XI. 1703. BOOK by Charles I. the civil wars which it produced in Scotland, and the furious persecution under Charles II. were aggravated and ascribed to the same cause by the public discontent. The commerce of the nation, as it was far less progressive than in other countries, was supposed to have declined since the accession of James. A share in the plantation trade was considered as a just equivalent, due to a nation impoverished during the preceding century, by the attendance of its nobility at the English court, and by the loss of its commercial privileges in France. But the Scots were excluded from the plantations by the navigation act. Their shipping had been seized and confiscated in the plantations; and their trade with England was discouraged, since the restoration, by the same restrictions that were imposed upon aliens 9. Every attempt to extend their commerce, or to establish a settlement in the cast or in the west, was repressed by the predominating influence of the English cabinet; and it was supposed that the worst, and most servile statesmen were selected for the administration of Scotland. Every opportunity to improve their country, or to redeem their constitution from a foreign influence, had been disappointed, it was said, by the delusive offer of an union till the danger had subsided; and the nation lamented the improvidence of its ancestors, who neglected to secure the inde 9 Ridpath's Discourse on the Union, 1702. pendence of their government, by limitations pre- BOOK vious to the union of the crowns. The source of every preceding disaster was felt at once, on the loss of Darien, in the pernicious influence of the English cabinet over the sovereign, which it became the duty of every true born Scot to resist. The country party was formed, like every opposition, of an independent interest, with the discontented of every description intermixed; but their professed object was to procure redress for the loss of Darien, and to emancipate their country from the English yoke. XI. 1703. parties. A fairer opportunity than the present could Views of never have occurred. At the close of the last reign, when the settlement of the crown of England was extended to the princess Sophia, Dowager of Hanover, the next protestant descendant of the elector palatine, and of Elizabeth, daughter of James VI. the estates of Scotland were not once consulted, and no provision was yet made to preserve the union of the crowns. The most salutary measure that originated in England, would have been rejected by the discontented of all ranks; and an incorporating union was recommended by William, in order to establish the same protestant succession in Scotland, and to prevent the final separation of the kingdoms. The security of England required that the protestant succession should be received in Scotland, but it was the obvious policy of all parties there, that the succession 288 BOOK XI. 1703. Act of se 'curity. should remain undetermined till their grievances were redressed, or till the benefit of an union were first obtained. To secure the independence of government, the country party determined to impose limitations on the successor to the crown. The court party were inclined to postpone the succession, or rather to introduce it by a previous union; but it was the interest of the Jacobites to leave the succession open for the last prince of the house of Stuart. Hamilton, who maintained a strict correspondence with the exiled family, was instructed to persuade the queen, if possible, to admit her brother to the crown of Scotland during her life, that his accession might be secured in England after her death. But the country party in general, the marquis of Tweedale, the earls of Rothes, Haddington, Roxburgh, Hyndford, Marchmont, lord Belhaven, Baillie of Jerviswood, and Fletcher of Salton, were indifferent, or more probably irreconcileable to the pretender's interest, and never meant to renounce their attachment to the protestant succession 10. According to these views of the different parties, the settlement of the crown was industriously evaded. The consideration of supplies was post 10 Macpherson, and other late historians, erroneously represent the country party as all Jacobites. It is now difficult to ascertain the numbers of each in parliament: but after the defection of the Squadrone, which consisted of more than thirty members, Lockhart is still careful to discriminate the Jacobites from the country party. XI. 1703. poned, to prevent a sudden prorogation, till an BOOK act for the security of the kingdom were prepared. In the event of the queen's death, it was proposed that the parliament then existing, or if dissolved, that the last parliament should assemble within twenty days, during which the government was to be lodged with the privy council and such of the estates as repaired to town. Papists, aliens, Englishmen invested with a peerage, without an adequate estate in Scotland, were excluded from a parliament which was intended to provide for the demise of the crown. If no issue of the queen existed, and if no heir were already appointed to the throne, the estates were directed to name a successor, of the royal line and the protestant faith; but it was carefully provided, that the same person should not succeed to the throne of England, unless such conditions of government were previously framed, during her majesty's reign, as might secure from English, or from foreign influence, the honour and independence of the crown and kingdom; the freedom, frequency, and authority of parliament; the religion, liberty, and trade of the nation. An additional clause, proposed in opposition to these limitations, was adopted in the act; that the same person should be incapable of succeeding to both kingdoms, unless a free communication of trade, the benefits of the navigation act, and the liberty of the plantations, were also obtained. The commissions of the officers of state VOL. IV. U XI. 1703. BOOK and of the military commanders, were to expire with the sovereign, to prevent the existence, or the influence of an English government during the interregnum; the inhabitants fit for arms were ordered to be uniformly armed, and regularly disciplined once a month; and by a separate act, the prerogative of declaring peace and war, was to be exerted by the sovereign with consent of the estates; from an obvious design, that if the concessions expected from England were ever revoked, the nation might refuse to concur in its continental wars. Debated. Arguments før, Never was an act so violent, adopted in Scotland. with more deliberation, or opposed by more artful interruptions and delays. Each clause was debated and voted as a separate act. As the estates were seldom permitted to meet till evening, or to sit above once every third day, three months were consumed on the act, that the members, wearied and exhausted by attendance, might return to their homes". But the independence of Scotland had created the deepest interest in the nation; and the act of security was supported with a spirit and ́eloquence which hitherto the parliament had not displayed. As the present settlement of the crown expires with the queen, nothing less, said the advocates for the act, than the supreme power inherent in the estates, can prevent the dissolution of the mo "Proceedings of Parl. 1703. |