History of Scotland

by Margaret MacArthur

CHAPTER VII.

THE UNION OF THE CROWNS.

James VI.; results of the Union (1)—restoration of Episcopacy (2)—planting of the Highlands (3)—Articles of Perth (4)—founding of Nova Scotia (5)—the King's death (6)—Charles I.; resumption of benefices (7)—King's visit and coronation (8)—Book of Canons (9)—Liturgy tumults (10)—the Tables (11)—renewal of the Covenant (12)—Hamilton Commissioner (13)—Glasgow Assembly (14)—war in the north (15)—pacification of Berwick (16)—Assembly and Parliament (17)—invasion of England (18)—Treaty of Ripon (19)—war breaks out (20)—Montrose's campaign (21)—dealings with the king (22)—the Engagement; Whiggamores' raid (23)—Directory; confession of faith (24)—the king's death (25)—Charles II.; fate of Hamilton and Huntly (26)—Montrose's rising (27)—arrival of Charles (28)—Cromwell's conquest (29)—the coronation (30)—battle of Worcester (31)—union with England (32)—Glencairn's expedition (33)—the Restoration (34)—episcopacy re-established (35)—fate of Guthrie and Argyle (36)—the Ejection (37)—western rising (38)—the Persecution (39)—the Indulgence (40)—murder of Sharp (41)—Sanquhar Declaration (42)—Drumclog (43)—Bothwell Bridge (44)—Test Act (45)—Argyle's opposition (46)—James VII.; the Killing Time (47)—Argyle's rising (48)—the Indulgence (49)—deposition of James (50)—William and Mary; the Convention (51)—the Rabbling (52)—Dundee's revolt (53)—battle of Killiecrankie (54)—attack of Dunkeld; Buchan's attempt (55)—dealings with the chiefs (56)—Massacre of Glencoe (57)—Darien Scheme (58)—William's death (59)—Education Act (60)—Anne; Act of Security (61)—trial and death of Captain Green (62)—the Union (63)—literature and art (64)—summary (65).

1. James VI., 1603-1625. Results of the Union. —Immediately after the Union of the Crowns, the Border laws on each side were repealed, and it was settled that subjects of either country born after the Union should no longer be looked on as aliens in the other, but should have the undisputed right of inheriting property in either. A Lord High Commissioner was appointed to represent the King in Scotland, and there was some talk of an union of the parliaments, but it was not carried out.

2. Restoration of Episcopacy.—The great desire of the King was to bring the Church of Scotland into conformity with the Church of England. To bring this about, he summoned some of the ministers to England, in the hope that he should be able to persuade them to agree with him. Melville, their leader, spoke out so plainly against episcopacy before the bishops in the Privy Council that he was sent to the Tower and finally banished. But the King carried his point, and in 1606 the Estates passed an act for the restoration of the bishops. No acts of church government were in future to be lawful without their consent, and though the General Assembly was still to go on, its power was to be very much lessened. As the old line of Scottish bishops had died out, John Spottiswood, Andrew Lamb, and Gavin Hamilton were consecrated by English bishops at London House to the bishoprics of Glasgow, Brechin, and Galloway. To avoid all dispute about the old claim of supremacy, neither of the English archbishops was present. But these bishops had a very hard time of it, for they did not get the lands of their sees restored to them as had been promised, and many of them had hard work to get a living at all. In 1610, two Courts of High Commission were set up. These courts were afterwards united into one, but, as this court was under the control of the Court of Session, it could never be so tyrannical as the Court of High Commission in England.

3. Planting of the Highlands.—In the early part of his reign James had tried to do something to improve the state of the Highlands. To this end three new burghs were founded, and the lands of all chiefs who could not show written titles were declared forfeited. These lands were given to Lowland colonists, who were however soon glad to give up any attempt at settling among their lawless neighbours. The MacGregors, whose district lay close on the Lowland border, had shown themselves the most savage and lawless of all the Highland clans. Argyle was commissioned to hunt them down, but they beat the Lowlanders with great slaughter in a battle at Glen Fruin in 1604. Their chief was afterwards taken and hanged, and the name proscribed, but that was only breaking the power of one clan, whilst the others remained as formidable as ever. To prevent such outbreaks in future, Argyle and Huntly were entrusted with full powers to carry on the planting of the Highlands. Three conditions were required of those chiefs who were suffered to stay in possession of their lands. That they should give sureties for the good order of their clans; promise to let their land for a fixed rent in money instead of all other exactions, and agree to send their children to school in the Lowlands. These changes not only strengthened the Government, but made united action on the part of the clans more difficult.

4. Articles of Perth.—The King only paid one visit to Scotland after his accession to the throne of England. He then gave great offence by introducing ceremonial vestments at the service in his own chapel. These vestments and other ornaments which were customary in England were hateful to the presbyterians. The passing of the "Five Articles" by a General Assembly held at Perth completed their dismay, and plainly showed the King's intention to impose upon them the ceremonies which they so much disliked. By those Articles the private administration of the sacraments was allowed, all persons were enjoined to kneel at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to bring their children to the Bishops for confirmation, and to observe the five great festivals of the Christian Church as holidays.

5. Founding of Nova Scotia.—The poverty of their country and the love of adventure had made the Scots from the earliest times ever ready to seek their fortunes abroad. They had won themselves renown as soldiers or traders in nearly all the countries of the Old world, but they had not as yet any colony of their own in the New one. Hitherto these emigrants, though they were called Scots, had been chiefly Saxons from the Lowlands, but in the beginning of this reign bodies of Celts had gone back to the original Scotia, and in Ulster, their old home, they won back settlements from the kindred Celtic race who now looked on them as intruders. But while some of the wanderers thus went back to the old country, others were founding a New Scotland beyond the sea. This, the third land to which the wandering people gave its name, was called by the Latin form of the name, Nova Scotia. It was granted by a Royal Charter to Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirling, the projector of this scheme of emigration in 1621. This new settlement was divided into 1,000 parts, and every adventurer who was willing to brave the hardships of an uncleared country, and resist the encroachments of the neighbouring settlers, was rewarded with the rank and title of baronet. About the same time too the Lowlanders were encouraged to go over to the North of Ireland, and to take up the lands from which the Irish chiefs had been driven. As the soil there was much better than that which they had left, they gladly agreed to the change, and passed over in great numbers, more than ten thousand going in two years.

6. The King's Death.—On the twenty-seventh of March, 1625, the King died. He had governed Scotland during his twenty-two years of absence with a much firmer hand than in the troubled time of his personal rule. He had then been quite at the mercy of his ministers and of the nobles. The wealth and power of his larger kingdom made him now able to deal with the smaller one pretty much as he liked, and the nobles were too eagerly seeking favour and place at the richer court to be willing to risk the loss of them by opposing his will. James was quite unlike all his forefathers. He had good abilities and an unusual amount of learning, besides a good deal of common sense and shrewdness, which he sometimes made use of, but his repulsive appearance and manners, and his want of self-reliance, exposed him to ridicule and contempt. He had none of the courage, high spirit, graceful tastes and ready wit that spread a veil over the faults and vices of his ancestors. Yet he alone escaped the tragic fate that seemed the doom of all the Stewart line, and was singled out from among them for an almost fairy-like change and advance of fortune.

7. Charles I., 1625-1649. Resumption of Benefices.—Charles, who succeeded James as King of the two kingdoms, had even more exalted ideas than his father of the power of the prerogative. It fell to the lot of the Scots to take the lead and set an example to the English in resisting his arbitrary measures. Before he had been a year on the throne, it was clear that he meant to carry out his father's plan of making the Scotch Church as like the English Church as possible. He issued a proclamation recalling all the church lands which were in the hands of laymen, whether they had been granted by the crown or not. The holders protested against this injustice, and at last a compromise was made by which they agreed to give up part of the lands they held on condition of having their claim to the rest made good.

8. King's Visit and Coronation.—In 1633 Charles came to Scotland, and was crowned with great pomp in the Abbey church of Holyrood. The vestments that were worn on this occasion by the clergy gave great offence to the people. Their discontent was increased by an order from the King enjoining their own ministers to wear surplices, and the bishops to wear rochets and sleeves, instead of the Geneva cloak as heretofore. While Charles was in Scotland, a meeting of the Estates was held, in which he met with no opposition, owing to a new arrangement in choosing the Lords of the Articles. Formerly this committee had consisted of eight members from each Estate chosen by their own peers; but now the bishops were first chosen, they again chose the barons, and barons and bishops together chose the commons, so that all those chosen were really the allies of the bishops. A supplication was drawn up to remonstrate with the King about this interference, but, instead of taking it in good part, Charles was very angry, treated their remonstrance as a political offence, and put the lord Balmerinoch, who had revised the supplication which was presented to him, in prison. He was afterwards pardoned, but this did not make the King any more popular, as it was thought that he had only liberated Balmerinoch from fear and not from goodwill. While in Scotland he founded a new bishopric at Edinburgh, which had formerly formed part of the diocese of St. Andrews.

9. Book of Canons.—The discontent and distrust of the people which had been roused by the introduction of vestments, by the increase in the number of the bishops, and by the appointment of the primate as chancellor were now brought to a head by the appearance of a Book of Canons, or rules for the government of the Church. This book they were called on to accept in place of the Book of Discipline, on the authority of the King alone, unconfirmed by the Estates, and not long after the King attempted to change their form of worship as well. Through the influence of Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, a Liturgy was drawn up on the plan of the first book of Edward the Sixth. From this Liturgy the Scotch clergy were commanded by the King to read prayers in the churches, instead of from the book of Common Order which was still in general use.

10. Liturgy Tumults.—The imposition of this book roused the old national jealousy. The people thought that to have an English service book forced upon them would be a mark of subjection; and on the day named by the King for bringing it into use, July 16, 1637, when the Dean of Edinburgh tried to read the prayers from it in St. Giles' Church, a riot broke out. Stools and books were thrown at the Dean, the Archbishop, and the Bishop of Edinburgh, who had great difficulty in escaping out of the hands of the mob. And this tumult was but a sign of the common feeling throughout the country. The King was highly incensed and ordered the offenders to be brought to punishment, and the use of the liturgy to be enforced. Numberless petitions against it from all ranks of the people poured in on the Privy Council, or were sent up to London to the King, while Edinburgh was thronged with the petitioners from all parts of the country waiting for the answer which they hoped would be favourable. No answer was given to them, but the King issued a proclamation ordering them all to return to their homes, and threatening to remove the courts from Edinburgh to Linlithgow if the disturbance continued, as had been done in the late reign. But this had no effect. The bishops and the other members of the Council were mobbed, and the supplicants joined in a common petition to the King, called the Great Supplication.

11. The Tables.—The Council finding it impossible to treat with a turbulent mob which increased instead of diminishing, persuaded the malcontents to choose representatives to act in their names, four from each class, nobles, lesser barons, clergy, and burgesses. The rest were to return peaceably to their several homes. But this committee, known as The Tables, gave the Council more trouble than the unruly mob had done, for they made their way into the Council chamber, insisted on debating there, and demanded that the bishops should be turned out.

12. Renewal of the Covenant, 1638.—Still the King would not give in, and he met a less submissive protest on the part of his subjects by another threatening proclamation. On this the Tables renewed the Covenant, with a clause added to it aimed at the bishops. At the last renewal of the Covenant, only notable persons had put their names to it, but this time it was signed by every one throughout the land, rich and poor alike. There was the greatest excitement and enthusiasm about it all over the country, and from this time the popular party became known as the Covenanters.

13. Hamilton Commissioner.—A few months later the Marquess of Hamilton came to Scotland as Commissioner with full power, it was said, to settle everything. The demands of the Covenanters were that the Court of High Commission, the Canons and the Liturgy should all be done away, and that a free Assembly and a free Parliament should be summoned. But Hamilton, acting on the orders given him, kept putting them off with promises till the King should be ready to put them down by force, when suddenly the King turned about, promised all they asked, and agreed that the Assembly should be called, and that the bishops should be tried by it.

14. Glasgow Assembly.—The Assembly met in the Cathedral Church at Glasgow, November 21, 1638. Hamilton opened it as the Royal Commissioner. But after a few days, when the attack on the bishops began, he withdrew and ordered the members to disperse. They paid no heed to this order, but went on with the trial of the bishops, who were all deposed, and eight of them excommunicated. The Canons and the Liturgy were then rejected, and all acts of the Assemblies held since 1606 were annulled.

15. War in the North.—In the North, where Huntly was the King's Lieutenant, the Covenant had not been received, and the Tables resolved to enforce it with the sword. Scotland was now full of trained soldiers just come back from Germany, where they had learnt to fight in the Thirty Years war, and as plenty of money had been collected among the Covenanters, an army was easily raised. Their banner bore the motto, For Religion, the Covenant, and the Country, and their leader was James Graham, Earl of Montrose, one of the most zealous among the champions of the cause. Aberdeen, Huntly's capital, dared make no resistance, for the soldiers occupied the town and the ministers the pulpits, and Montrose brought Huntly himself back to Edinburgh in his train. But in the first brush of actual war the King's party, the Cavaliers, or Malignants as their opponents called them, had the advantage, for they surprised and scattered the Covenanters of the North at the little village of Turriff, which they had made their trysting place. In this action, called the Trot of Turriff, the first blood was shed in the great Civil War. The Cavaliers were the first to draw the sword. Though Huntly had been taken out of the way by his removal to Edinburgh, his two sons, the Lord Aboyne and Lewis Gordon, supplied his place and called out the Highlanders. Aberdeen changed hands, and again Montrose was sent to subdue the North before the expected struggle with England should begin. At the Bridge of Dee he defeated the Malignants, and once more entered Aberdeen in triumph. Just after this entry the news was brought that peace had been made between the King and the other army of the Covenant on the Border. June 1639.

16. Pacification of Berwick.—While Montrose had been thus busy for the Covenant in the North, the King had been making ready to put down his rebellious Scottish subjects with the sword. Early in May a fleet entered the Forth under the command of Hamilton. But the Tables took possession of the strongholds, and seized the ammunition which had been laid in for the King. They then raised another army of twenty-two thousand foot and one thousand two hundred horse, and placed at its head Alexander Leslie, a veteran, trained in the German war. Their army they sent southwards to meet the English host which the King was bringing to reduce Scotland. The two armies faced each other on opposite banks of the Tweed. The Scots were skilfully posted on Dunse Law, a hill commanding the Northern road. To pass them without fighting was impossible, and to fight would have been almost certain defeat. The King seeing this agreed to treat. By a treaty called the "Pacification of Berwick," it was settled that the questions at issue between the King and the Covenanters should be put to a free Assembly, that both armies should be disbanded, and that the strongholds should be restored to the King. June 9, 1639.

17. Assembly and Parliament.—The Assembly which met at Edinburgh repeated and approved all that had been done at Glasgow. When the Estates met for the first time in the New Parliament-house, June 2, 1640, they went still further, for they not only confirmed the Acts of the Assemblies, but ordered everyone to sign the Covenant under pain of civil penalties. Now for the first time they acted in open defiance of the King, to whom hitherto they had professed the greatest loyalty and submission. Three times had they been adjourned by the King, who had also refused to see the Commissioners whom they sent up to London. Now they met in spite of him, and, as in former times of troubles and difficulties, they appealed to France for help. When this intrigue with the French was found out, the Lord Loudon, one of their Commissioners, was sent to the Tower, and the English parliament was summoned to vote supplies for putting down the Scots by force of arms. But by this time the English were beginning to see that the cause of the Scots was the cause of freedom. There was much difficulty in raising an army to march against them, and when raised it was discontented and mutinous.

18. Invasion of England.—As for the Scots they mustered stronger than before, and, on August 20, 1640, they crossed the Tweed, and entered England. At Newburn they defeated a body of English, and crossing the Tyne, marched on to Newcastle, which yielded to them without offering resistance. They then took Durham, Tynemouth, and Shields without a struggle. Meanwhile news came from Scotland that the two great strongholds of the East and of the West, Edinburgh and Dunbarton, had again fallen into their hands.

19. Treaty of Ripon.—Once more they sent to the King, who was then at York, a supplication in which they declared that all they wanted was satisfaction to their just demands. The King laid the matter before a great council of peers which he had called at York. By their advice it was decided to treat with the Scots. Eight Commissioners from their army came to Ripon, and the treaty which was begun there was not ended until nearly a year afterwards at London. All that they asked was granted, and they were promised three hundred thousand pounds to defray the expenses of this war, into which they said they had been driven. The armies were then disbanded, and peace seemed to be restored. The King came to Scotland once more, and a meeting of the Estates was held in which he let the members have their own way in everything. He also confirmed the right of the Estates to meet once every three years, and fixed the next meeting for June, 1644.

20. Breaking out of the War.—This seeming peace was but the lull before the storm, and, before one year had passed, the English had followed the example set them by the Scots in resisting the unlawful exactions of the King; the Long Parliament had brought his minister Strafford, the chief agent of his despotism, to the scaffold, and had called on the people to arm in defence of their rights and liberties. When the great Civil War began in earnest, each side was eager to secure the help of the fine army which the Scots had at their command. Religious opinion decided the matter. The Parliament, which was as much opposed to episcopacy as the Scots were, adopted the solemn League and Covenant, and ordered every one to sign it, and by so doing induced the Scots to join them. The army was raised again, and put under the command of the two Leslies, Alexander, now Earl of Leven, and his nephew David, who soon proved the better soldier of the two. A second time they entered England, January 19, 1644, and leaving a part of their force to besiege Newcastle marched on into Yorkshire, and joined the troops of the Parliament in time to share their victory at Marston Moor. Newcastle was taken by storm, October 19.

21. Montrose's Campaign.—Meanwhile Montrose, whose zeal for the Covenant had now changed into zeal for the King, was taking advantage of the absence of the Covenanting force in England to win back the North for Charles with an army of Celts alone. It was the first time that the Highlanders had been turned to account in regular war. Hitherto they had been thought only capable of preying upon one another, but now, under a General who knew how to handle them, they did wonders. The Lowlanders who had hastily mustered to oppose them were beaten at Tippermuir. Montrose then took Perth, marched northward, again defeated the Covenanters, took Aberdeen once more, and held for the King this town which twice before he had held for the Covenant. He then turned to the West, wasted the country of his great enemy Argyle, pounced down upon and scattered the force gathered to oppose his own on the shore of Loch Linnhe; kept his army in the Highlands during the winter, and early in the spring took Dundee. He twice defeated the Covenanters in the country north of the Forth, and once south of it at Kilsyth. Thus in a wonderfully short time he won back nearly the whole country for the King. But the secret of his success had lain in the rapid marches and sudden attacks that kept his men busy. When the fighting was over, the Highlanders, as was their wont, went off in large numbers to take home their spoil. In this way his army was diminished. David Leslie, who had been summoned home to oppose him, brought some cavalry from the southern army against his weakened force, and won a complete victory at Philiphaugh, near Selkirk, September 12th, 1645. Montrose retreated with the small remnant that was left to him, but he found it impossible to reassemble his scattered force. His campaign had lasted little more than a year, and a few months later the King, who had thrown himself on the protection of the Scots army at Newark, ordered him to lay down his arms. Montrose obeyed and left the country.

22. Dealings with the King.—While the Scots army was lying before Newark, Charles, whose cause was now nearly hopeless, secretly left Oxford, where he was besieged by the army of the Parliament, and sought protection in the camp of the Scots. A few days afterwards Newark surrendered, and they returned with the King to Newcastle. He stayed in their hands eight months. During this time, though they behaved towards him with respect and courtesy, he was really their prisoner, and they were busy treating with the Parliament for the terms of his surrender. If he had turned Presbyterian and signed the Covenant, no doubt they would have protected him, but after many arguments with Henderson, a noted divine of their party, he still remained unconvinced. In the end they agreed to leave England on payment of 400,000 pounds arrears of pay that were due to them. When they returned to their own country, they left the King to the mercy of the English Parliament.

23. The Engagement.—A few months later, when Charles was a prisoner at Carisbrooke, he made a secret treaty with the moderate party in Scotland, to the effect that, if they would help him to win back his power, he would confirm the Covenant and would make a trial of the presbyterian Church in England. On this the Committee of Estates, in whose hands the government was, raised an army and sent it into England, with Hamilton, who had been created a Duke, at its head. They were defeated at Preston by Oliver Cromwell, lieutenant-general of the parliamentary army. The Duke marched on to Uttoxeter. There he and his army laid down their arms, and yielded themselves prisoners, August 25, 1648. But the extreme party in Scotland were very wroth against the Engagers, as they called those who had made this "engagement" with the King. They thought that the taking of the Covenant by the King was a mere pretence, and that Hamilton's expedition was a sinful helping of the Malignants. A change in the government was the result. Argyle, the head of the extreme Covenanters, raised his followers, while from the Western Lowlands, which were just waking to zeal for the Covenant, a body of men, with Lord Eglinton at their head, marched on Edinburgh. This was called the Whiggamores' Raid, from Whig, a word used in the Westland for urging on horses. This was the origin of the word Whig, which gradually became the nickname of a political party. Argyle and his party came to terms with Cromwell, and formed a new Committee of Estates. Cromwell then marched to Edinburgh, and made them give him an assurance that none of the Engagers should be allowed to take any part in the government. By the Act of Classes which was then passed, all profane persons and enemies of the Covenant were likewise shut out from holding office.

24. The Directory and Confession of Faith. —The Scots now hoped to see their Church and their Covenant adopted over all three kingdoms. In this hope they were disappointed, for the most of the parliamentary party were Independents, who had no idea of exchanging the tyranny of bishops for that of presbyters. An Assembly of Divines met at Westminster, June 12, 1643, to settle religious matters. They adopted the Covenant, and the Scots in return accepted their directory of public worship, and the Confession of Faith drawn up by them in place of their own Books of Discipline and Common Order. But though the Covenant was thus nominally accepted in England, the different English sects were allowed far more liberty than the strict Covenanters thought right.

25. The King's Death.—On the thirtieth of January, 1649, the King was beheaded at Whitehall. With the court of justice which professed to try him, with the sentence which it passed, and with the execution of that sentence, the Scots had nothing whatever to do. As they had no idea of the existence of their kingdom without a king, nor of having any other king than the hereditary one, no sooner was the news of the King's death known in Edinburgh, than Charles his son was proclaimed King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland.

26. Charles II., 1649-1685. Fate of Hamilton and Huntly.—Hamilton, who was a prisoner in England, was brought to trial as an English subject by his English title of Earl of Cambridge; he was found guilty of treason in invading the country, and was beheaded. Huntly met with a like fate in Scotland. He was also charged with treason in having made war for the King against the Covenanters.

27. Montrose's Rising.—-Meanwhile in the north Montrose made one more effort for the king. With a small army of foreigners which he had gathered on the Continent he landed in Orkney, and from thence passed over to Scotland early in 1650. But his followers were dispersed by a detachment from the Covenanting army. He himself wandered for a while in the Highlands, but was at last taken prisoner, brought to Edinburgh, and hanged there without a trial. He was lying under sentence of death for treason, which had been passed against him five years before, when he first took up arms for the King.

28. Arrival of Charles.-—But while the Estates were thus dealing with the leaders of the Malignants, they were busy on their own account treating for the return of Charles. They looked on him as their lawful King, and they were ready to be faithful to him if he would sign the Covenant and promise to submit to the dictates of the Assembly. These promises he made, and, before he landed, he signed the Covenant, in July, 1650, while the courtiers whom he had brought with him were nearly all sent away as being either Malignants or Engagers.

29. Cromwell's Conquest.—-No sooner did the news of these doings reach London than Cromwell was sent northward with a large army to put a stop to them. The old hatred of England was rekindled by this invasion, and numbers of recruits flocked round the banner of the Covenant. The army thus brought together was made up of good soldiers who made no pretences to piety, and of would-be saints who knew nothing of fighting. But the saints drove from their ranks all whom they suspected of lukewarmness in the cause and therefore looked on as sinners, and thus weeded out their best soldiers. Those who were left were put under the command of Leslie, and the King was not suffered to go out with the host. They took up a strong position on the hills south of the Firth of Forth, and for some time Cromwell tried in vain to bring them to a battle, but at last Leslie was persuaded against his better judgment to go down into the plain and meet the enemy. A battle was fought near Dunbar, September 3, in which the Scots were thoroughly beaten.

30. The Coronation. —-Meanwhile Charles was in Dunfermline, in old times the royal city, under care so strict and watchful that it was very much like imprisonment. The life which he led there was so distasteful to him that he made his escape, in hopes of joining the northern chiefs. But their plans were badly laid. He found no one to meet him as he had expected, and he was pursued and brought back by his former guardians. According to the ancient custom, Charles was crowned at Scone by the hands of the Marquess of Argyle.

31. Battle of Worcester.—-While Cromwell was busy in Scotland the Scots army marched into England. This time they took the King with them. But Cromwell hastened after them, came up with them at Worcester, and defeated them there, September 3, 1651, exactly a year after his victory at Dunbar. This was the last battle fought in the Civil War. The Scots had been the first to take up the sword, and they were the last to lay it down. Charles, after wandering about for some time in danger, and in want, escaped to the Continent. Meanwhile General Monk, who had been left in Scotland with an army of five thousand men, was reducing the country to subjection. The public records deposited in Stirling Castle were sent to the Tower of London. The Regalia, the Honours of Scotland as they were called, the Crown, the Sword, and the Sceptre, had been taken to Dunnottar, one of the strong fortresses in Scotland, which stood on a ledge of rock overhanging the sea. The Castle made a gallant resistance, but was at last obliged to yield, but the Honours were not found in it. They had been taken secretly from the Castle by Mrs. Granger, the wife of the minister of the parish. She rode through the camp with the Crown on her lap hidden in a bundle of lint, and the sceptre in her hand in the guise of a distaff, with the flax she was spinning wound round it. She and her husband buried the Honours under the floor of the church, and they kept their secret so well that no one knew what had become of them.

32. Union with England.—Cromwell, now Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, set to work to carry out Edward the First's idea of a legislative union of England and Scotland. This Union was ratified by the Council, in 1654. It was then settled that Scotland should be represented by thirty members in the English Parliament. Free-trade was established between the two countries. Great changes were also made in the Church Government. The Assembly was closed, and the power of the Church-courts was done away with. The country was divided into five districts, and the care of providing ministers to the different parishes was laid upon a certain number of ministers to be chosen from these districts. In order to improve the state of the people, all feudal dues were taken away. A fixed rent in money was substituted for all the services and restrictions to which the land had hitherto been liable. The Highlands were kept in order by the founding of garrisoned Forts.

33. Glencairn's Expedition.—Once only was the peace and order thus well established broken in favour of the Stewarts. A rising was made in the Highlands by William Cunningham, Lord Glencairn, who acted under a commission from Charles. More than five thousand men gathered round him. They were dispersed by a detachment of Monk's troops under General Morgan at Loch Garry before they had come down from the Highlands.

34. The Restoration.—The Protector, whose conquest had made Scotland prosperous, died September 3, 1658. His son Richard succeeded him in office, but he was not strong enough to keep order, as his father had done. A time of great confusion followed, which ended in the recall and Restoration of Charles. This was chiefly the work of General Monk. He was Commander of the Army in Scotland, during the Protectorate. Some time after Cromwell's death he called together a Convention of the Representatives of the Counties. Whether they knew of his intention of restoring Charles or not is not certain. But they aided him with a large sum of money. In November, 1659, he set out with the army for London, and in about six months' time Charles returned in triumph to England. In Scotland, where Charles had been already crowned, his return was celebrated with great rejoicings by the people, who hoped that he would uphold the Covenant which he had signed. Before long, they found out how much they had been mistaken. In the very first English Parliament, an Act was passed which took from Scotland the privilege of free-trade with England, which she had enjoyed under Cromwell. This was the Navigation Act, by which the exporting and importing of merchandise into England, or any of her colonies, was forbidden to any but English vessels.

35. Episcopacy Re-established.—John Middleton, a soldier of fortune, who had been taken prisoner at Worcester, and who had afterwards taken an active part in Glencairn's expedition, was now made Earl of Middleton, and was sent to Scotland as Commissioner. When the Estates met, an Act called the Act Rescissory was passed. By this Act, all the Acts passed since 1633 were cut out of the Statutes; nearly all the concessions wrung from Charles the First were recalled. The causes of dispute between the King and the people were thus restored to the state in which they had been before the great struggle began. In this same year Episcopacy was re-established by the Estates, and the Covenant was publicly burned by the hangman. As there was but one of the old bishops still alive, three new ones were consecrated in England. James Sharp was the Primate. He had gone up to London to plead the cause of the Covenant and of Presbyters; he came back an Archbishop, and was thenceforward foremost in persecuting the cause he had deserted.

36. Fate of Argyle and of Guthrie.—The government of Scotland was entrusted to a Privy Council. Its authority was supported by a standing lifeguard, the troop that former kings had often asked for in vain. To this Council were entrusted the supreme powers of the Estates during the intervals between the Sessions. An Act of Indemnity was promised, but before it was passed several persons suffered death. Two of those who thus fell were specially distinguished. The one was Argyle, whose great power made him a dangerous rival to the King. He was treacherously seized in London, whither he had gone to pay his court to Charles. He was sent down to Edinburgh, where he was tried for treason, found guilty, and beheaded, May 27, 1661. But the victim who was most regretted and whose fate called forth the most pity was James Guthrie, a noted divine, the leader of the extreme party among the Covenanters. This party, who were called the Remonstrants, had prepared a Remonstrance to be presented to the King directly after his return, praying that no form of worship but their own might be suffered within the realm. This remonstrance was drawn up by Guthrie. It was never presented, and those who had projected it were put in prison. Guthrie was now brought to trial on a charge of spreading abroad sedition and treason against the Government. He refused any legal defence, and avowed and justified all that he had done. He was found guilty and beheaded. He was looked on by the Covenanters as a martyr for his faith, and his last words were treasured up with special veneration.

37. The Ejection.—The promised Act of Indemnity was not passed till 1662, and it was not a free pardon, as had been looked for. Between seven and eight hundred persons were heavily fined. In this same year an Act was passed requiring all persons holding any public office to sign a Declaration that the Covenant was an unlawful oath; and lastly a law was passed that all ministers presented to livings since 1639 should be turned out, unless they would agree to be collated or instituted by the new bishops. The ministers who refused to consent to episcopal collation were required to remove with their families out of their parishes within a month from the date of the passing of this Act. The meeting of the Council in which it was passed was called the Drunken Parliament, from the condition of the members present. Sooner than submit to this, three hundred and fifty ministers resigned. Most of their parishioners followed them, and the churches were left empty, while the people flocked to the open-air services of their former pastors. To prevent this an Act was passed for levying fines on all persons who did not go to their parish church on the Lord's Day. Another Act, called the Mile Act, was also passed, which forbade the recusant or refusing ministers to come within twenty miles of their former parishes, or within three miles of any royal burgh. The Court of High Commission was revived, and empowered to proceed against all dissenters from the Episcopal (now the Established) Church, whether they were Romanists or Presbyterians. But this tyranny drove the people to revolt, and a third Religious War began. In the first the people had taken up arms for a question of doctrine; the second arose from disputes about a form of prayer; this, the third, was caused by enforcing a form of Church-government specially disliked by the nation. In the conduct of public prayer no change was made. As there had been in James's reign a Presbyterian Church with a Liturgy, so now there was an Episcopal Church without one. But, though the cause of dispute seemed this time of less importance than in the two former wars, the zeal on the one side and the persecution on the other were greater than they had been in the former struggles. Then Edinburgh and the Eastern Lowlands had borne the brunt of the battle; now it was in the West, where it was latest kindled, that religious zeal flamed fiercest and lasted longest.

38. Western Rising.—In spite of fines and penalties the churches still remained empty, while the people went long distances to gather round their "outed" ministers. On the hill-sides, wherever in short they were least likely to be dispersed by the dragoons, they met to hear the sermons of their favourite preachers. But so great was the danger incurred by thus worshipping God according to their consciences that sentries were stationed on the hill-tops round to give warning of the approach of danger, and the men stacked their muskets so that they could seize and use them on a moment's notice. Such meetings were called Conventicles, and to hunt them down bands of soldiers scoured the country in all directions. In the south-west the troops were under the command of Sir James Turner, and it was his severity that drove the people to actual revolt. The immediate cause of the outbreak was the rescue of an old man from the clutches of a group of soldiers who were ill-using him. In the scuffle one of the soldiers was wounded. This affair happened at Dalry, in Ayrshire. A large body of peasants soon gathered to protect their conventicles. They seized Turner at Dumfries, and, when their numbers had increased to nearly three thousand, they set out for Edinburgh, expecting the people of the Eastern Counties to show their former spirit by rising to join them. General Thomas Dalziel, who had made himself a reputation by fighting for the Czar of Russia against Turks and Tartars, was sent to bar their way. But they avoided and passed him. He had to come back after them as far as the Pentland Hills, where they were so well posted that the troops could only break and disperse them by repeated attacks. But the feeling of this district had changed so much that the peasantry now turned against these wild Whigs of the Westland, and treated them nearly as badly as the troopers had done.

39. The Persecution.—This rising did no real good, for after the defeat at Pentland in 1666 the tyranny became even more cruel than before. The trials which followed were infamous, from the shameful and constant use of torture. The instruments used for this purpose were the thumbkin, a screw applied to the thumb-joint, and the boot, a cylinder in which the leg of the victim was crushed by hammering in wedges. Both inflicted the most fearful pain without destroying life. Twenty men were hanged in different places. The fines and forfeitures inflicted were given as rewards to soldiers and lawyers who might get them out of the offenders as they best could. At this time certain bonds called law-burrows were originated. These were bonds by which all the principal men in a district pledged themselves to prevent those beneath them in rank from breaking the peace.

40. The Indulgence.—But these measures only increased the disorders they were intended to quiet, and the Government tried a new system of greater toleration. An Indulgence was issued, by which those of the outed ministers who could prove that they had lived peaceably and had not held conventicles since they had been turned out of their livings, were allowed to go back to their parishes, provided no one else had been put in their place. Some few took advantage of it; but the greater number would not, and looked on their indulged brethren as nearly as bad as the prelatists. But this semblance of yielding was more than balanced by new exactions. Intercommuning—that is, having anything to do with any persons who had in any way broken any of the many laws against conventicles—was denounced as a criminal offence. Lauderdale, who succeeded Middleton as Commissioner in 1669, brought an army of Celts down on the Lowlands, which they pillaged at pleasure, carrying back rich spoils to their native mountains.

41. Murder of Sharp.—Sharp, the Primate, who was looked on as the originator of all the persecutions, was bitterly hated. He was shot at in Edinburgh while getting into his carriage, but was not hurt. Some time after he recognized the man who had thus tried to take his life. Mitchell the assassin was tried, and being bribed by a promise of pardon, freely confessed that he had fired the shot. Instead of receiving the promised pardon, Mitchell was sent to prison, tortured, and finally put to death in 1678. But the very next year Mitchell's attempt was repeated with better success. As Sharp was driving with his daughter across Magus Moor, near St. Andrews, he fell into the hands of a party of men who were lying in wait there for one Carmichael, the Sheriff-substitute, a wretch who had made himself specially hated. When they heard that the Archbishop's coach was coming that way, they looked on it as a special act of Providence by which the Lord delivered him into their hands. They fired into the coach, but did not hit him. He sheltered himself behind his daughter, but they dragged him out, and hacked him to death on the heath in a very barbarous way, May 3, 1679. It had long been believed that Sharp was in league with the Devil. To find proof of this they had no sooner slain him than they began to search everything he had with him. At last they opened his snuff-box, when a bee flew out. This they agreed must have been his familiar spirit. Every effort was made to track the murderers, among whom were Hackston of Rathillet and Balfour of Burley, but they escaped to the West.

42. Sanquhar Declaration.—The straitest sect of the Covenanters now put forth a protest called the Sanquhar Declaration. Their leaders were Donald Cargill and Richard Cameron, after whom they were called Cameronians. Their openly avowed intention was to free the country from the tyranny under which it was groaning. They held that Charles had by his perjury forfeited the crown. They excommunicated both him and his brother James, Duke of York, who was the Commissioner, and surpassed both Middleton and Lauderdale in cruelty. To kill either the King or his brother, or both of them, the Sanquhar men declared would be perfectly justifiable. They joined themselves together by one of the old bonds for mutual defence and support. Hackston of Rathillet, who had been present at the death of Sharp, was a chief man among them. With him as their leader they sought a refuge from the troopers who were out after them in Airds Moss, in Ayrshire. There they were attacked, and, though they fought bravely, were overcome by the soldiers.

43. Drumclog.—The hill-country between Lanark and Ayr was the favourite haunt of the Covenanters. Here they held great conventicles, to which the men came armed. One of the largest of these meetings was gathered at Drumclog, near Loudon Hill, when they were attacked by a body of dragoons under John Graham, of Claverhouse. But Claverhouse was unaccustomed to this irregular way of fighting, and he was defeated. The Covenanters, wild with joy, thought that they saw the special hand of Providence in this success. They gathered in great numbers, and marched on Glasgow. But they did no harm to either the city or the citizens; they only took down from the gates the heads and limbs of their friends who had suffered for their faith, and buried them.

44. Bothwell Bridge.—To put down this revolt, Charles sent his illegitimate son, James, Duke of Buccleuch and Monmouth, with an army of fifteen thousand men. The zeal of the Covenanters was great, but their resources were few, and their leaders unskilful. It was therefore an easy matter for a well-trained army to defeat them, and at the Bridge over the Clyde at Bothwell they were beaten with great slaughter. Twelve hundred fell into the hands of the victors. Seven of these were put to death, some were released on giving sureties for their future good conduct, and the rest were shipped off to the plantations. Cameron fell in this fray. Hackston and Cargill were taken, and brought to trial at Edinburgh, found guilty, and put to death afterwards.

45. Test Act.—While the Duke of York was Commissioner, an Act was passed to the effect that all persons taking office, whether under Government or from the Corporation of Burghs, should take the Test, an oath for the maintenance of the Protestant Faith as it had been established in the first Parliament of James the Sixth. At the same time the King was declared supreme in Church and State, and the hereditary succession was declared to be unchangeable. Now, as it was well known that James, the King's brother and the heir to the throne, was a Romanist, it was clear that the Test gave no security to the Protestant Faith, if James, when King, could make what changes he pleased in the Church.

46. Argyle's Opposition.—Archibald, Earl of Argyle, who had been restored to his father's earldom, was the most powerful chief in the kingdom. His father had lost his life for his attachment to the Covenant, but he himself had hitherto upheld the Government, and had even offered to bring his Highlanders to its support. Now, however, he showed signs of opposition, for he would only take the Test with the protest that he did so only in so far as it was consistent with itself and with the safety of the Protestant Faith. For this reservation he was accused of leasing-making, that is, of making mischief between the King and his people. This offence had, by a most unjust law passed in the reign of James the Sixth, been made treason. By this law Argyle was condemned to death. He escaped and fled to Holland, where he became the centre of a party of his fellow-countrymen who had also left their country because of their political opinions. After this unjust attack on Argyle no one could be sure of his liberty, and a scheme was got up for emigration to Carolina. One Robert Ferguson was connected with this scheme. As this man was concerned in an English plot against the life of the King, called the Rye House Plot, all who had any dealings with him were suspected of being art and part in that too, and were called to account before the Council. Baillie of Jerviswood, a man much beloved and respected, was tried on an accusation of conspiracy, was found guilty, and put to death. His death greatly increased the popular discontent.

47. James VII. 1685-1688. The Killing Time.—The death of Charles and the accession of James rather made matters worse than better for the people. Another defiance from the Cameronians, called the Apologetical Declaration, was met by an Act which gave the soldiers power at once to put to death anyone who would not take the Abjuration Oath; that is, swear that they abhorred and renounced this treasonable Declaration. A time of cruel slaughter followed, in which Claverhouse was the chief persecutor. Many heartrending tales are told of the sufferings of the poor creatures whose fanaticism led them to persist in refusing to take this oath. There is a story told that one John Brown, known as the "Christian Carrier," a man of great repute among them, was shot dead by Claverhouse himself, almost without warning, before the eyes of his wife. At another time two women, Margaret Maclauchlan and Margaret Wilson—one old, the other young—were, it is said, tied to stakes on the Solway shore, that they might be drowned by inches by the flowing tide. These tales and others of a like sort, bear witness to the brutality of the one side and to the constancy of the other. Early in James's reign an Act was passed by which attending a Conventicle became a capital crime.

48. Argyle's Rising.—Monmouth was in Holland when his father died, and many refugees from England and Scotland were there with him. Among them they got up a scheme for placing him on the throne in place of his uncle James, who was hated, while Monmouth was very popular. To carry this out they planned a rising, which was to have taken place at the same time in both kingdoms. Argyle was to take the lead in Scotland, but he was subject to the interference of a Committee chosen from among the others. The Government was informed of this intended outbreak, and all the clans that were known to be hostile to Argyle were roused against him. Early in May he landed in Kintyre, and sent out the fiery cross to summon his clansmen, who mustered to the number of 1800. But the quarrels and the jealousy of the Committee placed over him overthrew all his plans. By their advice he marched into the Lowlands, where the people were little disposed to join him. The fort where he had stored his arms and ammunition was seized by the King's men. His men were starving. They deserted in large numbers, and were at last dispersed by a false alarm as they were marching on Glasgow. Argyle himself was taken while trying to escape. He was still lying under the old sentence of death, which had been passed against him for leasing-making. This sentence was executed without any further trial, and with a repetition of all the indignities which had been heaped upon Montrose. After his death the vengeance of the Government fell on his clansmen. The country round Inverary was wasted, while great numbers of the clan were transported to the plantations, many of them having been first cruelly mutilated. At the first alarm of the invasion a large body of prisoners for religious opinion, of all ages and both sexes, had been sent to Dunnottar, a strong castle on the coast of Kincardine, where they were so closely crowded together in one dungeon that many died there. Most of the survivors were also sent to the plantations.

49. The Indulgence.—Up to this time the Council had blindly followed in the lead of the King. They would now do so no longer, as they feared that he meant to restore the Roman Catholic Faith. The Duke of Queensberry, the Commissioner, was deprived of his office, and James Drummond, Earl of Perth, a convert to Romanism, was placed in his stead. James next tried to get a Bill passed by which all the penalties against the Roman Catholics should be done away, while those against the Covenanters should remain in force. To this Bill even the bishops objected, and James saw that there was nothing for it but to treat all sects alike. He published several Indulgences, but it was only the last, in 1688, that was full and complete. It extended toleration to all, even to the Quakers, who had up to this time been as much despised and persecuted as the Covenanters.

50. Deposition of James.—This change of policy on the part of the King had come too late. His attack on the liberties of the Church in England had been resisted by seven of her bishops; and before long his English subjects resolved to bear his tyranny no longer. They invited his nephew and son-in-law, William, Prince of Orange, to come to their aid. He came, and was by common consent invited to mount the throne abdicated by James. When the news of William's entry into London reached Edinburgh, a deputation, headed by Hamilton, was sent to him, to pray him to call a Convention of the Estates, and, till it met, to take the government of Scotland into his own hands, Jan. 7th, 1689.

51. William and Mary, 1689-1702. The Convention. —When the Convention met there was a large Whig majority. They passed a resolution that James by his misgovernment had forfeited the throne; they therefore deposed him, and offered the crown to William and his wife Mary, the daughter of James, on the same terms as had been made in England. The Convention then turned itself into a Parliament, which went on to the end of the reign. The members went in procession to the Cross of Edinburgh, where their vote was read. William and Mary were then proclaimed; and the ministers of parishes were ordered to pray publicly for the King and Queen, on pain of being turned out of their livings. To the Claim of Right, which was much the same as the English one, a special clause was added, declaring prelacy to be an intolerable burthen which had long been hateful to the people, and which ought to be swept away. Three Commissioners were sent with the Instrument of Government to London. Argyle administered the coronation oath; but William, while taking it, declared that he would not become a persecutor in support of any sect.

52. The Rabbling.—The fall of James was followed by the fall of the Episcopal Church, which had made itself hateful to the greater number of the people. They took the law into their own hands, and on Christmas Day, 1688, a general attack was made on the curates or parish priests in the Western Lowlands. About two hundred curates with their families were at once driven out of their houses with every sort of insult and abuse. William did not approve of these excesses, but he had no means of putting a stop to them, for there was no regiment north of the Tweed. He put forth a proclamation ordering all persons to lay down their arms, but it was little heeded. The rabbling and turning out went on much as before. If the bishops would have taken the oaths, William would most likely have protected them; but they remained true to their old master, and shared his fall. For a time all was disorder. In some parishes the curates went on ministering as heretofore, while in others the Presbyterian divines held services in tents, or illegally occupied the pulpits. It was not till June 1690 that the Presbyterian Church was re-established by law. Sixty of the ministers who had been turned out at the Restoration were still living, and to them was given authority to visit all the parishes, and to turn out all those curates whom they thought wanting in abilities, scandalous in morals, or unsound in faith. Those livings from which the curates had been rabbled and driven away were declared vacant. This way of dealing with the Church gave offence both to the Episcopalians and to the extreme Presbyterians, who did not approve of the interference of the King in Church matters. Both these parties continued to look on William and Mary as usurpers.

53. Dundee's Revolt.—When the Convention first met, each party, Whigs and Jacobites alike, had dreaded an outbreak on the part of the other. In the cellars of the city were hidden large numbers of Covenanters, who had been brought up from the West to overawe the Jacobites, while the Duke of Gordon held the Castle for James, and he could, if he had so chosen, have turned the guns upon the city. But the Jacobites, finding themselves in the minority, determined to leave Edinburgh, and to hold a rival Convention at Stirling; while it was agreed that the Marquess of Athole should bring a body of his Highlanders to protect them. But this plan was so ill concerted that Claverhouse, now Viscount Dundee, left hastily before the others were ready, an alarm was given, and they were all secured. Dundee withdrew to his own house in the Highlands, and stayed there quietly for some time. But a few months later certain letters written to him by James fell into the hands of the Government, and an order was sent out for his arrest. Thus roused to action, he summoned the clans for King James. Many of them joined him, more from hatred of Argyle than from love for James. General Mackay, who had come North with three regiments, was sent against him; but he was not used to the Highland way of fighting, and wasted some weeks in running about after an enemy who always kept out of his way. Dundee had no regular troops, but, as Montrose had done before him, he showed what good soldiers the Celts can make with a good leader. As both Dundee and Montrose were Lowlanders, they could not excite the jealousy of the chiefs, and were all the better fitted for the supreme command of a Celtic army. Each clan in such an army formed a regiment bound together by a tie of common brotherhood, and all bound to live or die for the colonel their chief; and so long as the clans could be kept from quarrelling all went well. Dundee wrote to James, who was now in Ireland, for help; but he only sent three hundred miserably-equipped foot, under an officer named Canon. The hopes of the Whigs were placed in Argyle and the western Covenanters, but neither of these did all that was expected of them. Argyle could not, because his country had been so lately wasted; and the Covenanters would not, because the more part of them thought it a sin to fight for a King who had not signed the Covenant. Some of them however thought otherwise, and of these a regiment was raised, and placed under the command of the Earl of Angus. This regiment was called the Cameronians.

54. Battle of Killiecrankie.—The war now broke out again. It was the great aim of each party to win over the adherents of Athole. The Marquess himself, to keep out of harm's way, had gone to England, and of those whom he had left to act for him some were for James, others for the King and Queen. It was of importance to both sides to secure the castle of Blair, which belonged to Athole, and near there the two armies met, at Killiecrankie, a pass leading into the Highlands. Here the Celts won a brilliant and decided victory. The clansmen charged sword in hand down the pass with such fury that they swept their foes before them; and Mackay, with a few hundred men, all he could gather of his scattered army, was forced to flee to Stirling, July 27, 1689. But this success had been dearly bought by the death of Dundee. Thus left without a leader, the victors thought more of plunder than pursuit; nor was there anyone among them fitted to fill Dundee's place, and to follow up the advantage he had won. Recruits came in, their numbers increased, but this only made the disorder greater.

55. Attack on Dunkeld. Buchan's Attempt.—A month later they attacked the Cameronian regiment stationed at Dunkeld. They took the town at the first attack, but the soldiers defended themselves in the church and in a house belonging to Athole in the town with such spirit, that the Highlanders were driven back. They blamed the Irish for the defeat, and the Irish blamed them, and the end of it was that the clans dispersed, and Canon and his Irish withdrew to Mull. In the spring of the next year the clans gathered again, under an officer named Buchan, who came from James with a commission to act as his commander-in-chief in Scotland. But they were surprised and scattered in the strath of the Spey, by Sir William Livingstone, who held Inverness for William. This action ended the Civil War in Scotland, for Gordon had long since given up Edinburgh Castle. To keep the western clans in order, Mackay built a fort in the west of Invernesshire, which was called Fort William, in honour of the King. The castle on the Bass, a rock in the Firth of Forth, was the last place which held out for James, but the garrison were at last obliged to give in, from want of food.

56. Reduction of the Highlands.—Still the chiefs did not take the oaths to William, and were clearly only waiting for the appearance of a new leader to break out again. To win them over to the Government a large sum of money was put into the hands of John Campbell, Earl of Breadalbane. He was accused of cheating both the clans and the King by keeping a part of this sum himself, and he never gave any clear account of what he had done with it. At the same time a proclamation was put forth which offered pardon to all the rebels who should take the oaths to William and Mary before or on December 31, 1691. All who did not take advantage of this offer were after that day to be dealt with as enemies and traitors, and warlike preparations were made for carrying out the threat.

57. Massacre of Glencoe.—By the day named the clans had all come in, except MacIan, chief of a tribe of MacDonalds, who lived in Glencoe, a wild mountain valley in the northwestern corner of Argyleshire. On the last day, December 31, MacIan and his principal clansmen went to Fort William to take the oaths, but found that there was no one there who had authority to administer them. There was no magistrate nearer than Inverary, and, as the ground was deeply covered with snow, it was some days before MacIan got there. But the sheriff, in consideration of his goodwill and of the delay that he had met with, administered the oaths, (January 6,) and sent an account of the whole affair to the Privy Council at Edinburgh. Unfortunately for Glencoe, Breadalbane was his bitter personal enemy, and along with Sir John Dalrymple, the Master of Stair, he determined on his destruction. An order for the extirpation of the whole tribe was drawn up and presented to William, who signed it, and it was carried out with cold-blooded treachery. A party of soldiers, under the command of Campbell of Glenlyon, appeared in the Glen. They gave out that they came as friends, and as such they were kindly welcomed, and shared the hospitality of the MacDonalds for a fortnight. Without any warning they turned on their hosts, and before dawn of a winter's morning slew nearly all the dwellers in the valley, old and young together, February 13, 1691. They then burnt the houses, and drove off the cattle, so that nothing was left for the few wretched beings who had escaped death but to perish miserably of cold and hunger. Whether William knew the whole state of the case or not when he signed the warrant is not certain, but he did not punish those who had dared to commit this wholesale murder in his name. And though four years after, when a stir was made about it, he did grant a commission to the Privy Council to inquire into the matter, he did not bring to judgment the Master of Stair, who was very clearly pointed out as the guilty person.

58. Darien Scheme.—Just at this time the public attention was taken up with a scheme for founding a new colony on the Isthmus of Darien, and people's minds were so full of it that nothing else was thought of. It was got up by William Paterson, who is to be remembered as the originator of the Bank of England. He fancied that he had found, what Columbus and the other navigators of his day had sought in vain, a short cut to the Indies. His plan was to plant a colony on the isthmus which unites North and South America, and to make it the route by which the merchandise of the East should be brought to Europe, thereby shortening the long sea-voyage. He drew glowing pictures of the untold wealth that would thus fall to the lot of those who were clear-sighted enough to join in the venture. A charter was granted to the new Company, which gave them a monopoly of the trade with Asia, Africa, and America for a term of thirty-one years, with leave to import all goods duty free, except foreign sugar and tobacco. Never had project been so popular. Every one was anxious to take shares. Half the capital of Scotland was invested in it, and poor and rich alike, deceived by Paterson's lying stories of the healthiness and fertility of the soil and climate, were eager to hasten to the new colony. A few vessels were bought at Hamburg and Amsterdam. In these twelve hundred emigrants set sail on the 25th July, 1698, and arrived safely on the shore of the Gulf of Darien. They named the settlement which they founded there New Caledonia, and built a town and a fort, to which they gave the names of New Edinburgh and St. Andrews. But, to set up such a trading market with any hopes of success, they ought to have had the good will and help of the great trading countries of Europe. Instead of this, England and Holland were much opposed to the scheme, as being an interference with their trading rights. The East India Company looked on the bringing in of Eastern merchandise to Scotland as an infringement of their privileges. Spain too claimed the Isthmus as her own, and seized one of the Scottish ships; while the Governor of the English colonies in North America refused to let them have supplies. In addition to these difficulties from without, the climate was wretchedly unhealthy. Disease quickly thinned their ranks, till at last the miserable remnant whom it spared were glad to flee from almost certain death. They deserted the new settlement, and set sail for New York. Meanwhile such glowing reports of the success of the venture had been spread abroad at home, that a second body of thirteen hundred emigrants, ignorant of the fate of those who had gone before them, set sail in August of the next year. They found the colony deserted, and the colonists gone. They themselves fared no better than the first settlers, and were in a few months driven out by the Spaniards. The Scottish people were deeply mortified and much enraged by the failure of this scheme. They blamed William for all the disasters of the colonists, because he had done nothing to help them, nor to prevent the interference of Spain. The Charter had been granted by the Government of Scotland without the King's knowledge when he was in Holland; and though he could not recall it, it would have been unjust to his English subjects to show any favour to a scheme which, had it succeeded, might have proved the ruin of their East Indian trade. So much bad feeling arose out of this unfortunate affair between the two nations, that it was plain that if there was not a closer union between them there would be a breach before long.

59. William's Death.—Just as the project of an Union was about to be considered in the English Parliament, William died, March 8, 1702. Since the death of Mary, in 1690, he had reigned alone. Both crowns now passed to Anne, the younger daughter of James VII.

60. Education Act.—It was in this reign that the system of national education which has made the Scotch, as a people, so intelligent and well-informed, was re-cast. An Act was passed, in 1696, by which every parish was required to provide a suitable schoolhouse, and to pay a properly qualified schoolmaster for the instruction of the children of the parish.

61. Anne, 1702-1714. Act of Security.— James VII. had died in France a few months before his nephew, and his son had been proclaimed there as James VIII. This made the Whigs anxious to have an Act passed in Scotland similar to the English Act of Settlement. By this Act the Parliament of England had settled that, if Anne died without heirs, the crown should pass to the nearest Protestant heir, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, grand-daughter of James the Sixth, or to her descendants. But the Estates still felt injured and angry about the late differences with England, and passed an Act of Security, which made express conditions that the same person should not succeed to the throne of both kingdoms, unless, during Queen Anne's reign, measures had been taken for securing the honour and independence of the Scottish nation against English influence. The right of declaring war against England at any time was to remain with the Scottish Parliament.

62. Trial and Death of Captain Green.—Just at this time an event happened which tended to increase the bad feeling between the two countries. An English ship, the Worcester, was driven by stress of weather into the Firth of Forth. It was seized by the Scots, because the East India Company had some time before detained a Scotch ship. From the talk of some of the crew it was suspected that they had murdered the captain and crew of one of the Darien vessels which was missing. On this charge Captain Green of the Worcester, his mate and crew, were brought to trial before the High Court of Admiralty. On the evidence of a black slave they were found guilty and condemned, and Green, his mate, and one of the crew were hanged. It was afterwards found out that the crime for which they had suffered had never been committed. The missing ship had gone ashore on the island of Madagascar, where Drummond, the captain, was then living. Whatever wrongs the Scots had suffered, the English had now, after this unlawful deed, a very reasonable cause of complaint against them.

63. The Union.—It was clear that, if the two kingdoms were to go on together in peace, it could only be by joining their Parliaments and their commercial interests into one. Commissioners from both sides were appointed to consider the best way of effecting this union. Godolphin, the Treasurer of England, and the Duke of Queensberry, the Royal Commissioner in Scotland, were its chief promoters. The Commissioners drew up a Treaty of Union, which was approved by the Parliaments of both countries. By the Articles of Union the succession to both crowns was settled in the Protestant heirs of Sophia; and each country was secured in the possession of her national Church as then established. Scotland was to send sixteen Representative Peers, elected from the whole body of Peers, and forty-five members from the Commons, to the Parliament at Westminster, henceforth to be called the Parliament of Great Britain. It was further settled that one seal, with the arms of both kingdoms quartered upon it, should serve for both countries, that both should be subject to the same Excise duties and Customs, and should have the same privileges of trade. The same coins, weights, and measures were to be used throughout the island. The law-courts of Scotland, the Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session, were to remain unchanged, only there was now a right of appeal from the Court of Session, which had hitherto been supreme in all civil cases, to the House of Lords. In addition to the twenty-five Articles of Union, a special Act was passed for securing the liberty of the Church of Scotland as it then stood in all time coming, and declaring that the Presbyterian should be the only Church government in Scotland. The first Parliament of Great Britain met October 23, 1707.

64. Results of the Union.—Twice before this time the Legislature of the two kingdoms had been thus joined together into one, under Edward I. and under Cromwell. But these two unions, each the result of conquest, had lasted but a little while. This Union was destined to be more enduring, and to lead to increased prosperity in both kingdoms. For Scotland it was the beginning of quite a new state of things. Hitherto the struggle for national life had left her no leisure for internal development, and at the time of the Union she was without manufactures, shipping, or commerce. With the end of her independent nationality a new social life began, and a spirit of industry and enterprise was awakened, which has since raised her people to their present eminence in trade, manufactures, and agriculture. The Union struck the last blow at the power of the Scottish nobles. They were not placed by any means on the same level with the Peers of the sister kingdom. It brought to the Commons, who during this period had been much despised and oppressed, an increase in dignity and independence, by admitting them to a share in the liberty and privileges which the Commons of England had won for themselves with the sword. But what did even more for the prosperity of Scotland was the removal of all restrictions on her trade, which was now placed on the same footing as that of the larger kingdom. For half a century after the union of the crowns she had enjoyed free trade with England and her colonies; but that was brought to an end by the Navigation Act, passed soon after the Restoration, which forbade the importing of any foreign goods into England except in English vessels, and which was, as the Scots justly complained, the ruin of their rising commerce.

65. Literature and Art.—Between the union of the Crowns and the union of the Parliaments there was but little advance in literature or art. This was in great part owing to the fact that, just when all other nations had taken to writing in their own tongues in place of Latin, the Scottish Court migrated to London. There the Northumbrian English, which was the common speech of the Lowlands of Scotland, was despised as a provincial dialect, in which no educated man would write if he wished his writings to be read. During this period, the talent that was to be found in the country was enlisted in the religious struggle, which occupied all men's minds, and it produced many divines eminent for eloquence and learning. The literature of the times was, like the fighting, the tyranny, and the persecutions, chiefly of a religious character. There were many men of learning and talent, renowned either for their writings or from their eloquence, to be found among the leaders of the different sects. Among the Presbyterians the most eminent were John Welch, the son-in-law of Knox; Alexander Henderson; Guthrie, the martyr of the Remonstrants, and George Gillespie, who, from his gift for argument, was called the "Hammer of the Malignants." The Episcopal Church could boast of some scholarly divines, such as John and Patrick Forbes, and Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow. Of poets there were but few; none who could bear comparison with those of an earlier time. Drummond of Hawthornden is chief among them, but his genius is obscured by an imitation of the dialect and style then prevalent in England. Many of the beautiful ballads and songs of which Scotland may justly be proud, must have been composed about this time, but the authors are unknown. Unknown also, or forgotten, are the musicians to whom Scotland owes the wild, sweet strains to which those songs were sung, those pathetic melodies which make the national music so peculiar and characteristic in its exquisite beauty. The oldest collection of these airs is in a manuscript which seems to date from the sixteenth century. To George Jameson, the earliest Scottish painter of note, we owe the life-like portraits of the heroes of these times. He was born at Aberdeen and in 1620 he settled in his native town as a portrait-painter. But the spirit of the Covenant was opposed to art. Though it inspired to heroic deeds, there were no songs made about them. Architecture fared even worse than poetry, for while churches, the work of former ages, were pulled down, any new ones that were put up were as ugly and tasteless as it was possible to make them. Napier of Merchiston, a zealous reformer, the writer of an Explanation of the Apocalypse, is known in the world of science as the inventor of Logarithms, a clever and easy way of shortening difficult numerical calculations.

66. Summary.—The union of the crowns of England and Scotland put a stop to the constant skirmishing on the Border and to the devastating inroads which had for centuries embittered the two countries against one another. It might therefore have been expected that Scotland, during the century which passed between the union of the Crowns and the union of the Parliaments, would have made great social advances. This was prevented by the ceaseless party strife which disgraced the century, and made this period one of the most disastrous and oppressive to the people in the whole history of the nation. James the Sixth had found the strict discipline and constant interference of the ministers so irksome, and the turbulent independence of his nobles so little to his mind, that he was delighted to escape from both to the richer kingdom to which his good fortune called him. The severe training of his childhood had made him hate the Presbyterian polity with all his heart. As soon as he had the power, he changed the government of the Church, and introduced various observances which were hateful to the people. His son Charles went a step further, and by his attempt to substitute an English for a Scottish Liturgy, drove the people to revolt. The war thus begun, by an effort to force on the hereditary kingdom of his race the customs of the larger kingdom which his father had acquired, ended in his losing both. Scotland enjoyed a short gleam of prosperity from the conquest of Cromwell till his death. Under the next Stewart, Charles the Second, the King to whom she had always been loyal, the government was entrusted to a council, which exercised a cold-blooded tyranny against which the people had no redress. This reign of terror only rooted their religious prejudices the more firmly in their minds. When the tyrant James was deposed, the reaction of popular feeling fell heavily on the clergy of the Established Church, who individually were no way accountable for the crimes which had been committed under the mask of zeal for Episcopacy. Under William the Presbyterian polity was re-established, and the Episcopal clergy had in their turn to suffer many hardships from severe laws and the intolerance of party feeling, though nothing to compare with the bloody persecution under the form of law which had disgraced the reigns of Charles and James.

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