Scotland - Parliament - Proceedings [Act of Union] Minuts [sic] of the Proceedings in Parliament

Scotland - Parliament - Proceedings [Act of Union] Minuts [sic] of the Proceedings in Parliament Edinburgh: Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderson, 1706-1707, Minuts [sic] numbers 1-89, most comprising one leaf, some two, the following Minuts with a folded sheet showing the voting records of the members of Parliament (15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29, 33, 34, 42, 43, 44, 46,47, 48,52, 55, 56, 57, 60, 62, 65, 68, 82), contemporary half calf, occasional light staining or spotting, rubbed, joints splittingNote: Note: The proposal for the Union of Scotland and England was first debated by the Lords Commissioners during the first half of 1706; their discussions focussed in detail on customs and excise, the legal systems, shipping and the succession to the crown. Once the commissioners had agreed the terms of the treaty, it was the turn of the Scottish Parliament to examine it. The minutes of the proceedings in Parliament from the autumn of 1706 provide an insight into what the politicians were saying. The minutes also state who voted for and against each article.When the draft Treaty of Union was made public in October 1706, there were riots on the streets of Scottish towns and cities. In Edinburgh a 'villanous and outragious mobb' threatened and insulted judges and Members of the Scottish Parliament. The authorities issued a proclamation offering a reward for the capture of the rioters. In November a proclamation was issued 'against all tumultuary and irregular meetings and convocations of the leidges'. In Glasgow, Dumfries and Lanark people were 'insolently burning the Articles of Treaty betwixt our two Kingdoms'. Sheriffs, baillies and magistrates were authorised to take whatever action necessary to quench the riots. On 12th December 1706, Parliament ordered that a pamphlet entitled 'Queries to the Presbyterian noblemen, barons, burgesses, ministers who are for the schem of an Incorporating Union' be burnt by the hand of the common hangman, at the Mercat-cross of Edinburgh.The Scottish Parliament received countless protests against the Union. Yet the authorities issued another proclamation in late December 1706 forbidding 'unwarrantable and seditious convocations and meetings'. Some of the protestors may have been appeased by an Act for securing the Protestant religion and Presbyterian church government. This, along with the Act of Union, was passed in January 1707.The Scottish Parliament adjourned on 25th March 1707. The proclamation dissolving the Parliament was published on 28th April and the new Parliament of Great Britain sat for the first time in Westminster on 1st May. The Scottish Parliament did not meet again until 12th May 1999.The Treaty of Union consisted of 25 articles. Most of them dealt with economic matters, but they also discussed new flags, the great seal and coinage for the United Kingdom of Great Britain. More importantly, the succession to the crown was agreed. The Protestant Hanoverian line of succession was confirmed, Papists' (Catholics or Jacobites) were excluded from inheriting the crown, Scotland retained her own legal and education systems and customs and excise charges were to be the same in both parts of the kingdom, though Scotland would receive a different treatment for a number of commodities.An important article concerned a cash payment, called the Equivalent, to Scotland: nearly £400,000 was used to compensate Scotland for sharing the responsibility for England's national debt of £18 million.From October 1706 until January 1707, the Scottish Parliament met to discuss and to vote on each article in turn. The Court (government) Party won the votes. The printed minutes of the proceedings of the Scottish Parliament report briefly on its proceedings during the last months of its existence. The most passionate speech against the Union was delivered by John Hamilton, 2nd Lord Belhaven, on 2nd November. He begged for an end to 'misunderstandings and fatal divisions'. Belhaven and other nobles such as the Marquis of Annandale and the Duke of Atholl vehemently voiced strong protests in Parliament against the Act, but they were in a minority among their peers. The barons and the burghs were far more evenly divided between those for and those against the Union.Finally on 16th January, the Act ratifying the treaty was passed by 110 votes to 69; the nobility formed the largest pro-Union group. The Scottish Parliament continued to sit until 25th March 1707. The Queen's Commissioner in Scotland, the Duke of Queensberry, ended its proceedings. Minute number 60 records the approval of the Act of Union, and the accompanying folded sheet records the list of Approvers - those voting for the Act - and 'Noes' - those voting against.Bound with Her Majesty's most Gracious Letter to the Parliament of Scotland. Edinburgh: A. Anderson, 1706, folio, 8pp.