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Kay's Originals Vol. 1

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238 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. The Lord Provost, by virtue of his office, was Oolonel of the regiment ; and all the other commissions were conferred by the King on the recommendation of the Volunteers themselves.’ The first review of the Volunteers took place at Bruntsfield Links on the 22d November 1794, when they were inspected by the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord-Lieutenant of the county. On this occasion the spectators were very numerous and highly respectable. Among the nobility and gentry present were -the Duchess of Buccleuch and family, the Earl of Morton, Lord Ancrum, the Lord President, the Lord Advocate, and many of the Lords of Session, On the 6th July 1795, they had another “grand field-day ” at the Links, when the Right Honourable Mr. Secretary Dundas was received as a volunteer into the corps. The same day he gave an elegant entertainment, in Fortune’s Tavern, to the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council, and to several other gentlemen. As a mark of respect, Mr. Dundas was immediately afterwards requested, by the Lord Provost, in name of the COTS, to accept the station of Captain-Lieutenant, which he declined, but gratefully acknowledged the honour in a highly complimentary letter. The patriotic example of arming in defence of their country which had been shown by the gentlemen of Edinburgh, was speedily followed throughout Scotland. Every district had its band of armed citizens-the discontented became silent, and loyalty was the order of the day- “ We’ll give them a welcome, we’ll give them a grave,” was the prevailing sentiment, should the enemy dare to set a foot on Scottish ground. Burns, in his impassioned song of “ The Dumfries Volunteers,” seems to have thoroughly embodied in it the spirit of the times,- “ Does haughty Gaul invasion threat ? Then let the loons beware, sir : There’s wooden walls upon our seas, And volunteers on shore, sir. The Nith shall rin to Corsincon, And Criffel sink in Solway, Ere we permit a foreign foe On British ground to rally ! ” * * * “ The kettle 0’ the Kirk and State, Perhaps a clout may fail in’t ; But dei1 a foreign tinkler loon Shall ever ca’ a nail in’t. hut for its extreme length, might have been worth transcribing. At that period no less than fiftyfive members of the celebrated “ Cape Club ” were enrolled in the corps. Five old Bovereigm of the Cape were doing duty in one company, and seven knights were officers of the Volunteers. The privates of each company were permitted to name individuals of their number to be their officers ; and it is related, as a curious fact, that several of these officers owed their elevation solely to their being unfit to march, or keep their places in the ranks properly, having been selected by the privates in order that they might get rid of the annoyance of an awkward comrade.
Volume 8 Page 335
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