IN your article “Time for TV to tackle Scottish history myths” (January 31), historian Dr Alan Kennedy correctly points that Scotland was never colonised by England and in fact was an enthusiastic participant in the whole colonial enterprise.
However, I completely disagree with him is where he states “ This Union is a voluntary one and parliament voted through the treaty.” as though it was a democratic decision. It was anything but.
The Union was detested by most citizens and there is a wealth of evidence to show this, most notably from Daniel Defoe, author, journalist and English Government agent who was in Edinburgh at the time. He wrote that there was hardly a man in the city who wished for the Union and how mobs roamed the streets to demonstrate against it. The Treaty was eventually signed secretly in a cellar, to avoid the anger of the citizens, and smuggled out of the city.