for the sole purpose of informing you, as Editor, that
the " Sidelight " article by Comp- ton Mackenzie in your issue of 11th December has horrified me as it must have shocked the great majority of loyal Scotsmen.
Sir Compton, whom I have considered one of our great and leading Scotsmen, appears to have lashed himself into a fury by his own verbosity and allowed his pen to run riot.
The Crown should be commended for acting with courage to nip in the bud a serious crime, when to ignore it might have been safer
for the responsible officers. The prosecution was conducted with manifest equity. The case
was proved against the prisoners and the punishment measured the turpitude or injury done.
Cullen was not an agent provocateur, which means one who approaches another to induce
the latter to commit an offence, with a view to reporting it for prosecution. He, on the contrary, was approached by the criminal and
at great personal risk led him on as the best means of helping the ends of justice, which is the duty of every honest citizen.
The police showed no vindictive spirit, but acted with great patience and courage in extremely difficult circumstances which might easily have proved dangerous. A crowd of 300 is not large, even for Edinburgh, and not all of them were hostile to the police, Edin- burgh does not represent Scotland in character or opinion.
It seems foolish to reiterate that the Scottish people as a whole want " home rule." They do not. They want a vastly improved and more economical system of local government. Scotland, if independent of England, would suffer serious loss, while united with England it becomes part of the most powerful kingdom of Great Britain, can always hold its own and take a predominant part in the administration of the United Kingdom.
Vanity and indiscipline are the answers to the sober Scotsman's question, What makes young men take up such schemes ? And those who try to magnify them into national heroes or martyrs are taking a serious responsibility.
Just to indicate my status, I would say that I was County Clerk of Ayrshire for thirty-seven years and held other public appointments. I am a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, etc.—Yours faithfully,
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