The truth of this remark will be apparent from a few practical instances, drawn from the experience of common life, of that general superiority which is here attributed to the lower classes of the Scotch, as the effect of their superior industry and intelligence—1. Every one has remarked the great number of professional gardeners from that country, many of whom have been common labourers, and who if they had been no better educated than most English labourers, must always have remained in that situation. Of this numerous class Mr. Dickson, Park's brother-in law, is a remarkable and most distinguished example.—2. Scotland supplies a considerable number of stewards, confidential clerks, book-keepers, &c. from a class of society, which in most other countries furnishes only domestic servants. The British Colonies, and especially the West Indies, are chiefly provided with clerks, overseers of plantations, &c. from this source.—3. The prodigious number of non-commissioned officers in the army, who are natives of Scotland, having been raised from the ranks in consequence of their knowledge of reading and writing, and general good conduct, is also very remarkable.—The recollection of most readers will probably supply them with other examples; but there are two instances, somewhat out of the course of ordinary experience, which deserve to be particularly mentioned.
In the year 1803, Mr. Matthew Martin, a gentleman distinguished for his active benevolence, having been for some time engaged, under the sanction of Government, in a laborious enquiry concerning the "State of Mendicity in the Metropolis," was desired to make a Report upon that subject for the information of Government. From the statement which Mr. Martin prepared on that occasion and laid before the Secretary of State, it appeared that the number of Scotch beggars in London was remarkably small, especially in proportion to the Irish beggars, with whom it was most natural to compare them. Of 2000 beggars, whose cases were investigated by Mr. Martin, the following is a summary.
Belonging to parishes home 570
distant parishes 336
Irish 679
Scotch 65
Foreign 30
The second of the two cases is of a still more uncommon nature.—In the course of the expedition against Egypt in 1807, the advanced guard of Major General Fraser's army having taken possession of Rosetta and occupied a position at El Hamed a few miles from that town, was surprised by a strong corps of Turkish troops, and after an obstinate conflict and the loss of many lives, compelled to surrender. According to the Turkish custom, the prisoners taken were sold as slaves, and dispersed over the whole country; some of them being sent as far as Upper Egypt. Great exertions were naturally made by the British government to redeem those unfortunate persons from captivity; and this was happily effected as to all the prisoners, except a few who could not be traced, by the assistance of Signor Petrucci, the Swedish consul at Alexandria.
From the authentic documents relating to this transaction, it appears that the ransoms paid for the redemption of the captives differed very considerably; the prices varying from between twenty and thirty pounds to more than one hundred pounds sterling for each man. But it is observable, on comparing the different rates, that the highest ransoms were paid for those, who must be considered, from their names, to have been natives of Scotland; and who, it may be presumed, were more valuable than the rest from being more orderly and intelligent. It could not have been easily anticipated that a soldier, brought up in a Scotch parish school, was likely, when enslaved by the Turks and a captive in Egypt, to derive much advantage from his education. Yet it is probable from this circumstance that the intelligence and habits of good conduct, which he acquired from early instruction, might recommend him to his master, and as domestic slavery admits of many mitigations, might procure him kinder and better treatment.
APPENDIX. No. II.
Page xix.
Major Rennell, in his Geographical Illustrations of Park's travels, has done ample justice to the knowledge and judgment, so eminently displayed by D'Anville in the investigation of several important points relative to the geography of North Africa, which have been elucidated by this writer from very imperfect materials with extraordinary sagacity and success. In the 26th volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, there are two very important Dissertations by this distinguished Geographer; the first, On the sources of the Nile; and the second, Concerning the rivers of the interior of Africa, with reference to the opinions of the ancient and modern writers who have treated on that subject. The latter is the most immediately connected with the particular questions alluded to in the text; and it is remarkable that the principal opinions, or rather conjectures, of D'Anville (of which the opinion relating to the course of the Niger is the most important), although deduced from very uncertain and discordant sources of information, have been confirmed in a great degree by the discoveries of modern travellers, especially by those of Park. It appears that D'Anville was well acquainted with the existence of Tombuctoo, and had even ascertained the situation of that city, as well as the general course of the Niger with a considerable degree of precision. He had also formed a plan for sending a person, properly qualified, on an expedition from the French settlement of St. Joseph on the river Senegal, to Tombuctoo; but owing to some circumstance which he does not explain, the scheme did not take effect. As the Dissertation here alluded to may not be in the hands of every reader, the passage relating to this subject may be worth transcribing.—After mentioning Ghana as the principal Mahometan city of Nigritia, spoken of by Edrisi, he says that many of the Fatimites, who escaped from the power of the Califs, took refuge in the interior of Africa, where they formed various states. He then proceeds as follows:
"Tombut ou Tombouctou, est actuellement entre les villes de la Nigritie, celle dont on parle davantage. On ne doit point être surpris qu'Edrisi n'en fasse pas mention. Outre qu'elle se peut juger hors des limites de ce qui lui a été connu, Léon d'Afrique nous apprend que la fondation de Tombut par un prince de Barbarie, appellé Mensa-Suléiman, est de l'an 610 de l'Hégire, qui repond à l'an 1213 de l'ère Chrétienne, ce qui est postérieur à la géographie d'Edrisi, composée vers le milieu du douzième siècle. La situation de cette ville n'est pas précisément sur le Niger; mais elle y a son port, nommé Cabra, à quelques milles de distance. Comme aucune des nations commerçantes de l'Europe n'a pénétré aussi avant dans les terres, en cette partie d'Afrique, que la nation Françoise, par ses établissemens sur le Sénéga, elle est plus à portée qu'une autre d'acquérir quelque connoissance de cet intérieur. J'ai appris, d'une personne qui avoit commandé plusieurs années au fort Saint-Joseph en Galam, lequel se peut estimer distant en droite ligne de l'entrée du Sénéga d'environ cent trent lieues françoises; que les Bambaras, qui du fond du pays amènent des esclaves noirs, comptent quarante huit journées depuis Tombut jusqu'au fort Saint-Joseph, et que la mesure commune de la journée s'évalue à environ cinq lieues, d'où il résulte autour de deux cens quarante lieues. Le moyen d'en savoir davantage seroit, que quelque personne habituée au climat, comme il y en a dans le haut du Sénéga, accompagnée d'interprètes, et qu'une instruction préalable auroit mise au fait d'une partie des choses dont il seroit à propos de s'informer, fît le voyage de Tombut. Un évènement a empêché l'exécution d'un projet, auquel j'avois très-volontiers pris part dans cette vûe."
Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, Tom. xxvi. p. 72.