The Provost

by John Galt

  CHAPTER XIX--THE VOLUNTEERING

  The volunteers began in the year 1793, when the democrats in Paristhreatened the downfall and utter subversion of kings, lords, andcommons. As became us who were of the council, we drew up an address tohis majesty, assuring him that our lives and fortunes were at hisdisposal. To the which dutiful address, we received, by return of post,a very gracious answer; and, at the same time, the lord-lieutenant gaveme a bit hint, that it would be very pleasant to his majesty to hear thatwe had volunteers in our town, men of creditable connexions, and willingto defend their property.

  When I got this note from his lordship, I went to Mr Pipe, thewine-merchant, and spoke to him concerning it, and we had some discreetconversation on the same; in the which it was agreed between us that, asI was now rather inclined to a corpulency of parts, and being likewisechief civil magistrate, it would not do to set myself at the head of abody of soldiers, but that the consequence might be made up to me in theclothing of the men; so I consented to put the business into his handsupon this understanding. Accordingly, he went the same night with me toMr Dinton, that was in the general merchandising line, a part-owner invessels, a trafficker in corn, and now and then a canny discounter ofbills, at a moderate rate, to folk in straits and difficulties. And wetold him--the same being agreed between us, as the best way offructifying the job to a profitable issue--that, as provost, I had got anintimation to raise a corps of volunteers, and that I thought no betterhand could be got for a co-operation than him and Mr Pipe, who waspointed out to me as a gentleman weel qualified for the command.

  Mr Dinton, who was a proud man, and an offset from one of the countyfamilies, I could see was not overly pleased at the preferment over himgiven to Mr Pipe, so that I was in a manner constrained to loot a sort a-jee, and to wile him into good-humour with all the ability in my power,by saying that it was natural enough of the king and government to thinkof Mr Pipe as one of the most proper men in the town, he paying, as hedid, the largest sum of the king's dues at the excise, and being, as weall knew, in a great correspondence with foreign ports--and I winkit toMr Pipe as I said this, and he could with a difficulty keep hiscountenance at hearing how I so beguiled Mr Dinton into a spirit ofloyalty for the raising of the volunteers.

  The ice being thus broken, next day we had a meeting, before the councilmet, to take the business into public consideration, and we thereatsettled on certain creditable persons in the town, of a known principle,as the fittest to be officers under the command of Mr Pipe, ascommandant, and Mr Dinton, as his colleague under him. We agreed amongus, as the custom was in other places, that they should be elected major,captain, lieutenants, and ensigns, by the free votes of the whole corps,according to the degrees that we had determined for them. In the doingof this, and the bringing it to pass, my skill and management was greatlyapproved and extolled by all who had a peep behind the curtain.

  The town-council being, as I have intimated, convened to hear thegracious answer to the address read, and to take into consideration thesuggesting anent the volunteering, met in the clerk's chamber, where weagreed to call a meeting of the inhabitants of the town by proclamation,and by a notice in the church. This being determined, Mr Pipe and MrDinton got a paper drawn up, and privately, before the Sunday, a numberof their genteeler friends, including those whom we had noted down to beelected officers, set their names as willing to be volunteers.

  On the Sunday, Mr Pittle, at my instigation, preached a sermon, showingforth the necessity of arming ourselves in the defence of all that wasdear to us. It was a discourse of great method and sound argument, butnot altogether so quickened with pith and bir as might have been wishedfor; but it paved the way to the reading out of the summons for theinhabitants to meet the magistrates in the church on the Thursdayfollowing, for the purpose, as it was worded by the town-clerk, to takeinto consideration the best means of saving the king and kingdom in thethen monstrous crisis of public affairs.

  The discourse, with the summons, and a rumour and whispering that had inthe mean time taken place, caused the desired effect; in so much, that,on the Thursday, there was a great congregation of the male portion ofthe people. At the which, old Mr Dravel--a genteel man he was, well readin matters of history, though somewhat over-portioned with a conceit ofhimself--got up on the table, in one of the table-seats forenent thepoopit, and made a speech suitable to the occasion; in the which he setforth what manful things had been done of old by the Greeks and theRomans for their country, and, waxing warm with his subject, he cried outwith a loud voice, towards the end of the discourse, giving at the sametime a stamp with his foot, "Come, then, as men and as citizens; the cryis for your altars and your God."

  "Gude save's, Mr Dravel, are ye gane by yoursel?" cried Willy Coggle fromthe front of the loft, a daft body that was ayefar ben on all publicoccasions--"to think that our God's a Pagan image in need of sickfeckless help as the like o' thine?" The which outcry of Willy raised amost extraordinary laugh at the fine paternoster, about the ashes of ourancestors, that Mr Dravel had been so vehemently rehearsing; and I wasgreatly afraid that the solemnity of the day would be turned into aridicule. However, Mr Pipe, who was upon the whole a man no without bothsense and capacity, rose and said, that our business was to strengthenthe hands of government, by coming forward as volunteers; and therefore,without thinking it necessary, among the people of this blessed land, tourge any arguments in furtherance of that object, he would propose that avolunteer corps should be raised; and he begged leave of me, who, asprovost, was in the chair, to read a few words that he had hastily throwntogether on the subject, as the outlines of a pact of agreement amongthose who might be inclined to join with him. I should here, however,mention, that the said few words of a pact was the costive productovernight of no small endeavour between me and Mr Dinton as well as him.

  When he had thus made his motion, Mr Dinton, as we had concerted, got upand seconded the same, pointing out the liberal spirit in which theagreement was drawn, as every person signing it was eligible to be anofficer of any rank, and every man had a vote in the preferment of theofficers. All which was mightily applauded; and upon this I rose, andsaid, "It was a pleasant thing for me to have to report to his majesty'sgovernment the loyalty of the inhabitants of our town, and the unanimityof the volunteering spirit among them--and to testify," said I, "to allthe world, how much we are sensible of the blessings of the true libertywe enjoy, I would suggest that the matter of the volunteering be leftentirely to Mr Pipe and Mr Dinton, with a few other respectablegentlemen, as a committee, to carry the same into effect;" and with thatI looked, as it were, round the church, and then said, "There's MrOranger, a better couldna be joined with them." He was a most creditableman, and a grocer, that we had waled out for a captain; so I desired,having got a nod of assent from him, that Mr Oranger's name might beadded to their's, as one of the committee. In like manner I did by allthe rest whom we had previously chosen. Thus, in a manner, predisposingthe public towards them for officers.

  In the course of the week, by the endeavours of the committee, asufficient number of names was got to the paper, and the election of theofficers came on on the Tuesday following; at which, though there was asort of a contest, and nothing could be a fairer election, yet the verypersons that we had chosen were elected, though some of them had but anarrow chance. Mr Pipe was made the commandant, by a superiority of onlytwo votes over Mr Dinton.

  CHAPTER XX--THE CLOTHING

  It was an understood thing at first, that, saving in the matter of gunsand other military implements, the volunteers were to be at all their ownexpenses; out of which, both tribulation and disappointment ensued; forwhen it came to be determined about the uniforms, Major Pipe found thathe could by no possibility wise all the furnishing to me, every one beingdisposed to get his regimentals from his own merchant; and there was alsoa division anent the colour of the same, many of the doucer sort of themen being blate of appearing in scarlet and gold-lace, insisting with agreat earnestness, almos
t to a sedition, on the uniform being blue. Sothat the whole advantage of a contract was frustrated, and I began to besorry that I had not made a point of being, notwithstanding the allegedweight and impediment of my corpulence, the major-commandant myself.However, things, after some time, began to take a turn for the better;and the art of raising volunteers being better understood in the kingdom,Mr Pipe went into Edinburgh, and upon some conference with the lordadvocate, got permission to augment his force by another company, andleave to draw two days' pay a-week for account of the men, and to defraythe necessary expenses of the corps. The doing of this bred no littleagitation in the same; and some of the forward and upsetting spirits ofthe younger privates, that had been smitten, though not in a disloyalsense, with the insubordinate spirit of the age, clamoured about therights of the original bargain with them, insisting that the officers hadno privilege to sell their independence, and a deal of trash of thatsort, and finally withdrew from the corps, drawing, to the consternationof the officers, the pay that had been taken in their names; and whichthe officers could not refuse, although it was really wanted for thecontingencies of the service, as Major Pipe himself told me.

  When the corps had thus been rid of these turbulent spirits, the men grewmore manageable and rational, assenting by little and little to all theproposals of the officers, until there was a true military dominion ofdiscipline gained over them; and a joint contract was entered intobetween Major Pipe and me, for a regular supply of all necessaries, inorder to insure a uniform appearance, which, it is well known, isessential to a right discipline. In the end, when the eyes of men incivil stations had got accustomed to military show and parade, it wasdetermined to change the colour of the cloth from blue to red, the formerhaving at first been preferred, and worn for some time; in theaccomplishment of which change I had (and why should I disguise thehonest fact?) my share of the advantage which the kingdom at large drew,in that period of anarchy and confusion, from the laudable establishmentof a volunteer force.

  CHAPTER XXI--THE PRESSGANG

  During the same just and necessary war for all that was dear to us, inwhich the volunteers were raised, one of the severest trials happened tome that ever any magistrate was subjected to. I had, at the time, againsubsided into an ordinary counsellor; but it so fell out that, by reasonof Mr Shuttlethrift, who was then provost, having occasion and need to gointo Glasgow upon some affairs of his own private concerns, he beinginterested in the Kilbeacon cotton-mill; and Mr Dalrye, the bailie, whoshould have acted for him, being likewise from home, anent a plea he hadwith a neighbour concerning the bounds of their rigs and gables; thewhole authority and power of the magistrates devolved, by a courtesy onthe part of their colleague, Bailie Hammerman, into my hands.

  For some time before, there had been an ingathering among us of sailorlads from the neighbouring ports, who on their arrival, in order to shunthe pressgangs, left their vessels and came to scog themselves with us.By this, a rumour or a suspicion rose that the men-of-war's men weresuddenly to come at the dead hour of the night and sweep them all away.Heaven only knows whether this notice was bred in the fears andjealousies of the people, or was a humane inkling given, by some of themen-of-war's men, to put the poor sailor lads on their guard, was neverknown. But on a Saturday night, as I was on the eve of stepping into mybed, I shall never forget it--Mrs Pawkie was already in, and as sound asa door-nail--and I was just crooking my mouth to blow out the candle,when I heard a rap. As our bed-room window was over the door, I lookedout. It was a dark night; but I could see by a glaik of light from aneighbour's window, that there was a man with a cocked hat at the door.

  "What's your will?" said I to him, as I looked out at him in my nightcap.He made no other answer, but that he was one of his majesty's officers,and had business with the justice.

  I did not like this Englification and voice of claim and authority;however, I drew on my stockings and breeks again, and taking my wife'sflannel coaty about my shoulders--for I was then troubled with therheumatiz--I went down, and, opening the door, let in the lieutenant.

  "I come," said he, "to show you my warrant and commission, and toacquaint you that, having information of several able-bodied seamen beingin the town, I mean to make a search for them."

  I really did not well know what to say at the moment; but I begged him,for the love of peace and quietness, to defer his work till the nextmorning: but he said he must obey his orders; and he was sorry that itwas his duty to be on so disagreeable a service, with many other things,that showed something like a sense of compassion that could not have beenhoped for in the captain of a pressgang.

  When he had said this, he then went away, saying, for he saw mytribulation, that it would be as well for me to be prepared in case ofany riot. This was the worst news of all; but what could I do? Ithereupon went again to Mrs Pawkie, and shaking her awake, told her whatwas going on, and a terrified woman she was. I then dressed myself withall possible expedition, and went to the town-clerk's, and we sent forthe town-officers, and then adjourned to the council-chamber to wait theissue of what might betide.

  In my absence, Mrs Pawkie rose out of her bed, and by some wonderfulinstinct collecting all the bairns, went with them to the minister'shouse, as to a place of refuge and sanctuary.

  Shortly after we had been in the council-room, I opened the window andlooked out, but all was still; the town was lying in the defencelessnessof sleep, and nothing was heard but the clicking of the town-clock in thesteeple over our heads. By and by, however, a sough and pattering offeet was heard approaching; and shortly after, in looking out, we saw thepressgang, headed by their officers, with cutlasses by their side, andgreat club-sticks in their hands. They said nothing; but the sound oftheir feet on the silent stones of the causey, was as the noise of adreadful engine. They passed, and went on; and all that were with me inthe council stood at the windows and listened. In the course of a minuteor two after, two lassies, with a callan, that had been out, came flyingand wailing, giving the alarm to the town. Then we heard the driving ofthe bludgeons on the doors, and the outcries of terrified women; andpresently after we saw the poor chased sailors running in their shirts,with their clothes in their hands, as if they had been felons andblackguards caught in guilt, and flying from the hands of justice.

  The town was awakened with the din as with the cry of fire; and lightscame starting forward, as it were, to the windows. The women were outwith lamentations and vows of vengeance. I was in a state of horrorunspeakable. Then came some three or four of the pressgang with astruggling sailor in their clutches, with nothing but his trousers on--hisshirt riven from his back in the fury. Syne came the rest of the gangand their officers, scattered as it were with a tempest of mud andstones, pursued and battered by a troop of desperate women and weans,whose fathers and brothers were in jeopardy. And these were followed bythe wailing wife of the pressed man, with her five bairns, clamouring intheir agony to heaven against the king and government for the outrage. Icouldna listen to the fearful justice of their outcry, but sat down in acorner of the council-chamber with my fingers in my ears.

  In a little while a shout of triumph rose from the mob, and we heard themreturning, and I felt, as it were, relieved; but the sound of theirvoices became hoarse and terrible as they drew near, and, in a moment, Iheard the jingle of twenty broken windows rattle in the street. My heartmisgave me; and, indeed, it was my own windows. They left not one paneunbroken; and nothing kept them from demolishing the house to the ground-stone but the exhortations of Major Pipe, who, on hearing the uproar, wasup and out, and did all in his power to arrest the fury of the tumult. Itseems, the mob had taken it into their heads that I had signed what theycalled the press-warrants; and on driving the gang out of the town, andrescuing the man, they came to revenge themselves on me and mine; whichis the cause that made me say it was a miraculous instinct that led MrsPawkie to take the family to Mr Pittle's; for, had they been in thehouse, it is not to be told what the consequences might have been.


  Before morning the riot was ended, but the damage to my house was verygreat; and I was intending, as the public had done the deed, that thetown should have paid for it. "But," said Mr Keelivine, the town-clerk,"I think you may do better; and this calamity, if properly handled to theGovernment, may make your fortune," I reflected on the hint; andaccordingly, the next day, I went over to the regulating captain of thepressgang, and represented to him the great damage and detriment which Ihad suffered, requesting him to represent to government that it was allowing to the part I had taken in his behalf. To this, for a time, hemade some scruple of objection; but at last he drew up, in my presence, aletter to the lords of the admiralty, telling what he had done, and howhe and his men had been ill-used, and that the house of thechief-magistrate of the town had been in a manner destroyed by therioters.

  By the same post I wrote off myself to the lord advocate, and likewise tothe secretary of state, in London; commanding, very properly, the prudentand circumspect manner in which the officer had come to apprize me of hisduty, and giving as faithful an account as I well could of the riot;concluding with a simple notification of what had been done to my house,and the outcry that might be raised in the town were any part of thetown's funds to be used in the repairs.

  Both the lord advocate and Mr Secretary of State wrote me back by retourof post, thanking me for my zeal in the public service; and I wasinformed that, as it might not be expedient to agitate in the town thepayment of the damage which my house had received, the lords of thetreasury would indemnify me for the same; and this was done in a mannerwhich showed the blessings we enjoy under our most venerableconstitution; for I was not only thereby enabled, by what I got, torepair the windows, but to build up a vacant steading; the same which Isettled last year on my dochter, Marion, when she was married to MrGeery, of the Gatherton Holme.