The Early History of the Scottish Union Question / Bi-Centenary Edition

now proposed by the Government of England. All trade between the two countries had been forbidden. Edinburgh had been taken, the royal palace of Holyrood, turned into barracks, had

had been surrendered into the hands of the invader. In the Parliament House, English troopers prayed and preached. The garrison of Stirling Castle had capitulated; the public records of the kingdom had bee

ghlands alone there remained some faint show of adherence to the cause of the Stuarts, which afterwards found an outlet in the rising under Glencairn; and the M

nder-current of feeling in favour of the Union, of which the commissioners were doubtless aware. Delegates from the counties and burghs were summoned to meet at Dalkeith, to consider the Tender of Union which the commissioners were empowered to offer on behalf of the Parliament of England; and the result was that, of thirty-one counties, twenty-eight, and of fifty-eight burghs, forty-four assented to the Union.[70] Their assent must in some degree be ascribed to motives of prudence; for it was known that those counties and burghs which failed to send deleg

ts, some because they could not tolerate the idea of uniting with a country in which the Independents and other "Sectaries" had so much power, and others because they thought that the result of the Union would be that the Church would become subordinate to the State. But their resistance was of no avail; and they could only lament the defection of so many of the laity. "Good Sir John Seaton," Baillie writes in reference to the Conference at Dalkeith, "was the fi

h. A series of conferences were held between these deputies and a Committee of Parliament, at which the demands of Scotland were discussed. There was great difficulty in settling the question of representation.[72] The English proposal was that, in the united Parliament, England should be represented by four hundred members, Scotland by thirty, and Ireland by thirty.

aised in Scotland to be spent in Scotland for local purposes;[73] and that on the passing of the Union Bill, an enactment, which had come into force three years before, under which all Scotsmen were banished from England, should be repealed.[74] But the further progr

f Scotland were relieved from all allegiance to the Stuarts. The title of King of Scotland was abolished. The right of the Estates to assemble in Parliament was annulled. It was ordained that, "as a badge of this Union," the arms of Scotland should form a part of the arms of the Commonwealth; and that all seals of office, and the seals of the corporations in Scotland, should henceforth bear the arms of the Commonwealth. All taxes were to be levied proportionably from the whole people of the Commonwealth. Vassalage

o witness the proceedings. The Lord Provost and the Magistrates, clad in their scarlet robes, were in attendance. Henry Whalley, Judge Advocate to the English army, read the proclamation; and at the conclusion of t

Of the thirty seats, twenty were allotted to the counties, and ten to the burghs. The more populous counties each returned a member. Th

the members for Edinburgh, and several others, were Englishmen; and while the Union lasted, the members from Scot

only, but in vain. He failed to obtain a seat himself until Richard Cromwell's Parliament of 1658, when thirteen county and eight burgh members seem to have attended. Argyll then represented Aberdeenshire in the House of Commons; but th

id, and that all schools had able and pious teachers; to encourage learning and reform the universities; to remove from the corporations disaffected or ill-behaved magistrates, and replace them by suitable persons; to see that equal justice was administered to all men, and to promote the Union by

ident, with a salary of two thousand pounds a year; and the great Scottish offices of State, most of which were retained, were generally filled by Englishmen. Lo

trictest discipline was maintained. "I remember," Burnet says, "three regiments coming to Aberdeen. There was an order and discipline, and a face of gravity and piety among them, that amazed all people." Burnet attributes the flourishing state of Scotland during the Union

of Session, the supreme tribunal of the country, were handed over to a bench of Commissioners for the Administration of Justice to the People of Scotland. These judges were seven in number, fou

y. "Justice," we are told, "was wont to be free and open for none but great men, but now it flows equally for all." Circuit courts were held throughout the country; and, while crime was firmly punished, the extreme severity of the Scottish criminal system was av

for Scottish commerce was still in its infancy. The Glasgow of to-day, with its miles of wharves and warehouses, its forest of masts, its shipbuilding yards, its crowded streets and handsome squares, had no existence. The merchants of the small town upon the Clyde traded with Ireland, in open boats, for meal, oats, and butter. They shipped coal,

ure in Scotland exceeded the revenue; and the balance was paid out of the English treasury. Nevertheless the time of the Union during the Commonwealth was regarded as a time of prosperity. The trade of Glasgow began to flourish. Leith, then the chief port in Scotland, Dundee, and Aberdeen made considerable progres

cause of religion, and to see that the clergy were paid regularly; but no formal settlement was attempted. Though the stipends of the Scottish clergy were small, their social position was far higher than that of the English clergy. They associated, on terms of equality, with the first families of the laity, and so great was their

assed resolutions in favour of readmitting to the public service, particularly in military employments, those who had been proscribed; and Parliament, taking the same view as the majority of the clergy, repealed the Act of Classes. Against this the defeated minority of the clergy protested. Two parties were formed, the one known as Resolutioners, and the other as Protesters; and the cont

and even bloodshed. The differences between the parties extended from the original cause of quarrel to questions of rites and ceremonies, always a fruitful source of bad feeling. The country was flooded with controversial pamphlets, in which the disputants

uabbles. At the same time, if we forbid the General Assembly to meet, they will be powerless for either good or evil. This policy was carried into effect. The Assembly met at Edinburgh, and the members were about to proceed to business, when an officer entered, and asked by what authority they had met. Was it by the authority of the Parliament of England, or of t

and mourning, as at the saddest spectacle they had ever seen." Presently a halt was called. The names of the ministers were taken down; and they were told that all futu

cular arm could no longer be invoked to give civil effect to the sentence of a Church court. The stool of repentance, which stood in every church, and on which sinners had to sit and listen to a public rebuke, was derided by the rough troopers, who either broke it to pieces, or sat on it themselves, to show their contempt for a kind of discipline which was akin to penance in the Church of Rome. The English soldiers did not admire either the Church or the religious character of the Scots. "A Kirk whose religion is formality, and whose government is tyrann

as Edwards had displayed in the Gangr?na; and Baillie lamented that "the hand of power is not heavy on any for matters of religion."[85] Principles such as these were, of course, hateful to the Independents, with

University. At Glasgow, Patrick Gillespie was appointed against the remonstrances of Baillie and his party; but even Baillie afterwards admitted that the appointment was a wise one. "The matters of our college," he writes, "this year were peaceable; our gallant building going on vigorously; above twenty-six thousand pounds are alrea

efore, on a more constitutional footing; and for that purpose two Bills "for perfecting the Union between England and Scotland" were

erty; the people were burdened by heavy taxation, and suffering from want of money and want of trade. But Baillie was a Resolutioner; and the Protesters were favoured by the Government. Therefore, for Baillie, the times were out of joint, and he exclaims, "What shall we do for a testimony agains

ister; every village had a school; almost every family had a Bible. The voice of singing and of prayer was heard in every house. From the tav

fairs of Scotland, and the information which he received was to the same effect. "Scotland flourished, justice had its uninterrupted course, trade increased, money plentifully flowed in."[89]

h long and frequent speeches. In the House of Commons the members from Scotland gave no trouble, and are said, indeed, never to have opened their lips. The commercial advantages, however, which Scotland had secured by the Union caused great jealousy a