The cry for union was swelled by the voices of some artful Jacobites, who merely wished to cause discord and delay, and who hoped to attain this end by mixing up with the difficult question which it was the especial business of the Convention to settle another question more difficult still.

It is probable that some who disliked the ascetic habits and rigid discipline of the Presbyterians wished for an union as the only mode of maintaining prelacy in the northern part of the island.

In an united Parliament the English members must greatly preponderate; and in England the bishops were held in high honour by the great majority of the population.

The Episcopal Church of Scotland, it was plain, rested on a narrow basis, and would fall before the first attack.

The Episcopal Church of Great Britain might have a foundation broad and solid enough to withstand all assaults.
Whether, in 1689, it would have been possible to effect a civil union without a religious union may well be doubted.