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CHAPTER LX.

Reign of Queen Anne-State of Parties in ScotlandEnglish Act of Succession-Opposition to it in Scotland, and Act of Security-Trial and Execution of Captain Green-The Union.

[1701-1707.]

AT the period of Queen Anne's accession, Scotland was divided into three parties. These were, first, the Whigs, stanch favourers of the Revolution, in the former reign called Williamites; secondly, the Tories, or Jacobites, attached to the late King; and thirdly, a party sprung up in consequence of the general complaints arising out of the Darien adventure, who associated themselves for asserting the rights and independence of Scotland.

This latter association comprehended several men of talent, among whom Fletcher of Saltoun, already mentioned, was the most distinguished. They professed, that providing the claims and rights of the country were ascertained and secured against the encroaching influence of England, they did not care whether Anne or her brother, the titular Prince of Wales, was called to the throne. These statesmen called themselves the Country Party, as embracing

exclusively for their object the interests of Scotland alone. This party, formed upon a plan and principle of political conduct hitherto unknown in the Scottish Parliament, was numerous, bold, active, and eloquent; and as a critical period had arrived in which the measures to be taken in Scotland must necessarily greatly affect the united empire, her claims could no longer be treated with indifference or neglect, and the voice of her patriots disregarded.

The conjuncture which gave Scotland new consequence, was as follows:- -When Queen Anne was named to succeed to the English throne, on the death of her sister Mary, and brother-in-law William III., she had a family. But the young Duke of Gloucester, the last of her children, had died before her accession to the crown, and there were no hopes of her having more; it became, therefore, necessary to make provision for the succession to the crown when the new Queen should die. The titular Prince of Wales, son of the abdicated James, was undoubtedly the next heir; but he was a Catholic, bred up in the court of France, inheriting all the extravagant claims, and probably the arbitrary sentiments, of his father; and to call him to the throne, would be in all likelihood to undo the settlement between king and people which had taken place at the Revolution. The English legislature, therefore, turned their eyes to another descendant of King James VI., namely, Sophia, the Electress Dowager of Hanover, grand-daughter of James the First of England and Sixth of

Scotland, by the marriage of his daughter, Elizabeth, with the Prince Palatine. This Princess was the nearest Protestant heir in blood to Queen Anne, supposing the claims of the son of James II. were to be passed over. She was a Protestant, and would necessarily, by accepting the crown, become bound to maintain the civil and religious rights of the nation, as settled at the Revolution, upon which her own right would be dependent. For these weighty reasons the English Parliament passed an Act of Succession, settling the crown, on the failure of Queen Anne and her issue, upon the Princess Sophia, Electress Dowager of Hanover, and her descendants. This act, most important in its purport and consequences, was passed in June, 1700.

It became of the very last importance to Queen Anne's administration, to induce, if possible, the legislation of Scotland to settle the crown of that kingdom on the same series of heirs to which that of England was destined. If, after the death of Queen Anne, the Scottish nation, instead of uniting in choosing the Electress Sophia, should call to the crown the titular Prince of Wales, the two kingdoms would again be separated, after having been under the same sway for a century, and all the evils of mutual hostilities betwixt the two extremities of the island, encouraged by the alliance and assistance of France, must again distract Great Britain. It became necessary, therefore, to try every species of persuasion to prevent a consequence fraught with so much mischief.

But Scotland was not in a humour to be either threatened or soothed into the views of England on this important occasion. The whole party of Anti-Revolutionists, Jacobites, or, as they called themselves, Cavaliers, although they thought it prudent for the present to submit to Queen Anne, entertained strong hopes that she herself was favourable to the succession of her brother after her own death; while their principles dictated to them that the wrong, as they termed it, done to James II., ought as speedily as possible to be atoned for by the restoration of his son. They were of course directly and violently hostile to the proposed Act of Settlement in favour of the Electress Sophia.

The country party, headed by the Duke of Hamilton, and the Marquis of Tweeddale, opposed the Act of Succession for different reasons. They resolved to take this favourable opportunity to diminish or destroy the ascendency which had been exercised by England respecting the affairs of Scotland, and which, in the case of Darien, had been so unjustly and unworthily employed to thwart and disappoint a national scheme. They determined to obtain for Scotland a share in the plantation trade of England, and a freedom from the restrictions imposed by the English Navigation Act, and other regulations enacted to secure a monopoly of trade to the English nation. Until these points were determined in favour of Scotland, they resolved they would not agree to pass the Act of Succession, boldly alleging, that unless the rights and privileges of Scotland were to be

respected, it was of little consequence whether she chose a king from Hanover or Saint Germains.

The whole people of Scotland, excepting those actually engaged in the administration, or expecting favours from the court, resolutely adopted the same sentiments, and seemed resolved to abide all the consequences of a separation of the two kingdoms, nay, of a war with England, rather than name the Electress Sophia successor to the crown, till the country was admitted to an equitable portion of those commercial privileges which England retained with a tenacious grasp. The crisis seemed an opportunity of Heaven's sending, to give Scotland consequence enough to insist on her rights.

With this determined purpose, the country party in the Scottish Parliament, instead of adopting, as the English ministers eagerly desired, the Protestant Act of Succession, proposed a measure called an Act of Security. By this it was provided, that in case of Queen Anne's death without children, the whole power of the crown should, for the time, be lodged in the Scottish Parliament, who were directed to choose a successor of the royal line and Protestant religion. But the choice was to be made with this special reservation, that the person so chosen should take the throne only under such conditions of government as should secure, from English or foreign influence, the honour and independence of the Scottish crown and nation. It was further stipulated, that the same person should be incapable of holding the crowns of both kingdoms, unless the Scottish people were