St Bertille, abbess of Chelles, 692.
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Born. – Hans Sachs, German poet, 1494, Nuremberg.
Died. – Maria Angelica Kaufmann, portrait-painter, 1807, Rome.
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THE REVOLUTION OF 1688: POLITICAL SERVILITY.
On 5th November 1688, William, Prince of Orange, landed in Torbay,.. The privy-council of Scotland express themselves thus: ‘We shall on this, as on all other occasions, shew all possible alacrity and diligence in obeying your majesty’s commands, and be ready to expose our lives and fortunes in the defence of your sacred majesty, your royal consort, his Royal Highness the Prince of Scotland, &c.’ Nor were the Scottish peers, spiritual and temporal, behindhand on this occasion, concluding their declaration as follows: ‘Not doubting that God will still preserve and deliver you, by giving you the hearts of your subjects, and the necks of your enemies.’
To the like effect, there were addresses from Portsmouth, Carlisle, Exeter, &c. Nay, so fond was James [VII.] of this sort of support to his government, that he was content to receive an address from the company of cooks, in which they applaud his ‘Declaration of Indulgence’ to the skies: declaring that it ‘resembled the Almighty’s manna, which suited every man’s palate, and that men’s different gustos might as well be forced as their different apprehensions about religion.’
A very short period elapsed before James was made to comprehend, by fatal experience, the value of such addresses, and to discriminate between the voice of the majority of a nation and the debasing servility of a few trimmers and time-servers.
–
On this Day in Other Sources.
The 5th of November this same year, [1215,] likewise, died Philip de Valognes, [Lord] Chamberlain to King William, and was interred at the abbey of Melrose.
– Historical Works, pp.38-57.
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To the Roman see was elected, [on] the 5th of November [1362], Guillaume de Grimoard, abbot of St. Victor of Marseille, a [Toulousain], born in France; and was called Pope Urban V.
– Historical Works, pp.104-124.
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This year, 1414, the 5th of November, began the council of Constance, whereat was present the [King of Hungary] Emperor Sigismund, and Pope John. The occasion of this council’s meeting was to abolish the [papal] schism.
– Historical Works, pp.144-152.
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On 5th November, 1497, [John Morrow] had a grant from the king of the lands of Cranston-Riddale. He was then John Murray, Esquire, of Fallohill.1
– Scots Lore, pp.364-374.
1 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. ii. 1927.
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The two sons of Huntley, with many respectable men of the name of Gordon, were condemned. Sir John Gordon, who was said to be the author of all those troubles, was executed. His brother Adam was pardoned; as he was still under the age of manhood: this boy lived to be a successful commander, on the Queen’s side, during the subsequent civil wars, between her authority, and Murray’s usurpation. But, for Mary’s misconduct, Huntley, and his sons, would have been towers of strength to the Queen, during her troubles, if they had not been thus thrown down, by her own imprudence. And, the body of Huntley, after some debate, was preserved, for the purpose of trial, before the Parliament, and for the benefit of forfeitures to those, who might be favoured, by Murray, with donations of the spoils. All the great objects of this northern tour being thus accomplished, by giving possession of Moray to Mar, and effecting Huntley’s ruin, the Queen, and her suite, returned southwards, on their progress to Edinburgh. At Aberdeen, the Queen, remained, from the 22d of September, till the 5th of November, [1562,] when she departed for Dunnoter, where she slept:..
– Life of Mary, pp.62-77.
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A few years later the presbytery claimed to have the custody of the bell and the nomination of the party intrusted with the ringing of it, as being more within their province than that of the magistrates, and on 5th November, 1594, there is the following entry in the records of the presbytery:- “Quhilk day the presbiterie declairis the office of the ringing of the bell to the buriall of the deid to be ecclesiastical and that the electioun of the persone to the ringing of the said bell belongis to the kirk, according to the ancient canonis and discipline of the reformit kirk.” Whether anything followed on this resolution does not appear.
– Old Glasgow, pp.19-29.
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Nov. 5 [1605]. – On the evening of this day, when the Gunpowder Plot was to have taken effect, a high wind produced some effects in the north of Scotland, which seemed in harmony with that wild affair. ‘All the inner stone pillars of the north side of the cathedral church at Dornoch (lacking the roof before) were blown from the very roots and foundation, quite and clean over the outer walls of the church; which walls did remain nevertheless standing, to the great astonishment of all such as have seen the same. These great winds did even then prognosticate and foreshadow some great treason to be at hand; and as the devil was busy then to trouble the air, so was he busy, by these his firebrands, to trouble the estate of Great Britain.’ – G. H. S.
The Privy Council issued sundry proclamations ‘anent the Poulder Treason,’ one for the apprehension of Percy, the prime conspirator.
– Domestic Annals, pp.177-227.
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As Mackintosh held certain lands from the earl and his father for services to be done, which the earl alleged had not been performed by Mackintosh, agreeably to the tenor of his titles, the earl brought an action against Mackintosh in the year sixteen hundred and eighteen, for evicting these lands, on the ground of his not having implemented the conditions on which he held them. And, as the earl had right to the tithes of Culloden, which belonged to Mackintosh, he served him, at same time, with an inhibition, prohibiting him to dispose of these tithes. As the time for tithing drew near, Mackintosh, by advice of the Clan Kenzie and the Grants, circulated a report that he intended to oppose the earl in any attempt he might make to take possession of the tithes of Culloden in kind, because such a practice had never before been in use, and that he would try the issue of an action of spuilzie, if brought against him. Although the earl was much incensed at such a threat on the part of his own vassal, yet, being a privy counsellor, and desirous of showing a good example in keeping the peace, he abstained from enforcing his right; but, having formerly obtained a decree against Mackintosh for the value of the tithes of the preceding years, he sent two messengers-at-arms to poind and distrain the corns upon the ground under that warrant. The messengers were, however, resisted by Mackintosh’s servants, and forced to desist in the execution of their duty. The earl, in consequence, pursued Mackintosh and his servants before the privy council, and got them denounced and proclaimed rebels to the king. He, thereupon, collected a number of his particular friends with the design of carrying his decree into execution, by distraining the crop at Culloden and carrying it to Inverness. Mackintosh prepared himself to resist, by fortifying the house of Culloden and laying in a large quantity of ammunition, and having collected all the corn within shot of the castle and committed the charge of it to his two uncles, Duncan and Lauchlan, he waited for the approach of the earl. As the earl was fully aware of Mackintosh’s preparations, and that the Clan-Chattan, the Grants, and the Clan-Kenzie, had promised to assist Mackintosh in opposing the execution of his warrant, he wrote to Sir Robert Gordon, tutor of Sutherland, to meet him at Culloden on the fifth day of November, sixteen hundred and eighteen, being the day fixed by him for enforcing his decree. On receipt of this letter, Sir Robert Gordon left Sutherland for Bog-a-Gight, where the marquis of Huntly and his son then were, and on his way paid a visit to Mackintosh with the view of bringing about a compromise; but Mackintosh, who was a young man of a headstrong disposition, refused to listen to any proposals, and rode post haste to Edinburgh, from whence he went privately into England.
– History of the Highlands, pp.257-286.
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This fall in the rent [in 1646] was doubtless occasioned by the existence in the town of the plague which, according to the representations by the whole tacksmen of the mills, ladles, tron, and bridge on 12th December, had deprived them of their duties…1
– Scots Lore, pp.15-29.
1 Council Records, ii. 108. The visitation of the pest at this time happened after the taking of Newcastle by the Scottish Army in October, 1644, and rapidly spread with deadly results over the country during the following year. It had reached Glasgow before November, and on the 5th of that month quartermasters were appointed, and the infected were either shut up in their houses or sent out to the muir at some distance from the town. It seems not to have entirely disappeared till October, 1647.
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The people of all orders turned their eyes to William, Prince of Orange, who had long taken a lead in opposing the arrogant continental policy of the French monarch, and whose court had for some years been a resort of British malcontents. Being invited by a great number of influential persons, of both sides in politics, including some of the clergy, he no longer hesitated to make preparations for an invasion. In October he set sail with an army of about sixteen thousand men, and on the 5th of November [1688] cast anchor in Tor Bay, in Devonshire, while the king’s fleet lay windbound at Harwich. James retired to London before the advancing army, and was immediately deserted by all his principal counsellors, and even by his younger daughter, the Princess Anne. Feeling no support around him, he first despatched the queen and her infant to France, and then prepared to follow. In the disguise of a servant, he escaped down the river to Faversham, but being there seized by the populace as a popish refugee, he was brought back to London. It was found, however, that the government could not be settled on a proper footing while he remained in the country; and he was therefore permitted once more to depart…
– Domestic Annals, pp.338-341.
–
On the 5th of November, 1794, in prosecuting a search for some lost Parliamentary records, the crown-room was opened by the Lieutenant-Governor and other commissioners. It was dark, being then windowless, and filled with foul air. In the grated chimney lay the ashes of the last fire and a cannon ball, which still lies where it had fallen in some past siege; the dust of eighty-seven years lay on the paved floor, and the place looked grim and desolate. Major Drummond repeatedly shook the oak chest; it returned no sound, was supposed to be empty, and stronger in the hearts of the Scots waxed the belief that the Government, in wicked policy, had destroyed its contents; but murmurs arose from time to time, as the years went on, and a crown, called that of Scotland, was actually shown in the Tower of London!
At length, in 1817, ten years after the death of Cardinal York, the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., issued a warrant to the Scottish officers of state and other officials, to open the crown-room, in order that the existence of the regalia might be ascertained, and measures taken for their preservation.
In virtue of this warrant there met, among others, in the governor’s house, the Lord President of the Court of Session, the Lord Justice Clerk, the Lord Chief Commissioner of the Jury Court, the Lord Provost, the Commander-in-chief, and Sir Walter Scott, whose emotions on this occasion may be imagined.
“It was with feelings of no common anxiety that the commissioners, having read their warrant, proceeded to the crown-room, and, having found all there in the state in which it had been left in 1794, commanded the king’s smith, who was in attendance, to force open the great chest, the keys of which had been sought for in vain. The general impression that the regalia had been secretly removed weighed heavily on the hearts of all while the labour proceeded. The chest seemed to return a hollow and empty sound to the strokes of the hammer; and even those whose expectations had been most sanguine felt at the moment the probability of bitter disappointment, and could not but be sensible that, should the result of the search confirm those forebodings, it would only serve to show that a national affront – an injury had been sustained, for which it might be difficult, or rather impossible, to obtain redress. The joy was therefore extreme when, the ponderous lid of the chest having been forced open, at the expense of some time and labour, the regalia were discovered lying at the bottom covered with linen cloths, exactly as they had been left in 1707, being 110 years before, since they had been surrendered by William the ninth Earl Marischal to the custody of the Earl of Glasgow, Treasurer-Deputy of Scotland. The reliques were passed from hand to hand, and greeted with the affectionate reverence which emblems so venerable, restored to pubic view after the slumber of more than a hundred years, were so peculiarly calculated to excite. The discovery was instantly communicated to the public by the display of the royal standard, and was greeted by the shouts of the soldiers in garrison, and a vast multitude assembled on the Castle hill; indeed the rejoicing was so general and sincere as plainly to show that, however altered in other respects, the people of Scotland had lost nothing of that national enthusiasm which formerly had displayed itself in grief for the loss of those emblematic honours, and now was expressed in joy for their recovery.”
– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.66-79.
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Allegories on the Banks of the Tiber.
When the POPE returned to Rome the other day, a few of his subjects, probably his tradesmen, got up a demonstration in honour of the event. Among the various means which they resorted to, in order to celebrate the restoration of his Holiness to the bosom of his consistory, was the erection of triumphal arches, which were ornamented by allegorical paintings. The allegories in these works of art must have been particularly “headstrong,” so much so as to have been impracticable to any but the most inventive artist. Their subjects were “the Austrian Concordat,” “the Immaculate Conception,” and “the Establishment of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in England.” We will not say that we cannot conceive how these transactions could have been allegorised, because we can, whatever difficulty everybody else may experience in so doing. “The Austrian Concordat” might have been typified by a picture of the EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA and the POPE himself, the former kneeling to the latter, and presenting him with half-a-crown. A representation of his Holiness, exhibiting a bran-new coin from his own mint, would have served to express “the Immaculate Conception,” and “the Establishment of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in England” might have been most accurately symbolized by a portrait of CARDINAL WISEMAN as he appeared on the 5th of November, 1850, carried about the streets of London in effigy. – p.133.
– Punch.
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“JUSTICE TO SCOTLAND.
On Wednesday night a public meeting in favour of the objects of ‘The National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights’ was held in the Music Hall, Edinburgh, which was crowded to excess, many hundreds besides having failed to obtain admission. Among the noblemen and gentlemen on the platform and in the body of the hall were the following: The Earl of Eglinton, the Earl of Buchan, Lord Gray of Kinfauns, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir Hugh Hume Campbell, Bart., Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., Sir J. W. Drummond, Bart., Admiral Sir C. Napier, the Lord Provost of Perth, &c. The demands upon our space are too great for us to report the speeches which were delivered, but to give an idea of the claims advanced by the society, we append the resolutions which were proposed and carried by acclamation.
‘That the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England recognises the supremacy, asserts the individuality, and provides for the preservation of the national laws and institutions of Scotland; that any attempt to subvert or place those institutions under English control, under the pretence of a centralising economy, would deprive Scotland of the benefit of local action, would be injurious to her welfare, and an infraction of the true spirit in which that treaty was concluded.’
‘That this meeting considers it necessary, for the better administration of the public business of this part of the united kingdom, and for securing to Scotland the practical benefits of a united Legislature, that the office of Secretary of State for Scotland be restored, with all the rights and privileges formerly appertaining thereto; and this meeting invites the councils of cities and burghs of Scotland to petition her Majesty to this effect.’
‘That the representatives returned by Scotland to the House of Commons are not in the relative proportion of her people, or the amount of her revenue, as compared with those of England; and that this meeting is of opinion that, in order to give the voice of Scotland its just weight in Parliament; that number should be increased to its fair proportion.’
‘That while this meeting does not wish to claim for Scotland Government assistance for objects which are better served by local efforts, yet, nevertheless, it is of opinion that a manifest injustice is inflicted upon Scotland by its exclusion from the advantages of participating in the public expenditure, for Imperial and important local purposes of a national character, to the same proportional extent as England and Ireland, and that such exclusion is contrary to the intention and meaning of the Treaty of Union.’
‘This meeting is of opinion that the present state of the Palace of Holyrood and its neighbourhood is discreditable to the capital and the nation; and, further, that the Royal property and buildings of Scotland should be administered by some Scottish Board, so as to apply the revenues arising in Scotland to their repair, maintenance, and embellishment; that no further sales of the Crown property in Scotland should be made, and that the purchase-money received from the recent sales should be placed to the Scottish account.’
‘That the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, which devotes itself to the accomplishment of the objects embraced in the resolutions adopted by this meeting, is one deserving the cordial support of every true Scotsman.’ ”
– The Examiner, 5th November, 1853.
– Treaty of Union Articles, 1850-1875.
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“A NOTICE (since mislaid) appeared in the Glasgow Herald some years ago [I believe, after checking, he’s talking about the ‘The Rhind Lectures’, Glasgow Herald, 5th – 18th November, 1893], in a paper on Place-Names, as to the estate of Nenflare [Nemphlar] on the Clyde being part of the barony of Polkelly in Ayrshire, which is interesting for several reasons. Under the name of “Nenflare,” it appears in 1303-4 as the property of Sir Edward Comyn, held under Edward I., then in possession of a large part of Scotland. (Calendar of Scottish Documents, vol. ii. pp. 424-8.) Edward Comyn was lord of Kilbride in Lanarkshire, and many other lands in England. He fell at Bannockburn, leaving two daughters, both of whom seem to have married Englishmen. Rowallan in Ayrshire also belonged at this time to a Comyn related to, but distinct from, the Kilbride Comyn. It must have come to the Mures by a Comyn heiress, for the garbs of Comyn appear on the arms of the Mures of Rowallan. And when Sir Adam Mure procured, in 1393, the erection of Polkelly and other lands, including Nenflare, into a barony, he was clearly uniting old Comyn estates. Scottish antiquaries are generally aware of the early greatness of the Comyns in Scotland. I am not sure that their Lanarkshire possessions are so well known. In Clydesdale alone they held Kilbride, Dalserf, and Nenflare, with I believe “Ferme-Comyn,” a little above Glasgow (afterwards Hamilton Farm)1; and on the north boundary of Lanarkshire, though de facto in Dunbartonshire, the extensive baronies of Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld – all forfeited by their opposing Robert Bruce in the War of Independence.
JOSEPH BAIN.”
– Scots Lore, pp.50-53.
There are some more highlights from another book by the Open University, (Modern Scottish History 1707 to the Present Volume 4) Readings 1850 to the present, edited by, Anthony Cooke, Ian Donnachie, Ann MacSween and Christopher A. Whatley. Published by Tuckwell Press 1998. Article thirty-five. Protestant Extremism in urban Scotland 1930-1939. Its growth and contraction. By Tom Gallagher 1985. ” The Scottish Historical Review 64, 143-67″. Throughout this chapter Tom Gallagher brings an in-depth view on the hatred displayed and performed by Presbyterian leaders especially during the period dated above. He notes the victimisation against Irish and Scottish Catholics by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the report they produced entitled; The Menace of the Irish Race on Our Scottish Nationality. He writes; “George Malcolm Thomson (later a notable journalist and long-standing aide to Lord Beaverbrook) and Andrew Dewar Gibb, (Founder of the SNP) professor of Scots law at Glasgow University were two nationalists who by the end of the 1920s, were writing about the menace from within posed by the ‘Irish’ in Scotland”. He names Annie S. Swan and R. W. Campbell as amongst the worst by writing; “The arch-imperialist R. W. Campbell, of whom it has been said that he seemed to despise anyone who was not a white, Scottish, Boys Brigade member”. Tom Gallagher writes about Alexander Ratcliffe and the sectarian newspaper he produced The Vanguard and his viscous political party The Scottish Protestant League (SPL).The Omega of the Kirk. “The Protestant Church of Scotland” Written and researched by Frank Dougan From a book edited by William Forbes-Leith, S.J. ( Narratives of Scottish Catholics under Mary Stuart and James V1. ) Published by William Paterson, Edinburgh 1885. Stating; “Now first printed from the original Manuscripts in the secret archives of the Vatican and other collections”. The final chapter is titled; ‘The present state of the nobility in Scotland, 1st. July 1592′. ( State-Paper Office. ” Scotland Eliz,” vol. xliii. No. 53 indorsed: ” Of the Nobility in Scotland.” Burghley had studied the paper, and marked the names of the Papists. Quoted by Tytler, vol. ix. P. 376. ) List of the Catholic Nobility. Earls. Huntly ( Gordon ) Of thirty-three years. His mother, daughter to the Duke of Hamilton. Married the now Duke of Lennox’s sister. His house, Strathbogy. Crawford ( Lindsay ). Of thirty-five years. His mother daughter to the Earl Marshall. Married first the Lord Drummonds daughter, and now the Earl of Athol’s sister. His house, Finhaven. Errol ( Hay ). Of thirty-one years. His mother, Keith, daughter to the Earl Marshall. Married first the Regent Murray’s daughter, next Athol’s sister, and now hath to wife Morton’s daughter. His house, Slanes.’ These people mentioned above were the rulers of Scotland yet we are expected to believe Protestant propaganda that the Scots became Protestants overnight in 1560. The three Earls above had been brought up in Protestant Scotland/ England. The narrative continues; ‘ After James’ accession to the throne of England, at the instigation of the crafty Cecil, a fearful storm of religious persecution burst forth against Catholics. Errol was imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh, acquiring great merit, and bequeathing to others a bright example of constancy in confessing the true faith. He was still alive in 1628.–( Conn. De Duplici Statu Religionis apud Scotos, p. 153. ) Montrose ( Graham ). Of forty-nine years. His mother, daughter of the Lord Fleming. Married the Lord Drummond’s sister. Auld Montrose Lords. Seaton. Of forty years. His mother, daughter to Sir Wm. Hamilton (of Sanquhar ). His wife is Montgomery, the Earl’s aunt. His house Seaton. Livingston ( surname Leveingston ). Of sixty-one years his mother, daughter of umquhile Earl of Morton. His wife, the Lord Fleming’s sister. Calendar. Maxwell ( surname, Maxwell ). Of forty-seven years. His mother, daughter of the Earl of Morton that preceded the Regent. His wife, Douglas, sister to the Earl of Angus. Harris ( surname Maxwell ). Of thirty-seven years. His mother, Harris, by whom he had the lordship. His wife is the sister of Newbottle. His house, Terragles. Sanquhar ( surname, Chrichton ). Of twenty-four years. His mother, daughter of Drumlanrig. Unmarried. His house, Sanquhar. Gray. Of fifty-four years. His mother, the Lord Ogilvy’s daughter. His wife Lord Ruthven’s sister. Fowlis Andrew, eighth Lord Grey, was lieutenant of the Gens-d’armes Ecossais in France, under Lord Gordon, 1624. Ogilvy. Of fifty-one years. His mother, Campbell of Caddell, His wife the Lord Forbe’s daughter. Fleming. Of twenty-five years. His mother, daughter of the Master of Ross. His wife, the Earl of Montrose’s daughter. Bigger. Urquhart ( surname, Seaton ). Of thirty-five years. The Lord Seaton’s brother. His wife, the Lord Drummond’s daughter. Founded on the Priory of Pluscardy. To Burghley’s list should be added the following names of Catholic Noblemen. Earl of Angus…..Earl of Argyll…..Lord Robert Semple, Colonel Semple. Colonel Semple, it seems was a great Scottish adventurer according to W. Forbes-Leith who paints a clear picture of the Colonel’s escapades in his book, he also founded a Catholic Collage in Spain. Continuing with the list; ‘ Lord Claud Hamilton, son and Heir apparent of Claud Hamilton 1st Lord of Paisley, by Margaret, daughter of Geroge Seton, 6th Lord Seton. ‘ Lord John Hume. In September 1565 a letter from Pope Pius 1V was sent to Lord Hume congratulating his stance for the faith. ( p373) Lord James Elphinston. Described in Burghley’s list as “neutral”, became a Catholic before 1605. Lord Eglinton was also a Catholic. Sir Charles Cornwallis in his letter to the Privy Council, 10th June 1609, refers to a list of Scottish Catholics “containing 27 Earls and Barons, and 240 Knights and Gentlemen, Lords of Signories and Tenants that are of that Affection.” ( Sir Ralph Winwood’s Memorials, vol. iii p. 52; cf. Registers of Privy Council of Scotland, vol. vi. Spotiswood, 502-13.) In 1603. Lord Hume (il baron di Hume ) is described as a zealous Catholic by the Nuntio in Paris. ( Archiv. Vatic. Francia, vol. Xlviii. p. 31. ) Many Primary sources are quoted by William Forbes-Leith, S.J. throughout his volume especially his search through Vatican Archives, he describes Buchanan as godless, with detailed analysis of the persecution of Catholics, along with first-hand letters. The copy of ( Narrative of Scottish Catholics ) that I have used was borrowed from Strathclyde University Andersonian Library. This book is a wealth of information for anyone interested in the period of the Reformation. Forbes-Leith informs his reader; ‘ There is preserved among the Cecil Papers a full list of all the ” fortresses, abbeys, friar houses, market towns,….burnt, razed, and cast down by the Earl of Hertford, between the 8th of September and the 23rd of the same, 1545. It chronicles the destruction of 7 monasteries, 16 castles, 5 market towns, 243 villages, 13 mills, and 3 hospitals.” ( “R.O. Scotland,” Henry V111., vol. viii. No. 86 ) ‘As many as ” 192 towns, parish churches, castle-houses, and 243 villages were cast down or burnt, and the country was reduced to a desert.” ( Haynes State Papers, 43 and 52, July-November 1544. Cf. Tytler, vol. v. p 310, footnote. ) Forbes-Leith points to the Earl of Lennox who was in command of English forces and the atrocities perpetuated by them; ‘ Dundee was taken and the Church destroyed, Dryfe’s Dale was laid waste, above five hundred Scots were taken, slain, or drowned in the Nith; the prisoners, priests and friars, were dragged along with halters round their necks.’ ( The Warden of the Grey Friars was executed. MS. letter from Lennox and Wharton to the Earl of Somerset, 25th Feb. 1547-8. — ” R.O. Scotland,” Edward V1., vol. iii. No 53, 25th Feb. 1548, fol. 939. ) I spoke with Peter Kearny the director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office in Glasgow, he kindly furnished me with a report entitled; ” Response by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland to ‘ Tackling Religious Hatred’. 10th. March 2003″. I will relate some of this Response such as; “The divisions and hatred which threaten to impoverish our society by distorting or suppressing the authentic spirit of religion must be overcome and we welcome the Scottish Executive’s willingness to face up to this issue.” The Catholic Bishops Response continues to highlight the discrimination in Scotland especially against the Roman Catholics by writing thus; “A historical understanding of religious intolerance however, is a fundamental pre-requisite to progress. Legislation which forms the constitution of the UK has traditionally discriminated against Catholics; e.g. the Act of Settlement. Once the State concedes that discrimination against a particular group (in this case Catholics) is acceptable, it is difficult to see how it can regain the moral authority needed to criticise religious hatred and intolerance wherever it is found”. They emphasise the currant sectarianism in Scotland. ” Education is a vital element in overcoming the resentment of those from different communities but on its own does not produce people free of resentment and hatred. The task of creating a harmonious society is always one requiring considerable effort. In responding to the friction’s which arise in society because of the different constituent ethnic or religious communities attempts to eradicate differences are counter-productive and often unjust; rather it is our view that religious tolerance should be pursued by fully promoting religious freedom. This right is an essential requirement of the dignity of every person and necessary for the personal fulfilment of each individual and as such is necessary for peaceful human co-existence. In recognising that religious intolerance is evident in Scotland (against Roman Catholics in particular) we propose the following principles as the foundation of understanding and practising religious tolerance”. The Bishops display a list of six proposals; ” 1. The right to religious freedom is grounded in respect for human dignity. 2. Individuals should not be forced to act in a manner contrary to their religious beliefs, nor should they be restrained from acting in accordance with their religious beliefs. 3. Religious bodies have a right to manifest and teach the social relevance of their religious beliefs. 4. Religious bodies have a right to establish and maintain corporate institutions and services and conduct them in accordance with their religious beliefs and values. 5. Because the right to religious freedom is exercised within society, it ought to be subject to the laws which ordinarily safeguard justice and civil order. 6. Civil authorities do not have the right to command or inhibit acts of religion which are outside their proper competence”. Concluding the Response by the Bishops’ Conference they note; “Promoting such principles contributes to the recognition of the dignity of each individual, which is a necessary condition for creating a free and just society”. These papers were written for the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh because of the present day sectarianism that still has a stranglehold over the nation. It’s a long and difficult process and as you have seen throughout this essay I have endeavoured to shed light on this evil. There are some more highlights from another book by the Open University, ( Modern Scottish History 1707 to the Present Volume 4) Readings 1850 to the present, edited by, Anthony Cooke, Ian Donnachie, Ann MacSween and Christopher A. Whatley. Published by Tuckwell Press 1998. Article thirty-five. Protestant Extremism in urban Scotland 1930-1939. Its growth and contraction. By Tom Gallagher 1985. ” The Scottish Historical Review 64, 143-67″. Throughout this chapter Tom Gallagher brings an in-depth view on the hatred displayed and performed by Presbyterian leaders especially during the period dated above. He notes the victimisation against Irish and Scottish Catholics by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the report they produced entitled; The Menace of the Irish Race on Our Scottish Nationality. He writes; “George Malcolm Thomson (later a notable journalist and long-standing aide to Lord Beaverbrook) and Andrew Dewar Gibb, (Founder of the SNP) professor of Scots law at Glasgow University were two nationalists who by the end of the 1920s, were writing about the menace from within posed by the ‘Irish’ in Scotland”. He names Annie S. Swan and R. W. Campbell as amongst the worst by writing; “The arch-imperialist R. W. Campbell, of whom it has been said that he seemed to despise anyone who was not a white, Scottish, Boys Brigade member”. Tom Gallagher writes about Alexander Ratcliffe and the sectarian newspaper he produced The Vanguard and his viscous political party The Scottish Protestant League (SPL). Gallagher writes about Catholic schools and notes; The ‘religious’ matter which chiefly preoccupied the SPL was the fact that Catholic schools were now maintained by the state under Section 18 of the 1918 Education (Scotland) Act. Previously largely financed from the meagre resources of the 650,000 strong (and mainly working class) Catholic community”. Ratcliffe and his followers in the SPL were demanding the abolition of Catholic schools and crying that it was ” Rome on the rates”. Gallagher writes; “This slogan conveniently over looked the fact that up to 1918, Catholic ratepayers had been obliged to subsidise non-Catholic schools while having to make other provisions for their own”. These facts that Gallagher brings were these same scenario with Catholic Churches and properties robbed from the Scottish Catholics from 1560. Ratcliffe was also a contributor to the labour party weekly ‘The Forward’ which Gallagher claims was the premier paper of the Scottish left from 1906 to the 1950s. Tom Gallagher continues; “Ratcliffe belonged to the Scottish Fascists whose leader Weir Gilmour, maintained his anti-Catholicism well into the post-war years. Gallagher writes that Ratcliffe had close ties with militant Protestants in Northern Ireland and referrers to an incident at the newly opened ‘parliament’ at Stormont. “On 2nd of May 1933 when a picture depicting King William of Orange being blessed by an ecclesiastical figure resting on a cloud was attacked by an SPL contingent, The painting was daubed by in paint by Mrs. Mary Ratcliffe and then slashed by councillor Forrester”. Actually this has always been part and parcel of Presbyterian philosophy as we have seen in recent years the same crimes being committed by their followers, who carried out the slashing of Salvador Dali’s masterpiece St. John of the Cross in a Glasgow museum, not to forget the hundred of churches, monasteries and works of art that they have destroyed throughout the past four hundred and forty years, in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. Gallagher informs his reader that Lord Scone, Tory MP for Perth had been honorary president of the Scottish Protestant League. Tom Gallagher goes on about Ratcliffe’s visit to nazi-Germany in August 1939 and his support for the Hitler regime he wrote; “By 1940, the Jews had replaced Roman Catholics as his main bugbear and he contemptuously referred to the Gorbals district of Glasgow as ‘Jew-land’. Articles entitled in The Vanguard ‘Our Jewish Usurers’, ‘the Jews and crime’ and ‘Why Germany put out the Jews’ and a piece entitled ‘Britain’s Pro-Jew Menace’. He wrote in Vanguard ‘we are very kind to Roman Catholics in Scotland, of course the reason being that we have no Hitler in our midst to eject Popery. Ratcliffe, a Protestant iconoclast to the last, wanted to see the triumph of Hitler”. Gallagher introduces John Cormack a Protestant extremist who had been accused of stealing mail from the General Post Office where he worked in Edinburgh in 1932, details are listed by Gallagher of the sectarian violence and hatred by Cormack and his followers known as Protestant Action. The Hope Trust is pointed out by Gallagher as having given out anti-Catholic literature to Bible classes and the Boys’ Brigade for many years. During this period Cormack no doubt spurred on by John White the sectarian moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Protestant Action group were standing for elections and Tom Gallagher notes a bold black headline from the Edinburgh and Leith Observer stating; “Sectarianism Dominating Municipal Election, Wild Ward Meetings, Protestant Storm Troops Adopt Un-Christian Tactics.” Cormack represented South Leith without interruption from 1938 till 1962. Gallagher wrote that Cormack formed ‘Kormack’s Kaledonian Klan’ he notes; “A paramilitary body derived from the Ku Klux Klan.” He continues to inform his reader; “At the 1935 general election William Fullerton, the leader of the Protestant ‘Billy Boy’ gang came from this part of Glasgow and was a section leader in the British Union of Fascists.” Gallagher points out the evil in these organisations; “On two separate occasions at the Mound (Edinburgh) in June 1940 he (Cormack) was reported as saying that ‘ when Protestants went “over the top”(as in the war) with Roman Catholics, the Protestants should shoot them’, but no action was taken (by the authorities). Cormack was elected as a baillie 1955 by his fellow councillors”. I would like to know the statistics about any Roman Catholics who had the mis-fortune to be tried in a court with Cormack as the magistrate, though this only lends ammunition to my argument that these types of religious maniacs should not be empowered to decide the fate of the proletariat. Gallagher wrote; “The Rev. D. M. McGregor spoke out against the linking of Protestantism with mob violence: “If Protestantism can only be vindicated in such crude ways, its day is nearly done.” From volume 5 of the Open University book ( University of Dundee ) entitled “Major Documents”, published by Tuckwell Press Ltd. 1998. Edited by Anthony Cooke, Ian Donnachie, Ann MacSween and Christopher A. Whatley. I will highlight some of their findings on Document 24 ‘Lord Kames’ Statute Law abridged’. “All seminary priests found in the realm, all receptors of these if found a third time in fault, all sayers of mass, and all wilful hearers of mass and concealers of the same, are subjected to the pains of death, and the confiscation of their moveables. A Protestant servant, if he became a Papist, is to be punished, and must be dismissed his service. If a Papist purchase land, the deed of sale is declared null, and the seller is entitled to retain both the land and the price. No professed Papist shall be capable of succeeding to an estate; and if a Protestant becomes a Papist he forfeits his estate. Neither shall it be allowed to any professed, or even suspected Papist, to teach any art, science, or exercise of any sort, under pain of 500 merks; and the above penalties may be sued for by any Protestant subject for his own behoof as his reward. That no adjudication or real diligence shall be competent at the instance of a Papist; neither shall a Papist be capable of becoming tutor, curator, or factor; and if any person or persons presume to employ a Papist, or such as are suspected of Popery, in any of the above trusts, they must purge themselves of Popery, under the penalty of a year’s valued rent, or a fine of 1000 merks. No Papist past the age of 15 shall be capable to succeed as heir, nor bruik, nor enjoy any estate by disposition or conveyance from any person to whom the said Papist is apparent heir, until he purge himself of Popery. The heir under 15 must purge himself of Popery before succeeding as heir, and if he refuse to do so his right shall go to the next Protestant heir. Presbyterians are appointed to summon before them all Papists, and those suspected of Papistry, in order to satisfy the Kirk; and if Papists do not produce sufficient certificates of their having given due satisfaction to the Kirk, they shall be declared rebels, put to the horn, and both their single and life-rent escheated. Further, that whoever receipts, supplies or entertains, such persons after denunciation aforesaid, shall incur the penalty of single and life-rent escheat.” Source: Lord Kames, Statute Law Abridged, quoted in Senex (psued) 1884 Glasgow Past and Present Vol. 11, Glasgow, 163-4. On the same page of this document listed as Notes 2, ( Scots Magazine 1756, 100 ) it states; “On the 1st of March, 1756, Hugh M’Donald, brother of M’Donald of Morra, was tried at Edinburgh before the High Court of Judiciary, at the instance of the Lord Advocate, for refusing to purge himself of Popery. Being asked ‘whether he was willing to take the formula prescribed by Act 1700-3’ he declared, ‘that he was not at freedom of conscience to do it.’ He was then found guilty in terms of libel, and sentenced to be banished from the kingdom, never to return under pain of death.’ From the same book Document 25, Religion, entitled (The Encrease of Popery in the Highlands) the writer examines the Church of Scotland documents from ministers; “This is one of a number of reports written by groups of Highland ministers of the Church of Scotland concerning the growth of Roman Catholicism in the Highlands. In much of the area, Presbyterianism had never been fully established, but during the first half of the eighteenth century the attempt to Presbyterianise the people was seen as the key to the ‘hearts and minds’ element of suppressing Jacobitism. These accounts show how Catholicism was relatively flourishing and how the work of the Presbyterian clergy was difficult. Dated 19 May, 1714. I will show some of the findings of this document such as; “Priest Frazer is entertained in The Duke of Gordon’s family.” “There are above six hundred Papists in the paroch of Bellie, & in Kinnore & Dumbennan the Papists are equal in numbers to the Protestants.” “The Papists in the said bounds have of late set up private schools which are taught bt Popish women.” ” There are in the paroch of Inveraven two hundred and seventy Papists.” “In the paroch of Lochaber the priests swarm like Locusts.” “There are four large tracts of ground in the presbytery of Lorne upon the continent vizt: Muirdart, Arasaig, Morhirr & Knoidart contiguous to one another, which are altogether Popish.” “The Isles of Rum, Egg & Canna are all Popish. The Isle of South Uist is all Popish.” “These Countreys and Islands were never Reformed from Popery. And generally all the relations followers & tennants of Clanronald, through all his Lands both in the Continent & Isles are all Papists.” “In these countreys there are to the number of two thousand Papists.” One must take into account how many Scottish historians have claimed that the Reformation was an overnight success yet we see from this document that there were thousands of Catholics and many priests, this was over 150 years after the Reformation. Today in the 21st-century Scotland still has desperate problems, especially when a man such as Pope John Paul II accused the nation of being non-Christian. I cannot recall recent Pope’s describing Scotland in a manner that the present Pope has made, however this declaration is of no great surprise considering the atrocities and abuses that have been performed by Protestant/Presbyterian’s over the past centuries. Written and researched by; Frank J Dougan