1867-1872
INDIA--THE APEX--THE END
The vision of millions upon millions in the far East worshipping
idols had long haunted Macleod’s imagination, and, with his sense
of apostleship waxing as the years went on, heathendom became more
and more to him a mystery and a horror. The Asiatic was a man: reach
his heart, it was the same as ours, and must open to the religion of
humanity. To Macleod’s stamp of Christian the whole idea of foreign
missions was peculiarly congenial; every enterprise in that field,
whatever Church had the credit, he hailed with enthusiasm. In 1858,
when Angell James was appealing for a hundred missionaries to go to
China, Macleod sent forth, in the _Edinburgh Christian Magazine_, a
voice to the British Churches:--
Let us say in justice to our own deep conviction as to the momentous
importance of this subject--to the grandeur of the cause which our
revered father advocates--to the sense we entertain of the clear and
imperative duty of the Church of Scotland at this crisis--that we
bid him God-speed with all our hearts; and express our firm faith
that these hundred missionaries and many more will soon be in the
field, _with some contributed by our own Church_, to take part in this
glorious enterprise about to open for the establishment in China, so
long enslaved by Satan, of that blessed kingdom which is righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The Church of Scotland had a footing in India, and it was there that
his interest was fixed. There be rosy thousand-pounders whose eloquent
wails over the dearth of missionaries draw handkerchiefs in the ladies’
gallery, and if the cynic says that the command is not ‘Get others to
go’ but ‘Go _ye_,’ it is good exegesis and a palpable hit. But Macleod
was busy among the heathen at home, and from 1864, when he was made
convener of the India Mission, his mind was possessed with the thought
of an embassy to Hindostan. The Sabbath question arose, and, expecting
ostracism, he gave up his prospect; indeed, a section of the committee,
as he afterwards learned, moved for his resignation. The General
Assembly, however, in 1867, upon advices from Calcutta, requested him
to visit India. ‘How strange and sudden,’ he wrote, ‘that I, who two
years ago was threatened with deposition and made an offscouring by so
many, am this year asked by the Assembly to be their representative in
India!’ Among his acquaintance far and near, high and humble, the news
that Norman Macleod was going to India created a sensation. The Queen
wrote: ‘his life is so valuable that it is a great risk.’ He received
letters from Stanley, Helps, and Max Müller. The presbytery gave him a
dinner, at which the chair was taken by the chief Sabbatarian. Fifty
private friends, including ministers of all denominations, entertained
him at a feast. He in his turn held a luncheon, in the course of
which he perambulated the tables, speaking the befitting word to each
of thirty guests. Portraits of himself, his wife, and his mother,
painted by Macnee, were presented to him; and four hundred working men
gave Mrs. Macleod her husband’s bust in marble. There was a general
feeling that he might never return. ‘Come life or death,’ he said of
his undertaking, ‘I believe it is God’s will.’ For several weeks he
had worked so hard, and gone through so much excitement, that when he
started he was utterly worn out; and throughout the tour, from first to
last, he was afflicted with a swelling of the limbs.
Fortunate he was in having for his fellow-deputy Dr. Watson, the
minister of Dundee, who thought with him on religious matters (though
_pawky_ to the point of genius) and was kin to him in spirit. To hear
these two in the parts of Highland drovers was, by all accounts, the
greatest treat in the world. After a short stay in Paris, where Macleod
preached, and got a collection for the expenses of the deputation, on
the sixth of November they embarked at Marseilles, having chosen the
overland passage. Macleod was charmed with the coast scenery about
Toulon; Corsica and Sardinia reminded him of the Western Highlands;
but in all the Mediterranean there was no sight that affected him so
much as the house of Garibaldi. At Alexandria he learned from his old
dragoman, whom he happened to meet, that travellers, ever since the
advice given in _Eastward_, were examining the backs of horses and
mules before they bought them, so that Meeki, able to cheat no more,
had taken to another trade. Thus Macleod had for certain done one good
thing in his life. On the voyage down the Red Sea, having once preached
for an hour with the thermometer at 90°, he got a warning of what
might be in store for him in India. ‘At the close,’ says Dr. Watson,
‘he was almost dead; his face was flushed, his head ached, his brain
was confused, and when he retired to his cabin the utmost efforts were
required to restore him.’ Old Indians poured jugs of iced water over
his head. Yet, referring to the heat, he could write home, ‘I just thaw
on, laugh and joke, and feel quite happy.’ One morning he got up at
three o’clock, and in ‘a white Damascus camel-hair dressing-gown’ sat
on deck, sneering at the Southern Cross. According to his wont he was
taken up with his fellow-passengers, among whom were soldiers who had
fought in the Mutiny, young officers on their way to Magdala, civilians
who had governed provinces and spent years among the remotest tribes,
politicians, journalists, and adventurers. Unlike his companion, he had
a cabin to himself, and, in the course of the voyage, it was more and
more like a pawnbroker’s shop. One day Watson perceived in the chaos a
decent silk hat with its sides meeting like a trampled tin pan. ‘Man,’
said Norman, by way of explanation, ‘last night I felt something very
pleasant at my feet; I put my feet on it and rested them--I was half
asleep. How very kind, I thought, of the steward to put in an extra
air cushion! and when I looked in the morning, it was my hat.’ In the
bustle of the preparations for landing at Bombay he was heard crying,
‘Steward, did you see my red fez?’ ‘Is it a blue one?’ ‘No!’ roared
Norman, ‘it’s a red one. If you see it, bring it, and if any fellow
won’t give it up, bring his head along with it.’ So Watson writes
to Mrs. Macleod. Macleod, for his part, complaining to Mrs. Watson
of her husband’s inextinguishable laughter, declares, ‘But for my
constant gravity he would ruin the deputation.’ He was presented with
an address, signed by the captain, the officers, and the whole of the
passengers, ‘expressing their grateful sense of the peculiar privilege
they had enjoyed in his society and his ministrations.’
At the first sight of India, a land so full of romantic and mysterious
interest, Macleod as a Briton, and still more as a Christian, was
strangely moved. The working plan of the deputies may be stated in
a dozen words: Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, with a loop of travel at
each. In one city as in another Macleod had much the same round of
triumphs and of toils. He conferred with missionaries of different
Churches; inspected colleges and schools; and, accompanied by the
highest aristocracy, both native and English, delivered sermons and
addresses to enormous crowds. The Brahman worship he took pains
to study, and made a point of quizzing the most cultured Hindoos.
Socially he was treated as if he had been the special commissioner,
not of the General Assembly, but of the Crown. Governors, military
commanders, and bishops gave dinners and receptions in his honour. He
was never well, but the killing fatigue at the centres was relieved
by the trips to inland stations. From Bombay the deputies went to
Poonah and Colgaum, whence returning they visited the caves of Karli.
Sir Alexander Grant--afterwards Principal of Edinburgh University--at
whose house Macleod met a select party of educated natives, has left
this testimony: ‘He talks to them in a large, conciliatory, manly
way, which is a perfect model of missionary style. I had the most
charming talks with him, lasting always till 2 A.M., and his mixture
of poetry, thought, tenderness, manly sense, and humour was to me
perfectly delightful. I had no idea his soul was so great.’ At a
bungalow on the road to Colgaum he had what he calls a dangerous
encounter with a snake. He had wished to see a real cobra, and Dr.
Watson reported that there was one outside basking in the moonshine.
So off went Norman with his Lochaber crook. ‘Slowly and cautiously I
approached, with uplifted staff and beating heart, the spot where the
dragon lay, and saw him, a long grey monster! As the chivalrous St.
George flashed upon my mind, I administered a fearful stroke to the
brute; but from a sense of duty to my wife and children rushed back to
the bungalow in case of any putting forth of venom, which might cause
a vacancy in the Barony, and resolved to delay approaching the worm
till next morning. Now, whatever the cause was, no one, strange to
say, could discover the dead body when morning dawned. A few decayed
branches of a tree were alone discovered near his foul den, and these
had unquestionably been broken by some mighty stroke; but the cobra
was never seen afterwards, dead or alive.... Why my friend laughed so
heartily at my adventure I never could comprehend, and have always
avoided asking him the question.’ Their route to Madras was by sea to
Calicut, and across country by rail from Beypore. In their excursions
from Madras they went two hundred miles, as far as to Bangalore. At
Calcutta, where they arrived about the middle of January, Macleod,
for the first time, received the impression of the imperial power of
the British. Thinking of Government House, he says: ‘I have trod the
gorgeous halls of almost every regal palace in Europe, from Moscow to
Naples, and those of the republican White House at Washington, but with
none of these could I associate such a succession of names as those of
the men who had governed India.’ He got on terms of friendship with
the Governor-General, Lord Lawrence, but a State dinner, given on
account of the deputies, he had to forego. His health was giving way,
as was inevitable from the high pressure at which he had been working
in a burning climate. Nevertheless he went about the business of the
embassy. One day, when he had been three weeks in Calcutta, he spoke
at a morning meeting; held an examination in the General Assembly’s
Institution, and addressed the students in the great hall; was the
chief guest at a luncheon; and in the evening, at the most brilliant
public dinner ever held in the city, delivered a great speech. That
night ‘the bull,’ which had been ‘after him all day,’ caught and tossed
him, and there was a sudden end to his work in India. From a kind of
noble vanity he had, Macleod could never bear to have the appearance of
shirking a task. Next morning, tolerably well with his way of it, he
telegraphed home, ‘Off for the Punjaub’; but at a conference of doctors
it was decided that ‘it would be attended with danger to his life
should he persist in his intention of continuing his tour to Sealkote.’
Before quitting India he took a holiday excursion. He had seen the Red
Indians in their encampment, he had been on the summit of the high
tower at Moscow, he had sat on the Mount of Olives, he had floated in
a raft upon the Danube; and now, behold him threading the lanes of
holy Benares, mounted on an elephant! He saw the marble glories of
Mohammedan Agra, and examined all the famous scenes of the Mutiny,
especially Delhi, where his heart glowed as he remembered Nicholson.
From Delhi he returned direct to Calcutta; whence, on board of an old
man-of-war, in company with Lady Lawrence and her daughter, he sailed
for Egypt. One little incident of the voyage is worth remembrance.
He had been very attentive to the sailors, not only preaching in the
forecastle on Sundays, but at other times reading to them selections
from his sea stories. Now at Aden they had shipped an African boy who
had been taken from a slaver, and when Macleod was about to leave the
vessel, a deputation of the crew approached him, leading the little
negro by the hand. ‘And now, your Reverence,’ said one, ‘I hope you
won’t be offended if we name this here nigger boy _Billy Buttons_.’
Cairo and the Pyramids once more; then home by Malta, Sicily, Naples,
and Rome.
Notwithstanding many predictions, he had come back, and in apparent
vigour; but his health was undermined, India had done for Norman.
Though to a certain section of the clergy he was still an object of
suspicion, his magnificent services could not be denied, and, besides,
in the Indian undertaking--his years and his physique considered--there
was a gallantry, a derring-do, that stirred men’s spirits finely. So,
on his first rising to speak in the General Assembly, after his return,
he received an ovation. His speech, giving the results arrived at by
the deputation, lasted for two hours, and, in an intellectual point
of view, is perhaps the highest of all his works. There is a thorough
grasp of the whole problem of the conversion of the Hindoos, with
splendid ability in the presentation. Of the contest against the system
of caste he says:
I hesitate not to express the opinion that no such battle has ever
before been given to the Church of God to fight since history began, and
that no victory, if gained, will be followed by greater consequences. It
seems to me as if the spiritual conquest of India was a work reserved
for these latter days to accomplish, because requiring all the previous
dear-bought experiences of the Church, and all the preliminary education
of the world, and that, when accomplished,--as by the help of the living
Christ it shall,--it will be a very Armageddon: the last great battle
against every form of unbelief, the last fortress of the enemy stormed,
the last victory gained as necessary to secure the unimpeded progress
and the final triumph of the world’s regeneration.
He shows how the evangelising methods with which we are familiar at
home are inapplicable in India. ‘One of the noblest and most devoted
of men, Mr. Bowen of Bombay, whom I heard thus preach, and who has
done so for a quarter of a century, informed me in his own humble,
truthful way,--and his case is not singular except for its patience and
earnestness,--that, as far as he knew, he had never made one single
convert.’ In insisting on education as the first means all authorities
are now at one with him; but his other idea, that in India the various
Christian sects should forget their differences, and aim at a native
Church, which should be independent of Western creeds, is still a
devout imagination.
Is the grand army to remain broken up into separate divisions, each
to recruit to its own standard, and to invite the Hindoos to wear our
respective uniforms, adopt our respective shibboleths, and learn and
repeat our respective war-cries, and even make caste marks of our wounds
and scars, which to us are but the sad mementoes of old battles?[7]
He foresaw a time when for idols would be substituted Jesus, the divine
yet human brother; for the Puranas the Bible; for caste Christian
brotherhood; and for weary rite and empty ceremony the peace of God.
The Moderatorship, which is the presidency of the General Assembly,
is the highest office in the Church. The appointment lies with the
members, but in practice the retiring dignitary, on the opening day,
names his successor, who has in fact been chosen six months before at a
secret conclave. Some such arrangement is necessary, as the Moderator
has to wear an antique and elaborate scheme of apparel. Supposing the
General Assembly were to reject the nominee, picture the situation!
There behind the door would be the proud one, giving the last touch
to his ruffles, casting a final glance at his buckled shoes, while
a gentleman in mere coat and trousers was marching to the Chair! On
the whole the college of Moderators has proved an excellent body of
electors, and seldom has it done itself more credit than in promoting
Norman Macleod. In 1869 he was, to be sure, the chief man in the
Church, but the old Moderators were just the persons who would be most
shocked by his view of the first day of the week. In offering to so
recent a culprit the greatest honour which the Church had to bestow,
they showed no little magnanimity, even were the idea of muzzling him
not altogether absent. ‘I should like to be at the head of everything,’
Norman had said in his youth, and though too good a man to sacrifice
any of his moral being to ambition, undoubtedly he was fond of power.
The Moderatorship he at first, both by word and letter, refused,
chiefly on the ground of his desire for freedom in the expression of
his opinions. But of course it was all right!
During the session of the General Assembly the Moderator has an
exciting round of social duties. Every morning he entertains a number
of the clergy and their wives to breakfast, and at the dinners and
receptions in Holyrood Palace he is the principal figure, next to the
representative of the Sovereign. But the great event for the Moderator
is the closing address, which he delivers about midnight to a mixed
crowd. After that comes the most impressive scene of all, when they
stand and sing--
‘Pray that Jerusalem may have
Peace and felicity;
Let them that love thee and thy peace
Have still prosperity.’
Speaking of the creed Macleod was so vague (mindful of the old hands
after all) that he might as well have passed the matter off with one of
his favourite quotations--
‘I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me!’
But of his oration there is one part that, were it only known, would
grow in importance the more the cry for disestablishment was heard.
The age, he says, is against, and rightly against, monopolies of every
kind. To defend a State Church on the ground of treaties is idle;
the question is whether it satisfies the nation. Nor does he argue
for the preservation of the Establishment on any such ground as the
need of a placard on the nation’s door, _Religion recognised within_.
Voluntaryism is not only insufficient to meet the spiritual wants of
the country, but involves the dependence of the clergy. On the other
hand, the Church exists for the people, and has no interests apart
from theirs. When it ceases to have the general confidence it loses
its right to the endowments, which are held in trust for the common
good. A national Church should therefore be comprehensive, and that
to the furthest limit compatible with its existence as a Christian
institution. Every ecclesiastical question, whether of government, of
worship, or even of doctrine (provided only that the essential faith
be kept) should be decided with a single eye to the national interest.
Were he living now, Macleod would probably advocate the union of the
presbyterian Churches at any cost to the Establishment except the loss
of the teinds.
He was no sooner released from the General Assembly than he was off to
Berlin, where he fixed missionaries for the aborigines of India. Home
again, he resumed his peregrinations in the country, with ‘a fire in
his bones for a Mission and a Church on the point of perishing.’ Oh it
is wonderful, after his so strenuous day, to see the passion and hurry
with which, in spite of the burden of the flesh, he struggles onward
in the falling of the eve. His religious feelings and aspirations
grew more and more absorbing and intense. As his life seemed not for
long in this world, he thought the more of the next. Education beyond
the grave, progress everlasting, was the favourite conception of his
closing years.
In 1871, having an acute attack of gout, he was ordered by Sir William
Jenner to take the waters at Ems. Towards the end of the year he owned
to himself, for the first time, that he was unequal to his tasks. The
least thing exhausted him, he could not sleep. Early in the following
spring he went to St. Andrews to address the students. ‘We were all
struck,’ wrote his old friend Shairp, then Principal of the University,
‘by his worn and flaccid appearance.... After describing very clearly
and calmly the state of the mission and its weakness for want of both
fit men and sufficient funds, his last words were--“If by the time next
General Assembly arrives neither of these are forthcoming, there is one
who wishes he may find a grave!”’ A few weeks later his infirmities had
so increased that he was compelled to give up the India Mission. One
more effort to rouse the Church he was resolved to make, were it his
last. When in the ensuing General Assembly he rose to speak, the House
was crowded and as still as death; it was clear to all that the warrior
of God would soon enter into rest. His utterance was so rapid as to
beat the reporters, but the speech was said to be the finest he ever
made. The most striking passage is one rounding off his argument that
the Westminster Confession was not for India:--
‘Am I to be silent lest I should be whispered about, or suspected, or
called “dangerous,” “broad,” “latitudinarian,” “atheistic”? So long
as I have a good conscience towards God, and have His sun to shine on
me, and can hear the birds singing, I can walk across the earth with a
joyful and free heart. Let them call me “broad.” I desire to be broad
as the charity of Almighty God, who maketh His sun to shine on the
evil and the good: who hateth no man, and who loveth the poorest Hindoo
more than all their committees or all their Churches. But while I long
for that breadth of charity I desire to be narrow--narrow as God’s
righteousness, which as a sharp sword can separate between eternal
right and eternal wrong.’
On his birthday he wrote to Shairp: ‘As I feel time so rapidly passing,
I take your hand, dear old friend, with a firmer grip.’ That day, by
his express desire, his family were all gathered round him. As husband,
father, brother, son, never man was more devoted. After two weeks of
restlessness and want of sleep, suddenly the end came. About midday on
the sixteenth of June, reclining on the sofa, he uttered a cry. As his
wife sprang to his side, he sighed and passed away.
* * * * *
The news that Norman Macleod was dead sent a thrill through the
nation. His funeral was the most imposing ever seen in Glasgow.
At the services, which were held in the Barony Church and in the
Cathedral, ministers of different denominations took part. There
were between three and four thousand in the procession, including
magistrates, sheriffs, and professors, all in their official robes,
and two representatives of royalty. As far as to the outskirts of the
city the route was thronged with spectators. An old woman, blinking
in the brilliant weather, was overheard saying to herself, _Eh, but
Providence has been kind to Norman, gi’en’ him sic a grand day for
his funeral_! He was buried beside his father in Campsie. There are
monuments: a tablet at Loudoun; a statue near the site of the old
Barony Church; and two stained windows at Crathie, the gift of Her
Majesty the Queen.
INDEX
A
‘A Man’s a Man for a’ that’, 82, 107
Alexandria, Visit to, 110, 128
Ambleside, 26
America, British North, 53
America, Southern States, 55
Anglo-Catholic Movement, 34
Argyllshire Fencibles, 15
Arnold, Thomas, 61
Aros, 16
Arthur’s Seat, 45
Assembly, General, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 42, 84
B
Baronne, La, 23
Barony Church, The, 64, 66, 68
Becket, Thomas à, 106
Benares, 132
_Billy Buttons_, 92, 133
Bonn, 106
Broad Church Movement, 139
Broomielaw, The, 67
Brougham, Lord, 24
Buccleuch, Duke of, 50
Buchanan, Professor--’Logic Bob’, 20
Burns Centenary, 82
Burns, Robert, 20, 32, 83
C
Caird, Principal, 88, 112
Calvinism, Scots Life based on, 9, 29, 45
Campbell, Macleod J., 36, 61
Campbeltown, Norman the First’s Parish, 15, 17, 18
Campsie, Parish of, 19, 46
Cannstadt, 63
Carlyle, Thomas, 23, 51
Carstairs, William, 9
Chalmers, Dr., 21, 48, 62, 63, 66
Chapel Act, 42
Character Sketches, 90
Chartism, 30, 51
Claverhouse, 16
Cockburn, Lord, 24
Coffee-room Reunions, 33
Columba’s, St., Parish of, 24
Confession of Faith, Norman’s, 71
Congregation, Type of Christian, 69
Coolins, 27
Corsica, 127
‘Courage, Brothers’, 100
‘Crack about the Kirk for Kintra Folk’, 39
Cunningham, Principal, 112
Cupar-Fife, 46
D
Dalkeith, 46, 47, 50, 62, 66
Darmstadt, 106
Darvel, 29
Dead Hand, The, 33
Death Penalty for renouncing Islam, 59
Decalogue, The, 121
Deputation, The Indian, 127, 129
Dickens, Charles, 32
Disestablishment, 138
Disruption, The, 38, 43
Divinity Hall, Edinburgh, 21
----Glasgow, 24
Dresden, 23
Ducal Court, Weimar, 22, 23
Dunvegan Castle, 12
----Macleod’s Stay at, 14
E
_Earnest Student_, 90
Ecclesiastical Liberality, 83
_Edinburgh Christian Magazine_, 85
Effectual Calling impugned, 116
Elsinore, 108
Emerson, R. W., 61
Erastus, 41
Erskine, J. C., 85
Evangelical Alliance, The, 58, 60, 61
Evangelical Party, The, 36, 37, 60
F
Family Worship in Skye, 12
Fiunary, Manse of, 13
----Life at, 14
‘Flowers o’ the Forest’, 63
Free Church, 43, 44, 45, 65, 89, 113, 114
Freedom, Macleod’s love of, 118
French Revolution, 36
G
Garibaldi, 128
Geneva Gowns, 9
Geology, Lectures on, 30
Gilfillan, George, 20
Glasgow, High Street, 20
----University, 20
Goethe, 23
_Good Words_, 85, 87, 88, 90
Grant, Sir Alexander, 130
Grunting and Singing, 69
H
Hamlet, 108
Hastings, Dowager Marchioness of, 32, 33
Headship of Christ, 35, 40
Hebrides, the Men there, 11
Helps, Sir Arthur, on Macleod, 73, 126
Herschell, Mr., of London, 61
High Churchism, 34, 42
Highland Tacksmen, 11
Hildebrand, 41
I
_Index Expurgatorius_, 86
India Mission, The, 52, 83, 126, 129, 139
Irvine Water, 29, 33
Italy, Visit to, 109
J
Jacobites, 34, 35
Jaffa, 110
Jeffrey, Lord 24
Jerusalem, Visit to, 111
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 11
----Meeting with Macleod the First, 12
Judaical Spirit in Scotland, 119
K
Kailyard Literature, 90
Kazan, The, 108
Kingsley, Charles, 88
Kintyre, 16
Knox, John, 9, 35
Kremlin, The, 109
L
Land o’ the Leal, 63
Lee, Rev. Dr. Robert, 114, 115, 117
Leith Pier, 45
Liturgy, Scots Church, 116
London Missionary Society, 84
Lord Rector’s Election, 24
Lords, House of, 37
Loudoun, Parish of, 28, 29, 31, 46, 66
----Work in, 30, 31
----Castle, 32, 33
Love, Norman in, 23
M
Malta, Visit to, 110
Mammoth, Skeleton of, 109
Maxwell, Duke of Argyll’s Chamberlain, 16
Maybole, 46
Maynooth, 49
Melville, Andrew, 20, 35
Moderates, The, 36, 37, 39, 41
Moderator of the Church, 135, 136
Montreal, 58
Moreby Hall, Yorkshire, 22
Morven, Parish of, 13, 14, 18, 26, 57, 99
Moscow, 109
Moslem sat upon at Jaffa, 110
Mull, Sound of, 13, 57
Müller, Dr. Max, 126
Munich, 23
M’
M’Cheyne’s Life, 90
Macintosh, John, 25, 26, 61
----Catherine Ann, 64
Macleod, Norman, the First, 12
A Rare Figure, 13
His Precepts, 13
Early Life, 15
Ordained to Campbeltown, 15
Communion Services, 15
His Marriage, 16
Macleod, Dr. Norman, the Hero as Priest, 10
Name Revered with that of Chalmers, 10
His Birth, 16
Early Life 17
Fighting the French, 17
Learns Gaelic, 18
At Campsie, 19
At College, 20
His Studies, 21
Influence of Chalmers, 21
Death of his Brother James, 22
At Weimar, 23
Falls in Love, 23
Throws himself into Politics, 24
Speech at the Peel Banquet, 25
Tutor in his Father’s House, 26
His Licence to Preach, 26
Presented to the Living of Loudoun, 28
His Battles with Free-Thinking Weavers, 30
Lectures on Geology, 30
His Feelings towards Burns, 32
Feelings towards Ornate Ritual in Worship, 34
Non-Intrusion Controversy, 37, 38, 39
Writes a Pamphlet on the Subject, “A Crack aboot the Kirk for Kintra Folk”, 39
His Speech on the Non-Intrusion Question at Newmilns, 41
Action over the _Quoad Sacras_, 42
His Opinion of the Disruption, 43
Settled at Dalkeith, 46
His Feelings for the Church, 49
His Vows for its Revival, 50
Home Mission Work, 50
Incident of the Orphan Boy, 51
The India Mission, 52
Visits America, 53
Incident of the Dying Man, 53
His Sympathetic Nature, 54
Interview with President Polk, 54
British Sympathy with Southern States, 55
Experiences in Canada, 55-58
Union of Protestants, 58
Evangelical Alliance, 58
Interview with Macintosh, 62
Marriage, 64
Minister of Barony Parish, 64
Compared with Chalmers, 67
Early Rising and its Sights, 68
Organising Barony Congregation, 69
Norman’s Confession of Faith, 71
His Preaching, 72
Preaching to the Poor, 73
Sympathy for All, 76
Norman and Temperance, 77
Poor Law Administrator, 79
Plans to Aid Deserving Poor, 80
His Hold on Working Men of Glasgow, 80
Shocking the Pharisees, 81
The Burns Centenary, 82
At the Theatre at Stockholm, 83
The Cause of the Heathen, 84
Editor and Author, 85
_Good Words_ started, 87
Experiences as Editor, 88-90
----as a Writer of Fiction, 93
Extracts from _The Starling_, 96, 97
Description of the Sound, 97
Norman a Poet, 99
Preaching at Balmoral, 103
Consolation to a Stricken Monarch, 104
Intercourse with Royalty, 106, 107
Visits Russia, 108
Visit to Italy, 109
Alexandria, Malta, and the Pyramids, 110
Sits upon a Moslem at Jaffa, 110
Delight in Palestine and Jerusalem, 111
Dr. Robert Lee’s System of Church Worship, 115, 116
Macleod Supports it, 117
Outcry over Sabbath Desecration, 118
Macleod inveighed against, 121
Shunned by his Brethren, 122
The Confession of Faith Controversy, 123
Macleod and Tulloch, 124
Visits India, 127, 128
His Gaiety on the Voyage, 128, 129
Interest excited by his Visit, 130
His Visit cut short, 132
India had done for Norman, 133
Ovation at the General Assembly, 133
Moderator, 135, 136
Gout seizes him, 138
His Last Great Speech, 139
The End at last, 140
Funeral, 140, 141
Macleod, General, 14
----Dr. Donald, 109
Macleod, Laird of, 12
Macrimmon, Piping of a, 14
N
National Church, The, 49, 50, 65
Neva, Islands of, 108
Newmilns, 29
Nile, 110
Non-Intrusion Controversy, 34, 35, 37, 39
‘Norman’--the pet name, 81
O
_Old Lieutenant and his Son_, 79, 91, 93, 97
Organisation in Barony Church, 70
Ottawa, The River, 58
P
Paine, Tom, 30
Palestine, Visit to, 110
Paton & Ritchie, 85
Patronage, 35, 39
Peel Club, 26
Peel, Sir Robert, 24
Petersburg, St., Visit to, 108
Pictou, Nova Scotia, 56
Polk, President, Interview with, 54
Poor, The, their Love for Macleod, 74
_Porteous, Rev. Daniel_, 95
Preaching, his Style, 72
Preaching under Difficulties, 128
‘Presbyterian Puseyism’, 45
Preston, Henry, 22
Prince Alfred, 106
Prince Consort, 104
Prince of Wales, 106
Pritchard the Poisoner, 75
Protestants, Union of, 58
Prussian Crown Prince and Princess, 107
Prussian Poland, 61
Puritans, The 45, 83
Puseyism, 34
Pyramids, Visit to, 110
Q
Queen, The, 103, 105, 107, 126, 141
_Quoad Sacra_ Charges and Voting, 2
R
_Record, The_, 89
_Reminiscences of a Highland Parish_, 97
Revolution, The, 35
Rialto, The, 109
Richelieu, 48
Robertson of Ellon, 28
Robespierre, 30
Russia, 61
S
Sabbath Observance, 119, 120, 127
Sacerdotal Temper, 40
Sacramental Scenes, 33, 56
St. John’s Church (Edinburgh), 46
St. Ninian’s, 46
Sandford, Sir Daniel, 20
Sardinia, 127
Scott, Sir Walter, 32
Session, Court of, 37, 38, 40
Shaftesbury, Lord, 75
Shairp, John Campbell, 25, 26, 33, 34, 139, 140
Shakespeare, 32
Siberia, 61
Skye, 12, 26, 45
Slavery, 54, 55
Snake Story, A, 130
‘Snug the Joiner’, 51
Special Constables, 51, 52
Speech, Moderator’s, 137
Stanley, Dean, 72, 88, 126
Stanley, Lord, 24
_Starling, The_, 92, 94
Stewart Boys, 21
Strahan, Alexander, Publisher, 109
Strathbogie Presbytery, 38
Stuart Dynasty, 34
Submerged Ranks, 50, 51
Swordale, 12
T
Tait, Archbishop, 20
_Tam o’ Shanter_, 107
Temperance, Plea for, 77
Thackeray, 93
Theological Tests for University Professors, 84
Therapeutics of Religion, 21
Tolbooth Church (Edinburgh), 46
Tories, 24
Tract No. 90, 34
Tractarian Movement, 33
Transubstantiation, 34
Tübingen, 62
Tulloch, Principal, 43, 88, 112, 122, 123
Trollope, Anthony, 89
Tyrol, 23
U
Universities, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 139
V
Vavasour, Lady, 22
Venice, Visit to, 109
Veto Law, 37, 42
Vienna, 23
W
_Walker, Joseph_, 90
Walker, Josiah, 20
‘Wandering Willie’, 63
Watson, Dr., of Dundee, 127
Weavers of Loudoun, 30
‘Wee Davie’, 92
Weimar, 22, 26
West Port and Chalmers, 62
Whigs, 24
Whitman, Walt, 68
Windsor, 106
Winslow, Octavius, 58
Wordsworth, William, 21, 26, 32
Working Men of Glasgow, 80
Y
York Minster, Confirmation at, 33
FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES
_The following Volumes are in preparation:_--
SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
GEORGE BUCHANAN. By ROBERT WALLACE, M.P.
JEFFREY AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS. By Sir HUGH GILZEAN REID.
ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON.
KIRKALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS BARBE.
MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN.
ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE “FAMOUS SCOTS” SERIES.
Of THOMAS CARLYLE, by H. C. MACPHERSON, the _British Weekly_ says:--
“We congratulate the publishers on the in every way attractive
appearance of the first volume of their new series. The typography is
everything that could be wished, and the binding is most tasteful.... We
heartily congratulate author and publishers on the happy commencement of
this admirable enterprise.”
The _Literary World_ says:--
“One of the very best little books on Carlyle yet written, far
outweighing in value some more pretentious works with which we are
familiar.”
The _Scotsman_ says:--
“As an estimate of the Carlylean philosophy, and of Carlyle’s place
in literature and his influence in the domains of morals, politics,
and social ethics, the volume reveals not only care and fairness, but
insight and a large capacity for original thought and judgment.”
The _Glasgow Daily Record_ says:--
“Is distinctly creditable to the publishers, and worthy of a national
series such as they have projected.”
The _Educational News_ says:--
“The book is written in an able, masterly, and painstaking manner.”
Of ALLAN RAMSAY, by OLIPHANT SMEATON, the _Scotsman_ says:--
“It is not a patchwork picture, but one in which the writer, taking
genuine interest in his subject, and bestowing conscientious pains on
his task, has his materials well in hand, and has used them to produce a
portrait that is both lifelike and well balanced.”
The _People’s Friend_ says:--
“Presents a very interesting sketch of the life of the poet, as well as
a well-balanced estimate and review of his works.”
The _Edinburgh Dispatch_ says:--
“The author has shown scholarship and much enthusiasm in his task.”
The _Daily Record_ says:--
“The kindly, vain, and pompous little wig-maker lives for us in Mr.
Smeaton’s pages.”
The _Glasgow Herald_ says:--
“A careful and intelligent study.”
Of HUGH MILLER, by W. KEITH LEASK, the _Expository Times_ says:--
“It is a right good book and a right true biography.... There is a very
fine sense of Hugh Miller’s greatness as a man and a Scotsman; there is
also a fine choice of language in making it ours.”
The _Bookseller_ says:--
“Mr. Leask gives the reader a clear impression of the simplicity, and
yet the greatness, of his hero, and the broad result of his life’s work
is very plainly and carefully set forth. A short appreciation of his
scientific labours, from the competent pen of Sir Archibald Geikie, and
a useful bibliography of his works, complete a volume which is well
worth reading for its own sake, and which forms a worthy instalment in
an admirable series.”
The _Daily News_ says:--
“Leaves on us a very vivid impression.”
Of JOHN KNOX, by A. TAYLOR INNES, Mr. Hay Fleming, in the _Bookman_,
says:--
“A masterly delineation of those stirring times in Scotland, and of that
famous Scot who helped so much to shape them.”
The _Freeman_ says:--
“It is a concise, well written, and admirable narrative of the great
Reformer’s life, and in its estimate of his character and work it is
calm, dispassionate, and well balanced.... It is a welcome addition to
our Knox literature.”
The _Speaker_ says:--
“There is vision in this book, as well as knowledge.”
The _Sunday School Chronicle_ says:--
“Everybody who is acquainted with Mr. Taylor Innes’s exquisite lecture
on Samuel Rutherford will feel instinctively that he is just the man
to do justice to the great Reformer, who is more to Scotland ‘than any
million of unblameable Scotsmen who need no forgiveness.’ His literary
skill, his thorough acquaintance with Scottish ecclesiastical life, his
religious insight, his chastened enthusiasm, have enabled the author
to produce an excellent piece of work.... It is a noble and inspiring
theme, and Mr. Taylor Innes has handled it to perfection.”
Of ROBERT BURNS, by GABRIEL SETOUN, the _New Age_ says:--
“It is the best thing on Burns we have yet had, almost as good as
Carlyle’s Essay and the pamphlet published by Dr. Nichol of Glasgow.”
The _Methodist Times_ says:--
“We are inclined to regard it as the very best that has yet been
produced. There is a proper perspective, and Mr. Setoun does neither
praise nor blame too copiously.... A difficult bit of work has been well
done, and with fine literary and ethical discrimination.”
_Youth_ says:--
“It is written with knowledge, judgment, and skill.... The
author’s estimate of the moral character of Burns is temperate and
discriminating; he sees and states his evil qualities, and beside these
he places his good ones in their fulness, depth, and splendour. The
exposition of the special features marking the genius of the poet is
able and penetrating.”
Of THE BALLADISTS, by JOHN GEDDIE, the _Birmingham Daily Gazette_
says:--
“As a popular sketch of an intensely popular theme, Mr. Geddie’s
contribution to the ‘Famous Scots Series’ is most excellent.”
The _Publishers’ Circular_ says:--
“It may be predicted that lovers of romantic literature will re-peruse
the old ballads with a quickened zest after reading Mr. Geddie’s book.
We have not had a more welcome little volume for many a day.”
The _New Age_ says:--
“One of the most delightful and eloquent appreciations of the ballad
literature of Scotland that has ever seen the light.”
The _Spectator_ says:--
“The author has certainly made a contribution of remarkable value to
the literary history of Scotland. We do not know of a book in which
the subject has been treated with deeper sympathy or out of a fuller
knowledge.”
Of RICHARD CAMERON, by Professor HERKLESS, The _Freeman_ says:--
“Professor Herkless has made us all his debtors by his thorough-going
and unwearied research, by his collecting materials from out-of-the-way
quarters, and making much that was previously vague and shadowy clear
and distinct.”
The _Christian News_ says:--
“This volume is ably written, is full of interest and instruction, and
enables the reader to form a conception of the man who in his day and
generation gave his life for Christ’s cause and kingdom.”
The _Dundee Courier_ says:--
“In selecting Professor Herkless to prepare this addition to the ‘Famous
Scots Series’ of books, the publishers have made an excellent choice.
The vigorous, manly style adopted is exactly suited to the subject, and
Richard Cameron is presented to the reader in a manner as interesting as
it is impressive.... Professor Herkless has done remarkably well, and
the portrait he has so cleverly delineated of one of Scotland’s most
cherished heroes is one that will never fade.”
Of SIR JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON, by EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON, the _Speaker_
says:--
“This little book is full of insight and knowledge, and by many
picturesque incidents and pithy sayings it helps us to understand in
a vivid and intimate sense the high qualities and golden deeds which
rendered Sir James Simpson’s strenuous life impressive and memorable.”
The _Daily Chronicle_ says:--
“It is indeed long since we have read such a charmingly-written
biography as this little Life of the most typical and ‘Famous Scot’ that
his countrymen have been proud of since the time of Sir Walter.... There
is not a dull, irrelevant, or superfluous page in all Miss Simpson’s
booklet, and she has performed the biographer’s chief duty--that of
selection--with consummate skill and judgment.”
The _Leeds Mercury_ says:--
“The narrative throughout is well balanced, and the biographer has
been wisely advised in giving prominence to her father’s great
achievement--the introduction of chloroform--and what led to it.”
Of THOMAS CHALMERS, by W. GARDEN BLAIKIE, the _Spectator_ says:--
“The most notable feature of Professor Blaikie’s book--and none could
be more commendable--is its perfect balance and proportion. In other
words, justice is done equally to the private and to the public life
of Chalmers, if possible greater justice than has been done by Mrs.
Oliphant.”
The _Scottish Congregationalist_ says:--
“No one can read the admirable and vivid sketch of his life which Dr.
Blaikie has written without feeling admiration for the man, and gaining
inspiration from his example.”
Of JAMES BOSWELL, by W. KEITH LEASK, the _Spectator_ says:--
“This is one of the best volumes of the excellent ‘Famous Scots Series,’
and one of the fairest and most discriminating biographies of Boswell
that have ever appeared.”
The _Dundee Advertiser_ says:--
“It is the admirable manner in which the very complexity of the man is
indicated that makes W. Keith Leask’s biography of him one of peculiar
merit and interest.... It is not only a life of Boswell, but a picture
of his time--vivid, faithful, impressive.”
The _Morning Leader_ says:--
“Mr. W. K. Leask has approached the biographer of Johnson in the only
possible way by which a really interesting book could have been arrived
at--by way of the open mind.... The defence of Boswell in the concluding
chapter of his delightful study is one of the finest and most convincing
passages that have recently appeared in the field of British biography.”
Of TOBIAS SMOLLETT, by OLIPHANT SMEATON, the _Dundee Courier_ says:--
“It is impossible to read the pages of this little work without being
struck not only by its historical value, but by the fairness of its
criticism.”
The _Weekly Scotsman_ says:--
“The book is written in a crisp and lively style.... The picture of
the great novelist is complete and lifelike. Not only does Mr. Smeaton
give a scholarly sketch and estimate of Smollett’s literary career, he
constantly keeps the reader in conscious touch and sympathy with his
personality, and produces a portrait of the man as a man which is not
likely to be readily forgotten.”
The _Newsagent and Booksellers’ Review_ says:--
“Tobias Smollett was versatile enough to deserve a distinguished place
in any gallery of gifted Scots, such as the one to which Mr. Smeaton has
contributed this clever and lifelike portrait.”
Of FLETCHER OF SALTOUN, by W. G. T. OMOND, the _Edinburgh Evening News_
says:--
“The writer has given us in brief compass the pith of what is known
about an able and patriotic if somewhat dogmatic and impracticable
Scotsman who lived in stormy times.... Mr. Omond describes, in a clear,
terse, vigorous way, the constitution of the Old Scots Parliament, and
the part taken by Fletcher as a public man in the stormy debates that
took place prior to the union of the Parliaments in 1707. This part of
the book gives an admirable summary of the state of Scottish politics
and of the national feeling at an important period.”
The _Leeds Mercury_ says:--
“Unmistakably the most interesting and complete story of the life of
Fletcher of Saltoun that has yet appeared. Mr. Omond has had many
facilities placed at his disposal, and of these he has made excellent
use.”
The _Speaker_ says:--
“Mr. Omond has told the story of Fletcher of Saltoun in this monograph
with ability and judgment.”
Of THE BLACKWOOD GROUP, by Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS, the _Scotsman_ says:--
“In brief compass, Sir George Douglas gives us skilfully blended
together much pleasantly written biography and just and judicious
criticism.”
The _Weekly Citizen_ says:--
“It need not be said that to everyone interested in the literature of
the first half of the century, and especially to every Scotsman so
interested, ‘The Blackwood Group’ is a phrase abounding in promise.
And really Sir George Douglas fulfils the promise he tacitly makes in
his title. He is intimately acquainted not only with the books of the
different members of the ‘group,’ but also with their environment,
social and otherwise. Besides, he writes with sympathy as well as
knowledge.”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See _More Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands_.
[2] From _A Peep at Russia_.
[3] From _The Old Lieutenant and his Son_.
[4] Other names have been associated with this anecdote, but Norman for
my money.
[5] From _The Old Lieutenant_.
[6] Cf. Tennyson’s line, so much praised by Mr. Swinburne--
‘And stormy crests that smoke against the sky.’
[7] Cf. Professor Max Müller: ‘From what I know of the Hindoos, they
seem to me riper for Christianity than any nation that ever accepted
the gospel. It does not follow that the Christianity of India will be
the Christianity of England; but that the new religion of India will
embrace all the essential elements of Christianity I have no doubt, and
that is surely something worth fighting for.’ (Letter to Norman Macleod
in _Memoir_, vol. ii. p. 257.)
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.