Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A75208
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An Account of the affairs of Scotland in answer to a letter written upon the occasion of the address lately presented to His Majesty by some members of the Parliament of that kingdom.
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1689
(1689)
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Wing A229A; ESTC R225109
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30,888
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46
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An Account of the Affairs of Scotland In Answer to a Letter Written upon the occasion of the Address lately Presented to His Majesty by some Members of the Parliament of that Kingdom SIR I Will comply with your Desires in giving you a view of the Scottish-Affairs and before I make particular Answers to your Questions I will lay open the whole matter of Fact which hath occurred in the Meeting of Estates in Their Majesties Acceptance of the Crown and the Instructions given by His Majesty to His Commissioner for holding of the Parliament that you may be the better able to make a Judgment how far His Majesty hath made Concessions to satisfie the Minds and ease the Grievances of that Nation by His Offers in His Instructions to quite voluntarily these Advantages which the Crown hath insensibly got over the People ever since the Union of the two Kingdoms whereby Scotland is as much in the Power and Mercy of their Kings as most of the Nations in Europe by a Legal Constitution and the Consent of the People in Parliament It may be then Surprising if this great Opportunity hath not been Imbraced and these offered Concessions turned into perpetual Laws But the Ambition of some and the Selfish-Designs of others hath Obstructed the Happiness which that Nation could only expect from this Revolution and have kept it under the Power of these severe Laws and stretched Prerogatives which His Majesty was willing to have parted with A considerable number of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland did Attend His Majesty in His Expedition for Britain and many moe having Met Him at London they did Address to His Majesty then Prince of Orange to Assume the Government till the Meeting of the Estates which they desired Him to Call. The Procedure in that Meeting was with a great deal of Discretion and Dispatch till the Country was put in a posture of Defence against an Invasion they had reason to apprehend from Ireland and till the Instrument of Government was finished which is almost in the same terms with that of England Upon the Eleventh day of April last the Estates did Proclaim Their Majesties King WILLIAM and Queen MARY King and Queen of Scotland with all the Joy and Sincerity that could be Exprest the same day Their Majesties were Crowned in England Upon the Eighteenth day of the said Moneth the Estates did proceed to the Consideration of some Grievances to be Represented to His Majesty which they humbly desired might be Redressed in His Majesties first Parliament The Instrument of Government doth contain what the Estates did Assert to be the Peoples Right and the several Facts condescended upon are declared Illegal and the highest Violations of Law for which the Throne was declared Vacant The Grievances do acknowledge the things complained upon to be Legal but that the Laws introducing or allowing them are grievous and therefore there was necessity of applying to the King for Rescinding and taking off these Laws Upon the Twenty Fourth of April all the Grievances were concluded and three Commissioners being one for each Estate of the Kingdom were dispatched with the offer of the Crown to their Majesties Upon the Eleventh of May the Commissioners did present a Letter from the Estates of Scotland to His Majesty which waâ— Read first then the Instrument of Government then the Grievances and last a Desire from the Estates to be turned into a Parliament The King Answered the Commissioners in these Terms When I engaged in this Vndertaking I had particular Regard and Consideration for Scotland and therefore I did Emit a Declaration for that as well as to this Kingdom which I intend to make good and effectual to them I take it very kindly that Scotland hath exprest so much Confidence in Me and Affection to Me They shall find Me willing to Assist Them in every thing that concerns the Well and Interest of that Kingdom by making what Laws shall be necessary for the Security of Their Religion Property and Liberty and to Ease them of what may be justly grievous to Them. Then Their Majesties took the Coronation Oath and within some few days the King declared His Pleasure for turning the Meeting of Estates into a Parliament at their own desire and He did Nominat the Duke of Hamilton His Commissioner and upon the Thirty One day of May His Majesty did Sign his Instructions Upon Their Majesties acceptance of the Crown all Commissions Gifts and other Writs Superscribed by the King must of necessity be Docueted and Counter-signed by His Secretary of State The King made choice of my Lord Melvil for that Office a person who could never be induced to act in the Publick during the former Reigns who had been Forefault and forced to abandon his Relations and native Countrey and flee to Holland where and in Germany he remained seven years of whose Integrity and Sufficiency the King had good proof abroad and of his sincere Inclinations for the interest of Religion and His Majesties Undertaking It was likewise necessary for His Majesty to have an Advocat and He did name Sir John Dalrymple one of the three Commissioners which the States had so much recommended and considered as to Signalize and Intrust Them with a Matter of the highest Credit and Reputation as the offer of the Crown and receiving the Coronation Oath The rest of the Offices His Majesty did not supply that He might have more opportunity to know who were Habile and Deserving Persons for these Imployments Hitherto Matters were Mannaged with Calmness and Concord But now when the other Offices of Honour and Profit began to be Disposed on many who formerly did pretend to be behind with none for their Zeal in Their King and Countreys Service they quickly forgot the sense of their Deliverance and that Duty and Gratitude they owe to their Deliverer It had been moved in the Grand Committee of the Meeting of the Estates that it might be specially Provided in the Instrument of Government That the King should not have Power to Name the Judges Privy Counsellors or Officers of State but with Consent of Parliament This Motion was universally Rejected and thrown out with Detestation as an unreasonable Incroachment upon the Monarchy and there were only three in that whole Meeting who did favour the Proposal of whom some have worthily Retrited themselves by owning the King 's Right in this Point when it was afterwards called in question but what was universally Considered as an intollerable Invasion on the Royalty when there was no Government hath been since owned for Law and a Matter of the highest Importance this alteration of some mens Sentiments fell out Critically at that period when the King came to dispose of the Honourable or Advantagious Posts of the State then every man began to value himself and to believe he was better Judge of his own fitness for these Offices than the King whose Right it is to Dispose on them and thus our
men who make such a noise about the Authority of the Grievances that the King must satisfie them and yet when they please to bring in any little Overture it must take place and justle out the other 2º As to the Vote of Incapacities it is indeed a Vote incapacitating the King to imploy any person in his service but whom they please for the Terms are so lax and the Nation so universally involved that there are few men of Business Fortune or parts but they may be reached and most part of the Addressers themselves as far as they are capable they are guilty but when a man turns upon that side the most abominable and monstrous faults are covered whereas trifles are mustered and magnified if a man be on the King's side And I cannot forget the last Member of the incapacities that all who have obstructed the designs of the House after they came the length of Votes shall be incapable of Publick Trust though the Royal consent neither is nor I believe will perhaps ever be adhibited so they are no Laws but abortive Attempts which never had a precedent and it may be will never have a parallel So it was above measure hard to inflict the severest pain of incapacity where there was no Law Transgressed as appears by the words of the Statute Act 3. Par. 1. K. Ch. 2d So no Acts Sentences or Statutes to be past in any Parliament can be binding upon the people or have the Authority and force of Laws without the special Authority and Approbation of the King's Majesty or His Commissioner interpon'd thereto at the making thereof the punctual observance thereof is injoyned that none offer to call in question impugn or do any deed to the contrair hereof under the pain of Treason 3. As to that Article concerning the Session I have already told you how it was thrown out by the Committee of the Estates I dare say to you upon my reputation that there is not one word in our Law giving the Parliament any power in Tryal or Admission of the Lords of Session I shall refer you to two short Acts in Anno 1661 the second eleventh Acts of the first Session first Parliament K. Ch. 2d Where the King 's Right in this point is as clearly stated as can be exprest These Acts are as follows ACT and Acknowledgment of His Majesties Prerogative in the choise of His Officers of State Counsellors and Judges THE Estates of Parliament considering the great obligations that do ly upon them from the Law of God the Law of Nations the Municipal Laws of the Land and their Oaths of Allegiance to maintain and defend the Soveraign Power and Authority of the King's Majesty and the sad consequences that do accompany any incroachments upon or diminutions thereof do therefore from their sence of duty declare that it is an inherent priviledge of the Crown and an undoubted part of the Royal Prerogative of the Kings of this Realm to have the sole choise and appointment of the Officers of State and Privy Counsellors and nomination of the Lords of Session as in former times preceeding the year 1637. And that the King 's Sacred Majesty and his Heirs and Successors are for ever by vertue of that Royal Power which they hold from God Almighty over this Kingdom to enjoy and have the full exercise of that Right And therefore the King's Majesty with Advice and Consent of his Estates of Parliament doth hereby Rescind all Acts Statutes or Practices to the contrair Follows the acknowledgment of His Majesties Prerogative FOrasmuch as the Estates of Parliament of this Kingdom by their several Acts of the 11th and 25th of January last have from the sense of their humble duty and in recognizance of His Majesties just Right declared that it is an inherent priviledge of the Crown and an undoubted part of the Royal Prerogative of the Kings of this Kingdom to have the sole choise and appointment of the Officers of State Privy Counsellors and Lords of Session c. I shall only tell you that the Session is sitten down with as great satisfaction as ever it did and several of the most eminent Lawers have accepted whose Practice was much better than their Sallaries and you must allow me to say since they must know the Law they are great fools if they be not safe And I am sure the greatest Lawers that did oppose this would have been content to have run the hazard of the Parliaments censure if they could but procured the King's Commission and would have parted with the Club to the Boot when they had got their own Staik And as to that part of the Vote that the President should be chosen by the Lords this did not concern the Parliament since the Lords did not complain And the five last successive Presidents are named by the King in the same manner Besides my Lord Stairs is not made of new President but restored to an Office whereunto He had been formerly Admitted by the Lords conform to the King's Declaration from which he was unjustly thrust out And withal the Lords did unanimously by a Vote acquiesce in His Majesties nomination and reponing the President and declared if the matter had been intire to themselves they would all and every one of them have chosen him so this dust has been very idly raised 4o. I must again take notice of that grief they express for the want of that Church-government they themselves hindered to be established and the design of the Address is to Imprint in the apprehensions of the people that the King is slow or backward in that matter 5o. As to the Apology for not giving Cess it is very pleasant they did not refuse it absolutely but till some things were first exped which might give them satisfaction that is to say they would give no Cess or Subsistence for the Kings Troops though they must quit the Countrey if he withdraw them till such time as the King shall renounce the remainder of his Soveraignty And I shall not say that he hath been prodigal of his Prerogative but I am sure he hath been so liberal of it that it might at this time have given contentment for once It is needless in this case to remember either the obligations we owe to our King or the necessity we have of his Protection but I shall offer two things to show the ingratitude and foolishness of refusing this Supply 1o. The King hath expended above Threescore thousand pounds upon his Troops in Scotland out of his own Pocket for our defence and in sending Arms Ordnance and Ammunition thither and if he should abandon us this Winter the best part of the Nation would be forced to leave the Countrey 2o. By a standing Law the Parliament settled Eight Months Cess upon King James during his lifetime which we payed pleasantly for supporting that Government was it discretion to refuse the King four Months Cess which is but 24000 Pounds