[MR] Declaration of Abroath

[Garth Groff]

Noble friends,

April 6th is a proud day in Scottish history. Today in 1320, the 
Declaration of Abroath was written. The Declaration was a letter to Pope 
John XXII asserting Scotland's right to independence from England. The 
document contains this famous credo:

...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on 
any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for 
glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – 
for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Sadly, those riches were more important to some. A group of influential 
Scottish merchants, who wanted trade and investment rights in England 
and her Colonies, bartered away Scotland's precious independence in 1707.

It is said that Thomas Jefferson and the other drafters of the U.S. 
Declaration of Independence used the Scottish document as a model. Maybe.

Wikipedia has a featured article about the Declaration of Abroath today: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Arbroath

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, A Proud Scot (Who Forgot to Put Up His Saltire Flag 
This Morning Before Going to Work :-[ )