When the Parliament met on the 28th of June, the position of Argyll and the other Ministers was one of peculiar difficulty. In six months the Alien Act would come into full force, if they did not succeed in persuading the Estates to accept either the Hanoverian Succession or a Treaty of Union. Even now Scotland was suffering from those clauses of the Act which were already in force; but if the Estates were obdurate greater evils were in store, and the coming Christmas would bring to the people of this island a message, not of peace and goodwill, but of civil war and discord. And it was soon apparent that the members were not in a complacent mood; for on the 17th of July, Hamilton moved that the Parliament should refuse to name a successor to the throne until the commercial relations of the two countries were settled; and further, that before naming a successor they should fix such conditions of government as would secure the independence of Scotland. This motion was carried, through the help of Queensberry’s friends, who supported Hamilton to the number of thirty, by a majority of forty-three. Next day the Ministers met, and resolved that the Succession must be given up, and an Act for a Treaty of Union introduced.[11]
[11] Seafield to Godolphin, 18th July 1705. Add.mss. 28,055.
In the meantime the Government had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Queensberry; and now, news having come that he was on his way to the north, Mar, on behalf of the Ministers, introduced an Act for a Treaty of Union. This was on the 20th of July, and three days later Queensberry arrived. ‘He made,’ Boyer says, ‘a public entry with greater splendour and magnificence than the three times he had been Commissioner.’ On the following morning he took his seat as Lord Privy Seal.
The members of the Parliament were now canvassed by Seafield, Argyll, and Queensberry, and it was found that many of them were prepared to vote for an Union. But, when the question came before the Estates, it was evident that the Opposition were as determined as ever. Fletcher made a long speech, in which he argued that no treaty should even be considered until the hostile clauses of the Alien Act were repealed; and Hamilton moved that the Estates should discuss the questions of trade and limitations before that of Union. The discussion showed a formidable combination against the Government, who were defeated by a majority of four. It seemed as if Fletcher and Hamilton had brought all business to a deadlock, and as if neither the Succession nor the Union could be carried. In the opinion of Argyll, however, the division showed who were for the Government, and who aimed at ‘nothing but confusion.’ The Ministers, accordingly, resolved not to adjourn, but to sit, and see ‘if we could not retrieve the treaty.’
Trade and limitations on the next Sovereign of Scotland now engaged the attention of the Parliament. The rival schemes of Law and Chamberlen were brought forward—schemes for improving the financial condition of Scotland, by means of Land Banks and a wholesale issue of paper money. Preposterous as these plans were, they were fully debated; and there seems to have been a feeling in favour of Chamberlen’s proposal, because the English Parliament had rejected it. Argyll and Tweeddale gave some support to Law. Hamilton laughed at them both; and, in the end, a resolution was passed ‘that the forcing any paper credit by an Act of Parliament was unfit for this nation.’
During the discussions on this subject, Fletcher moved that the two financiers should be confronted with each other. Roxburghe said it would be unfair to Law to make him appear, without first finding out if he was willing. ‘Mr. Law,’ he said, ‘or any gentleman that has employed his time and thoughts for the good of his country, ought to be treated with good manners.’ ‘If any one,’ said Fletcher, ‘taxes me with bad manners, he is unmannerly, and not I.’
On this Roxburghe turned to the Chancellor, and said, ‘I did not mean to accuse any member of bad manners, but since that worthy member thinks himself struck at, he may, if he pleases, take it so.’ ‘I take it as I ought,’ retorted Fletcher. The Commissioner, seeing that a challenge was inevitable, gave orders that, as soon as the House rose, both should be arrested. Roxburghe was taken into custody at his own house, where he remained in charge of an officer.
Fletcher was found in a tavern. When the officer came to take him, he said there must be some mistake, as he had given no occasion for being arrested; and so adroit was he that the officer actually went away to ask the Commissioner for orders. Fletcher, who had already sent a challenge, by the hands of Lord Charles Kerr, to Roxburghe, at once left the tavern—probably Patrick Steel’s?—and drove down with Lord Charles to Leith, where he remained all next day waiting for his opponent.
Roxburghe, meanwhile, hearing that Fletcher was at liberty, induced his friends to persuade Argyll to remove the arrest; and, as soon as he was free, he and his second, Baillie of Jerviswoode, drove to Leith about six in the evening. There they found Fletcher waiting on the sands. The seconds tried to make up the quarrel, but Fletcher insisted in obtaining satisfaction for the affront which he considered himself to have received in Parliament House. Roxburghe was as ready, and they drew their swords. But Baillie ‘stept between ’em,’ and said that a duel with swords would be unfair, as Roxburghe had a weak right leg. At these words Fletcher sheathed his sword, and, producing two pairs of pistols, offered Roxburghe his choice. At that moment a party of the Horse-guards, who had been sent to look for them, appeared in sight, to the joy of the seconds, who persuaded their principals to fire two shots in the air; and then the whole party drove back to Edinburgh.[12]
[12] Add.mss. 28,055, fol. 248. This is a document endorsed, ‘To Mr. Harley.’ It is evidently the report of a spy, one of the many employed by Harley.