Tue Union oF 1707 In DUMFRIESSHIRE. 103 
fears of the more extreme Churchmen. So strong was their 
opposition that they seemed prepared to join with the Jacobites 
in the north, and march in armed force on Edinburgh. Had 
they done so, the face of history might have been changed, for 
the Government had only a small number of somewhat disaffected 
troops at their disposal. But the Cameronians and Jacobites had 
nothing in common except their opposition to the Union, which, 
in each case, was based on widely divergent grounds ; there were 
traitors among their numbers who kept the Government advised 
of what was going on; and all that happened was some rioting in 
Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Lanark, and a fairly peaceful, but 
apparently well-organised, demonstration in Dumfries, with 
which alone I deal in detail. On 20th November a body of 
horsemen came in from the country, and were joined by some of 
the town rabble ; they proceeded to the market cross, and a fire 
was lit; a print of the Treaty of Union was produced, and 
solemnly burnt; then a paper containing the names of the Com- 
missioners who signed the Treaty was committed to the flames 
with the remark, “and thus may all traitors perish ;’’ the minutes 
of these Commissioners (evidently printed in book form) were 
also burnt; and finally, there was affixed to the cross a protest 
entitled “ An Account of the Burning of the Articles of the Union 
at Dumfries,’’ which, being in the form of a printed document, 
shows distinct premeditation (Appendix III.). This document 
notifies to all concerned the reasons and designs which actuated 
the participators in the demonstration ; they state that they have 
“no design against Her Majesty, nor against England nor any 
Englishman ;’’ they testify their dissent from, discontent with, 
and protestation against the twenty-five Articles of the Treaty of 
_ -Union ; they express very freely their views regarding the Scotch 
Commissioners who adjusted that Treaty to the effect that they 
must “have been either simple, ignorant, or treacherous, if not 
all three; when the minuts of the Treaty betwixt the Commis- 
sioners of both Kingdoms are duely considered; and when we 
compare their dastardly yieldings unto the demands and pro- 
posals of the English Commissioners, who, on the contrar, have 
valiantly acquit themselves for the interest and safety of their 
nation ;’’ and after indicating that they considered that the Union 
was being attempted to be carried against the consent of the 
_ generality of the nation, they protested that “ whatever ratification 
