SCOTLAND’S ROAD

TO INDEPENDENCE

SCOTLAND’S ROAD

TO INDEPENDENCE The Makings of a State Identity

ALAN W. ERTL

Universal-Publishers

Boca Raton

Scotland’s Road to Independence: The Makings of a State Identity

Copyright © 2013 Alan W. Ertl All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher

Universal-Publishers

Boca Raton, Florida • USA 2013

ISBN-10: 1-61233-286-2

ISBN-13: 978-1-61233-286-4

www.universal-publishers.com

Cover photo credit: Maui01/”Isle Of Skye, Scotland”/Photos.com

Also by Alan W. Ertl

The Political Economic Foundation of Democratic Capitalism: From Genesis to Maturation

Toward an Understanding of Europe:

A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration

vii

Table of Contents Foreword .......................................................................................... ix

Introduction ..................................................................................... xi Country ........................................................................................... 13

Earth ................................................................................................ 21

Hills ................................................................................................. 25

Geography ...................................................................................... 29

Uniquity through Diversity ........................................................ 37

Nation ............................................................................................. 61

The People of Scotland ................................................................ 65

The Celts ........................................................................................ 69

The Scots Population ................................................................... 73

Culture ............................................................................................ 79

The State ........................................................................................ 89

The Government ........................................................................ 107

The National Feeling ................................................................ 113

Scottish History: A Timeline .................................................. 127

Towards Independence ............................................................ 203

Road to Referendum ................................................................. 209 Index .............................................................................................. 217

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Foreword

The State is a political entity holding people, frequently a nation of people, together. These people inhabit generally a specific country with often an identifiable terrain. The Scots inhabit the northerly portion of Great Brittan, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The northern portion of this large island contains the country known as Scotland.

Unique is that Scotland is not necessarily unique. Scotland is inhabited by a people with genetic ties to many other people found throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia and western and southern mainland Europe. The terrain of Scotland has a coastline similar to that found in the Lowlands and parts of Belgium, it has fiords and sea locks comparable to those found in Norway and Denmark. It has expanses of heather and peat as found through much of Europe from Ireland to Sweden and Finland. Scotland shares to a great extent the vegetation, the marine and animal life which is found in other northern Euro-pean areas. No, Scotland is not necessarily unique, -what is unique however is the admixture of these things which have overtime comingled into the making of an environment with a highly distinct Scots identity. The combination of these ele-ments formed a singularly distinctive environment which exercised an inimitable influence on the forming of the Scottish identity.

These virtually multifarious elements have produced influ-ences which have molded the unparalleled people inhabiting the terrain, this combined with influences from their relationships with others, their ongoing happenings, their problems and concerns, their challenges and solutions through millennia have

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formed the people of Scotland into what they are today. Each of these influences contributed each in their own way to forging and forming the collective psyche which is very much unique.

An ongoing question is whether or not these Scottish peo-ples should be politically independent, specifically whether or not they should continue under the United Kingdom regime or become independent reliant upon their own conning. The control of the United Kingdom is in the hands of essentially a London found government in the heartlands of England, biased toward the English thinking, and is considered by many not necessarily reflecting Scottish interests. This has created a less than optimal position for the Scots. It is a situation thought by many needing amending. Many see this as something that can only be corrected by removing control of Scotland from England and having it in toto in Scotland functioning for the Scots people.

Life is a projectile from the past through the present to the future. By identifying and tracing some of these important influences, this writing charts trends from yesterday through to today, and essentially lays wide the path for tomorrow.

The author thanks all those that have given advice, inspira-tion, support and intellectual input, a writing such as this is not done in vacuo. Most specifically gratitude is given to Mrs. Jean McGregor for her patient and professional involvement in preparing the text; it is not often that an unstructured academic can find such a competent and capable expert of this high quality who can make sense out of reams of nonsense. Thank you Jean and also a hearty thanks to Stuart.

Alan W. Ertl

Summer 2013

xi

Introduction Of recent period when Scotland’s First Minister, leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, called for a motion - “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent coun-try?” - He incorporated a common use of language that was virtually problematic.1 Country was being used for the word ‘state’. Frequently, in the English language, nation, state and country are used interchangeably; however, as they are different words with different roots, they do mean different things. The purpose of this writing is to look into the phenomena of Scot-land to reveal it for what it is in situ without the age-old clichés or misuse of language that tend to make unclear the present day reality. Scotland stands before an important ballot. For three hundred years, the kingdom of Scotland has been united with the kingdom of England and of the current period, this unity is being questioned. In 2014, Scotland celebrates King Robert the Bruce’s defeat of the English military at Bannockburn. Many believe that this should be accomplished yet again albeit this time democratically.

The term country as a noun refers to an area of land distin-guished from other areas of land. This may be by culture, climate, political boundary, inhabitants, whatever. It may be moorland, hills, fields, woodland, an area of ground with a certain characteristic or connection. The word country comes from the French contrée, which itself comes from the Latin contrata terra, meaning land lying in front of one. It suggests a definite and physical part of the earth. Living in that country is

1 See Will Scotland Go Its own Way? by Neil Ascherson, The New York Times (26 February 2012).

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a nation, the word itself being a noun referring to the people living in, belonging to and together ultimately forming a political state. These people are essentially a race of people of common descent sharing language, history, culture, etc. They do not necessarily need to be defined by physical territorial limits of a state but they share something very unique called nationhood. The word nation also comes from the French, which, in turn being from the Latin natio, suggesting common blood or a tribal distinction. The word state, also a noun, refers directly in this context to a territory governed by a single, political party, frequently the political entity of a nation, including government and all its apparatus in the modern sense referring to civil service, armed forces, etc., coming directly from the Latin status, this being corrupted from the word stare, which means to stand - country, nation, state - i) the physical area, ii) the people and iii) the political relationships that form its government.2

What is Scotland - a country, a nation or a state or is it, per-haps, all three? This writing will examine in various different aspects the concept of Scotland and in so doing will demonstrate a highly unique group of individuals exclusively independent as others found throughout modern Europe. In many respects, the decision being contemplated and acted upon by the Scottish people with regard to the answering of this question (what is Scotland?) is going on at the current time. Is Scotland a sepa-rate entity or is its identity that of being colonial and subservient to the English? At this point in time, the answer to this ques-tion remains to be seen.

2 Of course, these three words have secondary applied and inferred meanings, which may, in a rough form, approach similarity; however, using the words in an orthodox form, demonstrates clearly that they refer to three distinct situations and conditions.

13

Country

Scotland occupies the most northerly part of the island known as Great Britain. The name of Scotland derives from the Latin Scotia, nothing more than the land of the Scots.3 Essentially, the north of the island of Great Britain is austere subject to relative extremes of weather. The country consists of rock formations that go back to the early geological history of the planet Earth, in many respects, well over three billion years ago.4 The land mass of Scotland may be divided into six main portions, slabs of land masses that formed at different times in different places. Five hundred million years ago significant segments of modern rocks were a part of a long, lost ocean basin forming volcanic islands in chunks of continent that have been altered by more geologically recent events much more clearly seen when looking at the Caledonian orogeny of roughly four hundred million years ago. Prior to that time, the rocks of Scotland, Scandinavia and North America were connected together in one continent and on the other side of the now vanished Iapetus Ocean, were found the

3 As will be later discussed. At this point, noted is that the Scots are essentially a Celtic people from Ireland, who settled first on the west coast of the island of Great Britain around the fifth century AD. The given name of the tribe by the Romans occupying the northern part of Great Britain was Caledonii, which has often been the name applied to Scotland. 4 Although the geological formation is of immense age, there has been ongoing albeit subtle, ceaseless changes, which through time have created and altered the basic age-old substance. Here, the notion of ‘deep time’ of gradual change over a huge period of time and this change being ongoing, is an idea that comes from James Hutton (1726-1797), a Scotsman who propagated the notion, which directly challenged the common understanding of the time that Earth was but only a few thousand years of age. Hutton’s thinking laid the foundation for the modern science of geology.

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rocks of England and the rest of Northern Europe. The Cale-donian orogeny was a Continental collision, which closed the Iapetus Ocean causing the main pieces of the rocks of England and Scotland to fuse together. Dramatic periods of geological change were followed by quieter periods when, for example, much of Scotland was buried under layers of sediment, which ultimately formed into sandstone, coal and other such sedimen-tary rocks. Further tectonic activity took place continuously. Sixty million years ago the continent split apart forming the North Atlantic in a spectacular firestorm of erupting volcanoes, which formed Scotland’s western edge.

I The Outer Hebrides The oldest rock formations found in Scotland and indeed the oldest found in Europe, are those of the Outer Hebrides. These gneisses are geologically ancient5 and were deeply buried and contorted during an excessively long period. These rocks were also found in a thin strip along the northwest coast on the mainland frequently buried under younger sandstones and limestone deposits6 and date back to one billion years making these the oldest sedimentary rock formations to be found in Scotland.

II

The Moine Thrust Just inland on the coast of the mainland has been introduced into the Scottish country a major discontinuity - the Moine Thrust, which is known as the Knockan Crag and found just

5 These stones can be seen in the standing stones of Callanish in Lewis. 6 As in the Torridonian Sandstones.

Country

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north of Ullapool. This is a clear fault plain that separates the gneiss and sandstone of the west from metamorphic rocks, the Moine Schist to the east. The schists were originally ocean sediments, which were caught up in Caledonian orogeny and pushed westward over sedimentary rocks creating a juxtaposi-tion of metamorphic rocks above sedimentary rocks.7

III The Great Glen Traversing further south in the heartland of Scotland is found the Great Glen between modern-day Inverness to the northeast and Fort William to the southwest, this being the site of a major fault line separating two blocks of metamorphic rocks with different geological histories. To the east, these rocks are buried under the old red sandstone.8

IV

The Cairngorms South of the Great Glen, the Highland schists often contain large deposits of granite. These bodies of granite have integrities such as the Cairngorm Mountains. Originally, these massive granite entities were molten composed of a hot liquid rock, which squeezed and melted its way towards the surface. Near to the surface it was trapped in the crust of the Earth where the magma cooled over a long period of time forming the crystalline

7 A situation that caused great perplexity to Victorian geologists, who first discovered the situation, requiring research to solve the puzzle, which essentially led to a major step forward in human understanding of mountain building and faults. 8 Made famous by stonemason Hugh Miller (1802-1856) who frequently found interesting fossil specimens of fish around the Black Isle and Cromarty.

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granite found in the region. This activity was associated with the Caledonian orogeny occasionally erupting through the mantle of the Earth giving form to volcanoes9 creating the unique Highland landscape of today, which has been mellowed by millions of years of erosion that eventually removed the top of the mountain range exposing its granite roots.

V

The Lowlands The rocks found in the Lowlands of Scotland are of a complete-ly different ilk and as such are not at all related to the mountains of the north. In the midland valley, some of Scotland’s youngest rocks are found to cover the older crust. This was the area of the first movement commencing some four hundred million years ago to pull the newly-formed continent apart. This process created a rift valley, which was covered with a rash of volcanoes and ultimately a hole that was filled with sediments being washed from the high ground to the north and south. Scot-land’s central belt is dotted with hills throughout the land-scape,10 which are results of volcanic activity during the Carbon-iferous Period with older volcanoes found on the margins of this area11 all being linked by the commonality that they were more durable and resistant to erosion than the surrounding sedimen-tary rocks.

9 As, for example, Glen Coe. 10 Dumbarton Rock, The Campsies, Arthur’s Seat and North Berwick Law. 11 Such as the Pentlands and the Ochils.

Country

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VI

Southern Scotland The rocks of Southern Scotland, that is the area known as the Southern Uplands, are again different, which further suggests the band and complexity of Scotland’s rocks. Here clearly is found the remains of Iapetus Ocean where sediments that were at one time were on the ocean floor have essentially crumpled up and become attached to Scotland during the Caledonian orogeny. Here is found the remains of ancient sea creatures, graptolites and trilobites that were living in the ocean over four hundred million years ago. The Uplands themselves have a rounded characteristic that differentiates them sharply from the more rugged Highlands making clearly evident this unique contrast in geology.

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Country

19

Of the different terranes that eventually become Scotland the principal 5 are:

1. Southern Upland Terrane, bounded to the south by the so-called Iapetus suture through northern England and to the north by the Southern Upland Fault

2. Midland Valley Terrane, lying between the Southern Upland Fault and the Great Glen Fault

3. Grampian Highland Terrane between the Highland Boundary Fault and the Great Glen Fault

4. Northern Highland Terrane, bounded on the SE by the Great Glen Fault and to the NW by a fault with a shallow easterly dip, called the Moine Thrust

5. Hebridean Terrane to the west of the Moine Thrust, embracing the Outer Hebrides and a narrow strip of land .along the NW margin of the Scottish mainland.

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Siccar Point Siccar Point is a promontory in the county of Berwickshire on the east coast of Scotland famous in geological history for Hutton’s Unconformity, which was found in 1788 by James Hutton who considered the significantly angular unconformi-ty as conclusive proof of the uniformitarian theory of geological development in which is found sloping strata of three hundred and forty-five million year old Devonian old red sandstone overlying essentially vertical layers of four hundred and twenty-five million year old Silurian Grey-wacke.

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Earth The earth, or soil, of Scotand is relatively unique. For being a small country, its soil is quite diverse incorporating podzols, brown earths, gleys and organic peat soils: Podzols Found throughout the country but perhaps, more specifically, in the Southern Highlands, the broad Highlands and occasionally in the north and the Outer Hebrides. Podzols12 are widespread throughout the country, generally associated with semi-natural heaths or coarse grassland vegetation and coniferous woodland. Found at virtually all elevations, it is a deep organic layer comprising litter, fermenting organic material and humus. Brown earths Found in the northeast of Scotland along the borders of Fife and Angus and again, in the southeast, along the lowland border region and elsewhere. Brown earths, frequently referred to as brown forest soils, are well-drained brownish subsoils where iron oxides, which were created through the weathering process, are bonded to silicate clays. The characteristic of these soils is that it is surface horizon and usually relatively thin with organic material with a mineral matrix. It is brightly coloured subsoil with good structural development merging into bright coloured or coloured material from parent rock.

12 From the Russian pod = under and zola = ash.

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Gleys Soils found in the upper northeast of Caithness but broadly in a range from Fife through to the southwest of Ayrshire. This form of soil is also widespread throughout all of Scotland and was developed under conditions of intermittent or permanent waterlogging. The greyish or blue-grey colours and orange mottling are the characteristics of gley soils and are frequently of secondary origin replacing what was originally parent material, this being the result from the absence of very low level oxygen when iron compounds are charged chemically from their usually brown colours. The characteristics of the soil are its relativity to the surface holding high organic matter, which often has drab colours. Subsoils are of variable textures but generally blue-grey due to waterlogging, very definite blue-grey where ground water is present. Organic peat Also found throughout the country and most characteristically in the westerly isles. This is frequently referred to as peat deposits, which are organic soils with accumulations of partly or completely decomposed plant residues formed under anaerobic conditions. Generally speaking, these soils have greater than sixty per cent organic matter. Organic surface layers are greater than fifty centimetres deep with shallow peat areas with depths of organic matter between fifty and one hundred centimetres. Deep peat can extend through to more than a metre. Peat may be fibrous, semi-fibrous or amorphous according to the degree of decomposition. It is acidic when not associated with calcare-ous or base rich water. It has a low bulk density, a high water holding capacity and low load-bearing strength.

Of these soils, podzols are generally infertile and are physi-cally limiting for productive purposes. They are acid, of high C/N ratios and are lacking in most plant nutrients. If they were to be used for arable cropping, long-term fertilisation is requi-site. This soil may be used for grazing or for forestry. Brown earths, given the deep nature of this soil for free drainage and

Earth

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high levels of natural fertility, are successfully used for cultiva-tion. In Scotland, these soils are found in abundance at lower levels of the straths and glens of the Highlands and are cultivat-ed for fodder crops or support better quality grassland. Gleys require adequate drainage for proper agricultural utilisation and a degree of drainage for satisfactory tree growth. In humid upland areas of Scotland, these soils with peaty topsoils develop under moorland or simple blanket bog vegetation and provide for rough grazing or forestry. The organic peat soils have been traditionally used for arable cropping when adequately drained if the soil had a capacity to supply nitrogen, whilst retaining water and nutrients; however, continual cropping results in shrinkage and depletion of various physical and chemical properties. In its semi-natural state, peat provides grazing of relatively low quality with little other agricultural value.13

13 This was frequently used for fuel and acquired from land below four hundred metres and on upland sites was often used for low-quality grazing of sheep or deer.

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Hills Scotland’s highest mountains are known as Munros and are in excess of 3,000 feet in height. Between 2,500 and 3,000 feet are the Corbetts and between 2,000 and 2,500 feet, the Grahams. The Munros14 were first catalogued as being two hundred and thirty-six in number. At the present time, because of modern measuring techniques two hundred and eighty-four Munros have been charted and five hundred and eleven Tops, those being portions of ranges not judged as being individual moun-tains but areas of peaks above 3,000 feet.15 Top ten Munros are:

Ben Nevis: (4409 ft/1345 m; Ben Nevis Range) Ben Macdui: . (4295 ft/1309 m; Cairngorm range) Braeriach: (4252 ft/1296 m; Cairngorm range) Cairn Toul: (4236 ft/1291 m; Cairngorm range) Sgor an Lochain Uaine: (4236 ft/1258 m; Cairngorm range) Cairngorm: (4081 ft/1244 m; Cairngorm range) Aonach Beag: (4049 ft/1234 m; Nevis & Grey

Corries range)

14 Named after Sir Hugh T Munro, who produced a survey of the mountains above 3,000 feet (914.4 metres) in his first survey of 1891. 15 The first record Munro-bagger or climber to climb all known Munros over 3,000 feet was the Rev. A E Robertson in 1901, a feat that since that time has been replicated by, according to the Scottish Mountaineering Club, 2,800 individuals.