Evening star., 1932-11-27

VICE CudlIMau, NdtIonai Ta4by "a oSSeaeA4e'
r ONDON.-Eventsha have been march,
ing within recent weeks in those
widening circles which concern
IL themselves with the question OF
f-government for Scotland;
indeed, at no time in its history has
such an extraordinary degree of popu-
lar interest in this much-debated sub
ject been visible. Perhaps the best cri-
terion of the hold 1t has taken upon the
PUBLIC mind is the extensive space it
occupies in the newspapers of the great
cities, especially those which are Eng
lish-owned but which cultivate degree
of Scottish sentiment hitherto unknown
to local journals.
Within the last few days quite be-
Wildering activity has been apparent,
not only within Scottish Nationalist
circles, but in those which oppose them.
In the first place, the Duke of Mont
rose, who has for many years been
protagonist of Scottish home rule on
revolutionary lines, has now definitely
formed party Of "Moderates," of whom
the chief supporters are Scotsmen SO
well and favorably known as Sir Henry
Keith and Sir Alexander MacEwen, ex-
provost Of Inverness.
On the following day an influential
body of Scottish business men called a
meeting in Glasgow for November 13,
the purpose of which was to initiate a
non-party movement to oppose by all
constitutional means any measure of
self-government for Scotland.
Nationalist Candidates Defeated.
Side by side with the report of these
meetings were published the results Of
the municipal elections held through
out Scotland on November l, which re-
vealed that not one of the 18 Scot
tish Nationalist candidates put forward
for election by the Scottish National
party had been returned. To those not
conversant with the situation reverse
so crushing would seem to indicate a
strong public aversion to the self
government policy and cause.
That IS not so, however, for even the
Scotsman, Edinburgh Conservative Or
gan, which formerly was extremely hos
tile to the movement, but which re-
Gently has evinced a certain friendly
interest in it, admits that Scottish ma
tional demands were not in issue at
this election, the main consideration OF
reasonable electors being to keep the
Socialist representation low in order to
prevent municipal extravaganza"
Controversy circles chiefly around
the National party of Scotland and its
recently published manifesto. The
party was formed in 1928 from existing
bodies of patriotic tendency, the Scot
tish National Movement, the Scots Ma
tional League, the Scottish Home Rule
Association and the Glasgow University
Nationalist Association In the Autumn
Of that year its president, r. B. Cum
ninghame Graham, a writer of repute
and author of many works on the
Spanish conquest of America, stood as
a Scottish Nationalist candidate for the
lord rectorship of Glasgow University,
an honor he failed to achieve merely
by handful Of votes, but which has
since been secured by Compton Mac
kenzie, novelist and one of the leaders
of the National party.
Separate Parliament Envisaged.
The manifesto In question was in
tended to dissipate those misunder-
standings which had been rife concern
ing its policy The party, 1t states, was
founded, "as the result of repeated fail
ures of the English h-controlled parties to
obtain any measure of self-govern-
ment." It envisages Scotland as "a free
member of the British Commonwealth
Of Nations" with separate Parliament.
suggests cooperative control Of foreign
policy by future English and Scottish
! Parliaments, the coordination of the
defense forces Of the two countries "as