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CAMERON,
or CHAMERON, the name of a numerous family or clan in Lochaber, the
distinguishing badge of which is the oak. Mr. Skene, in his history of the
Highlanders, appears to take it as an undoubted and established fact that
the Camerons are an aboriginal or Celtic clan, but it is not consistent
with this theory that the Camerons themselves have a tradition that they
were descended from a younger son of the royal family of Denmark, who
assisted at the restoration of Fergus the Second in 778, and that their
progenitor was called Cameron, from his crooked nose, (“cam shron,”
the s in shron being silent), a surname which was adopted by
his descendants, and that the name appears to have been borne (as will
appear in the course of the work) at an early period of history by
individuals in the south and west.
Notwithstanding,
therefore, of this traditionary origin of the name, which is universally
accepted by the clan, it does not seem improbable that it was originally
French, and not dissimilar to the modern French name of Cambronne. In the
Ragman Roll occurs the name of ‘Robertus de Camburn, dominus de
Balegrenach, miles,’ who swore fealty to Edward the First of England,
‘apud Sanctum Johannem de Perth,’ 22d July 1296. There are also, in the
same roll, the names of Johannes Cambrun, who, in other deeds, is designed
‘dominus de Balygrenoch,’ and Robertus Camburn de Balnely; all supposed to
be the same as Cameron.
This tribe, from
its earliest history, had its seat in Lochaber, to which, contrary to all
tradition, they appear to have come from the south, having obtained from
Angus Og, of the family of Islay, a grant of Lochaber in the reign of
Robert the Bruce. Their more modern possessions of Lochiel and Locharkaig,
situated upon the western side of the Lochy, still further in the Celtic
or Highland region, were originally granted by the Lord of the Isles to
the founder of the Clan Ranald, from whose descendants they passed to the
Camerons. This clan originally consisted of three septs, – the MacMartins
of Letterfinlay, the MacGillonies of Strone, and the MacSorlies of
Glennevis, and the tradition is, that it was by inter-marriage with the
MacMartins of Letterfinlay the eldest branch, that the Camerons of Lochiel
who belonged to the second branch, or the MacGillonies of Strone, first
acquired the property in Lochaber. Being the oldest cadets they assumed
the title of Captain of Clan Cameron. Drummond of Hawthornden describes
the Camerons as “fiercer than fierceness itself.”
The Camerons
obtained a charter of the barony of Lochiel, and the lands of
Garbh-dhoch, in the 13th century, the first of them being
styled “de Knoydart.” They also possessed extensive property around the
castle of Eilean-Donnan, Ross-shire, of which they were deprived through
the hostility of the Gordon family. The lands of Glenloy and Locharkaig
were purchased by Sir Ewen Cameron in the reign of Charles II. These, with
the barony of Lochiel and a portion of the lands of Mamore, are still in
possession of the family.
The Camerons of
Lochiel are a family not only distinguished as the head of the clan, but
by the personal characteristics of many of their chiefs, of whom Sir Ewen
Cameron of Lochiel, above mentioned, and his grandson, Donald, “the gentle
Lochiel of the ‘45,” are separately noticed. The family of Cameron of
Lochiel are further distinguished by having raised, and during many years
sustained, the 79th regiment of the line, known as the
Cameronian Highlanders. This occurred through the patriotic energy of Sir
Alan Cameron of Erroch, a cadet of that family, who distinguished himself
in the first American war. When on detached service he was taken prisoner,
and immured for nearly two years in the common gaol of Philadelphia, under
the plea that he had been engaged in exciting the native tribes to take up
arms in favour of Great Britain. In attempting to escape from this
confinement, he had both his ankles broken, and he never perfectly
recovered from the painful effects of these injuries. He was subsequently
placed upon half-pay; but, aroused by the dangers and alarms of 1793,
principally by his personal influence over his countrymen, he, in little
more than three months, at his own expense, patriotically raised the 79th,
or Cameron Highlanders, of which he was appointed first major-commandant
and afterwards (January 1794) lieutenant-colonel.
His regiment was
afterwards draughted into the 42d and other regiments. Sir Alan Cameron,
on his return to Scotland, was commissioned by the duke of York to raise
the Cameron Highlanders anew, which was done in 1798 in little more than
six months. Its gallant commander was twice severely wounded in the battle
of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1799. In 1800 at Ferrol, Cadiz, &c., in 1801 in
Egypt, in the descent upon Zealand, in Sweden in 1808, and afterwards in
the Peninsula, in the same year, the Cameron Highlanders and their
commander greatly distinguished themselves.
At the battle of
Talavera Sir Alan had two horses shot under him. He commanded a brigade in
the action at Busaco. Extreme ill health then compelled him to retire from
active service. On 25th July 1810 Sir Alan was appointed a
major-general; after the peace a K.C.B., and on 12th August
1819 a lieutenant-general. He died March 9, 1828.
John Cameron,
bishop of Glasgow and chancellor of the kingdom in the latter part of the
reign of James I., was of the family of Lochiel. In 1422 he was official
of Lothian, afterwards confessor and secretary to the earl of Douglas. In
1424 he was provost of Lincluden, and the same year “Secretario Regis.” In
February 1425 we find him keeper of the great seal, and soon after keeper
of the privy seal. In 1426 he was elected bishop of Glasgow, and in 1428
he was appointed lord chancellor, an office which he held until the end of
that reign. He built the great tower at the episcopal palace on which his
coat armorial and ecclesiastical was placed. He established two commissary
courts, Hamilton and Campsie, the jurisdiction of which extended over
parts of the counties of Dumbarton, Renfrew, Stirling, Lanark, and Ayr. He
is said to have died on Christmas eve, 1436, but his name appears in a
safe conduct (inserted in Rymer) dated 30th November 1438, and
his successor in the see of Glasgow was appointed in 1446.
Charles Cameron,
son of the Lochiel of the ‘45, was allowed to return to Britain, and lent
his influence to the raising of the Lochiel men for the service of
government. His son, Donald, was restored to his estates under the general
act of amnesty of 1784. The eldest son of the latter, also named Donald,
born 25th September 1796, obtained a commission in the Guards
in 1814, and fought at Waterloo. He retired from the army in 1832, and
died 14th December 1858, leaving two sons and four daughters.
His eldest son, Donald, succeeded as chief of the clan Cameron.
_____
The family of
Cameron of Fassifern, in Argyleshire, possesses a baronetcy of the United
Kingdom, conferred in 1817 on Ewen Cameron of Fassifern, the father of
Colonel John Cameron, of the 92d Highlanders, slain at the battle of
Quatre Bras, 16th June 1815, while bravely leading on his men,
for that officer’s distinguished military services, with two Highlanders
as supporters to his armorial bearings, and several heraldic distinctions
indicating the particular services of Colonel Cameron. On the death of Sir
Ewen in 1828, his second son, Sir Duncan, succeeded to the baronetcy.
General Sir
Alexander Cameron, K.C.B., who died in 1850 at his seat of Inverralort
house, Inverness-shire, was also an eminent officer, having first entered
the army in 1799, when he served under the duke of York in Holland. He was
the eighth son of Donald Cameron, Esq. of Murlugan, by the daughter of
Alexander M’Donald, Esq. of Achtrichtan, and was born in 1778. In 1800 he
was with his regiment at Ferrol; in 1801, in Egypt, where he was severely
wounded in the arm and side; in 1807 at Copenhagen; in 1808 at Vimiera; in
that and the following year in Spain; in 1813 at Vittoria, till wounded;
and in 1814 in Holland. At Waterloo he was severely wounded in the throat.
In 1828 he was appointed deputy-governor of St. Mawes, and in 1838
major-general in the army, in which latter year he was created a knight
commander of the bath. In 1846 he became colonel of the 74th
foot. He received a medal and two clasps for his services in command of
the rifle brigade at Cuidad Rodrigo, Badajoz and Salamanca, and had a
pension of five hundred pounds a-year in consideration of his long
services and wounds. He married in 1818 the only daughter of C. M’Donnell,
Esq. of Barisdale.
CAMERON, SIR EWEN,
or EVAN,
or Lochiel, a chief of the clan Cameron, distinguished for his chivalrous
character, was born in February 1629. He was called by his followers
Mac’onnuill Dhu, or the son of Black Donald, according to the custom of
their race, after his father Donald, the chief who preceded him; also Ewen
Dhu, or Black Evan, from his own dark complexion. He was brought up at
Inverary castle, under the guardianship of his kinsman the marquis of
Argyle, under whose charge he was placed in his tenth year, being regarded
as a hostage for the peaceable behaviour of his clan. Argyle endeavoured
to instil into his mind the political principles of the covenanters, but
it is said that he was converted to the side of the king by the
exhortations of Sir Robert Spottiswood, formerly president of the Court of
Session, who had been taken at the battle pf Philiphaugh in September
1645, and was afterwards executed. At the age of eighteen he quitted
Inverary castle, with the declared intention of joining the marquis of
Montrose, who, however, had previously disbanded his forces, and retired
to the Continent. although the royal cause seemed lost, Lochiel kept his
clan in arms, and was able to protect his estate from the incursions of
Cromwell’s troops.
In 1652 he was
one of the first to join the insurrection under the earl of Glencairn when
that nobleman raised the royal standard in the Highlands, and for nearly
two years greatly distinguished himself at the head of his clan, in a
series of encounters with General Lilburne, Colonel Morgan, and others of
Cromwell’s officers. In a sharp skirmish which took place between Lord
Glencairn and Colonel Lilburne at Braemar, Lochiel gallantly maintained a
pass with the defence of which he had been intrusted, and thereby saved
Glencairn’s army. His services were rewarded by a letter of thanks from
Charles the Second, dated at Chantilly, the 3d of November, 1653.
In 1654 Lochiel
continued to aid Glencairn in a fresh insurrection headed by him. Being
himself opposed to Morgan, a brave and enterprising officer, Lochiel was
often hard pressed, and sometimes nearly overpowered, but by his courage
and presence of mind, he was always able to extricate himself from
positions of the utmost difficulty and danger.
Monk was now
commander-in-chief of the parliamentary forces in Scotland, and he
resolved to establish a garrison at Inverlochy, now Fort. William, with
the view of reducing the royalist clans in the neighbourhood. Lochiel lay
in wait on a hill to the north of the fort, with thirty-eight of his clan,
and observing a body of men about to land at a place called Achdalew, to
cut down his woods, and to carry off his cattle, he proceeded along in a
line with the vessels, under cover of the woods, until he saw the English
soldiers disembark, one hundred and forth of them having axes, hatchets,
and other working implements, while the rest remained under arms, to
protect their operations. Notwithstanding the disparity of their forces,
Lochiel at once gave orders to advance He ordered his brother Allan to be
bound to a tree, to prevent his taking any part in the conflict, and so
not deprive his clan of a chief, should he himself be cut off. But Allan
prevailed on a little boy, who was left to attend him, to unloose his
cords, and soon plunged into the thickest of the fight. The Camerons
rushed on the enemy, discharged against them a destructive shower of shot
and arrows, and before they could recover from their surprise attacked
them with their broadswords. The combat was long and obstinate. At last
the English, retreating slowly, yet contesting every step of ground, and
with their faces towards their assailants, were giving way when Lochiel
sent two men and a piper round the flank, to sound the pibroch, raise the
war-cry of the clan, and fire their muskets, as if a fresh party of
Camerons had arrived, hoping thereby to create a panic among the English
soldiers. But this only rendered the latter more desperate, and instead of
throwing down their arms they fought more resolutely than before, as they
expected no quarter. They were, at length, completely borne down, and
fled, pursued to the sea, when those who had been left in the boats
received the fugitives, and firing at the Camerons drove them back, the
chief himself advancing till he was chin-deep in the water. In the course
of the struggle an English officer of great size and strength singled out
Lochiel, and as they were pretty equally matched, they fought for some
time apart from the general battle. Lochiel succeeded in knocking the
sword out of his adversary’s hand, but the Englishman closing on him, bore
him to the ground, and fell upon him, the officer being uppermost. The
latter was in the act of reaching for his sword, which lay near, but when
extending his neck in the same direction, Lochiel, collecting his
energies, grasped his enemy by the dollar, and springing at his throat,
seized it with his teeth, and gave so sure and effectual a bite that the
officer died almost instantly. Of the English the number killed in this
encounter exceeded that of Lochiel’s men engaged in it, in the proportion
of three to one, whilst only seven of the Camerons fell.
By this and
similar attacks, now on the garrison at Inverlochy, now in conjunction
with General Middleton, he harassed the forces of the Protector with
general success. After the defeat of Middleton in July 1654, and his
retreat to the continent, Lochiel was the only chief who remained opposed
to Cromwell. The English, desirous to have peace with this formidable
chief, made various overtures to him to that effect, but without success,
until he was informed that no express renunciation of the king’s authority
or oath to the existing government would be required of him, but only his
word of honour to live in peace. An agreement on this basis took place
about the end of that year. Reparation was made to Lochiel for the wood
cut down by the garrison of Inverlochy, and to his tenants for all the
losses they had sustained from the troops; while a full indemnity was
granted for all acts of depredation and for all crimes committed by his
men. All tithes, cess, and public burdens which had not been paid, were
remitted to his clan.
In 1680 the last
wolf known to have existed wild in Great Britain was slain by the hand of
this brave and hardy chief in the district of Lochaber. In 1681, when the
duke of York, afterwards James the Second, was residing at Holyrood, as
commissioner to the parliament of Scotland, Lochiel took a journey to
Edinburgh to solicit the pardon of one of his clan, who, while in command
of a party of Camerons, had fired by mistake on a party of Athole men, and
killed several. The duke received him with great distinction, and granted
his request. On this occasion he was knighted by the duke. After knighting
him, the duke presented his sword to Sir Ewen, to keep as a remembrance.
In 1689 Sir Ewen
joined the viscount of Dundee when he raised the standard of King James.
General Mackay had, by the orders of King William, offered him a title and
a considerable sum of money, apparently on the condition of his remaining
neutral, but this offer he rejected with disdain. Though then far advanced
in years, he distinguished himself with his usual heroism, and had a
conspicuous share in the victory at Killiecrankie. Before the battle
commenced he spoke to each of his men individually, and took their promise
that they would conquer or die. On first seeing Dundee’s force, General
Mackay’s army had raised a kind of shout, on which Lochiel exclaimed,
“Gentlemen, the day is our own; I am the oldest commander in the army, and
I have always observed something ominous or fatal in such a dull, heavy,
feeble noise as that which the enemy has just made in their shout.”
Encouraged by this prognostication of victory, the Highlanders, with their
usual impetuosity, rushed on the troops of Mackay, and in half an hour
gained the victory.
In this battle
Lochiel was attended by the son of his foster brother, who followed him
everywhere like his shadow. Shortly after the commencement of the action
the chief missed this faithful adherent from his side, and turning round
to look for him, he saw him lying on his back in a dying state, with his
breast pierced by an arrow. With his last breath he informed Sir Ewen that
observing an enemy, a Highlander, in General Mackay’s army, aiming at him
with a bow and arrow from the rear, he sprung behind him to cover him, and
thus, like his father, received in his own body the death-wound intended
for his chief.
After the battle
of Killiecrankie, Sir Ewen Cameron retired to Lochaber, leaving the
command of his men to his eldest son. He survived till th year 1719, when
he died at the age of ninety. Notwithstanding all the battles and personal
encounters in which he had been engaged, he never lost a drop of blood, or
received a wound. He was thrice married, and had four sons and eleven
daughters. – Stewart’s Sketches of the Highlanders and Highland
Regiments. – Browne’s History of the Highlands and Highland Clans.
CAMERON, DONALD,
of Lochiel, grandson of the preceding, is celebrated in history for the
important part he took in the rebellion of 1745. Though called young
Lochiel by the Highlanders, from his father being still alive, he was at
that period rather advanced in life. His father, John Cameron of Lochiel,
eldest son of Sir Ewen, had joined the earl of Mar, when that nobleman
raised the standard of the Chevalier in 1715, for which he was attained.
He died in Flanders in 1748.
Donald, his
eldest son, succeeded, in consequence of the attainder of his father to
the estate, on the death of his grandfather, in 1719. He was styled
captain of the clan Cameron, a title given to the leader or next in
succession who commands a clan in absence, or during the minority, of the
hereditary chief. Previous to the landing of Prince Charles in the
Highlands, the Chevalier de St. George, sensible of the great influence
which young Lochiel possessed among the clans, had opened a correspondence
with him, and invested him with full powers to negotiate with his friends
in Scotland, on the subject of his restoration. He was one of the seven
chiefs and noblemen who, in 1740, signed a bond of association to restore
the Chevalier. Upon the failure of the expedition of 1740 he had urged the
prince to get another fitted out, but was against any attempt being made
without foreign assistance. On the prince’s landing, Lochiel was summoned
with other chiefs to meet Charles at Borodale. As the prince had brought
neither troops nor arms with him, Lochiel went to the interview determined
to dissuade him from making any rash attempt. On his way he called at the
house of his brother, John Cameron of Fassifern, who, on being told the
object of his journey, advised him not to proceed to Borodale, but to
impart his mind to the prince by letter. “No,” said Lochiel, “ ought at
least to wait upon him, and give my reasons for declining to join him,
which admit of no reply.” “Brother,” said Fassifern, “I know you better
than you know yourself. If this prince once sets eyes upon you he will
make you do whatever he pleases.” Finding all his arguments ineffectual to
prevail on Lochiel to take up arms in his cause, Charles declared his firm
determination to take the field, how small soever might be the number of
his adherents. “Lochiel,” said he, “whom my father has often told me, was
our firmest friend, may stay at home, and from the newspapers learn the
fate of his prince.” This appeal was irresistible. “No!” exclaimed Lochiel,
“I’ll share the fate of my prince, and so shall every man over whom nature
or fortune has given me any power.” Had Lochiel remained steadfast in his
determination not to join the Pretender without foreign aid, the other
chiefs would have also refused, but his yielding led to their collecting
with their followers round the prince’s standard, and thus he may be said
to have been the chief cause of the insurrection that followed.
Although
possessed of an estate which at that time yielded scarcely seven hundred
pounds a-year, Lochiel brought fourteen hundred of his clan into the
rebellion, and during his brief campaign he displayed much of the heroism
and bravery of his grandfather, Sir Ewen Cameron. He acquired the respect
of both parties, and obtained the name of the “gentle Lochiel.” On all
occasions he was honourably distinguished by his endeavours to mitigate
the severities of war, and deter the insurgents from acts of vindictive
violence, or insubordination. As an example to the rest he even ordered
one of his own men, caught in the act of theft, to be shot. He led on his
clan with great gallantry at the battle of Preston, as he subsequently did
at the battle of Falkirk. He accompanied Prince Charles in his march into
England and during the retreat from Derby, and was severely wounded in
both ankles at the battle of Culloden, when he was borne from the field by
his two henchmen. After that disastrous defeat, he skulked in his own
country for about two months, and then sought an asylum among the Braes of
Rannoch, where he was attended by Sir Stewart Thriepland, an Edinburgh
physician, for the cure of his wounds. He afterwards lurked for some time
in Badenoch with Cluny MacPherson, and some other fugitives. Here in the
course of his wanderings he was joined by the prince, though not without
great risk and danger on both sides. They took up, for a time, their
residence in a hut called the Cage, curiously constructed in a deep
thicket on the side of a mountain called Benalder, under which name is
included a great forest or chase, the property of Cluny. In this Cage they
lived in tolerable security and enjoyed a rude plenty, which the prince
had not hitherto known during his five months’ wanderings. On the 20th
September 1746 two French frigates having appeared off the coast, Lochiel
embarked along with the prince, as did nearly a hundred others of the
relics of his party, and safely arrived in France, where the king gave him
the command of the regiment of Albany, formed of his expatriated
countrymen, with the power of naming his own officers. He was thus
enabled, though his estate was forfeited, to live according to his rank.
He died in 1748, and a tribute to his memory appeared in the Scots
Magazine for December of that year. He married Anne, daughter of Sir James
Campbell, fifth baronet of Auchinbreck, by whom he had three sons and four
daughters. His eldest son Charles, who returned to Scotland in 1759,
obtained the restoration of the family estate, which is now in the
possession of his descendant.
CAMERON, JOHN,
one of the most famous theologians of the seventeenth century was born, of
respectable parents, at Glasgow, about 1579. He received his education in
his native city, and after completing the ordinary course of study, he
read lectures on the Greek language, that is, he taught Greek, in Glasgow
university, for a year. In 1600 he went to Bordeaux in France, and having
made the acquaintance of two protestant clergymen of that city, one of
whom was his countryman, Gilbert Primrose, he was, through their
recommendation, appointed a regent or professor in the then newly founded
college of Bergerac, as teacher of the learned languages. He was so deeply
skilled in the Greek especially, that one of his pupils, the learned
Cappel, affirms that he spoke it with as much fluency and elegance as any
other person could speak Latin. Soon after his settlement at Bergerac, he
was, by the duke de Bouillon appointed a professor of philosophy in the
university of Sedan, where he remained for two years. He then resigned his
professorship, and visited Paris; after which he returned to Bordeaux,
with the intention of studying for the ministry.
In the beginning
of 1604, Mr. Cameron was nominated one of the students of divinity who
were maintained at the expense of the protestant church at Bordeaux, and
who for the period of four years were at liberty to prosecute their
studies in any protestant seminary. During this time he acted as tutor to
the two sons of Calignon, chancellor of Navarre. After spending one year
with them at Paris, they went to Geneva, where they remained the next two
years, and thence removed to Heidelberg, in which city they resided for
nearly twelve months. A series of theses, ‘De triplici Dei cum Homine
Foedere,’ which he publicly maintained in this university, on 4th
April 1608, have been printed among his works. In the same year a vacancy
having occurred in the protestant church at Bordeaux, by the death of one
of the ministers, he was recalled to that town, and appointed colleague to
his friend and countryman Primrose.
In 1617 two sea
captains were at Bordeaux condemned to death for piracy; as they professed
the reformed faith, Cameron attended them in their last moments, and
afterwards published a letter entitled ‘Constance, Foy, et Rèsolution à la
mort des Capitaines Blanquet et Gaillard,’ which by the parliament of
Bordeaux, in its popish animosity to protestantism, was ordered to be
burnt by the hands of the common executioner. In the following year he was
appointed professor of divinity in the university of Saumur, the principal
seminary of the French protestants, where he had for a colleague Dr.
Duncan, another of his learned countrymen, who were then very numerous in
France. The high reputation which he had acquired by such of his works as
had already been published, was now increased by his academical lectures.
In 1620 he engaged in a formal disputation which lasted for four days, on
the doctrines of grace and free will, with Daniel Tilenus, a native of
Silesia, who had adopted the theological opinions of Arminius. An account
of this Amica Collatio was printed at Leyden in the subsequent year. The
theological faculty of that university were not satisfied with some of
Cameron’s explanations; and when Rivet, as dean of the faculty,
communicated to him their dissent, he defended his opinions in a brief
answer. The civil wars in France in 1620 had the effect of dispersing
nearly all the students of the university of Saumur, on which Cameron,
with his family, removed to England. For a short time he read private
lectures on divinity in London, and in 1622 he was appointed by King James
principal of the university of Glasgow, in the room of Robert Boyd of
Trochrig, removed in consequence of his firm adherence to presbyterianism.
Cameron, on the other hand, was more inclined to favour episcopacy, and it
seems that among other doctrines taught by him was the dangerous one of
passive obedience, which was not calculated to render him popular with the
presbyterian students of those days. After teaching divinity for about a
year, he resigned his situation. According to Calderwood, he “was so
misliked by the people, that he was forced, not long after, to remove out
of Glasco.” [Hist. vol. vii. p. 567.] He returned to Saumur, where
he was only permitted to read private lectures.
The province of
Anjou, in 1623, made an application to the national Synod of Charenton,
that he might be reinstated in his professorship, but the king, in a
letter to the commissioner to this synod, declared against his appointment
to any ministerial or academical office in France, and the request was, in
consequence, not granted; but on a representation by Cameron to the same
synod, that he was then without employment, and destitute of any adequate
means for the support of his family, the synod voted him a donation of a
thousand livres. In the following year (1624) he was permitted to accept
of the professorship of divinity in the university of Montauban, whither
he removed before the close of the year. The disputes between the
protestants and romanists were at this period carried very high, and
having opposed the duke de Rohan, who endeavoured to induce the people of
Montauban to take up arms, Cameron was attacked in the streets by an
unknown miscreant, supposed to have been a Catholic zealot, and severely
assaulted; after languishing for some time he died at Montauban in 1625.
He was twice
married. By his first wife, Susan Bernard of Tonneins on the Garonne, whom
he had married in 1611, he had a son, born at London 10th May
1622, and four daughters; but the son and the eldest daughter died before
their father. Their mother having died of consumption, he married,
secondly, at Montauban, Susan Thomas, with whom he only lived a few
months, and who had no child. The maintenance of his surviving family was
undertaken by the protestant churches of France.
“With respect to
his person,” says Dr. Irving, in his Life of Cameron, “he was of the
middle size, somewhat inclining to a spare habit, sound but not robust in
his constitution. His hair was yellow, his eyes were brilliant, and the
expression of his countenance was lively and pleasant. He appeared to be
always immersed in deep meditation, and was somewhat negligent in his
apparel, and careless in his gait; but in his manners he was very
agreeable, and although he was not without a considerable share of
irritability his anger was easily appeased, and he was very ready to
acknowledge his own faults.” [Irving’s Lives of Scottish Writers,
vol. i, page 341.] “From this distinguished person,” he adds, “a very
considerable party among the French protestants derived the name of
Cameronites. They endeavoured to explain the doctrine of grace and free
will so as to establish the conclusion, that no one is absolutely excluded
from a participation in the benefits of Christ’s sufferings, though all
are not enabled to embrace the offered salvation. Their opinions on this
subject they attempted to reconcile with those of Calvin. Those who held
such opinions were likewise denominated Universalists. They were sometimes
described as Amyraldists, from the name of Amyraut, who had been Cameron’s
pupil at Saumur, and was afterwards a professor of divinity in that
university.” In fact Amyraut received from Cameron those peculiar theories
which he developed in his ‘System of Universal Grace.’ Sir Thomas Urquhart
says that because of his universal reading, Cameron was called “The
Walking Library.”
He wrote many
Latin poems, which have not been preserved. His most considerable works
were published by others, from copies taken by his pupils.
His works may be
thus given: –
Santangelus,
sive Stelitenticus in Eliam Santangelum Causidicum. Rupel, 1616, 12mo.
Traité anquel
sont examinez les prejugez de ceux de l’eglise Romaine contre la Religion
Reformée. Rochelle, 1617, 12mo.
Theses de Gratia
et Libero Arbitrio. Salmur, 1618, 12mo.
Theses xlii.
Theol. de Necessitate Satisfactionis Christi per Peccatis. Salmur, 1620,
fol.
Sept Sermons sur
le cap. vi. de l’Evangile de S. Jean. Saum., 1624, 8vo.
Defensio
Sententiae suae de Gratia et Libero Arbitrio. Salmur, 1624, 8vo.
An Examination
of those plausible appearances which seem most to commend the Romish
church, and to prejudice the Reformed. Englished out of French. Oxf. 1626,
4to. The same in French, Roch. 1617, 12mo.
Praelectiones in
selectiora quaedam loca Novi Testamenti una cum Tractatu de Ecclesia, et
nonnullis miscellaniis opusculis. Salmur, 1626-1628, 3 vold. 4to.
Myrothecium
Evangelicum, in quo aliquot loca Nov. Testamenti explicantur, una cum
Spieilegio Lud Cappelli de eodem Argumento, cumque 2 Diatribis in Matth.
xv. 5. De Vita Jephtae. Genev. 1632, 4to. et in Crit. Sac. 1660. Lond.
1660. Salmur, 1677, 4to.
Of the Sovereign
Judge of Controversies in Matters of Religion. Oxf. 1628, 4to.
Opera. Being his
collected theological works, with a sketch of the author’s life and
character, written by Cappel. Genev. 1642, 1658, fol.
CAMERON, RICHARD,
a zealous preacher and martyr of the Church of Scotland of the seventeenth
century, was the son of a small shopkeeper at Falkland in Fife; and at
first was schoolmaster and precentor of his native parish under the
episcopalian clergyman. He was afterwards converted by the field
preachers, and persuaded by the celebrated John Welch to accept a licence
to preach the gospel, which was conferred upon him in the House of
Haughhead, Roxburghshire, having for some time resided in that part of the
country as preceptor in the family of Sir Walter Scott of Harden. From the
freedom with which he asserted the spiritual independence of the Church of
Scotland, he excited the hostility of that portion of the presbyterian
clergy who had taken advantage of the act of indulgence of 1672, and in
1677 he was reproved for his boldness at a meeting of them held at
Edinburgh. He afterwards went to Holland, where his great zeal and
energetic character made a strong impression upon the ministers who were
then living in exile in that country. At his ordination, Mr. Ward retained
his hand for some time on the young preacher’s head, and exclaimed,
“Behold, all ye beholders, here is the head of a faithful minister and
servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master’s
interest, and it shall be set up before the sun and the moon in the view
of the world.” In 1680 he returned to Scotland, and in spite of the severe
measures of the government, immediately began the practice of field
preaching. The cruel and tyrannical proceedings of the executive against
him and the small party with which he was connected, and who considered
him their head, led him to take a bold and desperate step. On the 20th
of June 1680, in company with about twenty other persons, well armed, he
entered the little remote burgh of Sanquhar, and made public proclamation
at the Cross, that he and those who adhered to him renounced their
allegiance to the king, Charles the Second, on account of his having
abused the government; at the same time declaring war against him and his
brother, the duke of York, whose succession to the throne they avowed
their resolution to resist. A reward of five thousand merks was
immediately offered by the privy council for Cameron’s head, and three
thousand merks for the heads of the rest; and parties of soldiers were
immediately sent out to arrest them. The little band kept together in arms
for a month in the mountainous country between Nithsdale and Ayrshire. On
the 20th of July they were surprised on Airdsmoss by Bruce of
Earlshall, with a party of horse and foot much superior to them in
numbers. Cameron, who was believed by his followers to have a gift of
prophecy, is said to have that morning washed his hands with particular
care, in the expectation that they were immediately to become a public
spectacle. His party at the sight of the enemy gathered closely around
him, and he uttered a short prayer, in which he thrice repeated the
expression, “Lord! Spare the green, and take the ripe!” He then said to
his brother, “Come! Let us fight it out to the last!” After a brief
skirmish, in which they were allowed even by their enemies to have fought
with great bravery, Bruce’s party, from their superiority of numbers,
gained the victory.
Cameron was
among the slain, and his head and hands, after being cut off, were carried
to Edinburgh, along with the prisoners, among whom was the celebrated
Hackstoun of Rathillet. The father of Cameron was at this time in prison
for nonconformity, and the head and hands of his son were shown to him
with the question, “Did he know to whom they belonged?” the old man seized
the bloody relics with all the eagerness of parental affection, and,
kissing them fervently, exclaimed, “I know, I know them; they are my
son’s, my own dear son’s; it is the Lord; good is the will of the Lord,
who cannot wrong me or mine, but has made goodness and mercy to follow us
all our days.” The head and hands were then fixed upon the Netherbow Port,
the fingers pointing upward, in mockery of the attitude of prayer. The
body was buried with the rest of the slain on the spot where they fell at
Airdsmoss, where a plain monument was in better times erected over them.
The small but zealous body of presbyterians who adhered to Cameron in his
life, were from him designated Cameronians; a name which was sometimes
given to the members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
CAMERON, HUGH,
a person of humble origin, yet deserving a place in this work as one of
the greatest local benefactors to the Breadalbane district of Perthshire,
was born in 1705, and was no more than a country millwright. After
acquiring a knowledge of his business, he settled at Shiain of Lawers,
where he built the first lint-mill that ever was erected in the Highlands
of Scotland. Before his time only the distaff and spindle were used for
spinning lint and wool in that part of the country; and he was not only
the first who constructed spinning-wheels and jack-reels in Breadalbane,
but he was likewise the first who taught the people there how to use them.
The number of lint-mills afterwards erected by him throughout the
Highlands cannot be reckoned at less than a hundred. In short, almost all
the lint-mills in the Highlands of Perthshire, and many in the counties of
Inverness, Caithness, and Sutherland, were of his erecting. He also
constructed the first barly-mill that was built upon the north side of the
Forth, for which he was highly complimented by Maca Ghlasarich, –
Campbell the bard, – in a very popular song, called ‘Moladh di Eobhan
Camashran Muilleir lin,’ that is, “A song in praise of Hugh Cameron, the
lint miller.’ This singular character died in 1817, at the extraordinary
age of 112 years. Though he could only be called a country-wright, he was
a man of uncommon genius, of great integrity, and of a very shrewd and
independent mind.
CAMERON, WILLIAM,
the Rev., author of the excellent congratulatory song on the restoration
of the forfeited estates, 1784, inserted in Johnson’s Musical Museum, was
born in 1751, and having studied for the Church of Scotland, was in the
usual time licensed to preach the gospel. In 1785 he became minister of
the parish of Kirknewton, His first work, a ‘Collection of Poems,’ printed
at Edinburgh in 1780, 12mo, was anonymous. In 1781, along with the Rev.
John Logan, of Leith, and the Rev. Dr. John Morison, minister of Canisbay,
in the county of Caithness, (who died in 1798), Mr. Cameron rendered
material assistance in preparing the collection of Paraphrases now in use
in the Church of Scotland. He died at the manse of Kirknewton on the 127th
of November 1811, in the 60th year of his age, and the 26th
of his ministry. A posthumous volume of poems was published by
subscription at Edinburgh in 1813, 8vo. His song, on the restoration of
the forfeited estates, beginning “As o’er the Highland hills I hied,” was
adapted to the fine old air, called “The Haughs o’Cromdale.” – Notes to
Johnson’s Musical Museum edited by W. Stenhouse.
Cameron from the Dictionary of National Biography |
