SCOTLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 419, 10 December 1859, Page 3

SCOTLAND.

ANNUITY TAX RIOTS IN EDINBURGH.

Scottish readers will not need to be informed that the annuity tax is a tax confined to Edinburgh and its neighbourhood, and is devoted to the maintenance of the clergy of the Established Church. Considerable attention has lately been directed to it, with other ecclesiastical imposts ; and each session of Parliament is expected to see it repealed. Next year it is confidently expected that it will be destroyed. Accordingly the clergy, or their agents, have been particularly active in claiming the payment of arrears. They have been " summoning" in all directions. The following is the most recent episode : let your readers be thankful that there are no such scenes in the new world to which they have gone :—: — " Duncan Falconer, the sheriff officer selected by the Established clergy, having received warrants to execute against certain of the citizens, proceeded on Wednesday to put them in force. The first victim was Mr. Fairbairn, of the St. Andrew's Hotel, St. Andrew-street, whom they at once committed to the Calton Gaol. The officer and his assistants then proceeded to the shop of Mr. Brown, fruiterer, South Hanover-street. They made him their prisoner, and proceeding on foot along Princesstreet, and Waterloo-Phce, they committed him into the custody of the gaoler. The next visit of the officers was to Mr. Hunter, of Hunter and Glover, confectioners. lie told them he owed them nothing, and would pay them nothing Mr. Falconer then claimed him as his prisoner, and ordered him to come away with him. He replied that he would offer no active resistance, but neither would lie willingly move a step. If they wished to take him to gaol, they must carry him there. Mr. Falconer then ordered two of his .assistants to go round the counter and drag him out. This the}' could not do, and Mr. Falconer and another assistant seized him by the neck, while the others carried him by the feet. In this way he was dragged from behind his counter, down the steps, and across the pavement to a cab, into which they attempted to force him. lie was thrown back on the floor of the cab. Mr. Falconer and an assistant went into it and endeavoured to drag him on to the scat. They got a strong leather belt, with which they endeavoured to fasten him. Mr. Falconer pulled out his manacles, fixed them upon one of his wrists, and endeavoured to force the other hand into the disgraceful machine. The passive attitude of Mr. Hunter lying in the bottom of the coach, however, rendered this difficult. While this effort to handcuff their prisoner was proceeding, two of the assistants and a policeman were trying to force his legs iato the coach, and one went round to the other side, opened the door, and endeavoured to draw Mr. Hunter further into the coach. By this time a large concourse of people had a c sjmbled, and hearing that it was an arrest for annuity-tax, gave vent to their feelings by cries of execration. They saw the prisoner lying p.ile and haggard, his eyes staring, his hair dishevelled, his neckerchief and his shirt torn, and his clothes all in disarray. A cry of deep hatred arose — "Down uith the Annuity-tax!" " What a disgrace to Christianity!" "To with the ministers!" and a rush was made to the cob. The concurrent, who was trjing by the opposite door to drag Mr. Hunter, was forcibly seized and turned away. Mr. Falconer and his men were hustled, and their hats knocked off and thrown into the air. One of thorn, a short, stout man dre^sod in a grey tweed coat, unclasped a knife and rushed furiously upon the crowd. One lad narrowly escaped having his cheek ripped open. Again the crowd closed upon the officers, but again did the fear of the open knife make them keep back. The strongest determination was, however, shown that the prisoner should not be taken. While this riot was proceeding Mr. Hunter had been allowed to rise, and was now standing at the side of the cab. Mr. Falconer then declared that he was hindered from executing his warrant, and withdrew his men. Mr. Hunter walked quietly into his shop amidst the cheers of the people, the handcuffs dangling from his wrist. The officers proceeded along St. Andrewsquare, pursued by a crowd hissing and groaning_ at them. It is said that the knife was again brought into requisition to keep off the crowd ; and when they reached South St Andrew-street they were compelled to break into a run. While lying in the coach Mr. Hunter was told by one of the assistants, in the midst of a volley of oaths, that " if he had him in a quiet corner he would make him rue this." The Caledonian Mercury s.iys :—Besides the three parties against whom warrants were served, as recorded in yesterday's impression, the officers called upon Mr. Somers, baker, Princes-street, and gave him the alternative of either paying the money or going to gaol. As Mr. Somcrs's wife was from home, and no one at hand to attend to the business, he could not go with the officers without leaving his shop unprotected, and was therefore obliged to pay the impost. Mrs, Fairbairn relieved her husuand, after he had been three hours in gaol, by paying the money. The family are adherents of the Established Church, but have expressed their determination, after the treatment they have received, never to set foot within one of its church doors again. Yesterday, Mr. Brown was visited in his place of confinement in the Calton Gaol, by his wife and a number of his friends, at the usual hour for visitors, between eleven o'clock a.m. and one p.m. He is a thin, spare man, and not at all in robust health. He had passed a quiet night, and was satisfied with the accommodation provided for him in his cell. He has also the use of the large room common to all the debtors. lie expressed his intention of inditing a letter to the Christian public, expressive of the motives which have led him to place himself in passive antagonism to the law by refusing to pay the tax. Mr. Hunter is still at large. Cm various parts of his arms extravasated blood, indicated by black marks, show the terrible grasp with which the officers held their prisoner. The bkin of his wrist has also been ruffled by the handcuffs, and his thumbs still suffer from the cruel efforts of the officers to force them backwards, in order the more readily to fix the manacles. The excruciating agony caused by this process forced from Mr. Hunter the cry of ' Murder,' which, with the other circumstances, excited so strong a feeling against the officers. Mrs. Hunter also suffered from the events of Wednesday. While engaged in her duties in her husband's shop, she was ordered to stand aside, and was forcibly and rudely struck or pushed by a sweep of the strong arm of one of the officers. The blow or thrust made her reel backward, and she would have fallen on the floor had she not saved herself by catching hold of some of the fixtures. All yesterday she felt severe pains over her body, and being m an interesting delicate condition, she has had to take the advice of her medical attendant^ Humours were all yesterday afloat of additional arrests ; but though the warrants put into the hands of the officer were more than double the number of those the execution or attempted execution of which have been recorded, no reliable facts have come to light respecting them." Mr. Brown has been since liberated from gaol, but only on th» amount claimed from him having been paid by his tnends. — Christian Times.

The Prince of Wales continued to reside at Ilolyrood, Edinburgh, till the 10th of September, when he joined his royal parents in the Highlands. He has, on the whole, pursued Ins studies as diligently as he could, consistently with having plenty of amusement. In addition to his private lessons with Dr. Schmitz, he attended Professor Play fair's chemistry class at the university, as a student, in which he has been regularly matriculated. He appears to

have made himself very popular at Edinburgh. The Town Council has taken rather a clumsy way of expressing this fact by the adoption of a set of resolutions thanking the prince for the honour he has conferred upon the capital of Scotland by residing in it. A bust of his royal highness is to be executed by Mr. Steele, and to be placed in the hall of the High School.

Disclosures, says the Scotsman, are about to be made before the Court of Session of an enormous system of fraud alleged to have been formerly practised by managers of the Carron company. There are reasons for believing that the facts when fully disclosed will form one of the most extraordinary and gigantic cases of fraud in the history of trade.

The North British Mail gives an account of an accident on the South- Western Railway, near Glasgow, caused by the train running off the rails at a spot where they were undergoing repairs. A passenger by the train says : — " The engine, tender, and van, and a first-class carriage remained on the rails ; three thirdclass carriages, immediately following, were completely upset; and other two third and two first-class carriages ran over the embankment into the adjoining field, a distauce of 10 yards. Two third-class carriages and a van were thrown across the rails, a considerable portion of which were torn up." A number of the passengers were more or less severely injured.

We read in the Montrose Itcvieiv :—": — " The arrival of the Lord Chief Justice of England at the Clova gathering was heralded by a buzz of conversation. Doubts were expressed by the young laddies whether he would come with a mace or a sceptre ; and they were apparently much surprised to see a pleasant-faced elderly gentleman, mounted on a Highland pony, with a tweed suit of quiet check and a fast-looking little cap, instead of that ideal Chief Justice, with a robe and wig, and all the insignia of office, which they had pictured to themselves."

A party of gentlemen lately performed the ascent of the peak of Goatfell. The descent, which they accomplished by a different path, was rendered memorable by the following adventure : — One of the party, a stout spectacled gentleman, of 19 stone (Dr. William Smith, Classical Examiner in the London University), rubicund, noisy, and short-sighted, started off down the south-west side among the loose debris. This steep incline terminates on the top of a fearful precipice, over which a traveller fell two years ago and was killed. Down, down, went our friend in a gully made by a mountain torrent, till his eyes caught the fearful gulf below, and in desperation he clung to a jutting rock, by which his progress downwards was checked. He shouted to his friends for aid, but they had already got down to Glenrosa, and did not concern themselves much about their friend, whom they observed, resting from his labours, as they thought, on his lofty chair. After shouting to him to come along, they wended their way to Invercloy, consoling themselves with the remark that their friend would not fail to be at the inn in time for dinner. But dinner passed, nightfall came, and still no word of the lost gentleman. All the available hands about, the inn were now called out, waiters and coachmen were collected, and off they set, provided with ropes, &c. The whole night long the search was continued, but not until 9 o'clock on the following morning was any trace of the lost traveller discovered. There, at the identical spot where he first caught the jutting rock, still hung the adventurous traveller, and there for 18 hours had he held on without being able to effect an advance or retreat. By the aid of ropes he was got out of his perilous position, and by the help of a little mountain dew his speech was restored.

The Forbes M'Kenzie commission terminated its sittings at Dumfries on the 2nd of September.

" The Braemar Gathering" was held in front of the old Castle of Mar, Deeside, on the Ist of September. The Queen was prevented by the fatigue of her journey of the previous day from being present. Though the Highlanders did not muster in quite their usual strength, the meeting seems to have been a very interesting one.

Here and there, says the Banff Journal, potato disease is making way, though we are happy to say it is as yet, at any rate, much more partial this year than it has ever before been. In Fyvie, a correspondent says, " there are a few patches going fast," and at Monymusk, on the Don, the tops are quite decayed. In some cases tubers, too, have been found a good deal affected.

At a meeting held on the 2nd of September at Dumbarton, for the formation of a volunteer rifle corps, Sir J. Colquhoun, lord-lieutenant of the county, presiding, the Duke of Montrose said : — "We know, as the lord-lieutenant has said, that we are now more liable to invasion than formerly ; that is to say, that an invasion might more readily take place now than in former years, as the navie.? now-a-days are different from tho^e of past times, so that there is no doubt it would be easier to land a large body of troops here than formerly. We must feel that, notwithstanding the great amity that is professed by a neighbouring country towards us, which we reciprocate and are anxious to maintain, yet we cannot feel so safe as if there was a constitutional government in that country, when the whole is dependent on the single will of one individual. (Cheers.) We must feel that there is no check upon him if he should think it to be to his advantage— but I think he won't find that — to attack this country. He has not the check of a Parliament, or of the representatives of the nation, or the more mild influence of the country through the public press : and therefore we cannot possess all the security which we should have without being armed for all contingencies. This feeling has spread all over the country, and has been spoken of in Parliament, and the expressions there given forth have been endorsed by the people at large ; and therefore I tllink we ought to adopt a line of conduct pursued by a large portion of the people of England and also by many in various parts of Scotland — a course which I consider extremely desirable."

The Glasgow Town Council have agreed to request the Lord Provost and magistrates of the city to ask the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science to hold their meeting of 1860 in Glasgow.

At a meeting of the Town Council, at Edinburgh, on September 13, it was resolved to elect Sir David Brewster to the chair of Principal of the University, vacaut by the death of the late Principal Lee.

A disruption of the conjugal relations has just caused some excitement at the Bridge of Allan. It appears that on the night of September 9, a special dancing assembly was held iv the new Music Hall, Bridge of Allan, which was attended by between 80 and 90 ladies and gentlemen. Among the company were Captain Gordon, of the 42nd (who only returned from India a few days ago), his lady, and Captain Callen, of the 7 1st, the depots of both these regiments being stationed at Stirling. We may mention that during Captain Gordon's absence in India, his lady, with two young children, resided in Stirling and neighbourhood, and it is alleged that she was frequently in the company of Captain Callen. Certain it is that, after spending a very merry evening, the party retired, between 12 and 1 o'clock, for supper, to Philip's Hotel, and shortly after Captaiu Callen and Mrs. Gordon were missed. This was not generally known to the company at the time ; but the painful fact oozed out in the course of the following day. It appears that about the time indicated the captain and Mrs. Gordon had a carriage and pair awaiting in the outskirts of the village, which they entered, when they drove rapidly to Auchter-

arder, a station on the Scottish Central Railway, about 18 miles distant. From this point the fugitives could easily reach any part of the kingdom. Nothing further has been heard as yet of the adventurous pair. [So the story is told in the papers. But it appears that it contains a gross mis-statement. A correspondent of the Times, who signs himself "E. M.," and who is a near relative of Mrs. Gordon, asserts that the lady is at present residing with her husband at Benares, and that her only child is under his care.]

The interesting, unique, and most valuable collection of the late Hugh Miller, says the Edinburgh Witness, has been preserved to the capital of Scotland. The price is upwards of a thousand pounds, of which Government contributes XSOO, the remainder being made up by contributions from the friends of science and the admirers of one of her most gifted sons.

Mr. R. A. iUacfie, of Liverpool, has contributed the munificent sum of £3000 towards covering the expenses of a deputation, to consist of two ministers and one layman of the Free Church of Scotland, who are to go out and visit the churches and preaching-stations in connection with that denomination in India.

. The meeting of the British Association for 18 J9 commenced on Wednesday evening in the new Music Hall, Aberdeen. There was a very large attendance, and great interest attached to the meeting in consequence of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort being the President elect. Professor Owen, on retiring from the chair, congratulated the members on the prosperous condition of the association, and that it was presided over by His Royal Highness The Prince Consort, after taking the chair, delivered an address, which occupied 4o minutes in delivery. Sir Benjamin Brodie moved, and the Lord Provost of Aberdeen seconded, a vote of thanks to His Royal Highness.

On the 13th September, a deputation proceeded to Balmoral, and presented a respectful request that her Majesty would inaugurate by her presence the opening of the new supply of water from Loch Katrine to Glasgow, the works for which are now on the verge of completion. Her Majesty complied, and was to proceed from Edinburgh to Loch Katrine on the 14th of October, and open the sluice by which the first stream of this magnificent store of water will ever afterwards supply the city of Glasgow.