The population of Scotland has increased from 1,608,420 in 180l to 4,281,850 in 1899. The Celtic Highlanders are quite distinct in history as in language from the Teutonic Lowlanders; and though this distinction is perfectly living to this day and fully understood by the Scots among themselves, it is interesting to note that there is, as against "foreigners," a strong national solidarity that pays more attention to the geographical boundary or the country than to this ethnographical or linguistic division. The language of the Highlands is Gaelic, but of the 231,600 Gaelic-speaking inhabitants returned at, the census of 1891 very few were ignorant of English. The language of the Lowlands ("Broad Scots") is an independent development of the original tongue brought to Great Britain by the Teutonic invaders from the Continent, and not a corruption or dialect of southern or book-English. It is, however, no longer the tongue of the educated classes in Scotland, although it has a rich literature (perfectly distinct from the contributions of Scotsmen to English literature) extending back for 600 years, and still being added to.
Though the Crowns of Scotland and England have been united since 1603, and the Parliaments since 1707, the smaller country has maintained a very distinct individuality, both in the cbaracter of its people and in many of its institutions. In Church, law, and education, this is very evident. Apart from the Roman Catholics and a large number of quite insignificant sects, the vast majority of Scotsmen belong to one or other of the three great Presbyterian bodies: the Established Church of Scotland ("the Establishment"), the Free Church of Scotland ("Free Kirk"), and the United Presbyterian Church ("U.P.s"). These three differ from each other on points of Church government (not doctrine), that seem very minute to all but Scottish ecclesiastical politicians, especially since the abolition of patronage in the Established Church, in 1874, removed the chief bone of contention. One important effect of the existence of three such Churches is the fact that in Scotland "Dissenters," as such, have never suffered loss of social status. Ecclesiastically Scotland is divided into parishes, and local government has generally accommodated itself to this division, so that there is but little of that overlapping of jurisdiction that makes English local government such a puzzle to the uninitiated. An excellent system of public parish schools was established by law in Scotland in 1696, and the result is shown in the high level of education among the peasantry. These parish schools, however, have been superseded by Board schools since the Education Act of 1872. The better-class secondary schools are for the most part day-schools, the few boarding-schools being imitated from England. Scotland has four universities; at St. Andrews (founded 1411), Glasgow (1450), Aberdeen (1494), and Edinburgh (1582). These resemble Continental rather than English universities, there being no college-residence and practically no collegiate supervision of the students outside the lecture-rooms. Scotland has retained its own system of law, largely based on Roman law, so that there are considerable divergencies from English law on such points as marriage, landholding, poor-law, etc., as well as in points of procedure. In every county there are sheriff-courts for minor cases; but the supreme courts are the Court of Session (for civil causes), and the High Court of Justiciary (for criminal cases) at Edinburgh. The House of Lords is the final court of appeal in civil causes.
Caledonia, as Tacitus calls Scotland to the north of the Forth and Clyde, was more than once invaded, but never subdued, by the Romans. Its inhabitants were the Celtic-speaking Picts or Cruithni, who were also found in the south-west of modern Scotland, while the south-east was peopled by Britons. About the end of the 5th century the Scots, a Celtic tribe from the north of Ireland, established themselves in Argyllshire and on the west coasts. Before the time of Bede (8th century) a fourth race, the Saxons, obtained a footing in the south-east, while the Scandinavians had long before acquired power in the Orkneys and the western islands. The Scots gradually gained the upper hand, and about 843 Kenneth Macalpin became king of the Scots and Picts, his kingdom (wholly to the north of the Forth and Clyde) being known as Alban. The name Scotland first emerges in the 10th century. Christianity was introduced among the South Picts by St. Ninian in the 4th century, and to the North Picts by St. Columba in the 6th. The successors of Kenneth extended their power sonthwards, up to and beyond the present border, but the far north and the distant islands long remained practically independent. Under Malcolm (III.) Canmore (1058-93), who succeeded the able usurper Macbeth and had married the English princess Margaret, the English language and customs gained ground; but immensely greater strides in civilisation and in the organisation of Church and State were made under David I. (1124-53), the "Scottish Alfred." William the Lion (1165-1214), captured by Henry II., regained his freedom by an illegal oath of fealty, which, though remitted by Richard I. in 1189 for a payment of money, was long afterwards the pretext for much unhappy interference in Scottish affairs on the part of the English kings. From William's reign also dates the first of the alliances with France, which have left many traces on later Scottish history. The wise and beneficent Alexander III. (1249-86) was succeeded by his infant granddaughter Margaret, "the Maid of Norway," who died in 1290, on her way to Scotland. Edward I. of England, invited to act as umpire in the ensuing dispute as to the succession between John Baliol and the elder Bruce, decided in favour of the former (1292). Baliol, however, was carried prisoner to London in 1297, and Edward, in his efforts to reduce Scotland under his own sceptre, was confronted by the patriot William Wallace, who, after some successes, was captured and beheaded in 1305. The struggle for freedom was carried on by Robert Bruce (1306-29), who finally triumphed at Bannockburn in 1314. Robert. II. (1370-90), Bruce's grandson, and Robert. III. (1390-1406), the first two kings of tho Stuart dynasty, were succeeded by five Jameses in succession. James V., dying in 1542, left the kingdom to his infant daughter Mary (1542-87), afterwards the famous "Queen of Scots," whose career fills so romantic a page of history. Mary abdicated in 1567 in favour of her son James VI. (1567-1625), who succeeded to the English throne in 1603, thus uniting Great Britain under one Crown. The history of Scotland under the earlier Stuarts is a record of fierce struggles between the Crown and the powerful nobles, punctuated by difficulties with the turbulent Highlanders, and by costly wars with England, culminating in the disaster of Flodden (1514), where James IV. perished with the fiower of the country. The condition of the people, at least in the south, was, however, gradually improving, and this period added many famous names to Scottish literature. The reformed religious doctrines penetrated to Scotland early in the 15th century, and, championed latterly by John Knox, were formally approved by the Parliament in 1560. The Scottish reformers and common people were Calvinistic Presbyterians, while James VI. and his successors were zealous adherents of Episcopacy. This difference of opinion developed under Charles I. (1625-49) into open and bitter strife; and on the outbreak of the great Civil War Scotland joined the Eng1ish Parliament against the king. On the execution of Charles I, however, Charles II. (1649-85) was immediately proclaimed king in Scotland, but Cromwell, and afterwards Monk, effectually made themselves masters of the country. After the Restoration in 1660, the religious troubles in Scotland again broke out, the Covenanters resisting to the death the introduction of Episcopacy. The persecution was but slight1y relaxed under James VII. (1685-88), but religious freedom was finally attained under William and Mary (1688-1702). The Scottish and English Parlmments were united in 1707 in the reign of Anne (1702-14), the younger daughter of James. VII., but there still lingered a certain jealousy between the two nations which encouraged the Jacobites, or adherents of the expelled Stuarts, to rise in 1715 and again in 1745 (under Prince Charles Stuart). These risings were firmly quelled, and, the advantages of an alliance with a rich and prosperous country gradually making themselves felt, Scotland settled down into a loyal and useful memberof the United Kingdom. Its subsequent general history is substantially identical with that of England.