and particularly those that were the oftenest repeated, were so grossly absurd, as to be unworthy of a serious reply; but there were many things objected to, that might have been happily illustrated, and brought within the grasp of the public mind by sober argument and free discussion,

Britain, and have rank and precedency next, and immediately after, the Peers of the like orders and degrees in England, at the time of the Union, and before all Peers of Great Britain, of the like orders and degrees, who may be created after the Union, and shall be tried as Peers of Great Britain, and shall enjoy all privileges of Peers, as fully as the Peers of England do now, or as they or any other Peers of Great Britain may hereafter enjoy the same, except the right and privilege of sitting in the House of Lords, and the privileges depending thereon, and particularly the right of sitting upon the trials of Peers.

XXIV. That from and after the Union, there be one great seal for the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which shall be different from the seal now used in either Kingdom, and that the quartering the arms as may best suit the Union, be left to her Majesty. And that, in the meantime, the great seal of England be used as the great seal of the United Kingdom, and that the great seal of the United Kingdom be used for sealing writs to elect and summon the Parliament of Great Britain, and for sealing all treaties with foreign Princes and States, and all public acts, instruments, and orders of State, which concern the whole United Kingdom; and in all other matters relating to England, as the great seal of England is now used. And that a seal in Scotland, after the Union, be always kept and made use of in all things relating to private rights or grants which have usually passed the great seal of Scotland, and which only concern offices, grants, commissions, and private rights, within that Kingdom; and that until such seal be appointed by Her Majesty, the present great seal of Scotland shall be used for such purposes. And that the privy seal, signet, casset, signet of the Justiciary Court, quenter seals, and seal of Courts, now used in Scotland, be continued; but that the said seals be altered and adapted to the state of the Union, as Her Majesty shall think fit. the said seals, and all of them, and the keepers of them, shall be subject to such regulations as the Parliament of Great Britain shall hereafter make.

And

XXV. That all laws and statutes in either Kingdom, so far as they are contrary to, or inconsistent with, the terms of these Articles, or any of them, shall, from and after the Union, cease and become void; and shall be so declared to be, by the respective Parliaments of said Kingdoms.

Follows the tenor of the foresaid Act for securing the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church Government :

Our Sovereign lady and the estates of Parliament, considering that by the late Act of Parliament for a treaty with England for an union of both Kingdoms, it is provided that the Commissioners for that treaty should not treat of, or concerning any alteration of the worship, discipline, and government of the Church of this Kingdom, as now by law established, which treaty being now reported to the Parliament; and it being reasonable and necessary that the true Protestant religion, as presently professed within this Kingdom, with the worship, discipline, and government of this Church should be effectually and unalterably secured; therefore Her Majesty, with advice and consent of the said estates of Parliament, doth hereby establish and confirm the said true Protestant religion, and the worship, discipline, and government of this Church to continue without any alteration to the people of this land in all succeeding generations; and more especially, Her Majesty, with advice and consent foresaid, ratifies, approves, and for ever confirms the fifth Act of the first Parliament of King William and Queen Mary, intituled, an Act ratifying the Confession of Faith, and settling Presbyterian Church Government, with the haill other Acts of Parliament relating thereto, in prosecution of the declaration of the estates of this Kingdom containing the claim of right, bearing date the eleventh of April one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine; and Her Majesty, with advice and consent foresaid, expressly provides and declares, that the foresaid true Protestant religion contained in the above-mentioned Confession of Faith, with the form and purity of worship presently in use within this Church, and its Presbyterian Church government and discipline, that is to say, the government of the Church by Kirk Sessions, Presbyterie provincial Synods, and General Assemblies, all established by the foresaid Acts of Parliament, pursuant to the claim of right, shall remain and continue unalterable; and that the said Presbyterian government shall be the only government of the Church within the Kingdom of Scotland. And, further, for the greater security of the foresaid Protestant religion, and of the worship, discipline, and government of this Church, as above established, Her Majesty, with ad

which were totally neglected. The federal Union, of which many were so very fond, might easily have been demonstrated, from their own showing, to have been ineligible; and, at any rate, the evils that were pointed out, particularly with regard to the church, and the predicament in which her members were to be placed by the treaty as it stood, ought to have been attended to, and the aid that was proffered for preventing them, though proffered with no friendly intentions, accepted. In this respect,

vice and consent foresaid, statutes and ordains that the Universities and Colleges of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh, as now established by law, shall continue within this Kingdom for ever. And, that in all time coming, no Professors, Principals, Regents, Masters, or others bearing office in any University, College, or School, within this kingdom, be capable, or be admitted, or allowed to continue in the exercise of their said functions, but such as shall own and acknowledge the civil government in manner prescribed, or to be prescribed by the Acts of Parliament. As also, that before, or at their admissions, they do, and shall acknowledge and profess, and shall subscribe to the said Confession of Faith, as the confession of their faith, and that they will practise and conform themselves to the worship presently in use in this Church, and submit themselves to the government and discipline thereof, and never endeavour, directly or indirectly, the prejudice or subversion of the same, and that before the respective Presbyteries of their bounds, by whatever gift, presentation, or provision they may be thereto provided. And, farther, Her Majesty, with advice foresaid, expressly declares and statutes, that none of the subjects of this Kingdom shall be liable to, but all and every one of them for ever, free of any oath, test, or subscription within this Kingdom, contrary to, or inconsistent with the foresaid true Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government, worship, and discipline, as above established, and that the same, within the bounds of this Church and Kingdom, shall never be imposed upon, or required of them, in any sort. And, lastly, that after the decease of Her present Majesty, whom God long preserve, the Sovereigns succeeding to Her in the royal government of the Kingdom of Great Britain, shall in all time coming, at his or her accession to the Crown, swear and subscribe that they shall inviolably maintain and preserve the foresaid settlement of the true Protestant religion, with the government, worship, discipline, right, and privileges of this Church, as above established by the laws of this Kingdom, in prosecution of the claim of right. And it is hereby statute and ordained, that this Act of Parliament, with the establishment therein contained, shall be held and observed in all time coming, as a fundamental and essential condition of any treaty or union to be concluded betwixt the two Kingdoms, without any alteration thereof, or derogation thereto, in any sort, for ever. As also, that this Act of Parliament and settlement there contained, shall be insert and repeated in any Act of Parliament that shall pass for agreeing and concluding the foresaid treaty or union betwixt the two Kingdoms, and that the same shall be therein expressly declared to be a fundamental and essential condition of the said treaty or union, in all time coming. WHICH ARTICLES OF UNION, and Act immediately above written, Her Majesty, with advice and consent foresaid, statutes, enacts, and ordains to be, and continue in all time coming, the sure and perpetual foundation of a complete and entire union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, under this express condition and provision, that the approbation and ratification of the foresaid Articles and Act shall be no ways binding on this Kingdom, until the said Articles and Act be ratified, approven, and confirmed by Her Majesty, with and by the authority of the Parliament of England, as they are now agreed to, approven, and confirmed by Her Majesty, with and by the authority of the Parliament of Scotland, declaring, nevertheless, that the Parliament of England may provide for the security of the Church of England, as they think expedient, to take place within the bounds of the said Kingdom of England, and not derogating from the security above provided for establishing of the Church of Scotland within the bounds of this Kingdom. As also, the said Parliament of England may extend the additions and other provisions contained in the Articles of Union, as above insert, in favours of the subjects of Scotland, to and in favours of the subjects of England, which shall not suspend or derogate from the force and effect of this present ratification, but shall be understood as herein included, without the necessity of any new ratification in the Parliament of Scotland. And, lastly, Her Majesty enacts and declares, that all laws and statutes in this Kingdom, so far as they are contrary to, or inconsistent with the terms of these Articles, as above mentioned, shall from and after the Union cease and become void.

indeed, better terms ought to have been obtained. In all civil respects, the treaty, on the part of England, was liberal, and worthy of the great statesmen with whom it originated; but with regard to religion, it was the very reverse. It argued on the part of the English ministry, certainly no small degree of confidence, to require Scotland to guarantee the perpetuity of a system of avaricious superstition, which she had by solemn oath become bound never willingly to submit to at home, nor to give any active countenance to abroad; and it was, and is, degradation, which our language, copious as it is, has not words sufficiently to express, for Scotishmen and presbyterians to be compelled to swear antichristian oaths of supremacy, and take the sacramental test, when bearing the commission, and going about the affairs of an independent nation.

Witnessing, however, such things submitted to even in these days of untrammelled liberty, and of unvailed illumination, we may well be allowed to drop a forgiving tear over the less complex and less guilty actings of our fathers, hemmed in as they were between the Scylla of slavery and persecution on the one hand, and the Charybdis of anarchy and conquest on the other. It must not be overlooked, that of the numerous body designated by the name of cavaliers, and many of those that adhered to what was called the country party, who in their despair advanced some of the first principles of liberty, there was not one but was at bottom the advocate of passive obedience, and unalienable indefeasible hereditary right, Fletcher of Salton excepted, and he again was poisoned with democracy and deism. An enthusiast for the ideal liberty of the Grecian republics, he was a very fit advocate for what at that time was dignified with the names of Scotish liberty and independence, which consisted in the nobles having the power of trampling upon the king, the barons, and upon one another as occasion offered-and the barons or lairds trampling upon their tenants or dependants so long as it was their pleasure, and hanging or drowning them when it was for their real or supposed profit. What kind of a philanthropist he was, may be inferred from this, that he could devise no remedy for that overflowing pauperism which the misrule of so many ages had produced, but to reduce the poor to absolute slavery, and divide and domesticate them upon the lands of the different proprietors. His plan for civilizing the Highlands is strongly illustrative of the same ferocity of character. "It were to be wished," he says, "that the government would think fit to transplant that handful of people and their masters, who have always disturbed our peace, into the low country, and people the Highlands from hence." He was a man, indeed, who had imbibed ideas far beyond those that were common either to his age or country, but, like the greater part of men possessed of superior genius, was more fanciful than solid-more speculative than practical. He had, moreover, a defect of temper, that rendered him of little utility as a coadjutor in the management of public affairs, being tenacious to a tittle of his own views, however extravagant or impracticable. He was also irascible to the last degree. So far did this unhappy failing carry him, that after coming to England with the unfortunate duke of Monmouth, 1685, in an altercation with the mayor of Lime, about a horse that had been impressed into

the service of the party, he drew forth a pistol and shot him, in consequence of which, his services, however valuable they might have been, were lost to the cause in which he was engaged, as he was necessitated, to escape the odium of the act, to return to Holland. On another occasion we find him collaring John earl of Stair, in the parliament house, on account of an expression which he was pleased to say glanced at him, and demanding satisfaction on the spot. From such a man, what was to be expected? Or what policy could be practised towards him, but to stand as much at a distance, and run the hazard of as few duels with him as possible? All these circumstances taken together, go far to excuse the Scotish ministry of that period, for being suspicious of every proposal made by the party in opposition to them, and shy of taking their assistance, though on some occasions they might have done so with advantage.

It ought also to be considered, that from the temper displayed by the cavaliers, who all at once seemed to take the interest and the glory of the country so much to heart, there was scarcely an alternative for all who truly valued liberty and religion, but to accept of the Union, though the terms had been much less advantageous than they really were. It was impossible that such men as Sunderland, Somers, Halifax, Godolphin, and Cowper, who were at this time the chief managers of English affairs, should not have seen the scheme that was thus maturing under the mask of patriotism, and if they had entertained any doubts on the subject, the act of security, with others of the same stamp that accompanied it, could not have failed to have set all these doubts at rest. It could not fail to strike the most superficial observer, that something more was meant by that act, bold as it was, than met the ear; and taken in connexion with the refusal to settle the succession, it was not difficult to see what that something was. England had declared for Hanover, which was more afflictive to the present race of Scotish patriots than the loss of Darien, or the want of any of those privileges for which they were clamouring so loudly; and having obtained this act for putting the nation into military array, they intended by and by to declare for James, and with the aid of the English Jacobites, hoped not only to defeat the protestant succession, but to obtain the ascendant in both countries, and thus to be enriched, not by trade, which, with all the noise they made about it, they hated and despised, but by lucrative places, liberal pensions, and the estates of their opponents, the leading men among whom they had already doomed to the gallows or the stake. This design was rertainly not a little dangerous, more especially as it was, by the duplicity of the party, so covered, that the greater part of the whigs, blinded by their prejudices, were promoting it with all their influence as conducive to their own views. The English nation in general, however, saw the purpose that was intended to be accomplished clearly, and her legislature took immediate measures to defeat it, by passing the bill we have already noticed, declaring, that no Scotishmen, not resident in England, should enjoy the privileges of Englishmen till such time as an union should

• Life and Political Opinions of Fletcher of Salton, &c. &c.

be concluded, or the succession to the crown settled as it had been in England. Her majesty was, at the same time, advised to put the town of Newcastle in a proper state of defence-to secure the port of Tynemouth, and to repair the fortifications of Carlisle and Hull. It was also requested that the militia of the four northern counties should be called out, a competent number of regular troops stationed on the borders, and a squadron of ships ordered to cruise on the Scotish coast to shut up her commerce and prevent her from communicating with France. These measures, happily, were never put into execution, the Scotish parliament having appointed commissioners for the Union, which occasioned the repeal of the act by which they were authorized, before the time specified for their commencement arrived. Had it been otherwise, the consequence would in all probability have been a war between the two countries, the result of which could scarcely have been other than fatal to Scotland, and she must have submitted to such terms as the conquerors chose to impose upon her.

It is also worthy of remark, that the benefits of the Union were greatly retarded, and all the evils that unavoidably attended it increased and accelerated, by that detestable faction which laboured so assiduously to prevent its completion. The treaty itself was planned by consummate wisdom, and great liberality on the part of the English, and by Englishmen has, for the most part, been executed with good faith. There was no attempt made to infringe it in the smallest particular, till the Scotish Jacobites, by a protracted series of intrigues, and a new train of perjuries, wriggled themselves into power in the last and disastrous years of queen Anne, and probably, to fulfil in some degree their own predictions, as well as to forward the interests of the pretender, kept trenching upon it every day, till happily the sudden death of the queen put an end to their power, and gave their villanous practices another direction. Since that time no further attempts have been made upon it, and the encroachments then made, as they were, even by the unprincipled faction that made them, admitted to be contrary to its spirit, and were avowedly intended to promote its dissolution, might have been long since rectified, had those whom they most deeply concerned, shown any thing like zeal or cordiality in the matter. Upon the whole, though we neither approve of that bribery and corruption by which this union was established, nor dare pronounce it in all respects perfect, we admit that few treaties have been made in the world, that have been productive of so many blessings. The most deeply felt evils that attended it-and no great political change can be effected without encountering evils of considerable magnitude-were transient and local; its benefits have been permanent and universal. It has given competence to the cottage, elegance to the palace, and stability to the throne. It has imparted health to the body politic, and a resistless energy that has been felt and acknowledged in every quarter of the world; and it has been a principal mean of establishing that heaven-derived flame, whose vivifying heat, emanating from the shores of Britain, is already felt in many distant lands, and the light of which, we trust, shall at no distant period irradiate the utmost ends of the earth.