[MR] Declaration of Arbroath and Tartan Day

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

On this day in 1320, the majority of Scottish earls and some other nobles
signed the Declaration of Arbroath, considered to be Scotland's Declaration
of Independence. The document was a letter to Pope John XXII, pleading
Scotland's case for independence from the English. Although the Pope's
original has been lost, a contemporary copy survives in the Archives of
Scotland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Arbroath . Amazing
how many of these nobles had previously supported the English, would later
switch sides during the renewed wars, or plotted against King Robert the
Bruce. Well, that's Scotland for you.

The Declaration includes this stirring passage (modern translation), ". . .
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, honest men were seriously lacking in 1707 when the Scottish
Parliament sold their nation's freedom for personal gain. Many Scottish
parliamentarians were deeply in debt after investing their entire fortunes
in the failed Darian colonization scheme (a Scottish colony in Panama, to
which the Spanish took great exception). The English were eager for a union
with Scotland to prevent the return of the exiled Catholic Stuarts, as the
reigning Protestant Queen Anne was childless. Generous bribes from England
swayed the vote for a union of the two nations, to the fury of Scotland's
general populace.

In celebration of the Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April is generally
considered Tartan Day around the world, a day when Scots and their
descendants proudly don the Scottish national dress, or its modern
iteration, the wee kilt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Day (note the
photo of Sean Connery in the upper right). Yes, I will be wearing my kilt.
The Saltire flag of Scotland is flying again at Mallard Lodge. I put the
flag away following the unfortunate events last August here in
Charlottesville, as many of the rioters carried shields and flags bearing a
black saltire. I feared flying the blue and white saltire would be mistaken
as support for their cause. I will fear no more.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆