BOOK II. and forbade them to open their commission. The judges were on the contrary required and compelled to act by the authority of the privy council; and such was the ferment, that it was thought necessary to order a number of troops into the neighbourhood of Edinburgh in order to preserve the public peace. In the midst of this confusion, his grace the lord commissioner adjourned the parliament to the 8th of October following: but such a flame did the refusal of the court to accede to the measures of the patriots excite, that, immediately subsequent to the adjournment, a remonstrance was framed by a majority of the members in strong and energetic language, representing to his majesty the evil consequences which must ensue from a refusal Iso contrary to his majesty's acceptance of the claim of right, and to his declaration promising the redress of grievances." The king, sensibly touched with these reproaches, caused his instructions to his commissioner to be published, by which it appeared that his grace was authorized to have made greater concessions than he chose to do respecting the points in question; and it was to be inferred that the king, who had little knowledge of Scottish affairs, was not well pleased with the conduct of those on whom he had placed his reliance. The ambition of some, and the disgust of others, who conceived that the king had of the Whigs violated his engagements, induced them to enter BOOK II. into dangerous cabals and intrigues with the high episcopal and Jacobite party, for the restoration of the abdicated monarch, who in his present situation was supposed willing to concede whatever might be demanded. At the head of these mal-content whigs was sir James Montgomery, who, being disappointed in his views of obtaining the secretaryship of state, with the chief manage ment of affairs, became the most virulent opposer of the government. Cherishing the same chimerical projects with the discontented whigs in Eng- Conspiracy land, he formed a close connection with the earl Scottish of Monmouth, the duke of Bolton, and other headed by men of the same stamp-and they were so far Montgo actuated by the spirit of faction and folly, as to mery. imagine that the national happiness and safety could be permanently established only by a counter-revolution-that king James, convinced of his errors, would detach himself entirely from the French interest; and that, if his restoration were effected by the whigs, he would entrust himself and his interests wholly into their hands. The particulars of this conspiracy were disclosed by the brother of Montgomery to bishop Burnet. He affirmed that a treaty was settled with king James, articles agreed on, and an invitation subscribed by the whole cabal. During the recess of parliament, endeavours Sir James BOOK II. were used by the court to soften the rage of opposition by an artful distribution of places-almost every considerable office of government being put into commission, in order to provide for as great a number as possible. The great seal was committed to the custody of the duke of Hamilton, the earl of Argyle, and the earl of Sutherland: the privy seal to the earl of Forfar, the earl of Kintore, and the lord Carmichael; the treasury was divided among the earl of Crawford, the earl of Cassilis, and the earl of Tweedale, the lord Ruthven, and the master of Melville; and the clerk register's office between the lord Belhaven and four other persons. Earl of As the supplies granted by parliament had been for obvious reasons very scanty, it was absolutely necessary either to disband the army or speedily to convene another meeting. As the least of these evils, a session was held in the following spring, April 1690-the earl of Melville being appointed appointed lord high commissioner. Such was the Lord High Commissi- strength of the different parties united in oppor sition, that, on the first division on a trivial question respecting a contested election, the majority in favor of the court was not more than six or seven voices. Even this majority would have been lost, if all the Jacobites who were returned had taken their seats in parliament, and, of course, the oath of allegiance; agreeably to the secret wishes oner. and instructions of the court of St. Germaine's, BOOK II. and to the earnest entreaties of those who had the most zeal and the least conscience of the party; among whom mention is particularly made of Paterson, the deprived archbishop of Glasgow. Although the violent whigs and the violent tories were equally eager to obstruct the measures of government, their views and designs were so irreconcileable, that no cordial coalescence could long subsist. There were in fact three distinct parties in opposition-the Jacobites, headed by the dukes of Athol and Queensberry, the lords Annandale, Breadalbane, Balcarras, &c.—the disaffected whigs, led by sir James Montgomery, colleagued with the lords Argyle, Ross, &c.and the discontented revolutionists, at the head of whom was the duke of Hamilton; who thinking his merits not sufficiently rewarded, and aiming at the chief direction of affairs, had no farther design than the ruin of the lords Melville and Stair. The court saw the necessity, in order to dissolve this connection, of making those concessions which had been formerly refused. The lord Concessions commissioner now therefore gave the royal assent of Governto the bill for rescinding the act of supremacy; to another for the direct establishment of presbytery and annihilating the right of patronage; and to a third for the abolition of the lords of articles. Popular on the Part ment. Duplicity of Montgamery. BOOK II. By these decisive measures, those members who were actuated by public and patriotic motives, and whose discontent had never risen to disaffection, were at once conciliated, a clear majority ascertained, and the bills of supply voted without difficulty. It is remarkable, that sir James Montgomery, imagining the court would not dare to assent to the unreserved establishment of presbytery in Scotland, from the jealousies it was calculated to excite in England, made a vehement and inflammatory speech in parliament, declaring "that he knew there were instructions for settling religion, and he thought it a shame it was not done; but some, to flatter the court, against their own principles had delayed it. He knew likewise some were for one kind of government, some for another; some were for a certain kind of presbytery called Erastianism, like that of Holland: but he told them there could not and ought not to be any other established in Scotland than the presbyterian model of 1648, which was the government most conformable to the word of God, and best able to control the extravagant power of kings, under which they had groaned so many years."-"This speech," says lord Balcarras in his ACCOUNT of the affairs of SCOTLAND, "to us that knew his secrets, seemed a little extraordinary: but he excused himself by being obliged to do so, otherwise he should all lose credit with his |
