The Early History of the Scottish Union Question: Bi-Centenary EditionOmond, George W. T. (George William Thomson)
History
The Early History of the Scottish Union Question: Bi-Centenary Edition
Omond, George W. T. (George William Thomson)
England -- Foreign relations -- Scotland; Scotland -- Foreign relations -- England
Having thus answered the objections to naturalisation, he next
maintained that if naturalisation did not follow the Union of the
Kingdoms under the same Crown, danger would be the result. History, he
argued, teaches us that whenever kingdoms have been united by the link
of the Crown alone, if that union has not been fortified by something
more, and most of all by naturalisation, separation takes place. The
Romans and the Latins were united; but the Latins were not made citizens
of Rome. War was the result. Sparta was ruined by attempting to maintain
a league with States whose peoples she jealously regarded as aliens. The
history of Aragon and Castile, of Florence and Pisa, taught us the same
lesson. And on the other hand, we find that where States have been
united, and that union strengthened by the bond of naturalisation, they
never separate again.
He ended his speech by saying that, in future times, England, “having
Scotland united and Ireland reduced,” would be one of the greatest
monarchies in the world.[62]
But this appeal was unheeded by the House; and though Coke brought all
his great authority as a common lawyer to the same side as Bacon, the
members would not be convinced. James on two occasions expostulated with
them. He said he was willing, if it would help on the Union, to live one
year in Scotland and another in England, or to live at York, or on the
Borders. But the Commons were intractable, although the Lords were ready
to agree to the Union, and to the naturalisation of the Scots.
Something, however, was accomplished. The questions of trade and of
naturalisation were left unsettled; but an Act was passed which gave
effect to the first part of the Treaty of Union, by repealing a number
of statutes hostile to Scotland (such as those which forbade the leasing
of lands to Scotsmen, and the exporting of arms or horses to Scotland),
on condition that the Scottish Parliament, when it met, was to repeal
the Scottish Acts, of a similar nature, which were hostile to
England.[63]
With this small concession James had to be contented; and at the
beginning of July he dismissed the Parliament, but not without a
farewell warning that the Union was, in the long-run, inevitable. “These
two kingdoms,” he said, “are so conjoined that, if we should sleep in
our beds, the Union should be, though we would not. He that doth not
love a Scotsman as his brother, or the Scotsman that loves not an
Englishman as his brother, he is traitor to God and the king.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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