BOCK by religious disputes 19. The original insurgents VIII 1679. proposed to condemn the indulgence from which they had separated; the moderate presbyterians refused to accede to the declaration at Rutherglen, or to renounce their allegiance; and the grounds. of their recourse to arms were not yet adjusted when Monmouth appeared. The latter sent to negotiate with Monmouth, who, according to his instructions, refused to treat; required them to surrender at discretion within an hour, and promised on their submission to intercede with the king. But the fanatics were neither prepared to June 22. fight, nor disposed to submit. The bridge was obstinately defended by Hackston of Rathillat, who was ordered, when his ammunition was expended, to retire to the main body, by Hamilton, a preacher who had assumed the command. Monmouth's forces were attacked neither while they passed, nor when they formed beyond the bridge. On the first discharge of artillery, the covenanters were deserted by their ghostly commanders, and overthrown by the disorder produced among their undisciplined horse. Four hundred were killed in the field. A body of twelve hundred surrendered at discretion, and were preserved from massacre by the humanity of Monmouth. Rejecting the 19 Wodrow's MS. vol. xliii. 8vo. Hist. ii. 55. Burnet, ii. 269. At first they were represented at eight, but were afterwards reduced to five thousand in the reports to the privy council. VIII. 1679. advice of his officers to ravage the country, he dis- BOOK missed the militia; enforced the discipline of his troops to prevent depredation; and when he departed with his prisoners, even the fanatics acknowledged that his clemency had preserved them from utter ruin. His humanity was less acceptable at court, where his mercy to rebels was censured afterwards by the duke of York; and the king himself is accused, and apparently with truth, of an infamous declaration to Monmouth, that had he (Charles) been there, the government should not have had the trouble of prisoners 20. The reception he met with was however affectionate; and he was decorated with the title of highness, as if a legitimate prince of the blood. His representations to Charles, that field-meetings had originated from the severities practised against houseconventicles, procured an indemnity and a limited indulgence, which were disappointed afterwards by the influence of Lauderdale, and by the diswhich he had himself incurred. grace Lords against In the mean time the Scottish lords had ob- Scottish tained an audience, and counsel were fully heard heard on their complaints. But the principal charges Lauderdale, were prejudged by Charles, who declared that it belonged to the crown to dispose of offices, therefore to incapacitate from public trust; to prevent 20 Burnet, ii. 269, confirmed by Cuningham, i. 44. and partly by Macpherson's Original Papers, i. 93. Wodrow's MSS. vol. iv. 8vo. VIII 167). BOOK Conspiracies, therefore to imprison suspected persons; to suppress insurrections, therefore to raise and distribute troops at discretion, and to quarter or employ them as his exigencies required; nor in those particulars would he suffer his preroga tive to be impeached or touched. A declaration the most extraordinary ever uttered perhaps by a limited monarch, was combated with a spirit honourable to the memory of Lockhart, who asserted that the places from which persons thus incapacitated had been arbitrarily excluded, were conferred by the free suffrage of the people, in their corporations or counties; and that his majesty's opinions respecting conspiracies and insurrections were inconsistent with the ends for which government was established. It appeared indisputable, that Lauderdale's government was rapacious, cruel, unjust, and perfidious; and that the introduction of a barbarous horde to live at free quarters on the country, in profound peace, was prohibited by the express laws and the constitution of the realm. Mackenzie was reduced to the wretched subterfuge, that as conventicles were figuratively styled in the laws the rendezvous of rebellion, the counties where these predominated were in a state of actual revolt. Essex and Halifax declared, that the complaints were fully estab lished; the former acknowledged that the Scots were entitled by their constitution, to greater freedom than the English themselves; but they were who is acquitted by the king. VIII. 1679. afraid to substitute Monmouth in the place of Lau- BOOK derdale; and the king was not ashamed to absolve the administration which he was unable to vindicate. It was determined that nothing had been done by Lauderdale but what his majesty had commanded, and would uphold by his prerogative, which was above all law. In private he acknowledged that many detestable things had been done by Lauderdale against the Scots, but that nothing against his service had appeared; a sentiment not less dishonourable, than natural to a sovereign who, when he separates his own interest from the people, forgets that he creates an interest in oppo. sition to the throne 21. sions after rection. When the triumph and tyranny of Lauderdale Oppres were thus confirmed, the indulgence of house con- the insur venticles was of short duration, and the indemnity was converted into an amnesty for himself, and for the malversation of his friends. To the covenanters, the exception of the officers, the clergy, and the gentry, and of all who had contributed to the insurrection, and neglected to surrender with. in two months, was rather an act of proscription than of grace. A severe inquisition was made; but the torture proved ineffectual, to discover the supposed correspondence with the disaffected 21 Wodrow's Hist. i. 102-7. Burnet, ii. 264. Ralph, i. 465. See in State Tracts, Temp, Car.; and în Somers' Tracts, vii. 195. 200, the additional charges against Lau derdale. VIII. 1679. BOOK in England. Kid and King, two fanatical preachers, were executed at Edinburgh while the indemnity was proclaimed. Five others, innocent of the archbishop's blood, were selected to expiate his murder at Magus-Moor. Twelve hundred persons conducted from Bothwell, were confined in the Grey Friars' church-yard, where they remained five months, uncovered and exposed to the inclemency of the season. The greater number were at length dismissed, on their bonds of peace. The more obstinate were shipped for the plantations, but the vessel was lost in the Orkneys, and from the inhumanity of the master, who refused to release the prisoners, two hundred perished in the wreck. But the government, gratified by an insurrection so long desired, was more intent at present on confiscation than on revenge. Claverhouse was permitted to avenge his defeat, by his rapacious cruelties; but the court of justiciary performed a more lucrative circuit in the west. In every parish informations were taken or supplied by the curates. The gentry excepted from the indemnity, and their tenants, or others suspected of wealth, who had neglected to surrender, were accused indiscriminately of the murder of Sharp, of their share in the late insurrection, or their at tendance on conventicles; and the innocent, unless they compounded in private, were remanded to prison till released on surety; the absent were attainted; and forfeitures, during each succeeding |