The Stone of Scone
The squalid episode of the theft of the Coronation Stone would seem to be at an end. It only remains to identify definitely the stone left at Arbroath Abbey- on Wednesday. If it proves to be actually the Stone of Scone, it will no doubt be brought back first to Scotland Yard (its purloiners may find some satisfaction in that) and then to the place in Westminster Abbey from which it was removed on Christmas morning. As an undergraduate escapade, if that is what it turns out to be, in spite of the nationalist fervour with which the affair has been enveloped, the misappropriation of the stone may be held to have been remark- ably successful, in that it took the police weeks or months to get to the bottom of the affair. All the facts now seem to be in the hands of the authorities, who will decide in the light of them whether a prosecution is worth while. They may well come to the conclusion that further publicity would serve no useful purpose. It cannot be too strongly emphasised that this kind of melodramatic exploit can do nothing but harm to a Scottish Nationalist movement which has genuine claims to advance and has every right to be taken seriously. The relation- ship between England and Scotland within the framework of their common constitution has been put on no finally satisfactory basis. Scotland is entitled to more self-government than she enjoys, and both political parties at Westminster will do well in their own interests to give attention to that question.
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