Politics & government > Speech of Lord Belhaven, in the Scotch parliament, at the making of the union

<ao Lord Belhavcn's Speech.
Parliament, the fame taxes, the fame cuftoms, the;(':
fame excife, the fame trade in companies, the famej.
municipal laws and courts of judicature ; and all oursi»
either (ubjett to regulations or annihilations: only \ve^;
have the honour^opay their old debts, and to havei
fome few perfons prefent for witnelfes to the validityir
of the deed, when they pleafe to contraft more.
Good God ! What is this! An entire furren*,
der !
My Lord, I find my heart fo full of grief and ,.
indignation, that I muft beg pardon not tofinifKi,
thelaft part of my difcourfe, that I may drop a tear1,
ts the prelude of fo fad a Jftory.
Jfter having fat down, and fome Difcourfes
by other Members interveening, he con*}-
timed his Difcourfe thus ;
My Lord Chancellor, What I am to fay, relates '
to the method of proceeding in this weighty affair* ^
I hear it propofed by a noble member of the other:*
fide, that we fhould proceed in the fame order as ‘
the Lords Commiffioners treaters did. In my hum-
ble opinion, my Lord, it is neither the natural me- 1
thod, nor can it be done without great confufiom
and repetition. To fay, you will agree to the uni-i®
on of the two kingdoms, before you agree on the! /
terms upon which they are to be united. Teems lik$:“
** driving the plough before the oxen.” The ar»: •
tides wdiich narrate the conditions, feem to be thei~
premifes from which the conclufion is inferredj *
and, according as they are found good or bad, the i:!
fuccefs will follow. When a man is married to a?
fortune in England, as they call it, I fuppofe he isj
fatisfied \vith~the thing before he determines him»s p
felfj ,