Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/299

Rh country ought to be, of their invasion by the king and his ministers, for it is as much of the nature of kings and ministers to invade and destroy the rights of the people, as it is of foxes and weasels to rifle a poultry yard, and destroy the poultry. All of them, therefore," continues his lordship, "ought to be muzzled." Among other things that Fletcher judged necessary for the preservation of public liberty, was that of a national militia. In a discourse upon this subject, he says, "a good and effective militia is of such importance to a nation, that it is the chief part of the constitution of any free government. For though, as to other things the constitution be never so slight, a good militia will always preserve the public liberty; but in the best constitution that ever was, as to all other parts of government, if the militia be not upon a right footing, the liberty of that people must-perish."

Scotland, ever since the union of crowns, had been stripped of all her importance in a national point of view, and the great object at this time was to exclude English influence from her councils, and to restore her to her original state of independence; a thing which could never be accomplished, so long as the king of Scotland was the king of England. James the sixth, when he succeeded to the English crown, wiser than any of his statesmen, saw this difficulty, and proposed to obviate it by the only possible means, a union of the two kingdoms; but owing to the inveterate prejudices of so many ages, neither of the kingdoms could at that time be brought to submit to the judicious proposal. Fletcher and his compatriots saw what had been the miserable evils, but they saw not the proper remedy; hence, they pursued a plan that, but for the superior wisdom of the English, would have separated the crowns, brought on hostilities, and the entire subjection of the country, by force of arms. In all the measures which had for their object the annihilating of English influence, Fletcher had the principal hand, and there were some of them of singular boldness. In case of the crowns of the two kingdoms continuing to be worn by one person, the following, after pointing out in strong terms the evils that had accrued to Scotland from this unfortunate association, were the limitations proposed by Fletcher:—"1st, That elections shall be made at every Michaelmas head court, for a new parliament every year, to sit the first of November next following, and adjourn themselves from time to time till next Michaelmas that they choose their own president, and that every thing shall be determined by balloting, in place of voting. 2d, That so many lesser barons shall be added to the parliament, as there have been noblemen created since the last augmentation of the number of the barons, and that in all time coming, for every nobleman that shall be created, there shall be a baron added to the parliament. 3d, That no man have a vote in parliament but a nobleman or elected members. 4th, That the kings shall give the sanction to all laws offered by the estates, and that the president of the parliament be empowered by his majesty to give the sanction in his absence, and have ten pounds sterling a day of salary. 5th, That a committee of one-and-thirty members, of which nine to be a quorum, chosen out of their own number by every parliament, shall, during the intervals of parliament, under the king, have the administration of the government, be his council, and accountable to the next parliament, with power, on extraordinary occasions, to call the parliament together, and that, in said council, all things be determined by balloting, in place of voting. 6th, That the king, without consent of parliament, shall not have the power of making peace and war, or that of concluding any treaty with any other state or potentate. 7th, That all places and offices, both civil and military, and all pensions formerly conferred by our kings, shall ever after be given by parliament. 8th, That no regiment or company of horse, foot, or dragoons, be kept on foot in peace or war, but by consent of parliament. 9th, That all the fencible men of the nation betwixt sixty and