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Hi Donald:
In my Canadian persona, I am
a bit of a leftie. Put that beside my deep interest in and respect for our
titled Clansmen or as you put it "the trappings of the the old world [which
will] be pushed aside" and you will have what might be perceived as a
contradiction.
Not at all I hasten to add. My respect for my Chief and
for Peter St. Clair Erskine (The Earl of Rosslyn's real name) and for John
Sinclair, Viscount Thurso stems in the first place from having met them and
found them engaging and interested in what we are interested in as, for example,
members of this list. In addition, they members of our Clan AND, are
living representatives of our history and heritage and I for one take great
pleasure in knowing that when I speak to Malcolm Caithness I am speaking to a
direct descendant of Prince Henry Sinclair. It may also be true that I (or
you) are also direct descendants of Prince Henry but we cannot speak of
ourselves with that way with the certainty that Malcolm can. Call me
crazy, but I like that.
As for the notion that Peter Rosslyn somehow is an
"illegitimate" owner of Rosslyn Chapel at the expense of the
world-wide Clan Sinclair I must confess that I am not a subsciber of such
views. Peter Rosslyn's ancestors inherited the Chapel and Castle through
totally legal means and if we still believe in the idea of private property (the
socialist dream of all property being held in common not yet having arrived)
then his ownership need not be questioned anymore than my daughter's ownership
of my house should be questioned when she inherits it on my death.
Now, as to your nascent idea that the Clan can come up with
some kind of monstrous some of cash in order to make some kind of offer that the
Earl "cannot refuse" .... well, my opinion is that it just ain't
gonna happen.
My view is that the Earl has made an enormous gift of the
Chapel to the Rosslyn Chapel Trust on a 99 year lease which means effectively
that neither he, nor his children nor his children's children will ever
"own" the Chapel in the sense that you and I mean own. My view
is that we would do well to support the RCT in its very long-term plan to see to
it that the physical fabric of the building is preserved and protected for
future generations. The Trust is regularly audited by the Scottish
Government and all plans for the preservation of the building are monitored by
Historic Scotland. I think the Chapel is being extraordinarily
well-attended to and any great sums of cash that the Clan could raise should go
directly to this enterprise and not to satisfyng some idea of "Clan
ownership. Indeed, I have no problem in declaring that the present owner
is all of: Peter Rosslyn, The RCT, the people of Scotland as represented by
Historic Scotland and the Sinclair diaspora ie. US!
These are my views and not the official views of anyone
else.
Curious as to your views on my views.
Love your spunky contributions to the list.
Aye,
Rory
-----Original Message-----
From: Donald H Sinclair <horace@mb.sympatico.ca> To: Sinclair Discusion List <sinclair@matrix.net> Date: Friday, May 05, 2000 7:07 PM Subject: Rosslyn Chapel
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