THE STUARTS TO THE DEATH OF JAMES III. 21 Stuart race towards
the permanent prosperity of the Scottish capital. By favour of
his charters, its local jurisdiction was left almost exclusively
in the hands of its own magistrates ; on them were conferred
ample powers for enacting laws for its governance ; with
authority, in life and death-still vested in its chief
magistrate-an independence which was afterwards defended amid
many dangers, down to the period of the Union. By’his charters
also in their favour, they obtained the right, which they still
hold, to all the customs of the haven and harbour of Leith, with
the proprietorship of the adjacent coast, and of all the roads
leading thereto ; as well a8 many special privileges conferred
on the craftsmen, which they were not slow to protect from
encroachment; its his descendant James VI. points out to his son
Prince Henry, in the Basilicon Doron--(‘ The craftsmen think we
should be content with their work, how bad soever it be; and if
in any thing they be controul