An historical account of the ancient Rights and Power of the Parliament of Scotland

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1823 Excerpt: ...find to have been made during the regency of Mary of Guise, dowager to King James the Fifth; and this she was put upon by her French council, and such slavish mean spirited people of our own country as fell in with them.--They offered also to impose a tax for maintaining E 3-'; those mercenary troops, and would then have completed our slavery under that French administration, had not 300 barons, being equally offended with this tyrannical project, and the sluggish temper of the nobility, who, by their silence, betrayed the public liberty, met at Edinburgh of their own accord, and sent two of their number to the Queen Regent, with a noble remonstrance, signifying that their ancestors had not only defended their country against the English, when much more powerful than they were then, but had also frequently invaded England; and that they were not so much degenerated, but they were still willing to hazard their lives and estates in defence of their country; that it was a thing of most dangerous consequence, to trust the safety of the nation to mercenary soldiers, men of no substance or expectation, and therefore liable to be tempted to do any thing for money; men, whose insatiable avarice is ready to be inflamed by every new opportunity, and who have no other standard of their fidelity but variable fortune: but supposing it to be otherwise, and that they are more actuated by love to their country, than by any respect to their own private condition, is it credible, that mercenary soldiers will fight with more courage for other men's estates, than the proprietors themselves will do for their own; and that a little inconsiderable pay, which is to last no longer than till the war is at an end, is more capable of inspiring vulgar fellows with courage, than the con...