Since the accession of James I (1603), England and Scotland had been
ruled by one sovereign, but each country retained its own Parliament
and its own forms of worship. In 1707 the two countries were finally
united under the name of Great Britain.
The Established (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland and the Scottish
laws were to be preserved. The independent Parliament of Scotland was
given up, and the Scotch were henceforth represented in the English
Parliament by sixteen peers chosen by members of the Scottish peerage
at the summoning of every Parliament; and by forty-five (now seventy-
two) members returned by Scotland to the House of Commons.
With the consummation of the union between the two countries Great
Britain adopted a new flag, the Union Jack, which was formed by the
junction of the red cross of St. George of England and the white cross
of St. Andrew of Scotland.[1]
[1] After Ireland was united to Great Britain (1800) the red cross of
St. Patrick was added to the flag (1801). The first Union Jack was
the work of James I, whose usual signature was Jacques (hence "Jack"),
French for James.