Among other writing's which he published on this subject was a volume entitled 'Colonial Ecclesiastical Establishment, being a brief view of the state of the Colonies of 'Great Britain and of her Asiatic Empire in respect to Religious Instruction, prefaced by some considerations on the national duty of affording it.' While the contest was proceeding he was vehemently attacked in parliament as a calumniator of the Hindus, and his having given to the world an exaggerated statement of the cruelty and immorality of their superstitions; but he was defended with vigour by Mr. Wilberforce and other promoters of the new legislation. Another work which he published about this time was 'An Apology' for promoting Christianity in India, containing two letters addressed to the Honorable East India Company concerning the idol Jagannath, and a memorial presented to the Bengal Government in 1807 in defence of the Christian Missions in India. To which are now added, Remarks on the Letter addressed by the Bengal Government to the Court of Directors in reply to the Memorial — with an appendix containing various official papers, chiefly extracted from the Parliamentary Records relating to the promulgation of Christianity in India.'
Buchanan received the degree of D.D. from the university of Glasgow, and also from that of Cambridge, He died in 1815 at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, where he was engaged in revising a Syriac translation of the New Testament. He was twice married, and left two daughters by his first wife.
[Pearson's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D.D., 3rd ed., London, 1819; Christian Researches in Asia, with notices of the Translation of the Scriptures into the Oriental Languages, by the Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D.D., new edition, Loudon, 1840; Memorandum on the Syrian Church in Malabar, 19 Feb. 1875, India Office Records.]
BUCHANAN, DAVID (1595?–1652?), Scotch writer, was, Sibbald says, descended from the same family as the famous George Buchanan. This statement is confirmed by William Buchanan of Auchmar (Historical and Genealogical Essay upon the Family and Surname of Buchanan, 1723), who asserts that David was the second son of William Buchanan, son of the first Buchanan of Amprior, who was second cousin to George Buchanan. A David Buchanan was admitted to St. Leonard's College at St. Andrews in 1610 (Irving, preface to Davidis Buchanani de Scriptoribus Scotis). He appears to have resided some time in France, for in 1636 he published at Paris a work of about seven hundred pages, entitled 'Historia Humanæ Animæ.' In 1638 he followed this up with 'L'Histoire de la Conscience, par David Buchanan,' which was probably printed also at Paris, though the place of publication is not mentioned. Between 1638 and 1644 he appears to have returned to his native land, and in 1644 issued an edition of John Knox's 'Historie of the Reformation in Scotland,' to which he prefixed a life of the author and a preface. in both the 'Historie' and the 'Life' he took unusual liberties, and interpolated in the former a great deal of original matter, apparently with the view of adapting it to the times. The preface, which professes to be a sketch of the previous history, is historically worthless. In 1645 a second edition was published at Edinburgh. In the same year he published at London 'Truth its Manifest; or a short and true Relation of divers main passages of things in some whereof the Scots are particularly concerned.' This work was an account of the conduct of the Scotch nation during the civil war. It provoked considerable ire in England, was voted by both houses of parliament false and scandalous, and ordered to be burnt by the hangman. A scurrilous refutation appeared entitled 'Manifest Truths, or an Inversion of Truths Manifest,' London, 1646. Buchanan's pamphlet, according to Baillie's letters (to William Spang, 24 April 1646), was really a collection of authentic state papers edited by him, with an introduction and a preface. Parliament, not being able to deny the authenticity of the papers, attacked the introduction, and declared the editor to be an incendiary. The next notice of him is to be found in the 'Scottish Historical Library,' London, 1702. Here Bishop Nicolson mentions that a great deal of the work in the 'Atlas of Scotland,' published in 1655, was really done by Buchanan, and that he died before he had finished all he had projected. Nicolson also says that he wrote 'several short discourses concerning the antiquities and chorography of Scot land, which in bundles of loose papers, Latin and English, are still in safe custody;' and that these 'discover their author's skill in the Hebrew and Celtic languages.' Perhaps these are what Buchanan of Auchmar refers to when he says that David wrote a large ' Etymologicon ' of all the shires, cities, rivers, and mountains in Scotland, from which Sir Bobert Sibliahl quotes some passages in his 'History of the Shires of Stirling and Fife.' Sibbald also states, in the 'Memoirs of the College of Physicians,' that he received the greatest assistance from some manuscripts of Mr.
