An Account of the Affairs of Scotland In Answer to a Letter Written upon the occasion of the Address lately Presented to His Majesty by some Members of the Parliament of that Kingdom 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 Moneth the Estates did proceed to the Consideration of some Grievances to be Represented to His Majesty which they humbly desired might be Redressed in 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 waâ— 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 Vndertaking 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 Well 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 Nominat 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 Mannaged 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 King 's Right in this Point when it was afterwards called in question but what was universally Considered as an intollerable 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 Right it is to Dispose on them and thus our
the King or Queens of that Realm shall not marrie 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 poisoned 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 Attaqued 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 Eyse Aberdeen and Mid-Lothian and others where it shall be found Convenient may send three or four Commssiioners 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 Leidge-Lord Jurae Coronae is not only Invested in the Kingdom and hath the Dominium directum as Superior as well as King of the whole but likeways 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 befals 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 Antient Custom of Scotland every Free-Holder that is to say not as in England he who is Seased of a Proportion of Lands belonging to Him in Property but he who Holds a parcel of Lands in Capite or immediatly of the King is understood a Free or Noble Holder in Scotland and because the Divisions and Multiplication of Baronies hath rendred many of the Free-Holders small so that their Attendance in Parliament was Chargeable and Burdensome to them and it was a Disparagement to the Kings 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 moe 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 Kings 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 which 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 Representation 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 Rights in Electing their own Magistrats for the Future and that the Burrows of Glasgow and St. Andrews shall have the Electing of their own Provosts Baillies and Town Council as the other Royal Burrows of that Kingdom have The Royal Burrows have a peculiar Interest in the King for as Burghs of Barony and Regality are Incorporations belonging to Noblemen and Gentlemen so the Royal Burrows are in
Sterling which he was willing to accept in stead of demanding the Eight Months during King James's life And supposing that he had redeemed us from that Eight Months Cess as well as many other miseries was it grateful or just to grudge him one years Cess for the relief of the rest There was more heat in this matter than consideration 6o. 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 thir same 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 abandon 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 Cromwel's 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 suscess 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 so 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 conciliat 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 Countreys 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 ly 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 quite 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 ly 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 King's 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 London Dec. 1. 1689. ERRATA Page 1. Line 19. read as any p. 6. l 29. r. Barons p. 33. l. 29. r. who ly p. 38. l. 4. r. mystery