old clannish and aristocratic spirit being supreme, the democratic spirit, found in the south, was unknown. Hitherto, these northern ministers had rarely attended at the great meetings of the Church; but James, in 1597, sent Sir Patrick Murray on a special mission to them, urging them to be present, in order that they might vote on his side. They, being a very ignorant body, knowing little or nothing of the questions really at issue, and being, moreover, accustomed to a state of society in which men, notwithstanding their lawlessness, paid the most servile obedience to their immediate superiors, were easily worked upon, and induced to do what they were bid. By their help, the crown and the nobles. so strengthened their party in the General Assembly, as to obtain in many instances a majority; and innovations were gradually introduced, calculated to destroy the democratic character of the Scotch Church.10

In 1597, the movement began. From then, until 1600, successive Assemblies sanctioned different changes, all of which were marked by that aristocratic tendency which seemed about to carry every thing before it. In 1600, the General Assembly met at Montrose; and government determined on making a final effort to compel the Church to establish an episcopal polity. Andrew Melville, by far the most influential man in the Church, and the leader of the democratic party, had been elected, as usual, a member of the Assembly; but the king, arbitrarily interposing, refused to allow him. to take his seat.11 Still, neither by threats, nor by force,

• M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. ii. p. 100. Scot (Apologetical Narration of the State of the Kirk, p. 88) says, "Sir Patrick Murray, the diligent apostle of the North, made their acquaintance with the King." Also, The Autobiography and Diary of James Melville, p. 403.

10 Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. vii. pp. 350, 359. But by far the best account of the influence of these northern clergy, will be found in M'Crie's Life of Melville (vol. ii. pp. 100-105, 109, 131, 152), drawn, in several instances, from manuscript authorities. Compare Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. v. p. 695.

"This is related by his nephew, James Melville. "Mr. Andro Melvill come to the Assembly, by Commissioune of his Presbytrie, but wes commandit to keip his ludgeing; quho, being callit to the King in private, and demandit, Quhy he wes so trublesume as to come to the Assembly being

nor by promises, could the court carry their point. All that they obtained was, that certain ecclesiastics should be allowed to sit in parliament; but it was ordered that such persons should every year lay their commissions at the feet of the General Assembly, and render an account of their conduct. The Assembly was to have the power of deposing them; and, to keep them in greater subjection, they were forbidden to call themselves bishops, but were to be content with the inferior title of Commissioners of the Church.12

dischairgit? He answerit, He had a calling in the Kirk of God, and of Jesus Chryst, the King of kings, quhilk he behovit to dischairge at all occasiounes, being orderlie callit thairto, as he wes at this tyme; and that for feir of a grytter punischment then could any earthly King inflict." The Autobiography and Diary of James Melvill, p. 542.

12 As, owing to the passions of the rival classes, every step of this part of Scotch history is the subject of angry controversy, and as even Mr. Tytler (History of Scotland, vol. vii. p. 360) asserts that the final establishment of Episcopacy" took place at the Assembly of Montrose, in 1600, I subjoin a few extracts from the enactments of that Assembly, in order that the reader may judge for himself, and may test the accuracy of what I have stated in the text. "Concerning the maner of choosing of him that sall have vote in Parliament in name of the Kirk: It is condiscendit vpon, that he sall first be recommendit be the Kirk to his Majestie; and that the Kirk sall nominat sixe for every place that sall have neid to be filled, of quhom his Majestie sall choose ane, of quhom he best lykes; and his Majestie promises, obleises, and binds himselfe to choose no vther but ane of that number: And in cace his Majestie refuses the haill vpon ane just reason of ane insufficiency, and of greater sufficiencie of vthers that are not recommendit, the Kirk sall make ane new recommendatioun of men according to the first number, of the quhilk, ane salbe chosin be his Majestie without any farther refuisall or new nominatioun; and he that salbe chosin be his Majestie, salbe admittit be the Synods." Acts of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 954. "As to the cautions to keip him, that sall have vote in Parliament, from corruptiouns: They be these following: 1. That he presume not, at any tyme, to propone at Parliament, Counsell or Conventioun, in name of the Kirk, any thing without expresse warrand and directioun from the Kirk, and sick things as he sall answer (for) to be for the weill of the Kirk, vnder the paine of depositioun from his office." 2. He sall be bound at every Generall Assemblie, to give ane accompt anent the discharge of his commissioun sen the Assemblie gangand befor; and sall submitt himselfe to thair censure, and stand at thair determinatioun quhatsumever, without appellatioun; and sall seik and obtain ratificatioun of his doings at the said Assemblie, vnder the paine of infamie and excommunicatioun." 6. "In the administration of discipline, collatioun of benefices, visitatioun, and all vther points of ecclesiasticall government, he sall neither vsurpe nor acclaime to himselfe any power or jurisdictioun farther than any other of the rest of his breither, unlesse he be imployit be his breither, vnder the paine of deprivatioun." p. 955. "Anent his name that for the Kirk sall (have) vote in Parliament: It is advy seit, be vniforme consent of the haill brether, that

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After sustaining this repulse, James seems to have been disheartened; as he made no further effort, though he still laboured underhand at the restoration of episcopacy.13 If he had persevered, it might have cost him his crown. For, his resources were few; he was extremely poor;14 and recent events had shown that the clergy were stronger than he had supposed. When he thought himself most sure of success, they had subjected him to a mortifying defeat; and this was the more remarkable, as it was entirely their own work; they being by this time so completely separated from the nobles, that they could not rely upon even a single member of that powerful body.

While affairs were in this state, and while the liberties of Scotland, of which the Church was the guardian, were trembling in the balance, Elizabeth died, and the King of Scotland became also King of England. James at once determined to employ the resources of his new he salbe callit Commissioner of such a place." p. 956. "Therfor the Generall Assemblie having reasonit at length the said questioun, tuiching the continuance of him that sall have vote in Parliament, after votting of the same, finds and decernes, that he sall annuatim give count of his commission obtainit from the Assemblie, and lay downe the samein at thair feitt, to be continuit or alterit therfra be his Maiestie and the Assemblie, as the Assemblie, with consent of his Maiestie, sall think most expedient for the weill of the Kirk." p. 959.

13 While James remained in Scotland, the scheme of introducing episcopacy, though never lost sight of, was cautiously prosecuted." M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. ii. p. 178.

14 James, during the whole of his reign, was chiefly dependent on the money which Elizabeth gave him, and which she dealt out rather niggardly. Such were his necessities, that he was forced to pawn his plate, and, even then, he was often unable to defray his ordinary household expenses. See Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. vi. pp. 265, 266, 272; vol. vii. pp. 158, 378-380. Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. ii. pp. xlv. 114. Gregory's History of the Western Highlands, pp. 241, 277. See also a clamorous begging-letter from James to Elizabeth, written in 1591, in Letters of Queen Elizabeth and James VI., 1849, 4to, pp. 68, 69. In 1593, she apologizes for sending him only a small sum: "The small token you shall receave from me I desire yt may serve to make you remember the tyme and my many weighty affaires, wich makes it les than else I would, and I dowt nothing but when you heare all, yow will beare with this." p. 84. A letter from James Hudson, written about the year 1591, states that "both the king's table and queen's had like to have been unserved by want; and that the king had nothing he accounted certain to come into his purse, but what he had from the Queen of England." Ridpath's Border History, p. 465, Berwick, 1848, 4to.

kingdom to curb his old one. In 1604, that is, only the year after his accession to the English throne, he aimed a deadly blow at the Scotch Church, by attacking the independence of their Assemblies; and, by his own authority, he prorogued the General Assembly of Aberdeen.15 In 1605, he again prorogued it; and, to make his intentions clear, he, this time, refused to fix a day for its future meeting.16 Hereupon, some of the ministers, deputed by presbyteries, took upon themselves to convene it, which they had an undoubted right to do, as the act of the king was manifestly illegal. On the day appointed, they met in the session-house of Aberdeen. They were ordered to disperse. Having, as they conceived, by the mere fact of assembling, sufficiently asserted their privileges, they obeyed. But James, now backed by the power of England, resolved that they should feel the change of his position, and, therefore, of theirs. In consequence of orders which he sent from London, fourteen of the clergy were committed to prison.17 Six of them, who denied the authority of the privy-council, were indicted for high treason. They were at once put upon their trial. They were convicted. And sentence of death was only deferred, that the pleasure of the king might first be taken, as to whether he would not be satisfied with some punishment that fell short of sacrificing the lives of these unhappy men. 18

15 Laing's History of Scotland, edit. 1819, vol. iii. p. 28. Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. vi. pp. 264, 323. Bower's History of the University of Edinburgh, vol. i. p. 175, Edinburgh, 1817. Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 88.

16 "Adde thereunto, that the letter of the commissioner and last moderator, conteaned no certane tyme nor day whereto the said Assemblie sould be prorogued; so that it imported a casting loose and deserting, yea, and tyning of the possessioun of our Assemblie; than the which what could be more dangerous to the libertie and freedom of the Kirk of Jesus Christ, at suche a tyme, namelie of the treatie of the Unioun, when all the estates of the realme, and everie particular are zealous and carefull of their rights and possessiouns?" Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. vi. pp. 309, 310.

17 See a list of them in Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. vi. p. 347, where the fourteen names are preserved with pious care.

18 Pitcairn's Criminal Trials in Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 494-502. Forbes' Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk, edit. Wodrow Society, Edin

Their lives, indeed, were spared; but they were subjected to a close imprisonment, and then condemned to perpetual exile.19 In other parts of the country, similar measures were adopted. Nearly all over Scotland, numbers of the clergy were either imprisoned or forced to fly.20 Terror and proscription were universal. Such was the panic, that it was generally believed that nothing could prevent the permanent establishment of despotism, unless there were some immediate and proburgh, 1846, pp. 463-496. "Delayed the giving forth of the sentence of condemnation till the King's mind were further knowne." See also Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. vi. pp. 434, 449. When they were found guilty, "the peiple said, 'Certainely this wes a worke of darknes, to mak Chrystis faithfull Ministeres tratouris to the King! God grant he be niver in greater dangeris nor off sic traitouris.'" Melvill's Autobiography and Diary, p. 626.

19 M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. ii. pp. 207, 208. Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. ii. p. 504. In connexion with these transactions, a letter is preserved in the Winwood Papers, which is much too curious to be passed over in silence. It is addressed by the Earl of Salisbury to Sir Charles Cornwallis, and is dated 12th September 1605. Salisbury, who was then at the head of affairs, writes, "True it is that his Majestie seeking to adorne that kingdome of Scotland with Prelates as they are in England, some of the Ministers have spurned against it; and althouge his Majestie had ever warranted their calling of General Assemblies upon no other condition, then that they should make him acquainted, receive his warrant, and a commissioner for his Majestie resident in their councells, yet have they (followed with some poor plebecall numbers) presumed to hold their General Assemblies in some parte of the Realme contrarie to his commandement. Whereupon his Majestie hath shewed himself displeased, and cyted divers of them before his councell," &c. Memorials of Affairs of State, from the Papers of Sir Ralph Winwood, London, 1725, folio, vol. ii. p. 132. And yet the man who could write such nonsense as this, and who could only see, in the great democratic movement of the Scotch mind, a disinclination to the adornment of episcopacy, was deemed one of the most eminent statesmen of his time, and his reputation has survived him. If great statesmen discern so little of what is before them and around them, we are tempted to inquire, how much confidence ought to be placed in the opinions of those average statesmen by whom countries are ruled. For my own part, I can only say, that I have had occasion to read many thousand letters written by diplomatists and politicians, and I have hardly ever found an instance of one of them who understood the spirit and tendency of the age in which he lived.

20Ministers in all parts of the country were thrown into prison, or declared rebels, and forced to abscond." M'Crie's Life of Melville, vol. ii. p. 250. Liberty of speech was so completely suppressed, that, in 1605, when the most zealous and intelligent clergy were banished, "a strait command" (was) "gevin to magistrats, and uther officiers of burrowis, that in cace any preacher sould speik opinlie aganis that baneisment, or for defence or mentenence of that assemblie, or pray publiklie for ther saiftie, that they sould be noted and manifested to the secret counsell, and corrected for their fault." The Historie of King James the Sext, p. 380.