A History of the Scottish People from the earliest times to the ... year ... 1887

Introduction

GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS IN THE PERIOD PRECEDING THE INVASION OF THE ROMANS. BY CHARLES ANNANDALE, M.A., LL.D. EDITOR OF "THE IMPERIAL ENQLISH DICTIONARY", "THE MODERN CYCLOPEDIA", ETO. VOLUME III. FROM THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES I., 1625, TO THE PRESENT TIME. LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, Limited, 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN. 1S94. CONTENTS. VOL. III. LIST OF THE ENGRAVINGS. Page Signing the Covenant in Gratfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh: a.d. 1638, - - Frontis. 28 Sir William Balfour, Governor of the Tower of London, receives a Warrant from the King to behead Lord Loudon: a.d. 1640, - to face 44 Execution of James Guthrie, Minister of Stirling, in Edinburgh: a.d. 1661, - „ 130 A Covenanters' Communion among the Hills: a.d. 1670, - „ 158 Richard Cameron before the Charge op Covenanters at Aird's Moss: a.d. 1680, „ 182 Paterson explaining the Darien Scheme in his Lodgings at Edinburgh: a.d. 1694, „ 234 Scene in a Highland Chieftain's Hall in the Seventeenth Century, - - - „ 280 Prince Charles appeals to Cameron of Lochiel to join his cause : a.d. 1745, - „ 368 Sir John Cope's Scouts taken Prisoners by an Attorney's Clerk: a.d. 1745, - „ 376 Returned from Waterloo — The Black Watch (42nd Regiment) welcomed to Edinburgh: a.d. 1816, n 517 Taking of Tel-el-Kebir — The Highlanders storming a Redoubt: a.d. 1882,- - „ 560 Disruption of the Church of Scotland — Signing the Deed of Demission at the First General Assembly of the Free Church: a.d. 1843, „ 586 Modern Engineering — Building the Forth Bridge — The Hydraulic Riveter at Work: a.d. 1883-1889, - - „ 592 PERIOD X. From the Union of the Crowns to the Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England, a.d. 1603-1706 {Continued).

Chap. Page IV. Charles I.: 1625-1635.— First years of Charles's administration — Parliament demands reformation of abuses — Outcry against the Duke of Buckingham — Disastrous expeditions to Rochelle — The Petition of Right — Oliver Cromwell's first parliamentary appearance — Despotism of Laud — Disturbances in the Western Isles — Attempts of Charles and Laud to establish Episcopacy in Scotland — Charles visits Scotland — Meeting of Scottish parliament — The king's unjust proceedings to obtain a majority, - - 1 v. Charles I.: 1635-1638.— Liturgy commanded to be used — Indignation of the people, and riots in Edinburgh — The Tables — Demands of the Presbyterians — The king temporizes — A Covenant drawn up and signed— A General Assembly held at Glasgow — Episcopacy abolished, and Presbyterianism restored, 20 Chap. Page VI.

Charles I.: 1639-1641. — Preparations for war — March of Charles towards Scotland — Negotiations opened, and terms of peace accepted — Opening of the Scottish parliament — Charles resolves on a fresh war wath the Covenanters — The Scottish army enters England — Suspension of hostilities decreed — Intrigues of Montrose, - - - - - - 36 vii. Charles I.: 1641-1645. — The king's unconstitutional proceedings — Parliament prepares for the national defence — The king proclaims war against the parliament — The Solemn League and Covenant — A Scottish army raised — Battle of Edgehill — Unsuccessful negotiations — Battle of Marston Moor — Intrigues of Cromwell and the Independents — The Self-denying Ordinance — Execution of Archbishop Laud, - - - - 54 vin. Charles!.: 1644-1647. — Montrose upholds CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

VI Chap. PaSe Declaration — They are defeated at Aird's Moss— Hackston of RathiUet— Cargill excommunicates the king and chief persecutors, ------ 169 XV. Charles II.: 1681-1685. — Severity of Duke of York's administration — The Gibbites — Trial and execution of Cargill — The Test Act — Persecution of the Covenanters increased — The Ryehouse Plot — Carstairs tortured — Execution of Baillie of Jerviswood — Proceedings of the Cameronians — Death of Charles II., 183 xvi. James VII.: 1685-1688.— Affairs in Scotland — Persecutions continued — Argyle lands in Scotland — He is taken prisoner and executed — Failure of Monmouth's expedition — Merciless proceedings of Claverhouse — The king's determined attempts to restore Popery — Martyrdom of Renwick — Trial and acquittal of the bishops — William of Orange lands at Torbay— Flight of the king, - - - 200 XVII.

William and Mary: 1688-1690.— State of the Scottish government at the Revolution — The Protestant succession settled — Scotch Convention held at Edinburgh — Plots of Viscount Dundee — Battle of Killiekrankie — James lands in Ireland — Battle of the Boyne — Events in Scotland — The ejected ministers replaced, - 216 xvni. William III.: 1690-1702.— Pacification of the Highlands — History of the Darien Scheme — William Paterson its originator — Death of the exiled James — Death of William III, 230 XIX. Queen Anne: 1702-1706. — Proposals for a union — Divisions in parliament — Meeting of commissioners — Rumours of Scottish insurrections — The act for a Treaty of Union carried, 245 XX. Queen Anne: 1706-1707. — Meeting of the commissioners to settle the terms of union — Terms finally settled — They are approved by the queen — Opposed in Scottish parliament — Riotous proceedings in Edinburgh and Glasgow — Remarkable speech of Lord Belhaven — The Union finally ratified — Its articles, 258 XXI.

History of Society during the Seventeenth Century. — Early Scottish Emigration — Social state of the Highlands — Military characteristics of the century — Superstitions — Clerical dominion during the period, ------ 275 xxn. History of Society (continued). — Education — Public pageants — Scottish commerce — Manufactures — Postal communication and conveyance — Internal history — Food and drink — Sports and games — Eminent men of the century, - - 298 Chap. Page the royal cause in Scotland — War in England continues — The king's final defeat at Naseby — Montrose's victory at Kilsyth — Leslie defeats him at Philiphaugh — The king escapes to the Scottish army — He is finally consigned to the English, - 69 IX. Charles I.: 1647-1649.— March of the army towards London — Overthrow of Presbyterianism and triumph of the Independents — The king's double-dealing alienates the army — He escapes to the Isle of Wight — State of affairs in Scotland — Battle of Preston — Charles brought to trial and condemned — His execution — Character of his reign, - 88 X. The Commonwealth: 1649-1651. — The Scots proclaim the Prince of Wales as Charles II. — Montrose lands in Scotland — He is taken prisoner and executed — Charles arrives in Scotland — The Commonwealth proclaims war against Scotland — Cromwell's victories at Dunbar and Worcester — Escape of Charles — Subjugation of Scotland completed by Monk — Ineffectual resistance of the Marquis of Argyle, - 103 XI.

The Commonwealth and Protectorate — Charles II.: 1651-1662.— Attempts to coerce the Church of Scotland — Resolutioners and Protesters — Death of Cromwell — Intrigues of Monk in the royal cause — The Restoration — The Rescissory Act — Arrest of the Marquis of Argyle — He is tried and executed — James Guthrie suffers death for the Covenant, - - 118 XII. Charles II.: 1662-1667.— Episcopacy re-established — Four hundred ministers resign their livings — Church attendance compelled by penalties — Rise of conventicles — Oppressive rule of Lauderdale — Persecution of the Covenanters — The Court of High Commission restored — Insurrection begins — The insurgents defeated at Rullion Green — Torture introduced — Triumphant death of Hugh M'Kail, 132 XIII. Charles II.: 1667-1678.— Cruel persecution of the Presbyterians — The First Indulgence — Plan of a modified Episcopacy — The Second Indulgence — Letters of intercommuning inflicted— Lawless proceedings of the Highland Host, - 149 XIV.

CharlesIL: 1679-1681.— Severities against conventicles increased — Murder of Archbishop Sharp— Defeat of Claverhouse at Drumclog— Battle of Bothwell Bridge- Cruelties of Claverhouse — Lauderdale succeeded by the Duke of York — Origin of the Cameronians — Their Sanquhar CONTENTS OF VOL. III. VII PEEIOD XL From the Union of Scotland and England to the End of the Eighteenth Century. Chap. Page I. Queen Anne: 1707-1714.— Settlement of the Union announced in the English parliament — Arguments against it — The treaty ratified by both houses — First-fruits of the Union unfavourable to the Scots — Its unpopularity — Joy of the Jacobites — Negotiations renewed with the Pretender — He embarks for Scotland, but is prevented from landing — Irritating treatment of Scotch affairs by the English parliament — The rights of the church invaded — Patronage established — Attempt to impose the malt-tax — Agitation for a dissolution of the Union — Death of Queen Anne, - - - 327 n. George I.: 1714-1727. — Peaceful succession of George — Alarm of the Jacobites — Preparations for an insurrection — The rebellion of 1714 — Jacobite noblemen arrested — The rebels advance into England — Their retreat — Battle of Sheriffmuir — Arrival of the Pretender — He and the principal leaders desert the rebel army — Proposals for septennial parliaments — The Pretender's cause adopted by Spain — Death of George I., - - 340 III.

George II. : 1727-1745. — Improvements in the Highlands — The Porteous Riot — The Jacobites renew their intrigues — The young Pretender lands in the Highlands — The rebellion of 1745 — Edinburgh captured by the Highlanders — Description of Prince Charles, - 358 iv. George II.: 1745-1746. — Proceedings of Sir John Cope — Battle of Prestonpans — Death of Colonel Gardiner — Prince Charles in Holyrood — The rebels march into England — Their retreat commenced — Encounter at Clifton — Stirling Castle besieged— Battle of Falkirk— The Duke of Cumberland takes the command, - 375 V. George II. : 1746-1747. — Therebels retreat to Inverness — Battle of Culloden — Total defeat of the rebel army — Merciless proceedings of Duke of Cumberland — Adventures of Charles after his defeat — He escapes to France — His subsequent history — Trial and execution of rebel leaders — Fate of Lord Lo vat — Flora Macdonald imprisoned — The Highlanders disarmed, 393 Chap. Page vi.

George II.: 1748-1760. — Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales — Introduction of the New Style — Management of the forfeited Highland estates — Famous trial of James Stewart of Aucharn — Hostilities in North America — The Seven Years' War — Capture of Quebec — Gallant conduct of the Highland soldiers — Demand for a militia force for Scotland — Death of George II., - - - - - 412 VII. George III.: 1760-1800.— Position of the Earl of Bute — The Stamp Act — Unsatisfactory state of Scotch currency — The war with the American colonists — Surrender of Cornwallis — Raids of Paul Jones — Plan for a Scottish militia — General Eliott's defence of Gibraltar — Henry Dundas and his management of Scottish affairs — Outbreak of the French Revolution — Seditious movement in Scotland — Trial of Muir, Palmer, and others — War with France — Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt — Union of Great Britain and Ireland, ------ 420 Vin.

History of Religion in the Eighteenth Century. — The Church of Scotland after the Union — Patronage restored — The Marrow Controversy — Secession of Ebenezer Erskine and his coadjutors — Revivals — The Relief Presby teryf ounded — National poor-rate established — Compulsory settlements in the church — The Moderate leadership of Principal Robertson and Dr. Hill — Awakening of a missionary spirit — Demand for chapels of ease — The Haldanes, - - - - - 438 ix. History of Society in the Eighteenth Century. — Scottish commerce at the Union — Commencement of a new mercantile spirit — Commercial progress of Glasgow — Improvements in agriculture — Condition of the people — State of Edinburgh — Rise of the New Town — Social life in the city during this period, - - - 461 X. History of Society (continued). — Social life in Edinburgh — and in Glasgow — The "tobacco lords " — Rural life of the period — Popular literature — Beggars in Scotland — Writers of the century — Men of science— Artists, ----- 480 PERIOD XII.

The Nineteenth Century. I. George III.: 1801-1820.— The French expelled from Egypt — Peace of Amiens — War renewed — Victory of Trafalgar — Trial of Lord Melville — Napoleon's Berlin and Milan Decrees — The war in the Peninsula — Battle of Waterloo — Death of George III., 506 n. George IV. and William IV.: 1820-1837. CONTENTS OF VOL. III. Chap. rBSe tension of the franchise — Secretary for Scotland appointed — Mr. Gladstone's Irish policy — The crofter question — Jubilee of the queen, - - - - 551 v. History of Religion in the Nineteenth Century. — State of the Scottish church — The question of pluralities — The Apocrypha and Voluntary controversies — Agitation against patronage — The Veto Law— The "Ten Years' Conflict"— General Assembly of 1843 — The moderator reads the Protest, and the dissentients leave the Assembly — The Free Church formed — The Established Church since the Disruption — The United Presbyterian Church, ----- 565 vi.

Scotland's Progress and Position in the Nineteenth Century — Increase of population — Institutions and public works — Beginnings of steam navigation — Railways and tramways — Forth and Tay Bridges — Agricultural improvements — Fisheries — Manufactures — Coal and iron industries — Shipbuilding — Miscellaneous industries — Exports and imports — Literature—Divines — Men of science — Travellers — Artists — Education,- - - 586 Chap. Page — The Cato Street Conspiracy — The Radical movement in Scotland — Trial of Queen Caroline — Visit of George IV. to Scotland — Demand for reform — Emancipation Act — Death of George and accession of William — The Reform Bill passed — Ravages of cholera — Burgh reform — Abolition of slavery — Death of William IV, - - 519 in. Victoria: 1837-1860. — Accession of the young queen — Her marriage to Prince Albert — The queen's first visit to Scotland — The Chartist movement — Repeal of the corn-laws — Failure of the potato crop — International Exhibition of 1851 — The Crimean War — The Indian Mutiny — Severe financial crisis — Establishment of the Volunteer force, - - - . 529 iv.

Victoria: 1861-1887.— Death of the queen's mother and of the Prince Consort — Marriage of the Prince of Wales — A Reform Bill passed — Elementary Education Acts — Board schools established — Failure of the City of Glasgow Bank — Mr. Gladstone's political campaign in Scotland — War in Afghanistan — Affairs in Egypt and the Soudan — General Gordon — Ex- Index, THE COMPREHENSIVE HISTOEY OF SCOTLAND. PERIOD X. FROM THE UNION OF THE CROWNS TO THE UNION OF THE KINGDOMS OF SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND (a.d. 1603 to a.d. 1706)— Continued.

CHAPTER IV. REIGN OF CHARLES

I. (1625-1635).

Accession of Charles I. — First years of his administration in England — Favourable indications at the commencement of his reign — His marriage to Henrietta Maria — First parliament of Charles— Its limited grants and demands for the reformation of abuses — Fraudulent expedition against the French Protestants — It excites the popular feeling against the king— His ineffectual attempts to obtain supplies — Charles sends a secret expedition against the Spaniards — Its signal defeat — Charles again calls a parliament — Its outcry against abuses and the Duke of Buckingham— Discourteous dissolution of the parliament by Charles — His illegal modes of raising money — Opposition of the people — Unsuccessful attempts of Charles to conciliate them — He proclaims war against France in aid of the Huguenots — New expedition to Rochelle — Its disastrous failure — Charles again compelled to call a parliament — His incautious threats to procure its compliance — His wavering proceedings in consequence of its firmness — Demands of the parliament embodied in their Petition of Right — The king's equivocal assent to it — His unsatisfactory prorogation of parliament — A new expedition designed for the relief of Rochelle — Duke of Buckingham appointed to command it — He is assassinated — Parliament again meets— Charles urges it to grant tonnage and poundage — His impatience for its decision — Parliament's condemnation of Laud, Arminianism, and absolute rule — Oliver Cromwell's first parliamentary appearance — Articles which they propose for reformation— The speaker refuses to read them — They confine him to the chair and pass them — Indignation of Charles at their proceedings — His speech on the subject in the House of Lords— He dissolves the parliament — Trial and punishment of the leaders of the opposition — Apostates from the popular cause to the king's party- Oppressive measures of Charles to raise money — Proceedings in the church — Despotism of Laud — Punishments inflicted on Leighton and Prynne — Severe proceedings against the Puritans — Affairs of Scotland — Disturbances in the Western Isles — Attempts of Charles to establish the Episcopacy of Laud in Scotland — He rejects a petition of the Presbyterians — His attempts to recover the church lands and revenues — Resistance of the Scottish nobles to the attempt — They make common cause with the Presbyterians — Scottish adventurers in the Swedish service — Charles commissions the Marquis of Hamilton to join the Swedish king — Efficiency of this Scottish reinforcement — Charles visits Scotland — His welcome and coronation — Meeting of parliament — Unfair election of the Lords of the Articles — Unjust proceedings of Charles to obtain a majority — His rejection of a petition of ministers — A petition of the barons also rejected — Offensive proceedings of the king — Arrogant conduct of Laud — Charles departs to England- Iniquitous trial of Lord Balmerino — Indignation of the people at his trial and condemnation— The

sentence remitted — The prelates raised to political offices — Their power and arrogance — Growing dislike in Scotland to Episcopacy.

At his accession to the throne of the three kingdoms Charles was twenty-five years old, and to his youth he added a comeliness of presence and dignity of manners which his father had never possessed. But, unfortunately for him, he adopted with implicit faith his father's theory of absolute rule, and was prepared to carry it out with au obstinacy of which his father had been incapable. On the other hand his sub jects, provoked by the high pretensions of James, had awoke to a jealous sense of their rights, and were more disposed to question a VOL. III. [a.d. 1625-1635. 2 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. was also needed to prosecute the Spanish war, which was languishing from want of the supplies. But the parliament was in no mood either to receive his statements or comply with his demands. Accordingly they only voted twTo subsidies, or about £140,000, and the duties of tonnage and poundage for a single year instead of granting the last for life, as had been the practice in the previous reigns.

But in return they demanded concessions and reforms, the chief of which concerned religion and the suppression of Popery in his own household. In consequence of the secret marriage treaty subscribed by his father and himself, pledging to Henrietta Maria the free and open exercise of her religion, that princess had brought over in her train twenty-nine priests, fifteen seculars, and a bishop, and mass was celebrated on Sundays and saints' days in her closet at Whitehall. Indignant at such practices in the very palace of their Protestant sovereign, the Commons demanded that they should be suppressed; but this Charles, on account of the treaty, felt that he could not do, and dared not state the cause of his refusal. Another grievance the redress of which the Commons took into their own hands was in the case of Dr. Montague, one of his majesty's chaplains.

This learned divine had maintained both in sermons and writings those Arminian doctrines for which Laud afterwards suffered ; and he had endeavoured to prove that the English reformed church more closely agreed with Rome in many of its doctrines than with Calvin and the church of Geneva. This roused the indignation of the clergy, of whom by far the greater part were strict Calvinists; and Montague was represented as a Papist in disguise, who, under shelter of his office and the protection of the court, was endeavouring to lead the church back to its old allegiance. His case was brought before the House of Commons, by whom the doctor was summoned to their bar ; and when Charles represented that Montague, as his chaplain, was responsible to him alone, they replied that they were competent to try a royal chap lain or any other servant of the court.

They made the doctor give bail to the amount of £2000 for his reappearance, while the king, regarding him as a martyr for the truth, after wards promoted him to a bishopric. In the midst of the mutual discontent occasioned by these proceedings, and while the king was appealing for more liberal supplies of money, the plague became so alarming in London that the parliament was adjourned till the 1st of August, and to meet at Oxford instead of its usual place of Westminster.1 royal order than to yield it implicit obedience. All was already preparing for that struggle between kingly absolutism on the part of the sovereign and constitutional liberty on that of the people, which was sooner or later inevitable, and the result of which, considering the character of Charles I., could scarcely be doubtful.

Even at his accession there were omens of a reign of sorrow and disaster. On the day he was proclaimed in London the weather was wet and lowering; and a few days after such a plague broke out as greatly exceeded that which had accompanied the accession of his father to the English throne. The beginning of his reign, however, was full of promise. He dismissed the buffoons and fools who had been so familiar with the late king, discountenanced the coarse revelries of the court, and introduced by his example a more decorous behaviour among the courtiers, which, since the death of Elizabeth, had fallen very much out of fashion. He also evinced great zeal for religion, was devout in attendance at church and the performance of his religious duties, and was supposed to have as little toleration for Popery as for Puritanism.

These auspicious tokens gladdened the hearts of the people, who could not imagine that a reign thus commenced would be still worse than that of his father, leading only to anarchy and civil war and closing with his trial and execu tion. The first public event by which the new reign was signalized was the fulfilment of the marriage treaty with the French princess; and on the 1st of May (1625) Charles married Henrietta Maria by proxy at Paris, while the Duke of Bucking ham was sent to bring the bride to England. But no sooner had this vain man arrived in Paris, which he did with a train that astonished even the Parisians by its magnificence, than he disgusted the French court by declaring love to its queen, the beautiful Anne of Austria, so that Cardinal Richelieu was glad to hasten his de parture with the princess, which was effected in eight days.

They travelled, however, so slowly, that although they commenced their journey on the 23d of May, they did not reach Dover till the following month, where Charles received his royal bride with every demonstration of regard. It was now necessary to call a parliament, and it was assembled on the 10th of June, the day after the arrival of Charles and his queen at Whitehall. In his speech to the assembled houses the young king, instead of giving a long, learned, and pedantic discourse, as his father would have done, went directly to the point by telling them that he wanted money. His father had left debts to the amount of £700,000, and he had contracted debts of his own, while money 1 Rushworth; Parliamentary History. a.d. 1625-1635.] CHARLES I. 3 An event now occurred which justified the parsimony of the House of Commons in grant ing subsidies for the war.

The persecuted Protestants of France still held possession of Rochelle and the island of Rhe ; and as Riche lieu wished to deprive them of this their last defence, but was deficient in shipping, he ap plied for the aid of the English navy in virtue of the late matrimonial alliance. Charles and his minister Buckingham complied ; but know ing how the nation would regard a war against French Protestants, they pretended that the expedition was intended against Genoa, which was in alliance with Austria, and that it was to be attacked simultaneously by the French and English navies. Under this assurance the preparations were conducted, and as Bucking ham, in his capacity of lord high-admiral, had allowed the service to fall into utter decay, seven of the largest merchant ships had to be pressed into the service, and hastily manned and armed, with the Vanguard, the only ship of war in readiness, to bear them company.

This extemporized fleet crossed the Channel; but when off Dieppe they were informed by the French high-admiral that they were to take French soldiers and sailors on board, and then proceed to an attack on Rochelle. Indignant at the fraud, both captains and sailors not only refused to serve against their French co-relig ionists, but compelled their admiral, Pennington, to sail back to the Downs. The same trick, how ever, was repeated ; and under pretext of pro ceeding against the Genoese they were again led back to Dieppe, but when there Pennington read to them a letter from his royal master com manding him to put the Vanguard into the hands of the French and compel the commanders of the other seven ships to do the same or sink them in the case of disobedience. Again they refused, but were compelled by tbe shotted guns of the Vanguard to stay, with the exception of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, who carried off his ship, the Neptune.

The vessels were reinforced with French soldiers and taken to Rochelle; but there the English, instead of fighting against the Huguenots, either deserted to them or went home, and told how basely they had been tre panned into the service of Popery and France.1 On the 1st of August the parliament met in Oxford, and the king's demand for more money to carry on the war was met by a demand of the Commons for fresh reforms of abuses. The remissness in executing the penal statutes against Papists, the multiplication of new and useless offices, and the prevalent practice of exposing them to sale, were each made the subject of bold and eloquent declamation, with Bucking ham as the head and front of these offences. After nine days had thus been spent without answering the king's demand, the proceedings of the Commons were quickened by a message from his majesty reminding them that he needed more money, that his necessities required des patch, and that the prevalence of the plague, which made their continued sitting dangerous, would compel him to take more care of their health than they were themselves disposed to take, and shift as he best might without them.

This hint of a dissolution produced an answer, in which, without refusing fresh supplies, they respectfully but firmly avowed their determina tion to search into the abuses and grievances of the state and proceed to reform them. But before this declaration could be presented the parliament was dissolved on the 12thof August. As money was not to be obtained from the Commons but at a price which he was unwilling to pay, Charles now resolved to enrich himself by the plunder that might be obtained from the war with Spain, which under his father had been nothing more than a war of threats and proclamations. He therefore issued writs to the no bility, gentry, and clergy soliciting loans of money, with threats of his displeasure for non compliance ; and by these methods, and re trenching the expenditure of the court, he was enabled to fit out a fleet of eighty ships, that carried an army of 10,000 soldiers.

This arma ment was reinforced by the states of Holland with sixteen sail, and altogether composed the largest force which England had yet mustered upon the sea. Men marvelled at the rapidity with which it had been collected, and wondered upon what country the blow was to fall. But Buckingham, with whom the scheme originated, had also contrived to mar it at the outset by appointing to the command of both fleet and army Lord Wimbledon, a creature of his own, one who was not only a mere landsman, but had already proved himself an inefficient general. His instructions contained a roving commission, which Queen Elizabeth's admirals would have easily understood : it was to scour the Spanish coast, destroy the shipping in the harbour, and intercept the Plate ships from America — to ob tain all the plunder and work all the damage that he could, according to his own discretion.

But when fairly out at sea Wimbledon knew not what to do or where to begin ; and after a series of attempts, in all of which he was shamefully repulsed, he disembarked his troops at the Isla de Leon, and advanced towards Cadiz, which he hoped to take and plunder. But on their march his soldiers scattered themselves among the wine-cellars, where they became so iRymer; Rushworth; Cabala. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. [a.d. 1625-1635. the king thinks fit to honour. I wish," he added in conclusion, "you would hasten my supply, or else it will be worse for yourselves; for if any ill happen I shall be the last shall feel it." Disregarding this imperious command, and asserting their right to complain of all per sons whatsoever who were dangerous to the commonwealth as its public servants, the Com mons proceeded in their inquiry against Buck ingham.