Various modern established media have tried to belittle Scotland's
Bard and especially play down Burns desire for Scottish Independence.
Just as the Tory and Labour parties tried to claim that Sir William
Wallace fought for Scottish interests and the Scottish
identity (none of them could bring themselves to utter
Wallace's true cause - INDEPENDENCE), so too they have tried to
play down Robert Burns nationalist spirit.
Burns, was employed latterly by the state as an exciseman, and
undoubtedly received veiled threats concerning his political writings,
indeed at one stage in 1794 he was threatened with the charge
of sedition. To this end Burns started to temper his writing and
even wrote letters and article under assumed names.
Can anyone question the cultural and economic nationalism of a
man who penned the following ? A man for whom Liberty, Freedom
and National Identity meant so much ?
"Alas, I have often said to myself what are the boasted
advantages which my country reaps from a certain Union that counterbalance
the annihilation of her Independence, and even her name !"
"This morning I knelt at the tomb of Sir John the Graham, the gallant friend of the immortal Wallace; and two hours ago I said a fervent prayer for old Caledonia over the hole in a blue whinstone, where Robert de Bruce fixed his royal standard on the banks of Bannockburn:"
Read on and find the famous lines of 'Such a Parcel O' Rogues in a Nation'. A comment which finds its modern parallels with the current behaviour of Scotland's ruling classes and their Tory and Labour hirelings.
Inspired by the French Revolution, Burns penned 'The Tree of Liberty', and his famous international words of egalitarianism forever immortalised in 'For A' That and A' That'.
And finally, a brief extract from 'Scots Wha Hae',
an anthem to the struggles that secured Scottish Independence
in the 13th Century.
SUCH A PARCEL O' ROGUES IN A NATION
Fareweel to a' our Scotish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory;
Fareweel even to the Scotish name,
Sae fam'd in martial story!
Now Sark rins o'er the Solway sands,
And Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark whare England's province stands,
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!
What force or guile could not subdue,
Thro' many warlike ages,
Is wrought now by a coward few,
For hireling traitors' wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valor's station;
But English gold has been our bane,
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!
O would, or I had seen the day
That treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay,
Wi Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour,
I'll mak this declaration;
We're bought and sold for English gold,
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!
(Parcel
of Rogues in a Nation)
Is there, for honest Poverty
That hings his head, and a' that;
The coward-slave, we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, and a' that,
Our toils obscure, and a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, and a' that.
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,
A Man's a Man for a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, and a' that;
The honest man, though e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie ca'd, a lord,
Wha struts, and stares, and a' that,
Though hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,
His ribband, star and a' that,
The man of independant mind,
He looks and laughs at a' that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, and a' that;
But an honest man's aboon his might,
Gude faith he mauna fa' that!
For a' that, and a' that,
Their dignities, and a' that,
The pith o' Sense, and pride o' Worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a' that,
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree, and a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,
Its comin yet for a' that,
That Man to Man the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
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