SCOTLAND.
The annual Convention of the Scottish Burghs was held at Edinburgh on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh occupied the chair. Some subjects of general interest were discussed. The Convention resolved to renew their memorial praying the Government to establish a Secretary of State for Scotland. They determined, by 24 to 18, to petition for the extension of the Registration of Voters Act to Scotland ; and they expressed regret at the failure of the Lord Advocate's efforts to improve education, and urged him to new exertions. Mr. Duncan _IPLaren then moved, and the Provost of Dumfries seconded, a motion, " l'hat the Convention petition Parliament for the assimilation of the law of Scotland to that of England as regards the right of forty-shilling freeholders to vote in the election of representatives for shires in Parliament." This led to a smart debate, in which Professor Aytoun led the opposition ; and the familiar arguments on both sides were reproduced. TJ1timately the "previous question" was carried, by 22 to 13.
The Liberals of Fifeshire entertained Mr. Fergus at a dinner in the Music-Hall of Dunfermline, on Tuesday ; Lord Mclgund in the chair. In proposing his health, the chairman referred to the first appearance of Mr. Fergus as a candidate for the county, in 1847.
"At that time, as we all remember, the question of Free trade had only -just reached its consummation ; the repeal of the Corn-laws had only lately been carried rote operation. Although the leading men of the country had not then been long engaged in the advocacy of those principles, still there were many, among whom were Adam Smith and Lord Grenville, who, previously to that time had their minds imbued with the views of Free-trade. These had made great efforts to lead the opinions of the country ; but it was not until Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, by the machinery of the AntiCorn-law League, thoroughly agitated the question, and were in the end backed up by the whole power of the Whig party, and the unwilling Government of Sir Robert -Peel and the Duke of Wellington were forced to grant to fear what they had refused to concede to reason and justice. Well it was in the year 1847, when our friend first came fprward for the county, that, the repeal of the Com-laws was carried into effect; and it was natural that much bitterness of feeling should exist. It was in consequence of that bitterness of feeling that Mr. Fergus, who had always been attached to the Liberal party, was opposed by almost all the territorial interest of the county of Fife. Another circumstance was this, that Mr. Fergus was connected more with the commercial and manufacturing than the landed interest, and it was at one time thought presumption for a man to come to represent a county unless he was a greatlandowner or the nominee of great landowners. Therefore, you know, when Mr. Fergus came forward he was opposed by all the great landlords of the county. Now, consider that Mr. Fergus has been sitting in the House of Conunons for ten years, and that he has not only been able to retain and strengthen the friendship of those who first brought him forward, but that he has been able to gain the favour of very many of those who formerly opposed him ; a circumstance which must be matter of great satisfaction to himself, as I am sure it is to all of you."
Mr. Fergus described the wants of the country as they present themselves to the mind of a moderate politician.
" From the last Reform Act we reaped a great harvest of wise measures, beginning with the abolition of slavery and ending with the establishment ofFree-trade. We still want administrative reform—the opening of the public service to merit and military promotion to something besides interest and connexion. We must have men at the head of the Army who will not remember Dowb ' so much as the interests of the service. We want reforms in the Law; we want reforms in the Church ; we want retrenchment and economy. All these are within the grasp of the people ; and this may be gained without disturbing tho happy balance of power in the constitution. We shall show the world, again, reform without revolution. It is a melancholy truth that this is now the only country in which free institutions still exist. In some they have fallen from want of energy in the people—in some before arms in the hands of the rulers. I can scarcely say that they still exist in the United States ; nor do I see how rational liberty can be said to subsist in a country whore there is on one side the licentiousness of a wild democracy, linked on the other with the basest system of human degradation. We must preserve our constitutional liberty, not only for ourselves but us u Littered tire which may some day return° the world."
The spring fleet has taken out 1600 emigrants from the North-out coast of Scotland for Canada, principally young agricultural labourers and their wives. Large sums constantly arrive from Upper Canada to pay for the passage of Aberdeenshire people, that they may join their successful relatives in the colony.
A remarkable trial took place at Inverary on the 17th, before Lord Handyside and Lord Ardmillan, Hector M'Donald, a labourer, was charged with the murder of his wife. The principal witness was Christina Seaton, an old woman, a widow, living nt Kirkapoll, and the mother of the prisoner's wife. Her evidence, given in Gaelic with dramatic action, was interpreted to the Court. The parties all lived under the same roof; but in different "houses," —that is, a wooden partition, reaching to the height of the side-walls but not to the roof, separated the apartment of the mother from that of her daughter and son-in-law. ISI'Donald and his wife slept on at straw bed spread out on the floor, and kept in its place by eight heavy stones laid along the edges. Widow Seaton, on the night of the 12th February, hoard Hector threatening to kill his wife, before they went to bud. About midnight she was awakened by their quarrels. At daybreak she heard a loud noise, and got up. She found her daughter leaning on the shoulder of M'Donald, and his hands at her throat. The old woman, and a son who lived with her, told him to loose his hold. He did so, and the woman fell, with a low moan, to the floor. She was lifted, with the aid of her husband, and placed on a bed. Her eyes were starting from their sockets : she lived a short time, and then died. Medical men came and found she had been strangled. At first Hector threatened to "go into the sea" ; but he did not, and even held the body on his knees while it was washed by the women. The trial terminated in a verdict of "culpable homicide" ; and the murderer was sentenced to be transported for life.
Previous page
