THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947. THE FIERY CROSS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26540, 15 August 1947, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1947. THE FIERY CROSS

There is a painting which dramatically portrays what the “ Fiery Cross ” meant in the dark ages in the Scottish Highlands. It was a portent of slaughter and rapine, of the brief exultation of killing in battle, the lurid glare of homes burning in the night, and of the long misery of widows and orphans. It was borne by swift runners through the gler.s and over the hills to raise the clansmen to avenge an insult to their chieftain or to protect themselves against a sudden foray by enemies. One of the last and greatest occasions on which the fiery cross was sent round was just over two hundred years ago—in August, 1745, when the Young Pretender, “ Bonnie Prince Charlie,” landed at Borradale in the Highlands. Prince Charles wrote to the Earl of Cromarty, “ I intend to set up the Royale Standard at Glenfinnen on Munday the 19th instant. Your appearance on that occasion would be very usefull, but if not practicable I expect you to joyn me as soon as possible. . . .” To the clans, however, the summons was peremptory. It is recorded: “ The fiery cross was sent around by the Jacobite supporters and the clans warned that all those who did not join the Prince would have their cottages burned and their cattle maimed by the Royalist clans.” It is probable that seldom since then have the runners carried the fiery cross until now, when, for the first time it is being sent to the ends of the earth. It has been carried by relays of runners from Edinburgh to London. Traditionally *“ sent by swift messengers,” other charred emblems dipped in the blood of a goat are being carried by aeroplanes to many countries, including New Zealand. But apart from the fact that the old insignia is being used again to rally Scotsmen, there is no similarity between the old summons and the new. Its message to-day is one of construction, not destruction, of culture and progress, not of barbarism. When the cross is delivered in Auckland to-morrow it will not call men to war, it will invite them to join in the Scottish Exhibition of industry which is to be held from August 25 to September 30 and to the international festival of music and drama to be held at the same time. The summons has gone forth rather late to attract much practical support, but it will certainly invoke warm expressions of goodwill for the venture. This much can be assumed from the interest which has been aroused in Dunedin. The offended pride of the local Scottish organisations that the cross is not being sent to “ the Edinburgh of the South ” may seem amusing and even ridiculous to the Sassenach, but it shews that the response to old ties is an instinctive one, and Lowlanders and Highlanders alike are anxious to recognise the call and to demonstrate their pride in being Scots. The modern use of the old device is appropriate, for “Enterprise Scotland ” is itself symbolic of the new, broader and more practical nationalism which is manifesting itself in very many ways in that country to-day.