Series 3 > Highland papers

INTRODUCTION
xv
and Intrusions of those of the Episcopall Perswasion,’
submitted to the Privy Council by the General Assembly
in 1714 ; papers relating to Kintyre ; and 166 documents
relating to the Highlands, selected from the Denmylne
Papers in the Advocates’ Library. About the ‘ Particular
Condescendance ’ Macphail characteristically observes :
‘ Incidentally it illustrates the views held, not by the
extreme Cameronians, but by the General Assembly of
the Church now by law established, with regard to that
“ civil and religious liberty ” which is frequently assumed
to have been both the object and the result of the
Revolution of 1688.’
Volume IV. is now in the reader’s hands.
Reference has already been made to the volume of
Fraser Papers, presented to the Society by the Fraser
Trustees in 1924 (supra, p. xiii).
Macphail also contributed occasional articles and re¬
views to the Scottish Historical Review.
Another society in whose work he took part was the
Scottish Record Society. This society had its origin as
a branch of the British Record Society. Its separate
existence as a Scottish Society dates from 1898. Macphail
was a member from the beginning, and in 1931 he became
Chairman. A matter on which he felt strongly, both as a
Scot and as a student of history, was the comparative
neglect by successive Governments of the Records of
Scotland, both national and local, as compared with those
of England. He took an active part in the agitation for
their better preservation and custody. One of his last
public appearances was as Chairman of the annual meeting
of the Record Society on April 21, 1933, at which he
made an incisive speech on the subject. Some improve¬
ment has been made recently, but much remains to be
done.