Evening star., 1940-07-15

Reader Tells About Scots
Reciprocal Citizenship
In Poris
10 the Editor Of The Star:
Not so new as at first appears was
Great Britain's offer OF union to France.
Back in the mid-1500s and for more than
q century thereafter Frenchmen and
Scots were citizens of their respective
countries. This unique reciprocal privi-
lege resulted from the marriage, in
1858, Of the Scottish sirl-Queen Mary
Stuart to the Dauphin Of France Scot
tish vessels paid no dues in French ports
and Scots resident in Paris were re-
lieved of the droit d'aubain. or tax on
aliens.
Enghnd, Of course. did not come into
the picture then. England and Scot
land were still separate nations. each
under its own sovereign. and the one
maintaining an Ambassador at the court
of the other. They did not unite to form
the United Kingdom Of Great Britain
for almost another so years. The first
king to come into the dual heritage was
James Stuart, only child Of the ill-fated
Mary and her second husband, Darnley.
He had ruled for Scotland for SO years
before he succeeded to the crown of
England, too, on the death of the VAL
liant Elizabeth in 1903.
To go back to his mother, however.
Mary was Is when she was married. be.
fore the doors OF Notre Dame Cathedral.
to the heir Of the powerful French mon
arch. Wearing q white robe embroi-
dered with the figure Of the lily, and gilt
tering with diamonds, she looked the
proverbial princess, we are told.
She was not newcomer to the France
that she loved so deeply to the end of
her tragic days. She had really been
evacuated" to that country before she
was years old. Ambitious Henry VIII
OF England wanted the promise of her
hand in marriage for his little son Ed
ward, but the regents, who had been
acting for Mary since she became Queen
at the age Of one week, preferred a
French alliance, and got her across the
Channel in secret.
Prior to the marriage Of Mary and
Francis, commissioners came from Scot
land to discuss important questions such
as succession. Had there been q son of
the union he would have inherited the
crown of Scotland as well as that of
France. A daughter would have been
Queen Of Scotland only, since French
law did not permit females to inherit
However, there were no children, and
history was spared the solving Of that
thorny question.
The year after the wedding the Dau
phin succeeded his father, becoming
Francis II Of France, and another wear
found him claimed by death. His young
widow. who had worn all-white mourning
for him. came back to Scotland and the
tragedies that lay along her future path.
OF the retinue that accompanied her
back from sunny France many estab-
hshed homes in the section of Edinburgh
that lies Immediately below the Castle
Rock. To this day 1t is called Little
France.
The friendship between France and
Scotland, one Of the oldest in history. is
attested by the presence in Scotland's
royal arms Of the fieur-de-lys. This
emblem Of France appears in the tres
sure or border inclosing scotland's lion
rampant.
The Scottish language is replete with
words OF French origin, unknown in any
other country. When Scots housewife
wants to arrange meat on a platter she
gets out an "ashet." The word is from
assiette, French for plate. She puts
"gigot" (leg) Of mutton on her shopping
list. without knowing perhaps that it is
a French word. Gooseberries are Just as
often called "grossets," derived. of
course, from the French "groseille. 4"
Dour, one of Scotland's characteristic
words, meaning taciturn, or dificult to
deal with, is first cousin to the French
adjective dur. meaning hard-and 30 on.
Some Of the oldest Scottish families
still hold French titles In token of serv-
ice rendered to that nation. The HAM
iltons. for instance, premier peers of
Scotland and hereditary keepers of Holy
rood Palace, are also Dukes of Chatel-
lerault in France.
1t was France that held out the hand
of hospitality when the Stuart kings
fell on evil days. France gave asylum,
in turn, to James II, who abdicated to
make way for William and Mary in
1888, and to his son and grandson.
And Scotland later repaid these kind
nesses to the Bourbons. When Count
d'Artois fled from the wrath of the
French revolution he found shelter in
the same Holyrood Palace that had
known the gay presence of Mary Stuart
and the brief but glamorous sojourn of
Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Moviegoers who recall the recent pre-
sentation Of Marie Antoinette" will re-
call Artois-slim and dapper and sar-
castle In his satin clothes. After wears
in Holyrood his fortunes took an upturn.
The Allies conquered Napoleon and Ar
tois joined the triumphal procession that
entered Paris In 1914. In due time he
succeeded his brother, Louis XVIII. in
the kingship. He reigned from 1924 to
1890 as Charles x. then he found his sun