Reign of Charles II. (Continued) page 13

On the other hand, Shaftesbury, who had been made president of the council by Charles himself, undiverted by this from his great object, pursued his popery alarms out of doors, where the king could not checkmate him. A fire broke out in a printing-house in Fetter Lane, and the servant girl was induced to confess that one Stubbs had promised her five pounds to do it, who again said Gifford, his confessor, had set him on, saying it was no sin; and he added that London was to be set on fire again by French papists. The absurd story soon grew into a rumour that the duke of York was cöming with a French army to claim the throne and re-establish pöpery with all its horrors. Shaftesbury declared in the lords that popery must be rooted out if there were to be any liberty left. That popery and slavery, like two sisters, went ever hand in hand. That one might now go first, now the other; but wherever one was seen, the other was certainly not far off. The commons eagerly seizing on the temper of the nation, voted unanimously a bill of exclusion against the duke of York, and that a Protestant successor should be appointed, as though the duke were actually dead. Sir William Temple attempted to weaken this movement by attributing it to Monmouth and Shaftesbury, betwixt whom, it was asserted, there was a secret understanding that if Monmouth's scheme of proving his legitimacy succeeded, Shaftesbury should be his prime minister; and, probably, by the advice of Temple, Charles proposed a plan for a compromise. That in case a popish prince succeeded, every power of altering the law should be taken out of his hands. That no judges, justices, lord-lieutenants, privy councillors, or officers of the navy should be appointed without consent of parliament, and that no livings or dignities in the church should be at the option of the king, but of a board of the most pious and protestant divines. Shaftesbury, however, ridiculed all these precautions, as attempting to bind Samson with green withes, which he could snap with the greatest ease. The commons were fully of that mind, and on the 21st of May passed their exclusion bill, by a majority of two hundred and seven against one hundred and twenty. The commons followed up this act by proceeding in a body to the house of lords, and demanding judgment against Danby. They also demanded that the prelates should not vote on Danby's case, fearing that their numbers might give the crown a majority; but to this the lords were opposed, and though the bishops offered to concede the point, the king forbade them, as the matter involved his prerogative. The commons persisting in their demand, now instituted a strict inquiry into the cases of bribery by the late minister of members of parliament, arid ordered one of his agents, Fox, the treasurer of the navy, to proceed to Whitehall in company of three members, and bring his books and papers for examination. The king resented the searching of his house as a gross insult, and the books and papers were refused; but Fox was compelled to state how many members he had paid money to, and he named twenty-seven individuals. This was on the 24th of May, and Charles, to cut the inquiry short, suddenly sent for the commons, and prorogued parliament for ten weeks. Shaftesbury was so enraged at this unexpected obstruction to his plans, that he vowed in the house of lords that it should cost the king's advisers of this measure their heads.

This prorogation was, on other accounts, one of the most remarkable eras in our parliamentary annals, for before pronouncing the parliament prorogued, the king gave his consent to the habeas corpus act, and allowed the act establishing the censorship of the press to expire. The carrying of the habeas corpus act was owing mainly to the influence of Shaftesbury, and was a benefit of that magnitude, that it might cover a multitude of the sins of that extraordinary man, who, with all his faults, had a genuine substratum of patriotism in him. The press had hitherto never been free. Elizabeth cut off the hands of puritans who offended her, and her successors dragged them into their Star-chamber. Even the Long Parliament, when they abolished the Star- chamber, declined to liberate the press, notwithstanding Milton's eloquent appeal for the liberty of unlicensed printing. The press was at length free, but only for a time, being too dangerous an engine to the corrupt government which so long succeeded.

Whilst the blood of„ unfortunate victims to imaginary plots was flowing in England, in Scotland the same ruthless persecution had continued against the covenanters. Lauderdale had married the countess of Dysart, a most extravagant and rapacious woman, who acquired complete influence over him; and to find resources for her expense, he levied fines on the nonconformists with such rigour and avidity, that it was believed that he really sought to drive the people to rebellion, in order to have a plea for plundering them. "The parliament," says Laing, "was prolonged above four years, that he might enjoy the emoluments and rank of commissioner, and his revenues during his abode in Scotland exceeded those of its ancient kings. His salary was sixteen thousand pounds sterling, the donations which he received twenty-six thousand pounds; but the annual revenues of the crown, the surplus revenue accumulated by Murray, and an assessment of seventy-two thousand pounds, were insufficient to support his profusion, and disappeared in his hands. But the most lucrative and oppressive sources of extortion were the penalties and compositions for attending conventicles, of which it is impossible to estimate the amount. On one occasion two gentlemen compounded for fifteen hundred pounds; on ten gentlemen thirty thousand pounds were imposed; nor were these the most considerable in the shire of Renfrew. Injustice was aggravated by the insolence of Lauderdale, whose unfeeling jests insulted such as compounded for their fines. The penalties of nonconformity were farmed out or assigned to his dependents. Nineteen hundred pounds sterling were exacted by Athol, the justice- general, for his own behalf, in a single week; and the estates of those who withdrew from Lauderdale's rage and insolence, were plundered and wasted by gifts of escheat."

Such was the woful condition of Scotland, delivered over by the lewd and reckless king to a man who combined the demon characters of cruelty, insult, and avarice, in no ordinary degree. Complaints from the most distinguished and most loyal inhabitants were only answered by requiring them all to enter into bonds that neither they, their families, nor tenants should withdraw from the established church, under the same penalties as actual delinquents. The gentry refused to enter into such bonds. Lauderdale, therefore, determined to treat the whole west of Scotland as in an actual state of revolt, and not only sent troops with artillery to march into the devoted districts, but let loose upon them troops of wild Highlanders, and commanded even the nobility, as well as others, to give up all their arms. The outraged population - left exposed to the spoliation of the Highlanders, who, though they spared the lives, freely robbed the inhabitants - sent a deputation of some of their most eminent men to lay their sufferings before the king himself. They were, however, dismissed with a reprimand, Charles replying, "I perceive that Lauderdale has been guilty of many bad things against the people of Scotland, but I cannot find that he has acted in anything contrary to my interest." "A sentiment," says Hume, "unworthy of a sovereign." To Charles, so long as he was left in quietness; with his women, it mattered nothing how grievously his subjects were peeled and punished.

However, in 1678, the Highlanders were ordered to return to their hills, and they are represented as if returning from the sack of a city. They carried with them plate, merchants' goods, webs of linen, quantities of wearing apparel and household furniture, and a number of horses to carry their plunder.

We related the attempt - in 1668 - of Mitchell to shoot the archbishop of St. Andrews in his carriage. Six years having elapsed without his discovery, Mitchell had become so bold, as not only to return from his wanderings through Holland and England, but actually rented a small shop under Sharp's lodgings in Edinburgh. Probably he was intending to repair his former failure on the archbishop's life. Sharp observed, this man watching him closely, and, observing him more nearly, thought he recognised him. He was seized and examined before the privy council. He stoutly denied the charge brought against him, but on a solemn promise of his life, he confessed that he wounded Honeyman, the bishop of Orkney, on that occasion, a wound. from which the bishop never fully recovered, though he lingered some years. But the council, repeating its promise of life to Mitchell, endeavoured to draw from him a confession of being concerned in the battle of the Pentlands, and not succeeding, they brought out the terrible iron boot, which is stated, in letters still in the possession of the historian, Lingard, not only to have been capable of crushing the leg bone, but of forcing the marrow out at the sole of the foot. The executioner asked him which leg he should try, and Mitchell, extending the right one, said, undauntedly," Take the best; I willingly bestow it in this cause." Eight blows of the mallet and wedge were given, and borne with incredible fortitude; after the eighth the prisoner fainted. He was then sent to the prison of the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth, till January, 1678, when he was again brought before the council. There some of the privy councillors swore that no promise of his life had ever been given him, and Lauderdale would not allow the records of the council to be referred to, where the promise was, and remains to this day. He was, therefore, condemned and hanged in the Grass-market.

Mitchell was ere long terribly avenged by a band of covenanting enthusiasts in Fife. There the cruelties of the archbishop were pre-eminently intolerable. There David* Hackston of Rathillet, his brother-in-law, John Balfour of Kinloch, or Balfour of Burley, as he is immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in "Old Mortality," James Russell of Kettle, and six others determined to take vengeance on a notorious creature of Sharp's, one Carmichael, who had pursued his levy of fines with such brutality, as to have beaten and burnt with lighted matches women and children, to compel them to betray their masters, husbands, brothers or fathers. On the 3rd of the present year Carmichael had been out hunting, but hearing of Rathillet and his band being on the watch for him, he left the field and got home. The conspirators were returning disappointed, when a greater prey fell into their hands. The wife of a farmer at Baldinny sent a lad to tell them that the archbishop's coach was on the road, going from Ceres towards St. Andrews. The delighted men gave chase. They desired Rathillet to take the lead, but he declined, saying he had a private quarrel with the primate, and his act might be attributed to revenge, but that he would accompany them, and do nothing to prevent their just punishment of the apostate. Balfour then said, "Follow me," and they galloped after the carriage at full speed. When Sharp perceived their approach, he exclaimed to his daughter Isabella, who alone was with him, "The Lord have mercy on me, my dear child, for I am gone!" The desperadoes came on, firing at the carriage, and shouting, u Judas, be taken!" The coachman in vain lashed on his horses. The ruffians overtook them, discharged their pistols into the carriage, wounded the postillion, and cut the traces. Sharp was only slightly wounded, and Russell said, "Judas, come forth!"

The archbishop endeavoured to propitiate them, declaring that he had wronged no man; offered them money, and promised them a pardon. They replied that they bore him no private malice, but that God had imposed a sacred duty upon them, and he must make ready for death, judgment, and eternity. He and his daughter kneeled on the grass imploring mercy. Sharp turned to Hackston of Rathillet, who stood muffling his face with his cloak, but was detected by the primate, who said, "I know you are a gentlemen; you will protect me." "I will never lay a hand upon you," replied Hackston, and turned away. Guillon, one of the number, felt compassion for the old man, and said, "Spare those gray hairs;" but when Sharp put out his hand towards another of the band, he nearly severed it from the wrist with a blow of his sword. Balfour then cut him down by a blow on the head; but Russell, chancing to hear the' afflicted daughter incautiously express a hope that life was not quite extinct, he left plundering the carriage, and cut his head in pieces with his sword. The daughter was wounded in One or two places in endeavouring to defend her father; and the assassins, after taking possession of such arms and papers as they could find', bade the servants convey their dead master and his daughter home, and quietly rode away. The murderers only crossed to the other side of Magus Muir, where the bloody deed had been perpetrated, where at a cottage they spent the remainder of the day in prayer and praising God for the accomplishment of what they deemed this noble work. They then rode their way into the west of Scotland, where they joined Donald Cargill, one of the most noted of the Cameronian preachers, with Spreul, and Robert Hamilton, a young man of good family, and a former pupil of bishop Burnet's, who had been excited by the persecutions of the people to come out and attempt their relief.

The murder of the archbishop only roused the government to more determined rigour, and the persecuted people, grown desperate, threw off all remaining show of obedience in great numbers, and resolved to resist to the death. The more moderate presbyterians lamented and condemned the murder of the primate, but the more enthusiastic looked upon it as a great judgment of God. They resolved to face the soldiery, and they had soon an opportunity, for Graham of Claverhouse, a man who acquired a terrible fame in these persecutions, being stationed at Glasgow, drew out a troop of dragoons and other cavalry, and went in pursuit of them. He encountered them at a place near Loudon Hill, in a boggy ground called Drumclog, where the covenanters, under Hamilton, Balfour, and Cleland, defeated his forces, and put them to flight, killing about thirty of them, including a relative of Claverhouse's. The insurgents under Hamilton, elated with their victory, marched after Claverhouse into Glasgow itself, but were repulsed. They went on, however, increasing so fast, that Claverhouse evacuated Glasgow, and marched eastward, leaving all the west of Scotland in their hands, now amounting to five or six thousand.