The Early History of the Scottish Union Question / Bi-Centenary Edition

n language. But for centuries the problem of uniting them baffled the best-laid plans of kings and statesmen; and neither force, nor policy, nor

olicy of Edward the First to combine the marriage of his son to the young Queen of Scotland with a peaceful union of the kingdoms. The clergy, the nobles, and the people of Scotland agreed to the proposed alliance, and were willing that their

e of Englishmen filling many great offices of State;-all tended to exasperate the Scottish nation. But Edward never seems to have doubted that he would succeed no matter at what a cost of blood and treasure in joining the kingdoms. Indeed, it appears that from the summer of 1291, when the competitors for the Crown granted

ime, secure for him and his successors the sovereignty of an undivided kingdom from the English Channel to the Pentland Firth. In pursuance of his policy he resolved to hold a Parliament in which Scotland should be represented, and by which regulations should be framed for the future government of that country. To

d to be peculiarly solemn and binding. They were sworn on our Lord's Body, the Holy Relics, and the Holy Evangels, to give good and lawful advice for maintaining the

men had been summoned to Westminster; but the ordinance left all real power in the hands of Edward. Sir John de Bretaigne, the king's nephew, became Warden of Scotland, with a Chancellor and Controller under him.[3] Eight justiciars were appointed. Six of them were to administer law in the lowlands; and the dangerous duty of executing justice "beyond the

e punished. Similar orders regarding the treatment of Scotsmen in England were sent to the Sheriffs of London, and many of the English counties. Edward perhaps thought that by this semblance of an union, founded on conquest and set forth on parchment, his long-cherished schemes were at last acco

proposal, declared that, after the marriage, Scotland was to remain a separate and independent kingdom; and it was soon found that to propitiate the Scottish nation was a task beyond even the long experience and the profound diplomatic ability of Sadler. Sadler argued that England had a young prince, and Scotland had a young princess, and that if they were betrothed, "these two realms being knit and conjoined in one, the subjects of the same, which have always been infested with the wars, might live together in wealth and perpetual peace." "I pray you," said a Scottish statesman in reply, "give me leave to ask you a ques

s of Roslyn and Craigmillar were in flames, when the abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh were laid in ruins, and when the villages and farms of the lowlands were devas

e views and policy of Somerset. In the name of the English Council he issued a remarkable proclamation, in which he proposed that the Crowns should be united, and that the kingdoms should become one. "We invite you," it was said, "to amity and equality, because, as we inhabit in the same island, there is no people so like one another in manners, customs, and language." There was to be freedom and equality of trade between England and Scotland. The subjects of both kingdoms were to be allowed to intermarry. If the Scots wished it, the name of England would be abolished, and "the indifferent old name of Britains

e land upon the western borders which had been, for so long, a harbour of refuge for the outlaws of both kingdoms, and which was known as the Debateable Ground.[7] It was to be divided by march stones; and ditches and enclosures were to be made

urpose of weakening England had long been the policy of France; and when war between Spain and France broke out in 1555, and an English army was to be sent to the assistance of Spain, the French Court hoped that an army from Scotland would march across the Tweed. Mary of Guise assembled the Scottish nobles, and proposed that they should seize the opportunity of taking vengeance for all the wrongs which their country had suffered since the fatal day of Flodden. But the proposals of the Queen Regent were not received with favour. She had been so foolish as to confer several important offices of St

he complete independence of Scotland.[10] The crown matrimonial of Scotland was conferred upon the Dauphin; but the oath of fidelity which the Scottish ambassadors took to the heir

ds."[12] Thus stood England at the close of the year 1558. The Dauphin and Mary proclaimed themselves King and Queen of England as well as Scotland; and the arms of England were quartered with the arms of France and Scotland on their plate and household furniture. This was an open assertion of the illegitimacy of Elizabeth and a challenge to England. But, in the meantime, peace was preserved. The Treaty of Cambray, which terminated the struggle betwe

that the limits of the two kingdoms should be the same as they had been before the accession of Elizabeth, that the town of Berwick should not be molested by the Scots, that the English

e continent of Europe and in England; and the Queen Regent was expected to join France, Spain, and the Holy Father at Rome, in the league which they had formed for that purpose. Scotland was the stepping-stone to England. If the ascendency of France and the Catholic Faith was once secured in that country, the heretic Elizabeth would be driven from the throne which she had usurped. Therefore the Regent must no longer remain inactive. Against her will, so far as we can judge, Mary of Guise entered on the disastrous contest. A proclamation was issued, commanding all men to go

heir-presumptive to the throne of Scotland.[17] A marriage between him and Elizabeth might, it was suggested, settle the Scottish question. A majority of the Scots were Protestant; and in the turmoil of the civil war which had now begun, Mary of Scotland might, with the help of England, be dethroned by her own subjects, against whom she had allowed a foreign army to be sent. If Arran and Elizabeth were married, the Crowns of England and Scotland w

gland, as they both make but one isle divided from the rest of the world." But this was impossible if the French were allowed to govern Scotland; for they would use Scotland for their own purposes, and "make a footstool thereof to look over England as they may." As no heir had been born to the Queen of Scots, and as she was absent from her kingdom, the nobles and commons of Scotland ought, u

untry had, he said, like every man, the right and duty of self-defence, not only against present danger, but also against danger which might be foreseen. No greater danger c

ime was wasted in correspondence between Berwick and London; and at last Chatelherault and the Lords of the Congregation, weary of the long delay, marched to Edinburgh at the head of their followers. The Queen Regent took shelter behind the walls of Leith. An instrument suspending her from the Regency was proclaimed at the town-cross of Edinburgh; and a letter w

tland, and of the friendship between France and Scotland, was the claim of feudal superiority which the princes of England had set up. To resist that claim, and to save their country from conquest, the Scots formed alliances with France. From the first, many in Scotland doubted the wisdom of these alliances; and now the eyes of all were opened. They saw the inordinate ambi

sides, it is the interest of England to unite with us. France is not making all these warlike preparations merely for an expedition to Scotland. All Europe knows that an invasion of England is intended. Have you forgotten Calais? You are blind if you do not see that they are acting as cunningly as they acted then. Beware lest you find yourselves s

f 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 a

he sea; and if she unites with Scotland, her defences will be complete. Study the advice which Demosthenes g

efeats on one side or another; let the words England and Scotland be obliterated; and let the two nations become one under the name of Great Britain, with Elizabeth as ruler of the United Kingdoms. It is impossible to say what would have followed if the English Council had entertained this proposal. But it implied war with France, not only on the Scottish border, but at every

in assuming the arms of England, and threw the blame upon the late king; and an offer was made to restore Calais if England would refrain from interfering in Scotland.

of Scots and the King of France. For the preservation of the liberties of Scotland, and to expel the French, an English army was to cross the border.[27] England became bound never to permit Scotland to be conquered, or united to France, otherwise than it already was by the marriage of Mary and Francis. Scotland became bound to send an army o

They were well received by the country people; and on the 4th of April the English and Scottish leaders held a council of war at Pinkie House. In the operations of the next three months everything centred round the siege of Leith. In spite of the gallantry of the French

d and twenty men, were to leave Scotland at once. The affairs of Scotland were to be administered entirely by Scotsmen; and the executive government was, during the absence of Mary, to consist of twelve persons, of whom the queen was to

lizabeth to disregard all interference and the remonstrances of foreign Courts. She had done so with reluctance. Slowly and through many a tortuous path she had sent help to Scotland; but, in the end, the deliverance was complete. The war and the treaty of July 1560 destroyed the French influence in the northern portion of the island, taught the Scots that it was only

a great mass of public opinion to support them, especially on the Protestant side.[33] The Scottish Estates were so eager for the Union of the Crowns that they would not listen to Maitland, who, though stron

ered to the Catholic Faith, the power of the house of Stuart was hardly, if at all, impaired by the absence of the queen. But now all this was at an end. Mary of Guise was dead. An English army had expelled the soldiers of France. The government of Scotland was in the hands of Scotsmen. The Scottish nation was no longer Catholic. To celebrate the mass was an offence against the law; and the Scottish clergy were using the Prayer-book of Edward the Sixth. Thus it was a mere form of words to call

would accomplish what had been one of the great ends of English policy from the days of Edward the First to those of Henry the Eighth. But that contract was one which concerned her as a woman rather than as a queen; and she knew that the ceremony which might put the Crown of Scotland with

and enabled her to escape from the dilemma in which she found herself. She thanked the Scottish Estates for the goodwill which they had displayed towards her; and she assured them that she regarded the offer of marriage as a token of their wish "to knit both theis kingdomes presently in Amytye, and hereafter to

Edinburgh by which she was to give up using the title of Queen of England, her quarrels with the refor

band for the Queen of Scots, the effect which her marriage would have upon the relations of England and Scotland was never lost sight of. If the suitor for her hand was a Protestant, he was favoured by those who desired to see peace between the two nations; if he was a Catholic, by those who desired a renewal of the French alliance, or at least a rupture with England.[36] Protestant or Catholic? that was the great question for England and Scot

together; and in the year 1586 the kingdoms entered into a compact which lasted

naturally allies, and were alike exposed to the assaults of the common enemy.[37] In the following year commissioners for both kingdoms met, and signed the League. It was agreed that the sovereigns of England and Scotland should defend the Protestant religion against all comers. There was to be an alliance, offensive and defensive, between the countries. If England was invaded at a point at a distance from Scotland, an army of seven thousand Scotsmen was to march to assist her. If Scotland was invaded at any place distant from England

ely an exception, refused to pray for her; and if she had been tried and sentenced by the Privy Council of Scotland or by the Scottish Parliament, the Catholic laity alone would have attempted to save her. But the manner of her trial and condemnation was regarded as a national affront; and when the Estates met in July 1587 the peers offered to give their lives and fortunes to avenge t

Walsingham adroitly availed himself of this circumstance for the purpose of preventing war. Sir John Maitland, a younger brother of Maitland of Lethington, was the Scottish Secretary, and to him Walsingham wrote a l

ions of the two countries were strained, and there was bad blood between the sovereigns. But there was no open rupture