The Scottish Estates had proposed the Union. But at Westminster nothing could be done to further their wishes. William alluded to the question in his speech from the throne in March 1690. “I must,” he said, “recommend, also, to your consideration a Union with Scotland. I do not mean that it should now be entered upon; but they having proposed this to me, some time since, and the Parliament there having nominated commissioners for that purpose, I should be glad that commissioners might also be nominated here, to treat with them, and so see if such terms could be agreed on, as might be for the benefit of both nations, so as to be presented to you in some future session.”[104] Nothing more, however, was heard of the Union at that time. It was evident that the affairs of both kingdoms were in such a state that it was hopeless to press forward so delicate a piece of business. In England, important questions which could not be delayed awaited decision; and in Parliament party feeling was running high, not only between the Tories and the Whigs, but also between the Lords and the Commons. In Scotland, the factions which contended for the mastery would only have found in the Union another question about which to wrangle. The keen eyes of William had perceived the necessity of the Union, but the time had not yet come. Although the project of an Union was abandoned, the statutes relating to the Church passed by the Scottish Parliament at this time, constituting what is known as the Revolution Settlement, had a most important bearing on the final accomplishment of the Union. Prelacy was abolished, and Presbytery was re-established. Most of the ministers who had been ejected at the Restoration were now dead, but sixty veterans still survived, and they were restored to their livings. The Act which asserted the royal supremacy in ecclesiastical causes was repealed. The Westminster Confession of Faith was declared to be the national creed. The Law of Patronage was reformed by an Act which gave the Protestant landowners in counties, and the town councils in burghs, power to buy the patronage of livings, for a small sum; and the right of choosing the minister was handed over to the landowners and the elders, against whose choice the congregation might appeal to the Presbytery.[105] The statutes which introduced these reforms were accepted by an overwhelming majority of the Scottish people. In 1707 they were embodied in the Act of Union; and it is certain that if, while the terms of the great international contract were being arranged, any serious attempt had been made to alter them, the Union would never have been accomplished.