358 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. BXLIV.
THOMAS ELDER, ESQ. OF FORNETH,
LATE LORD PRQVOST OF ERINBURGH.
TRIS gentleman held the office of Chief Magistrate of Edinburgh at the
following different periods-first, from 1788 till 1790; again, from 1792 till
1794; and, lastly from 1796 till 1798.
Great responsibility WCLS attachable to the office during the second period of
his pravostship, in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, and the
measures of agitation resorted to by the “Friends of the People.” Provost
Elder exerted himself vigorously to check the inroad of democracy, Although
the troops then scattered over Scotland were under two thousand, he ventured,
assisted by a few only of the more respectable citizens of Edinburgh, to
suppress the meeting of the memorable British Convention, held on the 5th
December 1793, taking ten or twelve of the principal members prisoners; and,
in a similar manner, on the 12th of December, he dissolved another meeting,
held in the cock-pit at the Grassmarket.
On the 13th January 1794 an immense crowd had assembled on occasion of
the trial of Maurice Margarot, for the purpose of accompanying him to the
Court of Justiciary. In anticipation of this, the Magistrates, City-Guard, and
constables, with a number of respectable inhabitants, met at an early hour
in the Merchants’ Hall, and sallying forth, with the Chief Magistrate at their
head, about ten o’clock, they met Margarot and a number of his friends walking
in procession under an ornamental arch, on which the words “Liberty,
Justice,” etc. were inscribed. The canopy was instantly seized and thrown over
the east side of the North Bridge; and, with the assistance of the crew of a
frigate lying in Leith Roads, the crowd was dispersed, and the two arch-bearers
captured.
At ameeting of the Town Council on the 9th September, immediately previous
to the annual change in that body, they “unanimously returned their
thanks, and voted a piece of plate to the Right Hon. the Lord Provost, for his
spirited and prudent conduct while in office, and especially during the late commotions.”
On the formation of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers, in the summer of
1794, Mr. Elder intended, on retiring from the provostship, to enter tbe ranks
as a common volunteer ; but this resolution was rendered nugatory by a mark
of distinction emanating from the members of the association. For obvious
reasons the commission of Colonel was to be invested in the Chief Maa&trate
