That king James VII. being a
profest papist, did assume the royal power, and act as a king, without
ever taking the oath required by law; and had, by the advice of evil
and wicked counsellors, invaded the fundamental constitution of
this kingdom, and altered it from a legal and limited monarchy to an
arbitrary despotic power, and had governed the same to the subversion of
the protestant religion, and violation of the laws and liberties of the
nation, inverting all the ends of government; whereby he had forfaulted
the right of the crown, and the throne was become vacant." When this
vote was reported, the bishop of Edinburgh argued strenuously against
it, as containing a charge of which the king was innocent; and he
proposed that his majesty should be invited to return to his Scottish
dominions. All his arguments were defeated or overruled, and the house
confirmed the vote, which was immediately enacted into a law by a great
majority. The lord president declared the throne vacant, and proposed
that it might be filled with William and Mary, king and queen of
England. The committee was ordered to prepare an act for settling the
crown upon their majesties, together with an instrument of government
for securing the subjects from the grievances under which they
laboured.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}

THE CROWN TENDERED TO WILLIAM.

On the eleventh day of April, this act, with the conditions of
inheritance, and the instrument, were reported, considered, unanimously
approved, and solemnly proclaimed at the market-cross of Edinburgh,
in presence of the lord president, assisted by the lord provost and
magistracy of the city, the duke of Queensbury, the marquisses of Athol
and Douglas, together with a great number of the nobility and gentry.
At the same time they published another proclamation, forbidding all
persons to acknowledge, obey, assist, or correspond with the late king
James; or by word, writing, or sermon, to dispute or disown the
royal authority of king William and queen Mary; or to misconstrue the
proceedings of the estates, or create jealousies or misapprehensions
with regard to the transactions of the government, on pain of incurring
the most severe penalties. Then, having settled the coronation oath,
they granted a commission to the earl of Argyle for the lords, to sir
James Montgomery for the knights, and to sir John Dalrymple for
the boroughs, empowering them to repair to London, and invest their
ma