, an eminent Scotch politician, and ranked among the patriots of
, an eminent Scotch politician,
and ranked among the patriots of that country, was the son
of sir Robert Fletcher of Saltown, in Scotland, and was
born in 16S3. Being left fatherless while he was a child,
he was placed under the tuition of Dr. Gilbert Bunu-t,
then rector of Saltown, from whom he is supposed to have
imbibed some of those political principles which he afterwards carried to a high degree of enthusiasm. He then
spent some years of his youth in foreign travel, and first
appeared as a public character in the station of a commissioner for East Lothian in the Scotch parliament, but his
opposition to the arbitrary measures of the court, rendered
it necessary to withdraw to Holland; and upon being cited
to appear by a summons from the lords of the council,
which it was known he could not obey, he was outlawed,
and his estate confiscated. In 1683 he came over to England to assist, with his friend Mr. Baillie of Jerviswood, in
the consultations held among the friends of liberty in
England and Scotland, to concert measures for their common security; and by his prudence and address he avoided
giving any pretext to the ministry for his apprehension.
He returned to the continent, and in 1685 engaged in the
enterprise of the duke of Monmouth. He landed in the
west of England, but was obliged to quit the country again
on account of a dispute which he had with a man who insulted him, and whom he shot dead, his temper being at
all times most irascible. From England he went to Spain,
and afterwards passed into Hungary, where he engaged in
the war with the Turks, and distinguished himself by his
valour and skill. The interest which he took in the fate
of his country soon brought him back to join in the conferences which were held among the Scotch refugees in
Holland, for the purpose of effecting a revolution; and
upon that event taking place, he returned to Scotland, and
resumed the possession of his estate. He was a member
of the convention for the settlement of the new government in Scotland, and in all his political conduct he shewed
himself the zealous asserter of the liberties of the people,
without any regard to party distinction, and free from all
views of his own interest. In 1698 he printed “A Discourse of Government with relation to Militias.
” Also
“Two Discourses concerning the Affairs of Scotland.
” In
one of these he suggests a plan for providing for the poor
by domestic slavery, a most preposterous plan to be proposed by a friend to liberty. When a bill was brought into
the parliament of Scotland for a supply to the crowq, in
1703, he moved that, previously to this, or to any other
business, the house should consider what acts were necessary to secure their religion and liberties in case of the
queen’s death, and he proposed various limitations of the
prerogative, which were received in the “Act of Security,
”
passed through his exertions into a law, but rendered ineffectual by the subsequent union, to which he was a determined enemy. He died at London in 1716. His publications, and some of his speeches, were collected in one
volume octavo, entitled, “The Political Works of Andrew
Fletcher, Ksquire,
” and his Life was lately published by
the earl of Burhan, with a very high panegyric on his political virtues. Another very high character of him may be
seen in our authority.