The First Session of the Union Parliament--Fletcher proposes his
Twelve Limitations on the Crown--The Act of Security--The
Supplies are refused.
The Estates met at Edinburgh on the 6th of May 1703. The forms of the
opening ceremony were similar to those which had been used for at
least a hundred years. But it was observed that on this day the
preparations were more elaborate than usual. Queensberry, who was Lord
High Commissioner, occupied the royal apartments in Holyrood House. On
the evening of the 5th the crown, the sceptre, and the sword of state,
known as the ‘honours,’ and regarded with peculiar veneration as the
symbols of the ancient monarchy, were carried from the castle to the
palace by the officials of the Treasury, and presented to the
Commissioner. Next morning, at an early hour, Lord Errol, the
hereditary High Constable of Scotland, waited upon the Commissioner to
receive his last instructions, and then proceeded to the Parliament
House, for the arrangements of which he was responsible during the
sittings of the Estates. In the meantime, the long steep street which
still leads from Holyrood to the Parliament House, and which was then
the fashionable quarter of the city, had been cleared of traffic, and
lined with wooden railings, to keep back the crowd which assembled to
witness the Riding of the Parliament, as the procession of members to
the place of meeting was called. The tall houses, with their
picturesque gables and projecting balconies, were hung with tapestry,
and the windows were filled with gay parties of gentlemen and ladies.
The street was lined by a regiment of foot-guards, under the command
of General Ramsay, then commander-in-chief of the forces in Scotland,
and by the members of the town-guard.
At ten o’clock the Commissioner held a levee, which was attended by
all the members of the Parliament, both peers and commoners. The Lyon
King of Arms was there, with his heralds, pursuivants, and trumpeters,
and the palace-yard was crowded by grooms and lackeys, in charge of
the horses on which the members were to ride. The spectators on this
day noticed that the liveries of the servants were richer than had
ever been seen before, and that the horses were unusually fine. While
the levee was proceeding, Lord Chancellor Seafield; Annandale,
President of the Council; Tarbat, Secretary of State; and
Tullibardine, Lord Privy Seal, mounted and rode, with their
attendants, to the Parliament House, to await the arrival of the
Estates.
When the Commissioner was ready to start, the Lyon King declared the
order in which the procession was to be formed, and one of his
heralds, from a window of the palace, repeated his words to the
attendants in the yard below. A troop of horse grenadiers headed the
cavalcade. Then came the borough members, riding two abreast on horses
with trappings of black velvet, and followed by the county members in
the same order. After them rode those officers of state who were not
peers of the realm. The barons, the viscounts, and the earls formed
the next part of the procession, all arrayed in scarlet robes, and
their horses led by serving-men in liveries which displayed the arms
of their masters. Each earl had four, and each viscount three,
servants with him. The Lyon King, wearing his official dress and
carrying his baton, rode alone, with his pursuivants and trumpeters,
immediately in front of the honours, which were carried by three
peers. The sword of state was carried by the Earl of Mar, the sceptre
by the Earl of Crawford, and the crown by the Earl of Forfar, as
nearest kinsman of Archibald, Marquis of Douglas, who was then too
young to take part in the ceremony. Then came the Lord High
Commissioner, surrounded by his pages and the gentlemen of his
household, and followed by Argyll, who rode last of the procession, at
the head of a squadron of the royal horse-guards.
When the procession reached the precincts of the Parliament House,
the members were received by the High Constable, whose officers
escorted them to the door of the hall in which the sittings were held.
The last to enter was the Commissioner, who was conducted to the
throne by the High Constable, and by William, ninth Earl Marischal,
hereditary Keeper of the Regalia of Scotland.
The place in which the last Parliament of Scotland met that day was
the spacious and lofty chamber which is now used as an entrance-hall
to the Court of Session. The old oak roof, rising from curiously
carved corbals, still remains; but in other respects the appearance of
the place is completely changed since the days of Fletcher. Then, at
the south end, under the large mullioned window, stood the throne,
elevated on steps to a considerable height. On either side there rose
from the floor tiers of benches, on which the members of the Estates
sat in places fixed according to their different ranks. In the centre
of the hall, between the benches, was a long table, at which the Lord
Clerk-Register, the clerks of the House, and sometimes the judges,
sat. At the upper end of the table, in front of the throne, the crown,
the sceptre, and the sword lay during each sitting. The officers of
state clustered on the steps of the throne; and near them the Lord
Chancellor, who acted as Speaker of the House, had his chair. At the
other end of the hall was the bar, behind which there was an open
space, in which strangers were allowed to stand and listen to the
proceedings; and often, during the debates of the next four years,
when the evenings closed in and the candles were lighted in the body
of the House, murmurs of disapproval or shouts of applause came from
the darkness behind the bar. It was amidst these surroundings that the
Whig lords defended the policy of the English Government, and were
answered by the Cavaliers, and that Fletcher and the Country Party
declaimed on freedom and a limited monarchy.
The leader of the Country Party, of which Fletcher was the most
enthusiastic and thoroughgoing member, was James, fourth Duke of
Hamilton, the Hamilton of _Esmond_. ‘Of a middle stature, well made,
of a black, coarse complexion, a brisk look,’ is the contemporary
account of his appearance. He was, indeed, a gallant gentleman, as
Thackeray describes him; but though perhaps afterwards, when he was
appointed Ambassador to France, he may have been waited upon by
obsequious tradesmen laden with jewels, and velvets, and brocades, yet
during the greater part of his career he was overwhelmed with debts, a
circumstance which interfered with his independence, and probably was
the secret cause of a great deal that was mysterious in his conduct.
As Earl of Arran he had, at the time of the Revolution, openly
professed his devotion to King James, and had, soon after, suffered
imprisonment on suspicion of carrying on a correspondence with the
Court of Saint Germains. By his dexterity mainly the opposition was
organised during the last years of William’s reign, and, though his
haughty demeanour sometimes gave offence, he was followed both by the
Jacobites and by the Country Party.
He was assisted in the leadership by four peers, whose opinions,
unlike his, were entirely on the Whig side. These were John, second
Marquis of Tweeddale, and his son-in-law, the seventh Earl of Rothes,
James, fourth Marquis of Montrose, and John, fifth Earl of Roxburghe.
Tweeddale was now a man of between fifty and sixty; but Rothes,
Montrose, and Roxburghe were young, each about twenty-four, fiery and
impetuous, qualities which made them favourites at a time of great
popular excitement. These were the chief colleagues of Fletcher during
the arduous contest which now began; but none of them displayed a
consistency or a disinterestedness equal to his.
At the beginning of the session Fletcher was occupied with an election
petition from Haddingtonshire, which was presented by Sir George
Suttie of Balgonie, who opposed the return of John Cockburn, younger
of Ormiston, as one of the county members. The Committee on contested
elections found that Suttie and Cockburn had received an equal number
of votes. A new election was ordered, and, to Fletcher’s
satisfaction, Cockburn was on the 1st of June returned as his
colleague.
But more important matters than contested elections were already
engaging the attention of the Estates. Queensberry had attempted to
strengthen the Government by forming an alliance with the Jacobites,
who had promised to vote the supplies for which the Parliament was to
be asked. But Argyll and his friends had refused to follow him in this
policy, and it became evident that the Government would have to fight
a strong opposition, composed of the Jacobites and the Country Party
acting in concert. The struggle began on the 26th of May, when the
Estates discussed the question of whether they should vote the
supplies, or proceed to ‘make such conditions of government and
regulations in the constitution of the kingdom, to take place after
the decease of her Majestie and the heirs of her body, as shall be
necessary for the preservation of our religion and liberty.’
The terms of this resolution, which was moved by Tweeddale, were often
heard during the rest of the session; and the issue was soon narrowed
down to the single point of whether the Estates should grant a supply,
or pass an Act of Parliament for the security of liberty, religion,
and trade.
On the 26th of May Fletcher moved that the Estates should divide on
the question of whether they were to take the first reading of the
Supply Act or proceed to make Acts for the security of liberty and
religion.
‘My Lord Chancellor,’ he said, ‘I am not surprised to find an Act for
a supply brought into this House at the beginning of a session. I know
custom has, for a long time, made it common. But I think experience
might teach us that such Acts should be the last of every session; or
lie upon the table, till all other great affairs of the nation be
finished, and then only granted. It is a strange proposition which is
usually made in this House, that if we will give money to the Crown,
then the Crown will give us good laws; as if we were to buy good laws
of the Crown, and pay money to our princes, that they may do their
duty, and comply with their coronation oath. And yet this is not the
worst, for we have often had promises of good laws, and when we have
given the sums demanded, those promises have been broken, and the
nation left to seek a remedy--which is not to be found, unless we
obtain the laws we want, before we give a supply. And if this be a
sufficient reason at all times to postpone a money Act, can we be
blamed for doing so at this time, when the duty we owe to our country
indispensably obliges us to provide for the common safety in case of
an event, altogether out of our power, and which must necessarily
dissolve the Government, unless we continue and secure it by new
laws: I mean the death of her Majesty, which God in His mercy long
avert.’
There was a long debate; and it was not until two days later, that the
Ministers, seeing themselves in a minority, gave in, and allowed what
was afterwards known as the Grand Resolve, of 28th May 1703, to pass
without a division. By this Resolve it was declared that Acts for the
security of religion, liberty, and trade were to have precedence over
Supply or any other business whatsoever.
Fletcher, with the whole of the Opposition at his back, supported
every proposal the effect of which was to guard against the influence
of England, and to emphasise the fact that Scotland was an independent
kingdom. But he had also elaborated a great scheme of his own, which
he laid before the Estates. ‘Before the Union of the Crowns,’ he said,
‘no monarchy in Europe was more limited, nor any people more jealous
of liberty than the Scots.’ But the result of the Union of the Crowns
was that the people of Scotland lost their liberties. English
influence, the source of every evil, had become supreme. Now was the
time to strike a blow for freedom; and he proposed Twelve Limitations,
or conditions on which, after the death of Anne, the Crown of Scotland
was to go to the same Sovereign as should rule in England. These
Limitations were: 1. Annual Parliaments, which should choose their
own President, adjourn at their own pleasure, and vote by ballot. 2.
That for every new peerage granted by the Crown, another county member
should be added to the Parliament. 3. That none should vote in
Parliament except peers or elected members. 4. That the king should
not have the power of refusing the royal assent to any Act passed by
the Estates. 5. That when Parliament was not sitting the executive
Government should be in the hands of a Committee chosen by Parliament.
6. That the King should not have the power of making war or peace, or
concluding any treaty, except with consent of Parliament. 7. That all
offices, civil and military, and all pensions, should be given by
Parliament, instead of by the King. 8. That without consent of
Parliament there should be no standing army. 9. That a national
militia, of all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, should be
at once armed with bayonets, firelocks, and ammunition. 10. That no
general pardons should be valid without consent of Parliament. 11.
That no judge should sit in Parliament, or hold any other office, and
that the office of President of the Court of Session should be in
three of the judges, named by the Estates. 12. That if the King should
break any of these conditions, the Estates were to declare that he had
forfeited the throne, and proceed to choose a successor.
These conditions, for proposing which he would have been sent to the
gallows in the days of the Stuarts, and to Botany Bay in the days of
Mr. Pitt, Fletcher pressed upon the Estates as essential for the
protection of Scotland against England. ‘If,’ he said, ‘our Kings
lived among us, it would not be strange to find these limitations
rejected. It is not the prerogative of a King of Scotland I would
diminish, but the prerogative of English Ministers over this nation.
These conditions of Government being either such as our ancestors
enjoyed, or principally directed to cut off our dependence on an
English Court, and not to take place during the life of the Queen, he
who refuses his consent to them, whatever he may be by birth, cannot
sure be a Scotsman by affection. This will be a true test to
distinguish, not Whig from Tory, Presbyterian from Episcopal, Hanover
from Saint Germains, nor yet a courtier from a man out of place, but a
proper test to distinguish a friend from an enemy to his country.’
But the Scottish Parliament, in spite of all its high-strung
patriotism, was not prepared to accept so republican a scheme as this;
and by a majority of twenty-six votes it was decided that the Laird of
Saltoun’s Limitations should not form a part of the ‘Act of Security’
which the Estates were now engaged in framing.
The basis of this famous statute was a measure introduced by the Lord
Privy Seal, providing that the Estates should meet within twenty days
after the death of Anne, and proceed to name a Protestant successor
to the throne of Scotland. But to this simple measure a number of
clauses were added, until it grew into that elaborate Act which was
the pivot on which Scottish history turned until the Union.
Rothes proposed a clause which embodied the principle of one of
Fletcher’s Limitations: That war and peace were to be made only by
consent of Parliament. Queensberry said that he was ready to consent
to anything which was for the good of the country, and which ‘the
Queen had under her view when she left London.’ This proposal, he
said, she had never heard of.
On this Fletcher declared that it was now evident, as he had often
thought, that in Scottish affairs the Crown was under the influence of
English councillors. At these words some members were so ill-advised
as to interrupt him, and even to suggest that he should be censured.
This led to a scene. ‘What!’ exclaimed Hamilton, ‘is this the liberty
of Parliament?’ There were shouts of ‘privilege’ from all parts of the
House; and several members rose at the same time to demand that the
member should be allowed, without interruption, to explain his words.
As soon as silence was obtained Fletcher continued. He had no
difficulty, he said, in explaining. He spoke, not as a slave, but as a
free man. He had the greatest respect for the Queen and for her
Commissioner. But the love and duty which he bore to his country
obliged him to speak as he had spoken. What the Commissioner had said
that day convinced him that the only way to secure Scotland from
English interference was to refuse to settle the Scottish Crown on the
English Sovereign. The two countries must have separate Kings.
This statement was received with a tumult of applause; but the matter
was allowed to drop. Nor did the Estates embody the clause proposed by
Rothes in the Act of Security. The next great fight was over a clause
introduced by Roxburghe. It provided that the Succession was not, on
the death of Anne, to be the same in Scotland as in England, unless
conditions of government were settled which would secure the
independence of the Crown of Scotland, the power of the Estates, and
the liberty and trade of the country ‘from the English or any foreign
influence.’
This was really the most formidable proposal which any member of the
Country Party, with the exception of Fletcher, had as yet brought
forward. It was, nevertheless, evident that the House was ready to
accept it, and that the Act of Security would, therefore, contain
provisions which, though not so drastic as the Twelve Limitations,
could scarcely be tolerated by England.
Fletcher was up, supporting the clause with his usual vehemence, when
suddenly the Chancellor rose and stopped him. It was, he explained,
too late to finish the debate, and he, therefore, adjourned the House.
Instantly there was one of those scenes to which members were becoming
accustomed. Some declared that they would address the Queen, and
complain that her Ministers were attempting to interfere with the
liberty of debate. Others maintained that what the Chancellor had done
was a violation of the Claim of Right, and that, therefore, he was
guilty of treason. It was with difficulty that the noise was stopped
while prayers were said. Hamilton announced that he would remain in
the House and instantly draw up the address to the Queen, and Fletcher
hurried to his side to help him; but when the Duke saw the
Commissioner descending from the throne, he changed his mind and
followed him out of the House.
That night, however, the address was prepared and signed by sixty
members. On the morrow more signatures were obtained, and when the
Estates met the Country Party tabled a protest against the irregular
adjournment of the previous evening. But the Chancellor declared that
the late hour was the reason why he had adjourned the House, said the
Government had no desire to encroach on the privileges of members, and
announced that the debate on Roxburghe’s clause would be resumed on
the following day.
In the meantime the Government had adjusted a clause which was
admirably fitted to secure a large measure of support, and also to
stave off the awkward question which had been raised by Roxburghe. It
provided that, after the death of Anne, the same person should not
wear both the Crowns unless free trade between the two countries was
established, and the right of trading to the colonies was granted to
Scotland. When the debate was resumed, the Lord Advocate, Sir James
Stewart, moved that this clause should be substituted for that
proposed by Roxburghe. To this Fletcher adroitly answered that the
Country Party was delighted with the conduct of the Ministers in
framing this most useful clause, and would gladly accept it as well as
that of Roxburghe. He then moved that the two clauses should be
joined, and made part of the Act of Security. The House would have
agreed to this at once; but the Ministers made one struggle more, and
obtained a short respite by moving the adjournment of the debate,
which they carried, but only by a majority of three votes.
But the Government were in a hopeless position. The opinion of the
Estates evidently was that the King of England must not be King of
Scotland, unless England would agree to such conditions of government
as the Scottish Parliament chose to enforce, and unless the home and
colonial trade was thrown open to the Scottish people. The clauses
were joined, and then a division was taken on the question, ‘Add them
to the Act or not?’ The Government voted against adding them, and were
beaten by no less than seventy-two votes.
Godolphin heard with dismay of what had been done. In a letter to
Athole he says that the Queen was not pleased with either of the
clauses proposed by Roxburghe and by the Lord Advocate, as tending,
each of them, to make a perfect separation, instead of a Union. Her
Majesty, he declares, would never consent to any Act which establishes
a different succession in Scotland to that in England.
The division in which the Government were so hopelessly beaten, took
place on the 26th of July, and after that the Opposition had matters
all their own way. The last great debate was on the 10th of August,
when a clause was proposed directing the Protestant landowners and
burgesses to arm and drill all the men in their districts who were
capable of bearing arms.
This was a clause after Fletcher’s own heart, and he supported it in a
short but trenchant speech, in which he argued that to insist upon
conditions of government, without the means of enforcing them, was
folly. Without the support of arms, all enactments for the security of
the country were vain and empty propositions. ‘To rely upon any law,’
he said, ‘without such a security, is to lean upon a shadow.... To be
found unarmed, in the event of her Majesty’s death, would be to have
no manner of security for our liberty, property, or the independence
of this kingdom.... If we do not provide for arming the kingdom in
such an exigency, we shall become a jest and a proverb to the world.’
The Government divided the House against this clause, but were beaten,
and it was added to the Act.
Three days later, every bench in the Parliament House being crowded,
the Act of Security was read over twice. No further amendments were
proposed. The roll was then called; and, though a number of members
did not answer to their names, the measure was passed by a majority of
sixty votes.
The chief provisions of the Act of Security, in framing which the
Estates had now spent two months, were as follows: On the death of
Anne the Parliament was to meet, and settle the succession. If the
Queen left an heir, or a recognised successor, the Crown was to be
offered to him on the terms contained in the Claim of Rights. But if
there was no heir, or recognised successor, then the Estates were to
choose a successor, who must be of the royal line of Scotland, and of
the Protestant religion. But it was not to be in the power of the
Estates to choose the successor to the throne of England as successor
to that of Scotland, ‘nor shall the same person be capable, in any
event, to be King or Queen of both realms,’ unless there were
established, to the satisfaction of the Scottish Parliament, free home
and colonial trade, and also such conditions of government as would
secure the Crown, the Parliament, the religion, and the liberty of
Scotland from English or any foreign influence. And, ‘for a further
security of the kingdom,’ the men of every county and borough were to
be furnished with fire-arms and drilled once a month. The Act was
transmitted to London, and Godolphin was requested to say whether or
not it was to be touched with the sceptre.
William the Third had, on several occasions, refused the royal assent
to Acts passed by the Parliament of Scotland; and now the Courtiers,
the Cavaliers, and the Country Party waited with curiosity to hear
what course the Queen, on the advice of her Ministers, would take at
the present crisis. The Country Party and the Cavaliers were equally
determined not to settle the Scottish Succession except on the
conditions set forth in the Act, and Queensberry was repeatedly
questioned on the subject. Fletcher, in particular, made several
speeches on this topic; but the Commissioner gave no sign until the
10th of September, when he stated that he had obtained leave to give
the royal assent to all the Acts which had been passed, excepting the
Act of Security. ‘You may easily believe,’ he explained, ‘that
requires her Majesty’s further consideration.’
He ended a speech, which it must have needed some courage to deliver,
by asking them to vote the Supplies. But the House was in no mood to
comply with this request. We should have been told, one member said,
at the beginning of the session that we were called together merely to
vote money, and then adjourn. It would have saved us a great deal of
trouble. If any Scotsman has advised the Queen in this matter, cried
another, he is a traitor to his country. Fletcher denied the power of
the Sovereign to refuse the royal assent, and there is a good deal to
be said in favour of this view of the Scottish constitution. Hamilton
and Roxburghe moved that an address be presented to her Majesty,
praying her to reconsider the matter, and direct the Commissioner to
touch the Act with the sceptre. After a long debate, in which every
member who spoke blamed the English Ministers for what had happened,
the motion to address the throne was rejected by twelve votes, and the
House rose.
A few days after the Commissioner had announced that the royal assent
was refused, Lord Boyle, the Treasurer-Depute, moved that the Act of
Supply, which had been lying on the table since May, should be read,
and on this Fletcher once more brought forward his Limitations. ‘My
Lord Chancellor,’ he said, ‘his Grace, the High Commissioner, having
acquainted this House that he has instructions from her Majesty to
give the royal assent to all Acts passed in this session except that
for the security of the kingdom, it will be highly necessary to
provide some new laws for securing our liberty upon the expiration of
the present entail of the Crown.’ From this text he delivered an
impassioned address, imploring the Estates, in particular, to accept
his proposal that all places, offices, and pensions should, after the
death of Anne, be conferred by Parliament alone, so long as Scotland
was under the same Prince as England. ‘Without this limitation,’ he
exclaimed, ‘our poverty and subjection to the Court of England will
every day increase; and the question we have now before us is, whether
we will be free men or slaves for ever; whether we will continue to
depend, or break the yoke of our dependence; and whether we will
choose to live poor and miserable, or rich, free, and happy?... By
this limitation our Parliament will become the most uncorrupted senate
of all Europe. No man will be tempted to vote against the interest of
his country, when his country shall have all the bribes in our own
hands: offices, places, pensions.... If, therefore, either reason,
honour, or conscience have any influence upon us; if we have any
regard either to ourselves or posterity; if there be any such thing as
virtue, happiness, or reputation in this world, or felicity in a
future state, let me adjure you by all these not to draw upon your
heads everlasting infamy, attended with the eternal reproaches and
anguish of an evil conscience, by making yourselves and your posterity
miserable.’
The Ministry, well aware that only a portion of the Country Party
would follow Fletcher on this question of the Limitations, wished the
House to vote on the issue of whether Supply or the Limitations should
be discussed. But Fletcher, who saw in a moment at what the Government
were aiming, interposed, and said that he had had the honour to offer
a means of securing the liberties of the nation against England; that
in his opinion the country was nearly ruined, and that his proposals
were necessary; but still he relied on the wisdom of the Estates, and
withdrew his motion.
Thus checkmated, the Ministers were at a loss what to do. They knew
that the motion to discuss overtures for liberty would be carried
against their motion to discuss Supply, and they could think of
nothing else on which they could ask the House to vote. There were
anxious faces, and some hasty whispering on the steps of the throne.
Cries of ‘Vote! Vote!’ resounded from all the benches. The
Commissioner rose. ‘If the House,’ he said, ‘will agree to the first
reading of the Subsidy Act, I promise that it shall not be heard of
for the next three sittings.’
Instantly Fletcher was on his feet. ‘Those about the throne,’ he
exclaimed, ‘could not really expect the House to agree to this.’ It
meant that the Subsidy Act was to be read a first time now. Then the
House was to be amused with three sittings on overtures for liberty,
‘which sittings shall meet at six and adjourn at seven.’ On the fourth
day, the Supplies would be voted; and then Parliament would be
prorogued. He was certain the House knew the artifices of the
Government too well to be misled by them.
Another member pointed to the throne, and declared that the men who
sat round it were endeavouring to destroy the privileges of
Parliament, and filch away its liberty. ‘The House,’ says Lockhart,
‘was crowded with a vast number of people; nothing for two hours could
be heard but voices of members and others (it being dark and candles
lighted) requiring “liberty and no subsidy.”’ The excitement of the
members increased; the clamour of spectators behind the bar grew
louder; and at last the voice of young Roxburghe was heard, above the
din, shouting, ‘What we desire is reasonable, and if we cannot obtain
it by Parliamentary means, we shall demand it, upon the steps of the
throne, with our swords in our hands.’
Upon this the Chancellor rose, and announced that the Government
yielded, and that the overtures for liberty would be discussed upon
the following day.
That night at Holyrood Queensberry and the Ministers discussed the
situation. The town was in an uproar. For several nights the troops
had been under arms; and it had come to the ears of some members of
the Estates that their commander had been so foolish as to threaten,
in his cups, that ‘ways would be found to make the Parliament calm
enough.’ The members were incensed against the Government and against
England; and if they were allowed to discuss the favourite ‘overtures
for liberty,’ there was no saying what might happen. As to the
Supplies, the small sum of money which was obtained from Scotland was
not worth fighting for; and when the Council separated, Queensberry
had almost made up his mind to prorogue the Parliament at once.
Early next morning Fletcher and his friends had a meeting at which
they prepared a measure which they intended to introduce. It provided
that there should be an election every year, at which no officer of
the army, or of the customs or excise, could be elected; that
Parliament should meet at least once in every two years, and that each
sitting should be adjourned on the motion of a member, and not by the
Commissioner. They agreed that if the royal assent was given to this
Act, they would vote the Supplies.
Queensberry heard of this, but he could not, for the sake of securing
a small sum of money, run the risk of giving the royal assent to a
measure which introduced such important changes. Accordingly, when
the House met, he rose, and prorogued the Parliament.
The Country Party spared no pains to let the people of England know
the importance which the people of Scotland attached to the measure to
which the royal assent had been refused. The Act of Security was
circulated, and widely read in London, in an edition to which some
notes were added stating that nothing was ever done with more
deliberation by the Scottish Parliament, and that there was not a
shadow of a reason for supposing that bribery, or any unfair means,
had been used to secure a majority, ‘considering the quality and
estates of those who were for it.’
Fletcher revised his speeches, and printed them in a small octavo
volume, for the purpose of educating the English mind. They were,
perhaps, not much appreciated. The leaves of the copy in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford remained uncut till the autumn of 1896. Englishmen
saw just two facts--that the Scottish Parliament had refused Supplies
in the midst of an European war, and that the Scottish people wished
to be independent of the English Crown.