Note:
This statement was originally prepared for use within the United
Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and
other international organisations when the question of Scotland’s
exercise of the right to self-determination was raised there.
Scotland’s status as a nation is one of the key aspects to be
considered by the national and international authorities, who are
generally not very well informed on the subject, when the question
arises of diplomatic recognition of an autonomous Scottish state. It
is therefore written with a foreign readership in mind, and it
emphasises the points that will make the Scottish case in
international diplomatic circles.
The
expression "people", as tentatively defined by the United Nations
Organisation, denotes a social entity possessing a clear identity
and its own characteristics as well as a lengthy common experience,
and it implies a relationship with a territory. These are the basic
elements of a definition for the purpose of establishing whether
such a social entity is a “people” fit to enjoy and exercise the
right of self-determination. The expression "nation" implies a
somewhat more highly developed stage of social cohesion and
organisation.
The
Scottish qualifications are absolutely unchallengeable on both
counts. The basic ethnic component of the Scottish Nation is a
fusion of three related Celtic peoples, with later minor infusions
of Viking, Flemish and other Germanic blood, especially in the small
south-eastern corner of the country. This composition has remained
predominant right to the present day, because the demographic
movement has overwhelmingly consisted of a movement of population
from Scotland, the only major inward movement until very recent
times having been extensive immigration by the closely related
Celtic Irish. Other recent ethnic immigrants have not altered this
composition to the same extent. Three languages are spoken in the
country to this day.
No
nation in the world is entirely “pure”, in the sense of consisting
of only one ethnic group, with the possible exception of a native
tribe in some remote part of the globe. The decisive factor is the
predominant ethnic element in its composition, the assimilation of
incomers to its culture, and the distinctiveness of its way of life.
The Scottish people have been fused together over the centuries
from distinct elements to become a unique whole unlike any other.
The
Scottish Nation has occupied its national territory throughout its
entire history, for there has never been any other occupant of the
land since prehistoric times. Geographically, Scotland is almost an
island. It has around 10,000 kilometres of coastline with 130
inhabited islands, and a mere 150 kilometres of land frontier - and
that runs for most of its length over uninhabitable mountainous
country. There are only two main land routes into and out of the
country, on the east and west coasts, as if Scotland were joined to
a neighbouring island by two causeways.
This
geographical distinctiveness is underlined by the nature of
Scotland’s topography, with settlements to a great extent
concentrated in narrow river valleys, on islands, along the
coastline and the shores of fjords, with vast areas of uninhabitable
mountainous country in between. Scotland is in fact a detached part
of Scandinavia – something that is borne out by its geological
history, which is totally different from that of England to the
south. England, where communications radiate out in all directions,
is a detached part of continental Europe.
This
distinctive geographical situation, and the climate of a land
extending from 54° 38’ to 60° 51’ north of the equator, is what
determines Scotland’s geo-economic and hence geo-political
situation. There is no more clearly defined geographical, and hence
economic, social and cultural entity than Scotland. Consequently,
Scotland will remain a natural base unit of political organisation
for all the foreseeable future.
The
Scottish people are one of the most ancient nations in Europe, with
one and a half thousand years of shared experience as a political
unit, during which time they have lived continuously within the
bounds of their present national territory. While recent
archaeological research indicates a history going back for thousands
of years, the written historical evidence shows that the Scottish
kingdom was founded by Fergus Mor around the year 500 AD. According
to the first record of the formal inauguration of a monarch, Aedan
mac Gabhran was consecrated King of Scots by St. Columba in the year
574 AD. The Declaration of Arbroath of the year 1320 states that
Scotland had till that date been governed by "an uninterrupted
succession of 113 kings, all of our own native and royal stock,
without the intervening of any stranger". Scotland was a united
kingdom by the early 9th century, with the union of the Picts and
Scots under King Kenneth I, some 200 years before neighbouring
England.
The
present border between Scotland and England was finally established
during the Middle Ages, almost exactly on the line of the frontier
between the Roman province of Britannia (now England) and the
unconquered territory of Caledonia (now Scotland). This is the line
at which opposing forces have balanced out down through the ages.
The Scotland-England border was definitively fixed by the Treaty of
York, concluded in 1237 between Alexander II, King of Scots, and
Henry III, King of England. Scotland thereby gave up all claims to
territory south of that border. Some minor adjustments were made by
agreement in 1552, but otherwise the line agreed in 1273, running
from the middle of the Solway Firth in the west to the mouth of the
River Tweed in the east, has never been altered, and to this day it
remains the border between the Scottish and English legal
jurisdictions. The 1706 Treaty of Union between Scotland and England
and the subsequent Scottish and English ratifying Acts of Union all
lay down that the jurisdiction of the Scottish courts may not be
altered, notwithstanding the Union.
The
only border issue comparable with similar cases in Europe concerns
the town of Berwick upon Tweed, the strategically situated Scottish
border town that was occupied by English troops in 1482 in an act of
military aggression with no constitutional force. The Scottish king,
James IV, who was anxious to marry the new English king Henry VII’s
daughter, bowed to superior force and, in the 1502 Treaty of
Perpetual Peace with England, agreed that Berwick would continue to
be administered by England, while specifically remaining a part of
Scotland. This curious mediaeval anachronism has never been
corrected, not even long after Berwick ceased to have any military
importance, and it remains the situation to this day. Berwick upon
Tweed is still under English administration, but the purely
administrative boundary at Lamberton, 4 kilometres to the north of
the town, has no constitutional significance. The Scotland-England
border at this point is still the mouth of the River Tweed, as it
has remained legally for almost eight centuries, and is the starting
point for Scotland’s marine border. At no time has Berwick ever been
transferred to England.
The
factor that makes Scotland's claim of right to self-determination
different from almost all others is that its participation within
the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is
not based on conquest or other form of assimilation, but on a treaty
under international law as well as two acts of parliament that
ratified and implemented the treaty. These measures can, of course,
legally be rescinded at any time, since the circumstances that led
to their conclusion now no longer prevail, and the disadvantages
arising out of the present political structure are becoming daily
more obvious. The elected Scottish Parliament and Government are
completely competent to negotiate such a withdrawal from the treaty.
Scotland has a quite unique history of its own. It possesses its own
highly distinctive legal and educational systems. The roll call of
Scots who have achieved worldwide fame in the fields of learning,
and the lists of their discoveries and inventions, would fill
volumes. The Church of Scotland is Presbyterian, in the Calvinist
tradition, but the Catholic and other Christian denominations are
equally distinctive in character, springing as they all do from the
early Celtic Church.
Almost
all of Scotland's other national institutions are equally
distinctive. Scots law is based on totally different principles from
those of the legal system of the rest of the United Kingdom, and is
more akin to continental European systems in its reception of Roman
law. Scotland had a system of compulsory school education from the
late 15th century, when its earliest universities were founded. The
Scottish Enlightenment had widespread international effects.
Scottish constitutional ideas inspired both the American and French
revolutions. The writings of the philosopher David Hume were the
foundation for the Constitution of the United States and its
numerous progeny around the world. Adam Smith founded the science of
political economy, Adam Ferguson that of sociology. In the natural
sciences James Clerk Maxwell is regarded as the equal of Albert
Einstein. Scotland was a cradle of the industrial revolution, when
the steam engine developed by James Watt revolutionised the world.
The list of Scottish scientific achievements is endless: anaesthetic
surgery, the bicycle, the telephone, television, radar, penicillin
and countless others. The Scottish financial institutions are among
the largest in the world.
Few
people will fail to be aware of the highly distinctive Scottish
national dress; even the Roman writers two thousand years ago
described the checked tartan patterns of the clothing worn by their
unconquerable adversaries, the Caledonians. Many countries share the
bagpipe as a musical instrument, but nowhere was it brought to such
a pitch of perfection as in Scotland, which is unique in possessing
a large repertoire of classical music for it. The Scots share their
heritage of Celtic graphic art with their Irish cousins, but in
music, dance, literature, architecture and many another field the
Scottish culture is absolutely unique in the world. On an
international scale, Scotland is one of the few custodians of
Europe's ancient Celtic heritage, the preservation of which is a
matter that concerns all the peoples of the continent.
The
ancient crown insignia of the Kingdom of Scots, the Honours of
Scotland, which can be seen in Edinburgh Castle, testify to one of
the oldest monarchies in the world. The State Crown is so ancient
that its date of manufacture is unknown, although it was remodelled
in 1540 for King James V. It was certainly in existence when the
reigning Popes presented the State Sceptre and the Sword of State to
James IV, King of Scots, in 1494 and 1505 respectively. The historic
Parliament House in Edinburgh, completed in 1639, and now the seat
of the Scottish supreme courts of law, indicates the country's
lengthy tradition of democratic government in a national Assembly,
for which the word "Parlament" was used by a chronicler as early as
the year 1174 under William I, King of Scots – the first time in
history it has been recorded as a designation for a legislative
Assembly.
Scotland's claim of right to self-determination was first raised at
international level almost seven centuries ago, when the Declaration
of Arbroath was sent in 1320 to the Pope - the then international
authority - by the Scottish leaders in the name of "the whole
community of the realm of Scotland". It was not an appeal for
independence, but an assertion by a people who had been independent
since their origins in the mists of history that they were under no
circumstances prepared to give up that status for subservience to an
aggressor. This important constitutional document confirmed the
sovereignty of the people over the institutions of state, and
unequivocally asserted the independence of the Scottish Nation, as
the following extract makes clear:
"But if
this Prince (Robert I, King of Scots)...shall consent that we or our
kingdom be subjected to the king or people of England, we will
immediately exert ourselves to expel him, as our enemy and as the
subverter both of his own rights and of ours, and we will make
another king who will defend our liberties.
For so
long as one hundred of us remain alive we will never consent to
subject ourselves to the dominion of the English. We fight not for
glory, or riches, or honours, but for freedom alone, which no good
man will relinquish, except with his life."
No
other nation in the world possesses a more inspiring declaration of
independence. Moreover, its constitutional principles, which have
been reinforced over the centuries by Scottish constitutional and
legal writers, are fully in accord with modern concepts of
democracy.
It cannot, therefore, be asserted that the Scots are
not a distinctive people within the meaning of the United Nations
definition. They have established their unassailable right to
self-determination, and to such degree of self-government as they
themselves freely decide to assume without external interference. We
anticipate that Scotland's rights in this respect will be
unequivocally confirmed and upheld by the international community in
Europe and the world, in accordance with the United Nations Bill of
Human Rights, the Helsinki Final Act and the other relevant
instruments by which all participating states are bound.
Philosophical
Societies in the Scottish Enlightenment
By Marta Śliwa (2018) (pdf)