Charles himself seems to have been not a little perplexed at the unexpected step of the Scottish nobles. What had been done in Scotland was unauthorized by any law, and unjustifiable upon any principle of good government, but it was agreeable to the despotic propensities of the heartless sovereign; and he was constantly wavering between the harsh measures most congenial to his disposition, and the milder plans he was occasionally obliged to adopt—sending orders one day to disband the troops and dismantle the garrisons—the next, ordering new troops to be raised and other garrisons to be planted, till Sir George Mackenzie arrived. Shortly after his arrival, the king was prevailed upon to give a hearing to the Duke of Hamilton and his friends, whose ranks were now much thinned, both their patience and purses being nearly worn out by their long detention. An account of the interview has been preserved, written by one who was present, which, as it is the only authentic document we have, and not being long, I the rather insert:—
“Upon the 25th of May, the king commanded the Duke of Hamilton, Lord Cochrane, Sir John Cochrane, and Lieutenant-General Drummond, to attend upon him at four of the clock, when they appeared. The king being accompanied by the Duke of York, Duke of Monmouth, and the treasurer, desired to know what they had to say—why they had come to him contrary to his proclamation? The Duke of Hamilton spoke first and said, he humbly begged to know the reason why he had got some marks of his majesty’s displeasure, and that since he came here (to London) he had not the common privilege of subjects, not being admitted to kiss his majesty’s hand. The king replied, he would first know what were the things they had to complain of? and he would take his own time to answer his first request. The Duke said, the chief encouragement he had to come and make known his oppression was that which his majesty said to him when last here, which was, that when he was in any way wronged he should come to himself and make it known; and that now he could not but come since he and others were so much wronged.
“And then there was an account given of the whole affair of the bringing down of the Highlanders, of quartering, plundering our lands, of having a bond offered which was both illegal and impracticable, of being charged with law-burrows, of being denounced thereupon, and of the proclamation forbidding us to acquaint the king with our condition. All these were particularly insisted upon at great length. To which the king returned, that these were horrid things, and desired we might set them down in paper. The treasurer said, that whatever was in these free-quarterings and in the rest, they might have been prevented by taking of the bond, which he conceived there was law for the imposing of, and might be very well kept, for there were two alternatives in the bond, viz. either to deliver them prisoners, or to put them from their land. To which it was replied, there was no law obliging masters to apprehend their tenants; and the furthest the act of parliament went was, in the year 1670, to oblige masters for their families and servants. 2dly, That masters could not be obliged to turn their tenants out of their lands in regard that the punishment for going to a conventicle was statute already to be a fine, much less in proportion than the turning them out of their possessions; besides, most part of the tenants have tacks by which, during their time, they had good right to their possessions, and could not by their masters be turned out for a crime that, by the law, was only finable, and had no such certification as losing their possessions.
“The conference having been held two hours, there was a good deal said to and fro, and the king fully and freely informed. The conclusion of the debate was, the king told us he could not judge of what we had said, unless we would give it under our hands, that he might consult thereanent with his council, and know what they had to say for themselves, and could advise him to. It was answered, that we came to his majesty to give an information of what wrongs and oppressions were done to the country, hoping his majesty would examine and redress them, but not to give in any accusation against the council, which we knew, by law, was very dangerous, unless his majesty would indemnify for it, which the king refusing to do, they told him they could insist no farther, but leave it to him to do as he thought fit. The king offered to go out of the room, and the Duke of Hamilton kneeling, begged the favour of his hand; but his majesty declined it, and said he would consider upon and give an answer to what had been said, and went away.[[103]]
[103]. When the Duke of Hamilton got into his presence, the king kept his hands behind his back, lest perchance the Duke should snatch a kiss of them! And when the Duke came to make his complaint upon the bad government of Scotland, the king answered him with taunts, and bid him help what was amiss when he were king of Scotland; and this was all. Kirkton, p. 393.
“There were many particulars spoken to, wherewith the king seemed to be moved, acknowledging there were overdoings and several things done upon prejudice at particular persons; but still, when he came this length, the Lord-Treasurer interrupted, and gave some other turn to matters, otherwise ’tis thought there would a more favourable answer have been given. The king signified that he was certainly informed that there was a rebellion designed in Scotland, but he would take care the actors in it should be the losers by it. He endeavoured much to assure us that, albeit we had not come to London, there would not have been any caption executed against us upon the law-burrows.”
Dismissed with flattering promises, the nobles were not deceived; and although they brought away with them the “word of a prince,” they knew its value too well to place much confidence in it. Nor did the conduct of the king belie their forebodings. Three days after this conference, he addressed to the managers in Scotland, a letter, the third of the kind, containing his full approval of their proceedings; and “that the rather, because, after trial taken by Us, we find that such as complained refused to sign any complaint against these proceedings as illegal,” and added, in order to prevent any future application, that he was highly dissatisfied with such as had caused these clamours, and “would on all occasions proceed according to our laws against such as endeavour to lese our prerogative and oppose our laws and our privy council.”
No sooner was there the least appearance of any relaxation in the execution of the severe acts, than the ministers and people returned with renewed alacrity to their meetings; and at this juncture, as there was a very general impression that the men in power were sympathizing with them, the consequence was, that conventicles again multiplied, especially in Fife and East Lothian. At the same time, the regular clergy were more upon the alert. The military, too, were always in readiness, and sometimes skirmishes ensued, in which the soldiers occasionally were beat off.
Early in May, a large conventicle having convened on the flat at Whitekirk, opposite the Bass, the deputy-governor who had received notice of it, came upon the meeting with about forty soldiers and some twenty country people, whom they forced along with them. When they came near, the people resolved to sit close and stay upon the place, and offer no violence to the soldiers, unless they disturbed them; but in that case they resolved to defend themselves. The soldiers came up and commanded the people to dismiss in the king’s name. Some who were next to them answered, they honoured the king, but were resolved to hear the word of God when preached to them; at which one of the soldiers struck a man that was nearest him, whereupon a strong countryman with a staff knocked the soldier to the ground. When they were thus engaged, a kind of general scuffle ensued. One of the soldiers was shot, and others disarmed and dismissed unhurt, though they had seized and sent off to Haddington two of the persons assembled at the conventicle. A few days after, several other persons were apprehended for having been present, from among whom five were selected to stand trial before the Justiciary Court at Edinburgh for the murder. Of these, three were dismissed, but two, James Learmont and Robert Temple, were brought to the bar; when it was urged against the relevancy of the indictment, that “simple presence” in a crowd, where upwards of a thousand persons were assembled, could constitute no crime; and it was offered to be proved that the prisoners came to the place unarmed, or did not use arms; and not only this, but it was also offered to be proved that others who had escaped, and were declared fugitives, were seen to strike the deceased with swords and halberts. Yet the lords decided that presence at unlawful meetings or field-conventicles with arms, at which slaughter was committed, or giving counsel or command, were sufficient, and the case was remitted to the jury to pronounce upon the proof. It was distinctly sworn by two witnesses that they saw James Learmont at the meeting unarmed, but heard him say—“Let no cowards be here to-day; but let such as have arms go out to the foreside;” and, after having viewed the advancing party, cry out—“They be but few, let there be no cowards.” Another swore that he saw William Temple, with a sword under his arm, but not drawn. The jury found the panels guilty as libelled; but the lords of Justiciary not being quite clear about the business, requested the opinion of the privy council, who, after considering the process, deputed four of their number—Murray, Linlithgow, Ross, and Collington, to express their satisfaction with the whole procedure, and recommended that justice should be speedily executed upon the said panels. Such, however, was the even-handed justice of these days, that a remission of the punishment came to the one who had been proven to be at the conventicle with a sword, while the unarmed hearer of the gospel was sent to the gallows. But the good man died in great peace, declaring his adherence to the truth as stated in the Confession of Faith, and to the despised way of preaching the gospel and receiving the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper from lawfully ordained and called ministers of the gospel, who were forced to the fields because of persecution from those who were never friends to the church of Christ—these lords prelates who lord it over the Lord’s inheritance. He solemnly declared himself free of the blood of all men, especially the blood of the man for which he was unjustly condemned, and looked forward to that day wherein the righteous Judge will judge again, when he makes inquisition for blood, and will call to account all the blood shed of the saints that is dear in his sight; “before whom,” added he, “I am to appear immediately, and hope to receive the sentence, well done faithful servant, enter into your master’s joy, though not by my merit, but through the merit and purchase of Christ.”
Learmont was a chapman, or pedlar, at that time a respectable employment in Scotland, and appears, like many of his calling, to have been pretty extensively known, which had provoked the peculiar enmity of Sharpe so much, that, when the jury at first brought in a verdict of not guilty, he was not satisfied, and the jury were sent back. A second time they returned the same verdict, when he instigated the Lord Advocate to threaten them with an assize of error, though Mackenzie seldom needed any prompter on such occasions, which prevailed upon them at last to bring in a verdict more agreeable to the blood-thirsty pair.[[104]]