ARTICLES Touching The UNION OF England and Scotland A DISCOURSE OF THE Happy Union OF THE KINGDOMS OF England Scotland Dedicated in Private to King JAMES I. By FRANCIS Lord BACON LONDON Printed by Tho. Milbourn and Sold by A. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane 1700. A Discourse of the Happy Vnion c. OF this Discourse there is Two Parts The First Part is Philosophical and there needs this only to be Noted There are Two several Kinds of Policy says he in Uniting and Conjoyning of States and Kingdoms The one to retain the Ancient Form still Severed and only Conjoyn'd in Soveraignty The other to superinduce a New Form agreeable and convenient to both The former hath been usual and is easie But the Latter more happy Of the Form whereby States and Kingdoms are perfectly United there are besides the Soveraignty it self Four in Number viz. Union in Name Union in Language Union in Laws and Union in Employments In his Second Part waving his Complements to the King I will come to the Business and thus he writes My Purpose is only to break this Matter of the Union into certain short Articles and Questions and to make a certain kind of Anatomy or Analysis of the Parts and Members thereof not that I am of Opinion that all the Questions which I now shall open were fit to be in the Consultation of the Commissioners propounded For I hold nothing so great an Enemy to good Resolution as the making of too many Questions specially in Assemblies which consist of many For Princes for avoiding of Distraction must take many things by way of Admittance and if Questions must be made of them rather to suffer them to arise from others than to Grace them and Authorize them as propounded for themselves But unto your Majesties private Consideration to whom it may better sort with me rather to speak as a Remembrancer than as Counseller I have thought good to lay before you all the Branches Lineaments and Degrees of this Vnion that upon the View and Consideration of them and their Circumstances your Majesty may the more clearly discern and more readily call to mind which of them is to be embraced and which to be rejected And of these which are to be accepted which of them to be presently to be proceeded in and which to be put over to further time and again which of them shall require Authority of Parliament and which are fitter to be effected by your Majesties Royal Power and Prerogative or by other Pollicies or Means And Lastly which of them is liker to pass with Difficulty and Contradiction and which with more Facility and Smoothness First therefore to begin with that Question that I suppose will be out of question Whether it be not meet Statutes concerning Scotland and the Scottish Nation that the Statutes which were made touching Scotland or the Scottish Nation while the Kingdoms stood severed be Repealed It is true there is a Diversity in these For some of these Laws consider Scotland as an Enemy Country others Laws consider it as a Foreign Country only As for Example the Law of Rich. 2. Anno 7th which prohibiteth all Armour or Victual to be carrryed to Scotland And the Laws of 7th of K. H. the 7th that Enacteth all the Scottish Men to depart the Realm within a Time prefix'd Both these Laws and some others respect Scotland as a Country of Hostility But the Laws of 22. of Edward 4th that endueth Barwick with the Liberty of a Staple where all Scottish Merchandizes should resort that should be uttered for England And likewise all English Merchandizes that should be uttered for Scotland This Law beholdeth Scotland only as a Forein Nation And not so much neither For there have been erected Staples in Towns of England for some Commodities with an Exclusion and Restriction of other Parts of England But this is a Matter of the least Difficulty Laws Customs Commissions Officers of the Borders or Marches your Majesty shall have a Calendar made of the Laws and a Brief of the Effect And so you may judge of them And the like or Reciproque is to be done by Scotland for such Laws as they have concerning England and the English Nation The Second Question is what Laws Customs Commissions Officers Garrisons and the like are to be put down discontinued or taken away upon the Borders of both Realms This Point because I am not acquainted with the Orders of the Marches I can say less Herein falleth that Question whether that the Tenants who hold their Tenant Rights in a greater Freedom and Exemption in Consideration of their Service upon the Borders And that the Countries themselves which are in the same respect discharged of Subsidies and Taxes should not now be brought to be in one degree with other Tenants and Countries Nam cessante causa tollitur Effectus wherein in my Opinion some time would be given Quia adhuc eorum Messis in Herba est But some present Ordinance would be made to take effect at a future time considering it is one of the greatest Points and Marks of the Division of the Kingdoms And because Reason doth dictate that where the principal Solution of Continuity was there the Healing and Consolidating Plaister should be chiefly applyed There would be some further Device for the utter and perpetual Confounding of those Imaginary Pounds as your Majesty termeth them And therefore it would be considered whether it were not convenient to Plant and Erect at Carlile or Barwick some Counsel or Court of Justice the Jurisdiction whereof might extend part into England and part into Scotland With a Commission not to proceed precilely or meerly according to the Laws and Customs either of England or Scotland but mixtly according to Instruction by your Majesty to be set down after the Imitation and President of the Counsel of the Marches here in England Erected upon the Vnion of Wales The Third Question is that which many will make a great Question of Further Union besides the Removing of Inconvenient and diffenting Laws and Usages though perhaps your Majesty will make no Question of it And that is Whether your Majesty should not make a stop or stand here and not to proceed to any further Vnion contenting your self with the two former Articles or Point For it will be said That we are now well thanks be to God And your Majesty and the State of neither Kingdom is to be repented of And that it is true which Hippocrates saith That Sana Corpora difficile medicationes ferunt It is better to make Alterations in sick Bodies than in sound The Consideration of which point will rest upon these two Branches What Inconveniencies will ensue with time if the Realms stand as they are divided which are yet not found nor sprung up For it may be the sweetness of your Majesties first entrance and the great Benefit that both Nations have selt thereby hath covered many Inconveniencies which nevertheless
Publick State or otherwise the Discipline of Manners were not fit likewise to be brought into one Degree as the Case of Misprision of Treason The Case of Premunire the Case of Pugitives the Case of Incest the Case of Simony and the rest But the Question that is more urgent than any of these is whether there Cases at the least be they of a higher or inferiour degree wherein the Fact committed or Act done in Scotland may prejudice the State and Subjects of England or e converso are not to be reduced into one Vniformity of Law and punishment as for example a Perjury committed in a Court of Justice in Scotland cannot be prejudicial in England because Depositions taken in Scotland cannot be produced and used here in England But a Forgery of a Deed in Scotland I mean with a false Date of England may be used and given in Evidence in England So likewise the depopulating of a Town in Scotland doth not directly prejudice the State of England But if an English Merchant shall carry Silver and Gold into Scotland as he may and thence transport it into forraign parts this prejudiceth the State of England and may be an Evasion to all the Laws of England ordained in that Case And therefore had need to be bridled with as severe a Law in Scotland as is here in England Of this kind there are many Laws The Law of the 50th of Rich. the 2. of going over without licence if there be not the like Law in Scotland will be frustrated and evaded For any Subject of England may go first into Scotland and thence into forraign parts So the Laws prohibiting Transportation of sundry Commodities as Gold and Silver Ordnance Artillery Corn c. if there be not a Correspondence of Laws in Scotland will in like manner be deluded and frustrate For any English Merchant or Subject may carry such Commodities first into Scotland as well as he may carry them from Port to Port in England And out of Scotland into Forraign Parts without any peril of Law So Libels may be devised and written in Scotland and published and scattered in England Treasons may be plotted in Scotland and executed in England And so in many other Cases if there be not the like Severity of Law in Scotland to restrain Offences that there is in England whereof we are here ignorant whether there be or no It will be a Gap or stop even for English Subjects to escape and avoid the Laws of England But for Treasons the best is that by the Statute of 26. K. Hen. the 8. Cap. 13. any Treason committed in Scotland may be proceeded with in England as well as Treasons committed in France Rome or elsewhere For Courts of Justice Trials Process 6 Courts of Justice and Administration of Laws and other Administration of Laws to make any Alteration in either Nation it will be a Thing so new and unwonted to either People That it may be doubted it will make the Administration of Justice Which of all other Things ought to be known and certain as the beaten way to become intricate and uncertain And besides I do not see that the Severalty of Administration of Justice though it be by Court Soveraign of last resort mean without Appeal or Errour is any Impediment at all to the Vnion of a Kingdom As we see by Experience in the several Courts of Parliament in the Kingdom of France And I have been always of Opinion that the Subjects of England do already fetch Justice somewhat far off more than in any Nation that I know the largeness of the Kingdom considered though it be holpen in some part by the Circuits of the Judges And the two Councels at York and the Marches of Wales established But it may be a Question whether as Commune Vinculum of the Justice of both Nations your Majesty should not erect some Court about your person in the Nature of the Grand Councel of France To which Court you might by way of Evocation draw Causes from the ordinary Judges of both Nations For so doth the French King from all the Courts of Parliament in France many of which are more remote from Paris than any part of Scotland is from London For Receipts and Finances I see no Question will arise 7 Receits Finances and Patrimonies of the Crown In regard it will be Matter of Necessity to establish in Scotland a Receit of Treasure for Payments and Erogations to be made in those parts And for the Treasure of Spare in either Receipts the Customs thereof may well be several considering by your Majesties Commandment they may be at all times removed or disposed according to your Majesties Occasions For the Patrimonies of both Crowns I see no Question will arise Except your Majesty would be pleased to make one compounded Annexation for an Inseparable Patrimony to the Crown out of the Lands of both Nations And so the like for the Principality of Britain and for other Appennages of the rest of your Children Erecting likewise such Dutchies and Honours compounded of the Possessions of both Nations as shall be thought fit For Admiralty or Navy 8 Admiralty Navy and Merchandizing I see no great Question will arise For I see no Inconvenience for your Majesty to continue Shipping in Scotland And for the Jurisdictions of the Admiralities and the Profit and Casualties of them they will be respective unto the Coasts over against which the Seas lye and are situated As it is here with the Admiralties of England And for Merchandizing it may be a Question whether that the Companies of the Merchant Adventurers of the Turkie Merchants and the Muscovy Merchants if they shall be continued should not be compounded of Merchants of both Nations English and Scottish For to leave Trade free in the one Nation and to have it restrained in the other may percase breed some Inconveniency For Freedoms and Liberties the Charters of both Nations may be vevived 9 Freedom and Libertie And of such Liberties as are agreeable and convenient for the Subjects and People of both Nations one Great Charter may be made and confirmed to the Subjects of Britain And those Liberties which are peculiar or proper to either Nation to stand in State as they do But for Imposts and Customs 10. Taxes and Imposts it will be a great Question how to accomodate them and reconcile them For if they be much easier in Scotland than they be here in England which is a Thing I know not then this Inconvenience will follow That the Merchants of England may unlade in the Ports of Scotland and this Kingdom to be served from thence and your Majesties Customs abated And for the Question whether the Scottish Merchants should pay Strangers Custom in England that resteth upon the Point of Naturalization which I touched before Thus have I made your Majesty a brief and naked Memorial of the Articles and Points of this great Cause which may serve only to excite and stir up your Majesties Royal Judgment and the Judgment of Wiser Men whom you will be pleased to call to it Wherein I will not presume to perswade or disswade any thing Nor to interpose my own Opinion But do expect Light from your Majesties Royal Directions unto the which I shall ever submit my Judgment and apply my Travail And I most humbly pray your Majesty in this which is done to pardon my Errors and to cover them with my good Intention and Meaning and Desire I have to do your Majesty Service and to acquit the Trust that was reposed in me and chiefly in your Majesties benign and gracious Acceptation FINIS
be your Majesties Government never so gracious and Politick Continuance of time and the Accidents of time may breed and discover if the Kingdoms stand divided The second Branch is allow no manifest or important Peril or Inconvenience should ensue of the continuing of the Kingdoms divided yet on the other Side whether that upon further Vniting of them there be not like to follow that Addition and encrease of Wealth and Reputation as is worthy your Majesties Vertues and Fortune to be the Author and Founder of for the advancement and Exaltation of your Majesties Royal Posterity in time to come But admitting that your Majesty should proceed to this more perfect and entire Vnion Points wherein the Nations stand already united wherein your Majesty may say Majus Opus moveo to enter into the parts and degrees thereof I think fit first to set down as in a brief Table in what points the Nations stand now at this present time already united and in what Points yet still severed and divided that your Majesty may the better see what is done and what is to be done And how that which is to be done is to be inferred upon that which is done The Points wherein the Nations stand already united are In Soveraignty In the Relative thereof which is Subjection In Religion In Continent In Language And now lastly by the Peace by your Majesty concluded with Spain in Leagues and Confederacies for now both Nations have the same Friends and the same Enemies Yet notwithstanding there is none of the six points wherein the Vnion is perfect and Consummate But every of them hath some scruple or rather Grain of separation enwrapped and included in them For the Soveraignty Soveraignty Line Royal. the Vnion is absolute in your Majesty and your Generation but if it should so be which God of his infinite mercy defend that your Issue should fail then the descent of both Realms doth resort to the several Lines of the Several Blouds Royal. For Subjection I take the Law of England to be clear Subjection Obedience what the Law of Scotland is I know not That all Scottishmen from the very Instant of your Majesties Reign begun are become Denizons and the Post-Nati are naturalized Subjects of England for the time forwards Alien Naturalization For by our Laws none can be an Alien but he that is of another Allegiance than our Soveraign Lord the Kings For there be but two sorts of Aliens whereof we find mention in our Law an Alien Ami and an Alien Enemy whereof the former is a Subject of State in Amity with the King and the latter a Subject of a State in Hostility But whether he be one o' th other it is an Essential Difference unto the Definition of an Alien if he be not of the King's Allegiance as we see it evidently in the president of Ireland who since they were Subjects to the Crown of England have ever been Inheritable and capable as Natural Subjects and yet not by any Statute or Act of Parliament but meerly by the Common Law and the Reason thereof So as there is no doubt that every Subject of Scotland was and is in like Plight and degree since your Majesties coming in as if your Majesty had granted particularly your Letters of Denization or Naturalization to every of them and the Post Nati wholly Natural But then on the other side for the time Backwards and for those that were Anto Nati the Bloud is not by Law naturalized so as they cannot take it by descent from their Ancestors without Act of Varliament And therefore in this Point there is a defect in the Vnion of Subjection For matter of Religion Religion Church-Government the Vnion is perfect in points of Doctrine but in matter of Discipline and Government it is imperfect For the Continent Continent Borders it is true there are not natural Boundaries of Mountains or Seas or Navigable Rivers but yet there are Badges and memorials of Borders of which point I have spoken before For the Language Language Dialect it is true the Nations are unius Labii and have not the first Curse of Disunion which was Confusion of Tongues whereby one understood not another But yet the Dialect is differing and it remaineth a kind of Mark of Distinction But for that Tempori permittendum it is to be lest to Time For considering that both Languages do concur in the principal Office and Duty of a Language which is to make a Mans self understood For the rest it is rather to be accounted as it was said a Diversity of Dialect than of Language And as I said in my first Writing it is like to bring forth the enriching of one Language by compounding and taking in the proper and significant words of either Tongue rather than a continuance of two Languages For Leagues and Confederacies It is true Leagues Confederacies Treaties that neither Nation is now in Hostility with any State where with the other Nation is in Amity But yet so as the Leagues and Treaties have been concluded with either Nation respectively and not with both jointly which may contain some Diversity of Articles of straitness of Amity with one more than with the other But many of these matters may perhaps be of that kind as may fall within that Rule In veste varietas sit scissura non sit Now to descend to the particular Points wherein the Realms stand severed and divided over and besides the former six Points of Separation which I have noted and placed as defects or Abatements of the six Points of the Vnion and therefore shall not need to be repeated The Points I say yet remaining I will divide into External and into Internal The External Points therefore of the separation are four External points of the Separation and Union 1. The several Crowns I mean the Ceremonial and Material Crowns 2. The second is the several Names Stiles or Appellations 3. The third is the several Prints of the Seals 4. The fourth is the several Stamps or marks of the Coins or Monies It is true that the External are in some respect and Parts much mingled and interlaced with Considerations Internal and that they may be as effectual to the true Vnion which must be the work of Time as the Internal because they are operative upon the Conceits and Opinions of the People the Uniting of whose hearts and affections is the life and true End of this Work For the Ceremonial Crowns The Ceremonial or Malerial Crowns the Question will be whether there shall be framed one new Imperial Crown of Britain to be used for the times to come Also admitting that to be thought Convenient whether in the srame thereof there shall not be some Reference to the Crowns of Ireland and France Also whether your Majesty should repeat or iterate your own Coronation and your Queons or only ordain that such new Crown shall be used by