and better Securing the Rights and Liberties of the Subject; and that all Papifts, and Per. 'fons Marrying Papifts, fhall be excluded from and for ever incapable to Inherit, Poffefs or Enjoy the Imperial Crown of Great Britain, and the Dominions thereunto belonging, or any part thereof; and in every fuch Cafe the 'Crown and Government fhall from time to 'time defcend to, and be enjoy'd by fuch Per'fon being a Proteftant as fhould have Inhe"rited and enjoyed the fame, in cafe fuch Papift, 6 or Perfon Marrying a Papift, was naturally 'Dead, according to the Provifion for the De

fcent of the Crown of England, made by a" nother A&t of Parliament in England, in the 'first Year of the Reign of their late Maje'fties King William and Queen Mary, Entitled, An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and fettling the Succeffion of the

6

Crown.

But this Point is of fo great Confequence, that I must beg leave to repeat the History and Progress of it, which was thus.

Her Majefty was impower'd by two several Acts of Parliament, one of the late Kingdom of England, and the other of the late Kingdom of Scotland, to appoint Commiffioners for each Kingdom, to treat of an Union of the two Kingdoms; but it was exprefly provided in each A&, that the Commiffioners fhould not treat of, or concerning the Alteration of the Worfhip, Difcipline, or Government of the Church in either Kingdom.

The Commiffioners were accordingly appointed by her Majefty, and 25 Articles were agreed upon between them, which Articles

were

were approved, and ratified by two feveral Acts of Parliament of the faid late Kingdoms of England and Scotland; in which faid A&ts each Kingdom provided for the Prefervation of the Worthip, Difcipline and Government of its refpe&tive Church, within their refpe&tive parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and each A&t of Parliament for the Preservation of the faid Churches, were agreed to be taken as a Fundamental Condition of the Union; and to be repeated, and inferted in any A&t of Parliament for agreeing the faid Treaty, or Union betwixt the two Kingdoms. And it was exprefly enacted in each of the faid A&ts, That the faid Articles and Acts should be and continue in all time coming the fure and perpetual Foundation of a compleat and entire Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland.

After which an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain was paffed, Entitled, An Act for an Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland; wherein reciting the faid 25 Articles of the Union, ratified and confirmed by the respective Acts of Parliament of the Kingdomss of England and Scotland, and inferting the faid Acts of Parliament for preferving the Worship, Difcipline and Government of the refpe&tive Churches of each Kingdom: It is thereby enacted, That the faid Acts of Parliament of England and Scotland, for fecuring their respective Churches; and the faid Articles of Union, fo as aforefaid ratified, approved and confirmed, be, and continue in all times coming, the compleat and entire Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland.

The Words, Jo as aforefaid ratified, approved and confirmed, are very material, and ought to

be

be carefully obferved, becaufe fome of the faid Articles are made Entire and Abfolute; and others give a Power to the Parliament of Great Britain to alter the fame: So that thefe Words, So as aforefaid ratified, approved and confirmed, must be taken reddendo fingula fingulis, that is, fuch of the faid Articles as exprefs no Power to the Parliament of Great Britain to alter them, fhall remain entire; and fuch as carry a Power of Alteration by the Parliament of Great Britain are not fo Sacred.

Amongst the Articles that carry no fuch exprefs Power with them, is the fecond Article for fettling the Succeffion of the Crown of Great Britain on the Houfe of Hanover; fo that I humbly offer it to every good Subje&'s Confideration, Whether this Article is not as firm as the Union it felf, and as the Settlement of Epifcopacy in England, and Presbytery in Scot land.

་

These were the facred Terms and Stipulations made between the two late Kingdoms of England and Scotland, and upon which both Kingdoms, by the Legal Reprefentatives, confented to be diffolved and exift no longer, but be refolved into, and United in one Kingdom, by the Name of Great Britain.

The Powers that made this happy Union, the Parliaments of England and Scotland, have no longer a Being; and therefore that Union, in the exprefs Terms thereof, muft remain Inviolable. The Union would be infringed fhould there be any Deviation from thefe Articles; and what Confequences that would have no good Subjec can think of without Horrour; for as, I humbly prefume, there is no poffibility of returning

into

into the fame State as we were in before this Union, it is wild and extravagant to suppose it can be peaceably broken. Two Warlike Nations that should feparate, after being under folemn Obligations of perpetual Union, would, like two private Men of Spirit that had broken Friendship, have ten thousand nameless and inexplicable Caufes of Anger boiling in their Bofomes, which would render them incapable of living quiet Neighbours, and one of them muft be brought very low, or neither of them could live in Peace or Safety. What I mean is, that common Senfe, and the Nature of things would make one expect that nothing less than a War could attend the Diffatisfactions of fuch a Rup. ture. It becomes the Englishmen in Generofity to be more particularly careful in preserving this Union.

For the late Kingdom of Scotland had as numerous a Nobility as England, and the Reprefentatives of their Commons were alfo very Numerous; they have by the Articles of Union Confented to fend only Sixteen Peers, and 45 Commons, to the Parliament of Great Britain, which hath the fame number of Lords and Commons for England that were before the Union; fo that the Scots Reprefentatives can make no Stand in the Defence of all, or any of the Articles of the Union, fhould they be Oppos'd by fuch unequal Numbers of the Lords and Commons of England; and therefore it is most plain, from the Impotence in which fo many Wife and able Men of the Scotch Nation left themfelves in thefe particulars, that they understood the Points of Religion in England and Scotland refpectively, the Succeffion to the Crown of Great Britain,

and

and all other Articles of the Union, were never to be controverted.

To guard and protect this Settlement of the Crown of the united Kingdom of Great Britain in the Proteftant Line, an A&t of Parliament of the United Kingdom paffed in the 6th Year of her Majesty's Reign, Entituled, An Act for the Security of her Majefty's Perfon and Government, and of the Succeffion to the Crown of Great Britain in the Proteftant Line, by which the Provifions in the beforementioned A& (Entitled, An Act for the better Security of her Majesty's Perfon and Government, and of the Succeffion to Crown of England in the Proteftant Line) are extended throughout the whole United Kingdom. It is in effect a Repetition of that A&, with proper Alterations for that purpose. So that now throughout Breat Britain this A& hath made it high Treafon for any Perfon malicioufly, advifedly, and directly, by Writing or Printing, to maintain and affirm, that our Sovereign Lady the Queen, that now is, is not the Lawful and Rightful Queen of these Realms; or that the Pretended Prince of Wales, who now ftiles himself King of Great Britain, or King of England by the Name of James the 111d, or King of Scotland by the Name of Fames the VIIlth, hath any Right or Title to • the Crown of thefe Realms; or that any other • Perfon or Perfons hath or have any Right or .6 Title to the fame, otherwife than according to ' an A& of Parliament made in England, in the 'first Year of the Reign of their late Majefties King William and Queen Mary, Entitled, An •Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and Jettling the Succeffion of the Crown,

'and