mind. Mr Robert Douglas misliked some men’s carriage. The assembly
of divines wrote to us a general letter. To this, Mr R. Blair’s
answer was good and uncontroverted. The subscribing of the bond was
much against all our minds; but an act was drawn up against it in my
absence, which I much misliked; for it carried censure against the
pressers of it. This directly aimed at our statesmen, the contrivers
of it; but in the face of the assembly, I got it to be exponed only
_ad futura_. Some of my neighbours before the assembly were so far
in love with this subscription, that I was forced to write to them
arguments against it, as you may see herewith. Though in some parts
of the country the subscription go on, yet in the chief and most
parts it is not required of any.——
—— Our assembly drove on to the end of the fifth week. Many, dwelling
far off and superexpended, slid away. I suspected the moderator drew
long of purpose, waiting for a letter from the parliament of England,
which came not. We hear now the House of Commons past a declaration
to us; but the Lords consented not to it. I did not love to have any
correspondence with them now, but others loved it too well. Another
motion in our committee I loved not, a letter to be written to the
king. It was fathered on Mr James Hamilton; and the drawing of it
put on him, though no commissioner. I knew there would be a heavier
load laid by us on his Majesty than was expedient to be meddled with;
also that we should not express such a sense of his unjust sufferings
as the world would expect; and so I was earnest to let all alone;
but the moderator carried it: and though the draught of that letter
came never to our committee, but at the first was taken in to the
Assembly, and some hours spent in the moderator’s publick correcting
of it, yet the thing behoved to pass, and the wording of it to go to
the commission. Many good overtures against the sins of the times
did likewise pass. One of them I was feared for. It was, first,
that all ministers conversing with malignants should be censured by
presbyteries. This would have snared many; for the notion of the
malignants now by the engagement, is extended to very many. I got it
some way qualified, but not as it will be found needful.
That which some days in the end of the assembly troubled us, was,
Mr Andrew Ramsay and Mr William Colvil’s process. Mr Andrew had,
in preaching, often fallen out in divers impertinencies, and
contradiction to his brethren: he had been oft admonished; but the
man’s weakness and age, and divers who resorted to him, permitted him
not much to amend. Not only he had spoken for the engagement; but in
prejudice of our proceedings, and Presbyterian government itself.
Much he denied; much was proven. He untimeously had fallen on an
unhappy question, The magistrates power to remit blood. The general
theses which he professed to maintain, “That the supreme magistrate,
when the safety of the commonwealth does require, may dispense with
the execution of justice against shedders of blood,” many of us
declined to meddle with; but the moderator gladly would have had the
assembly determining the negative expressly, which was eschewed; only
the man for his doctrine and carriage was suspended till the next
assembly. Mr William Colvill was referred to us only for his silence
about the engagement. The man was generally too busy to countenance
and encourage our statesmen in their way, and the chief mover of Mr
Ramsay to his course; however, he himself walked very cannily. I was
indeed offended at his malapert carriage in the commission of the
church, and for it, albeit it was not libelled, I consented to his
suspension; but it was against my mind that Dr Baron should have been
censured for mere silence; yet it was carried.
One or two of your friends in our presbytery had been, for their
silence and ambiguity about the engagement, referred to the assembly,
had I not diverted and got that evil kept off them; for had they come
before us, possibly they had never come off.
We appointed visitations for universities and hospitals, and put on
them the sharpest men we had. Likely Edinburgh will not submit to
have either universities or hospitals visited, though they have most
need; and I pressed their visitation before any other; since, as yet,
they have ever declined it.
The commissioners for uniformity with England were continued without
change; only Lauderdale, to my grief, was justly omitted. I was
scarce resolved to have seen him; yet my Lady Wariston sent me to
him, as trusting in his friendship for her husband’s business. He
told me, that, however, to his best knowledge, there was no design
either on his place or person for the time; yet that he could not
answer for what might be shortly, especially when in debate and
discourse these things might escape him which might irritate them.
The good Wariston, lest by his enemies, he might be brought in by
violence, thought meet to retire to Kintyre, where, for the present,
he passes his time with Argyle. Lauderdale continues kind to me, and
regrets much the difference betwixt us; fears it become a fountain
of great evils, either the overthrow of the design for the King
against the sectaries, or the putting up of the malignant party so
high, that they will hardly be got ruled; at best the making of the
government of the church, as we exercise it, to be abhorred by all in
England and abroad, and intolerable to our own state at home. I find
the Treasurer in the same mind; but both of them fast enough, for
ought I can see, to our covenant and persons, except to one or two
whom they esteem the prime causes of this difference. In Mr William
Colvill’s censure, Mr David Calderwood rashly had said, “he was the
painfullest minister of Edinburgh.” This the Moderator exaggerated so
far, as some spoke of his removal for censure. The moderator before
had taken him up for his impertinencies indeed; yet too roughly, and
more, as I thought, than became. After this rencounter, Mr David went
home, and came no more to the assembly. At this I grieved; it may do
harm.
The state, on the Friday before we rose, gave in a large paper of
observations on our declaration. I take them to be Primrose their
clerk’s draught. We appointed the commission to sit and answer them.
They are but poor ones. That same day we renewed the commission of
the church. There is too great a change of the persons, and too
great addition of men who never have been members of any assembly;
also their power is too much enlarged, even to process all who
oppose their orders, as well as of the general assembly. I find
divers in the mind, that if once our army in England had got any
sensible success, our state are resolved totally to suppress the
commission of the church, as a judicatory not yet established by
law; and it is feared they will trouble the persons of some of us:
but the Lord’s will be done. I think indeed the carriage of some is
too high and peremptory; but if the state begin to trouble any of
us with imprisonment, it will be a great ill of long and dangerous
consequence.
On Saturday, August 12, we arose. In the morning I went away,
desirous, after much toil, to be at home that night, unwilling to
wait on the commission, to jangle more with the moderator. I was glad
we had all ended in peace. The matter of this unhappy engagement I
hope will not last, and so the ground of our difference with the
state shall be removed. But new grounds of division may possibly
arise, which may make our contentions greater.
THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
AT EDINBURGH, 1649.
The mere perusal of the Acts of Assembly, 1648, supersedes the
necessity of giving any particular description of its character. It
approved of all the proceedings of its commission previous to its
meeting, and superadded a great variety of declarations, warnings, and
injunctions, couched in terms of defiance to the supreme authority of
the State, by whose fiat alone it had its existence as an established
church. It were a mere waste of time in this place to animadvert on
these productions; but in the perilous state to which the Estates of
the realm had reduced the kingdom, these proceedings dislocated and
paralyzed the nation to such a degree, that it almost immediately after
became an easy prey to the democratic levellers of England; and, before
another year elapsed, they began to reap the bitter fruits of their
infatuation, exemplified in their declarations of independence and
supremacy.
Before, however, introducing the reader to the Acts of the Assembly of
1649—the last which the Kirk was permitted in a united and recognised
form to hold for the space of forty-one years thereafter—it is
necessary to advert to the political and military movements, both in
Scotland and England, which intervened.
Immediately after the Scottish Commissioners entered into the
engagement at the Isle of Wight for the deliverance of the King and
country from the thraldom in which they were held by the English army
and parliament, the Scottish nobles and gentry exerted themselves, as
may be fairly inferred from the conduct of the Estates in the summer of
1648, as already recorded, in order to ensure success to their designs.
But, unhappily, the elements of jealousy and disunion, which had been
fermenting during the ten preceding years, and more especially the
active hostility of a great portion of the clergy to the engagement,
rendered these exertions in a great measure abortive. The nation—that
is, the leading men, (for the great body of the people were in a state
of abject vassalage to their lords and the clergy,) were, in this
emergency, divided into three parties. The first consisted of the
clergy and a few of the nobles, who would listen to no proposition
for the King’s deliverance and restoration of the monarchy, except
an unconditional submission, by him and all others, to the Solemn
League and Covenant, and the Kirk as its administrators. Others were
for liberating and restoring the King, without reference to ulterior
arrangements. A third party were for combining that object with the
maintenance of Presbytery and the Covenant in the mode adopted by
the Estates in June, 1648. From among such heterogeneous materials,
therefore, it was exceedingly difficult to create any one concentrated
and united body such as should be able to rally and combine the
energies of the kingdom in encountering the approaching struggle.
Of the first class, Argyle may be regarded as the most prominent
leader; and this party denounced the employment of any in the army,
or in public office, who were not out-and-out for the League and
Covenant. Of the second class were Traquair, Callender, and others,
who again desired to include all who would promote the King’s cause;
while Hamilton and his brother Lanerick, Lauderdale, and others, were
disposed themselves to subscribe the Covenant, trusting to future
modifications of its rigours, provided this sacrifice of their personal
sentiments were conducive to the safety and honour of the King, and
a cordial co-operation against his adversaries. And to this latter
line of policy the great body of the gentry, and many of the clergy,
were favourable; while Argyle’s party strained every nerve to defeat
the coalition of parties on that basis, and held them up as intent
on overturning entirely their kirk polity, if the engagement should
prosper.
Amidst manifold difficulties, of which a very lively picture is given
in Lanerick’s letters,[382] and other documents of the time, the
levies for the army in Scotland were much retarded during the summer
of 1648, by the speeches and intrigues of the clerical party,[383] by
the want of money, and by the tremours generally awakened under such
conflicting influences; but an important addition was made by the
recall of a part of the Scottish troops, who were stationed in Ireland,
and had continued there for some years. Of that army, above 2,000 foot
and 1200 horse returned to Scotland. There had been great difficulty,
too, in fixing on a generalissimo. Lord Leven and his brother David
Leslie were generally desired, as their names and experience gave them
a preference; and, although the latter had acquiesced in the common
wish on this point, he afterwards declined. After much chaffering,
Hamilton, as the leading nobleman of Scotland, was named to the chief
command, although he had not hitherto given any proofs of possessing
that military genius which inspires an army with assured confidence in
its commander.
In addition to other embarrassments, there were differences of opinion
among the Scottish leaders as to the time of making an effective
movement of the army. Hamilton and Lanerick were for delay till their
opponents at home were somewhat curbed, and their friends in England
ready to co-operate by simultaneous demonstrations. But this was deemed
inexpedient, as some English troops, under Lambert, were already
advancing to the north of England; and, finally, it was resolved that
there should be a general rendezvous of the Scottish army at Annan, on
the 4th of July, 1648, just on the eve of the meeting of the General
Assembly, whose anathemas against the Engagement, and all concerned in
it, were fulminated, during the space of a whole month, in the capital
of the kingdom.
About this time, and before the army was fully mustered, Loudoun, by
whom the engagement had hitherto been zealously promoted, seceded from
the cause; whether chagrined by any oversight of his pretensions to
high command, or some other mixed motive, has not been sufficiently
explained: and even before the army was collected at its rendezvous,
Middleton and Urrey had a skirmish at Mauchline, in Ayrshire, with
about 2000 rustic ultra-Covenanters, who, under the influence of
the clergy, had assembled, with arms, on pretext of celebrating a
communion. They were soon, however, dispersed by Callender, the second
in command under Hamilton—sixty of the insurgents, and five officers,
with some ministers, being taken prisoners. The peasants and clergy
were released; the officers were condemned to death by a council of
war, but were pardoned by Callender.[384]
At the day appointed, the army assembled; Colonel Lockhart having been
previously stationed with some regiments of horse at Annan; Turner,
with several regiments of infantry at Dumfries. Hamilton went from
Edinburgh to Annan, accompanied by Callender, Middleton, and Baillie,
with several regiments of horse and foot, and Turner joined them from
Dumfries.
The army thus assembled is described as exceedingly ill appointed.
Many of the regiments were not above half their regulated quota; not
one in five of the infantry could handle pike or musket; and although
the cavalry were the best mounted that had ever left Scotland, yet the
troopers were raw and inexperienced, and there was not a single piece
of artillery, while there was great want of ammunition, powder, and
other necessaries.[385] The march from Annan was precipitated ere yet
the army was properly organized, in consequence of movements in England.
Without entering into particulars of the march into England, and the
skirmishes which took place with the English forces under Lambert,
to whom Langdale, an English loyalist, was opposed, previous to
the advance of the Scottish army, it is sufficient to note that it
reached Crofton Hall, where it remained above a week, and proceeded
successively to Penrith, Appleby, and Kirby-thore in Cumberland, where,
in consequence of the inclemency of weather, it remained three weeks.
During this progress, it had the advantage, in various conflicts, with
Lambert, who retreated before Hamilton’s army. He waited for the rest
of his forces, of which not above two-thirds had joined, and for the
regiments from Ireland, under Monro, not yet arrived; and the whole
amount of the Scottish army did not exceed 10,000 infantry and 4,000
cavalry.
The next movement was to Kendal, (where Monro saw Hamilton,) and thence
to Hornby, where it was debated in council whether the further march
should be to Yorkshire or Lancashire. The latter was preferred—and
Langdale led the van. The main body of cavalry, advancing before the
infantry for lack of forage, were commanded by Callender and Middleton,
to Wigan, and the bulk of the army marched forward to Preston. On the
18th of August, (the day after the army was thus separated,) Callender
got notice that Cromwell was about to form a junction with Lambert; and
the day following, while the Scottish army and Langdale’s auxiliaries
were in this dislocated position, a general engagement took place, the
particulars of which it is needless to describe; but the balance of
success, after a desultory and gallant though decisive struggle, was in
favour of Cromwell, who took advantage of the absence of Monro’s corps,
and the separation of the Scottish cavalry and infantry: in short, a
retreat was resolved on—and, labouring under numerous privations and
hardships, amid unwonted floods of rain, the infantry, under Baillie,
were obliged to capitulate to Cromwell—a mutiny arose among the
troops—and, finally, at Utoxater, on the 25th of August, the broken
remnant capitulated—surrendering their arms and munitions; the Duke,
and all his officers and soldiers, having assurance of their lives, and
of being treated honourably and with military courtesy. But before the
articles of surrender were returned, the Duke had been taken prisoner
by Gray of Grobie’s corps, and was carried successively to Derby,
Loughburgh, Leicester, and Ashby de la Zouch, where he was kept a
prisoner, from the 28th of August till the beginning of December, when
he was carried to Windsor. And thus terminated this ill-concerted and
fatal expedition in support of the Engagement.[386]
This disastrous issue of the expedition into England, in which several
thousands of the Scottish army were killed, taken prisoners, or
perished of hardships by the inclemency of the season, was followed by
an insurrection in Scotland, of the parties opposed to the engagement,
who had been repressed by the overawing power of Hamilton’s army
previous to its defeat. Of the whole army that had crossed the Border,
Monro’s detachment alone remained entire. It had never, owing to the
jealousies which so unhappily prevailed among the nobles and officers
in command, been incorporated with the main army, but remained
detached in Cumberland; and, after the Duke’s defeat at Preston,
Monro retired on Scotland, to which some fragments of the shattered
army fought and found its way in a very broken condition. The rout of
the expedition was received by what may most appropriately be called
the Kirk party, with the highest exultation, and was hailed as an
infallible token of the divine wrath against the engagement, and at a
heaven-sent commemoration of the Covenant. Forthwith, on the earliest
tidings reaching them, Loudoun, the chancellor, who had concerted
and co-operated zealously in its promotion, but who had seen meet to
desert it in time of need, and Eglinton, stirred up the people of the
western counties; and the ministers speedily appeared in the field,
leading up whole parishes with such arms as they could procure; and
when these were wanting, pitchforks, scythes, and other such weapons
were substituted. Loudoun issued the orders for these levies; Eglinton
was their first commander; and Argyle made all haste to bring up his
Highlanders to the Whigamore[387] host; for this was the occasion
on which that distinctive appellation was used, of a party which
still subsists, although in later times it has undergone prodigious
transformations. Cassillis was one of those who had dissented in
Parliament from the engagement and expedition, and he had some scruples
at first about the lawfulness of this _raid_; but, ultimately, he
joined some of the other western lords at Linlithgow, with his
followers.
The defeat of the expedition, and the insurrection in the west, filled
the Committee of Estates at Edinburgh with dismay and perplexity. Many
of them were not very eager in the cause—all of them were anxious to
save their estates from probable confiscation—and many were threatened
by the ministers with excommunication. Under the influence, therefore,
of terror, selfishness, and ghostly intimidation, their hearts sunk
within them, more especially as the clergy threatened to call in the
schismatic English army to their aid; and, after some hesitation, the
greater number of them agreed to relinquish all attempts at resistance,
and dispatched the Lairds of Lee and Humbie to the western insurgents,
then advanced as far as Hamilton, on their way to the capital, with
proposals for a cessation of arms, and to learn their demands with
a view to a treaty. From the reproach of temporizing and cowardice,
to which this committee was justly obnoxious, Lord Lanerick must be
exempted. He strenuously urged fidelity to their engagement and the
trust reposed in them; but all in vain; and, yielding to the torrent,
he survived this manifestation of imbecility among his colleagues, to
establish, on a future occasion, his claims to honour, to loyalty, and
to patriotism, by perishing, sword in hand, on the battle-field, as his
brother did on the scaffold—thus sealing, by the sacrifice of their
fortunes and by their blood, their entire devotion to their King and
country.
Monro, with his detachment, having, after the battle of Preston,
marched towards the east coast, reached Berwick, where he received
notice, from the Committee of Estates, of the insurrection in the west,
and orders to join them at Colbrandspath; and these they issued after
having resolved to abandon the engagement. He marched to Colbrandspath,
but found not there the promised meeting; and after waiting a day
or two, he received fresh orders to advance to Haddington, where
Lanerick, Crawfurd, and Glencairn met him with some troops that had
escaped from the fight of Preston. On a master of all the forces at
Gladsmuir, they were found to be about 3,000 horse and 2,000 infantry.
By this time the whigamores had carried their raid as far as Edinburgh,
whence the Committee of Estates had fled; and, when Monro’s force
had advanced to Musselburgh, they descried some hundreds of the whig
troopers who bad been sent to that neighbourhood to reconnoitre, but
who retreated after losing a few prisoners taken at the bridge.
The whigamores were organized in and about Edinburgh, under old Leven
and David Leslie. Monro offered to drive them out, but the majority
of the committee overruled this course; while, on the other hand,
the ministers and insurgent lords urged an attack on Monro, which
the experienced old soldiers in command resisted, as perilous with
such raw levies; and, in the meantime, Lee and Humbie were busied in
negotiations betwixt the two parties, but without effect.