als and linen were to be excluded,
and regiments of regular troops were to be sent to the Border if Scotland
did not accept the Hanoverian succession before Christmas 1705. If it
came to war, Scotland could expect no help from her ancient ally, France,
unless she raised the standard of King James. As he was a Catholic, the
Kirk would prohibit this measure, so it was perfectly clear to every
plain man that Scotland must accept the Union and make the best bargain
she could.

In spring 1705 the new Duke of Argyll, "Red John of the Battles," a man
of the sword and an accomplished orator, was made Commissioner, and, of
course, favoured the Union, as did Queensberry and the other officers of
State. Friction between the two countries arose in spring, when an
Edinburgh jury convicted, and the mob insisted on the execution of, an
English Captain Green, whose ship, the _Worcester_, had been seized in
the Forth by Roderick Mackenzie, Secretary of the Scottish East India
Company. Green was supposed to have captured and destroyed a ship of the
Company's, the _Speedy Return_, which never did return. It was not
proved that this ship had been Green's victim, but that he had committed
acts of piracy is certain. The hanging of Green increased the animosity
of the sister kingdoms.

When Parliament met, June 28, 1705, it was a parliament of groups.
Tweeddale and others, turned out of office in favour of Argyll's
Government, formed the Flying Squadron (_Squadrone volante_), voting in
whatever way would most annoy the Government. Argyll opened by
proposing, as did the Queen's Message, the instant discussion of the
Union (July 3). The House preferred to deliberate on anything else, and
the leader of the Jacobites or Cavaliers, Lockhart of Carnwath, a very
able sardonic man, saw that this was, for Jacobite ends, a tactical
error. The more time was expended the more chance had Queensberry to win
votes for the Union. Fletcher of Saltoun, an independent and eloquent
patriot and republican, wasted time by impossible proposals. Hamilton
brought forward, and by only two votes lost, a proposal which England
would never have dreamed of accepting. Canny Jacobites, however,
abstained from voting, and thence Lockhart dates the ruin of his country.
Supply, at all events, was granted, and on that Argyll adjourned. The
queen was to select Commissioners of both countries to negotiate the
Treaty of Union; among the Commissioners Lockhart was the