ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607050066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: LONDON
SOURCE: The Washington Post
Over the centuries, the English have stolen much, returned little, and rarely said they were sorry. The loot of the ages - from Egypt, South Asia, Greece and other imperial outposts - continues to draw throngs to the British Museum.
Thus it was big news Wednesday when Prime Minister John Major announced that the Stone of Scone, a cherished relic of Scottish history, would go home to Edinburgh 700 years after King Edward I pinched it as he sacked, pillaged and plundered.
The 400-pound red-gray sandstone coronation ``seat'' of Scottish kings - when there were Scottish kings - has long been a symbol to Scots of the independence their nation once enjoyed. Its removal to Westminster Abbey, where English kings made it their coronation seat, is one of their most enduring grievances against the English.
Major announced Wednesday with some fanfare in the House of Commons ``that on this, the 700th anniversary of its removal from Scotland, it is appropriate to return it to its historic homeland.'' He did not mention that his Conservative Party has been getting slaughtered in elections in Scotland and needs all the help it can get.
The return of the stone was - to put it mildly - overdue. The English promised they would give it back in the Treaty of Northampton in 1328. In 1950, four Scottish nationalists got tired of waiting and actually took the stone, leading authorities on a long, pranksterish chase before it was retrieved in 1952.
There was a catch of sorts to Wednesday's promise. While Major said the stone would go home, with the blessing of Queen Elizabeth II, it will still be brought back to London for coronations.
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