X. 1689. supremacy which Charles had acquired4; but he BOOK scrupled to abrogate the rights of patronage, which he considered as the only expedient to infuse a mild or more tolerant spirit into the presbyterian church. The parliament persisted in the repeal of patronage; and though episcopacy was abolished, presbyterian government, from their mutual opposition, remained unestablished. From the same desire to restrain intolerance, he refused his assent to an act for the incapacitation of such as opposed the revolution, or concurred in the illegal measures of the two preceding reigns. Proscription from office, if ever justifiable, was justified by the recent government of Scotland. But the king adopted a generous and wise resolution, to exclude no party from his service, or from the hopes of preferment, and to reduce no description of men to despair. The nomination of the whole judges was challenged, in order to exclude Stair the president from the court of session. It was admitted that a single vacancy might be supplied by prerogative; but it was aflirmed that the court, on a total vacancy produced by the revolution, must be renewed, as at first created, by the authority of par 4 See his instructions, State Tracts, iii. 469. "to establish that form of ecclesiastical government most agreeable to the people." As the parliament was prorogued before the acts were passed, Mont,omery represented, in the Address and Vindication, that they were refused by William. X. BOOK liament, and that the choice of a president belonged to the judges themselves. An act was in1689, troduced, as in the reign of Charles I. declaring that the judges named by the crown should be examined, approved or rejected by the estates; but as the demand exceeded the commissioner's instructions, the parliament was adjourned amidst such a general ferment, that the judges assumed their seats under the protection of the troops5. Aug. 2. and exploits of Dundee. While the parliament was thus agitated by the presbyterians, a civil war was excited, and in the moment of victory, was almost extinguished in Character the north. With a new name it is not unfrequent to acquire a new and more honourable character in society; and the cruelties of Graham of Claverhouse are forgotten in the last splendid exploits of the viscount Dundee. The same ardent and inflexible spirit that rendered him barbarous and inexorable towards the covenanters, was adapted to the most daring and extensive designs. As an officer, he was able, intrepid, and experienced; of a sound and cultivated understanding; endued with many personal virtues; parsimonious and severe by nature; generous and indulgent from policy; well acquainted with the dispositions and temper of others, and possessed 3 Hist. Revol. 168-86. Address and Vindication of the Scottish Parliament. State Tracts, Temp. Gul. vol. iii. Lord Stair's Vindication. Burnet, iv. 105. Ralph, ii. 105. of an entire command over his own". Ambitious BOOK to equal the renown as well as the cruelty of Montrose, to whom he was related, he delighted in those vigorous and enterprizing councils, in the execution of which he was best qualified to excel. When James had withdrawn to Rochester, he concurred with a few friends to dissuade his departure; undertook to collect ten thousand of his disbanded soldiers; and offered to march through England with his standard at their head, and to drive the Dutch forces with their prince before him7. Had he been entrusted, instead of Feversham, with the command of the army, little doubt can be entertained that, though he might have failed to fulfil those magnificent promises, the revolution at least would never have been accomplished without immense bloodshed. When he retired from the convention, the fears and the expectations of each party were fixed on his designs. His intentions were discovered by intercepted letters from Melfort, who promised speedy assistance from Ireland; proposed to support the war from the forfeiture of those lords whom they had marked for destruction, and threatened literally to reduce their enemies to hewers of wood and drawers of water. The letters, published in both kingdoms, announced the cruelties to be expected Balcarras' Mem. X. 1689. X. 1689. Begins a civil war. on the return of James. Balcarras and his friends were secured; but Dundee retired into the highlands from Mackay's pursuit, with an intention to summon the clans to arms., At Inverness he found the Macdonalds of Keppoch, who had availed themselves of the disorders of the times to invest the town. On his obligation for its ransom, they engaged in his service; but they returned to secure their plunder in Lochaber, where he summoned a general rendezvous of the clans. Descending in the mean while, with his horse, to Perth, he surprised some troops, and levied contributions to the very gates of Dundee. It was not diflicult, on his return, to excite the highlanders to arms, whose warlike genius was stimulated by the memory of their atchievements under Montrose; and by the apprehension that Argyle would soon be restored to his jurisdictions and estate. The Macleans and Macdonalds had suffered as the vassals or the enemies of that powerful family; the Camerons had obtained large grants of its possessions; and as the highlanders were peculiarly favoured by James, a general confederacy was formed among the clans. Seventeen hundred men were assembled by Dundee; they were armed with their paternal swords, but 8 The authenticity of these letters, though denied by the Jacobites, is admitted by Balcarras. They correspond with Melfort's letter, found on Dundee's body after his death. 9 Mackay's Mem. 210-36. MS. Adv. Lib. X. 1689. were unprovided with artillery, ammunition, pro- BOOK visions, or pay. By interposing between Mackay and a reinforcement which Ramsay conducted through Badenoch, he obliged the latter to retreat to Perth, and on the surrender of Ruthven castle, pursued the former along the course of the Spey. The fidelity of the Scottish dragoons was seduced; a regiment originally raised for the service of James. Their treachery was timely discovered; and Mackay, returning with reinforcements, endeavoured in vain to outstrip the speed of the highlanders on their native hills. But the highlanders, loaded with plunder, deserted in such numbers, that Dundee retired into the wilds of Lochaber, and dismissed his army till the succours which he expected from Ireland should arrive; and in this situation, the mortifying intelligence June 13. of the surrender of Edinburgh castle, would have overwhelmed a mind less vigorous than his own with despair 10. Mackay. On the arrival of three hundred recruits from Encounters Ireland, he summoned the highlanders again to arms. The castle of Blair was defended against lord Murray, son of the marquis of Athol, by one of his father's vassals, whom Dundee hastened to relieve, and Mackay to reduce. The place was equally important, whether to restrain Dundee to the remote highlands, or to secure his access to 10 Dundee's Mem. Macpherson's Orig. Papers, i. 355-66 |