THE SECRET OF THE SCOT.
[To THE EDITOR OF THY " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—In " The Secret of the Scot " the Sp•ctator remarked that Scotsmen were not pioneers, and did not possess the sort of enterprise for the task. A correspondent, " W. B. W.," called your attention last week to a respectable list of Scottish pioneers, provoking the editorial note," We did not mean to use ' pioneer' in the sense of geographical explorer, but in that of the men who first break ground in a new country." The usual fate of a particular instance that challenges a general statement is to be dismissed discreetly as " the exception that proves the rule." I quote a particular instance which may prove your rule or otherwise, but I fancy that there are more of the kind than you suspect. When Sir Stamford Raffles hoisted the British flag on the island of Singapore in 1819 there was a native population of under two hundred, The man who first broke ground there and laid the foundationof the great commerce of Singapore, which is now a rich Imperial asset, was Mr. A. L. Johnston, a Scot, and hard upon his heels came not a few " brither Scots." If there are more of such instances you are almost sure to hear of them, for, quite unintentionally as I believe, you have challenged the Scot on a point with regard to which his patriotic pride or vanity is extremely sensitive. Let me add that Scots and English were not on equal terms in pioneer work until 1707, and that the Darien fiasco must not be quoted as evidence of Scottish incompetence, since the political situation of the day forced both England and Spain to oppose Scottish interests in the Isthmus.-1 am, Sir, &c ,
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