The Aims of Sc ottish Nationalism
rrHERE is one voice which, curiously enough, will not be heard at the approaching Imperial Con- ference. Scotland, though recognized as a unit of the Empire at the sports held at Hamilton, Ontario, is for the graver matters of imperial statesmanship non- existent. It will, of course, be pointed out that her silence in Empire councils is less real than apparent and that, in fact, the chief representative of Great Britain is a Scot. Yet it remains a trifle odd that Scotland, who has contributed out of all proportion to her size in building up the great Dominions, should find herself denied a separate voice in an assembly where her grown-up daughters speak.
Without seeking to elevate this anomaly to the status of a national grievance, it may serve as starting point for an inquiry into a Scottish concern which is not without bearing on the constitutional future of the Empire. Most English people are unaware—and some Scots would like to forget—that there is such a thing as a Scottish national movement. Yet the Scottish National Party has doubled its numbers within the last year and has now not far short of six thousand members. In one town known to me, the local branch of the party has grown from thirty to a hundred and thirty in the last six months. In several districts it has more members than the local Conservative Party. Wherever he goes in Scotland the intelligent observer will see the party badge being worn--usually, and significantly, by young men in the twenties. Though the voting power of the party is still negligible, it is nevertheless a fact that in the Shettleston by-election it polled three times as many votes as in North Midlothian sixteen months earlier.
If it has not got any further, then, Scottish political nationalism has at least reached a stage of development when it is no longer a laughing-stock. Why it should have come into existence at all may well be a matter of puzzlement to Englishmen. Scotland is not in a position analogous to that of Ireland ; in the mere fact of associa- tion with England there is nothing that injures national pride. On the other hand there is believed to be a Scottish incidence of certain grave problems which calls for a distinct Scottish legislature. More important still, though less articulate, there is an instinctive feeling that Scotland has something of her own to contribute to the thought and culture of the world and that she cannot realize this urgent inner need without the resumption of a considerable degree of self-control.
Various pinpricks have served to remind her that the working of the honourable partnership with England has not been without disadvantages for her. When the venerable Mr. Lansbury determined that the new Govern- ment buildings on the famous Calton site in Edinburgh were to be an Office of Works job," he contributed more than he knew to Scottish intransigence. It was felt that, if there was to be an important complex of national buildings in the Scottish capital, it ought to be by Scottish architects in a Scottish style. The characterless competence of 'a provincial post. office seems Scarcely adequate to the dignity of a national capital. Similarly, the poverty, shabbiness and overcrowding of the Scottish
museums (for which the officials are not to blame) has been a source of annoyance to Scots- who have seen the magnificent museums in smaller and poorer countries. When Sir Alexander Grant gave the money which acquired the Scottish National Library there were those who asked why private munificence should do what it was the duty of the State to do. When the Treasury refused a grant of a few pounds to buy new tabards for the Scottish heralds, a Glasgow business man bought them. An insignificant incident, but extraordinarily irritating to Scottish sentiment. Scotland seemed to be a nation run by charity. However, these things would not have attracted any attention if there had not been already a powerful recrudescence of national consciousness.
What is it that the Scottish Nationalists want ? The question is one that Scotsmen as well as Englishmen may reasonably ask, for the National Party has appeared somewhat reluctant to descend from the exalted plane of patriotic emotion to the commonplace task of providing a feasible alternative to the present union. It should be said to their credit that they make no bones about rejecting the paltry half-measures of Devolution and do not claim the virtual independence which would be implied in Dominion Status. They recognize that time position of Scotland, geographically, economically, and historically, is unique and that no argument from Ireland or Canada has relevance. Whatever happens, Scotland must be in a special relationship to England, closer than that of the other components of the Empire. So far, then, Scottish nationalism is perfectly logical and realist. The present union is to be replaced by a federal union, with the joint concerns, such as defence and Crown colonies, administered by federal organs.
But here an unfortunate confusion seems to creep into Nationalist thought. There is an insistence on " complete national sovereignty," that ancient legal will o' the wisp, which is hard to reconcile with the effective control of federal matters by a federal machinery. Joint councils are to be set up to control the Navy, the Crown colonies and so forth, yet sovereignty is to remain with the Scottish Parliament. How the two portions of this sentence can be brought into conformity with one another passes the comprehension of the present writer. Yet this is probably because the machinery proposed by the Nationalists is clumsy and lacking in elaborateness and flexibility. After all, there have been federal unions before now which have worked with tolerable success ; The Dual Monarchy did not fall asunder because it was dual and federal but because it was not federal enough ! At the present time, without any machinery at all, the British Empire contrives to maintain fairly well an unbroken front in questions of foreign policy. Possibly the most fruitful line of thought for Scottish Nationalists would be to imagine the first steps which any one of the Dominions would take if it wished to bring itself into a closer union with Great Britain. And, in the meantime, they might devote a little less of their thoughts to sovereignty, that outmoded legal myth, lest they lose sight of reality in the pursuit of a shadow.
It is all the more necessary that there should be a clear lead given on the constitutional problem since the National Party very properly makes it the sole plank on its platform. To what extent a party with a single objective can cut across the well-defined party lines in Scotland remains to be seen. At present, the recruits for nationalism come from the Conservative and Liberal parties and not from Labour. Its comparative failure to win the working classes may tempt it to abandon its neutrality on all issues except that of self-government. And, indeed, it can truthfully be said that few countries in Europe are more in need of a vigorous policy of economic rehabilitation than Scotland. She suffers more than most others from the evil of unbridled industrialism without the necessary counterbalance of a large and healthy rural reservoir of population. Much more than England, Scotland needs a large-scale scheme of afforestation. The excellent, unobtrusive work being done by the Forestry Commission could be speeded up and operated in conjunction with a determined development of land settlement. It is a little unfortunate that the work of afforestation should be so entirely a Government affair and that so little should have been done to capture the imagination of the people as a whole for it. Planting in populous areas suffers from the depredations of the local youth, a deplorable fact which suggests that through the schools something might be done to make the stricken, countryside of Scotland a reality for its all-too-urban children. No one would pretend that afforestation in itself is a solution of the problem, but it does offer a substantial contribution. And Scotland has a smaller margin of time than her southern neighbour in which to readjust her national economy. G. M. T.
Previous page
