An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in AmericaMacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
History
An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America
MacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
Scots -- America; Scots -- United States
The members of this expedition were greatly disappointed on their
arrival. They fully expected to find a secure fortification, a
flourishing town, cultivated fields, and a warm reception. Instead they
found a wilderness; the castle in ruins; the huts burned, and grass
growing over the ruins. Their hearts sank within them; for this fleet
had not been fitted out to found a colony, but to recruit and protect
one already in a flourishing condition. They were worse provided with
the necessaries of life than their predecessors had been. They made
feeble attempts to restore the ruins. They constructed a fort on the old
grounds; and within the ramparts built a hamlet consisting of about
eighty-five cabins, generally of twelve feet by ten. The work went
slowly on, without hope or encouragement. Despondency and discontent
pervaded all ranks. The provisions became scanty, and unfair dealing
resorted to. There were plots and factions formed, and one malcontent
hanged. Nor was the ecclesiastical part happily arranged. The provision
made by the General Assembly was as defective as the provision for the
temporal wants had been made by the directors of the company. Of the
four divines, one of them, Alexander Dalgleish, died at sea, on board of
Captain Duncan's vessel. They were all of the established church of
Scotland, who had the strongest sympathy with the Cameronians. They were
at war with almost all the colonists. The antagonisms between priest and
people were extravagant and fatal. They described their flocks as the
most profligate of mankind, and declared it was most impossible to
constitute a presbytery, for it was impossible to find persons fit to be
ruling elders of a Christian church. This part of the trouble can easily
be accounted for. One-third of the people were Highlanders, who did not
understand a word of English, and not one of the pastors knew a word of
Gaelic; and only through interpreters could they converse with this
large body of men. It is also more than probable that many of these men,
trained to war, had more or less of a tendency to fling off every
corrective band. Both Rev. John Borland and Rev. Alexander Shiels,
author of the "Hynd let Loose," were stern fanatics who would tolerate
nothing diverging a shade from their own code of principles. They
treated the people as persons under their spiritual authority, and
required of them fastings, humiliations, and long attendance on sermons
and exhortations. Such pastors were treated with contempt and ignominy
by men scarcely inclined to bear ecclesiastical authority, even in its
lightest form. They mistook their mission, which was to give Christian
counsel, and to lead gently and with dignity from error into rectitude.
Instead of this they fell upon the flock like irritated schoolmasters
who find their pupils in mutiny. They became angry and dominative; and
the more they thus exhibited themselves, the more scorn and contumely
they encountered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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