The Jacobite Rebellions (1689-1746) Part 3

THE UNION IMPENDING (1703).

+Source.+--_Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Baronet, Baron of the Exchequer: extracted by himself from his own Journals, 1676-1755_, p. 46. (Edinburgh: Scottish Historical Society, 1892.)

A Convention of Estates followed the Revolution by King William in 1688, which was afterwards turned into a Parliament, and continued 'till the Death of that King in 1702. The same parliament continued to sit upon the accession of Queen Ann to the Crown, and was not dissolved till the year 1703, when the new Parliament was called.... I have thrown together some observations on this session of Parliament in another Ma.n.u.script book, so shall say little here. It was divided into 3 factions, who, as they had different views, drove different ways. The first was what was called the Court party; they were for supporting the Crown and the Credit of the High Commissioner, consequently they were for giving moderate subsidies for supporting the Government against the insults of the French, with whom we were, at that time, in war. They had the union of the two nations in view, because they not only considered it as the happiest thing that could be brought about for the Interest of Great Britain, but because it was expressly recommended to them by the Queen.

The second faction was that of the Jacobites; they were to thwart and disturb the Administration at any rate. The third faction was what went under the name of the Squadrone Volante. These consisted of about fifteen Lords and Gentlemen, all Whigs in their principles, but who herded together, and kept little or no communication with the Duke of Queensberry[13] and his Friends. They were for opposing everything which they durst oppose, but to keep firmly in their view the succession of the Crown in the House of Hanover. They pretended to be great Patriots, and to stand up chiefly in defence of the rights and privileges of the subjects; in a word, the public good and the liberty of the subjects were still in their mouths, but in their Hearts they were known to have Court preferments and places in the chiefest degree of veneration. These were the springs and motives of all their Actions, which appeared in a hundred instances thereafter. However, by the bye, I must say that such a Squadrone Volante in any Parliament seems to be always a happy means in the hand of Providence to keep the several members of an Administration in their duty, for people in great power seldom fail to take more upon them than falls to their share.

The chiefs of the Squadrone Lords were the Dukes of Montrose and Roxburgh, the Earls of Rothes and Haddington, all these young men of about 24 years of Age; but the chief of all, at least the man under whose name they princ.i.p.ally voted, was the Marquis of Tweeddale, a very good Man, but not perfectly qualified for Court intrigues.

Amongst their Gentlemen was one Mr. Fletcher of Saltoun, a Man of Republican principles, who had spent his youth in Holland, had been forfeited under the late King James, but afterwards restored under King William by Act of Parliament. He was a man a little untoward in his temper, and much inclined to Eloquence. He made many speeches in Parliament, which are all printed, but was not very dexterous in making extemporary replies. He was, however, a very Honest Man, and meant well in everything he said and did, except in cases where his humour, pa.s.sion, or prejudices were suffered to get the better of his reason.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] The Royal Commissioner.

UNION OF THE CROWNS.

A. THE LAST SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT (1705).

+Source.+--_A Journey to Edenborough in Scotland_, p. 112, by Joseph Taylor, late of the Inner Temple, Esquire. Edited from the original ma.n.u.script by William Cowan. (Edinburgh: 1903.)

It hapned whilst we were at Edenborough, that the Act for a treaty of Union, between England and Scotland, was upon debate, and having the honour to have severall Lords and Members of parliament often dine with us, they inform'd us of the Grand day when the Act was to be past or rejected, and by speciall favour of my Lord high Commissioner, we had leave to stand upon the throne by his right hand: The usuall way to admit strangers is to give them a battoon; which holding in their hands, shows that they are forreigners. The Lords and Comons sit together; As soon as we heard the names call'd over, We observ'd Dukes, Marquesses, and Earles sat on the Uppermost seats on the right hand, Viscounts and Barons on the uppermost Seats of the left, The Knights of the s.h.i.+res under the Dukes, Marquesses, and Earles, and the Burgesses and Commoners under the Viscounts and Barons. The Lord Chancellor under the Commissioner's Throne, The Lord Treasurer on his right hand, and the Secretary of State on his left, and directly under him the Lord Justice Clerk, and at the head of a long Table, on which is plac't the Crown, Scepter, and Sword, the Earle Marshall; The Lord high Commissioner has his Commission always before him in a velvet purse on his cus.h.i.+on.

When they began to debate, we observ'd that the princ.i.p.all leading men of the High party, or those which oppos'd the Court, were the Duke of H----,[14] the Duke of A----,[15] the Lord C----y,[16] and the Lord B--a--en,[17] and one Fletcher of Salton, who speaks well, but with a great deal of pa.s.sion, The Earle of S--f--d,[18] who is Lord C----r,[19]

is a very ingenious man, His cheif perfection, and what is most requisite for his office in the house, is resuming debates, which he does with an admirable dexterity, by giving soe happy a turn for the Interest of the party he espouses, that he generally carryes the point, without the censure of either party. The Lord high Commissioner says nothing; The Duke of Ar----e[20] was thought, as we were told not only too young for so high a Station, but too warm to bear the Reflections of some of the leading Malcontents, but on the contrary he behav'd himself in this criticall juncture, with so sedate and even a Temper, that he justly gain'd an universall reputation, and brought the Sessions to a happy conclusion. The Lord Chancellor determines upon all debates who shall speak first, when anything is put to the vote, every member is call'd by his name, and answers singly, approven, or not approven. The grand debate this day, being about the Act for a treaty with England, many learned speeches were made on the occasion. Some were for pa.s.sing no Act till England had given them satisfaction for the affront they pretended was put upon them, by the Act pa.s.s'd last Sessions in England, which not only declar'd them Aliens, but prohibited their goods, and thereby touch't them in the most sensible part. Fletcher said, that England could not make them Aliens, since they were naturall born subjects to the Queen; ... After his debate, others were for making the English Aliens in Scotland, as a Retaliation for our making them soe in England: ... But after many other debates, and hard reflections on the English, it was at last put to the Vote, whether there should be added a clause to the Act of treaty, which should prohibit any treaty with England, till England had rescinded the Clause of Aliens, or whether it should be in a seperate way. Seperate way was carry'd by two Voices, ...

The next great point was, whether the Queen or parliament should have nomination of Commissioners: ... 'Twas carry'd the Queen should nominate by 4 Voices. Then a Gentleman propos'd to add a clause, to preserve the discipline and Wors.h.i.+p of the Kirk of Scotland, as at present establish'd: One propos'd it should be the Religion and Discipline, but my Lord Chancellor told them, that was all the same thing, and H----[21]

said, 'twas not worth a Vote, and his brother the Earl of R----[22]

ask't whether they might not add the Lord's prayer and Creed, and indeed by what I could observe, they would add the whole Common Liturgy of the Church of England, for they seem'd to be quite tir'd of the Kirk discipline: Now the whole Act being finish'd, the Vote was put whether it should be carry'd approven, or no, and 'twas carry'd approven, by 34 voices. As soon as this was over, we left the house, and that night Collonell Ogilby,[23] the Lord Chancellor's brother, the Lord Hardress,[24] and severall Lords and parliament men, came to our lodgings, and embrac'd us with all the outward marks of love and kindness, and seem'd mightily pleas'd at what was done; and told us we should now be no more English and Scotch, but Brittons. And thus we merrily spent the night, in drinking to the Success of the treaty and happy union, and next day, Colonell Ogilby and some Scotch Lords enquir'd mightily for the 3 English Gentlemen, as they call'd us, having a mind to give us a chirrupping Cup,[25] but we went to Leith that day, being willing to avoid them.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Hamilton.

[15] Athole.

[16] Cromarty.

[17] Belhaven.

[18] Seafield.

[19] Chancellor.

[20] Argyle.

[21] Hamilton.

[22] Ruglen.

[23] Colonel Patrick Ogilvy.

[24] No such peer.

[25] Stirrup cup.

B. DRAFTING THE TREATY (1706).

+Source.+--_Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Baronet, Baron of the Exchequer: extracted by himself from his own Journals, 1676-1755_, p. 55. (Edinburgh: Scottish Historical Society, 1892.)

We of the Committee of Parliament for the publick accompts continued our applications to the matters remitted to us till the Parliament met in September 1705. John, Duke of Argyle, a youth of about 23 years of age, was appointed her Majesty's High Commissioner, and in this station behaved himself in a manner far above what cou'd be expected from one of his years.... A ... great benefit I received by my intimacy with the Duke and his brother was to be recommended to the Queen for one of the Commissioners to be appointed by Her Majesty for the Treaty of Union between England and Scotland.... This choise, however honourable to me, was very far from giving me the least pleasure or satisfaction, for I had observed a great backwardness in the Parliament of Scotland for an Union with England of any kind whatsoever, and therefore doubted not but, after a great deal of expense in attending a Treaty in England, I should be oblidged to return with the uneasy reflexion of having either done nothing, or nothing to the purpose, as had been the case of former Commissioners appointed for this end. I was, in short, upon the point of refusing the Honour conferred upon me, and the rather that my Father, whom I always considered as an Oracle seldom mistaken, seemed not to approve of it. However, as at last he grew pa.s.sive, and that the Duke of Queensberry threatened to withdraw all friends.h.i.+p for me, I suffered my self to be prevailed upon, and to take journey for London with other Commissioners, and arrived there on the 13 of Aprile 1706.

... The Commissioners of both nations met in different apartments in the Royal palace of Westminster, which commonly goes under the name of the c.o.c.kpit. There was one great Room where they all met when they were called upon to attend the Queen, or were to exchange papers, but they never met to hold conferences together except once, when the number of the Scotch Representatives for the two Houses of the British Parliament came to be debated, all their transactions were reduced in writings concerted in seperat apartments. When proposals or Conditions of the Union were to be made by the English Commissioners, the Scots were desired to meet them in the great Room, and their proposals were given in by the L^d Chancellor, or the Keeper of the great seal, who was at that time the Lord Cooper, and when the Commissioners for Scotland had any thing to propose, or had answers to be made to the Commissioners of England, these were presented by the L^d Seafield, then Chancellor for Scotland....

The first grand point debated by the Commissioners for Scotland amongst themselves was whether they should propose to the English a Federal union between the two nations, or an Incorporating union. The first was most favoured by the people of Scotland, but all the Scots Commissioners, to a Man, considered it ridiculous and impracticable, for that in all the Federal unions there behoved to be a supreme power lodged somewhere, and wherever this was lodged it henceforth became the States General, or, in our way of speaking, the Parliament of Great Britain, under the same royal power and authority as the two nations are at present. And in things of the greatest consequence to the two nations, as in Councils relating to peace and war and subsidies, it was impossible that the Representatives or their suffrages in both nations cou'd be equal, but must be regulated in proportion to the power and riches of the several publick burdens or Taxations that cou'd affect them; in a word, the Scots Commissioners saw that no Union cou'd subsist between the two nations but an incorporating perpetual one. But after all the trouble we gave ourselves to please the people of Scotland, we knew at the time that it was but losing our labour, for the English Commissioners were positively resolved to treat on no kind of union with us but what was to be incorporating and perpetual....

The Queen came among us three several times, once at our first or second meeting, to acquaint us of her intentions and ardent good wishes for our success and unanimity in this great Transaction. At about a month thereafter she came again to enquire of our success, and had most of our Minutes read to her, and for the last time of what we had done....

I was ... intrusted with another province by the Commissioners for Scotland, which was to review the Calculations made for the Equivalent to be paid to Scotland for bearing their share of the Debt of England, which were afterwards to be considered as the Debts of Great Britain.

These calculations were chiefly made by Doctor Gregory, professor of Mathematicks in the College of Oxford, and a certain great accomptant and projector, one Patersone,[26] from Scotland, but bred in England from his infancy....

One day I had occasion to observe the Calamities which attend human nature even in the greatest dignities of Life. Her majesty was labouring under a fit of the Gout, and in extream pain and agony, and on this occasion every thing about her was much in the same disorder as about the meanest of her subjects. Her face, which was red and spotted, was rendered something frightful by her negligent dress, and the foot affected was tied up with a pultis and some nasty bandages. I was much affected at this sight, and the more _when she had occasion to mention her people of Scotland_, which she did frequently to the Duke. What are you, poor meanlike Mortal, thought I, who talks in the style of a Soveraign? Nature seems to be inverted when a poor infirm Woman becomes one of the Rulers of the World, but, as Tacitus observes, it is not the first time that Women have governed in Britain, and indeed they have sometimes done this to better purpose than the Men.

But to return to the Treaty of Union, the Articles were at last agreed to, sign'd, and sealed, by all the Commissioners, the 22 of July 1706.

They were afterwards presented to the Queen at her palace of S^t James, before a very numerous a.s.sembley.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] Founder of the Bank of England, and originator of the Darien Scheme.

C. POPULAR HOSTILITY TO THE UNION (1706).

+Source.+--_The History of the Union of Great Britain_, part iv., p.