Enemy and bore the burden of most fierce Wars in the Kingdom This they will find in a Book call'd Archaionomia translated from the Saxon by William Lambard and Printed at London by John Day in 1568. It must be granted that the Reasons of such a grateful Retribution are redoubled now Intermarriages betwixt the two Nations are more frequent than ever the Union of the Kingdoms under one Crown for almost 100 years the generous Concurrence of the Scots in the last Revolution their loss of so many gallant Officers and brave Soldiers in the common Cause during the late War and the preservation of Ireland which hath been twice owing to our Country-men might reasonably entitle us to the same Privileges now that our Ancestors were formerly allow'd by K. Edward and William the Conqueror We need not insist on another sort of Obligation that we have put upon England twice within this 60 years viz. The delivering them from their Oppressions in the time of K. Charles I. the Anarchy of the Rump and several Models of Armies and Junto's by encouraging General Monk's Undertaking for it cannot be denied that we had the Balance of Europe in our hands at the time of the last Revolution and that we turn'd the Scale to the advantage of England in particular and of Europe in general which must be allow'd to be as great a Service as that which was so thankfully rewarded by Edward and William the Conqueror whence it is evident that those Englishmen who at present oppose our Settlement in America don't inherit the gratitude of their Ancestors when they not only will not allow us to Trade in Conjunction with them but withstand our doing any thing that may advance a Trade by our selves If they object That what we did in all those Cases was no more than our Duty and what we ow'd to our own Preservation as well as to theirs it is easie to reply That admitting it to be so yet by the Laws of God and Men People are incourag'd to perform their Duties by Rewards and their Ancestors were so sensible of this that tho' they knew we were equally concern'd to defend the Island against foreign Invaders as well as they yet they thought themselves oblig'd in Policy as well as Gratitude to Reward us which they not only did by that Honorary Praemium of allowing us to be Denizons of England as above-mention'd but sometimes gave to us and at other times confirm'd to us the three Northern Counties of Northumberland Westmorland and Cumberland to be held in Fee of the Crown of England It is likewise very well known with how much Honour the Parliament of England treated us when they courted our Assistance against King Charles I. and what large Promises that Prince made us if we would have but stood Neuter which tho' we had reason to think many of those that opposed him had no great kindness neither for our Civil nor Ecclesiastical Constitution yet the sense that we had of the common Danger that our Religion and Liberties were in at that time made us proof against all those Tentations so that after all Endeavours for a Reconciliation betwixt the King and the Parliament of England prov'd unsuccessful we sent in an Army which cast the Balance on the side of the latter who before that time were reduc'd low enough by the King's Army as is very well known to such as are acquainted with the History of those times and is own'd by my Lord Hollis in his Memoirs lately publish'd ANSWER Our Caledonian most extreamly misses his aim in relating those Matters as Obligations done to England for which they have but little reason to be thankful to them Their behaviour under the Reign of K. Charles I. was such that the English ought to keep it in eternal Remembrance and in lieu of Acknowledgment rather ought to take care of them so that they may not be able for the future to be the Incendiaries of a Civil War as they were at that time For after they had put all England into Confusion by their Encouraging and afterwards declaring for the Presbyterian Faction after I say they had been instrumental in bringing this unfortunate Prince to his fatal End they took the opportunity of siding with his Son not out of any love to his Person or to maintain his rightful Title as may appear by those Conditions they imposed upon him but to Revenge themselves upon those who had wrested the Power out of their Hands and afterwards made them bear their share in those Miseries they had brought upon England Certainly our Author must think the English to be very ill versed in their own History when he alledges the Scots to have had any share in General Monk's Undertaking who can be so ignorant as not to know that all what this General desired from and was granted by the Convention of the Scots was to furnish him with so much Money as might maintain his Army in their march to London and there is no question but they understood their Interest so well as that they would have parted with a far greater Sum to rid their hands of a conquering Army in their Bowels and to set the English together by the Ears among themselves by which means they might hope to recover their lost Liberty For the rest it is sufficiently evident That if General Monk had at that time any Thoughts of recalling the King which I much question he had more Prudence than to Communicate it to the Scots or any body else For if the Rump had had the least suspicion of his design they would scarce have made him General of all the Forces in the three Nations This is the true state of the Case as to the first of these Obligations our Calidonian brags of What he says of Scotland's turning the Balance in the time of the late Revolution when it was in their hands shews so much Vanity and want of Judgment in point of Policy that it deserves no Answer and I am apt to believe the wiser sort among the Scots will owe him but little thanks for representing them as a People who could fall under a possibility of mistaking their own Interest and Preservation so far as to let slip so extraordinary an opportunity as was offered them by Providence to secure their Religion and Liberty and in lieu of that to Embrace a foreign Protection or to speak truer to submit their Necks under a Foreign Yoke rather than to Unite themselves with the English under one Head who perhaps notwithstanding their foreign Alliances might have taken this opportunity to bring them once for all to Reason as Cromwel did who 's Title to Scotland as their Conqueror was own'd by all Europe He goes on thus DEFENCE But to return to the last Revolution Tho' we must own that we owe our Deliverance to His Majesty and were oblig'd in Conscience and Honour to concur with him yet who could have blam'd us to have stood
by the Restoration of King Charles II. and above all or generous and frank Concurrence with them in the late happy Revolution and Advancement of King William III. We did verily think that all these things deserv'd a better Treatment And to evince that they did we shall beg leave to insist a little upon the first and last The English have no cause to think that we were ignorant of the Reason why their Politick Henry VII chose rather to Match his Eldâ—st Daughter with the King of Scots than with the King of France because he foresaw that if the King of Scots should by that means come to the Crown of England he would remove the Seat of his Government thither which would add to the Grandure and Riches of England Whereas if the King of France did by that means fall Heir to the English Crown he would certainly draw the Court of England to Paris This the Scots were so far from being ignorant of that many of the Nobility and Gentry did express their dislike of the Union of the Crowns as well knowing that it would reduce our Kingdom into a Subjection and Dependance upon England and drain us of what Substance we had and therefore some of them express'd themselves on that occasion That Scotland was never Conquer'd till then Yet such was our Zeal for the Common Welfare of the Island the Interest of the Protestant Religion and of Europe in general which were then almost in as much danger by Spain as they have been since by France that we quietly and freely parted with our King and suffer'd him to accept the English Crown rather than that Nation should be involv'd in War and Confusion and the Protestant Religion endanger'd by another Successor as it must necessarily have been had the Infanta of Spain whose Title was then promoted by the Popish Interest succeeded And all the Reward we had for this Condescension and Kindness was a Contemptuous and Disdainful Refusal on the part of England of an Union of the Nations when proposed tho' the same would visibly have tended to the Benefit of the whole Island the general Advantage of Europe and the Security and Increase of the Protestant Interest And our King was so little thankful on his part that tho' he promis'd solemnly in the Great Church of Edinburgh before his Departure that he would visit his Ancient Kingdom once in three Years he never saw it after but once and that not till Fourteen Years after And by the influence of that same Faction in England who are still our Enemies he made Innovations both in Church and State These were the first Advantages we had by the Union of the Crowns His Son King Charles I. had scarce ascended the Throne when we had new Proofs of the Disadvantages we labour'd under by that Union for he by the Advice of some Enemies to our Nation did in an Imperious and Arbitrary manner send for our Crown tho' the only Monument almost left us of our Independency and Freedom but was generously answer'd by him that had it in keeping That if he would come and be Crown'd in Scotland he should have all the Honour done him that ever was to his Ancestors but if he did not think it worth his while they might perhaps be inclin'd to make choice of another Soveraign or to that effect as recorded in the Continuation of Sir Richard Baker's History Another Disadvantage we had by that Union of the Crown was this That that Unfortunate Prince being inspir'd with an Aversion to the Constitution of our Country by his Education made War upon us to bring us to a Conformity with England in Church-Matters We shall not here offer to debate which of the Churches was best Constituted or most agreeable to the Scripture-Pattern It suffices for our Argument That we were Injur'd in having a Foreign Model offer'd to be obtruded upon us which was the Consequence of the Union of the Crowns and of having our King Educated in another Nation but that was not all another mischievous Effect of the Union was this That whatever King Charles had deserv'd at our Hands yet out of Natural Affection Conscience and Honour we were oblig'd to do what we could to prevent his Illegal Trial and Death and to defend his Son's Title which threw us into Convulsions at Home occasion'd us the loss of several Armies and expos'd our Nation afterwards to Ruine and Devastation by our implacable Enemy the Usurper which together with the Ungrateful Retributions made us by the Government after the Restoration were enough to have wearied any Nation under Heav'n but our selves of the Union of the Crowns ANSWER Our Caledonian as I believe being somewhat mistrustful of the strength of the Scotâ— Title as well as of his Arguments to perswade the English that it is for their Interest to maintain the Scots in their New Settlement thinks it best to take other Measures now and to try whether he can hector them into a Compliance with the Scots he sets the best Countenance upon the Matter and labours very hard to give the World to understand that the English are highly indebted to the Scots for suffering as he terms it their Crown to be United with that of England I will not enter into a Dispute with him about the design of Henry VII in Marrying his Daughter to the King of Scots I will allow him to have acted in this Point as much for the Interest of England as our Author would have him but what is all this to their suffering the two Crowns to be United under one Head I hope he will grant me that both the English and Scots Crowns were Hereditary and being such how was it in the Power of the Scots to alter the Succession upon that Score I will further allow him that whenever two Kingdoms or States are United under one Head the less Potent will in some measure be independent on the other But I would also have him grant me this Position That if at that Juncture the Infanta of Spain had succeeded in England the Protestant Interest both in England and Scotland must have been brought into no small Jeopardy and our Author would have had no great occasion at this time to brag of the Soveraignty and Independency of the Scots He makes a large Rehearsal of the Miscarriages in the Reign of King James I. and King Charles I. especially of their Innovations in Church Matters in Scotland but our Author might have remembred if they introduced Episcopacy among them they were not behind hand in furnishing England with Presbytery What he alledges concerning their Sufferings in the Civil Wars for the Defence of K. Charles I. and his Sons Title ought not to be put upon the English Score I wonder how he can be so forgetful as not to remember That the Scots Covenanters were of that Gang that begun the Dance and all the reason in the World they should help to pay the Fidler And
this is so unquestionably true that many of the wiser sort are of Opinion That the Presbyterian Faction would never have carried Matters to that heighth under that unfortunate Prince's Reign if they had not been back'd by the Covenanting Party in Scotland So that England may in a great measure lay the Calamities of the late Civil Wars and its fatal Consequences to their Doors which our Author would fain put altogether upon the English But let us see how he goes on in magnifying his beloved Scots DEFENCE Yet such was our Zeal for the Protestant Interest the Welfare of the Island and the Liberty of Europe that tho' we had a fair opportunity of providing otherwise for our security and the Advancement of our Trade and of forming our selves into a Commonwealth or of bringing England to our own Terms yet we frankly and generously concurr'd with them to settle our Government on the same Persons and in the same manner as they did theirs and all the Reward we had from them is that an Union of the Nations tho' twice propos'd by His Majesty in Parliament hath been rejected To this they have added an opposition to our receiving Foreign Subscriptions at Hamburgh and elsewhere refus'd us a Supply of Corn for our Money to relieve us in our Distress and discourag'd our Settlement at Darien by forbidding their Subjects to Trade with us there If these continued Slights be not enough to make us weary of the Union of the Crowns let any Man judge To discover a little of the unreasonableness of this sort of Treatment we dare Appeal to the calm thoughts of such of our Neighbours in England as prefer the Interest of the Publick to private Animosities and foolish ill-grounded Piques either as to Church or State whether at the time of the Revolution and before we declar'd our selves they would not have been willing to have assur'd themselves of our Friendship at the rate of Uniting with us as one Nation Had we but demurr'd upon forfeiting the late K. James or made but a Proffer of renewing our ancient League with France and joyning with that Crown to keep that Prince upon the Throne of Great Britain they know we might have made what Terms we pleas'd with the late King and Louis XIV on that condition and might have been restor'd to all the Honours and Privileges that our Ancestors enjoy'd in France which were almost equal to those of the Natives and yet that gallant Nation thought it no disparagement to them however we be despis'd and undervalued now by a certain Party in England Had we but seem'd to have made such Overtures the English must needs have foreseen that the natural Consequences of such a Design if it had taken effect must have been these viz. The late King's Adherents in England would certainly have join'd us and our Nation would have afforded them a safe Retreat in case of any Disaster till they could have concerted Matters to the best Advantage The late King would not have yielded himself such an easie Conquest not disbanded his Army in such a manner as he did Ireland had certainly revolted since every one knows that the Revolution was begun and in a great measure perfected there by the Scots of the North so that England must have become the Theatre of the War and been liable to an Invasion from France These must certainly have been the Consequences of our adhering to the late King and the English would have thought they had had a very good Bargain if they could have bought us off in that case with Uniting both the Kingdoms into one and granting us a joint Trade to their own Plantations whereas now they will not allow us to settle a foreign Colony of our own and treat us as Foreigners in theirs ANSWER Our Author has so entangled himself in pleading for the Scots that he is almost beyond his Senses for what Man who is in his right Wits could propose an Alliance with France which is in effect no less than to make Scotland a Province of France as more advantageous to the Scots than their Concurrence with England in the last Revolution for if they were become so indifferent as to their so much bragg'd of Liberty and Soveraignty and their Religion to Boot what need they have chang'd Masters since King James would have eased them of both and it appears to me as if our Caledonian was rather for the last since he takes so much pains to represent to us the consequences of it in the most passionate manner that could be But if the matter be duly weigh'd he has shot much beyond the mark for supposing the Scots to have stood it out against England for King James tho' I must confess it implies almost an absurdity to suppose it the consequences would not have been half so terrible as he would persuade us for Scotland being by reason of its Situation not easie to be relieved by France as long as the English and Dutch were Masters at Sea they might perhaps have proved troublesome but not so dangerous Neighbours as to make England the Theatre of War and it is I think odds on the English side that they might have served them as Cromwel did that is to bring them under an entire Subjection whereas they now enjoy many Priviledges beyond other Foreigners and have born but a very slender share in those vast Sums expended for the Glory and Interest of the Island in general It is not to be denied but that their ready Concurrence did hasten the Conquest of Ireland but I am apt to believe that their refusal would scarce have appear'd so dreadful to the English as to make them receive Laws from the Scots I cannot pass by in silence here with what Arrogance he is pleased to reflect upon the Measures taken in England on the account of the Scots East-India Company when it is beyond all question That every independent Nation has an inherent Right to secure their Commerce against the encroachments of a Neighbouring Nation which is the true state of the Case which our Author terms Ingratitude and I know not what in the English who did no more than to represent their Grievance to His Majesty's Consideration He runs on further thus DEFENCE To shew that this is not a mere Conjecture that has no other ground but a Vision of the Brain they may be pleas'd to consider the honourable Privileges granted us by their Ancestors and some of the greatest Princes that ever sway'd their Scepter viz. King Edward and William the Conqueror who by the Consent of the States in Parliament assembled Enacted That the Scots should be accounted Denizons of England and injoy the same Privileges with themselves because of their frequent Intermarriages with the English and that they did ever stood stoutly as one Man with them for the common Vtility of the Crown and Kingdom against the Danes and Norwegians fought it most valiantly and unanimously against the common