The Patriot (54 page)

"Then there is the matter of the Cameronians. This I am concerned about, for it could be dangerous. My main reason for coming to you, Saltoun. You know how violent can be the passions of these extreme Covenanting sectaries of the South-West. The folk Claverhouse fought. They are much enraged largely because they believe that Scotland will hereafter be ruled by Episcopalians from London. And they still have hidden arms in large quantities. They threaten to march, when it comes to the vote. March on Edinburgh. That might not be so ill, if it was under control. But there is a wild man you may have heard of, who has put
himself at their head - Cunning
hame of Aiket. He was one of your Darien adventurers. And he is now preaching what almost amounts to a holy war. Not only against union and Episcopalians but against Catholics. And, as you know, much of the Highland force which Atholl could bring down would be Catholic."

"Ah -
I
see. This could be dangerous indeed. I know of this Cunninghame. A firebrand."

"There could be civil war. Which could play into the unionist's hands. Excuse for the English army to march over the Border. To restore order. Stair has already urged that - and Stair's will be the loudest voice amongst the commissioners. So - can
you
seek to keep this Cunninghame within bounds, Saltoun? He may heed you. I could have him apprehended -but that might well only provoke uprising."

"I do not know that I could do much - but I will try. I am seeking to arrange a descent upon Edinburgh, my own self. Of a different sort of electors. Of the men who would be electing the new shire commissioners to the Estates - if there
was
an election. Lairds, lesser barons, country gentlemen. Hundreds of them, from all over. If these can show their teeth, then present representatives may think twice. I am in touch with a number in the South-West and Galloway. I will write to them about Cunninghame and the Cameronians."

"That is good. These are the men we need in this pass. I am glad to hear of your enterprise, sir. If I can help, I shall. We must keep in touch. But secretly, Saltoun - secretly. Or my usefulness is gone . . ."

*
*
*

The winter, so busy for Andrew, gave way to a belated spring, and Scotland as it were held its breath, as the commissioners to treat of union sat in London, amidst great secrecy. Travellers reported no comparable tension in England nor even public interest, although in London one or two mercantile groups linked to the East India Company demonstrated against union, fearing loss of trading monopolies to the beggarly Scots.

Although the treaty sittings went on from 11th April 1706 until late July, all the principal decisions were made within the first nine days, only the working out of details, mainly financial, taking up the time. These details, indeed even the general terms of the proposed treaty in twenty-five Articles, were not published, all to be kept secret until they could be laid before the two Parliaments for approval or otherwise. Nevertheless, with as many as sixty-two commissioners, much leaked out inevitably, to reach Scotland and set the nation by the ears, the worst fears surpassed.

Andrew, through his new links with the Lord Advocate -who was of course officially informed - did not have to rely on rumours and hearsay. Whatever the details might subsequently reveal, the main Articles were, from the Scots aspect, appalling. All was to be as England desired. It would be an incorporating union, under one authority sitting in London, to be named the Parliament of the United Kingdom, but in all major respects it would be the English Parliament continuing. On this the Scots would be allowed only forty-five elected members to the Commons and a mere sixteen peers to the House of Lords -although the Scots peers who sat on this treaty commission were to be sweetened to agree by each being granted an
English
peerage, so that they might take seats. The Scots had asked for sixty-six M.P.s, which would be one-sixth of the membership of the Commons, comparable to the population ratio of the two countries - whereas they got only one-thirteenth in the two Houses. Much was made of Scotland retaining its own laws and judicature; but it would lose its Privy Council and would have to pay taxes and customs-dues at the same level as England. It would become responsible for a
share of the English National Debt, which now amounted to £18 million sterling, equalling three years' revenue, thanks largely to King William's Continental wars; since Scotland had only £160,000 of public debt, to enable her to pay her annual contribution, that £160,000 would be remitted the first year by being added to the Equivalent which William Paterson had worked for and which was to be looked upon as compensation for the Darien losses. This Equivalent was to total £398,085 -10 shillings, calculated none knew how. Instead of the boasted addition to Scotland's wealth, of which so much had been made, they were thus to shoulder an enormous loss, in funding the English National Debt. Trade was to be free, in principle -but the English trade monopolies were to remain, and the Scottish coinage was to be assimilated in that of England. A land tax was to be instituted, and the Hanoverian succession was settled. The only small crumb of comfort in it all was that the loathed Alien Act was to be withdrawn as no longer applicable.

When the gist of all this became known in Scotland there was the predictable fury. The nation seethed, with rioting in the streets of cities and towns, arson on the estates of pro-union lords, the commissioners burnt in effigy. Stair, who as expected had taken the lead in the so-called negotiations, was hated above all, and being named the Curse of Scotland. Discreetly the said commissioners either remained in England meantime or came home secretly and lay very low.

The Scots Parliament was called for 3rd October, to debate the treaty provisions, but no elections were to be held. Meanwhile, Andrew and others like-minded sought to orchestrate the tempest of anger and protest into something which could be controlled and harnessed as a powerful force to influence even a corrupt, bribed and non-representative assembly - no easy task.

He had most success, not unnaturally, with his country gentry, the shires electorate, getting promises from over five hundred of them to rally in Edinburgh, with their retainers, to express their opinions in no uncertain fashion. At meetings with leading churchmen, he stressed the point that while the English Episcopal bishops had twenty-two seats as Lords
Spiritual in the House of Lords - more than the total of Scots peers permitted - Church of Scotland ministers had no representation, putting their Presbyterian system in obvious danger. So, in addition to the pulpit condemnations, the General Assembly agreed to present a vehement overture to Parliament against the terms of the proposed treaty. This, of course, was not enough for the Cameronians and their sympathisers in South-West Scotland, who were already digging out their hidden arms, drilling and parading. These, to the number of some eight thousand, actually took over the town of Dumfries, the 'capital' of that region, burnt a mock-up of the treaty at the burgh cross, and prepared to march north. Efforts to tone down the wilder excesses of the man Cunninghame of Aiket were partly successful; but the situation was complicated by the appearance on the scene of a rival leader called Ker of Kersland, about whom nobody seemed to know much but who appeared to be sowing dissention. Ker, spelt with one V was the family name of the Earl of Roxburghe - the Marquis of Lothian's branch of the clan used two; and there were doubts as to whether this new man was in fact an
agent provocateur
sent down by the Squadrone to disrupt any concerted action. Andrew, for one, did not know whether to welcome this intervention or otherwise. In the north, Atholl was said to be mobilising his Murrays and the other clans, largely Jacobite inevitably; and though Andrew had little influence there, he did keep in touch through Rob Roy MacGregor who, because of his cattle-dealing activities, came and went in the Lowlands more or less at will. The town and burgh protests were being organised into a most impressive series of proclamations, score upon score of them, all bearing signatures running into thousands, and all to be presented by innumerable delegations to Parliament. It was significant that of all these, only one was in favour of union, from the burgh of Ayr, where Stair had much influence - and even there a counter-manifesto, with many more signatures, was drawn up to accompany it. And so on.

All this was reasonably heartening for Andrew, Belhaven and their colleagues. But gradually a curious doubt began to form at the back of Andrew's mind. It was the MacGregor, on
one of his clandestine visits to Saltoun, who was instrumental in bringing that doubt from the back to the front of his host's mind, only a few days before Parliament was due to sit.

"My lord Duke does not like this of Hamilton, whatever," he said. "He does not. It is not the right place, at all."

"Place . . . ? You do not refer to
Duke
Hamilton, then?"

"Och, well - that too, yes. But it is this of the
town
of Hamilton that does be troubling my own duke. The South-landers from Dumfries and Galloway, these Covenanters — they are after having the Duke of Atholl and his Highlandmen to be joining them there, at Hamilton, to march on Edinburgh. And my duke is not much liking the notion, see you. Stirling it was to be, just - to be holding Stirling and the Forth crossing."

"Save us - Hamilton! I knew nothing of this. The two forces to join at Hamilton? I do not wonder that Atholl does not like it. This could provoke outright war. Excuse for the English army on the Border to march."

"Yes, then. Holding Stirling is one thing. To march south into Lanarkshire and join these wild men at Hamilton is another, whatever."

It interested Andrew to hear this Highland fightingman, cateran and cattle-lifter refer to the Cameronians as wild men. "But why choose Hamilton?" he wondered. "The Duke's own town and palace. They would hardly march there without the Duke's agreement."

"That is what my duke says. Forby, he has heard tell, as have I, that Duke Hamilton is for making a national address to the Queen, declaring that almost all Scotland is averse to this union and that, according to our laws, it is as good as high treason to consider an entire union. And that if the Queen's Scots ministers insist on bringing to Parliament, he himself will lead all against out of the House, whatever. Which Duke Atholl says is a foolishness."

"I say so also. I knew of the address - indeed I suggested it to, well to another. But not this of walking out. The ministers would just pass the treaty without us. Folly, indeed!" It clicked in Andrew's mind, then, that more than one of his shires gentry had proposed that Hamilton was the man to head up
their
united demonstration to Parl
iament; and that leading church
men had named the Duke also, to present their overture. Was there just too much of Duke James in all this? It was understandable, of course. He was the premier peer of Scotland, allied to the royal house, and had been strong against union. But after that let-down at the last Parliament, Andrew was not disposed to trust him - not so much as to dishonesty but in his judgment and consistency.

"We shall have to watch Hamilton," he said. "And I think that Atholl is wise to wait at Stirling. Or his men, at least - for we shall need him here."

***

The 3rd of October dawned cold and grey, with a thin drizzle of rain off the North Sea, to put a frown on even Edinburgh's fair face. But the weather no wise daunted the crowds and the streets were thronged from an early hour - indeed many had been out all night, for the city was bursting at the seams, accommodation all but unprocurable, with thousands flocked in, deputations, petitioners, demonstrators and the retainers of all the lords and gentry. The taverns were doing a roaring trade. And the capital was as full of rumours as it was of excited folk -the Jacobites were coming, the Cameronians were marching, the English had invaded across Tweed, Glasgow town was on fire and its Provost hanged, there had been a battle at Stirling, the country was sold for English gold, and so on.

In this heady climate, so at odds with the weather, the members of the Estates had to make their way up to Parliament Hall, no easy matter anyway through the packed, narrow streets and wynds. Unfortunately there was no way in general of identifying the pro-union from the anti-union commissioners, or even who was a commissioner and who was not. To be on the safe side, the crowds more or less assumed that every well-dressed man whom they did not recognise was one of the hated unionists - or else perhaps a Jacobite in disguise. So even the most rugged opponents of union had to run the gauntlet, were mobbed and hooted and spat upon. Those who had discreetly surrounded themselves with bodyguards of retainers were, in fact, particularly picked upon, as obviously guilt-stricken, no doubt, and paid for, and had to make their way up
the High Street in one long battle. Those lordly ones who could rise to coaches, thinking that they were safe therein, were quickly disillusioned, many of the vehicles' windows smashed, outriders unhorsed and some of the noble occupants dragged out and assaulted. Andrew himself, thanks to his campaign of public appearances, escaped all this, being quickly recognised and applauded. Even so, progress was difficult.

When he and Belhaven eventually reached Parliament Hall, breathless and dishevelled, it was to find the place besieged, indeed doors locked to keep the crowds at bay - and keeping out the commissioners likewise, to be sure. Although they tried the rear entrances, by narrow wynds up from the Cowgate, these too were impassible. It was not until, with much clatter and trumpet-blasts, the Lord High Commissioner's great coach arrived from Holyrood with an escort of two troops of Horse Guards, swords drawn and swiping flat-bladed, that the waiting and alarmed legislators were able to enter their building - and even this arrival, ironically enough, had apparently only been possible by Queensberry's coach and escort keeping close behind the Duke of Hamilton who, coming from his suite in the same palace, was carried up Canongate and High Street shoulder-high by relays of stalwart citizens, to cheers and acclaim, the darling of the populace, a strange thing by any standards, with Hamilton himself as mystified and embarrassed as any.