Scotland

Scotland, the most northely portion of Great Britain, has an area of 30,900 square miles and a population (1899) of 4,281,850 - i.e. about one-fourth of the area, and about one-ninth of the population, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The area is divided between a mainland portion and about 800 islands, of which the Hebrides or Western Isles on the W., and the Orkney and Shetland Islands on the N., are the chief groups. Of the islands, only about fifty are more than five square miles in area. The largest are Long Island, comprising Lewis and Harris (860 square miles), Skye (643), Mull (347), and Islay (246), among the Hebrides; Mainland (378), in Shetland; and Pomona (207), in Orkney. The mainland portion has a total length of about 275 miles, a breadth varying from 25 to 145 miles, and so irregular and indented a coast-line (over 5,000 miles long) that no spot in the interior is more than forty miles from the sea. The Scottish mainland is commonly divided into the Highlands and the Lowlands, the former lying to the N. of a line running N.E. from the Clyde opposite Greenock to Stonehaven on the E. coast; but Forfar, Kincardine, the E. and greater half of Aberdeenshire, Elgin, and Banff, together with the flat N.E. portion of Caithness, are reckoned with the Lowlands. The Highlands are intersected from sea to sea by Glen More (or great valley), in which lies the chain of lakes connected by artificial channels to form the navigable Caledonian Canal; and the country to the N. of this line is occasionally distinguished as the Northern Highlands. The Western Islands are sometimes included under the general name of "the Highlands;" but the people of Orkney and Shetland, pluming themselves on their Scandinavian descent, regard themselves as distinct from both Lowlanders and Highlanders. By far the richest, most populous, most industrial, and best cultivated part of Scotland is the plain of the Forth and Clyde, including Fife, which forms the N. part of the Lowlands. Scotland is distinctively a mountainons country. The Highlands are almost covered by the Grampian Mountains - a huge, irregular, lofty mountain-mass, seamed and intersected in all directions by straths and glens (wider and narrower valleys), presenting much grand and imposing scenery. The Cairngorm Mountains form the loftiest group of any size (Ben Macdhui, 4,296 feet; Cairn Toul, 4,241 feet; Cairngorm, 4,084 feet; Ben Avon, 3,843 feet); but the highest summit in the British Isles is Ben Nevis (4,406 feet), near the W. coast. In the Lowlands there are various distinct ranges or systems, such as the Ochill Hills to the N. of the Forth, and to the S. the Lammermoors, the Lowther Hills, and the Cheviots on the English border. The highest summits in the Lowlands are Merrick (2,764 feet). in Kirkcudbrightshire, and Broad Law (2,723 feet), in Peeblesshire. The chief rivers of Scotland are the Clyde (106 miles), Forth (75 miles), and Tay (93 miles), all of which form wide estuaries or "firths," of great value to shipping. The other numerous rivers are mostly mountain streams of impetuous course and no great depth, but famous for their beautiful scenery and good fishing. The Spey (96 miles), the most rapid river in Great Britain, the Dee (87 miles), and the Don (82 miles) are noted salmon-streams to the N. of the "Highland line." In the S. are the Nith (70 miles) and the Tween (97 miles), perhaps the most famous of all, which forms the border for about thirteen miles. The famous lochs of Scotland are of two kinds - the sea-lochs or fiords on the W. coast, and the inland lochs or lakes proper. Among the former are the numerous lochs running off the beautiful estuary of the Clyde - Loch Fyne (noted for herrings), Lochs Linnhe, Sunart, Nevis, Hourn, Ewe, Broom, etc. Among the lakes are Loch Lomond (27 square miles) - the largest lake in Great Britain - Loch Ness (19 square miles), Loch Awe (16 square miles), and Lochs Tay, Rannoch, Ericht, Maree, Katrine, and Leven. The natural resources or Scotland are not great. Less than 25 per cent. of the area (nearly all in the Lowlands) is under cultivation. In the Highlands vast regions are covered with barren moors, interspersed with scanty pasturage, supporting a limited number of sheep, but chiefly valuable as game-preserves for deer and grouse. These so-called "deer-forests" are even destitute of trees, for only about 1,400 square miles in all Scotland are under woods. The main industry in this part of Scotland is deep-sea fishing, without which the crofters or small tenants could scarcely make a living. Kelp-burning and whisky-distilling are minor industries. Agriculture reaches its highest level in the Lothians, Fifeshire, and Aberdeenshire; probably no land in the world is better farmed than the holdings of the Lothian farmers. The hills of South Scotland are among the best sheep-wa1ks in the kingdom. Both the mining and the manufacturing industries are practically confined to the Lowlands. The important coal- and iron-fields of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire support various fairly prosperous, if dingy, towns. Fife also has coal in considerable abundance, and Midlothian has coal, oil-shale, and lead. Glasgow (565,714 inhabitants) is a commercial and manufacturing city of the first importance; and the ship-builders of the Clyde enjoy a world-wide reputation. Forfar aud Fife have flourishing manufactures of flax and jute, the linen industry centring at Dunfermline (22,365), the jute industry at Dundee (155,640). Hawick (19,204), Galashiels (17,249), and Selkirk (5,788), on or near the Tweed, are the chief seats of the woollen and hosiery manufacture, which is also carried on at Kilmarnock (27,959). Edinburgh (261,261), a famous educational centre, is the seat of the book-trade and has a large printing business. The chief sea-ports are Glasgow, Leith (69,696 inhabitants, the port of Edinburgh), Greenock (63,498), Dundee, and Aberdeen (121,905). Wick and Fraserburgh are herring-ports. Perth (30,760), Stirling, Ayr (24,800), St. Andrews (6,853) (famed for its golf links), and Dumfries (17,800) are of historical importance only. Oban (4,900), Portree (in Lewis), Stornoway (in Skye), Inverary, etc., are well-known tourist centres, as is also Inverness (19,214), the "capital of the Highlands."

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.