'A whimper not a bang': killing-off the Privy Council of Scotland

Abstract

The pre-modern Scottish Privy Council based in Edinburgh (the Scottish executive) was abolished in 1708, a victim of politics in Scotland and with the concurrence of some originally reluctant English ministers. The Scottish Parliament argued for the retention of this institution during the negotiations over the Treaty of Union which when enacted in 1707 saw the Scottish Parliament folded into that of England to create the new parliament of Great Britain. For some fears over national security in Scotland and Jacobite invasion, the movement to reinstate the exiled Catholic Stuart kings, seemed logical motivations to embrace more direct rule from London. Desires to ensure that territorial security would also bring confessional security and protect the Protestant succession merely confirmed the long-term difficulties as the post-revolution administrations of William and Queen Anne sought to consolidate the revolution of 1688-90. It was necessary but challenging to win the peace as well as the war. However, the motivations for those Scots who supported abolition, over what was after all the most important mechanism of day-to-day government in Scotland, had its foundations in emergent parliamentary party politics before and after 1707. This paper will trace attitudes to authority and influence in executive government as it clashed with representatives seeking to curtail executive power.