Prescribed by the 14th Act of the Parliament 1661. for the said In-land Excise for six Months from the first of May next allenarly Art 12. Griev THat the Marriage of a King or Queen of this Realm to a Papist is dangerous to the Protestant Religion and ought to be provided against This is Answered by the Fourteenth Instruction Instruct 14. YOu are to pass an Act that the King or Queens of that Realm shall not marry with Papists under this Certification that a Popish Queen Consort or the Husband of a Soveraign Queen shall not be capable to enjoy the benefit or advantage of any Provisions which the Law provides or particular Contracts or Agreements may have secured to them This is a most just Grievance and at this Port much Mischief hath been Landed to these Nations and a great Danger to our Religion in general No Popish Princes do Marry with Protestants but all the Daughters of Popish Princes are assumed into the Throne of Protestant Kingdoms whereby the Royal Issue to sad experience may be poisened with Popish Principles from the Mother and her Priests which is unavoidable if a Papist can be a Queen If the Grievance had proposed any particular Remedy the King would not have refused His Consent who is above all Suspition in this Matter and therefore the King hath proposed in His Instruction to make a Law Disabling the King or Soveraign Queens of Scotland to Marry with Papists as to which at present they are under no Limitation by any former Law and for a further Penalty to deter all Papists to Marry with them it was to be declared That the Popish Husband of a Soveraign Queen or a Popish Queen Consort should be incapable to enjoy any Provision or Benefit either by Law or Paction during the Marriage or after its Dissolution and if the Parliament could fall upon any further Securities it would be worthy of their pains to fortifie this Passage yet further which is in so great probability to be Attack'd and hath so great opportunity to sink the Interest of these Nations and endanger the Protestant Religion thorow the World Article 13. Griev THat the levying or keeping on Foot a standing Army in time of Peace without Consent of Parliament is a Grievance This Thirteenth Article of the Grievances is Answered by the Nineteenth Instruction Instruct 19. YOu are to pass an Act against a standing Army in time of Peace but so as Guards Garisons and necessary Standing-Forces may be continued By this Instruction tho' the King hath the Power yet He is Content to pass a Law against a Standing-Army in time of Peace beyond His Guards Garisons and necessary Standing-Forces Article 14. Griev THat all Grievances relating to the Manner and Measure of the Leidges their Representation in Parliament be Considered and Redressed in the first Parliament This Fourteenth Article of the Grievance is Answered by the Fifteenth Instruction Instruct 15 YOu are to pass an Act that the greater Shires of that Kingdom such as Lanark Air Perth Fyfe Aberdeen and Mid-Lothian and others where it shall be found Convenient may send three or four Commissioners to Parliament that the Representation may be the more equal The Parliament of Scotland is a Feudal Representation of the whole Nation wherein every bit of Land within the Kingdom is represented The King as Leidg-Lord Jurâ—… Coronae is not only invested in the Kingdom and hath the Dominium directum as Superior as well as King of the whole but likewise has the particular Patrimony of the Crown and whatever falls to the King Jure privato by Succession Emption Excambion or any other Title and also what befalls to him by Confiscation or what is Caduciary or where the King Succeeds as Vltimus Haeres nam quod nullius est Regis est The great Barons or Lords they Sat in Parliament for their Lordships and Baronies whether they be Bishops or Temporal Lords And by the Ancient Custom of Scotland every Free-Holder that is to say not as in England he who is Seised of a Proportion of Lands belonging to Him in Property but he who Holds a parcel of Lands in Capite or immediately of the King is understood a Free or Noble-Holder in Scotland and because the Divisions or Multiplication of Baronies hath rendred many of the Free-Holders small so that their Attendance in Parliament was Chargeable and Burdensom to them and it was a Disparagement to the King 's great Court of Parliament that the Mean Free-holders should be Pares Curiae with the Nobility or Peers therefore the small Barons who do not hold an Hundred Merk Land of the King are allowed to send their Commissioners to the Parliament and the Barons of each Shire are allowed to send two or more Commissioners to the Parliament The Royal Burrows make up the Third Estate to the Parliament and each Royal Burrow doth send One Commissioner but Edinburgh which sendeth Two to Represent in Parliament the Lands given out by the King to their respective Burrows to be holden of him Burgage whereby unaquaeque Gleba every Bit of the Kingdom is represented in Parliament But the Number of the Lords being Increased at the King's pleasure they are now become as many as the Commissioners of Shires and Burrows if they were all present and it hath been the custom of our Kings to Erect Royal Burrows as they think fit the Shires always remaining the same The Commissioners for Shires who do represent the greatest part of the Property of the Nation they are not proportional in Number and they have made many Attempts that the Shires being unequal in Extent Value or Number of Inhabitants that therefore the great Shires might be allowed to send more Commissioners which is agreeable to the Act of Parliament to send two or more that the Representation in Parliament of the Nation might be the more equal This Design hath been always obstructed by the Lords or great Barons that they might have more Votes and Influence in the Parliament as also the Court hath considered the Barons as that part of the Parliament wich could be least pack'd or influenced being persons generally of the best Sense and Substance as being chosen by the rest of the Barons to represent them Therefore the Court hath never favoured this adjusting of the Representations having greater Influence upon the Royal Burrows who are weaker and upon the Noblemen who are generally more necessitous and so more easily brought over to the Sentiments and Designs of the Court But this King regarding Equity and Justice more than Power he hath consented that the Representation in Parliament be rendred as equal as can be and that the greater Shires shall have a greater Number of Representatives Article 15. Griev THat the Grievance of the Burrows be Considered and Redressed in the first Parliament This is Answered by the Sixteenth Instruction Instruct 16. YOu are to pass an Act Ratifying the Priviledges of the Burrows and Securing their
AN ACCOUNT Of the Affairs of SCOTLAND In Relation to their Religious and Civil Rights LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Rich. Baldwin in the Great Old Baily near the Black Bull. 1690. An Account of the Affairs of Scotland c. SIR I Will comply with your desires in giving you a view of the Scottish Affairs and before I make particular Answers to your Questions I will lay open the whole matter of Fact which hath occurred in the Meeting of Estates in their Majesties Acceptance of the Crown and the Instructions given by His Majesty to his Commissioner for holding of the Parliament that you may be the better able to make a Judgment how far His Majesty hath made Concessions to satisfie the Minds and ease the Grievances of that Nation by his Offers in his Instructions to quite Voluntarily these Advantages which the Crown hath insensibly got over the People ever since the Union of the two Kingdoms whereby Scotland is as much in the Power and Mercy of their Kings as most of the Nations in Europe by a Legal Constitution and the Consent of the People in Parliament It may be then Surprising if this great Opportunity hath not been Imbraced and these offered Concessions turned into perpetual Laws But the Ambition of some and the Selfish-Designs of others hath Obstructed the Happiness which that Nation could only expect from this Revolution and have kept it under the Power of these severe Laws and stretched Prerogatives which His Majesty was willing to have parted with A considerable number of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland did attend His Majesty in his Expedition for Britain and many moe having Met him at London they did Address to his Majesty then Prince of Orange to Assume the Government till the Meeting of the Estates which they desired him to Call The Procedure in that Meeting was with a great deal of Discretion and Dispatch till the Country was put in a posture of Defence against an Invasion they had reason to apprehend from Ireland and till the Instrument of Government was finished which is almost in the same terms with that of England Upon the Eleventh day of April last the Estates did Proclaim their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY King and Queen of Scotland with all the Joy and sincerity that could be Exprest the same day their Majesties were Crowned in England Upon the Eighteenth day of the said Month the Estates did proceed to the Consideration of some Grievances to be Represented to his Majesty which they humbly desired might be Redressed to his Majesties first Parliament The Instrument of Government doth contain what the Estates did Assert to be the Peoples Right and the several Facts condescended upon are declared Illegal and the highest Violations of Law for which the Throne was declared Vacant The Grievances do acknowledge the things complained upon to be Legal but that the Laws introducing or allowing them are grievous and therefore there was necessity of applying to the King for Rescinding and taking off these Laws Upon the Twenty Fourth of April all the Grievances were concluded and three Commissioners being one for each Estate of the Kingdom were dispatched with the offer of the Crown to their Majesties Upon the Eleventh of May the Commissioners did present a Letter from the Estates of Scotland to his Majesty which was Read first then the Instrument of Government then the Grievances and last a Desire from the Estates to be turned into a Parliament The King Answered the Commissioners in these Terms When I engaged in this undertaking I had particular Regard and Consideration for Scotland and therefore I did Emit a Declaration for that as well as to this Kingdom which I intend to make good and effectual to them I take it very kindly that Scotland hath exprest so much Confidence in Me and Affection to Me They shall find Me willing to Assist Them in every thing that concerns the VVell and Interest of that Kingdom by making what Laws shall be necessary for the Security of their Religion Property and Liberty and to ease them of what may be justly grievous to Them Then Their Majesties took the Coronation Oath and within some few days the King declared his Pleasure for turning the Meeting of Estates into a Parliament at their own desire and he did Nominate the Duke of Hamilton his Commissioner and upon the Thirty One day of May His Majesty did Sign his Instructions Upon Their Majesties acceptance of the Crown all Commissions Gifts and other Writs Superscribed by the King must of necessity be Docueted and Counter-signed by His Secretary of State The King made choice of my Lord Melvil for that Office a person who could never be induced to act in the Publick during the former Reigns who had been Forefault and forced to abandon his Relations and Native Countrey and flee to Holland where and in Germany he remained seven years of whose Integrity and Sufficiency the King had good proof abroad and of his sincere Inclinations for the Interest of Religion and His Majesties Undertaking It was likewise necessary for His Majesty to have an Advocat and He did name Sir John Dalrymple one of the three Commissioners which the States had so much recommended and considered as to Signalize and Intrust Them with a Matter of the highest Credit and Reputation as the offer of the Crown and receiving the Coronation Oath The rest of the Offices His Majesty did not supply that He might have more opportunity to know who were Habile and Deserving Persons for these Imployments Hitherto Matters were Managed with Calmness and Concord But now when the other Offices of Honour and Profit began to be Disposed on many who formerly did pretend to be behind with none for their Zeal in their King and Countreys Service they quickly forgot the sense of their Deliverance and that Duty and Gratitude they owe to their Deliverer It had been moved in the Grand Committee of the Meeting of the Estates that it might be specially Provided in the Instrument of Government That the King should not have Power to Name the Judges Privy Counsellors or Officers of State but with Consent of Parliament This Motion was universally Rejected and thrown out with Detestation as an unreasonable Incroachment upon the Monarchy and there were only three in that whole Meeting who did favour the Proposal of whom some have worthily Retrited themselves by owning the Kings Right in this Point when it was afterwards called in question but what was universally Considered as an intolerable Invasion on the Royalty when there was no Government hath been since owned for Law and a Matter of the highest Importance this alteration of some mens Sentiments fell out Critically at that period when the King came to dispose of the Honourable or Advantagious Posts of the State then every man began to value himself and to believe he was better Judge of his own fitness for these Offices than the King whose
grudge him one years Cess for the relief of the rest There was more heat in this matter than consideration 6. I cannot but admire their confidence in pretending to be surprised with the sudden Adjournment of the Parliament most men did wonder it sat so long and every body knew it was to rise that Week that strange Vote in refusing four Months Supply after all the rest that had passed made it evident there was no better to be expected and when they had formerly refused to proceed upon the Instructions how could any man think that they should not be Adjourned As to your last Question where these mens strength lyes and whether the Presbyterians will desert the King and joyn with them I tell you plainly my thoughts these men play upon the Presbyterian Staik and though the Sticklers be persons who have little concern in Religion or regard to Church-government and when Episcopacy was formerly abolished and all the Laws establishing it Rescinded in consequence the Laws made at the Reformation in favours of the Presbyterian Government were redintegrat and revived the same might now have been done but thirsame Addressers did oppose it and did add a Clause in the House declaring the Church-government was yet to be established upon this project that if Presbytery were once established they knew the Presbyterians needed no more depend upon them whereas the Presbyterians must either support them or else they will turn about and fall in with the Cavaleer Party against them for they Front to all Sides but to the King and in the mean time they render the Presbyterians jealous of the King and tell them that the Civil Magistrate likes always to have the Church in his power and that the King to oblige the Church of England will in the end abandom them whereas they are willing to establish Presbytery in what terms they can desire and to go the length of a Covenant and League with the Dissenters in England But after all I can hardly believe that the Presbyterians will be so imposed upon and whidled out of their Interest by persons they know to have no concern for Religion but to raise themselves by it And therefore I think the following Considerations will secure the Presbyterians First All the Presbyterian Lords in Scotland who have been all along of that Perswasion and have suffered for it have all to a Man stood firm to the King in this Parliament against the Club and they are almost all actually imployed in His Service Now it is not possible that any rational or sober Presbyterian will part with their old and great Friends who are able to do them good for new Undertakers whereof some have been lately their Persecutors and the Presbyterians have no safe retreat King James will neither trust nor forgive them Will they be Neuters and Associat again as the Five Western Shires did in Anno 1650. when they refused to joyn either with King Charles's Army or Cromwels This design was both foolish and fatal they were quickly broken at Hamiltoun Secondly I can hardly believe that the Presbyterians will forget the regard the King had to their sufferings that he hath revived and restored them and will certainly settle the Government of the Church of Scotland by Presbyters and imploy them where they are capable in the Civil Government if they themselves do not hinder him For though I do not believe that the King either is or should be of a Party yet their circumstances lyes together his success and their deliverance For in Scotland though we had Bishops who were Tools for the Civil Government and led Horses for the State yet we never admitted Canons Service or any Forms in our Church so that even in time of Bishops the Nation was Presbyterian And whereas the Church and Bishops of England before this Revolution were standing in the Gap and suffering and the King in His Speech to the Parliament did avouch them to be a Bulwark to the Protestant Religion yet at that time our Bishops in Scotland in their Address to King James not only pray for his success and prosperity in that Expedition but they pray that God may give him the necks of his Enemies after they knew that the King then Prince of Orange was Embarqued and had set Sail for Britain This may conciliate a greater confidence and regard from the King to the Presbyterians of Scotland without giving any discouragement or displeasure to the Church of England For a Prince that hath different Countries and Nations may maintain distinct Religions and much more distinct Forms of Government professing the same Religion without affecting or neglecting any man upon that account Thirdly As it is duty and gratitude for the Presbyterians to stand firm by the King they lye under a suspition to be difficile and uneasie under any Government and that their Principles are more suited to a Common-wealth than Monarchy they have now an opportunity to retrive and vindicate themselves from these aspersions and if they be such fools as to suffer themselves to be seduced to quit the King for the Club there are many that are now looking after their halting who will not be wanting to represent to the King that he hath neglected a far greater interest in looking after the Dissenters whom he could not manage These and other such Considerations will certainly oblige the Presbyterians to look to their interest and foresee their danger if they should either lye by or prove unkind And if they do not support and sustain this Club it will fall to nothing and the Nation will return to some better temper and see their folly in not closing with the Kings Instructions Sir I have been carried far beyond my design in giving you an account of my thoughts in this matter But without further I am Your most humble Servant
Right it is to Dispose on them and thus our pleasant Scene is turned into Confusion and some who doubted of their Interest to be preferred by their Princes Favour to that Share and Interest in the Government they designed they run about hoping to force Him to take them off for fear of their mischief whose Actings shew they resolve rather to disturb that Peace which is not yet well Confirmed to Embroyle the Nation Shake the Throne Hazard Religion and all to a Revolution than fall short of their pretensions as if they had said Flectere si nequeo superos acheronta movebo and they have endeavoured to Amuse the unwary multitude with the specious Pretexts of Law and Liberty and that their Grievances are so far from being Redressed that there are new Invasions made upon them and so instead of taking their Relief which the King hath offered to all the Grievances represented by the Estates they fall upon new Complaints not formerly pretended to nor thought just or worthy to be insisted on for which some have Addrest to the King with great peremptoriness hindring their Native Countrey from receiving the benefit of the Concessions which His Majesty offers in His Instructions But that I may not seem to impose upon you in this matter I will fairly set down both the Grievances and the Redress offered by His Majesty in the Instructions to His Commissioner with some short Notes that you may better understand the nature of the Grievances and the Fulness of the Relief that is offered by the Instructions and in regard the Instructions contain moe things than the Grievances do such as the turning the States into a Parliament and the like they do not follow the same Method or Answer the number therefore I shall repeat every Article of the Grievances with the particular Instruction relating to it together and then come to your Questions Article First Grievance THe Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland do Represent that the Committee of Parliament called the Articles is a great Grievance to the Nation and that there ought to be no Committees of Parliament but such as are freely Chosen by the Estates to prepare Motions and Overtures that are first made in the House This is answered by the second Article of the Instructions Instruction Second YOU are to pass an Act for Regulating the Articles to consist of Twenty four Persons besides the Officers of State whereof Eight are to be Chosen by the Noblemen of their Estate Eight by the Barons and Eight by the Burrows out of their Estates and in case of the death of any of these Persons that Estate out of which the Person Deceased shall supply the same These are to prepare Matters and Acts for the Parliament but not to exclude the Parliament to take any Matter into their Consideration though it hath been thrown out and Rejected in the Articles and all former acts specially the first Act Parliament first Session third Charles the Second inconsistent herewith are to be Rescinded The Parliament of Scotland doth consist of three Estates who all meet in one House and by the antient Laws and Custom of that Kingdom there was a select number of Persons Chosen out of the Three Estates who with the Officers of State were called Dominiad Articulos because they did prepare Articles or Proposals and Framed Acts which were brought in to be Considered in Parliament And this Committee for Articles hath been as Antient as we find any Records of Parliament in that Kingdom and the Officers of State were always Members The great Weight in the Mannagement of Affairs was committed to this Committee And in Antient times after the Articles were once Constitute the Parliament did Adjourn to a certain day till all things were prepared by the Articles which were to be proposed in Parliament The Policy of that Kingdom had introduced and maintained this Constitution of the Articles upon weighty and solid Reasons as 1 o. To preserve the different Interests of the Three Estates among themselves the several Estates having no Negatives in the Parliament for though one State were intirely opposite the plurality of the whole doth Determine and Decide And the Estates not being equal in number a greater State Combining might overthrow the Interest of another especially since the State of the Nobility being increased at the Kings Pleasure there are at present as many Lords in Scotland as do equal or exceed the number of the Commissioners for Shires and Burrows together As also the number of the Royal Borrows may be increased at the King's Pleasure But the Shires remaining the same the Estate of the Burrows which hath the greatest part of the Property and visible Estate of the Nation they may have the fewest Votes in the Parliament But in the Articles every State hath an equal number whereby in the Projecting and Framing of the Laws each State hath an equal Interest 2o. All the Estates meeting in one House and there being no Negatives in the Parliament of Scotland a suddain Vote would put the Kings of Scotland to this strait and difficulty either to consent to a Law whereof they might be ignorant as to its Design and Framing or else to refuse the Royal Assent and so a Breach or Difference were Stated betwixt the King and People and there could be nothing more expedient for preventing these Inconveniences than the Choosing of a select number for each Estate who with the Officers of State for the King did Prepare Digest and Adjust all Matters which were to be brought in to the Parliament In the Parliament of England there are two Houses and their Forms of Proceeding are slow and Cautious whereby the King may understand whatever is under the Deliberation of the one House before it come to the other and by Conference betwixt the two Houses Matters use to be Adjusted before they come the Kings length for the Royal Assent But in Scotland the Procedure is quick and the Forms of Parliament are Expedit and Summar besides the Temper and Genious of the Nation which is ready not to say Praefervidum Scotorum Ingenium whereby Matters of the greatest Importance may be Stated and Determined at one Sitting in the Parliament of Scotland And therefore as Matters in England do proceed by Bills from the Houses to the King so in Scotland Business did Commence from the Articles in which both the King and People had their shares of Members Of late there hath Excesses and Abuses crept in to the Articles both as to the manner of their Constitution and Power of Prelimiting the Parliament And since the Year 1633. The Bishops did chuse Eight Noblemen and the Noblemen did chuse Eight Bishops these did chuse Eight of the Commissioners for Shires and Eight of the Commissioners for Burrows who with the Officers of State made up the Articles by this method both the small Barons and Burrows were excluded from any Interest in chusing the Articles and they had not
the King had no mind to evade the desires of his People or to shift them off upon the Generality of their Desires But what they plainly desire He gives a distinct Instruction to it and when they point at any thing which they do not distinctly Express He remits the whole Affair to themselves and in this Case because there was no necessity of Adjusting Narratives but only to Rescind some Acts of that Parliament therefore the King doth not Require his Commissioner to Transmit the Proposals as in many other Articles but Authorizeth him to give the Royal Assent in this Matter and in the Settling of Church Government and in Redressing of Fines and restoring of Forfaultures which were the greatest Tokens of his Intire Confidence in the Parliament and that he did not Proceed Cautiously or narrowly with them Who could have expected such unsutable Returns that some Persons should press to proceed to Votes in Matters new not offered in their Grievances without Representing to His Majesty any thing of the Matter before they were previously engaged and put the King to the necessity of a Refusal as when His Majesty had opened the Signet by His Proclamation that Law and Justice might have its course that it should have been Countermanded and stopt by a Vote of Parliament which the World must have considered as the last Effects of the highest Jealousie and Difference to the Disreputation of His Affairs and the Endangering the Common Interest But that you may have a Snatch of the Acts of that Parliament and how far our Great Men did Outvey one another to Depress the Nation and Raise the Prerogative I have set down the Second Act of Parliament by which you will see that they have not rested in the Doctrine of Passive Obedience but for what I see we own Active Obedience without Reserve and yet I am told this Act passed with very few or no contrary Votes A Declaration and Offer of Duty by the Kingdom of Scotland with an Annexation of Excise to the Crown April 28 1685. THe Estates of Parliament now Conveened by His Majesties Soveraign Authority Taking into their Consideration how the Nation hath continued now upwards of 2000 years in the unaltered Form of our Monarchical Government and uninterrupted Line of 111 Kings whose Sacred Authority and Power hath been upon all Signal Occasions so Owned and Assisted by Almighty God that Our Kingdom hath been Protected from Conquest Our Possessions Defended from Strangers Our Civil Commotions brought into Wished Events Our Laws Vigorously Executed Our Properties Legally Fixed and Our Lives Securely Preserved so that We and Our Ancestors have Enjoyed those Securities and Tranquillities which the greater and more Flourishing Kingdoms have frequently wanted Those great Blessings We Owe in the first place to Divine Mercy and in Dependance on that to the Sacred Race of Our Glorious Kings and to the Solid Absolute Authority wherewith they were Invested by the First and Fundamental Laws of Our Monarchy Nor can either Our Records or Our Experience Instance Our being Deprived of those happy Effects But when a Rebellious Party did by Commotions and Seditions Invade the Kings Sacred Authority which was the Cause of Our Prosperity yet so far hath Our Primitive Constitution and Fundamental Laws Prevailed against the Innovations and Seditions of Turbulent Men as that these Interruptions never Terminated but either in the Ruine or at least the Suppression of those who at any time did Rebel or Rise in Opposition to Our Government And since so many Ages hath Assured to Us the great Advantages that flow down to all Ranks of People from the happy Constitution of Our Monarchy and that all Our Calamities hath ever arisen from Seditious Invasions upon these Sacred Rights Therefore the Estates of Parliament for Themselves and in Name of the whole Kingdom Judge Themselves Obliged to Declare and They Do Declare to the World That they Abhor and Detest not only the Authors and Actors of all preceeding Rebellions against the Soveraign but likewise all Principles and Positions which are Contrary or Derogatory to the Kings Sacred Supream Absolute Power and Authority which none whether Persons or Collective Bodies can Participate of any manner of Way or upon any Pretext but in Dependance on Him and Commission from Him and as Their Duty formerly did Bind them to Own and Assert the Just and Legal Succession of the Sacred Line as Unalterable by any Humane Jurisdiction so now they Hold Themselves on this Occasion Obliged for Themselves and the whole Nation Represented by Them in most Humble and Dutiful Manner to Renew the Hearty and Sincere Offer of their Lives and Fortunes to Assist Support Defend and Maintain King James the 7th their present Glorious Monarch and his Heirs and Lawful Successors in the Possessions of Their Crowns Soveraignty Prerogatives Authority Dignity Rights and Possessions against all Mortals And withall to Assure all His Enemies who shall Adventure on the Disloyalty of Disobeying His Laws or on the Impiety of Invading His Rights that such shall sooner be weary of their Wickedness than they of their Duty and they firmly Resolve to give their intire Obedience to His Majesty without Reserve and to Concur against all His Enemies Foreign or Intestine and they solemnly Declare that as they are bound by Law so they are voluntarly and firmly Resolved that all of this Nation betwixt Sixty and Sixteen Armed and Provided according to their Abilities shall be in Readiness for His Majesties Service where and as oft as it shall be His Royal Pleasure to Require them And since the Excise of In-land and Foreign Commodities Granted to King Charles II. of ever blessed Memory by the 14th Act of the Parliament 1661 during all the days of his Life-time and Prorogat by the 8th Act of the Parliament 1681 for five years thereafter will shortly Terminate And the Estates of Parliament Considering the Usefulness of this Grant to support the Interest of the Crown Do as the first evidence of their Sincerity in the aforesaid Tender of their Duty humbly and unanimously offer to His most Sacred Majesty King James the VII their present Monarch and to his lawful Heirs and Successors in the Imperial Crown of Scotland The said Excise of In-land and and Foreign Commodities exprest in the said 14th Act of Parliament 1661 to be Collected in the manner Prescribed by the said 8th Act of the Parliament 1681. for ever And His Majesty and Estates of Parliament by the force of this Act have United Annexed and Incorporated and Unites Annexes and Incorporates the same to the Crown of this Realm to Remain therewith in Annexed Property in all time coming And in respect that the Alteration in the method of Collecting the In-land Excise from what it was by the Act 1661. to that prescribed by the 8th Act of the Parliament 1681. will require some time to establish it in Collection Therefore His Majesty with Consent of the Estates continues the Collection