SCOTLAND's Grievances Relating to DARIEN c. Humbly offered to the Consideration OF THE Parliament Vos quibus potior est turpis cum securitate servitus quam honesta cum periculo libertas istam quam magni estimatis fortunam amplectamini Ego in Patria saepe defensa liber libens moriar nec me prius ejus caritas quam vita relinquet Vallas ad Brussium Buchan Hist. lib. 8 Which for the benefit of those that don't understand Latin is English'd thus You who had rather like Cowards submit your Necks to a Yoke of Ignominious Slavery than expose your selves to any Danger in asserting the Public Liberty Hugg that Fortune which you value so highly For my part I shall cheerfully Sacrifice my Life to die a Free-man in my Native Country which I have so often Defended Nor will I cease to Love it till I cease to Live Wallace to Bruce when he join'd with the English against his Country Printed 1700. ERRATA OUr Nation being so Unhappy that those who Write or Act against it are Rewarded and Carested whereas those that Write or Act for it must do it at their Perril It is not to be wondred at that many Faults should escape the Press in those few Sheets when all must be done in Hurry and Fear And therefore the Readers are not only desired to Pardon but also to Amend the following Errata before they peruse the Book because they marr the Sense Page Line   9 36 read the Claim  12 18 Councellors  16 36 for too late read truly 20 24 for Wrought wrote 21 37 prove pave 44 care taken taken care 24 28 unequal equal 25 2 for made by by 14 pact pack'd 26 26 for question mention 27 43 read the Government  28 24 read that Nation  32 9 read the Parliament  PART I. SINCE our Nation bethought themselves of advancing their Trade by the Act for establishing a Company Trading to Africa and the Indies a greater Invasion hath been made upon our Sovereignty and Freedom than hath happened at any time since we were ingloriously betray'd by Baliol. 'T were needless to offer Instances to prove this had we not to do with a Sett of Men who having basely betray'd us would willingly bereave us of our Senses that we should neither perceive nor resent it The Matters of Fact being notorious we shall only mention them here with some short Reflections and take them in order of time as follows The Addresses of both Houses of Parliament in England against our Act above-mentioned was such an Invasion as to which it may be a proper Enquiry for our Parliament Whether those Addresses were not Contriv'd and Promoted by some about the K. as the last Address of the House of Lords was and whether any Native of Scotland was concern'd in Contriving or Promoting the same In the next place it will appear That the Parliament of Scotland has as much Right to signifie to the King by Address or otherwise that the said Addresses were contrary to the Law of Nations and an Intrenchment upon the Sovereignty of Scotland as the English Parliament had to present the said Address to him against our Act. They that Advis'd the King's Answer to the said Address are guilty of such an Invasion as to which it would seem that the Parliament of Scotland have as much Right to Resolve That whoever Advis'd His Majesty to the said Answer had done as much as in them lay to create a misunderstanding betwixt him and his People of Scotland as the Commons of England had to Resolve so upon His Majesty's Answer to their Resolves about the Irish Forfeitures The Memorial given in to the Senate of Hamburgh April 7th 1697. against our Company 's making any Convention or Treaty with that City for Promoting our Commerce was such an Invasion This may certainly be a just Cause of Enquiry to the Parliament of Scotland Whether the said Memorial was not a breach of the Law of Nations since the King of England has no Right to take Cognizance of what is done by the Subjects of Scotland out of the Dominions of England If the Faction say he did it as King of Scots let them produce their Authority In the next place they have Cause to enquire whether the Assertion in that Memorial that the Commissioners of our Company were no ways Authorized by His Majesty to make the said Treaties was not false And whether the said Memorial was not an actual Dispensing with and acting contrary to the Law Establishing our Company which Empowers them to Treat for and to procure Exemptions and other Grants as may be convenient for Supporting Promoting and Enlarging their Trade and Navigation from any Foreign Potentate or Prince whatsoever in Amity with his Majesty It would also seem to be a proper Enquiry for the Parliament of Scotland Whether all the Dammages the Company has sustained by the said Memorial and other Opposition made them by the Court ought not to be made good out of the Estates of those who gave His Majesty those Advises and that in order thereunto His Majesty be Address'd to know who they were or else that he would be pleased to make good the said Dammages some other way for effecting of which he stands obliged by the said Act to interpose his Authority upon the Publick Charge Since in the Close of the said Memorial His Majesty's Ministers threaten the Hamburghers with the Consequences of a breach of Friendship and good Correspondence with England if they did not put a stop to the proceedings of our Commissioners in that City This together with the before-mentioned Proceedings of the Parliament of England gives the Parliament of Scotland a more just ground to Address His Majesty to put a stop to those Intrenchments made by an English Faction for we don't charge it upon the whole Nation upon the Sovereignty and Freedom of Scotland than the English Parliament had to Address His Majesty against our Act. It may also deserve the Enquiry of the Parliament of Scotland Why the King of England's Ministers should dare to have call'd themselves Ministers to the King of Great Britain in that Memorial which was in direct opposition to a Scots Act of Parliament and Letters Patents Granted by the King of Scotland Since our Country is included in the Denomination of Great Britain and that His Majesty as King of Scots neither did nor could give them any Authority to present that Memorial This deserves their Enquiry so much the more that by this means our own Authority and Name may always be made use of against our selves as it was in this Case if care be not taken to prevent it and besides it may in future Ages be made use of as an Argument by the English Historâ—â—ns to prove that the Scots were Subject to England as their former Historians ignorantly made use of it as an Argument to prove the same thing that some of their Kings
as we cannot once doubt that our Parliament will take care to assert the Honour of the Nation against them but perhaps there may be some difficulty in getting proper Resolves taken against the late measures of some Courtiers in opposition to the interest of the Country such are the trifling and fraudulent dealing with us as to the Hamburgh Memorial the like as to the West India Proclamations the denying of the Companys reasonable Petitions the Proclamation against the National Petition c. the unreasonable delaying of the meeting of the Parliament when the Honour and Interest of the Nation did so londly call for it c. It is not to be suppos'd that a Parliament who have retriev'd so much of our Ancient Constitution that was Usurp'd upon or giv'n away by pact Parliaments during the frâ—ntick transports and prevalency of the Cavalier Faction in Charleâ— II. time will be huffed or frighten'd out of their Rights by the bugbear words of Treason and Sedition those are Crimes with which Parliaments lawfully call'd and acting with the Consent of the People can never justly be Charg'd Freedom of Speech and Debate in Parliament being retriv'd by the Claim of Right Members who speak freely for the Honour and Interest of their Country are not now to be frighten'd by Red Coats and other Court Pensioners with the Castle the Castle as in the late Reigns If any such thing should now be offered the said Claim will justify sending the Proposers of it to the same Quarters By the same Instrument of Government or Claim of Right we are also deliver'd from that overgrown Prerogative or Excrescence of Tyranny that made it Treason to say the King is accountable to his Parliament since a freedom from those incroachments upon the Liberties of the Subject that the late Reigns were guilty of are made the foundation of this present Government and that His Majesty accepted our Crown upon those terms in the Claim of right promising to protect us from the violation of those Rights we therein asserted and from ALL OTHER ATTEMPTS upon our Religion Laws and Liberties all which were to no purpose and a meer empty piece of formality on both sides if our Representatives in Parliament might not freely remonstrate against the breach of one or all of them and if upon obstinate refusal of redress when such of them are violated as tend to the overthrow of our Constitution they have not a right to betake themselves to the last Remedy from all which it follows as a natural Conclusion that all those tyrannical Usurpations upon the people and stretches of Prerogative since King Charles the II's Restoration contrary to the said Claim of Right are as fully abrogated as if there were an Express Act of Parliament annulling every one of them and His Majesty's agreeing to that other Clause to protect us FROM ALL OTHER ATTEMPTS upon our Religion Laws and Liberties extends to the things now under Consideration but more especially to those that have been made upon our Sovereignty Independency and Trade His Majesty has no reason to think this a Hardship or Innovation upon him since it 's evident from our Histories and Acts of Parliament that our Ancestors did many times claim a much greater freedom in relation to their Princes than any thing here demanded We know there were a Sett of Judges and Clergymen in the late Reigns that condemn'd this as Treason and Sedition from the Benches and Pulpits but without a grain of Truth on their side as hath been sufficiently evidenc'd since others had liberty to write and speak as well as they Sir George Mackenzy was one of the ablest Penmen on their part but his Character and Interest are too well known in Scotland to suffer any man to lay much stress upon what he wrote on that head in his Ius Regium or other pieces His ipse dixit must not outweigh the Credit of all our Historians and old Acts of Parliament in this Matter and so much the less since his wild Conceptions about the form of our Original Government as being an absolute Monarchy are sufficiently contradicted by Caesar Tacitus and other contemporary Historians They do all of 'em expresly say that the Spaniards Gauls Irish and Britains had each of them many Kings and in Britain particularly that Kent alone had 4 Kings and that almost every City had its own King He describes Cassibelan's Boundaries and gives an account of his making War with other Cities The Silures and Bigantes had each their own Kings and question is made of Gethus a King of Orkney all which proves the truth of what Buchanan asserts of our Ancestors who first inhabited this Island that they livd ' sine Rege ac certo Imperio per Cognationes tributim sparsi which fully overthrows what Sir George Mackenzy hath asserted as to our Government being originally an absolute Monarchy and overturns all the train of Consequences he would deduce from thence This was so much the more inexcusable in Sir George that being a Highlander he could not but know that that manner of Government by Clans or Kindreds continues still in the Highlands and that the experience of all Ages hath made it apparent that generally speaking they paid a greater defference to the respective heads of their Clans than to the Kings themselves and seldom sail'd espousing their Quarrels against their Princes so little did absolute Monarchy ever obtain in Scotland This is so much the more remarkable in our Nation because the Heads of those Clans Tribes or Families had not their Original or Estates from the Gifts or Patents of their Princes on condition of Military Service c. as happen'd in those Countries where the Feudal Law took place and where Conquerours such as Charlemagne divided their Conquests amongst their Captains on condition of serving them in their Wars or other occasions and they again subdivided their Lands amongst their Vassals on condition of the like Service but on the contrary our Kings receiv'd their Power originally from those Heads of Families or Clans who were in being long before the Feudal Law was heard of which is generally agreed to have had its Rise in Lombardy came from thence into France was first practis'd there by Charlemagne and brought into Britain by William the Conquerour We don't deny however that our People might afterwards incorporate some things from the Feudal Law into their own Customs but this is plain if our Histories may be credited that our ancient great Families don't owe their Original to our Kings and that from time to time those Heads of Families who were our real Nobility when the pompous Titles of Duke Marquis Earl and Lord were all together unknown chose and gave Laws to our Kings who without them could do nothing and when they acted contrary to their Advice and the Constitutions of the Country they were by them call'd to an account and dethron'd or continued in the Government as they saw cause This is
Darien Colony upon Proclamations published against their having any Supplys from the English West Indies whereas it was chargeable upon other Causes this frivolous pretext we say is so very thin that it may easily be seen through and was contrived on purpose to draw a Vail over the manifest Injustice of this Proclamation so diametrically opposite to the Claim of Right on which His Majesty accepted the Crown wherein it is expresly declared That it is the Right of the Subject to Petition the King and that all Prosecutions and Imprisonments for such Petitioning are and were contrary to Law Here is no exception made of Subjects that have not given proofs of their Affection to the Government It is sufficient if they be Subjects to certainly Petitioning in it self infers an owning of the Government but admit it were so that the said Petition was promoted by such must the whole Nation when injured in its Honour and Interest be denied the liberty of Petitioning for a Redress of their Grievances because Persons that are not well Affected to the Government when they suffer in the common loss of their Country and likewise in their own personal Property are willing to concur with them and to promote such a Petition This is Doctrine fit for Turky or for France and indeed not digestable there much less to be obtruded upon us But the Truth of the matter is this the mischeivous Counsellors were not willing the Nation should be acquainted with the Treatment they had met with by their means and therefore did not care to hear of a National Application for a Redress But did those Gentlemen think we would take their word for it that the miscarriage of our Colony was not chargeable upon their West-India Proclamations since they know they never yet suffered his Majesty to keep his word to us as is but too too evident from the Hamburgh Memorial the said Proclamations and other steps of opposition made to our Company contrary to express Law Was it not but reasonable then that we should desire a Parliament to enquire into the Matter and examine whether the Company 's Charge be true or false Or when the Practises of pernicious Counsellors gives the Country just cause to complain of Grievances must they not petition for a Redress because some ill men may perhaps improve it against the Government We hope our Parliament will think it worth their while to enquire whether they that gave the occasion for such a Petition or those that make such a Petition be most culpable Ay but says the Faction such petitioning is an invasion of his Majesties Prerogative it being he only who is to call a Parliament To which we answer that the Claim of Right sets bounds to his Prerogative beyond which he is not to go since upon those Terms he accepted our Crown and that Claim having reserv'd to the Subject the Right of petitioning the denial of it is an Invasion of their Property And besides tho his Majesty only is to call a Parliament it 's not left absolutely or solely at his Disposal when By the Claim of Right he is obliged for the redress of Grievances to call them frequently and to allow them to sit So that the denying of the Parliaments meeting and adjourning them from time to time as in the present Case when the whole Nation complains of their Grievances in relation to their Colony is another manifest infraction upon the Claim of Right which our Parliament is concern'd to enquire into the Authors of that they may be punish'd otherwise our Claim of Right will by degrees come to be of no more use to us than an Almanack out of date We come now to the Address of the House of Lords in England concerning our Colony at Darien which we think convenient to insert here at large London February 13th Yesterday His Majesty received the following Address from the House of Lords WE the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled being according to our duty solicitous for the preservation and Encrease of the Trade of this Kingdom on which the Support of your Majesties Greatness and Honour so much depends as well as the Security and Defence of your People have been very apprehensive that the steps lately made towards a Settlement of your Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland at Darien may tend to the great preiudice of this Nation and possibly to the disturbance of that Peace and good Correspondence with the Crown of Spain which we conceive is very advantagious to us all VVe have therefore taken the same into our serious consideration as a matter of the greatest Importance and proper to be laid before your Majesty as the Common Father of both Countries And as we are truly sensible of great Losses our Neighbour Kingdom hath sustained both by Men and Treasure in their Expeditions to that place which we very heartily lament so we should not endeavour by any Interposition of Ours to defeat the Hopes they may still entertain of recovering those Losses by their further engaging in that design but that we judge such a Prosecution on their parts must end not only in far greater Disapointments to themselves but at the same time prove very inconvenient to the Trade and quiet of this Kingdom On this occasion we humbly presume to put your Majesty in mind of the Address of both Houses of Parliament presented to Your Majesty on the 17th of December 1695. In the close of which Address Your Majesty will see the unanimous Sense of this Kingdom in relation to any Settlement the SCOTS might make in the West-Indies by virtue of an Act of Parliament past about that time in the Kingdom of Scotland which was the occasion of the said Address And we humbly represent to Your Majesty that having received Information of some Orders Your Majesty had sent to the Governours of the Plantations on this Subject the House did on the 18th of January last come to this Resolution That Your Majesty's Pleasure signified to the Governours of the Plantations in Relation to the Scotch Settlement at DARIEN was agreeable to the Address of both Houses of Parliament presented to Your Majesty on the 17th of December 1695. And on the 8th of this Instant February this House came to this further Resolution that the Settlement of the Scots Colony at DARIEN is inconsistent with the Good of the Plantation Trade of this Kingdom All which we humbly hope Your Majesty will take into your Royal Consideration and we are confident that Your Majesty cannot be thought too partial to the Address of this House if Your Majesty shall in the first place consider the Advantage and Good of this Trade of this Kingdom by the Preservation and Improvement of which both these Kingdoms and all your other Dominions must on all occasions principally be defended If this Address be not a manifest Invasion of our Sovereignty and Independency never any thing was and therefore 't is to be hop'd
not out of any respect to us that the English allow that Importation but they find their own Account in it because they buy them cheap find them better meat when fed than their own and that they eat up the Gâ—ass which their own Cattle will not touch and by consequence would be absolutely lost to them were it not for our Câ—â—tle and â—esides they would not be able to provide their Fleets and Merchant Ships so well without ours which puts them in a Condition to dispâ—se oâ— their own larger Cattle for that end But that which is an answer once for all we do not in the least bouâ—t if those of our own Countâ—y be consulted who have most Cattle to dispose of but they will satisfie our Parliament that this Oâ—jection is of no weight and we know the common Proverb That Interest will not lye Beside If the Parliament pleases to take effectual methods to encourage our Seâ—tlement in Caledonia and our Foreign Trade elsewhere we have reason to expect by the Blessing of God upon our Endeavours that we shall have every year less occasion than other to be obliged to our Neighbours for taking off our Cattle and so much the less since we know now by Experience that our own Beef will endure Sâ—le so as to make it fit for Sea It likewise deserves the Enquiry of â—ur â—arliament Whether it be not prâ—per to discharge the English from Fishing in our Seas Creeks and Harbours which their Company called by the Name of The Royal Fâ—shery pretend a Right to by a â—atent from King Ch. II. who had no Power â—o Grant it without the Consent of our Parliaments The English themselves cannot justly find fault if we do this they know their Selden maintained a Mare Clausum against Grotius's Mare Liberum so that out of there own Mouth we judge them and we have so much the more Reason to do this because of their late insolence to come into our own Harbours and Roads where they search our Ships and take out what they think fit in defiance of the Laws of Nations to the great interruption of our Trade and the dishonour of our Country These things together with their pressing our Seamen out of our Merchant Ships in time of War as if they were their own Subjects are Grievances which we ought not to put up but insist upon an effectual Redress of them as being utterly inconsistent with our Liberty and Freedom If the Faction object that such proceedings may occâ—sion a War with England we can soon answer them That it is not the English Nation but a Court-Faction supported by some hot headed Ecclesiasticks and their Superstitious Bigotted Adherents that is at the bottom of this unneighbourly Treatment of our Country England is a wise and clear-sighted Nation and will never make War against us upon such a Quarrel their present Conduct proves beyond contradiction that they have no such design they disarm instead of putting themselves in a Posture for War and are sensible of the danger they are in themselves from that very Faction that are now oppressing us and therefore will not intrust them with a Standing Army nor Monâ—y sufficient to keep one on foot So that we have so littâ—e Reaâ—on to fear a Rupture with the English Nation on that account that we rather have cause to expect their favour if we imitate â—â—â—ir Conduct â—nd take the same or the like measures that they do for securing our Liberty and Property from the Invasions of Court Parasites and pernicious Counselâ—ors We hear every day what brave efforâ—s they make for advancement of their Trade and pulling Arbitrary Government up by the Roots they are no ways afraid of telâ—ing their Kings freely when they are misled and act any thing conâ—rary to the Honour and Interest of the Nation They make no scruple of sâ—â—prâ—aching the Chief Ministers of State and Favourites when they find them guilty of any thing thâ—t may be pâ—ejudiciâ—l to their Constitution They boldly order their Kings Speeches and Promises and their own Resolves upon them to be published to the Worâ—d in justification of their Conduct and make Laws to disabâ—e those that have a dependence upon the Court from being Memâ—ers of Parliament These and much greater are and were our Bâ—rth Right as well as theirs and it 's evident to the World we have much more reason to assert and demand them which will demonstrably appear if we consider 1. That since the Union of the Crowns our Kings prefer their Interest to ours in all matters relating either to Church or State 2. That ever since that time we have nor been Governed by our own Councils but by theirs and with a prospect of advancing their Interest though utterly subversive of our own 3. That ever since then our Interest has been by turns either Sacrificed by our Kings to them or by them to our Kings Thus King Iames I. and the two Charles's made a Sacrifice of our Church to theirs and they in requiral did together with a mercenâ—ry Faction of our own make a Sacrifice of our Civil Liberty to them witness the great Army they furnishâ—d King Charles I. to carry on the Bellum Episcopale against us and the Treachery of our own mercenary Tools at home by procuring and agreeing to the 18 th Act of the Duke of York 's Parliament which Enacâ—ed that all Iâ—â—isdictions did so reside in His Majesty that by himself or his Commissioners he might take the Cognizance of any Cause and deciâ—e it as he pleased Thus King Charles II did a so make a Sacrifice oâ— our Interest in Trade to theirs by the Acts above-mentâ—oned and thus our Interest in Trade in this Reign has been also made aâ—rince to theirâ— and their House of Lords in requâ—â—al with the concurrence no doubt of many of their Commons have again made a Sacrifice of us to the King by their Address approving his West India Proclamations c. against us Thus we are bandy'd about with the utmost disregard and contempt according as their different Interests and Humours require it These things demonstrate that we have more reason to insist upon those above-mentioned Priviledges than the Englsh have nor can we expect to have our present Grievances Redressed or future Grievances Prevented till we obtain if not all at least some of the most material of those things that that Parliament of England insist upon There ordering an Address to the King on the 10th of April last That none but Natives of his Dominions Prince George excepted be admitted to his Councils in England or Irelond is a Pattern fit for our Imitation and what we have as good a Right to demand as they None but Scotsmen ought to be consulted with in Scots Affairs for Experince teaches us that since we have had Secretaries of State who Consult English Ministers in every thing the Honour and Welfare of our Nation hath gone Retrograde Nor indeed is it enough that
into all its Courts which is absolutely necessary to prevent Ecclesiastical Ambition it 's an effectual restraint upon them from decreeing such Doctrines as Passive Obedience and hinders them from Preaching Mankind out of their Lives and Eâ—taâ—es into a Slavish Subjâ—ction to Princes had it been otherwise we have good reason to think that the Interest of the Country would not have carried so much as it did in the last General Assembly From all this it will naturally result that it's incumbent upon our Parliament to take measures for securing the Church against such Threats as the Faction made use of to induce the Ministers to a Compliance this is so much the more reasonable because tho' Presâ—yterian Ministers may comply with the designs of Courts against the Liberties of the Subjects Bishops must and they are so much the more dangerous because they have a Power in the Legislation and are commonly so many Votes on the Courts side whereas by the present Constitution the Clergy have no such Power Iâ— the Parliament of Scotland should demand from His Majesty a further assurance for the Constitution of our â—hurch it 's no more than what our Neighbours in England have from time to time done as to theirs and wherein His Majesty did as readily comply with them To this end it would seem to be no unreasonable demand if the Revenues of the Bishopricks that are not already appropriated to Pious Uses were applied to the use of our American Colony This is so much the less to be objected against because the Establishment of our Plantation tends to the propagation of the true Christian Faith it would be an effectual way to prevent the Restituâ—ion of Episcopacy in this Nation which can never be done without throwing all into Confusion again which would utterly obstruct our Trade besides it were but a just reprisal since it is from those of the Episcopal Party in England that our American Settlement meâ—â—â— with the greatest opposition there If â—t bâ— objected that those Revenues have faâ—len to the King as Vltimus Hoeres we answer that as we never see a King amongst us there 's no reason we should augment his Revenue that the Parliament of England have appropriated to Publick Use the Irish Forâ—eitures which by the ordinary Course of Law sell to the King and that His Majesty is obliged by the Act establishing our Company to obtain a Reparatiâ—n of their Loss at the Publick Charge All this being considered such a demâ—nd cannot any ways seem unreâ—sonable and so much the less that this Fund is already settled and would be no new burden to the Subject These things we have insisted the more upon because some People took the opportunity to improve the proceedings of the Assembly to the disadvantage of the Presbyterians and openly boasted of it as a handle to restore Episcopacy But we hope that neither this nor any fuâ—ure Parliament of Scotland will be so Impolitic as to attempt that It 's well enough known the Presbyterians look upon their Form of Church-Government to be of Divine Institution that most of them have suffered for it and some hundreds of them have sealed it with their Blood therefore 't is no wonder they should prefer it to all Temporal Advantages whatever and shew more than an ordinary Compliance with what they are told is the Mind of a Prince whose Family and Person they have reason to esteem and to whom they have been more obliged than ever they were to any there 's so much the less reason to wonder at their Compliance when we consider what endeavours there have been to persuade them that the greatest Zealots for our American Settlement are their mortal Enemies and seek their overthrow Nor indeed have we any reason to wonder at the opposition of the Court when His Majesty is informed that the Affâ—ir of Darien is a Jacobite design at the bottom and that a Presbyterian Lord should be so far possessed with this Calumny as to assert it in opposition to our Colony in the English House of Peers Therefore it would seem to be incumbent upon our Parliament to enquire into the Authors of such malicious Suggestions This is so much the more necessary because our Enemies endeavour to maintain their own Cause by creating in us a mutual distrust of one another and dividing us amongst our selves by false reports Thus some of the greatest Men of ouâ— Kingdom as well as the greatest Friends of our Colony are sometimes traduced as carrying on a Jacobite design and at other times râ—proached as falling in with the Factions aâ— Court that have declareâ— themselves so openly against our Country But to return to the Presbyterians as we would not be thought to disuade them or others from entertaining high and dutiful thoughts of our most gracious Sovereign King William yet on the other hand as they never believeâ— Kings to be inâ—allible we would have them to beware how they fall in with such measures as ill Men about His Majesty may put him upon in relation to our Country and Colony We would not have them to lick up the Vomit of Passive Obedience that the Church of England hath â—pewed out and though we would have them and all good Subjectâ— to account His Majesty's Person Inviolable and Sacred yet there 's no reason that all aâ—out him should have the same priviledge or be protected from Justice when they invade the Fundamental Laws of â—ur Nation nor would we have them to obstruct the Peoples demanding a Redress of Grievances or not to concur with the Parliament to maintain their Authority which is so manifestly violated for this would be a direct breach of the Solemn League and Covenant which obâ—â—ges the Nation to maintain the Authority of Parliaments as well as his Majesty's Just Right and Prerogative It had been time long ago to have drawn to a Conclusion but the Pressures we labour under are so many that we hope they will make an Apology for the length of this Discourse It being evident that most of our Grievances proceed from His Majesty's absence and our Circumstances being so unhapy that we are no more to expect our Kings should reside amongst us We have no other Remedy but to Address our selves to our Parliament that they would take care to make up that want by good and wholsome Laws which it 's hoped His Majesty will very readily agree to Many Particulars might be insisted upon but those which seem most necessary are a Law for a New Parliament once in three Years as our Neighbours in England have that in future Reigns we may not be liable to be undone by a Band of Pensioners under the Notion of Representatives 2. That we may have the benefit of a Habeas Corpus Act as well as our Neighbouring Nation and so much the more that we seem intitled to demand it by the Article of the Claim of Right against Imprisoning Persons without expressing the Reason and delaying to
a Government is not what we are oblig'd to submit to by the Law of God As to our own Constitution it 's well enough known what our Ancestors did in relation to those Kings that subjected us to the English and how they vindicated themselves from that Invasion both by their Pens and Swords when we were reduc'd much lower by the Court of England in conjunction with our own Traytors than we are now as to the Laws of Nations whatever Gulielmus Cardinalis may possess some of his Brethren of the Clergy with to the contrary we are sure that Alexander Cardinalis Iason and Imola maintain that a Prince who governs a free People cannot render them Slaves or subject to the Dominion of another Prince nor can the Barons of that Kingdom transfer the Prerogative of that Liberty they have receiv'd from their Ancestors upon any other than their own Lord and the famous Bodinus says if a King who is subject to none do either of his own accoâ—d or be forc'd against his Will to serve and obey another be loses the Title and Rights of Majesty We see then in what a Condition these pernicious Counsellors who have advis'd the King of Scots to do such things as make the Kingdom of Scotland subject to that of England would bring His Majesty we never lov'd any Prince so well as King William and are willing still so sacrifice our Lives and Fortunes for him as our Lawful Sovereign But there 's no reason we should make a Surrender of our Freedom and Trade to the Humour of those pernicious Counsellors about him who betray his Honour and Sovereignty in betraying ours It being certainly more for his Majesties Glory to be Sovereign of two â—ndepenâ—ent Kingdoms than to be but Sovereign of one and Vâ—ssal to himself for another From all this it follows that the Parliament of Scotland have a right to address his Majestâ— that such Persons as advise him to those things ought to be remov'd from his Presence and Councils forever as Enemies to the Dignity of the Crown and the Peace of the Nations It were also proper for retrieving the Honour of our publick Justice that an Address should be made for removing those from his Presence and Councils that stand charg'd with being privy to a design to assassinate King Charles II with having Pensions in the late Reigns for secret Service and with Accession to the Massacre of Glenco and that the Actors in that barbarous Murder should be punish'd according to merit Nor ought it to pass without enquiry by what means those Persons under Condemnation for a bâ—rbarous Rape and other inhuman Treatment of the Lady Lovett come to be reprieved from time to time to the scandal of the Justice of the Nation and that one of them should be suffer'd not only to lurk in Englâ—nd but have access to our Great Men in the Government tho a declared Rebel and Traytor and ought to have suffered in Scotland for Theft and Murder Certainly it is not for his Majesties Honour that the Court should be made a Sanctuary for the blackest of Criminals and much less that we should be govern'd by the advice of any such who besides have no Estate nor Interest in our Kingdom But this is the effect of our not having insisted to have the chief Instruments of the Tyranny and Cruelty of the late Reigns made publick Examples Others are not only encourag'd to follow their Steps but it seems our Administration must be chiefly entail'd upon Men of that Kidney It would also seem absolutely necessary that an enquiry should be made into those that advis'd the turning so many Persons of Quality out of Council and other Posts of Honour and Advantage for opposing a Standing Army c. last Sessions This is not only contrary to the Claim of Right which demands freedom of Debate and Speech in Parliament but tends to the utter subversion of all our Liberties for Parliaments are of no use if Members may not have liberty to vote there according to the Dictates of Honour and Conscience This is a plain â—emonstration that the Courtiers design to carry on an Interest opposite to that of the Country and that we are riding Post to the Tyranny of the late Reigns It shews also the height of Contempt for our Nation since our Neighbours of England are not so treated it being well enough known there that Lords of the Bed-Chamber and Officers of the Army voted against a Standing Force in that Kingdom without being turn'd out of their Posts or any ways disgrac'd for it To what a miserable Condition are we reduc'd then when the Parliaments of Scotland that formerly gave Laws to our Kings cannot now espouse the Interest of their Country without being thus trode upon This proves the absolute necessity of keeping Officers and others that hâ—ve dependence upon the Court or Pensions from it out of our Parliaments Let us do all we can in that matter the Court will have always more than its proportionable Influence there by such Lords as have a dependance upon them and those Officers of State that are allow'd to be in the House The Farming of the Customs by the Royal Burroughs ought also to be taken into Consideration for if that be found to have an influence on their Votes in the House i'ts â— much against the Claim of Right as these Proceedings complain'd of there that were judg'd to be equal to the King 's naming that entire State of Parliament It 's therefore hop'd that the Royal Burroughs will by their behaviour in Parliament vindicate themselves from all Suspicion in this Matter and that they will not concur with any Design against the Trade of the Nation wherein they have so great a Concern especially when they consider that the more Restraints there are upon it of the less value will their Farm be if it be thought fit that it should be continued We might enlarge in Iâ—finitum the Grievances and Wants of our Country are so many but must draw to a Conclusion after having proposed some few things more It seems absolutely necessary our Parliament should enquire what good Laws are needful to secure our Constitution and to provide for it accordingly In order to this it would seem requisite that a Committee should be appointed to consider what our States insisted on in 1641 as our Native Right and what the English have obtain'd since the Revolution for securing their Liberty and Property His Majesty if he be allow'd by our Enemies to testify his paternal Affection towards us cannot nor will not think it hard if we demand that and more since we are reduc'd so low by the Oppressions of former Reigns have lost so much by the Absence of our Kings now almost for 100 Years and are depriv'd of all hopes of having them reside amongst us any more The Damage we must of necessity sustain by that alone is very great and not to be compensated by any
Equivalent we can propose for do what we can our Princes must be educated in a Country that as His Majesty himself has been pleas'd to express it is like to interfore too often with us in point of Trade and he plainly sees they have no Disposition to an Union with us by which it might be prevented Since we are so unhappy as to have our Princes educated by those who differ from us both as to Church and State and that by consequence they must needs be bred up in an Aversion for our Constitutions It 's absolutely necessary we should have Laws to secure otherwise it will be a perpetual Source of Discord betwixt Prince and People and a Seminary of Division betwixt the two Nations to prevent which as it's the Duty so it ought to be the Care of every Prince that wou'd shew himself to be a true Father to his Country That this fear of creating in our Princes an Aversion for our Nation and Constitution is but too well grounded time past hath prov'd beyond Contradiction and we wish that time to come may not prove it farther If we take but a cursory view of the behaviour of our Kings to us since that Union the marks of their Aversion towards us stare us in the Face K. Iames our Sixth and their First tho a Native of Scotland and swore at his Accession to the Crown of England he would visit us once in three Years never came near us afterwards but once and that only to strengthen the Faction amongst us that had joined with him in endeavouring to inslave us K. Charles I tho likewise a Native of Scotland the first time that ever he came near us was with an armed Force to subdue us because of our struggling against that Slavery of which his Father had laid the Foundation Having after this under Pretence of a mock Treaty sown the Seeds of an unnatural War which soon after broke out in our Nation by Montrosse and the Irish Rebels that join'd him he never came near us more till Necessity constrain'd him to flee to our Army At that time it 's known we made honourable Terms for him with the English and such indeed as neither his Circumstances nor our own could oblige them to make good which considering the Provocations he had given us and the Slights put upâ—n us in all Treaties during that War as is testified by Whitlock in his Memoirs and other English Writers could proceed from nothing but an Exuberrant Affection to a Prince that all along had testified such an Asiersion for us His Son K. Char. II. he came to us in his Distress or to speak more truly we invited him to a Crown when he had not so much as a Cottage and exposed our selves to Ruin and Devastation for his sake yet after the Restauration he never came near us but ungratefully overturned our Constitution in Church and State cut off the Marquis of Argile's Head that set our Crown upon his own and made those injurious Acts which ruined us in our Trade with England King Iames our VII and their II. when chased from England as a Traytor and in danger of being excluded from their Crown we received him with open Arms Settled our Succession upon him and turned the Balance in England on his side Yet he never once came near us afterwards but by his despotical Proclamations overturned the small remains of our Liberties that his Brother had left and wounded our Religion and Laws both at once King William for whom we have shed so much of our Blood in Britain Ireland and the Netherlands and whom we allowed a Standing Army when the Parliament of England would scarcely allow him his Guards He hath never yet honoured us with his Presence and we see how we have been treated by wicked Counsellors about him how our Sovereignty is trampled under foot our Trade opposed our Men starved and our Colony by that means deserted Certainly these Instances are enough to justifie our demands of having Laws for the security of our Liberty as good at least if not better than those of our Neighbours since our Kings have ever since the Union been in the Hands of our Enemies and that there 's little probability of its ever being otherwise To come to a Conclusion our Trade is the thing that 's now struck at and tho' we be a Soveraign free People have Heads Hearts Hands Commodities Harbours some measure of Shipping and good Laws to encourage our carrying it on yet our Neighbours will not allow us to do it but break through all the Laws of God and Man to put a stop to it Our King that should protect us and go in and out before us is in the Hands our Enemies that plainly tell him our Trade is inconsistent with theirs and that they expect the preference and in a word he is forced to act against us What shall we do then Because our King is a Prisoner must our Parliament be so too Because he cannot do what he would and what he ought must not they do it neither Because some of our Country-men about him and who have posts under him concur with our Enemies to betray us must not the Representatives of our Country redress us Must we who never allowed our Princes when at home and governed by our own Councils to plead their Prerogative contrary to Law suffer our Princes now when govern'd by Foreign Councils to swallow up our Laws and Constitution by pretended Prerogative We see that no Kings can either by the Laws of God or Man plead any Prerogative that 's inconsistent with the good of the People and our Kings least of any Our Neighbouâ—s may boast of their Magna Charta and other Priviledges granted them by their Kings We have something more Glorious to boast of ond that is our Kings have no Prerogative but what was granted them by us Our Ancestors who first inhabited this Island did not receive their Lands from the Gift of a Conqueror or General who afterwards made himself Prince as happened to most other Nations in Europe but being possessed of a Country we sent for Fergus and made him King and let his Eldest Son Ferlegus know to his cost that we chose a King for our own good to be our General fight our Battles and not to to Luxuriate in Wealth and Pleasures that Ambitious Youngster was quickly made sensible that we never intended our Crown should be Hereditary in such a manner as to be entailed upon the Heads of Fools and Madmen in like sort when we were banished the island by the Britains Picts and Romans we sent from the Western Islands where we kept Possession for Fergus II. and made him King and under his Conduct recovered our Country In a word in all the Revolutions of Time and Government it 's plain from our Histories that our Kings always received their Crowns at our Hands upon such Conditions as we thought fit in the respective Junctures from
whence it follows that our Kings have no Prerogative but what they must plead from Act of Parliament and that whatever they cannot justifie that way is an Usurpation of that Right which we still keep in our Hands Our Case is not like that of other Nations who obtained their Priviledges from the Favour and Clemency of their Conquerors without whose Consent they could make no Laws on the contrary we always reserv'd the Sovereign Power in our selves and hence it was that our Ancient Parliaments or Meetings of the States did so frequently call our Kings to their Bar and met without their Consent when the urgent Affairs of the Nation did require it Hence it was that their Resolves had the force of a Law whether their Kings consented or not and that they dethron'd them for Male-administration as happened to Baliol Q. Mary and others and by that same Authority they forfeited the late King Iames. Is it not strange then that we should now suffer our selves to be bubled out of our Sovereignty and Trade by the idle Stories of Parasitical Courtiers who tell us His Majesty is forced to Grimace to Please the English Will not all the World cry shame upon us and Posterity curse us if we be hectored out of our Liberties by the Bugbear of a Prerogative cryed up by a Mercenary Lawyer or two who betray all Causes that ever they take in hand Such Gentlemen we doubt not will presently cry our Treason and plead that this Book ought to be burnt as the Enquiry was in England but if what is here said be not our ancient and true Constitution let us burn our Histories and Acts of Parliament that mislead us let us cancel all our Acts establishing the Reformation let us condemn our Claim of Right to the flames and abjure Parliaments for ever let us cancel our Coronation Oath and to crown the work let us send over to St. Germains and pray the late King to return again and Govern us by his Absolute Power uncontrolable Authority and Proclamatious cassing and annulling all our Laws and to this let us promise him Obedience without reserve If it be not this it is something as bad the Faction seem to be aâ—ming at when they make Invasions upon our Sovereignty and Commerce give frivolous Answers to all our Complaints falsify Promises of Redress murder our Subjects abroad by fraudulent Proclamations delay the Meeting of our Parliament though our bleeding Honour and Interest require it forbid Petitioning for a Redress of those things by Proclamation and seem rather to upbraid than to answer us when it is presented If to give Money to keep up a Standing Army to protect the Advisers of those Grievances and compleat our Slavery be of more consequence to the Nation than to have those Grievances redressed let us begin with that the Faction calls the Kings Business but if the Crys of an Ancient and Gallant though oppressed Nation that reach up to the Heavens be of any weight let 's give the Redress of those Grievances the preference Our Company for trading to Africa and the Indies have by their Memorials and Addresses asserted our Rights as became true Patriots of their Country May it never be said we are so much degenerated that our Parliament shall not as much outdo the Company in this as they are Superior to them in Interest and Power This Company is the Creature of our States for the Faction will not suffer His Majesty to own it therefore they are oblig'd in Honour and Duty to support it we hope then it will be no unreasonable Request if the Nation desire that the Money that was spent on a Mercenary Army to enslave us be given for the Support of a Trading Company to enrich us and that our Law-givers would likewise be pleasâ—d to consider the Groans of our poor oppâ—ess'd People throughout the Kingdom mâ—ke Laws for encouraging our Husband-men to plant and inclose to advance and incourage our Foreign and Fishing Trade and to prevent the levying of our Men for English or any foreign Service Must we be perpetually condemn'd to breed up Men to be destroy'd in the defence of other Nations after we have been at the Expence of their Maintenance and Education Must we still be depriv'd of the Fruits of their Labour that should rewaâ—d us and of their Offâ—pring which would strengthen and enrich us What vast Sums do we lose every Year by the Multitudes of our People that are forc'd to go abroad for want of Imployment at home and how much our want of good Laws to incourage their Industry and secure their Property discourages such of them from returning again as acquire Estates and Substance abroad is obvious from many Instances but from none more than that late one of Sir William Brown the great Dantsick Merchant who upon that account chuses rather to become a Purchaser in England than to return to his native Country Thus we have spoke our Mind freely as we think it incumbent upon all true Scots-men in this present juncture to do The Grievances here pointed at are to be remedied no otherwise but by Parliament and tho it be scarcely consistent with our Safety that one Parliament should continue so long as this hath done because of Members being liable to Tentations by Pensions or Places yet there may perhaps be a Providence in it that God would reserve the Honour of compleating our Deliverance from Tyranny by the same Parliament that had so gloriously commenc'd it Our Kingdom never had greater Provocation to resent the Treatment of wicked Counsellours than at present nor could we expect a more favourable opportunity for it The House of Commons in England have set us a noble Example pour'd Ignominy and Contempt upon some of those Evil Counsellours and have squeez'd the Purses of others we have as good reason as far as our Case requires it to take the same Method We have reason to apprehend that our Grievances proceeds from some of the same Persons It 's well enough known that those by whom we are chiefly govern'd have all their dependance upon them and since we find them to be such as are capable of Bribes to give His Majesty such Advices as are inconsistent with his Promises to the Parliament of England and by them declared capable of creating a Misunderstanding and Jealousy betwixt him and that People Why should we not think they are guilty of the same things in relation to us If they be such as take Money to act contrary to the Interest of that potent Nation what should hinder them from taking Bribes to ruin the Honour and Trade of ours if they shew such favour to Irish Papists against the Interest of Great Britain and the Protestant Religion Why may they not take Bribes from the Spaniards or French nay from the Pope himself to oppose our Settlement in America since he dreads it so much At the same time it s known we have Enemies nearer home and such as understand the Art of Bribing too They have declar'd themselves so much in opposition to our foreign Trade as demonstrates they would not grudg some Money to have it totally obstructed This makes it necessary to enquire how our Treasury has been manag'd at home which way our Forfeitures here have been dispos'd of and whether we have any within our own Bowels that have the Art of taking Money or are possess'd with Souls mean enough to become Deputy Pensioners to those great ones It were one good way to try it to see who would oppose a Vote in Parliament that such as shall be found guilty of taking Bribes Pensions or Places to vote for a Standing Army and against a Tax for maintaining our American Colony be for ever declar'd uncapable of sitting in Parliament or of bearing any publick Office in the Kingdom This is so much the more necessary that 't is openly discours'd in England as if a great Sum of Money were to be dispos'd of for that end and that Precepts are drawn to pay it accordingly upon the opening of our Parliament It 's to be hop'd that none of our Nobility and Gentry who have been formerly so renown'd for gallantly defending their Country will be bought off from espousing its Interest in this critical juncture Pensions and Places can't be assur'd to their Posterity where as the Shame and Ignominy of such a Practise will render their Name and Memory as execrable to the Scottish Nation as are those of the infamous Baliol and Menteith and be eternal Monuments of Disgrace and Reproach to their FAMILIES Vitam quam Patriae debeo ei devovi cui si aliam opem affere non possim piis erga eam conatibus immoriturus sum FINIS
Company This will still be further evident from the Proclamations publish'd against our Colony in Iamaica Barbadoes and New England which were not only treacherous to the highest degree but such an Invasion upon the Sovereignty and Independency of our Nation as ought not to be pass'd over by our Parliament without a Protestation against them and a strict enquiry after the Authors and Advisers of them That they are full of Treachery and Malice against our Country is plain from their being emitted as appears by their Dates before ever any Complaint was made against us by the Spaniards before we were heard what we could say in our own defence and at the same time whilst our Lord President and Advocat were sent for from Scotland to hear what they could say in Justification of our Colony's Settlement The Treachery is also plainly demonstrable because the said Proclamations were publish'd without consulting the Council of Scotland and that they were contrary to the solemn Promises made by the Commissioners and Presidents in our Parliaments from time to time wherein His Majesty promis'd to encourage and protect our Trade of which those Proclamations are utterly subversive If it be objected that His Majesty was obliged to publish those Proclamations out of regard to the English Nation and His Foreign Allies We answer that his Majesty by his Coronation Oath as King of Scotland is oblig'd to govern us by our own Laws and not by any Consideration of Foreign Interests but admitting that he ought in this Case to have giv'n the preference to the English Nation and his Foreign Allies It will by no means acquit the pernicious Counsellors of Treachery towards us since the least they could have advis'd in this case was that we should have had notice of such Proclamations before-hand that we might have been upon our Guard and have done what we could to have prevented our Colonies being frightened or starved from Darien the omitting of which alone had there been nothing of an actual concurrence to destroy us makes those Counsellors chargeable with the Blood of our Men the Loss of our Treasure and the Disappointment of the just Expectation we had from that Expedition That the publishing of those Proclamations was an unsufferable Intrenchment upon the Sovereignty and Independency of our Nation is undeniable since thereby the King of England takes upon himself to condemn the Subjects of Scotland as Invaders of the Dominions of Spain and thereupon forbids his English Subjects to have any Correspondence with them or to supply them with any Necessaries which by the Law of Nations must be interpreted an Act of Hostility when done by one Nation to another That this being done by the King of England is an Invasion upon the Sovereignty of Scotland is evident because he hath no right neither as a Liege-Sovereign nor Conqueror to judge of our Actions If he did it as King of Scots then it concerns our Parliament to enquire by what Law he could do it without their Consent or what Scotsmen advis'd him so to do and whether it be true what Mr. Vernon said That it was done with the Lord S 's Privacy and Consent That the emitting of those Proclamations was a deliberate Action of the pernicious Counsellors and full of Malice and Treachery against the Kingdom of Scotland appears further from the publishing a Second Proclamation Sept. 5. 1699 at Barbadoes against entertaining any Correspondence with the Scots at Darien tho the Lord President and Advocate had so long before given in sufficient Reasons to justify our Settlement This will appear yet more plainly if the Tenor of that Proclamation be considered which is not so positive as that at Iamaica in condemning our Settlement at Darien as contrary to the Peace with his Majesty's Alâ—ies but is express'd doubtfully Lest the same should derogate from the Treaties His Majesty hath entered into with the Crown of Spain or be otherwise prejudicial to any of His Majesty's Colonies in the West-Indies Whence it is evident that we have a positive Injury done us tho the Court could not be positive but only suppoâ—'d that our Settlement might derogate from his Majesties Treaties with Spain or be prejudicial to his Majesties Colonies in the West-Indies The Authors of this Proclamation knew well enough the state of our Colony's Provisions and how fatal those Proclamations would be to them and therefore no Art can palliate their Malice and Treachery That the said Proclamations were emitted with a design to ruin our Colony is demonstrable from this That tho our Company upon the dismal News of its Disaster did in a very dutiful manner petition his Majesty put him in mind of the several Acts of Parliament and his Letters Patent authorising the Natives of this Kingdom to settle Plantations in Asia Africa and America upon the Faith and Encouragement of which they form'd themselves into a Company and had made a Settlement at Darien precisely according to the Terms of the said Acts and Letters Patent at the same time informing him That they had too much reason to believe that the said Proclamations had been of fatal Consequence to our Company and Colony desiring that the effect of the Proclamations might be taken off and that they might be supplied from the English Plantations in the ordinary way of Commerce Yet notwithstanding all this Application they had a meer trifling Answer returned them and Couch'd in such Ambiguous Terms as might leave room for farther trifling viz. That we should have the same freedom of Trade and Commerce with the English Plantations as ever we had formerly which was just none at all So that this was nothing but a meer Evasion and no direct Answer to our Companies necessary and reasonable Petition Certainly it concerns our Parliament to enquire who were the Authors of this scandalous Breach of Publick Laws upon the Faith of which our Country ventur'd so much to Sea and by the violation of which in such a manner the Sovereignty of our Nation is trampled under foot and we have lost so much Blood and Treasure The Malice of these pernicious Counsellours against our Country and Colony is further display'd by their doing all that 's possible â—o preclude us from having our Grievances redressed we have in vain Petitioned the Court ever since the last Sessions of Parliament and therefore had no way left us but to Petition that the Parliament may meet again at the day appointed in November next that His Majesty may have the Advice and Assistance of the Great Council of this Nation in such a Weighâ—y and General Concern This those blessed Counsellours are so far from thinking fit to be Granted that they Advise His Majesty to Adjourn our Parliament further till the 5th of March following just when they heard this Petition was coming up and at the same time we are told that His Majesty will Order the Parliament to meet when he judg'd the Good of the Nation did require it as
if any could be better Judges than the Nation it self which groan'd under Oppressions and knew no other way of being delivered from them or as if the Advice of the Council General of our Company wherein the Flower of our Nobility and Gentry and a great number of the Members of our Parliament are included were not more proper to give His Majesty Advice in this matter than an English and Dutch Faction mixt with some Scotchmen who have so little Interest in their Country or Affection to it as to betray it for Bread or the Favour of the Court. Thus the Honour and Interest of our Country are still trampled upon Tho those continued Slights and Marks of Contempt were enough to have wearied our Company out and might justly have provok'd the Nation to have taken other Measures yet the Company out of their Zeal to the publick Welfare continue their Applications to His Majesty and send up an Address to him by the Lord Basil Hamilton wherein they acquaint His Majesty that Capt. Pincarton Commander of their Ship the Dolphin being forc'd ashoar under the Walls of Carthagena to avoid Shipwrack was with all his Company some of them Gentlemen belonging to the best Families of the Nation detain'd Prisoners and inhumanly us'd contrary to the Treaties betwixt the Crowns of Spain and Great Britain that the Colony had in the Name of His Majesty and the Company sent to demand them but instead of having it granted their Messenger was threatned to be put in Chains and not allow'd to see any of the said Prisoners and therefore they thought themselves bound in Duty and Conscience to lay their deplorable Case before His Majesty and for that end commissioned the Lord Basil Hamilton one of their Number to present their Address to His Majesty and to give him a further account of their other Affairs not doubting but His Majesty would take speedy and effectual measures for redressing their Dammage and obtaining the Freedom of those distressed Prisoners Tho this Address and the Calamities which our Nation at home and Colony abroad labour'd under might one would have thought force Compassion and speedy Relief from the Breast of generous Enemy yet such is the continued prevalency of the perâ—icious Counsellours that the accepting of this Address is put off and by consequence the Redress of our Grievances and the Relief of those wretched Gentlemen and others delay'd on a trifling and frivolous pretext that the Lord Basil Hamilton had not waited upon His Majesty when formerly at London had never since given any publick Evidence of his Loyalty nor acknowledg'd His Majesty's Government This was above a month after the Address was sign'd and must needs be taken as the Company themselves rightly understood it to be a signification of His Majesty's Displeasure at the Commission it self which my Lord Basil brought up There being no Prince in Europe but would with open Arms embrace a Subject of my Lord Basil Hamilton's Quality and Character upon his return to his Duty and presenting an Address that own'd His Majesty's Title and Government if he had ever acted against it but much more a Person of his high Birth and merit who was never charged with any thing inconsistent with the Duty of a Loyal and Peaceable Subject It would seem then to be incumbent upon the Parliament of Scotland to enquire who they were that Advised His Majesty to delay his Endeavours which by Law he was obliged to exert for obtaining the Liberty of Capt. Pinearton and his Company and the restitution of his Ship and Goods though the Company had never Addressed him upon that Head It would we say seem to be incumbent upon the Parliament to enquire who it was that Advised to the dispensing with a positive Law because the Commissioner who presented that Address had neglected a Ceremony which he was by no Law obliged to perform If the Nation of Scotland is become so contemptible that its Rights must be neglected and if the Blood of our Illustrious Nobility and Gallant Gentry be now so vile that the omission of a meer Ceremony is thought sufficient cause to connive at Hostilities committed upon our People and to suffer Gentlemen related to the best Families of the Kingdom to perish in Infamous Slavery It 's in vain for us to pretend to be a Free Nation If we cannot have such Injuries redress'd we had as good send our Coronation Oath and Claim of Right to His Majesty of England in a Present and tell him that henceforward we will become his most obedient Slaves and Vassals and will hang our selves whenever he shall be Graciously pleased to send us a Letter and Bow-string for that end Some we know will object that His Majesty did not refuse to to receive the Petition though he would not allow my Lord Basil to Present it and promised to receive Information of what is demanded from his Secretaries and if my Lord Basil would give in in Writing to them what he had to represent His Majesty would give his Answer to the Company To which we can readily answer That this is the direct Path to the Tyranny of the late Reigns which oâ—dered that no Petition should be presented to the King but by his Council If His Majesty must appoint who shall deliver the Petition it 's all one as if he should dictate the Petition too We would wish the Pernicious Counsellors to consider how they will reconcile this to that Claim of Right and what an Answer they will be able to give out Parliament if they think fit to tell them that His Majesty's beloved Secretary had formerly neglected delivering the Companies Petitions on preâ—ence that he had not an opportunity of doing it because His Majesty was so much taken up with the Affairs of his English Parliament and therefore they had no reason to entrust him with any more Petitions Besides it is visible that this delay proceeded meerly from a design to ruin our Company entirely It was known to the World how much they suffered in their Reputation and Interest by the disaster of their Colony which nothing in probability could retrieve without the Countenance and Concurrence of His Majesty and Parliament this the Enemies of our Nation were sensible of and therefore take such measures as procure us all possible marks of His Majesty's Displeasure and an obstinate refusal of a Parliament By this Opposition they had little reason to doubt that we should be so baulked in the Prosecution of our American design as utterly to abandon it When we saw the Court resolved to thwart us in every thing relating to it and so unmerciful as to delay procuring the Liberty of so many Gentlemen that were detained Prisoners and cruelly used contrary to the Laws of Nations From all which it necessarily results that it's incumbent upon the Parliament of Scotland to enter a Protest against this continued Violation of their Laws and Authority and to enquire who they are that
gave His Majesty such Council that they may be punished according to Demerit We come next to consider his Majesty's Answer to the Contents of the Address brought up by my Lord Basil Hamilton viz. That he was resolved in the Terms of the Treaty to demand that Capt. Pincartâ—n and those of his Crew who are detained Prisoners at Carthagena be released and set at liberty That the Subjects of Scotland shall be allowed the same liberty of Trade that others enjoy with the English Plantations that it was his Resolution to Promote and Advance the Trade of the Kingdom And the three Frigats they demand having been given by Parliament for Guarding the Trade of the Coasts he was not resolved to dispose of them till he had the Advise of his Parliament By this His Majesty owns that Capt. Pincarton and his Crew were detained Prisoners by the Spaniards contrary to the Treaty Then what can his Counsellors in Scots Affairs say for their not having Advised His Majesty to demand him sooner especially since he was obliged to it by the Act Establishing our Company had the Zeal of those Counsellors who pretend to be concerned for the Wellfare and Honour of our Nation been equal to the malice of those that Advised His Majesty to issue Proclamations against our Colony in the West Indies before he knew whether we had done any thing in contravention to his Treaties with Spain or not they would certainly have put him upon demanding Satisfaction sooner for a manifest breach of those Treaties This we conceive deserves also the Consideration of our Parliament In the next place by His Majesty's Promise that we should have the same Liberty of Trade that others enjoy with the English Plantations It is owned by the Advisers of it that it was in His Majesty's Power so to do and that he might lawfully do so which is a plain Conâ—ession that we had acted nothing contrary to his Treaties with Spain nor to the detriment of his English Plantations and that the former Prohibition was the Act and Deed of those Pernicious Counsellors for had it been contrary to the Laws of England or Treaties betwixt the Crown of Great Britain and Spain that our Colonies should be supplied with Provisions c. from the English Plantations it had not been in His Majesty's Power to dispence with it now The matter then being so it concerns the Parliament of Scotland to enquire who they were and upon what motives they Advised His Majesty to emit those Proclamations against supplying our Colony with Provisions c. Since it was settled in the precise Terms of the Act of his Scots Parliament and his own Letters Patent and that our Colony had done nothing contrary to his Treaties with Spain or to the Interest of his English Plantations At the same time it may be proper for them to enquire why Capt. Pincarton and his Company as also the Ship and Goods are not restored all this while And whether the promise of demanding them from Spain hath not been as ill performed as was that of recalling the Memorial at Hamburgh As to His Majesty's Promise of our having the same Liberty of Trade to the English Plantations as others have it is worth the while to observe the management of the Pernicious Counsellors in this point It would seem they were sensible that His Majesty's Promise if performed might be of advantage to our Colony and would make shew to the World that he really Countenanced our Undertaking and by consequence oblige those that oppose us to greater Precautions and therefore though this Promise was made us to calm the Spirits of our People whom they knew to be in a general Ferment they were resolved it should never be performed but how to bring His Majesty handsomly off was their next Enquiry This they found a method to do by endeavouring to have the Parliament of England approve what his Majesty had done against our Company and Colony and they thought no doubt that His Majesty would be sufficiently absolved and the mouths of our Nation for ever stopped as having neither Courage nor Power to call the Kingdom of England to an Account This was in vain attempted upon the House of Commons but carried at last in the House of Lords viis modis yet not without a Proâ—estation against it and several sharp Speeches inveighing against the Courtiers who had promised that very thing to the Scots against which they were then soliciting the House to Address His Majesty The Address it self we shall view anon after some further Considerations on His Majesty's Promise to our Company as to the three Frigaâ—s they demanded which he says Because they were given by the Parliament for Guarding the Trade of the Coasts he is resolved not to dispose of till he have the Advice of our Parliament It is certainly an essential part of our Constitution for a King of Scots to Advise with his Parliament Why then was not the Parliament summoned to meet speedily at the Companies desire since the Honour and Interest of our Kingdom required it And we would willingly know of those that Advise His Majesty in Scots Affairs whether they think the Parliament meant those Ships when the Peace had rendred the Guarding our Coasts unnecessary should have been denied for Guarding the Trade of the Nation and the Coasts of our new Settlement at Caledonia And in the next place we would willingly know of them why the Granting of this necessary demand should be deferred till the Parliament can be Advised with concerning it since the Granting of it in all common Interpretation must be supposed to be according to their Act and why their Advice was not also staid for or desired before the emitting the Proclamations against our Colony in the West Indies This is certainly worth our Parliaments enquiring into For 't is not to be supposed that they entrust our Kings to do whatever Pernicious Councils Advise them to against the Interest of the Nation and only to delay doing what is visibly for its Advantage till they have the consent of Parliament Upon the whole it is demonstrable beyond contradiction that they who have His Majesty's Ear as to Scots Affairs and by whose Advice he has Governed himself as to our Kingdom designed no good to our Company Colony or Country otherwise such reasonable Requests as they have from time to time desired of His Majesty could not have been refused as they have constantly been in manifest violation of our Laws and to the irreparable Disgrace of our Nation This will appear convincingly to those that consider the Proclamation issued in Scotland by His Majesty's Order against carrying on a Naâ—ional Petition for a Parliament in order to redress our Grievances as to Darien c. The frivolous pretext of the Pernicious Counsellors that the same was promoted by Persons who had given no proofs of their Affections to the Government and that they endeavoured to charge the miscarriage of the
our Parliament against whose Act they have so expresly declared themselves will protest against this Address and declare it to be an invasion of our Freedom and such an interposition in our Affairs as is inconsistent with the Sovereignty and Independency of Scotland We have already taken notice that this Address was the procurement of the Court which shews how fraudulently the pernicious Counsellors have all along acted with us and what our Nation is to expect so long as we are governed by such Advice But to come to the Address it self It is evident that the natural Tendency of it is to render our Kingdom subject to that of England and a plain Declaration against our Settlement at Darien or any place in the West-Indâ—es It is also plain from this Address that they presented it on purpose to defeat the hopes that we might still entertain of recovering our Losses by further engaging in that Design and that they have taken upon themselves the Loss of the Blood and Treasure which we have sustained in the West-Indies by declaring that his Majesties Pleasure signified to the Governours of the Plantations in relation to our Settlement at Darien was agreeable to the Address of both Houses of Parliament of the 17 th of December 1695. It 's observable also that by this Address the Lords take upon them to say the Commons are of the same mind with themselves which since the Commons seem to comply with by their silence wants very little of a formal Declaration of both Houses against our trading either in the East or West-Indies It is also evident from this Address that they demand his Majesty should prefer the Advantage of their Trade to ours from all which together its demonstrable that they have no more to do but to alledge any branch of our Trade they please to be inconsistent with and disadvantagious to theirs and so may at last deprive us of our whole Trade since those who are his Majesties Counsellors in our Affairs think it sufficient it seems to absolve him from his Coronation Oath to us or any other Obligation he is under to govern us according to our own Laws if what he does against our Interest and Honour be but agreeable to the mind of his Parliament of England These things make it evident beyond Contradiction that except some speedy redress be had Not only our Company but all other individual Merchants of this Kingdom must from henceforward conclude that all their Rights and Freedom of Trade are and may be further violently wrested out of our Hands by our Neighbours As our Company well express'd it in their Address to his Majesty Iune 28 th 1697. By those barefac'd and avow'd methods the Conjecture of our Company in their Address to the Council of Scotland of December 22 d 1697 hath been also too much verified viz. That if effectual means were not taken for putting an early stop to such an open and violent Infringement of so solemn a Constitution its hard to guess how far it may in after-ages be made use of as a Precedent for invading and overthrowing even the very fundamental Rights natural Liberties and indisputable Independency of this Kingdom which by the now open and frequent Practises of our unkind Neighbours seem to be too shrewdly pointed at and give cause of Apprehensions and Jealousies not only to our Company in particular but even to the whole Body of the Nation in geneneral It is no less evident by those proceedings that the Authority and Credit of our Parliament is struck at through our Companies Sides As the Company likewise truly express'd it in their Address to the Parliament Iuly 22 d 1698. And from this Address they may as well foresee that they are to expect all the opposition from the Faction that can be as they formerly predicted but too late in their Address to the Parliament That their Enemies would either directly or indirectly pursue their Designs of ruining all their Measures For we may assure our selves that those Persons about his Majesty who were so officious to procure Proclamations against our Colony when there was no such Address to countenance their Proceedings will not be wanting to press his Majesty to oppose us to the utmost since they have been at so much pains to procure this Address tho at the expence of His Majesty's Reputation who had promis'd us the contrary This is but too evident from the Advices we have already receiv'd that the Captain of the Sloope who brought 2 of our Colony from Darien to Iamaica since our repossessing our selves of it was imprison'd there and his Vessel seiz'd on that Account We come next to the Causes they assign for this Address viz. That our Settlement may occasion a breach of the Peace betwixt them and Spain and be prejudicial to their Plantation-Trade The first they have no Cause to fear since there is no offensive and defensive League 'twixt us and England that we are a distinct and independent Nation and that they have sufficiently declar'd their opposition to our Settlement to the loss of our Blood and Treasure the second is frivolous and against the Law of Nations since every free and independent Kingdom has a right to seek their own advantage without any regard to the Interest of another as much as two Freemen of the same Employment have a right to set up a Shop in the same Street or next Door to one another if they find their account in it If it were otherwise the English have as much right to oppose the old French Settlements in the West-Indies and their new one at Mississipi as they have to oppose ours so that their proceedings against us in this matter is a piece of the blackâ—st Injustice that one Nation can be guilty of towards another And we wonder very much at it since some of their Council of Trade who are amongst the Chief of those that advise to this way of proceeding against us seem to place all their hopes of Heaven upon Justice 'twixt Man and Man and yet seem to have no sense of Justice betwixt Nation and Nation We come next to consider His Majesties Answer His Majesties most Gracious Answer to the Address was to this Effect Viz. HIS Majesty having received a very dutiful Address from the House of Peers in relation to the Endeavours lately used by some of his Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Scotland towards making a Settlement at DARIEN in which they humbly represent to him their Opinion that such a Settlement is inconsistent with the good of the Plantation-Trade of this Kingdom Is pleased to let the House know That he will always have a very great regard to their Opinion And to assure them that he will never be wanting by all proper means to promote the Advantage and Good of the Trade of England At the same time His Majesty is pleased to Declare that he cannot but have a great Concern and Tenderness for his Kingdom of
Scotland and a desire to advance their Well-fare and Prosperity and is very sensibly touched with the loss His Subjects of that Kingdom have sustained by their late unhappy Expeditions in order to a Settlement at DARIEN His Majesty does apprehend that difficulties may too often arise with respect to the different Interest of Trade between his two Kingdoms unless some way be found out to unite them more nearly and compleatly And therefore His Majesty takes this opportunity of putting the House of Peers in mind of what he recommended to his Parliament soon after his Accession to the Throne That they would consider of an Vnion between the two Kingdoms His Majesty is of opinion That nothing would more contribute to the security and happiness of both Kingdoms and is inclined to hope that after they have lived near 100 years under the same Head some happy Expedient may be found for making them one People in case a Treaty were set on Foot for that purpose And therefore he does very earnestly recommend this Matter to the Consideration of the House This Answer is indeed something more like the Answer of a King of Scots than that to the Address of both Houses of the 17 th of December 1695. Yet the mâ—nagement of our Friends his Majesties Counsellors in Scots Affairs is still obvious to our view in this Answer the transports of Joy they were filled with upon the receipt of the Lords Address discovers it self by visible Ebullitions in the very first Line His Majesty having received a VERY DVTIFVL ADDRESS What pity 't was that new Patents of Honour were not sent to every one of those Lords that were for this Dutiful Address But when it comes to be weighed in a Scots Ballance it appears to be undutiful to the highest degree 1. Because they take upon them to advise his Majesty to act contrary to what he had promised to the Scots And 2. Because instead of owning him as an independent Sovereign of Scotland they treat him like their Vassal as he is King of Scots by pretending to direct him in the Affairs of our Nation where they have nothing to do and that also in opposition to the Sentiments of the Parliament of Scotland who must rationally be suppos'd to understand the Interest of our Nation better and to consult it more than they either can or will do Certainly they must have a very mean Opinion of the Wisdom of our Nation if they think we can be gull'd with their pretending to be sorry for our great loss of Men and Treasure when at the same time they charge themselves with advising to those measures which occasioned the loss of both and indirectly threaten us for we cannot interpret it otherwise WITH FAR GREATER DISAPPOINTMENTS IN THE PROSECVTION OF OVR DESIGN for justification of which they have already form'd their Declaration viz. That our Settlement at Darien is greatly prejudicial to their Nation and disturbs their Peace with Spain when all this while the Spaniards have never offered to make the least Reprizal upon them for it whereas they have committed actual Hostilities upon us His Majesty's declaring that he cannot but have a great Concern and Tenderness for his Kingdom of Scotland and a desire to advance our Welfare and Prosperity discovers a Paternal Affection to us but considering how he is circumstantiate is like to be of as little use to our Nation as the Affection of a Natural Father to his own Children for whom he dares not do any good Office because of a cursed ill-natured Step-mother that has him at command Thus His Majesty was graciously pleased to grant us an Act for Encouraging and Promoting our Trade but by the Malice of our Enemies who have him in their Hands was forced to Counteract it Thus he has been pleased again to promise our Colony the same Liberty of Trade that others have to the English Plantations but must be forced to recal his Word or at least to be worse than his Promise because he is told that the Sense of both his Houses of Parliament in England is against it To these straights those pernicious Counsellors have reduced His Majesty for though the Faction will promise to support him in aâ—ting contrary to Law and his Coronation Oath against us yet they will not suffer him to do any thing against what they are pleased to call the Interest of England but he is in danger of being Lop'd off or Abdicated They will not allow us to complain of our Kings when misled by Ill Council or to say that by our Ancient Constitution they were accountable to their Parliaments for Male-administration but strait they will burn our Books as False Scandalous and Trayterous yet they themselves fly in the Face of their Prince every day suffer his Administration to be tamely Libelled and his Person reflected on in all their Pampblets against a standing Army they will tell him to his Face that they who advised him to the Irish Grants had not consulted his Honour And that they who advised him to such and such Answers had done as much as in them lay to create a misunderstanding betwixt him and his People If we quote our Historians or Laws for asserting that the Supreme Power of our Government risided formerly in the Stateâ— who could dispose of the Lives and Fortunes of our Princes they strait condemn it as Trayterous but at the same time they quietly suffer Books to be published asserting their own Power of doing so by their Kings and justifie the cutting off of King Charles the I. as Milton's Works and others If their own Kings dispence with their Laws and Invade the Rights of their Church they kick them from their Thrones and then tell the World they have Abdicated yet at the same time they support them in acting Arbitrarily and contrary to Law against us and tell them that in so doing they act according to the Sense of both Houses If we complain of Injuries done us and Affronts put upon us by a Faction of theirs in conjunction with some ill Men of our own straitway we are accused of reflecting upon the Honour of both Nations and endeavouring to stir up War and Sedition and Proclamations are issued offering 500 l for discovering the Authors of such Complaints yet at the same time they suffer us to be Libelled railed upon vilified and belied and God himself and the Holy Scriptures blasphemed in Villanous Pamphlets without taking the least notice of it Thus in a Scurrilous Pamphlet called A History of Darien we are bantered and laughed at with Romantick and Foppish Stories in the Defence of the Scots Abdicating Darien the Honour of our Nation is outrag'd our Company belied and Religion blasphemed yet the Author Rewarded and Caressed by Mr. V n now a Minister of State but formerly a Licenser of Books for taking off the Penal Laws and overturning the Protestant Religion In a Villanous Lampoon called The Pedlar turn'd Merchant we are
it hath met with to be National Rebukes Yet since the Compliance of that Assembly so far with those that are Enemies to our Colony hath in a great measure disgusted the People it 's the more incumbent upon the Presbyterians in Parliament to retrieve it and by a steady and firm adherence to the Interest of the Nation to oppose a Standing Army and to concur in every thing that may tend to the Security and Advancement of our Colony We are sure if they don't act contrary to their own Principles they must do so The poor Country Ministers who for the most part have more Honesty than Policy may be imposed upon by the sly Insinuations of crafty ill Men that if the Presbyterians don 't fall in with the Party another Parliament shall be call'd to establish Episcopacy But we hope Gentlemen and Members of Parliament know better Things Admitting it to be true that the Faction hath threatned to do so it is contrary to the Divine Rule to do Evil that Good may come of it or to commit Sin to avoid Suffering Nor will it be in the power of the Faction to abolish Presbytry so long as it has the Affections of the People It is likewise evident that if the Presbyterians adhere at this time to our Civil Rights the Nation will be more and more endeared to their Constitution and it will be one of the most effectual means to convince its Enemies that our Discipline is not only best accommodated for the preservation of Religion but likewise for the Support of Civil Liberty It 's also evident that if the Presbyterians adhere to the Interest of the Nation it will be impossible to overturn their Church Constitution without shaking of the Throne since it is one of the fundamental Articles in the Claim of Right upon which His Majesty received the Crown But if the Presbyterians should at this time take part with the Wicked Counsellors against their Country and by that means lose the Affections of the People they infallibly ruin their Church Constitution which may be demonstrated thus Presbyterian Government was first settled in Scotland at the time of the Reformation by the Affections of the People it hath been supported by that same Means against all our Courts to the late Revolution and was restor'd to be the National Establishment then because most agreeable to the Inclinations of the People and 't is for that only reason it hath been continu'd since because the Court found it the best Method for securing their Interest in Scotland But if once it lose its ground in the Hearts of the People as it must unavoidably do if the Presbyterians at this Juncture act contrary to the Interest of the Kingdom then the Court will overturn Presbytery of their own accord both from a Principle of Interest and Inclination That it will be their Interest so to do is plain for if Presbytery once lose the Affections of the People of Scotland it can be of no more use to the Court but will afford them as good an opportunty as heart can wish to ingratiate themselves with the Church of England which is by much the greatest Interest in that Nation That it 's the Inclination of the Courtiers so to do we have no great reason to doubt it being well known that they have several times broke in upon our Laws since the Revolution in favour of the Episcopal Party Witness the long time they took to consider whether they should allow us Presbytery or not after Prelacy was Annull'd by the Convention of States and their Adjourning and Disolving the General Assemblies of our Church contrary to the express Statute when the E. of Lothian was Commissioner besides several Arbitrary Letters sent to the Assembly and Commissions of Assemblies to put a stop to the Exercise of the Jurisdiction the Law had invested them with It 's no way improbable that the pernicious Counsellours who endeavour to make Tools of the Presbyterians for carrying on their present purposes have also the ruin of Presbytery in view in Conjunction with their other designs against our Nation they put them upon those Measures to disoblige the People and divert their Inclinations from Presbytery that so they may have a fair pretence for getting the Law that Establishes it repealed since it 's founded upon the Peoples Inclinations If they be able to effect this all the Laws in fâ—vour of it will be but so many Cobwebs our Parliament themselves will be provok'd to Annul them or if they should not think it their Interest so to do the Faction will certainly break through them It 's in vain to suppose the contrary for since they have broke in upon our Sovâ—reignty and Trade which all but those who depend upon the Faction are unanimous to defend they will find it a much easier task to overturn Presbytery when back'd by the Church of England abroad and a strong Party at home We heartily wish this may never happen to be the Case for abstracting from all Theological Arguments in favour of Presbytery which we are satisfied are unanswerable we are fully convinced that it 's as much the Political Interest of our Nation to maintain that Form of Church-Government in opposition to Episcopacy as it 's the Interest of the Wise Venetians to exclude Church-men and their Dependants from having any share in the Civil Government and upon the same account too That Sage Republick excludes their Ecclesiasticks because they depend upon a Foreign Head and therefore are liable to tentations to espouse an Interest opposite to that of their Country It always has been and must be the same with Bishops in Scotland since we have no King of our own but in Partnership with another Nation who Claim Ten â—arts in Twelve or to speak the plain truth allow us no share in his Government at all but in order to subject us to themselves or to secure or promote their own Interest and therefore since all our Bishops must depend upon the King of England for their Nomination and Conge d'Eslire since they must be acted by the Church of England an irreconcilable Enemy to our Nation since we have found by our own Experience that the Bishops went always along with the Court to enslave the Country and since they concurred in Parliament to exalt the Prerogative to that Blasphemous heiâ—hâ— over Church and State it arrived to in the late Reigns It must of necessity be the Interest of Scotland to oppose that Form of Government and so much the more that our Episcopal Party don't think it of Divine Institution as appears by the first Act of Lauderdale's Second Parliament By parity of Reason it 's our Interest to maintain Presbytery because that Form has no dependence on the King of England our Ministers have no Honours nor Benefices from him and â—y consequence are under no such â—entations as the Bishops are to aâ—â— contrary to the Interest of their Country Besides Presbytery admits Laymen