Read Ebook: The Early History of the Scottish Union Question Bi-Centenary Edition by Omond George W T George William Thomson

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The name, so hated in Scotland, of "Mons. Joh. de Meneteth" appears as one of the Council appointed to assist John de Bretaigne.

Holinshed, iii. 998.

"Terra variabilis communi utriusque gentis vocabulo dicta The Debateable Ground."

"Notwithstanding the ancient alliance of France and Scotland, and the long intercourse of good offices between the two nations, an aversion for the French took its rise, at this time, among the Scots; the effects whereof were deeply felt, and operated powerfully through the subsequent period" .

The Queen of Scots was to "aggre and obleis hir self and hir successouris, that scho, hir Airis and Successouris, sall observe and keip the Fredomes, Liberteis, and Privelegeis of this Realme, and Lawis of the samyn, sicklike and in the samyn maner as hes bene keipit and observit in all Kingis Tymes of Scotland of before" .

"Le servir, obeyr et honnorer, durant et constant ledit mariage, ensemble l'hoir issu et procr?? d'iceluy mariage auquel adviendra le Royaume d'Escosse, tout ainsy comme nous et nos Predecesseurs aut loyauement servy et honnore les nobles progeniteurs et antecesseurs de la ditte Dame Reyne d'Escosse nostre Souveraine" . On the occasion of the marriage, Henry of France issued letters of naturalisation conferring all the privileges of French citizenship on Scotsmen living in his dominions; and the Scottish Parliament returned the compliment by passing an Act which naturalised Frenchmen in Scotland.

The plenipotentiaries for Scotland at Cambray were the Cardinal of Lorraine; the Duke of Montmorency; Jacques d'Albon, Marshal of France; Morvillier, Bishop of Orleans; and Claude de l'Aubespine, Secretary of State.

"A pleasant country village on the north side of the river Tweed, within the borders of Scotland, five miles west from Berwick" .

"This treaty was finished and drawn up at the Church of Our Lady of Upsalinton the 31st of May , and duplicates thereof were delivered and exchanged in the Parish Church of Norham, just opposite, on the English side of the Tweed, that same day" .

They told her, "That, by her tolerance, their religion had taken such a root, and the number of the Protestants so increased, that it was a vain hope to believe that they could be put from their religion, seeing they were resolved as soon to part with their lives as to recant" .

His father, the second Earl of Arran, and first Duke of Chatelherault, was, it will be remembered, Regent of Scotland from the death of James the Fifth, in 1542, until 1554, when he was succeeded by Mary of Guise. He was a Lord of the Congregation.

"If the Queen shall be unwilling to this, as it is likely she will, in respect of the greedy and tyrannous Affliction of France; then is it apparent that Almighty God is pleased to transfer from her the Rule of the Kingdom for the weal of it; and in this time great Circumspection is to be used, to avoid the deceits and trumperies of the French. And then may the Realm of Scotland consider, being once made free, what means may be devised through God's goodness to accord the two Realms, to endure for time to come at the Pleasure of Almighty God, in whose Hands the Hearts of all Princes be" .

A Short Discussion of the Weighty Matter of Scotland, August 1559. Cotton MSS., Keith, App. 24.

"But now hes God's providence sa altered the case, zea, changed it to the plat contrary, that now hes the Frensche taken zour place, and we, off very jugement, becum disyrous to have zow in theyr rowme. Our eyes are opened, we espy how uncareful they have been of our weile at all tymes, how they made ws ever to serve theyr turne, drew ws in maist dangerous weys for theyr commodite, and, nevertheless, wad not styck, ofttymes, against the natowr of the ligue, to contrak peace, leaving ws in weyr. We see that their support, off late zeres, wes not grantit for any affection they bare to ws, for pytie they had of our estate, for recompense of the lyke friendship schawin to theym in tyme of theyr afflictiones, but for ambition, and insatiable cupidite to reygne, and to mak Scotland ane accessory to the Crown of France."

"I wald ze should not esteme ws sa barayne of jugement, that we cannot forese our awne perril; nor sa foolische, that we will not study by all gude means to entertayne that thing may be our safetye; quhilk consistes all in the relaying of zour friendships."

"Tak hede ze say not hereafter, 'Had I wist'; ane uncomely sentence to procede off a wyse man's mouth."

"We seke nathing but that Scotland may remane, as of before, a fre realme, rewlit by hir hyenes and hir ministeres borne men of the sam; and that the succession of the Crowne may remane with the lawful blode."

Letter of Maitland of Lethington, "from the original in his own hand" .

Spotswood, 146. It is needless to say that though Elizabeth may have used these words, she was bent on recovering Calais.

"A Convenient Ayd of Men of Warre, on Horse and Foot, to joyne with the power of the Scottishmen, with Artailzie Munition, and all others Instrumentis of Warre mete for the Purpose, as weall by Sea as by Land."

Conventiones Scotorum contra Reginam Unionem Franciae et Scotiae designantem, et pro defensione contra Francos . Maitland of Lethington, in the letter in favour of an alliance between England and Scotland, from which quotations have just been given, proposes that Scotland should help to maintain order in Ireland. "The realme of Ireland," he says, "being of natour a gode and fertill countrey, by reason of the continewalld unquietnes and lak of policy, ze knaw to be rather a burthen to zow then great advantage; and giff it were peaceable may be very commodious. For pacification quhayroff, it is not unknown to zow quhat service we ar abill to do."

They numbered between seven and eight thousand men. The expedition seems to have cost about ?230,000 .

Keith, 131.

Mr. Froude quotes a letter from Jewel to Peter Martyr:--"It is of the greatest moment that England and Scotland be united; and I trust only those may not hinder it who wish well neither to them nor to us" .

Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 605.

The Queene's Majestie's Answere, declared to Her Counsell, concerninge the Requests of the Lords of Scotlande .

This, however, does not altogether apply to the Darnley marriage. Darnley, as grandson of Margaret Tudor, was not only cousin to the Queen of Scots, but first prince of the blood in England; and Mary's great object in espousing him was to improve her chance of succeeding to the Crown of England, to which she was already heir-presumptive. But in Scotland the marriage of the queen to a Catholic could not be viewed with indifference; and the General Assembly of the Church proceeded to declare that the laws against papacy applied to the royal family as well as to the subjects: "That the Papisticall and blasphemous masse, with all Papistrie and idolatrie of Paip's jurisdictione, be universallie suppressed and abolished throughout the haill realme, not only in the subjects, but also in the Q. Majestie's awn persone" .

"Naturallie jonit be blude and habitatioun, of ane relligioun and thairby alike subiect to the malice of the commoun enemy, be quhais Vnioun na les suretie may be expectit to baith thair esteattis then dangear be thair divisioun" .

Tractatus Foederis et Arctioris Amititiae, 5th July 1586 .

Mr. Tytler's view is that one of the chief objects of Elizabeth and the English ministers in entering into the League was to make it easier to deal with the Queen of Scots. "Two months before," he says, "her indefatigable minister, Walsingham, had detected that famous conspiracy known by the name of 'Babington's Plot,' in which Mary was implicated, and for which she afterwards suffered. It had been resolved by Leicester, Burghley, and Walsingham, and probably by the queen herself, that this should be the last plot of the Scottish queen and the Roman Catholic faction; that the time had come when sufferance was criminal and weak; that the life of the unfortunate, but still active and formidable, captive was inconsistent with Elizabeth's safety and the liberty of the realm. Hence the importance attached to this League, which bound the two kingdoms together, in a treaty offensive and defensive, for the protection of the Protestant faith, and separated the young king from his mother" .

This letter, which is very long, will be found in Spotswood, p. 359. "Because," the bishop says, "the Letter contained the very true reasons that in end moved his Majesty to forbear violence and take a more calm course, I thought meet to set it down word by word, as it standeth in the original."

THE UNION OF THE CROWNS

For some time before the death of Elizabeth, James had been doing his best to gain the goodwill of the English people; and as soon as he received the official announcement of his accession he directed his Privy Council to proclaim the news, not only in order that the fact that he was now King of England as well as Scotland should become known, but in the hope, as the proclamation expressed it, that there might be kindled in the hearts of all Scotsmen "ane loveing and kyndlie dispositioun towardis all his Majestie's subjectis inhabitantis of England." Nor did he fail to impress this sentiment on the people. On the last Sunday which he spent in Scotland he went to the Church of Saint Giles, where, when the sermon was ended, he made a speech to the congregation. It was regarded as a farewell, and was received with "such a mourning and lamentation of all sorts, as cannot well be expressed."

"There is no difference," he said, to cheer his weeping subjects, "betwixt London and Edinburgh; yea, not so much as betwixt Inverness or Aberdeen and Edinburgh, for all our marches be dry, and there are ferries between them. But my course must be betwixt both, to establish peace, and religion, and wealth betwixt the countries."

The departure of James meant a great deal to Scotland. When the day came, and the cannon were booming from the old castle of Edinburgh, the citizens assembled in multitudes to gaze at the brilliant company of courtiers who were to accompany their king upon his journey to the south; but the spectacle was one which excited many fears and few hopes. The Union of the Crowns was making great changes. The Court was leaving. The queen remained behind with the young Princes and the Princess Elizabeth; but it was known that they were soon to follow, and that, henceforth, they would live in England. Their old Scottish home, the ancient palace of Holyrood, was being dismantled already; and soon nothing would remain in the royal apartments, but some stray pieces of furniture, and a few yards of faded tapestry. It was true that to Scotland there was still left that independence which had been so hardly won. The Parliament remained in the same position as before; but a new official was spoken of, a Royal Commissioner, who was, in future, to represent the sovereign at the meetings of the Estates. The separate Scottish Executive, too, was to be continued, in the shape of the Privy Council; but it was to be divided into two parts, the one to sit in England, and the other in Scotland; and it was evident that, in future, the real centre of influence in Scottish affairs would be London.

In England, though James himself was received with demonstrations of loyalty, his Scottish followers were regarded with mingled contempt and hatred. Scotland, it was said, was a land where the nobles were beggars, and the merchants were pedlars. The coarsest satire was poured forth against the barren and unknown territory from whence the new king had come. Indeed it is difficult for us, in the nineteenth century, to realise the scornful way in which Englishmen spoke of Scotland, though we may form some idea of the language which was used from the specimens which have been preserved of what was actually printed, circulated, and probably believed at that time. "The air," thus runs one of those productions, "might be made wholesome, but for the stinking people that inhabit it. The ground might be made wholesome, had they wit to manure it. Their beasts be generally small, women excepted, of which sort there are no greater in the world.... As for fruits, for their grandam Eve's sake they never planted any, and for other trees, had Christ been betrayed in this country, as doubtless he should have been, had he come as a stranger amongst them, Judas had sooner found the grace of repentance than one tree to hang himself on.... The Scriptures, they say, speak of elders and deacons, but not a word of deans and bishops. Their discourse is full of detraction, their sermons nothing but railings, and their conclusion, heresy or treason.... They christen without the cross, marry without a ring, receive the Sacrament without reverence, die without repentence, and bury without divine service."

And even among those Englishmen who knew that the popular ideas of Scotland were erroneous, there was a profound feeling of jealousy lest James should fill too many of the places about the Court with his countrymen. It was suspected that if he got his own way, almost every Scotsman in London would soon be clad in velvet and satin, and wearing a costly beaver instead of a blue bonnet; and James took great pains, for a long time after his accession, to assure the English courtiers that he had no intention of promoting Scotsmen over the heads of Englishmen. "I was ever rooted," he wrote to Lord Cranbourne, "in that firm resolution never to have placed Scottishmen in any such room, till, first, time had begun to wear away that opinion of different nations; and, secondly, that this jealous apprehension of the Union had worn away; and, thirdly, that Scotsmen had been brought up here at the foot of Gamaliel."

Before James had been many days in England he issued a proclamation, in which it was announced that there was to be a complete Union of the Kingdoms. "In the meane tyme," he said, "till the said Union be established, his Majestie doth hereby repute, hold, and esteeme, and commandes all His Highnesse subjects to hold and esteeme, both the Two Realmes as presently united, and as one Realme and Kingdome, and the subjects of both as one People, Brethern, and Members of one Bodye."

In the formidable contest against the national prejudices of Englishmen, on which he was about to enter, James secured a powerful ally. Bacon had been one of those who received the honour of knighthood on the day of the coronation; and he lost no time in taking the king's side on the question of the Union, which he supported with the subtilty of a scholiast, and with the broad views of a statesman and philosopher. To the debates in Parliament, to the Council Board of the Commission on Union, to the famous discussion, in the Exchequer Chamber, on the question of the post-nati, he brought all the resources of his mind, and threw himself into the struggle with an enthusiasm which could not possibly have been feigned. He played the part, though without success, which was afterwards played by Somers in the reign of Anne; and he seems, from the very first, to have perceived with the eye of genius exactly how far it was safe to go in the direction of abolishing international distinctions.

His first contribution to the cause of the Union was to impress upon the king the exact state of the case, and what were the various points which would have to be decided. The kingdoms were, he showed, already united in religion and in language. No sea rolled between them. The same king reigned over both. But, nevertheless, there were separate Parliaments, separate Councils of State, and separate offices of the Crown. There was one peerage for England, and another for Scotland. There were two very different systems of law, and each country had its own peculiar code of legal procedure. All these various institutions, and, in addition, a mass of minor details of greater or less importance, would have to be considered in adjusting the terms of Union.

But before a single step could be taken, the two Parliaments had to be consulted. James shrewdly calculated that if the Parliament of England could be gained, the Scottish Estates would readily agree to his wishes. He accordingly wrote to the Privy Council of Scotland, in January 1604, informing them that the English Parliament was to meet in March, when the project of an Union would be discussed, and telling them to call the Scottish Parliament together about the end of April; and he gave express commands that no subject except the Union was to be considered. If the Estates agreed, as he assumed they would, to the desirability of an Union, they were to appoint commissioners to meet with commissioners who would, by that time, have been appointed by the Parliament of England.

The Scottish Parliament, which had been summoned to meet in April in order that it might approve of the Union and appoint commissioners, was prorogued from time to time, and did not meet for business until the beginning of July, when the Estates assembled at Perth.

Some of the terms which occur in the Act appointing these commissioners are such as to suggest the idea that James himself had been the draughtsman. The Estates, in language not usually to be found in the statute-book, declare that the Act is passed in order that "as the present age is ravished in admiration with an so fortunate beginning, so that the posterity may rejoice in the fruition of such an effectual Union of two so famous and ancient Kingdoms, miraculously accomplished in the blood and person of so rare a monarch."

But the Estates, while ready to lavish praise on the king, were determined that the Union was not to interfere with the independence of Scotland. It was noticed that while the English Act for the Union contained a clause declaring that his Majesty had no intention of altering the fundamental laws and customs of England, nothing had been said as to preserving the laws and customs of Scotland. This was regarded as suspicious; and there was inserted in the Scottish Act a provision that the commissioners were to take care that nothing was done which was inconsistent with the ancient rights and liberties of Scotland.

There was also passed, at the same time, a statute which provided that the Commissioners on Union should have no power to treat "in any manner of way that may be hurtful or prejudicial to the religion presently professed in Scotland."

The commissioners, who had thus been appointed by the Parliaments, were summoned to meet in the Painted Chamber at Westminster in October. But James, too impatient to await the result of their deliberations, and resolved to carry matters with a high hand, issued a long and wordy proclamation, in which he stated that he thought fit to abolish the names of England and Scotland, and to assume, "by the force of our royal prerogative," the title of King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. This title was to be used in all public documents. The Borders were in future to be known as the Middle Shires. A flag was to be prepared bearing the Cross of Saint George and the Cross of Saint Andrew. New coins, with such mottoes as "Quae Deus conjunxit nemo separet," and "Henricus rosas Jacobus regna," were to be struck at the Mint in honour of the Union.

This proclamation was most unpopular in both England and Scotland. The judges were of opinion that the adoption of the title of King of Great Britain would invalidate all legal processes. The king soon found that he had gone too far; and, after a time, he consented to wait until his wishes could be accomplished with the sanction of Parliament.

On the 20th of October, the Commissioners on Union met at Westminster. "A grave and orderly assembly," is the account which Bacon gives of them. On the English side the lead was taken by Bacon and Cecil; while of the Scottish commissioners, Sir Thomas Hamilton and Lord Fyvie seem to have been the most prominent. It was soon evident that the Scottish peers were afraid that the Union would diminish their own power, and indifferent to the commercial advantages which it would confer upon their country. The commoners from Scotland also had their doubts about the Union. They entirely failed to appreciate the benefits of the colonial trade which it would open up; and they seem to have resented, to an extent which blinded their judgments, the removal of the Court to London.

The English commissioners also put obstacles in the way of an agreement. Against the advice of Bacon, but with the support of the judges, they insisted on an uniform system of laws for the two countries; a proposal to which the representatives of Scotland would not listen. They also maintained that it was unreasonable that Scotsmen should be made capable of holding offices under the Crown in England; and on this point there was a keen argument.

After a series of discussions, which lasted for about five weeks, Bacon and Sir Thomas Hamilton were instructed to embody the findings of the commissioners, in the form of a Treaty of Union, for the approval of the Parliaments. "It is curious now," says Professor Masson, "to imagine the great English philosopher and 'Tam o' the Cowgate' thus seated together, for perhaps two or three evenings, over the document which was to descend to posterity as the draft Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, and to speculate how shrewdly 'Tam o' the Cowgate' must have looked after the substance of the document, while he may have deferred to Bacon's superior expertness in strictly English idiom and wording."

The Articles of Union, as finally settled, stood thus. All hostile laws, and, in particular, the Border laws, were to be repealed. The name of the Borders was to be abolished. There was to be complete freedom of trade between England and Scotland; and as regarded foreign commerce both countries were to stand on the same footing. On the difficult point of naturalisation, the commissioners recommended that an Act should be passed to declare that all subjects of both countries born since the death of Elizabeth, that is to say the "post-nati," were, by common law, entitled to the privileges of subjects in both countries. The "ante-nati," or subjects born before the death of the late queen, were to enjoy the same privileges, not at common law, but under an Act of Parliament passed on their behalf. But the ante-nati were not to be capable of holding offices under the Crown or sitting in Parliament, except in the country of their birth. In short, the post-nati were to be fully naturalised; but the ante-nati were not to have a share in the government or the legislature.

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