The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (475 page)

An act of indemnity passed; but at the same time it was voted, that all those who had offended during the late disorders, should be subjected to fines; and a committee of parliament was appointed for imposing them. These proceeded without any regard to

some equitable rules, which the king had prescribed to them.r
The most obnoxious compounded secretly. No consideration was had, either of men’s riches, or of the degrees of their guilt: No proofs were produced: Enquiries were not so much as made: But as fast as information was given in against any man, he was marked down for a particular fine: And all was transacted in a secret committee. When the list was read in parliament, exceptions were made to several: Some had been under age during the civil wars; some had been abroad. But it was still replied, that a proper time would come, when every man should be heard in his own defence. The only intention, it was said, of setting the fines was, that such persons should have no benefit by the act of indemnity, unless they paid the sum demanded: Every one that chose to stand upon his innocence, and renounce the benefit of the indemnity, might do it at his peril. It was well known, that no one would dare so far to set at defiance so arbitrary an administration. The king wrote to the council, ordering them to supersede the levying of those fines: But Middleton found means, during some time, to elude these orders.
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And at last, the king obliged his ministers to compound for half the sums, which had been imposed. In all these transactions, and in most others, which passed during the PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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present reign, we still find the moderating hand of the king, interposed to protect the Scots from the oppressions, which their own countrymen, employed in the ministry, were desirous of exercising over them.

But the chief circumstance, whence were derived all the subsequent tyranny and disorders in Scotland, was the execution of the laws for the establishment of episcopacy; a mode of government, to which a great part of the nation had entertained an unsurmountable aversion. The rights of patrons had for some years been abolished; and the power of electing ministers had been vested in the kirk-session, and lay-elders. It was now enacted, that all incumbents, who had been admitted upon this title, should receive a presentation from the patron, and should be instituted anew by the bishop, under the penalty of deprivation. The more rigid presbyterians concerted measures among themselves, and refused obedience: They imagined, that their number would protect them. Three hundred and fifty parishes, above a third of the kingdom, were at once declared vacant. The western counties chiefly were obstinate in this particular. New ministers were sought for all over the kingdom; and no one was so ignorant or vicious as to be rejected. The people, who loved extremely and respected their former teachers; men remarkable for the severity of their manners, and their fervor in preaching; were inflamed against these intruders, who had obtained their livings under such invidious circumstances, and who took no care, by the regularity of their manners, to soften the prejudices entertained against them. Even most of those, who retained their livings by compliance, fell under the imputation of hypocrisy, either by their shewing a disgust to the new model of ecclesiastical government, which they had acknowledged; or on the other hand, by declaring, that their former adherence to presbytery and the covenant had been the result of violence and necessity. And as Middleton and the new ministry indulged themselves in great riot and disorder, to which the nation had been little accustomed, an opinion universally prevailed, that any form of religion, offered by such hands, must be profane and impious.

The people, notwithstanding their discontents, were resolved to give no handle against them, by the least symptom of mutiny or sedition: But this submissive disposition, instead of procuring a mitigation of the rigours, was made use of as an argument for continuing the same measures, which by their vigour, it was pretended, had produced so prompt an obedience. The king, however, was disgusted with the violence of

Middleton,t
and he made Rothes commissioner in his place. This nobleman was already president of the council; and soon after was made lord keeper and treasurer.

Lauderdale still continued secretary of state, and commonly resided at London.

Affairs remained in a peaceable state, till the severe law was made in England against

conventicles.u
The Scottish parliament imitated that violence, by passing a like act. A kind of high commission court was appointed by the privy-council, for executing this rigorous law, and for the direction of ecclesiastical affairs. But even this court, illegal as it might be deemed, was much preferable to the method next adopted. Military force was let loose by the council. Wherever the people had generally forsaken their churches, the guards were quartered throughout the country. Sir James Turner commanded them, a man whose natural ferocity of temper was often inflamed by the use of strong liquors. He went about, and received from the clergy lists of those who PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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absented themselves from church, or were supposed to frequent conventicles. Without any proof or legal conviction, he demanded a fine from them, and quartered soldiers on the supposed delinquents, till he received payment. As an insurrection was dreaded during the Dutch war, new forces were levied, and intrusted to the command of Dalziel and Drummond; two officers, who had served the king during the civil wars, and had afterwards engaged in the service of Russia, where they had encreased the native cruelty of their disposition. A full career was given to their tyranny by the Scottish ministry. Representations were made to the king against these enormities. He seemed touched with the state of the country; and besides giving orders, that the ecclesiastical commission should be discontinued, he signified his opinion, that

another way of proceeding was necessary for his service.w

This lenity of the king’s came too late to remedy the disorders. The people, inflamed with bigotry, and irritated by ill usage, rose in arms. They were instigated by Guthry, Semple, and other preachers. They surprised Turner in Dumfries, and resolved to have put him to death; but finding, that his orders, which fell into their hands, were more violent than his execution of them, they spared his life. At Laneric, after many prayers, they renewed the covenant, and published their manifesto; in which they professed all submission to the king: They desired only the re-establishment of presbytery and of their former ministers. As many gentlemen of their party had been confined on suspicion; Wallace and Learmont, two officers, who had served, but in no high rank, were entrusted by the populace with the command. Their force never exceeded two thousand men; and though the country in general bore them favour, men’s spirits were so subdued, that the rebels could expect no farther accession of numbers. Dalziel took the field to oppose their progress. Their number was now diminished to 800; and these, having advanced near Edinburgh, attempted to find their way back into the west by Pentland Hills. They were attacked by the king’s forces.
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Finding that they could not escape, they stopped their march. Their clergy endeavoured to infuse courage into them. After singing some psalms, the rebels turned on the enemy; and being assisted by the advantage of the ground, they received the first charge very resolutely. But that was all the action: Immediately, they fell into disorder, and fled for their lives. About forty were killed on the spot, and a hundred and thirty taken prisoners. The rest, favoured by the night, and by the weariness, and even by the pity of the king’s troops, made their escape.

The oppressions which these people had suffered, the delusions under which they laboured, and their inoffensive behaviour during the insurrection, made them the objects of compassion: Yet were the king’s ministers, particularly Sharpe, resolved to take severe vengeance. Ten were hanged on one gibbet at Edinburgh: Thirty-five before their own doors in different places. These criminals might all have saved their lives, if they would have renounced the covenant. The executions were going on, when the king put a stop to them. He said, that blood enough had already been shed; and he wrote a letter to the privy-council, in which he ordered, that such of the prisoners as should simply promise to obey the laws for the future, should be set at liberty, and that the incorrigible should be sent to the plantations.
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This letter was brought by Burnet, archbishop of Glasgow; but not being immediately delivered to

the council by Sharpe, the president,z
one Maccail had in the interval been put to the torture, under which he expired. He seemed to die in an exstacy of joy. “Farewel sun, PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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moon, and stars; farewel world and time; farewel weak and frail body: Welcome eternity, welcome angels and saints, welcome Saviour of the world, and welcome God, the judge of all!” Such were his last words: And these animated speeches he uttered with an accent and manner, which struck all the bystanders with astonishment.

The settlement of Ireland after the restoration was a work of Affairs of Ireland.

greater difficulty than that of England, or even of Scotland. Not only the power, during the former usurpations, had there been vested in the king’s enemies: The whole property, in a manner, of the kingdom had also been changed; and it became necessary to redress but with as little violence as possible, many grievous hardships and iniquities, which were there complained of.

The Irish catholics had in 1648 concluded a treaty with Ormond, the king’s lieutenant, in which they had stipulated pardon for their past rebellion, and had engaged under certain conditions to assist the royal cause: And though the violence of the priests and the bigotry of the people had prevented, in a great measure, the execution of this treaty; yet were there many, who having strictly, at the hazard of their lives, adhered to it, seemed on that account well entitled to reap the fruits of their loyalty. Cromwel, having without distinction expelled all the native Irish from the three provinces of Munster, Leinster, and Ulster, had confined them to Connaught and the county of Clare; and among those who had thus been forfeited, were many whose innocence was altogether unquestionable. Several protestants likewise, and Ormond among the rest, had all along opposed the Irish rebellion; yet having afterwards embraced the king’s cause against the parliament, they were all of them attainted by Cromwel. And there were many officers, who had, from the commencement of the insurrection, served in Ireland, and who, because they would not desert the king, had been refused all their arrears by the English Commonwealth.

To all these unhappy sufferers some justice seemed to be due: But the difficulty was to find the means of redressing such great and extensive iniquities. Almost all the valuable parts of Ireland had been measured out and divided, either to the adventurers, who had lent money to the parliament for the suppression of the Irish rebellion, or to the soldiers, who had received land in lieu of their arrears. These could not be dispossessed, because they were the most powerful and only armed part of Ireland; because it was requisite to favour them, in order to support the protestant and English interest in that kingdom; and because they had generally, with a seeming zeal and alacrity, concurred in the king’s restoration. The king, therefore, issued a proclamation; in which he promised to maintain their settlement, and at the same time engaged to give redress to the innocent sufferers. There was a quantity of land as yet undivided in Ireland; and from this and some other funds, it was thought possible for the king to fulfil both these engagements.

A court of claims was erected, consisting altogether of English commissioners, who had no connexion with any of the parties, into which Ireland was divided. Before these were laid four thousand claims of persons craving restitution on account of their innocence; and the commissioners had found leisure to examine only six hundred. It already appeared, that, if all these were to be restored, the funds, whence the adventurers and soldiers must get reprisals, would fall short of giving them any PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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tolerable satisfaction. A great alarm and anxiety seized all ranks of men: The hopes and fears of every party were excited: These eagerly grasped at recovering their paternal inheritance: Those were resolute to maintain their new acquisitions.

The duke of Ormond was created lord-lieutenant; being the only person, whose prudence and equity could compose such jarring interests. A parliament was assembled at Dublin; and as the lower house was almost entirely chosen by the soldiers and adventurers, who still kept possession, it was extremely favourable to that interest. The house of peers showed greater impartiality.

An insurrection was projected, together with a surprizal of the castle of Dublin, by some of the disbanded soldiers; but this design was happily defeated by the vigilance of Ormond. Some of the criminals were punished. Blood, the most desperate of them, escaped into England.

But affairs could not long remain in the confusion and uncertainty, into which they had fallen. All parties seemed willing to abate somewhat of their pretensions, in order to attain some stability; and Ormond interposed his authority for that purpose. The soldiers and adventurers agreed to relinquish a third of their possessions; and as they had purchased their lands at very low prices, they had reason to think themselves favoured by this composition. All those, who had been attainted on account of their adhering to the king, were restored; and some of the innocent Irish. It was a hard situation, that a man was obliged to prove himself innocent, in order to recover possession of the estate, which he and his ancestors had ever enjoyed: But the hardship was augmented, by the difficult conditions annexed to this proof. If the person had ever lived in the quarters of the rebels, he was not admitted to plead his innocence; and he was, for that reason alone, supposed to have been a rebel. The heinous guilt of the Irish nation made men the more readily overlook any iniquity, which might fall on individuals; and it was considered, that, though it be always the interest of all good government to prevent injustice, it is not always possible to remedy it, after it has had a long course, and has been attended with great successes.