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| robert burns |
A weak crescent moon peeks flittingly
from scudding gaps in a storm filled sky. High above the St Lawrence
River, General Wolfe leads his troops onto the Heights of Abraham.
Montcalm is soon to be swept from Quebec, but the French are not to
be so easily removed. Britain, under George lll is engaged in the
Seven Year war. The Empire is aflame, battles are fought and won at
Minden, Queberon, Lagos and beyond. The year is 1759.
In Portugal the Jesuits are expelled,
Catherine the Great rules Russia, North America sees the unstoppable
flood of European immigrants as they spread and settle across the
plains and mountains of that vast continent. A flood, that will not
only destroy the traditions of, but the actual peoples of once proud
nations. Iraquois, Algonquins, Miantunnomoh, Shawnee, Sioux and more
will soon be reduced to refugees in their own land, to second billing
in second feature movies.
Scotland is on the threshold of great
change. The Jacobites with their fleeing figurehead have been
vanquished, soon to expire. A whole way of life, from feudal tything
of land to clan stewardship is on the wane. The first stirrings of
Industrial Revolution are about to bring fundamental and far reaching
changes to society. Changes, that were to herald a new economic
emphasis. In thirty short, frantic, years of evolution Scotland will
be brought abreast of developments in England that they have managed
over a leisurely century or two.
Into such a melting pot of influences
was born Robert Burns, eldest in a family of seven. He was born into
a farming family and while they were not in poverty, life was hard
and they certainly were not rich. By modern standards he had a
sketchy education. He could read however and he read all he could lay
his hands on, understanding what he read. He had emotion, awareness,
sensibility and a vision that took far beyond his limited physical
boundaries. Despite his upbringing of never ceasing toil, he could
laugh.
Burns knew the nature of people, of
man, of woman, opposed to the bare elements of existence. Elements of
existence that was fundamental and universal. Such qualities of
understanding that made him the people’s poet. Burns embraced, no,
embraces all humanity.
‘The Unco Guid’, The Rigidly
Righteous’, Holy Willie, Twa Dugs, Man Made to Mourn, examples of
his observation skills, his vision and his social awareness, none
exclusive to eighteenth century Scotland. Burns was timeless and
universal. He was born on a subsistence farm in Ayrshire and he
enriched the world.
Dawn creeps over the grey, drizzle
drenched, Spaylaywitheepi. A fragile bark canoe crosses the bow of
the lead trader’s keelboat. A musket cracks, the ball splashing
harmlessly short of the paddling Shawnee. The shot heralds a frenzy
of strokes as the canoe lurches forward in a desperate race to
outdistance the pursuing flotilla. It skims the surface of the water
as it rounds a welcome bend. A swirling tell-tale wake betrays its
curving flight into the mouth of the smaller tributary, the Licking
River. Hell bent on their murderous pursuit the traders’ swing
their craft after their fast tiring prey. The bait has been taken.
Astern of the unsuspecting traders the
mouth of the Licking fills with war canoes. Both banks suddenly swarm
with warriors. The deadly trap is sprung.
Just another skirmish in a land where
opposing cultures struggle for dominance.
It is also the era of George
Washington, famous for his honesty, for felling a cherry tree, for
being the first President of the United States of America, for his
role in humbling and destroying the Iroquois nation and for penning
his pleasure at that barbarous act.
Into such a cauldron, fate was to
introduce a human being of humility and vision. Someone of power and
charisma, whose birth in a Shawnee wegiwa was marked by the brilliant
death of a meteorite. A happening that was to inspire his name, ‘The
Panther Passing Across’, Tecumseh of the Shawnee. Who through his
strength of character, his humanity and vision, against all great
odds, had a dream, a dream of a great nation, bound by a racial
brotherhood that would supersede all barriers of rivalries and
hatred.
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| tecumseh |
Like Burns he was born with little
possessions and like Burns he died a young man. But he managed to
pack into his short life an understanding of humanity that was to
transcend his troubled life. Circumstances were not to present
Tecumseh with the universal platform that was to so widely
immortalise the ploughman poet, but that did not diminish his
greatness.
Scotland continued to change and
throughout the life of Burns, 1759 to 1796, many people and events of
note were to emerge:
Telford, the brilliant civil engineer,
responsible for the revolutionary, ‘Iron Bridge’ over the Severn
in Shropshire, still standing to this day. The improvements in steam
power brought about by Watt, with his local connections at Bo’ness.
It was the time of the Forth and Clyde
Canal, that marvel of engineering opened to shipping in 1790. The
creation of iron works, notably Carron Foundry, whose ‘carronades’
were to sound their thunder in the faces of the Empire’s enemies in
many a battle location. Early developments in our transport saw the
Turnpike Trust set up.
In 1776 Adam Smith penned, ‘The
Wealth of Nations’. World trade was blossoming and the ‘East
India Company’ flourished. All was not plain sailing however and
that ghastly phenomenon, that haunts us to this very day, took its
toll, inflation. It led to the demise of Douglas, Hern and Company,
notable bankers of that time.
North America, kick started by tax
problems, fought the Britain at the battle of Bunkers Hill, Boston,
the start of a struggle that led to independence and George
Washington donning the mantle, first President of the United States
of America. That great British institution, ‘The Times’ was born,
Frederick the Great died, the Great War began, yes these were
troubled times.
The age of Burns saw the birth of
Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth and Carlyle, a rich vein of talent. It was
also when two of the greatest Scottish portrait painters, Ramsey and
Raeburn were to capture many famous figures on canvass. Burns lived
in a country at a time of change, when many famous people and events
were to shape our destiny.
None however captured the admiration,
the imagination, the unashamed universal acclaim, than did the
Ayrshire crofter, poet. In late January every year celebrations to
his memory encircle the globe, keeping pace with the rising and
setting sun. His genius and humanity is embraced the world over,
French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Americans have claimed
him as their own. The Ayrshire poet has certainly left his mark.
Tecumseh’s dream was never to be
fulfilled, as the inevitability associated with the spread of a more
powerful mass was to take its toll on his nation as they were
overwhelmed by the development of a New World. Or was it the rape of
a culture?
Two centuries on, the splendid
Spaylaywitheepi is no more, now the ordinary Ohio River. The site of
the ‘skirmish’ overlooked by the city of Cincinnati and the
Riverfront baseball stadium.
Tecumseh, is revered and celebrated
amongst his own people, Burns has a wider reverence, only fate and
circumstances set their limits.
I wish they had met on earth: Perhaps
they were destined to meet on another plain.
