were to Represent their particular Estates in the Articles And it being the King's Prerogative to name all the Bishops in effect the King had the sole Power or Influence to make the whole Articles 2o. In stead of a Preparatory Committee for Ordering all things that were to be brought to Parliament the Articles did assume a Power that what they once rejected could not be brought in to plain Parliament But yet by the express Act of Parliament foresaid the 1. Act Sess 3. Parl. 1. K. Charl 2. The Articles is Constitute in the manner above-mentioned to be a perpetual Law in all time coming which was justly represented as a Grievance to the King but there is not the least mention of Officers of State though that point was spoken of and under Consideration in the Meeting by this Instruction the King did most Graciously and Fully Redresse these Errors and Corruptions of the Artieles by allowing every State to choise it s own Representatives and Declaring that the Articles shall not have Power to Pre-limit the Parliament but that even these things that have been rejected in the Articles may be brought in in plain Parliament whereby the interest of the Estates are equal and intire and the Parliament can never be imposed upon nor precluded It might have been expected that so Gracious a Concession from the King and His parting with so important a Jewel should have satisfied every man that the King designed no Arbitrary Power and that He verified that Clause of His Letter to the Estates That He would never put His Greatness or the Advantage the Crown had got in the Ballance with the True Interest of the Nation Yet this Concession did not please but some men insisted That there should be no Articles or constant Committee at all having now taken up a prejudice against the Name as well as the Excess of the Thing though the Grievance calls it the Articles and mentions not one word against a constant Committee But now they would make an Inference from the Custom of England though the Constitution of the two Parliaments are totally different And next they did Object against the Officers of State though this was no Incroachment or Corruption but they were Members of the Articles in the most Antient Constitutions And these last hundred and fifty years the Officers of State are named together in a Colum by themselves as distinct Supernumerary persons for the Interest of the Crown and as the Officers of State are not mentioned in the Grievance So the meaning of the Articles can not be extended to reach them for they being Supernumerary and for the King are not to be chosen nor can Re-present any State of the Parliament because they are Members of Parliament as Officers of State and are called and ranked though they be but Gentlemen before the Commissioners for Shires and Burrows It cannot but appear a great extremity that whereas by the present standing Law the King hath the whole Power and Influence in making the Articles that in an instant He shall be reduced to have no Interest at all and whereas every Estate hath an equal share of Members in this Committee for preparing Things to the Parliament the King shall have none for Him and every Body knows what Advantage may be made in the Framing and Wording of an Act where the Matter may be plausible and it were hard that the first Notice or Advertisement the King or His Commissioner might have of a Law designed were to hear it Read and Voted in the House and so be put on a sudden to give His Consent or interpose His Negative after the Parliament has engaged themselves by a Vote this Rock Our Ancestors have always shunned and there never was a Vote in the Parliament of Scotland before this time till the Matter was first subjected to the Kings Consideration and that His Commissioner was previously Instructed or knew it to be agreeable to the Kings Inclinations And there being a Law standing that all Matters to be determined in Parliament must be first brought in to the Articles till that Law be Repealled at least these Votes which were pressed in the Address were both unnecessary and preposterous But the King was so far from taking any occasion of Displeasure that he did Conced a further step by an Additional Instruction dated at Hampton-Court the Fourth day of July last which the Commissioner Read in Parliament WILLIAM R. Additional Instructions to Our Right Trusty and Right Entirely beloved Cousin and Councellor William Duke of Hamilton Our Commissioner 1. BY the Second Article of your Instructions Dated the Thirty One day of May last you was impower'd to pass an Act for regulating the Committee Called the Articles which were to consist of Twenty four persons besides the Officers of State Notwithstanding of which These are to Authorize you to pass an Act for them to consist of Thirtie three persons besides the Officers of State whereof Eleven to be chosen out of every Estate according to your former Instructions who are to prepare Matters as is therein expressed not excluding the Parliament to take Matters into their Consideration though it hath been rejected in the Committee nor to prevent their moving of any thing and regulating of it to them and the said eleven out of every Estate to be chosen Monthly or oftner if the Parliament think it fit and all former Acts especially the first Act Charl. 2. Sess 3. inconsistent with this are to be Rescinded 2. You are to pass what Acts stall be proposed sor settling the Church-Government according to your former Instructions 3. You are to pass an Act Rescinding all Forfeitures past against any of Our Subjects either in Parliament or Criminal Court since the first day of January 1665 which shal be thought fit by the Parliament to be Rescinded Likewise you are to consent to what Our Parliament shall propose for Restitution to be made of Fines or Compositions for Fines or Forfeitures from those who had the Benefit of them and you are to Rescind such Acts as were made in the years 1681 and 1685 as are justly grievous Although the first of the above Instructions is not complyed with yet you are to move the other two and have them past before any Adjournment Given under Our Royal Hand and Signet at Our Court at Hampton Court the Fourth day of July 1689. And of Our Reign the First Year By His Majesties Command Melvill The King did hereby Consent that the Articles should not be a constant Committee as they are now by Law but that the Estates might change their Representatives as oft as they please so that they could not be packed nor taken off by the Court and that each State in stead of Eight might choose Eleven Members whereby the Officers of State could never over-rule or determine them The whole Number of the Officers of State extends only to Eight whereof the Lord Secretary is ordinarly at Court and
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
pleasant Schene is turned into Confusion and some who doubted of their Interest to be preferred by their Princes Favour to that Share and Interest in the Government they designed they run about hoping to force Him to take them off for fear of their mischief whose Actings shew they resolve rather to disturb that Peace which is not yet well Confirmed to Embroyle the Nation Shake the Throne hazard Religion and all to a Revolution than fall short of their pretensions as if they had said Flectere sinequeo superos acheronta movebo and they have endeavoured to Amuse the unwarry multitude with the specious Pretexts of Law and Liberty and that their Grievances are so far from being Redressed that there are new Invasions made upon them and so in stead of taking their Relief which the King hath offered to all the Grievances represented by the Estates they fall upon new Complaints not formerly pretended to nor thought just or worthy to be insisted on for which some have Addrest to the King with great peremptoriness hindring their native Countrey from receiving the benefit of these Concessions which His Majesty offers in His Instructions But that I may not seem to impose upon you in this matter I will fairly set down both the Grievances and the Redress offered by His Majesty in the Instructions to His Commissioner with some short Notes that you may better understand the nature of the Grievâ—nce and the fulness of the Relief that is offered by the Instructions â—nd in regard the Instructions contain moe things than the Grievâ—nces do such as the turning the States into a Parliament and the â—ike they do not follow the same Method or Answer the numâ—er Therefore I shall repeat every Article of the Grievances with â—he particular Instruction relating to it together and then come to â—our Questions Article First Grievance THe Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland do Represent that the Committee of Parliament calâ—ed the Articles is a great Grievance to the Nation and that there â—ught to be no Committees of Parliament but such as are freely Chosen â—y the Estates to prepare Motions and Overtures that are first made â—n the House This is Answered by the second Article of the Instructions â—nstrustion â—econd YOu are to pass an Act for Regulating the Articles to consist of Twenty four Persons besides the Officers â—f State whereof Eight are to be Chosen by the Noblemen of their Eâ—tate Eight by the Barons and Eight by the Burrows out of their Eâ—tates and in case of the death of any of these Persons that Estate out â—f which the Person Deceased shall supply the same These are to prepare Matters and Acts for the Parliament but not to exclude the Parliaâ—ent to take any Matter into their Consideration though it hath been thrown out and Rejected in the Articles and all former Acts specially the first Act Parliament first Session third Charles the Second inconsistent herewith are to be Rescinded The Parliament of Scotland doth consist of Three Estates who all meet in one House and by the ancient Laws and Custom of that Kingdom there was a select number of Persons Chosen out of the Three Estates who with the Officers of State were called Domini ad Articulos because they did prepare Articles or Proposals and Framed Acts which were brought in to be Considered in Parliament And this Committee for Articles hath been as Antient as we find any Records of Parliament in that Kingdom and the Officers of State were alwayes Members The great Weight in the Mannagement of Affairs was committed to this Committee And in Antient times after the Articles were once Constitute the Parliament did Adjourn to a certain day till all things were prepared by the Articles which were to be proposed in Parliament The Policy of that Kingdom had introduced and maintained this Constitution of the Articles upon weighty aad solid Reasons as 1o. To preserve the different Interests of the Three Estates among themselves the several Estates having no Negatives in the Parliament for though one State were intirely opposit the plurality of the whole doth Determine and Decide And the Estates not being equal in number a greater State Combining might overthrow the Interest of another especially since the State of the Nobility being increased at the Kings Pleasure there are at present as many Lords in Scotland as do equal or exceed the number of the Commissioners for Shires and Burrows together As also the number of the Royal-Burrows may be increased at the King's Pleasure But the Shires remaining the same the Estate of the Burrows which hath the greatest part of the Property and visible Estate of the Nation they may have the fewest Votes in the Parliament But in the Articles every State hath an equal number whereby in the Projecting and Framing of the Laws each State hath an equal Interest 2o. All the Estates meeting in one House and there being no Negatives in the Parliament of Scotland a suddain Vote would put the Kings of Scotland to this strait and difficulty either to consent to a Law whereof they might be ignorant as to its Design and Framing or else to refuse the Royal Assent and so a Breach or Difference were Stated betwixt the King and People and there could be nothing more expedient for preventing these Inconveniencies than the Choosing of a select number for each Estate who with the Officers of State for the King did Prepare Digest and Adjust all Matters which were to be brought in to the Parliament In the Parliament of England there are two Houses and their Forms of Proceeding are flow and Cautious whereby the King may understand whatever is under the Deliberation of the one House before it come to the other and by Conference betwixt the two Houses Matters use to be Adjusted before they come the Kings length for the Royal Assent But in Scotland the Procedure is quick and the Forms of Parliament are Expedit and Summar besides the Temper and Genious of the Nation which is ready not to say Prefervidum Scotorum Ingenium whereby Matters of the greatest Importance may be Stated and Determined at one Sitting in the Parliament of Scotland And therefore as Matters in England do proceed by Bills from the Houses to the King so in Scotland Business did Commense from the Articles in which both the King and People had their shares of Members Of late there hath Excesses and Abuses crept in to the Articles both as to the manner of their Constitution and Power of Pâ—…miting the Parliament And since the Year 1633. The Bishops did chuse Eight Noblemen and the Noblemen did chuse Eight Bishops these did chuse Eight of the Commissioners for Shires and Eight of the Commissioners for Burrows who with the Officers of State made up the Articles by this method both the small Barons and Burrows were excluded from any Interest in chusing the Articles and they had not so much as a Vote in chusing these persons who
in this present Parliament the King had but one Officer of State But Concessions to persons that are not resolved to take satisfaction have never good effects This Overture was rejected and some persons must have all or nothing But all that are indifferent must be convinced that the King had fairly retrinched his Interest in the Parliament having not only consented to the Parliaments Abolishing of the Bishops but he was willing to have taken the Sting out of the Articles and secured the Nation for ever that the Articles could never be packt nor the Parliament imposed upon Article 2. Grievance THat the first Act of Parliament 1669 is inconsistent with the establishment of the Church-Government now desired and ought to be Abrogate This second Article of the Grievance is Answered by the Fourth Instruction thus Instruct 4. YOu are to pass an Act Establishing that Church-Government which is most agreeable to the Inclinations of the People Rescinding the Act of Parliament 1669 and all other Acts inconsistent therewith By the Instruction the King doth entirely Remit to the Parliament to establish what kind of Church-Government was most agreeable to their Inclinations as the Representative of the People without proposing Qualification or Limitation And because the Act of Parliament 1669 doth Recognize and Declare an extraordinary Power in the Kings of Scotland without Consent of Parliament in relation to Ecclesiastical Affairs whereby any Government of the Church established by Act of Parliament might be changed by the King therefore the King Condescends to Rescind that Law and to pass from the Prerogative of the Crown as it is established and asserted by that Act whereof the Tenor follows ACT Asserting His Majesties Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical November 16. 1669. THe Estates of Parliament having seriously Considered how necessar it is for the good and peace of the Church and State that His Majesties Power and Authority in relation to Matters and Persons Ecclesiastical be more clearly Asserted by an Act of Parliament Have therefore thought fit it be Enacted Asserted and Declared Likeas His Majesty with Advice and Consent of His Estates of Parliament Doth hereby Enact Assert and Declare that His Majesty hath the Supreme Authority and Supremacy over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical within this His Kingdom and that by vertue thereof the ordring and disposal of the External Government and Policy of the Church doth properly belong to His Majesty and His Successors as an Inherent Right to the Crown and that His Majesty and His Successors may Settle Enact and Emit such Constitutions Acts and Orders concerning the Administration of the External Government of the Church and the Persons employed in the same and concerning all Ecclesiastical Meetings and Matters to be Proposed and Determined therein as they in their Royal Wisdom shall think fit Which Acts Orders and Constitutions being Recorded in the Books of Council and duly Published are to be Observed and Obeyed by all His Majesties Subjects any Law Act or Custom to the Contrary notwithstonding Likeas His Majesty with Advice and Consent foresaid Doth Rescind and Annul all Laws Acts and Clauses thereof and all Customs and Constitutions Civil or Ecclesiastick which are contrary to or inconsistent with His Majesties Supremacy as it is hereby Asserted and Declares the same Void and Null in all time coming Never did Law give a King such a Power nor ever did a King part with such a Law. There was an Act Brought in and Voted for Rescinding the Act of Supremacy it was not Touched which cannot be Imputed to the King there being an express Instruction for Rescinding that Act. Article 3. Grievance THat Forefaultures in prejudice of Vassals Creditors and Heirs of Entail are a great Grievance This Article is Answered by the fixth Instruction Instruction 6. YOu are to pass an Act that Forefaultures shall only be extended to what Interest the Rebel had and that innocent Vassals or lawful Creditors for Debts upon Record shall not be prejudged nor such Heirs of Entail whose Rights of Succession are established by publick Infeftment The Laws of Scotland in relation to Treason are very many and therefore Forefaultures there are too frequent the Feudal Laws and Customes takes place in Forefaultures and Treason being the greatest Ingratitude the Rebels Fee returns to the King in that same condition that it was Originally given out without the burden of his Debt or regard to any Deed done by the Rebel after committing of the Crime or to any Deeds or Alienations made before the Crime which were not consented to or Confirmed by the Superior and rendred Real and Publick by Infestment and not only Heirs of Entail are cut off from their hope of Succession â—or the Delinquency of the Fiar but the Rebels innocent Vassals who are not Confirmed by the Confiscation of the Dominium Directum which was in the Rebel the Dominium utile falls in consequence There have been so many sad instances of the severe effects of Forefaultures in Scotland to the Ruin of many Families who had no accession to the Treason that of late this single Concession would have been purchast by that Nation at the dearest rate but Courtiers and Ministers who had hopes to make advantage and procure Gifts of Forefaultures they have alwayes resisted the good design of Restricting the prodigious effects of Forefaultures till now that the King hath resolved Never to consider His Own Advantage and Greatnesse in opposition to the Interest and Ease of His Subjects He hath by this Instruction secured lawful Creditors whose Debts are not Collusive but upon Record and innocent Vassals though not Confirmed and likewise Heirs of Entail whose Rights of Succession are not Privat and Clandestine and so might be antedated though they were truly made after or in prospect of Rebellion but where the Rights are nottour and publick which must be Recorded in that case even the Rebels Heirs are safe which is one of the most considerable and universal Favours which could be done to that Nation Article 4. Grievance THat the obliging the Leidges to Depone upon Crimes against Delinquents otherwise than when they are adduced in special Process as Witnesses is a great Grievance This Article is Answered by the tenth Instruction Instruction 10. WE are satisfied that an Act should be past for securing the Leidges against Inquiries by way oâ— Inquisition but in respect of the present Juncturâ— of Affairs this Matter would be well Considered by the Parliament anâ— therefore when the Terms of this Act shall be Adjusted you are to Transmit the same to Vs that We may give you particular Instructions thereanent By the Custom of Scotland any person might be examined summarly in relation to other persons against whom there was no Process depending and without confronting the persons And albeit such Expiscations did not amount to a Probation except these Depositions had been renued in presence of the Jury yet being taken upon Oath
Disposal of Trade with Forreigners THe Estates of Parliament Considering That during the late Troubles divers Invasions were made upon the Royal Prerogatives of the Crown and that in a just abhorrence of thereof and in a due sense of the Happiness they enjoy under His Majesties Government They are oblidged on all occasions to Vindicat and Assert the same in the several Branches thereof And since the Ordering and Disposal of Trade with Forraign Countreys and the laying of Restraints and Impositions upon Forraign Imported Merchandises is by the Law of Nations acknowledged to be proper to and Inherent in the Persons of all free Princes as an undoubted Prerogative of the Crown They therefore in a Dutiful and Humble Recognisance of His Majesties Prerogative Royal Do Declare That the Ordering and Disposal of Trade with Forraign Nations and the laying of Restraints and Impositions upon Forraign Imported Commodities doth belong to His Majesty and His Successors as an undoubted Priviledge and Prerogative of the Crown and that by vertue thereof they may lay such Impositions and Restraints upon Imported Forraign Commodities and so Order and Dispose upon the Trade of them as they shall judge fit for the good of the Kingdom Likeas the King's Majesty with Advice and Consent of His Estates of Parliament Doth hereby Rescind and Annul all Acts Statutes Constitutions and Customs to the contrary and Declares the same void and null in all time coming This Grievance doth acknowledge that the King hath power by Law to Impose what Custom or Duty He pleases upon Forraign Trade but it States the King in a Legal Capacity without Consent of Parliament to exact as great Sums as the Nation is able to furnish for every Countrey needs something from another either of absolute necessity or conveniency especially such Countreys as do not abound with Manufacturies and Artisens and in a Northern Countrey Spiceries and Drugs are become almost as necessar as Air and Diet besides Iron Wine Pitch Tar and an hundred things wherewith Scotland doth not furnish it self and by Imposing such exorbitant Duties upon these as the French King doth upon Salt the Kings of Scotland might Supply themselves without being beholden to Their Parliaments and People for their Aids and it is impossible to suspect that a King who is willing to part with this Power which the Law Declares to be an Inherent Priviledge of His Crown can be uneasie to His People in any thing and it is amasing that since the effect of this Law is understood and hath been acknowledged in the Grievances how any persons could be so cruel to their Native Countrey as to obstruct the Relief which the King offered them in this Concession And if this opportunity were never renewed how justly might this Age and the succeeding Generations blame them Article 9. Grievance THe not taking an effectual Course to Repress the Depredations and Robberies by the Highland Clans is a Grievance This is Answered by the eleventh Instruction Instruction 11. YOu are to endeavour to procure an Act for an effectual Course to Repress the Depredations and Robberies by the Highland Clans and when this Matter is Digested you are to Transmit the Proposals to Vs that you may get particular Instructions thereanent The Depredations by the Highlanders is certainly a great inconvenience to the Kingdom whereby the Inhabitants of the Low Lands are not only obliged to keep numbers of Armed Men to Watch and Guard the Passages and Descents from the Highlands but likewise to pay considerable Compositions to these Robbers to procure their Protection and Assurance which the Law Discharges and this Acknowledgment is called Black-mail whereby these Thieves are Sustained without Industry or Vertue who are hard to be Reduced or brought to Justice because of the unaccessableness of the Mountains and that Forces are not able to find Subsistance there nor March as far in two or three dayes in a Body as the Highlanders can do in one and therefore the Grievance is just But there is no Method proposed for accomplishing the Redress Therefore the King doth Remit to the Parliament to Consider and Digest effectual Courses for Repressing the Highlanders which are to be Transmitted to His Majesty that He may give particular Instructions to His Commissioner Likeas in the mean time though the Parliament did Refuse to grant a Supply yet the King hath maintained a considerable Army upon his own Charge this Summer and hath planted considerable Garrisons round the Verge of the Mountains to secure the Low-Lands and if His Majesty should withdraw or Disband these Forces which He hath not been enabled to pay the Highland Clans being now Combined in Arms and open Rebellion against the Government they would quickly destroy that Kingdom and might raise such a Flame in England as might have fatal Effects before it could be quenched Article 10. Grievance THat the banishing by the Council of the greatest part of the Advocats from Edinburgh without a Process was a Grievance This is Answered by the thirteenth Instruction Instruction 13. YOu are to pass an Act that no persons be Banished out of the Kingdom or from any part thereof summarly without a Process It is not worth the while to trouble you with the Detail of this Matter But you may think it strange how the Privy Council comes to be charged with it and it is acknowledged that it was a Grievance now if it be not presently a Grievance how can it be Redressed by the King. Besides either the Sentence of Banishment was just or not if it was just it cannot be quarrelled if it was unjust and illegal that is not a Grievance that must be Redressed by the making of a new Law for the standing Law must give Relief to every thing that is against Law. But here there was more Resentment of single persons than Injury to the Nation And though the King might have slighted this Matter being stated in that manner that it was incapable to be Redressed yet He gently covers and passeth it over that none of the Grievances should want a satisfactory Answer He condescends that an Act be made that no person be Banished without a Process which is the Law there already and in all other Civilised Nations Article 11. Grievance THat most of the Laws Enacted in the Parliament 1685 are impious and intollerable Grievances This is Answered by the Twelfth Instruction Instruct 12. YOu are to pass an Act Rescinding such Acts of the Parliament 1685 as are justly grievous to the People If this Grievance had condescended upon the particular Acts as it might the King had given particular Instructions to Rescind them But this general of the most part left them uncertain what Acts were mean'd to be impious intollerable and grievous and the King being willing in every thing to satisfie his People He has subjected the whole Acts of that Parliament to the Power of this present Parliament which must convince you that the King had no mind to evade
a particular manner the King 's own Burrows Holding immediatly and directly of the King and the Law doth not allow the interposition of any Nobleman or Baron to have interest in the Magistracy of Burrows but only such as are of their own Community Of late the Royal Burrows were extreamly Incroached upon and in the last Reigns the Magistrats of Burghs were nominat by Letters from the King though by their Charters the Incorporation and Town Council had Right to choose their own Magistrats His Majesty then Prince of Orange in His Declaration for Scotland takes special notice of the Injury done to the Royal Burrows and therefore though the Grievance in relation to the Burrows be altogether general yet His Majesty hails an opportunity to Redress and Gratifie them and therefore He Impowers His Commissioner to make a Law Ratifying all their Priviledges whereby the Commissioner was obliged to give the Royal Assent to any thing that the Parliament should Determine to be the Right and Priviledge of the Burrows 2o. His Majesty offers to secure to the Burrows that they shall never be Invaded for the future and that they shall have the sole and free Choise of their own Magistrats 3o. By the Abolishing of Episcopacy the King being come in the place of the Arch-Bishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow he had in their Right the Power of naming the Provost and Magistrats of these Burghs whereby Glasgow though it be the second Burgh in the Kingdom yet it hath not the ordinary Priviledges of the meanest Burgh Royal And the King to signifie His Gracious Intentions to the Burrows in general He gives them all that is in His Power and allows these two Burrows to choose their own Magistrats albeit some have represented this Concession to be prejudicial to the Crown and that it is fit for the Crown that the King retain in His own Hand the choosing of the Magistrats of Glasgow as an Aw-band over that numerous people or that He Commit this Power to some great Family about them who may keep that City in Order 4o. Trade being the great concern of the Burrows the King hath allowed His Commissioner to pass Acts one or moe what the Parliament shall think fit for the Encouragement of Trade which give a sufficient Rise and Warrant for Repairing the Royal Burrows against any Invasions that had been made upon their Rights in the point of Trade So that they should not be obliged to pay for a Priviledge they did not enjoy Here is a notable Evidence how far the most Gracious Concessions of a Prince may be mistaken and slighted The Royal Burrows were abused by the Industry of some persons and made believe that the King by His Instructions had given them no Relief and that He had not regarded the Grievance in relation to the Royal Burrows upon this Imposture they did Combine in the Parliament to refuse a Supply to oppose any thing that was brought in in pursuance of the King's Instructions and to concur in all the Votes that was brought in against Him which they did accordingly only a few Burgesses being excepted and certainly if they had understood the King's Gracious Intentions towards them they could never have been guilty of such Transports against both their Duty and their Interest and when they come to be informed it will oblige them for the future to be more cautious not to take up an ill Report rashly to doubt their Soveraign or destroy themselves and the Royal Burrows being further sham'd to send up these same persons who had abused them with an Address to His Majesty desiring an Answer to that Grievance which did concern them His Majesty pitying their Innocence gave an Answer in Writing that it might be sure to come to their Hands signifying That He had remembred their Concerns very particularly from the beginning and that they had no reason to doubt His Care desired them not to suffer themselves to be further abused to mistake their own Interest but that they might believe He would Redress all the just Grievances of the Nation and specially of the Royal Burrows in whom He owned a peculiar Interest This Goodness and Forbearance in the King cannot fail to produce suitable Effects of Duty and Gratitude and when the Burrows shall be sufficiently Informed they will certainly take occasion to have a new Convention and return His Majesty an humble acknowledgment of their mistakes and a dutiful sense of His Favours as well as the Concessions in His Instructions Now you see that the King hath given a particular Gracious Answer to every one of the Grievances and besides these there is an Instruction for the Regulation of the Universities And after all the King concludes with a general Instruction If there be any thing else that may be necessary for the good of that Kingdom to be past into Laws You are to acquaint Us from time to time with such Overtures that you may be Authorised with particular Instructions thereanent This admits no Paraphrase it was impossible for a Prince to say more this was a Catholicon for curing all the Grievances that either were or could be represented and what a strange Return was it not to Transmit their Overtures but to proceed to Votes Straiten and Manacle the Royal Authority in its most necessary and undoubted Powers Since I have given you the Grievances and Instructions together you are able to Judge and I do submit to your Judgment whether my Reflections be Genuin or no and I shall conclude 1o. That Nation lyes under the pressure of most heavy and grievous Laws 2o. The King hath done all upon His part that was possible to render that Nation happy and since He must be acquitted by all indifferent Judgments I will not give my self the trouble to tell you who are guilty since the Instructions are so full the Ministers of State must be innocent By this time I think you may be able to resolve your own Questions 1o. If the King hath done His part and be not to blame how comes the Majority of the Parliament to be discontented 2o. Why did not the Parliament accept these Concessions pro tanto and turn them into Laws and then ask what more they thought necessary 3o. What is the meaning of so many Addresses and particularly the last which is Printed 4o. Upon what grounds does these men build their hopes who do so pertinaciously oppose the King and what may be expected whether the Presbyterians will joyn with them or not I must confess your Doubts are highly reasonable but they may be Resolved by what hath been already clearly Stated and what I shall further tell you great expectation is a mighty enemy to Contentment if there were less selfishness amongst us there would be more Satisfaction people did expect the return of the Golden Age or the beginning of the Thousand years from this Revolution and their Impatience is like to hinder them to enjoy what they
desire The King can imploy no more Actors than our Stage can hold He hath not put any Stranger nor any Scots-man that served Him abroad in any Scottish Imployment if the Nation could make a larger Fond no doubt He would be willing to intertain more persons for it s not likely the King intends to put up any Scots Money in His pocket at present He hath allowed no multiplication of Offices in one person but by putting the great and lucrative Offices into Commissions there are twice as many persons imployed in this Government as ever can be instanced in former Establishments In the whole Parliament of Scotland for all this noise there are not twenty persons as I do verily believe who are at bottom ill affected to their Majesties Service and Government but there are very many who have been seduced and have been imposed upon wholly under gross mistakes which have transported them beyond the bounds of Discretion or Duty There are persons amongst us who have their Thoughts so much set upon getting into the Government and Lucrative Places of the Kingdom that they are resolved to disquiet the Government and discontent the people before they fail of their pretensions and they turn themselves into all shapes and plyevery Wind to Deceive and amuse the people their influence is not so much because they are able and Leading Men as that they are restless and implacable Spirits and they have gotten this ascendent over a great part of the Parliament two or three wayes 1o. The most part of the Parliament have been kept ignorant of the King's Inctructions and there was no Artifice wanting to possess every State and Person that the King had refused Satisfaction or Redress to these points of the Grievances which were most material and I know to my experience that the Ministers and also several Members of Parliament who came up here with the loudest Complaints upon a sight of His Majesties Instructions they were surprised and convinced and the like success may be expected throughout the whole Kingdom and Parliament after a competent time to be informed and peruse the Instructions and that they may return to their former temper and shew that affection they had for His Majesty and the Deference and Submission to His Mannagement of Affairs 2o. These persons who are so insatiable for preferment and places they did very dexterously start and mannage an unnecessary Debate whether or not the King was obliged by their Offer and His acceptance of the Crown to Redress all Grievances and whatever Conclusions they were pleased to draw from them as their meaning though these be neither obvious nor exprest and albeit it be very true that the Grievances are not obligator upon the King as they are represented further than the King in His Wisdom shall find the things Complained upon to be truly prejudicial to the Nation and in so far as Father of the Countrey He is obliged to give His people Relief but Their Majesties were Declared Recognised and Proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland before the Grievances were Framed and so they could be no Condition or Quality of Their Right but being humbly represented to the King's Majesty from the Estates to be Redressed by Him in Parliament His Majesty did not at all engage Himself in any particular but Declared in general that he would Redress every thing that was truly Grievous to the Nation now while they mannage this disingenious and weak Argument whether the King be obliged to Redress the Grievances they in the mean time have endeavoured to perswade the people that the King hath not at all done it and that he is so far from performance that both he and his Ministers denyes there lyes any obligation upon him so that in this Revolution the people do only observe a change of Masters but no ease of Burden or Redress of Laws now after the publishing of the Instructions this Imposture is so gross and palpable that it can no longer detain the people in ignorance 3o. When the Parliament was willing to proceed according to the Instructions and to have settled their Church-Government These persons brought in always some new Motions which they did pretend to be necessarly previous as first they did pretend the Articles was a Preliminary and therefore nothing could be done till that point was Adjusted Next they did insinuat that it was to no purpose to settle the Church till first the State was purged and all the ill men rendered incapable for if ill men were permitted to come in to the Government they might easily turn the settlement of the Church round and thereupon there was a great Struggle and Debate whether Church Government should be first settled or the State purged by an Act of Incapacities 〈…〉 and it was carryed the Church Government should be delayed and postponed to the purging the State which may demonstrat that these men had more the State than the Church under their prospect Thereafter thesettling of Church Government being brought in they started a fresh Hare and mannaged a Debate with great earnestness that their Commissioners had not done their Duty in the offering of the Crown according to their Commission and Instructions and it was a second time brought to the Vote whether Church Government or the â—xoneration of the Commissioners should first come in It was carryed again to delay Church Government and several dayes being spent upon that Matter it came to nothing and was found to be pestered on groundless malice Thereafter the Church Government was talked of and then it was pretended that so long as the Act of Parliament stood unrepealed anent the Articles nothing could come in legally to the Parliament but from the Articles hereupon the King was pleased to make a further step and he sent down new Instructions which the Commissioner did intimat in plain Parliament bearing his Majesties Consent that Church Government might be settled Fines and Forefaultures considered by the Parliament either with Committees or without Committees as the Parliament pleased and in so far as concerns these points the King did pass from his Right and consented that his Officers of State should have no meddling in the matter but remitted these matters intirely to the Parliament and this Concession being publickly intimat from the Throne it was openly asserted by Lawers and others that albeit the King did pass from the Articles as to these points by an express Instruction to his Commissioner yet the Settlement could not be Legal till either the Articles were Repealed or a draught brought in to the Articles Here I shall intreat you to observe when these men had no mind to bring in a matter then the Articles was so indispensable that the Kings Instructions was not sufficient to warrant the Legality of any matter to be brought into Parliament otherwayes than from the Articles but when ever they resolved to have a matter brought in then there was neither necessity nor use of the
Articles but they durst adventure to proceed in all these Votes contained in the Address without ever acquainting the King or procuring an Instruction to his Commissioner or Tabling these matters before the Articles which they would never allow to be chosen according to the standing Law By this you may guess at the Ingenuity of their Procedure and if it were not tedious I could give you many such instances The Estates did apply to the King to be turned into a Parliament that no time might be lost by the Indiction of the Parliament the King had no sooner granted it but a Committee of the Estates did Address to Him to delay the Diet of the Parliament till some of them might come up which was to secure their Interest in getting Offices and Places in the State which took off the reason they had pressed to be turned into a Parliament rather than that a new one should be called Likewise that Committee did take upon them to give good Injunctions to the King not to be hasty in disposing of Places till His Majesty might take Information from some persons whom they did recommend And accordingly His Majesty did neither at that time nor till now dispose of any place but what was absolutely necessary And in the nomination of the Lords of Session the King did not design the whole number but only Ten to make a full Quorum which might do all business while he were further informed for naming the other Five This was no sooner done then it was quarrelled as a Nullity in the Nomination because it was not compleat The King by Three several Instructions pressed the settling of the Church-government and did allow it to be done in any way they pleased with Committees or without them And sicklike for considering Fines and Forefaultures which was as oft shifted by those persons who offered the Address and at last it was declared to be impracticable and yet they have the confidence to spend a great deal of their Paper complaining for the not settling of Presbyterian Government and restoring Fines and Forefaultures as if the fault had lyen upon the King and that he needed to be pusht to it whereas they themselves have been the only obstructers And I am credibly informed that while they run about to amuse every body they tell those who are of the Church of England to ingratiat with them that what they did in relation to the abolishing of Episcopacy was nothing of their own inclinations but to comply with the King's Instructions who was engaged in that matter before he came from Holland which is sufficiently confuted by the Instructions themselves As to your second Question you have great reason to wonder why a Prince having made so great Concessions they were not accepted by every body and that it had been a better season afterwards to have demanded more But the misery lyes here if once the Instructions had been understood and been reduced into Laws that must have given so universal a satisfaction to the People and procured so much affection and gratitude to the King that all the Addresses Hopes and Endeavours had been in vain to creat Jealousie and maintain Faction and Mutiny For the benefits and ease the Nation should have received would have been so sensible and fresh that the Whisperer or Backbiter would have found no place or admittance whereas now the Nation remaining under its Fetters there being nothing done for its advantage or satisfaction every body is sensible of the misery it feels but few can make a Judgment of the Cause and the Author and they have been easily imposed upon to believe that these who keep them in slavery are their Champions and that he who promised and from whom they expected relief hath deserted them And to make these surmises pass the more plausible they give it out that the King is pestered with ill Counsellors and that the Malignants and these who ruined the Nation formerly are to be assumed into the Government that they may act their former part or a worse over again whereas almost all the Places and Commissions are filled with persons as have either never been in the Government or have acted most inoffensively there As to your third Question there came three Addresses to the King one from the Clergy desiring their Church-government to be established I am confident upon the sight of the Instructions and their application to the King the Ministers were convinced and satisfied that the King had done all that was proper for him and that it was their interest and duty to stand firm by the King and that their Party had no hopes or security under God but in him There was another Address from the Burrows desiring the King to give Instructions in relation to their Grievance I cannot say that their Commissioners were satisfied because they were men who went up upon another design than to take satisfaction unless they got places and therefore they got their Answer in Writing but I hope the Burrows do already or shall shortly understand how they were abused Thus far they did only choise a Trafequing Burgess who might be concerned in the interest of that State next day they were Whidled to choise the two Lawers whose errand was none of their business and yet they were to bear their Charges There was a third Address from a great many of the Members of Parliament I need not tell you what undue practices was used to procure and mendicat Subscriptions after the Parliament was up and to very little purpose for except it had been to insult the King as some few have done in all the steps of their management Could an Address out of Parliament import more than a Vote of Parliament except it were to convince the King of their peremptoriness and that they were incorrigible and that nothing was to be expected from the Parliament when it should meet again tho I do not believe that the King needs to fear this for when the generality of the Parliament comes to be informed and shall see the Instructions they will perceive clearly the selfish and implacable designs of some men and their false surmizes that they will quite and fall off from these men and leave them to themselves to double out their pretensions for places in which the Countrey hath little concern I need not tell you the matter of the Address since it is Printed I shall make some short reflections upon it 1o. These Votes which were so unseasonably brought in and so peremptorly pressed have no relation to the Grievances Now if they had been of so great importance why were they then forgot And if they be of less importance than the Grievance why do they make such a bustle to press in these points of less moment and stop these things which are of far greater consideration which were first Tabled by a representation from the States and granted by the King's Instructions And its pretty odd to see
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
Sterling which he was willing to accept in stead of demanding the Eight Months during King James's life And supposing that he had redeemed us from that Eight Months Cess as well as many other miseries was it grateful or just to grudge him one years Cess for the relief of the rest There was more heat in this matter than consideration 6o. I cannot but admire their confidence in pretending to be surprised with the sudden Adjournment of the Parliament most men did wonder it sat so long and every body knew it was to rise that Week that strange Vote in refusing Four Months Supply after all the rest that had passed made it evident there was no better to be expected and when they had formerly refused to proceed upon the Instructions how could any man think that they should not be Adjourned As to your last Question where these mens strength lyes and whether the Presbyterians will desert the King and joyn with them I tell you plainly my thoughts these men play upon the Presbyterian Staik and though the Sticklers be persons who have little concern in Religion or regard to Church-government and when Episcopacy was formerly abolished and all the Laws establishing it Rescinded in consequence the Laws made at the Reformation in favours of the Presbyterian Government were redintegrat and revived the same might now have been done but thir same Addressers did oppose it and did add a Clause in the House declaring the Church-government was yet to be established upon this project that if Presbytery were once established they knew the Presbyterians needed no more depend upon them whereas the Presbyterians must either support them or else they will turn about and fall in with the Cavaleer Party against them for they Front to all Sides but to the King and in the mean time they render the Presbyterians jealous of the King and tell them that the Civil Magistrate likes always to have the Church in his power and that the King to oblige the Church of England will in the end abandon them whereas they are willing to establish Presbytery in what terms they can desire and to go the length of a Covenant and League with the Dissenters in England But after all I can hardly believe that the Presbyterians will be so imposed upon and whidled out of their Interest by persons they know to have no concern for Religion but to raise themselves by it And therefore I think the following Considerations will secure the Presbyterians First All the Presbyterian Lords in Scotland who have been all along of that Perswasion and have suffered for it have all to a Man stood firm to the King in this Parliament against the Club and they are almost all actually imployed in His Service Now it is not possible that any rational or sober Presbyterian will part with their old and great Friends who are able to do them good for new Undertakers whereof some have been lately their Persecutors and the Presbyterians have no safe retreat King James will neither trust nor forgive them Will they be Neuters and Associat again as the Five Western Shires did in Anno 1650. when they refused to joyn either with King Charles's Army or Cromwel's This design was both foolish and fatal they were quickly broken at Hamiltoun Secondly I can hardly believe that the Presbyterians will forget the regard the King had to their sufferings that he hath revived and restored them and will certainly settle the Government of the Church of Scotland by Presbyters and imploy them where they are capable in the Civil Government if they themselves do not hinder him For though I do not believe that the King either is or should be of a Party yet their circumstances lyes together his suscess and their deliverance For in Scotland though we had Bishops who were Tools for the Civil Government and led Horses for the State yet we never admitted Canons Service or any Forms in our Church so that even in time of Bishops the Nation was Presbyterian And whereas the Church and Bishops of England before this Revolution were standing in the Gap and suffering and the King in His Speech to the Parliament did avouch them to be a Bulwark to the Protestant Religion yet at that time our Bishops in Scotland in their Address to King James not only pray so his success and prosperity in that Expedition but they pray that God may give him the necks of his Enemies after they knew that the King then Prince of Orange was Embarqued and had set Sail for Britain This may conciliat a greater confidence and regard from the King to the Presbyterians of Scotland without giving any discouragement or displeasure to the Church of England For a Prince that hath different Countreys and Nations may maintain distinct Religions and much more distinct Forms of Government professing the same Religion without affecting or neglecting any man upon that account Thirdly As it is duty and gratitude for the Presbyterians to stand firm by the King they ly under a suspition to be difficile and uneasie under any Government and that their Principles are more suited to a Common-wealth than Monarchy they have now an opportunity to retrive and vindicate themselves from these aspersions and if they be such fools as to suffer themselves to be seduced to quite the King for the Club there are many that are now looking after their halting who will not be wanting to represent to the King that he hath neglected a far greater interest in looking after the Dissenters whom he could not manage These and other such considerations will certainly oblige the Presbyterians to look to their interest and foresee their danger if they should either ly by or prove unkind And if they do not support and sustain this Club it will fall to nothing and the Nation will return to some better temper and see their folly in not closing with the King's Instructions Sir I have been carried far beyond my design in giving you an account of my thoughts in this matter But without further I am Your most humble Servant London Dec. 1. 1689. ERRATA Page 1. Line 19. read as any p. 6. l 29. r. Barons p. 33. l. 29. r. who ly p. 38. l. 4. r. mystery