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INTRODUCTION
Included in Highland
Papers Volume IV which the late Sheriff Macphail edited for the Scottish
History Society is an item entitled ‘ The End of the Active Resistance
to William of Orange in Scotland.’ In his introductory note the editor
stated, ‘ Among the papers of the late Dr. Maitland Thomson is a
document which appears to be the copy of or, extracts from, some
official narrative, which has so far escaped identification.’ He
proceeded to give excerpts from Nos. 134-40 and 142-4 of the ‘
Continuation of the Proceedings of the Parliament in Scotland ’ so far
as they related to military operations in the Highlands. Somewhat oddly
No. 141, though it consists almost entirely of news from the Highlands,
was omitted by him, possibly because it may have been lacking from the
set transcribed by Dr. Maitland Thomson. Nor does Sheriff Macphail,
though he knew that ‘ the early numbers are called Proceedings of the
Convention of Estates in Scotland,’ seem to have been aware that much
news from the Highlands is contained in numbers both before 134 and
after 144. Dr. Maitland Thomson, however, drew on Nos. 146 and 147 for
his article on the Oliphants in the Scots Peerage (vi. 558-9), where he
stated that ‘ the newspaper ’ was pointed out to him by Professor
Sanford Terry. (There is no ground for calling it an official narrative,
as did Sheriff Macphail.)
The Council of the Scottish History Society therefore welcomed the
proposal first made to it by Mr. E. S. de Beer that, departing from its
usual practice of printing only unpublished manuscripts, the Society
should reissue in two volumes the 147 numbers which appear to constitute
the whole series. This was thought the more desirable since, so far as
could be ascertained, the only complete set in any British library is
that owned by the University Library of Cambridge. The British Museum
has two sets, of which one lacks No. 85 and the other Nos. 98, 99 and
141, and has also a few odd numbers. A set in the Bodleian Library
includes Nos. 1-143. In the National Library of Scotland there are 49
numbers, of which the latest is No. 87. Glasgow University Library has
Nos. 1, 2 and 12. Aberdeen University has only the first number.
For the volumes now issued by the Society Nos. 1-136 have been printed
from a set in the possession of Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, Bt.,
and the remainder from that at Cambridge. Sir James Fergusson’s is of
special interest as having belonged at various times to a son of
Archibald Constable, to J. Hill Burton and to Miss Henrietta Tayler.
Bound up with it is an account of the happenings at Whitehall in January
1689, when ‘such of the Scots nobles and gentlemen as were in Town’
invited William of Orange to call a meeting of the Estates and meanwhile
to undertake the administration of Scotland. This is here printed as an
appendix at the end of Volume II.
The 147 numbers of the periodical cover the time from March 14, 1689, to
October 18, 1690. While the terminus a quo is obvious as the day of the
Convention’s first meeting, there is no clear reason why publication
ceased at the latter date. Not ‘ an official narrative,’ it appears to
be the work of an independent English journalist who stayed for the time
in Edinburgh and sent up twice weekly to London an account of Scottish
affairs for the information of his compatriots. That he was English
seems to be proved by his use of such terms as ‘ knights and burgesses ’
for the commissioners of shires and burghs, ‘ Lord Mayor ’ for the Lord
Provost of Edinburgh, ‘bailiff’ for bailie, and ‘William III’ as the
King’s title. His unfamiliarity with Scottish terms also becomes evident
when the Master of Forbes appears as 'Mayor of Forbes’ and
Macdougall younger of Logan as ‘Macdougall Mayor of Logan.’ Baffled by
the distinction between burgh and landward districts of Ross, he turns
the latter word into ‘landneart.’ Again, five of the numbers for January
and February 1690 are dated ‘Edinburgh, 1689’ after the style of the
calendar still being used in England.
In London the periodical was published by two successive printers,
Richard Chiswell and Richard Baldwin. Of these the former produced Nos.
1-127 at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul’s Churchyard. According to the
Dictionary of National Biography he lived from 1639 to 1711, commencing
business before 1666. His publications included the votes of the House
of Commons in 1680, Bishop Burnet’s History of the Reformation and many
theological works. The contemporary London bookseller, John Dunton,
described him as deserving the title of ‘ metropolitan bookseller of
England if not of all the world.’ Although he continued in business till
the year of his death, the production of this periodical passed in July
1690 to Richard Baldwin, another of the best-known publishers of the
day, who printed Nos. 128-38 in the Old Bailey (probably in Bull Court)
and Nos. 139-47 near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane. Of him John Dunton
wrote that when he removed from the Old Bailey to Warwick Lane ‘ his
fame for publishing spread so fast he grew too big to handle his small
tools,’ meaning that he gave up bookbinding. Much information about him
is contained in the Bibliographical Society’s Dictionary of Printers and
Booksellers, 1668-1725.
The original purpose for which the periodical was issued seems to have
been the furnishing to the London public of regular information about
the proceedings of the Convention called for the settlement of the
Scottish crown, when James II had already been removed from the English
throne in favour of William and Mary. When this had been decided,
however, matters of the first political importance remained to be dealt
with, especially the government of the Church and the committee system
in Parliament. Moreover, Jacobite opposition to the Convention’s
transfer of the crown was active and prolonged. Edinburgh Castle held
out under the Duke of Gordon until June 13. Viscount Dundee’s rising
followed, and after the battle of Killiecrankie and the abortive attack
on Dunkeld military operations went on in the Highlands for another year
and more. All this furnished material for the journalistic venture to
continue altogether for nineteen months, the title being changed
according to circumstances. Thus the first number is headed ‘ An account
of the Proceedings of the Estates in Scotland,’ which is followed by ‘ A
Continuation of the Proceedings of the Convention of the Estates of
Scotland ’ up to No. 26 (except No. 22, which describes the delivery of
the crown at Whitehall), and again No. 29. Nos. 27, 28, 30 and 31 have
simply ‘A Continuation of the Proceedings in Scotland.’ With the
Convention turned into a parliament the title becomes ‘ A Continuation
of the Proceedings of the Parliament in Scotland’ for Nos. 32-52, the
words ‘during their late sitting and of other affairs relating to that
kingdom’ being added for Nos. 46-52. ‘A Continuation of the Proceedings
in Scotland’ is again the title for Nos. 53-100, that for the remainder
being the same as for Nos. 46-52.
In fulfilling his principal task of reporting what was done in the
Estates, the writer has given the text of many statutes which can no
doubt be found in the record edition of the Acts of the Parliaments of
Scotland, but he has also included some drafts of Acts introduced but
not passed, particularly in connection with the Church and the Lords of
the Articles, and some speeches made at the opening of Parliament and in
its debates. This is of the more value, since in Thomas Thomson’s
compilation the Minutes (as distinct from the Acta) are wanting for the
session of Parliament in 1689, and for the greater part of the first
session and the whole of the second session in 1690.
Apart from the proceedings of Convention and Parliament, accounts are
given of the negotiations for the surrender of Edinburgh Castle and of
the Bass. Reports of Dundee’s movements and those of Government troops
are transmitted week by week as received in Edinburgh, not always
proving accurate but none the less interesting for their effects on
opinion at the time. The attack on Dunkeld is described in a letter from
one of Colonel Cleland’s soldiers. The fear that a Jacobite force from
Ireland would invade Western Scotland is clearly brought out, as is the
damage done by French privateers off the Scottish coast. Much space is
devoted to the fighting in Ireland and in that connection to the Danish
troops which crossed Scotland on their way to reinforce the Duke of
Schomberg. Many cases heard by the Committee of Estates and by the Privy
Council are mentioned, including the deprivation of numerous parish
ministers for failing to read the Proclamation of April 11 or to pray
for William and Mary, before legislation had been passed to alter the
government of the Church. From time to time there are such tit-bits of
scandal as the dispute between Sir James Rocheid and his sister-in-law,
the murder of a soldier in the Pleasance by Lord Bellenden, the robbery
of the mail near Haddington by two of the Seton family and the
prosecution of an Edinburgh landlady for speaking ill of her lodger, the
Countess of Callander.
The method adopted in editing these volumes has been to omit the text of
the Acts of Parliament printed in the record edition, giving references
to the appropriate pages therein. Proclamations have been summarised
with references to the Earl of Crawford’s Tudor and Stuart
Proclamations. The headings of the various numbers of the periodical
have been reproduced only in the case of No. 1 and where a change has
been made from the previous title. The phrase ‘Licensed and entrd
according to order,’ which appears on each number, is here printed only
the first time. All the advertisements of books published by Richard
Chiswell have been omitted as having no bearing on Scottish history. The
spelling (including misprints, grammar and capital letters of the
original have been retained but not the copious italics.
Annotation has been kept to a minimum and confined almost entirely to
the identification of places and persons, particularly where a laird is
indicated in the text only by his estate. Correct forms have been given
in footnotes where those of the text might be misleading or obscure as,
for instance, Askin (p. 9) and Pulwart (p. 11), but in such cases as
Lothain (p. 2) and Leaven (p. 8) this seemed unnecessary. To obviate
tiresome iteration, footnotes have normally been added only on the first
occasion that a name appears.
Acknowledgment is gratefully made of help given in the identification of
persons by Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, K.C.V.O., Dr. C. A. Malcolm,
O.B.E., Mr. C. T. McInnes, and Mrs. Margaret W. Bayne, and by Professor
G. 0. Sayles in connection with Irish place-names.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |
