SCOTTISH HISTORY.*

WITHIN recent times interest in national history has been much stimulated, in:Scotland. There has been no lack of good and painstaking historians. The long religious struggle through which the country passed remained fresh. and vivid in the national memory. throughout the greater part of the nineteenth century, and even. now it is a powerful factor in forming the opinions and shaping the actions of the majority of Lowland Scots.. Historical records there have always been in plenty, but there was, ,until recently, a distinct absence of critical history. This was natural. Nations have silent, stubborn memories. And the Reformation and Covenanting struggles, culminating in the war of the Churches, left too deep a mark to be easily effaced. The subject is still hot, but it can now he handled. Twenty years ago the youth of Scotland were fed mainly on. isolated episodes' of Scottish history—such as the lives of Wallace and Bruce—and events in Scotland after the union of the crowns were dealt with in the school., books as incidents in English history. It was an easy and superficial way of treating a very difficult subject., But it would' no longer satisfy the present generation. The nation has found itself in an historical sense, and has now leisure to examine in detail the way by which it has corne. A demand has arisen for the teaching of purely, Scottish history. The recent exhibition in Glasgow, with its admirable historical section, was held primarily for the purpose of endowing a chair in Glasgow University, and we understand the purpose has been effected.

Foremost among. the modern historians are Professor Hume Brown . and Mr. Andrew Lang. Mr. Lang's large history, published within' the last ten years, was an able and courageous, if occasionally perverse, account of the elements that went to the making of Scotland. It contained a mass of detail, the outcome of untiring research, and was primarily for the student. His present volume—d Short History of Scotland—should prnve- highly acceptable to the general reader. The 'three beautiful volumes of Professor Hume Brown are of the nature of an edition deluxe of the earlier edition, which has long been a standard work. They contain, however, .additional information that has recently come to light, and have been .brought down to .date. Mr. R. S. gait has already done good work in many historical. fields, and this attractive volume–rthe, first of the series on the making of the nations—is a most interesting and popular handbook. , Scottish history falls -naturally into three cycles: the feudalizing process under Malcolm Can more and his successors; the struggle for independence.when the country attained con-

sciousness .a national unit; and the Reformation, which ended in the downfalls Of the Stuarts and the creation of modern Scotland. Within the limits.of a single volume it is

(1) History e Sentland. liy P. Hume Brown, M.A., LL.D.' Thrie vols. Cambridge at.the 'University., Press. 130s. not.]—(S) .A Short History. of tiqutIond. Yiy Andrew Lang.,, London W. 111.sekwoo4 and Sons. 45s. stet. I Bootless By' Itoberb '111." Landon'e A', and 0: nbalt, pit.

obviously impossible for either Mr. Lang or Mr. Bait to deal in detail with anything except the outstanding events, but the guide-posts throughout their short histories are well defined.. It is an advantage even for the student of history to obtain a, rapid bird's-eye view of the whole field before settling down to examine in detail the epoch which has most interest for him— to see the links in the chain all joined before he examines them one by one.

The early story of Scotland is of the essence of romance.. From far away and dim beginnings, from a fusion of strong Celtic races with the unknown and mysterious Picts and the. Angles and Saxons, a people arose strong to fight and to endure, desperately quarrelsome, often beaten but never- vanquished. Their struggle for independence all the world. knows culminated in the victory of Bannockburn, when Bruce "kept tryst" with Edward II., his English and Irish levies- and all his adventurous chivalry from France, Hainault, Bretagne, Gascony, and Aquitaine. " The defeat at Bannock- burn," says Professor Hume Brown, "was the greatest disgrace that over befell the English Crown. . . . The overthrow of Xerxes by the Greeks, and of Israel by Benjamin, seemed at. the time the only fitting parallels for the ruin of the mighty English host by so pitiful a people as the Scots." The two. great figures who stand out during that epoch are Wallace. and Bruce: Wallace, who trod the path of honour to the end and suffered a shameful death—the most faithful of his country's heroes ; Bruce—the greatest king that ever sat on a Scottish throne-

" Ho that all our comfort was, Our wit and all our governing."

He was a true knight, one of the first in Christendom. Hirs heart, in accordance with his dying wish, was entrusted tO- Douglas' "high emprise " to be carried into battle against the infidel. The Douglas fell on a Spanish battlefield and the. Bruce's heart was laid to rest at Melrose,

" Where men pray ayo

That ho and his have Paradise," Then came the Stuarts, and we see the tragic progress of that hapless and ill-fated race of kings. We watch the loving; loyalty of the people suffering a more and more severe strain. Their history is a series of tragedies, of which that of Mary. Stuart was only one, though the most famous : James I. murdered in the castle vault, James II, killed at thirty by, the explosion of a cannon, James III. slain by a priests feigned or false, who heard his confession, James IV., who led his army that " ill road " across the border and fell at Flodden, but within an unbroken ring of Scots round him. Mary Stuart, "generous, pitiful, naturally honourable, and most loyal to all who served her," for whom the inheritance of feudalism proved too strong when joined with the strife of religion, died a lonely death at Fotheringay under the' executioner's axe ; Charles I., beaten by his people, was. surrendered by the Scots to the English and died on the- block ; and the line ends with the fairy tale Prince, Charles. Edward, who, after a vain endeavour to recover the throne of his fathers, suffers the last reverse at Culloden.

. The Reformation, with its consequences, is the most portant event in Scottish history, It is a dreary episode in. which we look. in vain for toleration on either side. The• character of Knox, is subjected to a good deal of criticism by Mr. Lang. "He was a perfect agitator; he knew no tolerance;. he spared no violence of language, and in diplomacy he was. no ,more scrupulous than another." But if we condemn hie'. violent language and bitter spirit, it is just to remember that he lived during the white heat of the struggle between Borne• and the Reformation and died before the triumph of the• latter was secure. He had felt the thongs of the gallops and narrowly escaped the stake. "Here lies one," sal Morton, "who neither flattered nor feared any flesh." His. scheme for the reformation of the Church and application of its revenues was far in advance of his time. The educational system which he contemplated would have forestalled the. most recent educational reform. His Presbyterianisni was more moderate than the anti-prelatic Presbyterianism of a latter day. " The .most representative Scotsman since. Wallace," says one historian. Hie own, words are his beat. epitaph. "None I haif corrupted, none I haif defrauded; merchandise hail Islet maid." No loot: of cathedral or abbey •

ever stained his hands, no acre of Scottish soil had fallen to'

'The litter development of the Reformation after the union of the Crowns into a struggle between Presbyterianism and XPiecopalinnism is not pleasant reading. The struggle was long and bitter and has left an indelible mark on Scottish -character. The sour growths of intolerance and persecution 'worked out ultimately their own peaceable fruit, but the nation was 'shaken to its depths. The one attractive figure is 'Montrose. Loyalty to the King was ever for him the more statural creed when opposed to the tyranny of Kirk and Covenant. " Like Jeanne d'Arc," says Mr. Lang, " he loyally *defended a disloyal King." He crowned a glorious life of Honour by a more glorious death on the scaffold. " With the more alacrity shall I abandon still my life to search my death for the interest • of your Majesty's honour and glory. I blame no man, I complain of sic, man : they are instruments. God forgive them! " Later generations, as Mr. Rait says, have found it harder to forgive the men who persecuted and insulted hint in his last hours. Argyle, who had fled front him at Inverlochy, dared not even meet his gaze, but slunk away amid the jeers of the spectators. His dead body was mutilated by ministers and statesmen. Professor Hume Brown seems to us somewhat grudging in his references to. this heroic, figure. He thinks Montrose primarily responsible for the hideous massacre of captives after Philiphaugh because of the nature of the forces he bad chosen to lead against his own countrymen. But it fis vain to excuse or palliate the action of the Covenant. Montrose himself never slew a prisoner. And the " undying penalty which history has the power to inflict on wrong " fell swiftly, and the dark memory of the killing time remains in Scotland to this day.

With the union of the Parliaments Scotland's existence as it separate political unit came to an end. From that time her political history is bound up with that of England, but there have not been wanting circumstances which have made the voice of Scotland in the combined Parliament of great and even of excessive weight. Professor Hume Brown has added

most interesting chapter to his history on the politics of Scotland during the last half-century which is of practical importance at the present time. Since the Reform Bill of 1832 the governing fact has been the preponderating support Scotland has given to the party of Liberalism. For this, reasons may be given both direct and indirect. Indirect reasons can be found in the fact that the religious revolution of the sixteenth century • was due to the people and not to the sovereign as in England, and that the Presbyterian policy of the Scottish Church has its political analogue in a democratic State. The direct reasons are the natural reaction from the

Dundee despotism" at the close of the eighteenth century, the fact that the franchise when extended found a community well prepared to take an intelligent interest in national affairs, And the disruption Of the Church in 1842, resulting in the formation of the Free Church, which swelled the ranks of dissenters, and consequently the ranks of Liberalism. • Free Trade principles found a favourable soil in Scotland, and it was from Edinburgh that the first shot was fired that announced the doom of the Corn Laws. The • Midlothian campaigns of Mr. Gladstone took place in 1879 and 1880. Mr. Gladstone was a leader ideally fitted to -give effect to the political aspirations of . the majority of Scotsmen. In 1886 the Home Rule campaign brought about a change. In 1885 the Liberal majority in Scotland was six to one; in 1892 'it was little more than two to one. In 1895 Scottish Liberals had a majority of six over their opponents; in 1900 they were in a minority of four. The opening century, however, has again witnessed a change. Home Rule and the Boer War account for the defection between 1885 and 1900, but ft remains to be seen whether Home Rule has any terrors for the new generation in Scotland. The result Of all this preponderance' of Liberal support is that Scotland has exercised a determining influence on the political destinies of Great Britain out of all proPortion to the relative numbers Of her electorate. That is one fact emphasized by a.century of politics : the other, according to Professor. Hume Brown,

is this Face to face 'with revolutionary changes in the Constitution, England gives a majority to the party in favour of Conservatism, while Scotland by a majority of five to one stamps with her sanction what apparently she regards :.as althe -legitimate issue of her political past."