  are  no  stronger  than  upon  the 
occasion  of  his  marauding  incursion  upon  England,  with  his  nephew  Rognwald,  in  the  days 
of  Hardacanute,  when  after  a  great  victory  the  jarls  are  said  to  have  ranged  over  all  England 
in  arms,  slaying  and  burning  in  every  quarter.  The  conqueror  of  Scotland,  the  main  support 
of  Macbeth,  would  have  scarcely  been  obliged  to  yield  a  share  in  the  Orkneys  to  his  nephew 
Rognwald,  backed  by  a  force  of  three  ships  ;  nor  does  Thorfinn  seem  to  have  been  of  a  char- 
acter to  allow  his  dependent  to  assume  the  title  of  king,  whilst  he  was  contented  with  that  of 
jarl.  A  king  ruling  under  a  jarl  would  have  been  a  novelty  in  history.  The  support  given 
to  Macbeth  by  the  Norwegians,  and  the  presence  of  a  Saxon  army  at  Lumphanan,  are  equally 
dubious  ;  for  the  Normans  mentioned  in  connection  with  Siward's  expedition  four  years 
before,  were  Osbern  Pentecost,  Hugh,  and  others,  who  had  sought  refuge  at  the  Court  of 
Macbeth  about  two  years  before  the  appearance  of  the  Anglo-Danish  Earl.  (Flor.  Wig., 
1054). — Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  ii.,  p.  478,  479. 

11  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  411-413.  Professor  Munch,  in  his  Histori  et  Chronicon 
Mannice,  names  these  districts  as  Caithness,  Sutherland,  Ross,  Moray,  Buchan,  Athol,  Lorn, 
Argyle,  and  Galloway. 

12  It  is  hardly  possible  that  the  tangled  tale  of  Macbeth's  murder  of  Duncan  and  his 
usurpation  of  the  throne  of  Scotia  will  ever  be  clearly  unravelled,  but  this  much  seems  toler- 
ably certain,  that  Macbeth  ruled  in  concert  with  the  powerful  Norse  Earl  Thorfinn,  who  suc- 
ceeded Earl  Melkoff  or  Malcolm  at  Whithorn,  and,  according  to  the  Chronicum  Regum 
Mannia,  "  lived  long  at  Gaddgeddli  [Galloway],  the  place  where  England  and  Scotland 
meet."  —  Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  43. 

13  We  know,  historically,  that  in  the  west,  group  after  group  of  Norse  invaders  were 
absorbed  into  the  Irish-speaking  population.  Although  the  Norsemen  were  conquerors  of 
the  Highland  region,  and  gave  it  monarchs  and  lords,  the  more  civilized  language  absorbed 
the  ruder  though  fundamentally  stronger,  and  all  spoke  the  Irish  tongue  together.  Thus,  in 
language,  the  Teutonic  became  supreme  in  the  eastern  Lowlands,  the  Celtic  among  the 
western  mountains.  From  a'general  view  of  the  whole  question,  an  impression  —  but  nothing 
stronger  than  an  impression  —  is  conveyed,  that  the  proportion  of  the  Teutonic  race  that  came 
into  the  use  of  the  Gaelic  is  larger  than  the  proportion  of  the  Celtic  race  that  came  into  the 
use  of  the  Teutonic  or  Saxon.  Perhaps  students  of  physical  ethnology  may  thus  account  for 
the  contrasts  of  appearance  in  the  Highlands  ;  in  one  district  the  people  being  large-limbed 
and  fair,  with  hair  inclined  to  red  ;  in  others,  small,  lithe,  and  dusky,  with  black  hair.  — 
Burton,  History  of  Scotland ',  vol.  i.,  p.  207. 

It  is  remarked  by  Worsaae  [Jeus  Jacob  Asmussen  Worsaae,  Account  of  the  Danes  and 
Northmen  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  185 1  J,  that  the  language  of  the  Lowlands  of 
Scotland  is  so  much  like  that  of  Scandinavia  that  seamen  wrecked  on  the  coasts  of  Jutland 
and  Norway  [are  reputed  to]  have  been  able  to  converse  without  difficulty  in  their  mother 
tongue  with  the  people  there  [?].  Also,  that  the  popular  language  of  the  Lowlands  contains 
a  still  greater  number  of  Scandinavian  words  and  phrases  than  even  the  dialect  of  the  North 
of  England.  He  states,  in  addition,  that  the  near  relationship  of  the  North  Englishmen  with 
the  Danes  and  other  Scandinavians  is  reflected  both  in  popular  songs  and  in  the  folk-lore,  and 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  257 

is  even  more  so  in  the  Scottish  Lowlands,  whither  great  immigrations  of  Northmen  took 
place.  Modern  Scandinavian  has  changed  considerably  ;  but  in  the  Icelandic,  which  is  pure, 
its  affinity  with  the  ancient  Scottish  is  great.  The  Lord's  Prayer  in  the  two  languages,  as 
given  by  Pinkerton,  will  show  this.  The  orthography  and  pronunciation  constitute  the 
principal  difference.  It  is  obvious  that  the  assimilation  of  Icelandic  into  Scottish  was  attended 
with  no  difficulty.  It  was  considered  by  some  writers — and  truly  so,  we  think,  from  the 
character  and  customs  of  the  people,  —  that  the  Scandinavian  poetry  gave  to  the  Scottish 
some  of  its  wildness,  added  greatly  to  by  the  Celtic  element.  It  is  stated  that  the  Scandina- 
vian and  the  Scottish  music  scales  are  very  similar.  Worsaae  mentions,  as  we  have  already 
stated,  that  it  was  a  special  trait  of  the  Scandinavians  that  they  very  quickly  accommodated 
themselves  to  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  countries  where  they  settled.  They  even 
sometimes  quite  forgot  their  mother  tongue,  without,  however,  losing  their  original  and 
characteristic  national  stamp.  The  well-known  "  raven,"  called  the  Danebrog  of  heathenism, 
which  was  borne  for  centuries,  and  viewed  with  superstitious  awe  in  the  British  Isles  as  well 
as  elsewhere,  was  not  put  aside  for  long  after  they  became  Christianized.  According  to 
Worsaae,  it  was  borne  until  about  A.D.  noo  ;  but  a  Galloway  legend  brings  it  to  a  date  some 
years  later.  —  Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  p.  112. 

14  Ayrshire  is  divided  by  the  rivers  Doon  and  Irvine  into  three  districts  —  Carrick,  Kyle, 
and  Cunninghame.  At  what  period  these  three  were  erected  into  a  sheriffdom  is  not  precisely 
known.  Wyntoun,  the  venerable  and  generally  accurate  chronicler  of  Scotland,  speaking  of 
the  wars  of  Alpin  with  the  Picts,  says  : 

"  He  wan  of  were  all  Galluway  ; 

Thare  wes  he  slayne,  and  dede  away." 

As  the  death  of  Alpin  occurred  in  741,  near  Dalmellington,  on  the  north  banks  of  the 
Doon,  it  may  be  inferred  that  Ayrshire  was  then  an  integral  part  of  Galloway.  Yet,  though 
this  was  the  case,  it  is  well  known  that  there  were  no  sheriffs  under  the  purely  Celtic  rule  of 
the  country,  which  prevailed  until  the  eleventh  century  ;  and  from  charters  of  David  I.  it  is 
evident  that  in  his  reign,  if  not  previously,  the  boundaries  of  Galloway  had  been  greatly 
limited.  —  Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr,  p.  1. 

44  Galloway  anciently  comprehended  not  only  the  country  now  known  by  that  name,  and 
the  Stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright,  but  also  the  greatest  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  Ayrshire.  It 
had  its  own  princes  and  its  own  laws.  It  acknowledged,  however,  a  feudatory  dependence 
on  Scotland.  This  dependence  served  only  to  supply  the  sovereign  with  rude  undisciplined 
soldiers,  who  added  rather  to  the  terror  than  to  the  strength  of  his  armies. 

44  Even  at  so  late  a  period  as  the  reign  of  Robert  Bruce,  the  castle  of  Irvine  was  accounted 
to  be  in  Galloway.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  a  people  of  Saxon  origin  encroached  by 
degrees  on  the  ancient  Galloway.  The  names  of  places  in  Cuningham  are  generally  Saxon. 
The  name  of  the  country  itself  is  Saxon.  In  Kyle  there  is  some  mixture  of  Saxon.  All  the 
names  in  Carrick  are  purely  Gaelic." —  Lord  Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  118. 

18  We  cannot,  certainly,  infer,  from  this  Life  [of  Ninian]  that  there  were  any  Picts  in 
Galloway,  at  this  period.  Ninian,  as  will  be  elsewhere  seen,  goes  from  Whithorn  into  the 
country  of  the  Southern  Picts  to  convert  that  idolatrous  people.  .  .  .  4*  There  is  extant," 
says  Usher,  <4  among  our  Irish,  a  Life  of  the  same  Ninian,  in  which  he  .  .  .  is  reported 
to  have  had,  also,  a  brother,  St.  Plebeia  by  name,  as  we  read  in  his  Life  by  John  of 
Tinmouth."  —  Ritson,  Annals  of  the  Caledonians,  Picts,  etc.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  140,  141. 

16  In  that  region  it  is  supposed  in  the  western  part  of  the  island  of  Britain  where  the 
ocean  stretching  as  an  arm,  and  making,  as  it  were,  on  either  side  two  angles,  divideth  at  this 
day  [11 50]  the  realms  of  the  Scots  and  Angles,  which,  till  these  last  times  belonging  to 
the  Angles,  is  proved  not  only  by  historical  record,  but  by  actual  memory  of  individuals  to 
have  had  a  king  of  its  own. — Ailred,   Vita  Niniani,  ch.  i. 

11  Ailred,  Life  of  Ninian,  ch.  iv. 


258  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

18  It  is  perhaps  to  Whithorn,  therefore,  alone  among  the  towns  of  Scotland,  that  honour 
is  due  for  having  maintained  the  worship  of  the  Almighty  uninterrupted  for  fifteen  hundred 
years. — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  3. 

Whit-herne  (Saxon)  implies  the  white-house  ;  the  signification,  likewise,  of  Louko-pibia 
and  Candida-casa.  This  famous  mansion  was  situate  upon  the  continental  peninsula  of  Gal- 
loway, now  Wigtonshire,  where,  or  near  which,  Fergus,  Lord  of  Galloway,  between  seven  and 
eight  centuries  afterward,  founded  a  priory  of  the  same  name  ;  and  not  (as  has  been  asserted) 
upon  the  little  island  at  the  point  of  it.  "Candida  casa  vocatur  locus  in  extremis  Angliae 
juxta  Scotiam  finibus,  ubi  beatus  Ninia  requiescit,  natione  Britto,  qui  primus  ibidem  Christi 
praedicationem  evangelizavit.  Sanctum  hunc  Ninian  prseclarum  virtutibus  experta  est  anti- 
quitas.  Scribit,  Alcuinus,  in  epistola  ad  fratres  ejusdem  loci  dicens :  Deprecor  vestrae 
pietatis  unanimitatem  ut  nostri  nominis  habeatis  memoriam  in  ecclesia  sanctissimi  patris 
vestri  Niniae  episcopi,  qui  multis  claruit  virtutibus,  sicut  mihi  nuper  delatum  est  per  carmina 
matricse  artis,  quae  nobis  per  fideles  nostros  discipulos  Eboracensis  ecclesiae  scholastica  directa 
sunt,  in  quibus  et  facientis  cognovi  eruditionem,  et  facientis  miracula  sanctitatem."  (William 
of  Malmesbury,  De  Ges.  Pon.,  book  iii.) — Ritson,  Annals  of  Galloway. 

19  Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  29. 

20  Bede,  book  v. ,  ch.  xxiii. 

But  the  Attecott  Picts  did  undergo  about  this  time  a  very  important  change  in  their 
foreign  relations.  The  successors  of  Edwin,  King  of  Bernicia,  became,  as  the  price  of  their 
alliance,  ard-righ  or  over-lords  of  Galloway,  and  under  them  the  native  chiefs  ruled  the 
people. — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  36. 

That  part  of  Galloway  which  lay  along  the  sea-coast,  or  at  the  greatest  distance  from 
the  seat  of  government,  was  now  overrun  by  the  Northumbrian  Saxons  who  made  settle- 
ments in  it.  The  farms  which  are  still  styled  Inglestons  are  thought  to  have  derived 
their  name  from  the  Angles  who  then  possessed  them,  and  motes  seem  generally  to 
have  been  in  their  vicinity.  Those  slaves  whom  they  employed  in  tilling  the  ground  were 
termed  boors,  and  the  places  which  they  inhabited  or  occupied  are  still  named  Boorlands. 
The  lands  called  "  Carletons"  also  obtained  their  name  from  the  ceorles,  or  middle  class  of 
society  among  the  Saxons  ;  the  thanes  being  the  highest  and  the  slaves  the  lowest. — Macken- 
zie, History  of  Galloway,  vol.  i.,  p.  130.  These  derivations  are  discussed  by  Mr.  MacKerlie, 
who  ascribes  them  to  the  Norse  and  Gaelic  settlers,  rather  than  to  the  Angles.     See  p.  247. 

21  741,  battle  of  Drum  Cathmail  between  the  Cruithnigh  and  the  Dalriads  against 
Innrechtach. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

22  While  riding  through  a  ford  in  Glenapp  he  was  killed  by  a  man  hidden  in  a  wood,  and 
his  burial-place  is  marked  to  this  day  by  a  large  stone  called  Laicht  Alpin,  Alpin's  Grave, 
which  gives  the  name  to  the  farm  of  Laicht  on  which  it  stands. — Maxwell,  History  of  Dum- 
fries and  Galloway,  p.  37. 

He  crossed  from  Kintyre  to  Ayr,  and  then  moved  southwards.  A  great  deal  of  miscon- 
ception has  accompanied  his  movements.  Wyntoun  has  been  implicitly  believed,  who  wrote 
his  Chronicle  about  700  years  after  the  event,  and  has  not  been  considered  altogether 
trustworthy  in  regard  to  other  matters.     And  he  has  rendered  it — 

"  He  wan  of  werre  all  Galloway, 

There  wes  he  slayne,  and  dede  away." 

The  story  of  the  devastation  of  the  district  rests  on  these  lines.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he 
never  overran  Wigtonshire,  nor  was  even  in  it.  He  was  only  on  the  borders  of  present  Gal- 
loway, and  there  was  slain,  not  in  battle,  as  is  generally  supposed,  but  by  an  assassin  who  lay 
in  wait  for  him  at  the  place,  near  Loch  Ryan,  where  the  small  burn  separates  Ayrshire  from 
Wigtonshire.  An  upright  pillar  stone  marks  the  spot,  and  was  called  Laicht  Alpin,  which 
in  the  Scoto-Irish  means  the  stone  or  grave  of  Alpin. — Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  p.  65. 
83  Bede,  continuation  of  Chronicle,  Anno  750. 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  259 

Kyle,  according  to  Buchanan,  was  so  designated  from  Coilus,  King  of  the  Britons,  who 
was  slain  and  interred  in  the  district.  The  learned  historian  informs  us  that  a  civil  war  having 
ensued  between  the  Britons  who  occupied  the  south  and  west  of  Scotland,  and  the  Scots  and 
the  Picts,  who  were  settled  in  the  north  and  north-west,  the  opposing  armies  met  near  the 
banks  of  the  Doon  ;  and  that,  by  a  stratagem,  Coilus,  who  had  dispatched  a  portion  of  his 
forces  northward,  was  encompassed  between  the  Scots  and  Picts,  and  completely  routed.  He 
was  pursued,  overtaken,  and  slain  in  a  field  or  moor,  in  the  parish  of  Tarbolton,  which  still 
retains  the  name  of  Coilsfield,  or  Coilus's  field.  Modern  inquirers  have  regarded  this  as  one  of 
the  fables  of  our  early  history.  Tradition  corroborates  the  fact  of  some  such  battle  having 
been  fought. — Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr,  vol.  i.,  p.  2. 

24  Eadberct's  forces  arrived  in  time  to  reinforce  Innrechtach  in  pursuing  Alpin's  defeated 
army.  The  result  was  that  all  Carrick  and  Kyle  were  added  to  the  Northumbrian  realm.  This 
was  the  high-tide  mark  of  Saxon  dominion  in  the  north.  Its  chronicles  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  eighth  century  show  that  the  domestic  difficulties  of  the  Northumbrian  over-lords  of 
Galloway  had  become  so  pressing  as  to  divert  them  from  all  thought  of  further  conquest. 
— Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries,  p.  38. 

These  nations  had  now  resumed  their  normal  relation  to  each  other  —  east  against  west 
—  the  Picts  and  Angles  again  in  alliance,  and  opposed  to  them  the  Britons  and  the  Scots. 
Simeon  of  Durham  tells  us  that  in  744  a  battle  was  fought  between  the  Picts  and  the 
Britons,  but  by  the  Picts,  Simeon  usually  understands  the  Picts  of  Galloway,  and  this  battle 
seems  to  have  followed  the  attack  upon  them  by  Alpin  and  his  Scots.  It  was  followed  by  a 
combined  attack  upon  the  Britons  of  Alclyde  by  Eadberct  of  Northumbria,  and  Angus,  king 
of  the  Picts.  The  chronicle  annexed  to  Bede  tells  us  that  in  750  Eadberct  added  the  plain  of 
Cyil  with  other  regions  to  his  kingdom.  This  is  evidently  Kyle  in  Ayrshire,  and  the  other 
regions  were  probably  Carrick  and  Cuninghame,  so  that  the  king  of  Northumbria  added  to 
his  possessions  of  Galloway  on  the  north  side  of  the  Solway  the  whole  of  Ayrshire. — Celtic 
Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  294-5. 

Connected  with  the  three  divisions  of  Ayrshire  there  is  the  old  rhyme  of 

"  Kyle  for  a  man, 

Carrick  for  a  coo, 
Cuninghame  for  butter  and  cheese, 
And  Galloway  for  woo." 

These,  and  similar  popular  and  traditionary  lines,  are  worthy  of  preservation  ;  as  they  con- 
stitute, as  it  were,  popular  landmarks  in  statistics,  which  supply  a  ready  test  to  the  changes 
that  come  over  a  district.     Some  contend  for  a  different  reading,  making 

"  Carrick  for  a  man, 
Kyle  for  a  cow," 

but  the  first  would  seem  to  be  the  proper  one.  It  is  the  one  most  general,  and  as  old  as  the 
days  of  Bellenden. — Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr,  vol.  i.,  p.  4. 

86  Gradually  the  Viking  pirates  crept  round  the  Caledonian  shores ;  their  black  kyuls 
found  as  good  shelter  in  the  lochs  of  the  west  as  in  the  fiords  of  Norway  and  the  Baltic, 
whence  they  had  sailed.  Iona  fared  no  better  than  Lindisfarne,  and  now  it  seemed  as  if  the 
pagan  torch  must  fire  the  sacred  shrine  of  St.  Ninian  at  Whithorn.  But  to  the  warlike 
prowess  of  their  Attecott  ancestors  these  Picts  of  Galloway  seem  to  have  added  the  talent  of 
far-seeing  diplomacy,  by  means  of  which  the  Norsemen,  instead  of  desolating  their  land  like 
the  rest  with  fire  and  sword,  were  induced  to  fraternise  with  them  and  make  common  cause. 
What  were  the  terms  paid  by  Christians  for  their  alliance  with  pagans  can  never  now  be  re- 
vealed. It  is  plain  from  the  place-names  of  Norse  origin  scattered  through  the  Stewartry 
and  the  shire,  among  those  in  Gaelic  and  Saxon  speech,  that  there  was  a  permanent  Scandi- 
navian settlement  there,  but  we  are  left  to  imagine  whether  the  relations  between  the  two 


260  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

races  were  those  of  over-lords  and  tributary,  or  whether  they  merely  became  fellow-pirates. 
At  all  events  the  connection  cost  the  Galloway  men  the  respect  of  other  Celtic  communities. 
The  Irish  chronicler,  MacFirbis,  declares  that  they  renounced  their  baptism  and  had  the 
customs  of  the  Norsemen,  and  it  is  in  the  ninth  century  that  they  first  appear  mentioned  as 
Gallgaidhel,  or  foreign  Gaels,  taking  with  the  Vikings  part  in  plundering  and  devastation. 
So  it  came  to  pass  that  their  monastery  of  Candida  Casa  was  spared. — Maxwell,  History  of 
Dumfries  and  Galloway ,  pp.  38,  39. 

"  What  most  hindered  the  complete  reduction  of  the  Danelaw  was  the  hostility  to  the 
English  rule  of  the  states  north  of  it,  the  hostility  of  Bernicia,  of  Strathclyde,  and,  above  all, 
of  the  Scots.  The  confederacy  against  ^thelstan  had  been  brought  together  by  the  intrigues 
of  the  Scot  king,  Constantine  ;  and  though  Constantine,  in  despair  at  his  defeat,  left  the  throne 
for  a  monastery,  the  policy  of  his  son  Malcolm  was  much  the  same  as  his  father's.  Eadmund 
was  no  sooner  master  of  the  Danelaw  than  he  dealt  with  this  difficulty  in  the  north.  The 
English  blood  of  the  Bernicians  was  probably  drawing  them  at  last  to  the  English  monarch, 
for  after  Brunanburh  we  hear  nothing  of  their  hostility.  But  Cumbria  was  far  more  import- 
ant than  Bernicia,  for  it  was  through  Cumbrian  territory  that  the  Ostmen  [of  Ireland]  could 
strike  most  easily  across  Britain  into  the  Danelaw.     .     .     . 

"  Under  Eadberht  the  Northumbrian  supremacy  had  reached  as  far  as  the  district  of  Kyle 
in  Ayrshire  ;  and  the  capture  of  Alclwyd  by  his  allies,  the  Picts,  in  756,  seemed  to  leave  the 
rest  of  Strathclyde  at  his  mercy.  But  from  that  moment  the  tide  had  turned  ;  a  great  defeat 
shattered  Eadberht's  hopes  ;  and  in  the  anarchy  which  followed  his  reign  district  after  district 
must  have  been  torn  from  the  weakened  grasp  of  Northumbria,  till  the  cessation  of  the  line 
of  her  bishops  at  Whithern  (Badulf ,  the  last  bishop  of  Whithern  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  succes- 
sion whose  name  is  preserved,  was  consecrated  in  791.  Sim.  Durh.  ad.  ann.)  tells  that  her 
frontier  had  been  pushed  back  almost  to  Carlisle.  But  even  after  the  land  that  remained  to 
her  had  been  in  English  possession  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  it  was  still  no  English  land. 
Its  great  land-owners  were  of  English  blood,  and  as  the  Church  of  Lindisfarne  was  richly 
endowed  here,  its  priesthood  was  probably  English  too.  But  the  conquered  Cumbrians  had 
been  left  by  Ecgfrith  on  the  soil,  and  in  its  local  names  we  find  few  traces  of  any  migration 
over  moors  from  the  east.     .     .     . 

' '  Along  the  Irish  Channel  the  boats  of  the  Norwegian  pirates  were  as  thick  as  those 
of  the  Danish  corsairs  on  the  eastern  coast  ;  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  which  they  conquered  and 
half  colonized,  served  as  a  starting-point  from  which  the  marauders  made  their  way  to  the 
opposite  shores.  Their  settlements  reached  as  far  northward  as  Dumfriesshire,  and  south- 
ward, perhaps,  to  the  little  group  of  northern  villages  which  we  find  in  the  Cheshire  peninsula 
of  the  Wirral.  But  it  is  the  lake  district  and  in  the  north  of  our  Lancashire  that  they  lie 
thickest.  .  .  .  While  this  outlier  of  northern  life  was  being  planted  about  the  lakes,  the 
Britons  of  Strathclyde  were  busy  pushing  their  conquests  to  the  south  ;  in  Eadmund's  day, 
indeed,  we  find  their  border  carried  as  far  as  the  Derwent  ;  but  whether  from  the  large  space 
of  Cumbrian  ground  they  had  won,  or  no,  the  name  of  Strathclyde  from  this  time  disappears, 
and  is  replaced  by  the  name  of  Cumbria.  Whether  as  Strathclyde  or  Cumbria,  its  rulers 
had  been  among  the  opponents  of  the  West-Saxon  advance  ;  they  were  among  the  confeder- 
ates against  Eadward  as  they  were  among  the  confederates  against  /Ethelstan  ;  and  it  was  no 
doubt  in  return  for  a  like  junction  in  the  hostilities  against  himself  that  Eadmund,  in  945, 
'  harried  all  Cumberland.'  But  he  turned  his  new  conquest  adroitly  to  account  by  using  it  to 
bind  to  himself  the  most  dangerous  among  his  foes  ;  for  he  granted  the  greater  part  of  it  to 
the  Scottish  king,  on  the  terms  that  Malcolm  should  be  '  his  fellow- worker  by  sea  and  land.' 
In  the  erection  of  this  northern  dependency  we  see  the  same  forces  acting,  though  on  a  more 
distant  field,  which  had  already  begun  the  disintegration  of  the  English  realm  in  the  formation 
of  the  great  earldormanries  of  the  eastern  coast.  Its  immediate  results,  however,  were  advan- 
tageous enough.  Scot  and  Welshman,  whose  league  had  till  now  formed  the  chief  force  of 
opposition  to  English  supremacy  in  the  north,  were  set  at  variance  ;  the  road  of  the  Ostman 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  261 

was  closed,  while  the  fidelity  of  the  Scot  king  seemed  to  be  secure  by  the  impossibility 
of  holding  Cumbria  against  revolt  without  the  support  of  his  '  fellow-worker  '  in  the  south." 
— Green,  Conquest  of England \  ch.  vi.,  sees.  14-17. 

26  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  132. 

27  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  51. 

In  this  battle,  says  Lambarde,  "  After  that  the  bishop  of  Durham  had  exhorted  the  soldiers 
to  fighte,  the  Scottes  cryed  out  '  Albany  !  Albany  ! '  after  their  own  manner,  as  thoughe  al  had 
bene  theires.  But  the  Englishe  souldyours  sent  amongst  them  suche  hayle  of  schott  that 
after  a  whyle  they  turned  their  backes,  and,  in  fine,  theare  was  slayne  of  theim  to  the  number 
of  11,000,  and  they  weare,  for  their  brag  of  Albany,  mocked  with  '  Yry,  Yry,  Standard  ! '  a 
terme  of  great  reproach  at  that  time,  as  Matthew  Paris  witnesseth  "  ;  in  whose  work,  however, 
no  such  thing  is  to  be  found. — Ritson,  Annals  of  Galloway,  p.  264. 

88  The  enmity  between  the  Strathclyde  Britons  and  Ulstermen  would  tend  to  make  the 
Galloway  Picts  throw  in  their  lot  with  their  congeners  of  Ulster,  and  no  doubt  intercourse 
between  them  was  frequent  and  generally  amicable,  leading  to  intermarriage  and  relationship 
of  blood.  But  there  is  not  the  least  ground  for  believing  that  Galloway  was  overrun  at  this 
time  in  a  hostile  sense  by  the  people  from  the  opposite  Irish  coast. — Maxwell,  History  of 
Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  36. 

"  The  portion  of  the  Pictish  people  which  longest  retained  the  name  were  the  Picts  of 
Galloway.  Completely  surrounded  by  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  and  isolated  from  the  rest 
of  the  Pictish  nation,  protected  by  a  mountain  barrier  on  the  north,  and  the  sea  on  the  west 
and  south,  and  remaining  for  centuries  under  the  nominal  dominion  of  the  Angles  of  North- 
umbria,  they  maintained  an  isolated  and  semi-independent  position  in  a  corner  of  the  island, 
and  appear  as  a  distinct  people  under  the  name  of  Picts  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  when 
they  formed  one  division  of  the  Scottish  army  at  the  battle  of  the  Standard.     .     . 

**  We  find,  therefore,  that  in  this  remote  district,  in  which  the  Picts  remained  under  their 
distinctive  names  as  a  separate  people  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  a  language  considered 
the  ancient  language  of  Galloway  was  still  spoken  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century,  and  that 
language  was  Gaelic." — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  202-204. 

29  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  to  those  in  North  Antrim,  the  Mull  of  Kintyre,  only  fourteen 
miles  distant,  being  in  sight,  and  with  countrymen  already  settled  in  Argyleshire,  easy  means 
offered  for  leaving  Hibernia  ;  and,  as  recorded,  a  colony  passed  over  in  A.d.  498,  under  the 
leadership  of  Fergus  Mor  Mac  Earca.  .  .  .  There  is  not  such  special  mention  to  be 
found  of  the  southern  movement,  but  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  in  the  same  way  the  Irish 
Scoti  in  Down,  etc. — southern  Dalriada — being  opposite  to  Galloway,  only  twenty-two 
miles  distant,  and  always  more  or  less  to  be  seen,  except  in  thick  weather,  it  offered  an 
inducement  for  them  to  pass  over  there,  and  more  particularly  as  communication  seems  to 
have  existed  previously  with  Galloway,  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  was  constant.  That 
such  an  exodus  took  place  is  supported  by  the  people  found  in  Galloway  after  the  Roman 
period.  As  we  have  already  mentioned,  Chalmers,  in  his  Caledonia,  gives  the  period  of  the 
settlement  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  We  consider  that  it  must  have  begun  about  the 
same  time  as  the  emigration  to  Argyleshire,  while  it  was  of  a  more  gradual  character,  extend- 
ing over  several  centuries,  and  not  an  immediate  rush,  which  will  account  for  not  a  vestige  of 
authority  as  argued  by  Dr.  Skene.  It  is,  however,  mentioned  in  the  Pictish  Chronicle  that 
the  settlement  was  made  about  A.D.  850  by  stratagem,  when  they  slew  the  chief  inhabitants, 
which  latter  statement  is  likely  enough  ;  but  this  conveys  that  they  had  been  in  Galloway  for 
some  time,  and  had  become  numerous,  thus  supporting  what  we  have  mentioned,  that  the 
colonization  had  been  gradual. — Galloway,  Ancient  and  Modern,  pp.  52,  53. 

30  "  Alpin,  king  of  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  (not  to  be  confused  with  him  who  perished 
in  Glenapp  in  741),  had  been  expelled  from  his  kingdom  by  the  Northern  Picts.  His  son 
Kenneth  (in  Gaelic,  Cinaedh),  afterwards  renowned  as  Kenneth  MacAlpin,  had  taken  refuge 
in  Galloway.     By  the  help  of  his  relatives  there,  and  the  co-operation  of  the  Norsemen,  he 


262  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

was  able  to  regain  his  kingdom  of  Dalriada  and  afterwards  defeat  the  Northern  Picts  in  the 
epoch-making  battle  of  Fortrenn.     .     .     . 

"  It  has  been  plausibly  suggested  that  the  right  which  for  many  centuries  afterwards  was 
undoubtedly  claimed  by  and  conceded  to  the  men  of  Galloway  to  march  in  the  van  of  Scottish 
armies,  was  conferred  on  them  by  Kenneth  MacAlpin  in  recognition  of  their  services  at  this 
momentous  time.  The  new  king  certainly  gave  proof  of  the  value  set  upon  these  services  by 
giving  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  a  Galloway  chief  called  Olaf  the  White. 

"  In  the  same  year,  844,  in  which  Kenneth  was  crowned  King  of  Alban,  the  Gallgaidhel, 
or  Picts  of  Galloway,  assisted  Olaf  to  seize  the  throne  of  Dublin. 

"  On  the  death  of  Kenneth  MacAlpin  in  860,  Olaf  made  a  determined  attempt  on  the 
crown  of  Alban.  Inheritance  among  the  Picts  was  invariably  through  the  female  line. 
Olaf's  wife,  being  daughter  to  Kenneth,  gave  him  a  better  claim  under  Pictish  law  than  Ken- 
neth's son  Constantin.  In  company  with  Imhair,  Olaf  captured  Dumbarton  in  872,  and  held 
a  great  part  of  Alban,  retreating  with  much  booty  and  many  captives  to  Galloway,  whence  the 
whole  party  sailed  in  two  hundred  ships  to  Dublin." — Maxwell,  History  of  Dumfries  and 
Galloway \  pp.  40,  41. 

31  The  name  of  Heathored  occurs  as  the  last  amongst  the  bishops  of  Whithern  in  Flor. 
Wig.  App.,  and  his  predecessor,  Badwulf,  is  alluded  to  by  Sim.  Dun.  under  796.  The  topo- 
graphy of  Galloway  and  the  language  once  spoken  by  the  Galwegians  (who  acknowledged 
a  Kenkinny — Cen-Cinnidh  —  not  a  Pen-cenedl)  distinguish  them  from  the  British  race 
of  Strathclyde — the  Walenses  of  the  early  charters  as  opposed  to  the  Galwalenses.  Beda, 
however,  knew  of  no  Picts  in  the  diocese  of  Candida  Casa  (v.  Appendix  K),  and  consequently 
they  must  have  arrived  at  some  later  period,  though  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  with  cer- 
tainty to  their  original  home.  Some  authorities  bring  them  from  Dalriada,  making  them 
Cruithne  or  Irish  Picts  ;  and  the  dedication  of  numerous  churches  in  Galloway  to  saints 
popular  in  the  northeast  of  Uladh  seems  to  favor  their  conjecture.  The  name  of  Galloway  is 
probably  traceable  to  its  occupation  by  Gall,  in  this  case  Anglian  strangers. — Robertson, 
Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  p.  21. 

32  A  mighty  devastation  of  Strathclyde  and  Galloway  is  recorded  in  875  by  Simeon  of 
Durham,  and  this  is  corroborated  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  where  reference  is  made  to  a 
bloody  defeat  of  the  Picts  by  the  Dubhgall  or  Danes. 

33  "  The  next  important  personage  to  appear  in  Galloway  history  is  Ronald  the  Dane, 
titular  King  of  Northumbria,  styled  also  Duke  of  the  Galwegians,  in  right  of  the  ancient 
superiority  of  the  Saxon  kings  over  the  Picts.  With  Olaf  of  the  Brogues  (Anlaf  Cuaran), 
grandson  of  Olaf  the  White,  as  his  lieutenant,  he  drove  the  Saxons  before  him  as  far  south  as 
Tamworth.  This  was  in  937,  but  in  944  the  tide  of  victory  rolled  north  again.  King 
Eadmund  drove  Ronald  out  of  Northumbria  to  take  refuge  in  Galloway.  Of  this  province  he 
and  his  sons  continued  rulers  till  the  close  of  the  tenth  century.  But  these  were  Dubhgalls  or 
Danes,  and  they  now  fell  to  war  with  the  Fingalls  or  Norse,  who  possessed  themselves  of  the 
province.  Galloway,  on  account  of  its  central  position  between  Ireland,  Cumbria,  and 
Strathclyde,  and  still  more  because  of  its  numerous  shallow  bays  and  sandy  inlets,  so  conve- 
nient for  Viking  galleys,  was  then  in  higher  esteem  than  it  has  ever  been  since  among  mari- 
time powers. 

"  Sigurd  the  Stout,  Earl  of  Orkney,  grandson  of  Thorfinnthe  Skull-cleaver,  was  Lord  of 
Galloway  in  1008.  His  resident  lieutenant  was  a  native  prince,  Malcolm,  whose  name 
appears  in  the  sagas  as  Earl  Melkoff." — History  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  42. 

34  "  In  1057  Malcolm  Canmore — son  of  the  murdered  Duncan, — attacked  the  usurper 
Macbeth,  defeated  and  slew  him  and  became  King  Malcolm  III.,  of  Scotia.  The  great  Earl 
Thorfinn  having  died  in  the  same  year,  Malcolm  most  prudently  married  his  widow  Ingi- 
biorg,  of  the  Pictish  race,  thereby  bringing  under  his  rule  the  Norse  districts  of  Scotland, 
including  Galloway.  Consolidation  was  now  the  order  of  the  day.  The  Norse  influence, 
undermined  by  the  effects  of  the  battle  of  Clontarf ,  was  steadily  on  the  wane.      The  island 


The  Norse  and  Galloway  263 

of  Britain,  soaked  as  it  was  with  centuries  of  bloodshed,  was  resolving  itself  into  the  two 
main  dominions  of  England  and  Scotland  —  a  process  which  the  Church,  relieved  from  op- 
pression by  the  pagan  Norsemen,  lent  her  influence  to  accelerate.  The  native  rulers  of  Gal- 
loway showed  some  hesitation  as  to  the  realm  into  which  they  would  seek  admission. 
Tradition  and  custom  tempted  them  to  union  with  their  old  over-lords  the  Saxon  earls  of 
Northumbria  ;  but  the  Saxon  power  was  waning,  as  the  Roman  and  the  Norse  had  waned 
before.  Geography  as  well  as  linguistic  and  racial  affinity  turned  the  scale,  and  the 
Galwegians  became  lieges  of  the  Scottish  king. 

44  In  this  manner  closed  the  dominion  of  the  Norsemen  over  Galloway,  and  such  parts 
along  the  Solway  shore  of  Dumfriesshire  as  they  had  been  able  to  hold  by  force.  Their 
strength  ever  lay  in  their  ships,  but  of  their  handiwork  some  traces  probably  remain  in  a 
peculiar  kind  of  cliff  tower,  which  may  be  seen  at  various  parts  of  the  coast,  such  as  Castle 
Feather  and  Cardhidoun  near  the  Isle  of  Whithorn,  and  Port  Castle  on  the  shore  of  Glasser- 
ton  parish." — Maxwell,  pp.  43,  44. 

85  *'  Gallwallia  or  Galwedia  is  termed  in  the  Irish  Annals  Gallgaedhel,  a  name  also  ap- 
plied to  the  people  of  the  Isles.  The  name  of  Galwedia  in  its  more  extended  sense  consisted 
of  the  districts  extending  from  Solway  to  the  Clyde  ;  but  in  its  limited  sense,  in  which  it  is 
used  here,  it  is  co-extensive  with  the  modern  counties  of  Wigton  and  Kirkcudbright.  In  the 
Norse  sagas  it  is  termed  Gaddgeddli. 

44  Both  districts  of  Ergadia  and  Gallwallia  appear  to  have  been  to  a  great  extent  occu- 
pied by  the  Norwegians  down  to  the  period  when  these  4  reguli '  first  appear.  At  the  battle 
of  Cluantarf  in  1014,  there  is  mention  of  the  Galls  or  foreigners  of  Man,  Sky,  Lewis,  Cantire, 
and  Airergaidhel  {Wars  of  Gaedel  zuith  the  Galls,  p.  153).  Thorfinn,  the  Earl  of  Orkney, 
when  he  conquered  the  nine  4  rikis  '  in  Scotland  in  1034,  included  in  his  possessions  Dali  or 
Ergadia,  and  Gaddgedli  or  Galloway,  and  in  the  same  year  the  Irish  Annals  record  the  death 
of  4  Suibhne  mac  Cinaeda  ri  Gallgaidel.'  Though  Thorfinn's  kingdom  in  Scotland  termin- 
ated in  1604,  when  it  is  said  that  4  many  rikis  which  he  had  subjected  fell  off,  and  their  in- 
habitants sought  the  protection  of  those  native  chiefs  who  were  territorially  born  to  rule  over 
them'  {Coll.  de  Reb.  Alb.,  p.  346),  the  Norwegians  appear  to  have  retained  a  hold  of  Erga- 
dia and  Galwedia  for  nearly  a  century  after,  as  we  find  in  the  Irish  Annals  mention  made  in 
1 1 54  of  the  fleets  of  Gallgaedel,  Arann,  Cintyre,  Mann,  and  the  Centair  Alban,  or  seaboard 
of  Alban,  under  the  command  of  Macscelling,  a  Norwegian  {Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
1 1 54).  Mac  Vurich  likewise  states  that  before  Somerled's  time,  4  all  the  islands  from  Man- 
nan  (Man)  to  Area  (Orkneys),  and  all  the  bordering  country  from  Dun  Breatan  (Dumbarton) 
to  Cata  (Caithness)  in  the  north,  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Lochlannach  (Norwegians), 
and  such  as  remained  of  the  Gaedel  of  those  lands  protected  themselves  in  the  woods  or 
mountains'  ;  and  in  narrating  the  exploits  of  Somerled,  he  says  '  he  did  not  cease  till  he 
had  cleared  the  western  side  of  Alban  from  the  Lochlannach.' 

44  It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that  the  natives  of  Ergadia  and  Gallwallia  had  risen 
under  Somerled  and  Fergus,  and  had  finally  expelled  the  Norwegians  from  their  coasts,  and 
that  owing  to  the  long  possession  of  the  country  by  the  Norwegians,  all  trace  of  their  parent- 
age had  disappeared  from  the  annals  of  the  country,  and  they  were  viewed  as  the  founders 
of  a  new  race  of  native  lords. 

44  The  two  districts  appear,  however,  closely  connected  with  each  other  in  the  various 
attempts  made  by  the  Gaedheal  against  the  ruling  authority  in  Scotland." — Skene,  Forduny 
vol.  ii.,  p.  431. 

36  Much  less  equivocal  are  the  remains  of  Scandinavian  occupation  preserved  in  the  place- 
names  of  the  south-west.  Many  hills  still  bear  the  title  44fell" — the  Norse  fjall — often 
pleonastically  prefixed  to  the  Gaelic  barr,  as  in  Fell  o'  Barhullion,  in  Glasserton  parish,  or 
disguised  as  a  mere  suffix,  as  in  Criffel.  The  well-known  test-syllable  by,  a  village,  farm,  or 
dwelling,  so  characteristic  of  Danish  rather  than  of  Norse  occupation,  takes  the  place  in 
southern  districts  which  bolstadr  holds  in  northern.     Lockerby,  the  dwelling  of  Locard  or 


264  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Lockhart,  Canonbie,  and  Middlebie  in  Dumfriesshire — Busby,  Sorby,  and  Corsbie  in  Wig- 
tonshire — are  instances  in  point.  Vik,  a  creek  or  small  bay,  gives  the  name  to  Southwick 
parish  and  Senwick  {sand  vik,  sandy  bay) ;  and  n'es,  a  cape,  appears  in  Sinniness  {sunnr 
n'es,  south  point)  and  Borness  {borh  ries,  burgh  or  fort  point) ;  but  Auchness  is  in  another 
language,  being  the  Gaelic  each  inis,  horse-pasture.  Pastoral  occupation  is  implied  in  Fair- 
girth  (faer  gardr,  sheep-fold) ;  but  Cogarth,  the  cow-pen,  is  more  probably  Saxon  than 
Scandinavian,  for  though  in  modern  Danish  "  cow"  is  ho,  in  old  Norse  it  was  kyr.  Tin- 
wald,  like  Dingwall  in  the  north,  is  \>inga  vollr,  the  assembly-field,  and  Mouswald,  most 
vollr,  the  moss-field. — Maxwell,  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  pp.  44,  45. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE   ANGLES 

RETURNING  again  to  the  subject  of  Macbeth's  so-called  usurpation,  it 
may  be  stated  that,  in  addition  to  the  causes  already  suggested  as 
leading  to  his  revolt,  we  find  another  reason  given  by  some  of  the  early 
chroniclers  in  apparent  justification  of  his  conduct  in  slaying  Duncan 
and  possessing  himself  of  that  ruler's  kingdom.  This  explanation  is,  that 
Macbeth's  wife,  Gruoch,  was  the  daughter  of  that  Boete  (or  Boedhe) 
MacKenneth  whose  son  was  slain  by  King  Malcolm  MacKenneth  about 
1033,  in  order  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  peaceable  ascension  to  the  throne 
of  his  own  daughter's  son,  Duncan.1 

The  title  of  Boete's  heirs  to  the  crown,  according  to  the  customary  order 
of  descent  at  that  time,  was  superior  to  that  of  Malcolm's  heirs.  There- 
fore, it  has  been  contended  that,  as  Malcolm  had  wrongfully  removed 
Boete's  son  by  killing  him,  and  thus  made  the  way  clear  for  the  succession 
of  his  own  grandson,  it  was  not  unnatural  that  the  claims  of  the  latter  should 
be  contested  by  the  other  heirs  of  Boete  and  their  representatives.9  Besides 
the  son  whom  Malcolm  killed,  Boete  had  left  also  a  daughter,  Gruoch,  who 
married  into  the  family  of  the  Mormaors  of  Moray,  carrying  her  claims  with 
her.  Her  husband,  Gilcomgain  mac  Maelbrigdi  mac  Ruaidhri,  was  slain  in 
a  family  quarrel,  but  left  a  son  by  Gruoch,  named  Lulach,  an  infant,  who 
thus  represented  the  line  of  King  Kenneth  MacDuff.  Gruoch  next  married 
Macbeth  mac  Finley  mac  Ruaidhri,  (second  cousin  to  Gilcomgain)  who  had 
succeeded  to  the  mormaorship  of  Moray.  By  the  hitherto  prevalent  Pictish 
system  of  alternation,  Lulach  was  the  rightful  king  ;  and  as  guardian  and 
representative  of  his  stepson,  Macbeth  stood  for  the  child's  claims  on  the 
Scottish  crown,  as  against  Duncan,  son  of  Malcolm's  daughter,  Bethoc,  by 
Crinan.3 

Macbeth  reigned  for  about  seventeen  years,  and  the  contemporary  re- 
cords of  the  period  all  seem  to  indicate  that  his  rule  was  one  of  considerable 
benefit  to  the  kingdom.4  In  1045  an  attempt  was  made  by  Crinan,  the 
father  of  Duncan,  to  dethrone  Macbeth  ;  but  it  proved  abortive,  resulting  in 
the  death  of  Crinan  5  and,  in  consequence,  the  more  secure  possession  of 
the  crown  by  Macbeth.     In  1050  the  latter  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome." 

In  1054,  Siward,  the  Danish  earl  of  Northumbria,  a  close  connection  of 
the  family  of  Duncan,7  led  an  army  into  Scotland  against  Macbeth,  in  the 
interests  of  Duncan's  son,  Malcolm,  and  perhaps  at  the  instance  of  Edward, 
King  of  England.8  Although  not  then  successful  in  recovering  the  central 
kingdom,  Siward  succeeded  in  confirming  Malcolm  as  ruler  of  all  that  por- 
tion of  Scotland  south  of  the  Clyde  and  Forth."  Siward  died  in  1055,  how- 
ever, and  Malcolm  was  not  able  to  push  his  cause  further  until  1057.     In 

265 


266  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

that  year  he  formed  an  alliance  with  Tostig,  who  was  the  son  of  Earl  God' 
win  and  successor  to  Siward  as  ruler  of  Northumberland.  Then  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  death  of  Thornnn,  Macbeth's  most  powerful  coadjutor,  the 
allies  again  entered  the  domain  of  the  latter  and  on  the  15th  of  August, 
1057,  Malcolm  killed  Macbeth  in  battle  at  Lumphanan.10 

Malcolm  then  ascended  the  throne.  Having  married  Ingiborg,  widow  of 
Thornnn,  he  seems  soon  afterwards  to  have  united  the  different  states  of  the 
north  into  the  single  kingdom  of  Scotia.  Within  a  few  years  he  became  so 
powerful  as  to  attempt  the  invasion  of  England.11  In  1068-9,  Ingiborg  ap- 
parently having  died  in  the  meantime,  he  married  Margaret,18  sister  of  Edgar 
vEtheling,  the  Saxon  heir  to  the  English  crown,  who  with  his  family  and  fol- 
lowers, had  been  driven  out  of  England  after  the  coming  of  the  Normans  in 
1066,  and  had  taken  refuge  in  Scotland. 

This  King  Malcolm  is  known  in  history  as  Malcolm  Canmore,  so  named 
from  the  size  of  his  head,  the  Celtic  words  "  cean  mohr  "  meaning  "  head 
big."  The  possession  of  the  Anglian  province  of  Northumbria  known  as 
Lothian,  which  had  been  ceded  to  his  great-grandfather,  Malcolm  mac  Ken- 
neth, after  the  battle  of  Carham  in  10 18,  in  Malcolm  Canmore,  became  defi- 
nitely confirmed  to  the  crown  of  Scotland.13  This  union  resulted  in  bringing 
under  one  government  the  Teutonic  races  of  the  eastern,  northern,  and 
western  coasts,  and  the  Celtic  Gaels  and  Cymri  of  Galloway,  Strathclyde, 
and  Scotia  proper.  Malcolm's  marriages,  first  with  Ingiborg  the  Norse 
jarl's  widow,  and  secondly,  with  Margaret,  daughter  of  the  Saxon  royal 
family,  may  be  taken  as  presaging  the  union  of  races  that  was  to  follow  in 
Scotland.14  As  the  most  substantial  and  enduring  attributes  of  Scottish 
civilization  owe  their  origin  to  this  amalgamation,  and  are  in  a  great  measure 
due  to  the  infusion  of  Teutonic  blood  into  the  veins  of  the  Celt,  we  cannot 
do  better  in  this  connection  than  to  consider  at  length  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  English  elements  entering  into  the  composition  of  the  feudal 
Scotchman. 

Having  already  sketched  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Norwegian  power 
in  the  north  and  west,  one  considerable  source  of  the  Teutonic  stream,  it 
now  remains  only  to  inquire  into  the  history  of  Northumbria,  the  northern 
province  of  which  in  Malcolm's  time  became  firmly  united  with  Scotland, 
forming  the  modern  counties  of  Haddington,  Roxburgh,  Linlithgow,  Edin- 
burgh, Berwick,  etc.  It  has  been  deemed  proper  to  give  this  history  in  the 
form  of  extracts  from  the  early  annals  relating  to  Britain  and  Northumbria, 
so  far  as  these  are  preserved  in  the  history  of  Gildas,  the  works  of  Bede,  and 
in  the  English  Chronicle,  these  three  being  our  chief  authorities  for  early 
English  history.  Inasmuch  as  the  record  of  the  English  conquest  of  North 
Britain  does  not  begin  until  the  year  547,  the  history  of  the  preceding  cen- 
tury— aside  from  the  brief  descriptions  of  Nennius  already  given,  and  similar 
references  to  be  found  in  the  Welsh  Book  of  the  Princes  (Brut  y  Tywy- 
sogion),  and  the  Annates  Cambrice  —  can  only  be  inferred  from  such  records 


The  Angles  267 

as  remain  of  the  earlier  English  conquest  of  the  southern  portions  of  the 
island. 

The  history  of  Gildas  was  written  about  556-560  ;  that  of  Bede  about 
731  ;  and  the  English  or  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  is  the  work  of  various  hands 
between  Bede's  time  and  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  earliest 
copies  extant  bearing  evidences  of  a  date  some  years  prior  to  900. 

GILDAS HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN* 

§  2X.  Then  all  the  councillors,  together  with  that  proud  tyrant  Gurth- 
rigern  [Vortigern],  the  British  king,  were  so  blinded,  that,  as  a  protection  to 
their  country,  they  sealed  its  doom  by  inviting  in  among  them  (like  wolves 
into  the  sheep-fold)  the  fierce  and  impious  Saxons,  a  race  hateful  both  to  God 
and  men,  to  repel  the  invasions  of  the  northern  nations.  Nothing  was  ever 
so  pernicious  to  our  country,  nothing  was  ever  so  unlucky.  What  palpable 
darkness  must  have  enveloped  their  minds  —  darkness  desperate  and  cruel  J 
Those  very  people  whom,  when  absent,  they  dreaded  more  than  death  itself, 
were  invited  to  reside,  as  one  may  say,  under  the  selfsame  roof.  Foolish 
are  the  princes,  as  it  is  said,  of  Thafneos,  giving  counsel  to  unwise  Pharaoh. 
A  multitude  of  whelps  came  forth  from  the  lair  of  this  barbaric  lioness,  in 
three  cyu/s,  as  they  call  them,  that  is,  in  three  ships  of  war,  with  their  sails 
wafted  by  the  wind  and  with  omens  and  prophecies  favorable,  for  it  was 
foretold  by  a  certain  soothsayer  among  them,  that  they  should  occupy  the 
country  to  which  they  were  sailing  three  hundred  years,  and  half  of  that 
time,  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  should  plunder  and  despoil  the  same.  They 
first  landed  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  island,  by  the  invitation  of  the  unlucky 
king,  and  there  fixed  their  sharp  talons,  apparently  to  fight  in  favor  of  the 
island,  but,  alas  !  more  truly  against  it.  Their  mother-land,  finding  her  first 
brood  thus  successful,  sends  forth  a  larger  company  of  her  wolfish  offspring, 
which,  sailing  over,  join  themselves  to  their  bastard-born  comrades.  From 
that  time  the  germ  of  iniquity  and  the  root  of  contention  planted  their  poison 
amongst  us,  as  we  deserved,  and  shot  forth  into  leaves  and  branches.  The 
barbarians  being  thus  introduced  as  soldiers  into  the  island,  to  encounter,  as 
they  falsely  said,  any  dangers  in  defence  of  their  hospitable  entertainers, 
obtain  an  allowance  of  provisions,  which,  for  some  time  being  plentifully 
bestowed,  stopped  their  doggish  mouths.  Yet  they  complain  that  their 
monthly  supplies  are  not  furnished  in  sufficient  abundance,  and  they  indus- 
triously aggravate  each  occasion  of  quarrel,  saying  that  unless  more  liberality 
is  shown  them,  they  will  break  the  treaty  and  plunder  the  whole  island.  In 
a  short  time,  they  follow  up  their  threats  with  deeds. 

§  24.  For  the  fire  of  vengeance,  justly  kindled  by  former  crimes,  spread 
from  sea  to  sea,  fed  by  the  hands  of  our  foes  in  the  east,  and  did  not  cease,, 
until,  destroying  the  neighboring  towns  and  lands,  it  reached  the  other  side 
of  the  island,  and  dipped  its  red  and  savage  tongue  in  the  western  ocean. 
In  these  assaults,  therefore,  not  unlike  that  of  the  Assyrian  upon  Judea,  was 
fulfilled  in  our  case  what  the  prophet  describes  in  words  of  lamentation  : 
"  They  have  burned  with  fire  the  sanctuary  ;  they  have  polluted  on  earth  the 
tabernacle  of  thy  name."  And  again,  "  O  God,  the  Gentiles  have  come  into 
thine  inheritance  ;  Thy  holy  temple  have  they  defiled,"  etc.  So  that  all  the 
columns  were  levelled  with   the   ground   by  the  frequent   strokes  of  the 

*  See  also  pp.  200-202. 


268  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

battering-ram,  all   the   husbandmen   routed,  together  with   their   bishops, 

priests,  and  people,  whilst  the  sword    gleamed,  and  the  frames  crackled 

around  them  on  every  side.     Lamentable  to  behold,  in  the  midst  of  the 

streets  lay  the  tops  of  lofty  towers,  tumbled  to  the  ground,  stones  of  high 

walls,  holy  altars,  fragments  of  human  bodies,  covered  with  livid  clots  of 

coagulated  blood,  looking  as  if  they  had  been  squeezed  together  in  a  press  ; 

and  with  no  chance  of  being  buried,  save  in  the  ruins  of  the  houses,  or  in 

the  ravening  bellies  of  wild  beasts  and  birds  ;  with  reverence  be  it  spoken 

.  for  their  blessed  souls,  if,  indeed,  there  were  many  found  who  were  carried, 

J  at  that  time,  into  the  high  heaven  by  the  holy  angels.     So  entirely  had  the 

'  vintage,  once  so  fine,  degenerated  and  become  bitter,  that,  in  the  words  of 

the  prophet,  there  was  hardly  a  grape  or  ear  of  corn  to  be  seen  where  the 

husbandman  had  turned  his  back. 

§  25.  Some,  therefore,  of  the  miserable  remnant,  being  taken  in  the 
mountains,  were  murdered  in  great  numbers  ;  others,  constrained  by  famine, 
came  and  yielded  themselves  to  be  slaves  for  ever  to  their  foes,  running  the 
risk  of  being  instantly  slain,  which  truly  was  the  greatest  favor  that  could 
be  offered  them  :  some  others  passed  beyond  the  seas  with  loud  lamentations 
instead  of  the  voice  of  exhortation.  "  Thou  hast  given  us  as  sheep  to  be 
slaughtered,  and  among  the  Gentiles  hast  thou  dispersed  us."  Others,  com- 
mitting the  safeguard  of  their  lives,  which  were  in  continual  jeopardy,  to  the 
mountains,  precipices,  thickly  wooded  forests,  and  to  the  rocks  of  the  seas 
(albeit  with  trembling  hearts),  remained  still  in  their  country.16  But  in  the 
meanwhile,  an  opportunity  happening,  when  these  most  cruel  robbers  were 
returned  home,  the  poor  remnants  of  our  nation  (to  whom  flocked  from 
divers  places  round  about  our  miserable  countrymen  as  fast  as  bees  to  their 
hives,  for  fear  of  an  ensuing  storm),  being  strengthened  by  God,  calling  upon 
him  with  all  their  hearts,  as  the  poet  says,  "  With  their  unnumbered  vows 
they  burden  heaven,"  that  they  might  not  be  brought  to  utter  destruction, 
took  arms  under  the  conduct  of  Ambrosius  Aurelianus,  a  modest  man,  who 
of  all  the  Roman  nation  was  then  alone  in  the  confusion  of  this  troubled 
period  by  chance  left  alive.  His  parents,  who  for  their  merit  were  adorned 
with  the  purple,  had  been  slain  in  these  same  broils,  and  now  his  progeny  in 
these  our  days,  although  shamefully  degenerated  from  the  worthiness  of  their 
ancestors,  provoke  to  battle  their  cruel  conquerors,  and  by  the  goodness  of 
our  Lord  obtain  the  victory. 

§  26.  After  this,  sometimes  our  countrymen,  sometimes  the  enemy,  won 
the  field,  to  the  end  that  our  Lord  might  in  this  land  try  after  his  accustomed 
manner  these  his  Israelites,  whether  they  loved  him  or  not,  until  the  year  of 
the  siege  of  Bath-hill,  when  took  place  also  the  last  almost,  though  not  the 
least  slaughter  of  our  cruel  foes,  which  was  (as  I  am  sure)  forty-four  years 
and  one  month  after  the  landing  of  the  Saxons,  and  also  the  time  of  my  own 
nativity.  And  yet  neither  to  this  day  are  the  cities  of  our  country  inhabited 
as  before,  but  being  forsaken  and  overthrown,  still  lie  desolate  ;  our  foreign 
wars  having  ceased,  but  our  civil  troubles  still  remaining.  For  as  well  the 
remembrance  of  such  a  terrible  desolation  of  the  island,  as  also  of  the  unex- 
pected recovery  of  the  same,  remained  in  the  minds  of  those  who  were 
eye-witnesses  of  the  wonderful  events  of  both,  and  in  regard  thereof,  kings, 
public  magistrates,  and  private  persons,  with  priests  and  clergymen,  did  all 
and  every  one  of  them  live  orderly  according  to  their  several  vocations. 
But  when  these  had  departed  out  of  this  world,  and  a  new  race  succeeded, 
who  were  ignorant  of  this  troublesome  time,  and  had  only  experience  of  the 
present  prosperity,  all  the  laws  of  truth  and  justice  were  so  shaken  and 


The  Angles  269 

subverted  that  not  so  much  as  a  vestige  or  remembrance  of  these  virtues 
remained  among  the  above-named  orders  of  men,  except  among  a  very  few 
who,  compared  with  the  great  multitude  which  were  daily  rushing  head- 
long down  to  hell,  are  accounted  so  small  a  number,  that  our  reverend 
mother  the  church,  scarcely  beholds  them,  her  only  true  children,  reposing 
in  her  bosom. 

NENNIUS GENEALOGIES    OF    THE    KINGS,    ETC. 

§  57.  (Bernicia) — Woden  begat  Beldeg,  who  begat  Beornec,  who  begat 
Gethbrond,  who  begat  Aluson,  who  begat  Ingwi,  who  begat  Edibrith,  who 
begat  Esa,  who  begat  Eoppa,  who  begat  Ida.  But  Ida  had  twelve  sons, 
Adda,  Belric,  Theodric,  Ethelric,  Theodhere,  Osmer,  and  one  queen,  Bear- 
noch,  Ealric.  Ethelric  begat  Ethelfrid  :  the  same  is  Aedlfred  Flesaur.  For 
he  also  had  seven  sons,  Eanfrid,  Oswald,  Oswin,  Oswy,  Oswudu,  Oslac,  Offa. 
Oswy  begat  Alfrid,  Elfwin,  and  Ecgfrid.  Ecgfrid  is  he  who  made  war  against 
his  cousin  Brudei,  king  of  the  Picts,  and  he  fell  therein  with  all  the  strength 
of  his  army,  and  the  Picts  with  their  king  gained  the  victory  ;  and  the  Saxons 
never  again  reduced  the  Picts  so  as  to  exact  tribute  from  them.  Since  the 
time  of  this  war  it  is  called  Gueithlin  Garan. 

But  Oswy  had  two  wives,  Riemmelth,  the  daughter  of  Royth,  son  of 
Rum  ;  and  Eanfled,  the  daughter  of  Edwin,  son  of  Alia. 

§  58.  (Kent) — Hengist  begat  Octa,  who  begat  Ossa,  who  begat  Eormen- 
ric,  who  begat  Ethelbert,  who  begat  Eadbald,  who  begat  Ercombert,  who 
begat  Egbert. 

§  59.  (East  Anglia) — Woden  begat  Casser,  who  begat  Titinon,  who  begat 
Trigil,  who  begat  Rodmunt,  who  begat  Rippa,  who  begat  Guillem  Guercha, 
[Uffa,  or  Wuffa]  who  was  the  first  king  of  the  East  Angles.  Guercha  begat 
Uffa,  who  begat  Tytillus,  who  begat  Eni,  who  begat  Edric,  who  begat  Ald- 
wulf,  who  begat  Elric. 

§  60.  (Mercia) — Woden  begat  Guedolgeat,  who  begat  Gueagon,  who 
begat  Guithleg,  who  begat  Guerdmund,  who  begat  Ossa,  who  begat  Ongen, 
who  begat  Earner,  who  begat  Pubba.  This  Pubba  had  twelve  sons,  of 
whom  two  are  better  known  to  me  than  the  others,  that  is  Penda  and  Eawa. 
Eadlit  is  the  son  of  Pantha,  Penda,  son  of  Pubba,  Ealbald,  son  of  Alguing, 
son  of  Eawa,  son  of  Penda,  son  of  Pubba.  Egfert  son  of  Offa,  son  of 
Thingferth,  son  of  Enwulf,  son  of  Ossulf,  son  of  Eawa,  son  of  Pubba. 

§  61.  (Deira) — Woden  begat  Beldeg,  Brond  begat  Siggar,  who  begat 
Sibald,  who  begat  Zegulf,  who  begat  Soemil,  who  first  separated  Deur  from 
Berneich  [Deira  from  Bernicia].  Soemil  begat  Sguerthing,  who  begat 
Giulglis,  who  begat  Ulfrea,  who  begat  Iffi,  who  begat  Ulli,  Edwin,  Osfrid, 
and  Eanfrid.  There  were  two  sons  of  Edwin,  who  fell  with  him  in  battle  at 
Meicen,  and  the  kingdom  was  never  renewed  in  his  family,  because  not  one 
of  his  race  escaped  from  that  war  ;  but  all  were  slain  with  him  by  the  army 
of  Catguollaunus,  king  of  the  Guenedota  [Cadwalla,  king  of  the  western 
Britons],  Oswy  begat  Ecgfrid,  the  same  is  Ailguin,  who  begat  Oslach,  who 
begat  Alhun,  who  begat  Adlsing  who  begat  Echun,  who  begat  Oslaph.  Ida 
begat  Eadric,  who  begat  Ecgulf,  who  begat  Leodwald,  who  begat  Eata,  the 
same  is  Glinmaur,  who  begat  Eadbert  and  Egbert,  who  was  the  first  bishop 
of  their  nation. 

Ida,  the  son  of  Eoppa,  possessed  countries  on  the  left-hand  side  of 
Britain,  i.  e.,  of  the  Humbrian  sea,  and  reigned  twelve  years,  and  united 
Dynguayth  Guarth-Berneich  [Deira  and  Bernicia]. 


270  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

§  62.  Then  Dutigirn  at  that  time  fought  bravely  against  the  nation  of 
the  Angles.  At  that  time  Talhaiarn  Cataguen  was  famed  for  poetry,  and 
Neirin,  and  Taliesin,  and  Bluchbard,  and  Cian,  who  is  called  Guenith  Guaut, 
were  all  famous  at  the  same  time  in  British  poetry. 

The  great  king,  Mailcun,  reigned  among  the  Britons,  i.  e.,  in  the  district 
of  Guenedota,  because  his  great-great-grandfather,  Cunedda,  with  his 
twelve  sons,  had  come  before  from  the  left-hand  part,  i.  e.,  from  the 
country  which  is  called  Manau  Gustodin,  one  hundred  and  forty-six  years 
before  Mailcun  reigned,  and  expelled  the  Scots  with  much  slaughter  from 
those  countries,  and  they  never  returned  again  to  inhabit  them. 

§  63.  Adda,  son  of  Ida,  reigned  eight  years  ;  Ethelric,  son  of  Adda, 
reigned  four  years.  Theodoric,  son  of  Ida,  reigned  seven  years.  Freothwulf 
reigned  six  years.  In  whose  time  the  kingdom  of  Kent,  by  the  mission  of 
Gregory,  received  baptism.  Hussa  reigned  seven  years.  Against  him 
fought  four  kings,  Urien,  and  Ryderthen,  and  Guallauc,  and  Morcant. 
Theodoric  fought  bravely,  together  with  his  sons,  against  that  Urien.  But 
at  that  time  sometimes  the  enemy  and  sometimes  our  countrymen  were 
defeated,  and  he  shut  them  up  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  island  of 
Metcaut ;  and  whilst  he  was  on  an  expedition  he  was  murdered,  at  the 
instance  of  Morcant,  out  of  envy,  because  he  possessed  so  much  superiority 
over  all  the  kings  in  military  science.  Eadfered  Flesaurs  reigned  twelve 
years  in  Bernicia,  and  twelve  others  in  Deira,  and  gave  to  his  wife,  Bebba,  the 
town  of  Dynguoaroy,  which  from  her  is  called  Bebbanburg  [Bamborough]. 

Edwin,  son  of  Alia,  reigned  seventeen  years,  seized  on  Elmete,  and  ex- 
pelled Cerdic,  its  king.  Eanfled,  his  daughter,  received  baptism,  on  the 
twelfth  day  after  Pentecost,  with  all  her  followers,  both  men  and  women. 
The  following  Easter  Edwin  himself  received  baptism,  and  twelve  thousand 
of  his  subjects  with  him.  If  any  one  wishes  to  know  who  baptized  them,  it 
was  Rum  Map  Urbgen  [Rhun,  son  of  Urien]  :  he  was  engaged  forty  days 
in  baptizing  all  classes  of  the  Saxons,  and  by  his  preaching  many  believed 
on  Christ. 

§  64.  Oswald,  son  of  Ethelfrid,  reigned  nine  years  ;  the  same  is  Oswald 
Llauiguin  ;  he  slew  Catgublaun  [Cadwalla],  king  of  Guenedot,  in  the  battle 
of  Catscaul,  with  much  loss  to  his  own  army.  Oswy,  son  of  Ethelfrid, 
reigned  twenty-eight  years  and  six  months.  During  his  reign  there  was  a 
dreadful  mortality  among  his  subjects,  when  Catgualart  [Cadwallader]  was 
king  among  the  Britons,  succeeding  his  father,  and  he  himself  died  amongst 
the  rest.  He  slew  Penda  in  the  field  of  Gai,  and  now  took  place  the 
slaughter  of  Gai  Campi,  and  the  kings  of  the  Britons,  who  went  out  with 
Penda  on  the  expedition  as  far  as  the  city  of  Judeu,  were  slain. 

§  65.  Then  Oswy  restored  all  the  wealth,  which  was  with  him  in  the 
city,  to  Penda  ;  who  distributed  it  among  the  kings  of  the  Britons,  that  is, 
Atbert  Judeu.  But  Catgabail  alone,  king  of  Guenedot,  rising  up  in  the 
night,  escaped,  together  with  his  army,  wherefore  he  was  called  Catgabail 
Catguommed.  Ecgfrid,  son  of  Oswy,  reigned  nine  years.  In  his  time  the 
holy  bishop  Cuthbert  died  in  the  island  of  Medcaut.  It  was  he  who  made 
war  against  the  Picts,  and  was  by  them  slain. 

Penda,  son  of  Pybba,  reigned  ten  years  ;  he  first  separated  the  kingdom 
of  Mercia  from  that  of  the  Northmen,  and  slew  by  treachery  Anna,  king  of 
the  East  Anglians,  and  St.  Oswald,  king  of  the  Northmen.  He  fought  the 
battle  of  Cocboy,  in  which  fell  Eawa,  son  of  Pybba,  his  brother,  king  of  the 
Mercians,  and  Oswald,  king  of  the  Northmen,  and  he  gained  the  victory  by 
diabolical  agency.     He  was  not  baptized,  and  never  believed  in  God. 


The  Angles  271 

§  66.  From  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  Constantius  and  Rufus,  are 
found  to  be  five  thousand,  six  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years. 

Also  from  the  two  consuls,  Rufus  and  Rubelius,  to  the  consul  Stilicho, 
are  three  hundred  and  seventy-three  years. 

Also  from  Stilicho  to  Valentinian,  son  of  Placida,  and  the  reign  of 
Vortigern,  are  twenty-eight  years. 

And  from  the  reign  of  Vortigern  to  the  quarrel  between  Guitolinus  and 
Ambrosius,  are  twelve  years,  which  is  Guoloppum,  that  is  Catgwaloph. 
Vortigern  reigned  in  Britain  when  Theodosius  and  Valentinian  were  con- 
suls, and  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign  the  Saxons  came  to  Britain,  in  the 
consulship  of  Felix  and  Taurus,  in  the  four  hundredth  year  from  the 
incarnation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

From  the  year  in  which  the  Saxons  came  into  Britain,  and  were  received 
by  Vortigern,  to  the  time  of  Decius  and  Valerian,  are  sixty-nine  years. 

THE    VENERABLE    BEDE'S    ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY 

Bede,  or  Beda,  surnamed,  on  account  of  his  learning  and  piety,  "  Vener- 
able," was  born  about  the  year  673,  probably  in  what  is  now  the  parish  of 
Monkton,  near  Wearmouth,  in  Durham.  He  was  educated  in  the  monastery 
of  St.  Peter  at  Wearmouth,  and  after  his  twentieth  year  removed  to  the  neigh- 
boring monastery  of  St.  Paul  at  Jarrow,  where  he  died  about  735.  His 
most  valuable  work  is  the  Historia  Ecclesiastica  Gentis  Anglorum,  an  ecclesi- 
astical history  of  England  in  five  books,  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  almost 
all  our  information  on  the  early  history  of  England  before  the  year  731. 
Bede  gained  the  materials  for  this  work  partly  from  Roman  writers,  but 
chiefly  from  native  chronicles  and  biographies,  records,  and  public  docu- 
ments, and  oral  and  written  communications  from  his  contemporaries. 
King  Alfred  translated  it  into  Anglo-Saxon. 

Bede's  chief  sources  for  the  description  of  Britain  are  Pliny,  Solinus, 
Orosius,  and  Gildas  ;  St.  Basil  is  also  cited  ;  and  the  traditions  which  were 
current  in  Bede's  own  day  are  occasionally  introduced.  The  history  of  the 
Romans  in  Britain  is  founded  chiefly  upon  Orosius,  Eutropius,  and  Gildas, 
corrected  in  some  places  by  the  author,  apparently  from  tradition  or  local 
information.  Documents  pre-existing  in  an  historical  form  are  occasionally 
quoted,  among  those  of  which  use  has  been  made  being  the  Life  of  Gregory 
the  Great,  written  by  Paulus  Diaconus  ;  the  Miracles  of  Ethelberga,  Abbess 
of  Barking ;  the  Life  of  Sebbi,  king  of  the  East  Saxons  ;  the  Legend  of 
Fursey  j  the  Legend  of  Cuthbert  of  Lindisfarne  ;  and  the  Treatise  of  Arculf 
De  Locis  Sanctis. 

The  author  seems  to  have  been  at  work  on  his  History  down  to  the  time 
of  his  death.     The  following  extracts  are  made  from  Giles's  translation  : 

Book  I.,  Chapter  I. — This  island  at  present,  following  the  number  of  the 
books  in  which  the  Divine  law  was  written,  contains  five  nations,  the  English, 
Britons,  Scots,  Picts,  and  Latins,  each  in  its  own  peculiar  dialect  cultivating 
the  sublime  study  of  Divine  truth.  The  Latin  tongue  is,  by  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  become  common  to  all  the  rest.     At  first  this  island  had  no  other 


272  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

inhabitants  but  the  Britons,  from  whom  it  derived  its  name,  and  who,  coming 
over  into  Britain,  as  is  reported,  from  Armorica,  possessed  themselves  of  the 
southern  parts  thereof.  When  they,  beginning  at  the  south,  had  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  island,  it  happened,  that  the  nation 
of  the  Picts,  from  Scythia,  as  is  reported,  putting  to  sea,  in  a  few  long  ships, 
were  driven  by  the  winds  beyond  the  shores  of  Britain,  and  arrived  on 
the  northern  coasts  of  Ireland,  where,  finding  the  nation  of  the  Scots,  they 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  settle  among  them,  but  could  not  succeed  in  obtain- 
ing their  request.  Ireland  is  the  greatest  island  next  to  Britain,  and  lies  to 
the  west  of  it ;  but  as  it  is  shorter  than  Britain  to  the  north,  so,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  runs  out  far  beyond  it  to  the  south,  opposite  to  the  northern  parts 
of  Spain,  though  a  spacious  sea  lies  between  them.  The  Picts,  as  has  been 
said,  arriving  in  this  island  by  sea,  desired  to  have  a  place  granted  them  in 
which  they  might  settle.  The  Scots  answered  that  the  island  could  not 
contain  them  both  ;  but  "  We  can  give  you  good  advice,"  said  they,  "  what 
to  do  ;  we  know  there  is  another  island,  not  far  from  ours,  to  the  eastward, 
which  we  often  see  at  a  distance,  when  the  days  are  clear.  If  you  will  go 
thither,  you  will  obtain  settlements  ;  or,  if  they  should  oppose  you,  you 
shall  have  our  assistance."  The  Picts,  accordingly,  sailing  over  into 
Britain,  began  to  inhabit  the  northern  parts  thereof,  for  the  Britons  were 
possessed  of  the  southern.  Now  the  Picts  had  no  wives,  and  asked  them  of 
the  Scots  ;  who  would  not  consent  to  grant  them  upon  any  other  terms, 
than  that  when  any  difficulty  should  arise,  they  should  choose  a  king  from 
the  female  royal  race  rather  than  from  the  male  :  which  custom,  as  is  well 
known,  has  been  observed  among  the  Picts  to  this  day.  In  process  of  time, 
Britain,  besides  the  Britons  and  Picts,  received  a  third  nation,  the  Scots, 
who,  migrating  from  Ireland  under  their  leader,  Reuda,  either  by  fair 
means,  or  by  force  of  arms,  secured  to  themselves  those  settlements  among 
the  Picts  which  they  still  possess.  From  the  name  of  their  commander, 
they  are  to  this  day  called  Dalreudins  ;  for,  in  their  language,  Dal  signifies 
a  part.  Ireland,  in  breadth,  and  for  wholesomeness  and  serenity  of  climate, 
far  surpasses  Britain.  .  .  .  It  is  properly  the  country  of  the  Scots,  who 
migrating  from  thence,  as  has  been  said,  added  a  third  nation  in  Britain  to 
the  Britons  and  the  Picts.  There  is  a  very  large  gulf  of  the  sea  which 
formerly  divided  the  nation  of  the  Picts  from  the  Britons  ;  which  gulf  [the 
Firth  of  Clyde]  runs  from  the  west  very  far  into  the  land,  where,  to  this  day, 
stands  the  strong  city  of  the  Britons,  called  Alcluith.  The  Scots  arriving  on 
the  north  side  of  this  bay,  settled  themselves  there. 

Chapter  XI. — In  the  year  407,  Honorius,  the  younger  son  of  Theodosius, 
and  the  forty-fourth  from  Augustus,  being  emperor,  two  years  before  the  in- 
vasion of  Rome  by  Alaric,  king  of  the  Goths,  when  the  nations  of  the  Alani, 
Suevi,  Vandals,  and  many  others  with  them,  having  defeated  the  Franks  and 
passed  the  Rhine,  ravaged  all  Gaul,  Gratianus  Municeps  was  set  up  as 
tyrant  and  killed.  In  his  place,  Constantine,  one  of  the  meanest  soldiers, 
only  for  his  name's  sake,  and  without  any  worth  to  recommend  him,  was 
chosen  emperor.  As  soon  as  he  had  taken  upon  him  the  command,  he 
passed  over  into  France,  where  being  often  imposed  upon  by  the  barbarians 
with  faithless  treaties,  he  caused  much  injury  to  the  Commonwealth. 
Whereupon  Count  Constantius,  by  the  command  of  Honorius,  marching 
into  Gaul  with  an  army,  besieged  him  in  the  city  of  Aries,  and  put  him  to 
death.  His  son  Constans,  whom  of  a  monk  he  had  created  Caesar,  was  also 
put  to  death  by  his  own  Count  Gerontius,  at  Vienne. 

Rome  was  taken  by  the  Goths,  in  the  year  from  its  foundation,   1164. 


The  Angles  273 

Then  the  Romans  ceased  to  rule  in  Britain,  almost  470  years  after  Caius 
Julius  Caesar  entered  the  island.  They  resided  within  the  rampart,  which, 
as  we  have  mentioned,  Severus  made  across  the  island,  on  the  south  side  of 
it,  as  the  cities,  temples,  bridges,  and  paved  roads  there  made,  testify  to  this 
day  ;  but  they  had  a  right  of  dominion  over  the  farther  parts  of  Britain,  as 
also  over  the  islands  that  are  beyond  Britain. 

Chapter  XII. — From  that  time,  the  south  part  of  Britain,  destitute  of 
armed  soldiers,  of  martial  stores,  and  of  all  its  active  youth,  which  had  been 
led  away  by  the  rashness  of  the  tyrants,  never  to  return,  was  wholly  exposed 
to  rapine,  as  being  totally  ignorant  of  the  use  of  weapons.  Whereupon  they 
suffered  many  years  under  two  very  savage  foreign  nations,  the  Scots  from 
the  west,  and  the  Picts  from  the  north.  We  call  these  foreign  nations,  not 
on  account  of  their  being  seated  out  of  Britain,  but  because  they  were  re- 
mote from  that  part  of  it  which  was  possessed  by  the  Britons  ;  two  inlets  of 
the  sea  lying  between  them,  one  of  which  runs  in  far  and  broad  into  the 
land  of  Britain,  from  the  Eastern  Ocean,  and  the  other  from  the  Western, 
though  they  do  not  reach  so  as  to  touch  one  another.  The  eastern  has  in 
the  midst  of  it  the  city  Giudi.  The  western  has  on  it,  that  is,  on  the  right 
hand  thereof,  the  city  Alcluith,  which  in  their  language  signifies  the  Rock 
Cluith  [Clyde],  for  it  is  close  by  the  river  of  that  name. 

On  account  of  the  irruption  of  these  nations,  the  Britons  sent  messengers 
to  Rome  with  letters  in  mournful  manner,  praying  for  succours,  and  promis- 
ing perpetual  subjection,  provided  that  the  impending  enemy  should  be 
driven  away.  An  armed  legion  was  immediately  sent  them,  which,  arriving 
in  the  island,  and  engaging  the  enemy,  slew  a  great  multitude  of  them, 
drove  the  rest  out  of  the  territories  of  their  allies,  and  having  delivered 
them  from  their  cruel  oppressors,  advised  them  to  build  a  wall  between  the 
two  seas  across  the  island,  that  it  might  secure  them,  and  keep  off  the 
enemy  ;  and  thus  they  returned  home  with  great  triumph.  The  islanders 
raising  the  wall,  as  they  had  been  directed,  not  of  stone,  as  having  no  artist 
capable  of  such  a  work,  but  of  sods,  made  it  of  no  use.  However,  they  drew 
it  for  many  miles  between  the  two  bays  or  inlets  of  the  seas,  which  we  have 
spoken  of  ;  to  the  end  that  where  the  defence  of  the  water  was  wanting, 
they  might  use  the  rampart  to  defend  their  borders  from  the  irruptions  of 
the  enemies.  Of  which  work  there  erected,  that  is,  of  a  rampart  of  extra- 
ordinary breadth  and  height,  there  are  evident  remains  to  be  seen  at  this 
day.  It  begins  at  about  two  miles'  distance  from  the  monastery  of  Aber- 
curnig,  on  the  west,  at  a  place  called  in  the  Pictish  language,  Peanfahel, 
but  in  the  English  tongue,  Penneltun,  and  running  to  the  westward,  ends 
near  the  city  Alcluith. 

But  the  former  enemies,  when  they  perceived  that  the  Roman  soldiers 
were  gone,  immediately  coming  by  sea,  broke  into  the  borders,  trampled 
and  overran  all  places,  and  like  men  mowing  ripe  corn,  bore  down  all  before 
them.  Hereupon  messengers  are  again  sent  to  Rome,  imploring  aid,  lest 
their  wretched  country  should  be  utterly  extirpated,  and  the  name  of  a 
Roman  province,  so  long  renowned  among  them,  overthrown  by  the 
cruelties  of  barbarous  foreigners,  might  become  utterly  contemptible.  A 
legion  is  accordingly  sent  again,  and,  arriving  unexpectedly  in  autumn, 
made  great  slaughter  of  the  enemy,  obliging  all  those  that  could  escape,  to 
flee  beyond  the  sea  ;  whereas  before,  they  were  wont  yearly  to  carry  off 
their  booty  without  any  opposition.  Then  the  Romans  declared  to  the 
Britons,  that  they  could  not  for  the  future  undertake  such  troublesome  ex- 
peditions for  their  sake,  advising  them  rather  to  handle  their  weapons,  like 


274  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

men,  and  undertake  themselves  the  charge  of  engaging  their  enemies,  who 
would  not  prove  too  powerful  for  them,  unless  they  were  deterred  by 
cowardice  ;  and,  thinking  that  it  might  be  some  help  to  the  allies,  whom 
they  were  forced  to  abandon,  they  built  a  strong  stone  wall  from  sea  to  sea, 
in  a  straight  line  between  the  towns  that  had  been  there  built  for  fear  of  the 
enemy,  and  not  far  from  the  trench  of  Severus.  This  famous  wall,  which  is 
still  to  be  seen,  was  built  at  the  public  and  private  expense,  the  Britons  also 
lending  their  assistance.  It  is  eight  feet  in  breadth,  and  twelve  in  height, 
in  a  straight  line  from  east  to  west,  as  is  still  visible  to  beholders.  This  be- 
ing finished,  they  gave  that  dispirited  people  good  advice,  with  patterns  to 
furnish  them  with  arms.  Besides,  they  built  towers  on  the  sea-coast  to  the 
southward,  at  proper  distances,  where  their  ships  were,  because  there  also 
the  irruptions  of  the  barbarians  were  apprehended,  and  so  took  leave  of 
their  friends,  never  to  return  again. 

After  their  departure,  the  Scots  and  the  Picts,  understanding  that  they 
had  declared  they  would  come  no  more,  speedily  returned,  and  growing 
more  confident  than  they  had  been  before,  occupied  all  the  northern  and 
farthest  part  of  the  island,  as  far  as  the  wall.  Hereupon  a  timorous  guard 
was  placed  upon  the  wall,  where  they  pined  away  day  and  night  in  the  ut- 
most fear.  On  the  other  side,  the  enemy  attacked  them  with  hooked 
weapons,  by  which  the  cowardly  defendants  were  dragged  from  the  wall, 
and  dashed  against  the  ground.  At  last,  the  Britons,  forsaking  their  cities 
and  wall,  took  to  flight  and  were  dispersed.  The  enemy  pursued,  and  the 
slaughter  was  greater  than  on  any  former  occasion  ;  for  the  wretched 
natives  were  torn  in  pieces  by  their  enemies,  as  lambs  are  torn  by  wild 
beasts.  Thus,  being  expelled  their  dwellings  and  possessions,  they  saved 
themselves  from  starvation  by  robbing  and  plundering  one  another,  adding 
to  the  calamities  occasioned  by  foreigners,  by  their  own  domestic  broils,  till 
the  whole  country  was  left  destitute  of  food,  except  such  as  could  be 
procured  in  the  chase. 

Chapter  XIII. — In  the  year  of  our  Lord  423,  Theodosius,  the  younger, 
next  to  Honorius,  being  the  forty-fifth  from  Augustus,  governed  the  Roman 
empire  twenty-six  years.  In  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  Palladius  was  sent 
by  Celestinus,  the  Roman  pontiff,  to  the  Scots  that  believed  in  Christ,  to  be 
their  first  bishop.  In  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  reign,  ^Etius,  a  renowned 
person,  being  also  a  patrician,  discharged  his  third  consulship  with  Sym- 
machus  for  his  colleague.  To  him  the  wretched  remains  of  the  Britons 
sent  a  letter,  which  began  thus  :-— "  To  ^Etius,  thrice  Consul,  the  groans  of 
the  Britons."  And  in  the  sequel  of  the  letter  they  thus  expressed  their 
calamities  : — "  The  barbarians  drive  us  to  the  sea  ;  the  sea  drives  us  back 
to  the  barbarians :  between  them  we  are  exposed  to  two  sorts  of 
death  ;  we  are  either  slain  or  drowned."  Yet  neither  could  all  this  procure 
any  assistance  from  him,  as  he  was  then  engaged  in  most  dangerous  wars 
with  Bledla  and  Attila,  kings  of  the  Huns.  And,  though  the  year  before 
this,  Bledla  had  been  murdered  by  the  treachery  of  his  brother  Attila,  yet 
Attila  himself  remained  so  intolerable  an  enemy  to  the  Republic,  that  he 
ravaged  almost  all  Europe,  invading  and  destroying  cities  and  castles.  At 
the  same  time  there  was  a  famine  at  Constantinople,  and  shortly  after,  a 
plague  followed,  and  a  great  part  of  the  walls  of  that  city,  with  fifty-seven 
towers,  fell  to  the  ground.  Many  cities  also  went  to  ruin,  and  the  famine 
and  pestilential  state  of  the  air  destroyed  thousands  of  men  and  cattle. 

Chapter  XIV. — In  the  meantime,  the  aforesaid  famine  distressing  the 
Britons  more  and  more,  and  leaving  to  posterity  lasting  memorials  of  its 


The  Angles  275 

mischievous  effects,  obliged  many  of  them  to  submit  themselves  to  the 
depredators  ;  though  others  still  held  out,  confiding  in  the  Divine  assistance, 
when  none  was  to  be  had  from  men.  These  continually  made  excursions 
from  the  mountains,  caves,  and  woods,  and,  at  length,  began  to  inflict 
severe  losses  on  their  enemies,  who  had  been  for  so  many  years  plundering 
the  country.  The  Irish  robbers  thereupon  returned  home,  in  order  to  come 
again  soon  after.  The  Picts,  both  then  and  afterwards,  remained  quiet  in 
the  farthest  part  of  the  island,  save  that  sometimes  they  would  do  some 
mischief,  and  carry  off  booty  from  the  Britons. 

When,  however,  the  ravages  of  the  enemy  at  length  ceased,  the  island 
began  to  abound  with  such  plenty  of  grain  as  had  never  been  known  in  any 
age  before  ;  with  plenty,  luxury  increased,  and  this  was  immediately  attended 
with  all  sorts  of  crimes  ;  in  particular,  cruelty,  hatred  of  truth,  and  love  of 
falsehood  ;  insomuch,  that  if  any  one  among  them  happened  to  be  milder 
than  the  rest,  and  inclined  to  truth,  all  the  rest  abhorred  and  persecuted  him, 
as  if  he  had  been  the  enemy  of  his  country.  Nor  were  the  laity  only  guilty 
of  these  things,  but  even  our  Lord's  own  flock,  and  his  pastors  also,  addicting 
themselves  to  drunkenness,  animosity,  litigiousness,  contention,  envy,  and 
other  such  like  crimes,  and  casting  off  the  light  yoke  of  Christ.  In  the  mean- 
time, on  a  sudden,  a  severe  plague  fell  upon  that  corrupt  generation,  which 
soon  destroyed  such  numbers  of  them,  that  the  living  were  scarcely  sufficient 
to  bury  the  dead  :  yet,  those  that  survived,  could  not  be  withdrawn  from  the 
spiritual  death,  which  their  sins  had  incurred,  either  by  the  death  of  their 
friends,  or  the  fear  of  their  own.  Whereupon,  not  long  after,  a  more  severe 
vengeance,  for  their  horrid  wickedness,  fell  upon  the  sinful  nation.  They 
consulted  what  was  to  be  done,  and  where  they  should  seek  assistance  to 
prevent  or  repel  the  cruel  and  frequent  incursions  of  the  northern  nations  ; 
and  they  all  agreed  with  their  king  Vortigern  to  call  over  to  their  aid,  from 
the  parts  beyond  the  sea,  the  Saxon  nation  ;  which,  as  the  event  still  more 
evidently  showed,  appears  to  have  been  done  by  the  appointment  of  our  Lord 
himself,  that  evil  might  fall  upon  them  for  their  wicked  deeds. 

Chapter  XV. — In  the  year  of  our  Lord  449,  Martian  being  made  em- 
peror with  Valentinian,  and  the  forty-sixth  from  Augustus,  ruled  the  empire 
seven  years.  Then  the  nation  of  the  Angles,  or  Saxons,  being  invited  by  the 
aforesaid  king,  arrived  in  Britain  with  three  long  ships,  and  had  a  place 
assigned  them  to  reside  in  by  the  same  king,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  island, 
that  they  might  thus  appear  to  be  fighting  for  their  country,  whilst  their  real 
intentions  were  to  enslave  it.  Accordingly  they  engaged  with  the  enemy, 
who  were  come  from  the  north  to  give  battle,  and  obtained  the  victory  ; 
which,  being  known  at  home  in  their  own  country,  as  also  the  fertility  of  the 
country,  and  the  cowardice  of  the  Britons,  a  more  considerable  fleet  was 
quickly  sent  over,  bringing  a  still  greater  number  of  men,  which,  being 
added  to  the  former,  made  up  an  invincible  army.  The  new  comers  received 
of  the  Britons  a  place  to  inhabit,  upon  condition  that  they  should  wage  war 
against  their  enemies  for  the  peace  and  security  of  the  country,  whilst  the 
Britons  agreed  to  furnish  them  with  pay.  Those  who  came  over  were  of  the 
three  most  powerful  nations  of  Germany — Saxons,  Angles,  and  Jutes.  From 
the  Jutes  are  descended  the  people  of  Kent,  and  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
those  also  in  the  province  of  the  West-Saxons  who  are  to  this  day  called 
Jutes,  seated  opposite  to  the  Isle  of  Wight.  From  the  Saxons,  that  is,  the 
country  which  is  now  called  Old  Saxony,  came  the  East-Saxons,  the  South- 
Saxons,  and  the  West-Saxons.  From  the  Angles,  that  is,  the  country  which 
is  called  Anglia,  and  which  is  said,  from  that  time,  to  remain  desert  to  this 


276  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

day,  between  the  provinces  of  the  Jutes  and  the  Saxons,  are  descended  the 
East-Angles,  the  Midland-Angles,  Mercians,  all  the  race  of  the  Northum- 
brians, that  is,  of  those  nations  that  dwell  on  the  north  side  of  the  river 
Humber,  and  the  other  nations  of  the  English.  The  two  first  commanders 
are  said  to  have  been  Hengist  and  Horsa.  Of  whom  Horsa,  being  after- 
wards slain  in  battle  by  the  Britons,  was  buried  in  the  eastern  part  of  Kent, 
where  a  monument,  bearing  his  name,  is  still  in  existence.  They  were  the 
sons  of  Victgilsus,  whose  father  was  Vecta,  son  of  Woden  ;  from  whose 
stock  the  royal  race  of  many  provinces  deduce  their  original.  In  a  short 
time,  swarms  of  the  aforesaid  nations  came  over  into  the  island,  and  they 
began  to  increase  so  much,  that  they  became  terrible  to  the  natives  them- 
selves who  had  invited  them.  Then,  having  on  a  sudden  entered  into  league 
with  the  Picts,  whom  they  had  by  this  time  repelled  by  the  force  of  their 
arms,  they  began  to  turn  their  weapons  against  their  confederates.  At  first, 
they  obliged  them  to  furnish  a  greater  quantity  of  provisions  ;  and,  seeking 
an  occasion  to  quarrel,  protested  that,  unless  more  plentiful  supplies  were 
brought  them,  they  would  break  the  confederacy,  and  ravage  all  the  island  ; 
nor  were  they  backward  in  putting  their  threats  into  execution.  In  short, 
the  fire  kindled  by  the  hands  of  these  pagans,  proved  God's  just  revenge  for 
the  crimes  of  the  people  ;  not  unlike  that  which,  being  once  lighted  by  the 
Chaldeans,  consumed  the  walls  and  city  of  Jerusalem.  For  the  barbarous 
conquerors  acting  here  in  the  same  manner,  or  rather  the  just  Judge  ordain- 
ing that  they  should  so  act,  they  plundered  all  the  neighboring  cities  and 
country,  spread  the  conflagration  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  sea,  with- 
out any  opposition,  and  covered  almost  every  part  of  the  devoted  island. 
Public  as  well  as  private  structures  were  overturned  ;  the  priests  were  every- 
where slain  before  the  altars  ;  the  prelates  and  the  people,  without  any  respect 
of  persons,  were  destroyed  with  fire  and  sword  ;  nor  was  there  any  to  bury 
those  who  had  been  thus  cruelly  slaughtered.  Some  of  the  miserable  re- 
mainder, being  taken  in  the  mountains,  were  butchered  in  heaps.  Others, 
spent  with  hunger,  came  forth  and  submitted  themselves  to  the  enemy  for 
food,  being  destined  to  undergo  perpetual  servitude,  if  they  were  not  killed 
even  upon  the  spot.  Some,  with  sorrowful  hearts,  fled  beyond  the  seas. 
Others,  continuing  in  their  own  country,  led  a  miserable  life  among  the 
woods,  rocks,  and  mountains,  with  scarcely  enough  food  to  support  life,  and 
expecting  every  moment  to  be  their  last.15 

Chapter  XVI. — When  the  victorious  army,  having  destroyed  and  dis- 
persed the  natives,  had  returned  home  to  their  own  settlements,  the  Britons 
began  by  degrees  to  take  heart,  and  gather  strength,  sallying  out  of  the 
lurking  places  where  they  had  concealed  themselves,  and  unanimously  im- 
ploring the  Divine  assistance,  that  they  might  not  utterly  be  destroyed. 
They  had  at  that  time  for  their  leader,  Ambrosius  Aurelius,  a  modest  man, 
who  alone,  by  chance,  of  the  Roman  nation  had  survived  the  storm,  in  which 
his  parents,  who  were  of  the  royal  race,  had  perished.  Under  him  the 
Britons  revived,  and  offering  battle  to  the  victors,  by  the  help  of  God,  came 
off  victorious.  From  that  day,  sometimes  the  natives,  and  sometimes  their 
enemies,  prevailed,  till  the  year  of  the  siege  of  Baddesdown-hill,  when  they 
made  no  small  slaughter  of  those  invaders,  about  forty-four  years  after  their 
arrival  in  England.     But  of  this  hereafter.     .     .     . 

Chapter  XXIII. — In  the  year  of  our  Lord  582,  Maurice,  the  fifty-fourth 
from  Augustus,  ascended  the  throne,  and  reigned  twenty-one  years.  In  the 
tenth  year  of  his  reign,  Gregory,  a  man  renowned  for  learning  and  behavior, 
was  promoted  to  the  apostolical  see  of  Rome,  and  presided  over  it  thirteen 


The  Angles  277 

years,  six  months  and  ten  days.  He,  being  moved  by  Divine  inspiration,  in 
the  fourteenth  year  of  the  same  emperor,  and  about  the  one  hundred  and 
fiftieth  after  the  coming  of  the  English  into  Britain,  sent  the  servant  of  God, 
Augustine,  and  with  him  several  other  monks,  who  feared  the  Lord,  to 
preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  English  nation.  They  having,  in  obedience 
to  the  pope's  commands,  undertaken  that  work,  were,  on  their  journey, 
seized  with  a  sudden  fear,  and  began  to  think  of  returning  home,  rather  than 
proceed  to  a  barbarous,  fierce,  and  unbelieving  nation,  to  whose  very  language 
they  were  strangers  ;  and  this  they  unanimously  agreed  was  the  safest  course. 
In  short,  they  sent  back  Augustine,  who  had  been  appointed  to  be  conse- 
crated bishop  in  case  they  were  received  by  the  English,  that  he  might,  by 
humble  entreaty,  obtain  of  the  holy  Gregory,  that  they  should  not  be  com- 
pelled to  undertake  so  dangerous,  toilsome,  and  uncertain  a  journey.  The 
pope,  in  reply,  sent  them  a  hortatory  epistle,  persuading  them  to  proceed  in  the 
work  of  the  Divine  word,  and  rely  on  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty.  .  .  . 
Chapter  XXV. — Augustine,  thus  strengthened  by  the  confirmation  of 
the  blessed  Father  Gregory,  returned  to  the  work  of  the  word  of  God,  with 
the  servants  of  Christ,  and  arrived  in  Britain.  The  powerful  Ethelbert  was 
at  that  time  king  of  Kent ;  he  had  extended  his  dominions  as  far  as  the  great 
river  Humber,  by  which  the  Southern  Saxons  are  divided  from  the  Northern. 
On  the  east  of  Kent  is  the  large  Isle  of  Thanet  containing  according  to  the 
English  way  of  reckoning,  600  families,  divided  from  the  other  land  by  the 
river  Wantsum,  which  is  about  three  furlongs  over,  and  fordable  only  in  two 
places,  for  both  ends  of  it  run  into  the  sea.  In  this  island  landed  the 
servant  of  our  Lord,  Augustine,  and  his  companions,  being,  as  is  reported, 
nearly  forty  men.  They  had,  by  order  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory,  taken 
interpreters  of  the  nation  of  the  Franks,  and  sending  to  Ethelbert,  signified 
that  they  were  come  from  Rome,  and  brought  a  joyful  message,  which  most 
undoubtedly  assured  to  all  that  took  advantage  of  it  everlasting  joys  in 
heaven,  and  a  kingdom  that  would  never  end,  with  the  living  and  true  God. 
The  king  having  heard  this,  ordered  them  to  stay  in  that  island  where  they 
had  landed,  and  that  they  should  be  furnished  with  all  necessaries,  till  he 
should  consider  what  to  do  with  them.  For  he  had  before  heard  of  the 
Christian  religion,  having  a  Christian  wife  of  the  royal  family  of  the  Franks, 
called  Bertha  ;  whom  he  had  received  from  her  parents,  upon  condition  that 
she  should  be  permitted  to  practise  her  religion  with  the  Bishop  Luidhard, 
who  was  sent  with  her  to  preserve  her  faith.  Some  days  after,  the  king  came 
into  the  island,  and  sitting  in  the  open  air,  ordered  Augustine  and  his 
companions  to  be  brought  into  his  presence.  For  he  had  taken  precaution 
that  they  should  not  come  to  him  in  any  house,  lest,  according  to  an  ancient 
superstition,  if  they  practised  any  magical  arts,  they  might  impose  upon  him, 
and  so  get  the  better  of  him.  But  they  came  furnished  with  Divine,  not 
with  magic  virtue,  bearing  a  silver  cross  for  their  banner,  and  the  image  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour  painted  on  a  board  ;  and  singing  the  litany,  they 
offered  up  their  prayers  to  the  Lord  for  the  eternal  salvation  both  of  them- 
selves and  of  those  to  whom  they  were  come.  When  he  had  sat  down,  pursu- 
ant to  the  king's  commands,  and  preached  to  him  and  his  attendants  there 
present,  the  word  of  life,  the  king  answered  thus  : — "  Your  words  and 
promises  are  very  fair,  but  as  they  are  new  to  us,  and  of  uncertain  import,  I 
cannot  approve  of  them  so  far  as  to  forsake  that  which  I  have  so  long 
followed  with  the  whole  English  nation.  But  because  you  are  come  from 
far  into  my  kingdom,  and,  as  I  conceive,  are  desirous  to  impart  to  us  those 
things  which  you  believe  to  be  true,  and  most  beneficial,  we  will  not  molest 


278  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

you,  but  give  you  favorable  entertainment,  and  take  care  to  supply  you 
with  your  necessary  sustenance  ;  nor  do  we  forbid  you  to  preach  and  gain 
as  many  as  you  can  to  your  religion."  Accordingly  he  permitted  them  to 
reside  in  the  city  of  Canterbury,  which  was  the  metropolis  of  all  his  domin- 
ions, and,  pursuant  to  his  promise,  besides  allowing  them  sustenance,  did 
not  refuse  them  liberty  to  preach.     .     .     . 

Chapter  XXVI. — As  soon  as  they  entered  the  dwelling-place  assigned 
them,  they  began  to  imitate  the  course  of  life  practised  in  the  primitive 
church  ;  applying  themselves  to  frequent  prayer,  watching  and  fasting ; 
preaching  the  word  of  life  to  as  many  as  they  could  ;  despising  all  worldly 
things,  as  not  belonging  to  them  ;  receiving  only  their  necessary  food  from 
those  they  taught ;  living  themselves  in  all  respects  conformably  to  what  they 
prescribed  to  others,  and  being  always  disposed  to  suffer  any  adversity,  and 
even  to  die  for  that  truth  which  they  preached.  In  short,  several  believed  and 
were  baptized,  admiring  the  simplicity  of  their  innocent  life,  and  the  sweet- 
ness of  their  heavenly  doctrine.  There  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  city,  a 
church  dedicated  to  the  honor  of  St.  Martin,  built  whilst  the  Romans  were 
still  in  the  island,  wherein  the  queen,  who,  as  has  been  said  before,  was  a 
Christian,  used  to  pray.  In  this  they  first  began  to  meet,  to  sing,  to  pray,  to 
say  mass,  to  preach,  and  to  baptize,  till  the  king,  being  converted  to  the  faith, 
allowed  them  to  preach  openly,  and  build  or  repair  churches  in  all  places. 

When  he,  among  the  rest,  induced  by  the  unspotted  life  of  these  holy 
men,  and  their  delightful  promises,  which,  by  many  miracles,  they  proved  to 
be  most  certain,  believed  and  was  baptized,  greater  numbers  began  daily  to 
flock  together  to  hear  the  word,  and,  forsaking  their  heathen  rites,  to  asso- 
ciate themselves,  by  believing,  to  the  unity  of  the  church  of  Christ.  Their 
conversion  the  king  so  far  encouraged,  as  that  he  compelled  none  to  em- 
brace Christianity,  but  only  showed  more  affection  to  the  believers,  as  to  his 
fellow  citizens  in  the  heavenly  kingdom.  For  he  had  learned  from  his  in- 
structors and  leaders  to  salvation,  that  the  service  of  Christ  ought  to  be 
voluntary,  not  by  compulsion.  Nor  was  it  long  before  he  gave  his  teachers 
a  settled  residence  in  his  metropolis  of  Canterbury,  with  such  possessions  of 
different  kinds  as  were  necessary  for  their  subsistence.16     .     .     . 

Chapter  XXXIV. — At  this  time  [603],  Ethelfrid,  a  most  worthy  king,  and 
ambitious  of  glory,  governed  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  rav- 
aged the  Britons  more  than  all  the  great  men  of  the  English,  insomuch  that 
he  might  be  compared  to  Saul,  once  king  of  the  Israelites,  excepting  only 
this,  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  true  religion.  For  he  conquered  more  terri- 
tories from  the  Britons,  either  making  them  tributary,  or  driving  the  inhabi- 
tants clean  out,  and  planting  English  in  their  places,  than  any  other  king  or 
tribune.17  To  him  might  justly  be  applied  the  saying  of  the  patriarch  bless- 
ing his  son  in  the  person  of  Saul,  "  Benjamin  shall  ravin  as  a  wolf  ;  in  the 
morning  he  shall  devour  the  prey,  and  at  night  he  shall  divide  the  spoil." 
Hereupon,  ^Edan,  king  of  the  Scots  that  inhabit  Britain,  being  concerned  at 
his  success,  came  against  him  with  an  immense  and  mighty  army,  but  was 
beaten  by  an  inferior  force,  and  put  to  flight ;  for  almost  all  his  army  was 
slain  at  a  famous  place,  called  Degsastan,  that  is,  Degsastone.  In  which 
battle  also  Theodbald,  brother  of  Ethelfrid,  was  killed,  with  almost  all  the 
forces  he  commanded.  This  war  Ethelfrid  put  an  end  to  in  the  year  603 
after  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  the  eleventh  of  his  own  reign,  which 
lasted  twenty-four  years,  and  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Phocas,  who  then 
governed  the  Roman  empire.  From  that  time,  no  king  of  the  Scots  durst 
come  into  Britain  to  make  war  on  the  English  to  this  day." 


The  Angles  279 

In  the  province  of  the  Northumbrians,  where  King  Ceolwulf  reigns,  four 
bishops  now  preside  ;  Wilfrid  in  the  church  of  York,  Ethelwald  in  that  of 
Lindisfarne,  Acca  in  that  of  Hagulstad,  Pechthelm  in  that  which  is  called 
the  White  House,  which,  from  the  increased  number  of  believers,  has  lately 
become  an  episcopal  see,  and  has  him  for  its  first  prelate.  The  Picts  also  at 
this  time  are  at  peace  with  the  English  nation,  and  rejoice  in  being  united 
in  peace  and  truth  with  the  whole  Catholic  Church.  The  Scots  that  inhabit 
Britain,  satisfied  with  their  own  territories,  meditate  no  hostilities  against  the 
nation  of  the  English.  The  Britons,  though  they,  for  the  most  part,  through 
innate  hatred,  are  adverse  to  the  English  nation,  and  wrongfully,  and  from 
wicked  custom,  oppose  the  appointed  Easter  of  the  whole  Catholic  Church  ; 
yet,  from  both  the  Divine  and  human  power  withstanding  them,  can  in  no 
way  prevail  as  they  desire  ;  for  though  in  part  they  are  their  own  masters, 
yet  elsewhere  they  are  also  brought  under  subjection  to  the  English.  Such 
being  the  peaceable  and  calm  disposition  of  the  times,  many  of  the  North- 
umbrians, as  well  of  the  nobility  as  private  persons,  laying  aside  their  weap- 
ons, rather  incline  to  dedicate  both  themselves  and  their  children  to  the 
tonsure  and  monastic  vows,  than  to  study  martial  discipline.  What  will  be 
the  end  hereof,  the  next  age  will  show.  This  is  for  the  present  the  state  of 
all  Britain  ;  in  the  year  since  the  coming  of  the  English  into  Britain  about 
285,  but  in  the  731st  year  of  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  in  whose  reign  may 
the  earth  ever  rejoice  ;  may  Britain  exult  in  the  profession  of  his  faith  ;  and 
may  many  islands  be  glad,  and  sing  praises  in  honor  of  his  holiness  ! 

Book  V.,  Chapter  XXIV. — I  have  thought  fit  briefly  to  sum  up  those 
things  which  have  been  related  more  at  large,  according  to  the  distinction  of 
times,  for  the  better  preserving  them  in  memory. 

In  the  sixtieth  year  before  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  Caius  Julius 
Caesar,  first  of  the  Romans,  invaded  Britain,  and  was  victorious,  yet  could 
not  gain  the  kingdom. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  46,  Claudius,  second  of  the 
Romans,  invading  Britain,  had  a  great  part  of  the  island  surrendered  to  him, 
and  added  the  Orkney  Islands  to  the  Roman  empire. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord,  167,  Eleutherius,  being 
made  bishop  at  Rome,  governed  the  Church  most  gloriously  fifteen  years. 
Lucius,  king  of  Britain,  writing  to  him,  requested  to  be  made  a  Christian, 
and  succeeded  in  obtaining-  his  request. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  189,  Severus,  being  made 
emperor,  reigned  seventeen  years  ;  he  enclosed  Britain  with  a  trench  from 
sea  to  sea. 

In  the  year  381,  Maximus,  being  made  emperor  in  Britain,  sailed  over 
into  Gaul,  and  slew  Gratian. 

In  the  year  409,  Rome  was  crushed  by  the  Goths,  from  which  time  Ro- 
man emperors  began  to  reign  in  Britain. 

In  the  year  430,  Palladius  was  sent  to  be  the  first  bishop  of  the  Scots  that 
believed  in  Christ,  by  Pope  Celestine. 

In  the  year  449,  Martian  being  made  emperor  with  Valentinian,  reigned 
seven  years  ;  in  whose  time  the  English,  being  called  by  the  Britons,  came 
into  Britain. 

In  the  year  538,  there  happened  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  on  the  16th  of  Feb- 
ruary, from  the  first  to  the  third  hour. 

In  the  year  540,  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  happened  on  the  20th  of  June  and 
the  stars  appeared  during  almost  half  an  hour  after  the  third  hour  of  the  day. 


280  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

In  the  year  547,  Ida  began  to  reign  ;  from  him  the  royal  family  of  the 
Northumbrians  derives  its  original ;  he  reigned  twelve  years. 

In  the  year  565,  the  priest,  Columba,  came  out  of  Scotland,  into  Britain, 
to  instruct  the  Picts,  and  he  built  a  monastery  in  the  isle  of  Hii. 

In  the  year  596,  Pope  Gregory  sent  Augustine  with  monks  into  Britain, 
to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  the  English  nation. 

In  the  year  597,  the  aforesaid  teachers  arrived  in  Britain  ;  being  about 
the  150th  year  from  the  coming  of  the  English  into  Britain. 

In  the  year  601,  Pope  Gregory  sent  the  pall  into  Britain,  to  Augustine, 
who  was  already  made  bishop  ;  he  sent  also  several  ministers  of  the  word, 
among  whom  was  Paulinus. 

In  the  year  603,  a  battle  was  fought  at  Degsastane. 

In  the  year  604,  the  East  Saxons  received  the  faith  of  Christ,  under  King 
Sabert,  and  Bishop  Mellitus. 

In  the  year  605,  Gregory  died. 

In  the  year  616,  Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  625,  the  venerable  Paulinus  was,  by  Archbishop  Justus,  or- 
dained bishop  of  the  Northumbrians. 

In  the  year  626,  Eanfleda,  daughter  to  King  Edwin,  was  baptized  with 
twelve  others,  on  Whit-Saturday. 

In  the  year  627,  King  Edwin  was  baptized,  with  his  nation,  at  Easter. 

In  the  year  633,  King  Edwin  being  killed,  Paulinus  returned  to  Kent. 

In  the  year  640,  Eadbald,  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  642,  King  Oswald  was  slain. 

In  the  year  644,  Paulinus,  first  bishop  of  York,  but  now  of  the  city  of 
Rochester,  departed  to  our  Lord. 

In  the  year  651,  King  Oswin  was  killed,  and  Bishop  Aidan  died. 

In  the  year  653,  the  Midland  Angles,  under  their  prince,  Penda,  received 
the  mysteries  of  the  faith. 

In  the  year  655,  Penda  was  slain,  and  the  Mercians  became  Christians. 

In  the  year  664,  there  happened  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  ;  Earconbert,  king 
of  Kent,  died  ;  and  Colman  returned  to  the  Scots  ;  a  pestilence  arose  ; 
Ceadda  and  Wilfrid  were  ordained  bishops  of  the  Northumbrians. 

In  the  year  668,  Theodore  was  ordained  bishop. 

In  the  year  670,  Oswy,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  died. 

In  the  year  673,  Egbert,  king  of  Kent,  died,  and  a  synod  was  held  at 
Hertford,  in  the  presence  of  King  Egfrid,  Archbishop  Theodore  presiding  : 
the  synod  did  much  good,  and  its  decrees  are  contained  in  ten  chapters. 

In  the  year  675,  Wulfhere,  king  of  the  Mercians,  dying,  when  he  had 
reigned  seventeen  years,  left  the  crown  to  his  brother  Ethelred. 

In  the  year  676,  Ethelred  ravaged  Kent. 

In  the  year  678,  a  comet  appeared  ;  Bishop  Wilfrid  was  driven  from  his 
see  by  King  Egfrid  ;  and  Bosa,  Eata,  and  Eadhed  were  consecrated  bishops 
in  his  stead. 

In  the  year  679,  Elfwine  was  killed. 

In  the  year  680,  a  synod  was  held  in  the  field  called  Hethfeld,  concern- 
ing the  Christian  faith,  Archbishop  Theodore  presiding  ;  John,  the  Roman 
abbot,  was  also  present.  The  same  year  also  the  Abbess  Hilda  died  at 
Streaneshalch. 

In  the  year  685,  Egfrid,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain. 

The  same  year,  Lothere,  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  688,  Caedwalla,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  went  to  Rome  from 
Britain. 


The  Angles  281 

In  the  year  690,  Archbishop  Theodore  died. 

In  the  year  697,  Queen  Ostritha  was  murdered  by  her  own  people,  that 
is,  the  nobility  of  the  Mercians. 

In  the  year  698,  Berthred,  the  royal  commander  of  the  Northumbrians, 
was  slain  by  the  Picts. 

In  the  year  704,  Ethelred  became  a  monk,  after  he  had  reigned  thirty 
years  over  the  nation  of  the  Mercians,  and  gave  up  the  kingdom  to  Ceolred. 

In  the  year  705,  Alfrid,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  died.19 

In  the  year  709,  Ceolred,  king  of  the  Mercians,  having  reigned  six  years, 
went  to  Rome. 

In  the  year  711,  Earl  Bertfrid  fought  with  the  Picts. 

In  the  year  716,  Osred,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  killed  ;  and 
Ceolred,  king  of  the  Mercians,  died  ;  and  Egbert,  the  man  of  God,  brought 
the  monks  of  Hii  to  observe  the  Catholic  Easter  and  ecclesiastical  tonsure. 

In  the  year  725,  Withred,  king  of  Kent,  died. 

In  the  year  729,  comets  appeared  ;  the  holy  Egbert  departed  ;  and  Osric 
died. 

In  the  year  731,  Archbishop  Bertwald  died. 

The  same  year  Tatwine  was  consecrated  ninth  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  the  fifteenth  year  of  Ethelbald,  king  of  Kent. 

(  What  follows  appears  to  be  by  another  hand.     Bede  died  in  the  year  /JS-J 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  732,  Egbert  was  made 
bishop  of  York,  in  the  room  of  Wilfrid  ;  Cunebert,  bishop  of  Lindisfarians, 
died. 

a.d.  733,  there  happened  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  on  the  18th  day  before 
the  kalends  of  September,  about  the  third  hour  of  the  day  ;  so  that  almost 
all  the  orb  of  the  sun  seemed  to  be  covered  with  a  black  and  horrid  shield. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  733,  Archbishop  Tatwine 
having  received  the  pall  by  apostolical  authority,  ordained  Alwich  and  Sig- 
frid  bishops. 

a.d.  734,  the  moon,  on  the  2d  before  the  kalends  of  February,  about  the 
time  of  cock-crowing,  was,  for  about  a  whole  hour,  covered  with  a  bloody 
red,  after  which  a  blackness  followed,  and  she  regained  her  light. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  734,  Bishop  Tatwine  died. 

In  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  735,  Nothelm  was  ordained 
archbishop  ;  and  Bishop  Egbert,  having  received  the  pall  from  the  apostolic 
see,  was  the  first  confirmed  archbishop  after  Paulinus,  and  ordained  Frith- 
bert  and  Frithwald  bishops  ;  and  the  priest  Bede  died. 

a.d.  737,  too  much  drought  rendered  the  land  unfruitful,  and  Ceolwulf, 
voluntarily  receiving  the  tonsure,  left  the  kingdom  to  Eadbert. 

a.d.  739,  Ethelard,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  died,  as  did  Archbishop 
Nothelm. 

a.d.  740,  Cuthbert  was  consecrated  in  Nothelm's  stead.  Ethelbald,  king 
of  the  Mercians,  through  impious  fraud,  wasted  part  of  the  Northumbrians, 
their  king  Eadbert,  with  his  army,  being  employed  against  the  Picts.  Bishop 
Ethelwald  died  also,  and  Conwulf  was  consecrated  in  his  stead.  Amwin 
and  Eadbert  were  slain. 

a.d.  741,  first  a  great  drought  happened  in  the  country.  Charles,  king  of 
the  Franks,  died  ;  and  his  sons,  Caroloman  and  Pepin,  reigned  in  his  stead. 

a.d.  745,  Bishop  Wilfrid  and  Ingwald,  bishop  of  London,  departed  to  our 
Lord. 


282  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

a.d.  747,  the  man  of  God,  Herefrid,  died. 

a.d.  750,  Cuthred,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  rose  up  against  King  Ethel- 
bald  and  Angus  ;  Theneorus  and  Eanred  died  ;  Eadbert  added  the  plain 
of  Kyle  and  other  places  to  his  dominions.30 

a.d.  756,  in  the  fifth  year  of  King  Eadbert,  on  the  ides  of  January,  there 
happened  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  ;  afterwards,  the  same  year  and  month,  on  the 
9th  before  the  kalends  of  February  the  moon  suffered  an  eclipse,  being  most 
horridly  black. 

a.d.  756,  Boniface,  called  also  Winfrid,  bishop  of  the  Franks,  received 
the  crown  of  martyrdom,  with  fifty-three  others  ;  and  Redger  was  conse- 
crated archbishop  in  his  stead,  by  Pope  Stephen. 

a.d.  757,  Ethelbald,  king  of  the  Mercians,  was  miserably  murdered,  in 
the  night,  by  his  own  tutors  ;  Beonred  began  his  reign  ;  Cynewulf,  king  of 
the  West  Saxons,  died  ;  and  the  same  year,  Offa,  having  vanquished  Beonred, 
in  a  bloody  manner,  sought  to  gain  the  kingdom  of  the  Mercians. 

a.d.  758,  Eadbert,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  receiving  St.  Peter's  ton- 
sure, for  the  love  of  God  and  to  gain  the  heavenly  country  by  violence,  left 
the  kingdom  to  his  son  Oswulph. 

a.d.  759,  Oswulph  was  wickedly  murdered  by  his  own  servants  ;  and  Eth- 
elwald,  being  chosen  the  same  year  by  his  people,  entered  upon  the  king- 
dom ;  in  whose  second  year  there  happened  a  great  tribulation  of  mortality, 
and  continued  almost  two  years,  several  grievous  distempers  raging,  but 
more  especially  the  dysentery. 

a.d.  761,  Angus,  king  of  the  Picts,  died  ;  who,  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  his  reign,  continued  a  bloody  tyrannical  butcher  :  Oswin  was  also 
slain. 

a.d.  765,  King  Alcred  was  advanced  to  the  throne. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1  The  Ulster  Annals  have  in  1033  "  Mac  meic  Boete  meic  Cinaedha  do  marbhadh  la  (slain; 
by)  Maelcolaim  meic  Cinaedha."  It  has  usually  been  assumed  that  this  Boete  was  the  son  of 
Kenneth,  son  of  Dubh,  the  predecessor  of  Maelcolm  mac  Kenneth,  and  thus  represented 
a  rival  branch  of  the  house  ;  but  the  dates  will  not  admit  of  this,  and  his  father  Kenneth 
must  be  placed  a  generation  farther  back.  He  may  either  have  been  the  same  Kenneth 
who  was  father  of  Malcolm,  thus  making  Boete  his  brother,  or  the  Kenneth,  son  of  Mal- 
colm who  slew  Constantin,  son  of  Cuilein,  in  997,  and  who  is  supposed  by  Fordun  to  be 
his  illegitimate  brother.  Fordun  tells  us  that  "the  old  custom  of  the  succession  of  kings 
lasted  without  a  break  until  the  time  of  Malcolm,  son  of  Kenneth,  when,  for  fear  of  the  dis- 
memberment of  the  kingdom,  which  might  perhaps  result  therefrom,  that  king  by  a  general 
ordinance  decreed  as  a  law  forever  that  henceforth  each  king  after  his  death  should  be 
succeeded  in  the  government  of  the  kingdom  by  whoever  was  at  the  time  being  the  next 
descendant  —  that  is,  a  son  or  a  daughter,  a  nephew  or  a  niece,  the  nearest  then  living. 
Failing  in  these,  however,  the  next  heir  begotten  of  the  royal  or  collateral  stock  should 
possess  the  right  of  inheritance." — (Fordun,  Ckron.,  Ed.  1872,  b.  iv.,  c.  i.)  Whether  Mal- 
colm actually  issued  a  formal  decree  to  this  effect  rests  on  the  authority  of  Fordun  alone, 
which  can  hardly  be  accepted  for  the  events  of  this  early  period.  Malcolm  seems  to  have 
taken  the  readier  mode  of  removing  from  life  any  competitor  who  should  claim  as  a  male 
descendant. — Celtic  Scotland,  p.  399. 

8  At  his  death,  in  1033,  there  was  no  powerful  adult  collateral  to  seize  on  the  succession. 
He  is  said  to  have  provided  for  this  by  putting  to  death  the  grandson  of  Kenneth  IV.  [III. J 


The  Angles  283, 

The  charge  stands  on  very  faint  evidence ;  and  were  it  not  that  it  adds  an  item  to  the  long 
catalogue  of  royal  crimes,  the  tenuity  of  the  evidence  might  be  regretted,  since  such  a  death 
would  help  to  clear  up  the  tragic  mysteries  of  the  next  reign. — Burton,  History  of  Scotland, 
vol.  i.,  p.  343. 

3  It  appears  from  the  chartulary  of  St.  Andrews  that  Gruoch,  Jilia  Bodhe,  was  the  wife, 
of  Macbeth,  son  of  Finnloech,  and  reigned  along  with  him,  while  Lulach,  his  successor,  is 
termed  in  one  of  the  Latin  lists  nepos  filii  Boede. — Chronicles  of  the  Picls  and  Scots,  p.  147. 

The  foundation  for  Shakespeare's  tragedy  is  the  account  given  by  Hector  Boece,  which 
was  copied  into  Holinshed' 's  Chronicle  and  thence  came  to  the  hands  of  the  poet.  Boece's- 
story  is  as  follows  : 

' '  Nocht  lang  ef tir,  hapnit  ane  uncouth  and  wonderful  thing,  be  quhilk  f ollowit  sone, 
ane  gret  alteration  in  the  realme.  Be  aventure,  Makbeth  an  Banquho  wer  passand  to  Fores, 
quhair  King  Duncane  hapnit  to  be  for  the  time,  and  met  be  the  gait  thre  wemen,  clothit  in 
elrage  and  uncouth  weid.  Thay  wer  jugit,  be  the  pepill,  to  be  weird  sisteris.  The  first  of 
thaim  said  to  Makbeth,  4  Hale,  Thane  of  Glammis  ! '  the  second  said,  '  Hale,  Thane  of 
Cawder  ! '  and  the  third  said,  '  Hale,  King  of  Scotland  ! '  Then  said  Banquho,  '  Quhat 
wemen  be  ye,  sa  unmerciful  to  me,  and  sa  favorabil  to  my  companyeon  ?  For  ye  gaif  to  him 
nocht  onlie  landis  and  gret  rentis,  bot  gret  lordschippis  and  kingdomes  ;  and  gevis  me  nocht.' 
To  this,  answerit  the  first  of  thir  weird  sisteris,  '  We  schaw  more  felicite  appering  to  the  than/ 
to  him  ;  for  thoucht  he  happin  to  be  ane  king,  his  empire  sail  end  unhappelie,  and  nane  of 
his  blude  sail  eftir  him  succeid  ;  be  contrar,  thow  sail  nevir  be  king,  bot  of  the  sal  cum  mony 
kingis,  quhilkis,  with  lang  progressioun,  sail  rejose  the  croun  of  Scotland.'  Als  sone  as  thir 
wourdis  wer  said,  thay  suddanlie  evanist  out  of  sicht.  This  prophecy  and  divinatioun  wes 
haldin  mony  dayis  in  derision  to  Banquho  and  Makbeth.  For  sum  time  Banquho  wald  call 
Makbeth,  King  of  Scottis,  for  derision  ;  and  he  on  the  samin  maner,  wald  call  Banquho,  the 
fader  of  mony  kingis.  Yit,  becaus  al  thingis  succedit  as  thir  wemen  devinit,  the  pepill 
traistit  and  jugit  thame  to  be  weird  sisteris.  Not  lang  after  it  hapnit  that  the  Thane  of 
Cawder  was  disherist  and  forfaltit  of  his  landis,  for  certane  crimes  of  lese  majeste  ;  and 
his  landis  wer  gevin  be  King  Duncane  to  Makbeth.  It  hapnit  in  the  nixt  nicht,  that 
Banquho  and  Makbeth  wer  sportand  togiddir  at  thair  supper.  Than  said  Banquho,  '  Thow 
hes  gottin  all  that  the  first  two  weird  sisteris  hecht.  Restis  nocht  bot  the  croun,  quhilk  wes 
hecht  be  the  third  sister.'  Makbeth,  revolving  all  thingis  as  thay  wer  said  be  thir  weird 
sisteris,  began  to  covat  the  cround  ;  and  yit  he  concludit  to  abide  quhil  he  saw  the  time  ganand 
thairto,  fermelie  believing  that  the  third  weird  suld  cum,  as  the  first  two  did  afore. 

"  In  the  mene  time,  King  Duncane  maid  his  son  Malcolme  prince  of  Cumbir,  to  signify 
that  he  suld  regne  eftir  him.  Quhilk  wes  gret  displeseir  to  Makbeth  ;  for  it  maid  plane  dero- 
gatioun  to  the  third  weird,  promittit  afore  to  him  be  thir  weird  sisteris.  Nochteles,  he 
thocht,  gif  Duncane  wer  slane,  he  had  maist  richt  to  the  croun,  becaus  he  wes  nerest  of 
blude  theirto,  be  tennour  of  the  auld  lawis  maid  eftir  the  deith  of  King  Fergus,  '  Quhen 
young  children  wer  unabil  to  govern  the  croun,  the  nerrest  of  thair  blude  sail  regne.'  Als, 
the  respons  of  thir  weird  sisteris  put  him  in  belief,  that  the  third  weird  suld  cum  as  weill  as 
the  first  two.  Attour,  his  wife,  impacient  of  lang  tary,  as  all  wemen  ar,  specially  quhare 
thay  ar  desirus  of  ony  purpos,  gaif  him  gret  artation  to  persew  the  third  weird,  that  scho  micht 
be  ane  quene  ;  called  him,  oft  timis,  febil  cowart,  and  nocht  desiris  of  honouris  ;  sen  he  durst 
not  assailye  the  thing  with  manheid  and  curage,  quhilk  is  offerit  to  him  be  benivolence  of 
fortoun  ;  howbeit  sindry  o^heris  hes  assailyeit  sic  thingis  afore,  with  maist  terribil  jeopardyisr 
quhen  thay  had  not  sic  sickernes  to  succeid  in  the  end  of  thair  laubouris  as  he  had. 

'*  Makbeth,  be  persuasion  of  his  wife,  gaderit  his  freindis  to  ane  counsall  at  Innernes, 
quhare  King  Duncane  happinit  to  be  for  the  time.  And  becaus  he  fand  sufficient  opor- 
tunite,  be  support  of  Banquho  and  otheris  his  freindis,  he  slew  King  Duncane,  the  VII.  yeir 
of  his  regne.  His  body  was  buryit  in  Elgin,  and  efter  tane  up  and  brocht  to  Colmekill, 
quhare  it  remains  yit,  amang  the  sepulturis  of  uthir  kingis  ;  fra  our  redemption  MXLVI.. 


284  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

yeris." — Bellenden's  Croniklis  of  Scotland,  book  xii.,  chap,  iii.,  Edinburgh,  1822,  translated 
from  Boece's  History  and  Croniklis  of  Scotland. 

4  "  Machbet  filius  Finlach  contulit  per  suffragiis  orationum  et  Gruoch  filia  Bodhe  rex  et 
regina  Scotorum,  Kyrkness  Deo  omnipotenti  et  Kaledeis,  prefatse  insulae  Lochlevine  cum 
suis  finibus  et  terminis. 

"Cum  omni  libertate  collata  fuit  villa  de  Kyrkenes  Deo  omnipotenti  et  Kaledeis,  alique 
omni  munere  et  on  ere  et  exaccione  regis  et  filii  regis,  vice  comitis  et  alicujus  et  sine  refectione 
pontis  et  sine  exercitu  et  venatione,  sed  pietatis  intuitu  et  orationum  suffragiis  fuit  Deo  omni 
potenti  collata.  Cum  summa  veneratione  et  devotione  Makbeth  rex  contulit  Deo  et  Sancto 
Servano  de  Lochlevyn  et  heremitis  ibidem  Deo  servientibus  Bolgyne  filii  Torfyny  cum  omni 
libertate  et  sine  onere  exercitus  regis  et  filii  ejus,  vel  vicecomitis,  et  sine  exactione  alicujus, 
sed  caritatis  intuitu  et  orationum  suffragiis." — Chr.  of  St.  Andrews,  p.  114,  12. 

5  A.  D.  1045  Cath  etir  Albancho  araenrian  cur  marbadh  andsin  Crinan  Ab.  Duincalland 
ocus  sochaighe  maille  fris.  i.  nae  xx  laech. — Annals  of  Tighernac. 

6  Probably  to  obtain  absolution  for  the  murder  of  Duncan,  as  Marian  us  tells  us  that  in 
the  year  1050  the  king  of  Scotia,  Macbethad,  freely  distributed  silver  to  the  poor  at  Rome. 
According  to  the  Orkneyinga  Saga  (Mr.  Anderson's  edition,  p.  43),  Thorfinn,  earl  of  Orkney, 
went  to  Rome  in  the  same  year,  "and  saw  the  Pope,  from  whom  he  obtained  absolution 
for  all  his  sins." 

There  is  a  singular  passage  concerning  Macbeth  in  Florence  of  Worcester,  p.  626 
"  Anno  1050,  Rex,  Scotorum  Macbethad  "  Romae  argentum  spargendo  distribuit."  Fordun 
simply  adds  "  Pauperibus  "  ;  L.  v.,  c.  9,  because  that  word  follows  in  the  text,  Ps.  112. 
From  the  words  of  Fordun,  Goodall  draws  this  notable  inference.  "Machebeda  Roman 
profectus";  Index  ad  Fordun.  Thus  from  Fordun,  and  his  publisher,  we  learn,  "that 
Macbeth  went  to  Rome,  and  there  distributed  '  alms  to  the  poor ' "  ;  whereas  the  original  in- 
sinuated "that  'Macbeth  bribed  the  court  of  Rome.'" — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol. 
i.,  p.  4. 

7  Siward  was  doubly  connected  with  the  house  of  Crinan,  the  abbot  of  Dunkeld,  for  his 
wife's  aunt,  Aldgitha,  half-sister  of  Earl  Ealdred,  was  married  to  Maldred,  son  of  Crinan, 
and  King  Duncan  himself  married  either  the  sister  or  the  cousin  of  Earl  Siward,  by  whom 
he  had  a  son,  Malcolm. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  408. 

8  In  1054  Siward,  the  valiant  duke  of  the  Northumbrians,  by  the  command  of  King 
Edward,  with  both  an  army  of  horse,  and  a  powerful  fleet,  went  into  Scotland  and  fought  a 
battle  with  Macbeth,  king  of  Scots,  and  many  thousand  of  the  Scots  and  all  the  Normans,  of 
whom  we  have  above  made  mention,  being  killed,  put  him  to  flight,  and  constituted  King 
Malcolm,  son  of  the  king  of  the  Cumbrians,  as  the  king  had  commanded.  In  that  battle, 
however,  his  son  and  many  of  the  English  and  Danes  fell. — Florence  of  Worcester. 

Under  the  year  1054  the  chronicle  contains  two  separate  accounts  of  the  expedition  of 
Earl  Siward,  in  which  he  defeated  Macbeth  and  returned  with  enormous  booty.  Such  were 
the  only  results,  according  to  the  contemporary  chronicler,  of  an  expedition  which  appears  to 
have  been  directed  against  Macbeth  on  account  of  the  protection  he  had  afforded  to  the 
Norman  favorites  of  the  Confessor.  Tighernac,  the  contemporary  Irish  annalist,  alludes  to 
this  defeat  of  Macbeth  under  the  same  year  ;  and  four  years  later,  in  1058,  he  notices  an 
abortive  attempt  of  the  Norwegians,  which  is  also  entered  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  under  the 
same  date,  placing  the  defeat  and  death  of  Macbeth,  which  raised  Malcolm  Ceanmore  to  the 
throne,  in  the  same  year.  In  later  chroniclers  the  events  of  both  these  years  have  been  pur- 
posely confounded,  and  Siward  has  been,  for  obvious  reasons,  represented  as  defeating  and 
killing  Macbeth,  and  restoring  Malcolm  to  his  father's  throne  at  the  command  of  the 
English  king  —  all  which,  as  he  died  in  1055,  he  must  have  risen  from  his  grave  (like  Reg- 
inald Hy  Ivar)  to  effect.  That  the  defeat  of  Macbeth  in  1054  contributed  eventually  to  the 
success  of  Malcolm  in  1058  is  highly  probable  ;  but  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Anglo- 
Norman  writers  cannot  stand  for  a  moment  against  the  account  of  the  contemporary  and 


The  Angles  285 


more  impartial  authorities. — E.  William  Robertson,  Scotland  under  her  Early  Kings,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  400. 

A  new  cause  for  action  had  now  made  itself  felt.  The  flight  of  a  body  of  Normans  to 
the  Scottish  court  on  Godwine's  return  from  exile  forced  on  the  struggle.  The  power  of 
Macbeth  had  been  doubled  by  his  close  alliance  with  the  Orkney  jarls,  and  his  reception  of 
the  Normans  threatened  danger  to  the  English  realm.  It  was  "  by  the  king's  order  "  that 
Siward  marched  over  the  border  to  fight  Macbeth.  The  danger  was  soon  dispelled.  In  1054 
a  Northumbrian  fleet  appeared  off  the  Scottish  coast,  and  a  Northumbrian  army  met  Mac- 
beth and  his  Orkney  allies  in  a  desperate  battle.  The  English  victory  was  complete  ;  the 
Normans  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  Macbeth  fled  to  his  Norse  allies,  to  perish  after  four  years 
of  unceasing  struggle  with  Duncan's  son,  Malcolm,  whom  Siward  placed  on  the  Scottish 
throne. — Green,  Conquest  of  England,  ch.,  xi.,  §  8. 

9  The  Saxon  Chronicle  makes  no  mention  of  Malcolm  in  connection  with  this  expedition  ; 
but  Florence  of  Worcester  adds  to  an  account,  apparently  taken  from  the  Saxon  Chronicle, 
that  it  was  made  jussu  regis,  that  the  forces  on  the  one  side  were  "  Scoti  et  Normanni,"  on 
the  other  "  Angli  et  Dani,"  and  that  Siward  "  Malcolmum  regis  Cumbrorum  filium  ut  rex 
jusserat  regem  constituit."  Macbeth,  however,  appears  in  the  Irish  Annals  as  Ri  Alban  till 
1057,  and  Marianus  states  distinctly  that  he  reigned  till  that  year,  which  is  conclusive  as. 
to  Malcolm  not  having  been  made  king  of  Scotland  in  1054.  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that 
in  this  passage  he  is  not  called  "  filius  regis  Scottorum  "  but  "  filius  regis  Cumbrorum  ;"  and 
Simeon  seems  not  to  have  recognized  Duncan  as  king  of  the  Scots,  for  he  makes  Macbeth  the 
immediate  successor  of  Malcolm,  son  of  Kenneth,  "  Anno  mxxxiiij  Malcolm  rex  Scottorum 
obiit  cui  Macbethad  successit."  The  solution  seems  to  be  that  he  was  established  in  1054  as 
king  of  Cumbria,  and  at  this  time  Lothian  seems  to  have  been  included  in  the  territories  under 
the  rule  of  the  rex  Cumbrorum. — Celtic  Scotland,  p.  410. 

10  Marianus  has  in  1057  "  Macfinlaeg  occiditur  in  Augusto  ;  "  and  again,  "  Inde  Macfin- 
laeg  regnavit  annis  17  ad  eandem  missam  Sanctae  Mariae  "  (15th  August).  Tighernac  under 
1057,  "  Macbethadh  mic  Findlaich  Airdri  (sovereign  of)  Alban  domarbad  do  (slain  by) 
Mselcolaim  mic  Dondcadha,  to  which  the  Ulster  Annals  add  "i  cath  "  (in  battle). — Chron. 
Picts  and  Scots,  pp.  65,  78,  369. 

' '  Mony  Jnglishmen  in  lyke  maner  of  hich  kin  and  blude  f olloweat  him  [Malcolm  Canmore] 
into  Scotland,  quhome  the  king  of  his  liberalitie  promouet  til  Dignities,  because  stoutlie  thay 
had  stande  with  him  in  his  defence  against  his  ennimies  of  quhilkes  war  Calder,  Lockhart, 
Gordoun,  Setoun,  Lauder,  Wawn,  Meldroun,  Schaw,  Lermont,  Libertoun,  Straquhin,  Rotray, 
Dundas,  Cockburne,  Myrtom,  Jnglis,  Leslye,  Cargill,  Cuilra,  Mar,  Meinzies,  Abbercrummie, 
the  chiefest :  of  thir  mony  nobile  houses  have  tane  the  beginning.  The  name  lykewyse  mony 
have  receivet  frome  their  fortitude  and  mony  fra  the  land  quhair  thay  duell. 

"  The  same  tyme  was  Waltir  Fleanthie,  his  sone  decoret  with  the  honor  of  chief  e  Merchal, 
because  in  Galloway  and  in  the  hilandes  he  dantounet  had  the  rebellis  ;  of  quhome  cam  the 
familie  of  the  Stuartis." — John  Lesley,  (1571)  Historie  of  Scotland,  vol.,  i.  b.  vi.  Lesley's 
account  of  the  English  origin  of  so  many  Scottish  families  is  not  based  on  any  information 
or  record  more  authentic  than  that  of  Boece. 

11  "  Simeon  of  Durham  too  tells  us  that  in  the  year  1061  '  Aldred,  archbishop  of  York,  went 
to  Rome  with  Earl  Tostig  and  received  the  pall  from  Pope  Nicholas.  Meanwhile  Malcolm, 
king  of  Scots,  furiously  ravaged  the  earldom  of  his  sworn  brother  Earl  Tostig,  and  violated 
the  peace  of  St.  Cuthbert  in  the  island  of  Lindisfarne.' 

"  From  this  date  may  be  traced  the  beginning  of  the  long  warfare  which  for  so  many 
centuries  desolated  the  borderland  of  England  and  Scotland.  Malcolm,  claiming  in  the  name 
of  Edgar  the  right  of  rule  over  all  Cumbria  and  part  of  Northumbria,  overran  all  that  country, 
which  brought  him  into  contact  with  William  Rufus.  This  led  to  the  invasion  of  Scotland  by 
William,  and  ended  in  Malcolm  doing  homage  to  the  English  king  for  the  territories  of  Lothian 
and  Cumbria." — Maxwell,  Dumfries  and  Galloway,  p.  45. 


286  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

18  See  English  Chron.,  Anno  1067. 

The  connection  of  Malcolm  with  this  family  by  marriage  with  his  sister  was  a  very 
important  one  for  him,  and  he  now  combined  in  his  own  person  advantages  which  gave  him  a 
claim  to  the  obedience  of  each  of  the  different  races  now  united  under  his  rule.  In  the  male 
line  he  represented  the  powerful  lay  abbots  of  Dunkeld,  and  inherited  their  influence  over  the 
ecclesiastical  foundations  dependent  upon  that  monastery.  In  the  female,  he  possessed  the 
more  important  representation  of  the  Scottish  royal  house  who  had  ruled  for  a  century  and  a 
half  over  the  kingdom  of  Scotland.  His  father  Duncan  had  been  recognized  for  twenty  years 
by  the  Welsh  population  of  Cumbria  and  Strathclyde  as  their  king,  and  by  his  mother  he  was 
connected  with  the  Danes  of  Northumbria  and  their  powerful  Earl  Siward.  His  marriage  with 
Ingibiorg  gave  him  a  claim  to  the  good  will  at  least  of  the  Norwegians,  and  the  Anglic  popu- 
lation of  Lothian  and  Northumbria  would  look  upon  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  the 
./Etheling  as  giving  him  an  additional  right  to  their  steadfast  support.  The  northern  province 
of  Moray  alone,  whose  hereditary  rulers  were  of  the  same  family  as  Macbeth,  would  proba- 
bly render  but  an  unwilling  submission  to  his  authority,  and  his  rule  over  them  would  be  but 
little  more  than  nominal. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  415. 

"  Quhen  Wilyeam  of  Norman  die  knew  this,  [the  marriage  of  Margaret  to  Malcolm]  he 
commandet  to  pass  out  of  Jngland  all  Edgar  his  freindes  and  of  his  kin  ;  of  quhome  sprang  up 
Lindsay,  Vaus,  Ramsay,  Loual,  Toures,  Prestoun,  Sandelandis,  Bissatt,  Foulis,  Wardlaw, 
Maxwell,  and  mony  vthiris  of  grett  nobilitie,  that  tyme  cam  first  in  Scotland.  .  .  .  With 
Agatha  [mother  of  Edgar  and  Margaret],  lykewyse  cam  out  of  Wngre  [Hungary]  mony,  as 
Crychtoun,  Fodringhame,  Giffert,  Manlis,  Borthik,  and  vthiris  ;  amang  quhon  war  Bartho- 
lomew Leslie.  .  .  .  About  this  tyme  lykwyse  cam  out  of  France  ane  innumerable  multi- 
tude of  Nobles  of  quhome  we  have  Freser,  Sanschir,  Montgomerie,  Campbell,  Brise.Betoun, 
Tailyefer,  Bothwell,  and  vthiris  diueris." — Historieof  Scotland,  by  John  Lesley,  vol.  i.,  b.  vi. 
This  account  is  probably  without  much  foundation  in  fact.     See  p.  330,  note  3. 

13  See  English  Chronicle,  Anno  1072. 

14  The  form  in  which  the  influence  of  the  Conquest  was  first  felt  in  Scotland,  was  by 
a  steady  migration  of  the  Saxon  people  northward.  They  found  in  Scotland  people  of  their 
•own  race,  and  made  a  marked  addition  to  the  predominance  of  the  Saxon  or  Teutonic  element. 
About  the  year  1068  there  came  among  these  emigrants  a  group  whose  flight  from  England, 
and  reception  in  the  court  of  Malcolm,  make  a  turning-point  in  history.  Edgar,  the  .'Ethe- 
ling,  the  heir  of  th»  Saxon  line  of  kings,  came  over,  bringing  with  him  his  mother  and  two 
sisters,  and  such  a  body  of  retainers  as  an  exiled  court  might  command.  One  of  the  sisters, 
Margaret,  was  afterwards  married  to  Malcolm  ;  and  thus  it  behoved  the  king  of  Scotland, 
whether  from  chivalrous  sympathy  or  from  self-interest,  to  be  the  champion  of  the  Saxon 
claims,  and  the  Conqueror's  enemy. — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  373. 

15  The  caves  of  the  Yorkshire  moorlands  preserve  traces  of  the  miserable  fugitives  who 
fled  to  them  for  shelter.  Such  a  cave  opens  on  the  side  of  a  lonely  ravine,  known  now  as  the 
King's  Scaur,  high  up  in  the  moors  beside  Settle.  In  primeval  ages  it  had  been  the  haunt  of 
hyenas,  who  dragged  thither  the  mammoths,  the  reindeer,  the  bisons,  and  the  bears  that 
prowled  in  the  neighboring  glens.  At  a  later  time  it  became  a  home  of  savages,  whose  stone 
adzes  and  flint  knives  and  bone  harpoons  are  still  embedded  in  its  floor.  But  these,  too, 
vanished  in  their  turn,  and  this  haunt  of  primitive  man  lay  lonely  and  undisturbed  till  the 
sword  of  the  English  invaders  drove  the  Roman  provincials  for  shelter  to  the  moors.     The 

hurry  of  their  flight  may  be  gathered  from  the  relics  their  cave-life  has  left  behind  it.  There 
was  clearly  little  time  to  do  more  than  to  drive  off  the  cattle,  the  swine,  the  goats,  whose  bones 
lie  scattered  round  the  hearth  fire  at  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  where  they  served  the  wretched 
fugitives  for  food.  The  women  must  have  buckled  hastily  their  brooches  of  bronze  or  parti- 
colored enamel,  the  peculiar  workmanship  of  Celtic  Britain,  and  snatched  up  a  few  household 
implements  as  they  hurried  away.  The  men,  no  doubt,  girded  on  as  hastily  the  swords  whose 
dainty  sword-hilts  of  ivory  and  bronze  still  remain  to  tell  the  tale  of  their  doom,  and,  hiding 


The  Angles  287 

in  their  breast  what  money  the  house  contained,  from  coins  of  Trajan  to  the  wretched 
"  minims  "  that  told  of  the  Empire's  decay,  mounted  their  horses  to  protect  their  flight.  At 
nightfall  all  were  crouching  beneath  the  dripping  roof  of  the  cave,  or  round  the  fire  that  was 
blazing  at  its  mouth,  and  a  long  suffering  began  in  which  the  fugitives  lost  year  by  year  the 
memory  of  the  civilization  from  which  they  came.  A  few  charred  bones  show  how  hunger 
drove  them  to  slay  their  horses  for  food ;  reddened  pebbles  mark  the  hour  when  the  new 
vessels  they  wrought  were  too  weak  to  stand  the  fire,  and  their  meal  was  cooked  by  dropping 
heated  stones  into  the  pot.  A  time  seems  to  have  come  when  their  very  spindles  were 
exhausted,  and  the  women  who  wove  in  that  dark  retreat  made  spindle  whorls  as  they  could 
from  the  bones  that  lay  about  them. — Green,  Making  of  England,  p.  64. 

16  "  In  other  matters  the  conversion  left  our  Teutonic  institutions  to  themselves  to  abide  or 
to  change  according  to  influences  on  which  the  change  of  religion  had  no  direct  bearing.  .  .  . 

"  War  did  not  cease,  whether  wars  with  the  Britons  or  wars  among  the  rival  English  king- 
doms. But  here  came  in  the  most  direct  effect  of  the  conversion  on  the  general  history  of 
the  island.  The  wars  of  the  converted  Teuton  ceased  to  be  wars  of  extermination  :  there- 
fore, in  those  parts  of  Britain  which  the  English  won  after  their  conversion,  a  real  British  ele- 
ment was  assimilated  into  the  English  mass." — Freeman,  English  People  in  Its  Three  Homes, 

p.  145. 

17  "  He  wasted  the  race  of  the  Britons  more  than  any  chieftain  of  the  English  had  done," 
says  Bseda,  "  for  none  drove  out  or  subdued  so  many  of  the  natives,  or  won  so  much  of  their 
land  for  English  settlement,  or  made  so  many  tributary  to  Englishmen."  The  policy  of  ac- 
cepting the  submission  and  tribute  of  the  Welsh,  but  of  leaving  them  on  the  conquered  soil, 
became  indeed,  from  this  moment,  the  invariable  policy  of  the  invaders  ;  and  as  the  invasion 
pushed  farther  and  farther  to  the  west,  an  ever-growing  proportion  of  the  Britons  remained 
mingled  with  the  conquerors. — Green,  Making  of  England,  p.  192. 

18  Of  ^Edilfrid,  who  at  this  time  ruled  over  Bernicia,  and  soon  after  extended  his  sway 
over  Deira  also,  it  is  told  us  by  Bede  that  he  "  conquered  more  territories  from  the  Britons, 
either  making  them  tributary,  or  expelling  the  inhabitants  and  planting  Angles  in  their 
places,  than  any  other  king  "  ;  and  to  his  reign  we  attribute  the  greatest  extension  of  the 
Anglic  power  over  the  Britons.  He  appears  to  have  added  to  his  kingdom  the  dis- 
tricts on  the  west  between  the  Derwent  and  the  Mersey,  thus  extending  Deira  from  sea 
to  sea,  and  placing  the  Northumbrian  kingdom  between  the  Britons  of  the  north  and  those  of 
Wales.  The  river  Tees  appears  to  have  separated  Deira  from  Bernicia,  and  the  Angles  of 
Bernicia,  with  whom  we  have  more  immediately  to  do,  were  now  in  firm  possession  of  the 
districts  extending  along  the  east  coast  as  far  as  the  Firth  of  Forth,  originally  occupied  by 
the  British  tribe  of  the  Ottadeni  and  afterwards  by  the  Picts,  and  including  the  counties  of 
Berwick  and  Roxburgh  and  that  of  East  Lothian  or  Haddington,  the  rivers  Esk  and  Gala 
forming  their  western  boundary.  The  capital  of  Deira  was  York,  and  that  of  Bernicia  the 
strongly-fortified  position  on  the  coast  nearly  opposite  the  Fame  Islands,  crowning  a  basaltic 
rock  rising  150  feet  above  the  sea,  and  accessible  only  on  the  southeast,  which  was  called  by 
the  Britons,  Dinguayridi,  by  the  Gael,  Dunguaire,  and  by  the  Angles  Bebbanburch  after 
Bebba  the  wife  of  yEdilfrid,  now  Bamborough.  About  half  way  along  the  coast,  between 
Bamborough  and  Berwick-on-Tweed,  lay  parallel  to  the  shore,  the  long  flat  island  called  by 
the  Britons,  Ynys  Medcaud,  and  by  the  Angles,  Lindisfarne. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  236. 

19Aldferth,  king  of  Northumbria,  died  in  705,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Osred,  a 
boy  eight  years  old  ;  and  in  the  following  year  Tighernac  records  the  death  of  Brude,  son  of 
Dereli,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Nectan,  son  of  Dereli,  according  to  the  Pictish  law 
of  succession.  Five  years  after  his  accession,  the  Picts  of  the  plain  of  Manann,  probably  en- 
couraged by  the  success  of  the  neighboring  kingdom  of  the  Picts  in  maintaining  their  inde- 
pendence against  the  Angles,  rose  against  their  Saxon  rulers.  They  were  opposed  by 
Berctfrid,  the  prefect  or  Alderman  of  the  Northumbrians,  whose  king  was  still  in  only  his 
fourteenth  year.     The  Picts,  however,  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and  their  youthful 


288  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

leader  Finguine,  son  of  Deleroith,  slain.  The  English  Chronicle  tells  us  that  this  battle  was 
fought  between  Haefe  and  Caere,  by  which  the  rivers  Avon  and  Carron  are  probably  meant, 
the  plain  of  Manann  being  situated  between  these  two  rivers.  These  Picts  appear  to  have 
been  so  effectually  crushed  that  they  did  not  renew  the  attempt,  and  we  do  not  learn  of  any 
further  collision  between  the  Picts  and  the  Angles  during  this  period. 

The  Scots  of  Dalriada  and  a  part  of  the  British  nation,  we  are  told,  recovered  their  free- 
dom, the  Angles  still  maintaining  the  rule  over  the  rest  of  the  Britons.  The  portion  of  their 
kingdom  which  became  independent  consisted  of  those  districts  extending  from  the  Firth  of 
Clyde  to  the  Solway,  embracing  the  counties  of  Dumbarton,  Renfrew,  Lanark,  Ayr,  and 
Dumfries — with  the  stronghold  of  Alclyde  for  its  capital  ;  but  the  Angles  still  retained  pos- 
session of  the  district  of  Galloway  with  its  Pictish  population,  and  Whithorn  as  their  princi- 
pal seat,  as  well  as  that  part  of  the  territory  of  the  Britons  which  lay  between  the  Solway 
Firth,  and  the  river  Derwent,  having  as  its  principal  seat  the  town  of  Carlisle,  which  Ecgfrid 
had,  in  the  same  year  in  which  he  assailed  the  Picts,  given  to  Saint  Cuthbert,  who  had  been 
made  bishop  of  Lindisfarne  in  the  previous  year,  that  is  in  684. 

20  In  the  same  year  the  Picts  of  the  plain  of  Manann  and  the  Britons  encountered  each 
other  at  Mocetac  or  Magdedauc,  now  Mugdoc  in  Dumbartonshire,  where  a  great  battle  was 
fought  between  them,  in  which  Talorgan,  the  brother  of  Angus,  who  had  been  made  king  of 
the  outlying  Picts,  was  slain  by  the  Britons.  Two  years  after  Tuadubr,  the  son  of  Bili,  king 
of  Alclyde,  died,  and  a  battle  was  fought  between  the  Picts  themselves  at  a  place  called  by  Ti- 
ghernac  "  Sreith,"  in  the  land  of  Circin,  that  is  in  the  Strath  in  the  Mearns,  in  which  Bruidhi, 
the  son  of  Maelchu,  fell.  As  his  name  is  the  same  as  the  Brude,  son  of  Mailcu,  who  was 
king  of  the  northern  Picts  in  the  sixth  century,  this  was  probably  an  attack  upon  Angus's 
kingdom  by  the  northern  Picts. 

Eadberht,  king  of  Northumbria,  and  Angus,  king  of  the  Picts,  now  united  for  the  pur- 
pose of  subjecting  the  Britons  of  Alclyde  entirely  to  their  power,  and  in  756  they  led  an  army 
to  Alclyde,  and  there  received  the  submission  of  the  Britons  on  the  first  day  of  August  in 
that  year.  Ten  days  afterwards,  however,  Simeon  of  Durham,  records  that  almost  the  whole 
army  perished  as  Eadberht  was  leading  it  from  Ovania,  probable  Avondale  or  Strathaven  in 
the  vale  of  the  Clyde,  through  the  hill  country  to  Niwanbyrig  or  Newburgh.  The  Britons  of 
Alclyde  thus  passed  a  second  time  under  subjection  to  the  Angles,  which  continued  some 
time,  as  in  760  the  death  of  Dunnagual,  the  son  of  Tuadubr  is  recorded,  but  he  is  not  termed 
king  of  Alclyde. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

SCOTTISH  HISTORY  IN  THE   ENGLISH  OR  ANGLO-SAXON 

CHRONICLE 

THE  work  which  passes  under  the  name  of  the  English  Chronicle  is  a 
continued  narrative  written  at  different  times,  and  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  language,  of  the  most  important  events  of  English  history  from  the 
earliest  period  to  the  year  1154.  It  is  evident,  both  from  the  antiquity 
of  the  manuscripts  of  the  Chronicle  now  extant,  as  well  as  from  certain 
allusions  and  forms  of  speech  which  occur  in  it,  that  the  latter  part,  at  least, 
was  written  by  a  person  contemporary  with  the  events  which  he  relates. 
In  all  probability  the  earlier  part  of  the  chronicle  is  also  of  a  contem- 
porary character,  and  therefore  ascends  to  a  very  early  period  of  English 
history,  even  to  the  time  of  the  Heptarchy  itself.  This  opinion  rests  upon 
the  fact  that,  while  the  dialect  of  the  latter  portion  of  the  chronicle  ap- 
proaches very  nearly  to  our  modern  English,  the  early  part  of  it  bears  the 
impress  of  times  much  more  rude  and  ancient,  and  the  language  in  which  it 
is  written  is  unintelligible  to  the  modern  reader  who  has  not  made  the 
Anglo-Saxon  tongue  an  object  of  study. 

The  best  edition  of  the  work  is  that  of  Benjamin  Thorpe,  published  by 
the  British  Government  in  the  Rolls  Series,  1861. 

There  are  now  but  six  ancient  copies  of  the  English  Chronicle  known  to 
be  in  existence,  which  may  be  described  as  follows  : 

A.  The  first  copy  of  this  chronicle  is  generally  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Benet  or  Plegmund  Manuscript,  so  called  because  it  is  preserved  in  Benet  (now 
Corpus  Christi)  College,  Cambridge,  and  because  Plegmund,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  the  reign  of  King  Alfred,  is  thought  to  have  had  some  hand 
in  compiling  the  first  part  of  it. 

"  From  internal  evidence  of  an  indirect  nature,"  says  Dr.  Ingram,  "  there 
is  great  reason  to  presume  that  Archbishop  Plegmund  transcribed  or  superin- 
tended this  very  copy  of  the  Saxon  Annals  to  the  year  891,  the  year  in 
which  he  came  to  the  See.  Wanley  observes  it  is  written  in  one  and  the 
same  hand  to  this  year,  and  in  hands  equally  ancient  to  the  year  924,  after 
which  it  is  continued  in  different  hands  to  the  end. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  year  890  is  added,  in  a  neat  but  imitative  hand,  the 
following  interpolation,  which  is  betrayed  by  the  faintness  of  the  ink,  as 
well  as  by  the  Norman  cast  of  the  dialect  and  orthography  : 

"  *  Her  waes  Plegemund  gecoron  of  gode  and  of  eallen  his  halechen.' 

"  There  are  many  other  interpolations  in  this  MS. ;  a  particular  account 
of  which,  however  curious,  would  necessarily  become  tedious." 

289 


290  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Prefixed  to  this  manuscript  is  a  genealogy  of  the  West  Saxon  kings  from 
the  landing  of  Cerdic  and  his  son  Cynric  to  the  accession  of  Alfred. 

B.  The  second  copy  of  the  English  Chronicle  is  in  the  British  Museum. 
(MS.  Cotton,  Tiberius  A.  vi.)  It  is  "  written  in  the  same  hand  with  much 
neatness  and  accuracy,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,"  and  "  is  of  very 
high  authority  and  antiquity.  It  was  probably  written  about  977,  where  it 
terminates.  The  hand-writing  resembles  that  ascribed  to  St.  Dunstan.  It 
narrowly  escaped  destruction  in  the  fire  at  Westminster,  previous  to  its  re- 
moval to  its  present  place  of  custody,  being  one  of  Sir  R.  Cotton's  MSS., 
formerly  belonging  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Augustine's,  Canterbury." 

C.  A  third  manuscript  is  also  in  the  British  Museum.  (Cotton,  Tiberius 
B.i.) 

"  This  manuscript  contains  many  important  additions  to  the  former  chron- 
icles, some  of  which  are  confirmed  by  Cotton,  Tiberius  B.  iv.;  but  many  are  not 
to  be  found  in  any  other  manuscript,  particularly  those  in  the  latter  part  of  it. 
These  are  now  incorporated  with  the  old  materials.  Wanley  considers  the 
hand-writing  to  be  the  same  to  the  end  of  the  year  1048.  The  orthography, 
however,  varies  about  the  year  890  (889  of  the  printed  chronicle).  There 
is  a  break  between  the  years  925  and  934,  when  a  slight  notice  is  introduced 
of  the  expedition  of  ^Ethelstan  into  Scotland.  The  manuscript  terminates 
imperfectly  in  1066,  after  describing  most  minutely  the  battle  of  Stanford- 
bridge  ;  the  few  lines  which  appear  in  the  last  page  being  supplied  by  a 
much  later  hand." 

D.  A  fourth  copy  of  the  English  Chronicle  also  is  found  in  the  British 
Museum.     (Cotton,  Tiberius  B.  iv.) 

"  This  manuscript  is  written  in  a  plain  and  beautiful  hand,  with  few 
abbreviations,  and  apparently  copied  in  the  early  part,  with  the  exception  of 
the  introductory  description  of  Britain,  from  a  very  ancient  manuscript. 
The  defective  parts,  from  a.d.  261  to  693,  were  long  since  supplied  from  four 
excellent  manuscripts  by  Josselyn  ;  who  also  collated  it  throughout  with  the 
same  ;  inserting  from  them,  both  in  the  text  and  in  the  margin,  such  passages 
as  came  within  his  notice  ;  which  are  so  numerous,  that  very  few  seem  to 
have  eluded  his  vigilant  search.  A  smaller  but  elegant  hand  commences 
fol.  68,  a.d.  1016  ;  and  it  is  continued  to  the  end,  a.d.  1079,  in  a  similar 
hand,  though  by  different  writers.  Wanley  notices  a  difference  in  the  year 
1052." 

E.  The  fifth  manuscript  is  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford.  (Laud 
E,  80.) 

"  It  is  a  fair  copy  of  older  chronicles,  with  a  few  inaccuracies,  omissions, 
and  interpolations,  to  the  year  1122  ;  therefore  no  part  of  it  was  written  be- 
fore that  period.  The  next  ten  years  rather  exhibit  different  ink  than  a 
different  writer.  From  1132  to  the  end,  a.d.  1154,  the  language  and 
orthography  became  gradually  more  Normanized,  particularly  in  the  reign 
of  King  Stephen  ;  the  account  of  which  was  not  written  till  the  close  of  it. 


The  English  Chronicle  291 

The  dates  not  being  regularly  affixed  to  the  last  ten  years,  Wanley  has  in- 
advertently described  this  manuscript  as  ending  a.d.  1143  ;  whereas  it  is 
continued  eleven  years  afterwards." 

F.  The  sixth  and  last  copy  is  in  the  British  Museum.  (Cotton, 
Domitian  A.  viii.) 

This  is  a  singularly  curious  manuscript,  attributed  generally  to  a  monk 
of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  on  account  of  the  monastic  interpolations. 
It  is  often  quoted  and  commended  by  H.  Wharton,  in  his  Anglia  Sacra, 
because  it  contains  much  ecclesiastical  and  local  information.  It  is  con- 
sidered, however,  of  the  least  authority  among  the  Cotton  manuscripts,  be- 
cause the  writer  has  taken  greater  liberties  in  abridging  former  chronicles, 
and  inserting  translations  of  Latin  documents  in  his  own  Normanized  dia- 
lect. Towards  the  end  the  writer  intended  to  say  something  about  Prince 
Eadward,  the  father  of  Edgar  and  Margaret ;  but  it  is  nearly  obliterated 
and  the  manuscript  soon  after  concludes,  a.d.  1056.  It  is  remarkable  for 
being  written  both  in  Latin  and  Saxon  ;  but  for  what  purpose  it  is  now 
needless  to  conjecture.  It  is  said  to  have  been  given  to  Sir  Robert  Cotton 
by  Camden. 

G.  Besides  these  six,  no  other  ancient  copy  is  known  to  exist  ;  but  there  is 
a  single  leaf  of  an  ancient  copy  in  the  British  Museum.  (Cotton,  Tiberius 
A.  iii.)  There  are  also  three  modern  transcripts,  two  of  which  are  in  the 
Bodleian  Library  (Junian  MSS.  and  Laud  G.  36)  and  one  in  the  Dublin 
Library.  (E  5,  15.)  The  Bodleian  transcripts  are  taken  from  two  of  the 
Cotton  manuscripts,  and  therefore  are  of  little  critical  value  ;  but  the  Dublin 
transcript  appears  to  be  taken  from  an  original,  now  lost  (Cott.,  Otho  B.  xi.), 
and  therefore  it  possesses  an  independent  authority. 

At  the  end  of  the  Dublin  transcript  is  this  note,  in  the  hand-writing  of 
Archbishop  Usher  :  "  These  Annales  are  extant  in  Sr  R.  Cotton's  Librarye  at 
the  ende  of  Bede's  Historye  in  the  Saxon  Tongue."  This  accords  with  the 
description  of  the  manuscript  in  Wanley 's  Catalogue,  p.  219  ;  to  which  the 
reader  is  referred  for  more  minute  particulars.  As  this  manuscript  was  there- 
fore in  existence  so  late  as  1705,  when  Wanley  published  his  Catalogue,  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  perished  in  the  lamentable  fire  of  1731,  which 
either  destroyed  or  damaged  so  many  of  the  Cotton  manuscripts  while 
deposited  in  a  house  in  Little  Dean's  Yard,  Westminster. 

This  transcript  is  become  more  valuable  from  the  loss  of  the  original. 
It  appears  from  the  dates  by  William  Lambard  himself,  at  the  beginning 
and  the  end,  that  it  was  begun  by  him  in  1563,  and  finished  in  1564,  when  he 
was  about  the  age  of  twenty-five. 

Of  these  six,  or  if  we  include  the  Dublin  Manuscript,  seven  copies  of  the 
English  Chronicle,  no  two  of  them  agree  in  the  date  at  which  they  terminate. 
Thus  : 

B  comes  down  no  later  than  a.d.  977. 

G  ends  at  a.d.  iooi. 


292  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

F  ends  imperfectly  at  1056. 

C  ends  at  1066. 

A  ends  at  1070. 

D  ends  abruptly  at  1079. 

E  ends  imperfectly  at  1154. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  English  Chronicle,  relating  to  Scottish 
history,  are  made  from  Giles's  edition  of  that  work,  corrected  by  comparison 
with  Thorpe's  edition  : 

EXTRACTS    FROM    THE    ENGLISH,    OR    ANGLO-SAXON    CHRONICLE. 

A.  449.  This  year  Martian  and  Valentinian  succeeded  to  the  empire, 
and  reigned  seven  winters.  And  in  their  days  Hengest  and  Horsa,  invited 
by  Wyrtgeorn  [Vortigern],  king  of  the  Britons,  sought  Britain  on  the  shore 
which  is  named  Ypwines  fleot ;  first  in  support  of  the  Britons,  but  after- 
wards they  fought  against  them.  King  Wyrtgeorn  gave  them  land  in  the 
southeast  of  this  country,  on  condition  that  they  should  fight  against  the 
Picts.  Then  they  fought  against  the  Picts,  and  had  the  victory  wheresoever 
they  came.  They  then  sent  to  the  Angles  ;  desired  a  larger  force  to  be 
sent,  and  caused  them  to  be  told  the  worthlessness  of  the  Britons,  and  the 
excellencies  of  the  land.  Then  they  soon  sent  thither  a  larger  force  in  aid 
of  the  others.  At  that  time  there  came  men  from  the  three  tribes  in  Ger- 
many ;  from  the  Old  Saxons,  from  the  Angles,  from  the  Jutes.  From  the 
Jutes  came  the  Kentishmen  and  the  Wightwarians,  that  is,  the  tribe  which 
now  dwells  in  Wight,  and  that  race  among  the  West  Saxons  which  is  still 
called  the  race  of  Jutes.  From  the  Old  Saxons  came  the  men  of  Essex  and 
Sussex  and  Wessex.  From  Anglia,  which  has  ever  since  remained  waste 
betwixt  the  Jutes  and  Saxons,  came  the  men  of  East  Anglia,  Middle  An- 
glia, Mercia,  and  all  Northumbria.  Their  leaders  were  two  brothers,  Hen- 
gest and  Horsa  :  they  were  the  sons  of  Wihtgils  ;  Wihtgils  son  of  Witta, 
Witta  of  Wecta,  Wecta  of  Woden  :  from  this  Woden  sprang  all  our  royal 
families,  and  those  of  the  Southumbrians  also. 

A.  455.  This  year  Hengest  and  Horsa  fought  against  king  Vortigern  at 
the  place  which  is  called  ^Egels-threp  [Aylesford],  and  his  brother  Horsa 
was  there  slain,  and  after  that  Hengest  obtained  the  kingdom,  and  y£sc  his 
son. 

A.  457.  This  year  Hengest  and  M%c  his  son  fought  against  the  Britons 
at  the  place  which  is  called  Crecganford  [Crayford],  and  there  slew  four 
thousand  men  ;  and  the  Britons  then  forsook  Kent,  and  in  great  terror  fled 
to  London.1 

A.  465.  This  year  Hengest  and  ^Esc  fought  against  the  Welsh  (7.  <?., 
"  the  enemy,"  or  British]  near  Wippedes  fleot  [Ebbsfleet  ?],  and  there  slew 
twelve  Welsh  aldormen,  and  one  of  their  thanes  was  slain  there,  whose  name 
was  Wipped. 

A.  473.  This  year  Hengest  and  ^Esc  fought  against  the  Welsh,  and  took 
countless  booty  ;  and  the  Welsh  fled  from  the  Angles  as  fire. 

A.  477.  This  year  ^Elle  came  to  Britain,  and  his  three  sons,  Cymen,  and 
Wlencing,  and  Cissa,  with  three  ships,  at  a  place  which  is  named  Cymenes- 
ora,  and  there  slew  many  Welsh,  and  drove  some  in  flight  into  the  wood 
which  is  named  Andredes-lea. 

A.  488.  This  year  ^Esc  succeeded  to  the  kingdom,  and  for  twenty-four 
years  was  king  of  the  Kentish  people. 


The  English  Chronicle  293 

A.  491.  This  year  JEUe  and  Cissa  besieged  Andredes-ceaster,  and  slew- 
all  that  dwelt  therein,  not  even  one  Briton  was  there  left.3 

A.  495.  This  year  came  two  aldormen  to  Britain,  Cerdic  and  Cynric 
his  son,  with  five  ships,  at  the  place  which  is  called  Cerdices  ora,  and  on  the 
same  day  they  fought  against  the  Welsh. 

A.  508.  This  year  Cerdic  and  Cynric  slew  a  British  king,  whose  name 
was  Natan-leod,  and  five  thousand  men  with  him.  After  that  the  land  was 
named  Natan-lea,  as  far  as  Cerdicesford. 

A.  514.  This  year  came  the  West  Saxons  to  Britain  with  three  ships  at 
the  place  which  is  called  Cerdices  ora,  and  Stuf  and  Wihtgar  fought  against 
the  Britons  and  put  them  to  flight. 

A.  547.  This  year  Ida  began  to  reign,  from  whom  arose  the  royal  race 
of  the  Northumbrians  ;  and  reigned  twelve  years,  and  he  built  Bebbanburh, 
which  was  at  first  enclosed  by  a  hedge,  and  afterwards  by  a  wall.8  Ida  was 
the  son  of  Eoppa,  Eoppa  of  Esa,  Esa  of  Ingwi,  Ingwi  of  Angewit,  Angewit 
of  Aloe,  Aloe  of  Benoc,  Benoc  of  Brand,  Brand  of  Baeldeg,  Baeldeg  of 
Woden,  Woden  of  Freothelof,  Freothelof  of  Freothewulf,  Freothewulf  of 
Finn,  Finn  of  Godulf,  Godulf  of  Geat. 

A.  560.  This  year  Ceawlin  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  West 
Saxons,  and  JEUe  assumed  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,  Ida  being 
dead  ;  each  of  them  reigned  thirty  winters.  ^Elle  was  the  son  of  Yffe, 
Yfife  of  Uxfrea,  Uxfrea  of  Wilgils,  Wilgils  of  Westerfalcna,  Westerfalcna 
of  Saefugl,  Saefugl  of  Saebald,  Saebald  of  Sigegeat,  Sigegeat  of  Swebdaeg, 
Swebdaeg  of  Sigegar,  Sigegar  of  Waegdaeg,  Waegdaeg  of  Woden,  Woden 
of  Freothewulf. 

A.  565.  This  year  ^Ethelberht  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Kentish 
people,  and  held  it  fifty-three  winters.  In  his  days  the  hefly  Pope  Gregory 
sent  us  baptism,  that  was  in  the  two  and  thirtieth  year  of  his  reign  :  and  Co- 
lumba,  a  mass-priest,  came  to  the  Picts,  and  converted  them  to  the  faith  of 
Christ :  they  are  dwellers  by  the  northern  mountains.  And  their  king  gave 
him  the  island  which  is  named  Ii  [Iona]  :  where  there  are  five  hides  of  land, 
from  what  men  say.  There  Columba  built  a  monastery,  and  he  was  abbot 
there  thirty-two  winters,  and  there  he  died  when  he  was  seventy-two  winters. 
His  inheritors  yet  have  the  place.  The  South  Picts  had  been  baptized  long 
before  :  to  them  bishop  Nina,  who  had  been  taught  at  Rome,  preached  bap- 
tism, whose  church  and  his  monastery  is  at  Whiterne,  hallowed  in  the  name 
of  St.  Martin  :  there  he  rests,  with  many  holy  men.  Now  in  Ii  there  must 
ever  be  an  abbot,  not  a  bishop  ;  and  to  him  must  all  the  Scot  bishops  be 
subjects,  because  Columba  was  an  abbot,  not  a  bishop. 

A.  588.  This  year  king  ^Elle  died,  and  ^Ethelric  reigned  after  him  for 
five  years. 

A.  593-  This  year  Ceawlin,  and  Cwichelm,  and  Cryda  perished  ;  and 
^Ethelfrith  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians  ;  he  was  the 
son  of  ^thelric,  ^thelric  of  Ida. 

A.  597.  This  year  Ceolwulf  began  to  reign  over  the  West  Saxons  ;  and 
he  constantly  fought  and  strove  against  either  the  Angle  race,  or  against  the 
Welsh,  or  against  the  Picts,  or  against  the  Scots.  He  was  the  son  of  Cutha, 
Cutha  of  Cynric,  Cynric  of  Cerdic,  Cerdic  of  Elesa,  Elesa  of  Esla,  Esla  of 
Giwis,  Giwis  of  Wig,  Wig  of  Freawine,  Freawine  of  Freothogar,  Freothogar 
of  Brand,  Brand  of  Baeldaeg,  Baeldaeg  of  Woden.  This  year  Augustine 
and  his  companions  came  to  the  land  of  the  Angles. 

A.  603.  This  year  yEgthan,  king  of  the  Scots,  fought  against  the  Dal- 
reods  and  against  ^Ethelfrith,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  at  Daegsanstan,  and 


294  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

almost  all  his  army  was  slain.  There  was  slain  Theodbald,  ^Ethelfrith's 
brother,  with  all  his  host.  Since  then  no  king  of  Scots  has  dared  to  lead 
an  army  into  this  nation.     Hering,  the  son  of  Hussa,  led  the  army  hither. 

A.  606.  ...  In  this  year  ./Ethelfrith  led  his  army  to  Chester,  and 
there  slew  numberless  Welsh  :  and  so  was  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Augus- 
tine, which  he  uttered,  "  If  the  Welsh  refuse  peace  with  us,  they  shall  perish 
at  the  hands  of  the  Saxons."  There  also  were  slain  two  hundred  priests, 
who  came  that  they  might  pray  for  the  army  of  the  Welsh  :  their  chief  was 
named  Scromail  [Brocmail],  who  escaped  thence  with  some  fifty.4 

A.  607.     This  year  Ceolwulf  fought  with  the  South  Saxons. 

A.  617.  This  year  ^Ethelfrith,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain  by 
Raedwald  king  of  the  East  Angles,  and  .^Edwine  the  son  of  Aelle  succeeded 
to  the  kingdom,  and  ravaged  all  Britain,  save  the  Kentish  people  only.6 
And  drove  out  the  sethelings,  sons  of  ^Ethelfrith  ;  that  was,  first  Eanfrith 
and  Oswald,  then  Oswiu,  Oslac,  Oswudu,  Oslaf,  and  Offa. 

A.  627.  This  year,  at  Easter,  Paulinus  baptized  ^Edwine  king  of  the 
Northumbrians,  with  his  people  :  and  earlier  in  the  same  year,  at  Pentecost, 
he  had  baptized  Eanflaed,  daughter  of  the  same  king. 

A.  633.  This  year  king  ^dwine  was  slain  by  Cadwalla  and  Penda  at 
Heathfield  [Hatfield  Chase  ?]  on  the  second  of  the  Ides  of  October,  and  he 
reigned  seventeen  years  ;  and  his  son  Osfrith  was  also  slain  with  him.  And 
then  afterwards  Cadwalla  and  Penda  went  and  laid  waste  all  the  land  of  the 
Northumbrians.  When  Paulinus  saw  that,  then  took  he  ^Ethelburh,  ^Ed- 
wine's  widow,  and  withdrew  in  a  ship  to  Kent.  And  Eadbald  and  Honorius 
received  him  very  honorably,  and  gave  him  a  bishop's  see  at  Rochester  ;  and 
he  there  continued  to  his  end. 

A.  634.  .  .  .  This  year  Osric,  whom  Paulinus  had  previously  bap- 
tized, succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  Deira ;  he  was  the  son  of  ^Elfric,  ^Ed- 
wine's  paternal  uncle.  And  to  Bernicia  succeeded  Eanfrith  the  son  of 
^Ethelfrith.  And  this  year  also  bishop  Birinus  first  preached  baptism  to  the 
West  Saxons  under  king  Cynegils.  Birinus  went  thither  by  command  of 
Honorius  the  Pope,  and  he  there  was  bishop  until  his  life's  end.  And  this 
year  also  Oswald  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  he 
reigned  nine  winters  ;  the  ninth  being  reckoned  to  him  on  account  of  the 
heathenship  which  they  had  practised,  who  ruled  them  for  one  year  between 
him  and  ^Edwine. 

A.  642.  This  year  Oswald,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain  by 
Penda  the  Southumbrian  at  Maserfield  on  the  day  of  the  Nones  of  August, 
and  his  corpse  was  buried  at  Bardney,  whose  holiness  and  his  miracles  were 
afterwards  variously  made  known  throughout  this  island,  and  his  hands  are 
at  Bamborough,  uncorrupted.  And  the  same  year  that  Oswald  was  slain, 
Oswiu  his  brother  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  he 
reigned  thirty  years  less  two.6 

A.  670.  This  year  Oswiu  king  of  the  Northumbrians  died,  on  the  15th 
of  the  Kalends  of  March,  and  Ecgferth  his  son  reigned  after  him  ;  and 
Hlothhere,  the  nephew  of  bishop  ^Ethelbyrht,  succeeded  to  the  bishopric 
over  the  West  Saxons,  and  held  it  seven  years,  and  Bishop  Theodore  conse- 
crated him.  And  Oswiu  was  the  son  of  ^Ethelfrith,  ^Ethelfrith  of  ^Ethelric, 
^thelric  of  Ida,  Ida  of  Eoppa. 

A.  684.  In  this  year  Ecgferth  sent  an  army  against  the  Scots,  and 
Berht  his  aldorman  with  it  and  miserably  they  afflicted  and  burned  God's 
churches. 

A.  685.     .     .     .     This  year  Ceadwalla  began  to  strive  for  the  kingdom. 


The  English  Chronicle  295 

Ceadwalla  was  the  son  of  Coenbryht,  Coenbryht  of  Cadda,  Cadda  of  Cutha, 
Cutha  of  Ceawlin,  Ceawlin  of  Cynric,  Cynric  of  Cerdic.  And  Mul  was  the 
brother  of  Ceadwalla,  and  he  was  afterwards  burned  in  Kent.  And  the  same 
year,  on  the  13th  of  the  Kalends  of  June,  king  Ecgferth  was  slain,  near  the 
North  sea,  and  a  great  army  with  him.  He  had  been  king  fifteen  winters, 
and  Aldferth  his  brother  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  after  him.  Ecgferth 
•vas  the  son  of  Oswiu,  Oswiu  of  ^Ethelfrith,  ^thelfrith  of  ^thelric, 
^Ethelric  of  Ida,  Ida  of  Eoppa. 

A.  688.  This  year  Ine  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons, 
snd  held  it  thirty-seven  winters  ;  and  he  built  the  monastery  at  Glaston- 
bury ;  and  afterwards  withdrew  to  Rome,  and  there  dwelt  until  his  dying 
days  :  and  the  same  year  Ceadwalla  went  to  Rome,  and  received  baptism 
from  the  Pope,  and  the  Pope  named  him  Peter  ;  and  after  seven  nights  he 
died.  Now  Ine  was  the  son  of  Cenred,  Cenred  of  Ceolwald,  Ceolwald  was 
Cynegils'  brother,  and  they  were  sons  of  Cuthwine  the  son  of  Ceawlin, 
Ceawlin  of  Cynric,  Cynric  of  Cerdic.7 

A.  705.  This  year  Aldferth,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  died  on  the 
nineteenth  of  the  Kalends  of  January  at  Driffield  ;  and  bishop  Saxwulf. 
Then  Osred  his  son  succeeded  to  the  kingdom. 

A.  716.  This  year  Osred  king  of  the  Northumbrians  was  slain  on  the 
southern  border ;  he  had  the  kingdom  seven  [  ?  ]  winters  after  Aldferth  ; 
then  Cenred  succeeded  to  the  kingdom,  and  held  it  two  years,  then  Osric, 
and  held  it  eleven  years  ;  and  the  same  year  Ceolred  king  of  the  Mercians 
died,  and  his  body  lies  at  Lichfield,  and  ^Ethelred's,  the  son  of  Penda,  at 
Bardney.  Then  ^Ethelbald  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Mercians,  and 
held  it  forty-one  winters.  ^Ethelbald  was  the  son  of  Alweo,  Alweo  of 
Eawa,  Eawa  of  Pybba,  whose  kin  is  before  written.  And  the  pious  man 
Ecgberht  turned  the  monks  in  the  island  of  Iona  to  right,  so  that  they  ob- 
served Easter  rightly,  and  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure. 

A.  731.  This  year  Osric,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain,  and 
Ceolwulf  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  and  held  it  eight  years,  and  Ceolwulf 
was  the  son  of  Cutha,  Cutha  of  Cuthwine,  Cuthwine  of  Leodwald,  Leodwald 
of  Ecgwald,  Ecgwald  of  Aldhelm,  Aldhelm  of  Ocga,  Ocga  of  Ida,  Ida  of 
Eoppa.  And  archbishop  Beorhtwald  died  on  the  Ides  of  January ;  he  was 
bishop  thirty-seven  years  six  months  and  fourteen  days.  And  the  same  year 
Tatwine  was  consecrated  archbishop  ;  he  had  before  been  a  priest  at  Breo- 
dun  in  Mercia.  Daniel  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  Ingwald  bishop  of  Lon- 
don, and  Aldwine  bishop  of  Lichfield,  and  Aldwulf  bishop  of  Rochester 
consecrated  him  on  the  tenth  of  June  ;  he  had  the  archbishopric  three 
years. 

A.  737.  This  year  bishop  Forthere  and  queen  Frejthogitha  went  to 
Rome.  And  king  Ceolwulf  received  St.  Peter's  tonsure,  and  gave  his  king- 
dom to  Eadberht,  his  paternal  uncle's  son  ;  he  reigned  twenty-one  winters  ; 
and  bishop  ^Ethelwold  and  Acca  died,  and  Cynewulf  was  consecrated  bishop. 
And  the  same  year  king  ^Ethelbald  ravaged  the  land  of  the  Northumbrians. 
A.  738.  This  year  Eadberht  the  son  of  Eata,  Eata  being  the  son  of 
Leodwald,  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians,  and  held  it 
twenty-one  winters.  His  brother  was  archbishop  Ecgberht  the  son  of  Eata  ; 
and  they  both  rest  in  one  porch  at  York.8 

A-  755-.  Tnis  year  Cynewulf,  and  the  West  Saxon  witan  deprived  his 
kinsman  Sigebryht  of  his  kingdom,  for  his  unrighteous  deeds,  except  Hamp- 
shire, and  that  he  held  until  he  slew  the  aldorman  who  had  longest  re- 
mained with  him.      And  then  Cynewulf  drove  him  into  Andred,  and  he 


296  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

there  abode  until  a  swine-herd  stabbed  him  at  Pryfetes  flod,  and  he  avenged 
the  aldorman  Cumbra. 

And  Cynewulf  fought  often  in  great  battles  against  the  Brito-Welsh;  and 
after  he  had  held  the  kingdom  about  one  and  thirty  years,  he  would  drive 
out  an  aetheling,  who  was  named  Cyncheard  ;  and  Cyncheard  was  Sige- 
bryht's  brother.  And  he  then  learned  that  the  king  with  a  small  company 
was  on  a  visit  to  a  woman  at  Merantun  [Merton]  ;  and  he  there  beset  him 
and  surrounded  the  bower,  before  the  men  discovered  him  who  were  with 
the  king.  And  when  the  king  perceived  that,  he  went  to  the  door,  and 
then  gallantly  defended  himself,  until  he  looked  on  the  aetheling,  and  then 
rushed  out  on  him  and  sorely  wounded  him  ;  and  they  were  all  fighting 
against  the  king  until  they  had  slain  him.     .     .     . 

A.  757.  This  year  Eadberht  king  of  the  Northumbrians  assumed  the 
tonsure,  and  his  son  Oswulf  succeeded  to  the  kingdom,  and  reigned  one 
year  ;  and  he  was  slain  by  his  household  on  the  eighth  of  the  Kal.  of  August.8 

A.  759.  This  year  Bregowin  was  ordained  archbishop  at  St.  Michael's- 
tide,  and  held  the  see  four  years.  And  Moll  ^Ethelwald  succeeded  to  the 
kingdom  of  the  Noithumbrians,  and  reigned  six  winters,  and  then  left  it. 

A.  761.  This  year  was  the  great  winter  ;  and  Moll  king  of  the  Northum- 
brians slew  Oswine  at  ^Edwin's  Cliff  on  the  eighth  of  the  Ides  of  August.10 

A.  765.  This  year  Alchred  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  Northum- 
bria,  and  reigned  nine  winters. 

A.  774.  This  year  at  Eastertide,  the  Northumbrians  drove  their  king 
Alchred  from  York,  and  took  ^Ethelred,  the  son  of  Moll,  for  their  lord,  who 
reigned  four  winters.11 

A.  778.  This  year  yEthalbald  and  Heardberht  slew  three  high-reeves  ; 
Ealdulf,  the  son  of  Bosa,  at  Kings-cliff,  and  Cynewulf  and  Ecga  at  Helathyrn, 
on  the  eleventh  of  the  Kalends  of  April :  and  then  Alfwold  succeeded  to 
the  kingdom  and  drove  ^Ethelred  from  the  land  ;  and  he  reigned  ten  winters. 

A.  787.  This  year  king  Beorhtric  took  Eadburh,  king  Offa's  daughter, 
to  wife  ;  and  in  his  days  first  came  three  ships  of  Northmen,  from  Hseretha- 
land  [in  Norway].  And  then  the  reve  rode  thereto,  and  would  drive  them 
to  the  king's  vill,  for  he  knew  not  what  they  were  :  and  they  there  slew  him. 
Those  were  the  first  ships  of  Danishmen  that  sought  the  land  of  the  Eng- 
lish race." 

A.  789.  This  year  Alfwold,  king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain  by 
Sicga  on  the  8th  of  the  Kalends  of  October  ;  and  a  heavenly  light  was  fre- 
quently seen  there  where  he  was  slain  ;  and  he  was  buried  at  Hexham  within 
the  church  ;  and  Osred,  the  son  of  Alcred  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  after 
him  ;  he  was  his  nephew.     And  a  great  synod  was  assembled  at  Aclea. 

A.  790.  This  year  archbishop  Ianbryht  died,  and  the  same  year  abbot 
iEthelheard  was  chosen  archbishop.  And  Osred,  king  of  the  Northumbri- 
ans, was  betrayed,  and  driven  from  the  kingdom  ;  and  ./Ethelred,  the  son 
of  ^Ethelwald  afterwards  succeeded  to  the  kingdom. 

A.  791.  This  year  Baldwulf  was  hallowed  bishop  of  Whiterne,  on  the 
16th  of  the  Kalends  of  August,  by  archbishop  Eanbald  and  by  bishop 
^Ethelberht. 

A.  792.  This  year  Offa,  king  of  the  Mercians,  commanded  the  head  of 
king  ^Ethelbryht  to  be  struck  off.  And  Osred,  who  had  been  king  of  the 
Northumbrians,  having  come  home  from  exile,  was  seized  and  slain  on  the 
1 8th  of  the  Kalends  of  October  ;  and  his  body  rests  at  Tynemouth.  And 
king  ^Ethelred  took  a  new  wife,  who  was  called  ^Elfled,  on  the  3rd  of  the 
Kalends  of  October. 


The  English  Chronicle  297 

A.  793.  This  year  dire  forewarnings  came  over  the  land  of  the  North- 
umbrians, and  miserably  terrified  the  people  ;  these  were  excessive  whirl- 
winds, and  lightnings  ;  and  fiery  dragons  were  seen  flying  in  the  air.  A 
great  famine  soon  followed  these  tokens  ;  and  a  little  after  that,  in  the  same 
year,  on  the  6th  of  the  Ides  of  January,  the  havoc  of  heathen  men  miser- 
ably destroyed  God's  church  at  Lindisfarne  through  rapine  and  slaughter. 
And  Sicga  died  on  the  8th  of  the  Kalends  of  March. 

A.  794.  This  year  Pope  Adrian  and  king  Offa  died,  and  ^Ethelred, 
king  of  the  Northumbrians,  was  slain  by  his  own  people  on  the  13th  of  the 
Kalends  of  May  ;  and  bishop  Ceolwulf  and  bishop  Eadbald  departed  from 
the  land.  And  Ecgferth  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Mercians,  and  died 
the  same  year.  .  .  .  And  the  heathens  ravaged  among  the  Northum- 
brians, and  plundered  Ecgferth's  monastery  at  Donemuth  [Wearmouth]  ; 
and  there  one  of  their  leaders  was  slain,  and  also  some  of  their  ships  were 
wrecked  by  a  tempest  ;  and  many  of  them  were  there  drowned,  and  some 
came  to  shore  alive,  and  they  were  forthwith  slain  at  the  river's  mouth. 

A.  795.  This  year  the  moon  was  eclipsed  between  cock-crowing  and 
dawn,  on  the  5th  of  the  Kalends  of  April  ;  and  Eardwulf  succeeded  to 
the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians  on  the  2d  of  the  Ides  of  May  ;  and 
he  was  afterwards  consecrated  king,  and  raised  to  his  throne  on  the  8th  of 
the  Kalends  of  June,  at  York,  by  archbishop  Eanbald,  and  bishop  ^Ethel- 
berht,  and  bishops  Higbald  and  Badwulf. 

A.  798.  This  year  there  was  a  great  fight  at  Whalley  in  the  land  of  the 
Northumbrians,  during  Lent,  on  the  4th  of  the  Nones  of  April,  and  there 
Alric,  the  son  of  Heardberht,  was  slain,  and  many  others  with  him. 

A.  806.  This  year  the  moon  was  eclipsed  on  the  Kalends  of  September  ; 
and  Eardwulf  king  of  the  Northumbrians  was  driven  from  his  kingdom  ; 
and  Eanberht,  bishop  of  Hexham,  died. 

A.  823.  This  year  there  was  a  fight  of  the  Welsh  and  the  men  of  Devon 
at  Gafulford  :  and  the  same  year  Ecgbryht  king  of  the  West  Saxons  and 
Beornwulf  king  of  the  Mercians  fought  at  Ellendun,  and  Ecgbryht  gained 
the  victory,  and  a  great  slaughter  was  there  made.  He  then  sent  from  the 
army  his  son  ^Ethelwulf,  and  Ealhstan  his  bishop,  and  Wulfheard  his  aldor- 
man  to  Kent  with  a  large  force  and  they  drove  Baldred  the  king  north  over 
the  Thames.  And  the  men  of  Kent,  and  the  men  of  Surrey,  and  the  South 
Saxons,  and  the  East  Saxons,  turned  to  him  ;  because  they  had  formerly 
been  unjustly  forced  from  his  kinsmen.  And  the  same  year  the  king  of  the 
East  Angles  and  the  nation  sought  Ecgbryht  for  peace  and  as  protection 
from  dread  of  the  Mercians  ;  and  the  same  year  the  East  Angles  slew 
Beornwulf  king  of  the  Mercians. 

A.  825.  This  year  Ludecan  king  of  the  Mercians  was  slain,  and  his  five 
aldormen  with  him  ;  and  Wiglaf  succeeded  to  the  kingdom. 

A.  827.  This  year  the  moon  was  eclipsed  on  the  massnight  of  midwinter. 
And  the  same  year  king  Ecgbryht  subdued  the  kingdom  of  the  Mercians, 
and  all  that  was  south  of  the  Humber  ;  and  he  was  the  eighth  king  who  was 
Brytenwalda.  ^Elle  king  of  the  South  Saxons  was  the  first  who  had  thus 
much  sway  ;  the  second  was  Ceawlin  king  of  the  West  Saxons  ;  the  third  was 
^Ethelbryht  king  of  the  Kentishmen  ;  the  fourth  was  Redwald  king  of  the 
East  Angles  ;  the  fifth  was  ^dwine  king  of  the  Northumbrians  ;  the  sixth 
was  Oswald  who  reigned  after  him;  the  seventh  was  Oswiu,  Oswald's  brother  ; 
the  eighth  was  Ecgbryht  king  of  the  West  Saxons.  And  Ecgbryht  led  an 
army  to  Dore  against  the  Northumbrians,  and  they  there  offered  him  obe- 
dience and  concord,  and  thereupon  they  separated." 


298  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

A.  828.  This  year  Wiglaf  again  obtained  the  kingdom  of  the  Mercians, 
and  bishop  ^Ethelwald  died  ;  and  the  same  year  king  Ecgbryht  led  an  army 
against  the  North  Welsh,  and  he  reduced  them  to  humble  obedience. 

A.  833.  This  year  king  Ecgbryht  fought  against  the  crews  of  thirty- 
five  ships  at  Carrum,  and  there  was  great  slaughter  made,  and  the  Danish- 
men  held  possession  of  the  battle-place.  And  Hereferth  and  Wigthun,  two 
bishops,  died  ;  and  Dudda  and  Osmod,  two  aldormen,  died. 

A.  866.  This  year  ^Etheldred,  ^Ethelbryht's  brother,  succeeded  to  the 
kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons  :  and  the  same  year  a  great  heathen  army  came 
to  the  land  of  the  Angle  race,  and  took  up  their  winter  quarters  among  the 
East  Angles,  and  were  there  horsed  ;  and  the  East- Angles  made  peace 
with  them. 

A.  870.  This  year  the  army  rode  over  Mercia  into  East  Anglia,  and 
took  up  their  winter  quarters  at  Thetford  :  and  the  same  winter  king  ^Ed- 
mund  fought  against  them,  and  the  Danes  gained  the  victory,  and  slew  the 
king,  and  subdued  all  that  land,  and  destroyed  all  the  monasteries  which 
they  came  to. 

A.  873.  This  year  the  army  went  into  Northumbria,  and  took  up 
winter  quarters  at  Torksey  in  Lindsey  :  and  then  the  Mercians  made  peace 
with  the  army. 

A.  875.  This  year  the  army  went  from  Repton  ;  and  Halfdan  went 
with  some  of  the  army  into  Northumbria,  and  took  up  winter  quarters  by 
the  river  Tyne.  And  the  army  subdued  the  land,  and  often  harried  on  the 
Picts,  and  the  Strathclyde  Welsh.  And  the  three  kings,  Guthorm,  and 
Oskytel,  and  Amund,  went  with  a  large  army  from  Repton  to  Cambridge, 
and  sat  down  there  one  year.  And  that  summer  king  Alfred  went  out  to 
sea  with  a  fleet,  and  fought  against  the  crews  of  seven  ships,  and  one  of  them 
he  took,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight. 

A.  924.  In  this  year,  before  midsummer,  king  Eadweard  went  with  his 
forces  to  Nottingham,  and  commanded  the  burgh  to  be  built  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river,  over  against  the  other,  and  the  bridge  over  the  Trent,  between 
the  two  burghs  :  and  then  he  went  thence  into  Peakland,  to  Bakewell,  and 
commanded  a  burgh  to  be  built  nigh  thereunto,  and  manned.  And  then 
chose  him  for  father  and  for  lord,  the  king  of  the  Scots  and  the  whole  nation 
of  the  Scots,  and  Ragnold  and  the  sons  of  Eadulf  and  all  those  who  dwell 
in  Northumbria,  as  well  English  as  Danish,  and  Northmen  and  others,  and 
also  the  king  of  the  Strathclyde  Welsh,  and  all  the  Strathclyde  Welsh.14 

A.  925.  This  year  king  Eadweard  died,  and  ^Ethelstan  his  son  succeeded 
to  the  kingdom.  And  St.  Dunstan  was  born  and  Wulfhelm  succeeded  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Canterbury.  This  year  king  ^Ethelstan  and  Sihtric,  king  of 
the  Northumbrians,  came  together  at  Tamworth,  on  the  3d  of  the  Kalends 
of  February  ;  and  ^Ethelstan  gave  him  his  sister. 

A.  926.  This  year  fiery  lights  appeared  in  the  north  part  of  the  heavens. 
And  Sihtric  died,  and  King  yEthelstan  assumed  the  kingdom  of  the  North- 
umbrians. And  he  subjugated  all  the  kings  who  were  in  this  island  ;  first, 
Howel,  king  of  the  West  Welsh  ;  and  Constantine,  king  of  the  Scots  ;  and 
Owen  Gwent;  and  Ealdred,  son  of  Ealdulf,  of  Bamborough  ;  and  they  con- 
firmed the  peace  by  pledge,  and  by  oaths,  at  the  place  which  is  called  Eamot, 
on  the  4th  of  the  Ides  of  July  ;  and  they  renounced  all  idolatry,  and  after 
that  departed  in  peace. 

A.  933.  This  year  .  .  .  king  yEthelstan  went  into  Scotland,  as  well 
with  a  land  army  as  with  a  fleet,  and  ravaged  a  great  part  of  it. 

A.  937.     This  year  king  ^Ethelstan  and  Eadmund  his  brother  led  a  force 


The  English  Chronicle 


299 


to  Brunanburh,  and  there  fought  against  Olaf ;  and,  Christ  helping,  had  the 
victory  :  and  they  there  slew  five  kings  and  seven  jarls. 

Here  ^thelstan,  king,  of  earls  the   lord,  of  warriors  the  ring  giver,  and 
his  brother  eke,  Eadmund  ^Etheling,  life-long  glory 


in  battle  won 

with  edges  of  swords 

at  Brunanburh 

The  board-walls  they  clove, 

they  hewed  the  war-linden, 

with  hammas'  leavings, 
offspring  of  Eadweard, 
such  was  their  noble  nature 
from  their  ancestors, 
that  they  in  battle  oft 
'gainst  every  foe 
the  land  defended, 
hoards  and  homes. 
The  foe  they  crushed, 
the  Scottish  people 
and  the  shipmen 
fated  fell. 
The  field  streamed 
with  warriors'  blood, 
since  the  sun  up 
at  morning-tide, 
mighty  planet, 
glided  o'er  grounds, 
God's  candle  bright, 
the  eternal  Lord's, 
till  the  noble  creature 
sank  to  its  setting. 
There  lay  many  a  warrior 
by  javelins  strewed, 
northern  man 
over  shield  shot  ; 
so  the  Scots  eke, 
weary,  war-sad. 
West  Saxons  onwards 
throughout  the  day, 
in  bands, 

pursued  the  footsteps 
of  the  loathed  nations. 
They  hewed  the  fugitives 
behind,  amain, 
with  falchions  mill-sharp. 
Mercians  refused  not 
the  hard  hand-play 
to  any  heroes 
who  with  Olaf, 
over  the  ocean, 
in  the  ship's  bosom, 
this  land  sought 
fated  to  the  fight. 


Five  lay 

on  the  battle-stead, 

youthful  kings, 

by  swords  in  slumber  laid : 

so  seven  eke 

of  Olaf's  jarls  ; 

of  the  army  countless, 

shipmen  and  Scots. 

There  was  made  flee 

the  Northmen's  prince, 

by  need  constrained, 

to  the  ship's  prow 

with  a  little  band. 

The  bark  drove  afloat : 

the  king  departed 

on  the  fallow  flood, 

his  life  preserved. 

So  there  eke  the  aged 

came  by  flight 

to  his  country  north, 

Constantine, 

hoary  warrior. 

He  had  no  cause  to  exult 

in  the  falchions'  intercourse. 

Here  was  his  kindred  band 

of  friends  o'erthrown 

on  the  folk-stead, 

in  battle  slain  ; 

and  his  son  he  left 

on  the  slaughter-place, 

mangled  with  wounds, 

young  in  the  warfare. 

He  had  no  cause  to  boast, 

hero  grizzly-haired, 

of  the  bill-clashing, 

the  old  deceiver  ; 

nor  Olaf  the  more, 

with  the  remnant  of  their  armies 

they  had  no  cause  to  laugh 

that  they  in  war's  works 

the  better  men  were 

in  the  battle-stead, 

at  the  rush  of  banners, 

meeting  of  javelins, 

tryst  of  men, 

the  clash  of  weapons  ; 

that  they  on  the  slaughter-field 

with  Eadweard's 

offspring  played. 


3oo 


The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 


The  North  men  departed 
in  their  nailed  barks  ; 
bloody  relic  of  darts, 
on  roaring  ocean 
o'er  the  deep  water 
Dublin  to  seek, 
again  Ireland, 
shamed  in  mind. 

So  too  the  brothers, 
both  together, 
king  and  setheling, 
their  country  sought, 
West  Saxons'  land, 
in  the  war  exulting. 
They  left  behind  them, 
the  carcasses  to  share, 
with  pallid  coat 
and  the  swarty  raven 
with  horned  neb, 
and  him  of  goodly  coat, 
the  eagle  white  tailed, 


the  carrion  to  devour, 

greedy  war-hawk, 

and  the  grey  beast, 

wolf  of  the  wood. 

Carnage  greater  has  not  been 

in  this  island 

ever  yet 

of  people  slain, 

before  this, 

by  edges  of  swords, 

as  books  us  say, 

old  chroniclers, 

since  from  the  east  hither, 

Angles  and  Saxons 

came  to  land, 

o'er  the  broad  seas 

Britain  sought, 

proud  war-smiths, 

the  Welsh  o'ercame, 

men  for  glory  eager 

the  country  obtained. 


A.  940.  This  year  King  ^Ethelstan  died  at  Gloucester  on  the  6th  of  the 
Kal.  of  November,  forty-one  years  save  one  night  after  King  Alfred  died. 
And  Eadmund  the  setheling,  his  brother,  succeeded  to  the  kingdom,  and  he 
was  then  eighteen  winters  old.  And  King  ^Ethelstan  reigned  fourteen  years 
and  ten  weeks. 

A.  944.  This  year  King  Eadmund  subdued  all  Northumberland  under 
his  power,  and  expelled  two  kings,  Olaf,  son  of  Sihtric,  and  Rainald,  son  of 
Guthferth. 

A.  945.  This  year  King  Eadmund  harried  over  all  Cumberland,  and 
gave  it  all  up  to  Malcolm  king  of  the  Scots,  on  the  condition,  that  he  should 
be  his  co-operator,  both  on  sea  and  on  land.16 

A.  946.  This  year  King  Eadmund  died  on  St.  Augustine's  mass-day. 
It  was  widely  known  how  he  his  days  ended  :  that  Liofa  stabbed  him  at 
Puckle-church.  yEthelflaed  at  Domerham,  ^Elfgar's  daughter,  the  aldor- 
man,  was  then  his  queen  :  and  he  had  the  kingdom  six  years  and  a  half. 
And  then  after  him  his  brother  Eadred  the  aetheling  succeeded  to  the  king- 
dom, and  reduced  all  Northumberland  under  his  power  :  and  the  Scots 
gave  him  oaths,  that  they  would  all  that  he  would.18 

A.  947.  This  year  King  Eadred  came  to  Taddenes  Scylf,  and  there 
Wulfstan  the  archbishop  and  all  the  Northumbrian  witan  swore  fealty  to 
the  king  :  and  within  a  little  while  they  belied  it  all,  both  pledges  and  also 
oaths. 

A.  948.  This  year  king  Eadred  harried  over  all  Northumberland,  be- 
cause they  had  taken  Eric  to  be  their  king  :  and  then,  in  that  harrying,  was 
the  famous  monastery  burned  at  Ripon  that  St.  Wilfrid  built.  And  as  the 
king  went  homewards,  the  army  within  York  overtook  him  (the  rear  of  the 
king's  forces  was  at  Chesterford)  and  there  they  made  great  slaughter.  Then 
was  the  king  so  wroth  that  he  would  have  marched  his  forces  in  again  and 
wholly  destroyed  the  land.  When  the  Northumbrian  witan  understood 
that,  then  forsook  they  Eric,  and  made  compensation  for  the  deed  to  king 
Eadred. 

A.  949.     This  year  Olaf  Cwiran  came  to  Northumberland. 


The  English  Chronicle  301 

A.  952.  In  this  year  king  Eadred  commanded  archbishop  Wulf stan  to  be 
brought  into  the  fastness  at  Jedburgh,  because  he  had  been  oft  accused  to 
the  king  :  and  in  this  year  also  the  king  commanded  great  slaughter  to  be 
made  in  the  town  of  Thetford,  in  revenge  for  the  abbat  Eadelm,  whom  they 
had  before  slain.  This  year  the  Northumbrians  expelled  king  Olaf,  and 
received  Eric,  Harold's  son. 

A.  954.  This  year  the  Northumbrians  expelled  Eric,  and  Eadred  as- 
sumed the  kingdom  of  the  Northumbrians.     .     .     . 

A.  972.  This  year  Eadgar  the  setheling  was  hallowed  king,  on  Pente- 
cost's mass-day,  on  the  5th  of  the  Ides  of  May,  the  thirteenth  year  since  he 
had  obtained  the  kingdom,  at  the  Hot-baths  ;  and  he  was  then  one  less  than 
thirty  years  of  age.  And  soon  after  that,  the  king  led  all  his  ship-forces  to 
Chester  ;  and  there  came  to  meet  him  six  kings,  and  they  all  swore  fealty  to 
him,  that  they  would  be  his  fellow-workers  by  sea  and  by  land. 

A.  975.  The  8th  of  the  Ides  of  July.  Here  Eadgar  died,  ruler  of 
Angles,  West  Saxons'  joy,  and  Mercians'  protector,  .  .  .  and  this  year 
Eadward,  his  son,  succeeded  to  the  kingdom. 

A.  978.  .  .  .  In  this  year  was  King  Eadward  martyred  ;  and  ^Ethel- 
red  the  getheling,  his  brother,  succeeded  to  the  kingdom,  and  he  was  in  the 
same  year  consecrated  king. 

A.  993.  In  this  year  came  Olaf  with  ninety-three  ships  to  Staines,  and 
ravaged  there  about,  and  then  went  thence  to  Sandwich,  and  so  thence  to 
Ipswich,  and  that  all  over-ran  ;  and  so  to  Maldon.  And  there  Brithnoth  the 
aldorman  came  against  them  with  his  forces,  and  fought  against  them  :  and 
they  there  slew  the  aldorman,  and  had  possession  of  the  place  of  carnage. 
And  after  that  peace  was  made  with  them  ;  and  him  [Olaf]  the  king  after- 
wards received  at  the  bishop's  hands,  through  the  instruction  of  Sigeric 
bishop  of  the  Kentishmen,  and  ^Elfheah  [II.]  of  Winchester. 

A.  994.  In  this  year  came  Olaf  and  Svein  to  London,  on  the  nativity 
of  St.  Mary,  with  ninety-four  ships  ;  and  they  then  continued  fighting  stoutly 
against  the  town,  and  would  also  have  set  fire  to  it.  But  there  they  sustained 
more  harm  and  evil  than  they  ever  supposed  that  any  townsmen  would  be 
able  to  do  unto  them. 

A.  1014.  In  this  year  king  Svein  ended  his  days,  at  Candlemas,  on  the 
third  of  the  Nones  of  February.  And  that  same  year  ^lfuig  was  conse- 
crated bishop  of  London,  at  York,  on  St.  Juliana's  mass-day.  And  all  the 
fleet  then  chose  Cnut  for  king.  Then  counselled  all  the  witan  who  were  in 
England,  clergy  and  laity,  that  they  should  send  after  king  ^Ethelred  ;  and 
they  declared  that  no  lord  was  dearer  to  them  than  their  natural  lord,  if  he 
would  rule  them  more  justly  than  he  had  before  done.  Then  sent  the  king 
his  son  Eadward  hither  with  his  messengers,  and  bade  them  to  greet  all  his 
people  ;  and  said  that  he  would  be  to  them  a  loving  lord,  and  amend  all  those 
things  which  they  all  abhorred,  and  all  of  those  things  should  be  forgiven 
which  had  been  done  or  said  to  him,  on  condition  that  they  all,  with  one 
consent,  would  be  obedient  to  him,  without  deceit.  And  they  then  estab- 
lished full  friendship,  by  word  and  by  pledge,  on  each  side,  and  declared 
every  Danish  king  an  outlaw  from  England  for  ever.  Then,  during  Lent, 
king  ^Ethelred  came  home  to  his  own  people  ;  and  he  was  gladly  received  by 
them  all.  Then,  after  Svein  was  dead,  Cnut  sat  with  his  army  at  Gains- 
borough until  Easter  ;  and  it  was  agreed  between  him  and  the  people  of 
Lindsey  that  they  should  find  him  horses,  and  that  afterwards  they  should 
all  go  out  together,  and  plunder.  Then  came  king  yEthelred  thither,  to  Lind- 
sey, with  his  full  force,  before  they  were  ready  :  and  then  they  plundered, 


302  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

and  burned,  and  slew  all  the  people  whom  they  could  reach.  And  Cnut 
went  away  with  his  fleet,  and  thus  the  poor  people  were  deceived  through 
him,  and  then  he  went  southward  until  he  came  to  Sandwich  ;  and  there  he 
caused  the  hostages  to  be  put  on  shore  who  had  been  delivered  to  his  father, 
and  cut  off  their  hands,  and  ears,  and  noses.  And  besides  all  these  evils,  the 
king  ordered  the  army  which  lay  at  Greenwich  to  be  paid  twenty-one  thou- 
sand pounds. 

A.  1017.  In  this  year  king  Cnut  obtained  the  whole  realm  of  the 
English  race,  and  divided  it  into  four  parts  :  Wessex  to  himself,  and  East 
Anglia  to  Thorkell,  and  Mercia  to  Eadric,  and  Northumbria  to  Eric."  And 
in  this  year  was  Eadric  the  aldorman  slain  in  London,  very  justly,  and  North- 
man, son  of  Leofwine  the  aldorman,  and  ^Ethelweard,  son  of  ^thelmaer,  the 
great,  and  Brihtric,  son  of  ^Elfeah,  in  Devonshire.  And  king  Cnut  banished 
Eadwig  the  aetheling,  and  afterwards  commanded  him  to  be  slain,  and 
JEadwig  king  of  the  churls.  And  then,  before  the  Kalends  of  August, 
the  king  commanded  the  relict  of  king  ^Ethelred,  Richard's  daughter,  to  be 
fetched  for  his  wife  ;  that  was  ^Elfgyfu  in  English,  Ymma  in  French. 

A.  103 1.  This  year  Cnut  went  to  Rome.  And  as  soon  as  he  came  home 
then  went  he  into  Scotland  and  the  king  of  the  Scots,  Malcolm,  submitted 
to  him,  and  became  his  man,  but  that  he  held  only  a  little  while  ;  and  two 
other  kings,  Maelbaethe  and  Iehmarc.  And  Robert,  count  of  Normandy, 
went  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  died  ;  and  William,  who  was  afterwards  king 
of  England,  succeeded  to  Normandy,  although  he  was  a  child. 

A.  1036.  This  year  died  king  Cnut  at  Shaftesbury,  and  he  is  buried  in 
Winchester  in  the  old  monastery:  and  he  was  king  over  all  England  very 
nigh  twenty  years.  And  soon  after  his  decease  there  was  a  meeting  of  all 
the  witan  at  Oxford  ;  and  Leofric  the  earl,  and  almost  all  the  thanes  north  of 
the  Thames,  and  the  "  lithsmen  "  at  London,  chose  Harold  for  chief  of  all 
England,  him  and  his  brother  Harthacnut  who  was  in  Denmark.  And  God- 
wine  the  earl  and  all  the  chief  men  of  Wessex  withstood  it  as  long  as  they 
could  ;  but  they  were  unable  to  effect  any  thing  in  opposition  to  it.  And 
then  it  was  resolved  that  ^Elfgyfu,  Harthacnut's  mother,  should  dwell  at 
Winchester  with  the  king  her  son's,  "  huscarls  "  [the  Danish  body-guard] 
and  hold  all  Wessex  in  his  power  ;  and  Godwine  the  earl  was  their  man. 
Some  men  said  of  Harold  that  he  was  son  of  king  Cnut  and  of  ^Elfgyfu 
daughter  of  ^Elfhelm  the  aldorman,  but  it  seemed  quite  incredible  to  many 
men  ;  and  he  was  nevertheless  full  king  over  all  England. 

A.  1037.  This  year  was  Harold  chosen  king  over  all,  and  Harthacnut 
forsaken,  because  he  stayed  too  long  in  Denmark  ;  and  then  they  drove  out  his 
mother  yElfgyfu,  the  queen,  without  any  kind  of  mercy,  against  the  stormy 
winter  :  and  she  came  then  to  Bruges  beyond  the  sea  ;  and  Balwine  the 
count  there  well  received  her,  and  there  kept  her  the  while  she  had  need. 
And  before,  in  this  year,  died  ^Efic  the  noble  dean  at  Evesham. 

A.  1039.  This  year  king  Harold  died  at  Oxford,  on  the  16th  of  the 
Kalends  of  April,  and  he  was  buried  at  Westminster.  And  he  ruled  England 
four  years  and  sixteen  weeks  ;  and  in  his  days  to  sixteen  ships  eight  marks 
were  paid  for  each  rower,  in  like  manner  as  had  been  before  done  in  the 
days  of  king  Cnut.  And  in  this  same  year  came  king  Harthacnut  to  Sand- 
wich, seven  nights  before  midsummer.  And  he  was  immediately  received  as 
well  by  Angles  as  by  Danes. 

A.  1040.  This  year  died  king  Harold.  Then  sent  they  after  Hartha- 
cnut to  Bruges  ;  thinking  that  they  did  well.  And  he  then  came  hither  with 
sixty  ships  before  midsummer,  and  then  imposed  a  very  heavy  tribute  so  that 


The  English  Chronicle  303 

it  could  hardly  be  levied  ;  that  was  eight  marks  for  each  rower,  and  all  were 
then  averse  to  him  who  before  had  desired  him  ;  and  moreover  he  did  noth- 
ing kindly  during  his  whole  reign.  He  caused  the  dead  Harold  to  be  taken 
up,  and  had  him  cast  into  a  fen.  This  year  archbishop  Eadsige  went  to 
Rome.  This  year  was  the  tribute  paid  ;  that  was  twenty-one  thousand 
and  ninety-nine  pounds.  And  after  that  they  paid  to  thirty-two  ships, 
eleven  thousand  and  forty-eight  pounds.  And,  in  this  same  year,  came 
Eadward,  son  of  king  ^Ethelred,  hither  to  land,  from  Normandy  ;  he  was 
brother  of  king  Harthacnut  :  they  were  both  sons  of  ^Elfgyfu,  who  was 
daughter  of  count  Richard. 

A.  1042.  This  year  died  king  Harthacnut  as  he  stood  at  his  drink, 
and  he  suddenly  fell  to  the  earth  with  a  terrible  convulsion. 

A.  1043.  This  year  was  Eadward  consecrated  king  at  Winchester  on  the 
first  day  of  Easter.  And  this  year,  fourteen  nights  before  St.  Andrew's 
mass,  the  king  was  advised  to  ride  from  Gloucester,  and  Leofric  the  earl, 
and  Godwine  the  earl,  and  Sigwarth  [Siward]  the  earl,  with  their  followers, 
to  Winchester,  unawares  upon  the  lady  [Emma]  ;  and  they  bereaved  her 
of  all  the  treasures  which  she  possessed,  they  were  not  to  be  told,  because 
before  that  she  had  been  very  hard  with  the  king  her  son  ;  inasmuch  as  she 
had  done  less  for  him  than  he  would,  before  he  was  king,  and  also  since  : 
and  they  suffered  her  after  that  to  remain  therein. 

This  year  king  Eadward  took  the  daughter  [Edgitha]  of  Godwine  the 
earl  for  his  wife. 

A.  105 1.  .  .  .  And  in  this  same  year  were  banished  Godwine,  the  earl, 
and  all  his  sons  from  England  ;  and  he  and  his  wife,  and  his  three  sons, 
Sweyen,  and  Tostig,  and  Gyrth  went  to  Bruges  :  and  Harold  and  Leofwine 
went  to  Ireland,  and  there  dwelt  during  the  winter. 

A.  1052.  This  year  came  Harold,  the  earl,  from  Ireland,  with  his  ships 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Severn,  nigh  the  boundaries  of  Somerset  and  Devonshire, 
and  there  greatly  ravaged  ;  and  the  people  of  the  land  drew  together  against 
him,  as  well  from  Somerset  as  from  Devonshire  ;  and  he  put  them  to  flight, 
and  there  slew  more  than  thirty  good  thanes,  besides  other  people  :  and  soon 
after  that  he  went  about  Penwithsteort.  And  then  king  Eadward  caused 
forty  smacks  to  be  fitted  out.  They  lay  at  Sandwich  many  weeks  ;  they 
were  to  lie  in  wait  for  Godwine,  the  earl,  who  had  been  at  Bruges  during 
the  winter  ;  and,  notwithstanding,  he  came  hither  to  land  first,  so  that  they 
knew  it  not.  And  during  the  time  that  he  was  here  in  the  land,  he  enticed 
to  him  all  the  men  of  Kent,  and  all  the  boatmen  from  Hastings  and  every- 
where there  by  the  sea-coast,  and  all  the  East  end,  and  Sussex,  and  Surrey, 
and  much  else  in  addition  thereto.  Then  all  declared  that  they  with  him 
would  die  and  live.  .  .  .  And  Godwine  landed,  and  Harold  his  son,  and 
from  their  fleet  as  many  as  to  them  seemed  fitting.  Then  there  was  a  gen- 
eral council :  and  they  gave  his  earldom  clean  to  Godwine,  as  full  and  as 
free  as  he  before  possessed  it,  and  to  his  sons  also  all  that  they  before  pos- 
sessed, and  to  his  wife  and  his  daughter  as  full  and  as  free  as  they  before 
possessed  it. 

A.  1053.  In  this  year  was  the  king  at  Winchester  at  Easter,  and  Godwine, 
the  earl,  with  him,  and  Harold,  the  earl,  his  son,  and  Tostig.  Then,  on  the 
second  day  of  Easter,  sat  he  with  the  king  at  the  feast ;  then  suddenly  sank 
he  down  by  the  footstool,  deprived  of  speech,  and  of  all  his  power,  and  he 
was  then  carried  into  the  king's  chamber,  and  they  thought  it  would  pass 
over  :  but  it  did  not  so  :  but  he  continued  on,  thus  speechless  and  powerless, 
until  the  Thursday,  and  then  resigned  his  life  :  and  he  lies  there  within  the 


304  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

old  monastery.    And  his  son  Harold  succeeded  to  his  earldom,  and  resigned 
that  which  he  before  held  ;  and  ^Elfgar  succeeded  thereto. 

A.  1054.  This  year  went  Siward  the  earl  [of  Northumbria]  with  a  great 
army  into  Scotland,  and  made  much  slaughter  of  the  Scots  and  put  them  to 
flight ;  and  the  king  escaped.  Moreover,  many  fell  on  his  side,  as  well 
Danishmen  as  English,  and  also  his  own  son. 

A.  1065.  And  king  Eadward  came  to  Westminster  at  midwinter,  and  there 
caused  to  be  consecrated  the  monastery  which  himself  had  built  to  the  glory 
of  God  and  of  St.  Peter,  and  of  all  God's  saints  ;  and  the  church  hallowing 
was  on  Childermass-day.  And  he  died  on  Twelfth-day  eve,  and  him  they 
buried  on  Twelfth-day  eve,  in  the  same  minster,  as  it  hereafter  sayeth.  .  .  . 
And  this  year  also  was  Harold  consecrated  king. 

A.   1066.  In  this  year  king  Harold  came  from  York  to  Westminster  at 
Easter  which  was  after  the  midwinter  in  which  the  king  died,  and  Easter  was 
then  on  the  day  the  16th  of  the  Kalends  of  May.     .     .     .     And  soon  after 
came  in  Tostig  the  earl  from  beyond  sea  into  the  Isle  of  Wight,  with  so  great 
a  fleet  as  he  might  procure  ;  and  there  they  yielded  him  as  well  money  as 
food.    And  king  Harold,  his  brother,  gathered  so  great  a  ship-force,  and  also 
a  land- force,  as  no  king  here  in  the  land  had  before  done  ;  because  it  was 
made  known  to  him  that  William  the  Bastard  would  come  hither  and  win 
this  land  ;  all  as  it  afterward  happened.      And  the  while,  came  Tostig  the 
earl  into  Humber  with  sixty  ships  ;  and  Eadwine  the  earl  came  with  a  land- 
force  and  drove  him  out.     And  the   boatmen  forsook  him  ;  and  he  went  to 
Scotland  with  twelve  smacks.     And  there  met  him  Harald  king  of  Norway 
with  three  hundred  ships  ;  and  Tostig  submitted  to  him  and  became  his  man. 
And  they  then  went  both  into  Humber,  until  they  came  to  York  ;  and  there 
fought  against  them  Eadwine  the  earl,  and  Morkere  the  earl,  his  brother:  but 
the  Normen  had  the  victory.     Then  was  it  made  known  to  Harold  king  of 
Angles  that  this  had  thus  happened  :  and  this  battle  was  on  the  vigil  of  St. 
Matthew.     Then  came  Harold  our  king  unawares  on  the  Northmen,  and  met 
with  them  beyond  York,  at  Stanford-bridge,  with  a  great  army  of  English  peo- 
ple ;  and  there  during  the  day  was  a  very  severe  fight  on  both  sides.     There 
was  slain  Harald  Harfagri  ["  the  Fairhaired  "],  and  Tostig  the  earl  ;  and  the 
Northmen  who  were  there  remaining  were  put  to  flight ;  and  the  English  from 
behind  hotly  smote  them,  until  they  came,  some,  to  their  ships,  some  were 
drowned,  and  also  burned  ;  and  thus  in  divers  ways  they  perished,  so  that 
there  were  few  left  :  and  the  English  had  possession  of  the  place  of  carnage. 
The  king  then  gave  his  protection  to  Olaf,  son  of  the  king  of  the   Nor- 
wegians, and  to  their  bishop,  and  to  the  earl  of  Orkney,  and  to  all  those  who 
were  left  in  the  ships  :  and  they  then  went  up  to  our  king  and  swore  oaths 
that  they  ever  would  observe  peace  and  friendship  towards  this  land  ;  and 
the  king  let  them    go   home   with   twenty-four   ships.      These   two   great 
battles  were  fought  within  five  days.    Then  came  William  count  of  Normandy 
into  Pevensey,  on  the  eve  of  St.  Michael's  mass  :  and  soon  after  they  were  on 
their  way,  they  constructed  a  castle  at  Hasting's-port.     This  was  then  made 
known  to  king  Harold,  and  he  then  gathered  a  great  force,  and  came  to 
meet  him  at  the  hoar  apple-tree  ;  and  William  came  against  him  unawares, 
before  his  people  were  set  in  order.     But  the  king  nevertheless  strenuously 
fought  against  him  with  those  men  who  would  follow  him  ;  and  there  was 
great  slaughter  made  on  either  hand.     There  was  slain  king  Harold,  and 
Leofwine  the  earl,  his  brother,  and  Gyrth  the  earl,  his  brother,  and  many 
good  men  ;    and  all  the  Frenchmen  had  possession  of  the  place  of  car- 
nage, all  as  God  granted  them  for  the  people's  sins.     Archbishop  Ealdred 


The  English  Chronicle  305 

and  the  townsmen  of  London  would  then  have  child  Eadgar  for  king,  all  as 
was  his  true  natural  right :  and  Eadwine  and  Morkere  vowed  to  him  that  they 
would  fight  together  with  him.  But  in  that  degree  that  it  ought  ever  to  have 
been  forwarder,  so  was  it  from  day  to  day  later  and  worse  ;  so  that  at  the 
end  all  passed  away.  This  fight  was  done  on  the  day  of  Calixtus  the  Pope. 
And  William  the  count  went  afterwards  again  to  Hastings,  and  there  awaited 
to  see  whether  the  people  would  submit  to  him.  But  when  he  understood 
that  they  would  not  come  to  him,  he  went  upwards  with  all  his  army  which 
was  left  to  him,  and  that  which  afterwards  had  come  from  over  the  sea  to 
him  ;  and  he  harried  all  that  part  which  he  over-ran,  until  he  came  to 
Berkhampstead.  And  there  came  to  meet  him  archbishop  Ealdred,  and  child 
Eadgar,  and  Eadwine  the  earl,  and  Morkere  the  earl,  and  all  the  chief  men  of 
London  ;  and  then  submitted,  for  need,  when  the  most  harm  had  been  done  : 
and  it  was  very  unwise  that  they  had  not  done  so  before  ;  since  God  would 
not  better  it,  for  our  sins  :  and  they  delivered  hostages,  and  swore  oaths 
to  him  ;  and  he  vowed  to  them  that  he  would  be  a  kind  lord  to  them  :  and 
nevertheless  during  this,  they  harried  all  that  they  over-ran.  Then,  on 
mid-winter's  day,  archbishop  Aldred  consecrated  him  king  at  Westminster  ; 
and  he  gave  him  a  pledge  upon  Christ's  book,  and  also  swore,  before  he 
would  set  the  crown  upon  his  head,  that  he  would  govern  this  nation  as  well 
as  any  king  before  him  had  at  the  best  done,  if  they  would  be  faithful  to 
him.  Nevertheless,  he  laid  a  tribute  on  the  people,  very  heavy  ;  and  then 
went,  during  Lent,  over  sea  to  Normandy,  and  took  with  him  archbishop 
Stigand,and  Aegelnoth,  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  and  child  Eadgar,  and  Eadwine 
the  earl,  and  Morkere  the  earl,  and  Waltheof  the  earl,  and  many  other  good 
men  from  England.  And  bishop  Odo  and  William  the  earl  remained  here 
behind,  and  they  built  castles  wide  throughout  the  nation,  and  poor  people 
distressed  ;  and  ever  after  it  greatly  grew  in  evil.  May  the  end  be  good 
when  God  will. 

A.  1067.  This  year  the  king  came  back  to  England  on  St.  Nicholas's  mass- 
day,  and  on  that  day  Christ's  Church,  Canterbury,  was  consumed  by  fire. 
Bishop  Wulfwig  also  died,  and  lies  buried  at  his  see  of  Dorchester.  Child 
Eadric  and  the  Britons  were  hostile  this  year,  and  fought  with  the  men  of 
the  castle  at  Hereford,  to  whom  they  did  much  harm.  The  king  this  year 
imposed  a  heavy  tax  on  the  unfortunate  people  ;  but,  notwithstanding,  he  let 
his  men  plunder  all  the  country  which  they  passed  through :  after  which  he 
marched  to  Devonshire  and  besieged  Exeter  eighteen  days.  Many  of  his 
army  were  slain  there  :  but  he  had  promised  them  well  and  performed  ill  : 
the  citizens  surrendered  the  city,  because  the  thanes  had  betrayed  them. 
This  summer  the  child  Eadgar,  with  his  mother  Agatha,  his  sisters  Margaret 
and  Christina,  Maerleswegen  and  several  good  men,  went  to  Scotland  under 
the  protection  of  king  Malcolm,  who  received  them  all.18  Then  it  was 
that  king  Malcolm  desired  to  have  Margaret  to  wife  :  but  the  child  Eadgar 
and  all  his  men  refused  for  a  long  time ;  and  she  herself  also  was  unwilling, 
saying  that  she  would  have  neither  him  nor  any  other  person,  if  God  would 
allow  her  to  serve  him  with  her  carnal  heart,  in  strict  continence,  during  this 
short  life.  But  the  king  urged  her  brother  until  he  said  yes  ;  and  indeed  he 
did  not  dare  to  refuse,  for  they  were  now  in  Malcolm's  power.  So  that 
the  marriage  was  now  fulfilled,  as  God  had  foreordained,  and  it  could  not 
be  otherwise,  as  he  says  in  the  Gospel,  that  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground, 
without  his  foreshowing.  The  prescient  Creator  knew  long  before  what  he 
would  do  with  her,  namely  that  she  should  increase  the  Glory  of  God  in  this 
land,  lead  the  king  out  of  the  wrong  into  the  right  path,  bring  him  and  his 


306  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

people  to  a  better  way,  and  suppress  all  the  bad  customs  which  the  nation 
formerly  followed.  These  things  she  afterwards  accomplished.  The  king 
therefore  married  her,  though  against  her  will,  and  was  pleased  with  her 
manners,  and  thanked  God  who  had  given  him  such  a  wife.  And  being  a 
prudent  man  he  turned  himself  to  God  and  forsook  all  impurity  of  conduct, 
as  St.  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  says  :  "  Salvabitur  vir"  &>c.  which 
means  in  our  language  "  Full  oft  the  unbelieving  husband  is  sanctified  and 
healed  through  the  believing  wife,  and  so  belike  the  wife  through  the  believ- 
ing husband."  The  queen  above-named  afterwards  did  many  things  in  this 
land  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  and  conducted  herself  well  in  her  noble 
rank,  as  always  was  her  custom.  She  was  sprung  from  a  noble  line  of 
ancestors,  and  her  father  was  Eadward  ^Etheling,  son  of  king  Eadmund. 
This  Eadmund  was  the  son  of  ^Ethelred,  who  was  the  son  of  Eadgar,  the 
son  of  Eadred  ;  and  so  on  in  that  royal  kin.  Her  maternal  kin  traces  up  to 
the  emperor  Henry,  who  reigned  at  Rome. 

This  year  Harold's  mother,  Githa,  and  the  wives  of  many  good  men  with 
her,  went  to  the  Flatholm,  and  there  abode  some  time  ;  and  afterwards  went 
from  thence  over  the  sea  to  St.  Omer's. 

This  Easter  the  king  came  to  Winchester ;  and  Easter  was  then  on  the 
tenth  day  of  the  Kalends  of  April.  Soon  after  this  the  lady  Matilda 
came  to  this  country,  and  archbishop  Ealdred  consecrated  her  queen  at  West- 
minster on  Whitsunday.  It  was  then  told  the  king,  that  the  people  of  the 
North  had  gathered  together  and  would  oppose  him  there.  Upon  this  he 
went  to  Nottingham,  and  built  a  castle  there,  and  then  advanced  to  York, 
where  he  built  two  castles  :  he  then  did  the  same  at  Lincoln,  and  everywhere 
in  those  parts.  Then  earl  Gospatric  and  all  the  best  men  went  into  Scotland. 
During  these  things  one  of  Harold's  sons  came  with  a  fleet  from  Ireland 
unexpectedly  into  the  mouth  of  the  river  Avon,  and  soon  harried  all  that 
neighborhood.  They  went  to  Bristol,  and  would  have  stormed  the  town, 
but  the  inhabitants  opposed  them  bravely.  Seeing  they  could  get  nothing 
from  the  town,  they  went  to  their  ships  with  the  booty  they  had  got  by  plun- 
dering, and  went  to  Somersetshire,  where  they  went  up  the  country.  Eadnoth, 
the  constable  fought  with  them,  but  he  was  slain  there,  and  many  good  men 
on  both  sides  ;  and  those  who  were  left  departed  thence. 

A.  1068.  This  year  king  William  gave  the  earldom  of  Northumberland 
to  earl  Robert,  but  the  men  of  that  country  surrounded  him  in  the  burgh  at 
Durham  and  slew  him  and  900  others  with  him.  And  then  Eadgar  aethel- 
ing  marched  with  all  the  Northumbrians  to  York,  and  the  townsmen  treated 
with  him  ;  on  which  king  William  came  from  the  south  with  all  his  army, 
and  sacked  the  town,  and  slew  many  hundred  persons.  He  also  profaned 
St.  Peter's  monastery,  and  all  other  places,  and  the  aetheling  went  back  to 
Scotland. 

After  this  came  Harold's  sons  from  Ireland,  about  midsummer,  with 
sixty-four  ships  and  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Taw,  where  they  incautiously 
landed.  Earl  Brian  came  upon  them  unawares  with  a  large  army,  and  slew 
all  their  bravest  men  :  the  others  escaped  to  their  ships,  and  Harold's  sons 
went  back  again  to  Ireland. 

A.  1069.  This  year  died  Ealdred  archbishop  of  York,  and  he  lies  buried 
in  his  episcopal  see.  He  died  on  the  festival  of  Prothus  and  Hyacinthus, 
having  held  the  see  with  much  honor  ten  years,  all  but  fifteen  weeks. 

Soon  after  this,  three  of  the  sons  of  king  Svein  came  from  Denmark  with 
240  ships,  together  with  jarl  Asbiorn  and  jarl  Thorkell,  into  the  Humber  ; 
where  they  were  met  by  child  Eadgar  and  earl  Waltheof,  and  Maerleswegen, 


The  English  Chronicle  307 

and  earl  Gospatric  with  the  men  of  Northumberland  and  all  the  landsmen, 
riding  and  marching  joyfully  with  an  immense  army  ;  and  so  they  went  to 
York,  demolished  the  castle,  and  gained  there  large  treasures.  They  also 
slew  many  hundred  Frenchmen,  and  carried  off  many  prisoners  to  their 
ships  ;  but,  before  the  shipmen  came  thither,  the  Frenchmen  had  burned  the 
city,  and  plundered  and  burnt  St.  Peter's  monastery.  When  the  king  heard 
of  this,  he  went  northward  with  all  the  troops  he  could  collect,  and  laid  waste 
all  the  shire  ;  whilst  the  fleet  lay  all  the  winter  in  the  Humber,  where  the 
king  could  not  get  at  them.  The  king  was  at  York  on  midwinter's  day, 
remaining  on  land  all  the  winter,  and  at  Easter  he  came  to  Winchester. 

A.  1072.  This  year  king  William  led  an  army  and  fleet  against  Scotland, 
and  he  stationed  the  ships  along  the  coast  and  led  his  land  force  in  at  the 
ford  ;  but  he  found  nothing  to  reward  his  pains.  And  king  Malcolm  came 
and  made  peace  with  king  William,  and  delivered  hostages,  and  was  his  man. 
And  king  William  returned  home  with  his  forces. 

A.  1075.  This  year  king  William  went  over  sea  to  Normandy  ;  and  child 
Eadgar  came  into  Scotland  from  Flanders  on  St.  Grimbald's  mass-day.  King 
Malcolm  and  Margaret  his  sister  received  him  there  with  much  pomp.  Also 
Philip,  king  of  France,  sent  him  a  letter  inviting  him  to  come,  and  offering 
to  give  him  the  castle  of  Montreuil,  as  a  place  to  annoy  his  enemies  from. 
After  this,  king  Malcolm  and  his  sister  Margaret  gave  great  presents  and 
much  treasure  to  him  and  his  men,  skins  adorned  with  purple,  marten-skin, 
weasel-skin  and  ermine-skin-pelisses,  mantles,  gold  and  silver  vessels,  and 
escorted  them  out  of  their  dominions  with  much  ceremony.  But  evil  befell 
them  at  sea  ;  for  they  had  hardly  left  the  shore,  when  such  rough  weather 
came  on,  and  the  sea  and  wind  drove  them  with  such  force  upon  the  land, 
that  their  ships  went  to  pieces  and  they  saved  their  lives  with  much  difficulty. 
They  lost  nearly  all  their  riches  and  some  of  their  men  were  taken  by  the 
French  :  but  the  boldest  of  them  escaped  back  to  Scotland,  some  on  foot 
and  some  mounted  on  wretched  horses.  King  Malcolm  advised  Eadgar  to 
send  to  king  William  beyond  the  sea,  and  pray  his  peace.  Eadgar  did 
so,  and  the  king  acceded  to  his  request  and  sent  to  fetch  him.  Again, 
king  Malcolm  and  his  sister  made  them  handsome  presents,  and  escorted 
them  with  honor  out  of  their  dominions.  The  shire-reeve  of  York  met  him  at 
Durham,  and  went  all  the  way  with  him,  ordering  him  to  be  provided  with 
food  and  fodder  at  all  the  castles  which  they  came  to,  until  they  reached 
the  king  beyond  the  sea.  There  king  William  received  him  with  much 
pomp,  and  he  remained  at  the  court,  enjoying  such  privileges  as  the  king 
granted  him. 

A.  1079.  This  year,  between  the  two  festivals  of  St.  Mary,  Malcolm, 
king  of  Scotland,  invaded  England  with  a  large  army,  and  harried  North- 
umberland as  far  as  the  Tyne ;  and  he  slew  many  hundred  men,  and 
carried  home  much  money  and  treasure  and  many  prisoners. 

A.  1091.  This  year  king  William  [Rufus]  held  his  court  at  Westminster 
at  Christmas,  and  the  following  Candlemas  he  departed  from  England  to 
Normandy,  bent  on  his  brother's  ruin  ;  but  whilst  he  was  in  the  country 
peace  was  made  between  them.  .  .  .  During  this  peace  Eadgar  aetheling 
was  dispossessed  of  those  lands  which  the  count  had  granted  him,  and  he 
departed  and  went  from  Normandy  into  Scotland,  to  the  king  his  brother-in- 
law,  and  his  sister.  Whilst  king  William  was  out  of  England,  Malcolm  king 
of  Scotland  invaded  this  country,  and  harried  great  part  of  it,  till  the  good 
men  to  whom  the  keeping  of  the  land  was  entrusted,  sent  their  troops  against 
him  and  drove  him  back.     When  king  William  heard  this  in  Normandy  he 


308  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

hastened  to  return,  and  he  came  to  England  and  his  brother,  count  Robert, 
with  him.  And  they  called  out  a  fleet  and  army,  but  almost  all  the  ships 
were  lost,  a  few  days  before  Michaelmas  ere  they  reached  Scotland.  And 
the  king  and  his  brother  proceeded  with  the  army  :  and  when  king  Malcolm 
heard  that  they  sought  to  attack  him,  he  marched  with  his  array  out  of  Scot- 
land into  Leeds  in  England,  and  remained  there.  And  when  king  William 
approached,  count  Robert  and  Eadgar  aetheling  mediated  a  peace  between  the 
kings,  on  condition  that  king  Malcolm  should  repair  to  our  king,  and  become 
his  man,  and  in  all  the  like  subjection  as  to  his  father  before  him  ;  and  this 
he  confirmed  by  oath.  And  king  William  promised  him  all  the  lands  and 
possessions  that  he  held  under  his  father.  By  this  peace  Eadgar  aetheling 
was  reconciled  to  the  king.  And  the  kings  separated  in  great  friendship, 
but  this  lasted  during  a  short  time  only.  Earl  Robert  abode  here  with  the 
king  till  Christmas  drew  near,  and  in  this  time  he  found  little  good  faith  as  to 
the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty,  and  two  days  before  the  feast  he  took  ship  from 
the  Isle  of  Wight  and  sailed  to  Normandy,  and  Eadgar  aetheling  with  him. 

A.  1092.  This  year  king  William  went  northward  to  Carlisle  with  a  large 
army,  and  he  repaired  the  city,  and  built  the  castle.  And  he  drove  out  Dol- 
phin, who  had  before  governed  that  land  ;  and  having  placed  a  garrison  in 
the  castle,  he  returned  into  the  south,  and  sent  a  great  number  of  country 
folk  thither,  with  their  wives  and  cattle,  that  they  might  settle  there  and  cul- 
tivate the  land. 

A.  1093.  This  year,  in  Lent,  king  William  was  very  sick  at  Gloucester, 
insomuch  that  he  was  universally  reported  to  be  dead  :  and  he  made  many 
good  promises  in  his  illness.  .  .  .  After  this  the  king  of  Scotland  sent  de- 
siring that  the  stipulated  conditions  might  be  performed  ;  and  king  William 
summoned  him  to  Gloucester,  and  sent  hostages  to  him  in  Scotland,  and 
afterwards  Eadgar  aetheling  and  others  met  him,  and  brought  him  with 
much  honor  to  the  court.  But  when  he  came  there,  he  could  neither  obtain 
a  conference  with  our  king  nor  the  performance  of  the  conditions  formerly 
promised  him,  and  therefore  they  departed  in  great  enmity :  and  king  Mal- 
colm returned  home  to  Scotland,  and  as  soon  as  he  came  thither,  he  assem- 
bled his  troops  and  invaded  England,  harrying  the  country  with  more  fury 
than  behooved  him  :  and  Robert,  earl  of  Northumberland,  with  his  men,  lay 
in  wait  for  him,  and  slew  him  unawares.19  He  was  killed  by  Morel  of  Bam- 
borough,  the  earl's  steward,  and  king  Malcolm's  gossip  ;  his  son  Edward, 
who,  had  he  lived,  would  have  been  king  after  his  father,  was  killed  with 
him.  When  the  good  queen  Margaret  heard  that  her  most  beloved  lord,  and 
her  son,  were  thus  cut  off,  she  was  grieved  in  spirit  unto  death,  and  she  went 
with  her  priest  into  the  church,  and  having  gone  through  all  befitting  rites, 
she  prayed  of  God  that  she  might  give  up  her  spirit.  And  then  the  Scots 
chose  Donald,  the  brother  of  Malcolm,  for  their  king,  and  drove  out  all  the 
English  who  had  been  with  king  Malcolm.  When  Duncan,  the  son  of  king 
Malcolm,  heard  all  this,  for  he  was  in  king  William's  court,  and  had  remained 
here  from  the  time  that  his  father  gave  him  as  an  hostage  to  our  king's  father, 
he  came  to  the  king,  and  did  such  fealty  as  the  king  required  ;  and  thus, 
with  his  consent,  he  departed  for  Scotland,  with  the  aid  that  he  could  mus- 
ter, both  English  and  French,  and  he  deprived  his  kinsman  Donald  of  the 
throne,  and  was  received  as  king.  But  then  some  of  the  Scotch  again 
gathered  themselves  together,  and  slew  nearly  all  his  men,  and  he  himself 
escaped  with  few  others.  They  were  afterwards  reconciled  on  this  condi- 
tion, that  Duncan  should  never  more  bring  English  or  Frenchmen  into  that 
country. 


The  English  Chronicle  309 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XIX 

1  There  is  no  need  to  believe  that  the  clearing  of  the  land  meant  so  impossible  a  thing  as 
the  general  slaughter  of  the  men  who  held  it.  Slaughter  there  was,  no  doubt,  on  the  battle- 
field or  in  towns  like  Anderida,  whose  resistance  woke  wrath  in  their  besiegers.  But  for  the 
most  part  the  Britons  were  not  slaughtered ;  they  were  defeated  and  drew  back.  —  Green, 
History  of  the  English  People \  vol.  i..  ch.  ii. 

*  At  the  fate  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  Britons  of  the  Roman  provinces  we  can  only 
guess.  .  .  .  The  Saxons,  we  know,  had  multitudes  of  slaves,  and  as  they  would  follow 
the  ordinary  old  rules  of  conquest,  we  may  suppose  that  their  earliest  stock  of  this  commodity 
was  acquired  in  the  conquests  by  which  they  gained  their  lands.  In  this  shape  and  in  others 
a  great  proportion  of  the  British  people  seem  to  have  become  absorbed  into  the  Saxon.  — 
Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  182. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  warfare  waged  by  our  forefathers,  as  long  as  they  clave  to  their 
heathen  worship,  was  strictly  a  war  of  extermination,  so  far  as  there  can  be  such  a  thing  as  a 
war  of  extermination  at  all.  I  do  not  mean  that  every  Briton  was  actually  swept  from  the 
face  of  the  earth  by  the  English  of  those  times,  as  the  English  of  our  times  have  swept  away 
the  natives  of  Tasmania.  There  is,  however,  one  difference  between  the  two  cases.  The 
Britons,  aliens  in  blood,  language,  and  religion,  were  at  least  men  of  our  own  color.  The 
two  races,  therefore,  could  mingle,  and  they  could  mingle  without  leaving  any  sensible  trace 
of  the  mixture.  And  to  some  extent,  no  doubt,  they  did  mingle.  The  pedigree  of  no  nation 
is  absolutely  pure.  The  women,  it  is  obvious,  would  often  be  spared,  and  Celtic  mothers 
might  hand  on  some  drops  of  Celtic  blood  to  English  sons.  So,  too,  some  of  the  conquered 
would  doubtless  be  allowed  to  live  as  slaves  of  their  conquerors.  This  sort  of  thing  happens 
in  every  conquest ;  it  must  have  happened  when  the  Welsh  settled  in  Britain,  just  as  much  as 
when  the  English  did.  I  believe  that,  speaking  in  the  rough  way  which  is  the  only  way  in 
which  we  can  speak  of  such  matters,  the  Welsh  vanished  from  the  land  and  the  English  took 
their  places.  — Freeman,  Origin  of  the  English  Nation,  pp.  113-115. 

8  Here,  however,  they  seem,  by  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  to  have  made  themselves 
masters  of  the  ground.  Along  Lothian  or  the  coast  between  Lammermoor  and  the  Forth, 
they  had  pushed  to  the  little  stream  of  the  Esk,  where  their  way  was  barred  by  the  rock-fort- 
ress of  Myned  Agned,  the  site  of  the  later  Edinburgh  :  while  south  of  the  Lammermoor  they 
had  advanced  along  the  loops  of  the  Tweed  as  far  as  the  vale  of  the  Gala  Water,  and  up  the 
dales  and  streamlets  which  lie  to  the  south  and  to  the  north  of  it,  till  their  advance  was  thrown 
back  from  the  wilder  hill  country  on  the  west.  Here  the  border  line  of  the  Cattrail,  as  it 
strikes  through  Ettrick  Forest,  marks  the  border  of  Welsh  and  Engle.  A  barrier  as  difficult 
curved  round  to  the  south  in  the  line  of  the  Cheviots  ;  but  between  the  extremity  of  this  range 
and  the  sea  a  thin  strip  of  coast  offered  an  open  pathway  into  the  country  beyond  the  Tweed  ; 
and  Ida —  "  the  Flamebearer,"  as  the  Britons  called  him  —  a  chieftain  of  the  invaders,  whom 
they  raised  in  547  to  be  their  king,  seized  in  this  quarter  a  rock  beside  the  shore,  and  estab- 
lished a  base  for  further  conquest  in  the  fortress  of  Bamborough.  —  Green,  Making  of 
England,  p.  69. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Romans,  the  first  germs  of  events  that  can  be  called  national 
history  appear  in  the  sixth  century.  The  partition  of  the  country,  such  as  we  have  seen  it, 
had  not  greatly  varied.  On  the  east  side,  the  Saxon  invaders  pressed  hard  on  the  Britons 
between  the  walls ;  and  when  the  terrible  Ida  at  that  time  built  himself  a  fortress  at  Bam- 
burgh,  within  twenty  miles  of  the  Tweed,  he  seems  to  have  ruled  the  country  northwards  to 
the  Tay.  The  Britons  continued  to  maintain  an  independent  territory  in  the  west,  from  the 
Solway  to  the  Clyde  ;  and  northward  the  country  was  divided  between  the  Picts  on  the  east 
and  north,  and  the  Irish  Scots  on  the  west.  — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  278. 

4  I  do  not  think  that  we  shall  find  that  in  any  of  the  Mercian  lands  east  of  the  Severn  the 
Briton  has  left  more  traces  behind  him  than  he  has  in  Kent  or  Norfolk.     When  we  cross  the 


310  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Severn  the  case  is  different.  We  then  get  into  the  real  Welsh  march.  One  of  the  greatest 
English  conquests  of  the  eighth  century  was  that  which  changed  the  Welsh  town  of  Pen-y- 
wern  into  the  English  Shrewsbury.  Hereford  was  long  an  English  outpost  against  the 
Welsh,  and  indeed  in  parts  of  Herefordshire  the  names  of  places  are  Welsh,  and  it  is  not  so 
very  long  since  the  Welsh  language  died  out  there.  The  Severn,  I  think,  must  be  taken  as 
the  extent  of  complete  English  conquest,  of  utter  annihilation  of  older  inhabitants  and  older 
systems,  in  that  part  of  Britain.  .  .  .  There  is  a  certain  Celtic  element  in  Devonshire, 
though  it  is  much  less  strong  than  in  Cornwall,  and  there  is  a  certain  Celtic  element  in  Som- 
ersetshire, though  it  is  much  less  strong  than  in  Devonshire.  Any  one  who  knows  the  coun- 
try, any  one  who,  even  at  a  distance,  looks  carefully  at  the  map,  will  be  able  to  make  out  a 
sprinkling  of  Celtic  names  and  other  Celtic  indications,  beginning  at  the  Axe,  and  getting 
thicker  and  thicker  till  we  cross  the  Tamar  into  the  strictly  Celtic  land  of  Cornwall.  In  these 
districts  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  just  as  in  Cornwall,  the  population  is  very  largely  of 
Celtic  descent,  and  has  been  simply  assimilated  to  the  English.  .  .  .  With  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity  our  forefathers  ceased  to  be  mere  destroyers  ;  they  were  satisfied  with 
being  conquerors.  Instead  of  dealing  with  the  vanquished  as  with  wild  beasts,  they  were  now 
content  to  receive  them,  not  indeed  as  their  political  equals,  but  still  as  fellow-Christians  and 
fellow-subjects. — Freeman,  Origin  of  the  English  Nation,  pp.  1 51-154. 

5  In  these  earlier  conquests  of  the  Bernicians,  as  Ida's  folk  were  called,  the  settlement 
was  as  complete  as  in  the  rest  of  Britain.  Their  homes,  indeed,  must  have  been  scantily 
sprinkled  over  the  wild  and  half-reclaimed  country  ;  but,  scant  as  they  were,  these  "  hams" 
and  "  tons  "  told  as  plainly  as  in  other  districts  the  tale  of  English  colonization.  Dodings  and 
Livings  left  their  names  to  hamlets  like  Doddington  and  Livingston  :  along  the  wild  coast 
Tynings  and  Coldings  made  their  fisher-villages  at  Tyningham  and  Coldingham  ;  while 
Elphinston  and  Edmonston  preserve  the  memory  of  English  Elphins  and  Edmonds  who 
raised  their  homesteads  along  the  Teviot  and  the  Tweed.  Nowhere,  indeed,  has  the  English 
tongue  been  preserved  in  greater  purity  than  in  the  district  which  now  calls  itself  Southern 
Scotland.  But  the  years  that  had  been  spent  in  winning  this  little  tract  show  that  the  Berni- 
cian  force  was  but  a  small  one  ;  and  the  continued  slowness  of  their  southward  advance  from 
Bamborough  proves  that  even  after  the  union  under  Ida  their  strength  was  but  little  increased. 
—  Green,  Making  of  England,  p.  70. 

6  Bede  ranks  Osuiu  as  the  seventh  king  of  the  nations  of  the  Angles  who  possessed  impe- 
rial power,  and  sums  up  the  result  of  his  reign  by  saying  that  ' '  he  held  nearly  the  same 
dominions  for  some  time  as  his  predecessors,  and  subdued  and  made  tributary  the  greater  part 
of  the  nations  of  the  Picts  and  Scots  which  possess  the  northern  parts  of  Britain."  He  thus 
not  only  freed  his  own  kingdom  from  the  incursions  of  the  Mercians,  and  found  himself  at 
last  in  the  full  and  quiet  possession  of  it,  but  he  materially  added  to  his  dominions.  In  the 
south  he  obtained  possession  of  Mercia  for  three  years,  and  in  the  north  extended  his  sway 
not  only  over  the  Britons  but  over  the  Picts  and  Scots  ;  and  thus  commenced  the  dominion 
of  the  Angles  over  the  Britons  of  Alclyde,  the  Scots  of  Dalriada,  and  the  southern  Picts, 
which  was  destined  to  last  for  thirty  years.  By  the  fall  of  Penda  and  the  defeat  and  slaughter 
of  his  British  allies,  the  Britons  of  Alclyde  naturally  fell  under  his  sway.  Tighernac  records 
the  death  of  no  king  of  Alclyde  during  this  period  till  the  year  694,  and  the  Ulster  Annals, 
after  recording  in  658  the  death  of  Gureit  or  Gwriad,  king  of  Alclyde,  have  also  a  blank 
during  the  same  time.  —  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  256. 

7  "  The  fact  which  I  am  supposed  to  admit  grudgingly  is  in  truth  one  of  the  greatest 
importance  for  a  right  knowledge  of  the  progress  of  the  English  Conquest  and  of  its  results. 
The  laws  of  Ine,  King  of  the  West  Saxons,  dating  from  the  eighth  century,  set  before  us  a 
state  of  things  in  the  West  Saxon  kingdom  which  has  nothing  like  it  either  in  our  earlier  or 
our  later  records.  It  is  very  likely  that,  if  we  had  any  laws  of  Offa,  King  of  the  Mercians, 
later  in  the  same  century,  they  would  set  before  us  nearly  the  same  state  of  things ;  but 
unluckily  we  have  not  got  any  such  laws  to  make  us  quite  sure.     That  state  of  things  is  one 


The  English  Chronicle  311 

in  which  Briton  and  Englishman  appear  as  living  side  by  side  in  the  land,  subjects  of  the 
same  king,  protected  by  the  same  law,  but  still  marked  off  in  everything,  the  one  as  the 
conquering,  the  other  as  the  conquered  race. 

"  Now,  in  the  laws  of  Ine,  the  blood  and  the  oath  of  a  Briton  of  a  certain  rank  is  sys- 
tematically rated  at  a  lower  price  than  the  blood  and  the  oath  of  an  Englishman  of  the  same 
rank.  And  there  are  provisions  in  the  same  code  which  show  us  Britons,  not  as  slaves,  not 
as  strangers,  as  men  fully  under  the  living  protection  of  the  law,  but  still  as  forming  a  class 
distinct  from  Englishmen  and  inferior  to  Englishmen.  Now  what  does  all  this  prove  ?  We 
must  remember  that  there  is  nothing  like  this  legislation  of  Ine's  either  in  the  earlier  or  in  the 
later  laws,  neither  in  the  older  laws  of  Kent  nor  in  the  later  laws  of  Wessex.  The  picture 
of  a  land  inhabited  by  two  nations  still  keeping  perfectly  distinct  belongs  only  to  the  legisla- 
tion of  Wessex  at  one  particular  time,  the  time  which  followed  the  first  conquests  made  by 
the  West  Saxons  in  their  new  character  of  Christians.  The  lawgivers  of  Kent  had  no  Britons 
to  legislate  about ;  in  Kent,  a  land  conquered  in  the  days  of  heathendom,  the  British  inhab- 
itants had  been  rooted  out.  The  later  lawgivers  of  Wessex  might  have  to  legislate  about 
British  enemies  or  British  captives  ;  they  had  not  to  legislate  about  a  settled  British  popula- 
tion in  their  own  kingdom.  It  is  plain  that  conversion  to  Christianity,  though  it  did  not  stop 
warfare,  made  warfare  less  frightful.  The  Christian  conqueror  did  not  seek  the  extermina- 
tion of  his  conquered  enemies  ;  he  was  satisfied  with  their  political  subjection.  In  the  lands 
conquered  after  the  conversion  the  Briton  lived  on  much  as  the  Roman  lived  on  in  Gaul.  We 
see  him  there  in  the  time  of  Ine,  free,  protected  by  the  law,  but  marked  as  the  inferior  of  his 
conqueror.  When  vElfred  gave  laws  to  Wessex,  things  had  changed  ;  the  conquerors  had 
assimilated  the  conquered  ;  the  British  inhabitants  of  Wessex  had  passed  into  Englishmen. 

"  It  is  plain,  then,  that,  in  the  shires  of  Somerset  and  Devon,  the  lands  for  which  this 
legislation  of  Ine  must  have  been  mainly  meant,  a  considerable  part  of  the  people  must  be 
English  by  adoption  only.  Cornwall,  I  need  hardly  say,  was  a  strictly  British  land,  with  a 
British  nomenclature,  and  a  British  speech  which  lingered  on  into  the  last  century.  These 
lands  were  long  known  as  the  Wealh-cyn,  the  land  of  the  Welsh  or  British  people.  There  is 
then  an  undoubted  British  fusion  in  the  English  people,  an  infusion  dating  from  the  seventh 
century.  The  fact  is  undoubted  ;  it  is  open  to  any  one  to  make  what  inferences  he  chooses 
from  it.  Only  let  him  stop  and  think  whether  the  lands  from  Elbe  to  Niemen  have  not 
poured  a  greater  foreign  infusion  into  the  blood  of  Germany  than  the  lands  from  Axe  to  Tamar 
have  poured  into  the  blood  of  England.  My  inferences  are  these  :  The  presence  of  legisla- 
tion about  Britons  in  the  laws  of  Ine,  compared  with  its  absence  in  the  earlier  laws,  points  to 
the  difference  between  heathen  conquest,  which  involved  the  extermination  of  the  conquered, 
and  Christian  conquest,  which  did  not.  And  it  thereby  teaches  us  how  thoroughly  the  exter- 
mination was  in  the  days  of  heathendom.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  the  conquered 
were  thoroughly  assimilated  by  the  conquerors  between  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century 
and  the  end  of  the  ninth  shows  that  the  speech  and  the  civilization  of  Rome  had  utterly 
passed  away  from  Western  Britain  in  the  seventh  century."  —  Freeman,  English  People  in  its 
Three  Homes,  pp.  147-149. 

8  At  this  time  the  Northumbrians  were  at  enmity  with  the  Picts.  Ceolwulf,  the  king  of 
Northumbria,  had  followed  the  fashion  of  the  time  and  become  a  monk  in  Lindisfarne  in  the 
year  737.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin  Eadberht,  the  son  of  his  father's  brother  ;  and  we 
are  told,  in  the  short  chronicle  annexed  to  Bede,  that  in  740  ^Edilbald,  king  of  Mercia, 
unfairly  laid  waste  part  of  Northumbria,  its  king,  Eadberht,  being  occupied  with  his  army 
against  the  Picts.  It  is  probable  that  Angus  had  excited  the  hostility  of  the  king  of  North- 
umbria by  stirring  up  the  Picts  of  Lothian  and  Galloway  to  revolt,  and  that  Eadberht  may 
have  encouraged  if  not  invited  the  Scots  of  Dalriada  to  occupy  their  country.  Alpin  is  said 
by  all  authorities  to  have  reigned  four  years  after  Dungal,  which  brings  us  to  the  year  740, 
when  he  invaded  Galloway  with  the  part  of  the  Dalriadic  nation  which  followed  him,  and  was 
slain  there,  after  having  laid  waste  and  almost  destroyed  the  country  of  the  Picts.     The  Ulster 


312  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Annals  thus  record  it  in  741  :  "  Battle  of  Drum  Cathmail  between  the  Cruithnigh  and  the 
Dalriads  against  Innrechtach."  The  locality  of  this  battle  appears  to  have  been  in  Galloway, 
not  far  from  Kirkcudbright,  and  Innrechtach  was  probably  the  leader  of  the  Galloway  Picts. 
One  of  the  chronicles  appears  to  have  preserved  the  traditionary  account  of  his  death  when  it 
tells  us  that  Alpin  was  slain  in  Galloway,  after  he  had  destroyed  it,  by  a  single  person  who 
lay  in  wait  for  him  in  a  thick  wood  overhanging  the  entrance  of  the  ford  of  a  river  as  he  rode 
among  his  people.  The  scene  of  his  death  must  have  been  on  the  east  side  of  Loch  Ryan, 
where  a  stream  falls  into  the  loch,  on  the  north  side  of  which  is  the  farm  of  Laight,  and  on 
this  farm  is  a  large  upright  pillar  stone,  to  which  the  name  of  Laight  Alpin,  or  the  grave  of 
Alpin,  is  given.  In  the  same  year  we  have  the  short  but  significant  record  of  the  crushing 
of  the  Dalriads  by  Angus,  son  of  Fergus. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  291-292. 

9  Edbert,  king,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  reign,  and  Unust,  king  of  the  Picts,  led  an 
army  to  the  city  of  Alcluyd,  and  there  the  Britons  thereof  received  [i.  e.,  surrendered  upon] 
conditions,  the  first  day  of  August. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

During  the  reign  of  Eadberht  in  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  the  kingdom  of 
Northumbria  had  apparently  attained  to  a  position  of  as  great  power  as  that  to  which  it  had 
been  raised  in  the  previous  century  by  Ecgfrid.  The  two  provinces  of  Deira  and  Bernicia 
were  united  under  his  rule  ;  the  territories  of  the  Britons  south  of  the  Solway  Firth  and  the 
province  of  Galloway  on  the  north  were  parts  of  his  kingdom  ;  he  had  himself  added  to  it 
Kyle  and  the  adjacent  districts,  and  in  conjunction  with  Angus,  the  equally  powerful  king  of 
the  Picts,  had  enforced  the  submission  of  the  Britons  of  Alclyde  when,  after  a  reign  of 
twenty-one  years,  he,  in  the  year  758,  abdicated  his  throne  in  favor  of  his  son  Oswulf,  and 
took  the  tonsure.  His  son  was  in  the  following  year  treacherously  slain  by  his  own  people, 
and  with  him  ended  the  direct  descendants  of  Ida.  The  kingdom  seems  then  to  have  fallen 
into  a  state  of  disorganization,  and  has  thus  been  well  described  :  "  One  earldorman  after 
another  seized  on  the  government,  and  held  it  till  his  expelled  predecessors  returned  with  a 
superior  force,  or  popular  favor  or  successful  treason  had  raised  up  a  new  competitor." 
And  thus  it  continued  till  the  end  of  the  century,  when  the  arrival  of  the  Northmen  added 
an  additional  element  of  confusion.  In  867  the  monarchy  completely  broke  down.  In  the 
previous  year  a  large  fleet  of  Danish  pirates,  under  the  command  of  Halfdan,  Inguar,  and 
Hubba,  the  sons  of  Ragnar  Lodbrog,  had  arrived  on  the  coast  of  England,  and  had  wintered 
in  East  Anglia,  and  this  year  they  invaded  Northumbria,  and  took  possession  of  the  city  of 
York.  The  Northumbrians  had  just  expelled  their  king  Osbryht,  and  placed  Alia  on  the 
throne,  but  the  former  was  now  recalled,  and  the  two  kings,  uniting  their  forces,  attempted 
to  wrest  the  city  of  York  from  the  Danes,  and  were  both  slain.  The  Danes  then  took  posses- 
sion of  the  whole  of  Northumbria  as  far  as  the  river  Tyne,  and  placed  Ecgbert  as  king 
over  the  Northumbrians  north  of  the  Tyne.  After  a  reign  of  six  years  Ecgbert  died,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Ricsig.  It  was  in  his  time  that,  in  875,  Halfdan,  with  his  Danes, 
again  entered  Northumbria,  and  brought  the  whole  country  under  his  dominion.  In  the 
following  year  Ricsig  died,  and  Halfdan  is  said  by  Simeon  of  Durham  to  have  placed  a  second 
Ecgbert  over  the  Northumbrians  beyond  the  Tyne.  He  is  said  to  have  reigned  only  two  years. 
But  notwithstanding,  in  883,  or  seven  years  after,  when  Halfdan  dies,  we  are  told  by  Simeon 
that  by  the  advice  of  the  abbot  Eadred,  Guthred,  son  of  Hardicnut,  was  made  king,  and 
reigned  at  York  ;  but  Ecgbert  ruled  over  the  Northumbrians.  There  is  no  mention  of  this 
second  Ecgbert  either  in  his  History  of  Durham  or  of  the  Archbishops  of  York,  and  he 
appears  with  his  inconsistent  dates  to  be  a  mere  reproduction  of  the  Ecgbert  who  was  placed 
over  the  Northumbrians  north  of  the  Tyne  in  867,  introduced  to  fill  up  a  period  when  the 
historian  did  not  know  or  did  not  care  to  tell  who  really  ruled  over  Bernicia  at  that  time. 
This  is,  however,  the  period  of  Girig's  reign,  and  he  may,  like  his  predecessor  Kenneth,  have 
overrun  Lothian  and  obtained  possession  of  Bamborough,  the  chief  seat  of  the  Bernician 
kings,  which  lies  at  no  great  distance  from  the  south  bank  of  the  Tweed  ;  and  Simeon  him- 
self indicates  this  when  he  tells  us  in  his  History  of  the  Church  of  Durham  that  during  the 


The  English  Chronicle  3J3 

reign  of  Guthred  "  the  nation  of  the  Scots  had  collected  a  numerous  army  and,  among  other 
deeds  of  cruelty,  had  invaded  and  plundered  the  monastery  of  Lindisfarne."  His  object,  too, 
may  have  been  to  free  the  Britons,  his  own  countrymen,  from  the  Anglic  yoke,  and  certainly, 
if  he  conquered  Bernicia,  and  perhaps  that  part  of  Anglia  which  consisted  of  the  British  pos- 
sessions extending  from  the  Solway  to  the  Derwent,  their  reunion  with  the  kingdom  of  the 
Strathclyde  Britons,  as  well  as  the  freedom  of  Galloway  from  Anglic  supremacy,  would  be  the 
natural  result. — Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  33I-333- 

10  Eadberht,  the  king  of  Northumbria,  abdicated  his  throne  in  758,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  Osulf,  who  had  reigned  only  one  year  when  he  was  slain,  and  by  his  own  people  ;  and 
in  759,  ./Ethelwald,  called  Moll,  became  king ;  and  in  the  third  year,  Simeon  tells  us,  a  battle 
was  fought  between  him  and  Oswine,  one  of  his  generals,  at  Eldun  near  Melrose,  in  which 
Oswine  was  slain,  which  shows  that  ^Ethelwald's  kingdom  still  extended  at  least  as  far  as  East 
Lothian.  The  place  meant  is  the  Eildon  Hill  near  Melrose.  The  English  Chronicle  calls 
the  place  ^Edwine's  Cliffe. 

11  Simeon  of  Durham  tells  us  that  in  774  King  Alchred,  by  the  design  and  consent  of  all 
his  connections,  being  deprived  of  the  society  of  the  royal  family  and  princes,  changed  the 
dignity  of  empire  for  exile.  He  went  with  a  few  of  the  companions  of  his  flight  first  to  the 
city  of  Bamborough,  and  afterwards  to  the  king  of  the  Picts,  Cynoht  by  name  ;  and  iEthelred, 
the  son  of  his  predecessor,  occupied  the  throne  of  Northumbria  for  six  years. 

13  "  Presently,  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  the  English  who  had  thus  invaded  the 
land  of  the  Britons  were  themselves  invaded  in  the  land  which  they  had  made  their  own. 
In  a  considerable  part  of  England  the  conquerors  themselves  became  the  conquered.  A  new 
nomenclature  was  brought  in  ;  through  a  large  part  of  several  English  shires  the  names  which 
the  English  had  given  to  the  spots  which  they  wrested  from  the  Briton  gave  way  to  new 
names  which  marked  the  coming  of  another  race  of  conquerors.  Wherever  names  end  in  by, 
we  see  the  signs  of  this  new  revolution,  the  signs  of  the  coming  of  a  new  element  in  the  land, 
and  an  element  which  indeed  supplied  a  wide  field  for  adoption,  but  which  hardly  stood  in 
need  of  assimilation.  As  the  English  came  on  the  Britons,  so  the  Danes  came  on  the  Eng- 
lish ;  they  occupied  a  considerable  part  of  England  ;  in  the  end  they  placed  a  Danish  king 
on  the  throne  of  what  by  that  time  had  become  the  united  English  kingdom.  Such  an 
event  as  this  is  a  mighty  one,  filling  no  small  space  in  a  narrative  history  of  the  English 
people.     .     .     . 

"  But,  in  such  a  sketch  as  I  am  now  setting  before  you,  the  great  tale  of  the  Danish  inva- 
sions goes  for  but  little.  Misleading  as  such  a  view  would  be  in  an  ordinary  history,  I  might 
for  my  present  purpose  almost  venture  to  speak  of  the  Danish  conquest  as  the  last  wave  of 
the  English  conquest,  as  the  coming  of  a  detachment  who  came  so  late  that  they  could  settle 
only  at  the  expense  of  their  comrades  who  had  settled  already.  For  the  Danes  were  a  kin- 
dred folk  to  the  English,  hardly  differing  more  from  some  of  the  tribes  which  had  taken  a 
part  in  the  English  conquest  than  those  tribes  differed  from  one  another.  The  coming  of 
the  Dane  hardly  amounted  to  more  than  the  addition  of  a  fourth  Teutonic  element  to  the 
Angles,  Saxons,  and  Jutes  who  had  come  already." — Freeman,  The  English  People  in  its 
Three  Homes,  p.  1 50. 

13  "  In  Ecgberht's  day  Britain  had  come  to  consist  of  three  long  belts  of  country,  two  of 
which  stretched  side  by  side  from  the  utmost  north  to  the  utmost  south,  and  the  population  of 
each  of  which  was  absolutely  diverse.  Between  the  eastern  coast  and  a  line  which  we  may 
draw  along  the  Selkirk  and  Yorkshire  moorlands  to  the  Cotswolds  and  Selwood,  lay  a  people 
of  wholly  English  blood.  Westward  again  of  the  Tamar,  of  the  western  hills  of  Hereford- 
shire, and  of  Offa's  Dyke,  lay  a  people  whose  blood  was  wholly  Celtic.  Between  them,  from 
the  Lune  to  the  coast  of  Dorset  and  Devon,  ran  the  lands  of  the  Wealh-cyn  —  of  folks,  that 
is,  in  whose  veins  British  and  English  blood  were  already  blending  together  and  presaging 
in  their  mingling  a  wider  blending  of  these  elements  in  the  nation  as  a  whole. 

"  The  winning  of  Western  Britain  opened,  in  fact,  a  way  to  that  addition  of  outer  ele- 


3 14  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ments  to  the  pure  English  stock  which  has  gone  on  from  that  day  to  this  without  a  break. 
Celt  and  Gael,  Welshman  and  Irishman,  Frisian  and  Flamand,  French  Huguenot  and  German 
Palatine,  have  come  successively  in,  with  a  hundred  smaller  streams  of  foreign  blood.  .  .  . 
So  far  as  blood  goes,  few  nations  are  of  an  origin  more  mixed  than  the  present  English 
nation  ;  for  there  is  no  living  Englishman  who  can  say  with  certainty  that  the  blood  of  any 
of  the  races  we  have  named  does  not  mingle  in  his  veins.  As  regards  the  political  or  social 
structure  of  the  people,  indeed,  this  intermingling  of  blood  has  had  little  or  no  result.  They 
remain  purely  English  and  Teutonic. 

' '  The  firm  English  groundwork  which  had  been  laid  by  the  character  of  the  early  con- 
quest has  never  been  disturbed.  Gathered  gradually  in,  tribe  by  tribe,  fugitive  by  fugitive, 
these  outer  elements  were  quietly  absorbed  into  a  people  whose  social  and  political  form  was 
already  fixed.  But  though  it  would  be  hard  to  distinguish  the  changes  wrought  by  the  mix- 
ture of  race  from  the  changes  wrought  by  the  lapse  of  time  and  the  different  circumstances 
which  surround  each  generation,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  has  brought  with  it  moral 
results  in  modifying  the  character  of  the  nation.  It  is  not  without  significance  that  the 
highest  type  of  the  race,  the  one  Englishman  who  has  combined  in  their  largest  measure  the 
mobility  and  fancy  of  the  Celt  with  the  depth  and  energy  of  the  Teutonic  temper,  was  born 
on  the  old  Welsh  and  English  borderland,  in  the  forest  of  Arden." — Green,  Conquest  of 
England,  ch.  i.,  §§  2,  3. 

14  The  king  of  Scots  with  his  whole  nation,  and  Reginald,  the  king  of  the  Danes,  with 
the  English  and  Danes  inhabiting  Northumberland,  the  king  also  of  the  Strathclyde 
Britons  with  his  people,  chose  the  elder  king  for  their  father  and  lord,  and  contracted  with 
him  a  firm  league. — Florence  of  Worcester.    (Anno  921).     See  p.  359. 

16  It  has  usually  been  assumed  that  this  refers  to  the  district  in  England  afterwards  called 
Cumberland  alone,  but  the  people  termed  by  the  same  chronicle  the  Strathclyde  Welsh  had 
now  come  to  be  known  under  the  Latin  appellation  of  Cumbri,  and  their  territory  as  the 
land  of  the  Cumbrians,  of  which  "  Cumbraland  "  is  simply  the  Saxon  equivalent.  Their  king 
at  this  time  was  Donald,  the  son  of  that  Eugenius  or  Owin,  who  was  at  the  battle  of  Brunan- 
burh.  He  is  called  king  of  the  Northern  Britons,  and  his  kingdom  extended  from  the  Der- 
went  in  Cumberland  to  the  Clyde.  Accordingly  we  find  in  the  British  annals  that  at  this 
time  Strathclyde  was  ravaged  by  the  Saxons.  There  can  be  little  question  that  the  tenure 
by  which  the  Cumbrian  kingdom  was  held  by  Malcolm,  was  one  of  fealty  towards  the  king 
of  England,  and  this  seems  to  be  the  first  occasion  on  which  this  relation  was  established 
with  any  reality  between  them,  so  far,  at  least,  as  this  grant  is  concerned. — Celtic  Scotland, 
vol.  i.,  p.  362. 

Cumbria,  or  Cambria,  was  the  name  given  to  the  northern  territory  retained  by  the 
Romanized  Britons — a  territory  described  as  a  continuation  northward  of  their  Welsh  terri- 
tory. Gradually,  however,  the  name  of  Strathclyde  was  given  to  that  portion  reaching  from 
the  Solway  northwards — in  fact,  the  portion  within  modern  Scotland.  The  word  Cumbria 
continued  to  be  frequently  used  as  equivalent  to  Strathclyde,  but  about  the  period  of  the 
gift,  it  had  come  to  apply  to  the  English  portion  only  of  the  old  British  territory — a  portion 
in  which  Saxons  and  Norsemen  had  successively  planted  themselves.  If  what  King  Edmond 
handed  over  to  the  King  of  Scots  was  Strathclyde,  he  professed  to  give  a  territory  that  was 
not  his  own,  but  was,  indeed,  naturally  lapsing  into  the  other  dominions  of  the  King  of 
Scots.  Whatever  meaning,  then,  we  are  to  give  to  the  passage  in  the  chronicle,  must  con- 
nect it  with  the  country  now  known  as  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland.  Of  these  territories, 
it  can  only  be  said,  that  at  this  period,  and  for  long  afterwards,  they  formed  the  theatre  of 
miscellaneous  confused  conflicts,  in  which  the  Saxons,  the  Scots,  and  the  Norsemen,  in  their 
turn,  partake.  Over  and  over  again  we  hear  that  the  district  is  swept  by  the  Saxon  kings' 
armies,  but  it  did  not  become  a  part  of  England  until  after  the  Norman  Conquest.  Mean- 
while, to  the  King  of  Scots  it  was  not  so  much  an  object  of  acquisition  as  the  more  accessible: 
territory  of  Northumberland. — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  337. 


The  English  Chronicle  315 

16  It  has  yet  to  be  recorded,  nine  years  later,  in  946,  that  ^Ethelstane's  successor  reduced 
all  Northumberland  under  his  power ;  and  the  Scots  gave  him  oath  that  they  would  all  that 
he  would.  It  happens,  however,  that  the  year  before  this  we  have  an  entry  which  the  tenor 
of  those  we  have  been  dealing  with  renders  still  more  inexplicable  than  they  are  themselves  : 
"Anno  945. — In  this  year  King  Eadmond  harried  over  all  Cumberland,  and  gave  it  all  up 
to  Malcolm,  King  of  the  Scots,  on  the  condition  that  he  should  be  his  co-operator  both  on 
sea  and  on  land."  Three  years  before  this,  Constantine  had  retired  from  his  throne,  and 
became  abbot  of  the  Culdees  at  St.  Andrews — an  office,  as  we  shall  see,  not  unworthy  of  a 
tired  king.  It  was  to  his  successor,  Malcolm,  that  this  strange  gift  was  made. — Burton, 
vol.  i.,  p.  336. 

11  Worsaae  states  that  the  Northmen,  by  the  Danish  conquests,  became  the  progenitors 
of  as  much  as  half  of  the  present  population  of  England.  The  Saxon  race  in  the  north  has 
been  greatly  exaggerated.  They  were  principally  located  in  the  south  of  England,  and,  in 
proof  of  this,  the  dialects  in  the  north  and  south  were  always  different.  The  first  has  much 
of  the  Scandinavian,  while  the  latter  is  considered  to  have  more  of  the  Belgian  or  Low 
Dutch.  There  are  in  England  specimens  of  written  Saxon  as  early  as  the  seventh  century. 
From  ritual  books  it  is  seen  that  Saxon  of  about  a.d.  890  and  Dano-Saxon  of  about  930 
differ  to  a  considerable  extent. — Galloway ;  Ancient  and  Modern,  p.  78. 

18  "  Edmond  Ironside  left  two  infant  sons,  Edwin  and  Edward.  By  order  of  Canute, 
they  were  conveyed  out  of  England  in  1017  (Chron.  Sax.).  At  length  they  found  an  asylum  in 
Hungary.  Edwin  died  there.  Edward  was  recalled  by  Edward  the  Confessor  in  1057.  He 
only  lived  to  see  the  land  of  his  nativity,  from  which  he  had  been  exiled  during  forty  years 
(Ibid.,  p.  169).    The  Children  of  Edward  were  Edgar  ^Etheling,  Margaret,  and  Christian. 

"  There  is  a  confusion,  hardly  to  be  unravelled,  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of  Edgar's 
retreat  into  Scotland,  and  his  sister's  marriage.  In  Chron.  Sax.  (pp.  173,  174)  it  is  said  that 
Edgar  went  into  Scotland  in  1067,  with  Maerleswegen,  and  the  other  malcontents.  S. 
Dunelm  places  this  event  in  1068  (p.  197).  According  to  Chr.  Melrose,  (p.  158),  the  nuptials 
of  Margaret  were  solemnized  in  1067  ;  but,  according  to  the  same  history  (p.  160),  in  1070. 
Fordun,  1.  v.,  c.  16,  relates  from  Turgot,  that  Edgar,  with  his  mother  and  sisters,  had  em- 
barked, in  order  to  return  to  the  place  of  his  nativity,  but  that  he  was  driven  to  Scotland  by 
a  tempest.  With  him  Aldred  concurs  (Be  Genealogia  Regum  Anglorum,  p.  367).  Fordun 
adds,  that  the  place  where  the  ship  anchored  was  called  Sinus  S.  Margaretae  (now  St. 
Margaret's  Hope) ;  and  (c.  17),  that  the  nuptials  were  solemnized  at  Dunfermline.  Hovedon 
(p.  226)  relates  the  same  story  of  the  tempest ;  but  places  it  in  1067.  He  adds,  that,  at 
that  time,  the  marriage  of  Margaret  and  the  King  of  Scots  was  agreed  on,  4  hac  quoque  oc- 
casione  actum  est,  ut  Margareta  Regi  Malcolmo  nupta  traderetur.'  "— Hailes,  Annals  of 
Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  7. 

19  On  his  death  he  left  the  kingdom  in  possession  for  the  first  time  of  the  same  southern 
frontier  which  it  ever  after  retained.  It  was  now  separated  from  the  kingdom  of  England 
by  the  Solway  Firth,  the  range  of  the  Cheviot  Hills  and  the  River  Tweed.  From  the  Sol- 
way  to  the  Clyde  extended  that  portion  of  Cumbria  which  still  belonged  to  the  Scottish 
king  ;  from  the  Tweed  to  the  Forth,  the  district  of  Lothian.  From  the  Forth  to  the  Spey 
was  Alban  or  Albania,  now  called  Scotia.  Beyond  it,  on  the  north,  the  province  of  Mo- 
ravia ;  on  the  west,  Airergaidhel  or  Argathelia ;  while  beyond  these  were,  on  the  north, 
Caithness  and  the  Orkney  Isles  forming  the  Norwegian  earldom  of  Orkney  ;  and,  on  the 
west,  the  Sudreys  or  Western  Islands  still  occupied  by  the  Norwegians,  though  since  the 
death  of  Thorfinn  belonging  nominally  to  Scotland.— Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  432. 


CHAPTER  XX 

FROM  MALCOLM  CANMORE  TO  KING  DAVID 

WE  now  have  our  annals  brought  down  to  a  period  where  the  written 
history  of  Scotland  may  be  said  to  begin.  From  this  time  on,  we 
have  accessible  what  are  practically  contemporary  records  of  the  events  oc- 
curring in  and  after  the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore.  There  is  no  early  con- 
nected account  of  Scottish  history  before  his  time  that  can  be  taken  as 
authentic.  Such  records  of  events  as  are  preserved  are  to  be  found  only  in 
the  brief  and  ofttimes  contradictory  notices  of  the  Irish,  Welsh,  and  English 
annalists.  There  have  already  been  given  such  references  as  are  contained 
in  the  English  chronicles,  and  the  substance  of  the  contents  of  the  others. 
It  only  remains  to  add  a  short  account  of  the  Irish  and  Welsh  chronicles 
in  order  that  we  may  know  what  are  the  foundations  for  that  portion 
of  Scottish  history  now  passed  in  outline,  and  which  at  this  late  day  can 
only  be  tentatively  constructed  from  their  meagre  and  fragmentary  details. 

The  oldest  of  these  records  is  the  Pictish  Chronicle,  compiled  in  the  reign 
of  Kenneth  Mac  Malcolm  (971-995),  the  contents  of  which  consist  mainly 
of  a  list  of  the  Pictish  kings,  with  the  dates  of  commencement  of  their  re- 
spective reigns.  The  latter  portion  of  this  list  has  already  been  given.1 
One  edition  of  the  same  exists  in  Latin,  which  is  said  to  have  been  trans- 
lated from  a  Gaelic  original  ;  and  a  version  may  also  be  found  in  the  Irish 
Nennius. 

In  the  reign  of  Kenneth's  son,  Malcolm  (1004-1034),  between  the  years 
10 14  and  1023,  appeared  the  Synchronisms  of  Flann  Mainistrech,  or  Flann, 
the  Ferleighin  of  the  monastery  called  Mainister  Boice,  which  contains  a 
list  of  the  kings  of  Ireland  synchronized  with  contemporary  rulers  of  other 
countries,  including  many  who  ruled  in  Scotland  ;  the  chronicle  being 
brought  down  to  the  early  part  of  the  eleventh  century.  Flann  died  in 
1056. 

The  third  chronicle  is  that  of  Marianus  Scotus,  who  was  born  in  1028, 
and  died  in  1082-83.  This  covers  a  period  extending  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  to  the  year  1082. 

Another  list  of  the  early  rulers  of  Scotland  is  given  in  the  Irish  version 
of  the  British,  or  Welsh,  chronicle  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Nennius. 
This  book  was  translated  from  the  Latin  into  Irish  by  Gillacaemhan,  who 
died  in  1072,  and  considerable  additions  were  made  to  it  by  him  from  Irish 
and  Pictish  sources. 

Gillacaemhan  is  also  reputed  to  have  been  the  author  of  a  brief  histori- 
cal poem  known  as  the  Albanic  Duany  which  probably  appeared  between 
the  time  of  Malcolm  Canmore's  accession  to  the  throne  (1057)  and  the 
death  of  its  author  (1072). 

316 


Malcolm  to  David  317 

The  last  of  these  early  Gaelic  chronicles  is  that  of  Tighernac  of  Cloin- 
macnois,  who  died  in  1088.  His  work  is  known  as  the  Annals  of  Tighernac, 
and  it  probably  contains  a  greater  number  of  references  to  Scottish  affairs 
than  any  of  the  others  that  have  been  named.     (See  Appendix  O.) 

Besides  these  may  be  mentioned  the  Annates  Cambria  and  the  Brut y 
Tywysogion,  being  the  two  Cymric  chronicles  next  in  date  and  importance 
to  those  of  Gildas  and  Nennius.  They  give  much  incidental  information  of 
the  British  kingdom  of  Strathclyde  after  the  time  of  Bede.  The  first  ex- 
tends from  447  to  1288,  and  the  second  from  681  to  1282.  There  are  also 
the  Annals  of  Innisf alien  and  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  both  extremely  valuable 
for  the  light  they  throw  upon  the  early  history  of  Scotland.  Of  secondary 
importance  to  the  foregoing  is  the  Leabhar  Gabhala,  or  Book  of  Conquests,  by 
Michael  O'Clery,  founded  upon  a  more  ancient  book  of  invasions,  of  which 
a  fragment  is  contained  in  the  Leabhar  na  Huidhri  and  the  Book  of  Leinster, 
and  complete  editions  in  the  Books  of  Ballimote  and  Leacan. 

Concerning  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  (written  1632-1636),  a  work 
often  quoted  as  the  basis  of  ancient  Irish  history,  every  indication  connected 
with  its  appearance  points  to  its  having  an  origin  similar  to  that  of  the  arti- 
ficially constructed  Scottish  histories  of  Hector  Boece,  John  Major,  and 
George  Buchanan,  namely,  the  lively  imagination  and  clever  pen  of  the 
authors.  The  earlier  part  of  the  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  comprises  a 
narrative  of  the  fabulous  history  of  Ireland  in  the  form  of  a  chronicle,  and, 
like  the  similar  works  of  Giraldus  de  Barri  Cambrensis  and  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth,  is  interesting  from  a  literary  standpoint  only.  The  latter  parts 
are  said  in  the  preface  to  be  taken  from  other  and  more  ancient  documents. 
The  authority  for  each  event  not  being  stated,  however,  and  the  lack  of  sub- 
stantiation for  a  great  part  of  the  records  given,  throws  the  whole  work  open 
to  suspicion  ;  and  it  has  practically  no  value  as  history. 

"  We  have  no  extant  Scotch  writing  so  early  as  the  reign  of  Malcolm 
Canmore,  who  died  in  the  year  1093,"  says  Cosmo  Innes,  in  his  essay  on 
Scotland  in  the  Middle  Ages.  "  That  the  art  of  writing  was  known  and  prac- 
tised among  us  to  a  small  extent  before,  we  cannot  doubt ;  but  it  was  prob- 
ably used  only  for  books  connected  with  the  Church,  its  forms  and  service. 
At  least  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  existence,  so  early  as  that  reign,  of  any 
charter,  record,  or  chronicle.  The  oldest  Scotch  writing  extant  is  a  charter 
by  King  Duncan  (not  '  the  gracious  Duncan,'  murdered  by  Macbeth,  but 
his  grandson,  who  reigned  in  1095),  granted  to  the  monks  of  St.  Cuthbert  of 
Durham.  It  is  kept  in  the  treasury  of  Durham,  and  is  in  perfect  preserva- 
tion. The  rude  pinning  of  a  seal  to  it  has  raised  some  suspicion  with  regard 
to  its  genuineness  ;  but  I  think  without  foundation.  The  appending  of  the 
seal  is  apparently  a  modern  and  clumsy  attempt  to  add  a  sort  of  authenti- 
cation, which  the  charter  did  not  want.  It  is  executed  in  the  Anglo-Saxon 
manner,  by  the  granter  and  the  several  witnesses  affixing  their  crosses,  and 
in   most  Anglo-Saxon   charters    seals  were  not  used.      We   have   several 


318  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

charters  still  preserved  of  Edgar,  the  brother  and  successor  of  Duncan,  who 
reigned  till  1106,  and  who  used  a  seal  after  the  Norman  fashion,  on  which 
he  takes  the  barbaric  style  of  Basileus.  From  his  time,  that  is,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  twelfth  century,  we  have  charters  of  all  the  Scotch  kings,  in 
an  unbroken  series,  as  well  as  of  numerous  subjects,  and  derive  from  them 
more  information  for  public  and  domestic  history,  than  is  at  all  generally 
known. 

"  There  is  still  preserved  a  poor  fragment  of  a  Scotch  chronicle,  which 
appears  to  have  been  written  about  the  year  1165.  It  is  a  single  leaf,  now 
inserted  in  the  MS.  of  the  Chronicle  of  Melrose,  in  the  Cottonian  library. 
The  rest  of  that  venerable  chronicle,  written  in  the  thirteenth  century,  in 
the  Abbey  of  Melrose,  is  the  most  ancient  Scotch  writing  of  the  nature  of 
continuous  history  that  is  now  extant.  A  few  other  fragments  of  chronicles 
of  that  century  perhaps,  but  being  for  the  most  part  bare  lists  of  the  Scotch 
and  Pictish  kings,  are  now  deposited  in  the  royal  library  at  Paris.  When 
used  by  Camden  and  other  historians,  they  were  in  the  library  of  Cecil, 
Lord  Burleigh. 

"  Of  the  collections  of  the  laws  of  Scotland,  the  oldest  is  one  which  has 
been  lately  restored  to  this  country,  from  the  public  library  at  Berne.  It  is 
a  fine  and  careful  MS.,  written  about  1270  ;  and,  what  adds  greatly  to  its 
interest,  containing  an  English  law  treatise  and  English  styles,  as  well  as 
some  of  the  most  ancient  laws  of  Scotland,  particularly  David  I.'s  venerable 
code  of  Burgh  laws  ;  and  last  of  all,  the  ancient  laws  of  the  Marches,  con- 
certed by  a  grand  assize  of  the  borderers  of  the  two  kingdoms  in  1249. 
This  singular  mixture  of  the  laws  of  two  countries  (which  might  have  served 
as  materials  for  the  mysterious  fabrication  of  a  so-called  Scotch  code)  ex- 
cites our  curiosity  as  to  the  owner  of  the  book  ;  but  the  only  clue  we  find  to 
guide  us  is  a  memorandum  scribbled  on  the  last  leaf,  of  an  account  of 
sheep  taken  from  John,  the  shepherd  of  Malkariston,  on  Sunday  next  before 
the  feast  of  St.  Andrew,  in  the  year  1306,  when  the  flock  is  counted  in  ewes, 
dynmouts,  and  hogs.  Next  in  interest  to  the  Berne  MS.  is  a  book  of  Scotch 
laws,  chiefly  Burghal,  which  was  picked  up  in  a  book-stall  in  Ayr  in  1824, 
and  its  previous  history  cannot  be  traced.  It  is  a  fine  MS.,  of  the  age  of 
Robert  I.,  or  at  least  of  the  early  half  of  the  fourteenth  century.  After 
that  period  there  is  no  want  of  MS.  collections  of  our  laws,  but  all  of  the 
character  of  private  and  unauthentic  compilations. 

"  State  papers,  properly  so-called,  few,  but  of  great  importance,  begin  in 
the  reign  of  Alexander  III.,  or  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
there  are  still  preserved  imperfect  records  of  parliamentary  proceedings, 
from  the  age  of  Robert  Bruce  downwards. 

"  These  are  all  the  materials  of  the  civil  history  of  Scotland  which  we 
still  possess,  previous  to  the  work  of  John  Barbour,  of  which  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  speak  hereafter.  Soon  after  his  time,  Andrew  Wyntoun,  prior 
of  Loch  Leven,  wrote  his  rhyming  chronicle,  and  John  Fordun  laid  the 


Malcolm  to  David  319 

foundation  of  Scotch  history  in  his  Scoti-Chronicon.  These  two  writers  were 
engaged  upon  their  works  at  the  same  time,  about  the  latter  years  of  the 
fourteenth  century  ;  but  neither  seems  to  have  been  aware  of  the  other's 
undertaking. 

"  There  was  only  one  province  of  the  Scotch  king's  dominions  that  we 
find  asserting  peculiar  customary  laws.  We  know  little  of  the  early  history 
of  the  district  now  called  Galloway.  It  had  scarcely  come  under  the  con- 
firmed dominion  of  the  kings  of  Scotland  in  the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore. 
We  have  seen  the  rude  insubordination  of  its  people,  under  his  son  David 
at  the  Battle  of  the  Standard.  The  native  lords  were  still  too  powerful  for 
the  distant  authority  of  the  sovereign.  William  the  Lion  had  a  code  of 
laws  for  its  government  (assisa  Mea  de  Galweid),  and  judges  for  administer- 
ing them.  They  met  at  several  places,  and  we  have  still  records  of  a  few  of 
their  decisions,  some  of  which  are  remarkable.  Among  other  places,  the 
judges  of  Galloway  are  found  at  Lanark  prescribing  rules  to  the  Mairs  of 
the  province  regarding  the  mode  of  collecting  the  king's  Kane. 

"  For  long  after  that  time,  Galloway  continued  to  be  governed  according 
to  its  own  peculiar  laws.  In  the  reign  of  Robert  Bruce,  its  people  had  not 
yet  acquired,  nor  perhaps  desired,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  but  practised 
the  mode  of  purgation  and  acquittance  according  to  their  ancient  laws  — 
those  very  laws  of  the  Brets  and  Scots  which  Edward  in  vain  endeavored  to 
abolish.  As  late  as  1385,  Archibald  Douglas,  lord  of  Galloway,  while 
undertaking  in  Parliament  to  further  the  execution  of  justice  within  his 
territory,  protested  for  the  liberty  of  the  law  of  Galloway  in  all  points." 

From  the  various  accounts  of  the  early  peoples  of  Scotland  given  in  the 
foregoing  pages,  and  which  are  to  some  extent  based  on  these  Celtic  records, 
we  may  conclude  that  in  the  time  of  Malcolm  Canmore  there  were  five  or 
more  distinct  races  inhabiting  his  domain. 

Of  these,  no  doubt  the  most  numerous  were  the  Gaels  and  aborigines  of 
Scotia  proper,  known  in  ancient  times  as  Caledonians  and  Picts.  They 
occupied  in  Malcolm's  time  the  most  of  eastern  Scotland  north  of  the  Firth 
of  Forth.  Along  the  entire  eastern  coast  and  in  the  northern  provinces  of 
Caithness,  Sutherland,  and  Ross,  they  were  more  or  less  mingled  and  mixed 
with  the  Norse.  They  probably  did  not  become  a  lettered  race  until  some 
centuries  after  the  advent  of  St.  Columba.  Therefore  we  have  no  early 
native  accounts  of  their  history;  or,  indeed,  any  written  records  of  any  kind 
in  their  primitive  language.  But  because  there  are  no  written  remains  of 
the  Pictish  language  as  such  (beyond  the  list  of  their  kings  and  one  or  two 
words  preserved  in  the  writings  of  outsiders),  it  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  that  language  and  the  people  who  spoke  it  have  been  obliterated,  even 
though  such  an  idea  was  once  generally  accepted. 

Next  to  the  Picts  was  the  kindred  race  of  Gaelic  Scots  of  the  western 
Highlands,  descendants  of  the  Dalriad  emigrants  from  Ireland,  who  had 
a  written  Gaelic  language.     These  Scots  had  perhaps  become  so  largely 


32°  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

interfused  with  the  aboriginal  Gaelic  Picts  as  not  only  to  bestow  upon  them 
their  own  distinctive  name,  but  also  to  so  modify,  establish,  and  conform 
with  their  own  the  unwritten  Pictish  language,  as  to  save  the  latter  from 
being  obliterated  by  that  of  the  more  civilized  and  lettered  Cymric  people 
to  the  south  of  the  Clyde. 

The  part  of  Scotland  lying  between  the  Clyde  and  Forth,  and  west  of 
the  Avon  and  the  Esk,  was  occupied  chiefly  by  the  Cymric  or  Brythonic 
Celts  of  Strathclyde,  being  the  remnant  outside  of  Wales  of  those  Britons 
whose  ancestors  in  the  fourth  century  had  been,  at  least  in  name,  citizens  of 
the  Roman  empire. 

Adjoining  the  Cymric  Celts  on  the  west  and  south  were  the  Attecott 
Picts  of  Galloway  (probably  the  descendants  of  the  Stone- Age,  non-Celtic 
aborigines),  together  with  the  Gaelic  inhabitants  of  the  districts  of  Cunning- 
ham and  Kyle,  then  also  in  Galloway,  but  now  in  Ayrshire.  Both  of  these 
races  were  more  or  less  mixed  with  the  Norse  ;  and  the  Norse  likewise 
occupied  the  greater  part  of  Caithness  and  Sutherland,  with  portions  of  the 
western  coast,  Ross,  and  Moray.  They  also  doubtless  formed  a  considerable 
part  of  the  population  all  along  the  eastern  shore  as  far  south  as  the  Forth — 
and  in  the  southern  districts  they  may  have  been  largely  mixed  with  the 
Anglic  population  from  Bernicia.' 

East  of  the  Britons  were  the  Angles  of  Bernicia,  who  occupied  all  the 
country  between  the  Tweed  and  the  Forth.  Their  numbers  were  twice 
largely  augmented,  first  by  the  immigration  of  the  disaffected  English  who 
followed  Edgar  ^Etheling  from  England  on  the  advent  of  the  Normans,8 
and  later  by  the  large  number  of  captives  who  were  taken  into  Scotland  by 
Malcolm  Canmore  after  his  numerous  invasions  of  Northumberland. 

Malcolm  first  invaded  England  in  1061.  In  that  year  he  entered  and 
wasted  the  dominion  of  his  friend  and  ally,  Earl  Tostig,  brother  of  King 
Harold,  during  the  earl's  absence  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  This  invasion 
was  due  to  some  differences  between  the  two,  but  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  followed  by  a  counter-attack  on  the  part  of  the  Danes.  A  more 
extensive  foray  was  made  in  1070.  At  that  time  Malcolm  ravaged  all 
northern  England,  taking  an  army  through  Cumberland  into  Teesdale,  and 
penetrating  to  the  vicinity  of  Durham,  where  he  laid  waste  all  the  country, 
and  for  a  while  carried  on  a  savage  war  of  extermination.  But  later,  chang- 
ing his  policy,  he  directed  that  all  the  young  people  of  both  sexes  be  driven 
as  captives  into  Scotland.  "  So  great  was  the  number  of  these  captives  that 
for  many  years  they  were  to  be  found  in  every  Scottish  village,  nay,  even  in 
every  Scottish  hovel,"  are  the  words  in  which  our  chronicler  describes  this 
invaluable  accession  to  the  population  of  Malcolm's  kingdom.*  This 
attack  was  followed  by  reprisals  on  the  part  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who 
entered  Northumberland  with  an  army,  laid  waste  all  the  country  between 
the  Humber  and  the  Tees,  and  obliged  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  were 
not  destroyed  by  the  sword  or  famine  to  seek  refuge  in  Scotland. 


Malcolm  to  David  321 

In  1072,  William  the  Conqueror  led  an  army  into  Scotland,  but  his  ex- 
pedition appears  to  have  been  fruitless,  although  the  English  Chronicle 
tells  us  that  he  afterwards  met  King  Malcolm  and  made  an  agreement  with 
him,  by  the  terms  of  which  Malcolm  became  William's  liege  for  at  least 
such  of  his  possessions  as  lay  within  the  English  kingdom.  Malcolm  at  the 
same  time  may  have  become  confirmed  in  his  sovereignty  over  that  portion 
of  Northumberland  north  of  the  Tweed,  which  has  ever  since  remained  an 
integral  part  of  Scotland. 

The  Scottish  king  invaded  England  again  in  1079  and  wasted  the  coun- 
try as  far  as  the  river  Tyne.  The  following  year  William  sent  an  army 
against  the  Scots  under  the  leadership  of  his  son  Robert,  who,  after  meeting 
with  some  reverses,  was  fain  to  content  himself  with  the  erection  of  a  fort- 
ress near  the  Tyne,  which  was  called  New  Castle.  William  died  in  1087, 
and  four  years  later  the  king  of  the  Scots  again  invaded  England,  taking  his 
army  some  distance  south  of  New  Castle.  In  the  same  year  (1091)  William 
Rufus,  son  and  successor  of  the  Conqueror,  prepared  to  invade  Scotland 
with  a  large  fleet  and  army.  His  ships  were  destroyed  by  a  storm  before 
they  reached  Scotland,  but  the  army  proceeded  by  land,  and  on  nearing  the 
borders  of  the  two  kingdoms,  was  confronted  at  "  Lothene  in  England  " 6  by 
Malcolm,  in  command  of  a  large  force.  Here,  through  the  efforts  of  Edgar 
^theling  and  Earl  Robert,  brother  of  William  Rufus,  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
concluded  between  the  two  monarchs  and  the  armies  were  both  withdrawn 
from  the  border. 

However,  the  conditions  of  this  peace  not  being  carried  out  by  William 
Rufus  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  Malcolm,  an  interview  for  a  further  con- 
sideration of  the  matter  was  arranged  between  the  two  kings,  which  took 
place  at  Gloucester  in  August,  1093.  At  this  meeting  William  desired  Mal- 
colm to  do  homage  to  him  as  liegeman  for  the  territories  which  the  latter 
held  in  England.  Malcolm  declined  to  perform  homage  in  the  interior  of 
England,  such  a  course  being  derogatory  to  his  dignity  as  an  independent 
sovereign  ;  but  offered  to  do  so  on  the  frontiers,  and  in  presence  of  the 
chief  men  of  both  kingdoms.  This  proposition  not  being  satisfactory  to 
William,  the  interview  was  accordingly  terminated,  with  bitter  feeling  on 
both  sides.  Malcolm,  on  returning  home,  immediately  assembled  an  army 
and  again  invaded  Northumberland  with  his  wonted  ferocity.  On  this 
occasion,  while  besieging  the  castle  of  Alnwick  in  that  country,  he  was  slain 
by  Robert  de  Moubray.  His  second  son,  Edward,  perished  with  him.  Mal- 
colm's surviving  children  by  his  second  wife  were  Ethelred,  Edmund,  Edgar, 
Alexander,  David,  Matildis,  or  Maud,  who  afterwards  became  the  wife  of 
Henry  I.  of  England,  and  Mary,  who  married  Eustace,  Count  of  Boulogne. 

Donald  Bane,  the  brother  of  Malcolm,  who  for  many  years  had  made  his 
home  in  the  Hebrides,  seized  the  occasion  of  that  king's  death  to  invade 
Scotland  with  a  numerous  following  collected  from  the  Western  Isles. 
None  of  Malcolm's  children  being  of  mature  years  he  usurped  the  throne, 


322  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

but  was  driven  out  the  next  year  by  Duncan,  the  eldest  son  of  Malcolm  by 
his  first  wife,  Ingiborg,  the  widow  of  Thorfinn.  Duncan  had  been  left  in 
England  as  a  hostage  by  his  father.  With  the  help  of  William  Rufus  he 
raised  an  army,  largely  composed  of  English  and  Norman  adventurers,  and 
soon  expelled  the  usurper.  Duncan  then  ascended  the  throne  and  reigned 
for  one  year,  when  he  was  assassinated  by  a  partisan  of  Donald  Bane,  and 
the  latter  regained  the  crown.6  In  1097,  Edgar  ^Etheling,  with  the  assistance 
of  William  Rufus,  raised  a  second  English  army,  marched  into  Scotland,  and 
again  dethroned  Donald,  placing  Edgar,  another  son  of  Malcolm,  in  his  stead. 

In  1 100,  William  Rufus  having  been  slain,  the  English  crown  passed  to 
his  brother,  Henry,  who  in  the  same  year,  as  already  stated,  married 
Matildis,  sister  to  King  Edgar  of  Scotland.  Two  years  later,  Mary,  another 
sister,  was  married  to  Eustace,  Count  of  Boulogne. 

Edgar  died  in  1106,  and  was  succeeded  as  king  by  his  brother,  Alexan- 
der I.,  their  younger  brother,  David,  at  the  same  time  being  given  possession 
of  that  part  of  the  kingdom  called  Cumberland.7  Alexander  married 
Sibilla,  a  natural  daughter  of  Henry  I.,  and  his  reign  was  a  peaceful  one, 
terminating  at  his  death  without  issue  in  11 24. 

The  crown  then  passed  by  inheritance  to  David,  the  youngest  son  ot 
Malcolm  Canmore.  He  had  spent  the  early  years  of  his  life  at  the  court  of 
the  English  king,  and  in  England  married  Matilda,  daughter  of  Waltheof 
(son  of  Siward),  Earl  of  Northumberland  and  of  Huntingdon.  David 
afterwards  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Huntingdon. 

The  early  years  of  his  reign  were  marked  with  few  events  of  importance 
until  1 1 30,  when  a  formidable  revolt  arose  in  Moray.  It  was  speedily 
crushed,  and  Angus,  Earl  of  that  province,  was  slain.8 

In  1 135,  Henry  I.  died,  and  his  nephew,  Stephen,  seized  the  throne  in 
usurpation  of  the  rights  of  Matilda,  Henry's  daughter.9  Matilda's  uncle, 
King  David,  accordingly  marched  into  England  with  an  army,  and  occupied 
the  northern  portions  of  that  country,  nominally  in  the  interest  of  Matilda.10 
Stephen  took  the  field  against  him  with  a  superior  force,  but  before  coming 
to  blows  a  peace  was  made,  and  David's  possessions  in  England  were  con- 
firmed to  his  son  Henry,  the  latter  undertaking  to  do  homage  to  King 
Stephen  for  them. 

The  next  year,  Stephen  being  absent  in  Normandy,  David  again  pre- 
pared to  invade  Northumberland,  claiming  the  lordship  of  that  district  in 
the  name  of  his  son,  Prince  Henry,  by  right  of  his  descent  from  Waltheof, 
the  deceased  Earl  of  Northumberland,  father  of  David's  wife.  However, 
he  was  prevailed  upon  to  grant  a  truce  until  Stephen  should  return  out  of 
Normandy.  The  latter,  on  reaching  England,  rejected  David's  claim,  and 
in  1 137  the  king  of  the  Scots  invaded  Northumberland  with  a  large  army, 
one  division  being  under  command  of  his  nephew,  William,  son  of  Duncan, 
and  the  other  commanded  by  the  king  in  person  and  his  son.  They  as- 
saulted the  Castle  of  Wark  but  were  unable  to  carry  it.     The  army  was  then 


Malcolm  to  David  323 

turned  loose  on  the  defenceless  people  of  the  country,  who  were  massacred 
with  merciless  barbarity." 

In  1 138,  Stephen  approached  Scotland  with  an  army,  and  forced  David 
to  retire  to  the  north  of  the  Tweed,  where  he  encamped  near  Roxburgh. 
The  English  king,  after  wasting  the  Scottish  borders,  withdrew  his  forces 
without  coming  into  conflict  with  David's  army.  Shortly  after,  Stephen  be- 
ing called  to  the  south  of  England  to  repress  a  rebellion  there,  David  took 
advantage  of  his  absence  to  invade  Northumberland  again,  this  time  with  an 
army  of  26,000  men.  Here,  after  repeating  the  excesses  of  the  former  cam- 
paign and  wasting  the  country  for  a  period  of  several  weeks,  the  army 
finally  marched  into  Yorkshire,  where  it  was  opposed  only  by  a  small  body  of 
English  cavalry,  headed  by  several  of  the  Norman  barons  of  the  north. 

On  the  22d  of  August,  1138,  the  armies  met  near  North  Allerton,  and  the 
celebrated  Battle  of  the  Standard  was  fought,  which  resulted  in  the  defeat 
of  the  Scottish  army.  13  David  retired  to  Carlisle  with  his  depleted  forces  ; 
but  shortly  afterwards  led  them  to  the  siege  of  Wark  Castle,  and  succeeded 
in  reducing  that  stronghold  by  famine. 

There  are  two  or  more  lengthy  contemporary  accounts  of  this  invasion. 
That  of  Richard  of  Hexham  has  been  selected  as  giving  the  most  detailed 
description  of  the  progress  of  David's  motley  and  unmanageable  force  in  its 
devastating  march  through  the  English  territories.  A  better-written  but 
perhaps  somewhat  less  accurate  account  is  that  of  Ailred  of  Rivaulx.  The 
following  is  Hexham's  : 

1 138.  William,  the  son  of  Duncan,  nephew  of  David  king  of  Scotland, 
with  part  of  the  army  of  the  same  David,  assailed,  with  nocturnal  treachery, 
the  castle  which  is  called  Carrum,  in  the  land  of  the  king  of  England,  and, 
destroying  the  country  all  around,  began  to  attack  it  by  storm.  Afterward, 
the  king  himself,  with  Henry  his  son,  and  a  greater  army,  coming  thither, 
and  trying  the  endeavours  of  all  their  force,  attempted  to  carry  the  town  by 
engines  which  throw  stones  and  other  machines,  and,  by  various  attacks, 
and  thereafter  besieged  it  three  weeks.  But  he  profited  nothing,  nay 
rather,  God  assisting,  each  of  his  attempts  was  turned  against  himself.  Now 
the  king,  perceiving  his  labour  there  to  be  fruitless,  and  a  grievous  loss  to 
him  and  his  from  day  to  day  to  grow,  inflamed  with  indignation  and  anger  ; 
at  length,  leaving  the  town,  hastened,  with  all  his  multitude,  to  destroy 
Northumberland.  Therefore  that  detestable  army,  more  atrocious  than 
every  kind  of  pagans,  carrying  reverence  neither  to  god  nor  to  men,  having 
plundered  the  whole  province,  everywhere  killed  persons  of  each  sex,  of 
every  age  and  condition,  destroyed,  pillaged,  burned  towns,  churches, 
houses.  For  men  sick  in  bed,  and  women  pregnant,  and  in  the  act  of 
delivery,  and  infants  in  cradles,  and  other  innocents,  between  the  breasts 
and  in  the  bosoms  of  their  mothers,  with  the  mothers  themselves,  and 
decrepit  old  men,  and  worn  out  old  women,  and  all  other  feeble  persons 
from  whatever  cause  where  they  were  found,  they  killed  with  the  point  of 
the  sword,  or  thrust  through  with  their  lances  :  And  by  how  much  the  more 
miserable  kind  of  death  they  could  destroy  them,  by  so  much  the  more  they 
rejoiced.  .  .  .  Now  this  abominable  army  was  composed  of  Normans, 
Germans,  English,  of  Northumbrians  and  Cumbrians,  from  Teviotdale  and 


324  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Lothian,  of  Picts,  who  are  vulgarly  called  Galwegians,  and  Scots  ;  nor  was 
there  any  who  knew  their  number. 

Therefore,  running  up  and  down  through  the  province,  and  sparing  no 
one,  they  wasted  almost  all  Northumberland,  as  far  as  the  river  Tyne,  with 
sword  and  fire.  Now,  in  this  madness  of  stormy  time,  that  noble  monastery 
of  Hexham,  although  being  placed  in  the  middle  concourse,  and  as  it  were 
in  the  way  of  that  abominable  army,  and  of  the  above  mentioned  evils,  it 
was  straightened  by  them  on  every  side,  yet,  god  assisting,  it  offered  to  its 
own  people  and  all  flying  to  it,  a  most  firm  peace,  and  remained  to  all  those 
a  most  safe  asylum  against  all  hostile  attacks.  Nevertheless,  at  first  the 
Picts  making  an  irruption,  with  very  great  violence,  to  the  river  Tyne  flow- 
ing hard  by  the  same  town,  had  proposed  to  destroy  the  same  like  other 
places.  But  by  and  by  before  they  could  pass  the  aforesaid  river,  two  of 
their  number  were  killed  by  the  country  people  :  which  the  rest  perceiving, 
they  departed  back  terrified.  Moreover  two  of  the  same  nation  of  Picts 
came  to  a  certain  oratory  of  St.  Michael  situate  on  the  same  north  part  of 
the  river  Tyne,  which  belonged  to  the  aforesaid  church  of  Hexham.  Break- 
ing therefore  the  door  thereof,  what  they  there  found  they  took  away  with 
them.  But  the  vengeance  of  God  was  not  wanting.  For  presently,  being 
delivered  to  the  devil,  they  are  deprived  of  sense,  and  as  madness  agitated 
them,  running  up  and  down  in  the  sight  of  all  through  the  woods  and  coun- 
try by  night  and  day,  one  of  them  at  first  bruising  his  mouth  with  stones, 
afterward  his  thighs  being  cut  off  by  some  one,  the  other  drowning  himself 
in  the  Tyne,  each  damned  by  either  death  miserably  perished.  In  the 
meantime,  about  the  purification  of  St.  Mary,  Stephen  king  of  England, 
with  a  very  great  army  of  horse  and  foot,  came  :  which  when  the  king  of 
Scotland  knew,  leaving  Northumberland,  he  hastened  with  his  own  army  to 
his  own  land.  .  .  .  But  the  paschal  solemnity  being  accomplished, 
presently  in  the  next  week  on  Saturday,  the  often  mentioned  king  of  Scot- 
land with  his  abominable  army  returned  again  into  Northumberland,  and, 
afterward,  destroyed  the  greatest  part  of  the  land  of  St.  Cuthbert  in  the 
eastern  part  between  Durham  and  the  sea,  with  no  less  fury  and  cruelty 
than  is  above  said.  But  the  holy  Cuthbert,  at  length,  had  compassion  on 
his  people.  For,  while  his  soldiers  did  these  things,  the  king,  with  his 
knights,  remained  not  far  distant  from  Durham  :  where,  a  serious  sedition 
having  arisen,  on  account  of  a  certain  woman,  the  Picts  threatened  to  de- 
stroy the  king  with  his  attendants  :  with  which  fear  while  he  was  greatly 
troubled,  behold  by  a  false  rumour  it  is  published  that  a  great  army  is  ap- 
proaching from  South  England.  Therefore,  leaving  his  victuals,  which 
were  then  ready,  no  one  pursuing,  he  fled  with  all  his  people  to  his  own 
country,  and  turned  aside  to  the  town  of  Norham,  and  laying  siege  thereto, 
tried,  by  various  means  and  machines,  to  conquer  and  take  it :  And  while 
he  there  stayed  in  the  siege,  he  sent  William  MacDuncan  his  nephew,  with 
the  Picts,  and  part  of  his  army,  on  an  expedition  into  Yorkshire  :  whither 
arriving,  and  by  reason  of  the  sins  of  the  people,  obtaining  a  victory,  the 
possessions  of  a  certain  noble  monastery,  which  is  situated  in  Furness,  and 
the  province  which  is  called  Craven,  for  a  great  part,  they  with  sword  and 
fire  destroyed.  Therefore,  sparing  no  rank,  no  age,  no  sex,  no  condition, 
children  and  relations  in  sight  of  their  parents,  and  lords  in  the  sights  of 
their  servants,  and  vice  versa,  and  husbands  before  the  eyes  of  their  wives, 
by  how  much  the  more  miserable  they  were  able,  they  at  first  slew,  then, 
alas  !  noble  matrons  alone  and  chaste  virgins  mixed  with  other  women  and 
at  the  same  time  with  the  plunder  they  carried  off.      Naked  also  and  in 


Malcolm  to  David  325 

troops,  tied  and  coupled  together  with  ropes  and  thongs,  and  pricking  them 
with  their  lances  and  darts,  they  drove  them  before  them.  Afterward,  these 
being  divided  with  the  booty,  some  of  them  moved  by  compassion  delivered 
certain  of  them  free  to  the  church  of  St.  Mary  of  Carlisle.  But  the  Picts 
and  many  others  led  those  which  came  to  them  along  with  them  to  their  own 
country.  Finally  those  bestial  men,  esteeming  adultery,  and  incest,  and  all 
other  crimes,  for  nothing,  after,  in  the  manner  of  brute  animals,  they  were 
weary  of  abusing  those  most  wretched  creatures,  either  made  them  hand- 
maids for  themselves,  or  sold  them  to  other  barbarians  for  cows.  Now 
king  David,  having  committed  the  siege  of  Carrum  to  two  of  his  thanes, 
that  is,  barons,  with  their  followers,  with  the  greatest  part  of  his  army 
marched  to  the  town  which  is  called  Bamburgh  ;  And,  entering  into  the 
land  of  St.  Cuthbert,  waited  for  that  part  of  his  army  which  had  not  yet 
come  to  him  :  And  presently,  at  his  proclamation,  the  Picts  and  Cumbrians, 
and  the  men  of  Carlisle,  of  the  circumjacent  region  came  together  to  him. 
Therefore  his  whole  army  being  assembled,  because  it  appeared  to  him  ex- 
ceedingly great,  and  unconquerable,  for,  in  truth,  it  was  considerable,  hav- 
ing more  than  26,000  men,  he  rejoiced  with  exceeding  great  joy.  Now, 
these  things  being  done  before  the  octave  of  the  nativity  of  St.  Mary,  the 
king,  with  his  army,  passing  by  Durham  to  the  Tees,  caused  the  cornfields 
to  be  destroyed,  the  towns  and  churches,  which  on  another  occasion  he  left 
untouched,  after  his  manner,  to  be  broken,  plundered,  and  burned.  Pass- 
ing also  over  the  Tees,  he  began  to  do  the  same  thing.  But  divine  piety, 
affected  by  the  tears  of  numberless  widows,  orphans,  and  wretched  persons, 
did  not  suffer  him  longer  to  exercise  such  impiety.  For,  whilst  he  was  pre- 
paring himself  and  his  followers  to  this  sort  of  wickedness,  all  his  prepara- 
tion, and  what  he  proposed  to  do,  and  whither  to  go,  both  by  proclaiming 
fame,  and  by  certain  messengers  running  between,  was  not  concealed  from 
the  men  of  Yorkshire.  Therefore  the  barons  of  that  province  assembled  at 
York,  and  diligently  considered  amongst  themselves  what  council  they 
ought  to  take  in  this  crisis.  .  .  .  But  they  went  to  the  town  which  is 
called  Thirsk.  While,  therefore,  they  waited  for  the  approach  of  the  Scots, 
behold  they  learn  that  the  king,  with  his  army,  has  already  passed  the  river 
Tees,  and  is  now,  in  his  manner,  destroying  their  province.  Therefore  with 
the  utmost  haste,  they  go  to  meet  them  :  and  passing  through  the  town 
called  North-Allerton,  they  came  early  in  the  morning  to  a  field  which  was 
distant  therefrom  two  miles.  Presently  some  of  them  erected  in  the  midst 
of  a  certain  machine  which  they  had  brought  thither  the  mast  of  a  ship, 
which  they  called  Standard.  Afterward  they  had  scarcely  instructed  them- 
selves in  warlike  arms,  when  behold  the  king  of  Scotland,  with  his  whole 
army  well  prepared  and  most  ready  to  fight,  is  announced  to  be  near.  There- 
fore the  greatest  part  of  the  horsemen,  leaving  their  horses,  became  footmen. 
In  like  manner,  on  the  part  of  the  adversaries,  the  king  himself  and  all  his 
people,  became  footmen.  In  the  front  of  the  battle  were  the  Picts,  in  the 
midst  the  king  with  his  knights  and  English,  the  rest  of  the  barbarians, 
dispersed  round  about  on  every  side,  roared  like  beasts. 

The  king,  in  the  meantime,  the  earls  and  best  men  of  his  realm  being 
assembled  together,  began  to  treat  with  them  concerning  the  order  of  the 
battle,  and  it  pleased  a  great  many,  that,  as  many  as  had  come  up,  the 
armed  men,  knights,  and  bowmen,  should  precede  the  whole  army,  inasmuch 
as  armed  men  would  attack  armed  men,  knights  encounter  with  knights,  and 
arrows  with  arrows.  The  Galwegians  resisted,  saying,  that  it  was  their  right 
to  construct  the  first  battalion,  and  give  the  first  assault  unto  the  enemy,  to 


326  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

animate  by  their  bravery  the  rest  of  the  army.  Others  said,  it  would  be 
dangerous,  if,  in  the  first  attack,  the  unarmed  should  meet  with  the  armed, 
forasmuch,  as,  if  the  first  battalion,  not  sustaining  the  shock  of  war,  should 
fall  into  flight,  even  the  hearts  of  the  brave  would  be  easily  dissolved.  The 
Galwegians,  nevertheless,  insisted,  requiring  their  right  to  be  granted  to 
them  :  "  For  why,"  they  said,  "  O  King,  dost  thou  fear,  and  art  too  much 
frightened,  at  those  iron  coats  which  thou  perceivest  at  a  distance  ?  To  us, 
certainly,  are  iron  sides,  a  breast  of  brass,  a  mind  void  of  fear,  whose  feet 
have  neither  felt  flight,  nor,  ever,  their  backs  a  wound.  How  far  did  these 
mail-coats  profit  the  French  at  Clithero  ?  Whether  did  not  these  unarmed, 
as  they  call  them,  compel  them  to  cast  off  their  hauberks,  and  neglect  their 
helmets,  and  abandon  their  shields  ?  Let  your  wisdom,  therefore,  O  King, 
see  how  little  confidence  there  is  in  these  things,  which,  in  need,  are  more 
for  burthen  than  for  comfort.  We  at  Clithero  carried  off  the  victory  from 
these  mail-coats,  and  we  shall  prostrate  them  to-day  with  our  lances,  using 
the  valour  of  the  mind  for  a  shield."  These  things  being  said,  when  the 
king  seemed  to  acquiesce  in  the  counsels  of  the  knights,  Malisse,  earl  of 
Strathern,  very  much  enraged,  said,  "  Why  is  it,  O  King,  that  thou  rather 
committest  thyself  to  the  will  of  the  Normans,  when  none  of  them  with  his 
arms  is  about  to  surpass  me  unarmed  to-day  in  battle  ? "  These  words 
Allan  de  Percy,  bastard  son  of  the  great  Allan,  a  most  brave  knight  and 
very  much  approved  in  military  affairs,  hardly  bearing,  says,  turning  to  the 
earl,  "  A  grand  word  hast  thou  spoken,  and  which,  to-day,  for  thy  life,  thou 
wilt  not  be  able  to  perform."  Then  the  king,  appeasing  both,  lest  a  tumult 
should,  suddenly,  be  born  of  this  altercation,  yielded  to  the  will  of  the 
Galwegians. 

Therefore,  in  the  octave  of  the  assumption  of  saint  Mary,  on  the  eleventh 
of  the  calends  of  September,  on  Monday,  between  the  first  hour  and  the  third 
the  conflict  of  this  battle  was  begun  and  ended.  For,  immediately,  on  the 
first  encounter,  numberless  Picts  being  slain,  the  rest,  their  arms  being 
thrown  away,  took  to  flight.  The  field  is  filled  with  carcasses,  a  great  many 
are  taken,  the  king,  and  all  the  others,  turn  their  backs  :  Finally  of  such  an 
army,  all  being  either  killed  or  taken,  or  scattered  like  sheep  without  a 
shepherd.  For  the  English,  and  Scots,  and  Picts,  and  the  other  barbarians, 
wherever  they  accidentally  found  themselves,  whosoever  prevailed,  either 
killed  or  wounded,  or,  at  least,  plundered  each  other,  and  so,  by  the  just 
judgment  of  God,  were  equally  oppressed  by  their  own  people  as  by  stran- 
gers.    (Ricard.  prior  Hagiustal,  co.  315,  &c.) 

Finally,  in  1139,  a  treaty  of  peace  was  concluded  between  Stephen  and 
David,  by  the  terms  of  which  Stephen  yielded  to  David's  son,  Henry,  his 
birthright,  the  earldom  of  Northumberland. 

In  1 142,  Harold,  brother  of  the  King  of  Man,  raised  a  fleet  and  made  a 
descent  upon  Galloway  ;  but  the  inhabitants  of  that  province,  long  accus- 
tomed to  war,  were  successful  in  repelling  the  invaders,  and  put  them  to 
flight.13 

The  remainder  of  David's  reign  was  passed  in  comparative  peace,  which 
was  interrupted  only  by  the  occasional  invasions  of  an  impostor  called  Mal- 
colm Mac  Heth.  He  was  a  pretended  son  of  the  Earl  of  Moray,  but  in 
reality  an  English  monk,  whose  name  seems  to  have  been  Wimund.  Having 
married  the  daughter  of  Somerled,  Thane  of  Argyle,  he  organized  a  party  in 


Malcolm  to  David  327 

Man  and  made  repeated  descents  upon  the  Scottish  coasts,  slaying  the  in- 
habitants and  plundering  the  country.  David  sent  forces  after  him  at  differ- 
ent times,  but  they  were  unable  to  effect  his  capture,  and  when  the  King's  sol- 
diers left  one  district  to  pursue  him  in  another,  the  adventurer  returned  and 
renewed  his  attacks.  He  was  finally  granted  certain  territories  by  the  Scottish 
king  as  the  price  of  peace  ;  but  afterwards  he  was  blinded  and  imprisoned. 

A  considerable  influx  of  Normans  took  place  during  the  time  of  David, 
numbers  of  them  following  him  out  of  England  when  he  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  and  many  more  entering  Scotland  afterwards  at  the  invitation  of  this 
hospitable  monarch.14  Their  settlement  in  the  West  is  thus  outlined  by  the 
author  of  the  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr  (pp.  18,  19)  although  it  is  likely 
that  more  than  half  of  those  whose  names  are  mentioned  were  of  native 
Celtic  families  : 

When  David  I.,  who  married  an  English  countess  who  had  numerous 
vassals,  ascended  the  throne  in  n  24,  he  is  said  to  have  been  followed  at 
successive  periods,  by  no  fewer  than  a  thousand  Anglo-Normans.  During 
the  reign  of  this  monarch,  Hugh  de  Morville,  amongst  others,  came  to  Scot- 
land, and,  besides  being  appointed  High  Constable,  was  endowed  with  vast 
grants  of  land.  He  possessed  the  greater  part  of  Cuninghame,  and,  under 
his  auspices,  a  number  of  families,  who  afterwards  rose  to  high  feudal  dis- 
tinction, were  settled  in  that  district.  The  Loudoun  family,  who  assumed 
the  name  of  the  lands  as  their  patronymic,  were  Anglo-Normans.  So  were 
the  progenitors  of  the  Cuninghames.  The  Rosses  were  also  vassals  of  Hugh 
de  Morville.  Godfrey  de  Ros  acquired  the  lands  of  Stewarton  from  Richard 
de  Morville.  Stephen,  the  son  of  Richard,  obtained  lands  in  Cuninghame, 
which  he  called  Stephen's-tun  (Stephenston  of  the  present  day).  The  Lock- 
harts  of  Lanarkshire  and  Ayrshire  are  of  Anglo-Norman  descent.  Simond, 
the  son  of  Malcolm,  who  settled  in  Lanarkshire,  held  lands  under  the  Stewart 
family  in  Kyle,  which  he  called  Syming-tun,  now  Symington.  The  Colvilles, 
who  possessed  Ochiltree  for  some  time,  were  from  England.  The  Mont- 
gomeries  of  Eaglesham,  and  subsequently  of  Eglintoun,  were  Norman,  and 
vassals  of  Walter  the  High  Steward,  who  obtained  the  greater  part  of  Ren- 
frewshire. A  brother  of  Walter  is  conjectured,  upon  good  grounds,  to  have 
been  the  ancestor  of  the  Boyds.  The  Stewarts  were  themselves  Anglo-Nor- 
mans, as  were  also  the  Bruces  of  Annandale  and  Carrick.  The  Wallaces  of 
Kyle  are  supposed  to  have  been  of  Norman  descent  [very  improbable],  from 
one  Eimerus  Galleius,  whose  name  appears  as  a  witness  to  the  charter  of  the 
Abbey  of  Kelso,  founded  by  David  I.  That  the  progenitors  of  the  Hero  of 
Scotland  came  from  England  is  further  held  to  be  countenanced  by  the  fact 
that  there  existed  in  London,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  certain  persons  of  the 
name  of  Waleis  ;  but  none  of  our  historians  or  genealogists  have  been  able 
to  trace  the  slightest  family  connection  between  them  ;  neither  is  it  known 
at  what  period,  if  Norman  or  English,  they  settled  in  Scotland.  The  first 
of  the  name  on  record  is  Richard  Walense,  who  witnesses  a  charter  to  the 
monks  of  Paisley,  by  Walter  the  High  Steward,  before  the  year  11 74.  The 
name  came  to  be  afterwards  softened  to  Waleys  or  Wallace.  In  the  absence 
of  direct  proof  to  the  contrary,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  conjecture  that  the 
Wallaces  were  native  Scots.  Some  consider  them  to  have  been  Welsh,  ap- 
parently without  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  Alcluydensians  are  often 
confounded  in  history  by  the  terms  British  and  Welsh.     Long  after  the 


328  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Alcluyd  kingdom  had  been  destroyed,  the  inhabitants  —  the  descendants  of 
the  Damnii  —  were  known  by  the  appellation  of  Walenses.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  the  ancestors  of  Wallace  adopted  the  patronymic  of  Walense, 
in  the  same  way  that  Inglis  is  known  to  have  been  assumed  from  English,  or 
Fleming  from  the  Flemings.  This  is  strongly  countenanced  by  the  fact  that 
the  name  of  the  family  was  originally  Walens.  The  coincidence  is  at  all 
events  curious,  and  not  without  interest.  The  property  of  Richard  Walens 
may  have  been  called  Richard/««,  in  accordance  with  the  prevailing  Saxon 
custom  of  the  time  —  not  because  he  was  himself  of  English  extraction. 
The  Flemings,  who  were  all  foreigners,  came  to  be  so  numerous  in  Scotland 
that  they  were  privileged  to  be  governed  by  their  own  laws.  The  list  of 
lowland  clans,  amounting  in  all  to  thirty-nine,  if  it  is  authentic,  which  is  very 
doubtful,  as  given  in  the  recently  published  MS.  of  Bishop  Leslie,  who 
wrote  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  shows  that  the  greater  number  were 
of  Saxon  or  Norman  extraction.  The  following  is  the  list :  Armstrong, 
Barclay,  Brodie,  Bruce,  Colquhoun,  Comyn,  Cuninghame,  Cranstoun, 
Crawford,  Douglas,  Drummond,  Dunbar,  Dundas,  Erskine,  Forbes,  Gordon, 
Graham,  Hamilton,  Hay,  Home,  Johnstone,  Kerr,  Lauder,  Leslie,  Lindsay, 
Maxwell,  Montgomerie,  Murray,  Ogilvie,  Oliphant,  Ramsay,  Rose,  Ruthven, 
Scott,  Seton,  Sinclair,  Urquhart,  Wallace,  Wemyss. 

There  were  also  the  Boyles,  Blairs,  Dunlops,  Fullartons,  Hunters,  Fair- 
lies,  Linns,  Eglintouns,  Fergushills,  Muirs,  Monfoids,  Auchinlecks,  etc.,  who 
rose  out  of  Ayrshire  ;  and  the  Stewarts,  Sempills,  Caldwells,  Ralstouns, 
Walkinshaws,  Brisbanes,  Dennistouns,  Porterfields,  Lyles,  Houstouns,  Cath- 
carts,  Pollocks,  Whytefuirds,  Knoxes,  Cochranes,  etc.,  out  of  Renfrewshire 
—  all  of  whom  were  of  considerable  status. 

There  was  one  Alan  le  Fenwick,  connected,  no  doubt,  with  the  parish  in 
this  county  of  that  name,  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I.  It  is  rather  sur- 
prising that  neither  the  Kennedies,  a  very  extensive  and  old  Celtic  clan  in 
Carrick,  nor  the  Boyds,  are  mentioned  amongst  the  foregoing.  Whether 
Vestiarium  Scoticutn  be  a  forgery  or  not,  the  families  enumerated  are  well 
known  to  have  flourished  in  the  Lowlands  ;  and,  indeed,  most  of  them  are  in 
existence  at  this  moment.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  Celtic  popula- 
tion, at  least  the  chiefs,  had  been  superseded  to  a  great  extent.  In  Ayrshire, 
as  already  stated,  the  mass  of  the  inhabitants,  were  purely  Celtic  ;  but,  as  in 
other  districts,  the  bulk  of  the  property  passed  into  the  hands  of  Norman 
and  Saxon  emigrants,  with  whose  followers  the  towns  and  villages  were 
crowded.  This  infusion  of  foreign  blood  was  not  effected  without  some 
difficulty.  The  Celtic  population  were  greatly  opposed  to  the  new  system, 
and  they  broke  out  into  frequent  insurrections.  When  William  was  made 
prisoner  at  Alnwick  in  n  74,  a  general  rising  took  place  against  the  strangers, 
who  were  compelled  to  take  shelter  in  the  king's  castles.  During  the  reigns 
of  Edgar,  Alexander  I.,  David  I.,  and  Malcolm  IV.,  various  disturbances 
occurred  in  consequence  of  the  prejudices  entertained  by  the  old  against  the 
new  race.  The  repeated  irruptions  of  the  Galwegians,  whose  territory 
included  not  only  Carrick  but  Kyle  and  Cuninghame,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  reign  of  David  I.,  must  of  course  have  involved  what  now  constitutes 
Ayrshire  in  the  struggle.  On  the  captivity  of  William,  Galloway  rose  in 
revolt,  slew  the  English  and  Normans,  expelled  the  king's  officers,  and 
destroyed  his  castles. 

In  1 149,  Henry  of  Anjou,  son  of  Matilda  of  England,  attempted  to  over- 
throw King  Stephen,  and  to  that  end  enlisted  the  aid  of  his  mother's  uncle,  the 


Malcolm  to  David  329 

Scottish  king.  Having  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  Earl  of  Chester, 
David  and  Henry  together  marched  to  Lancaster,  but  not  being  seconded 
by  their  English  ally,  they  were  obliged  to  retreat  without  having  accom- 
plished anything. 

David's  son,  Henry,  died  in  1152,  and  his  death  was  followed  a  year 
later  by  that  of  David  himself,  which  occurred  May  24,  1153,  at  Carlisle, 
a  town  then  within  his  dominions.18 

Malcolm  IV.,  son  of  Prince  Henry,  succeeded  to  his  grandfather's  throne, 
being  at  that  time  twelve  years  of  age.  His  reign  was  inaugurated  by  an 
insurrection  which  was  organized  by  Somerled,  the  father-in-law  of  Malcolm 
Mac  Heth,  who  invaded  Scotland  with  the  sons  of  that  Malcolm,  and  com- 
mitted many  depredations.  One  of  these  sons,  Donald,  was  captured 
at  Whithorn  in  Galloway,  in  1156,  and  imprisoned  with  his  father  in  Rox- 
burgh castle.  In  1157  King  Malcolm  surrendered  to  Henry  II.,  then  king 
of  England,  all  Crown  possessions  in  the  northern  counties  of  that  country, 
including  the  earldoms  of  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and  Huntingdon, 
and  received  in  return  Henry's  acknowledgment  of  his  own  title  to  Hun- 
tingdon, which  presumably  belonged  by  inheritance  to  Malcolm's  youngest 
brother,  David. 

Malcolm's  brother,  William,  held  the  earldom  of  Northumberland  at  this 
time,  and  his  loss  of  that  province  naturally  imbued  him  with  a  feeling  of 
resentment  against  the  English.  Two  years  later  Malcolm  visited  France, 
and  there  fought  under  the  English  Henry's  banners.  His  nobles,  how- 
ever, jealous  of  the  growing  influence  of  the  English  king  over  their  young 
sovereign,  sent  a  deputation  to  urge  his  return,  and  the  king  accordingly 
hastened  home.19 

In  1 160  an  insurrection  took  place  in  Galloway.  It  was  not  until  after 
three  successive  invasions  of  that  district  that  the  rebellion  was  finally 
crushed.  Thereupon  Fergus,  Lord  of  Galloway,  having  given  his  son, 
Uchtred,  to  Malcolm  as  a  hostage,  himself  retired  to  an  abbey,  and  the  king- 
dom was  again  at  peace." 

In  1 162,  Malcolm  expelled  many  of  the  rebellious  inhabitants  of  Moray, 
and  planted  new  colonists  in  their  place.  Chief  among  these  newcomers 
seem  to  have  been  the  Flemings  or  natives  of  Flanders  (Belgium),  whose 
name  is  preserved  to  this  day  in  that  of  many  worthy  families  of  Scottish 
descent.18  Two  years  later,  Somerled,  Thane  of  Argyle,  again  invaded 
Scotland,  landing  at  Renfrew,  where  he  was  opposed  by  the  inhabitants,  and 
himself  and  his  son,  Gillacolane,  were  slain. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XX 

1  See  pp.  189-90. 

8  Overlying  the  little  that  we  absolutely  know  of  the  people  called  Picti  there  is  a  great 
fact  that  at  a  very  early  period  —  whenever,  indeed,  the  inhabitants  of  Scotland  come  forward 
in  European  history  —  the  territory  of  old  assigned  to  the  Picts  was  occupied  by  a  people 


33°  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

thoroughly  Gothic  or  Teutonic,  whether  they  were  the  descendants  of  the  large-limbed  and 
red-haired  Caledonians  of  Tacitus,  or  subsequently  found  their  way  into  the  country.  To  the 
southward  of  the  Forth,  we  know  pretty  well  that  they  were  the  Saxons  of  Deira  and  Berni- 
cia,  superseding  the  Romanised  Britons  ;  but  all  along  northwards  the  Lowlands  were  covered 
with  people  of  the  same  origin.  Those  who  see  their  descendants  at  the  present  day  acknowl- 
edge the  Teutonic  type  to  be  purer  in  them  than  in  the  people  of  England. — Burton,  History 
of  Scotland,  vol.  i. ,  p.  200. 

3  The  overthrow  of  the  Saxon  dynasty  in  England  by  the  Normans,  the  consequent  exile 
of  many  of  the  Saxon  families  of  distinction,  who  took  refuge  in  Scotland,  and  Malcolm's 
marriage  with  Margaret,  all  tended  to  create  a  partiality  for  the  habits  of^the  South.  .  .  . 
The  Saxon  language,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  previously  spoken  in  the  east  of  Scotland, 
and  partially  in  the  south,  was  first  introduced  at  the  court,  in  compliment  to  the  queen,  in 
the  region  of  Malcolm  Canmore.  Under  Edgar,  the  Saxon  mania  made  still  greater  strides. 
Large  bodies  of  emigrants  were  settled  throughout  the  kingdom,  both  north  and  south  of  the* 
Forth. — Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr,  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 

Boece  (1.  xii.,  fol.  258,  a.)  says,  that  the  partisans  of  Edgar  ^theling  were  outlawed 
by  William  the  Conqueror,  sought  a  retreat  in  Scotland,  and  all  received  grants  of  lands  from 
Malcolm.  Of  them  Boece  mentions  the  following  families  :  Lindsay,  Vaux,  Ramsay,  Lovel, 
Tours,  Preston,  Sandilands,  Bisset,  Soulis,  Wardlaw,  and  Maxwell.  But  I  consider  this  list 
as  drawn  up  from  the  imagination  of  Boece,  without  any  regard  to  historical  truth.  Some  of 
the  names  in  it  are  Norman,  others  local.  Boece  also  gives  a  list  of  families  who  came  from 
Hungary  with  Queen  Margaret,  and  settled  in  Scotland  :  As  Crichton,  Fotheringham,  Giffard, 
Maul,  Borthwick  ;  how  Crichton,  Fotheringham,  and  Borthwick,  should  happen  to  be  Hun- 
garian names,  I  know  not.  Giffard  was  a  Norman,  and  came  over  with  the  Conqueror  ;  (Du 
Chesne,  p.  1126.)  Everyone  knows  that  the  family  of  Maul  was  greatly  distinguished  in  France 
before  the  conquest. — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  39. 

4  * 4  Amid  these  depredations  inflicted  by  the  Scots,  Earl  Cospatric,  who,  as  already  men- 
tioned, had  purchased  the  earldom  of  Northumbria  of  King  William  for  a  sum  of  money, 
having  obtained  the  aid  of  some  active  allies,  ravaged  Cumberland  with  dreadful  havoc  ;  and 
then,  having  laid  waste  the  country  with  fire  and  sword,  returned  with  a  large  quantity  of 
spoil,  and  shut  himself  and  his  followers  within  the  strong  fortifications  of  Bebbanburgh  ; 
whence  frequently  sallying  forth,  he  greatly  weakened  the  enemy's  strength.  At  this  period 
Cumberland  was  subject  to  King  Malcolm  ;  not  by  rightful  possession,  but  in  consequence  of 
having  been  subjugated  by  force. 

"  Malcolm,  on  hearing  what  Cospatric  had  done  (while  he  was  still  looking  at  the  church 
of  Saint  Peter  burning  amid  the  flames  kindled  by  his  own  men),  could  hardly  contain  himself 
for  anger,  and  commanded  his  men  no  longer  to  spare  any  individual  of  the  English  nation, 
but  either  to  strike  them  to  the  earth  and  slay  them,  or  making  them  prisoners,  carry  them 
off,  doomed  to  the  yoke  of  perpetual  slavery.  The  troops  having  received  this  sanction,  it  was 
dreadful  even  to  witness  the  cruelties  they  were  guilty  of  towards  the  English.  Some  aged 
men  and  women  were  decapitated  with  the  sword  ;  others,  like  swine  intended  for  food,  were 
pierced  through  and  through  with  lances  ;  infants  were  torn  from  the  breasts  of  their  mothers, 
thrown  aloft  into  the  air,  and  on  falling,  received  upon  the  points  of  lances,  sharp  weapons 
being  thickly  planted  in  the  ground. 

44  The  Scots,  more  savage  than  wild  beasts,  took  delight  in  these  cruelties,  as  though  a 
spectacle  of  games  ;  and  thus  did  the  age  of  innocence,  destined  to  attain  heaven,  breathe  its 
last,  suspended  between  heaven  and  earth.  But  the  young  men  and  young  women,  and  who- 
ever besides  seemed  adapted  for  toil  and  labor,  were  driven  away  in  fetters  in  front  of  the 
enemy,  to  endure  a  perpetual  exile  in  captivity  as  servants  and  handmaids.  Some  of  these, 
while  running  before  those  who  drove  them  on,  became  fatigued  to  a  degree  beyond  what  their 
strength  could  endure,  and,  as  they  sank  to  the  ground  on  the  spot,  the  same  was  the  place  of 
their  fall  and  of  their  death.     While  beholding  these  scenes,  Malcolm  was  moved  to  compas- 


DIVERSITY  11 

OF  J 

Xg^^Fo^^  Malcolm  to  David  33 1 

sion  by  no  tears,  no  groans  of  the  wretched  creatures  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  gave  orders 
that  they  should  be  perseveringly  driven  onward  in  their  course. 

11  In  consequence  of  this,  Scotland  became  filled  with  men-servants  and  maid-servants  of 
English  parentage  ;  so  much  so,  that  even  at  the  present  day  not  only  not  even  the  smallest 
village,  but  not  even  the  humblest  house  is  to  be  found  without  them." — Simeon  of  Durham. 

Besides  the  Saxons,  many  of  the  Norman  nobility,  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  rule  of 
the  Conqueror,  retired  to  Scotland,  where  they  were  encouraged  by  every  mark  of  distinction 
which  could  be  heaped  upon  them.  It  seemed  to  be  the  policy  of  the  Scottish  kings  to  en- 
courage the  settlement  of  foreigners,  with  a  view  to  consolidate  the  authority  of  the  crown, 
and  enable  them  to  overcome  the  dangerous  power  of  the  native  clans  whose  genius  and  habits 
were  by  no  means  favourable  to  concentrated  government  or  the  cultivation  of  commerce. 
— Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of  Ayr,  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 

6  He  for  mid  his  fyrde  ut  of  Scotlande  into  Lothene  on  England,  and  thaerabad  {Sax. 
Chr.  p.  197).  The  words  of  S.  Dunelm,  (p.  216,)  are,  "  Cui  rex  Malcholmus  cum  exercitu  in 
provincia  Loidis  occurrit."  The  question  is,  what  we  are  to  understand  by  "  Lothene  on  Eng- 
land," and  "  provincia  Loidis."  Some  writers  think  that  Lothene  on  England  means  what  is 
now  called  Lothian  in  Scotland  ;  others,  that  provincia  Loidis  means  the  territory  of  Leeds 
in  Yorkshire  ;  and  that  Lothene  on  England  must  be  understood  of  the  same  place.  I  am 
not  satisfied  with  either  hypothesis.  1.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe,  that  the  Chr.  Sax.  by 
Lothene  on  England,  meant  what  is  now  called  Lothian  ;  the  word  Lothene  occurs  but  twice 
in  Chr.  Sax.  at  this  place,  and  at  p.  229,  where  "  se  Bishop  of  Lothene  J."  is  mentioned.  J. 
Bishop  of  Lothene  could  not  mean  J.  Bishop  of  Lothian,  as  has  been  elsewhere  shewnr 
{Remarks  on  the  History  of  Scotland,  p.  81)  ;  and  if  Lothene  put  simply  does  not  mean  Lo- 
thian in  Scotland,  it  would  be  strange  if  Lothene  in  England  did.  There  is  the  highest  prob- 
ability that  Chr.  Sax.  understood  the  passage  into  Scotland  to  be  at  Solway,  or  at  the  Tweed. 
This  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  Lothian  being  in  England,  or  of  its  being  distinguished 
from  Scotland  as  a  kingdom,  in  the  days  of  Malcolm  III.  But,  2.  There  is  no  reason  to  be- 
lieve, that  by  provincia  Loidis,  S.  Dunelm  meant  the  territory  of  Leeds  in  Yorkshire.  It  will 
be  remarked,  that  Malcolm  invaded  England  in  May,  1091,  that  he  retreated  from  Chester  le 
Street,  and  that  the  meeting  between  Malcolm  and  William  Rufus  must  have  been  as  late  as 
October,  1091  ;  for  it  happened  after  the  destruction  of  William's  fleet  by  a  tempest  in  the  end 
of  September  :  If  then  Loidis  provincia  means  Leeds,  it  follows,  that  Malcolm  must  have  in- 
vaded England  a  second  time,  in  autumn,  109 1,  and  must  have  penetrated  farther  south  than 
he  did  in  his  expedition  in  May,  1091.  Now,  this  is  inconsistent  with  the  general  report  of 
historians,  who  agree  that  Malcolm  invaded  England  five  times  ;  1,  in  1061  ;  2,  in  1070  ;  3, 
in  1079  ;  4,  in  May,  1091  ;  5,  in  autumn,  1093.  Had  he  invaded  England  in  autumn,  1091, 
and  proceeded  into  Yorkshire  the  number  of  his  invasions  would  have  been  six,  not  five.  I 
have  sometimes  thought  that  there  is  an  error  either  in  the  MSS.,  or  printed  copies  of  the 
Saxon  Chronicle,  and  that  the  word  should  be  Lothere,  not  Lothene  :  the  difference  between 
the  Anglo-Saxon  n  and  r  is  very  minute,  and  might  be  easily  mistaken  ;  the  r  is  formed  by 
drawing  the  first  stroke  of  the  n  a  little  below  the  line.  If  this  conjecture  could  be  admitted 
the  place  where  the  two  kings  met  may  have  been  Lothere,  now  Lowther,  in  the  north  parts 
of  Westmoreland,  near  the  borders  of  that  district  of  Cumberland  which  Malcolm  possessed, 
and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Penrith,  the  place  concerning  which,  as  I  imagine,  the  con- 
troversy then  was. — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  24,  25. 

6  A.D.  1094.  .  .  .  This  year  also  the  Scots  conspired  against  their  king  Duncan,  and 
slew  him,  and  they  afterwards  took  his  uncle  Dufenal  a  second  time  for  their  king  ;  through 
whose  instructions  and  instigation  Duncan  had  been  betrayed  to  his  death. — English  Chronicle. 

1  "  Six  years  after  he  obtained  these  lands,  he  founded,  in  the  year  11 13,  a  monastery  of 
Benedictine  monks  of  Tyron,  at  Selkirk,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ettrick,  and  his  foundation- 
charter  will  still  further  indicate  the  extent  of  his  possessions  as  earl.  In  this  charter  he  calls 
himself  Earl  David,  son  of  Malcolm,  king  of  Scots,  and  addressed  it  to  all  his  adherents, 


332  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Normans,  Angles,  and  Scots,  and  gives  the  monks  the  lands  of  Selkirk  and  other  lands  in 
Teviotdale,  a  ploughgate  in  Berwick,  and  a  croft  in  the  burgh  of  Roxburgh,  the  tenth  of  his 
'can'  or  dues  from  Galweia  or  Galloway,  and  in  addition  some  lands  in  his  English  lord- 
ship of  Northampton  ;  and  he  shows  his  independent  position  by  adding  that  this  grant  was 
made  while  Henry  was  reigning  in  England  and  Alexander  in  Scotia,  or  Scotland  proper. 
Not  long  after  he  refounded  the  bishopric  of  Glasgow,  to  which  he  appointed  John  as  first 
bishop,  who  had  been  his  tutor.  The  instrument  which  records  the  restoration  of  the  diocese, 
and  an  investigation  ordered  by  Earl  David  into  the  possessions  of  the  see,  is  still  preserved, 
and  may  probably  be  dated  some  time  between  the  years  1116  and  11 20.  In  this  document 
it  was  stated  that  '  in  the  time  of  Henry,  king  of  England,  while  Alexander,  king  of  Scots, 
was  reigning  in  Scotia,  God  had  sent  them  David,  brother-german  of  the  king  of  Scotia,  to  be 
their  prince  and  leader ; '  and,  '  David,  prince  of  the  Cumbrian  region,  causes  inquisition 
to  be  made  into  the  possessions  of  the  church  of  Glasgow  in  all  the  provinces  of  Cumbria 
which  were  under  his  dominion  and  power,  for  he  did  not  rule  over  the  whole  of  the  Cum- 
brian region.'  The  kingdom  of  Cumbria  originally  extended  from  the  Firth  of  Clyde  to  the 
river  Derwent,  including  what  was  afterwards  the  dioceses  of  Glasgow,  Galloway,  and  Carlisle. 
That  portion,  however,  which  extended  from  the  Solway  Firth  to  the  river  Derwent,  and 
afterwards  formed  the  diocese  of  Carlisle  was  wrested  from  the  Scots  by  William  Rufus  in 
1092,  and  was  bestowed  by  Henry  the  First  upon  the  Ranulf  de  Meschines.  David's  posses- 
sions in  Cumbria  consisted,  therefore,  of  the  counties  of  Lanark,  Ayr,  Renfrew,  Dumfries, 
and  Peebles,  and  the  inquisition  contains  lands  in  these  counties.  He  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
overlord  of  Galloway,  and  his  rule  extended  also  over  Lothian  and  Teviotdale,  in  the  counties 
of  Berwick,  Roxburgh,  and  Selkirk  ;  for,  in  a  charter  by  Earl  David  to  the  monks  of  Durham 
of  the  lands  of  Swinton  in  Berwickshire,  he  addresses  it  to  Biship  John  of  Glasgow,  to  Gos- 
patric,  Colban  and  Robert  his  brothers,  and  to  his  thanes  and  drengs  of  Lothian  and  Teviot- 
dale ;  and,  in  another,  Thor  of  Ednam  in  Berwickshire  calls  him  his  overlord,  or  the  superior 
of  his  lands. 

"  From  these  deeds  we  not  only  learn  the  extent  of  David's  possessions,  but  we  also  see 
that  he  had  attached  to  himself  not  only  his  Anglic  vassals  but  a  large  following  of  Norman 
barons.  Of  the  witnesses  to  the  inquisition  there  are,  besides  his  countess  Matilda  and  his 
nephew  William,  son  of  his  brother  Duncan,  eight  of  Anglic  race  and  fourteen  who  are  Nor- 
mans. In  his  foundation  charter  of  Selkirk,  besides  Bishop  John  of  Glasgow,  his  countess 
Matilda,  his  son  Henry,  his  nephew  William,  and  three  chaplains,  there  are  eleven  Norman 
witnesses,  nine  Anglic,  and  a  solitary  Gillemichel  to  represent  the  Celtic  race.  The  native 
Cumbrians  nowhere  appear  as  witnessing  his  grants,  and  it  seems  plain  enough  that  he  had 
largely  introduced  the  Norman  element  into  his  territories,  and  ruled  over  them  as  a  feudal 
superior  basing  his  power  and  influence  upon  his  Norman  and  Anglic  vassals,  of  whom  the 
former  were  now  the  most  prominent  both  in  the  weight  and  number." — Celtic  Scotland,  vol. 
i.,  PP.  455-457. 

8  An.  1 130  .  .  .  This  year  was  Angus  slain  by  the  Scottish  army,  and  a  great 
number  of  persons  with  him.  There  was  God's  right  wrought  upon  him,  for  that  he  was  ail 
forsworn. — English  Chronicle. 

Malcolm,  a  bastard  son  of  Alexander,  attempted  to  deprive  his  uncle  of  the  crown,  and 
involved  him  in  two  rather  severe  contests  ;  but  David,  who  was  his  superior  in  talent  as  well 
as  in  wealth  and  power,  defeated  him  and  his  party.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  11 30,  while 
King  David  was  ably  applying  himself  to  a  cause  in  King  Henry's  court,  and  carefully  ex- 
amining a  charge  of  treason  which,  they  say,  Geoffrey  de  Clinton  had  been  guilty  of,  Angus, 
earl  of  Moray,  with  Malcolm  and  five  thousand  men,  entered  Scotia  [or  Scotland  proper] 
with  the  intention  of  reducing  the  whole  kingdom  to  subjection.  Upon  this  Edward,  who 
was  a  cousin  of  King  David  and  commander  of  his  army,  assembled  troops  and  suddenly  threw 
himself  in  the  enemy's  way.  A  battle  was  at  length  fought,  in  which  Earl  Angus  was  slain 
and  his  troops  defeated,  taken  prisoners,  or  put  to  flight.      Vigorously  pursuing  the  fugitives 


Malcolm  to  David  333 

with  his  soldiers  elated  with  victory,  and  entering  Morafia,  or  Moray,  now  deprived  of  its 
lord  and  protector,  he  obtained,  by  God's  help,  possession  of  the  whole  of  that  large  territory. 
Thus  David's  dominions  were  augmented,  and  his  power  was  greater  than  that  of  any  of  his 
predecessors. — Ordericus  Vitalis,  b.  viii.,  c.  xxii. 

1 130.  Battle  between  the  men  of  Alban  and  the  men  of  Moray,  in  which  fell  four  thou- 
sand of  the  men  of  Moray,  with  their  king,  Oengus,  son  of  the  daughter  of  Lulag,  a  thou- 
sand also  of  the  men  of  Alban  in  heat  of  battle. — Annals  of  Ulster. 

9  "  An.  1 135.  This  year,  at  Lammas,  king  Henry  went  over  sea :  and  on  the  second  day, 
as  he  lay  asleep  in  the  ship,  the  day  was  darkened  universally,  and  the  sun  became  as  if  it 
were  a  moon  three  nights  old  with  the  stars  shining  round  it  at  mid-day.  Men  greatly 
marvelled,  and  great  fear  fell  on  them,  and  they  said  that  some  great  event  should  follow 
thereafter — and  so  it  was,  for  the  same  year  the  king  died  in  Normandy,  on  the  day  after  the 
feast  of  St.  Andrew.  Soon  did  this  land  fall  into  trouble,  for  every  man  greatly  began  to  rob 
his  neighbour  as  he  might.  Then  king  Henry's  sons  and  his  friends  took  his  body,  and 
brought  it  to  England,  and  buried  it  at  Reading.  He  was  a  good  man,  and  great  was  the 
awe  of  him  ;  no  man  durst  ill  treat  another  in  his  time  ;  he  made  peace  for  men  and  deer. 
Whoso  bare  his  burden  of  gold  and  silver,  no  man  durst  say  to  him  aught  but  good.  In  the 
meantime  his  nephew  Stephen  de  Blois  had  arrived  in  England,  and  he  came  to  London,  and 
the  inhabitants  received  him,  and  sent  for  the  archbishop,  William  Corboil,  who  consecrated 
him  king  on  midwinter-day.  In  this  king's  time  was  all  discord,  and  evil-doing,  and  robbery  ; 
for  the  powerful  men  who  had  kept  aloof,  soon  rose  up  against  him  ;  the  first  was  Baldwin  de 
Redvers,  and  he  held  Exeter  against  the  king,  and  Stephen  besieged  him,  and  afterwards 
Baldwin  made  terms  with  him.  Then  the  others  took  their  castles,  and  held  them  against  the 
king,  and  David,  king  of  Scotland,  betook  him  to  Wessington  [Derbyshire],  but  nowithstand- 
ing  his  array,  messengers  passed  between  them,  they  came  together,  and  made  an  agreement, 
though  it  availed  little. 

"  An.  1 1 37.  This  year  king  Stephen  went  over  sea  to  Normandy,  and  he  was  received 
there  because  it  was  expected  that  he  would  be  altogether  like  his  uncle,  and  because  he  had 
gotten  possession  of  his  treasure,  but  this  he  distributed  and  scattered  foolishly.  King  Henry 
had  gathered  together  much  gold  and  silver,  yet  did  he  no  good  for  his  soul's  sake  with  the 
same.  When  king  Stephen  came  to  England,  he  held  an  assembly  at  Oxford  ;  and  there  he 
seized  Roger  bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  Alexander  bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  Roger  the  chancellor 
his  nephew,  and  he  kept  them  all  in  prison  till  they  gave  up  their  castles.  When  the  traitors 
perceived  that  he  was  a  mild  man,  and  a  soft,  and  a  good,  and  that  he  did  not  enforce  justice, 
they  did  all  wonder.  They  had  done  homage  to  him,  and  sworn  oaths,  but  they  no  faith 
kept  ;  all  became  forsworn,  and  broke  their  allegiance,  for  every  rich  man  built  his  castles, 
and  defended  them  against  him,  and  they  filled  the  land  full  of  castles.  They  greatly  op- 
pressed the  wretched  people  by  making  them  work  at  these  castles,  and  when  the  castles  were 
finished  they  filled  them  with  devils  and  evil  men. 

"  Then  they  took  those  whom  they  suspected  to  have  any  goods,  by  night  and  by  day,  seiz- 
ing both  men  and  women,  and  they  put  them  in  prison  for  their  gold  and  silver,  and  tortured 
them  with  pains  unspeakable,  for  never  were  any  martyrs  tormented  as  these  were.  They 
hung  some  up  by  their  feet,  and  smoked  them  with  foul  smoke  ;  some  by  their  thumbs,  or  by 
the  head,  and  they  hung  burning  things  on  their  feet.  They  put  a  knotted  string  about  their 
heads,  and  twisted  it  till  it  went  into  the  brain.  They  put  them  into  dungeons  wherein  were 
adders  and  snakes  and  toads,  and  thus  wore  them  out.  Some  they  put  into  a  crucet-house, 
that  is,  into  a  chest  that  was  short  and  narrow,  and  not  deep,  and  they  put  sharp  stones  in  it, 
and  crushed  the  man  therein  so  that  they  broke  all  his  limbs.  There  were  hateful  and  grim 
things  called  Sachenteges  in  many  of  the  castles,  and  which  two  or  three  men  had  enough 
to  do  to  carry.  The  Sachentege  was  made  thus  :  it  was  fastened  to  a  beam,  having  a  sharp 
iron  to  go  around  a  man's  throat  and  neck,  so  that  he  might  noways  sit,  nor  lie,  nor  sleep, 
but  that  he  must  bear  all  the  iron.      Many  thousands  they  exhausted  with  hunger.      I  cannot 


334  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

and  I  may  not  tell  of  all  the  wounds  and  all  the  tortures  that  they  inflicted  upon  the  wretched 
of  this  land ;  and  this  state  of  things  lasted  the  nineteen  years  that  Stephen  was  king,  and 
ever  grew  worse  and  worse.  They  were  continually  levying  an  exaction  from  the  towns,  which 
they  called  Tenserie,  and  when  the  miserable  inhabitants  had  no  more  to  give,  then  plundered 
they,  and  burnt  all  the  towns,  so  that  well  mightest  thou  walk  a  whole  day's  journey  nor  ever 
shouldst  thou  find  a  man  seated  in  a  town,  or  its  lands  tilled. 

"  Then  was  corn  dear,  and  flesh,  and  cheese,  and  butter,  for  there  was  none  in  the  land 
— wretched  men  starved  with  hunger — some  lived  on  alms  who  had  been  erewhile  rich  ;  some 
fled  the  country — never  was  there  more  misery,  and  never  acted  heathens  worse  than  these. 
At  length  they  spared  neither  church  nor  churchyard,  but  they  took  all  that  was  valuable 
therein,  and  then  burned  the  church  and  all  together.  Neither  did  they  spare  the  lands  of 
bishops,  nor  of  abbots,  nor  of  priests  ;  but  they  robbed  the  monks  and  the  clergy,  and  every 
man  plundered  his  neighbour  as  much  as  he  could.  If  two  or  three  men  came  riding  to  a 
town,  all  the  township  fled  before  them,  and  thought  that  they  were  robbers.  The  bishops, 
and  clergy  were  ever  cursing  them,  but  this  to  them  was  nothing,  for  they  were  all  accursed, 
and  forsworn,  and  reprobate.  The  earth  bare  no  corn,  you  might  as  well  have  tilled  the  sea, 
for  the  land  was  all  ruined  by  such  deeds,  and  it  was  said  openly  that  Christ  and  his  saints 
slept.  These  things,  and  more  than  we  can  say,  did  we  suffer  during  nineteen  years 
because  of  our  sins. " — English  Chronicle. 

10  "At  length  he  received  letters  from  King  Henry's  daughter,  complaining  that  she  had 
been  excluded  from  her  father's  will,  robbed  of  the  crown  which  had  been  secured  to  her  and 
her  husband  by  solemn  oaths  ;  that  the  laws  were  set  aside,  and  justice  trodden  under  foot ; 
and  the  sworn  fealty  of  the  English  barons  was  broken  and  disregarded.  She  therefore  ear- 
nestly and  sorrowfully  implored  him,  as  her  kinsman,  to  succor  her  in  her  need  ;  as  her  liege 
vassal,  to  aid  her  in  her  distress.  The  king  was  deeply  grieved  ;  and  inflamed  with  zeal  for 
a  just  cause,  the  ties  of  blood  and  regard  for  his  oath  induced  him  to  foment  insurrections  in 
England,  that  by  so'doing,  by  God's  help,  Stephen  might  be  compelled  to  resign  the  crown, 
which  it  appeared  to  him  had  been  unjustly  acquired,  to  the  rightful  owner.  The  King  of 
Scots  entertained  at  his  court  the  English  exiles  who  continually  urged  him  to  these  measures. 
Among  these  were  Robert  de  Baddington's  son,  and  his  collateral  kinsmen,  who  have  been 
mentioned  before  as  having,  on  their  banishment,  taken  refuge  in  Scotland,  with  the  hope  of 
re-establishing  themselves  in  their  own  country.  There  were  also  Eustace  Fitz-John,  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  King  Henry,  with  some  others,  who,  in  the  desire  of  advancing  themselves,  or 
of  defending  what  appeared  to  them  the  right  cause,  sought  every  opportunity  of  promoting 
a  rupture.  King  David,  therefore,  for  that  was  his  name,  published  an  edict  throughout 
Scotland,  calling  his  people  to  arms,  and,  changing  his  line  of  conduct,  let  loose  without 
mercy  a  most  fierce  and  destructive  storm  on  the  English  people. 

"  Scotland,  called  also  Albany,  is  a  country  overspread  by  extensive  moors,  but  contain- 
ing flourishing  woods,  and  pastures,  which  feed  large  herds  of  cows  and  oxen.  It  has  safe 
harbours,  and  is  surrounded  by  fertile  islands.  The  natives  are  savage,  and  their  habits  un- 
cleanly ;  but  they  are  neither  stunted  by  extremity  of  cold,  nor  debilitated  by  severe  want. 
Swift  of  foot  and  lightly  armed,  they  make  bold  and  active  soldiers.  Among  themselves,  they 
are  so  fearless  as  to  think  nothing  of  death  ;  among  strangers,  their  cruelty  is  brutal,  and  they 
sell  their  lives  dearly.  A  confused  multitude  of  this  people  being  assembled  from  the  Low- 
lands of  Scotland,  they  were  formed  into  an  irregular  army,  and  marched  for  England.  Cross- 
ing the  borders  they  entered  the  province  of  Northumbria,  which  is  very  extensive,  and  abounds 
with  all  necessary  supplies,  and  there  they  pitched  their  camp.  Being  now  mustered  in  regu- 
lar companies  [incursions  were  made]  over  the  face  of  the  country,  which  extended  round  in 
great  fertility." — Chronicle  of  the  Acts  of  King  Stephen. 

11  An.  1 138.  This  year  David,  King  of  Scotland,  entered  this  land  with  an  immense  army 
resolving  to  conquer  it,  and  William  Earl  of  Albemarle,  to  whose  charge  the  king  had  com- 
mitted York,  and  other  trusty  men,  came  against  him  with  a  few  troops,  and  fought  with  him, 


Malcolm  to  David  335 

and  they  put  the  king  to  flight  at  the  Standard,  and  slew  a  great  part  of  his  followers. — Eng- 
lish Chronicle. 

1 '  At  length  that  hostility  to  the  aggressive  Normans,  which  had  spread  so  far  and  sunk  so 
deep,  took  practical  shape  in  the  memorable  invasion  which  was  stopped  by  the  battle  of  the 
Standard  in  1138.  This  affair  thoroughly  alarmed  the  Norman  party  throughout  all  Eng- 
land. It  was  not  the  usual  plundering  raid  or  foray,  but  an  invasion  in  which,  as  the  Saxon 
Chronicle  says,  the  King  of  Scots  '  thought  he  would  win  this  land.'  We  are  fortunate  in  hav- 
ing the  story  of  this  invasion  told  to  us  by  one  who  was  present  and  able  to  describe  what  he 
saw — Ailred,  abbot  of  Rievaulx,  in  Yorkshire.  He  was  a  wonderful  Latinist  for  his  age,  and 
a  devotee  of  study  and  the  pen,  insomuch  that  he  refused  a  bishopric  which  his  eminence  as  a 
scholar  and  author  had  brought  in  his  way,  preferring  to  follow  his  favourite  pursuits  in  the 
retirement  of  his  abbey.  What  we  see  is,  a  country  with  many  wealthy  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishments and  powerful  baronies,  into  which  there  drifts  a  huge  countless  host  of  men — a  few 
disciplined  soldiers  among  them,  but  the  great  body  a  wild  diversified  horde,  such  as  we  may 
suppose  to  have  been  commanded  by  Attila  or  Genseric.  There  are  among  them  not  only  the 
Scots  and  the  wild  Picts  of  Galloway,  but  it  is  said  men  from  that  distant  Orkney  over  which 
the  King  of  Scots  had  no  control.  All  this  motley  host  assembled  round  him,  although  his 
position  as  a  belligerent  was,  that  he  was  fighting  for  the  province  of  Northumberland,  of 
which  his  son  was  heir  by  inheritance.  As  he  marches  on  in  the  midst  of  them,  he  is  rather 
borne  along  by  the  current,  than  the  commander  of  an  army.  If  fear  and  hatred  of  the  Nor- 
man aggressors  was  the  leading  idea  that  united  elements  so  discordant,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  a  zest  for  plunder  had  the  more  powerful  influence  in  keeping  the  host  together. 

"  When  Stephen  came  he  broke  into  the  Scots' border  while  David's  army  continued  pil- 
laging in  England.  But  Stephen  had  troubles  in  the  South  to  which  he  had  to  turn  quickly, 
leaving  the  country  to  defend  itself  as  the  great  host  advanced  southward  in  the  direction  of 
York.  .  .  .  The  Norman  barons  gathered  into  a  group,  among  whom  we  find  William  of 
Albemarle,  Walter  of  Ghent,  with  De  Moubrays,  De  Percys,  De  Coucys,  Nevilles,  and  Fer- 
rers. Two  Norman  knights,  with  names  afterwards  familiar  in  history,  were  selected  to  reason 
with  King  David,  because  they  held  lands  of  him  as  well  as  of  the  English  king.  They  were 
Robert  de  Bruce  and  Bernard  de  Baliol,  both  men  whose  descendants  became  well  known  in 
Scotland.  Their  mission  was  ineffective,  and  they  returned  to  their  comrades,  withdrawing 
allegiance  from  King  David,  and  leaving  their  Scots  estates  to  be  forfeited,  if  need  be." — 
Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  435-437. 

12  From  the  harangue  which  Ailred  supposes  Walter  L'Espec,  the  English  general,  to 
have  pronounced  before  the  battle  of  the  Standard,  we  learn  that  the  Scottish  infantry  were 
altogether  without  armour,  that  they  used  spears  of  an  enormous  length,  and  that  their  swords 
were  ill  tempered  and  brittle  ;  that  their  only  implement  of  defence  was  a  target  of  leather, 
and  that  in  their  camp  there  were  jesters  or  buffoons,  and  dancers,  both  male  and  female. — 
Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  325. 

"  Fordun  notices  very  shortly  the  battle  of  the  Standard  at  Allerton  or  Northallerton,  in 
which  David  I.  was  defeated  in  1138,  but  Ailred's  fuller  account  of  it  gives  a  curious  picture 
of  the  various  populations  which  made  up  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  and  still  remained  distinct. 
The  army  was  arranged  in  the  following  bodies  : 

Prima  acies — 

1.  Galwenses. 

Altera  acies.     Filius  regis  et  milites  sagittarii  cum  eo— 

2.  Cumbrenses. 

3.  Tevidalenses. 
Tertius  cuneus — 

4.  Laodonenses. 

5.  Insulani. 

6.  Lavernani. 


33&  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Rex  in  sua  acie  retinuit — 

7.  Scotti. 

8.  Muravenses. 

9.  De  militibus  Anglis  et  Francis  ad  sui  corporis  custodiam. 

4 '  The  Galwenses  were  the  Picts  of  Galloway  ;  the  Cumbrenses,  the  Welsh  population  of 
Strathclyde  ;  the  Tevidalenses,  the  people  of  Teviotdale  ;  the  Laodonenses,  the  Anglic  popu- 
lation of  Lothian  ;  the  Insulani,  the  Gael  of  the  Isles ;  the  Lavernani  were  probably  the 
people  of  the  Lennox.  This  word  is  a  corruption  of  Levenach,  or,  according  to  Gaelic  orthog- 
raphy, Leamhainach,  and  the  Leamhnaigh,  or  men  of  the  Lennox,  often  appear  in  the  Irish 
records  as  acting  separately  ;  thus,  in  the  '  Wars  of  the  Gaedhil  with  the  Gaill,'  we  have 
a  statement  that  the  Gael,  in  1005,  levied  tribute  from  the  Saxons  and  Britons  [Strathclyde], 
and  Leamhnaigh,  and  Alban,  and  Airergaedhil  [ArgyleJ  (p.  137).  The  Leamhnaigh  also  took 
part  in  the  battle  of  Cluantarff.  The  Scotti  were  the  inhabitants  of  Alban  or  Scotia  in  its 
confined  sense,  viz. ,  the  districts  extending  from  the  Forth  to  the  river  Spey  on  the  north  and 
Drumalban  on  the  west  ;  the  Muravenses,  the  people  of  Moray,  beyond  the  Spey  ;  the  Milites 
Franci  were  the  Norman  soldiers."  —  Skene,  Notes  and  Illustrations  to  Fordun,  vol.  ii., 

p.  425. 

13  1 142.  The  three  sons  of  Harold,  the  brother  of  Olave,  a  fleet  being  assembled,  passed 
over  to  Galloway,  willing  to  subdue  it.  The  Galwegians,  however,  forming  a  circle,  and  a 
great  effort  being  made,  encountered  with  them.  They,  immediately,  turning  their  backs, 
fled  with  great  confusion  to  Man,  and  all  the  Galwegians,  who  inhabited  therein,  some  of 
them  they  slew,  others  they  banished. — Chron.  Reg.  Man. 

14  First  of  all,  who  and  what  were  the  Normans  ?  May  I  answer  in  an  epigrammatic 
saying  of  my  own,  which  is  already  in  print,  but  which  I  am  vain  enough  to  think  will  bear 
saying  twice  ?  The  Norman,  then,  was  a  Dane  who  had  stayed  a  little  time  in  Gaul  to  put  on 
a  slight  French  varnish,  and  who  came  into  England  to  be  washed  clean  again.  The  Dane 
who  came  straight  from  Denmark  had  put  on  no  such  varnish,  and  needed  no  such  cleaning. 
The  Danes  who  had  wrested  the  coast  of  the  French  duchy  from  its  own  dukes  and  kings,  who 
had  shut  up  those  dukes  and  kings  in  an  inland  city,  but  who  in  so  doing  had  taken  to  the 
tongue  and  the  manners  of  the  land  in  which  they  had  settled — those,  in  short,  who  had 
changed  from  Northmen  into  Normans, — still  remained  kinsmen,  though  they  may  have  for- 
gotten the  kindred  ;  but  they  had  put  on  the  garb  of  strangers,  and  in  that  garb  they  came 
among  us.  Our  work  was  to  strip  them  of  that  foreign  garb,  to  bring  to  light  the  true  broth- 
erhood that  lurked  beneath,  to  bring  back  the  Saxon  of  Bayeux  and  the  Dane  of  Coutances  to 
his  natural  place  alongside  of  the  Saxon  of  Winchester  and  the  Dane  of  York,  to  teach  even 
the  more  deeply  Romanized  Norman  of  Rouen  to  come  back  once  more  to  the  Teutonic  hearth 
which  he  had  forsaken. — Freeman,  The  English  People  in  Its  Three  Homes,  p.  154. 

16  David  is  often  represented,  in  modern  times,  as  the  exterminator  of  his  fellow-country- 
men, granting  their  lands  to  foreigners,  and  driving  out  the  native  Scottish  race,  or  enslaving 
them  beneath  the  yoke  of  alien  masters  —  a  course  that  could  have  hardly  earned  the  character 
ascribed  to  him  by  his  friend  and  biographer  Ailred,  "he  was  beloved  by  his  own  people,  the 
Scots,  and  feared  by  the  men  of  Galloway."  It  would  be  nearer  the  truth,  perhaps,  to  de- 
scribe him  as  the  great  confirmer  of  proprietary  right  throughout  the  settled  portion  of  his 
kingdom. — Scotland  under  Her  Early  Kings,  vol.  i.,  p.  288. 

16  At  length  the  Scottish  lords,  seeing  their  king's  too  great  intimacy  and  friendship  with 
Henry,  King  of  England,  were  sore  troubled,  and  all  Scotland  with  them.  ...  So  they  sent 
an  embassy  after  him.  .  .  .  Thereupon,  he  returned  from  the  army  at  Toulouse,  and 
came  to  Scotland,  on  account  of  divers  pressing  matters  ;  and  by  his  authority  as  king,  he 
bade  the  prelates  and  nobles  meet  together  at  his  borough  of  Perth.  Meanwhile  the  chief 
men  of  the  country  were  roused.  Six  earls — Ferchard,  Earl  of  Stratherne,  to  wit,  and  five 
other  earls — being  stirred  up  against  the  king,  not  to  compass  any  selfish  end,  or  through 
treason,  but  rather  to  guard  the  common  weal,  sought  to  take  him,  and  laid  siege  to  the  keep 


Malcolm  to  David  337 

of  that  town.  God  so  ordering  it,  however,  their  undertaking  was  brought  to  naught  for 
the  nonce ;  and  after  not  many  days  had  rolled  by,  he  was,  by  the  advice  of  the  clergy, 
brought  back  to  a  good  understanding  with  his  nobles. — Fordun,  Annals,  iii. 

17  "  King  Malcolm  the  Fourth,  three  times,  with  a  great  army,  marched  into  Galloway, 
and,  at  length,  subjugated  it  to  himself." 

"  Fergus,  prince  of  Galloway,  took  the  canonical  habit  in  the  church  of  the  Holy-rood 
of  Edinburgh  ;  and  gave  to  them  the  town  which  is  called  Dunroden." — Roger  de  Hoveden. 
This  Fergus  was  the  husband  of  Elizabeth,  a  natural  daughter  of  Henry  I. 

18  "  One  great  cause  of  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  Scotland  during  these  early  times 
was  the  settlement  of  multitudes  of  Flemish  merchants  in  the  country,  who  brought  with 
them  the  knowledge  of  trade  and  manufactures  and  the  habits  of  application  and  industry 
which  have  so  long  characterized  this  people.  In  1155  Henry  II.  banished  all  foreigners 
from  his  dominion,  and  the  Flemings,  of  whom  there  were  then  great  numbers  in  England, 
eagerly  flocked  into  the  neighboring  country,  which  offered  them  a  near  and  safe  asylum. 

"  We  can  trace  the  settlement  of  these  industrious  citizens,  during  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  in  almost  every  part  of  Scotland,  in  Berwick,  in  St.  Andrews,  Perth, 
Dumbarton,  Ayr,  Peebles,  Lanark,  Edinburgh,  and  in  the  districts  of  Renfrewshire,  Clydes- 
dale, and  Annandale,  in  Fife,  in  Angus,  in  Aberdeenshire,  and  as  far  north  as  Inverness 
and  Urquhart." — Tytler,  History  of Scotland \  vol.  ii.,  chap,  iii.,  §  4. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

WILLIAM  THE  LION 

MALCOLM  died  December  28,  1164,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
William,  known  in  history  as  William  the  Lion.  Almost  immedi- 
ately after  his  coronation,  William  made  a  demand  on  King  Henry  for  the 
restitution  of  Northumberland,  which  had  been  so  indiscreetly  surrendered 
to  the  English  by  the  youthful  Malcolm  a  few  years  before.  William,  like 
his  predecessor,  fought  under  the  banners  of  Henry  in  his  wars  with  France  ; 
perhaps  with  the  hope  of  recovering  his  inheritance  there  by  acts  of  feudal 
vassalage,  as  well  as  to  perform  the  service  due  from  him  for  Huntingdon. 

His  humility  not  availing,  however,  he  entered  into  negotiations  with 
France  in  1168,  with  the  object  of  forming  an  alliance  against  the  English. 
This  was  the  first  step  taken  by  the  Scottish  kings  towards  the  formation  of 
the  famous  Ancient  League  between  Scotland  and  France  which  continued 
down  to  the  time  of  Mary  Stuart.  Soon  afterwards  William  bestowed  Hunt- 
ingdon upon  his  brother  David,  and  in  1173  joined  with  King  Henry's  son 
(Henry  III.)  in  that  prince's  rebellion  against  his  father,  having  been  prom- 
ised the  earldom  of  Northumberland  for  his  assistance.  William  laid  siege 
to  Wark  and  Carlisle,  but  could  not  force  those  garrisons  to  capitulate. 
Meanwhile  his  army,  which  contained  a  large  body  of  the  savage  Galwegians, 
ravaged  Northumberland  with  excessive  cruelty,  spreading  terror  among  the 
inhabitants  and  slaughtering  without  mercy  old  men,  women,  and  children. 

The  following  year  William,  while  still  in  Northumberland,  was  one  day 
riding  with  a  small  party  of  mounted  attendants  in  a  field  near  Alnwick 
Castle,  when  he  came  up  with  a  body  of  horsemen  whom  at  first  he  mistook 
for  Scots  ;  but  who  proved  to  be  a  company  of  Yorkshire  barons.  They  had 
ridden  to  the  North,  intending  to  render  such  assistance  as  they  could  in 
opposing  the  Scots,  and  now  bore  down  upon  the  Scottish  knights,  making 
some  of  them  prisoners.  Among  these  captives  they  were  astonished  to  find 
King  William  himself.1  They  immediately  carried  him  off  to  the  South  and 
delivered  him  to  the  English  king. 

Henry  was  fully  aware  of  the  value  of  such  a  capture,  and  had  had 
sufficient  provocation  to  lead  him  to  make  the  most  of  it.  Accordingly  he 
had  the  Scots'  king  conveyed  to  the  strong  castle  of  Falaise  in  Normandy, 
where  he  would  be  unable  to  communicate  with  his  subjects  in  Scotland. 
Henry  then  proposed,  as  the  condition  for  William's  release,  that  he  himself 
be  given  sovereignty  over  all  Scotland  ;  and  that  William  should  become 
Henry's  vassal  for  that  country,  as  he  was  already  for  his  English  earldoms. 
Although  this  involved  an  entire  surrender  of  independence  on  the  part  of 
Scotland,  the  King  of  the  Scots  was  fain  to  accept  the  terms  proposed  ;  and 

338 


William  the  Lion  339 

a  treaty  to  that  effect  was  accordingly  executed  between  the  two,  which  was 
afterwards  ratified  by  an  assemblage  of  the  Scottish  nobles  and  clergy. 
William,  after  formally  doing  homage  to  Henry,  delivered  to  him  his  brother 
David  and  twenty-one  of  his  nobles  as  hostages,  together  with  the  keeping 
of  the  castles  of  Roxburgh,  Jedburgh,  Berwick,  Edinburgh,  and  Stirling. 

Immediately  after  the  king's  capture  the  Galwegians,  on  returning  home, 
had  risen  in  revolt  and  undertaken  to  kill  or  drive  out  all  the  Norman  barons 
and  other  foreigners  who  had  been  settled  in  their  country. 

These  foreigners  during  the  reigns  of  the  two  preceding  monarchs  had 
come  into  Scotland  in  great  numbers,  many  young  men  of  the  noble  Norman 
families  of  the  South  having  accompanied  David  north  of  Tweed  on  his 
return  home  from  England  to  assume  the  crown.  Others  resorted  to  the 
courts  of  David  and  Malcolm  at  the  invitation  of  those  kings  ;  who  appear 
to  have  bestowed  upon  them  vast  grants  of  lands  and  many  titular  honors.3 

The  revolting  Galwegians  were  under  the  command  of  the  two  sons 
of  Fergus,  Uchtred  and  Gilbert,  who  besought  Henry  to  receive  their 
homage  and  become  Lord  Superior  of  their  country.  In  the  same  year, 
a  quarrel  having  arisen  between  these  two  brothers  as  to  the  division  of  their 
inheritance,  Gilbert,  through  the  instrumentality  of  his  son,  Malcolm,  made  a 
prisoner  of  Uchtred,  and  put  him  to  a  cruel  death,  first  causing  his  tongue 
to  be  cut  off,  and  his  eyes  to  be  torn  out.  He  then  sought  to  make  himself 
master  of  Uchtred's  portion  but  was  resisted  by  the  latter's  son,  Roland. 
Gilbert  then  asked  the  protection  of  Henry,  and  again  offered  him  his  sub- 
mission, but  the  English  king  refused  to  accept  it.3  On  William's  return 
from  Falaise  in  1175,  ne  ^d  an  army  into  Galloway  to  punish  Gilbert,  but 
the  latter  made  the  King  pecuniary  satisfaction.  The  following  year,  having 
accompanied  William  to  York,  Gilbert  was  received  into  Henry's  favor  and 
did  homage  to  that  ruler.4 

In  1 179,  William,  with  his  brother  David,  marched  a  large  army  into 
Ross-shire,  to  suppress  a  revolt  that  had  arisen  there.  The  leader  of  the 
insurgents  was  called  MacWilliam  or  Donald  Bane,  and  claimed  to  be  the 
grandson  of  Duncan,  Malcolm  Canmore's  oldest  son.  The  King  was  unable 
to  bring  the  rebels  to  bay,  so,  after  fortifying  two  castles,  he  returned  to  the 
South.  Some  seven  years  later  MacWilliam  was  surprised  and  slain  by 
King  William's  army  in  Moray. 

In  1 1 84,  Gilbert,  lord  of  Galloway,  invaded  Scotland,  committing  many 
depredations.  His  death  took  place  in  the  following  year  ;  and  on  that 
occasion  Roland,  son  of  the  murdered  Uchtred,  rose  against  Gilbert's  ad- 
herents. Having  slain  their  commander,  Gilpatrick,  he  possessed  himself 
of  all  Galloway.  His  action  was  favored  by  William,  but  opposed  by  their 
Lord  Superior,  King  Henry.  The  latter,  in  1 186,  brought  an  army  to  Carlisle, 
and  prepared  to  invade  Galloway  for  the  purpose  of  punishing  the  vassal 
who  had  dared  to  possess  himself  of  another's  territory  without  first  obtain- 
ing permission  from  and  making  terms  with  his  feudal  superior. 


340  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Roland  fortified  all  the  passes  into  Galloway,  and  prepared  himself  for 
a  desperate  resistance  ;  but  before  extremities  were  reached,  the  differ- 
ences were  adjusted  by  agreement,  and  the  armies  withdrawn.  Roland 
was  permitted  to  retain  what  had  formerly  belonged  to  his  father,  Uchtred, 
and  Duncan,  Gilbert's  son,  was  confirmed  in  the  possession  of  Carrick, 
which  was  then  a  district  of  Galloway.* 

Henry,  King  of  England,  died  in  1189.  In  the  same  year,  his  son  and 
successor,  Richard  I.,  needing  money  to  help  him  fit  out  a  contemplated  ex- 
pedition to  the  Holy  Land,  arranged  with  William  to  restore  the  independ- 
ence of  Scotland  for  a  consideration  of  10,000  merks.  Accordingly,  this 
sum  was  paid  by  the  Scottish  people  for  their  freedom. 

In  1196  William  De  Moreville,  constable  of  Scotland,  having  died, 
Roland,  lord  of  Galloway,  who  had  married  De  Moreville's  sister,  succeeded 
him.  The  same  year  a  revolt  occurred  in  Caithness,  some  of  the  Norse 
inhabitants  having  arisen  under  the  lead  of  Harald,  Earl  of  Orkney  and 
Caithness.  William  suppressed  the  rebellion  by  marching  an  army  into  that 
district ;  but  the  attempt  was  repeated  the  following  year,  when  the  rebels 
appeared  in  arms  under  the  command  of  Torfin,  son  of  Harald.  William 
again  marched  to  the  North,  and  having  seized  Harald  held  him  until  his 
son  Torfin  surrendered  himself  as  a  hostage.  The  same  year  (1197)  Wil- 
liam built  the  castle  of  Ayr,  as  a  menace  to  the  turbulent  Galwegians. 

In  1209,  Alan,  son  of  Roland  of  Galloway,6  married  Margaret,  the 
daughter  of  William's  brother  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon. 

In  1 21 1,  Guthred,  a  member  of  the  family  of  MacWilliam,  invaded  Ross- 
shire  from  Ireland.  After  wasting  it  for  a  time  he  was  finally  captured  and 
executed. 

During  the  reign  of  William  and  of  his  two  immediate  predecessors,  as  has 
been  already  stated,  a  new  element  was  introduced  into  the  population  of 
the  country  by  reason  of  the  large  emigration  of  Norman  noblemen,  who 
were  invited  into  Scotland  by  those  kings,  established  at  their  courts,  and 
given  liberal  grants  of  territory  and  titles.7 

There  has  been  considerable  controversy  over  the  question  of  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Anglo-Normans  in  Scotland,  some  writers  going  so  far  as  to 
claim  that  in  a  large  measure  they  displaced  the  original  inhabitants  of  the 
Lowlands.  Others  contend  that  their  immigration  was  numerically  so 
insignificant  that  it  had  practically  no  part  in  the  composition  of  the  Scot- 
tish nation.  Or,  granting  that  numbers  of  them  came  into  Scotland  in  the 
beginning,  the  frequent  revolts  on  the  part  of  the  natives  against  the  rule  of 
the  foreigners,  and  the  consequent  expulsion  of  many  of  them,  are  instanced 
as  grounds  for  the  belief  that  the  Normans  did  not  become  incorporated 
into  the  population. 

By  far  the  best  statement  of  the  case  that  has  come  under  the  observa- 
tion of  the  writer  is  that  contained  in  Mr.  E.  William  Robertson's  essay  on 
the  subject  of  Displacement,  published   in   the   appendix  to  his  Scotland 


William  the  Lion  341 

under  Her  Early  Kings.  As  his  treatment  of  the  case  is  so  admirable  and 
his  conclusions  so  reasonable  and  just,  their  claims  to  our  consideration  are 
of  primary  importance.    Mr.  Robertson  writes  as  follows  : 

Different  opinions  are  current  in  different  ages,  and  there  was  a  time 
when  it  would  have  been  considered  a  heresy  to  trace  a  great  Scottish  name 
to  any  but  a  strictly  Scottish  source,  the  Norman  Flahald  being  accordingly 
renamed  Fleance,  and  assigned  as  an  heir  to  Banquo,  figuring  as  Thane  of 
Lochaber.  Since  that  time  the  tide  has  flowed  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  it  has  been  argued  as  if  every  Scottish  name  of  note  were  to  be  traced 
to  a  foreign  settler  ;  whilst  it  appears  to  have  been  the  singular  destiny  of 
that  part  of  Scotland  answering  to  ancient  Scotia,  that  the  real  ancestry  of 
the  bulk  of  its  population  should  be  invariably  ignored.  Here  were  the 
Gwyddel  Ffichti,  pre-eminently  the  Gaelic  Piclst  and  the  leading  division  of 
the  Pictish  people,  whose  descendants,  devoting  their  ancestry  to  extermina- 
tion, resolutely  declared  themselves  Gaelic  Scots.  Time  passed  away,  and 
after  the  Lowland  Scottish  dialect  penetrated  over  all  this  portion  of  north- 
ern Scotland,  its  inhabitants,  forgetting  the  language  of  their  forefathers, 
called  all  who  spoke  it  Erse  or  Irish  ;  the  mountaineers  were  looked  upon 
as  an  Irish  race,  and  at  length  the  very  citadel  and  stronghold  of  Alban's 
Gaelic  kings  was  supposed  to  have  been  peopled  by  a  race  akin  to  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Lothians — though  totally  unknown  to  Beda.  Keating's 
convenient  theory  of  a  pestilence  that  swept  away  every  plebeian  of  Milesian 
origin,  thus  leaving  Ireland  to  the  nobility  alone,  will  now  probably  only 
provoke  a  smile  ;  they  were  an  inconvenient  race  for  genealogists,  these 
plebeians,  and  were  thus  summarily  dealt  with.  But  the  theory  is  scarcely 
less  extravagant  which  supposes  ancient  Scotia  to  have  been  filled  with  a 
population  unknown  to  history — for  when  did  they  arrive  ?  Untraceable  in 
topography — for  where  are  their  vestiges  ?  and  who,  if  they  ever  really  ex- 
isted in  this  quarter,  must  have  exhibited  the  unwonted  spectacle  of  a 
dominant  people,  strong  enough  to  hold  their  ground  throughout  the  leading 
provinces  of  the  kingdom,  yet  submitting  to  the  rule  of  a  king  and  a  nobility 
sprung  from  the  very  race  which  they  are  supposed  to  have  driven  from  the 
soil  ?  Where  was  the  strength  of  the  ancient  Gaelic  kingdom  of  Scotland  if 
it  were  not  in  this  very  quarter  ? 

Extermination  seldom,  if  ever,  follows  upon  a  conquest.  Roving  and 
savage  tribes,  deprived  of  their  hunting  grounds  by  the  encroachments  of  far 
more  highly  civilized  races,  may  gradually  disappear,  dying  out  like  the 
aborigines  upon  the  continent  of  America  :  but  when  a  settled  population  is 
conquered,  the  proprietary  either  emigrate,  disappear,  or  sink  into  a  sub- 
ordinate situation,  whilst  the  bulk  of  the  people  remain  under  the  invaders 
in  a  position  comparatively  slightly  altered.  It  is  only,  however,  after  a 
conquest  of  a  certain  character  that  any  change  of  this  description  occurs  at 
all ;  for  where  a  settled  proprietary  is  not  thus  displaced,  it  may  become 
absorbed  amongst  another  race,  and  all  difference  of  origin  be  thus  forgotten  ; 
but  it  will  certainly  not  die  out  and  perish  of  itself,  nor  will  Scotland  afford 
any  instance  to  the  contrary.  No  conquest  of  any  description,  that  could 
account  for  a  wide  displacement  of  the  native  population  in  favor  of  foreign 
settlers  is  traceable  at  any  period  of  authentic  history  when  such  a  settlement 
is  supposed  to  have  taken  place.  The  northern  wars  of  Malcolm  Canmore 
represent  a  struggle  between  Scotia  and  her  southern  dependencies  against 
Moravia  —  between  the  population  of  the  South  and  East  against  the  people 
of  the  North  and  West  :  but  of  the  foreign  bands,  who  are  sometimes  supposed 


342  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

to  have  secured  the  victory  for  Malcolm,  where  is  there  a  trace  in  history? 
Where  are  the  lands  with  which  they  are  rewarded,  and  by  what  tenure  did 
they  hold  them  ?  Moray,  the  great  hereditary  province  of  the  rival  family, 
was  not  forfeited  before  the  reign  of  David  ;  and  it  was  scarcely  out  of  the 
property  of  his  own  adherents  that  Malcolm  distributed  his  rewards.  Mar, 
Buchan,  Angus,  Strathern,  and  Menteith,  with  the  great  lay  Abbacy  of 
Brechin,  are  found  long  after  this  period  in  the  hands  of  native  magnates  ; 
whilst  Athol  and  Fife  were  conferred,  not  upon  the  supporters  of  a  policy 
hostile  to  the  native  race,  but  upon  branches  of  the  reigning  family,  or  upon 
a  family  devoted  to  its  support.  Malcolm  may  have  availed  himself  of 
foreign  assistance,  and  there  was  undoubtedly  an  immigration  in  his  days 
into  his  kingdom  ;  but  to  judge  from  the  example  of  Cospatric,  the  majority 
of  his  new  subjects  were  planted  upon  the  southern  frontiers,  amidst  a 
population  of  kindred  origin  and  customs,  where  the  same  hostility  to  the 
Norman  rule  which  prompted  their  emigration,  would  secure  their  fidelity 
as  watchful  guardians  of  the  English  marches.  Twice  subsequently  were 
"  foreigners  "  expelled, —  from  northern  Scotland,  probably  ;  not  a  numer- 
ous population,  who  would  unquestionably  have  defended  their  rights, — and  a 
sanguinary  struggle  would  have  arisen  from  such  a  measure, — but  the  Court 
and  personal  friends  of  Margaret,  and  the  immediate  followers  of  Duncan 
II.  —  just  as  "  the  Normans  "  were  driven,  some  thirty  years  before,  from 
the  kingdom  of  the  Confessor.  Edgar  was  reinstated  by  his  kinsman  the 
^theling,  but  it  will  scarcely  be  asserted  that  the  army  provided  by  Rufus 
was  settled  permanently  upon  the  soil  of  Scotland  ;  and  nothing  more  is 
known  of  his  uneventful  career.  Alexander  resented  a  conspiracy  against 
his  own  person  by  a  Northern  war  ;  the  Spey,  the  frontier  river  between 
Scotia  and  Moravia,  was  again  the  scene  of  the  contest,  and  the  king  drove 
his  enemies  "over  the  Stockford  into  Ross."  There  is  an  indistinct  vision 
of  the  forfeiture  of  one  great  magnate  on  this  occasion,  Malpeder  MacLoen, 
styled  "  Mormaor  of  the  Merns,"  and  henceforth  there  is  not  a  trace  of 
treasonable  disaffection  or  forfeiture  on  a  great  scale  throughout  the  whole 
extent  of  Scotia.  The  Earl  of  Strathern,  indeed,  participated  in  the  mys- 
terious conspiracy  of  Perth,  but  he  was  not  forfeited,  as  the  Moravian  Earl 
of  Ross  appears  to  have  been  —  probably  because  his  share  in  the  attempt 
may  have  been  limited  to  changing  the  counsellors  of  the  sovereign  —  and 
Galloway  was  the  seat  of  the  war  which  followed  upon  the  defeat  of  the 
attempt. 

No  better  test  can  be  applied  in  a  question  of  this  description  than 
the  composition  of  the  juries  which  pronounced  "  the  verdict  of  the  neighbor- 
hood," and  were  always  made  up  of  the  probi  homines,  the  gentry  and  pro- 
prietary of  the  district.  The  earl's  son,  the  thane's  son,  the  abbot  and  his 
son,  the  judge  or  his  brother,  and  other  similar  notabilities  of  native  origin 
appear  in  Angus,  and  generally  along  the  eastern  coast  and  in  Scotia  ;  whilst 
in  Renfrew,  when  Patrick  de  Blantyre  was  served  heir  to  his  ancestral 
barony,  the  jury  to  a  man  were  of  Gaelic  origin,  and  must  have  been  "  his 
peers,"  barons,  or  freeholders  by  charter.  Renfrew  had  been  given  as  a 
barony  to  the  Steward,  but  the  probi  homines  seem  to  have  been  little  affected 
by  the  grant.  The  instances  thus  quoted  are  all  taken  from  the  age  suc- 
ceeding the  reigns  of  David  and  William,  affording  ample  testimony  that  the 
native  proprietary  in  the  settled  districts  of  Scotland  had  been  little  inter- 
fered with  by  the  measures  of  those  sovereigns.  The  case  was  different  in 
eastern  Ross  and  Moray,  where  the  disaffected  had  been  rooted  out,  their 
lands  forfeited,  and  settlers  planted  widely  in  their  place.     Here  the  juries 


William  the  Lion  343 

were  of  a  mixed  character,  Norman  and  other  names  mingling  with,  and 
generally,  indeed,  predominating  amongst,  those  that  testify  to  a  native  ex- 
traction. But  the  confiscations  in  Moravia  were  local  and  partial,  and  can 
scarcely  be  supposed  to  have  affected  the  loyal  proprietary  upon  the  eastern 
coast,  and  in  other  parts  of  Scotia.  The  destructive  northern  wars  of  the 
Conqueror  have  stamped  their  results  in  letters  of  blood  upon  the  York- 
shire survey  in  Domesday,  but  what  effect  did  they  produce  upon  the 
allodial  Gavellers  of  Kent,  or  even  upon  the  neighboring  Ridings  of 
Lincolnshire  ? 

It  was  the  charter  and  feudal  tenure  which  gradually  converted  the  native 
proprietary  of  Scotia  into  "  lairds  of  that  ilk,"  henceforth  undistinguishable 
amongst  the  general  feudal  baronage.  At  the  battle  of  the  Standard,  Earl 
Malise  of  Strathern  was  the  champion  of  the  anti-feudal  combatants. 
Forty  years  later  his  grandson,  Gilbert,  was  as  thoroughly  a  feudal  baron  as 
the  latest  Norman  settler,  granting  charters  sealed  with  the  device  of  a 
mounted  knight  in  armor,  and  with  a  novelty  yet  more  unusual,  a  shield 
emblazoned  with  arms.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  doubt  that  a  similar  change 
was  in  progress  in  many  other  parts  of  the  kingdom  besides  Strathern. 
Not  only  in  Scotland,  but  throughout  Europe  the  shifting  patronymic  marks 
the  prevalence  of  the  early  benefice,  when  all  who  claimed  a  provision  in 
right  of  their  birth  and  descent  were  known  by  the  name  of  their  immediate 
ancestors,  the  vier  anen  giving  the  title  to  the  birthright  which  was  sub- 
sequently founded  on  the  charter.  It  was  not  until  the  benefice  became  the 
feud,  after  the  temporary  and  renewable  provision  became  the  inalienable 
and  hereditary  property,  that  it  conferred  a  more  or  less  permanent  name 
upon  its  owner,  all  early  surnames  being  invariably  "  of  that  ilk  "  —  the  pro- 
prietor being  named  from  his  property.  At  the  opening  of  the  twelfth 
century,  or  at  any  rate  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh,  the  territorial  surname 
was  unknown  throughout  Scotland  from  the  Pentland  Firth  to  the  Tweed  ; 
and  the  same  might  also  be  said  of  England.  Very  few  names,  indeed,  of 
this  description  were  brought  into  England  by  the  followers  of  the  Con- 
queror,— none  certainly  existed  before  their  arrival, — and  wherever  a  Norman 
name  is  found  that  does  not  occur  in  Domesday,  it  may  be  safely  assumed 
that,  however  old  its  standing,  it  represents  a  later  emigrant  from  the  Con- 
tinental duchy  rather  than  one  of  the  combatants  at  Hastings.  The  descend- 
ants of  the  latter  generally  adopted  the  names  of  those  properties  in  England 
which  they  had  won  with  the  sword.  Many  a  Norman  name  penetrated  into 
Scotland,  the  majority  territorial,  whether  derived  from  English  or  Norman 
fiefs,  which  would  seem  to  place  their  arrival  in  the  reigns  of  David  and 
William.  Others  again  settled  in  Scotland  before  they  had  acquired  a  name 
of  this  description,  the  race  of  Flahald  assuming  a  name  from  their  heredi- 
tary office  of  steward  —  for  the  son  of  Walter  Fitz  Alan  was  known  as  Alan 
Fitz  Walter  —  whilst  the  appellation  of  Masculus,  la  Male,  attached  to  a 
family  of  great  importance  in  early  times,  seems  to  have  been  perpetuated 
with  the  old  broad  pronunciation  under  the  form  of  Maule.  The  race 
often  gave  the  name  ;  Fleming  and  Inglis  would  have  appeared  in  the 
charters  as  Flandrensis  and  Anglicus  j  the  first  ancestor  of  the  great  border 
clan  of  Scot  must  have  stood  out  amongst  the  Saxons  of  the  Lothians  as 
Scotus,  the  Gael ;  whilst  the  name  of  fValensis,  or  le  Waleys,  given  to  the 
progenitors  of  Wallace,  marks  the  forefathers  of  the  great  Scottish  champion 
to  have  been  Cumbro-Britons  of  Strathclyde.  From  the  frequent  occur- 
rence of  an  addition,  such  as  Flandrensis,  to  the  name  of  the  first  recipient 
of  a  charter,  it  may  be  assumed,  that  in  its  absence,  and  where  no  district 


344  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

territorial  surname  is  attached,  the  recipient  was  usually  of  native  ex- 
traction, especially  if  in  a  well- affected  district  —  the  first  holder  by  charter, 
but  not  necessarily  the  first  of  the  race  in  Scotland. 

It  is  sometimes,  indeed,  rather  hastily  assumed  that  every  territorial 
surname  denotes  the  presence  of  a  foreign  settler,  when  in  reality  it  is  only 
the  mark  of  tenure  by  charter.  There  can,  of  course,  be  no  doubt  about 
names  brought  from  another  land,  whilst  in  the  case  of  many  a  surname 
derived  from  places  in  Scotland,  it  would  be  not  a  little  difficult  to  pronounce 
with  any  certainty  an  absolute  opinion.  There  are  sufficient  instances,  how- 
ever, to  show  the  rashness  of  any  sweeping  conclusion  such  as  that  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made.  The  family  of  de  Strathbogie  sprung  from  a  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Fife  ;  that  of  de  Ogilvie  from  a  junior  branch  of  the  earls  of 
Angus,  whose  representative  at  present  in  the  male  line  is  the  Earl  of  Airlie. 
Roland  de  Carrick  received  a  grant  of  the  Seneschalship  and  Kenkynol  of 
that  district  from  Earl  Nigel  when  the  earldom  passed  with  his  daughter  to 
another  race,  and  the  name  of  de  Carrick  appears  amongst  the  settlers 
planted  in  Moray.  Roland  was  scarcely  of  foreign  origin,  but  rather  a  near 
relative  of  the  Earl,  and  probably  the  heir  male  of  the  family.  The  de 
Abernethies  and  the  earlier  de  Brechins  were  lay  Abbots  of  their  respective' 
districts.  Were  Abbacies  conferred  in  this  manner  upon  the  Norman  fol- 
lowers of  David  and  William  ?  Names  like  de  Ergaedia,  de  Insults,  de  Atholia, 
de  Galloway,  speak  for  themselves.  In  many  others,  again,  there  is  a  strong 
presumption  of  native  origin,  as,  for  instance,  in  de  Scone,  a  name  often 
occurring  in  the  earlier  charters.  Malothen  appears  in  the  reign  of  Alex- 
ander I.  as  the  first  known  Vice-Comes  of  Scone,  and  the  family  of  de  Sco?ie 
were  probably  descendants  of  the  hereditary  Sheriff.  The  first  known 
ancestor  of  the  Durwards  was  Malcolm  de  Lundin,  whose  son  Thomas,  the 
first  Durward,  confirmed  the  grant  of  his  mother  and  grandfather — the 
father's  name  is  not  mentioned — to  the  Culdees  of  Moneymusk.  The  name 
of  Malcolm,  and  the  connection  with  the  Culdees,  point  apparently  to  a 
native  origin  ;  whilst  the  office  of  Durward,  which  raised  the  family  to 
distinction,  was  acquired,  probably,  by  the  union  of  Malcolm  with  Thomas's 
mother.* 

There  are  many  other  territorial  surnames  which  there  seem  the  strongest 
reasons  for  assigning  to  native  Scots.  Dufyth  de  Conan,  for  instance, 
Duncan  de  Fernival,  Macbeth  de  Dych,  Angus  de  Auchenross,  amongst  the 
probi  homines  already  quoted  ;  Macbeth  de  Libberton,  Gilbert  de  Cles, 
Gilbert  de  Smitheston,  Constantine  de  Lochore,  all  of  which  I  have  taken 
at  random  from  a  page  in  the  Dunfermlyn  Registry.  The  bulk  of  the  Mesne- 
tenants  were  probably  the  original  proprietary,  whether  to  the  north  or  south 
of  the  Forth  ;  whilst  great  Norman  barons,  personal  friends  of  David  and 
his  successors,  received  large  grants,  and  were  placed  upon  a  footing  with 
the  earls  as  majores  barones. 

It  will  scarcely  be  disputed  that  in  later  times  the  Scottish  laird  was 
often  better  known  by  the  name  of  his  property  than  by  his  own  surname, 
and  nowhere  was  this  custom  more  prevalent  than  in  the  Highlands 
after  the  earlier  patronymic  had  been  superseded.  Centuries  before  the 
patronymic  had  thus  disappeared  from  Moravia  it  had  been  displaced 
throughout  the  feudalized  portion  of  ancient  Scotia;  but  as  the  change 
occurred  before  the  rise  of  surnames,  the  fief  supplied  the  family  name,  and 
after  the  lapse  of  a  few  generations  all  recollection  of  kindred  origin  was 
obliterated,  or  survived  only  in  vague  local  tradition.  Stewart  of  Appin  and 
*Reg.  Prior.  St.  And.,  p.  369. 


William  the  Lion  345 

Stewart  of  Garth  must  once  have  had  a  common  ancestor,  but  had  they 
received  their  fiefs  before  the  establishment  of  surnames,  who  would  have 
known,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  generations,  that  the  de  Garth  of  Perthshire 
was  akin  to  de  Appin  of  Argyle  ?  Three  great  families  in  succession  held  the 
lordship  of  Lome,  and  all  Argyleshire  is  still  full  of  MacDougals,  Stewarts, 
and  Campbells,  offshoots  of  the  families  in  question.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  Athol,  in  which  the  Robertsons,  the  Stewarts,  and  the  Murrays,  names 
long  prevalent  in  the  district,  represent  the  families  which  once  held  the 
earldom,  one  of  them  still  holding  the  dukedom.  Many  a  Sutherland  has 
branched  off  similarly  in  the  North,  and  the  western  coasts  are  peopled  with 
the  descendants  of  different  Lords  of  the  Isles.  The  greater  the  name  in 
Scotland  the  more  numerous  it  is,  and  more  widely  spread,  and  it  can  be 
hardly  doubted  that  a  similar  process  must  at  one  time  have  been  going  on 
all  over  feudalized  Scotia,  before  the  establishment  of  separate  surnames  ;  for 
it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  no  offshoots  branched  off  from  families  which 
sometimes  held  their  earldoms  for  centuries.  A  faint  clue  exists  in  Fife 
through  the  old  privileges  of  the  "clan  MacDuff,"  which  were  certainly 
claimed  by  the  families  of  de  Spens  and  de  Arbuthnot,  whilst  the  Seneschalship 
was  held  by  de  Blair  and  de  Balfour.  The  latter  office  seems  to  have  been 
invariably  conferred  upon  a  near  kinsman,  though  in  either  case  it  may,  of 
course,  have  been  acquired  by  marriage.  Little  more  can  be  said  on  the 
subject,  but  had  the  surname  existed  in  Scotland  distinct  and  separate  from 
the  territorial  appellation  two  or  three  centuries  before  it  actually  arose, 
many  of  the  old  Fifeshire  families  would,  I  should  imagine,  have  had  little 
difficulty  in  tracing  their  descent  from  the  Premier  Earls  of  Scotland. 

The  whole  policy  of  David  and  his  successors  appears  to  have  been 
founded  on  a  principle  diametrically  opposed  to  this  "  theory  of  displace- 
ment." It  was  his  object  to  introduce  but  not  to  enforce  feudal  tenure  ;  to 
tolerate  rather  than  perpetuate  Scottish  service.  He  never  made  his  Norman 
nobles  earls,  but  barons,  "  with  the  rights  and  custom  of  an  earl ; "  and 
there  must  surely  have  been  a  reason  for  adopting  such  a  course — for  giving 
"brevet  rank,"  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  to  his  foreign  nobles,  instead  of 
making  them  earls  at  once.  This  reason  will  probably  be  found  in  the 
characteristics  of  the  different  tenures.  When  Alexander  II.  levied  fines  for 
non-attendance  in  the  host,  those  fines  were  only  exacted  from  tenants  by 
Scottish  service,  earls,  Thanes,  and  Ogtierns,  for  the  baron  is  not  alluded 
to.  The  earl  was  answerable  to  the  king  alone  ;  the  Thane  to  the  king  or 
earl  ;  the  Ogtiern  to  the  Thane  or  Miles.  Hence  it  may  be  gathered  that 
the  introduction  of  the  feudal  tenure  of  knight-service  would  at  that  time 
have  reduced  the  Thanes  to  the  footing  of  Ogtierns.  An  alien  earl,  holding 
by  feudal  tenure,  would  have  had  to  conquer  his  earldom  from  the 
proprietary. 

No  such  result  followed  from  the  earlier  tenure  of  the  earl,  count,  or 
mormaor,  who  was  simply  a  royal  deputy  interposed  between  the  proprietary 
and  the  sovereign,  and  not  interfering  in  any  way  with  existing  tenures.  He 
was  necessarily,  however,  a  man  of  influence  enough  to  enable  him  to  carry 
out  effectually  the  authority  thus  delegated  to  him  ;  and  such  influence  could 
only  have  been  acquired  in  one  of  two  ways.  A  newly  created  earl  must 
either  have  been  a  member  of  some  native  race  to  which  the  native  pro- 
prietary were  accustomed,  or  willing,  to  look  for  their  Cen-cinnozth  —  he 
must  have  been  in  some  way  united  to  them  by  the  tie  of  blood  :  or,  if  an 
alien,  he  must  have  been  supported  by  an  alien  force — a  feudal  force,  after 
the  reign  of  David — and  the  result  would  have  been  a  rising  amongst  the 


346  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

proprietary.  Such  was  probably  the  true  reason  why  Bruce,  Fitz-Alan, 
De  Moreville,  and  other  great  Norman  nobles  never  appear  as  earls,  but 
only  with  "  the  rights  and  custom  of  an  earl."  Holding  by  Scottish  service 
they  would  have  been  powerless  without  a  kindred  "  following  "  :  whilst  a 
feudal  tenure  would  have  interfered  with  the  proprietary  rights  of  the  very 
class  which  formed  the  military  strength  of  the  earldom.  History  clearly 
shows  that,  as  the  power  of  the  sovereign  extended  over  the  west,  it  was  his 
policy,  not  to  eradicate  the  old  ruling  families,  but  to  retain  them  in  their 
native  provinces,  rendering  them  more  or  less  responsible  for  all  that  portion 
of  their  respective  districts  which  was  not  placed  under  the  immediate 
authority  of  the  royal  sheriffs  or  baillies.  In  Galloway,  Argyle,  and  Ross,  the 
old  races  were  thus  confirmed  in  authority,  and  the  result  was  comparative 
peace.  In  Moray  the  old  race  was  proscribed  ;  feudal  tenure  was  purposely 
introduced,  wherever  it  was  possible;  and  the  result  was  rebellion  for  a  century. 
Elsewhere  a  similar  policy  would  have  unquestionably  produced  correspond- 
ing results.  Confiscation  would  have  been  followed  by  rebellion,  and  the 
policy  which  spared  the  native  races  in  the  once  disaffected  districts  of 
Galloway,  Argyle,  and  Ross  would  have  scarcely  risked  such  an  alternative 
amongst  the  loyal  proprietary  of  Scotia.  Intermarriage  gradually  familiar- 
ized the  Scots  with  the  feudal  barons  holding  earldoms,  and  knights  holding 
thanedoms  ;  but  I  think  it  very  doubtful  if  either  earldom  or  thanedom  were 
originally  conferred  upon  baron  or  knight ;  or  if  any  earldom  was  held  by 
feudal  tenure  until  Bruce  gave  Moray  to  Randolf,  to  be  held  by  both  knight 
service  and  Scottish  service. 

The  theory  of  displacement,  however,  is  not  confined  to  Scotland  beyond 
the  Forth,  and  it  is  equally  assumed  that  the  Lothians  were  thoroughly 
resettled  and  colonized  by  a  tide  of  immigrants  from  beyond  the  southern 
frontier.  Orm,  Leving,  Doding,  Edulf,  Edmund,  and  Elfin  —  though  the 
latter  name,  like  that  of  Dunwallon  "  the  faithful  thegn,"  who  figures  in  so 
many  of  the  Kentish  charters,  has  rather  a  British  sound — are  all  brought 
from  the  south  to  fix  their  abode  at,  and  stamp  their  names  upon,  Ormiston, 
Levingston,  Duddingston,  Edilston,  Edmonston,  and  Elphinston.  Thor, 
the  ancestor  of  the  Ruthvens,  Warnebald  of  the  Cunninghams,  Maccus  or 
Magnus  of  the  Maxwells,  are  equally  traced  to  a  foreign  stock.  But  where, 
may  it  be  asked,  were  the  descendants  of  the  men  who  had  held  the  land  as 
their  own  from  the  days  when  Edwin  built  his  Burh  upon  the  Forth,  full 
five  hundred  years  before?  The  topography,  charters,  etc.,  according  to 
Mr.  Innes,  "  leave  no  doubt  that  a  Teutonic  dialect  was  the  universal  spoken 
language  of  Lothian,  Merse,  and  Teviotdale,  from  the  time  of  David  I."  I 
should  be  inclined  to  extend  this  remark  considerably  farther  back — at 
least  five  centuries,  probably  six.  When  Abercorn,  Cunningham,  and  the 
diocese  of  Whithern  were  in  the  possession  of  the  Angles  at  the  time  of 
Beda,  and  when  they  added  Kyle  to  their  dominions  soon  after  his  death, 
their  language  must  have  been  spoken  over  a  far  wider  extent  of  country. 
The  diocese  of  Whithern  fell  into  other  hands  at  the  opening  of  the  ninth 
century  ;  Strath  Clyde  was  gradually  absorbed  amongst  the  dominions  of 
the  Scottish  kings  ;  and  the  Anglian  population  either  receded  or  remained 
in  a  subordinate  position  attached  to  the  soil.  Nothing  of  this  sort,  how- 
ever, happened  in  the  eastern  districts  of  southern  Scotland,  and  I  should 
imagine  that  the  dialect  of  the  Bernician  Angles,  which  subsequently  became 
the  basis  of  Lowland  Scotch,  continued  to  be  spoken  uninterruptedly  in  this 
quarter  from  the  close  of  the  sixth,  or  the  opening  of  the  seventh  century. 
The  charters  show  that,  in  this  quarter,  the  agricultural  population  attached 


William  the  Lion  347 

to  the  soil  bore  Teutonic  names  ;  whilst  toward  the  west  and  beyond  the 
Forth  they  were  generally  Celtic.  This  is  always  a  sign  of  lengthened  oc- 
cupation. Beyond  the  river  the  Highlands  form  a  convenient  receptacle 
into  which  all  the  dispossessed  proprietary  of  native  Gaelic  origin  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  "pushed"  —  such  is  the  word  sometimes  used.  It  is 
not  specified,  however,  where  the  native  proprietary  of  Teutonic  origin  were 
"pushed"  out  of  the  Lothians,  perhaps  because  it  might  be  inconvenient  to 
find  a  place  for  them.  When  David  laid  down  the  enactment  that  if  a  man 
were  disseized,  or  dispossessed  of  his  property,  he  was  no  longer  to  challenge 
the  aggressor,  but  to  appeal  to  the  verdict  of  the  neighborhood,  it  may  be 
gathered  that  there  were  rights  of  property  before  his  reign  ;  and  that  the 
loss  of  such  rights  in  individual  cases  was  resented  by  an  appeal  to  the 
sword.  Yet  are  we  called  upon  to  believe  that,  whilst  such  was  the  legal 
custom  in  individual  cases,  a  general  measure  of  disseisin  was  gradually  car- 
ried out  amongst  a  population  never  backward,  but  rather  overready,  in 
making  such  an  appeal,  and  over  the  whole  face  of  Scotia  and  the  Lothians 
— over  the  whole  of  the  well-affected  portion  of  the  kingdom  !  a  measure  so 
vast  that  not  a  name  of  any  note  has  come  down  to  the  present  day  that 
can  be  traced  to  the  old  Bernician  Angles,  whilst  the  shattered  remnants  of 
the  Gaelic  proprietary  sheltered  themselves  amidst  the  Highlands  and  in 
Galloway  !  The  whole  theory  is  mythical.  Such  a  measure  would  have 
raised  all  Scotia  to  the  Forth,  all  Lothian  to  the  Tweed,  in  one  general  blaze 
of  insurrection.  The  earls  were  never  "pushed  out,"  and  if  the  remain- 
ing proprietary  were  dispossessed,  where  would  have  been  the  use  of  legis- 
lating for  thanes  and  ogtierns  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  II.?  What  fees 
could  the  Earls  of  Fife  have  shared  with  the  king,  if  there  had  been  no 
proprietary  in  the  earldom  holding  by  the  ancient  tenure  ?  If  they  had  not 
been  dispossessed  in  the  thirteenth  century,  when  did  the  displacement  begin  ? 
The  demesne  lands  of  the  crown  were  wide  enough  to  admit  of  many  an 
acre  being  granted  away  without  dispossessing  a  single  well-affected  subject 
either  in  Scotia  or  the  Lothians.  Wide  baronies  were  made  over  to  the 
great  Norman  feudatories,  in  which,  as  in  Renfrew,  the  probi homines  remained 
undisturbed  ;  and  the  true  result  of  the  measures  of  David  and  his  suc- 
cessors was  to  feudalize  the  settled  portion  of  the  kingdom,  not  to  convert 
it  into  a  desert  by  the  extermination  or  displacement  of  the  original  pro- 
prietary. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXI 

1  "  1 174.  Immediately  after  the  close  of  Easter,  the  King  of  Scotland  marched  his  army 
into  Northumberland,  and  there,  by  his  Scots  and  Galwegians,  acted  execrably.  For  they 
divided  pregnant  women,  and  threw  the  extracted  foetuses  upon  the  points  of  their  lances. 
They  slew  boys,  young  and  old,  and  infants  of  each  sex,  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  with- 
out any  ransom  or  mercy.  They  also  mangled  the  priests  and  clerks,  in  the  very  churches, 
upon  the  altars.  Whatever  things,  therefore,  the  Scots  and  Galwegians  reached,  all  were 
full  of  horror  and  cruelty.  In  the  meantime  the  king  of  Scotland  with  his  army  besieged 
Carlisle.  .  .  .  And  thence  departing,  besieged  the  castle  of  Prudehou,  of  Ordenel  de 
Dunfranville  ;  but  was  not  able  to  take  it :  For  the  army  of  Yorkshire  made  ready  to  come 
upon  him.  Now  the  leaders  of  this  army  were  Robert  de  Stuteville,  and  William  his  son, 
and  William  de  Vesci,  and  Randal  de  Glanvilla,  and  Randal  de  Thilli ;  and  Bernard  de 
Balliol,  and  Odenel  de  Dunfranville.  When  this  was  announced  to  the  king  of  Scotland,  he 
left  the  castle,  which  he  had  besieged,  and  flying  thence  came  to  Alnwick,  and  besieged  it, 
and  sent  thence  the  Earl  Duncan,  and  the  Earl  of  Angus,  and  Richard  de  Morville,  with 


348  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

almost  all  his  army  through  the  circumjacent  provinces  to  waste  them  ;  and  the  king  of  Scot- 
land remained  there  with  his  private  attendants.  The  Earl  Duncan  straightway  divided  his 
army  again  into  three  parts :  One  he  retained  with  him,  and  the  remaining  two  he  sent  to 
burn  the  circumjacent  towns,  and  to  kill  the  men  from  the  greatest  to  the  least,  and  to  bring 
off  booty.  And  he  with  the  part  of  the  army  which  he  had  chosen  for  himself,  entered  the 
town  of  Warkworth,  and  burned  it,  and  killed  therein  all  whom  he  found,  men  and  women, 
great  and  small :  and  made  his  guards  break  open  the  church  of  St.  Leonard,  which  was 
there,  and  kill  therein,  and  in  the  house  of  the  clerk  of  that  town,  more  than  100  men,  be- 
sides women  and  children,  alas  for  pity !  .  .  .  But  almighty  God  on  the  same  day 
avenged  the  injury  and  violence  offered  to  the  church  of  his  martyr  ;  for  the  aforesaid  lead- 
ers of  the  army  of  Yorkshire,  when  they  had  heard  that  the  king  of  Scotland  had  retired 
from  Prudehou,  and  besieged  Alnwick,  and  so  had  sent  his  army  from  him,  followed  him  with 
haste ;  and  unawares  found  him  before  Alnwick  playing  with  his  soldiers,  as  if  secure  and 
fearing  nothing.  For  he  himself,  when  he  had  seen  them  coming  from  afar,  thought  them 
to  be  the  Earl  Duncan  and  those  who  were  with  him.  But  when  they  had  approached  him, 
they  rushed  upon  him,  and  straightway  took  him  ;  and  his  soldiers,  leaving  him,  fled." — Gesta 
Henrici  Secundi. 

2  "  The  history  of  the  contests  in  the  outlying  districts  has  shown  the  difficulties  which  the 
authority  of  the  King  of  Scots  had  in  extending  to  certain  territories  in  the  north  and  the 
west,  which,  in  the  end,  came  under  his  rule,  We  have  seen  how  the  term  Scots  was  first 
applicable  only  to  natives  of  Ireland  ;  how  it  crossed  the  Channel,  and  included  the  descend- 
ants of  those  Irish  who  had  settled  in  Argyle  ;  and  how,  at  last,  the  monarch  ruling  from  the 
Tweed  and  the  Sol  way  northward  was  named  the  '  King  of  the  Scots.'  Still  that  was  a 
colloquial  expression,  such  as  we  use  when  we  designate  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  by  the  word  Britain,  or  England.  The  King  of  the  Scots,  when  he  issued  his 
charters  as  a  notification  to  all  classes  among  whom  he  held  rule,  called  them  Francs  and 
Angles,  Scots  and  Galwegians.  The  Francs  were  the  Norman  settlers,  and  had  become  so 
numerous  as  to  be  a  great  element  in  the  population.  The  Angles  were  the  refugee  families 
who  had  fled  from  Norman  tyranny  in  England,  and  perhaps  the  whole  population  of  the 
Lothians  was  so  called.  The  term  Scotia  or  Scotland  at  this  time  (1150)  meant  the  country 
north  of  the  Forth.  This  river,  with  its  Firth,  was  called  'the  Scots  Water,'  and  Lothian 
and  Galloway  were  as  yet  countries  only  united  with  Scotland  under  the  same  crown.  Thus, 
among  the  earliest  of  the  public  laws — those  attributed  to  William  the  Lion — there  is  a  reg- 
ulation by  which  an  inhabitant  of  Scotland,  making  a  seizure  or  distraint  beyond — that  is, 
south  of — the  Forth,  must  bring  it  under  the  notice  of  the  sheriff  of  Stirling — spoken  of  some- 
times as  a  town  on  the  border  of  Scotland — and  convey  it  to  Haddington,  where  it  may  be 
redeemed." — Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  50. 

' '  The  house  of  Bruce  was  a  fine  type  of  those  Norman  races  in  whose  hands  were  the 
destinies  of  so  many  European  communities.  Why  they  should  have  been  so  loved  and 
courted,  is  one  of  the  mysteries  in  the  histories  of  social  influences.  What  they  were  at  the 
Court  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  they  became  in  the  courts  of  the  Scots  kings  from  David 
downwards. 

"Sir  Thomas  Gray,  in  his  Chronicle  written  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  tells  how 
William  the  Lion  brought  with  him,  when  returning  to  Scotland  from  his  captivity,  younger 
sons  of  the  families  to  whom  he  was  indebted  for  courtesies,  and  how  he  endowed  them  with 
lands.  We  cannot  take  the  passage  as  precise  statistics.  We  may  get  more  from  it  by 
counting  it  as  the  shape  into  which  the  chronicler  put  the  traditions  of  the  migration  of  the 
great  Norman  houses  to  Scotland.  In  this  view  the  list  of  names  is  instructive  :  '  II 
enprist  od  ly  en  Escoce  plusours  dez  fitzpusnes  dez  seygnours  Dengleterre  qi  ly  estoient 
beinuoillauntz,  et  lour  dona  lez  terres  des  autres  qy  ly  estoient  rebelis.  Si  estoint  dez  Bail- 
lolfs,  de  Bruys,  de  Soulis,  et  de  Moubray,  et  les  Saynclers ;  lez  Hayes,  les  Giffardis,  les 
Ramesays,  et  Laundels  :  les  Biseys,  les  Berkleys,  les  Walenges,  lez  Boysis,  lez  Mountgom- 


William  the  Lion  349 

eris,  lez  Vaus,  lez  Colevyles,  lez  Frysers,  lez  Grames,  lez  Gourlays,  et  plusours  autres?" — 
Burton,  History  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.,  p.  14. 

The  same  passage  is  noted  by  Lord  Hailes  :  "  There  is  a  passage  in  Scale  Chronica, 
preserved  by  Leland  (Collectanea,  t.  i.,  p.  533),  which  deserves  to  be  remembered,  though 
its  truth  may  be  questioned.  '  The  nobilles  of  Scotland  cam  no  nearer  than  Pembles  (r. 
Peebles)  yn  Scotland  to  mete  with  theyr  King.  Wherefore  he  toke  with  hym  many  of  the 
younger  sunnes  of  the  nobyl  men  of  England  that  bare  hym  good  wylle,  and  gave  them  landes 
in  Scotland  of  them  that  were  rebelles  to  hym.  These  were  the  names  of  the  gentilmen 
that  he  toke  with  hym  :  Bailliol,  Breuse,  Soully,  Moubray,  Sainctclere,  Hay,  Giffard,  Rame- 
sey,  Laundel,  Bysey,  Berkley,  Walenge,  Boys,  Montgomery,  Vaulx,  Coleville,  Fresir,  Grame, 
Gurlay,  and  dyverse  other." — Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  131. 

8"  There  were  in  this  army  two  brothers,  Gilbert,  that  is,  and  Uchtred,  lords  of  the 
province  of  Galloway,  with  a  numerous  body  of  their  proper  nation.  These  were  the  sons  of 
Fergus,  formerly  prince  of  the  same  province,  and  had  succeeded  to  their  father,  yielding  to 
the  fates,  the  king  of  Scotland,  who  is  the  chief  lord  of  that  land,  dividing  between  them  the 
inheritance.  But  Gilbert,  the  elder  by  birth,  being  displeased  that  he  was  defrauded  of  the 
entirety  of  his  paternal  right,  had  always  hated  his  brother  in  his  heart,  while,  however, 
the  fear  of  the  king  restrained  the  violence  of  his  conceived  fury. 

44  Uchtred,  the  son  of  Fergus,  and  Gilbert,  his  brother,  when  they  heard  that  their  lord 
the  king  of  Scotland  was  taken  [at  Alnwick],  straightway  returned,  with  their  Galwegians,  in- 
to their  country,  and  forthwith  expelled  from  Galloway  all  the  bailiffs  and  wardens  which  the 
king  of  Scotland  had  put  over  them,  and  killed  all  the  English  and  French  whom  they  were 
able  to  apprehend  ;  and  took  and  destroyed  all  the  fortresses  and  castles  which  the  King  of 
Scotland  erected  in  their  land,  and  killed  all  those  whom  they  had  taken  within  them. 

44  Uchtred  and  Gilbert,  the  sons  of  Fergus,  contending  that  each  of  them  should  be  lord 
and  have  dominion  over  the  Galweigans,  had  great  hatred  between  themselves  ;  so  that  each 
of  them  lay  in  wait  to  kill  the  other  :  And  in  process  of  time,  Gilbert,  the  son  of  Fergus, 
assembled  his  men,  and  went  to  council  with  them,  that  Uchtred  his  brother  should  be  taken 
and  killed  ;  and  at  the  time  fixed  they  came  together,  that  they  might  take  and  kill  him  :  and 
Malcolm,  the  son  of  Gilbert,  the  son  of  Fergus,  came  and  besieged  the  island,  in  which 
Uchtred  the  brother  of  his  father,  and  the  cousin  of  Henry  King  of  England  the  son  of  Maud 
the  Empress,  dwelled,  and  took  him,  and  sending  his  executioners,  commanded  that  they 
should  pluck  out  his  eyes,  and  cut  off  his  testicles  and  his  tongue  ;  and  it  was  so  done  : 
and  leaving  him  half  alive,  departed :  and  he,  a  little  after,  ended  his  life.  While 
these  things  were  done,  the  lord  the  king  sent  into  England  one  of  his  chaplains,  named 
Roger  de  Hoveden,  to  Robert  de  Vaux,  that  they  two  should  agree  with  Uchtred  and  Gilbert, 
and  entice  them  into  his  service.  When  they  had  come  about  the  feast  of  St.  Clement  to  a 
conference  between  them  and  Gilbert  the  son  of  Fergus,  the  same  Gilbert  and  the  other 
Galwegians  offered  them,  for  the  use  of  the  king,  2000  marks  of  silver,  and  500  hogs,  rent  by 
the  year,  upon  this  condition,  that  the  king  should  receive  them  in  his  hand,  and  take  them 
from  the  servitude  of  the  king  of  Scotland.  But  the  aforesaid  messengers  of  the  king  of 
England  would  not  make  this  end  with  the  Galwegians,  until  they  had  spoken  with  the  king : 
and  when  it  was  shown  to  the  king,  how  Uchtred,  the  son  of  Fergus,  his  cousin,  was  killed, 
he  would  not  make  any  peace  with  those  Galwegians." — Gesta  Henrici  Secundi. 

4,i  1175.  The  lord  the  King  [Henry  II.]  gave  and  granted  to  the  king  of  Scotland 
license  to  march  an  army  into  Galloway,  to  subdue  Gilbert,  son  of  Fergus,  for  this  reason, 
that  he  revolted  from  his  fealty  and  maliciously  killed  his  brother  Uchtred. 

11  The  King  [Henry]  about  the  feast  of  St.  Dennis  came  as  far  as  Feckham  :  and  there 
came  to  him  William  king  of  Scotland  ;  and  brought  with  him  Gilbert  the  son  of  Fergus, 
who  had  killed  his  brother  Uchtred.  And  this  Gilbert,  having  made  peace  with  the  lord  the 
king  concerning  the  death  of  his  brother,  who  was  the  king's  cousin,  became  his  man  and 
swore  fealty  to  him  against  all  men  ;  and  for  having  his  good  will,  gave  him  a  thousand 


35°  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

marks  of  silver  (and  Duncan  his  son  as  a  hostage  for  keeping  the  peace) ;  And  so,  his 
peace  being  made,  he  came  home,  and  commanded  that  all  foreigners,  who  held  any 
tenement  in  Galloway  by  the  king  of  Scotland  should  be  banished  :  and  he  who  would 
not  submit  to  this  proclamation,  should  suffer  capital  punishment." — Gesta  Henrici 
Secundi. 

6  "  1 1 85.  On  the  day  of  the  circumcision,  died  Gilbert,  the  son  of  Fergus,  prince  of  the 
Galwegians,  enemy  of  the  king  of  Scotland,  his  lord  ;  whose  son  and  heir,  Duncan,  the  lord 
the  king  of  England  held  in  the  custody  of  Hugh  de  Morwic,  upon  the  engagements  con- 
tracted between  them,  for  keeping  the  peace."     .     .     . 

44  Roland,  the  son  of  Uchtred,  the  son  of  Fergus,  immediately  after  the  death  of  Gilbert, 
his  father's  brother,  having  collected  to  his  assistance  a  copious  multitude  of  horse  and  foot, 
invaded  the  land  of  the  aforesaid  Gilbert ;  and  killing  all  that  willed  to  resist  him,  subjugated 
that  whole  land  to  himself ;  he  likewise  killed  all  the  more  powerful  and  rich  inhabitants 
of  all  Galloway  ;  and  occupied  their  lands  ;  and  made  therein  a  great  many  castles  and  fort- 
resses, in  order  to  strengthen  his  government." — Ibid. 

Roland  had  a  battle  against  Gillecolm,  in  which  the  brother  of  Roland  fell,  and  Gillecolm 
perished. — Chronicle  of  Melrose. 

"  1 186.  William,  king  of  Scotland,  and  David,  his  brother,  at  the  command  of  the  King 
[Henry]  came  to  his  court,  bringing  with  them  Josceline,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  Arnold, 
abbot  of  Melros,  and  earls  and  barons  from  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  ;  whom  the  lord  the 
king  honourably  received  :  and  after  a  few  days,  having  taken  from  the  above  said  earls  and 
barons  of  Scotland  security  for  keeping  faith  to  him,  and  taken  hostages  from  them, 
he  sent  them  into  their  own  country,  and  commanded  them,  that  they  should  subdue  Roland 
the  son  of  Uchtred ;  unless  he  would  come  to  his  court,  and  stand  to  right  upon  this,  that 
against  the  prohibition  of  himself  and  his  judges  he  had  entered  the  land  of  Gilbert  the  son 
of  Fergus,  and  other  barons  of  Galloway,  with  a  hostile  hand,  and  had  occupied  or  obtained 
it  subject  to  himself.  When  the  aforesaid  Roland  had  heard  these  things,  collecting  a  large 
multitude  of  horsemen  and  footmen,  he  rendered  unpassable,  as  much  as  he  could,  the 
entrances  of  Galloway,  and  the  ways  thereof,  cut  and  half-cut  trees  being  placed  across  the 
ways.  Without  delay,  Henry  king  of  England  assembled  a  great  army  from  all  the  provinces 
of  England  ;  and  coming  as  far  as  Carlisle,  sent  thence  William  king  of  Scotland  and  David, 
his  brother,  that  they  might  bring  Roland  to  him.  But  when  he  would  not  come,  he  sent 
again  for  him  the  same  messengers,  and  with  them  Hugh  bishop  of  Durham,  and  Randal  de 
Glanville  the  justiciary  :  who,  giving  hostages  to  the  aforesaid  Roland,  and  making  him 
security  for  safe  conduct  in  going  and  returning,  brought  him  to  the  king  unto  Carlisle  :  which 
Roland  made  peace  with  the  lord  the  king,  in  this  manner,  to- wit,  That  the  land  which  was  of 
Uchtred  the  son  of  Fergus  his  father,  should  remain  to  him  in  quiet,  as  he  had  the  same  on 
the  day  in  which  he  was  alive  and  dead.  And  concerning  the  land,  which  was  of  Gilbert  the 
son  of  Fergus  his  uncle  ;  which  Duncan  the  son  of  the  aforesaid  Gilbert  claimed  against  him, 
he  should  stand  to  right  in  the  court  of  the  lord  the  king  of  England  at  his  summons.  And 
for  keeping  these  conditions  Roland  swore,  and  gave  his  three  sons  hostages.  He  also  swore 
fealty  to  the  king  of  England  and  his  heirs,  by  the  command  of  the  king  of  Scotland, 
against  all  men.  William,  king  of  Scotland,  and  David,  his  brother,  and  all  the  earls  and 
barons  of  Scotland  likewise  swore,  that  if  Roland  should  go  back  from  the  aforesaid  convention 
and  from  the  king  of  England,  they  themselves  with  the  king  of  England  would  faithfully 
hold  to  confound  the  same  Roland,  until  he  should  thereof  satisfy  the  lord  the  king  of 
England.  Josceline,  also,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  promised  on  the  word  of  truth  before  all 
and  on  the  relicks  of  the  saints,  that  unless  Roland  kept  the  aforesaid  convention  unshaken, 
he  himself  against  him  and  his  land  would  publish  the  sentence  of  excommunication." — 
Gesta  Henrici  Secundi. 

44  In  the  moneth  of  August,  at  Cairluel,  Rouland  Talvaten,  lord  of  Galway,  did  homage 
and  fealtie  to  king  Henry,  withe  al  that  held  of  hym." — Leland's  Collectanea,  ii.,  5. 


William  the  Lion  351 

•  "  1200.  In  the  month  of  December,  Roland,  prince  of  Galloway,  died  in  England  at 
Northampton,  the  14th  of  the  kalends  of  January,  on  Tuesday,  and  was  there  buried  at  the 
abbey  of  St.  Andrew. 

"  In  the  same  year  Duncan,  son  of  Gilbert,  son  of  Fergus,  ravished  Aveline,  daughter  of 
Alan,  son  of  Walter,  lord  of  Renfrew,  before  William  king  of  Scotland  returned  out  of  Eng- 
land :  Whence  the  same  king,  greatly  enraged,  took  from  Alan  the  son  of  Walter  24  pledges 
for  keeping  the  peace  to  him  and  his  land,  and  doing  right  upon  that  calumny." — Roger  de 
Hoveden. 

1  "  The  extent  to  which  the  feudal  and  Norman  element  had  already  been  introduced  into 
the  south  of  Scotland,  while  under  the  rule  of  earls,  by  David,  will  be  apparent  when  we  ex- 
amine the  relation  between  the  Norman  barons  who  witness  his  charters  and  the  land  under 
his  sway.  The  most  prominent  of  those  who  witness  the  foundation  charter  of  Selkirk  are 
four  Norman  barons,  who  possessed  extensive  lordships  in  the  north  of  England.  The  first  was 
Hugo  de  Moreville,  and  we  find  him  in  possession  of  extensive  lands  in  Lauderdale,  Lothian, 
and  Cuningham  in  Ayrshire.  The  second  was  Paganus  de  Braosa.  The  third  Robertus  de 
Bras,  who  acquired  the  extensive  district  of  Annandale  in  Dumfriesshire ;  and  the  fourth 
Robertus  de  Umfraville,  received  grants  of  Kinnaird  and  Dunipace  in  Stirlingshire.  Of  the 
other  Norman  Knights  who  witness  this  charter,  and  also  the  inquisition,  Gavinus  Ridel, 
Berengarius  Engaine,  Robertus  Corbet,  and  Alanus  de  Perci  possess  manors  in  Teviotdale. 
Walteras  de  Lindesaya  has  extensive  possessions  in  Upper  Clydesdale,  Mid  and  East  Lothian 
and  in  the  latter  districts  Robertus  de  Burneville  is  also  settled.  In  Scotland  proper  the 
character  in  which  David  ruled  will  be  best  seen  by  contrasting  his  charters  with  those  of  his 
predecessors.  Eadgar,  who  possessed  the  whole  kingdom  north  of  the  Tweed  and  the  Sol- 
way,  addresses  his  charters  to  all  his  faithful  men  in  his  kingdom,  Scots  and  Angles.  Alexan- 
der, who  possessed  the  kingdom  north  of  the  Firths  of  Forth  and  Clyde  alone,  to  the  bishops 
and  earls,  and  all  his  faithful  men  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotia.  A  charter  granted  by  David, 
in  the  third  year  of  his  accession  to  the  throne,  to  the  monks  of  Durham,  of  lands  in  Lothian, 
is  addressed  to  all  dwelling  throughout  his  kingdom  in  Scotland  and  Lothian,  Scots  and 
Angles  ;  but  when  we  enter  Scotland  proper,  and  compare  his  foundation  charter  of  Dun- 
fermline with  that  of  Scone  by  his  predecessor  Alexander  I.,  there  is  a  marked  contrast  be- 
tween them.  Alexander  grants  his  charter  to  Scone,  with  the  formal  assent  and  concurrence 
of  the  seven  earls  of  Scotland  ;  and  it  is  confirmed  by  the  two  bishops  of  the  only  dioceses 
which  then  existed  in  Scotland  proper,  with  exception  of  St.  Andrews,  which  was  vacant,  and 
the  witnesses  are  the  few  Saxons  who  formed  his  personal  attendants,  Edward  the  constable, 
Alfric  the  pincerna,  and  others.  King  David's  charter  to  Dunfermline,  a  foundation  also 
within  Scotland  proper,  is  granted  '  by  his  royal  authority  and  power,  with  the  assent  of  his 
son  Henry,  and  with  the  formal  confirmation  of  his  queen  Matilda,  and  the  bishops,  earls,  and 
barons  of  his  kingdom,  the  clergy  and  people  acquiescing.'  Here  we  see  the  feudal  baronage 
of  the  kingdom  occupying  the  place  of  the  old  constitutional  body  of  the  seven  earls,  while 
the  latter  appear  only  as  individually  witnessing  the  charter.  David's  subsequent  charters  to 
Dunfermline  show  this  still  more  clearly,  for  they  are  addressed  to  the  '  bishops,  abbots,  earls, 
sheriffs,  barons,  governors,  and  officers,  and  all  the  good  men  of  the  whole  land,  Norman, 
English,  and  Scotch'  ;  in  short,  the  feudal  community  or  '  communitas  regni,'  consisting  of 
those  holding  lands  of  the  crown,  while  the  old  traditionary  earls  of  the  Celtic  kingdom 
appear  among  the  witnessess  only." —  Celtic  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  458-459. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  SECOND  AND  THIRD  ALEXANDERS  TO  JOHN  BALIOL 

WILLIAM  the  Lion  died  in  12 14,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Alexander  II.  As  was  not  unusual  in  those  times,  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  was  marked  by  conflicts  with  England,  and  efforts  at  revolt  in 
various  parts  of  his  own  kingdom.  In  12 15,  Donald  MacWilliam,  with 
some  Irish  allies,  invaded  Moray,  but  was  driven  out.  The  following  year, 
Alexander  sided  with  the  English  barons  against  King  John  in  the  hope  of 
recovering  his  family's  title  to  Northumberland.  The  English  king,  by  way 
of  reprisal,  wasted  Yorkshire  and  Northumberland,  stormed  and  burned 
Berwick,  and,  entering  Scotland,  burned  the  priory  of  Coldingham,  and  the 
towns  of  Dunbar  and  Haddington. 

Alexander  retaliated  by  laying  waste  the  western  borders  with  fire  and 
sword.  He  burned  the  monastery  of  Holmcultram  in  Cumberland,  took  pos- 
session of  Carlisle,  and  assaulted  Bernard  Castle.  King  John's  death  occur- 
ring shortly  afterwards,  the  war  was  soon  brought  to  a  close  ;  and  Carlisle 
was  surrendered  back  to  the  English. 

In  12 19,  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  died,  leaving  a  son  John,  (who 
afterwards  became  the  Earl  of  Chester),  and  three  daughters  :  Margaret,  mar- 
ried to  Alan  of  Galloway  ;  Isabella,  married  to  Robert  Bruce  ;  and  Ada, 
married  to  Henry  de  Hastings.  The  union  of  Isabella  with  Robert  Bruce, 
gave  the  family  of  the  latter  its  title  to  the  crown.  In  1221,  King  Alexander 
married  Princess  Joan  of  England,  sister  of  Henry  III.  The  following 
year,  an  insurrection  having  occurred  in  Argyle,  many  of  the  native 
leaders  were  forced  to  leave  that  district,  and  their  estates  were  dis- 
tributed among  the  king's  followers.  In  1228,  Gillescop  rose  in  insurrec- 
tion and  ravaged  portions  of  Moray  and  Inverness.  He  was  slain  in  1229. 
Shortly  before  that  time  the  Isle  of  Man  had  become  subject  to  Alan,  Lord 
of  Galloway.1 

In  1233,  John  de  Baliol,  Lord  of  Bernard  Castle,  married  Dervergoyll, 
daughter  of  Alan,  Lord  of  Galloway,  and  of  Margaret,  cousin  to  King 
Alexander.  Through  this  union  arose  the  claim  of  the  Baliols  to  the  Scottish 
throne.  The  same  year  Alan  of  Galloway  died,  leaving  three  heiresses  : 
Helen,  wife  of  Roger  de  Quincy,  Earl  of  Winchester  ;  Dervergoyll,  wife  of 
John  Baliol  ;  and  Christian,  wife  of  William  des  Forts,  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Albemarle.  The  Galwegians,  unwilling  to  have  their  country  parcelled  out 
to  the  various  Anglo-Norman  barons  who  had  married  the  heiresses,  now 
besought  the  king  to  attach  that  district  to  the  possessions  of  the  Scottish 
Crown.  Failing  in  this,  they  next  requested  that  Thomas,  the  bastard  son  of 
Alan,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  Man,  be  appointed  as  his 

352 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        353 

father's  successor.  This  also  having  been  refused,  the  Galwegians  broke  out 
into  rebellion  and  under  the  lead  of  the  bastard  Thomas  and  a  Gaelic  chief 
named  Gilrodh,  wasted  Scotland  with  savage  ferocity.  Alexander  brought 
an  army  against  them  and  put  them  to  flight  ;  but  was  afterwards  prevailed 
upon  to  pardon  the  insurgents.' 

Historians  all  concur  in  ascribing  to  the  reign  of  this  king  a  period  of 
unexampled  growth  and  prosperity  for  the  material  interests  of  the  country, 
and  even  down  to  the  seventeenth  century  Alexander  IPs  reign  was  spoken 
of  as  the  Golden  Age  of  Scotland.3 

In  1237,  a  treaty  was  made  between  Henry  and  Alexander  by  the  terms 
of  which  the  latter  released  his  hereditary  claim  to  the  counties  of  North- 
umberland, Cumberland,  and  Westmoreland,  and  the  English  king  settled  on 
him  lands  in  Northumberland  and  Cumberland  of  an  annual  value  of  two 
hundred  pounds.  Two  years  later,  Alexander's  wife  having  died,  he  mar- 
ried Mary,  daughter  of  Ingelram  de  Couci.  In  1241  a  son  was  born  to 
them,  who  was  also  named  Alexander. 

The  next  year  was  distinguished  in  Scotland  by  the  revival  of  a  feud 
that  had  some  time  previously  existed  between  the  houses  of  Bisset  and 
Murray.  Henry  Murray,  Earl  of  Athole,  was  murdered  at  Haddington. 
Suspicion  having  fallen  on  Walter  Bisset,  he  was  forced  to  flee  the  kingdom 
and  his  estates  were  confiscated.  Making  his  way  to  the  English  court  he 
sought  retaliation  ;  and,  by  representing  that  Alexander  was  harboring 
Henry's  enemies,  so  far  succeeded  in  poisoning  the  mind  of  the  latter 
against  the  Scottish  king  as  to  induce  him  to  organize  an  expedition  for  the 
purpose  of  invading  Scotland.  To  that  end  an  army  was  accordingly 
assembled  at  Newcastle  ;  and  Alexander  is  said  by  Matthew  of  Paris  to  have 
gathered  together  a  force  of  nearly  100,000  men  to  oppose  them  ;  although 
this  is  evidently  an  exaggeration. 

No  doubt  the  formidable  array  of  Scottish  warriors  made  it  an  easy 
matter  for  Henry's  nobles,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  friendly  to  Alexander,  to 
dissuade  their  king  from  pushing  hostilities  farther.  Through  the  mediation 
of  the  English  barons  a  peace  was  arranged  at  Newcastle,  and  the  proposed 
invasion  abandoned. 

In  1249,  while  on  an  expedition  to  compel  the  submission  of  Angus,  Lord 
of  Argyle,  who  at  that  time  was  a  liege  of  the  king  of  Norway,  Alexander 
died.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  eight-year-old  son,  who  was  crowned 
as  Alexander  III.  In  1251,  when  the  king  was  but  ten  years  old,  his  mar- 
riage with  Margaret,  daughter  of  Henry  III.,  took  place  at  York.  At  this 
time  Alexander  did  homage  to  Henry  for  his  possessions  in  England  ;  and 
the  English  ruler  thereupon  took  occasion  to  demand  homage  also  for  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland.  To  this  request  the  young  Alexander,  prepared  by 
his  counsellors  for  such  an  emergency,  replied  that  he  had  been  invited  to 
York  to  marry  the  Princess  of  England,  and  not  to  treat  on  affairs  of  state  ; 
and  that  he  could  not  take  such  a  step  as  that  now  proposed  by  Henry 


354  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

without  the  advice  and  counsel  of  his  people.     Accordingly,  for  the  time 
being,  the  matter  of  homage  for  Scotland  was  dropped. 

During  Alexander  III.'s  minority  the  kingdom  was  governed  by  succes- 
sive cliques  of  his  nobles.  According  to  Fordun,  there  were  as  many  kings 
as  counsellors,  and  the  nation  was  universally  oppressed.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  reign,  the  Comyns  were  the  most  powerful  family  in  Scotland.  Two 
barons  of  their  party,  Robert  de  Ros  and  John  de  Baliol  were  regents,  and 
there  were  more  than  thirty  knights  of  the  name  of  Comyn  in  the  kingdom. 

In  1255,  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  party,  among  whom  were  Patrick, 
Earl  of  March,  Malise,  Earl  of  Strathern,  Nigel,  Earl  of  Carrick,  Robert 
de  Brus,  Alexander  the  Steward,  and  Alan  Durward,  having  surprised 
Edinburgh  Castle  and  seized  the  persons  of  the  king  and  queen,  con- 
stituted themselves  wardens  of  the  royal  couple  and  regents  of  the  king- 
dom. In  this  they  had  the  active  cooperation  of  Henry  III.  of  England,  who 
with  an  army  marched  toward  the  Scottish  borders.  An  interview  between 
the  two  kings  was  held  at  Roxburgh  in  September,  1255,  when  it  was 
arranged  that  the  following  persons  should  act  as  regents  of  the  kingdom 
during  the  Scottish  king's  minority :  Richard  Inverkeithen,  Bishop  of 
Dunkeld  ;  Peter  de  Ramsay,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  ;  Malcolm,  Earl  of  Fife  ; 
Patrick,  Earl  of  Dunbar  or  March  ;  Malise,  Earl  of  Strathern  ;  Nigel,  Earl 
of  Carrick  ;  Alexander  the  Steward  of  Scotland  ;  Robert  de  Brus  ;  Alan 
Durward  ;  Walter  de  Moray  ;  David  de  Lindesay  ;  William  de  Brechin  ; 
Robert  de  Meyners  ;  Gilbert  de  Hay  ;  and  Hugh  Gifford. 

At  the  same  time  Gamelin,  Chancellor  of  Scotland  and  Bishop-elect  of 
St.  Andrews,  William  de  Bondington,  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  Clement,  Bishop 
of  Dunblane,  William  Comyn,  Earl  of  Mentieth,  Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of 
Buchan,  William  de  Mar,  Earl  of  Mar,  John  de  Baliol,  Robert  de  Ros,  John 
Comyn,  William  Wisheart,  Archdeacon  of  St.  Andrews,  and  others  were  re- 
moved from  the  king's  council  and  deprived  of  their  civil  offices.  Bishop 
Gamelin  offered  opposition  to  the  proceedings  of  the  new  regents,  and  later 
was  made  the  object  of  their  attacks.  He  journeyed  to  Rome,  in  1256, 
enlisted  the  Pope  on  the  side  of  his  party,  and  the  following  year  had  sen- 
tence of  excommunication  pronounced  against  his  enemies.  William  Comyn, 
Earl  of  Mentieth,  took  this  opportunity  to  organize  a  party  of  his  friends, 
seized  the  king  at  Kinross,  in  his  name  deposed  the  recently  appointed 
regents,  and  prepared  to  meet  their  forces  on  the  field  of  battle. 

Before  coming  to  blows,  a  compromise  was  effected  by  which  a  new 
regency  was  established  and  both  parties  were  given  representation  in 
its  composition.  It  consisted  of  Mary,  the  Queen-dowager ;  John  de 
Brienne,  her  second  husband  ;  Gamelin,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  ;  William, 
or  Walter  Comyn,  Earl  of  Mentieth  ;  Alexander  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan  ; 
William,  Earl  of  Mar  ;  Alexander  the  Steward  of  Scotland  ;  Robert  de  Mey- 
ners ;  Gilbert  de  Hay;  and  Alan  Durward.  As  constituted,  each  party  had 
nominally  four  representatives,  and  the  Queen-dowager  and  her   husband 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        355 

increased  the  number  to  ten.  As  these  latter  two  were  already  firm  par- 
tisans of  the  Comyn  interest,  it  really  left  the  control  of  the  kingdom  in  the 
hands  of  that  faction. 

In  1260,  the  king  and  queen  of  the  Scots  visited  London,  and  during  the 
queen's  stay  there  an  heiress  was  born  to  them.  This  daughter  was  named 
Margaret.     She  was  afterwards  (in  1281)  married  to  Eric,  ruler  of  Norway. 

In  1263,  the  Norwegian  king,  Haco,  built  and  manned  a  large  fleet  at 
Bergen.  Sailing  westward  to  the  Orkneys,  he  levied  additional  forces  there 
and  from  his  vassals  in  the  Western  Isles.  Thence  sailing  south  along  the 
western  coast  of  Scotland  he  entered  the  Firth  of  Clyde,  and  approached 
the  coast  of  Ayrshire,  having  with  him  about  160  vessels.  The  Norwegians 
prepared  to  disembark  at  Largs  in  Cuningham,  with  the  intention  of  invad- 
ing Scotland.  Here,  a  tempest  having  arisen  and  raged  for  some  days,  many 
of  the  ships  were  disabled  or  lost,  and  the  army  became  disheartened  ;  so  that 
when  they  were  attacked  by  the  Scots  of  the  surrounding  country,  their  re- 
sistance was  not  sufficient  to  withstand  the  first  onset.  They  were  scattered 
and  fled  ;  such  as  could  make  good  their  retreat  returned  with  Haco  to 
the  Orkneys,  where  that  defeated  and  disappointed  sea-king  immediately 
afterwards  sickened  and  died. 

The  defeat  of  Haco  was  followed,  in  1264,  by  the  subjection  of  Man 
and  the  Western  Isles  to  Alexander.  Two  years  later,  in  consideration  of 
the  payment  of  four  thousand  merks,  Magnus,  King  of  Norway,  ceded  to 
Scotland  all  his  rights  to  these  western  possessions,  only  reserving  to  himself 
the  Shetlands  and  the  Orkneys. 

Henry  III.,  King  of  England,  died  in  1272,  and  was  afterwards  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Edward  I.  (that  is,  first  of  the  Norman  Edwards).  About 
this  time  (1274)  was  born  in  Annandale  a  son  and  heir  to  Robert  Brus  II. 
The  latter  had  married  Martha,  Countess  of  Carrick,  a  daughter  of  Adam, 
Earl  of  Carrick.  The  father  was  a  son  of  that  older  Robert  Brus  who  had 
married  Isabella,  daughter  of  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  and  niece  to 
William  the  Lion. 

The  circumstances  of  the  union  of  Robert  Brus  II.  with  Martha,  Countess 
of  Carrick,  as  given  by  Fordun,  were  as  follows  : 

In  the  year  1271,  Louis,  King  of  France,  after  he  had  won  from  the  dis- 
comfited Saracens  a  certain  very  large  island  named  Barbary,  met  his  doom  ; 
as  did  his  first-born  son  Louis,  and  much  people  of  the  Christians  with 
them  —  among  others,  David,  Earl  of  Athol,  and  Adam,  Earl  of  Carrick, 
and  a  great  many  other  Scottish  and  English  nobles.  Now  Adam,  Earl  of 
Carrick,  left  an  only  daughter,  named  Martha,  as  his  heiress  ;  and  she  suc- 
ceeded him  in  his  domain  and  earldom.  After  she  had,  therefore,  become 
mistress  of  her  father's  domain,  as  she  was,  one  day,  going  out  hunting  at 
random,  with  her  esquires  and  handmaidens,  she  met  a  gallant  knight  riding 
across  the  same  country  —  a  most  seemly  youth,  named  Robert  of  Bruce,  son 
of  Robert,  surnamed  the  Bruce,  the  noble  lord  of  Annandale  in  Scotland, 
and  of  Cleveland  in  England.     When  greetings  and  kisses  had  been  given  on 


356  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

each  side,  as  is  the  wont  of  courtiers,  she  besought  him  to  stay  and  hunt,  and 
walk  about ;  and  seeing  that  he  was  rather  unwilling  to  do  so,  she  by  force, 
so  to  speak,  with  her  own  hand,  made  him  pull  up,  and  brought  the  knight' 
although  very  loath,  to  her  castle  of  Turnberry  with  her.  After  dallying 
there,  with  his  followers,  for  the  space  of  fifteen  days  or  more,  he  clandes- 
tinely took  the  countess  to  wife  ;  while  the  friends  and  well-wishers  of  both 
knew  nothing  about  it,  nor  had  the  king's  consent  been  got  at  all  in  the  mat- 
ter. Therefore  the  common  belief  of  the  whole  country  was  that  she  had 
seized  —  by  force,  as  it  were  —  this  youth  for  her  husband.  But  when  this 
came  to  King  Alexander's  ears,  he  took  the  castle  of  Turnberry,  and  made 
all  her  other  lands  and  possessions  be  acknowledged  as  in  his  hands,  because 
she  had  wedded  with  Robert  of  Bruce  without  having  consulted  his  royal 
majesty.  By  means  of  the  prayers  of  friends,  however,  and  by  a  certain  sum 
of  money  agreed  upon,  this  Robert  gained  the  king's  goodwill,  and  the  whole 
domain.  Of  Martha,  by  God's  providence,  he  begat  a  son,  who  was  to  be 
the  savior,  champion,  and  king  of  the  bruised  Scottish  people,  as  the  course 
of  the  history  will  show  forth  ;  and  his  father's  name,  Robert,  was  given  him. 

In  twelve  seven  four  since  Christ  our  manhood  wore, 
And  at  the  feast  when  Benedict  deceased, 
That  noble  knight,  King  Robert,  saw  the  light, 
Called  from  the  womb  by  Heaven's  almighty  doom. 

In  1278,  Alexander  appeared  in  the  English  Parliament  and  in  general 
terms  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I.  The  English  king  accepted  Alexander's 
fealty,  "  saving  the  claim  of  homage  for  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  whenever  he 
or  his  heirs  should  think  proper  to  make  it." 

In  1283,  Alexander's  son,  Prince  Alexander  (born  1263),  died  without 
issue  ;  and  his  daughter,  Margaret,  Queen  of  Norway,  also  died  the  follow- 
ing year  (January  28th),  leaving  an  only  daughter,  Margaret,  who  has  become 
known  in  Scottish  history  as  the  Maid  of  Norway.  On  this  child  the  right 
to  the  throne  was  settled  by  Alexander  and  his  Parliament  shortly  after  the 
death  of  her  mother.  Margaret  of  Norway  became  queen  by  succession  in 
1286,  when  Alexander  met  his  death  by  being  thrown  from  his  horse. 

The  infant  queen  being  still  in  Norway,  in  her  father's  care,  a  regency 
was  established,  consisting  of  six  lords  :  William  Fraser,  Bishop  of  St.  An- 
drews ;  Duncan,  Earl  of  Fife  ;  Alexander,  Earl  of  Buchan  ;  Robert  Wish- 
eart,  Bishop  of  Glasgow  ;  John  Comyn,  Lord  of  Badenoch  ;  and  James, 
the  Steward  of  Scotland.  This  regency  continued  for  two  years  ;  when, 
upon  the  murder  of  the  Earl  of  Fife  by  Sir  Patrick  Abernethy  and  Sir  Wal- 
ter Percy,  succeeded  by  the  death  of  Buchan,  a  quarrel  arose  amongst 
the  remaining  regents,  and  their  number  was  reduced  to  three  by  the 
separation  of  James  the  Steward. 

In  1289,  Eric,  King  of  Norway,  sent  an  embassy  to  Edward  I.  of  Eng- 
land to  secure  his  assistance  in  harmonizing  the  dissensions  existing  in  his 
daughter's  kingdom.  Edward,  having  first  procured  a  dispensation  from 
Pope   Nicholas  for  the   marriage  of  his   eldest  son  to  Scotland's  queen, 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        357 

undertook  to  assume  also  a  fatherly  interest  in  the  affairs  of  Margaret's 
kingdom. 

To  this  end  he  called  a  convention  composed  of  three  representa- 
tives from  each  of  the  three  kingdoms  of  Norway,  England,  and  Scotland, 
which  met  at  Salisbury  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1289  to  arrange  for  the 
conveyance  of  the  infant  queen  to  her  dominions.  At  another  convention 
held  at  Brigham  in  July  of  the  following  year,  a  treaty  was  concluded  be- 
tween the  English  and  Scottish  representatives,  confirming  the  proposed 
marriage  of  Margaret  to  Edward's  son,  Edward  II. 

In  the  month  of  September  the  young  queen  sailed  from  Norway,  but 
having  sickened  on  the  passage  the  ship  landed  at  Orkney,  where  the  queen 
died. 

This  death,  terminating  the  direct  line  of  Alexander  III.,  left  the  succes- 
sion open  to  numerous  collateral  claimants,  chief  of  whom  were  John  de 
Baliol,  claiming  by  right  of  his  descent  from  Margaret,  the  oldest  daughter 
of  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  through  her  daughter,  Dervergoyll  (Baliol's 
mother) ;  and  Robert  Brus  (II.),  son  of  David's  second  daughter,  Isabella. 
Bruce's  claim  was  based  upon  the  fact  of  his  being  the  nearest  male  de- 
scendant of  David,  as  opposed  to  that  of  Baliol,  who  was  one  generation 
farther  removed  from  David,  although  himself  the  descendant  of  David's 
eldest  daughter.  Besides  these  two  there  were  eight  other  competitors  for 
the  crown,  their  titles  all  being  more  remote  than  those  of  Baliol  and  Bruce. 

Edward,  the  English  king,  thereupon  assumed  to  be  arbiter  between  the 
claimants.  Having  ordered  his  northern  barons  with  all  their  forces  to  as- 
semble at  Norham  on  the  first  of  June,  he  invited  the  Scottish  nobles  and 
clergy  to  meet  him  there  about  a  month  before  that  time.  This  preliminary 
meeting  was  accordingly  held  at  Norham,  May  10,  1291,  and  there  Edward 
for  the  first  time  announced  his  own  pretensions  to  the  title  of  Lord  Para- 
mount of  Scotland,  and  laid  claim  to  the  power  which  such  a  title  implied. 

The  Scots  desired  a  delay  to  consider  whether  or  not  they  should  accept 
Edward  as  their  monarch.  After  three  weeks  had  elapsed  the  second 
meeting  was  held,  this  time  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Tweed,  at  which  were 
present  seven  of  the  claimants  to  the  throne  :  Robert  Bruce  ;  Florence, 
Count  of  Holland  ;  John  de  Hastings,  Lord  of  Abergavenny  ;  Patrick  de 
Dunbar,  Earl  of  March ;  William  de  Ross ;  Robert  de  Pinkeny  ;  and 
Nicholas  de  Soulis. 

These  persons,  being  first  questioned  as  to  whether  they  acknowledged 
the  competency  of  Edward,  as  Lord  Paramount  of  Scotland,  to  pass  upon  the 
question  of  succession,  severally  gave  their  assent.  Another  competitor, 
William  de  Vesci,  present  by  an  attorney,  likewise  acquiesced,  and  the  next 
day  John  Baliol  appeared  and  made  a  similar  answer.  Eric  of  Norway  was 
the  tenth  claimant. 

Following  this,  Edward  suggested  the  formation  of  a  commission  to  con- 
sider the  various  claims  presented.     This  commission  was  to  consist  of  104 


358  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

members,  forty  of  whom  were  to  be  named  by  Bruce  and  his  party,  forty  by 
Baliol  and  his  party,  and  twenty-four  by  the  king  of  England.  Upon  their 
appointment  the  cause  was  submitted,  and  about  a  year  later  their  findings 
were  made  known  to  the  Lord  Paramount. 

In  the  meantime  a  general  homage  to  the  king  of  England  was  required 
on  the  part  of  the  Scottish  nobles,  and  during  the  summer  of  1291  many  of 
the  barons,  the  clergy,  and  the  burgesses  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1292,  the  finding  of  the  commissioners  on 
the  vital  point  in  question  between  Bruce  and  Baliol  was  announced.  It 
was  to  the  effect  that,  "  by  the  laws  and  usages  of  both  kingdoms,  in  every 
heritable  succession,  the  more  remote  in  one  degree  lineally  descended  from 
the  eldest  sister,  was  preferable  to  the  nearer  in  degree  issuing  from  the 
second  sister." 

As  Baliol  was  the  grandson  of  the  eldest  sister,  and  Bruce  the  son  of  the 
second  sister  of  the  daughters  of  Earl  David,  this  answer  was  favorable  to 
the  former,  and  in  November,  1292,  Edward  rendered  judgment  accordingly. 
John  Baliol  was  therefore  crowned  at  Scone  on  the  30th  day  of  the  same 
month,  becoming  king  of  Scotland  by  grace  of  his  Lord  Paramount,  Edward 
I.;  and  doing  homage  to  that  ruler  for  his  kingdom  before  the  end  of  the  year. 

Concerning  the  justice  of  Edward's  claim  to  the  supremacy  of  Scotland, 
innumerable  pages  have  been  written  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  The 
case  naturally  furnished  grounds  for  fierce  and  unceasing  disputation  between 
the  historians  of  both  countries  for  many  centuries  after.  In  that  age,  the 
right  of  possession  was  largely  determined  by  the  power  of  the  possessor. 
The  fact  that  Edward  was  wise  enough  to  grasp  the  opportunity  for  asserting 
his  intangible  claim  to  superiority  at  the  particular  time  when  every  one  of 
the  competitors  for  the  throne  was  willing  to  sacrifice  his  nation's  integrity 
for  personal  advantage  must  ever  be  considered  the  strongest  proof  of  his 
title  as  Lord  Paramount.  Had  his  successors  been  equally  fortunate  in  re- 
taining for  England  what  had  been  won  by  the  masterful  policy  of  this 
greatest  of  the  Edwards,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  justice  of  his  course  would  in 
later  ages  have  been  seriously  questioned. 

However,  the  international  code  of  his  age  admitted  not  only  the  right 
of  him  to  seize  who  had  the  power,  but  also  involved  the  necessity  for  him 
to  hold  that  could.  After  events  proved  the  inadequacy  of  Edward's  main 
title  to  superiority.  Hence  the  pursuit  of  the  English  claims  was  transferred 
from  the  field  to  the  study,  and  their  consideration  there  has  ever  since  been 
fruitful  of  many  ingenious  arguments. 

The  most  instructive  of  these  arguments,  for  the  light  it  throws  upon  the 
conditions  surrounding  the  presentation  of  the  original  English  claim  to 
the  sovereignty  of  Scotland,  is  that  of  Mr.  Edward  A.  Freeman,  contained 
in  the  first  volume  of  his  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  While  the  main 
point  at  issue  cannot  be  said  to  be  satisfactorily  established  by  Mr.  Free- 
man's argument,  yet  the  value  of  his  attempt  as  a  contribution  to  that 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        359 

part  of  Scottish  history  with  which  we  are  here  immediately  concerned  is 
very  great. 

Inasmuch  as  the  gist  of  Mr.  Freeman's  contention  as  to  the  ancient  vas- 
salage of  Scotia  proper  rests  upon  the  supposed  submission  of  Constantine 
II.  to  Edward  the  Elder  in  the  year  924,  considerable  importance  attaches  to 
the  record  of  that  event.  Indeed,  it  has  been  the  cause  of  continual  con- 
troversy between  the  writers  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  question  from  the 
time  when  King  Edward  first  made  his  claim  of  superiority  in  1290  down  to 
the  present  day.  The  passage  in  the  English  Chronicle  on  which  this  claim 
of  submission  is  based  reads  as  follows  :  "  924.  .  .  .  He  [Eadweard] 
went  thence  into  Peakland,  to  Bakewell,  and  commanded  a  Burh  to  be 
built  nigh  thereunto  and  manned.  And  then  chose  him  to  father  and 
lord  the  king  of  Scots,  and  the  whole  nation  of  the  Scots,  and  Ragnold,  and 
Eadulf's  son,  and  all  those  who  dwell  in  Northumbria,  as  well  English  as 
Danes,  and  Northmen,  and  others  ;  and  also  the  king  of  the  Strathclyde 
Welsh,  and  all  the  Strathclyde  Welsh."  This  passage  has  been  thor- 
oughly demolished  by  Mr.  E.  William  Robertson,  who  best  presents  the 
Scottish  side  of  the  case  in  his  essay  on  The  English  Claims.  While  it 
may  never  be  possible  to  get  an  unprejudiced  conclusion  as  to  the  merits  of 
the  case  from  an  English  or  Scottish  source,  we  submit  that  Mr.  Robertson's 
argument  has  so  far  destroyed  the  credibility  of  the  passage  in  the  English 
Chronicle,  on  which  that  of  Mr.  Freeman  mainly  rests,  as  to  render  it 
inadmissible  as  trustworthy  evidence.  In  consequence,  Mr.  Freeman's 
arguments,  being  based  upon  what  are,  to  say  the  least,  doubtful  and  un- 
certain premises,  cannot  be  given  that  consideration  to  which  their  com- 
prehensive statement  of  tenth-century  conditions  in  the  North,  and  the 
eminence  of  the  author,  would  otherwise  entitle  them. 

Mr.  Robertson's  particular  criticism  of  the  passage  in  question  is  as 
follows  : 

How  far  does  this  passage  agree  with  the  true  history  of  the  period  as  far 
as  that  can  be  ascertained  ?  Alfred's  rule  never  extended  over  the  Danes. 
When  Guthrum  and  his  Here  "  gave  hostages,  and  swore  with  many  oaths 
that  they  would  leave  his  kingdom"  the  agreement  was  fulfilled  by  their 
departure  from  Chippenham,  in  Wessex,  to  Cirencester  in  Mercia — across  the 
Thames, — and  though  Alfred's  kingdom  was  subsequently  enlarged,  at  his 
death  he  only  ruled  over  all  "Angel-cyn,  except  that  part  under  the  Danes." 
The  earlier  years  of  Edward  were  passed  in  frequent  struggles  against  the 
same  people,  nor  was  it  until  within  a  few  years  of  his  death  that  the  Danes 
of  Mercia  and  East  Anglia  "  sought  him  as  lord  " — the  Southumbrian  Danes, 
in  other  words,  for  all  the  early  authorities  agree  that  yEthelstan  was  the  first 
king  who  united  Angles,  Danes,  and  Britons  under  one  sceptre.  "In  uno 
solidantur  Britannidis  arva,"  wrote  ^Ethelwald,  profoundly  ignorant  of  the 
passage  which  now  appears  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  attributing  this  union  to 
Edward  ;  an  ignorance  in  which  the  author  of  the  old  poem  to  which 
Malmesbury  alludes  also  shared,  when  he  described  the  Northumbrian  Sitric 
as  one  "  qui  antecessorum  regum  potentiam  rugatis  naribus  derisissit."    The 


360  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

contempt  of  the  Northumbrian  Danes  for  the  authority  of  ^Ethelstan's  ances- 
tors is  scarcely  consistent  with  their  voluntary  submission  to  his  father  in 
the  preceding  year.  The  ignorance  of  the  earlier  authorities  about  this 
passage  is  justified  by  the  authentic  charters  of  the  reign  of  ^Ethelstan,  in 
which  the  names  of  the  Danish  Eorls  occur  for  the  first  time  amongst  the  attest- 
ing witnesses.  It  was  not  till  after  Sitric's  death  in  927  that  the  submission 
of  the  Northumbrian  Danes  to  an  Anglo-Saxon  king  was  first  brought  about, 
^thelstan  possessing  himself  of  the  kingdom  of  his  sister's  husband,  and 
defeating  all  the  attempts  of  Godfrey,  the  survivor  of  Ivar's  grandsons,  to 
establish  himself  in  the  territories  of  his  brothers. 

But  not  only  is  the  passage  inconsistent  with  the  history  of  the  period  as 
it  appears  to  have  been  known  to  the  earlier  authorities  of  the  tenth  century  ; 
it  contains  internal  evidence  of  its  untruth.  That  such  acts  of  submisssion 
were  made  upon  a  frontier  is  a  fact  notorious  from  all  the  tenor  of  contem- 
porary history  ;  and  when  Edward  received  the  submission  of  the  Southum- 
brian  Danes,  the  Eorls,  the  Holds,  and  the  Here  tendered  their  allegiance 
each  in  their  respective  neighborhood,  a  course  rendered  still  more  im- 
perative from  their  tendering  it  in  a  body,  according  to  the  older  form  of 
Leudisamium.  Every  Danish  freeman  swore  personally  to  be  true  to  his 
Anglo-Saxon  "  Hlaford  and  Mundbora"  and  the  oath  was  of  course  taken  at 
some  neighboring  place  at  which  every  freeholder  could  attend.  The 
words  which  Simeon  and  Florence  place  in  the  mouth  of  Malcolm  Cean- 
more  show  that,  in  the  opinion  of  that  age,  no  Scotttish  king  had  ever  met 
an  Anglo-Saxon  sovereign  except  upon  their  mutual  frontiers,  and  all  au- 
thentic history  proves  such  meetings  to  have  invariably  been  the  result  of  a 
march  to  the  north.  But  Bakewell  in  the  Peak  is  hardly  upon  the  Scottish, 
nor  even  upon  the  Northumbrian  frontiers,  and  the  construction  of  a  Burh 
in  the  north  of  Derbyshire  would  have  scarcely  brought  the  Danes  to  terms  ; 
much  less  would  it  have  gathered  the  whole  free  population  of  Scotland, 
Northumbria,  and  Strath-Clyde  around  their  respective  leaders,  to  take  the 
oaths  of  fealty  at  such  a  distance  from  their  homes,  and  to  place  themselves 
within  the  socn  of  the  English  king  ! 

Nor  is  this  all.  Three  years  before  his  supposed  appearance  at  Bakewell, 
Reginald  Hy  Ivar  was  in  his  grave.  The  Irish  Annals,  at  this  period  most 
accurate  and  trustworthy  authorities  in  all  connected  with  the  Hy  Ivar 
family,  place  his  death  in  921  (An.  Ult.  920). 4  Undoubtedly  the  English 
chronology  of  this  era  is  hopelessly  confused,  and  Florence  places  these 
events  under  that  year  ;  but  if  his  date  is  preferred,  the  last  three  and  most 
important  years  of  Edward's  reign  are  left  a  blank,  and  the  authority  of  the 
best  and  oldest  MSS.  of  the  Chronicle  must  be  impugned.  I  cannot  think 
that  this  is  necessary.  Edward  built  a  Burh  at  Bakewell  in  the  last  year  of 
his  reign,  and  the  chronicler  faithfully  recorded  it  as  his  latest  act ;  but  of 
the  vast  assemblage  of  all  Scotland,  Northumbria,  and  Strath-Clyde,  which 
gathered  around  that  place  to  tender  allegiance  to  Edward  as  their  overlord, 
both  king  and  chronicler  were  equally  ignorant. 

The  claims  grounded  in  the  feudal  era  on  the  chronicled  depend- 
ance  of  the  Scots  upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  monarchy  before  the  Conquest,  may 
be  said  to  rest  either  upon  passages  interpolated  in  a  true  text  ;  actual  for- 
geries and  fabrications  ;  or  else  upon  amplifications  and  exaggerations  of  the 
truth.  An  instance  of  the  first  class  is  afforded  in  Simeon  of  Durham,  ac- 
cording to  whose  authority  in  Twysden,  under  the  date  1059,  "  Kinsi,  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  Aylwin,  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  Tosti,  Earl  of  Yorkshire, 
conducted  King  Malcolm  to  King  Edward."      This  passage  is  correctly  de- 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        361 

scribed  in  Mon.  Hist.  Brit.,  p.  609,  as  entered  on  the  margin  of  the  MS.,  and 
as  Roger  Hoveden,  who,  at  the  opening  of  the  thirteenth  century,  copied  the 
whole  of  Simeon's  chronicle  word  for  word  into  his  own,  has  omitted  all 
notice  of  it,  the  entry — of  which  the  object  is  unmistakable — must  have  been 
added  to  the  original  MS.  at  a  very  late  date,  and,  once  incorporated  with 
the  body  of  the  work,  has  been  falsely  stamped  with  the  almost  contempo- 
rary authority  of  Simeon. 

The  reign  of  Edgar,  as  depicted  in  the  Anglo-Norman  chronicles,  is  fer- 
tile in  examples  of  the  second  description.  After  the  coronation  of  that 
king  at  Bath,  he  is  said  by  three  MSS.  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  to  have  sailed 
to  Chester,  where  he  was  met  by  six  kings,  who  all  pledged  themselves  to  be 
his  "  efen-wyrhtan,"  or  allies  by  sea  and  by  land.  ^thelward,  in  the 
chronicle  which  he  compiled  for  the  use  of  his  cousin,  the  Emperor  Otho's 
daughter,  though  he  alludes  to  Edgar's  coronation  in  973,  takes  no  notice  of 
the  meeting  at  Chester  ;  but  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  in  the  pages  of 
Florence  of  Worcester,  the  coronation,  which  alone  appears  to  have  stimu- 
lated the  poetic  energy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  bards,  is  completely  eclipsed  in 
importance  by  the  subsequent  progress  on  the  Dee.  Eight  kings  now  meet 
the  English  monarch,  rowing  him  submissively  to  the  monastery  of  St.  John, 
and  upon  his  return  to  his  palace,  Edgar  turns  to  his  nobles  with  the  remark 
that  none  of  his  successors  ought  to  vaunt  himself  king  of  the  Angles  until 
he  had  enjoyed  a  similar  triumph.  It  is  easier  to  understand  the  process 
by  which  the  six  kings  grew  into  eight,  with  Kenneth  of  Scotland  in  the 
van,  than  to  account  for  the  silence  of  the  contemporary  ^Ethelward,  and 
of  every  Saxon  chronicler  before  the  Conquest,  about  a  triumph  to  which 
Edgar  himself  is  supposed  to  have  attached  so  much  importance. 

In  his  anxiety  to  render  his  narrative  as  circumstantial  as  possible,  the 
original  framer  of  the  story  has  committed  the  error  of  naming  the  eight 
kings — Kenneth,  King  of  Scotland  ;  Malcolm,  King  of  the  Cumbrians  ;  Mac- 
cus,  King  of  the  Isles  ;  and  Duffnal,  Siferth,  Howel,  Jacob,  and  Jukill — thus 
laying  himself  open  to  be  convicted  of  inaccuracy.  There  could  have  been 
no  "  king  of  the  Cumbrians  "  at  this  time,  for  the  grant  of  Cumbra-land, 
made  to  Malcolm  the  First  in  945,  and  for  which  he  renewed  his  oaths  upon 
the  accession  of  Edred,  ceased  upon  the  death  of  the  Scottish  king,  and  the 
feudal  subinfeudation  of  that  province  as  a  fief  held  by  the  Scottish  Tanist  is 
totally  contrary  to  the  real  history  of  the  period.  Donald,  son  of  the  Eogan 
who  appears  to  have  fallen  at  Brunanburgh,  was  king  of  Strath-Clyde  during 
the  whole  of  Edgar's  reign,  dying  in  the  same  year  as  the  English  king, 
whilst  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  ;  and  if  the  "  rex  Cumbrorum  "  means 
"  king  of  Strath-Clyde,"  no  Malcolm  could  have  appeared  at  Chester  in  that 
capacity.  Malcolm,  King  of  the  Cumbrians,  is  indubitably  a  myth.  Of  the 
other  five  kings,  Siferth,  Howel,  and  Jacob  are  unquestionably  meant  for 
Jevaf  ap  Idwal,  his  son  Howel,  and  his  brother  Iago,  princes  of  North 
Wales  ;  and  Jukill,  or  Juthael,  may  be  intended  for  another  of  the  same 
race,  Idwal  ap  Idwal.  Five  years  before  the  meeting  at  Chester,  Jevaf  was 
imprisoned,  blinded,  and  hanged  by  his  brother  Iago,  and  could  scarcely 
have  been  in  a  condition  to  "grace  the  triumph  on  the  Dee."  The  name  of 
Duffnal  was  utterly  unknown  amongst  the  contemporary  princes  of  the 
Welsh,  and  is  only  applicable  to  the  king  of  Strath-Clyde,  adding  another 
element  to  the  confusion.  This  is  scarcely  the  handiwork  of  a  contemporary 
chronicler. 

The  five  princes  of  the  Welsh,  however,  had  not  yet  played  their  part,  for 
subsequently  to  the  earliest  edition  of  the  progress  on  the  Dee  it  became  the 


362  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

object  of  the  king  of  England  to  assert  the  dependence  of  the  lords  of  Gal- 
loway upon  his  crown,  and  accordingly  it  will  scarcely  excite  surprise  to  find 
that  province  enumerated  amongst  the  "  kingdoms  "  which  Roger  of  Wend- 
over  was  the  first  to  attach  to  their  names.  His  selection,  however,  was  most 
unfortunate,  for  to  Duffnal  he  has  given  South  Wales,  the  undoubted  appan- 
age of  Owen,  or  his  son  Einion,  of  the  family  of  Howel  Dha,  whilst  for  Gallo- 
way he  has  chosen  Iago,  as  unquestionably  a  prince  of  North  Wales.  With 
his  donation  of  Westmoreland  to  Jukill  I  need  hardly  interfere. 

Two  charters  are  connected  with  the  supposed  occurrences  of  this  period, 
both  of  which  have  been  condemned  as  spurious  by  Mr.  Kemble.  The  first 
was  evidently  intended  to  pass  for  a  donation  made  at  Edgar's  coronation, 
for  it  is  witnessed  by  the  eight  kings  "  at  Bath  in  the  Feast  of  Pentecost," 
but  dated  unluckily  in  966,  five  years  before  Kenneth  could  sign  himself 
"  Rex  Scotorum,"  or  Edgar  was  crowned  at  "  the  city  of  sick  men  !  "  The 
second  is  framed  far  more  skilfully,  but  bears  evident  marks  of  the  Norman 
era  of  its  composition  and  some  circumstances  connected  with  it  are  especially 
worthy  of  notice.  Malmesbury,  in  his  Antiquities  of  Glastonbury,  mentions 
certain  privileges  and  grants  made  to  the  monastery  by  Edgar,  and  the  text 
goes  on  thus:  "  Hoc  donum,  ne  instabile  vel  inglorium  sit,  lituo  eburneo, 
quern  linibus  auri  praetexebat,  super  altare  dato  confirmavit.  Dedit  etiam 
aliud  privelegium  in  hcec  verba — [here  follows  the  charter  in  question,  con- 
cluding] Acta  est  hcec  privelegii  pagina  et  confirmata  apud  Londonium  .  .  . 
anno  gj  1  indictione  14.  .  .  .  Ad  supplementum  vero  securitatis  ne  tanta 
liberalitas  nutaret,  Johanne  .  .  .  Papa  persuaso,  donum  suum  Apostolico 
suffulsit  edicto,  cujus  haec  est  series.  Noverit  cunctorum,  etc.  .  .  .  Actum 
tempore  Egelwardi,  ejusdem  monasterii  Abbatis,  hoc  Apostolicum  decretum 
anno  965."  In  other  words,  a  charter  dated  in  97 1  and  attested  amongst  other 
witnesses  by  Abbot  Sigegar,  was  confirmed  by  the  Pope  in  965,  in  the  time  of 
Sigegar's  predecessor,  Abbot  Aylward!  The  interpolation  is  unmistakable  ; 
but  by  omitting  the  words  in  italics,  the  sense  is  restored  as  Malmesbury 
wrote  it,  Edgar's  original  gift,  attested  by  placing  the  ivory  horn  on  the  altar, 
having  been  confirmed  by  the  Pope  in  965.  The  same  interpolation  is  trace- 
able in  nearly  every  MS.  of  the  Gesta  Regum,  in  which  this  identical  charter 
reappears,  to  be  invariably  confirmed  by  the  Pope  five  years  before  it  was 
granted  by  the  king.  It  would  be  unjust  to  attribute  this  questionable 
transaction  to  Malmesbury.  In  his  Gesta  Regum  he  writes  thus  :  "  Arturis 
sepulchrum  nusquam  visitur  unde  antiquitas  naeniarum  adhuc  eum  venturum 
fabulatur  "  ;  and  again,  in  a  passage  copied  from  his  Antiquities  of  Glaston- 
buryy  "  Illud  quod  pene  clam  omnibus  est,  libenter  praedicarem,  si  veritatem 
exculpere  possem,  quid  illse  pyramides  sibi  velint  quae  .  .  .  cimeterium 
monachorum  praetexant "  ;  yet  in  the  same  Antiquities  some  one  has  not 
hesitated  to  interpolate  the  following  :  "  Praetermitto  de  Arturo,  inclyto  rege 
Brittonum,  in  cimeterio  monachorum  inter  duas  Pyramides  cum  sua  conjuge 
tumulato  !  "  The  body  of  Arthur  was  discovered,  according  to  Wendover, 
in  1 191,  and  the  hand  of  Malmesbury  had  long  been  mouldering  in  the 
grave  when  this  passage,  and  the  charter,  of  which  he  was  equally  ignorant, 
were  inserted  in  his  works  by  some  unscrupulous  fabricator. 

Another  fabrication  which  has  been  inserted  amongst  the  events  of  this 
reign  is  the  cession  of  Lothian  to  Kenneth  of  Scotland,  to  be  held  of  the 
English  crown  as  a  hereditary  feudal  fief.  This  first  appears  in  the  pages 
generally  attributed  to  John  of  Wallingford,  who  filled  the  office  of  abbot  of 
St.  Albans — the  same  monastery  in  whose  chronicles  "  the  five  kings  "  first 
appear  with  kingdoms — from  1 195  to  12 14  ;  though  they  would  appear  rather 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        363 

to  have  been  the  work  of  another  John  of  Wallingford  who  died  in  1258. 
According  to  this  authority,  on  the  death  of  Osulf,  unwilling  that  any  part  of 
Northumbria  should  pass  hereditarily,  Edgar  created  an  earldom  for  Oslac, 
extending  from  Humber  to  Tees,  and  erected  the  sea-coast  of  Deiray 
reaching  from  Tees  to  Mireforth, — meaning  probably  the  Firth  of  Forth, — 
into  another  earldom  for  Eadulf  Ewelchild,  which  must  have  interfered  con- 
siderably with  the  grant  to  Oslac.  Lothian,  always  open  to  the  incursions 
of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  was  little  cared  for  by  the  English  kings,  and  Kenneth, 
hearing  of  the  liberality  of  Edgar,  and  hoping  to  profit  by  it,  was  conducted 
to  the  English  court  by  the  two  earls  and  Elfsi,  Bishop  of  Durham — a  pro- 
ceeding not  a  little  suggestive  of  the  marginal  addition  to  Simeon  of  Durham, 
to  which  allusion  has  been  already  made.  Arrived  there,  Kenneth  suggests 
to  Edgar  that  this  neglected  Lothian  had  always  belonged  of  hereditary 
right  to  the  kings  of  Scotland,  a  claim  which  Edgar  refers  to  his  council, 
who  assent  to  it,  with  the  reservation  that  it  was  always  held  by  homage, 
assigning  as  a  reason  that  it  was  a  worthless  province,  and  difficult  of  access 
to  defend.  Kenneth  accordingly  consents  to  hold  Lothian  as  a  fief  "  sub 
nomine  homagii  .  .  .  sicque  determinata  vetus  querela  de  Louthian,  et 
adhuc  nova  saepe  intentatur." 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  about  a  tale  so  redolent  of  the  age  in 
which  it  was  first  put  forth,  that  it  will  not  be  found  in  a  single  authority  of 
an  earlier  date  than  the  thirteenth  century.  Every  chronicler  before  that 
epoch,  Norman  as  well  as  Saxon,  was  ignorant  of  "  the  old  quarrel  about 
Lothian,"  yet  it  is  strange  that  JSthelward,  at  least,  should  not  have  cele- 
brated its  cession  during  his  kinsman's  reign  in  some  of  those  unpolished 
periods  that  excited  the  contemptuous  pity  of  the  fastidious  Malmesbury. 
Simeon,  the  best  authority  for  Northumbrian  history,  writing  a  hundred 
years  and  upwards  before  Wallingford,  tells  how  Lothian  was  ceded  to  the 
Scots  through  the  pusillanimity  of  Eadulf  Cudel  in  the  days  of  Canute, 
ignorant  alike  of  the  previous  cession  to  Kenneth  and  of  the  existence  of 
1  the  old  quarrel "  in  the  time  of  Edgar.  Yet  Simeon's  earls — Osulf,  Oslac, 
Waltheof,Uchtred — are  historical  characters,  whose  names  appear  in  authentic 
charters  ;  "  Oslac  Eorl  with  the  Here  dwelling  in  the  Eorldordom  "  is  men- 
tioned in  the  laws  of  Edgar,  but  the  name  of  his  companion  in  the  pages  of 
Wallingford,  Eadulf  Ewelchild,  is  never  found  except  in  two  spurious 
charters — once  in  the  appropriate  company  of  another  myth,  Malcolm  Dux, — 
and,  in  fact,  is  nothing  else  than  a  blundering  attempt  at  adapting  the  real 
ceder  of  Lothian,  Child  Eadulf  Cudel,  to  the  time  of  Edgar  as  Eadulf  Ewel- 
child. Wendover  has  improved  upon  the  account  attributed  to  his  abbot, 
mentioning  the  conditions  on  which  Lothian  was  to  be  held:  Kenneth  and 
his  successors  were  to  attend  the  court  of  the  English  kings  on  every  solemn 
festival  when  the  latter  "  wore  the  crown,"  and  mansiones  were  assigned  for 
the  support  of  the  Scottish  train  on  these  continual  progresses,  which 
remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Scottish  kings  until  the  reign  of  Henry  the 
Second.  The  addition  of  Wendover,  with  the  mansiones  held  to  the  days  of 
the  second  Henry,  was  purposely  framed  to  correspond  with  the  supposed 
cession  of  Lothian,  which  the  same  chronicler  has  added  to  the  fiefs  sur- 
rendered by  Malcolm  IV.  to  the  English  king  in  1157;  a  cession  which  has 
not  only  been  overlooked  by  every  contemporary  authority,  but  was  also 
totally  ignored  by  the  English  kings  themselves,  who  showed  an  unaccount- 
able negligence  in  exercising  the  right,  which  they  would  unquestionably 
have  acquired  by  such  an  act,  of  summoning  the  baronage  of  the  Lothians 
to  perform  the  military  service  due  to  their  English  overlord. 


364  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXII 

1  "  1224.  Reginald  [King  of  the  Isles],  taking  with  him  Alan,  lord  of  Galloway,  with 
the  Manks,  proceeded  to  the  insular  parts  ;  that  the  part  of  the  land  which  he  had  given  to 
Olave  his  brother  he  might  take  from  him  and  subjugate  it  to  his  own  dominion.  But  foras- 
much as  the  Manks  did  not  choose  to  fight  against  Olave  or  the  islanders,  because  they  loved 
them,  Reginald  and  Alan,  doing  no  good,  returned  home.  After  a  short  time,  Reginald, 
under  pretence  of  going  to  the  court  of  the  lord  the  king  of  England,  received  from  the 
people  of  Man  one  hundred  marks,  and  proceeded  to  the  court  of  Alan  lord  of  Galloway. 
At  the  same  time  he  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the  son  of  Alan  ;  which  the  Manks 
hearing  were  very  angry,  and  sending  for  Olave  constituted  him  their  king. 

"  1228.  Olave,  with  all  the  great  men  of  Man,  and  the  braver  part  of  the  people  sailed 
to  the  Isles.  Shortly  after,  Alan,  lord  of  Galloway,  and  Thomas,  earl  of  Athol,  and 
Reginald  the  king,  came  to  Man  with  a  great  army,  wasted  all  the  southern  part  of  Man,  and 
plundered  churches,  and  killed  as  many  men  as  they  could  take  ;  and  the  southern  part  of 
Man  was  reduced  almost  into  a  desert :  And  after  this  Alan  returned  with  his  army  into  his 
own  land,  and  left  his  bailiffs  in  Man,  who  should  render  him  the  tribute  of  the  country." — 
Chron.  Regum  Mannice. 

2  The  Norman  barons  divided  the  territory  between  them;  "but,"  we  are  told  in  the 
Chronicle  of  Melrose,  "  the  inhabitants  of  that  land  preferring  one  master  rather  than  several 
went  to  our  lord  the  king  with  the  request  that  he  himself  would  accept  the  lordship  of  that 
inheritance,  but  the  king  was  too  just  to  do  this.  Thereupon  the  Galwegians  were  angry 
beyond  measure,  and  prepared  for  war.  Moreover,  they  devastated  with  fire  and  sword  some 
of  the  royal  lands  contiguous  to  themselves,"  and  the  king  resolved  to  make  a  final  effort  to 
reduce  it  entirely  to  obedience. 

"  In  the  following  year  our  lord  the  king,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  mustered  an  army,  and 
entered  Galloway.  Having  reached  a  spot  convenient  for  the  purpose,  he  determined  there 
to  pitch  his  tents,  for  the  day  was  now  drawing  toward  evening.  The  Galwegians,  however, 
who  had  all  day  been  hiding  among  the  mountains,  knew  the  place  better,  and,  trusting  to 
their  local  acquaintance  with  its  difficulties,  offered  the  king  battle.  In  truth,  the  place  was 
filled  with  bogs,  which  were  covered  over  with  grass  and  flowers,  amongst  which  the  larger 
portion  of  the  royal  army  had  involved  itself.  At  the  beginning  of  the  battle  the  earl  of  Ross, 
called  Makintagart,  came  up  and  attacked  the  enemies  in  the  rear,  and  as  soon  as  they 
perceived  this  they  took  to  flight,  and  retreated  into  the  woods  and  mountains,  but  they  were 
followed  up  by  the  earl  and  several  others,  who  put  many  of  them  to  the  sword,  and  harassed 
them  as  long  as  daylight  lasted.  On  the  next  day  the  king,  acting  upon  his  accustomed 
humanity,  extended  his  peace  to  as  many  as  came  to  him,  and  so  the  surviving  Galwegians, 
with  ropes  around  their  necks,  accepted  his  offer." 

*The  time  of  peace  with  England,  of  plenty  in  the  land,  of  foreign  trade  flourishing,  of 
internal  peace,  of  law  and  justice,  was  the  period  of  a  full  century  following  the  treaty 
between  William  the  Lion  and  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  comprehending  the  reign  of  William 
and  the  long  reigns  of  the  second  and  third  Alexanders. — Cosmo  Innes,  Scotland  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  p.  296. 

In  a  material  point  of  view,  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  Scotland  at  the  death  of  King 
Alexander  III.  was  more  civilized  and  more  prosperous  than  at  any  period  of  her  existence, 
down  to  the  time  when  she  ceased  to  be  a  separate  kingdom  in  1707. — Innes,  Sketches  of 
Early  Scottish  History  and  Social  Progress,  p.  157. 

"  Castles,  which  had  begun  to  be  erected  in  the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  were  rapidly 
multiplied  by  those  Norman  barons  and  their  followers,  who,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
obtained  large  grants  of  land  from  the  Scottish  monarchs.  Various  strongholds  along  the  sea- 
coasts,  supposed  to  have  been  built  by  the  Vikings,  as  well  as  cells  or  religious  houses,  are 
known  to  have  previously  existed.     But  it  was  chiefly  under  the  protection  of  the  baronial 


Second  and  Third  Alexanders  to  John  Baliol        365 

towers  that  hamlets  and  towns  sprung  up  ;  and  in  less  than  two  centuries  a  vast  change  was 
produced.  Ayrshire,  notwithstanding  the  attachment  of  the  inhabitants  to  their  Celtic  habits, 
seems  to  have  made  considerable  progress  in  the  new  order  of  things,  though  most  of  the 
towns  and  principal  villages  are  of  Celtic  origin  :  for  example,  Ayr,  Irvine,  Kilmarnock,  Kil- 
maurs,  Mauchline,  Ochiltree,  Auchinleck,  Cumnock,  Ballantrae,  Girvan,  Maybole,  &c,  no 
doubt  took  their  rise  prior  to  the  Saxon  era  of  our  history.  Those  of  more  recent  times  are 
easily  known  by  the  Teutonic  affix  tun  or  ton.  They  are  ten  in  number  :  Coylton,  Dalmel- 
lington,  Galston,  Monkton,  Richarton,  Stevenston,  Stewarton,  Straiton,  Symington,  and 
Tarbolton  ;  and  even  these  are  not  all  wholly  Saxon.     ,     .     . 

' '  Though  it  is  thus  apparent  that  the  majority  of  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  county 
took  their  rise  in  Celtic  times,  and  while  the  Gaelic  continued  to  be  the  prevailing  language, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  introduction  of  foreigners,  especially  the  mercantile  Flem- 
ings, whom  the  mistaken  policy  of  the  English  monarchs  drove  from  the  south,  tended  greatly 
to  promote  that  mercantile  prosperity  for  which  the  country  was  distinguished  in  the  reign  of 
Alexander.  In  ship-building,  in  fishing,  in  agriculture,  and  commerce,  Scotland  was  con- 
siderably in  advance  of  England  in  the  twelfth  century.  The  Saxons,  Flemings,  and  other 
foreigners,  are  known  to  have  been  settled  chiefly  in  the  towns  ;  yet,  in  Aryshire  at  least,  they 
seem  to  have  constituted  but  a  small  body  in  comparison  with  the  other  inhabitants.  The 
names,  so  far  as  they  have  been  preserved  in  the  municipal  records  of  Ayr,  for  instance,  show 
that  Celtic  patronymics  were  by  far  the  most  numerous." — Paterson,  History  of  the  County  of 
Ayr,  pp.,  22,  23. 

4  Mr.  Robertson  was  not  the  first  to  see  the  fatal  objection  to  the  statement  in  the  Saxon 
Chronicle  that  Regnwald,  king  of  Northumbria,  took  Eadward  for  his  father  and  lord  in  924, 
while  he  died  in  921.  Florence  of  Worcester  saw  it  before  him,  and  places  the  event  under 
the  year  921.  The  most  recent  discussion  of  the  question  of  the  English  Supremacy  is  that 
by  Mr.  Charles  Truman  Wyckoff,  entitled,  Feudal  Relations  between  the  Kings  of  England 
and  Scotland,     Chicago  University  Press,  1897. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

WALLACE  AND  BRUCE 

IN  accordance  with  Edward's  order,  the  accession  of  Baliol  to  the  crown  of 
Scotland  was  followed  by  a  transfer  of  the  right  of  final  appeal  from 
the  Scottish  to  the  English  king  in  all  causes  brought  in  the  courts  of  Scot- 
land. The  first  important  case  to  come  up  after  this  arrangement  had  been 
made  was  one  relating  to  the  lands  of  Duncan  MacDuff,  then  a  minor,  whose 
guardian  had  been  dispossessed  by  Baliol,  and  imprisoned.  The  guardian 
appealed  to  the  Lord  Paramount,  and  the  Scottish  king  was  summoned  to 
appear  before  Edward  and  answer  his  complaint.  This  Baliol  failed  to  do, 
and  a  second  summons  was  sent.  Baliol  appeared.  When  questioned  in 
regard  to  MacDuff' s  cause,  he  replied  that  he  was  king  of  Scotland,  and 
could  not  answer  without  the  advice  of  his  people.  When  reminded  that  he 
was  Edward's  liegeman  and  angrily  questioned  by  his  master,  Baliol  per- 
sisted in  his  refusal  to  answer  without  the  advice  of  his  counsellors.  The 
English  Parliament  then  adjudged  him  guilty  of  contempt  ;  and,  as  a  pen- 
alty, ordered  that  the  three  principal  castles  of  Scotland  be  surrendered  to 
King  Edward.  The  latter,  however,  wishing  to  avert  an  open  conflict  at 
that  time,  stayed  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  until  the  following  year. 
When  the  English  Parliament  met  again  in  May,  1294,  Baliol  appeared,  and 
apparently  made  his  peace.  A  war  with  France  having  broken  out  in  the 
meantime,  Baliol  likewise  agreed  to  yield  up  the  entire  revenues  of  his 
English  possessions  for  three  years  to  assist  in  fighting  the  French. 

Edward  ordered  an  embargo  to  be  laid  on  all  vessels  trading  at  Scottish 
ports  ;  but  this  was  evaded  by  the  Scots,  and  that  nation  made  a  secret 
treaty  of  alliance  with  Philip,  King  of  France.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
next  year  (1295)  Baliol,  moreover,  engaged  with  King  Philip  to  assist  him 
with  his  whole  power  in  case  Edward  invaded  France  ;  while  the  French 
king  agreed,  on  his  part,  to  render  like  succor  to  Baliol  if  the  English  should 
enter  Scotland. 

March  26,  1296,  the  king  of  the  Scots  having  assembled  a  large  force, 
and  relying  too  strongly  upon  the  fair  promises  of  his  new  ally,  began  open 
hostilities  against  the  English  by  an  invasion  of  Cumberland.  He  assaulted 
Carlisle,  but  was  obliged  to  retreat  without  effecting  its  reduction.  About 
ten  days  later  his  army  entered  Northumberland,  whence,  after  burning 
some  ecclesiastical  posts  and  making  an  unsuccessful  attempt  against  the 
castle  of  Harbottle,  it  retired  empty-handed.  Edward,  in  the  meantime,  led 
a  strong  sea  and  land  force  against  Berwick.  After  capturing  that  town 
and  butchering  the  garrison  and  inhabitants,1  he  forced  the  capitulation  of 
the  castle.    Baliol  at  this  time  formally  renounced  his  allegiance  to  Edward. 

366 


Wallace  and  Bruce  367 

The  latter  soon  afterwards  sent  a  strong  body  of  troops  under  Earl  War- 
ren to  invest  Dunbar  Castle  ;  and  the  Scottish  army,  marching  to  its  relief, 
encountered  the  English  before  that  stronghold.  Warren's  forces  repulsed 
and  defeated  the  Scots  with  great  slaughter.  King  Edward  and  the  remainder 
of  his  army  coming  up  the  next  day,  the  garrison  of  the  castle  surrendered. 
Roxburgh  Castle  was  soon  afterwards  yielded  up  to  the  English  by  James, 
the  Steward  of  Scotland.  The  castles  of  Edinburgh  and  Stirling  were  like- 
wise surrendered  with  little  resistance.  These  operations  placed  Edward  in 
control  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  before  the  middle  of  the  following  July  (1296) 
Baliol  surrendered,  acknowledged  himself  a  rebel,  went  through  a  humiliat- 
ing public  penance,  and  resigned  the  government  of  Scotland  entirely  to 
Edward. 

The  English  king  now  proceeded  through  Scotland  as  far  north  as  Moray 
Firth,  and  all  classes  of  the  inhabitants  came  forward  at  his  stopping-places 
and  swore  fealty  to  their  new  master.  The  detailed  record  of  this  and  the 
previous  submissions  has  been  preserved  to  us  in  the  so-called  "  Ragman 
Roll,"  which  contains  numerous  and  lengthy  lists  of  the  names  of  those 
who  thus  subjected  themselves  to  King  Edward  during  the  time  of  his 
sovereignty  over  Scotland.2 

Edward  appointed  John  de  Warren,  Earl  of  Surrey,  as  governor  of 
Scotland  and  returned  into  England. 

Not  long  afterwards,  the  peace  of  the  newly  established  English  depend- 
ency was  disturbed  by  rumors  of  disorders  in  the  west.  It  was  said  that 
one  William  Wallace,  a  native  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Strathclyde,3  had 
there  slain  the  sheriff  of  Lanark,  a  high  officer  of  the  English  crown. 
Having  committed  some  offence  for  which  he  became  an  object  of  suspicion 
to  the  English  authorities,  according  to  the  legendary  accounts,  the  sheriff  of 
Lanark  attacked  his  place  of  abode  and  killed  his  wife  or  mistress.  Wallace 
is  said  to  have  retaliated  by  killing  the  sheriff,  and  thus  to  have  become  an 
outlaw.  Associating  with  himself  some  friends  of  kindred  spirit,  he  soon  gave 
the  English  authorities  more  abundant  cause  for  believing  him  to  be  a  man 
of  desperate  character.  Having  received  numerous  accessions  to  his  little 
band  of  warriors,  and  aided  by  the  presence  and  support  of  a  brave  knight 
named  Sir  William  Douglas,  Wallace,  in  May,  1297,  planned  to  capture  the 
English  High  Justiciary,  who  was  then  holding  his  court  at  Scone  (Perth). 
That  official  saved  himself  from  being  taken  by  a  hurried  departure  from 
the  country.  Thereupon,  a  season  of  war  and  anarchy  ensued  in  western 
Scotland.  Armed  bands  ravaged  the  country,  killing  and  driving  out 
the  English  officials  ;  and,  where  there  was  show  of  success,  storming  and 
destroying  their  abodes.  The  insurrection  seems  to  have  arisen  mainly 
in  the  western  Lowlands,  in  that  district  comprising  Galloway  and  Strath- 
clyde, which  had  ever  been  the  most  turbulent  and  troublesome  part  of  the 
kingdom  south  of  the  Highlands.  Toward  Galloway  the  most  of  the  rebel- 
lious bands  accordingly  made  their  way.     Many  of  the  Scottish  barons  also 


368  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

joined  the  standard  of  revolt,  among  them  being  Robert  Wisheart,  Bishop 
of  Glasgow  ;  Alexander  de  Lindesay,  the  Steward  of  Scotland  and  his 
brother,  Sir  Richard  Lundin,  and  Robert  de  Brus  (Bruce).  The  patriots 
soon  had  a  considerable  army  gathered,  which  was  posted  in  the  vicinity  of 
Irvine  in  Ayrshire.  Here,  Henry  de  Percy,  having  marched  to  the  scene  of 
the  uprising  with  a  considerable  force,  found  them. 

By  reason  of  the  jealousies  entertained  by  many  of  the  Scottish  nobles 
against  one  another,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  offer  effective  resistance 
to  the  experienced  and  disciplined  soldiers  of  England.  Eventually  all  but 
one  of  the  barons  withdrew  from  the  Scottish  army  with  their  followers 
and  again  submitted  to  Edward.4  That  monarch  pardoned  them,  and  also 
released  such  of  the  nobles  as  he  had  imprisoned  during  the  former  year. 

In  William  Wallace,  however,  his  countrymen  found  the  incarnation  of 
all  those  noble  and  heroic  traits  apotheosized  in  the  reputed  character  of  the 
mythical  Tell.  Scorning  submission  to  the  English,  resolutely  determined 
to  free  his  country  from  Edward's  grasp,  and  perhaps  lacking  only  the  op- 
portunity to  mete  out  fitting  punishment  to  those  barons  who  had  deserted 
their  nation's  cause,6  Wallace  did  not  for  a  moment  relax  his  efforts  to 
make  the  revolution  general,  nor  cease  in  his  hostile  operations  against  the 
invaders.  Notwithstanding  the  defection  of  the  barons,  his  army  continued 
daily  to  increase  in  strength  and  numbers.  He  laid  siege  to  the  castle  of 
Dundee.  While  there,  he  received  intelligence  of  the  English  army's 
movement  toward  Stirling.  Hastening  with  all  his  forces  to  the  pass- 
age of  the  Forth,  he  there  posted  his  troops  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river 
and  prepared  to  intercept  the  progress  of  the  enemy.  On  September  12, 
1297,  the  English  approached,  fifty  thousand  strong,"  and  attempted  to  cross 
over  on  the  long,  narrow  bridge  which  at  that  place  spanned  the  channel. 
They  were  led  by  Hugh  de  Cressingham,  King  Edward's  Treasurer  for 
Scotland.  A  considerable  body,  consisting  of  about  half  the  English  force, 
soon  passed  the  bridge,  and  then  made  ready  to  form  on  the  other  side. 
Wallace,  awaiting  this  opportunity,  instantly  pounced  down  upon  them  with 
the  Scots,  cut  off  their  communication  with  the  other  side,  and  at  once 
charged  on  the  divided  body  with  all  his  forces.  Taking  them  at  such  a  dis- 
advantage, his  onslaught  was  irresistible  and  proved  sufficient  to  carry  the 
day.  Cressingham  was  slain  ;  his  troops  were  mown  down  like  blades  of 
grass  ;  and  such  as  escaped  death  by  the  sword  were  pushed  into  the  river 
and  drowned.  A  panic  seized  the  remainder  of  the  English  soldiers  on  the 
south  bank  of  the  river.  They  burned  the  bridge,  abandoned  their  baggage, 
fled  in  terror  to  Berwick,  hastened  on  into  England,  and  Scotland  was  once 
more  free. 

This  brilliant  success  was  immediately  followed  by  the  surrender  of 
Dundee  Castle  and  the  evacuation  of  Berwick  ;  and  then  Wallace  led  his 
victorious  army  into  England  and  wasted  all  the  country  as  far  south  as 
Newcastle.     Soon    returning,  he  organized  a  regency,  proclaimed   himself 


Wallace  and  Bruce  369 

governor  of  Scotland  in  the  name  of  King  John  de  Baliol  (then  a  prisoner 
in  England),  and  assumed  and  administered  the  government. 

During  the  progress  of  these  operations  Edward  had  been  absent  in 
Flanders.  Upon  his  return  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1298,  having  first 
vainly  summoned  the  Scottish  barons  to  meet  him  in  a  Parliament  at  York, 
he  assembled  an  army  and  marched  toward  the  Border.7  At  this  time,  as 
we  have  seen,  Wallace  had  the  active  support  of  but  a  few  of  the  Scottish 
noblemen,  the  great  majority  being  deterred  from  taking  up  arms  through 
fear  of  Edward  or  by  reason  of  their  jealousy  of  Wallace.  Among  his  fol- 
lowers, however,  were  John  Comyn  of  Badenoch,  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Bon- 
kill,  brother  to  the  Steward,  Sir  John  Graham  of  Abercorn,  Macduff,  the 
granduncle  of  the  Earl  of  Fife,  and  young  Robert  Bruce,  Earl  of  Carrick. 
The  leader  last  named  guarded  the  castle  of  Ayr. 

Edward  first  sent  a  fleet  around  through  the  Firth  of  Forth  under  the 
command  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke.  A  landing  was  made  in  Fife,  where 
Wallace  attacked  and  defeated  the  force  in  the  battle  of  Black  Ironside 
Forest,  June  12,  1298.8 

Edward,  meanwhile  having  occupied  Berwick,  advanced  to  the  vicinity 
of  Edinburgh,  the  Scots  retiring  before  him  and  wasting  the  country  as  they 
proceeded,  in  order  that  it  might  afford  no  subsistence  to  their  enemy. 
Having  despatched  a  fleet  with  provisions,  to  pass  around  the  north  of  Scot- 
land and  down  to  the  mouth  of  the  Clyde,  Edward  made  ready  to  march 
into  the  West.  The  fleet  being  delayed,  however,  he  did  not  deem  it  safe  to 
proceed  ;  and,  his  supplies  running  low,  he  was  forced  to  order  a  retreat  to 
the  eastern  border.  The  Scots  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  condition 
in  which  the  English  army  was  now  placed,  and  advanced  in  considerable 
force  to  the  vicinity  of  Falkirk.  Edward,  changing  his  plans,  immediately 
marched  against  them.  The  armies  met  at  Falkirk,  July  22,  1298.  Wal- 
lace's army  was  composed  mainly  of  spearmen  and  bowmen,  who  were 
sustained  by  a  body  of  but  a  thousand  horsemen.  The  English  relied  chiefly 
upon  their  cavalry.  At  the  first  encounter  the  Scottish  cavalry,  many  times 
outnumbered  by  that  of  the  English,  became  panic-stricken  and  fled.  Then 
the  Scotch  archers  were  soon  decimated  by  the  incessant  discharge  of  stones 
and  arrows  on  the  part  of  the  English  infantry  ;  and  the  spearmen,  having 
no  support  from  cavalry  or  archers,  had  their  front  broken  by  the  fierce  and 
repeated  onslaughts  of  Edward's  horse.  In  the  end  a  complete  defeat  and 
rout  ensued,  the  Scottish  loss  being  exceedingly  great." 

Edward  now  marched  into  the  West,  stopping  first  to  repair  Stirling  Cas- 
tle which  had  been  burned  by  the  Scots,  and  then  proceeding  into  Annan- 
dale.  At  his  approach,  it  is  said,  Bruce  burned  the  castle  of  Ayr  and 
retired.10  Edward  thereupon  seized  Bruce's  castle  of  Lochmaben  in  Dumfries, 
wherein  were  confined  the  hostages  given  in  1297  as  pledges  for  the  loyalty 
of  Galloway." 

Crossing  the  Solway,  the  English  king  and  his  army  now  passed  out  of 
24 


370  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Scotland.  He  returned  again,  however,  by  the  Western  Marches  in  1300, 
and  completely  subdued  Dumfriesshire  and  Galloway. 

After  the  disastrous  defeat  at  Falkirk,  Wallace  resigned  his  office  as 
governor  of  Scotland,  and  in  the  summer  of  1299,  William  Lamberton, 
Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  Robert  Bruce,  Earl  of  Carrick,  and  John  Comyn  of 
Badenoch,  the  younger,  were  chosen  guardians  of  the  kingdom  in  his  place. 
Soon  afterwards  they  besieged  and  took  Stirling  Castle.  From  this  time  on 
the  name  of  Wallace  as  a  national  leader  disappears  from  the  records  of 
the  councils  and  conflicts  of  Scotland. 

After  Edward  had  again  conquered  the  greater  part  of  the  kingdom,  he 
assembled  a  Parliament  at  St.  Andrews  which  pronounced  sentence  of  out- 
lawry against  Scotland's  hero,  and  a  price  was  set  upon  his  head.  Wallace 
was  afterwards  betrayed  to  the  English,  in  1303,  by  a  false  friend,  Sir 
John,  son  of  Walter  Stewart,  Earl  of  Mentieth.  Having  been  arraigned  at 
Westminster  as  a  traitor  to  Edward  and  a  destroyer  of  the  lives  and  prop- 
erty of  many  of  the  English  king's  subjects,  he  was  sentenced  to  death, 
August  23,  1305,  and  immediately  executed  under  circumstances  of  the  most 
barbaric  and  revolting  cruelty. 

He  was  first  hung  up,  but  cut  down  alive  ;  and  then  disembowelled  and 
the  contents  of  his  abdomen  burned  before  his  face.  The  executioner  then 
beheaded  him  and  his  body  was  quartered.  One  arm  was  sent  to  Newcas- 
tle and  there  fixed  above  the  bridge  ;  another  was  sent  to  Berwick  ;  the 
right  leg  was  exposed  at  Perth,  and  the  left  at  Aberdeen.  His  head  Edward 
caused  to  be  set  on  a  pole  and  raised  above  London  Bridge. 

Shocking  as  the  recital  of  these  atrocities  may  be,  they  had  altogether  a 
contrary  effect  from  the  one  intended  by  their  perpetrator.  Instead  of 
striking  terror  to  the  hearts  of  Scotland's  friends,  they  excited  only  feelings 
of  profound  pity  for  the  martyred  patriot,  and  engendered  a  deep-seated 
resentment  against  their  cruel  and  merciless  perpetrator. 

Wallace's  torture  added  one  more  item,  and  that  a  very  heavy  one,  to 
the  list  of  Scottish  grievances  against  the  English.  No  doubt  it  had  a  full 
and  lasting  effect  in  arousing  the  national  spirit  for  that  supreme  contest  with 
the  invaders  which  almost  immediately  followed.  Thus  even  by  his  death 
Wallace  served  the  cause  of  his  country  in  a  degree  by  no  means  the  least. 

We  now  approach  the  most  interesting  period  of  Scotland's  early  history. 
It  is  one  in  which  for  the  first  time  become  apparent  the  evidences  of  the 
gradual  amalgamation  of  the  many  dissimilar  racial  elements  composing  its 
population  into  one  compact  and  united  whole.  The  Scottish  people  as 
known  in  modern  times  may  be  said  to  date  their  national  existence  from 
their  War  of  Independence.  For  two  hundred  years  before  the  year  1314, 
Scotland  was  composed  of  a  series  of  petty  subkingdoms  under  the  rule  of 
powerful  barons,  who  had  practically  sovereign  authority  over  their  respec- 
tive territories.  It  is  true  they  all  owned  allegiance  to  the  reigning  king  ; 
but  unless  that  overlord  was  himself  a  most  capable  and  resourceful  leader 


Wallace  and  Bruce  371 

his  government  was  little  more  than  a  nominal  one.  The  nobles  were  bound 
to  furnish  the  king  with  an  agreed  number  of  soldiers  in  case  of  war,  but 
their  own  jurisdiction  over  the  rights  and  liberties  of  their  vassals  and  fol- 
lowers was  well-nigh  supreme.  Indeed,  this  authority  continued,  though  in 
a  more  restricted  degree,  for  nearly  two  centuries  after  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  time  of  the  later  Stuarts  that  the  power 
of  the  nobles  was  appreciably  lessened.  The  career  of  Wallace,  however, 
and  the  success  of  his  volunteer  armies  is  the  first  recorded  instance  we 
have  of  any  great  national  assertion  on  the  part  of  the  people  themselves, 
aside  from  the  personal  wars  of  their  hereditary  masters.12 

The  period  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  also  marks  the  close  in  Scotland  of  the 
Feudal  Era,  which  had  been  inaugurated  by  David  and  his  successors  some- 
what more  than  a  century  before.  The  plan  of  campaigning  necessarily 
carried  on  by  the  Scots  in  their  contests  with  the  vastly  superior  forces  of 
Edward's  armored  knights  was  probably  the  inception  in  Great  Britain  of 
our  modern  system  of  warfare,  wherein  more  attention  is  paid  to  ensuring 
the  intelligence  and  efficiency  of  the  individual  soldier  in  the  ranks,  together 
with  his  proper  arming,  than  to  the  construction  of  massive  fortifications  or 
the  glorification  of  knightly  valor. 

To  this  end,  Bruce  set  a  notable  example  by  appearing  at  the  battle  of 
Bannockburn  practically  without  armor,  and  inaugurating  that  contest  by 
crushing,  with  a  single  blow  of  his  axe,  the  heavily  armored  English  knight 
who  rode  out  from  the  ranks  to  oppose  him.  And  on  the  death  of  King 
Robert,  after  Scotland  had  finally  established  her  independence,  he  is  said 
to  have  left  a  memorable  legacy  to  his  fellow-countrymen  ;  one  which  has 
never  been  made  use  of  by  them  but  with  advantage.  This  was  in  the  shape 
of  a  code  of  rules  or  instructions  for  the  defence  of  their  mountainous 
kingdom  from  the  invasions  of  the  English  ;  and  it  has  come  down  to  us  in 
the  following  modified  form,  styled  "  Good  King  Robert's  Testament "  : 

On  fut  suld  all  Scottis  weire 
Be  hyll  and  mosse  thaimself  to  weire, 
Let  wod  for  wallis  be  bow  and  speire 
That  innymeis  do  thaim  na  dreire  ; 
In  strait  placis  gar  keip  all  stoire, 
And  byrn  the  planen  land  thaim  befoire  ; 
Thanen  sail  they  pass  away  in  haist 
Quhen  that  they  find  naithing  bot  waist, 
With  wyllis  and  waikenen  of  the  nicht 
And  mekill  noyes  maid  on  hycht, 
Thanen  sail  they  turnen  with  great  affrai, 
As  they  were  chasit  with  swerd  away, 
This  is  the  counsall  and  intent 
Of  gud  King  Robert's  testament. 

From  this  stage  of  our  narrative  we  may  begin  to  make  use  of  the  con- 
temporary  chronicles   of   native   origin  ;    inasmuch   as  Scotland's   earliest 


372  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

historians  belong  to  the  fourteenth  century.  As  the  period  now  under 
consideration  is  one  of  extreme  interest,  it  merits  a  more  detailed  examina- 
tion than  can  be  given  in  a  sketch  like  the  present.  The  latest  and  best 
account  of  Bruce  and  of  the  Scottish  War  of  Independence  is  that  of  Herbert 
Maxwell  (New  York  and  London,  1897).  For  our  purpose,  however,  we 
may  view  Bruce's  career  and  the  events  succeeding  from  the  standpoint  of 
Fordun's  Annals.  Before  doing  this  it  may  be  well  to  examine  briefly  the 
sources  from  which  his  history  is  drawn,  and  also  to  glance  at  some  of  the 
authorities  for  the  preceding  and  subsequent  periods. 

The  materials  for  Scottish  history  of  the  middle  ages  are  to  be  found 
mainly  in  the  writings  of  the  early  chroniclers,  Scottish  and  English,  in  the 
registers  and  chartularies  of  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  establishments,  many 
of  which  have  been  published  by  the  Bannatyne,  Hunterian,  and  Maitland 
Book  Clubs  of  Scotland,  in  the  manuscript  records  and  charter  chests  of 
private  families,  and  in  the  published  records  of  the  British  Government. 

The  chief  Scottish  chronicles  of  the  reign  of  Malcolm  Canmore  and  the 
next  four  hundred  years  succeeding,  are  as  follows  : 

1.  The  Chronicle  of  Melrose.  This  begins  at  the  year  735,  and  down  to 
the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  is  based  on  the  chronicles  of  the  northern 
writers  who  succeeded  Bede — closely  following  that  of  Simeon  of  Durham, 
until  the  year  1121.  It  is  continued  as  an  original  narrative  to  1270,  when  the 
manuscript  breaks  off.  Its  value  as  an  original  record  is  very  great,  and  it 
forms  the  basis  of  Fordun's  history  for  that  period.  The  text  of  the  manu- 
script was  printed  by  the  Bannatyne  Club  in  1835. 

2.  The  Chronicon  Sanctcz  Cruets,  or  Holyrood  Chronicle  (Edinburgh), 
extends  from  11 24  to  1165,  and  is  a  contemporary  account  of  the  reigns  of 
David  and  Malcolm  IV.  This  manuscript  has  also  been  printed  by  the 
Bannatyne  Club  (1828). 

3.  The  Chronicon  de  Lanercost,  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
northern  chronicles,  was  probably  written  by  a  Minorite  friar  of  the  convent 
at  Carlisle.  It  covers  the  period  from  1201  to  1346,  being  a  contemporary 
account  of  events  during  the  time  of  Wallace  and  Bruce,  and  is  considered 
one  of  the  most  valuable  records  of  border  history  (Bannatyne  Club,  1839). 

4.  The  Scalacronica  of  Sir  Thomas  Gray  of  Heton.  This  is  a  chronicle 
of  England  and  Scotland  from  1066  to  1362.  The  author's  father  was  an 
esquire  under  the  Sheriff  of  Lanark  at  the  time  of  his  encounter  with  William 
Wallace;  and  the  son  has  preserved  an  account  of  that  affair.  The  book  is 
especially  useful  for  the  period  of  the  Scottish  wars  with  England.  The 
writer  died  about  1369.  Probably  the  best  edition  is  that  printed  by  the 
Maitland  Club  in  1836. 

5.  John  of  Fordun's  Chronicle  of  the  Scottish  Nation.  This  was  written 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  being  brought  down  in  an 
unfinished  state  to  the  year  1385,  when  its  completion  was  prevented  by  the 
death  of  the  author.     The  earlier  part  of  the  work,  being  founded  to  a  great 


Wallace  and  Bruce 


/o 


extent  on  the  fictitious  chronicles  that  were  written  during  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries  for  the  main  purpose  of  establishing  the  remote  antiquity 
of  the  royal  line  of  Scotland,18  is  largely  artificial  and  not  to  be  depended 
upon.  The  authenticated  portions  of  Fordun's  history  comprise  the  most 
of  Books  IV.  and  V.,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Annals  of  Mr.  Skene's 
edition.  These  are  based  largely  upon  the  Melrose  Chronicle,  referred  to 
above. 

6.  The  Scott  Chronicon  of  Walter  Bower,  or  Walter  Bowmaker,  appeared 
in  1441,  and  comprises  Fordun's  Chronicle  down  to  the  year  1153,  with  a 
continuation  by  Bower  to  1436.  It  is  more  especially  useful  as  a  contem- 
porary account  of  the  events  occurring  in  the  author's  lifetime  (1385-1449). 

7.  The  Original  Chronicle  of  Scotland,  by  Andrew  of  Wyntoun.  This 
begins  at  the  Creation  and  comes  down  to  the  year  1408.  Its  author,  born 
about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  was  elected  prior  of  the  monas- 
tery of  St.  Serf's  Inch  in  Loch  Leven  about  1395,  where  he  continued  for 
nearly  twenty  years,  and  afterwards  became  canon  of  St.  Andrews.  The 
Chronicle  was  completed  between  the  years  1420  and  1424.  It  is  written  in 
verse,  and  for  that  reason  is  not  so  valuable  as  it  would  have  been  in  another 
form.  Still,  this  writer  is  more  often  quoted  than  any  other  Scottish  historian 
of  the  period.  Like  Bower,  he  gives  a  contemporary  account  of  events  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  and  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

8.  The  Book  of  the  Brus,  by  John  Barbour.  The  author  was  born  about 
1316,  and  died  March  13,  1395,  some  twenty  years  after  the  completion  of  his 
book.  This  work  also  is  in  metrical  form,  but,  notwithstanding,  it  is  a  most 
useful  contribution  to  historical  literature,  and  a  chief  source  for  the  details 
of  the  Scottish  War  of  Independence,  and  of  the  life  of  Scotland's  greatest 
warrior  and  king.  It  is  the  great  national  epic  of  the  country,  and  occupies 
a  similar  place  in  the  literature  of  Scotland  to  the  Oayssey  in  that  of  Greece; 
although  perhaps  never  so  popular  with  the  people  as  the  legendary  narrative 
of  the  achievements  of  Wallace,  which  appeared  about  a  century  later.  Bar- 
bour's very  full  and  spirited  description  of  the  battle  of  Bannockburn,  by 
which  independence  was  won,  is  followed  closely  by  later  historians  in  giving 
the  details  of  that  event.14  The  Acts  and  Deeds  of  Wallace  was  the  produc- 
tion of  a  writer  who  goes  by  the  name  of  Henry  the  Minstrel,  or  Blind  Harry. 
His  work  consists  of  a  rhyming  and  fabulous  account  of  the  achievements  of 
Scotland's  national  hero.  The  full  name  of  the  author  is  unknown.  He  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  wandering  minstrel  who,  about  1460,  set  down  in 
writing  a  connected  series  of  the  rhyming  doggerel  verses  which  he  had  been 
accustomed  to  sing  from  house  to  house.  Being  written  about  a  century 
and  a  half  after  Wallace's  death,  the  work  no  doubt  embodied  all  the  ac- 
cumulated traditions  and  embellishments  of  the  period  in  which  it  appeared.1* 

9.  The  Auchinleck  Chronicle.  This  embraces  the  reign  of  James  II. 
(1437-1460),  and  is  about  the  only  contemporary  record  we  have  of  the 
events  of  that  period.     It  was  preceded  by  the  interesting  contemporary 


374  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

account  of  the  murder  of  the  first  James  a  reprint  of  which  appears  in  the 
Appendix  to  Pinkerton's  History  of  Scotland. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXIII 

1  In  this  carnage  4000  men  perished,  according  to  Langtoft,  although  his  translator  says 
40,000;  7500  perished,  according  to  Fordun,  1.  xi.,  c.  20.  Upwards  of  8000,  according  to 
Hemingford,  t.  i.,  p.  91.  Matthew  Westm.,  p.  427,  says  60,000 ;  but  this  may  have  been 
an  error  of  the  transcriber  for  6000. 

2  See  Appendix  Q  (The  Ragman  Roll). 

3  Of  Wallace  of  Elderslie,  near  Paisley,  in  Renfrewshire.  Such  is  the  opinion  generally 
received.  His  Achievements,  written  by  Blind  Harry,  has  been  long  a  popular  book  in  Scot- 
land. It  would  be  lost  labour  to  search  for  the  age,  name,  and  condition  of  an  author  who 
either  knew  not  history,  or  who  meant  to  falsify  it.  (See  M'Kenzie,  Lives  of  Scots  Writers, 
vol.  i.,  p.  422.)  A  few  examples  may  serve  to  prove  the  spirit  of  this  romancer.  He  always 
speaks  of  Aymer  de  Valloins,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  as  a  false  Scottish  knight.  He  mentions 
Sir  Richard  Lundin  as  one  of  Wallace's  coadjutors  at  the  battle  of  Stirling,  whereas  he  was 
of  the  opposite  party,  and  indeed  was,  to  all  appearance,  the  only  man  of  true  judgment  in 
the  whole  English  army.  B.  vi.,  c.  4,  he  says  that  one  Sir  Hugh,  sister's  son  of  Edward  I., 
went,  in  the  disguise  of  a  herald,  to  Wallace's  camp,  was  detected,  and  instantly  beheaded  ; 
that  Wallace  surprised  Edward's  army  at  Biggar,  and  with  his  own  hand  slew  the  Earl  of 
Kent ;  that  many  thousands  of  the  English  fell  in  the  engagement,  particularly  the  second  son 
of  the  King  of  England,  his  brother  Sir  Hugh,  and  his  two  nephews. — Hailes,  Annals  of 
Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  269. 

4  Their  names  were  John  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  Constable  of  Scotland  ;  Alexander 
Comyn  of  Buchan  ;  Alexander  and  Robert,  the  brothers  of  John  Comyn  of  Badenoch  ;  John 
Comyn  the  younger  of  Badenoch  (he  became  bound  to  give  his  son  as  an  hostage) ;  John  Comyn 
of  Kilbride  ;  John,  Earl  of  Athole;  John  de  Mentieth,  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Mentieth  ;  Rich- 
ard Siward,  late  governor  of  Dunbar  ;  David  de  Brechin  ;  William  Biset,  son  and  heir  of  the 
deceased  Robert  Biset ;  Richard  Lovel,  son  and  heir  of  the  deceased  Hugh  Lovel ;  Godefroy 
and  William  de  Ros ;  David  the  son,  and  David  the  brother,  of  Patrick  Graham  ;  John  de 
Glenurhard  ;  Hugh  de  Airth  ;  John  and  Randulph  de  Grant ;  Laurence  de  Angus  ;  Alexander 
Corbet ;  Brice  Tailor ;  Alan  de  Lasceles  ;  Herbert  de  Morhan  ;  Alexander  M'Glay  (filius 
Glay)  ;  William  Mareschal  ;  and  John  de  Drummond. 

5  Those  who  submitted  at  Irvine  were  Robert  Bruce,  The  Steward  and  his  brother,  Alex- 
ander de  Lindesay,  Sir  Richard  de  Lundin,  and  Sir  William  Douglas.  Robert  Wisheart, 
Bishop  of  Glasgow,  negotiated  the  treaty.  Wallace  ascribed  the  conduct  of  Wisheart  to  trai- 
torous pusillanimity.  In  the  first  heat  of  resentment,  he  flew  to  the  Bishop's  house,  pillaged 
its  effects,  and  led  his  family  captive. 

6  Quoniam,  ut  dicebant  quidam,  qui  in  eodem  conflictu  fuerant,  si  a  summo  mane  usque 
ad  horam  undecimam,  absque  ulla  interruptione  vel  impedimento,  transissent,  adhuc  extrema 
pars  exercitus  in  parte  magna  remansisset ;  nee  fuit  aptior  locus  in  regno  Scotiae  ad  conclud- 
endum  Anglicos  in  manus  Scotorum,  et  multos  in  manus  paucorum. — W.  Hemingburgh  (t. 
i.,  p.  128).  The  same  writer  says  that  the  English  army  consisted  of  1000  horsemen  and 
50,000  foot  {ibid.,  p.  127). 

T  W.  Hemingford  says  that  this  army  excelled  in  cavalry.  There  were  3000  horsemen 
armed  at  all  points,  and  upwards  of  4000  horsemen  in  armor,  but  whose  horses  were  not 
armed :  "  Tria  millia  electorum  in  equis  armatis,  praeter  equitantes  armatos  in  equis  non 
armatis,  qui  numerabantur  plusquam  quattuor  millia  electa."  The  king  desired  no  infantry 
except  volunteers :  their  number  amounted  to  80,000  (t.  i.,  p.  159). 

8  This  is  related  on  the  credit  of  the  Scottish  historians.     The  English  mention  it  not. 


Wallace  and  Bruce  375 

The  story,  however,  is  not  inconsistent  with  probability.  I  cannot  say  so  much  for  the  famous 
story  of  the  barns  of  Ayr.  It  is  asserted  that  Wallace,  accompanied  by  Sir  John  Graham, 
Sir  John  Mentieth,  and  Alexander  Scrymgeour,  Constable  of  Dundee,  went  into  the  west  of 
Scotland  to  chastise  the  men  of  Galloway,  who  had  espoused  the  party  of  the  Comyns  and  the 
English  ;  that,  on  the  28th  August,  1298,  they  set  fire  to  some  granaries  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Ayr,  and  burnt  the  English  cantoned  in  them  (A.  Blair,  p.  5  ;  J.  Major,  fol.  70). 
This  relation  is  liable  to  much  suspicion.  1.  Sir  John  Graham  could  have  no  share  in  the 
enterprise,  for  he  was  killed  at  Falkirk  22d  July,  1298.  2.  Comyn  the  younger,  of  Badenoch, 
was  the  only  man  of  the  name  of  Comyn  who  had  any  interest  in  Galloway,  and  he  was  at 
that  time  of  Wallace's  party.  3.  It  is  not  probable  that  Wallace  would  have  undertaken  such 
an  enterprise  immediately  after  the  discomfiture  at  Falkirk.  I  believe  that  this  story  took  its 
rise  from  the  pillaging  of  the  English  quarters  about  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Irvine  in  1297, 
which,  as  being  an  incident  of  little  consequence,  I  omitted  in  the  course  of  this  history.  (See 
W.  Hemingford,  t.  i.,  p.  123.) — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  280. 

9  Walsingham  (p.  42)  computes  the  number  slain  at  60,000  ;  W.  Hemingford  (t.  i.,  p. 
165),  at  50,000 ;  M.  Westm.  (p.  431),  at  40,000  ;  Trivet  (p.  313),  at  20,000  ;  Buchanan  (1. 
viii.,  p.  139),  at  10,000. 

"  It  would  be  tedious  and  unprofitable  to  recite  all  that  has  been  said  on  this  subject  by 
our  own  writers  from  Fordun  to  Abercrombie :  How  Wallace,  Stewart,  and  Comyn  quar- 
reled on  the  punctilio  of  leading  the  van  of  an  army  which  stood  on  the  defensive  ;  how 
Stewart  compared  Wallace  to  "an  owl  with  borrowed  feathers "  ;  how  the  Scottish,  com- 
manders, busied  in  this  frivolous  altercation,  had  no  leisure  to  form  their  army  :  how  Comyn 
traitorously  withdrew  10,000  men  ;  how  Wallace,  from  resentment,  followed  his  example ; 
how,  by  such  disastrous  incidents,  the  Scottish  army  was  enfeebled,  and  Stewart  and  his 
party  abandoned  to  destruction.  Our  histories  abound  in  trash  of  this  kind  :  there  is  scarcely 
one  of  our  writers  who  has  not  produced  an  invective  against  Comyn,  or  an  apology  for  Wal- 
lace, or  a  lamentation  over  the  deserted  Stewart.  What  dissensions  may  have  prevailed 
among  the  Scottish  commanders,  it  is  impossible  to  know.  It  appears  not  to  me  that  their 
dissensions  had  any  influence  on  their  conduct  in  the  day  of  battle.  The  truth  seems  to  be 
this :  The  English  cavalry  greatly  exceeded  the  Scottish  in  numbers,  were  infinitely  better 
equipped,  and  more  adroit :  the  Scottish  cavalry  were  intimidated,  and  fled.  Had  they  re- 
mained on  the  field,  they  might  have  preserved  their  honour  ;  but  they  never  could  have  turned 
the  chance  of  that  day.  It  was  natural,  however,  for  such  of  the  infantry  as  survived  the  en- 
gagement, to  impute  their  disaster  to  the  defection  of  the  cavalry.  National  pride  would 
ascribe  their  flight  to  treachery  rather  than  to  pusillanimity.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Comyn 
commanded  the  cavalry  ;  hence  a  report  may  have  been  spread  that  Comyn  betrayed  his 
country  ;  this  report  has  been  embellished  by  each  successive  relator.  When  men  are  seized 
with  a  panic,  their  commander  must  from  necessity,  or  will  from  prudence,  accompany  them 
in  their  flight.  Earl  Warrenne  fled  with  his  army,  from  Stirling  to  Berwick  ;  yet  Edward  I. 
did  not  punish  him  as  a  traitor  or  a  coward. 

*'  The  tale  of  Comyn's  treachery,  and  Wallace's  ill-timed  resentment,  may  have  gained 
credit,  because  it  is  a  pretty  tale,  and  not  improbable  in  itself.  But  it  amazes  me  that  the 
story  of  the  congress  of  Bruce  and  Wallace,  after  the  battle  of  Falkirk,  should  have  gained 
credit.  I  lay  aside  the  full  evidence  which  we  now  possess,  '  that  Bruce  was  not,  at  that 
time,  of  the  English  party,  nor  present  at  the  battle.'  For  it  must  be  admitted  that  our 
historians  knew  nothing  of  those  circumstances  which  demonstrate  the  impossibility  of  the 
congress.  But  the  wonder  is,  that  men  of  sound  judgment  should  not  have  seen  the  absurdity 
of  a  long  conversation  between  the  commander  of  a  flying  army  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  a  vic- 
torious army.  When  Fordun  told  the  story,  he  placed  '  a  narrow  but  inaccessible  glen '  between 
the  speakers.  Later  historians  have  substituted  the  river  Garron  in  the  place  of  the  inaccessible 
glen,  and  they  make  Bruce  and  Wallace  talk  across  the  river  like  two  young  declaimers  from 
the  pulpits  in  a  school  of  rhetoric." — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  pp.  2S6-288. 


376  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

10  For  some  time  after  that  the  Earl  of  Carrick  acted  a  very  dubious  part.  Heming- 
burgh  says  that  "  when  he  heard  of  the  king's  coming  [westward,  after  Falkirk],  he  fled  from 
his  face  and  burnt  the  castle  of  Ayr  which  he  held."  But  the  testimony  of  both  English 
and  Scottish  chroniclers  is  of  little  value,  for  it  was  the  object  of  both,  with  different  mo- 
tives, to  make  it  appear  that  Bruce  attached  himself  early  to  the  national  cause.  There  is 
extant  a  letter  written  by  Bruce  from  Turnberry  Castle  on  July  3d,  apparently  in  this  year,  to 
Sir  John  de  Langton,  Chancellor  of  England,  begging  a  renewal  of  the  protection  to  three 
knights  who  were  with  him  on  the  king's  service  in  Galloway.  Again,  in  another  document, 
undated,  but  apparently  written  in  the  late  autumn  of  129S,  Bruce  is  commanded  by  King 
Edward  to  bring  1000  picked  men  of  Galloway  and  Carrick  to  join  an  expedition  about  to 
be  made  into  Scotland.  However,  as  there  is  some  doubt  about  the  date  of  these  papers, 
Brace's  attitude  during  1298  must  be  held  to  be  uncertain.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that 
when  Edward,  on  returning  to  England  after  his  victory  at  Falkirk,  made  grants  of  land  in 
Scotland  to  his  followers,  Annandale  and  Carrick,  held  by  the  elder  and  younger  Bruce, 
were  not  among  the  lands  so  disposed  of.  Nevertheless,  the  Bruces  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  in  possession  of  Annandale  at  this  time,  for  in  1299  Sir  Alan  FitzWarin  defended  Loch- 
maben  Castle  against  the  Earl  of  Carrick  from  1st  to  25th  August.  This  was  the  immediate 
outcome  of  a  notable  arrangement  come  to  during  that  summer,  whereby  the  Earl  of  Carrick 
(whom,  to  avoid  confusion,  I  may  hereafter  designate  by  his  modern  title  of  Bruce),  William 
de  Lamberton,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  and  John  Comyn  of  Badenoch  (the  "  Red  Comyn") 
constituted  themselves  guardians  of  Scotland  in  the  name  of  King  John  (de  Balliol).  Bruce, 
as  the  principal  guardian,  was  to  have  custody  of  the  castles,  but  he  appears  to  have  been 
still  wavering,  for  we  hear  nothing  definite  of  his  movements  till  after  the  year  1300,  when 
Edward  led  the  flower  of  his  chivalry  to  the  invasion  of  Dumfries  and  Galloway. — Maxwell, 
Dumfries  and  Galloway,  pp.  77-78. 

11  There  were  eleven  hostages  originally,  but  their  ill  treatment  and  sufferings  were  such 
that  before  September  8,  1300,  all  but  one  had  perished.  Their  names  were  :  Lachlan 
Maclachlan  ;  Donald,  son  of  Thomas  Acarson  ;  Martin,  son  of  Yvo  of  Slotham  ;  John 
MacWilliam,  "Brownbeard"  ;  Gilpatrick  Macbreck,  son  of  MacRory  ;  Niven  MacThomas, 
son  of  MacRory  ;  Andrew  MacEwen  MacGill  Rory ;  Mathew  Macmorris  MacSalvi  ;  Yvo 
filius  Schephert  de  Killo  Osbern  (Closeburn);  John,  son  of  Duncan  Makhou  ;  and  (the  sole 
survivor)  Robert  MacMaster. 

12  "  It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  political  and  ecclesiastical  feeling  of  nationality  was 
mainly  a  defensive  foreign  policy  on  the  part  of  Scotland.  She  knew  perfectly  well  that  her 
people  were  not  as  homogeneous  in  their  origin  as  those  of  England  ;  that  while  they  might 
fight  under  one  banner,  and  call  themselves  Scots,  for  the  honour  and  independence  of  the 
kingdom,  they  were  internally  separated  by  the  most  startling  differences  and  discords.  In 
great  international  conflicts,  like  Bannockburn  or  Flodden,  the  Scottish  Celt  and  the  Scot- 
tish Teuton  might  combine  to  resist  or  assail  a  formidable  opponent ;  but  within  the  realm 
of  Scotland  itself  the  antagonism  of  race  and  the  difference  in  their  modes  of  life  engendered 
the  fiercest  animosities,  and  made  peace  and  security  impossible  along  the  line  of  the  Gram- 
pians. The  way  in  which  the  ' 4  Highland  Host "  went  to  work  among  the  Covenanters  of  the 
western  shires  is  a  conspicuous  instance  of  the  utter  absence  of  any  feeling  of  kinship  or 
inward  national  sympathy  between  the  savage  marauders  of  the  northern  glens  and  the  in- 
dustrious farmers  and  traders  of  the  southern  plains. 

"  Not  till  well  on  in  the  eighteenth  century  —  till  Jacobitism  was  no  longer  a  source  of 
alarm  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  only  a  poetic  grief  to  its  adherents  —  did  the  sense  of 
distinction  of  race  become  dim,  and  Scotchmen  generally  begin  to  imagine  that  even  the 
uncouth  native  of  a  remote  Hebridean  isle,  to  whom  English  was  an  unknown  tongue,  was 
somehow  more  akin  to  the  weaver  of  Glasgow  or  the  farmer  of  the  Merse,  than  was  the 
miner  of  Durham  or  the  cattle-feeder  of  Northumberland." — J.  M.  Ross,  Scottish  History 
and  Literature,  p.  12. 


Wallace  and  Bruce  377 

13  It  is  thus  only  the  early  part  of  Fordun's  work  which  is  tainted  with  this  artificially 
constructed  history.  With  the  reign  of  Kenneth  mac  Alpin  the  historical  period  of  Scottish 
history,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term,  may  be  said  to  commence,  and  he  had  little  motive  to 
pervert  the  history  of  his  successors,  while  that  part  of  his  history  which  is  based  upon  the 
work  he  originally  compiled,  extending  from  the  accession  of  Malcolm  Canmore  to  the  year 
1363  when  he  put  it  together,  and  contained  in  his  fifth  book,  and  in  the  annals  which  fol- 
low, is  one  of  great  value  and  authority,  and  must  form  the  basis  of  any  continuous  narra- 
tive of  the  history  of  that  period. — Skene,  Introduction  to  Fordun,  vol.  ii.,  p.  lxxviii. 

14  The  Brus  is  a  poem,  but  not  a  fiction.  We  conceive  that  the  author  has  worked  up 
into  epic  shape  and  form  the  proud  traditions  of  an  emancipated  people,  the  numberless 
stories  of  suffering  and  success  that  were  then  floating  about  in  hall  and  hut,  in  monastery 
and  burg.  Sometimes  he  had  even  conversed  with  hoary  veterans  who  had  survived  the 
agony  of  the  strife. — J.  M.  Ross,  Scottish  History  and  Literature,  p.  55. 

15  It  is  difficult  from  our  point  of  view  to  approach  Blind  Harry's  poem  seriously ;  but 
it  would  certainly  be  a  mistake  to  consider  it  a  mere  fabricated  romance  of  a  peasant  min- 
strel. It  is  much  more  than  that.  It  is  the  garner  into  which  has  been  gathered  all  that 
harvest  of  popular  legend  about  Wallace  which  had  been  ripening  for  nearly  two  centuries. 
We  do  not  suppose  that  the  author  was  at  all  scrupulous  in  his  treatment  of  traditions,  or 
that  he  shrank  from  contributing  his  quota  to  the  general  sum  of  patriotic  fiction.  Every- 
where in  the  work  there  is  evidence  of  more  than  poetical  license  ;  but  we  are  convinced 
that  in  the  main  it  recites  and  re-echoes  the  "  gests  "  that  had  enraptured  and  amazed  suc- 
cessive generations  of  his  countrymen.  This,  we  have  seen,  was  the  opinion  of  the  learned 
and  critical  Major,  in  whose  boyhood  Blind  Harry  wrote ;  but  no  criticism  can  possibly  de- 
termine to  what  extent  its  "gests"  are  genuine  deeds,  or  where  its  history  ends  and  mythol- 
ogy begins.  Its  outrageous  perversions  of  public  and  ascertained  facts  throw  a  cloud  of 
suspicion  over  every  incident  and  circumstance  in  the  poem,  even  when  they  are  of  such  a 
nature  as  not  to  forbid  belief. — J.  M.  Ross,  Scottish  History  and  Literature,  p.  76. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
JOHN  OF  FORDUN'S  ANNALS  OF  WALLACE  AND  BRUCE 

XCVIII 

RISE    AND    FIRST    START    OF    WILLIAM    WALLACE 

THE  same  year  [1296]  William  Wallace  lifted  up  his  head  from  his  den — 
as  it  were — and  slew  the  English  sheriff  of  Lanark,  a  doughty  and 
powerful  man,  in  the  town  of  Lanark.  From  that  time,  therefore,  there 
flocked  to  him  all  who  were  in  bitterness  of  spirit,  and  weighed  down 
beneath  the  burden  of  bondage  under  the  unbearable  domination  of  English 
despotism;  and  he  became  their  leader.  He  was  wondrously  brave  and 
bold,  of  goodly  mien,  and  boundless  liberality;  and,  though,  among  the 
earls  and  lords  of  the  kingdom,  he  was  looked  upon  as  low  born,  yet  his 
fathers  rejoiced  in  the  honour  of  knighthood.  His  elder  brother,  also  was 
girded  with  the  knightly  belt,  and  inherited  a  landed  estate  which  was  large 
enough  for  his  station,  and  which  he  bequeathed,  as  a  holding,  to  his 
descendants.  So  Wallace  overthrew  the  English  on  all  sides;  and  gaining 
strength  daily,  he,  in  a  short  time,  by  force,  and  by  dint  of  his  prowess, 
brought  all  the  magnates  of  Scotland  under  his  sway,  whether  they  would 
or  not.  Such  of  the  magnates,  moreover,  as  did  not  thankfully  obey  his 
commands,  he  took  and  browbeat,  and  handed  over  to  custody,  until  they 
should  utterly  submit  to  his  good  pleasure.  And  when  all  had  thus  been 
subdued,  he  manfully  betook  himself  to  the  storming  of  the  castles  and 
fortified  towns  in  which  the  English  ruled;  for  he  aimed  at  quickly  and 
thoroughly  freeing  his  country  and  overthrowing  the  enemy. 

XCIX 

BATTLE    OF    STIRLING    BRIDGE 

In  the  year  1297  the  fame  of  William  Wallace  was  spread  all  abroad,  and, 
at  length,  reached  the  ears  of  the  king  of  England;  for  the  loss  brought  upon 
his  people  was  crying  out.  As  the  king,  however,  was  intent  upon  many 
troublesome  matters  elsewhere,  he  sent  his  treasurer,  named  Hugh  of  Cres- 
singham,  with  a  large  force  to  repress  this  William's  boldness,  and  to  bring 
the  kingdom  of  Scotland  under  his  sway.  When,  therefore,  he  heard  of  this 
man's  arrival,  the  aforesaid  William,  then  busy  besieging  the  English  who 
were  in  Dundee  Castle,  straightway  intrusted  the  care  and  charge  of  the 
siege  of  the  castle  to  the  burgesses  of  that  town  on  pain  of  loss  of  life  and 
limb,  and  with  his  army  marched  on,  with  all  haste,  towards  Strivelyn  [Stir- 
ling] to  meet  this  Hugh.  A  battle  was  then  fought,  on  the  nth  of  Septem- 
ber near  Strivelyn,  at  the  bridge  over  the  Forth.  Hugh  of  Cressingham 
was  killed,  and  all  his  army  put  to  flight;  some  of  them  were  slain  with  the 
sword,  others  taken,  others  drowned  in  the  waters.  But,  through  God, 
they  were  all  overcome;  and  the  aforesaid  William  gained  a  happy  victory, 
with  no  little  praise.  Of  the  nobles,  on  his  side,  the  noble  Andrew  of 
Moray  alone,  the  father  of  Andrew,  fell  wounded. 

378 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  379 


WILLIAM    WALLACE    WINTERS   IN    ENGLAND 

The  same  year,  William  Wallace,  with  his  army,  wintered  in  England, 
from  Hallowmas  to  Christmas;  and  after  having  burnt  up  the  whole  land  of 
Allerdale,  and  carried  off  some  plunder,  he  and  his  men  went  back  safe  and 
sound.  The  same  year,  moreover,  on  the  20th  of  August,  all  the  English — 
regular  and  beneficed  clergy,  as  well  as  laymen — were,  by  this  same  William, 
again  cast  out  from  the  kingdom  of  Scotland.  And  the  same  year,  William 
of  Lamberton  was  chosen  bishop  of  Saint  Andrews. 

CI 

BATTLE    OF    FALKIRK 

In  the  year  1298,  the  aforesaid  king  of  England,  taking  it  ill  that  he  and 
his  should  be  put  to  so  much  loss  and  driven  to  such  straits  by  William 
Wallace,  gathered  together  a  large  army,  and,  having  with  him,  in  his  com- 
pany, some  of  the  nobles  of  Scotland  to  help  him,  invaded  Scotland.  He 
was  met  by  the  aforesaid  William,  with  the  rest  of  the  magnates  of  that 
kingdom;  and  a  desperate  battle  was  fought  near  Falkirk,  on  the  22nd  of 
July.  William  was  put  to  flight,  not  without  serious  loss  both  to  the  lords 
and  to  the  common  people  of  the  Scottish  nation.  For,  on  account  of  the 
ill-will,  begotten  of  the  spring  of  envy,  which  the  Comyns  had  conceived 
towards  the  said  William,  they,  with  their  accomplices,  forsook  the  field,  and 
escaped  unhurt.  On  learning  their  spiteful  deed,  the  aforesaid  William, 
wishing  to  save  himself  and  his,  hastened  to  flee  by  another  road.  But  alas! 
through  the  pride  and  burning  envy  of  both,  the  noble  Estates  [communitas] 
of  Scotland  lay  wretchedly  overthrown  throughout  hill  and  dale,  mountain 
and  plain.  Among  these,  of  the  nobles,  John  Stewart,  with  his  Brendans; 
Macduff,  of  Fife;  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  were  utterly  cut  off.  But  it 
is  commonly  said  that  Robert  of  Bruce, — who  was  afterwards  king  of  Scot- 
land, but  then  fought  on  the  side  of  the  king  of  England — was  the  means  of 
bringing  about  this  victory.  For,  while  the  Scots  stood  invincible  in  their 
ranks,  and  could  not  be  broken  by  either  force  or  stratagem,  this  Robert  of 
Bruce  went  with  one  line,  under  Anthony  of  Bek,  by  a  long  road  round  a 
hill,  and  attacked  the  Scots  in  the  rear;  and  thus  these,  who  had  stood 
invincible  and  impenetrable  in  front,  were  craftily  overcome  in  the  rear. 
And  it  is  remarkable  that  we  seldom,  if  ever,  read  of  the  Scots  being  over- 
come by  the  English,  unless  through  the  envy  of  lords,  or  the  treachery  and 
deceit  of  the  natives,  taking  them  over  to  the  other  side. 

CII 

WILLIAM    WALLACE    RESIGNS    THE    OFFICE    OF    GUARDIAN 

But  after  the  aforesaid  victory,  which  was  vouchsafed  to  the  enemy 
through  the  treachery  of  Scots,  the  aforesaid  William  Wallace,  perceiving, 
by  these  and  other  strong  proofs,  the  glaring  wickedness  of  the  Comyns  and 
their  abettors,  chose  rather  to  serve  with  the  crowd,  than  to  be  set  over  them, 
to  their  ruin,  and  the  grievous  wasting  of  the  people.  So,  not  long  after  the 
battle  of  Falkirk,  at  the  water  of  Forth,  he,  of  his  own  accord,  resigned  the 
office  and  charge  which  he  held,  of  guardian. 


380  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

cm 

JOHN    COMYN    BECOMES   GUARDIAN    OF   SCOTLAND 

The  same  year,  John  Comyn,  the  son,  became  guardian  of  Scotland; 
and  remained  in  that  office  until  the  time  when  he  submitted  to  the  king  of 
England  —  to- wit.,  the  next  year  after  the  struggle  at  Roslyn.  But,  within 
that  same  time,  John  of  Soulis  was  associated  with  him,  by  John  of  Balliol, 
who  had  then  been  set  free  from  prison,  and  was  dwelling  on  his  lands  of 
Balliol.  Soulis  did  not  long  keep  his  charge  and  governance;  but  as  he  was 
simple-minded,  and  not  firm  enough,  bearing  many  a  rebuff,  he  was  looked 
down  upon;  so  he  left  Scotland,  and  withdrew  to  France,  where  he  died. 


CIV 

TRUCE    GRANTED    AT    THE    INSTANCE    OF    THE    KING    OF    FRANCE    TO    THE 
ESTATES   OF    THE    KINGDOM    OF    SCOTLAND 

In  the  year  1300,  Philip,  king  of  France,  sent  a  cleric,  named  Pierre  de 
Muncy,  and  one  knight,  Jean  de  Barres,  to  Edward,  king  of  England,  to 
obtain  a  truce  between  Edward  himself  and  the  Estates  of  Scotland.  At  his 
instance,  the  king  of  England  granted  a  truce  to  the  kingdom  of  Scotland, 
from  Hallowmas,  in  the  above  mentioned  year,  to  the  next  following  Whit- 
sunday. And  it  was  at  the  instance  of  the  king  of  France,  not  as  in  any  way 
the  ally  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  but  as  his  cousin  and  particular  friend, 
and  the  friendly  peacemaker  between  the  two  sides,  that  he  granted  this 
truce.  This,  moreover,  he  forced  the  aforesaid  ambassadors  to  own  before 
he  granted  the  truce. 

CV 

JOHN    OF    SOULIS 

The  same  year,  John  of  Soulis,  the  guardian  of  Scotland,  without 
mentioning  the  other  guardian,  with  the  advice  of  the  prelates,  earls,  barons, 
and  other  nobles  of  the  Estates  of  the  kingdom  of  Lothian,  despatched  the 
Lord  William,  Archdeacon  of  Lothian,  Master  Baldred  Bisset,  and  William 
of  Eglisham,  as  commissioners  and  special  envoys  to  Boniface  VIII.,  then 
sovereign  Pontiff,  to  break  and  lay  bare  unto  him  the  sundry  and  manifold 
hardships  brought  upon  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  by  the  enmity  of  the  said 
king  of  England;  and  to  get  meet  relief  against  his  harassing  outrages — as  is 
more  fully  contained  in  the  commission  of  those  ambassadors,  a  copy 
whereof,  together  with  that  Baldred' s  pleading  against  the  king  of  England, 
and  many  letters  bearing  on  that  lawsuit,  is  in  a  pamphlet  written  by  Alan 
of  Montrose. 

CVI 

THE  KING  OF  ENGLAND  SUMMONED  TO  THE  COURT  OF  ROME 

Now  the  king  of  England,  having  been  summoned  by  the  Pope,  in  the 
year  1301,  sent  two  proofs  patent  to  that  same  sovereign  Pontiff,  in  order  to 
give  him  a  clear  insight  into  the  right  which  he  averred  was  vested  in  him, 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  381 

from  days  of  old,  to  the  throne  of  Scotland.  But  Baldred,  in  a  lucid  dis- 
course, shortly  answered  all  his  arguments,  plainly  showing,  by  strong  proofs 
and  very  clear  evidence,  that  they  were  utterly  devoid  of  truth — as  may  be 
seen  in  his  pleading.  The  same  year,  a  castle,  viz.,  the  Pel  de  Lithcu  [Peel 
of  Linlithgow],  was  built  by  the  king  of  England. 

CVII 

CONFLICT   OF   ROSLYN 

On  the  27th  of  July,  1302,  took  place  the  great  and  famous  engagement 
between  the  Scots  and  English,  at  Roslyn,  where  the  English  were  defeated, 
though  with  great  difficulty.  From  the  beginning  of  the  first  war  which  ever 
broke  out  between  the  Scots  and  English,  it  is  said,  there  never  was  so 
desperate  a  struggle,  or  one  in  which  the  stoutness  of  knightly  prowess  shone 
forth  so  brightly.  The  commander  and  leader  in  this  struggle  was  John 
Comyn,  the  son.  Now  this  was  how  this  struggle  came  about,  and  the 
manner  thereof.  After  the  battle  fought  at  Falkirk,  the  king  of  England 
came  not  in  person,  for  the  nonce,  this  side  of  the  water  of  Forth ;  but  sent 
a  good  large  force,  which  plundered  the  whole  land  of  Fife,  with  all  the  lands 
lying  near  the  town  of  Perth,  after  having  killed  a  great  many  of  the  dwellers 
in  those  lands.  On  the  return  of  this  force,  with  countless  spoils,  that  king 
hied  him  home  again  with  his  host.  Now  this  was  brought  about,  doubtless, 
by  God's  agency:  for  had  he  made  a  lengthened  stay  then,  or  after  the  battle 
of  Dunbar  and  the  seizure  of  King  John,  he  would  either  have  subjugated 
the  whole  land  of  Scotland,  and  the  dwellers  therein,  to  his  sway,  or  made 
it  a  waste  with  naught  but  floods  and  stones.  But  the  goodness  of  God, 
Who  alone  tends  and  heals  after  wounds,  so  governed  the  actions  and  time 
of  that  king,  that,  being  stirred  up  to  battle,  and  engrossed  with  sundry 
wars,  he  could  not  put  off  all  other  matters,  and  give  himself  up  to  subduing 
this  kingdom.  So  that  king  of  England  went  back  with  his  men,  having  first 
appointed  the  officers  of  the  sheriffdoms,  and  the  wardens  of  the  castles,  in 
the  districts  beyond  the  water  of  Forth,  which  were  then  fully  and  wholly 
subject  unto  his  sway — with  the  exception  of  a  few  outlaws  (or,  indeed, 
robbers)  of  Scottish  birth,  who  were  lurking  in  the  woods,  and  could  not, 
because  of  their  misdeeds,  submit  to  the  laws.  But  John  Comyn,  then 
guardian  of  Scotland,  and  Simon  Fraser,  with  their  followers,  day  and  night 
did  their  best  to  harass  and  annoy,  by  their  great  prowess,  the  aforesaid 
king's  officers  and  bailiffs;  and  from  the  time  of  that  king's  departure,  four 
years  and  more,  the  English  and  the  Anglicized  Scots  were  harried  by  them, 
in  manifold  ways,  by  mutual  slaughter  and  carnage,  according  to  the  issue 
of  various  wars. 

CVIII 

When  the  aforesaid  king  had  got  news  of  this,  he  sent  off  a  certain  noble- 
man, Ralph  Confrere,  his  treasurer  [Ralph  de  Manton,  the  Cofferer],  a  man 
stout  in  battle,  and  of  tried  judgment  and  wisdom,  with  a  certain  body  of 
chosen  knights,  thoroughly  well  armed,  to  seek  out,  in  every  hole  and  corner, 
those  who  troubled  and  disturbed  the  king's  peace,  and  not  to  forbear 
punishing  them  with  the  penalty  of  death.  So  they  entered  Scotland,  and 
went  about  ranging  through  the  land,  until  they,  at  Roslyn,  pitched  their 


382  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

tents,  split  up  into  three  lines  apart,  for  want  of  free  camping  room.  But 
the  aforesaid  John  Comyn  and  Simon,  with  their  abettors,  hearing  of  their 
arrival,  and  wishing  to  steal  a  march  rather  than  have  one  stolen  upon  them, 
came  briskly  through  from  Biggar  to  Roslyn,  in  one  night,  with  some  chosen 
men,  who  chose  rather  death  before  unworthy  subjection  to  the  English 
nation;  and,  all  of  a  sudden,  they  fearlessly  fell  upon  the  enemy.  But 
having  been,  a  little  before,  roused  by  the  sentries,  all  those  of  the  first  line 
seized  their  weapons,  and  manfully  withstood  the  attacking  foe.  At  length, 
however,  the  former  were  overcome.  Some  were  taken,  and  some  slain, 
while  some,  again,  fled  to  the  other  line.  But,  while  the  Scots  were  sharing 
the  booty,  another  line  straightway  appeared,  in  battle-array;  so  the  Scots, 
on  seeing  it,  slaughtered  their  prisoners,  and  armed  their  own  vassals  with 
the  spoils  of  the  slain;  then,  putting  away  their  jaded  horses,  and  taking 
stronger  ones,  they  fearlessly  hastened  to  the  fray.  When  this  second  line 
had  been,  at  length,  overcome,  though  with  difficulty,  and  the  Scots  thought 
they  had  ended  their  task,  there  appeared  a  third,  mightier  than  the  former, 
and  more  choice  in  their  harness.  The  Scots  were  thunderstruck  at  the 
sight  of  them;  and  being  both  fagged  out  in  manifold  ways, — by  the  fatigues 
of  travelling,  watching,  and  want  of  food  —  and  also  sore  distressed  by  the 
endless  toil  of  fighting,  began  to  be  weary,  and  to  quail  in  spirit,  beyond 
belief.  But,  when  the  people  were  thus  thrown  into  bewilderment,  the 
aforesaid  John  and  Simon,  with  hearts  undismayed,  took  up,  with  their 
weapons,  the  office  of  preachers;  and,  comforting  them  with  their  words, 
cheering  them  with  their  promises,  and,  moreover,  reminding  them  of  the 
nobleness  of  freedom,  and  the  baseness  of  thraldom,  and  of  the  unwearied 
toil  which  their  ancestors  had  willingly  undertaken  for  the  deliverance  of 
their  country,  they,  with  healthful  warnings,  heartened  them  to  the  fray. 
So,  being  greatly  emboldened  by  these  and  such-like  words,  the  Scots  laid 
aside  all  cowardice,  and  got  back  their  strength.  Then  they  slaughtered 
their  prisoners,  with  whose  horses  and  arms  they  were  again  —  as  it  were  — 
renewed;  and,  putting  their  trust  in  God,  they  and  their  armed  vassals 
marched  forward  most  bravely  and  dashingly  to  battle.  The  shock  was  so 
mighty  and  fierce,  that  many  were  run  through,  and  bereft  of  life;  and  some 
of  either  host,  after  awful  spear-thrusts,  savage  flail-strokes,  and  hard 
cudgelling,  withdrew  from  the  ranks,  by  hundreds,  forties,  and  twenties,  to 
the  hills,  time  after  time,  fagged  out  and  dazed  by  the  day's  fighting. 
There  they  would  throw  back  their  helmets,  and  let  the  winds  blow  upon 
them;  and  after  having  been  thus  cooled  by  the  breeze,  they  would  put  away 
their  wounded  horses,  and,  mounting  other  fresh  ones,  would  thus  be  made 
stronger  against  the  onslaughts  of  the  foe.  So,  after  this  manifold  ordeal 
and  awful  struggle,  the  Scots,  who,  if  one  looked  at  the  opposite  side,  were 
very  few  in  number — as  it  were  a  handful  of  corn  or  flour  compared  with 
the  multitude  of  the  sea-sand — by  the  power,  not  of  man,  but  of  God,  sub- 
dued their  foes,  and  gained  a  happy  and  gladsome  victory. 

CIX 

THE    KING    OF    ENGLAND    SCOURS    THE    PLAINS    AND    HILLS    AND    BRINGS   THE 
KINGDOM    OF    SCOTLAND    UNDER    PEACEFUL  SUBJECTION  TO  HIMSELF 

In  revenge  for  the  foregoing  outrages,  the  king  of  England,  with  a  very 
large  force,  both  by  sea  and  by  land,  entered  Scotland,  in  the  year  1303, 
with  the  deliberate  design  of  once  for  all  fully  bringing  it  and  the  dwellers 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  383 

therein,  under  his  yoke;  or,  of  sweeping  out  the  inhabitants  altogether,  and 
reducing  the  land  itself  to  an  utter  and  irreclaimable  wilderness.  Having, 
therefore,  scoured  the  hills  and  plains,  both  on  this  side  of  the  hills  and 
beyond  them,  he,  in  person,  reached  Lochindorb;  and,  after  making  some 
stay  there,  he  received  the  submission  of  the  northern  districts,  and  appointed 
officers  of  his  in  all  the  castles  and  fortified  towns  surrendered  to  him.  Re- 
turning thence  leisurely,  he  received  the  submission  of  all  the  communities, 
as  well  as  fortresses  and  castles  they  passed  through,  with  none  to  withstand 
or  attack  him ;  and,  after  much  winding  about  through  the  land,  he  got  to 
Dunfermline,  where  he  lingered  a  long  time,  wintering  there  until  Candle- 
mas.1 The  same  year,  his  son  and  heir,  Edward  of  Carnarvon,  Prince  of 
Wales,  made  a  long  stay  in  the  town  of  Perth.  Food  was  in  such  plenty 
there,  for  the  whole  of  the  aforesaid  time,  that  a  laggen,  Scottish  measure, 
of  good  wine  sold  for  fourpence. 

CX 

THE   ESTATES  OF   SCOTLAND    MAKE    THEIR   SUBMISSION    TO   THE   KING   OF 

ENGLAND 

The  same  year,  after  the  whole  Estates  of  Scotland  had  made  their  sub- 
mission to  the  king  of  England,  John  Comyn,  then  guardian,  and  all  the 
magnates  but  William  Wallace,  little  by  little,  one  after  another,  made  their 
submission  unto  him;  and  all  their  castles  and  towns  —  except  Strivelyn 
[Stirling]  Castle,  and  the  warden  thereof  —  were  surrendered  unto  him. 
That  year,  the  king  kept  Lent  at  Saint  Andrews,  where  he  called  together 
all  the  great  men  of  the  kingdom,  and  held  his  parliament;  and  he  made 
such  decrees  as  he  would,  according  to  the  state  of  the  country — which,  as 
he  thought,  had  been  gotten  and  won  for  him  and  his  successors  forever — as 
well  as  about  the  dwellers  therein. 

CXI 

STIRLING    CASTLE    BESIEGED    BY    THE    KING    OF    ENGLAND 

Just  after  Easter,  in  the  year  1304,  that  same  king  besieged  Strivelyn 
[Stirling]  Castle  for  three  months  without  a  break.  For  this  siege,  he  com- 
manded all  the  lead  of  the  refectory  of  Saint  Andrews  to  be  pulled  down, 
and  had  it  taken  away  for  the  use  of  his  engines.  At  last,  the  aforesaid 
castle  was  surrendered  and  delivered  unto  him  on  certain  conditions,  drawn 
up  in  writing,  and  sealed  with  his  seal.  But  when  he  had  got  the  castle,  the 
king  belied  his  troth,  and  broke  through  the  conditions  :  for  William 
Oliphant,  the  warden  thereof,  he  threw  bound  into  prison  in  London,  and 
kept  him  a  long  time  in  thrall.  The  same  year,  when  both  great  and  small 
in  the  kingdom  of  Scotland  (except  William  Wallace  alone)  had  made  their 
submission  unto  him;  when  the  surrendered  castles  and  fortified  towns  which 
had  formerly  been  broken  down  and  knocked  to  pieces,  had  been  all  rebuilt, 
and  he  had  appointed  wardens  of  his  own  therein;  and  after  all  and  sundry 
of  Scottish  birth  had  tendered  him  homage,  the  king,  with  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  his  whole  army,  returned  to  England.  He  left,  however,  the 
chief  warden  as  his  lieutenant,  to  amend  and  control  the  lawlessness  of  all 
the  rest,  both  Scots  and  English.  He  did  not  show  his  face  in  Scotland 
after  this. 


384  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

CXII 
RISE    OF    ROBERT    OF    BRUCE,    KING    OF   SCOTLAND 

After  the  withdrawal  of  the  king  of  England,  the  English  nation  lorded 
it  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  ruthlessly  harrying  the  Scots  in 
sundry  and  manifold  ways,  by  insults,  stripes,  and  slaughter,  under  the  awful 
yoke  of  slavery.  But  God,  in  His  mercy,  as  is  the  wont  of  His  fatherly 
goodness,  had  compassion  on  the  woes,  the  ceaseless  crying  and  sorrow,  of 
the  Scots;  so  He  raised  up  a  savior  and  champion  unto  them — one  of  their 
own  fellows,  to-wit.,  named  Robert  of  Bruce.  This  man,  seeing  them 
stretched  in  the  slough  of  woe,  and  reft  of  all  hope  of  salvation  and  help, 
was  inwardly  touched  with  sorrow  of  heart;  and,  putting  forth  his  hand 
unto  force,  underwent  the  countless  and  unbearable  toils  of  the  heat  of  day, 
of  cold  and  hunger,  by  land  and  sea,  gladly  welcoming  weariness,  fasting, 
dangers,  and  the  snares  not  only  of  foes,  but  also  of  false  friends,  for  the 
sake  of  freeing  his  brethren.2 

CXIII 

LEAGUE    OF    KING    ROBERT    WITH    JOHN    COMYN 

So,  in  order  that  he  might  actually  give  effect  to  what  he  had  gladly  set 
his  heart  upon,  for  the  good  of  the  commonwealth,  he  humbly  approached 
a  certain  noble,  named  John  Comyn  (who  was  then  the  most  powerful  man 
in  the  country),  and  faithfully  laid  before  him  the  unworthy  thraldom  of  the 
country,  the  cruel  and  endless  tormenting  of  the  people,  and  his  own  kind- 
hearted  plan  for  giving  them  relief.  Though,  by  right,  and  according  to 
the  laws  and  customs  of  the  country,  the  honour  of  the  kingly  office  and  the 
succession  to  the  governance  of  the  kingdom  were  known  to  belong  to  him 
before  any  one  else,  yet,  setting  the  public  advantage  before  his  own,  Rob- 
ert, in  all  purity  and  sincerity  of  purpose,  gave  John  the  choice  of  one  of 
two  courses:  either  that  the  latter  should  reign,  and  wholly  take  unto  himself 
the  kingdom,  with  its  pertinents  and  royal  honours,  forever,  granting  to  the 
former  all  his  own  lands  and  possessions;  or  that  all  Robert's  lands  and 
possessions  should  come  into  the  possession  of  John  and  his  forever,  while 
the  kingdom  and  the  kingly  honour  were  left  to  Robert.  Thus,  by  their 
mutual  advice  as  well  as  help,  was  to  be  brought  to  maturity  the  deliverance 
of  the  Scottish  nation  from  the  house  of  bondage  and  unworthy  thraldom ; 
and  an  indissoluble  treaty  of  friendship  and  peace  was  to  last  between  them. 
John  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  latter  of  the  aforesaid  courses;  and 
thereupon  a  covenant  was  made  between  them,  and  guaranteed  by  means  of 
sworn  pledges,  and  by  their  indentures  with  their  seals  attached  thereto. 
But  John  broke  his  word;  and,  heedless  of  the  sacredness  of  his  oath,  kept 
accusing  Robert  before  the  king  of  England,  through  his  ambassadors  and 
private  letters,  and  wickedly  revealing  that  Robert's  secrets.  Although, 
however,  Robert  was  more  than  once  sounded  thereupon  by  the  aforesaid 
king,  who  even  showed  him  the  letters  of  his  adversary  who  accused  him, 
yet,  inspired  by  God,  he  always  returned  an  answer  such  that  he  over  and 
over  again  softened  the  king's  rage  by  his  pleasant  sayings  and  skilful  words. 
The  king,  however,  both  because  he  was  himself  very  wily  and  shrewd,  and 
knew  full  well  how  to  feign  a  sham  friendship,  and  also  because  Robert  was 
the  true  heir  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  looked  upon  the  latter  with  mis- 
trust,—  the  more  so  because  of  John's   accusations.      So,  because  of  his 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  385 

aforesaid  grounds  for  mistrust,  Edward  bade  Robert  stay  always  at  court; 
and  he  delayed  putting  him  to  death  —  or,  at  least  in  prison  —  only  until  he 
could  get  the  rest  of  this  Robert's  brothers  together,  and  punish  them  and 
him  at  once,  in  one  day,  with  sentence  of  death. 

CXIV 

KING    ROBERT   ACCUSED    BEFORE    THE    KING    OF    ENGLAND    BY   JOHN    COMYN 

As  the  said  John's  accusations  were  repeated,  at  length,  one  night,  while 
the  wine  glittered  in  the  bowl,  and  that  king  was  hastening  to  sit  down  with 
his  secretaries,  he  talked  over  Robert's  death  in  earnest, — and  shortly  deter- 
mined that  he  would  deprive  him  of  life  on  the  morrow.  But  when  the  Earl 
of  Gloucester,  who  was  Robert's  true  and  tried  friend  in  his  utmost  need, 
heard  of  this,  he  hastily,  that  same  night,  sent  the  aforesaid  Robert,  by  his 
keeper  of  the  wardrobe,  twelve  pence  and  a  pair  of  spurs.  So  the  keeper 
of  the  wardrobe,  who  guessed  his  lord's  wishes,  presented  these  things  to 
Robert,  from  his  lord,  and  added  these  words:  "  My  lord  sends  these  to 
you,  in  return  for  what  he,  on  his  side,  got  from  you  yesterday."  Robert 
understood,  from  the  tokens  offered  him,  that  he  was  threatened  by  the 
danger  of  death;  so  he  discreetly  gave  the  pence  to  the  keeper  of  the  ward- 
robe, and  forthwith  sent  him  back  to  the  Earl  with  greeting  in  answer,  and 
with  thanks.  Then,  when  twilight  came  on,  that  night,  after  having  ostenta- 
tiously ordered  his  servants  to  meet  him  at  Carlisle,  with  his  trappings,  on 
the  evening  of  the  following  day,  he  straightway  hastened  towards  Scotland, 
without  delay,  and  never  stopped  travelling,  day  or  night,  until  he  was  safe 
from  the  aforesaid  king's  spite.  For  he  was  under  the  guidance  of  One  of 
whom  it  is  written: — "  There  is  no  wisdom,  no  foresight,  no  understanding 
against  the  Lord,  Who  knoweth  how  to  snatch  the  good  from  trial,  and 
mercifully  to  deliver  from  danger  those  that  trust  in  Him." 

CXV 

DEATH    OF    JOHN    COMYN's    MESSENGER 

Now,  when  Robert  was  nearing  the  borders  of  the  marches,  there  met 
him  a  messenger  whom,  when  he  sighted  him  afar  off,  he  suspected,  both 
from  the  fellow's  gait  and  from  his  dress,  to  be  a  Scot.  So,  when  he  got 
nearer,  he  asked  him  whence  he  came  and  whither  he  was  making  his  way. 
The  messenger  began  to  pour  forth  excuses  for  his  sins;  but  Robert  ordered 
his  vassals  to  search  him.  Letters,  sealed  with  Robert's  seal  about  the 
covenant  entered  into  between  him  and  John  Comyn,  were  found  addressed 
to  the  king  of  England  through  this  messenger,  and  were  forthwith  pulled 
out.  The  messenger's  head  was  thereupon  struck  off,  and  God  very  much 
to  be  praised  for  His  guidance  in  this  prosperous  journey. 

CXVI 

DEATH    OF    WILLIAM    WALLACE 

In  the  year  1305,  William  Wallace  was  craftily  and  treacherously  taken 
by  John  of  Menteith,  who  handed  him  over  to  the  king  of  England;  and  he 
was,  in  London,  torn  limb  from  limb,  and,  as  a  reproach  to  the  Scots,  his 
limbs  were  hung  on  towers  in  sundry  places  throughout  England  and 
Scotland. 


386  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

cxvn 

JOHN   COMYN'S   DEATH 

The  same  year,  after  the  aforesaid  Robert  had  left  the  king  of  England 
and  returned  home,  no  less  miraculously  than  by  God's  grace,  a  day  is 
appointed  for  him  and  the  aforesaid  John  to  meet  together  at  Dumfries ;  and 
both  sides  repair  to  the  above-named  place.  John  Comyn  is  twitted  with 
his  treachery  and  belied  troth.  The  lie  is  at  once  given.  The  evil-speaker 
is  stabbed,  and  wounded  unto  death,  in  the  church  of  the  Friars;  and  the 
wounded  man  is,  by  the  friars,  laid  behind  the  altar.  On  being  asked  by 
those  around  whether  he  could  live,  straightway  his  answer  is: — "  I  can." 
His  foes,  hearing  this,  give  him  another  wound: — and  thus  was  he  taken 
away  from  this  world  on  the  ioth  of  February.3 

CXVIII 

CORONATION    OF    KING    ROBERT    BRUCE 

Now,  when  a  few  days  had  rolled  on,  after  the  said  John's  death,  this 
Robert  of  Bruce,  taking  with  him  as  many  men  as  he  could  get,  hastened  to 
Scone;  and,  being  set  on  the  royal  throne,  was  there  crowned,  on  the  27th 
of  March,  1306,  in  the  manner  wherein  the  kings  of  Scotland  were  wont  to 
be  invested; — and  great  was  the  task  he  then  undertook,  and  unbearable 
were  the  burdens  he  took  upon  his  shoulders.  For,  not  only  did  he  lift  his 
hand  against  the  king  of  England,  and  all  partakers  with  him,  but  he  also 
launched  out  into  a  struggle  with  all  and  sundry  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland, 
except  a  very  few  well-wishers  of  his,  who,  if  one  looked  at  the  hosts  of 
those  pitted  against  them,  were  as  one  drop  of  water  compared  with  the 
waves  of  the  sea,  or  a  single  grain  of  any  seed  with  the  multitudinous  sand. 
His  mishaps,  nights,  and  dangers  ;  hardships  and  weariness  ;  hunger  and 
thirst ;  watchings  and  fastings  ;  nakedness  and  cold  ;  snares  and  banish- 
ment; the  seizing,  imprisoning,  slaughter,  and  downfall  of  his  near  ones, 
and — even  more — dear  ones  (for  all  this  had  he  to  undergo,  when  overcome 
and  routed  in  the  beginning  of  his  war) — no  one,  now  living,  I  think,  recol- 
lects, or  is  equal  to  rehearsing,  all  this.  Indeed,  he  is  reported  to  have  said 
to  his  knights,  one  day,  when  worn  out  by  such  numberless  and  ceaseless 
hardships  and  dangers: — 

Were  I  not  stirred  by  Scotland's  olden  bliss, 
Not  for  earth's  empire  would  I  bear  all  this. 

Moreover,  with  all  the  ill-luck  and  numberless  straits  he  went  through 
with  a  glad  and  dauntless  heart,  were  any  one  able  to  rehearse  his  own 
struggles,  and  triumphs  single-handed — the  victories  and  battles  wherein,  by 
the  Lord's  help,  by  his  own  strength,  and  by  his  human  manhood,  he  fear- 
lessly cut  his  way  into  the  columns  of  the  enemy,  now  mightily  bearing  these 
down,  and  now  mightily  warding  off  and  escaping  the  pains  of  death — he 
would,  I  deem,  prove  that,  in  the  art  of  fighting,  and  in  vigor  of  body, 
Robert  had  not  his  match  in  his  time,  in  any  clime.  I  will,  therefore,  for- 
bear to  describe  his  own  individual  deeds,  both  because  they  would  take 
up  many  leaves,  and  because,  though  they  are  undoubtedly  true,  the  time 
and  place  wherein  they  happened,  and  were  wrought,  are  known  to  few  in 
these  days.  But  his  well-known  battles  and  public  exploits  will  be  found 
set  down  below,  in  the  years  wherein  they  took  place. 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  387 

cxix 

BATTLE   OF    METHVEN 

The  same  year,  on  the  19th  day  of  June,  King  Robert  was  overcome  and 
put  to  flight,  at  Methven,  by  Odomar  of  Valence,  who  was  then  warden  of 
Scotland  on  behalf  of  the  king  of  England,  and  was  staying  at  the  then  well- 
walled  town  of  Perth,  with  a  great  force  of  both  English  and  Scots  who 
owed  fealty  and  submission  to  the  king  of  England.  Now,  though  the 
foresaid  king  did  not  lose  many  of  his  men  in  this  struggle,  yet,  because  of 
the  bad  beginning,  which  is  often  crowned  by  an  unhappy  ending,  his  men 
began  to  be  disheartened,  and  the  victorious  side  to  be  much  emboldened 
by  their  victory.  Then,  all  the  wives  of  those  who  had  followed  the  king 
were  ordered  to  be  outlawed  by  the  voice  of  a  herald,  so  that  they  might 
follow  their  husbands;  by  reason  whereof,  many  women,  both  single  and 
married,  lurked  with  their  people  in  the  woods,  and  cleaved  to  the  king, 
abiding  with  him,  under  shelter. 

cxx 

CONFLICT  AT  DALRY,  IN  THE  BORDERS  OF  ARGYLE 

The  same  year,  while  this  king  was  fleeing  from  his  foes,  and  lurking  with 
his  men,  in  the  borders  of  Athol  and  Argyle,  he  was  again  beaten  and  put  to 
flight,  on  the  nth  of  August,  at  a  place  called  Dairy.  But  there,  also,  he 
did  not  lose  many  of  his  men.  Nevertheless,  they  were  all  filled  with  fear, 
and  were  dispersed  and  scattered  throughout  various  places.  But  the  queen 
fled  to  Saint  Duthac  in  Ross,  where  she  was  taken  by  William,  Earl  of  Ross, 
and  brought  to  the  king  of  England;  and  she  was  kept  a  prisoner  in  close 
custody,  until  the  battle  of  Bannockburn.  Nigel  of  Bruce,  however,  one  of 
the  king's  brothers,  fled,  with  many  ladies  and  damsels,  to  Kyndrumie 
[Kildrummie]  Castle,  and  was  there  welcomed,  with  his  companions.  But, 
the  same  year,  that  castle  was  made  over  to  the  English  through  treachery, 
and  Nigel,  and  other  nobles  of  both  sexes,  were  taken  prisoners,  brought  to 
Berwick,  and  suffered  capital  punishment.  The  same  year,  Thomas  and 
Alexander  of  Bruce,  brothers  of  the  aforesaid  king,  while  hastening  towards 
Carrick  by  another  road,  were  taken  at  Loch  Ryan,  and  beheaded  at  Carlisle 
— and,  thus,  all  who  had  gone  away  and  left  the  king,  were,  in  that  same 
year,  either  bereft  of  life,  or  taken  and  thrown  into  prison. 

CXXI 

SUNDRY   TROUBLES    WHICH    FELL   UPON    KING    ROBERT 

The  Earl  of  Lennox  and  Gilbert  of  Haya,  alone  among  the  nobles,  fol- 
lowed the  aforesaid  king,  and  became  his  inseparable  companions  in  all  his 
troubles.  And  though  sometimes,  when  hard  pressed  by  the  pursuing  foe, 
they  were  parted  from  him  in  body,  yet  they  never  departed  from  fealty  and 
love  towards  him.  But,  soon  after  this,  it  came  to  pass  that  the  aforesaid 
king  was  cut  off  from  his  men,  and  underwent  endless  woes,  and  was  tossed 
in  dangers  untold,  being  attended  at  times  by  three  followers,  at  times,  by 
two;  and  more  often  he  was  left  alone,  utterly  without  help.  Now  passing 
a  whole  fortnight  without  food  of  any  kind  to  live  upon,  but  raw  herbs  and 
water;  now  walking  barefoot,  when  his  shoes  became  old  and  worn  out; 


388  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

now  left  alone  in  the  islands;  now  alone,  fleeing  before  his  enemies;  now 
slighted  by  his  servants;  he  abode  in  utter  loneliness.  An  outcast  among 
the  nobles,  he  was  forsaken ;  and  the  English  bade  him  be  sought  for  through 
the  churches  like  a  lost  or  stolen  thing.  And  thus  he  became  a  byword  and 
a  laughing-stock  for  all,  both  far  and  near,  to  hiss  at.  But  when  he  had 
borne  these  things  for  nearly  a  year  alone,  God,  at  length,  took  pity  on 
him;  and,  aided  by  the  help  and  power  of  a  certain  noble  lady,  Christiana 
of  the  Isles,  who  wished  him  well,  he,  after  endless  toils,  smart,  and  distress, 
got  back,  by  a  roundabout  way,  to  the  earldom  of  Carrick.  As  soon  as  he 
had  reached  that  place,  he  sought  out  one  of  his  castles,  slew  the  inmates 
thereof,  destroyed  the  castle,  and  shared  the  arms  and  other  spoils  among 
his  men.  Then,  being  greatly  gladdened  by  such  a  beginning  after  his  long 
spell  of  ill-luck,  he  got  together  his  men,  who  had  been  scattered  far  and 
wide;  and,  crossing  the  hills  with  them  in  a  body,  he  got  as  far  as  Inverness, 
took  the  castle  thereof  with  a  strong  hand,  slew  its  garrison,  and  levelled  it 
with  the  ground.  In  this  very  way  dealt  he  with  the  rest  of  the  castles  and 
strongholds  established  in  the  north,  as  weU  as  with  their  inmates,  until  he 
got,  with  his  army,  as  far  as  Slenach  [Slaines]. 

CXXII 

ROUT    AT    SLENACH 

In  the  year  1307,  John  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  with  many  nobles,  both 
English  and  Scots,  hearing  that  Robert,  king  of  Scotland,  was,  with  his 
army,  at  Slenach,  marched  forward  to  meet  him  and  give  him  battle.  But 
when  they  saw  the  king,  with  his  men,  over  against  them,  ready  for  the  fray, 
they  halted;  and,  on  Christmas  Day,  overwhelmed  with  shame  and  confusion, 
they  went  back,  and  asked  for  a  truce,  which  the  king  kindly  granted.  After 
the  truce  had  been  granted,  the  king  abode  there,  without  fear,  for  eight 
days;  and  he  there  fell  into  a  sickness  so  severe,  that  he  was  borne  on  a 
pallet  whithersoever  he  had  occasion  to  be  moved. 

CXXIII 

DEATH    OF   EDWARD    I.,    KING    OF   ENGLAND 

The  same  year  died  Edward  I.,  king  of  England,  on  the  5th  of  April,  at 
Burgh-upon-Sands.  This  king  stirred  up  war  as  soon  as  he  had  become  a 
knight,  and  lashed  the  English  with  awful  scourgings;  he  troubled  the  whole 
world  by  his  wickedness,  and  roused  it  by  his  cruelty;  by  his  wiles,  he 
hindered  the  passage  to  the  Holy  Land;  he  invaded  Wales;  he  treacherously 
subdued  unto  him  the  Scots  and  their  kingdom;  John  of  Balliol,  the  king 
thereof,  and  his  son,  he  cast  into  prison;  he  overthrew  churches,  fettered 
prelates,  and  to  some  he  put  an  end  in  filthy  dungeons;  he  slew  the  people, 
and  committed  other  misdeeds  without  end.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Edward  II.,  who  was  betrothed  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Philip,  king  of 
France. 

CXXIV 

ROUT    AT    INVERURIE 

In  the  year  1308,  John  Comyn  and  Philip  of  Mowbray,  with  a  great 
many  Scots  and  English,  were  again  gathered  together,  at  Inverurie.     But 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  389 

when  King  Robert  heard  of  this,  though  he  had  not  yet  got  rid  of  his 
grievous  sickness,  he  arose  from  his  pallet,  whereon  he  was  always  carried 
about,  and  commanded  his  men  to  arm  him  and  set  him  on  horseback. 
When  this  had  been  done,  he  too,  with  a  cheerful  countenance,  hastened 
with  his  army  against  the  enemy,  to  the  battle-ground — although,  by  reason 
of  his  great  weakness,  he  could  not  go  upright,  but  with  the  help  of  two  men 
to  prop  him  up.  But  when  the  opposing  party  saw  him  and  his  ready  for 
battle,  at  the  mere  sight  of  him  they  were  all  sore  afraid  and  put  to  flight; 
and  they  were  pursued  as  far  as  Fivy,  twelve  leagues  off.  So  when  the  rout 
was  over,  and  the  enemy  were  overthrown  and  scattered,  King  Robert 
ravaged  the  earldom  of  Buchan  with  fire;  and,  of  the  people,  he  killed 
whom  he  would,  and,  to  those  whom  he  would  have  live,  he  granted  life  and 
peace.  Moreover,  even  as,  from  the  beginning  of  his  warfare  until  the  day 
of  this  struggle,  he  had  been  most  unlucky  in  the  upshot  of  every  battle,  so, 
afterwards,  there  could  not  be  found  a  man  more  fortunate  in  his  fights. 
And,  from  that  day,  the  king  gained  ground,  and  became  ever  more  hale 
himself;  while  the  adverse  party  was  daily  growing  less. 

cxxv 

VICTORY    OVER    THE    GALWEGIANS   AT    THE    RIVER   DEE 

The  same  year,  at  the  Feast  of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  Donald  of 
the  Isles  gathered  together  an  imposing  host  of  foot,  and  marched  up  to  the 
river  Dee.  He  was  met  by  Edward  of  Bruce,  who  overcame  the  said  Donald 
and  all  the  Galwegians.  In  this  struggle,  Edward  slew  a  certain  knight 
named  Roland,  with  many  of  the  nobles  of  Galloway;  and  arrested  their 
leader,  the  said  Donald,  who  had  taken  to  flight.  After  this,  he  burnt  up 
the  island. 

CXXVI 

CONFLICT    OF    KING    ROBERT    WITH    THE    MEN    OF    ARGYLE 

The  same  year,  within  a  week  after  the  Assumption  of  the  blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  the  king  overcame  the  men  of  Argyle,  in  the  middle  of  Argyle,  and 
subdued  the  whole  land  unto  himself.  Their  leader,  named  Alexander  of 
Argyle,  fled  to  Dunstafinch  [Dunstaffnage]  Castle,  where  he  was,  for  some 
time,  besieged  by  the  king.  On  giving  up  the  castle  to  the  king,  he  refused 
to  do  him  homage.  So  a  safe-conduct  was  given  to  him,  and  to  all  who 
wished  to  withdraw  with  him ;  and  he  fled  to  England,  where  he  paid  the 
debt  of  nature. 

CXXVII 

In  the  year  13 10,  so  great  was  the  famine  and  dearth  of  provisions  in  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  that,  in  most  places,  many  were  driven,  by  the  pinch 
of  hunger,  to  feed  on  the  flesh  of  horses  and  other  unclean  cattle. 

CXXVIII 

In  the  year  131 1,  the  aforesaid  King  Robert,  having  put  his  enemies  to 
flight  at  every  place  he  came  to,  and  having  taken  their  fortresses,  and 
levelled  them  with  the  ground,  twice  entered  England,  and  wasted  it,  carry- 
ing off  untold  booty,  and  making  huge  havoc  with  fire  and  sword.  Thus, 
by  the  power  of  God,  the  faithless  English  nation,  which  had  unrighteously 


390  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

racked  many  a  man,  was  now,  by  God's  righteous  judgment,  made  to 
undergo  awful  scourgings;  and,  whereas  it  had  once  been  victorious,  now 
it  sank  vanquished  and  groaning. 

CXXIX 

THE    TOWN    OF    PERTH    TAKEN   BY   KING    ROBERT 

On  the  8th  of  January,  13 12,  the  town  of  Perth  was  taken  with  the  strong 
hand  by  that  same  King  Robert;  and  the  disloyal  people,  both  Scots  and 
English,  were  taken,  dragged,  and  slain  with  the  sword;  and  thus, — 

Fordone,  they  drained  the  gall  themselves  had  brewed. 

The  king  in  his  clemency,  spared  the  rabble,  and  granted  forgiveness  to 
those  that  asked  it;  but  he  destroyed  the  walls  and  ditches,  and  consumed 
everything  else  with  fire.  The  same  year,  the  castles  of  Buth,  Dumfries, 
and  Dalswinton,  with  many  other  strongholds,  were  taken  with  the  strong 
hand  and  levelled  with  the  ground.  The  same  year,  the  town  of  Durham 
was,  in  great  part,  burnt  down  by  the  Scots;  Piers  de  Gaveston  was  killed 
by  the  Earl  of  Lancaster;  and  Edward,  the  first-born  of  the  king  of  England, 
was  born  at  Windsor. 

cxxx 

ROXBURGH    CASTLE    TAKEN    BY    JAMES   OF   DOUGLAS 

On  Fasten's  Even,  in  the  year  13 13,  Roxburgh  Castle  was  happily  taken 
by  the  Lord  James  of  Douglas,  and,  on  the  14th  of  March,  Edinburgh 
Castle,  by  the  Lord  Thomas  Randolph,  Earl  of  Moray;  and  their  foes  were 
overcome.  The  same  year,  the  king  entered  the  Isle  of  Man,  took  the 
castles  thereof,  and  victoriously  brought  the  land  under  his  sway. 

CXXXI 
CONFLICT    AT    BANNOCKBURN 

Edward  II.,  king  of  England,  hearing  of  these  glorious  doings  of  King 
Robert,  and  seeing  the  countless  losses  and  endless  evils  brought  upon 
him  and  his  by  that  king,  gathered  together,  in  revenge  for  the  foregoing,  a 
very  strong  army  both  of  well-armed  horsemen  and  of  foot — crossbowmen 
and  archers,  well  skilled  in  warcraft.  At  the  head  of  this  body  of  men,  and 
trusting  in  the  glory  of  man's  might,  he  entered  Scotland  in  hostile  wise; 
and,  laying  it  waste  on  every  side,  he  got  as  far  as  Bannockburn.  But  King 
Robert,  putting  his  trust,  not  in  a  host  of  people,  but  in  the  Lord  God, 
came,  with  a  few  men,  against  the  aforesaid  king  of  England,  on  the  blessed 
John  the  Baptist's  day,  in  the  year  13 14,  and  fought  against  him,  and  put 
him  and  his  to  flight,  through  the  help  of  Him  to  whom  it  belongeth  to  give 
the  victory.4  There,  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  and  a  great  many  other  nobles 
were  killed;  a  great  many  were  drowned  in  the  waters,  and  slaughtered  in 
pitfalls;  a  great  many,  of  divers  ranks,  were  cut  off  by  divers  kinds  of 
death;  and  many — a  great  many — nobles  were  taken,  for  whose  ransom  not 
only  were  the  queen  and  other  Scottish  prisoners  released  from  their  dun- 
geons, but  even  the  Scots  themselves  were,  all  and  sundry,  enriched  very 
much.     Among  these  was  also  taken  John  of  Brittany,  for  whom  the  queen 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  391 

and  Robert,  bishop  of  Glasgow,  were  exchanged.  From  that  day  forward, 
moreover,  the  whole  land  of  Scotland  not  only  always  rejoiced  in  victory 
over  the  English,  but  also  overflowed  with  boundless  wealth. 

CXXXII 

EDWARD    CROSSES   INTO    IRELAND 

Edward  of  Bruce,  King  Robert's  brother,  entered  Ireland,  with  a  mighty 
hand,  in  the  year  1315;  and  having  been  set  up  as  king  there,  he  destroyed 
the  whole  of  Ulster,  and  committed  countless  murders.  This,  however, 
some  little  time  after,  brought  him  no  good.  In  the  year  13 16,  King  Robert 
went  to  Ireland,  to  the  Southern  parts  thereof,  to  afford  his  brother  succor 
and  help.  But,  in  this  march,  many  died  of  hunger,  and  the  rest  lived  on 
horse-flesh.  The  king,  however,  at  once  returned,  and  left  his  brother  there. 
In  the  year  13 17,  the  cardinals  were  plundered,  in  England,  by  Robert  of 
Middleton,  who  was,  soon  after,  taken,  and  drawn  by  horses,  in  London. 

CXXXIII 

THE    TOWN    OF    BERWICK    TAKEN 

In  the  year  13 18,  Thomas  Randolph,  Earl  of  Moray,  destroyed  the 
northern  parts  of  England;  and,  on  the  28th  of  March  of  the  same  year, 
the  Scots  took  the  town  of  Berwick,  which  had  been,  for  twenty  years,  in  the 
hands  of  the  English.  On  the  14th  of  October  of  the  same  year  was  fought 
the  battle  of  Dundalk,  in  Ireland,  in  which  fell  the  Lord  Edward  of  Bruce, 
and  a  good  many  Scottish  nobles  with  him.  The  cause  of  this  war  was  this: 
Edward  was  a  very  mettlesome-  and  high-spirited  man,  and  would  not  dwell 
together  with  his  brother  in  peace,  unless  he  had  half  the  kingdom  to  him- 
self; and  for  this  reason  was  stirred  up  in  Ireland,  this  war,  wherein,  as 
already  stated,  he  ended  his  life. 

CXXXIV 
BERWICK    BESIEGED    BY    THE    KING    OF   ENGLAND 

In  the  year  131 9,  on  the  day  of  the  finding  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Edward, 
king  of  England,  besieged  the  town  of  Berwick ;  but,  meeting  with  no  suc- 
cess, he  quickly  retreated  in  great  disorder.  The  same  year,  the  Earl  of 
Moray  burnt  up  the  northern  parts  of  England,  as  far  as  Wetherby;  and,  at 
the  end  of  the  month  of  August,  he  pitched  his  tents  at  Boroughbridge. 

cxxxv 

TREACHERY    OF    WILLIAM    OF    SOULIS    AND    HIS   ADHERENTS 

In  the  beginning  of  the  month  of  August,  1320,  Robert,  king  of  Scotland, 
held  his  parliament  at  Scone.  There,  the  lord  William  of  Soulis  and  the 
Countess  of  Stratherne,  were  convicted  of  the  crime  of  high  treason,  by  con- 
spiring against  the  aforesaid  king;  and  sentence  of  perpetual  imprisonment 
was  passed  upon  them.  The  lords  David  of  Brechin,  Gilbert  of  Malerb, 
John  of  Logie,  knights,  and  Richard  Broune,  esquire,  having  been  convicted 
of  the  aforesaid  conspiracy,  were  first  drawn  by  horses,  and,  in  the  end, 
underwent  capital  punishment.     The  lords  Eustace  of  Maxwell,  Walter  of 


392  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Barclay,  sheriff  of  Aberdeen,  and  Patrick  of  Graham,  knights,  Hamelin  of 
Troupe,  and  Eustice  of  Retreve  [Rattray]  esquires,  were  accused  of  the 
same  crime,  but  were  not  found  guilty  in  any  way.  It  so  happened,  also, 
at  the  same  time,  that  when.  Roger  of  Mowbray  had  been  released  from  the 
trammels  of  the  flesh,  his  body  was  taken  down  thither,  and  convicted  of 
conspiracy;  whereupon  it  was  condemned  to  be  drawn  by  horses,  hanged 
on  the  gallows,  and  beheaded.  But  the  king  had  ruth,  and  was  stirred  with 
pity:  so  he  yielded  him  up  to  God's  judgment,  and  commanded  that  the 
body  of  the  deceased  should  be  handed  over  for  burial  by  the  Church, 
without  having  been  put  to  any  shame.  The  same  year,  on  the  17th  of 
March,  our  lord  the  Pope's  legates  came  to  the  king  of  Scotland,  at  Berwick. 

CXXXVI 

In  the  year  132 1,  there  was  a  very  hard  winter,  which  distressed  men, 
and  killed  nearly  all  animals.  The  same  year,  the  Earl  of  Moray  destroyed 
the  northern  parts  of  England,  and  the  bishopric  of  Durham,  with  famine, 
fire,  and  sword. 

CXXXVII 

THE   KING   OF   SCOTLAND    CROSSES   INTO   ENGLAND,    AND    THE   KING    OF 
ENGLAND   INTO   SCOTLAND 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1322,  Robert,  king  of  Scotland,  entered  England  with 
a  strong  hand,  and  laid  it  waste  for  the  most  part,  as  far  as  Stanemore, 
together  with  the  county  of  Lancaster.  The  same  year,  on  the  12th  of 
August,  Edward  II.,  king  of  England,  entered  Scotland  with  a  great  army 
of  horse  and  foot,  and  a  large  number  of  ships,  and  got  as  far  as  the  town  of 
Edinburgh;  for  he  sought  to  have  a  struggle  and  come  to  blows  with  the 
aforesaid  king.  But  the  king  of  Scotland,  wisely  shunning  an  encounter  for 
the  nonce,  skilfully  drew  away  from  his  army  all  animals  fit  for  food.  So, 
after  fifteen  days,  Edward  being  sore  pressed  by  hunger  and  starvation, 
went  home  again  dismayed,  having  first  sacked  and  plundered  the  monas- 
teries of  Holyrood  in  Edinburgh,  and  of  Melrose,  and  brought  them  to  great 
desolation.  For,  in  the  said  monastery  of  Melrose,  on  his  way  back  from 
Edinburgh,  the  lord  William  of  Peebles,  prior  of  that  same  monastery,  one 
monk  who  was  then  sick,  and  two  lay-brethren,  were  killed  in  the  dormitory 
by  the  English,  and  a  great  many  monks  were  wounded  unto  death.  The 
Lord's  Body  was  cast  forth  upon  the  high  altar,  and  the  pyx  wherein  it  was 
kept  was  taken  away.  The  monastery  of  Dryburgh  was  utterly  consumed 
with  fire,  and  reduced  to  dust;  and  a  great  many  other  holy  places  did  the 
fiery  flames  consume,  at  the  hands  of  the  aforesaid  king's  forces.  But  God 
rewarded  them  therefor,  and  it  brought  them  no  good.  For,  the  same  year, 
on  the  1st  of  October,  King  Robert  marched  into  England  in  hostile  wise, 
and  utterly  laid  it  waste,  as  far  as  York,  sacking  the  monasteries,  and  setting 
fire  to  a  great  many  cities  and  towns.  But  Edward  II.,  king  of  England, 
came  against  him  at  Biland,  with  a  great  force,  both  of  paid  soldiers  from 
France,  and  others  hired  from  a  great  many  places,  and  of  natives  of  the 
kingdom  itself;  but  he  was  put  to  flight  at  the  above-named  place,  in  the 
heart  of  his  own  kingdom,  not  without  great  slaughter  of  his  men,  and  in  no 
little  disorder.  Out  of  his  army,  John  of  Brittany,  Henry  of  Stibly  [Sully], 
and  other  nobles,  not  a  few,  fled  to  the  monastery  of  Rivaulx,  and  were 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  393 

there  taken ;  and  they  were  afterwards  ransomed  for  sums  untold.  Thus, 
the  king  of  Scotland  having  gained  a  gladsome  victory,  went  home  again, 
with  his  men,  in  great  joy  and  honour.  The  same  year,  on  the  1st  of  Octo- 
ber, Andrew  of  Barclay  was  taken,  and,  having  been  convicted  of  treach- 
ery, underwent  capital  punishment. 

CXXXVIII 

AMBASSADORS   SENT    BY    THE    KING    OF    SCOTLAND    TO    THE   POPE    AND    THE 

KING    OF    FRANCE 

In  the  year  1325,  ambassadors  were  sent  by  Robert,  king  of  Scotland,  to 
treat  for  a  renewal  of  the  friendship  and  alliance  formerly  struck  up  between 
the  kings  of  France  and  Scotland;  and  to  restore  them  in  force  forever,  that 
they  might  last  for  all  time  unto  them  and  their  successors;  and  also  that  he 
might  be  at  one,  and  come  to  a  good  understanding,  with  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  which  had,  through  the  insinuations  of  enemies,  been  somewhat 
irritated  against  the  king  and  kingdom.  So  when  all  this  business  had  been 
happily  despatched,  these  messengers  sped  safely  home  again.  In  that  year 
— on  Monday,  the  5th  of  March,  to  wit,  in  the  first  week  of  Lent — David, 
King  Robert's  son,  and  the  heir  of  Scotland,  who  succeeded  his  father  in 
the  kingdom,  was  born  in  the  monastery  of  Dunfermline,  after  complines. 

CXXXIX 

THE    QUEEN    OF    ENGLAND    BRINGS    HIRED    SOLDIERS    INTO    ENGLAND 

In  the  year  1326,  the  lady  Elizabeth,  queen  of  England,  brought  a  great 
many  hired  soldiers  from  sundry  parts  of  the  world;  and,  after  having  taken 
her  husband,  King  Edward,  and  thrown  him  into  prison,  she  bade  Hugh  de 
Spensa  [Spencer]  and  his  father,  be  hanged  on  the  gallows,  and  be  torn 
limb  from  limb.  Because  of  this  outbreak,  a  bishop  was  beheaded  in  Lon- 
don; and  a  great  many  earls,  barons,  and  nobles  were  everywhere  condemned 
to  a  most  shameful  death.  The  same  year,  Edward  III.,  then  fifteen  years 
old,  on  his  father  being  thrown  into  prison,  was,  though  unwilling,  crowned 
king  of  England,  at  Candlemas.  That  year,  moreover,  was,  all  over  the 
earth,  beyond  the  memory  of  living  man,  fruitful  and  plentyful  in  all  things, 
to  overflowing.  The  same  year,  the  whole  Scottish  clergy,  the  earls  and 
barons,  and  all  the  nobles,  were  gathered  together,  with  the  people,  at  Cam- 
buskenneth,  and,  in  the  presence  of  King  Robert  himself,  took  the  oaths  to 
David,  King  Robert's  son  and  heir, — and  to  Robert  Stewart,  the  aforesaid 
king's  grandson,  in  case  that  same  David  died  childless.  There,  also, 
Andrew  of  Moray  took  to  wife  the  lady  Christina,  that  king's  sister. 

CXL 

MESSENGERS   SENT    TO    THE    KING    OF    SCOTLAND    BY    THE    ENGLISH 

In  the  year  1327,  the  English  sent  messengers  to  the  king  of  Scotland, 
under  a  show  of  wishing  to  treat  for  a  secure  peace.  But  though  they  met 
together  more  than  once,  they  made  no  way.  At  length  their  double-dealing 
was  laid  bare,  and  the  Scots  entered  the  northern  parts  of  England,  with  a 
strong  hand,  on  the  15th  of  June,  and  wasted  it  with  fire  and  sword.  The 
same  year,  in  the  month  of  August,  the  earl  of  Moray  and  James  of  Douglas, 


394  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

with  many  Scottish  nobles,  invaded  England,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  and 
after  having  brought  great  loss  upon  the  English,  pitched  their  tents  in  a 
certain  narrow  place  named  Weardale;  while,  over  against  them,  and  at  the 
outlet  of  the  road,  as  it  were,  over  100,000  English  troops  were  posted  round 
the  Scots.  There  the  armies  lay,  for  eight  days,  in  sight  of  each  other,  and 
daily  harassed  one  another  with  mutual  slaughter;  but  they  shunned  a 
hand-to-hand  battle.  At  length,  however,  the  Scots,  like  weary  warriors, 
sought  an  opportunity  of  saving  themselves;  and,  having  struck  down  in 
death  many  of  the  foe,  and  taken  a  great  many  English  and  Hainaulters, 
they  returned  home  sound  and  safe,  by  a  roundabout  road,  by  night. 

CXLI 

The  same  year,  a  few  days  after  their  retreat,  the  king  of  Scotland  be- 
sieged Norham  Castle,  and,  soon  after,  Alnwick  Castle,  one  after  the  other; 
and,  in  that  siege  of  Norham,  William  of  Montealt,  knight,  John  of  Clap- 
ham,  and  Robert  of  Dobery,  were  killed  through  their  own  want  of  skill. 
The  same  year,  on  the  17th  of  March,  ambassadors  were  sent  by  the  king  of 
England  to  the  king  of  Scotland,  at  Edinburgh,  to  arrange  and  treat  for  a 
firm  and  lasting  peace,  which  should  abide  for  all  time.  So,  after  sundry 
negotiations,  and  the  many  and  various  risks  of  war  incurred  by  both  king- 
doms, the  aforesaid  kings  there  came  to  an  understanding  together  about  an 
indissoluble  peace;  and  the  chiefs  and  worthies  of  either  kingdom  tendered 
their  oaths  thereto,  which  were  to  last  unshaken  for  all  time,  swearing  upon 
the  soul  of  each  king  faithfully  to  keep  all  and  sundry  things,  as  they  are 
more  fully  contained  under  certain  articles  of  the  instruments  thereof,  drawn 
up  on  either  side  as  to  the  form  of  the  peace.  And,  that  it  might  be  a  true 
peace,  which  should  go  on  without  end  between  them,  and  between  their 
respective  successors,  the  king  of  Scotland,  of  his  own  free  and  unbiassed 
will,  gave  and  granted  30,000  merks  in  cash  to  the  king  of  England,  for  the 
losses  he  himself  had  brought  upon  the  latter  and  his  kingdom;  and  the  said 
king  of  England  gave  his  sister,  named  Joan,  to  King  Robert's  son  and  heir, 
David,  to  wife,  for  the  greater  security  of  peace,  and  the  steady  fostering  of 
the  constancy  of  love. 

CXLII 

ESPOUSAL   OF    KING    DAVID — DEATH    OF    WILLIAM   OF   LAMBERTON,  BISHOP   OF 

SAINT    ANDREWS 

On  the  17th  of  July,  1328,  David,  King  Robert's  son  and  heir,  was,  to 
the  unspeakable  joy  of  the  people  of  either  kingdom,  married  to  Joan,  sister 
of  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  at  Berwick,  in  presence  of  Elizabeth,  the 
girl's  mother,  then  queen  of  England.  The  same  year  died  William  of 
Lamberton,  bishop  of  Saint  Andrews. 

CXLIII 

DEATH    OF    KING    ROBERT    OF    BRUCE 

On  the  7th  of  June,  1329,  died  Robert  of  Bruce,  of  goodly  memory,  the 
illustrious  King  of  Scots,  at  Cardross,  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his  reign. 
He  was,  beyond  all  living  men  of  his  day,  a  valiant  knight. 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce  395 

CXLIV 
DEATH   OF   JAMES   OF   DOUGLAS 

On  the  26th  of  August,  1330,  James  of  Douglas  and  the  king  of  Spain 
gathered  together  the  hosts  which  were  flocking  from  different  parts  of  the 
world,  in  aid  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  warred  down  the  Sultan,  and  number- 
less Saracens  with  him;  and  when  these  had  been  overcome  and  put  to  flight, 
after  a  great  many  of  them  had  been  killed,  and  the  booty  had  been  shared, 
the  said  king  went  back  safely,  with  his  army.  But  the  aforesaid  James, 
alas!  kept  a  very  few  with  him,  as  his  army;  and  as  this  was  by  no  means 
hidden  from  another  Sultan,  who  was  lurking  in  ambush,  the  latter,  with  his 
men,  started  out  from  his  hiding  place,  and  challenged  James  to  battle. 
No  sooner  had  the  said  James  recognized  his  army  and  banners  afar  off, 
than,  in  his  fearlessness,  he  dashingly  charged  them  with  his  men.  A  great 
many  Saracens  were  there  slain;  and  James  himself  ended  his  days  there  in 
bliss,  while  he  and  his  were  struggling  for  Christ's  sake.  With  him,  a  certain 
William  of  St.  Clair,  and  Robert  Logan,  knights,  and  a  great  many  others, 
lost  their  lives.  This  James  was,  in  his  day,  a  brave  hammerer  of  the 
English;  and  the  Lord  bestowed  so  much  grace  upon  him  in  his  life,  that 
he  everywhere  triumphed  over  the  English. 

CXLV 
CORONATION    OF    KING   DAVID 

On  the  24th  of  November,  1331,  David,  son  and  heir  of  King  Robert, 
was  anointed  King  of  Scots,  and  crowned  at  Scone,  by  the  lord  James  Bennet, 
bishop  of  Saint  Andrews,  specially  appointed  thereunto  by  a  Bull  of  the  most 
holy  father  John  XXII.,  then  sovereign  Pontiff.  We  do  not  read  that  any 
of  the  kings  of  Scotland,  before  this  David,  were  anointed  or  with  such 
solemnity  crowned.  The  same  day,  John  Stewart,  Earl  of  Angus — Thomas 
Randolph,  son  and  heir  of  Thomas  Earl  of  Moray — and  other  nobles  of  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  received  the  order  of  knighthood. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXIV 

1  By  examining  the  dates  of  instruments  in  Prynne  and  Rymer,  we  may,  with  tolerable 
exactness,  ascertain  the  progress  of  Edward  during  this  fatal  year  :  At  Rokesburgh,  21st 
May,  1303  ;  Edinburgh,  4th  June  ;  Linlithgow,  6th  June  ;  Clackmannan,  12th  June  ;  Perth, 
28th  June-ioth  July  ;  An  instrument  in  Foedera,  t.  ii.  p.  934,  is  dated  Perth,  10th  June^ 
1303  ;  but  this  is  a  mistake  instead  of  10th  July,  as  will  appear  from  comparing  it  with  a 
relative  instrument  (ibid.),  Aberdeen,  24th  August  ;  Kinlos  in  Moray,  20th  September-ioth 
October  ;  Dundee,  20th  October ;  Kinros,  (erroneously  printed  Kinlos,)  10th  November  ; 
Dumfermline,  nth  December.  Hence  we  may  conclude  that  Edward  crossed  the  Forth 
near  Clackmannan,  and  that  the  siege  of  the  castle  of  Brechin  happened  in  the  interval  be- 
tween 10th  July  and  24th  August.  As  Edward  was  at  Aberdeen  24th  August,  and  at 
Kinlos  in  Moray  20th  September  and  10th  October,  there  is  a  probability,  at  least,  that  he 
never  marched  his  army  into  Caithness.  While  residing  in  Moray,  he  had  a  view  of  the 
coast  of  Caithness.  He  may,  perhaps,  have  crossed  over  in  a  ship,  from  curiosity.  This 
may  account  for  the  expression  of  historians,  "  that  Edward  went  as  far  north  as  Caithness. " 
The  truth  is,  that,  at  that  time,  the  country  to  the  north  of  Ross-shire  was  of  small  account 
in  the  political  system  of  Scotland — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol.  i.,  p.  303. 


396  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

5  ' '  Posterity  ought  to  remember  the  chief  associates  of  Bruce  in  his  arduous  attempt  to 
restore  the  liberties  of  Scotland. 

"  They  were,  William  of  Lambyrton,  Bishop  of  St  Andrew's  ;  Robert  Wisheart,  Bishop 
of  Glasgow  ;  the  Abbot  of  Scone  ;  the  four  brothers  of  Bruce,  Edward,  Nigel,  Thomas, 
and  Alexander  ;  his  nephew,  Thomas  Randolph  of  Strathdon  ;  his  brother-in-law,  Christopher 
Seaton  of  Seaton  ;  Malcolm  (5th)  Earl  of  Lennox  ;  John  of  Strathbogie  (10th)  Earl  of 
Athole  ;  Sir  James  Douglas  ;  Gilbert  de  la  Haye  of  Errol,  and  his  brother  Hugh  de  la 
Haye  ;  David  Barclay  of  Cairns  of  Fife  ;  Alexander  Fraser,  brother  of  Simon  Fraser  of 
Oliver  Castle  ;  Walter  de  Somerville  of  Linton  and  Carnwath  ;  David  of  Inchmartin  ; 
Robert  Boyd ;  and  Robert  Fleming  ;  Randolph,  afterwards  Earl  of  Moray  ;  Seaton, 
ancestor  of  the  Duke  of  Gordon,  Earl  of  Winton,  Earl  of  Dunfermline,  and  Viscount 
Kingston  ;  De  la  Haye,  of  Earl  of  Errol  ;  Fraser  of  Lord  Lovat  and  Lord  Salton  ;  Somerville, 
of  Lord  Somerville  ;  Inchmartin,  of  Earl  of  Findlater,  Earl  of  Airley,  and  Lord  Banff ; 
Boyd,  of  Earl  of  Kilmarnock  ;  Fleming  of  Earl  of  Wigton.  Matth.  Westm.,  p.  452,  adds 
Alan  Earl  of  Mentieth.  Nigel  Campbell,  the  predecessor  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  etc.,  and 
Fraser  of  Oliver  Castle,  were  also  engaged  in  the  cause  ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
assisted  at  the  coronation  of  Robert  I. — To  this  list  David  Moray,  Bishop  of  Moray,  might 
be  added.  The  English  asserted  that  he  preached  to  the  people  of  his  diocese,  '  that  it  was 
no  less  meritorious  to  rise  in  arms  for  supporting  the  cause  of  Bruce,  than  to  engage  in  a 
crusade  against  the  Saracens.'  " — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol  ii.,  pp.  2,  3. 

*  "  Bruce  repaired  to  Dumfries,  where  Comyn  happened  at  that  time  to  reside.  Bruce 
requested  an  interview  with  him  in  the  convent  of  the  Minorites.  There  they  met  before 
the  great  altar.  Bruce  passionately  reproached  Comyn  for  his  treachery.  'You  lie,' 
cried  Comyn.  Bruce  stabbed  him  instantly.  Hastening  out  of  the  sanctuary,  he  called 
4  To  horse.'  His  attendants,  Lindesay  and  Kirkpatrick,  perceiving  him  pale,  and  in  extreme 
agitation,  anxiously  enquired,  how  it  was  with  him?  '  111,'  replied  Bruce,  '  I  doubt  I  have 
slain  Comyn.'  'You  doubt?'  cried  Kirkpatrick;  and  rushing  into  the  church,  fixed  his 
dagger  in  Comyn's  heart  (10th  February  1306). 

"  Sir  Robert  Comyn  generously  attempted  to  defend  his  kinsman,  and  shared  his  fate. 

"The  justiciaries  were  holding  their  court  at  Dumfries  when  this  strange  event 
happened.  Imagining  their  lives  to  be  sought,  they  barricaded  the  doors.  Bruce  ordered 
the  house  to  be  fired.  They  surrendered.  He  permitted  them  to  depart  out  of  Scotland 
unmolested. 

"  Such  is  the  account  of  this  unhappy  catastrophe  delivered  by  our  writers.  The 
English  relate  its  circumstances  in  a  different,  but  not  more  probable  manner.  I  think 
that  the  historians  of  both  nations  have  erred  in  their  accounts,  and  that  the  real  nature  of 
this  fatal  quarrel  is  still  unknown." — Hailes,  Annals  of  Scotland,  vol  i.,  pp.  320,  321. 

4  "  March  26.  Edward  II.  made  great  preparations  for  the  relief  of  the  castle  of  Stir- 
ling. He  invited  many  Irish  chiefs  to  his  aid  ;  and  he  summoned  his  English  subjects  in 
Ireland  to  join  the  army  under  the  command  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster. 

"  May  27.  He  ordered  a  great  army  to  be  assembled  for  the  succour  of  the  castle  of 
Stirling. 

"  Bruce  assembled  his  army  at  Torwood,  between  Falkirk  and  Stirling  ;  and  he  chose 
the  ground  on  which  he  was  to  combat  the  English. 

"June  23.  Edward  II.,  with  his  army,  came  in  sight  of  the  Scots,  who  were  posted 
between  Stirling  and  the  stream  called  Bannockburn.  There  were  skirmishes,  this  day, 
in  which  the  Scots  had  the  advantage.     Bruce  slew  Henry  de  Bohun  in  single  combat. 

"  June  24.  The  two  nations  fought.  The  English  were  totally  routed.  Edward  II. 
fled  sixty  miles  without  halting.  The  Earl  of  March  threw  open  the  gates  of  his  castle  of 
Dunbar  to  Edward,  and  conveyed  him  by  sea  into  England, 

"  The  castle  of  Stirling  surrendered  according  to  treaty.  Moubray,  the  governor,  en- 
tered into  the  service  of  Scotland. 


Annals  of  Wallace  and  Bruce 


397 


"  The  castle  of  Bothwell  was  besieged.  The  Earl  of  Hereford,  who  had  taken  refuge 
there  after  the  rout  at  Bannockburn,  capitulated. 

1 '  Edward  Bruce,  and  Douglas,  wasted  Northumberland,  laid  the  bishopric  of  Durham 
under  contribution,  penetrated  to  Richmond  in  Yorkshire,  burnt  Appleby,  etc.,  and  returned 
home  loaded  with  plunder. 

"August  i.  Edward  II.  summoned  a  parliament  at  York,  in  order  to  concert  measures 
for  the  public  security. 

"August  10.  He  appointed  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  late  guardian  of  Scotland,  to  be 
guardian  of  the  country  between  Tweed  and  the  Trent. 

"  September  18.  Bruce  having  made  overtures  for  peace,  Edward  II.  appointed  com- 
missioners to  treat  with  the  Scots. 

"  October  17.     The  Scots  again  invaded  England,  and  levied  contributions. 

"  John  Baliol  died,  leaving  his  son  Edward  heir  to  his  fatal  pretensions." — Hailes, 
Anno  1314. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

FROM  BRUCE  TO  FLODDEN 

KING  ROBERT  BRUCE  was  succeeded  by  his  son  David,  then  a  boy 
seven  years  of  age,  who  was  crowned  at  Scone  November  24,  1331. 
Randolph,  Earl  of  Moray,  became  regent,  in  accordance  with  King  Robert's 
settlement.  He  died,  however,  in  July,  1332,  and  was  followed  in  the  re- 
gency by  the  Earl  of  Mar,  a  man  of  vastly  inferior  ability. 

During  his  rule,  Edward  Baliol,  a  son  of  the  deposed  King  John,  secured 
the  assistance  of  England  and  laid  claim  to  the  Scottish  throne  for  himself. 
He  landed  in  Fifeshire  with  an  army  of  4400.  Through  the  inefficiency  of 
the  regent  and  his  associates,  the  Scotch  armies  failed  to  oppose  this 
invader,  and  Baliol  was  actually  crowned  as  king,  at  Scone,  less  than  two 
months  later.  Seven  years  of  civil  war  followed  his  usurpation,  largely 
fomented  and  encouraged  by  the  English  king,  Edward  III.,  who,  during 
this  time,  made  four  successful  invasions  of  Scotland. 

Sir  Andrew  Moray,  of  Bothwell,  succeeded  to  the  regency  in  1334.  He 
was  an  honest  and  successful  leader,  and  in  1335  defeated  and  killed  the 
Earl  of  Athole  in  Aberdeenshire.  After  a  long  struggle  against  his  country's 
enemies,  he  died  in  1338,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Steward  of  Scotland,  a 
son  of  King  Robert  Bruce's  daughter  Marjory,  and  of  Walter,  the  sixth 
Steward.  In  1337,  Edward  III.  advanced  his  claim  to  the  throne  of  France. 
Baliol,  being  left  to  his  own  resources,  became  an  object  of  suspicion  and 
hatred  among  the  Scotch.  In  1339,  he  fled  to  and  became  a  pensioner  of 
England. 

The  Steward  thereupon  laid  siege  to  Perth,  where  Baliol' s  forces  were 
quartered,  and  in  August,  1339,  it  capitulated.  During  that  year,  Stirling 
and  all  the  northern  castles  were  recovered,  but  those  of  Edinburgh,  Rox- 
burgh, Jedburgh,  Berwick,  and  others  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  English. 
Edinburgh  Castle  was  retaken  in  April,  1341. 

In  1346,  King  David  assembled  an  army  at  Perth,  and,  marching  south 
of  the  Border,  fought  the  English  near  Durham  on  October  17th.  In  this 
battle  the  Scots  were  defeated,  and  most  of  their  leaders  captured  —  the 
King  among  the  number;  but  the  Steward  escaped  with  a  portion  of  his  army. 
The  prisoners  were  taken  to  London,  where  the  Earl  of  Menteith  was  executed 
as  a  traitor. 

King  David  continued  a  prisoner  in  England  until  1357,  when  he  was 
permitted  to  return,  the  Scotch  having  agreed  to  pay  the  English  for  his 
ransom  the  sum  of  100,000  merks.  David  II.  had  had  no  children  by  his 
wife.  His  long  residence  in  England,  together  with  the  natural  weakness 
of  his  character,  brought  him  readily  under  English  influence,  and  led  him, 

398 


From  Bruce  to  Flodden  399 

in  1363,  to  suggest  to  the  Scottish  Parliament  that  it  should  choose  as  his  suc- 
cessor one  of  the  sons  of  the  king  of  England.  Parliament  rejected  this 
proposition  with  contempt,  as  well  as  a  later  one  inimical  to  Scottish  inde- 
pendence which  was  submitted  by  David  in  1366. 

David  died  in  137 1,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  the  Steward,  who 
was  crowned  at  Scone,  March  26,  137 1,  as  Robert  II.  During  the  next  ten 
or  twelve  years  the  Scots  succeeded  in  driving  the  English  invaders  com- 
pletely out  of  the  kingdom.  The  Ancient  League  between  Scotland  and 
France  was  renewed  in  137 1.  In  1385  the  French  sent  a  force  of  2000 
men  to  Scotland  to  assist  the  Scots  in  an  invasion  of  England.  The  French 
and  Scottish  ideas  of  politeness  and  methods  of  warfare  differed  so  widely, 
however,  that  their  leaders  soon  became  involved  in  disputes,  and  the  French 
returned  to  their  own  land. 

A  truce  was  concluded  with  England  in  1389  by  the  Scots  and  French, 
which  continued  for  ten  years. 

Robert  II.  died  in  April,  1390,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  oldest  son, 
John,  who  was  crowned  under  the  title  of  Robert  III.  A  younger  son  of 
Robert  II.  was  the  Earl  of  Fife,  afterwards  known  as  the  Duke  of  Albany, 
who  had  acted  as  regent  during  the  later  years  of  his  father's  reign,  and 
retained  his  power  under  the  name  of  Governor  of  the  Kingdom,  after  his 
brother  came  to  the  throne.  A  third  brother,  the  Earl  of  Buchan,  known 
in  history  as  the  Wolf  of  Badenoch,  ruled  the  northern  provinces,  and  be- 
came notorious  for  his  cruelty.  The  king  was  of  too  timid  and  peaceful  a 
nature  to  restrain  the  lawlessness  of  his  nobles.  Indeed,  he  found  it  neces- 
sary to  enter  into  bonds  with  many  of  them  for  the  protection  of  himself 
and  his  heirs,  and  to  purchase  immunity  and  allegiance  from  them  by  grants 
of  money.  The  Duke  of  Albany,  Lord  Stuart  of  Brechin,  Lord  Murdoch 
Stuart,  Sir  William  Lindsay,  Sir  John  Montgomery,  and  many  others  were 
parties  to  bonds  of  this  character  with  the  King. 

In  1398,  by  reason  of  the  infirmity  or  imbecility  of  King  Robert  III., 
Parliament  appointed  his  oldest  son,  the  Duke  of  Rothesay,  as  regent  for 
three  years,  under  the  title  of  Lieutenant  of  the  Kingdom.  Rothesay's 
uncle,  the  Duke  of  Albany,  plotted  to  destroy  that  prince,  and  in  1401  had 
him  seized  and  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Falkland,  where  he  died  of  starva- 
tion.   Albany  then  resumed  his  former  position  as  Governor  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  king's  second  son,  James,  then  fourteen  years  of  age,  was  sent  to 
France  for  safety.  He  sailed  in  March,  1405,  but  his  vessel  was  captured 
by  an  English  ship,  and  he  was  carried  to  London  and  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower.  Robert  III.  died  April  4,  1406.  Albany  was  elected  as  regent 
and  continued  to  rule  the  kingdom  until  his  death,  in  September,  1419. 
His  son,  Murdoch  Stuart,  then  succeeded  to  the  office  of  Governor. 

King  James  remained  a  prisoner  in  England  until  1424,  when,  Scotland 
having  agreed  to  pay  for  his  ransom  the  sum  of  40,000  pounds,  he  was  per- 
mitted to  return. 


400  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

James  I.  entered  Scotland  on  April  i,  1424,  and  was  crowned  king  at 
Scone  on  the  21st  day  of  the  following  month.  He  immediately  began  to 
lay  plans  for  breaking  the  power  of  the  nobles,  and  within  a  year  proceeded 
to  carry  them  into  execution. 

He  assembled  a  Parliament  at  Perth,  March  12,  1425.  For  eight  days  it 
was  engaged  in  passing  laws  designed  to  restrain  the  nobles.  On  the  ninth 
day  the  Duke  of  Albany  was  seized  and  imprisoned,  with  many  of  the  chief 
nobles.  A  court  was  held  at  Stirling  on  the  24th  of  May.  Walter  Stuart, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Albany,  was  accused  of  robbery,  convicted, 
condemned,  and  beheaded.  The  next  day,  Albany  himself,  with  his  second 
son  and  the  Earl  of  Lennox,  was  tried,  convicted,  sentenced  to  death,  and 
executed. 

In  1427,  James,  having  restored  order  in  the  Lowlands,  proceeded  north 
to  Inverness,  where  he  summoned  the  Lord  of  the  Isles  and  fifty  of  the 
Highland  chiefs  to  attend  his  Parliament.  They  attended,  were  instantly 
seized  and  imprisoned,  and  many  of  them  were  executed.  The  Lord  of  the 
Isles,  having  made  submission,  was  released.  But  immediately  after  the 
departure  of  the  king  he  revolted,  and  attacked  Inverness.  The  king 
returned,  fought  and  defeated  him  in  Lochaber,  and  kept  up  such  a  vigorous 
warfare  against  him  that  the  insurgent  was  obliged  to  surrender.  In  1429 
he  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Tantallon. 

James  sought  to  restrain  his  nobles  from  oppressing  the  people,  to  make 
them  more  dependent  upon  the  Crown,  and  to  rule  the  kingdom  through 
Parliament.  In  his  short  reign  Parliament  was  assembled  fifteen  times  and 
over  one  hundred  and  sixty  statutes  were  passed,  many  of  them  dealing  with 
the  reform  of  the  administration  of  justice. 

In  1 43 1,  James,  continuing  his  purpose  of  reducing  the  power  of  the 
nobles,  appropriated  to  the  Crown  certain  lands  which  had  been  alienated 
by  Albany;  and  in  1435  confiscated  the  estates  of  the  Earl  of  March,  whose 
title  was  tainted  on  account  of  his  father's  treason.  The  dispossessed  earl 
and  his  family  retired  to  England. 

About  this  time,  Duncan  Stuart,  Earl  of  Mar,  died,  and  his  estates 
were  seized  by  the  Crown,  on  the  ground  of  his  illegitimacy.  The  Scottish 
nobles  were  now  alarmed  and  enraged  at  the  proceedings  of  the  king. 
They  formed  a  plot  to  murder  him.  The  chief  actor  in  the  conspiracy  was 
one  Sir  Robert  Graham.  He  had  once  proposed  in  open  Parliament  that  the 
king  be  seized  and  put  into  confinement ;  and  he  suffered  the  loss  of  all  his 
lands  as  a  punishment.  Graham's  partners  in  this  plot  were  Walter  Stuart, 
Earl  of  Athole,  a  son  of  Robert  II.,  and  Robert  Stuart,  a  grandson  of 
Athole's,  who  was  then  chamberlain  to  the  king. 

The  Court  had  gone  to  hold  Christmas  at  Perth,  in  the  Monastery  of  the 
Dominicans,  or  Black  Friars.  Here,  about  midnight,  on  February  20,  1437, 
the  king  prepared  to  retire  to  rest.  He  was  standing  at  the  fire  in  his  gown, 
talking  with  the  queen  and  the  other  ladies,  who  had  not  yet  withdrawn. 


From  Bruce  to  Flodden  401 

Stuart,  the  false  chamberlain,  had  removed  the  bolts  of  the  doors,  which 
made  communication  in  the  interior  of  the  building  easy. 

When  about  to  retire,  James  "  harkyned  and  hard  grete  noise  without, 
and  grete  clateryng  of  harnych,  and  men  armyd,  with  grete  sight  of  torches. 
.  .  .  And,  sodenly,  the  Quene,  with  all  the  other  ladis  and  gentilwomen, 
rane  to  the  chaumber  dure,  and  fonde  hit  opyne;  and  they  wold  have  shutt 
hit,  but  the  lokes  wer  so  blundrid  that  thay  nethir  cowth  ne  myght  shutt 
hit."  1  he  king  besought  the  women  to  obstruct  all  entrance  as  long  as  they 
were  able.  Running  to  the  window  he  found  that  it  was  too  strongly  barred 
by  iron  rods  to  permit  of  egress.  He  then  seized  the  fire  tongs,  pried  up  a 
flag-stone,  and  descended  to  a  private  vault  beneath  the  floor.  The  assassins 
rushed  through  the  halls,  fearing  their  victim  had  escaped.  But  one, 
Thomas  Chambers,  who  was  familiar  with  the  building,  remembered  the 
vault,  and  going  to  the  place,  saw  that  the  floor  had  been  newly  broken. 
Raising  the  flagging  and  holding  his  torch  down  into  the  vault,  he  descried 
the  king.  Sir  John  Hall,  knife  in  hand,  leaped  down  into  the  vault,  and 
was  followed  by  his  brother,  but  the  king  overpowered  them  both  by  main 
strength,  and  threw  them  beneath  his  feet.  Sir  Robert  Graham  followed 
the  Halls,  with  drawn  sword.  The  king,  now  much  weakened  by  his 
struggles  with  the  others,  begged  for  mercy,  or  at  least  for  a  confessor. 
Graham  denounced  him  as  a  tyrant,  and  passed  his  weapon  through  the 
king's  body,  adding,  "  Thou  shalt  never  have  other  confessor  but  this  same 
sword."  The  two  Halls  then  stabbed  him  repeatedly  as  he  lay  prostrate. 
Thus  perished  the  ablest  and  best  king  of  all  the  Stuart  line. 

Within  forty  days  from  the  time  of  James's  death,  his  murderers  were  all 
captured  and  barbarously  executed.  Athole's  punishment  was  continued 
for  three  days.  On  the  first  day,  he  was  put  into  a  cart  containing  a  high 
crane,  with  ropes  passing  through  pulleys  and  tied  to  his  body;  so  that  be- 
ing hoisted  up,  and  suddenly  allowed  to  fall,  without  reaching  the  floor  of 
the  cart,  he  was  racked  with  intolerable  pains.  Then  he  was  placed  in  a 
pillory,  and  a  red-hot  iron  crown  was  set  upon  his  head.  The  next  day,  he 
was  bound  upon  a  hurdle,  and  drawn  at  a  horse's  tail  through  the  principal 
streets  of  Edinburgh.  The  third  day,  he  was  bound  upon  a  plank  in  a  con- 
spicuous place,  and  his  bowels  being  cut  out  whilst  he  was  yet  alive,  were 
cast  into  a  fire  and  burned  before  his  face;  as  was  also  his  heart.  Then  his 
head  was  taken  off  and  exposed  to  public  view,  being  set  upon  a  pole  in  the 
highest  part  of  the  city.  Robert  Graham,  the  actual  murderer,  was  carried 
in  a  cart  through  the  town  of  Stirling,  his  right  hand  nailed  to  a  gallows  post 
that  had  been  set  up  in  the  cart.  Then  the  hangman  took  Graham's  sword, 
and  with  it  cut  off  the  offending  hand.  Stripped  naked  and  still  fastened 
to  the  gallows,  he  was  again  driven  through  the  streets,  accompanied  by  two 
executioners,  who  continually  ran  red-hot  iron  spikes  into  his  thighs,  shoul- 
ders, and  other  least  vital  parts,  and  with  red-hot  pincers  burned  and  tore 

the  flesh  until  his  body  was  a  mass  of  charred  and  bleeding  wounds.     Be- 
26 


402  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

fore  being  permitted  to  die,  his  son  was  disembowelled,  living,  before  his 
eyes. 

After  the  death  of  James  I.,  his  son,  a  boy  of  eight  years,  succeeded  to 
the  throne,  and  was  crowned  at  Holyrood  as  James  II.  on  March  25,  1437. 
The  Earl  of  Douglas  was  appointed  Lieutenant  of  the  Kingdom.  He  died 
in  1439.  His  son  and  successor  having  been  murdered  by  the  heads  of  the 
rival  families  of  Crichton  and  Livingston,  the  son's  uncle,  James  Douglas, 
assumed  the  title.  He  died  in  1443,  and  his  son,  William  Douglas,  suc- 
ceeded. William  was  a  man  of  energy  and  ambition.  His  power  soon 
became  enormous.  Having  obtained  custody  of  the  king,  by  a  compact 
with  Livingston,  he  assumed  the  title  and  power  of  Lieutenant  of  the  King- 
dom. He  divorced  his  wife,  and  married  his  cousin,  the  "  Fair  Maid  of 
Galloway,"  thus  reuniting  the  domains  of  his  house.  In  1449  the  king 
married,  and  began  to  show  energy  and  ability  in  affairs  of  state.  The 
Livingston  family,  who  had  enriched  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  Crown, 
were  seized  and  imprisoned,  and  the  heir  to  the  title  executed. 

In  February,  1452,  Douglas  was  invited  to  visit  the  king  at  Stirling 
Castle,  and  he  complied.  After  dining  and  supping  with  the  royal  party, 
the  king  took  him  aside  for  a  private  interview.  During  their  conversation 
the  subject  of  Douglas's  bonds  with  the  Earls  of  Crawford  and  Ross  was 
discussed.  The  king  insisted  that  Douglas  should  break  these  secret  bonds, 
but  this  the  latter  declined  to  do.  At  last  the  king  drew  his  dagger,  ex- 
claimed, "  This  shall!  "  and  twice  stabbed  his  guest.  The  nobles  at  hand 
then  rushed  upon  the  bleeding  man  and  killed  him  outright. 

Civil  war  at  once  broke  out  in  the  kingdom  of  Scotland.  The  new  Earl 
of  Douglas  and  his  brothers  defied  and  scorned  the  king's  authority,  and 
burned  and  wasted  the  country.  After  many  fruitless  efforts  the  king  man- 
aged to  muster  an  army,  and  advanced  in  person  against  Douglas,  entering 
his  territory,  and  proceeding  through  Peeblesshire,  Selkirk  Forest,  Dum- 
fries, and  Galloway.  Douglas  Castle  was  captured,  and  peace  was  con- 
cluded in  August,  1452. 

But  the  head  of  the  house  of  Douglas  once  more  united  the  territories  of 
his  family  by  marrying  his  brother's  widow.  He  conspired  against  the  king, 
and  sought  to  overthrow  the  Stuart  dynasty.  The  king  raised  an  army  and 
marched  again  into  the  lands  of  Douglas,  besieging  and  capturing  the  castle 
of  Abercorn  and  other  strongholds.  Douglas  was  defeated  at  Arkinholm, 
one  of  his  brothers  was  killed,  and  another  captured  and  beheaded.  Doug- 
las himself  fled  to  England,  and  the  estates  of  the  earldom  were  forfeited  to 
the  Crown.  The  Earl  of  Angus,  himself  a  Douglas,  had  stood  by  the  king 
and  rendered  him  important  service  in  this  formidable  contest.  On  him 
James  conferred  the  title  and  estates  of  the  house,  and  it  passed  into  a 
saying  that  "  the  Red  Douglas  had  put  down  the  Black." 

The  Scottish  army  laid  siege  to  Roxburgh  Castle,  at  Berwick,  which  was 
still  retained  by  the  English.    It  finally  capitulated;  but  in  1460  King  James 


From  Bruce  to  Flodden  403 

was  accidentally  killed  while  witnessing  the  firing  of  one  of  the  large  cannon 
used  in  the  siege.  He  was  struck  by  an  iron  wedge  used  in  tightening  one 
of  the  bands  about  the  gun,  which  was  forced  out  during  its  firing. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  James  III.,  also  a  boy  of  eight  years  at  the 
time  of  his  father's  death.  For  several  years  the  government  was  conducted 
by  Bishop  Kennedy,  who  died  in  1466.  Lord  Boyd  then  seized  the  king's 
person,  and  assumed  supreme  control  of  the  kingdom.  In  1467,  his  eldest 
son  was  created  Earl  of  Arran  and  married  to  the  king's  sister.  But  the 
rule  of  the  Boyds  was  of  short  duration.  In  1469  they  were  tried  for 
treason  and  convicted.  The  head  of  the  house  fled  to  England,  where  he 
soon  afterwards  died.  His  brother  Alexander  was  executed  at  Edinburgh. 
The  Earl  of  Arran  was  forced  to  flee,  and  was  soon  stripped  of  his  royal 
wife  by  a  divorce.  She  afterwards  married  the  head  of  the  Hamilton  family, 
and  that  house  subsequently  attained  a  high  position  in  the  kingdom. 

James  III.  was  a  prince  of  cultivated  tastes  but  feeble  character.  He 
shrank  from  the  rude  society  of  his  peers,  and  surrounded  himself  with 
artists  of  humble  origin,  whose  influence  and  accomplishments  excited  the 
scorn  and  animosity  of  the  illiterate  nobles.  In  1482,  many  of  the  king's 
favorites  were  murdered  by  the  Earl  of  Angus  and  his  associates  at  Lauder 
Bridge,  and  James  himself  was  imprisoned  in  Edinburgh  Castle  for  a  season. 

During  the  next  half-dozen  years,  the  nobles  continued  to  plot  against 
their  king,  and  finally  resolved  to  dethrone  him.  For  this  purpose,  James's 
son,  a  youth  of  sixteen  years,  was  encouraged  to  rise  in  rebellion  against  his 
father.  With  the  assistance  of  the  southern  nobles,  he  raised  an  army,  and 
taking  the  field  against  the  king  was  met  by  the  latter  in  battle.  They 
fought  on  June  28,  1488,  at  a  small  brook,  called  Sauchie  Burn,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Stirling.  The  engagement  was  fiercely  contested.  The  king 
fled  from  the  field.  His  horse  stumbled,  throwing  its  rider,  and  some  of  the 
rebels  came  up  and  killed  him. 

A  few  days  after,  James  IV.  was  crowned  king  at  Scone.  Warned 
by  his  father's  fate,  he  kept  on  good  terms  with  the  nobility.  Instead 
of  letting  them  dwell  apart  in  their  gloomy  castles,  he  attracted  them 
to  the  Court  by  its  gay  festivities.  Free  and  affable  in  manner,  he  pos- 
sessed a  charm  which  made  him  the  best-beloved  king,  by  both  great  and 
small,  that  Scotland  ever  had.  His  reign  covered  the  period  of  the  discovery 
of  America.  The  king  took  an  interest  in  shipbuilding,  and  the  nation 
made  some  progress  as  a  naval  power.  The  relations  of  Scotland  became 
more  and  more  interwoven  with  the  other  kingdoms  of  Europe.  Spain, 
then  in  the  zenith  of  her  glory  and  power,  kept  an  ambassador  at  the  Court 
of  Scotland,  one  Don  Pedro  de  Ayala.  This  minister  sent  to  the  Spanish 
king,  his  master,  an  interesting  description  of  the  Scottish  ruler,  his  subjects, 
and  his  country,  which  has  been  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Simancas,  and 
of  which  Bergen  roth  has  made  an  abstract  in  his  Calendar  of  Spanish  State 
Papers.     This  account,  it  should  be  remembered,  is  the  work  of  a  foreigner, 


404  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

who  had  no  motive  of  flattery ;  who  wrote  what  James  was  never  to  see ;  and 
who  happened  to  be  removed  from  Scottish  influence  when  he  penned  his 
despatch,  which  bears  date,  London,  25th  July,  1498,  and  reads  as  follows: 

The  King  is  twenty-five  years  and  some  months  old.  He  is  of  noble 
stature,  neither  tall  nor  short,  and  as  handsome  in  complexion  and  shape  as 
a  man  can  be.  His  address  is  very  agreeable.  He  speaks  the  following 
foreign  languages — Latin,  very  well;  French,  German,  Flemish,  Italian,  and 
Spanish;  Spanish  as  well  as  the  marquis,  but  he  pronounces  it  more  dis- 
tinctly. He  likes  very  much  to  receive  Spanish  letters.  His  own  Scottish 
language  is  as  different  from  English  as  Aragonese  from  Castilian.  The  King 
speaks,  besides,  the  language  of  the  savages  who  live  in  some  parts  of  Scot- 
land and  on  the  islands.  It  is  as  different  from  Scotch  as  Biscayan  is  from 
Castilian.  His  knowledge  of  languages  is  wonderful.  He  is  well  read  in 
the  Bible  and  in  some  other  devout  books.  He  is  a  good  historian.  He  has 
read  many  Latin  and  French  histories,  and  profited  by  them,  as  he  has  a 
very  good  memory.  He  never  cuts  his  hair  or  his  beard.  It  becomes  him 
very  well. 

He  fears  God  and  observes  all  the  precepts  of  the  Church.  He  does  not 
eat  meat  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays.  He  would  not  ride  on  Sundays  for 
any  consideration,  not  even  to  mass.  He  says  all  his  prayers.  Before 
transacting  any  business  he  hears  two  masses.  After  mass  he  has  a  cantata 
sung,  during  which  he  sometimes  despatches  very  urgent  business.  He 
gives  alms  liberally,  but  is  a  severe  judge,  especially  in  the  case  of  murderers. 
He  has  a  great  predilection  for  priests,  and  receives  advice  from  them,  espe- 
cially from  the  Friars  Observant  with  whom  he  confesses.  Rarely,  even  in 
joking,  a  word  escapes  him  that  is  not  the  truth.  He  prides  himself  much 
upon  it,  and  says  it  does  not  seem  to  him  well  for  kings  to  swear  their  treaties 
as  they  do  now.  The  oath  of  a  king  should  be  his  royal  word,  as  was  the 
case  in  bygone  ages.  He  is  neither  prodigal  nor  avaricious,  but  liberal  when 
occasion  requires.  He  is  courageous,  even  more  so  than  a  king  should  be. 
I  am  a  good  witness  of  it.  I  have  seen  him  often  undertake  most  dangerous 
things  in  the  last  wars.  I  sometimes  clung  to  his  skirts,  and  succeeded  in 
keeping  him  back.  On  such  occasions  he  does  not  take  the  least  care  of 
himself.  He  is  not  a  good  captain,  because  he  begins  to  fight  before  he  has 
given  his  orders.  He  said  to  me  that  his  subjects  serve  him  with  their  per- 
sons and  goods,  in  just  and  unjust  quarrels,  exactly  as  he  likes;  and  that, 
therefore,  he  does  not  think  it  right  to  begin  any  warlike  undertaking  without 
being  himself  the  first  in  danger.  His  deeds  are  as  good  as  his  words.  For 
this  reason,  and  because  he  is  a  very  humane  prince,  he  is  much  loved.  He 
is  active  and  works  hard.  When  he  is  not  at  war  he  hunts  in  the  mountains. 
I  tell  your  highness  the  truth  when  I  say  that  God  has  worked  a  miracle  in 
him,  for  I  have  never  seen  a  man  so  temperate  in  eating  and  drinking,  out 
of  Spain.  Indeed,  such  a  thing  seems  to  be  superhuman  in  these  countries. 
He  lends  a  willing  ear  to  his  counsellors,  and  decides  nothing  without  asking 
them;  but  in  great  matters  he  acts  according  to  his  own  judgment,  and  in 
my  opinion  he  generally  makes  a  right  decision.  I  recognise  him  perfectly 
in  the  conclusion  of  the  last  peace,  which  was  made  against  the  wishes  of  the 
majority  in  his  kingdom. 

When  he  was  a  minor  he  was  instigated  by  those  who  held  government  to 
do  some  dishonourable  things.  They  favoured  his  love-intrigues  with  their 
relatives,  in  order  to  keep  him  in  their  subjection.     As  soon  as  he  came  of 


From  Bruce  to  Flodden  405 

age,  and  understood  his  duties,  he  gave  up  these  intrigues.  When  I  arrived 
he  was  keeping  a  lady  with  great  state  in  a  castle.  He  visited  her  from  time 
to  time.  Afterwards  he  sent  her  to  the  house  of  her  father,  who  is  a  knight, 
and  married  her.  He  did  the  same  with  another  lady  by  whom  he  had  had 
a  son.  It  may  be  a  year  since  he  gave  up,  so  at  least  it  is  believed,  his  love- 
making,  as  well  from  fear  of  God,  as  from  fear  of  scandal  in  this  world, 
which  is  thought  very  much  of  here.  I  can  say  with  truth  that  he  esteems 
himself  as  much  as  though  he  were  Lord  of  the  world.  He  loves  war  so 
much  that  I  fear,  judging  by  the  provocation  he  receives,  the  peace  will  not 
last  long.     War  is  profitable  to  him  and  to  the  country. 

Another  view  of  the  character  of  James  IV.  is  to  be  found  in  the  first 
book  of  John  Knox's  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland.  This  account 
is  doubly  interesting  from  the  light  it  throws  on  the  religious  condition  of 
Scotland  at  that  period.  From  Knox's  history,  it  will  be  seen  that  Protest- 
antism in  Scotland  originated  in  Ayrshire  and  the  other  counties  of  the  west 
— ever  the  most  enlightened  and  progressive  part  of  the  kingdom.  Knox's 
account  is  as  follows  (the  italics  are  his): 

Albeit  that  in  the  days  of  King  James  II.  and  III.,  we  find  small  question 
of  religion  moved  within  this  realm;  yet,  in  the  time  of  King  James  IV., 
in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign,  and  in  the  twenty-second  of  his  age,  which 
was  in  the  year  of  God  1494,  were  summoned  before  the  King  and  his  great 
council,  by  Robert  Blackater,  called  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  the  number  of 
thirty  persons  remaining,  some  in  Kyle-stewart,  some  in  Kingkyle,  and  some 
in  Cunningham;  among  whom  were  George  Campbell  of  Cessnock,  Adam 
Reid  of  Barskyming,  John  Campbell  of  Newmills,  Andrew  Schaw  of  Polke- 
mac,  Helen  Chalmer,  Lady  Pokelie,  Isabel  Chalmer,  Lady  Stairs. 

These  were  called  the  Lollards  of  Kyle:  they  were  accused  of  the  articles 
following,  as  we  have  received  them  out  of  the  register  of  Glasgow. 

I.  That  images  are  not  to  be  had,  [in  the  kirk,]  nor  to  be  worshipped. 

II.  That  the  reliques  of  saints  are  not  to  be  worshipped. 

III.  That  laws  and  ordinances  of  men  vary  from  time  to  time,  and  that 
by  the  pope. 

IV.  That  it  is  not  lawful  to  fight  for  the  faith,  nor  to  defend  the  faith  by 
the  sword,  [if  we  be  not  driven  to  it  by  necessity,]  which  is  above  all  law. 

V.  That  Christ  gave  power  to  Peter,  [as  also  to  the  other  apostles ,]  and  not 
to  the  pope,  his  pretended  successor,  to  bind  and  loose  within  the  kirk. 

VI.  That  Christ  ordained  no  priests  to  consecrate,  as  they  do  in  the 
Romish  church  these  many  years. 

VII.  That  after  consecration  in  the  mass,  there  remains  bread;  and  that 
there  is  not  the  natural  body  of  Christ. 

VIII.  That  tithes  ought  not  to  be  given  to  ecclesiastical  men,  as  they 
were  then  called,  [viz.  wholly;  but  a  part  to  the  poor,  widow,  or  orphans,  and 
other  pious  uses]. 

IX.  That  Christ  at  his  coming  hath  taken  away  power  from  kings  to 
judge.  [This  article  we  doubt  not  to  be  the  venomous  accusation  of  the  enemy, 
whose  practice  hath  ever  been  to  make  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  subject  to 
kings  and  rulers,  as  if  God  thereby  would  deprive  them  of  their  royal  seats  ; 
while,  on  the  contrary,  nothing  confirms  the  power  of  magistrates  more  than  doth 
Goa's  truth.     But  to  the  articles.  ] 


406  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

X.  That  every  faithful  man  or  woman  is  a  priest,  [in  that  sense  that  they 
arc  called  by  the  apostle  St.  John,  Apoc.  i.  6.  and  v.  18.  and  xx.  6]. 

XI.  That  the  unction  of  kings  ceased  at  the  coming  of  Christ.  [And 
truly  it  was  but  late  since  kings  were  anointed,  namely  in  Scotland,  for  Edgar 
was  the  first  anointed  king  in  Scotland,  about  the  year  uoo.] 

XII.  That  the  pope  is  not  the  successor  of  Peter,  but  where  he  said,  "Go 
behind  me,  satan." 

XIII.  That  the  pope  deceives  the  people  by  his  bulls,  and  his  indi- 
gencies. 

XIV.  That  the  mass  profiteth  not  the  souls,  who  in  those  days  are  said 
to  be  in  purgatory. 

XV.  That  the  pope  and  the  bishops  deceive  the  people  by  their  pardons. 

XVI.  That  indulgencies  ought  not  to  be  granted  to  fight  against  the 
Saracens. 

XVII.  That  the  pope  exalts  himself  against  God,  and  above  God. 

XVIII.  That  the  pope  cannot  remit  the  pains  of  purgatory. 

XIX.  That  the  blessings  of  the  bishops  [of  dumb  dogs  they  should  have 
been  stiled]  are  of  no  value. 

XX.  That  the  excommunication  of  the  kirk  is  not  to  be  feared  [if  there 
be  no  true  cause  for  it]. 

XXI.  That  in  no  cause  it  was  lawful  to  swear,  [viz.  idly,  rashly,  and  in 
vain] . 

XXII.  That  priests  may  have  wives,  according  to  the  constitution  of  the 
law,  [and  of  the  primitive  Christian  church], 

XXIII.  That  true  Christians  receive  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  every  day 
by  faith. 

XXIV.  That  after  matrimony  is  contracted  and  consummate,  the  kirk 
may  make  no  divorcement. 

XXV.  That  excommunication  binds  not,  [if  unjust], 

XXVI.  That  the  pope  forgives  not  sins,  but  only  God. 

XXVII.  That  faith  should  not  be  given  to  miracles,  [to  such  namely  as  the 
Romish  were  then,  and  are  to  this  day]. 

XXVIII.  That  we  should  not  pray  to  the  glorious  Virgin  Mary,  but  to 
God  only,  [since  he  only  hears  us,  and  can  help  us]. 

XXIX.  That  we  are  no  more  bound  to  pray  in  the  kirk  than  in  other 
places. 

XXX.  That  we  are  not  bound  to  believe  all  that  doctors  of  the  kirk  have 
written. 

XXXI.  That  such  as  worship  the  sacrament  in  the  kirk  [we  suppose  they 
meant  the  sacrament  of  the  altar]  commit  idolatry. 

XXXII.  That  the  pope  is  the  head  of  the  kirk  of  antichrist. 

XXXIII.  That  the  pope  and  his  ministers  are  murderers  of  souls. 

XXXIV.  That  they  which  are  called  princes  and  prelates  in  the  church, 
are  thieves  and  robbers. 

By  these  articles,  which  God  of  his  merciful  providence  caused  the 
enemies  of  his  truth  to  keep  in  their  registers,  may  appear  how  mercifully 
God  hath  looked  upon  this  realm,  retaining  within  it  some  spark  of  his  light, 
even  in  the  time  of  greatest  darkness.  Neither  ought  any  man  to  wonder 
albeit  that  some  things  be  obscurely,  and  some  things  doubtfully  spoken ; 
but  rather  ought  all  the  faithful  to  magnify  God's  mercy,  who,  without 
public  doctrine,  gave  so  great  light.  And  further,  we  ought  to  consider, 
that  seeing  that  the  enemies  of  Jesus  Christ  gathered  the  foresaid  articles, 
thereupon  to  accuse  the  persons  aforesaid,  that  they  would  deprave  the  mean- 


From  Bruce  to  Flodden  407 

ing  of  God's  servants,  so  far  as  they  could;  as  we  doubt  not  but  they  have 
done,  in  the  heads  of  excommunication,  swearing,  and  of  matrimony;  in  the 
which  it  is  no  doubt  but  the  servants  of  God  did  condemn  the  abuse  only, 
and  not  the  right  ordinance  of  God:  for,  who  knows  not  that  the  excom- 
munication in  those  days  was  altogether  abused;  that  swearing  abounded, 
without  punishment  or  remorse  of  conscience;  and  that  divorcement  was 
made,  for  such  causes  as  worldly  men  had  invented  ?  But  to  our  history. 
Albeit  that  the  accusation  of  the  bishop  and  his  accomplices  was  very 
grievous,  yet  God  so  assisted  his  servants,  partly  by  inclining  the  King's 
heart  to  gentleness,  (for  divers  of  them  were  his  great  familiars,)  and  partly 
by  giving  bold  and  godly  answers  to  their  accusators,  that  the  enemies  in  the 
end  were  frustrate  of  their  purpose:  for,  while  the  bishop,  in  mockage,  said 
to  Adam  Reid  of  Barskyming,  "  Reid,  believe  ye  that  God  is  in  heaven  ?  " 
He  answered,  "  Not  as  I  do  the  sacraments  seven."  Whereat  the  bishop 
thinking  to  have  triumphed,  said,  "  Sir,  lo,  he  denies  that  God  is  in  heaven.'* 
Whereat  the  king  wondering,  said,  "Adam  Reid,  what  say  ye  ?  "  The  other 
answered,  ' '  Pleaseth  your  majesty  to  hear  the  end  betwixt  the  churl  and  me  ' '  : 
and  therewith  he  turned  to  the  bishop,  and  said,  "  I  neither  think  nor  believe, 
as  thou  thinkest,  that  God  is  in  heaven;  but  I  am  most  assured,  that  he  is 
not  only  in  heaven,  but  also  in  the  earth;  but  thou  and  thy  faction  declare 
by  your  works,  that  either  ye  think  there  is  no  God  at  all,  or  else,  that  he  is 
so  set  up  in  heaven,  that  he  regards  not  what  is  done  upon  the  earth;  for,  if 
thou  firmly  believedest  that  God  were  in  heaven,  thou  shouldest  not  make 
thyself  check-mate  to  the  King,  and  altogether  forget  the  charge  that  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  gave  to  his  apostles,  which  was,  to  preach  his  gospel, 
and  not  to  play  the  proud  prelates,  as  all  the  rabble  of  you  do  this  day." 
"  And  now,  Sir,"  said  he  to  the  King,  "  judge  ye,  whether  the  bishop  or  I 
believe  best  that  God  is  in  heaven."  While  the  bishop  and  his  band  could 
not  well  revenge  themselves,  and  while  many  taunts  were  given  them  in 
their  teeth,  the  King,  willing  to  put  an  end  to  further  reasoning,  said  to  the 
said  Adam  Reid,  "  Wilt  thou  burn  thy  bill  ?  "  He  answered,  "  Sir,  and  the 
bishop  and  ye  will. "  With  these,  and  the  like  scoffs,  the  bishop  and  his  band 
were  so  dashed  out  of  countenance,  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  accusation 
was  turned  to  laughter. 

On  August  8,  1502,  James  IV.  was  married  to  Margaret  Tudor,  daughter 
of  Henry  VII.  of  England,  and  sister  to  Henry  VIII.  A  hundred  years 
later,  the  issue  of  this  marriage  united  the  crowns  of  the  two  kingdoms.  In 
1509,  Henry  VII.  died,  and  Scotland  lost  a  quiet  neighbor.  Soon  after  the 
accession  of  Henry  VIII.  to  the  throne,  England  engaged  in  a  war  with 
France,  and  Scotland,  under  the  terms  of  the  league  subsisting  between 
that  country  and  France,  took  the  side  of  her  old-time  ally.  In  15 13,  the 
Scottish  army,  with  the  king  at  its  head,  marched  to  the  Border,  and  crossed 
the  Tweed  on  August  2 2d.  The  battle  of  Flodden  was  fought  September  9, 
15 13.  The  Scots  were  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  upwards  of  eight  thousand. 
Among  the  slain  was  the  king,  together  with  the  flower  of  his  nobility. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

IN  October,  15 13,  James  IV. 's  son,  an  infant  of  three  years,  was  crowned 
at  Scone,  under  the  title  of  James  V.  His  mother  was  named  as 
regent.  This  arrangement  continued  until  her  marriage  in  the  following 
year  with  young  Archibald  Douglas,  Earl  of  Angus.  The  Duke  of  Albany 
was  then  recalled  from  France,  and  arriving  in  Scotland  in  May,  15 15,  was 
made  regent.  He  began  his  government  with  bold  measures,  designed  to 
reduce  the  arrogance  and  power  of  the  nobles.  Offenders  of  the  highest 
rank  were  seized,  imprisoned,  and  executed.  But  these  proceedings  failed 
to  produce  their  intended  effect,  and  after  a  short  time  Albany  discovered  the 
hopelessness  of  attempting  to  secure  order  in  the  kingdom.  He  repeatedly 
returned  to  France  to  be  free  from  the  turmoil;  and  after  a  fluctuating  rule 
of  eight  years,  his  regency  ended  in  1524. 

The  Earl  of  Angus  now  returned,  and  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Earl 
of  Arran  and  others,  he  became  guardian  of  the  king,  and  assumed  the 
office  of  chancellor  of  the  kingdom;  having  obliged  Archbishop  Beaton  to 
resign  that  post.  The  latter,  in  1528,  organized  a  conspiracy,  by  means  of 
which  King  James  effected  his  escape  from  the  Douglases,  and  took  refuge 
in  the  castle  of  Stirling.  "  This  sudden  reaction,"  says  Buckle,  "  was  not 
the  real  and  controlling  cause,  but  it  was  undoubtedly  the  proximate  cause 
of  the  establishment  of  Protestantism  in  Scotland.  For  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment now  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Church." 

James  appointed  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  chancellor  ;  the  Abbot 
of  Holyrood,  treasurer;  and  the  Bishop  of  Dunkeld,  keeper  of  the  privy 
seal.  The  most  influential  of  the  nobles  were  persecuted,  and  some  of  them 
driven  from  the  kingdom.  Thus  excluded  from  the  government,  the  nobles 
began  to  show  a  leaning  toward  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation.  Hating 
the  clergy,  they  became  enraged  at  the  ecclesiastical  influence  over  the 
king;  and  as  time  passed  they  grew  firmer  in  their  adherence  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Reformation. 

They  were  stripped  of  their  honors  and  their  wealth,  and  many  became 
outcasts,  traitors,  and  beggars.  But  while  their  political  power  was  gone, 
their  social  power  remained.  The  real  foundation  of  their  authority  was 
unshaken,  because  that  authority  was  based  on  the  clan  spirit  and  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people.  The  desire  of  the  nobles  for  revenge  gave  rise  to  a 
deadly  contest  between  the  Scottish  aristocracy  and  the  Scottish  Church. 
This  conflict  lasted  without  interruption  for  thirty-two  years,  and  was  finally 
concluded  by  the  triumph  of  the  nobles,  who,  in  1560,  completely  overthrew 
the  Church,   and  destroyed  the  whole  of  the  Scottish  hierarchy.     It  is  a 

408 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  409 

noteworthy  fact  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Scot- 
land that  most  of  its  leaders  and  armies  came  from  the  western  Lowlands, 
chiefly  from  those  districts  in  which  Wallace  and  Bruce  had  lived  and  raised 
their  armies  more  than  two  centuries  before.  Especially  interesting  is  this 
fact  to  him  who  studies  the  history  of  the  transplanted  Scot  in  Ireland  and 
America;  for  most  of  the  Scottish  emigrants  to  those  countries  emigrated 
from  that  part  of  Scotland. 

In  1525,  Parliament  prohibited  the  importation  of  Luther's  books.  In 
1527,  Patrick  Hamilton,  who  had  been  a  disciple  of  Luther  in  Germany,  re- 
turned home,  and  began  to  promulgate  his  teachings.  Early  in  the  following 
year,  he  was  seized  and  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  St.  Andrews,  where  he 
was  tried,  convicted,  and  burned  for  heresy  on  February  29,  1528.  In  1534, 
Gourly,  a  priest,  and  Straiton,  a  layman,  were  both  condemned  for  heresy, 
and  hanged  and  burned. 

In  1537,  James  married  Magdalen,  daughter  of  the  king  of  France. 
She  died  a  few  months  after  her  arrival  in  Scotland,  and  in  the  following 
year,  he  married  Mary,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Guise.  In  1542,  Henry 
VIII.  proclaimed  war  against  Scotland;  but,  while  two  armies  were  raised 
and  disbanded,  the  only  engagement  which  took  place  was  that  known  as 
the  panic  of  Solway  Moss,  where  the  English  leader  surprised  and  scattered 
the  Scots,  capturing  a  number  of  prisoners. 

James  died  on  December  14,  1542,  leaving  a  seven-days-old  daughter 
who  afterwards  became  known  to  history  as  Mary  Stuart.  James  Hamilton, 
Earl  of  Arran,  being  next  heir  to  the  throne,  was  elected  regent.  Henry 
VIII.  of  England  intrigued  for  a  match  between  his  son,  Edward,  and  the 
infant  queen.  A  treaty  of  alliance  between  England  and  Scotland  was  con- 
cluded, subject  only  to  ratification  by  the  Scottish  Parliament.  The  clergy, 
however,  headed  by  Cardinal  Beaton  (who,  on  the  death  of  his  uncle  in 
1539,  had  first  become  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews),  were  very  much  opposed 
to  the  scheme.  There  was  much  diplomatic  wrangling,  but  in  the  end  the 
cardinal  triumphed.  In  December,  1543,  Parliament  repudiated  the  treaties, 
and,  in  presence  of  the  French  ambassadors,  renewed  the  Ancient  League 
with  France. 

Henry  declared  war,  and  avowed  his  intention  of  taking  the  infant  queen 
by  force.  In  April,  1544,  he  instructed  his  commander,  the  Earl  of  Hert- 
ford, to  invade  Scotland,  "  there  to  put  all  to  fire  and  sword,  to  burn 
Edinburgh  town  .  .  .  sack  Holyrood  House,  and  towns  and  villages 
about  Edinburgh  .  .  .  sack  Leith,  and  burn  and  subvert  it,  and  all 
the  rest,  putting  man,  woman,  and  child  to  fire  and  sword  without  exception 
when  any  resistance  should  be  made."  This  done,  he  was  to  "  pass  over 
to  the  Fife  land,  and  extend  like  extremities  and  destructions  in  all  towns 
and  villages  whereunto  he  might  reach  conveniently,  not  forgetting  amongst 
all  the  rest  .  .  .  the  cardinal's  town  of  St.  Andrews  .  .  .  sparing 
no  creature   alive   within   the   same."      Hertford   carried   out   his   king's 


41  o  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

instructions,  leading  two  expeditions  into  Scotland,  one  in  May,  1544,  and 
another  in  September. 

Meanwhile  Cardinal  Beaton  continued  his  persecution  of  the  Protestants. 
He  held  a  court  at  Perth  in  January,  1544,  and  many  persons  were  there 
convicted  of  heresy.  A  number  were  banished;  and  four  men  and  one 
woman  were  condemned  to  death — James  Randalson,  James  Hunter,  William 
Anderson,  Robert  Lamb,  and  the  latter' s  wife.  The  men  were  hanged, 
but  the  woman,  who  had  an  infant  at  her  breast,  was  drowned. 

George  Wishart,  a  popular  reformed  preacher,  returned  from  England 
into  Scotland  near  the  end  of  the  year  1544.  On  the  16th  of  January,  1546, 
Wishart,  accompanied  by  John  Knox,  was  preaching  in  Haddington.  That 
same  night,  he  was  apprehended  at  Ormiston,  conveyed  to  Edinburgh,  and 
shortly  after  to  St.  Andrews.  Here  he  was  tried  for  heresy  on  February 
28th,  condemned  by  Cardinal  Beaton,  and  burned  to  death  by  his  order  on 
the  nth  of  March.  The  martyrdom  of  this  man  roused  a  deep  feeling  of  in- 
dignation in  the  popular  mind,  which  was  encouraged  by  many  of  the  nobles; 
and  not  long  after  Cardinal  Beaton  paid  for  Wishart's  life  with  his  own. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  May  29,  1546,  Norman  Leslie,  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Rothes,  with  two  other  men,  secretly  gained  admission  to  the  castle  of  St. 
Andrews,  where  Beaton  was  then  living.  They  were  followed  by  James 
Melville  and  three  others,  who  asked  an  interview  with  the  cardinal.  Im- 
mediately afterwards,  Kirkaldy,  Laird  of  Grange,  approached,  with  eight 
armed  men.  They  aroused  the  suspicion  of  the  porter  at  the  gate,  but  he 
was  instantly  stabbed  and  cast  into  the  ditch.  A  few  minutes  later  the  party 
was  within  the  walls  of  the  castle.  Its  defenders  and  the  workmen  on  the 
ramparts  were  turned  out  with  surprising  alacrity,  and  all  the  gates  shut  and 
guarded.  The  unusual  noise  aroused  the  cardinal  from  his  bed,  but  he 
had  taken  only  a  few  steps  when  his  enemies  entered  the  room  and  ruth- 
lessly murdered  him.  Meanwhile  the  alarm  was  raised  in  the  town.  The 
common  bell  was  rung.  The  cry  running  through  the  city  that  the  castle 
was  taken,  the  cardinal's  friends  came  rushing  forward  to  scale  the  walls 
and  rescue  him.  "What  have  ye  done  with  my  Lord  Cardinal  ?  "  they  cried. 
"  Where  is  my  Lord  Cardinal  ?  Have  ye  slain  my  Lord  Cardinal  ?  Let  us 
see  my  Lord  Cardinal."  They  that  were  within  bade  them  go  home,  for  the 
cardinal  had  received  his  reward  and  would  trouble  the  world  no  more. 
The  crowd  still  insisted  on  seeing  him,  and  the  cardinal's  body  was  brought 
to  the  blockhouse  head  and  lowered  over  the  battlements  by  means  of 
sheets  tied  to  an  arm  and  a  leg.  The  terrified  citizens  recognized  their  mas- 
ter, and  dispersed  to  their  homes. 

The  determined  band  of  conspirators  who  had  slain  the  cardinal,  joined 
by  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  their  friends,  succeeded  in  holding  the  castle 
of  St.  Andrews  against  the  regent  for  more  than  a  year.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  reduce  it  until  three  months  had  passed,  and  then  Arran  laid  siege 
to  the  castle.      After  several  weeks'  unavailing  effort,  he  raised  the  siege 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  411 

and  departed.  John  Knox  joined  the  garrison  about  ten  months  after  the 
cardinal's  death.  In  the  end  of  June,  1547,  a  number  of  French  galleys 
appeared  off  the  coast,  and  the  attack  on  the  castle  was  renewed  from  the 
seaward  side.  This  soon  brought  the  defenders  to  submission.  The  garri- 
son surrendered  to  the  French  commander,  and  were  conveyed  to  France. 
A  number,  including  the  principal  gentlemen,  were  distributed  among 
various  French  prisons.  The  remainder,  of  whom  John  Knox  was  one, 
were  confined  on  board  the  galleys.  Here  Knox,  chained  to  his  oar,  lived 
and  rowed  as  a  galley  slave  for  nearly  two  years.  In  1549,  he  obtained  his 
liberty,  came  to  England,  and  preached  at  Berwick  and  Newcastle.  He 
was  appointed  one  of  King  Edward  VI. 's  chaplains  in  155 1.     In  March, 

1554,  he  left  England,  and  passed  to  Geneva. 

Henry  VIII.  died  in  England  in  January,  1547,  but  his  policy  was  con- 
tinued after  his  death.  As  previously  stated,  he  had  wished  for  the  betrothal 
of  the  infant  queen  of  Scotland  with  his  own  son,  Edward  VI.  Lord  Hert- 
ford, Duke  of  Somerset,  therefore  proceeded  with  the  invasion  of  Scotland 
which  his  master  had  begun  in  1544.  The  Scots  were  reduced  to  great  ex- 
tremities. In  September,  1547,  the  battle  of  Pinkie  was  fought  near  Edin- 
burgh, which  resulted  in  the  disastrous  defeat  and  rout  of  the  Scottish  army. 
Fourteen  thousand  Scots  were  slain  in  the  pitiless  carnage  of  this  retreat. 
The  next  year,  however,  a  French  army  of  seven  thousand  men  arrived  to 
assist  the  Scotch.  The  young  queen  was  sent  to  France,  and  thus  one 
object  of  the  war  was  removed.  After  many  severe  struggles,  the  Scots  and 
French  drove  the  English  out  of  the  castles,  and  recovered  the  southern 
part  of  the  kingdom.     Peace  was  finally  concluded  in  1550. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1550,  Adam  Wallace,  a  man  of  humble 
rank  from  Ayrshire,  was  accused  of  heresy,  condemned,  and  burned  at 
Edinburgh.  In  England  the  period  of  persecution  under  Mary  Tudor  and 
Philip  of  Spain  caused  many  Scotsmen  who  had  formerly  fled  across  the 
Border  to  return  home.     Knox  also  came  back  from  Geneva  in  September, 

1555,  and  preached  zealously  against  the  mass.  Amongst  the  hearers  who 
approved  his  doctrines  were  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  afterwards  known  as 
the  Regent  Moray,  the  Earl  of  Argyle  (then  Lord  Lome),  and  others. 

The  Romanists  were  alarmed,  and  Knox  was  summoned  to  appear  at 
Edinburgh  on  May  15,  1556.  He  determined  to  appear,  but  when  Erskine 
and  other  nobles  who  professed  the  new  doctrines  met  in  Edinburgh  in 
force,  the  citation  of  Knox  was  abandoned.  On  the  day  that  he  should  have 
appeared  in  court,  he  preached  in  Edinburgh  to  a  larger  audience  than  had 
ever  listened  to  him.  Soon  after  he  was  called  to  preach  to  the  English 
congregation  at  Geneva,  and  returned  to  that  place.  After  his  departure  the 
bishops  again  summoned  him,  and  on  Knox's  failure  to  appear,  they  caused 
him  to  be  burned  in  effigy  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh. 

But  the  reformed  doctrines  continued  to  spread.  Among  their  most 
active  advocates  at  this  time  were  William  Harlaw,  John  Willock,  a  native 


412  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

of  Ayrshire,  John  Douglas,  Paul  Methven,  and  others.  In  December,  1557, 
a  number  of  the  nobles  came  out  on  the  side  of  the  Reformation  movement, 
and  joined  in  a  bond,  known  as  the  First  Covenant,  by  which  they  agreed 
to  assist  each  other  in  advancing  the  reformation  of  religion,  in  "  maintain- 
ing God's  true  congregation,  and  renouncing  the  congregation  of  Satan." 
Among  those  who  subscribed  this  document  were  Archibald  Campbell,  Earl 
of  Argyle,  and  his  son  Archibald  (Lord  Lome),  Alexander  Cunningham, 
Earl  of  Glencairn,  James  Douglas,  Earl  of  Morton,  and  John  Erskine  of 
Dun.  The  leaders  of  this  movement  came  to  be  known  as  "  the  Lords  of 
the  Congregation." 

In  April,  1558,  Walter  Mill,  an  old  man  of  over  eighty  years,  formerly  a 
priest,  was  accused  of  heresy,  and  imprisoned  at  St.  Andrews.  He  was 
tried  before  a  gathering  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  other  Romish  dignitaries, 
and  condemned  to  be  burned.  They  sought  to  make  him  recant  by  brutal 
threatenings.  "I  will  not  recant  the  truth,"  he  said,  "for  I  am  corn,  and 
not  chaff;  I  will  not  be  blown  away  by  the  wind  nor  burst  by  the  flail,  but 
will  abide  both."  This  old  man's  heroic  attitude  in  his  extremity  forms  a 
marked  contrast  with  that  of  Archbishop  Cranmer,  who  was  also  an  old  man 
when  he  was  burned  in  England  some  two  years  before.  The  people  of  St. 
Andrews  heaped  a  cairn  of  stones  on  the  spot  of  Walter  Mill's  martyrdom, 
"  in  testification,"  says  John  Knox,  "  that  they  would  his  death  should  abide 
in  recent  memory.  The  bishops  and  priests,  thereat  offended,  caused  once 
or  twice  to  remove  the  same,  with  denunciation  of  cursing,  if  any  man  should 
there  lay  any  stones ;  but  in  vain  was  that  wind  blown ;  for  still  was  the  heap 
made,  till  the  priests  stole  away  by  night  the  stones  to  build  their  walls." 

As  a  result  of  the  preaching  of  William  Harlaw  and  others  in  Edinburgh, 
some  of  the  young  men  of  that  city  took  the  image  of  St.  Giles  and  threw  it 
into  the  North  Loch.  It  was  afterwards  drawn  out  and  burned.  This  affair 
made  a  great  sensation.  Through  the  influence  of  the  bishops  with  the 
queen  regent,  four  of  the  chief  preachers  were  cited  to  appear  before  the 
justiciary  court  at  Stirling,  on  May  10,  1559.  The  preachers  resolved  to 
answer  the  summons,  but  first  appeared  in  Edinburgh.  With  them  came 
their  Protestant  friends  from  the  West,  composed  largely  of  the  followers  of 
the  Campbells  from  Argyle  and  the  Cunninghams  and  Douglases  from  Ayr- 
shire, Dumfries,  and  Galloway.  At  the  instigation  of  a  shrewd  counsellor  in 
the  bishops'  party,  proclamation  was  made  by  the  regent  that  all  who  had 
come  to  town  without  requisition  by  the  authorities  should  proceed  to  the 
Borders,  and  there  remain  fifteen  days,  to  take  their  tours  of  frontier  duty. 
The  Protestants  felt  that  such  a  thing  was  not  to  be  considered,  as  it  would 
leave  their  preachers  at  the  mercy  of  the  bishops.  Accordingly,  some  of 
the  leaders  made  their  way  into  the  chamber  where  the  queen  regent  was 
sitting  in  council  with  her  bishops.  James  Chalmers  of  Gadgirth,  one  of 
the  Western  barons,  a  bold  and  zealous  man,  stood  forth  and  spoke. 
41  Madam,"  he  said,  "  we  know  that  this  is  the  malice  of  the  bishops.     We 


The  Beginning  of  the  Reformation  413 

vow  to  God  we  shall  make  a  day  of  it.  They  trouble  our  preachers,  and 
would  murder  them  and  us.  Shall  we  suffer  this  any  longer  ?  No,  madam, 
it  shall  not  be."  Forthwith,  every  man  put  on  his  steel  bonnet.  The 
regent  promised  to  withdraw  the  citation;  but  she  broke  her  word.  The 
accused  preachers  were  summoned,  and  failing  to  appear,  were  proclaimed 
rebels. 

Meanwhile,  shortly  before  St.  Giles's  day,  the  bishops  gave  an  order  to 
the  town  council  of  Edinburgh  that  they  should  either  recover  the  old  image 
of  St.  Giles,  or  make  a  new  one.  The  council  answered,  that  "  nowhere  in 
God's  word  could  they  find  commandment  given  to  set  up  images,  though 
in  several  places  they  did  find  commandment  to  break  them  down."  The 
priests  thereupon  borrowed  an  image  from  the  Grey  Friars,  which  they  set 
upon  a  shoulder-high  barrow.  Priests,  friars,  canons,  and  their  followers 
then  formed  a  procession,  which  was  led  by  the  queen  regent  herself.  The 
crowd  soon  began  to  jostle  the  saint's  bearers,  and  caused  the  image  to 
wobble  on  its  barrow.  A  cry  arose,  "  Down  with  the  idol!  Down  with 
it!  "  and  it  was  pulled  down.  A  man  in  the  crowd  took  hold  of  the  saint 
by  the  heels  and  battered  the  head  to  splinters  on  the  cobble-stones. 

John  Knox  had  landed  at  Leith  on  May  2d,  and  proceeded  to  join  his 
friends.  On  the  eleventh  of  May,  after  Knox  had  preached  a  vehement  ser- 
mon against  the  mass  in  the  parish  church  of  Perth,  a  priest  was  so  imprudent 
as  to  uncover  an  altar  in  order  to  say  mass.  A  youth  exclaimed  at  the  top 
of  his  voice:  "  This  is  intolerable,  that  when  God,  by  His  Word,  hath  plainly 
damned  idolatry,  we  shall  stand  and  see  it  used  in  despite."  The  priest 
gave  him  a  blow.  He  threw  a  stone  at  the  priest,  which  struck  the  taber- 
nacle and  broke  one  of  the  images.  Instantly  the  people  began  to  cast 
stones,  to  tear  down  the  altars  and  images,  and  to  destroy  every  vestige  of 
the  ornaments  of  the  church.  The  mob  then  proceeded  to  sack  the  monas- 
teries of  Grey  Friars,  Black  Friars,  and  Charterhouse.  Such  was  the  de- 
struction that  "  within  two  days,"  says  Knox,  "  the  walls  only  did  remain 
of  all  these  great  edifications."  This  example  was  followed  in  other  places, 
and  in  a  short  time  most  of  the  religious  houses  in  the  kingdom  were 
despoiled  of  their  altars,  images,  and  monuments. 

When  the  queen  regent  learned  of  the  riot  at  Perth,  she  threatened  to 
destroy  the  town,  "  man,  woman,  and  child,  to  burn  it  with  fire,  and  salt  it 
in  sign  of  perpetual  desolation."  The  Reformers  who  were  assembled  in 
the  town  accordingly  called  upon  their  friends  for  assistance.  Letters  were 
written  to  their  western  brethren  in  Cuningham  and  Kyle.  These  are  the 
two  districts  of  Ayrshire  which  afterwards  furnished  so  much  of  the  Scottish 
population  of  Ulster.  The  people  of  Kyle  met  at  the  kirk  of  Craigie,  to 
hear  the  letters  read.  Some  were  faint-hearted,  and  hesitated.  Alexander 
Cunningham,  Earl  of  Glencairn,  standing  before  the  congregation,  said,' 'Let 
every  man  serve  his  conscience.  I  will,  by  God's  grace,  see  my  brethren  in 
St.  Johnstown  [Perth];  yea,  although  never  man  should  accompany  me,  I  will 


414  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

go,  if  it  were  but  with  a  pike  on  my  shoulder;  for  I  had  rather  die  with  that 
company  than  live  after  them."  These  brave  words  so  stirred  his  hearers 
that  they  immediately  set  forth  for  Perth.  Twelve  hundred  mounted  men 
and  as  many  more  on  foot  was  the  number  that  reached  there.  With  them 
were  Glencairn,  Lords  Ochiltree  and  Boyd,  and  brave  James  Chalmers  of 
Gadgirth  —  the  same  who  had  forbidden  the  queen  regent  to  harm  the 
preachers. 

The  Lords  of  the  Congregation  were  now  supported  by  a  considerable 
force.  The  regent's  French  troops  marched  upon  Perth  and  advanced  as 
far  as  Auchterarder.  Here  an  arrangement  was  made  by  which  the  queen 
regent  bound  herself  to  allow  the  people  of  Perth  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion.  But  later  she  again  broke  faith.  The  Lords,  proceeding  rapidly, 
invaded  St.  Andrews.  The  primate  fled.  The  regent's  army  then  ap- 
proached; another  treaty  was  made;  and  this  she  also  failed  to  keep.  She 
was  expecting  reinforcements  from  France,  and  parleyed  for  delay.  Failing 
to  obtain  peace,  the  Congregation  took  more  vigorous  measures.  One 
division  of  its  army  entered  Perth  on  June  25th ;  another,  under  Argyle  and 
the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews  (who  meanwhile  had  joined  the  Reformers),  took 
possession  of  Edinburgh  on  the  29th.  The  regent  proceeded  to  Dunbar. 
The  Protestant  army  demolished  the  monasteries  of  the  capital,  and  seized 
the  coining  irons  of  the  mint. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

THE  DAYS  OF  KNOX 

THE  queen  regent  retreated  to  Leith.  During  August  and  September  a 
number  of  French  troops  disembarked  and  began  to  fortify  that  port. 
The  Lords  of  the  Congregation  had  already  laid  siege  to  the  town,  but  the 
Frenchmen  soon  made  the  fortifications  so  strong  that  the  siege  was  raised, 
and  the  Protestants  returned  to  Edinburgh.  Skirmishing  immediately  began 
between  the  two  armies,  in  which  the  French  were  generally  victorious. 
The  Scots  were  forced  out  of  Edinburgh,  and  retired  to  Stirling. 

At  John  Knox's  suggestion,  negotiations  were  now  opened  with  England 
for  the  despatch  of  reinforcements,  and  in  January,  1560,  a  treaty  was  con- 
cluded at  Berwick  between  the  Protestants  and  the  English.  Within  a  few 
weeks  an  English  fleet,  with  from  six  to  eight  thousand  men,  appeared  in  the 
Firth  of  Forth.  The  united  Scotch  and  English  forces  then  besieged  Leith, 
and  on  the  sixth  of  July  that  city  capitulated.  An  arrangement  was  made 
which  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  and  English  forces  from 
Scotland,  with  the  agreement  that  the  Scottish  monarch  should  not  make 
peace  or  war  except  with  the  consent  of  the  Estates  of  the  Kingdom; 
that  none  of  the  high  offices  of  the  realm  should  be  deputed  to  aliens;  that 
churchmen  should  not  hold  the  offices  of  treasurer  and  comptroller;  and  that 
a  Parliament  should  assemble  in  August.  Peace  was  proclaimed  on  July  8, 
1560,  and  a  few  days  after  the  French  and  English  troops  departed.  Mean- 
time, the  death  of  the  queen  regent  had  taken  place  on  the  tenth  of  June. 

Parliament  assembled  in  August.  Among  its  enactments  were  measures 
abolishing  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pope  in  Scotland,  prohibiting  the  mass, 
and  adopting  a  Confession  of  Faith  for  the  Reformed  Church. 

Francis  II.  of  France,  husband  of  the  young  Queen  of  Scots,  died 
in  December,  1560.  In  the  following  August,  Mary  returned  from  France 
to  Scotland.  Four  days  after  her  arrival,  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
celebration  of  mass  in  the  queen's  chapel.  Such  an  outcry  arose  amongst 
the  people  that  the  chapel  door  had  to  be  guarded,  and  order  was  with  diffi- 
culty preserved.  On  the  following  Sunday  John  Knox  declaimed  against 
the  mass.  Mary  took  him  to  task  for  stirring  up  her  subjects  against  their 
ruler,  and  for  teaching  sedition.  Knox  appeared  before  the  queen.  The 
following  is  his  account  of  their  interview: 

Whether  it  was  by  counsel  of  others,  or  of  the  Queen's  own  desire,  we 
know  not,  but  the  Queen  spake  with  John  Knox,  and  had  long  reasoned  with 
him;  none  being  present,  except  the  Lord  James  [brother  to  Mary];  two 
gentlemen  stood  in  the  one  end  of  the  room.  The  sum  of  their  reasoning 
was  this:   The  Queen  accused  him,  that  he  had  raised  a  part  of  her  subjects 

415 


41 6  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

against  her  mother  and  herself;  that  he  had  written  a  book  against  her  just 
authority  (she  meant  the  treatise  against  the  regiment  of  women),  which  she 
had,  and  would  cause  the  most  learned  in  Europe  to  write  against;  that 
he  was  the  cause  of  great  sedition  and  great  slaughter  in  England;  and  that 
it  was  said  to  her,  that  all  that  he  did  was  by  necromancy. 

To  the  which  the  said  John  Knox  answered:  "  Madam,  it  may  please 
your  majesty  patiently  to  hear  my  simple  answers:  and  first,"  said  he,  "  if 
to  teach  the  word  of  God  in  sincerity;  if  to  rebuke  idolatry,  and  to  will  a 
people  to  worship  God  according  to  his  word  be  to  raise  subjects  against 
their  princes,  then  cannot  I  be  excused  .  .  .  but,  madam,  if  the  true 
knowledge  of  God  and  his  right  worshipping,  be  the  chief  causes  which  must 
move  men  to  obey  their  just  princes  from  their  heart  (as  it  is  most  certain 
that  they  are),  wherein  can  I  be  reprehended  ?     .     .     ." 

"But  yet,"  said  she,  "you  have  taught  the  people  to  receive  another 
religion  than  their  princes  can  allow;  and  how  can  that  doctrine  be  of  God, 
seeing  that  God  commandeth  subjects  to  obey  their  princes  ?  "  "  Madam," 
said  he,  "  as  right  religion  took  neither  original  nor  antiquity  from  worldly 
princes,  but  from  the  eternal  God  alone,  so  are  not  subjects  bound  to  frame 
their  religion  according  to  the  appetite  of  their  princes;  for  oft  it  is,  that 
princes  are  the  most  ignorant  of  all  others,  in  God's  true  religion.  .  .  . 
If  all  the  seed  of  Abraham  should  have  been  of  the  religion  of  Pharaoh,  to 
whom  they  had  been  a  long  time  subjects,  I  pray  you,  madam,  what  religion 
should  there  have  been  in  the  world  ?  Or  if  all  men  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles,  should  have  been  of  the  religion  of  the  Roman  emperors,  what 
religion  should  have  been  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  ?  .  .  .  and  so, 
madam,  ye  may  perceive  that  subjects  are  not  bound  to  the  religion  of  their 
princes,  albeit  they  are  commanded  to  give  them  obedience." 

"  Yea,"  quoth  she,  "  none  of  these  men  raised  their  sword  against  their 
princes."  "  Yet,  madam,"  quoth  he,  "  ye  cannot  deny  but  they  resisted; 
for  those  that  obey  not  the  commandments  given,  in  some  sort  resist." 
"  But  yet,"  said  she,  "  they  resisted  not  by  the  sword." 

"God,"  said  he,  "madam,  had  not  given  them  the  power  and  the 
means."  "  Think  you,"  said  she,  "  that  subjects,  having  power,  may  resist 
their  princes  ?  "  "  If  princes  do  exceed  their  bounds,"  quoth  he,  "  madam, 
and  do  against  that  wherefore  they  should  be  obeyed,  there  is  no  doubt  but 
they  may  be  resisted,  even  by  power;  for  there  is  neither  greater  honor,  nor 
greater  obedience  to  be  given  to  kings  and  princes  than  God  hath  com- 
manded to  be  given  to  father  and  mother;  but  so  it  is,  that  the  father  may 
be  stricken  with  a  frenzy,  in  the  which  he  would  slay  his  own  children ;  now, 
madam,  if  the  children  arise,  join  themselves  together,  apprehend  the  father, 
take  the  sword  or  other  weapon  from  him,  and,  finally,  bind  his  hands,  and 
keep  him  in  prison  till  that  his  frenzy  be  overpast,  think  ye,  madam,  that  the 
children  do  any  wrong  ?  Or,  think  ye,  madam,  that  God  will  be  offended 
with  them  that  have  staid  their  father  from  committing  wickedness  ?  It  is 
even  so,  madam,  with  princes  that  would  murder  the  children  of  God,  that 
are  subject  unto  them.  Their  blind  zeal  is  nothing  but  a  very  mad  frenzy; 
and  therefore,  to  take  the  sword  from  them,  to  bind  their  hands,  and  to  cast 
them  into  prison,  till  that  they  be  brought  to  a  more  sober  mind,  is  no  dis- 
obedience against  princes,  but  just  obedience;  because  that  it  agreeth  with 
the  word  of  God." 

At  these  words,  the  Queen  stood,  as  it  were,  amazed,  more  than  a  quarter 
of  an  hour;  her  countenance  altered,  so  that  the  Lord  James  began  to  in- 
treat  her,  and  to  demand,  "what  hath  offended  you,  madam  ?  "     At  length, 


The  Days  of  Knox  417 

she  said,  "  Well,  then,  I  perceive  that  my  subjects  shall  only  obey  you,  and 
not  me;  and  shall  do  what  they  list,  and  not  what  I  command;  and  so  I 
must  be  subject  unto  them,  and  not  they  to  me."  "  God  forbid,"  answered 
he,  "  that  ever  I  take  it  upon  me  to  command  any  to  obey  me,  or  yet  to  set 
subjects  at  liberty  to  do  whatsoever  please  them;  but  my  travail  is,  that  both 
princes  and  subjects  obey  God.     .     .     ." 

"  Yea,"  quoth  she,  "  but  ye  are  not  the  church  that  I  will  nourish;  I  will 
defend  the  church  of  Rome;  for  I  think  it  is  the  true  church  of  God." 

George  Gordon,  fourth  Earl  of  Huntly,  and  ruler  of  the  Highland  chief- 
tains, rebelled  against  the  Government  in  the  summer  of  1562,  during  the 
visit  of  Mary  to  his  territories.  The  Forbes,  Fraser,  and  Mackintosh  clans, 
and  others,  who  had  been  under  Huntly,  now  that  they  had  the  opportunity 
deserted  his  standard  and  joined  the  queen.  The  gates  of  the  castle  of  In- 
verness were  closed  against  her,  but  the  castle  was  soon  taken,  and  the  gar- 
rison hanged.  When  the  royal  party  returned  to  Aberdeen,  Huntly  and  his 
retainers  followed  them.  An  engagement  ensued  at  Corrichie,  in  which 
Huntly  was  defeated  and  slain. 

On  July  29,  1565,  Mary  married  her  cousin,  Henry  Stuart,  Lord  Darnley, 
eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Lennox.  Darnley  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and,  like 
Mary,  had  been  bred  on  the  Continent.  The  marriage  was  made  against  the 
wishes  of  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  and  Mary's  natural  brother,  James 
Stewart,  Prior  of  St.  Andrews  and  Earl  of  Moray,  himself  a  Protestant,  did 
his  utmost  to  prevent  it.  Moray  and  his  party  met  at  Stirling  on  the  15th 
of  July,  to  consult  on  the  project  of  rebellion;  but  the  queen  ordered  a 
general  muster  of  the  Crown  vassals  on  the  2 2d.  The  intended  marriage 
was  proclaimed,  and  on  the  29th  it  took  place  at  Holyrood. 

Moray  and  his  associates  —  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  the  Earls  of 
Argyle,  Glencairn,  Rothes,  and  other  barons — having  mustered  a  thousand 
of  their  followers,  were  proclaimed  rebels.  They  were  unable  to  face  the 
royal  forces,  and  retired  to  Dumfries.  Afterwards  they  disbanded  and  fled 
to  England. 

Mary's  marriage  proved  extremely  unhappy.  Her  husband  was  a  vain 
man,  of  weak  character;  while  the  Queen  was  a  proud,  licentious  woman, 
who  quickly  wearied  of  her  new  toy,  and  sought  to  discard  it.  Their  domes- 
tic quarrels  soon  became  notorious. 

The  French  Court  of  the  time  of  Catharine  de'  Medici,  in  which  Mary 
Stuart  was  reared,  "  is  known,"  says  Swinburne,  "  to  readers  of  Brantome 
as  well  as  that  of  imperial  Rome  at  its  worst  is  known  to  readers  of  Suetonius 
or  Petronius, — as  well  as  that  of  papal  Rome  at  its  worst  is  known  to  readers 
of  the  diary  kept  by  the  domestic  chaplain  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  Only  in 
their  pages  can  a  parallel  be  found  to  the  gay  and  easy  record  which  reveals 
without  sign  of  shame  or  suspicion  of  offence  the  daily  life  of  a  Court  com- 
pared to  which  the  Court  of  King  Charles  II.  is  as  the  Court  of  Queen 
Victoria  to  the  society  described  by  Grammont.     Debauchery  of  all  kinds, 


41 8  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

and  murder  in  all  forms,  were  the  daily  matter  of  excitement  or  of  jest  to 
the  brilliant  circle  which  revolved  around  Catharine  de'  Medici." 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  Mary's  code  of  morals  should  have 
been  to  some  extent  moulded  after  the  fashion  of  her  mother-in-law,  a  woman 
whose  main  instrument  of  policy  was  the  corruption  of  her  own  children. 
Some  two  years  before  her  marriage  to  Darnley  she  had  caused  the  execu- 
tion of  one  of  her  French  lovers,  Pierre  de  Boscosel  de  Chastelard,  for  the 
offence  or  the  misfortune  of  a  second  detection  at  night  in  her  bedchamber. 

Little  more  than  a  year  after  her  marriage,  Mary  was  heard  to  say  that 
unless  she  could  be  freed  of  her  husband  in  some  way,  she  could  have  no 
pleasure  in  living,  and  if  she  could  find  no  other  remedy,  she  would  take  her 
own  life.  The  queen  had  several  foreigners  in  her  service,  and  one,  named 
David  Rizzio,  acted  as  her  foreign  secretary,  being  also  the  secret  agent  in 
Scotland  of  the  papal  court.  He  was  the  son  of  a  musician  of  Turin,  and, 
having  accompanied  the  Piedmontese  ambassador  into  Scotland,  gained 
admission  to  the  queen's  circle  by  his  skill  in  music.  He  soon  became 
an  object  of  the  queen's  favor,  and  her  French  secretary  happening  to  return 
at  that  time  to  his  own  country,  Rizzio  was  given  his  place.  He  now  began 
to  make  a  figure  at  Court,  and  it  became  apparent  that  the  best  way  to  gain 
the  successful  issue  of  a  suit  was  through  "  Davie,"  the  Queen's  secretary. 
Soon  he  equalled  the  greatest  and  most  opulent  subjects  in  the  richness  of 
his  dress,  and  the  number  of  his  attendants.  He  studied  to  display  the 
whole  extent  of  his  favor.  He  affected  to  talk  often  and  insolently  with  the 
queen  in  public.  Through  his  assistance  Mary  was  married  secretly  to 
Darnley,  some  four  months  before  the  date  of  their  public  marriage. 

Sometime  after  the  marriage  the  queen  caused  to  be  made  an  iron  seal 
bearing  Darnley' s  signature,  and  this  she  gave  to  Rizzio,  in  order  that  state 
papers  requiring  the  king's  name  might  be  signed  by  her  secretary.  In  this 
way,  it  soon  became  a  common  saying  at  Court  that  "  Davie  is  he  that 
worketh  all."  His  apparel,  household,  and  equipages  exceeded  those  of  the 
king  himself,  and  soon  the  people  began  to  say  the  same  of  his  privileges. 
On  one  occasion,  hearing  that  Rizzio  had  entered  the  queen's  bedchamber, 
Darnley  came  to  a  private  door,  the  key  to  which  he  always  carried,  and  for 
the  first  time  found  it  bolted  on  the  inside. 

According  to  one  account,  Darnley  privately  assured  his  uncle,  George 
Douglas,  of  his  wife's  infidelity;  he  had  himself,  if  he  might  be  believed, 
discovered  the  secretary  in  the  queen's  apartments  at  midnight  under  cir- 
cumstances yet  more  unequivocally  compromising  than  those  which  had 
brought  Chastelard  to  the  scaffold.  Darnley  accordingly  entered  into  a 
bond  with  Lord  Ruthven  and  other  Scottish  nobles  who  were  incensed  against 
Rizzio,  by  the  terms  of  which  they  agreed  to  despatch  the  Italian  favorite. 
The  plot  was  well  matured,  and  everything  prepared  for  its  realization.  On 
the  evening  of  March  9th,  Earl  Morton,  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  men, 
took  possession  of  the  inner  court  of  the  royal  palace,  and  guarded  the  gates. 


The  Days  of  Knox  419 

Darnley  ascended  to  the  queen's  apartments,  accompanied  by  Lord  Ruthven. 
They  found  their  victim  sitting  with  the  queen  in  her  boudoir.  After  a 
short  struggle,  he  was  dragged  out  into  an  adjoining  room  and  killed. 

The  following  day  the  rebellious  nobles  who  had  been  exiled  returned  to 
Edinburgh,  and,  with  a  view  to  making  the  Earl  of  Moray  king,  seized  the 
city.  Mary  escaped  to  Dunbar,  taking  Darnley  along.  Here  she  raised  an 
army,  and  returning  in  force  obliged  the  rebels  to  flee.  Morton  and  Ruth- 
ven escaped  to  England,  others  fled  to  the  Highlands,  and  some  of  them 
retired  to  their  own  estates.  After  a  short  time  the  queen  pardoned  Moray 
and  his  associates;  but  she  declined  to  pardon  those  directly  implicated  in 
the  murder  of  Rizzio,  and  began  secretly  to  plot  for  the  destruction  of  her 
own  husband,  for  whom  she  now  conceived  the  most  bitter  hatred.  Some 
time  before  she  had  become  very  much  infatuated  with  James  Hepburn, 
Earl  of  Bothwell.  After  the  death  of  Rizzio,  Bothwell's  influence  over  Mary 
became  unbounded.  At  Court  he  arranged  everything  according  to  his  own 
pleasure.  The  queen  loaded  him  with  honors,  and  bestowed  on  him  vast 
grants  of  Crown  and  Church  lands.  Mary  finally  left  Holyrood  Palace 
and  took  lodgings  at  the  Chequer  House,  adjoining  Bothwell's  residence, 
the  two  houses  being  connected  by  a  passageway  in  the  rear. 

In  June,  1566,  Mary  retired  into  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  and  there,  on 
the  19th  day  of  that  month,  James  VI.  of  Scotland  and  I.  of  England  was 
born.  Much  sympathy  has  been  lavished  upon  the  unfortunate  and  guilty 
queen  of  Scotland  for  her  sufferings  in  after  life,  and  the  sad  ending  of  her 
troubles.  Sympathy  has  not  been  lacking,  also,  for  the  unhappy  Rizzio, 
who  perished  because  he  was  the  queen's  favorite.  No  doubt  in  their  un- 
timely deaths  they  both  expiated  many  of  their  crimes  against  society  of  their 
own  day.  But  the  death  of  many  Marys  would  not  atone  for  the  long  and 
grievous  burden  of  oppression,  persecution,  and  murder  inflicted  upon 
humanity  during  the  next  century  by  the  progeny  of  that  ill-fated  woman. 

After  the  birth  of  James  VI.,  the  queen  became  reconciled  with  the  re- 
bellious nobles,  and  though  Huntly  (the  fifth  earl)  and  Bothwell  remained 
at  the  head  of  the  government,  Moray,  Argyle,  Glencairn,  and  others  were 
readmitted  to  a  share  in  its  administration.  In  December,  the  baptism  of 
the  infant  prince  took  place  at  Stirling.  All  the  preparations  for  the  cere- 
mony were  committed  to  Bothwell.  Darnley  was  not  present  at  the  baptism. 
He  was  in  Stirling  during  the  festivities,   but   kept   his   own   apartment. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year,  Darnley  visited  his  father  at  Glasgow, 
where  he  was  taken  ill  with  a  disease  resembling  the  smallpox,  brought 
on,  says  Buchanan,  by  a  dose  administered  by  the  queen.  When  nearly  re- 
covered, Mary  visited  him,  and  induced  him  to  return  with  her  to  Edin- 
burgh. Here,  instead  of  lodging  Darnley  in  the  palace,  she  had  him  placed 
in  a  small  house  in  the  suburbs,  belonging  to  one  of  Bothwell's  followers. 

Meanwhile,  a  plot  for  the  murder  of  Darnley  had  been  concocted.  Sir 
James  Balfour,  the  friend  and  attorney  of  Bothwell,  drew  up  a  bond  for 


420  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Darnley's  destruction,  which  was  signed  by  the  Earls  of  Huntly,  Argyle, 
Morton,  and  others  who  took  part  in  the  conspiracy.  The  queen  joined  in 
the  plot,  and  was  the  chief  instrument  in  luring  her  husband  to  his  death. 
During  Darnley's  convalescence  she  appeared  very  attentive  to  him,  and  for 
several  nights  slept  in  a  room  below  the  one  he  occupied.  By  means  of 
duplicate  keys,  which  Bothwell  had  caused  to  be  made,  the  latter' s  agents 
had  free  access  to  the  house.  A  barrel  of  powder  was  sent  for  to  Both- 
well's  castle  of  Dunbar,  and  a  large  quantity  placed  in  the  queen's  room, 
directly  under  Darnley's  bed  in  the  room  above.  On  Sunday  night,  Feb- 
ruary 9th,  the  queen  passed  from  Holyrood  and  joined  her  husband.  There 
was  some  conversation  between  them,  and  then  Mary  recollected  that  she 
had  promised  to  attend  the  ball  to  be  held  that  night  in  honor  of  the  mar- 
riage of  two  of  her  servants.  She  bade  Darnley  farewell,  and  departed  with 
Bothwell  and  Huntly.  Before  the  powder  train  was  finally  set  off,  Darnley 
and  his  servant  seem  to  have  discovered  their  danger  and  attempted  to 
escape,  but  were  caught  and  strangled  to  death  in  the  garden.  Bothwell, 
with  a  company  of  his  followers,  returned  from  Holyrood  about  midnight, 
and  joined  the  two  conspirators,  Hepburn  and  Hay,  who  had  already  lighted 
the  train.  The  explosion  shook  the  earth  for  miles  around,  and  aroused 
the  citizens  of  Edinburgh.  Bothwell  hurried  back  to  the  palace,  and  after 
drinking  some  wine,  retired  to  his  apartments.  A  short  time  later,  when 
news  of  Darnley's  assassination  was  brought  to  him,  he  sprang  up,  crying 
out,  "  Treason!  Treason!  "  Gordon,  his  brother-in-law,  and  others,  rushed 
into  his  room  in  alarm,  and  together  they  sought  the  queen  and  told  her  of 
the  consummation  of  the  crime. 

The  murder  caused  great  excitement,  and  printed  bills  were  posted  on 
the  door  of  the  Parliament  House,  naming  Bothwell,  Balfour,  and  others  as 
the  murderers.  Rumors  arose  that  Bothwell  would  marry  the  queen.  The 
Earl  of  Lennox  insisted  that  the  parties  accused  should  be  brought  to  trial. 
A  jury  trial  was  finally  had  April  12,  1567.  On  that  day  Bothwell  had  three 
thousand  of  his  armed  retainers  in  the  streets  of  Edinburgh.  The  court 
met.  Bothwell  appeared,  but  no  witness  dared  to  face  him,  and  he  was 
acquitted.  He  then  challenged  to  single  combat  any  one  who  would  affirm 
that  he  was  guilty  of  Darnley's  murder. 

Eight  or  nine  days  after  the  trial,  the  queen  visited  her  infant  son  at 
Stirling.  On  her  return,  when  within  a  few  miles  of  Edinburgh,  she  was 
met  by  Bothwell,  at  the  head  of  eight  hundred  horsemen,  and,  taking  her 
bridle-rein,  he  conducted  Mary  to  his  castle  of  Dunbar.  Soon  after,  Both- 
well  escorted  the  queen  to  Edinburgh,  where  preparations  for  their  marriage 
were  hastened.  Previous  to  the  seizure  of  Queen  Mary,  Bothwell's  wife, 
Lady  Jane  Gordon,  sister  to  the  Earl  of  Huntly,  had  sued  for  a  divorce. 
This  was  granted  on  May  7th;  and  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month  Bothwell 
and  the  queen  were  married  at  Holyrood. 

For  a  brief  season  after  the  marriage,  Mary  and  her  new  husband  seemed 


The  Days  of  Knox  421 

happy.  But  Bothwell's  temper  soon  led  him  into  bitter  quarrels  with  his 
wife ;  and  once  in  the  hearing  of  the  French  ambassador,  their  quarrel  was 
so  wild  that  Mary  screamed  for  a  knife  with  which  to  stab  herself. 

Some  weeks  before  the  marriage,  a  league  to  punish  Bothwell  for  his 
crimes  had  been  formed  by  some  of  the  nobles,  among  whom  were  Kirkaldy 
of  Grange,  Lethington,  Morton,  Mar,  Ruthven,  Lindsay,  Hume,  Hemes, 
Glencairn,  Cassilis,  and  Eglinton.  Within  a  few  weeks  after  the  marriage, 
these  men  were  ready  to  execute  their  scheme. 

Bothwell  and  the  queen  left  Edinburgh  on  the  seventh  of  June,  and  passed 
to  Borthwick  (or  Botherwick)  Castle,  about  ten  miles  south  of  the  capital. 
Morton  and  Hume,  with  eight  hundred  of  their  Borderers,  appeared  before 
Borthwick,  and  the  guilty  couple  escaped  with  difficulty  to  the  castle  of 
Dunbar.  The  nobles  seized  Edinburgh.  The  queen  mustered  about  three 
thousand  men,  and  marched  upon  the  capital.  The  forces  confronted  each 
other  at  Carberry  Hill  near  Musselburgh,  where,  after  a  day  spent  in  parley- 
ing, Mary  surrendered  to  the  nobles,  and  Bothwell  was  allowed  to  ride  off  in 
the  direction  of  Dunbar.  The  queen  was  taken  to  Edinburgh  on  the  15th 
of  June,  and  on  the  17th  she  was  conveyed  a  captive  to  Lochleven  Castle, 
which  stood  on  an  island  in  the  lake.  On  the  23d,  she  was  forced  to  sign 
her  abdication  of  the  throne,  and  to  confirm  the  appointment  of  Moray  as 
regent,  to  govern  during  the  minority  of  her  son. 

In  the  parish  church  of  Stirling,  James  VI.,  a  baby  of  thirteen  months, 
was  crowned  king  on  July  29,  1567.  On  the  following  day,  the  king's 
authority  was  proclaimed,  and  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary  ceased.  Moray 
assumed  the  office  of  regent,  August  22d. 

Through  the  assistance  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton  and  his  brother,  the 
Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  Mary  escaped  from  Lochleven  Castle  after 
more  than  ten  months'  captivity.  One  of  her  partisans,  young  George  Doug- 
las, half-brother  to  the  regent,  had  bribed  some  of  the  servants  at  the  castle, 
and  gained  them  to  the  queen's  interest.  One  evening  in  May,  1568,  a  page 
who  served  at  the  table  managed  to  purloin  the  key  of  the  outer  gate  from  the 
keeper  of  the  castle  while  he  was  at  supper.  The  page  carried  the  key  to  the 
queen ;  they  gained  the  gate  unperceived,  locked  it  behind  them,  and  crossed 
the  lake  in  a  boat  which  had  been  left  for  the  garrison.  Lord  Seton  and  a 
party  of  Mary's  friends  were  waiting  on  the  shore,  and  when  the  queen 
landed  they  mounted  her  on  horseback  and  rode  off  to  Hamilton  town. 

Many  of  the  nobility  and  barons  who  were  unfavorable  to  the  regent 
now  repaired  to  the  queen,  with  offers  of  support  and  service.  At  Hamil- 
ton she  soon  had  around  her  a  camp  of  six  thousand  men.  Her  chief 
adherents,  besides  the  Hamiltons,  were  Argyle,  Huntly,  Rothes,  Seton, 
Cassilis,  Harris,  Livingston,  Fleming,  and  Claud  Hamilton. 

The  regent  was  at  Glasgow,  only  eight  miles  distant  from  Hamilton, 
when  news  of  the  queen's  escape  reached  him.  Within  ten  days,  he  had 
mustered  four  thousand  men,  marched  from  Glasgow,  and  on  May  13th 


422  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

fought  Mary's  forces  at  the  village  of  Langside.  The  battle  lasted  less  than 
three  quarters  of  an  hour;  "  then  the  queen  saw  her  troops  swept  down  the 
hill,  broken  and  scattered  in  defeat,  the  Macfarlanes,  with  leaps  and  yells 
and  flashing  claymores,  cutting  and  hewing  among  the  wretched  fugitives." 
Mary  fled  toward  the  Border,  and  found  refuge  in  the  abbey  of  Dundrennan 
on  the  shore  of  Solway  Firth,  sixty  miles  from  the  field  of  battle.  Here  she 
remained  for  three  days,  then  crossed  over  into  England,  and  threw  herself 
upon  the  protection  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Elizabeth  committed  her  to  the 
custody  of  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury.  After  twenty  years  imprisonment, 
Mary  was  beheaded  on  the  8th  of  February,  1587. 

When  Bothwell  was  separated  from  Queen  Mary  at  Carberry  Hill  on  the 
day  of  her  surrender  to  the  lords,  he  repaired  to  Dunbar  Castle,  and  thence 
fled  to  Orkney.  Before  leaving  Dunbar,  he  sent  George  Dalgleish,  his 
servant,  to  the  castle  at  Edinburgh,  instructing  him  to  bring  back  a  certain 
silver  casket  which  Bothwell  had  left  in  a  desk  in  his  apartment.  This  cas- 
ket had  been  given  to  Mary  by  her  first  husband,  Francis  II.,  and  she  had 
afterwards  presented  it  to  Bothwell.  Sir  James  Balfour,  governor  of  the 
castle,  delivered  the  box  to  Dalgleish,  but  privately  informed  the  earl  of 
Morton  that  he  had  done  so.  In  consequence,  the  messenger  was  inter- 
cepted on  his  return. 

The  silver  casket  was  opened  and  found  to  contain  a  number  of  letters 
and  sonnets  written  by  Mary  to  Bothwell.  There  were  eight  letters  in  all, 
and  these  letters  contained  such  incontestible  proof  of  the  queen's  participa- 
tion in  Darnley's  murder  that  the  nobles  had  little  difficulty  in  persuading 
Mary  to  sign  her  abdication  at  Lochleven.  The  letters  were  laid  before 
Parliament  a  few  months  later,  and  unanimously  declared,  many  of  the 
queen's  partisans  being  present,  to  have  been  "  written  wholly  with  Mary's 
own  hand."  They  were  afterwards  placed  in  evidence  against  the  queen 
at  her  trial  in  England;  and  though  in  her  time,  as  in  later  years,  labored 
attempts  were  made  to  prove  the  letters  forgeries,  Mary's  known  character 
and  subsequent  behavior  afforded  convincing  proof  of  he*  guilt. 

One  of  the  letters  reveals  the  queen's  knowledge  of,  and  assent  to,  Both- 
well' s  plan  of  carrying  her  off  to  Dunbar  Castle  by  a  pretended  show  of 
force  after  Darnley's  murder.  The  Earl  of  Huntly  had  been  let  into  the 
secret,  and  tried  to  dissuade  the  queen  from  carrying  out  the  design.  Mary 
wrote  to  Bothwell,  ' '  He  preached  unto  me  that  it  was  a  foolish  enterprise, 
and  that  with  mine  honor  I  could  never  marry  you,  seeing  that  being 
married,  you  did  carry  me  away.  ...  I  told  him  that,  seeing  I  had  come 
so  far,  if  you  did  not  withdraw  yourself  of  yourself  no  persuasion,  nor  death 
itself,  should  make  me  fail  of  my  promise." 

Two  days  after  Mary's  arrival  at  Glasgow,  when  she  had  gone  there  with 
the  purpose  of  decoying  Darnley  back  to  Edinburgh,  she  wrote  a  long  letter 
to  Bothwell,  one  of  the  eight  found  in  the  casket.  In  this  letter  from  Glas- 
gow, Mary  said: 


The  Days  of  Knox  423 

Being  departed  from  the  place  where  I  had  left  my  heart,  it  was  easy  to 
be  judged  what  was  my  countenance,  seeing  that  I  am  no  more  than  a  body 
without  a  heart.  .  .  .  He  [Darnley]  said  that  he  was  like  one  dreaming, 
and  that  he  was  so  glad  to  see  me,  he  thought  he  would  die  of  joy.  .  .  . 
You  never  heard  him  speak  better  or  more  humbly.  If  I  had  not  known 
from  experience  that  he  has  a  heart  as  soft  as  wax,  and  if  mine  had  not  been 
of  diamond,  into  which  no  dart  can  enter  but  that  which  comes  from  your 
hands,  I  could  have  pitied  him.  However,  fear  nothing.  .  .  .  We  are 
coupled  [referring  to  her  own  husband  and  to  Both  well's  wife]  with  two  false 
races:  the  Devil  sunder  us,  and  God  unite  us  forever,  for  the  most  faithful 
couple  that  ever  he  tied.  .  .  .  Cursed  be  this  pocky  fellow  that  troubleth 
me  so  much.  .  .  .  You  make  me  dissemble  so  much  that  I  am  afraid 
thereof  with  horror,  and  you  make  me  almost  to  play  the  part  of  a  traitor. 
Remember,  that  if  it  were  not  for  obeying  you,  I  had  rather  be  dead.  My 
heart  bleedeth  for  it.*  To  be  short,  he  will  not  come  but  with  condition  that 
I  shall  promise  to  be  with  him  as  heretofore  at  bed  and  board,  and  that  I 
shall  forsake  him  no  more.  .  .  .  Send  me  word  what  I  shall  do,  and 
whatsoever  happens  to  me,  I  will  obey  you.  Think  also  if  you  will  not  find 
some  invention  more  secret  by  medicine,  for  he  is  to  take  medicine  at  Craig- 
millar.  .  .  .  Burn  this  letter,  for  it  is  too  dangerous.  .  .  .  Now  if 
it  please  you,  my  dear  life,  I  spare  neither  honor,  conscience,  hazard,  nor 
greatness  whatsoever;  take  it,  I  pray  you,  in  good  part,  and  not  after  the 
interpretation  of  your  false  brother-in-law,  to  whom,  I  pray  you,  give  no 
credit  against  the  most  faithful  lover  that  ever  you  had,  or  ever  shall  have. 
See  not  her  [Bothwell's  wife]  whose  feigned  tears  should  not  be  so  much 
esteemed  as  the  true  and  faithful  labors  which  I  sustain  to  merit  her  place, 
for  the  obtaining  of  which  against  my  nature  I  betray  them  that  may  hinder 
me.     God  forgive  me. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

JAMES   STUART,    SON   OF    MARY 

JAMES  STEWART,  Prior  of  St.  Andrews  and  Earl  of  Moray,  known  in 
Scottish  history  as  the  "  Good  Regent,"  was  the  natural  son  of  James 
V.  by  Lady  Margaret  Erskine,  daughter  of  the  fifth  Earl  of  Mar,  who  after- 
wards married  Sir  Robert  Douglas  of  Lochleven.  He  was  born  in  1533,  and 
in  his  infancy  was  placed  under  the  care  of  George  Buchanan.  James 
Stewart  accompanied  his  half-sister,  the  young  Queen  Mary,  when  she 
went  to  France  for  her  education.  When  the  Reformation  began,  although 
at  first  adhering  to  the  party  of  the  queen  regent,  later  (1559),  he  joined 
the  Lords  of  the  Congregation  and  soon  became  the  leader  of  the  Protestant 
nobles. 

Moray  was  in  Paris  when  he  heard  of  the  revolution  which  had  dethroned 
Mary,  and  of  his  own  nomination  to  the  regency.  He  returned  home  at 
once,  and  taking  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own  hands,  soon  proved 
his  ability  to  perform  the  work  to  which  he  had  been  called.  After  the 
battle  of  Langside  and  the  flight  of  his  sister  into  England,  the  regent  con- 
tinued his  efforts  to  maintain  order.  But  it  was  a  difficult  undertaking,  as  he 
had  many  enemies  and  his  position  tended  to  multiply  them.  Sir  William 
Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  and  Maitland  of  Leth- 
ington,  now  joined  the  queen's  party,  and  a  period  of  civil  war  ensued. 
For  some  years  the  factions  of  the  regent  and  the  queen  kept  the  kingdom 
in  incessant  turmoil.  Early  in  the  year  1570,  during  a  period  of  civil  strife, 
Moray  marched  his  army  to  Stirling.  While  returning  through  Linlithgow, 
on  January  23d,  he  was  shot  by  Hamilton  of  Bothwellhaugh,  and  died 
within  a  few  hours. 

Six  months  later,  Matthew  Stewart,  Earl  of  Lennox,  father  of  the  mur- 
dered Darnley,  was  elected  regent,  and  assumed  the  government.  His 
ablest  supporters  were  John  Knox  and  James  Douglas,  Earl  of  Morton. 
The  regent  summoned  a  Parliament  to  meet  at  Edinburgh  in  May,  157 1; 
but  the  queen's  party  held  possession  of  the  capital,  and  the  meeting  was 
adjourned,  to  reconvene  at  Stirling.  It  met  there  in  August  ;  at  the  same 
time,  the  opposing  party  held  its  Parliament  in  Edinburgh.  From  that  city, 
a  company  of  the  queen's  adherents,  under  the  Earl  of  Huntly  and  Lord 
Hamilton,  marched  against  Stirling,  surprised  the  lords  who  were  there  as- 
sembled, and  killed  the  regent.  John  Erskine,  Earl  of  Mar,  was  then 
chosen  regent;  but  he  died  on  the  28th  of  October,  1572. 

The  regency  now  devolved  upon  the  Earl  of  Morton.  In  the  spring  of 
1573,  he  concluded  an  arrangement  with  England  by  which  nearly  two 
thousand  English  troops  entered  Scotland  and  assisted  in  the  reduction  of 

424 


James  Stuart,  Son  of  Mary  425 

the  castle  of  Edinburgh.  The  castle  was  surrendered  toward  the  end  of 
May.  Its  governor,  Kirkaldy  of  Grange,  and  his  brother,  were  hanged  at 
the  Cross  of  Edinburgh. 

John  Knox  died  at  Edinburgh  on  November  24,  1572,  in  the  sixty- 
seventh  year  of  his  age. 

Early  in  1578,  Morton  resigned  the  regency.  He  had  never  been  pop- 
ular, and  his  treatment  of  the  Reformed  Church  lost  him  the  support  of  its 
clergy.  When  the  Roman  Church  was  abolished  at  the  time  of  the  Reform- 
ation, the  bishops  and  other  prelates  of  that  establishment  were  allowed  to 
receive,  during  their  lives,  two  thirds  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues,  the 
Protestant  Church  receiving  for  its  maintenance  one  third.  As  the  prelates 
began  to  die,  their  offices  were  filled  by  clerical  agents  of  Morton  and  some 
of  the  other  nobles.  These  agents  being  ministers,  assumed  the  titles  and 
were  allowed  a  small  part  of  the  revenues  of  their  positions,  but  handed 
the  bulk  of  the  receipts  over  to  the  patrons  who  had  secured  their  appoint- 
ment. The  Scotch  people  called  them  straw  bishops,  or  tulchans  —  tulchan 
being  the  name  applied  to  a  stuffed  calf,  which  at  milking  time  was  set  in 
position  as  if  to  suck  the  cow,  the  cow  thus  being  deceived  into  giving  her 
milk  freely. 

Alexander  Erskine,  keeper  of  Stirling  Castle,  and  guardian  of  the  young 
king,  held  a  secret  meeting  with  some  of  the  dissatisfied  nobles,  in  1578,  at 
which  the  twelve-year-old  James  was  present.  At  this  meeting  the  king  was 
advised  to  take  the  reins  of  government  into  his  own  hands.  Knowledge  of 
the  meeting  having  come  to  Morton's  ears,  he  tendered  his  resignation  as 
regent,  which  James  accepted. 

The  government  was  then  committed  to  a  council  of  twelve  members;  and 
a  competition  between  the  rival  factions  in  Scotland  began  for  the  possession 
of  the  juvenile  king's  favor.  In  1579,  Esme  Stewart,  Lord  D'Aubigne, 
nephew  of  the  Regent  Lennox,  and  cousin  to  James,  arrived  in  Scotland 
from  France,  where  he  had  been  brought  up.  This  unworthy  nobleman 
soon  became  a  favorite  of  the  king.  He  was  first  created  Earl,  then  Duke 
of  Lennox,  and  was  appointed  High  Chamberlain  and  governor  of  the  castle 
of  Dumbarton.  Captain  James  Stewart,  second  son  of  Lord  Ochiltree,  and 
brother-in-law  to  John  Knox,  was  another  of  the  king's  favorites.  He  was 
elevated  to  the  rank  of  Earl  of  Arran  in  1581. 

In  December,  1580,  Captain  Stewart  entered  the  king's  council  chamber, 
Earl  Morton  being  present,  and  accused  the  latter  of  having  taken  part  in 
the  murder  of  Darnley.  Two  days  later,  the  ex-regent  was  imprisoned  in 
Edinburgh  Castle,  and  was  tried  on  the  1st  of  June,  15  81.  Almost  every 
man  upon  the  jury  was  his  known  enemy.  Morton  was  condemned  and 
beheaded  on  June  2d.  Before  his  death  he  acknowledged  that  Bothwell 
had  told  him  of  the  plot,  and  tried  to  induce  him  to  join  in  the  conspiracy. 
When  asked  why  he  had  not  revealed  the  intended  crime,  he  replied  "  To 
whom  could  I  have  revealed  it  ?     To  the  queen  ?     She  was  the  doer  of  it 


426  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

To  Darnley?  I  durst  not  for  my  life;  for  I  knew  him  to  be  such  a  child, 
that  there  was  nothing  told  him  but  he  would  reveal  it  to  her  again." 

In  the  spring  of  1581,  the  king  ratified  Craig's  Confession  of  Faith, 
which  thus  became  the  first  National  Covenant  of  Scotland.  About  this  time 
Boyd,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  having  died,  the  Privy  Council  granted  to 
the  Duke  of  Lennox  the  revenues  of  the  archbishopric.  But  as  Lennox  was 
not  able  to  draw  them  in  his  own  name,  he  had  recourse  to  a  bishop  of  straw, 
according  to  the  tulchan  system.  He  found  a  minister  of  Stirling,  named 
Robert  Montgomery,  who  consented  to  play  the  part  of  his  tulchan;  and 
the  king  sought  to  impose  this  puppet  upon  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

In  1582,  the  Assembly  met  at  St.  Andrews  determined  to  prevent  the 
settlement  of  Montgomery  as  Archbishop  of  Glasgow.  The  Government, 
understanding  what  they  were  about  to  do,  sent  a  messenger-at-arms,  who 
entered  the  Assembly  hall  and  forbade  them  to  proceed  against  Montgomery, 
under  penalty  of  being  treated  as  rebels.-  Notwithstanding  this  threat,  the 
Assembly,  after  serious  deliberation,  declared  that  "  No  man  could  pretend 
to  ecclesiastical  functions,  office,  promotion,  or  benefice,  by  any  absolute 
gift,  collation,  or  admission  by  the  civil  magistrate  or  patron";  and  that 
Montgomery,  by  accepting  an  ecclesiastical  function  at  the  hands  of  the 
State,  had  incurred  the  double  penalty  of  deposition  and  excommunication. 

Montgomery,  in  alarm,  appeared  before  the  Assembly,  acknowledged 
that  he  had  offended  God  and  His  Church,  humbled  himself  before  them, 
and  promised  to  give  up  the  archbishopric.  But  he  was  induced  by  Lennox 
to  retain  his  post  and  soon  after  entered  with  a  band  of  soldiers  into  the  hall 
in  which  the  Presbytery  of  Glasgow  had  met,  to  whom  he  presented  an  order 
from  the  king.  The  Presbytery  refused  to  comply  with  this  order,  which 
they  regarded  as  null  and  void  in  an  ecclesiastical  matter.  The  moderator 
was  dragged  from  his  chair,  insulted,  beaten,  and  thrown  into  prison. 

The  excommunication  of  Montgomery  was  announced  from  the  pulpits. 
An  Extraordinary  Assembly  met  and  drew  up  an  address  to  the  king  in 
these  terms  : 

That  your  Majesty,  by  device  of  some  councillors,  is  caused  to  take 
upon  you  a  spiritual  power  and  authority,  which  properly  belongeth  unto 
Christ,  as  only  King  and  Head  of  the  Church,  the  ministry  and  execution 
of  which  is  only  given  unto  such  as  bear  office  in  the  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment in  the  same.  So  that  in  your  Highness*  person,  some  men  press  to 
erect  a  new  popedom,  as  though  your  Majesty  could  not  be  full  King  and 
head  of  this  commonwealth,  unless  as  well  the  spiritual  as  temporal  sword 
be  put  into  your  Highness'  hands  —  unless  Christ  be  bereft  of  his  authority, 
and  the  two  jurisdictions  confounded  which  God  hath  divided,  which  directly 
tendeth  to  the  wreck  of  all  true  religion. 

It  now  remained  to  present  this  spirited  address  to  the  king.  A  depu- 
tation, at  the  head  of  which  was  Andrew  Melville,  repaired  to  Perth,  where 


James  Stuart,  Son  of  Mary  427 

the  king  was  residing.  The  Court  was  indignant  at  the  boldness  of  the 
Assembly,  the  two  favorites  exclaimed  loudly  against  it,  and  all  were  appre- 
hensive that  the  ministers  would  answer  for  their  audacity  with  their  lives. 
They  were  warned  against  appearing  before  the  king  ;  but  notwithstanding 
all  solicitations  and  menaces,  the  deputies  on  the  following  day  proceeded  to 
the  palace. 

Melville  and  his  associates  entered,  and  the  king  in  council  received 
them,  sitting  on  his  throne,  surrounded  with  the  splendor  of  his  Court. 
Melville  stepped  forward  and  gravely  read  the  remonstrance.  But  hardly 
had  he  finished,  when  the  Earl  of  Arran,  who  was  standing  near  the  throne, 
frowning  angrily  on  those  around  him,  exclaimed  in  a  threatening  voice, 
"  Who  dare  subscribe  these  treasonable  articles  ?  " 

"We  dare,"  replied  Melville  calmly;  and  then  advancing  to  the  table 
which  was  before  the  king,  he  took  a  pen  from  the  hand  of  the  secretary  of 
the  Council,  and  signed  his  name  below  the  articles.  The  other  deputies 
immediately  followed  his  example.  Every  one  present  was  filled  with  amaze- 
ment, and  none  dared  to  interrupt  them. 

Arran,  overawed,  was  silent;  Lennox  addressed  some  conciliatory  words 
to  the  deputies;  the  king  yielded.  Montgomery  retired;  and  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Church,  in  regard  to  the  calling  and  deprivation  of  ministers,  was 
thus  sanctioned  anew. 

The  unworthy  favorites  of  James,  having  disposed  of  Morton,  their  most 
dreaded  rival,  now  became  supreme  in  the  Council  of  the  king.  Naturally, 
they  abused  their  power,  and  before  long  a  conspiracy  was  formed  against 
them  by  many  of  the  noblemen  and  gentry.  The  boy  king  was  invited  to 
Ruthven  Castle,  in  Perthshire,  for  a  season  of  hunting.  Here  he  was  to  be 
entertained  by  the  Earl  of  Gowrie.  On  the  night  of  James's  arrival,  the 
earl  and  his  friends  assembled  a  thousand  men  and  surrounded  the  castle. 
The  next  morning  the  king  was  told  that  he  must  remain  as  a  prisoner. 
The  Earl  of  Arran  was  seized  and  imprisoned,  and  the  Duke  of  Lennox 
ordered  to  leave  the  kingdom.  This  plot  is  known  in  history  as  "  The  Raid 
of  Ruthven." 

Soon  after,  the  king  was  removed  to  Stirling,  and  in  October,  1582,  he 
was  conveyed  to  Holyrood  Palace.  He  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the 
Ruthven  party  in  June,  1583,  and  most  of  the  parties  to  the  plot  immediately 
fled  to  England.  The  Earl  of  Gowrie  was  seized,  tried  for  treason,  con- 
demned, and  beheaded  at  Stirling  in  May,  1584.  Andrew  Melville,  the 
leader  of  the  Reformed  clergy,  was  apprehended,  but  managed  to  escape, 
and  fled  to  Berwick. 

The  Earl  of  Arran  was  reinstated  as  royal  favorite,  Lennox  meanwhile 
having  died  in  France.  The  former  bestowed  on  himself  the  highest  offices, 
became  governor  of  Edinburgh,  Blackness,  Dumbarton,  and  Stirling  Castles, 
four  of  the  most  important  strongholds  in  the  kingdom,  and  was  made  Chan- 
cellor and  Lieutenant-General  of  Scotland. 


428  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

In  May,  1584,  James  convened  a  Parliament,  which  met  with  closed 
doors,  and  in  which  Montgomery  sat  as  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  and  Adam- 
son,  a  still  baser  character,  as  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews.  These  two 
prelates,  leagued  with  the  unworthy  favorites  of  James,  inaugurated  the  most 
despotic  measures. 

At  this  Parliament  were  passed  those  acts,  infamous  in  the  history  of 
Scotland,  known  as  the  Black  Acts,  which  decreed  that  the  king  and  his 
Council  were  competent  in  all  matters;  that  all  judgment,  spiritual  or  tem- 
poral, which  had  not  been  approved  by  the  king  and  his  Parliament,  should 
be  of  no  force;  and  that  the  bishops  and  ecclesiastical  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  king  might  rule  in  all  that  concerned  the  Church. 

Thus  was  the  State  set  up  to  rule  over  the  Church;  and  under  the  State, 
bishops  were  commissioned  who  were  naturally  its  servile  agents.  These 
proceedings  practically  annihilated  the  Scottish  Church,  and  left  her  neither 
liberty  nor  independence. 

The  Black  Acts  were  proclaimed  at  the  Market-Cross  of  Edinburgh.  In 
vain  did  a  few  ministers  read  at  the  same  place,  in  presence  of  the  people, 
a  protest  against  this  legislation,  which  was  a  death-blow  to  the  Church. 
The  will  of  Arran  prevailed,  and  more  than  twenty  ministers  were  obliged 
to  fly  for  safety  into  England.  The  king  and  his  party,  having  obtained 
ample  recognition  of  their  supreme  power,  resolved  to  crush  the  rebellious 
preachers  and  nobles.  Parliament  was  re-assembled  in  August.  A  process 
of  treason  was  passed  against  the  banished  nobles,  and  their  lands  were 
forfeited.  An  act  was  passed  commanding  all  ministers,  and  masters  of  col- 
leges and  of  schools,  to  sign  and  humbly  promise  to  observe  the  acts  of  the 
last  Parliament;  and  they  were  ordered  to  obey  the  bishops  appointed  to 
rule  over  them. 

Lord  Maxwell  had  been  for  many  generations  the  leading  nobleman  in 
Dumfries  and  its  neighborhood;  but  the  king  at  this  time  ventured  to  en- 
croach upon  his  local  supremacy  in  the  election  of  a  provost.  Maxwell 
thereupon  made  war  against  James,  and  mustered  a  thousand  men.  The 
banished  nobles  saw  their  opportunity,  and  joined  him.  In  November, 
1585,  they  returned,  collected  their  adherents,  and  met  Maxwell  at  Selkirk. 
Thence  with  an  army  of  eight  thousand  men  they  marched  on  Stirling.  The 
king  and  Arran  were  in  Stirling  when  the  army  approached.  Arran  fled  to 
the  Highlands,  and  the  king  had  no  alternative  but  to  receive  the  proffered 
homage  of  his  rebellious  nobles  and  to  pardon  them.  Most  of  the  exiled 
ministers  returned  with  the  nobles,  and  resumed  their  functions.  After  a 
severe  struggle  with  the  Crown,  the  Presbyterian  party  prevailed. 

On  October  22,  1589,  the  King  sailed  for  Norway,  where  he  was  to  marry 
the  Princess  Anne  of  Denmark.  Before  starting  he  appointed  Robert 
Bruce,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  as  a  member  of  his  Privy  Council, 
declaring  that  he  trusted  to  him  more  than  to  all  his  nobles  to  preserve  peace 
in  the  country. 


James  Stuart,  Son   of  Mary  429 

On  his  return,  James  appeared  delighted  with  the  services  rendered  to 
him  by  the  Presbyterian  ministers.  He  called  a  General  Assembly  in 
August,  1590,  and  whether  moved  by  dissimulation,  or  by  a  transient  fit  of 
enthusiasm,  there  pronounced  that  eulogy  on  the  Church  of  Scotland  which 
afterwards  became  famous:  "  I  thank  God  that  I  was  born  in  such  a  time  as 
the  time  of  the  light  of  the  Gospel;  to  such  a  place,  as  to  be  king  in  such  a 
kirk,  the  sincerest  kirk  in  the  world.  The  Church  of  Geneva  keepeth 
Pasch  and  Yule.  What  have  they  for  them  ?  They  have  no  institution. 
As  for  our  neighbor  kirk  in  England,  it  is  an  evil  said  mass  in  English, wanting 
nothing  but  the  liftings.  I  charge  you,  my  good  people,  ministers,  doctors, 
elders,  nobles,  gentlemen,  and  barons,  to  stand  to  your  purity,  and  to  exhort 
the  people  to  do  the  same;  and  I,  forsooth,  so  long  as  I  brook  my  life  and 
crown,  shall  maintain  the  same  against  all  deadly  enemies." 

How  soon  and  how  completely  James  forgot  these  words  will  shortly 
appear.  In  the  meantime  they  produced  their  effect.  In  1592,  Parliament 
passed  a  bill,  abolishing  all  "  acts  contrary  to  the  true  religion,"  and  ratify- 
ing the  acts  of  the  general  assemblies.  This  has  ever  since  been  regarded 
as  the  charter  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

Notwithstanding  James's  professions  there  were  still  rumors  of  plots  and 
designs  of  the  Jesuits,  and  the  clergy  were  annoyed  at  the  lenity  of  the  King 
to  the  Catholic  nobles,  Huntly,  Errol,  and  Angus.  In  1593,  James  made  a 
demonstration  against  the  Catholic  earls,  and  they  retired  to  Caithness. 
Later,  they  rebelled,  and  the  Earl  of  Argyle  was  commissioned  to  march 
against  them.  He  met  them  in  battle  at  Glenlivet,  on  October  13,  1594. 
After  a  severe  engagement,  Argyle  was  completely  defeated,  and  his  fol- 
lowers fled  in  confusion.  The  king  then  marched  with  an  army  into  Aber- 
deenshire, where  Huntly  fled  before  him.  The  latter's  castle,  together  with 
that  of  the  Earl  of  Errol,  were  dismantled;  and  in  March,  1595,  the  Catholic 
earls  left  Scotland. 

They  returned  in  the  summer  of  1596,  and  the  king  seemed  inclined  to 
restore  them  to  favor.  Desirous  of  securing  his  succession  to  the  English 
throne,  James  was  rapidly  declining  from  Presbyterianism,  which  he  knew 
to  be  distasteful  to  the  English  Court.  Being  aware  that  in  the  domain  of 
Elizabeth  there  existed  a  powerful  Romanist  party,  he  even  attempted  to 
conciliate  them.  Therefore,  those  Scottish  nobles  who  were  inclined  to 
Catholicism  having  returned  home,  the  government  was  intrusted  by  the 
king  to  eight  councillors,  the  majority  of  whom  were  avowed  or  disguised 
Roman  Catholics,  and  whose  actions  soon  justified  all  the  fears  of  the 
Reformers. 

The  commissioners  of  the  General  Assembly  resolved  to  send  a  deputa- 
tion to  the  king,  to  avert  the  evils  with  which  their  country  was  threatened, 
and  appointed  as  their  speaker  James  Melville,  nephew  of  Andrew  Mel- 
ville. He  was  selected  on  account  of  his  courteous  manners,  and  because 
he  was  in  favor  with  the  sovereign.     The  commissioners  were  granted  an 


430  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

interview,  but  scarcely  had  Melville  begun  to  speak,  when  the  king  inter- 
rupted him,  accusing  the  Presbyterian  ministers  of  sedition.  As  the  peti- 
tioner was  beginning  a  reply,  couched  in  the  mildest  terms,  Andrew  Melville, 
the  uncle,  finding  that  the  occasion  demanded  a  full  and  uncompromising 
statement  of  first  principles,  quitted  the  subordinate  position  which  he  had 
been  willing  for  the  time  to  occupy,  and  confronting  the  king,  began  to 
address  him.  James  endeavored  authoritatively  to  command  the  elder  Mel- 
ville to  silence ;  but  his  high  spirit  was  roused,  and  could  not  be  overborne. 
Seizing  the  king's  robe  by  the  sleeve,  in  the  earnestness  of  his  mind  and 
action,  and  terming  him  "  God's  silly  vassal,"  Andrew  Melville  addressed 
him  in  a  strain  such  as  few  kings  have  had  the  privilege  of  hearing. 

"  Sire,"  said  he,  "  we  will  always  humbly  reverence  your  Majesty  in 
public;  but  since  we  have  this  occasion  to  be  with  your  Majesty  in  private, 
and  since  you  are  brought  in  extreme  danger  of  your  life  and  crown,  and 
along  with  you  the  country  and  the  Church  of  God  are  like  to  go  to  wreck, 
for  not  telling  you  the  truth  and  giving  you  faithful  counsel,  we  must  dis- 
charge our  duty,  or  else  be  traitors  both  to  Christ  and  you.  Therefore,  Sire, 
as  divers  times  before  I  have  told  you,  so  now  again  I  must  tell  you,  there  are 
two  kings  and  two  kingdoms  in  Scotland:  there  is  King  James,  the  head  of 
the  commonwealth,  and  there  is  Christ  Jesus,  the  King  of  the  Church,  whose 
subject  James  the  Sixth  is,  and  of  whose  kingdom  he  is  not  a  king,  nor  a 
lord,  nor  a  head,  but  a  member." 

James  then  declared  the  Catholic  lords  had  returned  without  his  previous 
knowledge,  and  pledged  his  word  that  the  proposals  which  they  had  made  to 
the  Privy  Council  should  not  be  received  until  they  left  the  kingdom,  and 
that  even  then  he  would  show  them  no  favor  before  they  satisfied  the 
Church. 

This  solemn  pledge  of  the  king  was  soon  broken,  however,  and  steps  for 
restoring  the  conspirators  succeeded  one  another  with  rapidity.  Mr.  David 
Black,  minister  of  St.  Andrews,  delivered  a  sermon  in  which  he  assailed  the 
king  and  his  nobles  as  false  to  their  pledges.  He  was  immediately  sum- 
moned before  the  Privy  Council,  and  appeared,  but  declined  its  jurisdiction. 
He  was  tried,  and  sentenced  to  confinement  beyond  the  Tay.  The  commis- 
sioners of  the  Assembly  addressed  a  protest  to  the  king,  but  were  answered 
by  a  royal  proclamation  declaring  their  powers  illegal,  and  ordering  them 
to  leave  Edinburgh.  An  act  of  Council  was  also  passed,  requiring  the 
ministers,  before  receiving  payment  of  their  stipends,  to  subscribe  a  bond, 
by  which  they  promised  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  king  and  the  Privy 
Council  as  often  as  they  were  accused  of  seditious  or  treasonable  doctrine; 
and  commanding  all  magistrates  in  burghs  and  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in 
country  parishes,  to  interrupt  and  imprison  any  preachers  whom  they  should 
hear  uttering  such  language  from  pulpits. 

On  the  17th  of  December,  a  rumor  spread  that  the  Earl  of  Huntly  had 
been  at  the  palace  of  Holyrood.     One  Balcanquhal  referred  to  this  in  his 


James  Stuart,  Son  of  Mary  431 

sermon  preached  at  Edinburgh  on  that  day.  At  its  close,  he  called  on  the 
barons  present  not  to  disgrace  their  names  and  their  ancestors,  but  to  meet 
the  ministers  immediately  in  the  little  church.  Here  a  crowd  collected,  and 
the  minister  pointed  out  to  them  the  consequences  to  the  Reformed  Church 
if  the  Catholic  earls  should  be  reinstated. 

A  deputation  waited  on  the  king,  who  was  in  Council,  to  lay  before  him 
the  dangers  which  threatened  religion.  "  What  danger  see  you,"  said  the 
king,  "  and  who  dares  to  assemble  against  my  proclamation  ?  "  Lord 
Lindsay  replied,  "  We  dare  do  more  than  that,  and  will  not  suffer  religion 
to  be  overthrown."  The  clamor  increasing,  the  king  became  alarmed,  and 
ordered  the  doors  of  the  palace  to  be  closed.  The  next  day  he  left  Edin- 
burgh for  Linlithgow,  where  he  issued  a  proclamation  which  ordered  the 
courts  of  law  to  be  removed  from  the  capital.  The  provost  was  commanded 
to  imprison  the  ministers,  and  the  tumult  was  declared  a  treasonable  riot. 
Eventually  the  provost  and  magistrates  were  severely  punished,  and  a  fine 
of  20,000  merks  imposed  on  the  capital. 

On  the  5th  of  August,  1600,  an  event  occurred  which  has  become  known 
in  Scottish  history  as  the  Gowrie  Conspiracy.  John  Ruthven,  third  Earl  of 
Gowrie,  was  the  son  of  that  Gowrie  who  took  part  in  the  Raid  of  Ruthven 
during  James's  minority,  and  grandson  of  Lord  Ruthven,  who  acted  a  leading 
part  in  the  killing  of  David  Rizzio.  This  third  Earl  of  Gowrie  led  the 
opposition  in  Parliament  against  the  levying  of  a  tax  which  James  wished  to 
impose,  and  in  consequence  the  king's  project  was  defeated.  He  accord- 
ingly became  very  much  incensed  against  Gowrie.  Robertson  suggests  that 
James  had  a  more  serious  grievance  against  the  Ruthvens.  It  was  whis- 
pered about  that  there  was  an  estrangement  between  the  king  and  his  wife 
due  to  the  discovery  of  an  amour  between  the  queen  and  Gowrie's  brother, 
Alexander  Ruthven.  On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  August  the  king  left 
his  palace  of  Falkland  on  a  hunting  expedition,  accompanied  by  some 
twenty  of  his  courtiers.  Later  in  the  day  he  rode  with  his  attendants  to- 
wards Perth,  and  drew  up  at  Gowrie  House.  No  preparations  had  been 
made  for  entertaining  the  king,  but  after  some  delay  dinner  was  prepared 
and  served.  When  the  repast  was  finished,  the  king  and  Alexander  Ruth- 
ven had  some  whispered  conversation  together,  and  then  both  withdrew  to 
an  upper  chamber  of  the  mansion.  Some  of  the  courtiers,  accompanied  by 
the  Earl  of  Gowrie,  passed  out  of  the  house  into  the  courtyard.  While 
there,  the  king's  voice  rang  out  from  a  turret  window  above  crying,  "  Trea- 
son! treason!  Help!  I  am  murdered!  "  Those  who  were  without  en- 
tered the  house  and  ran  up  the  stairs  to  the  king's  chamber.  The  servants 
below  heard  the  sounds  of  a  fierce  struggle  going  on  overheard.  When  it 
ceased  and  they  had  made  their  way  to  the  scene,  the  Earl  of  Gowrie  was 
found  dead  in  the  picture  gallery,  having  been  stabbed  from  behind.  His 
brother  lay  dead  on  the  turnpike  stair,  his  sword  unsheathed.  Some  of  the 
servants  ran  into  the  street  and  announced  to  the  citizens  that  their  master, 


432  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  earl,  had  been  murdered.  An  alarm  was  raised,  and  soon  a  large  crowd 
assembled  under  the  windows  of  Gowrie  House,  and  a  great  outcry  was 
raised  against  the  king.  M  Come  down!  "  they  shouted;  "  come  down,  thou 
son  of  Signor  Davie!  thou  hast  slain  a  better  man  than  thyself!  "  It  was 
some  time  before  the  tumult  could  be  allayed,  and  then  the  king  and  his 
party  mounted  their  horses  and  rode  back  to  Falkland. 

About  a  month  afterwards,  the  king  published  his  account  of  this  mur- 
der, which  was  to  the  effect  that  he  was  decoyed  to  Gowrie  House  by 
Alexander  Ruthven,  who  promised  to  divide  with  him  a  pot  of  gold  that  he 
had  stolen;  that  when  the  king  left  the  chamber  where  he  had  dined,  he 
was  led  into  a  room  and  there  locked  in  with  an  armed  man ;  that  Alexander 
Ruthven  retired,  but  soon  returned  and  tried  to  bind  the  king  ;  that  the 
king  overpowered  him  and  thrust  him  out  of  the  chamber,  the  armed  man 
never  interfering;  that  one  of  the  royal  train  then  came  up  and  stabbed 
Ruthven  twice  or  thrice  with  his  dagger;  that  the  Earl  rushed  in  when  the 
tumult  rose,  with  some  armed  servants  at  his  back,  and  after  a  sharp  fight 
was  stricken  dead  with  a  stroke  through  his  heart.  Such  was  the  king's 
story.  The  courtiers  who  had  been  with  him  on  the  day  of  the  tragedy 
testified  to  its  correctness;  but  the  majority  of  the  people  disbelieved  it  and 
the  opinion  became  general  that  the  Gowrie  Conspiracy  was  a  contrivance  of 
the  king  to  murder  Gowrie. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE  WISEST  FOOL  IN  CHRISTENDOM 

QUEEN   ELIZABETH   died  on  March  24,   1603,  and  the  same  da/ 
James  VI.  was  proclaimed  her  successor.     He  began  his  progress 
southward  on  the  fifth  of  April,  and  on  May  6,  entered  London, 
greeted  by  the  shouts  of  his  English  subjects. 

James  had  a  fixed  aversion  to  a  Presbyterian  Church,  and  as  fixed  a  love 
for  a  Church  on  the  Episcopalian  plan.  A  Presbyterian  Church,  he  had 
found,  could  not  be  easily  induced  to  do  royal  bidding.  All  its  ministers 
being  equal  in  power,  nothing  could  be  done  except  by  the  voice  of  the 
majority.  This  required  public  assemblies  and  free  discussions  —  things 
which  despots  cannot  bear.  It  was  quite  different  with  the  Episcopacy. 
There  the  minister  was  merely  the  subject  of  the  bishop,  and  the  bishop  of 
the  archbishop.  The  king  appointed  both  the  bishops  and  the  archbishops, 
so  that  the  whole  fabric  hung  at  the  royal  girdle. 

The  removal  of  the  Court  from  Edinburgh  to  London  proved  for  a  time 
disastrous  to  the  trade  and  prestige  of  the  Scottish  capital.  James  was  fol- 
lowed South  by  many  of  the  nobility  and  gentry;  and  there  soon  began  from 
Scotland  an  exodus  which  carried  thousands  of  her  sons  to  all  quarters  of 
the  world.  They  repaired  in  such  swarms  to  London  that  the  king  issued  a 
proclamation  forbidding  any  of  his  countrymen  from  leaving  Scotland  with- 
out a  passport  from  the  Privy  Council.  Walter  Scott,  in  his  Fortunes  of 
Nigel,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  Court  of  James  I.  in  London,  to 
which  flocked  so  many  thousands  of  his  needy  countrymen  in  search  of 
place  or  preferment.  In  the  beginning  of  James's  reign  the  emigration  from 
Scotland  to  Ulster  began;  and  about  the  time  of  the  English  settlement  of 
Virginia  hundreds  of  enterprising  Scots  were  crossing  the  Irish  channel  to 
build  themselves  homes  and  communities  in  Down  and  Antrim. 

Besides  these  many  went  to  the  continent  and  served  under  foreign 
princes.  A  strong  brigade  of  Scots  fought  with  much  glory  in  the  armies 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden;  while  others  entered  the  service  of 
Austria  and  the  Italian  states.  But  the  great  majority  of  these  soldiers  of 
fortune  made  their  way  to  France,  where  they  had  been  favored  visitors  ever 
since  the  beginning  of  the  Ancient  League  between  that  country  and  Scotia. 
There  was  a  "  Scotland  Street  "  in  Paris  as  early  as  13 13,  so-called  from  the 
number  of  Scottish  students  living  thereon.  Dieppe  and  Orleans,  also,  had  its 
"Scottish  Quarter."  The  Scots  College  was  founded  at  Paris  by  David,  Bishop 
of  Moray,  in  the  year  1326,  and  it  was  usually  filled  with  Scotch  students.  In 
Bruce' s  day  there  were  Scotch  colonies  at  Metz  and  at  Clermont-sur-Oise. 
"  Scotch  holy  bread  "  (fat  of  beef),  "  Haughty  as  a  Scot,"  "  Through  to  day- 
light like  a  Scotch  dagger  "  were  some  French  proverbs  of  that  time. 
28 

433 


434  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

The  "  Scots  Guard,"  organized  in  France  by  Charles  VII.  about  1425, 
was  the  most  trusted  of  all  the  royal  troops,  and  the  king's  person  was  vir- 
tually placed  in  its  care.  It  continued  to  be  called  the  Scots  Guard  even 
after  there  had  ceased  to  be  any  Scotchmen  in  it.  In  his  story  of  Quentin 
Durward,  Scott  gives  a  fascinating  description  of  the  life  these  Guards  led 
at  Court  and  in  the  field.  When  Joan  of  Arc  began  her  heroic  struggle  the 
Scottish  soldiers  warmly  devoted  themselves  to  her  service ;  and  in  all  the 
work  of  the  recovery  of  France  from  England  the  Scots  took  a  prominent 
part,  until  the  throne  of  Charles  VII.  was  secure.  During  the  defence  of 
Orleans  the  bishop  of  that  See  was  a  Scot  named  Kirkmichael,  and  while 
the  siege  lasted  the  bishop  and  the  Scottish  residents  greatly  distinguished 
themselves  by  their  valor.  When  Joan  of  Arc  made  her  way  to  the  be- 
leaguered city,  she  was  accompanied  by  Sir  Patrick  Ogilvy  and  a  large 
number  of  Scottish  soldiers.  One  soldier,  Walter  Bowe,  returned  to  his 
native  land  and  became  a  monk  at  Inch  Colm,  where  he  continued  For- 
dun's  Chronicle,  and  commemorated  the  deeds  of  Joan  of  Arc,  "  whom," 
he  writes,  "  I  saw  and  knew  and  in  whose  company  I  was  present  to  her 
life's  end." 

James  was  not  long  master  of  the  English  throne  before  he  applied  him- 
self to  his  cherished  design  of  putting  down  the  Presbyterian  and  setting  up 
an  Episcopal  Church  in  Scotland.  Before  doing  this,  he  first  proceeded  to 
tear  down  the  Presbyterian  party  in  England.  How  James  went  about  this 
work  may  be  gathered  from  the  account  of  his  Hampton  Court  Conference, 
which  was  ordered  to  assemble  at  that  palace  in  the  early  part  of  January, 
1604,  at  which  the  king  announced,  he  would  hear  arguments  for  and 
against  the  bishops.  The  account  of  this  conference  was  published  by  Dr. 
Barlow,  the  Dean  of  Chester,  in  1604.  It  was  reprinted  in  1638,  and  again 
in  a  collection  of  tracts  called  The  Phoenix.  The  following  extracts  are 
taken  from  a  reprint  made  by  Thomas  Fuller  in  his  Church  History  of  Britain, 
published  at  London  in  1655  (Oxford  edition,  1845,  vol.  v.,  pp.  266  to  304): 

First  Day,  Jan.  14,  1604: 

King  James. — "  For  blessed  be  God's  gracious  goodness,  who  hath 
brought  me  into  the  promised  land,  where  religion  is  purely  professed, 
where  I  sit  amongst  grave,  learned,  and  reverent  men ;  not  as  before,  else- 
where, a  king  without  state,  without  honor,  without  order,  where  beardless 
boys  would  brave  us  to  our  face.  .  .  ." 
Second  Day,  Monday,  January  16th: 

King  James. — "  I  approve  the  calling  and  use  of  bishops  in  the  church, 
and  it  is  my  aphorism,  '  No  Bishop,  No  King,'  nor  intend  I  to  take  confirma- 
tion [away]  from  the  bishops,  which  they  have  long  enjoyed,  seeing  as  great 
reason  that  none  should  confirm,  as  that  none  should  preach,  without  the 
bishop's  license.     .     .     ." 

Mr.  Knewstub  [regarding  the  use  of  the  cross  in  baptism]. — "  Put  the 
case,  the  Church  hath  power  to  add  significant  signs,  it  may  not  add  them 
where  Christ  hath  already  ordained  them,  which  is  as  derogatory  to  Christ's 
institution  as  if  one  should  add  to  the  Great  Seal  of  England." 


The  Wisest  Fool  in  Christendom  435 

King  James. — M  The  case  is  not  alike,  seeing  the  sacrament  is  fully- 
finished  before  any  mention  of  the  cross  is  made  therein." 

Mr.  Knewstub. — "  If  the  Church  hath  such  a  power,  the  greatest 
scruple  is,  how  far  the  ordinance  of  the  Church  bindeth,  without  impeaching 
Christian  liberty." 

King  James. — "  I  will  not  argue  that  point  with  you.  but  answer  as  kings 
in  Parliament,  Le  roy  s'avisera.  This  is  like  Mr.  John  Black,  a  beardless 
boy,  who  told  me  the  last  Conference  in  Scotland  that  he  would  hold  con- 
formity with  his  majesty  in  matters  of  doctrine,  but  every  man  for  ceremonies 
was  to  be  left  to  his  own  liberty.  But  I  will  have  none  of  that;  I  will  have 
one  doctrine,  one  discipline,  one  religion,  in  substance  and  in  ceremony. 
Never  speak  more  to  that  point,  how  far  you  are  bound  to  obey." 

Dr.  Reynolds! — "  I  desire,  that,  according  to  certain  provincial  con- 
stitutions, the  clergy  may  have  meetings  every  three  weeks: 

"  i.  In  rural  deaneries,  therein  to  have  prophesying,  as  Archbishop 
Grindall  and  other  bishops  desired  of  her  late  majesty. 

11  ii.  That  such  things  as  could  not  be  resolved  there  might  be  referred  to 
the  arch-deacon's  visitations. 

"  iii.  And  so,  the  episcopal  synod,  where  the  bishop  with  his  presbytery 
shall  determine  such  points  before  not  decided." 

King  James. — "  If  you  aim  at  a  Scottish  Presbytery,  it  agreeth  as  well 
with  monarchy  as  God  and  the  devil.  Then  Jack  and  Tom,  and  Will  and 
Dick,  shall  meet  and  censure  me  and  my  Council.  Therefore,  I  reiterate 
my  former  speech,  Le  roy  s'avisera.  Stay,  I  pray,  for  one  seven  years  before 
you  demand;  and  then  if  you  find  me  grown  pursy  and  fat,  I  may  perchance 
hearken  unto  you,  for  that  government  will  keep  me  in  breath  and  give  me 
work  enough.  I  shall  speak  of  one  matter  more,  somewhat  out  of  order, 
but  it  skilleth  not.  Dr.  Reynolds,  you  have  often  spoken  for  my  suprem- 
acy, and  it  is  well;  but  know  you  any,  here  or  elsewhere,  who  like  of  the 
present  government  ecclesiastical,  and  dislike  my  supremacy  ?  " 

Dr.  Reynolds. — "  I  know  none." 

King  James. — "  Why,  then  I  will  tell  you  a  tale.  After  that  the  religion 
restored  by  King  Edward  the  Sixth  was  soon  overthrown  by  Queen  Mary 
here  in  England,  we  in  Scotland  felt  the  effect  of  it;  for  thereupon  Mr. 
Knox  writes  to  the  Queen  Regent,  a  virtuous  and  moderate  lady,  telling  her 
that  she  was  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church ;  and  charged  her  as  she  would 
answer  it  at  God's  tribunal,  to  take  care  of  Christ's  evangel  in  suppressing 
the  popish  prelates  who  withstood  the  same.  But  how  long,  trow  you,  did 
this  continue  ?  Even  till  by  her  authority  the  popish  bishops  were  repressed; 
and  Knox,  with  his  adherents,  being  brought  in,  made  strong  enough. 
Then  began  they  to  make  small  account  of  her  supremacy,  when,  according 
to  that  more  light  wherewith  they  were  illuminated,  they  made  a  farther 
reformation  of  religion.  How  they  used  the  poor  lady,  my  mother,  is  not 
unknown;  and  how  they  dealt  with  me  in  my  minority.  I  thus  apply  it: 
My  lords,  the  bishops,  I  may  thank  you  that  these  men  plead  thus  for  my 
supremacy.  They  think  they  cannot  make  their  party  good,  but  by  appeal- 
ing unto  it;  but  if  once  you  were  out  and  they  were  in,  I  know  what  would 
become  of  my  supremacy;  for,  No  Bishop,  No  King.  I  have  learned  of  what 
cut  they  have  been,  who,  preaching  before  me  since  my  coming  into  England, 
passed  over  with  silence  my  being  supreme  governor  in  causes  ecclesiastical. 
Well,  Doctor,  have  you  anything  else  to  say  ?  " 

Dr.  Reynolds. — "  No  more,  if  it  please  your  Majesty." 

King  James. — "  If  this  be  all  your  party  hath  to  say,  I  will  make  them 


436  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

conform  themselves,  or  else  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land,  or  else  do 
worse.     .     .     ." 

Third  Day : 

The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. — "  Undoubtedly,  your  Majesty 
speaks  by  the  special  assistance  of  God's  Spirit.     .     .     ." 

The  Bishop  of  London. — "  I  protest,  my  heart  melteth  with  joy,  that 
Almighty  God,  of  his  singular  mercy,  hath  given  us  such  a  king,  as,  since 
Christ's  time,  the  like  hath  not  been." 

Three  events,  of  greater  or  less  relative  importance,  characterize  the  reign 
of  King  James  after  his  accession  to  the  English  throne.  The  first  of 
these  was  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English.  This  was  suggested 
to  the  king  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference  by  the  same  Dr.  Reynolds 
whose  Puritan  party  the  royal  bully  had  threatened  to  harry  out  of  his  king- 
dom. James  caught  at  the  idea  at  once.  To  be  the  patron  of  such  a  work 
of  learning  exactly  suited  his  vanity.  Accordingly,  though  opposed  by  the 
Bishop  of  London,  the  proposition  was  sanctioned  by  the  king.  In  July, 
1604,  he  wrote  a  letter  intimating  the  appointment  of  fifty-four  scholars  for 
the  preparation  of  the  version,  and  instructing  the  bishops  that  whenever 
**  a  living  of  twenty  pounds  "  became  vacant,  they  should  inform  his  Majesty 
of  the  circumstance,  in  order  that  he  might  recommend  one  of  the  translators 
to  the  patron.  Seven  of  those  who  were  appointed  died,  or  declined  the 
task.  The  remaining  forty-seven  were  divided  into  six  groups.  Two  groups 
sat  at  Westminster,  two  at  Oxford,  and  two  at  Cambridge.  They  agreed 
upon  their  method  of  operation,  made  a  division  of  the  work,  and  completed 
their  task  within  four  years.  The  expenses  seem  to  have  been  borne  by 
Barker,  the  printer  and  patentee,  who  paid  the  sum  of  .£3500. 

The  second  event  for  which  the  reign  of  James  will  be  forever  memorable 
was  his  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  the  banished  Catholic  earls  of  Ulster, 
the  eviction  of  the  native  Irishry  from  these  estates,  and  their  subsequent 
plantation  and  acquisition  by  Scottish  and  English  "  undertakers,"  in 
accordance  with  the  king's  plans. 

The  third  event  was  James's  persecution  of  the  Independents  in  England, 
and  the  oppression  of  the  Presbyterians  in  Scotland.  As  a  result  of  these 
persecutions,  John  Robinson's  Pilgrim  followers  were  compelled  to  seek  a 
refuge  in  Holland,  and  later  in  America,  where  they  founded  the  Puritan 
Commonwealth ;  while  many  of  the  bravest  and  most  independent  spirits  in 
Scotland  crossed  over  to  the  new  settlements  in  Ulster,  where  they  likewise 
helped  to  build  up  democratic  communities  and  families  that  later  added 
such  a  large  and  influential  element  to  the  Anti-Jacobite  population  of 
America. 

The  additional  power  which  his  position  as  King  of  England  gave  him 
soon  led  James  to  attempt  the  substitution  of  Episcopacy  for  Presbyterian- 
ism  in  Scotland.  He  first  attempted  to  deprive  the  Scottish  Church  of  its 
General  Assemblies  by  proroguing  their  meetings;  for  he  knew  that  so  long 


The  Wisest  Fool  in  Christendom  437 

as  these  bodies  could  meet  in  freedom,  bishops  could  never  get  authority  in 
Scotland. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1605,  notwithstanding  the  king's  prorogation,  nine- 
teen ministers  met  in  Assembly  at  Aberdeen.  While  they  were  sitting,  a 
messenger-at-arms  entered  and  charged  them  in  the  king's  name  to  dismiss 
or  incur  the  penalty  of  rebellion.  The  Assembly  did  dismiss,  but  appointed 
to  meet  again  in  three  months.  The  wrath  of  the  king,  when  informed  of 
the  meeting  0/  this  Assembly,  knew  no  bounds.  The  ministers  were  forth- 
with arrested,  and  fourteen  were  sent  to  prison.  Eight  of  these  were 
banished  to  the  remotest  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  other  six,  among  whom 
were  John  Forbes,  the  moderator,  and  John  Welsh,  son-in-law  to  John 
Knox,  were  confined  in  dungeons  in  the  castle  of  Blackness,  and  after  suf- 
fering fourteen  months'  imprisonment,  were  banished  to  France. 

In  the  summer  of  1606,  letters  were  sent  by  the  king  to  six  of  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  ministers  who  had  not  been  already  seized  on  account 
of  the  Aberdeen  Assembly,  ordering  them  to  appear  at  the  English  Court  in 
September.  These  ministers  were  Andrew  and  James  Melville,  William 
Scott,  John  Carmichael,  William  Watson,  James  Balfour,  Adam  Colt,  and 
Robert  Wallace.  The  king's  aim  was  to  engage  the  ministers  and  the  English 
bishops  in  a  conference  touching  the  superior  merits  of  Episcopacy;  and 
every  endeavor  was  used  to  draw  the  Scottish  ministers  into  the  use  of  lan- 
guage which  might  furnish  a  plausible  pretext  for  instituting  proceedings 
against  them.  James  commanded  them  to  attend  a  course  of  sermons 
preached  by  four  English  divines — on  the  bishops,  the  supremacy  of  the 
Crown,  and  the  absence  of  all  authority  for  the  office  of  lay  elders.  The 
Scots  heard  the  bishops'  sermons  with  silent  contempt;  but  Andrew  Mel- 
ville was  accused  of  having  caricatured  the  service  in  a  Latin  epigram 
which  came  under  the  notice  of  the  Privy  Council.  For  this  he  was  sum- 
moned to  answer  before  that  tribunal,  and  was  brought  to  trial  as  guilty  of  a 
treasonable  act.  Melville,  in  a  moment  of  passion,  when  delivering  a 
vehement  invective  against  the  hierarchy  during  the  course  of  his  examina- 
tion, seized  and  shook  the  white  sleeves  of  Bancroft,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  at  the  same  time  calling  them  "  Romish  rags."  For  this 
offence  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London  four  years,  and  after- 
wards banished  to  Sedan,  in  France,  where  he  died.  His  nephew,  James 
Melville,  was  also  imprisoned  and  prohibited  from  returning  to  Scotland. 
The  other  four  ministers  were  banished  to  remote  parts  of  Scotland. 

Free  meetings  of  the  Assembly  having  now  been  suppressed,  the  king 
proceeded  to  call  together  from  time  to  time  packed  assemblies,  and  at  one 
of  these  held  at  Glasgow,  June  8,  16 10,  Episcopacy  was  restored;  the  right 
of  calling  and  dismissing  assemblies  was  declared  to  belong  to  the  royal 
prerogative ;  the  bishops  were  declared  moderators  of  diocesan  synods ;  all 
presentations  to  benefices  were  appointed  to  be  directed  by  bishops;  and  the 
power  of  excommunicating  and  absolving  offenders  was  conferred  on  them. 


438  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

James  now  sought  to  introduce  five  articles  of  his  own  into  the  Church 
discipline,  known  as  the  Five  Articles  of  Perth.  These  articles  were  kneel- 
ing at  the  communion,  the  observance  of  holy  days,  episcopal  confirmation, 
private  baptism,  and  the  private  administration  of  communion.  They  were 
adopted  by  an  Assembly  which  met  at  Perth  in  August,  1618,  and  ratified 
by  a  Parliament  which  met  at  Edinburgh  three  years  later.  Meanwhile,  the 
king  had  set  up  an  engine  of  tyranny  called  the  Court  of  High  Commission, 
with  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  at  its  head.  This  Scottish  Inquisition 
had  power  to  summon  before  its  bar  any  individual  whatever,  to  examine 
into  his  life,  conversation,  and  opinions  on  matters  of  religion,  and  to  fine, 
imprison,  or  banish  at  discretion. 

James  insisted  that  his  articles  should  be  enforced  on  the  people.  He 
was  always  exhorting  and  threatening  in  vain;  nonconforming  ministers 
were  imprisoned  and  banished  without  effect;  and  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts 
many  of  the  conforming  ministers'  churches  began  to  be  deserted,  and  they 
were  left  to  declaim  against  schism  and  rebellion  to  empty  pews. 

James's  natural  timidity  made  him  constantly  wear  on  his  fat  body  a 
dress  stuffed  and  padded  thick  enough  to  resist  the  stroke  of  a  dagger. 
Nevertheless,  he  was  vindictive  to  a  degree,  and  susceptible  to  the  grossest 
flattery.  He  was  extremely  conceited  —  a  weak  feature  of  his  character 
much  fed  by  the  fulsome  adulation  of  his  English  bishops.  Of  his  kingly 
prerogatives  he  had  the  most  extravagant  ideas.  In  literature  he  was  a 
pedant.     He  died  March  27,  1625,  at  the  age  of  fifty-nine. 

That  is  not  wholly  a  fanciful  argument  which  is  used  by  some  who  believe 
James  to  have  been  the  son  of  Rizzio,  basing  their  belief  on  the  theory  of 
hereditary  transmission  of  parental  foibles.  The  carping  pettishness  and 
vanity  of  his  character,  manifested  in  the  importance  which  he  gave  to  the 
minutest  details  of  ecclesiastical  formalities,  is  certainly  more  in  keeping 
with  that  of  the  Italian  agent  of  the  Papal  Court,  who  became  the  secretary, 
confidante,  and  favorite  of  James's  mother,  than  it  is  with  those  traits  which 
distinguished  the  family  of  his  mother's  lawful  spouse. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

SCOTLAND  UNDER  CHARLES  I. 

JAMES  VI.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  I.,  who  began  his  reign  at  the 
age  of  twenty-four.  Like  his  father,  he  held  erroneous  ideas  concerning 
the  royal  prerogative,  and  like  some  of  his  father's  descendants  who  rule  in  the 
present  day,  was  firmly  convinced  that  he  had  been  taken  into  partnership  by 
the  Almighty  for  the  purpose  of  remodelling  the  universe.  It  has  been  said  that 
Charles  was  incapable  of  distinguishing  between  his  moral  and  political  rights; 
possibly  an  inherited  tendency  led  his  narrow  Jesuitical  mind  to  assume  and  to 
maintain  that  his  political  position  gave  him  an  unquestionable  right  to  dictate 
to  his  subjects  the  form  of  their  worship.  Hating  Presbyterianism  as  intensely 
as  his  father  had  hated  it,  he  was  determined  on  establishing  Epispopacy  in 
Scotland  and  was  delayed  in  this  project  only  by  the  lack  of  money.  To  procure 
this,  in  October,  1626,  he  issued  a  revocation  of  all  grants  of  lands  by  the  Crown 
since  the  Reformation.  This  was  intended  for  the  benefit  of  the  bishops  and 
clergy,  but  it  naturally  aroused  feelings  of  resentment  among  the  nobles  whose 
interests  it  threatened  to  invade,  many  of  whom  had  received  grants  of  Church 
lands  from  the  Crown.  Charles  sent  the  Earl  of  Nithsdale  to  propose  his  plans 
to  the  Scottish  Parliament,  with  promises  of  kingly  favor  to  those  who  should 
submit,  and  threats  of  rigorous  proceedings  against  those  who  might  refuse. 
The  Convocation  of  nobles,  though  usually  servile  enough,  resisted  this 
proposition  with  all  its  power.  The  barons  and  gentry  composing  that  body, 
while  ever  willing  to  assist  the  king  in  subverting  the  civil  and  religious  rights 
of  his  subjects,  became  violently  enraged  when  their  own  property  rights 
were  threatened.  A  secret  meeting  was  held,  at  which  the  interested  nobles 
resolved  among  themselves  to  destroy  the  king's  emissary  and  all  his  sup- 
porters, in  case  the  detested  measure  should  be  pressed.  When  the  day  of 
meeting  came,  therefore,  the  conspirators  entered  the  Parliament  House  carry- 
ing arms  concealed  about  their  persons  for  the  purpose  of  killing  Nithsdale  and 
his  party  in  the  open  convention.  That  nobleman  in  some  way  became  aware 
of  the  temper  of  the  barons,  and  prudently  deferred  presenting  the  measure  un- 
til it  could  be  submitted  to  Charles  for  modification.  The  king  accordingly 
found  it  necessary  to  limit  the  scope  of  his  demands,  and  raised  processes  to 
reduce  the  grants  on  legal  grounds.  Finally,  a  deputation  from  the  nobles 
visited  London  to  treat  with  the  king  and  a  compromise  was  effected. 
The  church  lands  and  the  property  in  dispute  were  permitted  to  remain  in 
the  hands  of  those  who  held  them,  under  the  condition  of  paying  a  propor- 
tion as  rental  to  the  Crown,  while  the  Crown  also  insisted  on  a  right  of  feudal 
superiority,  whereby  additional  dues  would  fall  to  the  public  revenue;  an 
arrangement  was  also  effected  by  which  the  lands  became  chargeable  for 
tithes  for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy. 

439 


440  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Many  of  the  nobles  only  surrendered  their  full  claims  to  the  church  lands 
with  a  grudge  which  long  embittered  their  minds,  and  predisposed  them  to 
join  in  the  struggle  against  the  king  which  subsequently  ensued. 

Charles  visited  Scotland  in  1633,  and  was  crowned  at  Holyrood  on  June 
1 8th.  He  brought  with  him  a  little,  square-faced,  dark-eyed  man,  who  after- 
wards became  notorious  as  Archbishop  Laud,  of  whom  it  has  been  said,  "  He 
came  in  like  a  fox,  reigned  like  a  lion,  and  died  like  a  dog."  Charles  was 
eager  to  complete  the  scheme  of  church  polity  which  his  father  had  begun, 
and  during  his  presence  in  Scotland  preparations  were  made  for  composing 
a  new  book  of  canons  and  a  liturgy.  Bishops  and  archbishops  had  been  for 
some  thirty  years  forced  upon  the  Church  of  Scotland.  The  king  and  his 
archbishop  thought  the  time  had  now  come  for  making  the  Scots  use  the 
Episcopal  forms  of  worship  also,  thus  completing  the  uniformity  between  the 
churches  of  the  two  kingdoms.  Accordingly,  they  caused  a  liturgy  or 
service-book  to  be  prepared  for  use  in  Scotch  congregations.  It  was  framed 
by  the  bishops  of  Ross  and  Dunblane  on  the  pattern  of  the  English  prayer- 
book,  and  submitted  to  Laud  for  his  approval.  It  came  back  with  numerous 
alterations.  The  canons,  as  finally  revised  by  Laud  and  the  bishops  of 
London  and  Norwich,  were  ratified  by  the  king  in  May,  1635,  and  promul- 
gated by  him  in  1636.  They  bore  little  resemblance  to  any  Scottish  ecclesias- 
tical rules  subsequent  to  the  Reformation.  Charles  also  signed  a  warrant  to 
the  Privy  Council  on  the  18th  of  October,  1636,  which  contained  his  instruc- 
tions concerning  the  introduction  of  the  new  liturgy,  and  the  Council  in 
December  issued  a  proclamation  ordering  all  the  people  to  conform  to  the 
same.  The  royal  proclamation  ordered  the  new  service-book  to  be  observed 
in  all  the  churches  on  Easter  day,  1637,  but,  on  account  of  popular  opposi- 
tion, the  authorities  postponed  the  date  of  its  introduction.  This  postpone- 
ment merely  served  to  heighten  the  feeling  against  it. 

The  23d  of  July,  1637,  was  the  day  finally  set  for  the  introduction  of  the 
new  service.  In  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Giles  at  Edinburgh,  the  two 
archbishops  and  other  bishops,  the  members  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  the 
magistrates  in  their  robes,  attended  in  the  forenoon  to  grace  the  proceedings. 
The  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  was  to  preach,  and  the  Dean  to  read  the  service. 
A  great  crowd  filled  the  church.  The  Dean,  attired  in  his  surplice,  came 
from  the  vestry,  and  passed  to  the  reading-room  amid  a  deep  silence.  He 
had  scarcely  begun  to  read  when  confused  cries  arose.  As  he  proceeded, 
the  clamor  became  louder,  and  the  prayers  could  not  be  heard.  An  old 
woman,  named  Janet  Geddes,  who  kept  a  cabbage-stall  at  the  Tron,  grasped 
the  little  folding-stool  on  which  she  sat,  and  threw  it  at  the  Dean's  head, 
crying,  "  Out!  thou  false  thief,  dost  thou  say  mass  at  my  lug  ?  "  The  Dean, 
forgetful  of  his  dignity,  dodged  the  missile,  and  it  flew  by  his  head  without 
harming  him.  The  people  now  started  to  their  feet,  and  the  church  became 
a  scene  of  wild  uproar.  The  voices  of  the  women  were  loudest;  some  cried, 
"  Woe,  woe  me!"  others  shouted  that  they  were  "  bringing  in  Popery,"  and 


Scotland  under  Charles  I.  441 

a  number  of  stools  were  thrown  at  both  bishop  and  dean.  Several  of  the 
more  vehement  rushed  towards  the  desk,  to  seize  upon  the  object  of  their 
indignation.  The  dean,  terrified  by  this  sudden  outburst  of  popular  fury, 
tore  himself  out  of  their  hands  and  fled,  glad  to  escape,  though  with  the  loss 
of  his  sacerdotal  vestments.  The  bishop  of  Edinburgh  himself  then  entered 
the  pulpit,  and  endeavored  to  allay  the  wild  tumult,  but  in  vain.  He  was 
instantly  assailed  with  equal  fury,  and  was  with  difficulty  rescued  by  the 
interference  of  the  magistrates.  When  the  most  unruly  of  the  rioters  had 
been  thrust  out  of  the  church,  the  dean  attempted  to  resume  the  reading, 
but  the  din  of  the  mob  on  the  outside,  shouting  aloud  their  hostile  cries 
against  "Popery,"  breaking  the  windows,  and  battering  the  doors,  compelled 
him  to  terminate  the  service  abruptly.  When  the  bishops  came  out  of  the 
church  the  multitude  attacked  Bishop  Lindsay,  and  he  narrowly  escaped 
with  his  life. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Glasgow  Synod,  John  Lindsay  preached,  after  being 
warned  by  some  of  the  women  in  the  congregation  that  "  if  he  should  touch 
the  service  book  in  his  sermon,  he  should  be  sent  out  of  his  pulpit."  William 
Annan,  minister  of  Ayr,  in  a  sermon  preached  before  the  same  Synod,  de- 
fended the  liturgy.  Afterwards,  on  leaving  the  church,  he  was  assailed  with 
cries  and  reproaches;  which  were  repeated  whenever  he  appeared  on  the 
streets.  Returning  one  night  from  the  bishop's  residence,  he  was  surrounded 
by  some  hundreds  of  persons,  most  of  whom  were  women,  and  assailed  with 
neaves,  staves,  and  peats.  "  They  beat  him  sore,"  says  the  old  chronicle, 
"  his  cloak,  ruff,  and  hat  were  torn.  However,  on  his  cries,  and  lights  set  out 
from  many  windows  he  escaped  all  bloody  wounds. ' '  At  Brechin,  the  bishop 
of  that  district  armed  himself  with  pistols,  and  entering  the  church  with  his 
family  and  servants,  bolted  and  barred  the  doors,  and  read  the  service  to 
his  followers.  On  coming  out,  he  was  set  upon  by  the  people,  nearly  killed 
by  their  treatment,  and  obliged  to  leave  the  place  and  give  up  his  bishopric. 
The  excitement  spread  over  the  country  like  wild-fire.  The  liturgy  was 
everywhere  spurned.  Petitions  from  all  parts  were  poured  in  upon  the  Privy 
Council,  and  that  body  wrote  a  mild  letter  to  the  king,  advising  him  of  the 
serious  crisis  which  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  book  had  brought  on.  On 
the  4th  of  August,  the  Council  was  commanded  by  the  king  to  punish  all  the 
persons  concerned  in  the  disturbance,  and  to  support  the  bishops  and  clergy 
in  establishing  the  liturgy.  In  violation  of  the  chartered  rights  of  the 
burghs,  the  king  also  ordered  them  to  choose  no  persons  as  their  magistrates 
except  such  as  would  conform.  The  Council  resolved  that  another  attempt 
should  be  made  to  use  the  liturgy  on  Sunday,  the  13th  of  August;  but  when 
that  day  came,  none  could  be  found  in  Edinburgh  who  were  willing  to 
officiate  as  readers. 

Meanwhile,  the  king's  letter  to  the  Privy  Council  tended  to  increase  the 
popular  excitement.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  twenty-four  noblemen, 
many  barons,   about  a  hundred   ministers,    commissioners   from   sixty-six 


442  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

parishes  and  also  from  a  number  of  the  principal  burghs,  with  large  numbers 
of  the  gentry  and  commoners  from  the  counties  of  Fife,  Stirling,  Lothian, 
Ayr,  and  Lanark,  arrived  in  Edinburgh,  all  resolved  to  defend  the  purity 
and  freedom  of  their  national  religion.  This  multitude  crowded  the  streets; 
when  lodging  failed  they  camped  at  the  gates  and  beneath  the  walls  of  the 
city.  They  came  to  petition  the  king,  through  his  Council,  against  the 
service-book  and  the  change  in  public  worship.  Their  petitions  were 
received,  and  a  promise  was  given  that  they  should  have  his  Majesty's 
answer  on  October  17th. 

In  the  middle  of  that  month  a  greater  number  of  people  than  before  met 
in  Edinburgh,  to  await  the  king's  answer.  Fresh  petitions  from  two  hun- 
dred parishes  were  presented.  On  the  17th  of  October,  the  king's  answer 
was  announced  in  the  shape  of  three  proclamations  by  the  Council,  which 
were  to  the  effect  that  nothing  would  be  done  that  day  touching  religious 
matters;  that  the  petitioners  should  leave  Edinburgh  within  twenty-four 
hours,  under  pain  of  rebellion;  that  the  government  and  courts  of  law  should 
remove  to  Linlithgow;  and  that  all  copies  of  a  certain  popular  book,  entitled 
A  Dispute  against  the  English  Popish  Ceremonies  Obtruded  upon  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  should  be  brought  to  the  Council  and  publicly  burned. 

The  petitioners  resolved  at  once  to  disobey  the  summons,  and,  instead  of 
acting  merely  on  the  defensive,  to  become  themselves  the  assailants.  They 
accordingly  laid  before  the  Privy  Council  a  formal  complaint  against  the 
prelates,  accusing  them  directly  of  being  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles  that 
disturbed  the  nation,  by  their  lawless  and  tyrannical  attempts  to  force  the 
book  of  canons  and  the  liturgy  upon  an  unwilling  Church  and  people.  They 
complained  also  of  the  arbitrary  nature  of  the  proclamation  commanding 
them  to  leave  the  town,  while  they  were  peaceably  waiting  for  an  answer  to 
their  supplication.  They  pointed  out  some  of  the  pernicious  characteristics 
of  the  books  of  common  prayer  and  canons,  as  being  subversive  of  the  dis- 
cipline established  in  the  Scottish  Church;  and  concluded  by  declaring  the 
belief  of  the  petitioners  that  all  these  wrongs  had  been  committed  by  the 
bishops,  and  craving  that  these  matters  might  be  brought  to  trial,  and  decided 
according  to  justice. 

This  important  document  was  subscribed  by  thirty-eight  of  the  nobility, 
several  thousand  gentlemen,  nearly  all  the  ministers  of  the  kingdom,  and 
all  the  commissioners  of  the  burghs. 

The  morning  following  the  proclamations  of  the  Council,  while  the  bishop 
of  Galloway  was  proceeding  to  the  Council  House,  a  mob  attacked  him  and 
pursued  him  to  the  door.  The  crowd  then  surrounded  the  Council  House, 
and  demanded  that  the  obnoxious  lords  should  surrender.  A  part  of  the 
mob  also  gathered  around  the  Town  House,  and,  entering  the  lobbies,  threat- 
ened that,  unless  the  magistrates  joined  the  citizens  in  opposing  the  liturgy, 
they  would  burn  the  building.  When  this  became  known  to  the  Council, 
the  Treasurer  and  the  earl  of  Wigton  forced  their  way  to  the  Town  House, 


Scotland  under  Charles  I.  443 

where  they  held  a  brief  consultation  with  the  magistrates  as  to  the  best 
means  of  dispersing  the  mob.  The  magistrates  accordingly  announced  to 
the  multitude  without  that  they  had  acceded  to  the  demands  of  the  people. 
But  the  moment  the  Treasurer  and  his  friends  attempted  to  return  to  the 
Council  House,  they  were  assailed  with  hootings  and  jeers.  Then  a  rush 
was  made,  and  the  Treasurer  was  thrown  to  the  ground;  his  hat,  cloak,  and 
staff  of  office  were  torn  from  him,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  he  escaped  being 
trodden  to  death.  He  was  rescued  by  his  companions,  however,  and  finally 
carried  to  the  Council  House.  Here,  in  a  short  time,  the  magistrates  joined 
the  Council,  and  all  of  them  were  beset  by  the  crowds.  Many  trembled  for 
their  safety,  and  at  last  it  was  resolved  to  send  for  the  nobles  who  were 
opposed  to  the  liturgy.  By  their  persuasions,  the  crowds  were  dispersed, 
and  the  counsellors  managed  to  reach  their  homes  in  safety. 

Before  separating,  the  Presbyterians  agreed  to  meet  again  on  the  15th  of 
November.  In  the  interval  they  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost  to  secure 
a  large  meeting  of  the  people  to  await  an  answer  to  their  former  petitions. 
On  the  appointed  day,  the  Presbyterians  assembled  in  the  capital  again,  in 
still  larger  numbers.  The  Privy  Council  held  a  conference  with  their  lead- 
ers, and  requested  the  nobles  to  use  their  influence  with  their  friends  to 
induce  them  to  return  quietly  to  their  homes.  The  nobles  on  the  side  of  the 
petitioners  maintained  their  right  to  meet  and  to  present  their  grievances; 
but,  to  obviate  all  cause  of  complaint,  they  agreed  for  their  party  that  it 
should  act  through  representatives.  To  this  the  Council  assented,  and  the 
petitioners  accordingly  appointed  four  permanent  committees,  the  first  con- 
sisting of  as  many  nobles  as  pleased  to  join  the  party  ;  the  second,  two  gentle- 
men from  every  county  ;  the  third,  one  minister  from  every  presbytery  ;  and 
the  fourth,  one  burgess  from  every  burgh.  These  representatives  formed  a 
general  commission,  representing  the  whole  body  of  the  Presbyterians.  A 
smaller  committee  was  then  chosen  by  the  general  commission,  the  members 
of  which  were  to  reside  at  Edinburgh,  watch  the  progress  of  events,  and  be 
ready  to  communicate  with  the  whole  body  on  any  emergency.  This  smaller 
committee  was  composed  of  sixteen  persons — four  noblemen,  four  gentle- 
men, four  ministers,  and  four  burgesses;  and  from  the  circumstance  of  their 
sitting  in  four  separate  rooms  in  the  Parliament  House,  they  were  designated 
"  The  Four  Tables."  A  member  from  each  of  these  constituted  a  chief 
Table  of  last  resort,  making  a  supreme  council  of  foilr  members.  At  first,  the 
Tables  only  took  charge  of  the  petitions,  and  urged  them  on  the  attention 
of  the  government;  but  they  shortly  began  to  form  proposals  for  the  party, 
to  assume  the  functions  of  government,  and  the  control  of  affairs  ultimately 
passed  into  their  hands. 

On  December  21,  1637,  the  committee  of  the  Tables  demanded  of  the 
Privy  Council  that  their  petitions  should  be  heard.  John  Campbell,  Earl  of 
Loudon,  boldly  stated  their  grievances,  and  protested  against  the  bishops, 
who  were  the  chief  delinquents,  sitting  as  judges  in  their  own  cases.     In 


444  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

January,  1638,  the  Earl  of  Traquair,  Lord  Treasurer  of  Scotland,  was  called 
to  London  by  the  king,  and  returned  to  Scotland  with  Charles's  instructions, 
which  were  soon  made  public.  They  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  proclamation, 
which  declared  that  "  the  bishops  were  unjustly  accused  as  being  authors  of 
the  service-book  and  canons,  seeing  whatever  was  done  by  them  in  that  mat- 
ter was  by  his  Majesty's  authority  and  order."  The  proclamation  further 
condemned  all  meetings  and  petitions  against  the  use  of  the  books,  prohibiting 
all  such  proceedings  under  pain  of  rebellion;  and  ordaining  that  no  suppli- 
cant should  appear  in  any  town  where  the  Council  was  sitting  under  pain  of 
treason.  Traquair  attempted  to  have  this  proclamation  issued  at  Stirling 
before  the  Presbyterians  could  publicly  protest  against  it;  thus  shutting  them 
off  from  the  only  legal  method  by  which  the  dispute  could  be  brought  before 
Parliament.  But  when  the  members  of  the  Privy  Council  appeared  in 
Stirling  to  publish  the  proclamation,  they  were  met  by  the  Lords  Home  and 
Lindsay,  who  read  a  protest,  and  affixed  a  copy  of  it  on  the  market-cross 
beside  that  of  the  proclamation,  thus  preserving  the  constitutional  right  of 
the  petitioners  to  appeal  to  Parliament.  In  this  protest,  they  claimed  that 
they  should  still  have  the  right  to  petition  the  king;  stated  that  they  would 
not  recognize  the  bishops  as  judges  in  any  court  ;  that  they  should  not  incur 
any  loss  for  non-observance  of  such  canons  and  proclamations  as  were  con- 
trary to  the  Acts  of  Parliament  and  of  the  General  Assembly;  and  that  if  any 
disturbance  should  arise,  it  should  not  be  imputed  to  them. 

These  proceedings  hastened  on  the  crisis.  The  Presbyterians  now  realized 
fully  the  extent  to  which  the  king  was  willing  to  go  in  supporting  the 
bishops.  At  the  same  time,  it  became  apparent  that  there  was  needed  a 
closer  organization  and  more  permanent  bond  of  union  among  them  than 
that  afforded  by  the  Tables,  if  they  expected  to  undertake  a  forcible  resist- 
ance to  the  policy  of  Charles.  Under  these  considerations  it  was  suggested 
by  Alexander  Henderson  and  some  of  his  brother  ministers,  that  the  Presby- 
terians should  in  a  public  manner  renew  their  acceptance  of  the  National 
Covenant.  On  the  26th  of  February  the  subject  was  openly  mentioned  in 
the  churches,  and  it  was  found  that  there  was  a  general  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  nation  that  the  Covenant  should  be  newly  taken.  Accordingly, 
Alexander  Henderson  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston,  an  advocate,  were  ap- 
pointed to  frame  an  instrument  to  suit  the  present  conditions,  and  Lords 
Rothes,  Loudon,  and  Balmerino  were  selected  to  revise  it.  This  new 
National  Covenant  consisted  of  three  parts — the  first  was  a  copy  of  the  nega- 
tive confession,  or  old  Covenant  of  15  81;  the  second  contained  a  summary 
of  the  Acts  of  Parliament  which  condemned  Roman  Catholicism  and  ratified 
the  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  establishing  the  Reformed  Church;  and 
the  third  part — written  by  Henderson — was  the  New  Covenant,  by  which  the 
subscribers  swore  in  the  name  of  the  "  Lord  their  God,"  that  they  would 
remain  in  the  profession  of  their  religion ;  that  they  would  defend  it  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power  from  all  errors;  that  they  would  stand  by  the  king's 


Scotland  under  Charles  I.  445 

person  in  support  of  the  true  religion,  the  liberties,  and  the  laws  of  the  king- 
dom; and  that  they  would  stand  by  each  other  in  defence  of  the  same  against 
all  persons. 

The  28th  of  February,  1638,  was  the  day  chosen  for  the  signing  of  the 
Covenant.  By  daybreak  all  of  the  commissioners  were  met.  The  Covenant 
was  read  over  to  them,  and  each  proposition  discussed  and  agreed  to.  The 
meeting  for  the  signing  of  the  Covenant  had  been  appointed  for  the  afternoon, 
and  crowds  of  people  soon  gathered  in  the  Greyfriars'  Church  and  church- 
yard. From  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  some  sixty  thousand  people  assembled; 
and  before  the  commissioners  appeared  the  church  and  grounds  were  densely 
rilled  with  multitudes  of  Scotland's  bravest  and  wisest  sons  and  daugh- 
ters. When  the  hour  of  two  approached,  Rothes,  Loudon,  Henderson, 
Dickson,  and  Johnstone  entered,  bearing  a  copy  of  the  Covenant  prepared 
for  signatures.  The  Earl  of  Loudon  then  stood  forth  and  spoke  to  the 
people.  He  made  an  eloquent  and  patriotic  address  touching  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  religion,  their  duty  to  God,  and  to  their  country.  He  voiced 
the  nation's  defiance  of  tyrannous  threatenings  in  these  memorable  words: 
"  We  know  no  other  bands  between  a  king  and  his  subjects  than  those  of 
religion  and  the  laws;  and  if  these  are  broken,  men's  lives  are  not  dear  to 
them.  Threatened  we  shall  not  be.  Such  fears  are  past  with  us."  After 
he  had  ceased  speaking,  Johnstone  of  Warriston  unrolled  the  vast  sheet  of 
parchment  and  read  the  Covenant.  Opportunity  was  then  given  for  those 
who  might  have  objections  to  offer  to  do  so,  but  no  objections  were  offered. 
An  aged  nobleman,  the  earl  of  Sutherland,  was  the  first  to  sign  the  bond, 
and  then  name  followed  name  in  quick  succession  until  all  within  the  church 
had  affixed  their  signatures.  The  parchment  was  then  carried  out  to  the 
churchyard,  and  placed  on  a  flat  gravestone  for  additional  signatures.  Here 
the  scene  became  still  more  impressive.  The  emotions  of  many  became 
irrepressible.  Some  wept  and  cried  aloud;  some  burst  into  a  shout  of 
exultation;  some,  after  their  names,  added  the  words  "till  death";  and 
some,  opening  a  vein,  subscribed  with  their  own  blood.  As  the  space 
became  filled,  they  wrote  their  names  in  a  contracted  form,  limiting  them  at 
last  to  the  initial  letters,  till  not  a  spot  remained  on  which  another  letter 
could  be  inscribed.  On  the  next  day,  copies  of  the  Covenant  were  circulated 
in  Edinburgh,  and  carried  throughout  the  kingdom,  that  by  being  universally 
signed  it  might  become  indeed  a  National  Covenant.  Before  the  end  of 
April  there  were  few  parishes  in  Scotland  in  which  the  Covenant  had  not 
been  signed  by  nearly  all  of  competent  age  and  character.  "  Some  men  of 
no  small  note,"  wrote  Henderson,  "  offered  their  subscription,  and  were 
refused,  till  time  should  prove  that  they  joined  from  love  of  the  cause  and 
not  from  the  fear  of  man."  Gentlemen,  ministers,  citizens,  laborers,  as- 
sembled in  crowds  to  swear  it  and  sign  it.  In  less  than  two  months,  Scotland 
was  banded  together  under  the  Covenant. 

Word  of  the  state  of  affairs  in  Scotland  was  quickly  sent  to  King  Charles 


446  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

by  the  Council,  and  in  April  several  members  of  that  body  were  called  to 
London,  where  in  consultation  with  some  of  the  bishops,  the  situation  was 
thoroughly  discussed  by  the  king.  His  Majesty  finally  called  to  his  cabinet 
the  archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  of  St.  Andrews,  the  bishops  of  Galloway, 
Brechin,  and  Ross,  and  the  marquis  of  Hamilton;  and  this  council  pro- 
ceeded to  devise  measures  of  repression.  Charles  appointed  Hamilton  as 
High  Commissioner,  ordered  him  to  proceed  to  Scotland,  and  among  other 
numerous  instructions  gave  him  the  following  :  "  If  you  cannot,  by  the 
means  prescribed  by  us,  bring  back  the  refractory  and  seditious  to  due 
obedience,  we  do  not  only  give  you  authority,  but  command  all  hostile  acts 
to  be  used  against  them,  they  having  deserved  to  be  used  in  no  other  way 
by  us  but  as  a  rebellious  people." 

Lord  Hamilton  accordingly  returned  to  Scotland  in  June,  but  dared  not 
publish  the  royal  proclamation,  as  he  was  entirely  without  means  to  enforce 
it.  This  being  the  case,  he  corresponded  with  his  master,  and  it  was  agreed 
between  them  that  he  should  parley  with  the  Presbyterian  party  and  soothe 
them  with  fair  promises  while  the  king  was  getting  together  an  army.  After 
some  months  spent  in  fruitless  negotiation  and  quibbling  with  the  Scots,  the 
King  finally  consented  to  call  an  Assembly,  just  as  they  were  getting  ready 
to  convene  one  for  themselves.  This  Assembly  met  in  the  cathedral  of 
Glasgow  on  November  21,  1638.  It  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
ministers,  freely  chosen  by  their  presbyteries,  and  ninety-eight  ruling  elders. 
Seventeen  of  the  elders  were  noblemen,  nine  were  knights,  twenty-five  were 
landed  proprietors,  and  forty-seven  were  burgesses  of  good  position.  The 
marquis  of  Hamilton  was  present  as  the  king's  commissioner,  instructed, 
as  the  king's  correspondence  shows,  to  use  every  endeavor  to  divide  the 
Assembly  by  sowing  jealousy  between  the  clergy  and  laity.  On  no  account 
was  he  to  permit  them  to  interfere  with  the  bishops.  Before  it  should  come 
to  that,  he  was  to  dismiss  the  Assembly.  Notwithstanding  Hamilton's  per- 
sistent opposition,  Alexander  Henderson  was  elected  as  moderator  by  his 
associates,  and  Johnstone  of  Warriston  appointed  clerk  of  the  Assembly. 
Hamilton  offered  a  paper  in  the  name  of  the  bishops,  protesting  against  the 
authority  of  the  Assembly.  He  then  argued  on  the  subject,  and  parts  of  it 
were  debated.  The  moderator  then  put  the  question,  whether  the  Assembly 
found  itself  a  competent  judge  of  the  bishops  ?  Before  a  vote  could  be 
taken,  Hamilton,  aware  of  the  temper  of  the  meeting,  arose,  in  the  king's 
name  dissolved  the  Assembly,  and  departed.  But  a  protest  was  read  against 
the  arbitrary  order  of  the  king,  a  vote  taken,  and  the  Assembly  continued 
its  sittings;  going  on  with  its  business  of  trying  the  bishops  for  their  usurpa- 
tion and  tyranny  over  the  Church,  and  for  serious  moral  offences  besides. 
The  proceedings  lasted  an  entire  month.  Bishops,  and  the  whole  fabric  of 
prelacy,  were  solemnly  condemned  and  swept  out.  The  Reformed  Church 
of  Scotland  was  restored  in  its  entirety  and  purity.  All  that  had  been  done 
by  the  bishops  in  the  name  of  the  Church  since  1605  was  annulled.     The 


Scotland  under  Charles  I.  447 

book  of  canons,  the  liturgy,  the  High  Commission,  and  Episcopacy  itself 
were  condemned.  The  bishops,  who  had  always  allied  themselves  with  the 
despotic  tendencies  of  the  Crown,  and  to  the  utmost  limits  of  their  power 
had  been  the  mere  tools  of  the  king  and  the  pliant  instruments  of  the  royal 
will  and  pleasure,  were  convicted  and  condemned.  Acts  were  passed  relating 
to  education  and  other  important  subjects.  The  Assembly  closed  its  work 
by  appointing  its  next  meeting  to  be  held  at  Edinburgh  in  July,  1639. 

Civil  war  now  became  inevitable.  General  Alexander  Leslie  was  there- 
fore appointed  leader  of  the  Covenanting  army.  He  soon  organized  a  force 
and  equipped  it  for  the  field.  The  Covenanters  seized  the  castles  of  Edin- 
burgh, Dumbarton,  and  other  strongholds;  and  before  the  king  arrived  at 
York,  the  whole  of  Scotland  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Presbyterians.  In  the 
beginning  of  May,  the  king's  fleet  of  twenty  warships,  and  several  smaller 
vessels,  with  5000  troops  on  board,  sailed  into  Leith  Roads.  But  both  sides 
of  the  Firth  were  so  well  defended  that  not  a  boat  could  land.  Before  long, 
the  crowded  condition  of  the  transports,  miserably  victualled  and  watered, 
caused  disease  to  break  out,  and  many  victims  were  carried  off  by  death. 

Meanwhile,  the  king,  having  mustered  his  army  at  York  in  the  beginning 
of  April,  1639,  advanced  to  the  Border,  and  encamped  on  Birks  plain  in  the 
valley  of  the  Tweed,  about  three  miles  above  Berwick.  The  Covenanters, 
about  twelve  thousand  strong,  advanced  to  fight  the  king,  and  encamped 
June  1st  on  Dunse  Law,  a  low  hill  lying  near  the  Border  town  of  Dunse, 
about  six  miles  distant  from  the  camp  of  the  royal  forces,  and  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Tweed.  In  a  few  days,  reinforcements  increased  the  Presbyterian 
army  to  more  than  twenty  thousand  men.  Around  the  sides  of  the  hill  were 
pitched  the  tents  of  the  army,  each  regiment  forming  a  cluster.  The  top  of 
the  hill  was  surmounted  by  forty  cannon.  A  banner-staff  was  planted  at 
each  captain's  tent-door,  from  which  floated  the  Scottish  colors,  displaying 
not  only  the  national  arms,  but  also  this  inscription  in  golden  letters — "  For 
Christ's  Crown  and  Covenant."  The  army  was  chiefly  composed  of  Scot- 
land's thoughtful  and  high-souled  peasantry.  Nearly  a  score  of  noblemen 
were  present,  mostly  in  the  command  of  regiments,  and  each  regiment  had  its 
minister  —  some  of  them  ready  and  determined  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
fight  against  the  bishops.  One  minister,  Rev.  Robert  Baillie  of  Kilwinning, 
was  accompanied  by  "  half  a  dozen  good  fellows,"  furnished  with  pike  and 
musket  out  of  his  own  pocket.  His  servant  rode  after  him,  with  a  broad- 
sword at  his  side.  The  minister  himself  bore  a  sword,  and  carried  a  brace  of 
pistols  at  his  saddle-bow. 

When  the  king  found  a  force  confronting  him  larger  than  his  own,  he 
decided  that  it  would  be  safer  for  him  to  treat  with  his  subjects  than  to 
attempt  forcibly  to  coerce  them.  A  messenger  having  intimated  as  much  to 
the  Scottish  leaders,  the  earl  of  Dunfermline  was  sent  to  negotiate  with  the 
king.  Following  this,  an  arrangement  was  made,  by  which  the  religious 
matters  in  dispute  were  to  be  referred  to  the  General  Assembly  and  to  Parlia- 


448  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ment.  Peace  was  therefore  proclaimed,  on  June  18th,  and  two  days  later 
the  Scots  burned  their  camp  on  Dunse  Law  and  disbanded  their  army. 
They  were  shrewd  enough,  however,  to  retain  their  principal  officers  in  readi- 
ness to  assemble  the  army  again  if  occasion  should  arise. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  king's  promises  had  been  made  only  to 
enable  him  to  gain  time  to  raise  a  larger  army.  He  had  determined  to 
chastise  the  Scots,  and  summoned  his  English  Parliament,  which  met  in 
April,  1640.  A  majority  of  the  Parliament  refused  to  grant  supplies  until 
they  obtained  the  redress  of  the  grievances  under  which  England  up  to  that 
time  had  been  meekly  suffering.  Rather  than  yield,  the  king  dissolved  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  then  set  himself  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  by 
every  means  in  his  power.  In  the  month  of  July  he  was  enabled  to  take  the 
field  at  the  head  of  19,000  foot  and  2000  cavalry,  and  marched  again  for  the 
North,  to  engage  in  what  his  own  soldiers  called  a  "  Bishops'  War." 

Meanwhile,  the  Scotch  Parliament  met  in  June.  After  repealing  all  the 
acts  which  permitted  churchmen  to  sit  and  vote  in  Parliament,  it  enacted 
that  a  Parliament  should  meet  every  three  years,  and  appointed  a  permanent 
committee  of  members  to  act  when  Parliament  was  not  sitting.  During  the 
spring  and  summer  another  Covenanter  army  also  was  organized,  and  it 
rendezvoused  again  at  Dunse  Law,  22,000  foot  and  3000  horse,  and  again 
under  command  of  General  Alexander  Leslie.  This  time  the  Scots  decided 
not  to  wait  and  be  invaded,  but  to  march  into  England.  Leaving  Dunse 
Law,  they  advanced  to  Coldstream,  where  they  crossed  the  Tweed.  March- 
ing slowly  through  Northumberland,  they  came  to  Newburn  on  the  Tyne, 
about  five  miles  above  Newcastle.  Here  a  crossing  was  forced,  the  English 
retreating  to  York,  where  the  King's  main  army  lay.  On  August  30th,  the 
Scots  took  possession  of  Newcastle,  of  all  Northumberland,  and  of  Durham, 
and  very  peaceably  made  their  abode  in  those  parts  for  about  the  space  of  a 
year.  The  Covenanters  again  petitioned  the  king  to  listen  to  their  griev- 
ances, and  at  the  same  time  a  number  of  English  nobles  petitioned  him  to 
summon  a  Parliament.  Unable  to  fight  the  Covenanters,  he  finally  offered 
to  negotiate  with  them,  and  also  summoned  the  English  Parliament  to  meet 
at  Westminster  on  the  3d  of  November  —  a  meeting  which  afterwards 
became  famous  as  the  Long  Parliament.  To  this  English  Parliament  the 
Londoners  sent  in  a  petition  bearing  fifteen  thousand  names,  craving  to  have 
bishops  and  their  ceremonies  radically  reformed.  Seven  hundred  clergy  of 
the  Church  of  England  sent  in  a  petition  and  remonstrance  to  the  same 
effect.  An  immense  agitation  against  the  bishops  and  the  arbitrary  course 
of  the  king  now  arose,  and  all  England  became  inflamed. 

Peace  between  the  king  and  the  Scots  was  concluded  in  August,  1641; 
and  soon  after  Charles  visited  Scotland,  and  attempted  with  fair  promises 
to  mollify  its  people  and  discourage  their  sympathetic  interest  in  the  struggle 
that  had  already  begun  in  England  between  King  and  Parliament.  In  this 
year  the  hideous  affair  of  the  Irish  rebellion  and  massacre  threw  its  horrors 


Scotland  under  Charles  I.  449 

into  the  excitement  which  already  convulsed  the  public  mind.  The  king 
had  issued  commissions  to  certain  Irish  leaders  authorizing  them  to  rise  in 
arms  in  his  behalf,  and  the  native  Irish  seized  the  opportunity  to  begin  a 
general  massacre  of  their  Protestant  neighbors,  without  regard  to  age,  sex, 
or  condition.  For  six  months  the  work  of  butchery  continued  unchecked; 
and  in  that  time  was  poured  out  on  the  heads  of  the  settlers  in  Ulster  and 
elsewhere  the  accumulated  wrath  and  hatred  of  generations.  Parents  were 
obliged  to  watch  the  dying  agonies  of  their  children  and  then  follow  them 
in  death.  Men  were  hung  up  by  the  arms  and  gradually  slashed  to  death  to 
see  how  much  a  heretic  could  suffer  before  he  died. 

Charles  seems  to  have  imagined  that  he  would  be  able  to  overcome  the 
English  if  he  could  pacify  the  Scots.  The  breach  between  him  and  his 
English  subjects  was  constantly  widening.  He  returned  from  Edinburgh 
to  England  in  November.  In  the  spring  of  1642,  he  was  forced  to  leave 
London,  and  removed  his  court  to  York.  On  August  23d,  near  Nottingham, 
Charles's  herald  read  the  king's  proclamation  calling  his  subjects  to  arms, 
and  the  war  between  King  and  Parliament  began. 

Communications  passed  between  the  English  Parliamentary  party  and  the 
Covenanters.  In  August  four  English  commissioners  appeared  before  the 
general  assembly  which  had  convened  at  Edinburgh  on  the  2d.  They  ex- 
pressed their  appreciation  of  what  the  Covenanters  had  already  done  for  the 
cause  of  liberty,  and  said  they  desired  the  same  work  might  be  completed  in 
England,  where  they  had  already  abolished  the  High  Commission  and  Episco- 
pacy, and  expelled  the  bishops  from  the  House  of  Lords.  Therefore,  they 
entreated  the  Covenanters  to  assist  their  oppressed  brethren  in  England. 
After  much  discussion  and  largely  through  the  influence  of  Johnstone  of  War- 
riston  and  his  associates,  it  was  agreed  to  assist  the  leaders  of  the  Long 
Parliament.  The  English  leaders  proposed  a  civil  league,  but  the  Scots 
would  listen  to  nothing  but  a  religious  covenant.  The  English  suggested 
that  toleration  should  be  given  to  the  Independents,  but  the  Scots  would 
tolerate  nothing  but  a  Presbyterian  or  democratic  form  of  church  govern- 
ment in  either  kingdom.  After  a  long  debate,  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant  was  placed  before  the  Assembly,  which  met  at  Edinburgh  in 
August,  1643,  and  unanimously  adopted.  All  the  parties  to  this  Covenant 
bound  themselves  to  preserve  the  Reformed  religion  in  Scotland  and  to  do 
their  utmost  to  further  its  extension  in  England  and  Ireland;  to  endeavor  to 
extinguish  popery  and  episcopacy;  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the  Parliament 
and  the  liberties  of  the  three  kingdoms;  and  to  preserve  and  defend  the 
king's  person. 

In  England,  the  Long  Parliament  had  summoned  together  the  ever- 
memorable  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,  by  an  enactment  entitled, 
11  An  Ordinance  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  in  Parliament,  for  the  calling 
of  an  Assembly  of  learned  and  Godly  Divines  and  others,  to  be  consulted 
with  by  Parliament,  for  the  settling  of  the  Government  and  Liturgy  of  the. 


450  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Church  of  England,  and  for  vindicating  and  clearing  of  the  Doctrine  of  the 
said  Church  from  false  aspersions  and  interpretations."  Under  this  act, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-one  divines  were  summoned,  with  ten  lords  and 
twenty  commoners  as  laymen.  The  Scottish  Church  being  invited  to  send 
commissioners  to  assist  in  the  deliberations  of  this  Assembly,  sent  Alexander 
Henderson,  Samuel  Rutherford,  Robert  Baillie,  and  George  Gillespie,  min- 
isters, with  the  earl  of  Cassilis,  Lord  Maitland,  and  Sir  Archibald  Johnstone 
of  Warriston.  The  Assembly  continued  to  sit  for  more  than  five  years,  from 
1643  to  1648.  The  Scotch  commissioners  took  a  distinguished  part  in  the 
labors  and  debates,  but  they  had  no  vote.  A  copy  of  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant  was  carried  from  Edinburgh  to  London.  On  September  22, 
1643,  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the 
Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  all  signed  it;  and  afterwards  it  was  signed 
by  many  in  every  county  of  England.  Its  immediate  effect  was  that  a 
Scotch  army  of  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse,  under 
Leslie,  crossed  the  Tweed,  marched  south,  and  joined  the  Parliamentary 
army  near  York.  On  Marston  Moor,  four  miles  from  York,  they  faced  the 
king's  army  July  2,  1644.  At  seven  in  the  evening  the  battle  began.  By 
ten  o'clock  the  king's  army  was  shattered  and  broken  in  pieces,  and  the 
allies  stood  victorious  in  a  field  strewn  with  four  thousand  dead. 

From  this  time  on,  the  king's  cause  began  to  go  down,  except  for  some 
brief  successes  attained  by  the  earl  of  Montrose,  a  renegade  Covenanter, 
who  had  raised  a  small  army  of  Irish  and  Highlanders  and  committed  many 
unspeakable  outrages  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  counties  of  Aberdeen,  Perth, 
and  Stirling.  After  the  battle  of  Naseby,  June  15,  1645,  in  which  the  royal 
army  was  almost  annihilated  by  the  Parliamentary  forces,  Charles  became  a 
fugitive.  In  May  of  the  following  year,  he  evaded  Cromwell's  pursuit  at 
Oxford,  rode  to  the  north,  and  surrendered  to  the  Scottish  army  at  Kelham, 
near  Newcastle. 

After  remaining  in  the  Scots'  camp  for  eight  months,  the  king  was 
delivered  to  the  Long  Parliament,  upon  a  promise  from  that  body  that  no 
harm  should  come  to  his  person.  Charles  returned  to  London,  where  a 
series  of  negotiations  began  again  between  himself  and  the  Parliament ;  and 
after  a  fresh  instance  of  treachery  on  the  part  of  the  king,  he  was  con- 
demned to  death  as  a  tyrant,  murderer,  and  enemy  of  his  country,  and 
beheaded  January  30,  1649. l 

NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  XXX 

1  From  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  the  30th  of  January  was  observed  in  the  Church 
of  England  with  special  religious  services  as  the  day  of  King  Charles  the  Martyr.  This 
commemoration,  offensive  to  the  great  majority  of  Britons,  was  abolished  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment only  so  recently  as  1859,  though  the  day  is  still  observed  by  many  High  Church  Epis- 
copalians in  London  and  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

SCOTLAND  UNDER  CHARLES  II.  AND  THE  BISHOPS1 

THE  news  of  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  reached  Edinburgh  five  days 
afterwards,  and  on  February  5,  1649,  his  son,  Charles  II.,  was  pro- 
claimed king.  Commissioners  were  despatched  to  Holland,  where  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  Scots  were  willing  to  receive  him  as  their  ruler 
were  proposed  to  the  young  king.  These  conditions  had  been  formally  set 
forth  in  an  Act  of  Parliament,  which  declared  that  before  Charles  should 
be  accepted  as  king  he  should  sign  and  swear  the  National  Covenant  and 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant;  that  he  should  consent  to  the  Acts  of 
Parliament  enjoining  these  Covenants;  and  that  he  should  never  attempt  to 
change  any  of  them;  that  he  should  dismiss  the  counsel  of  all  those  opposed 
to  the  Covenants  and  religion ;  that  he  should  give  satisfaction  to  Parliament 
in  everything  requisite  for  settling  a  lasting  peace;  and  that  he  should  con- 
sent that  all  civil  matters  should  be  determined  by  Parliament,  and  ecclesi- 
astical matters  by  the  General  Assembly. 

Charles  had  given  the  earl  of  Montrose  a  commission  authorizing  him  to 
raise  troops  and  subdue  the  kingdom  by  force  of  arms;  so  he  temporized 
with  the  commissioners  and  protracted  the  negotiations,  urging  Montrose  to 
make  him  independent  of  the  Presbyterians.  But  when  the  rising  was 
crushed  and  Montrose  hanged,  Charles  eagerly  threw  himself  into  the  arms 
of  the  Covenanters,  agreed  to  the  terms  of  Parliament,  embarked  for  Scot- 
land, and  landed  near  the  mouth  of  the  Spey  on  June  24,  1650.  Although 
he  had  previously  embraced  Romanism,  Charles  now  solemnly  swore  that  he 
"  would  have  no  enemies  but  the  enemies  of  the  Covenant — no  friends  but 
the  friends  of  the  Covenant." 

Cromwell,  as  captain-general  of  the  English  forces,  marched  against 
him  with  an  army  of  16,000  men.  Leslie,  who  commanded  the  Scots,  by 
skilful  manoeuvring  compelled  Cromwell  to  retreat  from  Edinburgh  to 
Dunbar.  Thither  Leslie  followed,  and  against  his  own  better  judgment  left 
a  position  of  advantage,  descended  to  the  plain,  and  offered  battle  to  Crom- 
well. The  Scots  were  defeated  and  Edinburgh  taken.  Notwithstanding 
this  disaster,  Charles  was  crowned  at  Scone.  The  Scots  then  acted  on  the 
defensive,  and  Cromwell  might  have  failed  in  conquering  the  northern  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  had  not  Charles  marched  to  England,  in  the  vain  hope  of 
being  joined  by  the  people.  He  was  swiftly  followed  by  Cromwell,  and 
on  the  3d  of  September,  1651,  completely  defeated  at  Worcester.  He  then 
fled  from  the  kingdom,  and  Cromwell's  power  became  supreme. 

On  the  20th  of  April,  1653,  the  Protector  led  three  hundred  men  to  the 
English  House  of  Commons,  ejected  the  members,  and  locked  the  doors. 

45i 


452  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

After  that  date,  although  he  sometimes  consulted  an  assembly  called  a  Par- 
liament, which  consisted  of  members  from  the  three  kingdoms,  Oliver 
Cromwell  remained,  until  his  death,  virtually  dictator  of  Great  Britain.  He 
died  September  3,  1658,  and  his  son  Richard  was  proclaimed  as  his  successor. 

For  a  brief  time  Richard  Cromwell  seemed  firmly  placed  in  his  father's 
position.  He  summoned  a  Parliament,  by  which  he  was  recognized  as  First 
Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth.  But  the  army  began  to  plot  against 
their  new  master,  and  soon  compelled  him  to  dissolve  Parliament.  The 
Parliament  was  dismissed  by  Richard,  and  Richard  in  turn  was  dismissed 
by  the  officers  of  the  army.  The  old  "  Rump  "  Parliament  was  again 
brought  into  power,  and  declared  that  there  should  be  no  First  Magistrate; 
but  its  members  were  soon  dispersed  by  the  army.  Moved  by  fear,  an 
alliance  was  then  formed  between  the  Royalists  and  Presbyterians.  George 
Monk,  who  commanded  the  Parliamentary  army  in  Scotland,  now  marched 
into  England,  and  on  the  third  of  February,  1660,  entered  London.  On 
his  invitation,  the  expelled  Presbyterian  members  returned  to  the  House  of 
Commons  and  became  the  majority.  By  orders  of  Monk,  writs  were  issued 
for  a  Convention,  and  of  this  body  the  Presbyterians  formed  a  majority. 
Having  first  saved  the  nation  from  the  tyranny  of  Charles,  they  now  saved 
it  from  the  tyranny  of  the  army;  but  unfortunately  they  again  put  their  trust 
in  the  house  of  Stuart. 

A  letter,  sent  by  Charles  to  the  Commons,  from  Breda,  contained  his 
celebrated  Declaration,  in  which  he  promised  a  general  pardon  and  liberty 
of  conscience  as  conditions  of  his  recall.  The  excesses  of  the  Baptists  and 
Independents  had  produced  such  a  reaction  in  England  that  even  Puritans 
were  willing  to  try  the  king  without  the  Covenant,  rather  than  be  ruled 
by  officers  like  Lambert,  or  by  legislators  like  Praise-God  Barebone.  The 
promises  of  Charles  were  accepted  by  the  Convention,  which  invited  him  to 
return,  without  placing  any  legal  limit  on  his  acknowledged  prerogatives. 
Recalled  by  a  Presbyterian  Convention,  he  soon  became  distinguished  as  a 
persecutor  of  those  to  whom  he  owed  his  throne;  and,  while  some  of  the 
political  liberty  for  which  the  people  and  the  Parliament  had  fought  was 
maintained,  the  religious  liberty  which  they  had  won  was  entirely  lost. 

In  Ireland,  Coote  declared  for  Charles,  took  Dublin  Castle,  and  by 
Presbyterian  support  became  master  of  that  kingdom.  A  Convention  was 
called,  which,  in  February,  1660,  met  in  Dublin.  A  majority  consisted  of 
Episcopalians.  Yet,  until  the  wishes  of  the  king  were  known,  they  seemed 
to  favor  Nonconformists,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Cox,  a  Presbyterian,  was 
chosen  chaplain.  Sir  John  Clotworthy  was  deputed  to  treat  with  Charles, 
but  the  rapid  march  of  events  prevented  any  results  for  good.  The  Con- 
vention deprived  Anabaptist  ministers  of  their  salaries,  but  gave  to  the 
Presbyterian  pastors,  and  to  about  a  hundred  others  reported  to  be  ortho- 
dox, a  right  to  the  tithes  of  the  parishes  in  which  they  were  placed. 

Charles,   although   he   cared  little  for   any  religion,    preferred  Roman 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops         453 

Catholicism,  to  which  faith  he  had  been  already  reconciled  in  secret.  Al- 
though Presbyterians  were  ready  to  accept  of  the  king  with  the  Covenant, 
Charles  preferred  the  Episcopalians,  who  hated  the  Covenant  as  strongly 
as  they  loved  the  king.  His  desire  for  power  was  more  likely  to  be  grati- 
fied by  a  Church  whose  ministers  taught  that  he  had  a  divine  right  to  do 
wrong,  rather  than  by  a  Church  which  advocated  limitations  to  his  authority. 
He  therefore  lent  his  influence  to  re-establish  Prelacy,  as  more  lenient  to  his 
faults,  more  hopeful  for  his  ambition,  and  more  like  the  form  of  worship  he 
preferred. 

In  the  South  the  Convention  was  succeeded  by  a  Parliament.  Episcopacy 
again  became  the  established  religion  of  England,  as  the  act  by  which  it 
was  formerly  abolished  had  never  been  signed  by  the  king.  But  there  was 
not  yet  any  law  to  exclude  from  the  Established  Church  those  ministers  who 
had  not  been  episcopally  ordained,  and  until  such  was  passed  they  still 
remained  in  their  charges. 

The  Episcopalians,  being  supreme  in  the  Parliament,  soon  began  to  act 
with  intolerance.  They  ordered  the  Covenant  to  be  burnt  and  the  liturgy 
to  be  used  without  modification ;  and,  for  the  first  time,  episcopal  ordination 
was  made  necessary  for  holding  the  position  of  a  clergyman  in  the  Estab- 
lished Church. 

An  Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed  (1662),  which  required  every  clergy- 
man, if  not  episcopally  ordained,  to  submit  to  ordination  by  a  bishop,  abjure 
the  Covenant,  and  renounce  the  principle  of  taking  up  arms  against  the  king 
under  any  pretence.  It  was  made  a  crime  under  heavy  penalties  to  attend 
a  Nonconformist  place  of  worship.  Ministers  who  refused  to  submit  were 
deprived  of  their  livings  and  prohibited  from  coming  within  five  miles  of  the 
town  in  which  they  formerly  resided,  or  of  any  town  which  was  governed  by 
a  corporation,  or  which  returned  a  member  to  Parliament. 

Two  thousand  clergymen  who  refused  to  conform  were  driven  out  of 
their  parishes,  and  subjected  to  all  the  penalties  permitted  by  law. 

During  the  administration  of  Cromwell  the  Scottish  Church  had  pros- 
pered. At  the  Restoration  it  is  said  that,  except  in  some  parts  of  the 
Highlands,  every  parish  had  a  minister,  every  village  a  school,  and  every 
family  a  Bible.  But  the  Church  was  now  to  enter  a  fiery  furnace  of  persecu- 
tion. The  very  Restoration  had  itself  a  bad  effect,  and  caused  many  scenes 
of  dissipation.  The  nation  was  drunk  with  joy.  Even  so  rigid  a  Presby- 
terian as  Janet  Geddes  gave  her  shelves,  forms,  and  the  chair  on  which  she 
sat  to  make  a  bonfire  in  honor  of  the  king's  coronation. 

The  first  Scottish  Parliament  was  summoned  to  meet  in  January,  166 1, 
and  the  most  shameless  bribery  was  employed  in  carrying  out  the  wish  of 
Charles  to  obtain  a  majority  for  overthrowing  Presbyterianism.  Many  cir- 
cumstances favored  the  king's  design.  The  Presbyterian  Church  condemned 
vices  which  the  sons  of  the  nobility  loved  dearly.  All  who  were  given  to 
dissipation  wished  to  see  a  Church  established  by  law  from  which  they  might 


454  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

not  fear  any  ecclesiastical  censure.  The  king  ruled  the  aristocracy,  and  the 
aristocracy  in  reality  nominated  almost  all  the  members  of  the  Commons. 
Both  Houses  of  Parliament,  according  to  custom,  sat  together  in  the  same 
chamber;  and,  in  violation  of  law,  the  members  did  not  subscribe  the  National 
Covenant.  Several  sittings  of  this  Parliament  had  to  be  adjourned  because 
Middleton  was  too  drunk  to  keep  the  chair;  and  many  of  the  other  members 
were  often  in  a  similar  state  of  intoxication.  This  Assembly,  ready  to  do 
anything  the  king  desired,  set  about  its  work  at  once.  All  legislation  for 
reformation,  between  1638  and  1650,  was  declared  treasonable,  although  the 
acts  in  question  had  been  duly  sanctioned  by  the  sovereign.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  was  now  left  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  king,  who  soon 
exercised  that  power  to  overthrow  Presbyterianism.  Then  arose  the  most 
merciless  persecution  ever  endured  by  any  Church  in  Great  Britain. 

The  marquis  of  Argyle,  who,  in  165 1,  had  placed  the  crown  on  the  head 
of  Charles,  was  arrested,  tried,  and  executed  without  the  shadow  of  a  crime 
proved  against  him.  But  he  incurred  the  animosity  of  the  king  in  being 
one  of  those  who  had  formerly  compelled  him  to  take  the  Covenant  as  a 
condition  of  their  support;  and  now  the  monarch  had  his  revenge. 

The  Rev.  James  Guthrie,  minister  of  Stirling,  who,  in  1650,  pronounced 
sentence  of  excommunication  on  Middleton,  was  the  next  victim.  He  was 
arrested,  tried  for  high  treason,  condemned,  and  executed  as  a  traitor. 
Archibald  Johnstone  of  Warriston  followed  soon  after.  On  the  4th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1662,  the  Council  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  effect  that  every  minister 
admitted  since  1649,  when  patronage  was  abolished,  would  be  banished 
from  his  parish  unless  he  had  obtained  a  presentation  from  his  patron  and 
spiritual  induction  from  his  bishop  before  the  1st  of  November.  Middleton 
did  not  expect  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  would  refuse  conformity,  but,  to 
his  great  astonishment,  about  four  hundred  preferred  to  resign  rather  than 
submit  to  an  unscriptural  system  of  church  government  and  doctrine.  These 
ejected  ministers  were  succeeded  by  raw  youths,  generally  called  curates, 
although  they  were  parish  ministers. 

The  Rev.  James  Sharp  had  been  sent  by  his  brethren  from  Scotland  to 
London,  in  1660,  to  manage  the  interests  of  the  Scottish  Church,  and  main- 
tain its  liberties.  But  he  basely  betrayed  the  cause  which  he  had  been 
selected  to  uphold  and  had  sworn  to  defend.  As  a  reward  for  his  treason, 
he  received  the  bishopric  of  St.  Andrews  and  the  Primacy  of  Scotland.  To- 
gether with  Sharp,  three  others, — namely,  Fairfoul,  Hamilton,  and  Leighton, 
— after  having  been  duly  ordained  deacons  and  then  priests,  were  conse- 
crated bishops.  Of  these  renegades,  Leighton  alone  possessed  any  religious 
principleSo 

The  ejected  Scottish  ministers  now  began  to  preach  in  the  fields.  But 
an  act  was  passed,  in  1663,  making  it  unlawful  to  attend  conventicles,  as 
these  field  meetings  were  called;  and  Sir  James  Turner,  a  drunken  mer- 
cenary, with  a  body  of  troops,  was  sent  to  the  West  to  scatter  the  people  who 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops        455 

attended  them.  Every  person  not  attending  at  the  Episcopal  church  in  his 
own  parish  was  made  liable  to  excessive  fines,  and  ' '  such  corporal  punish- 
ment as  the  Privy  Council  shall  see  proper  to  inflict." 

This  act,  called  the  Bishops'  Drag-Net,  was  enforced  in  Galloway  by 
Turner  and  his  soldiers.  Under  its  operation,  the  Episcopal  curate  of  each 
parish  was  accustomed,  after  sermon,  to  call  the  roll  of  those  living  in  his 
parish  and  to  make  a  list  of  all  who  were  absent.  This  list  was  afterwards 
handed  to  the  commanding  officer,  who  proceeded  to  levy  and  collect  enor- 
mous fines  from  the  absentees.  The  fines  were  generally  appropriated  by 
the  soldiers,  and  if  a  tenant  or  householder  were  unwilling  or  unable  to  pay, 
a  party  of  soldiers  was  quartered  upon  him  until  many  times  the  value  of  the 
fine  was  exacted  and  the  victim  "  eaten  up."  After  all  the  food  in  the  house 
was  gone,  the  cattle  and  goods  of  the  owner  were  sold  for  a  trifle,  and  the 
man  utterly  ruined. 

In  1664,  at  the  instigation  of  Sharp,  a  Court  of  High  Commission,  or 
Inquisition,  was  established  in  Scotland.  Its  chief  object  was  to  carry  out 
the  ecclesiastical  laws  and  to  punish  all  who  opposed  the  government  of  the 
Church  by  bishops.  Its  powers  were  absolutely  unlimited.  All  troops  and 
all  officers  of  the  law  must  obey  its  orders.  Its  members  could  call  before 
them  whomsoever  they  chose.  They  examined  no  witnesses ;  they  allowed  no 
defence.  They  punished  mercilessly  by  fines,  by  imprisonment,  by  banish- 
ment. By  this  court  ministers  were  imprisoned,  women  publicly  whipped, 
boys  scourged,  branded,  and  sold  as  slaves  to  Barbadoes  or  North  America. 

In  October,  1666,  the  Council  issued  a  fresh  proclamation,  which,  under 
severe  penalties,  required  masters  to  oblige  their  servants,  landlords  their  ten- 
ants, and  magistrates  the  inhabitants  of  their  boroughs  to  attend  regularly 
the  Episcopal  churches.  Many  were  thus  driven  from  their  homes,  their 
families  dispersed,  and  their  estates  ruined.  In  the  following  November, 
Mr.  Allan  of  Barscobe,  and  three  other  fugitives,  who  had  been  forced  to 
seek  a  hiding-place  in  the  hills  of  Galloway,  ventured  from  their  retreat  and 
came  to  the  Clachan  of  Dairy  to  procure  some  provisions.  Here  they  en- 
countered some  soldiers  who  were  about  to  roast  alive  an  old  man  whom  they 
had  seized  because  he  was  unable  to  pay  his  church  fines.  Aided  by  some 
of  their  friends  from  the  village,  the  Covenanters  overpowered  the  soldiers, 
and  rescued  their  victim.  In  the  mel£e  one  of  the  soldiers  was  killed,  and 
another  wounded.  The  Covenanters,  realizing  that  their  lives  were  forfeited 
in  any  event,  determined  to  remain  in  arms,  and  being  joined  by  MacLellan, 
Laird  of  Barscobe,  and  some  other  gentlemen  of  the  neighborhood,  they 
soon  mustered  about  fifty  horsemen.  Proceeding  to  Dumfries,  they  sur- 
prised and  captured  Sir  James  Turner  himself.  Others  of  the  oppressed  peo- 
ple joining  them,  they  marched  into  Ayrshire.  The  greater  part  of  the 
Covenanters,  however,  were  poorly  armed.  Their  most  common  weapon  was 
a  scythe  set  straight  on  a  stave.  With  Colonel  Wallace  at  their  head  the  in- 
surgents marched  against  Edinburgh,  nine  hundred  strong.    General  Dalziel 


456  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

was  sent  to  oppose  them,  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  three  thousand  troops. 
At  last,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  the  Presbyterians  were  overcome  at  a 
place  called  Rullion  Green,  among  the  Pentland  Hills.  About  fifty  were 
killed,  including  Mr.  Crookshanks  and  Mr.  McCormick — two  ministers  from 
Ireland.  Nearly  eighty  prisoners  were  taken,  either  on  the  field  of  battle,  or 
afterwards,  and  of  these  about  thirty-five  perished  on  the  scaffold.  At  the 
suggestion  of  the  bishops,  Mr.  John  Neilson  of  Corsack,  and  Mr.  Hugh 
McKail,  minister,  were  tortured  with  an  instrument  called  "  the  boot."  It 
consisted  of  four  pieces  of  wood  in  which  a  leg  of  the  victim  was  confined. 
These  pieces  were  then  driven  together  by  wedges,  which  caused  them  to 
press  so  tightly  as  to  make  the  marrow  leave  the  bone.  Before  the  execu- 
tions were  finished,  a  letter  came  from  the  king  to  Sharp,  as  president  of 
the  Council,  ordering  no  more  lives  to  be  taken.  But  the  archbishop  kept 
back  the  order  until  McKail  had  been  executed. 

After  the  Duke  of  Lauderdale,  in  1667,  had  obtained  the  chief  manage- 
ment of  affairs  in  Scotland,  there  was  a  temporary  cessation  of  persecution. 
A  Presbyterian  at  heart  himself,  he  did  not  at  first  proceed  to  so  great 
cruelties  as  had  been  previously  practised ;  and  some  of  the  most  notorious 
persecutors  were  dismissed.  By  order  of  the  king,  an  Act  of  Indulgence 
was  passed  by  the  Council,  in  1669,  more  with  the  object  of  creating  divisions 
than  of  affording  relief.  A  limited  liberty  of  preaching  was  given  by  this 
enactment  to  ministers  who  refrained  from  speaking  against  the  changes  in 
Church  and  State.  Some  accepted  of  this  indulgence,  and  others  refused; 
but  those  who  accepted  the  relief  it  afforded  were  called  "  king's  curates  " 
by  the  zealous  Covenanters,  and  were  by  them  regarded  as  little  better  than 
the  "bishops'  curates."  Other  ministers,  who  refused  this  indulgence, 
began  to  preach  in  the  fields.  To  them  the  people  resorted  in  crowds.  Ser- 
mons delivered  under  such  circumstances  produced  a  great  effect.  Many 
converts  were  made,  and  the  zeal  of  the  people  went  up  to  a  high  pitch  of 
enthusiasm.  Driven  to  madness  by  persecution,  they  came  to  these  meet- 
ings fully  armed.  Watchmen  were  placed  on  the  hills  around.  The 
preacher,  with  a  Bible  in  his  hand  and  a  sword  by  his  side, warned  the  peo- 
ple to  fear  spiritual  more  than  temporal  death.  These  appeals  rendered 
them  regardless  of  danger,  and  many  bloody  encounters  took  place  between 
the  soldiers  and  the  Covenanters. 

Accordingly,  the  field  meetings,  or  conventicles,  became  more  frequent, 
and  were  often  attended  by  such  large  numbers  that  the  soldiers  dared  not 
molest  them.  But  the  bishops  did  not  in  the  least  desist  from  their  persecu- 
tions. They  made  it  a  capital  crime  for  a  minister  to  preach  in  the  fields,  or 
to  any  assemblage  unless  it  should  be  housed  within  four  walls.  Any  one  at- 
tending a  conventicle  incurred  the  penalty  of  fine,  imprisonment,  or  trans- 
portation to  the  Barbadoes  or  Virginia.  Some  seventeen  thousand  persons 
were  thus  punished  in  a  single  year  for  that  offence.  "  Letters  of  Intercom- 
muning"  were  issued  against  many  prominent  and  upright  citizens — both  men 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops         457 

and  women — who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  persecution.  By 
this  means  they  were  outlawed  and  placed  under  a  ban,  death  being  the 
penalty  to  any  person  who  should  offer  them  food,  comfort,  or  succor. 
Wodrow  (vol.  i.,  p.  394)  mentions  the  names  of  some  of  these  sufferers,  as 
follows:  "  David  Williamson,  Alexander  Moncrief,  William  Wiseheart, 
Thomas  Hogg  in  Ross,  George  Johnstone,  Robert  Gillespie,  John  McGilli- 
gan,  John  Ross,  Thomas  Hogg  in  Stirlingshire,  William  Erskine,  James 
Donaldson,  Andrew  Anderson,  Andrew  Morton,  Donald  Cargill,  Robert 
Maxwell,  elder  and  younger,  James  Fraser  of  Brea,  John  King;  and  with 
these  a  good  many  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  joined,  besides  many  of  lower 
rank,  altogether  upwards  of  one  hundred  persons." 

In  167 1  the  Bass  Rock,  off  the  coast  of  Scotland,  was  purchased  by  the 
Crown,  and  made  a  prison  for  the  confinement  of  prisoners  of  state.  In  1672 
the  fines  became  more  oppressive,  and  the  ejected  ministers  were  hunted 
from  place  to  place  like  wild  beasts.  Many  of  them  were  imprisoned  on  the 
Bass  the  next  year. 

It  was  finally  determined  to  crush  the  Western  Presbyterians,  or  Whigs, 
as  they  were  sometimes  called,  by  armed  force,  and  for  this  purpose  a  body 
of  eight  or  ten  thousand  half-savage  Highlanders  was  mustered,  and  quar- 
tered in  the  western  Lowlands  for  a  period  of  three  months,  accompanied  by 
a  force  of  regular  troops,  with  field-pieces  for  attack,  shackles  for  the  pris- 
oners, and  thumb-screws  for  torture.  This  horde  of  clansmen  was  given  full 
license  and  encouraged  to  rob,  kill,  torment,  and  outrage  the  Presbyterians 
at  will.  These  Highlanders,  the  very  scum  of  the  country,  savage  in  their 
natures  and  cruel  in  their  dispositions,  now  spread  over  the  Southwest,  where 
they  plundered  and  ravaged  without  hindrance.  On  information  from  the 
curates  they  would  visit  the  houses  of  the  Covenanters,  empty  their  oats  into 
the  water,  tramp  their  food  into  the  dunghill,  and  set  fire  to  their  belongings. 
They  robbed  all  whom  they  met,  and  those  whom  they  suspected  of  having 
property  concealed  were  forced  to  discover  it  by  being  held  over  a  fire.  To 
the  defenceless  women  their  behavior  was  unspeakable. 

Notwithstanding  the  barbarous  oppression  of  the  Highland  Host,  the 
people  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  Episcopacy,  and  the  conventicles 
multiplied.  Thereupon  Sharp  devised  a  measure  of  such  crushing  severity 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  got  it  carried  in  the  priest-ridden  Council.  He 
drew  up  the  draft  of  a  new  edict,  giving  power  to  kill  every  man  going 
armed  to  or  from  a  conventicle.  Any  officer,  even  the  meanest  sergeant, 
was  authorized  to  shoot  on  the  spot  any  man  who,  as  he  chose  to  think,  was 
either  going  to  or  returning  from  a  conventicle.  But  Archbishop  Sharp's 
bloody  course  was  well-nigh  run.  Regarding  Presbyterians  with  the  ani- 
mosity of  an  apostate,  he  had  become  notorious  among  their  persecutors. 
In  1668,  he  had  been  fired  at  by  a  man  named  Mitchell,  who  was  not  cap- 
tured for  six  years  afterwards.  When  taken,  there  was  no  legal  proof  of  his 
guilt.     Sharp  swore  with  uplifted  hand  that  the  prisoner's  life  would  be 


458  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

spared  in  case  he  confessed  his  crime.  Notwithstanding  this  promise, 
Mitchell,  on  confessing,  was  placed  in  confinement,  and  afterwards  barbar- 
ously executed.  But  before  many  years  the  archbishop  himself  met  a  fate 
as  horrible  as  that  to  which  he  had  been  the  means  of  sending  so  many  others. 
On  the  3d  of  May,  1679,  twelve  Presbyterians  were  near  St.  Andrews, 
watching  for  one  of  Sharp's  agents,  named  Carmichael,  who  had  rendered 
himself  particularly  obnoxious  as  a  persecutor  by  placing  lighted  matches 
between  the  fingers  of  women  and  children.  Failing  to  meet  the  servant, 
they  happened  to  encounter  the  archbishop  himself,  who  with  his  daughter 
was  driving  from  Edinburgh  to  St.  Andrews.  They  surrounded  the  carriage, 
disarmed  the  servants,  and  told  Sharp  to  prepare  for  his  death.  He 
earnestly  begged  for  mercy,  promised  to  lay  down  his  office  of  bishop,  and 
offered  them  money  if  only  they  would  spare  his  life.  Refusing  his  offers 
with  contempt,  they  again  ordered  him  to  prepare  for  death.  But  he  still 
shrank  from  engaging  in  prayer,  and  continued  his  abject  petitions  for 
mercy.  They  now  discharged  their  pistols  at  him  and,  thinking  he  was 
dead,  turned  away.  But  overhearing  his  daughter  say  to  herself  that  there 
was  still  life,  they  returned  and  found  Sharp  unhurt.  He  then  got  out  of  the 
carriage,  and  going  down  on  his  knees  cried  for  mercy,  directing  his  petitions 
chiefly  to  David  Hackston  of  Rathillet,  who  declined  to  interfere.  The 
others  told  him  to  ask  for  mercy  from  God  and  not  from  them,  and  after- 
wards put  him  to  death  with  their  swords.  They  then  returned  thanks  to 
God  for  what  had  been  accomplished,  and  succeeded  in  escaping.  Presby- 
terians generally  disapproved  this  awful  deed,  although  they  regarded  it  as 
a  judgment  from  God  on  one  who  first  betrayed  and  then  persecuted  his 
brethren. 

For  many  years  after  Sharp's  death,  when  Presbyterians  were  appre- 
hended, they  were  usually  asked,  whether  or  not  they  considered  the 
archbishop's  assassination  murder.  Should  they  truthfully  answer  in  the 
negative,  or  refuse  to  reply,  death  was  the  immediate  penalty. 

Among  the  persecutors,  none  obtained  a  greater  reputation  for  cruelty 
than  John  Graham  of  Claverhouse.  Under  a  soft  exterior  he  concealed  a 
daring  spirit,  regardless  of  danger  and  death.  He  had  therefore  no  hesita- 
tion in  condemning  others  to  what  he  could  face  with  courage  himself. 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1679,  Mr.  Robert  Hamilton  and  some  of  his  friends 
published  a  declaration  at  Rutherglen  against  all  the  persecuting  acts  of  the 
Council  and  Parliament.  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  hearing  of  this,  marched 
in  search  of  those  by  whom  the  declaration  was  published.  Hamilton,  with 
one  hundred  and  seventy  foot  and  forty  horse,  came  up  to  Claverhouse  at  a 
place  called  Drumclog.  After  a  short  preliminary  engagement,  Balfour  with 
the  horse  and  William  Cleland  with  the  infantry  crossed  a  morass  and  at- 
tacked the  dragoons,  who  were  soon  put  to  flight.  The  Covenanters  killed 
forty  on  the  field,  and  rescued  Mr.  John  King,  with  about  fourteen  other 
prisoners. 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops         459 

Claverhouse  fled  to  Glasgow,  where  he  was  pursued  by  the  Covenanters. 
Failing  to  capture  the  city,  they  retreated  to  the  town  of  Hamilton.  Here 
they  were  joined  by  many  country  people,  and  all  organized  against  the 
common  enemy.  But  they  were  sadly  lacking  in  arms  and  training;  and 
through  the  ill  advice  of  Mr.  Hamilton  it  was  determined  not  to  admit  into 
their  ranks  any  one  who  would  not  condemn  the  Indulgence.  This  action 
caused  a  division,  and  prevented  the  Presbyterians  from  being  able  to  raise 
an  army  of  more  than  about  four  thousand  men. 

The  duke  of  Monmouth,  a  natural  son  of  King  Charles,  commanded  the 
royal  army  sent  to  subdue  this  rebellion.  The  Covenanters  awaited  his 
approach  on  ground  gently  rising  from  the  left  bank  of  the  Clyde,  opposite 
Bothwell.  Here  a  bridge,  only  twelve  feet  wide,  spanned  the  river,  which 
winds  round  the  base  of  the  hill  on  which  the  village  is  built.  Monmouth 
occupied  Bothwell  and  the  level  plain  below,  and,  on  the  226.  of  June,  1679, 
commenced  the  attack.  Hackston  of  Rathillet,  with  three  hundred  men, 
placed  among  cottages  and  behind  barricades,  defended  the  bridge  for  some 
time  with  courage  and  success.  At  last  their  ammunition  was  expended, 
and  Hamilton,  when  asked  to  send  a  fresh  supply,  ordered  Hackston  to 
withdraw  from  his  position,  "  leaving  the  world  to  debate  whether  he  acted 
most  like  a  traitor,  coward,  or  fool."  Hackston  obeyed,  the  royal  army 
passed  the  bridge  and  charged  the  main  body  of  the  Covenanters,  who  were 
completely  defeated  and  about  twelve  hundred  taken  prisoners.  The  sol- 
diers then  scoured  the  country  and  shot  a  great  number  suspected  of  being 
concerned  in  the  rising. 

Although  Monmouth  was  devoid  of  religion,  he  was  not  bloodthirsty, 
and  tried  to  restrain  the  cruelty  of  his  army.  But  he  failed  to  prevent  others 
who  were  in  power  from  carrying  on  their  bloody  work.  Many  of  the 
prisoners  taken  at  Bothwell  were  executed.  Among  these  were  some  who 
had  refused  to  take  part  in  the  rebellion  or  to  preach  to  the  insurgents. 
The  other  prisoners  were  brought  to  Edinburgh,  almost  naked.  For  five 
months  they  were  kept  in  Greyfriars'  Churchyard.  During  almost  all  this 
period  they  had  to  remain  in  the  open  air.  At  night  they  slept  on  the  cold 
ground  without  shelter  from  the  rain;  and  if  any  one,  to  ease  his  position, 
raised  his  head  a  little,  he  was  shot  at  by  some  of  the  soldiers.  After  a 
lengthened  period  of  suffering  a  few  escaped,  some  were  liberated  through 
the  intercession  of  friends,  some  were  executed,  and  upwards  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  were  condemned  to  transportation.  Placed  on  board  ship,  they 
were  crowded  together  under  deck,  where  there  was  so  little  space  that  most 
had  to  stand  in  order  to  give  more  room  to  the  dying.  Many  fainted,  and 
were  nearly  suffocated.  So  little  food  or  water  was  supplied  to  them  that 
they  had  to  endure  the  torments  of  hunger  and  thirst.  The  greater  part  of 
fourteen  thousand  merks,  collected  for  their  relief  in  Edinburgh,  was  appro- 
priated by  their  persecutors.  The  ship  sailed  from  Leith  on  the  27th  of 
November,  1679,  and  on  the  10th  of  December  it  was  caught  in  a  storm  off 


460  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Orkney.  The  prisoners  begged  to  be  put  on  shore,  where  they  agreed  to 
remain  in  prison;  but  the  shipmaster  refused,  and  locked  the  hatches.  That 
night  the  ship  was  driven  on  a  rock  and  broken  in  the  middle.  The  crew 
easily  escaped  by  means  of  a  mast  laid  from  the  vessel  to  the  shore.  The  pris- 
oners were  left  to  their  fate.  Some  of  them,  with  the  energy  of  despair,  burst 
open  the  hatches  and  made  good  their  way  to  land;  but  the  crew  pushed 
many  of  them  down  the  rocks  into  the  sea.  Only  about  forty  escaped,  who 
were  afterwards  sent  to  New  Jersey  and  Jamaica,  where  they  had  to  work 
under  a  burning  sun  in  company  with  negro  slaves.  But  few  of  these 
remained  alive  until  1689,  when  the  Revolution  brought  them  liberty.2  The 
captain  who  had  so  cruelly  murdered  his  prisoners  was  never  brought  to  trial. 

The  effect  of  these  persecutions  was  to  cause  many  of  the  Presbyterian 
laity  to  disown  the  authority  of  the  civil  as  well  as  of  the  ecclesiastical  rul- 
ers and  form  themselves  into  societies.  But  Messrs.  Donald  Cargill  and 
Richard  Cameron  were  the  only  ministers  who  now  identified  themselves 
with  this  party.  On  the  June  22,  1680,  about  twenty  of  these  men  met  at 
Sanquhar,  and  issued  a  declaration  in  which  they  disowned  "  Charles 
Stuart"  and  declared  war  against  him  as  a  tyrant  and  usurper.  Cameron 
had  been  an  Episcopalian,  but  having  given  up  Prelacy  he  became  a  preacher 
to  those  who  renounced  the  civil  authority.  After  many  marvellous  escapes, 
he  was  at  last  killed  in  an  engagement  at  Ayr's  Moss.  David  Hackston  of 
Rathillet,  the  slayer  of  Archbishop  Sharp,  was  captured  at  the  same  engage- 
ment, and  soon  afterwards  put  to  death  under  circumstances  of  unparalleled 
barbarity.  His  right  hand  was  cut  off,  and  after  a  little  time  his  left  hand. 
Afterwards,  he  was  hanged  up  with  a  pulley,  and  when  half  suffocated  let 
down.  The  executioner  then  cut  open  his  breast  and  tore  out  his  still 
moving  heart,  into  which  he  stuck  his  knife,  and  holding  it  up  said,  "  Here 
is  the  heart  of  a  traitor." 

Cargill  was  now  the  only  minister  left  alive  among  the  Cameronians.  He 
preached  to  vast  crowds  at  field  conventicles.  In  September,  1680,  he  pro- 
nounced sentence  of  excommunication  on  the  king,  the  duke  of  York,  and 
the  other  chief  persecutors.  But  the  next  year  he  was  captured  and  executed. 
The  Cameronians  then  remained  without  a  minister  until  the  return  of  Mr. 
James  Renwick,  who  had  gone  to  Holland  for  ordination.  The  extreme 
position  taken  up  by  these  societies  caused  the  Government  to  proceed 
against  the  other  Presbyterians  with  greater  severity. 

During  the  five  or  six  years  following  Bothwell  Bridge  the  persecution 
was  at  its  fiercest.  The  Duke  of  York — afterwards  James  II. — now  came  to 
Scotland,  to  urge  on  the  work  of  murder.  "  There  would  never  be  peace  in 
Scotland,"  he  said,  "  till  the  whole  of  the  country  south  of  the  Forth  was 
turned  into  a  hunting  field."  It  seemed  to  give  this  particular  Stuart  great 
pleasure  to  watch  the  torments  of  tortured  Covenanters.  The  country  was 
laid  under  martial  law,  and  neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared.  Prisoners  were 
tortured  until  they  were  compelled  to  accuse  themselves  of  crimes  they  had 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops         461 

never  committed,  and  were  then  executed  on  their  own  confessions.  The 
years  1684  and  1685  went  far  beyond  the  rest  in  cruelty  and  murder.  They 
have  since  been  known  in  Scotland  as  the  "  Killing  Time."  The  bishops* 
soldiers  were  sent  out  over  the  country  empowered  to  kill  all  Covenanters. 
Those  whom  they  met  were  required  to  answer  the  following  questions: 
"  Was  Bothwell  Bridge  rebellion  ?  Was  the  killing  of  the  archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews  murder  ?  Will  you  pray  for  the  king  ?  Will  you  renounce  the 
Covenant?"  As  a  great  majority  of  the  western  Lowlanders  could  not 
truthfully  answer  any  of  these  questions  in  the  affirmative,  and  a  negative 
answer  involved  immediate  death,  the  defenceless  people  were  slaughtered 
by  thousands. 

Almost  every  burial-place  in  the  western  Lowlands  of  Scotland  contains 
the  graves  of  Scottish  martyrs  who  refused  to  perjure  themselves  when  these 
questions  were  put  to  them.  Thousands  of  men,  women,  and  children  were 
thus  sacrificed  to  the  malignant  fury  of  the  bishops.3 

Charles  died  on  the  6th  of  February,  1685,  having  previously  received 
absolution  from  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  He  was  succeeded  by 
James,  Duke  of  York,  an  avowed  Roman  Catholic,  who  had  even  more  vices 
and  fewer  virtues  than  his  brother. 

The  new  king  on  his  accession  promised  to  maintain  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  he  submitted  to  be  crowned  in  Westminster  Abbey  by  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury.  A  party,  made  up  of  the  more  zealous  Protes- 
tants and  the  more  determined  Whigs,  rightly  fearing  that  he  would  prove  a 
tyrant  and  a  persecutor,  began  a  feeble  insurrection.  The  earl  of  Argyle 
landed  in  Scotland  to  call  the  Covenanters  to  arms.  The  duke  of  Mon- 
mouth, the  natural  son  of  Charles  II.,  careless  of  religion  but  desirous  of  a 
crown,  also  raised  the  standard  of  insurrection  in  England.  These  attempts 
were  both  abortive.  Argyle  was  captured  and  executed.  Monmouth,  de- 
feated at  Sedgemoor,  suffered  the  same  penalty,  notwithstanding  his  relation- 
ship to  the  king.  Many  of  his  followers  were  butchered  by  Colonel  Percy 
Kirke,  who  scoured  the  country  with  his  "  lambs."  The  prisoners,  tried  by 
Jeffreys  at  the  "  Bloody  Assizes,"  were  executed  in  such  numbers  as  to  excite 
terror  and  consternation  throughout  the  kingdom.  This  judge  declared 
that  he  could  "  smell  a  Presbyterian  forty  miles,"  and  boasted  that  he  had 
hanged  more  traitors  than  all  his  predecessors  since  the  Conquest. 

The  accession  of  James  brought  no  immediate  relief  to  the  persecuted 
Covenanters  of  Scotland.  An  Episcopal  farmer  named  Gilbert  Wilson 
had  two  daughters — Agnes,  aged  thirteen,  and  Margaret,  aged  eighteen. 
These  girls  attended  conventicles,  and  had  become  Presbyterians.  Arrested 
and  condemned  to  death,  their  father  succeeded  in  procuring  the  pardon  of 
the  younger  on  paying  ^100  sterling.  But  the  elder  daughter  and  an  old 
woman  named  Margaret  MacLaughlan  were  bound  to  stakes  on  the  seashore 
that  they  might  be  drowned  by  the  rising  tide.  After  the  old  woman  was 
dead,  and  the  water  had  passed  over  Margaret  Wilson's  head,  the  latter  was 


462  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

brought  out,  restored  to  consciousness,  and  offered  life  if  she  would  take  the 
abjuration  oath.  But  she  said,  "lam  one  of  Christ's  children,  let  me  go." 
She  was  then  once  more  placed  in  the  sea,  and  her  sufferings  ended  by 
death. 

At  Priest  Hill,  in  Lanarkshire,  lived  a  man  named  John  Brown,  noted 
for  his  piety,  and  void  of  offence  to  the  world.  On  the  1st  of  May,  1685, 
while  engaged  in  cutting  turf,  he  was  seized  by  Claverhouse,  andcondemned 
to  death  for  being  a  Presbyterian.  His  wife  was  present,  holding  one  child 
by  the  hand,  and  exhibiting  proof  that  she  would  soon  again  become  a 
mother.  With  difficulty,  Mr.  Brown  received  permission  to  engage  in  prayer. 
By  his  prayer  he  so  moved  the  soldiers  that  not  one  of  them  would  act  as 
executioner.  Thereupon  Claverhouse,  with  his  own  hand,  shot  the  prisoner 
dead.  His  wife,  in  her  sorrow,  then  turned  round  to  the  murderer  and  told 
him  that  his  own  day  of  reckoning  would  soon  come.  "  To  men,"  he  re- 
plied, "  I  can  be  answerable.  As  for  God,  I  '11  take  Him  into  mine  own 
hand." 

A  change  now  took  place  in  the  policy  of  King  James.  Doubtless  he 
would  have  preferred  still  to  persecute  all  classes  of  Puritans,  while  favoring 
Roman  Catholics.  But  he  felt  that  it  would  appear  inconsistent  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  to  give  Roman  Catholics  permission  to  do  the  very  same  things 
for  which  his  soldiers  were  shooting  down  Presbyterians.  He  also  hoped  to 
obtain  valuable  political  aid  from  Nonconformists  in  support  of  the  power 
he  claimed,  to  dispense  with  those  laws  by  which  they,  as  well  as  Roman 
Catholics,  were  persecuted.  Moved  by  these  considerations,  he  published 
on  the  4th  of  April,  1687,  a  Declaration  of  Indulgence,  in  which,  by  his 
own  authority,  without  any  sanction  from  Parliament,  he  suspended  the 
penal  laws  against  Nonconformists  and  Roman  Catholics.  But,  while  the 
ordinary  Presbyterian  services  were  permitted  and  Roman  Catholic  services 
encouraged,  the  regulations  against  field  conventicles  were  continued  in  full 
force.  Presbyterians  in  general  deemed  it  their  duty  to  take  advantage  of 
this  Indulgence;  but  the  Cameronians  refused  to  comply  with  the  conditions 
by  which  liberty  might  be  obtained,  and,  contrary  to  law  and  contrary  to  the 
Indulgence,  they  continued  to  meet  in  field  conventicles. 

The  Rev.  James  Renwick,  a  young  man  of  five-and-twenty,  minister  of 
the  persecuted  Cameronian  societies,  had  preached  with  great  power  against 
those  who  took  advantage  of  the  Indulgence.  But  his  career  was  short ;  for, 
on  the  17th  of  February,  1688,  having  been  apprehended,  he  suffered  the 
penalty  of  death.  Renwick  was  the  last  of  the  Scottish  martyrs.  David 
Houston  came  very  near  to  obtaining  that  honor.  Arrested  in  Ireland,  he 
was  brought  to  Scotland  to  be  tried.  On  the  18th  of  June,  near  Cumnock, 
in  Ayrshire,  his  military  escort  was  attacked  and  defeated  by  a  body  of 
Covenanters.  Mr.  Houston  was  released,  and  evaded  recapture  until  King 
James  was  driven  from  his  throne. 

The  persecution   in   Scotland   was  now  soon  to  end.     About  eighteen 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops         463 

thousand  Presbyterians  had  been  punished  by  the  law  or  had  perished  of 
hardships.  Nearly  five  hundred  had  been  murdered  in  cold  blood,  and 
three  hundred  and  sixty-two  had  been  executed.  Nevertheless,  after 
twenty-eight  years  of  persecution  the  Presbyterian  Church  stood  as  firmly  as 
ever  in  the  affections  of  the  Scottish  people.  Threats,  confiscation,  torture, 
and  death  itself  in  its  most  cruel  forms  had  failed  to  compel  them  to  use  a 
liturgy. 

The  king  issued  a  second  declaration  granting  further  indulgences  to 
the  Roman  Catholics  and  Presbyterians.  This  he  ordered  to  be  read  in  all 
the  churches  and  chapels  of  the  kingdom.  Seven  bishops  of  the  English 
Episcopal  Church  on  petitioning  his  Majesty  to  withdraw  this  obnoxious 
order,  were  committed  to  prison  and  brought  to  trial.  But  all  the  influence 
of  the  court,  exercised  to  procure  their  conviction,  failed  to  frighten  the 
jury,  and  the  prelates  were  acquitted.  The  spirit  of  the  whole  nation  was 
now  aroused.  Tory  parsons  who  had  maintained  the  divine  right  of  kings 
to  do  wrong,  who,  so  long  as  only  Nonconformists  were  persecuted,  preached 
the  duty  of  passive  obedience  under  the  most  cruel  sufferings  which  his 
gracious  Majesty  chose  to  inflict,  were  horrified  to  see  their  own  bishops 
standing  accused  before  a  legal  tribunal,  and  commenced  to  modify  in  prac- 
tice what  they  held  in  theory.  The  great  majority  of  Tories  and  Churchmen 
began  now  to  desire  a  deliverer  as  earnestly  as  Whigs  and  Puritans.  All, 
with  singular  unanimity,  turned  their  eyes  to  William  Henry,  Prince  of 
Orange,  grandson  of  Charles  I.,  nephew  and  son-in-law  of  James,  and  First 
Magistrate  of  the  Dutch  Republic.  William  was  now  thirty-eight  years  of 
age.  When  little  more  than  a  boy  he  had  contended  with  honor  in  the 
field  against  the  ablest  generals  of  the  age.  Although  defeated  in  bloody 
battles,  he  contrived  to  reap  the  fruits  of  victory  and  deliver  his  country 
from  destruction.  A  Calvinist  in  religion,  he  was  regarded  as  head  of  the 
Protestant  interest  on  the  Continent,  and  even  his  enemies  admitted  that  he 
was  the  ablest  statesman  in  Europe. 

William  undertook  to  free  Britain  from  the  tyranny  of  his  father-in-law. 
With  a  fleet  of  six  hundred  vessels,  having  on  board  fifteen  thousand 
soldiers,  he  arrived  at  Torbay,  in  the  south  of  England,  on  the  5th  of  No- 
vember, 1688.  There  he  unfurled  his  standard  with  its  memorable  inscrip- 
tion, "  I  will  maintain  the  liberties  of  England  and  the  Protestant  religion." 
James,  wholly  unable  to  oppose  him,  had  soon  to  seek  safety  in  flight. 
William,  and  Mary  his  wife,  were  then,  by  a  Convention  Parliament,  elected 
king  and  queen  of  England. 

In  Scotland,  the  country  people,  who  had  borne  with  the  curates  for  six- 
and-twenty  years,  could  now  endure  them  no  longer.  Without  waiting  for 
the  Parliament  to  re-establish  Presbyterianism,  they  drove  many  of  these 
parsons  from  their  parishes.  "  The  time  of  their  fall,"  says  Patrick  Walker, 
"  was  now  come.  Faintness  was  entered  into  their  hearts,  insomuch  that  the 
greater  part  of  them  could  not  speak  sense,  but  stood  trembling  and  sweat- 


464  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ing.  I  enquired  at  them  what  made  them  to  tremble;  they  that  had  been 
teachers  and  defenders  of  the  prelatic  principles,  and  active  instruments  in 
many  of  our  national  mischiefs  ?  How  would  they  tremble  and  sweat  if  they 
were  in  the  Grassmarket  going  up  the  ladder  with  the  rope  before  them,  and 
the  lad  with  the  pyoted  coat  at  their  tail  !  But  they  were  speechless  objects 
of  pity." 

In  March,  1689,  a  Convention  of  the  Estates  was  held  in  Edinburgh, 
William,  by  his  own  power,  dispensing  with  the  laws  which  deprived  Presby- 
terians of  their  votes.  The  Covenanters,  in  order  to  protect  the  members 
who  belonged  to  their  party,  assembled  in  arms,  many  of  them  carrying  the 
weapons  they  had  used  at  Bothwell  Bridge.  Conspicuous  among  these  brave 
men  was  William  Cleland,  who  when  only  seventeen  years  of  age  had  led  the 
infantry  to  victory  in  the  charge  at  Drumclog.  Distinguished  as  a  poet  and 
a  mathematician,  he  was  brave  even  to  recklessness.  Now  he  sought  to 
meet  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  Viscount  Dundee,  in  mortal  conflict.  But 
Dundee,  finding  that  the  majority  of  the  Convention  could  neither  be  forced 
nor  flattered  to  support  the  claims  of  the  House  of  Stuart,  and  fearing  to  be 
cut  in  pieces  by  Cleland,  left  Edinburgh,  and  fled  to  the  Highlands.  There 
the  mass  of  the  population  professed  a  religion  which  was  a  strange  mixture 
of  paganism  and  popery.  They  had  no  love  for  either  king  or  country,  but 
were  loyal  to  their  clans  and  attached  to  their  chieftains,  who  ruled  them  as 
petty  sovereigns.  Some  of  these  chieftains,  fearing  they  might  now  be 
called  on  to  restore  what  they  held  of  the  confiscated  estates  of  the  martyred 
Argyle,  were  ready  to  rebel  against  the  authority  of  William.  Thus  Dundee 
was  easily  able  to  raise  an  army  of  Highlanders.  He  took  the  field  at  once, 
and  defeated  General  Mackay,  on  the  27th  of  July,  at  Killiecrankie,  but  was 
himself  slain  in  the  battle.  He  was  succeeded  as  commander-in-chief  by 
Colonel  Canon,  who  continued  the  rebellion. 

A  regiment  of  Covenanters,  under  William  Cleland,  now  lay  not  far 
off  at  Dunkeld,  placed  there  among  their  enemies  by  some  traitor,  that  they 
might  be  cut  to  pieces.  They  had  been  deserted  by  the  cavalry,  had  been 
supplied  with  a  barrel  of  figs  instead  of  gunpowder,  and  were  in  all  only 
seven  hundred  strong;  while  Canon  led  to  the  attack  five  thousand  High- 
landers, who  had  scented  blood  and  were  flushed  with  victory.  Cleland 
drew  up  his  men  with  great  skill  behind  some  walls  near  a  house  which  be- 
longed to  the  marquis  of  Athol.  Although  surrounded  on  all  sides,  the 
Covenanters  repulsed  repeated  attacks  of  the  enemy.  Again  and  again  the 
Highlanders  came  on  with  fearful  fury,  but  the  Presbyterians  fought  with 
the  energy  of  despair.  When  their  bullets  were  gone,  they  used  bits  of  lead 
cut  off  the  roof  of  Athol's  house.  Galled  by  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  who  shot 
at  them  from  some  dwellings  in  the  vicinity,  they  sallied  out,  secured  the 
doors,  and  set  these  buildings  on  fire,  so  that  many  of  their  occupants  per- 
ished in  the  flames.  After  a  fearful  conflict,  the  Highlanders  at  length 
retreated,  and  the  Covenanters  sang  a  psalm  of  triumph.     The  war  was  now 


Scotland  under  Charles  II.  and  the  Bishops         465 

ended,  and  the  power  of  William  supreme  throughout  Scotland.     But  the 
victory  was  dearly  bought,  for  the  gallant  Cleland  had  fallen. 

Meanwhile  the  Convention  had  given  the  crown  of  Scotland  to  William 
and  Mary,  had  abolished  all  the  persecuting  laws,  and  had  re-established 
Presbyterianism  as  the  national  religion.  Then  in  the  words  of  Defoe, 
"  not  a  dog  wagged  his  tongue  against  the  Presbyterian  establishment,  not 
a  mouth  gave  a  vote  for  Episcopacy." 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXI 

1  The  greater  part  of  this  chapter  is  condensed  from  Latimer's  History  of  the  Irish 
Presbyterians. 

*  See  Vol.  II.,  p.  252. 

8  See  Appendix  R  (The  Scottish  Martyrs).     The  Privy  Council  on  May  6,  1684,  pub- 
lished a  list  of  the  fugitives  who  had  been  outlawed  but  not  yet  apprehended.     This  list, 
containing  upwards  of  1800  names,  is  reprinted  by  Robert  Wodrow  in  his  History  of  the 
Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  bk.  iii.,  ch.  viii. 
30 


THE  SCOT  IN  NORTH  IRELAND 


467 


Note. — A  large  part  of  the  following  account  of  the  Scots  in  Ireland  was  written 
by  Dr.  W.  T.  Latimer,  and  is  condensed,  by  permission,  from  that  writer's  valuable  History 
of  the  Irish  Presbyterians  (James  Cleland,  Belfast,  1893)  and  from  Mr.  John  Harrison's 
monograph  on  The  Scot  in  Ulster  (William  Blackwood  &  Sons,  Edinburgh,  1888). 


468 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

IRELAND  UNDER  THE  TUDORS 

IT  has  been  said  of  Henry  VIII.  that  the  world  gained  more  benefit  from 
his  vices  than  from  his  virtues.  His  failure  to  persuade  the  Pope  to 
grant  him  a  divorce  from  Catherine  of  Aragon  led  to  the  downfall  of  the 
Roman  Church  as  the  State  religion  of  England.  In  its  stead,  Henry- 
erected  the  Church  of  England,  and  in  153 1  caused  Parliament  to  declare 
him  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church.  Three  years  later  his  Church  was 
completely  separated  from  that  of  Rome,  the  people  accepting  their  new 
pope  without  demur.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  change  of  law 
produced  in  England  a  change  of  religion,  which  assumed  the  Protestant 
form  not  so  much  through  the  influence  of  the  principles  of  the  Reformation, 
as  through  the  determination  of  Henry  to  make  Anne  Boleyn  his  wife.  As 
the  result  of  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  a  change  of  religion  produced  a 
change  of  law  and  of  government;  and  the  Scotch  reformers  purged  their 
Church  from  its  obvious  errors,  and  stripped  her  of  all  forms  and  ceremonies. 
In  England  the  form  of  the  new  religion  arose  from  a  silent  compromise,  the 
English  Church  being  left  as  much  like  the  Romish  as  possible,  in  order  to 
get  the  people  to  acquiesce  in  the  supremacy  of  the  king.  Hence  it  has 
never  been  as  successful  as  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  throwing  off  the  bonds 
of  feudalism. 

In  Ireland,  it  was  not  until  1537  that  the  king  was  declared  head  of  the 
Church  and  appeals  to  Rome  were  forbidden.  But  the  Irish  hated  the  Eng- 
lish as  oppressors,  and  they  became  more  firmly  attached  to  their  religion 
when  ordered  to  lay  it  aside  by  their  enemies.  For  this  reason,  Protestant- 
ism made  but  little  progress  amongst  the  native  Irish,  even  within  the  English 
Pale.  The  Irish  language  was  proscribed  by  the  Government,  which  thus 
refused  to  employ  the  only  means  by  which  the  people  could  be  made  to 
understand  the  reformed  faith,  or  be  led  to  adopt  the  religion  of  England  and 
become  reconciled  to  her  rule. 

The  first  preacher  of  the  Protestant  faith  in  Ireland  was  George  Browne, 
whom  Henry,  in  1535,  appointed  Archbishop  of  Dublin.  By  his  orders,  the 
"  Staff  of  Jesus  "  was  consigned  to  the  flames.  This  celebrated  crozier, 
supposed  to  possess  the  power  of  working  miracles,  had  for  seven  hundred 
years  been  regarded  with  the  utmost  veneration;  and  every  adherent  of  the 
ancient  faith  was  horrified  by  its  destruction. 

In  Ulster,  Con  O'Neill,  incited  by  the  Pope,  made  war  on  the  English, 
but,  being  defeated  in  1539,  he  promised  to  acknowledge  Henry  as  head  of 
the  Church.  Cromer,  the  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  made  a 
similar  submission;  and  throughout  the  Pale  the  clergy  generally  took  the 

469 


470  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

oath  of  supremacy.  But  these  submissions  were  merely  nominal.  Neither 
then  nor  afterwards  did  any  large  proportion  of  the  Irish  priests  or  people 
consent  to  give  up  a  religion  they  loved,  to  please  a  people  whom  they  hated. 

King  Henry  himself  cannot  be  considered  a  reformer.  In  England  he 
beheaded  as  traitors  those  who  were  for  the  Pope,  and  burned  as  heretics 
those  who  were  against  the  Pope.  At  this  time  there  was  no  persecution  in 
Ireland.  But  the  Reformed  faith  could  not  make  progress  when  it  was  con- 
sidered a  crime  to  teach  the  people  in  the  only  language  which  they  under- 
stood. 

Henry  died  in  1547,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Edward  VI.,  who, 
although  not  ten  years  of  age,  soon  manifested  a  leaning  towards  Protestant- 
ism. During  his  reign  the  English  liturgy  was  read  in  a  few  of  the  Irish 
cities  and  towns,  but,  not  being  understood  by  the  natives,  made  only  a  slight 
impression.  Several  bishops  favorable  to  the  Reformed  faith  were  now  ap- 
pointed. Of  these  the  most  celebrated  was  Bale,  who  attempted  to  instruct 
the  people  by  dramatic  representations  of  scriptural  events.  Even  he  could 
do  but  little,  as  he  was  opposed  by  an  ignorant  clergy  who  were  Romanists 
in  everything  but  name. 

Edward  died  in  1553,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sister  Mary,  an  ardent 
Roman  Catholic,  who  soon  re-established  the  ancient  faith  in  both  Eng- 
land and  Ireland.  Hugh  Curwin  was  appointed  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and 
others,  supposed  to  be  staunch  Romanists,  were  nominated  to  the  sees  left 
vacant  by  the  Protestant  bishops,  who  were  driven  from  the  country.  Bale 
remained  for  about  two  months;  but  five  of  his  servants  were  killed,  and  he 
had  to  make  his  escape  by  night,  lest  he  should  be  torn  to  pieces  by  a 
furious  mob. 

A  Parliament  met,  which  restored  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  and  enacted 
that  heretics  should  be  burnt  for  the  terror  of  others.  But  there  were  few 
in  Ireland  firmly  attached  to  the  Reformed  faith,  and  the  viceroy  was  not 
anxious  to  appear  as  a  persecutor.  Accordingly,  that  country  became  a 
place  of  refuge  for  the  Protestants  persecuted  in  England,  where  Latimer 
and  Ridley  and  many  other  distinguished  leaders  perished  at  the  stake. 

Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.,  ascended  the  throne  in  1558. 
Fearing  that  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  would  interfere  with  her  own  ambi- 
tious schemes,  she  inclined  to  the  faith  which  permitted  her  to  rule  both 
Church  and  State.  In  one  session,  without  violence  or  tumult,  the  religion 
of  the  English  nation  was  again  changed.  The  people,  ever  ready  to  mould 
their  moral  principles  according  to  the  will  of  the  sovereign,  became  Prot- 
estants for  Elizabeth  as  readily  as  they  had  become  Catholics  for  Mary. 
Attached  to  the  old  forms,  yet  hating  the  old  abuses,  they  were  ready  to 
accept  whatever  religion  it  pleased  their  rulers  to  establish.  In  this  case  the 
will  of  one  vain  woman  determined  the  future  faith  of  the  English  race. 

In  Ireland,  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  who  had  been  reappointed  viceroy, 
caused  the  litany  to  be  sung  in  English.     The  Romanists  raised  a  report 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  471 

that  an  image  of  Christ  in  the  cathedral  had  begun  to  sweat  blood,  to  show 
the  wrath  of  God  against  those  who  were  trying  to  reform  the  Church.  But 
Curwin,  who  had  determined  to  again  embrace  Protestantism,  found  that  a 
sponge  soaked  in  blood  had  been  placed  behind  the  crown  of  thorns,  on  the 
head  of  the  image.  Those  guilty  of  the  trick  had  to  do  public  penance. 
Like  Cranmer  in  England,  Curwin,  the  Archbishop,  then  once  more  changed 
his  religion  to  preserve  his  position.  In  the  presence  of  King  Henry,  he  had 
preached  against  Frith,  who  was  then  in  prison,  for  denying  purgatory  and 
transubstantiation,  thus  using  his  influence  in  favor  of  Frith's  martyrdom. 
A  Protestant  under  Edward  VI.,  Curwin  later  became  zealous  for  the  Old 
Faith  in  the  reign  of  Mary.  His  zeal  under  Elizabeth  was  now  transferred 
to  the  religion  which  he  had  a  few  months  previously  labored  to  destroy. 
Curwin  is  the  connecting  link  in  the  chain  of  Apostolic  succession,  which  is 
supposed  to  join  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Ireland  with  the  ancient  Church 
of  St.  Patrick.  Of  the  bishops,  only  Curwin  and  Field  embraced  Protes- 
tantism, and  only  Curwin  assisted  at  the  consecration  of  newly  appointed 
bishops.  He  had  been  himself  consecrated  at  London  House  by  English 
bishops,  under  the  presidency  of  the  bloody  Bonner,  whose  orders  can  be 
traced  step  by  step  to  Halsay,  Bishop  of  Leighlin  in  Ireland.  Halsay  was 
an  Englishman,  who  had  been  ordained  at  Rome. 

In  1570,  Pope  Pius  V.  excommunicated  Queen  Elizabeth,  declared  her 
deprived  of  the  kingdom,  and  absolved  the  people  from  obedience  to  her 
commands.  His  Bull,  although  regarded  with  contempt  in  England,  was 
the  means  of  strengthening  the  opposition  to  Elizabeth  in  Ireland;  but  the 
government  was  administered  with  vigor,  and  every  rebellion  subdued. 

Con  O'Neill,  who  ruled  a  large  portion  of  Ulster,  had,  in  1542,  accepted 
the  earldom  of  Tyrone  from  Henry  VIII. ,  subject  to  the  principles  of  Eng- 
lish succession,  and  not  according  to  the  Irish  custom  of  Tanistry,  by  which 
the  most  worthy  of  the  tribe  was,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  head,  chosen  as 
his  successor.  The  new-made  earl  promised  to  give  up  calling  himself 
"  The  O'Neill,"  to  recognize  Henry  as  head  of  the  Church,  and  to  compel 
his  tribe  to  make  a  similar  submission.  His  illegitimate  son  Matthew  (sup- 
posed to  be  in  reality  the  son  of  a  blacksmith  named  Kelly)  was  created 
Baron  of  Dungannon,  and  recognized  as  his  successor.  But  another  son 
called  Shane,  or  "  John  the  Proud,"  refused  to  assent  to  this  compact,  made 
war  on  his  father,  and  killed  Matthew.  Old  Con  did  not  live  long  af- 
terwards, and  Shane,  despising  an  English  title,  was  proclaimed  "  The 
O'Neill."  As  Protestantism  was  the  religion  of  his  enemies,  he  preferred 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith.  Fired  with  the  ambition  of  being  king  of  Ul- 
ster, he  imagined  that  through  the  influence  of  the  Pope  he  would  procure 
aid  from  the  Catholic  sovereigns  of  the  Continent  to  accomplish  his  designs. 
Having  carried  on  a  successful  war  against  the  English  for  a  long  period,  he 
was  at  last  defeated,  and  in  1567  slain  in  a  drunken  carousal  by  the  Mac- 
Donnells,  at  Cuchendun. 


472  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

The  condition  of  Ulster  in  Shane  O'Neill's  time  is  shown  by  the  following 
report  relating  to  the  state  of  Ireland,  written  May  8,  1552.  (Harl.  MSS. 
Brit.  Mus.  No.  35,  fol.  188V.-194V.) 

The  Chancellor  of  Ireland  to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  relating  to  the 
state  of  Ireland : 

Next  to  Breany  [Cavan]  is  M'Mahon's  country,  called  Oriell,  wherein 
be  three  captaynes,  the  one  in  Dardarye,  the  other  in  Ferny,  and 
M'Mahon  in  Leightie.  These  countryes  [parts  of  Monaghan  and  Armagh] 
are  lardge,  fast,  and  stronge;  amonge  whome  there  contynued  intestine 
warre  before  tyme,  whereby  the  most  parte  of  the  countrye  was  made  waste, 
neverthelesse  they  be  tall  men  of  the  number  of  lxxx.  horsemen,  cc  Kearne,1 
ivxx  [four  score]  galloglas,  [*>.,  armed  soldiers  or  servants  of  a  chief]  and  all 
these  for  the  most  parte  doe  occupie  husbandrye  except  the  Kearne,  and 
yett  some  of  them  doe  occupie  likewise:  and  nowe  of  late  before  Easter, 
by  appointmente  of  my  lorde  deputye,  I  resorted  to  them  to  see  their 
countryes  ordered;  and  they  all  assemblinge  before  me,  I  caused  them  not 
onlye  to  finde,  at  their  own  chardges  yearlie  vixx  [six  score]  galloglasses  to 
serve  the  kinge,  and  to  attende  uppon  an  Englishe  captayne  of  the  Englishe 
Pale,  which  hath  the  order  of  the  countrye  committed  unto  hym  for  the 
keepinge  of  the  king's  majestie's  peace,  the  maintenance  of  the  good  and  the 
punishmente  of  the  evell.  But  alsoe  I  caused  them  to  putt  in  their  pledges  to 
my  handes,  as  well  for  the  findeinge  of  the  galloglas,  as  for  the  due  perform- 
ance of  the  orders  which  I  tooke  betwixt  them ;  which  thinge  was  done  with- 
out force  or  rigor,  and  they  as  people  most  gladde  to  lyve  in  quyett,  applyed 
to  the  same,  which  is  great  towardnes  of  obedience.  Besides  this,  they  have 
and  yealde  to  all  sesses  to  the  souldiers  of  Moynehan  [Monaghan]  and  in 
other  places,  beeves  and  carryadge,  like  as  others  in  the  English  pale  doe. 

The  next  countrye  betwene  that  and  M'Gynnose's  [Magennis's]  countrye 
called  Iveache,  is  O'Hanlon's  countrye  called  Orres.  The  same  O'Hanlon 
is  an  honest  man,  and  he  and  his  countrye  lyeth  readye  to  obaye  all  com- 
mandements. 

The  next  to  O'Hanlon,  is  M'Gynnose  his  countrye  afforesaid,  wherein 
the  Myorie  [Moira]  Mr.  Marshall  fermer,  is  situated.  The  same  M'Gyn- 
nose is  a  civell  gentleman  and  useth  as  good  order  and  fashion  in  his  house, 
as  any  of  his  vocacion  in  Ireland:  and  doth  the  same  Englishe  like.  His 
countrey  is  obedyent  to  all  sesses  and  orders;  the  same  Iveache  hath  been 
parcell  of  the  countie  of  Downe,  and  he  beinge  made  sheriffe  thereof,  hath 
exercysed  his  offyce  there  as  well  as  any  other  sherriffe  doth;  soe  as  with 
them  there  lackes  noe  honest  obedyence. 

The  next  to  that  countrie  is  M'Cartan's  countrye,  a  man  of  small  power, 
wherein  are  noe  horsemen,  but  Kearne;  which  countrye  is  full  of  bogges, 
woodes,  and  moores,  and  beareth  with  the  captayne  of  Lecaille. 

The  next  to  that  countrie  is  the  Duffreyn,  whereof  one  John  Whight 
[White]  was  landlorde,  whoe  was  deceiptf ully  murthered  by  M'Ranills  Boye 
his  sonne,  a  Scott;  and  sithence  that  murther  he  keepeth  possession  of  the 
saide  landes;  by  meanes  whereof,  he  is  able  nowe  to  disturbe  the  next  ad- 
joyneinge  on  every  side,  which  shortlye  by  Godes  grace  shal  be  redressed. 
The  same  countrye  is  noe  greate  circuyte,  but  small,  full  of  woodes,  water 
and  good  lande,  meet  for  English  men  to  inhabitte. 

The  next  countrye  to  the  same  eastwardes  is  Leicaille,  where  Mr.  Brereton 
is  farmer  and  captyne;  which  is  a  handsome  playne  and  champion  countrye 
of  ten  myles  length,  and  fyve  myles  bredeth,  without  any  woode  groweinge 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  473 

therein.  The  sea  doth  ebbe  and  flowe  rounde  that  countrye,  soe  as  in  full 
water  noe  man  cann  enter  therein  uppon  drye  lande,  but  in  one  waye  which 
is  lesse  than  two  myles  in  length;  and  the  same  countrye  for  Englishe  free- 
holders, and  good  inhabitants  is  as  civile  as  few  places  in  the  Englishe  pale. 

The  next  countrye  to  that,  the  water  of  Strangeforde,  is  Arde  Savage  his 
countrye,  which  hath  bene  meere  Englyshe,  both  pleasuant  and  fayer  by  the 
sea;  of  length  about  xii  myles  and  iiii.  myles  in  breadeth,  about  which 
countrye  the  sea  doth  ebbe  and  flowe;  which  countrye  is  now  in  effecte  for 
the  most  parte  voyde. 

The  next  countrye  to  Arde  Savage  is  Clanneboy,  wherein  is  one  Morier- 
taghe  Cullenagh,  one  of  the  O' Neils,  whoe  hath  the  same  as  captayne  of 
Clanneboy.  But  he  is  not  able  to  maintayne  the  same.  He  hath  viii.  tall 
gentlemen  to  his  sonnes,  and  all  they  cannot  make  past  xxiiii.  horsemen. 
There  is  another  captyne  in  that  countrye  of  Phelim  Backagh  his  sonnes, 
tall  men,  which  take  parte  with  Hughe  M'Neile  Oge,  till  nowe  of  late  certayne 
refused  him,  and  went  to  Knockfergus. 

The  same  Hughe  M'Neile  Oge,  as  your  grace  hath  hearde,  was  prayed 
by  Mr.  Marshall,  whoe  hath  made  prayes  uppon  others  of  those  confynes  for 
the  same,  soe  as  he  is  noe  looser,  but  rayther  a  gayner  by  his  paynes.  He 
sought  to  have  his  matter  hearde  before  my  lord  deputye  and  councell, 
wheruppon  a  daye  was  prefixed  for  the  same  till  Maye ;  and  nowe  lately  I 
repayred  to  his  countrye,  to  talke  further  with  him,  to  tracte  the  tyme  till 
grasse  growe:  for  before  then  the  countryes  being  so  barren  of  victuall  and 
horsemeate,  noe  good  may  be  done  to  destroye  him,  whereby  I  perceyved 
that  he  was  determined  as  he  saythe  to  meete  me,  and  conclude  a  further 
peace.  Yett  he  hearinge  of  the  arryval  of  certayne  Scotts  to  the  Glynnes 
refused  to  come  to  me,  contrarye  to  his  wryteinge  and  sendinge;  and  went 
to  calle  M'Connill,  whoe  landed  with  vi.  or  vii.xx  [six  or  seven  score]  bowes, 
as  was  reported,  and  thought  to  bringe  them  with  him  to  warre  uppon  his 
next  neighboures;  soe  as  there  is  no  greate  likelyehoode  in  him  of  any  honest 
conformetye:  and  perceyveing  the  same  in  escheweinge  his  countrye,  I  ap- 
poynted,  and  planted  in  the  countrye  a  bande  of  horsemen  and  footmen  for 
defence  thereof  against  the  Scotte  yf  they  doe  come;  and  upon  the  as- 
semblingeof  the  councell  which  shal  be  within  these  iiii.  dayes,  God  willinge, 
suche  good  conclusions  shal  be  taken  for  the  defence  of  the  kingels  majesties 
subjects  in  those  quarters,  and  for  the  revenge  uppon  the  rebells,  as  yf  the 
Scotte  did  come,  they  shall  rather  repent  their  prosperitye  by  their  cominge. 

This  countrye  of  Clanneboy  is  in  woodes  and  bogges  for  the  greatest 
parte  wherein  lyeth  Knockfergus,  and  soe  to  the  Glynne's  where  the  Scotte 
doe  inhabitt.  As  much  of  this  countrye  as  is  neare  the  sea  is  a  champion 
countrye,  of  xx.  myles  in  length,  and  not  over  iiii.  myles  in  breadeth  or  little 
more.  The  same  Hughe  hath  two  castles:  one  called  Bealefarst  [Belfast] 
an  oulde  castle  standinge  uppon  a  fourde  that  leadeth  from  Arde  to  Clan- 
neboye,  which  being  well  repayred,  being  nowe  broken,  would  be  a  good 
defence  betwixt  the  woodes  and  Knockfergus.  The  other  called  Castell- 
rioughe  [Castlereagh]  is  fower  myles  from  Bealfarst,  and  standeth  uppon  the 
playne,  in  the  middest  of  the  woodes  of  the  Duff erin ;  and  beinge  repayred 
with  an  honest  companye  of  horsemen,  woulde  doe  much  good  for  the  quyett 
and  staye  of  the  countrye  there  about;  havinge  besides  a  good  bande  of 
horsemen  in  Lecaille  contynuallie  to  resorte  and  doe  servyce  abroade  upon 
everye  occasion ;  then  such  men  of  small  power  as  Hughe  is,  must  be  con- 
tent to  be  at  commandement;  for  which  purpose,  there  be  devises  a  making 
which,  by  God's  grace,  with  haste  shall  take  effecte. 


474  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Next  to  the  Glynnes  where  the  Scotte  resorte,  M'Quoillynes  [M'Quillan's] 
countrye  is,  adjoyneinge  by  the  sea,  and  soe  to  the  Banne;  a  countrye  of 
woodes  and  most  parte  waste,  by  their  owne  warres  and  the  exacions  of  the 
Scotte,  and  maye  not  make  past  xii  horsemen.  But  they  were  wonte  to  make 
lxxx.  When  the  Scotte  doe  come,  the  most  parte  of  Clanneboy,  M'Quoil- 
lynes and  O'Cahan,  must  be  at  their  comaundemente  in  findinge  them  in 
their  countrye,  and  harde  it  is  to  staye  the  comeinge  of  them,  for  there  be 
soe  many  landinge  places  betwene  the  highe  lande  of  the  Raithlandes  and 
Knockfergus ;  and  above,  the  Raithlandes  [Rathlin  island]  standeth  soe  f arr 
from  defence,  as  it  is  verye  harde  to  have  men  to  lye  there  continuallie, 
beinge  so  farre  from  healpe. 

The  water  of  Banne  cometh  to  Loghe  Eaughnaie  [Lough  Neagh]  which 
severeth  Clanneboy  and  Tyroon  and  M'Quoillynes  and  O'Cahan's  countrye. 

O'Cahan's  countrye  [Derry]  is  uppon  the  other  side  of  the  Banne,  and 
is  for  the  most  parte  waste.  His  countrye  joyneth  by  the  sea  and  is  not  past 
xx  myles  in  length,  and  most  parte  mountayne  lande.  They  obeye  the  Baron 
of  Dongannon,  but  what  the  Scotte  take  against  their  will. 

The  next  countrye  to  that,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Banne  is  Tyroon, 
where  the  Earle  of  Tyroon  hath  rule;  the  fayrest  and  goodliest  countrye  in 
Irelande,  universalis,  and  many  gentlemen  of  the  O'Neills  dwellinge  therin. 
The  same  countrye  is  at  least  lx.  myles  in  length,  and  xxiiii.  myles  in 
breadeth.  In  the  middest  of  the  countrye  standeth  Ardnaght  pleasantlye 
situated,  and  one  of  the  fayrest  and  best  churches  in  Ireland;  and  rounde 
aboute  the  same  is  the  bishop's  landes;  and  thoroughe  occasion  of  the  Earl 
and  Countesse  his  wyffe,  they  made  all  that  goodlie  countrye  wast.  For 
whereas  the  countrye  for  the  most  parte  within  this  iii.  years  was  inhabited, 
it  was  within  this  xii.  moneth  made  wast,  thoroughe  his  makeinge  of  prayes 
uppon  his  sonnes,  and  they  uppon  him,  soe  as  there  was  noe  redresse  amongst 
them,  but  by  robbinge  of  the  poore,  and  takeing  of  their  goodes;  whereby 
the  countrye  was  all  waste.  Whereuppon  my  lord  deputye  appoynted  a 
bande  of  men,  being  Englishe  souldiers,  to  lie  in  Ardnaghe;  and  left  the 
Baron  of  Dongannon  in  commission  with  other  to  see  for  the  defence  of  the 
countrye  and  quyett  for  the  poore  people,  whereby  the  countrye  was  kept 
from  such  raven  as  before  was  used  ;  and  the  Earle  and  Countesse  brought 
to  Dublyn,*there  to  abyde  untill  the  countrye  were  brought  in  better  staye. 
And  they  perceyveinge  the  same,  and  that  they  could  not  retourn,  they  sent 
to  the  Irishe  men  next  to  the  Englishe  Pale,  and  soe  they  did  to  other  Irishe- 
men,  that  they  shoulde  not  truste  to  come  unto  my  lorde  deputye  nor 
councell.     This  was  reported  by  part  of  their  owne  secrett  frindes. 

By  reason  whereof  O'Railye,  O'Karrol,  and  divers  other,  which  were 
wonte  to  come  in  withoute  feare,  refused  to  come  unto  us:  Whereuppon  I 
went  to  meete  O'Railye  to  knowe  his  mynde  what  he  meant.  He  declared 
he  feared  to  be  kepte  under  rest  as  the  earle  was.  And  then  I  toulde  him 
the  cause  of  his  retayner  was  both  for  the  wastinge  and  destroyenge  of  his 
countrye;  and  for  that  he  said,  he  woulde  never  care  for  the  amendinge  of 
the  same  for  his  tyme,  and  yf  there  were  but  one  ploughe  goeinge  in  the 
countrye  he  would  spende  upon  the  same,  with  many  other  undecent  wordes 
for  a  captyne  of  a  countrye  to  saye.  And  O'Railye  hearinge  the  same, 
saide,  that  he  deserved  to  be  kepte,  and  soe  did  he,  yf  he  had  done  the  like. 
Soe  saide  O'Karroll,  and  other  of  his  countrye.  And  then  Shane  O'Neill, 
the  earle's  youngest  soune  came  to  Dongannon,  and  tooke  with  him  of  the 
earle' s  treasure  viiic  [800]  lbs.  in  goulde  and  silver;  besides  plate  and  stuff e, 
and  retayneth  the  same  as  yett ;  whereby  it  appeareth  that  he  and  she  were: 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  475 

content  with  the  same.  For  it  coulde  not  bee  perceyved  that  they  were 
greatlye  offended  for  the  same.  Shane,  being  at  peace  till  Maye,  hearinge 
of  the  arryval  of  the  Scotte,  did  send  to  them  to  give  them  entertaynmente; 
and  soe  he  sent  to  divers  other  Irishe  men  to  joyne  with  him,  and  promysed 
to  devyde  his  goodes  with  them,  which  they,  for  the  most  parte,  refused  to 
doe;  but  some  did.  And  I  hearinge  the  same,  one  Maye  daye,  went  to  him 
with  suche  a  bande  of  horsemen  and  Kerne  of  my  frinds,  to  the  number  of 
ccc.  men,  and  did  parlye  with  them,  and  did  perceyve  nothinge  in  him  but 
pryde,  stubbornes,  and  all  bent  to  doe  what  he  coulde  to  destroye  the  poore 
countrye.  And  departing  from  me,  beinge  within  iiii.  myles  to  Dongannon 
he  went  and  brent  the  earle' s  house;  and  then  perceyveing  the  fyer,  I  went 
after  as  fast  as  I  coulde,  and  sent  light  horsemen  before  to  save  the  house 
from  breakinge:  and  uppon  my  comeinge  to  the  towne,  and  findinge  that  a 
small  thinge  woulde  make  the  house  wardeable,  what  it  wanted  I  caused  to 
be  made  upp,  and  left  the  baron's  of  Dongannon's  warde  in  the  castle. 
And  having  espyed  where  parte  of  his  cattle  was,  in  the  middest  of  his 
pastures,  I  took  from  him  viic  kynes,  besides  garranes;  and  they  sessed  in 
the  countrye  cc.  galloglas,  and  joyned  all  the  gentlemen  and  souldiers  of 
the  countrye  with  the  baron;  wherewith  all  they  were  contented  and  pleased, 
and  swore  them  all  to  the  kinge's  majestie:  soe  as  I  trust  in  God,  Tyron 
was  not  soe  like  to  doe  well  as  within  a  shorte  tyme  I  trust  it  shal  be:  and 
doe  trust,  yf  a  good  presedent  were  there,  to  see  good  orders  established 
amongst  them,  and  to  putt  them  in  due  execution,  noe  doubte  but  the 
countrye  woulde  prosper. 

Next  to  that  countrye  is  O'Donnell's  countrye,  named  Tyreconell  [Done- 
gal], a  countrey  both  large,  profitable,  and  good,  that  a  shipp  under  sayle 
maye  come  to  fower  of  his  howses.  And  bemeane  of  the  warre  which  was 
betwene  him  and  his  father,  the  countrye  was  greatlye  ympoverished  and 
wasted,  soe  as  he  did  banishe  his  father  at  last,  and  tooke  the  rule  himselfe. 
And  nowe  the  like  warre  was  betwene  him  and  the  Callough  O'Donnell,  so 
as  the  warres  did  in  effect  waste  the  whole  countrye.  And  I  beinge  sent 
thether  to  pacifie  the  same,  did  bring  them  to  Dublyn,  where  order  was 
taken  betwene  them.  But  as  yett  they  keepe  the  kinge's  peace,  and  per- 
fforme  orders. 

The  next  countrye  to  O'Donnell  is  Ferranaghe  [Fermanagh],  M'Guyer 
[Maguire],  his  countrye;  a  stronge  countrye,  and  M'Guyer  that  is  nowe  a 
younge  handsome  gentleman,  and  maye  make  cc.  kerne,  and  xxiii  horse- 
men. And  he,  the  Calloughe  O'Donnell,  Tirraghe  Lynnaghe  O'Neyll,  Henri 
M'Shane,  and  all  the  rest  be  joyned  with  the  Baron  of  Dongannon  to  serve 
the  kinge's  majestie,  and  all  these  be  younge  men,  and  of  most  power  in  the 
North,  soe  as  yf  the  earle  and  O'Donnell  were  at  such  libertye  as  ever  they 
were,  without  those  they  had  noe  power.  And  so  by  Gode's  grace  the 
thinge  well  followed,  as  I  trust  in  God  it  shall,  this  summer  will  make  a 
quyett  Irelande. 

Irishemen  be  soone  brought  nowe  to  obedyence,  consideringe  that  they 
have  no  libertye  to  praye  and  spoyle,  whereby  they  did  maintayne  their  men, 
and  without  that  they  woulde  have  but  fewe  men.  And  the  pollecye  that 
was  devysed  for  the  sendinge  of  the  Earles  of  Desmond,  Thomonde,  Clanri- 
carde,  and  Tyroon,  and  the  Baron  of  Upper  Ossorie,  O'Carroll,  M'Guyres, 
and  others  into  England,  was  a  greate  helpe  of  bringinge  all  those  countryes 
to  good  order.  For  none  of  them  that  went  to  England  committed  harme 
uppon  the  kinge's  majestie's  subjects.  The  wynninge  of  the  Earle  of  Des- 
mond, was  the  wynninge  of  the  rest  in  Mounster  with  small  chardges.     The 


476  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

makeinge  of  0' Brian,  earle,  made  all  that  countrye  obedyent.  The  makeinge 
of  M' William,  Earle  of  Clanricarde,  made  all  his  countryes  dureinge  this 
tyme  quyett  and  obedient  as  it  is  nowe.  The  makeinge  of  Fitzffadricke  Baron 
of  Upper  Osserye  hath  made  his  countrye  obedient;  and  the  haveinge  of 
their  landes  by  Dublyn,  is  such  a  gag  uppon  them  as  they  will  not  forfayte 
the  same  throughe  willfulle  follye.  And  the  gentlenes  my  lorde  deputye 
doth  use  amonge  the  people,  with  wisdome  and  indifference,  doth  profitt, 
and  make  suer  the  former  civilletye.  Soe  as  presidents  in  Mounster,  Con- 
naghe,  and  Ulster,  by  Gode's  grace,  will  make  all  Irelande,  beinge  made 
shire  lande,  that  the  lawe  may  take  the  right  course,  and  yll  men  throughe 
good  perswacion  brought  to  take  their  landes  of  the  kinge's  majestie  to  them 
and  their  heyres  for  ever  after.  And  preachers  appoynted  amongst  them  to 
tell  them  their  dutyes,  towardes  God  and  their  kinge,  that  they  maye  knowe 
what  they  ought  to  doe.  And  as  for  preachinge,  we  have  none,  which  is 
our  lack,  without  which  the  ignorante  cann  have  noe  knowledge,  which  were 
verye  needfull  to  be  redressed. 

Hugh  O'Neill,  son  of  Matthew  and  reputed  grandson  of  Earl  Con 
O'Neill,  had  been  brought  up  at  the  English  court,  and  was  recognized  as 
Earl  of  Tyrone.  In  the  war  with  Desmond  he  commanded  a  troop  of  horse 
for  the  English.  When  in  Tyrone  he  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  when  in 
England  he  conformed  to  the  Established  religion.  After  the  death  of  his 
wife  he  fell  in  love  with  and  married  Mabel,  sister  of  Sir  Henry 
Bagnal.  For  her  accommodation  he  began  to  build  a  new  castle  at  Dun- 
gannon.  The  house  in  which  he  resided  was  thatched  with  heather,  and 
he  procured  a  large  quantity  of  lead  to  roof  the  new  building.  Before 
the  walls  were  finished  he  had  risen  in  revolt,  and  the  lead  was  melted 
into  bullets,  of  which  one  afterwards  found  its  way  into  the  brain  of  his 
brother-in-law. 

At  first  this  Irish  chief  was  successful  in  his  rebellion.  Where  the  Battle- 
ford  Bridge  now  stands,  two  miles  from  Eglish,  and  the  same  distance  from 
Benburb,  he  inflicted,  in  1597,  a  severe  defeat  on  the  lord  deputy,  who  after- 
wards died  of  his  wounds.  On  the  fifteenth  of  August,  1598,  he  completely 
overthrew  Bagnal  at  the  Yellow  Ford,  between  Armagh  and  Blackwatertown. 
Bagnal  was  killed,  and  1700  of  his  men  were  left  dead  on  the  field  of 
battle.  But  afterwards  the  English  prosecuted  the  war  with  more  vigor, 
and,  notwithstanding  Spanish  assistance,  Hugh  O'Neill  was  defeated  by 
Mountjoy.  He  then  submitted  to  the  English  Government,  and  received 
a  pardon. 

The  following  description  of  the  counties  of  Ulster  was  written  by 
Marshal  Sir  Henry  Bagnal  in  1586,  and  is  reprinted  from  the  Ulster  Journal 
of  Archeology,  First  Series,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  137-60.  Another  transcript  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  same  report,  relating  to  the  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim,  and 
varying  somewhat  from  the  following,  has  been  printed  in  Dubourdieu's 
Statistical  Survey  of  Antrim  (Dublin  181 2): 

[From  the  State  Paper  Office.  Endorsed:  "  Description  of  Ulster,  20th 
December,  1586  ;  with  some  interlineations  by  Lord  Burghley."] 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  477 

THE    DESCRIPTION    AND    PRESENT    STATE    OF    ULSTER 

The  Province  of  Ulster  Jieth  in  the  further  part  north  of  the  realme.  It 
is  divided  from  Meath  with  the  ryver  Boyon  uppon  the  southeast  parte  and 
with  the  Breny,  which  is  Orelye's  countrey,  on  the  south  part,  and  uppon  the 
southwest  parte  it  bowndeth  uppon  Conaght,  namelie,  uppon  Orurke's 
countrey,  and  Oconohuor  Sligah  ;  the  rest  is  altogether  environed  with  the 
sea.  It  conteyneth  in  it  9  counties,  that  is  to  saie,  3  of  auncient  and  olde 
making,  and  6  made  (or  rather  to  be  made)  newe  ;  the  names  of  them  are 
these  :  Old — Louth,  Downe,  Antrim — 3  ;  Newe — Manachan,  Farnemagh,, 
Tirone,  Dungale,  Colraine,  Armaghe — 6. 

Lowth. — The  Countie  of  Lowthe  lieth  betwene  the  ryver  of  Boyn  and 
the  haven  of  Carlingford 

Monachan. — The  Countie  of  Monachan  conteyneth  these  countreis: 
Iriell,  Dartrey,  Loghtie,  and  Trow.  The  chife  Capten  therof  is  one  Sir  Rory 
McMahon,  who  hath  ben  sometyme  contributory  to  Tur.  Oneyle,  and  nowe 
is  left  to  the  government  of  the  Earle  of  Tyron,  yet  of  himselfe  is  very 
desirous  to  yeld  onlie  to  the  Quene,  and  to  be  governed  after  the  Englishe 
manner.  He  is  able  to  make  of  his  owne  nation,  and  other  his  followers,  100 
horsmen  and  400  footemen.  Buildings  in  his  countrey  are  none,  save  cer- 
taine  old  defaced  manasteries. 

Farnmanagh. — The  Countie  of  Farnmanaghe  conteyneth  all  Farmanaghe, 
Tyrmingraghe,  and  Tyrmyn  Omungan.  The  Capten  of  all  this  Countie  is  Sir 
Conohour  McGwyre,  left  alwaies  to  the  commandment  and  rule  of  Tur- 
[logh]  Oneyle,  and  yet  he  very  desirous  to  depend  on  the  Quene.  He  is  able 
to  make  (and  most  of  his  owne  nation)  80  horsmen,  240  shot,  and  300  kerne. 
His  countrey  for  the  most  part  is  very  strong  of  wood  and  bogge,  especially 
nere  the  great  lake  called  Earne,  wherein  is  divers  ilands,  full  of  woodes. 
Buildinges  in  this  countrey,  non  of  importance. 

Tyron. — The  Countie  of  Tyron  conteyneth  all  the  land  from  Blackwater 
to  Liffer  ;  the  chife  Capten  there  is  Tur.  Oneyle,  [save]  that  of  late  the  halfe 
thereof  and  more,  by  a  composition  made  by  the  nowe  Lord  Deputie,  is  let 
to  the  Erie  of  Tiron  for  certen  yeres,  for  which  he  shold  paie  to  Tur.  a  1000 
marckes  by  yeare,  which  hath  ben  deteyned  by  the  said  Erie.  Where 
through  it  is  like  that  some  troble  will  arise  betwene  them  or  it  be  longe. 
Turloghe  desireth  from  Her  Matie  to  his  sonne  that  porcion  of  Tyron  wherein 
he  dwellethe,  and  is  the  remotest  part  from  th'  Englishe  Pale-ward.  The 
graunting  hereof,  in  my  opinion,  were  very  expedient,  especially  for  2 
respects  ;  the  one,  for  extinguishinge  their  barborous  costome  of  Tanetship, 
which  is  th'  occasion  of  much  mischife  and  disorder  ;  th'  other,  that  by  this 
division  it  will  weeken  the  force  and  greatnes  of  such  as  succede,  whereby 
they  shall  not  be  of  power  to  do  the  hurt  they  were  wont.  The  principall 
septes  of  this  countrey  are  these  :  first,  the  Oneyles,  who  most  ar  all  hors- 
men ;  the  Clandonelles,  all  galloglas  ;  the  Odoonelles,  a  very  strong  sept, 
and  much  affected  to  Shane  Oneyle's  sonnes  ;  the  Hagans  ;  and  the  Quyns: 
so  as  the  whole  force  of  this  countrey  may  make  300  horsmen  and  1500  foote- 
men. But  it  is  to  be  considered  that  allwaies  the  strengthe  and  greatnes  of 
the  Oneyles  stoode  chiffest  uppon  bandes  of  Scottes,  whom  they  caused  their 
Uriaghes  to  victuall  and  paie.  Buildinges  uppon  Tur.  parte  is  the  Castle  of 
Straban,  wherein  he  most  comonlie  dwelleth,  and  the  Newe  Castle.  Uppon 
the  Earle's  part  is  Donganon,  and  a  defaced  castell  built  by  Shan  Oneyl 
uppon  the  Blackwater,  called  Benburbe. 

Dunegall. — The  Countie  of  Donnegall  conteyneth  all  Terconell,  which  is 


478  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

all  the  landes  belonginge  unto  O'Donell  and  that  sirname,  and  all  Odohertie's 
countrey.  Odonell  is  Capten  and  Governor  of  Tirconnell,  the  chife  strengthe 
of  whome  standeth  most  uppon  two  septes  of  people  called  the  Ogallochelles 
and  McSwynes,  who  are  all  galloglas  for  the  most  parte.  He  is  able  to  make 
above  200  horsmen  and  1300  footemen.  Betwene  him  and  Oneyl  hath  ben 
contynuall  wanes  for  the  Castell  of  Lyffer  and  the  landes  there  aboutes,  lienge 
betwene  bothe  their  countreis  bordringe  upon  Lough  Foyle,  which  by  meane 
of  their  dissention  is  kepte  altogether  waste  and  uninhabited,  neither  is  there 
any  dwellinge  in  the  Castle. 

O'Doghertie's  Countrie  is  a  promontory,  almost  environed  with  the  sea, 
namlie,  Lough  Swylie  on  the  south  parte,  and  Lough  Foile  on  the  northe.  It 
is  governed  by  a  Capten  called  Odoghertie,  who  beinge  not  of  power  able  to 
defend  himself,  is  forced  to  contribute  bothe  to  Oneyle  and  Odonell,  and 
{alterius  vicibus)  to  serve  them  both.  His  countrey,  lienge  uppon  the  sea,  and 
open  to  the  Isles  of  Ila  and  Uura  in  Scotland,  is  almost  yearlie  invaded 
by  Scotes,  who  take  the  spoile  of  it  at  their  pleasures  ;  whereby  Odoghertie 
is  forced  allwaies  to  be  at  their  devocions.  He  is  able  of  his  owne  nation 
and  other,  his  followers,  to  make  60  horsmen  and  300  footemen.  Buildinges 
in  his  countrey  are  the  Dery,  which  is  defaced,  and  Greencastle  and  [  ], 
which  ar  wardable. 

Colran. — The  Countie  of  Colrane  conteyneth  all  Ocahan's  countrey,  and 
lieth  betwene  Lough  Foyle  and  the  Bann  ;  the  Capten  thereof  is  one  Rory 
Ocahan,  allwaies  left  to  the  government  and  rule  of  Tur.  Oneile,  and  there- 
fore contributethe  to  him.  The  chife  strengthe  of  this  man  is  his  owne 
nation,  who  are  able  to  make  140  horsmen  and  about  400  footemen.  Yet, 
because  he  borderethe  so  nere  the  Scotte,  he  is  much  affected  to  them,  and 
at  all  tymes  doth  yelde  them  great  relife  and  succor.  He  hath  buildinges  in 
his  countrey  uppon  Loughfoyle  side,  two  strong  castles,  th'  one  called 
Anaghe,  and  th'other,  Lymbevadie,  and  uppon  the  Bann,  nere  the  samon 
fishinge,  2  castles,  th'  one  called  the  Castle  of  Cobran,  somewhat  defaced, 
yet  wardable,  th'  other,  Castle  Rooe,  wherein  Turloghe  Oneyl  kepeth  a  con- 
stable and  a  warde,  to  receve  his  parte  of  the  fishing. 

Ardmaghe. — The  Countie  of  Ardmache  conteyneth  these  countreis,  viz: 
Oriragh,  which  is  Ohanlon's  countrie,  Clanbrasell,  Clancan,  Clanawle, 
Mucknoe,  Tireaughe,  Fues,  and  Oneylan  ;  most  of  these  have  severall  Cap- 
tens,  to  whom  these  countreis  do  apperteine,  but  ar  of  late  made  all 
contributaries  to  the  Erie  of  Tyron,  th'  them  selves  be  desyrous  to  take  their 
land  of  the  Quene.  Ohanlon's  countrey  reacheth  from  the  Newry,  and  from 
Dundalk,  to  Armache.  It  is  for  the  most  parte  without  wood,  but  full  of  hills 
and  boggs  ;  it  is  able  to  make  nere  40  horsmen  and  200  footemen. 

Clanbrasell  is  a  very  woodie  and  boggie  countrey,  uppon  the  great 
Loghe's  side  called  Eaghe  ;  it  hath  in  it  no  horsmen,  but  is  able  to  make  80 
kerne. 

Clancan  is  a  very  stronge  countrey,  allmost  all  wood  and  deep  bogg  ;  it  is 
invironed  on  th'  one  side  with  the  aforesaid  great  Loghe,  and  on  th'  other 
side  with  a  greate  bogge  and  2  deepe  ryvers,  th'  one  called  the  Blackwater, 
and  th'  other,  the  little  Bann,  both  which  in  this  countrey  do  fall  into  the  fore- 
said Loghe.  In  this  countrey  are  no  horsmen,  but  about  some  100  kerne 
who  lyve  for  the  most  parte  uppon  stealthes  and  roberies. 

Clanawle  is  apece  of  countrey  which  of  right  apperteinethe  to  the  Arche- 
bushop  of  Ardmache  and  his  freeholders,  and  lieth  betwene  Ardmache  and 
the  Black  Water.  There  is  in  it,  nere  to  the  ryver,  much  under  woodes  and 
boggs,  but  the  rest,  being  toward  Ardmache,  is  champion  and  fertill.    Uppon 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  479 

parte  of  this  lande  is  the  bridge  and  fort  of  Blackwater  built.  Turloghe 
Bresolache  holdethe  this  portion  of  land  from  the  Erie  of  Tyron,  to  whom  he 
paiethe  his  rents  and  service.  The  said  Tur.,  with  his  sonnes,  now  is  able  to 
make  30  horsmen  and  80  footemen. 

Muckno  and  Tireawh  lie  betwene  Ardmache  and  McMahon's  countrey, 
not  long  since  apperteyning  to  him,  but  now  possessed  by  the  Erie  of  Tyron 
who  hath  placed  there  certen  of  his  own  waged  followers,  that  yield  their 
rents  and  services  only  unto  him. 

Fewes  bordereth  uppon  the  English  Pale,  within  three  miles  of  Dundalk; 
it  is  a  very  stronge  countrey  of  wood  and  bogg,  peopled  with  certen  of  the 
Neyles,  accustomed  to  lyve  much  uppon  spoile  of  the  Pale.  It  was  of  late 
appointed  to  contribute  to  the  Erie  of  Tyron.  They  are  able  to  make  some 
30  horsmen  and  100  footemen. 

Oneylan  is  likewise  a  woode  land,  lienge  betwene  Ardmache  and  Clan- 
can;  this  th'  Erie  of  Tyron  hathe,  and  claymeth  to  be  his  enheritance.  He 
hath  placed  there  some  of  the  Quins  and  Hagans,  who  fostered  him,  and 
sometymes  he  dwellethe  him  selfe  amongest  them  there,  in  a  little  iland 
called  Loch  Coe. 

Buildings  in  the  Countie  of  Ardmache,  none,  save  the  fort  at  Blackwater, 
most  needful  to  be  repaired  and  better  fortified  ;  and  Ardmaghe,  a  small 
villadge,  having  the  church  and  other  the  Frieries  there,  for  the  most  part, 
broken  and  defaced. 

Downe. — The  Countie  of  Downe  conteyneth  these  countreis  :  the  Lord- 
ship of  the  Newrie  and  the  Lordship  of  Mowrne,  Evagh,  otherwize  called 
Maginis'  countrey,  Kilulto,  Kilwarlyn,  Kinalewrty,  Clainbrasel  McGoole- 
chan,  Lecahull,  Diffrin,  Little  Ardes,  Great  Ardes,  and  Southe  Clandeboy. 

The  Lordships  of  Newrie  and  Mowrne  [in  ye  county  of  Down]  are  the 
inheritance  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bagnoll,  who  at  his  cominge  thither  founde  them 
altogether  waste,  and  Shane  Oneil  dwellinge  within  less  than  a  mile  to  the 
Newrie,  at  a  place  called  Fedom,  suffringe  no  subject  to  travell  from  Dun- 
dalk northward.  But  sithence  the  fortifications  and  buildinges  made  there 
by  the  said  Sir  Nicholas  Bagnoll,  all  the  passages  are  made  free,  and  much 
of  the  countreis  next  adjacent  reduced  to  reasonable  civilitie. 

Evaghe,  otherwise  called  McGynis'  countrey  [in  ye  County  of  Down],  is 
governed  by  Sir  Hugh  McEnys,  the  cyvilest  of  all  the  Irishrie  in  those  parts. 
He  was  brought  by  Sir  N.  B.  from  the  Bonaght  of  the  Onels  to  contribute  to 
the  Q.,  to  whome  he  paiethe  an  anuall  rente  for  his  landes,  which  he  hath  taken 
by  letters  patentes  ;  to  holde  after  the  Englishe  manner  for  him  and  his 
heires  males,  so  as  in  this  place  onelie  [amongest  the  Irishry  of  Ulster]  is  the 
rude  custom  of  Tanestship  put  awaie.  Maginis  is  able  to  make  above  60 
horsmen  and  nere  80  footemen  ;  he  lyveth  very  civillie  and  Englishe- 
like  in  his  house,  and  every  festivall  daie  wearethe  Englishe  garmentes 
amongest  his  owne  followers. 

Kilultoe  is  a  very  fast  countrey,  full  of  wood  and  bogg  ;  it  bordereth  upon 
Loghe  Eaghe  and  Clanbrasell ;  the  Capten  thereof  is  one  Cormock  McNeil, 
who  likewise  was  brought  by  Sir  N.  B.  from  the  bondage  of  the  Oneils  to 
yeld  to  the  Quene.  He  is  able  to  make  20  horsmen  and  100  kerne.  This 
countrey  (afore  the  Barons  wars  in  England)  was  possessed  and  enhabited 
by  Englishe  men,  and  there  dothe  yet  remayne  an  olde  defaced  castle,  which 
still  berethe  the  name  of  one  Sir  Miles  Tracie. 

Kilwarlyn,  boundinge  uppon  Kilultagh,  is  a  very  fast  woodland,  the 
Capten  thereof  by  sirname  is  a  McGenis,  called  Ever  McRorie,  and  some- 
tymes did  contribute  and  yeld  to  Clandeboye,  but  nowe  reduced  to  have 


480  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

dependance  onlie  uppon  the  Quene.     He  is  able  to  make  some  12  horsmen 
and  80  footemen. 

Kinalewrtie,  otherwise  called  McCartan's  countrey,  is  likewise  a  wood- 
land, and  boggy  ;  it  lieth  betwene  Kilwaren  and  Lecahull.  In  tymes  past 
some  interest  therein  was  geven  to  Sir  N.  Malbie,  but  never  by  him  quietlie 
enjoyed  ;  now  the  Capten  thereof  is  called  Acholie  McCartan,  and  doth  yeld 
onlie  to  the  Quene.    He  is  able  to  make  aboute  60  footemen,  but  no  horsmen. 

Clanbrasell  McGoolechan  is  a  very  fast  countrey  of  wood  and  bogg, 
inhabited  with  a  sept  called  the  Kellies,  a  very  savage  and  barborous  people, 
geven  altogether  to  spoile  and  roberies,  greatlie  affected  to  the  Scott,  whom 
they  often  drawe  into  their  countreis  for  the  spoilinge  of  the  subject.  They 
do  contribute  (but  at  their  own  pleasure)to  the  Capten  of  South  Clandeboy. 
They  can  make  no  horsmen,  but  some  120  kerne  and  shott. 

Lecahull  is  the  enheritance  of  th'  Erie  of  Kildare,  geven  to  his  father  and 
his  mother  by  Quene  Marie  ;  it  is  almost  an  island,  and  without  wood.  In  it 
is  the  Bushop's  Sea  called  Downe,  first  built  and  enhabited  by  one  Sir  John 
Coursie,  who  brought  thither  with  him  sondrie  Englishe  gentlemen,  and  planted 
them  in  this  countrey,  where  some  of  them  yet  remayne,  thoughe  somewhat 
degenerate,  and  in  poore  estate  ;  yet  they  holde  still  their  freeholdes.  Their 
names  are  Savages,  Russells,  Fitzsimons,  Awdleis,  Jordans,  and  Bensons. 

Diffrin,  sometymes  the  enheritance  of  the  Maundevilles,  and  now  apper- 
teyninge  to  one  White,  who  is  not  of  power  sufficient  to  defend  and  manure 
the  same  ;  therefore  it  is  usurped  and  inhabited  for  the  most  parte  by  a 
bastard  sorte  of  Scottes  [the  Islanders],  who  yeld  to  the  said  White  some 
smale  rent  at  their  pleasure.  This  countrey  is  for  the  most  part  woody,  and 
lieth  uppon  the  Loghe  which  goeth  out  at  the  haven  of  Strangford.  There 
are  of  these  bastard  Scottes  dwellinge  here  some  60  bowmen  and  20  shott, 
which  lyve  most  uppon  the  praie  and  spoile  of  their  neighbors. 

Little  Ardes  lieth  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  of  Strangford,  a  fertile 
champion  countrey.  It  is  the  enheritance  of  the  Lord  Savage,  who  hath 
now  for  certain  yeares  farmed  the  same  to  Capten  Peers.  There  are  besides 
dwellinge  here  certaine  auncient  freeholders  of  the  Savages  and  Smithes, 
able  to  make  amongest  them  all  some  30  horsmen  and  60  footemen.  They 
are  often  harrowed  and  spoyled  by  them  of  Clandeboye,  with  whom  the 
borders  of  their  landes  do  joine. 

Great  Ardes  is  that  countrey  which  was  undertaken  by  Mr.  Smithe  ;  it  is 
almost  an  island,  a  champion  and  fertile  land,  and  now  possessed  by  Sir  Con 
McNeil  Oge,  who  hath  planted  there  Neil  McBrian  Ferto,3  with  sondry 
of  his  own  sirname.  But  the  auncient  dwellers  there  are  the  Ogilmers,  a 
riche  and  stronge  sept  of  people,  alwaies  followers  of  the  Neils  of  Clande- 
boye. The  force  of  the  enhabitants  nowe  dwellinge  her  is  60  horsmen 
and  300  footemen. 

Southe  Clandeboy  is  for  the  most  parte  a  woodland,  and  reacheth  from  the 
Diffrin  to  the  river  of  Knockfergus  ;  the  Capten  of  it,  Sir  Con  McNeil  Oig 
Onele,  who,  in  the  tyme  that  the  Erie  of  Essex  attempted  this  countrey, 
was  prisoner  in  the  castle  of  Dublin,  together  with  his  nephewe,  Hughe 
McPhelim,  Capten  of  North  Clandeboy,  by  meane  whereof  Sir  Brian 
McPhelim  (younger  brother  to  Hughe)  did  then  possesse  bothe  the  countreis. 
The  southe  parte  is  now  able  to  make  40  horsmen  and  80  footemen." 

Antrim. — Antrim,  stretchinge  from  the  haven  of  Knockfergus  to  the 
going  out  of  the  Bann,  conteyneth  these  countreis  :  North  Clandeboy,  Island 
Magye,  Brian  Caraghe's  Countrey,  Glynnes,  and  the  Rowte. 

North  Clandeboye  is  for  the  most  parte  a  plaine  countrey,  lienge  in 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  481 

lengthe  from  the  river  of  Belfarst  and  Knockfergus  to  the  Rowte,  and  in 
bredthe  from  the  Glinnes  to  the  great  Loghe  called  Eaghe.  All  this  land  is 
geven  by  letters  patentes  to  Sir  Brian  McPhelim's  sonnes,  the  Quene's 
pensioners,  notwithstandings,  by  a  newe  division,  latlie  made  by  the  now 
Lord  Deputie,  the  one  moitie  thereof  is  allotted  to  the  rule  of  Hugh 
McPhelim's  sonnes,  whereby  great  dissension  doth  depende  betwene  them, 
and  great  slaughter  on  both  partes  often  commytted.  The  principall  fol- 
lowers in  this  countrey  are  these  :  the  McGies,  McOnulles,  Onulchalons, 
Durnam,  and  Tarturs.  The  force  which  they  are  able  to  make  is  60  hors- 
men  and  300  footemen,  but  by  meane  of  their  domestique  dissention  the 
countrey  is  for  the  most  parte  waste  and  depopulate  ;  so  as  it  is  able  to  yeld 
little  or  nothing  to  Her  Ma*6, 

Hand  McGye  is  a  portion  of  land  within  three  miles  of  Knockfergus, 
almost  environed  with  sea  ;  the  headland  thereof  makethe  the  haven  of 
Olderfleete.  It  is  five  miles  longe,  but  little  more  then  a  mile  brode,  all 
plaine,  without  any  wood,  very  fertile.  It  is  almost  all  waste  ;  suche  as  be 
there  be  the  McGyes,  and  contribute  to  the  Lord  of  Clandeboy,  but  doth  of 
right  belong  unto  the  Quene's  Castle  of  Carikfergus.4 

Brian  Caraghe's  countrey  was  a  portion  of  Northe  Clandeboy,  won  from 
it  by  a  bastard  kinde  of  Scottes,  of  the  sept  of  Clandonells,  who  entred  the 
same  and  do  yet  holde  it,  beinge  a  very  stronge  pece  of  land  lienge  uppon  the 
north  side  of  the  Band.  The  name  of  the  nowe  Capten  thereof  is  Brian 
Caraghe,  who  possessethe  likewise  another  pece  of  a  countrey  of  Tyron  side 
uppon  the  Band,  for  which  he  doth  contribute  to  Onele,  and  for  his  landes 
on  the  north  side,  to  them  of  Clandeboy.  By  reason  of  the  fastnes  and 
strentghe  of  his  countrey,  having  succour  and  friendes  on  each  side  of  the 
Band,  it  [he]  is  so  obstinate  and  careless  as  he  never  yet  would  appear  before 
any  deputie,  but  yeldeth  what  relife  he  can  to  the  Scottes.  His  force  in 
people  is  very  small  ;  he  standethe  only  uppon  the  strentghe  of  his  countrey,, 
which  indeed  is  the  fastest  ground  of  Ireland. 

The  Glynnes,  so  called  because  it  is  full  of  rockie  and  woodie  dalles  ;  it 
stretchethe  in  lengthe  24  miles  (on  the  one  side  beinge  backed  by  a  very 
steepe  and  bogie  mounteyne,  and  on  th'  other  parte  with  the  sea)  ;  on 
whiche  side  there  are  many  small  creekes  betwene  rockes  and  thickets,  where 
the  Scottishe  gallies  do  commonlie  land  ;  at  either  end  are  very  narrow 
entries  and  passages  into  this  countrey,  which  liethe  directlie  opposite  to 
Cantire,  from  which  it  is  18  miles  distant.  The  Glynnes  conteyne  7 
Baronyes,  whereof  the  He  of  Raghlin  is  counted  half  a  Barony  ;  the 
names  of  the  Baronies  are  these  :  Larne,  Park,  Glanarm,  Redbaye  [Dubour- 
dieu's  account  adds:  "where  Randall,  now  lord  of  the  country,  has  his 
residence],  Lade,  Cary,  and  Mowbray.  These  were  sometime  the  inheritance 
of  Baron  Myssett  [Biset],  from  whom  it  is  discended  to  a  daughter,  who  was 
married  to  one  of  the  Clandonells  in  Scotland,  by  whom  the  Scottes  nowe 
make  their  clayme  to  the  whole,  and  did  quietlie  possesse  the  same  for  many 
yeares,  till  nowe  of  late  (beinge  spoyled  of  their  goodes)  they  were  banished 
into  Scotland  ;  but  aganethe  countrey,  by  instructiones  from  her  Matie-,  is  let 
to  be  helde  from  Her  Highnes  to  Agnus  McKonell,  Lord  of  Cantire  in 
Scotland,  and  to  his  uncle,  Sorlie  Boye.  The  force  of  this  countrey  is  un- 
certaine,  for  that  they  are  supplied,  as  neede  requireth,  from  Scotland,  with 
what  numbers  they  list  to  call,  by  makinge  of  fiers  upon  certeine  steepe  rockes 
hanginge  over  the  sea.  The  auncient  followers  of  the  countrey  are  these — 
the  Myssetts,  some  fewe  remaininge,  but  in  poore  estate,  the  MacKayes,  the 
Omulrenies,  the  Mac  y  Gilles,  the  MacAwnleys,  the  MacCarnocks,  and  the 


482  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Clanalsters  [Dubourdieu's  account  adds  :  "  who  are  by  original  Scottish  "], 
who  are  most  desirous  to  lyve  under  the  Scottes,  because  they  do  better 
defende  them  and  less  spende  them  then  the  Irish  Lorde  doth. 

The  Route,  a  pleasant  and  fertile  countrey,  lyinge  betwene  the  Glynnes 
and  the  ryver  of  Band,  and  from  Clandeboye  to  the  sea.  It  was  sometymes 
enhabited  with  the  Englishe  (for  there  remaineth  yet  certaine  defaced  castles 
and  monastaries  of  their  buildinges).  The  now  Capten  that  maketh  clayme 
thereto  is  called  McGwillim  [the  posterity,  as  is  thought,  of  a  Welshman — Du- 
bourdieu's account];  but  the  Scott  [Sir  James  MacSurley]  hath  well  nere  ex- 
pulsed  him  from  the  whole,  and  dryven  him  to  a  small  corner  near  the  Bann, 
which  he  defendeth  rahter  by  the  mayntenaunce  of  Turloch  Oneil  than  his 
owne  forces;  and  the  said  Scottes  did  inhabite  the  rest,  which  is  the  best  parte, 
till  likewise  they  were  by  her  Maties  forces,  banished  as  aforesaid;  but  nowe 
come  back  and  possesse  all  in  usurped  manner  as  before.  The  chiefe  aun- 
cient  followers  of  this  countrey  are — the  O'Haryes  and  the  O'Quyns,  who 
dwell  upon  their  lands  and  yelde  rent  and  service  to  the  Scott  [the  afore- 
said James].  They  are  able  to  make  60  stronge  and  well  furnished  horsmen 
and  about  200  footemen. 

Castles  wardable  are  onelie  Belfast,  Edenduchar,  and  Olderfleete;  and 
castles  defaced  are  these :  Portmucke,  in  Hand  Magy,  Glanarme  and 
Redbaye,  in  the  Glyns,  and  Castle  Martyn,  in  the  Rowte. 

[Dubourdieu's  account  adds:  "The  chiefe  house  is  called  Dunluce, 
standing  upon  a  rock  in  the  seashore,  where  the  said  Sir  James  hath  his 
residence. 

"  Carickfergus  is  the  only  town  in  the  shire,  upon  the  river,  three  miles 
broad  over  against  the  towne,  walled  partly  with  stone,  and  partly  with 
sodds.  There  are  in  it  two  wards:  the  one  in  the  castle,  in  the  south  ende 
of  the  towne;  the  other  in  the  abbye,  in  the  north  end  thereof.  This  towne 
is  governed  by  a  mayor  and  two  sheriffs;  and  at  this  day  there  are  but  16 
freemen  of  this  towne. 

"Castles  wardable  at  this  day:  Belfast,  eight  English  miles  up  the  river 
from  Carrickfergus,  where  the  passage  is  over  the  river  at  low  water;  Eden- 
duff  ee  Carrick,  near  Lough  Eagh.  Castles  defaced:  Olderfleet,  Glanowre, 
Castle  Marteen,  in  the  Route."] 

It  may  easlie  be  perceaved,  by  this  slender  and  brief  description  of 
Ulster,  what  hath  ben  and  ar  the  reasons  why  this  Province  hath  ben  from 
tyme  to  tyme  more  chargeable  to  Her  Matie  then  any  other,  as  namlie  : 

1.  The  want  of  good  townes  and  fortified  places,  wherewith  other  places 
are  better  replenished. 

2.  And  next,  the  sufferance  of  the  Oneils  to  usurp  the  government  of 
the  severall  Captens  and  freeholders,  and  by  little  and  little  to  excede  the 
bowndes  of  their  owne,  and  so  encrease  uppon  the  possessions  of  other; 
whereby  they  were  made  stronger  then  otherwise  they  colde  have  ben,  and 
abled  thereby  to  wage  and  mainteine  the  greater  number  of  Scottes. 

3.  Thirdlie,  the  confininge  so  nere  to  the  lies  of  Scotland,  and  the 
contynuall  comerce  which  the  Irishry  have  with  the  people  of  those  partes, 
occasionethe  the  often  cominge  in  of  them,  to  the  greate  hurt  of  this  Province 
and  the  subjects  which  dwell  there. 

4.  Fourthlie,  and  lastlie,  the  want  of  due  exercises  of  religion  and 
justice,  of  sacred  and  civill  instructions,  is  the  occasion  of  much  impietie 
and  barboresnes;  which  two  are  the  mother  and  nurse  of  all  their  dis- 
obedience, disorder,  and  disloyaltye. 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  483 

REMEDIES 

i.  For  a  remedie  to  the  first:  thoughe  it  be  a  thing  greatly  to  be  wished, 
that  the  example  were  folowed  by  K.  Henry  the  Second,  of  K.  John  and 
of  others  since  their  tyme,  of  famous  memorye,  who,  havinge  great  desire 
to  reforme  that  countrey,  did  make  sondrey  fortifications,  as  well  there  as 
in  other  places  of  the  realme;  yet,  considering  Her  Mat,es  excessive  charge 
nowe  bestowed,  as  well  for  the  defence  of  this  her  realme  as  in  other  partes 
beyond  the  seas,  for  the  necessarie  strengtheninge  of  her  whole  dominion, 
it  is  not  convenient  todesier  Her  Maties  greater  expense;  but  onlye  that  such 
revenues  as  this  Province  may  be  made  to  yelde  Her  Mat,e  may  be  employed 
uppon  fortyfications  in  places  most  needful  for  certaine  yeres. 

2.  And  to  the  second:  lyke  as  in  former  tyme  of  good  government  it 
was  a  thing  most  regarded  in  all  treaties  to  weaken  the  force  of  the  Oneiles 
by  withdrawing  from  them  their  Uryaghes,  as  was  done  by  K.  H.  th' 
Eighthe  with  Con  O'Neil,  who,  when  he  had  made  him  Earle  of  Tyron, 
gave  him  no  more  by  patent  than  the  bare  countrie  of  Tyrone,  and  spec- 
yalle  provided  that  he  should  not  intermedle  with  anie  on  this  side  the 
Blackwater;  soe  is  it  most  needful  to  take  the  opportunitie  which  now  the 
people  and  the  time  doth  better  offer  then  it  did  then.  Thearfore,  the  way 
is,  to  aportionate  both  to  Tur.  Lenoghe  and  the  Earle  of  Tyron  [beinge  of 
one  sirname]  landes  on  the  north  side  of  Blackwater,  to  them  and  their 
heirs  males,  indyfferently  bounded  by  some  well  acquainted  with  those 
countries,  whearwith  they  should  only  deale,  and  medle  no  further,  but 
leave  the  governmente  of  the  rest  for  Her  Matie  to  the  cheef  commissioner, 
or  other  Her  Highnes'  offiycers  in  that  Province. 

3.  To  the  therd:  as  there  is  noe  way  soe  good  as  to  fortifie  the  coast 
neere  their  landing  place,  soe  me  thinketh  that  will  seeme  too  chardgeable, 
and  thearfore  will  not  lyke  Her  Matie  soe  well.  In  which  respect  a  second 
way  should  be  thought  uppon,  and  that  may  be  this: 

It  is  evidente  that  the  people  which  most  anoy  us  from  Scotland  are  the 
Clandonells,  who  are  ever  in  contynuall  warre  with  another  secte  of  people 
of  the  lies,  named  McAlans.  And  yf  on  McAlan  Her  Matie  would  bestow 
some  convenient  pension,  he  will,  I  thincke,  undertake  to  kepe  the 
Clandonells  soe  contynually  occupied  as  the  shalbe  liable  to  sende  none  of 
their  people  to  disturbe  Her  Highnes'  subjectes  in  Ulstar,  whearof  will  aryse 
to  Her  Marie  a  treble  commoditie  with  a  single  chardge;  for  she  shall  bothe 
prevente  the  myscheef  which  is  now  wrastled  with  rather  then  redressed, 
and  save  the  chardge,  which  is  almost  yeerelie,  in  this  frutelesse  labour 
spente,  amoun tinge  oft  to  above  ten  thousand  powndes  a  yeere,  together 
with  the  loss  of  manie  men's  lyves,  and  also  assure  herself  of  a  good  frend 
and  instrumente  in  the  backes  of  the  Scottes,  to  afflicte  them  and  worke 
diversion  of  their  forces  when  they  shalbe  aboute  to  attempte  anythinge 
against  us. 

4.  As  for  the  fourth:  it  might  doubtlesse  be  remedied  yf  these  countreis 
weare  as  well  broughte  to  the  nature  as  to  the  names  of  Sheeres;  that  is, 
that  the  Sheeres  being  perfectly  bonded,  Sheryffes  of  Englysh  education  may 
be  appointed  in  everye  countie,  and  in  certaine  convenient  places  some 
preachers  and  free  schooles.  And  for  the  whole  Province,  a  Counsaile 
weare  established,  of  the  wysest,  gravest,  and  best  disposed,  dwellinge 
within  the  same,  havinge  some  other  joyned  with  them  that  were  not 
possessyoners  therein.  That  alsoe,  assizes,  quarter  sessions,  and  such  other 
lyke  tymes  should  duely  and  orderly  be  in  every  countie  observed;  which 


484  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

all  require  not  soe  great  chardge  and  travaile  in  the  beginninge  as  they  yeld 
both  proffitt  and  honour  in  the  ende. 

Since  the  writing  of  the  premises  I  doe  perceave,  by  letters  lately 
receaved  out  of  Ireland,  that  the  Earle  of  Tyron  hath  taken  upon  hym  the 
rule  of  Sir  Hugh  McEnys,  Sir  Con  McNeyle  Oge,  the  Capten  of  Kilwarlyn, 
and  sundry  others,  who,  at  my  cominge  thence,  depended  only  upon  the 
Quene. 

Queen  Elizabeth  died  in  1603,  and  was  succeeded  by  James  VI.,  King 
of  Scotland.  In  Scotland,  the  Protestant  Reformation  had  produced  a  vast 
effect  on  its  inhabitants.  John  Knox,  a  man  of  learning,  eloquence,  and 
fearless  courage,  had  led  the  reformers  to  victory.  A  system  of  education 
was  provided  for  the  people.  The  principles  of  Protestantism  sank  into 
their  hearts  and  changed  the  habits  of  their  lives.  In  two  generations  men 
of  clay  were  transformed  into  men  of  iron.  An  ignorant  and  changeable 
people  became  the  foremost  race  in  the  world,  possessed  of  all  the  qual- 
ities necessary  to  render  the  Celts  of  Ireland  subject  to  the  authority  of 
England.  Hitherto,  English  colonists  had  been  absorbed  by  the  Irish.  But 
now  another  description  of  colonist  was  to  settle  in  Ulster,  capable  of  holding 
the  Celt  in  subjection,  and  keeping  the  "  back  door  "  of  access  to  England 
closed  against  all  her  enemies. 

After  James  became  King  of  England,  he  appointed  as  Lord  Deputy  of 
Ireland,  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  who  desired  to  see  the  country  colonized 
with  men  of  his  own  race  and  religion.6  It  was  reported  that  he  intended 
to  seize  the  earl  of  Tyrconnell  and  the  earl  of  Tyrone,  both  of  whom  had 
been  in  rebellion  against  the  Government.  But  these  t)*i0  chieftains,  with 
many  of  their  friends,  fled  from  the  country  in  1607,  and  never  returned. 
All  their  estates,  embracing  the  six  counties  of  Colerain  (now  Londonderry), 
Tyrone,  Armagh,  Cavan,  Fermanagh,  and  Donegal,  were  immediately  con- 
fiscated by  the  Crown,  and  became  available  for  purposes  of  plantation. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXII 

*A  kern  was  one  of  the  old  Irish  irregular  light-armed  infantry,  carrying  only  a  sword 
and  javelin;  corresponding  to  the  cateran  of  the  Scottish  Highlands,  and  distinguished  from 
the  heavier-armed  galloglass. 

2  The  transcript  of  this  passage  printed  in  Dubourdieu's  Statistical  Survey  of  Antrim 
(Dublin,  1812)  reads  as  follows:  "Great  Ardes  is  almost  an  island,  a  champion  and  fertile 
land,  and  now  possessed  by  Neil  MacBryan  Flain,"  etc. 

3  Dubourdieu's  transcript  of  Bagnal's  description  of  county  Down  gives  the  following  in 
addition: 

"  Townes  in  the  County  of  Downe,  viz.,  The  Newrie,  Downe,  Ardglass,  all  unwalled, 
and  without  any  privileges  of  a  corporation. 

"  Castles  of  the  said  County:  Green  Castle,  near  the  barr  of  Carlingford,  upon  the  sea. 
Dondrom,  in  the  bottom  of  the  bay  that  divideth  Le  Cahel  from  Eveagh.  The  castle  of 
Narrow-water,  which  keepeth  the  river  that  goeth  to  the  Newrie  passable.  Strangford, 
Ringhaddy,  Scattery,  Castle  Reagh,  within  the  isles  of  Lough  Coyne. 


Ireland  under  the  Tudors  485 

"  This  countie  hath  the  sea  to  the  east,  the  county  of  Armagh  to  the  west,  the  haven  of 
Carlingford  and  that  river  to  the  south,  the  countries  of  Brasilogh,  Clancan,  and  Lough 
Eagh  to  the  north." 

4 Dubourdieu's  transcript  adds:  "It  is  granted  in  lease  by  the  Queen  to  one  Savage, 
one  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  his  men." 

6  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  was  the  second  son  of  Sir  John  Chichester  of  Raleigh,  in  Devon- 
shire. He  commenced  his  public  career  by  robbing  one  of  the  Queen's  purveyors,  for  which 
offence  he  was  compelled  to  retire  to  France,  where  he  soon  became  distinguished  as  a  sol- 
dier. Queen  Elizabeth  pardoned  him,  probably  because  she  thought  that  she  had  as  much 
need  for  his  military  services  as  Henry  IV.  of  France.  (Lodge,  Peerage  of  Ireland,  edited 
by  Archdall,  vol.  i.,  p.  318  ;  Granger,  Biographical  History  of  England,  vol.  ii.,  p.  98.)  On 
Chichester's  return,  he  was  sent  to  Ireland  to  assist  in  the  suppression  of  Tyrone's  rebellion, 
and  proved  himself  a  willing  and  effective  instrument  in  carrying  out  Mountjoy's  ruthless 
policy  of  extermination  against  the  native  Irish.  English  writers,  and  among  them  old 
Fuller,  delight  to  tell  how  Chichester  was  so  instrumental  in  ploughing  and  breaking  up  the 
barbarous  Irish  nation,  and  then  sowing  the  soil  with  the  "seeds  of  civility."  The  preparatory 
process  consisted  simply  in  the  remorseless  and  wholesale  destruction  of  human  life,  and  all 
kinds  of  property.  He  proceeded  on  the  conviction  that  the  sword,  even  when  wielded 
against  helpless  women  and  children,  was  not  sufficiently  destructive,  and  therefore  called 
to  his  work  all  the  horrible  agencies  of  famine  and  pestilence.  Describing  a  journey  which 
he  made  from  Carrickfergus,  along  the  banks  of  Loughneagh,  into  Tyrone,  Chichester  says: 
"  I  burned  all  along  the  lough,  within  four  miles  of  Dungannon,  and  killed  100  people, 
sparing  none  of  what  quality,  age  or  sex  soever,  besydes  many  burned  to  death  ;  we  kill  man, 
woman,  and  child  ;  horse,  beast,  and  whatsoever  we  find."  On  another  occasion,  after  his 
return  from  a  similar  expedition  into  the  Route,  he  writes :  "  I  have  often  sayd  and  wrytten 
that  it  is  famine  that  must  consume  them  ;  our  swordes  and  other  indeavoures  worke  not 
that  speedie  destruction  which  is  expected."  (See  an  interesting  contribution  by  William 
Pinkerton,  Esq.,  in  Ulster  Journal  of  Archceology,  vol.  v.,  p.  209,  and  note.)  Thomas 
Gainsforde,  the  writer  of  The  True,  Exemplary,  and  Remarkable  History  of  the  Earl  of 
Tirone,  already  quote'd,  refers  to  the  dire  calamity  inflicted  at  that  period  on  the  helpless 
inhabitants  of  Ulster.  "  For  the  sword-men,"  says  he,  "  perished  with  sicknesse  and  famine 
the  next  yeere  following,  and  the  poore  calliots  [old  women]  devoured  one  another  for  mere 
hunger,  and  showed  us  the  lamentable  effects  of  a  calamitous  warre  and  afflicted  country  " 
(p.  37).  The  writer  expresses  his  gratification  on  the  advancement  of  Chichester  to  the  chief- 
governorship  as  follows  :  "By  this  time  is  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  lord  deputy,  who  watched 
these  parts  of  the  North  more  narrowly  than  any  other  before  him.  First,  because  of  his 
long  experience  and  residence  amongst  them,  as  being  governor  of  Knogfergus,  and  a  labori- 
ous searcher  of  Logh  Con  [Strangford  Lough]  with  all  the  territories  adjacent "  (p.  47). — 
Hill,  Montgomery  Manuscripts,  p.  48. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

THE  SCOTTISH  PLANTATION  OF  DOWN  AND  ANTRIM 

COLONISTS  from  North  Britain  had  already  possessed  themselves  of 
large  portions  of  Down  and  Antrim,  the  two  counties  lying  nearest 
to  Scotland,  some  years  before  the  inception  of  King  James's  "  Great  Plan- 
tation." The  history  of  these  early  settlers  in  county  Down  has  been 
preserved  to  some  extent  in  the  recently  published  Montgomery  Manuscripts 
and  Hamilton  Manuscripts,1  which  both  come  very  close  to  being  con- 
temporary records  of  the  periods  of  which  they  treat  ;  and  in  the  Mac- 
donnells  of  Antrim  the  Rev.  George  Hill  gives  a  great  deal  of  information 
about  the  Scottish  colonization  of  that  county.  The  most  important  parts  of 
these  manuscripts  are  reprinted  as  appendices  to  this  volume.  The  main 
points  of  the  story  may  be  outlined  in  a  few  paragraphs. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  north  half  of  county 
Down,  known  as  the  Upper  Clannaboye  country,  was  ruled  by  one  of  the 
cadets  of  the  great  O'Neill  family,  who  bore  the  name,  Con  McNeale  Mc- 
Bryan  Feartagh  O'Neill,  and  lived  in  the  old  mansion  house  of  Castlereagh, 
two  or  three  miles  distant  from  Carrickfergus  Castle  (now  Belfast).  Toward 
the  end  of  the  year  1602,  Con  happened  to  be  entertaining  some  relatives  in 
his  halls  of  Castlereagh,  when  his  wine  gave  out.  A  fresh  supply,  which  he 
had  ordered  from  Spain,  had  been  brought  as  far  as  Belfast,  but  was  detained 
on  its  arrival  there  by  the  queen's  exciseman,  until  Con  should  pay  a  lately 
imposed  duty,  concerning  which  he  neither  knew  nor  understood  anything. 
The  old  chieftain's  blood  arose,  and  he  ordered  some  of  his  retainers  to 
proceed  to  Belfast  and  bring  the  wine  by  force.  There  his  servants  had  an 
encounter  with  some  English  soldiers,  and  in  the  melee  one  of  the  soldiers 
was  killed.  O'Neill  was  therefore  accused  of  "  levying  war  against  the 
queen, ' '  and  lodged  in  Carrickfergus  Castle.  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  proposed 
to  hang  him,  as  an  example,  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  Con's  praiseworthy 
desire  to  supply  his  relatives  and  friends  with  a  proper  amount  of  "  drink  " 
would  result  in  the  host's  losing  his  head. 

In  this  extremity,  Con's  wife  communicated  with  a  friend  in  Scotland, 
one  Hugh  Montgomery,  who  was  the  Laird  of  Braidstane,  in  Ayrshire.  He 
had  been  looking  for  an  eligible  "  settlement  "  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and 
kept  himself  posted  as  to  what  went  on  there  through  relatives  who  traded 
to  Ireland  from  the  port  of  Irvine.  In  consideration  of  the  cession  to  him- 
self of  one-half  of  Con's  lands  in  county  Down,  he  now  agreed  with  the  latter's 
wife  to  assist  the  prisoner  to  escape,  and  entrusted  the  carrying  out  of  the 
enterprise  to  his  relative,  Thomas  Montgomery,  who  was  the  owner  of  a 
sloop  which  sometimes  traded  with  Carrickfergus.     The  latter  accordingly 

486 


The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim       487 

began  by  making  love  to  the  daughter  of  the  keeper  of  Carrickfergus  Castle. 
Being  admitted  to  the  castle,  Thomas  managed  to  so  ingratiate  himself 
with  the  prison  guards,  and  to  supply  them  so  generously  with  drink,  that  it 
was  not  difficult  for  him  to  obtain  their  consent  for  the  admission  to  Con's 
quarters  of  a  large  cheese  which  had  been  sent  by  the  latter's  wife,  ostensibly 
for  the  purpose  of  replenishing  the  prisoner's  larder.  This  cheese  was 
hollowed  out,  and  contained  a  long  rope,  by  means  of  which,  when  night 
came,  Con  managed  to  escape  from  the  castle.  Letting  himself  out  of  his 
window,  he  found  Thomas  Montgomery's  sloop  in  waiting,  and  within  a  few 
hours  he  was  carried  across  the  Irish  channel  to  Braidstane  and  safety. 

There  Con  entered  into  an  agreement  with  Hugh  Montgomery,  by  which 
he  ceded  to  that  gentleman  half  his  lands  in  Clannaboye,  on  condition  that 
the  latter  should  obtain  for  him  a  free  pardon  from  King  James,  and  get 
him  permission  to  kiss  the  king's  hand.  This  Montgomery  proceeded  to  do, 
but,  rinding  his  own  influence  at  Court  not  sufficient,  he  was  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  a  brother  Scot,  whose  word  had  more  weight  with  the 
king.  This  man  was  James  Hamilton,  who  had  been  employed  by  James 
I.  as  his  political  agent  in  Dublin.  With  his  assistance,  Con  received  a 
free  pardon,  was  admitted  to  the  king's  presence,  and  permitted  to  return 
to  his  house  of  Castlereagh.  During  the  negotiations  at  Court,  it  had  become 
necessary  for  Con  to  increase  his  promised  recompense  to  Montgomery  by 
making  it  sufficiently  large  to  satisfy  James  Hamilton  also.  So,  when  the 
patent  was  finally  issued  under  the  Great  Seal,  April  16,  1605,  "  on  the 
humble  petition  of  Conn  McNeale  McBryan  Feartagh  O'Neale  and  of 
Hugh  Montgomery,  Esq.,  and  of  James  Hamilton,  Esq.,"  it  granted  to  the 
said  James  Hamilton  all  the  lands  in  the  Upper  Clannaboye  and  the  Great 
Ards  which  had  been  possessed  by  Con,  or  by  his  father,  Bryan  Feartagh 
O'Neale,  in  his  lifetime.  Hamilton  had  previously  entered  into  an  agreement 
with  Montgomery  and  O'Neill  as  to  what  portion  he  should  retain  and  what 
portion  Montgomery  should  receive.  He  reconveyed  to  O'Neill  one-third 
of  the  estate;  and  that  third  as  well,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  was  run 
through  with  and  dissipated  by  the  convivial  and  generous  Con. 

Both  Hamilton  and  Montgomery,  as  soon  as  their  patents  were  passed 
by  the  Irish  Council,  crossed  into  Scotland  to  call  upon  their  whole  kith 
and  kin  to  aid  them  in  the  plantation  of  their  vast  estates.  Both  were 
Ayrshire  men,  from  the  northern  division  of  the  county.  Hamilton  was  of 
the  family  of  Hamilton  of  Dunlop,  while  Montgomery  was  of  the  great 
Ayrshire  family  of  that  name,  sprung  from  a  collateral  branch  of  the  noble 
house  of  Eglinton,  and  sixth  Laird  of  Braidstane,  near  Beith.  The  king 
had  granted  Con's  land  to  Hamilton  on  the  express  condition  that  he  should 
11  plant  "  it  with  Scottish  and  English  colonists.  Hamilton  seems  to  have 
received  the  hearty  support  of  his  own  family,  for  four  of  his  five  brothers 
aided  his  enterprise  and  shared  his  prosperity.  From  them  are  de- 
scended numerous  families  in  Ulster,  and  at  least  two  Irish  noble  families. 


488  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Hamilton  founded  the  towns  of  Bangor  and  Killyleagh,  in  county  Down,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  he  did  "  plant "  the  land  which  he  had  acquired  with 
Scottish  tenants,  the  most  of  them  evidently  from  the  same  counties  in  Scot- 
land— Ayr,  Renfrew,  Wigtown,  Dumfries,  and  Kirkcudbright — as  the  men 
who  followed  Montgomery.  The  names  of  some  of  those  who  held  farms 
from  the  Hamilton  estates  in  1681  and  1688  appear  on  rent-rolls  of  those  years 
as  follows  {Hamilton  Manuscripts,  pp.  108-111,  125-131),  the  majority  of 
these  residing  in  and  near  the  towns  of  Bangor  and  Killyleagh: 

John  Adair,  Thomas  Aiken,  Widow  Alexander,  William  Alexander, 
Robert  Allan,  Andrew  Anderson,  James  Anderson,  James  Anderson's 
widow,  Robert  Anderson,  James  Aniston,  William  Armstrong,  David  Aul, 
James  Aule,    Alexander   Baillie,   Alexander  Baily,    Edward  Baily,   James 

Bailie,    John  Baily,    Esq.,   William  Barclay,    James  Beatty,  Beatty's 

executors,  William  Beers,  James  Biglam,  James  Black,  James  Blackwood, 
John  Blackwood,  John  Bleakly,  Sr.,  James  Blakely,  John  Blakely,  Jr., 
James  Blany,  David  Boid,  Widow  Boid,  William  Bole,  David  Boyd,  John 
Bredfoot,  Thomas  Bradin,  Thomas  Bradly,  Gilbert  Brakenrig,  Thomas 
Bradley,  Alexander  Browne,  George  Browne,  James  Browne,  Widow  Browne, 
Samuel  Browne,  William  Brown,  George  Byers,  James  Byers,  Widow  Byers, 
William  Byers,  John  Camlin,  John  Campbell,  Michael  Campbell,  Robert 
Campbell,  Widow  Campbell,  James  Carmuheall  (Carmichael  ?),  M.  Carr, 
Henry  Carse,  James  Caul,  James  Chambers,  Andrew  Clarke,  James  Clarke, 
John  Cleland,  Patrick  Cleland,  Widow  Cleland,  John  Clugston,  Widow 
Cochran,  Richard  Coney,  Thomas  Cooper,  Widow  Cooper,  John  Corey, 
Joseph  Corsby,  Thomas  Costbes,  Thomas  Coulter,  A.  Cowden,  William  Cow- 
den,  Widow  Cowey,  William  Crafford,  James  Cringle,  Hugh  Criswill,  James 
Criswill,  Sr.,  William  Criswell,  Robert  Cudbert,  John  Cumin,  Robert  Cun- 
ningham, Widow  Danison,  John  Davison,  John  Daziell,  John  Delop,  Andrew 
Dixon,  James  Dixon,  John  Doblin,  Alexander  Dobby,  William  Donnelson, 
Widow  Dowy,  David  Duffe,  David  Duggan,  Widow  Duggan,  James  Dunlap, 
John  Dunlap,  George  Dunn,  John  Espy,  John  Fairiss,  Captain  Fairly,  Hugh 
Fairly,  William  Fairly,  Alexander  Ferguson,  Hugh  Ferguson,  Thomas  Fer- 
guson, Andrew  Finlay,  Hans  Finlay,  John  Finlay,  Robert  Finlay,  Nathaniel 
Forgy,  George  Forman,  George  Forrest,  James  Forrest,  Nathaniel  Forsythe, 
William  Fullerton,  John  Gamble,  William  Gastle,  John  Gay,  Hugh  Gervin, 
Alexander  Gibony,  John  Gibbon,  Widow  Gibson,  William  Gibson,  John 
Gilmore,  John  Gilpatrick,  James  Gordon,  John  Gowdy,  schoolmaster, 
William  Gowdy,  Widow  Greer,  Widow  Gregg,  Hugh  Hamil,  Esq.,  Alexan- 
der Hamilton,  Archibald  Hamilton,  Arthur  Hamilton,  Captain  Gawen 
Hamilton,  Lieut.  Gawin  Hamilton,  Hugh  Hamilton,  James  Hamilton,  John 
Hamilton,  Patrick  Hamilton,  Robert  Hamilton,  Robert  Hamilton,  tailor, 
Robert  Hamilton,  merchant,  Widow  Hamilton,  William  Hamilton,  William 
Hamilton,  Esq.,  Thomas  Hamington,  Patrick  Hannah,  Lodk.  Harper,  John 
Harris,  Widow  Hawthorne,  John  Hay,  John  Henderson,  John  Henry, 
James  Heron,  Widow  Heron,  David  Heslip,  John  Francis  Hewart,  James 

Hewitt,  William  Hewitt,  William  Hillhouse,  William  Hogg, Holhouse, 

John  Hollan,   David  Holland,  William  Holliday,  William  Hollyday, 

How,  Gilbert  How,  John  Hui,  John  Hunter,  Alexander  Hutchison,  Henry 
Inch,  John  Ireland,  James  Irwin,  John  Irwin,  Sr.,  Robert  Irwin,  John 
Jackson,  John  Jenkin,  George  Johnston,  John  Johnston,  William  Johnson, 


The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim       489 

Edmond  Kelly,  James  Kelly,  William  Kelton,  David  Kennedy,  George 
Kennedy,  Doctor  Hugh  Kennedy,  James  Kennedy,  John  Kennedy,  Andrew 
Kernochan,  Robert  Kindsay,  Widow  Laggan,  Widow  Laughlin,  Widow 
Lead,  Archibald  Lenox,  Widow  Lenox,  James  Lenzy,  John  Leslie's  execu- 
tor, Samuel  Lewes,  James  Lindsay,  John  Lindsay,  Elizabeth  Lockert,  John 
Lockert,  Richard  Lockart,  Robert  Loggan,  John  Long,  Robert  Long, 
Widow  Lowdan,  James  Lowdon,  John  Lowdon,  John  Lowdon,  Jr.,  Thomas 
Lowry,  John  Luke,  James  Luthersdale,  Janet  Lyon,  Alexander  McAmt, 
John  McBride,  Andrew  McCaldon,  Andrew  McCalla,  Joseph  McCan,  John 
McCardy,  James  McCarly,  Thomas  McCarly,  Widow  McCarly,  Alexander 
McCartney,  William  McClurgh,  W.  James  McCo,  Janet  McComb,  Caghtry 
McConnell,  James  McConnell,  John  McConnell,  William  McCormick,  Adam 
McCrea,  Matthew  McCrea,  Robert  McCreery,  Robert  McCrery,  James 
McCullam's  widow,  Thomas  McCullen,  Widow  McCullin,  James  McDowell, 
John  McDowell,  Patrick  McDowell,  Widow  McDowell,  John  McDoran, 
Andrew  McFerran,  Thomas  McFerran,  Archibald  McGibbon,  John  McGill, 
Revd.  Jackson  McGuire,  Widow  Mcllduffe,  Thomas  Mcllrath,  John  McHoll, 
Alexander  McKee,  John  McKee,  Thomas  McKee,  Ninian  McKelvy,  Thomas 
McKelvy,  Widow  McKelvy,  Joseph  McKitrick,  John  McLaughlin,  Alice  Mc- 
Mehan,  James  McMechan,  John  McMechan,  Patrick  McMechan,  Widow  Mc- 
Mechan,  William  McMechan,  William  McMorlan,  Eneas  McMullen,  Hugh 
McMullan,  James  McMunce,  James  McMurray,  James  McNaght,  John 
McNarry,  John  McNeily,  James  McNily,  Alexander  McRobins,  Alexander 
McTeer,    James   McWilliam,   James   Macumson,    John   Mahaule,   George 

Mally,  John  Malley, Mant,  John  Matthew  Marshall,  Matthew  Marshall, 

Finlay  Martin,  Joseph  Martin,  William  Martin,  John  Mathy,  Alexan- 
der Maxwell,  George  Maxwell,  James  Maxwell,  Robert  Maxwell,  Philip 
Mayers,  Josias  Milton,  James  Mitchell,  Robert  Mitchell,  David  Montgomery, 
Hugh  Montgomery,  Nathaniel  Montgomery,  William  Montgomery,  Widow 
Montgomery,  John  Moorhead,  William  Moorhead,  Widow  Moorhead,  Arcibald 
Moore,  Captain  Moore,  Hugh  Moore,  James  Moore,  Jane  Moore,  John  Moore, 
Robert  Moore, Widow  Moore,  James  Morell,  Captain  Morrow,  David  Morrow, 
Samuel  Mossman,  Widow  Murray,  Mrs.  Neill,  Widow  Nelson,  John  Nesbit, 
Thomas  Nesbitt,  George  Newell,  Hugh  Nicholson,  James  Oghterson,  Thomas 
Oliver,  Patrick  Orr,  Tomas  Orr,  Janet  Paradine,  Alexander  Parker,  Gawin 
Patterson,  John  Patterson,  Robert  Patterson,  William  Patterson,  James 
Peticrue,  John  Petticrew,  William  Petticrew,  Widow  Petticrew,  John  Patton, 
George  Pollock,  Thomas  Pottinger,  Randulph  Price,  Esq.,  Widow  Purdy, 

Ramsey's  heirs,  Hugh  Rea,  James  Rea,  Widow  Rea,  Alexander  Read, 

John  Read,  Mrs.  Richison,  Mrs.  Ritchison,  Alexander  Ritchy,  Archibald 
Richy,  Widow  Ritchy,  George  Ringland,  Alexander  Robb,  John  Robb, 
John  Robinson,  George  Ross,  James  Ross,  Esq.,  John  Ross,  Robert  Ross, 
William  Rowan,  Gawen  Russell,  William  Russell,  Hugh  Savage,  James 
Savage,  Esq.,  John  Savage,  Esq.,  John  Scott,  Margaret  Scott,  Widow  Scott, 
John  Shannon,  John  Shaw,  William  Shaw,   Esq.,  W'idow  Shearer,  James 

Sim,  Gilbert  Simpson,  Robert  Simpson,  Widow  Simpson,  Mr.  Sloan, 

Sloane,  James  Sloan,  James  Sloans,  James  Smith,  John  Smith,  Robert 
Smith,  Alexander  Spittle,  James  Spotswood,  James  Stanus,  James  Steele, 
James  Steel,  Jr.,  Robert  Sterlin,  Hans  Stevenson,  James  Stevenson,  John 
Stevenson,  Alexander  Stewart,  John  Stewart,  William  Stewart,  James 
Sumers,  John  Sumers,  Widow  Sumers,  John  Swadlin,  John  Swaline's 
executors,  John  Syers,  Ninian  Tate,  Thomas  Taylor,  Thomas  Tailor, 
James  Thompson,  John  Thompson,  Robert  Thompson,  Widow  Thompson, 


490  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

John  Throw,  Robert  Tod,  Trail,  Mrs.  Trail,  Patrick  Vance,  George 

Wallace,  Hugh  Wallace,  Thomas  Wallace,  William  Wallace,  Widow  Wallace, 
Archibald  Wardlaw,  Widow  Wardon,  John  War  nock,  Robert  Warnock, 
Widow  Warnock,  John  Watson,  Valentine  Watson,  George  Watt,  John 
Watt,  William  Watt,  Edward  Weaver,  St.  John  Webb,  David  Welsh,  James 
Whitla,  Widow  Whitla,  David  White,  Hugh  White,  Widow  White,  Captain 
Williamson,  Widow  Williamson,  Hugh  Wilson,  Widow  Wilson,  Alexander 
Wily,  John  Wily,  Jr.,  Adam  Woods,  Andrew  Woods,  Widow  Woods,  James 
Worrell,  Samuel  Wright,  John  Wyly,  Sr.,  William  Young. 

To  Hamilton  fell  the  western  portion  of  North  Down,  to  Montgomery  the 
eastern,  and  both  seem  to  have  added  to  their  estates  when  Con  O'Neill  was 
forced  to  sell  the  third  which  he  had  reserved  for  himself. 

In  the  Montgomery  Manuscripts  is  preserved  a  careful  account  of  how 
Hugh  Montgomery  '*  planted  "  his  estate,  the  country  around  Newtown  and 
Donaghadee,  known  as  the  "  Great  Ards."  Montgomery  belonged  to  a 
family  having  numerous  connections  throughout  North  Ayrshire  and  Ren- 
frewshire, and  to  them  he  turned  for  assistance.  His  principal  supporters 
were  his  kinsman,  Thomas  Montgomery,  who  had  done  the  successful  wooing 
at  Carrickfergus ;  his  brother-in-law,  John  Shaw,  younger  son  of  the  Laird  of 
Wester  Greenock;  and  Colonel  David  Boyd,  of  the  noble  house  of  Kilmar- 
nock. With  their  help,  Montgomery  seems  to  have  persuaded  many  others 
of  hign  and  low  degree  to  try  their  fortunes  with  him  in  Ireland. 

The  names  of  the  emigrants  are  intensely  Scottish.  They  began  to  cross 
in  May,  1606.  Persons  of  substance  generally  took  out  letters  of  denization 
soon  after  they  came  to  Ireland,  and  sometimes  before  leaving  Scotland. 
The  following  received  such  letters  of  denization  in  16 17  (Calendar  of 
Patent  Rolls,  James  I.,  pp.  326,  339),  the  majority  of  them  having  settled 
on  Sir  Hugh  Montgomery's  estates  probably  ten  years  prior  to  that  date: 

Gilbert  Adare  of  Ardehine,  Andrew  Agnewe  of  Carnie,  Thomas  Agnew, 
Gray  Abbey,  John  Aickin  of  Donoghdie,  Patrick  Allen  of  Ballydonane, 
David  Anderson  of  Castle  Canvarie,  John  Barkley  of  Ballyrolly,  David 
Boyde  of  Glasroche,  Thomas  Boyde  of  Crownerston,  Robert  Boyle  of 
Drumfad,  Nynnan  Bracklie  Newton  of  Donoghdie,  William  Caderwood  of 
Ballyfrenzeis,  James  Cathcart  of  Ballirogane,  James  Cowper  of  Ballichosta, 
Michael  Craig  of  the  Redene,  William  Crawford  of  Cuningburn,  Claud 
Conyngham  of  Donoghdie,  David  Cunyngham  of  Drumfad,  Hugh  Cunyng- 
ham  of  Castlespick,  John  Cuningham  of  Rinchrivie,  William  Cuninghame 
of  Donoghdie,  Charles  Domelston  of  Proveston,  John  Fraser  of  Donoghdie, 
John  Harper  of  Ballyhay,  John  Harper  of  Donoghdie,  Robert  Harper  of 
Provostoun,  Thomas  Harvie  of  Newton,  Thomas  Kelso  of  Ballyhacamore, 
David  Kennedy  of  Gortivillan,  Walter  Logane  of  Logane,  Uthred  McDow- 
gall  of  Ballimaconnell,  David  Mcllveyne  of  Ballelogan,  James  McMakene  of 
Donoghdie,  John  Martin  of  Dunnevilly,  James  Maxwell  of  Gransho,  John 
Maxwell  of  Ballihalbert,  Hugh  Montgomery  of  Granshaghe,  John  Mont- 
gomery of  Ballymacrosse,  John  Montgomery  of  the  Redene,  Matthew 
Montgomery  of  Donoghdie,  Patrick  Montgomerie  of  Ballycreboy,  Robert 
Montgomery  of  Donoghdie,  William   Montgomery  of  Donoghdie,  Hector 


The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim       491 

Moore  of  Donan,  John  Moore  of  Donoghdie,  Quintene  Moore  of  Aughneill, 
William  Moore  of  Milntowne,  William  Moore,  preacher  at  Newton,  John 
Mowlen  of  Mowlen,  Patr.,  Thomas  Nevin  of  Ballicopl,  John  Peacocke  of 
Ballidonan,  Andrew  Sempill  of  Ballygrenie,  Alexander  Speire  of  Grayabbey, 
Patrick  Shaw  of  Balliwalter,  William  Shaw  of  Ballykilconan,  John  Thomp- 
son of  Blackabbey,  James  Williamson  of  Clay,  Allen  Wilson  of  Newton, 
Robert  Wilson  of  Newtowne,  John  Wyly  of  Ballyhay,  William  Wymis  of 
Newtowne.3 

The  success  of  the  settlements  made  by  Hamilton  and  Montgomery  was 
immediate;  for  four  years  after  the  foundation  of  the  colony — in  16 10 — 
Montgomery  alone  was  able  to  bring  before  "the  king's  muster-master  a 
thousand  able  fighting  men  to  serve,  when  out  of  them  a  militia  should  be 
raised."  3  Four  years  later  we  have  again  specific  information  of  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Scottish  colonies  under  Hamilton  and  Montgomery.  It  is 
contained  in  a  letter  from  the  earl  of  Abercorn  to  John  Murray,  King 
James's  Secretary  of  State.  He  writes:  "  They  have  about  2000  habile 
Scottis  men  weill  armit  heir,  rady  for  his  Majestie's  service  as  thai  sail  be 
commandit.  .  .  .  Sir  Hew  Montgomery  is  in  building  ane  fyin  houese  at 
the  Newton,  quhairof  ane  quarter  is  almost  compleit,  an  Sir  James  hes  buildit 
at  Killilarche  ane  very  stronge  castill,  the  lyke  is  not  in  the  northe."  This 
muster  of  2000  men  able  to  bear  arms  of  course  represented  an  emigration 
of  at  least  10,000  souls. 

Meantime,  across  the  river  Lagan,  in  county  Antrim,  a  "  plantation  '* 
had  been  made  which,  although  not  at  first  peculiarly  Scottish,  was  soon  to 
become  so.  During  almost  the  whole  of  James's  reign  probably  the  most 
powerful  man  in  Ireland  was  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  who  in  1604  became 
lord  deputy,  an  office  which  he  held  until  16 16. 

In  1603,  Chichester  obtained  a  grant  of  "  the  Castle  of  Bealfaste  or  Bel- 
fast, with  the  appurtenants  and  hereditaments,  spiritual  and  temporal,  situate 
in  the  Lower  Clandeboye";  while  in  the  years  immediately  succeeding 
he  acquired  the  lands  along  the  north  shore  of  what  was  then  called  Carrick- 
fergus  Bay  almost  to  Lough  Lame.  Belfast  is  in  reality,  from  its  very 
foundation,  not  an  Irish,  but  an  English  and  Scottish  town.  The  survey  of 
161 1  tells  us  how  this  settlement  was  progressing:  "  The  town  of  Belfast  is 
plotted  out  in  a  good  forme,  wherein  are  many  famelyes  of  English,  Scotch, 
and  some  Manksmen  already  inhabitinge,  and  ane  inn  with  very  good  lodg- 
inge,  which  is  a  great  comforte  to  the  travellers  in  these  partes."  The 
settlement  commissioners  passed  along  the  north  shore  of  Belfast  Lough, 
finding  everywhere  houses  springing  up,  and  in  every  part  of  the  lord 
deputy's  lands  "  many  English  famelies,  some  Scottes,  and  dyvers  cyvill 
Irish  planted."  At  Carrickfergus  the  commissioners  found  a  pier  and  town- 
wall  being  built,  and  all  through  South  Antrim — in  Island  Magee,  at  Tem- 
plepatrick  at  Massereene,  and  along  the  shores  of  Lough  Neagh  to  Toome 
— settlements  of  English  and  Scots,  and  houses  and  "  bawns  "  being  erected.* 
*  Benn's  History  of  Belfast,  pp.  674-76. 


492  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

The  Rev.  John  Dubourdieu,  in  his  Statistical  Account  of  Antrim,  written  in 
1812,  states  : 

The  earliest  English  settlers  of  whom  anything  is  known  here,  were 
those  who  came  over  to  Carrickfergus  on  the  first  invasion,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.  ;  but  what  attended  their  descendants,  if  they  left  any,  we  are 
ignorant  of  ;  their  number  was  small,  and  as  they  were  soldiers,  probably 
few  survived.  But  from  that  time  there  were  many  arrivals  in  the  different 
reigns,  until  the  numerous  colonies  came  in  the  reigns  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
I  and  of  James  I.  Those  who  settled  about  Carrickfergus  were  in  the  latter 
reign,  and  brought  from  Devonshire  by  Sir  Arthur  Chichester.  Their 
descendants  retained  some  of  the  customs  of  their  ancestors,  within  the 
memory  of  persons  still  [1812]  alive  ;  amongst  these  was  the  Devonshire 
mode  of  conveying  grain  in  the  straw  and  hay,  in  bundles  on  the  backs  of 
horses,  instead  of  carriages.  .  .  .  The  load  or  bundles  of  hay  were  called 
trusses,  and  hay  is  there  still  computed  by  that  name.  The  narrow  cause- 
ways and  immense  divisional  ditches  are  also  supposed  to  have  had  a  Devon- 
shire origin.  Another  part  of  this  colony  settled  in  the  district  of  Malone, 
or  Milone,  adjoining  to  Belfast,  where  their  descendants  are  still  to  be 
distinguished  by  their  looks  and  manners,  but  particularly  by  the  air  of 
comfort  about  their  dwellings,  and  a  fondness  for  gardens  and  orchards. 
Near  Belfast  was  likewise  a  colony  of  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  men,  settled 
there,  as  it  is  said,  by  Sir  Moyses  Hill ;  but  from  Malone  to  Lisburn,  and 
thence  over  the  greatest  part  of  the  barony  of  Massereene,  and  the  south 
part  of  the  barony  of  Antrim,  but  especially  towards  the  west,  the  country 
is  mostly  occupied  by  the  descendants  of  English  settlers,  and  some  Welsh, 
who  came  over  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  in  great  numbers,  and  also  in  the 
beginning  of  that  of  James  I.;  with  the  different  great  families  that  at  differ- 
ent times  obtained  grants  of  lands  here.  Upper  Massereene  was  colonized 
by  the  Seymours,  Lords  Conway,  and  Sir  George  Rawdon  ;  part  of  Lower 
Massereene  also  ;  the  remainder,  and  part  of  the  Barony  of  Antrim  by  the 
Skeffrngtons,  Langfords,  and  Nortons,  which  last  came  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth. 

While  South  Antrim  was  thus  "planted"  mainly  by  English  settlers, 
the  northern  half  of  the  county  was  opened  up  for  settlement,  without  the 
violent  transference  of  land  from  Celt  to  Saxon  which  was  carried  out  in 
other  parts  of  Ulster. 

The  northeast  corner  of  Ireland  had  been  long  held  by  the  Macdonnells, 
a  clan  which  also  peopled  the  island  of  Jura,  and  Cantyre  on  the  mainland 
of  Scotland.  We  have  already  seen,  from  Marshal  Bagnal's  description  of 
Antrim,  that  this  clan  had  acquired  a  foothold  in  the  Route  and  the  Glens 
some  years  before  the  settlement  of  Montgomery  and  Hamilton  in  county 
Down.  The  story  has  been  told  at  length  by  the  Rev.  George  Hill  in  his 
Macdonnells  of  Antrim.  In  a  scarce  work  entitled  The  Government  of  Ireland 
under  Sir  John  Perrott,  Knight,  etc.  (London,  1626,  p.  136),  the  author 
states  that  about  1584,  "the  Deputy  received  intelligence  of  the  approach 
of  a  thousand  Scottish  islanders,  called  Redshanks,  being  of  the  septs  or 
families  of  the  Cambiles  [Campbells],  Macconnells  [Macdonnells],  and  Mag- 
alanes,  drawne  to  invade  Ulster  by  Surleboy,*  one  of  that  nation,  who  had 


The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim       493 

usurped,  and  by  power  and  strong  hand,  possessed  himself  of  the  Mac- 
quilies'  [McQuillans'],  and  other  men's  lands  in  Ulster,  called  the  Glinnes 
and  the  Route ;  meaning  to  hold  that  by  force,  which  he  had  gotten  without 
right,  by  violence,  fraud,  and  injury." 

Some  of  the  details  of  the  conquest  of  Antrim  by  the  Macdonnells  may 
be  learned  from  the  following  notes  on  the  Scottish  settlement  of  North 
Antrim,  taken  from  the  MacAdam  manuscripts.  These  notes  were  made  by 
James  Bell,  who  lived  near  Ballymoney,  county  Antrim,  about  1850,  where 
he  formed  a  large  collection  of  Irish  antiquities,  a  catalogue  of  which  is 
given  in  the  MacAdam  manuscripts,  and  many  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the 
Town  Hall  at  Ballymoney.     Mr.  Bell  writes  : 

The  town  of  Ballymoney  is  said  to  be  of  considerable  antiquity,  but  as 
no  written  records  of  its  origin  are  now  known  to  exist,  and  very  few  tradi- 
tional accounts  of  its  early  history  are  preserved  by  the  inhabitants,  little  is 
now  known  on  the  subject  beyond  the  recollection  of  the  present  generation, 
who  would  appear  not  to  be  descended  from  the  original  or  earliest  inhabi- 
tants, but  from  strangers,  and  therefore  all  the  early  records  and  traditions 
are  lost.  A  battle  is  said  to  have  been  in  Ballymoney,  at  a  very  early  period, 
between  the  inhabitants  and  strangers  ;  and  the  tradition  says  that  the  in- 
habitants were  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  the  survivors  flying  to  the 
county  of  Derry  and  the  Glens  of  Antrim.  The  town  was  burnt  down,  so 
that,  according  to  this  account,  "  one  might  walk  on  the  walls  from  the  head 
to  the  foot  of  the  town."  The  probability  is  that  these  strangers  were  from 
Scotland,  and  the  reasons  for  such  a  supposition  are — the  Irish  language  was 
never  remembered  to  have  been  spoken  or  even  understood  in  the  town  or 
neighborhood,  neither  are  the  names  of  the  inhabitants  Irish,  but  almost  all 
Scotch  ;  and  the  proprietors  of  the  town  and  formerly  of  all  the  lands  in  the 
neighborhood,  the  Earls  of  Antrim,  are  of  known  Scotch  descent. 

It  has  always  been  admitted  that  the  parts  of  Scotland  opposite  to  Ulster 
were  invaded  or  colonized  from  Ireland,  and  that  a  constant  intercourse, 
either  of  friendship,  trade,  or  war,  has  ever  since  existed  between  the  two 
nations,  which  may  in  the  end  have  led  to  the  final  settlement  of  the  Scotch 
in  that  part  of  the  country.  A  manuscript  still  in  existence,  shows  that  the 
Scottish  clan  of  MacDonnell,  who  by  an  intermarriage,  got  footing  in  Ire- 
land, established  themselves,  by  the  powerful  support  they  received  from 
Cantyre  and  the  Western  Isles,  in  a  tract  of  country  forty  miles  in  length. 
The  people  of  those  days  generally  followed  the  fortunes  of  their  chiefs. 
The  greater  part  of  the  native  Irish  who  survived  these  bloody  scenes  trans- 
planted themselves  elsewhere,  while  the  Scots  remained  possessors  of  the 
field  ;  hence  the  old  traditions,  language,  and  customs  of  the  country  were 
gradually  lost.  In  proof  of  the  Scottish  origin  of  the  present  inhabitants,  a 
short  extract  is  here  given  from  the  manuscript  above  alluded  to  : — 

"  About  the  year  1580,  Coll  MacDonnell  came  with  a  parcel  of  men 
from  Cantyre  to  Ireland  to  assist  Tyrconnel  against  great  O'Neill,  with  whom 
he  was  then  at  war. 

"  In  passing  through  the  Root  of  the  county  of  Antrim,  he  was  civilly  re- 
ceived and  hospitably  entertained  by  MacQuillan,  who  was  the  lord  and 
master  of  the  Root. 

"  At  that  time  there  was  a  war  between  MacQuillan  and  the  men  beyond 


494  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  river  Bann  ;  for  the  custom  of  this  people  was  to  rob  from  every  one, 
and  the  strongest  party  carried  it,  be  it  right  or  wrong. 

"  On  the  day  when  MacDonnell  was  taking  his  departure,  MacQuillan, 
who  was  not  equal  in  war  to  his  savage  neighbors,  called  together  his  militia, 
or  Galloglaghs,  to  revenge  his  affronts  over  the  Bann,  and  MacDonnell, 
thinking  it  uncivil  not  to  offer  his  services  that  day  to  MacQuillan,  after 
having  been  so  kindly  treated,  offered  his  service  in  the  field. 

"  MacQuillan  was  right  well  pleased  with  the  offer,  and,  with  the  High- 
landers, went  against  the  enemy  ;  and  where  there  was  a  cow  taken  from 
MacQuillan's  people  before,  there  were  two  restored  back  ;  after  which  Mac- 
Quillan and  MacDonnell  returned  with  a  great  prey,  and  without  the  loss  of 
a  man. 

"  Winter  then  drawing  nigh,  MacQuillan  invited  MacDonnell  to  stay  with 
him  at  his  castle  until  the  spring,  and  to  quarter  his  men  up  and  down  the 
Root.  This  MacDonnell  gladly  accepted,  and  in  the  meantime  seduced  Mac- 
Quillan's daughter  and  privately  married  her,  on  which  ground  the  Scots 
afterwards  founded  their  claim  to  MacQuillan's  territories. 

"  The  men  were  quartered  two  and  two  through  the  Root ;  that  is  to  say, 
one  of  MacQuillan's  Galloglaghs  and  a  Highlander  in  every  tenant's  house. 
It  so  happened  that  the  Galloglagh,  according  to  custom,  was  entitled  to  a 
mether  of  milk  as  a  privilege.  This  the  Highlanders  considered  an  affront, 
and  at  length  one  of  them  asked  his  host — '  Why  do  you  not  give  me  milk  as 
you  give  the  other  ? '  The  Galloglagh  immediately  made  answer — '  Would 
you,  a  Highland  beggar  as  you  are,  compare  yourself  to  me  or  any  of  Mac- 
Quillan's Galloglaghs  ? '  A  combat  ensued,  which  ended  in  the  death  of  the 
Galloglagh.  MacQuillan's  Galloglaghs  immediately  assembled  to  demand 
satisfaction,  and  in  a  council  which  was  held  it  was  agreed  that  each  Gallo- 
glagh should  kill  his  comrade  Highlander  by  night,  and  their  lord  and  master 
with  them  ;  but  Coll  MacDonnell's  wife  discovered  the  plot  and  told  it  to 
her  husband,  so  the  Highlanders  fled  in  the  night  time  and  escaped  to 
Raghery.  From  this  beginning  the  MacDonnells  and  MacQuillans  entered 
on  a  war,  and  continued  to  worry  each  other  half  a  century,  till  the  English 
power  became  so  superior  in  Ireland  that  both  parties  made  an  appeal  to 
James  I.,  who  had  just  then  ascended  the  throne  of  England.  James  favored 
his  Scotch  countrymen,  the  MacDonnells,  to  whom  he  made  over  by  patent 
four  great  baronies,  including  along  with  other  lands,  all  poor  MacQuillan's 
possessions.  However,  to  save  some  appearance  of  justice,  he  gave  to  Mac- 
Quillan a  grant  of  the  great  Barony  of  Inisowen,  the  old  territory  of 
O'Dogherty,  and  sent  to  him  an  account  of  the  whole  decision  by  Sir  John 
[Arthur]  Chichester. 

"  MacQuillan  was  extremely  mortified  at  his  ill-success,  and  very  discon- 
solate at  the  difficulties  which  attended  the  transporting  of  his  poor  people 
over  the  river  Bann  and  the  Lough  Foyle,  which  lay  between  him  and  his 
new  territory.  The  crafty  Englishman,  taking  advantage  of  his  situation, 
by  an  offer  of  some  lands  which  lay  nearer  his  old  dominions,  persuaded  him 
to  cede  his  title  to  the  Barony  of  Inisowen  ;  and  thus  the  Chichesters,  who 
afterwards  obtained  the  title  of  Earls  of  Donegal,  became  possessed  of  this 
great  estate,  and  honest  MacQuillan  settled  himself  on  one  far  inferior. 

"  One  story  more  [says  the  MS.]  of  MacQuillan.  The  estate  he  got  in 
exchange  for  the  Barony  of  Inisowen  was  called  Clanreaghurkie,  which  was 
far  inadequate  to  support  the  old  hospitality  of  the  MacQuillans.  Bury 
Oge  MacQuillan  sold  this  land  to  one  of  Chichester's  relations,  and  having 
got  [the  value  of]  his  new  granted  estate  in  one  bag,  was  very  generous 


The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim       495 

and  hospitable  as  long  as  the  bag  lasted  ;  and  so  was  worthy  MacQuillan 
soon  exhausted." 

These  facts  may  in  some  measure  account  for  the  total  absence  of  every- 
thing ancient,  or  truly  Irish,  within  the  town  or  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Ballymoney,  and  indeed  in  the  greater  part  of  the  Root  of  county  Antrim. 

According  to  tradition,  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  town  of  Bally- 
money comprised  two  distinct  but  very  small  villages  ;  and  as  the  origin  of 
all  villages  and  even  towns  arose  from  their  connection  with  some  great 
house  or  castle,  we  have  evidence  of  this  in  the  names  still  attached  to  the 
town-parks,  those  at  the  north  end  being  called  the  Castlebarr  fields  and 
those  at  the  south  end  the  Castle  Crofts.  No  vestige  of  either  of  these 
castles  now  remains,  nor  are  they  remembered  by  any  person  living  ;  neither 
is  there  any  account  or  tradition  existing  with  regard  to  Castlebarre  ;  but 
the  castle  at  the  south  end  of  Ballymoney  is  said  to  have  been  built  or  in- 
habited by  a  person  called  Stewart.  This  account  is  probable,  as  the  person 
who  was  agent  to  the  Earl  of  Antrim  about  the  year  1641  was  named 
Archibald  Stewart,  and  belonged  originally  to  Ballintoy.  The  last  inhabi- 
tant of  the  castle  is  said  to  have  been  a  Captain  Butler.     .     .     . 

A  house  of  worship  for  Presbyterians  stood  at  an  early  period  on  the 
site  of  the  present  meeting-house  of  the  first  Presbyterian  congregation, 
but  no  records  are  known  to  show  the  date  of  its  erection.6 

The  chief  of  the  Scoto-Irishmen  in  Antrim  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  was  Randall  Macdonnell.  After  Tyrone's  rebellion,  he 
resolved  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the  Government,  and  turn  loyal  subject. 
He  persevered  in  this  course,  notwithstanding  many  trials  to  his  loyalty,  and 
as  reward  he  received  a  grant  of  the  northern  half  of  county  Antrim,  from 
Larne  to  Portrush,  and  the  honor  of  knighthood.  He  set  himself  ardently 
to  the  improvement  of  his  lands,  "  letting  out  to  the  natives  on  the  coast,  and 
also  to  the  Scottish  settlers,  such  arable  portions  of  his  lands  as  had  been  de- 
populated by  the  war,  for  terms  varying  from  21  to  301  years."  These  leases 
seem  to  have  been  largely  taken  advantage  of  by  the  Scottish  settlers,  who 
allowed  the  natives  to  keep  the  "  Glynnes  "  or  Glens — that  district  so  much 
visited  now  for  its  splendid  coast  scenery — and  themselves  took  possession 
of  the  rich  land  along  the  river  Bann,  from  Lough  Neagh  to  the  town  of 
Coleraine  near  its  mouth.  So  Macdonnell  and  his  property  prospered  ;  and 
in  1620,  when  King  James  raised  him  to  the  dignity  of  Earl  of  Antrim, 
the  patent  conferring  the  honor,  after  enumerating  the  faithful  services 
which  Macdonnell  had  rendered  to  the  Crown,  specially  mentioned  "  the  fact 
of  his  having  strenuously  exerted  himself  in  settling  British  subjects  on  his 
estates."  Thus  county  Antrim,  from  north  to  south,  became  nearly  as  Scot- 
tish as  the  portion  of  county  Down  north  of  the  Mourne  mountains. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXIII 

1  See  Appendix  S  ( The  Montgomery  Manuscripts  and  The  Hamilton  Manuscripts). 

'Additional  names  are  printed  in  five  numbers  of  Thomas  Allen  Glenn's  American 
Genealogist  for  1899,  vol.  i. 

8  The  muster-master  was  an  officer  commissioned  in  each  district  to  discover  the  num- 
ber of  able-bodied  men  therein,  together  with  the  available  arms  possessed  by  them.     He 


496  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

was  further  required  carefully  to  enroll  the  men  and  arms  in  a  book,  to  be  consulted  when 
troops  might  be  needed  for  active  service.  From  this  statement  of  the  author  it  is  evi- 
dent that  a  large  number  of  settlers  had  come  with  Sir  Hugh  Montgomery  to  the  Ards  dur- 
ing the  first  four  years  of  his  colonization.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  list  of  these  original 
settlers  can  now  be  found.  Among  them  were  several  named  Orr,  who  appear  to  have 
originally  settled  in  the  townlands  of  Ballyblack  and  Ballykeel,  and  were  the  progenitors  of 
a  very  numerous  connection  of  this  surname  throughout  the  Ards.  The  earliest  recorded 
deaths  in  this  connection,  after  their  settlement  in  the  Ards,  were  those  of  James  Orr  of 
Ballyblack,  who  died  in  the  year  1627,  and  Janet  McClement,  his  wife,  who  died  in  1636. 
The  descendants,  male  and  female,  of  this  worthy  couple  were  very  numerous,  and  as 
their  intermarriages  have  been  carefully  recorded,  we  have  thus  fortunately  a  sort  of  index 
to  the  names  of  many  other  families  of  Scottish  settlers  in  the  Ards  and  Castlereagh.  Their 
descendants  in  the  male  line  intermarried  with  the  families  of  Dunlop,  Gray,  Kennedy, 
Coulter,  Todd,  M'Birney,  M'Cullough,  Campbell,  Boyd,  Jackson,  Walker,  Rodgers,  Stev- 
enson, Malcomson,  King,  Ferguson,  M'Quoid,  Cregg,  Barr,  M'Munn,  Bryson,  Johnson, 
Smith,  Carson,  M'Kinstry,  Busby,  M'Kee,  Shannon,  M'Garock,  Hamilton,  Cally,  Chalmers, 
Rea,  M'Roberts,  Creighton,  M'Whirter,  M'Kibben,  Cleland,  Abernethy,  Reid,  Agnew, 
Wilson,  Irvine,  Lindsay,  M'Creary,  Porter,  Hanna,  Taylor,  Smyth,  Carson,  Wallace, 
Gamble,  Miller,  Catherwood,  Malcolm,  M'Cleary,  Pollok,  Lamont,  Frame,  Stewart,  Minnis, 
Moorehead,  M'Caw,  Clark,  Patterson,  Neilson,  Maxwell,  Harris,  Corbet,  Milling,  Carr, 
Winter,  Patty,  Cumming,  M'Connell,  M'Gowan.  Nearly  an  equal  number  of  Orrs  married 
wives  of  their  own  surname.  These  numerous  descendants,  bearing  the  surname  of  Orr, 
resided  in  Ballyblack,  Clontinacally,  Killinether,  Ballygowan,  Ballykeel,  Munlough,  Bally- 
been,  Castleaverie,  Conlig,  Lisleen,  Bangor,  Gortgrib,  Granshaw,  Killaghey,  Gilna- 
hirk,  Ballyalloly,  Ballyknockan,  Bally cloughan,  Tullyhubbert,  Moneyrea,  Newtownards, 
Ballymisca,  Dundonald,  Magherascouse,  Castlereagh,  Bootin,  Lisdoonan,  Greyabbey, 
Ballyrea,  Ballyhay,  Ballywilliam,  Saintfield,  Ballymacarrett,  Craigantlet,  Braniel.  The 
greatest  number  of  the  name  lived  in  Ballykeel,  Clontinacally,  and  Ballygowan.  The 
descendants  in  the  female  line  from  James  Orr  and  Janet  M'Clement  of  Ballyblack  inter- 
married with  the  families  of  Riddle  of  Comber,  Thomson  of  Newtownards,  Moore  of  Drum- 
mon,  Orr  of  Lisleen,  Orr  of  Ballykeel,  Murdock  of  Comber,  Irvine  of  Crossnacreevy, 
M'Creary  of  Bangor,  Hanna  of  Conlig,  Orr  of  Bangor,  Orr  of  Ballygowan,  M'Munn  of  Lis- 
leen, Barr  of  Lisleen,  Davidson  of  Clontinacally,  Jamieson  of  Killaghey,  Martin  of  Killy- 

nure,  Martin  of  Gilnahirk,  Matthews  of ,  Watson  of  Carryduff,  Shaw  of  Clontinacally, 

Todd   of   Ballykeel,   Jennings   of   ,   Davidson  of  ,    M'Kibbin  of  Knocknasham, 

M'Cormick  of  Ballybeen,  M'Cullock  of  Ballyhanwood,  M'Kee  of  Lisleen,  Patterson  of 
Moneyrea,  Dunwoody  of  Madyroe,  Barr  of  Bangor,  M'Gee  of  Todstown,  Burgess  of  Mady- 
roe,  M'Kinning  of  Lisnasharock,  Gerrit  of  Ballyknockan,  Pettigrew  of  Ballyknockan, 
M'Coughry  of  Ballyknockan,  Yates  of ,  Shaw  of ,  Stevenson  of  Ballyrush,  M'Kib- 
bin of  Haw,  Piper  of  Comber,  Blakely  of  Madyroe,  Orr  of  Ballyknockan,  Stewart  of  Clon- 
tinacally, Hamilton  of  Ballykeel,  Dunbar  of  Slatady,  Orr  of  Ballygowan,  Malcolm  of 
Bootan,  Porter  of  Ballyristle,  M'Connell  of  Ballyhenry,  Kennedy  of  Comber,  Malcolm  of 

Moat,  Orr  of  Ballykeel,   Martin  of  Bally  cloughan,   Reid  of  Ballygowan,  Lewis  of  , 

Orr  of  Clontinacally,  Orr  of  Florida,  M'Creary  of ,  Miller  of  Conlig,  Lowry  of  Bally- 

macashan,  Harris  of  Ballymelady,  Orr  of  Ballyknockan,  M'Quoid  of  Donaghadee,  Appleton 
of  Conlig,  M'Burney  of ,  Hanna  of  Clontinacally,  Johnson  of  Rathfriland,  Orr  of  Bally- 
keel, Stewart  of  Clontinacally  and  Malone,  Patterson  of  Moneyrea  and  Lisbane,  Black  of 

Gortgrib,   Hill   of   Gilnahirk,    Murdock  of   Gortgrif,  Kilpatrick  of  ,  Gregg  of  , 

Huddlestone  of  Moneyrea,  M'Culloch  of  Moneyrea,  Steel  of  Maghrescouse,  Erskine  of 
Woodburn,  Campbell  of  ,  White  of ,  Clark  of  Clontinacally,  M'Fadden  of  Clon- 
tinacally,  Hunter   of   Clontinacally  and   Ravarra,   Orr  of  Castlereagh,  M'Kean  of  , 

M'Kittrick  of  Lisleen,  Frame  of  Munlough,  Garret  of  Ballyknockan,  Kennedy  of  Tullygir- 


The  Scottish  Plantation  of  Down  and  Antrim       497 

van,  Orr  of  Munlough,  Dickson  of  Tullygirvan,  M'Clure  of  Clontinacally,  Porter  of  Beech- 
hill,  Dinwoody  of  Carrickmadyroe,  Strain  of  Newtownards,  Burns  of  Cahard,  Kennedy  of 
Tullygirvan,  M'Calla  of  Lisdoonan,  M'Bratney  of  Raferey,  Harrison  of  Holywood,  Piper 
of  Money rea,  MacWilliam  of  Ednaslate,  Patterson  of  Tonachmore,  Wright  of  Craigantlet, 
Boden  of  Craigantlet,  Henderson  of  Ballyhaskin,  Morrow  of  Belfast,  M'Quoid  of  Braniel, 
M'Lean  of  Ballykeel,  Neilson  of  Ravara,  Crawford  of  Carrickmadyroe,  M'Gown  of  Cross- 
nacreevy,  Orr  of  Ballybee  (MSS.  Genealogy  of  the  Family  of  James  Orr  of  Ballyblack, 
drawn  up  from  inscriptions  on  tombstones,  by  the  late  Gawin  Orr  of  Castlereagh). — Rev. 
George  Hill,  Montgomery  Manuscripts,  p.  66. 

4  Surly  Boy  (Charles  the  Yellow)  was  the  Gaelic  or  Irish  name  of  the  chief  of  the 
Macdonnells. 

5  Ulster  Journal  of  Archeology,  new  series,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  148-152. 
32 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 
THE   GREAT   PLANTATION   OF  ULSTER 

AT  the  beginning  of  James  I.'s  time,  although  Elizabeth  had  waged  fierce 
and  devastating  wars  against  the  Ulster  chiefs  during  most  of  her  long 
reign,  English  authority  was  scarcely  recognized  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  It 
was  represented  by  the  commanders  of  the  ten  districts  into  which  Ulster 
was  divided,  but  their  rule  was  little  more  than  a  military  one,  and  scarce 
extended  beyond  the  buildings  which  composed  their  military  posts  ;  and  by 
the  bishops  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  who  had  probably  even  fewer  followers 
in  spiritual  things  than  the  district  governors  had  in  temporal.  The  country 
still  enjoyed  its  native  laws  and  customs  —  still  obeyed  its  native  chiefs. 
There  were  no  towns  in  Ireland  to  play  the  part  which  the  English  and 
Scottish  burghs  had  done  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  be  the  homes  of  free  insti- 
tutions, the  centres  from  which  civilization  might  spread.  Belfast  scarcely 
existed  even  in  name,  and  Derry  and  Carrickfergus  consisted  but  of  small 
collections  of  houses  round  the  English  forts.  The  whole  country,  like  the 
Scottish  Highlands,  was  inhabited  by  clansmen,  obeying  tribal  laws  and 
usages,  and  living  in  some  measure  on  agriculture,  but  mainly  on  the  produce 
of  their  herds  and  flocks.  The  land  was  held  by  the  chiefs  nominally  for  the 
clans,  but  really  for  their  own  benefit. 

The  plantations  in  county  Down  and  county  Antrim,  thorough  as  they 
were  as  far  as  they  went,  were  limited  in  scope  in  comparison  with  the 
"  Great  Plantation  of  Ulster,"  for  which  James  I.'s  reign  will  be  forever 
remembered  in  Ireland.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  make  out  the  cir- 
cumstances which  led  up  to  this  remarkable  measure,  or  to  understand  the 
action  of  the  Ulster  chiefs,  who,  to  all  appearance,  played  so  thoroughly  into 
the  hands  of  the  Government.  Which  side  first  was  false  to  the  peace,  it  is 
impossible  now  to  say.  One  party  declares  that  the  chiefs  began  to  con- 
spire against  the  Government  ;  the  other,  that  the  Government  drove  the 
chiefs  to  conspire  in  self-defence.  The  Ulster  chiefs  began  to  correspond 
with  Spain  once  more,  as  if  in  preparation  for  a  new  outbreak  ;  the  Govern- 
ment intercepted  the  letters,  and  O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone,  and  O'Donnell, 
earl  of  Tyrconnel,  confessed,  if  not  guilt,  at  least  fear  of  punishment,  by 
leaving  their  country,  and  sailing  from  Lough  Swilly  along  with  a  number  of 
adherents,  on  the  3d  September,  1607.  In  1608,  Sir  Cahir  O'Dogherty 
perished  in  rebellion,  and  his  lands  were  confiscated.  Mulmorie  O'Reilly, 
whose  father  died  fighting  for  the  English  at  Yellow  Ford,  and  whose  mother 
was  a  niece  of  the  duke  of  Ormond,  had  to  accept  a  "  proportion  "  of  his 
lands.  Other  native  chieftains,  against  whom  there  was  no  accusation  of 
disloyalty,  were  compelled  to  surrender  a  large  part  of  their  property,  and  a 
vigorous  attempt  was  now  made  to  plant  the  country  with  Protestants. 

4Q8 


The  Great  Plantation  of  Ulster  499 

It  is  asserted  by  Hill,  that  as  a  result  of  the  flight  of  the  earls  and  of  an 
act  of  Parliament  known  as  the  nth  of  Elizabeth,  no  less  than  3,800,000 
acres  in  Tyrone,  Deny,  Donegal,  Fermanagh,  and  Cavan  were  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Crown,  and  made  available  for  plantations.  The  earls  had 
now  rebelled  against  the  king  and  been  proclaimed  traitors,  and  their 
lands  were  therefore  "  escheated  "  to  the  Crown.  Estates  were  constantly 
changing  hands  in  this  way  in  Scotland  during  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
more  important  of  the  chiefs  had  gone  into  voluntary  exile  with  Tyrone  ; 
against  the  rest  it  was  not  difficult  for  the  Crown  lawyers  to  find  sufficient 
proof  of  treason.  Thus  all  northern  Ireland — Londonderry,  Donegal,  Ty- 
rone, Cavan,  Armagh,  and  Fermanagh — had  passed  at  one  fell  swoop  into 
the  hands  of  the  Crown  ;  while,  as  we  have  seen,  Down  and  Antrim  had  been 
already,  to  a  great  extent,  taken  possession  of  and  colonized  by  English  and 
Lowland  Scotch.  The  plan  adopted  by  King  James  for  the  colonization  of 
the  six  "  escheated  "  counties  was  to  take  possession  of  the  finest  portions  of 
this  great  tract  of  country,  amounting  in  all  to  nearly  four  millions  of  acres  ; 
to  divide  it  into  small  estates,  none  larger  than  two  thousand  acres  ;  and  to 
grant  these  to  men  of  known  wealth  and  substance.  Those  who  accepted 
grants  were  bound  to  live  on  their  land  themselves,  to  bring  with  them 
English  and  Scottish  settlers,  and  to  build  for  themselves  and  for 
their  tenants  fortified  places  for  defence,  houses  to  live  in,  and  churches 
in  which  to  worship.  The  native  Irish  were  assigned  to  the  poorer  lands  and 
less  accessible  districts  ;  while  the  allotments  to  the  English  and  Scots  were 
kept  together,  so  that  they  might  form  communities  and  not  mix  or  inter- 
marry with  the  Irish.  The  errors  of  former  Irish  "  plantations  "  were  to  be 
avoided — the  mistakes  of  placing  too  much  land  in  one  hand,  and  of  allowing 
non-resident  proprietors.  The  purpose  was  not  only  to  transfer  the  owner- 
ship of  the  land  from  Irish  to  Scot,  but  to  introduce  a  Scottish  population  in 
place  of  an  Irish  one  ;  to  bring  about  in  Ulster  exactly  what  has  happened 
without  design  during  the  last  half-century  in  New  Zealand,  the  introduction 
of  an  English-speaking  race,  the  natives  being  expected  to  disappear  as  have 
perished  the  Maori. 

The  English  Council  requested  the  Scottish  Privy  Council  to  draw  up  a 
list  of  Scotsmen  willing  to  settle  in  Ulster.  The  king  seems  to  have  taken 
the  duty  of  selecting  the  Scottish  undertakers  into  his  own  hands,  the  men 
who  got  grants  being  of  higher  social  standing  and  wider  influence  than 
those  who  first  offered.  A  second  and  more  careful  survey  having  been 
made  in  1609,  the  commission  proceeded,  in  the  summer  of  16 10,  to  divide 
up  the  land.  This  second  survey  may  have  been  better  than  the  first,  but  it 
was  very  inaccurate  after  all,  as  it  mapped  out  for  division  only  500,000  acres 
of  land  suitable,  for  "  plantation,"  out  of  a  total  acreage  of  3,800,000  con- 
tained in  the  si  <.  counties.1  Fifty-nine  Scotsmen  were  chosen,  and  to  them 
81,000  acres  were  allotted  in  estates  scattered  over  the  five  counties,  London- 
derry being  re  served  for  the  city  of  London.      A  careful  examination  of 


500  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  list  of  Scottish  undertakers  enables  us  to  see  the  plan  which  was  finally- 
adopted  for  securing  proper  colonists.  There  was,  of  course,  as  was  always 
the  case  at  this  time,  a  certain  number  of  the  hangers-on  about  the  Court 
who  got  grants,  which  they  at  once  sold  to  raise  money.  But  as  a  whole,  the 
plan  of  distribution  was  thoroughly  well  conceived  and  well  carried  out. 

James  seems  to  have  seen  that  the  parts  of  Scotland  nearest  Ireland,  and 
which  had  most  intercourse  with  it,  were  most  likely  to  yield  proper  colonists. 
He  resolved,  therefore,  to  enlist  the  assistance  of  the  great  families  of  the 
southwest,  trusting  that  their  feudal  power  would  enable  them  to  bring  with 
them  bodies  of  colonists.  Thus  grants  were  made  to  the  duke  of  Lennox, 
who  had  great  power  in  Dumbartonshire  ;  to  the  earl  of  Abercorn  and  his 
brothers,  who  represented  the  power  of  the  Hamiltons  in  Renfrewshire. 
North  Ayrshire  had  been  already  largely  drawn  on  by  Hamilton  and  Mont- 
gomery, but  one  of  the  sons  of  Lord  Kilmarnock,  Sir  Thomas  Boyd,  received 
a  grant  ;  while  from  South  Ayrshire  came  the  Cunninghams  and  Crawfords, 
and  Lord  Ochiltree  and  his  son  ;  the  latter  were  known  in  Galloway  as  well 
as  in  the  county  from  which  their  title  was  derived.  But  it  was  on  Galloway 
men  that  the  greatest  grants  were  bestowed.  Almost  all  the  great  houses 
of  the  times  are  represented, — Sir  Robert  Maclellan,  Laird  Bomby  as  he  is 
called,  who  afterwards  became  Lord  Kirkcudbright,  and  whose  great  castle 
stands  to  this  day  ;  John  Murray  of  Broughton,  one  of  the  secretaries  of 
state  ;  Vans  of  Barnbarroch  ;  Sir  Patrick  McKie  of  Laerg  ;  Dunbar  of 
Mochrum  ;  one  of  the  Stewarts  of  Garlies,  from  whom  Newtown-Stewart  in 
Tyrone  takes  its  name.  Some  of  these  failed  to  implement  their  bargains, 
but  the  best  of  the  undertakers  proved  to  be  men  like  the  earl  of  Abercorn 
and  his  brothers,  and  the  Stewarts  of  Ochiltree  and  Garlies  ;  for  while  their 
straitened  means  led  them  to  seek  fortune  in  Ireland,  their  social  position 
enabled  them  without  difficulty  to  draw  good  colonists  from  their  own  dis- 
tricts, and  so  fulfil  the  terms  of  the  "  plantation  "  contract,  which  bound 
them  to  "  plant  "  their  holdings  with  tenants.  With  the  recipient  of  two 
thousand  acres,  the  agreement  was  that  he  was  to  bring  "  forty-eight  able 
men  of  the  age  of  eighteen  or  upwards,  being  born  in  England  or  the 
inward  parts  of  Scotland."  He  was  further  bound  to  grant  farms  to  his 
tenants,  the  sizes  of  these  being  specified,  and  it  being  particularly  required 
that  these  should  be  "  feus  "  or  on  lease  for  twenty-one  years  or  for  life.  A 
stock  of  muskets  and  hand  weapons  to  arm  himself  and  his  tenants  was  to  be 
provided.  The  term  used,  "  the  inward  parts  of  Scotland,"  refers  to  the  old 
invasions  of  Ulster  by  the  men  of  the  Western  Islands.  No  more  of  these 
Celts  were  wanted  ;  there  were  plenty  of  that  race  alreadv  in  North  Antrim  ; 
it  was  the  Lowland  Scots,  who  were  peace-loving  and  Protestants,  whom  the 
Government  desired.  The  phrase,  "  the  inward  parts  of  Scotland,"  occurs 
again  and  again. 

These  lands  were  now  granted  to  three  classes  of  proprietors.  The  first 
were  English  and  Scottish  undertakers,  who  were  to  plant  with  tenants  from 


The  Great  Plantation  of  Ulster  501 

England  or  Scotland,  and  conform  themselves  in  religion  according  to  his 
Majesty's  laws.  The  second  were  "  servitors,"  or  military  undertakers,  who 
were  permitted  to  take  Irish  tenants  ;  and  the  third  were  native  Irish  who 
obtained  grants.  The  first  paid  a  yearly  rent  of  £5  6s.  &d.t  the  second  of  £8, 
and  the  third  of  ;£io  13s.  4^.  for  every  thousand  acres.  But  if  the  servitors 
planted  part  of  their  estates  with  English  or  Scotch  tenants,  their  rents  for 
all  the  lands  thus  colonized  would  be  the  same  as  was  paid  by  the  first 
class. 

In  1609,  the  forfeited  lands  were  surveyed  by  commissioners,  many  grants 
were  made  to  undertakers  and  servitors,  and  all  things  prepared  for  planting 
Ulster  with  another  race,  professing  another  religion.  The  Episcopal  Church 
received  a  large  proportion  ;  Trinity  College  was  not  forgotten  ;  and  the 
great  part  of  county  Derry  was  given  to  the  Corporation  of  London,  on 
condition  of  building  and  fortifying  Londonderry  and  Coleraine,  and  thus 
spending  twenty  thousand  pounds  on  the  property.  A  committee  of  the  Cor- 
poration, called  the  Irish  Society,  was  formed,  whose  duty  was  to  carry  out 
the  plantation  of  their  estates. 

Next  year,  the  first  settlers  began  to  arrive.  Some  came  from  England, 
but  most  were  from  Scotland.  The  English  settled  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  province  ;  while  the  Scots  occupied  the  north  and  centre,  including 
Londonderry — and  Coleraine,  as  well  as  Tyrone,  "  the  fayrest  and  goodliest 
countrye  in  Ireland  universallie."  Among  these  settlers  were  so  many  who 
left  their  country  for  their  country's  good,  that  it  became  a  proverb  regard- 
ing any  one  not  doing  well,  to  say  that  his  latter  end  would  be  "  Ireland. " 
But  the  great  body  of  colonists  were  earnest  and  industrious.  Succeeding 
bands  were  even  more  earnest  and  more  industrious,  while  the  most  worth- 
less among  them  were,  in  every  mental  and  moral  quality,  far  above  the 
Irish  by  whom  they  were  surrounded. 

At  first  these  settlers  erected  their  rude,  rush-thatched  huts  near  the 
landlord's  castle  for  protection,  and  every  night  they  had  to  place  their 
flocks  within  the  "  bawn,"  or  walled  enclosure  by  which  that  castle  was  sur- 
rounded, for  fear  of  the  Irish  driving  them  off  in  the  darkness.  But,  after- 
wards, as  the  settlers  became  more  numerous,  they  ventured  to  build  their 
houses  here  and  there  in  little  clusters  called  towns.  This  caused  each 
farmer's  land  to  be  divided  into  lots,  separated  one  from  another,  and 
mixed  up  with  the  lots  of  others. 

Many  of  the  natives,  driven  to  the  mountains  or  woods,  were  known  as 
woodkernes,  and  lived  by  plunder.  But  woe  betide  the  unfortunate  wood- 
kerne  when  taken  in  theft !  Small  crimes  were  punished  by  death.  Blood- 
hounds were  kept  for  tracing  these  outlaws,  who,  when  taken,  were  often 
shot  without  trial.  If  tried,  they  were  generally  found  guilty,  and,  when 
sentenced,  halters  were  immediately  put  round  their  necks  ;  they  were  then 
led  through  the  principal  streets  of  the  town  to  the  places  of  execution,  and 
hanged  in  the  most  barbarous  manner.     But  woodkernes  were  not  the  only 


5<D2  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

enemies  of  the  settlers.  Large  flocks  of  wolves  roamed  about  by  night,  and 
often  made  sad  havoc  among  their  cattle.  The  land  was  unfenced  and 
undrained.  Much  of  it  was  covered  with  woods,  affording  refuge  to  the 
outlaws.2  But  on  the  other  hand,  rents  were  low  and  labor  did  not  cost 
much.  The  laws  were  repealed  which  made  it  criminal  to  have  any  deal- 
ings with  the  native  Irish,  who  were  now  employed  by  the  settlers  as  domes- 
tic servants.  The  wages  of  a  ploughman  was  six  shillings  and  eightpence  a 
quarter.  A  servant  maid  got  ten  shillings  a  year.  Laborers  received  two- 
pence, and  tradesmen  sixpence  a  day.  A  cow  was  worth  about  a  pound,  and 
a  horse  four  pounds.  But  money  was  then  more  available  than  now,  and 
purchased  more  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  In  the  past,  Irishmen  had 
thought  labor  a  disgrace.  Old  Con  O'Neill  had  cursed  those  who  sowed 
wheat  as  well  as  those  who  learned  English.  Their  chief  sustenance  came 
from  cattle,  and  their  food  was  milk  and  butter  and  herbs,  such  as  "  scurvy 
grass."  But  the  colonists  drained  the  swamps,  cut  down  the  woods,  sowed 
wheat,  and  planted  the  potato — an  article  of  food  lately  brought  from  Amer- 
ica. Barley  was  also  cultivated  extensively,  and  was  prepared  for  use  by 
pounding  in  those  round  stone  troughs  still  to  be  seen  at  old  farmhouses,  and 
preserved  as  curiosities. 

Even  then  a  trade  in  linen  had  taken  root  in  the  country.  Existing 
before  the  foot  of  a  Saxon  had  been  placed  on  its  free  soil,  it  was  now  carried 
on  with  vigor  and  success.  The  colonists  sowed  flax,  spun  the  flax  into 
yarn,  and  wove  the  yarn  into  linen  cloth.  The  cloth  when  sold  produced 
much  of  the  money  they  obtained.  There  was  also  woollen  cloth  manu- 
factured. Both  commodities  were  easily  conveyed  over  bad  roads  to  the 
seaports  for  exportation  ;  and  were  highly  esteemed  abroad. 

With  their  lands  at  a  nominal  rent,  their  clothing  and  their  tools  manu- 
factured by  themselves,  with  linen  and  woollen  cloth,  cattle  and  horses,  to 
sell,  the  colonists  soon  began  to  thrive.  As  the  woods  were  cut  and  the 
marshes  drained,  a  larger  proportion  of  the  country  was  cultivated.  The 
land,  after  its  long  rest,  brought  forth  abundantly.  The  success  of  the 
settlers  induced  many  of  their  friends  from  Scotland  to  follow.  The  vacant 
parts  of  the  country  were  occupied.  The  woodman's  axe  rang  in  the  forests, 
and  the  husbandman's  plough  turned  up  the  fruitful  soil  in  the  plains.  Not- 
withstanding a  difference  of  race  and  religion,  a  common  humanity  was  often 
sufficient  to  establish  a  feeling  of  friendship  between  the  settlers  and  the 
more  civilized  of  the  Irish.  The  woodkernes  were  subdued  or  exterminated, 
and  prosperity  began  to  reign  in  Ulster. 

The  settlement  made  by  Hugh  Montgomery  and  James  Hamilton  in  1606 
opened  up  the  county  of  Down  to  Scottish  emigrants.  They  took  possession 
of  the  whole  of  the  north  of  the  county,  but  they  were  satisfied  with  the  arable 
lands  which  they  found  there,  and  did  not  intrude  on  the  hill-country  of  the 
southern  baronies,  which  therefore  remained  Irish  and  Roman  Catholic.  To 
the  west  of  the  county  the  Scots  were  met  by  the  English  colony  which 


The  Great  Plantation  of  Ulster  503 

Chichester  had  founded  at  Belfast,  and  which  spread  up  the  river  Lagan, 
along  both  its  banks,  towards  Hillsborough,  on  the  county  Down  side,  and 
far  into  county  Armagh  on  the  west.  Their  common  Puritanism  formed  a 
bond  of  union  between  these  English  and  Scottish  colonists.  It  made  them 
unite  and  form  into  communities  wherever  they  met,  whether  on  the  banks 
of  the  Lagan  or  northward  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  county  An- 
trim, when  it  was  opened  up  to  settlers  by  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  along  the 
shores  of  Belfast  Lough,  and  by  Macdonnell  northward  to  the  Giant's  Cause- 
way. The  only  district  of  this  county  not  thoroughly  colonized  was  the 
highlands  along  the  northeast  shore.  Then  came  James's  great  scheme  of 
colonization  in  16 10,  which  threw  open  the  other  six  counties,  for  English  and 
Scottish  settlers.  In  some  of  these  counties,  and  in  some  parts  of  them,  the 
settlements  were  successful  ;  in  others  they  failed  to  take  root.  In  Armagh, 
the  British  colony  took  firm  hold,  because,  as  soon  as  the  county  was  opened 
up,  settlers  flocked  into  it  across  the  borders  from  Down,  and  in  even  greater 
numbers  from  the  English  colony  in  Antrim.  On  the  other  hand,  the  "  plan- 
tation "  of  Cavan  was,  comparatively  speaking,  a  failure.  In  county  Tyrone, 
the  British  settlers  did  not  invade  the  mountainous  country  on  the  borders 
of  Londonderry  county,  but  contented  themselves  with  the  finer  lands  in  the 
basin  of  the  Mourne,  and  on  the  shores  of  Lough  Neagh,  and  along  the 
streams  which  flow  into  it.  Londonderry  county  was  during  the  early  years 
of  the  settlement  left  very  much  to  itself  by  the  "  Irish  Society  of  London,  '* 
which  kept  its  contract  largely  in  the  direction  of  drawing  its  rents — an  op- 
eration which  is  still  performed  by  the  London  Companies,  the  valuation  of 
the  Londoners'  property  being  stated  in  the  Government  return  for  1887 
at  £n,°°°  Per  annum.  At  the  mouths  of  the  two  rivers  which  drain  the 
county,  however,  the  London  Society  founded  the  towns  of  Londonderry  and 
Coleraine,  and  these  as  time  went  on  became  ports  by  which  emigrants  en- 
tered and  spread  all  over  the  fertile  lands  of  the  county.  In  Donegal  the 
British  only  attempted  to  colonize  the  eastern  portion  ;  while  in  Fermanagh 
the  Scots  seemed  to  be  so  little  at  home  that  they  handed  over  their  lands 
to  the  English,  who  here  established  a  strong  colony,  from  which  have  sprung 
some  of  the  best-known  names  among  the  English  in  Ireland.  Into  these 
districts  of  Ulster  both  English  and  Scottish  emigrants,  but  especially  the 
latter,  continued  to  stream  at  intervals  during  the  whole  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

The  progress  of  the  colonies  in  the  different  counties  is  very  accurately 
described  in  a  series  of  reports  by  Government  inspectors,  and  in  the  letters 
of  Chichester  himself.  Of  the  Scottish  undertakers,  and  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  doing  their  work,  there  is  a  special  report ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  Chichester  is  favorably  impressed  with  them.  "  The  Scottishmen 
come  with  greater  port  [show],  and  better  accompanied  and  attended,  but, 
it  may  be,  with  less  money  in  their  purses." 

For  two  or  three  years  after  the  "  great  settlement  "  of  1610,   the  colony 


504  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

went  on  increasing  ;  and  then  its  progress  was  checked  by  rumors  of  a  great 
plot  among  the  natives  to  sweep  away  the  foreign  settlers.  Such  a  conspir- 
acy did  actually  exist,  and  was  certainly  a  thing  which  might  be  expected  ; 
but  it  was  discovered  and  suppressed  in  16 15,  before  it  came  to  a  head.  In 
16 1 8  the  Irish  Government  instructed  Captain  Nicholas  Pynnar  to  inspect 
every  allotment  in  the  six  "  escheated  "  counties,  and  to  report  on  each  one, 
whether  held  by  "  natives  "  or  "  foreign  planters."  The  report  presents  a  very 
exact  picture  of  what  had  been  done  by  the  settlers  in  the  counties  inspected 
— Londonderry,  Donegal,  Tyrone,  Armagh,  Cavan,  and  Fermanagh.  Pynnar 
points  out  that  many  of  the  undertakers  had  altogether  failed  to  implement 
the  terms  of  their  agreement.  On  the  other  hand,  he  reports  the  number  of 
castles,  "  bawns,"  and  "  dwelling-houses  of  stone  and  timber  built  after  the 
English  fashion,"  and  mentions  the  number  of  tenants,  and  the  size  and  con- 
ditions of  their  holdings.  He  states  that  "there  are  upon  occasion  8000 
men  of  British  birth  and  descent  for  defence,  though  a  fourth  part  of  the 
lands  is  not  fully  inhabited."  Of  these,  more  than  half  must  have  been  Scots; 
and  if  there  be  added  the  great  colonies  in  Down  and  Antrim,  there  must 
have  been  an  imigration  from  Scotland  of  between  30,000  and  40,000  in 
these  ten  years. 

The  only  county  in  which  the  Scottish  settlers  failed  to  take  firm  root 
was  Fermanagh,  for  there,  by  16 18,  when  Pynnar  reported,  a  large  number 
of  the  Scottish  proportions  had  been  sold,  and  were  held  by  Englishmen. 
The  result  is  seen  in  the  small  number  of  Presbyterians  in  comparison  to 
Episcopalians  to  be  found  at  the  present  day  in  county  Fermanagh. 

The  north  of  Ireland  is  now  very  much  what  the  first  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  made  it.  North  Down  and  Antrim,  with  the  great  town  of 
Belfast,  are  English  and  Scottish  now  as  they  then  became,  and  desire  to  re- 
main united  with  the  countries  from  which  their  people  sprang.  South 
Down,  on  the  other  hand,  was  not  "  planted,"  and  it  is  Roman  Catholic  and 
Nationalist.  Londonderry  county  too  is  Loyalist,  for  emigrants  poured 
into  it  through  Coleraine  and  Londonderry  city.  Northern  Armagh 
was  peopled  with  English  and  Scottish  emigrants,  who  crowded  into  it  from 
Antrim  and  Down,  and  it  desires  union  with  the  other  island.  Tyrone  county 
is  all  strongly  Unionist,  but  it  is  the  country  around  Strabane,  which  the 
Hamiltons  of  Abercorn  and  the  Stewarts  of  Garlies  so  thoroughly  colonized, 
and  the  eastern  portion,  on  the  borders  of  Lough  Neagh,  around  the  colonies 
founded  by  Lord  Ochiltree,  that  give  to  the  Unionists  a  majority;  while  in 
eastern  Donegal,  which  the  Cunninghams  and  the  Stewarts  "  settled  "  from 
Ayrshire  and  Galloway,  and  in  Fermanagh,  where  dwell  the  descendants  of 
the  Englishmen  who  fought  so  nobly  in  1689,  there  is  a  great  minority  which 
struggles  against  separation  from  England.  Over  the  rest,  even  of  Ulster, 
the  desire  for  a  separate  kingdom  of  Ireland  is  the  dream  of  the  people  still, 
as  it  was  three  centuries  ago.  In  many  parts  of  Ireland  which  were  at  one 
time  and  another  colonized  with  English,  the  colonists  became  absorbed  in 


The  Great  Plantation  of  Ulster  505 

the  native  population;  but  in  Ulster,  where  the  Scottish  blood  is  strong,  this 
union  has  not  taken  place,  and  the  result  is  the  race  difference  which  is  so 
apparent  in  the  electoral  statistics  of  the  present  day.  It  is  perhaps  the  stern 
Calvinism  of  these  Scots,  which  still  survives,  that  has  prevented  the  colony 
from  mixing  with  the  surrounding  people,  and  being  absorbed  by  them,  as 
the  Jews  of  the  northern  kingdom  became  merged  in  the  surrounding  "  hea- 
then."' The  history  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  therefore  an  important 
part  of  the  story  of  the  Scot  in  Ulster;  in  fact,  for  many  years  the  history  of 
Ulster,  as  far  as  it  has  a  separate  history,  is  chiefly  ecclesiastical.'  It  must 
be  so;  for  this  is  a  story  of  Scotsmen  and  of  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  at  that  time  the  history  of  Scotland  is  the  history  of  the  Scot- 
tish Church.  Church  polity,  Church  observance,  Church  discipline,  fill  all 
the  chronicles,  and  must  have  formed  the  public  life  of  the  people. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXIV 

1  See  Appendix  T  (Conditions  of  the  Ulster  Plantation). 

3  This  state  of  desolation  was  the  result,  in  a  great  measure,  of  Mountjoy's  ruthless 
policy,  as  carried  out  against  the  natives  by  Chichester  and  his  officers,  especially  in  the 
county  of  Down.  The  following  extract  from  Fynes  Moryson's  Itinerary  is  an  awful  record 
of  the  condition  to  which  the  hapless  natives  were  reduced:  "  Now  because  I  have  often  made 
mention  formerly  of  our  destroying  the  Rebels  Come,  and  using  all  meanes  to  famish  them, 
let  me  by  two  or  three  examples  show  the  miserable  estate  to  which  the  Rebels  were  thereby 
brought.  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  Sir  Richard  Moryson,  and  the  other  Commanders  of  the 
Forces,  sent  against  Bryan  Mac  Art  aforesaid,  in  their  return  homeward,  saw  a  most  horrible 
spectacle  of  three  children  (whereof  the  eldest  was  not  above  ten  yeeres  old),  all  eating  and 
knawing  with  their  teeth  the  entrals  of  their  dead  mother,  upon  whose  flesh  they  had  fed 
twenty  dayes  past,  and  having  eaten  all  from  the  feete  upward  to  the  bare  bones,  rosting  it 
continually  by  a  slow  fire,  were  now  come  to  the  eating  of  her  entrails  in  like  sort  roasted, 
yet  not  divided  from  the  body,  being  as  yet  raw.  .  .  .  Capt.  Trevor  and  many  honest 
Gentlemen  lying  in  the  Newry  can  witness,  that  some  old  women  of  those  parts  used  to 
make  a  fire  in  the  fields,  and  divers  little  children  driving  out  the  cattel  in  the  cold  morn- 
ings, and  comming  thither  to  warme  them,  were  by  them  surprised,  killed  and  eaten,  which 
at  last  was  discovered  by  a  great  girle  breaking  from  them  by  strength  of  her  body,  and 
Captaine  Trevor  sending  out  souldiers  to  know  the  truth,  they  found  the  childrens  skulles 
and  bones,  and  apprehended  the  old  women,  who  was  executed  for  the  fact.  The  Captains 
of  Carrickfergus,  and  the  adjacent  Garrisons  of  the  Northern  parts  can  witnesse  that  upon 
the  making  of  peace,  and  receiving  the  rebels  to  mercy,  it  was  a  common  practise  among  the 
common  sort  of  them  (I  meane  such  as  were  not  Sword-men),  to  thrust  long  needles  into 
the  horses  of  our  English  troopes,  and  they  dying  thereupon  to  bee  readie  to  teare  out  one 
another's  throate  for  a  share  of  them.  And  no  spectacle  was  more  frequent  in  the  Ditches  of 
Townes,  and  especiallie  in  wasted  Countries,  then  to  see  multitudes  of  these  poore  people 
dead  with  their  mouths  all  coloured  greene  by  eating  nettles,  docks,  and  all  things  they 
could  rend  up  above  ground." — Part  ii.,  book  iii.,  chap.,  i.    p.  271. 

•See  Appendix  V  (Early  Presbyterian  Congregations  in  Ireland).  Also,  Reid  and 
Killen's  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 
THE  ULSTER  PLANTATION  FROM  1610  TO  1630 

THE  allotments  of  lands  by  King  James  to  the  Scottish,  English,  and 
native  "  undertakers  "  in  the  six  escheated  counties  of  Tyrone,  Ar- 
magh, Cavan,  Londonderry,  Fermanagh,  and  Donegal  are  shown  in  the 
tabulations  given  below.  Where  transfers  or  reconveyances  of  the  estates 
were  made  prior  to  1620,  that  fact  is  also  noted. 

The  following  were  the  precincts  or  baronies  set  apart  for  the  Scottish 
undertakers,  and  the  allotments  to  each  individual,  for  nearly  all  of  which 
grants  were  issued  in  16 10. 

COUNTY    OF    ARMAGH:    PRECINCT    OF    FEWES — 60OO    ACRES 

i.  2000  acres  to  Sir  James  Douglasse  [or  Douglas],  Knt.,  of  Spott,  Had- 
dingtonshire. Sold  in  161 1  to  Henry  Acheson,  who  afterwards  sold  it 
to  Sir  Archibald  Acheson. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Henry  Acheson,  gent,  Edinburgh.     Sold  to  Sir  Archibald 

Acheson  in  1628. 

3.  1000  acres  to  Sir  James  Craig,  Knt.     Sold  to  John  Hamilton  in  1615. 

4.  1000  acres  to  William  Lawder,  gent.,  of  Belhaven.     Sold  to  John  Ham- 

ilton in  1 6 14. 

5.  1000  acres  to  Claude  Hamilton,  gent.,  of  Creichnes. 

COUNTY    OF    TYRONE:    PRECINCT    OF    MOUNT  JOY — 95  OO  ACRES 

i.     3000  acres  to  Andrew  Stewart,  Lord  Ochiltree,  Galloway. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Robert  Stewart,  gent.,  of  Hilton,  Edinburgh.     Transferred 

to  Andrew  Stewart,  Jr.,  before  1620. 

3.  1500  acres  to  Sir  Robert  Hepburne,  Knt.,  of  Alderston,  Haddington- 

shire. 

4.  1000  acres  to  George  Crayford  [or  Crawford],  Laird  of   Lochnories, 

Ayrshire.     Transferred  to  Alexander  Sanderson  before  1620. 

5.  1000  acres  to  Bernard  Lindsey  of  Lough-hill,  Haddingtonshire.     Trans- 

ferred to  Alexander  Richardson  before  1620. 

6.  1000  acres  to  Robert  Lindsey  of  Leith,  Edinburghshire. 

7.  1000  acres  to  Robert  Stewart  of  Robertown,  Ayrshire.     Transferred  to 

Andrew  Stewart,  Jr. 

COUNTY    OF    TYRONE:    PRECINCT    OF    STRABANE — 13,500  ACRES 

i.     3000  acres  to  James  Hamilton,  Earl  of  Abercorn,  Renfrewshire. 
2.     2000  acres  to  Sir  Claude  Hamilton,  Knt.,  of  Lerleprevicke  (brother  of 
James),  Renfrewshire. 

506 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  507 

2000  acres  to  James  Clapen  [or  Claphame],  gent.     Transferred  to  Sir 
Robert  Newcomen,  Knt.,  before  1620. 

1500  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Boyd,  Knt.,  of  Bedlay  [or  Bonehawe],  Ren- 
frewshire.    Transferred  to  James  Hamilton  before  1620. 

1500  acres  to  Sir  George  Hamilton,  Knt.  (brother  of  James),  Renfrew- 
shire. 

1000  acres  to  Sir  John  Dromond  [or  Drummond],  Knt.,  of  Mentieth, 
Perth. 

1500  acres  to  James  Haig,  gent.     Transferred  to  Sir  William  Stewart  in 
1613. 
8.     1000  acres  to  Sir  George  Hamilton,  Bynning,  Renfrewshire. 

COUNTY  OF  DONEGAL:  PRECINCT  OF  PORTLOUGH  (PART  OF  THE  BARONY  OF 

RAPHOE)  — 12,000  ACRES 

i.  3000  acres  to  the  Duke  of  Lennox  (Ludovic  Stuart),  Dumbartonshire. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Walter  Stewart,  Knt.,  Laird  of  Minto,  Roxburghshire. 

Transferred   before  1620  to   Sir  John  Colquhoun,   Laird   of   Luss, 
Dumbartonshire. 

3.  1000  acres  to  Alexander  McAula  of  Durlin,  gent.,  Dumbartonshire. 

4.  1000  acres  to  John  Cuningham  of  Crafield  [or  Crawfield],  Ayrshire. 

5.  1000  acres  to  William  Stewart,  Laird  of  Dunduff,  Maybole,  Ayrshire. 

6.  2000  acres  to  James  Cuningham,  Laird  of  Glangarnocke,  Ayrshire. 

7.  1000  acres  to  Cuthbert  Cuningham  of  Glangarnocke,  Ayrshire. 

8.  1000  acres  to  James  Cuningham,  Esq.,  of  Glangarnocke,  Ayrshire. 

9.  1000  acres  to  John  Stewart,  Esq. 

COUNTY    OF    DONEGAL.*    PRECINCT    OF    BOYLAGH — 10,000    ACRES. 

i.  2000   acres   to    Sir     Robert     Maclellan,     Laird    of    Bomby,   Kirkcud- 
brightshire. 

2.  1500     acres     to     George     Murray e,   Laird     of    Broughton,    Whithorn, 

Wigtonshire. 

3.  1500  acres  to  William  Stewart,  Esq.,  Wigtonshire. 

4.  1000    acres    to    Sir    Patrick    Mackee  of  Laerg,   Knt.,  Minnigaff,  Wig- 

tonshire. 

5.  1000  acres  to  James  McCullough  [or  M'Culloch],  gent.,  of  Drummovell, 

Wigtonshire. 

6.  1000  acres  to  Alexander  Dunbar,  gent.,  of  Egirnes,  Wigtonshire. 

7.  1000  acres  to  Patrick  Vans  of  Libragh,  gent.,  Kirkinner,  Wigtonshire. 

8.  1000     acres     to     Alexander     Coningham     of     Powton,    gent.,    Sorbie, 

Wigtonshire. 
Few  of  these  eight  undertakers  having  made  settlement  of  their  lands  in 
1620,  the  entire  10,000  acres  were  patented  to  John  Murray. 

COUNTY    OF    FERMANAGH:    PRECINCT    OF    KNOCKNINNY — QOOO     ACRES 

i.  3000  acres  to  Michael  Balfoure  [or  Balfour],  Lord  Burley,  Pittendreich, 
Fifeshire.     Transferred  to  Sir  James  Balfour. 


508  The  Scotch- Irish  Families  of  America 

2.  1500  acres  to  Michael  Balfoure,  his  son,  Fifeshire.     Transferred  to  Sir 

Stephen  Butler. 

3.  1500    acres    to    Sir  John  Wishart  [or  Wisehart],    Knt.,  Laird   Pettaro, 

Forfarshire.     Transferred  to  Sir  Stephen  Butler. 

4.  1000  acres  to  Thomas  Monepenny  [or  Moneypenny],  Laird  of  Kinkell, 

or  Kinalle,  Fifeshire.     Transferred  to  Thomas  Crichton. 

5.  1000    acres    to    James    Trayle,  Esq.,    Fifeshire.      Sold  to  Sir  Stephen 

Butler,  4th  August. 

6.  1000  acres   to   George  Smelhome    [or  Smailholme],  Leith,    Edinburgh- 

shire.    Sold  to  Sir  Stephen  Butler,  26th  August,  1618. 

COUNTY    OF    FERMANAGH:    PRECINCT    OF    MAGHERIBOY — 9000    ACRES 

2000  acres  to  Sir  John  Home  [or  Hume],  Knt.,  Manderston,  Ber- 
wickshire. 

1500  acres  to  Robert  Hamilton  (son  of  Gilbert  Hamilton  of  Raplock). 
Portions  sold  to  Archibald  Hamilton,  ist  December,  1614,  and  bal- 
ance to  Malcolm  Hamilton. 

1000  acres  to  James  Gibb  (son  of  John  Gibb).  Conveyed  to  John 
Archdale  by  James  Hamilton,  26th  February,  1617. 

1000  acres  to  Jerome  Lindsey,  Esq.,  Leith,  Edinburghshire.  Sold  to  Sir 
William  Cole,  16th  October,  16 12. 

1500  acres  to  William  Fowler,  Esq.      Sold  to  John  Home,  26th  July, 

1615. 

1000  acres  to  Alexander  Home  (brother  of  John),  Berwickshire.     Sold 

to  Sir  John  Home. 
1000  acres  to  John  Dunbarr,  Esq.,  of  Mochrum,  Wigtonshire. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVANI  PRECINCT  OF  TULLOCHONCO  (NOW  TULLYHUNCo) — 

60OO  ACRES 

1.  2000    acres    to    Sir    Alexander    Hamilton    of  Endervicke  in  Scotland, 

Knt.,   Renfrewshire.       Granted  to  Sir  Francis  Hamilton  (grandson 
of  Alexander),  20th  July,  162 1. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Claude  Hamilton  (his  son),  Knight,  Renfrewshire. 

3.  1000  acres  to  Alexander  Achmootie  (or   Achmouty),   Fifeshire    (prob- 

ably).    Sold  to  James  Craig,  14th  August,  1610. 

4.  1000  acres  to  John  Achmootie  (brother  of  said  Alexander).      Sold  to 

James  Craig,  6th  August,  16 10. 

5.  1000  acres  to  John    Browne   of  Gorgeemill,  gent.      Sold  to  Archibald 

Acheson  about  1612. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN:  PRECINCT  OF  CLANCHY  (NOW  CLANKEe) — 60OO  ACRES 

1.  3000  acres  to   Esme  Stuart,  Lord  Aubigny  (son  of  Esme  Stewart,  the 

first  Duke  of   Lennox),  Dumbartonshire.     Sold  to  Sir  James  Ham- 
ilton, 30th  July,  161 1. 

2.  1000  acres  to  William  Baillie,  Esq. 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  509 

3.  1000   acres   to   John   Raleston,    Esq.      Sold   to   John   Hamilton,    nth 

June,  1613. 

4.  1000   acres    to   William   Downbarr.      This   proportion    seems   to   have 

been  transferred  to  William  Hamilton. 

The  following  were  the  precincts  or  baronies  set  apart  for  English  un- 
dertakers only,  with  the  allotments  to  each  individual,  for  most  of  which 
grants  were  issued  in  1610. 

COUNTY    OF    ARMAGH:    PRECINCT  OF   ONEILAN — 16,500    ACRES 

1.  1000  acres  to  Richard  Rolleston,  clergyman,  Staffordshire. 

2.  2000  acres  to  Francis  Sacheverell,  Leicestershire. 

3.  1500  acres  to  John  Brownlowe,  Esq.,  Nottinghamshire. 

4.  1000  acres  to  James  Matchett,  clergyman,  Norfolk.     Sold  before  1620. 

5.  2000  acres  to  William  Powell,  "  one  of  the  equerries  of  the  King's  Stable." 

Sold  in  1610. 

6.  1500  acres  to  John  Dillon,  Esq.,  Staffordshire. 

7.  1000  acres  to  William  Brownlowe,  gent.,  Nottinghamshire. 

8.  1500  acres  to  William  Stanhowe,  Norfolk. 

9.  2000  acres  to  John  Heron,  gent. 

10.  3000  acres  to  Sir  Anthony  Cope,  Knt.,  of  Cope  Castle. 

COUNTY  OF  TYRONE:  PRECINCT  OF  CLOGHER — 1 2,500  ACRES 

i.   2000  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Ridgewaie,  Knt.,  Treasurer- at- War. 

2.  2000  acres  to  John  Leigh,  gent. 

3.  1500  acres  to  Walter  Edney,  Esq.,  and  Thomas  Edney,  his  brother. 

4.  1000  acres  to    George    Ridgeway,    gent,    Devonshire    (brother   to   Sir 

Thomas  Ridgeway). 

5.  1000  acres  to  William  Parsons,  Dublin. 

6.  1000  acres  to  William  Turvin.     Sold  before  1620. 

7.  2000  acres  to  Edward  Kingswell.     Sold  in  1616. 

8.  2000  acres  to  William  Glegge.     Sold  before  161 2. 

COUNTY    OF    TYRONE:    PRECINCT    OF   OMAGH — 11,000    ACRES 

i.  3000  acres  to  George  Tuchet,  Lord  Audley. 

2.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Marvin  Tuchet,  Knt.,  son  of  George  Tuchet. 

3.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Ferdinand  Tuchet,  Knt.,  son  of  George  Tuchet. 

4.  2000  acres  to  Edward  Blunte,  Esq.,  Derbyshire.     Sold  before  1620. 

5.  2000  acres  to  Sir  John  Davys,  Knight,  son-in-law  of  George  Tuchet. 

COUNTY    OF   DONEGAL:    PRECINCT    OF    LIFFER    (BARONY    OF    RAPHOe) 

15,000     ACRES 

1.  1500  acres  to  Henry  Clare,  Norfolk. 

2.  2000  acres  to  William  Willson,  Suffolk. 

3.  1500  acres  to  Edward  Russell,  Esq.,  London.     Sold  before  1612. 


5io 


The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 


4.  1500  acres  to  Sir  William  Barnes,  Knt.     Sold  in  16 10. 

5.  1000  acres  to  Capt.  Ralph  Mansfield. 

6.  2000    acres    to    Sir    Thomas    Cornewall,     Knt.,     baron     of     Burford, 

Shropshire. 

7.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Remyngton,  Knt.     Sold  before  1620. 

8.  2000    acres    to    Sir    Maurice    Barkeley,     Knt.,     Somersetshire.       Sold 

before  1620. 

9.  1500  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Coach  [Coates],  Knt. 

COUNTY    OF    FERMANAGH:  PRECINCT    OF    CLANCALLY — 50OO   ACRES 

i.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Hugh  Wirrall,  Yorkshire  and  Middlesex. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Robert  Bogas,  Suffolkshire.     Sold  before  1620. 

3.  1000  acres  to  Robert  Calvert,  gent.     Sold  before  1620. 

4.  1000  acres  to  John  Sedborough,  Esq. 

5.  1000  acres  to  Thomas  Flowerdewe,  Esq.,  Norfolk. 

COUNTY    OF    FERMANAGH.*    PRECINCTS   OF   LURG    AND    COOLEMAKERNAN 

900O   ACRES 

i.  1000  acres  to  Thomas  Flowerdewe,  Esq. 

2.  2000  acres  to  Thomas  Blenerhassett,  Esq.,  Norfolk. 

3.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Edward  Blenerhassett. 

4.  1000  acres  to  John  Archdale,  Suffolk. 

5.  1000  acres  to  Edward  Warde,  gent.     Sold  in  161 1. 

6.  1000  acres  to  Thomas  Barton,  Norfolk.     Sold  before  1620. 

7.  1000  acres  to  Henry  Honynge  [or  Hunings],  Suffolk.     Sold  before  1620. 

COUNTY    OF    CAVAN:    PRECINCT   OF    LOUGHTEE — 13,260    ACRES 

i.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Richard  Waldron,  Knt. 

2.  2000  acres  to  John  Fishe,  Esq.,  Bedfordshire. 

3.  2760  acres  to  Sir  Stephen  Butler,  Bedfordshire. 

4.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Nicholas  Lusher,  Knt.,  Bedfordshire. 

5.  1500  acres  to  Sir  Hugh  Wyrrall,  Knt.,  Middlesex. 

6.  1500  acres  to  John  Tailor,  gent,  Cambridgeshire. 

7.  1500  acres  to  William  Snow.    Transferred  to  Peter  Ameas. 

The  following  were  the  precincts  or  baronies  set  apart  for  servitors 
(Scottish  and  English)  and  for  natives,  with  the  allotments  to  each  indi- 
vidual, for  which  grants  were  issued  in  1610: 

COUNTY  OF  ARMAGH  :    PRECINCT  OF  ORIER — 6620  ACRES 

i.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Gerald  Moore,  Knt.,  Mellifont,  Privy  Councillor. 

2.  1500  acres  to  Sir  Oliver  St.  John,  Wiltshire,  Master  of  Ordnance. 

3.  500  acres  to  George  Tuchet,  Lord  Audley. 

4.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Williams,  Knt. 

5.  1000  acres  to  John  Bourchier,  Esq.,  former  Master  of  Ordnance. 

6.  1000  acres  to  Francis  Cooke,  Esq.,  Norwich. 


Ulster  from   1610  to   1630  511 

7.  200  acres  to  Charles  Poynts,  gent.,  Gloucestershire. 

8.  120  acres  to  Marmaduke  Whitechurch,  Esq. 

9.  300  acres  to  Capt.  Henry  Adderton. 

COUNTY  OF  TYRONE  :    PRECINCT  OF  DUNGANNON — 7320  ACRES 

i.     1320  acres  to  Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  the  Lord  Deputy  for  Ireland. 

2.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Ridgeway,  Vice  Treasurer. 

3.  2000  acres   to   Sir   Richard  Wingfield,    Knt.,    Marshal   of   the   Army, 

Suffolkshire. 

4.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Toby  Caulfield,  Knt.,  Oxfordshire. 

5.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Francis  Roe,  Knt.,  Essex. 

COUNTY    OF    DONEGAL  :    PRECINCTS   OF   DOE    AND    FAWNETT    (NOW     KILMAC- 

RENAN) — 11,696   ACRES 

i.     1000  acres  to  William  Stewart,  Esq.,  Wigtonshire. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Patrick  Crawford,  Esq.,  of  Lifford. 

3.  1000  acres  to  John  Vaughan,  Esq. 

4.  1000  acres  to  John  Kingsmill,  Hampshire 

5.  1000  acres  to  Basill  Brooke,  Esq. 

6.  1000  acres  to  Sir  Richard  Hansard,  Knt. 

7.  300  acres  to  Thomas  Perkins  and  George  Hilton. 

8.  500  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Chichester,  Knt.,  brother  of  Arthur. 

9.  1000  acres  to  Henry  Hart,  Esq.,  London. 

10.  1 1 28  acres  to  Sir  Ralph  Bingley,  Knt. 

11.  400  acres  to  Edward  Ellis,  gent. 

12.  1000  acres  to  Henry  Vaughan,  Esq.,  brother  of  John. 

13.  500  acres  to  Sir  Richard  Bingley,  Knt.,  Westminster,  brother   of   Sir 

Ralph. 

14.  100  acres  to  George  Gale,  gent. 

15.  240  acres  to  Charles  Grimsditche,  gent.,  London. 

16.  528  acres  to  Thomas  Browne,  Esq. 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :    PRECINCT  OF  CLINAWLY — 2246  ACRES 

1.  1500  acres  to  Sir  John  Davys,  Knt.,  Attorney-General. 

2.  500  acres  to  Samuel  Harrison,  Esq. 

3.  246  acres  to  Peter  Mostin,  gent.,  Flintshire  (Wales). 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :     PRECINCTS  OF  COOLE  AND  TIRCANNADA — 450O 

ACRES 

i.  1500  acres  to  Sir  Henry  Folliott,  Knt. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Roger  Atkinson. 

3.  1000  acres  to  William  Cole,  Esq. 

4.  1000  acres  to  Paul  Goore,  London. 


512  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN  :    PRECINCT  OF  TULLAGHAH — 5900  ACRES 

i.  2000  acres  to  Sir  George  and  Sir  Richard  Graeme  [Graham],  Knts. 

2.  1500  acres  to  Huge  Coolme,  Devonshire,  and  Walter  Talbott. 

3.  1000  acres  to  Nicholas  Pynnar. 

4.  1200  acres  to  Edward  Rutlidge  and  Bryan  McPhilip  O'Reyly,  gents. 

5.  200  acres  to  Thomas  Johnes,  gent. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN :    PRECINCT  OF  CLONMAHONE — 45 OO    ACRES 

i.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Oliver  Lambert,  Knt.,  Privy  Councillor,  London. 

2.  1500  acres  to  Joseph  Johnes,  gent. 

3.  500  acres  to  John  Russon,  gent. 

4.  500  acres  to  Anthony  Atkinson,  gent. 


COUNTY  OF  CAVAN:    PRECINCT  OF  CASTLE  RAHEN — 39OO  ACRES 

400  acres  to  Sir  John  Elliot,  Knt.,  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 

1000  acres  to  John  Ridgeway,  Esq.  [brother  of  Sir  Thomas]. 

1000  acres  to  Sir  William  Taaffe,  Knt.,  Louth. 

500  acres  to  Roger  Garth. 

1000  acres  to  Sir  Edmund  Fettiplace,  Knt. 


COUNTY  OF  CAVAN:    PRECINCT  OF  TULLAGHGARVY — 4250  ACRES 

i.     750  acres  to  Sir  Thomas  Ashe,  Knight,  and  John  Ashe,  gent.,  Meath. 

2.  1500  acres  to  Archibald  and  Brent  Moore,  gents.,  Kent. 

3.  2000  acres  to  Capt.  Richard  Tirrell. 

NATIVES 
COUNTY  OF  ARMAGH:    PRECINCT  OF  ORIER 

i.     2000  acres  to  Arte  McBaron  O'Neile  [half-brother  to  the  Earl  of  Ty- 
rone] and  his  wife. 

2.  1500  acres  to  Henry  McShane  O'Neale. 

3.  140  acres  to  Tirlagh  Groome  O'Hanlon. 

4.  100  acres  to  Shane  McShane  O'Hanlon. 

5.  100  acres  to  Shane  McOghie  O'Hanlon,  gent. 

6.  240  acres  to  Oghie  Oge  O'Hanlon's  two  sons,  Felim  and  Brian. 

7.  120  acres  to  Rorie  McFerdoragh  O'Hanlon,  gent. 

8.  120  acres  to  Shane  Oge  McShane  Roe  O'Hanlon,  gent. 

9.  360  acres  to  Carbery  McCan,  gent. 

10.  80  acres  to  Donell  McCan,  gent. 

11.  120  acres  to  Patrick  McManus  O'Hanlon  and  Ardell  Moore  O'Mulch- 

rewe. 

12.  60  acres  to  Redmond  McFardoragh  O'Hanlon. 

13.  360  acres  to  Con  McTirlagh  [O'Neill],  gent. 

14.  240  acres  to  Brian  McFelin  Roe  McDonell,   Hugh  McCarbery  O'Neale, 

and  Shane  McTirlagh  O'Neale. 


Ulster  from  1610  to   1630  513 

15.  240  acres  to  Mulmory  McDonell,  Arte  McTirlagh  O'Neale,  and  Neale 

McTirlagh  O'Neale. 

16.  100  acres  to  Felim  Oge  McDonell,  gent. 

17.  100  acres  to  Donough  Reogh  O'Hagan,  gent. 

18.  120  acres  to  Calvagh  McDonell,  gent. 

19.  120  acres  to  Laughlin  O'Hagan,  gent. 

20.  80  acres  to  Edmond  Groome  McDonell. 

21.  83  acres  to  Alexander  Oge  McDonell. 

22.  100  acres  to  Brian  Oge  O'Hagan,  gent. 

23.  120  acres  to  Colla  McArte  McDonell,  gent. 

24.  180  acres  to  Donough  Oge  McMurphie. 

25.  540  acres  to  Donnell  McHenry  O'Neile,  Felim  McTirlagh  Brassilagh 

[O'Neill],  and  Eugene  Valley  [Owen  Ballagh]  O'Neyle,  and  Edmund 
Oge  O'Donnelly. 

26.  240  acres  to  Owen  McHugh  O'Neale,  gent. 

27.  240  acres  to  Hugh  McTirlagh  O'Neale,  Art  McTirlagh  O'Neale,  and 

Henry  McTirlagh  O'Neale. 

28.  120  acres  to  Rorie  McPatrick  McCan,  gent. 

29.  60  acres  to  Brian,  son  of  Melaghlin,  son  of  Art  O'Neale,  gent. 

30.  120  acres  to  Patrick  Moder,  gent. 

31.  120  acres  to  Cormack  McTirlagh  Brassilagh,  gent. 

32.  60  acres  to  Tirlagh  Oge  McTirlagh  Brassilagh,  gent. 

33.  120  acres  to  Neece  Quin. 

34.  120  acres  to  Hugh  McGilleduffe,  gent. 

35.  100  acres  to  Felim  O'Quin. 

36.  100  acres  to  Cahier  O'Mellan,  gent. 

37.  80  acres  to  Hugh  McBrian  McCan. 

38.  160  acres  to  Carberie  Oge  McCan  and  Toole  McFelim  McCan* 

39.  80  acres  to  Ardill  McFelim  O'Hanlon,  gent. 

COUNTY    OF    TYRONE:  PRECINCT    OF   DONGANON 

*•     333°  acres  to  Tirlagh  O'Neale  of  Caslane,  Esq. 

2.  800  acres  to  Neal  O'Neale,  Esq.  [brother  of  the  above]. 

3.  370  acres  to  Bryan  O'Neale,  gent,  [brother  of  the  two  preceding  gran- 

tees], 

4.  2620  acres  to  Catharine  Ny  Neale,  wife  of  the  late  Terence  or  Tirlagh 

Oge  O'Neale,  and  now  [1613]  wife  of  Robert  Hovenden,  gent. 

5.  400  acres  to  Tirlagh  Oge  O'Neale,  gent,  [brother  of  Felimy  Roe,  afore- 

said]. 

6.  200  acres  to  Neal  Roe  O'Neale. 

7.  1500  acres  to  Bryan  O'Neale,  gent. 

8.  200  acres  to  Neale  O'Neale. 

9.  360  acres  to  Henry  O'Neale,  gent. 

10.  300  acres  to  Charles  O'Neale. 
33 


514  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

11.  1 160  acres  to  Con  Boy  O'Neale. 

12.  120  acres  to  Hugh  O'Neale. 

13.  140  acres  to  Robert  Hovenden,  gent. 

14.  60  acres  to  Donill  McShane  [surnamed]  Mallatas,  gent. 

15.  120  acres  to  Con  Boy  O'Neale,  gent 

16.  60  acres  to  Hugh  McDonell  O'Neale,  gent. 

17.  60  acres  to  Cormock  McNemee,  gent. 

18.  60  acres  to  Tirlagh  Oge  McBrian  [O'Neale],  gent. 

19.  60  acres  to  Rorie  O'Gormeley,  gent. 

20.  60  acres  to  Jenkin  O'Devin,  gent. 

21.  60  acres  to  Henry  Oge  O'Neale,  gent. 

22.  60  acres  to  Bryan  O'Neale  and  Neale  Roe. 

23.  60  acres  to  Art  McRowrie  O'Neale,  gent. 

24.  60  acres  to  Hugh  Groome  O'Hagan,  gent. 

25.  60  acres  to  Art  McArte  O'Neale,  gent. 

26.  60  acres  to  Felim  McAmallan,  gent. 

27.  60  acres  to  Shane  McDonell  Groome  O'Donnilly,  gent. 

28.  60  acres  to  Shane  Roe  O'Neale,  gent. 

29.  60  acres  to  James  McGunchenan,  gent. 

30.  120  acres  to  Henry  McNeal  McArte  [O'Neale],  gent. 

31.  1 20  acres  to  Edmond  Oge  O'Haggan,  gent. 

32.  120  acres  to  Murtagh  O'Quin,  gent. 

33.  60  acres  to  Fardoragh  O'Haggan,  gent. 

34.  60  acres  to  Hugh  Groome  O'Mulchallane,  gent. 

35.  60  acres  to  Felim  Boy  O'Haggan,  gent. 
$6.  60  acres  to  Neale  O'Quin,  gent. 

37.  60  acres  to  Teige  McEdmond  Oge  O'Hagan. 

38.  120  acres  to  James  Sheale,  gent. 

39.  140  acres  to  Owen  Roe  O'Quin,  gent. 

40.  120  acres  to  Bartholomew  Owen,  gent. 

41.  120  acres  to  Gillaspick  McDonnell,  gent. 

42.  60  acres  to  Shane  McLaughlin  O'Donilly,  gent. 

43.  120  acres  to  Owen  O'Corr,  gent. 

44.  120  acres  to  Brian  O'Develin,  gent. 

45.  60  acres  to  Fardoragh  McCahir  O'Mallen,  gent. 

46.  60  acres  to  Caragh  O'Donilly,  gent. 

47.  60  acres  to  Owen  O'Hagan,  gent. 

48.  120  acres  to  Owen  Oge  O'Hagan  McOwen  McEvistan,  gent. 

49.  60  acres  to  Shane  McHugh  McAderany  O'Donilly,  gent. 

50.  60  acres  to  Con  McTirlagh  O'Neale,  gent. 

51.  60  acres  to  Felim  Groome  McFelimy  McNeale  [O'Neale],  gent. 

52.  60  acres  to  Fardoragh  McBrian  Carragh  O'Neale,  gent. 

53.  60  acres  to  Felim  Oge  O'Mulcreve,  gent. 

54.  120  acres  to  Laghlen  O'Hagan,  gent. 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  515 

55.  60  acres  to  Randall  McDonnell,  gent. 

56.  60  acres  to  Hugh  McCawell,  gent. 

57.  60  acres  to  Hugh  McHugh  Mergagh  O'Neale,  gent. 

58.  120  acres  to  Mary  Ny  Neal  [daughter  of  Sir  Cormack]. 

59.  60  acres  to  Tirlagh  Oge  O'Gormeley,  gent. 

60.  1000  acres  to  Bryan  Crossagh  O'Neale  [son  of  Sir  Cormack]. 

COUNTY  OF  DONEGAL:  PRECINCTS  OF  DOE  AND  FAWNETT  (NOW  KILMACRENAn) 

i.  896  acres  to  Walter  McLaughlin  McSwyne,  gent. 

2.  2000  acres  to  Donald  McSwine  Fawnett,  gent. 

3.  64  acres  to  Manus  McNeale  McSwyne. 

4.  2000  acres  to  Sir  Mulmory  McSwyne  na  Doe,  Knt. 

5.  2000  acres  to  Donough  McSwyne  Banagh,  gent. 

6.  596  acres  to  Nene  Duffe  Neene  James  [Ineen  dubh,  daughter  of  James 

Macdonnell],  widow  of  Hugh,  son  of  Manus  O'Donnell. 

7.  403  acres  to  Honora  Bourk,  widow  of O'Boyle  [lord  of  Boylagh]. 

8.  2000  acres  to  Tirlagh  O'Boyle,  gent,  [son  of  the  preceding  grantee]. 

9.  128  acres  to  Neale  Garrow  McRowrie  [O'Donnell],  gent. 

10.  128  acres  to  Caffer  McHugh  Duffe  O'Donnell,  gent. 

11.  128  acres  to  Hugh  Boy  McQuin,  gent. 

12.  128  acres  to  Donell  McQuin,  gent. 

13.  128  acres  to  Hugh  Boy  McSwine,  gent. 

14.  128  acres  to  Patrick  Crone  McCree,  gent. 

15.  128  acres  to  Neale  McMulmorie  McSwine  and  Tirlagh  Carragh  Mc- 

Swine, gents. 

16.  128  acres  to  Owen  McGillpatrick,  gent. 

17.  64  acres  to  Farroll  Hugh  O'Galchor,  gent. 

18.  64  acres  to  Donnell  Groome  McArte. 

19.  128  acres  to  Grany  Ny  Donnell. 

20.  774  acres  to  Murtagh  O'Dowgan,  Owen  Modder  McSwine,  Owen  Mc- 

Morphy,  Donell  O'Deveney,   Donough  O'Seren,  Calvagh  McBryan 
Roe  McSwine,  and  Neale  McSwine. 
2T.   1000  acres  to  Hugh  McHugh  Duffe  [O'Donnell],  gent. 

22.  960  acres  to  Donell  Ballagh  O'Galchor,   Dowltagh  McDonell  Ballagh, 

Edmond  Boy  O'Boyle,  Tirlagh,  Oge  O'Boyle,  Irrel  O'Boyle,  Cahir  Mc- 
Malcavow,  Shane  McTirlagh,  Dowaltagh  McGillduffe,  Farrell  Mc- 
Tirlagh  Oge,  Loy  O'Cleary,  and  Shane  O'Cleary. 

23.  128  acres  to  Owen  Oge  McOwen  and  Owen  McOwen  Edegany. 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :    PRECINCT  OF  CLINAWLY 

i.     100  acres  to  Cormock  O'Cassida,  gent. 

2.  300  acres  to  Donell  dean  Magwire  and  James  McDonough  Magwire, 

gents. 

3.  150  acres  to  Rorie  McAdegany  Magwire,  Owen  McCoconaght  Magwire, 

and  Donell  Oge  O'Muldoon,  gents. 


516  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

4.  100  acres  to  Donough  Oge  Magwire,  gent. 

5.  190  acres  to  Felim  Oge  Magwire,  gent. 

6.  too  acres  to  Cahell  McGilleduffe  Magwire,  gent. 

7.  190  acres  to  Redmond  McGillpatrick  Magwire,  gent. 

8.  350  acres  to  Shane  McHugh,  gent. 

9.  50  acres  to  Donell  McCormock,  gent. 

10.  50  acres  to  Coconaght  McHugh,  gent. 

11.  50  acres  to  Donough  Oge  McHugh,  gent. 

12.  145  acres  to  Donough  Oge  McDonaghy  Magwire,  gent. 

13.  50  acres  to  Felim  McAwly,  gent. 

14.  145  acres  to  Bryan  Oge  Magwire,  gent. 

15.  50  acres  to  Donough  McRorie,  gent. 

16.  100  acres  to  Rorie  Magwire,  gent. 

17.  120  acres  to  Thomas  Mc James  McDun  Magwire,  Bryan  Mc James  Mc- 

Dun  Magwire,  and  Hugh  Mcjames  McDun  Magwire,  gents. 

18.  300  acres  to  Tirlagh  Moyle  Magwire,  gent. 

19.  220  acres  to  Bryan  McThomas  [Magwire],  gent. 

20.  120  acres  to  Patrick  McDonell,  gent. 

a  1.  130  acres  to  Shane  McEnabb  [or  McCabe],  gent. 

22.  140  acres  to  Patrick  McHugh  Magwire,  gent. 

23.  120  acres  to  Bryan  O'Corcoran,  gent. 

24.  140  acres  to  Edmund  McBryan  McShane,  gent. 

25.  100  acres  to  Felim  Duffe  McBrien,  gent. 

26.  100  acres  to  Cormocke  McDonell,  gent. 

27.  100  acres  to  Connor  McTirlagh,  gent. 

28.  240  acres  to  Bryan  McMulrony,  gent. 

29.  140  acres  to  John  Magwire,  gent. 

30.  150  acres  to  Donell  Groome  McArte,  gent. 

31.  192  acres  to  Hugh  O'Flanegan,  gent. 

32.  390  acres  to  Oghy  O'Hossy,  gent. 

33.  180  acres  to  Cormac  Oge  McHugh,  gent. 

34.  60  acres  to  Shane  McDenett,  gent. 

35.  120  acres  to  Shane  McDonell  Ballagh  and  Brian  O'Skanlan. 

36.  96  acres  to  Shane  Evarr  Magwire,  gent. 

37.  96  acres  to  Cormock  McBryan  Magwire,  gent. 

38.  144  acres  to  Cormock  McCallo  Magwire,  gent. 

39.  48  acres  to  Conogher  Glasse  Magwire,  gent. 

40.  48  acres  to  Henry  McElynan,  gent. 

41.  48  acres  to  Felim  McElynan,  gent. 

42.  50  acres  to  Melaghlin  Oge  McCorr,  gent. 

43.  100  acres  to  Connell  McWorrin,  gent. 

44.  100  acres  to  Moriertagh  O'Flanegan,  gent. 

45.  96  acres  to  Hugh  Boy  Magwire,  gent. 

46.  50  acres  to  Patrick  McHugh,  gent. 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  517 

47.  190  acres  to  Rorie  McDonough  Magwire  and  Pat.  Ballagh  Magwire, 

gents. 

48.  100  acres  to  Tirlagh  Mergagh  Magwire  and  Felim  Duffe  McRorie  Mag- 

wire, gents. 
49  60  acres  to  Garrett  Magwire  and  John  Magwire,  gents. 

COUNTY   OF    FERMANAGH   :    PRECINCTS   OF    COOLE  AND    TIRCANNADA 

i.  1500  acres  to  Con  McShane  O'Neale,  gent. 

2.  2000  acres  to  Bryan  Maguyre,  gent. 

3.  500  acres  to  Tirlagh  Magwire,  gent,  [brother  of  the  preceding  grantee]. 

4.  120  acres  to  John  Magwire,  gent. 

5.  120  acres  to  Richard  Magwire,  gent. 

COUNTY    OF    CAVAN  :    PRECINCT    OF    TULLAGHAH. 

i.     300  acres  to  John  and  Connor  O'Reily,  gents. 

2 

3 

4 

5 
6 

7 
8 


100  acres  to  Cahir  McOwen,  gent. 

300  acres  to  Cahell  McOwen  O'Reyly,  gent. 

150  acres  to  Donell  McOwen,  gent. 

200  acres  to  Owen  O'Shereden,  gent. 

100  acres  to  Cahill  McBrien  O'Reily,  gent. 

1000  acres  to  Felim  McGawran,  gent. 

300  acres  to  Mulmore  McHugh  McFarrall  O'Rely,  gent. 

9.  175  acres  to  Cormacke  McGawran. 

10.  75  acres  to  Donough  Magauran,  gent. 

11.  150  acres  to  Hugh  McManus  Oge  Magauran,  gent. 

12.  200  acres  to  Breene  Oge  Magauran,  gent. 

13.  200  acres  to  Mulmorie  McTirlagh  O'Reily,  gent. 

14.  200  acres  to  Felim,  Brian,   and  Cahir,  sons  of  Hugh  O'Reyly,  late  of 

Ballaghaneo. 

15.  150  acres  to  Tirlagh  McHugh  McBryan  Bane  O'Reylie. 

16.  400  acres  to  Bryan  McKernan,  gent. 

17.  100  acres  to  Donnell  McFarrall  Oge  McKernan,  gent. 

18.  150  acres  to  Callo  [Calvagh]  O'Gowne,  gent. 

19.  200  acres  to  Shane  McCabe,  gent. 

20.  100  acres  to  Wony  [Una]  McThomas  McKernan. 

21.  200  acres  to  Donill  Backagh  McShane  O'Reyly,  gent. 

22.  300  acres  to  Bryan  McShane  O'Reyly,  gent. 

COUNTY    OF   CAVAN  :    PRECINCT    OF    CLONMAHONE. 

i.  2000  acres  to  Mulmorie  McHugh  Connelagh  O'Rely,  gent. 

2.  475  acres  to  Gerald  Fleming,  Esq. 

3.  100  acres  to  Hugh  McBrien  O'Reyly,  gent. 

4.  162  acres  to  Edward  Nugent,  gent. 

5.  450  acres  to  Christopher  Nugent,  gent. 

6.  200  acres  to  Edward  Nugent,  gent. 


5 18  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

7.  300  acres  to  Philip  McTirlagh  Bradie,  gent. 

8.  50  acres  to  Richard  Fitz-Simons. 

COUNTY    OF    CAVAN  :    PRECINCT    OF    CASTLE    RAHEN 

i.  2300  acres  to  Walter,  Thomas,  and  Patrick  Bradie,  gents. 

2.  300  acres  to  Cahire  McShane  O'Reily  of  Cornegall,  gent. 

3.  150  acres  to  Barnaby  Reily  of  Nacorraghes,  gent. 

4.  475  acres  to  Shane  McHugh  O'Reily  of  Ballaghana,  gent. 

5.  50  acres  to  Thomas  Mcjames  Bane  of  Kilmore,  gent. 

6.  300  acres  to  Philip  McBrien  McHugh  O'Reily,  gent. 

7.  200  acres  to  Owen  McShane  O'Reily,  gent. 

8.  400  acres  to  Bryan  O'Coggye  O'Reily. 

9.  200  acres  to  Mulmorie  McOwen  O'Reily. 

10.  200  acres  to  Hugh  Roe  McShane  O'Reily. 

11.  300  acres  to  Philip  and  Shane  O'Reily,  brothers. 

12.  900  acres  to  Shane  McPhilip  O'Reily,  gent. 

13.  50  acres  to  Shane  Bane  O'Moeltully,  gent. 

14.  100  acres  to  Edward  Nugent,  gent. 

15.  500  acres  to  Owen  McMulmorie  O'Reily,  gent. 

16.  100  acres  to  Hugh  McGlasney,  gent. 

17.  25  acres  to  Shane  McPhilip  O'Reily. 

COUNTY    OF    CAVAN  I    PRECINCT    OF   TULLAGHGARVY 

i.  3000  acres  to  Mulmorie  Oge  O'Reylie,  gent. 

2.  1000  acres  to  Mulmorie  McPhilip  O'Reilie,  Esq. 

3.  1000  acres  to  Hugh  O'Reilie,  Esq. 

4.  150  acres  to  Terence  Braddy,  gent. 

5.  300  acres  to  Morish  McTully,  gent. 

6.  150  acres  to  Thomas  Braddy,  gent. 

7.  150  acres  to  Connor  McShane  Roe  [O'Bradie],  gent. 

8.  262  acres  to  Henry  Betagh,  gent. 

In  the  Carew  Manuscripts,  1603-1624,  published  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment, may  be  found  a  series  of  reports  made  by  commissioners  who  were 
appointed  by  the  king  at  different  periods  to  visit  the  various  landlords  in 
Ulster  to  whom  allotments  had  been  made,  and  take  account  of  their 
progress.  The  first  party  to  make  such  an  inspection  consisted  of  five 
commissioners,  among  whom  was  the  Lord  Deputy  for  Ireland,  Sir  Arthur 
Chichester,  who  had  himself  been  allotted  the  district  now  occupied  by  the 
city  of  Belfast.  This  visit  was  made  in  the  summer  of  161 1,  and  the 
commissioners'  report  is  as  follows  : 

A  Relation  of  Works  done  by  Scottish  Undertakers  of  Land  in  the  Escheated 
Counties  of  Ulster  certified  by  the  Governors,  Sheriffs  and  others;  and 
some  seen  and  surveyed  by  us  in  one  journey  into  that  Province  begun 
the  29th  July,  161 1. 
Precinct  of  Portlough   [County  of  Donegal].     Duke  of  Lennox,  chief 


Ulster  from  1610  to   1630  519 

undertaker  of  2000  acres.  Sir  Aulant  Aula,  Knight,  his  agent,  resident, 
with  some  British  families  ;  no  preparation  for  building,  save  some  timber 
trees  felled  and  squared.  Sir  Walter  Stewart,  Knight,  Laird  of  Minto,  1000 
acres  ;  hath  taken  possession  in  person,  the  summer  16 10  ;  returned  into 
Scotland,  has  done  nothing.  John  Crawford,  Laird  Kilberry,  1000  acres  ; 
not  appeared  nor  any  for  him,  and  nothing  done.  Alexander  McAula  of 
Durlinge  ;  1000  acres  ;  appeared  not,  nothing  done.  Sir  James  Cunning- 
ham, Knight,  Laird  Glangarnoth,  2000  acres  ;  took  possession  but  returned 
into  Scotland  ;  his  agent,  Robert  Younge,  resident,  built  one  Irish  barn  of 
copies  ;  he  hath  44  head  of  cattle,  one  plow  of  garrons,  and  some  tillage 
last  harvest.  Three  families  of  British  resident  on  his  proportion,  preparing 
to  build  ;  as  yet,  no  estate  passed  to  them.  John  Cunningham  of  Crawfield, 
1000  acres  ;  resident  with  one  family  of  British  ;  is  building  a  bawn,  and 
preparing  materials  ;  hath  a  plow  of  garrons,  and  thirty  head  of  cattle. 
Cuthbert  Cunningham,  1000  acres  ;  resident  with  two  families  of  British  ; 
built  an  Irish  house  of  copies,  and  prepared  materials  to  re-edify  the  castle 
of  Coole  McEctrean  ;  hath  a  plow  of  garrons,  and  80  head  of  cattle  in  stock. 
William  Stewart,  Laird  Dunduffe,  1000  acres  ;  his  brother  was  here  for  him 
the  summer  1610,  and  returned  into  Scotland  ;  left  a  servant  to  keep  stock, 
being  2  mares  and  30  head  of  cattle.  James  Cunningham  of  Horomilne, 
1000  acres  ;  was  here  the  summer  1610,  returned  into  Scotland  ;  left  six 
servants  to  keep  cows  ;  nothing  done,  nor  preparation  made  for  building. 

Precinct  of  Boylagh  [County  of  Donegal].  Sir  Robert  Maclellan,  Knt., 
Laird  of  Bombey,  chief  undertaker  of  Rosses,  2,000  acres  ;  took  possession 
in  the  summer  1610,  returned  into  Scotland  ;  his  agent,  Andrew  Johnson, 
resident,  hath  prepared  no  material  for  building.  George  Murrye,  Laird 
Broughton,  1500  acres  ;  took  possession  summer  1610,  returned  into  Scot- 
land. His  brother  came  with  two  or  three  others,  and  30  or  40  cows  ;  no 
preparation  for  building.  William  Steward,  brother  to  Gartlesse  [Lord 
Garlies],  1500  acres  ;  took  possession  in  the  summer,  1610,  returned  into 
Scotland  ;  six  families  of  British  upon  his  proportion.  He  is  building  a  mill 
and  other  houses  ;  agent  John  Stewart,  resident,  materials  provided  for 
building.  Sir  Patrick  McKee,  Knight,  1000  acres,  not  appeared  ;  agent 
resident  ;  nothing  done.  Alexander  Cunningham,  of  Ponton  Elder,  1,000 
acres  ;  not  appeared  ;  agent  resident  ;  making  winter  provisions  ;  no  mater- 
ials for  building.  James  McCullogh,  1000  acres  ;  not  appeared  ;  agent 
resident  ;  nothing  done.  Alexander  Downebar,  1000  acres  ;  resident  in 
person  ;  nothing  done.  Patrick  Vans,  1000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared.  Six 
quarters  of  his  land  let  to  English  and  Scotchmen  for  four  years  ;  nothing 
done. 

Precinct  of  Knockninny.  Lo.  Burley,  3000  acres,  in  the  county  of  Fer- 
managh ;  took  possession  in  the  summer  16 10,  returned  into  Scotland,  left 
as  agent,  Captain  Meldrame,  who  is  non-resident.  Lo.  Burley  hath  sent 
over  24  persons,  freeholders,  tenants,  and  servants,  resident.  One  large 
house  built  of  14  rooms  ;  oaks  felled  and  squared,  and  preparations  for 
building  ;  60  barrels  of  barley  and  oats  sown  and  reaped  last  harvest  ;  70 
cows  brought  out  of  Scotland  which  belong  to  the  tenants  ;  and  a  boat  of 
eight  tons  built  for  his  lordship's  use.  Sir  John  Wyshard,  La.  Pittaro,  1500 
acres  ;  possession  taken  ;  returned  into  Scotland  ;  done  nothing.  He  is 
since  our  return  from  the  north  arrived  and  brought  with  him  15  persons 
well  armed  ;  he  hath  set  up  two  ploughs  sowing  wheat  and  intends  to  go  for- 
ward with  building.  Mr.  Balfore,  La.  Mountwhany,  1500  acres  ;  appeared 
in  person,  brought  over  eight  freeholders  and  lease-holders  with  four  women 


520  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

servants.  He  felled  200  oaks,  provided  lime,  and  brought  over  a  dozen 
horses  and  mares  for  work,  with  household  stuff.  La.  Kinalle,  1000  acres  ; 
not  appeared  and  none  for  him  ;  nothing  done.  James  Trayle,  1000  acres  ; 
took  possession,  returned  into  Scotland.  Sent  over  four  persons  to  make 
freeholders,  &c.  Some  timber  and  other  materials  provided,  and  six  horses 
and  mares  out  of  Scotland.  George  Smolhome,  1000  acres,  taken  possession, 
returned  into  Scotland  ;  no  agent,  done  nothing. 

Precinct  of  Mageriboy  [County  of  Fermanagh].  Sir  John  Home, 
Knight,  2000  acres  ;  has  taken  possession,  returned  into  Scotland,  nothing 
done,  nor  any  agent  present.  Robert  Hamylton,  1500  acres  ;  has  been 
here  to  see  the  land,  but  has  not  taken  possession,  and  nothing  done.  But 
since  our  return  [to  Dublin]  he  is  arrived  in  Fermanagh  (as  we  are  informed), 
with  18  tenants  and  artificers  for  planting  ;  with  60  head  of  cattle,  10  horses 
and  mares  for  labour  ;  is  felling  timber  and  providing  materials  for  building. 
William  Fouler,  1500  acres  ;  taken  possession  ;  returned  into  Scotland,  done 
nothing.  James  Gybb,  1000  acres  ;  the  like.  Jerhome  Lindsey,  1000 
acres  ;  took  possession  by  attorney,  did  nothing  else.  Alexander  Home, 
1000  acres  ;  the  like.  John  Downebarr,  1000  acres  ;  taken  possession, 
returned  into  Scotland,  and  sent  over  six  persons,  whereof  two  freeholders, 
one  leaseholder,  one  tenant  for  years,  and  two  tenants  at  will ;  some  build- 
ing in  hand  ;  eight  horses  for  work  brought  over,  with  money  to  provide 
materials. 

Precinct  of  Strabane  [County  of  Tyrone].  The  Earl  of  Abercorne, 
chief  undertaker,  has  taken  possession,  resident  with  lady  and  family,  and 
built  for  the  present  near  the  town  of  Strabane  some  large  timber  houses, 
with  a  court  116  foot  in  length  and  87  foot  in  breadth,  the  grounsellsof  oaken 
timber,  and  the  rest  of  allor  [alder]  and  birch,  which  is  well  thatched  with 
heath  and  finished.  Has  built  a  great  brew-house  without  his  court  46  foot 
long  and  25  foot  wide.  His  followers  and  tenants  have,  since  May  last, 
built  28  houses  of  fair  copies  ;  and  before  May,  his  tenants,  who  are  all 
Scottishmen,  the  number  of  32  houses  of  like  goodness.  Is  preparing 
materials  for  building  a  fair  castle  and  bawn,  which  he  means  to  put  in  hand 
for  the  next  spring.  There  are  120  cows  in  stock  for  his  own  use.  Sir 
Thomas  Boyde,  Knight,  has  a  proportion  of  land,  is  resident  with  his  wife 
and  family  ;  is  providing  material  for  building.  Sir  George  Hamilton, 
Knight,  a  proportion  of  land,  resident  with  his  wife  and  family.  Has  built 
a  good  house  of  timber  for  the  present,  62  foot  long  and  thirty  foot  wide.  He 
brought  over  some  families  of  Scots,  who  have  built  them  a  bawn  and  good 
timber  houses,  80  cows  and  16  garrons  among  them.  Sir  John  Dumonde 
[Drummond],  Knight,  1000  acres  ;  appeared  in  person,  took  possession,  and 
has  one  Scottishman,  2  garrons  and  a  mare.  James  Clapham,  1000  acres  ; 
resident,  prepares  to  people  his  land,  competent  store  of  arms  in  readiness. 
James  Hayge,  1500  acres  ;  has  not  appeared,  nor  any  for  him  ;  nothing 
done.  Sir  Claude  Hamylton,  Knight,  2000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared  nor 
any  for  him  ;  nothing  done.  George  Hamilton,  1000  acres  ;  has  taken 
possession,  is  resident,  making  provisions  for  building. 

Precinct  of  Mountjoy  [County  of  Tyrone],  The  Lord  Uchelrie  [Ochil- 
tree], 3000  acres  ;  being  stayed  by  contrary  winds  in  Scotland,  arrived  in 
Ireland  (at  the  time  of  our  being  in  Armagh,  upon  our  return  home),  accom- 
panied with  33  followers,  gent,  of  sort,  a  minister,  some  tenants,  freeholders, 
and  artificers,  unto  whom  he  hath  passed  estates  ;  and  hath  built  for  his 
present  use  three  houses  of  oak  timber,  one  of  50  foot  long  and  22  wide,  and 
two  of  40  foot  long,  within  an  old  fort,  about  which  he  is  building  a  bawn. 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  521 

He  has  sundry  men  at  work  providing  materials,  and  there  are  in  readiness 
240  great  trees  felled,  and  some  squared  ;  and  is  preparing  stone,  brick,  and 
lime  for  building  a  castle,  which  he  means  to  finish  next  Spring.  There  are 
two  ploughs  going  upon  his  demesne,  with  some  50  cows,  and  three  score 
young  heifers  landed  at  Island  Magy  [Magee],  in  Clandeboy,  which  are  com- 
ing to  his  proportion,  and  some  12  working  mares  ;  and  he  intends  to  begin 
residence  upon  his  land  the  next  Spring,  as  he  informeth  us.  Sir  Robert 
Hepburne,  Knight,  1500  acres  ;  sowed  oats  and  barley  the  last  year  upon  his 
land,  and  reaped  this  harvest  40  hogsheads  of  corn  ;  is  resident  ;  hath  140 
cows,  young  and  old,  in  stock,  and  8  mares.  Hath  7  householders,  being  in 
number  20  persons  ;  is  building  a  stone  house  40  foot  long  and  20  wide,  al- 
ready a  story  high,  and  before  the  end  of  this  season  he  intends  to  have  it  three 
stories  high,  and  to  cover  it,  and  the  next  Spring  to  add  another  story  to  it  ; 
good  store  of  timber  felled  and  squared,  and  providing  materials  to  finish 
the  work.  The  Laird  Lochnorris,  1000  acres  ;  being  diseased  himself,  as 
we  were  informed,  had  his  agent  here,  Robert  O'Rorke  ;  hath  some  timber 
felled,  and  is  preparing  materials  for  building  against  next  Spring.  Bernard 
Lendsey  and  Robert  Lendsey,  1000  acres  apiece  ;  have  taken  possession 
personally  in  the  Summer,  16 10,  returned  into  Scotland  ;  agent,  Robert 
Cowties,  resident  ;  a  timber  house  is  built  on  Robert  Lendsey's  portion,  who 
hath  three  householders,  being  in  number  12  persons.  Hath  eight  mares 
and  eight  cows  with  their  calves,  and  five  oxen,  with  swine  and  other  small 
cattle,  and  a  competent  portion  of  arms.  Robert  Stewart  of  Haulton,  1000 
acres  ;  has  appeared  in  person,  having  brought  some  people.  Timber  felled, 
and  providing  materials  for  building.  Robert  Stewart  of  Robstone,  1000 
acres  ;  has  appeared  in  person,  with  tenants  and  cattle  ;  timber  felled  and 
squared  and  is  preparing  materials  for  building. 

Precinct  of  the  Fewes  [County  of  Armagh].  Sir  James  Dowglasse,  Knight, 
2000  acres  ;  George  Lawder  is  his  deputy,  has  done  nothing.  Claud  Ham- 
ilton, 1000  acres  ;  is  building  a  stone  bawn  with  round  flankers,  24  yards 
square,  and  a  wall  8  foot  high  ;  has  raised  stone  to  finish  the  bawn,  and  to 
make  a  stone  house,  and  has  drawn  trees  to  the  building  ;  is  now  building 
three  houses,  one  48  feet  long.  Five  families,  16  men  and  women  of  British 
birth,  are  upon  the  land,  whereof  six  are  masons.  Eighty  cows  and  14 
horses  and  mares  in  stock.  William  Lawder,  1000  acres  ;  Alexander  Law- 
der, resident  agent ;  certain  houses  built  and  repaired,  where  are  ten  families 
and  three  servants,  to  the  number  of  18,  residing  ;  18  horses  and  mares,  and 
60  cows  ;  stone  raised  and  timber  felled.  James  Craige,  1000  acres  ;  resi- 
dent ;  has  begun  to  build  a  mill,  sown  and  reaped  oats  and  barley  ;  built 
some  tenements  wherein  are  placed  some  families  of  British.  Henry  Ache- 
son,  1000  acres  ;  resident  ;  has  raised  stone  and  felled  timber.  Has  8  or  9 
people  ;  who  have  30  cows  and  15  horses  and  mares,  with  some  arms. 

Precinct  of  Tullaghchinko  [County  of  Cavan].  Sir  Alexander  Hamilton, 
Knt.,  2000  acres  in  the  County  of  Cavan  ;  has  not  appeared,  his  son 
Claude  Hamilton  took  possession  and  brought  two  tenants,  three  servants 
and  six  artificers  ;  is  in  hand  with  building  a  mill,  trees  felled,  hath  a  min- 
ister but  not  yet  allowed  by  the  bishop  ;  has  raised  stones  and  hath  compe- 
tent arms  in  readiness.  Besides  the  above  named  there  are  arrived  upon 
that  proportion  since  our  return  from  the  journey  (as  we  are  informed), 
twelve  tenants  and  artificers  who  intend  to  reside  there  and  to  build  and 
plant  upon  the  same.  John  Auchmothy  and  Alexander  Auchmothy,  1000 
acres,  have  not  appeared.  James  Craige  is  their  deputy  for  five  years,  who 
has  brought  4  artificers  of  divers  sorts  with  their  wives   and   families  and 


522  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

2  other  servants.  Stone  raised  for  building  a  mill  and  timber  felled,  a 
walled  house  with  a  smith's  forge  built,  four  horses  and  mares  upon  the 
ground  with  competent  arms.  Sir  Claude  Hamilton,  Knt.,  iooo  acres  ; 
has  not  appeared,  nor  any  for  him,  nothing  done.  John  Browne,  iooo  acres  , 
sent  an  agent  to  take  possession,  who  set  the  same  to  the  Irish,  returned 
into  Scotland,  and  performed  nothing. 

Precinct  of  Clanchie.  The  Lo.  Obigny,  3000  acres  ;  in  the  county  of 
Cavan  ;  appeared  not  nor  any  for  him,  nothing  done,  the  natives  still  remain- 
ing. William  Downebarr,  William  Baylye,  and  John  Rolestone,  iooo  acres 
apiece  ;  the  like.  Since  our  return  from  the  north,  one  Mr.  Tho.  Creighton 
arrived  here  and  presented  himself  as  the  agent  for  the  Lo.  Obigney  and 
William  Downebarr,  William  Bayley  and  John  Rolestone,  who  informed  us 
that  he  brought  with  him  sundry  artificers  and  tenants,  with  cattle,  horses 
and  household  provisions  for  the  planting  and  inhabiting  of  that  precinct, 
and  is  gone  thither  with  intent  to  provide  materials  ;  and  it  is  said  that 
Downebarr,  Bayley,  and  Rolestone  are  arrived  themselves  in  the  north  and 
gone  to  their  portions.  Likewise,  one  Mr.  John  Hamilton  arrived  and  pre- 
sented himself  as  agent  for  Sir  Claud  Hamilton,  undertaker,  of  iooo  acres 
in  the  county  of  Cavan  ;  who  informed  us  that  he  brought  with  him  people 
to  plant  and  is  gone  thither  with  resolution  to  provide  materials  to  go  in 
hand  with  buildings  upon  that  proportion.  Likewise,  George  Murey,  Lo. 
Broughton,  undertaker  of  1500  acres,  in  the  precinct  of  Boylagh  appeared 
before  us  here  at  Dublin  and  returned  to  his  land.  Since  our  return  one 
John  Fullerton  hath  arrived  at  Dublin,  who  presented  himself  before  us  as 
agent  for  James  Dowglasse  who  informed  us  that  he  brought  15  families 
with  him  to  plant  upon  that  land  with  artificers  and  workmen. 

Signed,  Arthur  Chichester,  G.  Carew,  Th.  Ridgeway,  R.  Wingfelde,  01. 
Lambart. 
A  Perfect  Relation  and  Report  of  the  Works,  Buildings,  and  Fortifications 

done  by  the  English,  surveyed  by  us  in  most  places,  and  the  rest  certified 

by  the  governors,  sheriffs,  and  others  employed  by  us  in  our  journey  in 

the  Province  of  Ulster  begun  the  29th  of  July,  161 1. 

[The  report  first  refers  to  the  town  of  Colraine,  and  the  buildings,  etc.,  in 
progress  in  it] 

Men  and  labourers  employed  in  Colraine:  Carpenters,  41;  sawyers,  28; 
wheelwrights,  4;  bricklayers,  11  ;  plasterers,  2  ;  masons,  11  ;  slaters,  10; 
brickmakers,  tilemakers,  and  their  men,  20;  lime  burners,  5;  limestone  dig- 
gers, 4  ;  quarrymen,  10  ;  labourers,  40  ;  labourers  about  the  fortifications, 
50  ;  boat  and  bargemen,  12  ;  clerks,  3  ;  carters,  11  ;  men  in  the  carvel,  7  ; 
in  the  woods  :  shipwrights,  4  ;  sawyers,  9  ;  timber  squarers,  4  ;  wainmen,  8  ; 
timber  woodfellers  and  rafters  of  timber  and  wood,  12  ;  cottmen  from  the 
wood  to  the  Leape,  9 ;  lath  renders,  20  ;  overseers  thereof,  3  ;  floaters 
of  timber  from  the  Leape,  3  ;  English  and  Irish  men  employed  by  Mr. 
Nugent  for  the  felling,  &c,  of  timber,  32  ;  millwrights  in  Colrayne,  4  ; 
carters  at  the  Leape  and  in  the  woods,  2.  The  whole  number  of  workmen 
at  Colrayne  and  in  the  woods,  379. 

Whole  number  of  horses  employed,  37  ;  whole  number  of  oxen  employed 
in  Colraine  and  the  woods,  37. 
A  declaration  of  what  is  done  in  the  woods  of  Clanconkeyne  in  the  Barony 

of  Lough  Enisholyne  granted  to  the  Londoners,  in  which  is  a  house, 

wherein  Mr.  Holliocke  dwelleth  : 

County  of  Colerayne.     In  the  county  of  Coleraine  we  neither  found  nor 


Ulster  from  1610  to   1630  523 

understood  of  anything  done,  or  in  hand  to  be  done,  by  the  Londoners, 
towards  the  performance  of  the  Articles  of  the  Plantation.  Their  agents 
receive  the  rents  there,  and  in  the  barony  of  Lough  Enish  O'Lyn  [Lough- 
insholin],  from  the  natives,  and  seek  not  to  remove  them,  which  makes 
the  said  natives  to  conceive  that  they  shall  not  be  displanted  ;  which  is  a 
great  hindrance  to  the  plantation  of  that  county  and  ill  example  to  their 
neighbours. 

The  Castle  of  Lemavady.  Sir  Thomas  Phillips,  Knight,  hath  erected  a 
watermill  at  Lemavady,  unto  which  he  drew  water  a  mile,  in  a  sluice  or 
pond,  12  foot  broad  and  5  foot  deep  ;  he  hath  put  in  good  forwardness  an 
Inn,  ouilded  English  fashion,  for  the  relief  of  passengers  passing  that  way, 
containing  in  length  46  foot,  and  in  breadth  17  foot,  two  stories  high. 
Timber  is  for  the  most  part  ready  there,  and  brought  with  very  great  diffi- 
culty out  of  the  woods  of  Glenconkeyne,  over  very  great  bogs  and  moun- 
tains 12  and  14  miles  distant  from  him,  which  hath  and  will  be  very 
chargeable.  He  hath  towards  the  building  of  the  castle  of  Lemavady,  and 
other  buildings,  felled  and  squared  in  the  woods  good  store  of  timber  ;  and 
hath  raised  store  of  stone  out  of  the  ditch,  adjoining  the  castle,  being  a  very 
hard  Rock,  whereby  he  intends  to  make  some  good  work  for  the  defence  of 
the  country. 

Dungiven.  Captain  Edward  Doddington  hath  builded  at  Dungiven  a 
castle  of  22  foot  broad,  four  stories  high,  whereof  some  part  of  the  walls 
were  standing  before,  and  is  now  by  him  well  finished  and  slated.  He  hath 
built  a  house  adjoining  to  the  castle  of  43  foot  long  and  18  broad,  the  walls 
whereof  some  parts  were  standing,  but  now  very  well  and  handsomely  slated 
and  finished.  He  hath  repaired  a  bawn  of  lime  and  stone  about  the  castle 
and  the  house,  with  flankers  of  sufficient  strength  for  defence.  Towards 
the  building  of  the  castle  and  the  bawn  he  had  200^  from  the  King,  upon 
which  and  the  rest  of  his  building  he  hath  bestowed  300^  as  he  affirmeth. 

Derry.  Next  we  come  to  Derry,  where  we  saw  the  church  well  slated 
and  repaired.  Two  fair  houses  of  stone,  two  stories  high,  slated  and  finished 
with  cellars  to  each  house.  A  store  house  covered  and  walled  with  deal 
boards,  with  a  place  to  work  dry  in.  A  thatched  house  wherein  Mr.  Wray 
dwelleth.  A  saw  pit  covered  with  deal  boards.  A  fair  large  smith's  forge, 
with  a  dwelling-house  to  the  same.  Two  fair  lime-kills.  A  fair  wharf  of  300 
foot  long,  and  about  14  broad,  and  8  or  9  foot  high.  Two  heads  of  wharfs 
at  the  ferry-places  on  both  sides  the  river.  A  bark  building  of  70  or  80 
tons,  with  provisions  of  plank  and  other  timber  for  her,  &c,  &c. 

Town  of  Lyffer.  A  good  and  strong  fort  built  of  lime  and  stone,  with 
bulwarks,  a  parapet,  and  a  large  ditch  of  good  depth  cast  about  it  on  the 
river  side,  with  a  storehouse  for  victuals  and  munition,  a  gatehouse  with  a 
drawbridge.  This  fort  was  built  by  Sir  Richard  Hansard,  towards  which  the 
King  allowed  him  200^  English.  There  is  another  small  fort  in  the  town 
rampiered  and  ditched,  about  which  are  certain  houses  built  of  good  timber 
after  the  English  manner  which  serve  for  the  use  of  a  gaoler,  and  to  keep 
the  prisoners.  Sir  Richard  Hansard,  Knight,  being  appointed  by  the  now 
Lord  Deputy  to  be  at  Lyffer  with  his  Company  in  1607,  found  but  one 
house  in  that  town.  Upon  view  of  the  town  we  found  it  [161 1]  well  fur- 
nished with  inhabitants  of  English,  and  Scottish,  and  Irish,  who  live  by  sev- 
eral trades,  brought  thither  by  Sir  Richard,  who  built  21  houses  for  tenants 
who  are  to  give  entertainment  to  passengers.  Thirty-seven  houses  were 
built  by  others. 

Precinct  of  Lyffer.     Sir  Henry  Doewra,   Knight,  undertaker  of    2000 


524  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

acres,  has  by  allowance  of  the  Council,  passed  over  his  portion  of  land  to 
William  Wylson  of  Clarye,  in  Suffolk,  who  has  letters  patent  in  his  own  name. 
The  said  Wylson  had  his  agent,  Chris.  Parmenter,  resident,  who  appeared 
before  us.  There  are  some  families  of  English  resident,  who  brought  over 
good  store  of  household  stuff,  and  have  stock  21  cows  and  oxen,  9  mares, 
one  service  horse,  and  some  small  cattle.  Sir  Morris  Barkley,  Knight, 
undertaker  of  2000  acres  ;  has  not  been  here  nor  any  agent  for  him,  nothing 
done.  Sir  Robert  Remyngton,  Knight,  2000  acres  ;  the  like.  Sir  Thomas 
Cornwall,  Knight,  2000  acres  ;  his  agent,  Edward  Littleton,  took  possession, 
I  and  is  resident ;  has  built  nothing,  nor  provided  any  materials  yet.  Sir 
William  Barnes,  Knight,  1500  acres  ;  sold  his  proportion  to  Captain  Edward 
Russell,  who  is  possessed,  but  has  done  nothing.  Sir  Henry  Clare,  1500 
acres  ;  has  an  agent,  resident,  named  William  Browne,  nothing  done.  Sir 
Thomas  Coache,  Knight,  1500  acres  ;  is  a  resident,  has  built  a  large  timber 
house  adjoining  to  the  Castle  of  Skarfollis,  and  is  providing  materials  for 
re-edifying  the  Castle.  Four  families  of  British  upon  his  land,  to  whom  he 
intends  to  pass  estates.  Captain  Edward  Russell,  1500  acres  ;  is  resident, 
and  his  son  with  him.  There  are  two  English  houses  of  timber  framed  ; 
stock,  four  horses,  six  English  cows,  and  a  bull  ;  three  or  four  English 
labourers,  but  no  tenants.  Captain  Mansfield,  1000  acres  ;  is  resident,  has 
no  inhabitants,  nothing  done. 

Town  of  Donegal.  We  found  a  fair  bawn  built  with  flankers,  a  parapet, 
and  a  walk  on  the  top  fifteen  foot  high.  Within  the  bawn  is  a  strong  house 
of  stone,  built  by  Captain  Bassill  Brooke,  towards  which  the  King  gave  him 
250^  English.  Many  families  of  English,  Scottish,  and  Irish  are  inhabiting 
in  the  town,  who  built  them  good  copied  houses  after  the  manner  of  the 
Pale.  About  two  miles  from  thence  Captain  Paul  Goare  [Gore]  has  erected 
a  fair  stone  house  out  of  the  ruins  of  O'Boyle's  old  castle  upon  the  sea-side, 
which  he  has  by  direction  of  the  Lords  of  the  Council  delivered  up  to  Laird 
Broughton,  undertaker  of  those  lands  ;  he  demands  some  consideration  for 
his  charges,  which  we  think  him  worthy  of. 

Fermanagh.  Precincts  of  Clancally  and  Lurg  and  Coolemakernan. 
Thomas  Flowerdew,  2000  acres  ;  is  resident,  has  brought  over  two  free- 
holders and  five  fine  copyholders  ;  he  cast  a  trench  about  an  old  Rath,  and 
is  building  an  English  house,  of  50  feet  long  and  22  broad,  providing 
materials.  Edward  Warde,  1000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared,  nor  any  for  him  ; 
nothing  done.  Thomas  Plumsteed  has  made  over  his  portion  to  Sir  Hugh 
Worrall  ;  nothing  done.  Thomas  Chiney,  1000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared, 
nor  any  one  for  him  ;  nothing  done.  Henry  Gunning  [Honynge],  1000 
acres  ;  has  taken  possession,  but  nothing  done.  John  Sedborough,  1000 
acres  ;  is  resident  with  his  wife  and  family  ;  has  brought  over  two  free- 
holders, one  leaseholder,  and  three  copyholders  ;  felled  timber,  raised 
stones,  set  up  an  oven,  and  two  chimneys  in  his  house,  and  intends  to  go  in 
hand  with  his  bawne.  Robert  Calvert,  1000  acres  ;  is  resident  ;  has  built 
a  house  after  the  English  manner.  Has  two  families  of  English,  unto  whom 
he  will  give  estates.  Six  other  families  have  promised  to  come  unto  him  at 
May  next.  Robert  Bogas,  1000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared,  nor  any  for  him  ; 
nothing  done.     John  Archdale,  1000  acres  ;  the  like. 

Enishkellin.  There  is  a  fair  and  strong  wall  newly  erected  of  lime  and 
stone,  26  foot  high,  with  flankers,  a  parapet,  and  a  walk  on  the  top  of  the 
wall,  built  by  Captain  William  Colle  [Cole],  constable  thereof,  towards  which 
he  had  200^  sterling  from  the  King.  A  fair  house  begun  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  the  old  castle,  with  other  convenient  houses  for  store  and  munition, 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  525 

which,  besides  the  laying  out  of  the  Captain's  own  money,  will  draw  on  some 
increase  of  charge  to  the  King.  The  bawn  is  ditched  about  with  a  fair  large 
ditch  and  the  river  on  one  side,  with  a  good  drawbridge.  The  King  hath 
three  good  boats  there  ready  to  attend  all  services.  A  large  piece  of  ground 
adjoins  the  fort  with  a  good  timber  house,  after  the  English  fashion,  built  by 
the  captain,  in  which  he  and  his  family  now  dwell. 

Tyrone.  Precinct  of  Clogher.  Sir  Thomas  Ridgway,  vice-treasurer  and 
treasurer  at  Wars  in  Ireland,  undertaker  for  2000  acres,  has  appeared  in 
person.  His  agent  is  Emanuel  Ley,  resident  this  twelve  month,  who  is  to  be 
made  a  freeholder  under  him.  Sir  Thomas  brought  from  London  and 
Devonshire,  the  4th  May,  1610,  twelve  carpenters,  mostly  with  wives  and 
families,  who  have  since  been  resident,  employed  in  felling  timber,  brought 
by  Patrick  McKenna  of  the  Trugh  [Trough],  county  Monaghan,  none  being 
in  any  part  of  the  Barony  of  Clogher,  or  elsewhere  nearer  him,  viz.,  700  trees, 
400  boards  and  planks,  besides  a  quantity  of  stone,  timber  for  tenements, 
with  timber  ready  for  the  setting  up  of  a  water-mill.  He  is  erecting  award- 
able  castle  and  houses,  to  be  finished  about  the  next  Spring.  Ten  masons 
work  upon  the  castle,  and  two  smiths.  One  Mr.  Farefax,  Mr.  Laughton, 
Robert  Williams,  Henry  Holland,  and  three  of  said  carpenters  are  to  be 
made  freeholders.  Other  families  are  resident  wherewith  he  will  perform 
all  things  answerable  to  his  covenants. 

Edward  Kingswell,  2000  acres  ;  has  appeared  at  Dublin  and  taken  posses- 
sion personally  ;  returned  into  England  to  bring  over  his  wife  and  family  ;  has 
freeholders,  tenants,  and  workmen  ;  his  agent,  William  Roules,  has  money 
imprested  for  providing  materials  to  set  forward  all  necessary  works.  Sir 
Francis  Willoughby,  Knight,  2000  acres  ;  has  taken  possession  personally  ; 
William  Roules  and  Emanuel  Ley,  in  his  absence,  employed  in  providing 
materials  for  buildings  ;  200  trees  felled  and  squared.  George  Ridgway, 
1000  acres  ;  took  possession  in  person  ;  his  agent  is  resident  since  March 
last ;  some  materials  ready  in  place.  Intends  to  go  forward  with  building 
his  bawn.  Some  freeholders  and  tenants  to  inhabit,  but  no  work  done. 
William  Parsons,  the  King's  surveyor,  1000  acres  ;  took  possession  person- 
ally ;  his  brother,  Fenton  Parsons,  his  agent,  resident  since  March  last  ;  has 
provided  materials  for  building  ;  has  two  carpenters  and  a  mason,  and 
expects  four  Englishmen  with  their  families  to  come  over  shortly  ;  no  work 
done.  William  Clegge,  2000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared  nor  any  for  him.  It 
is  reported  that  he  passed  his  land  to  Sir  Anthony  Cope,  whose  son  came  to 
see  the  same  and  returned  into  England  ;  nothing  done.  But  by  letter  he 
desires  to  be  excused,  promising  to  go  on  thoroughly  with  his  plantation 
next  Spring.  Captain  Walter  Ednye,  1500  acres  ;  took  possession  person- 
ally ;  his  son-in-law  resident  since  March  last.  Provision  made  for  building 
a  house,  the  foundation  laid.  Six  families  of  English  in  the  kingdom  that 
will  come  to  plant  and  settle  next  Spring.  William  Turven,  1000  acres  ;  took 
possession  in  person  ;  his  brother  resident  since  March  last  ;  has  provided 
materials  for  buildings.  Agreed  with  four  families  to  come  out  of  England 
the  next  Spring  to  plant,  who  promised  to  bring  other  five  families.  Intends 
to  go  shortly  in  hand  with  building  a  bawn  and  a  house,  but  nothing 
done  yet. 

Precinct  of  Omye.  The  Lord  Audley,  3000  acres  ;  has  not  appeared, 
nor  any  for  him  ;  nothing  done.  Sir  Marvin  Audley,  Knight,  2000  acres  ; 
the  like.  Sir  Ferdinando  Audley,  Knight,  2000  acres  ;  the  like.  Sir  John 
Davys,  Knight,  the  King's  Attorney  General,  2000  acres  ;  possession  taken 
by  his  agent,  William  Bradley,  resident,  who  is  preparing  materials  for  build- 


526  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ing  a  stone  house  or  castle  with  a  bawn,  which  materials  will  be  ready  be- 
fore Allhallowtide  next  ;  at  this  instant  the  walls  of  the  castle  are  22  foot  high, 
and  in  breadth  between  the  walls  19  foot,  and  in  length  36  foot.  Already 
four  fee  farmers,  one  leaseholder,  and  a  carpenter,  with  their  families,  are 
ready  to  be  estated  on  portions,  which  they  could  not  receive  until  now, 
for  that  five  quarters  of  the  best  of  the  said  lands  were  in  controversy,  and 
some  of  it  not  yet  cleared.  The  said  Sir  John  intends  to  finish  his  works 
next  Spring,  and  to  plant  and  people  his  lands  according  to  the  articles. 

The  Fort  of  the  Omye.  Here  is  a  good  fort  fairly  walled  with  lime  and 
stone,  about  30  foot  high  above  the  ground  with  .a  parapet,  the  river  on  one 
side  and  a  large  deep  ditch  about  the  rest,  within  which  is  built  a  fair  house 
of  timber  after  the  English  manner.  All  begun  by  Captain  Ormond 
[Edmond]  Leigh,  and  finished  by  his  brothers  John  and  Daniel  Leigh,  at 
their  own  charges  upon  the  lands  of  the  Abbey  of  Omye,  at  which  place  are 
many  families  of  English  and  Irish,  who  have  built  them  good  dwelling 
houses,  which  is  a  safety  and  comfort  for  passengers  between  Donganon  and 
the  Lifter.  The  fort  is  a  place  of  good  import  upon  all  occasions  of  service 
and  fit  to  be  maintained. 

The  Castle  of  Mountjoy,  upon  Loch  Chichester,  beside  the  old  fort, 
wherein  are  many  inhabitants,  both  English  and  Irish,  together  with  Sir 
Francis  Roe's  foot  company.  Here  is  a  fair  castle  of  stone  and  brick,  cov- 
ered with  slate  and  tile,  begun  in  the  late  Queen's  time,  and  finished  by  his 
Majesty.  It  is  compassed  about  by  a  good  strong  rampier  of  earth,  well 
ditched  and  flanked  with  bulwarks.  In  this  castle  Sir  Francis  Roe,  the  con- 
stable, and  his  family  dwell. 

The  Forte  of  Deserte  Martyne,  a  place  in  Glanconkeyne,  is  thought  fit 
for  the  King's  service  and  the  serving  of  travellers  between  Colraine  and  all 
parts  of  Tyrone  and  Armagh,  to  be  laid  out  with  300  acres  for  a  fort,  to  be 
erected  for  lodgings  for  a  constable  and  wardens.  The  London  agents 
have  agreed  to  the  place  and  number  of  acres,  but  in  regard  that  Deserte 
Martine,  on  which  the  fort  is  to  be  erected,  is  the  Bishop  of  Derry's  land 
and  a  quarter  adjoining,  we  think  fit  that  the  Londoners  should  give  him 
so  much  in  exchange  thereof  of  their  own  land,  and  we  think  it  not  amiss  that 
the  King  should  give  200  £  towards  erecting  the  fort,  and  the  constable  to 
pay  the  overplus,  if  any. 

Armagh,  Precinct  of  Onellan.  The  Lord  Saye  and  Seale,  3000  acres  ; 
has  made  over  his  portion  to  Sir  Anthony  Cope,  Knight,  who  has  sent  over 
a  very  sufficient  overseer  named  William  Pearson,  with  another  to  assist,  who 
are  resident.  They  have  begun  a  fair  castle  of  free-stone,  and  other  hard 
stone,  14  or  15  workmen,  and  9  carpenters  employed.  Great  part  of  the 
free-stone  for  the  coynes  and  windows  are  prepared  4  or  5  miles  beyond 
Armagh.  Two  English  carts  or  teams  with  horses  and  oxen  attend  the 
drawing  of  materials.  There  are  20  muskets  and  cavaliers,  with  competent 
furniture  ready  upon  all  occasions.  The  way  for  carriage  of  timber,  which 
is  five  miles,  is  made  passable,  and  so  is  the  way  to  the  freestone,  which  is  8 
miles  from  the  place.  Two  of  the  principal  workmen  are  to  be  made  free- 
holders, the  rest  are  to  have  land  upon  reasonable  terms.  Sixteen  mares  and 
horses  employed  in  carriage  of  materials.  John  Brownlow,  1500  acres,  and 
his  son  William  Brownlow,  1000  acres  ;  both  resident,  and  dwelling  in  an 
Irish  house.  Have  brought  over  six  carpenters,  one  mason,  a  tailor  and  six 
workmen  ;  one  freeholder  and  six  tenants  upon  their  land.  Preparations  to 
build  two  bawns.  Some  muskets  and  other  arms  in  readiness.  Mr.  Powell, 
2000  acres  ;  has  put  over  his  land  to  Mr.  Roulstone.      No  freeholders  nor 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  527 

artificers  are  drawn  upon  it,  nor  work  done,  save  the  building  of  two  bays  of 
a  house.  When  we  were  in  the  north,  one  William  Banister,  presented  him- 
self before  us  as  agent  for  Powell,  and  said  that  preparations  were  being 
made  for  building  a  house  and  bawn,  that  divers  Englishmen  had  promised 
to  come  over  and  inhabit  his  land. 

The  preceding  part  certified  by  Sir  Toby  Calfield  and  the  Sheriff  before 
we  went  our  journey. 

Francis  Secheverell,  2000  acres  ;  is  resident  ;  has  brought  over  three 
masons,  one  carpenter,  one  smith,  nine  laborers  and  two  women  ;  four  horses 
and  a  cart  ;  no  freeholders  or  other  tenants.  Has  drawn  stone  and  other 
materials  to  the  place  where  he  intends  to  build.  Certified  by  Sir  Toby 
Calfield  and  the  Sheriff  before  we  went  the  journey,  but  upon  our  coming 
into  the  country,  Secheverell  adds  to  his  certificate  that  he  has  built  three 
houses  and  placed  tenants  in  them,  and  is  building  a  stone  house,  and  has 
competent  arms  in  his  house.  Mr.  Stanhawe,  1500  acres  ;  was  here,  took 
possession,  and  returned  into  England.  His  son,  Stephen  Stanhawe,  over- 
seer in  his  absence,  has  done  nothing.  Mr.  James  Matchett,  1000  acres  ; 
his  eldest  son,  Daniel  Matchett,  aged  24  years,  agent,  resident  since  Michael- 
mas, 1610.  Two  freeholders  upon  the  land,  but  no  tenants  or  laborers. 
Certified  by  Sir  Toby  Calfield  and  the  Sheriff  before  our  journey,  since 
which  time  he  added  to  his  certificate  that  he  has  begun  a  bawn,  and  intends 
to  finish  it  before  Allhallowtide,  and  to  effect  what  is  required  by  the 
articles.  Has  provided  materials  for  buildings  ;  has  9  horses  and  other 
beasts  ready  to  draw  the  same  to  his  work  ;  has  arms  for  10  men.  Mr. 
John  Dyllon,  1500  acres  ;  is  resident  with  his  wife,  children  and  family. 
Brought  over  22  Englishmen,  with  their  wives,  children  and  servants,  with 
52  English  cows,  15  horses  for  work,  6  carpenters,  3  masons,  7  labourers, 
and  2  women  servants.  Has  felled  oaks,  small  and  great.  All  this  was 
certified  by  Sir  Toby  Calfield  and  the  Sheriff  ;  but,  at  our  being  in  the  north, 
Dyllon  adds  that  he  has  built  a  strong  bawn,  with  houses  for  lodgings  and  to 
keep  provisions  in,  and  is  well  stored  with  arms  and  munition.  Mr.  Roul- 
ston,  1000  acres  ;  is  resident ;  has  timber  buildings  after  the  English  fashion. 
There  are  three  men  of  good  sort  resident,  who  shall  be  freeholders,  whereof 
one  has  built  a  house  of  stone  and  clay.  Seven  poor  Englishmen,  with  their 
wives,  children  and  some  servants,  who  are  to  be  tenants.  They  have  four 
English  cows,  and  eight  horses  for  ploughing  among  them  all. 

The  Moyrye  Castle.  A  pretty  castle  upon  the  park  of  the  Moyrye,  built 
in  the  time  of  the  late  Earl  of  Devonshire's  government  here,  at  the  Queen's 
charge  ;  where  Captain  Anthony  Smith  is  constable,  and  has  a  ward  of  12 
men.  Has  drawn  some  families  of  British  to  dwell  upon  the  lands  there- 
unto adjoining,  which  is  a  good  relief  to  passengers  between  Dundalke  and 
Newrye. 

The  Fort  of  Charlemont.  A  good  fort  built,  fairly  ditched,  with  a  strong 
palisade  and  bulwarks.  Within  the  fort  are  good  houses,  built  after  the 
English  fashion,  for  lodgings  and  to  keep  the  King's  store  of  victual  and 
provision.  Sir  Toby  Calfield,  constable  there,  has  6o£  ster.  from  the  King 
towards  this  building.  A  very  fair  garden  without  the  rampier,  etc.  The 
town  is  replenished  with  many  inhabitants  both  English  and  Irish,  who  have 
built  them  good  houses  of  copies  after  the  best  manner  of  the  English. 

The  Fort  of  Mount  Norris.  A  good  fort  well  rampiered,  with  bulwarks, 
and  a  palisade,  and  a  fair  deep  ditch.  Within  this  fort  Captain  Anderton 
has  built  a  fair  cage-work  house,  and  others  to  keep  victual  and  munition  in. 
Some  inhabitants  of  English  and  Irish,  who  have  settled  themselves,  have 


528  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

built  good  houses  after  the  manner  of  the  Pale,  which  is  a  great  relief  and 
comfort  for  passengers  between  the  Newrye  and  Armagh.  It  is  a  place  of 
special  import  upon  all  occasions  of  service,  and  fit  to  be  maintained. 

Cavan,  Precinct  of  Loughtie.  Sir  John  Davys,  Knt.,  2000  acres  ;  has 
made  over  his  proportion  to  Mr.  Richard  Waldron  who  sold  his  estate  to 
Sir  Nicholas  Lusher,  Knt,  nothing  done.  Sir  Hugh  Worrall,  Knt.,  1500 
acres  ;  was  here  in  the  summer  [16 10]  took  possession  and  returned  into  Eng- 
land. His  lady  and  family  came  over  about  the  20th  of  July  last.  Three 
freeholders  resident,  1  is  building  on  his  freehold  ;  20  artificers  and  ser- 
vants, or  thereabout,  resident,  most  of  whom  lived  there  all  last  winter.  He 
has  built  a  fair  house  at  Bealturberte  after  the  English  manner,  and  three 
other  dwelling  houses,  with  a  smith's  forge.  Between  Sir  Worrall  and  Mr. 
Stephen  Butler  were  built  at  Bealturberte  five  boats  of  several  burthens,  one 
of  them  will  carry  12  or  14  tons.  Timber  prepared  for  building.  Arms  for 
10  men  of  all  sorts,  and  burnt  by  mischance  in  a  house  as  much  as  would 
furnish  12  more.  John  Taylor,  1500  acres  ;  came  over  in  the  summer  of 
1610,  took  possession  and  remained  most  part  of  the  following  winter,  went 
into  England  about  Shrovetide  last,  left  his  deputy  with  some  7  or  8  tenants. 
Came  back  about  May  last  with  provisions,  but  went  back  again  and  is  not 
yet  returned.  Brought  over  3  freeholders,  whereof  2  are  gone  into  England 
for  their  wives  and  families,  the  other,  resident,  is  Taylor's  deputy.  One 
copyholder  placed  upon  the  land  and  8  artificers,  able  men  and  servants.  A 
timber  house  with  a  chimney  furnished  where  he  means  to  erect  his  dwelling 
house.  Materials  for  building  ready,  but  not  drawn  home.  Competent  arms 
of  all  sorts  to  furnish  12  men.  John  Fish,  2000  acres  ;  came  over  in  the 
summer,  took  possession,  went  back  again,  and  left  his  deputy  here,  returned 
with  his  wife  and  family  about  May  last.  Brought  with  him  4  freeholders, 
2  whereof  returned  for  their  families,  none  of  them  yet  settled.  Brought 
with  him  artificers  and  servants  of  all  sorts,  33  or  thereabout.  [Preparations 
for  building  detailed.]  Two  English  teams  of  horses,  with  English  carts  con- 
tinually employed  in  drawing  materials,  oaks  felled  and  carpenters  employed 
in  the  woods  of  Fermanagh,  felling  more.  Arms  of  all  sorts  for  35  men  or 
thereabout,  a  barrel  of  powder  with  match  and  lead  proportionable.  Wil- 
liam Snow,  1500  acres  ;  never  came,  nor  any  for  him.  Passed  over  his  pro- 
portion to  William  Lusher,  son  to  Sir  Nicholas  Lusher,  done  nothing.  Since 
our  return  from  the  North,  William  Lusher,  son  to  Sir  Nicholas,  who  bought 
William  Snowe's  proportion  of  1500  acres  in  that  precinct,  came  over 
with  his  father,  took  out  warrants  of  possession,  and  is  gone  down  to  his 
land. 

Edward  Littleton,  agent  for  Sir  Thomas  Cornwall,  undertaker  of  2000 
acres  in  the  precinct  of  Lyffer  arrived  here  since  our  return  from  the  North, 
and  is  gone  down  to  his  proportion. 

The  Lo.  Audley  and  Mr.  Blunte,  undertaker  in  the  precinct  of  the  Omye, 
came  out  of  England  since  our  return  from  the  North,  and  went  to  see  their 
proportions. 

A  Relation  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Servitors  and  Natives  in  their  build- 
ings upon  the  proportions  of  land  allotted  to  them  on  the  distribution  of 
the  escheated  counties  of  Ulster  : 

Precinct  of  Kilmacrenan. — Captain  Will  Stewart  has  built  upon  the  pro- 
portion of  1000  acres  allotted  him  as  a  servitor  in  the  Barony  of  Kilma- 
crenan, a  fort  or  bawn  of  lime  and  stone  with  two  flankers.  [Described.] 
Under  one  is  a  room  either  for  a  mountain  house  or  a  prison,  and  upon  that 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  529 

a  court  of  guard,  and  above  that  an  open  "  freight  "  and  in  the  outmost  part 
thereof  a  sentinel  house,  one  curtain  16  foot  high,  and  2  others  12  foot  high, 
and  the  other  8  foot  high,  whereupon  he  intends  to  erect  a  stone  house. 
Has  built  three  houses  English  fashion  and  is  in  hand  for  three  more  which 
will  serve  for  tenants.  The  rest  of  the  servitors  have  done  nothing  by  reason 
of  the  wildness  of  the  land,  being  the  worst  in  all  the  country,  insomuch  that 
the  natives  are  unwilling  to  come  to  dwell  upon  it  until  they  be  forced  to  re- 
move. Servitors  are  providing  materials,  and  purpose  to  perform  their  cov- 
enants by  the  time  prescribed.  [The  natives  have  performed  no  works, 
but  two  of  them  providing  materials  ;  none  others  removed  to  portions 
assigned.] 

County  Fermanagh.  —  [Servitors  to  whom  lands  were  assigned  are  pro- 
viding materials  for  buildings,  but  have  done  nothing.  Two  natives  have 
removed  to  portions  assigned  them  and  built  great  copelled  houses,  where 
they  dwell.  No  other  natives  of  that  county  are  yet  removed,  nor  is  any 
work  done.] 

County  Tyrone. — Sir  Arthur  Chichester  now  Lo.  Deputy,  has  600  acres 
about  Donganon,  as  a  servitor,  where  he  intends  to  build  a  castle  or  strong 
house  of  lime  and  stone,  and  to  environ  the  same  with  a  good  and  substan- 
tial stone  wall  and  a  deep  ditch  with  a  counter  scarfe  of  stone  to  hold  up 
the  earth.  Has  now  masons  and  workmen  to  take  down  such  remains  of  the 
decayed  ruins  of  the  old  castle  as  are  yet  standing.  [Preparations  detailed.] 
Town  to  be  made  a  corporation,  and  there  are  families  of  English  and  other 
civil  men,  who  for  the  present  have  built  houses  of  copies,  but  are  bound  to 
build  of  cagework  or  stone  after  the  English,  and  make  enclosures  about  the 
town.  Sir  Thomas  Ridgeway,  Treasurer  at  Wars,  2000  acres  in  precinct  of 
Donganon,  as  servitor,  has  carpenters  providing  timber  &c,  for  building 
next  spring.  Sir  Richard  Wingfield,  Knight  Marshel  of  the  Army,  2000 
acres  as  servitor,  has  great  store  of  timber  for  buildings,  and  will  have  other 
materials  ready  by  the  beginning  of  spring.  Sir  Toby  Calfield,  Knt.,  1000 
acres  as  servitor,  is  providing  materials  for  building.  [Detailed.]  Will  be 
ready  to  build  next  spring.  Sir  Francis  Roe,  Knt.,  1000  acres  as  servitor,  is 
providing  materials  for  building.  William  Parsons,  his  Majesty's  Surveyor, 
1000  acres  as  servitor,  preparing  to  forward  buildings  next  spring.  Francis 
Ansley,  400  acres,  as  servitor,  had  made  a  bawn  of  earth  and  sods  with  con- 
venient ditch  and  flankers  and  provided  timber  to  build  a  substantial  Eng- 
lish house  within  it.  Captain  Tyrlagh  O'Neale,  one  of  the  natives  of  Tyrone, 
has  removed  and  dwells  on  his  lands  in  the  precinct  of  Donganon,  has  no 
preparation  for  building  but  an  Irish  house.  None  of  the  rest  are  removed 
nor  have  made  any  preparations  for  building. 

County  Armagh. — Lo.  Audley,  2000  acres  in  reversion  of  Arte  McBar- 
ron,  and  500  acres  as  servitor  in  precinct  of  Oryer  in  co.  Armagh.  The  500 
acres  set  out  but  no  preparation  for  building.  Sir  Oliver  St.  John,  Knt., 
Master  of  the  Ordnance,  1500  acres  as  servitor,  is  making  preparations  for 
building.  Sir  Gerrott  Moore,  Knt.,  1000  acres  as  servitor,  is  providing  tim- 
ber, &c.  for  building.  Sir  Thomas  Williams,  Knt.,  1000  acres  as  servitor, 
has  let  the  most  part  to  Captain  Anthony  Smith,  who  has  promised  to  per- 
form the  conditions  required.  Sir  John  Bourchier,  Knt.,  and  Captain  Fran- 
cis Cooke,  1000  acres  apiece  as  servitors.  Sir  John  Bourchier  is  providing 
materials  for  building.  Lieutenant  Charles  Poynts,  200  acres  as  servitor,  has 
provided  timber  and  materials  for  buildings. 

[Condition  of  natives'  proportions  detailed.] 

County  of  Cavan. — Sir  Oliver  Lambert,  2000  acres  as  servitor  in  Clanma- 


53°  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

hon,  is  providing  materials  but  has  built  nothing.  Captain  William  Lyons 
and  Lieut.  Joseph,  1500  acres  as  servitors,  have  done  no  work.  Lieut.  At- 
kinson and  Lieut.  Russen,  500  acres  apiece,  have  done  nothing  but  taken 
possession.  Sir  William  Tathe,  Knt.,  1000  acres  as  servitor  in  B.  Castle 
Rarae,  has  taken  possession,  but  done  nothing.  Sir  Edmond  Fetiplace,  1000 
acres,  has  taken  possession,  done  nothing  else.  Captain  John  Ridgway, 
1000  acres.  [Preparations  described.]  120  great  oaks  have  been  brought 
from  Fermanagh  30  miles  from  here,  and  more  ready  framed,  being  280  gar- 
ron  loads  from  Bealturbert ;  has  made  a  watercourse  for  mill  in  stormy  and 
rocky  ground  which  cost  him  25  jQ  as  he  says.  Has  agreed  for  500  barrels  of 
lime  in  Meath  to  be  brought  him  upon  demand.  Has  removed  five  Irish 
houses  near  his  castle  and  built  two  other  Irish  houses  in  the  Great  Island. 
Has  an  English  millwright,  smith,  and  farrier  with  their  wives  and  families 
and  necessary  tools,  and  an  English  and  Irish  house  carpenter  with  their 
wives  and  families,  2  or  3  other  families  of  several  trades,  and  has  contracted 
at  Bealturbert  for  a  boat  for  use  at  Lough  Rawre.  Lieut.  Carth,  500  acres 
as  servitor,  and  has  taken  possession,  but  done  nothing  else.  Sir  Thomas 
Ashe,  Knt.,  and  his  brother  John,  750  acres  in  the  Barony  of  Tullaghgarvy 
are  building  a  bawn  of  sods  and  earth  with  a  good  large  ditch  at  a  place 
called  Dromhyle,  and  intend  to  draw  water  from  the  lough  adjoining  to  com- 
pass the  same  ;  have  drawn  a  watercourse  two  miles  long  to  a  place  where 
they  purpose  to  make  a  mill.  Have  made  preparations  for  building  a  good 
house,  and  will  have  their  materials  ready  next  spring.  Mr.  Brent  Moor 
and  Mr.  Arthur  Moor,  1500  acres ;  have  taken  possession  but  done  nothing. 
Sir  George  Graemes  and  Sir  Richard  Graemes,  1000  acres  apiece  in  the  Bar- 
ony of  Tolehagh  as  servitors,  have  taken  possession  but  done  nothing.  Cap- 
tain Hugh  Colme  and  Walter  Talbot,  1500  acres  as  servitors,  have  built  a 
strong  timber  house  and  two  other  wattled  houses,  felled  40  timber  trees,  no 
other  work.     [Progress  of  natives  in  County  Cavan  detailed.] 

The  servitors  being  charged  by  us  with  backwardness  in  having  done 
so  little,  answered  for  the  most  part  that  they  had  not  taken  out  their  patents 
until  the  end  of  Candlemass  term  last,  and  that  by  reason  the  British  do  yet 
retain  natives  (who  ought  to  be  their  tenants)  they  are  disabled  to  put  things 
forward  as  otherwise  they  would,  but  they  will  go  roundly  in  hand  with  their 
works  this  next  spring  as  they  have  promised  us. 

Signed  Arthur  Chichester,  G.  Carew,  Th.  Ridgway,  R.  Wingfield,  01. 
Lambart. 

A  note  how  the  Plantation  goes  forward  in  Farmanoch,  and  what  the 
Undertakers  have  done  there,  and  their  proceedings. 

(1).  Barony  of  Lorge. — First,  Sir  Edward  Blennerhassett,  whose  son  as 
agent  for  his  father  is  there,  and  with  him  six  persons,  of  which  two  have  their 
wives,  but  whether  they  are  to  be  leaseholders  or  freeholders  he  knoweth 
not  until  his  father's  coming.  They  are  all  well  armed.  They  have  made 
one  English  house,  with  three  rooms  beneath,  a  chimney  and  an  oven  with 
a  loft,  and  part  of  the  house  is  already  thatched;  some  boards  are  already 
sawed  for  the  loft  and  about  fifteen  trees  felled  and  squared.  For  cattle  they 
have  four  mares  and  a  horse,  and  have  brought  a  dozen  head  of  cattle  or 
thereabout.     For  lime  and  stone  I  see  none. 

(2).  Thomas  Blennerhassett  has  with  him  six  persons,  one  a  joiner, 
another  a  carpenter,  and  three  other  workmen  with  one  tenant.  He  has 
built  a  boat,  and  has  broken  stones  for  lime  and  some  burnt;  and  thirty 
trees  felled;  some  squared  and  sawed;  a  fair  large  Irish  house,  with  win- 
dows and  rooms  after  the  English  manner,  wherein  is  a  new  kitchen  with  a 


Ulster  from  1610  to   1630  531 

stone  chimney,  and  an  oven.     For  cattle  three  horses,  a  mare  and  some 
thirteen  head  of  other  cattle. 

(3).  Barony  of  Clankelly. — Thomas  Flowerdew,  has  with  him  six  persons 
one  a  carpenter,  others  freeholders  or  lease-holders;  has  built  an  Irish  house 
with  a  chimney  at  the  end,  made  of  wattles,  contrived  in  two  rooms,  and  a 
frame  for  a  timber  house  of  birch,  most  part  of  it  to  be  set  up  within  a 
Danes  fort.  He  has  a  plow  of  mares  and  garrons,  two  English  horses,  an 
English  mare,  one  cow,  with  some  three  or  four  bullocks  for  their  provision, 
and  some  few  arms. 

(4).  Sir  Hugh  Worral  has  his  brother  there  taking  up  his  rent,  but  as  yet, 
nothing  else  goes  forward. 

(5).  Mr.  Sudborough  has  with  him  eight  men  well  armed,  including  two 
sons,  and  one,  Mr.  Stookes  a  lease-holder;  he  has  contrived  an  Irish  house 
into  three  rooms,  and  built  a  wattled  chimney  in  it.  He  has  one  plough  of 
mares  and  garrons,  an  English  horse  and  mare,  and  20  head  of  cows. 

(6).  Robert  Culvert  has  with  him  six  persons  furnished  well  with  pieces 
and  pikes,  and  one  leaseholder ;  has  built  an  Irish  house  in  three  rooms  and 
a  wattled  chimney  in  the  end.  He  has  a  plough  of  garrons  and  three 
English  horses,  and  about  fifteen  cows  ;  twenty  trees  felled  towards  building. 

(7).  Barony  of  Knockninny. — Lord  Burleigh.  His  agent,  Mr.  Mildron, 
has  20  men  well  furnished  with  pikes  and  pieces  ;  has  a  house  built  with  six 
couples,  the  ends  with  a  double  chimney  in  the  middle  ;  108  trees  felled, 
and  two  kilns  of  lime  burnt  of  the  stones  of  Castleske.  Cattle:  40  cows  and 
two  ploughs  of  garrons  and  horses. 

(8).  Sir  John  Wisherd,  is  newly  come  over  with  some  15  persons  well 
arrived  ;  has  two  ploughs,  is  now  sowing  wheat ;  and  likeliest  to  go  forward 
of  any  of  the  undertakers. 

(9).  Barony  of  Terlagh. — Sir  John  Hume's  man  is  there  receiving  his 
rent  and  duties,  but  nothing  done. 

(10).  Mr.  Hamleton  has  come  lately,  and  with  him  10  people,  with  14 
garrons  and  horses,  and  is  buying  cattle  daily;  is  about  to  set  up  a  plow  or 
two  instantly.     As  yet  nothing  built. 

(11).  Mr.  Dunbar's  brother  is  there  taking  up  his  duties  and  rent,  but 
doth  nothing  else  that  I  see. 

For  all  the  rest  some  of  them  came  and  saw  the  land  and  went  their 
ways,  and  what  order  they  took  I  know  not,  and  what  is  above  written  is  all 
that  I  have  seen. 

Witness  my  hand, 

22nd  September,  161 1.  Phillip  Gatisfeth. 

A  second  commission  was  appointed  to  visit  the  settlements  a  few  years 
after  Chichester's  inspection  in  161 1,  but  its  members  performed  their  duties 
in  such  an  unsatisfactory  manner  that  in  1618  Captain  Nicholas  Pynnar  was 
appointed  to  visit  all  the  "  undertakers,"  and  make  a  detailed  report  of  the 
number  of  men  and  houses  found  in  each  settlement,  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  improvements  made,  and  the  provisions  for  defence  available  to  the 
British  settlers  in  case  of  an  armed  uprising  on  the  part  of  the  native  Irish. 
This  work  was  performed  by  Captain  Pynnar  in  the  following  year,  and 
from  his  exhaustive  report  on  the  same  the  following  abstract  has  been 
in  part  prepared  (see  Carew  Manuscripts,  1603-1624,  pp.  392-423;  also, 
Harris's  Hibernica)'. 


i- 


532  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ABSTRACT  OF  NICHOLAS  PYNNAR'S  SURVEY  IN  1619 

I.— SCOTCH  UNDERTAKERS 

COUNTY  OF  ARMAGH:    PRECINCT  OF  FEWES 

i.  2000  acres,  Archibald  Acheson  (grantee  from  Sir  James  Douglas): 
stone  bawn  built;  castle  begun;  4  freeholders,  20  lessees,  5  cottagers,  7 
houses,  total  29  families  who,  with  their  undertenants,  are  able  to  produce 
144  men  with  arms;  also  built  the  town  of  Clancarny  containing  29  British 
tenants. 

2.  1000  acres,  Henry  Acheson:  stone  bawn  and  house  built;  2  freeholders, 
17  lessees  and  a  great  number  of  other  tenants;  able  to  produce  30  men 
with  arms.  ' 

3.  1000  acres,  John  Hamilton  (grantee  of  James  Craig):  stone  bawn 
built;  2  freeholders  [Henry  and  Ralph  Grindell  and  John  Courtiouse],  6 
lessees  [among  them  Robert  Elliott],  12  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  30- men 
with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  John  Hamilton  (grantee  of  William  Lawder):  stone  bawn 
built,  with  house;  2  freeholders,  5  lessees,  10  cottagers,  7  houses;  able  to 
produce  30  men  with  arms. 

5.  500  acres,  John  Hamilton  (grantee  of  Claude  Hamilton,  who  had  been 
obliged  to  give  up  500  acres  of  his  original  proportion  to  the  Dean  of 
Armagh):  stone  bawn  and  six  houses  near;  1  freeholder,  4  lessees,  5  cot- 
tagers; able  to  produce  22  men  with  arms.  [John  Hamilton's  tenants  in 
16 1 7  were:  William  Hope,  John  Grane,  Edward  Irwinge,  Matthew  Gamble, 
Cornelius  McKernan,  Andrew  Bell,  David  Arkles,  John  Hamilton,  John 
Davidson,  Alexander  Sym,  Patrick  Ritchie,  Fergus  Fleck,  Eliza  Grier, 
John  Hamilton  the  elder,  Cuthbert  Grier,  Robert  Gilmore,  Adam  Rae, 
David  Leetch,  Robert  Hamilton,  Archibald  Grame,  John  Willie,  William 
Bell,  Robert  Hamilton,  Henry  Grindall,  John  Hamilton  the  elder  of 
Dromanish,  and  his  son  John,  Adam  Colte,  John  Johnstone,  Patrick 
Graunton,  George  Parker,  Henry  Hunter,  John  Deans,  John  Trumble,  John 
Kirk,  Francis  Carruthers,  James  Moffat,  Raulfe  Grindell,  Thomas 
Courtiouse,  Henry  Grindell,  Gilbert  Kennedy,  Laurence  Shirloe,  Robert 
Ferguson,  John  Browne,  John  Ferguson,  Thomas  Pringle,  Archbauld  Grier, 
John  Hall,  George  Gamble,  Owen  O'Corr,  Cormack  O'Corr,  Robert  Elliott, 
Alexander  Grier,  Robert  Allen,  John  Allen,  and  Bryanbane  O'Neale.] 

This  made  a  total  in  Fewes  precinct  of  11  freeholders,  52  lessees,  32 
cottagers;  able  to  produce,  with  their  undertenants,  256  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  TYRONE:    PRECINCT  OF  MOUNTJOY 

1.  3500  acres,  Andrew  Stewart:  castle  thatched;  7  freeholders,  12 
lessees;  able  to  produce,  with  their  undertenants,  80  men  with  arms.  [In 
1628  portions  were  sold  to  Gilbert  Kennedy  and  John  Collis.  Christopher 
Harrison  was  the  first  purchaser  from  the  landlord.] 

2.  1000  acres,  Andrew  Stewart,  Jr.  (transferred  from  Robert  Stewart): 
building  bawn  and  castle;  2  freeholders,  8  lessees;  able  to  produce  32  men 
with  arms. 

3.  1800  acres,  Robert  Heyborne  (Hepburne):  stone  house  and  bawn; 
6  freeholders,  3  lessees,  10  houses;  able  to  produce  26  men  with  arms.  [In 
1620,   portions  of  this  land  were  sold  to  Thomas  Averell,  John  Lyford, 


Ulster  from  1610  to   1630  533 

Michael  Lawrence,  Robert  Edmonston,  John  Coulson,  Henry  Clarke,  and 
William  Ploughman;  and  later,  before  1629,  the  remainder  was  conveyed  to 
Henry  Stewart.] 

4.  1000  acres,  Alexander  Sanderson  (transferred  from  George  Crawford): 
stone  bawn  and  house;  5  freeholders,  4  lessees,  7  cottagers;  able  to  produce 
36  men  with  arms.  [His  son,  Archibald,  sold  a  portion  of  this  estate  to 
John  Madder  in  1639.] 

5.  1000  acres,  Alexander  Richardson  (transferred  from  Bernard  Lind- 
sey):  stone  bawn  and  timber  house;  2  freeholders,  4  lessees,  11  cottagers; 
able  to  produce  39  men  with  arms. 

6.  1000  acres,  Robert  Lindsey's  widow:  earth  bawn,  timber  house,  2 
freeholders,  8  lessees,  12  cottagers;  able  to  produce  30  men  with  arms. 

7.  1000  acres,  David  Kennedy:  stone  bawn  containing  timber  house;  2 
freeholders,  5  lessees,  9  cottagers,  12  houses;  able  to  produce  36  men  with 
arms.     [Sold  to  John  Syminton  before  1630.] 

Total  in  Mountjoy  Precinct,  28  freeholders,  52  lessees,  39  cottagers  ; 
able  to  produce  311  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  TYRONE  :  PRECINCT  OF  STRABANE 

i.  3000  acres,  James  Hamilton,  Earl  of  Abercorn  :  a  strong  castle  built ; 
and  about  it  a  town  of  80  houses  containing  120  families  ;  12  freeholders,  20 
lessees,  53  townsmen  ;  able  to  produce  286  men  with  arms.  [An  inquisition 
taken  at  Strabane,  16  August,  1693,  mentions  the  following  tenants  as  hav- 
ing holdings  in  the  town  of  Strabane,  viz.,  Anne  Newburgh,  William  Hender- 
son, James  and  Patrick  Hamilton,  Oliver  McCasland,  Samuel  Lawes,  Robert 
Robinson,  John  Anderson,  Andrew  Parke,  Walter  McFarland,  John  Love, 
James  McGee,  and  Thomas  Holmes.] 

2.  2000  acres,  Claude  Hamilton's  estate  :  stone  bawn  containing  a  good 
castle  ;  6  freeholders,  14  lessees,  6  houses  ;  able  to  produce  50  men  with  arms. 

3.  2000  acres,  Sir  Robert  Newcomen,  Knt.  (transferred  from  James 
Clapen):  castle  and  bawn  being  built,  and  town  of  14  houses  ;  4  freehold- 
ers, 9  lessees,  12  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  48  men  with  arms. 

4.  1500  acres,  James  Hamilton,  Earl  of  Abercorn  (transferred  from  Sir 
Thomas  Boyd)  :  bawn  and  large  strong  castle  begun  ;  3  freeholders,  10 
lessees  ;  able  to  produce  100  men  with  arms. 

5.  2500  acres,  Sir  George  Hamilton  :  a  bawn  of  stone,  and  village  of  10 
houses  on  1000  acres  ;  bawn,  house,  and  village  of  30  houses  on  1500  acres  ; 
6  freeholders,  25  lessees,  12  townsmen  ;    able  to  produce  93  men  with  arms. 

6.  1000  acres,  Sir  John  Drommond,  Knt.  :  a  stone  bawn  containing  a 
timber  house  ;  village  of  10  houses  and  water-mill  near  ;  30  British  men. 
[Among  these  were  John  Grime,  John  McGowan,  William  Reade,  William 
Sharpe,  Patrick  Smythe,  John  Crosby,  William  Crosby,  William  Munteeth, 
John  Wood,  Thomas  Gryme,  Patrick  Brum,  Thomas  Beane,  John  McAulay.] 

7.  1500  acres,  Sir  George  Hamilton,  and  Sir  William  Stewart  (transferred 
from  James  Haig)  :  no  improvements,  but  said  to  be  8  British  families  on 
the  estate. 

Total  in  Strabane  Precinct,  31  freeholders,  78  lessees,  95  cottagers  and 
townsmen  ;  able  to  produce  607  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY    OF    DONEGAL :      PRECINCT    OF    PORTLOUGH 

i.  3000  acres,  Duke  of  Lennox  :  a  very  strong  castle,  built  of  lime  and 
stone,  but  no  freeholders.     The  land  well  inhabited  and  full  of  people. 

2.   1000  acres,  Sir  John  Colquhoun,  Laird  of  Luss  (transferred  from  Sir 


534  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Walter  Stewart)  :  stone  bawn,  with  a  poor  house  ;  2  freeholders,  3  lessees, 
5  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  26  men.  [This  estate  was  held  in  1662  by 
Humphrey  and  Robert  Galbraith  who  sold  it  back  in  1664  to  Sir  John  Cal- 
houn, son  of  the  Laird  of  Luss.] 

3.  1000  acres,  Alexander  McAula  :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  2  freeholders, 
9  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  30  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  John  Cunningham  :  a  stone  bawn  and  house  ;  village  of 
26  houses  and  water-mill  ;  2  freeholders,  12  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  50  men 
with  arms.  [On  November  1,  1614,  John  Cunningham  leased  several  parcels 
of  his  lands  to  the  following  persons  :  James  Robbin,  Robert  Hunter,  John 
Martin,  William  Boyle,  James  Patterson,  Alexander  McKilchany,  John  Plow- 
right,  John  Molsed,  Robert  Allane,  John  Fyeff,  Donnell  McKilmun,  John 
Wilson,  Bernard  Coningham,  James  Boyl,  John  Bryce,  William  Sare,  Don- 
nell Gillaspick,  John  Fleminge,  Donnell  McEvene,  William  McCassack, 
Alexander  Colewell,  John  Wigton,  John  Ramsay,  Stephen  Woolson,  Andrew 
Calwell,  William  Coningham,  Andrew  Coningham,  Robert  Boyl,  Donnell 
Connell.     {Inquisitions  of  Ulster,  Donegal,  5,  Car.  /.).] 

5.  1000  acres,  William  Stewart,  Laird  of  DundufL:  stone  bawn  and  house, 
2  freeholders,  8  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms.  [On  the  10th 
of  June,  1614,  William  Stewart,  Laird  of  Dunduff,  set  off  several  portions  of 
his  lands  to  the  following  persons  :  Archibald  Thomson,  John  Coningham, 
John  Hood,  James  Dunsayer,  William  Fullerton,  Gilbert  Kennyday,  John 
MacKay,  John  Smyth,  Alexander  Lokard,  Alexander  Hunter,  James  Sayre, 
Walter  Stewart,  William  Smelley,  Thomas  Lodge,  Hugh  O'Douherty,  Con 
O'Donnell,  Arthur  Stewart,  James  Maghan,  Dermont  O'Brallaghan,  Shane 
O'Brallaghan,  Killegroome  O'Derny,  Anthony  Stewart,  gent.,  Toole  Mc- 
Vegany,  Michael  McLoghery,  Owen  Macintire.  {Inquisitions  of  Ulster, 
Donegal,  p,  Car.  I.).] 

6.  2000  acres,  Sir  James  Cunningham,  Laird  of  Glangarnocke  :  there  is 
built  here  a  little  bawn  of  lime  and  stone  and  a  small  house  in  it  ;  near  to 
the  bawn  there  is  a  small  village,  consisting  of  12  houses  inhabited  with  Brit- 
ish tenants  ;  no  Irish  on  the  land  ;  said  to  be  able  to  produce  40  men. 

7.  1000  acres,  Cuthbert  Cunningham  :  nothing  built  by  him  ;  6  freehold- 
ers, 9  lessees,  15  cottagers,  able  to  produce  80  men  with  arms. 

8.  1000  acres,  James  Cunningham  :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  2  freehold- 
ers, 6  lessees,  15  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  42  men  with  arms.  [On  the  1st 
of  May,  16 13,  James  Coningham,  or  Cunningham,  set  out  a  large  quantity  of 
his  lands  to  the  persons  whose  names  are  underwritten  :  Alexander  Dunne, 
John  Dunne,  Donnell  McKym,  John  Dunne,  junior,  John  Younge,  William 
Hendry,  Alexander  Grynney  William  Stewart,  William  Valentyne,  Hugh 
Moore,  William  Moore,  David  Kennedy,  John  Watson,  Robert  Paterson, 
William  Ekyn,  George  Blacke,  Andrew  Smythe,  James  Gilmore,  William 
Gaate  [Gait],  George  Peere  [Pery],  John  McKym,  Andrew  Browne,  William 
Sutherland,  William  Rankin,  John  Smythe,  John  Purveyance,  John  Harper, 
Hugh  Lokard,  Thomas  Scott,  John  Browne,  John  Roger,  William  Teyse, 
[Teese],  Donnell  McEredy,  David  Kennedy,  William  Valentyne,  William 
Arnett,  Andrew  Arnett,  John  Alexander,  John  Hutchine,  Peter  Stevenson, 
John  Hamilton,  Edward  Homes,  George  Leich.  (Inquisitions  of  Ulster, 
Donegal,  j,  Car.  I.).] 

9.  1000  acres,  Sir  John  Stewart :  neither  castle  nor  bawn  built,  but  the 
land  well  inhabited  with  British  tenants. 

Total  in  Portlough  Precinct,  16  freeholders,  47  lessees,  35  cottagers ; 
able  to  produce  268  men. 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  535 

COUNTY  OF  DONEGAL  :  PRECINCT  OF  BOYLAGH 

[But  slight  improvements  having  been  made  by  the  original  undertakers, 
the  whole  10,000  acres  of  this  precinct  was  patented  to  John  Murray,  after- 
wards Earl  of  Annandale,  in  1620]. 

1.  2000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  Robert  Maclellan)  :  a 
bawn  and  small  castle  ;  leased  to  Captain  Thomas  Dutton  who  had  recently 
arrived,  with  6  English  families. 

2.  1000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  George  Murray)  :  nothing 
built,  and  all  the  land  inhabited  with  Irish. 

3.  1500  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  William  Stewart)  :  leased 
to  James  Toodie  and  others  ;  11  lessees  ;  said  to  be  30  families  on  the  land  ; 
able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  Patrick  McKee)  :  a  bawn 
of  stone  ;  23  families  planted  on  this  land,  all  of  British  birth  ;  able  to  pro- 
duce 40  men. 

5.  1000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  James  McCullogh)  :  leased 
to  James  McCullogh  ;  very  few  British  on  the  land. 

6.  1000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  Alexander  Dunbar):  leased 
to  Rowland  Cogwell  ;  a  stone  bawn  and  castle  ;  2  leaseholders,  having  under 
them  10  British  families. 

7.  1000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  Patrick  Vans)  :  leased  to 
William  Hamilton  and  others  ;  a  stone  bawn  and  very  strong  castle  ;  28  fam- 
ilies of  British  birth  said  to  be  on  the  land  ;  able  to  produce  50  men  with 
arms. 

8.  1000  acres,  John  Murray  (transferred  from  Alexander  Cunningham)  : 
leased  to  Alexander  Cunningham  :  strong  stone  bawn  ;  very  few  British 
tenants,  but  many  Irish  ones. 

Total  in  Boylagh  Precinct,  56  tenants  ;  able  to  produce  130  men  with 
arms. 

COUNTY    OF    FERMANAGH  I     PRECINCT    OF    KNOCKNINNY 

i.  3000  acres,  Sir  James  Balfour  (transferred  from  Michael  Balfour, 
father  of  James)  :  great  number  of  men  at  work  building  a  castle  and  bawn  ; 
schoolhouse  built ;  church  under  way  ;  town  of  40  houses  near  the  castle,  all 
inhabited  with  British  tenants  ;  able  to  produce  82  men  with  arms. 

2.  1500  acres,  Sir  Stephen  Butler  (transferred  from  Michael  Balfour,  Jr.): 
12  lessees,  able  to  produce  15  men  with  arms. 

3.  1500  acres,  Sir  Stephen  Butler  (transferred  from  Sir  John  Wishart) ; 
a  stone  house  and  bawn  ;   17  lessees,  able  to  produce  66  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  George  Adwick,  guardian  of  David  Crichton,  son  of 
Thomas  Crichton,  deceased  (transferred  from  Thomas  Moneypenny)  :  bawn 
of  stone  enclosing  a  poor  thatched  house  ;  6  freeholders,  4  lessees. 

5.  1000  acres,  George  Adwick,  agent  for  Sir  Stephen  Butler  (grantee  of 
James  Trayle)  :  no  British  tenants. 

6.  1000  acres,  Sir  Stephen  Butler  (grantee  of  George  Smelhome)  :  stone 
house  and  bawn  ;  3  lessees  ;  [Richard  Buckland,  Robert  Montgomerye, 
Charles  Waterhouse]  ;  able  to  produce  15  men. 

Total  in  Knockninny  Precinct,  6  freeholders,  76  lessees;  able  to  produce 
178  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY   OF    FERMANAGH  :    PRECINCT    OF   MAGHERIBOY 

i.  2000  acres,  Sir  John  Home  :  castle  and  bawn  ;  a  village  near  contain- 
ing 24  families  ;  4  freeholders,  9  lessees,  11  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  30 
men  with  arms. 


536  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

2.  1500  acres,  Malcolm  Hamilton  (grantee  of  Sir  Robert  Hamilton)  :  a 
strong  castle,  but  no  bawn  ;  3  freeholders,  [Robert  Weire,  Gabriel  Coning- 
ham,  and  James  Somerville]  ;  11  lessees,  [Daniel  Elliott,  Gabriel  Coningham, 
Jr.,  Alexander  Coningham,  Matthew  Chambers,  David  Cathcart,  Gilbert 
Lainge,  John  Watson,  William  Crawford,  John  Hall,  George  Deinbane,  John 
Greer,  William  Hall  and  Thomas  Cranston]  ;  able  to  produce  77  men  with 
arms. 

3.  1000  acres,  John  Archdale  (grantee  from  James  Gibb)  :  stone  bawn 
and  house  ;  6  freeholders,  5  lessees,  3  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  26  men 
with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  Sir  William  Cole  (grantee  of  Jerome  Lindsay)  :  stone  castle 
and  bawn  ;  windmill  ;  2  freeholders,  11  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  34  men. 
[Among  William  Cole's  grantees  in  16 13  were  Thomas  Shaw  of  Enniskillen, 
Clinton  Ogle,  and  Richard  Orme.] 

5.  1500  acres,  Sir  John  Home  or  Hume  (grantee  of  William  Fowler)  : 
nothing  built ;  3  freeholders,  12  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  30  men. 

6.  1000  acres,  George  Home,  agent  for  his  father,  Sir  John  Home 
(grantee  of  Alexander  Home)  :  stone  bawn  ;  3  lessees. 

7.  1000  acres,  John  Dunbar  :  stone  bawn  and  2  water-mills  ;  2  free- 
holders, 7  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  60  men  with  arms. 

Total  in  Magheriboy  Precinct,  20  freeholders,  58  lessees,  14  cottagers  ; 
able  to  produce  257  men. 

COUNTY    OF    CAVAN  :    PRECINCT    OF    TULLOHONCO 

i.  2000  acres,  Jane  Hamilton,  guardian  of  Francis  Hamilton  (grandson 
of  Sir  Alexander  Hamilton)  :  strong  castle  and  bawn  built ;  6  freehold- 
ers [in  1629  George  Griffin,  Francis  Cofyn,  Stephen  Hunt,  and  Richard 
Lighterfoote  were  among  the  freeholders]  ;  25  lessees.  [The  inquisition  of 
1629  names  four  of  these  :  Stephen  and  Susan  Hunt,  Adam  Maunderson, 
John  McVittye,  and  John  Acheson.] 

2.  tooo  acres,  Jane  Hamilton,  widow  of  Sir  Claude  Hamilton  :  no  cas- 
tle built,  but  a  town  consisting  of  22  houses. 

3.  1000  acres,  )  James    Craig  (grantee   of    Alexander   and   John   Ach- 

4.  1000  acres,  )  mootie)  :  stone  castle  and  bawn  ;  5  freeholders,  7  les- 
sees, 21  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  100  men. 

5.  1000  acres,  Archibald  Acheson  (grantee  of  John  Brown)  :  stone 
bawn  ;  2  freeholders,  19  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  28  men. 

Total  in  Tullohonco  Precinct,  13  freeholders,  51  lessees  ;  able  to  produce 
180  men. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN  :  PRECINCT  OF  CLANCHY 

i.  3000  acres,  Sir  James  Hamilton  (grantee  of  Esme  Stuart)  :  a  very 
large,  strong  castle  28  x  50,  five  stories  high,  and  stone  bawn  80  feet  square  ; 
8  freeholders  [Richard  Hadsor,  John  Kennedie,  John  Hamilton,  Richard 
Lighterfoote,  Edmond  Stafford,  and  three  others]  ;  8  lessees  [Edward  Bailie, 
John  Hamilton,  John  Loch,  William  Price,  George  Steele,  James  Stewart, 
and  two  others]  ;  25  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  80  men  with  arms. 

2.  1000  acres,  William  Baillie  :  stone  bawn  ;  castle  building  ;  2  free- 
holders [Edward  and  James  Baillie],  4  lessees  [in  1629  they  were  John 
Steivinson,  John  Baillie,  James  Teate,  David  Barbour,  Gilbert  Cuthbertson, 
John  Hamilton,  William  Rae,  and  Walter  Miller],  4  cottagers  ;  able  to  pro- 
duce 28  men  with  arms. 

3.  1000  acres,  John   Hamilton  (grantee  of  John  Ralston)  ;  stone  house 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  537 

and  2  bawns,  one  100  feet  square  ;  village  of  8  houses  ;  water-mill  with  5 
houses  adjoining  ;  2  freeholders  [David  Barber  and  David  McCullagh],  6 
lessees  [Alexander  Davyson,  1618  ;  Alexander  Anderson  [Henderson]  1619  ; 
John  Wyllie,  1627  ;  John  Musgrave,  1618  ;  John  and  Patrick  Fenlay 
(Finlay),  1620  ;  Robert  Taillor,  1619  ;  John  Deanes,  1620  ;  Oliver  Udney, 
162 1],  7  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  William  Hamilton  :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  village  of  5 
houses  ;  2  freeholders,  6  lessees,  6  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  30  men. 

Total  in  Clanchy  Precinct,  14  freeholders,  24  lessees,  42  cottagers  ;  able 
to  produce  178  men. 

II.— ENGLISH   UNDERTAKERS 

COUNTY    OF   ARMAGH  :    PRECINCT    OF    ONEILAN 

i.  1000  acres,  Richard  Roulstone  :  bawn  of  sods  containing  small  house  ; 
village  of  9  houses  ;  2  freeholders,  8  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  24  men  with 
arms. 

2.  2000  acres,  Francis  Sacheverill :  3  freeholders,  18  lessees  ;  able  to 
produce  50  men  with  arms. 

3.  1500  acres,  William  Brownlow  (son  of  John  Brownlow,  deceased)  : 
house  of  brick  and  stone ;  timber  bawn  ;  3  mills  ;  town  built,  containing  42 
houses,  all  inhabited  with  English  families  ;  5  freeholders,  52  lessees  ;  able 
to  produce  100  men  with  arms.  [This  report  also  includes  William  Brown- 
low's  original  proportion  of  1000  acres.] 

4.  1000  acres,  Sir  Oliver  St.  John  (grantee  of  James  Matchett)  :  2 
timber  bawns  containing  houses  ;  village  of  5  houses  ;  5  freeholders,  8  les- 
sees, 4  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  30  men  with  arms. 

5.  2000  acres,  Michael  Obbyns  (grantee  of  William  Powell)  :  bawn  of 
sods  and  boards,  with  brick  house  ;  4  houses  near ;  5  freeholders,  15 
lessees  ;  able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms. 

6.  1500  acres,  John  Dillon  :  brick  house  half  built  ;  no  bawn  ;  two  vil- 
lages ;  3  freeholders,  26  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms. 

7.  1000  acres,  William  Brownlow  :  a  strong  stone  house.  [See  also 
proportion  No.  3  above.] 

8.  1500  acres,  William  Stanhowe  :  nothing  built ;  not  above  three  or 
four  poor  Englishmen  upon  the  land.     All  inhabited  with  Irish. 

9.  2000  acres,  John  Heron  :  two  small  bawns  of  earth  ;  several  houses  ; 
1  freeholder,  12  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  26  men  with  arms. 

10.  3000  acres,  Sir  Anthony  Cope  :  bawn  of  stone  ;  two  watermills  and 
one  windmill  ;  6  freeholders,  34  lessees,  7  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  80 
men  with  arms.  [Symon  Gevers,  George  Bridge,  and  John  Adams  were 
among  these.] 

Total  in  Oneilan  Precinct :  30  freeholders,  173  lessees,  n  cottagers  ; 
able  to  produce  390  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  TYRONE  :  PRECINCT  OF  CLOGHER 

i.  2000  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Ridgeway  :  stone  castle  and  bawn  ;  a  town 
built  containing  15  houses  ;  2  freeholders,  18  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  56 
men  with  arms. 

2.  2000  acres,  John  Leigh  :  a  house  and  bawn  of  stone  built  ;  small  vil- 
lage containing  8  houses  ;  8  freeholders,  12  lessees,  21  cottagers  ;  able  to 
produce  48  men  with  arms. 

3.  1500  acres,  Walter  Edney  and   Thomas   Edney  :    stone   house  and 


538  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

bawn  (60  x  140)  built ;  castle  begun  ;  5  freeholders,  10  lessees,  4  cottagers  ; 
able  to  produce  60  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  George  Ridgeway  :  a  bawn  of  stone  but  no  house  in  it ; 

I  freeholder,  10  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  26  men  with  arms. 

5.  1000  acres,  William  Parsons  :  large  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  a  village 
containing  9  houses  ;  2  freeholders,  9  lessees,  4  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce 
38  men  with  arms. 

6.  1000  acres,  Sir  Gerrard  Lowther,  Knight  (grantee  of  William  Tur- 
vin)  :  bawn  of  stone  ;  leased  to  Mr.  Pringle  living  in  a  poor  cabin,  who 
claims  to  have  twenty  tenants. 

7.  2000  acres,  Sir  William  Stewart,  Knight  (grantee  of  Edward  Kings- 
mill)  :  castle  and  large  bawn  (120  x  240)  of  stone  building  ;  a  village  with  9 
houses  built  ;  5  freeholders,  9  lessees,  8  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  64  men 
with  arms. 

8.  2000  acres,  Sir  William  Cope  (transferred  from  William  Glegge)  :  a 
stone  bawn  built  80  feet  square,  and  a  small  house  within  ;  but  no  English 
settler  on  the  land. 

Total  in  Clogher  Precinct :  23  freeholders,  68  lessees,  37  cottagers  ;  able 
to  produce  292  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  TYRONE  :  PRECINCT  OF  OMAGH 

i.  3000  acres,  Lady  Audley  (widow  of  George  Tuchet,  Lord  Audley)  : 
neither  castle  nor  bawn  on  the  land  ;  8  lessees,  3  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce 

II  men. 

2.  2000  acres,  Sir  Marvin  Tuchet :  nothing  built  ;  said  to  have  64  ten- 
ants on  this  and  his  other  estates. 

3.  2000  acres,  Sir  Marvin  Tuchet  (grantee  of  Sir  Ferdinand  Tuchet)  : 
nothing  built. 

4.  2000  acres,  Sir  Marvin  Tuchet  (grantee  from  Edward  Blunte)  :  stone 
house ;  rent-roll  shows  64  British  tenants  on  this  and  two  preceding 
proportions. 

5.  2000  acres,  Sir  John  Davys  :  no  bawn  ;  two  strong  stone  castles  ;  4 
freeholders,  12  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  30  men. 

Total  in  Omagh  Precinct :  4  freeholders,  20  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  41 
men. 

COUNTY  OF  DONEGAL  I    PRECINCT  OF  LIFFER 

i.  1500  acres,  Peter  Benson  (conveyed  from  Henry  Clare)  :  stone  house 
and  bawn  ;  water-mill ;  village  containing  10  houses  ;  5  freeholders,  19  les- 
sees ;  able  to  produce  6&  men  with  arms.  [Among  these  tenants  in  1616 
were  Robert  Kilpatterick,  James  Kilpatterick,  Archibald  McMathe,  James 
Maxwell,  James  Tate,  John  Ewart,  Thomas  Watson,  George  Newton,  Ludo- 
vic  Stubbins,  Toole  McDevitt,  George  Hilton,  George  Bailie,  Richard  Roper, 
James  Read,  Henry  Preston,  Thomas  Preston,  Donnell  McKecoge,  Charles 
Atkinson,  Richard  Babington,  Edward  Catherall,  John  Kilpatterick.] 

2.  2000  acres,  William  Willson  :  large  bawn  and  castle  ;  a  village  of  10 
houses  ;  6  freeholders,  14  lessees,  50  undertenants  ;  able  to  produce  106 
men. 

3.  1500  acres,  Sir  John  Kingsmill  (grantee  of  Edward  Russell)  :  a  stone 
house  and  bawn  ;  village  of  30  houses  ;  5  freeholders,  8  lessees  ;  able  to 
produce  36  men  with  arms. 

4.  1500  acres,  Sir  John  Kingsmill  and  William  Willson  (grantee  of  Sir 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  539 

William  Barnes)  :  strong  bawn  and  house  ;  6  freeholders,  6  lessees,  5  cot- 
tagers ;  able  to  produce  46  men  with  arms. 

5.  1000  acres,  Captain  Ralph  Mansfield  :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  a  vil- 
lage of  9  houses  ;  2  freeholders,  16  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  46  men  with 
arms. 

6.  2000  acres,  Robert  Davis  (grantee  from  Sir,  Thomas  Cornwall)  :  stone 
house  and  bawn  ;  several  small  villages  ;  4  freeholders,  28  lessees  ;  able  to 
produce  54  men  with  arms. 

7.  2000  acres,  Sir  Ralph  Bingley  (grantee  of  Sir  Thomas  [or  Robert] 
Remyington)  :  a  strong  castle  ;  4  freeholders,  17  tenants  ;  able  to  produce 
60  men  with  arms. 

8.  2000  acres,  Sir  Ralph  Bingley  (grantee  of  Sir  Maurice  Berkeley)  : 
stone  house  ;  brick  bawn  ;  mill  ;  a  village  of  6  houses  ;  7  freeholders,  12 
lessees,  10  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  64  men  with  arms. 

9.  1500  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Coates  :  brick  ready  for  building  house  and 
bawn  ;  village  of  6  houses  ;  4  freeholders,  9  lessees,  6  cottagers  ;  able  to 
produce  56  men  with  arms. 

Total  in  Liffer  Precinct :  43  freeholders,  129  lessees,  21  cottagers  ;  able 
to  produce  536  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :    PRECINCT  OF  CLANCALLY 

i.  1000  acres,  Sir  Hugh  Wirrall :  a  bawn  of  stone  built  60  feet  square  ; 
and  small  stone  house  within,  standing  waste  ;  no  tenants. 

2.  1000  acres,  Edward  Hatton  (grantee  of  Robert  Bogas)  :  strong  stone 
house  and  bawn  ;  water-mill ;  village  of  10  houses  ;  2  freeholders  [Nicholas 
Willoughby  was  one  of  these  in  1629],  5  lessees,  8  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce 
20  men  with  arms. 

3.  1000  acres,  George  Ridgeway  (grantee  of  Robert  Calvert)  :  a  stone 
bawn  building  ;   1  freeholder,  7  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  12  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  John  Sedborough  :  a  poor  sod  bawn  ;  6  lessees,  said  to 
be  12  more  ;  able  to  produce  24  men.  [The  names  of  several  British  ten- 
ants are  mentioned  in  the  Inquisitions  of  Ulster,  Fermanagh  (40  and  35), 
Car.  /.,  as  occupying  lands  on  this  proportion  about  the  year  1630  :  Hugh 
Stokes,  Clinton  Maunde,  Robert  Allen,  Faithful  Teate,  Christopher  Gas- 
coine,  Robert  Newcomen,  William  Stamers,  Stephen  Allen,  Randulph  Daye, 
John  and  Thomas  Tybbals,  Toby  Vesie,  Joseph  Dickinson.] 

5.  1000  acres,  Thomas  Flowerdewe  :  small  stone  house  and  large  stone 
bawn  ;  a  village  of  6  houses  ;  2  freeholders,  14  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  40 
men. 

Total  in  Clancally  Precinct :  5  freeholders,  44  lessees,  8  cottagers  ;  able 
to  produce  96  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :  PRECINCT  OF  LURG  AND  COOLEMAKERNAN 

i.  1000  acres,  Thomas  Flowerdewe  :  nothing  built. 

2.  2000  acres,  Thomas  Blenerhassett ;  stone  bawn  and  house  ;  church 
in  building  ;  village  of  6  houses  ;  4  freeholders,  3  lessees  ;  able  to  produce 
26  men. 

3.  2000  acres,  Sir  Edward  Blenerhassett :  stone  house  and  strong 
stone  bawn  ;  village  of  9  houses  ;  4  freeholders,  22  British  families  ;  able  to 
produce  40  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  John  Archdale  :  bawn  and  house  ;  water-mill ;  2  villages 
containing  8  houses  each  ;  6  freeholders  [in  1629  they  were  William  and 


540  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Thomas  Lawton,  William  Johnson,  Owen  Griffith,  Thomas  Clarke,  Edward 
Moore,  Thomas  Moore,  David  Byas],  10  lessees,  4  cottagers  ;  able  to  pro- 
duce 42  men  with  arms. 

5.  1000  acres,  Sir  Gerard  Lowther  (grantee  through  Harrington  Sutton 
of  Edward  Warde)  :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  water-mill ;  village  of  10 
houses  ;  2  freeholders,  12  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  28  men  with  arms. 

6.  1000  acres,  Sir  Gerard  Lowther  (grantee  of  Thomas  Barton)  :  stone 
bawn,  but  no  house  ;  5  freeholders,  1  lessee. 

7.  1000  acres,  Edward  Sibthorp  and  Henry  Flower  (conveyed  from 
Henry  Honyng)  :  stone  bawn,  standing  waste  and  used  as  a  pound  for  cat- 
tle ;  a  village  containing  14  houses  ;  2  lessees. 

Total  for  Lurg  and  Coolemakernan  :  21  freeholders,  28  lessees,  4  cot- 
tagers ;  able  to  produce  136  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN  :  PRECINCT  OF  LOUGHTY 

i.  2000  acres,  Thomas  Waldron  (heir  to  Sir  Richard  Waldron,  deceased): 
bawn  of  sods,  stone  castle,  windmill  ;  town  of  31  houses  ;  5  freeholders,  17 
lessees,  31  cottagers  ;    able  to  produce  82  men  with  arms. 

2.  2000  acres,  John  Fish  :  very  strong  castle  and  bawn  ;  2  villages  of  10 
houses  each,  built  of  stone  ;  4  freeholders,  18  lessees,  14  cottagers  ;  able  to 
produce  60  men  with  arms. 

3.  2760  acres,  Sir  Stephen  Butler:  very  strong  castle  and  bawn;  one 
fulling  mill ;  two  corn  mills  ;  the  town  of  Belturbet  building  ;  15  freeholders, 
76  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  139  men  with  arms. 

4.  2000  acres,  Sir  George  Mainwaring  (grantee  of  Sir  Nicholas  Lusher)  : 
brick  house,  stone  bawn  ;  village  of  7  houses  ;  3  freeholders  [Henry  Ches- 
man,  1612  ;  John  Taylor,  1613  ;  Walter  Bassett,  1615,]  21  lessees  [Nicholas 
Lysley,  1622  ;  Thomas  Jackson,  1616  ;  Robert  Gamble,  1617  ;  Richard 
Castledine,  1618  ;  Edward  Lockington,  1618  ;  Thomas  Guye,  1627  ;  John 
Broadhurst,  16 16  ;  Richard  Nutkin,  16 16  ;  John  Reley,  16 16  ;  Robert  New- 
ton, 16 16  ;  Bartholomew  Jackson,  1616  ;  Roger  Moynes,  1629]  ;  able  to  pro- 
duce 48  men. 

5.  1500  acres,  Sir  Hugh  Wyrrall  :  stone  house,  no  bawn  ;  3  freeholders, 
5  lessees,  8  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  26  men. 

6.  1500  acres,  John  Taylor :  castle  and  bawn  built ;  village  of  14 
houses  ;  7  freeholders,  7  lessees,  10  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  54  men  with 
arms. 

7.  1500  acres,  Peter  Ameas  :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  a  village  of  7 
houses  ;  4  freeholders,  7  lessees  ;  able  to  produce  30  men. 

Total  for  Loughty  Precinct :  41  freeholders,  101  lessees,  63  cottagers  ; 
able  to  produce  439  men  with  arms. 

III.— THE  LONDONERS'  PLANTATION 

Londonderry  :  92  houses,  containing  102  families. 

Colerane  :  Town  so  poorly  inhabited  that  there  are  not  men  to  man  a 
sixth  part  of  the  walls. 

3210  acres,  Goldsmiths'  Hall  :  John  Freeman,  lessee  ;  stone  bawn  (100  x 
100)  and  castle;  12  houses,  6  freeholders,  24  lessees;  able  to  produce  90 
men  with  arms. 

3210  acres,  Grocers'  Hall :  Edward  Rone  had  this  but  died  ;  bawn  build- 
ing ;  8  houses,  for  most  part  inhabited  with  Irish. 

3210  acres,  Fishmongers'  Hall  :  James  Higgens,  agent  for  the  Company  ; 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  541 

stone  bawn  (125  x  125)  and  house ;  15  houses  and  church  ;  6  freeholders,  28 
lessees  ;  able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms. 

3210  acres,  Ironmongers'  Hall :  George  Cammynge,  agent  for  the  Com- 
pany ;  brick  bawn,  strong  castle  ;  8  houses,  an  infinite  number  of  Irish  who 
give  such  great  rents  that  the  English  cannot  get  any  lands. 

3210  acres,  Mercers'  Hall  :  Mr.  Varnon,  agent  for  the  Company  ;  stone 
castle  and  bawn  (120  x  120)  ;  6  houses  ;  46  town  lands  let  to  Irish  of  the  sect 
of  Clandonnells,  the  wickedest  men  in  all  the  country. 

3210  acres,  Merchant  Tailors'  Hall  :  Valentine  Hartopp,  lessee  ;  strong 
castle,  no  bawn  ;  church  ;  7  stone  houses  ;  6  freeholders,  18  lessees,  5  cot- 
tagers ;  able  to  produce  40  men  with  arms. 

3210  acres,  Haberdashers'  Hall:  Sir  Robert  McLellan,  lessee;  strong 
castle,  no  bawn  ;  able  to  produce  80  men  with  arms. 

3210  acres,  Clothworkers'  Hall :  Sir  Robert  McLellan,  lessee  ;  stone  cas- 
tle ;  all  inhabited  with  Irish. 

3210  acres,  Skinners'  Hall  :  Lady  Dodington,  widow  of  Sir  Edward 
Dodington,  deceased,  lessee  ;  2  strong  castles  and  stone  bawns  ;  2  villages 
of  12  houses  each  ;  7  freeholders,  8  lessees,  12  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce 
80  men  with  arms. 

3210  acres,  Vintners'  Hall  :  Baptist  Jones,  lessee  ;  brick  bawn  and  2  good 
houses  within  ;   10  houses,  all  inhabited  with  English  ;  76  men  with  arms. 

3210  acres,  Drapers'  Hall :  William  Russell,  agent  for  the  Company  ; 
stone  bawn  and  castle  ;   12  houses  ;  the  tenants  have  no  estates. 

3210  acres,  Salters'  Hall :  Hugh  Sayer,  lessee  ;  stone  bawn,  castle  build- 
ing ;  7  houses  near  bawn,  9  houses  at  Salters'  Town  inhabited  by  British 
families,  but  none  have  estates. 

Total :  31  freeholders,  99  lessees,  17  cottagers  ;  able  to  produce  406  men 
with  arms. 

IV.— SERVITORS 

COUNTY    OF    ARMAGH  :    PRECINCT    OF    ORIER 

i.  1000  acres,  Sir  Gerald  Moore  :  a  stone  bawn  and  small  house,  inhab- 
ited by  an  Irishman. 

2.  1500  acres,  Sir  Oliver  St.  John  :  castle  and  stone  bawn  ;  a  town  of  35 
to  40  houses  built  [Ballymore],  inhabited  with  English  tenants. 

3.  500  acres,  Sir  John  Davies  (grantee  of  Lord  Audley)  :  nothing  built ; 
no  English  tenants. 

4.  1000  acres,  Captain  Anthony  Smith  (transferred  from  Sir  Thomas 
Williams)  :  stone  house  and  bawn  building. 

5.  2000  acres,  Henry  Bourchier  (transferred  from  John  Bourchier)  :  stone 
bawn  and  house  built. 

6.  200  acres,  Charles  Poyntz  :  a  new  brick  bawn  and  house  being  built. 

COUNTY  OF    TYRONE  :    PRECINCT  OF  DUNGANNON 

i.  1640  acres,  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  :  a  stone  fort  built,  120  feet  square  ; 
3  houses,  inhabited  by  Englishmen  ;  also  a  town  built  containing  a  church 
and  21  houses  inhabited  by  British  tenants  ;  30  English  families. 

2.  2000  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Ridgeway  :  stone  bawn,  160  feet  square,  tim- 
ber house  ;   3  English  families. 

3.  2000  acres,  Sir  Richard  Wingfield  :  stone  bawn  and  2  houses  ;  church 
building  ;  28  English  families  ;    able  to  produce  30  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000  acres,  Sir  Tobey  Caulfield  :  very  large  and  fine  stone   castle  ; 


542  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

water-mill ;  a  town  built  near  the  bawn  containing  15  English  families  ;  able 
to  produce  20  men  with  arms. 

5.  1000  acres,  Sir  Francis  Roe  :  earth  bawn,  house  of  brick  and  stone  ;  17 
houses  inhabited  by  British  tenants. 

6.  1000  acres,  William  Parsons  :  stone  bawn  and  house  ;  one  English 
family. 

7.  480  acres,  Sir  Francis  Ansley  :   sod  bawn. 

COUNTY    OF  DONEGAL  :    PRECINCT    OF   DOE    AND    FAWNETT 

(now  kilmacrenan) 

i.  1000  acres,  Captain  Paul  Gore  :  a  stone  bawn  and  timber  house  built  ; 
inhabited  by  an  English  family. 

2.  1000  acres,  Sir  George  Marburie  (transferred  from  Patrick  Crawford): 
stone  bawn  ;  a  town  built  [Letterkenny]  containing  40  houses  all  inhabited 
by  British  tenants  ;  able  to  produce  50  men. 

3.  1000  acres,  John  Wray  (grantee  of  John  Vaughan)  :  stone  bawn  and 
nouse  ;   some  English  families. 

4.  1000  acres,  John  Kingsmill  :  stone  bawn  built,  but  no  English  on  the 
land. 

5.  1000  acres,  Basil  Brooke  :  a  stone  bawn  and  house  and  one  Englishman. 

6.  1000  acres,  Sir  William  Stewart  (transferred  from  Sir  Edward  Han- 
sard) :  stone  house  and  bawn  ;  8  British  families  ;  able  to  produce  20  men 
•with  arms. 

7.  172  acres,  Lieut.  Thomas  Perkins  :  nothing  built. 

8.  1000  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Chichester :  clay  bawn  built,  but  fallen  to 
waste. 

9.  1256  acres,  Henry  Hart  :  a  stone  fort  and  house  in  which  is  an  English 
family. 

10.  1000  acres,  Sir  William  Stewart  (transferred  from  Sir  Richard  Han- 
sard) :  stone  castle  and  bawn  ;  water-mill ;  church  ;  has  built  the  market 
town  of  Ramelton  containing  45  houses  and  57  families. 

11.  400  acres,  Nathaniel  Rowley  (transferred  from  Lieut.  Edward  Ellis): 
nothing  built. 

12.  1000  acres,  John  Vaughan  (transferred  from  Henry  Vaughan)  :  a 
bawn  built  containing  a  stone  house  inhabited  by  an  English  gentleman. 

13.  500  acres,  Captain  Sanford  (transferred  from  Sir  Richard  Bingley)  : 
stone  castle  and  bawn  ;  4  English  families. 

14.  108  acres,  William  Lynn  (transferred  from  Lieut.  George 
Gale)  :  nothing  built. 

15.  240  acres,  William  Lynn  (transferred  from  Charles  Grimsditche)  : 
nothing  built. 

16.  528  acres,  Nathaniel  Rowley  (transferred  from  Thomas  Browne)  : 
nothing  built. 

17.  1000  acres,  Arthur  Terrie  :  stone  bawn  and  good  house  ;  6  English 
families  :  able  to  produce  10  men  with  arms. 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :      PRECINCT  OF  CLINAWLY 

i.  1500  acres,  Sir  John  Davys  :  a  fair  stone  house  built  on  the  abbey 
lands,  but  no  bawn. 

2.  500  acres,  Captain  Samuel  Harrison's  widow  ;  nothing  built. 

3.  300  acres,  Peter  Mostin  :  nothing  built. 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  543 

COUNTY  OF  FERMANAGH  :      PRECINCT    OF  COOLE  AND  TIRCANNADA 

i.  1500  acres,  Sir  Henry  Folliott :    stone  house  and  bawn  ;    water-mill  ; 
a  town  of  11  houses  inhabited  with  Scottish  and  English  families. 

2.  1000  acres,  Captain  Roger  Atkinson  :    stone  house  and  bawn  ;  water- 
mill,  tucking-mill  ;  2  freeholders. 

3.  1000  acres,  Sir  William  Cole  :    stone  bawn  ;    water-mill  :    7  lessees  ; 
able  to  produce  18  men  with  arms. 

4.  1000   acres,   Captain  Paul  Gore  :  stone  bawn  and  house  ;  8  British 
families. 

COUNTY    OF    CAVAN  I    PRECINCT    OF  TULLAGHAH 

i.  2000  acres,  Sir  George  and  Sir  Richard  Grimes  :    a  stone  bawn  built, 
containing  a  little  house. 

2.  1500  acres,  Captain  Hugh  Culme  and  Walter  Talbott  :   a  strong  bawn 
built,  surrounding  a  stone  castle. 

3.  1000  acres,  William  Parsons  :   no  buildings. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN  :    PRECINCT    OF  CLONMAHONE 

i.  2000  acres,  Sir  Oliver  Lambert :  stone  house  and  large  stone  bawn  ;  1 
English  family. 

2.  1000  acres,  Sir  Oliver  Lambert  (grantee  of  Joseph  Jones)  :  stone  bawn 
200  feet  square  ;  small  house  ;    4  English  families. 

3.  500  acres,  Captain  Fleming  :  a  stone  bawn  and  house  built,  very  strong. 

4.  1000  acres,  Archibald  Moore  (grantee  of  John  Russell  and  Anthony 
Atkinson)  :  a  strong  sod  bawn  built  containing  an  Irish  house. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN  :    PRECINCT  OF  CASTLE  RAHEN 

1.  400  acres,  Sir  John  Elliott :  stone  bawn  and  small  house;  all  inhabited 
by  Irish. 

2.  1000  acres,  Captain  Hugh  Culme  (grantee  of  John  Ridgeway)  :    stone 
house  and  bawn  ;  town  of  8  houses  ;    12   English  families. 

3.  1000  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Ashe  (grantee  of  Sir  William  Taaffe)  :    an  old 
castle  new  mended  ;   all  the  land  inhabited  by  Irish. 

4.  500  acres,   Sir  Thomas  Ashe  (grantee  of  Roger  Garth)  :    sod  bawn  ; 
all  inhabited  by  Irish. 

5.  1000  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Ashe  (grantee  of  Edmund  Fettiplace)  :    stone 
bawn  ;  all  inhabited  by  Irish. 

COUNTY  OF  CAVAN  :    PRECINCT  OF  TULLAGHGARVY 

i.  750  acres,  Sir  Thomas  Ashe  and  John  Ashe  :  bawn  of  clay  and  stone  ; 
all  inhabited  by  Irish. 

2.  1500  acres,  Archibald  Moore  and  Captain  Hugh  Culme  (grantee  of 
Brent  Moore)  :  bawn  and  house  ;  4  English  families. 

3.  2000  acres,  Captain  Richard  Tirrell :    strong  stone  bawn  built. 
Pynnar's  Brief  of  the  General  State  of  the  Plantation  for  Persons  Planted 

in  the  Several  Counties. 


544  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 


COUNTY    OF    CAVAN 

Freeholders 68 

Lessees  for  lives 20 

Lessees  for  years 168 

Cottagers . .  130 

Families e . .  386 

Bodies  of  men 711 

COUNTY   OF    FERMANAGH 

Freeholders 59 

Lessees  for  lives 10 

Lessees  for  years 117 

Cottagers 75 

Families 321 

Bodies  of  men 645 

COUNTY    OF    DONEGAL 

Freeholders « 59 

Lessees  for  lives 25 

Lessees  for  years 217 

Cottagers 46 

Families  that  have  no  estates 70 

Families  in  all 417 

Bodies  of  men 1, 106 

COUNTY   OF  TYRONE 

Freeholders 84 

Lessees  for  lives 26 

Lessees  for  years 183 

Cottagers 154 

Families 447 

Bodies  of  men 2,469 

COUNTY    OF    ARDMAGH 

Freeholders 39 

Lessees  for  lives 18 

Lessees  for  years 190 

Cottagers 43 

Families 290 

Bodies  of  men 642 

COUNTY   OF    LONDON-DERRY 

Freeholders 25 

Lessees  for  years 78 

Cottagers 16 

Families 119 

Bodies  of  men 642 


UT^ 


X-AL' 


^ 


\fci 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  545 


THE  WHOLE  CONTENT  OF  THE  SIX  COUNTIES 

Freeholders 334 

Lessees  for  lives 99 

Lessees  for  years I>OI3 

Families !>974 

Bodies  of  men  with  arms  l 6,215 

May  it  please  your  Lordships, — I  have  in  the  book  before  written,  set 
down  all  the  particulars  I  find  of  the  State  of  the  Plantation  of  his  Majesty's 
escheated  Lands  in  Ulster  now  to  stand. 

And,  First,  it  appears  by  the  particulars,  that  in  the  Brittish  Families 
within  mentioned,  there  are  6,215  Bodies  of  Men  ;  but  I  may  presume  further 
to  certify,  partly  by  observing  the  Habitation  of  these  Lands,  and  partly  by 
conferring  with  some  of  knowledge  among  them,  that  upon  occasion, 
there  be  found  in  those  Lands  at  least  8,000  Men  of  Brittish  Birth  and 
Descent,  to  do  his  Majesty's  Service  for  Defence  thereof,  though  the  fourth 
part  of  the  Land  is  not  fully  inhabited. 

Secondly, — It  appears  by  the  particulars,  that  there  are  now  built  within 
the  Counties  of  Ardmagh,  Tyrone,  Donagall,  Fermanagh,  Cavan,  and  Lon- 
don-Derry,  107  Castles  with  Bawnes,  19  Castles  without  Bawnes,  42  Bawnes 
without  Castles  or  Houses,  and  1897  Dwelling  Houses  of  Stone  and  Timber, 
after  the  English  manner  in  Townreeds,  besides  very  many  such  Houses  in 
several  parts  which  I  saw  not;  and  yet  there  is  great  want  of  Buildings  upon 
their  Lands,  both  for  Townreeds  and  otherwise.  And  I  may  say,  that  the 
abode  and  continuance  of  those  Inhabitants  upon  the  Lands  is  not  yet  made 
certain,  although  I  have  seen  the  Deeds  made  unto  them.  My  reason  is, 
that  many  of  the  English  Tenants  do  not  yet  plough  upon  the  Lands,  neither 
use  Husbandrie,  because  I  conceive  they  are  fearful  to  Stock  themselves 
with  Cattle  or  Servants  for  those  Labours.  Neither  do  the  Irish  use  Tillage, 
for  that  they  are  also  uncertain  of  their  Stay  upon  the  Lands;  so  that,  by  this 
means,  the  Irish  ploughing  nothing,  do  use  greasing2  ;  the  English  very  little; 
and  were  it  not  for  the  Scottish  Tenants,  which  do  plough  in  many  places  of 
the  Country,  those  Parts  may  starve  ;  by  Reason  whereof  the  Brittish,  who 
are  forced  to  take  their  Lands  at  great  Rates,  do  lie  at  the  greater  Rents, 
paid  unto  them  by  the  Irish  Tenants,  who  do  grease  their  Land  ;  and  if  the 
Irish  be  put  away  with  their  Cattle,  the  Brittish  must  either  forsake  their 
Dwellings,  or  endure  great  distress  on  the  suddain.  Yet  the  combination  of 
the  Irish  is  dangerous  to  them,  by  robbing  them,  and  otherwise.  I  observe 
the  greatest  number  of  Irish  do  dwell  upon  the  Lands  granted  to  the  City  of 
London  ;  which  happeneth,  as  I  take  it,  two  ways.  First,  There  are  five  of 
the  Proportions  assigned  to  the  several  Companies,  which  are  not  yetestated 
to  any  Man,  but  are  in  the  Hands  of  Agents  ;  who,  finding  the  Irish  more 
profitable  than  the  Brittish  Tenants,  are  unwilling  to  draw  on  the  Brittish, 
perswading  the  Company  that  the  Lands  are  mountainous  and  unprofitable, 
not  regarding  the  future  security  of  the  whole  ;  Secondly,  The  other  seven 
of  the  Proportions  are  leased  to  several  persons  for  61  years,  and  the  Lessees 
do  affirm  that  they  are  not  bound  to  plant  English,  but  may  plant  with  what 
people  they  please  ;  neither  is  the  City  of  London  bound  to  do  it  by  their 
Patents  from  his  Majesty,  as  they  say;  and  by  these  two  actions,  the  Brittish 
that  are  now  there,  who  have  many  of  them  built  houses  at  their  own 
charges,  have  no  estates  made  unto  them,  which  is  such  Discouragement 


546  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

unto  them,  as  they  are  minded  to  depart  the  Land;  and  without  better  Set- 
tlement will  seek  elsewhere,  wherein  it  is  very  fit  the  City  have  Direction  to 
take  a  present  Course,  that  they  may  receive  their  assurances;  and  this  being 
the  Inconveniency,  which  in  this  Survey  I  have  observed,  further  than  what 
was  set  down  formerly  by  Sir  Josias  Bodley's  last  Survey,3  I  have  thought 
good  to  make  the  same  known  to  your  Lordships,  submitting  the  further 
Consideration  thereof  to  your  Lordships'  deep  judgment. 

Nicholas  Pynnar. 

Besides  the  foregoing  reports  of  Chichester  and  Pynnar  the  following 
brief  muster  returns  have  been  preserved,  which  indicate  the  growth  of  the 
British  settlements  in  Ulster  during  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  "plan- 
tation." George  Alleyne  was  appointed  Muster  Master  of  Ulster,  July  10, 
1618,  and  the  summary  of  his  muster  of  men  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  fifty  made  in  that  year  is  given  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers  for 
Ireland,  1615-1625,  pp.  220-230: 

There  be  in  the  six  escheated  counties  197,000  acres.  There  appeared 
in  all  1964  men.  There  ought  to  have  appeared,  according  to  the  proportion 
or  rate  of  24  men  to  every  1000  acres  within  these  six  escheated  counties 
4728  as  follows:  Armagh,  population  528 — number  appearing  238;  Tyrone, 
population  11 16 — number  appearing  393;  London-derry,  population  864 — 
number  appearing  610  (county  410;  city,  100;  Colerain,  100);  Cavan,  popu- 
lation 588 — number  appearing  539  ;  Fermanagh,  population  744 — number 
appearing  184;  Donegal,  population  888 — number  appearing  o. 

A  muster  of  the  city  of  Londonderry  was  taken  by  Sir  Thomas  Phillips 
and  Richard  Hadsor,  the  King's  commissioners,  on  Sep.  20,  1622,  of  all  the 
inhabitants  with  their  servants  residing  in  the  city  of  Londonderry,  with  their 
several  arms  {Calendar  of  State  Papers  for  Ireland,  1615-1625,  p.  391). 
The  list  of  names  is  printed  in  the  Ordnance  Survey  for  the  County  of  Lon- 
donderry, p.  89,  with  the  following  summary  : 

The  whole  number  of  masters  and  servants  very  well  armed  are  100; 
23  carslets;  60  muskets;  27  halberts. 

A  muster  of  the  town  of  Coleraine  was  taken  also  on  the  same  day,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  summary: 

41  shott;  22  halberts;  25  armed  men;  12  unarmed  men. 

Sir  Thomas  Phillips,  writing  from  Limavady  under  date  of  July  17, 1617, 
(probably  to  the  Lord  Deputy)  says,  referring  to  the  London  planters  who 
established  the  town  of  Londonderry: 

When  they  had  dispended  some  ,£15000  they  offered  to  lose  all  so  they 
might  be  freed  of  it  and  were  earnest  with  me  to  bring  them  off  as  well  as  I 
had  brought  them  on.  They  cannot  justly  say  they  have  sent  over  any  but 
their  workmen,  while  some  few  will  stay  in  the  country,  others  are  wrangling 
bankrupts  that  cannot  stay  in  England. 

Again,  on  November  8,  1630,  the  same  writer  addressed  a  memorial  to  the 
King  setting  forth,  "that  the  London   Plantation   in   Ulster   proves   now 


Ulster  from  1610  to  1630  547 

through  their  misplanting  the  danger  of  the  whole  kingdom.     Instead  of 
30,000  British  in  the  escheated  counties,  there  are  not  7,000." 

Peter  Heylin,  the  celebrated  champion  of  the  English  Church,  thus 
laments  over  the  progress  of  Puritanism  at  this  period  in  Ireland  while,  at 
the  same  time,  he  unconsciously  bears  testimony  to  the  exemplary  care  of 
the  Presbyterians  in  maintaining  the  public  preaching  of  the  Gospel  wherever 
they  settled.  (History  of  the  Presbyterians  from  ijjd  to  1647,  P-  393.  Ox- 
ford, 1670) : 

Hereupon  followed  the  plantation  of  Ulster,  first  undertaken  by  the  city 
of  London,  who  fortified  Coleraine  and  built  Londonderry,  and  purchased 
many  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  parts  adjoining.  But  it  was  carried  on 
more  vigorously,  as  more  unfortunately  withal,  by  some  adventurers  of  the 
Scottish,  nation,  who  poured  themselves  into  this  country  as  the  richer  soil  ; 
and,  though  they  were  sufficiently  industrious  in  improving  their  own  for- 
tunes there,  and  set  up  preaching  in  all  churches  wheresoever  they  fixed, 
yet  whether  it  happened  for  the  better  or  for  the  worse,  the  event  hath 
showed.  For  they  brought  with  them  hither  such  a  stock  of  Puritanism, 
such  a  contempt  of  bishops,  such  a  neglect  of  the  public  liturgy,  and  other 
Divine  offices  of  this  Church,  that  there  was  nothing  less  to  be  found 
amongst  them  than  the  government  and  forms  of  worship  established  in  the 
Church  of  England. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXV 

1  This  included  all  men  of  British  descent  between  the  ages  of  16  and  60  belonging  to 
the  1974  families,  together  with  their  tenants  and  servants. 

2  Grazing. 

8  Made  in  1615. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

STEWART'S   AND   BRERETON'S  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  PLANTA- 
TION OF  ULSTER 

THE  Rev.  Andrew  Stewart,  or  Stuart,  was  minister  of  Donaghadee  in 
county  Down  from  1645  to  167 1.  His  father,  who  was  also  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Stewart,  was  a  man  of  eminent  piety.  He  was  minister  of  Done- 
gore,  near  Antrim,  from  1627  to  1634.  The  author  of  the  following  short 
portion  of  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Ireland,  was  only  ten  years  of  age 
at  the  time  of  his  father's  death.  The  family  were  left  in  straitened  circum- 
stances; but  the  wants  of  the  widow  and  her  children  were  graciously  sup- 
plied. When  little  more  than  twenty-one  years  of  age,  young  Andrew  was 
ordained  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  Donaghadee,  where  he  labored  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  Fleming,  in  his  Fulfilling  of  the  Scriptures, — the  first  part  of 
which  was  published  in  1674, — speaks  of  him  as  a  worthy  clerical  brother, 
with  whom  he  corresponded.  "  Mr.  Andrew  Stewart,  minister  of  Dona- 
ghadee," says  he,  "  was  a  great  observer  of  confirmations  of  the  truth,  whom 
I  cannot  mention  without  sorrow  at  the  remembrance  of  the  late  removal 
of  so  eminent  and  useful  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ." 

In  the  early  part  of  1670,  Mr.  Greg  of  Newtownards  was  requested  by  his 
brethren  "  to  endeavour  the  composing  a  History  of  the  Beginning  and 
Progress  of  the  Gospel"  in  the  North  of  Ireland;  but  he  died  in  the  July 
of  the  same  year,  and  the  task  seems  to  have  then  devolved  on  Mr.  Stewart. 
Kirkpatrick,  in  his  Presbyterian  Loyalty,  speaks  of  both  these  gentlemen  in 
terms  of  high  commendation.  "  Mr.  John  Greg,  Presbyterian  minister  in 
Newton,  and  Mr.  Andrew  Stewart,  Presbyterian  minister  in  Donaghadee, 
were  "  says  he,  "  men  of  great  sagacity,  judgment,  and  veracity,  as  many 
yet  alive  can  testify."  Mr.  Stewart's  work  is  divided  into  three  chapters, 
and  is  entitled,  "A  Short  Account  of  the  Church  of  Christ  as  it  was  (1) 
Among  the  Irish  at  first ;  (2)  Among  and  After  the  English  entered  ;  (3) 
After  the  Entry  of  the  Scots."  The  author,  as  is  plain  from  various  intima- 
tions, intended  the  third  chapter  to  be  the  principal  portion  of  his  work  ;  but 
his  death,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  167 1,  prevented  the  completion  of  his 
design.  The  first  and  second  chapters,  though  constituting  by  far  the 
greater  portion  of  the  manuscripts,  are  of  little  historical  importance,  and 
some  of  the  materials  are  gathered  from  very  doubtful  authorities.  All  the 
lights  of  modern  investigation  have  failed  to  illustrate  satisfactorily  the  dark 
period  to  which  they  relate.  The  fragment  of  the  third  chapter,  which  is 
here  published  in  full,  supplies  very  valuable  information. 

The  copy  from  which  the  following  fragment  has  been  taken  is  deposited 
among  the    Wodrow  Manuscripts  in  the  Advocate's  Library,    Edinburgh. 

5*8 


Stewart's  and  Brereton's  Accounts  549 

The  subjoined  letter  from  the  Rev.  Andrew  Craford,  minister  of  Cam- 
money,  will  explain  how  the  historian  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland  happened  to  obtain  the  transcript.  It  may  be  proper  to  add  that 
Mr.  Livingston,  mentioned  in  this  communication,  was  the  minister  of  Tem- 
plepatrick,  and  the  correspondent  of  Wodrow. 

Carnmoney,  nigh  Belfast,  September  7,  1724. 
Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  : 

The  Papers  which  come  along  with  this  are  a  copy  of  some  papers  which 
were  left  by  my  uncle,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Stewart,  minister  of  Donagadee,  in 
the  County  of  Down,  and  North  of  Ireland.  The  original  was  written  with 
his  own  hand.  I  could  have  no  greater  assurance  that  it  is  his  writing,  ex- 
cept I  had  seen  him  write  it,  having  carefully  compared  the  writing  with 
many  other  manuscripts  of  his,  from  the  great  respect  I  did  justly  bear  to 
him,  and  found  it  a  valuable  performance.  I  took  an  exact  copy  some 
years  ago  for  my  own  use  ;  but  the  original  itself  being  not  now  in  my  cus- 
tody, I  have  transcribed  this  from  my  own  copy  with  the  greatest  care  and 
with  my  own  hand  which,  though  it  is  not  as  fair  as  I  could  wish — as  multi- 
tude of  business  would  not  allow  me  the  necessary  time  a  fair  draught 
would  require — yet,  I  nothing  doubt  you  will  find  it  legible. 

My  near  relation  to  the  deceased  author  renders  it  improper  for  me  to 
give  you  an  ample  character  of  him  ;  but  if  you  desire  any  further  informa- 
tion concerning  him,  some  care  shall  be  taken  to  obtain  it  from  more  proper 
hands.  His  father  was  minister  in  Dunagor,  in  the  county  of  Antrim,  be- 
fore the  rebellion  of  the  Irish  in  the  year  1641,  and  among  the  first  Presby- 
terian ministers  who  laboured  in  these  parts  after  the  Reformation  ;  and  my 
uncle,  being  then  a  young  man,  had  the  opportunity  of  being  an  eye  witness 
to  some  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  which  he  has  inserted  in  these 
papers  ;  which,  if  they  give  you  any  satisfaction  in  the  reading,  or  can  serve 
you  in  any  of  the  good  purposes  you  have  in  view,  it  will  be  my  great  satisfac- 
tion. However  that  be,  you  may  depend  on  the  exactness  of  the  copy  which 
I  now  send  you  by  the  influence  and  at  the  earnest  desire  of  my  dear 
brother,  the  Rev.  William  Livingston,  who  appears  very  solicitous  to  serve 
you,  and  joins  with  me  in  desiring  the  favour  that  you  would  allow  it  a 
place  among  your  valuable  Collection  which  you  have  made,  and  are  still 
making  for  the  service  of  the  church. 

I  hope  you  will  proceed  in  your  exemplary  industry  ;  and  that  the  Lord 
may  assist  and  give  you  success  in  all  your  labours,  is  the  fervent  prayer  of, 
rev.  and  dear  sir,  your  most  affectionate  brother  and  humble  servant, 

And.  Craford. 
For  Rev.  Mr.  Wodrow. 

Of  the  English,  Mr.  Stewart  states,  not  many  came  over  to  Ireland  : 

For  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  being  a  great  deal  more  tenderly  bred  at 
home  in  England,  and  entertained  in  better  quarters  than  they  could  find 
here  in  Ireland,  they  were  very  unwilling  to  flock  hither,  except  to  good 
land,  such  as  they  had  before  at  home,  or  to  good  cities  where  they  might 
trade,  both  of  which  in  these  days  were  scarce  enough  here.  Besides  that 
the  marshiness  and  fogginess  of  this  island  was  still  found  unwholesome  to 
English  bodies,  more  tenderly  bred  and  in  a  better  air  ;  so  that  we  have 
seen,  in  our  time,  multitudes  of  them  die  of  a  flux  called  here  the  country 
disease,  at  their  first  entry.    These  things  were  such  discouragements,  that 


55°  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  new  English  came  but  very  slowly,  and  the  old  English  were  become  no 
better  than  the  Irish. 

He  then  adds  : 

The  King  had  a  natural  love  to  have  Ireland  planted  with  Scots,  as  being, 
beside  their  loyalty,  of  a  middle  temper,  between  the  English  tender  and 
the  Irish  rude  breeding,  and  a  great  deal  more  like  to  adventure  to  plant 
Ulster  than  the  English,  it  lying  far  both  from  the  English  native  land  and 
more  from  their  humour,  while  it  lies  nigh  to  Scotland,  and  the  inhabitants 
not  so  far  from  the  ancient  Scots  manners  ;  so  that  it  might  be  hoped  that 
the  Irish  untoward  living  would  be  met  both  with  equal  firmness,  if  need 
be,  and  be  especially  allayed  by  the  example  of  more  civility  and  Protestant 
profession  than  in  former  times  had  been  among  them. 

The  progress  of  the  plantation  is  thus  described  : 

The  Londoners  have  in  Lagan  a  great  interest,  and  built  a  city  called 
Londonderry,  chiefly  planted  with  English.  Coleraine,  also,  is  built  by 
them,  both  of  them  seaports,  though  Derry  be  both  the  more  commodious 
and  famous.  Sir  Hugh  Clotworthy  obtains  the  lands  of  Antrim,  both  fruit- 
ful and  good,  and  invites  thither  several  of  the  English,  very  good  men,  the 
Ellisses,  Leslies,  Langfords  and  others.  Chichester,  a  worthy  man,  has  an 
estate  given  him  in  the  county  of  Antrim,  where  he  improves  his  interest, 
builds  the  prospering  mart  Belfast,  and  confirms  his  interest  in  Carrickfer- 
gus,  and  builds  a  stately  palace  there.  Conway  has  an  estate  given  him  in 
the  county  of  Antrim,  and  builds  a  town,  afterwards  called  Lisnegarvy,  and 
this  was  planted  with  a  colony  of  English  also.  Moses  Hill  had  woodlands 
given  him,  which  being  thereafter  demolished,  left  a  fair  and  beautiful  coun- 
try, where  a  late  heir  of  the  Hills  built  a  town  called  Hillsborough.  All 
these  lands  and  more  were  given  to  the  English  gentlemen,  worthy  persons, 
who  afterwards  increased  and  made  noble  and  loyal  families  in  places  where 
formerly  had  been  nothing  but  robbing,  treason,  and  rebellion.  Of  the 
Scots  nation,  there  was  a  family  of  the  Balfours,  of  the  Forbesses,  of  the  Gra- 
hames,  two  of  the  Stewarts,  and  not  a  few  of  the  Hamiltons.  The  Mac- 
donnells  founded  the  earldom  of  Antrim  by  King  James's  gift,  the  Hamiltons 
the  earldoms  of  Strabane  and  Clanbrassil,  and  there  were  besides  several 
knights  of  that  name,  Sir  Frederick,  Sir  George,  Sir  Francis,  Sir  Charles  his 
son,  and  Sir  Hans,  all  Hamiltons  ;  for  they  prospered  above  all  others  in 
this  country  after  the  first  admittance  of  the  Scots  into  it. 

The  writer  then  gives  the  following  account  of  the  settlement  in  the 
county  of  Down,  of  the  Hamilton  and  Montgomery  families,  who  proved  the 
most  successful  promoters  of  the  Scottish  plantation,  and  were  intimately 
connected  with  the  subsequent  vicissitudes  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Ulster  : 

Therefore  the  lords  having  a  good  bargain  themselves,  make  some  of 
their  friends  sharers,  as  freeholders  under  them.  Thus  came  several  farm- 
ers under  Mr.  Montgomery,  gentlemen  from  Scotland,  and  of  the  names  of 
the  Shaws,  Calderwoods,  Boyds,  of  the  Keiths  from  the  North.  And  some 
foundations  are  laid  for  towns,  and  incorporations,  as  Newton,  Donaghadee, 
Comber,  Old  and  New,  Grey-Abbey.  Many  Hamiltons  also  followed  Sir 
James,  especially  his   own  brethren,  all  of  them  worthy  men  ;  and  other 


Stewart's  and  Brereton's  Accounts  551 

farmers,  as  the  Maxwells,  Rosses,  Barclays,  Moors,  Bayleys,  and  others 
whose  posterity  hold  good  to  this  day.  He  also  founded  towns  and  incorpora- 
tions, viz.,  Bangor,  Holywood  and  Killileagh,  where  he  built  a  strong  castle, 
and  Ballywalter.  These  foundations  being  laid,  the  Scots  came  hither  apace, 
and  became  tenants  willingly  and  sub-tenants  to  their  countrymen  (whose 
manner  and  way  they  knew),  so  that  in  a  short  time  the  country  began  again 
to  be  inhabited. 

The  remainder  of  Stewart's  History  reads  as  follows: 

The  Third  and  Chiefly  Intended  Part  of  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Ire- 
land as  the  Gospel  Began,  was  Continued  and  Spread  in  this  Island  under  our 
Lord  yesus  Christ,  after  the  Scots  were  naturalized. 

I  have  given  some  account  before,  how  the  entry  of  the  Scots  was  into  this 
Island,  and  upon  what  political  grounds  it  was  established.  I  am  now  to 
show  what  course  and  prosperity  the  word  of  God  had  amongst  them  ;  but, 
before  I  come  to  this,  I  must  show  a  little  further  what  was  done  in  the  entry 
of  King  Charles  I.  Yet,  let  it  still  be  remembered,  that  from  the  days  of 
King  James,  and  from  the  aforesaid  Act  made  in  his  time,  the  North  of 
Ireland  began  to  be  planted  with  Scots  inhabitants,  but  they  were  so  few  at 
first  and  so  inconsiderable,  that  they  were  not  much  noticed  nor  heard  of 
almost,  till  after  King  James  died  and  King  Charles  succeeded  ;  in  whose 
days  the  Scots  began  to  be  noticed,  and  yet  they  were  not  at  first  noticed  by 
Charles  himself,  till  the  days  of  his  deputy,  or  Lieutenant  Wentworth — com- 
monly called  the  Earl  of  Strafford. 

King  Charles,  therefore,  appointed  him  to  be  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland 
— a  man  of  mighty  state,  but  exceeding  perverse  against  all  godliness  and  the 
professors  thereof.  Under  him  the  King  held  a  Parliament  in  Ireland  (com- 
monly called  decimo  Caroli),  in  which  some  things  concerning  the  church 
were  enacted — yet  such  as  need  not  be  much  stuck  upon — in  regard,  the  most 
remarkable  thing  was  the  clergy  giving  to  the  King  eight  entire  subsidies, 
which  fell  to  be  about  the  year  1634,  at  which  time  Ussher  was  Primate  of  all 
Ireland  ;  yet,  they  did  not  this  for  nothing,  for  afterwards  they  obtained  a 
lart  Act  to  enable  restitutions  of  impropriations  and  tythes,  and  other  rights 
ecclesiastical  to  the  clergy,  with  a  restraint  of  alienating  the  same,  and  this  is 
to  be  seen  at  large  in  the  10th  and  nth  Caroli.  But,  leaving  these  things,  I 
intend  with  a  straight  course  to  carry  on  the  History  of  propagating  the  Gos- 
pel among  the  new  plantation  of  Scots,  and  to  declare  how  it  began,  and  by 
what  instruments  the  Lord  did  it. 

Whereas,  I  said  before,  King  James  had  prepared  a  place  and  liberty  in 
Ireland  for  them,  and  having  given  some  lands  to  some  men  whom  he  had 
nobilitated,  these  men  sought  tenants  for  their  lands  ;  and  from  Scotland  came 
many,  and  from  England,  not  a  few,  yet  all  of  them  generally  the  scum  of 
both  nations,  whom,  for  debt,  or  breaking  and  fleeing  from  justice,  or  seek- 
ing shelter,  came  hither,  hoping  to  be  without  fear  of  man's  justice  in  a  land 
where  there  was  nothing,  or  but  little,  as  yet,  of  the  fear  of  God.  And  in  a 
few  years  there  flocked  such  a  multitude  of  people  from  Scotland  that  these 
northern  counties  of  Down,  Antrim,  Londonderry,  etc.,  were  in  a  good  mea- 
sure planted,  which  had  been  waste  before  ;  yet  most  of  the  people,  as  I  said 
before,  made  up  a  body  (and  it 's  strange,  of  different  names,  nations,  dia- 
lects, tempers,  breeding,  and,  in  a  word,  all  void  of  godliness),  who  seemed 
rather  to  flee  from  God  in  this  enterprise  than  to  follow  their  own  mercy.1 
Yet  God  followed  them  when  they  fled  from  him  —  albeit,  at  first  it  must  be 


552  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

remembered  that  they  cared  little  for  any  church.  So  God  seemed  to  care 
as  little  for  them,  for  the  strangers  were  no  better  entertained  than  with  the 
relics  of  Popery  served  upon  a  ceremonial  service  of  God  under  a  sort  of 
anti-Christian  hierarchy,  and  committed  to  the  care  of  a  number  of  careless 
men  whom  the  law  calls  priests,  who  were  only  zealous  to  call  for  their  gain 
from  their  quarter — men  who  said  "  come  ye,  I  will  bring  wine  ;  let  us  drink, 
for  the  morrow  shall  be  as  this  day,  and  much  more  abundant  "  ;  and  thus 
it  fared  with  the  people  at  first  towards  the  end  of  King  James'  and  beginning 
of  King  Charles'  reign,  for,  in  very  deed,  it  was  such  people,  such  priests. 

In  those  days,  because  the  plantation  was  of  Scots,  the  King  appointed 
Scotsmen  to  be  bishops  where  they  dwelt,  so  Echlin  was  made  bishop  of 
Down,  and  after  him  Leslie  ;  Knox,  Bishop  of  Raphoe,  and  after  him  John 
Leslie  ;  and  other  bishops  were  made  from  among  the  Scots  —  as  Maxwell, 
Adair,  and  afterwards  Baily.  But,  these  seeking  to  ingratiate  themselves  with 
the  King,  and  to  be  sure  that  they,  being  strangers,  should  come  behind  in 
nothing,  ran  before  all  in  violent  carrying  forward  the  breeding  of  their 
country-men  to  kindly  conforming  to  the  English  order  of  doctrine,  discipline 
worship,  and  government.  Only  the  Scots,  who  had  estates  and  lands  given 
them  appeared  forward  ;  the  rest,  as  I  said,  cared  little  what  profession  was 
uppermost,  and  yet  thought  it  a  scorn  to  be  hurled  against  their  will  into  a 
sudden  change  of  what  they  had  been  bred  to  ;  and,  therefore,  though  they 
had  not  the  feeling  of  things  from  any  principle  of  grace  in  their  hearts,  yet 
the  very  pride  of  their  heart  and  sort  of  nationality  biased  them  to  scorn  con- 
forming, though  they  joined  with  it,  because  it  was  the  King's  will  and  the 
law  of  the  land. 

Thus,  on  all  hands  Atheism  increased,  and  disregard  of  God  —  iniquity 
abounded,  contention,  fighting,  murder,  thieving,  adultery,  etc.  —  as  among 
people,  who  as  they  had  nothing  within  them  to  overawe  them,  so  their  min- 
isters' example  was  worse  than  nothing,  for,  from  the  Prophets  of  Israel,  pro- 
faneness  went  forth  to  the  whole  land.  And  verily  at  this  time  the  whole 
body  of  this  people  seemed  ripe,  and  soon  ripe  for  the  manifestation,  in  a 
greater  degree  of  God's  judgments  or  mercy  than  had  been  seen  for  a  long 
time  ;  for  their  carriage  made  them  to  be  abhorred  at  home  in  their  native 
land,  insomuch  that  going  for  Ireland  was  looked  on  as  a  miserable  mark  of 
a  deplorable  person — yea,  it  was  turned  to  a  proverb,  and  one  of  the  expres- 
sions of  disdain  that  could  be  invented  to  tell  a  man  that  Ireland  would  be 
his  hinder  end.  While  thus  it  was,  and  when  any  man  would  have  expected 
nothing  but  God's  judgment  to  have  followed  the  crew  of  sinners,  behold  the 
Lord  visited  them  in  admirable  mercy,  the  like  whereof  had  not  been  seen 
anywhere  for  many  generations.  For  among  them  who  had  been  permitted  to 
preach  by  the  bishops,  there  was  one  Mr.  Glendinning,  a  man  who  never 
would  have  been  chosen  by  a  wise  assembly  of  ministers,  nor  sent  to  begin  a 
reformation  in  this  land,  for  he  was  little  better  than  distracted  —  yea,  after- 
wards did  actually  distract — yet  this  was  the  Lord's  choice  to  begin  the 
admirable  work  of  God,  which  I  mention  on  purpose  that  all  men  may  see 
how  the  glory  is  only  of  the  Lord's  in  making  a  holy  nation  in  this  profane 
land,  and  that  it  was  not  by  might  nor  by  power,  nor  by  man's  wisdom,  but 
by  my  Spirit,  says  the  Lord.  This  Mr.  Glendinning  had  been  bred  at  St. 
Leonard's  College,  in  St.  Andrews,  and  finding  little  place  in  Scotland  when 
things  were  so  carried  as  to  satisfy  laudable  order  in  the  church,  he  runs  to 
Ireland  with  the  rest,  and  having  been  ordained  a  minister,  is  placed  in 
a  parish  near  to  Antrim,  called  Oldstone. 

Mr.  Robert  Blair  was  come  to  Bangor,  and  began  to  found  a  blessed  work 


Stewart's  and  Brereton's  Accounts  553 

there  before  Mr.  Glendinning  went  to  Oldstone,  or  anything  of  that  nature 
did  appear  in  his  ministry  ;  for  he,  coming  first  to  Carrickfergus  and  there 
beginning  to  preach,  Mr.  Blair  came  over  from  Bangor  upon  some  business, 
and  occasionally  hearing  Mr.  Glendinning  to  preach,  perceived  some  sparkles 
of  good  inclinations  in  him,  yet  found  him  not  solid,  but  weak,  and  not  fit 
for  a  public  place  and  among  the  English  ;  on  which  Mr.  Blair  did  call  him, 
and  using  freedom  with  him,  advised  him  to  go  to  some  place  in  the  country 
among  his  countrymen — whereupon  he  went  to  Oldstone,  and  was  there 
placed,  where  God  made  use  of  him  to  awaken  the  consciences  of  a  lewd 
and  secure  people  thereabout,  his  preachings  being  threatening ;  and  being 
of  a  forward  zealous  temper  according  to  his  light  (this  passage  I  had  from 
Mr.  Blair  among  divers  other  things  relating  to  that  time),  this  man,  seeing 
the  great  lewdness  and  ungodly  sinfulness  of  the  people,  preached  to  them 
nothing  but  law,  wrath,  and  the  terrors  of  God  for  sin  ;  and  in  very  deed 
for  this  only  was  he  fitted,  for  hardly  could  he  preach  any  other  thing  ;  but 
behold  the  success  !  for  his  hearers,  finding  themselves  condemned  by  the 
mouth  of  God  speaking  in  his  word,  fell  into  such  anxiety  and  terror  of  con- 
science that  they  looked  on  themselves  as  altogether  lost  and  damned,  as 
those  of  old  who  said,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ?  " 
and  this  work  appeared,  not  in  one  single  person  only,  or  two,  but 
multitudes  were  brought  to  understand  their  way  and  to  cry  out,  "  What 
shall  we  do  ? " 

I  have  seen  them  myself  stricken,  and  swoon  with  the  Word — yea,  a 
dozen  in  one  day  carried  out  of  doors  as  dead,  so  marvellous  was  the  power 
of  God  smiting  their  hearts  for  sin,  condemning  and  killing  ;  and  some  of 
those  were  none  of  the  weaker  sex  or  spirit  ;  but  indeed  some  of  the  boldest 
spirits,  who  formerly  feared  not  with  their  sword  to  put  a  whole  market  town 
in  a  fray  ;  yea,  in  defence  of  their  stubbornness,  cared  not  to  lie  in  prison  and 
in  the  stocks,  and  being  incorrigible,  were  as  ready  to  do  the  like  the  next 
day.  Yea,  I  have  heard  one  of  them,  then  a  mighty  strong  man  (now  a 
mighty  Christian),  say  that  his  end  in  coming  to  church  was  to  consult 
with  his  companions  how  to  work  some  mischief,  and  yet  at  one  of  those 
sermons  was  he  so  catched,  that  he  was  fully  subdued.  But  why  do  I  speak 
of  him  ?  We  knew,  and  yet  know  multitudes  of  such  men  who  had  no  power 
to  resist  the  word  of  God  ;  but  the  heart  being  pricked  and  smitten  with  the 
power  of  God,  the  stubborn,  who  sinned  and  gloried  in  it,  because  they  feared 
not  man,  are  now  patterns  of  sobriety,  fearing  to  sin  because  they  fear  God  ; 
and  this  spread  through  the  country  to  admiration,  so  that,  in  a  manner,  as 
many  as  came  to  hear  the  word  of  God,  went  away  slain  with  the  words  of  his 
mouth,  especially  at  that  river  (commonly  called  Six-Mile  Water), — for  there 
this  work  began  at  first — thereafter  at  Larne  by  Mr.  Dunbar.  For  a  short 
time  this  work  lasted  as  a  sort  of  disease  for  which  there  was  no  cure,  the 
poor  people  lying  under  the  spirit  of  bondage  ;  and  the  poor  man  who  was 
the  instrument  of  it,  not  being  sent,  it  seems  to  preach  the  Gospel  so  much 
as  law,  they  lay  for  a  time  in  a  most  deplorable  condition,  slain  for  their  sin, 
and  knew  of  no  remedy.  The  Word  they  could  not  want,  and  yet  the  more 
they  heard  it,  the  more  they  could  not  abide  it,  as  Paul  says. 

But  the  Lord,  who  said  to  Israel  after  they  had  been  two  years  at  Mount 
Sinai,  "Ye  have  dwelt  long  enough  about  this  mount,"  did  so  to  those 
afflicted  consciences  ;  for  the  report  of  this  harvest  flying  abroad,  brought 
over  several  zealous,  godly  men,  who  most  of  them  were  young  men  who 
could  not  be  admitted  in  Scotland  unless  they  would  conform,  and  they, 
hoping  that  God  would  accept  their  labours  in  Ireland,  where  an  effectual 


554  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

door  seemed  to  be  opened,  came  to  this  land,  and  in  a  short  time  came  those 
memorable  persons  to  the  County  Antrim  : 

i.  Mr.  Josias  Welsh,  son  to  the  famous  Mr.  John  Welsh  ;  he  pitched  at 
Templepatrick,  as  chaplain  to  Captain  Norton,  so  he  was  next  neighbor  to 
the  Oldstone. 

2.  Mr.  George  Dunbar,  who  had  been  once  minister  in  Ayr  in  Scotland, 
but  being  ousted  by  the  bishop  came  to  Ireland,  and  laboured  with  great 
effect.  After  he  was  put  from  Ayr,  he  was  for  a  time  prisoner  at  Blackness, 
and  in  Ireland  first  preached  at  Carrickfergus,  but  having  no  entertainment 
there,  stayed  a  while  at  Ballymena,  then  came  to  Larne,  or  Inver,  by  whose 
means  all  that  country  heard  the  Word,  and  were  first  gathered  unto  the 
Lord. 

3.  Mr.  Robert  Cunningham  at  Holywood,  in  the  County  of  Down,  had 
been  one  of  them  who,  before  the  coming  of  the  rest  were  like  to  have  con- 
formed, but  proved  a  most  excellent  minister  in  the  Lord's  work. 

4.  Mr.  James  Hamilton,  that  worthy  man  who  died  minister  at  Edin- 
burgh. After  he  had  been  famous  there,  he  was  at  this  time  minister  at 
Ballywalter,  in  the  Ards,  County  of  Down. 

5.  Mr.  John  Livingston,  son  to  the  very  worthy  Mr.  William  Livingston, 
who  had  been  minister  at  Lanark,  in  Scotland.  He  was  minister  of  Kil- 
linchy,  in  the  County  of  Down. 

6.  Mr.  Robert  Blair,  who  was  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  and  appeared 
eminent  in  the  Lord's  work  before  the  rest  came,  was  from  being  Professor 
of  Philosophy  in  Glasgow,  invited  hither  by  Sir  James  Hamilton,  and 
embraced  the  charge  of  Bangor,  by  whose  means  also  not  only  was  his 
neighbour,  Mr.  Robert  Cunningham,  like  another  Apostle,  instructed  in  the 
way  of  God  more  perfectly,  but  his  spiritual  wisdom  and  learning  was  a 
great  ornament  and  help  to  the  beginnings  of  this  church. 

At  this  time  of  people  gathering  to  Christ,  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  visit 
mercifully  the  honourable  family  in  Antrim,  so  that  Sir  John  Clotworthy  and 
the  lady,  his  mother,  and  his  own  precious  lady,  did  shine  in  an  eminent 
manner  in  receiving  the  Gospel,  and  offering  themselves  as  first  fruits  of  their 
honourable  families  to  the  Lord,  and  did  worthily  in  cherishing  these 
beginnings,  whose  example  instantly  other  gentlemen  followed,  such  as  Cap- 
tain Norton,  and  others,  of  whom  the  Gospel  made  a  clear  and  cleanly 
conquest,  and  by  their  means  some  more  godly  ministers  were  added,  as  we 
shall  hear  afterward. 

Now,  remember  what  fever  the  whole  country  was  in,  and  hear  how  it 
was  allayed  ;  for  God  sending  Mr.  Welsh  upon  that  water  side,  the  first  of  the 
work  began,  God  gave  him  the  spirit  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  to  bring 
the  Word  to  heal  them  whom  the  other  by  his  ministry  had  wounded,  so  that 
the  slain  were  breathed  upon  and  life  came  into  them,  and  they  stood  up  as 
men  now  freed  from  the  spirit  of  bondage  ;  then  did  love  enter  instead  of 
fear  ;  the  oil  of  joy  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness,  and  withal,  strong  desire  of 
knowledge,  peace  of  deeply  exercised  consciences,  a  full  walking,  and  a  great 
desire  in  many  to  walk  in  the  ways  of  God.  Indeed,  the  joy  and  spirit  of 
that  time  in  this  place  can't  by  words  be  well  expressed. 

Then,  those  that  feared  the  Lord  spake  often  one  to  another,  and  the 
Lord  hearkened  and  heard,  and  put  them  (as  it  were  soon)  among  His 
jewels,  if  He  have  any  jewels  in  any  part  of  the  earth.  This  is  much  to  be 
observed  when  you  consider  what  stuff  He  had  to  make  them  of,  and  when 
you  think  again  that,  without  law  or  liberty  sought  or  obtained  of  the  rulers, 
Christ  entered  upon  that  work   at  His  own  hand,  and  strengthened  His 


Stewart's  and  Brereton's  Accounts  555 

kingdom  in  Ireland  by  putting  it  in  the  hearts  of  a  people  who  had  been 
rebels  all  their  lives  long. 

When,  therefore,  the  multitude  of  wounded  consciences  were  healed,, 
they  began  to  draw  into  holy  communion,  and  met  together  privately  for 
edification  (a  thing  which  in  a  lifeless  generation  is  both  neglected  and 
reproved);  but  now  the  new  life  forced  it  upon  the  people  who  desired  to 
know  what  God  was  doing  with  the  souls  of  their  neighbours  who  (they  per- 
ceived) were  wrought  on  in  spirit,  as  they  had  been. 

There  was  a  man  in  the  parish  of  Oldstone  called  Hugh  Campbell,  who 
had  fled  from  Scotland,  for  he  had  killed  a  man  there.  Him  God  caught  in 
Ireland,  and  made  him  an  eminent  and  exemplary  Christian  until  this  day. 
He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  house  of  Duket  Hall.  After  this  man  was  healed 
of  the  wound  given  to  his  soul  by  the  Almighty,  he  became  very  refreshful 
to  others  who  had  less  learning  and  judgment  than  himself,  and,  therefore, 
invited  some  of  his  honest  neighbors  who  fought  the  same  fight  of  faith  to 
meet  him  at  his  house  on  the  last  Friday  of  the  month,  where,  and  when  be- 
ginning with  a  few,  they  spent  their  time  in  prayer,  mutual  edification,  and 
conference  of  what  they  found  within  them,  nothing  like  the  superficial  and 
superfluous  worship  of  some  cold  and  old  idle-hearted  professors  who  after- 
wards made  this  work  a  snare  to  many  ;  but  these  new  beginners  were  more 
filled  with  heart  exercise  than  with  head  notions,  and  with  fervent  prayer 
rather  than  conceity  gifts  to  fill  the  ear, — yea,  the  Lord  sent  down  the  fire  of 
love,  real  affection,  and  fervency  among  them,  to  declare  that  He  accepted 
their  sacrifice  as  a  sweet  savour  to  the  Lord. 

This  meeting  as  I  said,  began  with  a  very  few  ;  but  still,  as  they  truly 
increased,  so  did  this  meeting  for  private  edification  increase,  and  still  at 
Hugh  Campbell's  house  on  the  last  Friday  of  the  month — at  last  they  grew 
so  numerous  that  the  ministers  who  had  begotten  them  again  to  Christ  thought 
fit  that  some  of  them  should  be  still  with  them  to  prevent  what  hurt  might 
follow. 

The  following  account  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  during  the  time  of  the 
great  emigration  to  Ireland  is  taken  from  Sir  William  Brereton's  account  of 
his  Travels  in  Holland  the  United  Provinces,  England,  Scotland,  and  Irelandr 
1634s.    (Chetham  Society,  Manchester,  1844)  : 

In  this  kingdom  [of  Scotland]  the  clergy  of  late  extend  their  authority 
and  revenues.  Archbishoprick  of  St.  Andrewes  is  Lord  Chancellor  of  Scot- 
land and  Regent  here.  And,  as  I  was  informed  by  some  intelligent  gentle- 
men, it  is  here  thought  and  conceived  that  they  will  recover  so  much  of  that 
land  and  revenues  belonging  formerly  to  the  Abbeys,  as  that  they  will  in  a 
short  time  possess  themselves  of  the  third  part  of  the  kingdom.  The  Duke 
of  Lennox  and  Marquis  Hamilton  are  possessed  of  the  largest  proportion  of 
Church-land:  it  is  expected  that  they  should  resign  and  deliver  up  their  in- 
terests and  rights  therein  to  the  Church,  whose  example  it  is  thought  will 
induce  the  rest  of  the  nobility  to  do  the  like.  And  to  the  end  that  they  may 
carry  some  sway  in  Parliament,  it  is  now  endeavoured  (as  some  herein 
informed  me,  Mr.  Calderwood  and  Dr.  Sharpe)  to  restore  abbots,  and  to- 
invest  them  in  the  revenues  and  seats  of  abbeys  :  hereof  they  say  there  are 
forty-eight  which  are  intended  to  be  established,  who  are  all  to  sit  and  carry 
voices  in  Parliament;  which,  if  it  can  be  effected,  then  there  will  be  always 
in  the  parliament-house  so  strong  a  party  for  the  king,  considering  those 
officers  that  have  an  immediate  dependance  upon  him  and  the  bishops  and 


556  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

abbots,  as  that  they  will  be  able  to  sway  the  whole  house.  Divers  of  the 
clergy  incline  this  way,  and  many  also  are  mighty  opposite  and  averse 
hereunto. 

This  city  [Edinburgh]  is  placed  in  a  dainty,  healthful,  pure  air,  and 
doubtless  were  a  most  healthful  place  to  live  in,  were  not  the  inhabitants 
most  sluttish,  nasty,  and  slothful  people.  I  could  never  pass  through  the 
hall,  but  I  was  constrained  to  hold  my  nose  ;  their  chambers,  vessels,  linen, 
and  meat,  nothing  neat,  but  very  slovenly  ;  only  the  nobler  and  better  sort 
of  them  brave,  well-bred  men,  and  much  reformed. 

Many  Highlanders  we  observed  in  this  town  in  their  plaids,  many  with- 
out doublets,  and  those  who  have  doublets  have  a  kind  of  loose  flap 
garment  hanging  loose  about  their  breech,  their  knees  bare  ;  they  inure 
themselves  to  cold,  hardship,  and  will  not  diswont  themselves  ;  proper,  per- 
sonal, well-complectioned  men,  and  of  able  men  ;  the  very  gentlemen  in 
their  blue  caps  and  plaids. 

The  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  is  much  pressed  and  much  op- 
posed by  many  pastors  and  many  of  the  people.  The  greatest  part  of 
the  Scots  are  very  honest  and  zealously  religious.  I  observed  few  given 
to  drink  or  swearing,  but  if  any  oath,  the  most  ordinary  was,  "  Upon  my 
soul."  The  most  of  my  hosts  I  met  withal,  and  others  with  whom  I  con- 
versed I  found  very  sound  and  orthodox,  and  zealously  religious.  In  their 
demands  they  do  not  so  much  exceed  as  with  us  in  England,  but  insist  upon 
and  adhere  unto  their  first  demand  for  any  commodity.     .     .     . 

July  1  — Hence  I  departed  from  Falkirk,  and  about  twelve  miles  hence 
there  is  a  town  called  Cuntellen.     .     .     . 

There  is  very  little  or  no  timber  in  any  of  the  south  or  west  parts  of  this 
kingdom,  much  less  than  in  England.  I  have  diligently  observed,  but  can- 
not find  any  timber  in  riding  near  one  hundred  miles  ;  all  the  country  poor 
and  barren,  save  where  it  is  helped  by  lime  or  sea-weeds.  Limestone  is 
here  very  plentiful,  and  coals,  and  where  there  are  no  coals,  they  have 
abundance  of  turves.  Poorest  houses  and  people  that  I  have  seen  inhabit 
here  ;  the  houses  accommodated  with  no  more  light  than  the  light  of  the 
door,  no  window  ;  the  houses  covered  with  clods  ;  the  women  only  neat  and 
handsome  about  the  feet,  which  comes  to  pass  by  their  often  washing  with 
their  feet. 

We  lodged  in  Glasgow,  in  Mr.  David  Weymes'  house  ;  his  wife's  name  is 
Margarett  Cambell  ( the  wives  in  Scotland  never  change,  but  always  retain, 
their  own  names ).     .     .     . 

—  I  came  from  Glasgow  about  eight  hours,  and  came  to  Erwin  about 
twelve  hours,  which  is  sixteen  miles.  We  passed  through  a  barren  and 
poor  country,  the  most  of  it  yielding  neither  corn  nor  grass,  and  that  which 
yields  corn  is  very  poor,  much  punished  with  drought.  We  came  to  Mr. 
James  Blare's  in  Erwin,  a  well  affected  man,  who  informed  me  of  that  which 
is  much  to  be  admired  ;  above  ten  thousand  persons  have  within  two  years 
last  past  left  the  country  wherein  they  lived,  which  was  betwixt  Aberdeen 
and  Ennerness,  and  are  gone  for  Ireland  ;  they  have  come  by  one  hundred 
in  company  through  this  town,  and  three  hundred  have  gone  hence  together 
shipped  for  Ireland  at  one  tide  ;  none  of  them  can  give  a  reason  why  they 
leave  the  country,  only  some  of  them  who  make  a  better  use  of  God's  hand 
upon  [them],  have  acknowledged  to  mine  host  in  these  words  :  "  that  it  was 
a  just  judgment  of  God  to  spew  them  out  of  the  land  for  their  unthank- 
fullness." 

This  country  was  so  fruitful  formerly,  as  that  it  supplied  an  overplus  of 


Stewart's  and  Brereton's  Accounts  557 

corn,  which  was  carried  by  water  to  Leith,  and  now  of  late  for  two  years,  is 
so  sterile  of  corn  as  they  are  constrained  to  forsake  it.  Some  say  that,  these 
hard  years,  the  servants  were  not  able  to  live  and  subsist  under  their  mas- 
ters, and  therefore,  generally  leaving  them,  the  masters  being  not  accus- 
tomed, nor  knowing  how  to  farme,  to  till,  and  order  their  land,  the  ground 
hath  been  untilled  ;  so  as  that  of  the  Prophet  David  is  made  good  in  this 
their  punishment  :  "  a  fruitful  land  makes  He  barren,  for  the  wickedness  of 
them  that  dwell  therein  ;  "  for  it  is  observed  of  these,  that  they  were  a  most 
unthankful  people  :  one  of  them  I  met  withal  and  discoursed  with  at  large, 
who  could  [give]  no  good  reason,  but  pretended  the  landlords  increasing 
their  rents  :  but  their  swarming  in  Ireland  is  so  much  taken  notice  of  and 
disliked,  as  that  the  Deputy  hath  sent  out  a  warrant  to  stay  the  landing  of 
any  of  these  Scotch  that  came  without  a  certificate.  Three  score  of  them 
were  numbered  returning  towards  the  place  whence  they  came,  as  they 
passed  this  town.  Some  of  them  complain  of  hard  years  (the  better  to  colour 
and  justify  this  their  departure)  but  do  withal  acknowledge  that  corn  is  as 
cheap  with  them  as  in  this  town  ;  but  in  the  distraction  and  different  relation 
of  themselves,  there  may  be  observed  much  matter  of  admiration  ;  and, 
doubtless,  digitus  Dei  is  to  be  discerned  in  it. 

Hence  we  came  to  Aire,  which  is  eight  miles  upon  the  sea  coast,  a  most 
dainty  pleasant  way  as  I  have  ridden,  wherein  you  leave  the  sea  on  your 
right  hand.  .  .  .  Coming  late  to  Aire,  we  lodged  in  one  Patrick  Mac- 
kellen's  house,  where  is  a  cleanly  neat  hostess,  victuals  handsomely  cooked, 
and  good  lodging,  eight  ordinary,  good  entertainment.  No  stable  lodging 
to  this  inn  ;  we  were  constrained  to  seek  for  a  stable  in  the  town,  where  we 
paid  8d.  a  night  for  hay  and  grass  for  an  horse,  and  is.  a  peck  for  base  oats. 
This  also  is  a  dainty,  pleasant-seated  town  ;  much  plain  river  corn  land 
about  it  ;  and  better  haven,  there  being  a  river,  whereon  it  is  placed,  which 
flows  much  higher  than  the  bridge,  which  is  a  great  and  fair  neat  bridge,  yet 
nevertheless  it  is  but  a  bare  naked  haven,  no  pier,  no  defense  against  the 
storms  and  weather.  Better  store  of  shipping  than  at  Erwin.  Most  inhabit- 
ing in  the  town  are  merchants  trading  unto  and  bred  in  France.   [Flemings.] 

Enquiring  of  my  hostess  touching  the  minister  of  the  town,  she  com- 
plained much  against  him,  because  he  doth  so  violently  press  the  ceremo- 
nies, especially  she  instanced  in  kneeling  at  the  communion  ;  whereupon, 
upon  Easter  day  last,  so  soon  as  he  went  to  the  communion-table,  the  people 
all  left  the  church  and  departed,  and  not  one  of  them  stayed,  only  the  pastor 
alone.     .     .     . 

July  6. — At  Belfast  my  Lord  Chichester  hath  another  dainty  stately 
house  (which  is  indeed  the  glory  and  beauty  of  that  town  also),  where  he  is 
most  resident,  and  is  now  building  an  outer  brick  wall  before  his  gates. 
This  not  so  large  and  vast  as  the  other,  but  more  convenient  and  com- 
modious, the  very  end  of  the  Loch  toucheth  upon  his  garden  and  backside; 
here  also  are  dainty  orchards,  gardens,  and  walks  planted.  Near  hereunto, 
Mr.  Arthur  Hill  (son  and  heir  to  Sir  Moyses  Hill)  hath  a  brave  plantation, 
which  he  holds  by  lease,  which  still  is  for  thirty  years  to  come  ;  the  land  is 
my  Lord  Chichester's,  and  the  lease  was  made  for  sixty  years  to  Sir  Moyses 
Hill  by  the  old  Lord  Chichester.  This  plantation  is  said  doth  yield  him  a 
;£iooo  per  annum.  Many  Lankashire  and  Cheshire  men  are  here  planted; 
with  some  of  them  I  conversed.  They  sit  upon  a  rack  rent,  and  pay  5s.  or 
6s.  an  acre  for  good  ploughing  land,  which  now  is  clothed  with  excellent 
good  corn.  From  Bellfast  to  Linsley  Garven  is  about  seven  mile,  and  is  a 
paradise  in  comparison  of  any  part    of  Scotland.     Linsley  Garven  is  well 


558  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

seated,  but  neither  the  town  nor  country  thereabouts  well  planted,  being 
almost  all  woods,  and  moorish  until  you  come  to  Drom-moare.  This  town 
belongs  to  my  Lord  Conoway,  who  hath  there  a  good,  handsome  house,  but 
far  short  of  both  my  Lord  Chichester's  houses,  hereabouts  ;  my  Lord 
Conoway  is  now  endeavouring  a  plantation,  though  the  lands  hereabouts  be 
the  poorest  and  barrenest  I  have  yet  seen,  yet  may  it  be  made  good  land 
with  labour  and  charge. 

From  Linsley  Garven  to  Drom-more  is  about  seven  mile.  Herein  we 
lodged  at  Mr.  Haven's  house,  which  is  directly  opposite  to  the  Bishop  of 
Drom-more  his  house,  which  is  a  little  timber  house  of  no  great  state  nor 
receipt.     .     .     . 

In  this  diocese,  as  Mr.  Leigh,  his  chaplain  reported,  this  is  the  worst  part 
of  the  kingdom,  and  the  poorest  land  and  ground,  yet  the  best  church  livings, 
because  there  are  no  impropriations. 

July  7. — We  left  Drome-more  and  went  to  the  Newrie,  which  is  sixteen 
miles.  This  is  a  most  difficult  way  for  a  stranger  to  find  out.  Herein  we 
wandered,  and  being  lost,  fell  amongst  the  Irish  towns.  The  Irish  houses 
are  the  poorest  cabins  I  have  seen,  erected  in  the  middle  of  the  fields  and 
grounds,  which  they  farm  and  rent.  This  is  a  wild  country,  not  inhabited, 
planted,  nor  enclosed,  yet  it  would  be  good  corn  if  it  were  husbanded. 

NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  XXXVI 

1  This  account  is  also  confirmed  by  Blair,  who  says  :  ' '  Although  amongst  those  whom 
Divine  Providence  did  send  to  Ireland,  there  were  several  persons  eminent  for  birth,  education 
and  parts ;  yet  the  most  part  were  such  as  either  poverty,  scandalous  lives,  or,  at  the  best, 
adventurous  seeking  of  better  accommodation  had  forced  thither,  so  that  the  security  and 
thriving  of  religion  was  little  seen  to  by  those  adventurers,  and  the  preachers  were  generally 
of  the  same  complexion  with  the  people." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 
CHURCH  RULE  IN  IRELAND  AND  ITS  RESULTS 

THE  founders  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland  were  ministers  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  Ulster,  driven  from  Scotland  and  England  by- 
King  James's  persecutions  of  the  Presbyterians  and  Puritans.  The  south- 
west of  Scotland,  from  which  the  Ulster  settlers  largely  came,  was  dur- 
ing this  whole  period  intensely  Presbyterian.  It  was  the  district  from  which 
came  a  large  part  of  the  army  and  leaders  who  first  confronted  the  tyrannical 
Charles.  In  the  succeeding  generation,  it  furnished  the  "  Westlan  Whigs," 
who  fought  at  Bothwell  Bridge  ;  and  it  also  produced  the  martyrs  whose 
graves  are  still  visited  at  Wigtown,  and  in  the  quiet  upland  kirkyards  of 
Galloway  and  the  *'  clachan  "  of  Dairy. 

Although  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  seventeenth-century  settlers  in 
Ulster  were  Presbyterians,  an  effort  was  soon  made  to  include  them  in  the 
Episcopal  Establishment.  In  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  the  "  British  Solo- 
mon "  had  expressed  a  great  love  for  the  Church  in  which  he  had  been 
educated.  How  James  belied  these  youthful  protestations  has  already  been 
told  in  the  account  of  his  treatment  of  the  Scottish  Church.  After  he  had 
succeeded  Elizabeth,  in  1603,  as  ruler  of  England,  he  became  as  much  a 
persecutor  of  the  Puritans  in  the  South  as  he  had  been  of  the  Presbyterians 
in  the  North.  Those  who  suffered  from  these  oppressions,  both  pastors  and 
people,  accordingly  began  to  look  elsewhere  for  a  place  of  refuge.  The 
Presbyterians  of  the  South  emigrated  in  large  numbers  to  Holland  and  to 
America.  Those  of  the  North  went  principally  to  Ireland,  although  the 
laws  there  against  nonconformity  were  annoying,  and  the  local  authorities  in 
some  places  inclined  to  press  them.  The  Corporation  of  Belfast  had 
arranged  a  scale  of  fines  for  parties  above  the  age  of  thirteen  who  might 
absent  themselves  from  public  worship,  as  by  law  established,  on  Sundays  or 
on  holy  days.  The  amount  for  a  householder  was  five  shillings  ;  for  a  mar- 
ried woman,  two  and  sixpence  ;  for  a  servant,  one  shilling,  and  for  a  child, 
tenpence.  In  these  penalties,  however,  the  Irish  Episcopal  Church  was 
more  moderate  than  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts.  Indeed,  the  Irish 
Church  in  many  of  its  principles  was  so  similar  to  that  of  Scotland,  that 
many  Scottish  Presbyterians  who  left  their  country  rather  than  submit  to 
Episcopacy,  did  not  hesitate  to  unite  themselves  with  the  more  evangelical 
Episcopal  Church  in  Ireland.1 

Of  the  Presbyterian  ministers  in  the  Irish  Established  Church,  the  most 
celebrated  was  Robert  Blair,  "  a  man  of  majestic  appearance,  deep  piety, 
great  learning,  and  persuasive  eloquence."  He  resigned  his  position  as  pro- 
fessor in  Glasgow  University  rather  than  submit  to  the  prelatic  form  of 

559 


560  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

despotism  which  James  was  forcing  on  the  Scottish  Church.  Invited  by  Sir 
James  Hamilton,  lately  created  Lord  Claneboy,  Blair  proceeded  to  Bangor 
in  1623,  and  was  ordained  one  of  his  Lordship's  vicars. 

At  that  time,  many  of  the  rectors  in  the  Episcopal  Church  were  laymen. 
One  of  these  was  Lord  Claneboy,  who  was  rector  of  a  number  of  parishes. 
Being  a  Presbyterian  himself,  he  made  Presbyterians  his  vicars.  To  them 
he  gave  one-third  of  the  Church  revenues  of  the  parishes  in  which  they 
officiated.  This  secured  to  each  of  them  about  twenty  pounds  per  annum, 
which,  it  is  probable,  was  supplemented  by  a  few  pounds  yearly  from  the 
people.  Blair  was  ordained  in  the  Presbyterian  form,  Bishop  Echlin  con- 
senting to  officiate  as  a  presbyter.  In  1626  Josias  Welsh,  son  of  John 
Welsh,  of  Ayr,  and  grandson  of  John  Knox,  likewise  resigned  his  professor- 
ship at  Glasgow,  and  settled  at  Templepatrick  in  Antrim,  being  ordained  by 
his  kinsman  Knox,  who  had  succeeded  Montgomery  as  bishop  of  Raphoe. 
In  1630  he  was  followed  by  John  Livingston,  minister  at  Torpichen,  who 
had  been  "  silenced  "  in  1627  by  Archbishop  Spottiswoode.  Like  Blair,  he 
was  ordained  by  a  bishop  (Knox)  who  became  a  "  presbyter"  for  the  time 
being. 

King  James  had  died  in  1625,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles,  a 
monarch  as  faithless,  tyrannical,  and  selfish  as  his  father,  but  one  of  a  less 
cowardly  spirit.  It  has  been  said  that  while  the  arrogant  assumptions  of 
James  excited  the  rage  of  his  subjects,  his  cowardice  caused  their  contempt. 
Conditions  in  Great  Britain  at  the  end  of  James's  reign  were  in  a  state  where 
it  was  necessary  that  they  should  become  worse  before  they  could  become 
better.  Charles  lost  no  time  in  making  them  worse.  James's  doctrine  of 
the  divine  right  of  kings  to  do  wrong  was  carried  by  Charles  to  its  logical 
conclusion.  In  the  Established  Church  of  England  he  found  a  willing  sup- 
porter of  his  pretensions,  and  used  it  to  carry  out  his  designs. 

In  1633  William  Laud  was  made  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  persecu- 
tion was  carried  on  with  renewed  vigor.  Under  his  leadership,  a  new  party 
rapidly  acquired  power  in  the  Church  of  England.  Like  the  English 
Ritualists  of  the  present  day,  they  imagined  a  nation  might  as  well  be  with- 
out a  church  as  a  church  without  Apostolic  orders,  and  that  Roman 
Catholics  who  preserved  these  orders  were  nearer  the  truth  than  Presby- 
terians who  rejected  them.  In  religion,  they  fought  the  doctrines  of 
Calvinism,  regarding  the  Presbyterian  as  a  stubborn  schismatic,  whose 
theology  was  dangerous  to  the  Church,  and  whose  politics  were  dangerous  to 
the  state.  Their  enmity  towards  the  Puritans  within  their  own  Church  was 
greater  than  their  enmity  to  the  Roman  Catholics  without  it.  In  politics, 
they  firmly  believed  in  the  divine  right  of  the  king  to  do  as  he  pleased. 

The  rulers  of  the  Irish  Church  now  adopted  the  policy  of  their  brethren 
in  England.  Echlin,  bishop  of  Down,  was  the  first  who  exhibited  a  dis- 
position to  compel  his  clergy  to  conform  to  the  ceremonies  as  well  as  to 
subscribe  to  the  Articles  of  the  Episcopal  Church.     Moved  by  the  prevailing 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  561 


party  in  Ireland,  he  suspended  from  the  ministry,  in  September,  163 1, 
Messrs.  Blair,  Welsh,  Dunbar,  and  Livingston.  Archbishop  Usher,  on  being 
informed  of  the  matter  by  Blair,  wrote  Echlin  to  relax  his  "  erroneous  " 
censure.  This  order  was  obeyed,  and  the  ministers  returned  to  their  work. 
But  Echlin's  agent  hurried  to  London  and,  through  Laud,  persuaded  the 
king  to  order  the  Lords  Justices  to  direct  Echlin  to  have  these  Presbyterian 
ministers  tried  as  fanatical  disturbers  of  the  peace.  After  another  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  bishop  who  tried  to  induce  the  ministers  to  conform,  Messrs. 
Blair,  Welsh,  Dunbar,  and  Livingston  were,  in  May,  1632,  again  suspended. 
Usher  expressed  his  sorrow  at  being  unable  to  interfere,  as  the  order  for 
trial  had  come  from  the  king.  Blair  appealed  to  the  king,  who  referred 
him  to  Thomas  Wentvvorth,  then  lord  deputy  of  Ireland.  Blair  proceeded 
to  Dublin  and  presented  the  king's  letter  ;  but  Wentworth,  refusing  to 
remove  the  sentence,  began  to  upbraid  the  petitioner,  and  to  revile  the 
Church  of  Scotland. 

At  this  period,  high  rents  in  Scotland  were  driving  the  people  to  Ulster 
at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  a  year,  just  as  the  same  cause,  a  century  later, 
drove  them  from  Ulster  to  America.  The  wave  of  colonization  moved 
westwards  from  Antrim  and  Down,  and  southwards  from  Derry.  Had  this 
movement  continued,  the  loyal  population  would  soon  have  been  so  numer- 
ous as  to  fear  no  rebellion  of  the  natives.  But  Presbyterians,  being  then 
firmly  attached  to  their  faith,  were  not  inclined  to  settle  in  a  country  where 
they  would  be  deprived  of  Gospel  ordinances.  The  persecution  in  Ireland 
soon  checked  immigration  from  Scotland,  and  prevented  the  growth  of  that 
part  of  the  Irish  population  which  was  joined  to  Britain  by  the  ties  of  race 
and  religion. 

The  lord  deputy,  Wentworth,  had  become  very  unpopular  with  the 
Ulster  landlords,  on  account  of  looking  sharply  into  the  way  in  which  they 
had  fulfilled  the  contracts  of  plantation,  by  which  they  held  their  estates. 
He  now  thought  it  better  to  allay  their  fears  for  a  time  until  he  should  ob- 
tain from  Parliament  some  necessary  supplies.  This  opportunity  was  turned 
to  the  best  account  in  favor  of  the  suspended  ministers  by  Lord  Castle- 
Stewart,  who  was  himself  a  Presbyterian.  He  represented  to  the  lord  deputy 
that  it  would  be  expedient  to  restore  the  deposed  ministers,  in  order  to 
soothe  the  feelings  of  the  Northern  Scots.  Wentworth  fell  in  with  the  sug- 
gestion, and,  by  his  orders,  Echlin,  in  May,  1634,  withdrew  for  six  months 
his  sentence  of  suspension  on  the  four  clergymen. 

So  soon  as  the  six  months  were  expired,  Wentworth,  at  the  request  of 
Bishop  Bramhall,  caused  Echlin  to  renew  his  suspension  of  Blair  and  Dun- 
bar. When  the  bishop  was  about  to  pronounce  sentence,  Blair  summoned 
him  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  Christ  to  answer  for  his  evil  deeds. 
This  is  said  to  have  produced  such  an  effect  on  the  prelate  that  he  died  in 
great  distress  of  mind  soon  after. 

Wentworth  now  effected  such  changes  in  the  constitution  of  Trinity 

36 


562  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

College  as  to  effectually  exclude  Puritans  from  places  of  power  or  profit  in 
that  institution  ;  and  he  determined  to  make  a  similar  change  in  the  Church. 
Nothing  in  the  Irish  Church  was  so  obnoxious  to  him  as  its  Puritanism  ;  and 
that  Puritanism  he  determined  to  extinguish.  Both  he  and  Charles  consid- 
ered that  the  great  object  of  a  church  was  to  render  men  obedient  to  royal 
authority  ;  and  therefore  they  determined  to  exclude  from  its  pale  all  who 
preferred  to  serve  God  rather  than  to  obey  the  king. 

A  convocation  of  the  Church  was  summoned  to  meet,  that  this  design 
might  be  accomplished.  Bramhall  ruled  the  Upper  House,  and  Wentworth 
himself,  through  Leslie  and  other  creatures  of  his  own,  guided  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Lower  House.  One  hundred  canons  were  framed  and  adopted. 
By  these,  the  thirty-nine  Articles  of  the  English  Church  were  approved,  and 
its  various  rites  and  ceremonies  adopted.  Wentworth  succeeded  in  persuad- 
ing Archbishop  Usher  and  the  members  of  Convocation  that  to  approve  of 
the  English  Articles  would  not  interfere  with  the  authority  of  the  Irish  Ar- 
ticles. But  this  was  a  mere  trick  ;  for  afterwards  the  government  regarded 
the  Irish  Articles  as  abolished,  because  they  had  not  been  formally  approved 
by  any  of  the  canons. 

Wentworth  now  exercised  the  power  of  a  dictator  in  the  State,  and  of  a 
pope  in  the  Church.  A  court  of  High  Commission  was  established  in  Dub- 
lin which  could  deal  with  the  life  and  property  of  every  individual  in  the 
kingdom,  and  from  which  there  was  no  appeal.  The  Deputy  prevented 
Parliament  passing  certain  "  graces,"  which,  in  return  for  a  large  sum  of 
money,  the  king  had  promised  to  all  his  Irish  subjects,  but  chiefly  to 
the  Roman  Catholics. 

Echlin  was  succeeded  as  bishop  of  Down  by  Henry  Leslie,  a  Scotchman 
by  birth,  a  bigoted  Episcopalian,  and  a  willing  persecutor.  In  November, 
1635,  he  deposed  Livingston,  and  caused  Melvin,  minister  of  Downpatrick, 
to  pronounce  on  him  sentence  of  excommunication.  But  both  Blair  and 
Livingston  continued  to  preach  in  private,  at  the  risk  of  severe  punishment. 

It  was  now  determined  to  make  all  clergymen  conform  to  the  new  canons, 
and  conduct  worship  according  to  the  strictest  Episcopal  forms.  At  a 
visitation  held  by  Leslie,  in  1636,  he  required  his  clergy  to  sign  these  canons. 
Many  consented  with  reluctance,  and  afterwards  failed  to  carry  out  what 
they  had  promised.  But  Brice  of  Broadisland  or  Ballycarry,  Colvert  of  Old- 
stone,  Cunningham  of  Holywood,  Hamilton  of  Ballywater,  and  Ridge  of 
Antrim,  refused  to  sign,  although  urged  by  the  bishop  in  private.  Leslie 
then  determined,  by  advice  of  Bramhall,  to  depose  these  faithful  ministers. 
To  carry  out  his  decision,  he  held  a  meeting  of  his  clergy  on  the  10th  of 
August,  1636,  in  the  Episcopal  church  at  Belfast,  and  after  a  long  discussion 
he  passed  sentence  of  perpetual  silence,  within  his  diocese,  on  the  accused 
ministers. 

Blair,  Livingston,  Hamilton,  and  several  others  had  now  determined  to 
emigrate  with  their  friends  and  families  to  New  England.     They  secured  a 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  563 

ship  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burden  built  near  Belfast.  In  this  frail 
bark,  named  The  Eagle's  Wing,  one  hundred  and  forty  Presbyterians  set  sail 
from  Loch  Fergus,  on  the  9th  of  September,  1636,  ready  to  encounter  the 
winds  and  the  waves,  that  they  might  have  freedom  from  persecution  in  the 
new  world.  Among  the  emigrants  were  Blair,  Livingston,  Hamilton,  and 
McClelland.  Mrs.  Livingston  accompanied  her  husband.  The  voyage 
turned  out  disastrously.  Storms  arose,  and  contrary  winds  drove  them  into 
Loch  Ryan.  But  again  they  sailed  westward,  till  they  were  nearer  America 
than  Ireland.  Then  they  encountered  fearful  storms  of  wind  and  rain  from 
the  northwest.  The  swellings  of  the  sea  rising  higher  than  mountains  hid 
the  midday  sun.  Their  rudder  was  broken  and  their  sails  torn.  Leaks 
were  sprung  which  required  them  to  be  constantly  pumping.  Huge  waves 
broke  over  the  deck  and  tore  up  the  planks,  till  at  last  they  concluded  it  was 
the  Lord's  will  that  they  should  return.  Having  changed  their  course  home- 
wards, they  made  good  progress,  and  on  the  3d  of  November  came  to 
anchor  in  Loch  Fergus. 

The  deposed  ministers  remained  for  only  a  short  time  in  Ireland.  Blair 
and  Livingston,  hearing  that  warrants  for  their  apprehension  were  issued, 
fled  to  Scotland.  The  other  deposed  ministers  sought  refuge  in  the  same 
country.  They  were  followed  by  many  of  their  faithful  people,  who  pre- 
ferred to  leave  their  homes  rather  than  be  deprived  of  hearing  the  Gospel 
preached.  Others  who  remained  in  Ireland  were  accustomed  to  visit  their 
ministers  at  communion  seasons,  to  the  number  of  five  hundred  at  a  time. 
On  one  occasion  Livingston,  who  settled  at  Stranraer,  baptized  as  many  as 
twenty-eight  children  brought  from  Ireland. 

Meanwhile,  in  Scotland  the  attempt  of  the  king  to  impose  the  liturgy  on 
the  people  met  with  most  determined  opposition.  Starting  with  the  Janet 
Geddes  riot  in  St.  Giles's  Cathedral,  in  1637,  the  opposition  grew,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  the  Scots  had  an  army  in  the  field  confronting  the  royal  tyrant. 

The  Irish  Presbyterians,  strongly  opposed  to  the  forms  of  prelacy, 
sympathized  with  their  brethren  in  Scotland  ;  and  even  the  clergy  of  the 
Established  Church  failed  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  canons  they  had 
signed.  Bishop  Leslie  complained  that  they  cut  down  the  liturgy  to  the 
lessons  and  a  few  collects  ;  and  that  while  these  were  being  read,  the  people 
walked  about  in  the  churchyards,  and  then  came  rushing  in  to  hear  the 
sermon. 

Wentworth  seems  to  have  feared  a  rising  of  the  Scots  ;  for  in  a  letter  to 
Coke,  the  English  Secretary  of  State,  he  states  that  there  are  13,092 
British  men  between  sixteen  and  sixty  in  Ulster,  but  congratulates 
himself  on  the  fact  that  they  are  badly  armed.  At  the  suggestion  of 
Charles  he  determined,  in  1639,  to  compel  all  the  Ulster  Scots  above  six- 
teen years  of  age  to  swear  that  they  would  obey  all  the  king's  "  royal 
commands."  This  declaration  became  known  as  the  "Black  Oath."  Com- 
missions were  issued  to  the  northern  magistrates  to  administer  it  in  their 


564  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

districts.  It  was  to  be  publicly  read  to  the  people,  who  were  to  take  it  on 
their  knees.  Scots  who  professed  to  be  Roman  Catholics  were  exempted. 
Troops  sent  to  compel  Presbyterians  to  swear,  executed  their  orders  with 
ruthless  severity.  Even  Lord  Claneboy  deserted  the  principles  of  his  youth 
and  became  a  persecutor  himself.  The  Ulster  Scots,  horrified  at  the  idea 
of  declaring  they  would  obey  commands  which  were  certain  to  be  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  God  and  injurious  to  the  liberties  of  the  country,  refused 
obedience,  at  the  risk  of  being  committed  to  prison.  Many  were  seized  and 
brought  to  Dublin,  where  some  were  kept  for  years  in  confinement.  A  man 
named  Henry  Stewart  was  fined  five  thousand  pounds,  his  wife  the  same 
amount,  and  his  daughters  and  servant  two  thousand  pounds  each.  Unable 
to  pay  the  fines  they  were  committed  to  prison.  Many  thousands  of  Presby- 
terians fled  to  Scotland,  and  although  they  then  felt  banishment  grievous, 
they  afterwards  blessed  God  for  permitting  them  to  be  driven  out  of  a 
country  where  they  might  afterwards  have  perished  in  the  great  rebellion. 

Wentworth  was  created  earl  of  Strafford,  and  became  lord  lieutenant 
of  Ireland.  In  order  to  assist  the  king  in  his  war  with  Scotland,  he  collected 
an  army  of  nine  thousand  men,  largely  composed  of  Irish  natives,  which  he 
stationed  at  Carrickfergus.  His  object  was,  by  military  force,  to  aid  Charles 
in  carrying  out  a  scheme  he  called  the  "  thorough  "  ;  which  in  reality  was 
the  establishing  of  an  absolute  monarchy.  Finding  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  Ulster  Scots  were  prepared  to  give  up  their  lives  rather  than  take  the 
obnoxious  oath,  and  that  those  who  swore  could  not  be  depended  upon,  he 
formed  the  design  of  removing  them  all  out  of  the  country.  But  events  in 
England  now  demanded  his  presence,  and  he  left  Ireland  never  to  return. 

Charles  having  failed  in  his  plans  of  raising  money  to  carry  on  war  with 
the  Scots,  summoned  another  English  Parliament,  which  met  on  the  3d  of 
November,  1640,  and  is  known  as  the  Long  Parliament.  It  abolished  the 
courts  of  Star  Chamber  and  of  High  Commission,  and  released  those  im- 
prisoned for  nonconformity.  Strafford  and  Laud  were  arrested,  and  both 
paid  the  penalty  of  death  for  their  numerous  crimes.  The  Irish  Presby- 
terians, through  Sir  John  Clotworthy  of  Antrim,  member  for  the  English 
borough  of  Maiden,  petitioned  this  Parliament  for  redress  of  their  many 
grievances.  They  recounted  the  persecutions  they  had  endured;  they  com- 
plained that  their  "  learned  and  conscionable  "  ministers  had  been  banished, 
and  the  care  of  their  souls  committed  to  illiterate  hirelings,  who  received 
only  five  or  ten  pounds  a  year  ;  that  the  rectors  through  connivance  of  their 
bishops  were  non-resident,  and  the  people  perished  from  want  of  spiritual 
food  ;  and  that  all  this  time  masses  were  publicly  celebrated  "  to  the  great 
grief  of  God's  people,  and  increase  of  idolatry  and  superstition."  They 
prayed  Parliament  to  redress  their  grievances,  and  especially  to  restore  their 
banished  ministers. 

The  government  of  Ireland  was  now  committed  to  Sir  John  Parsons  and 
Sir  John  Borlase,  both  Puritans.       Under  their  guidance,  the  Parliament 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  565 

abolished  the  court  of  High  Commission,  and  religious  liberty  was  practically 
re-established.  Roman  Catholics  and  Nonconformists  became  members  of 
Parliament,  judges,  and  magistrates.  The  exiled  Presbyterians  began  to  re- 
turn, until  shortly  after  1640  there  were  thirty  regular  congregations  in  Ul- 
ster, and  it  seemed  as  if  peace  and  prosperity  were  about  to  reign  in  Ire- 
land.    Yet  this  was  the  dawn  of  the  darkest  day  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

Certain  descendants  of  the  northern  chieftains  whose  estates  had  been 
confiscated  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  others  who  had  themselves 
gone  away  when  very  young,  lived  now  at  the  Courts  of  Rome  and  Madrid. 
These  exiles,  thinking  the  English  were  fully  occupied  with  their  own  dis- 
putes, formed  a  plan  with  their  friends  in  Ireland  for  expelling  the  settlers 
of  the  English  race,  and  overthrowing  Protestantism  in  the  country.  When 
this  plot  was  almost  ripe  for  execution,  Charles,  thinking  he  had  gained  Scot- 
land by  lately  made  concessions,  opened  a  correspondence  with  some  Irish 
Roman  Catholic  leaders.  He  promised  them  many  civil  and  religious  ad- 
vantages, including  a  legal  establishment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  in 
Ireland,  if  they  would  take  up  arms  in  his  behalf,  and  disarm  all  Irish  Prot- 
estants except  the  Ulster  Scots,  whom  the  king  imagined  he  could  unite 
with  their  kinsmen  in  Scotland.  Reilly  asserts  that  the  scheme  originated 
with  Charles,  who  sent  his  instructions  to  Ormond  and  Antrim.  But  the 
leaders  of  the  old  Irish,  hearing  of  this  design,  determined  to  begin  the  re- 
bellion at  once,  to  anticipate  the  Anglo-Norman  families  who  were  gained 
by  Charles,  and  to  rob  and  murder  for  their  own  advantage  rather  than  for 
the  advantage  of  the  king.  They  determined  to  seize  as  many  fortified 
places  as  possible,  especially  Dublin  Castle,  where  there  was  a  large  store  of 
arms.  These  designs  were  frustrated  by  a  follower  of  the  Clotworthy  family 
named  Owen  O'Connolly,  a  native  Irishman  who  had  turned  Protestant  and 
become  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  O'Connolly  having  obtained 
information  concerning  the  plot  from  his  foster-brother,  Hugh  Oge  Mac- 
Mahon,  came  late  in  the  evening  of  the  226.  of  October,  1641,  to  the  Lord 
Justice  Parsons,  whom  he  informed  of  the  projected  insurrection.  The 
Council  was  summoned,  and  means  taken  to  defend  the  town  and  castle. 
Next  day  the  rebellion  broke  out  all  over  Ulster.  The  native  Irish,  who 
hated  work,  and  who  loved  plunder  more  than  they  feared  danger,  sprang 
to  arms  on  the  first  summons  of  their  leaders.  Charlemont  was  surprised  by 
Sir  Phelim  O'Neill,  who  told  Lord  Caulfield  that  he  had  authority  for  what 
he  was  doing,  probably  referring  to  the  king's  commission.  Almost  every- 
where throughout  Ulster  the  castles  were  taken  ;  but  Derry,  Enniskillen, 
Belfast,  Carrickfergus,  and  Coleraine  were  saved. 

At  first,  the  rebels  acted  with  comparative  moderation.  They  contented 
themselves  with  robbing  the  Protestants,  stripping  them  naked,  and  sending 
them  off  defenceless.  But  they  soon  abandoned  this  moderation,  and  aimed 
at  murdering  the  entire  native  Protestant  population.  Neither  woman 
nor  infant  was  spared.      The  brains  of  the  children  were  dashed  out  before 


566  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

the  eyes  of  their  mothers,  some  were  thrown  into  pots  of  boiling  water,  and 
some  were  given  to  the  pigs  that  they  might  be  eaten.  A  Protestant  min- 
ister was  crucified.  Many  had  their  hands  cut  off  or  their  eyes  put  out 
before  their  lives  were  taken.  Others  were  promised  protection  on  condition 
of  their  becoming  the  executioners  of  their  own  nearest  and  dearest  relations  ; 
but  if  they  accepted  these  terms,  they  themselves  were  afterwards  murdered. 
Many  were  promised  their  lives  on  condition  of  conforming  to  popery,  but 
any  who  recanted  were  told  that,  being  now  in  the  true  Church,  they  must  be 
killed  at  once  lest  they  might  afterwards  fall  from  the  faith.  Various  calcu- 
lations have  been  made  of  the  number  who  perished,  and  it  probably 
reached  more  than  ten  thousand. 

As  a  body,  the  Presbyterians  suffered  less  than  other  Protestants.  Their 
leading  ministers  had  been  driven  out  of  the  country.  Many  of  the  people 
had  followed.  The  few  months  of  liberty  which  intervened  between  the 
execution  of  Strafford  and  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  were  not  sufficient 
to  enable  many  to  return.  The  bishops  who  had  banished  both  pastors  and 
people  to  Scotland  saved  them  from  destruction. 

At  first,  the  king's  orders  were  obeyed  and  the  Scots  suffered  no  injury. 
Many  of  them  succeeded  in  escaping  ;  but  some  perished  by  being  too  confi- 
dent. Mr.  R.  Stewart,  of  the  Irry,  near  Stewartstown,  whose  wife  was 
granddaughter  to  the  earl  of  Tyrone,  had  armed  six  hundred  Scots.  Assured, 
however,  by  his  Irish  relatives,  that  none  of  his  people  would  be  injured, 
he  disbanded  his  forces.  But  the  night  these  men  reached  their  homes,  most 
of  them  were  murdered.  Many  Protestants  fled  for  safety  to  the  woods, 
where  some  perished  of  hardships,  and  others  were  devoured  by  wolves.  At 
Oldstone,  near  Antrim,  "  about  twenty  women,  with  children  upon  their 
backs  and  in  their  hands  were  knocked  down  and  murdered  under  the  castle 
wall ;  and  about  three-score  old  men,  women,  and  children,  who  had  license 
to  go  unto  Larne  or  Carrickfergus,  were  that  day  or  next,  murdered  by  The 
O'Hara's  party,  within  a  mile-and-a-half  of  the  said  castle." 

On  the  15th  of  November,  1641,  Sir  Phelim  O'Neill  obtained  possession 
of  Lurgan  by  capitulation  ;  but  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month,  he  was  re- 
pulsed from  Lisburn.  In  December,  he  captured  Strabane,  which  was  de- 
fended by  the  widow  of  Lord  Strabane.  He  fell  in  love  with  his  fair 
captive,  and  married  her  soon  afterwards.  Augher,  Castlederg,  Omagh,  and 
Newtownstewart  were  saved  from  the  enemy.  An  arrangement  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Irish  Protestants  was  now  made  between  the  English  and  the 
Scottish  Parliaments.  A  Scotch  army  of  ten  thousand  was  to  be  sent  for 
the  relief  of  Ireland,  and  as  Ireland  was  a  dependency  of  England,  the 
English  Parliament  was  to  provide  for  its  support. 

A  detachment  of  these  forces,  under  General  Robert  Monro,  arrived  in 
April,  1642,  and  at  once  marched  against  the  enemy,  whom  they  defeated  on 
their  way  to  Newry.  Having  captured  this  town,  they  put  the  garrison  to 
the  sword.     Monro  now  marched  against  O'Neill,  who  occupied  Armagh; 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  567 

but  before  he  could  arrive,  the  Irish  general  burned  the  town,  murdered  the 
Protestants,  and  retired  to  Charlemont.  Sir  John  Clotworthy  built  a 
number  of  boats,  by  means  of  which  he  captured  the  vessels  of  the  enemy 
on  Lough  Neagh.  His  forces  put  the  Irish  to  flight  near  Moneymore,  and 
saved  the  lives  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  Protestant  prisoners  who 
were  about  to  be  murdered.  In  the  northeast,  Sir  William  and  Sir  Robert 
Stewart  defeated  the  enemy  on  several  occasions  and  Strabane  was  retaken. 
These  vigorous  proceedings  restored  comparative  security  to  the  greater 
part  of  Ulster. 

The  Scottish  forces  were  accompanied  by  their  chaplains  .3  Many  of  their 
officers  were  elders.  The  Episcopal  clergy  had  been  generally  driven  out 
of  the  country,  and  their  people  preferred  the  simple  rites  of  Presbyterian 
worship.  When  four  sessions  had  been  organized  in  the  army  it  was  de- 
termined to  form  a  presbytery. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  1642,  the  first  regular  presbytery  of  the  Church  in 
Ireland  was  constituted  at  Carrickfergus.  It  consisted  of  five  ministers  and 
four  ruling  elders.  The  ministers  were  Mr.  Hugh  Cunningham,  who  about 
1646  was  installed  at  Ray,  county  Donegal  ;  Mr.  Thomas  Peebles,  who  in 
1645  became  minister  of  Dundonald  and  Holywood  ;  and  Mr.  John  Baird, 
who  in  1646  was  installed  in  The  Route  ;  also  Mr.  John  Scott  and  Mr. 
John  Aird,  who  returned  to  Scotland.  Mr.  Peebles  was  appointed  clerk, 
which  position  he  held  until  his  death  nearly  thirty  years  afterwards.  Mr. 
James  Simpson  and  Mr.  John  Livingston,  although  in  Ireland,  were  pre- 
vented by  distance  from  being  present. 

When  it  was  known  that  this  court  had  been  established,  applications 
began  to  be  received  from  many  districts  for  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  Ses- 
sions were  erected  in  Antrim,  Ballymena,  Ballywalter,  Bangor,  Belfast,  Cairn- 
castle,  Carrickfergus,  Comber,  Holywood,  Donaghadee,  Newtown-Ards,  and 
other  localities,  where  it  was  determined  to  place  pastors  as  soon  as  possible. 

Bangor  and  Ballywalter  petitioned  the  Church  of  Scotland  to  restore  to 
them  Messrs.  Blair  and  Hamilton,  their  former  ministers.  A  general  petition 
from  Presbyterians  in  Down  and  Antrim  was  presented  to  the  same  Assembly, 
requesting  the  restoration  of  those  pastors  whom  "  persecution  of  the  pre- 
lates "  had  driven  out  of  the  country,  and  asking  them  to  "  superadd  "  other 
able  men  to  lay  "  the  foundation  of  God's  house  according  to  the  pattern." 

As  the  supply  of  ministers  in  Scotland  was  then  limited,  on  account  of 
previous  persecution,  the  Assembly  could  not  send  any  to  settle  permanently 
in  Ireland  ;  but  they  ordered  Messrs.  Blair,  Hamilton,  Ramsay,  McClelland, 
Baillie,  and  Livingston — six  of  their  most  popular  preachers — to  go  there  for 
a  limited  time. 

Meanwhile,  the  king  had  come  to  an  open  rupture  with  his  Parliament. 
In  August,  1642,  the  royal  standard  was  erected  at  Nottingham  ;  and  many 
followed  their  monarch  to  fight  for  the  institutions  by  which  they  were  them- 
selves oppressed.     At  first,  success  seemed  about  to  smile  on  the  cause  of 


568  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Charles  ;  but  after  a  time,  all  was  changed.  Oliver  Cromwell  arose  to 
power.  The  army  was  remodelled.  Respectable,  God-fearing  men,  who 
hated  prelacy  as  strongly  as  they  loved  truth,  became  soldiers,  and  received 
pay  sufficient  to  provide,  without  plunder,  the  necessaries  of  life.  With  this 
army  the  tide  of  war  was  soon  rolled  backwards.  The  forces  of  Charles 
were  defeated  in  several  bloody  battles,  and  the  authority  of  Parliament 
became  supreme. 

A  correspondence  had  been  opened  between  the  Scotch  Assembly  and 
the  English  Parliament  regarding  a  uniformity  of  religion  between  the 
nations.  As  a  result,  an  assembly  of  divines  met  at  Westminster,  which  com- 
piled the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Catechisms,  and  the  Directory  for  Public 
Worship.  This  assembly  commenced  its  sittings  on  the  ist  of  July, 
1643,  although  forbidden  to  meet  by  a  proclamation  of  Charles.  It  was 
to  consist  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  divines,  with  ten  lords,  and  twenty 
commoners  as  lay-assessors,  and  seven  Commissioners  from  the  Scots. 
Among  the  lay-assessors  was  Sir  John  Clotworthy  of  Antrim,  who  repre- 
sented Maiden  in  the  Long  Parliament.  As  almost  all  the  members  were 
English  Puritans,  it  is  incorrect  to  regard  the  Confession  and  Catechisms 
prepared  by  this  Assembly  as  Scotch  in  their  origin. 

In  the  same  year,  as  a  result  of  negotiations  carried  on  between  the 
English  Parliament,  the  Scottish  Convention  of  Estates,  and  the  General 
Assembly,  a  religious  bond  called  "  The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant " 
was  drawn  up  by  Alexander  Henderson,  and  submitted  to  these  bodies. 
Those  who  signed  this  document  pledged  themselves  to  maintain  the  Re- 
formed religion,  to  extirpate  Popery  and  Prelacy,  to  preserve  the  liberties 
of  the  kingdom,  and  to  lead  holy  lives  themselves. 

This  solemn  bond  was  accepted  by  the  General  Assembly,  by  the  Con- 
vention of  Estates  in  Scotland,  and  by  the  English  Parliament.  On  the  25th 
of  September,  in  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westminster,  the  assembly  of 
divines,  the  Scottish  Commissioners,  and  the  members  of  the  Commons, 
with  uncovered  heads  and  uplifted  hands,  swore  to  its  provisions.  A  few 
weeks  afterwards  it  was  taken  by  the  Lords,  and  an  order  was  issued  that  it 
should  be  administered  to  every  person  in  England  above  eighteen  years  of 
age.  A  similar  course  was  pursued  in  Scotland.  The  Covenant  was  sol- 
emnly received  by  commissioners  representing  the  Church,  State,  and  the 
kingdom  of  England.  It  was  sent  to  the  moderators  of  the  presbyteries,  and 
its  provisions  were  to  be  subscribed  to  by  "  all  of  understanding  "  throughout 
the  country. 

Meanwhile  the  operations  of  Monro's  little  army  in  Ireland  were  sadly 
hampered  for  want  of  supplies.  It  is  doubtful  whether  his  force  ever  reached 
the  stipulated  number  of  ten  thousand,  although  it  is  certain  that  four  thousand 
men  joined  it  in  the  autumn  of  1642.  The  arrangement  between  the  two  Par- 
liaments had  been  that  the  English  should  pay  the  Scottish  troops  ;  but  by  the 
autumn  of   1642,  England  was  plunged  in  civil  war,  and  the  money  which 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  569 

had  been  raised  for  the  war  in  Ireland  was  seized  to  carry  on  war  against 
Charles.  The  Scottish  regiments,  therefore,  fared  very  badly,  and  at  times 
seem  to  have  been  driven  to  live  on  the  country  in  which  they  were  set- 
tled. The  campaign  of  1643  was  not  a  brilliant  one,  although  ground  was 
recovered.  The  winter  found  the  troops  very  discontented  ;  they  had  re- 
ceived almost  no  pay  since  they  landed,  and  when  news  came  of  the  pro- 
posed expedition  into  England  in  support  of  the  Parliament,  three  of  the 
regiments  were  no  longer  to  be  held  back,  but  returned  to  Scotland  against 
orders.  The  Ulster  settlers  were  greatly  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  being 
left  unprotected  should  the  rest  of  the  Scottish  troops  also  go  ;  but  fortu- 
nately a  supply  of  money  and  of  provisions  arrived  at  Carrickfergus  in  April, 
1644 — a  portion  of  the  food  being  a  free  gift  of  three  thousand  bolls  of  meal 
from  the  shire  of  Ayr.  About  the  same  time,  too,  the  Dutch  showed  their  sym- 
pathy with  the  cause  of  Protestantism  in  Ireland  by  making  a  collection  in  all 
the  churches  of  Holland  by  order  of  the  States-General  ;  they  transmitted  to 
Ulster  four  shiploads  of  provisions  and  clothing,  which  were  distributed 
among  both  people  and  soldiery. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1643,  Owen  O'Connolly  was  sent  by  Parliament 
to  the  commanders  in  Ulster,  to  make  preparations  for  administering  the 
Covenant  in  Ireland.  For  this  purpose,  the  Rev.  James  Hamilton  and  three 
other  clergymen  came  over  the  next  spring.  On  the  1st  of  April,  1644,  they 
presented  their  commissions  to  the  Presbytery,  and  soon  afterwards  began 
the  work  of  receiving  signatures.  The  regiments  took  the  Covenant  from 
their  own  chaplains,  or  if  they  had  none,  from  the  Scottish  commissioners. 
Major  Dalzell,  who  was  afterwards  noted  as  a  great  persecutor,  was  the  only 
person  connected  with  the  army  who  refused  to  swear.  Then  came  in 
crowds  the  people  near  the  places  where  the  regiments  were  stationed.  They 
all  joined  willingly,  except  a  few  Episcopal  ministers  and  some  "profane 
and  ungodly  persons  ;  so  that  there  were  more  of  the  country  become 
swearers  than  were  men  in  the  army."  Those  who  had  taken  the  Black 
Oath  were  compelled  to  renounce  it  publicly  before  being  admitted  to  the 
Covenant. 

The  commissioners  appointed  went  from  town  to  town  to  preach  and 
explain  the  provisions  of  the  document  they  carried.  Having  administered 
it  in  several  places  in  Antrim  and  Down  where  troops  were  stationed,  they 
set  out  for  the  extreme  North.  "  From  Ballymena  they  went  with  a  guard 
of  horse  toward  Coleraine,  under  one  William  Hume,  of  General  Leslie's 
regiment.  They  went  the  next  day  (being  Thursday)  to  the  Church,  and  few 
being  present  except  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  they  explained  the  Covenant 
to  them,  and  left  it  to  their  serious  thoughts  till  the  next  Sabbath,  being  also 
Easter  day.  On  this  Lord's  day  the  convention  was  very  great  from  town 
and  country.  They  expounded  more  fully  the  Covenant,  and,  among  other 
things,  told  the  people  that  their  miseries  had  come  from  those  sorts  of  peo- 
ple who  were  there  sworn  against,  and  specially  from  the  Papists.     The 


570  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

righteous  hand  of  God  had  afflicted  them  for  going  so  near  the  Papists  in 
their  former  worship  and  government  in  the  Church  ;  and,  whereas,  the 
Episcopal  party  endeavored  peaceableness  with  the  Papists,  by  symbolizing 
with  them  in  much  of  their  superstition  ;  the  Sovereign  Holy  Lord  had 
turned  their  policy  to  the  contrary  effect,  for  their  conformity  with  idolaters 
— going  on  in  a  course  which  had  a  tendency  at  least  that  way." 

In  this  manner  was  the  Covenant  taken  by  the  people  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  Ulster.  The  Commissioners  rode  along  accompanied  by  an 
escort  of  cavalry  to  protect  them  from  parties  of  the  enemy  roaming  about. 
But  their  progress  was  slow  on  account  of  the  badness  of  the  roads,  which 
went  straight  through  deep  bogs  and  over  hills  so  steep  that  it  was  difficult 
to  ride  either  up  or  down  ;  while  in  the  valleys  the  horses  sank  deep,  and 
even  the  higher  mountain  roads  were  often  continual  morasses.  As  there 
were  but  few  bridges,  most  of  the  rivers  had  to  be  crossed  by  fords,  often 
impassable  after  rain. 

But,  notwithstanding  all  impediments,  the  Commissioners  proceeded  dili- 
gently with  their  work.  From  Coleraine  they  went  to  Derry,  and  from 
Derry  to  the  Presbyterian  parts  of  county  Donegal.  They  ventured  even 
as  far  as  Enniskillen  without  meeting  any  armed  band  of  rebels.  In  some 
places  the  natives  fled  at  their  approach,  having  a  superstitious  fear  of  their 
power,  and  imagining  that  it  was  by  the  sword  Covenanters  were  determined 
to  "  extirpate  "  popery. 

In  Ulster,  the  Covenant  was  taken  by  about  sixteen  thousand  persons  be- 
sides the  army.  It  was  given  only  to  those  "  whose  consciences  stirred  them 
up."  But  if  we  suppose  it  was  taken  by  one-half  of  the  adults  it  would  in- 
dicate that  there  was  still  a  Protestant  population  of  seventy  thousand  in  that 
province  after  all  who  had  perished  in  the  rebellion. 

For  some  time  the  work  of  settling  ministers  in  congregations  proceeded 
but  slowly.  In  1642,  Mr.  John  Drysdale  was  ordained  in  Portaferry,  and  Mr. 
James  Baty  in  Ballywalter.  Three  years  afterwards  Mr.  David  Buttle  was 
ordained  in  Ballymena,  and  Mr.  Archibald  Ferguson  in  Antrim  ;  but  from 
that  time  the  work  of  settlement  proceeded  with  great  rapidity.  In  1647, 
upwards  of  twenty  congregations  had  permanent  pastors  and  several  others 
had  sessions  and  occasional  supplies  of  preachers. 

The  power  of  the  Irish  rebels  had  been  almost  overthrown  by  the  victo- 
ries of  Monro,  when  in  1642  the  celebrated  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  arrived  in 
Ireland.  He  was  great-grandson  of  Matthew  O'Neill,  baron  of  Dungannon, 
and  had  been  distinguished  in  the  Spanish  and  Imperial  services.  Placed 
in  command  of  the  rebels,  he  determined  to  conduct  the  contest  according 
to  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  and  to  punish  all  concerned  in  murder. 

A  General  Assembly  of  the  confederate  Catholics,  lay  and  clerical,  met 
at  Kilkenny  on  the  24th  of  October,  arranged  for  carrying  on  the  war,  and 
performed  the  functions  of  a  parliament.  They  handed  over  the  endow- 
ments of  the  Episcopal  Church  to  the  Church  of  Rome.     But,  ere  long,  they- 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  571 

began  to  negotiate  with  the  king  through  the  marquis  of  Ormond,  the 
Protestant  head  of  the  great  Anglo-Norman  family  of  Butler.  Charles  con- 
cluded these  negotiations  through  the  earl  of  Glamorgan  ;  and,  having  con- 
ceded almost  everything  demanded  by  the  confederate  Roman  Catholics, 
received  from  them  in  return  the  promise  of  troops  to  assist  him  against  his 
English  subjects. 

In  October,  1643,  the  earl  of  Antrim  escaped  from  Carrickfergus  Castle, 
where  he  had  been  imprisoned  by  Monro,  and  made  his  way  to  the  king  at 
Oxford.  He  promised  to  send  two  thousand  Irish  troops  to  assist  the  royal- 
ist chieftains  in  the  Highlands,  who,  through  jealousy  of  Argyle,  rather  than 
through  love  of  Charles,  were  ripe  for  rebellion  against  the  authority 
of  the  Parliament. 

The  first  party  of  Antrim's  Irish,  under  Alaster  MacDonnell  (sometimes 
called  "  Coll-Kittagh,"  or  left-handed  Coll,  after  his  father),  passed  over  to 
Scotland  protected  by  a  frigate.  They  captured,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1644, 
Messrs.  Weir  and  Hamilton,  who  were  returning  to  Scotland.  These  gentle- 
men were  kept  a  long  time  in  prison,  and  endured  such  hardships  that  Mr. 
Weir  died.  Mr.  Hamilton  was  at  last  exchanged,  and  had  a  successful  min- 
istry at  Dumfries  and  at  Edinburgh. 

The  marquis  of  Montrose,  at  the  head  of  the  Highland  royalists  and 
their  Irish  allies,  now  took  the  field  and  gained  many  victories.  Having 
captured  Aberdeen,  his  Irish  forces  were  there  distinguished  for  their  great 
cruelty.  They  compelled  those  whom  they  killed  to  strip  previously,  lest 
their  clothes,  spoiled  in  the  act  of  murder,  might  be  rendered  less  service- 
able to  the  murderers.  "  The  wyf  durst  not  cry  nor  weep  at  her  husband's 
slauchter  befoir  her  eyes,  nor  the  mother  for  the  son,  nor  the  dochter 
for  the  father  ;  which,  if  they  war  heard,  then  war  they  presently  slayne 
also."  Formerly,  when  acting  for  the  Covenanters,  Montrose  oppressed 
Aberdeen  because  it  inclined  to  the  royal  cause;  now  he  murdered  its  inhabi- 
tants because  they  supported  the  very  principles  he  had  formerly  punished 
them  for  opposing. 

But  the  overthrow  of  Charles  at  Naseby,  in  1645,  enabled  the  regular 
Scotch  army  under  Leslie  to  return.  Montrose  was  completely  defeated  at 
Philiphaugh,  and  fled  from  the  kingdom.  Afterwards  he  returned,  was  cap- 
tured, and  on  the  21st  of  May,  1650,  executed. 

The  war  in  Scotland  drove  many  to  Ulster,  and  was  rather  an  advantage 
to  the  Presbyterians  in  Ireland.  The  Parliament,  now  completely  victorious 
over  Charles,  sent  three  commissioners  to  Ulster,  lest  the  Presbyterians 
might  be  induced  to  join  Ormond  and  the  king  in  opposition  to  the  Sectaries, 
now  rising  into  power.  These  commissioners  acknowledged  the  acts  of  the 
Presbytery,  ordered  the  Covenant  to  be  tendered  at  places  where  it  had  not 
been  received  previously,  and  "  they  also  did  give  a  right  of  tithe  of  parishes 
to  as  many  of  the  new  entrants  as  did  apply  to  them." 

In  1646  the  confederate  Catholics  concluded  a  treaty  with  King  Charles, 


572  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

to  which  the  papal  nuncio  was  strongly  opposed.  In  this  opposition  he  was 
supported  by  Owen  Roe  O'Neill,  who,  afterwards,  got  so  many  of  his  own 
creatures  returned  to  the  Assembly  that  he  was  able  to  control  its  actions. 

O'Neill,  with  about  five  thousand  foot  and  five  hundred  horse,  now  made 
a  descent  on  Ulster.  General  Monro,  with  an  army  fully  as  numerous, 
took  the  field  to  oppose  him,  and  marched  to  Hamilton's  Bawn.  Colonel 
George  Monro,  son-in-law  of  the  general,  at  the  head  of  a  detachment,  was 
coming  from  Coleraine  to  join  the  main  body  ;  while  O'Neill,  stationed  at 
Benburb,  was  between  these  two  divisions  of  the  Protestant  army.  Fearing 
lest  Colonel  Monro  might  be  overwhelmed  by  the  enemy  on  his  march,  Gen- 
eral Monro,  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  June,  1646,  advanced  from  Ham- 
ilton's Bawn  to  Benburb,  with  the  intention  of  crossing  the  river  to  attack 
O'Neill.  But  the  old  castle,  with  its  four  towers,  stood  in  majestic  grandeur 
on  a  cliff  one  hundred  feet  high,  which  overhung  its  base  above  the  Black- 
water  at  the  very  spot  where  a  ford  rendered  the  passage  possible.  Monro, 
having  viewed  the  position  from  a  ridge  of  rugged  hills  just  opposite  to  the 
castle,  abandoned  his  intention  of  crossing  there,  and  marched  along  the 
Armagh  bank  of  the  river,  eight  miles  to  Caledon.  Even  now  there  is  but 
a  narrow  path  which  leads  in  the  direction  the  Scots  marched.  They  had, 
therefore,  to  toil  over  numerous  bramble-covered  hills,  and  through  the  bogs 
which  lay  between  them,  dragging  their  cannons  with  immense  labor. 
Then,  having  crossed  at  Caledon,  they  left  their  baggage  there  with  a  guard 
of  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  marched  back  towards  Benburb,  along  the 
Tyrone  side  of  the  river  —  over  hills  and  through  the  fearful  quagmires 
which  then  existed  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Blackwater,  from  Knocknacloy 
to  Tullygiven.  They  drove  before  them  a  party  of  Irish,  under  O'Ferral, 
who  tried  to  obstruct  their  progress.  Late  in  the  evening,  after  a  march  of 
more  than  twenty-five  miles,  ready  to  faint  with  fatigue,  they  came  in  front 
of  O'Neill,  who  occupied  an  advantageous  position  at  Drumflugh,  near  Ben- 
burb, with  the  Blackwater  on  the  left.  The  Irish  army  was  placed  on  a 
range  of  hills,  with  valleys  between  them.  O'Neill  then  addressed  his  men, 
telling  them  to  behold  the  enemies  of  God  and  of  their  souls,  exhorting 
them  to  fight  valiantly  against  those  who  had  deprived  them  of  their  chiefs 
and  their  children,  who  sought  for  their  spiritual  and  temporal  lives,  who 
had  taken  their  lands,  and  rendered  them  wandering  fugitives. 

Monro  opened  fire  with  his  cannons,  and  the  enemy  replied.  At  first 
the  Scots  made  some  progress,  but,  being  soon  checked,  they  began  to  lose 
ground.  O'Neill  then  advanced  to  the  attack,  and  Monro  ordered  his  cav- 
alry to  charge.  But  these  were  only  Irish  under  English  officers,  and  they 
retreated  in  disorder  through  the  foot,  making  room  for  the  enemy's  horse  to 
follow.  Then  another  squadron  of  cavalry  was  hurled  against  the  Irish  ;  but 
they,  being  hard  pressed,  got  mixed  up  with  the  foot,  and  all  fell  into  disorder. 
O'Neill  now  charged  with  his  pikemen,  and  the  Protestant  ranks  gave  way. 
At  this  critical  moment  a  detachment  of  Irish  cavalry  approached  from  the 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  573 

north,  returning  from  Dungannon,  where  they  had  engaged  Colonel  George 
Monro  with  doubtful  success.  This  reinforcement  enabled  O'Neill  to  turn 
General  Monro's  left,  while  the  charge  of  his  pikemen  had  divided  the 
Scottish  army  in  two.  One  part  was  driven  down  the  gently  sloping  hill 
from  Derrycreevy  and  Carrowbeg  to  where  the  Battleford  Bridge  now 
crosses  the  Blackwater.  Thistle  Hill,  steep  and  impassable,  was  before 
them,  the  Irish  behind  and  on  their  right,  while  to  their  left  was  the  river, 
dark  and  deep,  even  in  the  midst  of  summer.  Into  this  river  the  fugitives — 
horse  and  foot  —  were  driven  in  one  surging  mass.  The  waters  rose  high 
above  those  struggling  in  the  stream  for  life.  Yet  the  Scots  pressed  madly 
onwards,  rushing  in  on  the  top  of  the  dead  and  dying,  in  a  vain  effort  to> 
escape.  It  was  at  last  possible  to  cross  the  river  on  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  yet  very  few  succeeded  in  getting  over.  Those  behind  were  slain  by 
the  enemy,  and  it  is  admitted  by  O'Mellon  that  even  the  wounded  were 
butchered  as  they  lay  on  the  field  of  battle. 

The  second  and  smaller  division  of  Monro's  army  endeavored  to  retreat 
backward  to  Caledon.  But  it  is  stated  that  many  of  them  were  drowned  in 
Knocknacloy  Lough.  This  is  exceedingly  probable,  as  a  marsh  between  the 
lough  and  the  river  was  then  impassable,  and  the  cavalry  who  came  from 
Dungannon  would  prevent  the  Scots  retreating  in  the  direction  of  Brantry, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  lough.  Caught  as  in  a  net,  most  of  the  fugitives 
must  have  perished. 

Many  accounts  of  this  engagement  are  contradictory,  each  of  the  other, 
and  are  inconsistent  with  local  traditions  and  the  positive  assertion  of 
O'Mellon  that  the  battle  began  at  Drumflugh.  Besides,  the  statement  made 
by  Carte,  and  all  the  historians  who  follow  Carte,  that  O'Neill  had  the 
Blackwater  on  his  right,  is  untrue  ;  as,  in  that  case,  he  would  have  drawn  up 
his  men  with  their  backs  to  the  advancing  Scots.  Immense  numbers  of 
leaden  bullets  have  been  found  in  the  very  spot  where  the  battle  took  place. 
There  also  graves  can  still  be  pointed  out ;  while  no  relic  of  the  engagement 
has  been  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Oona,  where  some  imagine  it  was  fought. 

More  than  three  thousand  of  Monro's  troops  lay  slain  on  the  field  of 
battle.  The  general  himself,  without  either  hat  or  wig,  escaped  with  diffi- 
culty, and  Sir  James  Montgomery's  regiment  alone  retreated  in  order  ;  but 
Lord  Montgomery  of  Ards  was  taken  prisoner.  O'Neill  had  only  seventy 
killed  and  two  hundred  wounded.  He  captured  fifteen  hundred  horses 
and  two  months'  provisions  for  the  Scottish  army.  Having  proceeded 
to  Tandragee,  which  he  was  about  to  attack,  the  nuncio  summoned  him 
south  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the  party  who  had  made  peace  with  the 
king.  O'Neill  obeyed,  and  marching  to  Kilkenny,  threw  away  all  the  fruits 
of  the  greatest  victory  which  the  Irish  ever  gained  over  their  Saxon  masters. 

The  Presbytery  was  grieved  at  this  sudden  calamity  ;  but  it  did  not  in- 
terfere with  its  labors  in  spreading  the  Gospel,  and  several  congregations 
now  obtained  pastors.      On  the  7th  of  May,  1646,  Mr.  Patrick  Adair  was 


574  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

ordained  minister  of  Cairncastle,  near  Larne,  and  for  a  lengthened  period 
occupied  a  distinguished  position  among  his  brethren  in  the  Church.  Mr. 
Thomas  Kennedy  was  in  the  same  year  ordained  at  Donaghmore,  two  miles 
from  Dungannon.  Mr.  Kennedy  was  elder  brother  of  Mr.  Gilbert  Kennedy 
of  Dundonald,  and  nephew  of  John,  sixth  earl  of  Cassilis,  one  of  the  lay- 
assessors  of  the  Westminster  Assembly.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  Anthony 
Shaw  was  settled  in  Belfast,  Mr.  Thomas  Hall  in  Larne,  and  Mr.  Robert 
Cunningham  in  Broadisland.  The  work  of  supplying  vacant  congregations 
went  on  with  rapidity.  Presbyterians  in  great  numbers  now  came  from 
Scotland,  and  Ulster  seemed  about  to  enter  on  a  new  career  of  prosperity. 

The  marquis  of  Ormond  still  held  Dublin  for  King  Charles.  But 
despairing  of  being  able  to  gain  the  Scots,  or  to  rule  the  Kilkenny  con- 
federates, he  agreed  to  surrender  the  city  to  commissioners  of  the  English 
Parliament.  These  commissioners  reached  Dublin  in  June,  1647,  and  one 
of  their  first  acts  was  to  substitute  the  Directory  for  the  Prayer-Book,  as 
prelacy  had  been  previously  abolished  in  England.  But  as  a  body,  they 
favored  the  Independents,  and  were  hostile  to  the  Scotch  influence  in  Ire- 
land. On  the  1 6th  of  July,  the  English  regiments  in  Ulster,  which  were 
hitherto  under  Monro,  were  placed  by  Parliament  under  Colonel  George 
Monk,  one  of  the  most  renowned  time-servers  mentioned  in  history.  Monro 
still  kept  the  Scotch  forces  together,  but  next  year  he  was  surprised  in 
Carrickfergus  by  Monk,  and  sent  a  prisoner  to  England. 

The  majority  of  the  Long  Parliament  were  Puritans,  who  desired  to 
reform  the  Church  on  the  basis  of  Presbyterianism.  But  several  sects  of  en- 
thusiasts had  of  late  sprung  up  in  England.  Of  these  the  most  powerful 
were  the  Independents,  who  held  that  every  congregation  was  a  self-govern- 
ing community,  owning  no  subjection  to  either  bishop  or  presbytery.  Their 
chief  leader  was  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  they  were  as  powerful  in  the  army  as 
Presbyterians  in  the  Parliament.  In  political  matters  they  aimed  at  a  "  root 
and  branch  "  reformation,  desiring  to  establish  a  commonwealth  on  the  ruins 
of  monarchy,  while  the  Presbyterians  desired  to  merely  limit  the  king's 
power. 

The  Independents  failed  to  prevent  Parliament  resolving  to  establish 
Presbyterianism  as  the  national  religion  of  England,  but  they  succeeded  in 
preventing  that  resolution  from  being  carried  into  effect,  and  the  Presby- 
terian system  was  not  established  anywhere  except  in  Middlesex  and  Lanca- 
shire. Without  organization  it  had  no  chance  of  surviving  at  the  Restoration. 
Meanwhile,  Charles  tried  to  negotiate  with  both  parties  at  the  same  time, 
in  order  to  extirpate  "  the  one  and  the  other."  But  failing  in  these  attempts, 
he  surrendered  himself  to  the  Scottish  army  before  Newark.  The  Scots 
having  received  payment  for  their  services  in  England,  gave  up  the  king  to 
commissioners  of  the  English  Parliament,  lest  it  might  be  thought  a  breach 
of  faith  to  bring  him  to  Scotland.  In  June,  1647,  he  was  seized  by  the 
English  army.     The  Parliament  condemned  this  act  and  determined  to  con- 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  575 

tinue  negotiations  with  his  Majesty.  But  the  Parliament  itself  was  over- 
thrown by  the  force  which  had  rendered  it  supreme.  Colonel  Pride,  with  a 
detachment  of  soldiers,  seized  the  Presbyterian  members,  or  forced  them  to 
flee  from  London.  After  "  Pride's  purge,"  the  remainder,  called  the  "  Rump," 
were  controlled  by  the  army  and  the  Independents.  The  king  was  brought 
to  trial,  condemned,  and  on  the  30th  of  January,  1649,  beheaded  at  White- 
hall. The  Commons  now  abolished  the  House  of  Lords  and  the  monarchy 
itself. 

Meanwhile  the  Irish  Catholics,  disgusted  with  the  insolence  of  Rinuccini, 
the  papal  nuncio,  had  driven  him  from  power.  Ormond,  who  returned  in 
September,  1648,  had  made  a  treaty  with  the  confederates,  and  was  soon  at 
the  head  of  an  Irish  army  in  the  interest  of  the  king.  But  Monk  in  the 
east  and  Coote  in  the  west  of  Ulster,  held  the  greater  part  of  that  province 
for  the  Parliament. 

The  Presbytery,  although  in  the  power  of  these  generals,  protested 
against  the  execution  of  Charles  and  the  "  insolent  and  presumptious 
practices  "  of  the  sectarian  party  in  England.  This  representation  evoked 
the  wrath  of  John  Milton,  who  although  he  had  sworn  to  the  Covenant,  was 
angry  with  the  Westminster  Assembly  for  condemning  his  dangerous  doctrine 
of  divorce.  He  published  a  reply  to  the  Presbyterian  protest  so  full  of  scur- 
rility as  to  be  unworthy  of  the  greatest  Englishman  of  the  age.  He  calls 
Belfast  a  "  barbarous  nook  of  Ireland,"  and  accuses  the  Presbytery  of 
exhibiting  "  as  much  devilish  malice,  impudence,  and  falsehood  as  any  Irish 
rebel  could  have  uttered,"  and  declares  that  by  their  actions  he  might  rather 
judge  them  to  be  "  a  generation  of  Highland  thieves  and  red-shanks." 

For  some  time  there  had  been  five  distinct  political  parties  in  Ireland  : 
(1)  the  extreme  Catholics  under  the  leadership  of  Owen  Roe  O'Neill,  who 
wished  for  the  utter  destruction  of  Protestantism;  (2)  the  moderate  Catholics, 
who  had  made  peace  with  Ormond  ;  (3)  the  royalists,  who  supported  the 
king  "  without  the  Covenant  ";  (4)  the  Presbyterians  who  upheld  "  the  king 
and  the  Covenant  ";  and  (5)  the  republicans,  represented  by  Coote  and 
Monk. 

Monk  now  left  the  country,  and  Coote,  with  about  one  thousand  men,  the 
only  republican  force  in  Ulster,  remained  in  occupation  of  Londonderry. 
Sir  Alexander  Stewart,  with  the  Presbyterian  troops  of  the  Lagan,  sat  down 
before  that  city  in  March,  1649,  and  until  August  it  was  closely  blockaded. 
Sir  Robert  Stewart,  uncle  of  Sir  Alexander,  joined  the  besiegers  with  a  party 
of  Royalists,  and  Sir  George  Monro,  who  had  a  commission  from  Charles, 
came  with  a  number  of  Highlanders  and  Irishmen.  These  commanders 
were  afterwards  joined  by  Lord  Montgomery. 

Montgomery  had  formerly  pretended  to  be  a  zealous  Presbyterian  ;  and 
when  taken  prisoner  at  Benburb,  the  Scotch  Assembly  used  their  influence 
to  procure  his  release.  He  had  been  lately  chosen  general  by  the  Council 
of   the   Presbyterian   army   in   Ireland,  to   oppose   the   republicans.      But 


576  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

meanwhile,  through  Ormond,  he  received  a  commission  from  Charles  II.  to 
be  commander-in-chief  of  the  Royalist  forces  in  Ulster,  and  he  determined  to 
betray  the  principles  he  had  sworn  to  defend.  By  his  orders  Sir  George 
Monro  left  the  other  generals  to  conduct  the  blockade  of  Derry,  and,  captur- 
ing Coleraine,  came  to  attack  Belfast,  which  was  held  by  Colonel  Wallace 
for  the  Presbyterians.  Montgomery  now  hurried  up  his  forces,  as  if  to  de- 
fend the  town  from  Monro,  and  they  were  admitted  on  the  27th  of  June. 
He  then  threw  off  the  mask,  "  produced  his  commission  from  the  king,  and 
discharged  Wallace  of  his  trust."  Lord  Montgomery  and  Monro  now  cap- 
tured Carrickfergus,  and  on  the  nth  of  July,  Monro  again  joined  the  be- 
seigers  of  Londonderry.  Montgomery  followed  with  a  considerable  force, 
and  for  some  time  the  seige  was  vigorously  prosecuted. 

The  Presbytery  now  finding  that  Montgomery  was  for  the  king  without 
the  Covenant,  drew  up,  on  the  7th  of  July,  a  declaration  warning  their  peo- 
ple against  serving  in  the  royalist  army.  And  very  many  Presbyterians 
immediately  withdrew  from  the  beseigers  of  Londonderry,  exhibiting  a 
readiness  to  obey  the  admonitions  of  their  Church  seldom  shown  in  later  days. 

To  the  amazement  of  both  friends  and  foes,  Owen  Roe  O'Neill,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  private  treaty  with  Coote,  came  on  the  7th  of  August  to  relieve 
the  city.  Montgomery  was  compelled  to  raise  the  siege  and  return  to  his 
quarters  in  Antrim  and  Down.  O'Neill  became  ill  before  he  left  the 
neighborhood,  and  soon  afterwards  died  in  county  Cavan. 

Oliver  Cromwell  having  rendered  the  Parliament  supreme  in  England, 
and  the  independents  supreme  in  the  Parliament,  now  came  to  Ireland  to 
act  as  lord  lieutenant.  On  the  15th  of  August,  1649,  he  landed  at  Dublin.  On 
the  3d  of  September  he  invested  Drogheda,  which  had  been  garrisoned  by  the 
best  of  Ormond's  soldiers,  most  of  whom  were  English.  A  summons  to  sur- 
render being  rejected,  Cromwell  took  the  town  by  storm  on  the  nth,  and  put 
the  garrison  with  many  defenseless  inhabitants  to  the  sword.  At  Wexford 
he  exercised  the  same  severity.  Other  towns  opened  their  gates  when  sum- 
moned. Venables,  sent  north  to  co-operate  with  Coote,  met  him  at  Belfast, 
which  was  taken  on  the  30th  of  September.  On  the  6th  of  December  these 
generals  gained  a  great  victory  over  Lord  Montgomery,  not  far  from  Lis- 
burn.  Heber  M'Mahon,  bishop  of  Clogher,  at  the  head  of  the  Irish,  was 
defeated  near  Letterkenny  with  great  slaughter,  and  his  head  placed  on  one 
of  the  gates  of  Londonderry.  The  long  contest  was  over.  Ireland,  for  the 
first  time  in  her  history,  was  completely  subdued. 

During  all  this  time  the  Irish  Presbyterians  were  closely  watched  lest 
they  might  espouse  the  interest  of  Charles.  By  a  council  of  war,  an  act  of 
banishment  was  pronounced  against  their  ministers.  Many  of  them  fled 
from  the  country,  and  others,  in  the  dress  of  farmers,  travelled  through  their 
parishes  and  preached  in  private  houses,  or  in  the  fields,  at  the  risk  of  im- 
prisonment. The  "  engagement  "  was  now  pressed  on  the  occupants  of  pub- 
lic offices,  and  heavy  penalties  inflicted  on  those  who  refused  to  swear. 


Church  Rule  in  Ireland  and  its  Results  577 

But  after  Charles  left  the  kingdom,  the  government  of  Ireland  seemed 
less  inclined  to  persecute  Presbyterians,  although  the  Roman  Catholic  faith 
was  repressed  with  great  severity.  Cromwell,  when  in  the  country,  had  been 
asked  by  the  governor  of  Ross  for  a  promise  of  religious  liberty  as  a  condi- 
tion of  surrender.  In  reply,  he  declared  he  did  not  meddle  with  any  man's 
conscience  ;  but  if  a  liberty  to  "  exercise  "  the  mass  was  meant,  that  would 
not  be  permitted  where  the  Parliament  of  England  had  power. 

During  the  period  of  Episcopal  ascendancy,  the  practice  was  to  press 
with  full  force  against  Presbyterians  the  penal  laws  seldom  enforced  against 
Catholics.  The  Romanist  was  pardoned,  and  the  Presbyterian  punished 
for  violating  the  provisions  of  the  same  enactment.  But  now  the  republi- 
cans began  to  permit  Presbyterian  pastors  to  exercise  the  functions  of  their 
office,  although  Roman  priests  were  punished  with  great  severity.  Through 
the  intercession  of  Lady  Clotworthy,  mother  of  Sir  John  Clotworthy,  Mr. 
Ferguson  got  leave  to  return  to  his  work,  and  others  came  back  about  the 
same  time.  Even  the  Episcopal  Church  was  treated  tenderly.  Some  of 
the  bishops  received  small  pensions,  and  several  of  the  clergy  lectured  in 
private. 

The  Great  Protector  died  on  the  3d  of  September,  1658,  and  his  son 
Richard  was  proclaimed  his  successor.  Henry  Cromwell  was  promoted  to 
be  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  continued  to  rule  the  country  with  wis- 
dom and  vigor.  In  the  five  years  of  his  government  more  progress  was 
made  in  reducing  Ireland  to  subjection  than  in  fifty  years  under  the  Stuarts, 
Rebellion  had  been  subdued.  Life  and  property  had  been  rendered  safe. 
Liberty  of  conscience  for  almost  all  classes  of  Protestants  had  been  estab- 
lished. Many  settlers  from  England  and  Scotland  had  been  "  planted  "  in; 
the  Celtic  districts  of  the  South  and  West.  In  Ulster,  marshes  had  been 
drained,  woods  cut  down,  and  farmhouses  built.  Landlords  had  now  begun 
to  reap  the  advantages  of  higher  rent.  The  Presbyterian  colonists  had  not 
been  absorbed  or  modified  by  the  Irish  as  their  Anglo-Norman  predecessors 
had  been  in  the  past.  The  Celts  themselves  were  beginning  to  learn  the 
language  and  to  adopt  the  custom  of  their  conquerors.  Presbyterianism 
made  rapid  progress.  Congregations  were  established  not  only  in  Antrim, 
Down,  and  Derry,  but  in  Tyrone,  Armagh,  and  other  counties.  As  the 
wave  of  colonization  flowed  onwards,  ministers  went  along  with  their  coun- 
trymen. There  were  now  in  Ireland  about  seventy  Presbyterian  clergymen,, 
having  under  their  care  eighty  congregations,  and  nearly  one  hundred  thou- 
sand people.  The  Presbytery  had  become  so  large  that  it  was  sometimes 
called  a  Synod. 

In  1641,  less  than  one-third  of  the  landed  property  in  Ireland  was  owned 
by  Protestants.  But  after  Cromwell's  conquest,  as  a  result  of  vast  confisca- 
tions, they  became  owners  of  three-fourths  of  the  whole  country.  What 
remained  to  Roman  Catholic  landlords  in  Ulster,  Leinster,  or  Munster  had 
to  be  exchanged  by  them  for  an  equivalent  in  Connaught.     Many  grants 

37 


578  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

were  made  to  soldiers  of  Cromwell,  and  on  these  lands  Protestant  settlements 
were  established.  Every  popish  priest  was  banished,  and  the  celebration  of 
the  rites  of  Roman  worship  repressed  with  ruthless  severity.  But  the  rule 
of  the  Protector  did  not  last  long  enough  to  firmly  establish  Protestantism  in 
the  South  and  West ;  unfortunately  it  lasted  long  enough  to  make  that  re- 
ligion detested  by  the  Celts  ;  and  the  "  curse  of  Cromwell "  has  ever  since 
been  a  proverb. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

1  The  following  were  the  first  Calvinistic  ministers  established  in  Ulster  :  Edward  Brice, 
(from  Stirlingshire),  Broadisland,  Antrim,  1613  ;  Robert  Cunningham,  Holywood,  Down, 
161 5  ;  John  Ridge  (from  England),  Antrim,  Antrim,  1619  ;  Hubbard  (from  Eng- 
land),Carrickfergus,  Antrim,  1621;  Robert  Blair  (from  Glasgow),  Bangor,  Down,  1623  ;  James 
Hamilton  (from  Ayr),  Ballywalter,  Down,  1625  ;  Josias  Welsh  (from  Ayr),  Templepatrick, 
Antrim,  1626  ;  Andrew  Stewart,  Donegore,  Antrim,  1627  ;  George  Dunbar  (from  Ayr), 
Lame,  Down,  1628 ;  Henry  Colwort  (from  England),  Oldstone,  Down,  1629 ;  John  Living- 
ston (from  Torpichen),  Killinchy,  Down,  1630  ;  John  McClelland,  Newton-Ards,  Down, 
1630  ;  John  Semple,  Enniskillen  in  Magheriboy  and  Tyrkennedy. 

8  See  Appendix  U  (The  Adair  Manuscripts). 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 
LONDONDERRY  AND  ENNISKILLEN 

AT  first,  Cromwell's  government  pressed  hardly  on  the  Ulster  Presbyte- 
rians, and  many  of  the  settlers  were  scheduled  for  transportation  into 
Leinster  and  Munster  on  account  of  their  having  opposed  the  army  of  the 
Commonwealth.1  Cromwell  relented,  however  ;  the  orders  for  transportation 
were  not  carried  out,  although  lands  seem  to  have  been  found  for  some  of 
the  Commonwealth  soldiers  in  the  northern  counties.  The  great  majority 
of  these,  however,  settled  in  the  South."  Government  allowances  were  made 
to  the  Presbyterian  clergy  ;  and  under  Cromwell's  strict  rule  the  North  of 
Ireland  seems  to  have  recovered  steadily  from  the  terrible  blow  of  the  Re- 
bellion of  October,  1641. 

With  the  Restoration  ceased  the  intimate  connection  which  had  existed 
between  Scotland  and  her  colony  in  Ulster  ;  they  had  been  kept  together  in 
very  great  measure  by  their  common  religion,  and  now  in  both  the  Presby- 
terian Church  fell  on  evil  days,  and  had  to  fight  a  long  fight  for  very 
existence.  In  Ireland  the  Scottish  Church  had  not  to  wait  long  before  it 
received  its  quietus.  Charles  II.  landed  at  Dover  on  the  25th  of  May,  1660  ; 
his  restoration  brought  back  Episcopacy  as  a  matter  of  course  ;  but  if  the 
Irish  bishops  had  been  wise  men  it  need  not  have  brought  any  persecution 
of  the  Northern  Presbyterians,  for  it  was  insanity  for  the  two  parties  of 
Protestants  to  quarrel  in  face  of  the  enormous  mass  of  opposing  Catholics. 
There  was  no  Archbishop  Usher  now  to  restrain  the  bishops,  so  they  went 
to  work  with  a  will  ;  and  within  a  year  of  the  Restoration  every  Presbyterian 
minister,  save  six  or  seven  who  recanted,  were  driven  from  their  churches  ; 
they  were  forbidden  to  preach,  baptize,  marry,  or  exercise  any  function  of 
the  ministry.  The  old  Scottish  writer,  Wodrow,  in  his  History  of  the  Suf- 
ferings of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  gives  a  list  of  the  ejected  clergy.  The 
numbers  show  approximately  how  the  Scottish  colony  had  recovered  from 
the  effects  of  the  Rebellion  of  1641,  and  grown  in  strength  during  the  nine 
quiet  years  of  Cromwell's  government.  There  were  in  1660  sixty-eight 
Presbyterian  ministers  in  Ireland,  all  save  one  in  Ulster,  and  of  these  sixty- 
one  left  their  churches,  and  seven  conformed  to  the  Established  Church.8 
Woodrow  gives  his  reason  for  quoting  the  list  :  "  Because  I  have  always 
found  the  elder  Presbyterian  ministers  in  Ireland  reckoning  themselves  upon 
the  same  bottom  with  and,  as  it  were  a  branch  of,  the  Church  of  Scotland." 
The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland,  although  it  soon  got  back  its  liberty  to 
some  extent,  did  not  entirely  recover  from  the  blow  of  1661  until  the  next 
century  was  nearly  run  out.  The  number  of  Presbyterian  churches  in  Ulster 
gives  some  indication  of  the  population  of  Scottish  origin,  although  a  moiety 

579 


580  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

of  the  Presbyterians  were  English.  The  extent  of  the  emigration  from  Scot- 
land is,  however,  more  exactly  given  by  Sir  William  Petty  in  his  Political 
Survey  of  Ireland  in  1672.  He  takes  the  total  population  of  the  country  at 
1,100,000,  and  calculates  that  800,000  were  Irish,  200,000  English,  and  100,- 
000  Scots — of  course  the  English  were  scattered  all  over  Ireland,  the  Scots 
concentrated  in  Ulster.  Petty  divides  the  English  into  "  100,000  legal 
Protestants  or  Conformists  and  the  rest  are  Presbyterians,  Independents,. 
Anabaptists,  and  Quakers."  He  states  distinctly  that  a  very  large  emigra- 
tion had  taken  place  from  Scotland  after  Cromwell  settled  the  country  in 
1652.  The  power  of  the  Scots  must,  indeed,  have  been  so  considerable,  and 
so  much  feared  as  to  be  greatly  exaggerated,  for  it  was  asserted  in  Parlia- 
ment in  1656  that  they  "  are  able  to  raise  40,000  fighting  men  at  any  time."  * 

Charles  II. 's  reign  brought  many  remarkable  changes,  which  had  much 
effect  on  Ulster,  as  well  as  on  the  rest  of  Ireland.  It  saw  the  beginning  of 
the  "  Regium  Donum,"  the  State  grant  to  the  Presbyterians.  The  persecu- 
tion did  not  continue  as  hotly  as  it  was  begun  in  1661  ;  gradually  the  Pres- 
byterians recovered  a  portion  of  their  freedom  ;  gradually  their  ministers 
returned.  In  1672  the  Presbyterian  clergy  approached  the  king  directly. 
The  good-natured  monarch  received  them  kindly,  and  granted  them  from 
the  Irish  revenues  a  sum  of  ^1200,  to  be  given  annually  towards  their  sup- 
port. It  was  the  beginning  of  the  State  aid  to  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church, 
which  continued  with  a  slight  interval  until  put  an  end  to  by  the  Disestab- 
lishment Act  of  1869.  The  other  and  deeper  mark  made  on  Irish  history 
was  the  beginning  of  that  repression  of  Irish  industries  which  was  to  come 
into  full  force  in  Queen  Anne's  time.  The  first  blow  struck  was  an  act 
which  forbade  the  exportation  of  cattle  from  Ireland  to  England  ;  the  sec- 
ond when,  by  the  fifteenth  of  Charles  II.  (1675),  Ireland,  which  up  to  this 
time  in  commercial  matters  had  been  held  as  part  of  England,  was  brought 
under  the  Navigation  Acts,  and  her  ships  treated  as  if  belonging  to 
foreigners. 

The  Revolution  of  1688  was  accomplished  almost  without  bloodshed  in 
England  ;  in  Scotland  the  struggle  really  finished  at  Killiecrankie  ;  in  Ireland 
it  was  long  and  bloody.  Once  more  it  was  the  old  race  difference — a  cleav- 
age in  race  made  more  bitter  by  that  terrible  land  question  :  the  creation  of 
the  great  settlements  of  Elizabeth  and  James's  time,  and  of  the  yet  more 
violent  settlement  of  Cromwell.  The  Revolution  in  England  of  necessity 
brought  civil  war  to  Ireland.  The  greater  portion  of  Ireland  remained  loyal 
to  James  II.;  the  North  at  once  declared  for  William  II.  The  Protestants 
of  Ulster  universally  took  arms,  but  their  raw  militia  had  little  chance 
against  the  army  which  Tyrconnel,  the  lord  deputy,  had  got  together  in 
support  of  James  II.  Rapidly  he  overran  Ulster,  until  only  at  two  points 
was  the  cause  of  Protestantism  and  of  William  of  Orange  upheld, — at  Ennis- 
killen  and  at  Londonderry. 

The  Irish  Presbyterians  heard  with  delight  of  William's  success.     Dr. 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  581 

Duncan  Cumyng,  on  the  part  of  their  leaders,  proceeded  to  London  to  con- 
gratulate the  prince  on  his  arrival,  and  to  point  out  the  danger  in  which 
Irish  Protestantism  was  placed. 

At  that  time,  Ireland  was  prosperous,  and  provisions  were  cheap.  The 
native  Irish  lived  on  potatoes,  beans,  pounded  barley,  and  oaten  bread. 
Unless  on  festival  days,  they  seldom  tasted  beef  or  eggs.  Yet  their  craving 
for  flesh  was  strong  ;  for  when  they  chanced  to  light  on  a  carrion,  "  dead  or 
drowned,"  they  gladly  ate  it  even  when  in  loathsome  decay.  As  to  clothing 
they  wore  neither  shirts  or  shifts,  and  all  the  members  of  the  family  slept  to- 
gether on  straw  or  rushes  strewed  on  the  ground,  in  the  same  apartment 
with  their  cattle  and  their  swine.  Of  200,000  houses  in  Ireland  only  16,000 
had  more  than  one  chimney,  24,000  had  just  one  chimney,  and  160,000 
had  neither  fixed  hearth  nor  windows.  Almost  the  entire  population  lived 
in  the  country.  Belfast  in  1666  contained  not  much  more  than  a  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  when  William  arrived  could  not  have  had  much  above  two 
thousand  at  the  highest  calculation.  Besides  Belfast,  there  were  not  half  a 
dozen  places  in  Ulster  better  than  mere  country  villages.  The  religious 
bigotry  of  the  people  was  in  proportion  to  their  ignorance  and  rudeness  of 
manners.  The  Roman  Catholics  regarded  their  priests  with  feelings  of  su- 
perstition ;  and  believing  they  possessed  miraculous  power,  feared  to  dis- 
obey their  commands. 

The  authority  of  James  had  been  more  firmly  established  in  Ireland  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  kingdom.  The  lord  deputy,  Tyrconnel,  himself  a 
Roman  Catholic,  had  placed  Romanists  in  all  important  positions  of  civil 
and  military  power.  Protestants  were  dismissed  from  the  army  and  their 
arms  given  to  Roman  Catholics  before  their  eyes.  This  process  was  con- 
tinued until  very  few  except  Irish  Celts  were  left  in  the  force.  Every  Catholic 
who  could  speak  a  little  English,  and  had  a  few  cows  or  horses,  set  up  for  a 
gentleman,  wore  a  sword,  and  got  into  some  employment  to  the  exclusion 
of  a  Protestant.  Even  the  judges  were  distinguished  more  for  their  "  brogue 
and  their  blunders  "  than  for  any  knowledge  of  the  law  they  were  supposed 
to  administer.  Arms  were  supplied  to  the  Irish  peasants,  with  which  they 
committed  many  outrages  on  their  Protestant  neighbors.  The  houses  of 
the  aristocracy  were  ransacked,  the  furniture  smashed,  and  the  plate  carried 
off.  About  a  million  of  cattle  were  taken  by  force  from  their  Protestant 
owners,  or  killed  in  sheer  wantonness.  The  Irish,  who  formerly  lived  on  po- 
tatoes, oaten  bread,  and  buttermilk,  now  feasted  on  raw  beef  or  mutton  ; 
and  it  is  calculated  that,  in  all,  they  destroyed  property  belonging  to  Protes- 
tants which  was  valued  at  upwards  of  ^5,000,000  sterling. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  1688,  a  letter  addressed  to  the  earl  of  Mount- 
Alexander  was  found  on  the  street  of  Comber,  county  Down.  This  letter 
asserted  that  a  massacre  of  Protestants  had  been  arranged  for  the  9th  of  the 
same  month.  And  although  there  was  no  truth  in  this  statement,  it  was 
generally  believed.     Men  still  in  the  vigor  of  manhood  remembered  the 


582  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

fearful  massacre  of  forty-seven  years  before  ;  and  they  feared  that  the  scenes 
of  1 641  would  be  re-enacted  immediately.  Tyrconnel  declared  to  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Dublin  Protestants  that  the  report  was  untrue  ;  and  when 
they  refused  to  credit  his  assertions,  he  threw  his  wig  into  the  fire,  and  as- 
sailed them  with  a  volley  of  oaths.  But  his  lordship's  imprecations  did  not 
convince  them  that  "  Lying  Dick  Talbot "  had  learned  to  speak  truth. 
Some  of  the  ruling  caste  now  fled  from  the  kingdom  ;  but  the  majority,  not 
possessing  the  means  of  residing  in  another  country,  retired  to  the  nearest 
place  of  safety  in  their  own  land. 

The  chief  Protestant  strongholds  were  Londonderry  and  Enniskillen, 
and  to  these  towns  most  of  the  northern  colonists  fled  for  protection.  Lon- 
donderry was  then  one  of  the  chief  towns  in  Ulster,  and  contained  two  or 
three  thousand  inhabitants.  Enniskillen  was  an  unwalled  village  of  eighty 
houses,  situated  on  an  island  in  the  river  which  joins  the  two  sheets  of  water 
known  as  Lough  Erne.  Early  in  December,  the  inhabitants  of  this  little  town 
were  thrown  into  a  state  of  consternation  on  hearing  that  a  party  of  Roman 
Catholic  soldiers  were  coming  to  remain  with  them  as  a  garrison.  Captain 
Corry,  an  Episcopal  landlord  of  the  neighborhood,  wished  to  admit  the 
soldiers.  The  Rev.  Robert  Kelso,  the  Presbyterian,  clergyman,  strongly 
urged  resistance,  and  the  townsmen  adopted  his  advice,  although  they  could 
muster  only  eighty  men  fit  to  carry  arms,  and  though  their  munitions  of  war 
consisted  of  but  twenty  firelocks  and  ten  pounds  of  gunpowder.  Mr.  Kelso 
labored  both  in  public  and  in  private  to  animate  "  his  hearers  to  take  up 
arms  and  stand  upon  their  own  defence  ;  showing  example  himself  by 
wearing  arms,  and  marching  in  the  head  of  them  when  together." 

But  the  forces  of  the  Enniskillen  men  were  soon  augmented  by  friends 
of  the  same  race  and  religion,  who  had  fled  from  the  murderous  attacks  of 
Roman  Catholics  in  the  South  or  West.  Thus  reinforced  they  marched  out 
of  Enniskillen,  and  having  proceeded  about  four  miles,  encountered  a  large 
party  of  Irish  soldiers,  whose  officers  were  at  that  very  moment  dining  with 
Captain  Corry,  the  Episcopal  landlord  who  had  wished  to  admit  them  to  the 
town.  The  Irish,  left  without  leaders,  fled  at  the  first  onset.  This  speedy 
victory  silenced  all  in  Enniskillen  who  opposed  resistance  to  the  power  of 
James.  Gustavus  Hamilton  was  elected  governor  ;  an  army  of  Protestants 
was  raised,  and  from  that  time  till  the  end  of  the  war,  the  men  of  Enniskillen 
carried  on  a  vigorous  and  successful  campaign. 

But  Londonderry  was  the  chief  Protestant  stronghold  in  Ireland.  It 
was  built  on  the  slope  and  summit  of  a  hill  rising  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  river,  and  was  surrounded  by  a  wall,  which  is  now 
fifteen  feet  high.  This  wall  was  defended  by  a  number  of  cannons,  pre- 
sented to  the  town  by  some  of  the  wealthy  London  guilds.  The  French 
generals  of  James  might  regard  these  fortifications  with  contempt,  but  be- 
hind them  were  seven  thousand  of  the  bravest  men  in  Europe,  with  their 
wives  and  their  children,  for  whom  they  were  determined  to  fight  to  the  last. 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  583 

Early  in  December,  the  inhabitants  of  Deny  were  alarmed  to  hear  that  a 
Catholic  regiment  under  Lord  Antrim  was  about  to  be  placed  in  their  town 
as  a  garrison,  and  that  these  troops  were  actually  on  their  march.  This 
alarm  was  strengthened  by  a  sermon  preached  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
Derry,  showing  how  dangerous  it  was  to  spare  even  one  of  those  whom  God 
had  devoted  to  destruction.  On  the  7th  of  December,  when  a  copy  of  the 
letter  addressed  to  Lord  Mount-Alexander  was  received  by  Alderman  Tom- 
kins,  the  people  concluded  that  Lord  Antrim  was  coming  to  murder  the  in- 
habitants. A  fearful  scene  of  excitement  ensued,  and  many  determined  to 
fight  rather  than  admit  the  king's  forces.  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  Episcopalian 
bishop  of  Derry,  pointed  out  the  sin  of  disobeying  James,  the  "  Anointed  of 
the  Lord,"  but  the  people  could  not  comprehend  that  it  was  "  a  crime  to  shut 
the  gates  against  those  whom  they  believed  sent  thither  to  cut  their  throats." 
Nine  out  of  every  ten  being  Presbyterians,  they  were  the  more  inclined  to 
reject  a  policy  they  condemned,  because  it  was  advocated  by  a  man  whose 
office  they  despised.  But  when  the  Rev.  James  Gordon,  Presbyterian  min- 
ister of  Glendermot,  strongly  advised  resistance,  they  were  easily  per- 
suaded to  adopt  the  course  they  desired,  when  urged  by  one  who  held  the 
same  religious  principles  as  themselves.  The  spirit  of  the  Derry  Presby- 
terians now  rose  high.  Lord  Antrim's  soldiers  were  drawing  near.  No  time 
was  to  be  lost.  Thirteen  young  men,  since  known  to  history  as  the 
"  'Prentice  Boys  of  Derry,"  drew  their  swords,  ran  to  the  gate,  and  locked  it, 
when  the  Irish  were  only  sixty  yards  distant.  Their  names  were:  William 
Cairns,  Henry  Campsie,  William  Crookshanks,  Alexander  Cunningham, 
John  Cunningham,  Samuel  Harvey,  Samuel  Hunt,  Alexander  Irwin,  Robert 
Morrison,  Daniel  Sherrard,  Robert  Sherrard,  James  Spike,  James  Steward. 
'Wie  other  gates  were  secured  and  the  magazine  seized.  The  Irish  soldiers 
remained  outside  until  they  heard  a  man  named  James  Morrison  shouting, 
"Bring  about  a  great  gun  here,"  when  they  retired  in  haste  and  recrossed 
the  river.  Bishop  Hopkins  now  addressed  the  multitude,  telling  them  that 
in  resisting  James,  who  was  their  lawful  king,  they  were  resisting  God  Him- 
self. But  this  speech  had  no  effect,  and  he  soon  left  the  town  to  those 
whom  he  called  "  the  disloyal  Whigs." 

Roman  Catholics  were  now  excluded,  and  by  the  advice  of  David  Cairns, 
a  Presbyterian  gentleman  from  Tyrone,  six  companies  of  Protestants  were 
raised  and  armed.6  Cairns  now  set  out  for  London  to  try  to  obtain  the 
supplies  necessary  for  defending  the  town.  When  Tyrconnel  heard  that 
the  gates  of  Derry  had  been  closed  in  face  of  the  royal  army  he  was  in- 
flamed to  madness.  He  cursed  and  swore  and  threw  his  wig  into  the  fire  as 
usual.  But  as  almost  all  the  great  towns  in  England  had  already  declared 
for  William  he  began,  when  his  rage  cooled,  to  affect  moderation.  He  now 
proposed  to  garrison  Derry  with  Protestants,  and  sent  thither  Lord  Mount- 
joy  and  Colonel  Robert  Lundy,  with  six  companies,  to  reduce  the  town  to 
submission.     Mountjoy  was  a  Protestant  and  his  regiment  was  one  of  the 


584  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

few  which  contained  a  large  proportion  of  the  same  religion.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  Derry,  not  being  certain  of  William's  ultimate  success,  and  in  the 
meantime  wishing  to  absolve  themselves  from  "  tincture  of  rebellion " 
against  James,  permitted  Lundy,  who  was  a  Scottish  Episcopalian,  with  two 
troops  of  Protestant  soldiers,  to  enter  the  town.  The  inhabitants  meanwhile 
were  to  have  liberty  to  keep  their  own  companies  under  arms. 

After  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  overthrown  all  opposition  in  England, 
he  sent  Richard  Hamilton  to  offer  terms  to  Tyrconnel,  who  seemed  inclined 
to  submit.  But  his  hesitation  was  probably  to  gain  time.  When  Hamilton 
arrived  in  Dublin  he  failed  to  persuade  Tyrconnel  to  betray  James,  but  was 
himself  easily  induced  to  betray  William  and  accept  of  a  command  in  the 
Irish  army.  Tyrconnel,  finding  that  Mountjoy's  presence  was  troublesome, 
sent  him  with  Baron  Rice  on  a  mission  to  France.  Mountjoy  was  told  to 
inform  James  that  it  would  be  useless  to  try  the  fate  of  war  in  Ireland.  But 
Rice  was  instructed  to  get  his  companion  placed  in  prison,  and  to  urge 
James  to  come  over  at  once  with  a  French  force.  Should  he  refuse,  then 
Rice  was  to  offer  Ireland  to  Louis  of  France.  This  message  was  faithfully 
delivered,  and  Mountjoy  was  placed  in  prison,  where  he  was  detained  for 
more  than  three  years. 

Tyrconnel  now  began  to  raise  troops  and  occupy  all  the  passes  leading 
to  the  North.  Protestants  were  ordered  to  deliver  up  their  arms,  but  no  at- 
tempt was  made  to  disarm  the  native  Irish,  who  everywhere,  except  in  Ulster, 
carried  on  their  work  of  destruction.  They  embraced  with  ardor  the  cause 
of  King  James,  since  it  would  give  them  an  opportunity  of  robbing  and 
murdering  their  Protestant  neighbors.  To  obtain  that  privilege  they  would 
as  willingly  have  fought  against  James  as  for  him. 

The  arrest  of  Mountjoy  in  France  created  consternation  among  all  the 
Protestants  of  Ireland,  and  most  of  them  fled  from  their  homes  for  safety. 
The  Protestant  leaders  formed  a  council  at  Hillsborough,  and  put  them- 
selves in  a  position  of  defence.  But  on  the  21st  of  February,  1689, 
their  forces  were  defeated  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  surprise  Carrick- 
fergus  Castle,  and  the  government  of  James  afterwards  treated  them  as 
rebels. 

On  the  13th  of  February,  William  and  Mary,  having  accepted  the  crown, 
were  proclaimed  king  and  queen  in  London.  Similar  proclamations  were 
afterwards  made  in  those  towns  of  Ulster  where  the  Protestants  were 
supreme.  On  the  12th  of  March,  James  landed  at  Kinsale  and  was  warmly 
received  by  the  native  Irish  and  by  the  Episcopal  clergy.  We  are  told  in 
Ireland's  Lamentation  that  the  king  was  so  greatly  annoyed  by  "rude 
country  Irish  gentlewomen  "  who  persisted  in  kissing  him  that  he  ordered 
them  to  be  kept  at  a  distance.  His  progress  was  slow,  as  he  rode  on  horse- 
back over  miserable  roads,  and  it  was  the  24th  of  the  month  before  he 
reached  Dublin.  Here  he  called  a  parliament  which  met  at  Dublin 
May  7th.8 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  585 

Tyrconnel  had  already  sent  a  Presbyterian  minister  —  the  Rev.  Alex- 
ander Osborne,  of  Dublin — to  the  Protestant  gentry  in  arms,  with  an  offer  of 
favorable  terms  of  surrender.  These  proposals  Mr.  Osborne  communicated 
to  Sir  Arthur  Rawdon,  but,  at  the  same  time,  conveyed  a  private  warning 
that  the  lord  deputy  could  not  be  trusted,  as  he  had  broken  "  all  such  cap- 
itulations "  made  with  Protestants  in  the  South  and  West.  The  council, 
therefore,  rejected  the  deputy's  terms,  and  began  to  prepare  for  resisting  the 
renegade,  Richard  Hamilton,  who  was  on  his  march  with  troops  to  reduce 
them  to  submission.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Protestant  leaders  on  the  14th  of 
March,  nine  Presbyterian  clergymen  offered  to  raise  forces  to  fight  for 
William  and  Mary.  This  offer  was  gladly  accepted  ;  but  it  was  too  late. 
Hamilton  had  arrived  at  Newry  before  it  was  thought  that  he  had  left  Dub- 
lin. And  on  the  very  day  this  offer  was  made,  the  Protestants,  under  Sir 
Arthur  Rawdon,  were,  at  the  first  onset,  completely  defeated  by  Hamilton  in 
an  engagement  commonly  known  as  "The  Break  of  Dromore."  Some  of  the 
colonists  now  submitted  to  James,  and  took  protection  ;  but  the  majority  fled 
northwards,  or  left  the  country  altogether.  Unable  to  carry  their  household 
furniture  with  them,  they  smashed  it  to  bits,  and  threw  their  provisions  into 
the  ditches  lest  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Some  Protes- 
tants took  refuge  in  Coleraine,  where,  on  the  27th  of  March,  they  repelled  an 
attack  of  Hamilton.  But  they  had  to  contend  with  the  treachery  of  pretended 
friends,  as  well  as  with  the  open  hostility  of  enemies. 

When  Mountjoy  withdrew  from  Derry,  he  was  succeeded  by  Lundy,  who 
soon  afterwards  submitted  to  William,  that  he  might  retain  his  authority  and 
have  an  opportunity  of  betraying  the  town.  On  the  21st  of  March,  he  and 
other  officers  of  the  army,  with  several  leading  citizens,  signed  a  declaration 
by  which  they  all  bound  themselves  to  oppose  "  the  Irish  enemy."  7  On  that 
same  day,  Captain  James  Hamilton  arrived  at  Derry,  from  England,  with 
arms,  ammunition,  and  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  pounds  of  money.  He 
carried  a  commission  for  Colonel  Lundy  to  be  governor  of  the  city,  which 
was  given  to  him  after  he  had  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  King  William. 
Having  now  obtained  an  official  position  of  authority,  Lundy  began  to 
use  all  the  power  attached  to  that  position  to  advance  the  cause  of  James. 
Although  he  had  five  hundred  barrels  of  powder  in  his  stores,  he  refused  to 
send  ammunition  to  towns  that  wished  to  resist  the  enemy  ;  and  although 
provisions  were  so  plenty  that  a  goose  could  be  bought  for  three  pence,  forty- 
five  eggs  for  a  penny,  and  a  quarter  of  beef  for  four  shillings,  he  made  no 
attempt  to  lay  up  a  necessary  store.  He  ordered  all  garrisons  of  Ulster  to 
withdraw  to  Derry  on  the  plea  that  he  had  plenty  of  provisions  there,  and 
soon  afterwards  proposed  to  surrender  that  city  on  the  plea  that  his  provisions 
were  insufficient. 

On  the  10th  of  April,  Counsellor  Cairns  returned  from  London  to  Lon- 
donderry. He  brought  a  letter  from  King  William  to  Lundy,  containing 
promise  of  speedy  assistance  ;  but  it  produced  no  effect  on  the  governor, 


586  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

whose  object  was  to  betray  the  city.  Nevertheless,  he  signed  an  agreement 
with  his  officers  to  stand  by  his  post  to  the  last.8 

Richard  Hamilton  now  marched  towards  Londonderry.  Unable  to  cross 
the  river  at  Waterside,  he  directed  his  course  to  Strabane,  where  the  Mourne 
and  Finn  unite  to  form  the  Foyle.  A  few  resolute  men  there  might  have 
prevented  his  passage,  but  Lundy  had  arranged  everything  so  that  he  might 
cross  in  safety.  Several  regiments  were  ordered  to  guard  the  river  at  Clady 
and  Lifford,  but  they  were  neither  sent  in  time  nor  supplied  with  sufficient 
ammunition.  The  Irish  crossed  the  Mourne  without  opposition,  and  early 
on  the  fifteenth  came  to  the  Finn  at  Clady,  where  the  bridge  had  been  broken 
down.  The  main  body  of  the  Protestants  had  not  arrived,  and  their 
infantry,  who  guarded  the  ford,  were  easily  routed  ;  but  Captain  Murray 
with  about  thirty  cavalry  disputed  the  passage  till  they  had  exhausted  the 
three  rounds  of  ammunition  with  which  each  man  had  been  supplied.  The 
Irish  then  crossed  without  difficulty. 

Meanwhile  the  main  body  of  the  Protestant  army,  numbering  nearly  ten 
thousand  men,  were  concentrating  nearer  Derry  ;  but  finding  the  enemy  had 
crossed,  they  fled  without  resistance.  Lundy  had  not  set  out  for  the  scene  of 
conflict  until  the  Irish  had  made  good  their  passage.  Meeting  his  own  troops 
retreating  before  the  enemy,  he  never  attempted  to  rally  them,  but  returned 
to  the  city  as  quickly  as  he  could,  and  closed  the  gates  on  many  of  the 
Protestant  fugitives  who  were  forced  to  remain  outside,  in  danger  of  being 
attacked  by  the  Irish.  That  very  day,  Colonel  Cunningham  and  Colonel 
Richards  arrived  in  Lough  Foyle  with  two  regiments  which  King  William  had 
despatched  to  assist  the  townsmen.  Lundy  and  a  few  of  his  friends  on  whom 
he  could  depend  held  a  council  of  war  with  Cunningham,  Richards,  and  some 
of  their  officers.  He  represented  that  the  provisions  in  Derry  could  not  last 
more  than  eight  or  ten  days,  and  that  the  place  was  not  tenable  against  such 
an  army  as  now  marched  to  the  assault.  Therefore  he  advised  that  the  two 
regiments  be  sent  back,  and  the  townspeople  permitted  to  make  terms  with 
the  enemy.  This  proposition  was  opposed  by  Richards,  who  said  that 
"quitting  the  town  was  quitting  of  a  kingdom";  but  Lundy  carried  his 
point,  and  the  troops  were  sent  back  to  England  without  being  permitted  to 
land. 

King  James  had  travelled  northwards  to  join  his  army.  On  the 
14th  of  April,  he  reached  Omagh.  The  inhabitants  had  fled  to  Derry,  and, 
before  leaving,  had  destroyed  what  they  could  not  carry  with  them.  The 
houses  were  without  windows,  and  the  country  without  provisions.  The  roads 
were  bad  and  the  weather  unfavorable.  But  the  hopes  of  a  speedy  victory 
through  Lundy's  treachery  impelled  James  to  proceed  to  Derry,  which,  on  the 
seventeenth,  he  summoned  to  surrender. 

Within  the  walls,  the  Protestants  were,  meanwhile,  beginning  to  discover 
the  true  state  of  affairs.  Lundy's  action  in  having  the  two  regiments  sent 
back  to  England  convinced  them  of  that  treachery  which  they  previously 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  587 

had  only  suspected.  They  now  became  mutinous,  and,  in  their  rage,  fired 
on  some  officers  who  were  escaping  from  the  city,  killing  one  and  wounding 
another.  Meanwhile  Lundy  was  still  proceeding  with  his  plans  for 
surrender.  In  answer  to  the  summons  of  James,  he  sent  Archdeacon  Hamil- 
ton and  two  other  gentlemen  to  see  what  terms  his  Majesty  would  grant. 
But  when  Hamilton  and  his  companions  returned,  they  were  refused 
admission  by  the  citizens. 

On  the  eighteenth,  King  James  advanced  with  his  army  to  the  walls,  ex- 
pecting the  influence  of  Lundy  to  prevent  active  opposition  to  his  admission. 
But  those  who  guarded  the  gates,  contrary  to  the  express  orders  of  the 
governor,  fired  on  the  advancing  soldiers,  and  killed  an  officer  at  the  king's 
side.  His  Majesty  now  retired  to  a  safe  distance,  and  awaited  the  result 
of  his  negotiations. 

The  people,  finding  they  were  betrayed,  became  fearfully  excited.  They 
threatened  to  kill  Colonel  Whitney,  whom  Lundy  sent  to  order  them  not  to 
fire  at  the  Irish  army,  and  they  wanted  nothing  but  a  leader  to  depose  the 
traitor  within,  and  resist  the  enemy  without.  At  that  moment  Adam  Murray 
arrived  from  Culmore  with  a  party  of  cavalry.  Murray  was  a  Presbyterian. 
His  ancestors  lived  at  Philiphaugh,  in  Scotland,  and  he  himself  resided  at 
Ling,  on  the  Faughanwater.  After  the  defeat  at  Cladyford,  he  retired  to 
Culmore.  But  just  as  King  James  was  seeking  admission  to  the  city  he  ap- 
proached at  the  head  of  a  large  party  of  horsemen.  Lundy  and  his  council 
were  then  sitting  to  arrange  a  surrender.  The  arrival  of  Murray  filled  them 
with  alarm,  as  they  knew  his  entrance  would  destroy  their  design.  Accord- 
ingly, they  sent  him  word  to  withdraw  his  cavalry  to  the  back  side  of  the 
hill,  out  of  sight  of  all  those  who  occupied  the  walls.  Astonished  at  these 
orders,  he  questioned  the  messenger,  a  relative  of  his  own,  and  from  him 
found  out  that  the  governor  was  then  negotiating  a  surrender.  Murray  now 
hastened  to  the  town  with  all  speed,  but  found  the  gates  closed  and  admis- 
sion refused.  After  some  parley,  the  Rev.  George  Walker,  acting  on  behalf 
of  the  council,  offered  to  permit  Murray  himself  to  be  drawn  up  the  wall  by 
a  rope,  and  admitted,  on  condition  that  his  troops  should  be  excluded.  But 
this  offer  was  refused  with  disdain,  and  "  in  opposition  to  the  orders  of  Lundy 
and  the  exertions  of  Walker,"  the  gates  were  opened  by  Captain  Morrison. 
Murray  and  his  men  were  received  with  enthusiasm,  and  the  city  saved  from 
surrender. 

Meanwhile  the  council  had  agreed  to  capitulate.  But,  alarmed  when  they 
found  Murray  had  entered,  they  summoned  him  to  appear  before  them.  He 
came  accompanied  by  his  friends,  with  the  air  of  one  in  authority,  and  re- 
fused with  indignation  to  sign  the  terms  of  surrender.  He  openly  accused 
Lundy  of  treachery,  and  told  him  that  his  neglect  to  guard  the  fords  at 
Strabane  was  the  cause  of  their  present  difficulties.  He  then  left  the  council 
and  began  to  make  preparations  for  defending  the  city.  Lundy  now  tried  to 
persuade  some  Presbyterian  ministers  to  advise  Murray  and  his  followers, 


588  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

who  were  nearly  all  of  the  same  faith,  to  agree  to  the  terms  of  surrender.  But 
the  ministers  refused  to  give  an  advice  contrary  to  their  convictions. 

The  position  of  affairs  in  Derry  now  suddenly  changed.  Murray  was 
master  of  the  town.  He  compelled  the  captain  of  the  guard  to  deliver  up 
the  keys,  and  placed  on  the  walls  men  in  whom  he  could  trust.  He  was  then 
requested  to  become  governor  himself,  but  unfortunately  refused,  declaring 
that  his  talents  were  rather  for  the  field  than  for  "  conduct  or  government  in 
the  town."  A  council  met  to  choose  a  governor.  Baker,  Mitchelburn,  and 
Johnston  were  nominated,  but  Baker,  having  the  majority,  was  selected. 
The  new  governor  then  asked  permission  to  have  an  assistant  to  manage  the 
department  of  "  stores  and  provisions."  This  being  granted,  he  selected  the 
Rev.  George  Walker,  rector  of  Donaghmore,  near  Dungannon.  Lundy,  dis- 
guised as  a  soldier,  escaped  from  the  town,  made  his  way  to  Scotland,  and 
afterwards,  together  with  his  dupes,  Cunningham  and  Richards,  was 
dismissed  from  his  Majesty's  service. 

There  were  now  about  twenty  thousand  people  within  the  walls  of  Derry, 
of  whom  seven  thousand  were  able  to  bear  arms.  The  fighting  men  were 
divided  into  eight  regiments,  each  under  a  colonel ;  but  Murray  was 
""  general  in  the  field  upon  all  sallies."  James  now  sent  the  earl  of  Aber- 
corn to  offer  the  town  favorable  terms  of  surrender.  The  citizens  would  all 
receive  a  free  pardon,  and  Murray  a  thousand  pounds  for  himself  and  a 
colonel's  commission.  Abercorn  was  met  at  the  gate  by  Murray,  who, 
refusing  to  betray  his  race  and  his  religion  for  any  personal  advantage, 
rejected  these  proposals  with  disdain. 

When  King  James  found  that  the  town  could  not  be  taken  unless  by  a 
regular  siege,  he  returned  to  Dublin,  leaving  the  command  to  Maumont,  who 
now  surrounded  the  city,  and  began  to  throw  in  shells  from  Waterside. 
On  the  21st  of  April  a  large  party  of  the  garrison  made  a  sally.  Colonel 
Murray  at  the  head  of  the  cavalry  charged  through  the  enemy.  Three  times 
he  met  their  commander,  General  Maumont  himself,  who,  at  the  final  en- 
counter, was  killed. 

By  the  death  of  Maumont,  Richard  Hamilton  again  became  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Irish  army. 

In  this  encounter  the  Protestants  did  not  lose  more  than  a  dozen  men, 
while  the  enemy  lost  about  two  hundred.  But  this  advantage  was  more  than 
counterbalanced  two  days  afterwards  when  the  besiegers,  by  capitulation, 
obtained  possession  of  Culmore  Fort,  situated  four  miles  north  of  Derry,  com- 
manding the  entrance  to  the  Foyle,  and  rendering  relief  from  the  sea  exceed- 
ingly difficult.  Encouraged  by  their  success  in  the  field,  the  Protestants 
sallied  out  on  the  twenty-fifth  in  the  direction  of  Pennyburn.  There  was  a 
series  of  skirmishes  that  day,  with  varying  success,  but  the  garrison  lost  only 
two  men  killed  and  a  dozen  wounded.  On  the  side  of  the  enemy  the  loss 
was  considerable.  The  earl  of  Abercorn  had  his  horse  killed,  and  escaped 
with  difficulty,  leaving  behind  his  saddle  and  his  scarlet  cloak. 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  589 

Late  on  the  night  of  the  5th  of  May,  the  besiegers,  under  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Ramsay,  made  an  attack  on  Windmill  Hill,  a  little  to  the  southwest 
of  the  city.  They  drove  back  a  few  men  who  were  guarding  the  place,  and, 
taking  advantage  of  some  old  ditches,  began  to  throw  up  earthworks.  Their 
object  was  to  retain  this  place  for  a  battery,  and  thereby  attack  the  walls  with 
better  hope  of  success.  Governor  Baker,  having  determined  to  drive  the 
enemy  from  this  position  so  dangerous  to  the  garrison,  ordered  ten  men  to  be 
selected  from  each  company  to  make  an  attack.  But  before  his  arrangements 
were  complete,  a  great  number  of  the  soldiers,  having  become  impatient, 
rushed  out  at  Bishop's  gate  and  Ferry-quay  gate,  under  the  leadership  of  some 
inferior  officers,  and  made  a  furious  attack  on  the  enemy.  Both  parties  fought 
hand  to  hand,  as  if  the  fate  of  the  town  depended  upon  the  event  of  that 
summer  morning.  From  daylight  till  noon  the  bloody  conflict  continued.  Sa 
close  were  the  combatants  engaged  that  often  they  struck  one  another  with 
the  butts  of  their  muskets.  After  a  fearful  struggle,  the  citizen  soldiers  were 
victorious.  With  a  loss  of  only  four  killed  and  twenty  wounded,  the  enemy 
were  put  to  flight,  Ramsay  and  two  hundred  of  his  men  were  slain,  and  five 
hundred  wounded.  Lord  Netterville,  Sir  Gerard  Aylmer,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Talbot,  and  Lieutenant  Newcomen  were  taken  prisoners.  The 
Protestants  then  fortified  Windmill  Hill  and  retained  possession  of  it  after- 
wards in  spite  of  the  enemy. 

The  siege  now  became  a  blockade.  Sixteen  forts  erected  round  the  city 
prevented  any  possibility  of  obtaining  provisions  by  sudden  sallies  ;  and  the 
enemy  hoped  to  conquer  by  famine  men  whom  they  had  failed  to  subdue  by 
the  sword.  It  soon  became  well  known  that  Murray  was  the  moving  spirit 
among  those  by  whom  the  town  was  defended. 

Hamilton  now  determined  to  try  whether  filial  love  would  be  more  pow- 
erful than  bribery  to  induce  Murray  to  make  the  town  surrender.  Accord- 
ingly he  seized  the  Colonel's  father,  an  old  man  of  eighty,  who  resided  a  few 
miles  from  Derry,  and  threatened  to  hang  him  unless  he  would  induce  his 
son  to  capitulate.  The  old  man  went  into  the  town  as  desired,  but,  regardless 
of  consequences,  advised  his  son  to  hold  out  to  the  last.  Murray  refused  to 
yield.  His  father  returned  to  the  camp,  and  Hamilton,  to  his  credit,  permitted 
him  to  go  home  unmolested. 

On  Saturday,  the  18th  of  May,  Captain  John  Cunningham  and  Captain 
Noble,  with  about  a  hundred  men,  made  an  attack  on  a  fort  which  stood  on 
the  hill  above  Creggan.  At  first  they  seemed  likely  to  succeed  ;  but  a  party 
of  the  enemy's  cavalry  got  between  them  and  the  city.  With  all  the  energy 
of  despair,  they  cut  their  way  back  through  the  opposing  horsemen,  but 
Captain  Cunningham  and  about  sixteen  others  were  killed. 

Towards  the  end  of  May,  the  Rev.  George  Walker,  assistant  governor,  was 
strongly  suspected  of  embezzling  the  stores  and  endeavoring  to  surrender 
the  city.  Besides,  he  was  accused  of  certain  "  personal  vices,"  which  from 
statements  of  Dr.  Davis  and  Mackenzie  were  in  all  probability  habits  of 


590  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

drunkenness.  Colonels  Murray,  Hamil,  Crofton,  and  Monro,  together  with 
upwards  of  a  hundred  other  officers,  "  subscribed  a  resolution  to  prosecute 
him  "  on  these  charges.  But  Governor  Baker  got  the  matter  settled  by  the 
appointment  of  a  council  of  fourteen,  whom  the  governors  were  bound  to 
consult  on  every  matter  of  importance.  All  the  colonels  had  seats  in  this 
council,  and  besides  there  were  representatives  of  the  town  and  of  the 
country.  Each  member  had  to  swear  that  he  would  not  treat  with  the  enemy 
without  the  "  knowledge  and  order "  of  that  council  in  its  collective 
capacity. 

Meanwhile  the  cannonade  continued.  Day  by  day  the  great  guns  of 
James  played  on  the  town,  and  the  great  guns  on  the  wall  and  on  the  flat 
roof  of  the  cathedral  replied.  New  batteries  were  erected  and  the  city  was 
assailed  from  every  side.  At  first  the  shells  used  by  the  besiegers  were 
small,  but  afterwards  they  were  so  large  that  they  tore  up  the  streets  and 
often  killed  the  inhabitants  in  their  houses,  and  even  in  their  cellars,  to 
which  they  had  fled  for  safety.  The  pavements  were  now  dug  up  that  the 
bombs  might  sink  into  the  soft  earth  where  they  fell. 

Although  Presbyterians  constituted  a  very  great  majority  of  the  Protestant 
inhabitants  of  Derry,  they  had  been  compelled  to  erect  their  meeting-house 
outside  the  walls.  It  had  been  lately  destroyed,  and  within  the  city  there 
was  no  place  of  worship  except  the  cathedral.  This  building  was  used 
during  the  siege  by  both  denominations  of  Protestants.  In  the  morning  it 
was  occupied  by  those  who  used  the  liturgy,  but  then  there  was  only  a  thin 
attendance.  In  the  afternoon  it  was  at  the  disposal  of  dissenters,  but  it 
was  not  sufficient  to  contain  the  numbers  who  desired  to  worship  according 
to  the  more  simple  form.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  have  four  or  five 
other  places  of  meeting.  We  learn  from  Mackenzie's  journal,  that  on  Tues- 
day, the  2 1 st  of  May,  "the  Nonconformists  kept  a  solemn  fast,  and  had 
sermons  in  two  places  of  the  city  besides  the  cathedral,  where  there  were 
considerable  collections  made  for  the  poor."  The  Episcopal  ministers 
in  the  town  were  maintained  from  the  stores,  or  had  a  weekly  allowance 
of  money.  The  other  clergymen  received  nothing  from  any  public 
source.  During  the  siege  there  were  eight  Presbyterian  and  eighteen  Epis- 
copal ministers  in  the  town.  Mackenzie  acted  as  chaplain  for  Walker's 
regiment,  who  were  almost  all  Presbyterians.  Although  the  governors  and 
a  large  proportion  of  the  superior  officers  were  Episcopalians,  more  than 
ninety  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  rank  and  file  were  Scotch  Presbyterians. 
They  in  reality  saved  the  town  for  Ireland  and  Ireland  for  the  kingdom. 

On  Tuesday,  the  4th  of  June,  the  enemy  made  a  most  determined 
attempt  to  recapture  Windmill  Hill.  They  came  on  from  different  direc- 
tions with  both  infantry  and  cavalry.  The  cavalry  advanced  by  way  of  the 
Strand,  wearing  armor  under  their  clothes,  and  carrying  faggots  before  them 
with  which  to  fill  up  the  trenches.  The  garrison,  finding  that  their  balls 
struck  these  men  without   result,  aimed  at  their  horses.      The   assailants, 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  591 

thrown  into  confusion,  were  attacked  by  a  large  party  under  Captains  James 
and  John  Gladstanes.  Most  of  the  enemy  were  killed  or  driven  into  the 
river,  and  their  commander,  Captain  Butler,  taken  prisoner.  Meanwhile 
their  infantry  had  made  an  attack  between  the  windmill  and  the  river,  and 
had  assailed  some  forts  at  the  Bogside.  They  advanced  in  face  of  a  fearful 
storm  of  shot,  for  the  garrison,  drawn  up  in  three  lines,  were  enabled,  by  dis- 
charging successively,  to  maintain  an  almost  continual  fire.  The  women 
supplied  their  husbands  with  food,  drink,  and  ammunition,  and,  when  the 
enemy  drew  near,  assailed  them  with  volleys  of  stones,  which  did  consider- 
able execution.  But  still  the  Irish  advanced.  They  came  up  to  the  very 
works,  when  some  of  them  were  pulled  over  by  the  hair  of  their  heads. 
Failing  to  force  an  entrance,  the  survivors  at  length  retreated,  carrying  bodies 
on  their  backs  as  a  protection  from  the  volleys  of  shot  sent  after  them. 
The  enemy  had  about  four  hundred  killed  and  wounded,  and  besides  some 
were  taken  prisoners,  while  the  citizens  lost  only  five  or  six  men.  That 
night  many  bombs  were  thrown  into  the  city.  Of  these  one  weighed  two 
hundred  and  seventy-three  pounds  and  was  charged  with  seventeen  pounds 
of  powder.  The  garrison  now  began  to  stand  in  need  of  balls  themselves, 
and  they  used  bricks  cased  in  lead,  which  answered  their  purpose  very  well. 

The  defence  of  Derry  had  excited  the  admiration  and  sympathy  of 
England.  In  order  to  relieve  the  city,  the  Government  sent  an  expedition 
under  the  command  of  Major-General  Kirke,  notorious  for  the  cruelty  with 
which  he  treated  the  unfortunate  country  people  concerned  in  Monmouth's 
rebellion.  Kirke  arrived  in  Lough  Foyle  early  in  June,  and  on  the  eighth, 
one  of  his  ships,  in  attacking  Culmore  Fort,  ran  aground  and  was  consider- 
ably injured  by  the  enemy's  cannon  before  the  rising  tide  enabled  her  to 
float.  For  some  days  afterwards  nothing  more  was  attempted,  but  on  the 
thirteenth,  the  sentinels  on  the  cathedral  tower  saw  thirty  vessels  in  Lough 
Foyle.  Soon  the  news  spread  throughout  the  city,  and  a  thrill  of  joy  excited 
the  hearts  of  the  brave  men  who  held  the  town  when  they  saw  the  approach 
of  assistance. 

The  Irish,  now  fearing  lest  relief  might  be  conveyed  up  the  river  to  the 
besieged  city,  made  a  boom  of  wood,  bound  with  iron  and  secured  by  chains, 
which  they  placed  in  a  narrow  part  of  the  river  between  Culmore  and  the 
town.  This  boom,  constructed  of  materials  which  were  too  heavy,  sank  and 
was  broken.  Another  was  made  with  fir  beams  bound  with  chains.  One  end 
was  secured  by  a  bridge,  and  the  other  by  woodwork  and  masonry.  It  floated 
on  the  water  and  was  considered  sufficiently  strong  to  prevent  the  passage  of 
any  ship  up  the  river. 

During  this  time  the  fleet  lay  idle,  and  the  citizens  began  to  grow  impatient. 
Disappointed  in  obtaining  speedy  relief  by  sea,  they  turned  their  thoughts  to 
the  Enniskillen  men,  who,  a  few  days  before,  had  marched  as  far  as  Omagh. 
Colonel  Murray,  with  about  twenty  men,  embarked,  during  the  night  of 
the  1 8th  of  June,  in  a  lately  constructed  boat,  hoping  to  land  two  boys  at 


592  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Dunnalong  Wood,  about  four  miles  up  the  river,  from  whence  it  was  hoped 
they  might  make  their  way  to  Enniskillen.  But  the  boat  was  soon  discovered 
by  the  enemy,  and  nearly  struck  by  one  of  their  numerous  cannon-shots.  Hav- 
ing arrived  at  the  wood,  the  boys  were  so  much  frightened  that  no  persuasion 
could  force  them  to  land.  The  party  now  turned  back,  and  the  first  light  of 
a  summer  morning  enabled  them  to  discover  that  they  had  been  followed  by 
two  of  the  enemy's  boats  which,  manned  by  dragoons,  were  now  in  their  way 
as  they  returned.  A  fearful  engagement  ensued.  Both  sides  fired  until  they 
had  exhausted  their  shot.  One  of  the  enemy's  boats  then  came  close,  and  the 
dragoons  tried  to  board,  but  Murray's  men  killed  a  lieutenant  and  three  of 
the  soldiers  with  their  weapons,  and  threw  others  into  the  water.  The  re- 
mainder surrendered,  and  the  occupants  of  the  second  boat,  seeing  that  the 
other  had  been  captured,  made  off  as  quickly  as  possible.  Murray,  with  his 
prize,  now  returned  to  the  city  amidst  a  fearful  fire  from  the  shore.  A  ball 
hit  him  on  the  helmet  and  bruised  his  head,  but  he  was  the  only  one  of  his 
party  struck,  and  the  thirteen  prisoners  were  landed  in  safety. 

On  the  very  day  Murray  returned  from  this  expedition,  the  question  of 
relieving  the  city  was  discussed  by  the  officers  of  the  fleet  at  a  council  of  war 
held  on  board  the  Swallow.  It  was  determined  that,  since  the  garrison  were 
not  pressed  by  the  enemy  or  by  want  of  provisions,  they  would  wait  until  such 
forces  arrived  from  England  as  would  make  it  possible  by  land  to  raise  the 
siege  ;  or  until  they  would  receive  word  that  the  condition  of  affairs  was  des- 
perate in  the  city.  Accordingly  Kirke  made  no  attempt  to  send  supplies  up 
the  river,  although  the  wind  was  favorable,  but  lay  inactive  in  the  lough. 

While  there,  he  succeeded  in  communicating  with  the  garrison.  A  man 
named  Roche,  who  was  afterwards  a  captain  in  William's  army,  and  a  com- 
panion named  Cromie,  made  their  way  from  the  fleet  up  the  bank  of  the  river 
until  they  were  opposite  the  town.  Roche  then  undressed,  swam  over,  and 
got  four  guns  fired  from  the  cathedral  tower  as  a  sign  of  his  safe  arrival.  But 
Cromie,  being  unable  to  swim,  had  to  remain  behind,  and  was  taken  by  the 
enemy.  Roche  on  his  return  went  to  the  place  where  he  had  previously  left . 
his  clothes,  but  was  discovered  by  the  Irish  and  pursued  for  three  miles  as 
he  ran  naked  through  the  woods  torn  by  brambles.  At  last,  he  was  overtaken 
by  the  enemy  and  his  jaw  broken  by  a  blow  from  a  halbert.  But  he  suc- 
ceeded in  plunging  into  the  river,  and,  notwithstanding  many  wounds,  made 
his  way,  amid  a  storm  of  bullets,  back  to  the  city.  Afterwards,  a  man  named 
M'Gimpsy  volunteered  to  Colonel  Murray  to  swim  to  the  fleet.  He  carried  a 
letter  in  a  small  bladder  tied  round  his  neck.  In  the  bladder  were  also  two 
bullets,  so  that,  if  pursued,  he  could,  by  breaking  the  string  allow  all  to  sink 
to  the  bottom.  But  M'Gimpsy  was  drowned  in  the  river,  and  the  letter 
describing  the  desperate  condition  of  the  citizens  was  found  by  the  enemy. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  the  arrival  of  young  Lord  Clancarty  with  his  regi- 
ment, to  reinforce  the  besiegers,  created  great  enthusiasm  among  the  Irish, 
as  they  firmly  believed  in  the  truth  of  an  old  prophecy  that  Clancarty  would^ 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  593 

one  day  knock  at  the  gates  of  Derry.  The  very  night  of  his  arrival  he  made 
a  vigorous  attack  on  the  bulwarks  at  Butcher's  gate.  But  the  defenders  fired 
furiously  from  the  walls.  A  party  under  Noble  sallied  out,  and  after  a  hard 
contested  fight  drove  off  the  assailants.  Clancarty  may  be  said  to  have 
knocked  at  the  gates,  but  he  failed  to  enter,  although  he  came  nearer  than 
any  other  who  had  led  an  attack  on  the  town. 

A  dispute  had  previously  arisen  between  Governor  Baker  and  Colonel 
Mitchelburn.  They  had  drawn  their  swords  on  one  another,  and  Mitchel- 
burn  by  orders  of  Baker,  had  been  placed  in  prison.  Not  long  afterwards 
the  governor  was  seized  with  fever,  when,  notwithstanding  this  quarrel,  a 
council  of  officers  by  his  advice  selected  Mitchelburn  to  act  as  his  deputy. 
Baker  died  on  the  30th  of  June,  and  Mitchelburn  continued  to  act  as  gov- 
ernor without  any  confirmation  of  his  authority  by  the  council. 

The  failure  of  Hamilton  to  capture  the  city  had  caused  him  to  be  super- 
seded by  General  Conrad  de  Rosen,  a  Livonian  by  birth,  a  man  of  savage 
manners,  barbarous  speech,  and  cruel  disposition.  Angry  at  the  successful 
resistance  made  by  untrained  countrymen,  he  raved  and  swore  and  threatened. 
He  would  demolish  the  town  ;  he  would  bury  it  in  ashes  ;  he  would  spare 
neither  age  nor  sex,  if  it  had  to  be  captured  by  storm. 

First,  he  determined  to  offer  favorable  terms  of  surrender,  accompanied 
with  terrific  threats.  Imagining  that  if  the  common  soldiers  knew  the  nature 
of  his  proposals  they  would  compel  their  officers  to  submit,  he  caused  a  dead 
bomb  to  be  thrown  into  the  town  containing  his  conditions,  signed  by  Ham- 
ilton, and  followed  by  a  letter  of  his  own,  indicating  the  penalties  of  a  refusal. 
If  they  surrendered,  all  would  obtain  protection,  liberty  of  conscience,  and  a 
restoration  of  what  they  had  lost  by  the  war.  If  they  held  out,  then  the  old  men 
and  women  left  in  the  country  would  be  driven  to  Derry,  and  starved  to  death 
outside  the  walls,  if  not  admitted  by  the  garrison,  Rosen's  idea  being  that, 
if  admitted,  the  remaining  provisions  would  be  speedily  consumed. 

This  plan  failed  ;  for,  although  supplies  were  now  growing  scarce  and 
the  mortality  had  become  great,  the  rank  and  file  were  more  determined  than 
even  their  officers  to  resist  to  the  bitter  end.  Accordingly  Rosen's  condi- 
tions were  refused  and  his  threats  defied.  Driven  to  madness,  he  now  sent 
out  many  parties  of  soldiers,  who  collected  thousands  of  Protestants — old 
men,  women,  and  children — that  had  been  left  at  home,  and  drove  them  at 
the  point  of  the  sword  to  the  city  walls.  But  admission  was  refused,  and 
even  the  poor  captives  themselves,  with  stern  determination,  acquiesced  in 
the  resolution  by  which  they  were  excluded. 

The  garrison  now  threatened  as  a  reprisal  to  hang  their  prisoners  of  war. 

For  this  purpose  they  erected  a  gallows  on  the  wall,  in  sight  of  the  enemy's 

camp.     They  requested  Rosen  to  send  priests  to  shrive  those  who  were  to 

suffer.    The  prisoners  were  in  a  state  of  terrific  fear.    They  wrote  to  the  Irish 

commanders    that   they   were   all  to  be  hanged  the  next  day,  unless  the 

Protestants  without  the  walls  were  permitted  to  return  home.    Rosen  was  at 
38 


594  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

first  inflexible.  He  meant  what  he  said.  He  would  let  the  prisoners  without 
perish  from  hunger  if  not  admitted  by  their  friends  within.  Hamilton  and 
some  of  his  officers  remonstrated,  and  at  last  the  non-combatants  who  sur- 
vived were  permitted  to  return  ;  but  many  had  previously  perished  from  their 
hardships.  Some  able-bodied  men  who  were  among  them  remained  in  the 
town,  and  a  few  in  the  town  who  were  useless  succeeded  in  getting  away 
with  the  crowd  ;  but  others,  known  by  their  sickly  appearance,  were  turned 
back.  King  James  himself  was  angry  when  he  heard  of  Rosen's  cruelty,  and 
said  it  would  not  have  been  thought  of  by  any  but  a  barbarous  Muscovite. 
Rosen  was  now  recalled  and  Richard  Hamilton  left  once  more  in  command. 

Meanwhile  the  siege  had  been  prosecuted  with  vigor.  Trenches  were 
extended  near  to  the  town,  and  cannon  placed  in  commanding  positions. 
There  was  even  an  attempt  made  to  mine  the  walls,  but  fortunately  the  at- 
tempt was  a  failure.  The  supply  of  water  within  was  insufficient,  and  the 
garrison  were  often  exposed  to  great  danger  when  they  went  to  Columbkille's 
well  without.  But  the  want  of  food  had  begun  to  be  more  keenly  felt  than 
the  want  of  water.  Some  of  the  more  lukewarm  deserted  to  the  enemy.  Day 
by  day  provisions  became  more  scarce,  until,  at  last,  rats  and  mice,  fattened 
on  the  blood  of  the  slain,  were  eagerly  devoured.  A  brave  soldier  named 
John  Hunter  states  in  his  journal  : 

"  I  myself  would  have  eaten  the  poorest  cat  or  dog  I  ever  saw  with  my 
eyes.  The  famine  was  so  great  that  many  a  man,  woman,  and  child  died  for 
want  of  food.  I  myself  was  so  weak  from  hunger  that  I  fell  under  my  musket 
one  morning  as  I  was  going  to  the  walls  ;  .  .  .  and  yet  when  the  enemy  were 
coming,  as  many  a  time  they  did,  .  .  .  then  I  found  as  if  my  former 
strength  returned  to  me.  I  am  sure  it  was  the  Lord  that  kept  the  city,  and 
none  else." 

A  stench  arose  from  the  slain,  and  sickness  became  more  fatal  than  the 
weapons  of  the  enemy.  The  garrison,  which  at  first  numbered  upwards  of 
seven  thousand  fighting  men,  was  reduced  to  four  thousand  three  hundred,  of 
whom  many  had  contracted  diseases  from  which  they  afterwards  died.  And 
yet  there  were  some  professing  Protestants  who  had  but  little  sympathy  for 
these  sufferings.  A  certain  clergyman,  on  hearing  of  how  many  thousands 
died  in  Derry,  fighting  for  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberties  of  the 
country,  remarked  that  it  was  "  no  matter  how  many  of  them  dy'd,  for  they 
were  but  a  pack  of  Scots  Presbyterians." 

Kirke  had  gone  to  the  island  of  Inch  by  way  of  Lough  Swilly.  There 
he  threw  up  entrenchments  ;  and  he  appeared  determined  to  attempt  by 
land  to  relieve  the  city.  But,  overestimating  the  strength  of  the  enemy, 
who  could  not  then  have  had  more  than  six  or  seven  thousand  men  before 
Derry,  he  remained  inactive.  In  vain  the  garrison  exhibited  signals  of  dis- 
tress, and  used  every  means  in  their  power  to  urge  him  to  do  what  might  have 
been  done,  with  less  difficulty,  before  the  boom  was  erected. 

Everywhere  throughout  Ulster,  Presbyterian  farmers  exhibited  courage 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  595 

sadly  wanting  in  some  of  the  professional  soldiers.  When  it  was  known  that 
provisions  were  scarce  in  Londonderry,  Mr.  James  Knox,  who  resided 
near  Coleraine,  with  the  assistance  of  his  two  sons,  brought  a  herd  of 
cattle  to  Lough  Foyle  opposite  Culmore,  and,  on  a  dark  night,  drove 
them  along  the  slob,  made  them  swim  across  the  river,  and  introduced  them 
into  the  city  by  the  "  water-gate." 

On  the  10th  of  July,  Hamilton  again  offered  favorable  terms  of 
surrender,  embracing  the  fullest  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Commissioners 
appointed  by  both  parties  arranged  the  preliminaries.  When  this  proposition 
came  before  the  council,  Walker  strongly  advocated  the  policy  of  capitulat- 
ing. But  the  majority  carried  a  resolution  not  to  submit,  unless  Hamilton 
would  send  hostages  to  the  ships,  in  security  of  fulfilling  the  promised  condi- 
tions, and  extend  the  time  of  surrender  till  the  26th  of  July.  These  terms 
were  refused,  and  hostilities  were  continued.  A  few  days  afterwards  Colonel 
Murray  led  out  a  small  party  to  attack  the  enemy  who  were  in  trenches  near 
Butcher's  gate.  But,  unfortunately,  he  was  shot  through  both  thighs,  near 
the  body,  and  his  wounds  were  not  healed  until  four  months  afterwards. 

When  provisions  were  almost  exhausted,  Mr.  James  Cunningham  discov- 
ered a  plan  of  making  pancakes  out  of  starch  mixed  with  tallow.  This  food 
acted  as  a  medicine  for  the  sick  and  it  enabled  the  town  to  hold  out  a  week 
longer. 

On  Thursday,  the  25th  of  July,  the  garrison  made  a  sally  with  the  object 
of  capturing  some  cows  then  grazing  behind  the  enemy's  lines.  At  first,  the 
attempt  seemed  likely  to  succeed.  The  Irish  were  driven  out  of  their 
trenches  and  sixty  of  them  killed  ;  but  meanwhile  the  herders  chased  their 
cattle  away,  and  the  object  of  the  attack  was  not  accomplished.  Next  day, 
the  garrison  took  one  of  their  last  cows  outside  the  walls,  tied  her  to  a  stake, 
covered  her  with  tar,  and  set  her  on  fire,  thinking  that  her  roaring  would 
cause  some  of  the  enemy's  cattle  to  run  to  her  relief.  But  the  poor  animal, 
maddened  by  pain,  succeeded  in  breaking  loose  from  the  stake,  and  had  to 
be  shot  to  prevent  her  from  running  into  the  Irish  lines. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  all  their  cows,  dogs,  and  available  horses  were 
killed.  Ash  wrote  in  his  journal  that  Wednesday  would  be  their  last  day,  if 
relief  did  not  previously  arrive. 

The  Rev.  James  Gordon,  Presbyterian  minister  of  Glendermot,  now  paid 
a  visit  to  Kirke,  and  pointed  out  to  him  that  it  would  be  possible  to  sail  up 
the  river,  cut  down  the  boom,  and,  in  this  way,  relieve  the  city.  Whatever 
might  be  the  motive  which  determined  Kirke, —  whether  the  advice  of  Gor- 
don or  orders  received  from  Schomberg, — he  now  did  what  could  have  been 
much  more  easily  done  when  he  first  arrived. 

On  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  28th  of  July,  the  wind  turned  towards 
the  north.  Shortly  before  sunset,  the  sentinels  on  the  tower  saw  three  ships 
spread  their  sails  and  direct  their  course  towards  the  Foyle.  Two  of  these 
were  merchant  vessels  with  provisions,  the  third  was  the  Dartmouth,  frigate 


596  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

of  war,  commanded  by  Captain  Leake.  Sailing  right  before  the  wind,  they 
soon  arrived  at  Culmore.  Leake  then  ran  his  frigate  close  to  the  fort  and 
engaged  its  guns,  while  the  provision  ships  passed  on,  accompanied  by  the 
Swallow's  long-boat  "  barricadoed  and  armed  with  seamen  to  cut  the 
boome."  The  wind  now  sank  to  a  calm  ;  but  the  tide  was  rising  fast,  and 
bore  the  relieving  vessels  onwards,  amid  a  storm  of  balls  from  great  guns 
along  the  banks  of  the  river,  which  here  was  only  five  hundred  feet  wide. 
All  went  well  till  the  ships  reached  the  boom,  against  which  the  Mountjoy 
was  driven  with  all  her  force.  The  huge  barricade  cracked  and  yielded, 
but  did  not  give  way,  while  the  ship,  by  force  of  the  rebound,  was  stuck 
fast  in  the  sand.  From  all  sides  the  enemy  set  up  a  shout  of  triumph,  which 
passed  from  man  to  man  until  it  arose  around  the  city  walls  and  caused  the 
hearts  of  their  brave  defenders  to  feel  the  agony  of  despair.  The  Irish  now 
fired  their  cannons,  manned  their  boats,  and  prepared  to  board.  At  that 
moment  two  regiments  of  their  horse  came  galloping  up,  but  when  the  first 
ranks  were  within  a  pike's  length  of  the  ship,  she  discharged  at  them  her 
cannons  loaded  with  partridge  shot.  Many  of  the  enemy  were  killed,  while 
the  rebound  of  the  guns  drove  the  vessel  into  deep  water.  Meanwhile  the 
crew  of  the  long-boat  were  cutting  the  boom.  The  ship,  afloat  once  more 
ran  against  the  barricade,  forcing  it  to  give  way  with  a  tremendous  crash. 
Just  then  her  gallant  master,  Captain  Browning,  was  shot  through  the  head 
and  fell  in  the  moment  of  victory.  The  obstruction  was  passed.  The 
rising  tide  brought  the  vessels  toward  the  town.  To  hasten  their  speed  the 
long-boat  took  them  in  tow.  Other  boats  met  them  on  the  way  and  rendered 
similar  assistance.  At  ten  o'clock  they  reached  the  quay  in  safety,  and,  with 
a  loss  of  only  five  men  killed,  brought  relief  to  the  city.  Now  from  man  to 
man  along  the  walls  arose  a  cheer  of  triumph.  The  joy-bells  rang  loudly. 
The  cannons  thundered  from  the  tower.  Presbyterians  had  won  what  they 
thought  was  liberty,  but  what  was  in  reality  the  privilege  of  being  persecuted 
by  a  prelatic  aristocracy  rather  than  by  a  Roman  Catholic  democracy. 

A  rampart  of  barrels  filled  with  clay  was  thrown  up  in  haste  to  protect 
those  engaged  in  unloading.  This  work  was  accomplished  with  such  rapid- 
ity that  every  family  had  a  plentiful  supper  that  night  before  retiring  to  rest. 
For  two  days  longer  the  army  of  James  continued  to  fire  at  the  town  ;  but 
on  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  August  their  camp  was  vacant,  their  tents  de- 
stroyed, and  the  line  of  their  retreat  southwards  marked  by  many  houses  in 
flames.  At  Strabane,  hearing  of  Macarthy's  defeat  near  Newtown-Butler, 
they  were  so  frightened  that  they  burst  some  of  their  great  guns  ;  and  al- 
though the  winds  blew  and  the  rain  fell  in  torrents  they  retreated  with  pre- 
cipitation, by  way  of  Dungannon,  to  Dublin. 

The  garrison  of  Derry  had  lost  about  two  thousand  eight  hundred  men 
during  the  siege.  Of  these  the  vast  majority  died  from  sickness,  as  only 
about  eighty  were  slain  in  battle.  But  of  the  non-combatants  it  is  prob- 
able that  more  than  seven  thousand  perished.      The  Irish  army  lost  about 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  597 

nine  thousand,  of  whom  a  large  proportion  fell  in  the  field.     When  the  siege 
was  raised,  their  blockading  force  probably  did  not  exceed  six  thousand  men. 

James  was  greatly  disappointed  by  the  result  ;  and  he  said  that  if  there 
had  been  as  many  Englishmen  in  his  army  as  there  were  of  others,  they 
would  before  then  have  brought  him  Derry  stone  by  stone.  The  stand  made 
by  this  city  prevented  him  from  reinforcing  Dundee,  who,  on  the  27th  of 
July,  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Killiecrankie. 

In  the  meantime  the  men  of  Enniskillen  had  fought  many  battles,  and  in 
almost  all  had  been  victorious.  On  the  nth  of  March,  1689,  they  proclaimed 
William  and  Mary.  Soon  afterwards,  when  ordered  by  Lundy  to  fall  back 
on  Londonderry,  they  refused  obedience.  Joined  by  many  refugees  from 
places  farther  south,  they  determined  to  submit  only  when  conquered. 

The  Irish,  under  Lord  Galmoy,  had  laid  siege  to  Crom  Castle,  which  be- 
longed to  Captain  Crichton.  But  two  hundred  men,  sent  from  Enniskillen, 
succeeded  in  entering  the  place.  Thus  reinforced,  the  garrison  made  a 
furious  attack  on  Galmoy,  beat  his  men  out  of  the  trenches,  and  compelled 
him  to  retreat  to  Belturbet.  On  his  arrival  there  he  proposed  to  exchange 
one  of  his  prisoners,  Captain  Dixie,  son  of  the  dean  of  Kilmore,  for  Captain 
Brian  Maguire,  who  had  been  captured  by  the  Protestants.  This  proposal 
was  accepted  and  Maguire  sent  to  Belturbet.  But  Galmoy,  instead  of  lib- 
erating Dixie,  ordered  him  and  another  prisoner  named  Charleton  to  be 
tried  by  court-martial  for  making  war  against  King  James.  Having  been 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death,  they  were  offered  their  lives  on  condi- 
tion of  becoming  Roman  Catholics.  This  proposition  they  rejected  with 
disdain,  and  consequently  were  both  hanged  from  a  sign-post  in  Belturbet. 
Their  heads  were  afterwards  cut  off,  and,  having  been  first  "  kickt  about 
the  streets  for  foot-balls,"  were  fixed  on  the  market-house.  Maguire,  who 
had  been  set  at  liberty,  was  so  disgusted  with  Galmoy's  perfidy  that  he  re- 
fused to  remain  any  longer  in  the  service  of  King  James. 

About  the  end  of  March,  Governor  Hamilton  sent  a  detachment  of  cav- 
alry to  obtain  a  share  of  the  arms  and  ammunition  which  had  arrived  in 
Derry.  But  Colonel  Lundy  gave  the  party  a  "  very  cold  welcome,"  and 
they  succeeded  in  obtaining  only  five  barrels  of  powder  out  of  five  hundred 
then  in  store,  and  sixty  old  muskets  without  stock  or  lock  ;  though  these 
were  afterwards  fitted  up  so  as  to  be  serviceable. 

A  party  under  the  command  of  Lloyd,  whom  Witherow  terms  "  the  Mur- 
ray of  Enniskillen,"  drove  the  enemy  from  Trillick,  and  made  successful 
raids  in  many  different  directions.  They  burned  Augher  Castle,  and  brought 
home  such  a  large  quantity  of  provisions  and  cattle  that  a  cow  could  be 
bought  in  Enniskillen  for  two  shillings,  while  the  inhabitants  of  London- 
derry were  dying  with  famine. 

The  Protestant  garrison  of  Ballyshannon,  commanded  by  Captain  Folliott, 
was  now  besieged  by  a  strong  party  of  the  enemy,  and  Lloyd  advanced  to 
their  relief.     At  Belleek,  three  miles  from  Ballyshannon,  he  encountered  the 


598  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Irish,  drawn  up  in  a  narrow  pass  barricaded  in  front,  a  bog  on  one  flank,  and 
Lough  Erne  on  the  other.  But  Lloyd  was  shown  a  pass  by  which  his  men 
advanced  safely.  The  enemy,  fearing  that  they  were  about  to  be  flanked,  fled 
from  a  position  they  had  thought  impregnable,  leaving  behind  them  three 
hundred  killed,  wounded,  or  prisoners.  Thus  the  siege  of  Ballyshannon  was 
raised. 

About  the  end  of  May,  Lloyd  set  out  with  fifteen  hundred  men  on  an- 
other expedition.  He  captured  Ballinacarrig  Castle,  and  advanced  to  Kells, 
within  thirty  miles  of  Dublin,  where  he  created  great  consternation.  Hav- 
ing captured  five  hundred  horses,  five  thousand  "  black  cattle,"  the  same 
number  of  sheep,  and  a  large  store  of  arms,  he  returned,  without  the  loss  of 
a  single  man.  All  this  time,  Sarsfield  was  encamped  at  Manor-Hamilton, 
sixteen  miles  west  of  Enniskillen. 

Emboldened  by  their  victories,  the  men  of  Enniskillen  now  determined 
to  try  the  possibility  of  relieving  Derry  by  marching  past  Omagh,  capturing 
the  Irish  position  at  Waterside,  and,  from  thence,  carrying  supplies  to  the 
town  across  the  Foyle.  Against  the  wishes  of  the  whole  army,  Governor 
Hamilton  determined  to  take  the  command,  leaving  the  ever-victorious 
Lloyd  in  charge  of  Enniskillen.  On  the  10th  of  June  he  set  out  with  two 
thousand  men.  Having  marched  as  far  as  Omagh,  he  found  there  a  party  of 
the  enemy  fortified  in  the  house  of  Captain  Mervin,  and  before  they  could 
be  compelled  to  surrender,  he  heard  from  prisoners  that  Lord  Clancarty  with 
three  regiments  was  approaching  on  his  march  to  Derry.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances Hamilton  thought  it  wiser  to  retreat  to  Enniskillen. 

Lloyd  now  started  with  a  large  force  to  attack  Brigadier  Sutherland,  who 
was  gathering  stores  at  Belturbet.  But  Sutherland,  frightened  by  exagger- 
ated reports  of  his  enemy's  strength,  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  leaving  behind  a 
garrison  which  surrendered  to  Lloyd  on  his  arrival.  Three  hundred  prison- 
ers, seven  hundred  muskets,  with  ammunition  and  provisions,  were  thus  ob- 
tained without  losing  the  life  of  a  single  man. 

The  duke  of  Berwick,  an  illegitimate  son  of  King  James  by  Arabella 
Churchill,  was  sent,  at  the  head  of  a  large  detachment  of  Irish,  to  prevent 
raids  between  Derry  and  Enniskillen,  and  to  maintain  communication  with 
Dublin.  On  the  13th  of  July  he  advanced  from  Trillick  towards  Enniskillen. 
Unfortunately  Lloyd  was  absent,  as  he  had  been  sent  to  communicate  with 
Kirke,  through  the  captain  of  the  Bonaventure,  then  in  Killybegs.  Governor 
Hamilton,  with  one  hundred  infantry  and  a  party  of  cavalry,  met  the  enemy 
a  very  short  distance  from  the  town.  He  ordered  Lieutenant  MacCarmick 
to  make  a  stand  with  the  infantry,  promising  that  he  would  be  supported  by 
the  cavalry  and  that  reinforcements  would  be  sent  immediately.  MacCar- 
mick did  as  he  was  told,  although  suspecting  he  would  be  left  to  his  fate. 
Hamilton  then  returned  to  Enniskillen,  and,  notwithstanding  that  the  way 
along  which  he  went  back  was  full  of  "  armed  men,"  neglected  to  send  relief 
to  the  gallant  few  who  had  dared  to  encounter  an  army.    At  last,  when  urged 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  599 

by  Lieutenant  Campbell  and  Captain  Webster,  he  ordered  a  company  on  the 
other  side  of  the  lough,  two  miles  away,  to  be  sent  ;  but  they  failed  to  arrive 
in  time. 

The  enemy  with  six  hundred  dragoons  on  foot  and  two  troops  of 
horse,  made  a  furious  attack  on  MacCarmick.  But  his  infantry  stood  so 
firmly  and  fired  with  such  execution  that  the  enemy  began  to  retreat.  The 
Protestant  cavalry,  under  Montgomery  and  King,  instead  of  rendering  assist- 
ance, turned,  without  firing  a  single  shot,  and  fled  from  the  field.  The  dis- 
mounted dragoons  of  the  enemy  immediately  charged.  Just  then,  two  troops 
of  their  horse  coming  up  surrounded  the  Protestant  infantry  and  cut  them 
to  pieces.  MacCarmick's  son  was  killed  at  his  side,  and  he  himself  was  taken 
prisoner.  Of  his  whole  force  only  about  thirty  escaped.  Among  these  was 
a  brave  soldier  named  James  Wilson.  Surrounded  by  a  number  of  dragoons, 
he  was  assailed  by  all  at  once.  Some  of  them  he  stabbed,  others  he  struck 
down  with  his  musket,  and  several  he  threw  under  the  feet  of  their  own 
horses.  At  last,  wounded  in  twelve  places,  his  cheeks  hanging  over  his  chin, 
he  fell  into  a  bush.  There  a  sergeant  struck  through  his  thigh  with  a  hal- 
bert ;  but  Wilson,  exerting  all  his  strength,  pulled  it  out,  and  ran  it  through 
the  sergeant's  heart.  By  the  assistance  of  this  halbert  he  walked  back  to  En- 
niskillen. He  was  afterwards  cured  of  his  wounds  and  survived  for  thirty 
years. 

This  engagement  was  fought  within  cannon-shot  of  the  town.  Berwick 
did  not  venture  to  draw  nearer  to  the  fort,  but  withdrew  from  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  continued  to  keep  open  the  communication  of  the  army  before 
Derry  with  the  capital. 

On  the  1 2th  of  July,  commissioners  from  Enniskillen  conferred  with  Gen- 
eral Kirke,  who,  in  compliance  with  their  request,  sent  the  town  a  large 
supply  of  arms  and  ammunition,  and  also  some  officers  under  command 
of  Colonel  Wolseley.  These  officers  arrived  in  Enniskillen  on  the  very 
day  that  Derry  was  relieved.  Before  they  were  many  hours  in  the  town 
it  was  reported  that  General  Macarthy  had  made  an  attack  on  Crom  Castle, 
and  that  he  intended  to  place  a  garrison  in  Lisnaskea,  which  was  only  ten 
miles  from  Enniskillen.  Wolseley  immediately  sent  Colonel  Berry  with  a  large 
party  of  cavalry  and  infantry  to  take  possession  of  Lisnaskea  Castle  before  it 
could  be  occupied  by  the  enemy.  But  finding  it  in  ruins,  he  then  marched 
to  oppose  Macarthy.  Taking  up  a  strong  position  with  a  bog  in  front,  he 
sent  to  Wolseley  for  reinforcements,  and  awaited  the  enemy.  The  Irish  soon 
appeared,  and  under  Anthony  Hamilton,  "the  most  brilliant  and  accomplished 
of  all  who  bore  the  name,"  advanced  to  the  attack  along  a  road  in  front.  But 
the  Enniskillen  men  opened  a  furious  fire.  Hamilton  was  wounded,  and  his 
second  in  command  killed.  The  Irish  retreated,  and  their  retreat  soon  be- 
came a  flight.  Berry  followed  them  a  mile  beyond  Lisnaskea,  but  finding 
himself  nearing  the  front  of  their  main  body,  he  stopped  the  pursuit. 

Meanwhile  Wolseley  had  arrived  with  strong  reinforcements,  who  in 


6oo  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

their  hurry  had  forgotten  to  bring  provisions.  Compelled  therefore,  either  to 
fight  at  once  or  retreat,  Wolseley  put  it  to  the  men  themselves,  whether  to 
advance  or  to  retire,  and  they  unanimously  determined  to  advance.  The 
battle-word  was  then  given,  "  No  Popery,"  and  the  Protestants,  twenty-two 
hundred  strong,  marched  to  attack  Macarthy  who  was  at  the  head  of  some 
thirty-five  hundred  men.  As  Wolseley  advanced,  the  Irish  retreated,  until 
they  came  to  a  hill  near  Newtown-Butler,  where  they  tried  to  make  a  stand. 
But  the  Protestants  came  on  with  such  fury  that  Macarthy  withdrew  from  his 
position,  burned  Newtown-Butler,  and,  about  a  mile  beyond  the  village, 
placed  his  army  on  a  hill  with  a  bog  in  front,  through  which  passed  a  narrow 
road  completely  commanded  by  his  artillery.  Wolseley  began  the  attack  im- 
mediately. His  cavalry  tried  to  pass  along  this  road,  but  were  brought  to  a 
stand  by  the  fierce  fire  of  the  enemy's  guns.  Lloyd  on  the  left  and  Tiffin  on 
the  right  now  passed  on  with  the  infantry  through  the  bog  and  up  the  hill. 
They  killed  the  gunners  who  were  firing  the  cannon,  and  then  rushed 
against  the  main  body  of  the  enemy.  The  Protestant  cavalry  dashed 
along  the  road  and  charged  up  the  hill.  The  Irish  horse  retreated,  and  the 
foot,  seeing  the  others  flee,  fled  themselves.  Being  ignorant  of  the  country, 
most  of  them  took  the  direction  of  Lough  Erne.  The  cavalry  escaped  ;  but 
the  infantry,  with  the  lough  before  and  the  Protestants  behind,  had  only  a 
choice  between  death  in  the  lake  or  by  the  sword.  About  five  hundred  took 
to  the  water  and  were  all  drowned,  except  one  man,  who  swam  across.  Ma- 
carthy himself  was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  In  all,  the  Irish  lost  about 
two  thousand  slain,  five  hundred  drowned,  and  four  hundred  prisoners. 
This  battle  was  fought  on  the  31st  of  July,  and  that  very  night  the  army  of 
James  raised  the  siege  of  Londonderry. 

The  Enniskillen  men  next  resolved  to  attack  Sarsfield,  who  lay  near  Bun- 
doran  ;  but  he  retreated  on  hearing  of  the  defeat  at  Newtown-Butler.  They 
then  determined  to  give  battle  to  the  duke  of  Berwick,  but  immediately 
afterwards  heard  that  the  army  of  James  had  passed  Castlecaulfield  on  the 
way  to  Dublin.     It  was  then  too  late  to  follow. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Gore,  by  orders  of  Colonel  Tiffin,  went  with  three 
troops  of  horse  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  infantry  to  reconnoitre  in  the  di- 
rection of  Sligo.  Gore,  by  means  of  a  spy,  succeeded  in  making  Sarsfield 
believe  that  his  foes  were  only  the  advance-guard  of  a  large  army,  and  the 
Irish  general  evacuated  the  town  without  firing  a  shot.  A  few  hours  after- 
wards, Gore  entered  and  captured  a  large  quantity  of  arms  and  provisions. 

After  Derry  was  relieved,  Kirke  assumed  despotic  authority  in  the  city, 
and  he  refused  to  send  soldiers  through  the  country  to  protect  the  lives  and 
property  of  Protestants  from  marauding  parties  of  the  enemy.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  neglect,  Limavady  was  burned  the  week  after  Derry  was  de- 
livered. Under  pretense  of  making  provisions  cheap,  he  seized  the  cattle  of 
many  Protestant  farmers  in  the  neighborhood,  pretending  they  belonged  to 
the  enemy,  and  sold  them  to  the  butchers.     By  a  process  of  amalgamating 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  601 

regiments,  many  officers  were  dismissed,  and  some  who  had  themselves  pur- 
chased arms  for  their  men  were  placed  under  the  command  of  others  who 
had  not  for  this  purpose  expended  a  single  penny.  He  took  away  Murray's 
horse,  seized  the  saddles  his  horsemen  had  bought  at  their  own  expense,  and 
in  every  way  treated  the  people  of  Derry  as  if  they  had  been  enemies  he  had 
conquered  rather  than  friends  he  had  relieved. 

The  sick  received  no  provisions  from  the  stores,  and  many  of  them,  try- 
ing to  regain  their  homes,  died  by  the  way.  One  brave  soldier  who  lived  near 
Lifford  had  left  his  wife  and  family  of  young  children  at  home  when  he  went 
to  Derry.  In  his  absence,  an  Irish  soldier,  who  had  formerly  been  his  own 
servant,  came  to  rob  his  family.  On  entering,  he  at  once  asked  his  former 
mistress  where  her  money  was  kept.  She  replied  that  he  knew  very  well  him- 
self, handing  him  the  key  of  a  large  oaken  chest.  The  soldier  opened  the 
lock,  raised  the  weighty  lid,  and  stooped  down  to  secure  the  money  within. 
Then  the  lady,  watching  her  opportunity,  dashed  the  lid  with  terrific  force  on 
the  soldier's  neck,  jumped  on  the  top  herself,  and  held  it  down  with  her 
weight  till  she  was  sure  the  robber  was  dead.  Afterwards,  in  the  silence  of 
the  night,  she  and  her  servant-maid  buried  the  body  in  a  neighboring  field# 

The  treatment  which  the  defenders  of  Derry  received  from  the  Govern- 
ment was  quite  as  bad  as  the  treatment  they  had  received  from  Kirke.  A 
committee,  appointed  by  the  English  House  of  Commons,  admitted  that  a 
sum  of  ^195,091  was  due  to  the  Derry  and  Enniskillen  regiments  for  arrears 
of  pay,  of  which  only  ^9806  had  been  paid.  Besides  this,  a  sum  of 
;£i 38,000  was  expended  by  the  officers  and  soldiers  on  their  own  mainte- 
nance, and  on  horses,  arms,  and  accoutrements  which  were  made  use  of  by  the 
Government,  without  any  recompense  or  allowance  to  the  owners. 

Although  the  just  claims  of  these  gallant  soldiers  were  admitted,  the  debt 
was  never  discharged.  On  the  other  hand,  Walker,  who  had  tried  to  induce 
the  council  to  surrender,  received  the  recompense  of  a  hero  ;  and  Captain 
Corry,  who  had  threatened  to  put  in  prison  anybody  who  took  arms  to  defend 
Enniskillen,  got  two  thousand  pounds  and  an  estate  as  his  reward.  Poor 
Mitchelburn  failed  to  get  even  the  arrears  of  his  pay,  was  refused  the 
governorship  of  Culmore  fort,  and,  being  unable  to  discharge  his  debts,  was 
placed  in  prison. 

After  Derry  was  relieved,  Kirke  sent  the  Rev.  George  Walker  to  present 
King  William  with  an  address  signed  by  the  chief  defenders  of  the  town. 
Walker  set  out  on  the  9th  of  August,  1689.  He  went  by  way  of  Scotland, 
and  was  presented  with  the  freedom  of  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh.  In  London 
the  king  received  him  with  favor,  and  the  public  with  acclamations.  He 
published  an  account  of  the  siege,  which  had  a  large  sale  and  ran  through 
several  editions.  In  this  work  he  alluded  to  himself  as  the  governor,  and 
to  the  governor  as  Colonel  Mitchelburn.  He  claimed  to  have  led  the  garri- 
son in  several  desperate  conflicts,  to  have  performed  many  daring  deeds  of 
valor,  and  to  be  in  reality  the  person  who  saved  the  town.     But  these  deeds 


602  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

of  valor  are  recorded  by  himself  alone.  We  have  it  on  the  best  authority, 
that  during  the  siege  he  was  a  man  of  peace,  and  that  the  only  blood  he 
shed  was  "  the  blood  of  the  grape."  Although  Walker  knew  well  that  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Osborne,  a  Dublin  clergyman,  was  the  person  who  first 
informed  the  Ulster  Protestants  of  Tyrconnel's  deceptive  designs,  he  had 
the  audacity  to  assert  that  Osborne  was  a  spy  of  the  lord  deputy.  He 
conveyed  to  his  readers  the  impression  that  Mr.  David  Houston,  a  Cove- 
nanting preacher,  had  raised  divisions  among  the  Protestants  in  Deny, 
although  Houston  was  not  in  the  neighborhood  at  the  time.  He  concealed 
the  fact  that  on  the  18th  of  April  Murray  prevented  the  surrender  of  the  town. 
He  gave  the  Presbyterians  no  credit  for  their  defence  of  the  city,  although 
they  were  nine  out  of  every  ten  of  the  rank  and  file,  and  he  told  a  deliberate 
lie  in  stating  he  did  not  know  the  names  of  the  Presbyterian  clergymen  in 
the  town  during  the  siege,  although  a  correct  list  of  them  had  been  given 
to|him  before  his  book  was  published.  Mackenzie  had  been  chaplain  to  his 
own  regiment,  and  when  in  Edinburgh  Walker  was  able  to  mention  them 
by  name  to  Mr.  Osborne,  whom  he  hastened  to  asperse.  But  his  great 
object  was  to  make  the  world  believe  that  the  Presbyterian  defenders  of 
Derry  were  a  miserable  minority,  and  that  he,  who  had  never  headed  a  sally 
or  repulsed  an  attack,  was  a  great  military  hero,  entitled  to  all  the  rewards 
due  for  saving  the  town  he  had  tried  to  surrender.  Such  was  Walker.  Yet 
his  story,  having  got  the  start,  was  believed  by  the  world,  and  some  even 
to  this  day  have  magnified  this  meddling  Munchausen  into  a  military  genius 
and  a  hero. 

In  London  there  was  at  first  nobody  to  contradict  his  assertions,  and  he 
was  taken  at  his  own  estimate  of  himself.  The  world  thought  he  had  saved 
the  city.  Crowds  followed  him  when  he  appeared  in  public.  He  received 
five  thousand  pounds,  the  thanks  of  Parliament,  and  the  promise  of  a 
bishopric,  while  the  real  defenders  of  the  town  were  left  in  starvation. 

Walker's  account  had  not  been  long  issued  when  an  anonymous  pamphlet, 
entitled  Aft  Apology  for  the  Failures  Charged  on  the  Rev.  Mr.  George 
Walker's  Printed  Account  of  the  Late  Siege  of  Derry,  was  published,  in 
which  a  few  of  his  mistakes  were  pointed  out  and  his  assumptions  exposed. 
Some  friends  of  Mr.  Walker  replied,  and  before  the  end  of  1689  Walker 
himself  published  a  vindication  of  his  True  Account.  In  this  he  practically 
admits  many  of  the  charges  by  not  attempting  to  refute  them.  Early 
in  1690,  the  Rev.  J.  Boyse,  of  Dublin,  published  his  Vindication  of  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Osborne  from  the  accusation  made  by  Walker  that  he  was  a 
spy  of  Tyrconnel.  In  this  pamphlet  the  "  Governor  of  Derry  "  was  abso- 
lutely crushed,  and  neither  he  nor  any  of  his  friends  ventured  to  reply. 

In  order  to  give  the  world  a  true  account  of  the  defence  of  Derry,  the 
Rev.  John  Mackenzie,  minister  of  Cookstown,  the  chaplain  of  Walker's  own 
regiment,  published  A  Narrative  of  the  Siege  of  Londonderry.  Before  publi- 
cation it  was  read  over  to  Colonel  Murray,  Colonel  Crofton,  Lieutenant- 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  603 

Colonel  Blair,  Captain  Saunderson,  and  Captain  Samuel  Murray,  who  gave 
their  assent  to  its  contents.  This  fact  is  certified  by  Sir  Arthur  Rawdon,  Sir 
Arthur  Langford,  Colonel  Upton,  Mr.  David  Cairns,  and  several  others  who 
at  the  same  time  had  been  present,  and  had  concurred  in  Mackenzie's  state- 
ments. This  narrative  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  the  united  account  of 
all  these  gentlemen.  It  related  many  circumstances  not  told  by  any  other 
historian.  It  did  justice  to  Murray  and  Noble,  put  Walker  in  his  proper 
position,  and  proved  the  falsehood  of  his  True  Account  and  his  Vindication. 
Walker  did  not  venture  to  reply.  A  friend  of  his,  supposed  to  be  Bishop 
Vesey,  published  a  pamphlet  entitled  Mr.  John  Mackenzie's  Narrative  a  False 
Libel.  In  this  he  printed  some  certificates  from  officers  who  had  lost  their 
property  during  the  siege,  and  who  thought  the  influence  of  Walker  would 
be  useful  in  recovering  what  they  sought.  But  even  they  dealt  in  generalities 
and  did  not  venture  to  contradict  the  main  charges.  Mackenzie  then  pub- 
lished Dr.  Walker's  Invisible  Champion  FoyVd,  to  which  crushing  reply 
neither  Walker  nor  any  of  his  friends  ventured  to  rejoin. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  recount  further  the  war  by  which  William  III. 
regained  Ireland  in  1690,  save  to  regret  that  the  great  Dutchman's  broad- 
minded  scheme  of  religious  toleration  was  not  carried  out  and  the  disgrace- 
ful repressive  measures  of  the  next  reign  rendered  impossible.  One  lasting 
benefit  William  III.  conferred  on  Ulster — he  did  his  best  to  encourage  the 
linen  manufacture,  especially  by  inducing  colonies  of  French  Protestant 
refugees,  driven  from  France  by  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  to 
settle  in  northeast  Ireland,  with  Lisburn  as  their  centre.  These  Huguenots 
seem  to  have  been  men  of  skill  and  enterprise,  many  of  them  of  rank  and 
education.  They  received  inducements  to  settle,  their  churches  having 
special  privileges,  even  when  in  the  next  reign  the  most  severe  laws  were 
passed  against  dissent. 

One  strange  memorial  of  this  reign  we  have, — the  list  of  the  survivors  of 
the  brave  men  who  defended  Londonderry,  and  who  signed  an  address  to 
William  and  Mary  on  the  29th  of  July,  1689,  immediately  after  the  siege  was 
raised.  The  names  are  so  strikingly  familiar  to  Scotsmen  that  the  list 
might  be  taken  from  an  Edinburgh  directory.  Of  course  there  are  many 
good  English  names,  like  that  delightful  surname  which  Thackeray  has  made 
beloved  as  long  as  the  English  language  lasts, — Dobbin  ;  but  the  Scottish 
surnames  are  very  numerous.  There  are  five  Hamiltons,  and  three  Stewarts, 
and  three  Cunninghams,  and  three  Mansons,  besides  representatives  of  very 
many  Lowland  Scottish  surnames.  One  very  Scottish  name,  too,  is  that  of 
Gladstone,  spelled  in  the  old  Scottish  way  "  Ja.  Gledstanes."  9 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

1  By  the  decisive  battle  of  Worcester  in  1651,  which  compelled  Charles  the  Second  to 
abandon  the  kingdom  and  seek  safety  on  the  continent,  Cromwell's  popularity  and  influence 
became  almost  unbounded. 


V 


604  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

The  news  of  this  unexpected  revolution  reached  Carrickfergus  on  the  day  on  which  the 
members  of  the  Presbytery  appeared  before  the  Commissioners.  The  intelligence  entirely 
disconcerted  their  plans,  the  power  from  which  they  derived  their  authority  being  at  an  end. 
No  other  alternative  remained  than  to  exhort  the  ministers  to  a  peaceable  conduct,  and  dis- 
miss them  to  their  parishes  without  delay.  The  Commissioners  in  Dublin,  however,  having 
cheerfully  submitted  to  the  new  Council  of  State,  and  the  commissions  of  the  subordinate 
courts  having  been  renewed  throughout  the  kingdom,  the  original  design  of  removing  "all 
the  popular  Scotts  "  out  of  Ulster  was  immediately  resumed.  A  proclamation  was  published 
by  "  the  Commissioners  for  the  settling  and  securing  the  Province  of  Ulster,"  specifying  the 
conditions  on  which  it  was  proposed  to  transplant  the  leading  Presbyterians  in  the  counties 
of  Down  and  Antrim  to  certain  districts  in  Munster.  This  proclamation  was  accompanied 
with  a  list  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  persons — including  all  those  who,  by  their  known  attach- 
ment to  monarchical  and  Presbyterian  principles,  and  by  their  station  and  influence,  were 
most  obnoxious  to  the  reigning  faction — who  were  required,  within  a  specified  time  and  under 
certain  penalties,  to  embrace  the  terms  now  offered. 

Declaration  by  the  Commissioners  for  the  settling  and  securing  the  Province  of  Ulster  ; 
dated  at  Carrickfergus,  the  23d  of  May  i6jj. 

A  list  of  the  names  of  such  as  are  to  remove  according  to  the  foregoing  Declaration  : 

COUNTY  OF  ANTRIM. 

Belfast  and  Malone  Quarters  : 

Lieutenant  Thomas  Corston,  Corporal  Thomas  MacCormick,  Hugh  Doke,  Robert  Clux- 
ton,  George  Martin,  Alexander  Lockard,  Robert  King,  Quintin  Catherwood. 

West  Quarters  of  Carrickfergus  : 

John  Murray,  John  Russel,  John  Reid,  John  Young,  John  Donnelson,  John  Hanna, 
James  Reid,  James  Patterson,  William  Kiggard,  George  Russel,  John  Holmes,  George  Gib- 
son, Robert  Tikye,  John  Clark,  sen.,  Patrick  Martin,  Nicholas  Campbell,  Andrew  Read, 
sen.,  Andrew  Read,  jun.,  Quarter-master  Archy  Crawford. 

Broadisland  and  East  Quarters  of  Carrickfergus  : 

Gilbert  Eccles,  John  Dowgless,on,  Captain  Edmonston,  David  MacClee,  David  Harpur, 
John  M'Kerger,  Walter  Hutchinson,  Thomas  MacColpin,  Matthew  Logan. 

Islandmagee,  Magheramore,  and  Ballynure  Quarters  : 

Captain  Robert  Kinkead,  Hugh  Hume,  James  Lawder,  Captain  James  MacCullogh, 
John  Blair,  William  Agnew,  John  Agnew. 

Six-Mile-Water  Quarters  : 

Captain  George  Welsh,  Mr.  William  Shaw,   Captain  Ferguson,    Lieutenant  Huston, 
Lieutenant  Robert  Ferguson,  Alexander  Pringle,  Andrew  Taggart,  Quintin  Kennedy,  James     . 
Cutberd  [Cuthbert?],  John  Wilson,  Teague  O'Munts,  William  Crawford,  William  Sloane,  v 
Mr.  Arthur   Upton,  John  Crawford,    Mr.  Francis  Shaw,    Gilbert  MacNeilly,    Lieutenant 
Samuel  Wallace,  George  Young,  John  Wilson. 

Antrim  Quarters  : 

Captain  Henry  Sibbalds,  Captain  John  Williams,  Captain  John  Fisher,  Captain  John 
Macbride,  Quarter-master  Mitchell,  Major  Clotworthy,  David  Mitchell,  Ensign  John  Cor- 
mick,  John  Waugh,  merchant,  Robert  Shannon,  John  Whyte,  Quarter-master  Ferguson, 
Captain  James  Campbell,  Lieutenant  James  Lindsay,  Lieutenant  James  M'Adam. 

Shane's  Castle,  Largy,  and  Toome  Quarters  : 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Walter  Stewart,  Lieutenant  Andrew  Adair,  Henry  Verner,  William 
MacCullogh,  Cornet  John  Shaw,  Lieutenant  James  Dobbin,  Ensign  John  Bryan,  Thomas 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  605 

Collock  [Pollock?] — Matthew  Hamill,  Laird  of  Rockwood,  Captain  Robert  Huston,  Captain 
Jackson,  Lieutenant  MacNally,  Lieutenant  Robert  Carre,  Lieutenant  James  Pont,  Lieuten- 
ant Hamill,  Lieutenant  Grimsills,  Ensign  Dobbin,  Lieutenant  Alexander  Cunningham, 
Ensign  Robert  Cunningham,  Lieutenant  Martin,  Robert  Porter,  William  Collock. 

Braid,  Kevit,  and  Clonoghorty  Quarters  : 

Thomas  Adair,  Corporal  James  MacCollogh,  William  Hamilton,  John  Spratt,  Lieuten- 
ant Paul  Cunningham,  Captain  William  Huston,  Sir  Robert  Adair,  Captain  Thomas  Fair- 
born,  Captain  David  Johnson,  Lieutenant  Auchmuty,  Lieutenant  William  Johnson,  Major 
Alexander  Adair,  Cornet  James  Brown,  Cornet  John  Stewart,  Adam  Johnson,  James  Ewart, 
Kingham  Dunbarr,  Halbert  Gledston. 

Killileagh  and  Kilmakevit  Quarters  : 

David  Kennedy,  Lieutenant  Campbell,  Captain  Henry  Langford,  William  Norris, 
William  Cunningham,  George  Campbell,  John  Gordon  of  Borsheagh,  Lieutenant  Erwin, 
Lieutenant  Antony  Ellis,  Lieutenant  MacElroy. 

Glenarm  Barony : 

Mr.  James  Shaw,  Captain  John  Shaw,  Mr.  Donnelson,  John  Berry,  Patrick  Agnew, 
John  Shaw,  James  Cromie,  Francis  Agnew,  William  Greg,  Randal  Buttle,  James  Donnel- 
son, Captain-Lieutenant  James  Hume,  James  Fenton. 

Route  Quarters  : 

Major  John  Stewart,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Robert  Kennedy,  Captain  James  Stewart,. 
Captain  Alexander  Stewart,  Fergus  MacDougall,  John  MacDougall,  John  Boyle,  John 
Getty,  Alexander  Stewart,  sen.,  James  Maxwell,  Captain  Marmaduke  Shaw,  John  Henry, 
Cornet  Robert  Knox,  Mr.  William  Hutchin,  Robert  Henry,  Alexander  Scott,  Lieutenant 
James  Moncrief,  Robert  Harrute,  Andrew  Rowan,  Thomas  Boyd,  Samuel  Dunbarr,  Alex- 
ander Delap,  Adam  Delap,  Anthony  Kennedy,  Major  Hugh  Montgomery,  Cornet  John 
Gordon,  Captain  John  Huston,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Cunningham,  John  Bell,  Mr.  Adam 
Boyd,  John  Reid,  Lieutenant  Arch.  Campbell,  Mr.  John  Peoples,  Mr.  Cathcart,  Captain 
Arch.  Boyd,  Captain  John  Robinson,  Lieutenant  Thomas  Stewart,  Quarter-master  Robert 
Stewart. 

Coleraine  Quarters  : 

John  Johnson,  Thomas  Abernethy,  Edward  M'Clelland,  James  Johnson,  Col.  Gilbert 
M'Philip,  David  Wilson,  Robert  Hutton,  Major  Robert  Blair,  Ensign  Andrew  M'Adam, 
Ensign  Robert  Mills,  Ensign  Alexander  M'Cann,  Ensign  Donald  M'Ferson. 

COUNTY  OF  DOWN. 

Castlereagh,  Kilwarlin,  and  Lisnegarvy  Quarters  : 

Corporal  Gilbert  Matthews,  John  Strain,  John  Cowtard,  Robert  Graham,  James  Graham, 
John  Cowan,  Thomas  Rea,  Captain  James  Manson. 

Lord  of  Ards'  Quarters  : 

The  Lord  Ards,  Captain  Charles  Campbell,  Captain  William  Buchanan,  Lieutenant 
Hugh  Dundas,  Captain  John  Keith,  John  Montgomery  of  Movill,  Lieutenant  James  Nowell, 
James  MacConkey,  William  Catherwood,  William  Shaw,  Fergus  Kennedy,  Captain  Hugh 
Montgomery,  Mr.  Hugh  Montgomery,  Lieutenant  John  Wilson,  Lieutenant  And.  Cunning- 
ham, Lieutenant  M'Dowell  of  Cumber. 

Little  Ards,  Greyabbey,  and  Lisburnagh  Quarters  : 

Gilbert  Heron,  Robert  Maxwell,  Robert  Ross,  John  Park,  Lieutenant  John  Monipenny. 


606     -         The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

Lord  Claneboy's  Quarters : 

The  Lord  Claneboy,  Lieutenant  Gawn  Hamilton,  Captain  John  Boyle,  Lieutenant  Hugh 
Wallace,  James  Ross,  sen. ,  William  Hamilton,  Mr.  George  Ross,  John  Hamilton  of  Bally- 
macgormack,  Patrick  Allen,  Gawn  Hamilton,  Captain  Alexander  Stewart,  William  Hamilton, 
jun.,  John  Stevenson,  Ninian  Tate,  Lieutenant  Edward  Baillie,  Francis  Purdy,  Captain  James 
Stevenson,  John  Barclay,  Quarter-master  Edward  Magee,  Ensign  James  Cooper,  Lieutenant 
Robert  Cunningham,  Lieutenant  Carr,  Captain  Matthew  Hamilton,  Captain  Colin  Maxwell, 
David  Williamson,  James  Ross,  jun. 
Lecale  Quarters  : 

Lieutenant  Hugh  Montgomery,  Lieut.  Launcelot  Greece  [Gracey],  Lieutenant  Thomas 
Lindsay,  Lieutenant  Woodney,  Lieutenant  John  Reynolds,  Captain  John  Wooll,  James 
Stewart,  John  Dunbarr,  John  Tenant,  James  Porter,  Stephen  Masor  [Mercer?],  John 
M'Dowell. 

2  The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  written  in  1679,  addressed  to  the  King  and 
forwarded  to  the  Duke  of  Ormond  by  Lionel  Jenkins,  Secretary  of  State  (Report  VII., 
Historical  MS S.  Commission,  part  ii.,  pp.  742-743). 

"  I  landed  in  Ireland  27  Sep.,  1679 Now  I  much  and  many  times  have  wondered 

at  one  thing,  that  all  the  Lieutenants  of  Ireland  have  continued  or  rather  confirmed  and 
settled  such  commands  of   military  forces  upon  those  that  were  notoriously  known  to  be 

Oliver's  only  creatures,  and  his  immediate  officers These  are  the  prime  leaders  and 

rulers  in  that  county  [Waterford]  who  backed  with  infinite  of  their  sect  keepe  a  due  cor- 
respond with  those  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  who  are  most  Scotts  and  Scotch  breed  and  are 
the  northern  Presbyterians  and  phanatiquies,  lustly,  able-bodyed,  hardy,  and  stout  men, 
-where  one  may  see  three  or  four  hundred  at  every  meeting-house  on  Sundays,  and  all  the 
north  of  Ireland  is  inhabited  with  these,  which  is  the  popular  place  of  all  Ireland  by  farr. 
They  are  very  numerous  and  greedy  after  land." 

3  The  "List  of  Ejected  Ministers  in  Ulster"  (1661)  is  published  by  Dr.  Reid,  in  his 
History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland  vol.  ii.,  pp.  253-255,  taken  by  him  from 
Wodrow's  list  (vol.  i.,  pp.  324,  325),  with  the  addition  by  Dr.  Reid  of  the  places  where  the 
deposed  ministers  officiated.  It  is  as  follows  (the  names  of  those  who  survived  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688  being  indicated  by  a  star)  : 

Presbytery  of  Down — Andrew  Stewart,  Donaghadee  ;  Gilbert  Ramsay,  Bangor  ;  John 
dreg,  Newtown  Ards ;  William  Reid,  Ballywalter ;  John  Drysdale,  Portaferry ;  James 
Gordon,  Comber  ;  Thomas  Peebles,  Dundonald  ;  Hugh  Wilson,*  Castlereagh  ;  Michael 
Bruce,*  Killinchy  ;  William  Richardson,  Killileagh  ;  John  Fleming,  Downpatrick  ;  Alex- 
ander Hutchinson,*  Saintfield  ;  Henry  Livingston,*  Drumbo  ;  Henry  Hunter,  Dromore  ; 
James  Campbell,  Rathfriland  ;  Andrew  McCormick,  Magherally. 

Presbytery  of  Antrim — William  Keyes,  Belfast  ;  James  Shaw,  Carnmoney  ;  Robert  Cun- 
ningham,* Broadisland  ;  Thomas  Hall,*  Lame  ;  Patrick  Adair,  Cairncastle  ;  James  Fleming, 
Glenarm  ;  Gilbert  Simpson,  Ballyclare  ;  Anthony  Kennedy,*  Templepatrick  ;  Thomas  Craw- 
ford, Donegore  ;  Robert  Hamilton,  Killead  ;  Robert  Dewart,  Connor  ;  John  Shaw,  Ahog- 
hill  ;  James  Cunningham,  Antrim  ;  John  Cathcart,  Randallstown. 

Presbytery  of  Route — David  Buttle,  Ballymena  ;  William  Cumming,  Kilraughts  ?  ;  John 
Douglass,  Broughshane  ;  Robert  Hogsyard,  Ballyrashane  ;  Gabriel  Cornwall,  Ballywillan  ? ; 
Thomas  Fulton,  Dunboe  ?  ;  William  Crooks,*  Ballykelly  ;  Thomas  Boyd,*  Aghadoey  ;  James 
Ker,  Ballymoney  ;  John  Law,  Garvagh. 

Presbytery  of  Tyrone — Robert  Auld,  Maghera  ?  ;  Archibald  Hamilton,  Donaghhendry  ; 
George  Keith,  Dungannon  ;  Thomas  Kennedy,*  Donoughmore  ;  Thomas  Go  wan,  Glass- 
lough  ;  John  Abernethy,*  Minterburn ;  Alexander  Osborn,*  Brigh  ;  James  Johnston,  Lis- 
naskea  ? . 

Presbytery    of    Lagan— Robert  Wilson,*  Strabane ;    William    Moorcraft,    Newtown- 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  607 

Stewart ;  John  Wool,  or  Will,  Clondermot ;  William  Seraple,  Letterkenny ;  John  Hart, 
Taughboyne  ;  John  Adamson,  Omagh?;  John  Crookshanks,  Raphoe  ;  Thomas  Drummond, 
Ramelton  ;  Robert  Craighead,*  Donoughmore ;  Hugh  Cunningham,  Ray ;  Hugh 
Peebles,  Lifford  ;  Adam  White,*  Fannet ;  William  Jack,  Bullalley,  Dublin. 

The  ministers  who  conformed  to  the  Episcopal  requirements  were  as  follows  :  Andrew 
Rowan,  Dunaghy  or  Clough,  Antrim  ;  George  Wallace,  Holywood,  Down  ;  Mungo  Bennett, 

Coleraine; Caldwell;  Robert  Rowan;  Brown  of  Bellaghy;  William  Mill,  or  Milne; 

James  Fleming  ;  Alexander  Dunlop,  Kilmore,  Down ;  Andrew  Nesbitt,  Glenarm,  Antrim. 

4  The  following  conjectures  and  statements  cover  about  all  the  information  at  the  present 
time  available  from  which  we  can  estimate  the  population  of  Ulster  during  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

In  1619  ...  an  accurate  Government  Survey  was  made  of  the  state  of  every  family 
of  the  Plantation.  There  were  not  quite  2000  families  in  all  (exact  1974),  and  in  these  6215 
were  between  sixteen  and  sixty,  fit  to  bear  arms.  In  1633,  on  a  similar  inquiry,  13,092  were 
the  numbers  returned  as  capable  of  bearing  arms.  See  State  Letters  of  the  Earl  of  Stafford, 
vol.  i.,  folio,  London. — Prendergast,  Cromwellian  Settlement  of  Ireland,  chapter  ii. 

Ulster  was  at  this  time  [1641]  very  thinly  populated,  and  it  was  estimated  that  its  whole 
population  consisted  only  of  about  100,000  Scotch,  and  20,000  English.  This  is  the  estimate 
of  Carte  {Life  of  Ormond,  pp.  177-178).  It  appears  from  a  Government  Survey  that  in  the 
confiscated  counties  alone  there  were  in  1633,  13,092  men  capable  of  bearing  arms. — Lecky, 
England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  book  ii.,  chapter  vi. 

Sir  William  Petty  computes  the  British  (including  therein  both  English  and  Scotch)  to 
be  before  the  rebellion  in  proportion  to  the  Irish  as  two  to  eleven  ;  at  which  rate  there  were 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  British  in  the  whole  kingdom.  Now,  it  is  certain 
that  the  great  body  of  the  English  was  settled  in  Munster  and  Leinster,  where  few  murders 
were  committed  (1641)  ;  and  that  in  Ulster,  which  was  the  dismal  scene  of  the  massacre, 
there  were  above  an  hundred  thousand  Scotch,  who  before  the  general  plantation  of  it  had 
settled  in  great  numbers  in  the  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim,  and  new  shoals  of  them  had 
come  over  upon  the  plantation  of  the  six  escheated  counties  ;  and  they  were  so  very  power- 
ful therein  that  the  Irish  either  out  of  fear  of  their  numbers,  or  for  some  other  politic  reason 
spared  those  of  that  nation  (making  proclamation  on  pain  of  death,  that  no  Scotchman 
should  be  molested  in  body,  goods  or  lands),  whilst  they  raged  with  so  much  cruelty  against 
the  English.  There  were  none  of  these  latter  nation  settled  in  Ulster  before  the  plantation  ; 
there  were  (as  I  see  by  Lord  Chichester's  book)  but  fifty  English  undertakers  concerned  in 
carrying  on  that  work  ;  and  it  was  not  so  easy  for  these  to  bring  from  England,  a  rich,  plenti- 
ful, and  quiet  country,  any  considerable  number  of  husbandmen  and  artificers  to  a  strange 
country,  wasted,  inhabited  by  a  wild,  savage,  turbulent,  and  rapacious  people,  whose  language 
they  knew  not,  as  it  was  for  the  Scotch  to  undertake  to  bring  numbers  from  Scotland,  where 
half  the  nation  spoke  the  Irish  tongue  and  where  they  were  to  remove  to  a  country  naturally 
more  fertile  than  their  own,  and  wherein  they  had  multitudes  of  friends,  relatives,  and 
countrymen,  to  assist  and  instruct  them  in  those  methods  of  improving  land  and  enriching 
themselves  which  they  had  practised  before  them  with  success.  It  cannot  therefore  reason- 
ably be  presumed  that  there  were  at  most  above  twenty  thousand  English  souls  of  all  ages  and 
sexes  in  Ulster  at  this  time. — Thomas  Carte,  Life  of  Ormond  (1735),  pp.  177,  178. 

The  following  enumeration  of  the  population  of  Ulster  was  reprinted  in  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  vol.  xxiv.  The  date  of  this  census  is  not  certainly  known  but 
it  is  supposed  to  have  been  taken  about  1658,  or  a  few  years  before  the  Restoration  :  County 
Antrim,  Scotch  and  English,  7074  ;  Irish,  8965  ;  total,  16,039.  Armagh,  Scotch  and  English, 
2393  ;  Irish,  4355  ;  total,  6748.  Cavan,  Scotch  and  English,  6485  ;  Irish,  8218  ;  total,  14,703. 
Donegal,  Scotch  and  English,  3412  ;  Irish,  8589  ;  total,  12,001.  Down,  Scotch  and  English, 
6540;  Irish,  8643;  total,   15,183.     Fermanagh,  Scotch  and  English,  1800;  Irish,  5302; 


608  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

total,  7102.  Londonderry,  Scotch  and  English,  4428 ;  Irish,  5306  ;  total,  9734.  Monag- 
han,  Scotch  and  English,  434 ;  Irish,  3649  ;  total,  4083.  Tyrone,  Scotch  and  English, 
8085  ;  Irish,  10,245  ;  total  18,330.  Total,  Scotch  and  English,  40,651  ;  total,  Irish,  63,- 
272  ;  total,  Ulster,  103,923. 

The  war  ended  at  last  in  1652.  According  to  the  calculation  of  Sir  W.  Petty,  out  of  a 
population  of  1,466,000,  616,000  had  in  eleven  years  perished  by  the  sword,  by  plague,  or  by 
famine  artificially  produced.  504,000,  according  to  this  estimate,  were  Irish,  112,000  of 
English  extraction.  A  third  part  of  the  population  had  been  thus  blotted  out,  and  Petty^tells 
us  that  according  to  some  calculations  the  number  of  the  victims  was  much  greater. 
Famine  and  the  sword  had  so  done  their  work  that  in  some  districts  the  traveller  rode  twenty 
or  thirty  miles  without  seeing  one  trace  of  human  life,  and  fierce  wolves — rendered  doubly 
savage  by  feeding  on  human  flesh — multiplied  with  startling  rapidity  through  the  deserted 
land,  and  might  be  seen  prowling  in  number  within  a  few  miles  of  Dublin.  Liberty  was 
given  to  able-bodied  men  to  abandon  the  country  and  enlist  in  foreign  service,  and  from  30,- 
000  to  40,000  availed  themselves  of  the  permission.  Slave-dealers  were  let  loose  upon  the 
land,  and  many  hundreds  of  boys  and  of  marriageable  girls,  guilty  of  no  offence  whatever, 
were  torn  away  from  their  country,  shipped  to  Barbadoes,  and  sold  as  slaves  to  the  planters. 
Merchants  from  Bristol  entered  keenly  into  the  traffic.  The  victims  appear  to  have  been  for 
the  most  part  the  children  or  the  young  widows  of  those  who  were  killed  or  starved,  but  the 
dealers  began  at  length  to  decoy  even  Englishmen  to  their  ships,  and  the  abuses  became  such 
that  the  Puritan  Government,  which  had  for  some  time  cordially  supported  the  system,  made 
vain  efforts  to  stop  it.  How  many  of  the  unhappy  captives  became  the  prey  of  the  sharks, 
how  many  became  the  victims  of  the  planters'  lusts,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  The  worship 
which  was  that  of  almost  the  whole  native  population  was  absolutely  suppressed. — Lecky 
Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  i.,  pp.  104,  105. 

For  some  years  after  the  Revolution,  a  steady  stream  of  Scotch  Presbyterians  had  poured 
into  the  country  [Ireland],  attracted  by  the  cheapness  of  the  farms,  or  by  the  new  openings 
for  trade,  and  in  the  reign  of  Anne,  the  Nonconformists  boasted  that  they  at  least  equalled 
the  Episcopalian  Protestants  in  Ireland,  while  in  the  Province  of  Ulster  they  immensely  out- 
numbered them.  (Killen's  Ecclesiastical  Hist,  of  Ireland,  ii.,  p.  242.)  I111715,  Archbishop 
Synge  estimated  at  not  less  than  fifty  thousand  the  number  of  Scotch  families  who  had 
settled  in  Ulster  since  the  Revolution.  (Synge's  Letters,  British  Museum,  Add.  MSS. ,  61 17,  p. 
50.)  Three  years  later  Bishop  Nicholson,  writing  from  Londonderry,  states  that  this  parish, 
— which  extended  far  beyond  the  walls, — though  one  of  the  most  Episcopalian  in  the  province, 
contained  eight  hundred  families  of  Protestant  Nonconformists,  and  only  four  hundred  of 
Conformists,  while  in  some  of  the  parishes  in  his  diocese  there  were  forty  Presbyterians  to 
one  member  of  the  Established  Church.  (Nicholson's  Letters,  British  Museum,  Add.  MSS., 
61 16,  p.  127.)  But  the  political  power  of  the  Dissenters,  even  before  the  imposition  of  the 
test,  was  by  no  means  commensurate  with  their  number,  for  they  were  chiefly  traders  and 
farmers  and  very  rarely  owners  of  the  soil.  In  the  House  of  Lords  they  were  almost  unrep- 
resented. In  the  House  of  Commons  they  appear  to  have  seldom,  if  ever,  had  more  than 
twelve  members.  When  the  Test  Act  expelled  them  from  the  magistracy  only  twelve  or 
thirteen  were  deprived.  In  the  Province  of  Ulster,  Archbishop  Synge  assures  us  that  there 
were  not  in  his  time  more  than  forty  Protestant  Dissenters  of  the  rank  of  gentlemen,  not 
more  than  four  who  were  considerable  landowners,  and  according  to  Bishop  Nicholson  they 
had  not  one  share  in  fifty  of  the  landed  interest  in  that  province.  (Archbishop  Synge's  Letters, 
p.  35,  British  Museum,  Add.  MSS.,  61 17.  Nicholson's  MSS.  Letters,  p.  157.)  Abernethy 
gave  a  higher  estimate  in  1751.  He  says  :  "  The  Protestant  Dissenters  in  Ireland  are  half 
of  its  Protestant  inhabitants  in  the  province  of  Ulster.  As  appears  by  authentic  accounts 
lately  sent  from  it,  there  are  about  50,000  families  of  Dissenters,  and  consequently  about 
216,000  souls.     In  three  counties  (Down,  Antrim,  and  Tyrone),  there  are  about  sixty  Dis- 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  609 

senting  gentlemen  who  possess  estates  from  £200  to  ^1400  a  year."    (Abernethy's  Scarce 
Tracts ',  p.  61.) — Lecky,  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  i.,  pp.  423,  424. 

There  were  in  1660,  sixty-eight  Presbyterian  ministers  in  Ireland,  all  save  one  in  Ulster, 
and  of  these  sixty-one  left  their  churches,  and  seven  conformed  to  the  Established  Church. 
.  .  .  The  number  of  Presbyterian  Churches  in  Ulster  gives  some  indication  of  the  popu- 
lation of  Scottish  origin,  although  a  moiety  of  the  Presbyterians  were  English.  The  extent 
of  the  emigration  from  Scotland  is,  however,  more  exactly  given  by  Sir  William  Petty  in  his 
Political  Survey  of  Ireland  in  1672.  He  takes  the  total  population  of  the  country  at  1 ,  100,000, 
and  calculates  that  800,000  were  Irish,  200,000  English,  and  100,000  Scots, — of  course  the 
English  were  scattered  all  over  Ireland,  the  Scots  concentrated  in  Ulster.  Petty  divides  the 
English  into  "  100,000  legal  Protestants  or  Conformists,  and  the  rest  are  Presbyterians,  In- 
dependents, Anabaptists  and  Quakers."  He  states  distinctly  that  a  very  large  emigration 
had  taken  place  from  Scotland,  after  Cromwell  settled  the  country  in  1652.  The  power  of 
the  Scots  must,  indeed,  have  been  so  considerable  and  so  much  feared  as  to  be  greatly  ex- 
aggerated, for  it  was  asserted  in  Parliament  in  1656,  that  they  "are  able  to  raise  40,000 
fighting  men  at  any  time." — Harrison,  The  Scot  in  Ulster,  p.  83. 

It  is  probable  that  the  population  of  Ireland  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury remained  almost  stationary.  For  many  years  after  the  rebellion  of  1641,  the  country 
had  been  extremely  underpopulated,  and  the  prevailing  habit  of  early  and  prolific  marriages 
would  naturally  have  led  to  very  rapid  multiplication,  but  famine,  disease,  and  emigration 
were  as  yet  sufficient  to  counteract  it.  Unfortunately  our  sources  of  information  on  this  sub- 
ject are  very  imperfect.  No  census  was  taken ;  our  chief  means  of  calculating  are  derived 
from  the  returns  of  the  hearth-money  collectors,  and  the  number  of  cabins  that  were  exempted 
from  the  tax,  as  well  as  the  great  difference  in  different  parts  of  the  country  in  the  average 
occupants  of  a  house,  introduce  a  large  element  of  uncertainty  into  our  estimates.  It  appears, 
however,  according  to  the  best  means  of  information  we  possess,  that  the  population 
in  the  beginning  of  the  century  was  not  far  from  two  millions,  and  that  it  increased  in 
fifty  years  to  about  2,370,000.  (See  a  collection  of  statistics  on  this  subject  in  Nicholls' 
Hist,  of  the  Irish  Poor  Law,  p.  II.,  and  Newenham  on  Population  in  Ireland.}  Dobbs- 
in  his  Essay  on  Irish  Trade,  pt.  ii.,  p.  9  (published  in  1731),  calculating  the  average 
of  families  at  4.36,  estimates  the  population  at  that  time  as  low  as  1,669,644,  but  adds,  "  I 
don't  insist  upon  this  as  a  just  computation  ;  I  am  apt  to  believe  it  is  rather  within  the 
truth."  The  proportion  of  Roman  Catholics  to  Protestants  is  also  a  question  of  much  diffi- 
culty. In  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  Petty  had  estimated  it  at  eight  to  three.  In  a  return, 
based  on  the  hearth-money  collection,  which  was  made  to  the  Irish  House  of  Lords  in  1731, 
it  was  estimated  at  not  quite  two  to  one  (1,309,768  to  700,453).  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  the  inequality  was  considerably  understated.  The  great  poverty  of  many  of  the  Catho- 
lics, and  the  remote  mountains  and  valleys  in  which  they  lived,  withdrew  them  from  the 
cognizance  of  the  tax-gatherer,  and  Primate  Boulter,  in  1727,  expressed  his  belief  that  there 
were  in  Ireland  at  least  five  Papists  to  one  Protestant.  (Boulter's  Letters,  vol.  i. ,  p.  210.)  In  an- 
other letter,  dated  December,  1731,  he  says  :  "  The  Papists,  by  the  most  modest  computa- 
tion, are  about  five  to  one  Protestant,  but  others  think  they  cannot  be  less  than  seven  to  one" 
(vol.  ii.,  p.  70).  Newenham  gives  more  credit  to  the  return  of  the  House  of  Lords.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  at  this  time  Connaught  was  exclusively  Catholic,  while  in  Munster, 
Berkeley  estimated  the  Catholics  as  seven  to  one.  Coghill,  a  very  intelligent  Irish  politician 
and  member  for  Trinity  College,  however,  in  a  letter  to  Southwell,  dated  November,  1733, 
said  he  was  firmly  persuaded  that  Papists  did  not  outnumber  the  Protestants  by  more  than 
three  to  one.  The  whole  population  he  estimated  at  rather  below  two  millions  (British 
Museum,  Add.  MSS.,  21,122).  Abernethy,  one  of  the  best  Presbyterian  authorities,  wrote 
about  1751  :  "  The  number  of  Papists  in  this  kingdom  exceeds  that  of  Protestants  of  all  de- 
nominations in  the  proportion,  some  have  said,  of  eight  to  one,  others  of  six  to  one,  but  the 
39 


610  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

lowest  computation  which  deserves  any  regard  is  that  of  three  to  one. "  (Abernethy's  Scarce 
Tracts,  p.  59.)  Archbishop  King,  writing  in  1727,  said  :  "  The  Papists  have  more  bishops  in 
Ireland  than  the  Protestants  have,  and  twice  (at  least)  as  many  priests."  (Mant.  vol.  ii.,  p. 
471.)  Boulter  adds  a  statement  which,  if  it  be  unexaggerated,  furnishes  an  extraordinary 
example  of  the  superiority  of  Catholic  zeal  in  the  midst  of  the  penal  laws,  and  at  a  time  when 
Protestantism  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of  an  almost  universal  monopoly.  He  says  :  "  We 
have  incumbents  and  curates  to  the  number  of  about  800,  whilst  there  are  more  than  3,000 
Popish  priests  of  all  sorts  here."  (Boulter's  Letters,  vol.  i.,  p.  210.) — Lecky,  England  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  277,  278. 

Sadler's  State  of  Ireland,  p.  393,  etc.,  gives  the  total  population  of  Ireland  in  1733  as 
2,015,229,  of  which  number  505,395  were  inhabitants  of  Ulster.  In  1767  the  population  of 
Ireland  was  2,544,276.  Edward  Wakefield  in  his  Statistical  and  Political  Account  of  Ireland 
(London,  1812),  vol.  ii.,  p.  684,  fixes  the  total  number  of  families  living  in  Ulster,  in  the 
year  1733,  at  101,079,  of  whom  62,620  were  estimated  to  be  Protestant  families,  and  38,459 
Catholic  families.  The  same  author  estimates  that  for  the  year  1792,  the  proportion  of 
Catholics. to  Protestants  in  County  Armagh  was  as  three  to  one  ;  of  the  Protestants  a  very 
great  majority  are  classed  as  Dissenters  from  the  Established  Episcopal  Church,  and  these 
Dissenters  were  chiefly  Presbyterians.  In  Antrim,  for  the  same  year,  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  population  was  about  equal  ;  of  the  Protestants  a  very  great  majority  were  Dis- 
senters, chiefly  Presbyterians.  In  Cavan,  the  proportion  of  Catholics  to  Protestants  was  as 
five  to  one  ;  of  the  Protestants  a  very  great  majority  were  Presbyterians.  In  Donegal  the 
proportion  was  six  to  one,  the  Protestants  being  almost  all  Presbyterians.  In  Down  the  pro- 
portion was  as  one  to  one,  the  Protestants  nearly  all  Presbyterians.  In  Fermanagh  the 
proportion  was  as  three  to  one,  with  few  Dissenters.  In  Londonderry  the  proportion  was 
as  two  to  one,  with  a  great  majority  of  the  Protestants  Presbyterians.  In  Monaghan  the  pro- 
portion was  as  five  to  one,  with  the  Dissenters  nearly  all  Presbyterians.  In  Tyrone  the 
proportion  was  six  to  one,  with  few  Protestants  but  Presbyterians. 

6  December  10,  1688,  six  companies  of  foot  were  formed  with  the  following  officers  : 
First  Company — captain,  Samuel  Norman  ;  lieut. ,  William  Crookshanks  ;  ensign,  Alexander 
Irwin.  Second  Company — captain,  Alexander  Leckey  ;  lieut.,  James  Lennox;  ensign, 
John  Harvey.  Third  Company — captain,  Matthew  Crocker;  lieut.,  Henry  Long;  ensign, 
Francis  Hunt.  Fourth  Company — captain,  Warham  Jemmet ;  lieut. ,  Robert  Morrison  ; 
ensign,  Daniel  Sherrard.  Fifth  Company — captain,  John  Tompkins  ;  lieut.,  James  Spaight ; 
ensign,  Alexander  Cunningham.  Sixth  Company — captain,  Thomas  Moncrieff ;  lieut., 
James  Morrison  ;  ensign,  William  Mackey. — Mackenzie's  Narrative. 

*  The  Parliament  called  in  Dublin  by  King  James,  7th  May,  1689,  had  no  representa- 
tives from  the  counties  of  Deny,  Donegal  or  Fermanagh ;  and  as  many  Protestants  from 
those  counties  were  engaged  in  the  defence  of  Londonderry,  they  are  described  in  the  Act  as 
of  Donegal  and  Deny.  In  the  subjoined  abstract  from  it,  are  the  names  and  addresses  of  such 
of  the  attainted  persons  as  appear  in  the  Corporation  Minutes  or  any  of  the  Deny  diaries,  as 
participators  in  the  defence  of  Deny,  Sligo,  or  of  the  Passage  of  the  Bann.  Of  course  many 
more  are  in  the  Act  than  we  can  identify  as  being  the  same  persons  mentioned  in  those 
diaries. 

"  An  Act  for  the  Attainder  of  Divers  Rebels,  and  for  Preserving  the  Interest  of  Loyal 
Subjects. 

' '  Whereas  a  most  horrid  invasion  was  made  by  your  Majesty's  unnatural  enemy  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  invited  thereunto  and  assisted  by  many  of  your  Majesty's  rebellious  and 
traiterous  subjects  ;  and  having  likewise  raised,  and  levied  open  rebellion  and  war  in  several 
places  in  this  Kingdom  and  entered  into  association,  and  met  in  conventions,  in  order  to  call 
in  and  set  up  the  said  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  said  rebels  and  traitors,  having  the  impu- 
dence to  declare  for  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange  against  your  sacred  Majesty,  Be  it 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  611 

Enacted,  that  the  Persons  hereafter  named,  viz.  : — Hugh  Montgomery,  Earl  of  Mount  Alex- 
ander ;  John  Skeffington,  Viscount  Massareene  ;  William  Caulfield,  Viscount  Charlemont ; 
William  Stewart,  Viscount  Mountjoy  ;  Ezekiel  Hopkins,  Lord  Bishop  of  Deny ;  Henry 
Lord  Blaney,  of  Monaghan  ;  Sir  Arthur  Royden,  of  Moyra,  Bart.  ;  Sir  Francis  Hamilton,  of 
Castlehamilton,  Bart.  ;  Sir  William  Francklin,  of  Belfast,  Bart.  ;  Sir  Tristrum  Beresford,  of 
Ballykally,  Bart.  ;  Sir  John  Magill,  of  Gill-Hall,  Knt.  ;  Samuel  Morrison,  Gent.  ;  all  late 
of  the  City  of  Dublin.  Robert  Rochford,  Esq.,  of  Westmeath.  Henry  Baker,  of 
Dumagan,  Esq  ;  James  Brabazon,  of  Carrstown ,  Gent.  ;  Christopher  Fortescue,  of  Dromiskin, 
Esq.  ;  all  of  the  County  of  Lowth.  George  Vaughan,  of  Buncrana,  Esq.  ;  John  Forward, 
of  Coolemackiltraine,  Esq.  ;  Hugh  Hamill,  of  Lifford,  Esq  ;  William  Groves,  of  Castles- 
hannaghan,  Esq.  ;  Kilmer  Braizier,  of  Rath,  Esq.  ;  Major  Gustavus  Hamilton,  of  Rusogile  ; 
John  Wigton,  of  Raphoe,  Gent.  ;  John  Cowen,  of  St.  Johnstown,  Gent.  ;  Chas.  Calhoone,  of 
Letterkenny,  Gent.  ;  James  Fisher,  of  Derry,  Gent.  ;  and  Captain  Jervis  Squire,  of  Donagh- 
more,  all  of  the  County  of  Donegal  and  Londonderry.  David  Kearnes,  of  Askragh, 
Esq.  ;  Audley  Meryn,  of  Trilick,  Gent.  ;  George  Walker,  of  Donoughmore,  Clerk  ;  William 
Stewart  of  Killemoon,  Gent.  ;  all  of  the  County  of  Tyrone.  John  Knox,  of  Glasslogh, 
Clerk,  of  the  County  of  Monaghan.  Clotworthy  Skeffington,  of  Antrim,  Esq.;  Col. 
Robt.  Adaire,  of  Ballymena ;  Arthur  Upton  of  Templepatrick,  Esq.  ;  Lieutenant-Colonel 
William  Shaw,  of  Gemeway ;  Captain  William  Shaw,  of  Bash ;  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Robert  Hueston,  of  Cregg  ;  Captain  William  Adare  of  Ballymena ;  all  of  the  County  of 
Antrim.  Daniel  Mac  Neale,  of  Dundrum,  Gent.,  of  the  County  of  Down.  Major  Joseph 
Strowde,  of  Lisburne,  in  the  County  of  Armagh.  Alex.  Stewart,  Esq.,  son  of  the  Lord 
Mountjoy ;  Warham  Jemett,  Collector ;  Capt.  Alexander  Lecky,  Capt.  Samuel  Norman, 
Capt.  Matthew  Cockins,  Capt.  Alex.  Tomkins,  Capt.  John  Tomkins,  Capt.  Thomas  Mon- 
crieff,  Capt.  James  Lennox,  Capt.  Horace  Kennedy,  Lieut.  Wm.  Crookshanks,  Lieut.  Jas. 
Spicke,  Lieut.  Danl.  Sherrard,  Lieut.  Edward  Brooks,  Lieut.  Henry  Long,  Lieut.  William 
Macky,  Lieut.  Robert  Morrison,  Lieut.  Wm.  Newton,  Lieut.  Henry  Campsy,  Lieut.  Henry 
Thompson,  Col.  George  Philips,  of  Newtownlimavady ;  Lieut.-Col.  Edward  Carry,  of 
Dungivin  ;  Capt.  Stephen  Heard,  Capt.  James  Strong,  Capt.  Thomas  Ash,  Capt.  Samuel 
Hobson,  Captain  Abraham  Hilhouse,  of  Ballycastle  ;  Col.  George  Canning,  of  Garvagh  ; 
Capt.  Wm.  Church,  Capt.  Miller,  Capt.  Adam  Downing,  of  Bellaghy  ;  Captain  Samuel 
Wright,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Robert  Lundy,  and  David  Rosse,  of  Londonderry,  Gent.  ;  all 
of  the  County  of  Londonderry.  Capt.  Chidley  Coote,  of  Voughtershire,  Roscommon. 
Henry  Nickleson,  of  Ballanagargine,  Gent.  ;  Adam  Ormsby,  of  Comine,  Gent.  ;  Francis 
Gore,  of  Sligo,  Gent.  ;  Charles  Nicleson,  of  Larrass,  Gent.  ;  all  of  the  County  of  Sligo. 
Major  Owen  Vaughan  of  Carrowmore,  Mayo,  whether  dead  or  alive,  or  killed  in  open  re- 
bellion, or  now  in  arms  against  your  Majesty,  and  every  one  of  them  shall  be  deemed,  and 
are  hereby  declared  and  adjudged  traitors,  convicted  and  attainted  of  high  treason,  and  shall 
suffer  such  pains  of  death,  penalties,  and  forfeitures  respectively,  as  in  cases  of  high  treason 
are  accustomed.  And  whereas  Robert  Lindsay,  of  Manor  Lindsay,  Esq.,  of  Tyrone,  and 
Francis  Annesley,  jun.,  of  Cloghmagherycatt,  Gent.,  of  Down,  have  absented  themselves 
from  this  Kingdom,  since  the  Fifth  of  November  last,  they  shall  suffer  such  pains  of  death, 
and  other  forfeitures  and  penalties  as  in  cases  of  high  treason  are  accustomed." 

This  abstract  of  the  Act,  is  taken  from  a  copy  published  in  The  State  of  the  Protestants 
of  Ireland  under  the  late  King  James's  Government,  written  by  William  King,  who  was 
Chancellor  and  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's,  Dublin,  during  the  Revolution,  and  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Derry. 

'Declaration  of  Union,  March  21,  1689 — 

"Whereas,  for  various  reasons,  rumors  etc.,  are  spread  abroad  among  the  vulgar,  that 
the  Right  Honorable  the  Lord  Blaney,  Sir  Arthur  Rawdon,  Lieutentant-Colonel  Maxwell, 
and  other  gentlemen  and  officers  of  quality,  are  resolved  to  take  protections  from  the  Irish, 


612  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

and  desert  the  general  service  for  defence  of  the  Protestant  party  in  this  Kingdom,  .  .  . 
For  wiping  off  which  aspersion  and  clearing  the  minds  of  all  Protestant  friends  wheresoever, 
from  all  suspicions  .  .  .  it  is  hereby  unanimously  declared,  protested  and  published  to 
all  men,  by  Colonel  Robert  Lundy,  Governor  of  Derry,  the  said  Lord  Blaney,  Sir  Arthur 
Rawdon,  and  other  officers  and  gentlemen,  subscribing  hereunto,  that  they  and  their  forces 
and  soldiers  are  entirely  united  among  themselves,  and  fully  and  absolutely  resolved  to  oppose 
the  Irish  enemy  with  the  utmost  force,  and  to  continue  the  war  against  them  to  the  last,  for 
their  own  and  all  Protestants'  preservation  in  this  Kingdom.  And  the  committee  of  Lon- 
donderry do  hereby  declare  and  publish  to  all  men  that  they  are  heartily  and  sincerely  united 
with  the  said  Colonel  Robert  Lundy  et  al.  and  all  others  that  join  in  this  common  cause,  and 
with  all  their  force  and  power  will  labor  to  carry  on  the  said  war.  And  if  it  should  happen 
that  our  party  should  be  so  oppressed  by  the  Irish  enemy,  that  they  should  be  forced  to  retire 
into  this  city  for  shelter  against  them  (which  God  forbid)  the  said  Lord  Blaney,  Sir  Arthur 
Rawdon,  and  their  forces,  and  all  other  Protestant  friends,  shall  be  readily  received  into  this 
city,  and  as  much  as  in  us  lies,  be  cherished  and  supported  by  us. — Dated  at  Londonderry  the 
21st  of  March,  1688-89.  [Signed]  Robert  Lundy,  Blaney,  William  Stewart,  Arthur  Raw- 
don, George  Maxwell,  James  Curry,  John  Forward,  Hugh  MacGill,  William  Ponsonby,  H. 
Baker,  Chris.  Fortescue,  James  Brabazon,  John  Hill,  Samuel  Norman,  Alexander  Tomkins, 
Mathew  Cocken,  Horas  Kennedy  (Sheriff),  Edward  Brook  (Sheriff),  Alexander  Lecky, 
Francis  Nevill,  James  Lennox,  Fredrick  Cowsingham,  John  Leslie,  Henry  Long,  William 
Crookshanks,  Massareene,  Clot.  Skeffington,  Arthur  Upton,  Samuel  Morrison,  Thomas  Cole, 
Francis  Forster,  Edward  Cary,  John  Cowan,  Kilner,  Brasier,  James  Hamilton,  John 
Sinclare." 

8  The  officers  who  signed  the  agreement  to  stand  by  their  posts  April  10,  i68q,  were  : 
Paulet  Phillips,  Hugh  Magill,  Richard  Crofton,  John  Hill,  George  Hamilton,  Arthur  Upton, 
Robert  Lundy,  [Henry]  Blaney,  Arthur  Ralston,  William  Shaw,  Richard  Whaley,  James 
Hamilton,  Nicholas  Atchison,  Hugh  Montgomery,  Thomas  Whitney,  William  Ponsonby, 
Richard  Johnson,  John  Forward,  George  Squire,  J.  Blainey,  John  Tubman,  Daniel  McNeill. 
Among  other  officers  who  took  part  in  the  defence  of  Londonderry  were,  William  Stuart, 
Francis  Hamilton,  Francis  White,  John  Hamilton,  John  Barry,  Walter  Dawson. 

9  The  Address  of  the  defenders  of  Londonderry  is  printed  in  Walker's  history  of  the 
siege.     The  caption  and  signers  of  the  Address  are  as  follows  : 

To  the  most  Excellent  Majesty  of  William  and  Mary,  King  and  Queen  of  England,  Scot- 
land, France,  and  Ireland,  Defenders  of  the  Faith,  etc.  :  The  humble  Address  of  the 
Governors,  Officers,  Clergy,  and  other  Gentlemen  in  the  City  and  Garrison  of 
Londonderry,  etc. 

Oliver  Apton,  Adam  Ardock,  Thomas  Ash,  William  Babbington,  Andrew  Bailly,  John 
Bailly,  Robert  Bayley,  Thomas  Baker,  James  Barrington,  Robert  Bennet,  Bartholomew 
Black,  James  Blair,  Francis  Boyd,  Robert  Boyd,  Thomas  Brunett,  John  Buchanan,  John 
Campbell,  William  Campbell,  Henry  Campsie,  James  Carr,  George  Church,  William  Church, 
Michael  Clanaghan,  Matthew  Clarke,  Dalway  Clements,  John  Clements,  John  Cochran, 
Matthew  Cocken,  Thomas  Conlay,  Richard  Cormack,  George  Crofton,  John  Crofton,  Richard, 
Crofton,  John  Cross,  William  Cross,  David  Mons  Cuistion,  James  Cunningham,  John  Cun- 
ningham, Michael  Cunningham,  Edward  Curling,  Henry  Cust,  Edward  Davyes,  Robert 
Dennison,  John  Dobbin,  William  Dobbin,  Adam  Downing,  Philip  Dunbarr,  Richard  Fane, 
Daniel  Fisher,  James  Fleming,  Richard  Fleming,  John  Fuller,  Ralph  Fullerton,  James 
Galtworth,  George  Garnet,  James  Gledstanes,  Stephen  Godfrey,  Warren  Godfrey,  Joseph 
Gordon,  James  Graham,  Andrew  Grigson,  William  Grove,  Thomas  Gughtredge,  James 
Hairs,  Albert  Hall,  John  Halshton,  Hugh  Hamill,  Andrew  Hamilton,  Arthur  Hamil- 
ton, John  Hamilton  (2),  William  Hamilton,     .     .     .     Hannston,  John  Hering,  Abraham 


Londonderry  and  Enniskillen  613 

Hilhouse,  James  Huston,  John  Humes,  Richard  Islen,  Christopher  Jenney,  Joseph  Johnston, 
Thomas  Johnston,  Thomas  Key,  Charles  Kinaston,  Robert  King,  Alexander  Knox,  Fred- 
erick Kye,  Henry  Lane,  Thomas  Lane  (2),  Robert  Lindsie,  John  Logan,  James  Mc 
Carmick,  James  McCartney,  John  McClelland,  Matthew  McClellany,  Archibald  McCulloch 
John  Maghlin,  Robert  Maghlin,  James  Manson,  Theophilus  Manson,  William  Manson,  John 
Michelborn,  Henry  Monry,  William  Montgomery,  James  Moore,  Robert  Morgan,  Patt  Moore, 
Adam  Morrow,  Bernard  Mulhollan,  David  Mulhollan,  John  Mucholland,  Thomas  Newcomen, 
Arthur  Noble,  Francis  Obre,  Thomas  Odayre,  Henry  Pearce,  Dudley  Phillips,  Alexander  Ran- 
kin, Alexander  Ratcliff,  Edmund  Rice,  Richard  Robinson,  Robert  Rogers,  Michael  Rullack, 
Alexander  Sanderson,  Archibald  Sanderson,  Robert  Skinner,  Thomas  Smyth,  Gervase  Squire, 
Alexander  Steward,  Marmaduke  Stewart,  William  Stewart,  James  Stiles,  William  Thompson, 
James  Tracy,  George  Walker  (2),  Robert  Walker,  Robert  Wallace,  George  White,  Nicholas 
White,  Thomas  White,  Benjamin  Wilkins,  Frac.  Wilson,  James  Young,  Henry verett. 

The  foregoing  list  is  also  printed  in  Thomas  Witherow's  Derry  and  Enniskillen,  as 
well  as  the  following  names  of  signers  to  a  similar  "  Humble  Address  of  the  Governors, 
Officers,  Clergy,  and  other  Inhabitants  of  your  Majesties'  Town  of  Enniskillen,"  which  was 
also  forwarded  to  William  and  Mary  from  that  city  in  1689. 

Alexander  Acheson,  Francis  Aldrich,  Daniel  Armstrong,  John  Armstrong,  Martin  Arm- 
strong, Thomas  Armstrong,  John  Ballard,  Claudius  Bealy,  Ambrose  Bedel,  William  Birney, 
Hugh  Blair,  William  Blashford,  James  Browning,  John  Browning,  William  Browning, 
Marcus  Buchanan,  Theodore  Bury,  James  Campbell,  William  Campbell,  Christopher  Carle- 
ton,  George  Cashell,  Allan  Cathcart,  Hugh  Cathcart,  James  Cathcart,  Malcome  Cathcart, 
William  Charleton,  Robert  Clark,  Isaac  Collyer,  George  Cooper,  George  Corry,  Hugh 
Corry,  James  Corry,  John  Corry,  Arnold  Cosbye,  Edward  Cosbye,  Laurence  Crow,  John 
Crozier,  Edward  Davenport,  Thomas  Davenport,  John  Dean,  Paul  Dean  (Provost),  James 
Delap,  James  Devitt,  Edward  Dixy,  Cor.  Donellan,  George  Drury,  Robert  Drury,  Au. 
Ellis,  Edward  Ellis,  Francis  Ellis,  Hercules  Ellis,  James  Ewart,  Francis  Folliott,  Samuel 
Forth,  Daniel  French,  John  Frisell,  William  Frith,  All.  Fulton,  John  Fulton,  Hugh  Gal- 
braith,  John  Galbraith,  Bar.  Gibson,  Francis  Graham,  James  Graham,  William  Gore, 
Edward  Gubbin,  John  Hale,  Andrew  Hamilton,  Gustavus  Hamilton  (Governor),  George 
Hammersley,  George  Hart,  Morgan  Hart,  Thomas  Hart,  Jason  Hazard,  Daniel  Hodson, 
Povey  Hookes,  Henry  Howel,  H.  Hughes,  Thomas  Hughes,  William  Jivine,  Henry  John- 
ston, James  Johnston  (2),  Robert  Johnston  (2),  Thomas  Johnston,  William  Johnston,  Charles 
King,  F.  King,  James  King,  John  King,  William  Kittle,  Thomas  Leturvel,  Matthew  Lind- 
say, Thomas  Lloyd,  John  Lowder,  James  Lucy,  Robert  McConnell,  William  McCormick, 
Charles  McFayden,  James  Matthews  (2),  James  Mitchell,  Andrew  Montgomery,  Hugh 
Montgomery,  Robert  Moor,  Toby  Mulloy,  John  Neper,  Richard  Newstead,  Thomas  Os- 
born,  William  Parsons,  John  Price,  John  Rider,  John  Roberts,  James  Robison,  Robert 
Robison,  Thomas  Roscrow,  William  Ross,  George  Russell,  Ninian  Scot,  Thomas  Scot, 
John  Sheriffe,  Thomas  Shore,  Ichabod  Skelson,  William  Slack,  Henry  Smith,  W.  Smith, 
Aylet  Sommes,  Robert  Starling,  Robert  Stevenson,  Richard  Taylor,  Robert  Vaughan, 
Robert  Ward,  George  Watson,  Matthew  Webster,  Robert  Wear,  Thomas  White,  Roger 
Wilton,  William  Wiseheart,  Edward  Wood,  John  Woodward,  Matthew  Young  (2),  Thomas 
Young. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

THE   EMIGRATION    FROM   ULSTER   TO   AMERICA 

WE  now  come  to  two  groups  of  measures  which  were  to  mould  the  his- 
tory of  Ireland  during  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  baneful 
effects  of  which  are  still  felt  in  that  country  —  the  repression  of  her  woollen 
manufactures,  and  the  penal  laws  in  matters  of  religion. 

The  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  probably  saw  the  last  of  the  emigra- 
tion of  Scots  into  Ulster;  while  for  the  years  that  were  to  follow,  the  Scots 
were  to  leave  Ulster  in  thousands  for  America.  For  some  time  after  the 
Revolution  a  steady  stream  of  Scotch  Presbyterians  had  poured  into  the 
country,  attracted  by  the  cheapness  of  the  farms  and  by  the  new  openings 
for  trade.  In  17 15,  Archbishop  Synge  estimated  that  fifty  thousand  Scotch 
families  had  settled  in  Ulster  since  the  Revolution. 

The  commerce  of  Ireland,  after  two  devastating  civil  wars,  cannot  have 
been  extensive,  or  of  a  magnitude  which  ought  to  have  excited  the  envy  or 
fear  of  England;  but  in  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  state  of  Eng- 
land was  not  a  prosperous  one,  and  her  woollen  manufacturers  imagined  that 
competition  from  Ireland  was  injuring  them.  The  consequence  was  that  in 
1698,  Parliament  petitioned  William  III.  to  have  laws  enacted  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  English  woollen  manufacture  by  the  suppression  of  the  Irish; 
and  accordingly,  the  next  year  the  Government  passed  an  Act  through  the 
Irish  Parliament,  which  was  utterly  subservient,  forbidding  any  exportation 
of  Irish  woollens  from  the  country.  It  was  afterwards  followed  by  Acts 
forbidding  the  Irish  to  export  their  wool  to  any  country  save  England — the 
English  manufacturers  desiring  to  get  the  wool  of  the  sister  kingdom  at  their 
own  price. 

The  penal  laws  against  Roman  Catholics  and  Presbyterians  are  the  special 
glory  of  Queen  Anne's  time;  hers  was  essentially  a  High  Church  regime,  and 
in  the  Irish  Parliament  the  High  Church  party  ruled  supreme.  The  Acts 
against  Roman  Catholics  denied  them  the  exercise  of  their  worship,  and  laid 
the  great  body  of  the  people  of  Ireland  under  pains  and  penalties  so  cruel 
and  degrading  that  the  laws  could  not  in  reality  be  put  in  force  to  their  full 
extent.  Those  against  Presbyterians  were  not  so  severe,  but  were  sufficiently 
galling,  and  strangely  unreasonable,  as  being  applied  against  the  very  men 
who  had  been  the  stoutest  bulwark  of  Protestantism  not  twenty  years  before. 
The  blow  against  the  Protestant  dissenters  was  delivered  through  a  Test 
Act,  which  compelled  all  serving  in  any  capacity  under  the  Government,  all 
practising  before  the  law  courts,  all  acting  in  any  town  council,  to  take  the 
communion  of  the  Established  Church.  The  Act  at  once  emptied  the  town 
councils  of  the  Ulster  towns ;  it  deprived  of  their  commissions  many  who 

614 


The  Emigration  from  Ulster  to  America  615 

were  serving  as  magistrates  in  the  counties.  It  drove  out  of  the  Corporation 
of  Londonderry  several  of  the  very  men  who  had  fought  through  the  siege 
of  1689.  A  strange  commentary  on  the  Test  Act  was  given  in  17 15,  when 
Scotland  was  in  ferment  owing  to  the  Jacobite  Rebellion,  and  trouble  was 
feared  in  Ireland.  The  services  of  the  Presbyterians  were  accepted  for  the 
militia,  and  then  the  Government  passed  an  Act  of  Indemnity  to  free  them 
from  the  penalties  they  had  incurred  by  serving  their  country  and  breaking 
the  Test  Act. 

The  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  had,  in  1688,  five  presbyteries,  above 
eighty  ministers,  eleven  probationers,  and  about  one  hundred  congregations. 
In  the  northern  counties,  Bishop  Leslie  calculated  that  Presbyterians  were 
then  fifty  to  one  of  the  Episcopalians.  After  Schomberg's  arrival,  in  1689, 
presbyteries  began  to  meet  as  usual,  but  as  many  ministers  were  still  in  Scot- 
land, there  was  difficulty  in  procuring  supplies  for  the  vacant  charges. 
Several  houses  of  worship  had  been  destroyed,  and  the  people  greatly 
suffered  from  the  ravages  of  war. 

The  English  Parliament,  which  met  towards  the  end  of  1691,  enacted 
that  no  person  could  sit  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  or  hold  any  Irish  office, 
civil,  military,  or  ecclesiastical,  or  practise  law  or  medicine  in  Ireland,  until 
he  had  taken  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy,  and  had  subscribed  the 
declaration  against  Transubstantiation.  This  Act  —  contrary  to  the  Treaty 
of  Limerick  —  was  only  one  of  the  many  persecuting  laws  by  which  Irish 
Roman  Catholics  were  afterwards  oppressed,  but  Presbyterians  were  not  yet 
asked  to  make  any  declaration  to  which  they  could  object.  They  were, 
therefore,  eligible  for  public  offices  in  Ireland,  although  a  minister  was  liable 
to  three  months'  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail  for  delivering  a  sermon, 
and  to  a  fine  of  a  hundred  pounds  for  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper.  In 
England,  an  Act  of  Toleration  protected  them  in  their  worship,  while  by 
the  Test  Act  they  were  excluded  from  office. 

Although  William  often  tried  to  persuade  the  Irish  Parliament  to  pass  an 
Act  permitting  dissenters  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
conscience,  his  influence  failed  to  overcome  the  power  of  bishops  who  con- 
trolled the  House  of  Lords.  These  efforts  were  always  met  by  attempts  to 
impose  a  Test  Act,  rendering  it  necessary  for  all  who  held  places  of  power 
or  profit  under  the  Government  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  Epis- 
copal Church.  The  bishops  induced  the  Lords'  committee  on  religion,  of  the 
Irish  Parliament  which  met  in  1692,  to  pass  a  resolution  declaring  that  there 
should  be  no  toleration  cf  dissenters  unless  all  public  officials  were  compelled 
to  communicate  three  times  a  year  in  their  parish  churches,  and  that  severe 
penalties  ought  to  be  inflicted  on  any  dissenting  minister  who  ventured  to 
preach  against  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Several  circumstances  prevented  Presbyterians  from  obtaining  Parlia- 
mentary influence  sufficient  to  save  them  from  persecution.  The  aris- 
tocracy, at  the  Restoration,  went  over  to  prelacy,  which  they  had  sworn  to 


616  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

extirpate.  By  that  aristocracy,  both  Houses  of  the  Irish  Parliament  were 
completely  controlled.  The  House  of  Lords  belonged  to  them  altogether, 
and  they  returned  most  of  those  supposed  to  represent  the  people  in  the 
Commons.  The  county  members  were  elected  by  the  freeholders;  and  free- 
holders were  manufactured  by  the  landlords  to  suit  their  own  purposes. 

There  were  then  no  large  cities  by  which  the  power  of  the  Episcopal  oli- 
garchy might  be  restrained.  Dublin,  with  a  population  of  thirty  thousand, 
was  by  far  the  largest  place  in  the  kingdom.  There  was  not  a  single  town 
in  Ulster  with  a  population  of  five  thousand.  Yet  villages  like  Augher, 
Charlemont,  and  St.  Johnston  each  returned  two  members.  In  these  places 
the  landlords  were  as  supreme  as  in  their  own  castles.  A  burgess,  on  his 
election,  had  often  to  swear  that  he  would  obey  all  the  proprietor's  com- 
mands and  boroughs  could  be  bought  or  sold  like  any  other  commodity. 
Even  in  the  large  towns  the  people  had  no  right  to  elect  their  representatives. 
The  mayor,  or  "  sovereign,"  and  burgesses  returned  the  members;  but  when 
a  burgess  died  or  resigned,  his  successor  was  elected  by  the  other  burgesses. 
And  thus  there  was  no  real  representation  of  the  people  in  Ireland. 

Besides  all  this,  Presbyterians  were  confined  to  the  Province  of  Ulster, 
while  Episcopalians  were  scattered  over  the  country.  The  fact  that  Presby- 
terians constituted  almost  the  entire  population  in  parts  of  the  North,  was 
of  no  avail  in  the  South,  where  they  were  a  small  minority  of  the  Protestants. 
Accordingly,  Presbyterians  having  no  political  power,  had  to  submit  to  po- 
litical persecution.  But  they  had  also  to  endure  a  social  persecution.  The 
feudal  system  which  transferred  the  ownership  of  the  soil  from  the  tribe  to 
the  landlord  was  one  of  the  many  evils  introduced  by  the  power  of  England. 
The  Presbyterian  farmer  was  a  serf  who  had  to  submit  to  the  will  of  his 
landlord,  and  in  elections,  when  he  had  a  vote,  was  obliged  to  support  the 
enemies  of  his  country,  his  class,  and  his  creed. 

In  1695  a  new  Parliament  was  summoned.  Soon  after  it  met,  the  earl 
of  Drogheda  brought  before  the  House  of  Lords  a  bill  for  "  ease  to  dis- 
senters." But  of  forty- three  Peers  who  were  present,  twenty-one  were 
bishops,  and  a  resolution  postponing  the  consideration  of  the  bill  was  car- 
ried without  difficulty.  The  same  measure  of  relief  was  proposed  in  the 
Commons,  but  was  so  strongly  opposed  that  the  Government  was  unable  to 
carry  it  through.  Lord  Capel,  the  firm  friend  of  toleration,  died  in  1696, 
and  during  several  years  Ireland  was  governed  by  Lords  Justices.  For  a 
considerable  period  the  leading  spirit  among  these  was  Henri  de  Ruvigny, 
Earl  of  Galway,  a  French  Protestant,  who  sympathized  with  Presbyterians 
in  their  struggles  for  freedom. 

The  Government,  conscious  of  its  weakness,  made  no  attempt  to  pass  a 
Toleration  Bill  in  the  Parliament  of  1697,  but  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  Act 
by  which  legal  protection  was  continued  and  extended  to  foreign  Protestants, 
and  provision  made  for  carrying  out  a  promise  of  the  king  to  give  salaries 
to  their  ministers. 


The  Emigration  from  Ulster  to  America  617 

Under  the  enlightened  government  of  William,  the  Presbyterian  Church 
made  progress,  notwithstanding  the  frowns  of  landlords  and  the  rage  of  pre- 
lates. Many  thousands  of  Presbyterians  came  to  Ireland  between  the  years 
1690  and  1698  to  occupy  farms  laid  waste  by  the  ravages  of  war.  New  con- 
gregations were  established,  and  old  congregations  became  large.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Derry  there  were  few  ministers  but  had  one  thousand  "  ex- 
aminable "  persons,  while  many  clergymen  of  the  Established  Church  in  the 
same  district  would  not  have  more  than  a  dozen  to  attend  their  services. 
Even  now,  after  two  hundred  years  of  persecution,  Presbyterians  in  these 
districts  form  a  large  majority  of  the  Protestant  population. 

In  March,  1702,  Presbyterians  lost  a  friend  and  protector  by  the  death 
of  King  William.  This  monarch  had  always  done  his  best  to  save  them 
from  persecution;  but  he  was  surrounded  by  an  aristocracy  who  hated  both 
himself  and  his  principles,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  he  retained  by  favor 
the  crown  he  had  won  by  the  sword. 

William  was  succeeded  by  Anne,  daughter  of  James.  She  was  at  heart 
a  Tory  and  a  Jacobite.  From  her  Presbyterians  had  much  to  fear  and  little 
to  expect.  However,  the  power  of  the  Whigs  during  a  great  part  of  this 
reign  saved  dissenters  from  much  they  might  have  suffered  had  Tories  been 
in  office. 

The  congregations  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church,  which  now  num- 
bered nearly  one  hundred  and  twenty,  were,  in  1702,  rearranged,  and  placed 
under  the  nine  presbyteries  of  Belfast,  Down,  Antrim,  Coleraine,  Armagh, 
Tyrone,  Monaghan,  Derry,  and  Convoy;  the  three  sub-synods  of  Belfast, 
Monaghan,  and  Lagan;  and  one  general  synod,  which  held  a  yearly  meeting 
in  June.1 

The  English  Parliament,  in  1703,  extended  to  Ireland  the  provisions  of 
a  previously  existing  law,  by  which  all  persons  in  civil,  military,  or  ecclesi- 
astical offices  were  required  to  take  the  Oath  of  Abjuration,  declaring  that 
the  son  of  King  James  had  no  right  to  the  crown.  Only  six  Irish  Presby- 
terian ministers  refused  to  make  this  declaration.  These  non-jurors  con- 
sidered that  the  oath  was  so  worded  as  to  bind  them  to  declare  that  the 
Pretender  was  not  the  son  of  King  James.  Accordingly,  they  refused  to 
swear,  although  as  Whigs  they  were  all  opposed  to  the  claims  of  the  Stuarts. 
Among  these  Presbyterian  non-jurors  the  Rev.  John  McBride,  of  Belfast, 
was  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  prelatic  party.  Several  attempts  to  obtain 
his  arrest  having  failed,  at  last  one  of  those  clerical  magistrates,  who  were 
so  particularly  zealous  as  persecutors,  issued  a  warrant  for  his  apprehension ; 
and  the  accused  had  to  fly  from  the  country,  although  Lord  Donegal  offered 
to  secure  him  to  the  value  of  his  estate. 

After  the  accession  of  Anne,  the  grant  of  Royal  Bounty  had  been  re- 
newed, and  its  payment  was  continued,  although  the  Irish  House  of  Com- 
mons resolved,  in  October,  1703,  that  this  "  pension  "  was  an  unnecessary 
branch  of  the  fiscal  establishment.      But  a  proposition  involving  greater 


618  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

danger  and  more  disastrous  consequences  soon  came  before  the  Parliament 
in  Dublin.  In  direct  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick,  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced "to  prevent  the  further  growth  of  Popery."  This  bill  contained 
many  clauses  directed  especially  against  Roman  Catholics,  and,  with  the 
approval  of  the  Queen,  another  clause  was  introduced  by  the  authorities  in 
England,  to  the  effect  that  all  public  officers  in  Ireland  must  take  the  Sacra- 
ment according  to  the  rites  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  Presbyterians  seemed 
confounded,  and  made  but  little  resistance.  Few  of  them  had  seats  in  Par- 
liament, and  these  few  were  powerless  to  prevent  the  bill  passing.  The 
Roman  Catholics  were  heard  by  counsel.  Their  advocate  in  his  speech  up- 
braided the  Government  for  now  proposing  to  inflict  pains  and  penalties  on 
Presbyterians  —  the  very  men  who  had  saved  Ireland.  But  all  was  in  vain. 
The  bill  passed,  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1704,  received  the  royal  assent. 
Presbyterians  were  excluded  from  the  magistracy,  customs,  excise,  post- 
office,  courts  of  law,  and  municipal  offices.  Throughout  Ireland,  the 
Presbyterian  magistrate  was  deprived  of  his  position  of  power,  and  the 
Presbyterian  postmaster  of  his  means  of  support.  As  a  reward  for  their 
services,  Presbyterians  were  declared  incapable  of  filling  the  most  humble 
office  under  that  Episcopal  Government  for  which  they  preserved  Derry  to 
Ireland  and  Ireland  to  Great  Britain. 

In  Londonderry,  ten  aldermen  and  fourteen  burgesses — about  two-thirds 
of  the  entire  corporation — preferred  their  Presbyterian  faith  to  their  official 
position.  In  Belfast,  the  sovereign  and  a  majority  of  the  twelve  burgesses 
were  Presbyterians;  and  for  some  time  the  minority  of  the  corporation  did 
not  attempt  to  exclude  them.  But  on  the  7th  of  August,  1707,  the  death  of 
Mr.  William  Cairns  caused  a  vacancy  in  the  Parliamentary  representation 
of  the  borough.  In  the  contest  which  followed,  only  four  burgesses  took 
part,  as  the  Presbyterian  members  of  the  corporation  did  not  attempt  to 
exercise  their  franchise.  This  matter  was  reported  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and,  by  a  majority  of  sixty-five  to  fifty- three,  they  declared  that  the 
office  of  burgess  was  vacated  whenever  its  occupant  did  not  qualify  by  be- 
coming a  Conformist.  The  Presbyterian  members  were  now  excluded  from 
the  Belfast  corporation.  Presbyterians  lost  their  power  in  this  and  every 
other  Parliamentary  borough,  and  the  representation  of  places,  where  they 
were  then  almost  the  entire  population,  was,  by  this  means,  transferred  to 
a  miserable  minority  of  persecuting  prelatists. 

In  1704,  some  Presbyterians  residing  at  Lisburn  were  excommunicated 
by  Episcopal  authority  for  the  crime  of  being  married  by  ministers  of  their 
own  Church.  The  Government,  however,  refused  to  issue  the  writs  necessary 
for  seizing  excommunicated  persons,  and  the  offenders  escaped  imprisonment. 
The  next  year  a  bill  was  brought  into  the  Irish  Parliament  containing  clauses 
which  would  have  rendered  Presbyterian  marriages  illegal.  But  Mr. 
Broderick,  the  Speaker,  managed  to  get  these  clauses  stricken  out. 

The  judge  on  a  northern  circuit,  having  heard  that  several  Presbyterians 


The  Emigration  from  Ulster  to  America  619 

had  been  summoned  to  give  evidence  in  a  court  of  their  own  Church,  de- 
nounced the  custom,  and  charged  grand  juries  to  prosecute  all  concerned  in 
holding  such  illegal  meetings. 

But  notwithstanding  these  persecutions,  and  the  fact  that  Presbyterians 
were  compelled  to  pay  tithes  for  the  support  of  rectors  whose  sermons  they 
never  heard  and  whose  doctrines  they  did  not  believe,  while  in  addition  they 
had  to  support  their  own  clergymen,  their  Church  grew  and  prospered  with 
the  growth  of  the  country. 

A  Tory  ministry  having  obtained  power  in  17 10,  the  government  of 
Ireland  was  again  committed  to  the  duke  of  Ormond,  who  appointed  the 
primate  and  the  commander  of  the  forces  to  be  Lords  Justices  until  his 
arrival.  A  lately-passed  Act  had  given  any  two  magistrates  the  power  of 
inflicting  severe  penalties  on  parties  refusing  to  take  the  Abjuration  Oath, 
and  this  Act  was  used  by  many  Episcopal  justices  of  the  peace  to  oppress 
the  Irish  Non-conformists. 

In  1713,  the  Rev.  Alexander  McCracken,  of  Lisburn,  one  of  the  Presby- 
terian non-jurors,  was  arrested,  without  a  warrant,  by  Mr.  Westerna  Waring, 
High  Sheriff  of  Down,  who  was  then  sunk  in  debt  and  was  afterwards  ex- 
pelled from  the  Irish  House  of  Commons.  Mr.  McCracken  was  fined 
five  hundred  pounds  and  condemned  to  six  months'  imprisonment.  This 
imprisonment  he  suffered,  but  his  sufferings  were  not  supposed  to  expiate 
his  crime.  Being  still  under  the  obligation  of  taking  the  Oath,  he  again  re- 
fused, and,  consequently,  was  kept  in  jail  until  George  I.  was  nearly  two 
years  on  the  throne.  During  all  this  time  Roman  Catholic  priests  were  not 
molested  for  refusing  to  swear  the  same  oath,  notwithstanding  they  were 
mostly  Jacobites,  while  the  Presbyterians  were  loyal  to  the  Protestant  suc- 
cession. Evil  days  now  seemed  to  draw  nigh.  By  an  "Act  against  Schism,'* 
passed  by  the  English  Parliament,  every  Presbyterian  schoolmaster  became 
liable  to  imprisonment  for  three  months  if  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
office.  The  Royal  Bounty  was  now  definitely  withdrawn,  and  all  over 
Ulster  there  was  an  outburst  of  Episcopal  tyranny.  The  doors  of  the 
Presbyterian  churches  in  Downpatrick,  Antrim,  and  Rathfriland  were 
"  nailed  up,"  and  a  storm  of  persecution  seemed  about  to  burst  on  the  de- 
voted heads  of  all  Protestant  Nonconformists. 

For  some  time  the  Queen's  health  had  been  failing,  and  it  was  now  plain 
that  her  death  was  near.  In  common  with  almost  all  Tories,  she  favored 
the  Pretender's  claims;  and  a  plot  was  formed  to  place  him  on  the  throne. 
The  Whigs  now  began  to  take  measures  of  self-defence.  It  was  ascertained 
that  fifty  thousand  Irish  Presbyterians  were  prepared  to  carry  arms  in  de- 
fence of  the  Protestant  succession,  and  a  Huguenot  clergyman  was  sent  with 
this  news  to  Hanover.  The  Queen  died  on  the  1st  of  August,  1714,  before 
the  Tories  had  their  plans  fully  matured,  and  King  George  succeeded  to  the 
throne  without  opposition. 

The  new  king  regarded  all  Tories  as  Jacobites,  and  dismissed  them  from 


620  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

office.  The  Nonconformists  had  now  a  protector  ready  to  exercise  his 
power  of  pardon  to  save  them  from  the  consequences  of  laws  made  by  his 
enemies  to  punish  his  friends. 

As  it  was  feared  that  an  attempt  would  soon  be  made  by  the  Pretender 
to  gain  the  throne  by  his  sword,  the  Lords  Justices  called  out  the  militia  in 
Ireland.  Although  Presbyterians  exposed  themselves  to  severe  penalties  for 
receiving  pay  from  the  crown,  without  taking  the  Test,  they  immediately 
offered  their  services  to  the  Government.  This  offer  was  gladly  accepted, 
and  a  promise  was  given  that  no  Presbyterian  would  be  punished  for  taking 
up  arms  to  defend  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  House  of  Hanover. 

The  death  of  the  Queen  had  caused  a  dissolution  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 
In  1 7 15,  a  general  election  took  place,  and  a  few  Presbyterian  candidates 
were  successful  in  northern  constituencies.  Clotworthy  Upton  and  Sir 
Arthur  Langford  were  returned  for  the  county  of  Antrim,  Hugh  Henry  for 
Antrim  borough,  George  Macartney  for  Belfast,  Archibald  Edmonston  for 
Carrickfergus,  and  Hercules  Rowley  for  county  Derry.  A  desperate  effort 
was  made  to  keep  out  Colonel  Upton,  but,  notwithstanding  the  fury  of  the 
territorial  aristocracy,  he  was  supported  by  a  majority  of  the  Presbyterian 
freeholders. 

When  the  Irish  Parliament  met,  it  was  found  that  the  Whigs  had  a  ma- 
jority in  the  Commons,  and  a  bill  was  passed  through  the  Lower  House  in- 
demnifying Presbyterians  for  all  time  to  come  from  penalties  incurred  by 
serving  in  the  militia,  and,  for  ten  years,  from  penalties  incurred  by 
serving  in  the  army.  But  even  this  small  measure  of  relief  met  with  such 
opposition  in  its  subsequent  stages  that  it  had  to  be  abandoned;  and  the 
only  people  in  Ireland  upon  whom  the  king  could  depend  were  refused  per- 
mission to  carry  arms  in  defence  of  his  crown.  But  the  Commons  passed 
resolutions  to  the  effect  that  any  person  who  would  prosecute  a  dissenter  for 
accepting  a  commission  in  the  army  or  militia  was  an  enemy  of  King  George 
and  a  friend  to  the  Pretender. 

On  the  6th  of  September,  17 15,  the  earl  of  Mar  raised  the  standard  of 
the  Stuarts  in  Scotland.  The  duke  of  Argyle  marched  against  the  rebels  at 
once,  and  after  a  desperate  battle  at  Sheriffmuir,  remained  master  of  the 
field.  Although  the  victory  was  not  decisive,  the  clans  were  so  much  dis- 
couraged that  they  returned  home,  and  the  arrival  of  the  Pretender  himself 
did  not  prevent  the  rebellion  coming  to  a  speedy  termination. 

Meanwhile,  Presbyterians  remained  exposed  to  the  persecutions  of  their 
enemies.  Four  members  of  Tullylish  congregation  were,  in  17  r6,  delivered 
over  to  Satan  by  Episcopal  authority,  for  the  high  crime  of  being  married 
by  their  own  minister,  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Kennedy. 

In  1 7 17  there  were  r3o  ministers,  140  congregations,  ir  presbyteries,  and 
nearly  200,000  people  in  connection  with  the  Synod  of  Ulster.  These  people 
were  scattered  over  a  wide  district,  and  it  was  difficult  for  so  few  ministers 
to  attend  to  their  spiritual  wants.     Stipends  were  small,  but  money  had  a 


The  Emigration  from  Ulster  to  America  62 r 

large  purchasing  power.  In  172 1  the  people  of  Omagh  erected  the  church 
in  which  the  descendants  of  those  who  formed  the  first  congregation  still 
worship. 

The  Government  now  determined  to  make  another  attempt  to  pass  their 
long  promised  Toleration  Bill.  But  the  Tories,  fearing  that  the  proposed 
enactment  might  be  too  favorable  to  Nonconformists,  introduced  a  bill  of 
their  own,  which  granted  them  mere  toleration.  Even  this  measure  of  relief 
was  considered  far  too  much  by  many  Episcopalians,  and  it  passed  through 
the  Lords  by  a  majority  of  only  seven  votes.  This  Act  delivered  Protestant 
dissenters  from  penalties  for  absence  from  religious  services  in  their  parish 
churches;  and  it  permitted  Nonconformist  ministers  to  discharge  all  the 
functions  of  their  office  without  incurring  the  former  penalty  of  one  hundred 
pounds.  An  Act  of  Indemnity  was  also  passed  to  protect  civil  or  military 
officers,  who  were  Nonconformists,  from  the  consequences  of  having  in  the 
past  received  pay  from  the  crown  without  taking  the  Test  But  they  were 
not  protected  from  the  consequences  of  similar  acts  in  future,  and  no  attempt 
was  made  to  repeal  the  Test  Act  itself. 

These  various  repressive  measures  fashioned  the  history  of  Ireland  during 
the  first  seventy  years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  country  was  utterly 
wretched,  and  broken-hearted.  Its  agriculture  was  miserable,  and  chronic 
scarcity  alternated  with  actual  famine;  it  had  little  commerce,  and  no  manu- 
factures, save  the  slowly  increasing  linen  manufacture  of  Ulster. 

There  are  two  outstanding  facts  in  the  history  of  Ulster  at  this  time  besides 
the  rise  of  the  linen  manufacture — the  steady  emigration,  and  the  rise  of  the 
Secession  Church.  The  latter  is  a  strong  proof  of  the  kinship  to  Scotland,  the 
former  is,  perhaps,  even  a  stronger  proof  of  the  blood  which  was  in  her 
sons,  for  they  left  Ulster,  as  their  forefathers  had  come  to  it,  in  search  of  a 
more  kindly  home  across  the  seas.  The  emigration  from  Ulster  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  features  of  Irish  history,  and  one  which  had  a  most  marked 
effect  on  the  vital  force  of  the  United  States  of  America,  which  drew  so 
much  of  its  best  blood  from  the  Presbyterians  of  the  north  of  Ireland. 
There  was  nothing  to  induce  the  active-minded  men  of  the  North  to  remain 
in  Ireland,  and  they  left  in  crowds,  going  away  with  wives  and  children, 
never  to  return.  In  17 18,  there  is  mention  of  "  both  ministers  and  people 
going  off."  In  1728,  Archbishop  Boulter  states  that  "  above  4200  men, 
women,  and  children  have  been  shipped  off  from  hence  for  the  West  Indies, 
within  three  years."  In  consequence  of  the  famine  of  1740,  it  is  stated  that 
for  "  several  years  afterwards,  twelve  thousand  emigrants  annually  left  Ulster 
for  the  American  plantations  ";  while  from  1771  to  1773,  "  the  whole  emi- 
gration from  Ulster  is  estimated  at  thirty  thousand,  of  whom  ten  thousand 
were  weavers."  Thus  was  Ulster  drained  of  the  young,  the  enterprising, 
and  the  most  energetic  and  desirable  classes  of  its  population.  They  left 
the  land  which  had  been  saved  to  England  by  the  swords  of  their  fathers, 
and  crossed  the  sea  to  escape  from  the  galling  tyranny  of  the  bishops  whom 


622  The  Scotch-Irish  Families  of  America 

England  had  made  rulers  of  that  land.  They  came  to  a  new  and  a  better 
land,  and  here  they  founded  their  homes,  built  their  churches,  established 
their  communities,  and  again  set  up  their  religion.  And  here,  also,  in  the 
end,  the  sons  were  obliged  to  draw  their  swords  in  order  that  they  might 
save  to  themselves  from  England  the  land  which  they  had  won. 

A  writer  in  the  Dublin  University  Magazine  for  1832  (vol.  i.  pp.  476,  477), 
in  speaking  of  the  Protestant  emigration  to  America,  says: 

The  long  interval  of  calm  which  followed  the  Revolution  [of  1688] 
liberalized  the  feelings  of  the  generation  which  came  after  that  event,  and 
led  the  Proprietary  into  a  system  of  setting  their  lands,  which  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  most  disastrous  consequences  in  the  emigration  of  their  Prot- 
estant tenantry.  That  system  is  thus  described  by  a  writer  who  published 
his  pamphlet  in  1745:  "  Popish  tenants  are  daily  preferred,  and  Protestant 
rejected,  either  for  the  sake  of  swelling  a  rental  or  adding  some  more  duties 
which  Protestants  will  not  submit  to.  .  .  .  The  Protestants  being  thus 
driven  out  of  their  settlements,  transport  themselves,  their  families,  and 
effects  to  America,  there  to  meet  a  more  hospitable  reception  from  strangers 
to  their  persons,  but  friends  to  their  religion  and  civil  principles." 

The  Lord  Primate  Boulter,  who  had  come  from  England,  and  been 
appointed  one  of  the  Lord  Justices,  in  1728,  wrote  a  letter  on  the  subject  of 
the  emigration  from  Ireland,9  to  the  ministry  in  England,  in  which  he  says: 
"  The  whole  North  is  in  a  ferment  at  present,  and  the  people  are  every  day 
engaging  one  another  to  go  next  year  to  the  West  Indies  [/.  e.9  to  North 
America].  The  worst  is,  that  it  affects  only  Protestants,  and  reigns  chiefly 
in  the  North,  which  is  the  seat  of  our  linen  industry." 

The  extent  in  numerical  amount  to  which  this  emigration  went  is  far 
beyond  what  would  be  supposed;  but  it  appears  on  the  clearest  evidence 
that  from  the  year  1725  to  1768  the  number  of  emigrants  gradually  increased 
from  3000  to  6000  annually,  making  altogether  about  200,000  Protestants. 
By  the  returns  laid  before  Parliament  in  1731,  the  total  number  of  Protes- 
tants in  Ireland  was  527,505.  Now,  of  these  200,000  emigrated;  so  that, 
making  ample  allowance  for  the  increase  of  population  between  the  years 
1 73 1  and  1768,  we  shall  still  find  that  one  third  of  the  whole  Protestant 
population  of  Ireland  emigrated  within  that  disastrous  period. 

Arthur  Young,  who  visited  Ireland  in  1776,  published  the  result  of  his 
observations  in  1780,  under  the  title,  A  Tour  in  Ireland.  In  writing  of  the 
causes  which  led  to  the  emigration  of  the  Ulster  Scots  from  1772  to  1774, 
he  says: 

The  spirit  of  emigrating  in  Ireland  appeared  to  be  confined  to  two  cir- 
cumstances, the  Presbyterian  religion  and  the  linen  manufacture.  I  heard 
of  very  few  emigrants  except  among  manufacturers  of  that  persuasion.  The 
Catholics  never  went ;  they  seem  not  only  tied  to  the  country,  but  almost  to 
the  parish  in  which  their  ancestors  lived.  As  to  emigration  in  the  North,  it 
was  an  error  in  England  to  suppose  it  a  novelty,  which  arose  with  the  in- 
crease of  rents.  The  contrary  was  the  fact;  it  had  subsisted  perhaps  forty 
years,  insomuch  that  at  the  ports  of  Belfast,  Deny,  etc.,  the  passage  trade, 


The  Emigration  from  Ulster  to  America  623 

as  they  called  it,  had  long  been  a  regular  branch  of  commerce,  which  em- 
ployed several  ships,  and  consisted  in  carrying  people  to  America.  The 
increasing  population  of  the  country  made  it  an  increasing  trade;  but  when 
the  linen  trade  was  low,  the  passenger  trade  was  always  high.  At  the  time 
of  Lord  Donegal's  letting  his  estate  in  the  North  [about  1772],  the  linen 
business  suffered  a  temporary  decline,  which  sent  great  numbers  to  America, 
and  gave  rise  to  the  error  that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  increase  of  his  rents. 

NOTES   TO   CHAPTER   XXXIX 

1  See  Appendix  V  (Early  Presbyterian  Congregations  in  Ireland). 
*  For  Boulter's  letters  see  Appendix  L. 

END    VOL.    L 


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