But the English government, though more exactly CHA P. defined by late contests, was not as yet reduced, in LXIII. every particular, to the strict limits of law. And 1669, if ever prerogative was justifiably employed, it seemed to be on the present occasion, when all parts of the state were torn with past convulsions, and required the moderating hand of the chief magistrate to reduce them to their ancient order. Millena BUT though these appearances of neutrality were maintained, and a mitigated episcopacy only seemed to be insisted on, it was far from the intention of the ministry always to preserve like regard to the presbyterians. The madness of the fifth-monarchy men afforded them a pretence for departing from Insurrecit. Venner, a desperate enthusiast, who had often tion of the conspired against Cromwel, having, by his zealous rians. lectures, inflamed his own imagination and that of his followers, issued forth at their head into the streets of London. They were, to the number of sixty, completely armed, believed themselves invulnerable and invincible, and firmly expected the same success which had attended Gideon and other heroes of the Old Testament. Every one at first fled before them. One unhappy iman, who, being questioned, said, “ He was for God and king Charles,' was instantly murdered by them. They went triumphantly from street to street, every where proclaming king Jesus, who, they said, was their invisible leader. At length the magistrates, having assembled some train-bands, made an attack upon them. They defended themselves with order, as well as valour; and after killing many of the assailants, they made a regular retreat into Cane-wood, near Hampstead.. Next morning they were chased thence by a detachment of the guards; but they yentured again to invade the city, which was not prepared to receive them. After committing great disorder, and traversing almost every street of that immense LXIII. CHA P. immense capital, they retired into a house, which they were resolute to defend to the last extremity. 1660. Being surrounded, and the house untiled, they were fired upon from every side, and they still refused quarter. The people rushed in upon them, and seized the few who were alive. These were tried, condemned, and executed; and to the last they persisted in affirming, that if they were deceived, it was the Lord that had deceived them. Scotland. CLARENDON and the ministry took occasion, from this insurrection, to infer the dangerous spirit of the presbyterians, and of all the sectaries : But the madness of the attempt sufficiently proved, that it had been undertaken by no concert, and never could have proved dangerous. The well-known hatred, too, which prevailed between the presbyte rians and the other sects, should have removed the former from all suspicion of any concurrence in the enterprise. But as a pretence was wanted, besides their old demerits, for justifying the intended rigours against all of them, this reason, however slight, was greedily laid hold of. Affairs of AFFAIRS in Scotland hastened with still quicker steps than those in England towards a settlement and a compliance with the king. It was deliberated in the English council, whether that nation should be restored to its liberty, or whether the forts erected by Cromwel should not still be upheld, in order to curb the mutinous spirit by which the Scots in all ages had been so much governed? Lauderdale, who, from the battle of Worcester to the restoration, had been detained prisoner in the Tower, had considerable influence with the king; and he strenuously opposed this violent measure. He represented, that it was the loyalty of the Scottish nation which had engaged them in an opposition to the English rebels; and to take advantage of the calamaties into which on that account, they had fallen, would be LXIII. 1660 regarded as the highest injustice and ingratitude: CHA P.. That the spirit of that people was now fully subdued by the servitude under which the usurpers had so long held them, and would of itself yield to any reasonable compliance with their legal sovereign, if, by this means, they recovered their liberty and independence: That the attachment of the Scots towards their king, whom they regarded as their native prince, was naturally much stronger than that of the English; and would afford him a sure resource, in case of any rebellion among the latter: That republican principles had long been, and still were, very prevalent with his southern subjects, and might again menace the throne with new tumults and resistance: That the time would probably come, when the king, instead of desiring to see English garrisons in Scotland, would be better pleased to have Scottish garrisons in England, who, supported by English pay, would be fond to curb the seditious genius of that opulent nation: And that a people, such as the Scots, governed by a few nobility, would more easily be reduced to submission under monarchy, than one like the English, who breathed nothing but the spirit of democratical equality. THESE Views induced the king to disband all the 1661. forces in Scotland, and to raze all the forts which 1st Jan. had been erected. General Middleton, created earl of that name, was sent commissioner to the parliament, which was summoned. A very compliant spirit was there discovered in all orders of men. The commissioner had even sufficient influence to obtain an act, annulling, at once, all laws which had passed since the year 1633, on pretext of the violence which, during that time, had been employed against the king and his father, in order to procure their assent to these statutes. This was a very large, if not an unexampled concession; and, together with many dangerous limitations, over threw LXIII. CHA P. threw some useful barriers which had been erected to the constitution. But the tide was now running 1661. strongly towards monarchy; and the Scottish nation plainly discovered, that their past resistance had proceeded more from the turbulence of their aristocracy, and the bigotry of their ecclesiastics, than from any fixed passion towards civil liberty. The lords of articles were restored, with some other branches of prerogative; and royal authority, fortified with more plausible claims and pretences, was, in its full extent, re-established in that kingdom. THE prelacy likewise, by the abrogating of every statute enacted in favour of presbytery, was thereby tacitly restored; and the king deliberated what use he should make of this concession. Lauderdale, who at bottom was a passionate zealot against episcopacy, endeavoured to persuade him, that the Scots, if gratined in this favourite point of ecclesiastical government, would, in every other demand, be entirely compliant with the king. Charles, though he had no such attachment to prelacy as had influenced his father and grandfather, had suffered such indignities from the Scottish presbyterians, that he ever after bore them a hearty aversion. He said to Lauderdale, that presbyterianism, he thought, was not a religion for a gentleman; and he could not consent to its farther continuance in Scotland. Middleton too and his other ministers persuaded him, that the nation in general was so disgusted with the violence and tyranny of the ecclesiastics, that any alteration of church government would be universally grateful. And Clarendon, as well as Ormond, dreading that the presbyterian sect, if legally established in Scotland, would acquire authority in England and Ireland, seconded the application of these ministers. The resolution was therefore taken to restore prelacy; a measure afterwards attended with many and great inconveniencies: But whether LXIII. whether in this resolution Charles chose not the CHAP. lesser evil, it is very difficult to determine. Sharp, who had been commissioned by the presbyterians 1661. in Scotland to manage their interests with the king, was persuaded to abandon that party; and, as a reward for his compliance, was created archbishop of St. Andrews. The conduct of ecclesiastical affairs was chiefly entrusted to him; and as he was esteemed a traitor and a renegade by his old friends, he became on that account, as well as from the violence of his conduct, extremely obnoxious to them. CHARLES had not promised to Scotland any such indemnity as he had ensured to England by the declaration of Breda: And it was deemed more political for him to hold over men's heads, for some time, the terror of punishment, till they should have made the requisite compliances with the new government. Though neither the king's temper nor plan of administration led him to severity, some examples, after such a bloody and triumphant rebellion, seemed necessary; and the marquis of Argyle, and one Guthry, were pitched on as the victims. Two acts of indemnity, one passed by the late king in 1641, another by the present in 1651, formed, it was thought, invincible obstacles to the punishment of Argyle; and barred all inquiry into that part of his conduct which might justly be regarded as the most exceptionable. Nothing remained but to try him for his compliance with the usurpation ; a crime common to him with the whole nation, and such a one as the most loyal and affectionate subject might frequently by violence be obliged to commit. To make this compliance appear the more voluntary and hearty, there were produced in court, letters which he had written to Albemarle, while that general commanded in Scotland, and which contained expressions of the most cordial attachment to the established government. But besides the general indignation |