12 THe Union oF 1707 In DUMFRIESSHIRE. 
further arranged that the first members should be elected by the 
Scots Parliament from amongst its own numbers, and Sir John 
Johnstone of Westerhall was chosen for the county, and Sir 
Andrew Home (the member for the burgh of Kirkcudbright) was 
chosen for the district of burghs. On 28th April the Scots 
Parliament was finally dissolved, and three days later, on 1st 
May, the Union came into full effect, and was inaugurated by a 
religious service in St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was attended by 
the Queen, the State officials, and the Members of both Houses 
of Parliament. 
And so there was an end to “ Ane auld sang,”’ for a while at 
least, because in the years that followed the Union the fears of 
its opponents were to some extent realised. Matters were not 
helped by the feeling which arose that some of the support of 
the Union was obtained by English gold; historians are not 
agreed on the subject, and in any case the charge of bribery rests 
on very slender and partisan grounds, but the idea long remained 
fixed in the minds of ordinary folks, and is alluded to by Burns 
in his poem— 
Sucu A PaRcEL OF ROGUES IN A NATION. 
ue 
Fareweel to a’ our Scottish fame, 
Fareweel our ancient glory; 
Fareweel even to the Scottish name, 
Sae fam’d in martial story! 
Now Sark rins o’er the Solway sands, 
And Tweed rins to the ocean, 
To mark where England’s province stands— 
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation. 
Il. 
What force or guile could not subdue, 
Through many warlike ages, 
Is wrought now by a coward few, 
For hireling traitors’ wages. 
The English steel we could disdain, 
Secure in valour’s station, 
But English gold has been our bane, 
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! 
III. 
O would, or I had seen the day, 
That treason thus could sell us, 
ee ee ee a 
