Chapter 21

100.Calling them rendezvouses of rebellion, or seminaries of rebellion.

Their march is pictured as the route of successful ravagers returning from the sack of some devoted city. They were loaded with spoil. A great many horses which they had stolen, were burdened with the merchandize swept from the dealers’ shops—webs of linen and woollen cloth; silver-plate, bearing the names and arms of gentlemen; bundles of bedclothes, carpets, men and womens’ wearing-apparel, pots, pans, gridirons, and a great variety of promiscuous articles. Their wary leaders had transmitted home large sums of money previously by safe hands, but some ofthe retreating parties were not so fortunate with their bulky packages; the river Clyde being swollen when they came to Glasgow, the students at College, assisted by a number of other youths, took possession of the bridge, and allowing only forty to pass at a time, obliged the marauders to deliver up their plunder, and then conveyed them out at the West Port, without suffering them to enter the town. In this manner, about two thousand were eased of their burdens, and the custom-house nearly filled with furniture and clothing, which were restored to their proper owners, as far as could be effected.

Great was the chagrin of the regular clergy at the breaking up of the Highland host. The gospel itself, they said, would depart from the district along with it; for they themselves might leave their parishes whenever they were removed, unless garrisons were settled among them. Garrisons were accordingly appointed; one hundred and twenty foot and forty horse in Blairquhan; fifty foot and ten horse in Barskimming; and as many in Cessnock. But these were deemed insufficient by the presbytery of Ayr, who, seemingly taking fresh alarm at the Earl of Cassilis’ visit to the capital, wrote to the Archbishop of Glasgow, February 28, transmitting to his Grace “their humble opinions of several occurrences. 1st, The great and leading men of this country,” say they, “are all gone into Edinburgh, and expect to be sheltered there; therefore it is fit they be severely dealt with, sought after, and forced to obedience, otherwise the commonalty, who absolutely depend upon them, will never be brought to conformity. 2dly, The indulged ministers must be stinted of their liberty, and some new tie laid upon them, or they absolutely removed; for let people say what they will, most of these disorders flow from them. 3dly, That the leading men of this country now at Edinburgh be not protected by the council, but taken and sent hither; for the committee think their credit highly concerned in it, if after they have been at the pains of prosecuting them this length the council do protect them, it will be a great discouragement to them in their procedure for the future. 4thly, The garrisons appointed here are but three, and too weakly manned, and they are too far from the heart of the shire, and it will be fit two hundredmen be left in garrison at Ayr. This is the opinion of your Grace’s most humble and obedient sons in the Lord.”

Roused by this appeal, the archbishop immediately set out to court, carrying with him an address from his subalterns to the same effect—breathing out the same spirit of intolerant and unfounded accusation of the brethren; and, by a species of unblushing falsification, reproaching as persecutors the very men they themselves were persecuting. It is a perfect specimen of jesuitism:—“May it please your most Sacred Majesty: The danger this church is exposed unto in the present circumstances, which are such as threaten the dissolution thereof, hath necessitated us in the discharge of our duty, to desire the Lord Archbishop of Glasgow humbly to address your royal presence, and to offer unto your princely consideration, how inconsistent the violent and irregular courses of those who rent the church, (and prosecute us for no other reason but that of our absolute and entire dependence on your majesty’s authority,) are, with the rights and interests of your majesty’s crown and government, as well as with the safety of your people, and the reverence due to religion, for no other end but that your majesty’s authority may be vindicated and rescued from the persecution of the open disturbers of the church and their abettors, who, for their own ends, endeavour to constrain the people, and to debauch them equally from their loyalty as their religion.” The council had the full countenance of the king; yet still they do not seem to have felt entirely at ease. They therefore sent him a summary account of all their proceedings, with a request that he would grant them his explicit approbation, which they enforced, as they generally did their applications for his support in their extravagant measures, by recalling to his remembrance the steps which had led to the late execrable rebellion, and working upon his fears by marking a resemblance between the present and those unhappy times; hinting, in conclusion, their suspicions that their political rivals were chiefly to be dreaded. “We are fully convinced that the meaner sort would not dare to appear in such open insolences, if they were not encouraged by persons of greater eminency, and who, by how much they are the more considerable, are so much the more to be jaloused: tumultuary rabblesbeing then only dangerous when they get a head, and when delusions in opinion mix themselves with faction and humorous opposition to authority.” His majesty immediately thanked them very heartily for their careful prosecution of what he had recommended, in calling in his forces and accepting the offers of the Highland noblemen, and expressed himself well pleased that the bond should be offered to all persons and magistrates within the ancient kingdom without exception, approved of the law-burrows and the settled garrisons, and declared that his approbation should have the force of an absolute indemnity and letter of thanks to all in any way concerned in the late expedition to the west, in council, committee, or execution, having very good reason to consider the same as special and necessary service.

Notwithstanding his knowledge of this ample approval given by the king to his council, and fully aware of the dangerous ground upon which he stood, the Earl of Cassilis, with a noble boldness, delivered in writing, under his hand, a true state of his case, March 28, an attested copy of which was sent down by express to the council. A few days after its receipt, they dispatched a long reply, in which they denied the facts, and endeavoured to confute the arguments of his lordship; but craved from his majesty’s justice that the Earl, who had contemned his royal proclamation, and charged his privy council with crimes of so high a nature, might be sent down prisoner to be tried and judged according to law.

Affairs in England at this time did not admit of such prompt measures. The Scottish patriot had engaged some of the English in his cause, who sympathized with his sufferings and those of his country, and the king also, influenced by his favourite Monmouth, either felt or pretended to feel some commiseration. Cassilis was not sent down. The council were still further mortified by the defection of two of the leading nobles, the Marquis of Atholl and the Earl of Perth, when they returned from the west. They not only did not concur in the severe methods going forward, but from what they had observed of the peaceable conduct of the Presbyterians, and the information they had received from some of the noblemen, they could not continue to lend their countenanceto the severities so unreasonably exercised against them; nor could they avoid showing their displeasure at the violence of the prelates, so that they were openly accused of favouring conventicles, which now began to multiply in the north and among the Highlands of Perthshire, where they had not formerly been wont to be heard of; and the Bishop of Galloway, who had been sorely annoyed with them, in a visit he had lately paid to that quarter, thus complained to the Lord Register:—“I am surprised to hear of the great and insolent field-conventicles in Perthshire, it being as much influenced by the Marquis of Atholl’s example, as directed by his authority. There is, besides many others, a constant field-conventicle now settled in the confines of some parishes, Methven, Gask, Tippermuir, and another, where it is marvelled that many observe several shoals of Highlanders in their trews, and many bare-legged, flocking thither to propagate the mischief of ‘the good old cause.’ It is to good men no small discouragement that a shire, under the influence and conduct of the Marquis of Atholl and the Earl of Perth, who say they are true sons of the church, should (being formerly orderly and obedient to the laws) become so turbulent and schismatical, especially since the Marquis is sheriff-principal, and one altogether devoted to his lordship is sheriff-depute, of that shire, in whose hands is placed the power to punish and suppress these disorders.”

So far had the expedient of letting loose a band of mountaineers upon the west failed in answering the end proposed by the prelates, that the devastations they had committed, had raised the indignation of many of the nobility and country gentlemen, who were indifferent to religious modes of worship, and averse to all disputes about them; but having heard of the success of the Earl of Cassilis, determined, as they were denied any redress in Scotland, to lay their grievances before the king in person. Accordingly, about the end of March, the Duke of Hamilton, accompanied by the Earls of Roxburgh, Haddington, Loudon, and others—in all about sixteen lords, together with Lieutenant-General Drummond, and upwards of forty of the principal proprietors, breaking through the prohibition, repaired to London; and what was most distressing to the prelates, the Marquis ofAtholl and the Earl of Perth, who had been members of the committee of the privy council in the west, likewise went thither.[101]

101.When these two noblemen, with their servants and some gentlemen, were upon their road in Annandale, they lost their way; and it being late, the two noblemen were obliged to shelter in a cottage in that country. The people having heard somewhat of their errand in going up, were extremely kind to them, wishing them heartily success. When they could not get their horses under lock and key, or perhaps to any house, the noblemen appeared concerned for them, lest they should be stolen, having heard Annandale spoken of for stealing of horses; but the country people told them they were in no hazard, there was no thieving among them since the field-preaching came into that country, and talked of many other branches of reformation wrought among them by Mr Welsh and other preachers. Wodrow, vol. i. p. 507.—Kirkton, from whom Wodrow has borrowed this pleasant little anecdote, adds, “the poor country people talked to the noblemen’s great admiration for the time, but it brought forth but small fruit.”Hist.p. 239.

At first the king would only permit Atholl and Perth to approach his person—the others he refused to see, because they had left Scotland in contempt of a proclamation; but their representation of the mad projects going forward there, made him conclude that certainly Lauderdale’s head was turned; yet neither would he allow him to be blamed, or admit that he had done any thing detrimental to his service. But as he professed his intention of setting the Duke of Monmouth at the head of the Scottish government, he allowed him to act as mediator upon this occasion, and they were at last admitted into the royal presence; the more readily perhaps, as their visit had begun to make a great noise and awakened the jealousy of the English parliament now sitting;—who imagined they saw, in the management of the sister kingdom, a specimen of what they themselves might expect whenever circumtances would permit, and anticipated their own subjection, should Charles establish a despotism there, especially as the Duke of York, whose papistical principles were now openly professed, strongly abetted the cause of the Scottish Episcopal church—a church that gloried in being the daughter of the church of Rome by true lineal descent in the uninterrupted apostolical succession of her bishops,[102]and who equalled her in the antichristian persecuting spirit of her priests.

102.This was always strenuously contended for by the old non-jurants, who only lately died out here; but is apparently reviving in the Puseyites.

Alarmed at the departure of so many influential personages for London, and at receiving no reply to their former letter, the privy council dispatched the Earl of Murray and Lord Collington to counteract the efforts of their opponents, and carry another epistle to his majesty, complaining of the conduct of those persons, “who, instead of concurring with them, which as sheriffs, and enjoying other responsible offices, they should have done, had, with much noise and observation, gone to England without seeking their license; but they, with humble confidence, expected that his majesty, by his princely care and prudence, would discourage all such endeavours as tended to enervate his royal authority and affront his privy council; and they referred his majesty to their messengers, two of their own number, men of known integrity and ability, who could give him an exact account of what had passed, and resolve such doubts as might occur to the royal mind, which could not be settled so well by letters, and confute such unworthy mis-reports as were raised by others who have choosed a time when his majesty was likely to be engaged in a foreign war, and had assembled his parliament of England.”

After these deputies had reached London, and the various statements of the different parties had been laid before the king, a message was received by the council from him, announcing “that he had considered some representations made by some of his subjects anent the late methods with the west country, with the answers made thereunto and replies, which so fortified the representations, that he resolved to hear and consider things fully, and, in the meantime, commanded that the bond and law-burrows be suspended till his further pleasure be sent, and that all the forces, except his own guards, be immediately disbanded.” Astonished at receiving such a command, when they expected to have got Cassilis sent down prisoner as they had requested, they could not conceal their disappointment and chagrin. In a reply which they transmitted by Sir George Mackenzie, who was instantly sent off to aid in advocating their cause, they say—“You know how much all were inclined to give the council ready obedience till these noblemen interested themselves in the phanatical quarrel; how ready all were to concur in assisting his majesty both with theirown tenants and militia; and, which is very remarkable, how ready the gentry and heritors in every shire were to rise, between sixty and sixteen, which, in shewing how all ways were taken and owned for assisting the royal authority, did strike a just terror in all those who were refractory; whereas now, the numbers and humorousness of those who are gone up has done all they could to loose all the foundations of authority here to such a height, as will soon grow above correction, if it be not speedily, vigorously, and openly adverted to by his majesty.”

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 wouldfirst 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 wasanswered, 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, thathe 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 nocrime; 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]

104.Fountainhall’s Decis. vol. i. p. 13. Wodrow says, “some papers before me say he was once assoilzied by the jury; but Bishop Sharpe being peremptory he must die, moved the Advocate to threaten them with the utmost severity; and at length they were prevailed with to bring him in guilty.” Hist. vol. i. p. 521.—Learmont himself, in a large paper left behind him, declares—“My blood lyeth at the Bishop of St Andrew’s door, to stand against him; for since I received this sentence of death, it hath been frequently brought to my ears, that he pressed the king’s advocate to take my life.” “And now in my last words, after the example of my Lord and master, I here most freely, before I go hence, say, ‘Father, forgive them.’” Naphtali, p. 450.—Nine years after, a person upon his deathbed owned to a minister who visited him, a few hours before his death, that he was the person who killed the soldier, which he did in self-defence, and to save the life a neighbour. Learmont was in no ways concerned or present at it. Wodrow, vol. i. p. 523.

Increasing severities on the part of their rulers produced increasing precautions on the part of the persecuted, who were firmly persuaded that it was the will of God and their duty to hear his word and endeavour to induce others to hear also—that no human power could release them from the sacred obligations of their oath to God, ratified by acts of the legislature, unanimously passed, and sworn to by king, parliament, and people. They therefore, in obedience to these obligations, and these acts, came now in greater numbers armed to their meetings, to defend themselves and their preachers; and even those who had at first opposed resistance to their oppressors began to relax.

Among a people trained to judge and reason for themselves, itwas not easy to settle the disputed questions, Who were the violators of the law?—those who had overthrown and trampled under foot the constitution of the country? or those who obeyed and were determinately upholding it? Could the circumstance of minority or majority change the nature or loosen the bonds of religious, moral, and legal obligation? Did these depend upon numbers, riches, or power? Politicians may answer yes; people may temporise where to resist would involve a community, or part of a community, in an unequal or apparently hopeless contest—they may pay for the support of an established hierarchy, which they do not approve, because it may be dangerous to attack it—they may accept office under a government, coupled with restrictions discordant to man’s natural right to worship God according to conscience, because obedience is gainful or expedient;—but these worthies judged differently, they considered what they thought duty, national and personal, irrevocable and imperative; and they left the consequences to the providence of God.

Mr Blackadder, invited again to Fife, lodged at Inchdarnie’s—then the head-quarters of the higher ranks among the covenanters in that district—together with his son Robert, Bailie Haddoway, and Mr, afterwards Colonel, Cleland. On Sabbath morning he was escorted to Divan, eight miles off. When he came, he observed a number of arms piled in order on the ground, guns and fowling-pieces, about the number of fifty, which, when he saw, he asked, “what meant all this preparation? Trust rather in Jehovah, and the shield of omnipotence.” They told him the reason, that Prelate Sharpe had ordered to draw a hundred and five men out of the militia, to be a standing company, on purpose to search for and apprehend ministers who should venture within his bounds. This and the like violence was the thing that soon brought him to his end, and constrained peaceable folk to come in arms, after long suffering and provocation. About the middle of the communion, an alarm arose that the militia were advancing their whole company. Burleigh stepped out presently and drew up a party of the left horse, such as he could find, and went forth to view the militia, who were within two miles of the place. Suspecting that the meeting might be in a posture of defence, theyhad halted on a brae-side until both sermons should be ended, that they might make a prey of the people dismissing. When all the congregation were removed, except the minister’s body-guard, a new alarm came that the soldiers were at hand. Upon this Kinkel and Burleigh, with a few horse, rode up the face of the hill, where the militia had advanced with the hope of getting plunder, and making prisoners of the hindermost. Also the foot, young men, who had their guns, and were on their way homeward, did resolutely return and join the horse, which altogether made a party between thirty and forty. The lads on foot were drawn up beside the cavalry, such as they were. The military with their officers were marching fast up, expecting their prey, but halted when they perceived the party. Haddoway and Cleland rode down to have spoken and asked their intentions; but ere they came near, the militia wheeled about for marching off, if they might. The footmen came up sweating with their muskets, and were drawn up on the flanks, making a tolerable troop.

But the militia, terrified at all this apparatus, scarcely looking over their shoulder, fled to Cupar in a dismal fear. The Presbyterian horsemen would gladly have had orders to break after them, which if they had done, it is said the prelatists had resolved to throw down their arms and surrender at mercy. But the minister did calmly dissuade them from it. “My friends, your part is to defend yourselves from hazard, and not to pursue: your enemies have fled—let their flight sheath your weapons and disarm your passions. I may add without offence, that men in your case are more formidable to see at a distance than to engage hand to hand. But since you are in a warlike and defensive posture, remain so, at least till your brethren be all dismissed. Conduct them through their enemies, and be their safeguard until they get beyond their reach; but except in case of violence, offer injury to none.” When the militia had entered Cupar, the party rode off quietly. About nine guarded Mr Blackadder to his quarters, which was at an inn in the parish of Portmoak. On Monday he returned with his friends to Edinburgh.

Next week, another remarkable communion was held at Irongray, Dumfries-shire, when Mr Welsh presided at the earnestdesire of his old parishioners, who had resolved to make this public avowal of their attachment to the cause of Christ, at the peril of all they held dear on earth; thither also Mr Blackadder resorted. On Thursday, he took horse from Edinburgh, accompanied by his wife and son Robert, who wished to see their relations and join on the occasion, such a thing being so rare to them. As they rode on their way by Leadhills towards Enterkin and Nithsdale, they found the roads covered with people, some on horse, others on foot. A company of eighty horse, whereof many were respectable gentlemen from Clydesdale, and well appointed with regular officers, had marched down Enterkin-path in good order a little before him. They were all reasonably well accoutred. He entered into conversation with many groups of people, and advised them all to behave with sobriety and decorum. The party of Clydesdale horse, when they were down the brae of Enterkin, which was a large mile, drew up and fell into rank at the foot of the path, and marched in good order all along Nithsdale, till they came to Cluden-water, which was much swollen by the rain. They rode through directly to Irongray parish, where they took up their quarters, and kept outwatches and sentinels all night. The men on foot came after, and took up their lodgings where they could most conveniently, and as near the horse as possible. They told that the Earl of Queensberry was on his road to Edinburgh, and had met several companies of them.

Mr Blackadder and his company took the route to Caitloch, where he stayed that night. Here their numbers were increased to a great concourse. On Saturday morning, they marched from Caitloch to the cross of Meiklewood, a high place in Nithsdale, about seven miles above Dumfries. This he understood was to be the rendezvous of the congregation. Here they had a commanding view of the whole country, and could not be taken by surprise. On the one hand, the hills of Dalswinton and all the higher ground of Kirkmahoe, lay within reach of the eye, as far as the braes of Tinwald and Torthorwald. The range of the Galloway hills lay on the west, all the passes of which could be distinctly seen. No sudden change could surprise them from the south, as the flatholms of the Nith were visible for many miles. When Mr Blackadder reached the place, he found a large assembly had collected. He opened the service from these words, 1 Cor. xi. 24. “Do this in remembrance of me.” His two chief points were—That the ceremony was not left arbitrary to the church, but was under a peremptory command from Christ himself. This remembrance was to be renewed from time to time as seasons would permit; and their divine Master’s command was still in force, though men had inhibited and discharged them. Secondly, The end of the institution, why it ought to be frequently celebrated or administered; and what was especially to be commemorated.

Mr Welsh preached in the afternoon, and intimated the communion to take place next day on a hill-side in Irongray, about four miles distant, as it was judged convenient and more safe to shift their ground. He durst not mention the name of the place particularly, lest enemies might get notice and be before them; but none failed to discover it. Early on Sabbath morning, the congregation sat down on the Whitehill in Irongray, about three miles above Dumfries. The meeting was very numerous, greater than at East Nisbet, being more gentlemen and strangers from far and near. Mr Arnot, late minister of Tongland, lectured in the morning, and Mr Welsh preached the action-sermon, which was his ordinary. The rest of the ministers exhorted and took their turn at the table-service. The whole was closed in the evening without disturbance. It was a cloudy and gloomy day, the sky lowering and often threatening showers, but the heavy clouds did not break, but retained their moisture, as it were to accommodate the work; for ere the people got to their houses and quarters, there fell a great rain which that night waxed the waters, and most of them had to pass through both the Cairn and the Cluden.

The Earl of Nithsdale, a papist, and Sir Robert Dalzell of Glenae, a great enemy to these meetings, had some of their ill-set domestics there, who waited on and heard till the time of the afternoon sermon, and then slipt away. At the time of dismissing there arose a cry and alarm that the dragoons were approaching, whereupon the Clydesdale men instantly took to horse andformed. The gentlemen of Galloway and Nithsdale took no posture of defence at first, as they did not intend it until they saw imminent hazard. But seeing the motions of the Clydesdale men, they thought it necessary to do the like. Gordon, the Laird of Earlstone, who had been a captain in the former wars, now drew up a large troop of Galloway horse. Another gentleman of Nithsdale, who had also been a captain of horse, mustered up a troop of cavalry from the holms of Kirkmahoe and about the Nith. Four or five companies of foot, with their officers, were ready equipped for action; and all this was done in the twinkling of an eye, for the people were willing and resolute. Videttes and single horsemen were despatched to various quarters, to keep a good look out. The report brought in was, that they had only heard a rumour of them being in the country, but could not inform themselves if any were near at hand, or any stir in that immediate neighbourhood. After remaining in that defensive posture for three hours, the body of the people dispersed to their quarters, each division accompanied with a guard of foot and horse. In houses, barns, and empty places, most of them got accommodated in a sort of way, within a mile or two’s distance. They had mostly provided themselves both for board and lodging, and the ministers were hospitably received at the houses.

The night was rainy, but watches were kept notwithstanding. As a point of prudence, no intimation was given where the Monday’s meeting was to be kept; this was not generally known, except to the ministers. The tent was next day erected on another hill-side near the head of the parish, three or four miles from the place of the Sabbath meeting. The people seemed nothing diminished in numbers on account of the alarm, or the unpropitious state of the weather. The horse and foot, as usual, drew round about the congregation, the horse being outermost. Mr Blackadder closed this day from Heb. xiii. 1. “Let brotherly love continue;” and, notwithstanding the alarm, he continued three weeks preaching up and down in that country.

About the end of harvest, the last and largest out-door communion that ever had been in Scotland, was celebrated at Colmond, in Ayrshire. Many came in their best furniture and postureof defence, expecting violence, as the council had got notice of it—there was a great number of ministers officiating—but all the people dismissed in peace. Other conventicles did not escape so easily. One kept at the house of the Williamwood, in the parish of Cathcart, Renfrewshire, where Mr John Campbell and Mr Matthew Crawford had preached, was dispersed by a party of dragoons, who took sixty men prisoners, and plundered a great number of women of their plaids, bibles, and whatever else they had worth carrying away.[105]

105.The minutes of privy council inform us how the booty so honourably acquired on these occasions was disposed of. “The lords of his majesty’s privy council ordain Captain Buckham” to advertise on Sabbath next at the parish of Calder, “certain horses and plaidsfoundby him and his party on dissipating the late conventicle; with certification, if the persons to whom they doe belong will not owne and come and receive them back againe that day eight days, they will be disposed upon; and in case they be not owned, the saids lords ordains the said Captain Buckham to sell and dispose thereupon at the best availl for the use of the party.” Memoirs of Bryson, published by Dr M’Crie, p. 282, note. The Doctor quaintly adds, “Few owners, it is to be presumed, would make their appearance to claim theselostgoods.”

Affairs were now drawing to a crisis. Outward troubles were accumulating, while, unfortunately, the intestine divisions were also on the increase. “Such,” reports one of the “outted” ministers themselves, “as were in the fields found it difficult, amid the jarring tempest of opinions, to give an advice. The majority were of opinion that the times called more for meekness and patience, than any warlike enterprise; and that it was better to continue under suffering until they had clearer revelation than use carnal weapons of their own; for at this time there were several sticklers in the west stirring up the people underhand, amusing them with designs to rise in arms, though there was no such joint resolution, for any thing I know, either among gentry or ministers, nor the most pious, solid, and grave among the yeomen.” Nevertheless, the country was generally ripening for some explosion; and it says little for the gentlemen that they did not watch the movements of the community, as they might have directed them into more peaceable channels; but their posterity have reason to thank their coolness or timidity, as any arrangement with the then government could only have been based upon allowinga preponderance to the crown, which even a revolution might not have been able to impair. Mr Robert Hamilton, brother to Sir William Hamilton of Preston, esteemed a pious man and of good intentions, but of narrow views and severe in his temper—obstinate and opinionative withal—stepped forward while they stood back—held meetings in the country, and also at Edinburgh, during this summer, for establishing a general correspondence; but all this without acquainting the ministers or gentlemen, who were in better capacity to manage the business.[106]

106.Notices of James Ure, p. 452. Memoirs of Rev. John Blackadder, p. 224. Wodrow, vol. i. p. 520, &c.

In the midst of these commotions, a convention was summoned, and Lauderdale appointed to preside as Commissioner; for he did not choose to face a parliament.[107]Exaggerated reports of the “armed conventicles” had been carefully transmitted to the king; and his early prejudices and fears, arising naturally enough from the fate of his father, and his own papistical education, rendered him an easy tool in the hands of the apostates and prostitutes by whom he was surrounded, who, flattering his baser propensities and humouring his tyrannical inclinations, held him in the veriest bondage, while he imagined himself despotic and free! Lauderdale and his associates, the Scottish prelatists, rendered this criminal carelessness of Charles subservient to their own purposes. Their usual mode was to get letters drawn out in his name by some of their accomplices at court, and presented to the king for his signature, which being speciously written, they obtained in common without difficulty. These they could produce as his own authority, warranting the most outrageous of their own measures, and as arguments for every fresh encroachment upon the constitutional freedom of the people, which their suspicions supposed necessary to protect them from the consequences of their crimes. They had long wished for a standingarmy. Charles had seen its efficacy in France. The present was reckoned a proper time for procuring this royal defence of order in Scotland. His majesty therefore wrote to his right trusty and well beloved councillors, informing them that, after the full and satisfactory information he had received from the lords they had sent to court, he “again” approved of their proceedings and care, and assured them of his favour, assistance, and protection upon all occasions. “And for the more effectual demonstration thereof,” the royal epistle went on to say, “We find it necessary to signify to you, and by you to our people, that we are firmly resolved to own and assert our authority, so as it may equally encourage you and discourage all such as by seditious practices endeavour to asperse you and lessen our authority and prerogative. And finding by good information that the phanatics there expecting encouragement from such as oppose you, and taking advantage of the present juncture of affairs here,[108]have of late, with great insolence, flocked together in open and field-conventicles, these rendezvouses of rebellion, and have dared to oppose our forces. Though we neither need nor do fear such insolent attempts, yet from a just care of our authority and kindness to our subjects there, We have thought fit to order some more forces to be levied; and for that effect we have commanded the lords of our treasury for raising and maintaining these troops at our charges.”

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