#119] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
encountered no farther © difficul- 
ties.* 
One observation there remains to 
make on the general state of the 
English at this period. Civilization 
indeed Had not hitherto made such 
progress as entirely to abolish sla- 
very. Yet few land-owners or renters 
were to be found who did not prefer 
the labour of freemen to that of 
slaves. Thiscircumstance diminish- 
ed their number, and the perpetual 
civil contests enfranchized many by 
putting arms in their hands. Within 
afew years after the accession of 
the Tudors, slaves were heard of no 
more. 
A reflection at the close of the 
15th century by Philip deCommines 
will very naturally finish this see- 
tion. His sufirages in favour of 
England is the more remarkable as 
it is given Voluntarily at the close of 
the longest and most bloody civil 
war with which the English annals 
can be charged. ‘ In my opinion’ 
(says that judicious observer) ‘ of 
all the countries in Europe where I 
was ever. acquainted, the govern- 
ment is no where so well managed, 
the people no where less obnoxious 
to violence and oppression, nor 
their houses less liable to the deso- 
_ lations of war, than in England ; for 
there the calamities fall only upon 
the authors. 
Scotland was not so happy. The 
unfortunate death of the Norwegian 
Margaret had involyed that realm in 
along and bloody contest with its 
powerful neighbour; and, although 
the gallant and free spirits of the 
Scots had preserved the indepen- 
dence of their country,notwithstand - 
ing their inferiority in numbers, 
‘ wealth, and discipline, it could not 
prevent the preponderance of a 
most odious and tyrannic aristocra* 
cy. Perpetual domestic warloosened — 
every tie of constitutional govern- 
ment; and a Douglas, a Creighton, 
or a Donald of the isles, by turns 
exercised such despotism and inhu« 
manity as no monareh in the 15th 
century would have dared to prac= 
tise. 
The endeavours of the first and 
of the second James were turned to 
wards improving the jurisprudence 
of the North, by engrafting on it the 
best parts of the English system ; 
but the suddenness of their deaths 
and the weak reign of their successor 
James III. prevented their people 
from receiving much benefit from 
such laudable designs. 
The parliament of Scotland, at 
this period, had nearly monopolized 
all judicial authority. Three com-' 
mittees were formed from the house 
(for there was only one) soon after 
the members met. The first, like 
the ‘ Triers in England,’ examined, 
approved of, or disapproved petitions 
to the senate; thesecond constituted 
the highest court in all criminal pro- 
secutions, as did the third in civil 
ones. And, as every lord of parlia- 
ment who chose it might claim his 
place in each of these committees, 
almost the whole administration of 
law, civil as well as military, resided 
in the breast of the Scottish nobility, 
There was another court, that of 
Session, of which the members and 
the duration were appointed by par- 
liament. 
The justiciary (an officer discon- 
tinued in England as too potent) 
was still nominally at the head of 
the Scottish law, and held courts 
which were styled ‘ Justiciaries,’ as 
* Cotton’s Records, 
did 
