GENERAL HISTORY, 



[47 



porate capacity ,}ia(l lapsed and 

 become dormant. Application 

 was made through the lord ad- 

 vocate, to the king in council, to 

 re-establish the functions of the 

 burgh, by granting what is called 

 a poll-election ; that is, an election 

 of the magistrates and council by 

 a general vote or poll of the 

 burgesses ; but besides this poll 

 election, the act of the king in 

 council had taken to itself the 

 privilege of also granting a change 

 in the set or constitution of the 

 burgh ; and this, he contended, 

 was an usurpation of an illegal 

 power. And although he was 

 ready to admit that the alteration 

 was an improvement and a benefit 

 to the burgh, yet he must object 

 even to a benefit, if conferred 

 through the medium of an usurped 

 and unconstitutional power .; in 

 the crown. The crown was right 

 in reviving the dormant power of 

 election ; but if any change was 

 to be made in the burgh itself, it 

 ought to be made by parliament, 

 and not by the mere will of the 

 crown, that is, by ministers. He 

 had endeavoured to avail himself 

 of legal authority in Scotland by 

 every means in his power ; and 

 he could find no authority, dead 

 or living, which would sanction 

 this extraordinary power in the 

 crown. Wliat had been done, 

 amounted to nothing more or less 

 than this ; that the crown took 

 upon itself to alter the constitu- 

 tion of a burgh in such a way, as 

 materially to affect the represen- 

 tation in that House. It consti- 

 tuted new offices to which the 

 right of voting for a member of 

 parliament was attached. It was 

 no argument in favour of the pro- 

 ceedings to say, that the new set 



granted to Montrose was superior 

 to the old one. If the Crown, on 

 its own specific authority, could 

 give a constitution better and 

 more enlarged than that which 

 originally existed, it might, under 

 the same power, or assumption of 

 power, give one worse and more 

 contracted. Thus the form, if 

 not the existence, of all the 

 Scotch burghs, were dependent 

 upon the mere will of the crown, 

 or rather upon the will or caprice 

 of its ministers. What he called 

 in question was, the power of the 

 crown to alter the constitution of 

 these burghs, and not the power 

 of reviving their lapsed or dor- 

 mant existence. Supposing that 

 parliament should take into con- 

 sideration the mismanagement 

 and decayed state of the Scotch 

 burghs, and should effect an ame- 

 lioration of their condition, what 

 cause would Scotland have to 

 rejoice in such a just and benefi- 

 cial measure, if a moment after- 

 wards his majesty's ministers 

 might abrogate all that had been 

 done, by granting a new set, and 

 making what alterations in it they 

 pleased. There was another 

 point to which he wished to 

 advert. The learned lord knew 

 very well that there was a society 

 in Scotland called the Conven- 

 tion of Burghs, which claimed its 

 power by law, and certainly had 

 in fact exercised the power of 

 altering the constitution of several 

 burghs. Now, if this convention 

 had such right, and if his majesty's 

 government had also the same 

 right, he begged to know to which 

 of these authorities the burghs 

 must submit? Many of the 

 burghs of Scotland were so over- 

 whelmed with debt at this moment, 



that 



