as to think that I, that am a Christian King under the Gospel, should be a Polygamist and husband to two wives.”  He desired to see a complete union—­one king, one law, one Church.  Scotland would, he trusted, “with time, become but as Cumberland and Northumberland and those other remote and northern shires”.  Commissioners were appointed, and in 1606 they produced a scheme which involved commercial equality except with regard to cloth and meat, the exception being made by mutual consent.  The discussion on the Union question raised the subject of naturalization, and the rights of the post-nati, i.e. Scots born after James’s accession to the throne.  The royal prerogative became involved in the discussion and a test case was prepared.  Some land in England was bought for the infant grandson of Lord Colvill, or Colvin, of Culross.  An action was raised against two defendants who refused him possession of the land, and they defended themselves on the ground that the child, as an alien, could not possess land in England.  It was decided that he, as a natural-born subject of the King of Scotland, was also a subject of the King of England.  This decision, and the repeal of the laws treating Scotland as a hostile country, proved the only result of the negotiations for union.  The English Parliament would not listen to any proposal for commercial equality, and the king had to abandon his cherished project.

James had boasted to his English Parliament that, if they agreed to commercial equality, the Scottish estates would, in three days, adopt English law.  It is doubtful if the acquiescence even of the Scottish Parliament would have gone so far; but there can be no doubt that the English succession had made James more powerful in Scotland than any of his predecessors had been.  “Here I sit”, he said, “and governe Scotland with my pen.  I write and it is done, and by a clearke of the councell I governe Scotland now, which others could not doe by the sword.”  The boast was justified by the facts.  The king’s instructions to his Privy Council, which formed the Scottish executive, are of the most dictatorial description.  James gives his orders in the tone of a man who is accustomed to unswerving obedience, and he does not hesitate to reprove his erring ministers in the severest terms of censure.  The whole business of Parliament was conducted by the Lords of the Articles, who represented the spiritual and temporal lords, and the Commons.  All the bishops were the king’s creatures, and by virtue of their position, entirely dependent on him.  It was therefore arranged that the prelates should choose representatives of the temporal lords, and they took care to select men who supported the king’s policy.  The peers were allowed to choose representatives of the bishops, and could not avoid electing the king’s friends, while the representatives of the spiritual and temporal lords choose men to appear for the small barons and the burgesses.