History of Scotland

by Margaret MacArthur

CHAPTER VII.

THE UNION OF THE CROWNS.

James VI.; results of the Union (1)—restoration of Episcopacy (2)—planting of the Highlands (3)—Articles of Perth (4)—founding of Nova Scotia (5)—the King's death (6)—Charles I.; resumption of benefices (7)—King's visit and coronation (8)—Book of Canons (9)—Liturgy tumults (10)—the Tables (11)—renewal of the Covenant (12)—Hamilton Commissioner (13)—Glasgow Assembly (14)—war in the north (15)—pacification of Berwick (16)—Assembly and Parliament (17)—invasion of England (18)—Treaty of Ripon (19)—war breaks out (20)—Montrose's campaign (21)—dealings with the king (22)—the Engagement; Whiggamores' raid (23)—Directory; confession of faith (24)—the king's death (25)—Charles II.; fate of Hamilton and Huntly (26)—Montrose's rising (27)—arrival of Charles (28)—Cromwell's conquest (29)—the coronation (30)—battle of Worcester (31)—union with England (32)—Glencairn's expedition (33)—the Restoration (34)—episcopacy re-established (35)—fate of Guthrie and Argyle (36)—the Ejection (37)—western rising (38)—the Persecution (39)—the Indulgence (40)—murder of Sharp (41)—Sanquhar Declaration (42)—Drumclog (43)—Bothwell Bridge (44)—Test Act (45)—Argyle's opposition (46)—James VII.; the Killing Time (47)—Argyle's rising (48)—the Indulgence (49)—deposition of James (50)—William and Mary; the Convention (51)—the Rabbling (52)—Dundee's revolt (53)—battle of Killiecrankie (54)—attack of Dunkeld; Buchan's attempt (55)—dealings with the chiefs (56)—Massacre of Glencoe (57)—Darien Scheme (58)—William's death (59)—Education Act (60)—Anne; Act of Security (61)—trial and death of Captain Green (62)—the Union (63)—literature and art (64)—summary (65).

1. James VI., 1603-1625. Results of the Union. —Immediately after the Union of the Crowns, the Border laws on each side were repealed, and it was settled that subjects of either country born after the Union should no longer be looked on as aliens in the other, but should have the undisputed right of inheriting property in either. A Lord High Commissioner was appointed to represent the King in Scotland, and there was some talk of an union of the parliaments, but it was not carried out.

2. Restoration of Episcopacy.—The great desire of the King was to bring the Church of Scotland into conformity with the Church of England. To bring this about, he summoned some of the ministers to England, in the hope that he should be able to persuade them to agree with him. Melville, their leader, spoke out so plainly against episcopacy before the bishops in the Privy Council that he was sent to the Tower and finally banished. But the King carried his point, and in 1606 the Estates passed an act for the restoration of the bishops. No acts of church government were in future to be lawful without their consent, and though the General Assembly was still to go on, its power was to be very much lessened. As the old line of Scottish bishops had died out, John Spottiswood, Andrew Lamb, and Gavin Hamilton were consecrated by English bishops at London House to the bishoprics of Glasgow, Brechin, and Galloway. To avoid all dispute about the old claim of supremacy, neither of the English archbishops was present. But these bishops had a very hard time of it, for they did not get the lands of their sees restored to them as had been promised, and many of them had hard work to get a living at all. In 1610, two Courts of High Commission were set up. These courts were afterwards united into one, but, as this court was under the control of the Court of Session, it could never be so tyrannical as the Court of High Commission in England.

3. Planting of the Highlands.—In the early part of his reign James had tried to do something to improve the state of the Highlands. To this end three new burghs were founded, and the lands of all chiefs who could not show written titles were declared forfeited. These lands were given to Lowland colonists, who were however soon glad to give up any attempt at settling among their lawless neighbours. The MacGregors, whose district lay close on the Lowland border, had shown themselves the most savage and lawless of all the Highland clans. Argyle was commissioned to hunt them down, but they beat the Lowlanders with great slaughter in a battle at Glen Fruin in 1604. Their chief was afterwards taken and hanged, and the name proscribed, but that was only breaking the power of one clan, whilst the others remained as formidable as ever. To prevent such outbreaks in future, Argyle and Huntly were entrusted with full powers to carry on the planting of the Highlands. Three conditions were required of those chiefs who were suffered to stay in possession of their lands. That they should give sureties for the good order of their clans; promise to let their land for a fixed rent in money instead of all other exactions, and agree to send their children to school in the Lowlands. These changes not only strengthened the Government, but made united action on the part of the clans more difficult.

4. Articles of Perth.—The King only paid one visit to Scotland after his accession to the throne of England. He then gave great offence by introducing ceremonial vestments at the service in his own chapel. These vestments and other ornaments which were customary in England were hateful to the presbyterians. The passing of the "Five Articles" by a General Assembly held at Perth completed their dismay, and plainly showed the King's intention to impose upon them the ceremonies which they so much disliked. By those Articles the private administration of the sacraments was allowed, all persons were enjoined to kneel at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to bring their children to the Bishops for confirmation, and to observe the five great festivals of the Christian Church as holidays.

5. Founding of Nova Scotia.—The poverty of their country and the love of adventure had made the Scots from the earliest times ever ready to seek their fortunes abroad. They had won themselves renown as soldiers or traders in nearly all the countries of the Old world, but they had not as yet any colony of their own in the New one. Hitherto these emigrants, though they were called Scots, had been chiefly Saxons from the Lowlands, but in the beginning of this reign bodies of Celts had gone back to the original Scotia, and in Ulster, their old home, they won back settlements from the kindred Celtic race who now looked on them as intruders. But while some of the wanderers thus went back to the old country, others were founding a New Scotland beyond the sea. This, the third land to which the wandering people gave its name, was called by the Latin form of the name, Nova Scotia. It was granted by a Royal Charter to Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, the projector of this scheme of emigration in 1621. This new settlement was divided into 1,000 parts, and every adventurer who was willing to brave the hardships of an uncleared country, and resist the encroachments of the neighbouring settlers, was rewarded with the rank and title of baronet. About the same time too the Lowlanders were encouraged to go over to the North of Ireland, and to take up the lands from which the Irish chiefs had been driven. As the soil there was much better than that which they had left, they gladly agreed to the change, and passed over in great numbers, more than ten thousand going in two years.

6. The King's Death.—On the twenty-seventh of March, 1625, the King died. He had governed Scotland during his twenty-two years of absence with a much firmer hand than in the troubled time of his personal rule. He had then been quite at the mercy of his ministers and of the nobles. The wealth and power of his larger kingdom made him now able to deal with the smaller one pretty much as he liked, and the nobles were too eagerly seeking favour and place at the richer court to be willing to risk the loss of them by opposing his will. James was quite unlike all his forefathers. He had good abilities and an unusual amount of learning, besides a good deal of common sense and shrewdness, which he sometimes made use of, but his repulsive appearance and manners, and his want of self-reliance, exposed him to ridicule and contempt. He had none of the courage, high spirit, graceful tastes and ready wit that spread a veil over the faults and vices of his ancestors. Yet he alone escaped the tragic fate that seemed the doom of all the Stewart line, and was singled out from among them for an almost fairy-like change and advance of fortune.