le;
that the government had issued a proclamation pardoning all slaughter,
bloodshed, and maiming committed upon those who should be found in
tumults. From these circumstances he concluded, that the Scottish nation
was averse to an incorporating union, which he looked upon as one of
the most dangerous experiments to both nations. Lord North and Grey
complained of the small and unequal proportion of the land-tax imposed
upon Scotland. The earl of Nottingham said it was highly unreasonable
that the Scots, who were by the treaty let into all the branches of the
English trade, and paid so little towards the expense of the government,
should moreover have such a round sum by way of equivalent. The
same topics were insisted on by the lords North and Grey, Guernsey,
Granville, Stawel, and Abingdon. The earl of Nottingham, after having
opposed every article separately, concluded with words to this effect;
"As sir John Maynard said to the late king at the revolution, that
having buried all his contemporaries in Westminster-hall, he was afraid,
if his majesty had not come in that very juncture of time, he might have
likewise outlived the very laws; so, if this union do pass, as I have no
reason to doubt but it will, I may justly affirm I have outlived all the
laws, and the very constitution of England: I, therefore, pray to God
to avert the dire effects which may probably ensue from such an
incorporating union."

These arguments and objections were answered by the lord-treasurer
Godolphin, the earls of Sunderland and Wharton, the lords Townshend,
Halifax, and So-mers, the bishops of Oxford, Norwich, and Sarum. They
observed that such an important measure could not be effected without
some inconveniences; but that these ought to be borne in consideration
of the greatness of the advantage: that the chief dangers to which the
church was exposed arose from France and popery; and this union would
effectually secure it against these evils: that Scotland lay on the
weakest side of England, which could not be defended but by an expensive
army. Should a war break out between the two nations, and Scotland be
conquered, yet even in that case it would be necessary to keep it under
with a standing army, which any enterprising prince might model for
his ambitious purposes, and joining with the Scots, enslave his
English dominion; that any union after a conquest would be compulsive,
consequently of short duration; whereas now it was voluntary,