16

LORDS OF THE ARTICLES.

ranked up in the square, the procession returned in much the same manner to Holyroodhouse. *

Generally, the first two days of every parliament were occupied by the swearing in of the members, and the choosing of a committee of a very remarkable nature, for the expediting of public business. A description of this peculiarity in the Scottish parliament, will give the reader an idea how parliamentary business was then transacted.

At present, bills are brought before the notice of the house of commons, for the most part by means of a preliminary understanding with the ministers of state, and by the liberty to bring them for a first reading, sanctioned by a majority of members. Although, from a variety of causes, the ministry have it almost always in their power to quash any bill which they conceive injurious, still, by means of the opposition members, there is kept up a considerable check on all arbitrary measures, and as the voice of the whole body of the people can be roused through the instrumentality of the press, it may now be said to be placed beyond the power of the cabinet to force improper laws on the community. Previous to the year 1690, the very reverse of these salutary checks prevailed in Scotland. Under the pretence or belief, that the unwieldiness of a body composed of three hundred members, was inimical to the furtherance of public business, or the quick progress of petty bills, it was the business of the estates, on the first or second day of their meeting, to choose a committee composed of delegates from the different ranks in the house, designated the Lords of the Articles. This body of members, which formed the real acting parliament, amounted generally in number to twenty-seven members, which number was divided into three distinct committees of nine. Each committee of nine, was again composed of three peers,

* For a more detailed account of the riding of the Scots Parliament, see a work entitled the Scots Compendium, or Pocket Peerage, in 2 vols. published in 1826.

LORDS OF THE ARTICLES.

17

three bishops or lesser barons, and three commoners. The authority which was conferred upon these lords of the Articles, was of the most important character; but each division of the triune body had assigned to it particular duties. The first was invested with the most unlimited authority regarding the admission of public or private bills into the House, which it could either permit to enter or totally reject. The second committee had deputed to it the powers of the Estates, with respect to the trial of criminals. The third committee acted as a court in civil cases. It does not appear, however, that these two latter committees transacted business as regularly constituted courts. They were rather courts of review, and in this respect bore a resemblance to the sittings of the present Chancellor in the House of Lords. *

In consequence of the erection of the first description of Lords of the Articles, who are more frequently alluded to in history than the rest, it will easily be comprehended, that at that period the people of Scotland did not virtually possess the right of petition. Neither had any individual member of the Estates the liberty of introducing any measure favourable to the rights of the people, but derogatory to the prerogatives of the crown, without first receiving the encouragement of this powerful junto; and as most of the Lords either secretly owed their elevation to the court, or had held out to them the prospect of preferment on furthering the views of the Privy Council, the committee acted as a barrier to all free discussion or liberal policy. This form of process in regard to the passing of bills through the Scottish Estates, was possibly one of the most effectual systems ever established by a government pretending to be formed upon the representative system, for smothering the voice of the nation, and reducing

* Edward the Third, we find, established a tribunal of a similar description, consisting of one prelate, two earls, and two barons, who were chosen from every new parliament, to hear complaints of grievances and delays of justice in the King's courts, It has long since been disused.

B

18

PASSING OF BILLS.

the parliament to a mere Cabinet Council. Immediately after the Revolution, in 1690, the Lords of the Articles and their mischievous powers were abrogated. It may be mentioned, that, during the civil wars, there was always a standing committee of Parliament, which, like the staff of a regiment, remained on duty during the recesses, and on emergencies had the power of calling up the members.

So undefined were the regulations which governed the Scottish Estates, with regard to the passing of bills, and so insufficient was the general constitution of the country for the protection of private rights, that the most flagrant acts of injustice were sometimes committed in the House, while only a number of packed members were present. In 1649, when the Parliament had loosened itself from royal authority, the Privy Council and nobility leagued together for their own views, and produced a flagrant instance of this malpractice. On a bill being brought before the puritanic convention, in order to have the legal interest of money changed from ten to six per cent. the “burrowes," or the commissioners of shires and burghs, many of whom had, some time previously, lent the state considerable sums to carry on the war against the king, on the faith of receiving ten per cent., protested against the proceedings, and retired in a body headed by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. After they had gone forth under protestation of the injustice of the act, the Earl of Cassillis stood up, and said that they could now vote the act, as well without as with them, the burghs,] as they had often done many Inore, without either a king or a commissioner." Which harangue was conclusive.

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During the years between the Revolution and the Union, some of the worst features of the foregoing system of state-management were modified, and there were enacted some of the best laws which Scotland now possesses; still there could be nothing more awkward than the way in which the affairs of the country were conducted. In almost every respect, the

STATE OF THE KINGDOM.

19

nation was checked in its measures for improving its condition, by the English ministry; and as the only real bond of sympathy which existed between the two governments, consisted in the circumstance of possessing the same sovereign, it now appears evident, that about the time in which a union was effected, either such a measure or a total separation must have taken place.

With regard to the national state of Scotland at the beginning of the eighteenth century, it was in a situation much resembling that of Ireland a hundred years later. While the Privy Council, the Parliament, and the General Assembly, alternately, and sometimes conjunctly, domineered at will over the people in the higher branches of the administration, the community possessed for their protection almost none of those juridical institutions which are now ramified through the country. There were no officials possessing the precise powers which Justices of the Peace now exercise. The magistrates were then, as they still in many cases are, weak and inutile. The country was, in some districts, divided among powerful barons and chieftains, who disregarded all regular laws or honest means of subsistence. There were almost no roads cut,-no effectual communication from place to place. The press only teemed with religious tracts, breathing the most ludicrous intolerance, and more of a controversial than pious nature. Over the whole of the Lowlands and the Highlands, there prowled bands of daring freebooters, gypsies, and sturdy beggars, disbanded military, and wretched foreigners. There were no manufactures beyond the most homely stuffs ; no foreign trade worthy of the name, and neither capital nor industry. With the exception of the landed gentry and the nobility, the people lived in a manner now only resorted to by the lowest class. The bulk of the community were poor, subject to continual famines, and eaten up with the most senseless fanaticism. Upon the whole, no unbiassed person can peruse the chronicles of these times of Scotland's de

20

ATTEMPTS AT AN UNION.

gradation and independence, without experiencing feelings of the utmost commiseration.

The wisest legislators of both England and Scotland, ever since the accession of James to the English crown, and the consequent absence of the king from his northern dominions, had perceived that nothing but a confederating union of the nations could improve the country, for it was obvious that in every thing which regarded foreign connexions or export trade, the Scotch would perpetually be overborne by their more powerful neighbours, while they had it not in their power to make reprisals, from the circumstance of the sovereign being leagued with their oppressors. James, in 1604, made strenuous attempts to have a confederating union instituted, as may be seen from the numerous private letters written by his own hand to influential English and Scottish noblemen. A series of articles were also drawn up by his special directions, and submitted to the two legislatures; but it seems the various jealousies and warlike feelings of the multitude in either country, destroyed his hopes of a thorough amalgamation. A union was afterwards attempted by Charles the First, who had the same opinions as his father on the subject, but it was also blighted, more by the untractable and unreasonable character of the Scotch at the time, than any opposition offered by the other country. Almost the whole of this unfortunate monarch's life was spent, as our readers already know, in trying to bring about an assimilation of the English with the Scotch customs and institutions, all of which attempts were invariably repelled with acrimony and abuse. To persons curious in these rejected treaties and articles, we could scarcely recommend a work more worthy of inspection, than that drawn up by order of the House of Commons, on the business of the Irish Union being proposed, when all the documents were collected, in the State-Paper Office, regarding both the unsuccessful unions, and that which was ultimately fixed upon between England and Scotland. We believe there is only one copy in Scotland, which is to be found in the