Source.—Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Times, vol. iv., p. 429. (Oxford: 1833.)
In Scotland all men were full of hopes, that their new colony should bring them home mountains of gold; the proclamations sent to Jamaica and to the other English plantations were much complained of, as acts of hostility, and a violation of the common rights of humanity; these had a great effect on them, though without these, that colony was too weak and too ill supplied, as well as too much divided within itself, to have subsisted long; those, who had first possessed themselves of it, were forced to abandon it: soon after they had gone from it, a second recruit of men and provisions was sent thither from Scotland; but one of their ships unhappily took fire, in which they had the greatest stock of provisions; and so these likewise went off: and though the third reinforcement, that soon followed this, was both stronger and better furnished, yet they fell into such factions among themselves, that they were too weak to resist the Spaniards, who, feeble as they were, yet saw the necessity of attacking them: and they finding themselves unable to resist the force which was brought against them, capitulated; and with that the whole design fell to the ground, partly for want of stock and skill in those who managed it, and partly by the baseness and treachery of those whom they employed.
The conduct of the King's ministers in Scotland was much censured in the whole progress of this affair; for they had connived at it, if not encouraged it, in hopes that the design would fall of itself; but now it was not so easy to cure the universal discontent, which the miscarriage of this design, to the impoverishing the whole kingdom, had raised, and which now began to spread, like a contagion, among all sorts of people. A petition for a present session of parliament was immediately sent about the kingdom, and was signed by many thousands: this was sent up by some of the chief of their nobility, whom the King received very coldly: yet a session of parliament was granted them, to which the duke of Queensbury was sent down commissioner ... it was further given out, to raise the national disgust yet higher, that the opposition the King gave to the Scotch colony, flowed neither from a regard to the interests of England, nor to the treaties with Spain, but from a care of the Dutch, who from Curasoe[12] drove a coasting trade, among the Spanish plantations, with great advantage; which, they said, the Scotch colony, if once well settled, would draw wholly from them.... In the session of parliament it was carried by a vote, to make the affair of Darien a national concern: upon that, the session was for some time discontinued. When the news of the total abandoning of Darien was brought over, it cannot be well expressed into how bad a temper this cast the body of that people: they had now lost almost two hundred thousand pounds sterling upon this project, besides all the imaginary treasure they had promised themselves from it: so the nation was raised into a sort of a fury upon it, and in the first heat of that, a remonstrance was sent about the kingdom for hands, representing to the King, the necessity for a present sitting of the parliament, which was drawn in so high a strain, as if they had resolved to pursue the effects of it by an armed force. It was signed by a great majority of the members of parliament; and the ferment in men's spirits was raised so high, that few thought it could have been long curbed, without breaking forth into great extremities.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Curaçoa.
THE UNION IMPENDING (1703).
Source.—Memoirs of the Life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, Baronet, Baron of the Exchequer: extracted by himself from his own Journals, 1676-1755, p. 46. (Edinburgh: Scottish Historical Society, 1892.)
A Convention of Estates followed the Revolution by King William in 1688, which was afterwards turned into a Parliament, and continued 'till the Death of that King in 1702. The same parliament continued to sit upon the accession of Queen Ann to the Crown, and was not dissolved till the year 1703, when the new Parliament was called.... I have thrown together some observations on this session of Parliament in another Manuscript book, so shall say little here. It was divided into 3 factions, who, as they had different views, drove different ways. The first was what was called the Court party; they were for supporting the Crown and the Credit of the High Commissioner, consequently they were for giving moderate subsidies for supporting the Government against the insults of the French, with whom we were, at that time, in war. They had the union of the two nations in view, because they not only considered it as the happiest thing that could be brought about for the Interest of Great Britain, but because it was expressly recommended to them by the Queen. The second faction was that of the Jacobites; they were to thwart and disturb the Administration at any rate. The third faction was what went under the name of the Squadrone Volante. These consisted of about fifteen Lords and Gentlemen, all Whigs in their principles, but who herded together, and kept little or no communication with the Duke of Queensberry[13] and his Friends. They were for opposing everything which they durst oppose, but to keep firmly in their view the succession of the Crown in the House of Hanover. They pretended to be great Patriots, and to stand up chiefly in defence of the rights and privileges of the subjects; in a word, the public good and the liberty of the subjects were still in their mouths, but in their Hearts they were known to have Court preferments and places in the chiefest degree of veneration. These were the springs and motives of all their Actions, which appeared in a hundred instances thereafter. However, by the bye, I must say that such a Squadrone Volante in any Parliament seems to be always a happy means in the hand of Providence to keep the several members of an Administration in their duty, for people in great power seldom fail to take more upon them than falls to their share.
The chiefs of the Squadrone Lords were the Dukes of Montrose and Roxburgh, the Earls of Rothes and Haddington, all these young men of about 24 years of Age; but the chief of all, at least the man under whose name they principally voted, was the Marquis of Tweeddale, a very good Man, but not perfectly qualified for Court intrigues.