The Early History of the Scottish Union Question

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The Early History of the Scottish Union Question *3 G. W. T. Omond Author of " Fletcher os Saltoun " in the " Famous Scots " Series Edinburgh cif London Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier Famous Scots Series The following Volumes are now ready— THOMAS CARLYLE. By Hector C. Macpherson ALLAN RAMSAY. By Oliphant Smeaton HUGH MILLER. By W. Keith Leask JOHN KNOX. By A. Taylor Innes ROBERT BURNS. By Gabriel Setoun THE BALLADISTS. By John Geddie RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor Herkless SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By Eve Blantyre Simpson THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. Garden Blaikie JAMES BOSWELL. By W. Keith Leask TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT Smeaton FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. Omond PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH Preface The history of the final union of England and Scotland, which took place on the 1st of May 1707, commences with the accession of Queen Anne ; and with regard to that event, the best sources of information, apart from original letters, diaries, and other contemporary documents, are Daniel Defoe's History of the Union, published in 1709, Dr. Hill Burton's History of Scotland, Mr. John Bruce's Report on the Events and Circumstances which produced the Union, published, for the use of Government, in 1799, and Dr. James Mackinnon's Union of England and Scotland, published in 1896.

In this volume I have endeavoured to describe the earlier attempts to unite the kingdoms. These commence, practi cally, in the reign of Edward I. of England, and continue, taking sometimes one form Preface 6 and sometimes another, down to the reign of William III. While giving an account of the various negotiations for union, and of the union which was actually accomplished during the Commonwealth, I have tried to depict the state of feeling between the two countries on various points, and parti cularly in regard to the Church question, which bulks more largely than any other in the inter national history of England and Scotland. It is a story, sometimes of mutual confidence and common aspirations, as at the Reformation and the Revolution, but more frequently of jealousies, recriminations, and misunderstandings, most of which are now happily removed.

My authorities are sufficiently indicated in the footnotes. G. W. T. O. Contents CHAP. PACE I. International Politics before the Union of the Crowns 9 II. The Union of the Crowns 52 III. The Union during the Commonwealth . . 96 IV. From the Restoration to the Revolution . 122 V. The Revolution Settlement .... 147 the Scottish Union Question

Chapter I International Politics Before The Union Of The Crowns

The races which inhabited the northern parts of England and the southern parts of Scotland were descended from a common stock, and spoke a common language. But for centuries the problem of uniting them baffled the best-laid plans of kings and statesmen ; and neither force, nor policy, nor treaties of marriage between the royal families, seemed capable of destroying the inveterate rancour which the peoples felt towards each other. The petition in response to which the papal sanction was given to the intended marriage of Prince Edward to the Maid of Norway, pointed out the wisdom of removing, or at least mitigating, the enmity of the two nations ; and it was the avowed policy of Edward the First to combine the marriage of his son to the young Queen of Scotland with a peaceful union of the kingdoms.

The clergy, the nobles, and the people of Scotland agreed to the proposed alliance, and were willing that their queen should be educated at the English Court. The marriage - contract was prepared ; and the prospects of a lasting peace were bright, when the death of the young princess on her journey from Norway suddenly changed the whole course of events. The competition for the Scottish Crown ; the arbitration of Edward ; his claim to the title of Lord Superior ; the invasion of Scotland ; the occupation of Scottish strongholds, and of large portions of Scottish territory, by English garrisons ; the homage paid to the English king by the competitors for the Crown ; the spectacle of English men filling many great offices of State ; — all tended to exasperate the Scottish nation. But Edward never seems to have doubted that he would succeed no matter at what a cost of blood and treasure in joining the kingdoms.

Indeed, it appears that from the summer of 1291, when the competitors for the Crown granted him possession of Scotland until his decision should be made known, he regarded the two countries as practically one. Scotland is described, in public documents, as " notre ditte terre d'Escose " ; and it was expressly declared that, as England and Scotland were now united, the king's writ should run in both realms alike.1 During the inglorious reign of Baliol, and throughout the period of anarchy and turmoil which followed its termination, Edward never lost sight of his favourite policy of an union, which, though brought about by conquest, and imposed 1 " De Regnis Angliæ et Scotiæ conjunctis. Quia Regna Angliæ et Scotiæ, ratione Superioris Dominii, quod in eodem Regno opti nemus benedicto altissimo, sunt conjuncta, Mandatum est Justiciariis de Banco, quod Brevia Regis, coram eis porrecta vel retornata, de data dierum et locorum, infra idem Regnum Scotiæ, mentionem facientia, de cætero admittant ; exceptiones, si quas, de hujusmodi datis et locis, proponi contigerit coram eis, nullatenus allocantes, Teste Rege apud Berewicum super Twedam, 3 die Julii." {Fœdera, "• 533- ) by force of arms upon the people of Scotland, would, nevertheless, in course of time, secure for him and his successors the sovereignty of an un divided kingdom from the English Channel to the Pentland Firth.

In pursuance of his policy he resolved to hold a Parliament in which Scotland should be represented, and by which regulations should be framed for the future government of that country. To this Parliament, which met at Westminster in September 1305, ten representatives of Scotland were summoned.1 All of them attended except Patrick Earl of March ; but his place was filled, at the king's command, by Sir John Monteith, the betrayer of Wallace, whose execution had taken place less than a month before. With the Scotsmen twenty-two English members were conjoined ; and to the Council thus formed there was administered one of the elaborate oaths which were then supposed to be peculiarly solemn and binding. They were sworn on our Lord's Body, the Holy Relics, and the Holy Evangels, to 1 These were the Bishops of St. Andrews and Dunkeld, the Abbots of Cupar and Melrose, the Earls of Buchan and March, Sir John de Mowbray, Sir Robert de Kethe, Sir Adam de Gurdon, and Sir John de Inchmartyn. give good and lawful advice for maintaining the peace of the king's dominions, especially in Scotland, and loyally to reveal any hindrances they knew to good government in Scotland, and how these might be overcome.

It is difficult to believe that the commissioners from Scotland were free agents in this Parliament. But it suited the purposes of Edward that the ordinance which was now to be framed for the future government of Scotland should be promulgated as the result of deliberations in which the people of Scotland had a voice. It was for this reason that the Scotsmen had been summoned to Westminster ; but the ordinance left all real power in the hands of Edward. Sir John de Bretaigne, the king's nephew, became Warden of Scotland, with a Chancellor and Controller under him.1 Eight justiciars were appointed. Six of them were to administer law in the lowlands ; and the dangerous duty of executing justice "beyond the mountains " was entrusted to Sir Reynaud le Chien and Sir John de Vaux of Northumberland.

Sheriffs 1 The name, so hated in Scotland, of " Mons. Joh. de Meneteth " appears as one of the Council appointed to assist John de Bretaigne. were appointed, most of whom were Scotsmen ; but the castles were left in the hands of English commanders. The laws of King David of Scotland were to be read at public meetings in various places, and such of these laws as appeared unjust were to be amended.1 About this time Edward writes to the Sheriff of York, giving orders that nobles, prelates, and other people of Scotland journeying to and from England, were, in future, to be courteously treated, and that anyone who used threats or bad language to them, or who refused to sell them food, was to be punished. Similar orders regarding the treatment of Scotsmen in England were sent to the Sheriffs of London, and many of the English counties.

Edward perhaps thought that by this semblance of an union, founded on conquest and set forth on parchment, his long-cherished schemes were at last accomplished. But his plans had hardly been completed, when he found himself 1 Ordonnance faite par Edouard Roi d'Angleterre sur le Gouverne ment de la terre d'Escosse, Act. Parl. Scot. i. 119; Sir Francis Palgrave's Documents and Records illustrating the History of Scotland, 292, 295 ; Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, ii- 457confronted by that combination of the Scottish people which, during the reign of his son, triumphed under the leadership of Robert Bruce, and finally secured the complete independence of Scotland on the field of Bannockburn. The marriage of the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry the Seventh, to James the Fourth of Scotland, stanched for a time— but only for a time — the torrent of blood which was shed in the wars which raged, one after another, for nearly two hundred years after the death of Bruce.

Another period of warfare followed, during which the disasters of Flodden Field and Solway Moss left Scotland apparently at the mercy of England. But when Henry the Eighth attempted to reconcile and unite the nations by a treaty of marriage between the Prince of Wales and Mary, the youthful Queen of Scots, the Scottish Estates, while agreeing to his proposal, declared that, after the marriage, Scotland was to remain a separate and independent kingdom ; and it was soon found that to propitiate the Scottish nation was a task beyond even the long experience and the profound diplomatic ability of Sadler. Sadler argued that England had a young prince, and Scotland had a young princess, and that if they were betrothed, " these two realms being knit and conjoined in one, the subjects of the same, which have always been infested with the wars, might live together in wealth and perpetual peace."

" I pray you," said a Scottish statesman in reply, " give me leave to ask you a question : If your lad were a lass, and our lass were a lad, would you then be so earnest in this matter ? Could you be content that our lad should marry your lass, and so be King of England ? " And when Sadler answered that he would, the Scotsman shook his head. " I cannot believe," he said, "that your nation could agree to have a Scot to be King of England. And like wise I assure you that our nation, being a stout nation, will never agree to have an Englishman to be King of Scotland. And though the whole nobility of the realm would consent to it, yet our common people, and the stones in the street, would rise and rebel against it." Then, to enforce the treaty of marriage, came the invasion of Scotland, when Edinburgh was burned to the ground, when the port of Leith and the picturesque castles of Roslyn and Craigmillar were in flames, when the abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh were laid in ruins, and when the villages and farms of the lowlands were devastated by the English soldiery.

But the violence of Henry was in vain ; and during his reign the Scottish people hated England as they had never hated her before.1 The project of uniting the kingdoms by a royal marriage was not abandoned on the death of Henry ; and in the first year of Edward the Sixth, the battle of Pinkie, the last great battle between England and Scotland, was fought. But the Protector Somerset soon found that the Scots, though defeated, were as determined as ever to resist the English connection, and that the Scottish Parliament had at last resolved that their young queen should be betrothed to the Dauphin, and 1 Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler very justly remarks how absurd was the idea "that a free country was to be compelled into a pacific matrimonial alliance, amid the groans of its dying citizens and the flames of its seaports " (History of Scotland, vi. 42).

See also, on the Scottish policy of Henry vni., the instructions given to the army in Scotland in April 1544 (vol. v. p. 473, and the Hamilton Papers, vol. ii. p. 325). They were to " burn Edinburgh town, and to rase and deface it when you have sacked it " ; and all over the country "man, woman, and child" were to be put to the sword "without exception." sent forthwith to France, to be educated at the French Court. This resolution, so fateful to Mary Stuart, then a child of only six, altered the views and policy of Somerset. In the name of the English Council he issued a remarkable proclama tion, in which he proposed that the Crowns should be united, and that the kingdoms should become one. " We invite you," it was said, " to amity and equality, because, as we inhabit in the same island, there is no people so like one another in manners, customs, and language."

There was to be freedom and equality of trade between England and Scotland. The subjects of both kingdoms were to be allowed to intermarry. If the Scots wished it, the name of England would be abolished, and " the indifferent old name of Britains " taken again. "If we two," the proclamation declared, "being made one by amity, be most able to defend us against all nations ; and, having the sea for the wall, mutual love for garrison, and God for defence, should make so noble and well-agreeing a monarchy, that neither in peace we may be ashamed, nor in war afraid of any worldly or foreign power ; why should not you be as desirous of the same, and have as much cause to rejoice at it as we?"1 But these overtures were too late ; the Queen of Scots was sent to France : and when, two years later. peace was proclaimed, Scotland remained uncon quered and independent.

The treaty of peace declared that the boundaries of the two countries were to be the same as they had been before the outbreak of war between Henry the Eighth and James the Fifth of Scotland. An attempt was made to deal with that portion of waste land upon the western borders which had been, for so long, a harbour of refuge for the out laws of both kingdoms, and which was known as the Debateable Ground.2 It was to be divided by march stones ; and ditches and enclosures were to be made for the purpose of hindering the flight of marauders. The English were to relinquish all lands and houses which they had seized ; and those fishings on the river Tweed which the Scots had possessed before the war were to be given back to them.3 1 Holinshed, iii. 998. 1 "Terra variabilis communi utriusque gentis vocabulo dicta The Debeateable Ground." 3 Fœdera, xv. 265.

Never in the history of this island, except after wards during the reign of Anne, was the Scottish question so troublesome to England as during the second half of the sixteenth century. The immense additions which, of late years, have been made to our sources of information have not changed, to any great extent, the aspect of the long familiar picture, nor caused us to relinquish the old opinions regarding the characters and motives of those who held in their hands the tangled threads of international policy during the fifty years which preceded the Union of the Crowns. To use the Scots for the purpose of weakening England had long been the policy of France ; and when war between Spain and France broke out in 1555, and an English army was to be sent to the assistance of Spain, the French Court hoped that an army from Scotland would march across the Tweed.

Mary of Guise assembled the Scottish nobles, and proposed that they should seize the opportunity of taking vengeance for all the wrongs which their country had suffered since the fatal day of Flodden. But the proposals of the Queen Regent were not received with favour. She had been so foolish as to confer several important offices of State on Frenchmen ; and these appointments had given great offence. During the late war the Scots had resented the manner in which their allies had behaved on several occasions, and had seen them depart with feelings of intense relief.1 Moreover, the spread of the Protestant opinions in Scotland had naturally led many of the people to suspect the motives of a Catholic power. The Queen Regent, indeed, succeeded in bringing England and Scotland to the verge of another contest ; but, in the long-run, the Scots refused to encounter the risks of war for the purpose of assisting the ambition of France.

The marriage of Mary and the Dauphin involved the renewal of friendly intercourse with France ; but the terms on which the Scottish Parliament agreed to this alliance provided for the complete independence of Scotland.2 The crown matri- 1 "Notwithstanding the ancient alliance of France and Scotland, and the long intercourse of good offices between the two nations, an aversion for the French took its rise, at this time, among the Scots ; the effects whereof were deeply felt, and operated powerfully through the subsequent period " (Robertson, i. no). - The Queen of Scots was to "aggre and obleis hir self and hir successouris, that scho, hir Airis and Successouris, sail observe and monial of Scotland was conferred upon the Dauphin ; but the oath of fidelity which the Scottish ambassadors took to the heir of France, as King of Scotland, was framed so as to exclude any allegiance beyond that which the subjects of Scotland had hitherto acknowledged as due to their native princes.1 It had never been possible for England, under any circumstances, to be indifferent to the affairs of Scotland ; and the relations of the two kingdoms were now more complicated than ever.

But it was not until after the death of Mary of England that the results of the French marriage became keip the Fredomes, Liberteis, and Privelegeis of this Realme, and Lawis of the samyn, sicklike and in the samyn maner as hes bene keipit and observit in all Kingis Tymes of Scotland of before" (Keith, App. 14 ; Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 504). 1 " Le servir, obeyr et honnorer, durant et constant ledit mariage, ensemble l'hoir issu et procree d' iceluy mariage auquel adviendra le Royaume d' Escosse, tout ainsy comme nous et nos Predecesseurs aut loyauement servy et honnore les nobles progeniteurs et ante cesseurs de la ditte Dame Reyne d' Escosse nostre Souveraine" (Keith, App. 20). On the occasion of the marriage, Henry of France issued letters of naturalisation conferring all the privileges of French citizenship on Scotsmen living in his dominions ; and the Scottish Parliament returned the compliment by passing an Act which naturalised Frenchmen in Scotland.

(Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 507, 515.) fully visible. " War with France ; the French king bestriding the realm, having one foot in Calais and the other in Scotland ; steadfast enemies, but no steadfast friends."1 Thus stood England at the close of the year 1558. The Dauphin and Mary proclaimed themselves King and Queen of England as well as Scotland ; and the arms of England were quartered with the arms of France and Scotland on their plate and household furniture. This was an open assertion of the illegitimacy of Elizabeth and a challenge to England. But, in the meantime, peace was preserved.

The Treaty of Cambray, which termi nated the struggle between France and Spain, and to which England and Scotland were parties, left the claims of Elizabeth and Mary untouched ; and, on the ground that " the plenipotentiaries for Scotland have not sufficient knowledge of the state of affairs depending between the Crowns of England and Scotland," it was decided that English and Scottish commissioners should after wards meet and decide on " certain articles 1 Address to the Council, in Mr. Froude's History of England, vol. vi. p. Ill (ed. 1870). respecting the peace and concord of the two kingdoms."1 These commissioners met; and the result was the treaty of Upsetlington.2 A fresh attempt was made to frame rules for curbing the lawless spirit of the Borderers ; and it was also agreed that the limits of the two kingdoms should be the same as they had been before the accession of Elizabeth, that the town of Berwick should not be molested by the Scots, that the English garrisons should not trouble their neighbours on the other side of the boundary line, and that great caution should be observed in granting passports to the subjects of either kingdom.3 Meanwhile the Protestant opinions had been 1 The plenipotentiaries for Scotland at Cambray were the Cardinal of Lorraine ; the Duke of Montmorency ; Jacques d'Albon, Marshal of France ; Morvillier, Bishop of Orleans ; and Claude de 1'Aube spine, Secretary of State. 2 "A pleasant country village on the north side of the river Tweed, within the borders of Scotland, five miles west from Berwick " (Keith, 108). 3 "This treaty was finished and drawn up at the Church of Our Lady of Upsalinton the 31st of May (1559), and duplicates thereof were delivered and exchanged in the Parish Church of Norham, just opposite, on the English side of the Tweed, that same day " (Ibid.). steadily gaining ground in Scotland.

The Con gregation, as the reformers were called, and their leaders, known as the Lords of the Congregation, had hitherto been on good terms with Mary of Guise. Without their assistance the Dauphin would not have obtained the title of King of Scotland ; and she had, therefore, not interfered with the progress of the new beliefs. But soon after the Treaty of Cambray, Monsieur de Bettan court arrived in Edinburgh, charged with a message from Henry of France. The New Learning was to be suppressed on the continent of Europe and in England ; and the Queen Regent was expected to join France, Spain, and the Holy Father at Rome, in the league which they had formed for that purpose. Scotland was the stepping-stone to England. If the ascendency of France and the Catholic Faith was once secured in that country, the heretic Elizabeth would be driven from the throne which she had usurped.

Therefore the Regent must no longer remain inactive. Against her will, so far as we can judge, Mary of Guise entered on the disastrous contest. A proclamation was issued, commanding all men to go to mass, to use the confessional, and to con form, in all respects, to the Church of Rome. The Lords of the Congregation remonstrated; but the Regent refused to give way.1 At this crisis Knox returned to Scotland from Geneva. A week after his arrival he preached at Perth ; and after his sermon the religious houses of the Black and Grey Friars, and the Carthusian Monastery, were laid in ruins. From Perth the excitement spread over all the country. The Protestants flew to arms in numbers. The Regent mustered her forces, and it was evident that a desperate struggle was at hand. At first the Lords of the Congregation carried everything before them.

But they knew that, before long, the Regent would have an army of well-trained French soldiers under her command ; and it was vain to suppose that religious fervour could prevail against military discipline. Help must be found in some quarter ; and a corre- ] They told her, "That, by her tolerance, their religion had taken such a root, and the number of the Protestants so increased, that it was a vain hope to believe that they could be put from their religion, seeing they were resolved as soon to part with their lives as to recant " (Sir James Melvits Memoirs, p. 25). spondence was opened with the Court of England. James, third Earl of Arran, was, after his father, the Duke of Chatelherault, heir -presumptive to the throne of Scotland.1 A marriage between him and Elizabeth might, it was suggested, settle the Scottish question.

A majority of the Scots were Protestant ; and in the turmoil of the civil war which had now begun, Mary of Scotland might, with the help of England, be dethroned by her own subjects, against whom she had allowed a foreign army to be sent. If Arran and Elizabeth were married, the Crowns of England and Scotland would then be united ; and thus the schemes of France would be frustrated. There can be little doubt that all this was understood between the Congregation and their friends in England, though it was not openly expressed. Cecil encouraged the idea, probably with the assent of Elizabeth ; and the Lords of the Con gregation implored her to come to the rescue, 1 His father, the second Earl of Arran, and first Duke of Chatelherault, was, it will be remembered, Regent of Scotland from the death of James the Fifth, in 1542, until 1554, when he was succeeded by Mary of Guise.

He was a Lord of the Congrega tion, and carry out that union of the realms for which so many wise men had long laboured in vain.1 Thedeath of Henry the Second did not change the policy of France. Scotland was to be subdued ; and then Elizabeth could be dealt with. The councils of England were divided ; but Cecil was in favour of sending help to Scotland. " The best worldly felicity," he said, " that Scotland can have is either to continue in a perpetual peace with the kingdom of England, or to be made one monarchy with England, as they both make but one isle divided from the rest of the world." But this was impossible if the French were allowed to govern Scotland; for they would use Scotland for their own purposes, and " make a footstool thereof to look over England as they may." As no heir had been born to the Queen of Scots, and as she was absent from her kingdom, the nobles 1 Mr. Froude's History of England, vol. vi. pp. 236, 237 : "You," said an emissary of the Congregation at Paris to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, " have a queen, and we our prince the Earl of Arran, marriageable both, and chief upholders of God's religion.

This may be the means to unite England and Scotland together, and there is no foundation nor league durable nor available but in God's cause," Tlie Scottish Union Question 29 and commons of Scotland ought, under the guid ance of the Hamiltons, who were the next heirs to the Crown, to free the land of idolatry by such a Reformation as had already taken place in England ; and, " before the French grew too strong and insolent," a number of abuses which threatened to ruin the country should be remedied. If the Queen did not agree to these reforms, then she must be held to have forfeited the Crown.1 As to the question, which was really the practical one, of whether England should join Scotland in resisting the French, the voice of ) Cecil gave no uncertain sound. Every country had, he said, like every man, the right and duty 1 "If the Queen shall be unwilling to this, as it is likely she will, in respect of the greedy and tyrannous Affliction of France ; then is it apparent that Almighty God is pleased to transfer from her the Rule of the Kingdom for the weal of it ; and in this time great Circumspection is to be used, to avoid the deceits and trumperies of the French.

And then may the Realm of Scotland consider, being once made free, what means may be devised through God's goodness to accord the two Realms, to endure for time to come at the Pleasure of Almighty God, in whose Hands the Hearts of all Princes be " (Memorial of Certain Points meet for the Restoring of the Realm of Scotland to the Ancient Weak, written by my Lord Treasurer, with his own Hand, 5 August 1559, Cotton MSS., Keith, App. 23). of self-defence, not only against present danger, but also against danger which might be foreseen. No greater danger could be foreseen than the occupation of Scotland by France, the implacable enemy of England. Therefore " England both may and ought to aid Scotland to keep out the French." J Such was the advice of Cecil, set forth in a paper written apparently on the 5th of August.

Three days later Sadler was on his way to Berwick, armed with full powers to negotiate secretly "for the union of the realms," and furnished with a sum of money for the use of the Congregation. Arran, who had escaped from France and come to England, followed him. A long time was wasted in correspondence between Berwick and London ; and at least Chatelherault and the Lords of the Congregation, weary of the long delay, marched to Edinburgh at the head of their followers. The Queen Regent took shelter behind the walls of Leith. An instrument sus pending her from the Regency was proclaimed at 1 A Short Discussion of the Weighty Matter of Scotland, August 1559, Cotton MSS., Keith, App. 24. the town-cross of Edinburgh ; and a letter was sent to her demanding that she and the French troops should retire from Leith.