should pervert the meaning of laudable designs. The house resounded with the cry of "liberty or subsidy." Bitter invectives were uttered against the ministry. One member said it was now plain the nation was to expect no other return for their expense and toil, than that of being loaded with a subsidy, and being obliged to bend their necks under the yoke of slavery, which was prepared for them from that throne: another observed, that as their liberties were suppressed, so the privileges of parliament were like to be torn from them; but that he would venture his life in defence of his birthright, and rather die a freeman than live a slave. When the vote was demanded, and declined by the commissioner, the earl of Roxburgh declared, that if there was no other way of obtaining so natural and undeniable a privilege of parliament, they would demand it with their swords in their hands. The commissioner, foreseeing this spirit of freedom and contradiction, ordered the foot guard to be in readiness, and placed a strong guard upon the eastern gate of the city. Notwithstanding these precautions, he ran the risk of being torn in pieces; and, in this apprehension, ordered the chancellor to inform the house, that the parliament should proceed upon overtures for liberty at their next sitting. This promise allayed the ferment which had begun to rise. members prepared an overture, implying, that the elective members should be chosen for every seat at the Michaelmas head courts. That a parliament should be held once in two years at least: That the short adjournments de die in diem should be made by the parliaments themselves, as in England: and that no officer in the army, customs, or excise, nor any gratuitous pensioner, should sit as an elective member. The commissioner being apprised of their proceedings, called for such acts as he was empowered to pass, and having given the royal assent to them, prorogued the parliament to the twelfth day of October. Such was the

Next day the

g Though the queen refused to pass the act of security, the royal assent was granted to an act of limitation on the successor, in which it was declared that no king or queen of Scotland should have power to make war or peace without consent of parliament. Another law was enacted, allowing French wines and other liquors to be imported in neutral bottoms: Without this expedient, it was alleged that the revenue would have been insufficient to maintain the government. An act passed in favour of the company trading to Africa and the Indies; another for a commission concerning the public accounts; a third for punishing slanderous speeches and writings. The commission for treating of an union with England

issue of this remarkable session of the Scottish parliament, in which the duke of Queensberry was abandoned by the greatest part of the ministry; and such a spirit of ferocity and opposition prevailed, as threatened the whole kingdom with civil war and confusion. The queen conferred titles upon those who appeared to have influence in the nation, and attachment to her government, and revived the order of the Thistle, which the late king had dropped.

§ XXXIV. Ireland was filled with discontent, by the behaviour and conduct of the trustees for the forfeited estates. The earl of Rochester had contributed to foment the troubles of the kingdom, by encouraging the factions which had been imported from England. The duke of Ormond was received with open arms, as heir to the virtues of his ancestors, who had been the bulwarks of the protestant interest in Ireland. He opened the parliament on the twenty-first day of September, with a speech to both houses, in which he told them, that his inclination, his interest and the examples of his progenitors, were indispensable obligations upon him, to improve every opportunity to the advantage and prosperity of his native country. The commons having chosen Allen Broderick to be their speaker, proceeded to draw up very affectionate addresses to the and the lord lieutenant. In that to the queen queen they complained, that their enemies had misrepresented them, as desirous of being independent of the crown of England: they, therefore to vindicate themselves from such false aspersions, declared and acknowledged, that the kingdom of Ireland was annexed and united to the imperial crown of England. In order to express their hatred of the trustees, they resolved, that all the protestant freeholders of that kingdom had been falsely and maliciously misrepresented, traduced, and abused, in a book entitled, "The Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire

was vacated, with a prohibition to grant any other commission for that purpose without consent of parliament; and no supply having been provided before the adjournment, the army and expense of government were maintained upon credit. h The marquis of Athol, and the marquis of Douglas, though this last was a minor, were created dukes: lord Tarbat was invested with the title of earl of Cromarty: the viscounts Stair and Roseberry were promoted to the same dignity. Lord Boyle was created earl of Glasgow; James Stewart, of Bute, earl of Bute; Charles Hope, of Hopetoun, earl of Hopetoun; John Crawfurd, of Kilbirnie, viscount Garnock; and sir James Primrose, of Carrington, viscount Primrose.

VOL. I.

Hhh

"into the Irish Forfeitures;" and it appearing that Francis Annesley, member of the house, John Trenchard, Henry Langford, and James Hamilton, were authors of that book, they further resolved, that these persons had scandalously and maliciously misrepresented and traduced the protestant freeholders of that kingdom, and endeavoured to create a misunderstanding and jealousy between the people of England and the protestants of Ireland. Annesley was expelled the house, Hamilton was dead, and Trenchard had returned to England. They had finished the inquiry before the meeting of this parliament; and sold, at an under value, the best of the forfeited estates to the Swordblade company of England. This, in a petition to the Irish parliament, prayed that heads of a bill be brought in for enabling them to take conveyance of lands in Ireland: but the parliament was very little disposed to confirm the bargains of the trustees, and the petition lay neglected on the table. The house expelled John Asgill, who, as agent to the Swordblade company, had offered to lend money to the public in Ireland, on condition that the parliament would pass an act to confirm the company's purchase of the forfeited estates. His constituents disowned his pro

posal; and when he was summoned to appear before the house, and answer for his prevarication, he pleaded his privilege, as member of the English parliament. The commons, in a representation of the state and grievances of the nation, gave her majesty to understand, that the constitution of Ireland had been of late greatly shaken; and their lives, liberties, and estates, called into question, and tried in a manner unknown to their ancestors; that the expense to which they had been unnecessarily exposed by the late trustees for the forfeited estates, in defending their just rights and titles, had exceeded in value the current cash of the kingdom: that their trade was decayed, their money exhausted; and that they were hindered from maintaining their own manufactures: that many protestant families had been constrained to quit the kingdom, in order to earn a livelihood in foreign countries: that the want of frequent parliaments in Ireland had encouraged evilminded men to oppress the subjects; that many civil officers had acquired great fortunes in that impoverished

country, by the exercise of corruption and oppression: that others, in considerable employments, resided in another kingdom, neglecting personal attendance on their duty, while their offices were ill executed, to the detriment of the public, and the failure of justice. They declared, that it was from her majesty's gracious interposition alone they proposed to themselves relief from those their manifold grievances and misfortunes. The commons afterwards voted the necessary supplies, and granted one hundred and fifty thousand pounds to make good the deficiencies of the necessary branches of the establishment.

1

§ XXXV. They appointed a committee to inspect the public accounts, by which they discovered, that above one hundred thousand pounds had been falsely charged as a debt upon the nation. The committee was thanked by the house for having saved this sum, and ordered to examine what persons were concerned in such a misrepresentation, which was generally imputed to those who acted under the duke of Ormond. He himself was a nobleman of honour and generosity, addicted to pleasure, and fond of popular applause but he was surrounded by people of more sordid principles, who had ingratiated themselves into his confidence by the arts of adulation. The commons voted a provision for the halfpay officers; and abolished pensions to the amount of seventeen thousand pounds a year, as unnecessary branches of the establishment. They passed an act settling the succession of the crown, after the pattern set them by England: but the most important transaction of this session was a severe bill to prevent the growth of popery. It bore a strong affinity to that which had passed three years before in England: but contained more effectual clauses. Among others, it enacted, that all estates of papists should be equally divided among the children, notwithstanding any settlement to the contrary, unless the persons to whom they might be settled should qualify themselves by taking the oaths, and communicating with the church of England. The bill was not at all agreeable to the ministry in England, who expected large presents from the papists, by whom a considerable sum had been actually raised for this purpose. But, as they did not think proper to reject such a bill while the English par

liament was sitting, they added a clause which they hoped the parliament of Ireland would refuse: namely, that no persons in that kingdom should be capable of any employment, or of being in the magistracy of any city, who did not qualify themselves by receiving the sacrament, according to the test act passed in England. Though this was certainly a great hardship on the dissenters, the parliament of Ireland sacrificed this consideration to their common security against the Roman catholics, and accepted the amendment without hesitation. This affair being discussed, the commons of Ireland passed a vote against a book entitled, "Memoirs of the late king James II." as a seditious libel. They ordered it to be burned by the hands of the common hangman; and the bookseller and printer to be prosecuted. When this motion was made, a member informed the house, that in the county of Limerick, the Irish papists had begun to form themselves into bodies; to plunder the protestants of their arms and money; and to maintain a correspondence with the disaffected in England. The house immediately resolved, that the papists of the kingdom still retained hopes of the accession of the person known by the name of the prince of Wales in the lifetime of the late king James, and now by the name of James III. In the midst of this zeal against popery and the pretender, they were suddenly adjourned by the command of the lord lieutenant, and broke up in great animosity against that nobleman.i

§ XXXVI. The attention of the English ministry had been for some time chiefly engrossed by the affairs of the continent. The emperor agreed with the allies, that his son the archduke Charles should assume the title of king of Spain, demand the infanta of Portugal in marriage, and undertake something of importance, with the assistance of the maritime powers. Mr. Methuen, the English minister at Lisbon, had already made some progress in a treaty with his Portuguese majesty; and the court of Vienna promised to send such an army into the field as would in a little time

i They had besides the bills already mentioned, passed an act for an additional excise on beer, ale, and other liquors: another encouraging the importation of iron and staves: a third for preventing popish priests from coming into the kingdom: a fourth securing the liberty of the subject: and for prevention of imprisonment beyond seas, and a fifth for naturalizing all protestant strangers.