251 



self on his descent from Henry VII., who had united the Red and 

 White Roses of York and Lancaster, and thus put an end to a 

 series of civil contentions, and on his own good fortune in uniting 

 the crowns of England and Scotland, and closing a long train of 

 wars and feuds between these nations. He accordingly adopted 

 this legend on his coins, Henricus Rosas, Regna Jacobus. This 

 union he wished to consolidate by a legislative as well as an execu- 

 tive incorporation : and I suppose there is now no doubt, that he 

 was right, and both his parliaments wrong. It was natural, how- 

 ever, that the rich country should feel reluctance to take the poor 

 one into partnership ; that the weak should be afraid of being ab^ 

 sorbed by the strong ; and that ancient enmities should have a re- 

 pelling influence on both. His Scotch council seem to have thought, 

 that he would best consult for his own authority by treating the 

 natives of both kingdoms alike, residing alternately in each, and 

 thus playing the one against the other. But James was superior to 

 these considerations, and his speech on the union is placed by Hume 

 in comparison with Bacon's; as Robertson ranks his Basilicon 

 Doron among the most distinguished works of that learned age. 



Another plan of union, which he had much at heart, was a coali- 

 tion of the churches of Rome, England, and Scotland. This was 

 a chimerical project, and would have been resisted by the zealous 

 adherents of them all ; but in a philosopher and statesman, to whom 

 they were all indifferent, and who looked only for peace and order, 

 and hoped, that such a measure would put an end to religious ani- 

 mosities, it would have been no ignoble speculation. I do not 

 pretend, that these were the only motives in the mind of James 

 still less, that such a combination was practicable, or would have 

 answered the end, which some good men have expected from similar 

 schemes ; and least of all, that it would have contributed to the 



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