THE SCOTS IN FRANCE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 253, 4 December 1914, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE SCOTS IN FRANCE.

As ono scans the closely printed pages ol the History of Scotland, the presence of the Scottish regimuits in the fighting line of Europe to-day seems to possess a full*r significance. It is suggestive of the old days of the FrancoScottish League. For the present is by no mwuis ho first, occasion on which tho gallant sons of Scotland have taken up arms and participated in Continental warfare in the cause of France.

THE SCOTTISH ENTENTE. Right down through the ages—particularly from the twelfth century—one traces the power exerted by the strong military compact that existed between the two nations. It is stirangc vo associate the sturdy warriors of the north with the polished little soldier of the south. Yet the sons of these two peoples, differing so widely in temperament and in character, have gone to war together and struggled and fought side by side in the days of the past. Tho esteem in which these north men were held in France is readily acknowledged by the French kings composing their bodyguards of them. It will be remembered how Sir Walter Scott wove these Scotsmen of the French Court into his historical romance "Quentin Durward." Again and again the "auld alliance" was ratified and acted Ui>on.

THE SCOTS COLLEGE. i

The influence of France upon Scotland, however, was not confined to tho world of polities and the field of battle. While our soldiers were engaged in warfare, our scholars were being educated (says a Scottish writer) on the Continent, chiefly in France at the University of Paris. In these far-off days the clergy were our teachers and chroniclers, our musicians and they \sv\-c the architects of our nation, and their work was decidedly influenced by their early instruction in the seminaries of France. In 1326 the Scots College in Paris was founded by David, Bishop of Moray, and, it is interesting to note, the University of Paris itself has had no fewer than * eighteen principals who were Scotsmen a splendid record that speaks well of the intimacy existing between the two nations. Our great national institutes did not suffer from the power exerted by the French. The old Scots Parliament was moulded after the French system, and many other relics o? these old days exist in the law court procedure and tlie religious government of Scotland that remind us of our ally. The people of Scotland owe a deep debt of gratitude to Franco for the civilising and refining influence she exerted in the dark clays of ignorance and strife, and we are proud that we now .stand so firmlv by the "auld ally" in this time of crisis through which the nations of Europe at present are passing.