as an invasion of the royal
prerogative. In the address of the commons there was no such article;
and, therefore, the answer they received was warm and cordial.

The duke of Hamilton claiming a seat in the house of peers, as duke
of Brandon, a title he had lately received, was opposed by the
anti-courtiers, who pretended to foresee great danger to the
constitution from admitting into the house a greater number of Scottish
peers than the act of union allowed. Counsel was heard upon the
validity of his patent. They observed that no objection could be made to
the queen's prerogative in conferring honours; and that all the subjects
of the united kingdom were equally capable of receiving honour. The
house of lords had already decided the matter, in admitting the duke of
Queensberry upon his being created duke of Dover. The debate was managed
with great ability on both sides; the Scottish peers united in defence
of the duke's claim; and the court exerted its whole strength to support
the patent. Nevertheless, the question being put, whether Scottish
peers, created peers of Great Britain since the union, had a right to
sit in that house; it was carried in the negative by a majority of
five voices; though not without a protest signed by the lords in the
opposition. The Scottish peers were so incensed at this decision, that
they drew up a representation to the queen, complaining of it as an
infringement of the union, and a mark of disgrace put upon the whole
peerage of Scotland. The bill against occasional conformity was revived
by the earl of Nottingham, in more moderate terms than those that had
been formerly rejected; and it passed both houses by the connivance of
the whigs, upon the earl's promise, that if they would consent to this
measure, he would bring over many friends to join them in matters of
greater consequence. On the twenty-second day of December, the queen,
being indisposed, granted a commission to the lord-keeper and some
other peers to give the royal assent to this bill, and another for the
land-tax. The duke of Devonshire obtained leave to bring in a bill for
giving precedence over all peers to the electoral prince of Hanover, as
the duke of Cambridge. An address was presented to the queen, desiring
she would give instructions to her plenipotentiaries to consult with the
ministers of the allies in Holland before the opening of the congress,
that they might concert the necessary measures for proceeding with
una