- From the burdens thus imposed for the support of the Government, the Scots were not exempted; but they contributed with reluctance to the expenses of a war from which they could derive A.D. Į little advantage or glory. The Parliament was never sum1695. moned but to provide supplies. In the present conjunc ture, it required great influence and address to allay the ferment occasioned by the massacre of Glenco. A commission passed the great seal for taking a precognition of the massacre: But, after a report was drawn up and presented to the Parliament, which voted an address to the King, imploring him to prosecute the Master of Stair, as the chief adviser of that foul murder, the affair was quashed and the delinquents were promoted in the service.

To induce the Scots to vote new subsidies, the Marquis of Tweeddale, who presided in the Parliament as commissioner, proposed, in the King's name, that if they would pass an act for establishing a colony for commercial purposes in Africa or America, his Majesty would grant them such chartered privileges as he had conferred in similar cases on the subjects of his other dominions.

A scheme that promised to enrich the country was eagerly embraced; and an act was passed to erect a trading company to Africa and the Indies, with permission to plant colonies and build towns and forts in places not inhabited or settled by European powers. An exemption from all duties was granted for the space of twenty years..

The whole nation entertained the most extravagant hopes of success. In a short time, the sum of four hundred thousand pounds was subscribed for a capital. Paterson, the projector, had contrived to establish the settlement upon the isthmus of Darien, that a trade might be carried on in the South Sea as well as in the Atlantic, and even to extend their enterprises to the East Indies. The situation of the settlement was well chosen; and much success might have been reasonably expected from the enterprise and perseverance of the colonists: But its vicinity to Portobello and Carthagena, at that time the great marts of the Spaniards in America,—and the facilities which its situation afforded for cutting off all communication between these and the port of Panama on the South Sea, whither the treasures of Peru were anA.D.nually conveyed,-filled the court of Madrid with the most 1698. alarming apprehensions; and the Spanish ambassador at

London was instructed to present warm remonstrances on the subject to the court of England.

The English themselves became jealous of the colony of New Caledonia; and William was persuaded to send secret orders to the governors of the English settlements, to interdict all communication with the Scottish colony. This ungenerous conduct was fatal to the colonists. Deprived of all support in America, and receiving but scanty supplies from Europe, they were compelled. to surrender to the Spaniards..

A.D. Before the disasters of the colony were reported in Scot1699. § land, a second and third expedition had sailed from that country, with about sixteen hundred fresh adventurers. Upon their arrival in America, they found the huts burnt and the forts demolished. Within three months after, they were attacked by the Spaniards, whom they at first repulsed; but a fleet from Carthagena forced them to capitulate, on permission to return to France with all their effects. For such a long voyage their ships were unprovided, and few of the colonists returned to their native country.

}

Disappointed of their hopes, the Scots were struck with A.D. 1700, consternation and despair. They were inflamed with rageagainst William ; whom they accused of duplicity, ingratitude, and inhumanity. The affairs of Darien were too important to be passed over in silence: The honour and independence of the nation remained to be vindicated; and a series of popular and spirited resolutions were voted by the Scottish Parliament. William made some prudent concessions, and soothed the complainants with hopes of redress: But the disasters of Darien were long remembered by the Scots with resentiment and regret.

The remainder of this reign presents few interesting events. When the settlement of the crown was extended in England to the house of Hanover, the Scots were too much exasperated to concur in the same salutary measure; but, to secure the Protestant succession, the frequently-projected scheme of a union of the two kingdoms. was revived. William's last message to the English Commons earnestly recommended this measure; which he was unable to accomplish himself, from his approaching dissolution. He died of fever, in consequence of a fall from his horse, in the A.D. 2 fifty-second year of his age, after having reigned thirteen 1702.

years.

The character of William has been variously appreciated, agreeably to the political creed and feelings of the historians. He is represented by Smollet as "dead to all the warm and generous emotions of the human heart,—a cold relation, an indifferent husband, a disagrecable man, an ungracious prince, and an imperious sovereign." That such a delineation of his character is unjust and malignant, is obvious. He was silent and reserved in his deportment: But his taciturnity and reserve were probably contracted through the constraint imposed upon his youth; and: his indifference to the fine arts must be attributed to the disadvantages of a neglected education. His disposition was not always averse to the enjoyments of domestic life and social intercourse. He possessed a sound and provident judgment, an invention ever fertile in resources, a calm and serene magnanimity in battle and danger, moderation in prosperity and fortitude in adversity, fidelity to his allies, and an invincible attachment to public liberty. He was not only the deliverer of England, but he became the arbiter and protector of the liberties of Europe; and it constitutes the purest glory of his life and reign, that he was the first prince- in Christendom who introduced religious toleration into his dominions.

The greatest blemishes of his reign were the introduction of the dishonourable practice of corrupting parliaments and laying the foundation of the national debt; his inattention to the selection of his ministers in Scotland, where he was betrayed into arbitrary exertions of power; though during his reign not a single person in that kingdom perished on the scaffold for treason, nor was there a noble family ruined by forfeitures.*

The exiled King James died a short time before his son-in-law.. Subsequent to his flight from England, he resided in France-a dependant on the bounty of Louis, immersed in the most sordid superstitions, and a disciple and companion of the monks of La Trappe, whom he emulated in the most ascetic mortifications.

Laing's History, of Scotland..

CHAPTER XIII.

Queen Anne. Convention Parliament dissolved. Act of security. Fraser of Lovat. Treaty of union. Disturbances in the Western counties. Sum-mary of the treaty—which is ratified. Privy Council abolished.

A.D.

QUEEN UEEN ANNE.-The Princess Anne, the eldest daughter 1702. S of James, succeeded William. Her accession was acceptable both to the Whigs and Tories: To the former, as the settlement of the crown was fulfilled according to the claim of right; to the latter, as a lineal descendant of the house of Stuart was restored to the throne. The Tories were likewise pleased with the hope that, as there was little probability of her having heirs of her own body, she would be induced by the ties of fraternal affection to alter the succession in favour of her brother.

The Queen notified officially her accession to the throne in a letter to the Scottish Privy Council; to whom she also signified her royal pleasure that the members of the administration would. continue in office until she should send them a new commission. She likewise assured them of her unalterable purpose to preserve inviolably the religion, the laws, and the liberties of the kingdom. · The Convention Parliament, which had subsisted during the whole of William's reign, was, by a late statute, impowered to meet within twenty days after the demise of the King, in order to provide for the public safety and the Protestant succession; but the Queen had, by several adjournments, deferred its meeting nearly three months after her accession.

As the head of the Jacobites, the Duke of Hamilton applied in person to the Queen to dissolve the Parliament and call a new one; but she declined compliance. Upon the assembling of the Parliament at Edinburgh, the Duke protested against its proceed ings, as an illegal assembly, and immediately withdrew at the head of eighty members. The remainder, consisting of the majority, disregarding Hamilton's secession, proceeded to business, agreeably to her Majesty's commission; and, in pursuance of the late King's recommendation, commissioners were appointed to meet with a deputation of the English Parliament at Westminster, to treat for an incorporating union of the kingdoms.

After the lapse of two months spent in adjusting the preliminaries, the Scottish deputies proposed that the rights of the Darien

company should be preserved and maintained;-as a share in the plantation trade was, they said, due to a nation impoverished during the preceding century by the absence of its nobility at the court of England, by the loss of its commercial privileges in France, and by the restrictions imposed upon them since the Restoration, as well as by their late disasters at Darien. These demands were considered by the English commissioners as incompatible with the interests of their East India Company; and as the discordant interests of those opposite monopolies could not be reconciled, the treaty was adjourned.

A.D. 1703.

In compliance with the wishes of the nation, the Con vention Parliament, that had existed fourteen years, was dissolved, and a new one was summoned to provide for the defi ciencies of the former supplies; for the people, having begun to dispute the authority of Parliament, refused payment of their taxes which it had imposed. A change of ministry was likewise effected by the influence of Queensberry; when the Whigs were displaced, and those statesmen were introduced into office who had occasionally opposed the measures of the last reign. The Jacobites exulted in the hope of acquiring power; the Episcopal clergy an ticipated an alteration in the government of the church favourable to them; but the Presbyterians, jealous of the Queen's indulgences and liberality, were alarmed for their religion and the Pro

testant succession.

When the new Parliament was opened by Queensberry, two bills were introduced; the first confirming the Presbyterian church, and the second declaring it high treason to make any alteration in the claim of right. Presbytery was thus indirectly sanctioned by the penalty of treason; and the Jacobites, abandoning all hopes of Episcopal supremacy, and of overturning the Revolution settlement, deserted the commissioner.

As the security of England required that the Protestant succession should be secured in Scotland, it was the obvious policy of all parties in the latter kingdom to obtain a satisfactory redress of their grievances, and an assurance that the national honour and interests would be duly respected in the expected settlement of the union.

To provide for the honour and independence of the crown and kingdom, in the event of the Queen's demise, an act of security was proposed, that Parliament should meet within twenty days