But in 1915, after the gates of hell had been fully opened on the Continent, swallowing up, it is said, from one regiment, by death and wounds, no fewer than nine hundred of the Cameron Highlanders, leaving but one hundred unwounded survivors, the meeting was more than usual like a gathering of the ministers of the Prince of Peace. The king’s representative on this occasion, the Earl of Aberdeen, was dressed in a soldier’s service uniform of khaki and the military escort as guard of honor was a corps of cadets. The interior phenomena were equally impressive. Men cared little for debate and turned constantly to prayer and intercession. The high-water mark of interest in the proceedings was on Foreign Mission Day. Then a strong note of optimism appeared regarding that work, in comparison with the depression felt as to other interests of the Church. It was in Edinburgh that the world-wide conference upon missions was held in 1913, whose influence is still felt throughout the whole earth. Perhaps some thoughts turned to the words of the Almighty to Job, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.” Be this as it may, can we not all abide in hope that the ultimate history of “Bonnie Scotland” will follow that of Job--“Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” CHAPTER XXV AMERICA’S DEBT TO SCOTLAND It is a tradition, rather than a fact, that we Americans--not of Canada--of the United States of America are an English people. The burden of popular and uncritical historiography is responsible for this notion. Because of the overpowering influence of law and language, and because our most direct relations, in war and in peace, have been with Great Britain, it is assumed that we are both an English people and an English nation. The result has been confusion at home, prolonged misunderstanding in Europe, and injustice to those who have contributed generously their blood and energies to the making and the saving of the nation. Without the initial and formative elements, now absorbed into our national composite, from the Dutch, Huguenot, German, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and Iroquois, the existence and history of the United States are, to the unprejudiced mind, inconceivable. In this chapter we propose to glance at the debt we owe to Scotland. In point of time, in the unshackling of the human spirit, and in the attainment of mental and spiritual freedom, we have shown how Scotland led Europe; first in revolt against kings and prelates, and then in the initiative of the constructive principles of democracy. The spirit of Scottish history, of which Robert Burns’s poem, “A man’s a man for a’ that,” is the epitome, and the general education of the common people do in themselves alone show how different were and are the Scottish from the English people.