We regret that none of his speeches on the union of the parliament of Scotland with that of England, which was proposed in the succeeding sessions, and which, after a great deal of angry and dangerous contention, was enacted in 1706, and actually carried into effect in 1707, have been published. His general sentiments on that subject will be found, however, in the very amusing paper usually print ed as the last in the volume of his works. It is entitled, " An account of a conversation concerning a right regula tion of governments for the common good of mankind, &c. 1703." In the report of the characters and dialogue, he skews considerable dramatic skill ; and in his own part of the scene, he displays a degree of politeness and address superior to any thing of this kind to be found in his parlia mentary speeches. Though Fletcher did not succeed to the extent that lie desired, he laid his country under great obligations, by the modified " Act of Security," which was eventually passed, and by the many wise and salutary pro visions which he caused to be connected with the measure. One hundred and eight years have now elapsed since this most important act of union was adopted ; and the progres sive improvement and happiness of the two countries fully warrant us to consider it as one of the greatest political blessings we enjoy. The gloomy predictions of its ene mies have been completely reversed, and greater benefits have resulted from it than the most sanguine could have reasonably anticipated. Several of the principal speeches delivered by the opponents of this union have come down to us, and deserve to be preserved as curious memorials of opinions that have passed away. Of these, perhaps the most eloquent is that of Hamilton, Lord Belhaven, in which, with much poetical pathos, he drew a most affecting pic ture of its evil consequences. With peculiar and almost prophetic felicity, the Earl of Marchmont replied, " I have heard a long speech, and a very terrible one ; but it requires only this short answer, Behold ! he dreamed ; lo, when he awoke, he found it was a dream." The Earl of Buchan, who published his brief memoir of Fletcher chiefly on the authority of a manuscript history of the family, gives no. account of him beyond the year 1703 ; and does not even notice the time or manner of his death. We think it extremely probable that he had a seat in the parliament of Great Britain ; but that the advanced period of his life, and his dissatisfaction with the union, prevented him from taking a leading part in the deliberations of that assembly. He died in London in the year 1716, at the age of 63. His remains were brought to Scotland, and inter red in the family vault at Salton.
As a man, Andrew Fletcher was endowed with high ta lents, great courage, integrity, generosity, and temperance. On the purity of his intentions as a patriot, the exertions and sufferings of his life form the best commentary. lie was a most elegant scholar, and an accomplished orator. His speeches are remarkable for their plainness and ener gy, and form, by their brevity, a striking contrast to the wordy eloquence of the present day. His "Discourse con cerning the affairs of Spain," originally published in the Italian language, but which appeared in an English dress in the 12mo edition printed at Glasgow in 1749, displays an ample and profound acquaintance with the interest, po licy, and connections of the continental states, as well as of Great Britain, and shews him to have been deeply ac quainted with the doctrine of the balance of power, which has since been the theme of so much discussion, and the cause ofso much strife among the philosophers, politicians, and warriors of Europe. His " Discourse on the establish
ment of a national militia," is learned and ingenious, but too Utopian to admit of a practical application. His "Two Discourses on the affairs of Scotland," contain many curi ous views of the state of society at the time when they were written. On one topic only, we must offer a few remarks. These Discourses were written in 1693, when, in conse quence of some years of barrenness, a scarcity, or rather a famine, existed through the land, and occasioned the most severe sufferings to the lower classes. The author de clares, that besides those who were scantily provided for out of the church boxes, there were at the time when lie wrote, not less than 200,000 persons in Scotland begging from door to door. "And though," lie observes, "the number of them be perhaps double to what it was formerly, by reason of this present distress, yet in all time there have been about 100,000 of those vagabonds, who have lived without any regard either to the laws of the land, or even to those of God and nature." He tells us also, that when he considers the many excellent laws enacted by former parliaments, for setting the poor to work, particularly those made in the reign of James VI. contrasted with their utter inutility ; when he considered farther, that all the other na tions in Europe, Holland alone excepted, groaned under a similar pressure, he was led to suspect that neither the cause nor the remedy of the evil had been discovered. As no such evil had been complained of by the classical wri ters of antiquity, and as much poverty was the consequence, in Europe, of the manumission of slaves by their Christian masters, he gravely supposes that the existence of domes tic slavery was the cause of the comfort and industry of the lower orders in former times. It will hardly be credited by those who are acquainted with his high notions of poli tical right, and his constant jealousy of the power and am bition of princes, that he proposes reducing all those per sons and their posterity to slavery, by a solemn act of the legislature, that on the one hand they might be compel led to work, and on the other might be insured of the ne cessaries of life. A more extraordinary remedy for a pub lic evil, all circumstances considered, was never surely de vised ; and though he guards the projected plan against the danger of leading to extreme oppression, by salutary and humane regulations, we may safely say, that a less justifia ble or less effectual remedy could hardly have occurred to a thinking mind. The evil has long since disappeared, in consequence, chiefly, perhaps, of the provision for public instruction in the principles of religion and morality, made by an act of the Scottish parliament, two years before Fletcher's discourse was written, viz. in 1696. We regret that the accounts of this excellent man are so meagre and scanty ; and we consider a good account of his life and wri tings as an important desideratum in the literature of our native country. (1)