William Carstares: a character and career of the revolutionary epoch. 1649-1715

Front matter

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Preface

By way of preface to this book, I have only to mention my sources of information, and to acknowledge my obligations to the gentlemen from whom I have received help.

Carstares's sister Sarah married her cousin William Dunlop, who was my great-great-great-grandfather, on the mother's side. By Sarah, who possessed a mass of her brother's letters and papers, a large collection of these was bequeathed to her son Alexander, and is now the property of my cousin Alexander Graham Dunlop, of Gairbraid. He did me the favour of selecting from this collection all the MSS. in Carstares's handwriting or directly connected with his affairs, and entrusting them to me. They form the basis of this biography.

Another set of papers, consisting almost wholly of letters addressed to Carstares, is in the possession of my aunt Mrs. Murray Dunlop, of Corsock ; and to this also, through her kindness, I have had full access.

I found several letters of Carstares' among the MSS. of the University Library in Glasgow, and a few embedded in the unwieldy mass of the Wodrow MSS., in the Advocates' Library.

Next in importance to these, and of the same value as original sources, are the * State Papers ' edited by McCormick, to which a sketch of Carstares's life, of no great historical worth, is prefixed. These State Papers consist, with but one or two exceptions, of letters addressed to Carstares by the leading public men of his time.

vin PREFACE.

Besides these primary authorities, I have found much that illustrates Carstares's character and career, in the * Correspondence ' and ' Analecta ' of Wodrow ; in the ' Coltness Collections ' ; the ' Caldwell Papers ' ; the ' Marchmont Papers ' ; the ' Lockhart Papers ' ; the ' Leven and Melville Papers ' ; ' Fountainhall's Historical Notices,' and some of the minor publications of those clubs which have thrown the light of their valuable memoirs upon Scottish history. For the narrative of the general events, political and ecclesiastical, in which Carstares was concerned, I have had recourse, mainly, to the ' History of the Sufferings,' by Wodrow ; the ' History of his own Time,' by Burnet ; the admirable 'Memoirs' and Appendices, of Dalrymple ; and to the recent histories of Mr. Hill Burton, Dr. Cunningham, and Mr. Grub. The work of these three gentlemen has appeared to me so accurate and trustworthy that, at several points, I have thought it best to append to a statement in the text nothing more than a reference to one, or another, or all, of them, when recourse to their original authorities would be troublesome or impossible to the general reader.

I have derived great help from the collection of pamphlets in the Advocates' Library (which, I may be permitted to remark, would be rendered much more available to the student by a good catalogue).

In recording my thanks to the gentlemen who have been so good as to aid me in my work, I wish to name along with them the Very Keverend the Dean of Westminster, who — when it was scarce begun, and when I was inclined to doubt whether I should be able to accomplish it — encouraged me with more than one very kind expression of his interest in its success. To David Laing, Esq., the patriarch of Scottish historical research, I, in common with every one, whether beginner or veteran, who ventures into the field which is peculiarly his own, owe the heartiest thanks for advice and information which no one else could have supplied ; to say

PREFACE. ix nothing, in my case, of the loan of books and pamphlets from his own library, and from that of which he is — and long may he be — the curator.

I am also much indebted to Mr. Jamieson, the curator of the Advocates' Library ; and to the Rev. Professor Dickson and Professor Edward Caird, of the University of Glasgow, to whom I owe the privilege of unrestricted access to its rich and admirably arranged collection.

Mr. Marwick, formerly town-clerk of Edinburgh, and now of Glasgow, was most courteous in letting me examine the city records, and in allowing the experts in his office to decipher and transcribe for me some peculiarly puzzling letters among the Graham Dunlop MSS.

The Rev. William Feme, the biographer of John Carstares, and who is now settled in the State of New York, is a descendant of Mrs. Drew, one of Carstares's sisters. A box full of MSS. was lost in crossing the Atlantic ; but he still has several letters and papers which belonged to Carstares, from which he has communicated to me some important extracts. For these, as for several of his own interesting letters, I beg to offer him my sincere thanks.

To those of my own kindred, who placed at my disposal the documents without which I should not have attempted to write this book at all, I need not say my very hearty acknowledgments are due, and will, I know, be accepted without further asseveration.

R. H. S.

Rosneath, February 1874.

Table Of Contents

CHAP. PACK

I. Lineage — John Carstares — Cromwell — Kesolntioners and Protesters — The Restoration — Prelacy and Persecution — William Carstares at School and College 1

] I. Intercourse with Holland — Utrecht — Introduction to the Prince of Orange — Political Intrigues — " Grievances of Scotland " — Imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle 24

Chapter II

Intercourse with Holland — Utrecht — Introduction to the Prince of Orange — Political Intrigues — "Grievances of Scotland" — Imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle.

Holland, which had been the asylum of the Royalists during the Commonwealth, now afforded impartial shelter to the numerous Scottish Presbyterians and English Nonconformists who sought, on the Continent, the freedom which they could not find in Britain. Many Scots had chosen a refuge in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Ley den, and Utrecht. In all of these cities they found personal liberty under a constitutional government, and the pure worship of the Reformed Church ; and in the latter two, a genial and learned society of clergy and men of letters, to which all scholars were frankly admitted. The Latin tongue was still the medium of communication among Scottish, as among Continental, scholars ; and Scots and Dutch were able to meet, and to converse familiarly in the language common to the brotherhood of letters. There was, and had been for many years, frequent literary intercourse between Holland and Scotland. Dr. Strang's (Principal of Glasgow College) work, ( De Yoluntate et Actionibus Dei circa Peccatum,5 came out at Amsterdam in the year 1657; and his other book, 'De Interpretatione et Perfectione Scripturse,' was given to the world at Rotterdam in 1663. James Koelman, a learned Dutch divine, translated into his own language Rutherford's ' Letters ' and Guthrie's * Great Concern ;' and Borstius, a minister of the Dutch Church in Rotterdam, performed the same office for 'Naphtali' in the year 1668.* Baillie's folio on Scriptural and Clas- * Steven's ' History of the Scottish Church, Kottcrdam,' p. 73.

II.] HOLLAND AND UTRECHT. 25

sical Chronology (' Operis Historici et Chronologici libri duo ') had been published at Amsterdam. Calderwood's History was printed by Waesberg in Eotterclam. John Brown of Wamphray's ' History of the Indulgence' was also issued from the Dutch press, and the author was minister of the Scots' church at Amsterdam. Kutherford was offered the chair of Divinity at Utrecht, on the death of Dematius, in 1651, and several years afterwards his ' Examen Arminianismi ' was re-edited there. Mac Ward, a scholar and author, ministered to the Scotch congregation at Kotterdam. William Spang, a ripe scholar, whose ' Eerum nuper in Eegno Scotiaa gestarum Historia ' had been published in 164:1 at Dantzic, was minister at Campvere. Nevay, one of the revisers of Eous's version of the Psalms, and author of a Latin metrical translation of the Song of Solomon ; Livingstone, who amused his exile with a Latin translation of the Bible, and who was acquainted with nine languages besides his own ; and Fleming, the ingenious author of the still popular ' Fulfilling of the Scripture ' (the sixth edition of which was printed in Glasgow in 1801, the first in Eotterdam in 1674), were among the banished ministers who, driven from their parishes and churches at home, were welcomed by the friendly Dutch *

There was a large British colony at Utrecht, with the usual appanages of an English coffee-house, serving the purposes of a club, and an English church, in which an exiled minister, English or Scottish, officiated. The town, with its varied society, its noble cathedral, its shady mall, and open walks beyond the gates, t must have been, in those clays, as it is now, a cheerful and pleasant residence.

Among the professors of the University whose prelections William Carstares, as a student of theology, attended, were Leusden, the great Hebraist, under whose care the two Amsterdam editions of the Hebrew Bible were brought out in 1661 and 1667 ; and Witsius, well known for his strict piety

* Scots' ' Worthies ;' Burton's * Scot Abroad ;' Wodrow, &c. &c. f Calamy's ' Historical Account of my own Life,' 2nd edition, vol. i. p. 142, et seq.

and orthodoxy, and whose works are still in high repute with Calvinists. Witsius understood English well, was a great admirer of English divinity and literature, and " was always very civil to the English." *

We have no record of Carstares's student life at Utrecht. In the 'Album Sfcudiosorurn ' (torn. i. p. 127) it stands that in the year 1669, " Eectore Cypriano Eegneri ab Oesterga," "Gulielmus Carstaers, Scoto-Britannus," was enrolled as a student. In the ' Promotie,' or graduation album, of the corresponding period his name does not appear,! which is, no doubt, to be explained by his having already taken his M.A. at Edinburgh. The time which elapsed between his graduation at Edinburgh, in July 1667, and his entrance at Utrecht, is a blank to us, and so is the time which he spent at Utrecht. We detect no mention of him anywhere ; and there is no letter, of his own or his father's, throwing any light on his history* The first glimpse we get of him is from the following letter to his sister, Sarah Carstares. He had three brothers, Alexander, James, who died in 1679, aged sixteen, and Kobert, who died in infancy ; and five sisters, of whom Sarah was the eldest, and presumably only a year or two younger than William. John Carstares names in his will his daughters Sarah, Katherine, and Ursula. Mrs. William Carstares in her will, dated 1724, names her " sister-in-law Jean Carstares" wife of Principal Drew of St. Andrews. Besides these there was another sister, Margaret, who married a Major Coult, Commandant of Edinburgh Castle. She and Jean must have been born after the date of their father's will, 1664.

The letter is superscribed " This for his affectionate sister, Sarah Carstairs J ": —

" Utrecht, March 23, 1672.

" Dear Sister, — I take this opportunity of saluting you, and assuring you that notwithstanding of my silence in not writing to

* Calamy, vol. i. p. 166.

f This information was very kindly procured for me by Dr. John Muir, from Professor de Jong, of Utrecht.

X At this time he spelt his name so.

II.] LETTER TO SARAH. 27

you, yet my affection to you as a sister is not in the least cooled, neither am I forgetful of you nor of the rest of the children, but often beg of God that you may all of you be blessed with spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ, whom if you have for yours, it is not much matter what be your condition in the world. It is his favour that is better than life : it is the enjoyment of him that makes a sweet and comfortable life. If we knew him, sister, and had a discovery of the beauty and excellency that is in him, other things would be so far from bulking in our eyes that they would evanish and disappear. It was a sight of him that made David, a great prince in his time, choose rather to be a doorkeeper in his house than to dwell in the tents of Kedar, and desire to behold his beauty and inquire into his temple as the one thing worthy to be sought after. 0! when shall the desires of our souls be towards him and to the remembrance of his name. It is no less than his own omnipotent power must create these soul-desires in us after himself. 0 ! if he would do it : we will never be free till we be captivated by him, his service being choice and excellent freedom, — but who can speak aright of him ? For my own part, I am so conscious of my own unfitness to do it in the least measure suitably that I must be silent ; but I hope you have seen that in him which makes you ready to sell all and buy this soul-enriching infinitely precious pearl. Now sister, being in haste I must break off, and recommend you to the guiding of his spirit which leadeth into all truth. Remember me kindly to your sister Katherine and the rest of the children. My best respects to young Ealston * and his lady, and to my cousin Glanderston, his mother and sisters, when you shall have occasion to see them.

" Your own brother

" W. Carstairs."

One can fancy that poor Sarah had some suppressed sense of respectful disappointment as she made her way to the last word of this letter — excellent as it is — without finding a syllable of news, or the slightest hint of any of her brother's doings, or interests, or occupations.

This kind of writing seems to have been one of the religious fashions of the time. The letters of John Carstares

* Son of Ealston of that ilk. His father married Ursula Mure, a sister of Mrs. John Carstares. " Cousin Glanderston " was William Mure, Mrs. Carstares' nephew.

and all his correspondents abound with it. It, no doubt, was full of reality to the writers and readers, but to the modern critic the constant repetition of Scripture phrase and orthodox commonplace is apt to look tedious and artificial ; and the absolute exclusion of what we call " news " from letters, which are in many instances our only sources of information about the writers of them, is provoking.

The next letter in the Graham Dunlop collection is dated "London, Deer. 10, 1672;" and though it begins " Loving friend " and is signed " your affectionate friend and servant Williams," it is evidently intended for the same person as the last, and is of exactly the same character. It contains no indications whatever of the writer's personal history, which at this period must have been sufficiently interesting, for he had already begun that course of political activity and negotiation, which was yet to lead him to much trouble and to much honour. It is impossible to ascertain whether he had at this time entered on any of the duties of his profession. McCormick, whose account of this portion of his life is singularly confused and entirely destitute of dates, says that on completing his theological studies he " passed his trials according to the forms of the Presbyterian church, and obtained a licence to preach the gospel." *

That he returned to Scotland for this purpose is extremely unlikely ; nor was it necessary that he should do so.t There was full ministerial communion between the Keformed Church of Scotland and that of Holland. Scotch candidates for the ministry were readily received, as probationers, by the Dutch Synods ; and the local " Classis," or Presbytery, f The persecuted Presbyterian clergy of Scotland contrived to meet from time to time to examine candidates for the ministry or to give ordination ; but the prelates procured an Act of Parliament in 1672 whereby this was stringently forbidden ; and at this time, says Wodrow, " there was a sensible decrease of Presbyterian ministers by death, banishment, and the hardships of the time ; and it was attended with no small difficulty to get young men sent abroad to other Protestant churches, to be ordained to the holy ministry." Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 198.

conferred ordination or induction, when required, on the ministers elected by the Scotch congregations within their bounds.*

Even the indefatigable researches of the learned author of the l Fasti Ecclesise Scoticanse ' have failed to discover any record of William Carstares receiving either licence as a probationer, or ordination as a minister, in Scotland ; and it may be inferred, with tolerable certainty, that he received orders from the Dutch presbyters. Mr. Ferrie possesses a certificate, dated June 9, 1681, in these terms: " These are to certify all whom it may concern that Mr. William Carstares is to our knowledge a lawful ordained minister of the gospel." This is signed by eight subscribers, among whom the only notable names are those of Matthew Sylvester and Kobert Trail.t It proves nothing beyond the fact that Carstares was known to them as an ordained minister.

He had, however, formed associations, during his stay at Utrecht, which were not favourable to his peacefully following the sober calling of a pastor or preacher. On his first arrival in Holland, he had brought, from London, a letter of introduction to the Prince of Orange's physician, who, in his turn, had introduced him to the pensionary Fagel. That shrewd and clear-sighted statesman discerned in the young- Scot qualities well worth enlisting in his master's service, and securing in the interests of his policy. Fagel presented Carstares to William, who was at once impressed by his large and discriminating knowledge of parties and affairs

* For an excellent account of the relations between the Scotch and Dutch churches, see Steven's l History of the Scottish Church in Eotterdam.' In the seventeenth century there were Scotch churches in Eotterdam, Campvere, Leyden, Amsterdam, Delft, Dordrecht, the Hague, and Middleburg, beside mixed congregations elsewhere, served sometimes by Scotch, sometimes by English ministers.

f Kobert Trail, formerly minister of Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh, was banished, and retired to Holland. In 1670 Charles requested the States General to remove him from the Dutch territories. He secluded himself for a time, but continued to reside, unmolested, in Holland, for several years afterwards. Steven's ' Scotch Church in Eotterdam,' p. 54.

in Britain, and pleased with his courtier-like manner and address. During his residence at Utrecht Carstares seems to have been frequently with the Prince, and to have gained a large share of his confidence and favour. How far the Prince was cognisant of, or countenanced, the intrigues of the Scotch exiles, who made his territories the base of their operations, does not appear. Engrossed, as he must have been, with the war which both France and England waged against Holland, he probably could spare little thought for the designs of Scotch or other British refugees, except in so far as they might tend to farther his own. That he was aware that their bitter discontent, and sense of wrong, expressed themselves in plots against the government of Scotland, we cannot doubt. That he was too astute to compromise himself by any overt approval of their designs is no less certain. It is not likely that Carstares, who had been admitted to the Prince's confidence, and who must have been extremely loth to risk the loss of his friendship, would have undertaken any negotiation to which his Highness was hostile. It was, therefore, probably with his concurrence that Carstares quitted Holland on his way to Scotland, in 1672 — carrying with him the letters, " written in white ink," which were his first credentials as an envoy from the exiles to their friends at home. The ship in which he sailed from Kotterdam was taken ; and though he managed to escape, the letters were seized. Their tenor was obscure, as the writers had left to Carstares the detailing of their plans ; but enough was made out to show that there were plotters in Holland who had sent him over, and who were prepared to send arms and money, if he should find the Scotch malcontents ready to rise against the government. *

It must have been after this escape that Carstares wrote from London, on the 10th of December, 1672, without, as I have said, the slightest reference to his personal history or doings. From this 10th of December, 1672, no trace of him

* Burnet, vol. i. p. G2I.

II.] LETTER TO SARAH. 31

is to be found till the 17th of April, 1674, at which date he writes thus to his sister Sarah : —

" Deak Sister, — I hope my forbearing to write, (I will not challenge you for being more guilty of the same fault) will not pass under a bad construction with you ; if it do, I assure you it is without ground, for I am still and shall always be the same what in some measure I have been to you, — and that is your affectionate tho' insignificant brother. If ever any occasion did offer, I hope you should find that you had no less room in my affection than what such a sister deserveth. I am sorry that I have been forced to be so expensive to my parents by my stay here; but one disappointment upon the back of another hath made me do that which I am averse from, and which I hope I shall not always be under a necessity of doing — that is, of putting them to such charge on my account. I confess, sister, this is the one thing that troubles me. It may be at last in providence I may have some door opened, whereby I may be in a capacity to do some little service in my generation, and not always be insignificant in my station ; but alas, what service can 1 do, or what will God accept from me, who have lived for so many years in his world, and yet for no end ? Just were he if he should reject so unprofitable a servant. His patience hath been extended beyond what in reason could have been expected. Alas, that his forbearance hath gained so little of its end upon me, a leading of me to repentance, and a turning to him from whom I have departed. It is nothing less than a pull of his own arm that can so draw as to make a sinner run. There are days of his power wherein he turneth backsliders and maketh them willing ; it is good to wait upon him because he waiteth to be gracious. I desire, sister, to commit you to him, who, I hope, will care for you, and pray that yourself and my other sisters and brothers (who are much upon my heart) may be blessed of him with blessings suitable for you. Remember me kindly to Katherine, and the rest, whom I need not name; and forget not your tossed brother, I have, sister, sent you a small bible bound very neatly in two halves, by Mr. Gabriel Cunningham. Call for it from him, and take it as a small token of my remembrance of you. Let me hear from you, which will not be a little refreshing to him who is, sister,

" Your most affectionate brother,

The nature of the " disappointments " to which he refers does not appear. It is probable that they were of a political,

32 WILLIAM CAESTABES. [Chap.

rather than of a clerical, kind. His activities do not seem to have turned at this period towards a clergyman's professional work. He returned to Holland during this year, and again crossed to Loudon in the autumn. Suspected of being on a treasonable errand, he was arrested and sent to the Tower ; and papers, which warranted the suspicion, were found in his possession, and taken from him. He was ultimately carried down to Scotland, and committed to prison there, in February 1675. In order to understand the circumstances which led to all this, we must look back for a little way upon the history of the times.

The state of Scotland had not grown happier since Carstares had left Edinburgh for Utrecht. The government of Lauderdale — himself a renegade Covenanter — whose avowed desire was that Parliamentary government should be abolished, and " the good old form of government by his Majesty's Privy Council"* take its place, though less violent than the earlier tyranny of Micldleton, was more systematically cruel and oppressive. It fully justified the judgment of Hallam, that " no part of modern history, for so long a period, can be compared for the wickedness of government to the Scots administration of this reign."t The " indulgences " granted to the Presbyterian clergy in 1669 and 1672, although boons in appearance, were not even acts of justice in reality. The indulgence provided that an ejected minister might, when his old parish fell vacant, return thither and exercise his ministry. He was to have the manse and glebe, but only as much of the stipend as the Privy Council chose to give him. He was never to perform any clerical function out of his own parish. He was not to step beyond it without the bishop's licence. He was not even to " lecture " (or expound Scripture) in his Sunday's service (which the bishops condemned as a Presbyterian abuse), but was to preach a set sermon on a set text, and no more.t This hampered and clogged "indulgence"

* Burton, vol. vii. p. 465.

f 'Constitutional History,' vol. iii. p. 435.

X Burton, vol. vii. p. 458. Wodrow, vol. ii. pp. 130, 148.

II.] LAUDERDALE'S POLICY. 33 was followed by most stringent legislation for the benefit of those who did not accept it. All public worship on the part of the Presbyterians was forbidden, unless conducted by the " indulged " minister. Any meeting for worship or instruction, in a house or in the open air, was stigmatised as a " Conventicle " and declared treasonable. Persons frequenting such meetings were to be hunted down by the militia; the lairds on whose lands the conventicles were held were to be heavily fined; the ministers officiating at them were to be punished with death and confiscation of their goods.* The seeming grace of the indulgence was more than counterbalanced by the actual severity of the persecution. Lauderdale's purpose was to conciliate the moderate party by the one, and to crash the irreconcilable by the other. " The penalties calculated for our western dissenters," he writes to Sir Kobert Murray, his confidential agent in London, " it is hoped will be stronger arguments to move them to outward conformity than any divines could use."f He strangely misunderstood the temper of his countrymen. The extreme Presbyterians, the representatives of the vehement Protesters and Kemonstrants of the Eestoration, and who were still numerous in the West, scouted the indulgence, and denouncing those who accepted it, thronged to their conventicles with a zeal which danger and penalty only kindled into hotter fervour. The moderate clergy, glad to be again allowed to preach the gospel in peace, and ready to make any legitimate concession for the sake of tranquillity and concord, availed themselves of the indulgence, but regarded it while they did so as in itself ungracious and partial. They felt that it was not by such a measure the government, which had so long oppressed them, could hope to secure their confidence and regain their attachment. The common people were, in general, hostile to the indulgence. The ministers who had accepted it were not of that class which had furnished the fiery preachers " to the times," whose semi-political

* Burnet, vol. i. p. 534. Wodrow, vol. ii. p. 150. Burton, vol. vii. p. 458. t Burton, vol. vii. p. 464.

D

34 WILLIAM CARSTAEES. [Chap.

harangues had, for many years before the Eestoration, excited their passions and directed their fanaticism. They turned from these preachers of the gospel in disgust, and labelled them " dumb dogs," and " king's curates," little better than the " bishops' curates," whom no devices of the government had succeeded in forcing them to listen to.* The result of the indulgence on the general community was, thus, the outward conformity of a certain number of ministers; the estrangement from them of the people at large, who adhered more and more to the extreme nonconformists ; and the emergence of a body of strenuous protesters against Prelacy and fanatical champions of Presbytery and the Covenant, who held themselves indignantly aloof, alike from the bishops and their clergy, and from the indulged ministers.! This body, ever growing in steadfastness, and (as oppression and misgovernment increased) becoming more distinctly the ark of refuge for the shattered liberties of Scotland and the rallying point for all the disaffected, kept alive through years of persecution a political and religious enthusiasm of the keenest, though not of the purest, type which won its triumph in 1688.

While Lauderdale tried to compel a uniformity by the combined aid of political stratagem and force of arms, a gentler and wiser attempt had been made within the Church, by the one man who redeemed the title of Scottish bishop from discredit. During the autumn and winter of 1670, Leighton, with the concurrence of the government, was endeavouring to promote an "accommodation," which should fuse the Episcopal and Presbyterian clergy into the unity of one national church. Conferences with leading Presbyterian divines, under Leighton's presidency, J were held, first in