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In 1792, the Highlands of Scotland
were being invaded.
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Men, women and children
were being driven off their land.
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The invaders were sheep, new breeds
developed for survival on these mountains.
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Suddenly, the lairds could make
serious money out of this wild country.
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They started clearing the people out
and bringing the sheep in.
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The men of Ross had had enough.
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So they decided on a radical
and astonishing course of direct action.
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They planned to drive the sheep
right out of the Highlands.
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400 men began herding sheep from Ross,
from Sutherland, and pushing them south.
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The local sheriff was terrified.
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He believed the sheep-rustlers were armed
and he'd heard rumours
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that they'd brought
26lb of gunpowder with them.
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He wrote to the Lord Advocate
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and asked for three companies
of soldiers to restore order.
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"You can be no stranger to the seditious
acts that are going on in this county.
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"The flame is spreading.
What is our case today,
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"if matters are permitted to proceed,
will be yours tomorrow."
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This is the story of the violent,
unequal struggle between
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the people who owned the land
and the people who lived on it.
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But it wasn't just force that kept
the Scottish people in their place.
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It was fantasy,
a myth so powerfully told
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that it still shapes
how we think about Scotland.
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1792 was a terrifying year
for the landed gentry.
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just across the Channel,
the revolution was in full swing.
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The French had deposed their king.
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No French aristocrat,
property or life was safe.
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Dangerous ideas of freedom
were spreading like sparks in the wind.
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In Ross, the sheriff thought he was facing
the start of Scotland's own revolution.
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The rustlers crossed
the Kyle of Sutherland.
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Here, they set up camp for the night.
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Over 6,000 stolen sheep
filled the glen.
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The sheriff's reinforcements arrived
at around eight o'clock in the evening.
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Three companies of soldiers
from Fort William.
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The sheriff marched them straight on
through the night
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to confront the sheep-rustlers,
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but when they arrived in the valley,
though the fires were still burning
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and the sheep were still there,
the Highlanders were gone.
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For centuries, the Highlands
had been a feudal society.
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Tenants scraped a living from the (and,
their housing and grazing
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provided by the laird,
the clan chief.
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In return, they gave him
their unquestioning loyalty.
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But not any more. In the lowlands,
estates had been cleared
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and landowners had made
a great deal of money.
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This was a modern, commercial age and the
Highland lairds refused to be left behind.
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The way they viewed their land
was different now.
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The clan chiefs
had become landlords.
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As far as they were concerned,
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the Highlanders lived in great poverty
and squalor.
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Why on earth would you want
to preserve that?
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So, move them to the coast, make them
live on the (and that's no good for sheep.
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They can't stand
in the way of progress.
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But for the Highlanders, nothing
had changed. They still believed
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they had an unwritten right
to live on the land of their forefathers,
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based on centuries of tradition.
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The people of the Highlands
felt a devastating sense of betrayal.
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People fled from the countryside
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into the swelling industrial towns
of Scotland's Central Belt.
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It was the start of the new century
and everything familiar
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was swept away in the rush
to modernity and profit.
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This was a new Scotland.
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Many found it absolutely terrifying.
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Walter Scott was determined
that such radical change
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should not lead to chaos and anarchy.
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Scott was a local sheriff
in Melrose.
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He had taken part in suppressing a riot
among the weavers of Galashiels
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and been stoned for his trouble.
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He believed what had happened in France
could easily happen in Scotland.
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"The country," he said,
"is mined below our feet."
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So what did he do?
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He picked up his pen and wrote.
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Scott's novels gave the British people
exactly what they needed -
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an escape from the uncertain
modern world into history.
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Waverley was the bestselling book
of the summer of 1814
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and Rob Roy was
a publishing sensation,
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being read everywhere from the Prince
of Wales' castle to the weaver's cottage.
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Scott told stories
of brave Scottish bandits,
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fiery Highland maidens, stag hunts,
great feasts and doomed battles.
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Just as the Clearances were emptying
the Highlands,
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Scott recreated them
and celebrated their past.
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By 1814, Scott wasn't just writing
about history, he was building it.
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He had bought a run-down old
farmhouse near Melrose
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called ”C [arty Hole ';
which means dirty puddle.
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He used the money from his writing
to knock it down and build himself this.
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And he didn't call it Clarty Hole.
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He called it Abbotsford and he called
himself the Laird of Abbotsford.
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Power comes from ownership
of the land.
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Now Scott had that.
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Over the next 20 years,
he'd buy up more and more of it,
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a field here, a wood there,
until he owned 14,000 acres.
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In a time when you didn't have to worry
about border raids or attacking armies,
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Scott's house harks back to the fortified
buildings of the 16th century.
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But this wasn't for defence,
this was for show.
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This is his riff on the romantic past -
a Scotsman's home is his castle.
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And Scott was ahead of a trend.
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Abbotsford was just one of a rash of
fake medieval castles across the country.
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The landed gentry started building
a dream of Scotland's past in stone
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and then living the dream.
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(BELL CHIMES)
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Scott filled his imitation castle
with a magpie collection of relics
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from the romantic past.
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From the minute you walk
through the front door,
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you don't know where to look first.
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No, you don't,
there's so much to look at.
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- How long was Scott at this collecting?
- Years.
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I think actually all his life.
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I think he was a born collector,
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- particularly of things Scottish.
- And this, for example, what is this?
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- Whose is this?
- This is Rob Roy's sgian dubh.
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- This was tucked into Rob Roy's sock?
- It was, it was.
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That is the real, genuine article.
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- Does it open?
- It does, but I'm not going to let you.
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What about the cross?
Whose cross is it?
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That was carried by Mary, Queen of Scots,
to her execution.
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That would've been in her hand
on her last walk?
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Yes. And it's a beautiful object
in its own right.
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- That's got power, that's magic.
- That's got real magic, yes.
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- This is a strange thing.
- Yes.
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A musket ball and what?
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It's a piece of oatcake taken from
the pocket of a Highlander
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after the Battle of Culloden.
A fallen Highlander, obviously.
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So that's a last morsel that he didn't
even have time to eat.
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That's right, that's right.
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Do you think that's true? Could Scott
have been able to have it proven to him
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that that had really come
from Culloden?
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Scott was quite keen on getting things
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that were actually real things
with good provenance.
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So my feeling is,
if Scott said it's an oatcake
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from a Highlander
at the Battle of Culloden, it probably is.
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In 1815, Walter Scott grabbed his chance
to see history in the making.
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In France, the revolutionary terror had
been followed by a military dictatorship.
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Napoleon had dominated all Europe.
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The British had finally beaten him
after 22 years of near-continual fighting.
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Scott travelled to Waterloo
to see the reality of war for himself.
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He was one of the first British tourists
to get there.
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The battlefield was still littered
with the corpses of the slain.
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Scott was horrified.
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This was what you got when
the social order broke down.
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This was what the French Revolution
had led to -
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anarchy and then tyranny and then death.
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He still picked up a few trophies
for his collection, though.
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Now the Napoleonic Wars were over,
the Continent opened up again to trade.
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Weavers and factory workers had to compete
with cheap goods from abroad.
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The economy slumped and the whole
of Britain went into recession.
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Tens of thousands of ex-soldiers
joined the unemployed.
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The ideas generated by
the French Revolution hadn't disappeared.
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They'd just been shouted down while the
country was at war. Now they were back.
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Andrew Hardie was a weaver.
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Like many weavers, he was an educated man
with a fierce interest in radical ideas.
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He saw a great deal wrong
with the world around him.
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He knew the terrible conditions of
the workers in Scotland's factories
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and the desperate poverty
of the unemployed.
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He believed in votes for all and an end to
the powerlessness of the working man.
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And he wasn't alone.
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A huge demonstration in Paisley demanded
no king, no lords, no gentry, no taxes.
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They wanted nothing less
than a workers' revolution.
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It was exactly what Andrew Hardie wanted
and what terrified Walter Scott.
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So what did Scott do?
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In the midst of all this unrest,
he set out on a quest
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to find the lost crown and sceptre
of the Scottish kings.
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Odd.
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But Scott could see a use for them.
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For hundreds of years,
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the crown, the sceptre and sword
had made Scotland's kings.
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They were potent symbols
of Scottish nationhood.
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Then the Union of 1707 made
the Scottish Crown jewels redundant.
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For over a century, they'd been
locked away in Edinburgh Castle.
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There were even rumours
they'd been smuggled to England.
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Over a rather good dinner, Scott
persuaded George, the Prince Regent,
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that the Scottish Crown jewels
still had symbolic power...
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...and that finding them would make
the people feel patriotic
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and loyal to their King.
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Walter Scott broke into the sealed room
in Edinburgh Castle.
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Apparently, someone in
the little gathering picked up the crown
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and began to play about with it
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and then moved as if to place it
on someone else's head.
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Scott stopped him short.
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To him at least,
this was a serious business.
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And these items belonged to
the ancient line of Scotland's monarchs.
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After all, these were
the very tools of kingmaking.
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This was Scotland's history.
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Hundreds gathered
outside the castle.
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The Royal Standard was raised
on the battlement
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to tell them
the crown had been found.
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(CROWD CHEERING)
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The crowd cheered.
Scott's mission had been successful.
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In a time of unrest,
Scott pushed a version of Scotland
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ruled by kings,
where everyone else knew their place.
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But the radicals weren't listening.
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The Scottish Crown jewels and all they
stood for had nothing to offer them.
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Andrew Hardie was 26 now, but he hadn't
married his sweetheart, Margaret,
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probably because he couldn't afford to.
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Margaret hated Hardie's politics.
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She thought they'd get him
into serious trouble.
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She was right.
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The unrest spread across Scotland.
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In Dundee,
a protest meeting 10,000 strong
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called for electoral reform,
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general elections every year,
and votes for everyone.
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The Government listened
and responded.
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The Government banned
public meetings.
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This was class war.
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The radicals were angry,
because they had no voice.
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There were over
two million people in Scotland,
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but only 4,000 got to vote.
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A Paisley band were locked up for playing
Scots Wha Hae at a demonstration.
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Burns had written it 25 years before,
at least partly as a protest song.
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Now it was printed as a broadside
and passed from hand to hand.
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(THEY PLAY THE TUNE OF Scots Wha Hae)
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This is an anthem for the Scots who bled
and died with Wallace on the battlefield.
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Listen to these words.
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Lay the proud usurpers low
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Tyrants fall in every foe
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Liberty's in every blow
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Let us do or die!
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The song was taken up by protesters
in England as well as in Scotland.
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Wallace had been reinvented
as a hero of the revolution.
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When Andrew Hardie spoke about
another fellow radical, John Baird,
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he paid him the ultimate compliment
by saying,
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"He's worthy of being
classed with Sir William Wallace."
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Scott decided to act and, again, he looked
to the Highlands for an answer.
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He called upon the chieftains to raise
the Highland host to crush the radicals.
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But Sir Walter's rallying cry
was met with a deafening silence.
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The Highland Chieftains
had better things to do.
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They were busy turning sheep
into gold.
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So Scott decided
to set up his own army.
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He recruited 300 men.
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He called them
the Gala Marksmen.
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Scott was spoiling for a fight.
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He offered to bring his volunteers
anywhere in Scotland they were needed.
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"One day's good fighting
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00:19:02,881 --> 00:19:05,801
"would cure them most radically
of their radical malady.
232
00:19:05,881 --> 00:19:07,841
"And if I had anything to say
in the matter
233
00:19:07,921 --> 00:19:12,241
"the y should remember the day
for half a century to come- ”
234
00:19:12,321 --> 00:19:15,761
But the authorities didn't take
Scott up on his offer
235
00:19:15,841 --> 00:19:18,961
and both he and his private army
stayed at home.
236
00:19:23,561 --> 00:19:27,201
On the night of Sunday
1st April 1820,
237
00:19:27,281 --> 00:19:31,681
walls in Glasgow, Paisley, Dumbarton
and Kilsyth were plastered
238
00:19:31,761 --> 00:19:35,921
with a poster demanding a general strike
to overthrow the Government.
239
00:19:38,321 --> 00:19:41,881
Andrew Hardie was in the crowd
when a justice of the Peace came up
240
00:19:41,961 --> 00:19:44,961
and ordered one of the posters
to be torn down.
241
00:19:45,041 --> 00:19:47,721
Hardie pushed him out of the way.
242
00:19:47,801 --> 00:19:50,881
"Before I permit you to take down
yon notice," he said,
243
00:19:50,961 --> 00:19:54,041
"I will part
with the last drop of my blood."
244
00:19:57,161 --> 00:20:00,441
This was the start
of the radical war.
245
00:20:03,761 --> 00:20:05,601
On the Monday, 60,000 workers
246
00:20:05,681 --> 00:20:09,641
went on strike all across
Scotland's industrial heartlands.
247
00:20:09,761 --> 00:20:14,321
In Glasgow, the Provost wrote, "Almost the
whole population of the working classes
248
00:20:14,441 --> 00:20:18,561
"have obeyed the order in the treasonable
proclamation by striking work."
249
00:20:18,681 --> 00:20:23,041
The authorities marshalled the troops
and mounted cannon here on Jamaica Bridge.
250
00:20:23,121 --> 00:20:25,761
They were expecting serious trouble.
251
00:20:29,561 --> 00:20:33,721
Hardie was told that the whole city
would be in arms in the course of an hour
252
00:20:33,801 --> 00:20:36,361
and that England had risen
in rebellion already.
253
00:20:38,201 --> 00:20:41,641
He wanted to fight in the uprising.
254
00:20:41,721 --> 00:20:43,561
What do you need
to overthrow the state?
255
00:20:43,641 --> 00:20:48,001
What do you need for a radical war?
For any war, for that matter?
256
00:20:48,081 --> 00:20:49,721
Guns.
257
00:20:53,161 --> 00:20:56,401
Hardie joined forces with
an ex-soldier, John Baird,
258
00:20:56,481 --> 00:20:59,921
and together they led
a raiding party of about 50 men.
259
00:21:00,001 --> 00:21:03,681
Their destination
was the Carron Ironworks,
260
00:21:03,761 --> 00:21:06,441
where the guns that
had beaten Napoleon were made.
261
00:21:06,521 --> 00:21:11,561
Hardie's plan was to march to Falkirk
and seize control of the guns.
262
00:21:15,641 --> 00:21:18,121
They stopped at a tavern at midday.
263
00:21:18,201 --> 00:21:22,441
They were so sure of the rebellion's
success that they got a receipt
264
00:21:22,561 --> 00:21:27,921
so they could claim their expenses back
later from the new radical government.
265
00:21:28,001 --> 00:21:29,401
when they got to Bonnymuir,
266
00:21:29,481 --> 00:21:32,481
they were confronted
by a troop of Government cavalry.
267
00:21:32,561 --> 00:21:36,441
Hardie's men took up position
beside a five-foot wall here.
268
00:21:36,521 --> 00:21:38,081
The cavalry charged.
269
00:21:38,161 --> 00:21:39,481
The radicals opened fire,
270
00:21:39,521 --> 00:21:43,001
stabbing at the horses with their pikes
when they drew close enough.
271
00:21:43,081 --> 00:21:44,321
The cavalry withdrew,
272
00:21:44,401 --> 00:21:48,201
regrouped and charged again
before the radicals had time to reload.
273
00:21:48,281 --> 00:21:53,361
They were finished. Four men were
wounded and 18 taken prisoner.
274
00:21:54,921 --> 00:21:58,521
But the battle for workers' rights
wasn't over.
275
00:21:58,601 --> 00:22:01,601
While Baird and Hardie
were defeated at Bonnymuir,
276
00:22:01,681 --> 00:22:05,801
another radical, James Wilson,
marched 100 men into Strathaven,
277
00:22:05,881 --> 00:22:07,281
and took over the town.
278
00:22:07,361 --> 00:22:09,641
Wilson was 63 years old.
279
00:22:09,721 --> 00:22:12,401
He'd been politicised by
the French Revolution
280
00:22:12,481 --> 00:22:15,481
and involved in radical politics
for nearly 30 years.
281
00:22:15,561 --> 00:22:18,601
Now his moment had come.
282
00:22:23,041 --> 00:22:26,801
Wilson formed a raiding party
and went around the Lanarkshire town
283
00:22:26,881 --> 00:22:29,441
requisitioning
all the weapons he could find,
284
00:22:29,521 --> 00:22:31,361
at gunpoint where necessary.
285
00:22:32,921 --> 00:22:36,641
The local gentry
were taken by surprise.
286
00:22:36,721 --> 00:22:40,201
By the end of the night,
Wilson had control of Strathaven.
287
00:22:45,401 --> 00:22:51,121
MAN: Welcome to this annual
commemoration of James Wilson
288
00:22:51,201 --> 00:22:55,601
and the events of 1820,
specifically the 1820 Rising.
289
00:22:55,681 --> 00:23:00,361
"I am glad to hear my countrymen
are resolved to act like men.
290
00:23:00,441 --> 00:23:04,241
"We are seeking nothing but
the rights of our forefathers.
291
00:23:04,321 --> 00:23:08,721
"Liberty is not worth having
if it is not worth fighting for."
292
00:23:08,801 --> 00:23:12,001
...and we'll have
one minute's silence.
293
00:23:14,641 --> 00:23:18,361
The next morning, Wilson and 24 others
set off towards Glasgow.
294
00:23:18,481 --> 00:23:22,961
They hoped to meet up with the rumoured
huge radical army of workers
295
00:23:23,041 --> 00:23:25,481
who would've joined
to overthrow the state.
296
00:23:25,561 --> 00:23:30,241
They carried with them a banner reading,
"Scotland free or a desert."
297
00:23:40,761 --> 00:23:42,721
But the masses hadn't risen.
298
00:23:42,801 --> 00:23:46,241
At the rendezvous at Cathkin Braes,
there was no-one else there.
299
00:23:46,321 --> 00:23:50,241
So they hid their weapons in the bracken,
turned around and fled for home.
300
00:23:50,321 --> 00:23:53,241
By the end of the week,
the status quo had been restored.
301
00:23:53,361 --> 00:23:59,401
The uprising, such as it was, had been
suppressed and the radical war was over.
302
00:24:04,561 --> 00:24:08,681
However angry and unhappy
the Scottish people were without a vote,
303
00:24:08,761 --> 00:24:13,361
they would never again go the way
of France and join in open revolution.
304
00:24:15,521 --> 00:24:18,601
88 people were found guilty
of high treason.
305
00:24:18,721 --> 00:24:24,121
James Wilson, John Baird
and Andrew Hardie were sentenced to death.
306
00:24:33,321 --> 00:24:38,401
"My dear and loving Margaret,
before this arrives to your hand,
307
00:24:38,481 --> 00:24:40,241
"I will be made immortal.
308
00:24:40,321 --> 00:24:43,761
"I shall die firm to the cause
which I took up arms to defend
309
00:24:43,841 --> 00:24:46,241
"and although we were
outwitted and betrayed,
310
00:24:46,361 --> 00:24:51,441
"yet I protest as a dying man that it was
done with a good intention on my part.
311
00:24:51,521 --> 00:24:55,241
"Could you have thought that I was
sufficient to stand such a stroke?
312
00:24:55,321 --> 00:25:00,281
"Which at once burst upon me like
an earthquake and buried all my vain,
313
00:25:00,361 --> 00:25:02,681
"earthly hopes beneath its ruins
314
00:25:02,761 --> 00:25:06,281
"and left me a poor, shipwrecked
mariner on this bleak shore,
315
00:25:06,361 --> 00:25:11,001
"separated from the world and thee,
in whom all my hopes were centred.
316
00:25:12,881 --> 00:25:16,441
"My dear Margaret,
I will be under the necessity
317
00:25:16,521 --> 00:25:20,481
"of laying down my pen, as this
will have to go out immediately.
318
00:25:20,561 --> 00:25:23,881
”A gain, fare we [1,
my dear Margaret. ”
319
00:25:29,641 --> 00:25:33,081
John Baird and Andrew Hardie
were executed in Stirling.
320
00:25:33,161 --> 00:25:35,681
They were only allowed to speak
from the scaffold
321
00:25:35,761 --> 00:25:38,361
on the condition
they didn't talk about politics.
322
00:25:38,441 --> 00:25:41,321
But Hardie shouted to the crowd,
323
00:25:41,401 --> 00:25:46,241
"I die a martyr to the cause
of truth and justice. "
324
00:26:00,321 --> 00:26:03,961
Hardie's letter to Margaret
was published in a broadside
325
00:26:04,041 --> 00:26:06,761
and sold on the streets
of Edinburgh for a penny.
326
00:26:06,841 --> 00:26:09,801
Scott bought a copy
and wrote on it,
327
00:26:09,881 --> 00:26:15,321
"Curious particulars regarding Baird,
who suffered for high treason, 1820."
328
00:26:15,401 --> 00:26:18,281
The letter's from Hardie,
of course, not Baird.
329
00:26:18,361 --> 00:26:20,121
Scott's got them muddled up.
330
00:26:20,201 --> 00:26:24,881
But, as far as Scott was concerned,
the letter was a relic for his collection.
331
00:26:24,961 --> 00:26:29,481
After all,
the radical war was history.
332
00:26:36,201 --> 00:26:39,681
But Scotland's workers
were still unhappy.
333
00:26:39,761 --> 00:26:42,681
Government by the elite under the King
334
00:26:42,761 --> 00:26:45,081
had been defended with the bayonet
335
00:26:45,161 --> 00:26:49,801
but, in order to rule effectively,
governments need popular consent.
336
00:26:49,881 --> 00:26:51,641
It was a problem.
337
00:26:51,721 --> 00:26:54,361
Scott thought he could solve it.
338
00:27:05,601 --> 00:27:10,281
In 1820, roly-poly George
finally became King.
339
00:27:10,361 --> 00:27:13,521
He made Scott a baronet.
340
00:27:13,601 --> 00:27:18,201
Now George IV decided to visit Scotland
to see for himself
341
00:27:18,281 --> 00:27:21,081
the country he had only read about
in Scott's novels.
342
00:27:22,961 --> 00:27:27,721
Naturally, he asked Sir Walter Scott
to organise things.
343
00:27:27,801 --> 00:27:31,001
And Scott took the ball
and ran with it.
344
00:27:31,081 --> 00:27:35,081
He set up his headquarters here,
at 39 Castle Street.
345
00:27:35,161 --> 00:27:37,841
Scott understood the opportunity.
346
00:27:37,921 --> 00:27:40,761
As one of the greatest communicators
of his age,
347
00:27:40,841 --> 00:27:43,681
he knew that he had
to make the visit tell a story.
348
00:27:43,761 --> 00:27:45,841
He realised that what was needed
349
00:27:45,921 --> 00:27:49,961
was a simple, dramatic, romantic,
visually striking image.
350
00:27:50,041 --> 00:27:51,961
Complexity wouldn't work.
351
00:27:52,041 --> 00:27:55,241
He painted with bright colours
and a broad brush.
352
00:28:02,521 --> 00:28:04,841
He turned Scotland tartan.
353
00:28:04,921 --> 00:28:06,761
We were all Highlanders now.
354
00:28:20,041 --> 00:28:23,841
But the tartan image of Scotland
wasn't just attractive and appealing.
355
00:28:23,921 --> 00:28:26,481
It was also backward-looking.
356
00:28:26,561 --> 00:28:30,281
The traditional feudal society
of the Highlands appealed to Scott,
357
00:28:30,401 --> 00:28:34,521
because it was a world where the
working classes knew their proper place.
358
00:28:39,721 --> 00:28:42,761
Scott wrote this,
an advice pamphlet.
359
00:28:42,841 --> 00:28:46,441
Hints, Addressed To The Inhabitants
Of Edinburgh And Others,
360
00:28:46,521 --> 00:28:48,601
In Prospect Of His Majesty's Visit.
361
00:28:48,681 --> 00:28:51,641
In it, he said that George
was the descendant
362
00:28:51,721 --> 00:28:53,881
of a long line of Scottish kings,
363
00:28:53,961 --> 00:28:57,401
and therefore
the kinsman of many Scots.
364
00:28:57,481 --> 00:29:00,561
"Let us, on this happy occasion,
remember that it is so,
365
00:29:00,641 --> 00:29:03,241
"and behave towards him as a father."
366
00:29:03,321 --> 00:29:05,321
This was a brilliant lie.
367
00:29:05,401 --> 00:29:09,081
George was mostly German,
of the House of Hanover,
368
00:29:09,201 --> 00:29:13,881
and yet Scott was telling his fellow Scots
that we had to be loyal,
369
00:29:13,961 --> 00:29:17,841
because "we are the clan
and our King is the chief".
370
00:29:21,641 --> 00:29:25,721
Because King George was already a huge fan
of Scott's Highland romances,
371
00:29:25,801 --> 00:29:29,281
he adored the idea of being
the Highland chief of chiefs.
372
00:29:31,721 --> 00:29:34,321
And he'd always loved dressing up.
373
00:29:35,881 --> 00:29:40,841
He went to his tailor and ordered
the complete Highland dress.
374
00:29:40,921 --> 00:29:45,281
It cost 1,354 pounds and 18 shillings.
375
00:29:45,361 --> 00:29:50,521
In today's money, George spent
around £100,000 on his outfit.
376
00:29:54,321 --> 00:29:58,161
Say what you like about Scott,
but he wasn't afraid of hard work.
377
00:29:58,241 --> 00:30:01,521
King George gave just
two weeks' notice of his visit.
378
00:30:01,601 --> 00:30:05,761
But in 14 days Sir Walter was able
to organise three royal processions,
379
00:30:05,841 --> 00:30:09,761
a great gathering of the clans,
two balls, several grand dinners,
380
00:30:09,841 --> 00:30:13,241
a royal review of the troops
on Portobello beach and, finally,
381
00:30:13,361 --> 00:30:18,921
a royal visit to the theatre to see a
performance of Scott's own play, Rob Roy.
382
00:30:20,161 --> 00:30:22,081
The King's advisers were horrified.
383
00:30:22,161 --> 00:30:27,161
George was always in debt
and this sounded very expensive.
384
00:30:27,241 --> 00:30:29,561
Scott was running away with himself.
385
00:30:29,641 --> 00:30:32,001
Couldn't he keep it simple?
386
00:30:32,121 --> 00:30:35,841
"When His Majesty comes amongst us,
he comes to his ancient kingdom
387
00:30:35,921 --> 00:30:40,201
"of Scotland and must be received
according to ancient usages.
388
00:30:40,281 --> 00:30:43,201
"If you persist in bringing in
English customs,
389
00:30:43,281 --> 00:30:45,641
"we turn about one and all and leave you.
390
00:30:45,721 --> 00:30:48,481
"You take the responsibility
on yourself."
391
00:30:50,121 --> 00:30:53,881
That shut them up. You've got to
admire Scott's brass neck here.
392
00:30:53,961 --> 00:30:58,321
He was making up most of these
ancient usages as he went along.
393
00:30:59,881 --> 00:31:04,321
And now there was no stopping him.
In a bravura piece of myth-making,
394
00:31:04,401 --> 00:31:08,641
Scott took the Company of Archers,
a gentlemen's sporting club,
395
00:31:08,761 --> 00:31:13,201
and reinvented them as the ceremonial
bodyguard to the King in Scotland,
396
00:31:13,281 --> 00:31:15,281
a role they still have today.
397
00:31:18,601 --> 00:31:21,481
So which one of your ancestors
398
00:31:21,561 --> 00:31:24,881
was in the Company of Archers
in Walter Scott's clay?
399
00:31:24,961 --> 00:31:27,881
There were a number of my family,
me included,
400
00:31:27,961 --> 00:31:30,401
who have been
in the Royal Company of Archers,
401
00:31:30,481 --> 00:31:33,321
but in Scott's day
it was the 4th Earl of Hopetoun,
402
00:31:33,401 --> 00:31:36,121
who was my five-greats grandfather.
403
00:31:36,241 --> 00:31:41,601
And he was the Captain General, who's
the commander of the Royal Company.
404
00:31:41,681 --> 00:31:44,081
And what, then,
was the role of the company
405
00:31:44,161 --> 00:31:46,401
during the course of George IV's visit?
406
00:31:46,481 --> 00:31:50,961
They paraded when the King arrived.
They were there to receive him.
407
00:31:51,041 --> 00:31:54,561
They acted as his retinue,
his bodyguards,
408
00:31:54,641 --> 00:31:59,761
and to be on display
and on parade wherever he went.
409
00:31:59,881 --> 00:32:04,001
And this is actually what Scott thought
a royal archer should look like?
410
00:32:04,081 --> 00:32:07,961
This was exactly that.
This is the 4th Earl's uniform,
411
00:32:08,041 --> 00:32:11,481
as designed by Sir Walter Scott
for the visit.
412
00:32:11,561 --> 00:32:15,801
And this painting,
is this a faithful rendition
413
00:32:15,881 --> 00:32:17,361
of the King's visit to this house?
414
00:32:17,441 --> 00:32:21,041
Yes, it is. This is a painting
by a man called Denis Dighton,
415
00:32:21,121 --> 00:32:22,521
who was here on the clay,
416
00:32:22,601 --> 00:32:26,241
and then he worked up
this fantastic painting afterwards.
417
00:32:26,321 --> 00:32:29,281
So you've got the house itself
in the background.
418
00:32:29,361 --> 00:32:31,561
You've got Royal Company
formed up there
419
00:32:31,641 --> 00:32:34,041
on the steps of the house
to receive the King,
420
00:32:34,121 --> 00:32:38,641
looking, I have to say, slightly thinner
than we believe he was in real life.
421
00:32:38,761 --> 00:32:42,921
- He's been Photoshopped, hasn't he?
- He's been touched up. He has indeed.
422
00:32:43,001 --> 00:32:44,561
He looks very splendid.
423
00:32:44,641 --> 00:32:48,681
And then round across the roofs
of the pavilion for the house
424
00:32:48,761 --> 00:32:50,761
you've got members of the local public,
425
00:32:50,841 --> 00:32:53,721
you've got tenants,
you've got employees and the like,
426
00:32:53,801 --> 00:32:58,401
all of whom had turned out to greet
the visit of George IV to Scotland.
427
00:32:58,481 --> 00:33:00,641
(CROWD CHEERING)
428
00:33:06,841 --> 00:33:12,561
Scott knew that what George really wanted
to see was the romantic Highlander.
429
00:33:12,681 --> 00:33:18,161
He persuaded the Scottish chiefs to put on
all their finery and fill the city.
430
00:33:18,241 --> 00:33:20,361
They absolutely loved the idea.
431
00:33:22,121 --> 00:33:26,201
Scott's gathering of the clans
was his masterstroke.
432
00:33:28,801 --> 00:33:32,401
The clan chiefs and their tail
of Highlanders in fancy dress
433
00:33:32,481 --> 00:33:34,641
knew exactly how bogus this all was.
434
00:33:34,721 --> 00:33:37,961
No Highlander out on the Scottish hills
wore a short kilt.
435
00:33:38,081 --> 00:33:43,401
Even the idea of each clan having its
own tartan was a fairly recent invention.
436
00:33:43,481 --> 00:33:47,881
But they didn't care.
They were enjoying the party.
437
00:33:59,281 --> 00:34:01,761
As they looked out
across the cheering crowds,
438
00:34:01,881 --> 00:34:06,281
the landed gentry of Scotland must have
thought their position was secure.
439
00:34:06,361 --> 00:34:09,201
It was less than two years
since the radical war
440
00:34:09,281 --> 00:34:11,641
and the people still didn't have a vote.
441
00:34:11,761 --> 00:34:16,681
But they seemed to have forgotten their
hardships in this glorious spectacle.
442
00:34:20,481 --> 00:34:25,481
King George's visit to Scotland was
a popular success and a triumph for Scott.
443
00:34:25,561 --> 00:34:27,201
But had it worked?
444
00:34:27,281 --> 00:34:28,961
Well, no.
445
00:34:29,041 --> 00:34:32,201
Despite all the tugging
at the patriotic heartstrings,
446
00:34:32,281 --> 00:34:36,321
Scott's reinvention of Scotland
had failed to prevent the one thing
447
00:34:36,401 --> 00:34:39,561
he had set out to thwart -
electoral reform.
448
00:34:39,641 --> 00:34:42,321
The calls for change
hadn't gone away.
449
00:34:42,401 --> 00:34:46,721
Scott's triumph was a triumph of spin,
not of substance.
450
00:34:46,801 --> 00:34:51,001
Unemployment, poverty,
powerlessness all remained.
451
00:34:51,081 --> 00:34:53,081
The protests continued.
452
00:34:56,481 --> 00:35:00,761
It took another ten years.
But in 1832, the Government
453
00:35:00,841 --> 00:35:05,281
finally gave way to the pressure
for electoral reform across Britain.
454
00:35:05,361 --> 00:35:10,041
"It is impossible to exaggerate
the ecstasy of Scotland,
455
00:35:10,121 --> 00:35:13,201
"where, to be sure,
it's like liberty given to slaves.
456
00:35:13,321 --> 00:35:18,161
”We are to be brought out of the house
of bondage, out of the [and of Egypt. ”
457
00:35:26,961 --> 00:35:30,361
By now, Scott was very ill,
months from death.
458
00:35:30,481 --> 00:35:34,441
But as the bill passed through Parliament
he pushed himself to the limit,
459
00:35:34,521 --> 00:35:36,961
speaking out against it
at public meetings.
460
00:35:37,041 --> 00:35:39,841
When the crowds booed
and hissed at him, he told them,
461
00:35:39,921 --> 00:35:43,321
"I regard your gabble no more
than geese upon the green."
462
00:35:46,801 --> 00:35:49,401
Sir Walter Scott died a disappointed man,
463
00:35:49,481 --> 00:35:54,441
terrified that electoral reform would
bring anarchy to his beloved Scotland
464
00:35:54,561 --> 00:35:59,921
and with the huge debts he'd run up buying
the estate at Abbotsford still unpaid.
465
00:36:03,681 --> 00:36:08,121
The Scottish Reform Act extended
the franchise, but not to everyone.
466
00:36:08,201 --> 00:36:11,441
As long as you had a property
worth £10, you got a vote.
467
00:36:11,521 --> 00:36:16,721
50 that's not the working man -
or women of any class, of course.
468
00:36:16,801 --> 00:36:21,401
The reforms gave 16 times more
people than before a vote.
469
00:36:21,481 --> 00:36:25,721
But that's only 65,000
out of two million.
470
00:36:25,801 --> 00:36:28,241
Still, it's a start.
471
00:36:58,641 --> 00:37:02,561
In 1846, Thomas Cook
started package tours to Scotland
472
00:37:02,681 --> 00:37:08,121
using all the latest technology, the
newly built railway and paddle steamers.
473
00:37:08,201 --> 00:37:11,241
Well-heeled middle-class
Victorian tourists
474
00:37:11,321 --> 00:37:13,641
from London, Manchester and Glasgow
475
00:37:13,721 --> 00:37:16,521
started travelling north
for their summer holidays.
476
00:37:16,641 --> 00:37:21,881
Now you could visit this heroic wilderness
without the bother of trudging through it.
477
00:37:27,161 --> 00:37:31,321
Sir Walter Scott had taught the Victorians
to love this landscape.
478
00:37:35,521 --> 00:37:38,201
Visitors looked in awe
upon scenery they believed
479
00:37:38,281 --> 00:37:40,441
had been left as nature created it.
480
00:37:40,521 --> 00:37:42,921
However, the reality is
481
00:37:43,001 --> 00:37:46,801
the people who once lived here
had been cleared.
482
00:37:49,841 --> 00:37:53,761
This is as true of the Lowlands
and Loch Katrine here in the Trossachs
483
00:37:53,841 --> 00:37:57,161
as it is of the Great Glen
and the mountains of Sutherland.
484
00:38:00,601 --> 00:38:04,681
The Highlanders were an endangered
species, every bit as hard to spot
485
00:38:04,761 --> 00:38:08,001
as the rest of the wildlife
the tourists had come to see.
486
00:38:14,961 --> 00:38:16,921
They had been moved to the coast.
487
00:38:17,001 --> 00:38:19,601
The Highlanders had become crofters.
488
00:38:23,441 --> 00:38:26,401
Crofts are smallholdings
with a little (and,
489
00:38:26,481 --> 00:38:29,201
but not enough for a family to survive on.
490
00:38:30,761 --> 00:38:32,841
Crofters had to grow their own food
491
00:38:32,921 --> 00:38:36,801
and then top up their income
catching fish, gathering seaweed
492
00:38:36,881 --> 00:38:39,721
or going down to the Lowlands
to help with the harvest.
493
00:38:43,601 --> 00:38:46,281
The crofters were barely getting by.
494
00:38:46,361 --> 00:38:49,401
What they mostly survived on
was potatoes.
495
00:38:49,481 --> 00:38:53,721
The potato grows in thin soil
and it takes up very little space,
496
00:38:53,801 --> 00:38:55,521
so every croft grew them.
497
00:38:55,601 --> 00:38:59,881
By 1846, the potato provided
the average crofter
498
00:38:59,961 --> 00:39:03,241
with four-fifths of his staple diet.
499
00:39:06,521 --> 00:39:08,561
A Highland minister of the time
500
00:39:08,641 --> 00:39:11,841
told a story about asking a small boy
what he ate for breakfast.
501
00:39:11,921 --> 00:39:15,241
"Mashed potatoes" was the answer.
"And at noon?"
502
00:39:15,321 --> 00:39:17,801
"Mashed potatoes."
"And for dinner?"
503
00:39:17,881 --> 00:39:22,241
"Mashed potatoes." Did he have
anything else, the minister asked.
504
00:39:22,321 --> 00:39:24,041
"Of course I do," said the boy.
505
00:39:24,121 --> 00:39:25,601
"I have a spoon."
506
00:39:34,841 --> 00:39:36,321
In the 19th century,
507
00:39:36,361 --> 00:39:41,441
huge expanses of the Highlands and Islands
had absentee landlords.
508
00:39:41,521 --> 00:39:44,321
A third of the islands
of Skye and Uist
509
00:39:44,401 --> 00:39:46,801
were owned by
Lord William Wentworth Macdonald.
510
00:39:46,881 --> 00:39:48,601
But he spent little time here.
511
00:39:48,721 --> 00:39:53,561
Like many Highland chiefs in
the 19th century, he was born in London,
512
00:39:53,641 --> 00:39:57,481
educated at Eton
and married to an Englishwoman.
513
00:39:59,041 --> 00:40:01,561
Lord Macdonald saw his Highland properties
514
00:40:01,641 --> 00:40:04,201
first and foremost
as a way of making money.
515
00:40:18,081 --> 00:40:21,601
In July 1846, potato blight spread
on the wind
516
00:40:21,681 --> 00:40:24,881
across the sea from Ireland to Scotland.
517
00:40:26,441 --> 00:40:28,241
It was devastating.
518
00:40:29,281 --> 00:40:34,441
Field after field was blasted,
full of black, rotting plants.
519
00:40:40,521 --> 00:40:45,881
Then, as now, it's people living on
the margins who are vulnerable to famine.
520
00:40:45,961 --> 00:40:50,041
If you're barely making enough
to exist when the times are good,
521
00:40:50,121 --> 00:40:52,201
when times are bad, you starve.
522
00:40:53,321 --> 00:40:57,321
On Skye, barely a fifth
of the potato crop survived.
523
00:40:57,401 --> 00:40:58,961
One minister wrote,
524
00:40:59,041 --> 00:41:04,561
"We frequently had bad springs,
but this is a winter of starvation."
525
00:41:07,801 --> 00:41:12,161
The Government felt no duty
of care towards the starving.
526
00:41:12,241 --> 00:41:16,281
It was hard to grasp the scale
of the crisis from Westminster.
527
00:41:16,361 --> 00:41:21,001
And anyway, they believed you shouldn't
interfere with the free market.
528
00:41:24,641 --> 00:41:29,161
Grain and oats grown here were actually
shipped south throughout the famine.
529
00:41:29,241 --> 00:41:33,201
In the spring of 1847,
after a winter of hunger,
530
00:41:33,281 --> 00:41:37,481
the sight of ships full of food leaving
the Highlands was too much to bear.
531
00:41:45,801 --> 00:41:48,361
Food riots erupted
across the north east
532
00:41:48,441 --> 00:41:52,201
and, in Wick, starving people
broke into the grain stores.
533
00:41:52,281 --> 00:41:55,521
The sheriff called for back-up
and two companies of soldiers
534
00:41:55,601 --> 00:41:57,841
marched to the clocks to stop the looting.
535
00:41:57,921 --> 00:42:00,921
The crowd pelted them with stones
and, in response,
536
00:42:01,001 --> 00:42:03,561
the troopers fixed
bayonets and attacked.
537
00:42:05,721 --> 00:42:07,641
The mob fled.
538
00:42:07,721 --> 00:42:12,561
Under armed guard, the ships
were safely loaded and set sail.
539
00:42:18,721 --> 00:42:21,241
But bad though
the famine was in Scotland,
540
00:42:21,321 --> 00:42:23,521
it was infinitely worse in Ireland.
541
00:42:23,601 --> 00:42:26,921
Something like one million people
are estimated to have died
542
00:42:27,001 --> 00:42:28,521
in the Irish potato famine.
543
00:42:28,601 --> 00:42:33,081
In Scotland, the dead numbered
in the hundreds. Why?
544
00:42:33,201 --> 00:42:38,561
In Ireland, the better-off felt no
moral responsibility to help the starving.
545
00:42:38,641 --> 00:42:42,041
In Scotland, though, they did.
546
00:42:50,041 --> 00:42:53,921
This is at least partly
Sir Walter Scott's legacy.
547
00:42:54,001 --> 00:42:56,001
He had celebrated the Highlander
548
00:42:56,121 --> 00:43:00,721
and made people across Scotland identify
with their romantic history.
549
00:43:00,801 --> 00:43:03,961
Now the city dwellers of Edinburgh
and Glasgow
550
00:43:04,041 --> 00:43:07,481
were determined
not to let their brothers starve.
551
00:43:07,561 --> 00:43:11,521
Scotland's Free Church helped
collect money and organise relief.
552
00:43:11,601 --> 00:43:15,481
£250,000 was raised
to help the starving.
553
00:43:15,561 --> 00:43:19,441
That's over £15 million
in today's money.
554
00:43:20,561 --> 00:43:24,481
But Lord Macdonald,
along with many of his fellow landlords,
555
00:43:24,561 --> 00:43:27,281
felt there was no future for the crofters.
556
00:43:39,921 --> 00:43:43,921
The Macdonald family seat was this
mock-medieval castle, here on Skye.
557
00:43:44,001 --> 00:43:47,801
Sir Walter Scott would have loved it.
558
00:43:47,881 --> 00:43:52,041
Now, though, Lord Macdonald
was in debt to the tune of £218,000.
559
00:43:52,121 --> 00:43:53,641
He felt he had no choice.
560
00:43:53,761 --> 00:43:57,161
He decided to turn more of his estates
over to sheep farming.
561
00:43:57,241 --> 00:43:59,681
The crofters would have to go.
562
00:44:00,921 --> 00:44:03,681
Emigration was the answer.
563
00:44:03,761 --> 00:44:07,401
The Highland landowners
began to clear the land.
564
00:44:11,321 --> 00:44:13,801
Crofters were forced to leave Scotland
565
00:44:13,881 --> 00:44:17,841
and travel across the ocean
to Canada, America and Australia.
566
00:44:20,521 --> 00:44:22,001
Most would never return.
567
00:44:34,201 --> 00:44:37,601
The clearances on Skye
were particularly brutal.
568
00:44:37,681 --> 00:44:40,841
Over 1,700 writs of removal were issued
569
00:44:40,921 --> 00:44:44,881
to evict nearly 40,000 people
from their homes.
570
00:44:51,481 --> 00:44:54,521
Lord Macdonald's factors evicted
thousands of crofters,
571
00:44:54,601 --> 00:44:57,481
pulled down the roofs
so they couldn't move back
572
00:44:57,561 --> 00:44:59,201
and forced them to emigrate.
573
00:45:06,841 --> 00:45:10,561
In 1853, he emptied the township
of Suisnish.
574
00:45:13,761 --> 00:45:16,361
"I could see a long
and motley procession
575
00:45:16,441 --> 00:45:19,361
"winding along the road
that led north from Suisnish.
576
00:45:19,481 --> 00:45:25,601
"There were old men and women too feeble
to walk who were placed in carts,
577
00:45:25,681 --> 00:45:29,841
"while the children with looks
of alarm walked alongside.
578
00:45:29,921 --> 00:45:32,041
"Everyone was in tears.
579
00:45:32,121 --> 00:45:35,281
"It seemed as if they could not
tear themselves away.
580
00:45:35,361 --> 00:45:39,801
"When they set forth once more,
a cry of grief went up to the heaven,
581
00:45:39,881 --> 00:45:41,961
"a long, plaintive wail,
582
00:45:42,041 --> 00:45:46,321
"and, after the last of the emigrants
had disappeared behind the hill,
583
00:45:46,401 --> 00:45:50,361
"the sound seemed to re-echo
through the whole wide valley
584
00:45:50,441 --> 00:45:54,241
"in one prolonged note
of desolation."
585
00:45:58,161 --> 00:46:02,761
Most of the people of Suisnish
boarded the boats to Canada,
586
00:46:02,841 --> 00:46:04,521
but some hid out here in the hills.
587
00:46:04,601 --> 00:46:08,721
After the police and the sheriffs
had gone, they crept back
588
00:46:08,801 --> 00:46:11,121
to try and repair their ruined homes,
589
00:46:11,201 --> 00:46:14,241
but Lord Macdonald's factor
was a thorough man.
590
00:46:14,321 --> 00:46:16,921
Five days after Christmas,
he returned.
591
00:46:17,001 --> 00:46:20,081
Among those driven out
into the freezing winter weather
592
00:46:20,201 --> 00:46:24,001
were an 81-year-old woman and a mother
and her three-week-old baby.
593
00:46:42,161 --> 00:46:45,281
John Murdoch was a retired
civil servant in Inverness
594
00:46:45,401 --> 00:46:48,881
who was horrified by the way the lairds
were treating the crofters.
595
00:46:48,961 --> 00:46:51,681
Murdoch always wore the kilt.
596
00:46:51,801 --> 00:46:57,241
By the 18505, the reinvented kilt
had become a symbol of national identity.
597
00:46:57,321 --> 00:47:00,801
Murdoch realised how powerful
such symbols could be.
598
00:47:03,441 --> 00:47:06,521
"If Canada and Australia
really are gardens of pleasure,
599
00:47:06,601 --> 00:47:10,601
"as the lairds argue,
they should emigrate themselves.
600
00:47:10,681 --> 00:47:14,841
"The country can spare them better
than it can spare any other class."
601
00:47:16,401 --> 00:47:21,241
In Ireland, the land reform movement
had pushed for a fairer deal for tenants.
602
00:47:21,321 --> 00:47:23,681
The struggle was bitter and bloody.
603
00:47:23,761 --> 00:47:27,281
John Murdoch had worked in Ireland
and had seen it for himself.
604
00:47:27,361 --> 00:47:30,761
He hated the violence,
but he liked the results.
605
00:47:30,841 --> 00:47:34,521
Now he decided to lead
a non-violent campaign
606
00:47:34,601 --> 00:47:37,841
to overthrow the power of the landlords.
607
00:47:42,961 --> 00:47:46,801
The first thing John Murdoch had to do
was to get the crofters on side,
608
00:47:46,881 --> 00:47:49,561
so he travelled all over
the Highlands and Islands.
609
00:47:49,641 --> 00:47:52,241
He went to the markets,
he went to the shearings,
610
00:47:52,321 --> 00:47:53,841
he walked over 20 miles a clay
611
00:47:53,921 --> 00:47:57,401
just to get to wherever he thought
that crofters would gather.
612
00:47:57,521 --> 00:48:03,121
And he talked to them, but more important
than that, he also listened.
613
00:48:05,561 --> 00:48:08,201
Murdoch was canny enough to realise
614
00:48:08,281 --> 00:48:11,121
that the way you win people
around to your way of thinking
615
00:48:11,201 --> 00:48:14,201
is by listening to
their way of thinking first.
616
00:48:14,281 --> 00:48:19,881
What he found, he said, were people
who lived in such a state of slavish fear
617
00:48:19,961 --> 00:48:23,521
that they dare not complain
about their grievances
618
00:48:23,601 --> 00:48:25,441
in case they were forced from their homes.
619
00:48:28,241 --> 00:48:32,801
John Murdoch had hearts and minds
to change, so he set to work.
620
00:48:35,961 --> 00:48:39,041
He set up a crusading newspaper
called The Highlander.
621
00:48:39,121 --> 00:48:42,001
The Highlander wasn't
just about land reform.
622
00:48:42,081 --> 00:48:44,881
Murdoch was printing
his version of history.
623
00:48:49,761 --> 00:48:53,001
"In Highland tradition,
the lands in the Highlands
624
00:48:53,081 --> 00:48:56,361
"belonged to the clans as such
and not to the chiefs.
625
00:48:56,441 --> 00:48:59,681
"A Chieftain is the head
of the clan or family
626
00:48:59,761 --> 00:49:04,441
”and not owner of the great tract
of [and which that clan occupied. ”
627
00:49:04,521 --> 00:49:07,521
The landlords, in other words,
were in the wrong.
628
00:49:09,921 --> 00:49:13,121
Murdoch wasn't just
talking to the crofters.
629
00:49:13,201 --> 00:49:16,281
His campaign had another audience,
just as important.
630
00:49:16,361 --> 00:49:21,321
It was still the case that only
property-owning men got to vote.
631
00:49:21,401 --> 00:49:25,521
Obviously, the lairds were never
going to vote for land reform.
632
00:49:25,641 --> 00:49:30,441
So Murdoch needed to sell his version
of Scottish history to the middle classes.
633
00:49:30,521 --> 00:49:34,001
And there was one man
who helped him do it.
634
00:49:34,081 --> 00:49:37,281
A man he'd never met,
a man who would have hated
635
00:49:37,361 --> 00:49:41,801
everything he stood for, a man
who'd been dead over 40 years.
636
00:49:41,881 --> 00:49:44,081
Sir Walter Scott.
637
00:49:44,161 --> 00:49:47,601
Brought up on Waverley and Rob Roy,
middle-class Victorians
638
00:49:47,681 --> 00:49:49,761
saw the Highlanders as a noble people
639
00:49:49,841 --> 00:49:54,361
with a proud tradition, so Murdoch
was pushing at a half-open door.
640
00:49:54,441 --> 00:49:58,201
50 years earlier, Scott had taken
the idea of the Highlander
641
00:49:58,281 --> 00:50:00,681
and made it represent all of Scotland.
642
00:50:00,801 --> 00:50:05,241
So when Murdoch told the story
of the Highlanders thrown off their land,
643
00:50:05,321 --> 00:50:07,841
it wasn't just happening
to people far up north,
644
00:50:07,921 --> 00:50:12,121
it was happening to everyone,
it was happening to Scotland.
645
00:50:18,761 --> 00:50:21,281
In 1881, the Irish Land Act
646
00:50:21,361 --> 00:50:24,441
gave the Irish fair rents
and security of tenure.
647
00:50:24,561 --> 00:50:28,841
Skye fishermen working in Ireland for the
summer brought the news home with them.
648
00:50:28,921 --> 00:50:31,401
One group of Skye crofters
said they might
649
00:50:31,481 --> 00:50:35,081
"turn rebel ourselves in order
to obtain the same benefits".
650
00:50:38,881 --> 00:50:42,401
By now, the generation
who'd witnessed the Clearances,
651
00:50:42,521 --> 00:50:47,041
whose brothers and friends had been forced
to emigrate, were mostly gone.
652
00:50:47,121 --> 00:50:50,881
The next generation
were less scared and more angry.
653
00:50:50,961 --> 00:50:57,681
Finally the crofters had had enough,
and it all started on Skye.
654
00:51:01,921 --> 00:51:06,721
By 1882, Ronald Archibald
was the new Lord Macdonald.
655
00:51:06,801 --> 00:51:09,881
He received a petition
from his crofters in Balmeanach
656
00:51:10,001 --> 00:51:13,841
demanding their traditional grazing rights
on the sides of Ben Lee.
657
00:51:13,921 --> 00:51:15,921
Lord Macdonald said no.
658
00:51:17,481 --> 00:51:21,001
The crofters refused to pay him any rent
for their houses
659
00:51:21,081 --> 00:51:22,681
until he changed his mind.
660
00:51:22,761 --> 00:51:26,681
So Lord Macdonald told his factor
to evict them from their homes.
661
00:51:26,801 --> 00:51:31,281
But when the crofters received
the eviction notices they burned them.
662
00:51:33,001 --> 00:51:36,441
50 policemen were sent north
from Glasgow to Skye
663
00:51:36,521 --> 00:51:40,081
and they arrived here at Balmeanach
around six in the morning,
664
00:51:40,161 --> 00:51:44,121
when most of the villagers were still
asleep or just having their breakfast.
665
00:51:44,201 --> 00:51:47,161
Boys whistled and shouted warnings,
but it was too late.
666
00:51:51,481 --> 00:51:54,841
My grandmother was preparing
the breakfast
667
00:51:54,921 --> 00:51:58,361
when the shout came
that the police were here.
668
00:51:58,441 --> 00:52:03,881
And my grandfather...
He was sitting at the fireside
669
00:52:03,961 --> 00:52:09,041
holding a baby.
He just threw the baby
670
00:52:09,121 --> 00:52:14,481
across the fire to my granny and then
took out up the hill to the road.
671
00:52:14,601 --> 00:52:17,961
So your grandfather and great-grandfather
were among those arrested?
672
00:52:18,041 --> 00:52:19,081
Yes, yes.
673
00:52:19,161 --> 00:52:23,721
But, er, folk...
they could take so much,
674
00:52:23,801 --> 00:52:29,081
stand so much,
but it just couldn't go on.
675
00:52:29,161 --> 00:52:32,041
They had to make a stand.
676
00:52:32,161 --> 00:52:35,961
What exactly did the crofters have in mind
for this spot on the road?
677
00:52:36,041 --> 00:52:39,641
Well, it was to release the prisoners
678
00:52:39,721 --> 00:52:43,561
and cause all the damage
they could to the police.
679
00:52:43,641 --> 00:52:48,721
We had this cairn
of stones and clods
680
00:52:48,801 --> 00:52:53,241
and whatever else that came to hand
just to pitch over the top.
681
00:52:53,321 --> 00:52:55,001
Just rain it down on them?
682
00:52:55,081 --> 00:52:58,881
Rain it down on them,
cause as much damage as they could.
683
00:52:58,961 --> 00:53:05,561
But the police formed a cordon
around half a dozen prisoners
684
00:53:05,641 --> 00:53:11,681
and, in order not to injure
or maybe kill our own folk,
685
00:53:11,761 --> 00:53:15,041
the cry went up, "Stop, stop!"
686
00:53:15,121 --> 00:53:17,721
And then the police broke through
687
00:53:17,801 --> 00:53:21,721
and headed towards Portree
with their prisoners.
688
00:53:33,001 --> 00:53:35,001
90 years before, when the men of Ross
689
00:53:35,081 --> 00:53:37,761
had tried to drive the sheep
out of the Highlands,
690
00:53:37,841 --> 00:53:40,961
they'd been regarded
as dangerous revolutionaries.
691
00:53:41,081 --> 00:53:45,761
35 years before, when the people of Skye
had attempted to resist the Clearances,
692
00:53:45,841 --> 00:53:49,561
they'd met little public sympathy
and the full force of the law.
693
00:53:49,641 --> 00:53:52,721
But now things were different.
694
00:53:55,121 --> 00:53:57,881
Less than a week after
the Battle of the Braes,
695
00:53:57,961 --> 00:54:00,921
11 journalists came to Skye
to follow the story,
696
00:54:01,001 --> 00:54:03,601
including one
from the London Standard.
697
00:54:03,681 --> 00:54:09,561
The crofters were seen as plucky
underdogs and the message spread.
698
00:54:16,121 --> 00:54:18,561
Thousands of crofters
stopped paying rent.
699
00:54:20,041 --> 00:54:22,681
The Sheriff of Skye persuaded
the Government
700
00:54:22,761 --> 00:54:25,081
to send troops
to enforce the rule of law.
701
00:54:25,201 --> 00:54:31,841
On 21st November, a gunboat and 450 troops
arrived here in Loch Dunvegan.
702
00:54:34,601 --> 00:54:38,441
But the Government wanted to keep
on the right side of public opinion.
703
00:54:38,521 --> 00:54:40,881
They gave the sheriff strict instructions
704
00:54:40,961 --> 00:54:43,481
the troops were not to inflame
the situation,
705
00:54:43,561 --> 00:54:47,881
so the sheriff was not allowed
to use them to evict people.
706
00:54:47,961 --> 00:54:51,881
After six months of stalemate,
the troops were withdrawn.
707
00:54:56,401 --> 00:54:59,001
Now the crofters knew
they could do what they liked.
708
00:54:59,121 --> 00:55:03,441
The factors, the lairds, even the
Government, were powerless to stop them.
709
00:55:03,521 --> 00:55:08,481
Lord Lovat of Skye wrote, "The Queen's
writ does not now run in the island,
710
00:55:08,561 --> 00:55:12,561
"the lands seized are still mostly
in the hands of the law-breakers.
711
00:55:12,681 --> 00:55:17,081
"Rents and taxes are unpaid
and many defaulters are still at large."
712
00:55:20,801 --> 00:55:25,601
And come rent day, when Lord Macdonald
put out the demands to his tenants,
713
00:55:25,681 --> 00:55:30,081
not a single farthing was paid
and not a single tenant appeared.
714
00:55:37,081 --> 00:55:40,281
So what did the Government do?
They set up a commission.
715
00:55:47,401 --> 00:55:51,521
The Napier Commission held its first
meeting here, in the church in Braes,
716
00:55:51,641 --> 00:55:56,121
close to the spot where the crofters and
the 50 police had their pitched battle.
717
00:55:59,281 --> 00:56:02,241
A Royal Commission
was the traditional way, then as now,
718
00:56:02,321 --> 00:56:05,801
to kick a difficult issue
into the long grass.
719
00:56:05,881 --> 00:56:10,281
But John Murdoch realised
this could be a real opportunity.
720
00:56:10,401 --> 00:56:14,281
He went around the Highlands organising
and preparing people for it.
721
00:56:17,921 --> 00:56:20,201
Crofter after crofter
gave testimony.
722
00:56:20,281 --> 00:56:24,801
They told stories of betrayal,
of persecution and of hardship.
723
00:56:24,881 --> 00:56:29,641
Public pressure steadily grew
to give the crofters more rights.
724
00:56:33,481 --> 00:56:35,681
In the 1885 General Election,
725
00:56:35,761 --> 00:56:39,801
four Crofters' Party MPs won seats
in Westminster.
726
00:56:39,881 --> 00:56:42,841
This was an astonishing achievement.
727
00:56:42,921 --> 00:56:46,481
Now, the reformers
had political power.
728
00:56:46,561 --> 00:56:48,561
The Government had to act.
729
00:56:50,521 --> 00:56:57,921
The Crofters Land Act of 1886 gave them
security of tenure and set fair rents.
730
00:56:58,001 --> 00:57:02,361
Never again would the lairds be able
to turn crofters out of their homes.
731
00:57:02,441 --> 00:57:04,001
The Clearances were over.
732
00:57:06,681 --> 00:57:10,521
For centuries, the control of
the landowners had been absolute.
733
00:57:10,601 --> 00:57:14,921
Now, at last, the balance of power
was beginning to shift.
734
00:57:22,361 --> 00:57:25,401
Walter Scott had created
the myth of the Highlander
735
00:57:25,481 --> 00:57:28,921
in an attempt to secure the loyalty
of the Scots to their King.
736
00:57:29,001 --> 00:57:31,761
Ironically,
that myth was subverted
737
00:57:31,841 --> 00:57:35,161
to give the Highlander rights
over the land.
738
00:57:35,241 --> 00:57:38,961
For good or ill,
Scott rebranded Scotland.
739
00:57:39,041 --> 00:57:41,521
Nearly two centuries later,
740
00:57:41,601 --> 00:57:45,001
his tartan is woven
into our national identity.
741
00:57:47,201 --> 00:57:51,001
The stories we tell ourselves
about our history
742
00:57:51,081 --> 00:57:51,001
don't just shape our past,
they shape our future as well.