“With considerable literary skill he has compressed into a brief compass a most readable and impartial account of the efforts which from the time of Edward I. went on to weld the two countries into one.”— Edinburgh Evening News. “Mr. Omond tells his story brightly and with full knowledge.”— Manchester Guardian. “A genuine contribution to British history.”— Dumfries Courier. “There is much to interest and inform in this volume.”— Liverpool Mercury. “The conciseness of the sketch, instead of detra

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The history of the final union of England and Scotland, which took place on the 1st of May 1707, commences with the accession of Queen Anne; and with regard to that event, the best sources of information, apart from original letters, diaries, and other contemporary documents, are Daniel Defoe’s History of the Union , published in 1709, Dr. Hill Burton’s History of Scotland , Mr. John Bruce’s Report on the Events and Circumstances which produced the Union , published, for the use of Government, i

The races which inhabited the northern parts of England and the southern parts of Scotland were descended from a common stock, and spoke a common language. But for centuries the problem of uniting them baffled the best-laid plans of kings and statesmen; and neither force, nor policy, nor treaties of marriage between the royal families, seemed capable of destroying the inveterate rancour which the peoples felt towards each other. The petition in response to which the papal sanction was given to t

A few years before the Union of the Crowns, James, in the Basilikon Doron , that quaint little volume of “Instructions to his dearest sonne, Henry the Prince,” had alluded to the dangers which were caused by the divided state of the island. “As for the Borders,” he wrote, “because I know, if ye enjoy not this whole Isle, according to God’s right and your lineal descent, ye will never get leave to brooke this North and barrenest part thereof; no, not your own head whereon the crown should stand!

When the battle of Worcester was fought exactly a year had passed since the battle of Dunbar. The events of that year were not such as to reconcile Scotland to the Union which was now proposed by the Government of England. All trade between the two countries had been forbidden. Edinburgh had been taken, the royal palace of Holyrood, turned into barracks, had been set on fire through the carelessness of the soldiers, and almost totally destroyed. The churches had been desecrated, their pulpits an

At the Restoration the advisability of continuing the Union was discussed. In England it was maintained that the smaller country must give up its Parliament and its separate system of laws, or that it must, at all events, make the first advance, and say definitely on what terms it would unite. In Scotland it was foreseen that not only would the native Parliament and the native laws be destroyed in the event of a union, but that also, in all probability, the Church would be sacrificed. But the pr

After the failure of the treaty of 1670, eighteen years, eventful in the history of both kingdoms, passed; and at the Revolution the question of the Union was again discussed. In the letter which William addressed to the Scottish Estates in March 1689, he said that he was glad to find that many peers and gentlemen of Scotland, whom he had consulted in London, were “so much inclined to a union of both kingdoms, that they did look upon it as one of the best means for procuring the happiness of the