The Burgh of Arbroath recently celebrated the 600th anniversary of the declaration of Scottish Independence "within the precincts of the Abbey, from the Regality Chamber of which Robert Bruce issued the famous document forwarded to the then reigning Pope.
Mr. Balfour wrote: The occasion is one that must, withens doubt, interest all Scotsmen, for though the ancient independence of the Kingdom had been gloriously vindicated at Bannockburn six years before, and was formally embodied in the Treaty of Northampton eight years after, and though these, therefore, are the dates of most vital significance from a historical point of view, yet the letter to Pope John ex: presses the Scottish attitude with such noble dignity that Scotsmen in general, and the citizens of Arbroath in particular, may well be proud of it.
The Duke of Atholl, in an address, said: "Let us recognize that, as in the days of Bruce, the safety and the freedom and the welfare of Scotland can only be maintained by a spirit of national unity, of mutual trust between all classes, and of self-sacrificing patriotic service."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.