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160S.

the pretensions of whose family they had first BOOK
supported, and whose mother they regarded as a
martyr to their cause. But his peaceful and un-
disturbed accession must be ascribed to the ab-
sence of every competitor, by whom his title could
be contested, or the affections of the nation be pre-
Occupied or divided. Hereditary right was se-
curely established, by an uninterrupted succession
of five reigns. The formidable power of the an-
cient nobility had been crushed by the Tudors;
and their aspiring ambition had departed with
their
power. Elizabeth had acquired an ascen-
dancy, almost absolute, in Scottish affairs, and her
statesmen were reduced, by her death, to the sin-
gular alternative either of receiving James as their
sovereign, or of relinquishing their ascendancy
over a country long subservient and devoted to
their councils. The danger of a disputed succes-
sion was justly apprehended; nor did it escape
the sagacious observation of Cecil, that the sub-
mission of England to a Scottish monarch would
be recompensed by the ultimate acquisition of his
kingdom. During the last years of Elizabeth,
her courtiers and statesmen were seduced by the
intrigues, and devoted secretly to the interest of
her successor; and if a few 3 were averse from
the Scottish line, or desirous to receive it under
certain limitations, their share in the recent de-
struction of Essex had rendered them unpopular,
and therefore weak.

3 Cobham, Raleigh, Fortescue.

BOOK

I.

1603.

to the

England.

From these circumstances, more than from Eli, zabeth's nomination, the throne was already se cured to James: but the privy council, before they throne of ventured to proclaim her successor, affected to consider her last declaration as a bequest of the crown. While they continued to deliberate, Sir March 24. Robert Carey escaped from the palace, and by means of previous relays of horses, arrived at Edinburgh on the third day. The king had already retired to rest; but the messenger was admitted immediately to the bed-chamber, and saluting James, on his knees, as king of England, announced the glad intelligence of Elizabeth's death. As her sickness and danger were previously known, the intelligence was neither unexpected, nor received with any intemperate expressions of joy. But the king was not as yet assured of his own succession. After an anxious interval of three days, his apprehensions were relieved by the arrival of Sir Charles Percy, and of Somerset, the earl of Worcester's son, dispatched by the privy council to notify the death of Elizabeth, and the proclamation of her successor; and to assure him that all ranks acquiesced in his title, and languished for his presence. His accession was immediately proclaimed in Scotland. The people were admonished, that as the English were obedient subjects of the same monarch, all national animosities must henceforth cease: but the predatory habits of the borderers

4 Johnstoni, Hist. p. 360. Spottiswood, Hist. p. 473. Carey, earl of Monmouth's Memoires.

revived; and some slight incursions, memorable BOOK as the last that were made into England, were afterwards severely repressed and punished.5

1603.

ture from

Preparations for his departure were also made; His depar and when reminded on Sunday, by an officious Scotland. preacher, in the church of St. Giles, that his accession was exclusively the work of God, he arose, at the conclusion of the sermon, and addressed the people in a long harangue; recapitulated the numerous proofs of his affection in the transactions of his reign; professed that his power was only enlarged in order to promote their welfare, and promised to revisit the country every third year, that his subjects might pour their complaints into his paternal bosom. His expressions respecting the church were obscure and guarded; but when he intimated his approaching departure, the people, presaging the loss of their ancient sovereigns, burst into loud lamentations and tears. The de

parture of his queen was delayed some weeks: the administration was committed to the privy council and the officers of state; to the earl of Montrose the chancellor, to Sir George Hume treasurer, to lord Balmerino the secretary; and his children, Henry, Charles, and the princess Elizabeth, were distributed among different noble families. His journey commenced on Tuesday the fifth April 5. of April. On the second day, with a train selected from the principal nobility, he was received by the English garrison into Berwick; the fortifica

5 Spottiswood, p. 476. Stowe's Chron. 819.

I.

BOOK tions of which, after an interval of an hundred and twenty years, were again surveyed with admiration by the Scots."

1603.

State of

Jarnes, established now on the throne of Britain, that king- had reached the summit of his fortune and am

dom.

bition; and, by a singular felicity, he whose birth was disastrous to his parents, whose infant reign was calamitous to his subjects, and whose person was the alternate prize of contending factions, had attained, without the aid of distinguished merit, and almost without an effort, to the undisturbed possession of three kingdoms. Whatever he had meditated for the improvement, or concerted for the better regulation of his paternal dominions, remained now to be executed; and certainly the situation of Scotland afforded ample scope for the exercise of his political wisdom. The country, agitated during his minority with civil dissensions, and often ravaged by internal war, remained, on the return of tranquillity, exhausted and debilitated; without industry, and destitute of resources to prosecute schemes of remote aggrandizement. Its trade was limited to a few towns, and consisted of wool, hides, and the more precarious produce of its mines and fisheries, exported in small barks of little value, and exchanged for whatever articles of utility or luxury were requisite for the supply of its domestic consumption. Wherever the rude products constitute the staple commodities of a country, large or important ma

6

• Johnst. Hist. 361-2. Spottisw. 476. Calderw. 472.

I.

1603.

nufactures are not to be expected: those of Scot- BOOK land were confined to a few of the coarsest nature, without which the poorest nations are un, able to subsist. The state of agriculture was languid and stationary, obstructed, even in the south. ern provinces, by the oppressions of the landlord, the dependence of the farmer, and by the poverty of both; but its condition was still worse in the northern counties, where the peasant extracted a scanty pittance from a soil exhausted by constant tillage. The nobility disdained, or obeyed with reluctance, the decisions of justice. They continued to prosecute their deadly feuds; to abet the most desperate crimes of their retainers; and, under their numerous hereditary jurisdictions, to extend their oppressions, their power, and depen dencies beyond the circle of their respective vassals. Their feuds were inveterate; and their revenge was frequently dishonest and insidious. The sanguinary troubles of a female reign, and a long minority, had perverted or extinguished their sense of morals, and had discovered, during a religious age, that no religion can compensate the absence or the relaxations of justice.

A distracted country, the poverty of which presented to industry no adequate reward, or even occupation, had already been deserted by many of the natives, who, penetrating into the remotest regions, acquired, or perhaps revived among fo.

7 Craig de Unione Tractatus, p. 237-44; MS. in the Advocate's Library.