276 SGOTLAN©. 



The abuse of these aristocratical powers, by the chieftains and great 

 landholders, gave the king, however, a very considerable interest 

 among the lower ranks'; and a prince who had sense and address to 

 retain the affections of his people, was generally able to humble the 

 most overgrown of his subjects; but when, on the other hand, a king 

 of Scotland, like James III, showed a disrespect to his parliament, the 

 event was commonly fatal to the crown. The kings of Scotland, not- 

 withstanding this paramount power in the parliament, found means to 

 ■weaken and elude its force; and in this they were assisted by the 

 clergy, whose revenues were immense, and who had very little de- 

 pendence upon the pope, and were always jealous of the powerful no- 

 bility. This was done by establishing a select body of members, 

 who were called the lords of the articles- These were chosen men out 

 of the clergy, nobility, knights, and burgesses. The bishops, for in- 

 stance, chose eight peers, and the peers eight bishops ; and these six- 

 teen jointly chose eight barons (or knights of the shire) and eight 

 commissioners for burghs; and to all those were added eight great 

 officers of state, the chancellor being president of the whole. 



Their business was to prepare all questions and bills, and other mat- 

 ters brought into parliament; so that in fact, though the king could 

 give no negative, yet being, by his clergy, and the places he had to be- 

 stow, always sure of the lords of the articles, nothing could come into 

 parliament that could call for his negative. It must be acknowledged 

 that this institution seems to have prevailed by stealth; nor was it ever 

 brought into any regular system ; even its modes varied ; and the great- 

 est lawyers are ignorant when it took place. The Scots, however, never 

 lost sight of their original principles ; and though Charles I, wished to 

 form these lords of the articles into regular machines for his own des- 

 potic purposes, he found it impracticable ; and the melancholy conse- 

 quences are well known. At the revolution, the Scots gave a fresh in- 

 stance how well they understood the principles of liberty, by omitting 

 all pedantic debates about abdication, and the like terms, and voting king 

 James at once to have forfeited his crown ; which they gave to the princo 

 and princess of Orange. 



This spirit of resistance was the more remarkable, as the people of 

 Scotland had groaned under the most insupportable ministerial tyranny 

 ever since the Restoration. If it be asked, Why did they submit to 

 that tyranny ? the answer is, In order to preserve that independency of 

 England, which Cromwell and his parliament endeavoured to destroy 

 by uniting them with England. They therefore chose rather to submit 

 to a temporary evil ; but they took the first opportunity to get rid of 

 their oppressors. 



Scotland, when it was a separate kingdom, cannot be said to have had 

 any peers, in the English sense of the word. The nobility, who were 

 dukes, marquises, earls, and lords, were by the king made hereditary 

 members of parliament ; but they formed np distinct house ; for they 

 sat in the same room with the commons, who had the same delibera- 

 tive and decisive vote with them in all public matters. A baron, though 

 not a baron of parliament, might sit upon a lord's assize in matters of 

 life and de^th ; nor was it necessary for the assizers, or jury, to be una- 

 nimous in their verdict. The feudal customs, even at the time of the 

 Restoration, were so prevalent, and the rescue of the great criminal was 

 commonly so muGh apprehended, that seldom above two days passed; 

 between the sentence and execu-tion. 



