The Scottish Privy Council, 1603-1625 : its composition and its work

• Main Author: Taylor, William
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1950
• Subjects: 941.106
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.539627

When James VI told the English parliament in 1607,. "This I must say for Scotland, and may truly vaunt it; here I sit and govern it with my pen; I write and it is done; and by a Clerk of the Council I govern Scotland now, which others could not do by the sword," it was no rhetorical turn of phrase. It was a statement of fact. He had succeeded in organising the government of Scotland in such a way as to make it one of the most perfect examples of autocratic control in Europe a circumstance rendered all the more remarkable in that it was.operated by a system of remote oontrol. Polioy was formulated and directed by the king in England, and carried out by his Privy Council in Scotland. To delegate such a function to parliament would have been impossible. Any such body would, of necessity, have had to be in session for the greater part of the year, and in any case, parliamentary machinery would have been too cumbersome, nor would parliament have been such a flexible instrument in the king's hands. From his point of view, it was essential to have an amenable body of men bound to his service by gratitude for honours, awards,.and estates received, and prepared to carry on their devoted service in the hope that the royal bounty would continue.