opposite Kingholm Quay, the channel there, which could formerly be forded ankle-deep, was now eight feet deep at low water. The sum originally subscribed for the works was £9,800, of which £7,225 had been drawn by the treasurer; and adding interest for eleven years, and the floating liabilities, about £2,000, the total debt on the trust would amount to £13,000. The revenue since 1811 had been £11,367 9s. 5d., or an average of £950 a year; and there was every reason to expect that the annual income would soon reach £1,000 or guineas. Mr. M'Whir proceeded in his report to show that the best mode of repaying the loan was by borrowing £7,000 on the credit of the revenue -a proposal which was adopted and acted upon. He further stated that, "by the kind exertions of the magistrates," the sum of £400 would be placed at their disposal for the purpose of erecting a commodious harbour in the immediate vicinity of the town; a vote to that amount having been obtained by ex-Provost Kerr from the Convention of Royal Burghs. Remembering the conflict between the promoters of the new Act and the Town Council, Mr. M'Whir rather keenly contrasted the "liberal policy of our present local governors" with what he called “the persecutions formerly experienced" by their predecessors in office. In due time the money granted by the Convention was spent in the erection of a massive harbour wall at Dockheadwhich, however, has been of little service to the shipping.

At a more recent date, other embankments were erected between Kingholm Quay and Kelton. The latest work of an extensive kind undertaken by the Nith Commissioners was the construction of a huge sea-dyke below Glencaple Quay, which cost no less a sum than £6,000; and though it has had the desired effects of deepening and straightening the channel at that place, it is a matter of question whether these advantages have not been secured at too great an expense, considering how much the revenue has been reduced by the railways, and the difficulty which the shipping of the port have in competing with "the steeds of steam," which carry on the traffic of the district with a speed and regularity that cannot otherwise be rivalled. All the money hitherto spent in improving the Nith has failed to make it a good navigable river. Capacious vessels, drawing seven feet

* Minutes of Nith Commission.

of water or so, can easily come up the estuary to within a few miles of Dumfries; but after that, in spite of what Mr. Hollingsworth and other engineers have done, difficulties commence which are only fairly overcome for the time being when the tidal flux is at least sixteen feet high. For these reasons the shipowners and merchants are beginning to think that, instead of trying to subdue the all but impracticable channel between the town and Glencaple Quay, they ought to connect them, or otherwise reach a deep sea harbour by a railway; and thus (to use a nautical phrase) splice the perfect mode of land transit on the defective river transit, and secure for the Burgh the full benefits of both. Mr. M'Whir, in his report (already quoted from), anticipated that the revenue of the Nith, which had yielded an average of £950 annually from 1811 to 1823, would soon increase to £1,000 and upwards. In 1831 it amounted to £1,072 17s. 4d.: it has been occasionally a few pounds higher since; but as soon as the railway system of the district came into full play, the commerce of the river declined, and it is now in a state of great depression.

Long before "Burns's time," Bridgend had become a populous town; but even after the beginning of the current century, when it numbered nearly two thousand inhabitants, it had little business and no local government, save what was exercised by the County justices and the superior of the soil. On account of the latter circumstance, the town became tenanted by more than its fair share of lawless characters: wandering tinklers, who, wearied with camp life in Galloway or Annandale, found readily within it welcome rest and refuge; runners of contraband goods from the Isle of Man, who could usually count on safe lodgings in Bridgend; while of native poachers and other roughs it reckoned not a few. Being located in a different county, the Dumfries magistrates had no jurisdiction over it whatever. Tam o' Shanter eluded the Alloway witches by putting a running stream between him and them, and Burgh delinquents in the same way often effected their escape by wading the Nith at its fords, or crossing it by the bridge, well assured that the officers of justice durst not pursue them into Galloway. When criminals were actually followed into Bridgend by those having the requisite authority, they frequently baffled

the beagles of the law by diving into a labyrinth of underground buildings which lay near the river's brink, where whisky was distilled in defiance of the gauger, and where a gipsy gang held rule under their chief, Ryes Aitken, who was nearly as great a local celebrity in his day as Jock Johnstone, or even Big Will Bailie. There was much of exaggeration in the statement attributed to a London magistrate-Sir John Fielding— that the metropolitan detectives could trace a thief over the entire kingdom if he did not get to the Gorbals of Glasgow or Bridgend of Dumfries; for in that case they had to give up the chase. But it was unquestionably a somewhat lawless town, till, by its erection, in 1810, into a burgh of barony, under the name of Maxwelltown, it acquired a magistracy of its own. The charter was obtained greatly through the exertions of the late Mr. Philip Forsyth of Nithside; and in recognition of his services. in this and other respects, he had the honour of being elected first provost of the burgh.* Maxwelltown has long been as peaceable a place as any in the British dominions; and, with its extensive iron foundries and woollen manufactures (of which we shall afterwards speak), and its large timber works and saw-mill (the latter the property of Messrs. Gillies & Son), it possesses no inconsiderable extent of trade. Its inhabitants have rapidly increased during the present century, and it is now the most populous town of Kirkcudbrightshire: population in 1861, 3,600.

* The town, which was long without any proper local government, has now police authorities under Rutherford's Act, as well as a baronial magistracy and

council.

CHAPTER LII.

PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES OF THE BURGH

BANKRUPTCY IMMINENT THE REVENUE PUT UNDER TRUSTEES - DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE TOWN'S PROPERTY, INCOME, AND CHARGES-SALE OF KINGHOLM AND BARKERLAND -THE MORTIFIED MONEY OF THE BURGH.

THE year 1817 was a melancholy one for Dumfries. It was to the Burgh what the day after an exhaustive carouse is to a repentant prodigal. For a hundred years or more the town had been living beyond its means; and latterly it had been incurring heavy liabilities, which became daily more burdensome and pressing. Great improvements had been effected; important public buildings had been raised for beauty and use: all these undertakings being excellent in their way-only, they were too numerous and costly for the revenue of the town, even had that been rigidly economized. But frequently the feu duties and rents, of which it was in a considerable measure made up, were badly looked after; expensive law-suits were recklessly entered into; and every year a good round sum was spent by the authorities on what were delicately called "entertainments," which in plain English meant eating and drinking at the expense of the public. Perhaps the facilities given by` Mr. Staig for obtaining loans from the Bank of Scotland during the long period in which he was at the head of affairs, tended to make the Council additionally extravagant. The bank was deemed by them an inexhaustible mine, into which they could never dig too deeply; and a long array of bills bearing heavy discounts, bore witness to the persistency with which they drew upon its resources. What with lavish outlays for objects proper and improper, money borrowed at excessive rates, expensive litigation, and losses incurred from defaulting feuars, tenants, and collectors, the Burgh was brought to the verge of bankruptcy.

An unfortunate circumstance occurred in the summer of 1816 which precipitated the crisis. The chamberlain or treasurer

resigned his office; and when his accounts came to be examined, it was found that he was the town's debtor to the extent of at least £1,500, a sum he was unable to refund.* His cautioner or surety, Mr. John Maitland of Eccles, was called upon to make up the deficit; but before he did so, the creditors of the Burgh became alarmed, and some of them pressed their claims unmercifully-in particular the Humane Society, which, with a rigour at variance with its name, demanded instant payment of £1,000 it had lent to the town. Whilst this body clamoured and threatened, the trustees of the deceased Robert Wilson, tanner, commenced a process against the Council, without previous warning, for the payment of £800, for which bills had been given. The dilemma into which the authorities were thrown is indicated by the minute of a meeting held by them on the 14th of April. Mr. Maitland, it appears, had received notice that, unless he paid the money for which he had become bound, diligence would be used against him; and at the above meeting it was announced that no communication had been received from him in reply. It is then stated that as an arrestment had been used in Mr. Maitland's hands, at the instance of Mr. Wilson's trustees, "the Council authorize the magistrates, or any other members of Council, to enact themselves as cautioners in the Sheriff-Court books to make the arrested funds forthcoming, and thereby obtain letters of loosing the arrestment used in his hands, and in the hands of the town's debtors, tenants, &c.; and such of the members of Council as grant such bonds of caution, the Council declare the obligation to be for behoof of the town, and the Council become bound to relieve them of their cautionary engagements; and until this is accomplished, the meeting delay giving any directions with regard to the diligence against Mr. Maitland."

At another meeting, held soon afterwards, it was intimated that at least temporary relief had been obtained by Messrs. Shortt and Locke, the town clerks, having subscribed a bond of caution for loosing the arrestments; and that Mr. Maitland was about to sell part of an estate belonging to him, so as to be able to satisfy the town. During this breathing time a Committee appointed to consider the revenue, for the purpose of introducing

* Town Council Minutes.