| dc.description.abstract | This thesis presents an alternative picture of Scottish historian William Robertson
(172 1-1793). By examining Robertson's works and the contexts in which he wrote, I
hope to show that the prevailing view of Robertson as a typically cosmopolitan
eighteenth-centwy 'Enlightenment' figure, a devotee of post-Union 'British' values in
histonography and outlook, and a practitioner of the progressive eighteenth-century
type of historical writing, called conjectural or stadial histoiy, with its associated values,
is misleading. These assumptions have given rise to the belief that Robertson was a
wholehearted advocate of European expansion and the British Empire. This picture
ignores evidence of Robertson's attachment to older Scottish Presbyterian Whig values
such as militant Protestantism (generally seen as abandoned by the Moderate
Presbyterian church party which Robertson led), defensive patriotism, martial virtue,
and resistance to overbearing authority. These are present in his work and career
although they are modified by Robertson's need to appeal to 'polite' English, or
'Enlightened' continental readerships in order to achieve distinction as well as by the
Moderate political commitment to support govermnent in return for ecclesiastical
autonomy. In many ways, these values are incompatible with those of a cosmopolitan
figure influenced by French philosophes, or a confirmed advocate of 'British' values
supposedly embraced by the Scots intelligentsia Particularly, the sense of defensiveness
inherent in Scottish history makes it practically impossible for a Scot whose outlook
remains rooted in the defensive patriotism of the Scottish past to be an unqualified
supporter of empire. Robertson's work shows constant dubiety about conquest and
empire, thus falling into a tradition of Scottish anti-empire writing as old as European
expansion itself which is most noticeable in the work of Scots in whom defensive
patriotism is highly developed, such as George Buchanan and Andrew fletcher. The
Scottish experience of repeated attempted domination by foreign powers seems to cause
a corresponding dislike for all such attempts at domination, and sympathy for their
victims. The defensive traditions of Presbytei-iarnsm appear to add to this, the more so
as attacks on Presbyterianism have historically had a strong foreign element. Most
evidence for Robertson's position is found in his narrative history. As narrative makes
up the greater part of Robertson's work, I believe that he must be considered primarily
as a narrative, rather than a conjectural historian, practicing a form of historiography
which Scots had been writing long before the eighteenth century. This thesis will
illustrate its arguments by examining Robertson's narrative histories in chronological
order, as well as correspondence and other contemporary evidence, and parallels will be
drawn with earlier Scottish historians where relevant. | en_US |
