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CHAP.
II.
CHAPTER II.
THE RESTORATION IN SCOTLAND.
THE settlement of Scotland, though it naturally attracted far
less general attention than that of England, and though it was
undertaken with less haste, was almost equally important to
the king and his ministers. The military successes of Cromwell
and Monk had enabled them to solve the problem which
had baffled such powerful rulers as Edward I. and Henry
VIII. During the Commonwealth Scotland had been united
with England to form a single state. Its separate parliament
and its general assembly, the latter of which practically constituted
a more efficient and more popular legislature, had both
been suppressed. Scottish representatives, though inadequate
in numbers and in the method of selection, had attended the
meetings of a British parliament. The commercial barriers
between the two countries had been swept away. The Scottish
nobles had been deprived of that feudal authority and
independence which lamentable experience had proved to be
inconsistent with the national welfare. All serious resistance,
after the futile rising of Glencairn, had been rendered hopeless
by the construction of a network of well-garrisoned fortresses.
From a modern point of view it seems almost inconceivable
that this union, so long desired and so obviously advantageous
to England, should have been abandoned without grave misgivings
by the statesmen of the Restoration. Scotland was in
no position to extort terms from the restored king, and Charles
had issued no declaration of Breda to his northern subjects.
The assent of Scotland to the return of the king was taken for
granted, and it seems to have been equally hearty and spontaneous.
Yet the union was given up with little hesitation on
the part of English statesmen, and the only defence which
Clarendon even suggests is that " the king would not build
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