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King William. I have read, indeed, that some fmall overtures were made by the former of these Princes, towards an union between the two kingdoms, but rejected, with indignation and contempt, by the English; and the hiftorian tells us, that, how degenerate and corrupt foever the court and parliament then were, they would not give ear to fo infamous a propofal. I do not find, that any of the fucceeding princes, before the revolution, ever resumed the defign; because it was a project, for which there could not poffibly be affigned the leaft reafon or neceffity: for, I defy any mortal to name one fingle advantage that England could ever expect from fuch an union.

But, towards the end of the late King's reign, upon apprehenfions of the want of iffue from him, or the Princess Anne, a propofition for uniting both kingdoms was begun; becaufe Scotland had not fettled their crown upon the houfe of Hanover, but left themselves at large, in hopes to make their advantage; and it was thought highly dangerous to leave that part of the island, inhabited by a poor, fierce, northern people, at liberty to put themfelves under a different king. However, the oppofition to this work was fo great, that it could not be overcome, until fome time after her prefent Majefty came to the crown, when, by the weakness or corruption of a certain minifter, fince dead, an act of parliament was obtained for the Scots, which gave them leave to arm themfelves; † and fo the u

See the Examiner, No. XIX. at the end, Vol. III.

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nion became neceffary, not for any actual good it could poffibly do us, but to avoid a probable evil; and, at the fame time, fave an obnoxious minister's head; who was fo wife as to take the first opportunity of procuring a general pardon, by act of parliament, because he could not, with fo much decency and safety, defire a particular one for himself. These facts are well enough known to the whole kingdom. And I remember, difcourfing, above fix years ago, with the moft confiderable perfon of the adverfe party, and a great promoter of the union, he frankly owned to me, that this neceffity, brought upon us by the wrong management of the Earl of Godolphin, was the only cause of the union.

*

Therefore, I am ready to grant two points to the author of the Crius: first, That the union became neceffary, for the cause above related; because it prevented this ifland from being governed by two kings; which England would never have fuffered; and it might probably have coft us a war of a year or two, to reduce the Scots. Secondly, That it would be dangerous to break this union, at least in this juncture, while there is a Pretender abroad, who might probably lay hold of fuch an opportunity. And this made me wonder a little at the fpirit of faction last fummer among fome people, who, having been the great promoters of the union, and feveral of them the principal gainers by it, could yet procced fo far as to propofe, in the house of Dd2 Lords,

* Lord Somers.

Lords, that it fhould be diffolved; † while, at the fame time, thofe peers, who had ever oppofed it in the beginning, were then for preferving it, upon the reafon I have juft affigned, and which the author of the Crifis hath likewife taken notice of.

But when he tells us, the Englishmen ought, in generofity, to be more particularly careful in preserving this union, he argues like himself. The late kingdom of Scotland, faith he, had as numerous a nobility as England, &c. They had, indeed; and to that we owe one of the great and neceffary evils of the union, upon the foot it now ftands. Their nobility is, indeed, fo numerous, that the whole revenues of their country would be hardly able to maintain them, according to the dignity of their titles; and, what is infinitely worse, they are never likely to be extinct, until the laft period of all things; becaufe the greatest part of them defcend to heirs-general. I imagine a perfon of quality, prevailed on to marry a woman much his inferior, and without a groat to her fortune, and her friends arguing, fhe was as good as her husband, becaufe fhe brought him as nu

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The Duke of Argyle, who zealously promoted the union, the Earl of Mar, Mr. Lockhart, and Mr. Cockburn, having been deputed on purpose, remonftrated to the Queen against the malt-tax, which, they faid, would probably prompt the Scots to declare the union diffolved. The Earl of Findlater, foon after, moved the houfe of Lords, for leave to bring in a bill for diffolving the union. He was feconded by the Earl of Mar, and fupported by Lord Eglinton, the Earl of Hay, the Duke of Hawkef

Argyle, and others.

merous a family of relations and fervants as she found in his houfe. Scotland, in the taxes, is obliged to contribute one penny for every forty pence laid upon England; and the reprefentatives they fend to parliament, are about a thirteenth. Every other Scots peer hath all the privilges of an English one, except that of fitting in parliament; and even precedence before all of the fame title, that fhall be created for the time to come. The penfions and employments poffeffed by the natives of that country, now among us, do amount to more than the whole body of their nobility ever spent at home; and all the money they raise upon the public, is hardly fufficient to defray their civil and military lifts. I could point out fome with great titles, who affected to appear very vigorous for diffolving the union, although their whole revenues, before that period, would have ill maintained a Welfh juftice of the peace; and have fince gathered more money than ever any Scotfman, who had not travelled, could form an idea of.

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I have only one thing more to fay, upon occafion of the union act; which is, that the author of the Crifis may be fairly proved, from his own citations, to be guilty of HIGH TREASON. a paper of his, called the Englishman, of October 29th, there is an advertisement, about taking in fubfcriptions for printing the Crisis, where the title is published at length, with the following claufe, which the author thought fit to drop in the publication; [and that no power on earth can Dd 3 bar,

bar, alter, or make void the prefent fettlement of the crown, &c. By Richard Steele.] In this extract of an act of parliament made fince the union, it appears to be high treafon, for any perfon, by writing or printing, to maintain and affirm, that the kings or queens of this realm, with and by the authority of parliament, are not able to make laws and Statutes, of fufficient force and validity, to limit and bind the crown, and the descent, limitation, inheritance, and government thereof. This act being fubfequent to the fettlement of the crown, confirmed at the union, it is probable, fome friend of the author advised him to leave out those treasonable words in the printed title-page, which he had before published in the advertisement; and accordingly, we find, that, in the treatise itself, he only offers it to every good fubject's confideration, whether this article of the fettlement of the crown is not as firm as the union itself, and as the fettlement of Epifcopacy in England, &c. And he thinks the Scots understood it fo, that the fucceffion to the crown was never to be controverted.

These I take to be only treafonable infinuations; but the advertisement before mentioned, is actually high treafon; for which the author ought to be profecuted, if that would avail any thing under a jurifdiction, where curfing the QUEEN is not above the penalty of twenty merks.

Nothing is more notorious, than that the whigs, of late years, both in their writings and difcourfes, have affected, upon all occafions, to allow the legitimacy of the Pretender. This

makes

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