No blessing seems to have rested on Gibsone’s money. There was trouble and vexation in store even after his death in the year 1811. It was Napoleon, who under the pretext that the deceased was an English subject, caused his fortune to be seized and only released it after the representations of the Courts of Vienna, Berlin and Dresden. In the mean time, however, it had diminished considerably, because it had become mixed up with the unsettled debts of war of the former free-state of Danzig.’

It is not quite certain in what year Gibsone’s nephew Alexander arrived in Danzig. He was a man of many excellent qualities, and so efficient was his assistance in the defence of of his adopted City in 1807, that General Kalkreuth, the Commander, publicly thanked him and appointed him his aide-de-camp, that he might be included in the capitulation, which the French insisted on confining to the garrison for the express purpose of depriving Mr Gibsone of the benefit of it. His Majesty, the King of Prussia, afterwards wrote to Gibsone, thanking him in the strongest manner for his services and subsequently conferred upon him the Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle. During the dominion of the French, Gibsone was indefatigable in his endeavours to rouse the patriotism, and having become associated in these exertions with General Gneisenau, a warm friendship commenced, which only terminated with the death of that Commander. Gibsone was appointed British Consul at Danzig in 1814 and Consul General of Hanover some time later. His death was viewed by the whole community of Danzig as a general calamity. To the business-talent and the energy, which he shared with his uncle, he added a kindness of heart which gained him the love of everybody, and an ardent Prussian patriotism, which made the interference of the German courts on his behalf a natural expression of gratitude.

Of his friendship with Gneisenau the following letter of the famous Prussian general gives an interesting account. It is dated Berlin, Nov. 21st, 1819, and runs :—

"MY DEAR AND HONOURED FRIEND,

In the minute-books of the Town Council of Ulm in Würtemberg we read (Feb 20, 1633):-

"Michael Rietmuller, the surgeon, has permission to have Colonel Munroth in his house, until the time of his recovery.

May 2nd 1633.

"Received by me Paul Held, secretary to the Board of Works of the Church from the Brother of the late Robert Monroth a Scottish Baronet and Colonel to H. M. the King of Sweden the sum of 100 Reichs Thaler, which had gratefully been left to the said Board ad pies causas, because the Magistrates had the above named Robert interred in the Franciscan Church and his standard, armour and spurs hung up there; for which the Swedish Mayor again thanked the Board and begged to express his gratitude to the Council.

Contin. fol. 159.

"According to a decree of the Council, dated Friday, May 3, of the 100 Reichs Thaler left by the late Swedish Colonel Robert Monro, because of the permission to be buried in the Franciscan Church, one half, namely 75 Gulden or 25 Ducats at 3 fl. shall be given to the Hospital, and in future, when such donations shall occur again, it shall be held likewise."

In the Register of Deaths of the Church mentioned above we find the following entry:-

"I, Magister Balthasar Kerner have done my 96th Funeral Sermon for Robert Monraw, Baron of Failis (I), late Colonel of H.M. the King of Sweden of two regiments of foot and horse, on the 29th of April hor. 3. He lies buried in the said Church."

Another Munro, whose Christian name was John, was killed at Bacharach on the Rhine and lies buried in the Church of St Peter. But there is neither stone nor inscription to indicate the spot.

LETTER OF GENERAL JAMES RAMSAY RELATING TO THE
TREATY OF MAYENCE.

James Ramsay, Major General of the kingdom of Sweden and its allies also Governor of the fortress of Hanau is constrained, with regard to the Chief-Points of the Treaty handed to him by the Hessian Ambassadors, to remark as follows :—

"Firstly, that the above-mentioned six points do not relate to the common welfare but chiefly to the person of the General himself; although he by force of his office aimed in all his actions military and civil, above all things, at the common good of the County of Hanau and especially of this fortress and its sovereign. To turn aside from such a scope and simply to deal with personal matters would cause prejudice and grievance with my superiors and disreputable rumours with friend and foe.

"Secondly, that it is apparent from the document signed by the Emperor at the Castle of Ebersdorff on September 14th of last year that the "peace-accord" concluded at Mayence on the 31st of August eodem anno was not inserted in its entirety, but only some paragraphs of it, which had been in consideration up to the 21st of August, but which had never been signed by the General.

"Thirdly, the treaty is a patched up work. The dear letter, however, showeth that certain stipulations took place as to the pardon and reconciliation of Count Philip Moritz and the eventual surrender of this town; likewise some paragraphs were agreed upon and signed and then sent to His Imp. Maj. the late Emperor ad ratificandum, which ratification took place at Regens Purgk on Dec. 5th Ao. 1636.

"Therefore the public interest requireth, that both the stipulations settled as well as the Imperial ratification concerning these first points should without any delay be brought to hand, considering that the Crown of Sweden can not rest, satisfied with the present Imperial Document de dato Sept. 14th, far less accept its many discrepancies (Lit. B.).

"To this must be added, that, as may be seen both from the treaty itself and from the Salvoconduct dated Laxenburg, May 8th, 1637, this fortress was to be handed over to the Count of Hanau, but that in the Imperial letter of intercession to the Duke of Mecklenburg of the 4th of September, "the surrender shall take place into the hands of His Imperial Majesty."

"It is likewise a grievous alteration, that the General with all his soldiers and belongings was to have a free pass and a convoy and enjoy every futherance and support, nevertheless in the forged Imperial confirmation this is tacitly omitted; also that the hostages refer to the person of the General alone instead of the officers and soldiers on foot and horse and to all persons in the service of the Crown of Sweden and other good friends staying with him.

"Now because the foundation of the treaty is not properly established, and because common faith and truthfulness require a ‘consummation’ free from any blame: let the Hessian ambassadors duly co-operate that such defects be remedied and word for word, a just agreement (of the documents) be obtained. Expecting Your written communications, signatum, the 2nd of Feb., 1638."

DUKE BERNHARD OF WEIMAR AND RAMSAY.

Ramsay never neglected his duty towards his superior officers. He informed the Duke immediately of the treaty of Mayence; but the latter had already heard of it through a different channel. He wrote on the 11th of Sept. 1637 :—

"We have been told for certain, that you concluded a treaty with the enemy concerning the surrender of the town and fortress of Hanau. Considering that by your great industry and perseverance, you have held the place up to this time, which not only earned you immortal glory, but our own gratitude, we can fancy only, that extreme necessity and adversity compelled you to give up such an important place."

In a second letter the Duke expressed his surprise to the General, that he had obtained such favourable conditions, adding (Nov. 20th) that he had sufficient proof of Ramsay’s constant and true affection for the Crown of Sweden and for the whole evangelical cause, and that he had no doubt whatever, that to his immortal honour and praise, he would persevere in it unshaken and do his best as hitherto.

In another letter the Duke recommends Ramsay to observe the paragraphs of the treaty carefully with the express order to see to it, "that all articles of the contract be fulfilled, because to promise much is nothing, the keeping of the promises is the principal thing."

RAMSAY’S WILL

The General, who left an extremely large fortune, exhorts his wife in the introduction to his will "to educate their son David in the fear of God," at the same time recommending her not to mourn for him longer than six weeks, and after that to marry a gentleman of good family for the best of her child. The new husband was to receive one third of the money left by him, the second third belonging to her and the third to their son. In case the latter should die without heir, the money was to go to the General’s cousin, Lord William Ramsay, and his male heirs. A part of the interest on the property was set aside for the support of five students of divinity.

Finally it was ordered that immediate payment should be made for 500 pairs of shoes, bought at Elbing for the regiment.

SCOTTISH OFFICERS UNDER FREDERICK THE GREAT.

Too late to be incorporated into the text, the following additional information regarding Scottish Officers under Frederick the Great, chiefly derived from Charles Lowe’s delightful tale, A Fallen Star, must find a place here.

Major General Grant mentioned in the text, Frederick’s favourite aide-de-camp, belonged to the Grants of Dalvey, and was designated of Dunlugas, "an estate on the pleasant banks of the Deveron, a few miles above the port of Banff. At first, being a cadet who had to push his own fortune in the world, he took service under Elizabeth, the Empress of Russia, where his countryman Keith procured him a commission. After a time, however, he exchanged it after the example of his general, to whom he was devotedly attached, for the Prussian army. Frederick the Great quickly discovered his great force of character, his blunt honesty and his excellent capacity for hard riding. As the King’s messenger, he performed feats of horsemanship which seem incredible. Shortly before the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War he covered the distance between Berlin and Vienna and back again, including a delay of three days in the Austrian capital, that is close on nine hundred miles, in ten days.

By these and other performances he contributed much to the well-known readiness of the King against all surprises, and therefore, if indirectly, to the victorious issue of the war.

One of Grant’s eccentricities was his great love for his dogs. His two intelligent Scotch collies accompanied him everywhere, and he is said to have trained and used them for military purposes where the services of scouts were required.

When the war was over in 1763 his grateful King made him a Major-General and Governor of Neisse, an important fortress on the frontier of Silesia. But a life of peace and quiet monotony did ill agree with this man of daring. He died about 1764, and lies buried in the churchyard of the Garrison Church. Of two other officers under the great Prussian King, Colonel Drummond and Quartermaster Spalding we know little more than the names. A third one, however, named Gaudy or von Gaudy, obtained no little fame.

The Gaudys were originally Goldies or Gowdies, and hailed from Ayrshire and Dumfries-shire. One Andrew Gaudie from Craigmuie, a parish adjacent to Craigenputtock, the temporary home of Carlyle, entered the service of Prince Ragozzi in Hungary (1641), who sent him as ambassador to Hamburg and employed him in various military capacities. He was present in several of the later battles of the Thirty Years’ War. In 1650 he bought estates in Eastern Prussia, and in 1660 exchanged into the service of the Elector of Brandenburg as Major-General. From this Gaudy sprung quite a number of famous Prussian military leaders. One of them is mentioned by Frederick the Great in his Memoires de Brandenburg in connection with the siege of Stralsund, then occupied by the Swedes under Charles XII., as the Prussian officer who facilitated the attacking of the Swedish trenches. It appears that Gaudy recollected having, in his school days at Stralsund, bathed in the arm of the sea near the ramparts finding it neither deep nor muddy. To make sure of the matter, however, he sounded it in the night "and found that the Prussians might ford it, turn the left of the Swedish trenches, and thus take the enemy in flank and rear." This was successfully done, and the merit of defeating such a renowned soldier as Charles XII was due, or in part at least, due to a man of Scottish origin.

Another Gaudy, a son of the above, was attached to the staff of Field-Marshal Keith. He was a most intelligent officer and wrote a Diary of the Seven Years’ War, in ten folio volumes of manuscript still preserved but unpublished in the Archives of the "General Stab" at Berlin. He also wrote treatises on fortification.

A third Gaudy was Fred. W. Leopold von Gaudy, Lieutenant-Colonel of Infantry and Knight of the Order Pour Ie mérite in 1809. His son again became the famous soldier-poet, Franz von Gaudy, who has been called, though not very aptly, the "Burns! and Béranger of the Fatherland rolled into one." The simplicity and sweetness of his lyrics is still much admired in Germany.

Descendants of old Gaudys are still to be met with in the Prussian Army List.

The family of Spalding is still flourishing in Germany. The ancestor Andrew, who emigrated to Plau in Mecklenburg about 1600, became a member of the Senate; his son a Burgomaster. His grandson, Thomas, removed to Güstrow in the same country, where he likewise obtained the dignity of a "Senator." Here he and his family remained for almost two hundred years, inhabiting the same house, an old monastery of the mendicant Friars. In its gable the following verses were read:

 i.e. "Those that cannot bear me, let them avoid me; those that hate me, let them leave me alone; those that will not give me anything, must yet with God let me live."

The most eminent of the family was Johann Joachim Spalding, born at Triebsees (Pomerania) in 1714 as the son of a clergyman. He studied divinity, and was appointed "Probst" (Archdeacon) and member of the consistorial board at Berlin (1764). Here he continued to write and to preach with much acceptance for twenty-five years. He was a great favourite with the Queen, the consort of Frederick the Great. His writings, some of which have been translated into English, bear the rationalistic stamp of his time. His piety and uprightness were acknowledged by everybody. He died in retirement at Charlottenburg in 1804. Visitors will see his bust in the Hohenzoller Museum at Berlin. His son George Ludwig also was an author. He was a member of the Academy of Sciences, and Professor at the High School. He wrote, among other works, a biography of his father.

In Gauhen’s Adels Lexicon are mentioned:—George Ogilvie, who settled in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War and became Commandant of the Fortress of Spielberg, near Brünn, in Moravia; George Benedict, his son, died as Polish and Saxon General and Field-Marshal in 1710; Carl Hermann, his son, was a general commanding in Bohemia and Governor of Prague (abt. 1740).

Another Colonel Gunn was Governor of the town of Ohlau in Silesia (1638). He fortified the place, which had been destroyed by the Imperialists, with walls and moat. A Swedish garrison remained till after the Peace in 1648. Colonel John Gunn, lamented by the grateful citizens, died on the 9th of April 1649. The inscription on his tombstone in the Evangelical Church at Ohlau says of him: "Col. Johann Gunn, who laid the foundations of the fortifications of this town, was born in 1608 in the month of October. He was the descendant of a very old noble family, of the house of Golspie in the Kingdom of Scotland. He died aged forty years and six months. God grant him a peaceful rest until the joyous resurrection.

"His remains were deposited in this vault by his wife, née von Arnim, on the 14th of July, according to the custom of the nobility."

Gunn’s coffin was removed in 1825 to a place near the vestry; his mail-armour is hung up in the High School; two of his rings are preserved in the church at Ohlau.

STATESMAN AND SCHOLAR.

Erskine, also called Eskin or Esken in German documents, was twice married, his second wife being Lucie Christine von Wartensleben, the widow of a Baron von Maltzahn in Mecklenburg. In 1631-32 he was Swedish Plenipotentiary at Erfurt, where he gained the gratitude of the inhabitants by suggesting and actively promoting the arranging of the City Records. In Motschmann, Erfordia litterata, iv, 305, we read:

i.e. The Magistrates of the City of Erfurt at their own expense appointed a Commission, which together with members of the University requisitioned for the purpose, were to examine the privileges, records and other like documents, and to deliberate on their restoration if required. They then handed a Memorial to the Swedish Counsellor of State and Resident in this City, Alexander Erskine, to whose suggestion and assistance they were chiefly indebted in this matter, on the 31st of August 1632. The chief points therein were, etc., etc.

The name Schott or Schotte (Polish Scoda) occurs as early as 1383 in Breslau. It is frequently met with in the XVth and XVIth Centuries, especially in the eastern parts of Prussia, where the Scottish immigration was particularly numerous. Care, however, must be exercised in tracing the name Schotte back to Scottish ancestors in every case, since the German word has various other meanings. There is also a small town called Schotten in Hesse. The name Scott occurs in Prussia. One Walter Scott is a landowner and Hauptmann (captain in the army). His ancestor emigrated towards the close of the XVIth Century from near Edinburgh and settled in PiIlau. There are now six representatives of the family in Eastern Prussia alone, four of them landowners.

The Piersons, who are settled in Berlin and Karlsruhe, trace their origin to one James Pierson of Balmadies, who went to Riga towards the end of the XVllIth Century. (See Families Chronik der Pierson, privately printed.)