Fletcher of Saltoun by George W. T. (George William Thomson) Omond

Author:George W. T. (George William Thomson) Omond [Omond, George W. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Reference, Fiction & Literature
ISBN: 9781486444007
Google: HxSBswEACAAJ
Publisher: Emereo Publishing
Published: 2013-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER VI

‘A Conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Government for the Common Good of Mankind.’

When the turmoil of the Parliament House had ceased for a time, Fletcher took up his pen. The edition of his speeches which he prepared has already been mentioned. A Speech without-doors concerning Toleration, supposed to have been published about this time, has been attributed to him, but, both in style and argument, it is unlike anything he is known to have written. He has also been credited with the authorship of an Historical Account of the Ancient Rights and Power of the Parliament of Scotland, which appeared in 1703. The style is like that of Fletcher, but there is no evidence that he wrote it. Indeed, a passage in the preface, where he speaks of the author of the Discourse of Government with Relation to Militias as ‘a very learned gentleman of our own country, a great patron of liberty, and happy in a polite pen,’ makes it almost impossible. He composed, however, a short piece in which he embodied his theories of government, and his views regarding the relations of England and Scotland, in the form of a dialogue on politics, under the title of ‘An Account of a Conversation concerning a Right Regulation of Government for the Common Good of Mankind: In a Letter to the Marquis of Montrose, the Earls of Rothes, Roxburghe, and Haddington. From London the first of December 1703.’ In this little duodecimo, of ninety-two pages printed in italics, he described himself as walking slowly on the Mall one morning. The Earl of Cromartie and Sir Christopher Musgrave met him. Cromartie said he would be glad of Fletcher’s company at dinner, and introduced him to Sir Christopher, with whom Fletcher was not previously acquainted. Some compliments passed between them, and then they went to Cromartie’s lodgings in Whitehall to pass away the time till dinner.

‘Here, gentlemen,’ said the Earl, ‘you have two of the noblest objects that can delight the eye—the finest river and the greatest city in the world.’

From the window they saw a charming view of London and the Thames, which led them to speak of the wonderful situation of the English capital; the ground on which it was built, sloping to the river and giving it a natural drainage; the gravel soil, and the salubrious climate. Then all the country round—Kent, with its choice fruits; Hertfordshire, with its fields of golden corn; Essex and Surrey, producing the best of beef and mutton; and Buckinghamshire, whence came huge wains laden with wood. The river, too, brought to their doors the produce of all parts of the world in such plenty that nowhere else were things so cheap and abundant.

Fletcher, thinking how different it all was from Scotland, said that he had often admired the peace and happiness of the inhabitants, caused either by the advantages which they enjoyed, or by their natural temperament. He spoke of their civil and religious liberty, of the judgments of

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