620 



BRITAIN. 



Proceed- 

 ings in the 

 Scotch par 

 Hnmc-nt rc- 

 S>irding 

 the union. 



speech of 

 Lord Bel- 

 haven a- 

 gainst the 

 union. 



but, it is certain, that above fourscore members were 

 dependents on the court, or influenced by honoura- 

 ble and lucrative places, or by the contingent pay- 

 mnt of arrears and public debts. The Country 

 Party was equally numerous ; but the distribution of 

 twenty thousand pounds, from the English treasury, 

 among nineteen peers and eight commoners, chiefly of 

 the party called the Squadroni Volatile, * from their 

 fluctuation between the Court and Country Party, 

 determined a majority in favour of the union. 



When the Scottish parliament proceeded to debate, 

 every article of the treaty was made the subject of a 

 protest. The Country Party maintained that the 

 supposed benefits of commercial intercourse were a 

 mockery, in return for the rights of independent le- 

 gislation; and conjured their conntrymen never to ac- 

 cept of a poor equivalent, and the right of trading 

 to the English plantations, as a compensation for the 

 free ti^de which they had hitherto enjoyed to the Le- 

 vant, the Baltic, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, 

 and the Dutch plantations, a commerce which would 

 now be fettered with restrictions, duties, and customs. 

 " Methinks I see a free and independent kingdom," 

 said the patriotic Lord Bclhaven, " delivering up the 

 great object of dispute among nations, for what the 

 world has been ever fighting, and all Europe is now 

 engaged in war, the power to manage their own af- 

 fairs, without assistance or control)!. I see the pre- 

 sent peers of Scotland, whose ancestors have exacted 

 tribute through England, walking like English at- 

 tornica in the court of requests ; while, at home, a 

 petty English exciseman shall receive more homage 

 and respect, than were ever paid to the greatest of 

 their progenitors. I see the estate of barons, the 

 bold asscrtors of our liberties, in the worst of times, 

 setting a watch upon their lips, and a guard upon 

 their tongues, to avoid the penalties of unknown 

 laws ; and the burrows walking through their deso- 

 late streets, drooping under disappointments, and 

 wormed out of the branches of their former trade. I 

 see the honest and industrious tradesman, loaded with 

 uew taxes and impositions, disappointed of the equi- 

 valent, eating his saltless pottage, and drinking water 

 instead of ale. I see the incurable difficulties of the 

 landed gentry, fettered with the golden chain of equi- 

 valents, their daughters petitioning for want of hus- 

 bands, and their sons for want of employment ; but, 

 above all, I see our ancient mother Caledonia, like 

 Caesar, sitting in the midst of our senate, looking 

 mournfully around, covering herself with her royal 

 garment, and breathing out her last words, ' And thou, 

 too, my son,' while she attends the fatal blourfrom 

 our hands. Patricide is worse than parracide ; to of- 

 fer violence to our country is worse than to our pa- 

 rents ; but shall we, whose predecessors have founded 

 and transmitted our monarchy entire, shall we be si- 

 lent when our country is in danger, or betray what 

 our progenitors have so dearly purchased. The 



English are a great and glorious nation. Their ar- 



i i 



imes are every where victorious; their navyistheterror 



of Europe; their commerce encircles the globe, and their 

 capital hs become the emporium of the whole earth. 

 .jjut we are obscure, poor, and despised, though once 



ANI 

 ITT 



a nation of better account, situate in a remote cot- 

 ner of the world, without alliances, and without a name. 

 What then can prevent us from burying our animo- 

 sities, and uniting cordially together, since our very 

 existence as a nation is at stake ? The enemy is al- 

 ready at our gates ; Hannibal is within our gates. 

 Hannibal is at the foot of the throne, which he will 

 soon demolish ; seize upon these regalia, and dismiss 

 us never to return to this house again ! Where are the 

 Douglasses, the Grahames, and the Campbells, our 

 peers and chieftains, who vindicated, by their swords, 

 from the usurpations of the English Edwards, the 

 independence of their country ; which their sons 

 are about to forfeit by a single vote. I see the Eng- 

 lish constitution remaining firm ; the same houses of 

 parliament, the same taxes, customs and excise, the 

 same trading companies, laws, and judicatures ; 

 whilst ours are either subjected to new regulations^ 

 or annihilated for ever. And for what ? that we 

 may be admitted to the honour of paying their old 

 and presenting a few witnesses to the new debts 

 which they are pleased to contract. Good God, is 

 this an entire surrender! My heart bursts with in- 

 dignation and grief, at the triumph which the Eng- 

 lish will obtain to-day over a fierce and warlike na- 

 tion, that has struggled to maintain its independence 

 so long ; but if England should offer us our condi- 

 tions, never will I consent to the surrender of our 

 sovereignty, without which, unless the contracting 

 parties remain independent, there is no security dif- 

 ferent from his who stipulates for the preservation 

 of his property when he becomes a slave." The The 

 eloquence of Belhaven and Fletcher were exerted in carr 

 vain ; the union was determined in the Scottish par- ''* e 

 Lament, by a majority of 33 votes. 



The articles of union were approved of in theEng- and 

 lish parliament by a large majority, in spite of the P ro ' 

 opposition of the Tories. Addresses and rejoicings 

 followed it in England, but a sullen and inflexible si- 

 lence was observed in Scotland ; and instead of the 

 union, the Pretender's birth- day was publicly cele- 

 brated. An influx of English revenue officers over- 

 spread the country, which, till then, had been unac- 

 quainted with the oppressive laws of revenue. What- 

 ever were the merits of the union, it would have left 

 Scotland in a worse situation than before, if the 

 Scottish privy council had not been abolished ; a body 

 which, acting without the restraint of a native par- 

 liament, would have soon degenerated into the ty- 

 ranny of former reigns. From the same enlightened 

 views which produced the union, the abrogation of 

 this body was concerted by Lord Somers and the 

 principal Whigs, and was accomplished by a bill 

 which passed both houses in the succeeding year, for 

 " rendering the union more entire and complete." 



Meanwhile the importunities of the Jacobites, and Expe 

 the indignation of Scotland, had roused the attention <>f thi 

 of the French court. A naval expedition was pre- Fro " 

 pared at Dunkirk, but its destination was premature- 

 ly discovered by the Pretender's arrival. The French p ret 

 squadron, however, reached the Scottish coast, and 

 was only prevented by overshooting the Forth in the 

 dark, from la.-idmg the Pretender with 5,000 regular 



ng 

 parl 



* The leaders of the Squadrone, among the Peers, were Marchmont, Montrose, Roxburgh, and Tvveedale. 



