English influences.

James II. was the legitimate King of Scotland, as well as of England;
but he soon acquired a greater love for England, than he retained for
his native country; and England being the greater country, the
interests of Scotland were frequently sacrificed to those of England.

Queen Anne, as the daughter of James II., was also the legitimate
sovereign of Scotland; and, on her decease, the Scotch were not bound
to acknowledge the Elector of Hanover as their legitimate king.

[Sidenote: Duke of Hamilton.]

Many ardent and patriotic Scotchmen, including the Duke of Hamilton
and Fletcher of Saltoun, deemed it a favorable time to assert, on the
death of Queen Anne, their national independence, since the English
government was neither just nor generous to the lesser country.

Under these circumstances, there were many obstacles to a permanent
union, and it was more bitterly opposed in Scotland than in England.
The more patriotic desired complete independence. Many were jealous of
the superior prosperity of England. The people in the Highlands and
the north of Scotland were Jacobinical in their principles, and were
attached to the Stuart dynasty. The Presbyterians feared the influence
of English Episcopacy, and Scottish peers deprecated a servile
dependence on the parliament of England.

But the English government, on the whole, much as it hated Scotch
Presbyterianism and Scotch influence, desired a union, in order to
secure the peaceful succession of the house of Hanover, for the north
of Scotland was favorable to the Stuarts, and without a union, English
liberties would be endangered by Jacobinical intrigues. English
statesmen felt this, and used every measure to secure this end.

The Scotch were overreached. Force, bribery, and corruption were
resorted to. The Duke of Hamilton proved a traitor, and the union was
effected--a union exceedingly important to the peace of both
countries, but especially desirable to England. Important concessions
were made by the English, to which they were driven only by fear. They
might have ruled Scotland as they did Ireland, but for the intrepidity
and firmness of the Scotch, who while negotiations were pending,
passed the famous Act of Security, by which the Scottish parliament
decreed the succession in Scotland, on the death of the queen, open
and elective; the independence and power of parliaments; freedom in
trade and commerce; and the liberty of Scotland to engage