Scottish Affairs Research Articles

Scottish Affairs at Westminster: A Letter from the Union Parliament of 1654–5

Scottish Affairs at Westminster: A Letter from the Union Parliament of 1654–5

Why did the Scottish Parliament Accept the Treaty of Union?

David McCrone's essay in Scottish Affairs no.50, *A Parliament for a People: Holyrood in an Understated Nation', was a perceptive analysis. To my mind, it was marred by one sentence where he repeated a widely held, but mistaken, explanation of the acceptance of the Union by the Scottish Parliament. He says that '[Scotland] gave up its parliament at a time when democracy, as we know it, did not exist in exchange for a share in the economic and political spoils of empire, and opportunities for Scots on the make'. This idea persists because it sounds plausible, if only long after the event, and because it saves face on both the English and the Scottish sides. The English did not want to be seen as a big country bullying a smaller one and the Scots as tamely surrendering to bribery and intimidation. It is also a view which has political consequences even today. Voters are more likely to support the continuation of the Union if they can be persuaded that is was a reasonable, and even advantageous, agreement reached by free and fair negotiation. The contemporary evidence proves that was far from the truth.

Review: Highland Heritage in the USA

In Scottish Affairs no. 35 (Spring 2001), cultural anthropologist Celeste Ray challenged Edward Sebesta's questionable allegations in Scottish Affairs, no. 31 (Spring 2000) linking a sinister white supremacist 'Neo-Confederate Movement' in the American South with a nationwide post-World War II Scottish-American heritage revival movement that is especially strong in the Southern states. Ray took Sebesta to task for misquoting and misrepresenting her descriptions of the Scottish heritage movement in a 1998 Southern Cultures article encapsulating key points of her recently published book Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans In The American South.

A Question of Growth

Scottish Affairs was right to devote a whole issue (autumn 2002) to the issue of financial independence (also known as fiscal autonomy). The problem with much of the analysis presented, however, was that it was backwardlooking and static. It focused on a particular version of what has happened in the past rather than asking why those things happened or what could happen differently in the future.

First reflections

To begin at the beginning. The basics. Exactly 159 years ago in 1843 on this very day of 18 May, in the Church of St Andrew and St George across the street out there, there took place the most significant event in Scottish religious and political affairs between the Union of the Parliaments in 1707 and the opening of the new devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999. Margaret Oliphant gave the following account of this event in her biography of Thomas Chalmers: The Assembly met in the midst of an atmosphere surcharged with the highest excitement. By four o'clock in the morning eager spectators had begun to fill the church in which its deliberations were held and the streets were crowded with a surging mass of people. … In St Andrews Church all was expectation as the music of the approaching procession, escorting the Lord High Commissioner was heard. That functionary came in, in his little state, and the church filled with the black-coated mass of the clergy, while the multitude outside thronged to the very steps impatient for the event.

Editorial: Ten Years of Scottish Affairs

Editorial: Ten Years of <i>Scottish Affairs</i>

Liberalism and Statelessness: Quebec in Contexts

Perhaps the notion of Popper's that has had the most influence is his attack on induction. Facts do not speak for themselves, he warned, making it vital for us to approach them with interesting theoretical questions in mind. As it happens, I have grave doubts about this cognitive ethic, habitually preferring as an historical sociologist to immerse myself in a period through whatever evidence literary, statistical, cartographic 1 can find before then seeking to generalise. Certainly, this view has curtailed my writing about Quebec, even though it is my intention to do so at length in the future. For I have learnt an enormous amount in Quebec, more or less as a member of a once dominant group, and have besides endlessly enjoyed living in genuinely multicultural Montreal. But it docs seem possible to say something now, first about civic and civil nationalism, and then, tentatively, about Quebec. The comments arc occasioned almost entirely by the exceptionally interesting conference on stateless nations on which this issue of Scottish Affairs is based.

The Good of this Service Consists in Absolute Secrecy: The Earl of Dunbar, Scotland, and the Border (1603-1611)

This article synthesizes the career and political impact of Sir George Home, Earl of Dunbar and Lord Berwick, demonstrating his dynamic role as a Jacobean royal favourite, intelligencer, and justiciary in the critical first years of the British regal union (1603-11). A brief background of his early career at the Stewart court is provided, illuminating his shadowy path to power and his political— and personal — struggle with Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell in the 1590s. As Earl of Dunbar, his enigmatic, intimidating personality is examined in the context of his impressive dual existence as Bedchamber man at Whitehall and virtual chief minister of Scottish affairs as Lord High Treasurer under James VI/I. From 1605, he would initiate a supra-national itinerary that ultimately established him as a formidable figure in Scottish political and ecclesiastical life, particularly in his close supervision of the Scottish parliamentary sessions throughout this period. Dunbar’s deft but controversial management as head border commissioner (with exclusive jurisdiction over both English and Scottish frontier counties) and royal commissioner to the general assemblies of Linlithgow and Glasgow have earned him the reputation of a corrupt despot with arbitrary tendencies. The present work is the first to re-examine the primary evidence and provide an alternative view of Dunbar as an intelligent master of early modern Realpolitik, and not as the great episcopal Satan which Andrew Melville, David Calderwood, and subsequent historians have frequently portrayed him. This historiographical rehabilitation also demonstrates his broader role as an essential practical instrument in King James’s push for a closer political union between Scotland and England in the seventeenth century.

King John: New Interpretations (review)

146 Reviews Church, S. D., ed., King John: New Interpretations, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 1999; cloth; pp. xxvi, 361; 34 tables; 9 figures, 2 maps; R R P £45, US$75; ISBN 085115736X. This important collection of 15 essays on the hapless King John leaves the the abiding impression that John, for all his faults as politician, monarch, economist diplomat and husband, was a man embattled - under siege from all comers ofthe western European world including his own. This is no revelation, as S. D. Church's introduction makes clear. Nor is it the ultimate judgment of this collection, which attributes major personality and character defects to John, including the treachery long ago asserted by Bishop Stubbs. The collection claims to represent new interpretations, then, not on the basis ofthe question asked (was John a good or bad king?) but rather on the basis ofwhat a critical reading ofa variety ofsources might tell the m o d e m reader about this most complex of early thirteenth-century rulers. The collection begins and ends with essays on contemporary representations ofthe king. John Gillinghatn's exploration of'historians without hindsight', that is, those historians who wrote prior to the loss ofNormandy in 1204, demonstrates that even early on in John's reign, he was subject to criticism and distrust. Jim Bradbury's concluding piece compares John with his nemesis, Phillip Augustus,findingthat Phillip Augustus fared much better in contemporary opinion. The highlight of the collection is four essays on the English economy in the early thirteenth century. Here w e find just h o w important finance and economic policies were in contributing to political outcomes such as the loss of Normandy. In comparison to Richard I, V. D. Moss tells us that John's fiscal performance 'appears truly awful' (p. 116). John's incessant financial demands to fund his military campaigns and his policy of hoarding led to a reduction in money supply and higher prices throughout England. This period ofhigh inflation from 1199-1204, as J. L. Bolton points out, was followed by price stability, but at a higher level. This can be illustrated by Paul Latimer's study of wheat and oxen prices for the period. Overall, a recession lasting from 1204-14 was the result of poor economic management and increased military expenditure. An interesting comparison is teased out by Nick Barrat, who looks at the concomitant fiscal performance ofPhillip Augustus. Again, John does not acquit himselfwell. Three essays resist the notion of a 'Celtic fringe' to elucidate successfully the different political frameworks of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and John's encounters with each. As a separate kingdom, Scotland was already a 'distant political culture', according to A. A. M . Duncan, w h o asserts the consolidation of Reviews 147 Scottish autonomy in the early thirteenth century as a result ofJohn's minimal role in Scottish affairs. In Ireland, however, things were different. Sean Duffy describes the 'dubious legacy' (p. 245) lefttoHenry III by King John, whose military lordship ofIreland saw this 'unruly frontier society' (p. 239) demand more and more ofthe monarch's attention. In Wales, which was neither kingdom or lordship, conspiracy and split allegiances were the order ofthe day. For Ifor Rowlands, John's failure can be discerned in the stark contrast between the fairly strong position of the monarch in Wales in 1211, and the collapse of royal power there by 1216. Wales had been implicated so deeply in the affairs of England, that when John's power began to collapse in England, it could not help but fall apart in Wales, too. 'There was a stench of failure everywhere', concludes Rowlands glumly (p. 286). The situation in France is explored in detail, and, not surprisingly, we find that John was in some ways peripheral to the events that unfolded so disastrously around him. Jane Martindale reveals the fundamental political role still played by Eleanor ofAquitaine after 1199, while Nicholas Vincent shows that Isabella ofAngouleme also played a central role in Capetian advances and John's losses. Daniel Power argues that the disunited Norman aristocracy were variously happy to accommodate Phillip Augustus, indifferent to John, actively hostile to John or simply unable to...

The Public Funding of Vocational Education and Training in Scotland

There have been many calls for the development of a strategy for vocational education and training (VET) in Scotland. Perhaps the most significant of these was made by the all-party Scottish Affairs Committee (SAC 1995) of the House of Commons. The Government of the day noted this call, and then asserted that its Training for the Future (Scottish Office 1995) was adequate response, even though this document was widely regarded as rather superficial at the time.

The Scottish Parliament and Development Planning

Land use planning will be one of (he services to fall within the remit of the Scottish Parliament. Of all public services, planning is the one that affects most people and most activities, if only by virtue of the fact that they use land. Indeed it is in recognition of the importance of land use to the community that it is one of the few government services where there is a statutory right for the public to participate at various stages in both plan preparation and implementation. Despite this importance there has been very little detailed debate or discussion as to how planning might evolve under the Parliament. Two recent articles in Scottish Affairs have hinted that planning is something that the Parliament needs to consider. Sinclair (Sinclair 1997) has argued for establishing community planning, which would incorporate not only the local authorities' own plans but those of other agencies such as the Local Enterprise Companies (LECs). Alexander argues that local authorities need to co-operate to provide a 'strategic vision1 to counterbalance the Parliament (Alexander 1997). Neither author develops arguments in detail and both talk about planning in a generic way, including land use planning within a far wider definition.

Developing Local Government: Lessons for Scotland from Poland

John Fairley (1995) has located the debate on the roles and purpose of local government within broader discussions on the future of Scottish governance. Writing in Scott ish Affairs shortly before the dismantling of the two tier system of Scottish local government, he urged that this debate should not end with the installation of the new unitary authorities. Having spent much of their second year grappling with the immediate effects of a serious budget crisis it may not be obvious where notions of role and vision come into play* It is a paradox that as councils make hard decisions about core services the need to do so with clear reference to strategy becomes simultaneously more difficult and more imperative. Following a period of cumulative legislative changes to local government and with the creation of a Scottish Parliament, a more general problem of trying to articulate a strategy or vision for Scottish local government as a whole becomes pressing. However, the difficulty of trying to construct a clear and powerful role for local government at a time of restructuring and economic constraint is not unique to Scotland* In response to Fairley's request it is worth examining the recent experience of Polish local democracy and that country's attempt to define a role for local government within a context of both constitutional change and financial stress. This article examines the attempts to decentralise the Polish state since the deposition of the communist government in 1990 and uses the analysis to inform our understanding of the role and purpose of local government in Scotland.

Scottish Affairs, Sporting Estates and the Aristocracy

The Highland Sporting Estate looms large in the analysis of both 19th and 20th century debates about landownership (Cameron 1991; Grant 1989; Hunter 1974, 1976, 1995; Lister-Kaye 1994; Smout 1993). The idea of the sporting estate in social and economic terms as a place in which private indulgence continues to take precedence over social and economic development in certain areas is a key reason why such an issue continues to stir the public consciousness everytime an estate falls onto the open market. Whilst other types of holdings such as working farms may be placed on the land market with as much regularity as sporting estates, no other holding attracts land prices which bear so little relationship to the productive capacity of the land. The aims of this paper are as follows: • One of the key traditional defences of private landownership in Scotland has been that the private sporting estate, and the different forms of blood sport associated with such, makes a significant contribution to the economic development of local communities/This paper questions the precise nature and extent of this economic contribution by way of comparing the economics of shooting with the more profitable forms of recreation in the Highlands. • Sport and leisure are often forgotten aspects of Scottish social and political affairs. While this paper specifically connects with contemporary debates about land reform in Scotland, it is also a reminder that while our leading social and political commentators should not provide sport and leisure with an over-determin ed degree of

Nationalism and Social Identity: Who owns the interest of Scotland?

The anthropological study of one's 'own' society, or one with which you have some familiarity, requires you to resist taking for granted anything which, as a competent social member, you think you may already understand. Of course you then run the risk of mystifying the familiar. But the dividend may be that you also re-discover and reveal the richness of ordinary social practice the significance of which may have become understated, precisely because of its very familiarity. I am going to deal with a subject which will be more than familiar to most readers of Scottish Affairs, and will hope to suggest the importance of continuing to think about it: the meaning to individuals of their Scottishness. Along the way, I will touch on an event, the Burns Supper, which people seem to find either fabulously exotic or mindnuinbingly tedious witness Ian Hamilton's vituperative outburst in The Scotsman last July.

Dual Identity in Autonomous Catalonia

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Edinburgh University Press in Scottish Affairs. The Version of Record is available online at: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/scot.1996.0056.

The Select Committee On Scottish Affairs: Emerging Themes And Issues

The Select Committee On Scottish Affairs: Emerging Themes And Issues

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS PUBLISHED IN 1993 AND RELEVANT TO SCOTTISH ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY

I. Original Documents, Archives and Sources ABSON, C. and BENNETT, J. 'British Labour History Publications, 1992, Labour History Review, 58. ADAMjJ.S. (ed.) The Business Diaries ofSir Alexander Grant, Edinburgh, John Donald. ALLEN, C. 'Recent Publications in Scottish Government and Polities', Scottish Affairs, 4. ANDERSON, S. and VVTNSTANLEY, B. Review ofDocumentary Procedures at the ESRC Data Archive'. Historical Social Research, 18. ANON. 'List of Voters

A Committee Again: The First Year of the Revived Select Committee on Scottish Affairs

The impending revival of the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee in the summer of 1992 brought a mixed reaction from politicians and political commentators. The opposition parties in Scotland welcomed the resurrection of this organ of parliamentary scrutiny while stressing that it was no substitute for broad constitutional reform in Scotland. The Conservatives generally expressed satisfaction that the Scottish Office was to be placed once again on the same footing as other departments of state. Nonetheless, two Tory backbenchers (Bill Walker and Sir Nicholas Fairbairn) reiterated their refusal to have any truck with the committee, on the grounds that it was likely to be used as a political vehicle by the opposition, particularly if William McKelvey assumed the chair. Fairbairn subsequently relented, and agreed to join the committee. The Scottish media gave two cheers, but withheld the third on the grounds that the committee's predecessor was, in the words of The Scotsman , too partisan, its members unable to set aside party loyalties, and too parochial; they, in turn, chose subjects for investigation that had marginal

The theory and practice of equal opportunities in Scotland

Education and equality, as has been seen in earlier issues of Scottish Affairs, arc currently areas of interest and concern in Scotland (Maclnally (1993); Brown (1993); Macintosh (1993)). In fact, they are of course areas that have long been of interest and concern. In this article I will take a look at 'equality of opportunity' over time in Scotland, arguing that there has been a shift from a traditional concept that was more or less exclusively concerned with equal opportunity in terms of socio-economic status, or social background, to a modern-day concept that emphasises equal opportunity in terms of race and gender. The first sections of this article draw on the literature about the traditional concept of 'equality of opportunity'. I will then go on to look firstly at literature on the more recent form of the concept, and secondly to present some findings from my own research into the attitudes of pupils towards equal opportunities policies, covering race and gender, in a contemporary school. In the course of the article, it will become apparent that while there have been many developments and changes in ideas about an equal educational opportunity 'for all', a common thread can be traced over the centuries, enduring until the present day. This 'thread' is an underlying emphasis on individualism, rather than a truly collective or structural concept of 'equality of opportunity'. I conclude by arguing that achieving a structural understanding of 'equal opportunities' is still a considerable way off, although this is not necessarily cause for undue pessimism.

Scotland's sovereignty asserted: the debate over the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707

Scotland's sovereignty asserted: the debate over the Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707* With the parliamentary union between Scotland and England in 1707, two independent realms, the separate crowns of which had forjust over a century been worn by the same monarchs, became one United Kingdom of Great Britain. A new political entity, which was to form the basis of the British Empire, was born. The successful completion of the negotiations and the passage of the Acts of Union in both parliaments united the two crowns and theoretically entailed the dissolution of two national parliaments and the creation of a supra-national parliament—the parliament of Great Britain. But the new 'British' parliament was in fact simply an enlarged English parliament,towhich a limited number of Scots members were admitted. As the Scottish historian William Ferguson has noted, 'Scotland lost her sovereignty in both theory and practice, in theory so did England, but not in practice'.1 The union was simply one possible solution to the perennial problem of Anglo-Scottish relations which had remained strained after the Union of Crowns of 1603. This Regal union had disadvantaged the northern kingdom; when the Stuarts inherited the English throne the political centre of gravity moved down to London. For most of the seventeenth century British kings had put the interests of their wealthier English kingdom before those of Scotland. By the end of the century, Scotland, embroiled in England's continental wars and suffering from the effects of the English navigation acts and the Darien fiasco, was on the brink of financial disaster. As the wealth and power of the court increased under William of Orange and then Anne, so did Scottish resentment of the impact of English policy on Scottish affairs. By 1703 the relationship between the kingdoms had reached breaking point. The death of Anne's last surviving heir in 1700 had opened up the vexed question of the succession. The English Act of Settlement of 1701, which accepted the Hanoverian claim, had angered the Scots by its arrogant assumption that Scotland would automatically follow England's lead in the matter, and the resumption of war with France—a war into which Anne had entered Scotland without consulting her Scottish parliament—further fuelled resentment. Union * I am grateful to Dr John Robertson for pointing out several errors of interpretation and directing m y attention towards important aspects of the Scottish intellectual context which I had neglected in my original analysis. The errors and omissions that remain are m y own. Thanks are also due to Glen Burgess, for asking the right questions, to Andrew Sharp for his valuable criticism and advice, and to the anonymous referees for their very useful comments. 1 Ferguson, cited in P. H. Scott, The Union of Scotland and England in Contemporary Documents with a Commentary, Edinburgh, 1979, p. 53. P A R E R G O N ns 11.2, December 1993 28 B. McPhail negotiations, encouraged by William and focussing on the possibility of free trade, had begun in 1702, but had rapidly ground to a halt, mainly because of England's lack of enthusiasm. Anti-court and, by extension, anti-English feeling scaled such heights in Scotland that it briefly united the country's warring factions and manifested itself in political action which threatened the stability of both nations. The Scottish election of 1703, called reluctantly because of a tax boycott and the need to raise supply, had returned a House in which the court party was seriously weakened. The succession question gave a briefly united opposition a golden opportunity to redefine the constitutional relationship with England in Scotland's favour. Its parliamentary majority resulted in the successful passage of the Act of Security and Succession, reluctantly given the Royal Assent in 1704. The Act declared that the Union of Crowns would cease on the death of Anne unless Parliament had by that time placed limitations on the monarchy sufficient to protect Scotland from future English interference through the court.2 In addition, the Act provided for the regular mustering of the militia. Scotland had thrown down the gauntlet, and England lost no time in picking it up. She would countenance neither...