scuffle, was conveyed to Edinburgh a prisoner, with the head of Richard Cameron carried in triumph before him. Shortly afterwards Hackston and other prisoners were sentenced to death; and the execution of Hackston, by the instructions of the Privy Council, was carried out in a most shocking and cruel way.61

He

The remnant of the Whigs, though savagely persecuted, still stood out, unshaken and untouched in their faith and in their principles. In September, 1680, they held a great meeting with Cargill, their minister, at the Torwood in Stirlingshire. delivered one of his stirring sermons to an eager assemblage of listeners; and then excommunicated the King, the Duke of York, the Duke of Lauderdale, General Dalziel, the Earl of Rothes, the Duke of Monmouth, and the Lord-Advocate, for their breach of the Covenant and their persecution of God's people. It should be observed that the main body of the presbyterians had no concern in these proceedings; they disapproved of the extreme steps taken by this party. The government exerted itself more than ever to suppress field meetings, and to get hold of the daring preacher Cargill. the 5th of May, 1681, Cargill held a fast near Loudon Hill, and escaped at that time. But in July he was taken and brought into Glasgow by a party of soldiers; thence he was carried to Edinburgh. He was then brought before the council and interrogated at length. He denied that the rising at Bothwell Bridge was a rebellion against the King; he deemed it right to rebel in cases of necessity; those who rose at Bothwell were oppressed, and therefore rose in their own defence. Interrogated touching the King, he said that he was not obliged to obey his government, as it was then established by the act of supremacy; when asked if he owned the excommunication of the King, he refused to answer. He was tried before the Court of Justiciary

On

61 Records of the Privy Council, 1680; Wodrow's Hist., Vol. III., pp. 215-223. Hackston himself gives an account of the affair at Ayrsmoss, which is printed in Wodrow, Vol. III., p. 219.

on the 26th of July, condemned and sentenced to be executed the following day. He was hanged along with other four Covenanters, all of whom left their testimony behind them.62

In the end of October, 1680, the Duke of York arrived in Scotland, and was warmly welcomed by the orthodox clergy, as they called themselves. During the few months which he had stayed in Scotland before, the Privy Council were so much impressed with his goodness, that they gave an exceedingly high character of him to his royal brother, on the occasion of his leaving for England. 63 Many of the Scots had not so high an opinion of the Duke as the members of the Privy Council. He intended to strengthen his prospective claim and title to the throne; and as it was thought that the Estates would oblige him, and do what they were ordered, it was resolved to hold a parliament.

It met at Edinburgh in the end of July, 1681, and the Duke of York assumed his place as royal commissioner. After dis

62 Records of the Privy Council; Wodrow's Hist., Vol. III., pp. 278-284; The Cloud of Witnesses.

63 The remembrance of having been under the protection of your royal family above two thousand years, of having been preserved, by their valour, from the slavery to which others were so often reduced, and of having received from their bounty the lands which we possess, has been very much refreshed and renewed by having your royal brother among us, in whom we have seen the moderation of spirit and equality of justice that is remarkable in your sacred race, and has raised in us a just abhorrence of those seditious persons and pernicious principles which would lead us back to those dreadful confusions which grew up by degrees, from tumultuary petitioners for reformation and parliaments, to a rebellion that in the last age destroyed both, and which must do so still, since all who think that subjects should direct their king, design nothing, in effect, but to be kings themselves the convictions of all which did prevail so far with all degrees of persons, and with persons of all persuasions here, that it has been observed our nobility and gentry of both sexes attended their royal highnesses with much joy and assiduity, expressed in all their confluences great respect and satisfaction, that even the most malicious abstained from all manner of rebellious risings and undutiful speeches: no breach of the peace, no libel, no pasquil, having been ever discovered during his abode here; so that this too short time has been the most peaceful and serene part of our life, and the happiest days we ever saw, except your Majesty's miraculous restoration."-Wodrow's Hist., Vol. III., pp. 23 3-234 Fountainhall's Notes, p. 3.

posing of various preliminary matters, on the 13th of August, the act touching the right of succession to the imperial crown of Scotland was passed. This act repeated the assertion "that the kings of the realm derived their royal power from God alone," and succeeded to it by lineal descent, which could not be altered without involving the nation in perjury and rebellion. That no difference in religion, nor law, nor act of parliament, could divert the right of succession of the crown from the nearest heir; and that all who contradicted or in any form opposed this, should incur the penalties of high treason. Another act imposed new and more severe penalties on all who attended conventicles. It authorised the proprietors of land to turn any of their tenants or cottars out of their holdings without warning, and at any time of the year, should they be implicated in field conventicles. The landlords were also enjoined to retain as much of the goods and stock of their tenants, cottars, or servants, as would pay the fines and penalties incurred by them under the acts of parliament. The Test Act, which was reenacted and passed on the last day of August, caused much stir. It provided that all persons in public office, from the highest to the humblest, should swear that they sincerely professed the true Protestant religion, as contained in the Confession of Faith, recorded in the first parliament of James the Sixth, 1568; and that they believed the same to be founded on the written word of God; and to swear that the King's power was supreme in all cases and over all persons, that they would maintain and defend this to the utmost of their power; and solemnly swear that it was unlawful on any pretence to enter into covenants, to hold meetings, or to treat of and discuss government, without the King's licence. 64 The act was hurried through parliament, and

64 Acts Parl. Scot., Vol. VIII., pp. 231-245. A part of the Test Act may be quoted: "I farther affirm and swear, by this my solemn oath, that I judge it unlawful for subjects, upon pretence of reformation or any pretence whatever, to enter into covenants or leagues, or to assemble in any meeting to treat, consult, or determine, in any matter of State whatever, without his Majesty's special command or express licence; or to take up arms against the King or those com

contained such a jumble of inconsistencies that some declined to sign it. Some of the clergy refused to take the test, and left their parishes; and others only took it with limitations and explanations. The Earl of Argyle took it in so far as it was consistent with itself: and stated that he did not bind himself from doing what he deemed requisite and consistent with the Protestant religion, and the duty of a loyal subject. For this he was charged with high treason, on the ground of giving the act a different meaning from what parliament intended it to bear. Argyle was tried and convicted, but he escaped from the Castle of Edinburgh on the 20th of December, 1681, and fled to Holland and on the 23rd of December, 1682, sentence of death was pronounced against him, and his arms torn. 65

In the beginning of the year 1682, a party of the Society People entered the town of Lanark, and published a declaration of their principles, and then burned the Succession and Test Acts. They styled themselves in this declaration, "the presbyterians of the Church of Scotland". Two days after, the Privy Council ordered the Solemn League and Covenant, and the declarations

missioned by him; and that I shall never so rise in arms, or enter into such covenants or assemblies; and that there lies no obligation on me from the National Covenant, or Solemn League and Covenant, or in any other way whatever, to endeavour to change or alter the government, either in Church or State, as it is now established by the laws of the kingdom. And I promise and swear that I shall to the utmost of my power defend, assist, and maintain his Majesty's jurisdiction against all deadly: and I shall never decline his Majesty's power and jurisdiction, as I shall answer to God. Finally, I affirm and swear, that this my solemn oath is given in the plain genuine sense and meaning of the words, without any equivocation, mental reservation, or any kind of evasion whatever; and that I shall not accept or use dispensation from any creature whatsoever. So help me God" (p. 245).

65 Fountainhall's Notes, p. 20; Burnet's History of His Own Time, Vol. II., pp. 309-314. The Duke of York was blamed for encouraging the proceedings against Argyle. "The Duke seeing how great a man the Earl of Argyle was in Scotland, concluded it was necessary for him either to be gained or to ruin him. Argyle gave him all possible assurance that he would adhere to his interest in everything except in the matter of religion. . . This was well enough taken in show, but Argyle said he observed ever after such a visible coldness and distrust that he saw what he might expect from him."- Burnet, p. 295.

published at Rutherglen, Sanquhar, and Lanark, to be burned by the common hangman at the Cross of Edinburgh, and the magistrates in their robes attended to see this executed. Thus the government and the Society men imitated each other in their modes of manifesting their contempt.

Throughout the years of 1682 and 1683 the troops continued to harass the people; and as they were invested with irresponsible powers, they caused terror in many a quiet home. They pillaged farm-houses, exacted free quarters, levied enormous fines, and seized the refractory as prisoners. Amid these wretched scenes the worst passions of the human breast were called into action, and fed and intensified; the soldiers wallowed in deeds of heartless cruelty and revenge; numbers of the Society People were shot down without trial or process; and the nation groaned under the yoke of dire oppression. But in spite of all the suffering which the government inflicted on the Society men, they still stood to their principles; and in October, 1684, they issued a declaration directed especially against informers. In this they affirmed their adherence to their former declarations, disowning the authority of the King and declaring war against him and all his accomplices; but at the same time they stated" that as we utterly detest and abhor that hellish principle of killing all who differ in judgment and in persuasion from us, so we look upon it as a duty binding upon us to publish openly to the world, that forasmuch as we are firmly and really resolved not to injure or offend any one, but to pursue the ends of our covenants, in standing to our religious work of reformation, and of our lives. Yet we do hereby declare to all, that whosoever stretches forth their hands against us, while we are maintaining the cause and interest of Christ against the enemies, in the defence of our covenanted reformation, by shedding our blood actually, either by authoritative commanding, such as councillors, and especially the so-called Justiciary, generals of forces, adjutants, captains, and all in civil and military power, who make it their work to imbue their hands in