UNION. The crowns of England and Scotland were united under one sovereign on the accession of James VI. of Scotland to the English throne as James I. in but for above a century longer each country continued to be ruled by its respective parlia ment, the interest of the one often coming into collision with that of the other. After various fruitless proposals for a closer connection of the countries, the Scotch were, in 1702, prevailed on to send 20 commissioners to London, who, with 23 English sioners, should del.berate on the terms of a union. Their proceedings, after being broken off, were resumed in 1706. The Scottish commissioners were et first disposed for a mere federal union, and ()ejected to the proposed assimilation of customs, excise, and regulations of trade; but a majority were at last brought over to the views of the End lish commissioners; and the minority, with one exception, yielded. The Judea], though popular in England. was the subject of great dissatisfaction in Scotland, being regarded by the bulk of the community as a surrender of national independence to a powerful rival. ,Addresses against it were presented from all gunners, and in some places the people rose in arms, forming regiments of horse and foot to oppose it. The treaty was, how ever, after strenuous opposition, ratified by the Scottish as well as the English parlia ment, and ultimately completed on May 1, 1707. Its principal conditions were the incor poration of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the sue .cession of whose monarchs was to be the same as that cf England. There was to be one parliament, in wki.:h the peers of Scotland would be represented by 16 of their number .elected each parliament, and 45 Scotch members were to sit in the house of commons. All rights and privilege's were to be commimicated between the subjects of both king lums. unless when otherwise agreed. The Episcopal church was confirmed in England, and the Presbyterian in Scotland. Scotland was to retain her courts of session and jus
ticiary, and to have a separate seal for private rights and grants. While the parliament was to raise £2.000,000 by land-tax. Scotland would contribute £48,000 of that sum. The laws of trade, customs, and excise in Scotland were to be assimilated to those of England, and the coinage, weights, and measures of the two countries were to follow a uniform standard. In other matters the laws of Scotland were to remain in force. hut might lie altered by the parliament of Great Britain. The separate privy council of Scotland, which the act of union left untouched, was abolished the following year.
Ireland remained a distinct kingdom till 1801, when it was united with Great Britain Into the United Great Britain and Ireland. By the terms of time union the separate parliament of Ireland was done away with, and Ireland was represented in the •parliament of the United Kingdom by 4 lords spiritul] and 28 lords nenporal in the house of lords, and 120 members of the house of commons. Power was reserved to the sovereign to create one peer of Ireland for every three extinct peerages. and when the peerage of Ireland became reduced to 100, to create one peerage for each one that became extinct, so as to keep the peerage of Ireland tip to 100. over and above those Irish peers who are also peers of England or Great Britain. The churches of England and Ireland were united into one Protestant Episcopal. church. The subjects of Ireland •were placed on the same footing as those of Great Britain in respect of trade and navi gation, and in all treaties with foreign powers; and the law-courts of Ireland were to ,continue, subject to the regulations of parliament; writs of error and appeals being ,decided by the house of lords of the United Kingdom.