Privy Council of Scotland

“ The persons most notable in the Privy Council were Seton (later Lord Dunfermline) , Hume, created Earl of Dunbar, and the king’s advocate, Thomas Hamilton, later Earl of Haddington. Bishops, with Spottiswoode, the historian, Archbishop of Glasgow, sat in the Privy Council, and their progressive elevation, as hateful to the nobles as to the Kirk, was among the causes of the civil war under Charles I. By craft and by illegal measures James continued to depress the Kirk. A General Assembly, proclaimed by James for July 1604 in Aberdeen, was prorogued ”

“ The lord chancellor, the lords of appeal in ordinary, the president of the probate division, the lord president of the court of session in Scotland, the lord justice clerk and the lord advocate of Scotland are always privy councillors, as are the archbishops of Canterbury and York and the bishop of London. In 1897 all the premiers of the self-governing colonies were made privy councillors. Of recent years, retired ambassadors, judges, retired civil servants and persons distinguished in science, letters and arts have been appointed. ”

“ A.D. 1635. deliberations of Parliament. But the ecclesiastical jurisdiction which was set up was still more burdensome to the Lords. In Scotland, as well as in England, a High Commission based upon this supreme jurisdiction of the King was instituted, in order to bring before the tribunal all transgressions of ecclesiastical ordinances, and even those persons who were only suspected of transgressing them. The Privy Council, which exercised the power of the King in Scotland, was commissioned to enforce its sentence. ”

“ No wonder if the desire of the Scottish nation to have a separate and independent secretary of state, altogether unconnected with the legal profession, is finding an audible voice at the council-boards of the larger cities and towns. Of late years it has been made a subject of general and just complaint, that the public business of Scotland is postponed to everything else, huddled over with indecent haste at untimeous hours, and often entirely frustrated for the want of a parliamentary quorum. ”

“ But between 1437 and 1513 it is not easy to discover any single token of definite constitutional development, either in the direction of absolute government or in that of popular liberty. Not only does Scotland fail to produce a constitutional movement like that which characterizes the history of England; she does not develop any kind of constitution at all. No absolute monarch, no oligarchical council, no democratic parliament occupies the stage of her history for any length of time, nor does she know any free cities or any independent duchies. ”

“ What a perfidious violation of the established constitution of the two kingdoms! In 1690 the Scottish Parliament makes over patronages to the heritors and kirk-sessions. In 1707 it secures unalterably the government of the church of Scotland. By the Treaty of Union, England binds itself to preserve inviolate this arrangement. Patronages are to remain for ever in statu quo. But, lo! in 1711, the Parliament of the United Kingdom divests the heritors of their right of patronage, and restores it to its original holders. ”

“ Yet, though Scotland was growing in wealth, and the authority of the Crown was increasing, the nation, during the last years of this reign, abounded in discontent and disorder. The Scots seem to have felt bitterly the transference of their ancient Royal House to an alien and lately hostile country; and though they had no affection for James, they resented the visible loss of the monarchy. A High Commissioner and Council at Edinburgh could not supply the place of the sovereign ”

“ The smaller freeholders, influenced by their strong sense of clan and family loyalty, attached themselves to the great barons. They were, as we shall see, never really represented in Parliament till the reign of James VI, and not till religious questions assumed a position of importance did they find any bond of union with the representatives of the burghs. The growth of English parliamentary liberty is largely due to the coalescence of the knights of the shires with the burgesses, and no such alliance was made in Scotland before the reign of Queen Mary. ”

“ If the production of a legal system forms but a small apologia for a Parliament which existed [xxvi] for several centuries, it nevertheless entitles the Scottish Estates to be reckoned among the forces which have made the nation; and it is legitimate cause of satisfaction that, in spite of all the forces of misgovernment which held sway for so long, the peculiarity of the law of Scotland is its regard for the poor and the weak. ”

“ But in February-April 1719 George reversed his policy, heaped Argyll with favours, made him, as Duke of Greenwich, a peer of England, and gave him the High Stewardship of the Household.
At this time all the sixteen representative peers of Scotland favoured, for various reasons of their own, a proposed Peerage Bill. The Prince of Wales might, when he came to the throne, swamp the Lords by large new creations in his own interest, and the Bill laid down that, henceforth, not more than six peers, exclusive of members of the Royal Family, should be created by any sovereign ”

“ Care for the preservation of the peace, and for administrative reform, is seen in the oath imposed upon officials and in the pains taken to secure the custody of the castles. The Scots parliament was to be retained, and recent precedents also suggested the probability of Scottish representation in the parliament of England. If Scotland were to be ruled by Edward at all, it would have been difficult to devise a wiser scheme for its administration. Yet the Scottish love of independence was not to be bartered away for better government. ”

“ Even in the centuries of our separate history which are most fully known, the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth, we are beset by many of the same problems and by others not less obscure. How far was constitutional development in Scotland affected by the short-lived union under Edward I? How far by the three hundred years of alliance with France? Can we infer any connection between the German Diet and the Scottish Estates, between the Lords of the Articles and the Committee by which Richard II attempted to supersede the English Parliament? ”

“ The greatest and most lasting effect of the Scottish Parliament is, however, the judicial system of the country. Alone among European countries, Scotland still possesses a judicature which is the direct descendant of a Committee of the Estates. The College of Justice, which, in its present form, was established in the year 1540, ultimately derives its powers from the Scottish Parliament, which, in 1370, first appointed a small committee to deal with its judicial work. ”

“ Instead of simply empowering the queen to appoint commissioners, the English parliament, instigated by the Scottish ministry, directed the Scottish parliament in the choice of its commissioners, and they even prohibited their own commissioners to meet and treat with those of Scotland unless the parliament of Scotland allowed the queen to name these commissioners herself. Moreover all Scotsmen not settled in England, or in its service, were declared aliens, until the succession to the crown of Scotland should be settled on the Princess Sophia and her Protestant heirs. ”

“ The Estates, in language not usually to be found in the statute-book, declare that the Act is passed in order that “as the present age is ravished in admiration with an so fortunate [67] beginning, so that the posterity may rejoice in the fruition of such an effectual Union of two so famous and ancient Kingdoms, miraculously accomplished in the blood and person of so rare a monarch.”
But the Estates, while ready to lavish praise on the king, were determined that the Union was not to interfere with the independence of Scotland. ”

“ But now that the proposal for a change has been made, and made on the part of Ministers, the people of Scotland will be strangely wanting in duty to themselves, and in fidelity to their country, if they do not insist upon a fair measure of justice. And they must do it early. Upon the arrangement made with regard to the English boroughs, depends our sole chance of increased Scottish representation. If we wait until the English bill has passed into a law, we need not hope to extort from the ministry the concession of a single member. ”

“ Scotland was restored to its condition of an independent kingdom. The survivors of the Committee of Estates, which had been left in management on Charles's disastrous march into England, previous to the battle of Worcester, were ordered to resume their functions. Middleton was appointed Lord Commissioner; Glencairn Lord Chancellor; the Earl of Lauderdale Secretary of State; Rothes President of the Council; and Crawford Lord Treasurer. A Parliament was summoned to meet in Edinburgh in January, 1661, and its first measure was to restore the Episcopal hierarchy. ”

“ The parliament resolved to incorporate the two countries into one commonwealth, without kingly government or the aristocratical influence of a house of peers. This was thought to fill up the measure of Scottish misery. There is a pride in the independence of his country, of which even the peasant is conscious; but in this case not only national but religious feelings were outraged. With the civil consequences of an union which would degrade Scotland to the state of a province, the ministers in their ecclesiastical capacity had no concern ”

“ Believing thoroughly and sincerely that we have a clear case, both on the score of justice and expediency, we do not wish to revive any warmer feeling, though we are convinced that a word could arouse it. Scotland in this matter feels, and will speak, like a single man. We are sure of the unanimous support and energy of the members for the ancient kingdom; and although that phalanx forms but an integral part of the legislature of Great Britain, we will not allow ourselves to believe that any minister will proceed with so obnoxious a measure in the face of their united opposition. ”

“ But it was not to be in the power of the Estates to choose the successor to the throne of England as successor to that of Scotland, ‘nor shall the same person be capable, in any event, to be King or Queen of both realms,’ unless there were established, to the satisfaction of the Scottish Parliament, free home and colonial trade, and also such conditions of government as would secure the Crown, the Parliament, the religion, and the liberty of Scotland from English or any foreign influence. ”

“ The Scots desired to see a King of Scottish extraction on the English throne, and they wished also that a system of spiritual and temporal government, such as they had extorted from the King, should be supreme in England also, if only to prevent the possibility of a reaction from thence influencing Scotland. They adhered to hereditary monarchy as a fundamental point: long and bitterly as they had contended against Charles I, they would not let him be overthrown. ”

“ The laws relating to trade, customs, and the excise, shall be the same in Scotland as in England. But all the other laws of Scotland shall remain in force; but alterable by the parliament of Great Britain. Yet with this caution: that laws relating to public policy are alterable at the discretion of the parliament; laws relating to private right are not to be altered but for the evident utility of the people of Scotland.
22. Sixteen peers are to be chosen to represent the peerage of Scotland in parliament, and forty five members to sit in the house of commons. ”

“ If, during the absence and minority of our sovereign, we tamely allow strangers to plant themselves in our strongholds, to seize the reins of government, and alter our laws at their pleasure, may she not hereafter call us to account, and may not the people esteem the nobles of Scotland unworthy of the place of councillors? All we desire is to defend the freedom of our country and the independence of the Crown. [24]
Finally, do not lightly reject the friendship of Scotland. England is separated from every other nation by the sea; and if she unites with Scotland, her defences will be complete. ”

“ If the record of the Estates was one long submission, it did not contain a defeat, and it was capable of two interpretations. So, after the death of the king, the men who had just executed Huntly sent to offer terms to Charles II. It is significant that there were four representatives of the Estates, and three of the Assembly. The power was still conjoint, although Parliament during these years of struggle had learned to act. When the young king came to Scotland he found himself little more than a prisoner in the hands of the grim, staunch fearless men who surrounded him. ”

“ His aim in Scotland was to introduce a "new monarchy," and he determined to make the existence of Parliament the main weapon in the encounter with his rebellious lords. Accordingly, in the year 1425, we find that all prelates, earls, barons, and freeholders, "since they are holden to give their presence in the king's parliament and general council," are enjoined to appear in person "and not by a procuratour, but if that procuratour allege and prove lawful cause of his absence." ”

“ The liberal members of the Convention took advantage of this movement to summon the people to arms for their protection, and they were instantly surrounded by hundreds of armed Cameronians, who completely overawed the adherents of the late government. The Convention then declared King James to have forfeited the crown, by his attempts to overcome the religion and liberties of his subjects. The sovereignty of Scotland was settled, like that of England, upon the next Protestant heirs, the Prince and Princess of Orange, who were accordingly proclaimed at Edinburgh on the 11th of April. ”