6 Conclusion
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Daniel Szechi
Abstract
The movement in Scotland was far more coherent, united and politically effective than we hitherto realised, and the Jacobite Juncto apparently commanded the support of a very substantial minority of at least the political nation. Jacobite Scotland might well have provided the French invasion force with the thirty-thousand men the Juncto promised in 1707. There are some moments in history which illuminate their time and place, and test our interpretations of the past, with exceptional intensity. The Entreprise d'Écosse is one of these. Inspired by the rhetoric and ideas of Andrew Fletcher and the earl of Rothes, Scots Jacobites imagined an economically viable and independent Scotland with a constitution that would have turned it into a noble republic with a largely ceremonial monarch. Eighteenth-century Britain ultimately moved in this direction; the Scots Jacobites were far in advance of such developments.
Abstract
The movement in Scotland was far more coherent, united and politically effective than we hitherto realised, and the Jacobite Juncto apparently commanded the support of a very substantial minority of at least the political nation. Jacobite Scotland might well have provided the French invasion force with the thirty-thousand men the Juncto promised in 1707. There are some moments in history which illuminate their time and place, and test our interpretations of the past, with exceptional intensity. The Entreprise d'Écosse is one of these. Inspired by the rhetoric and ideas of Andrew Fletcher and the earl of Rothes, Scots Jacobites imagined an economically viable and independent Scotland with a constitution that would have turned it into a noble republic with a largely ceremonial monarch. Eighteenth-century Britain ultimately moved in this direction; the Scots Jacobites were far in advance of such developments.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations and maps viii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Abbreviations, dates, spelling and punctuation xi
- 1 Britain’s lost revolution and the historians 1
- 2 March 1708 and its aftermath 14
- 3 The Jacobite underground in the early eighteenth century 73
- 4 The Scots Jacobite agenda, 1702–10 109
- 5 The geopolitics of the Enterprise of Scotland 150
- 6 Conclusion 198
- Bibliography 202
- Index 214
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations and maps viii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Abbreviations, dates, spelling and punctuation xi
- 1 Britain’s lost revolution and the historians 1
- 2 March 1708 and its aftermath 14
- 3 The Jacobite underground in the early eighteenth century 73
- 4 The Scots Jacobite agenda, 1702–10 109
- 5 The geopolitics of the Enterprise of Scotland 150
- 6 Conclusion 198
- Bibliography 202
- Index 214
