Two Endorsements of Scottish Nationalism

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 92, 12 January 1929, Page 15

Two Endorsements of Scottish Nationalism

British Statesmen on an Imminent Development “Scottish Nationalism is one of the most-prized products of the British Empire. The purest Nationalism is like the finest love of one’s own home. The greater the love of one’s own home the greater the love of one’s own country. The love of one’s own country expands into the love of all one’s own people throughout the Empire, and is the beginning of that brotherhood which alone can make peace upon earth.”—Mr. Baldwin in a recent speech.

IN reply to an invitation from the “Glasgow Herald” to express his views on the subject of Scottish Home Rule, Lord Balfour said. “You ask for my opinion about Scottish Home Rule: “In my view the future of the British Empire entirely turns upon the capacity revealed by its citizens for combining their various patriotisms without impairing them. I think so far the inhabitants of this island have shown real genius in the way they have dealt with this problem. Scotland has remained Scotland, and England has remained England, in spite of the Union; though without the Union neither of them would have been half as good as they are. "Separate Legislatures must surely add greatly to the complications of political life—already complicated enough. I cannot think that any such institution is required to uphold Scottish sentiment, which, so far as I can judge, shows no signs of weakening. And it can hardly be maintained that, under the existing system, Scotsmen do not fully share the burdens, the glories, and (may I add) the profits of Empire. "Of course, I do not in a note like this presume to argue so great a question; and the matter must rest in the hands of younger men. But personally I should regard it of evil augury for the future that, while the English-speaking peoples overseas are more and more subordinating local patriotisms in the interests of a wider unity, there are some tendencies on this side which point in an opposite direction. "May I in this connection venture to quote from myself a statement, made many years ago, on this very subject: — “ ‘As a matter of fact, some combination of different patriotisms is almost universal among thinking persons. If I consider the case I know best (namely, my own), I find that, in addition to a general regaid for mankind, which I hope is not absent or weak, I am moved by a feeling, especially patriotic in character, for the group of nations who are the authors and the guardians of Western civilisation, for the sub-group which speaks the English language, and whose laws and institutions. are rooted in British history, for the communities which compose the British Empire, for the United Kingdom, of which I am a citizen, and for Scotland, where I was born, and which is my home, as it was the home of my fathers before me. “ ‘lf patriotisms such as these are not forced into antagonism, they may not only be consistent with each other, but they may mutually reinforce each other; and statesmanship can have no higher aim than to make harmony between them easy, and conflict, impossible. "Why should Scottish sentiment, to-day strong and vigorous after over 200 years of legislative union with England, require a separate legislature to prevent it weakening?” asks the “Glasgow Herald. "Is it not the case that as the world becomes more closely united physically and economically there will come into being an ever greater diversity of loyalties, and that the true outlet for Scottish energies is no in cultivating a self-contained nationalism, but in assisting the other peoples of the Empire and the world to find the best means of combining thenvarious patriotisms without impairing them’? The tendency both in the British Dominions and in the United States is for local patriotisms to be increasingly subordinated in the interests of a wider unity. “Why should Scotland be an exception? Under the existing system Scotsmen play an important and honourable Dart in the administration of the affairs of Britain and the Empire, and they exert a notable influence on the shaping of Imperial and foreign policy. _ They are not in a position of inferiority either as regards status or function. What conceivable gai could the institution of a separate legislature be to them?” Sir Robert Horne, in a recent speech reported in the “Scotsman, in referring to the subject, said: — “The movement for Scottish national independence must involve as its counterpart English national independence, although he was not sure

that the movers realised that fact. So far as he was able to analyse the situation, he thought it was clear that that new activity received whatever support it got from the people of Scotland, who thought that thus only could they adequately express their pride in their nationality.

“The phrase that had taken their fancy in that propaganda was that Scotland should have independent national status, and the desire which was moving them was that of asserting the national spirit. There were politicians who sought a measure of Home Rule on the ground that Scottish local affairs would gain by their allocation to a purely Scottish Assembly, but it was not from them that the Scottish National party was drawing its main support. It was from those who were filled with fervour for their national history and traditions and who believed, mistakenly he thought, that that was the way to express it.

“Distinguished men like Mr. Cunninghame Graham and the Duke of Montrose attempted to give some sort of exposition of their part of the propaganda. Apparently the English and the Scottish people were to be segregated and confined to their own borders, and even offices which carried no profits but involved only a tribute of honour were to be limited to the people of the country in which the offices existed.

“Having examined the programme of the new movement as enunciated by its official secretary in the Press, urging that the independent status of Scotland was to be recognised through the medium of a Parliament directly representative of the Scottish constituencies, with an executive Scottish Ministry, and that in matters affecting the Empire the Scottish and English Parliament were to argue as two separate nations, Sir Robert Horne pointed out that the propagandists of the Independent Scottish Nationhood seemed to forget that the citizens of other nations could be as patriotic and determined as themselves, and that numbers and wealth and taxable capacity would have/their proper weight.

"If it was desired to lessen the importance of Scotland and to lower its influence, the Scottish National party had undoubtedly found the most efficacious method. No matter in what form the proposals were put forward, he was convinced that they could not in these days reconcile the ideas of the Scottish National party with the continued prosperity of the country, and nothing but disaster could come from any attempt to put them into force. It was important that people should not allow their minds to be diverted to such fantasies from the grave and serious problems confronting them at the present time.”

"The Scot is pre-eminently practical in his outlook,” says the “Liverpool Post”; "he will take half a loaf if he sees clearly that for the moment a whole loaf is out of reach. Thus it happens that the Home Rule which he has probably in mind, and certainly which English devolutionists in general have in mind, is no full-fledged Parliament at Edinburgh, capable, like the Dominions, of exercising the rights of a Sovereign State. That is merely a vision of uninstructed and reactionary sentiment, which might well alarm Lord Balfour were there any likelihood of its being realised.

"The case for Scottish Home Rule must be set on the same footing as the ease of regional autonomy for England. That is to say, it must be treated as a case of wise expediency. It recognises that, in many departments of her strictly domestic life, Scotland could, with great advantage to herself, be left to manage her own business, and so relieve Parliament of some of its dangerously crippling burdens.

"The Scottish Home Rule movement has every signs of gaining energy and strength. As it ripens and becomes more experienced in handling issues with which it is concerned, we may be fairly confident that the romantic claims advanced by some of its supporters will give place to more sober views in keeping with the actual circumstances of the country.”