THE

HISTORY

OF

SCOTLAND.

BOOK VII.

New Government and Parliament. - Execution of

Argyle, Guthry, Wariston. - Prelacy restored, Presbyterian Clergy ejected. — Middleton's rapacity, excesses, and disgrace.—Ecclesiastical commission, military persecution, and insurrection in the West.-Government mitigated and the Presbyterians indulged.-Lauderdale's tyrannical administration. Persecution of Conventicles.-Mitchel's Trial.

FR

VII.

"ROM the civil and religious wars of the two BOOK

kingdoms, in which it is seldom possible to separate the interest, or the share of either, we re- public exe turn to the domestic transactions of Scotland, whose history, from the restoration to the union, conti e restoranues unmixed and almost unconnected with Eng lish affairs. Many years of undisturbed tranquillity, Vol. IV.

B

pectations and o at tion.

VII.

1000.

BOOK were expected from the sincere, and universal joy

which the restoration diffused. The affectionate loyalty which the people expressed, was confirmed by the gracious and popular deportment of the king. The fairest hopes were entertained of the prosperity of the new reign; which nothing could have disappointed but the misconduct or rather the crimes of government; the predilection of Charles for a foreign interest; his secret attachment to the Romish faith ; and above all, his perseverance in the arbitrary measures which his father had pursued. It was from these and other causes, that the government of Scotland became hostile and

gra. dually odious to the people, till it degenerated at length into a sanguinary and cruel despotism, for which there was no cure but the expulsion of the Stuarts.

The government still remained in the hands of the English, while the nobility and principal gentry hurried to court, to prefer their allegiance, or to tender their advice for the settlement of the king. dom, The royalists were preceded and led by Glencairn and Middleton; but their diligence was outstript by the earl of Lauderdale, who had accompanied the English commissioners to the Hague, on his release from the Tower. In return for his services, and his sufferings during ten years imprisonment, he obtained the office of secretary, which was the more desirable as it required his attendance at court; and among the numerous mi

New ministry.

the garri

nisters who rose and sunk during the course of BOOK

vu the reign, Lauderdale retained his ascendancy the longest over the mind of the king. The earl of 1680. Crawford, who had suffered the same imprisonment, was restored to the treasury; Rothes was appointed president of council, Glencairn chancellor, Middleton commissioner to the approaching parliament. The authority of the committee of estates was revived, in order to supersede the administration of the English judges, and by the advice of Clarendon, a council for Scottish affairs was established at Whitehall.

Two important considerations occurred, in the Removal of settlement of Scotland, whether the garrisons in-sons. troduced by Cromwell should be preserved, and what form of ecclesiastical government should be prescribed for the church? Clarendon and Monk were averse from the removal of the English garrisons, whose presence they considered as still necessary to restrain a mutinous nation, prone to rebellion, by military force. Lauderdale represented, with that consummate art which distin. guishes his character, that it was not less ungenerous than impolitic to prolong the servitude which the nation, after the loss of two armies, had incurred from its loyal attachment to the crown; that the measure would be productive of national disgust; and that in the event of an insurrection

Burnet, i. 147. Baillie, ii. 442. Clarendon's Life, ii. 97.

VII.

1660.

BOOK in England, the garrisons left by Monk as the

most disaffected part of a fanatical army, would be
joined by the Scots; that the time might come,
when, instead of English garrisons in Scotland, his
majesty would require Scottish garrisons in Eng-
land, to repress the turbulence of a wealthy people;
and that the nation, relieved from a badge of igno-
minious subjection, might be rendered the more
instrumental and subservient to his designs. As
Glencairn and Middleton were afraid to oppose the
removal of the garrisons, or to incur the reproach
of an unpopular advice, the citadels and forts were
demolished, and when supplies were procured for
their discharge, the disaffected troops were dis-

banded or withdrawn.2
Settlement In the settlement of an ecclesiastical govern-

ment, Charles was peculiarly embarrassed by the
treaty at Breda. When invited to Scotland on his
father's death, he had sworn and subscribed the
covenant, and confirmed the presbyterian church
as the conditions of his accession; and although
the nation was unable to preserve him on the
throne, the oaths, which were renewed at his co-
ronation, remained unrepealed. If it was difficult
to observe, it was dishonourable to violate the con.
ditions formerly accepted, when there was no
choice unless to relinquish the crown; but if the
word of a prince is to be reputed sacred, no vio-
lence, nor state necessity could afford a pretext to

of the church

2 Clarendon's Life, ii. 406. Burnet, i. 151.