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.
AFTER THE UNION.
Discontent with the Union (1)—change of dynasty (2)—Jacobite rising (3)—measures of the Government (4)—rising in the North of England (5)—battle of Sheriffmuir (6)—arrival of James (7)—trials and penalties (8)—malt-tax riots (9)—Porteous riots (10)—the Forty-five (11)—taking of Edinburgh (12)—battle of Preston-pans (13)—battle of Falkirk (14)—battle of Culloden (15)—Charles's wanderings (16)—penalties after the Forty-five (17)—abolition of slavery (18)—attacks on the Romanists (19)—trials for sedition (20)—Reform Bill (21)—religious sects (22)—the Disruption (23)—social progress (24)—literature and art (25)—summary (26).
1. Discontent with the Union.—Though the Union was such a good thing for Scotland, the people were a long time in finding this out. The old national jealousy was roused; they thought that their dearly loved independence was being sacrificed. There were riots in different places; and though the people were quieted by the assurance that the insignia of loyalty, the regalia or crown jewels, should not be carried out of the kingdom, for long afterwards the Union was very unpopular, and had to bear the blame of everything that went wrong. There was still too a large party, chiefly in the Highlands, attached to James Stewart, known as the Chevalier de St. George or the Old Pretender, as the Whigs called him. Jacobitism, which was in England a mere empty word used to express any sort of discontent with the existing state of things, meant something more in Scotland. There it was the traditionary feeling of loyalty and love towards the ancient line of kings; and for James, their representative, there were many who were ready to venture their lands, or their life if need were. As long as Anne lived there was no excuse for an outbreak, for she too was a Stewart, and it was hoped that her brother might succeed her.
2. Change of Dynasty.—When Anne died, the son of Sophia, George, Elector of Hanover, succeeded without opposition, according to the Act of Settlement. Before long, he and his German favourites became very unpopular. This gave the Jacobites hopes that, if they raised the standard for James, all the discontented in both kingdoms would join them in an attempt to restore him to the throne of his fathers.
3. Jacobite Rising.—To give to such an attempt the least chance of success, three conditions were necessary. Firstly, that the rising should take place at the same time in both kingdoms; secondly, that it should be helped by France; and thirdly, that the prince for whom it was made should come among his people, and lead them in person. All three were wanting in this unfortunate rebellion. James made no personal effort to get the crown on the death of his sister, though six weeks passed before George came over from Hanover. During this interval James issued a manifesto from Plombières, August 29, 1714. In this manifesto he asserted his right to the crown, and explained that he had remained quiet while his sister lived, because he had no doubt of her good intentions towards him. A year, however, was allowed to pass before any active steps were taken. Just when the plans for the rising were all made, Louis XIV. of France, who was the best friend the Chevalier had, died, and was succeeded by the next heir, his great-grandson, an infant. The Duke of Orleans, who became Regent, was disposed to be friendly to the Government of England; indeed his regency was one of the few times when there was any real friendliness between the two countries. By his order some ships lying at Havre, which had been fitted out for James, were unloaded, and the arms stored in the royal magazines. These ships were intended for the succour of the rebels in Scotland, where the standard was raised for James by John Erskine, Earl of Mar, at the junction of the Clung and the Dee, September 6, 1715. Mar had begun life as a Whig, but had changed sides so often that he was nicknamed "Bobbing John." He had addressed a loyal letter to King George on his accession, but as, by the change of ministry, he lost his office of Secretary of State for Scotland and saw no hope of getting it back again, he became an ardent Jacobite, and the leader of the party in Scotland. The very day before he set off to raise the Highlands for James he attended a levee of the King. Before his coming north he sent letters to the principal Jacobites, inviting them to a hunting-match. This meeting was attended by the Marquesses of Huntly and Tullibardine, the eldest sons of the Dukes of Gordon and Athole, by the Earl of Southesk, by Glengarry, the chief of the MacDonalds, and many others. They all swore to be true to one another, and to Mar, as James's general, and then returned to their several districts to raise their followers. Only sixty men gathered at the raising of the standard, but before the end of the month the northern clans had risen. James was proclaimed at Aberdeen, Brechin, and Dundee, and nearly all the country north of the Tay was soon in the hands of the rebels. They laid a plan for seizing Edinburgh Castle, but this was found out and defeated.
4. Measures of the Government.—There were at this time not more than between eight and nine thousand troops in the whole island. Of these not more than fifteen hundred were in Scotland; and no more were sent there, for an expected rising in the south-western counties of England was then thought much more dangerous than the rising in the North. In Scotland the chief command was given to the Duke of Argyle, whose family were deadly enemies of the Stewarts, and whose almost princely power over a large tract of country made him the most likely person to counteract their influence. The Earl of Sutherland, who was also a friend of the Government, was sent to raise his followers in the North. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended by Act of Parliament, a reward of 100,000l. was offered for seizing the Pretender, dead or alive, and the King was empowered to seize all suspected persons. A great number of suspected persons were summoned to Edinburgh to give security for their good conduct, but none of them came; indeed some were by this summons induced to take arms for James. Several noted Jacobites were put in ward in Edinburgh Castle.
5. Rising in the North of England.—The active measures taken by the Government had put down the intended rising in the West of England, but in the North they had only hurried it on. An order was sent down for the arrest of Mr. Forster, member for Northumberland, and James Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater. On hearing this, Forster and Derwentwater took up arms at once, and soon mustered three hundred horse. About the same time Lord Kenmure proclaimed James at Moffat, and was joined by the Earls of Nithsdale, Wintoun, and Carnwath, and several other persons of note. He joined his force, about two hundred horsemen, with that of Forster, and they marched to Kelso, to wait there for the arrival of Brigadier MacIntosh, who was marching southward with a detachment of about fourteen hundred men, from Mar's army, which he brought over the Firth of Forth in safety, in the face of three English men-of-war. The combined force, about two thousand strong, marched along the Border. After much debate and hesitation, their leaders at last decided to enter Lancashire, where they expected the Roman Catholic gentry to rise and join them. The posse comitatus, or general muster, which had been raised by the Bishop of Carlisle and Lord Lonsdale, fled before them at Penrith, leaving a number of horses in their hands. After this success the rebels marched on, proclaiming James as they went, and levying money. On the 9th November they reached Preston, where they were joined by an ill-armed, undisciplined rabble of recruits. But on the appearance of the King's troops Forster made no effort to defend the town. He was seized with a panic, and surrendered with his followers, to the number of fourteen hundred, November 12.
6. Battle of Sheriffmuir.—Meanwhile Mar was managing the affairs of James almost as badly in Scotland. He entered Perth September 28 with a force of 5,000. On the 2nd of October a detachment of eighty horse captured a vessel with 300 stand of arms, which were intended for the Earl of Sutherland in the North. The vessel had been driven by stress of weather to seek shelter at Burntisland, on the coast of Fife. Instead of pushing on while his followers were inspirited by this success, Mar stayed at Perth doing nothing. The Duke of Argyle, who was sent to oppose him, arrived in Scotland and marched to Stirling in the middle of September. He had then only 1500 men at his command, but before Mar made any attempt to engage him his army had been more than doubled by reinforcements from Ireland. It was not till November 10 that Mar left Perth. He marched south as far as Ardoch. Argyle brought his troops forward to Dunblane. On Sunday the 13th, the two armies advanced to meet each other, and a battle was fought at Sheriffmuir, a moor on the slope of a spur of the Ochils. The result was doubtful. Each army defeated and put to flight the left wing of the other and then drew off the field, the rebels to Ardoch, Argyle to Dunblane, and both lost about the same number of men. Each side claimed the victory, but Argyle took possession of the field the next day. After the battle Argyle went back to Stirling and Mar to Perth. There the clans began to desert him, going home as usual with their plunder, while Argyle's force was increased by six thousand Dutch troops.
7. Arrival of James.—James at last made his appearance, but not till his followers had been taken prisoners in the one country and had lost their spirit in the other. He landed at Peterhead, December 22, attended by only six persons. He was met by Mar, and went on to Scone, whence he issued six proclamations, and fixed his coronation for January 23. The news of his landing had somewhat revived the spirit of his followers, but, when they met, both parties were disappointed; James with their scanty numbers, and they with his heaviness and stupidity. Soon after, a vessel coming from France with gold for the rebels was stranded and the money lost. At last Argyle began to advance against James, who retreated from Perth, greatly to the disgust of the clans. From Perth they went to Dundee, and from thence to Montrose. Twelve hours after they had left Perth Argyle entered it, but he was so slack in his pursuit of the rebels as to give rise to suspicions of his own loyalty. A few days later, February 4, James set sail secretly for France with Mar and several other nobles. He left a letter for Argyle, and all the money he had with him for the benefit of the poor people in the villages round Perth, which had been burnt by his order. His men, grieved and disappointed to find that their leader had deserted them, went back to their native glens. Most of the officers escaped to the Orkneys, and from thence to the Continent.
8. Trials and Penalties.—Few prisoners had been made in Scotland. Of those taken at Preston, the half-pay officers were at once shot as deserters, the common soldiers were imprisoned in Chester and Liverpool, while their leaders were taken up to London, which they entered with their hands tied behind them and their horses led. Six nobles, the Earls of Nithsdale, Wintoun, and Carnwath, Viscount Kenmure, and the Lords Widdrington and Nairn, were arraigned before the House of Lords on a charge of treason. All except Wintoun pleaded guilty, and threw themselves on the King's grace; but they were all condemned to death. This sentence was executed on Derwentwater only. Kenmure and Nairn and Carnwath were reprieved, while Nithsdale escaped by the help of his wife the night before the day on which he was condemned to die; and Wintoun, though found guilty on his trial, escaped also. Forster, MacIntosh, and several others, had the same good fortune. Of those lower in rank, twenty-two were hanged in Lancashire and four in London. An Act of Grace, passed in 1717, released Carnwath, Widdrington, Nairn, and all others who were still in prison; but it did not restore the estates which they had forfeited by their treason. The following year another Jacobite conspiracy was got up. In this both Spain and Sweden were concerned; Spain promised to help with money, while Charles the Twelfth of Sweden was to invade Scotland with twelve thousand soldiers. It was discovered, and prevented by the arrest of the persons suspected of sharing in it.
9. Malt-tax Riots.—In 1713 it was proposed to extend the malt-tax which was paid in England, to Scotland. But this measure met with such strong opposition on the part of the Scotch members as almost to threaten a dissolution of the Union. At length, in 1724, a duty of threepence on every barrel of ale was laid on instead of the malt-tax. But though this time the members agreed to the new tax, the people would not, and a serious riot broke out at Glasgow. Two companies of foot were sent from Edinburgh to put down the tumult, under the command of Captain Bushell, who ordered his men to fire, whereby nine persons were killed and many more wounded. This only made the rioters more furious. Bushell narrowly escaped being torn in pieces by the mob, and had to seek refuge in Dunbarton Castle. The tumult was not put down till General Wade brought up a force large enough to overawe the mob, and sent the magistrates prisoners to Edinburgh. There they were tried and acquitted. To avoid paying the tax, the brewers of Edinburgh made a compact to brew no more beer if the duty were not taken off. In consequence of these disorders the office of Secretary of State for Scotland was done away with, because the Duke of Roxburgh, who held it, was suspected of encouraging the discontent. At length the Earl of Islay was sent down to Edinburgh, and succeeded in restoring quietness. Bushell was tried for murder and found guilty, but was afterwards pardoned and promoted.
10. Porteous Riots: 1736.—Twelve years later the peace was again broken by a tumult at Edinburgh. One Wilson, a smuggler, lying under sentence of death for having taken part in a fray in which a Custom-house officer was killed, had won the sympathy of the people by the clever way in which he had managed the escape of a fellow-prisoner. When he was hanged at the Grass Market, the mob pelted the guard with stones. On this Porteous, Captain of the City Guard, ordered his men to fire, and several innocent persons in the crowd were killed and wounded. Porteous was tried, and condemned to death as a murderer, but a reprieve was sent down from London. Then the people, remembering the case of Bushell, determined to take the law into their own hands. On the evening before the day which had been fixed for the execution of the sentence, while Porteous was feasting with his friends to celebrate his escape from danger, they gathered in great numbers. To ensure against surprise they disarmed the city guard, took their weapons, and themselves guarded the gates, so as to prevent any tidings being carried to the regiment quartered in the suburbs. They then marched to the Tolbooth, formerly the Parliament-house, but now used as a prison. The door was so strong that it defied all their efforts to burst it open. They set fire to it, upon which the jailer threw out the keys. Leaving the doors open to let the other prisoners escape, they then went straight to Porteous' cell, dragged him out of the chimney where he was hiding, and carried him to the Grass Market, the place of public execution. There they hanged him to a dyer's pole, with a rope which they had taken from a dealer's stall on the way, and in payment for which they had left a guinea. They then dispersed, without noise or further violence. The ringleaders were never discovered, though all ministers of parishes were required to read from their pulpits once a month for a year a proclamation calling on their congregations to give them up. The Government brought in a Bill for disgracing the city by the loss of the charter and the razing of the gates. But this measure was not carried, and the only penalties inflicted were that Wilson, the Provost, was declared incapable of holding office in future, and that the city was fined 2,000l. for the benefit of Porteous' widow.
11. The "Forty-five."—In 1719 there was a small attempt made to get up another Jacobite rising. This attempt was favoured by Spain, which, just at this time, under the guidance of Cardinal Alberoni, minister of Philip the Fifth, once more began to take an active part in European affairs. England had joined the Quadruple Alliance against Spain, which was therefore ready to help in an attempt to overthrow the English Government. The Marquess of Tullibardine landed on the Lewis with a body of three hundred Spanish soldiers. But the stores and arms which were to have been sent to him were lost on the way, and, though about two thousand Highlanders mustered, they were defeated at Glenshiels by the regular troops. The Highlanders fled to the hills, while the Spaniards surrendered, and thus the attempt came to nothing. But the clans were still unsubdued, and were ready to break out again at any time. General Wade, who had been commander-in-chief since the 1715, made excellent roads in many places where there had been none before, and an Act was passed for disarming the Highlanders. But this did more harm than good. The clans that were faithful to the Government gave up their arms; but this only made them unable to resist the rebels, who kept theirs hidden and ready for use when occasion should come. England was now engaged in a continental war; most of the troops were out of the kingdom, and the time seemed favourable for another effort. France too promised help. Early in 1744 an army of 1,500 men under the command of Marshal Saxe, one of the most skilful generals in the French service, was collected at Dunkirk, and embarked in French transports for the invasion of England. But the fleet was dispersed by a storm, and the French were unwilling to give any further help. The next year Charles Edward, son of the Old Pretender, called the Young Chevalier, who was to have led this expedition, determined to make a venture on his own account. Without money, without arms, with only seven followers, he landed at Moidart, on the west coast of Inverness, and called on the Jacobite clans to muster and follow him: July 25, 1745. In vain their chiefs, headed by Cameron of Lochiel, pointed out to him the rash folly of such an enterprise, he persisted, and they, letting loyalty get the better of common sense, took up the cause and summoned their clansmen. The standard of James was raised at Glenfillan, August 19, and the commission, naming Charles Regent in his stead, was read to about a hundred motley but enthusiastic followers. Already a small band of them had had a foretaste of victory. On their way to the muster they had compelled two companies of regular troops, which they had intercepted on their way to relieve the garrison of Fort William, to lay down their arms. This was followed by a series of successes as unlooked for as they were extraordinary. Sir John Cope was sent to oppose the rebels with all the troops that the Government could raise. But he mismanaged matters, and, instead of bringing the enemy to a battle, he let the Highland army, which was gathering like a snowball on its way, pass him. While he went northward, it came down unopposed upon the Lowlands, entered Perth, and advanced towards Edinburgh, where James was proclaimed.