feem'd to be impolitick fo foon after the Union, for it called to Remembrance what is recorded in our Hiftory of your Edward I, who, in order to establish his Sovereignty over us, when Jabn Baliol, who got our Crown by his Affiftance, own'd himself to be his Vaffal, he deftroyed many of our cheif Families, which quite ruined his Defign, and engaged England in a long and ruinous War. In fhort, our People in general thought the carrying up of thofe Lords and Gentlemen to London, looked too much like making them Trophies of a Conqueft and Subjection; and I am very apt to believe, if any honeft Men with you went into thofe Measures, it was becaufe they thought there was no Juftice to be expected from our Ministry against a Jacobite Plot, confidering their Management of that formerly called the Scots Plot, and their conItant Oppofition to the Proteftant Succeffion; and upon this Account, the fending for thofe of our Nobility and Gentry up, whom our late Miniftry are fuppofed to have informed yours were moft like to be guilty of Treafonable Practices, deferves to be thought as great an Inftance of Prudence and Integrity, as it would have been the contrary, if our late Ministry had been intrufted with taking their Examinations." But after all, to us it feems unaccountable, that not one Englishman was taken up for this Plot and Invafion, except what were taken at Sea. Certainly no Man can think that all the Difloyalty of the Ifland lies by North Tweed, or that the Pretender would have attempted to come over without greater Affurance of Support than he could expect from the Jacobites with us. One would have thought that our late Scots Miniftry had not so much Success with their former Plot, as to make them fond of taking up People again for another, without good Evidence against them, or very ftrong Reasons to fufpect them. It is well for you, that your Miniftry had fo tender a Regard to the Liberties of the Subject, as to put none of your People to Difgrace and Expence, upon that Account, fince they had no Evidence against them: Nor is the Clemency lefs remarkable that is ufed with you towards thofe that were taken in the Salisbury Man of War, efpecially fince one of the chief of them was under a former Condemnation. I am fatisfied that nothing could have induced our late Mihiftry to treat them fo civilly, had they belonged to their Province, except they could have purchased their Favour by giving or procuring them Proxies to vote down the Squadrone: But it is your peculiar Happiness that your Miniftry ftands in need of no fuch Medfures, and that they abhor falling in with any thing that may fo much endanger your Conftitution, as the over-turning of the Freedom of Elections must neceffarily do. I doubt not but you take notice of the Libeller's Clamour against the Squadrone, as having from Time to Time joined with Jacobites. Now admitting it to be true, it is the most difingenuous Thing in the World for our late Courtiers to have allowed their Tool to mention this, fince they have been fo frequently guilty of it themselves, and that fo lately too, as to folicit fuch who were taken up as Favourers of the Invafion to give them their Proxies. Certainly they cannot charge the Squadrone to have made the D. of 2- -'s Brother, the late E.of March, who lived and died a facobite, Governor of Edinburgb-Caftle; and to have turn'd out the E. of L-, who was always taken to Gg 2 be be a ftaunch Revolutioner, to make way for him. It was not the Squadrone who brought the late Lord Ballendin into Council, though fo rank a Jacobite, that he shot a. poor Centinel for faying he belonged to King William, and told him that it was King James's Pafs: It was not they who likewife brought in the E. of D-re, and the E. of Bs, who was a known and active Jacobite. It was not they who counter-figned the Indemnity_formerly mentioned, which brought over fo many People from St. Germains: It was not under their Administration that Popery and Jacobitism increased so much as to stand in need of Proclamations fince, to put a Curb to them; but Malice knows no Bounds, and is incapable of Shame: Otherwife our late Courtiers would never have fuffered their Libeller to charge their own Crimes upon the Squadrone, and particularly to tell us that they offered to come in with the Jacobites against the Succeffion, when it is known to the whole Country, and appears by the Records of Parliament, that they did all they could to get it established, and that it was the D. of 2's Party who joined with the Facobites to oppose it. We may say the like as to the Proxies, fince the Libeller owns His Party had obtained fome from those that were taken up on Account of the Invasion. And I would feign know whether it be most criminal to take the Affiftance of luch Men, when it can be had, in order to refcue our Country from an oppreffive Ministry, or to endeavour to obtain it by Threats and Promises, in order to continue us under arbitrary Power, and to give any Court an Opportunity to have all our Sixty-one Members return'd as they please. I come next to our late Elections, concerning which the Libeller charges the Squadrone with fo many unfair Practices; but how juftly, will appear when our controverted Elections come to be debated in Parliament, In the mean Time you may be fatisfied, that none of the Squadrone could pretend to the Honour of being then her Majefty's Servants; and therefore could not threaten any Body for oppofing them as fuch with the Lofs of Place, Commiffion, or Penfion: Nor had they the Honour to be trufted with the Secret, or Power to give inLifts of fuch as were thought proper to be taken up on Account of the Invasion or Plot; and therefore could not put Marks of Difgrace upon any of the D. of 2's Friends, or fend them Prifoners to another Country, that they might not be near enough, to influence Elections; nor couldthey take them up at home, and threaten to fend them after the reft if they would not give their Proxies or Intereft to them. It was (not in the Power of the Squadrone to give a Commiffion to any General Officer of the Army to fend for fuch People, and put them in Prison as difaffected Perfons, that were like to ftand Candidates against any of their Friends; nor had the Squadrone any blank Commiffions to fill up with fuch as would fell their Votes to be made Sheriff's, Juftices of the Peace, or other Officers. I never heard that the Squadrone was charged with fplitting Freeholds, and making fraudulent Sales of them, with Claufes of Revocation, and that too after the Teft of the Writs, in order to purchase Votes: Nor do I know that they teized and affronted Gentlemen Voters, that were known to be firm to the Revolution, by tendering the Oaths to them, in order to make their Loyalty fufpected, when they came to vote vote against any of their Friends. It was fome other People than the Squadrone who brought Bailiffs, contrary to Law, into the Meetings of the Electors, to take up fuch as voted against their Friends, on Pretence of Debt. It was not the Squadrone who had blank Warrants to fill up with the Names of fuch as oppofed the Election of their Friends, fent them to Edinburgh from far diftant Places, kept them under Confinement for fome Weeks, and at last discharged them, without afking them one Queftion. It was not the Squadrone who brought People to vote at Elections, that could not tell where their Freeholds lay. It was not they who had arm'd men lodged near Places of Election to over-awe the Electors, nor who took upon them, at their Meetings for electing, to determine fuch Cafes as are determinable only in Parliament. It was not the Squadrone who brought in a Sort of Peers of a double Capacity, who shall both have a Right to fit in Perfon, and to chufe others to fit in the fame Houfe with themselves; a Sort of Peerage unknown to our Conftitution, and which in Time may prove dangerous to it, fince any Court that is fo minded may give fo many Englishmen Scotch Titles of Peerage, as will put it entirely in the Power of the Court, and of the South Part of Britain, to chufe all the Scots 16. This, by the way, puts me in Mind of another Thing that may prove fatal to our Conftitution, if it be not guarded against; and that is, left any Court fhould take an Opportunity to bring fuch a Number of the prefent Scots Peers into the House by English Titles, as may break the Proportion fettled by the Articles betwixt the Number of Parliament Peers in both Parts of the Island; against which I do not find any Provifion made by the Treaty with respect to either of the united Kingdoms. For the Name of Great-Britain is not like to have Charm enough to make Men forget the particular Intereft of that Part of the Inland where their Property lies. I fhall add, that it was not the Squadrone who countenanced the voting of any Peer in chufing others, who by his Poft must be a Judge of Points of Law relating to Elections, which looks too like making a Man both Judge and Party. In short, Sir, you may eafily perceive by thefe Hints what Hardships we lie under, as to the Matter of our Elections, with refpect to the Lords, and how dangerous it is to let any Court or Faction have an Opportunity of returning our 16, according to their own Humour. I come now to the Elections of our Commons, as to which there are Abundance of Complaints; and no Doubt you will hear enough of it e're long at the Bar of the Houfe, to convince you that Care must be taken to prevent Bribery, Threats and Promifes, and to fecure the Elections of our Commoners against the Influence of our Lords and Courtiers. You may perceive by the Union A&t, that our Boroughs are divided into fifteen Claffes or Diftricts, nine of which have five Electors each, and the other fix but four; and in Cafe of an Equality of Votes, the Prefident of the Meeting is allow'd two; now it is plain, that when the Number of Electors are fo few, it gives an eafy Opportunity for Bribery, befides the Handle it affords the Prefident of each Meeting to return himfelf or his Friend, which I humbly conceive is against the Equity of the Law, that does not allow a Sheriff to be a Member, because of the Opportunity he has of playing Tricks in the Return," As As to the chufing of our Barons or Knights of Shires, it is not indeed fo liable to Bribery; yet, confidering that the Electors are few in Comparison of what they are with you, Corruptions of that Nature may be much more eafily practifed here than in England: All which together will convince you of the Neceffity of making fome good and effectual Laws, to fecure the Freedom of our Elections against fuch Practices as have been too frequent among our late Courtiers; otherwife, inftead of having either our Liberty or yours fecured by the Union, both of them may be endangered, and our fixty-one Lords and Commons may be form'd into a Battalion, at any Time, to attack Magna Charta, and join with Courtiers to make any future Prince as abfolute as the French King. You fee what Efforts the D. of 2- and his Friends have made to get the whole into their Power, and by their endeavouring to poffefs the Queen with an Opinion that our ancient Conftitution was an Encroachment on the Prerogative (as appears by the D. of 2's Letter to the Queen, of Auguft the 11th, 1703, printed in the Proceedings of the Houfe of Lords about the Scots Plot) you may be fatisfied they had no Defign to fupport the common Liberty of the Inland, by having that Power in their Hands. By this Time I doubt not but you are very well fatisfied that we had Reason to wish for a Deliverance from the Hands of fuch Men; and that if we ftill be continued under the Influence of their Miniftry, or that of Men of the fame Stamp, we lose the chief Thing we aim'd at by coming into the Union; and instead of having more Liberty, are made greater Slaves, in which Cafe your Privileges can not be long lived. They have peel'd and poll'd us till we have nothing left to be a Bait for their Avarice; fo that now they must think of preying upon you, if you do not take care to prevent it. The Truth of this would appear very plain, if the Parliament of Great Britain fhould think fit to appoint a Committee, to inquire how the Equivalent has been managed and fhared; this is fo late an Inftance, and falls fo naturally under the Inquiry of the United Parliament, that one would think there needs no more but to name it; and perhaps this might open fuch a Scene of Tyranny and Oppreffion, and of Tricks put both upon Court and Country, as few Ages have heard of the like: Refumptions of Grants is a Thing very agreeable to our Conftitution,as will appear to any Man that cafts an Eye upon our Statute Book; and if an Inquiry were appointed how the Lands and Rents of the Crown of Scotland have been difpofed of, fince that Party had the Adminiftration in their Hands, and fuch Grants revoked as have been made to Perfons of no Merit, or for no valuable Confideration, it might cafe the Country of fome of their Taxes, and afford the Crown a confiderable Support out of what is properly its own, but now fquandered away by lavish Grants unfairly obtained: And as they made bold with her Majefty's Revenues, they made as ill Ufe of her Honours, Conferred Patents of Peerage, and of being Knight Baronets, on Perfons who had neither Merit nor Eftate to fupport their Character. Thus have Suffrages been bought and fold in our Parliament while we had one, and you may be fure they will put the fame Practices in ufe with you, if they be not prevented. I. hope the United Parliament will confider there is no arbitrary Defign which Men preferred to Honour and Riches by such undue Methods are not capable of, and that that the vaft Expence which fuch an indigent Nobility and Gentry,and Officers of the Army, that may be returned to ferve in Parliament, must be put to, by coming from hence annually to London, lays them open to Temptations to fell their Votes to any Court or Faction, that is able or willing to be at the Charge of the Purchase; and how fatal that may be to the British Liberties, you may eafily judge. In short, if the Trade of our Country be not encouraged, and fuch Defigns against it as above-mentioned prevented, it may reduce us to the like defperate Attempt of making an entire Surrender of our Liberties to the Crown, as was done formerly by the Danes and Swedes, in hopes that the Court may treat us better than our late Miniftry have done. fhall conclude with this one Reflection, That if the Administration be not put into fuch Hands as promoted the Union, not out of any felfish Defign, but purely to fecure the common Liberty of the Inland, and into the Hands of those who have now join'd them in that noble Defign, you and we may both have Caufe to repent that ever it was made. At the fame time I am heartily glad to hear of a Change of that Sort already begun with you, and hope it will be univerfal through Great-Britain and Ireland, and that we fhall not have the hard Fate to be continued under any thing, which looks like a feparate Adminiftration, that may give any Man the fame or a greater Influence over us than what our late Miniftry had, though under different Names; for that is as much inconfiftent with the Union, and will as effectually disappoint the Expectations we had conceived from it, as to put the common Adminiftration of the United Inland into the Hands of fuch as either with you or us have discovered their Averfion to a real Union, and taken all poffible Methods to make it ineffectual, fince they perceive by abolishing the Council of Scotland, and taking the Power of the Scots Returns out of their Hands, that they cannot now make use of it to carry on their arbitrary Defigns, and to fupport an Interest in the Court different from, or rather oppofite to that of the Country, as they did of the separate Parliament of Scotland fo long as they had it in their Management. I did not think it neceffary to infift upon the Vindication of any of the particular Persons whom the Author of the Account of the Elections in Scotland has afperfed in his Libel: For his Malice and Falfhood are fo obvious, and the Perfons he reflects upon are fo well known to he beft Men of the Inland, that inftead of impairing the Credit of any Man he attacks, he has leffen'd his own, if ever he had any; expofed himself to be laugh'd at by every body here, and has difcovered fo much of his own Weaknefs, and that of his Party, as would fooner raise a Man's Pity than his Refentment. I fhall trouble you no further, than to affure you that I have been fo far fromtaking his flandering Method, that I have advanced nothing against his Party, but what either appears upon our Records, or is fo well known, that it can't be deny'd. for Nor have I faid all that I could, which perhaps his Patrons may know, if they will venture to employ him, or any other, to contradict what I have wrOLG here how cds - all d November 15, I am, $1R, Your moft bumble Servant. The |