Lest We Forget...

[Arlen]

You know, I've studied all the why and how and who about all the Jacobite risings since I was just a wee boy and the only thing I have to say no in the face of SNP, BNP or just interested parties is this:
'Men on both sides fought and died to protect what they believed was right for their country and family. What happened afterwards was ethnic cleansing and it was not O.K. But the men who died on both sides should be treated with the respect and admiration they deserved.'

Lest we forget.

[macwilkin]

You know, I've studied all the why and how and who about all the Jacobite risings since I was just a wee boy and the only thing I have to say no in the face of SNP, BNP or just interested parties is this:
'Men on both sides fought and died to protect what they believed was right for their country and family. What happened afterwards was ethnic cleansing and it was not O.K. But the men who died on both sides should be treated with the respect and admiration they deserved.'

Lest we forget.

Arlen,

Hear, Hear! I think you've summed it up very nicely. Here endeth the lesson.

T.

[highlander_Daz]

Every man and women with scots blood in thier veins owes a debt to the fallen of Culloden, they believed in the cause they were fighting, and would not deny it even in defeat. lions led by a donkey.

[Panache]

You know, I've studied all the why and how and who about all the Jacobite risings since I was just a wee boy and the only thing I have to say no in the face of SNP, BNP or just interested parties is this:
'Men on both sides fought and died to protect what they believed was right for their country and family. What happened afterwards was ethnic cleansing and it was not O.K. But the men who died on both sides should be treated with the respect and admiration they deserved.'

Lest we forget.

Arlen,

Well said!

Cheers

Jamie

[Warhoover]

Arlen,

I echo Jamie and Todd's sentiments. Very well said!!

[Raptor]

I also echo Arlen's sentiments. I also totally agree with "the clansmen payed the price for other's ambitions". Soldiers have done that since the year dot
Still, "no-one loves a soldier until the enemy's at the gate". On a more positive note though: although the clearances were reprehensible, if they hadn't happened, we would not now have a truly international community of kilt-wearing, haggis-eating real men. Cheers guys, brothers all!

[An t-Ileach]

Culloden was the greatest tragedy that happened on the UK mainland in historic time, in my belief.

In the aftermath both Loyalists and Jacobites among the Highlanders suffered equally: let's remember also that on 1 August this year is the 260th Anniversary of the Act banning the wearing of the tartan, the kilt, trews, cross belts, and the carrying of weapons in the Highlands. Any man or boy found guilty was sentenced to six months imprisonment without bail on a first offence, and transportation for seven years to north America on a second offence.

Many people fought for Prince Charles Edward who were not actually anti-Hannoverian or even emotional Jacobites, but out of some complicated idea of clan duty and allegiance.

Charles Edward Stuart was a disaster, and a complete waste of space. Even so, having picked the wrong site for the battle, if he'd listened to Murray the day would have been saved - but he was too arrogant for that.

It is said that while the Highlanders were waiting for the mist to clear they sang Psalm 120 (a very melancholy psalm: and I wonder who was the Precentor?). So in the spirit of remembrance, I dedicate these, the first and last verses of the Psalm, to our ancestors who fought and suffered:

Salm/Psalm 120

Am èiginn ghlaodh mi suas ri Dia;
is dh’èisd e rium gach ré.
On teangaidh chealgaich, m’anam saor;
‘s o bheul nam breug, a Dhè.

In my distress to God I cry’d.
and he gave ear to me.
From lying lips and guileful tongue,
O Lord, my soul set free.

Rinn m’anam còmhnaidh fhada bhuan
le neach thug fuath do shìth.
Gu cogadh tha iad togarrach;
air sìth ‘n tràth labhras mi.

My soul with him that hateth peace
hath long a dweller been.
I am for peace; but when I speak,
for battle they are keen.

Saor Alba

And I'm a member of Partaidh Iomart na h-Alba (the Scottish Enterprise Party).

[auld argonian]

Yeah, but no Clearances, no significant emmigration, no Scottish diaspora spreading the culture and ideals through the New World.

I heard an African American scholar (can't recall his name just now) on NPR a few weeks ago who had a similar angle re the slave trade...as brutal and regretable as it was, if it hadn't happened it'd be a very different world, the USA would be a very different country and (his opinion) he felt that he'd probably be sitting somewhere on the African Continent doing something other than being a prof at a big university.

You can't second guess history but you can conjecture that there might not be a United States if not for the Scottish emigrees...

Best

AA

[Doc]

Well said Arlen. And I echo everyones sentiment, lest we forget.

[McClef]

One of the best writers about both Culloden and also the Highland Clearances is John Prebble.

Highly recommended for those interested in studying such sad periods in Scottish history.