Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

xlii
INTRODUCTION.
religious worship, the means of religious instruction, and the pastoral superintendence
afforded to the people of Scotland, who made inquiries by correspondence and research
into various matters affecting every parish in the country, and who made personal and
minute investigation in all the parishes in which any deficiency of ecclesiastical appli-
ances was alleged to exist, — the Reports of this Commission, published in 1837 and 1838,
and extending to 9 folio volumes, have enabled us to intersperse through every part of the
alphabetical arrangement important information in ecclesiastical statistics, and now fur-
nish us with materials for a rapid and luminous summary view of the ecclesiastical con-
dition of the country. The parishes personally visited, and specially reported on by the
Commissioners, were 552 in number ; and, except in the broad feature of alleged defi-
ciency in the amount of their moral mechanism, they may be regarded as fairly repre-
senting the whole country. — The first and the second Reports are so almost exclusively
occupied with matter respecting Edinburgh, Leith, and Glasgow, that to borrow from
them here would only be to repeat what is stated in our articles on these towns. — The
fourth Report is devoted to 74 parishes in the Highlands and Islands, 22 of which are in
the synod of Argyle, 26 in that of Glenelg, 19 in that of Sutherland and Caithness, and
7 in that of Ross. Ecclesiastical surveys of these parishes exhibited their population to
be about 180,538, and classified them into about 159,150 churchmen, 14,680 dissenters,
and 146 persons not known to belong to any religious denomination. Alleged deficiency
in their means of pastoral instruction was ascribed in most instances to various causes, —
in 10, to excess of population ; in 61, to excess of territory ; in 61, to obstructed access ;
in 10, to inconvenient distribution of territory ; in 12, to a minister having to officiate
in more than one church ; in 5, to the church's occupying an inconvenient site ; in 28,
to its being of incompetent size ; in 5, to its being in a ruinous condition ; in 3, to its
unequal allotment of sittings ; in 4, to the exaction of seat-rents ; and in 3, to the want
of endowments. Sittings in the parish churches amounted to 40,672, and in dissenting
churches to 8,078, — in all, 48,750. In some of the parishes, religious instruction, addi-
tional to that connected with the regular ministry, is afforded by means of missionaries,
catechists, Sunday schools, and week-day religious schools.- — The fifth Report is devoted
to 103 parishes in the northern counties ; 5 of which are in the synod of Glenelg, 29 in
that of Moray, 55 in that of Aberdeen, and 14 in that of Angus and Mearns. Their
ecclesiastically stated population consisted of about 210,137 churchmen, about 41,959
dissenters, and about 6,520 nondescripts, — in all, 284,727 persons. Sittings in the
Establishment, about 86,304 ; in dissenting churches, about 51,300. Alleged deficiency
was ascribed in 34 instances, to excess of population ; in 44, to excess of territory ; in
30, to obstructed access ; in 24, to inconvenience in the form of parishes ; in 4, to plu-
rality in the churches of a minister ; in 9, to a church's inconvenience of site ; in 31, to
its inadequacy of size ; in 23, to its unequal allotment of sittings ; in 6, to the badness
of its condition ; in 24, to the exaction of seat-rents ; and in 24, to the want of endow-
ments. — The sixth Report treats of 99 parishes, in the counties of Forfar, Perth, Stir-
ling, and Fife ; 27 of which are in the synod of Angus and Mearns, 50 in that of Perth
and Stirling, and 22 in that of Fife. Population, about 306,563 ; consisting of about
180,341 churchmen, about 72,297 dissenters, and about 10,936 nondescripts. Sittings
in the Establishment, about 84,679 ; in dissenting churches, about 72,892. Alleged
deficiency was ascribed, in 29 instances, to excess of population ; in 30, to excess of
parochial territory ; in 20, to obstructed access ; in 24, to inconvenience in the form of
parishes ; in 5, to plurality of a minister's churches ; in 15, to a church's inconvenience
of site ; in 39, to its inadequacy of accommodation ; in 12, to the unequal allotment of
its sittings ; in 3, to the badness of its condition ; in 25, to the exaction of seat-rents ;
and in 26, to the want of endowments. — The seventh Report treats of 99 parishes in the
Lothians, and the southern counties ; 29 of which are in the synod of Lothian and
Tweeddale, 23 in that of Merse and Teviotdale, 15 in that of Dumfries, 19 in that of
Galloway, and 13 in that of Glasgow and Ayr. Ecclesiastically stated population, about
167,363 churchmen, about 64,066 dissenters, and about 6,738 nondescripts, — in all,
about 255,874. Sittings in the Establishment, about 67,319 ; in dissenting churches,
about 57,812. Alleged deficiency was ascribed, in 32 instances, to excess of population ;
in 34, to largeness of territory ; in 9, to obstructed access ; iu 18, to inconvenience in
the form of parishes ; in 2, to a minister's plurality of churches ; in 11, to a church's
inconvenience of site ; in 61, to its inadequacy of accommodation ; in 55, to the unequal
allotment of its sittings ; in 17, to the badness of its condition ; in 3, to the exaction of