A Parcel of Rogues

At the end of the 17th Century, Scotland and England were separate countries though they shared the same King.  It was a time of great exploration and settlement of lands, with varying levels of success.  Scotland's most ambitious project was at Darien in Central America.  A huge amount of money was raised but it was not long before disease and the depradations of the Spanish decimated the colony and the investors all went bankrupt, as did the Scottish Treasury.

The politicians turned to England for assistance and, to save their own fortunes, agreed to a union of the two kingdoms with rule from a central parliament in London.

Scottish nationalists, like Robert Burns, were outraged and he wrote a poem castigating the men, the parcel of rogues, who threw away Scottish independence for which thousands had died to maintain.

Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame, 
Fareweel our ancient glory; 
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name, 
Sae fam'd in martial story. 
Now Sark rins over Solway sands, 
An' Tweed rins to the ocean, 
To mark where England's province stands- 
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! 

What force or guile could not subdue, 
Thro' many warlike ages, 
Is wrought now by a coward few, 
For hireling traitor's wages. 
The English stell we could disdain, 
Secure in valour's station; 
But English gold has been our bane- 
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! 

O would, or I had seen the day 
That Treason thus could sell us, 
My auld grey head had lien in clay, 
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace! 
But pith and power, till my last hour, 
I'll mak this declaration; 
We're bought and sold for English gold- 
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

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