Scotland ceased to exist as a nation by the act of union, May 1st,
1707. As occasions have been so rare in the world's history when a
nation has voluntarily abdicated its sovereignty and ceased to exist
by its own free act, it would be too much to say that Lord
Belhaven's speech against surrendering Scotch nationality was worthy
of so remarkable a scene as that presented in he Scotch Parliament
when, soon after its opening, November 1st, 1706, he rose to make the
protest which immortalized him.
Smollet belongs more properly to another generation, but the feeling
against the union was rather exaggerated than diminished between the
date of its adoption and that of his poem, 'The Tears of Scotland,'
into the concluding stanza of which he has condensed the passion
which prompted Belhaven's protest:--
"While the warm blood bedews my veins
And unimpaired remembrance reigns,
Resentment of my country's fate
Within my filial heart shall beat,
And spite of her insulting foe,
My sympathizing verse shall flow;--
'Mourn, helpless Caledonia, mourn,
Thy banished peace, thy laurels torn!'"
If there is nothing in Belhaven's oration which equals this in
intensity, there is power and pathos, as well as Ciceronian syntax,
in the period: "Hannibal, my lord, is at our gates; Hannibal is come
within our gates; Hannibal is come the length of this table; he is
at the foot of this throne; if we take not notice he'll seize upon
these regalia, he'll take them as our _spolia_ _opima_, and whip us
out of this house, never to return."
It is unfortunate for Belhaven's fame as an orator that his most
effective passages are based on classical allusions intelligible at
once to his audience then, but likely to appear pedantic in times
when Latin has ceased to be the "vulgar tongue" of the educated, as
it still was in the Scotland of Queen Anne's time.
The text of his speech here used is from 'The Parliamentary
Debates,' London 1741.
A PLEA FOR THE NATIONAL LIFE OF SCOTLAND (Delivered 1706 in the
Scotch Parliament)