The French Revolution at that time dominated radical
thoughts. However, the ideas of the French Revolution are not simple; rival
revolutionaries did each other to death over disputes. Is Napoleon counted as a
Revolutionary? Two ideas, however, can be asserted as general to the French
Revolutionaries. One was that the influence of religion over politics, over
life in general, should be greatly reduced if not eliminated altogether. The
other was that power in society should not come “top down”, based on birth.
Exactly what “bottom up” version of power should replace it was one of the
things disputed, to the point of killing.
The Edinburgh Academy was widely seen as a Whig scheme. The
founders tried to dilute this political wrangling by inviting Walter Scott
(avowedly Tory) to be the first Chairman of Directors. The Whigs were less
utterly against the French Revolution than the Tories. However, even though
they eventually evolved into the Liberal Party forty years later, in 1824 they
were as opposed to democracy as were the Tories. On the other issue, the
influence of religion, they did agree more with the French Revolution.
Incidentally, the terms “Whig” and “Tory” do not carry quite the same meaning
in Scotland as they do in England. Jacobite memories took a long while fading
and Whig meant “anti-Jacobite”. Also the Established Church (which Tories
supported in England) in Scotland was the Presbyterian Kirk, not the Church of
England.
There was also the Scottish Enlightenment. Its great days –
associated with Hume, Smith, Hutton and others - had preceded 1789. Leonard
Horner, who shared the original idea of the new school, The Edinburgh Academy, was
steeped in that tradition. He was involved in the foundation of London
University and of what developed into Heriot-Watt University. Both of these consciously
moved away from the more ancient foundations, emphasising subjects other than
the Classics and not at all insisting on membership of the Established
Churches. At school level the academy movement is especially interesting.
Consider this extract or from the Perth Town Council Minutes (1761). [ Taken
from “Modern Scottish History 1707 to the Present, Vol 5” , Edited by Cooke,
Donnachie, Macsween and Whatley]
“But Providence has cast our Lot in happier Times, when
things begin to be valued according to their use and men of the greatest
Abilitys have employed their Skill in making the Sciences contribute not only
to the Improvement of the Lawyer, Physician and Divine, but to the Improvement
of the Merchant, Mechanic and Farmer in their respective arts. Must it not then
be of Importance to putt it in the powers of Persons in these Stations of Life
to reap that advantage which Science is Capable of affording them…. From this
Plan it will appear how much such an Education would differ from that which is
generally pursued in our universities.”
But the Edinburgh Academy was not inspired by such views.
Henry Cockburn, in his “Memoirs” describes the moment:
“ Leonard Horner and I had often discussed the causes, and
the remedies, of the decline of classical education in Scotland; and we were
satisfied that no adequate improvement could be effected so long as there was
only one great classical school in Edinburgh, and this one placed under the
town council, and lowered, perhaps necessarily, so as to suit the wants of a
class of boys to more than two-thirds of whom classical accomplishment is seen
to be useless. So one day, on top of the Pentlands we two resolved to set about
the establishment of a new school.”
Clearly it was to specialise in the Classics and it was not
aimed at the generality of the population. Most of the first masters were
eminent teachers of the classics.
To understand this one must appreciate that Edinburgh
society had particular characteristics. The Treaty of Union had moved much of
“ruling class” life, and the excitement of a capital city, down to London. But
it had left the Kirk, education, medicine and the law untouched. The hub of
these learned professions was Edinburgh. While the Grand Tour was impossible
during the French wars Edinburgh could feel part of mainstream Britain. Now the
wars were over; ambitious young men went to Europe to finish their education, not to Edinburgh. Besides, the Edinburgh professional classes wanted their sons to be ready to succeed
in England and the Empire, as well as at home. The new school did have a
teacher of English, and it was insisted that he have an English accent. A major
controversy in the early years was whether the English pronunciation of Latin
should be taught or the traditional Scots one – even though the Scots one was the same as the best
European practice. The Directors did not want their ex-pupils’ Latin tags to be
laughed at south of the Border.
The first Directors realised they had better have a maths
teacher, so they appointed the young James Gloag. He stayed for forty years. In
one seven year burst he produced six Senior Wranglers at Cambridge. He also has
some responsibility for the man who ought to be The Academy’s most famous former pupil: James Clerk Maxwell.
