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Union, which should be mutually advantageous to the two countries. This wa accordingly done, in the month of April, 1706; and, after long negotiations, it was agreed, that the two kingdoms should be united into one under the British Parlia ment, with the addition of sixteen Scottish peers to the House of Lords, and of forty-five Scottish members to the House of Commons; that the Scotch should be entitled to all the privileges of the English in respect to trade, and be subject to the same excise and duties; that Scotland should receive £398,000 as a compen. sation or "equivalent" for the share of liability she assumed in the English debt of £20,000,000; and that the churches of England and Scotland respectively should be confirmed in all their rights and privileges, as a fundamental condition of the Union.

These arrangements were kept secret until October, 1706, when the Scottish Parliament met to consider and decide on the plan proposed. The moment the Articles were read in that body, and given to the public in print, they were met with a burst of indignant reprobation from every quarter. A federal union which should confer equal advantages for trade, was all that the Scotch in general had ever contemplated: an incorporating union, which should abolish their Parliament and extinguish their national existence, was what most Scotchmen had never dreamed of. Nor is it surprising, aside from all considerations of national honor, that such a union should have been regarded with jealousy and dread. "No past experience of history," says Hallam, "was favorable to the absorption of a lesser state (at least where the government partook so much of a republican form) in one of superior power and ancient rivalry. The representation of Scotland in the united Legislature, was too feeble to give any thing like security against the English prej. udices and animosities, if they should continue or revive. The Church of Scotland was exposed to the most apparent perils, brought thus within the power of a Legis. lature so frequently influenced by one which held her, not as a sister, but rather as a bastard usurper of a sister's inheritance; and though her permanence was guar anteed by the treaty, yet it was hard to say how far the legal competence of Par liament might hereafter be deemed to extend, or, at least, how far she might be abridged of her privileges and impaired in her dignity."

It was with sentiments like these that, when the first article of the treaty was read, Lord Belhaven arose, and addressed the Parliament of Scotland in the following speech. It is obviously reported in a very imperfect manner, and was designed merely to open the discussion which was expected to follow, and not to enter at large into the argument. It was a simple burst of feeling, in which the great leader of the country party, who was equally distinguished for "the mighty sway of his talents and the resoluteness of his temper," poured out his emotions in view of that act of parricide, as he considered it, to which the Parliament was now called. He felt that no regard to consequences, no loss or advancement of trade, manufactures, or national wealth, ought to have the weight of a feather, when the honor and existence of his country were at stake. He felt that Scotland, if only united, was abundantly able to work out her own salvation. These two thoughts, therefore. NATIONAL HONOR and NATIONAL UNION-constitute the burden of his speech

SPEECH

OF LORD BELHAVEN AGAINST THE LEGISLATIVE UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND DELIV ERED IN THE PARLIAMENT OF SCOTLAND, NOV, 2, 1706.

MY LORD CHANCELLOR,-When I consider the affair of a union betwixt the two nations, | as expressed in the several articles thereof, and Low the subject of our deliberation at this time, I find my mind crowded with a variety of melancholy thoughts; and I think it my duty to disburden myself of some of them by laying them before, and exposing them to the serious conderation of this honorable House.

I think I see a free and independent kingdom delivering up that which all the world hath been fighting for since the days of Nimrod; yea, that for which most of all the empires, kingdoms, states, principalities, and dukedoms of Europe, are at this time engaged in the most bloody and cruel wars; to wit, a power to manage their own affairs by themselves, without the assistance and counsel of any other.

I think I see a national church, founded upon a rock, secured by a claim of right, hedged and fenced about by the strictest and most pointed legal sanctions that sovereignty could contrive, voluntarily descending into a plain, upon an equal level with Jews, Papists, Socinians, Arninians, Anabaptists, and other sectaries.

I think I see the noble and honorable pecrage of Scotland, whose valiant predecessors led armies against their enemies upon their own proper charges and expense, now devested of their followers and vassalages; and put upon such an equal foot with their vassals, that I think I see a petty English exciseman receive more homage and respect than what was paid formerly to their quondam Mackalamores.

I think I see the present peers of Scotland, whose noble ancestors conquered provinces, overran countries, reduced and subjected towns and fortified places, exacted tribute through the greatest part of England, now walking in the Court of Requests, like so many English attorneys; laying aside their walking swords when in company with the English peers, lest their self-defense should be found murder.

I think I see the honorable estate of barons, the bold assertors of the nation's rights and liberties in the worst of times, now setting a watch upon their lips, and a guard upon their tongues, lest they may be found guilty of scandalum magnatum, a speaking evil of dignities.

I think I see the royal state of burghers walkng their desolate streets, hanging down their heads under disappointments, wormed out of all the branches of their old trade, uncertain what hand to turn to, necessitated to become prentices to their unkind neighbors; and yet, after all, finding their trade so fortified by companies,

and secured by prescriptions, that they despair of any success therein.

I think I see our learned judges laying asid their pratiques and decisions, studying the com mon law of England, graveled with certioraris, nisi priuses, writs of error, verdicts, injunctions, demurs, &c., and frightened with appeals and avocations, because of the new regulations and rectifications they may meet with.

I think I see the valiant and gallant soldiery either sent to learn the plantation trade abroad, or at home petitioning for a small subsistence, as a reward of their honorable exploits; while their old corps are broken, the common soldiers left to beg, and the youngest English corps kept standing.

I think I see the honest industrious tradesman loaded with new taxes and impositions, disappointed of the equivalents,' drinking water in place of ale, eating his saltless pottage, petition ing for encouragement to his manufactures, and answered by counter petitions.

In short, I think I see the laborious plow. man, with his corn spoiling upon his hands for want of sale, cursing the day of his birth, dread. ing the expense of his burial, and uncertain whether to marry or do worse.

I think I see the incurable difficulties of the landed men, fettered under the golden chain of "equivalents," their pretty daughters petition ing for want of husbands, and their sons for want of employment.

I think I see our mariners delivering up their ships to their Dutch partners; and what through presses and necessity, earning their bread as underlings in the royal English navy!

But above all, my Lord, I think I see our ancient mother, Caledonia, like Cesar, sitting in the midst of our Senate, ruefully looking round about her, covering herself with her royal garment, attending the fatal blow, and breathing out her last with an et tu quoque mi fili !2

The "equivalent," or compensation, of £398,000 spoken of above, was to be distributed, a great por tion of it, to the shareholders of the African and India Company, who had suffered so severely by the breaking up of the Darien settlement. As the shares must, in many instances, have changed hands, great inequality and disappointment was to be expected in the distribution of this money; which was like ly, in most cases, to go into the hands of the friends of government, as a bribe or recompense for services on this occasion.

2 The actual exclamation of Cesar, as stated by Suetonius, was in Greek, Kaì où TÉKνov; and thou also, my child? The Latin version was undoubt edly made at the time, by those who reported the

be high-minded, nor puffed up with overween. ing thoughts of himself; and to his chariot were tied a whip and a bell, to remind him that, not withstanding all his glory and grandeur, he was accountable to the people for his administration, and would be punished as other men, if found guilty.

Are not these my Lord, very afflicting was riding in his triumphal chariot, crowned thoughts? And yet they are but the least part with laurels, adorned with trophies, and ap. suggested to me by these dishonorable articles. plauded with huzzas, there was a monitor ap Should not the consideration of these things viv-pointed to stand behind him, to warn him not te ify these dry bones of ours? Should not the memory of our noble predecessors' valor and constancy rouse up our drooping spirits? Are our noble predecessors' souls got so far into the English cabbage stalk and cauliflowers, that we should show the least inclination that way? Are our eyes so blinded, are our ears so deafened, are our hearts so hardened, are our tongues so faltered, are our hands so fettered, that in this our day-I say, my Lord, in this our daywe should not mind the things that concern the very being, and well-being of our ancient kingdom, before the day be hid from our eyes?

The greatest honor among us, my Lord, is to represent the sovereign's sacred person [as High Commissioner] in Parliament; and in one particular it appears to be greater than that of a triumph, because the whole legislative power seems to be intrusted with him. If he give the royal assent to an act of the estates, it becomes a law obligatory upon the subject, though contrary to or without any instructions from the sovereign. If he refuse the royal assent to a vote in Parliament, it can not be a law, though he has the sovereign's particular and positive instructions for it.

No, my Lord, God forbid! Man's extremity is God's opportunity: he is a present help in time of need-a deliverer, and that right early! Some unforeseen providence will fall out, that may cast the balance; some Joseph or other will say, "Why do ye strive together, since ye are brethren ?" None can destroy Scotland save Scotland's self. Hold your hands from the pen, His Grace the Duke of Queensbury, who now and you are secure! There will be a Jehovah-represents her Majesty in this session of ParliaJireh; and some ram will be caught in the thicket, when the bloody knife is at our mother's throat. Let us, then, my Lord, and let our noble patriots behave themselves like men, and we know not how soon a blessing may come.

ment, hath had the honor of that great trust as often, if not more, than any Scotchman ever had. He hath been the favorite of two successive sovereigns; and I can not but commend his constancy and perseverance, that, notwithstanding I design not at this time to enter into the his former difficulties and unsuccessful attempts, merits of any one particular article. I intend and maugre some other specialities not yet dethis discourse as an introduction to what I may termined, his Grace has yet had the resolution afterward say upon the whole debate, as it falls to undertake the most unpopular measure last. in before this honorable House; and therefore, If his Grace succeed in this affair of a union, anċ in the further prosecution of what I have to say, that it prove for the happiness and welfare of the I shall insist upon a few particulars, very neces-nation, then he justly merits to have a statue of sary to be understood before we enter into the gold erected for himself; but if it shall tend to detail of so important a matter. the entire destruction and abolition of our na

I shall therefore, in the first place, endeavor tion, and that we, the nation's trustees, shall go to encourage a free and full deliberation, with-into it, then I must say, that a whip and a bell, out animosities and heats. In the next place, I a cock, a viper, and an ape, are but too small shall endeavor to make an inquiry into the na-punishments for any such bold, unnatural underture and source of the unnatural and dangerous taking and complaisance.3 divisions that are now on foot within this isle, with some motives showing that it is our interest to lay them aside at this time. And all this with all deference, and under the correction of this honorable House.

My Lord Chancellor, the greatest honor that was done unto a Roman, was to allow him the glory of a triumph; the greatest and most dishonorable punishment was that of parricide. He that was guilty of parricide was beaten with rods upon his naked body, till the blood gushed out of all the veins of his body; then he was sewed up in a leathern sack called a culeus, with a cock, a viper, and an ape, and thrown headlong into the sea.

My Lord, patricide is a greater crime than parricide, all the world over.

In a triumph, my Lord, when the conqueror words. By many at the present day, "Et tu Brute," has been given as the expression; but for this, it is believed, there is no classical authority.

I. That I may pave the way, my Lord, to a full, calm, and free reasoning upon this affair, which is of the last consequence unto this nation, I shall mind this honorable House, that we are the successors of those noble ancestors who founded our monarchy, framed our laws, amended, altered, and corrected them from time to

birth a Scotchman, had by long employment in the The High-Commissioner Queensbury, though by service of the Court, lost all regard for the distinctive interests and honor of his native country. He was conciliating in his manners, cool, enterprising, and resolute, expert in all the arts and intrigues of politics, and lavish of the public money for the accomplishment of his purposes. He had been the agent of the Court for attempting many unpopular meas. ures in the Scottish Parliament; and he had now "the resolution to undertake the most unpopular measure last." He was generally hated and sus pected as a renegade; and hence the bitterness with which he is here assailed, as seeking "the en tire destruction and abolition of the nation."

time, as the affairs and circumstances of the nation did require, without the assistance or advice of any foreign power or potentate; and who, during the time of two thousand years, have handed them down to us, a free, independen' nation, with the hazard of their lives and fortunes. Shall not we, then, argue for that which our progenitors have purchased for us at so dear a rate, and with so much immortal honor and glory? God forbid Shall the hazard of a father unbind the ligaments of a dumb son's tongue, and shall we hold our peace when our patria, our country, is in danger ? I say this, my Lord, that I may encourage every individual member of this Hose to speak his mind freely. There are many wise and prudent men among us, who think it not worth their while to open their mouths; there are others, who can speak very well, and to good purpose, who shelter themselves under the shameful cloak of silence from a fear of the frowns of great men and parties. I have observed, my Lord, by my experience, the greatest number of speakers in the most trivial affairs; and it will always prove so, while we come not to the right understanding of the oath de fideli, whereby we are bound not only to give our vote, but our faithful advice in Parliament, as we should answer to God. And in our ancient laws, the representatives of the honorable barons and the royal boroughs are termed “spokesmen." It lies upon your Lordships, therefore, particularly to take notice of such, whose modesty makes them bashful to speak. Therefore I shall leave it upon you, and conclude this point with a very memorable saying of an honest private gentleman to a great Queen, upon occasion of a state project, contrived by an able statesman, and the favorite to a great King, against a peaceful, obedient people, because of the diversity of their laws and constitutions: "If at this time thou hold thy peace, salvation shall come to the people from another place; but thou and thy house shall perish." I leave the application to each particular member of this House.5

Allusion is here made to the story of Croesus and his dumb child, as related by Herodotus. At the storming of Sardis, a Persian soldier, through ignorance of the King's person, was about to kill Croesus; when his dumb son, under the impulse of astonishment and terror, broke silence, and exclaimed, "Oh man, do not kill my father Croesus!" There was evidently in the mind of the speaker, and per

haps in the language actually employed, a play on the words pater, father, and patria, country, which gave still greater force to the allusion.

An appeal is here made, not merely to those members of Parliament who were at first awed into silence by the authority of the Court, but to the Squadroné Volanté, or Flying Squadron, a party headed by the Marquess of Tweddale, who held the balance of power, and were accustomed to throw themselves, during the progress of a debate, on that side where they could gain most. This party had thus far maintained a cautious silence; and the object of Lord Belhaven was to urge them, under the pressure of a general and indignant public sentinent to declare themselves at once on the popular

II. My Lord, I come now to consider our di visions. We are under the happy reign, blessed be God, of the best of queens, who has no evi design against the meanest of her subjects; whe loves all her people, and is equally beloved by them again; and yet, that under the happy influence of our most excellent Queen, there should be such divisions and factions, more dangerous and threatening to her dominions than if we were under an arbitrary government, is most strange and unaccountable. Under an arbitrary prince all are willing to serve, because all are under a necessity to obey, whether they will or not. He chooses, therefore, whom he will, without respect to either parties or factions; and if he think fit to take the advice of his councils or Parliaments, every man speaks his mind freely, and the prince receives the faithful advice of his people, without the mixture of self-designs. If he prove a good prince, the government is easy; if bad, either death or a revolution brings a deliv. erance: whereas here, my Lord, there appears no end of our misery, if not prevented in time. Factions are now become independent, and have got footing in councils, in Parliaments, in treaties, in armies, in incorporations, in families, among kindred; yea, man and wife are not free from their political jars.

It remains, therefore, my Lord, that I inquire into the nature of these things; and since the names give us not the right idea of the thing, I am afraid I shall have difficulty to make myself well understood.

The names generally used to den te the fac tions are Whig and Tory; as obscure as that of Guelfs and Ghibellines; yea, my Lord, they have different significations, as they are applied to fac tions in each kingdom. A Whig in England is a heterogeneous creature in Scotland he is ali of a piece. A Tory in England is all of a piece, and a statesman. in Scotland he is quite other. wise; an anti-courtier and anti-statesman.

A Whig in England appears to be somewhat like Nebuchadnezzar's image, of different metals, different classes, different principles, and different designs; yet, take them altogether, they are like a piece of some mixed drugget of dif ferent threads; some finer, some coarser, which, after all, make a comely appearance and an agreeable suit. Tory is like a piece of loyal home-made English cloth, the true staple of the nation, all of a thread; yet if we look narrowly into it, we shall perceive a diversity of colors, which, according to the various situations and positions, make various appearances. times Tory is like the moon in its full; as appeared in the affair of the Bill of Occasional Conformity. Upon other occasions, it appears to be under a cloud, and as if it were eclipsed by a greater body; as it did in the design of calling over the illustrious Princess Sophia. However, by this we may see their designs are to out. shoot Whig in his own bow.

Some

side, before the influence of the Court bad time t operate through patronage or bribery.

Where will this end, my Lord? Is not her Majesty in danger by such a method? Is not the monarchy in danger? Is not the nation's peace and tranquillity in danger? Will a change of parties make the nation more happy? No. my Lord. The seed is sown that is like to af ford us a perpetual increase. It is not an annua herb, it takes deep root; it seeds and breeds; and if not timely prevented by her Majesty's roya! endeavors, will split the whole island in two.

Whig, in Scotland, is a true blue Presbyterian, | that man put in, and then they will make her the who, without considering time or power, will most glorious queen in Europe. venture his all for the Kirk, but something less for the State. The greatest difficulty is how to describe a Scots Tory. Of old, when I knew them first, Tory was an honest-hearted, comradish fellow, who, provided he was maintained and protected in his benefices, titles, and dignities by the State, was the less anxious who had the government of the Church. But now, what he is since jure divino came in fashion, and that Christianity, and by consequence salvation, comes to depend upon episcopal ordination, I profess I know not what to make of him; only this I must say for him, that he endeavors to do by opposition that which his brother in England endeavors by a more prudent and less scrupulous method.6

Now, my Lord, from these divisions there has got up a kind of aristocracy, something like the famous triumvirate at Rome. They are a kind of undertakers and pragmatic statesmen, who, finding their power and strength great, and answerable to their designs, will make bargains with our gracious sovereign; they will serve her faithfully, but upon their own terms; they must have their own instruments, their own measures. This man must be turned out, and

6 A few words of explanation will make this description clearer. The English Whigs effected the Revolution of 1688 by combining various interests against James II., and in favor of King William. Hence the party was composed of discordant materials; and Belhaven therefore describes it as a "mixed drugget of different threads," although, as a Scotch Presbyterian, he would naturally consider it as adapted to make "a comely appearance and an agreeable suit," from its Low-Church character, and its support of the Protestant succession. The English Tories were "the true staple of the nation," being chiefly the old and wealthy families of the Establishment, holding to High-Church principles and the divine right of kings. They gained the ascendency on the accession of Queen Anne to the throne, and were thus "like the moon in its full." They showed their sense of this ascendency, and their determination to maintain it, by the Bill of Occasional Conformity, which excluded from office all persons who had attended a dissenting place of worship. Afterward they changed their policy, and sought favor with the Hanover family, by a proposal for "calling over the Princess Sophia," who was the next successor to the crown. This gave great of fense to Queen Anne, so that now they were under a cloud, and as it were eclipsed. This courting of the Hanover family (which had hitherto been supported by the Whigs alone) showed the English Tory to be "a statesman," or statemonger, bent on having power from supporting the state. A Scotch Tory, on the contrary, was a Jacobite, an "anticourtier and anti-statesman," opposed to the very existence of the new government; while a Scotch Whig was a true blue Presbyterian, resolving his entire politics into the advancement of his Kirk and his country. The object of this satire on parties was to create a national spirit among the Scotch, which should put an end to their factions, and unite them all in maintaining their country's independ

ance.

III. My Lord, I think, considering our pres ent circumstances at this time, the Almighty God has reserved this great work for us. We may bruise this hydra of division, and crush this cockatrice's egg. Our neighbors in England are not yet fitted for any such thing; they are not under the afflicting hand of Providence, as we are. Their circumstances are great and glorious; their treaties are prudently managed, both at home and abroad; their generals brave and valorous, their armies successful and victorious; their trophies and laurels memorable and surprising; their enemies subdued and routed, their strongholds besieged and taken. Sieges relieved, marshals killed and taken prisoners, provinces and kingdoms are the results of their victories. Their royal navy is the terror of Europe; their trade and commerce extended through the universe, encircling the whole habitable world, and rendering their own capital city the emporium for the whole inhabitants of the earth. And which is yet more than all these things, the subjects freely bestowing their treasure upon their sovereign; and above all, these vast riches, the sinews of war, and without which all the glorious success had proved abortive, these treasures are managed with such faithfulness and nicety, that they answer season ably all their demands, though at never so great a distance. Upon these considerations, my Lord, how hard and difficult a thing will it prove te persuade our neighbors to a self-denying bill.

'Tis quite otherwise with us, my Lord, as we are an obscure poor people, though formerly of better account, removed to a distant corner of the world, without name, and without alliances; our posts mean and precarious; so that I pro fess I don't think any one post in the kingdom worth the briguing [seeking] after, save that of being commissioner to a long session of a factious Scots Parliament, with an antedated commission, and that yet renders the rest of the min isters more miserable. What hinders us then,

7 The battle of Blenheim and other victories of Marlborough had recently taken place, and had raised England to the height of her rilitary renown, while her naval superiority had been recent ly established by equally decisive victories at sea.

8 By an act passed near the close of King William's reign, the duration of the existing Scottish Parliament was to be prolonged for the period of six months after his death. But it did not actually meet, on the accession of Queen Anne, until the end

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