Scotch Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 45, 1 March 1889, Page 3

Scotch Notes.

LoBD ROSEBEKY, in addressing a meeting of Liberals at Airdrie, has exploded Lord Salisbury's high-rlowa notions as to the vast inert ase of Conservativism in Scotland. The proof of tbia increase, he Baid, remained a mystery. It was no mystery, however, that the Provost of Edinburgh had been obliged to apologise for assuring the Prime Minister that the Town Council approved of his Government, nor that other elections and resignations recently made were of a ■imilar significance. The speaker said he had personal knowlcdg ■of the fact that Liberals who bai kept aloof from Mr. Gladstone in 1886 were now coming back to him, his proposed retention of Irish Members at Westminster baviDg reconciled them. On the other h«nd, the Dissentient Liberals now complained that nothing could be more mischievous than the retentiou in question. The speaker stated it as his belief that if Mr. Glads'one were now to withdraw his support from Home Bule, Lord Hartington would immediately see that conciliation and not coercion was the true policy for Ireland, and that it waa the duty of Government to gratify the national aspirations by the establishment of a national parliament. Lord Roue be ry aho referred to what be oalled the " long-drawn sneer,"' by which Lord Balisburj had offended every native race in the dependencies of the Empire, and refused to insult the inte.ligeoce of his hearers by dwelling on the explanation that had been attempted of it. In special reference to the impending election for Govan, he impressed upon the workingmen the complete secrecy of the ballot, and urged them to support Liberal principles. Lord Randolph Churchill haa prudently declined an invitation to contest East Aberdeenshire ia the Conservative interest, ilis Lordohip cannily remarks that he has a " very strong opinion that Scotch constituencies prefer as their Parliamentary representatives men of Scotch birth and re'idence.' A very natural preference indeed, but one which Scotch Home Rulers declare not to be carried out in general practice under existing circumstances. Lord Randolph Churchill's return for a Scotch c instituency, moieover, would hinder the practice of this preference in more ways than one, as we, in common with Lord Raudolph himself, may believe Scotchmen, for the most part, to recogaise. The " Catholic Directory of Sco land " for 188'J gives the number of missions in the country as 18G, and that of the churches and stations as 325, The number of priests in all the the six dioceses is 340. The story of the three crows has recently hai another illustration in a wonderful tale told by the Morning Pout as to the skeleton of an infant found wrapped in cloth of gold in a wall oi HulyrooJ castle, belonging to the apartments of Qieen Mary. O.i the splendid wrappings of the body a " J " was embroidered, the snggestion being that Queen Mary's iuf ant had been murdered, and auother child, afterwards King James I, substituted for him. Truth, however, amps the tictioa of all its romance, if not oiall its mystery. It ib that some two years ago the remains of a child were found concealed in a wall of the castle near the apartments of the Queen, but without any • J," or any cloth of gold, or aaything particularly suggestive of the murder of a royal heir. No secret has ever been made concerning the discovery, which is perfectly well known. Trade and industry in Scotland aie generally reported in a satisfactory condition, and on the mend. Tbe ship-building on the Frith of Forth for example, was, during last year, grea'ly in excess of what it had been the year before, and large orders still remain in hand. The season at the Wick herring lishery. again, although the take waß less than that made last year, wa9 still above the average. and the quality oi the fish was exceptionally good. At Dundee again the President of tbe Chamber of Commerce has just congratulated tbc members on the revival of trade. Under the circumstances, workmen in several places, are putting in a reasonable claim for a rise iv their' wages. A disposition to observe Christmas has this year been general in I Scotland. This hie, however, excited tbe burning indignation o£ tbt

Rev. Jacob Primmer, the Boanerges of Dunfermline, who declares that any sneu observation is a combination of Popery with Paganism, and no better than a restoration of tbe saturnalia celebrated in honour of the god Saturn. Were such a restora'ion ma>le it might, nevertheless, su' prise tbe rev. Thunderer to fini how closely he himself approached some of the noisy fellows of the pagan uproar. Sensible people are of the opinion that the Rev. Jacob Primmer is advancing the interests of the Catholi; Church i.i Scotland by calling attention to her in his dedunciations, and. i! that be su, long may hit strength of lung- enable him to voc.ferate. la auy caße such blatant folly can do no barm. Professor Blackie. speaking the other night at an entertainment j held at Edinburgh iv aid of an orphanage, gave a new and humorous definition of the term gentleman — one most difficult to be defined. A gentleman, he said, " was a man who never gave a porter a fourpenny piece when be could give him sixpence, or a man who never gave a ctbuian a shilling on a wet day when he might decently givo him eighteenpence." It is to be hoped the learned Prof essor's definition will produce its due effect. An instance has occurred at Pittenween, which proves how easily the young idea is taught to shoot in a wrong direction. A schoolboy named Watson, aged 13, has just been lined there for sending ont letters contpining threats of murder, and, in some cases signed " Jack the Ripper," The delinquent was pronounced too weak physically, to receive tbe dozen strokes with a birch to which he had at first been sentenced, and the Sheriff was obliged reluctantly to impose a fine instead. Among the lessons to be learned from the matter, however, is the mischief of allowing children to hear the details of sensational cases. Under the fast conditions of the day, nevertheless, there is a great difficulty in preventing this. Indeed, in most instances, it is completely impossible to do so, and the world in general must only make up its mind to bear the consequences. A sensation has been caused at Ecclefechan by the strong denunciation made recently during a convex sazione, by the ReT William Howie, minister cf tbe Fiee Church there, of land laws and landloroit-m. He said these 1-iwa, if tney did not actually create poverty, intemperance misery, and crime, at least formed the atmosphere, in which these evils grew up and brought forth fruit. "The underlying principle of the land laws," he added. ■■ was that these men (landlords) held their land as puvate property, and could do with it as they pi ased. These mtn had pow< rto demand rent or blackmail, as it might be calUd, on everything lhat people could use, and to a great extent bad in their hands the destinies of those who lived on land. Landlords were not merely aristocrats, they were au'ocrats and petty princelctg." Thie, it will be seen, is pretty plain speaking. It, however, txprthses opinions that are rapidly gaining ground. The holding ct the Stuart Exhibition has brought into prominence the fact that there la ttill living in Scotland a man whose grandfather is said to have taken part peifeooally in the battle of Culloden. This is Peter Lauig, < f Elgiii, a hale and hearty elder, who preserves all the mental faculties, and still smokes his pipe with great enjoyment, at tbc aged 103. He is a sociable, honest, old lellow, much liked by his neighbours.