I came
across this publication which looks to be a monthly
publication but have only discovered the first two
volumes which I bring you here. Here is what they say in
the first issue..
WHY WE
START "THE THISTLE"
IN
bringing The Thistle before the notice of the Scottish
people, it is only fitting that we should give some
reason for so doing. We hold that it is not only
desirable, but necessary that there should be a literary
organ exclusively devoted to Scottish affairs—to the
maintenance of Scottish National Rights; and more
especially to the preservation of the National Honour of
Scotland. Owing to the wave of materialism which during
the last half century has submerged and obscured much of
the fine old Scottish pride and spirit, the progress of
Anglicisation has been considerable; and though a check
has lately been given to that movement, yet it seems to
us that the efforts of Scottish patriots would be
greatly advanced and strengthened, if they had a cheap
and popular organ for the dissemination of their views,
and for communing with each other for the purpose of
defending their country and their nationality against
English arrogance and English injustice and aggression.
Such an organ of opinion is all the more necessary,
owing to the unprecedented action of our present
monarch. That personage — the head of the British Empire
— whose duty it is to hold the scales ofjustice even, as
between the three kingdoms and the four peoples over
whom he rules—England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales—has
thought fit to sully his high position by taking part in
the unjust aggressions of England against his ancient
kingdom of Scotland. In such action he has violated the
constitution of the United Kingdom, and has thus proved
himself to be a creator of disaffection to his person,
and even of disloyalty to the British throne.
But even more dangerous to Scottish national honour than
this ebullition of royal spleen against Scotland is the
deep-set and persistent policy of the vast majority of
the English people to submerge the name of Scotland in
the name of England, and to treat the Scottish people as
if they were subjects of England. Kings, after all, can
only strut their little time on the world's stage, while
a people like that of Scotland, so long as they maintain
their national honour, will for ever hold their own in
the stream of history. But this is what the brutal
English majority in the United Kingdom seems determined
to prevent. The national rights and the national honour
of Scotland, as clearly and unmistakably defined by the
Treaty of Union of 1706, are, if maintained in their
integrity, an insuperable obstacle to the unjust and
arrogant attempt of England to assert herself as the
sole representative of the British—or as she would like
to term it—the English Empire. Such an unblushing
attempt to degrade the Scottish race, by treating them
as if they were a subject people, must be resisted at
all hazards.
On this point there will be no compromise on the part of
The Thistle. Its policy on this point may be stated in a
few words—we would rather see Scotland robbed or
plundered annually by England of many millions sterling
than pay a pound a year to her by way of tribute. A
people may be ruthlessly deprived annually of many
millions sterling, and still be able to hold a high
position amongst the nations. But let them tamely give
up their national honour, and they at once become a
subject and a servile race, whose place in history is
one of gloom and of degradation.
Are Scotsmen going quietly to submit to such a fate? We
think not without persistent and determined resistance.
To give voice then to those Scottish patriots at home
and abroad — male and female — who hold such views, and
who are determined, at all hazards, to maintain the
honour of their country, The Thistle, as a monthly
magazine, has been started, and now appeals for support
to the Scottish people. It appears in a very plain and
modest guise, and its cost—one shilling a
year—practically places it within the reach of every
member of the Scottish race. It is intended to be the
mouthpiece — not of the Scottish nobility, for, with a
few honourable exceptions, they have become Anglicised—not
of the Scottish commercial or professional classes, for
they, to a large extent, have during the last generation
basely given themselves up to materialism—but of the
Scottish commonalty, who in all the critical stages of
Scottish history have been the surest and most stalwart
defenders of the liberty and the honour of Scotland. For
such a class The Thistle will speak with no uncertain
sound. Its aim will be not only to defend, but also to
attack; and whether the violators of Scottish rights be
English commoners, English nobles, or the monarch on the
throne, The Thistle will not shrink from censure, or be
slow to criticise or attack. Such a policy of offence,
as well as of defence, is now absolutely necessary for
the Scottish people. For the sake of peace and goodwill
towards their English fellow-subjects, they have for the
last two or three generations quietly submitted to
English encroachments on their national honour, till the
cry arose among the offenders: "We have absorbed
Scotland" — "Scotland is now practically an English
province." But though National Sentiment may for a time
be quiescent, it never dies when it has such a glorious
history to give life to it as Scotland has.
She stands proudly pre-eminent among the nations of the
modern world as the staunch and unswerving upholder of
freedom for many centuries against apparently
overwhelming odds. And though the attack on her
independence and her good name is not now by force of
arms, but by chicanery, by perfidy and by political
injustice, it is on that account none the less
dangerous. For it has been well said, that "Eternal
vigilance is the price of "Liberty." Scottish patriots,
then, must recognise the change in the conditions of the
fight against English aggression. They must be forever
on the alert. Their position is impregnable, if they
will only manfully defend it. To maintain this defence,
there must be unity of action among representative
Scotsmen; not only in Scotland, but throughout the
Empire. To secure such unity is one of the chief aims of
The Thistle. Through its pages, information can be
conveyed, and above all, ideas can be interchanged
between patriotic Scots in all parts of the Empire. Such
an interchange will have an important effect on the
issue of the Campaign against English injustice and
English aggression. Nay, more, the time is coming when
the Scots abroad will exercise a most important
influence on the destiny of the Empire. But this
important aspect of the question will have to be dealt
with in a future issue.
Volume 1 (1908-9) |
Volume 2 (1910) |