Perhaps the queen and her English ministry resolved to keep the succession open in Scotland as a check upon the whigs and house of Hanover.

On the thirtieth day of June the commissioner adjourned the parliament, after having thanked them for their cheerfulness and unanimity in their proceedings; and the chiefs of the opposite parties hastened to London to make their different representations to the queen and her ministry.

In the meantime she appointed commissioners for treating about the union, and they met at the Cockpit on the twenty-second day of October.

On the twentieth day of the next month they adjusted preliminaries, importing, That nothing agreed on among themselves should be binding except ratified by her majesty and the respective parliaments of both nations; and that unless all the heads proposed for the treaty were agreed to, no particular thing agreed on should be binding.

The queen visited them in December, in order to quicken their mutual endeavours.